Special / Holiday (Written)

Christmas 2015
Matthew 1:20, 21
You Shall Call His name Jesus

At Christmas time, we come together to hear the word about the birth of Jesus. We celebrate this most wondrous moment when the eternal, infinite, perfect, and pure God stepped out of His eternal realm and united with human flesh in the womb of a woman.

He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, carried for the normal time any human would be carried, and He was born in the usual way of all humans. The Christmas Child, who had created the vast cosmos by His wisdom and His spoken word, was a normal baby. He was completely helpless but for the parents he was born to. And yet, He was certainly watched over by innumerable angels and by the set plan of His own heavenly Father.

He certainly couldn’t save himself if trouble came upon Him, and so He was wholly dependent on Joseph and Mary for His warmth, protection, food, and care. It is the marvel of this occurrence that we celebrate. For most, it is a time of rejoicing and happiness, of eating and giving gifts.

Hopefully, among the many preparations we make for this time of gathering, we will remember this Christmas Child, not neglect Him. He was born to save, and Jesus is His name…

Text Verse:  Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ⁹ Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11

The few words, spoken to Joseph through a dream by an angel of the Lord, reveal so much to us.

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

The child has the legal right to the Davidic throne because He will be brought into the line of David through His adoptive father, Joseph. We also learn that Mary was pregnant with a child before he had come together with her. She was still a virgin, and yet what was conceived in her was of the Holy Spirit. This in itself would take many pages to explain and we could only touch on the marvel of what it means.

We learn that the child will be a Son. Even from the earliest moments of conception, and at a time when they didn’t have all the modern technologies to scan a baby in the womb to determine what it would be, Joseph was told that it was to be a Son.

And this Son had a name picked out for Him already. Joseph and Mary wouldn’t need to struggle over what to call the Child. The decision was made before the world was created. His name would be… Jesus. And to follow up the reason for it, he was told, “…for He will save His people from their sins.”

To us, this doesn’t mean anything unless we know what Jesus means. The name is a transliteration of the Hebrew, through the Greek, and then through the Germanic languages into our modern English. Because of this, we have to go back to the Hebrew and discover that His name is Yeshua. Yeshua means “salvation.”

Thus, “His name is Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” It begins to make sense when we understand the meaning of the name. But in this name, and in the reason for the giving of the name, there is a veiled hint of His very nature. What He would do with this nature is more than Israel realized.

According to the angel in the dream, He wasn’t coming to save them from the Romans. He wasn’t coming to save them from poverty. He wasn’t coming to save them from pains, trials, or woes. No, He was coming to save them from their sins.

Though the other things are what we as humans would focus on, those particular things hardly make a difference to God if our sins aren’t taken care of. All of the other things which are wrong in the world are there because of our sins. Unless the sin problem is taken care of, the rest just doesn’t matter.

At Christmas, we want to focus on the fun stuff in the Bible, we want to read the old, old stories of the birth, and the angels, and the wise men, and the star, and… and all of those fun things. And it is right that we do so. And so I recommend that all of you read those stories this Christmas.

If you read Matthew, starting in verse 18 of chapter 1 and read all of chapter 2, you will get the entirety of the Christmas story from him. Then go to Luke and read all of Luke 1 and through verse 40 of chapter 2, you will have the entirety of his account as well.

But for us here now, we will look at the reason for these things, not the things themselves. And the reason for them is completely tied up in those simple words to Joseph –

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Being saved from something implies that harm and death will result if one isn’t saved from it. We toss a life preserver to a person on the ocean because without it, they will drown. There is the one tossing, there is the thing which is tossed, and there is what the tossed thing can do. Each is tied up in the saving process.

God has a saving process for His people. It is a process which encompasses His entire word, from the very beginning until the very last chapter of it. And the entire process focuses on the giving of His Son for us…. in the giving of Jesus. Yes, it is all to be found in His superior word. And so let’s turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Sinners Need a Savior

How confused the world is about Jesus! Ask ten people who He is and what He came to do, and you’ll get a wide variety of answers. Ask a hundred people and you’ll get so many more. Probably the most common answer though is, “That He came to save us.” I’ve noticed this. People do equate Jesus with saving us.

When you press them on what this means, quite a few will falter, but many will continue on the right path, “To save us from our sins.” If you press them further, they will normally start to break down very quickly in what that exactly means.

If you change the direction of question and ask, “What about you? If you died today, why should God allow you into heaven instead of tossing you into heck?” the majority of people will suddenly default back to self. “I’m a good person.” “I’m not as bad as Hitler.” “I do good things for other people.” “I petted a puppy yesterday.”

Suddenly, the “Jesus” you have been asking about is no longer the issue. It is “I.” This is the problem which man has faced all along, and it is the problem which every religion on earth but one has; the “I” problem.

Ask a muslim why they can go to heaven and it will be “I.” “I will do enough and allah will be pleased with me.” “If I die as a martyr for allah, I will go to paradise.” “I.”

Ask a buddhist about their idea of salvation, which isn’t necessarily heaven, but regardless of that, it still comes back to “I.” The same is true with Hindus, animists, and on and on. Even modern Jews base their relationship with God on self. Each is dealing with the same issue, and it is already broken – “I.”

There are even those in Christianity who haven’t learned. It is “I.” “I have proofs of my salvation through works.” “I have repented of my sins and so God has accepted me.” “I  think that…” Watch out for “I” and especially “I think.” It doesn’t matter what we think. What matters is what God says… in context.

However, the true Christian who understands that, “I need a Savior” is to take that knowledge not back to self, but to the One who can save them. It doesn’t make sense to say, “Here I am in this giant ocean with no land in sight, no life preserver around my neck, and no strength left to continue swimming, but I will save myself.”

That is simply unreasonable. A drowning man needs a savior from the depths. And humanity is in the same condition with sin. We are in an ocean of it. It surrounds us, it is below us, it is attacking us from all sides like the raging waves which rise up and cast us about. We would be fools to say the ocean isn’t there. And we would be fools to say that we have it all under control. But the world is full of fools. “I.” It is an “I problem.”

The story of Jonah shows us this state. It equates the world of sin with the ocean. Jonah was cast into that sea, just as Adam was cast into the ocean of sin. For him, there was no hope. He was to die in that ocean. But then… the Lord sent him a savior. He was given his proverbial life raft in the form of a fish.

From his place of safety, it says, “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly.” The sinner had found a Savior. And so he prayed concerning the distress he had been in. It is a prayer that each of us who knows Christ has made –

And he said:
“I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction,
And He answered me.
|“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
And You heard my voice.
³ For You cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the floods surrounded me;
All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.
⁴ Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight;
Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
⁵ The waters surrounded me, even to my soul;
The deep closed around me;
Weeds were wrapped around my head.
⁶ I went down to the moorings of the mountains;
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;
Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord, my God.
⁷ “When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord;
And my prayer went up to You,
Into Your holy temple.
⁸ “Those who regard worthless idols
Forsake their own Mercy.
⁹ But I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.” Jonah 2:2-9

Jonah said that “those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy.” Self is certainly a worthless idol. Our bodies falter under the heavy load, they degrade through the years, and they fall apart and become weak.

Our minds, no matter how sharp, get foggy in sickness, they get tired without sleep, and they get confused when they are overrun with chemicals. Our beauty is temporary and our personalities are only as cheerful as the next stressful morning or the next piece of bad news. Self is a terrible place to pin one’s hopes. Jonah understood this.

There, right at the end of the prayer, Jonah acknowledged the same thing that each of the redeemed in Christ have acknowledged –

yeshuatah Yehovah – “Salvation is of the Lord.” It is an ancient story with a modern picture. The word, yeshuatah is simply a structural form of the noun yeshuah. Jonah, in his misery at having been cast into the pit from which he could not save himself, called out to the Lord and the Lord sent Yeshua; Jesus – our Salvation.

Sinners in fact need a Savior. And that Savior is of the Lord. You won’t find Him in self. And as every other religion on earth outside of biblical Christianity is based on self, you will only find Him in the Christmas Child. Jonah realized this and after making his acknowledgement with it, he was granted relief –

“So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” Jonah 2:10

Jonah left the waters and was returned to dry land. He left the place of chaos and returned to the world of order. By merely opening his mouth and acknowledging that Jesus is Lord, he was saved. This is what God sent His Son to do. This is the mission of the Christmas Child. Yes, Sinners need a Savior and the Lord sent Yeshua to save us from our sins –

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

A sinner in need of a Savior; that would be me
I am cut off from my God with no hope in sight
I am floundering in this storm-tossed sea
And I need someone to cast something to me to make it right

I am sinking below the billowing waves; my sin is heaped too high
I can feel the claws of hell pulling me down
To any hope of being reconciled to God, I have waved “goodbye”
The sin has overwhelmed me and I am starting to drown

Oh but God sent a Savior, more than just a foam life-preserver
Instead, He sent me Jesus, His own beloved Son
I am unworthy it is true, I am the world’s biggest non-deserver
But through His cross my salvation has been won

II. Fallen Man Needs a Perfect Man

The angel in the dream which came to Joseph did not just say, “Joseph, do not be afraid…” Instead, he said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid…” The words of the Bible are precise and they have intent.

This then wasn’t an unnecessary or superfluous addition. Instead, it was intended for Joseph to understand that he, as a son of David, was selected to be the legal father of the promised Seed of David. This wasn’t something hidden away for only the theologians of Israel to know about. Instead, it was something that even the most common of the land would have been told and would have anticipated.

It would have been more commonly understood than even the election of a new president in America. And it would have even been more anticipated, hoped for, and prayed for than the replacement of our current president.

The people were waiting for a Savior. They were under the oppression of the Romans and they thought that this was what He was all about. They thought that this Son of David would free them from their physical bonds and place them once again above the nations. In Matthew 12, the people as a whole are said to have understood that the Messiah was the Son of David –

“Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. ²³ And all the multitudes were amazed and said, ‘Could this be the Son of David?'” Matthew 12:22, 23

But even those outside of the people known as Israel had heard of the coming chosen One who would be a Son of David. When Jesus was traveling to the north along the coast, we read this account about a Canaanite woman who knew and understood that the Jewish Messiah would be a Son of David –

“Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.'” Matthew 15:21, 22

And as the time came for Jesus to receive His kingdom as the Son of David, the people… the multitudes, called out acknowledging Him as their Messiah; calling for Him to save –

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. ³ And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

⁴ All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
⁵ “Tell the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
⁶ So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. ⁸ And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Hosanna in the highest!” Matthew 21:1-9

It is this Son of David who they were looking for and whom they realized they had found in Jesus. But what is it that prompted them to this knowledge? What is the basis for the Son of David to be the One they expected? Well, it goes back to what the Lord promised directly to David in 2 Samuel 7 –

“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. ¹⁵ But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶ And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.”’” 2 Samuel 7:12-16

This, along with quiet a few other references to David in their Scriptures, told them that the promised One would be a Son of David. The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, and Zechariah all spoke of the throne of David or of the line of David in this future way.

And so the people waited for their King to come. However, and unfortunately, they missed much of the significance of what He was coming to do. Yes, a future kingdom was promised; a literal kingdom with a literal throne, among the people of Israel.

But this wasn’t all that the son of David was coming to provide. Instead, Joseph was told exactly what He was first and foremost coming to do – “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” There was a greater problem than Roman oppression. There was the bondage of the devil; the problem of sin.

This is a problem that required a Savior, a human Savior. The Bible shows that a rift exists between God and man because of our sin. However, there is the truth that God, meaning God who is Spirit, could not take care of that problem in His eternal state as Spirit. It would require a Man within the created order to handle it.

The fact is that God is infinite and man is finite. The gap needs to be bridged in order for there to be reconciliation. Too often, we focus on the deity of Christ and fail to analyze and contemplate the humanity of Christ. This leaves us with a rather unbalanced picture of who He is. From our text, it is evident that Christ is a Man.

