Jeff Miller

April 21, 2019

Holiday

Jesus Christ: Raised for our Justification

Jeff Miller

April 21, 2019

Holiday

Romans 4:25 - ...who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

See: 2 Corinthians 5:21 | Romans 8:31

Five Unanswerable Questions:

If God is with us, who can be AGAINST? (Rom 8:31)
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously GIVE us all things? (Rom 8:32)
Who will bring a CHARGE against God's elect? (Rom 8:33)
Who is the one who CONDEMNS? (Rom 8:34)
Who shall SEPARATE us from the love of Christ? (Rom 8:35-39)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:18-00:21
Open your Bibles with me, please, to Romans 4.
00:22-00:28
You know, there are things about God and His Word that are just very hard for me to understand.
00:29-00:31
You know, like creation? Think about that.
00:32-00:38
The Bible says that God created everything just by speaking it into existence.
00:39-00:48
All the beautiful and complex things that you see in this world, God just took a few days and just spoke it into existence.
00:49-00:53
I believe that, but I'm going to be honest with you, I don't understand it.
00:53-00:55
Or like the Trinity, right?
00:56-01:01
The Bible says that there's one God, but He's revealed Himself as three persons.
01:02-01:05
And I believe that, but I don't understand it.
01:05-01:24
And we can talk about eternity, and we can talk about predestination, and all of these All of these things really are kindergarten compared to the one thing in the Bible that I believe is absolutely the most baffling thing, and that is justification.
01:24-01:26
That is the hardest thing for me to understand.
01:27-01:29
I believe it, but I don't understand it.
01:29-01:32
We're looking at Romans 4.25 this year.
01:33-01:37
A couple of days ago we talked about the first half of the verse, and today we're going to look at the second half.
01:37-01:45
But talking about Jesus Christ, Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses.
01:46-01:48
We talked about what that meant.
01:48-01:55
The "delivered up" literally means to hand a guilty person over to the authorities in order to be punished.
01:55-01:59
And for your sin and for my sin, Jesus was treated as guilty.
02:00-02:04
And He was punished on my behalf and on your behalf.
02:04-02:11
The second half of this verse says, regarding Jesus, and raised for our justification.
02:11-02:18
Today we're going to talk about, again, what is in my opinion, the hardest thing in the Bible for me to wrap my brain around.
02:19-02:21
Today we're going to talk about justification.
02:21-02:23
Like, what is justification?
02:24-02:28
Well, if you go to a theology book and get a definition, it says something like this.
02:29-02:34
Justification is when God declares a sinner as being righteous.
02:35-02:40
It's based on the blood of Jesus Christ, and it's appropriated by faith.
02:41-02:52
It's when God would look at a sinner like me, because of what Jesus did for me, God would look at me and say, "You're perfect." What does that even mean?
02:52-03:05
You know, sometimes we try to come up with little definitions, little illustrations, cute little things to help us understand very hard things, but with justification, I thought of a couple that I've heard over the years, There's ways that people have tried to explain it.
03:05-03:09
People say, "Well, justification is like, you know, like in word processing documents, right?
03:10-03:12
You know, how you can justify the text.
03:12-03:13
You know what I'm talking about?
03:13-03:14
You know what I'm talking about?
03:14-03:25
Like if it's right justified, that means it's lined up on the right, and if it's left justified, it's lined up on the left." Justification is like when God sort of lines you up, okay?
03:26-03:26
Yeah, sure.
03:27-03:29
And all God's people said, "Amen," I guess.
03:30-03:33
And some people have said, "No, justification, think of it this way.
03:34-03:38
Justification, just as if I've never sinned." How many people have heard that one?
03:38-03:40
Okay, that's a popular one in here.
03:40-03:41
I'm going to break that one down.
03:41-03:42
They like that one.
03:43-03:45
Okay, now, that's true.
03:45-03:50
Look, look, "just as if I've never sinned." That's true, but it's incomplete.
03:50-03:56
Because when it comes to salvation, there's a negative aspect and there's a positive aspect.
03:56-03:57
And here's what I mean by that.
03:58-04:01
is the negative aspect of salvation.
04:02-04:06
Which means with forgiveness, God subtracted sin from you.
04:06-04:08
Okay? That's forgiveness.
04:09-04:20
Justification is the positive aspect, because with justification, God has added something to you, which is His righteousness.
04:21-04:23
Is anybody else baffled by this?
04:23-04:30
2 Corinthians 5.21 says, "For our sake, He, God, the Father, made Him, God the Son, Jesus.
04:30-04:34
God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin.
04:35-04:39
That when He was on the cross, Jesus was treated as sin.
04:40-04:43
But look at the second half of this verse. This is justification.
04:43-04:47
So that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
04:47-04:51
That when you put your faith in Christ, God sees you as righteous.
04:52-04:54
But look at this last phrase. How righteous?
04:54-04:57
As righteous as your grandma? No.
04:57-05:01
As righteous as the Apostle Paul? No, no, no.
05:02-05:04
Greater than that. As righteous as Billy Graham? No.
05:05-05:14
Look, when you put your faith in Christ, He sees you as righteous as Himself, so that we might become the righteousness of God.
05:14-05:19
That is how perfect God regards you.
05:19-05:21
Is there anybody else baffled by this?
05:22-05:35
that God would look at a piece of garbage like me, and I've done some things that I'm so ashamed of and embarrassed of, and God would say, "Well, when you receive My Son, you're as perfect as My Son." Baffling.
05:35-05:40
An illustration that I like that helps me understand it a little bit more.
05:41-05:47
I heard the story of this lady who was speeding through this town, and she got pulled over and she ended up in court.
05:47-05:50
I don't think this is a true story, by the way.
05:50-05:52
Don't fact-check this, okay?
05:53-05:55
Somebody right now is like, "Fake news!
05:55-05:58
Fake news in the church!" It's an illustration.
05:58-06:09
So as the illustration goes, the woman shows up in court, and the judge says, "You either have to pay a $500 fine, or you go to jail." That doesn't sound right, so I think this is an illustration.
06:10-06:23
But anyways, the woman looked at the judge, and she said, "I don't have the money, and I really can't go to jail." And as the story goes, The judge looked down on her from his bench, and he stood up.
06:23-06:38
And he took his black robe off, and he put his suit jacket on, and he went and he stood beside the woman, and he pulled out his checkbook from his coat, and he pulled out a pen, and he wrote a check for $500, and he slapped it on the bench.
06:39-06:47
Then he took his suit jacket off, and he went and he put his black robe back on, and he sat down on the bench, and he said, listen, the law says you owe $500.
06:48-06:53
And then he picked up the check that he just wrote and said, oh, your penalty's been paid.
06:53-06:54
You're free to go.
06:55-06:59
And you see in that story, what I like about that story, is the judge didn't just say, you know what?
06:59-07:00
Just forget about it.
07:00-07:00
Get out of here.
07:01-07:02
I'm just going to let you off.
07:03-07:08
Because if he had done that, there's still a matter of $500 that hasn't been paid.
07:08-07:17
But what he did instead was come down to her and actually, from his own account, pay what she owed.
07:18-07:21
And church, that's exactly what Jesus Christ has done for you.
07:21-07:27
He came down from heaven to stand beside us to pay what we owed, credited to make perfect.
07:27-07:30
Jesus was raised for our justification.
07:31-07:41
The crucifixion of Jesus Christ, His death, paid the penalty of our sin, and understand that His resurrection is what validated the sacrifice.
07:41-07:45
That's what raised for our justification means.
07:45-07:57
In other words, if Jesus had just stayed dead, crucified, put in the tomb, and He stayed dead, there would always be this shadow of doubt over the significance of the cross.
07:57-07:57
Always.
07:58-08:10
We'd still be sitting here today going, "Well, you know, He said He was the Savior of the world, and He said He was going to die for our sins, but how do we really know that sin was conquered?
08:10-08:16
How do we really know that He really is who He said He is?" And the answer is the resurrection.
08:17-08:19
Jesus was raised for our justification.
08:19-08:20
Do you believe that?
08:21-08:25
You know, somehow we believe it, but we don't live like we believe it.
08:25-08:33
Because even in the church, we still somehow want to think that we contribute to our justification, to our...
08:33-08:38
We somehow have to contribute to our right standing before God.
08:38-08:40
And I understand why we feel that way.
08:41-08:44
It's a very performance-based society, isn't it?
08:44-08:48
Some of us grow up feeling like, "If I do a good job, Dad's happy with me.
08:48-08:50
If I do a good job, my boss is happy with me.
08:50-08:55
If I do a good job, the teacher is happy with me." And we carry that over to God.
08:55-09:01
And say, "If I do a good job, God is happy with me." And we think somehow that we contribute.
09:01-09:12
Maybe it's the amount of faith that we have, or the amount of good works that we do, or we hope that when we cross over into His presence, hopefully our good outweighs the bad.
09:13-09:16
That basis is going to be how God lets us into heaven.
09:17-09:22
And we convince ourselves that those things are easier to believe than what the Bible actually says.
09:23-09:29
And what the Bible actually says is Jesus was raised for our justification.
09:29-09:38
If you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, it is a gift that God has bought for you that He desperately wants to give you.
09:38-09:40
And you can receive that today.
09:40-09:44
And if you're sitting here today You have received it.
09:44-09:46
I want to remind you that you didn't earn it.
09:47-09:49
And you can't work to keep it.
09:49-09:53
I want to remind you that God doesn't love you less when you have a bad day.
09:54-09:56
And God doesn't love you more when you have a good day.
09:56-09:58
It's not based on your works.
09:58-10:00
It's not based on your church affiliation.
10:00-10:02
It's not based on your church attendance.
10:02-10:05
It's not based on how much you've suffered here on the earth.
10:06-10:09
In Christ, God has pronounced you justified.
10:10-10:18
You are perfect because it's not based on what you do, but it's based on what Christ has done for you.
10:18-10:37
If your salvation, if your justification was based on you, how many times a day do you think you would get saved and lose your salvation, and get saved, and lose your salvation, and get saved, and you lose your salvation, and "Oh God, I hope I die in a good moment." And some people believe that.
10:38-10:39
But it's not based on you.
10:39-10:42
based on what Christ has done for you.
10:42-10:43
I want you to turn over a couple pages.
10:44-10:47
We're gonna stay in Romans, but I want you to turn to Romans 8.
10:48-11:04
Romans 8, looking at verse 31, Paul writes, "What then shall we say to these things?" He just spent all this time talking about the crucifixion of Christ and the resurrection of Christ and God's Holy Spirit indwelling God's people, that we are free and we are forgiven.
11:05-11:14
And then he gets to Romans 8.31, and he says, "What shall we say to these things?" as in, we have to say something about all of this.
11:14-11:16
This is good news for you today.
11:16-11:26
For when you're feeling condemned, if you're thinking, you know, I believe in Jesus and I believe all that, but you know, Pastor Jeff, I feel like God is mad at me.
11:27-11:30
Or if you've ever struggled with, you know, I just don't know if God really loves me.
11:31-11:35
We're gonna look at five questions God's word gives us that we can ask ourselves.
11:35-11:36
Five questions.
11:36-11:42
I'd encourage you to take this outline, Keep it as a bookmark here, because you're going to want to turn back to it.
11:42-11:46
Stick it on your refrigerator, because you're going to want to go back to it.
11:46-11:55
But the times that the doubt creeps in, or the self-condemnation creeps in, you need to look at these five questions that God's Word gives you.
11:55-11:58
Now, these are easy questions, because they don't have any answer.
11:58-12:00
