S E R M O N S

Once again, we have a wonderful opportunity to look into the Word of God and understand more of who he is and what he's done for each of us. And this morning, we're stepping away from our verse-by-verse study of the gospel of Mark and I want to take you to First Peter one, in a few minutes; we're going to look at some other passages before we get there. But we're going to do so under the heading "Resurrection Joy" for after all, this is Resurrection Sunday.

Now, I know that the internet is burning up with this proclamation from our president. March 31, 2024, has been declared Transgender Day of Visibility, which obviously happens to be on Easter Sunday, this year. Many of you have sent me that information. I'm very aware of it. And I was reading how some apostate churches have incorporated drag queen performances with their Easter service. Now, folks, this is disgusting. This is deplorable. This is demonic. But this should be no surprise. This is once again, evidence of the wrath of divine abandonment on our country, where God has given people over to the consequences of their iniquities as Romans one makes abundantly clear in other passages. And sadly, this is also indicative of those who are spiritually dead. Those who are ruled by the desires of the flesh and of the mind. As we read in Ephesians. These are those who are, by nature, children of wrath; they have no fear of God before their eyes. And so naturally, these are the types of things they're going to do. And sadly, the whole transgender, LGBTQ, that whole movement, is repeatedly called an abomination in the eyes of God, and that indeed it is. In fact, there's no such thing as a transgender, you're either a male or a female made in God's image. Nevertheless, this should be no surprise, and may I encourage you, and I know many of you are very angry over this, and certainly I am righteously indignant as well, but these people need our pity. And they need our prayers. Because unless they repent, they will perish in their sins. And certainly, this is another example of the postmodern world in which we live, where truth is determined subjectively by every individual, not through the objective, authoritative word of the living God found in Scripture. And indeed, this is purposeful, satanic blasphemy. And please hear me, this is going to get much worse. This is going to get much worse and what better way to inaugurate such wickedness than on the day when Christians celebrate the redemption, validated by the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And I might add that the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ and His Kingdom shines even more brightly against the darkness of this satanic evil. And while our pagan culture worships humanity at the altar of wokeism, we as Christians worship the Lord Jesus Christ, at the altar of his sacrifice, where he took upon himself our sins, and paid the penalty that we deserved, that we might have forgiveness of sins; that he who knew no sin would become sin for us that we might have the righteousness of Christ, amen? And now because of his imputed righteousness, we have been declared justified, we've been declared righteous. And though we still sin, God no longer sees that sin, but he sees the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we have forever been united and hidden and clothed in his righteousness. So let's celebrate these things together.

Now, as we think about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead, I mean, this is absolutely a staggering truth. And its implications are equally staggering. And many I know are gathered, even here today, to worship the Lord. And I want to encourage you as we look at his resurrection, because I know that some of you are struggling with significant issues in your life. I know that for a fact, with a number of you. And I'm sure there are many more because we're all sinners living in a fallen world, right? And our sin is bad enough, but everybody else's sin splatters on us too, right? And so, as we look at these passages of scripture this morning, I want those of you that are struggling with health issues or financial issues, you're lonely, you're discouraged, you're depressed, you're whatever it might be, I want you to know that there is hope, there is joy. There is purpose and eternal life with Christ. But that is only available to those who have placed their faith in Christ, and who have been truly, genuinely born again. And then, it is also true for those who not only know him, but walk with Him in obedience, who love him, and who long to have intimate fellowship with Him.

But fundamental to all of this is an understanding of the gospel, which includes an understanding of Christ's death, his burial and his resurrection. Do you realize that according to Second Peter one, beginning of verse three, "His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." Then he adds these admonitions, "Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge and in your knowledge, self control, and in your self control, perseverance and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's my goal this morning, to give you the true knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ." So these virtues will be yours, and they will be increasing. So you can be useful and fruitful, so that you can enjoy all of the magnificent blessings that belong to those who are united to Christ.

Now, let's focus on the resurrection and its implications. Let me remind you of the context, Jesus was buried sometime before sundown on Friday. And then just before sunrise on Sunday, God the Father raised him from the dead. We see this clearly in Romans six, four and Acts 2:32, for example. However, you must realize that Jesus also participated in his own resurrection. John 2:19, he said, "'Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up.'" And in verse 21, John adds, "He was speaking of the temple of His body." God, the Father gave him that authority. We read about this, in the words of our Lord in John five, verse 21, "'For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.'" He went on to say the Father "'has given all judgment to the Son.'" And in that familiar passage in John 10 and verse 18, we read the words of Jesus, "'I lay down my life, so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again.'"

Now, I want you to listen to Matthew's account of the resurrection, earlier I read Luke's account. Follow along as I read from Matthew 28, beginning in verse one, "Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the LORD descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, For He has risen, just as he said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.'" My friends, the most irrefutable and compelling evidence that Jesus was indeed who he says he was, and is the son of God, is the fact that he rose from the dead. In fact, we read in Romans one four, "He was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead." The angelic announcement just runs shivers up my back. Can you imagine that, when they said, I invite you to come and see the place where he was lying. Come, see the stone rolled away from the sacred sepulcher. Enter the empty tomb, gaze upon the slab where your dear Savior was lying. The God-Man who was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows acquainted with grief is not there. His work is finished. And now he sets at the right hand of the Father, awaiting that day when he will return in power and great glory.

And dear friends, please hear me, someday every single person who has ever lived will see him. And you will see him either as your risen Savior and Lord, or as your righteous judge, and executioner. I wish to encourage every believer this morning by reminding you have the implications of Christ's resurrection. And this now takes us to our text in First Peter one, and I'm going to focus mainly on verses three through nine. So let me read that section to you and then give you a brief introduction to it. He says there in First Peter one three, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor, at the revelation of Jesus Christ; though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy and expressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

I want to give you three reasons to rejoice that comes out of this passage of Scripture? Number one, we rejoice in the promise of our faith. Secondly, the permanence of our faith and finally, the power of our faith. Again, as we go to First Peter one, let me give you a bit of context by looking at the first few verses that he gives us leading up to our text. It says in verse one, "Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens." The term in the original language denotes a pilgrim, a foreigner or a sojourner temporarily living in a strange place that is not one's home; a temporary residence whose laws and culture and everything about it is foreign. A person whose allegiance in love is for another place. The term is "paroikos" and we get the word English word "parish" from that is derived from the Greek term "paroikos." In fact, Calvary Bible Church, you might say, is a parish, an assembly of aliens. And I can say that in a rather comical way, but also in a spiritual way. Sometimes we do look and act like aliens. But to be sure, as believers, we're aliens here. This is not our home. And we all understand that. We are sojourners in this world. And he says he's writing to those who are aliens scattered throughout. This is the Diaspora, the Jews dispersed with their deportation. And through deportation, some of them voluntarily have left for a foreign land, though they longed for their land and for Jerusalem, for their temple. But their supreme longing was for heaven, as it is for each of us.

And he says that they are "scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia." These are all Roman provinces in Asia Minor, a listing that is perhaps in the order of the mail route in which this letter was originally delivered. It's interesting that in his lust to build, the Emperor Nero burned Rome, and he blamed it on Christians, which caused enormous persecution. And so these regions in which this letter is now being circulated, were hostile to Christians. So they suffered persecution, they were very badly in need of encouragement. Even years after Peter had written this letter, a man named Pliny the Younger was put in charge of Bithynia. And he wrote to the Emperor Trajan asking for advice about how to handle these Christians. And they tried to force them to recant their faith and worship their pagan gods. They had their own version of what we're dealing with in our country today, where we have to somehow celebrate all of the wickedness of our culture, and they wanted them to curse Christ and bow down before the emperor himself, the image of the Emperor. Some did, most did not. So, here's what Pliny wrote to the Emperor, quote, "It seems to me to be necessary to get advice. Because many in every age group, every status of life, and both male and female are now in danger, and will be in the future. This plague of superstition has spread over cities, and over the fields and villages. But I believe that its advance can be stopped." Well, obviously, he was wrong. The Lord has promised to build his church.

So, you must understand that our text here this morning is that really the front edge of this great expansion of Christianity, during a day of enormous persecution of both Jews and Gentiles? So, he says to them, the end of verse one, he says that you are those "who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." Remember, he's trying to encourage them; "who are chosen." "Eklektos"-- it's translated "elect." It means "to choose," "to pick," "to select." It denotes those whom God has sovereignly chosen for salvation. In fact, the same term is used in the Septuagint, to translate Deuteronomy 14 two that describes God's election or choosing of Israel. There we read that the Lord has "chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." So he's reminding these dear persecuted saints that their sovereign God has chosen them. What a wonderful comfort.

He says, "who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." Herein is why God chose us--it's because he wanted to. It was his divine prerogative to choose whom he will. He did it, it says, "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." "Foreknowledge" comes from a Greek term "prognosis." And it can also be translated, foreordained or foreloved or foreknown as it is in verse 20, of this passage. In fact, foreknowledge is paired with predestination in Acts two and verse 23, where we read, "This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God"-- referring to Christ. So the idea here of foreknowledge is far beyond some naive concept that God merely knew what would happen in the future. Although that is certainly true because he is omniscient, but the term must be understood in terms of covenantal love. In fact, the word "know" in Hebrew often refers to God's covenantal love, bestowed upon his people. So he not only knew who would be his, he chose them, according to his unconditional sovereign election. It was a divine decree, and he's using this to encourage them. And I am unimaginably, unbelievably encouraged that God would choose me, as you should be as well. Romans 8:28 We read that we are "called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew--"proginóskó" in the original language. "He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son." So foreknowledge speaks of predetermined choice, to set his love upon us and forge an intimate and indissoluble bond of love with us. So foreknowledge here must be understood as foreloved as foreordained, not merely for observed, there was never a time when God is in omniscience lacked knowledge, and he had to somehow look down the corridors of time and see who would and who wouldn't believe in Him, and based on that, decide to choose them. That is a heresy. That is untrue.

So Peter begins with these profound words of encouragement, as if to say, folks, I want you to remember that he set his love upon you in eternity past and he drew you unto himself. As Paul said in Romans 9:16, salvation "does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs"-- referring to human effort, "but on God who has mercy." Indeed, it is God who is the author and the finisher of our faith, not us. So the same God that chose us in eternity past, will, by the power of his omnipotent and sovereign love, safely deliver us unto himself in his good time, as he accomplishes his glorious plan of redemption.

Then in verse two, he says that he does this "by the sanctifying work of the Spirit." Sanctifying work, it means he sets us apart, or he consecrates us, not only unto salvation--that is the imputed righteousness and declared righteousness of Christ in our justification--but he also sets us apart under holy living. A process of conforming. Notice the universe to that you may "obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood." This is a curious phrase. In Exodus 24, one through eight, we understand what he's referring to here. And there, if we were to go to it, we would see that Moses rose up early in the morning, and he built an altar at the foot of the mountain and offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings unto the Lord. And he took half of the blood and put it in basins, and he took the other half and sprinkled it on the altar. And then we read that he read the book of the covenant to all of the people. And the book of the covenant would include all of the civil and the social, and the ceremonial, moral laws, etc., that God gave him on Mount Sinai. And they agreed, saying, "'All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient!'" And then in verse eight, we read this, "And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, 'This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you, according to all these words.'" So in response to the people's commitment, to be obedient, he officially sealed the treaty with the blood and likewise, you must understand, in the New Covenant, it is the blood of Christ, that seals God's covenant promise to us to forgive us of our sin. His blood was the perfect atonement--the propitiation-- as we mentioned earlier in our time of communion, that satisfied the justice of God, but his blood also seals our commitment to be obedient to Him.

So Peter, my point with all of this is just to simply say, Peter uses all of these magnificent theological themes to bring comfort to the Diaspora. To these aliens, to the suffering saints. Imagine what it would be like if it was us, if we had lost our homes, and maybe we're scrounging around just to find food someplace. Some of our family members have been tortured and killed. My how they needed comfort, as we all do. So he reminds them of the activities of all three members of the Godhead, the Triune God that we worship, our faith is a trinitarian faith and because of the absolute certainty of these astounding realities, he concludes his salutation by saying, "May Grace and peace be yours in fullest measure."

And then is if he couldn't contain himself--it's like he's just bursting to go on with verse three and following, out of all of this abundance--he gives the saints, three reasons to rejoice, all made possible by the resurrection of Christ. First, he tells them to rejoice in the promise of your faith. Now, I want to stop here for a moment. Remember, now, Peter is encouraging them to rejoice, and yet he knows what the Lord has told him, that is soon going to happen to him; that he is going to die by crucifixion. It's amazing, isn't it? How he is encouraging others knowing all of that; John 21:18 through 19 tells you that. Nevertheless, his heart is overflowing with joy. And the reason for this, dear friends is because he is relaxing in God's sovereign purposes for his life, and he's rejoicing in all that will be his in glory. And he also knows what the Lord said in Matthew 5:11, "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say, all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad for your reward in Heaven is great." Don't you love being around people that live in light of eternity? I mean, their joy is absolutely contagious. And it's rooted in the great truths of scripture. And so now he is able to encourage the struggling saints, dealing with life and death issues, calling them to do the same. He's telling them, I want you to live above the fray. I want you to live victoriously, don't lose hope, trust in the Lord. And here's the perspective that you must have.

Now we come to verse three. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Because again, the resurrection was a validation that Jesus was the Son of God and that he had conquered sin and Satan and death, and that his resurrection secures our resurrection body. What did Jesus say in John 14, I believe in verse nine or so, "Because I live, you too, will live," right? And it also secures our new spiritual life. We can go to Romans six and we read how that we've been buried with Christ and raised with him. So we too, might walk in newness of life. Goes on to talk how we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness. And this is why Paul said in Philippians, 3:10, that I want to know Christ "and the power of his resurrection." And so he's saying to these dear people, as I'm saying to you, folks, you are the recipients of divine mercy, he has set his love upon you in eternity past, he has given new birth to you, because you and maybe your family, to be born again to this living hope. You're a new creature in Christ, you have a new destiny.

Real practically, if I can put it this way, despite the wickedness that we know is occurring, even on this day, in our country, I'm so thankful to know that this godless world is not my home. And the reason I know that is because I know that according to his great mercy, he has caused me to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I have a living hope, you have a living hope. The concept here is you have an unshakable confidence confirmed and secured by the Holy Spirit of God that dwells within you. In fact, we read in Romans 15 in verse 13, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." O dear Christian, we possess a living hope, one that is confirmed and secured, by the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. An undeniable proof of the infinite power of God over death. Our hope is an abiding hope, it is an eternal hope, it is a spiritual power that cannot be extinguished by any circumstance in our life, unless we lose perspective. How incredibly glorious, that our God loves us with an everlasting love. And he has infused us with his nature and given us eternal life. As I think about it, what on earth can possibly dim this glorious light and cause, we as believers, to somehow live in gloom, and doom, and darkness? There's only one thing and that is you have lost your perspective of who you are in Christ--what he has done is doing and will do. You know, a man can endure just about anything as long as he has hope. You take away his hope, all is lost. And all too often Christians, perhaps unwittingly, doubt the goodness and faithfulness of God.

I think of James one and verse six, "the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind." Doubt--"diakrinō" in the original language--refers to a defective faith. It speaks of uncertainty of something that is set forward as an object of faith, not sure that all that I'm hoping in will happen. And you know doubt and depression walk hand in hand. That's the opposite of what Peter is trying to communicate here. I think of Bunyan's great spiritual allegory Pilgrims Progress. Remember, Bunyan, who in the allegory, is Christian. He had a friend named Hopeful. Bunyan succumbed to doubt, and so Christian, as the name is, in particular, lost his perspective of who he was in Christ and he was thrown into a dungeon of Doubting Castle, remember that story? That's where Giant Despair and his wife Distrust beat him mercilessly. He became so consumed, so overwhelmed by the problems in his life that he felt like he could go on no more. Feelings of sorrow and helplessness and bitterness and fear, and even anger just consumed him, enveloped him, like a cold, dark fog. He was blinded by self-deception. He was confused by errant doctrine, and he even refused to hear any words of encouragement from his friend, Hopeful. As a result, he felt like the only way out was suicide. And so here's what we read, "Now, when night had come and went Giant Despair and his wife, Distrust, had gone to bed, they began to renew their discussion of the prisoners. The old giant wondered why he couldn't bring the pilgrims to an end, either by his blows or his council. His wife said 'I fear that they live in hopes that someone will come to set them free. Or maybe they hope to find a way to pick the lock and escape. Since you mentioned it, my dear, I will go down and search them in the morning,' the giant replied. But it so happened that on Saturday, at about midnight, the pilgrims began to pray and continued in prayer until almost daybreak. Then Christian, a short time before daylight, became astounded and passionately exclaimed, 'What a fool I am. Here I lie in a stinking dungeon. When I could be walking in complete liberty. I have a key in my pocket called Promise that I'm sure will open any lock in Doubting Castle." And so as we go on to read, Christian pulled out the Key of Hope. He opened up the door and "the door flew open easily," it says.

Folks, this is a great illustration of what Peter was trying to do with those dear saints. And what, by the grace of God I'm trying to do with you, is to encourage you. Because it's so easy to be discouraged in these days. Never forget the promises that are yours in Christ. Because as soon as you do, you will begin to succumb to the deceptions of your own flesh and the lies of the evil one. And you will begin to sink down into the abyss of despair and discouragement. And you will reach out for the anesthetizers of life. Why do you think so many people are looking for drugs and alcohol these days? They have no hope. They're trying to escape. And for the believer, when you succumb to those things, you lock yourself in a dungeon of doubt and depression that will ultimately ruin your life, and it will ruin your testimony.

Notice Peter goes on further to describe the promise of our faith. He says in verse four, "to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you." Now as children, we have a family inheritance that awaits us, at least most people do. And the term "inheritance" here--"klēros" in the original language, literally means a portion of the lot. It's an allotment, especially according to the terms of will. In fact, in Colossians, one and verse five, Paul says that we have this "hope laid up for us in heaven." In other words, it's reserved for us. Verse 12, believers, he says, will please God when they are joyfully, quote, "giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light." Which includes all of the blessings of salvation.

By the way, I hope you notice we did not qualify ourselves by our own personal righteousness, rather solely because of his grace, he qualified us when we trust in Christ and his atoning sacrifice on our behalf. Verse 13, of Colossians, one goes on to say, "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Now, folks, I want you to let this sink in. Do you realize that if you belong to Christ, you have been allotted a portion of God's kingdom and it is an inheritance that is currently reserved for you with your name on it in heaven? Let that sink in. This is called a portion of the lot. Now you say, well, what will this include? Well, we're not really sure. A little hint maybe in Deuteronomy 15 four we read, "For the Lord will greatly bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance." So our inheritance will probably include some kind of geographical territory in the cosmos. In this case, it was a land flowing with milk and honey, a place of magnificent plants and livestock and water and houses, to make life full and enjoyable, to bring glory to God; a place where we could live that would just evoke even more glory, and worship and praise. Along with this, it was a place of responsibility, and a privilege to care and give oversight to what God has given us, as each family worshipped the Lord by having their dominion over the earth and subduing it for the glory of God. So somehow, I think it's safe to say that our portion of the lot will reflect some elements of all of this. But certainly, whatever it will be, it will be a possession of unimaginable glory and infinite delight.

And herein again is the reason to rejoice. That's the promise of our faith. Secondly, notice how we are to rejoice in the permanence of our faith. In verse four, he says that it "is imperishable"-- unending, everlasting, permanent. The term was used even to describe how a place cannot be ravaged by invading armies. Have you ever seen anyone able to steal the Christians joy and hope? Nobody can do that unless you allow that. And so this is great comfort to these people who have been ravaged, whose homes and possessions have been plundered by those who hate them, but not so in the permanent inheritance. He says also, it will be "undefiled." Meaning unstained by sin, uncontaminated by any form of evil, and "will not fade away." In other words, it will never decay, it will never cease to exist.

And if that isn't wonderful enough, he goes on in verse five, and says, "who are protected by the power of God." Protected here in the original was a military term describing a soldier that is standing guard over a very important object. And grammatically, because it's in the present tense, it emphasizes that this is a never ending, ongoing protection for indeed there's a constant struggle for our souls in the spirit realm; but we don't have to be afraid, because our souls, our inheritance, are constantly guarded by the power of God. You say, well, what about that person that was saved, and then they apostatize; they renounced their faith, they renounce their inheritance, they exercise their free will? What I would say is what the scripture says, they were never born again. No person who's truly been born again, would ever want to do such a thing, would never want to exercise their will to do such a thing. Both the child of God and his inheritance are protected by the power of God.

Again, verse five, it says, "through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." I want you to remember that even our faith is empowered by God, is it not? Do you realize that? Romans eight, I mean, Romans two beginning of verse eight, "For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." And I might add that as we look at Scripture, enduring faith is certain evidence that we possess genuine faith. That's why we read, for example, in Hebrews three and verse 14, "For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end" and that's the validation of genuine faith. And this salvation, he says, "is ready to be revealed in the last time." Again, grammatically here, and even in the English, we can see this he's saying that our salvation is completely prepared and available and awaiting the day when our pilgrimage on Earth is over, and God calls us home.

Therefore, notice what he says in verse six, "In this you greatly rejoice." Folks, I pray that this is true for you. So not only do we rejoice in the promise of our faith and the permanence of it, but finally, in the power of our faith. Verses six and seven. "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found," not might be, but "may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." We can all attest to the fact that the great trials that come into our life are like fire that burns away impurity in our life. And as we look at these two verses, there's seven things that we learn about trials.

Let me just give them to you; I don't have them written out for you. I want to close with these thoughts. We see that trials cannot eclipse Christian joy; we see that trials only last a little while; we see that trials are a necessary part of God's purposes; we see that trials do cause distress, that trials do come in various forms, that trials are fiery tests that validate true saving faith that will never perish. And finally, trials result in praise and glory and honor from Christ Himself.

Beloved, please know that God tempers the steel of our faith in the fires of adversity, and he forges it on the anvil of affliction. And so when they come, not if but when they come, we have to stand on the great theological promises that God has given us in His Word. And O child of God, ours is a powerful faith that can endure all of this. And as a result, we can be jubilant, we can be thankful, we can rejoice, knowing that King Jesus is going to return and reveal himself.

And he says this in verses eight and nine, he says, "Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." This is why Paul would say in Philippians, four, four, "Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice." And again, I say, that's the point. Just keep on rejoicing. Yeah, life in this fallen world stinks. Yeah, there are idiotic demonic types of things that our president and our government are going to try to force upon us. Welcome to a fallen world. The whole world lies in the lap of the evil one. Get used to it. That's just how it is. But this isn't our home. And ultimately, our God reigns. He rules and he will redeem us and transport us out of this place into his glory. Oh, but pastor, you just don't understand my situation. Oh, my problems are so great, it's far more bleak than you could ever imagine. So I think I'm quite justified in my despair. No, you're not. No, you're not. Friends, you've lost your perspective. You've forgotten about the object and the outcome of your faith

Great 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon, put it this way, "The cure for care is joy in the Lord. No, my brother, you will not be able to keep on with your fretfulness. No, my sister, you will not be able to weary yourself any longer with your anxieties. If the Lord will but fill you with His joy, than being satisfied with your God, yea, more than satisfied, overflowing with delight in Him, you will say to yourself," and here he quotes the psalmist, "Why art Thou cast down on my soul and why art Thou disquieted in me. Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance." Then he went on to say, "What is there on earth that is worth fretting for even for five minutes. If one could gain an imperial crown by a day of care, it would be too great an expense for a thing, which would bring more care with it. Therefore, let us be thankful. Let us be joyful in the Lord. I count it one of the wisest things, that by rejoicing in the Lord we commence our heaven here below. It is possible so to do. It is profitable, so to do. And we are commanded, so to do."

So folks, let me leave you with this challenge. The next time you find yourself in one of your pity parties. The next time you're laying on the couch with your thumb in your mouth whining about how bad life is. The next time you're moping around, like little Eeyore, that pitiful, forlorn little donkey in Winnie the Pooh. The next time your flesh lies to you and says, "it's all over, all is lost,” I want you to rejoice in the promise of your faith, in the permanence of your faith, and in the power of your faith. Because you have an inheritance if you are in Christ, that is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven, and that inheritance is protected by the power of God, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, and will raise you from the dead. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. They penetrate our soul like nothing else, because our soul has been softened and prepared, indeed transformed by the power of your Spirit. Lord, if there be one, within the sound of my voice that knows nothing of what it means to be in an intimate, loving, saving, transforming relationship with the Lord Jesus, I pray that you will bring such conviction to their heart that they will repent this day and experience the new birth, the miracle of the new birth in Christ, that they too might have the hope of resurrection. Thank you. We praise you in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen..

I've chosen as my text this morning a passage out of Romans chapter 13. If you will take your Bibles and turn there, Paul's epistle to the Romans, we're going to look at verses eight through 14. And I've entitled my discourse to you "Awaken the Day is Near." Let me read the passage. Romans 13, beginning with verse eight, "Owe, nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,' and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ' YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR ARS YOURSELF.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts."

As we embark upon a new year, I believe it's appropriate for us to begin with an understanding and a firm conviction of how important it is for us to be sober minded as believers; especially as it relates to the schemes of the devil as he tries to destroy us, destroy our families. And therefore we need to awaken ourselves, awaken our life, to a greater sense of obedience and service to Christ. We're very familiar with that term that's batted around all the time, the term "woke." It's really a nebulous, liberal buzzword that encompasses an obsession with social inequalities, real or perceived, such as racial injustice or sexism, LGBTQ discrimination, and so forth. And of course, all of this has fueled the morally bankrupt groups like the alphabet mafia. Black Lives Matter, DEI, which is now collapsing under its own stupidity--thankfully; and even the pro-Hamas movement that we are dealing with today. Of course, none of this can coexist with biblical Christianity, yet it is being forced upon us at alarming rates. And very successfully, I might add, even in so-called "woke" churches. We are commanded in Romans 12 nine to quote, "Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good." And Paul said in First Thessalonians 5:21 that we are to "abstain from every form of evil." Evil is essentially everything that God opposes. It can be classified really under two headings, moral evil and supernatural evil. Moral evil, is that evil and that enemy within us; supernatural evil is that enemy outside of us. Moral evil is basically sin that dominates human life; wickedness that violates the law of God. It's the abominations that God describes. There's a number of them, especially the abomination of sexual immorality, homosexuality, transgenderism, murder, idolatry and so forth. In fact, Proverbs six beginning of verse 16, we read, "There are six things which the Lord hates, yes seven which are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers." So those types of things would be consistent with moral evil that we are to abstain from and to abhor.

But then there's supernatural evil, that's demonic evil; the unmitigated wickedness that characterizes Satan's world system. And we're all aware of First John 5:19 that says that, "The whole world lies in the power of the evil one." The world certainly is the the supernatural expression of evil against which we all wrestle as believers. Abhoring what is evil and abstaining from it and clinging to what is good will always be the mark of a true believer and distinguish true believers from false believers. R.H Mounce said, quote, "To love God is to regard evil with horror. Unfortunately, familiarity with a culture that is shaped by the forces of Satan has lulled to many believers into a state of general tolerance for whatever deviant behavior is in vogue at present. We are to abhor evil, because it is the enemy of all that leads to Christlikeness." As I have written elsewhere, it is appalling to witness the creative yet blasphemous ways the Bible is distorted among many professing Christians in their effort to embrace everything from homosexuality to transgenderism, as if such things are morally acceptable in God's eyes. Worse yet, such blatantly unbiblical positions are boldly touted as being examples of Christian love, when just the opposite is true. When the eternal souls of men and women are at stake, there can be no greater act of hatred, than to make people comfortable in their sin, and thus doom them to God's righteous judgment, like the false prophets, who, according to Jeremiah, 23:14, and 16, "strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah...They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord."

So what must we do as we face a new year? How can we fortify ourselves against all of the things that we see surrounding us that are evil? All of the damning deceptions? How can we protect our children from them? How can we honor God in the battle? How can we enjoy the fullness of all that is ours in Christ in the midst of the types of things we are experiencing in our culture?

You know, I was thinking about this, with respect to the term "woke" as Christians; we need to be woke in the biblical sense, right? This was Paul's concern for the persecuted saints at Rome, that we read in our text this morning, especially in verse 11, he says, "Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us, nearer to us than when we believed." So he says, "Do this," well do what? Curse the Romans? Obsess over all of the evil of that day? Compromise with the world so that somehow they will like Christ? And like us? No, he says, instead, "lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." And that's what we want to understand better this morning so that we can apply these principles to our life in a very practical and real way in the days ahead.

You will recall in Ephesians six, the Apostle Paul speaks to us about the armor that we need to wear in this battle against Satan's world system. He says beginning in verse 11, "Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm." And then, as you will recall, he goes on to describe the various pieces of armor that symbolizes our need for sound doctrine for truth, for holy living. Likewise, Paul said in First Thessalonians, five, beginning in verse four, "But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief." There the day is referring to the "day of the Lord" that has been described previously. The day of the Lord is for the people of the night, the time of judgment, the people who prefer darkness rather than light not for people of the day. He went on to say, "for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet, the hope of salvation."

So Paul's admonition in our text here this morning, especially in verse 12, will further elucidate these great principles in a very practical way. He says, "The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." And again, I find it fascinating--he's addressing persecuted saints, trying to encourage them, helping them to know what they are to do. And by the way, they were persecuted in ways that are far beyond what we are experiencing. And they were about to experience things even far worse. But there is no call here to political activism. There is no call here to rebellion against the government, as evil as that government was, but rather his overall emphasis, in this chapter, is to live submissively as living sacrifices, especially as it relates to fulfilling our obligation to love one another, in light of the end of the age.

Isn't it true that when we are besieged with evil all around us, it's easy for us to focus our attention on the evildoers, right? And neglect our own heart. We can get angry at all of the wicked things that we see, that we experience; the unfair things, the insane things that we see, that's indicative of the wrath of divine abandonment on our country, consistent with Romans one, where he finally just gives people over to a worthless mind, literally a mind that cannot function. It's easy to shake our fist at all of those things, and neglect the issues of our own heart, and that's what Paul is dealing with here. And that's what we must hear as well. We must love our enemies enough to give them the gospel, to pray for them. And most importantly, we must love the Lord our God, with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul, our all of our strength. And when we do this, we will be obedient to Him. And we will love one another because dear friends, we need one another, especially in great times of difficulty. We need fellowship, we need to be around other believers. And we need to love them; and this is the heart of the apostle's admonitions.

Let me give you the context here. You will recall that Paul has just explained the astounding doctrine of the justification of faith, along with the amazing truths pertaining to Israel's election, defection and salvation as we read in Romans 9,10 and 11. And then beginning in chapter 12, he addresses the very practical issues concerning the Christians attitude toward God, toward fellow believers, and all people, even civil authorities. And now in verses eight through 14, he summarizes these great truths by drawing our attention to the second commandment, that we should love our neighbor as ourself. Again, persecution can lead to frustration, it can lead to anger, it could lead to hatred, it can wear us down and cause us to become self-focused. And so without us realizing it, we can become just the opposite of who we are to be and how we are to think and how we are to function. For example, how we are to love our neighbor as delineated in that great Treatise of love that's found in First Corinthians 13. Allow me to read the opposite of what the Apostle Paul says. And I'll try to make that very practical for each of us. If we are impatient, unkind, jealous, we love to brag about ourselves, if we're arrogant, rude, demanding, controlling, easily offended; if we keep a record of wrongs if we try to justify our unrighteousness; if we tolerate error and untruths in our life, if we gossip and love to expose, ridicule, criticize, and harm those we don't like, rather than trying to cover their sin and support and protect and restore them. Or if we are always suspicious of others, and immediately believe the worst in them. If we have a reputation as one who has no desire to restore others to righteousness, especially those people that we don't like, if we quickly give up hope that God's grace will restore a person that has fallen, if we give up on others easily instead of enduring with them with a steadfast faith in God's redeeming and restoring love. If that is us, dear friends, then our love bears little, if any, resemblance to Christ's love for us. And we stand guilty as charged, do we not?

We all struggle with these things, even more so when difficulties are pressed upon us. And as a result, we forfeit God's blessing in our life. We grieve the spirit, we can forfeit the Spirit's work in our life, and quench that work. Little by little, we become ruled by our own flesh rather than the spirit. And worse yet, we undermine our witness for Christ. Because in our life, the way we function, is dishonoring to him. So I've chosen as a real simple outline, to look at this passage this morning-- three categories that I hope will help us all grasp what the Spirit of God is saying through his inspired writer. We're going to see the priority, the function and the urgency of love.

First of all, notice what he says with respect to the priority of love. He says, "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another." Now, you may recall that he has just exhorted Christians to pay their taxes to civil authorities. And he now focuses on the same obligation to pay our debts in our private life, namely, the debt of love. A debt that can never be fully paid. I mean think about it, none of us can say you know, I have loved all I need to love, my obligation is now finished; none of us can say that. The 20th century theologian H.C.G. Moule, said this, "The Christian is to allow no debt to remain outstanding except the one that can never be paid off-- the debt to love one another. The obligation to love has no limit."

Now, as a footnote, this is not a prohibition against borrowing money, as some people will claim. Jesus permitted that, for example, in Matthew 5:42. He said, "'Give to him who asks of you and do not turn away from Him who wants to borrow from you.'" In fact, borrowing and lending money were permitted under the Mosaic Law, according to Exodus 22 and verse 25. However, nowhere in Scripture are we justified to borrow more than we can afford to pay back or for the reason of purchasing luxuries that we really don't need and we can't afford. But we can also conclude, even from this statement, that the financial debts are to be paid promptly. And in this connection, we read according to Psalm 37:21, "The wicked borrows but does not pay back." It's like the one who runs up his or her credit card, buying more than they can possibly pay back and eventually they drown in debt. And then they get bailed out by somebody else and we all pay for it with higher interest rates, right? That's how that whole thing works. But Paul's use of the imagery of debt here, you must understand this--it extends far beyond the issue of personal finances. It speaks of the Christian's perpetual obligation of love. That's his point here. We are debtors to God for the undeserved mercy and grace of his love that he is lavished upon us. We are to love the Lord our God, and to love our neighbors and because of God's transforming grace, the Holy Spirit dwells within us. And therefore, we have all of the necessary resources to make payments on all of this.

First Thessalonians, four nine, "you yourselves are taught by God to love one another." And is this not the first fruit of the Spirit? In Galatians, five and verse 22, the Holy Spirit that prompted us to come to repentant faith, that caused us to see our sin for what it was and to see who Christ is, and what he has done for us--that same Holy Spirit prompts the believer to obedience, that is the desire of our heart. Especially in the realm of self-sacrificing love. You see, obedience will be the natural desire of that transformed heart, and what an amazing resource we have in Christ, to help us love as we should. In fact, we read in Romans five, five, Paul reminds us that, "The love of God has poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

You see, the point with all of this is when we submit to the Holy Spirit, in our daily walk, we have at our disposal, the supernatural power of the indwelling Spirit that produces within us an inexhaustible reservoir of self-sacrificing love with which we can love others. So the key is walking by the Spirit, being obedient to the Spirit of God, as He has revealed Himself in His Word. And when we do that, this love is going to be a fruit that just naturally grows on the vine of our life. May I ask you, is this kind of love a distinguishing characteristic of your life? Would those who know you best say that it is? But our love must not only be extended to our brothers and sisters in Christ, but even to the unsaved. Our first obligation is to fellow Christians. We read this, for example, in John 13, beginning in verse 34. "'A new commandment,'" Jesus says, "'I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you that you, also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.'" So fellow believers are to be the first priority in love. They are to hold a special place in our hearts. In fact, Paul speaks of this in Romans 12 and verse 10. He says, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor," verse 13, he says, "contributing to the needs of the saints." Then he says, "practicing hospitality." The term "practicing" in the original language carries the idea of vigorous effort, intentional effort; using our home to help those in need, does that describe you? Is that a desire of your heart?

