The Greatest Gift of Christmas; Luke 9:7-9

Delivered during the Sunday morning worship service, 12/25/2022. When Herod Antipas heard of the miraculous ministry of Jesus in Galilee he worried that it might be John the Baptist come back from the dead to haunt him. We will find Herod to be not only a superstitious, shallow and licentious man, but a man tragically riddled with guilt. After making our way through this short text, we will focus on the nature of guilt itself. We will consider guilt in its objective, forensic sense-- a reality as a result of sin; and then in its subjective sense-- an oppressive and often debilitating feeling. After establishing the inevitability of guilt, we will realize that God's greatest gift to humanity was Jesus Christ Himself, whose life and Crosswork annihilated our objective guilt forever. Furthermore, we will be encouraged on this Christmas morning to put away our feelings of subjective guilt and celebrate the birth of the One who justifies us and sets us free-- Jesus, the Greatest Gift of Christmas!