We're going to look at them quickly this morning.
12:00-12:02
Five unanswerable questions.
12:02-12:05
They come straight from the text. Look at the first one.
12:05-12:18
"What then shall we say to these things?" He says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" You see, if Paul would have just said, "Who can be against us?" I don't know about you, but there are days that I feel like the whole world is against me.
12:19-12:19
Anybody else?
12:19-12:22
Do you just feel like, "Who can be against me?
12:22-12:26
"There's like a line forming outside my house.
12:26-12:29
"It feels like everything is against me." But that's not what he said.
12:30-12:43
He said, "If God is for us." Meaning for those of us who have received Jesus Christ, The cross proved once and for all this glorious truth that God is for us.
12:44-12:51
All the powers of earth, all the powers of hell could stand against us and never prevail because God is on our side.
12:51-13:03
And whoever could rob us of our salvation, whoever could rob us of our justification, whoever could destroy our relationship with God would have to be more powerful than God Himself.
13:04-13:06
The first question is, if God is for us, who can be against us?
13:06-13:07
Well, let's answer that.
13:08-13:11
Go ahead, shout out the name of somebody that could be against you if God's on your side.
13:12-13:13
Shout it out, shout it out.
13:13-13:16
Who can be against you if God is for you?
13:16-13:17
Who?
13:17-13:17
Anybody?
13:18-13:20
Can anybody be against you if God is for you?
13:21-13:21
Anyone?
13:22-13:22
Anyone?
13:23-13:25
God is on your side.
13:25-13:32
And there are so many people walking around thinking that God's just waiting for me to step out of line so he can smack me back in.
13:32-13:34
That's the kind of God that we serve.
13:34-13:39
And that's not true, because the cross proved that God is, He's for us.
13:40-13:41
He's for us.
13:42-13:43
So who can be against us?
13:43-14:09
Second question, "He who did not spare his own son, "but gave him up for us all, "how will he not also with him graciously "give us all things?" Again, notice Paul didn't say, "Will God not graciously just give us all things?" Because we can look at that question in that form and say, "How can we be sure that God's going to give us everything that we need?" Also, in the world, what I deserve from God, the answer is nothing.
14:09-14:13
But the way that Paul phrases the question takes the doubt away.
14:13-14:22
You see, Paul points to the cross, and he says, "Listen, God gave you His Son." That's a big difference between God and me.
14:22-14:24
There's a lot of differences, I'm sure you could tell.
14:24-14:25
There's one in particular.
14:25-14:31
"If giving up my Son meant saving you, I wouldn't do it." Hey, you are loved.
14:32-14:37
But I'm just going to be honest with you, if somebody said, "Hey, Pastor Jeff, you can save everybody in this room right now.
14:38-14:45
You just have to kill one of your sons." I would say, "I'll see you all in heaven, because I'm not giving up my son for you.
14:45-14:50
There is no way that is ever going to happen." But you know, God didn't think like that.
14:50-14:52
God says, "I'm willing to give up my son for you.
14:52-15:01
I'm willing to allow my son to endure the most horrible, brutal, public execution for you.
15:01-15:06
And that's why Paul points to the cross, and he says, "Do you want to know how generous God is?
15:06-15:19
He who spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us all." In other words, if God gave us the most precious thing that He has, He's going to give us anything else that we need.
15:19-15:21
In Jesus, God gave us everything.
15:22-15:25
And the cross is proof of God's generosity.
15:26-15:31
The third question is, "Who will bring a charge against God's elect?" Who will bring a charge against God's elect?
15:31-15:36
This question and the next question we're going to look at actually take us to a courtroom scenario.
15:36-15:42
And what Paul's saying here is no prosecution can succeed, because the judge has already justified us.
15:43-15:54
So stop walking around saying, "You know, I'm just a sinner." I hear people say that, "Well, I'm just a sinner." I'm just a sinner." In Christ, no you are not.
15:54-15:55
You used to be.
15:56-15:58
But God doesn't see you like that anymore.
15:59-16:01
And you need to stop seeing yourself that way.
16:01-16:05
Because when you walk around saying, "I'm just a sinner, oh, I'm just a sinner," do you know what you're doing?
16:06-16:12
Not only are you contradicting what God has said about you, but you're giving yourself an excuse to sin.
16:12-16:18
"Well, God, I can't help it. I'm weak. I'm just a sinner. I'm just a sinner." If you're just a sinner, go sin.
16:18-16:19
But that's not who you are.
16:20-16:23
You're a blood-bought child of God. You are set free from that.
16:24-16:25
The charges were dropped.
16:25-16:35
And the next question carries the same courtroom theme when he says, look at verse 34, he says, "Who shall bring," verse 33, "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
16:35-16:37
It is God who justifies." There's that word again.
16:38-16:42
Verse 34, "Who is to condemn?" We've got a lot of people that want to condemn us.
16:43-16:45
We have critics, we have enemies, we have the devil.
16:45-16:49
Worse than that, I think our biggest problem is our own heart.
16:49-16:51
Our own heart wants to condemn us.
16:51-16:55
But Paul says, "Who is the one who condemns?" And he gives us right here, it's right there in the text.
16:56-16:57
Four reasons there's no condemnation.
16:58-16:59
Four reasons. Just look at the text.
17:00-17:02
There's four reasons there's no condemnation for you if you're in Christ.
17:03-17:09
Look at the first one, "Christ Jesus is the one who died." There's no condemnation for you because Christ took it on Himself.
17:10-17:12
He bore a condemnation on the cross.
17:12-17:14
He was delivered for our trespasses.
17:14-17:15
There's no condemnation.
17:16-17:18
That's one reason. Look at the second reason.
17:18-17:31
He says, "More than that, who was raised, raised to life by the Father, accepting the sacrifice of His Son for our justification, Jesus defeated death." That's the second reason.
17:32-17:36
The third reason, again, look at the text, who is at the right hand of God.
17:37-17:39
Jesus is seated at the right hand of God.
17:39-17:44
There's no condemnation because Jesus is seated at the right hand of God.
17:44-17:53
And you can't miss the significance of this because the work of justification was an event that happened one time, that never needs to be repeated.
17:54-17:56
See, that's why Jesus is sitting down.
17:56-18:00
Jesus isn't sitting at the right hand of the Father because He's tired.
18:00-18:04
Like, "Oh, that was a long 33 years on the earth.
18:04-18:11
I need to just take a load off for a few thousand years." That's not why Jesus is seated.
18:11-18:13
Jesus is seated because He's done.
18:14-18:16
The work of salvation doesn't...
18:16-18:17
Nothing else needs to happen.
18:18-18:21
It's not like Jesus sat down, He's like, "Oh, Father, they're messing up again.
18:22-18:27
I'm going to have to go do some more redemptive work." It's over. He's done.
18:27-18:30
And He's sitting down, so there's no condemnation.
18:30-18:35
And the fourth, look at the next phrase, "Who is indeed interceding for us." This is great news.
18:35-18:38
That Jesus Christ is interceding for you right now.
18:39-18:39
Do you realize that?
18:40-19:11
Do you realize right now, at this very minute, Jesus Christ is praying for you our advocate are to use this courtroom terminology Jesus is our attorney. He's our attorney much better than that. Who's that guy? There's never a fee unless we get money for you Attorney Edgar Snyder. Thank you Much better. We already saw this as we went through Revelation But Satan is called the accuser of the brethren Satan is an accuser of God's people and in this courtroom scenario Satan is accusing you before God.
19:11-19:21
Satan is saying, "He's no good. She's just a sinner." Look, I can't believe you have any interest in this piece of garbage, because worthless, okay? Worthless!
19:21-19:36
Satan is accusing you, but you have this defense attorney, Jesus Christ, who stands and says, "Your Honor, I hear these accusations, but I present to the court that I died for Him, and that sin He's being accused of, I died for that.
19:36-19:43
and every sin that the enemy wants to list and throw up in your face, I'm here to tell you that I died for that.
19:43-19:47
I took the condemnation. I gave her my righteousness.
19:47-19:57
So often even born-again Christians are tempted to think, "You know, I have to answer for all the wrong that I've done." Not if you're in Christ, because there's no double jeopardy in God's court.
19:57-20:09
You see, it's not like God punished Jesus for your sin, and God's like, "I'm still mad, and I'm going to punish that person too." Romans 8.1 says, "There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
20:10-20:18
It is forever settled in God's courtroom." And then the last question, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Look at verse 35.
20:19-20:23
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" And then he gives a sample list.
20:23-20:28
"Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
20:28-20:32
As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long.
20:32-20:34
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
20:35-20:40
Quoting from the Old Testament, really all he's doing there is saying, you know what, suffering has always been the experience of God's people.
20:40-20:43
He says, "Knowing all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
20:44-21:00
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present or things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else, and all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." We are not just conquerors.
21:01-21:02
We are more than conquerors.
21:03-21:09
We are not just squeaked out a run in extra innings because the team committed an error.
21:10-21:12
Whoo, that was a close one.
21:12-21:16
We won eight trillion to nothing and the team forfeited.
21:16-21:19
We are more than conquerors.
21:19-21:20
So these are the questions.
21:20-21:23
If God is for us, who can be against us?
21:23-21:26
If God gave us his son, how will he not also give us everything else that we need?
21:27-21:29
Who can accuse us when God has justified us?
21:29-21:32
Who can condemn us when Christ has already paid the penalty for our sin?
21:33-21:35
What can separate us from the love of Christ?
21:35-21:36
What's the answer?
21:36-21:39
Praise God, none of these questions have an answer.
21:39-21:40
There's no condemnation.
21:41-21:42
There's no separation.
21:43-21:48
There is nothing that can undo your standing with God.
21:48-21:56
He has pronounced you perfect because Jesus was raised for our justification.
21:56-21:57
Would you bow your heads with me, please?
21:58-22:01
Father in heaven, we thank You for the truth of Your Word.
22:01-22:06
Father, I confess, this is a hard one for me to understand, because I know my own wickedness.
22:06-22:10
I don't know it as well as You do, but I know it a lot better than everybody else does.
22:10-22:20
I know my wickedness, and the fact that You would pronounce me not only not guilty, but You would pronounce me perfect and righteous because of what Jesus did on my behalf.
22:20-22:24
God, I just can't even wrap my brain around that.
22:24-22:27
Father, I pray if there's any here today who don't know You.
22:27-22:37
There's any here today that feel like, "I'm not good enough to come to God," or, "I don't deserve anything from God." Maybe that's true, but that certainly isn't how you acted.
22:37-22:41
That certainly is not, Father, how you regard that person.
22:41-22:44
You sent your Son to die for the worst, like me.
22:44-22:55
I pray, Father, today is the day that we stop looking at reasons that we don't think that you would accept us, and instead we look at the truth that because of Christ, you have accepted us.
22:55-22:59
You welcome us back. You redeem and transform us.
22:59-23:01
You adopt us. You save us.
23:02-23:04
Not based on our conduct, but based on Christ's.
23:05-23:11
Father, for the believer here who maybe has been struggling, I pray that today is the day of repentance for that person.
23:11-23:13
We don't walk as defeated people.
23:13-23:18
We walk as people who have been called more than conquerors because of the victory of Jesus Christ.
23:19-23:20
It's in His glorious name.
23:20-23:23
We pray and we praise You, Father. Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 4:25