This, by the way, is at the heart of our philosophy of missions here at Calvary Bible Church, to first meet the needs of our own people, meet the needs of others as best we can around the world who know and love Christ. Our priority of benevolence is first to the saints. We see this for example, in Galatians six and verse 10, where Paul says, "while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." And Paul even exhorts us to love fellow believers in his letter to the Colossians. He said this in Colossians, three beginning in verse 12, "And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so that so you also so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity."

But again, our love must be extended to all men even unbelievers, even our enemies, which is a fascinating thought; very difficult for us to comprehend. I'll try to make it clear. Jesus made this clear in Matthew 5:44. First of all, he says, "'You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.'" And Paul said in Romans 12, verse 14, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not." Now, if you're like me, the natural response, typically of my flesh, is not to bless, but to retaliate. You know, to get even, to curse them somehow. But I have to make a choice to love. And by the way, the more we walk by the Spirit, the easier that choice is. So we are to pray for them. To seek to do them good. He goes on in verse 20 and following, "'BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." And this would include being obedient to the list that's found with respect to love in First Corinthians 13. And it would also include praying for the lost, giving them the gospel--doing all we can to somehow demonstrate the love of Christ to them so that they would come to repentant faith.

But I would also add, and this is very important, because sometimes people get confused with this. This is not a call to pacifism. This is not a call to pacifism or allowing evil to go unpunished or unrestrained. Loving your neighbor would include defending them from criminal attacks, from deceptive practices and even grievous sin in the church. I mean, there is a place for church discipline--Matthew 18. And there is a place to reject a factious man--Titus 3:10. There is a place for turning away from those who cause dissensions and hindrances in the church--Romans 16, 17 and following. There is even a time for war--Ecclesiastes three and verse eight. Which I might add as a necessary component of divine justice, and an extension of capital punishment. Genesis nine six tells us, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed." Now, the misguided pacifist will say, "Well, how can you harmonize a call to arms with Jesus blessings on meekness; we are to love our enemies, turn the other cheek, return good for evil?" Well, the answer is, in every case, when Jesus called for these virtuous attitudes, the issue was always the need for the mortification of pride that inevitably seeks retaliation for personal offenses. That was the issue. Jesus' passion was a call to surrender our fanatical, rabid commitment to personal rights and vengeance. That's just so natural for us and replace those attitudes with the love of Christ. But never do these admonitions apply to the very appropriate, and many times necessary, need for defense and retaliation against criminal offenses in the military aggression of evil men. I can assure you, if Hamas terrorists break into my house, I'm not going to reach for a Bible track, I'm gonna reach for my gun. I'm gonna love my family enough to protect them. I'm not going to say well, here's my other cheek, you know, go ahead and do these vicious things. I hope you understand that. God even considers capital punishment, as I said earlier, as a logical extension in war. And that is even a deterrent to crime as indicated in Deuteronomy 17, verse 13, where he warns, quote, "Then all the people will hear and be afraid and will not act presumptuously again."

So all of that to say God's call for us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek carries the idea of mortifying our self-centered pride, and our natural proclivity to retaliate when we are personally offended. It's not a blanket call to pacifism. So verse eight, "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another." There's the priority of love. Now secondly, notice the function of love. The end of verse eight, "for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." And here we see that this all-embracing love has a function and what is it? Well, it fulfills the law. And that is our duty. We cannot be obedient to God's law, if we do not love as we should. And Paul is merely repeating what Jesus said about the law being summed up in the commandments to love, as we read in Matthew 22, beginning in verse 37, where Jesus said, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.'" Now bear in mind, no man is saved by keeping the law. I hope you understand that. "By the works of the law," according to Romans 3:20, "no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." So Paul is not saying that, hey, if you just really love other people, the way you should, then you will fulfill the law and be saved. By the way, no one could ever love perfectly. No one could ever love the Lord perfectly.

And secondly, we know that salvation is always by grace through faith. Romans three verse 21, we read, "But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested." In verse 24. He says, sinners are "justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." So how does love fulfill the law? Very appropriate question. I'm glad you asked. There's many places we could go to answer that, but Romans eight, beginning in verse three helps us. There we read that God, "condemned sin in the flesh," referring to how sin and that condemnation was poured out upon the flesh of Christ on the cross--in order that "the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." Beloved, this is so exciting, as Christians, think about this, we are no longer concerned about somehow meeting the requirements of the law in order to be saved. Right? All of that was taken care of on the cross. That's the great doctrine of justification; whereby the imputed righteousness of Christ causes God to say that we are now declared as righteous. But what he is saying here is that the requirement of the Law is now being fulfilled in us as the Holy Spirit works through and in us to cause us to walk in faith and obedience. It's the Spirit that empowers us to love. Again, bear in mind, the Law reflects the character of God. And for this reason, the Law is still perfectly valid, in that sense. But now, as we walk "according to the Spirit," as the Apostle says, God Himself fulfills the requirements of the Law in us and through us. And by our love for God and others, we put his holiness, and we put his glory on display. Beloved, this is the function of love; to fulfill the law by the power of the Holy Spirit that causes us to manifest the love of God in our lives, to the praise of his glory.

But there is more. As we love God and our neighbor, it is unimaginable what God does. Because when we do that God reciprocates in ways that are inconceivably precious. When we do that, the Triune God discloses himself to us, in intimate and powerful ways. We read about this in John 14:21, where Jesus said, "'He who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and he will disclose Myself to him.'" In other words, he will cause me to be manifested in a more intimate way to you, to make me more fully known in you, to reveal more of who I am in you. In verse 23, went on to say, "'and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.'" The term "abode" means to settle down, to make your home permanently. What a magnificent promise to experience the soul exhilarating joy of the presence of the Triune God deep within our soul. And the key to that is being obedient in loving others, even when we are persecuted.

Next, verse nine of chapter 13, Paul is going to illustrate what love looks like. He's going to cite five specific Old Testament laws. The first four are taken directly from the 10 commandments and the fifth from one that is cited in Leviticus 19 and verse 18, if you want to be technical. He says this in verse nine, "For this, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,' And if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'" I love the way Hendrickson explains Paul's emphasis here, very helpful. He said, quote, "You shall love and therefore not commit adultery, but preserve the sacredness of the marriage bond. You shall love and therefore not murder, but help your neighbor keep alive and well. You shall love and accordingly not steal anything that belongs to your neighbor, but rather protect his possessions. You shall love and as a result, not covet what belongs to your neighbor, but rejoice in the fact that it is his." End quote. And by loving in such a way, we love our neighbor as ourselves.

You ever thought about that how you love yourself? Boy, I love myself warts and all, right? I am hopelessly biased in my own favor. I mean, I can see the speck in your eye, a mile away, I can't see the log in my own. That's how we love ourselves unconditionally. That's how we are to love our neighbor. We're blind to our own faults, right? We simply don't see our own faults typically. And when we do, they don't bother us that much, until the Spirit of God really gets a hold of us. Bear in mind that sin manifests itself primarily in the context of relationships. Our love of self warps our personality and it creates a myriad of manipulative and destructive interpersonal styles of relating. I mean, we could go around this room and just start pointing out each other's interpersonal style of relating, you know, and we can see that some are obnoxious, some are strange, others are controlling. Others are bossy, critical, angry, arrogant, goofy, flamboyant, rude, on and on it goes. And seldom do we realize how we impact other people. Because we're so comfortable with our interpersonal style of relating; it works for us. It's how our flesh functions. But boy we can sure get upset when somebody else's interpersonal style of relating bugs us; bothers us; causes conflict in us. But whether we like a person or not, we still must choose to love them. You've heard me say this jokingly before--and I sincerely mean this--I love all of you, but I wouldn't want to go camping for a week with all of you. I mean, that's just how it works, right? We're all different. But we love one another, and we care for one another.

Paul then adds this summary statement in verse 10, "Love does no wrong to a neighbor." Unless the guy's a jerk. Oh, no, no, it doesn't say that--I'm sorry. "Love does no wrong to a neighbor, love therefore is the fulfillment of the law." Indeed, love does no wrong to a neighbor because it's seeking the neighbor's highest good. You know agape love is that self-sacrificing love; that love of choice. It's the opposite of self-love, that is really at the heart of sin. And bear this in mind the next time you attack or ignore a neighbor, or the next time you deliberately seek to injure someone you don't like. When you do that you are not fulfilling the law. You're violating it and you're bringing reproach upon Christ. And you will forfeit blessing in your life and even bring about divine chastening, because typically that will become a pattern in your life. Don't you love being around people that really love other people? I mean, you can, it's like you can see it just almost immediately when you're around them. And then there's those others where it's kind of like, you know, when you turn the magnets where they won't come together, you know, you've got that, that can go on too. Well, even when you have that kind of person, you need to love them. And maybe by God's grace, they will come around.

So we've seen the priority of love, the purpose of love and then now we move into, I should say, the function of love, and then we move finally to the urgency of love. And I'll close with this. In verse 11 he says, "Do this, knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed." So when he says, "and this do," he's referring to all the preceding admonitions, don't just read them, don't ignore them; don't be just a hearer of the word. But be a doer of the word. Why? Knowing the time, literally the season, the era in which you live-- which in this context, he's referring to the last days, the age of apostasy that will culminate in our Lord's return. And here the apostle is basically making an appeal to eschatology, to the imminent return of the Lord. And "this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep." "Ypnos" in the original language, we get "hypnosis" from that or "hypnotism." And many Christians live as if they're, they've been hidden and hypnotized by the world. They're spiritually asleep. They're oblivious to all the things going on around them. They're unresponsive to the Word and the will of God; there's no sense of urgency. They just kind of live out their life, looking for the next tailgate party. There's no imperatives in their life; there's no passion to present themselves as a living and holy sacrifice to God, which is pleasing to Him. Because He is coming, he's watching and he's coming. And that's what Paul is saying here. Make it a priority here--to love in this way, to do these things.

In fact, many people have no interest in Bible prophecy. "It's so confusing. Let's don't even study it. We don't know when he's going to come. So let's just don't worry about it." Well, that's not at all what the Lord tells us, what Christ inspired John to write in Revelation one and verse three. He said, "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near." By the way time there's the same word that Paul uses here in verse 11. The season, the era of Christ's return, the next great epoch of redemptive history, will be the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I must ask you, is there anything pertaining to your spiritual life that you would say is really urgent? Pressing, burning? Well, what Paul is saying here, he's exhorting us to make this something that is urgent, the things that he's been talking about here in this text. You know, we expect apathy from non-believers, they're blinded by their sin, they're at enmity with God. They hear the things of God and they think it's stupid. They can't believe anybody would believe any of these things, or live for any of these things, because they're spiritually dead. We were the same way until the Spirit of God changed us. But obviously, this was a serious issue, even for the saints in the first century. The imminent return of Christ and all of his glory was a powerful motivation in Paul's life, and it should be for us as well. First Corinthians 15, verse 34, Paul said, "Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God, I speak this to your shame." So again, he writes in verse 11, of Romans 13, "And this do, knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep." It's time for you to be woke, Christians--woke in the biblical sense. To be awakened to a life of greater obedience and service to Christ, especially with respect to our love for him and for one another. He even shook the lethargic saints in Ephesus, in Ephesians five verse 14, he said "Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." You see, there is no place for indolence in the Christian life; there is no place for apathy. There is no place for just kind of letting things go. Beloved, we are at war. And if you don't see that, you're a fool. You have been blinded. We are at war; the king is coming. That's why Paul said in Ephesians five, verse 16. "Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is." Think about this the next time you post something on Facebook, the place where our culture tends to go to worship the idol of self, to get affirmed, to promote themselves. To put that real practically, can you imagine the apostle Paul, if they had Facebook and social media in that day, posting things about himself, all the trivia about his life? I mean, can you imagine a post like "Well, hey, had another run with the Scribes and Pharisees today. Took them to task, they got mad, as usual, getting behind on my tent making. You know, anybody that needs a tent let me know, sales are kind of slow right now. Oh, and still struggling with aching joints; the olive oil is not working. If anybody has any recommendations, let me know." You see what I mean? We laugh, don't we? Because those things are utterly absurd to the priority of seeing men and women come to saving faith in Christ and loving them enough to share the gospel. We are to be like Christ, we are to be about the business of the Heavenly Father. And in his first letter, Peter admonished believers in First Peter four, verse 7. That, quote, "The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer." And similarly, James wrote, in James five verse eight, "Be patient; strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand." In other words, it's the next major thing that's going to happen in God's timetable.

So dear Christian, be careful. Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold so that you begin to think and act like them and lose perspective of what's really important. Again, verse 11, "And this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed." In fact, it's now 2000 years nearer than when they believed right? And here's the urgency of it all, in verse 12, he goes on to say, "The night is almost gone, the day is at hand." Night speaks of the darkness of Satan's kingdom. Some men love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. In this age of spiritual blindness and unbelief and rebellion against God the Most High, is almost gone. It carries the idea of it's nearly over, it's ready to draw to a close, the next thing will be the return of the King. And then he says, "and the day is at hand." That's a New Testament term used to describe the dawning, as it were, of Christ's glorious appearing. Obviously, it's used here, and serves as a stark contrast to the night of evil and deception and wickedness and rebellion.

So Paul exhorts us all to be motivated to love, to obedience, because it's urgent. "The night is almost gone, the day is at hand. Therefore," he says in verse 12, "let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." The laying aside is used in other passages. It even carries the idea of changing your clothes. You might say here, folks, it's time to take off your pajamas and put on your armor. Because we're at war. That's the idea. Break away from your old way of living; all the worldliness; all the immaturity.

Verse 13, "Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing"--interesting term. It carries the idea of a binge party, an occasion for excessive eating or drinking with moral debauchery, normally ensuing. And he says, "drunkenness"--behave properly, not in drunkenness, "not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality." My that's a fascinating term in the original language. It means "shameless immorality." Don't we see that today? The way immorality is flaunted in our culture, there is no shame anymore. It carries the idea of indulgence and in sensual pleasure that is unrestrained by any kind of convention or morality. To put it real practically, it's the spring break mentality. It's the honky tonk mentality. It's the strip joint mentality. Break away from that, don't have any part of that. And then he says, as well, "not in strife or jealousy." Strife or just referring to bitter conflict--sometimes that can lead to violence. But instead, verse 14, "Put on," it literally carries the idea of clothing yourself, "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." The verb "put on" carries the idea of decisive action. It’s something you better see, you better commit yourself to, it's urgent--"put on the Lord Jesus Christ." It is a deliberate choice to let Jesus Christ be the armor that you wear. That's the idea; to be like Him, to live to the praise of his glory.

Then he says, "and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts." "Make no provision," the original language helps us understand that this is referring to this idea of not allowing anything to have any kind of evil to have a place in our thinking. We don't want to think about that, we don't want to see it, we don't want to act on it. Give it no opportunity--no opportunity for the flesh in regard to its lusts. Then in Ephesians four, verse 24, Paul says, the same thing, "put on the new self." What is the new self? The one that has been transformed, right? The one that has been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. This is, again, the glory of regeneration. Where there's a spiritual resurrection--we once were dead--he causes us to rise from spiritual death to spiritual life; we become a new creature in Christ, the old things pass away, the new things come. Our every desire, and the disposition of our mind and our heart, is now going in a radically different direction. Unless we allow ourselves, to once again, fall back into sin. Put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. May I challenge you, dear church family, make this your New Year's resolution. May we be a church that is known for our love. May we be a church that abhors what is evil, and clings to that which is good, that abstains from every form of evil. May we be a church that is fully awake to the reality that the night is almost gone and the day is at hand? Folks live in light of the return of our glorious Savior and King. These are dark days. Yes, absolutely. But my, they're exciting days, are they not? What a contrast God has given the world to see the light of Christ emanating from us, from our lives as our lives redound to the glory of God, and they see Christ in us. So let's be the light that we should be. And that it's manifested primarily in our love for Him and our love for one another. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. My, they speak so directly to each one of us. And rightfully so, because it is your spirit that has written them. And it is your spirit that illuminates our hearts, so that we cannot just understand them intellectually, but we can embrace them wholeheartedly, in the very core of our being and live them out with great joy. So we pray to that end that you will help us to do as you have asked us to do and that in so doing, we might enjoy the fullness of all that is ours in Christ and that others will come to a place of genuine saving faith. We ask all of this in the precious name of Jesus and for his sake. Amen.

Thanks to each of you musicians that lead us so effectively and with such excellence, and humility, and love for Christ, we appreciate that very much. So, will you take your bibles and turn to Micah chapter five. We're going to look primarily at verse two, along with a number of other passages. Micah chapter five. For some of you, the pages in your Bible are still stuck together in that particular section. Amazing passage of scripture here that I would like to deal with under the heading "Bethlehem's King Prophesied."

Let me read the text. Micah five and verse two, "'But as for you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you, One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.'" Clearly, God's redemptive purposes were ordained in eternity past, even as we have just read, and what a comfort that is to the redeemed, especially as we witnessed the catastrophic consequences of the wrath of divine abandonment upon our country, and we experience all manner of wickedness all around us. And how thankful we can be that according to Second Timothy, one, beginning in verse nine, God "has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." And because of this magnificent reality, the Lord has given us a great commission. As you will recall, we read about this in Matthew 28, beginning in verse 19, we are to, "'Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'" And this Christmas Eve, this morning, actually, which is the eve of Christmas, I hope to help you get lost once again in the wonder and the praise of who Christ is as we reflect upon his incarnation.

The Christmas story is filled with marvelous mysteries and captivating drama that animate the heart of every twice born saint to new levels of adoration and praise. And I wish to remind you this morning of some essential truths pertaining to Christ, that sometimes we forget, and certainly in our culture truths that are utterly eclipsed by all of the materialism and debauchery and everything else that this particular season now embraces. Because the more we know about Christ, frankly, the more we will love him. And the more we will long for his presence.

Now by way of introduction, in Luke two, we learned that the angel of the Lord appeared to a group of shepherds one night, as they were caring for their sheep on the hill surrounding Jerusalem, which would have been a grazing area for animals that were to be used for temple sacrifices. And they had no idea that the final sacrifice, the Lamb of God, was about to be born. Nor were they aware that they were the divinely chosen recipients of the angelic announcement that's recorded in Luke two beginning in verse 10. They, "said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there appeared with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, 'Glory to God and the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.'" Wouldn't you have loved to have been there, to have seen that. Ah, we will see much greater things will we not?

Well, immediately they went straight to Bethlehem, the city of David, which was on the southern slope of Mount Zion just a few miles away. And then Luke tells us in verse 18, that "they made known the statement which had been told them about this child." And then in verse 19, and "Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart." Imagine what would have gone through that young girl's mind. To think, "I have given birth to my Creator." The one who is utterly unapproachable, and holy, and transcendent, has taken on human flesh. And I now hold him in my arms. The one I caress; the one I nurse is the ruler of heaven and earth, the Messiah of Israel. The little hand that holds my finger is the omnipotent hand that will hold the royal scepter. How can this be? And it's astounding is it not, that the Christ child would be lying there in a feeding trough. There's the royal monarch in a place where animals would normally eat. He's not in a house or even a palace but in a stable. And then suddenly, the shepherds come. Don't you know they were sprinting as fast as they could go. They're wild eyed and out of breath, and they're trying to describe what they saw and what they have heard; trembling, shaking as they speak. And certainly Mary and Joseph had to have been speechless.

It's also interesting, as I think about it, prior to giving birth, Mary's comprehension of what was about to happen and the magnitude of her praise, really, as recorded in Luke one is a testimony of the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit, and her profound grasp of the Old Testament scriptures as a teenager. So Mary would have understood that what the shepherds told her was clearly a fulfillment of prophecy. One prophecy, in particular; the same prophecy later spoken to the terrified Herod who inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. Inquired of the, of the Magi--I should say, the chief priests and the scribes--and then later on the Magi come as we've just read. And you will remember that they told him where he was going to be born, and it was in Bethlehem. And they quoted Micah five two. "Herod, we can tell you it's recorded in Micah chapter five and verse two." Of course, it wasn't designated as such in that day. But I'm sure they read it to him. "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago from the days of eternity." What an amazing prophecy, one that was given roughly 700 years before Christ was born. Prophecy that no doubt Mary pondered in her heart.

And as we look at this text, I believe there are at least four spiritual truths that emerge from the prophecy; each one pointing to the glory we have Christ. And I'd like for us to just examine them briefly here this morning, as an act of worship. We're going to see first of all, the birthplace of the king. Then secondly, the rule of the King. Thirdly, the sending of the king and finally, the eternality of the king. Now, it's always important that we understand the context of a passage that we are examining. So let me help you remember this. The context of Micah's prophecy pertained to what was going on in Israel. In that day, the northern kingdom of Israel, was about to fall to Assyria when Micah began his ministry, which by the way, focus primarily on the southern kingdom of Judah where he was from. And unlike his contemporary, Isaiah, who addressed the court of Jerusalem, Micah, preached to the common folks like us, the Calvary Bible Church folks. And sadly, the reign of Ahaz had brought spiritual lethargy to the people and decay, hypocrisy, idolatry, and morality. All of those kinds of things. In fact, they violated the most basic tenets of the Mosaic Covenant. In chapter six, verse eight, he reminds them of what the Lord required of them, quote, "To do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God." But they weren't doing any of those things. It was all a show of religion. In that day, Judah was a very prosperous nation. Their culture was marked by affluence. They were militarily invincible, convinced that they were blessed by God, but their outward prosperity concealed their inward wickedness and rebellion against God. You may recall in Isaiah five there is a graphic picture of their corruption, which frankly, is a perfect portrayal of the United States of America. Judah was characterized by materialism and greed and drunkenness, and debauchery of all sorts. They redefined morality. They called evil good and good evil. They were haughty and defiant. Their leadership and their judicial system was corrupt. All of these things are in Isaiah five. And they fully embraced religious syncretism, where they would combine many different beliefs into one religion, like our modern ecumenism. And the Old Testament sacrificial system included the worship of some of the most vile forms of Canaanite fertility god-worship; worship of Baal and so forth. In fact, the land was filled with high places where those hideous practices would occur. So God commissioned his servant Isaiah, I mean Micah, to prophesy to them and Micah actually means "who is like the Lord." And his message was basically this folks-- Because God is infinitely holy and because of his covenantal relationship with Judah, he must judge you for your sin and your disobedience. But eventually, he will establish his kingdom and he will install his king who will reign in righteousness. And here we see a biblical theme that emerges all through Scripture, and that is salvation always comes through judgment.

And he gives a warning in chapter five and verse one, he says, "'Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; they have laid siege against us; with a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.'" And although Assyria was the immediate threat, eventually, according to Second Kings, chapter 24, and 25, in 586 the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem. Burned it, plundered it, and they captured Zedekiah the King who did evil in the sight of the Lord, the text tells us and then in a hideous act of barbarism, they brought all of the sons of the King before Nebuchadnezzar and he then slaughtered all of Zedekiah sons before him and then put out the king's eyes, so that the massacre of his sons would be the last thing he ever saw. And then he shackled Zedekiah in bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon. So this was Micah's inspired prophecy of impending doom, because of their sin. But this horrific judgment was followed by a message of hope, a promise of salvation, a promise of future blessing. Because God is faithful to his covenant, because of God's unchanging covenant to their forefathers; and this hope is presented to us here in this text.

So first, I want you to notice what is said concerning number one, the birthplace of the king. And yes, Jesus is the King of kings, the Lord of lords. So when you see the baby in the manger, look beyond that and know who he really is. Again, verse two, "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you, One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel." Now let's look at this closely. "Ephrathah" means fruitfulness or abundance. And Bethlehem was known for its vineyards, its olive groves. But it is also the ancient name for "house of bread." Used to distinguish it from other towns that had the same name, like Bethlehem of Zebulon, and so forth. And Bethlehem here refers to where David was born, as we read in First Samuel 17, in verse 12. And already, we begin to see the initial sketchings of what would later become a divine masterpiece, painted on the canvas of redemptive history; you begin to see what God is doing here. And we live in such a remarkable age, because now we can look back, and we can see these things and see what they were pointing to, and see very clearly what God is saying. And for this little seemingly insignificant place, "Too little to be among the clans of Judah", one would be born, who cares for seemingly insignificant people, like you, and like me, that those who abide in him might be productive and bear much fruit.

Now, why of all places would the incarnate king choose to be born in such an insignificant village just a few miles south of Jerusalem? I mean, if I was in charge, I'd want him being born in Rome, you know, or at least Jerusalem. But Bethlehem, really? Well, I think there's a couple of reasons. First of all, we must remember that Bethlehem was a royal city of ancient days. Since Jesus was born the King of Israel, it was only fitting that he be born in the city where Israel's Great King David would have been born. You see, over 1000 years before the Messiah was born, God made an unconditional covenant with David in Second Samuel seven, promising him that that he would raise up from his loins, a descendant, the coming Messiah, that would establish David's kingdom forever, an eternal kingdom, whereby the whole world would be blessed through the coming of seed of David. A promise that was so profound that David was left speechless, he was overwhelmed with awe.

But another reason why he would be born there in Bethlehem, is Bethlehem's history is a picture of its coming Messiah King. Let me explain this to you; Bethlehem has a double meaning. It can mean house or place of bread, and also house or place of fighting and war.

The Hebrew noun "lehem", we would spell it L E H E M, means food, bread or grain. But the verb "laham," L A H A M, means to eat or use as food. But what's interesting is the identical verb also means "to fight" or "to do battle." And this suggests that the ancient Hebrews linked the act of military conquest with that of eating. Because frankly, hunger was what drove most nations to fight against each other so they could survive. But bread in Scripture is the symbol of life. Like manna from heaven, God gave to his people in the wilderness.

And Jesus spoke of this, as you will recall, in John six beginning of verse 33. The "'bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.'" And then in verse 35, "'I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.'" Now, obviously, fighting and war produces death and sorrow; both of which characterized our Savior king; a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. In fact, conflict was his daily fare, along with all who follow Him. And when a man eats of the bread of life, he declares war on Satan, the god of this world, and we are at battle constantly. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 10, beginning in verse 34, "'Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth; I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter in law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be the members of his household.'" And I know a number of you experience that even more profoundly at Christmas. I often hear from people in the church saying, "Boy, I dread going to see my family. I love my family, but they hate Christ. And it's just a battle the whole time we're there." Well, to be sure, both life and death marked the past, as well as the future history of Bethlehem. You will recall in Genesis 35, God changed Jacob's name to Israel and said to him, "I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from you. The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.'" And what's interesting is on the heels of that covenant, Jacob's beloved wife, Rachel, died in childbirth. And she was buried in Bethlehem, where he sat up a pillar over her grave. And as Rachel was about to die, she named her son Ben-oni, meaning son of my sorrow. But Jacob named him, Benjamin, which means son of my right hand. And Benjamin was one of Jacob's 12 sons, and eventually from Jacob's son, Judah, came King David. Ultimately, the greater King, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ would come from him.

And what a marvelous picture of that greater Son that would be born to Mary in that same place. When you think of what happened with Rachel. Like Rachel, Mary could have called her son Ben-oni meaning "son of my sorrow." But God the Father would ascribe to him an even greater name of our honor, even greater than Benjamin, "son of my right hand." He would call him Jesus, which means "He saves" or "Yahweh is salvation." We know of this very clearly, do we not, in Acts four verse 12, where Peter says, "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." So it was Bethlehem where Rachel agonized in the birth of Benjamin. And that was a place that became a symbol also of the painful waiting of the sons of Israel, for their Promised Messiah.

Furthermore, Rachel was the ancestress of the northern tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, through Joseph, and Benjamin in the south. And when the Babylonians later came to carry them off into exile, the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet, and said in chapter 31, verse 15, "'A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.'" And what a sad harbinger of yet another atrocity that would take place in that same region, because it was Bethlehem, where the enraged Herod slaughtered all the male children as you read in Matthew two. And according to verse 17, "Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: 'A voice was heard and Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted, because they were no more.'"

Now, when we move forward in the history of Bethlehem, we discover some more reasons for its royal greatness and symbolism. About 900 years after the death of Rachel, a Moabitess journeyed to Bethlehem, and her name was Ruth. There she became a servant. And a wealthy man named Boaz found her and took her unto himself as his wife. And Boaz, we know, was a type of Christ, the One who became Ruth's kinsman redeemer. And Ruth was included in the physical lineage of the coming Messiah as we read in Matthew chapter one, and verse five. And then Boaz, I always want to say Bozo, because as a little boy, I said that and I got in a great deal of trouble. I thought it was really funny. But it's funny when I preach, I still want to say Bozo, but it's Boaz, okay. Boaz and Ruth had a son named Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who lived in Bethlehem, who had a son named David. So it should be no surprise that the Son of David, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, would be born in that same royal place, as Micah prophesied. And it should be no surprise, that in the providence of God, Caesar Augustus would demand a census to be taken, and that everyone be required to register in the city of their birth.

And it should be no surprise, therefore, that Mary and Joseph would embark upon about a 70 mile journey through treacherous terrain, with her in an advanced stage of pregnancy, to make their way to Bethlehem, their tribal home in Judea. And the Scripture doesn't say this, but I would be surprised if Mary and Joseph did not, quote, Micah's prophecy, with the cadence of the hooves of the little donkey that bore the virgin mother and her child. And surely she pondered this when the shepherds told her their announcement, "Today in the city of David, there has been born for you, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." It's also fascinating, in Luke chapter two verses one through seven, the inspired author is very careful to precisely reveal the sequence of events that led Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Galilee, to Bethlehem of Judea. So this is very, very important.

Now, why not just register in Nazareth? Right? I mean, God could have allowed that to happen. But as I thought about this, the answer would be number one, to demonstrate the sovereignty of Almighty God, who alone can orchestrate the events of history through the miracle of divine providence, to accomplish his purposes, and that's what we see here.

Why would Caesar Augustus decide to have a census at that particular time? Why would he quarrel with Herod at this time? Why would he choose to tax Judea and make it a province instead of making it a separate kingdom. When you think of all these things, you can just see the providential hand of God working to accomplish his purposes. So I think about this kings and rulers, and presidents and congressmen and women and senators and all of that. They may think that they devise their own plans, but ultimately, it is God who directs their heart; even to act wickedly, to accomplish his purposes.

So why not register in Nazareth? Well, not only to demonstrate the sovereignty of God, and his ability to providentially work all things to accomplish his purposes, but also, I believe, to confirm the inspired truth of Scripture. I mean, think about this. As Alva J. McLean said, quote, "Upon the fulfillment of the jots and tittles rests the veracity of God." It is true, right down to the jot and the tittle.

And I think, thirdly, to underscore the supreme importance of interpreting scripture, including the rest of Micah's prophecy concerning the Messianic Kingdom, literally. But as we consider the picture that is painted here, by the village of Bethlehem notice also the prophet speaks of her as being, quote too little to be among the clans of Judah. I mean, folks, this place was not even large enough to be one province, I mean, it was a place of absolute insignificance. I mean, this was the little David amongst the Giants, shall we say? Yet, notice it says, "From you, One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel." Is this not a picture of Christ's great love for us? And for the character of his subjects? Did not the king say that we must enter his kingdom as little children, right? No agenda, no haughty spirit. Just simple, helpless, dependent, faith believing. Did he not say in Matthew five and verse three, "'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'" And in First Corinthians 1:26, the apostle Paul says, "Consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise." And he went on to say, "and the weak things of the world ashamed the things which are strong." And finally, the reason is that "no man should boast before God." I'm so thankful that Christ came unto those who are too little, in the eyes of the world to even be noticed; people like you and me. And to know that our names were written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. We were betrothed to the bridegroom, to be his bridal church before time began. Our names are written on the very heart of God, the One who created us, the one who saved us. Christ Jesus, you might say, is the savior of the little ones like us.

So we've seen the birthplace of the king. Secondly, the sending of the King, Micah goes on to say, "One will go forth for Me." This is an amazing statement that the Father would send forth his Son. John five, in verse 36, Jesus said, "'The works which the Father has given Me to accomplish--the very works that I do--testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.'"And in John seven, verse 28, and nine, "Jesus cried out of the temple, teaching and saying...'I have not come up Myself, but He who sent me is true, whom you do not know. I know Him because I am from Him, and He sent Me.'"

It's always an amazing thing that when we consider the triune Godhead in salvation, though the Father sent the Son, we know that the Son voluntarily did the will of the Father. He set aside his glory that he might purchase our redemption. And all of this was empowered and accomplished by the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. It was the Father's love, that would cause him to send his only begotten Son to be our Savior. But it was the sons love that he would suffer and die in our stead. But also it was the Spirit's love to cause the virgin to conceive of the Incarnate Son, that the Word might become flesh and dwell among us, that we might behold his glory.

It was the Spirit's work, to empower the Son of Man, and to sustain him, even in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross of Calvary. And then to inspire the written word that we might know saving truth. And it's also the Spirit's work even to this day, to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, and cause us to be born again. And then to seal us unto the day of redemption. So don't ever forget, though the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one in essence, they are three distinct persons, each equally deserving honor and praise. But often we tend to ascribe most of the honor to the Son, rather than also the Father and the Spirit. But as we can see, each member of the Triune Godhead has played, and will continue to play, a significant role in our redemption. So the Father sends forth his son, is conceived by the Holy Spirit; and yet, it's the Son that descended to earth and takes on human flesh.

And this leads us now to the rule of the King; number three. Notice what the Prophet says, "From you, One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel." Now some will be quick to say, well, that rule was quite a failure. I mean, after all, he came into his own, his own didn't want anything to do with him. Right? They crucified their king. Jesus came preaching the kingdom to the Jew, first, to the lost sheep of Israel, as the text tell us; to the chosen people of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants. And they said, "We will not have this man to reign over us," right? The people asked, "Is this the son of David?" Matthew 12:23. But the Pharisees insisted that his miraculous works were not a testimony of the Holy Spirit working, but attributed those works to the power of Satan; unimaginable. Self-imposed blindness; blasphemy, which sealed their fate. Only judgment remained. Indeed, Israel rejected their king, they crucified the Son of Man, but this was precisely according to God's plan.

You remember what Peter said, and Acts two, "Men of Israel," beginning of verse 22, "Listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know-- this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men, and put Him to death." You see, what escapes the notice of the critic is that the promised King was also the promised Lamb, the final and the perfect sacrifice that came to make atonement for sin that we might be saved. And from the beginning of His earthly ministry, the Savior King preached, as we read in Matthew 4:17, "'Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" And did not Pilate say to him, in John 18 and verse 37, so "'Are you a king?'" Jesus answered, "'You say correctly that I am a king. For this, I have been born. For this, I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.'" But also did not John the Baptist say in John 1:29, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

And we know in the book of Revelation, that it is the Lamb that is worthy to open the seals of judgment that are recorded there in Revelation. We know that the wicked will make war on the Lamb and he will overcome. We know that the glorious light of the Lamb will illumine the New Jerusalem. So the long awaited Messiah that came to earth must wait a future fulfillment, when the king will return in all of his glory. And during the interregnum, this interval between the King's first and second coming, the kingdom has taken on a form that's called the "mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" as we read in Matthew 13:11, referring to the truths not disclosed in the Old Testament related to the gospel and to the church. But make no mistake dear friends, the King is coming again and he will be King over Israel as he has promised. Paul spoke of this in Romans 11, beginning of verse 26. The Christ will be king of Israel when quote, "all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, 'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.' From the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the ; the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."