The words, “for that which is conceived in her” shows us that there is a human Child in Mary’s womb. The Baby came from her human DNA. He was nourished from her as He grew inside of her. When He was born, He consumed the milk her body had prepared for Him.

He cried, He grasped up for her hands, He smiled, He slept. This Christmas Child was truly a Child. He did all of the things that a human would do. The Bible says that He grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. Yes, He learned as He grew. He learned to walk and to talk. He learned to chew food.

Everything that we as humans do, He also did. He was a Man like all men, with but an important difference – He was born without sin. There was a picture of His coming all the way back at the time of Abraham. Like David, Abraham was given a promise too. Like David, he would be in the line of the Messiah.

As a sign of this promise and all that it entailed, Abraham was told that he was to be circumcised and that all of his descendants were to be circumcised as well. The purpose of circumcision has been talked about and debated over for eons. And there are several reasons for it which we can deduce from the Bible.

But there is one reason for it which is pictorial rather than actual. And that is the most important reason of all. Circumcision involves cutting away the foreskin of the male reproductive organ. The orlah, or foreskin, remaining on the child counted the child as having a deficiency which was unacceptable.

The term “uncircumcised” is used in a moral sense in the Bible. To be uncircumcised in the ears is to be a person who refuses to listen to sound moral advice. To be uncircumcised in the heart is to be a person who is not morally upright.

When Moses asked to not speak on behalf of the Lord, he said he was “of uncircumcised lips.” He felt that he was morally unqualified to speak on behalf of the Lord, thus diminishing His glory through contemptible speech.

These examples show us that to be uncircumcised was to demonstrate moral incompleteness. And so, in picture, the circumcision looked forward to a time when moral perfection would come. As sin is moral imperfection, then it is a picture of one born without sin.

The circumcision of the Israelites pictured the cutting off of sin in humanity by the Savior who could perform that function. This is the Savior that sinners needed. They needed a sinless one. As the Child conceived to Mary had no human father, then he would not inherit the sin of man.

The rite of circumcision shows us that sin travels from father to child. As all people – both men and women – have fathers, then all people inherit the sin of their father.

And as all people came from one father, Adam, then all people have inherited Adam’s original sin. Generation after generation, the sin of our first father has been visited upon us through our earthly father. God, who is Spirit, couldn’t solve this as a Spirit. Only a Man could resolve it. But He could initiate the process.

And so a Man was born without a human father, and yet was born of humanity through the woman. He was born the perfect Child. As this was true, he was qualified to be the Savior. The Christmas Child had come. The Gift had arrived. The only question for us to consider is, “Could He continue without sin?” Yes, He was qualified, but was He capable?

The words to Joseph say, “Yes.” He is in fact capable –

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

The angel in the dream did not say, “He might save His people from their sins.” Instead, it said, “He will save His people from their sins.” There is a note of surety tied up in the bundle of joy who is that precious cooing Christmas Child.

However, there is a truth which cannot be escaped and it is something that must be discussed or we will have a deficient idea of who our Savior is. It is what we would call the Arian heresy. It is an insipid infection which permeates the world even today in aberrant cults such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

This truth stems from the fact that anything finite is bound by limitations. And with these limitations there is defect. We do not have all the answers to every thing. We are limited in knowledge and we are limited in ability.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but with a deficient will, a will which lacks perfect understanding, there will inevitably be fault. And with fault comes sin. What does this mean? It means there is more to the Savior than just His humanity.

The chasm is too wide, it is impossible for me to bridge
I can never attain to what is infinite on my own
It isn’t like walking over a mere mountain ridge
Instead it is an eternal walk which leaves me all alone

But God did it! He made the way back to me
He sent Jesus to make it possible once again
He stretched His arms out upon the cross of Calvary
One touched me, the other His Father… Hallelujah and Amen!

The spot where infinity meets with limited me
It is there in the Person of my Lord Jesus
Through His shed blood there on that wooden tree
He died for me and all the redeemed. He did it for every one of us!

III. The Perfect Man is a Man without Limitations

Joseph was told an earful in his dream – wasn’t he! More than we could evaluate in a whole book. But, from those words we have seen that sinners need a Savior, and we have deduced that fallen man needs a perfect Man in order to save him. But a perfect Man, as Jesus is deduced to be, must be a Man without limitations.

And in fact, the sermon text shows us that He is…

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

All humans have a father. The difference between this One and the rest of us is that the Child of Christmas is the Son of God. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. This is the same Spirit who was there at the very beginning –

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:1, 2

From the creation model, we find that all things reproduce after their own kind. If dogs reproduce, their offspring are dogs. If a mango seed is planted, a mango tree will come forth. And when humans breed, out come cooing little human babies.

What this first chapter of Genesis is telling us is that the Christmas Child was more than just a Man. As a child of Mary, He was thus fully Man. But as the Son of God, he is also fully God. In order to save fallen Man, Jesus couldn’t be merely a man. If he were, he would have inherited his first father’s sin.

But more than that, and contrary to the Arian heresy, he couldn’t be any type of finite, created being. The reason for this is more philosophic than most of us would care to contemplate, but it is also logical and it explains well who this Child of Christmas really is. And He is certainly not a created being.

Yes, He was a human baby in a manger. He was in need of milk and loving arms. But He is also the very God of all things. He was and is One with the Father. To understand this, we have to refer to the treatise on Free Will which was authored by the 13th century theologian Thomas Aquinas. He wrote that…

“…in voluntary things the defect of the action comes from the will actually deficient, inasmuch as it does not actually subject itself to its proper rule. This defect, however, is not a fault, but fault follows upon it from the fact that the will acts with this defect.”

That might not make much sense, but it is at the core of who this Child of Christmas is. From his words, we find that anything other than God which has a will of its own (which this describes man, by the way) is in a state of deficiency. We are not God and we do not possess all of the knowledge of God.

This is not sinful; it is just the way it is. However, Aquinas notes that “This defect … is not a fault, but fault follows upon it from the fact that the will acts with this defect.” In other words, every will which is deficient will inevitably result in fault. We would call this “sin.” We act without all of the information and therefore our actions lead us into sin.

For our first father, Adam, he acted in his deficiency which was lacking the knowledge of good and evil. Despite being told that he should not do the thing he did, he couldn’t grasp that it was evil to disobey. He was in a state of innocence concerning good and evil and yet he was without excuse because of the command.

Today, our problem is only exacerbated. We have the knowledge of good and evil, but because of the existence of sin in our lives, which we inherited from Adam, we act upon our evil desires. In other words, Adam lacked the knowledge of good and evil, whereas we lack the ability to properly exercise the knowledge of good and evil which we now possess.

These are the only two options for man. Either we will sin because we lack the knowledge of what sinning is, or we will sin because we lack the ability to properly conduct ourselves because of our limitations in our sinful state. Either way, sin is the problem and so Joseph was given the good news –

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

It is the good news because God had come to dwell among us. It is the only explanation to these words. If our human limitations cause sin, and Jesus needed to be a perfect and sinless, then Jesus must be God; completely without limitations.

He would not exercise His own will against God, but rather He would do exactly as His divine nature called for Him to do. The question is: “Does the Bible bear this out?” The answer is, “Yes.” From Jesus’ own mouth, He confirms what we can deduce by merely thinking it through –

“I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” John 5:30

The dual nature of Christ is so inextricably intertwined that though He is fully Man, He is also fully God. Though in His humanity He bore all of our limitations, in His deity, He bore none of them. He is morally perfect in all ways; lacking nothing; complete, perfect, and pure. Our Christmas Child is heaven’s perfect Ruler!

Adam acted against proper rule with his lack of knowledge and it resulted in fault, or sin. We lack in our inability to properly exercise our knowledge and it results in sin. Christ acts on His Father’s infinite and perfectly moral will and it results in perfection of action. What an amazing thing to consider as we sit around the cradle of this marvelous Christmas Child –

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

But maybe we somehow misread the intent of what Jesus was saying about His will and His Father’s will being one. Is there any other proof that we can hold on to before we close so that we know for sure that the Son of David really is the Lord God Almighty?

Well, if you give me enough time, we could pull out a thousand passages which confirm this, but let’s go straight to the mouth of both David and Jesus. As David was given the promise, and as Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of the promise, we can surely trust their words.

Jesus, quoting David from the 110th Psalm, spoke the following in a discussion with the leaders of Israel –

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, ⁴² saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”
They said to Him, “The Son of David.”
⁴³ He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:
⁴⁴ ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”’?
⁴⁵ If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” ⁴⁶ And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore. Matthew 22:42-46

David himself showed us what we need to know. Jesus simply used David’s words to point to Himself. The Pharisees knew, without a doubt, that the Christ, or Messiah, would be the Son of David. They knew this because this is what Scripture says, and so this is what they said with their own lips back to Jesus.

But then Jesus, questioned them, asking them to think it through just a little further from the Spirit inspired psalms. He asked, “How then does David (a man born from Adam) in the Spirit (meaning that the psalms are divinely inspired by the Spirit of God) call Him (meaning the Messiah) ‘Lord?’ (meaning Yehovah, the God of Israel.)”

After asking this, He cited the Psalm to them. “The Lord” (Yehovah) said to my Lord (Adonai – meaning Yehovah). In other words, David himself called his own Son, “my Lord” (Yehovah). How can that be? David said it and the words are inspired by the Spirit of God, who confirmed it. Jesus was trying to get them to think it through to its logical end.

It was this Son of David who is the same One who was spoken of by the angel of the Lord more than thirty years earlier –

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

And as surely as it can be, we have the mystery of Christ wrapped up in one perfect package which has been delivered to us in the pages of God’s superior word. We are with limitations and so we are prone to err in our ways and in our analyses. But with thoughtful care, with prayer, and with study, the truth of the Christmas Child shines out brightly.

I. Sinners Need a Savior
II.Fallen Man Needs a Perfect Man
III. The Perfect Man is a Man without Limitations

The Child of Christmas is revealed in such a simple set of words, spoken to a heartbroken man as he lay in his sleep, determined to put away the woman whom he thought had broken his trust. Instead, he was given the most marvelous look into the wisdom and mind of God that any man up to that point in time had ever been given.

And just nine months later, he gazed upon the face of God, revealed in human form for us to grasp, to cherish, and to praise. What a marvelous thing to contemplate. What a Gift of Christmas from the very heart of God to those who have so eagerly waited to hear the good news!

“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” Luke 2:10-14

Closing Verse: “So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ²³ ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.'” Matthew 1:23

Next Week: Exodus 20:18-26 There is a place for propitiation when we falter…  (The Earthen Altar) (56th Exodus Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and purpose for you. He was willing to put on a body of flesh and to dwell among us despite all the pains He had to endure in the process. If He did that for you, think of how much more lies ahead when we walk with Him in glory! So follow Him and trust Him and He will do marvelous things for you and through you.

His Name is Jesus

But while he thought about these things
Behold, an angel of the Lord
Appeared to him in a dream, saying
This he did say, his spoken word

“Joseph, son of David
Do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife
For that which is conceived in her
Is of the Holy Spirit; the Divine spark of Life

And she will bring forth a Son
And you shall call His name Jesus
For He will save His people from their sins
He is God’s Christmas Child; holy and marvelous

And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, I know that you agree
You are little among the thousands of Judah, it is so
Yet out of you shall come forth even unto Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel, My word is true you know

His goings forth are from of old
From everlasting, thus you have been told

Praise God O Israel, For unto us a Child is born
Praise the Lord Land of Judah, For Unto us a Son is given
And the government shall upon His shoulder be worn
And through Him shall man’s sins be forgiven

And His name will be called Wonderful
The Counselor and Mighty God is He
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, pure and white as wool
Of the increase of His government and peace no end shall we see

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom’s realm
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever, He at the helm
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

The scepter shall not depart from Judah
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet
Until Shiloh comes and we shout Hallelujah
And to Him the obedience of the people shall be sweet

This helpless baby lying in a manger
Will rule the world in everlasting peace
Through Him will come security with no danger
And the rule of His glory shall never, never cease

All praise to our stupendous Lord of Glory
Yes, all honor to this precious King
Praising God for the wondrous Christmas story
Let all the Lord’s redeemed shout aloud and sing

Hallelujah and Amen…

John 12:20-26
A Grain of Wheat
Resurrection Day 2015

The words of Jesus in this passage give us a simple illustration, one which almost anyone on earth grasps even from a very young age. It is that of life coming forth from death. It is the triumph of life over death. And it is found every where that a seed is planted in the ground.

