Baby's First Christmas - The Perks of Waiting

Introduction:

What Happens to Me When I Wait on the Lord (Luke 2:36-38)

1. My Woes become Small . (Luke 2:36-37)
2. My Worship becomes Authentic . (Luke 2:37)

3. My Witnessing becomes Natural . (Luke 2:38)
4. My Waiting becomes Worth it. (Luke 2:38)

Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:02

  Open your Bibles up to Luke 2.

  00:05-00:09

  If you do not have a Bible, you are welcome to the one that's in the seat in front of you.

  00:09-00:14

  You can keep that as a gift from your friends at Harvest Bible Shop.

  00:18-00:19

  Luke 2.

  00:26-00:30

  While you're turning there, let me ask you, what's the worst part of Christmas?

  00:37-00:38

  Having to clean up?

  00:39-00:40

  I'm sure you have a lot of people with you on that one.

  00:45-00:49

  You know what, let's just, we'll just go around the room and everyone can give their own answer.

  00:50-00:50

  I love it.

  00:51-00:51

  I love it.

  00:54-00:59

  And some of you right now are like, man, that is like really grinchy of you to come out of the gate, like for Christmas service.

  01:00-01:01

  The kids were so beautiful.

  01:01-01:02

  They sang so nice.

  01:02-01:04

  The music was amazing.

  01:04-01:07

  And what's the worst part of Christmas?

  01:08-01:09

  Is it the fruitcake?

  01:10-01:10

  Is it the fruit?

  01:11-01:11

  Is that still a thing?

  01:13-01:13

  Is it?

  01:13-01:15

  People still do the fruitcake thing?

  01:15-01:16

  Wow.

  01:18-01:18

  (laughing)

  01:19-01:21

  Is it the lame office party?

  01:21-01:23

  Is that the worst part of Christmas?

  01:23-01:27

  Is it the pressure to find the absolute most perfect gift for someone?

  01:28-01:31

  I'm going to tell you what the worst part of Christmas is right now.

  01:32-01:34

  This is not even up for debate, this is objectively true.

  01:34-01:37

  The worst part of Christmas is waiting for it!

  01:39-01:42

  At least, that's what I thought when I was a kid.

  01:43-01:46

  When I was a kid, leading up to Christmas, anybody else like me?

  01:46-01:51

  Leading up to Christmas, the minutes seemed like days!

  01:52-02:01

  And I don't know how it happened, and I don't know when it happened, but I became somewhat of an adult, and now the days seem like minutes.

  02:02-02:03

  Did that happen to anybody else?

  02:07-02:14

  So today we're gonna continue looking at those who were there when Jesus was a baby.

  02:14-02:23

  And on Sunday, Rich walked us through the story of Simeon, who gave the weirdest baby dedication speech ever.

  02:23-02:35

  Luke 2:34, it says, "Simeon blessed him and said to Mary his mother, 'Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed.

  02:36-02:52

  And a sword will pierce your own soul also, so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.'" And then suddenly, right there is Anna.

  02:56-02:57

  Look at verse 36.

  02:58-03:05

  It says, "And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.

  03:06-03:20

  She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin." And then, as a widow until she was 84, she did not depart from the temple.

  03:22-03:37

  Worshipping, with fasting and prayer, night and day, and coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God, and to speak of Him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

  03:42-03:56

  I had to read through this a few times to try to figure out what was going on because here's Simeon giving this prophetic speech and then suddenly Anna just, apparently, she just shows up.

  03:56-03:58

  She just walks right up.

  04:00-04:03

  I have to ask, how did she get there?

  04:07-04:13

  And then I look at her story here and I think, Why is she even in this story, right?

  04:16-04:19

  But even asking that question reveals something.

  04:22-04:35

  You know, if Luke told us the Christmas story that Jesus was born, God becomes a man, and the most important people of the day showed up.

  04:36-04:51

  All of the celebrities, all of the athletes, of the politicians. If that was the story, here comes all your LeBron James and your Beyonce's and here comes the president, you'd be like, well that makes sense because God's here.

  04:55-04:59

  But he mentions this lady.

  05:02-05:08

  And we really only have three verses about her, but in those three verses we We learn five things about her very quickly.

  05:08-05:10

  We learn she's a prophetess.

  05:10-05:13

  There's very few prophetesses in the Bible.

  05:14-05:15

  Like, well what does that mean?

  05:15-05:23

  Well we don't know exactly what her ministry detail looked like, but we can be sure that she was close to God, and she ministered to people in His name.

  05:25-05:26

  We know that she was Jewish.

  05:28-05:33

  And then thirdly, we know that she was advanced in years.

  05:35-05:37

  She was advanced in years.

  05:37-05:41

  Now that's the Bible's very dignified way of saying what?

  05:42-05:42

  Okay, you said it.

  05:46-05:49

  She was a senior citizen.

  05:52-05:58

  And you know, there's something sorely lacking in our culture, and that's respect for the previous generation.

  06:02-06:10

  And I had a whole thing written about this for tonight, and I'm going to save that for another time.

  06:12-06:14

  But I do just want to say this, don't dismiss such people.

  06:17-06:19

  Don't dismiss the previous generation.

  06:23-06:24

  Because God didn't.

  06:28-06:35

  Anna was one of the very few people mentioned in God's Word that was present when Jesus was an infant.

  06:38-06:42

  The fourth thing we know about her is she spent all of her time worshiping at the temple.

  06:43-06:50

  And the fifth thing we know about Anna is she represents a particular group of people.

  06:50-06:52

  Look at verse 38 again.

  06:52-06:59

  It says, "She began to speak of Him - speak of the Lord - to all who were waiting for the redemption Jerusalem.

  07:02-07:12

  She represents a group of people who were waiting for the redemption of Israel.

  07:12-07:19

  These are Jews who believed in God's Word that He was going to send His Messiah to the earth to save His people.

  07:22-07:34

  And you see, we too, are part of a group of people waiting on the Messiah to come again, to bring the ultimate redemption.

  07:37-07:38

  Do you feel that?

  07:41-07:48

  Because never in my ministry have I heard more people talking about the return of the Messiah.

  07:49-08:09

  In our day of so much sickness, death and corruption, our day of the celebration of sin, our day of the persecution of God's people, our day of slaughtering children in the womb.

  08:12-08:21

  This church represents a group of people who are saying, "Messiah, come." We're waiting.

  08:24-08:29

  And that is how we connect with Anna.

  08:31-08:35

  Because we are waiters.

  08:36-08:39

  I don't mean like serving tables at Applebee's.

  08:39-08:41

  I mean, we're waiting on the Lord.

  08:45-08:50

  And like I said at the beginning, That's the worst part of Christmas, right?

  08:51-08:53

  I mean, who loves waiting, really?

  08:54-08:56

  I mean, we know what Tom Petty said about waiting, right?

  08:59-09:07

  Well, I mean, I'm not sure about his theological background, but I certainly agree with Tom Petty when he said waiting is the hardest part, right?

  09:10-09:12

  But we hate waiting! We hate it!

  09:14-09:20

  We're the kind of people that we stand in front of the microwave what's taking this stupid thing so long, right?

  09:22-09:26

  We are nuclear blasting our food, can you give it 12 seconds?

  09:28-09:29

  But we hate waiting.

  09:29-09:31

  You know which one lands more for me?

  09:31-09:39

  As I get people all the time, they'll text me or email me a YouTube link, and they're like, "Jeff, you've got to see this video.

  09:39-09:50

  It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life." And I'm like, "All right, click." And it's like, "Your video will start in five seconds." I'm like, "Not for me.

  09:52-09:59

  I guess I'm never gonna see that video." Five seconds? Ain't nobody got time for that.

  10:01-10:02

  But we hate waiting.

  10:05-10:10

  And yet God's word repeatedly calls us to wait on the Lord.

  10:10-10:22

  And here at the birth of Jesus Christ comes this amazing woman who's known as being a person who's spent decades doing what?

  10:24-10:24

  Waiting.

  10:27-10:35

  And I just want to share with you for a few minutes tonight that waiting on the Lord doesn't mean that I sit and do nothing until He does something.

  10:35-10:38

  It's not passive inactivity.

  10:41-10:42

  Because Anna here is our role model.

  10:45-10:51

  And she taught us the blessings of waiting actively and faithfully on the Lord.

  10:53-11:03

  So tonight I just want to show you four things from Anna that you know, at the risk of contradicting Tom Petty, waiting is not always bad.

  11:05-11:11

  There's actually, according to her story, according to God's word, there are some perks to waiting.

  11:13-11:14

  So if you're taking notes, write this down.

  11:15-11:16

  What happens to me when I wait on the Lord?

  11:17-11:19

  What happens to me when I wait on the Lord?

  11:19-11:23

  Number one, my woes become small.

  11:25-11:27

  My woes become small.

  11:28-11:36

  Now, it says that Anna was advanced in years, she was married for seven years, and she was widowed until she was 84.

  11:37-11:44

  And in translating that to Greek, that can be translated a couple different ways, and there's some friendly debate about that.

  11:45-12:01

  But some people say that this verse is saying that she was 84 years old here, and other translations say that no, she was widowed for 84 years, which means if she was married at 15, she would have been 106 years old right here.

  12:02-12:07

  So she was either 84 or 106.

  12:08-12:12

  And you're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, which one is it?" I don't know.

  12:12-12:15

  But if Anna was here right now, I know which one she would want us to believe.

  12:18-12:18

  Right?

  12:21-12:23

  But seriously, you've got to feel for her.

  12:25-12:26

  Because that's rough.

  12:29-12:32

  Married and widowed so soon.

  12:33-12:35

  I mean, did she have kids?

  12:35-12:36

  I don't know.

  12:36-12:37

  The text doesn't say.

  12:40-12:44

  She was alone for so long.

  12:46-12:52

  I'm not saying that Anna never felt sadness, but obviously her faith kept things into perspective.

  12:53-12:57

  That she never gave up on God.

  12:58-13:02

  She never faltered seeking Him with her whole heart.

  13:05-13:14

  And just because it's December 24th doesn't mean that the hardships that you're going through just magically disintegrated.

  13:15-13:28

  Because I'm sure to some amount, to some degree, everyone walked in here today, or the people that are watching this stream online right now, you're carrying some woes too.

  13:32-13:36

  Some of us have lost a loved one, and this is our first Christmas without that person.

  13:39-13:49

  Some of us have been so affected by the pandemic that we've lost jobs, or are about to lose jobs, or we've certainly lost income.

  13:53-14:02

  We come in here and we look around and we see these families, but some of us might be alone for the holidays.

  14:05-14:07

  and you start to feel like maybe you're missing out.

  14:10-14:12

  And at that point it's easy to give up on God.

  14:15-14:20

  Like, you know what God, if this is how it's going to be, you're going to forsake me, I'm just going to give up on you.

  14:23-14:41

  But you know, if Anna had done that, if Anna had let her situation turn her into a bitter person, She never would have had the opportunity to witness the most glorious thing she had ever seen in her life.

  14:42-14:46

  The most glorious thing anyone could have seen.

  14:48-14:50

  The face of God himself.

  14:51-14:57

  I just want to encourage you, like Anna, to confess something like this.

  15:00-15:00

  Yeah, life is hard.

  15:02-15:07

  But God has a glorious promise that I know He's going to fulfill.

  15:08-15:23

  And when I think of what God is going to do, my relatively short amount of time of suffering here on the earth doesn't even compare to the glories He has ahead.

  15:26-15:29

  So what happens to me when I wait on the Lord?

  15:31-15:34

  You're going to find that your woes become small.

  15:35-15:38

  And secondly, my worship becomes authentic.

  15:41-15:45

  Anna was known as someone who was committed to fasting and ceaseless prayer.

  15:46-15:52

  And in the Old Testament, that was connected with the anticipation of the coming of the Messiah.

  15:52-15:55

  And understand that's something that didn't change between testaments.

  15:56-16:02

  because fasting and ceaseless prayer is still associated with the second coming of Jesus Christ.

  16:03-16:08

  Matthew 9, Luke 18, verses 7 and 8, respectively.

  16:11-16:19

  So for Anna, her doctrine was true, her belief was genuine, and her worship was authentic.

  16:19-16:24

  So I just have to ask, what's our excuse?

  16:27-16:28

  Think about this.

  16:31-16:33

  Anna's knowledge of the Messiah, all right?

  16:33-16:42

  You have Anna's knowledge of Messiah versus our knowledge of Messiah, okay?

  16:44-16:47

  Who has more knowledge of the Messiah?

  16:48-16:49

  Anna or us?

  16:51-16:51

  We do.

  16:53-16:57

  Because we live on the other side of his life, right?

  16:58-17:02

  And not only that, we have this record right here.

  17:02-17:06

  We have this account of the life of the Messiah.

  17:07-17:12

  We know about his ministry.

  17:13-17:17

  We know that he died on the cross to take away our sin.

  17:17-17:20

  We know He rose from the dead to give us eternal life.

  17:21-17:26

  We know that He promised that His Spirit would come and indwell us upon believing in Him.

  17:26-17:30

  And we have these promises that He's going to return.

  17:33-17:46

  So I have to ask you, church, should we be anticipating and excited about the coming of Jesus Christ?

  17:46-17:50

  Should we be more or less excited than Anna was?

  17:51-17:53

  Based on the knowledge that we have.

  17:56-18:00

  Should we want Jesus less or more than Anna?

  18:02-18:03

  More, yeah.

  18:03-18:04

  All in favor?

  18:08-18:17

  You see, the anticipation of the coming of the Messiah for decades kept Anna in worship mode.

  18:18-18:19

  24/7.

  18:20-18:20

  That anticipation.

  18:24-18:28

  And if you really get it, I mean if you really get it, it's going to put you in that mode too.

  18:31-18:37

  We have way more reason I'd be excited about the coming of the Messiah.

  18:39-18:41

  So how's your prayer life?

  18:43-18:51

  I mean, if God was writing about you in His Word, would God be able to rightly describe you as a person of prayer?

  18:54-18:55

  How's your prayer life?

  18:57-19:04

  When was the last time that you fasted to focus your appetites on spiritual things?

  19:04-19:09

  When was the last time you fasted solely for the return of Jesus Christ?

  19:10-19:12

  As God's Word calls us to do.

  19:16-19:19

  You see, it's that anticipation that leads us to worship.

  19:19-19:23

  And worship is, yes, it's the music, but it's so much more than the music.

  19:25-19:32

  And we get to this place when we get it, and when we truly anticipate, and our lives are centered on that.

  19:34-19:40

  I don't want to worship because I have to, or because I'm expected to.

  19:41-19:47

  It just becomes this natural expression for my soul because of what's to be when Jesus comes again.

  19:50-19:52

  So you have way more reason to worship than Anna.

  19:55-19:55

  So do you?

  19:58-20:02

  When I wait on the Lord, when I really wait on the Lord, my worship becomes authentic.

  20:03-20:05

  Thirdly, my witnessing becomes natural.

  20:06-20:07

  See that in verse 38?

  20:09-20:16

  It says that she began to speak of Him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

  20:18-20:23

  You see, like worship witnessing become this obligatory, awkward exercise.

  20:24-20:32

  Like, "I know I should do it, but I'm going to be honest with you, my heart's not in it." But notice in this passage, the witnessing came after the worship.

  20:35-20:44

  And you can tell who is a sincere worshiper by how eager they are to witness.

  20:46-20:48

  And right now, somebody's going, "Oh no.

  20:51-20:57

  Everybody pack your bags, we're about to go on a guilt trip about witnessing, right?

  20:58-21:00

  Jeff's going to lead us on this guilt trip about witnessing.

  21:02-21:03

  No.

  21:04-21:05

  That is not my intention at all.

  21:07-21:10

  I want to fire up our passion for the return of Jesus Christ.

  21:11-21:13

  I want to fan the flames of worship.

  21:14-21:20

  Because then I'm not going to have to talk you into witnessing, because you won't be able to help but do it.

  21:22-21:31

  Because there's a truth about every single person in this room or watching this stream, there's a truth about every single person you know.

  21:31-21:37

  People love talking about the things that they're passionate about.

  21:40-21:41

  You can't get around that.

  21:43-21:50

  When I was in college, I worked a stretch at Walmart, and somehow I ended up working in the automotive department.

  21:51-21:52

  I have no idea how I got there.

  21:53-21:55

  I know nothing about cars.

  21:55-21:56

  Nothing.

  21:57-22:06

  But for some reason I was working in the automotive department and as I'm sure you can imagine, do you know what kind of people shop in the automotive department?

  22:08-22:36

  People who are excited about cars. Guess what they wanted to talk about when they came to my department? Cars! And I dreaded that every single day when I was working that somebody would come in and they would expect me to have an intelligent conversation with them about cars and it happened all the time.

  22:39-23:18

  I get guys come in and they'd say they'd say something like this they'd say yeah I just I just dropped the chassis on my catalytic fuel injected heavy to discover that the the vascular was corroded I'm like huh and he's like the best problem it was corroded and I would go um this air freshener will make your car smell like puppy breath They love cars.

  23:19-23:22

  And they love talking about cars, and you can fill in that blank with whatever.

  23:23-23:28

  Pets, football, scrapbooking.

  23:30-23:32

  How about Jesus Christ?

