In this sermon, the speaker shares powerful testimonies of individuals whose lives were transformed by the power of God. One example is Mike, who was once hopeless and believed he had a hole in his skull, but through the work of God's Spirit, his life was transformed. The speaker also highlights the destructive power of sin and how it breaks hearts and destroys lives. However, the good news is that God loves us and wants to adopt us into His family, offering forgiveness for our sins through Jesus. The sermon emphasizes the power of Jesus to bring beauty out of ashes and shares the testimony of Steve, who went from being a troubled teenager to a minister making a positive impact in his community.

For the next couple of Sundays, as we approach the Christmas season, or I guess we're in the Christmas season as we, certainly looks like it from the malls and all, we thought we would turn from the standard taking of our text from the reading that we have done this week and that we would take a look at the purpose of the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. Tonight we will be back in 2 Samuel chapters 19 through 21 as we continue our journey through the Bible. But for a couple of Sunday mornings here, actually probably the next four, we'll take a look at the purpose of His coming and then taking a look at the new year and what we can anticipate as far as the Bible prophecies are concerned. So, we'll continue on Sunday nights are through the Bible, but this morning we'd like to look at the purpose of the coming of Jesus. We have entered into the Christmas season. Our hearts are turned again toward the manger in Bethlehem. We think of the child that was born that night who we have come to realize is the Son of God sent by the Father to save the world from sin. And as we again look at this magnificent scene, we realize that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. And that little baby lying in the manger is no ordinary baby. That baby is the Son of the living God. And the Bible says of Him that He was in the beginning with God, did not think it something to be grasped to be equal with God. And yet He became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, John said, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. But what was the purpose of His coming? Here Isaiah, some 700 years before the birth of Christ, as he was prophesying the coming of Jesus into the world, said, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good tidings. And these are the words that were put in the mouth of Jesus, actually, to preach the good tidings to the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those that were bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. When Jesus began His public ministry, He came to the little city of Bethlehem, where He was, I mean, the little city of Nazareth, where He grew up. He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. They handed Him the scriptures to read. And He opened the scroll of Isaiah to this passage. And He read this passage to the people. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good tidings to the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the opening of the prison to those that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. He then closed the scroll, looked around at the people in the synagogue and said, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your eyes. Basically, He was announcing to them that He was the promised Messiah. That He had come to preach the good tidings to the poor. He had come to mend the brokenhearted, to set at liberty those that were bound, to proclaim to them the acceptable year of the Lord. Here we find the purpose of His coming. First of all, He came to preach good tidings to the meek. The night that He was born, there were shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping over the watch of their flocks at night. And the angel of the Lord appeared to them. The glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were terrified. But the angel said, Fear not, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David the Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. Good tidings of great joy. Jesus came to bring good tidings of great joy. What are the good tidings that He preached? Number one is that God loves you. He loves you so much, He wants to adopt you into His family, in order that you might have this meaningful relationship with Him, and whereby you can become an heir to the eternal kingdom of God, and live and reign with Him forever. There's a big problem that stands in the way of God's adopting you. That problem is known as sin. And so Jesus has come to remove that problem, to provide a means whereby God might forgive you your sins, so that you can then have this communion and fellowship with God. The plan of God to redeem man from sin would cost an awesome price, but God loved you so much, He was willing to pay it. So God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God had declared that the wages of sin was death. God had said that the soul that sinneth shall surely die. That was a very just sentence of God against sin. And because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, all were condemned to death. But this child, born in Bethlehem, is going to take the sins of the world upon Himself, and He is going to die for those sins, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life. In another prophecy of Isaiah, back in chapter 53, Isaiah said, all of we like sheep have gone astray. We turned every one of us to our own ways, but God has laid upon Him the iniquities of us all. So this child, born in Bethlehem, will one day bear the sins of the world as He hangs upon the cross, and God lays upon Him the iniquities of us all. But in His death for us, He will purchase our redemption. He will make the way possible for sinful man to have a meaningful relationship with a holy God. The good tidings is that God has sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Who did He preach the good tidings to? Well, by the world standards, He preached the good tidings to the meek. He didn't go to the Roman Forum and preach it to the Roman Senate. He didn't preach it to Caesar Augustus, nor even to Herod, but to the meeks. Jesus brought the good tidings to the shepherds, to the fishermen, to the prostitutes, to the outcast Samaritans. Not many wise, not many noble, but the good tidings are for the common people. On one occasion, Jesus said, those that are well don't need a physician, it's those who are sick. On another occasion, He said that He did not come into the world to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners. He came not only to proclaim the good tidings to the meek, but He came to bind up the brokenhearted. Sin leaves in its wake tremendous devastation. Ultimately, it will break your heart when you begin to see the consequences of sin. Sin had done its dirty work, it had left people with broken hearts. Sin gives great promises, but it doesn't perform. It promises fulfillment, but in the end it will leave you empty. It promises happiness, but in the end it will bring sorrow. It promises to love forever, but in the end you discover that instead of pure love, it's pure lust. How many people have had their hearts broken because of sin? We meet them every day as they come into the office and they pour out their tales of woe and sorrow and grief because of sin. So many times I look at these young people, the freedoms that they have today, and my heart breaks because many of them, before they even have a chance to live, are already being destroyed by sin. Jesus came to set us free from the destructive power of sin. A little further down in the text it says, He will give us beauty for the ashes. So many lives reduced to ashes because of sin. So many dreams, so many hopes reduced to ashes because of sin. So many young people burned out before they even leave their teens, life is over because of sin. I think of Mike McIntosh. His life was really ashes when we first met him. He was a true space cadet. His mind had been blown because of the acid. The psychiatrist had given him up. He walked around just sort of babbling about aliens and spacemen and for the first couple of weeks that he was with us, he would talk about this hole in the back of his head. He'd say, look, you can see my brains, and he'd pull back his hair and he believed that there was a hole in his skull and his brains were exposed. And we saw the work of God's Spirit transforming this life that was hopeless as far as the doctors were concerned. We saw how the Lord began to transform his life, how he began to reason and rationalize and we saw him how the Lord restored his marriage. I had the joy of performing this ceremony again and his two little daughters were the flower girls. We saw how God then blessed and other children were born. And we look at Mike today, we see the beauty of his life, the beautiful fruit that comes from his life, the thousands of people that have been touched by Mike and by his ministry as God has just expanded and opened doors to him that are just unbelievable. And we just have to rejoice in the power of Jesus to give beauty for ashes. I think of Steve Mays, the beauty that God has brought into Steve's life from the ashes that were his life when he first came. Steve had been just a young kid kicked out of his home, became a part of a motorcycle gang, was shot by one of the other club members, fled for his life, dirty, filthy, matted hair. When he first came, he hadn't brushed his teeth in over six months nor had a bath in six months. He looked like a wild man and he was. Life was ashes, just a teenager, but it was all over. But then we saw Jesus touch his life. We saw the transformation take place. And today we see the beauty of the ministry that God has given to Steve. We see the church there in Torrance, how it is flourishing and touching that part of LA County. And we have to rejoice in the power of Jesus who gives beauty for ashes, the oil of joy.