Paul uses this concept as well in 1 Corinthians 15 to teach us this spiritual truth in regards to the body of the resurrected –

“But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” ³⁶ Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. ³⁷ And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. ³⁸ But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.” 1 Corinthians 15:36-38

The church at Corinth was struggling with the thought of the resurrection because some who had come into the church had claimed there was no such thing as resurrection from the dead. Being Greeks, probably trained in the class of the Epicureans or the Stoics, they dismissed the concept of an after-life.

Paul had to correct them on this by reiterating the gospel, which included the resurrection of Christ. They had believed this, but were being misled by those who couldn’t believe that it was possible. Throughout the chapter, Paul demonstrated that Jesus did rise and so there was a precedent for others to do so as well.

In fact, he noted that if there is no resurrection, then the death that Christ died for us was ultimately of no value. In his own words –

“And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! ¹⁸ Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” 1 Corinthians 15:17-19

Without a risen Christ to prove that sin was defeated, then we actually remain in our sins, eternally separated from the God who is out there in His infinite realm. Never again would we be able to fellowship with Him. Such is the pitiable state of believing in a “dead Lord.”

And so, in his meticulously careful fashion, Paul laid out the concept of life from death in a manner which those in Corinth (and thus us!) could grasp. Yes, in Christ, there is forgiveness of sins, in Christ, there is hope, and in Christ, there is the anticipation of eternal life once again in the presence of God. In Christ, the restoration of all things is found.

Text Verse: “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52

In the 1960s, the seeds of a date palm were found in the Masada fortress which is on the edge of the Dead Sea in Israel. The seeds were, at that time, 2000 years old. They had been preserved by nothing more than simple storage in hot, dry conditions.

Scientists saw little hope of life returning to these long-dead seeds, but they planted them anyway. Like Israel, which had been dead for those same 2000 years, life came out of one of them, making it the oldest seed ever to do so.

Just last week, on the 24th of March, National Geographic did an update on the Methuselah palm. They reported that according to the director of the Arava Institute for Environmental studies where the palm is located that “He is a big boy now.” They say, “He is over … [ten feet] tall, he’s got a few offshoots, he has flowers, and his pollen is good. … We pollinated a female with his pollen, a wild [modern] female, and yeah, he can make dates.”

And so, I highlight three miracles of life from death which occurred in the Land of Israel. Christ rose, Israel was restored to life, and a 2000 year old date palm seed sprang forth to life. Each demonstrates that God is capable of the miraculous. Great is the Lord and He is greatly to be praised.

Along with the revived nation of Israel, that Methuselah Palm, as it has become known, is alive and well today, thriving in the land. Together they stand as a testimony to the fact that God has it all under control. Life can truly come from death.

This is the hope of the believer, it is the promise of God in Christ, and it is therefore an eternal truth which is revealed in His superior word. And so let’s turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. The Death of Jesus Christ

Referring to our sermon text, when those Greeks came up to Jerusalem to worship at the Passover Feast, they came to the Philip and asked to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew and together they told Jesus. Instead of agreeing to see them, the Greek provides a conjunction de which means “but,” or “on the other hand.”

Instead of meeting with them, he simply answered, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. ²⁴ Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”

This doesn’t seem like a way to respond to someone wanting to meet with another person. Imagine someone saying, “Hey Paul, there are a few people here to see you.” In response Paul says, “Until you fill a football with air, it won’t work properly.”

“Uhhh, ok. Is that what you want me to tell them?”

But Jesus had more to say, “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”

“Ok Jesus, we’ll tell them…” They probably left to tell the Greeks what Jesus said at this time, but immediately after this, He predicted His coming death. Everything was coming to this point and each word He used was uttered as part of a heavenly drama being played out here on earth.

As John recorded the words of his gospel, he saw and understood that which was veiled to him as Jesus spoke. Israel as a whole was looking forward to a Messiah that would deliver them from Roman oppression. They knew from the prophets of old that Israel and Jerusalem would someday be the head of the nations and that the Law would proceed from there.

But there is much more in the Hebrew Scriptures than an earthly Messiah coming to establish the throne of David and to lead the whole world. But the people saw what they wanted to see and they overlooked the things that they found difficult or contrary to what they expected in a Messiah.

The Old Testament shows us that there is a problem with man, an internal problem. Right from the beginning, the problem crept in and ruined the happy state that man was designed for. Adam and Eve disobeyed the Lord and they were cast out of the wondrous paradise that He had made for them to dwell in.

The ground became difficult to work and where once flowers filled the air with perfume, thorns came up. Idyllic perfection was swallowed up in toil and hardship. Immediately after the sad account of being cast from the garden, the first thing the next chapter shows us is the birth and naming of sons, Cain and Abel.

In the naming of Cain is implied hope and even victory, but in the naming of Abel there is despondency and a sense of uselessness in life. Eve’s choice of those names was due to how she perceived life in relationship to the garden she had left. She first thought it would be a quick return to it with the birth of Cain, but she soon realized she was mistaken at the birth of Abel.

Immediately after the record of their birth and naming, a large portion of time is skipped over and the next words, which are still in the same verse, tell us of the professions of the two boys. And the next verse after that gives us a clue as to the state of man. It says, “And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord” (Genesis 4:3).

Without any commentary at all and without any note of either boy having done anything wrong, we are told that they made an offering to the Lord. What is implied is that even without any recorded sin, sin existed as a wall between them and the Lord, sin which required an offering. In other words, the Bible is showing us that sin was in the world and that sin is inherited.

To demonstrate this beyond a shadow of a doubt, the next recorded thought is that there was anger and jealousy in Cain, anger and jealousy that led to murder. Imagine that! The first person ever born to the stream of humanity was a murderer. Sin was in the world and it was a deep and potent infection in man.

Out of all of the people born on earth after this, a single line of people are especially highlighted. There were probably millions of people alive by the tenth generation, but only a minute number are mentioned. Within two more chapters, a period of about 1650 years from the creation of the world, things had become so corrupt that we read this in Genesis 6:5 –

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

And so the Lord purposed to destroy the world and start anew with just one man and his family, Noah. The account of Noah takes us through the destruction of the whole earth and everything that had the breath of life in it, with the exception of just 8 people.

When they arrived on the safe shores of the post-flood world, the first thing Noah did after leaving the ark was to sacrifice to the Lord. The sacrifice was one of thanksgiving, but it also showed that Noah understood… sin remained. In response to the offering, the Lord made a comment and a promise –

“I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.” Genesis 8:21

The comment was an acknowledgment of man’s inherited evil, implying guilt. The promise was that He would never again destroy every living thing as He had done, implying mercy. Rather, sin would be dealt with in a different way.

This is the message of the Bible; that sin has to be dealt with, but that it is God, not man, who deals with it. Like before Noah, after him a single line of people is highlighted, from father to son. Each name in this special line is given in anticipation of something big to come.

The line eventually arrived at Abraham, and the story of his life is given in more detail than any other person in more than 2000 years since the creation of the world. To him a promise was made, a promise that was incredible, even beyond belief, and yet Abraham believed. And because of this, we read in Genesis 15:6 –

“And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” Genesis 15:6

God had declared a man righteous based on mere faith. Abraham had done nothing else, and yet he stood justified before God. That one verse then explains two important things: 1) That when God promises the incredible, He expects us to believe; and 2) when we believe, He is pleased to declare us righteous.

Understanding that, we still need to know that it is God who designates and initiates the action in which we are to place our faith. Misdirected faith is wasted faith. God chooses where the faith is to be placed; we choose to believe or not to believe.

From Abraham came a son, Isaac. And from Isaac came a son Jacob. The line which had been so meticulously detailed from the first man was continued through them. From Jacob, who is Israel, came twelve sons who became a collective group of people.

Unlike a single line from a single son, the entire clan of Israel was now the focus of the Bible. Through them, the stories of redemptive history continued including those of Moses, the law-giver, and David, the great king, among many others.

The story of Israel is the story of a collective group of people, living under the law of God and continuously failing to meet the standards of that law. Within that huge body of the law is a note in the book of Leviticus where the Lord says, “You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 18:5

However, as is seen, the Bible records the continuous failure of the people to meet these impossible standards. But there is a provision within the Law for life. It was found each year on the Day of Atonement. On this one day each year, the people who came and confessed their sins could have their sins transferred to a substitute.

An animal was slaughtered and its blood was sprinkled before the Lord. The life of an innocent animal was given to restore the people to a propitious place with God. However, this measure was only temporary. The fact that it had to be offered year by year proved that the sin had not departed from the person; rather, the guilt for the sin was only temporarily atoned for.

The Bible later explains that the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin. An animal is in a different category than man. As that is true, then why wasn’t a person selected to be sacrificed? If someone in the same category could take the place of another, wouldn’t taking that avenue be acceptable?

No, it wouldn’t. The reason is because another human, born of a man from Adam already bore the sin of Adam – remember the lesson from the lives of Cain and Abel. One cannot atone for sin with a life that is stained with sin. The Bible shows attempts of people groups to do just this, sacrificing children, and God rejected those offerings. In fact they were an abomination to Him.

Offering sin in an attempt to expiate sin only increased the guilt. An offering of a man would not take care of the problem. And yet… eventually the prophet Isaiah arrived on the scene and he seemed to indicate that a Man would, in fact, come and bear the guilt of others. Here is what he writes in the 53rd chapter of the book which bears his name –

“Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6

How could this be? How could the Lord lay on a Man the iniquity of all people? Let’s go back to Abraham. He was given an incredible promise, he believed the promise, and by faith alone he was counted as righteous. Some years later, and in confirmation of that promise, he was given a sign – circumcision.

A sign is something that points to something else. Circumcision pointed to the fulfillment of that promise and it made a picture at the same time. The picture was that of cutting away sin. Sin came from Adam and transmitted from father to child. In cutting the skin of the body part through which sin was transferred, it made a picture of the cutting away of that sin.

Therefore, in circumcision is a sign of promise and that sign deals with the ending of sin – the very problem which has plagued man from the beginning and which has kept man from returning to God’s garden of delight.

So here we are back at the time of the law now. Year after year, sin is forgiven, but the sin problem continues. And under that law is a promise of someone who would come and bear the guilt of man. Logically, if He was to do this and it was considered acceptable by the Lord for Him to be offered in this way, then He could not have any sin of His own. If He did, He couldn’t be made a sin offering. Two plus two equals four, even in spiritual matters.

The record of the people of Israel continued and the genealogies of the people were recorded meticulously. Into this group of people was born a woman named Mary who was already betrothed to a man named Joseph who was of the line of the great king, David.

However, before they had come together, she was visited by an angel who told her she would bear a Son. She questioned how that was possible when she had not known a man. The angel responded with amazing words –

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35

Without going into all of the finer details, we can look back on this event and put the two’s together. A woman will bear a Child; thus He is fully Man. However, His Father is God; thus He is fully God. The ancient rite of circumcision, the sign and the picture, are both fulfilled in this Child.

The line of sin is cut in Him; no sin was transmitted from Father to Son as it had been for so long. And this One was qualified to bear the iniquity of all men because He was born without sin. Hope was to be found in this Child, the Hope of God in His provision.