  23:35-23:38

  You love talking about the things that you're excited about.

  23:39-23:44

  So I would say, church, let's get excited about the return of Jesus.

  23:46-23:51

  and watch the Lord bring more people to Him through your witness.

  23:53-23:55

  So what happens when I wait on the Lord?

  23:55-24:05

  Well, my woes become small, and my worship becomes authentic, and my witnessing becomes natural, and finally, my waiting becomes worth it.

  24:08-24:09

  My waiting becomes worth it.

  24:09-24:10

  Look at verse 38.

  24:11-24:18

  It says, "And coming up at that very hour, She began to give thanks to God.

  24:21-24:28

  Upon seeing the Messiah, baby Jesus, she began to give thanks to God.

  24:29-24:29

  Alright?

  24:30-24:40

  It wasn't as if Anna came up, and there's Simeon, and there's Mary and Joseph and the baby, and Anna comes up and she goes, "You mean to tell me I waited my whole life for this?

  24:41-24:41

  This is it?

  24:44-24:47

  "Yes!" That wasn't it at all.

  24:47-24:52

  She said, "This was worth the wait." God, thank You.

  24:55-24:58

  Thank You for letting me see this.

  25:00-25:02

  Waiting is worth it when there is a payoff.

  25:03-25:14

  And if you have even the slightest idea of what Jesus is going to do when He returns, No, there can't possibly be a bigger payoff than that.

  25:19-25:22

  You will see Him in His glory.

  25:25-25:28

  You will fall on your face in worship.

  25:30-25:41

  You will cast your crowns at His feet, and as your heart is overwhelmed with the awesomeness of being in the presence of the Almighty.

  25:44-25:46

  You and I are going to declare this together.

  25:48-25:56

  We're going to say, "Worth it." Worth it.

  25:59-26:06

  Every difficult day, every struggle, worth it.

  26:08-26:12

  Every trial, every tear, worth it.

  26:15-26:23

  Every discouragement, every setback, worth it.

  26:28-26:33

  And this story simply boils down to this.

  26:34-26:49

  Whatever hardship you're facing, despite how long you face it, living a life of worship devoted to God, is worth it.

  26:53-26:58

  Because those who wait on Him will never disappoint.

  27:01-27:08

  Like Anna, at the end of the waiting, is seeing something glorious.

  27:10-27:13

  I'd like you to bow your heads with me please as the worship team makes their way forward.

  27:16-27:23

  Father in Heaven, Thank You for the example that we have.

  27:26-27:33

  Father, I pray, just simply this, that we wouldn't grow weary in the waiting.

  27:36-27:39

  That we would take a really hard look at Anna's life.

  27:42-27:49

  It had to seem so long and incredibly difficult at times, She never let that get her off track.

  27:52-27:55

  Father, I pray that You would find the same faithfulness and fervency in our hearts.

  27:59-28:04

  Because like her, we are waiting for the Messiah to come.

  28:06-28:10

  We are waiting, Father, for the return of Christ.

  28:13-28:14

  We believe it.

  28:17-28:18

  May our lives reflect it.

  28:19-28:23

  We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Luke 2:36-38

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Baby's First Christmas - Great Expectations

Introduction:

(Luke 2:22-36)

1. Mary and Joseph were expected to Follow the law, which They did. (Luke 2:22-24)

   See: Lev 12:4, 6, 8

2. Simeon expected to See the Messiah, which He Did! (Luke 2:25-32)

See Isaiah 42:1,6-7 | Isaiah 49:5-6

3. I am expected to Believe in Jesus, which I Do. (Luke 2:33-35)

   Acts 17:30 - The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent...

   1 John 3:23 - And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ

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

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:01

  Who knows what we're looking at here?

  00:02-00:03

  Does anybody know what this is?

  00:05-00:06

  Darla knows, it's a vacuum.

  00:07-00:12

  This is a vacuum from the 1960s, early 1970s.

  00:12-00:17

  And my parents had a vacuum like this.

  00:17-00:25

  And this is the kind of vacuum that every housewife of the atomic age wanted to have.

  00:26-00:28

  Look at all the gadgets and gizmos.

  00:29-00:32

  But if you look at her carpet it doesn't look like she's using any of them.

  00:34-00:40

  And yes, yes kids, our furniture in the 1960s and 70s was really this ugly.

  00:43-00:57

  But this vacuum had a couple of, well many purposes, but if you put up the next picture, you see at the front there was this little opening and you could connect the vacuum hose so that it would blow air.

  01:00-01:03

  And I have a story about Bethany's dad.

  01:04-01:08

  'Cause he used a vacuum like this at least once a year.

  01:09-01:13

  See, he was, I didn't mean it to come out there.

  01:13-01:14

  (audience laughing)

  01:14-01:16

  Actually, he did all the vacuuming.

  01:17-01:22

  He would put on patriotic music and he really, really loud.

  01:22-01:23

  He'd vacuum the whole house.

  01:24-01:30

  But anyway, he was expected every year at Christmas to flock the Christmas tree.

  01:31-01:33

  And like, what, what?

  01:34-01:47

  So the way they do it now is you take a natural tree and you spray it with water and then you sprinkle this paper product over it and then when it dries, it looks like the tree is covered in snow.

  01:49-01:52

  But back in the '60s, we didn't have it so simple.

  01:53-01:58

  We used these really toxic, chemical-laden paint-type products.

  02:00-02:03

  And what you would--I'm not quite sure how it worked.

  02:03-02:08

  If you connected it to the hose or you actually put this substance inside the vacuum.

  02:09-02:15

  But you would put the hose on and then you would have your tree and you would be spraying it with the hose.

  02:15-02:20

  So Bethany's mom expected Bill to do this every Christmas.

  02:21-02:22

  And he didn't like doing it.

  02:23-02:27

  He was never really happy when he had to do this.

  02:28-02:36

  And the one Christmas when Bethany was about 10 years old, he's got this all set up and he's trying to flock the tree and nothing's coming out.

  02:37-02:48

  He's like, "What's going on here?" So he's like, "What's going on?" He turns the hose around and he's looking at it and boom, right in his face.

  02:49-02:52

  And there's white stuff everywhere and Bethany is laughing.

  02:53-02:57

  And there were a few choice words that followed this little episode.

  02:59-03:03

  And Bethany made herself scarce before she got strangled by the hose.

  03:04-03:12

  But yeah, Bethany's mom's expectation of a flocked Christmas tree was completely dashed.

  03:13-03:18

  And after that, Bill was no longer expected to flock the Christmas tree.

  03:19-03:20

  Never happened again.

  03:21-03:25

  So, yeah, expect, expectation.

  03:26-03:29

  That's a word loaded with meaning, isn't it?

  03:29-03:30

  Actually, several meanings.

  03:32-03:35

  There's a sense of being duty-bound or obligated.

  03:35-03:39

  You know, we're expected to show up on time for work.

  03:39-03:43

  You expect me to preach a good sermon this morning.

  03:44-03:49

  Or like my father-in-law, you're expected to flock the Christmas tree because it's a tradition.

  03:51-03:59

  There's also the sense of anticipation, of looking forward to something, of desiring a certain thing to happen.

  04:00-04:06

  You know, the Bible has synonyms or for these meanings of expect or expectation.

  04:07-04:11

  So when we do what's expected of us, it's called obedience.

  04:12-04:16

  And when we look forward to something, that's called hope.

  04:17-04:28

  So as we continue our study this morning of Jesus' birth and how he affected people, even as an infant, we're gonna look at obedience and hope.

  04:30-04:38

  We're gonna look at how when we do what's expected, we find hope, and in our hope, we find fulfillment.

  04:41-04:43

  So let's look at Luke chapter two.

  04:44-04:45

  We're gonna start at verse 22.

  04:47-04:55

  And when the time came for their purification, according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

  04:56-05:12

  As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.

  05:14-05:20

  So our first point is that Mary and Joseph were expected to follow the law, which they did.

  05:21-05:23

  Now, what law is this?

  05:24-05:27

  Luke gives us a summary, but what law?

  05:27-05:31

  Well, this is referring to Leviticus 12.

  05:32-05:34

  And I've parsed this out a little bit.

  05:34-05:37

  We're going to look at verses 4, 6, and 8.

  05:39-05:48

  So what the law required was that when a woman gave birth to a son, she was considered unclean for seven days.

  05:49-05:51

  And then on the eighth day, he must be circumcised.

  05:53-05:59

  And then, picking up our verses here, "Then she shall continue for 33 days in the blood of her purifying.

  06:00-06:06

  She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary until the days of her purifying are completed.

  06:08-06:20

  And when the days of her purifying are completed, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtle dove for a sin offering.

  06:21-06:35

  And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtle doves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.

  06:38-06:45

  So we see that Mary and Joseph fulfilled the commandment, even though they were poor.

  06:46-06:48

  Now that's the obvious point here, right?

  06:48-07:00

  We've heard this many times, the fact that they offered two turtle doves or two pigeons indicates that Mary and Joseph were very poor.

  07:03-07:09

  But even though Jesus was born into poverty, His parents were pious, they were observant.

  07:12-07:26

  And some may look at Leviticus chapter 12 and they would see, oh, this is an oppressive patriarchal system that treated women as second class and unclean just because they had a baby.

  07:28-07:37

  But you know, both of those observations, They miss something profound happening here.

  07:38-07:46

  You see, in the Old Testament ceremonial system, keeping oneself and one's belongings clean was essential to worship.

  07:47-08:02

  And if some food or some clothing or the person or the priest came in contact with something that was unclean, like a dead person or a sick person, It would make the holy person unclean, unholy.

  08:03-08:06

  And they were excluded then from worship.

  08:07-08:15

  And the process of ceremonial purification, it would have to start all over again until they were clean enough to go into worship.

  08:18-08:21

  What's profound in our account this morning is this.

  08:23-08:25

  Mary nursed the Son of God.

  08:26-08:29

  She kissed and touched the face of God.

  08:29-08:31

  She held him in her arms.

  08:33-08:36

  Even though the law said she could touch nothing holy for 40 days.

  08:39-08:44

  How do we know he was holy and not just a baby who would someday become holy later on?

  08:44-09:07

  Well, Luke 2.23 says, "As the firstborn, he was holy to the Lord." And in Luke 1.35, the angel Gabriel told Mary, "The child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." Now I am aware that Catholic doctrine holds that Mary was never, ever unclean.

  09:08-09:12

  That in order to be the mother of God, she must have herself been immaculately conceived.

  09:13-09:17

  That is, she was without original sin from the moment of her conception.

  09:18-09:23

  But you know there's several problems with that doctrine, not the least of which is not in the Bible.

  09:26-09:29

  The fact is Mary was a sinner, just like everyone else.

  09:31-09:35

  That she became pregnant while she was betrothed to Joseph was scandalous.

  09:37-09:40

  And Deuteronomy 22 doesn't mince any words about it.

  09:42-09:45

  It was considered, what had happened to Mary was considered an evil thing.

  09:47-09:48

  She should have been stoned to death.

  09:50-09:59

  She could have been considered to have done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father's house, so you shall purge the evil from your midst.

  10:01-10:06

  The scripture doesn't mince any words about what people may have thought about Mary.

  10:09-10:28

  But yet the fact that Mary was unclean and yet tenderly connected to the Son of God is a great hope for us. Have you ever felt unclean? Have you ever felt, "I'm a complete mess.

  10:29-10:48

  I'm unworthy. I'm sinful. I'm vile. I'm detestable. I know I'm wicked." Have you thought that so much so that you think God wants nothing to do with you? So much so that you think you are beyond the reach of God.

  10:51-10:56

  Mary was unclean, but the Son of God put himself in her arms.

  10:58-11:03

  This tells us there is no one too unclean, too unholy for Jesus.

  11:05-11:15

  He touched lepers, he touched the diseased, the sinful, the dead, and instead of becoming unclean himself, the diseased were made well.

  11:15-11:19

  The dead were raised to life and the sinful were forgiven.

  11:20-11:28

  No matter what we have done, no matter how often we sin, we are never, ever, ever beyond the reach of Jesus.

  11:31-11:35

  The second thing to note here is, we don't become holy by what we do.

  11:37-11:43

  We see that Mary did what was expected of her by making the required offering for her cleansing.

  11:45-11:53

  But the deeper reality is she was made clean because of who she was connected to, to Jesus.

  11:54-12:00

  It wasn't because she performed religious rites, but because she embraced the Son of God.

  12:03-12:08

  We're gonna look next at Simeon, verse 25.

  12:09-12:16

  Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, And this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.

  12:17-12:19

  And the Holy Spirit was upon him.

  12:20-12:26

  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

  12:27-12:30

  And he came into the Spirit, into the temple.

  12:32-12:36

  So our second point is, Simeon expected to see the Messiah, which he did.

  12:40-12:42

  Think about Simeon and his circumstance.

  12:42-12:44

  He's expecting to see the Messiah.

  12:45-12:46

  You know, the time is right.

  12:46-12:53

  It's been over 400 years since the prophecy of Daniel that Messiah should be coming about this time.

  12:54-13:02

  We're looking for him, but circumstances are completely wrong for this.

  13:03-13:10

  The Messiah was to be the son of David, but there's no Davidic king on the throne.

  13:11-13:16

  They got Herod, and Herod is an Idiomian.

  13:17-13:19

  I was gonna make a pun about, well, what do you mean, Rich?

  13:21-13:23

  I did it anyway, didn't I?

  13:24-13:29

  So Idiomian, what that means is Herod is a descendant of Esau.

  13:30-13:41

  And if you remember back in the book of Genesis, What God told Rebekah was that the older would serve the younger.

  13:41-13:46

  The younger was Jacob, Esau was the older, but Esau was going to serve Jacob.

  13:47-13:50

  Well, here are circumstances, things are flipped, right?

  13:51-13:54

  The son of Esau is the king over Israel.

  13:56-14:00

  So how can we have a son of David coming?

  14:02-14:07

  And then the Sadducees were in control of the Sanhedrin, the religious council.

  14:08-14:11

  And they only followed the Torah, which is the first five books of the Bible.

  14:12-14:17

  They didn't read the histories, they didn't read the Psalms, they didn't read the prophets.

  14:19-14:24

  They don't have a clue, really, about what Messiah is going to be like.

  14:24-14:26

  And they're the religious authorities.

  14:28-14:31

  And then of course all Israel is under the iron boot of Rome.

  14:33-14:36

  This just doesn't seem like the right conditions for the Messiah.

  14:37-14:38

  How can Messiah come?

  14:38-14:39

  How can he arrive?

  14:39-14:42

  It must have seemed impossible.

  14:44-14:46

  Do you ever feel like that?

  14:46-14:48

  That your circumstances are impossible?

  14:49-14:53

  You feel like you're just piling up hope against hope, prayer against prayer.

  14:54-14:59

  You pray long and hard for something, and you wonder if circumstances will change.

  15:00-15:01

  Is God going to act?

  15:02-15:13

  You know, the Psalms are full of the refrain, "How long, Lord, how long?" I think the saddest of these is in Psalm 74 verse 9.

  15:14-15:17

  We are given no signs from God.

  15:17-15:18

  No prophets are left.

  15:20-15:22

  None of us knows how long this will be.

  15:25-15:26

  Feel like that?

  15:27-15:39

  And then there's Proverbs 13, 12 that says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." When we find ourselves in such dire circumstances, we become heart sick.

  15:40-15:44

  And we wonder silently, we wonder aloud, God, are you paying attention?

  15:46-15:48

  Do you see what is going on?

  15:49-15:50

  Don't you know what's happening to me?

  15:52-15:53

  Do you really love me?

  15:54-15:55

  Do you care?

  15:58-16:00

  You know, perhaps Simeon felt like that.

  16:01-16:01

  He's old.

  16:02-16:06

  He could have been waiting for decades to see Messiah.

  16:07-16:08

  He's old.

  16:08-16:11

  How much longer is he gonna live?

  16:14-16:14

  He's old.

  16:14-16:17

  He's lived his entire life under the Mosaic Covenant.

  16:20-16:26

  But Simeon had the Word of God that promised the Messiah, and God cannot lie.

  16:28-16:35

  Simeon believed the Holy Spirit, who had given him a promise that he would not die until he saw the Messiah.

  16:37-16:38

  How long did he wait?

  16:39-16:39

  We don't know.

  16:40-16:49

  What we do know is that he continued in steadfast expectation, and he obeyed when the Holy Spirit to go to the temple.

  16:52-16:53

  And what did he expect to see?

  16:55-16:57

  Sure, he expected to see Messiah.

  17:00-17:03

  He probably expected Messiah would have to be born.

  17:04-17:07

  Right, that was the promise of Genesis 3.15.

  17:08-17:13

  The very first prophecy of the Messiah that he would be the offspring of the woman.

  17:15-17:17

  But maybe he was expecting to see a full-grown man.

  17:19-17:20

  Maybe just even a young man.

  17:22-17:23

  Maybe he expected to see a prince.

  17:25-17:27

  Or even maybe a warrior king.

  17:29-17:30

  Let's pick up in verse 27.

  17:32-17:42

  And when the parents brought the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, and there's Simeon, it's a baby.

  17:45-17:46

  The Messiah is a baby.

  17:47-17:48

  The Simeon object?

