Sermon Notes - Dreaming of a White Christmas - Littleby Baptist Church - December 11, 2022

1.     This morning I want to talk about dreaming of a white Christmas.

2.     I for one like waking up to a white Christmas.

a.      A dusting of snow covering the yard, but not so much that that roads are not safe.

b.     For me it makes the day feel special.

3.     As much as I enjoy a white snow-covered Christmas, that is not the white Christmas I want to talk about this morning.

4.     A lot of times when we think about Christmas, we are focused on a sweet little baby who was lying in a manger.

5.     Our focus is on the gift of that little child.

6.     Sometimes people look at the gifts that the wisemen gave to Jesus and His parents.

7.     But what about the gift that came some thirty-three years later?

8.     Revelation 1:4-6

a.      This part of Revelation was written to the churches of the church age.

b.     We are in the church age.

c.      One of the key things in these verses that I want us to look at this morning, is that we have been set free from our sins by His blood.

d.     The sacrifice that took place roughly thirty-three years after of the birth of baby Jesus, wipes away our sins by the shedding of His blood.

9.     What does this have to do with a White Christmas… let’s look at a couple of other verses.

10.  1 John 1:7

a.      If we walk in the light… we are in fellowship with Jesus.

b.     If we are in fellowship with Jesus, He forgives us and cleanses us.

c.      Through our following of Jesus, we are forgiven for all we have done, and He cleanses us of our sins.

11.  The baby born on that Christmas morning… became the redeeming sacrifice.

a.      The sacrifice that cleansed us of our sins and our unrighteousness.

12.   Revelation 22:14

a.      Blessed are those who wash their robes… who have given their lives to Jesus.

b.     Who have been set free by His blood and are allowed to eat of the fruit from the tree of life.

c.      If Jesus is our Savior, if we have given our life to Him, if we are in fellowship with our King… we have been washed in His blood.

d.     When we reach the other side of Eternity, we eat the fruit from the tree of life… we will live forever.  

13.  Psalms 51:7

a.      Washing or purifying with hyssop, would be sprinkle me with the blood of the sacrifice so that I may be cleansed.

b.     That is what the priest would do.

c.      David would have been talking about the blood of an animal sacrifice, but we have the blood of the King.

d.     His blood replaces the need for ritual sacrifices.

e.      His blood cleanses all who come to Him.

f.      When one is washed by the blood of the sacrifice, which in our case is Jesus, they become whiter than snow.

14.  Revelation 7:13-14

a.      Those who turn to Jesus during the Great Tribulation are given white robes.

b.     These robes are not given because of anything they do.

c.      They are given because of the grace they have received when they gave their lives to Christ.

d.     Those robes are washed in the blood of Christ.

15.  If our robes are washed in the blood of Christ, a washing that cleanses our robes.

16.  A washing like it states in Psalms will make us white as snow.

17.  When dreaming for a white Christmas… I am dreaming of the Hope we have in our Jesus.

a.      The hope that came to earth as that sweet little child.

b.     A hope that is given to us through His sacrifice.

c.      A hope that He is offering to all of humankind.

18.  2 Corinthians 5:17-19

a.      Those who are in Christ, those that are in fellowship with Him as we read in 1 John 1, are a new creation.

b.     We have been reconciled, not might be, not that Jesus will think about it, or measure if our sins are too great, or even if we waiting to long.

c.      When we are Jesus’… we are a new creation.

d.     Our sins are gone.

e.      We are washed in the blood of Christ.

f.      When dreaming of a white Christmas, I am thankful that Jesus has redeemed me regardless of what I have done.

19.  2 Corinthians 5:20-21

a.      When dreaming of a White Christmas my hope is that God will use us.

b.     That He will work in us so that we can carry out the mission before us, to ‘plead on Christ’s behalf for others to “be reconciled to God.”

c.      Jesus the perfect sinless lamb of God… took on our sin to cleanse us.

d.     As those who are in fellowship with Jesus…

e.      As His ambassadors we are to plead with others to turn to God.  

f.      Plead is not a ‘I said something once’ type of thing… but it is not walking around beating up people with your Bible either.

g.     As we plead with others, we share Jesus with them.

h.     We live life with them, walking beside them in their time of need.

i.       Letting them see us follow Jesus even when we are dealing with the hardest of times.

j.       We are to plead with them, convince them, by continually presenting Christ to them in our words and our actions.

k.     1 Timothy 2:3-4 tells us that our Lord wants all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

l.       If Jesus the one who became sin for us, wants all to be saved.

m.   We should be sharing His message by living our lives for Him, pleading with others, all in hope that they will see that they need Jesus.

20.  When dreaming of a white Christmas… I think about the people in my life who don’t know Jesus.

a.      Those that I have been praying for.

b.     Those that have walked away from the church.

c.      And I Dream, I pray, that their Christmas will be truly white.

d.     That they will be bathed in the blood of Jesus.

e.      That was made possible by the birth of that little baby on that first Christmas morning.

21.  When Dreaming of a white Christmas… I am also dreaming of being with my Lord.

22.  John 14:1-3

a.      As those who believe in Jesus, whether we have followed Him for a lifetime or for a minute… our Lord is preparing a place for us.

b.     Now I don’t think Jesus went to prepare us separate rooms or mansions as it states in some translations.

c.      The intent is not to arrive in heaven and have a place to hang our hat and put our feet up.

d.     Jesus is encouraging His disciples by letting them know that this is not the end.

e.      That there is plenty of space for them where He is going.

f.      And most importantly, He will be coming back for them!

g.     He will be coming back for us!

23.  When Dreaming of a white Christmas, we should be looking forward to spending forever with our Jesus.

24.  Revelation 21:1-7

a.      Those that follow Jesus are conquers as we have defeated death by the blood of the Lamb.

b.     We then get to spend forever with our God, in the new heaven and new earth.

c.      There will be no more sorrow.

d.     No more pain.

e.      No more death.

f.      No more curse.

g.     Being washed in the blood of Christ means we get a spot in the New Jerusalem.

25.  While some are dreaming of a white Christmas where treetops glisten, children listen, and they get to hear sleigh bells in the snow.

26.  When I think about the birth of our Lord Jesus, the white Christmas I dream about is a little different.

a.      I dream about spending forever with my Jesus in the new Jerusalem.

b.     I dream that those who do not know Him, will be bathed in the blood of the Lamb.

c.      I dream that they wake up and get to join us in our forever with our God.

d.     If you don’t know Jesus this morning, don’t waste a single moment and let Jesus give you a white Christmas.

e.      If you do, reflect on all that Jesus has done and continue to plead with others about being reunited with God.