So the inspired Prophet reveals not only the birthplace and the sending and the rule of the King, but finally the eternality of the king. He says, "'His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.'" This phrase reveals the existence of the Messiah from eternity past to eternity future; from before time began through the coming millennial kingdom on earth and throughout the eternal state. "His goings forth" he says, "are from long ago." And certainly Scripture gives testimony to this truth. The incarnate Christ appeared in the Old Testament as the angel of the Lord on several different occasions. You will recall that in Genesis 16, he appeared to Hagar near a spring in the desert and commanded her to return to Sarah. In Genesis 18, he appeared to Abraham, where he promised his elderly wife, Sarah, a son, and that out of Abraham, a great and powerful nation would arise, and all the nations on earth would be blessed through him. We also read in Genesis 31, he came to Jacob in a dream, and in chapter 32, 97 year old Jacob wrestled with him all night, after which the Lord blessed him and changed his name to Israel. And in Exodus three he appeared to Moses in the burning bush; in Joshua five he appeared to Joshua near Jericho, with a sword drawn in his hand and he appeared to Gideon, in Judges six, when he said, quote, "'The Lord is with you mighty warrior go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand, am I not sending you?'" We know as well in Daniel three he appeared in the furnace of fire with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And dear friends, he will appear yet again when he returns in the blazing glory of his holiness and the fiery wrath of his indignation when he comes to judge the nations of the world and establish himself as King of kings and Lord of lords. We read a verse in Revelation 19, verse 15, "And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it, He may smite the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wind press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh, he has a name written, 'KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.'"

Now all of that, to say that, as the prophet describes so clearly, yes, indeed, "His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity." It is absolutely incomprehensible to think that the Savior King has not only existed as the second member of the Triune Godhead from all eternity, but again that he set his love upon us. That is the wonder of it all. Second, Timothy one verse nine that I mentioned earlier, we read that, "His own purpose and grace was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus." And Paul said in Titus chapter one, verses one and two that we were, quote, "chosen of God." He goes on to say that we have, quote, "the hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie, promised, long ages ago." "Pro cronon" in Greek; before time; before time began, can you imagine that? I can't. What was it like before there was time, right? There was no time. There was no space. We read in Scripture that God created both time and space. And so we were chosen before time began. This is the eternality of the king. God set his love upon us, Scripture tells us before the foundations of the earth and under his sovereign control he orchestrated all of the events in my life and in your life, if you know Christ, to bring you to a place where you finally saw who you really were, and you were convicted of your sin, and you set aside all of the arrogance and all of the excuses and all of the ridiculous self-righteous stuff that you came up with to somehow justify yourself before a holy God. And he broke your heart over your sin, and you cried out to him as the only hope of salvation and he saved you by his grace. And all of that was set into motion and ordained before time began. Isn't it interesting that he has ordained the length of our life? We read that in Psalm 139, "In thy book, they were all written the days which were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them." In fact, Psalm 139 tells us that he was sovereignly in control, certainly, when we were conceived in our mother's womb. He superintended our development and our birth. The psalmist says "Thou just form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb. Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance." Absolutely astounding. To know that before you were even born, he knew the color of your eyes, the color of your hair, the color of your skin. He knew the shape of your nails, your heights, the shape of your face, what your smile would look lik, the sound of your voice, the sound of your laughter. You know, not only knew all those things, he created all those things. He even knew that you would rebel against him and violate his law, that you would reject him and ignore him; that you would actually be his enemy, unable to save yourself from his justice, and his wrath. And yet, knowing all of this, he continues on with his plan of redemption, that cannot be thwarted; that was set into motion and ordained in eternity past.

And through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the god baby comes into the manger. And as Paul says, in Romans five, eight, "God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." And this is precisely what Micah goes on to prophesy in verse four. "And He will arise and shepherd His flock and the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. And they will remain, because at that time, He will be great to the ends of the earth. This One will be our peace."

Well, dear friends on this Christmas Eve, I pray that you will ponder these things even as Mary did, as Joseph did, and as the redeemed have done throughout redemptive history, that you will make it a priority to ponder these truths in your heart. And that you will also proclaim these truths in every opportunity that you have, especially through all of the social media, stuff that we have available to us today. Unleash the gospel and watch what God can do. And then finally, won't you pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Let's pray together, Father, that is the cry of our heart. Thank you for the magnificent truths pertaining to our Savior and our King. For it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

Will you take your bibles and turn to Matthew's gospel; Matthew chapter one; we're going to look at verses 18 through 25, under the heading "Christ our Sovereign King." And I might say ahead of time that I'm not going to get real deep into every single phrase here, but use this as kind of a general launching pad into understanding more of who Christ is and exalting him. Let me read the passage, Matthew chapter one; familiar passage beginning in verse 18. "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother, Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save his people from their sins.' Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 'BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALLBE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,' which translated means 'GOD WITH US.' And Joseph awoke from asleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin, until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus."

What a wonderful privilege we have, as twice born saints, to contemplate the glories of Christ, to reflect upon the one who is our Creator, the one who is our Savior and King; especially in these difficult days. We all are aware of how God has essentially lifted his restraining grace on our country and we're watching the effects of wickedness all around us. Our country is drowning in depravity. People are trying to satisfy every perverted lust that they have. And God is allowing them to experience the tragic consequences of their wickedness. And that sin splatters on all of us; we all have to deal with it at some level. Moreover, each of us have our own troubles. We all falter under the weight of disappointment, distress, depression at time, dangers, disease, and even death. Most of you, even this morning, are carrying heavy burdens as you come here. It's part of life in a fallen world, right? Sometimes it's worse than others. Some of you are laboring under poverty. Others are dealing with pain--physical pain, sickness, wayward children, broken marriages, and on and on it goes. And we know that Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they are unable to see the light of the glory of Christ. And we know that people without Christ love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. Proverbs four and verse 19, says, "The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble." But thankfully, there is light in Christ, amen? There is light in Christ. In fact, Jesus said in John 8:12, "'I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness but will have the Light of life.'" And in Acts 26, verse 18. At his conversion, Jesus told Paul that he was going to send him to the Gentiles, quote, "'To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'" And friends, we know that this light was prophesied some roughly 700 years earlier. In Isaiah chapter nine and verse two we read this, "The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them." And it is my purpose this morning to help you behold the glorious light of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we do this by contemplating the infinite perfections of his person and his work as we see the one who is full of grace and truth through the eyes of faith.

And the reason this is so important is not only because it's an act of worship, and worship is pleasing to Him, but also it is a soothing balm to aching souls. And I want to impress that upon you this morning. This was Jesus’ earnest prayer on behalf of his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion. You will remember in John 17, verse 24, he said, "'Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am'"-- and here's why--"'so that they may see My glory which You have given Me.'" And that should be our prayer. That we would see his glory. That was Jesus’ Prayer, it should be ours as well. Beloved, the apprehension of the glory of Christ should be the very air that we breathe as believers. We are forever united to the one who has created us, who has saved us by his grace. One day, and perhaps very soon, we will see him face to face. And what on earth could be more worthy of our affections than this? Especially during the Christmas season, right? What better way to prepare ourselves for the inevitable trials of life, and our own inevitable departure from this earth? What better way of finding refuge from our trials than contemplating the glory of the One in whom we are forever hidden?

You know, the inspired Apostle Paul understood this and he practiced this in Second Corinthians four. Beginning in verse eight, we read, "we are afflicted in every way." But he went on to say later, "we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison." Then he says this, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." And, folks, my goal this morning, is to help you turn your eyes away from the temporal and to gaze into the eternal and see the glory of our Savior. And when we do this, you will find that by the power of the Spirit, you will be able to transcend the inevitable difficulties of life. Beholding the glory of Christ will always be the daily habit, frankly, of the mature saint who longs to know more of the one in whose image they are gradually being conformed. And in whose presence they will one day spend eternity.

The apostle Paul spoke of this in Colossians, three, remember in verse one, he says, "Therefore if," or it could be translated, "since"-- "you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things," what? "Above"--not below--"keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not all the things that are on earth." And here's why, "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

The Psalmist understood this and spoke of this in Psalm 16, beginning in verse eight, "I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever." And dear friends, what better way of experiencing God's love for us than to meditate upon the glory of Christ? This is, according to Romans five, five the "hope that does not disappoint," right? The hope that does not disappoint. And here's why. "Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." And what does the Holy Spirit use in this mystical way to communicate and help us understand and experience the love of Christ? He uses his word and he uses his people. And no wonder the Apostle Paul would testify in Philippians, three, eight, "I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ."

So, let's exalt the one who has purchased our redemption. There are four amazing themes that I believe emerge from this passage of scripture that I think can fan the embers, hopefully the flames of our worship of Our Lord. We're going to see four things, first of all, his royal lineage. Secondly, his physical lineage. Thirdly, his virgin birth, and finally, his eternal sonship. And mind you, these are just a few aspects of who he is.

Now, here in Matthew 1:18, through 25, we have a detailed announcement of the birth of Jesus Christ that emphasizes that Mary had been betrothed to Joseph yet she was pregnant. Not because of some immoral union with Joseph, but because of the Holy Spirit. Also, we see that Joseph is called, quote, "The Son of David." Very important. And the son's name has to be called Jesus, "for he will save his people from their sins." But also we see that this Jesus was to be the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of a virgin birth of a son, whose name shall be called "Immanuel," God with us, referring to Isaiah seven in verse 14. And this detailed information was extremely important to the Jewish people that day because they would have to verify his claim to be the Son of David, the Messiah King. Later on in Matthew 22, Jesus will ask the Pharisees, the leaders of Israel, in verse 42, "'What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?'" In other words, he's saying what is his genealogical record? What is his ancestry? From what Jewish line has he descended? And, "They said to Him, 'The son of David,'" which was the most common messianic title used in that day. Now, Jesus knew that they knew, and the Jews kept meticulous, genealogical records. He wasn't trying to find out, hey, do you guys realize...he already knew that? Because he knew that no one could possibly hold a position of authority or responsibility without verification of their genealogy. And so he wanted to press that upon their minds that yes, they knew his genealogy. Jesus then went on in that passage to demonstrate that not only must Christ be the physical descendant of David, but also as the Messiah, he would have to be the, quote, "Son of God," which they could not understand. And they could not believe--actually, they would not believe it.

Jesus was therefore not only underscoring his royal lineage but also asserting his deity. This was so disconcerting to the Pharisees that in verse 46, we read, "No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question." Now, here's what's fascinating. Notice what precedes Matthew's account of the birth of Christ in verses 18 and following. That, of course, is the genealogy of Christ.

And so we come to my first point here, we're going to see his royal lineage. Verse one of chapter one simply says, "the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the son of Abraham," and then it continues on in great detail. Now, it's amazing, because here we learned that Jesus was by birth, the one that was promised to Abraham in Genesis 12, verses one through three--the covenant that was made over 2000 years before Jesus was even born. And he is also therefore, a descendant of King David, therefore, the son of David, the Messiah King, who would fulfill the covenant promises that were given to David in Second Samuel seven; the promises of a future son that would establish David's kingdom forever and so forth. And we'll not take time to go through this record in detail, but I want you to understand that this was never disputed by the meticulous Jewish leaders, never disputed. It's intriguing that Matthew's genealogy moves forward from Abraham to Joseph, who was Jesus legal, not physical, but legal father. This was crucial, because the royal line must be passed through the legal father, the Jews would have understood this, they would have looked for this. And since Jesus had no human father, his royal lineage had to come from a father that the Jews would consider to be his legal father. One that could adopt him and grant him all the rights and privileges of sonship. And of course, Joseph was, you might say, his foster father. This was never in dispute. In fact, in Luke four and verse 22, Jesus's teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth, and the people were speaking well of him, and they were saying quote, "'Is this not Joseph's son?'" Now, there may well have been a second reason of Matthew's record done to underscore the claim of the virgin birth, it may have been an attempt to distinguish this virgin birth from other virgin birth myths that were floating around in that time of history. The ancient Babylonians had their versions, the Sumerians, the Acadians, even the Buddhists and the Hindus. The Greeks, for example, believed that Zeus empowered a snake to impregnate the Virgin goddess Olympias, who bore a son whose name was Alexander the Great. So you have all of this ridiculous stuff floating around. Furthermore, Matthew's account, along with Luke's later on, would also serve to refute some of the wild claims that Jesus was the son of a Roman soldier, or others were saying that Joseph merely defiled Mary out of wedlock.

Now, allow me a digression here. I believe it's worthwhile as we look briefly at this royal lineage. There is a fascinating footnote deserving our attention in verse 11. It says, "Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. After the deportation to Babylon; Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel", and so on. Now, what is fascinating, if you look in Jeremiah 22 and verse 30--you don't have to do that, I'll tell you what's there--God pronounced a curse on Jeconiah, who is also called Jehoiachin or Coniah; he ruled only three months before he was taken into captivity, but the curse said that he would never have a son that would sit on the throne of David. So obviously, this would eliminate Jesus. If he had been in Joseph's bloodline, but God remedied all of that, because Jesus' bloodline to the throne of David came through Mary from Nathan, Solomon's brother, not Solomon. Jeconiah's line. Now, don't you know that the Jews would have spotted this if it had not been true and use it to their advantage. In fact, if there was one single cell of blood from that line, he would have been disqualified, and they would have pointed it out. He could not be in the line, descending from David through Jeconiah. So God bypassed that curse, through the virgin birth, yet at the same time, giving Jesus the royal right to reign as the legal heir of the father, as well as the blood heir of his mother who descended from David through Nathan. Notice in verse 16, "Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah." "By whom," you don't see this in English, but in Greek, this is in the feminine, not the masculine gender, which clearly indicates that Jesus was not born by Joseph, but by Mary. Once again, we witnessed the miracle of the inspiration of Scripture, where the Holy Spirit superintended human authors to precisely record the stunning miracle of divine providence. So Matthew establishes these crucial truths from the very outset of the gospel. But Jesus had to be more than the legal heir of the throne of David; he had to be more than a royal king, he also had to be fully God; to be the perfect and holy sacrifice. That would be the propitiation for our sins; a sacrifice of infinite value necessary to atone for sin. Moreover, he also had to be fully human, in order to die in our stead, and take him upon himself the penalty of our sin, as our substitute, in order to conquer death through the resurrection, and thus guarantee the resurrection of all who trust in Him.

So Jesus had to also be the physical descendant of David--human blood, the human blood of Abraham, and David had to flow through his veins. Their very DNA had to make up his physical body. And it's interesting to demonstrate this, the Holy Spirit did two things. First, he follows the genealogical record with a detailed account of his divine conception in his virgin mother, Mary, in verses 18 through 25. But then, secondly, he carefully details a second genealogy, inspired by another author, Luke, we read about this in Luke three.

And we'll look at this briefly under a second heading. We've seen his royal lineage and now we're going to look at his physical lineage. And if we were to take time, we go to Luke three and look closely at verses 23 through 38. And this is actually Mary's genealogy. So unlike Matthew's genealogy that starts with Abraham, and moves forward in time to Joseph making it, shall we say Joseph's genealogy. Luke's genealogy begins with Jesus and moves backwards in time, all the way to Adam, making this Mary's genealogy, and this demonstrates Jesus's actual bloodline. So Matthew traces Jesus' ancestry beginning with Abraham, whereas Luke stresses his identification, shall we say, with the entire human race. Jesus is a son of Adam. However, unlike the disobedient Adam, Jesus is the obedient second, Adam. While at the same time, he is indeed the true son of God. Now bear in mind, Joseph and Mary's claim that they had remained sexually pure, even though she's pregnant--that they remain sexually pure in this period of betrothal and that the child that she bore was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that He is going to be the Messiah and so forth--that was a story that certainly the people would have found laughably absurd. Ridiculous. Imagine Mary trying to explain what the angel said to her right? Just imagine, yeah, the angel met with me, Luke 1:32. And here's what he said, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." Yeah, right. And as soon as the leaders would hear this, they would instantly go to the genealogical records to refute this, to refute that. There was absolutely no possibility that these two young people; these nobodies, these teenagers, were speaking the truth. But instead, what's fascinating is that genealogical records corroborate their story. Matthew immediately establishes Jesus ancestry connecting it with the Old Testament and with Israel, but Luke waits until Jesus is into his ministry. Jesus would have been somewhere in his 30s when his claims to be the Son of God would have absolutely shaken the Jews to the core and infuriated them.

And Luke also makes it clear in chapter one that indeed this was a virgin birth. Notice, verse 34, "Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be since I am a virgin?'" verse 35, "The angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason, the holy Child will be called the Son of God.'" And when we see this emphasis, even in the genealogical record, we are amazed at all of it. Notice in chapter three and verse 23, "When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about 30 years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph." "As was supposed," or "so it was thought." And see what Luke is going to make clear is that Joseph was not Jesus' father. What a marvelous thing God did in these accounts, not only to prove Jesus royal lineage, but also vindicate and protect young Mary and Joseph from certain scorn.

Now, after considering the marvels of both his royal and physical lineage, let's reflect for a moment upon his virgin birth. Number three, in our little outline back to Matthew chapter one and verse 18. And again, my purpose here is not to carefully exposit every word of the text, but rather to focus just primarily, here at least, on the virgin birth. There we read in verse 18, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit." Now, it's important for us to understand a bit of the culture of that day. A Hebrew marriage was arranged by contract between the families of the bride and the groom. And this contract was sealed by a dowry, a "mohar," paid by the groom's family, to the father of the bride. And this was to pay for the wedding expenses. The weddings were typically quite expensive. They typically lasted seven days,; we get off easy in our day, right? The bride's father would also hold a portion of the dowry and trust for his daughter as a life insurance policy for her if the husband were to die, and if he divorced her, the husband would never see any of the money until his father-in-law died. And then there would be an inheritance.

And a Jewish wedding custom typically included two very sacred stages. First, you have the "kiddushin" which was the betrothal period, the engagement period, and that included a contract and it was considered legally binding. They were even considered legally married, even though the actual wedding had not taken place. And the betrothal period typically would last about 12 months. And then that was done primarily to prove that the bride was not pregnant, and that the couple were dedicated to sexual purity.

And then the second stage beyond the kiddushin was the "huppah," the marriage ceremony. And obviously Mary's pregnancy required a great deal of explanation. In verse 18. We read "before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit." And so knowing he was not the father, Joseph's reaction was to be expected. Right? Verse 19, "Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, desired to put her away secretly." And he could have demanded her public humiliation. In fact, he could have even demanded a stoning, based on Deuteronomy 22. But because of his godly compassion, and his undying love for Mary, he chose instead to pursue just a private divorce. But notice what happened in verse 20. "But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.'" Now Joseph knew that what Mary had told him about the angelic announcement was, in fact, true. But don't you know, that would have been hard to deal with as a young man.

The angel went on in verse 21, "'She will bear a Son ; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.'" Then again in verse 22, and following, "Now, all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord, through the prophet," referring to Isaiah seven and verse 14, "might be fulfilled saying, 'BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,' which means 'God with us.'" Verse 24, "And Joseph arose from asleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took her as his wife and kept her a virgin, until she gave birth to a son and called his name Jesus."

Beloved, please understand, without a virgin birth, there would be no incarnation. You see, had Jesus been some illegitimate son, his claim to deity would be demonstrably false. Think about this, the work of redemption demanded a theater upon a god man. It required one who could supernaturally fuse the human nature with the divine and to some indissoluble bond. That's what we have in the incarnation of Christ. A man had to suffer punishment only God could endure, thus requiring birth. And as we think about it, a man had to be our substitute, to bear our punishment for all who would believe; yet only God could fully bear the entire wrath of God. A sinless man had to die, yet only God is holy, right? Human flesh had to go to the grave, yet only God could overcome the grave.

And think about this, how could Christ be our faithful high priest that could sympathize with all of our infirmities unless he were both human and divine. Neither man alone, nor God alone could accomplish these things. Both the human and the divine natures had to be supernaturally fused together. And that's what we see even in these genealogical records, an inscrutable mystery beyond our finding out. It's staggering to think about the two natures of Christ. I've reflected upon this on many occasions, and by the way, this is part of what it means to contemplate the glories of Christ. I mean, think about this, even as a fetus, growing within Mary's womb, he was, according to Hebrews one three" upholding all things by the Word of His power." He required milk from his mother's breast. Yet according to Colossians, 1:17, "In him all things hold together." In his humaneness, he would grow hungry. We would read how he would grow thirsty, weak and tired, yet in his divinity, he could multiply the bread and the fish in the water and the wine. And while on the boat with his disciples, remember how he slept in utter exhaustion, only to rise as the omnipotent ruler of the universe and calm the sea and the storm with a word.

Furthermore, his human nature, we know has now ascended into heaven, yet because of His divine nature, he continues to be omnipresent. Promising, according to Matthew 28 and verse 20, "'I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'" We know as well that in his humaneness, according to Hebrews four, verse 15, "he was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin;" meaning he could not sin. In fact, in his divinity, he was not even tempted internally. Because as we read in James 1:13, God cannot be tempted with evil. Jesus had no sin nature; therefore, he could have never sinned. We read, for example, in Hebrews seven, verse 26, that he was, quote, "wholly innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners.": First Peter 119, he was "a lamb unblemished and spotless." Second Corinthians 5:21, "He made Him who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

So indeed, in the incarnation, we see this virgin birth, allowing this fusion of the human and the divine. And I might add that this was also prophesied in the "protoevangelium" or the first evangelistic message, that we read in Genesis three and verse 15. You will remember that passage; after cursing the physical serpent, God turned to Satan, the spiritual serpent that had seduced Adam and Eve in the garden and promised that there would be a perpetual battle that would occur from that day on, and here's why. He says, because you're seed--referring to Satan's offspring; unbelievers--and her seed; her descendent Christ and all who belong to him, would be at war. The term "seed" can be understood in a collective sense, referring to all who would make up the progeny of Satan and Eve. But he can also be understood as a singular, final and glorious product of a woman; one born without the seed of a male, but from the woman and the Holy Spirit. And Paul attests to this, for example, in Galatians, chapter four and verse four, we read "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman." No mention of man, confirming Jesus virgin birth once again, as well as his humanity.

So we've reflected a little bit on his royal and physical lineage, his virgin birth, and now finally, think about his eternal sonship for a moment. Notice in Matthew one, verse 23, "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,' which translated means 'God with us.'" And the angel reveals more about the Son when he appeared to Mary in Luke 1:32, "he will be called the Son of the Most High."

So not only was Jesus Christ, the Messiah, king of Israel, fully God, yet fully man born of a virgin, but also, and this is so incredible, he was the eternal Son of God before he was conceived and born. He did not become the son of God at his incarnation. Scripture teaches that a father/son relationship pre-existed in eternity past. That relationship between the Father and Christ the Son. Again, Galatians, four, four, "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman." Romans one verse three, God promised his son who "was born of a descendant of David, according to the flesh." Now, some will argue that Jesus assumed the role of a son at his incarnation, a subordinate role that he did not have prior to the incarnation. And often they will use Hebrews chapter one and verse five, which is a quotation from Psalm two seven, as a proof text. And there we read, "'You are My Son, today I have begotten you, I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to Me.?'" Now, since "begetting" normally speaks of a person's origin, and since sons are typically subordinate to their fathers, that would seem to support this view. And indeed Christ, though he was equal to God, voluntarily submitted to the Father, to do the Father's will. He willingly set aside his divine attributes in his incarnation. We read about this in Philippians, two and John 5:19. But we must understand that the context of Psalm two, that we read here in Hebrews, one must be understood figuratively, not literally, "This day have I begotten thee," is a reference to the eternal decree of God, not a specific event, and a point in time.

Let me explain this a little bit more. Since the term "begotten" can speak of the origin of one's offspring, it's natural to assume that the begetting of a son speaks of his conception. In other words, a point in time when a child comes into existence. And many apply this understanding to the conception of Christ. But there are big problems with this view. Number one, it was the Holy Spirit, not the father, who conceived the incarnate Christ. And this alone eliminates the idea of the Father begetting, or shall we say, originating the Son, in Psalm two and, and John 1:14. This obviously must refer to something other than conception.

But secondly, in John 1, verses one through three, it makes it very clear that Christ is not a created being. He is a pre-existent, self-existent, one. There we read that he was in the beginning with God. So what does this beginning refer to? If it's not to origin, I mean, other passages speak of Christ as the only begotten of the Father, John 1:14, verse 18; John 3:16, verse 18; Hebrews 11, verse 17. You see, the term "only begotten" in the original language, can mean something far more than merely the origin of one's offspring, it literally can mean "one of a kind," one of a kind. We see this in the created order. Every creature begets its own unique offspring, doesn't it? After its own kind, right? Genesis one. Every offspring bears the exact likeness of its parent. And when applied to Christ, this would emphasize his utter uniqueness and the likeness to his father. We see this explained, for example, in Hebrews chapter one and verse three, "He is the radiance of His glory, and the exact representation of His nature." So when the Holy Spirit uses the term "begotten," he's not speaking of origin. But rather, dear friends, he's speaking of the absolute uniqueness and oneness of essence between the Father and the Son. All of which is consistent with the essential oneness found in the Triune Godhead. Moreover, scripture's primary use of the title, "Son of God" reveals that it speaks of his essential deity and absolute equality with God, not his voluntary subordination or submission to the Father. And this was precisely the issue in John five, that infuriated the Jewish leaders when they charged Jesus with blasphemy. According to verse 18, we read, because He not only had broken the Sabbath," but also said that God was his Father, making himself what? Equal with God. So again, the title "Son of God" speaks of his deity and equality with God, not his submission to the Father.

So when we consider Christ as the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, don't be confused by thinking in terms of procreation. But rather understand these concepts as conveying the transcendent truths pertaining to the essential oneness shared by the members of the Triune Godhead, and the utter uniqueness of Christ in his perfect likeness and essence to the Father, and the Spirit. They are co equal and con-substantial. They are all one of the same essence. And what an unfathomable concept this is. And here again, we gaze beyond the temporal into the eternal as we contemplate the glory of Christ. In his incarnation, he remained the eternal Son of God; he remained fully divine, yet he became what he previously had not been--fully human. Gregory of Nazianzus, the fourth century Archbishop of Gaston and Opal, and theologian said this quote, "He remained what He was; What he was not, He assumed."

In fact, Jesus did not give up his human nature, even after his death and resurrection. I want you to catch this now, he did not temporarily become a man, but rather in his divine nature was permanently joined to his human nature. When we see Christ, we will see one in whose image we reflect; he will look human, he will not be some something that you can't imagine. I guess that will be true at some level, but you understand what I'm saying, I think. He appeared to his disciples, as a man after his resurrection, did he not? They saw the scars of nail prints in his hands, he had flesh and bone. He ate food, he was taken up into heaven while talking with his disciples, and the angel promise in Acts 1:11, "This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." And I think about Stephen, when he gazed into heaven as he was being stoned, and he saw Jesus. According to Acts 7:56, he saw Jesus as, quote, "The Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." And in John's vision, in the book of Revelation, he sees Jesus in his resplendent glory, and yet he describes him as quote, "One like a Son of Man," Revelation 1:13. As Paul said, in Philippians, two, beginning in verse eight, He is the one who "humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Dear friends, I pray that it will become more and more of your habit, to contemplate the infinite perfections of the glory of Christ. And through the eyes of faith, you will see not so much all of his glory, because that is beyond anything that we can really imagine, but what you will see is what's recorded in Scripture, you will see the one who is full of grace and truth. And when you apply that to your life, you will be so overwhelmed that you will transcend the temporal and begin to exist more in the eternal.

As the old hymn says, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory, and grace." So this Christmas season, let's take extra time to ponder the glory of Christ and may our hearts resonate with the humaneness, who captured this essence of the angelic praise. When he wrote "Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ, the Everlasting Lord, late in time behold Him come, offspring of the virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity; pleased as man with me to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel. Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king." Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you that You have given us the eyes of faith to look beyond this world in which we live and to see the glory of Christ first. And I pray that for each one of us that know and love Christ, that we will make it indeed, our habit more and more. To pensively reflect on all that he is. The one who is full of grace and truth. And Lord as we do this, we know that by the power of your Spirit, we will experience more fully all that we have in Christ, even though the fullness of it all awaits glory. But until that time, may this be the priority of our heart as believers. So we commit to you and we thank you for all that you have done for us , for it's in Christ's name and for his glory that I pray. Amen.

As you all are aware, we are at war with the enemy of our souls with Satan and his minions, and the world system that he controls, ultimately, under the sovereignty of God who allows it to occur. We read in Scripture that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one and we experience that every day. As I just read a few minutes ago, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, and principalities so we need to be good soldiers of the cross. We need to be prepared; every good soldier will be prepared. And it is the great burden of my heart to make sure that I do all that I can to help prepare you for not only the battles that we are currently experiencing, but the ones that I believe will be far worse, worse that are yet to come. So, this morning, I want to speak with you about fearless discipleship. And frankly, this will be a follow up of where we were last week in Mark chapter nine, you will remember, Jesus was calling his disciples to this kind of fearless discipleship. And using the language of sacrifice required in that kind of discipleship in Mark chapter nine, and verse 50. He said, "Salt is good, but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again?" And Jesus said in Luke 14, beginning in verse 33, "None of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions." In other words, if you're going to be a disciple of mine, you must be willing and ready to sacrifice everything you have to follow me. He went on to say, "Therefore salt is good, but if even salt has become tasteless with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." So it is the great burden of my heart that we be fearless disciples of Christ. In fact, the last book that I wrote is entitled "Warrior Preachers, A Spiritual Call to Arms in an Age of Militant Unbelief." We need to be sober, we need to be on red alert and we need to be prepared.

So for this reason, I'd like to spend the bulk of our time this morning in Matthew chapter 10, moving away from Mark. At least for this Sunday morning. Jesus called 12 ordinary men to be his apostles to send them out as sheep amongst the wolves. Don't you feel like that at times today? We're sheep amongst the wolves. And here in Matthew 10, Jesus offers some very straightforward words, describing what I would call fearless discipleship. Much needed reminder for our shallow, superficial, sentimental, evangelical culture that tends to cower in compromise. In verses 24 through 42, we see Jesus giving six characteristics of a fearless disciple. Let me give them to you and then we will elaborate upon them. Fearless discipleship: number one submits to the Lordship of Christ, secondly, fears God more than man, thirdly, publicly confessed as Christ. Fourthly, values Christ more than family, fifthly, values Christ more than life and six, values eternal, not temporal reward. And it is certainly my prayer that these virtues will be manifested in each of our lives.

I want you to notice the first characteristic of a fearless disciple that is one who submits to the Lordship of Christ. Notice what our Lord says in verse 24 of Matthew 10. "'A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household?'" Now, Jesus is reminding them again, that he is indeed their Messiah, they're their teacher, their master, and therefore, he deserves their absolute obedience, their unwavering submission. In Luke chapter six and verse 40, Jesus said, "'Everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.'" And certainly a true disciple of Christ will gradually become more like Christ, we all understand that. And in First John chapter two and verse six, we read, "The one who says he abides in Christ ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked." And I would ask you, dear Christian, is this true of you? Is this true of your life? If yes, how's your progress? Are you noticeably more like Christ today than you were two years ago? As a footnote, if you have no appetite for the Word of God, if you have no private, personal pursuit of holiness, no desire to spend time with the Lord in prayer, no burden for the lost, don't kid yourself, you know very little of what it is to be in subjection to the Lordship of Christ. The internal metamorphosis that produces Christ's likeness only comes through the renewing of your mind, as we read in Romans 12 and verse two. You will recall in the Great Commission, Jesus said that we are to "make disciples and teach them to observe all that I commanded you". Are you observing those things? Are you teaching others? First Peter two in verse two, we "are to be like newborn babes." We are to long for the pure milk of the word that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. Those who claim to be disciples of Christ yet have no desire to know what the master would have them know or do, are frankly, merely withering vines that produce no fruit. We don't want to be that way. They are soldiers that are unprepared, that are vulnerable. And if that is you, as a father or as a wife, your vulnerability will make your children even more vulnerable. In verse 24, he says, "the disciple is not above his teacher." We understand that a learner doesn't know as much as his teacher, we don't have the spiritual wisdom of Christ. And certainly those apathetic and indifferent toward the Word of God, insult their teacher, right? Yeah, what he teaches is boring, unimportant, I have all that I need to know, you really have nothing to teach me, I'm good. Verse 24, he also says, "nor a slave above his master." And certainly a slave serves his master. In this case, our Master is our Creator, the sovereign ruler of the universe, that shed his blood, to reconcile us unto himself. The would-be disciple who has no desire to sit at the feet of the master to learn and to obey what He says, is no disciple at all. Beloved, Jesus is asking for our full allegiance. And when we give it we will grow in Christ's likeness, we will become more like Christ. You want to ask yourself, Am I passionately committed to these ends? Is this really the priority of my life? Or do I just kind of play along with the cultural Christianity of our day? Just kind of show up at Calvary Bible Church because that's what you do on Sundays in the South. Or am I here because I love the Lord. And I want to know Him and serve Him.

Next, Jesus adds another figure to help us grasp his point, not only are we disciples, that is learners, learning from our teacher and slaves that lovingly submit to our sovereign master, but he goes on and he talks about being family members who should not expect to be treated any better than the head of the family. He says something interesting here in verse 25, "'If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!'" Interesting statement. Beelzebul was a reference to the Canaanite deity Bael, the prime antagonist of Yahweh. In fact, the god of Akron was called Beelzebub, Second Kings chapter one, a term that means lord of the flies, a Hebrew pun on the name of that Philistine God, but the Jews may have further corrupted this into Beelzebul, which means lord of dung, which would be an even greater insult to that pagan deity. So Jesus uses this term because it was a well-known epithet amongst the Jews, for Satan. And because also the Pharisees had accused Jesus in Matthew 9:34, of casting out demons by the ruler of the demons. You will even recall in our study of Mark in Mark chapter three and verse 22, we read and, the scribes who came down from Jerusalem, were saying, 'He is possessed by Beelzebul', and 'He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.'" So Jesus point here and verse 25, is this, if they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household? In other words, if the religious elite would slander and malign me by calling me Satan, expect them to treat you in the same way? You know, it's fascinating, Islam considers all non-Muslims to be infidels, part of the great Satan. We've seen this down through history, where true Christians have been demonized by, frankly, demonic heretics, and their false religious system. And we see this as well for example, in John 16. And here Jesus is warning his disciples about the enormous hostility of the world and, and as they oppose the gospel, and those who preach it and beginning in verse one of John 16, he says, "'These things I have spoken to you that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.'" By the way, Paul, pre conversion, was one of those guys, right? He thought he was serving God by getting rid of Christians. Jesus went on to say, "'These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.'" And even earlier, in that same section of Scripture, beginning in John chapter 15, beginning of verse 18, Jesus says, "'If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My namesake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.'" Dear Christian, the more you become like Christ, the more the world is going to hate you, just how it works. The question is, are you up to that? The answer is, on your own, no, you're not, but in Christ, you are. Young people, are you willing to obey the Lord? Submit to His rule in your life, even if it costs you popularity amongst your friends? Men, women, are you willing to obey to the point where it may mean giving up some life dominating sin, some debilitating habit, something that might bring reproach upon the name of Christ. But the point here is such a willing submission to the Lordship of Christ is the first mark of a fearless disciple that Jesus gives in this text.