The Child was born without sin, and He was born under the Law of God, which no one could fulfill, something the entire record of the Old Testament shows us. The sin was too deep, the infection was complete. The law, instead of bringing life, only brought death.

But now there was hope. Because the Child, Jesus, was born without sin, He was qualified to replace Adam and to bear the guilt of Adam’s seed. But He not only had to be born without sin, He had to live sinless as well. This is what the gospels record for us – the sinless entry of Jesus into the world and the sinless life He lived in the world.

In Him the law could be kept and in Him, the law was kept. But, Isaiah showed in advance of His coming that this Man would bear the iniquity of us all. His words presuppose that He would have to die. The reason is that the Bible says this in Hebrews –

“And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Hebrews 9:22

The verse that the author of Hebrews is referring to is found in Leviticus 17 –

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” Leviticus 17:11

Without the shedding of the blood of an innocent life, there can be no atonement for the sin of another. The standard belongs to God and the price must be paid. Thus Jesus Christ had to die in order for us to live. The seed had to be planted before life could come up from it.

And so Jesus willingly offered Himself in exchange for the sins of the world. Such a fearful thing this was that moments before the commitment was executed, He implored His Father – if there was only another way to handle their sin. There in another garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, we are told that –

“He knelt down and prayed, ⁴² saying, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Luke 22:41-42

The cup He spoke of was the cup of wrath, the cup of God’s wrath at the sins of man, committed since the first moments He walked on earth and even until the last moments before the final judgment will come some day.

All of the sin of the world was poured into this cup and Christ our Lord was expected to drink it down to its dregs. Punishment must be meted out and it will either be in the offender or in a substitute. Christ chose to be that Substitute for all who would believe. So great was His anguish at the thought of what was ahead that the passage continues on with these words –

“Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. ⁴⁴ And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Luke 22:43, 44

He did drink it though, all of it. He allowed Himself to be beaten mercilessly by the creatures He created, and then He allowed them to nail Him to the cross of Calvary, where His life would end in anguish that you and I will never be able to imagine. There, on that wooden instrument of death, the high price of the sins of the world was paid.

The law was given and it served its purpose. Among many other reasons, three main points for the giving of the law are noted: 1) It was to show man God’s standard; that it is completely out of our ability to meet. 2) It reveals how utterly sinful sin is. And, 3) the law was intended to lead us to His Son, Jesus – the Messiah of the Jews and the Christ of the nations.

He is the fulfillment of the law and thus He is the embodiment of it. Because of this, man’s sin can be transferred to His death. The way this is accomplished is exactly the same way that Abraham was declared righteous. Abraham was given an incredible promise and yet he believed it, demonstrating faith in God’s provision.

We are given an incredible promise as well, the forgiveness of our sins through God’s provision. What God expects is that we demonstrate the same faith, the faith of Abraham, in what God has promised is true. By mere faith, and by faith alone, we are forgiven every sin we have ever committed.

And to show us how sincere we must be we are told that if we attempt to merit God’s favor by working deeds of that law for righteousness, we actually condemn ourselves further. The reason is that we are saying to God, “What You have done is insufficient; I will attain righteousness on my own.”

It is, in essence, a slap in God’s face at the rejection of His Gift. For such an offense, we are obliged to fulfill the entire law. It is a self-condemning act. The cross of Jesus stands as a sign to the people of the world that there is forgiveness and hope. But there is more to this story than the death of God’s Son. It is the reason we are here today. We worship a crucified Man who defeated death.

A cross is there on the hill of Calvary
It is a sign of God’s love to the people of the world
On that cross Jesus died for you and for me
The greatest display of love ever, was on that day unfurled

Oh! That Christ would die for sinners like us!
How deep is the love of God for this to have come about?
Wondrous is the giving of His own Son, Jesus
So take hold of the promise, stand fast and do not doubt

Christ died and into the grave He went – had death won?
A lifeless body, seemingly the end of the story
But No! Death could not hold the sinless Son
He burst forth from the grave in radiant glory!

II. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

The Bible teaches us that the wages of sin is death. It is an axiom from the first pages of the Bible. Man dies because man has sinned. But the Bible also teaches that there are two kinds of death. There is physical death and there is spiritual death. Both of these types of death result because of sin. And we know this because God said to Adam these words before he sinned –

“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16, 17

In the next chapter, we saw Adam sin and yet by Chapter 5 we are told that he lived a full 930 years, having had sons and daughters born to him during that time. If God said that he would die on the day that he ate of the fruit and yet he continued to live for 930 years, then either the Bible is wrong and we have our eggs in the wrong basket, or God wasn’t speaking of physical death.

And sure enough, He wasn’t. Throughout the Bible, the spiritually dead nature of man is seen. We are born dead, and we live dead until we die. We are spiritually disconnected from God because of sin. The other kind of death, physical death, is also a result of sin, but that was pronounced after the man had sinned –

“Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
¹⁸ Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
¹⁹ In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:17-19

And so there is a truth for us to consider. If the first death, the spiritual death, isn’t corrected before the physical death comes, then we will be forever separated from God. There will be no return to the Garden of Delight. But in Christ, that is reversed.

This is what He did for us. And through faith in His atoning death, and by faith alone in His work, we are declared righteous by God and we are quickened to new life. Our spiritual death is ended and we move from Adam to Christ. He becomes our Federal Head. The Seed which was planted becomes our hope.

And to prove that He accomplished this for us, He was resurrected by God the Father. He prevailed over death because the wages of sin is death, but He had no sin of His own. Therefore death could not hold him. It was impossible for Him to remain in the grave.

But we still have the inescapable truth that Jesus Christ died on that cross. The record of this is as sure as any death testimony ever recorded. He died on that cross. But… but! If “the wages of sin is death” and He had no sin, as is well attested to, and yet He died, then sin must have been involved in His death.

Just like the innocent animals at the temple in Jerusalem which were slaughtered for the sins of the people, sin was involved and death was involved. Yes, sin was involved in the death of Jesus, just not His sin.

Thus two great acts were accomplished in His work. First, He died for our sins, not His; and second He came to life because He had no sin of His own. This is why Paul so assuredly states (and which I will explain as we go) –

“*In Him [meaning in Christ] *you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands [circumcision, a right standing with God and a sign of son-ship based on the pattern of Abraham], *by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh [we have died with Christ in our body of sin], *by the circumcision of Christ [righteousness imputed to us because of His work], *¹² buried with Him in baptism [the seed is planted], *in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God [the seed has sprouted to new and eternal life by God], *who raised Him from the dead [God who saw no sin in His Son, and thus raised Him to life, has also raised us to life through His Son]. *¹³ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh [spiritual death received from our father Adam], *He has made alive together with Him [spiritual life received from Christ], *having forgiven you all trespasses [because of Christ, our atoning sacrifice], *¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us [the Law of Moses which is God’s standard], *which was contrary to us [which brought death rather than life, and which showed us how utterly sinful our sin was to God]. *And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross [the Law is fulfilled, it is annulled, it is obsolete, and it is finished]. Colossians 2:11-14 (with my comments in brackets)

The law which brought death is fulfilled in Christ and that law is nailed to the cross. Therefore our sin is removed in His death, and our spirit is revived because sin is abolished in us. Therefore, through the death and resurrection of Christ we are restored to the eternal life which was lost so long ago. Access to that wondrous Garden of Delight is granted.

This is why when Jesus died the veil was torn on the temple. The veil faced east and on it were woven cherubim. Behind the veil is where the presence of God was manifest. All of this pictured restored access to God. In the very last verse of Genesis 3, just before the Bible begins to detail our long and troubled history, it says this –

“So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.” Genesis 3:24

It is in the death of Christ that access is restored to God and to His wondrous Garden of Delight. The proof of that is in the resurrection. His death made access available to God once again, and His resurrection is what seals that for all eternity.

Paul shows us that our faith in this work of Christ is what has made this all possible. Returning to Abraham and righteousness based on faith, he writes this to us in Romans 4 –

“He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹ and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. ²² And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

²³ Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, ²⁴ but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵ who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” Romans 4:20-25

This is why we are here today! This is why we worship Jesus.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” John 12:24

The Seed that was planted has brought many, many sons to glory. We don’t worship a dead Lord, we serve the risen One! When speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus said –

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

The work was accomplished by God and the offering is made to all. And because this is the work of God, Jesus wants us to understand the consequences of not receiving what He did for us. Just two verses later, they are recorded by John –

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18

We live in a hopelessly confused world which teaches that there isn’t one truth concerning God. Rather many, or even all, paths lead to Him. But that is the great lie of the devil. Jesus was very clear in His words to the people when He spoke –

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

God loves us enough to have sent His only begotten Son into the world to restore us to Himself. And He respects us enough to allow us to choose Him or to reject Him. He has granted you, O man, this one life to get it right. I suggest you choose wisely, choose Jesus. The Lord holds out those nail-scarred hands and grants you an offer of peace –

“In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2

May the Light of Christ shine upon you; may the Life of Christ restore you; may the Grace of Christ fill you; and may the Love of Christ envelope you. All hail the Lamb who was slain; all hail the Lord who arose; all hail the King of kings and the Lord of Lords; all hail the exalted name of Jesus Christ. And all of God’s people said… Amen.

And amen!

Closing Verse: He is risen! Mark 16:6

It is fitting that the plant which is growing in Israel today from a 2000 year old seed is a date palm. The date palm in Hebrew is known as a tamar. In the 92nd Psalm we’re told that “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree (tamar).” It could be that Jesus Himself sat under the palm which bore that fruit.

Now, 2000 years later, He will soon be returning to Israel. Before He does, the nation itself will flourish in Him, calling on Him as their true King. That palm is a testament to the faithfulness of God that He is willing to restore His wayward people, be they Jew or Gentile, and grant them a righteousness not their own through the gift of His Son, Jesus.

All have access to the precious fruit of the Tree of Life once again because of the Seed which was planted, but which sprouted to life at the call of God. If you are watching this video on You Tube and have benefited from it, please share it in hopes of another seeing it and coming to understand the significance of who Jesus Christ is.

Next Week: Exodus 8:1-7 (The Plague of Frogs, Part I) (21st Exodus Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and a purpose for you. Even if the very gates of death await you today, He can burst through those gates for you as He did Himself 2000 years ago. So follow Him and trust Him and He will do marvelous things for you and through you. No fear here. Christ is risen!

A Celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

This is the gospel which was preached to you
It is also the one you received and on which you stand
It is the gospel of salvation, providing life that’s new
And which will carry you to the promised Holy Land

What is delivered to you is what was before received
That Christ died for our sins according to God’s word
He was buried and He rose and so we have believed
And many witnesses testify to this message you have heard

Now if Christ is preached that He is risen from the dead
How can some among you say the resurrection isn’t true?
If there is no resurrection after Christ was crucified and bled
Then our faith as well as yours is certainly askew

And if so, we are found false witnesses of God
Because we have wrongly testified of this mighty deed
And our faith is futile, no heavenly street’s we’ll trod
And we are still dead in our sins, fallen Adam’s seed

Even more, those who have fallen asleep in the Lord are gone
And we are the most pitiable creatures the world could ever look upon

But indeed Christ is risen from the dead
He is the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep
And as death came through one Man, Adam our federal head
So Christ will make all alive, our souls He will keep

But there is an order to the Resurrection call
Christ was first, the pattern for the rest when He comes
When He does, He will make a shout out to us all
And we will rise as if to the sounds of heavenly battle drums

Then comes the time, when He delivers the kingdom to the Father
When all rule, authority, and power have come to an end
The last enemy to be destroyed is death, never more to bother
Then the Son will to the Father eternal rule extend

But you ask, what will we be like after our time of sleep
After we have been buried in corruption’s pit so deep

Our body is sown in dishonor, but it will be raised in glory
It is sown in weakness, but raised in power – the resurrection story

The first man Adam became a living being, it’s true
The last Adam became a life-giving spirit, life to me and you

And as was the man of dust, created so long ago
So are those likened unto him, also made of dust
And as is the Man, the Lord from heaven, you know
That we shall bear His image for eternity just as we’ve discussed

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God
Nor can corruption inherit that which in incorrupt
Be we shall all be changed, and so heavenly streets we’ll trod
In the twinkling of an eye, the change will be abrupt

When the last trumpet sounds we will be taken to glory
We shall all be changed, completion of the gospel story

Where O Death, O where is your sting
When Christ our Savior, us to Himself does He bring

Where O Hades, O where is your victory
When Christ translates His children to eternal glory

The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin the law
But thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord
My beloved brethren be steadfast in all you’ve heard and saw
And cling confidently to God’s eternal word

Know for certain that your labor is not in vain
Be of good cheer, Christ is coming again

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

 

Thursday, 25 December 2014

“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” Luke 2:14

On 25 December of each year, we remember the birth of the Lord Jesus. Actually the Bible pinpoints the delivery of His birth to the September/October time-frame, but backing that up for the nine months of human gestation, we arrive at the 25 December time-frame. The most astonishing moment in human history occurred on this day. God united with human flesh in the womb of a virgin of Israel; it is His birthday.