What was your big “take-away”? What stood out to you from this passage / message?
Define justification. How is it different from “forgiveness”?
Why do many Christians still feel condemned, despite saying they believe what the Bible says about justification?

BREAKOUT

Pray for one another to live in light of Romans 4:25.

Jeff Miller

April 19, 2019

Holiday

Jesus Christ: Delivered Up for Our Trespasses

Jeff Miller

April 19, 2019

Holiday

  
     4 Truths About Your Sin Diagnosis:
 
You are a sinner by BIRTH. (Rom 5:12-21)
You are a sinner by CHOICE. (Rom 1:29-31
Sin disqualifies you from HEAVEN. (Rom 3:23)
Jesus was DELIVERED for our sin. (Rom 4:25)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:00-00:03
So I had this doctor's appointment, and the physician's assistant came in.
00:03-00:07
And you know the normal things you go through when you go to a doctor's appointment.
00:07-00:12
They check your weight, and they check your pulse, and they check my blood pressure.
00:12-00:18
I remember the physician's assistant, upon checking my blood pressure, had this completely horrified look on her face.
00:19-00:26
She said, "Are you feeling okay?" And I said, "Yeah, I feel great." She said, "Your blood pressure is completely out of control.
00:26-00:32
"Look, this is as serious as it gets, and I need to talk to the doctor about this." And then she left the room.
00:33-00:42
So I'm sitting there in this room on the little couch with the big sheet of tissue paper on it, and it seemed like she was gone for about three hours.
00:43-00:59
And it was a time, I'll be honest with you, it was a time of serious reflection for me as I sat on that, thinking, "You know, I've had a lot of regrets in life, and didn't accomplish everything I've wanted to." you know, the things you reflect about in the face of your impending death.
00:59-01:04
I thought about my love, Aaron. I thought about my kids.
01:05-01:06
It was serious reflection time.
01:06-01:40
And I thought, "What's going to happen to my family when I'm gone?" Well, the doctor comes in with the physician's assistant, and he said, "I'm really worried about your blood pressure." I said, "I wasn't either until, you know, a little bit ago." And he looked over on the cabinet, the little sink/shelf area thing they have there, and he said, "Is that the cuff that they use to take your blood pressure?" I said, "Yeah, it is." He goes, "Oh, that's the cuff they use on like six-year-olds." So he got a big boy blood pressure cuff and he took my blood pressure and I was fine.
01:41-01:45
But I want to talk about going to the doctor, because Jesus said something about that.
01:45-01:58
In Mark 2.17, Jesus said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick..." I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
01:59-02:04
And that's something for us to sit down and reflect upon tonight.
02:04-02:06
When do people go to the doctor?
02:07-02:13
You're like, "Well, when they're sick, right?" No. People go to the doctor when they know that they're sick.
02:14-02:15
You see.
02:15-02:16
And it's Good Friday.
02:17-02:24
And I've got to tell you, as somebody that's been in ministry 20 some odd years, however long it's been, this gets harder every year.
02:25-02:28
Not because the message isn't compelling, it's not that.
02:28-02:32
It's not because the gospel has gotten old.
02:33-02:44
The reason this gets harder and harder is because every year, We are more and more and more and more losing the concept of sin in our culture.
02:44-02:48
Just go ask people. Just go ask people. Just go ask random people.
02:49-02:54
What is sin? I mean, when you think about it, sexually, anything goes.
02:55-03:00
Addiction, which is really a form of idolatry, is called a disease.
03:01-03:03
Abortion has been approved by the government.
03:03-03:08
Coarse joking and crude language is just normal.
03:08-03:15
And today, really, the only thing that the world would agree on as sin is not accepting someone's unbiblical lifestyle.
03:16-03:30
The reality is that we're all born sinners, and rather than acknowledge the truth, even in the church sometimes, we're more content to excuse sin or to justify sin, but we are ultra-resistant to confess it.
03:30-03:35
because many people believe, in the end, "You know, I'm really not that bad of a person.
03:35-03:37
God's just going to ignore my sin.
03:37-03:47
Whoops! Nobody's perfect!" That's a terrible mindset, because it minimizes the wickedness of sin, and worse, it minimizes the holiness of God.
03:48-04:10
So you see, we come to the cross of Jesus Christ and we miss the significance of the event, and you come to a Good Friday service, as is happening all in this area, and you have preachers standing up, saying, "Jesus died for your sin!" And you have people filling seats everywhere, going, "What does that even mean?" I'd like you to bow your heads with me, please.
04:11-04:21
Father, as we turn to Your Word now, I ask that we would allow Your Word to define things, as we are a people unwittingly affected by culture.
04:21-04:28
Father, I pray not only for this church, but I pray for every church in this area right now that is proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.
04:28-04:32
I pray, Father, that 2019 would be a year of revival.
04:33-04:40
It would be a year of people who are done living for themselves, and instead turn to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
04:41-04:43
Fathers, we turn to Your Word now.
04:43-04:47
May Your Holy Spirit take the seed of Your Word.
04:47-04:54
And Father, I pray Your Holy Spirit finds fertile soil right here, so that that seed would take root, and that seed would multiply.
04:55-04:56
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
04:57-04:58
We're in the book of Romans.
04:58-05:03
Romans is the most comprehensive commentary on the significance of the ministry of Jesus Christ.
05:03-05:13
Chapters 1-3 generally describe the problem, which is sin, and chapter 4 starts really describing the solution, which is God's grace.
05:14-05:21
That salvation, God's grace, is appropriated by faith in the promises of God.
05:22-05:27
And to illustrate what that looks like, when we get to Romans 4, Paul uses the story of Abraham.
05:28-05:34
God made a promise to Abraham to bring life from death.
05:34-05:38
And the promise that God made to Abraham made no human sense whatsoever.
05:38-05:40
But Abraham believed God.
05:40-05:42
And that's the very essence of faith.
05:42-05:44
It's taking God at His word.
05:45-05:47
Look at Romans 4.22.
05:48-05:59
It says, "This is why Abraham's faith was counted to him as righteousness, but the words it was counted to Him were not for His sake alone, but for ours also.
06:00-06:08
It will be counted to us who believe in Him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord." Stop there.
06:09-06:14
You see, in Paul talking about Abraham, he's saying that Abraham's story is not a one and done.
06:15-06:16
That it's for us today.
06:17-06:19
Same God. Same faith.
06:19-06:24
and it's faith in what God accomplished through Jesus Christ.
06:25-06:27
What did God accomplish through Jesus Christ?
06:27-06:31
Well, this year, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, we're taking a little turn from what we normally do.
06:31-06:38
Normally we take a giant chunk of text and we work our way through it, but this year we're studying one verse.
06:38-06:41
We're going to do half today, and we're going to do the other half on Sunday.
06:42-06:44
And that verse is Romans 4.25.
06:45-06:56
that says, speaking of Jesus, "who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." What does that mean?
06:56-07:11
Let's talk about the word "trespasses." The word literally means "fall beside." And it was used to describe someone who was on a path and deviated from the path that they were supposed to be on.
07:12-07:13
That is trespassing.
07:13-07:17
In our vernacular, we would say it is to cross the line.
07:17-07:18
Here's the line.
07:19-07:21
Don't go across that line.
07:21-07:32
And trespassing is, "I'm crossing the line." I hear what you say, I see what I'm supposed to do, what I'm not supposed to do, but I'm doing it because I want to.
07:32-07:34
That's what a trespass is.
07:35-07:37
It falls under the category of sin.
07:37-07:57
And when it comes to God, when it comes to the Word of God, God says, "Do this!" And we say, "I'm not going to do that." Or God says, "Listen, don't do this!" And we say, "I'm doing it." Mark 2.17, Jesus said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician.
07:57-08:10
But those who are sick I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." So simply tonight I want to ask, Can we allow the great physician to rightly diagnose our real issue with sin?
08:11-08:18
Can we put away our six-year-old blood pressure cuffs of the culture that are giving us a wrong reading of the problem?
08:18-08:22
Can we put the big boy cuff on to get an accurate diagnosis?
08:22-08:26
If you're taking notes, I want you to jot down four truths about your sin diagnosis.
08:27-08:28
And these all come from the book of Romans.
08:29-08:31
The first one, number one, is this.
08:31-08:32
You are a sinner by birth.
08:33-08:40
The Bible tells us that Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, and the Bible says that that sin is passed down.
08:40-08:46
So understand, people, that you are born a sinner because your parents are sinners.
08:47-08:52
You're like, "Wait a second, Pastor Jeff. I don't like you talking about my papa like that." Hang on a second.
08:53-08:54
You know why your parents are sinners?
08:55-08:56
Because their parents were sinners.
08:57-08:59
And you're like, "I knew I shouldn't have come to that church.
09:00-09:05
Now Pastor Jeff is ripping on my grandpa." You can trace this all the way back to Adam and Eve.
09:05-09:10
And if I didn't offend you yet, I need to tell you, "Parents, guess what you passed on to your children?
09:11-09:20
Your children are born with a sin nature." Now see, that might be a little offensive, but when it comes to parents especially, that's an easy sell, honestly.
09:20-09:30
Because if you don't have kids, just ask any parent here, "Do your children know how to sin?" Parents, do your children know how to sin?
09:31-09:39
Yeah. Do your children naturally know how to lie, how to sneak, how to steal, how to be selfish?
09:40-09:41
The question is, who taught them that?
09:41-09:57
Parents, have you ever sat down with your kids when they were real young and said, "Listen, listen sweetheart, you're going to find there are situations in life where you're stuck and you're just going to have to learn how to put together a really well-crafted lie to get out of it." Have you ever done that for your kids? I sure hope not.
09:58-10:01
Do your kids know how to craft a lie to get out of trouble? Do they?
10:02-10:05
Yes! And you didn't teach them. Where did that come from?
10:07-10:09
And look, I'm not pointing fingers. I've got two kids myself.
10:10-10:15
And I know I didn't teach them how to sin, and I'm pretty sure Aaron didn't.
10:16-10:18
But look, it's something you're born with.
10:18-10:19
And we inherited that from Adam.
10:20-10:23
The reality is you're not a sinner because you sin.
10:24-10:26
You sin because you're a sinner.
10:27-10:29
You're a sinner by birth.
10:29-10:31
And number two, is you're a sinner by choice.
10:32-10:33
You're a sinner by choice.
10:34-10:37
Sin is, at the very essence, it's self-centeredness.
10:37-10:39
It's nobody tells me what to do.
10:40-10:41
I'm in charge of my life.
10:41-10:43
I do what makes me happy.
10:43-10:47
And that's why there's a natural resistance to the Gospel.
10:48-11:13