  17:48-17:51

  Oh God, there's gotta be a mistake.

  17:51-17:55

  There's gotta be someone else here in the temple you want me to look for, right?

  17:55-17:59

  Not this young couple here with the infant.

  17:59-18:00

  There's somebody else, right?

  18:01-18:02

  No.

  18:04-18:04

  Nope.

  18:06-18:07

  He doesn't keep looking.

  18:08-18:10

  Perhaps he remembered the word of the Lord.

  18:11-18:13

  Behold, I am doing a new thing.

  18:14-18:25

  So in verse 28, he takes him up in his arms and blessed God and said, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.

  18:26-18:40

  For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." And his father and mother marveled at what was said about him.

  18:43-18:46

  Yes, the Messiah he sees is a baby a little more than a month old.

  18:48-18:51

  Yet consider the certainty of Simeon's proclamation.

  18:54-18:58

  He didn't see any miracles, healings, he didn't see the dead raised.

  18:59-19:01

  He didn't even hear Jesus preach or teach.

  19:02-19:04

  He didn't see his death or resurrection.

  19:06-19:09

  And yet he considered the work of the Messiah as good as done.

  19:11-19:20

  The fact that the child had been born was all the assurance Simeon needed, that everything else necessary for salvation was going to be accomplished.

  19:21-19:28

  Simeon saw not just the baby, but he saw and believed in the finished work, even though he would not live to see it.

  19:29-19:29

  Why?

  19:30-19:33

  Because, again, Simeon knew the Word of God.

  19:35-19:38

  His proclamation is rooted in the prophets.

  19:39-19:49

  So for example, Isaiah 42, God is speaking, "Here is my servant whom I uphold, "my chosen one in whom I delight.

  19:50-19:54

  "I will put my spirit on him "and he will bring justice to the nations.

  19:55-19:57

  "I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness.

  19:57-19:59

  "I will take hold of your hand.

  19:59-20:14

  "I will keep you and I will make you "to be a covenant for the people "and a light for the Gentiles, To open the eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

  20:17-20:30

  Then Isaiah 49, "Now the Lord says, 'He who formed me in the womb to be his servant.'" See, it's almost like a dialogue between Jesus and his Father.

  20:31-20:54

  "Now the Lord says, 'He who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has been my strength." He says, the Lord says, "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.

  20:55-21:11

  I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth." You see, based on the promises of God, Simeon knew the Messiah would be the salvation of all people, even the Gentiles.

  21:12-21:17

  And now he had seen the personal promise to him fulfilled.

  21:19-21:21

  Was that verse in Proverbs 13.12?

  21:22-21:22

  What did that say?

  21:23-21:24

  Hope deferred makes the heart sick?

  21:26-21:29

  but a longing fulfilled as a tree of life.

  21:32-21:33

  Was Simeon special?

  21:34-21:44

  You know, sometimes we read the accounts of people in the Bible, like Mary, like Simeon, David, Moses, and we're like, they're on a pedestal, man.

  21:45-21:47

  We're not like them at all.

  21:47-21:48

  I can't, that's not me.

  21:49-21:50

  Was Simeon special?

  21:52-21:55

  I think we can say that God dealt with him faithfully and graciously.

  21:57-21:59

  Was he more spiritual than us?

  22:00-22:02

  Does he have something we don't?

  22:02-22:04

  Was he somehow smarter than the average bear?

  22:06-22:06

  No!

  22:08-22:11

  He believed the Word of God and he listened to the Holy Spirit.

  22:13-22:14

  What do we as believers have?

  22:16-22:18

  The Word of God and the Holy Spirit.

  22:19-22:28

  So anchor your hope, beloved, in the eternal word of God, who does not lie, who does everything He says He will do.

  22:30-22:32

  And be still and listen to Him.

  22:34-22:45

  His Holy Spirit has been given to you to lead you into all understanding, to counsel you, to guide you, to bring you to a place of fulfilled hope.

  22:47-22:49

  Simeon knew there was more to come.

  22:51-22:57

  He knew the child would grow and become both suffering servant and righteous ruler of Israel.

  22:57-23:00

  Simon knew what the law and the prophets had to say about Messiah.

  23:02-23:47

  So he goes on in verse 34, "And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, 'Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." You see, Jesus was expected to save his people from both Jews and Gentiles. He obeyed all his father's commands and fulfilled all that was spoken of him. Simeon understood that there were some dark clouds though on the horizon. Jesus was born to suffer and die for sinners.

  23:48-24:07

  He did so out of obedience and love and then he rose again to give eternal life to all who believe. So our last point is this. I'm expected to believe in Jesus which I can't fill that blank in for you.

  24:09-24:29

  And if you didn't immediately complete that sentence with, "I have, I've got good news for you." You see, Jesus is appointed for the fall and rising of many, the fall of those who don't believe and the rising of those who do.

  24:33-24:37

  In the garden, God gave Adam and Eve a number of commands.

  24:39-24:42

  He told them a bunch of things that they could do, that they should do.

  24:42-24:44

  Look, all these trees.

  24:44-24:50

  You can eat from all of these trees, all of this fruit, even the tree of life.

  24:51-24:53

  Be fruitful and multiply.

  24:55-24:56

  Exercise dominion.

  24:56-24:57

  Work in the garden.

  24:57-25:00

  of very good commands, but there was one command.

  25:01-25:04

  They were to obey.

  25:05-25:19

  One command, absolutely, "Do not eat from the tree "of the knowledge of good and evil, "for in the day that you eat of it, "or when you eat of it, you shall surely die." One command.

  25:21-25:22

  And what did Adam and Eve do?

  25:24-25:26

  They zeroed right in on that tree, didn't they?

  25:28-25:37

  And a whole human race, because of their sin, has been under the death of sin ever since.

  25:40-25:41

  But God has fixed this.

  25:42-25:45

  And now He's given us one command.

  25:46-25:50

  God now commands all men everywhere to repent and believe.

  25:51-25:53

  Look at Acts 17.30.

  25:55-26:01

  The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent.

  26:03-26:13

  And then 1 John 3.23, "And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ." This is important.

  26:14-26:15

  This is a commandment.

  26:15-26:17

  It's not a mere invitation.

  26:19-26:23

  It's not a mere, you know, this would be a really good thing for you if you did this.

  26:25-26:30

  This isn't about, oh, if you just ask Jesus into your heart.

  26:32-26:35

  Would you, oh sinner, give your heart to Jesus?

  26:36-26:37

  Would you give your life to Jesus?

  26:39-26:42

  Well, if I do, can I get it back later if I change my mind?

  26:43-26:43

  No.

  26:45-26:46

  It's a command.

  26:49-26:55

  You either do what is expected and live, or you don't and you perish.

  26:57-27:06

  You see, the thoughts of your heart are being revealed right now by what the Word of God is saying to you and how you are responding to it.

  27:08-27:09

  Just recall last week's message.

  27:10-27:11

  Who's Jesus for?

  27:11-27:12

  He's for sinners.

  27:13-27:22

  If you admit you're a sinner, that's a good thing, because God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

  27:24-27:40

  We can't make ourselves acceptable to God, but when we obey the command to embrace Jesus, when we repent of our sins, our sins are all forgiven and we become clean and holy, just like him.

  27:42-27:53

  When we obey the command to repent, and we do what's expected, all our hopes, all our expectations are fulfilled in Jesus.

  27:57-28:10

  As that well-known psalm says as we sing, "Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow." You see, Jesus, Jesus alone is who we really need.

  28:13-28:23

  It's that proverb again, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." You see, the cross for us is a tree of life.

  28:24-28:29

  Jesus knew all the evil you've ever done, all the evil you will ever do.

  28:31-28:36

  And He took it upon Himself on the cross and He surely died there for sinners.

  28:36-28:38

  He died for sinners.

  28:38-29:01

  And if you recognize yourself as a sinner and you repent and believe, then Proverbs 23, 18 tells us, "There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off." If you have questions about this, if you want to know, "What does it really mean to repent?

  29:01-29:07

  and believe. How do I do this? Well, talk to Pastor Jeff. Talk to any one of our elders.

  29:08-29:13

  Come talk to me. Talk to the person who invited you to church this morning.

  29:14-29:17

  That's exactly what they want to talk to you about.

  29:21-29:21

  So let's pray.

  29:23-29:50

  Our gracious Father, you have given us the indescribable gift of Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, to reconcile us to yourself, to give us eternal life, to fulfill our expectations and give us great hope and hope fulfilled in Him.

  29:52-29:59

  Lord, we thank you for this great gift. In the equally great name of Jesus, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Luke 2:22-35

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. Have you ever felt so unclean or so unworthy that you thought God could not possibly have anything to do with you? Does the knowledge that Jesus makes everyone He touches clean and holy change your perspective?
   

3. Share an example of a time you waited on or cried out to God – did you focus on your circumstances, or on His promises and His Holy Spirit? If you are going through trying circumstances now, how can knowing His Word and listening for the Holy Spirit’s counsel give you hope?
   

4. Have you repented and believed in Jesus for salvation?
   

5. Consider this statement: “Salvation requires obedience” (See Acts 17:30 and 1 John 3:23). Discuss.

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Baby's First Christmas - Who is Jesus For?

Introduction:

Who is Jesus For? (Luke 2:1-21)

1. Jesus is for people who make Him Priority . (Luke 2:7)

   Colossians 1:18 - And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent...

2. Jesus is for who are actively Seeking Him. (Luke 2:8-16)

Proverbs 2:3-5 - ...if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

3. Jesus is for people who need a Savior . (Luke 2:11)

   Matthew 1:21 - She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

   If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator;
   If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist;
   If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist;
   If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer;
   But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.

   Mark 2:17 - "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

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

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:04

  Open your Bibles with me please to Luke chapter 2.

  00:06-00:14

  We're beginning a series, "Baby's First Christmas." And here's what we're going to be doing over the next three messages.

  00:14-00:20

  We're going to just simply be looking at the people that were there when Jesus was a baby.

  00:22-00:34

  He didn't exactly have a baby shower, but we see people that were profoundly impacted by Jesus even when he was an infant.

  00:34-00:35

  That's what we're doing.

  00:36-00:37

  Luke chapter 2.

  00:39-00:43

  While you're turning there, I'm going to tell you a joke.

  00:43-00:43

  You want to hear a joke?

  00:45-00:46

  All right.

  00:48-00:54

  I think somebody just made one and I'm thankful that I'm hard of hearing, I guess.

  00:55-00:56

  All right, so here it is.

  00:58-00:59

  Darren I know you know this one.

  01:01-01:14

  So this cowboy goes into a saloon and sits down at the bar and the bartender says, "What do you have?" Cowboy says, "Root beer," because it's a church joke.

  01:15-01:16

  (audience laughs)

  01:17-01:24

  And the bartender gives him his root beer, and he drinks it, and he says, "Can I get you anything else?" And the cowboy says, "Are you crazy?

  01:24-01:32

  "I need to get going because Big Zeke's coming." The bartender's like, "Who's Big Zeke?" Cowboy says, "You don't know who Big Zeke is.

  01:33-01:48

  "Big Zeke is the biggest, nastiest, meanest, "most violent, vicious, ruthless, bloodthirsty cowboy ever." He's on his way here, and I ain't gonna be here when he gets here, because when Big Zeke shows up, everybody gets hurt.

  01:50-02:12

  So he takes off, and the bartender's standing there like, "Huh." Well, sure enough, about 40 minutes later, the door is kicked in, and in walks a cowboy, six foot seven, 400 pounds if he was an ounce.

  02:14-02:21

  He was wearing a coat made out of a buffalo, and I don't mean buffalo skin.

  02:22-02:25

  It was an actual buffalo draped over his shoulders.

  02:28-02:34

  He had a rattlesnake belt, And I don't mean a rattlesnake skin belt.

  02:35-02:39

  I mean around his waist was a rattlesnake, too scared to let go.

  02:40-02:43

  He had spurs the size of dinner plates.

  02:45-02:55

  And he sits down, the bartender's trembling, 'cause his words go back to the previous customer.

  02:56-03:08

  The bartender says, "What can I get you?" And the enormous cowboy says, "I'll have a root beer." Because it's a church joke.

  03:09-03:10

  That part didn't change.

  03:12-03:26

  And the bartender, shaking, brings it over and sets it down and he says, "Sir, will there be anything else?" The big cowboy looks down at him, he goes, "Are you crazy?

  03:27-03:28

  I'm going to get out of here.

  03:28-04:56

  Zeke's coming. You see the birth of Jesus is actually the exact opposite of that story because Israel was expecting a Messiah and many people missed him even though he actually arrived. But not everybody missed him. So again we're going to look at the people that were there when Jesus was born. Luke chapter 2, are you there? Pick up in verse 1, it says, "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered." It's like a census, right? It says, "This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria, and 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 end.

  04:57-05:10

  So the census brought Joseph and Mary back to the hometown and that was actually to fulfill the prophecy that the Christ, the promised Messiah, would be born in Bethlehem.

  05:10-05:15

  Micah actually pronounced that 700 years prior to this event.

  05:17-05:21

  So the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem was about 90 miles.

  05:23-05:25

  And Joseph and Mary probably didn't have a minivan.

  05:26-05:27

  Okay?

  05:27-05:32

  So imagine, very pregnant, 90 mile journey.

  05:34-05:41

  We have Mary pregnant by the Holy Spirit conceiving within her womb, and she arrives in time to have the baby.

  05:43-06:14

  up in verse 8. It 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 filled with fear. The angel said to them, 'Fear not for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

  06:16-06:17

  And this will be a sign for you.

  06:18-06:21

  You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

  06:22-06:38

  And suddenly there was with the angel a 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." And the angels went away from them into heaven.

  06:39-06:55

  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 baby lying in a manger.

  06:57-07:06

  And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning the child, and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

  07:07-07:13

  But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

  07:14-07:21

  And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them.

  07:21-07:31

  And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

  07:32-07:51

  Now if you grew up in the church or even attended church the last several years consecutively at all, you're kind of familiar with the story, right?

  07:51-07:53

  You don't even have to go to church to be familiar with the story.

  07:54-08:00

  We can hear about it in Christmas shows and programs and cartoons.

  08:03-08:06

  But can we just take a step back here for a second?

  08:07-08:15

  Because some of us are so familiar with this story that we forget how strange it is.

  08:17-08:20

  Because it's really a strange story when you think about it.

  08:21-08:34

  I mean, imagine you're God's PR person, and God says, "Hey, we're going to let the world know that the Almighty Sovereign of the universe is becoming a man.

  08:34-08:37

  How are we going to let the world know?" I mean, what would you do?

  08:39-08:43

  I know you'd be like, "Okay, we're going to have to hit the big social media, right?

  08:43-09:02

  We're going to have to get on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter, and we're going to have to blast it out that way." Maybe some of you would say, "Well, we'll call CNN, and we'll call Fox News." And like, "Well, they didn't have that sort of platform back then, Jeff." But okay, so what if you lived in these days?

  09:05-09:12

  What if you lived during Jesus' day, and God said, "I'm coming to the earth." Like, who would you tell?

  09:13-09:14

  The high priest?

  09:15-09:16

  The Sanhedrin?

  09:17-09:22

  You know the religious ruling body over Israel, would you tell them?

  09:23-09:24

  What about Herod?

  09:25-09:27

  We'll just go right to the top, we'll tell the king, right?

  09:29-09:30

  That's not God's way.

  09:32-09:38

  What we see is God told a group of shepherds, and that's really strange.

  09:39-09:44

  And if that's not strange enough, again our familiarity sometimes helps us gloss over it.

  09:45-09:48

  Think about how strange the news itself is.

  09:48-09:49

  Look at verse 11 again.

  09:51-09:55

  For unto you is born this day in the city of David.

  09:55-09:57

  Unto you, underline that.

  09:59-10:01

  Because that's not a typical baby announcement.

  10:03-10:09

  Like, "Hey, somebody's having a baby for you." Like, I don't remember signing up for that.

  10:10-10:12

  Somebody's doing what for me?

  10:12-10:13

  But that's the announcement.

  10:16-10:25

  And that's simply what I want to look at for a few minutes this morning is, just to answer one question, who is Jesus for?

  10:27-10:30

  Like there's this announcement that somebody had a baby for you.

  10:31-10:31

  For who?

  10:32-10:32

  For me.

  10:34-10:35

  Yeah.

  10:36-10:38

  Well, how do I know Jesus is for me?

  10:40-11:07

  from this story, I just want to look at three things. Who is Jesus for? Who is Jesus for? Write this down. Number one, Jesus is for people who make him priority. Jesus is for people who make him priority. Have you ever been part of a church that does, you know, every Christmas they get the kids to reenact the nativity scene? You ever seen that in the church? You ever seen that? Anybody?

  11:07-11:08

  Okay, thank you.

  11:08-11:08

  Alright.

  11:10-11:11

  I can start over.

  11:12-11:14

  Okay, this cowboy goes into a...

  11:17-11:18

  Nativity, okay.

  11:19-11:26

  So I remember we grew up in the Methodist church, and I was so excited because they were doing the Nativity play, Jay.

  11:26-11:31

  And I was like, "Yes!" I'm like, "I'm going to land a big role this year." Do you know what role I got?

  11:32-11:33

  The innkeeper.