Secondly, we see that a fearless disciple will fear God more than man. Now remember, as I said earlier, these are sheep being sent out among the wolves. And any stand we take for Christ today basically, results in all kinds of animosity from we call, the cancel culture. By the way, cancel culture has been around, all through redemptive history, but we know what it is in our culture today. We must remember that these people that are canceling us, are people that do not know Christ, we need to love them for the sake of the gospel, but they do not fear God. Therefore, God says they live in a fool's paradise. They are fools at enmity with God. And so Jesus is saying that they will treat you as they did me. And in verse 26, then he adds this, "'Therefore, do not fear them.'" Very clear, "'for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known.'" This is an amazing statement. I mean, he's literally saying don't be afraid, because someday, I am going to expose and judge all of their wickedness as well as exalt and reward you for your faithfulness. Beloved, the wicked will not go unpunished. And this is a great motivation for us to serve Christ. Knowing that we fight a battle that's already been won, right? I don't want to stand before the master someday, as some sniffling, coward, some wilting lily, that feared man more than I feared him. That's my challenge to each of you, dear friends, pick up your sword and join the fight. Don't be a coward. Don't be afraid of these people; we serve the Lord of hosts. I find great comfort knowing that when the Lord returns First Corinthians four, verse five, he will, "both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts and then each man's praise will come to him from God." Jesus went on to say in verse 27, "'What I tell you in the darkness; speak it in the light.'" This is a figurative expression of figurative darkness, referring to those divine truths that are disclosed to us in the context of our sacred closet of communion with God where the Holy Spirit speaks truth into our life from his word. In other words, he says, don’t be ashamed to publicly proclaim the truth that I have disclosed to you. He says, "'and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim among the housetops.'" Now, you'd have to understand the culture of that day to know what Jesus is saying here. It was common in the first century for Jewish rabbis to train their students, by standing beside them, and whispering in their ears, especially as they spoke, as they taught. In first Corinthians two in verse nine speaks of divine revelation and inspiration, he says, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him." He goes on to say, "For to us, God revealed them through the Spirit." And then in verse 13, we read, "which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thought with spiritual words." And this is what the Spirit of God did, as he inspired the writers of Scripture, to speak the truth of divine revelation, the self-disclosure of God, that are recorded in the canon of Scripture that we have. And it is the Holy Spirit himself, you might say, that whispers truth into our ears through the infallible record of divine revelation that we have in our Bibles. And then we must faithfully proclaim that which we hear, that which we've learned, we need to do that from the house tops. In other words, publicly and may I encourage you to pray for opportunities to do just that. And then pray for boldness to do what you know you should do. Because believe me, if you ask the Lord for opportunities to proclaim the truth of His Word, he's going to give you those opportunities. In fact, you will probably see that they're already all around you. And now what you need is the boldness to act on what he has asked you to do.

Dave Harrell

He goes on to verse 28, "'And do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to to destroy both soul and body in hell.'" And we understand this, the wicked certainly have the power to kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul, the "psuche" in the original language; the rational, immortal, eternal, non-material center of our being that transcends the earthly. So don't fear them but do "'fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.'" An important note here, destroyed does not mean extinction, or annihilation, or to cease to exist as some would have us believe. For example, In Second Thessalonians one beginning of verse seven, we see him, Paul goes on to give detail describing Christ as the coming judge and explains the extent and the duration of hell. He says, beginning in verse seven, "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels and flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the power of His glory of His power." I mean, think about it, if eternal destruction meant annihilation, this text along with many others would beg for relevance, it would make no sense. Annihilation can't be eternal, because by its very definition, it means to become extinct, to cease to exist. But rather eternal destruction is an irreversible experience of conscious torment. Isaiah 33, verse 14, it's described as a place of divine fire of everlasting burnings. Matthew 13, verse 42, Jesus says that He Himself will judge the wicked, and he says, and he will cast him into the "furnace of fire. In that place, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Now, back to our text, Jesus warns, don't fear man, but "'Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.'" Beloved, please understand that the souls of men bear the image of our eternal God, they will therefore live forever. The souls of men are immortal. Jesus said, there will be in John 5:28, "a resurrection of the just and the unjust." Remember, when Paul stood before Felix, the governor, he warned in Acts 24:15, "there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked." So again, Jesus is simply saying, Don't fear men fear me. As I think about it, this perhaps was a targeted warning to Judas, who would have been in their midst, who was already beginning to scheme as to how he would cash in on Jesus. But it's certainly a warning to all men who reject Christ and unbelief. I remember reading a number of years ago, stunning illustration of the convicting and transforming power of the gospel to turn even the most rank pagan into a fearless disciple. And I noticed John MacArthur has this summarized well, I want to just share this with you. "From among the finest athletes in the Roman Empire, Nero selected a group called the emperor’s wrestlers. Their motto was 'we the wrestlers wrestling for thee O Emperor to win for thee the victory and from thee the victors crown.' The wrestlers were also soldiers and were often sent out on special military campaigns on a certain mission in Gaul, which is modern France. Many of the wrestlers were converted to Christ. Upon hearing the news Nero ordered the commander Vespasian, to execute any wrestler who refused to renounce Christ and swear religious, as well as military allegiance to the emperor. The emperor’s orders were received in the dead of winter, as the men were encamped on the shore of a frozen lake. When this Vespasian assembled the soldiers and asked how many were Christians, 40 men stepped forward. Hoping not to lose any of these fine men, many of whom were his friends, he gave them until sundown the next day to reconsider. But at that given hour, all of them still refuse to renounce Christ. In order that they not die at the hands of their comrades, the commander ordered the 40 men to disrobe and walk naked out onto the ice. Throughout the night, the soldiers on shore would hear the 40 sentenced men singing triumphantly. And here's what they sang, '40 wrestlers wrestling for the Oh Christ, to win for Thee the victory and from Thee the victors crown.' The singing grew fainter as morning neared and at dawn a lone figure walked back and approach the fire. He confessed that his faith was not strong enough to face death. When Vespasian then heard the faint strains of quote '39 wrestlers wrestling for Thee Oh Christ' he was so moved that he threw off his armor and clothes, and marched out to join the others shouting as he went '40 wrestlers wrestling for thee Oh Christ, to win for thee the victory and from the victor's crown.'" Beloved this is the power of the gospel. To turn men that once wanted nothing to do with Christ into fearless disciples.

Again, verse 28, "'Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.'" And then notice next, our Lord's tender words of comfort, beginning of verse 29, "'Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. The very hairs of your head are all numbered, so do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.'" The term "cent" was a reference to basically the smallest coin in circulation of that day, and it could be used to buy two sparrows, and yet not one of them will fall, the term could be translated hop to the ground, apart from your father. The point is simply this, with such staggering, intimate awareness of such insignificant creatures, how much more will our Lord attend to the needs of his children when they're persecuted? Likewise, he's numbered all our hairs, I read that there's an average of 140,000. Some of us have a little bit less. I find that I'm gaining a little bit more on my ears and in my nose. Random hair growth is just part of getting old, right? But the point is, he knows the intimate details of our life. Things that are spiritually insignificant, mundane matters, like the number of our hairs how much more will he involve himself in the affairs of those that he has purchased with His very blood, who are suffering from his glory? The point is simply this, with such amazing love and incomprehensible omniscience and power, how could we possibly fear man more than we fear our Father in heaven? Dear friends, please hear me, a fearless disciple will fear God more than man. And whatever suffering we endure for His glory will never ever go unnoticed. The Lord is always in it. And certainly persecution is mounting as we see all of the wickedness around us, as you all are aware of it all, even the Bible is being called hate speech, and certainly they're going to try to eliminate it. The question is, what are you going to do when, when your job is threatened because of your stand for Christ? I believe a day will come when churches like ours will be put on notice. And anybody that attends a church like this will be put on notice. What are you going to do when they come to remove your children? I'm reminded of the stunning descriptions of persecution in Hebrews 11, beginning in verse 35. There it speaks of those who were tortured. "Those who were tortured," interesting term. "Tympanizo," "Tympanizo," we get our word timpani. From that it means a drum or English word timpani kettle drum. Basically, what they would do is strap people to a wheel rack and beat them to death with a metal instrument called a companion. Those who were tortured, he went on to say "not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others experience mocking and scourging, yeses, also chains and imprisonment." We don't see a lot of this here in the United States, but it's happening around the world. "They were stoned, they were sawn in two. They were tempted, they were put to death with a sword they went about and sheepskins and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted ill-treated men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these having gained approval through their faith did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us so that apart from us, they would not be made perfect." And he goes on in chapter 12, beginning in verse one. "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Indeed, it is our Lord who is our supreme example. It's a rare but glorious thing to behold a genuine soldier of the cross is it not? A true, fearless disciple of Christ. And whenever I read about them, or whenever I meet them or encounter them, I'm so profoundly humbled. So many people today wear the uniform of Christianity, but few really love their commander in chief. Never in the history of the world has there been a ruler that such set such an example. I mean, really, many rulers send their servants into battle for some earthly cause. Many of them, things that are eternally inconsequential. And many soldiers willingly give their lives for those things, but only the King of Kings went on before us and willingly sacrificed his life that we might live eternally in the presence of his glory. Fearless disciples of Christ are captivated by these marvelous truths. These are the things that drive them and they know that there is absolutely nothing that can separate them from the love of Christ.

Thirdly, a fearless disciple publicly confesses Christ. Notice verse 32. "'Therefore everyone who confesses Me before a man I will also confess Him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.'" The term confess is a compound word in the original language "homologeo", "homo", the same, "logeo" means to speak. So in other words, to speak the same thing, to confess is to speak the same thing, to acknowledge, to wholeheartedly affirm in one's heart. And in this context, to say exactly the same thing that God is saying about the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we are to confess, to confess that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, the Creator, the sustainer of the universe, our Redeemer, Acts four 12 that "salvation is found, in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Well, put that on Facebook and see how long you last right? Again, folks, these are the magnificent truths that we're to publicly proclaim. And this will be the heartbeat of a fearless disciple. Because of our innermost convictions, that God has given us, there will be an outward expression of these magnificent tools, and nothing will be able to contain them. And it's tragic to see how few Christians are willingly to publicly confess, Jesus is Lord, free of embarrassment, the ridicule, physical harm, especially from family members, that can happen to all of us. And I know that's happened to a lot of you. I often hear from a lot of people in the church that Christmas is one of the most difficult times of the year for them, because they have to go home to be with family members that hate Christ and hate them. Paul warned Timothy in Second Timothy, 1:8, "Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord." But notice in verse 33, Jesus goes on to say, "'But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.'" The term denial, it means to declare that you do not know or that you have no dealings with someone. Like Peter when he denied the Lord three times. You want to ask is this the pattern of my life? In subtle ways? Do I deny the Lord? Am I a chameleon Christian, where I can kind of blend in with whatever environment to make sure that nobody spots me. That's not the mark of a faith of fearless disciple. Again, verse 33, "But whoever shall deny Me before man, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven." By the way, the grammar here in the original language in verses 32 and 33, is in the future tense. So it's a reference to future judgment when he will separate the true from the false. Later in chapter 25, Jesus describes the judgment of the wicked at the end of the Great Tribulation, a time according to verse 31, "'When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne, and all the nations will be gathered before Him. And He will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.''" Then later in verse 41, we read, "'Then He will also say to those on His left, Depart from Me accursed ones into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.''" How incredibly sad it is to think of those who refused to receive the gospel, they held it out as something that was silly. And you worse yet for those who profess Christ, but didn't love him? That followed Christ like Judas, but didn't love him. Those who recognize the truth intellectually, but they never affirmed it in their heart. They never wholeheartedly embrace Christ. Oh, yes, Jesus is the Lord of my Sunday mornings. But he is not the Lord of my life. Dear friends, I hope that is not you.

Jesus, speaking of the religious hypocrite, Matthew eight and verse 12, says that, "they shall be cast out into the outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." But oh what a glorious contrast for those who confess Christ, who truly love Christ, and because of that their character and their conduct, and their creed, are all glorious to the Lord. Ours is a confident hope of heaven and assurance that Jesus Himself will confess us before the Father as one of his own even as we confessed him before man.

And anticipating the persecution His disciples are about to endure, inevitably, he gives a fourth characteristic of a fearless disciple. That is, he will value Christ more than family. Notice verse 34, "'Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth, I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother and a daughter in law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.'" Jesus words must have reminded the apostles of Micah's prediction of what would happen within families when the Messiah would come. We read about that in the passage in Micah chapter seven and verse six. This is what Jesus is quoting. A time "when son treats father contemptuously, daughter rises up against her mother, daughter in law against her mother-in-law, in a man's enemies are the men of his own household." You know, while the peace of Christ brings comfort to all of us, who are at peace with God, because of his grace, because we've been reconciled to Him, through Christ, the reality of our life, this side of glory, is one of perpetual conflict. Again, we're at war. If you're living for Christ, you're at war. The gospel is inherently offensive. It cuts like a sword, especially in families where Christ is denied. And I might add that this passage really strikes a deathblow to those who exhaust themselves, to make the gospel relevant to the culture to make it inoffensive, to seekers, like the sanitized Jesus that is being portrayed in this Chosen Series. You're not going to see many people at odds with others in their family because of that, Jesus. Martin Luther took a stand against a millennium of Roman Catholic apostasy and political power. And he said this, quote, "If our gospel were received in peace, it would not be the true gospel." Luke 12, verse 49, Jesus says, "'I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.'" Verse 51, he went on to say, "'Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth, I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three.'" Beloved, Jesus did not come to this world, to make peace with the world but to make war against it. And to provide us a way of being at peace with a holy God through faith in Christ, to deliver us from the world. And a fearless disciple will experience violence when they take a stand against wickedness in a world that hates God. In fact, in verse 33, he uses the term "against" three times to describe the rendering asunder, if you will, of family relationships and I know a lot of you have experienced that. Against, the term, means to cut in to, to divide into, to set it variance. I've seen this hundreds of times where family members are required to choose whether or not they are going to obey the Lord or compromise. Whether or not they're going to honor the Lord or dishonor him whether they're going to stand for truth or compromise and live in errors, whether they're going to side with righteousness or with evil. And suddenly, in those types of scenarios, the true cost of discipleship is made abundantly clear, is it not? What a grief it must be to the Savior, when one of his own that he has purchased with His very blood cowers in fear, and denies him in some way. One whose love for Christ is so weak that he will exchange a hollow peace with his family members, rather than take a stand for the lover of his soul. My friends, if this describes you, according to what Jesus says here in verse 37, you are not worthy of Him. It's very clear. "'He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of me.'" So again, fearless discipleship submits to the Lordship of Christ. It fears God more than man, it publicly confesses Christ, it values Christ more than family. And then fifthly it values Christ more than life.

Notice verse 38. "'And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me, is not worthy of Me.'" Certainly, the apostles did not grasp the coming reality of Christ's crucifixion, nor their own eventual martyrdom, they're still trying to figure all of this out. And here Jesus poses the very real possibility that true discipleship may cost you your life. The cross, of course, was a well-known symbol of torture. For those who dare defy Rome, a civilization interestingly enough, that was destroyed from corruption on the inside. Undeniable parallels with our own country that is repeating the same forms of wickedness, hatred of true genuine biblical Christianity, excessive taxation, excessive government control, obsession with pleasure, and entertainment, and all manner of the most vile forms of immorality. We see this of course, in the progression described in Romans chapter one, where God gives people over who suppress the truth and unrighteousness first to sorted immorality, which is a violation of God's moral order. And then it moves to the next stage a given them over to shameless homosexuality, which is an inversion of God's created order. And then finally, he gives them over to shocking depravity, which is a disposition of godless corruption where people are just completely irrational. He gives them over to what is called a worthless or depraved mind where they believe things that make no sense. The whole transgender insanity is a great example of that today. But my friends, fearless discipleship will stand with Christ against these things come what may, trusting Him. They will stand against all of those things that God considers an abomination. Those gross perversions that attack the glory of his image, manifested in those that he has created in His image. Fearless disciple will stand against those things, will stand for truth. So the apostles understood that following Christ might cost them their life. You want to ask yourself, Am I willing to sacrifice my life for Christ?

Unfortunately, many are like those that Jesus goes on to describe in verse 39, "'He who has found his life shall lose it.'" The context here you find your life, you're the religious people, who have deceived themselves into believing that you're the true disciples and that you, all that you believe is true, and all of that stuff that stands against the gospel. "He who has found his life shall lose it." Yes, the world is going to offer you all of its fleeting pleasure. Indeed there is pleasure in sin for a season. But none of it will last; but he goes on to say, "he who has lost his life for My sake, shall find it." Beloved, this is the spirit of fearless discipleship. And it's a riddle to the world. I mean, what a divine paradox, I mean, this cannot be reconciled in the mind of an unregenerate person. It's only when the Spirit of God changes us that we can see the truth. And when new birth occurs, we are indeed new creatures in Christ. Were partakers of the divine nature of Christ. We're aliens in this world, and what seems irrational to the world is abundantly clear to us so clear that we would willingly die for it. This is the transformation that takes place in the redeemed, the miracle of regeneration, beyond our understanding, and when that new birth occurs, what seems irrational to the world is abundantly rational to us. So it's for this reason again, that the fearless disciple of Christ submits to the Lordship of the one he loves, fears God more than man, publicly confesses Christ, values Christ more than family, values Christ more than life and finally, values eternal, not temporal reward.

Notice what he says here in verse 40, "He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives him who sent Me." You see, those who receive the testimony of true disciples receive Christ as their Savior. Likewise, anyone who receives the Son also receives the Father. So Jesus is telling them, that anyone who receives your testimony, that is your proclamation of who I am and what I have done in my atoning work on the cross, those people will receive me and the Father. And thirdly, those who receive the disciple himself, receives Christ in that they are his emissaries, they are His ambassadors. He goes on in verse 41, "He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. So God not only rewards the Prophet, but catch this, anyone who receives him to accept, to accommodate, to care for, to appreciate, to support, especially in that culture, to give them food, and to give them lodging and to embrace them as a servant of the living God. But what's interesting is this reward goes beyond just receiving a profit. It includes any righteous man, or woman. Dear friends, anytime you do any kind of service to a servant of God, God will reward you. That's the point. The Lord says, I see all of this. Even something as mundane and seemingly as inconsequential as giving one of his little ones, a cup of water. God sees it all, he will reward it all. Notice verse 42. "And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones, even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." You see, a fearless disciple is perfectly content, to wait upon the Lord to reward him in his time. And that reward will be in heaven, not on Earth. So we patiently wait for his reward when it will be realized in that day. A fearless disciple is driven by that. Moreover, the rewards of the world have no hold on him or her. For heroes like Abraham, who, according to Hebrews 11, verse nine, "by faith lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land." Goes on to say, "For he was looking for the city, which has foundations whose architect and builder is God," a reference to the New Jerusalem described in Revelation 21. Beloved, measure yourself against the standard, this is how you are going to prepare yourself, not only for the battles that are currently all around us, but for the ones to come. And your fathers I plead with you, that you simply must take these words seriously. You must be a fearless disciple of Christ. Otherwise, your family will be vulnerable to the deceptions and the destructions of the evil one. And certainly you mothers need to be the same way. So much so, that you will pour your life into your children that they might know and understand and love the Lord, our God. Measure yourself against the standards ask yourself, "Do I joyfully submit to the Lordship of Christ? Do I fear God more than man? Do I publicly proclaim him without compromise? Do I value Christ even more than my family? Do I value him more than my own life? And do I value eternal, not temporal rewards." And if that is the passion, and purpose of your heart, God will bless you and use you mightily and you will enjoy his soul satisfying presence and power in your life in ways that you cannot imagine. And then there's heaven. Right? And then there's heaven. Let's pray. Father, thank You for the eternal truths of your word that speak so clearly to each one of us. May we take what has been spoken here today and apply them to our hearts to the praise of your glory? For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.

As always, it is my great joy, and indeed, an honor, to be able to open up the Word of God to you. And this morning, I fear I'm going to do a little bit of rambling as we talk about some issues pertaining to the incarnation of Christ. We will land on a particular passage, in a few minutes, but if you will just follow along, I want to take you deep into some of the great truths with respect to God's providence; the miracle of his sovereign ability to orchestrate all things to accomplish His good pleasure in redemption, to the praise of his glory. And I believe that you're like me, at this Christmas season, you really need some encouragement. These are dark days in which we live. I have never experienced anything like this. The mounting hostility towards all that God deems holy, not to mention the militant unbelief that absolutely resents the gospel. All of that is so discouraging, isn't it? It's down heartening. It's even frightening. It's not surprising, though, right? Because we know according to John 15, beginning in verse 18, Jesus said, "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you." We witnessed this hatred in so many ways. Our culture's love affair with the killing of the unborn and their demand for legal protection. We see it daily with the LGBTQ-IA sexual anarchist that not only demand legal protection, but ultimately demand the complete elimination of all of those who refuse to celebrate their gross immoralities.

As Christians, we find ourselves identifying with Lot. You remember in 2 Peter 2:7. We read that he, "was oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men," referring to the homosexuals of Sodom and Gomorrah, Sodom where he lived. He goes on to say, "For by what he saw and heard, that righteous man while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day, by their lawless deeds." And I know that a number of you are dreading this Christmas season, because you have to be with unsaved family members. I've already heard from probably four or five of you. It's hard, you love your family, but they hate Christ, and they hate you for it. And there's just not a lot you have in common. And many of you will experience yet again, the mocking, and the ridicule. Most of all, most all of us have experienced what Jesus warned you will recall in Matthew 10:34, he says, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter in law against her mother in law and a man's enemies will be the members of his household." Of course, some will say, "But wait a minute, I thought when the angels announced Jesus's birth to the shepherds in Luke two verse 14, they said Glory to be God be to God and the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men?" It's a bit of an unfortunate translation in the King James Version. New American Standard puts it this way, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among men with whom He is pleased."

Many misinterpret this text, they use it out of context. You see it in yard decorations from time to time, peace on earth, which is kind of this idea that let's all have absence of conflict and no more wars. And that's typical of our naive, theologically ignorant society. Because in truth because of sin, the wrath of God abides upon the ungodly. They are his rebellious enemies, those apart from Christ are alienated from God. And they're destined to pay for their sins and an eternal hell,unless they repent and trust in Christ as their only hope of salvation. That's the truth. But because of Christ, we can be reconciled to God and have peace with him. That's what that text is talking about. So the angels are saying Glory to God and the highest. Why? Because he has provided a way for sinful man to be at peace with the holy God. That's the good news of Christmas.

Many also misunderstand the other phrase, and the New King James as well as the King James, it says, goodwill toward men. And you see this in a lot of Christmas cards. People naively think, well, that means that because of Jesus, I guess we're going to all show kindness to one another. And there is something about Christmas where people tend to be a little bit nicer. I have noticed that, but that's not at all what this text is talking about. It literally says, "Peace among men of his good pleasure." Or as the New American Standard, says, "on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased." Or the ESV "on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased." Beloved, when the angel said "Glory to God, in the highest," the reason they were giving him giving him glory, is because those who are their sovereignly chosen recipients of His Divine Grace, are so solely because of his good pleasure. Now they can have peace with God, so all who have received the gift of salvation received it solely on the basis of his good pleasure through no merit of their own. So all the glory belongs to Him, we share in none of it. Therefore, the angels are saying, Glory to God, in the highest. This was the theology. This was the reality that evoked the angelic praise.

So this Sunday, and next, I wish to encourage every believer by reminding you that God is in control of history. Indeed, it is his story, the story of Christ, never forget that. Even when they seem dark and out of control, our God reigns, he is still on his throne, and he is accomplishing all that he has ordained to accomplish to the praise of his glory. May I remind you that the incarnation of Jesus Christ, when He came and took on human flesh, was ordained in eternity past, and we're going to see more of that in a moment through the prophetic Scriptures. Moreover, his crucifixion, was ordained in eternity past. We read in Acts 2:23, that he was "delivered up" or crucified "by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God." I might also add that his physical return for which we await was also I should say, is also promised, it is ordained. You will recall when Jesus ascended back into heaven, the angel said in Acts 1:11, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." Jesus spoke of this in his Olivet discourse in Matthew 24 Verse 29, he says," But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory." Beloved, either that will happen or Jesus Christ was a liar.

Revelation 1:7 If we read, "Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all of the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. So it is to be a men." So indeed, even as his first coming was by providential appointments, so two will be his second coming. And of course, this has been the blessed hope of the saints down through the ages. And Titus 2:13, you will recall that we are "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds."

So Christmas is a time when we can remind the world that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, and King, once came to save sinners, but we can also remind them that he is also going to come again, to judge those who reject Him, and to establish His earthly kingdom, a time when ethnic Israel will finally worship their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and experience the prosperity and security of their promised land as promised in the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants. When David's greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ will fulfill God's promise to David, that his quote, "house and kingdom shall endure before me forever, and his throne, shall be established forever." You will remember that the angel Gabriel told Mary in Luke 1:32, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."

Now, this brings us to the text I'd like to camp on for a bit here this morning, as well as next week. And it's found in Luke 2 if you'd like to take your Bibles and turn there. And here we see the miracle of divine providence at work in a very unique way. Let me read the passage to you beginning in verse one of Luke two. "Now, in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited Earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary who was engaged to him, and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."

Now, I wish to introduce this passage in Luke's Gospel by first examining one of many, prophecies pertaining to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. One in particular, written 700 years before that birth that was written by the inspired prophet Micah. And what he prophesied was literally fulfilled in the text that we just read. So go with me for a moment, at least in your mind. And let's go back to the days in which Micah lived some 700 years before Christ. Those were days of impending doom for Judah because of their sin, their rebellion against God, but not at the hands of the Assyrians, who were in the process of conquering the northern kingdom of Israel, but at the hands of the Babylonians. And in those days since the Babylonians were currently under the rule of Assyria, the people thought that Micah's prophecy was utterly ridiculous. Of course, all prophecies seem ridiculous to people who do not have faith in what God has said in His Word. Back in that day Judah's economic prosperity and military might made them feel invincible. But all of that only masked the widespread social corruption and religious syncretism. That was a part of their culture, which by the way, parallels the phony religiosity that we see in the United States of America. And all of the corruption that is here; we are not a Christian country by any means. This country is Christian in name only, although many believers live here. Well with their religious syncretism in that day, they integrated the worship of Baal with their Old Testament sacrificial system. And of course, this was exceedingly offensive to God. But Micah's warning of judgment was followed by a message of hope, a promise of future blessing for the faithful, all because of God's unchanging covenant made to their forefathers, when he would restore Israel both spiritually as well as physically. In Micah 2:12 we read, "I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold, like a flock in the midst of its pasture, they will be noisy with men." In other words, in that day, there will be great commotion due to the throng of people a time of bustling activity and commerce. And the mention of both Jacob and Israel indicates a United Kingdom of Israel where the Lord himself will be their shepherd, and He will protect and bless them. If we go to Micah chapters three through five, the prophet speaks of great blessings that will come after a season of judgment, namely, a blessing of a kingdom for Israel that will bless all of the nations, chapter 4:1, "And it will come about in the last days," that by the way, is an Old Testament phrase, referring to a future time period when God restores the nation of Israel, where Jerusalem will be its temple, it will be the capital city of the kingdom. He says, "and it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains." That's referring to Mount Zion, where Jerusalem sits. "It will be raised above the hills," not only spiritually, but physically in some magnificent way. "The peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, 'Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD unto the house of the God of Jacob, and he for into the Lord may teach us about his ways, and that we may walk in his paths.' For from Zion will go forth the law, even the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." In chapter four, we see several key pieces of information about God's coming earthly kingdom, Israel is going to be reunited, united and restored after judgment in captivity. It will be a time when God establishes His earthly kingdom, with Jerusalem, and its temple functioning in the capital, Israel's former enemies will come to Jerusalem to learn about Israel's God and worship the Messiah King. And the Lord will rule over all of the nation's ,warfare will cease peace and prosperity will prevail. But in the context of these prophecies, Micah tells us something very important. He tells us, I should say he told them and through them, we read about where the Messiah would be born. Micah five and verse two, "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah." By the way, indeed, it is a an insignificant little village. "From you, One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago from the days of eternity." Now, Ephrathah, is merely the ancient name for Bethlehem, used to distinguish it from from other towns. But this refers to the Bethlehem where David was born, as we read in First Samuel 17, verse 12. Now we could ask, Why, of all places would the Son of God choose to be born in such an insignificant little village? A few miles south of Jerusalem. Why there? I mean, why not Jerusalem? Why not Rome?

I think there's a couple of reasons. First of all, because Bethlehem was a royal city in ancient days, this is all part of God's providence, all part of his plan. Since Jesus was born the King of Israel, it was only fitting that he be born in the city where Israel's great King David had been born. Now you will recall, over 1000 years before Jesus was born, God made an unconditional covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7, promising him that God would raise up for him a descendant, the Messiah King, who would establish David's kingdom forever and eternal Kingdom, whereby the whole world would be blessed through the coming seed of David. So Bethlehem is the right place, for that reason. But I think there's a second reason. Bethlehem's history is a picture of it's coming Messiah King. Bethlehem literally means "house or place of bread." And bread is the symbol of life and scripture. You will recall the manna that came from heaven, that God used to supply his people in the wilderness. And did not Jesus say in John six, the that he is the bread of God, the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. He went on to say I'm the bread of life He who comes to Me shall not hunger. In fact, both life and death are part of Bethlehem's history. They literally mark Bethlehem's history. Back in Genesis 35, God changed Jacob's name to Israel and said to him, in verse 10, "I am God Almighty be fruitful and multiply, a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from you. The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you and I will give the land to your descendants after you." And on the heels of that covenant, Jacob's beloved wife, Rachel died in childbirth, and she was buried in Bethlehem. Where he set up a pillar, the text says, over her grave, and the child's name, the son's name was Benjamin. Now as Benjamin, or as Rachel was about to die, she named him Ben oni which means son of my trouble. And, of course, that was a divine harbinger of even greater trouble that would be inflicted upon many mothers and their sons in the days of Herod in the region of Bethlehem where she died. And Rachel's Benjamin was one of Jacob's 12 sons. And eventually, from Jacob's son, Judah, came King David, and ultimately through him the greater King, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. So it was in Bethlehem where Rachel agonized in the birth of Benjamin, that David was born and eventually Jesus was born, that was a place that later became a symbol of painful and patient waiting for the sons of Israel as they anticipated, their coming Messiah. In fact, Rachel was the ancestress of the Northern tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, through Joseph and Benjamin, in the south. And when the Babylonians later came to carry them off into exile, the Lord spoke through Jeremiah, and he said in Jeremiah 31:15, "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more" Furthermore, it was later in Bethlehem where the enraged Herod slaughtered all of the male children in Matthew 2, Then according to verse 17, we read, "Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled," saying, here it is, "A voice was heard and Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted because they were no more."

When we move forward in the history of Bethlehem, we see even more of the amazing realities of the providence of God at work. We discover more reasons for its royal greatness and its symbolism about 900 years after the days of Rachel. A Moabitis journeyed to Bethlehem, and her name was Ruth. There she became a servant and a wealthy man named Boaz found her and took her unto himself as his wife. I remember getting in trouble in Sunday school when I was a little boy because I thought it was cute to call him Bozo, but is Boaz. Boaz was a type of Christ, the One who became Ruth's kinsman redeemer, you remember the story. And Ruth was included even in the physical lineage of the coming Messiah in Matthew 1:5. And Boaz and Ruth had a son whose name was Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who lived elsewhere in Bethlehem, and he had a son named David. So it should be no surprise that the Son of David the Messiah King, be born in that royal village as Micah prophesied. Therefore, it should be no surprise that in the providence of God, Caesar Augustus, would demand a census to be taken, one that would require citizens to register in the city of their birth. Therefore, it should be no surprise, therefore, that Mary and Joseph would embark upon an 85 mile journey through the treacherous terrain of that region, especially in her advanced state of pregnancy, to make their way to Bethlehem their tribal home in Judea. And I'm sure Mary and Joseph reflected upon Micah's prophecy as they made their way to Bethlehem. And wouldn't this have been the theme of Mary's pondering when the shepherds made the announcement to her "today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Now back to Micah 5:2, notice Micah prophesied, "From you, one will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel." And indeed, that's a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, "the Father sent forth his Son." Jesus spoke of this, you will recall in John 5:36, Jesus said, "the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish--the very works that I do--testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me." John 7:28, "Jesus cried out in the temple teaching and saying," verse 29, "I have not come with myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. I know Him because I am from Him, and He sent Me." And we can see that indeed, the Father sent His Son to be the ruler of Israel as Micah prophesied.

Now critics might say, Well, okay, wait a minute, where is he certainly not reigning in Israel today. Israel is largely apostate. "He came onto His own and His own received Him not." They crucified him. Well, that's true. Israel rejected their king, they crucified the Son of Man, but this was precisely according to God's plan. This didn't surprise him. This wasn't some plan B, our God is a sovereign God, not a contingent God. And therefore we understand the words of Peter, when he preached at Pentecost in Acts 2:23, he said, "This man," referring to Jesus, "delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death." See, critics failed to understand that the Messiah King was also the Passover lamb. He was the final and the perfect sacrifice that came to make atonement for sin. Atonement always requires two things, satisfaction and substitution. From the beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus preached, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 4:17. Did not Pilate say to him in John 18:37 "So you are a king?

Jesus answered, 'You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth." But also did not John the Baptist that divinely appointed herald of the King say in John 1:29, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." This he accomplished at His first coming. But in his millennial reign on earth, that awaits a future fulfillment, we will see the king return in all of his glory. So the full manifestation of the King and His Kingdom is yet to be fully realized. And during the interregnum. Interregnum is just a big word that that means an interval between a king's first and second coming. During that time, the Kingdom has taken on a form that is called in Scripture "the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 13:11, referring to the doctrinal truths not disclosed in the Old Testament, but now being disclosed in the new and referring to the gospel and the church and those things. But make no mistake, dear friends, and I believe this with all of my heart, Christ will be the king of Israel, as the prophets have foretold. A time when according to Romans 11:26, "all Israel will be saved. Just as it is written, THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB and this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."

Now I want you to notice what else the prophet Micah said about the one whom the Father would send forth. Again, chapter five, verse two, "His goings forth are from long ago from the days of eternity." And scripture bears this out. The pre Incarnate Christ appeared in the Old Testament as the angel of the Lord on a number of occasions. In Genesis 16, he appeared to Hagar near a spring in the desert and commanded her to return to Sarah, and Genesis 18, he appeared to Abraham where he promised him and his elderly wife, Sarah, a son. And he promised that out of Abraham, a great and powerful nation would arise and all the nations on the earth would be blessed through him. In Genesis 31, he came to Jacob in a dream, and in chapter 32 we read how Jacob wrestled with him all that night, after which the Lord blessed him, and then changed his name to Israel. In Exodus, to Moses in the burning bush. Joshua 5 he appeared to Joshua near Jericho. Remember with a sword drawn in his hand, he appeared to Gideon in Judges 6, and said, "The Lord is with you mighty warrior." And I love that great passage in Daniel 3 where he appeared to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, in the fires of torture.