Christ Jesus was born in sinless perfection. All other human beings who have ever existed since the creation of man were born of Adam. When Adam fell, man fell in Adam. All people have received Adam’s fallen sin-nature. It is inherited through the father. But at the time of Abraham, God gave the Hebrew people the sign of circumcision. It is a picture of cutting away the sin-nature in man through the cutting of the flesh of the male organ where sin is transferred. Christ Jesus came and fulfilled that picture.

Being born of God the Father, He didn’t receive man’s fallen state; inherited sin is cut off in Him. And being born of a woman, he received full-humanity. Thus He is the God/Man. But there is more. He was born of a woman of Israel and thus born under the law; God’s standard. As He was born without sin, He was the first person since Adam who was capable of fully pleasing God and thus redeeming man. However, He needed to fulfill the law perfectly in order to replace Adam’s fallen state. He was capable, but could He also qualify?

The answer is, “Yes!” The four gospels are recorded to show us that not only was He capable of fulfilling the law, but that He actually did fulfill the law. Where Adam failed, Christ prevailed. After fulfilling the law, He gave His own life in exchange for the sins of fallen man – both inherited sin as well as committed sin.

Where we were born in Adam and destined for eternal separation from God, we can now be “in Christ” and destined for eternal fellowship with Him. In Christ, all that is needed for restoration, propitiation, and fellowship with our Creator is obtainable. And it is available through a mere act of faith.

God asks us to put aside our useless deeds which are ineffective to restore us to Him, and to put our full trust in the work of Christ alone. By faith, and by faith alone, we are moved from Adam to Christ. It is by grace you are saved, God’s grace, through faith in God’s provision. It is not by works where we can boast before God, but instead it is by His mighty right arm that together the redeemed of the Lord will for eternal ages proclaim –

“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Hallelujah to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Hallelujah to Yeshua the Messiah of the Jews; to Jesus the Christ of the nations! Hallelujah to our glorious King. Hallelujah! Christ has come!

Life application: Never stop telling others about the Lord Jesus. He is the one and only way to be reconciled to God the Father. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

Heavenly Father, today we celebrate the moment You came and united with human flesh in order to save us from our sins. We thank You and we praise You for the marvel, the splendor, and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ – fully God and fully Man. He can stretch His infinite arm out to You for us, and He can stretch His finite arm out to us for You. And thus, through Him, the path to eternal righteousness is restored. Hallelujah to Yeshua the Messiah of the Jews; to Jesus the Christ of the nations! Hallelujah to our glorious King. Hallelujah! Christ has come! Hallelujah and Amen!

 

 

Isaiah 9:6, 7
The Zeal of the Lord of Hosts

Today, we’ll take time to look at the glorious words of Isaiah 9:6 & 7 which is a passage that speaks of the coming Messiah. Isaiah writes in both the present and future tenses as he looks forward to the work of Christ. To him, it was as sure as if it He were already there and at work in the world. And in fact, He was.

In order to see the context, we’ll read all of Isaiah 9:1-7. And then we can together look in detail at the contents of verses 6 and 7.

Introduction: At Christmas, we sing happy songs about the season. We travel off to be with family. We eat yummy food and we take time off work. And if our priorities are right, we make an extra effort to think about the marvelous Christmas Child.

Long before He came, the prophets told us all kinds of things about Him. He would be the Seed of the woman, whatever that means! He would be born in Bethlehem. Where’s that? Well, it’s a little town a few miles south of Jerusalem. According to Zechariah, He would usher in salvation and ride on a donkey – what a fun thought to consider.

There are so many details about the coming Messiah, that cataloging them all actually continues to this day. Hidden pictures suddenly jump out along with the clear and open details. What is apparent is that God does not want us to miss the significance of the Christmas Child after Christmas is over.

He wants us to keep looking for Him every day as we open up His word. Why? Because it is all about Him – this Son who is given by God so that we can understand the very heart of the unseen Father.

Text Verse: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” Luke 2:10-12

What the Old Testament hints at, the New Testament shouts out. What is concealed from eyes, is now revealed to eyes. Where there once was eager anticipation, there is now wonderful realization, but even that leads to more eager anticipation, doesn’t it!

Christ came, Christ is, and Christ is coming again. Until He does, we look back in joy at what has occurred and forward in more antici…….pation of what lies ahead. The Bible, God’s superior word, reveals to us the loving story of how He entered into our humanity.

He walked among us; He shared Himself with us. Now, we wait for the day when He will return and bring us to Himself. Until that wondrous moment, let’s look back to the story about the Christmas Child as given to us from the pen of Isaiah.

There we find that this precious Gift would be the most wondrous Gift of all. God’s word is where we find the story and so let’s turn to it now to see the marvel and the majesty. And so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. The Government Will Be Upon His Shoulder

⁶ For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;

The verses leading up to this one spoke of gloom, oppression, and war. The people are walking about in darkness, as if they are groping to see. Into this heavy life of despondency, there comes a Light – a Great Light. The darkness peels away and upon them a light has shined.

And from this Light comes freedom from oppression. There is the breaking of the yoke which laid heavily on the weary people. There is quiet instead of the marching of boots. And there is the burning of the implements of war. In place of the gloom comes joy – joy like the time of harvest when there is abundance, festivity, and celebration.

The pall of the world of darkness is replaced with the glory of Light. This is the backdrop of what Isaiah will now present. And so he begins with a conjunction, “for” to show us how this marvelous splendor will come about. It will be through a Man, but there will be something unique about this Man.

Isaiah asks us to actually peer into the very mind of God and the wonder of His creation in order to discern what is coming… what is revealed in this Person who would change all things in a stunning, spectacular display of glory which had been hidden since the very fall of man.

For unto us. This marvelous Light – the ending of war, the joy as if there were a perpetual harvest… it is to come not from outside of our realm as if God were to suddenly and unexpectedly take charge of things and turn them upside down. Instead, this Light is coming from us, from our human existence. For unto us… a Child is born.

The Light which shines will be a human, born from the stock of humanity. He will wear garments of flesh, just like you and me.

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7

The Lord God formed man and the Lord God breathed the breath of life into Him. The breath of life which has been transmitted from the Lord to Adam and then to every person since that time will be the same breath of life that this One will breathe too.

He is the Son of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; He is the Son of Judah and the Son of David. No, God isn’t suddenly and unexpectedly going to take charge of things. Nope,,, He is leaving it up to us, isn’t He. He will be a Man. Unto us a Child is born.

But yet… Unto us a Son is given. The Child is a human, but the Son is something different. If God is giving a Son, then this must be sudden, complete…, and unexpected in the extreme. God doesn’t change, and God is outside of time. And so whatever God gives is all of these things – sudden, complete, and even if told about in advance, completely unexpected… I mean, who would think!

God is giving a Son, but that Son will be a Man. This is the stuff of legends, and yet, it is reality. This,,, this we gotta see.

“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. ³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. ³³ And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Luke 1:30-33

But Mary, one of the people to whom the words of Isaiah were written, didn’t understand. How could she? Luke 1:34, 35 says –

“Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” ³⁵ And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”

Unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given.

The mystery suddenly becomes clear. He is a human, the Son of man. The same breath of life which was breathed into Adam is to be found in Him. And yet, He is God. The same breath which truly spoke the universe into existence is found in Him as well. He is the Seed of the woman. His mother is human, but His Father is God –

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 1:1-4

A moment later, John reveals something more, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (14)

Isaiah’s pen flowed with a description of the incarnate Word and yet the words weren’t comprehended for more than 700 years. God has entered His creation in order to set things right. Upon this marvelous Being, the Son of God and the Son of Man, will be placed all rule and all authority…

^{6 (con’t)} And the government will be upon His shoulder.

 

In this verse, we don’t learn how this comes about. Instead, we only see that it will come about. In this marvelous Man will be all rule and governance. This won’t be a localized government, but the government. In Him will rest absolute authority over all of the nations and all of the people’s of the world. And that authority will be, as Isaiah tells us, “upon His shoulder.”

This term is all-inclusive of what it means to rule. The robe of a king rests on the shoulder; the burden of the office is upon his shoulder; the rights and privileges of rule rest there as well. But there is more. The offspring and the posterity of the king, and the riches of the king, are all said to rest upon him.

All rule and all authority in Him is found
The government will upon His shoulder rest
And from Him shall come a rule which will astound
The nations will be at peace, no longer distressed

His genealogy is given in Matthew 1 and in Luke 3. Elsewhere in the Bible we find other people in His ancestry as well. All of these people are filled with faults and to us some of those faults are appalling. They are people just like you and me, sinners in need of a Savior. What an amazing genealogy for the Christmas Child!

But the Son of God also has a genealogy of sorts listed too. God is His Father, and so unlike His human genealogy, His divine entrance into the world is pure, undefiled, perfect, and eternal. What His Father possesses, He possesses as well. God is truth, the Son is truth. God is righteous, the Son is righteous. God is love; the Son embodies love.

In fact, Paul tells us that He is the image of the invisible God and that in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is unique and therefore He is uniquely qualified. His rule will be without end, either in scope or in duration.

In the 9th psalm we’re told that –

“He shall judge the world in righteousness,
And He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.” Psalm 9:8

This is the coming government of this Child who is born to us, and of this Son who has been given to us.

II. How to Describe the Incomprehensible

The prophets had a tough time of it. They were usually out of favor with the people. In the Bible, they are imprisoned, tortured, and killed by the boatload. Even when things went well, it had to be a trying job. But of all the things that must have frustrated those prophets, not knowing what they were actually saying must have been at the top of the list.

God would speak to them and through them in a way that often kept them from understanding the very words they relayed. Peter tells us about this in his first letter. He says there –

“Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, ¹¹ searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.” 1 Peter 1:10, 11

These men of God carefully searched their own prophecies, trying to understand what they had written and what their words were pointing to…

The ink has flowed from the pen guided by my hand
But I cannot comprehend what the words say
These words are so very hard to understand
I pray the Lord reveal them to me some wondrous day

Imagine Isaiah’s puzzled, sleepless nights after reading what he had written…

^{6 (con’t)} And His name will be called Wonderful,

From the mind of God and through the pen of Isaiah now come words of splendor, words of majesty, words of awe. They are insufficient to describe the glory of the Man, but words are what we use to describe things. And so, limited though they are, they have been written to help us attempt to perceive what is just beyond perception.

Isaiah first says that, “His name will be called Wonderful.” The word is pele and means that He will be incomprehensible. He is beyond description and therefore the words used to describe Him are actually unsatisfactory for the task.