  11:35-11:37

  And do you know what that role entails?

  11:38-11:42

  You got to stand there and tell pregnant Mary that there ain't no room in your inn.

  11:43-11:44

  I felt like such a jerk.

  11:46-11:58

  Like here comes pregnant Mary, just made the 90 mile trip, and I'm like, "Sorry, there's no room for you, little pregnant Jewish lady." I mean, what a jerk, right?

  11:58-11:59

  Not me, the innkeeper.

  12:01-12:05

  But we might be shocked to discover there is no innkeeper.

  12:06-12:08

  The Bible doesn't talk about an innkeeper.

  12:09-12:10

  What does the text say?

  12:10-12:14

  It says there was no room, verse 7, in the inn.

  12:17-12:20

  Now that word for inn is the word kataluma.

  12:21-12:25

  And sometimes it helps us to understand the Bible when we look at, okay, here's how a word is used here.

  12:25-12:27

  Is that word used any place else in the Bible?

  12:28-12:29

  And actually it is.

  12:29-12:33

  In Mark 14, 14, it refers to the upper room.

  12:35-12:47

  The kataluma was a guest chamber, and actually in the Greek, there was a completely different word for a hotel or a motel, like an inn.

  12:47-12:49

  That's a completely different word.

  12:49-12:52

  That's not really a great translation of this word.

  12:53-12:55

  There was no room for them in the guest room.

  12:58-13:07

  Meaning this, the animals often were kept downstairs on the ground level, sort of like a barn or what we would call the garage.

  13:09-13:20

  So because there wasn't room in the upper room in the guest room, in our vernacular it would be like saying Mary had to have the baby in the garage.

  13:22-14:11

  And I want to share a story with you. I know some of you have heard this, but I want you to humor me for those who haven't because I think it's such an appropriate illustration here. But many years ago we did a wedding and we were all dressed up, you know. Erin was with me. She looked like a trillion dollars. I had my suit on. I looked like about 75 cents, but still she looked she looked amazing. And okay, so we went down to, we had the wedding and we went down to the receptionist at the place around, I think it was the Days Inn on Route 8. And so we show up and we get into the lobby where there's the table with the seating assignments. And we're just standing there. It was alphabetized.

  14:11-14:26

  and I'm like, "Which table are we?" And Aaron's like, "I don't see us." And I'm like, "I don't see us either." And then it dawned on us that we weren't invited to the reception and we had to leave.

  14:28-14:30

  And that was embarrassing.

  14:32-14:33

  But it gets worse.

  14:34-14:44

  Because we were all gussied up, I'm like, "We're still going out to eat." So we just went a little further down the road to the hardwood, and we had a nice dinner, just the two of us there.

  14:44-15:02

  It's probably better than having the reception with a bunch of people we really didn't know that well anyways, but when we got back in the car, I looked in the back seat and saw that I had the couple's marriage license in the back seat.

  15:03-15:10

  And they needed it for the honeymoon and all the legal stuff there.

  15:11-15:16

  And I thought to myself, oh no, I gotta go back in there.

  15:17-15:21

  You know, the place where I wasn't invited the first time, I gotta go back in.

  15:22-15:31

  And not just in the lobby, I gotta track the groom down and give him his, and believe you me, I was trying so hard to think of a way out of this.

  15:32-15:33

  And there just wasn't.

  15:34-15:45

  And so I walk in, go up to the head table, And I said, "Hey, I'm so sorry I forgot to give you this "and all your paperwork's in there that you need.

  15:46-15:57

  "You know, hope you have a great honeymoon." And I'm walking away and I got probably, you know, 20, 25 feet away and he hollers nice and loud for everyone to hear.

  15:58-16:12

  He goes, "Hey, Jeff, if you're hungry, "I think there's some leftovers in the kitchen." I'm like, "Leftovers?" Like, do you realize what goes into a wedding?

  16:12-16:14

  Do you realize what goes into that from my perspective?

  16:14-16:30

  We did weeks and weeks and weeks of counseling, and I helped plan the wedding ceremony, and I helped with the rehearsal, and all the headaches that often go with that, and I helped plan the whole thing, and execute the whole thing, and you're offering me crumbs from your table?

  16:32-16:33

  Like, do you know who I am?

  16:33-16:34

  I'm the pastor!

  16:36-16:36

  Leftovers.

  16:37-16:37

  Leftovers!

  16:40-16:45

  But that's the point of the manger, because that's what Jesus got.

  16:47-16:51

  There was no room for Him where we'd let the people sleep.

  16:53-16:54

  But you can have the leftovers.

  16:57-17:06

  Creator God, awesome God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who keeps His covenant.

  17:06-17:07

  Do you remember Him?

  17:08-17:13

  He's coming to the earth, He's coming to die a horrible death for our sin.

  17:16-17:19

  And we're like, yeah, you can just go ahead and have that baby where we keep the animals.

  17:19-17:20

  That's fine.

  17:20-17:22

  We don't have any room for you where the people sleep.

  17:24-17:33

  And before we get all judgy, like, yep, yep, shame on, shame on whoever made this happen, shame on them, shame on them.

  17:33-17:45

  Before we get too judgy, maybe you need to examine your own life and see if leftovers is still what Jesus is getting.

  17:48-17:53

  If you're like, "You know, it's so hard for me to find time to read my Bible.

  17:55-17:58

  It's hard for me to find time to get involved in church at all.

  17:58-18:43

  A small group I think I signed up, but I haven't really been able to go, and I just don't really have the time. It just seems like every minute Alex has spoken for, every minute, whether it's work or hobbies or sports, I mean all the stuff that my kids in, and then I found out there's this new series on Netflix I want to watch, and I just can't seem to squeeze Jesus into the schedule. Leftovers! You're I'll throw up a quick one in the car while I'm driving to work, or I'll pray at the end of the day, but honestly, usually I fall asleep.

  18:45-18:46

  It's called leftovers.

  18:48-18:50

  I read the Bible on my own.

  18:50-18:52

  I read the Bible on my own.

  18:53-18:53

  Do you?

  18:53-18:53

  Yeah, yeah.

  18:55-18:56

  It was a couple weeks ago.

  18:58-19:02

  I read, I think it was a Psalm, maybe?

  19:05-19:05

  Leftovers.

  19:09-19:15

  And really, it's no different than, there's no room in the guest room.

  19:16-19:17

  You can have your baby in the barn.

  19:20-19:26

  The Bible makes this incredible statement about Jesus.

  19:27-19:31

  Colossians 1.18 says, "He is the head of the body, the church.

  19:32-19:41

  He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent." You know that's how this church started?

  19:41-19:43

  That was the year one theme.

  19:44-19:44

  Jesus is first.

  19:48-19:53

  Because according to the Bible, He is to have the preeminence in everything.

  19:57-19:59

  But the question is, does He have the first place in you?

  20:02-20:04

  I mean, imagine this story.

  20:04-20:24

  What if Joseph and Mary showed up, and let's just pretend for a second, can we pretend that whoever had the jurisdiction over who was allowed to stay in the guest room, what if they knew who it was that Mary had in her womb?

  20:27-20:28

  How do you think the story would have played out then?

  20:31-20:38

  He would have gone to that room and whoever was in there, I don't care if it's the Pope or Elvis or who, whoever was in there.

  20:39-20:40

  It's like, hey, Jack, you get out.

  20:43-20:47

  I just got you're going to have to get out because God needs this room.

  20:48-20:50

  And it's the same for us, church.

  20:51-20:53

  When you recognize who Jesus is.

  20:54-20:55

  You make room for.

  20:57-21:57

  You bump him up to the VIP priority position, and sometimes that means saying no to good things because they're lesser things. Because I want Jesus to have the first place. So Jesus is for people who make him priority. Secondly, Jesus is for people who are actively seeking him. Jesus is for people who are actively seeking him. Again, we kind of said this at beginning, it's strange that the angel appeared to shepherds. Why not rabbis or the high priest or kings? Why is it so strange that this angel appeared to shepherds? Because some of you still might not think that's strange, because Now, we tend to glorify shepherds.

  21:58-21:59

  And I get why.

  22:00-22:04

  Because when you read your Bible, being a shepherd sounds like a pretty sweet deal, right?

  22:04-22:06

  Because Adam was a shepherd, right?

  22:07-22:11

  And Abel, and Jacob, and Moses, and David.

  22:11-22:17

  I guess quite a gallery of famous shepherds.

  22:19-22:21

  But you have to understand, in Jesus' day, it wasn't like that.

  22:22-22:24

  Do you know how they viewed shepherds?

  22:25-22:26

  Bottom of the barrel people.

  22:30-22:37

  Ignorant, uneducated, because they couldn't keep the rules that the Pharisees prescribed.

  22:37-22:41

  You know, the Pharisees made up like 600 and some rules.

  22:42-22:47

  You had to keep these rules and they mainly circled around keeping the Sabbath.

  22:47-22:50

  shepherds were just unable to keep those rules because of their jobs.

  22:53-22:59

  And in Jesus' day, shepherds weren't even allowed to testify in court because they were considered garbage people.

  23:00-23:02

  Like, you can't trust a shepherd.

  23:03-23:04

  They weren't allowed to testify.

  23:04-23:05

  They were outcasts.

  23:07-23:14

  And that is who God chose to receive the greatest news in history.

  23:15-23:17

  I've got to tell you, it doesn't make sense.

  23:17-23:21

  And if you're expecting me to spin this in some way where it makes sense, I can't do it.

  23:22-23:23

  We just finished a series in John.

  23:24-23:28

  Who was the first person that got the announcement that the Lord resurrected from the dead?

  23:28-23:29

  Who was the first person?

  23:30-23:31

  Mary Magdalene.

  23:31-23:32

  Like, who was she?

  23:32-23:33

  Nobody!

  23:34-23:36

  From the world's perspective, she was a nobody.

  23:36-23:50

  But from God's perspective, He goes, "Yeah, she's going to be the first person that finds out about this." And I think it's interesting in our story that you don't really see the shepherds being specifically told to go.

  23:52-23:54

  But they really didn't need to be, did they?

  23:56-24:01

  Like man, this story gives me so many more questions than answers sometimes when I really think about it.

  24:02-24:03

  Like how did they find Mary and Joseph?

  24:06-24:10

  Like the angel gave them three clues, like look, a baby was born.

  24:12-24:12

  That's clue number one.

  24:13-24:15

  Swaddling cloths, clue number two.

  24:16-24:18

  Lying in a manger, clue number three.

  24:18-24:19

  Good luck.

  24:21-24:23

  And how did they find him?

  24:24-24:26

  Did they run around knocking on doors?

  24:26-24:31

  Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, baby's laying in a feeding trough in here.

  24:31-24:33

  Okay, sorry to bother you.

  24:33-24:34

  I don't know.

  24:35-24:52

  But I do think it's funny that Mary travels 90 miles, has the baby in the garage barn thing, and a bunch of gnarly strangers just show up.

  24:53-24:56

  I mean, for those of you that are parents, can you put yourself in that scenario?

  24:56-25:05

  Can you think back to when you had your child or one of your children, and you're in the hospital, and push, and, oh, congratulations, it's a boy.

  25:05-25:11

  And all of a sudden, this group of gnarly, dirty people just run into your room, "Oh, you've got a baby here.

  25:11-25:14

  Oh, we heard about this." You're like, "Who are you?" "Oh, it's okay.

  25:14-25:17

  God told us about this." What?

  25:19-25:28

  But you see, the shepherds did the simplest and most important thing a person can do.

  25:30-25:31

  They responded to God's Word.

  25:33-25:36

  You know, oftentimes in the church we talk about seeking the Lord, right?

  25:36-25:45

  You say you've got to seek the Lord, and the Bible says seek the Lord, seek the Lord, and that's literally what the shepherds did.

  25:48-25:54

  I want to clarify something, because seeking the Lord absolutely does not imply that He's hiding.

  25:54-25:55

  Okay?

  25:56-25:58

  Actually, Acts 17 says He is not far from any of this.

  26:00-26:01

  But the Lord's not hiding.

  26:03-26:08

  And the shepherds were literally given the information in order to find Him.

  26:10-26:17

  And we too have been given the information so that we too may find the Lord.

  26:19-26:21

  What matters is what we do with the information.

  26:24-26:26

  And really that's what seeking the Lord is.

  26:28-26:39

  It's hearing His Word and responding, having the desire to know Him and going after Him according to His Word.

  26:41-26:41

  Okay?

  26:41-26:45

  So seeking the Lord isn't hide and seek.

  26:48-26:58

  It isn't, "Gosh, I hope I can find Him." It's simply being willing to respond to His Word.

  26:58-26:59

  That's what it means.

  27:02-27:04

  Proverbs 2 puts it this way.

  27:05-27:27

  It says, "If you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." Now this passage is about seeking the Lord, specifically seeking the wisdom of the Lord, which is seeking the Lord.

  27:30-27:35

  But notice it says that you need to be searching like it was money.

  27:37-27:54

  Meaning this, if I gave you a treasure map, it's your neighborhood, and I said, "Hey, this map will take you to a place in your neighborhood and you'll find hidden treasure worth $10 billion, but the map was written in Spanish.

  27:55-27:56

  Would you learn Spanish?

  27:58-27:59

  Si, you're like, si.

  28:01-28:02

  Si, senor.

  28:02-28:04

  Si, jefe.

  28:07-28:09

  Or you could just call Martha, right?

  28:10-28:10

  That's cheating.

  28:11-28:13

  You can't find loopholes in my sermon illustrations.

  28:15-28:15

  (audience laughing)

  28:17-28:23

  Look, you see, you get these people to find these loopholes in these illustrations.

  28:25-28:28

  Well, I appreciate that, but that's not where I was going with this.

  28:31-28:31

  We're just moving on.

  28:34-28:35

  I think you get the point.

  28:35-28:36

  We're having fun, right?

  28:36-28:39

  We're having, but I think you get the point.

  28:42-28:49

  There has to be like this diligence and this desire this on your part, like I want to know.

  28:50-28:58

  And I'm not sure how much the shepherds really understood the impact of the message that they were given here.

  29:01-29:03

  I mean how much did they really comprehend do you think?

  29:04-29:09

  This is God taking the form of man.

  29:11-29:13

  And we're going to see him.

  29:14-29:15

  I don't know.

  29:17-29:19

  But they responded to it, I do know that.

  29:19-29:20

  They responded.

  29:23-29:28

  And when Jesus is your priority, seeking Him and His Word isn't something I need to talk you into.

  29:30-29:34

  Like the shepherd, you hear the message from God about His Son and you don't debate it.

  29:35-29:40

  You don't consider it, you just get moving on it, like the shepherd, right?

  29:42-29:44

  They just got moving immediately.

  29:46-29:46

  So should we.

  29:49-29:50

  So who is Jesus for finally?

  29:53-29:55

  And this is like last and most important by the way.

  29:55-29:56

  This isn't like last and least.

  29:57-29:59

  This is top of the mountain here.

  29:59-30:01

  Jesus is for people who need a Savior.

  30:03-30:05

  Back to the announcement, verse 11.

  30:05-30:13

  unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior." What does that imply?

  30:15-30:17

  That implies that He came to save people.

  30:18-30:19

  Save them from what?

  30:20-30:25

  Well fortunately we have another birth announcement in Matthew chapter 1 verse 21.

  30:26-30:37

  It says, "She will bear a son and you shall call His name Jesus for He will save His people from their sins." This is the kind of savior that was announced.

  30:40-30:46

  I came across this quote probably a couple decades ago now, and I had it written down.

  30:47-30:48

  I'm going to share it with you.

  30:48-30:48

  I don't know who.

  30:48-30:50

  It's not original with me.

  30:50-30:51

  All right?

  30:51-30:56

  You can probably Google it and find out if you're really interested.

  30:56-31:02

  And you're like, "Yeah, Jeff, why didn't you do that?" And now that I'm standing up here, it seems like I probably should have done that.

  31:04-31:05

  Here's the quote.

  31:08-31:15

  If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator.

  31:17-31:21

  If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.

  31:23-31:26

  If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.

  31:28-31:33

  If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.

  31:35-31:36

  But our greatest need was forgiveness.

  31:39-31:40

  So God sent us a Savior.

  31:43-31:50

  And I think it's easy with all of the stuff associated with this season, that that part of the message sort of gets buried.

  31:51-31:57

  'Cause we're all about the decorations and parties and appointments and presents, and I'm not giving you a guilt trip on that at all.

  31:58-31:59

  We do that stuff too.

  31:59-32:02

  I'm just saying this is the part of the message sometimes.

  32:02-32:06

  It gets a little suppressed, put on the back burner.

  32:10-32:18

  The fact that this baby that's born is first and foremost called a savior.

  32:20-32:25

  That baby grew up and had an incredible ministry.

  32:26-32:36

  We just spent three years looking at one account of it, but in a different account, in Mark chapter two, verse 17, that baby grew up, and this was something profound that he said.

  32:38-32:47

  Jesus said, "Those who are well "have no need of a physician, "but those who are sick.

  32:48-32:54

  "I came not to call the righteous, "but sinners.

  32:56-33:00

  And the question is, when does someone go to a doctor?

  33:02-33:04

  You know I need your reaction to that, right?

  33:04-33:08

  "Oh, you go to the doctor when you're sick." And that's not true.