That we say, "Hey, get off the throne of your life and allow Jesus Christ, the rightful position, on the throne of your hearts." And we say, "No, because I want to live life on my own terms." You're a sinner by choice, and it's pervasive, it's external, and it's internal, it's acts and it's attitudes, it's what you do, it's what you think, it's what you say.
11:13-11:18
We are not only born sinners, but we choose to sin.
11:18-11:21
And you understand that's why God gave us the Old Testament.
11:21-11:27
The purpose of God's law was to show us that we have a problem with sin.
11:27-11:28
We're going to do a little exercise.
11:29-11:32
We're going to boil the law down just to the Ten Commandments.
11:33-11:38
And if you've ever violated any of these commandments that I'm going to give you, I just want you to give yourself a little checkmark.
11:38-11:41
If you've ever violated them, just give yourself a checkmark.
11:41-11:45
You know the first four commandments that God gave have to do with our relationship with God.
11:46-11:48
God says, "You have no other gods before me.
11:48-11:50
You won't make for yourself any idols.
11:50-11:54
You won't misuse my name, using the Lord's name in vain." That's the third commandment.
11:54-11:57
The fourth commandment is to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
11:57-12:02
Make sure that you don't get so consumed with work and life, you never take time to worship.
12:02-12:07
So let me ask you, has God always been the priority of your life?
12:08-12:15
Has worship and adoration and prayer and thoughts towards God, has He always been a priority?
12:16-12:19
If not, then you've violated the first commandment.
12:19-12:25
Have you ever had anything in your life that even for a season was more important than your relationship with God?
12:25-12:27
You're violating the second commandment.
12:27-12:31
Have you ever said anything that misrepresented the name of God?
12:31-12:33
You broke the third commandment. You keep in score?
12:34-12:39
Have you always made it a priority to set aside time to worship that under the Old Testament law you've broken the fourth commandment?
12:40-12:42
And you see, the rest of the commandments have to do with our relationship with one another.
12:43-12:44
The fifth commandment is honor your father and mother.
12:45-12:49
Have you always obeyed your parents perfectly? Have you? Have you?
12:50-12:52
I see some kids looking at their parents right now.
12:52-12:55
"Dad, is he serious?" "Yes, I'm serious." Have you?
12:55-12:59
If you have not, then you give yourself a checkmark. Guilty.
12:59-13:08
The sixth commandment is, "Do not murder." And you're like, "Yes! Yes!" I was feeling so convicted, I've never killed anybody.
13:08-13:10
But hang on, hang on. You know what Jesus said about that?
13:11-13:16
Jesus said if you've ever hated someone, it's the same as committing murder, because it comes from here.
13:17-13:21
Let me ask you, according to Jesus' definition, have you ever murdered someone? Have you ever hated someone?
13:21-13:24
If you've ever hated someone, you've got to give yourself a mark.
13:24-13:26
The seventh commandment is do not commit adultery.
13:26-13:31
And again, there's some people that are like, "Okay, all right, I've always been faithful to my wife.
13:32-13:35
I've never committed an adulterous affair. I'm good there." Well, hang on a second.
13:36-13:38
Jesus said if you've looked at a woman lustfully, you've committed adultery in your heart.
13:39-13:40
Have you ever done that? Then you're guilty.
13:40-13:42
The eighth commandment is do not steal.
13:42-13:44
Have you ever taken something that doesn't belong to you?
13:44-13:45
Give yourself a mark.
13:46-13:52
Anybody doing well? Because this last one, there's two more, but these last two will catch you, even if you're doing really good so far.
13:52-13:55
The ninth commandment is do not bear false witness.
13:55-13:56
In other words, do not lie.
13:56-13:59
Have you ever known what the truth is and you deliberately told a lie?
13:59-13:59
Have you ever done that?
14:00-14:03
Have you ever told a white lie, a magenta lie?
14:04-14:06
It doesn't matter what color you call it, it's still a lie.
14:07-14:07
Have you ever done that?
14:08-14:09
Give yourself a mark.
14:09-14:15
And the 10th commandment is "Do not covet." Have you always been totally satisfied with the things that God's provided you?
14:15-14:23
Or has there ever been an instance where you've seen something that God gave someone else and you're like, "Man, I wish I had that. I wish my wife was like his wife.
14:23-14:29
I wish I had that guy's car. I wish I had that guy's house." Have you ever had that going on? That's called covening.
14:30-14:31
So how'd you do? How'd you do?
14:33-14:39
According to God's law, according to God's Word, Is it true that you're a sinner by choice? Is it true?
14:40-14:42
Number three, sin disqualifies you from heaven.
14:43-14:52
Sin disqualifies you from heaven. Romans 3.23 says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Sin disqualifies you from heaven.
14:52-14:57
Now I want you to imagine that you're standing on the coast of California.
14:57-15:01
It's you, and it's me, and it's...
15:01-15:03
Who's like the Pirates ace this year? What's that?
15:04-15:05
Who's the Pirates ace this year?
15:05-15:08
Jamison Tyon? He's the Pirates ace?
15:08-15:10
All right, prayer service for the Pirates will be next Thursday.
15:11-15:17
But let's say, Jamison Tyon and you and I, we're standing on the coast of California, and we each have a baseball.
15:18-15:21
And we're told we have to throw that baseball and hit Hawaii.
15:21-15:24
How far do you think Jamison Tyon can throw that ball?
15:24-15:26
Maybe he throws it 300 feet.
15:27-15:28
Maybe you step up.
15:28-15:30
Maybe you throw it 200 feet.
15:30-15:33
And then I step up, bloop, five feet.
15:33-15:36
The question is, which one of us made it? None of us.
15:36-15:45
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, but James and Tiah made it way further than you did, Pastor Jeff." Yeah, that's absolutely true. He made it way further than I did, but he didn't make it.
15:46-15:47
And see, that's what Romans 3.23 tells us.
15:47-15:52
We've all sinned, we've all fallen short of the glory of God.
15:53-16:01
Whether you've fallen a lot short or you've fallen a little short, you've fallen short. You have and I have.
16:01-16:04
And God, you see, He's righteous and He's just.
16:05-16:10
And He's not going to just allow an unholy person into His holy presence.
16:11-16:12
Think about it this way.
16:13-16:16
We did the little check marks here with the Ten Commandments.
16:16-16:22
But I just want you to think, over the course of your life, how many sins do you think you've committed over the course of your life?
16:22-16:26
Do you think it's in the thousands? Do you think it's in the millions?
16:27-16:31
We're talking every word, every thought, every attitude, every action.
16:31-16:32
displeases the Lord.
16:33-16:34
Is it in the billions?
16:34-16:36
How many sins do you think you've committed?
16:36-16:46
However many you think you've committed, I want you to take that number, and imagine you showed up in a courtroom on the earth committing that same number of crimes.
16:47-16:50
What kind of a judge is going to let you off?
16:50-16:54
A really bad and dishonest judge is going to let you off.
16:55-17:04
So whether you've sinned once, or a million times a day, every day, You're guilty and you've fallen short, and sin is a debt.
17:04-17:10
It's an obligation that you have the inability to pay, and it disqualifies you from heaven.
17:10-17:21
At this point it would be really depressing if I said, "You are loved. See you Sunday." But remember I said there's four truths about your sin diagnosis, and I said all that to get to the good news.
17:21-17:25
Number four, Jesus was delivered for our sin.
17:25-17:27
Look at Romans 4.25 again.
17:27-17:35
"Who was delivered up for our trespasses." Stop there. Delivered.
17:35-17:45
To be honest with you, when I've read this in the past time, I saw delivered and I just thought about somebody delivering the mail or delivering a message.
17:45-17:51
I just thought of deliver as kind of a generic concept that it just meant handing something off to someone.
17:52-17:57
But I did some studying this week and found that that word "deliver" in the Greek is a very technical term.
17:58-18:09
Get this, the word "deliver" in the Greek literally refers to taking a guilty person and handing them over to the authorities in order to be punished.
18:09-18:12
That's what the word "deliver" means in the Greek.
18:12-18:17
Taking a guilty person, handing them to the authorities so that they might be punished.
18:18-18:20
How is this word used in the Gospels?
18:20-18:25
Well, it's used when Judas handed over Jesus to the chief priests.
18:26-18:26
Mark 14.10.
18:27-18:32
The Sanhedrin handing over Jesus to Pilate. Mark 15.1.
18:32-18:37
Pilate handing over Jesus to the will of the people. Luke 23.25.
18:37-18:43
And Pilate handing Jesus over to the soldiers. Mark 15.15.
18:43-18:50
You're like, "Well, which one is being talked about in Romans 4.25?" And the answer is none of these.
18:51-19:01
See, the glorious truth is ultimately the person who handed over Jesus in order to be punished was God Himself.
19:02-19:04
We'll see that in Romans 8.32 this Sunday.
19:05-19:07
So make sure you come back for that.
19:07-19:13
God the Father handed Jesus over to the authorities to be punished.
19:13-19:19
And there's also a real sense that Jesus handed Himself over to be punished.
19:19-19:26
When you look at what Jesus said in John 10, Jesus said, "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
19:27-19:30
No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.
19:30-19:34
I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again.
19:35-19:43
This charge I received from my Father." So delivering up Jesus, you look at Pilate, you look at Judas, You look at the soldiers, you look at the crowd.
19:44-19:51
They were just simply the mailmen organized by God to deliver His Son over to justice.
19:52-19:54
You're like, "Wait, wait, wait, Pastor Jeff. I hear what you're saying.
19:55-20:05
But according to your little Greek definition here, you said that delivering was handing a guilty person over to be punished, and Jesus Christ wasn't guilty of anything.
20:06-20:08
But I am, and you are.
20:08-20:14
We are the guilty who deserved to be handed over for punishment.
20:14-20:18
And on the cross, Jesus Christ bore our punishment.
20:19-20:23
Every act of sin we've committed was put on Him.
20:23-20:27
And God gave Jesus the punishment that you and I deserve.
20:28-20:35
Jesus Christ was delivered up for our trespasses.
20:35-20:36
Do you believe that?
20:36-20:40
Not just do you acknowledge that the event happened?
20:41-20:46
Do you have faith in what this event accomplished?
20:46-20:49
Because if you do, church, it changes you.
20:49-20:55
Can you really look at Jesus Christ on the cross and the love of God being poured out?
20:56-21:00
Can you look at that and really just go back to life on your terms?
21:01-21:04
Can you really go back to living for your sin?
21:05-21:08
Have you found that your sin offers you more than God offers you?
21:09-21:14
Can you really walk out this door here tonight in a little bit and say, "God, I understand what you've done.
21:15-21:33
You loved me so much that you were willing to hand over your son to brutally die on the cross, taking my punishment so that I would never have to face your judgment." Can you acknowledge that and walk out the door no different than you walked in?
21:33-21:34
Can you be unaffected?
21:34-21:38
Can you be unmoved? Can you be unchanged?
21:39-21:40
And the answer is no, you can't.
21:41-21:43
Not if you really get it.
21:43-21:53
Not if you put your faith in Him and believe that Jesus Christ was delivered up for our trespasses.