This Man is the One who established the order of all things and He is the One in whom is found the perfect completion of that order. In Him is all knowledge which can be derived from all things because all things are originally derived from Him.

This is why John calls Him the Word of God. An alphabet is the basis for a language. The formation of letters results in words. It is through words that we describe, catalogue, analyze, and explain things.

The Word of God is then the explanation of all things – why they exist, how they exist, and what their purpose is. Because God is infinite, then no combination of words can ever fully describe Him. And so the term simple term “Word of God” is used to show us that. Where words fail, the Word ceaselessly, endlessly reveals. Though Him, the infinite Father will eternally be made known.

There are many languages and within the languages are symbols, letters, words, sentences, ideas, and concepts. But all of the information that can be developed for describing something can never attain to describe what is incomprehensible. And so God sent this Wonderful Son to infinitely reveal His infinite goodness.

The wonderment and delight of Messiah will never end. This Son who is born, this Child who is given is more glorious than the mere Christmas story we tell year by year. The true marvel of Christmas is the gift of unpacking an endless journey into the mind of God.

Because the Christmas Child was born, we celebrate His birth once a year. But the Son of Christmas is eternal, so let us celebrate His life always and forever.

Next, He will be called ^{6 (con’t)} Counselor,

This is the Hebrew word yoets. It signifies one of honorable rank. Kings and princes will come into His presence and He will advise them with the wisdom of God to direct all the affairs of the human race. No question can be too difficult for the author of questions. No mystery can be too deep for the infinite Mind.

Later in Isaiah, we are told that –

“Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;
For what had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider.” (52:15)

When one comes to this Counselor with an open mouth to challenge Him with hard questions, he will leave with a shut mouth and fully explained answers.

When the Queen of Sheba left with the wisdom of Solomon, she was no more delighted than what the most intellectual man will leave with when he departs from the presence of Christ. He will shake His head in marvel at the revealed depth of wisdom which he had never before even contemplated.

Next, He will be called the ^{6 (con’t)} Mighty God,

The Hebrew term here is el gibbor. In the very next chapter of the book of Isaiah the exact same term, el gibbor, is used again when speaking of the Lord, Jehovah.

As God isn’t confused, the only plain sense of Isaiah’s words in chapter 9 is that this Person, this Human being, will be the omnipotent God. He is the same Lord who is described in chapter 10. And this testimony is found throughout Scripture. Both in the Old Testament and the New we find the incarnation testified to.

Those Old Testament prophets may not have grasped what was written. They may have even thought what they wrote was somehow mistaken, but they didn’t change what they had received. And their words are vindicated in this Child of Christmas.

There He lay wrapped in swaddling clothes and helpless in a manger, a food trough for animals, and yet it was – this little baby lying in a dirty feeding trough – He who created the universe by His magnificent power. He, the mighty God, crying out for mommy’s milk and her caring, loving arms.

Next, He will be called the ^{6 (con’t)} Everlasing Father,

This title must have brought Isaiah right to his knees in astonishment. Abiad – the Father of eternity. But the Father of eternity, the Messiah, isn’t to be confused with God the Father. The title shows possession, not position.

The father of the Hebrews is Abraham. He possesses the title even though he is dead and is no longer in the position. Charles Babbage is called the father of computers because he was the pioneer of the field of computers. He possessed the idea and then developed it.

Abiad, the Father of eternity, is the One who possesses time. He invented it and He has mastery over it. This Child who was born, this Son who has been given is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End; He is the First and the Last. There is no time that He didn’t exist and there is no time He will not exist.

As mommy lay sleeping, exhausted from caring for the Boy
He tenderly watched over her just as He today watches over us
To be found in the Everlasting Father is eternal joy
This is the amazing splendor to be found in the Lord Jesus

While dreams fill our sleep, He remains eternally awake and alert. He is our Source, our Sustenance, and our eternal longing. He is Abiad, the Father of Eternity – the Everlasting Father. And now verse 6 finishes with just one more title…

He will be called the ^{6 (con’t)} Prince of Peace.

The Hebrew term is sar shalom. In Hebrew, the word sar signifies a leader, a captain, an officer, etc. It is someone who is in charge of something. In the case of this Man, He is the Prince of Peace. He is the one in charge of it. He grants it to those under Him. But His peace is more than our modern idea of peace.

We think of peace as quiet or maybe calm – “I need peace, I’m trying to study… please be quiet.” But to a Hebrew it is a state of completion and wholeness. This Christmas Child is the place where wholeness is to be realized. In the Messiah we find the fulfillment and completion of all good things.

Where there was strife and enmity with God, we now have peace. Where there was the fear of death, we now have the eternal hope of life. Where there was only groping in heavy darkness, there is now the confident stride of walking in eternal light.

This wonderful Word of God bestows all blessings, and from Him flows all prosperity and goodness. He is complete in all ways and this wholesome state of completeness will be transmitted to all things and to all of His people – those who call on Him. He will be the lamp through which the radiance of God will illuminate New Jerusalem for all eternity – absolute peace flowing in pure light.

In Him, there will be no desire left unfilled because He is the Creator of all things and thus the Source of all blessings. This is the One Isaiah tells us is coming and this is the One whom words fail to adequately describe.

III. The Eternal Throne

⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace  There will be no end,

The English translation of this verse makes it seem like the government and peace of Messiah will never cease to increase. But what it means is that there will be no limit to His government and peace. His government will be unlimited as will be the peace which comes with it.

For the people of God, the Prince of Peace will be their peace. He will shepherd them to a place of green pastures and still water. Their souls will be restored and He will lead them in paths of righteousness – all for the sake of His name. There will be no conflict or strife as He tenderly governs the flock of His pasture.

The benevolent rule and wholesome care we long for and are reminded of in the 23rd psalm will be realized and enjoyed forever because of the Christmas Child.

God has given us the five senses to perceive the world around us, but for every flower, there is the smell of death in war. For each warm refreshing bath or swim in a cool lake, there is a stubbed toe or a scrape on the knee. With each lovely child’s face in newness of life, there is an older, wrinkled one coming to life’s end.

If we don’t eat the sweet strawberry soon enough, it becomes repugnant and inedible. And just after the melodious sound of the morning birds comes the overwhelming din of noisy traffic. There is chaos and trial, there is pain and difficulty, there is heartache and there is sadness.

However, it won’t always be that way. We lost Eden, but the New Jerusalem is ahead. The One who sits on the throne will grant peace without measure. Of this state, there will be, as the Hebrew reads, ain qets – “no end.”

In either distance or time, the experience will be without limit. Every new day and each continued step will bring more wonder than even the sweetest Christmas morning because of this marvelous Christmas Child.

^{7 (con’t)} Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

In 1 Samuel 7:16, the Lord made this promise to King David – “…your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.”

The New Testament goes to great length to show the connection between Jesus and David. His genealogies, the book of Acts and the epistles, and especially the numerous gospel references are given to show that Jesus is the fulfillment of this promise to David. Fifteen times, He is called specifically “the Son of David.”

To sit on the throne of David doesn’t mean a literal throne, but the throne which is emblematic of David, the great King of Israel. His throne was unique because it ruled God’s people. He started out as a humble shepherd and he never was far from his humility.

Even 400 years after his death, David was still called a man after God’s own heart. He ruled all of God’s land and he did so with justice and righteousness. And so to sit on David’s throne means to rule in the manner of David. Christ will do this, and more so.

What David pictured is realized in the Messiah spoken of by Isaiah here. He will rule from this throne and over the people of God for all eternity. A Baby in a manger, completely dependent on those around Him for His very survival will rule on a majestic throne, judging the world in righteousness. And His throne will be, as promised to David, established forever. This is seen in the continuation of verse 7 –

^{7 (con’t)} To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
 From that time forward, even forever.

To order a thing is to confirm that thing. When a king orders an execution he confirms what will then be carried out. When a blueprint is made, it is an order confirming what the building will be. And to establish a thing is to execute what has been ordered.

The order to execute is established in the execution. The establishment of a building is the erection of what was directed in the plan. In Messiah, the throne of David is ordered and it is established. And it is done so by the counsel of God; through judgment and justice.

Unlike human governments which start corruptly or which inevitably end in corruption, the reign of the Christmas Child is both ordered and established in judgment and in justice. There will be no unrighteousness when the subjects of His kingdom are purified.

And Isaiah tells us that from the time of its establishment, this harmonious order will continue, “from that time forward, even forevermore.” The kingdom established by Christ is the kingdom that will never, never cease to exist.

The Christmas Child, who at the age of twelve astonished the teaches at the temple in Jerusalem with His insights, will rule forever with the wisdom of God among the people of God.

*^{7 (fin)} The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

The term Lord of Hosts, or Yehovah Sabaoth, is used almost 240 times in the Bible. Jehovah of hosts is the Commander of heaven’s armies. He directs the angelic warfare, He defends His people, and He fights against all that is unrighteous. And it is He who has vowed from Himself that what He has promised He will perform.

Would He trust this to an angel? Would He trust this to a mere man? No. Rather He spoke and He will perform what He has spoken. In what is no less amazing than the creation of the universe, Jehovah of Hosts stepped into His creation and united with it in order to correct what we had so horribly fouled up.

The Commander of all the heavenly armies allowed Himself to become an utterly helpless human Child. Instead of speaking out orders to His legions of heavenly troops, He gurgled out coos to His mother.

Instead of directing Michael and His angels to protect Israel, He lay threatened by wicked King Herod. And, instead of the dazzling splendor of heaven, he lay in a filthy cave, in a dirty trough where animals fed. The blood around Him came from the birthing process, not from vanquishing His foes.

And the blood in the veins of this precious little Baby would some day in the future stain the cross of Calvary to bring peace between warring armies. Such is the nature of the wisdom of God, displayed in the tender, helpless Christmas Child.

From His humble origins in Bethlehem to His gracious ministry throughout the dirty streets of Israel, He was always amazingly close to the common elements of life. He made wine for a wedding when His mother asked Him to, He slept in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, and He walked through grain fields picking a bite to eat.

Despite possessing all of heaven’s riches, all of them, we’re told by Luke that he was supported by the women around Him from their sustenance. None of the things we see about Jesus seem to make any sense at all unless we understand how deeply God loves us. In order to perform what He has vowed, He became like us so that we could see the full measure of His love.

We may not be able to appreciate that someone really loves us if they come into town with bags of money and no dependence on us; staying in large fine hotels instead. But when someone of great wealth lays all of it aside in order to fellowship with us and even to become dependent on us, we can know that they truly want a meaningful relationship.

In the movie Brubaker, Robert Redford played the role of the new warden of a prison who first went into that prison pretending to be a convict. By doing this, he was able to weed out the corruption, understand the plight of the convicts, and have empathy for the difficulties which are found in prison life.

He was also able to establish relations with the convicts he came to know personally. God already knows our plight and He is fully capable of weeding out corruption, but by coming as a Man, Jesus was able to participate with us in our humanity. He wept with us, He rejoiced with us, He lived among us, and He died among us.

In this wondrous story then is found One who is not only qualified to lead, but who has demonstrated it in a way which gives us the opportunity to willingly join Him or reject Him. Before you turn away from so great a salvation, make sure you take a moment to look again at the stained wood of the cross of Calvary.

His agonizing death at Golgotha came not because He had done wrong, but because you had done wrong; we had done wrong. Instead of bundling you up with the kindling wood of creation and tossing you to the eternal flames, God offered an exchange – your pardon for the life of the Christmas Child.