  33:11-33:15

  You go to the doctor when you know that you're sick.

  33:17-33:18

  And it's the same with Jesus.

  33:21-33:29

  You won't come to Him to be saved until you know that you are a sinner guilty before God.

  33:32-33:33

  Who is Jesus for?

  33:35-33:45

  And if you're sitting here listening to this, if you're watching this stream or watching this on replay sometime later, you can say, "I'm not really that bad of a person.

  33:48-33:50

  I don't really think that I'm a sinner.

  33:51-33:55

  Actually, then you're not going to think that Jesus is for you.

  33:58-34:00

  Because first and foremost, He is a Savior.

  34:02-34:11

  Jesus isn't about warm, fuzzy Christmas sentimentality or come to church out of religious obligation.

  34:11-34:16

  He is the one, He is the only one who can save you from your sin.

  34:17-34:22

  if you're willing to turn from your sin and believe in Him.

  34:24-34:27

  And really, that's who Jesus is for.

  34:30-34:42

  And the shepherds, as far as I can see, they didn't become apostles or pastors, but they did become the first New Testament missionaries of Jesus.

  34:46-34:50

  like seeking Jesus in the first place, they didn't need talked into this either.

  34:52-34:58

  And here we see Jesus' impact even as a baby completely changed their lives.

  35:01-35:11

  So as we get deeper into the holiday season, let's not reduce the story of Jesus to merely the strangest birth announcement of all time.

  35:15-35:20

  baby came into the world to save you from your sins.

  35:21-35:40

  So as our worship team comes forward, the question is, "Who is Jesus for?" You're like, "Everyone!" That's what I want to say initially, but not everyone received Him.

  35:42-35:43

  So who is Jesus for?

  35:43-35:48

  I think a better word to use there, he's for anyone.

  35:49-36:11

  He is for anyone who is willing to recognize him for who he is, allowing him first place in their lives, anyone who is willing to actively seek him, anyone who realizes that they need a Savior.

  36:13-36:14

  That's who Jesus is for.

  36:15-36:15

  Let's pray.

  36:17-36:23

  Father in heaven, I pray that you would just grip our hearts in a fresh way with this message.

  36:23-36:28

  Some of us have heard this dozens of times over the years.

  36:28-36:38

  And it is no less astounding today as it was when it happened.

  36:41-36:44

  There's a lot of questions that I have about this passage.

  36:44-36:47

  How did the shepherds find Jesus?

  36:51-36:53

  What did it look like when the angel showed up?

  36:55-36:59

  There's a lot of questions that we have, Father, but that's really not the important thing.

  37:00-37:10

  The most clear thing about this passage is you sent a Savior that we are to seek after and allow to have the first place in our lives.

  37:12-37:25

  So Father, I pray that you would bring us to a recognition of who we are, a sobering self-examination, so that we realize that Jesus is for me.

  37:27-37:30

  To your glory and honor, we pray in Jesus' name.

  37:31-37:31

  Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Luke 2:1-21

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. In what ways have you made Jesus a priority in your life? Have you been guilty of giving Him leftovers? If so, what changes do you need to make?
   

3. Why do you think God chose the shepherds to give the big birth announcement to?
   

4. How would you explain to a non-believer what it means to “seek the Lord”?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Restoration

Introduction:

3 Things Jesus Calls Restored Failures to Do (John 21:1-25):

1. Care for His people. (John 21:15-17)
2. Follow Him to the end. (John 21:18-19)
3. Refuse to Compare yourself with others. (John 21:20-23)

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

• Audio Transcript

  00:58-01:01

  Open your Bibles with me please to John 21.

  01:03-01:04

  John 21.

  01:07-01:11

  Down this last stretch here, we see Jesus accomplished the purpose for which He came.

  01:13-01:19

  To die on the cross, to pay the penalty for our sins, and to raise from the dead to give us the promise of eternal life.

  01:20-01:27

  And in the day that Jesus resurrected, He appeared to His disciples, remember, without Thomas.

  01:27-01:31

  And then eight days later, appeared again, Thomas with them.

  01:32-01:36

  And in those meetings, Jesus left the disciples and us two things.

  01:37-01:38

  He said, "There's a mission.

  01:39-01:47

  You need to be empowered by the Spirit to deal with sin." That was last week's message.

  01:48-01:55

  But Jesus also left a blessing, and that's especially for us when Jesus said, "Blessed for those who haven't seen yet believe.

  01:58-02:02

  And truthfully the gospel could have ended in chapter 20.

  02:05-02:08

  But there's a major loose end that needs tied up here.

  02:09-02:10

  And that's Peter.

  02:14-02:22

  Remember back in chapter 18, Jesus was betrayed by one of his closest friends.

  02:23-02:28

  And he was arrested, heading to his darkest hour.

  02:28-02:36

  And Peter, the closest one to Jesus, by his own admission, denied three times that he even knew who Jesus was.

  02:40-02:41

  And yeah, Jesus shows up.

  02:41-02:46

  We saw last week, Jesus shows up and he gives the mission and tells him to receive the Holy Spirit and all of that.

  02:47-02:51

  And I think even though that happened, I think Peter was still wondering.

  02:56-03:04

  Yeah, that's all well and good, but these guys didn't mess up the way I messed up.

  03:05-03:06

  Right?

  03:06-03:08

  Look at verse 1 in chapter 21.

  03:10-03:16

  It says, "After this, Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberias.

  03:17-03:19

  And He revealed Himself in this way.

  03:21-03:31

  Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.

  03:34-04:05

  Simon Peter said to them, 'I'm going fishing.' Him, we will go with you.' They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing." Okay, so we have seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and you're like, "Well, who are the two others? We don't know." The best guess is probably Andrew and Philip, but for some reason John didn't mention them. The interesting thing about that list, okay, There's seven of them.

  04:05-04:12

  Six of those disciples were the same disciples that were called back in chapter 1.

  04:13-04:14

  They were the first called.

  04:15-04:21

  You're like, "Who was the seventh?" Well, that was Thomas, who swore he was never missing another meeting.

  04:24-04:39

  So Peter says to them, "I'm going fishing." The others were like, "Okay, we're going with you." Now understand this, in the Greek, when Peter says, "I'm going fishing," this was more than just like passing time, like hobby.

  04:40-04:41

  This was more than that.

  04:41-04:58

  The Greek seems to indicate that this was a statement of finality, as in Peter was saying, "You know what guys, I'm going back to fishing." As in, "I don't know what to do now.

  05:00-05:07

  So I'm just going to go back to what I've known." Right?

  05:08-05:12

  I think Peter at this point, I think he thought he was done with ministry.

  05:12-05:19

  Jesus gave the call, but Peter's like, "Yeah, that's good for other people." But I blew it.

  05:19-05:22

  How could Jesus use someone like me?

  05:23-05:24

  Well, look at verse 4.

  05:25-05:37

  "Just as day was breaking," remember the fish caught nothing, "Just as the day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

  05:38-05:59

  Jesus said to them, 'Children, do you have any fish?' They answered Him, 'No.' So like Mary Magdalene at the tomb, they didn't recognize Jesus." And Jesus' statement admittedly might have irritated them.

  06:00-06:07

  Because again, the way this is constructed in the Greek, literally, Jesus' question was anticipating the negative.

  06:07-06:15

  His question was literally this, "Hey, you guys didn't catch anything, did you?" Like, could you imagine being one of the fishermen?

  06:15-06:18

  You're out all night fishing, and there's some guy on the shore.

  06:19-06:25

  Like, "Hey, you guys didn't catch anything, did you?" "Who is that guy?" Well, hold on.

  06:26-06:48

  Verse six, "He said to them, "'Cast a net on the right side of the boat "'and you will find some.'" They were like, "You didn't think we thought about that?" But for some reason they obeyed because look, it says, "So they cast it, "and now they were not able to haul it in "because of the quantity of fish.

  06:50-06:55

  "The disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, "It is the Lord.

  06:55-07:03

  "When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, "he put on his outer garment," where he was stripped for work, "and he threw himself into the sea.

  07:04-07:30

  "The other disciples came in the boat, "dragging the net full of fish, "for they were not far from the land, "but about a hundred yards off." Okay, so John's like, when they get the miraculous catch, and John's like, "It's the Lord!" And Peter's like, "Cannonball!" And he just like jumps in and he's like, "There's no way John is beating me this time." All right, he might've beat me in the foot race, but swimming is my thing, all right?

  07:31-07:47

  So, racing to the shore, verse nine says, when they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place.

  07:49-07:54

  with fish laid out on it, and bread.

  07:56-08:04

  I've got to tell you, can you even wrap your brain around what that must have been like for Peter?

  08:05-08:10

  You're like, "What do you mean?" He gets on the shore, and there's a charcoal fire.

  08:10-08:13

  When was the last time we heard about a charcoal fire in John's Gospel?

  08:15-08:32

  John 18, servant girl, door girl, was like, "You know what his disciples are?" He said, "Peter." And Peter's like, "I have no idea who he is." And then Peter goes and he warms himself at a charcoal fire.

  08:33-08:35

  And now Jesus comes on the shore.

  08:35-08:41

  Here's Jesus crucified, resurrected, and He has a charcoal fire.

  08:42-08:45

  Do you think that reminded Peter of anything?

  08:48-09:04

  Verse 10, "Jesus said to them, 'Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.' So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full of large fish, 153 of them.

  09:06-09:08

  And although there were so many, the net was not torn.

  09:11-09:20

  Jesus said, "I'm coming to have breakfast." Now, none of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are You?" They knew it was the Lord.

  09:22-09:36

  Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish, this was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.

  09:38-09:40

  Here's an interesting little tidbit I was studying this week.

  09:40-09:44

  were a particular kind of fish that they would have caught at the Sea of Tiberias.

  09:45-09:49

  And these fish would have weighed about two pounds each.

  09:50-09:52

  All right, so help me out math people.

  09:53-09:59

  153 fish at about two pounds each is how much fish are we looking at?

  10:00-10:02

  Okay, it's like over 300 pounds of fish.

  10:05-10:10

  You know, what's interesting is the whole group Couldn't haul them in, but it says Peter did himself.

  10:12-10:14

  Manly man, right?

  10:16-10:24

  So, they realize at this point, that's Jesus.

  10:26-10:28

  And it says they didn't ask and they know, they know.

  10:31-10:36

  And amazingly, your Bible says that Jesus provided for them.

  10:38-10:41

  He served them.

  10:42-10:44

  He provided breakfast for them.

  10:46-10:57

  And you know, at this point, as they were all gathered around the charcoal fire, you know what Peter had to be thinking about.

  10:59-11:01

  The unresolved elephant in the room.

  11:04-11:06

  We never addressed this, did we?

  11:08-11:10

  That Lord, I failed You.

  11:14-11:16

  Like inexcusably failed You.

  11:18-11:20

  I royally messed up.

  11:21-11:24

  And you know when the pressure was on, I showed.

  11:24-11:26

  I denied three times that I even knew who You were.

  11:29-11:32

  Anybody else here been there?

  11:34-11:36

  I imagine that some of you are here now.

  11:38-11:48

  That you have messed up so bad, or so repeatedly, that you feel like a spiritual loser.

  11:50-11:56

  Our sin and our failure just like, it crushes us.

  11:56-11:58

  And it is in our faces.

  11:59-12:01

  And we carry this guilt around.

  12:02-12:03

  and we're like, "I'm such a failure.

  12:05-12:17

  "God's surely done with me because I'm so weak "and I thought I was so strong, "but I'm a terrible Christian." What do we do about that?

  12:20-12:22

  Like Peter, we're paralyzed by the guilt.

  12:24-12:39

  And we're just ready, like Peter, to throw in the spiritual towel, and we're gonna go back to fishing, And we'll go back to whatever is familiar, because obviously we stink at following Jesus, and we don't know what we were thinking in the first place.

  12:40-12:43

  And Jesus must be so disappointed in me.

  12:44-12:45

  You ever felt that?

  12:48-12:50

  Well, we're gonna look at Jesus' response to that.

  12:52-13:02

  But I have to remind you of three foundational truths before we get into this restoration, because this is it.

  13:04-13:13

  Three foundational truths that you need to embrace to truly understand the restoration that Jesus brings Peter to here.

  13:14-13:15

  So I jot these down.

  13:15-13:16

  Letter A.

  13:18-13:20

  Three foundational truths you need to embrace.

  13:20-13:23

  Jesus knew you were going to fail before you did.

  13:23-13:24

  Okay?

  13:24-13:26

  So if you're sitting here today, and you're like, "I'm such a failure.

  13:27-13:31

  I can't believe I did that." Jesus knew you were going to fail before you did.

  13:31-13:39

  You remember Jesus told Peter exactly how he was going to fail before it happened.

  13:39-13:40

  You remember that?

  13:43-13:53

  But sometimes we get this mindset like we blow it and God must be shocked, right?

  13:55-14:09

  Like we royally messed up, and like some angel goes before the Lord and says, "Hey, you're not gonna believe what so and so did." And God's like, "What? He did what?" You think that your sin shocked God?

  14:10-14:10

  Really?

  14:10-14:13

  You think He didn't see it coming?

  14:14-14:16

  That's a strong stance to take.

  14:18-14:23

  Jesus knew you were going to fail, even before you did.

  14:24-14:28

  The letter B, foundational truth.

  14:30-14:34

  If you have received Jesus Christ, all of your sins are forgiven.

  14:34-14:35

  Even the bad ones.

  14:35-14:37

  Even the ones you haven't committed yet.

  14:39-14:40

  That is a fundamental truth.

  14:43-14:50

  We get this mindset again, "I received Christ, so now all of the sins I committed..." What's today's date?

  14:51-14:52

  Is this the 5th?

  14:52-14:53

  Is this the 5th?

  14:54-14:55

  Okay, we'll go with that.

  14:56-15:00

  All the sins I committed before December 5th, if I receive Christ today, all those are forgiven.

  15:01-15:04

  But if I sin on December 6th, I'm going to have to ask for forgiveness again.

  15:04-15:05

  That is not true.

  15:07-15:11

  When you receive Christ, you are in a position of being forgiven.

  15:11-15:14

  You are in a position of being not guilty.

  15:15-15:16

  You are pardoned.

  15:16-15:17

  And it doesn't matter.

  15:19-15:21

  And obviously as Christians, we don't want to sin.

  15:21-15:22

  We don't want to dishonor the Lord.

  15:23-15:29

  that your sin doesn't kick you out of the family, unadopt you, make you unborn again, it doesn't happen.

  15:30-15:33

  When you receive Christ, all of your sins are forgiven.

  15:34-15:39

  You stand in a state of no longer condemned.

  15:42-15:45

  And if you're struggling with that still, I want you to think, just think about it this way.

  15:45-15:50

  When Jesus was dying on the cross, how many of your sins were in the future from that moment?

  15:51-15:53

  All of them, right? All of them.

  15:55-15:57

  So all of your sins are forgiven if you're in Christ.

  15:59-16:00

  Even the ones you haven't committed yet.

  16:04-16:07

  Third foundational truth, letter C, today's the day to get back in the game.

  16:08-16:10

  Today's the day to get back in the game.

  16:12-16:13

  What are you waiting for?

  16:14-16:23

  If you're sitting here, or you're watching this stream, and you're like, "Yeah, I blew it." Someday, someday I'm going to get back on track with the Lord.

  16:24-16:31

  Someday, someday I'm going to get back to church and worship, I'm going to get back to reading my Bible someday.

  16:31-16:33

  I'm like, what are you waiting for?

  16:37-16:38

  Are you waiting for forgiveness?

  16:40-16:42

  Because Tetelestai, right?

  16:42-16:42

  It is finished.

  16:43-16:44

  That's been accomplished.

  16:48-16:50

  Today's the day to get back.

  16:52-16:58

  So knowing your outline, knowing His restoration, here's three things that Jesus calls restored failures to do.

  17:01-17:07

  Alright, with this as a foundation, three things Jesus calls restored failures to do.

  17:07-17:08

  Number one, care for His people.

  17:10-17:11

  Look at verse 15.

  17:12-17:47

  It says, "When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed My lambs." "Do you love Me more than these?" "More than these, what?" "More than these, what?" Well, some people think Jesus was talking about the fishing gear.

  17:48-17:53

  Because Peter went back to fishing, and Jesus was pointing at the nets and boats and all of that.

  17:53-17:57

  "Do you love me more than this stuff?" I don't think that's what He was talking about.

  17:57-18:03

  Some people say that Jesus was saying, "Do you love me more than you love the other disciples?" And I don't think that's what He was talking about either.

  18:04-18:15

  I think what Jesus was saying to Peter was, "Peter, do you love Me more than the other disciples love Me?" Like, why would he ask that?

  18:18-18:26

  Well, Matthew 26.33, you see it again. Mark 14.29, you see Peter elevated himself above the other disciples.

  18:26-18:30

  And he said, "Hey, even if they all fall away, Jesus, I never will.

  18:32-18:38

  They'll fail You, but not me." And Jesus is calling Peter back to that statement.

  18:38-18:46

  Like, "Hey, you love Me more than they do?" And I love Peter's response.

  18:46-18:47

  You see the humility.

  18:50-18:53

  He focuses on the Lord's knowledge, right?

