Jesus Came for Me

Christmas sermon by Evangelist Judit, John 3:16-21. An invitation to receive Jesus not as a holiday decoration, but as the Savior who came personally for you.

Introduction: Jesus Came, and He Came for You

It was Christmas Sunday. After "Merry Christmas" was called out in Japanese, English, and Spanish, Evangelist Judit opened her Bible to John 3:16-21, and she asked the question that gives this message its title: did Jesus come for humanity in general, or did he come for you?

For her, Christmas is not first of all a historical memory. It is the day when we look again at what the incarnation actually changes in your life. "Today," she said, "I want us to think about the coming of Jesus into this world, and about how that coming connects to each one of us."

The rest of the message holds together two things we find hard to carry at the same time: the depth of our condition as sinners, and the depth of the Father's love in sending his only Son. Without the first, Christmas becomes a sentimental holiday. Without the second, the Bible becomes a burden.

Outline of the Sermon

1. A Salvation Announced Long in Advance

Judit reminds us that the Old Testament clearly prophesies the coming of the Messiah. The Bible is sixty six books written over roughly fifteen hundred years, by about forty authors, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And across those centuries, a single thread runs through: someone is coming.

She gives three specific examples:

• Genesis 3:15, the first announcement, right at the fall: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." This "offspring of the woman" is the Christ to come.
• 2 Samuel 7:13, the Davidic covenant: God promises David a descendant whose throne will be established forever. Jesus comes from the line of David.
• Psalm 22, which Judit admits left her shaken when she reread it. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (v.1). "They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing" (v.18). "They pierce my hands and my feet." We see the cross a thousand years before the cross.

From this she draws a simple conviction: no one could compose, across the centuries, a story that lines up this precisely. These prophecies exist, they traveled through time without getting lost, and they all point to Jesus.

2. What Is Sin, Really?

If the Son came for something, he came for our sins. But we first need to know what we are talking about.

The Greek word for sin, hamartia, literally means "to miss the mark." 1 John 3:4 puts it plainly: "Sin is lawlessness." The target is not our personal morality, nor the average standard of our society. The target is the law of God, the will of God.

Judit returns to Genesis. When Eve looks at the forbidden fruit, she sees it as "good for food, pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom," exactly what John describes as "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" in 1 John 2:16. The fall placed a DNA of sin within us. We are born Asian of Asians, White of Whites, Black of Blacks, and sinner of sinners. To claim to be without sin is as absurd as denying your own DNA.

Then God gave the ten commandments to make sin visible: one God, no idols, do not take his name in vain, keep the Lord's day, honor father and mother, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not lie against your neighbor, do not covet. And in Matthew 5:21-22 and Matthew 5:28, Jesus intensifies the law: anger against your brother makes you liable to judgment; looking at a woman with lust is already committing adultery in your heart.

In other words, the bar has not been lowered by grace. It has been raised. And that is exactly why Jesus was necessary.

3. "God So Loved the World": But Who Is This "World"?

This is the heart of John 3:16-18: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Judit pauses here. This "world" is you. It is not an abstract concept. The Father handed over his only Son for you, knowing every one of your thoughts, every one of your failures. Philippians 2:6-8 describes what this cost him: "Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant... he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

That is Christmas seen from the Son's side. It is not first of all a charming manger scene. It is a renunciation. He leaves glory to come and die in your place.

4. Believing Is Not Just Saying "Lord, Lord"

"What exactly do you believe when you say 'I believe in Jesus Christ'?" Judit asks the congregation. She lets the question hang, then draws it together: to believe in Jesus Christ is to believe that he is the only Son of God, that he came in the flesh as Savior, that he died on the cross for your sins, that he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day before ascending into heaven. This is what the Creed confesses. It is the entry point.

But entering through the door is not the finish line. Matthew 7:21-23 is blunt: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father." Those to whom he will say "I never knew you" are the ones who called him Lord without doing his will.

Judit holds both truths together without diluting either: Romans 10:9-10 remains true, we are justified by the faith of the heart and the confession of the mouth. But this living faith produces a life that follows the Lord. Otherwise, it is not the faith of Romans 10, it is a word emptied of its substance.

5. The Light, and Those Who Prefer the Shadows

"This is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil" (John 3:19-21).

Judit insists: the real dividing line is not between those who know Jesus is the light and those who do not. Even the devil knows who Jesus is (James 2:19). The real line is this: do you come to the light, or do you flee from it?

She uses an image that hits home: "A man who says 'I love you' to his wife in the morning and lives a double life in the afternoon, does he really love her?" It is the same with us: saying "Lord, Lord" while staying hidden in the dark is loving the dark. Loving Jesus means bringing him what you would be ashamed to expose, so that he can wash it clean.