Today, if you hear His voice, don’t rebel against it. Say right now, “I receive Jesus. I want His pardon. I want that amazing grace.” Today, if you hear His voice, call out on the Christmas Child who sits at God’s right hand, waiting to pardon, even you. Let me tell you how you can be a part of His eternal Christmas story…

Closing Verse: It is finished! John 19:30

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and purpose for you. Though we are completely unworthy of His favor, He stepped out of eternity and dwelt among us. The Christmas Child went to the cross of Calvary because of His love for you. So call out to Him and let Him do marvelous things for you and through you.

The Zeal of the Lord of Hosts

Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon
Her who is distressed or in agony
As when at first He lightly esteemed
The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali

And afterward more heavily oppressed her
By the way of the sea

Beyond the Jordan it shall occur
In an area of the Gentiles around the land of Galilee

The people who walked in darkness
It is they who have seen a great Light
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death
Upon them has shined a light so bright

You have multiplied the nation
And likewise its joy you have increased
They rejoice before You with great ovation
According to the time of harvest, a joy which will not be ceased

As men rejoice when they divide the spoil
When they receive the bounty and no longer toil

For You have the yoke of his burden broken
And the staff of his shoulder is taken away
The rod of his oppressor no longer an unfriendly token
As in the day of Midian, when he was destroyed that day

For every warrior’s sandal from the noisy battle
And garments roooooolled in blood
Will be used for burning and fuel of fire, worthless chattel
Useless implements overtaken by time’s great flood

For unto us a Child is born
A time to rejoice and not to morn

Unto us a Son is given
The One to lead us from death to a’livin’

And the government will be upon His shoulder
Every eye will see Him, every soul will be His beholder

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom’s realm
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever, He at the helm
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this

And His name will be called Wonderful
The Counselor and Mighty God is He
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, pure and white as wool
Of the increase of His government and peace, no end shall we see

Do not be afraid, for behold,
I bring you good tidings of great joy
Which will be to all people, forever told
The wondrous story, the birth of a Boy

For there is born to you this day
In the city of David a Savior, it is He
Who is Christ the Lord, to whom heaven’s hosts obey
The Messiah has come, and now you may go and see

And this will be the sign to you:
You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes
Lying in a manger, a glorious view
The Christmas Child whom our Heavenly Father bestows

A Child like no other has come to dwell among us
He shall lead us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake
And His name is called out, His name is Jesus
Come, and of the Heavenly Child partake

He is God’s gift and heaven’s treasure
He is Immanuel, God with us
And he bestows upon us grace without measure
The Christmas Child, our glorious Lord Jesus

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

Philippians 3:4-11
To Know Jesus Christ and the Power of His Resurrection
Resurrection Day 2014

Introduction: Once again, we’ve gone from winter to spring and life is again coming back to that beautiful fullness which God has ordained to happen each year. In Florida, it’s not as noticeable as in many other places, but if you look, it’s still plainly evident, isn’t it!

The grass greens up, the flowers rush forth from their buds into blooms in a wild display of beauty, and the shackles of heavy coats or sweaters are replaced with light and comfortable clothes. We get excited about longer days and fun times outdoors. Life takes on a different outlook in the spring and this is what God intended.

It is in the spring that God ordained the first month of the Hebrew calendar to occur and it is in the middle of this first month that He decided His Son would be crucified. But, just like the barley which ripens at this time and puts forth its fruit, so God ordained that His own Son would come forth from the grave through the power of the resurrection at this time as well.

These things aren’t coincidence, but they were decided by God as He set things in motion at the beginning. Everything in nature is a reflection of His wisdom, and He uses the natural to make spiritual applications. It is all balanced and timed so perfectly so that we can see and know that His wisdom ordained it all.

In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have a hope which was anticipated from the very first moments of life on earth. Our first father, Adam, erred and through him came death. That death spread to all men and all men died because of it. But right there at the beginning, God made a promise that He would make all things right once again… and God always keeps His promises.

The Bible details how He did it and how we can be a part of what He has done. The wonder of spring is a small reflection of the marvelous wonder of our hope in the true life which will never die and which will never fade.

In the gospel of John, it says this before Jesus was crucified –

“Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. ²¹ Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
²² Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.
²³ But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. ²⁴ Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” John 12:20-24

In the springtime, the second Adam – the Lord Jesus – broke through the bonds of death and now He offers that victory to any who will simply receive it by an act of faith. His resurrection is what makes ours possible. For those who believe, they will become an eternal product of His wondrous work.

Text Verse:  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. ²⁶ And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25, 26

The Jewish people knew of the hope of Messiah and they also knew of the resurrection of the righteous on the last Day when all souls would be brought before their Creator for judgment. But it appears that most didn’t understand that the resurrection of the righteous was because of the work of the Messiah and not something they could earn.

The connection wasn’t made even though the entire body of their Scriptures pointed to that. Righteousness doesn’t come from self before God, but rather it comes from God and is bestowed upon the undeserving sinner. And once it is bestowed, the true hope of spring becomes a reality.

As surely as Jesus Christ came out of the tomb on that spring morning, we too can have the assurance of eternal life through Him. It is all detailed and revealed in God’s majestic and Superior Word. And so let’s turn to that word now and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. The Curse

Each year at this time, we come to church to hear about the hope of eternal life and the power of the resurrection. But without understanding the work of Jesus Christ in comparison to who we are before God, it doesn’t connect very well. And so today we will first look at why Jesus was needed at all. When we understand that, then we can call out to Him for what we truly need.

Christians talk about “getting saved” or “being saved.” But not much thought is ever given to what that means. If we stop and think it through as if we were souls lost on an ocean after our ship had sunk, we’d can better see the connection. Unless someone comes along and pulls us out of the water, we will be lost – confined to a watery grave.

“Getting saved” then from our perspective implies first and foremost that one is saved “from” something, not “for” something. Because of our careless approach toward “getting saved,” people think we’re simply talking about going to heaven. And everyone is going to heaven, right? “I’m not as bad as the next guy.”

Until we see and treat “getting saved” as from rather than for, we’re not really thinking clearly concerning our need for Jesus. And so at the time of year when we celebrate the resurrection, we need to look at why we needed a resurrection.

So let’s go right back to the beginning and see what happened at the fall of man in order to see what God has done to correct it. There, right after man was created, God gave him a command. It was one command and it was in the negative, “Don’t do this thing.”

Most of us know the story and we’ve read the words of judgment. First they were pronounced upon the serpent. At the end of his sentence came the promise of a Redeemer, the Seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head. After that, the Lord turned to the sentencing of the woman and then the man. Here are His words to both of them:

¹⁶ To the woman He said:

“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”

¹⁷ Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
¹⁸ Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
¹⁹ In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:16-19

In the bearing of each new life to be born, the woman would be sorrowed. She would feel the pain of the delivery and she would feel the pain of knowing that the child, like her, was destined for the grave someday. And the man would live a life of toil. He would eventually return to the dust from which he was taken.

No human is exempt and all are found to be under the curse – just ask a woman who’s had a child or ask a man who goes to work each day. The judgment was spoken; the sentence was executed. But in this there is more than the terror of physical death. There was the surety of spiritual death and eternal separation from God.

We know this because God promised the man that he would die on the day he disobeyed, and yet the man continued to live for 930 years. The death God spoke of the first time was spiritual death. The death mentioned at the curse would be the physical death which followed.

This premise is confirmed throughout the rest of the Bible. We are born spiritually dead and we are destined for physical death. Unless the spiritual is made alive before the physical dies, we will remain forever dead and separate from God.

Understanding this, and seeing the consequences of our spiritually dead selves, the Bible shows several times and in several ways the seriousness of the matter. One time He destroyed the world by flood. Humanity was separate from God and took no thought of seeking Him out. They corrupted themselves to the point where destruction was the only remedy.

But in the middle of this great sea of wickedness, it says that one man found grace in the sight of the Lord. He was a preacher of righteousness among a race of unrighteousness. And so the Lord instructed him on how to be carried through the destruction that lay ahead. We all know the story of Noah. The curse of death which was pronounced on man was to be executed on a global scale.

After this flood, a promise was made by the Lord that He would never destroy the earth by a flood again. Instead, the relationship would be handled in a different way. A man, Abraham, was selected and he was given a promise that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

One of his sons, Isaac, was chosen to continue the promise and then again one of his sons was chosen. He was Jacob; he is Israel. From him came 12 patriarchs, chosen as a select and unique group. God would deal with them in one way while the rest of the world was allowed to follow their own path.

To this chosen group came the Law. It was God’s standard for righteousness where if a man did those things, he would live. But it was evident that no one could do all that was required in the law. The law only showed them how far below God’s standard they really were. And the law showed them the need for grace.

And grace was given. Once a year, they were given a day on which they could confess their shortcomings and be granted a temporary stay of God’s wrath. This was the Day of Atonement. But, through this group there was more than a just His law and His annual bestowal of grace for failing to meet that law.

Through these people, Israel, there was also the promise of the One who would come to restore all things; they were the stewards of God’s law and the bearers of the line of God’s promise.

But for the grace of God, the curse would fall upon them. When they rejected the grace, the wrath would come. Throughout their history, the Bible shows judgment upon their often unrepentant hearts, and then mercy upon them when they would again turn to Him for healing.

However, with only a few noted exceptions, the rest of the world languished in sin, death, and separation. What would come of it all? How could the curse be removed?

There is a curse upon us, a self-inflicted pain
Our father Adam broke God’s command
It seems as if things will never be right again
And for his transgressions our life God will demand

But there at the beginning was a promise of One to come
Who would reverse the curse and right Adam’s wrong
Whatever this One offers, I sure want me some
To the truth of His message, I wish to belong 

Who will it be, how will it come about?
The thing that He offers, I know I cannot do without

II. The Curse is Reversed

Within the Law of Moses which was given to the people of Israel, there is an odd verse which Paul uses and expands upon in the New Testament. In Deuteronomy 21, we read this –

“If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, ²³ his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.” Deuteronomy 21:22, 23

What Paul told us concerning this is that in Christ the curse of the law was transferred to Jesus at His cross. To understand this, we need to realize that the law is God’s standard. It is the measure to which we can never attain.

And so God, in His grace, stepped out of His eternal realm and united with His own creation – this is Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man. He was born without Adam’s imperfection and He was born within the covenant people Israel, under the law.

Because He was born sinless, He was qualified to meet God’s standards. But He still had to do so. Was He capable of accomplishing the task? The four gospels are recorded to show us that He wasn’t just born without sin, but that He prevailed over the law by fulfilling it perfectly.

The law which was contrary to us was fulfilled in Him, but what good was that to us? Was God lording it over us? Was He showing us how greatly we deserve His judgment? No. That was already apparent in the giving of the law. So what good was it for us that Jesus had fulfilled the law?

The answer is that within the law itself, there is what we call the doctrine of substitution. One thing can take the place of another. On the day of grace, the Day of Atonement, an innocent animal was slain in place of the guilty. In this act, God’s wrath against the sins of the people was restrained for yet another year. It was their faith in this act that provided God’s grace and mercy.

But an animal is in a different category than man. It could never truly take away sin; it could only temporarily withhold God’s anger at the sins of the people. A sinless man, however, could take away the sin. His death, in substitution for the sin of Adam, and of you and I, would work.

The fulfillment of the law by Jesus wasn’t God’s arrogant display of greatness over His fallen creatures, it was a demonstration that the law was, in fact, fulfilled. His standard had been met. And that law, which allows for substitution, was now embodied by Jesus Christ. Finally, there was hope for us.

If, in His grace, He would just give Himself for us, then He could take away the curse, remove the wrath, and bring us out of the sentence of eternal condemnation that we deserve…

Let’s go back and evaluate the curse of God upon man in the Garden of Eden and see where the substitution was pictured. Let’s look again at the Lord’s words to the woman and to Adam, listen and see Christ in them –

“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception…” Within the body of the law itself, Isaiah told us that Jesus would be known as a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. He was one whose soul was in labor – all of this was anticipated in His life and in His cross as a substitution for us.