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 4:25

What was your big “take-away”? What stood out to you from this passage / message?
Who really delivered Jesus to die? See Romans 8:32. How does this affect the way you look at the cross?
What are some ways trespasses (sins) are redefined today? Confession time: Tell of a time you’ve made an excuse for something wrong you’ve done.

Jeff Miller

December 24, 2018

Holiday

Don't Myth Christmas - Part 2

Jeff Miller

December 24, 2018

Holiday

Christmas POP QUIZ:

The "Wise Men" were at the manger scene when Jesus was born. T | F
The Bible says there were three Wise Men. T | F
The Bible says the Wise Men rode on camels. T | F
The Wise Men were kings. T | F
The Wise Men were Oriental and Ethiopian. T | F

  
    Intro:
WISE MEN:
CHIEF PRIESTS:
HEROD:

  Which Character Are You? (Matt 2:1-16)

Herod: I'm King of my Life, not Jesus.
  
Chief Priests: The King is born? Meh .
  
Wise Men: I will Worship the king.

3 Things to Worship Like the Wise Men:

Pursue Him
Humble yourself before Him
Give to Him

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:12-01:27
The title of our message tonight is "Don't Myth Christmas, Part 2." And I thought, what's a more fun way to start the message than with a Christmas pop quiz?
01:28-01:33
You're like, "Oh, man, we're done with school." Well, this is for fun.
01:34-01:42
And specifically, this pop quiz circles around the wise men we'll be talking about tonight.
01:42-01:44
And we'll make it even easier for you.
01:44-01:45
These are all true and false.
01:47-01:49
So you've got a 50/50 chance on all of them.
01:50-01:51
Alright, you ready?
01:51-01:55
Number one, the wise men were at the manger scene when Jesus was born.
01:57-01:59
No, no, no, you're supposed to write down your answer.
02:01-02:02
Do not look at your neighbor's paper.
02:05-02:06
Did you do that in school?
02:06-02:07
That would have been really cool.
02:09-02:13
Alright, from now on, write them down, and we'll check your answers.
02:13-02:14
Number two.
02:16-02:18
You could have been more clear, Pastor Jeff.
02:18-02:19
Yes, I certainly could have.
02:20-02:22
The Bible says there were three wise men.
02:22-02:24
Write down your answer, true or false.
02:26-02:27
Or shout it out either way.
02:30-02:30
(laughing)
02:34-02:37
Number three, the Bible says the wise men rode on camels.
02:38-02:40
Write it down, shout it out.
02:43-02:46
Make it a multiple choice question, whatever you want at this point.
02:46-02:48
Number four, the wise men were kings.
02:49-02:50
True or false?
02:53-02:54
That was my son.
02:59-03:00
I knew that.
03:01-03:09
I was hoping nobody else noticed, but since we're just shouting everything out, number five, the wise men were Oriental and Ethiopian.
03:10-03:11
Shout it out.
03:12-03:12
False.
03:13-03:14
(laughs)
03:14-03:22
The answer to all of these questions, which I imagine going much better in my head and during rehearsal when nobody was in here, the answer to all of these questions is false.
03:23-03:25
Like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, Pastor Jeff.
03:25-03:26
Hang on a second.
03:28-03:31
You know, number two, the Bible says there were three wise men.
03:31-03:35
Now, I thought that we knew their names, right?
03:35-03:37
Gaspar and Melchior and Balthazar.
03:38-03:41
Some people say, well, they represented Ham, Shem and Japheth.
03:42-03:43
Well, the Bible doesn't give the number.
03:45-03:47
We don't really know how many there were.
03:49-03:50
Like, well, hang on a second.
03:50-03:52
You know, number four, you said the wise men were kings.
03:52-03:55
Remember that song, "We Three Kings of Orion Are"?
03:56-03:56
Remember that song?
03:57-03:59
Remember good King Wenceslaus?
04:02-04:03
That's not in the Bible.
04:05-04:06
It's just not.
04:07-04:10
And that's sort of the point we're trying to drive home.
04:12-04:24
With the sermons called "Don't Myth Christmas." Because there is not a lot of material to draw from in the Bible regarding the birth of Christ, right?
04:24-04:30
The majority of the material is about His life and His teaching and His death and His resurrection and His second coming.
04:31-04:36
Very little material in the Bible about the actual birth of Christ.
04:37-04:47
And like a lot of true stories, over time, some myths get sprinkled in and those myths get taught as fact.
04:48-04:59
As I said, we're going to be talking about the wise men today, and I would put them somewhere We are near the top of the list of true stories that have had myths added to them.
05:00-05:11
Someone has said that much of what we think we know about the wise men comes from pictures on the front of Christmas cards than it does in the Bible.
05:12-05:13
And that's a true statement.
05:14-05:22
So, they're real people, but we don't want to myth Christmas, so we're going to get back to the source material.
05:22-05:52
Matthew 2. While you're turning to Matthew 2, I want to sort of introduce the characters because that's going to help us. We're going to go through this text rather quickly this evening. But to help us understand the text, I want to introduce the characters a little bit. We're going to be talking about the wise men. Who were these guys? Well, despite what you've seen at almost every nativity scene, they were not at the manger scene when Jesus was born. In fact, we're going to see that in verse 11.
05:53-05:57
When they showed up, apparently the family was settled in the house.
05:58-06:13
Right? And you're also going to see from the text that they were not there at the moment that Jesus was born. So who were they? They were Gentile priests that were associated with the people called the Medes, from the Medo-Persian Empire.
06:14-06:20
And they were known for being advisors to the king.
06:20-06:22
That's why they were called wise men.
06:24-06:30
And their beliefs were sort of a hybrid of astrology and astronomy.
06:30-06:33
It was sort of a hybrid of science and superstition.
06:34-06:37
And part of their job was to choose kings.
06:38-06:43
But at this particular point in history, they had no king.
06:44-06:50
But they wanted to be a major force in the east like the Romans were in the west.
06:50-06:54
So they were anxious themselves to find a king.
06:56-07:13
Well, due to Israel's exile, when the Jews were scattered and living among the Babylonians and the Medes and the Persians, these foreign people came to know a lot about Israel and Israel's scriptures, and the hope of the coming Messiah.
07:14-07:23
These foreign people groups came to know a lot about Israel because of their contact with Jewish people, especially during Daniel's day.
07:25-07:27
So that's a little bit about the wise men. Hold that thought.
07:27-07:31
We're going to talk about the chief priests and the scribes quickly.
07:31-07:33
They were the religious elite among the Jews.
07:34-07:36
They knew their scriptures backwards and forwards.
07:36-07:38
You're going to see that here in the text.
07:38-07:41
But something else to keep in mind is about Israel.
07:42-07:45
During this time of history, it was under Roman occupation.
07:45-07:49
The chief priests and the scribes basically ruled over Israel. Okay?
07:51-07:58
And the third secondary character that we need to talk about in this story is Herod.
07:59-08:01
Now Herod, he's an interesting guy.
08:03-08:09
Because he's the same guy who built a temple to God, but he killed babies.
08:10-08:16
He was known to give very generously to people he didn't know, but he would murder his own family members.
08:18-08:29
This man who was called the "King of the Jews" - we'll talk about that in a minute - he was completely paranoid, and he committed terrible acts of murder.
08:30-08:33
And he's an interesting study sometime, if you want to dig a little deeper.
08:35-08:38
History tells us Herod murdered his wife.
08:40-08:42
Herod murdered her mother.
08:44-08:46
Herod murdered three of his sons.
08:47-08:50
He and his brother-in-law drowned. That was a crazy story.
08:51-08:56
His uncle, his wife's grandfather, followers, soldiers, friends.
08:58-08:59
He was paranoid.
09:00-09:03
And if he thought you might be a problem, he would have you eliminated.
09:04-09:07
In fact, here's how crazy this guy was.
09:08-09:17
He had it arranged so that when he died, immediately upon his death, several prominent men in the community were executed.
09:17-09:18
Do you know why?
09:19-09:23
He wanted people to be sad when he died, but he knew they weren't going to be sad for him.
09:24-09:33
So at least if they were crying for somebody else, There was crying happening while he died.
09:35-09:36
That's the kind of person he was.
09:37-09:41
Caesar Augustus said it was safer to be Herod's pig than to be Herod's son.
09:42-09:51
Alright, so with that in mind with these characters, don't myth Christmas, let's see what the text actually says about these wise men.
09:51-10:06
Matthew 2 says, "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, "Behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?
10:06-10:11
For we saw his star when it rose, and have come to worship him.'" Stop right there.
10:12-10:17
The verb tense, when it says they were asking where the King of the Jews was born, it's continual.
10:17-10:18
It means they kept asking.
10:18-10:20
They were going around Jerusalem.
10:20-10:22
"Hey, where was the King of the Jews born?
10:22-10:23
Where was the King of the Jews born?
10:23-10:25
We want to find the King of the Jews.
10:25-10:39
Where was the King of the Jews born?" Now based on the little bit that I told you about Herod, when he caught wind that some dignitaries from another land came looking for the King of the Jews, how do you think he responded to that?
10:40-10:46
Do you think he was like, "Oh, that's interesting." The King of the Jews was his title.
10:49-10:59
But notice in verse 2, they said, "We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship Him." What was this star?
11:01-11:26
Well, some people say, "Well, the star was Jupiter, lit up in the sky, it just worked out that way on the calendar." Some people say it was a comet or a meteor, and literally, the word just means "bright light." It could be translated "lightning." Like, "We saw His flash of lightning, have come to worship. What in the world was it?
11:28-11:48
Well, I believe, if you look at Luke 2, verse 9, the Bible tells us, it's a familiar story, but when the angels showed up to give the announcement to the shepherds about the birth of the Messiah, the glory of the Lord radiated around the angels, right?
11:48-11:55
You see that a lot in Scripture, the Shekinah glory, the light of the Lord? Think of Jesus' transfiguration.
11:57-12:04
Well, I believe that that was the light that these magi saw, that these wise men saw.
12:05-12:07
But here's something that I had to unlearn.
12:07-12:10
You talk about "Don't Myth Christmas." Here's something that I always thought.
12:11-12:14
And confess this if you thought the same.
12:14-12:15
You were awfully eager to shout out earlier.
12:18-12:30
So if you're in this boat with me, When I was a kid, I had this idea that that star that they followed was like a laser pointer and a cat.
12:30-12:35
I had this idea that God was like, okay, now come here.
12:36-12:37
All right, now come here.
12:38-12:38
All right, you're getting closer.
12:38-12:39
Now come here.
12:40-12:40
Now come here.
12:40-12:49
And I had this idea that the magi were like walking country to country, like following this light, like a cat following a laser pointer.
12:50-12:56
And you do a little studying here, you find that that's not exactly how that went down.
12:58-13:08
They saw the light, this flash of light, this radiance of God's glory, and they traveled to Jerusalem to investigate.
13:09-13:11
Now the question I had was, "Wait a second.
13:12-13:25
Okay, they knew some things about the Messiah, we know that from their interaction with the Jews during the dispersion, How did they connect that light coming from that direction with the Messiah?
13:26-13:28
How did they connect those dots?
13:30-13:30
Are you ready for the answer?
13:33-13:34
We don't know.
13:37-13:40
And Matthew, in writing this, didn't go into detail.
13:41-13:43
You know why Matthew didn't go into detail?
13:43-13:46
It's because this isn't a story about the wise men.
13:47-13:48
This is a story about Jesus Christ.
13:49-13:54
So, don't ask that question on Q&A day, because nobody really knows.
13:56-14:10
Okay, so they saw the light, and they somehow knew that that was connected to the Messiah of Israel, and they knew that the Messiah was connected to Jerusalem because of the Scriptures, so where better to start?
14:10-14:13
Let's go to Jerusalem and see what that light was about.
14:14-14:15
Okay, verse 3.
14:15-14:28
It says, "When Herod the king heard this," that they were looking to worship the king of the Jews, "When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." Herod completely lost his mind.
14:28-14:40
And when it says he was troubled, the Greek word doesn't mean that he was just nervous, like, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear this." He was shaking.
14:40-14:43
Like, he was so agitated and upset.
14:44-15:06
He was - a word that we would use is, "He was beside himself." And as you can imagine, again, remembering that list I gave you of Herod's close family members that he killed, when Herod was upset, it's not surprising the Bible says, "All of Jerusalem with him." What's he going to do?
15:07-15:09
He's violent and he's unstable.
15:11-15:21
Verse 4, "And assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
15:22-15:32
They told him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea.' For so it is written by the prophet, 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah.
15:32-15:42
"For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel." So somehow Herod connected the dots.
15:43-15:51
These wise men were asking about the king of the Jews, and did you notice, Herod immediately was asking about where the Christ was going to be born.
15:51-15:52
He knew what was going on here.
15:52-16:10
Like, "Wait a minute, I know who they're looking for." So he assembles the chief priests and the scribes and says, "Hey, what do the Scriptures say about where the Christ is going to be born?" It's an interesting scene. It would be like President Trump calling John MacArthur to ask a Bible 101 question.
16:13-16:22
Verse 7, "Herod summoned the wise men secretly, and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.
16:23-16:55
