In this sermon First Christmas, even with the busyness and stresses of the holiday season, everything is basically bright and light and cheery and happy for most people. The very first Christmas was not like that at all. It was about a dark, cold night in a small village where a young woman gave birth to a baby. It was in the most unsanitary wretched conditions imaginable, in the filth and manure of a stable. That night was about the ugliness of a man who, feared the loss of his control and power. He massacred all the babies in that region. It was about religious leaders who quickly grew to hate their own Messiah. Yes, the first Christmas was vastly different than this week’s celebrations. The first Christmas was not about beautiful presents and happy holidays. The first Christmas was all about finding a cure for SIN. Sin that damns every soul to hell, and pollutes the entire world. Because of sin there are tears, pain, war and fighting. Sin is the reason for anxiety, fear, worry, sickness, death, famine, and pollution. Sin disturbs and disrupts every human relationship. When the Son of God arrived in this world, people were “sitting out their lives” in the darkness of sin. The heart of Christmas is that Christ came into the world to save sinners. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin." Christ was not born so we could have a beautiful story to dig out with our decorations for a few brief days each year. Christ was born to deliver men from the darkness of sin. Stop hiding behind the fantasy of Christmas cards and all the rest and talk about the real reason behind Christmas … SIN!