Monday, December 21, 2015
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My friend Billy knew where his parents hid the Christmas gifts. He's an adult now but he still remembers the year he sneaked downstairs while his parents were gone. (I'll bet you could guess the rest.) He went in the closet and saw the shopping bags that contained all his gifts. Nothing was wrapped yet. He looked inside the bags and there they were. He folded up the bag and went back upstairs. His parents never knew.
Christmas morning! Now, Billy had the reputation for being Mr. Christmas in his family. He never needed an alarm clock on Christmas morning. But this particular Christmas everybody was downstairs. They were beginning to open their presents and they suddenly realized, "Whoa, Whoa Billy is not here." Well Dad went up and got him and said, "It's Christmas son. Are you coming?" "Yeah" and he came shuffling downstairs, opened his presents, expressed his appreciation but he just wasn't into it like everybody else was. His dad called him aside and he said, "Billy, are you sick or something, man?" Billy said, "Dad, I really blew it. I opened my gifts early and I ruined Christmas."
You know, there are a lot of people that have ruined what could have been an unforgettable celebration.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Save Your Gift For Christmas."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Hebrews 13:4. He's talking about the great gift that God gave you to express your love physically, sexually to a person to whom you are making a lifetime commitment – your lifetime love. It says, "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral." God says you've got this great gift; save it for marriage. Your wedding night is Christmas and all the nights that follow. Outside of marriage it's wrong and it's expensive. God's intention is that there would be a great celebration for two people who waited for each other.
Proverbs 5:18 and 19 describes a celebration. It says, "Rejoice in the wife of your youth." Be ravished with her love. "Let her breasts satisfy you at all times." God says, "I want this to be exciting." The excitement, though, is based on the uniqueness. You never said I love you like this to anyone before, but listen, the pressure is on to open your gift early and you know that. But you lose when you do. If Christmas is your wedding night and all those other nights, then God doesn't want you to ruin Christmas. See the lie is that you're missing something if you don't have sex before marriage. The truth is you're missing it if you do.
This season why don't you decide to keep your gift of love and purity special from now on. You say, "Great, Ron, it's too late." Well, there's this wonderful promise from God in Hebrews chapter 8, "I will remember your sins no more." He said to people who had sinned sexually, who had messed it up. He said these wonderful words in 1 Corinthians 6:11, "That is what some of you were. But you were washed and sanctified; you were justified (That means made right with God.) in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Think about it. Forgiven, cleaned up and made special again; a new beginning because of the wonderful redeeming work of Jesus Christ.
Have you ever taken advantage, have you ever made personal for you the sacrifice He made on a cross to do all the dying for all the sinning you've ever done? Wow! Why don't you do it this Christmas season? We'd be glad to help you get started with Him.
In fact, our website; listen to the name of it – AnewStory.com. This could be the beginning of your new story. Go check it out. If you want to talk with someone about this relationship with Christ, text us at 442-244-WORD.
See, it's all about what you do from this moment on. Let God begin to restore your spiritual and emotional virginity. It's time to begin to set a new physical standard. Don't play on the edge. Don't see how far you can go. Live as if your gift is too precious to open early. Yes, Christmas is your wedding night and Christmas is so worth waiting for.