And now beloved, in Bethlehem, he appears again, the Son of God, who willingly laid aside His glory to take on the form of a Jewish peasant child from Galilee. And of course, from Bethlehem, he would eventually go to Jerusalem. He would eventually go up the Mount of Olives, to Gethsemane, and ultimately to Calvary, where he would purchase our redemption and then he would ascend into glory, where he now awaits to descend again, in power and great glory. The wonder after Jesus's birth, the angel of the Lord announced his birth to a group of shepherds taking care of sheep, that were destined to be sacrificed in the temple, shepherds on a Bethlehem hillside. Now, with this prophetic background, we come back to Luke 2 for just a few minutes.

As I say, we're just going to look at some of this morning. I want to show you three intriguing concepts eventually, that emerge from this narrative. We're going to see Bethany's destiny, Bethany's child, and Bethany's manger. And today, we're just going to look at Bethany's destiny. Notice that beginning in verse one. "Now, it came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited Earth." And again, remember now this is all according to God's plan. God caused certain things to happen and had he not done so, Jesus would not have been born in Bethlehem and Micah's prophecy would be unfulfilled, and it would be false and the Word of God would be discredited. But that is not the case. Now, "it came about in those days," what does that mean? Well, every good Bible student is going to say, Whoa, I need to check into this what was going on in those days? Well, the covenant people of God were scattered all over the Roman Empire. They were being persecuted. They were basically owned by the Romans. They were dejected, discouraged. They had been deceived by their religious leaders, they were longing for the Messiah to come and to deliver them from Rome, not from their sin, but from Rome. And because of the rebellion, the rebellion of their ancestors, God had not directly spoken to the covenant people of Israel for 400 years. In fact, the dazzling light of God's presence called the Shekinah that once hovered between the cherubim above the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies had departed from that temple area. We read about that in Ezekiel 10, verse 18. In fact, it departed, went over and hovered over the east gate, the gate Jesus would have entered earlier. It's like Jesus comes and now we look back in ancient Israel, we see how that the Glory had departed. Fact in Ezekiel 11:23, we read that the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood over the mountain which is east of the city. By the way, may I remind you that as we look at Scripture, we see that when Jesus returns, his return will be westward through the Eastern Gate, Ezekiel 43:9, and he will return to the Mount of Olives, the opposite direction from which the Glory had departed in the Old Testament. We read about the Mount of Olives descent in Zechariah 14:4. So for 400 years, the Jewish people had floundered around in ritualistic Judaism filled with legalism and hypocrisy and sorrow still awaiting their Messiah while they were the subjects of Rome. And only a remnant of faithful people really worshipped Yahweh. Only a few remained; those who truly loved the Lord their God, with all their heart, that's what was going on, "in those days." There was also days of Roman occupation, where the Jews had to see all of the vile idolatry and all of the sexual immorality that went along with it. That's why they would have no contact with them. There was also days when the insanely jealous king by the name of Herod was the vassal King appointed by Rome to rule Judea in which Bethlehem existed. He was an Edomian, which means he was an Edomite. And they were the perennial enemies of God that hated the Israelites. We read about that all through their history. And Herod would later slaughter the babies in that region, in hopes to eliminate the rival to his throne. Especially when he heard the Persian king makers had come to town, looking for the King of the Jews.

Let me tell you about what was going on there, because it was "in those days" that all of this is going on. Just briefly the Parthian Empire, which was the land of the Medes and the Persians, which the Romans greatly feared, had deposed their king, his name is Phraates, the fourth. The story is, that history tells us, that one of his Italian concubines had born him a son, and she wanted her son to take his place. So she poisoned him. And of course, this is all part of God's providential plan all of this work. So the Parthian Empire, were looking for a new king that could help them conquer Rome. They hated Rome, Rome hated them. But kings of the Parthian Empire had to be chosen by the magistony called the Magi, which was the priestly line from among the Medes, the ancient meads, and the wisdom of the Magi was called the law of the Medes and Persians, Esther 1:19 and Daniel 6:15. And they specialized in dream interpretation. The Magi rose to power through their demonic,, cultic astrological abilities. They used sorcery and divination and astronomy. And they became the great advisors of all of the kings of the East. And thus they were called the wise men. And they can be traced all the way back to the court of Nebuchadnezzar. Remember in Daniel 2 they were called the Chaldeans. They were also called the magicians. And you will recall there that they were unable to interpret the king's dream so he sentenced them to death, but Daniel came along and interpreted the dream, and Daniel pleaded with the king in Daniel 2:24 "do not destroy the wise men of Babylon." It says," I will declare the interpretation of the king." Chapter five, verse 11, we read that Nebuchadnezzar then made Daniel master over the Magi, "the king appointed him chief of the magician's, conjurers, Chaldeans, and diviners."

Now, because of all of this, obviously, Daniel had their undivided attention, he had saved their life and undoubtedly he began to teach them about Yahweh, Jehovah God and the coming Messiah and Old Testament prophecy. It's astounding, isn't it that 600 years before Jesus was born, the sovereign grace of God reached into the hearts of at least some of these Magi in Nebuchadnezzar's court through Daniel and they heard a message of forgiveness and hope of a Messiah that would one day come, Emmanuel, God with us. That the glorious presence of God would again appear upon the world. That according to Numbers 24:17, "a star" Hebrew a "kochav", "will come forth from Jacob and a sceptre shall arise from Israel." By the way that was prophesied 1400 years before Christ was born. Daniel would have explained that to them. Obviously, they were looking for that blazing force of the Shekinah of God's glory. And when they saw it, many years later, they knew just what to do. So in the miracle of divine providence, 600 years later, the Magi, the king makers, in the Parthian Empire looking for a king, see a blazing light. It wasn't a star like you see on Christmas cards, there's a blazing light that would appear, some could see it, some couldn't, and then it would disappear, then it would appear again. Jumping ahead for a moment to build further context in Matthew 2:1, as we read earlier, "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem." So this would have been a large contingency of these kingmakers accompanied by Persian troops, and a massive caravan of supplies. That's how they traveled in those days. And they were asking, verse 2, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star," aster" in Greek, we saw the his "blazing forth" in the East. And when "Herod the king heard it, he was troubled." By the way, that's an understatement. In Greek, it means that he trembled, he shook, he was terrified. Not only was he troubled, it says, and "all Jerusalem with him." And what's funny, we know that historically, Herod's troops were out on a mission and so they were quite vulnerable. So here comes all of these characters into town. Terrified by all of this, Herod schemed against God and consulted with his emissaries of Satan that served him, the chief priests and the scribes, and we read in verse four and, "Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he began to inquire of them where the Christ was to be born. And they said to him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it was written by the prophet,'" and he quotes Micah or they quote, Micah 5:2. Verse four says, he began to "inquire." Grammatically, the original language, it means he was constantly asking, I mean, this was this was high priority. He was on a search and destroy mission. He's got to find that child and get rid of that child. I'm sure there were hourly briefings. So he was in a panic.

Beloved, can't you see the marvel of the providence of God? And I'm just hitting the highlights. Can't you see that we serve a sovereign God who has ordained the end from the beginning? Oh, I hope you find comfort in all of this. So Luke says in Luke 2:1, "Now it came about in those days." Now you know what those days were all about, right? "It came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited Earth," referring to the Roman Empire. And the census, of course, would provide a record for the purpose of collecting taxes and they were taken every 14 years. But notice in verse two, this was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor. That means the leader, the person of authority, the governor of Syria. Isn't it interesting, Luke is very specific. This was the first census taken, the first 14 years cycle while Quirinius was governor, we know this historically. Now why is this important? Because we know that the second census that was taken while he was governor, resulted in a giant Jewish rebellion. Luke mentions this in Acts 5:37, where he quotes Gamaliel. And also the great Jewish historian Josephus describes this uprising. So when did that second census occur? Well, we know that it occurred in AD six to nine, about a decade after Herod's death in four BC. So since we know a census was taken every 14 years and we know that the second census was taken in AD 6-9, we simply backup 14 years to determine the date of the first census that Luke specifies, which would have been about 8 BC. And it would appear that it was finally carried out and completed in Palestine, about two to four years later. Those that were living in Luke's day would have had a very accurate understanding of all this. In fact, archeologists have discovered a fragment of a stone. It was it was discovered near Rome in 1764 that contains strong evidence that Quirinius was governor of Syria twice, which would confirm Luke's account. So here's the bottom line with this rabbit trail that's probably boring you out of your mind, okay. Somewhere between six and four BCE, the Son of God was born in Bethlehem, not zero ad. Back to Luke, verse three, chapter two, "and all we're proceeding to register for the census, everyone in his own city." It's fascinating isn't it? The Jews despise being taxed, normally, the Romans would allow their citizens to register wherever they currently resided. For reasons that we don't understand apart from the providence of God, Mary and Joseph travelled 85 miles to register in Bethlehem. Why? Don't know. There's some compelling hypotheses. One would be that the Jews highly honored their ancestry and kept scrupulous records. We know, for example, that when they entered into the Promised Land, every tribe, and every family was was allotted a specific region of land and each family was linked to that tribe. And each one had their own portion of the lot. They kept meticulous, genealogical records, and every seven years, the land would be returned to the original owner to maintain the ancestral ownership and perhaps this is what motivated Mary and Joseph to return. Perhaps this was required by Herod so he could keep track of the families. Perhaps they owned land in Bethlehem, we don't really know. But whatever the reason that is what happened.

Verse four, "and Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary who was with child." Beloved, this is so fascinating. In the genealogy of Jesus that Luke supplies in Luke chapter three, we learned that Mary was the physical descendant of David thus her ancestry was linked to the city of David where the Savior was born. And because of his physical connection to Mary, Jesus had therefore, a legitimate right to the throne. But in Matthew's genealogy, Jesus legal, not physical, claim to the royal throne had to come through the royal bloodline, which would have come through Joseph, who was Jesus' legal, not natural, father. And all of this links him all the way back to the Abrahamic covenant and to David. And therefore Jesus Christ is described as the son of David. Well, this is probably a good place to stop. I hope this has been encouraging to you because what I want you to see, I know you're not going to remember all of these details, but what I want you to see and what I want you to marvel at, is how God, in his infinite wisdom, and omnipotent power, is accomplishing absolutely everything down to the very person, down to the very second, that he has ordained to accomplish. And I want you to realize that that includes what's going on in your life right now. Right? And so I trust that as you contemplate all that we've examined here today, you will rejoice that in his infinite love for you, he has a plan for all of those who placed their faith in Him. And so let's rejoice in that, remembering that he is going to come again someday and take us unto himself. And according to 1 John 3:2, "when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him, purifies himself just as He is pure." And I pray that that will be our heart's desire this Christmas season.

Let's pray together. Father, as we contemplate the astounding truths of your sovereign work down through redemptive history, we once again find ourselves overwhelmed. And in this, we rejoice knowing that you have set your love upon us even in eternity past, and that you have saved us. You have begun a good work in us and that you're going to accomplish that. And that one day you are going to bring us unto yourself. And I pray that these great truths will encourage each one of us this day, during this Christmas season. For its in the name of Jesus that I pray. Amen.

What a privilege we have to be able to open up the Word of the living God, amen? And to look into his great truths to understand more of who he is and more of who we are in Him. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Luke's Gospel? We're going to be looking at Luke chapter two, verses one through seven. We began looking at this last week, we'll finish this up this week. And we do so under the heading "Jesus' Birth a Providential Appointment." May I remind you, before we read the text, and look closely into it, that God's providence not only controls the entirety of his creation, which is sometimes called general providence. But it also encompasses the details of history, including the details of the lives of individuals, especially his elect, as we would read, for example, in Ephesians 1-12. And often this is called special or specific providence. And what a blessing it is to know that he governs all of his works, past, present, and future, that nothing is left to chance. Even those things which may seem so trivial. Jesus mentioned this in Matthew 10, beginning in verse 29, and he said, " Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet, not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows."

Although the world is in a moral freefall, and although many of us struggle in our life feeling as though we're just being tossed about like a little vessel in a turbulent ocean, often filled with difficulty and pain and sorrow, and even death. Despite all of that we can say with Paul, in Philippians 1:6-4, "I am confident of this very thing that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." And we see this miracle of divine providence at work here in the birth of Christ. As I say it is a providential appointment. And we can see this clearly in our text this morning in Luke chapter two. So let me read it to you beginning in verse one. "Now, in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited Earth. This was the first census taken well, Cornelius was a governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register, along with Mary who was engaged to him, and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in cloths, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn."

I love the angelic announcement that was made to the terrified shepherds, and if I put myself in their place, I'm sure I would have been equally as terrified when the angel proclaimed those magnificent words recorded in verses 10 and 11 of our text, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." Dear friends, the gospel is indeed tidings of good joy because of Christ, who will will cause us to one day stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy. Not, guilty with great dread, but blameless with great joy. The Lord of Glory will not treat us as a sentencing judge but as a loving father. Moreover, as the angel Gabriel told Mary, he will be our king. Don't you long for a godly king, a righteous king, a righteous ruler. And he will sit upon the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. Oh dear friends, I pray that we will never lose the wonder of these great truths. And this morning, I wish to direct your attention again to the birth of the Messiah King, which is consistent with many Old Testament prophecies. And many times in the Christmas story, these Old Testament prophecies get overlooked. For example, 650 years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Jeremiah announced the final king in the line of David, referring to Christ. We read about this in chapter 23 of Jeremiah beginning in verse five. "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called the Lord our Righteousness."

In a world where greed, corruption, shameless and frankly bizarre immorality. A world in which we are governed by godless leaders, imagine what it will be like. During the kingdom age during the millennium, when the Lord our Righteousness reigns upon the earth. Let's ponder Jeremiah's prophecy together for a moment. And this will help frame a bit of what I would like to share with you as we look closely at Luke two. After focusing on the judgment of Judah, and the hopeless conditions of the Babylonian siege, Jeremiah predicted the eventual salvation and restoration of Israel, according to the conditions of the New Covenant, that are recorded in Jeremiah 30 through 33, which as we look at it today seems rather unlikely given Israel's unbelief. Today Israel is experiencing the temporary and partial hardening as God saves many Gentiles. Paul spoke of this in Romans 11:25. Only a remnant of believing Israelites exists today, even though more and more are coming to faith in Christ. And of course, this is a reminder that the nation as a whole will one day be saved. As we read in Romans 11, verses 16 and verse 26. However, during a coming day of the Lord, Israel's unbelief is going to be reversed. We know that from what Scripture tells us, and God will save and restore Israel when the Messiah returns according to Zechariah 12:10. We read, "I will pour out on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced."

And at that time, the earthly phase of the kingdom will be established. And Israel ethnic Israel will enter the blessings of the kingdom and lead many other nations in worshipping the Messiah. Jeremiah 30, actually begins with the promise of Israel's restoration. In verse three we read, "For behold, 'days are coming', declares the Lord, 'when I will restore the fortunes of My people, Israel and Judah.' The Lord says, 'I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers and they shall possess it.'" He goes on to describe the conditions of the Kingdom. In verse 10. He speaks of how the offspring of Israel will return from captivity, verse 11, the nations that oppressed Israel will be punished. Verse 17, Israel's health will be restored wounds will be cured. Verse 18, Jerusalem will be rebuilt. Verse 18, as well the palace will stand on its rightful place, verse 22, ethnic Israel will be the people of God. And in chapter 31, the promises of the New Covenant continue, according to verse one, there will be a unified Israel and they will be the people of God, Israel will be rebuilt. In verse four through six, the nation will be filled with joy, verse eight, be gathered from the remote parts of the earth. Culture and livestock will prosper, verse 13, the young and old and Israel will be joyful. Verse 16, sorrow, over heartbreaking oppression will cease and on it goes. Then in chapters 32 and 33, he details even the physical and spiritual blessings of the kingdom, all because of God's faithfulness to his covenant promises that he originally gave to Abraham. In fact, in Jeremiah 33, all God's promises to restore the nation Israel, and place his Messiah King upon his rightful throne, are actually linked to five unconditional covenants of Old Testament scripture. Let me give them to you briefly.

First, it was the covenant that God made to Noah in Genesis eight, where God promised the stability of nature, as part of his plan, enable to enabling him to carry out his kingdom purposes. And then, of course, the covenant that he gave to Abraham beginning in Genesis 12, that Abraham would be the father of a great nation, Israel, who will therefore be the divine conduit, if you will, to bring blessings to all of the nations. And then there was the priestly covenant given in numbers 25, the promise of a perpetual priesthood that will continue on even into the millennial reign of Christ, and then the Davidic Covenant of Second Samuel seven, the promise that the ultimate King will be a descendant of David, the righteous branch of David, who, according to chapter 33, in verse 15, will execute justice and righteousness on the earth. And He will rule and bless the entire world from Israel. And then there's finally the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31, the promise of how God will change the hearts of his people and grant His Holy Spirit. So they will always obey Him. And as I read earlier, this will be a time according to Jeremiah 23, verse five, "When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land." So folks, we can all be encouraged with these great prophecies. All of these things have been promised by a sovereign God who is absolutely omnipotent, there is nothing that can thwart his purposes. And therefore, even in the midst of catastrophic judgment upon the earth there is life sustaining hope that we find in Scripture. And as Gentiles, we can rejoice because we have been grafted into the rich root of Abrahamic blessing. And today, the church is the temporary custodian of gospel truth until Jesus returns and Israel finally rises up and fulfills its original role as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus 19:6. So today God is saving, and he is preparing in the church, the members of the royal family who are destined to reign with Him during the kingdom age, as we read in 2 Timothy 2:12, for example. And I must add that there is a great parallel in the career of King David, with that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about it, when David was chosen of God and was anointed as King of Israel, He did not immediately occupy the throne. He was despised. He was rejected. For a time he was a fugitive in the wilderness. He was pursued by Saul, whose regal rights had been abrogated, yet he maintained the throne as a usurper. You remember those stories? And during that time men who were debtors and in distress, gathered themselves unto David as his loyal followers. And eventually, when Saul was defeated, the kingdom of David was established over Israel, and he was anointed the king. Well, similarly, Jesus, the greater son of David, was exalted to be both Lord and Messiah King at His first coming. But not until His Second Coming when he establishes His kingdom on earth as the rightful successo, will he be the one to take the throne of his father, David. And in the interim, he is gathering to himself a body of people who are likewise in distress, and debtors to His grace, all because of our sin, a royal family, that's who we are, destined to reign with Him. And yet even now, from His throne in heaven, the king is, is bestowing upon us, his regal blessings, even before the arrival of the kingdom. And oh, I think about just the marvels of Scripture, and the intricacies of the Word of God, how none of it is just put there, just to kind of fill up space. It is all connected in ways that are absolutely unimaginable. And I'm just skimming the surface with some of these great trues and all the wonders of saving grace, that we are somehow a part of his plan.

Now, back to God's faithfulness to his covenants. We saw last week, some of these promises were fulfilled and in stunning detail in the Christmas story. And what I like to do when we talk about the Christmas story is take you beyond Hallmark Cards, right? Beyond yard decorations, where a lot of people get their theology unfortunately. And take you into the Word of God and see some of the amazing concepts that emerge, especially from this historical narrative. Now, by way of quick review, last week, we looked at Bethlehem's destiny. There we examine the significance of Bethlehem, why it was the royal city where King David was born and why it was therefore, the appropriate fitting city for the greater son of David, the divine king of Israel, the Lord Jesus to be born in that same village. And all of that was consistent with the prophecy of Micah that we read in chapter five and verse two, "But as for you, Bethlehem , Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you, One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel." And so Jesus birth and Bethlehem was another piece in the puzzle of God's unconditional covenant with David, in 2 Samuel 7, a covenant made 1000 years before Jesus was born, promising David that God would raise up for him a descendant, the Messiah King, who would establish David's kingdom forever, a dynasty that would ultimately dominate the world when the King of Kings returns when he judges the nations and establishes His kingdom and rules in righteousness. So through a divinely orchestrated and complex saga of political machinations, God moves upon the heart of Caesar Augustus, to take a census in Palestine. And in the context of all of that Joseph and Mary traveled 85 miles from their home and Nazareth, to Bethlehem to register and their official stamp of the Roman Empire would verify that Jesus Christ was indeed the Son of God.

Even though they didn't know they were doing that, that he indeed was the rightful heir of the throne of David, that he was the one fulfilling God's covenant promises to David and 2 Samuel 7 that required the Messiah to descend from his loins. And in Bethlehem, Micah's prophecy was fulfilled literally, which I might add, will be the case for the rest of Micah's predictions, as well as all the inspired prophecies. Beloved, if I could put it this way, upon the fulfillments of the jots and tittles of His Word, rest the veracity of God. And so when God says something is going to happen, don't just allegorize it, spiritualize it and come up with what you think it might mean. Take God at His Word. Joseph, Mary knew the prophecy of Micah and even as a 13 year old young woman, Mary was well versed in Old Testament theology. Her heart was saturated with the Word of God, something that is very rare these days in young people. In fact, Luke, one that we read earlier, records her prayer of praise before the Lord. She understood that her child would be the Son of God, the Messiah. And you can just see the richness of theology coming out in her praise before the Lord.

So last week, we examined Bethlehem's destiny. Now today, we want to examine as well, number two Bethlehem's child. Notice in verse six now, says, "And it came about that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son". So who is this firstborn son of Mary? In Luke 2:11, the angel announced that he was, quote, "a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." So it's important for us to understand what Christ means. And what does Lord mean? It's important for you to understand as well what it means to you as an individual, because your eternal destiny depends upon it. Christ, the word Christ is used 500 times in the New Testament, and it translates the Hebrew word "Messiah." Is he your Messiah? And what does that term mean? Lord, the original language in Greek is "kurios". A title that means ruler or master; one who commands,one who exercises supernatural authority. So what do these two terms really say about Jesus? And what difference should this make in your life? Let me give you a little historical context.

Mary and Joseph, as well as Zacharias and Elizabeth, the father and mother of John the Baptist, and the shepherds all knew that the infant child was the Messiah. John 1:41, we know that Andrew finds his brother Simon Peter, what does he say? "We have found the Messiah, (which translated means Christ)." The Samaritans also believed in the coming Messiah. In John 4 you will recall, Jesus met a Samaritan woman and exposed her bondage to sexual sin. And in verse 19, "The woman said to Him, 'Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet," then in verse 25 she says, "I know that Messiah is coming, (He who is called Christ), when that Oe comes, He will declare all things to us.' Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you, am He.'" And as Jesus went on to preach to the Samaritans, beginning in verse 41, "Many more believed because of His word. And they were saying to the woman, 'It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.'" My friend's, baby Jesus in the manger was and is the Messiah. But what did that really mean to the Jewish mind? And what should it mean to us? Messiah actually comes from a Hebrew verb which means to "spread liquid over." And it came to be used symbolically to mean to anoint someone with oil. So Messiah literally means "the anointed one." "Christos" in Greek. In the Old Testament, we see that there were three offices in the theocratic kingdom that God designed for his covenant people. And each one of these offices required that the man be anointed with oil, that he'd be consecrated, that he'd be set apart by God for the respective offices. And all of them would be mediators between God and man, they would all be "messiahs" small m. Those three offices were prophets, priests, and kings. Prophets spoke God's truth to man. The priests brought man's burdens and sins to God and interceded between God and man provided sacrifices and so forth. And then the kings ruled man for God. They were the mediatorial rulers in the theocratic kingdom. But because of our sin, God knew that we needed all three offices. We need a prophet to reveal to us God's truth. We need a priest to sympathize with our weakness, to be a mediator between God and man and intercede with him on our behalf. But we also need a king to rule over us according to God's standard of righteousness and justice. A king that could help subdue the enemy of our soul.

And all of this was pictured in the Old Testament "messiahs." Men anointed to function in the three offices of Prophet, Priest and King. Now very important, there were three things that were always true about God's messiah, those three important criteria had to be met. Number one, they had to be chosen by God. No prophet, priest or king was to be chosen by the people. None were self appointed None were to volunteer. In fact, it's interesting in the verb form, Messiah is in the passive voice, which means "Messiah is one who has been anointed." So they had to be chosen by God. Secondly, they were given divine authority to speak for God and act on his behalf. And then finally, they had to be empowered by God to do his bidding. Beloved, each of these three offices, Prophet, Priest, and King are merged together in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Messiah, the Anointed One. He is the perfect embodiment of all three. Was he not chosen and sent by the Father? Indeed, he was. Quoting from Isaiah 42:1 Jesus spoke of the Father's choosing him when he said, "Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, My beloved in who My soul is well pleased." Matthew 12:18, John 6:38, "I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." And in John 8:54, he said, "It is my father who glorifies me." Hebrews 5 Verse five, "Christ did not glorify himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, Thou art my Son, today I have begotten Thee." He's quoting Psalm 2 verse seven. Jesus was chosen by God, He is the King priest. But did he not also receive define authority from God Himself? Indeed he did. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, "All authority has been given to me, in heaven and on earth." He has authority over men, He has authority over Satan, He has authority over demons, over nature over disease over death. John 5, Verse 22, "the father," he says, "has given all judgment to the Son." And in verse 27, he went on to say, "He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man." Moreover, he was empowered by the Holy Spirit, not only chosen and sent by the Father, not only given divine authority, but he was empowered by the Holy Spirit.

In Matthew 12:18, he quotes Isaiah 42:1, "I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles." And then in John 1:32, John testified, saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him." And many, many passages speak of the supremacy of Christ, that God chose him and gave him all authority, and gave him power in all three of these offices. Ephesians one verse 20, "The Father raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subject under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." Dear friends, this is the Messiah. This is the infant Jesus in the manger. Don't forget it. Colossians 1:15, we read more of who Jesus is. "He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created by Him, and for Him, and He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church, and he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself might come to have first place and everything, for it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Through him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven."

Again, dear friends, this was the infant Jesus in the manger. This is the Lord our God, this is the Messiah. The divinely chosen King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to whom God has given all authority, and all power. And for this reason, according to Philippians 2 beginning in verse nine, "God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Dear friends when you think of Jesus at Christmas, you simply must understand that He is the Creator, the Sustainer, the Redeemer, and the consummater of all things, that he is the uncreated Creator of the universe, that he is the pre existent, self existent God of the universe. He alone is the quintessential, all righteous and eternal, perfect and broad embodiment of Prophet, Priest and King. As Prophet he is the one chosen and empowered by God, to speak truth to the people. Hebrews one beginning in verse one, "God after He spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets, in many portions, and in many ways, in these last days, has spoken to us in His Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through him also he made the world." He is the very Word of God, according to John 1:14, that "became flesh and dwelt among us," that we might behold His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

So indeed, he is the perfect embodiment of a prophet, but also he is the quintessential, all righteous and eternal priest, the one who actually bore our burdens and our sin in his body, and became our substitute, the final sacrifice for sin. And he now sits at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf. First Timothy 2:5, "For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom." Hebrews 2 beginning in verse 17, "He had to be made like His brethren in all things that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people for sins, He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted." And we go on to read in Hebrews chapter seven, beginning in verse 22, "Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant," which I might add, is unlike the former priests who were mortal and died, goes on to say he abides, "forever holds his priesthood permanently. Hence, also He is able to save forever, those who draw near to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest holy, innocent and undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people because this He did once for all when he offered up himself." And then Hebrews chapter nine, verse 11, "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle," referring to heaven, the dwelling place of God. So indeed, this is the Messiah. Furthermore, he alone is the all righteous, eternal King, the King of kings and Lord of lords. And because of these great truths pertaining to these three offices of the Old Testament theocracy. Unlike all of the messiahs of the Old Testament before him, only the child conceived by the Spirit and born of Mary can have the titles Lord, Savior, and Messiah, Messiah with a capital M. It's fascinating, we can see three different colors of thread woven into all of the accounts of the gospel pertaining to the birth of Christ. And each thread speaks of these three messianic offices. Do you remember that the Messiah's coming was announced by the angel Gabriel. The office of priest, telling him that the ultimate and final priest of priests was coming. Also, the angelic messenger told his barren wife that she would conceive and bear a son named John. And he was to be a prophet, a divinely chosen, empowered, authoritative spokesman of God that would herald the coming of the Messiah, and the truth, of how to enter the kingdom. And finally, and this one is almost comical, through the Persian king makers who came to worship the Lord Jesus, the Christ Child, God spoke to Herod, who was a man appointed king of Israel and no king at all, and warned him and all of Israel that the true King was coming. For this reason we read a Matthew two beginning of verse three, "Herod, the king, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the term of the people, he began to inquire of them were the Christ, that is the Messiah was to be born." Beloved this was Bethlehem's child. This was Mary's firstborn son. And I must ask you, do you trust him? as your Savior? Do you OBEY Him as your Lord and King? Do you long to see him? Too many Christians these days, I fear are captured by the fear of man. They're ruled by the fear of man rather than the fear of God. And they fear these painted up pedophile perverts that are running around in our government and in our school systems. Christians afraid of these people. They're afraid of these Birkenstock Bolsheviks that run around, you know, calling themselves Antifa and threatening to tear down the church and all of these types of things, you're really going to be afraid of them? When this is the Lord our God. What is wrong? Are you really going to be afraid of these latte sipping liberal lunatics that are absolutely totally at enmity with God, that worship their father, the devil, you're going to be afraid of them? It reminds me of some of my cowboy buddies, they would say, these people, if brains were the leather, these people wouldn't have enough to saddle a bug. They say a lot of other things. I can't repeat, but you get the point.

In other words, where I'm going with all of this is dear friends, as Christians, we need to know who Jesus is. And when you know who he is, you're not afraid of all this other silliness that's out there. What can they do to us? Well, they can take away our jobs, they can take away even our life. But ultimately, we know where we're going. We know the one who is ultimately in control, because the battle was won at the cross.

Well, we've looked at Bethlehem's destiny and Bethlehem's child. And therefore, we need to, as God told Joshua, Be strong and courageous, do not tremble or be dismayed, right? For the Lord your God is with you. wherever you go. And finally, this morning, I want to close with Bethlehem's manger, because we see that in this text, notice verse seven, "and she wrapped him in cloths," they would do that too and I think we still do that to give the baby a sense of security, "wrapped him in cloths laid him in a manger, because there was not room for them in the inn." By the way, inns in those days were very crude public shelters for travelers. And they were often caves. And many times they would have animals in part of the caves. If you go to that region of the country, you'll see the geography, you can see how easy it would have been for people to stay in places like that. And so often people would sleep on the hay, mangers were for feeding livestock. It's important to feed horses and cattle, and in these mangers to keep dust from getting in their nostrils and, and it can cause respiratory problems and cause a twisted gut and all kinds of things. So they were mangers. And because of the census of that day, all of the places to stay were full. So Mary and Joseph stay with the animals. And you have to think why, why a manger? I've pondered this. Why would the Messiah the Son of God, enter the world in such utter obscurity? And, frankly, in such utter filth, I think there's three reasons at least, that we could perhaps consider. First of all, he was born in a manger to picture the Messiah as rejection. Perfect place to begin his days of humiliation as Prophet, Priest and King right? As Prophet he came as the living Word of God to save sinners, to tell sinners how they can be made righteous. And for this reason, according to Philippians, 2:7, "He emptied himself taking the form of a bondservant. And being made in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." And in John one, beginning in verse nine, we read that "He was the true light, which coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own and those who were His own did not receive Him." Think about it, How could Christ be our faithful high priest, who is able to sympathize with all of our infirmities unless he had experienced a life, of, of pain, even of poverty and persecution? For this reason, we can rejoice with what the writer tells us in Hebrews 4:15, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." You know, had the Messiah come to sinful man in the splendor of His glory for all of the people to see, like he will in a second coming, man would have instantly worshipped him, but all for the wrong reasons, right? We have a glimpse of this later in his mock coronation, His triumphal entry as is commonly referred to, when he first came to Jerusalem, riding on donkey, they thought, oh, great, the Messiah is here. He is going to defeat Rome. We're all going to be exalted. Free food, free work, or I should say no more work and great pay. I mean, this is a liberal utopia, right? I mean, I mean, this whole liberal thing began a long time ago. Let me tell you, Hosanna, to the son of David blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, for He has come to exalt me. That was the idea. Heal our diseases eliminate poverty make me rich and on and on it goes. But knowing how prone man is to be enamored with the spectacle of anything spectacular. The King of Glory is born in a lowly stable, not in a palace. A picture of the poverty of spirit as well it is necessary to enter into the spiritual kingdom as well as a description of the world's rejection of his terms. I mean, think about it. He's born in a cave. Later he will be laid to rest in a tomb. He was laid in a manger and later on, he will hang on a cross. He would be twice wrapped in cloths, the first time at his birth, the second time at his death. And he would be homeless in birth, as well as in death. Indeed, the Lord himself said in Matthew 8:20, "the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." He was born the first time being born along in his mother's womb on a donkey when he came. And he was attended by two humble teens dressed in peasants garb. But all the difference when it comes again, according to Revelation 19:14, when He comes again, He will be attended by quote, "the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." A reference to his glorious Church. First time he came, he was wearing swaddling clothes but when he returns, according to Revelation 19:16, he will be clothed with a robe dipped in blood, "on and His robe and on His thigh He has a name written KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."

So I believe that the manger not only depicts the Messiah as rejection, but it secondly speaks of the Messiah's humanity. Remember, sinful man could never atone for his own sins. God's holy justice had to be satisfied by a holy ransom. And only God could provide that ransom in his son. Only then could that remedy be accomplished and this required a virgin birth. The work of redemption demanded a theanthropos, a god man, one fully God and one fully man, one who could supernaturally fuse the human nature with the divine to form this mystical, supernatural, indissoluble bond. So Jesus had to take upon himself the nature of man, in order to be punished for our sin as our substitute. But he also had to be God, very God, in order to live a sinless life, to be a holy ransom that would satisfy God's justice, the one that could be the propitiation for our sins, the satisfaction, the appeasement of divine justice. And he would also have to be God in order to endure the sufferings of all that the Father had given to him to redeem them. So both the human and the divine natures had to be supernaturally woven together. Jesus had to be conceived by God, and born of a virgin in order for him to be both the Son of Man and The Son of God. Emmanuel, God with us, a son of a virgin according to the flesh, but God with us, according to the Spirit. And what better way for God to establish the humanity of his son, than to have him born of a virgin, and born in a stable, a place of such obscurity and humiliation? Hebrews two verse nine, "But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone." This doesn't mean that he came just to die, but to die for us as a man, he became our substitute. But finally, the manger scene, pictured the Messiah's subjects. I mean, you look around in that scene, in that dusty stable and you know what you don't see? You don't see any great emperors. You don't see great kings and queens or princes and nobleman. You don't see generals with vast armies. you don't see business moguls or celebrities, you don't see any of that. No Pharisees or scribes or Sadducees. None of the Sanhedrin. no vast crowds clamoring to somehow get a glimpse of him vowing their allegiance. No self serving sycophants seeking a place of prominence, you don't see any of that. No, you just see too little, shall we say, Galilean rednecks from Nazareth. That's what you see. Poor, uneducated, common folk. But people who had been given the gift of faith, the recipients of sovereign grace, that's what you see. These were the subjects of the King of glory. And they were assumed to be joined by some of the peasant shepherds, and then later on the Persian king makers. And then we read that they were joined by, quote, "a great multitude that no one can number from every nation from all tribes and peoples and languages." We read that in Revelation. So there's a great crescendo coming right? Beloved, Jesus is the Savior, and the Lord of the meek and the lowly, not the proud in the mighty. He is the Prophet, Priest and King of the broken, of the bowed down not the self willed, not the self exalted. First Corinthians 1:26. "For consider your calling brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world, to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that he might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God."