  18:56-18:58

  He says, "Yes, Lord, You know.

  18:59-19:10

  You know that I love You." And Jesus says to him, "Feed My lambs." Obviously, He was saying, "Take care of My people.

  19:11-19:12

  Disciple people. Make disciples.

  19:12-19:16

  Carry out the mission of evangelism that I've called you to, Peter.

  19:17-19:21

  And My mission is loving and caring for people.

  19:22-19:22

  That's the mission.

  19:24-19:31

  And I want you to do that." And I guarantee you, Peter wanted the conversation to end right there.

  19:32-19:34

  Like, okay, got it.

  19:36-19:37

  But it didn't end there.

  19:37-19:38

  Look at verse 16.

  19:42-20:13

  Jesus said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend My sheep." He said to him the third time, Simon said of John, "Do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything.

  20:14-20:26

  You know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep." So Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him.

  20:27-20:29

  Do you think Peter caught the connection?

  20:31-20:36

  I denied you three times, and now you're asking me three times.

  20:39-20:42

  But there's a little nuance in the Greek that is worth mentioning.

  20:43-20:46

  You see, the Greek language, there are different words for love.

  20:47-20:48

  We're kind of limited in the English language.

  20:49-20:52

  We say "love," and we say "love" about everything, right?

  20:52-20:55

  I love my wife, I love my dog, I love hockey, I love pizza.

  20:56-20:58

  I don't love all those things the same way.

  20:59-20:59

  Right?

  21:00-21:07

  But there were different words for love in the Greek, and there are two words used here.

  21:08-21:18

  And it's the word "agape," which is the self-sacrificing love, the committed love, the "you before me" kind of love.

  21:18-21:26

  And then there's "phileo," which is like affection, like brotherly love.

  21:26-21:31

  "Valeo" is the kind of love you have for your friends that you don't have for a stranger.

  21:31-21:49

  "Oh, I like this guy, and he's my buddy, and I care about this guy." That's "valeo." And sometimes, these words are used synonymously, but in this context, there's a very clear distinction that's made.

  21:51-21:53

  And it helps us understand the conversation.

  21:53-22:00

  So if I can paraphrase by inserting the words, "agape," self-sacrificing love, "phileo," brotherly love or affection.

  22:01-22:10

  To paraphrase this conversation, literally in the Greek, Jesus says to Peter, "Peter, do you agape me?

  22:12-22:25

  Are you committed to me?" And Peter says, "Lord, you know I care about you." The second time, Jesus says, "Peter, do you have a God-baby?

  22:25-22:51

  Are you committed to me?" And Peter says, "You know that I care about you, Jesus." Then the third time, Jesus says, "Peter, do you care about me?" You see, when Jesus used the word that Peter used, Peter was grieved.

  22:52-22:55

  Peter was saying, "You know everything.

  22:57-23:05

  And obviously from my failure that you totally predicted, you know me better than I know myself, Jesus.

  23:05-23:16

  You know that I "faleo" you." Peter was so reluctant to make the claim of total commitment.

  23:19-23:29

  "Peter, do you agape me?" And Peter's like, "Yeah, you know, I swore that I was the most agape devoted disciple of all of them.

  23:30-23:38

  But we all saw that that wasn't true, didn't we?" Peter's saying, "All I can...

  23:38-23:53

  Phileo is, "That's all I got. I care about you. You know that I care about you, Lord." But I want you to see Jesus' plan to restore Peter was just one question.

  23:55-23:57

  And it's the most important question.

  24:01-24:03

  This is what we have to get to the heart of.

  24:05-24:12

  It's this, total agape committed love for Christ drives you to love Christ's people.

  24:15-24:20

  I just find it so fascinating that Jesus came here, obviously, to restore Peter.

  24:21-24:26

  I find it so fascinating the things that Jesus didn't do, that we would naturally do if that was us in a situation.

  24:27-24:28

  Like, what do you mean? I mean this.

  24:29-24:33

  Jesus didn't ask Peter if he was sorry.

  24:33-24:34

  Do you notice that?

  24:37-24:40

  Jesus didn't make Peter promise to never do it again.

  24:40-24:46

  Like if you want to get ministry, all right, well listen, you're going to stop this denying me stuff, all right?

  24:46-24:46

  You promise?

  24:46-24:47

  You promise?

  24:48-24:49

  You're not going to do this again?

  24:51-24:51

  He didn't.

  24:54-24:56

  Jesus didn't do those things.

  24:56-24:57

  He went right to the heart.

  24:58-25:01

  He said, "Listen, Peter, I got to ask you a question, man.

  25:02-25:03

  Do you love me?

  25:05-25:07

  He challenged Peter's love.

  25:07-25:09

  That was the question.

  25:09-25:10

  Like, why?

  25:13-25:14

  Because Jesus wants your heart.

  25:17-25:21

  Jesus knows if He has your heart, the rest of you is going to follow.

  25:24-25:36

  So for those of you who are feeling off track, not close with God right now, ashamed of yourself, I have a word for you from the Word of God, and that is this, Jesus loves you.

  25:39-25:41

  There is no question about that whatsoever.

  25:42-25:47

  God demonstrated His love once and for all.

  25:47-25:48

  He loves you.

  25:52-26:02

  Probably the only question that you need to ask yourself is, "Do you love Him?" That's what Jesus was driving at.

  26:06-26:10

  The same call to Peter is just as real to you.

  26:12-26:12

  Do you love Jesus?

  26:15-26:16

  Then feed His sheep!

  26:17-26:18

  Do you love Jesus?

  26:20-26:30

  You should show it by taking care of His people, by getting involved in ministry, by being plugged into a small group and pouring into people and investing in people's lives.

  26:33-26:38

  Be intentional about showing your love for Jesus by loving His people.

  26:41-26:42

  That's what Jesus called Peter to.

  26:44-26:45

  That's what He's calling you to today.

  26:45-26:46

  Do you love Him?

  26:48-26:57

  And you're like, "Yeah, you know what Jeff, I do, but I don't feel worthy." None of us are worthy!

  26:58-26:58

  Right?

  26:58-27:01

  And that's one of the most beautiful things about the gospel.

  27:01-27:03

  He makes you worthy.

  27:05-27:11

  And if you can't accept that, then you haven't really understood what happened on the cross.

  27:14-27:19

  For some of you, what you need to do is embrace His restoration.

  27:19-27:21

  You need to embrace His grace.

  27:25-27:33

  And absolutely, if you have wronged someone in whatever way you blew it, if you've wronged someone, you need to make restitution.

  27:33-27:34

  That's part of repentance.

  27:35-27:35

  Absolutely.

  27:37-27:39

  But it's time to end the pity party.

  27:41-27:42

  And get back on the mission.

  27:43-27:49

  "Oh, I failed, I messed up, I'm such a loser." Hey, we're all losers.

  27:52-27:53

  That's why Jesus died.

  27:56-27:56

  Back to the mission.

  27:58-28:02

  Knowing His restoration, three things Jesus calls restored failures to do.

  28:04-28:08

  First of all, He says, "Care for His people." Secondly, "Follow Him to the end." Follow Him to the end.

  28:09-28:11

  Look at verse 18.

  28:14-28:16

  Jesus, again, still speaking to Peter.

  28:17-28:24

  He says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted.

  28:26-28:39

  But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." What in the world is he talking about?

  28:41-28:43

  Jesus' words there seem cryptic.

  28:44-28:49

  So thankfully for us, John clarified exactly what Jesus was talking about.

  28:49-28:50

  Look at verse 19.

  28:50-28:56

  John says, "This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.

  28:58-29:09

  After saying this, he said to him, 'Follow me.'" that Peter was going to give his life for the cause of Christ, glorifying God in His death.

  29:11-29:17

  History tells us that Peter was crucified upside down because he didn't feel worthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord.

  29:20-29:23

  And people believe that that's what Jesus is referring to here.

  29:26-29:28

  But you know this is full circle.

  29:31-29:57

  Three years prior to this event, Jesus showed up at the Sea of Galilee, or Tiberias if you prefer, and after providing this fisherman named Peter a miraculous catch of fish, after all night of not catching anything, Jesus told Peter to follow Him.

  29:57-29:58

  That's in Luke 5.

  30:02-30:04

  Fast forward three years later, right here.

  30:06-30:07

  The same sea.

  30:09-30:11

  Another miraculous catch of fish.

  30:13-30:22

  After another night of not catching anything, Jesus tells a fisherman named Peter to follow Him.

  30:23-30:24

  Do you see that?

  30:25-30:29

  Peter's story ends where it began.

  30:30-30:39

  Where Jesus shows up and says, "Follow me." I mean, he answered the call before, and now Jesus is calling Peter to recommit.

  30:40-30:41

  "Okay, I have big plans for you.

  30:45-30:46

  Follow me.

  30:47-31:02

  Led by the shepherd wherever he takes you." Jesus made it so clear in His ministry that being a disciple only means being willing to follow all the way.

  31:03-31:05

  That's the only kind of disciple there is.

  31:06-31:07

  And I think that's what Jesus was driving at here.

  31:09-31:15

  Jesus doesn't have any part-time disciples, no half-committed disciples, no temporary positions available.

  31:16-31:19

  To follow Jesus means you're willing to follow all the way.

  31:21-31:22

  the only kind of disciple there is.

  31:24-31:44

  Wherever he sends you, whether it's in your backyard or in your community or overseas, whatever happens to you, sickness, loss, tragedy, opposition, what are you gonna do?

  31:44-31:44

  You're gonna quit?

  31:45-31:47

  Oh, life got hard and I quit, really?

  31:48-31:52

  Where in the brochure did it say that life was going to be easy with or without Christ.

  31:52-31:53

  What are you going to do?

  31:54-32:02

  I'll tell you what, I'd rather face the difficulties of life with Christ than try to fend for myself.

  32:05-32:09

  You see, the difference between you and Peter is you weren't told how you're going to die.

  32:11-32:14

  I'm not sure I'd want to know, actually.

  32:17-32:20

  But what you have in common with Peter told how to live.

  32:23-32:25

  Jesus, notice He didn't promise Peter it would be easy.

  32:29-32:41

  He didn't say, "Follow me, Peter, for a Cadillac type faith, health and wealth." He says, "Hey, this is going to result in a brutal death for you.

  32:41-32:46

  Follow me." Jesus promises Peter and us that the road's going to be hard.

  32:50-32:52

  Do you love Jesus? Then you need to follow Him.

  32:54-33:00

  Every new call He places on your life has to be a new opportunity for you to renew your commitment to Him.

  33:03-33:04

  You've got to follow Him to the end.

  33:06-33:09

  Number three, refuse to compare yourself with others.

  33:11-33:14

  Three things Jesus calls restored failures to do.

  33:15-33:19

  Care for his people, follow him to the end, and refuse to compare yourself with others.

  33:21-33:22

  Look at verse 20.

  33:26-33:41

  Okay, so Jesus is like, "Follow me." Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John, following them, the one who had been reclining at the table close to him, and had said, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you.

  33:44-33:59

  When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?" And if you listen really close, you can almost hear the sounds of the face palms from the other disciples when Peter said this to Jesus.

  34:02-34:04

  You get the scene, "Do you love me?

  34:04-34:06

  And you're gonna give your life for me.

  34:06-34:09

  And I want you to follow me and cue the music.

  34:10-34:29

  And then you hear the needle scratching across the record when Peter's like, "But what about this man?" And all the other disciples were like, "What about this man?" Do you remember, Peter, the last time that you were comparing yourself to the other disciples?

  34:29-34:34

  "Even if they fall away, I never will." Remember how that worked out?

  34:37-34:43

  and you still have your eyes on what the other disciples are doing.

  34:46-34:46

  Wow.

  34:48-35:01

  Well, Jesus, verse 22 says, "Jesus said to him, 'It is My will that he remain until I come.'" What is that to you?

  35:04-35:05

  You follow Me.

  35:07-35:09

  What did Jesus mean by that?

  35:09-35:12

  "If it is My will that he remain until I come." Is this some...

  35:12-35:14

  Did He mean like in a spiritual sense?

  35:14-35:16

  Is He talking hypothetically?

  35:16-35:17

  Well we know what He didn't mean.

  35:17-35:33

  Verse 23, "So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die." Yeah, Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but "If it is My will that he remain until I come." What is that to you?

  35:34-35:35

  Okay, so John clarifies.

  35:37-35:43

  Because people misunderstood what Jesus said, and he thought it meant that John was going to live until the second coming of Christ.

  35:45-35:55

  Well, here's the thing, if you're so fixated on what Jesus meant by that statement, then you missed the point.

  35:57-35:59

  And Jesus' point was simply this.

  36:01-36:27

  do with John is none of your business. You follow me. But what about... I got my own thing happening with John. You don't worry about that. You, you follow me. And before we pick on Peter, we all do it.

  36:28-36:34

  We get so much more interested in other people's journey with Christ than our own.

  36:37-36:40

  Whether it's good or bad, positive or negative, we do this.

  36:40-36:42

  We get fixated on other people's walks.

  36:43-36:44

  We do it all the time.

  36:46-36:53

  So much more concerned about whether or not somebody else is following Jesus than we're We're not looking at, am I following Jesus?

  36:57-37:00

  We hear so much like Peter here.

  37:02-37:03

  I hear this all the time.

  37:03-37:07

  They're like, "Hey, Pastor Jeff, did you see this church down the road?

  37:08-37:11

  They're basing their entire Christmas sermons.

  37:11-37:13

  They're Christmas, they were advertising.

  37:13-37:16

  They're basing their entire Christmas sermons on Michael Jackson songs.

  37:17-37:21

  Like, what do you think about that?" Like, I really don't care.

  37:23-37:26

  What that church is doing has nothing to do with me, right?

  37:27-37:27

  Not my business.

  37:29-37:32

  There's only one church that I'm really concerned about, and it's this one.

  37:36-37:43

  Jesus says, "You follow me." And some of you are like, "Well, what about the sex abuse in the Catholic church?" Pray for them.

  37:46-37:48

  But that has nothing to do with your walk, does it?

  37:50-37:57

  Jesus says, "You follow me." Somebody would say, "Well, what about my husband?

  37:57-38:02

  He doesn't go to church, he doesn't seem interested." And I would say, "Well, Jesus will deal with him.

  38:03-38:12

  And Jesus is dealing with you when he says, 'You follow me.'" And I just, I've heard this so many times.

  38:13-38:22

  You know, that preacher on TV did this, and I went to this church, and it was scandalous, and the pastor did this and he was, and they're all hypocrites.

  38:22-38:29

  And somehow people use that as justification to not follow Christ personally.

  38:30-38:31

  Like, why don't you follow Christ?

  38:31-38:33

  Because I saw some TV preacher did this.

  38:33-38:34

  What?

  38:35-38:36

  Who gives a rep?

  38:38-38:39

  There's hypocrites everywhere.

  38:41-38:43

  And when you do that, you're just like Peter.

  38:44-38:46

  Oh, what about this guy?

  38:47-38:51

  And Jesus says to you, just what He says to Peter, "Hey, not your business.

  38:53-38:57

  You follow me." Because here's the reality.

  38:59-39:09

  If you're gonna start comparing yourself to other people, you are always going to find somebody further down the road than you, more mature than you, has their act together a little bit better than you.

  39:09-39:11

  You're always gonna find that person.

  39:12-39:22

  And you'll, "Oh, I'm never gonna be as good as that guy." And you're always gonna find somebody that is dishonoring Christ and making a mockery of the faith.

  39:22-39:23

  You're always gonna find that guy too.

  39:26-39:29

  And their journey has nothing to do with you.

  39:30-39:36

  Comparing yourself with someone else is pointless because God has a plan for you and your journey.

  39:37-39:42

  And the only person that you need to worry about, are they following Jesus?

  39:42-39:42

  That's you.

  39:44-39:46

  You need to worry about you, all right?

  39:47-39:48

  So have you blown it?

  39:49-39:49

  Did you get off track?

  39:49-39:53

  Do you feel guilty that you failed Christ in some way?

  39:53-39:54

  Well, listen, you're forgiven.

  39:55-39:58

  Tetelestai, your sins have been paid for.

  40:01-40:06

  You need to get back to one thing, and that's asking yourself this, do I love Jesus Christ?

  40:08-40:08

  Do I love him?

  40:12-40:12

  Well, then prove it.

  40:14-40:15

  He proved his love for you.

  40:15-40:17

  What are you doing to prove your love for him?

  40:18-40:19

  Get back on the horse.

  40:20-40:21

  Care for his people.

  40:22-40:24

  Be faithful no matter what happens.

  40:25-40:27

  And stop comparing yourself to others.

  40:29-40:31

  As Jesus says to you today, "Do you love me?

  40:36-40:38

  "Follow me." Last two verses here.

  40:40-40:45

  Says, "This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things and who has written these things.

  40:46-40:48

  And we know that his testimony is true.

  40:50-40:53

  Now there are also many other things that Jesus did.

  40:53-40:55

  Were every one of them to be written?

  40:56-41:01

  I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

  41:03-41:09

  So John's gospel is completed, though he could have written a whole lot more.

  41:12-41:14

  But the story of Jesus is far from over.

  41:17-41:18

  Because that story includes you.

  41:20-41:21

  Yes, you.