And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, 'Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found Him, bring me word that I too may come and worship Him." So Herod, again, troubled, hearing that there's people from another land looking for the King of the Jews, and, "Hey, wait a second, I'm the King of the Jews, who are they looking for?" And he finds out, "Okay, here's where they were supposed to be born, we found that out, and now we're trying to figure out when the Christ was supposed to be born." So Herod goes, "Okay, here's the plan.
16:56-16:57
These guys are looking for Him.
16:57-17:07
I'll say, "Oh yeah, I want to worship Him too, so let me know when you find Him." So he sent them off to Bethlehem.
17:09-17:12
I imagine as they were going, they were wondering how in the world they were going to find Him.
17:12-17:14
I mean, Bethlehem was a small town.
17:14-17:18
It wasn't like Shekorah small, but it was a small town.
17:19-17:26
You don't just roll up and say, "Hey, where was the baby born?" Well, God had an answer for that. Look at verse 9.
17:27-17:33
"After listening to the king, they went on their way, and behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them.
17:33-17:39
The star showed back up," look at this, "until it came to rest over the place where the child was.
17:40-17:44
And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
17:44-17:52
The glory of the Lord appeared again and literally highlighted Jesus' address." Isn't that awesome?
17:53-17:58
God's like, "Right here! Here's where He is!" Awesome.
18:00-18:00
Look at verse 11.
18:02-18:11
"And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped Him.
18:11-18:24
Then opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh." Jesus was probably around six months old at this point.
18:25-18:32
At this point, these foreigners showed up to throw what was the weirdest baby shower ever.
18:35-18:36
But look at the gifts they brought.
18:36-18:43
It might seem weird to us, but when you stop and think about the gifts, they were all very significant.
18:44-18:45
First of all, they brought gold.
18:47-18:50
Gold is a gift appropriate for a king.
18:51-18:53
And they knew they were coming and looking for a king.
18:55-18:56
So they brought him gold.
18:57-18:59
Secondly, they brought him frankincense.
19:00-19:03
That was used in Old Testament worship on the altar of incense.
19:03-19:05
It was always burning.
19:05-19:10
And the smoke from the incense represents the prayers of God's people.
19:11-19:14
We talked about that briefly going through Revelation, didn't we?
19:14-19:16
that the incense smoke represents prayers.
19:17-19:20
Certainly much symbolism there concerning Jesus Christ.
19:21-19:28
But by far, the weirdest gift, at first, it appears the weirdest gift is myrrh.
19:28-19:29
Do you know what they used myrrh for?
19:31-19:32
Embalming dead people.
19:34-19:37
It was a spice used for embalming.
19:39-19:42
Now, I don't know what kind of goofy gifts you're going to get for Christmas this year.
19:43-19:53
But could you imagine giving birth to this child, and these people show up, and they say, "Congratulations, we brought you some formaldehyde.
19:56-20:03
Did you keep a gift receipt?" But you see, it's prophetic.
20:05-20:07
Not pathetic, it is prophetic.
20:09-20:12
Because that looks forward to the very reason that baby came.
20:12-20:18
And I know we don't like to think about this at Christmas time, but the reality is that baby came to die.
20:19-20:30
That baby came to suffer and die a horrible death on your behalf and on my behalf.
20:32-20:41
And that myrrh, that gift, was a God-ordained gift, looking forward to the reason He came.
20:42-20:44
Look at verses 12-16.
20:45-20:52
"And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they (the magi, the wise men) departed to their own country by another way.
20:53-21:14
And when they departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and said, 'Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remained there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.' And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod.
21:14-21:18
This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt.
21:19-21:27
'I called my son.' Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious.
21:29-21:49
He sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem, and in all that region, who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men." Obviously, all joking aside, this is horrific if we really stop and think about what happened here.
21:49-21:55
The government showed up at all of these people's houses.
21:56-22:03
Anybody that had a male baby two years or younger, and I believe Herod was just overshooting, I believe Jesus was about six months here, he wanted to be sure.
22:05-22:09
And look, you saw the kids' choir up here leading, they're going to be coming back up here in a couple of minutes.
22:10-22:14
Can you even wrap your brain around how vicious that is?
22:16-22:20
I mean, Herod knew roughly where he was going to be born because of the Scriptures.
22:21-22:24
He knew roughly when because of what he ascertained from the wise men.
22:26-22:30
that he just sent his people through there and said, "Look, you find a male baby two and under, you kill him.
22:31-22:43
Because I'm not going to have any competition for this King of the Jews title." Well, we started this by identifying three secondary characters who were in this account.
22:44-22:48
Herod, the chief priests, and the wise men.
22:50-22:56
As we close the message, I just want to remind you of the truth that you are one of the characters in this story.
22:58-22:59
So the question is, which character are you?
23:01-23:02
Which character are you?
23:04-23:07
Number one, if you're taking notes, are you Herod?
23:08-23:10
I'm king of my life, not Jesus.
23:12-23:13
Is that you?
23:15-23:23
Every year, every year, There's some group or another protesting something about Christmas, right?
23:24-23:26
You know what the latest was that I heard this year?
23:26-23:30
There was a school in Nebraska that banned candy canes.
23:30-23:31
Did you hear about this?
23:31-23:34
They banned candy canes! Do you know why they banned candy canes?
23:35-23:41
Because if you turn them upside down, they're in the shape of a J, and J stands for Jesus, and we can't have that in the school.
23:42-23:43
That's a true story.
23:45-23:49
It just gets dumber every year. It does.
23:50-23:53
But understand the root of it. The root of it.
23:54-23:59
It's not about the candy canes. It's about Jesus Christ.
23:59-24:03
Get rid of Jesus. Get rid of Jesus. Get rid of Jesus. Nothing new.
24:04-24:06
It all started with Herod.
24:08-24:12
He had the literal "Get rid of Jesus" campaign in the first century.
24:13-24:16
And Herod's story boils down really to one thing.
24:16-24:19
A self-proclaimed king scared to death of a baby.
24:20-24:21
That's Herod's story.
24:23-24:26
But you know, he was right to be concerned.
24:28-24:31
Because that baby became a man.
24:32-24:42
And about 30 years after this event, this man said things like this, "Deny yourself.
24:43-25:09
"Take up your cross and follow Me." That baby grew up to become a man who said things like, "Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sin." That baby grew up to become a man who said, "Whoever loses his life will find it." So Jesus Christ really is the biggest threat.
25:10-25:13
to anyone, to everyone.
25:15-25:18
Because when you encounter Jesus Christ, He goes right after your heart.
25:20-25:22
And the question is, who's going to rule your life?
25:24-25:26
Who's going to sit on the throne of your heart?
25:29-25:43
By nature, we say, "I do. Nobody tells me what to do." Well, Jesus says, "Your way is destroying you." Jesus says, "Come to Me for healing. Come to Me for life.
25:43-25:57
Come to Me and let Me change you." But when somebody would rather hold on to their sin than embrace Jesus Christ, they must eliminate Jesus.
26:00-26:05
By the way, you don't really eliminate Jesus Christ.
26:06-26:10
Oh, you can rebel. You can protest. You can debate.
26:10-26:16
You can try to drown Him out with the clamor of your selfishness.
26:16-26:20
You can try to crowd Him out with your sin.
26:22-26:24
But you're never going to eliminate Jesus Christ.
26:27-26:29
And like Herod, someday you will come face to face with Him.
26:32-26:46
Some people, if they're being honest, most identify with Herod in this account to say, "Hey, I'm the king, not Jesus." Number two, maybe you're one of the chief priests.
26:49-26:58
They said, "The king is born? Meh." I mean, think about it.
27:00-27:05
The chief priests and the scribes, more than anyone, should have known what was going on.
27:06-27:08
I mean, think about it from their perspective for a second.
27:10-27:15
Okay, the king calls you in because he's so rattled by something.
27:15-27:17
He says, "Hey, where's the Christ going to be born?
27:17-27:21
I need to know where the Christ is going to be born." Why do you need to know that?
27:21-27:43
"Because these people came from Medo-Persia and they're looking for Him." If you're one of the chief priests, wouldn't you be like, "Oh, tell me more about this." But they were like, "Oh yeah, Bethlehem, Micah 5, 2, peace out." Like, really? Really?
27:45-27:49
I mean, in their day, the chief priest - when we think priest, we think religious person.
27:49-28:02
But remember, in their day, the chief priest sort of ruled Israel under Rome's authority, And in this chapter of history, they were more concerned about their political position than they were spiritual matters.
28:03-28:04
Boy, does that sound familiar?
28:06-28:07
Does it sound familiar?
28:08-28:14
That people are more interested in politics and worldly things, and they just don't have any concern for the spiritual stuff.
28:14-28:15
Does that sound familiar to anybody?
28:18-28:21
And honestly, church, I think that's the biggest danger in our culture.
28:22-28:30
Because you're always going to have a few loudmouths barking their anti-Jesus stuff. You're always going to have those guys.
28:31-28:38
But much more so, you have people that just don't really care.
28:41-28:43
We go to church because it's part of the tradition.
28:45-28:47
It's part of the tradition like the trees.
28:49-28:53
I'm not looking at anyone in particular, but it's part of tradition, like the ugly sweaters.
28:56-29:03
But truth be told, if you were being completely honest, you would say, "You know, I really don't care about this Jesus stuff.
29:04-29:08
I mean, I'll do the Christmas church thing. How much longer do you think He's going to talk?
29:09-29:23
This Jesus isn't part of my life in any real practical way." And if you can honestly assess yourself and come to that conclusion, then you're just like the chief priests in this passage.
29:24-29:29
"Oh, yeah, okay, sure." They should have cared more than anybody.
29:32-29:32
But they didn't.
29:35-29:53
Or, and this is my hope for you, maybe you're like one of the wise men, And we'll say, "I will worship the King." "I will worship the King." Garvis Bible Chapel, the last couple of weeks, we've spent a lot of time talking about worship.
29:53-29:59
We've been in Revelation chapters 4 and 5, having a peek behind the curtain at heaven.
29:59-30:00
And do you know what's happening in heaven?
30:01-30:03
Like the same thing that's always happening.
30:03-30:05
The King of the universe is being glorified.
30:08-30:10
And as we look at this story and think, "You know what?
30:10-30:16
Yeah, that sounds great in heaven, but what does it mean for me now, here on the earth, to worship?
30:16-30:18
How can I worship?
30:18-30:20
How can I make worship a priority?
30:21-30:25
I just want to encourage you as I close, just do what the wise men did.
30:27-30:29
There's really three things that they did here I want you to see.
30:29-30:30
Number one, pursue Him.
30:32-30:34
Pursue Jesus Christ. Seek Him.
30:36-30:39
I love the diligence here of these wise men.
30:39-30:46
They traveled a thousand miles from Persia to Jerusalem looking for Jesus.
30:48-30:52
They traveled a thousand miles from Persia. Do you know what that means?
30:53-30:57
That means you should never complain about driving to church again.
31:00-31:05
But pursuing Jesus isn't about church attendance, right?
31:06-31:07
It's about seeking Him in prayer.
31:08-31:14
When was the last time you were on your face alone with God, crying out to Him in prayer?
31:14-31:15
When was the last time that happened?
31:17-31:19
Seeking Him means seeking Him in His Word.
31:22-31:31
God's not going to shine His light over and address again for us to find Jesus, because God's given us a book so that we might find Jesus.
31:33-31:39
And if you don't have one of these, take the one that's in the chair in front of you.
31:39-31:40
That's our gift to you.
31:42-31:48
But that's the means by which we have been given to seek Jesus Christ.
31:50-31:53
Pursue Him with a community of believers.
31:54-31:57
God doesn't call any of us to seek the Lord on our own.
32:00-32:05
Get involved in a church full of authentic believers that are seeking the Lord.
32:06-32:07
Pursue Him.
32:09-32:12
I will worship the King, number two. How do we do that?
32:13-32:15
Humble yourself before Him.
32:17-32:18
Humble yourself before Him.
32:20-32:29
Do you notice in verse 2, they said, "We have come to worship Him." Verse 11 tells us that when they saw Jesus, they fell down in reverence before Him.
32:30-32:41
The word for "worship" in the Greek literally means "stoop to kiss." And it was the picture of what somebody did when they encountered the king.
32:42-32:50
When you saw the king, you got down and you kissed the top of his foot as reverence.
32:50-32:55
That's the word "worship." But that requires humility.
32:58-32:59
So forget the elf on the shelf.
33:01-33:02
Put yourself on the shelf.
33:05-33:07
Because worship always starts with humility.
33:08-33:12
Because He is God, and I am not.
33:14-33:18
Humble yourself before Him, and finally give to Him.
33:20-33:23
Give to Him. Certainly we give our time, we give our service.
33:25-33:27
But you see, material giving is always a part of worship.
33:30-33:33
That's not really a hard sell at Christmas time, is it?
33:33-33:38
We're very familiar with the concept that giving is an act of love, right?
33:40-33:43
But when you give to God, it's also an act of worship.
33:46-33:47
So don't myth Christmas.
33:49-33:51
Nor do I want you to miss Christmas.
33:53-34:06
So you can be Herod or a lesser Scrooge, and just be dead set against celebrating anything that has to do with God becoming a man, Jesus' birth, dead set against it.
34:07-34:13
You can be a chief priest and just not care enough to make the time for Jesus.
34:14-34:26
Or, you can be a wise man or a wise woman, and recognize and love Jesus Christ for who He is.
34:27-34:31
Which always, always, always leads you to worship.
34:32-34:33
Let's pray.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 2:1-16