Dear friends, don't miss these great truths that are typically eclipsed by all of the materialistic and immoral clutter of Christmas in our modern day. And for those of you that perhaps are within the sound of my voice, and you're just living for yourself, you've really never bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, I plead with you, as a minister of the gospel, that you get serious about your own sinful condition. Because one day you will either bow before him in triumph or in terror. You will bow before him as the judge of the living in the dead, or you will be cut off from him for ever. So once you place your faith in Him today, and every believer, I pray that you will think upon these things meditate upon these great truths, especially during this Christmas season. Fathers in particular, hear me, teach these things to your children. If you don't know them, learn them. Grow up. Take responsibility. Teach these things to your children, live them out. Teach them that Christmas is about the King of kings. Not some sappy Hallmark dribble, where Hollywood celebrates the magic of the season, I get so sick of that the magic of the season, or some predictable romance. You know, after 30 seconds of Hallmark, we will you know exactly what's going to happen. I mean, that's kind of where our culture has gone. I mean, if they were to hear the things that I said today, they would say I mean, this guy is a knuckle dragging Neanderthal that needs to live in a cave and eat raw meat. I mean, this guy's nuts. That's because they don't know God. And we would neither were it not for his mercy. Christmas is about the incarnation of the Son of God, the perfect embodiment of Prophet, Priest and King, the Messiah who will one day again set upon the throne of his father David, who will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. And this is a truth that the great German British composer George Frederick Handel understood well, and he captured it. In that great oratorio the Messiah, especially in the Hallelujah chorus, you remember it? We're not going to sing it all right, but you remember it. He goes, Hey, you know, hallelujah, hallelujah, and it just keeps going and everybody stands up. And the lyrics go on and to say "for the Lord God, omnipotence, reigneth hallelujah. The kingdom of this world is becoming the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. King of Kings forever and ever. Hallelujah, hallelujah. AND LORD OF LORDS forever and ever. Hallelujah. Hallelujah." I pray that that is the passion of your heart. And I pray that you long for his return. So let's celebrate his first as well as his Second Coming this Christmas season. Amen. Father, thank You for these eternal truths. May they bear much fruit and every heart that has been given the ability to receive them. And we pray that because of your word, we will be forever changed even this day, to the praise of your glory. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.

Isaiah chapter nine, will you take your Bibles and turn there for a few minutes? A familiar passage beginning in verse six, "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace, there will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on, and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this."

God has given us these words pertaining to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ that we might understand more fully, who he is. And of course, this is pure folly to the world. If you were to ask the average person, do you believe that Jesus came to this earth? And that's what we celebrate on Christmas, well, many people would say, "Yeah, I believe that." Okay. Well, do you also believe that the increase of a government is going to be on his shoulders? One day? Wow. No, I don't know about that. You know, I buy into this whole Jesus thing that, that yeah, maybe he was God, but I don't buy the whole government thing. But do you believe that Jesus was the Prince of Peace? Oh, yes. I'm all for peace. And certainly Jesus was the greatest example of non violent resistance against tyranny. Well, do you believe that He was the creator of all things? And all things hold together by the Word of His power? Oh, no, that's ridiculous. Do you believe he was God incarnate? That He came to save sinners? On his death? In his death on the cross? Well, no, I don't believe that. Do you believe, according to Ephesians, 1:20, that the Father "raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand and the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come." Do you believe that? No. Those are silly myths in the Bible. Do you believe his words when he said that all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth in Matthew 28? I don't believe that. You believe him when he said that the Father has given all judgment to the Son? And that he gave Him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man? Do you believe that? No, people don't really believe that. Do you believe that his wrath currently abides upon you because of your unbelief? No, I don't believe that. Do you believe what Jesus said when he says, He who believes in the Son has eternal life? But he who does not obey the Son will not see life but the wrath of God abides on him? No. Most people do not believe any of those things. How sad. And it is typical of people apart from Christ a mock these great truths. In fact, we read in 2 Corinthians that 4, that "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves," The apostle Paul said, "but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond servants, for Jesus sake. For God who said 'light shall shine out of darkness is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.'" Indeed, the one who spoke light into existence is the one that has spoken into our hearts, that we might see the light of the glory of Christ and be saved. AW Tozer once said, quote, "The gravest question before the church is always God Himself. And the most pretentious fact about any man is not wit what he at any given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like."

You see, folks, our God, or our view of God, our understanding of God, our apprehension of who he is, is the basis of everything in our life. It determines who we will worship, how we will worship, if we will worship at all. It determines what kind of church we will attend. And Satan is a diabolical genius when it comes to deceiving people. And he does this primarily through false teachers who distort the Word of God and offer up a God that we can somehow control or impress a God that winks at our sin, that just accepts everybody the way they are, that dances to our beat, that really requires nothing of us so that we can live our life any way we want. And then on our deathbed when we stand on the brink of eternity, we will be able to sing with Frank Sinatra, "I've lived a life that's full, I've traveled each and every highway, and more, much more I did it, I did it my way." And for those who live according to that folly, you will have an eternity to regret, your unbelief and your rebellion before a holy God. The Christmas season is a perfect time to elevate Christ to His rightful position, his proper place, and behold, the excellency in the glory of who he is, so that we can not live in our way but live it his way, right? And what a blessing that is.

And this morning, I want to examine this ancient prophecy for a few minutes that God gave to Isaiah, one that reveals much of the great truths of who Jesus is. A text that speaks prophetically of his birth that we celebrate here today, the birth of the Incarnate Son of God and a text that also really details the steadfast love that God extends towards those who fear him. And it also reminds us of the judgment that God has upon those who do not fear him. Now, Isaiah 9:6-7 here is a is an aspect of the Christmas story that typically isn't talked about very much. But it was revealed to the Prophet to preach to the people of Judah during a period of spiritual darkness. One that is not all that dissimilar to the spiritual darkness that we see in our land today. It was revealed to the Prophet about 700 years before Christ during the divided kingdom. And he prophesied, Isaiah prophesied that is, for at least 34 years during the reign of four kings beginning at the death of Messiah. And he prophesied through the reign of Jotham, of Ahaz, of Hezekiah. And finally Manassah. And when we look back at ancient Judah, we see some amazing parallels to the United States of America today. During the 52 year reign of King Uzziah, Judah had prospered greatly. They had a strong economy, they were wealthy. They had developed into a very powerful commercial country, powerful military state, they were very proud. In fact, in that day, they were considered to be militarily invincible.

But as you look at scripture and history, you see that they were materialistic to the core. They are governed by crooked politicians. Their spiritual leaders were phony apostates. They were a very religious people, but they were a people that were really dominated by hypocrisy by idolatry and by gross immorality. So God promised judgment upon this people we read about this, for example, in Isaiah 5. Now at the end of his reign Uzziah, in his pride, violated God's command and attempted to pursue and assume the role of high priest, and he desired to burn incense on the altar. You may recall the story in the Old Testament. And the consequences were devastating. God struck him with leprosy, which soon caused his death. And it was then according to Isaiah 6, that God called Isaiah to prophesy in the year of whose ideas death, which was 739 BCE. Now, the vast majority of the people, like today rejected his warnings, people today reject the gospel, they think it's foolish, and only a small remnant believed. But finally, according to tradition, King Manassah had enough of Isaiah, and had him cut asunder with a wooden saw. So it was against this blackness, this darkness in the land, that God promised the light of salvation through a child that would one day be born. And here we learn much of who God is, and how his steadfast love is manifested toward those who fear him. My outline is going to be rather brief this morning, and it's rather simple, we're going to look first at the promise of His birth. Secondly, the description of his titles, thirdly, the nature of his kingdom, and finally, the zeal of his determination. And frankly, these are great truths that we need to shout from the rooftops, especially on Christmas.

So first, will you notice that God reveals these amazing truths to Isaiah, with no explanation as to the interval of time, this was 700 years now, before the child would come. But people didn't know if it was going to be next week or next year or when it was going to happen, nor does he offer any measure of the span of time between when the child would be born and when the government will rest upon his shoulders. In other words, there is no time period of how long it's going to be between his first and his second coming. We know when the first coming was, we're still awaiting the Second Coming. Now this, by the way, is a common prophetic device that we see. In Scripture, it's known as "prophetic forshortening". When a prophet reveals various truths with no idea of, of what is going to intervene in between the time the prophets would look ahead, and they would envision two Advents of Christ as two mountain peaks, with a valley in between. I often use the analogy when you head towards Denver, from this side of Denver, you get into Colorado, and all of a sudden, you can begin to see the mountains and you see all of these peaks, and they look like they're all lined up. But there's many miles between some peaks and others in the background. And that's what we have here. They had no idea of the size of the valley in between the first and the second coming. Peak one would be Jesus birth, peak two would be his second coming, speaking of the government being on his shoulders, and so forth. Now, don't think here that there's a double meaning, but rather, one of them is simply the harbinger of the next even greater and more climactic event. And from our perspective, again, we can look back and see the time interval in the valley between the first and the second coming, and we're living there today. And we're awaiting that next peak, if you will.

So 700 years before Christ, Isaiah, by the power of the Spirit is revealed. The Spirit reveals to him these two mountain peaks of precious hope, a child is going to be born one day, and he would someday rule from the throne of David on an everlasting or in an everlasting kingdom. So first let's notice for a moment the promise of His birth a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us. Now notice it does not say that a child will be born from us, nor does it say we will produce from ourselves a son. You will recall when Jesus talked with Nicodemus, we read God so loved the world that he what? He gave His only begotten Son. Begotten in the original language, "monogenes" says a term that means "unique or radically distinctive, something in a category, all of its own without equal." God gave His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and indeed he was born but he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was God's only begotten son, his only unique one of a kind, son spawned from God the Father, Consubstantial in every way of his very essence possessing His very nature. Moreover, it says, this child will be born to us, his son will be given to us. Now please understand, this child was not made, he was not created. He already existed, he was given. Again, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ is the pre existent, self existent, uncreated Creator of the Universe. Yes, he was a child, but he was also the eternal Son. He was the greater son of David, but more importantly, he was the Son of God, a son of a virgin according to the flesh, but God with us according to the Spirit, but we must realize that this gift of Christ was promised before time began. By a God who cannot lie. We read this in Titus 1:2, think of this the next time you think of Jesus in the manger, that he was promised, before time began before God created time before he created anything. 2 Timothy 1:9, we read, "He has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity." "From all eternity" can be translated "before time began." "But now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." And notice what else is promised concerning that child that was born to us the son who was given to us in verse six, "and the government will rest on his shoulders." Now, obviously, that hasn't happened yet. But it will. The promised fulfillment of this verse verse can be found in a number of passages. For example, in Psalm 2 beginning in verse 8, the father describes the sons kingship and he says, "Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as thine inheritance and the very ends of the earth as your possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt shatter them, like earthenware." And I don't know about you, actually, I do know about most of you, but I cannot wait until the King comes. I am so tired of being ruled by godless people, that are buffoons, that are fools, in desperate need of God's saving grace. Man may remove Christ from Christmas, but he cannot remove him from his throne. So someday, the wicked rulers that are endemic to world history will surrender to the righteous reign of Christ. We know that in Bible prophecy, Jerusalem will be the capital of the world, Christ will rule from the throne of David. And during that millennial kingdom, the Lord Jesus Christ will enforce his standards of righteousness with a rod of righteousness, He will protect his sheep, the sheep of his fold with the scepter of iron and we will rule with Him. Revelation 2 beginning in verse 26, and "He who overcomes and keeps my works until the end to him I will give power over the nations, he shall rule them with a rod of iron and they shall be dashed to pieces, like the potter's vessels."

So in Isaiah's prophecy, we see not only the promise of His birth, but the description of his titles. If you will notice there are four pairs of names and each name foreshadows his coming rule upon the earth during his millennial reign. The first two names are linked to an earlier name that of "Immanuel" which means "God with us" that Isaiah revealed and chapter 7:14, there you will recall He says, "Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son and we will call his name Immanuel." And then the second two names denote the glorious conditions of that time that he will bring about. So first of all, notice in verse six, "and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor." Literally, Wonder Counselor, the original language. It denotes a supernatural counselor, one with supernatural counsel. And this would have been great news to the believing remnant of that day that were absolutely fed up with the bad counsel they were receiving from their false shepherds, and their political leaders. They're the people like we experienced today. So a kingdom will rise and it will fall basically upon the council of its rulers, and that's going to change someday and certainly an everlasting kingdom requires the wisdom of an eternal, omniscient and holy God. So this child would be a supernatural counselor for he would be God incarnate. And we're waiting for that day. And this was the first hope of Zion that God gave through Isaiah. A divine promise that that would occur during this time of his reign upon the earth and millennial restoration after the pre kingdom judgments. And in chapter one and verse 26, we read, "Then I will restore your judges as at the first and your counselors as at the beginning. After that you will be called the city of righteousness of faithful city." Isaiah then prophesied in verse 27 of chapter one, "Zion will be redeemed with justice and her repentant ones with righteousness, but transgressors and sinners will be crushed together and those who forsake the LORD shall come to an end." So one day dear friends, the Lord Jesus that we celebrate today, the one who came and died in our stead and was raised again from the dead, the Wonder Counselor will return as the absolute monarch over all of the earth. Now, let's think more deeply for a moment about what this means as a wonderful counselor.

As I reflected upon this, I thought my he was a supernatural counselor, number one, in eternity past. Again before time began, and space was created, the triune godhead, counseled together to determine and decree a plan as to how they would put their glory on display. Romans 11:36, "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things to Him be the glory forever. Amen." So to be sure, the eternal Son was part of that council, working on a perfect plan in perfect oneness with the Father and the Spirit. Together they deliberated, think about this, on creation. This vast universe, the galaxies the stars, including our sun and moon in the earth, they counseled together as to what would be the laws of physics, the essence and purpose of every angel, the unfathomable intricacies of every strand of DNA. Together, they counseled concerning man, what he would be and woman, his and her body, his and her mind. Thought about all of us, the color of our eyes, our hair, shape of our face, the sound of our voice. The Bible even speaks of how our days are determined, our length of days. Psalm 139:15, the Psalmist says" My frame was not hidden from the when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth," referring to the mother's womb, "thine eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in thy book, they were all written the days that were ordained for me." So our beloved Christ was the counselor for all the wondrous works of God. And as our wonderful counselor, he even deliberated with the Father and the Son as to how to allow sin and evil to enter into their perfect universe that they would create. This is evident in God's testimony of himself when he said in Isaiah 45:7, "I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil. I the LORD do all of these things." And we know biblically that he ordained evil to enter his perfect universe through the voluntary choices of moral creatures. And he did this to dramatically display his glory through his holiness, through his wrath, through his mercy, through His grace and love and power. And our wonderful counselor also helped craft that plan of redemption whereby we have been saved, including the uninfluenced choice of those that he would save. Ephesians 1:5, the father "predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself." Verse 11, "we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will." Indeed, all of his elective purposes were ordained from eternity, 2 Timothy 1:9 and Titus 1:2. Again, as I said earlier, before time began, which would by implication, include his divine decree for Satan, and the angels to rebel, for Adam and Eve to sin, and by imputation, all men to sin and Adam, thus requiring according to Revelation 13:8, "the lamb to be slain" When? "from the foundation of the world." We can therefore conclude that God's elective, eternal purposes were decreed and set into motion before creation. And this would include the incarnation of the Son, the Lord Jesus, that would come to Earth. It would include His atoning work, his defeat of Satan and sin. All of these amazing realities, I'm just hitting the highlights. As we think about baby Jesus in the manger, he was indeed a wonderful counselor, with the Father and the Spirit in eternity past. And for this reason, Isaiah said in chapter 25:1, "Oh, Lord, thou art my god, I will exalt thee, I will give thanks to thy name, for thou hast worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness." So he was a counselor in eternal eternity past but also a supernatural counselor in the present. He counsels us according to His providence, does he not? As he orchestrates all things to accomplish his purposes in our lives, including the events and actions of all that we do. Ephesians 1:11, He accomplishes or brings about all things "according to the counsel of his will." Proverbs 19:21. "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord it will stand." And in Act 17 Verse 28, "In Him, we live and move and have our being. "And Romans 8:28, that you're all familiar with, "We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

So dear friends, nothing happens in our life that was not first determined in eternity. Concepts that are beyond our imagination. All of those things that would endure to our eternal benefit and his eternal glory, He counsels not only through His providence, but through His Word. He is the eternal Logos, the word, the incarnation of the word, who reveals the very mind and heart of God, and we hear His voice and learn from him whenever we read His Word. Indeed, Jesus said, "My sheep," what? "hear my voice," and they do what? "And they follow Me." Those that aren't a sheep, don't hear His voice, and think it's ridiculous to follow him. He counsels us through his presence in our lives. He remains to this very day Immanuel, God with us. Again, He has redeemed us that he might inhabit us, He dwells within us. He promised "lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." And because of this, he is a wise and a sympathetic counselor. Hebrews 4:15, "for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted at all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." Indeed, according to Proverbs 8:31, he rejoices in his inhabited world and delights in the children of men and Proverbs 8:14 says, "Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding."

Oh, dear Christian, what a foolish thing it is to neglect the counsel of the Lord our God that is revealed to us in His Word. So we can see his supernatural counsel in the past and the present. But finally, counsel pertaining to the future. You know, man is incurably curious about the future and foolishly, he resorts to all of the crazy things that the enemy has provided that would hopefully help him understand the future. Things like horoscopes and zodiac signs and tarot cards, and even Chinese fortune cookies, and so forth. But our wonderful counselor has revealed enormous amounts of information in His Word; the destiny of the nations, the destiny of the world, the destiny of people who love Him and worship Him versus those who don't, and so forth. And because in those those eternal councils of the triune godhead, we know that he participated in determining the course of human history, and indeed, history, shall we say, is his story. It's the story of Christ, our Creator, and our redeemer and our coming King, and His Word is filled with prophecies. Scholars estimate that there are 1817 prophecies in the Bible. And we know that over 300 of them were fulfilled perfectly, literally, at His first advent. Hundreds more are waiting to be fulfilled in the future. So do you want to know what the future is? Consult with the wonderful counselor right? The book of Revelation, we get a little sample of this. Revelation one beginning in verse one. It says, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ:, in Greek, it's the "Apokalypsis lesou Christou", the apocalypse this means "the unveiling," the unveiling of Jesus Christ, "which God gave Him to show to his bondservants the things which must soon take place." And then he went on to say in verse three, "Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near," or the season is near.

So back to Isaiah is prophecy. Indeed, he was and is the Mighty Counselor, The Wonderful Counselor, but secondly, Isaiah said he will be called Mighty God. "El gibbor" in Hebrew it's a term that refers to a mighty military leader with great power, literally a warrior. So this child who would be born, this child who would be given to us, upon whose shoulders the government will someday rest is, shall we say, a warrior God. This is who Jesus is. The one who will fulfill the military references that we read about in verses 3-5, for example, he is the mighty God, The warrior God who will liberate his people Israel from the bondage of their sin, reconcile them unto himself, conquer their enemies, once and for all. And again, this is where people get confused, as the child we see his humanity, but as the Mighty God, we see His deity. And that's what we want to focus on, especially in the Christmas season. This will be the one to whom penitent Israel will one day turn. And this is the one to whom we in the church age have turned, not a mere human that lived and died, but this is the second person of the Triune Godhead. This is the omnipotent, all powerful, God; able to do all that He desires, able to accomplish all that he has decreed, all of his promises. In fact, the Psalmist calls us to worship saying in Psalm 24:8, "Who is the King of Glory, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle."

But will you notice the third in this quartet of predicted preeminent titles, he is also called Eternal Father, literally, Father of eternity. And this is an amazing concept. This child who would be born, the son who would be given will also be the Father of eternity. If that is the promise, and Isaiah's words would have certainly been of great comfort to the people who were agonizing, who were languishing in the idolatrous country in which they lived, awaiting divine judgment. And the title of Father points to his concern for the helpless, a concern that will dominate his rule in the kingdom age, a concept that speaks of how he cares for his children, even to the point of disciplining his children, Proverbs 3:12, "For who the Lord loves, he reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights." And Isaiah speaks of the Redeemer as father in Isaiah 63:16, "For thou art our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not recognize us, Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer from of old is thy name". In the chapter 64:8, "But now oh Lord, thou art our Father, we are the clay, and thou our Potter, and all of us are the work of thy hand." Again dear friends, think of this when you gaze upon the baby in the manger.

So it's Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father. And then finally, the fourth preeminent title given to the future child who would be king is Prince of Peace. You see, the one who will come will be the embodiment of peace when he returns as King of Kings and Lord of lords. Isaiah 2:4, the Spirit of God speaks to the Prophet and says, "And he will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war." We long for those days in the kingdom age that is coming. But we must understand that this peace that he will eventually secure for the nations of the world when he returns and reigns upon the throne of his father, David, in the millennial kingdom, this, this peace begins first, with the peace that he secures between sinful man and a holy God. There must be a reconciliation. We are a sinful people. God is infinitely holy, we can never enter into His presence unless God does something. We must be reconciled to Him. And that reconciliation comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who bore our sins. In fact, in Romans 5:1, we read and "having been justified, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." So when we come to saving faith in Christ, suddenly we're clothed in his righteousness, and God no longer looks upon our sin, but sees the righteousness of Christ. And on the basis of that imputed righteousness, we can enter into the presence of a holy God.

That is the essence of the gospel. And therein is the peace. That Christ alone can be the Prince of Peace, but you will have no peace until you are reconciled to God through faith in Christ. And once that happens, the war is over. We are no longer his enemy. We are no longer at enmity with him. We are now his children, his redeemed. You will recall, in Luke 2 when the angel appeared to the shepherds, the glory of the Lord shined around them, they were terrified, they announced the birth of the Savior. And there we read in verse 13, of Luke 2, "suddenly there appeared with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased." Now, be careful, this does not mean that he's offering peace to those who are pleasing to Him. This is not some kind of reward for meritorious behavior, as if we could somehow be good enough to enter into the presence of God through our own righteousness. But literally, he's saying peace among men of his good pleasure, or peace toward men, on whom God's sovereign pleasure rests. You see, this is the goodwill that God grants to His elect. So they're saying, in essence, Glory to God in the highest to those who are the sovereignly chosen recipients of His grace of His good pleasure. Those who now have peace with God through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior, the Prince of Peace.

So in this great prophecy, we see the promise of His birth, the description of his titles. Number three, the nature of his kingdom, "There will be no end," verse 7, "to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice, and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this." And you see, this point says now to the Davidic kingdom, the Davidic dynasty, the future home of the Son, the millennial kingdom, which is repeatedly promised in the Old Testament, and it will be inaugurated, when the Lord returns again at His second coming. This will be a kingdom of peace on earth when he reigns, with a rod of righteousness, when he wields a scepter of iron. This will be in fulfillment of Abrahamic covenant that we read about in Genesis 12 and 15 and 17, as well as the Davidic Covenant and 2 Samuel 7, this will be a time when David's fallen tent will be restored according to Amos 9:11. "In that day, I will restore David's fallen tent I will repair its broken places restore its ruins and build it as it used to be." Zechariah 9:10, "He will proclaim peace to the nations his rule will extend from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." You see, this will be a time of great blessing not only to ethnic Israel, but to Gentiles. All because the child was born, all because a son would be given. But how can this possibly be accomplished? Well, he tells us in verse seven, "the zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this." So again, in this great prophecy, we see the promise of His birth, a description of his titles, the nature of his kingdom, that I'm just hitting on very lightly. And finally, we see the zeal of his determination. The term zeal means ardor, or, or passion, or even jealousy. It's a term derived from an Arabic verb meaning to become "intensely read". And it carries the idea of a man's face, becoming red with deep emotion. We all understand what that looks like. And it was used to describe, for example, a husband's jealousy for the love of his wife in Proverbs 6:34. So this is describing even the explosion of love that bursts into full flame in the heart of a bride and a groom as we read about in Song of Solomon 6:8, and Isaiah uses the term in chapter 63:15, to describe God's, quote, "zeal and mighty deeds, the stirrings of his inner parts to act". And the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 79:5, that his zeal can be compared to a quote, "burning fire." This is the zeal of the Lord. And to be sure, our God is according to Deuteronomy 4:24, "a consuming fire, a jealous God." It was Jesus, you will recall in John 2:13-17, it was Jesus zeal for his father's house that consumed him when he cleansed the temple. Make no mistake, dear friends, the burning passion of the Lord Jesus Christ will motivate him to return once again as he has promised. And he will return again as the Lord of hosts to accomplish all that he has ordained and eternity past because he is a consuming fire, because he is the Lord of Glory, because he is a jealous God, and because he is faithful to his covenant promises. And even right now you must understand that he is ordering and directing all of the events of human history, moving them toward the Messianic Kingdom, and even now we're seeing the world being prepared for the rule of the Antichrist, which must occur before Christ returns, and then eventually he will establish His kingdom which is consistent with all of these great prophecies. And that kingdom will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state. This is the triumph of his zealous grace. This is what we await as we reflect upon all that baby Jesus is and will do. Well, today the world's hatred of Christ and His Word is mounting. But according to the prophet Isaiah, 14:24, we can know this quote, "the Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely, just as I have intended, so it has happened, and just as I have planned, so it will stand."

So dear friends think upon this, especially on Christmas Day, think about who Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The Prince of Peace, who will be king, who ultimately is king, because my friends, and please hear this, a day will soon come when his nostrils will flare, and he will rise from his sovereign throne. And in the consuming fire of His righteous indignation, he will return and bring glory to himself and bring judgment upon the nations and He will establish His kingdom as he has promised. He will break the seals of the pre kingdom judgments and unleash his wrath upon a world that has for millennia, mocked him. But then he will return according to Revelation 19:15, "and smite the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and he will tread the blind press of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty."

So indeed, and I leave you, with this great text, "There will be no end to the increase of His government, or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this." And then my friends, we will see this with our own eyes. I trust that you all know Christ. And when I say know him, that you have been absolutely broken over your sin, and that you have come to him in repentant faith and ask for forgiveness, that you have committed yourself to Him, that you believe that he is who he says he is. I pray that that has happened because unless it has, some day, when you see him when you bow before him, as we all will, you will either do it in triumph or in terror. The good news of the gospel that we celebrate here today is that there is hope for sinful man. And if you're here today, without Christ, you can laugh at everything that I have said, you can mock his word all you want to but you know in your heart that you are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, and the wrath of God abides upon you. And I pray that you will have no sleep on your pillow, until you come to a place of genuine saving faith and be saved.

Your life is a train wreck apart from Christ. But with Christ, everything changes. Not that everything becomes perfect and wonderful. But certainly even in the midst of our storms, we have the great peace that passes all comprehension, because we are in Christ Jesus. And we have the hope of all that He has promised. And we live consistently in that hope, and rejoice in it. Folks, this is the glory that emanates from a manger, right? The glory of Christ. This is the one we celebrate this day. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for these eternal truths. I pray that you will speak to every heart especially those that perhaps are living in rebellion against you. Father, we know that only you can cause them by the power of your Spirit, to see the truth of their own sin and the glory of Christ, the holiness of God. And so I pray that by the power of your Spirit, you will bring great conviction to every heart that is here today. And for those that that know and love you Lord, may this be a time where we are deeply encouraged and deeply edified. As we contemplate the perfections of the glory of Christ, may we live to the praise of that glory and enjoy all of the fullness of what it means to be in Christ Jesus. We thank you, we give you praise in Jesus name. Amen.

A few minutes ago, we read from John's Gospel chapter 14. And this morning, we will look at verse 27. Primarily, under the heading, finding peace in an evil world. I've decided to step away from our verse by verse study of the gospel of Mark to address this issue, because I know that many of you, like me, are hurting. Given all that we have endured this last week, the loss of one of our precious ladies, the acknowledgement of serious health issues, and others, I believe it was nine of our soldiers that were killed up at Fort Campbell in a helicopter accident and other sorrows that I have that I cannot share with you. And of course, our hearts are broken over yet another mass murder, in a school specifically, a Christian school and church that was targeted. I've talked with many of you about that. One of the things that we are in need of and certainly as believers we have is a sense of peace in the midst of all of this chaos, all of this evil. This is the fourth mass shooting by a transgender in five years. That's four mass shootings committed by people who make up about one half of 1% of the population. And of course, the answer is gun control. Right? Let's take guns away from law abiding citizens and leave them helpless. And let the criminals and the crazies have their way. By the way, I do believe in some gun control, they should never allow a transgender person to get near a gun. A 2022 Canadian study entitled, meaning and life future orientation and support for violent radicalization, that I read this week said transgender and gender diverse youth emerge as the group at the highest risk of support for violent radicalization. So sad. And of course, we see this in trans activism today. They were going to have a Trans Day of vengeance sometime this last week, I'm sure you heard about that. And that was cancelled. They're protesting what they call transgender genocide, which is a total hoax. Gender ideology is, frankly, the breeding ground for despair, for depression, for self loathing, for violence, violence against all those who oppose them. And anybody that is willing to be honest will have to acknowledge the fact that transgender ideology is an attack on the image of God manifested in the creation of males and females, to give him glory, and also to enter into the covenantal bond of marriage, which is to illustrate Christ's love for His church. God has ordained two institutions, the church and marriage. Christ is to be the head of them both. And of course, Satan is doing all he can to destroy those two institutions. The self loathing and rage of the transgenders is really understandable. I mean, they've been deceived by their own deceitful hearts. They've been deceived by Satan. And they've been deceived by a culture that has encouraged them and recruited them. Homosexuals are not born they are recruited. They've been given puberty blockers, cross sex hormones. They've been surgically and chemically mutilated castrated so that they can pretend to be another gender. And now they're miserable. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, they're dead. And of course, they're filled with hate because others don't join in with their delusion. Others don't celebrate their insanity and use their ridiculous pronouns, so they hate anyone who disagrees with them, but they hate your friends they hate God especially and all who belong to Him. As James said, in James four two "You lust and do not have; so you commit murder." I read another study this week, Cambridge University research in 2020 found that transgender and gender diverse individuals are more likely to be autistic, and report higher autistic traits. Well, my point with all of this is to say any reasonable person will have to admit that these people are mentally disturbed. They in many cases are deranged, delusional. And from a biblical perspective, we understand that they are also depraved and demonic in terms of how the enemy has influenced their thinking. And yet we live in a culture that tries to celebrate all of this, rather than protect us and our children from them. Our president just proclaimed the other day, March 31, as, quote, Transgender Day of visibility. Folks, this is staggering evil that has invaded our country, another indication of the wrath of divine abandonment. And this President and his administration, and these people that support this stuff, are a national disgrace. I was reading a political commentator by the name of Matt Walsh, some of you are familiar with him. He said something that I thought was very well stated, quote, "No matter who is responsible for the latest burst of demonic violence, what lies at the root is the reality of human evil, and a society that fosters this evil. Whether it's a trans person or anyone else carrying out the latest mass, murder, the root is always a culture in a state of spiritual and moral decay. We have become a country filled with numb, detached, empty, desensitized people with no sense of overarching purpose. We try to fill in the gaps with things that cannot solve the problem, and will often only make it worse, psychiatric drugs, the internet, entertainment, trying to numb the numbness even more. Increasingly, people, especially young people, seeking a sense of identity and belonging, turn to gender identity for the answer. But there they find only more of the confusion and despair, they are trying to escape. This is the soil that these tragedies grow out of the landscape where this nightmare is playing out." End quote, well stated.

Beloved, these are days of unmitigated evil, and apostasy even in many churches. These are days of granite indifference and apathy concerning God's judgment. These are like the days of Noah. Remember, Genesis six, five, the Lord looked on those days and we read that "the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only continually evil." And our Lord said in Matthew 24, in his great Olivet Discourse, beginning in verse 37, "The coming of the Son of Man will be just like in the days of Noah." So there is another judgment coming, and everything points to it soon arrival. And can there be anything more distressing and depressing than what we're seeing play out in this whole LGBTQ woke trendsgender phenomenon. I was thinking about this, a mother's womb, a child's school and churches should be the safest places on earth. But they have become the most dangerous. And the focused rage on Christians is escalating every day. And for this reason, I want to remind you, of how we find peace. In the midst of all of this stuff, I want to encourage you, as I have been encouraged myself, because sometimes the weight of all of these things began to wear on me as I'm sure it does on you. The world craves peace, and so we need to understand what it is how we get it. So we want to know what Jesus has to say on the topic. The world is always looking for peace among the nations, people are looking for peace in themselves. If you Google as I did, how to find peace within yourself, there are 3,670,000 results. We're not going to go over all of them today. But what's funny when you look at them, one will say four ways to find peace and other 10 ways, 10 simple steps, five tips, and a cursory examination of the most popular sites listed indicate that the answer to peace always lies within yourself. That's the great lie that the answer lies within yourself. And it's typically through meditation and visualization and so forth. One popular charlatan by the name of Joel Osteen wrote a book "Become a Better You" and he offers seven steps for finding peace from the inside out. Here's what he says, "Number one, keep pressing forward, give your dreams a new beginning. Number two, be positive toward yourself. Learn to like yourself. Number three, develop better relationships, keep the strife out of your life. Number four, form better habits, keep yourself happy. Number five, embrace the place where you are. Number six, develop your inner life. Number seven, stay passionate about life." Dear friends try offering this frivolous dribble to those dear parents who have just lost their children. Try offering this kind of advice to a person who has just buried a dead loved one that has been martyred for their faith. Give the seven steps to parents who are sitting in a hospital room caring for their comatose child. Give this to a woman who has just lost her husband, and is now faced with raising her children all on her own. Give this type of foolishness to someone who has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness. And you'll see how much peace it brings them. But friends, I bring you good news. Peace is available. Inner personal peace is available, a peace that we can experience regardless of the circumstances. But it is only available to those who have first made peace with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it does not originate from within ourselves. This peace is not a result of something that we do and as a result of that which is being done to us a mighty work of grace wrought within our souls by the power of the Spirit of God. It is a supernatural gift from God Himself. It's not one that is subjected to circumstances. It's a peace that will transcend circumstances. And frankly, this was the piece that sustained the frightened and the confused disciples in the closing section of Jesus farewell address to them during his final days on earth, part of which we read in John 14. This is the Passion Week of Christ and here's what Jesus said to them, in John 14:27, which will be our text this morning, he said, "Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you, let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."