  41:23-41:24

  Even if you messed up.

  41:26-41:28

  Even if you messed up really bad.

  41:30-41:32

  Let Jesus restore you.

  41:34-41:35

  Because you've got some sheep to feed.

  41:36-41:38

  Alright? Let's pray.

  41:39-41:46

  Father in heaven, we thank you for the grace in which we stand.

  41:50-41:59

  That if we're truly being honest, there's not a person in this room or watching this stream that deserves anything from you.

  42:00-42:02

  And you've given us everything.

  42:05-42:27

  Every single one of us should stand eternally condemned for the way that we've dishonored you with horribly wicked thoughts, harsh words, deceptive actions, hateful conduct, that you put our sin on your son.

  42:30-42:33

  And oh, like Peter, we still mess up.

  42:33-42:36

  And like Peter, we still wonder if we should just go back to doing things our old way.

  42:39-42:41

  But we see Jesus still pursue us.

  42:44-42:54

  So Father, I want to pray specifically for the person who maybe feels like they've messed up so badly that there's no possible way you're ever going to do anything with them.

  42:56-43:04

  I pray, Father, You would bring to their heart and mind the path of restitution and repentance needs to look like if they've wronged anyone.

  43:04-43:13

  But Father, I pray that they would embrace the reality that all of our sins are forgiven in Christ.

  43:16-43:18

  And it's Your desire to bring us to a better place.

  43:22-43:23

  I pray, Father, they wouldn't delay.

  43:26-43:33

  Let your Spirit press on them the urgency of getting back, defeating your sheep.

  43:36-43:38

  I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 21:1-25

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. Why did Jesus ask Peter three times if Peter loved Him (John 21:15-17)? Why was Peter grieved (John 21:17)? What does this conversation teach us about the Lord's restoration of a failure?
   

3. What was Jesus telling Peter to do when He said “Feed my lambs / Tend my sheep” (John 21:15-17)? What is this commanding us to do, ie, how do we fulfill that?
   

4. Why did Peter ask about John (John 21:21)? Why do we tend to compare our walk with Christ with someone else's? Why is this foolish?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Resurrection - Part 2

Introduction:

Answers from an Empty Tomb (John 20:19-31):

1. A Mission . (John 20:21)

   John 17:18 - As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

Two Ways We are Sent Like Jesus:

1. You are sent in the Power of the Sirit . (John 20:22)

   Genesis 2:7 - then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature

   Acts 1:8 - But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

2. You are sent to Deal with Sin . (John 20:23)

   Matthew 16:19 - I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

2. A Blessing . (John 20:24-29)

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

• Audio Transcript

  01:05-01:21

  Last week we saw the empty tomb, and we talked about the evidence of the empty tomb, we talked about the significance of the empty tomb, and we saw, like Mary, how your sorrow will turn to joy when you turn to the resurrected Christ.

  01:22-01:32

  And it's interesting that, speaking of the resurrection of Jesus, the first person to see Jesus alive was Mary Magdalene.

  01:33-01:36

  Now I gotta be honest with you, that's not how I would have done it.

  01:37-01:54

  If I would have done it, I would have had the resurrected Jesus first show up at the Sanhedrin and say, "Do you believe now who I said I am?" And then I would have gone to Herod's place.

  01:56-02:02

  And I would have said, "Look." Then I would have stopped off at Pilate's place, right?

  02:02-02:04

  I have this whole thing in my mind.

  02:04-02:11

  But you know, God didn't really ask my opinion on any of this.

  02:12-02:19

  Obviously, God's wisdom surpasses my wisdom by an infinite margin.

  02:20-02:24

  And God often does things I really don't expect.

  02:25-02:35

  Like, the first person to resurrect Jesus showed up to reveal Himself to was, in the world's eyes, a nobody.

  02:36-02:37

  Honestly.

  02:38-02:40

  But to God, somebody very significant.

  02:40-02:47

  Well, the disciples were not expecting a resurrection.

  02:47-02:49

  We talked about that.

  02:49-02:58

  They were told over and over and over, Jesus said, "I'm going to be handed over to evil men, I'm going to be crucified, I'm going to be raised on the third day." And it's just always right over their head.

  02:59-03:00

  They missed it.

  03:02-03:05

  And we saw last week, they knew Jesus' body was gone.

  03:05-03:06

  They didn't understand what it meant.

  03:06-03:08

  They didn't understand what it meant to them.

  03:08-03:09

  We saw that in verse nine.

  03:10-03:20

  So finally, here in the passage you were looking at today, Jesus reveals to the group of disciples that he did, in fact, rise from the dead.

  03:22-03:35

  To understand sort of what's happening in this passage, I want you to think, like, you know how, like, when parents will go away for a few days and leave the kids behind.

  03:36-03:41

  Now, some of you parents have kids old enough where you've had to give the little speech, right?

  03:42-03:46

  And some of you are kids here that have had parents give you that speech.

  03:46-03:51

  Maybe some of you are young enough that you remember back when your parents had to give you that speech.

  03:51-03:54

  But the parents have to go for a few days, and they're leaving.

  03:54-03:55

  and like, okay, I'm coming back.

  03:56-04:00

  But you know the little speech your parents give you, the last instructions before they leave.

  04:02-04:03

  You know what I'm talking about?

  04:04-04:04

  I can start over.

  04:05-04:09

  Look, this is the introduction that I wrote, we're going with this one, all right?

  04:11-04:13

  But you know what I'm talking about, right?

  04:13-04:16

  The parents are like, look, I'm gonna be back soon.

  04:17-04:18

  No wild parties.

  04:19-04:20

  Do your chores.

  04:22-04:23

  Take care of your sister.

  04:24-04:25

  You know what I'm talking about?

  04:26-04:28

  You're like, no Jeff, I don't leave my kids behind.

  04:30-04:34

  All right, well, maybe you know somebody that has.

  04:35-04:40

  But it's sort of the same thing happening here on a more grand level.

  04:41-04:42

  Jesus is leaving soon.

  04:44-04:47

  And in this passage we're looking at, he has the disciples assembled.

  04:47-04:50

  And these are sort of the last instructions.

  04:51-04:52

  He's like, I'm leaving and I'm coming back.

  04:52-04:56

  And by the way, here's what you need to be working on while I'm gone.

  04:59-05:00

  Very important things he was leaving them with.

  05:00-05:02

  Look at verse 19.

  05:02-05:18

  It says, "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

  05:20-05:23

  the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

  05:23-05:25

  So this is Sunday evening, right?

  05:25-05:28

  The same evening when Jesus resurrected.

  05:29-05:33

  And your Bible says the disciples, they locked themselves in.

  05:33-05:34

  They were afraid they were next.

  05:34-05:36

  Okay, they just crucified the Lord.

  05:36-05:37

  They're going to come after us.

  05:38-05:41

  So they kind of barricaded themselves in the room, right?

  05:42-05:46

  And Jesus just, he just shows up.

  05:48-05:52

  Even though the doors were locked, all of a sudden, Jesus is standing there.

  05:54-05:54

  And what does he do?

  05:54-05:58

  He proves his bodily resurrection to the disciples.

  05:59-05:59

  Did you see that?

  06:00-06:02

  He shows them the crucifixion wounds.

  06:02-06:05

  Look at my hands and look at my side.

  06:06-06:10

  This is the same body that was put in the tomb and it is resurrected.

  06:12-06:17

  I don't know, I kind of chuckled just kind of reading this and studying this this week.

  06:17-06:25

  It says, "Then the disciples were glad "when they saw the Lord." I'm like, could that not be like the understatement of the millennium?

  06:26-06:29

  It's like, oh, you rose from the dead, well I'm glad.

  06:32-06:40

  Okay, the reason it's worded that way is because when you study the other gospels, initially they were terrified, which I totally get that.

  06:40-06:48

  But John here is adding, they weren't just terrified, There was actually some excitement about that.

  06:48-06:51

  But we see here that this wasn't just a quick hello.

  06:52-07:04

  Jesus, like the parents leaving for a while and coming back, Jesus wanted to leave the disciples, them and us, with two things in light of his resurrection.

  07:04-07:07

  So jot this down if you're taking notes, which we always encourage.

  07:07-07:10

  Here's two things that Jesus left us.

  07:11-07:11

  All right?

  07:12-07:13

  Two things Jesus left us.

  07:13-07:14

  Number one, write this down.

  07:15-07:16

  He left us a mission.

  07:16-07:20

  This is Jesus' last charge to the group of the disciples.

  07:20-07:24

  This is, in John's Gospel, this is the Great Commission.

  07:25-07:25

  All right?

  07:26-07:27

  You're gonna see that here in a second.

  07:27-07:35

  And this is to all the disciples, to them and to us, and Jesus gives a three-verse sermon.

  07:36-07:39

  And you're like, man, Pastor Jeff, why can't you be more like Jesus?

  07:42-07:43

  I'm a work in progress like you.

  07:44-07:46

  But a three verse sermon, all right?

  07:46-07:47

  Look at verse 21.

  07:47-07:52

  It says, "Jesus said to them, again, "'Peace be with you.

  07:53-08:00

  "'As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.'" Does that sound familiar at all?

  08:01-08:15

  Actually, in John 17, Jesus, high priestly prayer before the betrayal and arrest and crucifixion, Before all of that, Jesus was praying very specifically to his father.

  08:15-08:21

  He says, "As you sent me into the world, "so I have sent them into the world." We can't miss this.

  08:22-08:23

  Why was Jesus sent?

  08:25-08:31

  Jesus says he's sending us the way he was sent, so we have to ask, why was he sent?

  08:33-08:35

  He was sent to save the lost, wasn't he?

  08:36-08:39

  Wasn't Jesus sent to bring salvation to sinners like us?

  08:40-08:41

  Isn't that why he came?

  08:42-08:43

  Pretty clear.

  08:44-08:46

  But let's look a little deeper.

  08:47-08:59

  Because Jesus said, "As the Father sent me," not just for the same purpose, in the same way that the Father sent me, that is the way that I am sending you.

  09:00-09:01

  Like, what do you mean?

  09:01-09:02

  Here's what I mean.

  09:03-09:07

  When you study your Gospels, We've been going through John for the last three years.

  09:08-09:09

  I'm sure you've noticed this.

  09:09-09:13

  Jesus saw his whole life as always being on mission.

  09:13-09:14

  You notice that?

  09:16-09:19

  Jesus never deviated from the message.

  09:21-09:25

  Jesus never talked about early sabbatical or retirement.

  09:25-09:29

  Jesus never let frustration sideline him.

  09:29-09:32

  He's like, "Look, I'm here for a mission.

  09:32-09:33

  "I'm here to glorify God.

  09:33-09:39

  I'm here to bring the message of salvation, and nothing is going to derail me from that.

  09:40-09:42

  His whole life on mission.

  09:44-09:48

  And I have to ask you, do you see yourself on mission?

  09:50-09:51

  Listen to me church.

  09:51-10:02

  Are you constantly, actively, conscious of the fact that God wants to reach lost people through you.

  10:03-10:06

  Is that something that you carry with you 24/7?

  10:08-10:15

  If yes, then you're being sent by Jesus the way the Father sent Him.

  10:16-10:19

  If no, then you missed something.

  10:22-10:28

  And I think we, especially in our culture, I think we tend to compartmentalize our lives.

  10:29-10:30

  You know what I mean by that?

  10:32-10:35

  I mean when I'm at work, I'm the worker.

  10:35-10:38

  And when I'm home, I'm husband and dad.

  10:38-10:44

  But when it comes to the religious stuff, that's church, right?

  10:44-10:49

  All the Jesus and prayer and Bible stuff, that's Sunday morning.

  10:50-10:52

  And that's small group.

  10:52-10:56

  But I don't take that stuff with me to work.

  10:56-10:59

  And I don't really make a big deal of that stuff at home.

  10:59-11:01

  We have these little compartments.

  11:05-11:20

  When the reality is, if we are sent by Jesus the way the Father sent Him, that means you are on mission every single day, listen to me, in every arena in which the Lord places you.

  11:21-11:24

  You are the missionary.

  11:27-11:28

  in your workplace.

  11:30-11:33

  Like man, those people could use some Jesus down where I work.

  11:34-11:34

  Well, guess what?

  11:34-11:36

  They have a missionary there.

  11:36-11:37

  It's you.

  11:38-11:39

  God has you there.

  11:42-11:44

  For His light to shine through.

  11:45-11:49

  Like man, I just wish my home was more about seeking the Lord.

  11:49-11:50

  Guess what?

  11:51-11:52

  God has a missionary in your home.

  11:53-11:53

  And that's you.

  11:55-12:00

  What would our church look like if everybody here embraced that?

  12:00-12:08

  If everybody here was like, "I'm embracing the mission that Jesus is sending me, the way the Father sent Him." What would this church look like?

  12:09-12:15

  I guarantee you we wouldn't be meeting in here unless we went to like six services immediately.

  12:17-12:24

  But sadly, too often, Christians, we just do the Christian thing in our holy huddle, right?

  12:26-12:28

  I came across a great quote this week.

  12:28-12:30

  Great because it was like super convicting.

  12:31-12:41

  Somebody said, "Christians are like people with colds sneezing on each other." Nobody's catching it because everybody got it.

  12:42-12:43

  Jesus gave us a mission.

  12:44-12:46

  He's sending you out the same way He was sent out.

  12:48-12:52

  You're like, "Well, how was He sent?" Well, He elaborates on this three-verse sermon.

  12:53-13:00

  "Two ways we are sent like Jesus." Underneath the mission, letter A, "You are sent in the power of the Spirit." Look at verse 22 with me.

  13:01-13:03

  "You are sent in the power of the Spirit.

  13:03-13:11

  And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" Stop there.

  13:13-13:16

  It says, "He breathed on them." Does that sound familiar at all?

  13:18-13:20

  That sound like a callback to Genesis 2?

  13:21-13:22

  Remember Genesis 2?

  13:22-13:32

  It says the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.

  13:33-13:39

  See, the first man, Adam, became a living being when God breathed the breath of life into him.

  13:41-13:53

  And in a parallel sense, now we have God breathing the breath of life into those who will be born again, right?

  13:55-14:04

  Right now, maybe you're asking the same question that I asked this week, and I spent a lot of time studying.

  14:06-14:10

  You're like, "Well, what exactly happened in this passage?

  14:11-14:14

  Because I thought the Holy Spirit didn't come until Pentecost, right?

  14:15-14:17

  Acts chapter two, 40 days later.

  14:18-14:20

  So what exactly was happening here?

  14:21-14:22

  Like, that's a really good question.

  14:25-14:26

  What did happen here?

  14:26-14:27

  Well, look again.

  14:29-14:42

  It says, "Jesus, He breathed on them "and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" And the actual act of receiving the Spirit did not happen in this moment.

  14:43-14:45

  This was the announcement.

  14:46-14:49

  Pentecost was the fulfillment.

  14:51-14:56

  And you're like, "Well, how do we know that?" Again, good question. Here's how we know that.

  14:58-15:03

  First of all, all John says is Jesus made this statement, right?

  15:03-15:09

  You don't see anything in the text indicating that this was the moment that it actually happened.

  15:10-15:13

  But the Bible is crystal clear when it actually did happen.

  15:13-15:15

  Acts chapter 2, Pentecost, 40 days later.

  15:18-15:28

  But another interesting thing is if this is the moment that they receive the Holy Spirit, why does Jesus, in Acts chapter 1, verse 8-- you know Acts 1, 8?

  15:29-15:32

  Because some of us here, we spent a whole year on this verse.

  15:32-15:35

  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

  15:35-15:39

  And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

  15:40-15:41

  Excuse me, the end of the earth.

  15:43-15:48

  Jesus said this right before His ascension, and it was after this event here.

  15:48-15:53

  Why did He promise them the Holy Spirit if they already received the Holy Spirit?

  15:55-16:09

  And another reason, I believe, that this was the announcement, Pentecost was the actual fulfillment, is this - when the Holy Spirit comes in Acts 2, the Bible says that the disciples were completely transformed.

  16:11-16:16

  And in this passage, they weren't transformed at all, yet.

  16:18-16:24

  Because we're going to see in verse 26, eight days later after this event, where are the disciples?

  16:25-16:30

  They're again holed up in a locked room, barricaded, scared, afraid, no comfort, no peace.

  16:32-16:37

  We don't see the Holy Spirit transforming them here in the way that happened at Pentecost.

  16:37-16:47

  So I believe for all of those reasons that Jesus was simply here announcing the coming of the Holy Spirit and preparing them.

  16:50-16:51

  And you see there's a definite parallel here.

  16:54-16:57

  Because Jesus' ministry began when?

  16:59-17:02

  When the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove, right?

  17:02-17:03

  Right after His baptism.

  17:05-17:11

  Our ministry begins when by faith in Jesus the Holy Spirit comes and entwels us.

  17:14-17:19

  It's important that Jesus mentions this here because this is truly the only way our ministry is effective.

  17:22-17:31

  Without the Holy Spirit guiding us and empowering us and teaching and loving people through us you see we can make a lot of things happen.

  17:31-17:35

  We have the talent and creativity and people network stuff in this room.

  17:35-17:37

  We can make a lot of stuff happen.

