We’re going to be talking about three spiritual truths we can believe in order to receive this greatest gift of all, which is Jesus. And He told Nicodemus that God so loved him and so loved everyone that he had sent his only son to die in their place and so that they might believe by faith. The Pharisees believed in being good enough for God. We will see here that Jesus was talking to a man named Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee, and strict in his religion. That’s why we’re gonna be in John, chapter three today. I’m just getting started, because the truth is, the only way to answer the question that God asks, “Why should I let you into My heaven?” is to say, “I have believed in His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the greatest gift ever given.”
Thanks for sharing this on this Christmas season. We all fall short of God’s glorious standard. None of us are good, the Bible says, for everyone has sinned. All of us, every single one of us, none of us are righteous. The Bible actually says we are all stuck on the naughty list. You see, this whole idea has gotten more serious now, hasn’t it, because people are under the illusion that it’s about trying to be good, that Christianity is about pleasing God and is about trying to be good enough. They’re hoping that God’s keeping a naughty or nice list, and they’re hoping that they are on the nice list. And you said if you were to die today and you stood before a Holy God and he asked you this question, Why should I let you into my heaven? What would you say? And do you know what most people will say? The majority of Americans ? You know what they’ll say? They’ll say, I tried to be good. If I were to ask this question of you, how you would answer? The majority of Americans, if you ask this question. So every American child born since 1934 has been struck with fear by this idea that there’s a list being kept up in the North Pole called the naughty or nice list.
No wonder we’ve messed up a whole generation or two, right? We’ll grab anything we can we say to our kids, “you better be good, you better go to bed, you don’t want Santa to show up if you’re awake, he will not leave you any presents…” These are things we say to our children. Parents have used this song to try to make their children behave ever since. It was written in 1934 it wasn’t written 2000 years ago. He knows when you’ve been bad or good… You better watch out… You better not pout…you guys know it. (Which is weird, by the way.) He knows when you’re awake. He’s checking it twice… Santa Claus is coming to town. It’s been recorded by over 200 artists people like Bing Crosb, The Andrews Sisters, The Jackson 5, Mariah Carey, Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Chris Isaak, The Temptations and even Michael Bublé has recorded this song, “Santa Claus is coming to town.” You know the lyrics, right? This is where the whole idea of this naughty or nice list comes from. It’s music and lyrics were written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie, and it became an instant hit, with orders of over 500,000 copies of sheet music and 30,000 records sold within 24 hours of it airing on the New York station. This idea of such a list was first introduced to American children when the song, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” was written and performed on the Eddie Cantor radio show in November of 1934. That’s what we’re going to be talking about today the naughty or nice list. We are not so much talking about that guy as we’re actually talking about the naughty or nice list. Before you cover your kid’s ears, we’re really not going to be talking about the white bearded guy with a belly that’s like a bowlful of jelly. Today, we’re going to be talking about a different sermon that might just ruin your Santa Christmas tradition.
We learned that we need to get the wise men and the shepherds in different parts of the house when we are building our Nativity scene in order to get the story right. Last week, do you remember what we learned from Matthew, chapter two? Jesus was already a child living in the house whenever the wise men came to see Him. I warned you last week that listening to that sermon might ruin the Nativity scene that you have on your mantel.
#HAVE YOU BEEN NAUGHTY OR NICE DEATH SERIES#
Last week we began this series called “The Christmas Lists ” last week we talked about the wish list. When you have a really late Thanksgiving, it just seems like Christmas comes on you so quickly, doesn’t it? But, I love this season, and we’re happy to be with you here on this Sunday morning. Wow, it’s a great season don’t you love the Christmas season? I was hearing some other people talking about this. Below is an automated transcript of this message all right.
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