Now today, we celebrate the beginning of the Passion Week of Christ that leads up to his sacrificial death on the cross on our behalf, and His resurrection. And I want to give you a little historical background before we look at this text more specifically, so that you understand all what's going on. Remember that in Jesus day, at this particular time, a multitude of Jewish people were making their way to Jerusalem, to celebrate the Passover and coronate Jesus as their Messiah King. Jesus and his apostles also are making their way to Jerusalem. And I might also add rather than the traditional Palm Sunday what that we call this here, it is more likely on a Monday, after Jesus had been in Bethany, with Lazarus that he made his way through the eastern gate in Jerusalem. A Monday triumphal entry is very important because in Exodus 12, verses two through six, the Mosaic law required that sacrificial lambs for Passover are to be selected on the 10th day of the first month, taken into the home to be loved, until they are sacrificed on the 14th. And only a Monday triumphal entry would allow for this kind of symbolism because the year Jesus was crucified, the 10th of Nissan was on the Monday of the Passover week. And this would allow the Jews nationally to select Jesus as their Passover lamb. This was the great symbolism that we see in the scriptures, and then to symbolically take him into their hearts and their homes and love him and then sacrifice him on Friday the 14th of Nissan. According to Daniel chapter nine, verse 25, a prophecy given 600 years before the very day of our Lord's messianic presentation coming into Jerusalem was predicted by the Holy Spirit through His inspired author. There we read that 483 years after Artexerxes decreed to Nehemiah the quote Messiah, the Prince, would be presented to the Jewish nation on April 10, 30 AD. Likewise, the manner of our Lord's triumphant yet I might add humble entry was predicted 500 years earlier, through the prophet Zachariah, Zachariah chapter nine in verse nine. The text which Matthew quotes, says this, "Rejoice greatly Oh daughter of Zion shout, Oh daughter of Jerusalem, Behold, your King is coming to you. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey." So, the Messiah King approaches Jerusalem with all of the crowds, they're swelling in size. They're frenzied in anticipation shouting, according to Luke 19:38, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, Peace in heaven and glory in the highest." And then we read some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "'Teacher, rebuke your disciples.' Then Jesus answered, 'I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out'". But then in verse 41, Luke records a stunning event that puts this whole scene in the proper perspective. Because there we read as Jesus, the Messiah King approaches the city of Jerusalem. He actually wept. Yay, he wailed aloud over their unbelief and rejection of their king. He does not enter the city with joy but with immense sorrow, because he knew that they were worshipping Him for all the wrong reasons. So with tears flowing down his tree cheeks we read in Luke 19:41 and following, "When he approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, 'If you had known in this day, even you the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side. And they will level you to the ground and your children within you. And they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.'" And of course, this was literally fulfilled a few years later, beginning on April 970 AD Titus laid siege there in the summer, and he slowly began to starve the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the soldiers systematically slaughtered them going into one section of the city and then the next. And many of these same people that were saying Hosanna were killed at that time. We know that they utterly destroyed the temple, they took remaining captives to Rome, to be mocked, to be enslaved to be butchered in the Roman circus, and the gladiatorial bouts. So on Monday, Jesus approaches Jerusalem, to offer himself officially, and finally as the king of the Messianic Kingdom, exactly as the Old Testament prophets had predicted. And then he returned quietly to Bethany. But on the next day, he returns again to Jerusalem. And it was early Tuesday morning that Jesus and the 12 approached the city. And you may recall that as he approaches the city, he curses the barren fig tree. We read about that in Matthew 21, verse 19, he said, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you, and at once the fig tree withered." And of course, that was symbolic of the judgment that was now going to fall on Israel, for they like the leafy fig tree had the pretense of being fruitful. But they were in fact barren. They did not produce fruit in keeping with repentance. So he enters Jerusalem, he enters the temple at that point, and he cleanses it. And for two days, he rules its precincts. He claims possession of it as the mighty sovereign. And during that time, every stratum of official Judaism was verbally attacked by the Lord Jesus. And they tried to attack him and embarrass him. But in fact, he embarrassed them with his answers. And he even rebukes them openly for their ignorance of Scripture, and he boldly pronounces judgment on them, and upon all who reject Him, and it was in his last public discourse that he denounced the scribes and the Pharisees. In a series of woes, you read about that, for example of Matthew 23. And then they leave the city on Wednesday night and they ascend, once again upon the Mount of Olives, making their way back home, to the home of Lazarus, and Bethany, and we know that at the summit of the Mount of Olives, they were able to look back and view the temple, and all of its grandeur, the one built by Herod. And Jesus then said to his disciples in Matthew 24, and verse two, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down." And then later, the disciples confused said, "Tell us when will these things happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" And then you read his answer in the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24 and 25 his longest answer pertaining to future things concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, His Second Coming and, and specifically, the conditions and the signs that would precede His coming again in power and great glory. This brings us to Thursday afternoon, Jesus and the 12 reenter the city. Preparation is now made for the Passover meal and a private room that they had obtained earlier. This would be the meal that would become what we call the Lord's supper or the Last Supper. And as evening approached, which was Jewish Friday, the supper began with a dispute among the disciples over who's going to be greatest in the kingdom. This was probably precipitated by the seating arrangement around the table. And you will recall Jesus rebuked them and said that the greatest and true leader must become a servant, like a servant. And then to illustrate this, Jesus, the honored guest assumed the role of a lowly servant. And he washed their feet. And during the meal Jesus exposes Judas as the betrayer. Judas departs, Judas had already made arrangements with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus, an event that would now take place several hours later in the Garden of Gethsemane. And now the final drama of Jesus death is set into motion. And at this point, Jesus announces his departure. Peter, then voiced his undying allegiance and devotion to Christ. And Jesus responded that instead, Peter, you're gonna deny me three times. So we have the Lord's Supper instituted and after a farewell discourse to the disciples, Jesus will depart with the 11 going into the garden of Gethsemane, and then you know, the rest of the story. Now, I wish to draw your attention to just some of what Jesus said in this farewell discourse to His disciples, especially as it relates to the supernatural peace, that he is going to give them, and all of the redeemed, one that would transcend to the sorrows of life. We're going to look at four things, we're going to see the substance of peace. In other words, what really is it from Jesus perspective, The source of peace. In other words, where does it originate? How do we receive it? And then the semblance of peace, that is the fake and fleeting peace that the world offers? And then finally, very briefly, the spoilers of peace, and that is, how can believers forfeit peace? I pray that this will minister to your spirit in a profound way this morning. So first of all, let's look at the substance of peace notice, John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you."

Now, how does Jesus define peace? Well, first of all, you must understand that it's something very different than the way most people think of it. According to one Greek Lexicon, the Greek word for peace, which is "eirene" refers to quote, "the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and content, with its earthly lot of whatsoever sort that is." Now can you identify with that kind of peace? Even when your body trembles in fear, and confusion? When tears run down your cheeks, and you don't have an answer for the great adversity that you're experiencing? Do you still enjoy an uninterrupted sense of calm and contentment in the core of your being? Beloved, this is the kind of peace that Jesus bequeaths to all who trust in Him as Savior, and worship Him as Lord. Now, most people and most languages define peace as the absence of something, not the presence of something, very important distinction. Socially, peace is the absence of conflict and hostility, freedom from war, freedom from civil unrest. And personally, peace is the absence of inner turmoil, freedom from disquieting and oppressive thoughts or emotions resulting in personal tranquility and harmony in relationships. But how do you escape the conflict? The inner turmoil and many people use entertainment, recreation, vacations, you know, how well does that work for you? And others, turn to alcohol, turn to their music, turn to drugs. I know Oh, why don't I try to be the other gender, and many, finally ended up in suicide. But dear friends, the peace of God is more than the absence of something. It is the presence of God himself in the soul. Biblically, there are two sides of the coin of peace, the objective side and the subjective. First of all, objective peace pertains to our judicial standing before God, but from birth by nature, we're born in rebellion to God and as a result, we all sin, we become the enemy of God, this is so obvious. Humanity hates the one true God. But they love themselves, they love the world, they love this cosmos, which is this orderly system, ruled by Satan, in rebellion against God. So apart from faith in Christ, the person without Christ is at war with God, there is no peace with God. And then in the depths of their soul, they know this, even though they suppress that truth. God is at war with them. Ephesians four, verse 17, They walk in the futility of their mind being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart." John 3"36 For this reason, Jesus warns unbelievers and says, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Ah, but unbelievers love themselves. They love this world, they don't love Christ. They love all that the world offers them. And they mock God, they mock his word. James, for verse four says, "Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." But then, when a sinner comes to genuine saving faith in Christ, cries out for forgiveness, God does a mighty work of grace in his heart, one of which is He is then justified, he is declared to be righteous based upon the imputed righteousness of Christ. Suddenly, the war with God is over. Now he is at peace with God, because reconciliation has taken place because of what Christ has done. Enemies suddenly become sons and daughters of God. That's why the Apostle Paul says in Romans five and verse one, "Therefore having been justified," in other words, declared righteous by faith, "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And according to Romans, chapter eight and verse six, those who once had, quote, "a mindset on the flesh, resulting in death," now have quote, "a mindset on the spirit resulting in life and peace." But apart from this objective peace pertaining to man's judicial standing before a holy God, not only will that person remain at war with God, but also he will never experience any kind of tranquility, any kind of lasting inner peace. And so this brings us from the objective to also now the other side of the coin, the subjective aspect of peace that comes when we enter into relationship with God through faith in Christ. And this is a state of tranquility within the soul. This is what replaces the turmoil and the confusion and the doubt and the discontentment. Because our opposition to God is over, the Holy Spirit, now the comforter, takes up residence within us, and we can therefore experience this transcendent peace that is impervious to circumstances, oh, yes, there will be sorrow, there will be bitter sorrow, there will be anguish, but down underneath at all, there will be a sense that God is in control. And in this I rejoice knowing that better days are coming. Our body becomes the temple of God. There is perfect peace in the sanctuary of His presence. The objective peace of justification, friends, is what produces the subjective peace of God's presence in our life. And for this reason, we can see say with the apostle Paul in Philippians, four verse six, "Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard," which literally means to keep watch over, it "will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Now, you must understand that this is not some kind of passive peace that results from the absence of strife and turmoil. Nor is it some kind of short lived superficial tranquility that we conjure up through mystical experiences through contemplative prayer, or getting into some yoga position and practicing primordial sound meditation, whatever they do, or sitting around listening to underwater whale sounds while you sip on Chardonnay, that's not what we're talking about here. This is a peace that transcends everything, an active peace, not a passive peace. And it operates within us, according to the power of the indwelling Spirit of God in the redeemed, and it's unaffected by circumstances, it will always remain, it's one that causes us to transcend the inevitable sorrows and conflicts of life. You see, this is the kind of peace that would cause the persecuted Apostle Paul to declare in Romans 8:18, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." And certainly this peace is one of the fruits of the Spirit, right? In Galatians five. It's that peace that rules the heart of every believer who have put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity, Colossians 3:14, and that results in verse 15, "the peace of Christ that rules in our hearts." This causes us to live in unity with other Christians. I find it interesting in Paul's benediction to the Romans. He says in chapter 15, verse 13, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." And similarly in his benediction to the saints of Thessalonica. At the end of second Thessalonians chapter three, verse 16, he says, "Now, may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace, in every circumstance." That is the personal peace that he enjoyed. And this is the personal peace that Jesus enjoyed even though he was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Beloved, this is the peace that Jesus experienced on the eve of his crucifixion. When he was speaking to the disciples, and trying to comfort them. Yes, his body trembled in anguish, given the torture that he knew awaited him. It was so bad that in the garden he would later sweat drops of blood, but his soul was at perfect rest. Because he was decisively committed to his Father's will and the Spirit of God gave him peace. This is the peace that sustained him during the horrors he endured before and during his time on the cross 1 Peter two verse 23, " while being reviled, He did not revile in return while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to Him who judges righteously." Beloved, again, this is the peace that animates joy within us even in the midst of suffering. This is what Jesus experienced, according to Hebrews 12, two, we read "For the joy set before Him, endured the cross." It goes on to say he is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And this is the peace that Jesus wanted to give to his troubled, confused, fearful disciples, which includes all of us. So he says, "Peace I leave with you." And he knows, he knew, he would make good on that promise, through the Holy Spirit that would soon come upon them. So we've seen the substance of peace, how about secondly, the source of peace, He says, "My peace I give to you." There it is. He is the source of this peace along with the Father along with the Holy Spirit. In fact, Paul's salutation in all of his epistles include the statement, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." And one of the great ministries of the Holy Spirit is to administer this peace in the midst of great sorrow. Again, it's one of the fruits of the Spirit. I have thought much, Nancy, and I've talked about this, how can those dear parents who have lost their little children possibly survive this? There's only one answer. It's a supernatural work of peace, that the Spirit of God gives them in their heart. Moreover, according to Romans five, five, we have "a hope that does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." In other words, this is an awareness that we as believers have of God's love for us. In fact, the Greek word translated peace reflects the Hebrew shalom, which was the customary greeting and word of farewell. A fitting expression in Jesus farewell address, and it became the primary word of greeting after his resurrection. When Jesus came and stood in the midst of his awestruck disciples, he said in John 20:19, "Peace be with you." Dear friend, please hear me if your life is bereft of peace. If you don't experience anything like this, if you're in a constant state of frustration and confusion, of anger, of discontentment, if you're anxious and depressed, overwhelmed by sorrow, and stress and strife, you must look to Christ. Jesus said in John 16:33, "These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." And Isaiah spoke of this as well when he said of the Lord, in Isaiah 26, verse three, "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you." "Stayed" meaning its rest, supported by you, because he trusts in You. My friend, do you have a fixed disposition of trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? I pray that you do. Routinely, Paul spoke of the God of peace. Indeed, you must understand that God alone is the great fountainhead that feeds the comforting blessings of peace to the redeemed, the springs of peace, and that reservoir will never go dry. This is the peace that Jesus offers, "My peace I give to you." And then he says, not as the world gives do I give to you? And here we come to thirdly, the semblance of peace. This is the world's peace. This is the false peace, the deceptive peace. It appears to bring peace. It appears to bring happiness and joy. It purports to bring peace, but it delivers just the opposite. Think of the difference between the transcendent, eternal peace of God and the inadequate and fleeting peace of Satan's world system. In Isaiah 48, verse 22, we read, "There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord." Think with me about this contrast that Jesus gives between the world's peace. I mean, the world's peace is merely a mirage in the desert that distracts travelers. they think, oh, there I can find happiness and joy. But it's an elusive promise that will never deliver, it will only destroy. And every man and woman alive hopes for a better life. They believe that somehow better times are coming and they work hard to achieve those things only to discover every day that there's a new set of trouble. People in our country are pursuing the American dream. Once they have it all, they worry about losing it. The government's kind of always trying to take it away from you. Even the wealthy eventually discover that their dreams are really nothing more than nightmares. And then when a man dies without Christ, nothing that he has achieved, nothing that he has possessed in life will be any use for him. They will only serve as a tragic reminder of a wasted life as they endure the torments of hell. How different the peace of Christ for those who have made peace with God, who therefore love and live for him. We're told in Scripture that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, and unlike the world, when the Lord gives he gives forever. He even comes and dwells within us. All the years of the Christians life, he is able to experience the security of the objective peace of God because of our justification. But also we experience the subjective peace of God through the power of the indwelling Spirit. In fact, all of life can be summed up in Jeremiah's words in Lamentations three, verse 22 and following where Jeremiah said, "The Lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning, Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion says my soul. Therefore I have hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for him to the person who seeks Him." Beloved, I can tell you firsthand that the ones that I have talked to this week, that have experienced great loss, and are struggling in profound ways, can give full throated agreement with what we've just read. Great is thy faithfulness. Yes, the world offers peace. But it's not only an illusion, frankly, it's a delusion. It's a trap, it's a lure. It offers the bait but conceals the hook. It gives nothing more than the fleeting pleasures of happy days. The momentary joy of sexual experience, of material things, the temporary life of escapism. The great Puritan Thomas Watson said, "What fools are they who, for a drop of pleasure, drink a sea of wrath." So knowing all of this, and knowing the desperate need of his disciples, in the coming days, knowing the persecution and the confusion, Jesus says, Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. And as I read earlier in John 16:33, "These things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace." And here he is referring to the Helper, the Holy Spirit, that he is going to send. And if you read about what Jesus said, He is going to come, he is going to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. He is going to guide you into all truth, and he is going to disclose to you what is to come. He is going to give you a joy that the world cannot take away. And then Jesus says "In the world, you will have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world." I want you to think about this because we are united to Christ and saving faith. We are not only going to experience the same kind of persecution that Jesus experienced, but we're going to experience the same kind of victory, and the same kind of joy.

If I can close with the spoilers of peace, two things very quickly. They are doubt and disobedience. First of all doubt. Notice again, Jesus said in John 14:27, "Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." This command was first given in in verse one of chapter 14, which was followed by a divine remedy, that even in the midst of your tears, you should have a soul anchoring faith in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, you should have a soul thrilling anticipation of future glory. You've got to keep those things in perspective. Said differently, believers who are at peace with God will not experience this peace unless they can live consistently with who Christ is and what He has promised. We must appropriate the promises of God and as we do, the peace begins to flood our soul. What a joy it is to know that even when we've lost a loved one, we will see them again, and we know where they are. How do we know that? Because we live by faith, and God has communicated that to us. When we see the world crumbling all around us, what peace and joy we have, knowing that ultimately, we have a sovereign God who has ordained the end from the beginning, and that he is coming again, to pronounce judgment, and to enact judgment upon this world and to deliver us from it. When we do these things, God fills us with "all joy and peace in believing" Romans 15:13. You know when we're anxious and discontent about the present, it's easy to start worrying about things, isn't it? We begin to catastrophize, we begin to think make things even worse than what they are. And then we watch the news and we're ready to go jump off the roof, you know. And it's so easy at that point to begin to doubt God and dishonor him and forfeit the peace that we have, rather than as we read earlier. To obey the command to be anxious for what? Nothing. Don't be anxious about things. Every prayer supplication, give thanks, let your requests be made known to God. And then, when you do that, when you have that kind of heart attitude, the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, it will be something that you cannot explain, and the world cannot understand, because it is supernatural. In Ephesians, five and verse 18, we are commanded to be filled with a spirit. In other words, to continually live under the influence of the indwelling Spirit, and letting his word control us and this is what we must do. Otherwise, we will move not only from doubt, to disobedience, sins of omission, and commission. If you're living in disobedience, you're going to forfeit peace. In fact, Psalm 119, in verse 165, we read those who love your law, have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble. So this is to live in the conscious presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, as we walk by the Spirit. Galatians 5:16. And when we do that, we will not carry out the desires of the flesh. We will manifest the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, and so forth. Colossians 3:15, Paul exhorts us. He says, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." I love that word "rule" that means to referee or umpire. All right, live that way. We must always be asking, Lord is my heart attitude and my life pleasing to you? Well, I asked you, do you have this kind of peace? And if you don't, it is only available through faith in Christ. And I would plead with you to come to Christ, to repent of your sin and ask Him to save you. Again, quoting Thomas Watson, the great Puritan. He said, "If you would have peace, make war with sin. If you would have peace with God, break the league with sin, give battle to sin, for it is a most just war."

I close with a story that many of you are familiar with. Horatio Spafford was a Chicago lawyer and friend of the evangelist Dwight Moody. In 1873, to visit Moody's preaching campaign in England, he planned a trip for his family to Europe. And he set his wife Anna, and their daughters on ahead. He was going to catch up later. But the ship sunk in the passage and only Anna his wife survived. They lost their four daughters Annie 11, Maggie, age nine, Bessie, age five, and Tonetta age two. And his wife Anna sent a telegram back to her husband, which began "Saved alone. What shall I do?" Can you imagine getting that telegram? Well, Horatio quickly got on board a ship, he sailed to join his wife and Midway across the Atlantic, the captain told him that they were near the place where the ship was sunk and where his daughters had drowned. And though grieving in ways that we cannot imagine at that moment, he testifies how he experienced a supernatural peace like a river. quoting Isaiah 66:12. And you will recall the first verse of that hymn that we have sung so many times. He wrote this, "When peace like a river, attended my way, when sorrows like sea billows, roll. Whatever my lot thou has taught me to say, it is well. It is well with my soul." Let's pray together. Father, we are overwhelmed when we think of the peace that you have given us in Christ. We thank you that you have saved us by your grace and the long war with you is over. No longer does your wrath abide upon us because Jesus paid it all. And we thank you as well for the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, who gives us a subjective awareness of your love for us and sustains us even in the midst of unimaginable heartache. And once again, I would plead with you to minister to those who have lost loved ones this last week. And to teach us all the importance of trusting you and living in faithful obedience that we might not ever forfeit the peace that is ours in Christ. We thank you, we give you praise. for Jesus sake. Amen.

This morning, I would like to step away from our verse by verse exposition of the gospel of Mark. And I would like to share with you some things that are on my heart out of Romans chapter eight, if you will take your Bibles and turn there. Romans chapter eight. Our shepherds conference had, as you heard a theme, and it was called shepherding the remnant, the faithful few. And certainly, I have a sense of divine urgency to do just that with you, as our culture continues to descend into chaos and every imaginable form of wickedness. And so this morning, I want to help us express what the Scriptures describe as the inward groaning of the redeemed, but in the context of that, to provide for you great hope and encouragement, because indeed, that is there. Therefore, we will be looking at verses 19 through 25 of Romans eight under the heading our hopeful lament, let me read the text to you. "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, and hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees. But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it."

Job tells us in chapter five, verse seven, "that man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward." And we can all identify that with that, actually, when you think about it, we're born in trauma, and we live in conflict throughout the days of our life. And then we return once again to the earth. Solomon tells us as the preacher that life is vanity, all is vanity under the sun, life is a mere vapor. And ultimately, all that matters is what we do for Christ. So these days of our existence, while there's much joy, and much celebration, there's a lot of difficulty and we all understand that we all struggle to survive. In this world we face deadly viruses, bacteria, weeds choke out our crops. Pestilence eats what's leftover, mosquitoes. I think I've read that mosquitoes kill like 1 million people a year with malaria. We deal with devastating storms and earthquakes and famines and floods and tsunamis, hurricanes and human tragedies. And even today, we're dealing with all of the woke insanity, the LGBTQ perversions, corrupt governments. We experience violence and wars. And we all know what it's like to say goodbye to loved ones. This is the world in which we live. Despite man's best efforts, nothing ever really gets any better in this life, but we want to ask the question, Has it always been this way? Is there any real hope that all of this will one day change? And the answer is no, it hasn't always been this way. Once upon a time, there was a perfect world, a perfect paradise where man would never die. And yes, God has promised to once again restore that paradise for 1000 years, which will be the millennial kingdom, completing human history, and ushering in a state of eternal glory, and a totally new Heaven and Earth. And certainly this has been the confident hope of the redeemed down through history. And this is a worldview based upon divine revelation. This is a worldview that those without Christ find utterly foolish and ridiculous. To the natural man, the things of the Spirit are foolishness, and he cannot understand them. Their hope is only in themselves, not in the Creator. And unless they repent, the only change they will ever experiences from bad to worse, unimaginably worse, in an eternal hell. And here in Romans eight, verses 19 through 25. We will learn how and why things got this bad. And we will also learn how and why things will get so much better for those who have been justified by grace through faith in Christ. And here we have God's explanation for what I would call the Christians lamentation, the Christians lament, the Christian sorrow that is so pervasive in our life. This is why we grieve and struggle in this life. But here we will also see the certain hope that we have in Christ Jesus, that one day everything will be radically different, there will be a radical change in our existence, one that is inconceivably wonderful. And these truths are set forth, and two very stunning doctrines that emerge from this passage of scripture that I would like to look at this morning, first of all, in verses 19 through 22, we're going to see the creation, slavery to corruption. And then secondly, in verses 23 through 25, we're going to see the Christians perseverance and hope. Fantastic, magnificent doctrines that give clarity to all that we experience and that fuel the hope and the dreams of the redeemed based upon the eternal promises of a sovereign God who has ordained the end, from the beginning. These are magnificent truths that should stir our affections to praise. And so I pray that the Spirit will lead us into all truth.

Now, Paul has just encouraged his readers to be triumphant sufferers. In verse 18. He said, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed revealed to us." Obviously, this glory awaits us. And it's one that will replace the reality of suffering in this present age. And why is there suffering? Well, this is what he deals with next. And I've put this under the heading the creation, slavery to corruption. And Paul begins by personifying nature as being in distress; nature as earnestly expecting a particular event that is going to radically change its current state. And we see that beginning in verse 19. There we read, "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God." And here God is referring to the animate and irrational inanimate creation. The animals, the plants, the mountains, the rivers, the plains, the seas, the heavenly bodies, they are personified as anxiously longing, the original language, the term describes a yearning desire. And the imagery here is, is waiting eagerly, with out-stretched, head and eyes on your tiptoes looking for something that you desperately longed to see happen. That's the idea, reminds me of military wives, watching for their husband to step down off of that airplane, after a long deployment.

Notice it says they wait eagerly. And this further adds to that notion of waiting with great anticipation, but also with confidence, patience. And what is creation waiting for? The revealing of the sons of God "apokalupsis" and the original language, the uncovering, the unveiling, the revelation, we might say, the full disclosure of that time when the curse will be removed, and when Christ will return in glory, and will renovate this cursed Earth and return it once again to Edenic glory. This will be the time of the revealing of the sons of God that we want to look at some this morning. Reminds me of what Paul said in Colossians, three beginning of verse three, and we have died and our life is hidden with Christ in God. And then he says, "When Christ who is our life is revealed, then we also will be revealed with Him in glory." Magnificent truth. It reminds me of what Peter said, in First Peter 1:13, that we are to "fix our hope completely on the grace to be brought to you that the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Now, what happened to God's perfect creation that resulted in such universal calamity? Well, the answer is here in verse 24, the creation "was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it." Now, we must remember that originally, according to Genesis 1:31, "God saw all that he made and behold, it was very good." It wasn't mediocre. It was perfect. Adam and Eve were perfect, physically perfect, spiritually capable of living forever in their perfect environment. At that time, there were no uninhabitable places upon the earth. There were no hurricanes, no tornadoes, no earthquakes, no natural disasters. There were no polar ice fields, no harmful bacteria or viruses or diseases, earthquakes. And at that point, there was no sin for a while. In Genesis 3:16, through 19, we see that God cursed Adam and Eve and all of mankind and his creation, because of their sin. There we read, "to the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree, about which I commanded you saying, You shall not eat from it, cursed is the ground, because of you, in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life, both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field, by the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, because from it, you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'"

Now mind you, this was no plan B. This did not catch God by surprise. God ordained these things, and allowed them to happen to ultimately reveal the glory of His person, even in his wrath and His mercy and His justice and so forth. And this helps us better understand Paul's statement in verse 20, "For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it. He subjected it to futility." The word in the original language means aimlessness uselessness, and in inability to reach a goal or fulfill a purpose. And what is that purpose? To bring glory to the Creator. And because of sin, the creator cursed his creation, including mankind, and all of his animate and non rational, inanimate creation. No longer would it exist as it was originally intended. And we see this, reflected in physics do we not? In the law of entropy, the second law of thermodynamics, that tells us that, that all matter and energy in the universe are in a constant state of entropy, an irreversible process of continual degradation and deterioration, which, by the way, is a law an inviolable law of physics that utterly refutes the theory of evolution. Because evolution requires just the opposite, that somehow, things go from nothing and become incredibly complex and beautiful. I can assure you, dear friends, if you take your pickup truck and put it out there in the field, and come back 10,000 years later, it will not be a stealth bomber.

So the Creator cursed his creation. Yet, it's interesting, even with the curse, we still witness the glory and majesty of God, but nothing like it was originally. And today we see this curse manifested in a very violent Earth. Much of the earth today is uninhabitable due to extreme cold or enormous bodies of water. And again, it's subjected to pestilence and weeds and drought and floods, in erosion, earthquakes all manner of natural disasters. But I want you to understand that all of these things are a result of sin, and God's curse upon it. And therefore, when you see all of these things, as you're pulling the weeds out of your garden, that grow much better than everything else in your garden, remember that these things are a perpetual reminder of how God's holiness has been offended. They remind us that this world is not a safe place. It is a home for which we are not suited. I hear people talk all the time about getting back to nature. Boy, dear friends, you want to be careful with that you get back to nature, you'll die. I've been in the mountains many times for 21 days at a time with a strip pack string of horses living in tents. And I'll tell you after about 21 days, I cannot wait to get back home not back to nature. Nature will kill you. I can't wait for hot, warm water, and electricity and so forth. So we were originally created for something radically different in the realm of our relationship with God, our relationship with fellow man and the world in which we live. But I want you to notice in verse 20, at the end, he subjected it in hope. What a magnificent truth underline that in your mind and in your Bible. He "subjected it in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery, to corruption, and to the freedom of the glory of the children of God." Again, someday all disease, all decay, all human suffering, all death, natural disasters, all of that will be over. All of those things brought on by the curse will cease to exist. And that will happen when the curse is lifted at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ in his establishment of his millennial kingdom, which will then eventually be uncreated and usher in a new heaven and a new earth and the eternal state. So eventually we have this promise that the curse is going to be reversed. But now notice creation remains in quote, "slavery to corruption," verse 21. This is the inevitable process of deterioration and degradation. The creation today remains in a state of futility, unable to bring glory to God as it was originally intended. And how long is this going to happen? The answer is here until the "freedom of the glory of the children of God." In other words, until Christ returns and liberates His creation from the bondage of sin. This is the hope that we have dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

But until that glorious day, notice verse 22. We know that the "whole creation groans." Groans comes from a Greek term "stenazo" it means to make a deep, inarticulate sound conveying pain and despair. I think we all know what that's like in our own lives. Life when something horrible has happened in our life, and we just automatically groan within ourselves. We know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. It says though all of creation is groaning in pain, like a mother travailing in the agonies of childbirth. What he's saying here is that creation is travailing in pain, as it prepares to give birth to a new life, to something radically different. It's anticipating the arrival of a new creation that will glorify God as it was intended to do originally, and oh what a blessed hope that we have.

So we learned here that God's curse upon his creation was not the result of something that it did, but rather the result of something that man did. God hates sin. Therefore, the restoration of creation is also inseparably linked to man's restoration. And that's what he's saying here the glory that is to be revealed to us that Paul spoke about in verse 18. And it's for this reason that creation is pictured now as standing on its tiptoes, if you will, straining in great anticipation for this unimaginably glorious ineffible reality, the revealing of the sons of God. This is a prospect that's so exceedingly glorious, that even again, in verse 23, "we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves," but then he adds, "waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." Now notice, again, this stunning statement in verse 19. "The anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God." This must speak of something incredibly marvelous. And what does this mean? What's he referring to, the revealing of the sons of God?

Well, let's examine this most more closely. In order to save time, I have to cover some large theological doctrines that I hope you're aware of because this puts it all together. And the first one is the fact that we are united to Christ in saving faith, we are in Christ. And so because we are united to Christ, because we are forever hidden in Him, we will one day be fully conformed into his glorious image. The whole process of sanctification is moving us towards that. Philippians three, verse 20, "we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to Himself." And certainly we get a glimpse of this on the Mount of Transfiguration, do we not? When the Lord Jesus Christ, peeled back his flesh and the effulgence of His glory blazed forth, "His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light." Matthew 17 Two. And for this reason, Peter would later write in second, Peter 1:16, "We were eyewitnesses of his majesty." I love that term. There is nothing majestic on Earth, that would compare to the majesty of our Savior. And this will be the Majesty dear friends that we will share, because we are the adopted children of God. We are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:17, "and if children, heirs also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Chris.," And for this reason, we will one day be glorified with Him we read in that text. In fact, Daniel described the glory of the reveaedl saints in Daniel 12:3 as, quote, "The brightness of the expanse of heaven, and as being like the stars forever and ever." John describes this in first John three, two, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be," then he adds this we know that, "when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is." And Paul tells us in Second Thessalonians, chapter one and verse 10 of that day, quote, "when He comes to be glorified, In His saints on that day to be marveled at among all who have believed." And when He comes, he's coming to bring retribution and ruin to unbelievers, but also to bring glory to His saints and what an astonishing day that will be when the King of kings and the Lord of lords returns in all of his glory. And I might also add that according to Revelation, chapter 19, and verse 14, we are going to follow him. There we read "the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, we're following Him on white horses." If you study the other passages, you will see that the armies of heaven are composed of the church, the tribulation saints and the Old Testament believers and even angels. So this is the day that creation awaits, the revealing of the sons of God.

Now, today, to be sure, it is difficult for the world to distinguish believers from unbelievers. And I might also add that most people, Jesus tells us in Matthew seven, most people who claim to be believers are not believers. There are the few and there are the many, the wheat and the tares grow up together. But the world does not know us, according to First John three, one because it did not know him. But one day, the true sons of God, will be revealed. Let's stop and think about this. This will be a massive gathering of every tiny remnant of faithful followers of Christ. Even in the Old Testament days, they were saved on credit, right? They were saved by faith. It will consist of all of the remnants from every generation of the faithful few from every age. Revelation seven nine says that there will be a, "great multitude which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues." These will be the ones beloved, that will be revealed and we will be among them. By God's grace alone, we will be put on display for the world to see. Now today, I believe that we are awaiting the snatching away of the church, in the rapture, where according to First Thessalonians 4:16, "The dead in Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." And as we study prophetic history, and prophetic literature, we see that after he has translated his church into heaven, he will set into motion the final pre kingdom judgments that we see in Revelation six through 19, also known as Daniel's 70th week. Judgments upon Israel that will culminate in the physical return of the Lord Jesus Christ and finalize his plan to bring glory to himself, which will include the revealing of the sons of God. It will also include judgment upon the wicked upon the earth, He will temporarily bind Satan for 1000 years. And this will be a day when God will fulfill His covenant promises to his chosen nation Israel. And as we look at prophetic literature, we will see that in the hour of Israel's greatest peril, when all of the nations of the world will gather against Jerusalem, Zechariah 12:3. At that time, the Messiah King, the Lord Jesus Christ, will come and defend the remnant of His people Israel, and he will bring deliverance to Jerusalem and judgment to the nations, it will be an absolutely astounding day. We read in Scripture that he will ascend to the Mount of Olives, I should say descend to it, in unimaginable triumph, a great earthquake will split Jerusalem, creating a massive valley that will lead to the temple mount from the temple mount to the desert, a valley through which the final third of the remnant of Jewish people will be saved and Christ will establish His long promised earthly kingdom, His messianic kingdom, which will exist for 1000 years. We read about it in Revelation 20 A time when the earth will be renovated.