GROUP

What surprised you the most about the story of the Wise Men and Herod? What myths have you believed about this account (e.g., there were three of them, they were there right when Jesus was born, etc)?
What is the significance of the gifts given in Matt 2:11? Why is giving a part of worship?

BREAKOUT

Pray for one another!

Jeff Miller

December 23, 2018

Holiday

Don't Myth Christmas - Part 1

Jeff Miller

December 23, 2018

Holiday

Intro:

John 8:41 - ...They said to him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father--even God."

Why I Believe Jesus Was Born of a Virgin:

It is the Straightforward teaching of scripture.
Genesis 3:15 - I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring...
God is Able to do it.
Luke 1:37 - Nothing will be impossible with God.
It is Essential for salvation.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:40-00:43
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to Matthew 1.
00:44-00:48
We are taking a little break from our series in Revelation.
00:49-01:10
And today and tomorrow night, we're doing just a little two-part series called "Don't Myth Christmas." You know, several years ago, my son Cade got kicked in the face by a horse and launched, how far? 15, 20 feet, full flip in the air, landed on his face.
01:11-01:11
Horrific.
01:12-01:17
Long story short, taken to Children's Hospital in the trauma unit overnight.
01:17-01:22
The next morning, he jumped out of bed and acted like nothing happened.
01:22-01:25
It was a miracle from God Himself.
01:25-01:48
There were other doctors and nurses, remember Aaron, they would stop by our room, and Cade's playing and dancing and singing, being his goofy self, and they're like, "Excuse me, is this the little boy that was kicked in the face by the horse?" "Yeah, that's him." "And when did that happen?" "Last night." And they were just like, "It is an absolute miracle." And I've got to tell you, it absolutely was.
01:49-01:52
But if I told you that story every week...
01:52-01:54
I mean, now, some of you knew that story, right?
01:54-01:58
And some of you I can see by your faces, you're like, "Holy cow, tell us more." Okay, you know, I'll tell you more later.
01:58-02:07
But if I told you that story every single week, I imagine after a while, you'd be like, "Oh, here comes that horse story again. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:07-02:13
Yeah, we kicked in the face and launched from 15 or 20 feet, and yeah, in the trauma unit, up the next morning.
02:13-02:15
Yeah, we've heard this story before.
02:16-02:18
And what time is it? Where are we going to go to lunch?
02:20-02:32
And stop picking on your sister." And I'll be honest with you, Christmas can be tough to preach because I feel that a lot of times that's how people approach the Christmas story.
02:32-02:59
That it's so overly familiar that I think some people are like, "Okay, we're going to get gussied up, put on our best red and black checkered shirt, and we're going to go to church, and we're going to hear this story about something about angels and wise men and shepherds and babies and heard it before, heard it before." You know, there's just not a lot of material to draw from in the Bible when it comes to the birth of Jesus.
03:00-03:08
Easter, there's a lot of stuff we can talk about with the death and resurrection of Jesus and all of the implications and everything it means.
03:09-03:13
But when it comes to Jesus' birth, there's just not a lot of material in the Bible about His birth.
03:13-03:16
It's like, "What do I want to preach on this year? Matthew or Luke." Right?
03:17-03:29
Well, like a lot of stories, like a lot of true stories, So over time, some myths sort of get sprinkled in, maybe spice it up a little bit, right?
03:29-03:36
Maybe add some stuff to the story, and over time, the myths get taught as fact.
03:37-03:37
Right?
03:37-03:42
And I think that that happens with the story of Jesus' birth probably more than anything.
03:42-03:54
We just start adding stuff to it, adding stuff to it, adding stuff to it, and now we're not 100% sure everything that actually did happen and what I might have seen on a Hallmark movie.
03:55-04:28
I had a good friend, he passed away this past year, but I shared the gospel with him so many times, and his health was very bad near the end, and I think the Lord was starting to turn the lights on, and we would have spiritual conversations, and I remember so often he would say, You know, some people don't have a lot of money to give to the church, but I think we can all learn a lesson from the little drummer boy who didn't have money to give to Jesus, but he played his drum for Jesus.
04:28-04:30
And I think we can all learn a lesson from that.
04:31-04:47
And I would say, "You know that that's not a true story, right?" And no joke, he would say to me, "Jeff, I am shocked that you as a pastor would not believe." I'm like, "What, that I would not believe a story that's not in the Bible?" "I can't believe what I'm hearing you say!
04:49-05:16
As a pastor, I would expect you to believe!" And I think he died believing that when Jesus was born, there was some kid standing there, "Durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr And that's this. Joseph was Jesus' dad.
05:16-05:21
And the virgin birth part of the story, it just isn't true.
05:21-05:25
It was just sort of added in later, and Joseph was really Jesus' dad.
05:26-05:28
That is the biggest myth that gets pushed at Christmas.
05:29-05:31
And we certainly don't want to myth Christmas, do we?
05:31-05:33
So let's get back to the source material.
05:33-05:36
Look at Matthew 1. We're gonna pick up in verse 18.
05:37-05:43
It says, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way." Just underline that in your Bible in this way.
05:44-05:48
Okay, not according to the myths you might have heard, according to this way.
05:49-05:53
When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph...
05:53-05:55
Let's stop right there. What do you mean betrothed?
05:55-05:58
Well, there were actually two stages of a Jewish wedding.
05:59-06:01
There was the Kedushin and the Huppah.
06:01-06:03
The Kedushin was the engagement.
06:04-06:05
It was a little different than in our culture.
06:05-06:10
You actually had families that would draw up a contract, and the couple was legally married.
06:10-06:14
They didn't have any contact with each other during the betrothal.
06:14-06:25
But this period, which would be 6 to 12 months usually, it would prove that she wasn't pregnant, and it would prove that he was hard working, as he would go off to set up their place to live.
06:26-06:29
That when wedding day actually came, he had a place to take her.
06:30-06:33
It was much more serious than engagements in our culture.
06:33-06:37
In our culture, you get engaged, you decide to break it off, you break it off.
06:37-06:45
And this culture, because the family entered into contracts with each other, it actually required a legal divorce to end the engagement.
06:46-06:47
So hold on to that thought for a second.
06:48-06:53
So you had the Kedushin or the engagement to betrothal, you had the chuppah, that was the wedding.
06:53-06:55
And the wedding lasted seven days.
06:56-06:58
Wedding and wedding feast, wedding reception.
06:58-07:07
I don't know if they had a cookie table at these weddings, but Pittsburghers have a hard time imagining a wedding without one, don't we?
07:07-07:09
But we have Joseph's dilemma here.
07:09-07:15
That they were betrothed, they were engaged, they were legally married, but not yet together.
07:16-07:28
Look at verse 18, "Before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit." And you've got to admit, that would have been a very tough one for Joseph to hear.
07:28-07:41
Mary says, "Joseph, I'm pregnant." "Oh." And you know the first question, "Who's the father?" She's like, "Well, it's God." That had to have been tough, right?
07:43-07:46
I mean, if we're going to be honest, that sounds a little crazy, doesn't it?
07:46-07:48
Or the world's worst lie?
07:49-07:50
Look at verse 19.
07:50-08:01
It says, "And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly." So Joseph said, "Look, we're going to get a divorce for sure.
08:02-08:10
I'm engaged to this woman that says she's pregnant and she says that God caused it.
08:10-08:12
Like, it's got to be over.
08:13-08:16
And they had two options for divorce. They could have had a public divorce.
08:17-08:19
And you can see how a man feeling betrayed would opt for this.
08:20-08:22
It was public shaming in a public court.
08:22-08:25
But the other option was private. It was just two or three witnesses.
08:25-08:27
It was done in secret. No one needs to know.
08:28-08:33
and your Bible says that Joseph was a just man, and he was a compassionate man.
08:33-08:42
That whether he thought she was lying or whether he thought she was crazy, or he didn't know what to think, he goes, "Look, you know what? I love her." Just do this quietly, right?
08:43-08:47
It would have taken a message from God Himself to change Joseph's mind.
08:48-08:50
That's exactly what he got. Look at verse 20.
08:50-09:08
It says, "But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit." So you see, Joseph had Mary's condition confirmed.
09:09-09:11
These were the days before Maury Povich, right?
09:12-09:19
Like, "Joseph, you are not the father!" And he's running around, "Yeah, I knew it! I knew it!" Like, wait, wait, wait, wait. What does that mean?
09:20-09:21
That Mary's condition was confirmed.
09:22-09:24
that the Lord sent an angel to Saint Joseph.
09:24-09:25
She's telling the truth.
09:26-09:27
Look at verse 21.
09:27-09:37
It says, "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." God wasn't going to take any chance on the name.
09:37-09:40
I worked with a girl when I was working through college.
09:40-09:43
I worked at a local Walmart, and I worked with this girl.
09:44-09:46
She had a very unusually spelled name.
09:46-09:48
And I heard somebody reference her one time.
09:48-10:04
They said, "You need to go ask Lori." And I said, "Well, who's Lori?" And they said, "You know Lori. She has the curly hair and the glasses." And I'm like, "No, I don't know who that is." You know, she works back in the crafts department. I was just drawing a complete blank until I realized who they were talking about.
10:04-10:11
I brought it up to her. I said, "Lori, you have a very unusual spelling for your name." Like, how did that happen?
10:11-10:18
I thought there was some, like, you know, family story or it was some ethnic or cultural thing.
10:18-10:36
I was expecting some really fantastic story, and she said, "My dad was drunk when I was born, and when he was filling out the paperwork, he didn't know how to spell 'Laurie.'" So her name was literally spelled L-O-R-E-R-I-E.
10:37-10:41
"Laurie." Well, not implying that Joseph was in such a condition when he was naming.
10:42-10:43
But you see, the Lord wasn't taking any chances.
10:44-10:46
This child has to have the perfect name.
10:47-10:49
A name that's not arbitrary.
10:49-10:53
"Yeah, that sounds nice. I think I'll go with that." It wasn't a family name.
10:54-10:56
You're the fourth Richard born in our family.
10:56-10:59
It wasn't a trendy name like a lot of babies are named today.
11:00-11:05
What's popular, when God names, He names by defining the person.
11:06-11:07
Did you see that?
11:07-11:19
"You will call His name Jesus." The name Jesus, Yeshua or Joshua means "the Lord saves." "You will call this child 'the Lord saves.'" Why? For He will save His people from their sins.
11:20-11:31
So Mary was told that God would deliver a baby through her, and Joseph was informed, and then Matthew reminds us that we were all told long before this event back in Isaiah 7.14.
11:32-11:49
It says, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which means 'God with us.'" "Emanu" means "with us" in Hebrew. "El" is "God." So literally, "with us" is God.
11:49-11:53
That God would literally and physically be with us.
11:53-11:55
Then we see Joseph was obedient.
11:55-11:59
Verses 24 and 25, "When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.
11:59-12:09
He took his wife, but knew her not, until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus." The question is, was Jesus really born of a virgin?
12:10-12:29
And I wish I could say, "Well, you know, it was awkward for Mary and Joseph at first, but eventually, after a while, everyone sort of accepted it, and this issue never went away. It never did." Jesus himself apparently had people who would fire shots at him over this.
12:29-12:40
John 8:41, in a confrontation with the Pharisees, the Pharisees said to Jesus, We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, even God.
12:41-12:45
It remained a focal point of controversy throughout history.
12:45-13:04
There was somewhere around the 12th century, this cult came up with this thing, this idea that spread, that Mary, actually her neighbor came in at night and visited her and had relations with her, and because it was night and dark, she thought it was Joseph.
13:05-13:08
And then when she was pregnant, Joseph knew that it wasn't him.
13:08-13:13
So Joseph, after the baby was born, he took off because he knew it wasn't his baby.
13:13-13:16
And that silly belief spread.
13:16-13:21
But the sad thing, churches, it's not just with non-believers and cults.
13:21-13:30
Even pastors and churches and denominations drift away from this idea that Jesus Christ was literally born to a virgin.
13:30-13:56
I read an article this past week about an extremely well-known pastor, I'm not going to mention his name, but in 2016 he said this, "If somebody can predict their own death and resurrection, I'm not at all concerned about how they got into the world," this pastor said in a December 4th sermon at his church, which draws 36,000 attendees across six locations in suburban, you know, his town.
13:56-14:05
He says, "Christianity doesn't hinge on the truth or even the stories around the birth of Jesus, it hinges on the resurrection of Jesus.
14:06-14:10
And like a lot of people, this pastor sees the virgin birth of Christ as a minor point.
14:10-14:21
It's not really important if Jesus was born of a virgin, but the truth is, whatever you're celebrating at Christmas this year, this is the most important point.
14:21-14:25
That Jesus Christ was literally born of a virgin.
14:25-14:30
So today for a couple minutes I just want to share with you why I believe Jesus was born of a virgin.
14:31-14:35
So taking notes, write this down. Number one, it is the straightforward teaching of Scripture.
14:35-14:37
It's the straightforward teaching of Scripture.
14:38-14:45
For people to deny that Jesus was born of a virgin, they have to sort of do some hermeneutic acrobatics.
14:45-14:55
But if you're going to read and believe the Bible straightforwardly, It says that the Savior, Jesus Christ, was born to a woman that had not ever been with a man.
14:56-14:59
One of the objections I'm sure you've heard, I've heard it many times.
14:59-15:03
People say, "You know, when the Bible says 'virgin,' you know that word 'virgin'?
15:03-15:10
You know, you could translate that to mean 'young maiden' or 'young woman.' You know, that word can be translated that way, you know?
15:10-15:12
It could just mean a young woman, you know?
15:13-15:13
It could mean that.
15:14-15:18
But then I go back to Matthew here, and Matthew points out verse 18.
15:18-15:37
He points out, "Before they came together," then verse 25, he says, "But Joseph knew her not "until she had given birth to a son." And I read this and I think, well, if Matthew was going to communicate that Mary was actually a virgin, what else could he have said other than what he said?
15:38-15:43
And he quoted Isaiah 7.14, which becomes a center point for a lot of this.
15:44-15:46
Well, virgin can just mean a young woman.
15:47-15:52
But when you think about it, if you're going to hold to that interpretation, that makes Isaiah 7.14 pretty silly.
15:53-15:53
Let me explain.
15:54-16:05
If you go back to Isaiah 7.14, the context here, Israel was afraid that Syria was going to come through and wipe out the kingly line of Israel.
16:06-16:18
They were afraid. They're like, "If our kingly line is going to end, Syria's going to come through, it's all going to be over." And God was reassuring Israel by saying, Listen, here's a sign that the kingly line is always going to continue.
16:18-16:20
Here's the sign. You ready for a sign?
16:20-16:21
The sign is this.
16:22-16:24
A day is going to come that a virgin is going to give birth.
16:25-16:28
And that's going to be a sign that Israel, you're always going to have a king.
16:28-16:36
So, if "virgin" means "young woman," like some people claim, my question is, what kind of a sign is that?
16:37-16:41
That the Lord's like, "Hey, I've got a sign for you." You ready for this sign? It's going to blow your minds.
16:42-16:43
A woman's going to give birth.
16:43-16:52
"Whoa! I've never heard of such a thing!" That's not a sign. Did you notice it happens everywhere all the time?
16:54-16:57
Did you notice our nursery, our toddler room?
16:58-17:00
It's not a rare occurrence that a woman has a child.
17:01-17:04
But I'll tell you what is rare, a virgin having a child.
17:04-17:05
That's the sign.
17:06-17:08
And church, it all boils down to the integrity of God's Word, right?
17:08-17:11
It's the bottom line of everything we believe.
17:11-17:22
If you don't want to trust God, but you don't want to outright deny the Bible, you're going to start trying to intellectualize the Bible by reinterpreting some very clear passages.
17:23-17:26
So look, if you don't want to believe the Bible, that's your decision.
17:26-17:28
But don't try to make it say something else.
17:29-17:33
God said what He meant, and He meant what He said. Amen?
17:34-17:38
And He said very clearly that the Savior was going to be born to a virgin woman.
17:39-17:40
So it's a straightforward teaching of Scripture.
17:40-17:45
Number two, "God is able to do it." God is able to do it.
17:45-17:52
I mean, hearing this, you're like, "It's pretty far-fetched that a virgin would give birth." Do you think it's far-fetched?
17:52-17:53
Do you think it's far-fetched?
17:53-17:55
I'll tell you somebody who thought it was far-fetched.
17:55-17:56
Mary.
17:57-17:59
Mary thought it was the craziest thing she ever heard.
17:59-18:01
Luke 1.34, do you remember what she said?
18:02-18:07
She said, "How can this be? I'm a virgin." She's like, "I've never been with a guy.
18:08-18:16
How can it be?" Which, by the way, if you're still holding to that "virgin could mean young woman" thing, that makes Mary's statements sound pretty silly, huh?
18:17-18:21
"I'm going to have a baby. How can it be? I'm a woman." Well, men don't do it.
18:22-18:26
But do you remember what the angel responded, Gabriel responded, Luke 1.37?
18:27-18:32
He said this, "Nothing will be impossible with God." Nothing will be impossible with God.
18:32-18:34
And that's just theology 101.
18:35-18:38
that God is able to accomplish anything.
18:38-18:41
And He always does what He promises.
18:41-18:48
It's just so interesting to me that you look at some of the miracles in the Bible and the level of controversy that surrounds them.
18:49-18:59
There are people that don't struggle with "God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites," or "Jesus fed the 5,000 men plus the women and children." Like, I don't have any problem with that.
19:00-19:06
But then you get to this idea of "Jesus was virgin-born," and then all of a sudden we have all these objections and all this...
19:06-19:07
Like that's the line that's too hard for God.
19:08-19:09
I read a story this week.
19:09-19:17
One day C.S. Lewis was sitting in his office in the English department when a friend who was an unbeliever wandered in.
19:17-19:29
There were carolers below in the courtyard singing Christmas carols and the two were speaking and they could hear the carolers singing a Christmas carol that contained words about Jesus' virgin birth.
19:29-19:58
The unbelieving friend said to C.S. Lewis, "Isn't it good that we now know better than they did?" And C.S. Lewis said, "What do you mean?" And his friend replied, "Well, isn't it good that we now know more than they did?" And C.S. Lewis said, "I'm afraid you'll have to explain." And his friend says, "Well, isn't it good that we now know that virgins don't have babies?" And C.S. Lewis looked at his friend incredulously and said, "Don't you think that they knew that?" That was the whole point.
19:59-20:00
God is able to do it.
20:00-20:02
So it's straightforward teaching of Scripture.
20:02-20:03
God is able to do it.
20:03-20:05
And finally, it is essential for salvation.
20:05-20:09
Jesus had to be fully God and fully man both.
20:09-20:12
Why? Because it was man who brought sin into the world.
20:13-20:16
It would require a man to bear the punishment for sin.
20:17-20:27
But, He also had to be God in order to be sinless and offer a perfect sacrifice once and for all that would save all who would believe.
20:27-20:40
Because if Jesus Christ just had two human parents, if you're going to buy the myth that Joseph was Jesus' dad, then the sad reality is Jesus Christ was just another human being, and he was no different than you or I.
20:40-20:58
You know, think of that famous pastor that says, "Christianity doesn't hinge on the truth, or even the stories around the birth of Jesus, it hinges on the resurrection of Jesus." If Jesus Christ wasn't fully God and fully man in the manger, He wasn't fully God and fully man when He was on the cross.
20:58-21:05
And if He wasn't fully God and fully man when He was on the cross, then His death on the cross didn't mean anything.
21:06-21:11
You know, there's something about the Nativity scene that sort of fills us with hope.
21:11-21:46
I think sometimes we sort of reduce the Nativity scene to this story of this poor pregnant woman who overcame the odds and the obstacles and made it in time to give birth and we just sort of leave it at that. That the nativity scene is about a young couple that overcame tremendous obstacles. But this year I want to encourage you don't myth Christmas. This is the story of God himself becoming a man, entering the world in a most unexpected way, ultimately, to save you from your sins.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 1:18-25

GROUP

Why is the virgin birth an essential doctrine of our faith? What would it mean if Jesus WAS just “Joseph’s son”?
Why do you think so many churches / pastors / Christians deny the straightforward teaching of God’s Word regarding the virgin birth? What reasons would motivate someone to deny it?

BREAKOUT

Pray for one another!

Jeff Miller

December 24, 2017

Holiday

Did Jesus Find You?

Jeff Miller

December 24, 2017

Holiday

Introduction:

Two Signs that Jesus is Pursuing You (Luke 2:12):

Wrapped in swaddling cloths = Why He came: He has come to Die.