  17:41-17:51

  But if what's happening here isn't powered by the Holy Spirit and directed by the Holy Spirit, if the Holy Spirit isn't behind the work happening here, it's not going to matter for eternity.

  17:54-17:59

  So Jesus is reminding here, to do the mission, you have to receive the Holy Spirit.

  18:01-18:11

  sent in the power of the Spirit. Another way that we're sent like Jesus, write this down, letter B, you're sent to deal with sin. You're sent to deal with sin.

  18:12-18:22

  Like whoa, what do you mean deal with sin? Because didn't Jesus pay the penalty once for all for sin, right? It is finished. Tetelestai, right Matt? Call Tetelestai.

  18:23-18:36

  So like what do you mean we got to deal with sin? Look, yes, it is finished. But Verse 23, He says, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.

  18:36-18:44

  If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld." Like, what in the world is He talking about here?

  18:46-18:50

  Well, this verse has been extremely misunderstood.

  18:52-19:02

  In fact, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that this verse means the priest has the ability to grant forgiveness or to withhold forgiveness.

  19:02-19:09

  You go to confession, you confess your sins, and it's up to the priest as to whether or not you're good with God or not.

  19:11-19:42

  And I knew a lady one time who told me she had a really rough background and she was really trying to get her life on track with the Lord and she went to this Catholic church and she went to the confessional and she said, "Hey, I've made a lot of mistakes "and I really messed things up and I'm trying to get my life on track with God, and I just want to know if I can be forgiven." And the priest said to her, "No." He said, "You are a..." I'm not going to repeat the word, but it's a very derogatory word for women.

  19:42-19:53

  He said, "You are a blank, and there is no forgiveness for you." And she walked out of that church going, "What am I supposed to do?

  19:54-19:58

  I thought that I could go to God and He would change things.

  19:59-20:02

  And the priest sent me on my way and said I can't be forgiven.

  20:03-20:07

  That is a gross misinterpretation of this verse.

  20:09-20:12

  You're like, "Well, what does it mean?" It means this.

  20:15-20:19

  This is so important. Please mark this down.

  20:19-20:26

  It means by the power of the Spirit, We have the authority to declare God's message.

  20:26-20:27

  That's what this means.

  20:28-20:32

  Now understand the Bible was not written in English, right?

  20:33-20:42

  We have Hebrew and Greek and Aramaic, and specifically here as we're talking about Greek, there were different figures of speech and things that we don't understand.

  20:46-20:52

  When we just read certain verses like this, We have to dig a little deeper.

  20:54-20:57

  Back in Matthew 16, verse 19, Jesus said this to Peter.

  20:58-21:01

  He said, "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven." Look at this.

  21:01-21:18

  He says, "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." And this is the exact same thing here that Jesus said to Peter back in Matthew 16.

  21:20-21:28

  What he's saying is this, you are authorized to repeat the message of heaven.

  21:30-21:37

  Meaning we have the authority to declare forgiveness and unforgiveness.

  21:40-21:44

  It can be translated this way, literally, those who sins you forgive have already been forgiven.

  21:45-21:48

  Those who sins you do not forgive haven't been forgiven.

  21:49-21:51

  We have the authority to announce it.

  21:51-21:53

  We do not have the authority to make it happen.

  21:55-21:56

  Like I don't understand.

  21:57-21:58

  It's just simply this.

  21:59-22:12

  Somebody comes to me, and they're like, "You know, I've really made a mess of things in my life, and I want to get right with God." And I share the gospel with them and say, "Look, God sent His Son to die on the cross for your sins.

  22:12-22:14

  He rose from the dead to give you eternal life.

  22:14-22:20

  He calls you to turn from your sin and to receive Him." And the person says, "You know what? I want to do that.

  22:21-22:23

  I'm turning from my sin.

  22:23-22:39

  I want to pray right now to receive the gift." So I pray with that person, and I can say to them, "Your sins are forgiven." And somebody might say, "What gives you the authority to say something like that?" Right here, this is exactly what Jesus is talking about.

  22:40-22:47

  He's like, "I'm giving you the authority to declare heaven's message." But the other side of the coin is true too.

  22:47-22:58

  If somebody comes to me, or I go to them and say, "Hey, you need to receive Jesus Christ "for the forgiveness of sin, because He's the only way." And they're like, "Not interested.

  22:59-23:00

  "Not interested in Jesus or Bible.

  23:00-23:01

  "I'm gonna live life my way.

  23:01-23:12

  "I do things on my own terms." Then I say, "Well, there's no forgiveness for you." And the best thing you have to look forward to is an eternity separated from God.

  23:14-23:22

  And somebody might come along and say, "What gives you the right to say something like that?" Jesus right here, that's exactly what He's talking about.

  23:23-23:25

  I have the authority, and so do you.

  23:26-23:32

  Under Jesus Christ we have the authority to repeat Heaven's message, saying if you receive Jesus, yes, you're forgiven.

  23:32-23:34

  And if you reject Him, there's no forgiveness.

  23:36-23:37

  Who do you think you are saying that?

  23:37-23:38

  Well, Jesus made it happen.

  23:40-23:48

  I want you to see here, getting beyond the technical explanation, I want you to look at the subject matter.

  23:50-23:53

  So Jesus tells the disciples, "Look, you're going to be powered by the Holy Spirit.

  23:53-23:58

  For what purpose?" He says it's to deal with sin, right?

  24:00-24:09

  So why are so many churches and Christians, why are they so content to avoid talking about sin and instead let's focus on something else?

  24:09-24:12

  I don't get it. I mean, I kind of get it, but I don't get it.

  24:14-24:28

  I've heard pastors say very proudly, "We don't talk about sin at our church because we don't want people to feel bad." And look, I love you guys.

  24:29-24:34

  And when we remodeled, we bought the most comfortable chairs that we could find.

  24:36-24:39

  But I love you in the Lord, but I gotta tell you, that's all the further I care about.

  24:39-25:02

  your comfort. I don't care if you're not comfortable here. In fact I think here you should be uncomfortable and leave here going you know the Holy Spirit wants me to make some changes in my life I'm not honoring God in certain ways but so many churches we just want you to be comfortable what can we do to make you happy what can we do to make you feel good about yourself.

  25:05-25:07

  Jesus said that's not why I'm sending you out.

  25:08-25:12

  He didn't say I'm sending you out by the power of the Holy Spirit to make people feel good about themselves.

  25:14-25:15

  It's about sin, right?

  25:16-25:27

  Some churches focus on other things, social justice, let's talk about the economy or education, or let's do our eighth sermon in a row about COVID or whatever.

  25:30-25:31

  What are we doing?

  25:35-25:42

  I mean, could Jesus be more clear on the subject matter that we are to address?

  25:45-25:49

  Our job is to minister the gospel and deal with guilt and sin.

  25:50-25:51

  That's the mission.

  25:52-25:52

  Period.

  25:55-25:57

  Jesus didn't leave much wiggle room there.

  25:59-26:01

  So we're empowered by the Holy Spirit to deal with sin.

  26:03-26:38

  finally today two things Jesus left us he left us a mission empowered by the Spirit dealing with sin secondly he left us a blessing and this is specifically for us this is for us and I don't mean in a general generic term I mean us I mean us all right so the scene then turns to Thomas you remember Thomas He shows up a couple of times in John, and we learn a little bit about his personality.

  26:39-26:46

  Remember in John chapter 11, Jesus is like, we're gonna go raise Lazarus from the dead, and the disciples were like, oh Jesus, you got a big target on your back.

  26:47-26:48

  I'm paraphrasing here.

  26:48-26:52

  And then remember Thomas was like, let's go that we might die with him.

  26:53-26:53

  Remember that?

  26:54-26:56

  Well, Jesus is gonna die, let's die with him.

  26:58-27:00

  Like, inspiring little pep talk.

  27:00-27:04

  And then we see Thomas again in John chapter 14.

  27:05-27:23

  Remember Jesus said, "I'm going to prepare a place for you "and I'm gonna come again, I'm gonna take you, "you're gonna be with me." And Jesus says, "You know the way where I'm going." And Thomas is like, "We don't know the way "where you're going, how can we know the way?" As we see Thomas, and we're gonna see it again here, Thomas was very loyal.

  27:24-27:30

  And he was sometimes outspoken, And I think he sort of erred on the pessimistic side.

  27:31-27:32

  Look at verse 24.

  27:33-27:42

  It says, "Now Thomas, one of the 12, called the twin, "was not with them when Jesus came." Underline that verse in your Bible.

  27:43-27:46

  Thomas, one of the 12, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came.

  27:48-27:49

  You're like, why do you want me to underline this?

  27:50-27:57

  Listen, Thomas, not being there the previous week, He missed Jesus and he missed the sermon.

  27:59-28:02

  So I say this to you on the authority of God's Word, don't miss church.

  28:07-28:08

  Right?

  28:08-28:09

  Look, Thomas missed one Sunday.

  28:12-28:15

  And they're like, dude, you're not going to believe what happened in church last week.

  28:16-28:18

  Jesus physically showed up!

  28:19-28:20

  Like, oh man.

  28:23-28:29

  Thomas was like, "But there was a stealer game early." But the Lord showed up.

  28:30-28:31

  All right, so don't miss church.

  28:31-28:36

  Verse 25, it says, "So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord.

  28:37-29:16

  "But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails "and place my finger into the mark of the nails "and place my hand into his side, I will never believe." Okay, so the others, okay, so Thomas shows back up the next week He walks in and I'm sure there was the first thing out of everybody's mouth like dude last week you missed it We saw the Lord and Thomas says well. Hey unless I see him and touch him. I ain't buying it Now Thomas was being more than skeptical here Okay, Thomas was determined not to believe did you see that?

  29:17-29:59

  How he called the shots the evidence had to be what he determined Thomas is like here it is. Here's the deal unless I see him and touch him and he goes unless that happens I will never believe you so verse 26 says eight days later his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them although the doors were locked some familiar is just like the previous week although the doors were locked Jesus came and stood and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and put out your hand and place it in my side.

  29:59-30:03

  Do not disbelieve, but believe." Okay, so here's the eight days later.

  30:05-30:07

  Again, Jesus shows up exactly like before.

  30:09-30:13

  This time Thomas was with the group, and Jesus obviously knew what Thomas said, right?

  30:14-30:18

  I mean, that's the first thing out of his mouth, like, "Hey, Thomas, by the way, you want to see?

  30:18-30:22

  you want to touch, here you go.

  30:23-30:27

  He met Thomas where he needed, touch and see.

  30:30-30:39

  Verse 28, Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God." Thomas replies, "Sovereignty and deity, right?

  30:39-30:47

  "My Lord and my God." Everything changed from that moment on for Thomas.

  30:50-30:53

  You know, people like to take shots at Thomas.

  30:54-30:56

  You know that nickname he has?

  30:56-30:57

  You know that nickname?

  30:58-31:00

  What's that thing they call Thomas?

  31:00-31:01

  He's got this nickname.

  31:02-31:02

  Have you heard it?

  31:02-31:03

  Have you heard the name?

  31:04-31:05

  Oh, okay, so you're in on that.

  31:07-31:09

  You're in on that cruelty to poor Tom.

  31:13-31:14

  Listen to me.

  31:14-31:14

  Look.

  31:17-31:25

  Thomas is with a group of people who believe because they've seen the Lord.

  31:27-31:40

  And Thomas is like, "I want to see too." And everybody's like, "Doubter!" All he was wanting was the same thing that everybody else already got.

  31:42-31:45

  So everybody just calm down on that doubting Thomas business.

  31:48-31:53

  Verse 29, "Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you have seen Me?

  31:53-31:59

  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'" Here it is.

  32:00-32:07

  Jesus said, "Thomas, many will never see what you saw, they're going to believe the witnesses.

  32:12-32:17

  Then Jesus says, "Blessed are they who believe but never got to see." And that includes us.

  32:18-32:20

  None of us here have ever seen Jesus.

  32:22-32:25

  But we have experienced Jesus.

  32:26-33:15

  Because of the power of the Holy Spirit, at work in His Word, believe. Don't we? Now if you take a big step away from this scene for a second and you really think about it, it seems like a bit of a long shot, doesn't it? It seems audacious, this gospel message, doesn't it? I mean we share the gospel with people. The gospel says, We believe that 2,000 years ago, this Jewish man was killed, and we believe that he rose from the dead, proving that he was God.

  33:17-33:18

  Now listen, there's more.

  33:19-33:24

  You have to believe in him and allow him to change the course of your entire life.

  33:24-33:27

  I mean, doesn't that seem a bit audacious in theory?

  33:28-33:30

  That's the gospel message?

  33:30-33:33

  Trust a guy you never met that lived 2,000 years ago?

  33:35-33:36

  Yeah, it seems audacious in theory.

  33:38-33:40

  But I have seen Jesus Christ heal.

  33:41-33:44

  I have seen Jesus Christ save marriages.

  33:45-33:47

  I have seen Jesus Christ give hope.

  33:48-33:55

  I have seen Jesus Christ totally transform lives wherever His message is proclaimed.

  33:55-34:22

  whether it's Shakora or Chicago or Conway or Chiang Mai this one man has changed more lives than anyone in history and he is just as active and he's just as powerful and he is moving in the world today just as he was when and He physically walked on it.

  34:25-34:26

  Now, I've never physically seen Him.

  34:29-34:30

  And neither have you.

  34:32-34:43

  But Jesus promised right here, those who haven't seen Him, but still believe, still come to faith in Him, He promised that we would receive a special kind of blessing.

  34:46-35:19

  What else is there to say that. Look at verse 30. It says, "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name." John's like, "There is a lot more that I could have said. But I wrote a thorough enough account so that you might believe in Jesus.

  35:21-35:31

  Notice he says there's two things you gotta believe about Jesus, though he says he's the Christ, he's the Messiah, he's the promised, anointed savior of Israel.

  35:31-35:34

  He goes, you have to understand that, you have to understand what that means.

  35:35-35:36

  That's why I wrote all of this.

  35:37-35:42

  He says the other thing you gotta get is that he is the son of God, he's God in the flesh.

  35:42-35:48

  He's not just some dude, he's not just some good teacher, not just some famous rabbi. He is God in the flesh.

  35:49-35:53

  You've got to believe he's the Christ, and you've got to believe he's God in the flesh.

  35:53-36:10

  In other words, John says, "I wrote this to get you to the point that Thomas got, where you look upon Jesus and say, 'My Lord and my God.'" John makes it very clear here that he was not writing impartial history.

  36:10-36:13

  John was very biased when he wrote this.

  36:14-36:19

  had a definite agenda in writing what he wrote, the way he wrote it.

  36:19-36:37

  And the agenda is, "I want you to believe." And we've spent the last three years in this church going through this book, line by line by line, understanding, seeking, studying every single word, every phrase, every teaching, every interaction, every conversation, why?

  36:39-36:40

  Because I want you to believe.

  36:41-36:43

  But this isn't just information.

  36:45-36:51

  And if you leave here on a Sunday morning and say, "Well, that was interesting," then I failed you.

  36:52-36:57

  Because John says this is information that you have to do something with.

  36:58-37:03

  Because doing something with this information, he says, it won't even just change your life.

  37:03-37:07

  He says doing something with this information will give you life.

  37:08-37:15

  But when you embrace Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have life, John says, in His name.

  37:16-37:19

  Born again to live as God intended you to live.

  37:22-37:25

  Living eternally with the promise of heaven.

  37:28-37:32

  And living for His mission for the few days that you have on this earth.

  37:33-37:34

  Let's pray.

  37:35-37:41

  Father in heaven, I wish that I could say as much as Jesus said in three verses.

  37:43-37:49

  Father, we try to understand today, because this is extremely important for us as a church, Father.

  37:50-38:02

  To understand that Jesus left us with a mission to be empowered by the Spirit, to be dealing with sin, to make the work of the gospel the focus of what we do.

  38:02-38:04

  God help us, please!

  38:05-38:23

  deviate from that to understand who Jesus Christ is and what He accomplished, what the cross means, what the resurrection means, and it has nothing to do with trying to better society and it has everything to do with bringing dead people to life.

  38:25-38:26

  Father, keep us on mission.

  38:27-38:28

  We thank you, Father, for the blessing.

  38:30-38:37

  None of us here have seen Jesus, but he has deeply, profoundly affected so many of us.

  38:39-38:55

  Father, we thank you that even if we can't quite articulate, maybe we don't even fully understand everything that that blessing means and entails, we certainly receive it, and we certainly see the effects that it has on us and on so many.

  38:56-39:01

  Father, we thank you for this gospel that you wrote through John.

  39:03-39:11

  And John says he could have wrote a lot more and we would have been happy to preach a lot more but under inspiration this is what you wanted us to know.

  39:13-39:13

  So we thank you, Father.

  39:15-39:27

  And I pray just as John drove us to the place of you got to do something with this, I pray Father, that we would leave here under the same conviction that we have to do something with this information.

  39:29-39:31

  Glorify your name through Jesus Christ, we pray.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 20:19-31

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. Explain John 20:23 in your own words. What does this say about our evangelism? Compare this with Jesus' words to Peter in Matthew 16:19.
   

3. How are people who have not seen the resurrected Christ (US), blessed, specifically (John 20:29)? How are we blessed in believing without seeing?

Breakout
Pray for one another.