“In pain you shall bring forth children…” Jesus gave His life while living under the law. He suffered at the cross to bring “many sons to glory.” In pain He brought forth God’s children.

“Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you…” The desire of the redeemed is to be the Bride of Christ. We have been redeemed from the curse of the law, in order to be united to a Husband. Jesus is that Husband who rules over His bride – the church, whom He purchased with His own blood.

“Cursed is the ground for your sake…” In Isaiah, Jesus is said to be a root out of dry ground; the cursed ground.

“In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.” Again in Isaiah it says, “He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.” Jesus labored throughout His life in the harvest field of man. He ate the food of His own creation all His days, just like any other man.

“Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,…” Jesus Christ did not exempt Himself from walking in this fallen world, filled with thorns and thistles. And in His harvest field of man, there have been many who have rejected Him, being thorns against Him as He held out His grace and love to them.

The greatest example of this is when Christ Himself was given a crown of thorns. The very sentence of the first man for his disobedience became the crown of the Lord who sentenced him.

“And you shall eat the herb of the field…” The instructions for the Passover in the book of Exodus say this – “Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” (Exodus 12:8)

Jesus not only participated in the Passover each year, He became our Passover Lamb – crucified for us after leading a life in bitterness to redeem fallen man. He died for us on the same day that the Passover Lamb was slaughtered, thus perfectly fulfilling the ancient pictures that He had given to His people.

“In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread…” In the Garden of Gethsemane, according to Luke, Jesus sweat – as it were – great drops of blood falling to the ground, thus earning His bread, that being the Bread of Affliction, in order to redeem fallen man.

“Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken;…” The mortal part of the Lord Jesus died on Calvary’s cross and was interred for the sins committed by His own creatures. Thus He died in fulfillment of the law which He had given and which nobody else could measure up to. Death came in as a result of sin, and sin was dealt with by His obedient death.

The very sentence of the first man for his rebellion was carried out in the Person of Jesus Christ. The Lord God didn’t cause the man to receive anything that He Himself wasn’t willing to endure. Thus He is both Just and the Justifier of everyone who calls on Him.

But, there is one exception in the curse between Adam and Jesus “For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” Jesus, because He prevailed over the devil was resurrected by the power of God. The curse has been removed in His resurrection and now anyone who calls on Him will likewise be freed from the finality of death.

To show us the wisdom of God, the plan of the ages, and the immensity of the act which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we need to again go back to a time before the law, the time of Noah when God judged the world through water. In understanding the story of Noah, we can see the reality of what the resurrection signifies.

In Genesis 8:4, after the curse of the waters prevailing over the earth for 150 days, we read this –

“Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.”

This day, the 17^th day of the seventh month is at the same time of year that Jesus Christ came out of the grave almost 2400 years later. You see, the Bible uses two calendars, the creation calendar and the redemption calendar.

Until the time of the Exodus, the calendar started in the fall, but at the Exodus, the first month was changed to the spring for the covenant people. It is the calendar of redemption. The 17^th day of the seventh month in the creation calendar is the 17^th day of the first month of the redemption calendar.

On that day, the ark of Noah rested on the mountains of Ararat. At that time, the curse of the waters reversed and began to subside. The name Ararat means “the curse is reversed.” On the same day that the ark struck the ground and held fast, Noah was brought to the safety of the land called Ararat – “the curse is reversed”

Noah and his ark then is a picture of the true reversal of the curse which was pronounced allllll the way back at the fall of man in Chapter 3 of Genesis. There, only 5 chapters after the fall of man, Noah and his amazing adventure was given as a sign of what was to come.

Imagine the intricacy of what God did in order to bring that about, and then the wisdom of placing it in the pages of the Bible so that the two could be connected when looking at it through the lens of Christ. Only in Him can this beautiful plan be clearly seen.

Everything in creation is balanced upon that central point in time –  the cross and the resurrection. The cross took away that which was opposed to us and the resurrection granted us the chance for new life and an eternal hope. His cross and His resurrection happened in the springtime – a time of renewal and life.

There, in the wondrous springtime, Paul tells us that we were redeemed from the curse because of the cross. And it is the resurrection which proves it to us. In the work of Jesus Christ, the curse is reversed.

The curse upon man was neither unjust nor unfair
What came upon us we truly deserved indeed
It is we who turned our backs on God, without a care
When we honestly look in the mirror, it must be agreed

But the Lord Jesus, though no wrong He had done
Bore the same curse that was pronounced on you and I
A crown of thorns and a cross of wood for God’s own Son
There at Calvary, the Perfect One did die

Carried away in His death is my sin
And eternal life is promised in the resurrection
Over the devil, Hades, and death He did win
To grant us eternal life without any imperfection

III. A Righteousness Which is Not My Own

The cross of Jesus Christ asks us to evaluate ourselves and our standing before God in a unique way. If you ask unbelievers why they should go to heaven someday, they will give an immensely wide variety of answers.

In an interview, just this week, Michael Bloomberg, the former Mayor of NYC said this in an interview with the New York Times – “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close,”

He believes that he has earned the right to go to heaven because of the money and effort he has spent on a liberal agenda, including anti-gun laws and taking on obesity and smoking. How about you? Maybe one of these answers is what you would give:

I’m a good person.
I’m not a bad person.
I’m not so bad as other people.
I try to live a good life.
I work hard at helping others.

This list goes on and on – people comparing themselves to others or claiming that their deeds are sufficient to make God happy with them. But then there are a few who will honestly tell you… I’m headed for hell. They know they aren’t good enough. They instinctively know it and they don’t try to hide it.

The reality which the Bible tells us is that nobody… nobody is good enough. The law, given to Israel at Mount Sinai, is God’s standard and we have all failed to meet it. Our attempts at doing good only demonstrate that we aren’t good enough.

Think about it. There have been billions and billions of people who have lived before you and me. Surely you can’t be a better person than all of them, can you? And yet, other than Jesus, not one of them has popped back out of the grave. Not one. They are all in the grave and they will stay there until Judgment Day.

Only one Man has ever come out of that pit, Jesus Christ. And His resurrection is the most documented occurrence in all of human history up to that point. We hold fast to stories about Julius Caesar, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Cleopatra, and a host of other notable figures of the past.

And yet, none of them, nor any other person, has even a minute amount of evidence to back up their lives in comparison to that of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And there isn’t one other validated record, ever, that a person has come out of the grave. Not one!

Of all of those billions of people, not one. Now how sure are you of “being a good person.” And so what is it that makes a follower of Jesus Christ so special? What is it that says, “This person is righteous before God. This one will be given eternal life?” Paul explains it in Philippians 3 –

“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. ⁸ Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; ¹⁰ that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…” Philippians 3:7-1

Before these words, he first showed us how he once was the cat’s meow in “being a good guy.” He was of the covenant people. He was circumcised according to the Law. He was of the noted tribe of Benjamin, a high honor within the covenant community.

He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews – a way of saying that He was the cream of the crop. On top of that, Paul was a Pharisee. He was a member of the highest class of Jewish religious society.

He pursued the law in the very strictest sense, he persecuted those he felt were working against the law, and He was blameless in his actions under the law. If any person could claim a title to “being a good guy” and meriting heaven, it would be Paul.

And yet, when He met Christ, he realized the truth. He was so far short of God’s standards, that he knew he could never be found worthy before God – never. If Paul couldn’t make it, how much any of us? Billions and billions of us not even as worthy as a man who was seemingly so worthy…. and yet so unworthy.

And so to set the stage for the Source of his righteousness, Paul told us that the things which were gain to him – that long and distinguished list of merit badges – those he learned to count as loss for Christ.

The heritage, the honors and the accolades, the studying, the promotions… none of it was of any value in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ because none of it, not one bit of it got him one step closer to the resurrection.

In fact, he openly proclaimed that “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”

In saying this he uses the word for rubbish, skybala – a word which comes from two other words meaning “dog” and “to throw.” His previous riches were nothing more than something you would toss to feed a dirty animal.

It’s comparable to what Isaiah says about our good deeds. Isaiah calls them “filthy rags” using a term which indicates a menstrual cloth. Our deeds, even Paul’s deeds, could do nothing to reverse the curse God so long ago pronounced on our souls.

But in His grace and in His tender mercies, God offered to him and to each of us a Substitute. In Christ, we can be found, as Paul says, “in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.”

This is the marvel of Jesus Christ. All of those stories, such as of Noah on his little boat out there on the great sea of chaos, every type and every picture God has given in the pages of the Bible show us, time and time again, that God has a plan and that what He does is open and available to us by mere faith.

What is the marvel of the resurrection? Why are we here today? It’s because in Jesus Christ there is a reversal of the curse upon mankind. There is a righteousness that can be granted to us, not through our own deeds, but through His.

In calling out and receiving Him through a simple act of faith, the curse is reversed. We move from our cursed father Adam, to the Lord Jesus. We too can share in the power of His resurrection. While we yet walk in this tiring life, we are united to Christ.

We can fellowship together in the suffering of Christ. In calling on Him, we are conformed to His death so that we have, in time and at the call of God, the sure and unchanging guarantee that we are in Jesus Christ and that we will be raised to eternal life.

People of the world are under the delusion that there are many paths to God, or that all religions are the same. But there is no greater lie than this. There is, and by understanding the nature of God, there can be, only one way to be reconciled to Him. It is by what He has done, not by anything we could do.

We are completely and entirely at the mercy of God, and that mercy is displayed in the death of His own Son for anyone who is willing to accept the premise, believe in His work, and call on His name. It is either Jesus, or it is eternal death. Peter tells us, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

There is hope in Jesus Christ because there is the power of the resurrection for all who believe… simply believe. If you have never taken the time to humbly ask Him to forgive you of your sins and to grant you that eternal life, please do so today. Settle things with Christ, be reconciled to God, and have the assurance that you are God’s beloved child.

Closing Verse: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here, but is risen!” Luke 24:5, 6

Next Week: Genesis 47:7-12 (And Jacob Blessed Pharaoh) (117th Genesis Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you and He has a good plan and purpose for you. Call on Him and let Him do marvelous things for you and through you.

Sharing in the Resurrection

For so long, I thought I was good enough
I trusted in myself and not in what God had done
Of all the things I did, certainly it was good stuff
He would be happy with me, like a favorite son

But then I heard the word about Jesus
That He lived perfectly, something I had not done
And then He gave His life up for all of us
Why would He do that if I really was number one?

If He needed to die so that I could live
Then obviously I had figured it all wrong
It doesn’t matter what I do or how much I give
I had overestimated myself all along

Those things that were once seemingly gain to me
I suddenly counted them for Christ as mere loss
Without Him I was separated from God eternally
Unworthy, and to be removed and disposed of like dross

Yet indeed I also count all things loss, as my heart now sings
For the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
My Lord for whom I suffered the loss of all things
Only He died on a cross to reconcile us

I count my many gains as rubbish
That I may gain Christ and in Him be found
Not having my own righteousness, as one so selfish
But one which is from God by faith, one eternally sound

I wish to know Him and Him alone
Through the power of His resurrection
And the fellowship of his sufferings which do atone
Being conformed to His death and awaiting perfection

If by any means that I may attain
To the resurrection of the dead
An eternal state of glory I will gain
Because of the work of Christ, my Lord and my Head

He is the resurrection and the life
Whoever believes in Him, though he die
He shall live forever, without fear or strife
Because of Him, “Hallelujah” is our cry

When the last trumpet sounds we will be taken to glory
We shall all be changed, completion of the gospel story

Where O Death, O where is your sting
When Christ our Savior, us to Himself does He bring

Where O Hades, O where is your victory
When Christ translates His children to eternal glory

The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin the law
But thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord
My beloved brethren be steadfast in all you’ve heard and saw
And cling confidently to God’s superior word

Know for certain that your labor is not in vain
Be of good cheer, for you… Christ is coming again

Hallelujah and Amen…