6. Repentance, Sanctification, Struggle

Here the sermon becomes very direct. Judit draws a distinction between entering into salvation and walking out salvation.

At the entrance, you are "justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23-24). But you become a "forgiven sinner," not a person with nothing left to fight. Philippians 3:12: Paul himself says he has not yet obtained it, that he is still pressing on.

The Christian walk therefore takes place "according to the Spirit" (Galatians 5:16-17), not in our own strength. And when we are disciplined, it is not a sign that God rejects us, but that we are truly his children: "Do not despise the Lord's discipline, my son... for the Lord disciplines the one he loves" (Proverbs 3:11-12). The sheep lives within the flock, with the shepherd and the other sheep; the goat wanders off alone into the mountains and gets lost.

Finally, she brings up Matthew 23: the Pharisees are not simply "other people." Every heart carries within it the temptation of the facade, "whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and every kind of impurity" (Matthew 23:27-28). The solution is not to touch up the makeup. It is to open the tomb to the Physician.

7. Confession: Why It Is So Hard, and So Freeing

Judit draws a comparison that made the congregation smile: when you confess your love to someone, your heart pounds, you feel afraid, you feel ashamed. Why? Because you are placing your dignity in someone else's hands. And if you declared your love to someone you did not actually love, your heart would not pound, because it would be a lie.

Confessing our sins works the same way. It is genuine when it costs something. What makes it hard is not God, it is our pride. Adam and Eve hid after they sinned. We do the same. But sin loves to stay hidden, that is how it grows.

To confess is to come out into the light. And in the light, darkness disappears instantly. That is the grace of Christmas.

Key Takeaways

• Jesus did not come for "the world" in some anonymous way. He came for you, knowing you by name.
• Sin is missing God's target, not your culture's target. Do not let your surroundings redefine what God calls wrong.
• Believing is not just saying "Lord, Lord." It is believing, confessing, and walking.
• You are a "forgiven sinner," not a sinner cured of the struggle. The fight continues until the finish line.
• Confession frees you because it breaks the power of the secret. What you bring into the light, the devil can no longer use.

Personal Application

1. When you say "I believe in Jesus Christ," can you say precisely what you believe? Can you affirm the five points of the Creed: only Son, incarnate, crucified for you, risen, ascended to heaven?
2. Is there an area of your life where you use your culture, your family, or your era to excuse what the Bible calls sin?
3. What are you currently hiding, out of fear, shame, or pride? Who could you confess it to this week, God first, and perhaps a brother or sister?
4. Are you living within a flock (a local church, with a shepherd and brothers and sisters), or are you walking alone, telling yourself "the Holy Spirit is enough for me"?
5. Where do you stand with the Lord's discipline? Do you receive it as proof of love, or as rejection?

Verses Cited

• John 3:16-21, central text
• Genesis 3:15, first announcement of the Messiah
• 2 Samuel 7:13, the Davidic covenant
• Psalm 22, the cross a thousand years in advance
• Philippians 2:6-8, the Son's humbling
• 1 John 2:16, the lust of the flesh, of the eyes, and the pride of life
• 1 John 3:4, sin is lawlessness
• Matthew 5:21-28, Jesus intensifies the law
• Matthew 7:21-23, "Lord, Lord"
• Matthew 23:27-28, whitewashed tombs
• Romans 3:23-24, justified freely
• Romans 10:9-10, faith of the heart, confession of the mouth
• Galatians 5:16-17, walking by the Spirit
• Philippians 3:9-12, Paul is still pressing on
• Proverbs 3:11-12, the Lord's discipline
• James 2:19, the demons believe and tremble

FAQ

Is "believing in Jesus" enough to go to heaven?

Judit answers in two parts. Yes, the entry point is singular: believing with all your heart and confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9-10). But this faith is not a magic word, it is a living faith that produces a life that follows the Lord. Matthew 7:21-23 warns clearly against a faith that would be merely verbal.

Why does God discipline us if his Son already paid for everything?

Because discipline is not a payment, the payment was made at the cross. Discipline is proof of belonging. Proverbs 3:11-12 says it plainly: "The Lord disciplines the one he loves." A sheep stays in the flock and bears the shepherd's staff; a goat wanders off alone and gets lost. Discipline confirms that you are a child.

How do I know if I am truly walking in the light?

The test Judit gives from John 3:19-21 is very simple: do you come to the light with what shames you, or do you hide it? Loving the darkness is not about being unaware that Jesus is the light, it is about refusing to expose your life to his light. A healthy Christian life moves forward through confession, not concealment.