Let me take you to Zachariah 14 for a moment. Zachariah 14 beginning in verse two, here's what God says, "For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle." By the way, if we look at other prophecies, we will see that this will consist of an army of 200 million, and they will cover about 200 miles around Jerusalem, the staging area will area will be in the valley of Megiddo. "I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city will be captured the houses plundered the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city, there is a remnant God is saving. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when he fights on a day of battle. In that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley. So that half of the mountain will move toward the north, and the other half toward the south, you will flee by the Valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel, yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, then the Lord, my God will come and all the holy ones with him!" Most likely a reference to the holy angels. And we know according to Bible prophecy that a remnant of Israel will be saved, two thirds will be killed, 1/3 will survive, and they will see the strong deliverance of Yahweh. They will then understand who he really is, because there was absolutely no way for them to defeat the armies that would surround them. And God will put His glory on display, and he will cause them to repent and believe in Him. And He will reconcile unto himself, a remnant Zechariah 12 beginning in verse 10, "I will pour out on the house of David on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son. And they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn." This is powerful imagery here, a firstborn is the one that always carries the family legacy, who would possibly, in a family, kill their firstborn son, it's unimaginable. And yet they will see that this is what they did with their Messiah. It goes on to say, "In that day, there will be great morning in Jerusalem, like the morning of Hadadrimmon in the plane of Megiddo." And we see that individually and corporately. Their hearts will be transformed by the Spirit of God. They will look with eyes of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they will confess the words of Isaiah that was promised long ago in Isaiah 53 Five. "He was pierced through for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our iniquities." That time the curse upon the earth will be removed, and it will be returned to the pristine beauty of the Garden of Eden. In Acts 3:19, Peter called it the quote "times of refreshing that will come from the presence of the Lord." And then in verse 21, he described it as the "period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time." Let me rehearse for you just a few things that we will experience during that time. Because again, this is a hopeful lament, right? A hopeful lament. As we look at Scripture, and I'm just going to give you a smattering of of passages to give you a flavor of what it will be like during the kingdom days. First of all, we see that waste places will become fruitful. Again, most of the Earth's surface today is not suited for cultivation and more airable land is disappearing, they tell us at a a frightening rate. But in the kingdom there is a promise of abundant rainfall, in Joel two verses 21 and 24, that will come at the proper times. Ezekiel 34:26, "I will cause the shower to come down in his season." And also we read that there will exist profuse streams of water in new and unlikely places. Isaiah 30, verse 25, "there shall be upon every high mountain and every high hill rivers and streams of waters." Isaiah 35, verse six and seven, "in the wilderness shall waters breakout and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty lands springs of water." By the way, this is hard for us to imagine, but you go to Israel, you go to that region of the world and you will see how wonderful it would be for these things to occur. Isaiah 41, verse 18, "I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys." Not only will waste places become fruitful, but secondly, there will be increased fertility and productiveness. We see in Isaiah 32, beginning in verse 13, that the wilderness will become, quote, "a fruitful field." Isaiah 35 verses one and two says that the "wilderness in the dry land shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom is the rose, it shall blossom abundantly." This will eliminate all of the famines. Ezekiel tells us about this in Ezekiel 34, verse 29, "and even the mountains and the hills and the valleys will be restored to productiveness." You read about this in Ezekiel 36, verses four through 11. And the Lord describes this increase through his prophet Amos in Amos chapter nine verse 13. We read "Behold, days are coming declares the Lord, when the plow man will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who seeds sow seeds. When the mountains will drip sweet wine and all the hills will be dissolved." Thirdly, there will be changes in the animal world. We won't have to be careful not to lift something up and have a brown recluse bite us or a copperhead over there in the corner, or a cotton mouth coming up on our boat while we're fishing. Hosea two verse 18, "In that day, will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of heaven and with the creeping things of the ground...and will make them to lie down safely." Isaiah 11, beginning of verse six, "the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid." He goes on to say "and a little child shall lead them...and the suckling child shall play on the whole of the asp. The lion shall eat straw like the ox." And then there will be also the disappearing of physical disease and deformity. All physical infirmity and deformity will be remedied. Isaiah 35, beginning in verse five, "then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the death shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy." Disease also will be controlled supernaturally. Perhaps through both prevention and cure, we're not exactly sure. Isaiah 33 Verse 24, "no resident will say I am sick." Can you imagine that? Ezekiel 47, verse 12, "The fruit thereof shall be for food and the leaf thereof for healing." In fact, during the kingdom age, long life will become the rule. Isaiah 65:22, "For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of my people. And my chosen shall enjoy the work of their hands." And of course, this will be a period when the nation of Israel will be restored to their promised land, the land that God promised to Abraham. It will be a time when they will finally enjoy a theocratic government with the Messiah King, reigning and we will be reigning with him. First Corinthians six two, "do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" Second Timothy two in verse 12, "we shall reign with Him." Revelation 226, we will be given, quote, "authority of the nations," chapter five, verse 10, "you have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth." Chapter 20 And verse six, we will be quote "priests of God, and of Christ and He will reign with him for 1000 years."

Moreover, this will be a time of restoration of the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus promised this when he spoke of his apostles that would reign with Him in Matthew 19:28 He said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed me in the regeneration, When the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you also shall sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of his Israel." Jeremiah 23, beginning in verse five, "behold, days are coming declares the Lord, when I shall raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. And this his name, by which he will be called the Lord, our righteousness." And I love what the prophet Habakkuk tells us in Habakkuk two and verse 14, "for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Beloved, this will be a time when Jerusalem will become, quote, "the throne of the Lord." In fact, as we read the prophetic literature, we see that the topography of the temple mount will be raised significantly from its current height, and the Messiah himself will construct the millennial temple, and Jerusalem will become the center for universal worship and prayer, it will be the center of joy and rejoicing for the world, and the nations of the world will come to the Temple Mount, to seek justice and learn God's law. Moreover, we read about the New Jerusalem that detail in Revelation 21, it will be it will descend from heaven, and suspended above the earthly Jerusalem, possibly aligned with the earthly Holy of Holies in the millennial temple, in the magnificent light of the Shekinah of the Lord Jesus Christ will provide heavenly illumination in which the nations of the world will walk as they come to worship the Lord in the city. In fact, there will no longer be night as we know it, it will not get completely dark because the glory of the Lord will shine throughout the earth. And it will be a glorious time. And as I say, this will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state. The prophet Zechariah tells us in chapter 14, verse nine, "Ad the LORD will be king over all the earth, in that day, the Lord will be the only one, and His name, the only one." No more political rancoring. Right? No more of this chaos that we see constantly, and corruption. And I might add that this is merely part one of what creation is anxiously longing for. Because at the end of the Messianic age, God is going to incinerate, totally purge and cleanse the existing universe that's been polluted by sin. We read this in a second Peter three and verse 10, "The heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up." And then John tells us in Revelation 21 in verse one, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away." Jesus promised that Heaven and earth will pass away, right, Luke 21:33. And the psalmist reminds us in Psalm 102, beginning in verse 25, "of old you have founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands, even they will perish, but you endure, and all of them will wear out like a garment like clothing, you will change them and they will be changed." My how futile are the attempts of the environmentalists who tried to reverse creation's curse, right?

Well, as we wrap this up this morning, we also want to see beyond the creation slavery to corruption, but the Christians perseverance and hope. Indeed, we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, verse 23, we groan within ourselves, we're waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons the redemption of our body. And we all understand this, like the natural creation. Every believer is fully aware of the corruption of sin in his or her life, as well as the staggering manifestations of sin that we see all around us. It's like, it's like we're swimming in a cesspool of sin, of wickedness. And certainly one of the marks of a believer as Jesus described in Matthew five as,"they will mourn over their sin, they will hunger and they will thirst for righteousness." And so we lament over with the reality that we are still incarcerated in this unredeemed humaneness. We long for an ultimate emancipation and Paul repeatedly acknowledged his frustration with indwelling sin. Remember, in Romans seven, like verse 14, he says, "I am a flesh sold into bondage to sin." Verse 18, "for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh," verse 23, he described the quote "members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, which is in my members," referring to his flesh. And then in verse 44, he says, "wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death." In other words, the clutches of my sinful nature. We can be glad knowing that all of those laments are going to come to an end. We're not left with hopeless despair, but with joy as deliverance. That's why he went on to say in verse 25, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." And then he adds this, this Hallelujah chorus of forgiveness and grace and emancipated living. He breaks forth in Romans eight one and he says, "There is there for now," what? "no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ, Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death." Oh child of God, as his adopted children, we eagerly await for our inheritance, the full accomplishment of our redemption, the perfect freedom of a sinless universe in which the indwelling Spirit is our first fruit, right? He is our first fruit, he is the guarantee of God's promise, and that promise is the redemption of our body. Now, today, our souls, our inner being, are, are already perfectly outfitted for heaven. We're fully redeemed, we're a new creature, we have become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Second, Peter one, four, but not so our bodies right. Our our souls remain incarcerated in the shell of unredeemed humaneness. And earlier Paul explained that in Romans six beginning of verse five, he says, "If we believers have become united with him," referring to Christ, "in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin." Beloved, please understand, we are holy seeds. We are encased in an unholy shell. And we are awaiting that time when we will be freed and I cannot imagine, I cannot even begin to imagine how wonderful that will be, when the battle of sin is over. So until then, we ourselves grown within ourselves, we're waiting eagerly for the redemption of our body, our adoption of sons Philippians 3:20. For our citizenship is where? In heaven, from which we also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's the same concept, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state, into the conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself. Romans 8:24 Therefore we read, "For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it." Obviously, if we could see and experience our glorification right now, hoping for it would be absurd. But what is the basis, the surety of our hope?

Beloved, here it is. It's the promises of God that Paul has been declaring over and over again. It's the promises that belong to the redeemed. The certain hope of the things that we cannot fully see with our eyes. And we know that salvation is a work of God from beginning to end. But again, verse 25, "If we hope for what we do not see with perseverance," catch this now with perseverance, we're hoping now with perseverance. Not with frustration, wringing our hands, woe is me, oh look what a horrible thing, let's turn on the news and get depressed again. I just want to say no, no, no. If we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance in other words with steadfast endurance with confident and continual patience, "we wait eagerly for it." Beloved, I hope you're waiting, waiting eagerly for it. This is what Paul said in Titus 2:13, that we're looking for the blessed hope, right? And the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. John tells us in first John 3:3 "that everyone who has this hope fixed on him, purifies himself, just as He is pure." Well, I would like to close with a poem that I wrote that really summarizes my heart with all of this. It's really a poetic prayer that flows from this passage.

"Triumphant King Your glory bring, and don the victor's crown. Magnify Your glorious Name and cast your rivals down. With sovereign might in worlds full sight, complete your holy route, and raise your royal scepter high, that every knee may bow. Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as now in heaven. Exalted sit upon your throne that prays to you be given." For triumph great, our hearts do ache. Oh, David's house restore. Messiah come to judge and save with passion. We implore." Let's bow our heads together. Father, we thank you for the hope that is ours in Christ, oh yes, we lament, we groan within ourselves, but we do so with confident joy. Joy that's anchored in the promises that you have given to us in Your Holy Word. And therefore, as Paul has said, I pray that each one of us knowing that we have been raised up with Christ, that we will keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Father, help us to set our mind on the things above not all the things that are on the earth. For as you have said, we have died in our life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ who is our life is revealed, that we also will be revealed with Him in glory. May this be the song of our heart? I pray in Jesus name. Amen.

The first day of every year, or I should say the first Sunday of every year is always an exciting time. And I must say that the first Sunday of this year, which obviously is today, is also a very sobering time. I am aware of very distinct attacks of the enemy on my life and this church, and they will continue this coming year. And so I have a very sobering message for you this morning. It's one of warning, but it's also one of hope and encouragement. To that end, I would like to address our Lord's words in Matthew 24. If you will take your Bibles and turn they're beginning in verse 37. And I've entitled my discourse to you this morning, "As in the days of Noah." Let me read the text. Jesus said in Matthew 24:37, "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away. So will the coming of the Son of man be." My goal this morning is to both warn and encourage. And to be sure, these are very oppressive dark days in which we live. Satan is alive and well. And yet, that blackness gives great contrast to the glorious light of Christ as at night. We see him more brilliantly against the darkness. Jesus words that I just read come from His Olivet Discourse that we read about, for example, in Matthew 24, and 25, which is a deep detailed examination of impending judgment upon the earth and those who dwell upon it, and a sobering harbinger of eternal hell. And to be sure, as we read the Word of God, we find him saying very clearly that the world is moving inexorably towards a day of divine judgment, a day of divine retribution. But also, we see very clearly that God is in control of all things. And we rest and relax in His sovereignty. But there is a tension between those two things; judgment is coming, yet God is in control. And we want to maintain that tension. And this morning, my outline is very simple words of warning and words of encouragement to points. All right. Let me begin with the words of warning. Notice again, what the Word of God says here, "for the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah." What were those days like? There's really two characteristics that define those days that we need to be aware of. First of all, they were days of number one unmitigated evil and rebellion against God. But secondly, they were days of granite indifference, and apathy concerning God's judgment. And we see both of these features in the world in which we live. We see it as well and many ostensibly, evangelical churches, many of which are Christian in name only and thoroughly apostate. We talk first of all about the days of Noah regarding number one, the days of unmitigated evil and rebellion against God. There we would go to Genesis 6:5. And we learn about what was going on then. Powerful text. It says, "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, continually." In other words, the inner compulsions that dominated their thought life plotted evil continually, every inclination of their heart was to satisfy their own lusts and mock God at every level. And their sins were so abhorrent to a holy God. That judgment was both just as well as inevitable. Verse six, "The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth and He was grieved in His heart. The Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals, to creeping things, and to birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them." In other words, sin had so corrupted his created order, a violence beyond restoration and reconciliation. It was so severe that he would destroy it in the worldwide flood, a harbinger of a future judgment that is coming not by water, but by fire. So they were days of unmitigated evil and rebellion against God. But secondly, they were days of granite indifference and apathy concerning the judgment of God. And this gets to the heart of Jesus warning, when He said in Matthew 24:37, "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of man be." In other words, they were living in a fool's paradise, enjoying the ordinary rhythms of life, eat, drink, marry, have family, kids have families, on and on, it goes an endless cycle. Life as usual, with no thought of God, no thought of judgment, no thought of eternity. And that's the world in which we live right now. In fact, some of you could be characterized by these very things. They utterly disregarded Noah's warnings. They even ignore the testimony of creation and conscience in their own heart that points man to God and renders them without excuse, as you will recall in Romans. Romans 1:18 and following. In fact, there we read, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who," catch this now, "suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them." Furthermore, because they experienced no consequences, in their sinful behavior, no divine retribution, they just continue to live for themselves, and in utter rebellion against God. This is typical of man's fallen nature. In fact we read about this in Ecclesiastes 8:11, "Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil." Jesus went on to say in Matthew 24 and verse 39, "and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be." Verse 40, he goes on to say that "there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one will be left." You see, as in the days of Noah, when the Lord returns again, people will be doing the mundane things of life, the ordinary daily activities of life. And some suddenly will be taken into judgment, and others will be left to live for God and with God. So Jesus finally says, "Therefore, be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming." Again, to be sure, this text gives a vivid description of the culture and even the world in which we live. Days of unmitigated evil and rebellion against God, days of granite indifference and apathy concerning God's judgment. Now often people will ask me, "Well, Pastor, do you think that we are living in the last days just prior to the Lord's return?" And the answer is, "Well, absolutely." Because if you understand Scripture, the last days began at Christ's ascension, basically. And so you might say, "Do you believe we're living in the Last of the last days and to that end," I would have to say, "I really do" for a number of reasons.

And this text along with many others, I believe can support the veracity of my answers. Allow me to explain this in a more detailed way by drawing your attention to some important biblical and theological historical background. First, I must say that no one knows when the Lord will return. But it is imminent, meaning it could happen at any time and as Christians, throughout Scripture, we're told that we are to be ready, we are to be watching. We are to be alert, Titus 2:13. We are to be "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus who gave Himself for us." The apostle Paul was clearly convinced even in his own mind, that he himself might be among those who would be caught up alive to meet the Lord in the air. In I Thessalonians 4:15, as well as 17 He uses the personal pronouns "we" which includes himself, "we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord," he went on to say, "we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." And the imminence of our Lord's return can be seen all through Scripture. For example, in James 5:7, "Therefore, be patient brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient, strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near, do not complain brother and against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged. Behold, the Judge is standing right at the door." 1 Peter 4:7, "The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer." And Hebrews chapter 10, beginning in verse 24, "let us consider how to stimulate one another, to love and good deeds, not forsaking for our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." I John 2:18, "Children, it is the last hour and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now, many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour." Of course, people will say, what a hoax. The last hour has been 2000 years. I mean, how many more years before the Lord comes. But what they don't understand is that God is not bound by time nor space. Eons of time are mere minutes in God's economy. Peter address this in 2 Peter 3, beginning in verse three, "Know this first of all, that in the last days, mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For ever, since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." But the inspired apostle goes on to say in verse eight, "do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like 1000 years and 1000 years like one day, the Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance." So he delays because he is merciful. But that does not mean he is not coming as he is promised. So indeed, we await the imminent return of the Lord. We don't know when it will be. But we can discern the signs of the times in which we live. We can look at the constellation of prophetic signs that we see in Scripture. And by the way, these signs have been there throughout the church age. But as we look at them, they appear to be escalating very rapidly. And to that end, it would appear that the stage is set for the Lord's return. That the drum roll has begun and the curtains are about to be pulled back. Now please understand, we have been again living in the last days since the time Jesus was ascended into heaven, since the days of the apostle, the entire church age is the last days. Hebrews 1:1, "God after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets, in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son." But there are some that will ask and rightfully so, what are some of the signs of the times of these last days? Beyond being just like the days of Noah that we've already discussed? Well, I'll give you a few. And I'm going to go over these just kind of in general, without a lot of commentary. Because I just want you to get a sense of what I believe will continue to escalate in this year, and do so very rapidly. What we have to look forward to and fight against. In the last days, of course, there are going to be scoffers as we've just read. 2 Peter 3:3, that scoffing is getting louder and louder, to the point of absolute mockery. 2 Timothy 3:1, Paul said, "But realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come," literally perilous times. "For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revelers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self control, brutal haters of good treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power." Then he went on to say avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." Beloved, we're experiencing these things in our day, as if it were a tsunami of these forms of wickedness. We also know that before the Lord comes, all the nations of the earth will be gathered against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:3. We look around, we see anti semitism continuing to grow around the world, the entire Muslim world is allied against them. The Temple Mount remains the most disputed piece of real estate in the world, because it is the epicenter of two opposing kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. And again, these categories of evil have always existed in the last days, the church age in which we live, however, they have risen to unprecedented levels in our day. And I believe this will continue. But in Matthew 24, the Lord Jesus offers some very specific signs of the times. Let me give you the context there. And we'll look at a few of these. In that day, with their messianic hopes dashed, their beloved temple and nation being doomed, the disciples ask Jesus in Matthew 24:3, "Tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" And as they sat there on the Mount of Olives, Jesus gave the longest answer to any question posed to him in the New Testament. The disciples thought all of the mysterious events that he spoke about would happen shortly and in quick sucession culminating in the promised messianic kingdom, but they had no idea that Jesus was soon going to leave. So they certainly had no comprehension of the church age that would intervene between that time and His Second Coming is "parousia" Jesus used the term "parousia" to denote His Second Coming. It's the idea of His presence, His appearing. So beginning in verse four of Matthew 24, Jesus begins to answer their questions in the reverse order. And he begins by addressing the signs of His coming in verses four through 14. He describes six very specific signs and there's some others in there as well beyond that, and, again, I'm going to hit the highlights of these, but they were called birth pains, birth pangs, verse eight, that will occur just prior to His coming. In other words, these will be a sequence of events analogous to a woman entering into labor events that will increase in severity and rapidity until the Messianic Kingdom is birthed.

Verses four and five. The first one he talks about is false messiahs. In other words, self appointed prophets, Priests, kings, deceivers leading to the worship of the ultimate false messiah the Antichrist. Secondly, in verses six through seven, there will be nations at war, verses seven and eight natural disasters of epic proportions. Verse nine, persecution of saints, verses 10 through 13, defection of and betrayal by false believers. And in verse 14, it will be mass evangelism. These will find their final fulfillment during the time of the seven year Tribulation. And again, these events are consistent with the prophecies that we read about in Daniel 9:24. Daniel's 70th week is consistent with the pre kingdom judgments of Revelation, chapter six through 19. All of these things will ultimately come to a head just prior to the establishment of the Kingdom when the Lord returns. And I might add as a footnote, although God's economy and dealing with Israel finds numerous fulfillments, in the church, nevertheless, Daniel's 70th week, a distinctly Jewish context, pertaining to God's covenant with Israel, those things cannot be describing anything in the Church Age, when Israel enters into, quote, "the time of Jacob's trouble," Jeremiah 30, and verse seven, it will be a period of unprecedented oppression on Israel, ethnic Israel. And that context describes her final restoration just before the Messiah returns. And we see the same descriptions in Revelation, chapter six through 19. And Jesus clearly indicates in Matthew 24, verses 15 and 16, as well as Mark 13:14, that the 78th week of Daniel prophecy, is to be the template for the chronological sequence of the beginning of the birth pains. These are pre kingdom judgments, consistent with God's purposes and plan for Israel, not the church. Let me read this to you, Daniel 9:24, "70 weeks had been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place." You can go back and listen to my expositions on the book of Daniel, and understand these things in much greater detail. So while the nation of Israel has been set aside, as a nation temporarily, as we read in Romans 11, verse 11, through 15, the normal reading of scripture would help us understand that these things are clearly going to emerge with respect to Israel, will be the object of divine attention at that point. And I might also add for many reasons, I believe the church will be translated, snatched away, raptured, before the seven years, that's often called the tribulation, which is synonymous with Daniel's 70th week. And we await that glorious event. If you want to know more about those, or that concept of the rapture and so forth, go back to, I forget when it was, 2006, when I went through the Gospel of Matthew, you can listen to the exposition. So Matthew 24, and so forth. Now all six signs of His coming, that Jesus describes in Matthew 24. Again, they've existed in the church age all along, but because of the internet, and because of television, and because of social media, these things are exploding exponentially. Jesus warned, for example, that just prior to His coming in Matthew 24, six, you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. I thought about that this week did a little bit of research. Once again, Serbia and Kosovo are on the brink of war. It has been reported that the President of Serbia has just raised the alert level of his military to quote the highest level of combat readiness. Look at the high tensions that continue to exist and mount between India and Pakistan as they continue to fight over the fiercely contested Kashmir region. We are now witnessing Turkish forces advancing along its border with Syria in their attempt to defeat the Kurds. Tensions have never been higher between North and South Korea. North Korea continues to threaten South Korea by sending Drones into their airspace. In fact, Major General Li Sing Yo spokesman for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said this in a recent briefing, quote, "our military will thoroughly and resolutely respond to this kind of North Korean provocation." And in Pyongyang, North Korea has launched a record number of ballistic and other missiles this year. I understand over 90 of them this last year, including a pair fired last week towards Japan. We can look at China. And most of us are aware that China continues to flex its muscle in the South China Sea, continues to threaten to take over Taiwan. This week, they sent 71 planes and seven ships toward Taiwan in a 24 hour period. Look at Israel and Iran. Benjamin Netanyahu has just been reelected Prime Minister of Israel, and he is pledged that he will never allow the Iranians to build their own nuclear weapons. Yet, the IAEA claims that the Iranians are now quote "one technical step away from enriching weapons grade uranium." And Iran promises to level Tel Aviv to the ground. They have this in a chilling video explaining how they would respond to an Israeli airstrike on its nuclear plant. Look at Russia and Ukraine. They continue to fight which could possibly spill over into a war that would trigger the United States and NATO getting involved. I read an article recently, quote, "the Russians continue to try to frame this conflict as a great battle between good and evil." In fact, a commercial has just been released that portrays Vladimir Putin as a Santa Claus figure that is delivering a boy, catch this from the twisted values of the Western world. Goes on to say Russian President Vladimir Putin has been portrayed as Santa in an anti Western propaganda video released on the country social media the film, made by a production company called "Signal" depicts Santa Putin swapping a photograph of a child's same sex parents for one of a mother and father and gifting the boy being raised as a girl of football, toy cars and a drum kit. In other words, they're making a mockery of what should be a mockery, and that is the degradation and immorality of the United States. The video feeds into Russian prejudices about Europe and the United States. The article goes on to say, which had been fueled by proclivity and Kremlin propagandist during the war in Ukraine to frame the conflict as a, quote, "clash of values between Russia and Ukraine's Western allies." Beloved, the world is a powder keg. And what's the response? In fact, most of this you don't hear on the news? If you do, it's kind of in passing. The response with most of the people in our country is simply this well, yeah, okay. We'll be alright. But by the way, who are the Titans playing today? You see, that's the bigger issue. Why? As in the days of Noah. Jesus also warned in verse 24, false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible, even the elect. Dear friends, the wholesale acceptance of the satanically inspired social justice and prosperity Gospels is a living illustration of this. It is absolutely heartbreaking to see what these people teach and believe and how churches have embraced this stuff. There is unparalleled apostasy in the Church. We have painted up pedophile perverts, aka drag queens reading Bible stories to children in worship services. I can't think of anything perhaps more blasphemous than that. We have sodomites and lesbians and transgendered lunatics pretending to be pastors. Man, you can't make this stuff up.

Maybe you've all seen the clip of this, of this bearded guy with long black hair with all the makeup on, and he's got the homo speech and and the mannerisms that signal his perversion. And he's talking about how his pronouns are they and them. And what's equally, if not more appalling, is there are people who will hyperventilate on their yoga mats and choke on their Starbucks, if you misgender some of these people. This is a level of insanity that begs language. I've counseled a number of homosexuals and lesbians over the years. And I've seen some of them come to saving faith in Christ, I've seen God radically change them, change the desires of their heart. It's a wonderful thing to see the power of the gospel. But I have to say that I wish I didn't even know what I know about what goes on in that community. Homosexuals, in particular, do things that are so vile, so filthy, so bizarre that they can only be described as demonic. In Jude 7 it's called gross immorality. Paul speaks of all manner of wickedness, which would include this in Ephesians five beginning in verse 11, he says, "Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead, even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret." The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that male homosexuals experienced a 4,000% higher risk of cancer than the rest of the population. Male homosexuals with long term partners live on average 30 years shorter than heterosexual men. And yet we live in a culture that accepts this, not just accepts it, but celebrates it. And although God is clear when he warns in I Corinthians 6:9 that neither the effeminate nor homosexuals will inherit the kingdom of God. We have many so called Christian churches that celebrate these perversions and even allow these people to be their pastors. And we're going to see more of this. It's coming at us like a freight train. Some of you have asked Pastor, how long are you going to continue to pastor of Calvary Bible Church, and my response is, as long as the Lord gives me strength. But I have to tell you in my heart, I believe that things are mounting so quickly that I will eventually be imprisoned. And some of you will be there as well. That's how serious this is. According to the Family Research Institute, the median age of death for homosexuals was virtually the same nationwide and overall, about 2% survived to old age. If AIDS was the listed cause of disease of death, I'm sorry, the median age was 39. For the 829 gays who were listed as dying of something other than age, the median age of death was 42, and 9% died old. The 163 Lesbians had a median age of death of 44 and 20% died old. Even when age was apparently not involved, homosexuals frequently met an early demise, 3% of gays died violently. They were 116 times more apt to be murdered, compared to national murder rates, much more apt to commit suicide and had high traffic accident death rates, heart attacks, cancer and liver failure were exceptionally common. 18% of lesbians died of murder, suicide or accidents, a rate 456 times higher than that of white females aged 25 to 44. Age distributions of samples of homosexuals in the scientific literature from 1858 to 1997, suggest a similarly shortened lifespan. It went on to say follow up studies of homosexual longevity have confirmed these general results. Comparison of gay obituaries who died of AIDS to official US HIV AIDS surveillance data demonstrated very close agreement between the estimated median ages of death as well as the 25th and 75th percentiles of the age at death distribution. Another study looked at multiple lines of evidence including more recent US obituaries, and patterns of homosexual partnerships in Scandinavia. Again, finding that homosexual behavior was associated with a shortening of life of probably two decades. Dear friends, it is obvious to any unbiased observer that the inevitable temporal penalty of homosexuality is the consequences of the perversion itself. Paul spoke of this in Romans, "men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons, the due penalty of their error." Despite all of this our culture continues to praise these perversions and to cancel and even criminalize those who don't. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like in the days of Noah, days of unmitigated evil and rebellion against God, days of granted indifference and apathy concerning God's judgment. May I remind you, according to Romans 1:1 when when man rejects God, God rejects man, it's real simple. And he gives them over to as you look at that text, to sordid immorality, shameless homosexuality. And in the final stage of shocking depravity in verse 28, we read, "and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper." Paul's use of the term depraved is most telling, because it basically explains the utter irrationality and insanity that is now so pervasive in American culture. The Greek term translated depraved means unapproved, it means worthless, useless, and it was originally used to describe worthless metals rejected by refiners due to their impurity. And in this context, it highlights the frightening reality that when man ignores all of the evidence of nature, God's creation, as well as ignores his conscience and approve of refuses to approve of God, he will be given over to an unapproved, a worthless, a depraved mind. A disposition of godless corruption and that's where we're at. And it's going to get worse. This is similarly stated in Titus 1:15, "to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God but by their deeds they deny Him being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed." Our culture's obsession with transgenderism is a prime example of this kind of depraved, worthless mind. This stuff is absolutely appalling. It's insane. I mean, what lunatic would encourage children to explore gender options, because their biological gender doesn't match their perceived identity? What kind of monster would promote irreversible physical mutilation and chemical castration. So a child could pretend to be what they could never be? The opposite gender. This is the position of our president. This is the position of many of our government officials. This is the position of those that teach your children in most of the public schools, your colleges or universities. I was reading an article Fox News quote, "the massive 1.7 trillion omnibus bill that was made public by federal lawmakers Tuesday includes the 750,000 earmark for a Los Angeles based gender transgender Latino group" that wants to quote "dismantle the US criminal justice system and Immigration and Customs Enforcement." That's ice and inject, quote, "transgender history and discourse into elementary schools, among other progressive initiatives" end quote. That's what our tax dollars are paying for. You want to know where we're headed in 2023 This is it, folks. We're not just heading there, we're there, but it's gonna get worse.

According to another article in The Lion, quote, the latest text of the spending bill released Tuesday includes 4155 pages of items, with 7510 earmarks, totaling 1.7 trillion and stuffed inside the bill are earmarked to set aside millions for different initiatives such as an American LGBTQ Museum and an LGBTQ Support Center and growth of quote, equity incubator. Worse yet, folks, there are people that actually vote to put these people in office. That's what scary. Something authentic Christians would never do. They elect officials that legalize and promote and protect all manner of perversions. We live in a culture that worships actors and authors and athletes and comedians who advance all of these wicked perversions. What should be considered, and shameful is exalted under the banner of a rainbow, and they call it pride. It is pride. It's an arrogance that shakes his fist in the face of a holy God. This is insanity. Just like the days of Noah. Moreover, this is the wrath of divine abandonment, isn't it? When God just gives people over, all right, you're gonna reject me, I will reject you and let you experience the consequences of your iniquities, and they will destroy you. The Psalmist speaks of this in Psalm 81, beginning in verse 11, "but my people did not listen to my voice. And Israel did not obey me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart to walk in their own devices." And through Hosea, God lamented saying and chapter four, verse 17, Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. That will be the judgment. Sadly, this is the state of the United States of America. I might also add that like the antediluvian civilization, that God judged through the worldwide flood, because of their wickedness, because it was so great that every intent of their thoughts of his heart was continually evil. The Canaanites were the same way. And they also deserve to be exterminated. And it was for this reason that God commanded his covenant people Israel, in Deuteronomy 20, beginning of verse 17, "I want you to utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may not teach so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things, which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the LORD your God." Certainly God has not called us to destroy people, vengeance is his not ours. We're here to give them the gospel and to love them, but we also have to call things for what they are. Yet today, we see all of those forms of wickedness in our culture, the gross abominations of the LGBTQIA whatever community, the unspeakable perversion of bestiality, the growing acceptance of pedophilia, that's what all this drag queen stuff is all about. These are perverts of the worst order, the multibillion dollar pornography industry, the sacrifice of unborn children on the altar of convenience, Satan worship, divination, fortune telling necromancy, you name it, we do it and like the Canaanites, Americans have been given over to a depraved mind to pursue the most vile forms of wickedness. And they also delight in those who join them as we read in Romans 1:28- 32. For indeed, according to Titus 1:15, that I just mentioned, to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But both their mind and their conscience are defiled. Yet in His grace, isn't it amazing that God continues to stay his hand of judgment, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance, Second Peter three, nine, but judgment is coming dear friends. May I remind you that at His first coming according to John 12:47, Jesus said, "I did not come to judge the world but to save the world." But that's not the way it's going to be in His Second Coming. Because he went on to say in verse 48, "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings has one who judges him. The word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day." So the truth, my friends, is Jesus is coming again, the world is moving inexorably towards the day of judgment. And this same Jesus that was meek and lowly, is also the eternal judge to whom God has given all authority to judge the living and the dead. Hebrews 9:27, It is appointed for men to die once, but after this what? The Judgment. Acts 10:42 "The Lord Jesus has been ordained by God to be the judge of the living and the dead." And Jesus said in John 5:22, "The Father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the Son," verse 27, "and has given him authority to execute judgment." And on that day, no one will be able to deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every knee will bow every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Well, there's the warning. Let me close with the encouragement, with the hope, now that you're all thoroughly depressed. I've got two points here. Number one, Jesus still saves, Jesus still saves, He forgives sinners, those who will humble themselves before Him and confess their sin. I'm always fascinated with that passage in First Corinthians 6:9, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revelers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." Then He says this "such were some of you." What a precious statement. You were washed, you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. You see, dear friends, here's the good news. In the midst of all this darkness, Jesus saves, he washes our sins away with his precious blood. And He sanctifies. He sets us apart from sin unto himself. We're no longer his enemies, we become his friends, his children, and he justifies. He declares us righteous. Justification is that divine gift, whereby God through His grace imputes, the righteousness of Christ, to believers. Legally declares them to be righteous in His sight, and then treats them as such. What an amazing thing, Jesus still saves. Secondly, here's another piece of hope for you, to encourage you, Jesus is coming again. He is faithful to His promises. Nothing can thwart his purposes. And because we don't know when that coming will be, we must be on the alert, right? We must live in a state of eagerness, a state of readiness and holiness. That's why John tells us in I John 3:3, "And everyone who has this hope fixed on him, purifies himself, just as He is pure." Unlike the spiritually dead that are at enmity with God and bereft of spiritual understanding, people who are living today as they did in the days of Noah, unlike that our lives are not characterized by unmitigated evil and rebellion against God, but rather they're characterized by faith and hope and love and joy, the fruits of the Spirit, characterized by a passion to live for God's glory, burden for the last. Were not marked by granite indifference or apathy concerning the coming judgment. No, no, no, we know it is coming. And we also know we deserve it right? And yet we celebrate God's grace, because we are debtors of that grace. And we preach that grace to those who are lost, who are going to perish in their sins, unless they come to a place of genuine saving repentant faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And, beloved, that needs to be our challenge for this new year, that this will be the priority of our heart.

Romans 13 Paul said this beginning in verse 11, "Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone and the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife. In jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regards to its lust." Oh dear friends, may this be the motivation of our heart. This coming year may we live in light of His return. And then we can sing with the psalmist, I should say the hymnist, who wrote this "creation groans beneath the curse rebellions just reward, we long to see the fall reverse and Eden's joy's restored. Come quickly, Lord, make all things new. Redeem the church, your bride. With longing eyes we look for you, for home is at your side. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for these eternal truths. They they bear much fruit in each of our hearts. May we have a deep compassion for the lost who are utterly blinded by the evil one. And I pray that if there be such a person here, within the sound of my voice, that you would overwhelm them with conviction, that today would be the day that they come and bow before the cross in repented faith and trust Christ as their only hope of salvation. Use us mightily this coming year, to be salt and light that many might come to faith in Christ. Give us hearts of compassion, hearts that are burdened for the lost hearts that are filled with love for you and for one another. That in all things Christ might have the preeminence for. It's in his name that I pray. Amen.