God gives humans free will and the gospel: the Christmas story and Constantine.
Text Genesis 2:15-17; Matt 2:1-13.
In today’s sermon, we shall look at the fact that God gives humans free will and the gospel to decide what to do with these blessings. You need free will and the gospel to do well in life and make it to heaven.
The gospel is the message about Christ, God’s blessings of salvation. The free will He gives us is the choice we are to make to do what is right or wrong according to His law.
The Magi and Herod
When the Magi received the gospel (the star) about Jesus Christ, they travelled for months to worship Him. However, when Herod heard about the birth of Christ, he made every effort to kill Christ, but God punished him; a few years later, he died (Matt 2:1-13).
Like Herod, most people do not know what to do with freedom. When you give them freedom, they start to misbehave, and such people need the law to guide or control them ( 1 Tim 1:8-11); others, too, need something great and attractive to subdue them. This attitude is a slavery mentality.
God truly loves and respects people who use their free will to do what is right (e.g. John 10:17-18).
Constantine and Christmas
With regards to Christmas, when Constantine received the knowledge of God, he endeavoured to Christianize the Roman empire, and in AD 336, he made the 25th of December a celebration of the birth of Christ.
Moses gave the same blessings to the OT believers: the gospel and freedom (Deut. 30:11-16).
Jesus gives us the same blessings: the gospel and free will ( John 7:37-39; Revelation 22:11).
To do well in life, you need a certain degree of freedom. The beginning of freedom is faith, which empowers you to be courageous, at liberty, and choose to do what is right or wrong ( see diagram).
HOW NOT TRADE THE FREE WILL GOD HAS GIVEN YOU-Pursue truth and righteousness
External factors can limit our will, so we must be careful about what we allow to limit our free will. Most people give away their free will easily; Whatever you give yourself to can influence your will for good or bad (Romans 6:16-18).
Free will also explains why the marriage covenant is important: so that your freedom is protected, or else your freedom will be abused. ,