Lying in a manger = How He came: He has come in Humility.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Reader 1:
00:49-00:57
The promise of Jesus Christ was first given in the Garden of Eden, immediately following Adam and Eve disobeying God and bringing sin into the world.
Reader 1:
00:58-01:01
They were tempted to sin by Satan in the form of a serpent.
Reader 1:
01:01-01:05
Pronouncing Satan's defeat, God announced the means to his defeat.
Reader 1:
01:06-01:13
The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beast of the field.
Reader 1:
01:14-01:18
On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
Reader 1:
01:18-01:23
I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring.
Reader 1:
01:23-01:26
He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
Reader 2:
01:28-01:46
God's promise of the coming Christ was further clarified when he promised Abraham that the blessing of the coming Christ that would be for all the earth would come through Abraham's offspring.
Reader 3:
01:48-01:50
Genesis 12, one through three.
Reader 3:
01:50-02:04
The Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country "and your kindred and your father's house "to the land that I will show you, "and I will make of you a great nation, "and I will bless you and make your name great "so that you will be a blessing.
Reader 3:
02:05-02:18
"I will bless those who bless you, "and him who dishonors you I will curse, "and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." - In the days of Moses leading the Israelites
Reader 4:
02:15-02:22
As God brought them out of Egypt, the Lord made another promise regarding the coming Christ.
Reader 4:
02:23-02:32
In Deuteronomy 18.15 it says, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers.
Reader 4:
02:32-02:35
It is to him you shall listen."
Reader 5:
02:36-02:45
Isaiah the prophet gives one of the most famous portraits of the coming Christ concerning his birth, his titles, and his authority.
Reader 5:
02:46-03:22
Isaiah 9, 6, and 7. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it, With justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Reader 6:
03:24-03:36
After nearly 400 years of silence, God's promise of the coming Christ was fulfilled in the most spectacular way. A young Jewish virgin named Mary was told she would give birth to the Christ.
Reader 7:
03:38-03:41
Matthew chapter one, verses 18 through 23.
Reader 7:
03:42-03:45
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.
Reader 7:
03:45-03:53
When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with Chau, from the Holy Spirit.
Reader 7:
03:53-04:00
And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
Reader 7:
04:01-04:39
But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.
Reader 8:
04:41-05:29
Day of Christ's birth came and God in his providence arranged for the Christ to be born in Bethlehem as promised. Luke chapter 2 verses 1 through 7. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to be registered each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary his betrothed who was with child. While they were there the time came for her to give birth and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.
Reader 9:
05:30-06:00
The Christ was finally here and God chose the most unlikely group on the earth to be the first to receive the news. A group of shepherds. Luke chapter 2 verses 8 through 20 says, "And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were were filled with great fear.
Reader 9:
06:01-06:09
And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Reader 9:
06:10-06:16
For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
Reader 9:
06:16-06:18
And this will be a sign for you.
Reader 9:
06:19-06:53
You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased." When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the a baby lying in a manger.
Reader 9:
06:54-06:59
And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
Reader 9:
07:00-07:03
And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
Reader 9:
07:04-07:09
But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
Reader 9:
07:09-07:16
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them.
Pastor Jeff:
07:18-07:21
Grab your Bibles and turn with me again Luke 2.
Pastor Jeff:
07:23-07:32
You know when babies are born, the adults, we are awfully quick to validate ourselves with the attire, aren't we?
Pastor Jeff:
07:35-07:45
I mean the clothes that we put on the baby, the shirts that say "I love my dad." Who do you think got the baby that shirt?
Pastor Jeff:
07:47-08:01
"I love my grandma." "Ah, I love my aunt, I love my neighbor, I love my Toyota dealer." Look, that baby doesn't know any of you, okay?
Pastor Jeff:
08:02-08:07
With the exception of mom and dad kind of as an acquaintance at this point.
Pastor Jeff:
08:09-08:13
But this is a season about a baby.
Pastor Jeff:
08:15-08:26
Luke 2, picking up in verse 8 again, "In the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
Pastor Jeff:
08:26-08:34
And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.
Pastor Jeff:
08:36-08:43
The angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will will be for all the people.
Pastor Jeff:
08:44-08:51
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
Pastor Jeff:
08:53-08:57
And this will be a sign for you.
Pastor Jeff:
08:57-09:02
You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
Pastor Jeff:
09:04-09:11
As we discussed this morning, the shepherds, they were given an announcement And they were given a sign.
Pastor Jeff:
09:12-09:19
And verse 12 tells us that that's all wrapped around, pun intended, this baby.
Pastor Jeff:
09:22-09:24
The angel said this baby's going to be born.
Pastor Jeff:
09:24-09:28
Well, babies are born everywhere, every day.
Pastor Jeff:
09:29-09:29
Right?
Pastor Jeff:
09:30-09:35
If you don't believe that, come here on a Sunday morning and just ask permission to poke your head in this room back here.
Pastor Jeff:
09:36-09:38
You're going to see lots of babies are being born.
Pastor Jeff:
09:40-09:42
So can you be more specific?
Pastor Jeff:
09:42-09:44
Well there were two things they were to look for.
Pastor Jeff:
09:44-09:45
Did you see it in verse 12?
Pastor Jeff:
09:47-09:51
Number one, wrapped in swaddling cloths.
Pastor Jeff:
09:52-09:53
What kind of a sign is that?
Pastor Jeff:
09:54-09:55
What is that pointing to?
Pastor Jeff:
09:57-10:00
Well the swaddling cloths actually point to why Jesus came.
Pastor Jeff:
10:02-10:06
I just read this about three weeks ago, and it just completely blew my mind.
Pastor Jeff:
10:06-10:08
I'd never heard this before.
Pastor Jeff:
10:11-10:15
But traveling in that day was extremely dangerous.
Pastor Jeff:
10:16-10:19
And many people did not survive the trip.
Pastor Jeff:
10:20-10:25
So I'd read that travelers would often take strips of cloth with them on their journey.
Pastor Jeff:
10:25-11:06
In case one of them died, it was a way of wrapping the body in order to transport it for burial. So more than likely, the cloths that Jesus was wrapped in as a baby were intended to wrap a dead body. That's why this was a sign. It wasn't just a baby wrapped up. We wrap up babies all the time. This baby was to be wrapped up in particular cloths. So cloths for the dead lying in a manger.
Pastor Jeff:
11:07-11:09
Well that narrows it down a bit, doesn't it?
Pastor Jeff:
11:10-11:16
I don't imagine in Bethlehem in this day there were too many babies wrapped in burial cloths and laying in a feeding trough.
Pastor Jeff:
11:16-11:19
But let's talk about that second sign, let's talk about the manger.
Pastor Jeff:
11:20-11:21
What is that pointing to?
Pastor Jeff:
11:23-11:32
I know a barn isn't a great place to spend the night, let alone give birth.
Pastor Jeff:
11:34-11:36
But that manger points to how He came.
Pastor Jeff:
11:37-11:38
He came in humility.
Pastor Jeff:
11:40-11:46
Jesus Christ left His throne in heaven to humble Himself to be among us.
Pastor Jeff:
11:48-11:50
The manger says He has come in humility.
Pastor Jeff:
11:50-11:52
The clothes point to His mission.
Pastor Jeff:
11:53-12:01
has come to die, the baby was born to suffer and die for your sins and for my sins.
Pastor Jeff:
12:01-12:08
So the shepherds, as we saw in this short movie, the shepherds were searching, right?
Pastor Jeff:
12:09-12:10
The shepherds were searching.
Pastor Jeff:
12:11-12:14
But let's be honest, we've all heard that sermon, haven't we?
Pastor Jeff:
12:15-12:16
The shepherds were searching for the Messiah.
Pastor Jeff:
12:17-12:18
We've heard that sermon.
Pastor Jeff:
12:18-12:20
We gave that sermon this morning, right?
Pastor Jeff:
12:21-12:24
And it's true, the shepherds were searching, the shepherds were searching.
Pastor Jeff:
12:25-12:26
Everyone's heard a sermon on that.
Pastor Jeff:
12:26-12:35
But so much more, the story of the shepherds, the story of Christmas, is that Jesus is searching for you.
Pastor Jeff:
12:37-12:47
You see, on one hand, we, as the humans, sort of identify with the other humans in the story to say, "Yeah, the humans went and searched, but let's take a big step back.
Pastor Jeff:
12:47-12:54
Who was really searching for who in this story?" God initiated all of this.
Pastor Jeff:
12:56-13:06
The angels appeared, the angels brought the news, they named the place, they gave the sign, the Lord shows up, not because man was looking for Him and couldn't find Him.
Pastor Jeff:
13:08-13:10
In fact, the Bible says that man's not looking for God at all.
Pastor Jeff:
13:12-13:16
The Lord showed up because He was pursuing us.
Pastor Jeff:
13:18-13:20
He was pursuing us with love.
Pastor Jeff:
13:22-13:24
He was pursuing us with mercy.
Pastor Jeff:
13:25-13:28
He was pursuing us with forgiveness.
Pastor Jeff:
13:30-13:31
He was pursuing us with grace.
Pastor Jeff:
13:33-13:38
You know that baby that was laying in that manger, he grew up to be a man.
Pastor Jeff:
13:40-13:47
And if you flip over in your Bible a few pages, actually to Luke chapter 19 and verse 10, you'll see something that that man said.
Pastor Jeff:
13:47-14:01
He said, "I came to seek and to save the lost." So maybe someone here tonight is lost.
Pastor Jeff:
14:03-14:04
Maybe someone here tonight is saying, "You know what?
Pastor Jeff:
14:05-14:09
I have made a mess of my life.
Pastor Jeff:
14:11-14:12
Jesus must be mad at me.
Pastor Jeff:
14:13-14:16
Jesus must really be disappointed on me.
Pastor Jeff:
14:16-14:23
In fact, I think Jesus, maybe even He turned His back on me because of all the stupid stuff that I've done.
Pastor Jeff:
14:25-14:26
Well, I got good news for you.
Pastor Jeff:
14:27-14:30
The story of Christmas is that Jesus is searching for you.
Pastor Jeff:
14:32-14:34
Because the reality is we've all made a mess of our lives.
Pastor Jeff:
14:36-14:39
And the Lord has come to fix that.
Pastor Jeff:
14:40-14:45
So maybe tonight it's time for you to stop running from Jesus and to run to Him.
Pastor Jeff:
14:46-14:49
And when you run to Him, you will find forgiveness.
Pastor Jeff:
14:50-14:51
You will find love.
Pastor Jeff:
14:51-14:53
You will find the joy that was promised to these shepherds.
Pastor Jeff:
14:54-15:01
And when you run to Him, you'll find that He's actually been searching for you the whole time.
Pastor Jeff:
15:03-15:07
So are you looking for a sign from God tonight?
Pastor Jeff:
15:09-15:10
Right here we have a sign.
Pastor Jeff:
15:11-15:12
He's after you.
Pastor Jeff:
15:13-15:18
The manger says that He humbled Himself to be here personally.
Pastor Jeff:
15:19-15:24
And the swaddling cloths say that He came to die for you.
Pastor Jeff:
15:26-15:27
I want you to bow your heads with me please.
Pastor Jeff:
15:29-15:54
Father in heaven, as we come before You tonight, and as we watch a portrayal of what this may have looked like, I pray, Father, that You would grip our hearts again with the reality that the Messiah has come, Jesus Christ has come, because You love us.
Pastor Jeff:
15:56-16:00
And He has come to save us from our own sin.
Pastor Jeff:
16:01-16:05
Father, I pray for the person here tonight who feels like their life is too much of a mess.
Pastor Jeff:
16:06-16:07
Who feels like they've gone too far.
Pastor Jeff:
16:08-16:12
I pray for the person here tonight feels like they can't be forgiven.
Pastor Jeff:
16:12-16:19
I pray, Father, that they would see the magnitude of what you've accomplished.
Pastor Jeff:
16:19-16:29
They would see the awesome reality that it all started with a baby being born and laid in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Pastor Jeff:
16:30-16:36
God, show the glorious truth that Your grace is greater than any sin that we've committed.
Pastor Jeff:
16:36-16:42
You stand ready to love, ready to forgive.
Pastor Jeff:
16:43-16:45
We thank You for the message, Father.
Pastor Jeff:
16:47-16:52
The message we celebrate this Christmas season is that You, in fact, are searching for us.
Pastor Jeff:
16:53-16:54
Thank You, Father.
Pastor Jeff:
16:56-16:57
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Pastor Jeff:
16:58-16:58
Amen.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Luke 2:1-20

What distractions keep you from seeking Christ as you should?
What is the biggest way Jesus changed you when you found Him?
What was your big "take-away" from this passage / message? What did you learn that you didn't know before?

Breakout Questions:

Pray for one another to continually be seekers of Christ.

Jesus Christ: Raised for our Justification

Five Unanswerable Questions:

Jesus Christ: Delivered Up for Our Trespasses

4 Truths About Your Sin Diagnosis:

Don't Myth Christmas - Part 2

Intro:

Which Character Are You? (Matt 2:1-16)

Don't Myth Christmas - Part 1

Intro:

Why I Believe Jesus Was Born of a Virgin:

Did Jesus Find You?

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

Five Unanswerable Questions:

Audio Transcript

4 Truths About Your Sin Diagnosis:

Audio Transcript

Intro:

Which Character Are You? (Matt 2:1-16)

Audio Transcript

Intro:

Why I Believe Jesus Was Born of a Virgin:

Audio Transcript

Audio Transcript