To Us a Child of Hope is Born

Announcements

Christmas Schedule:

Lunch 12/18 after morning worship

No Wednesday Evening Services 12/21

Christmas Eve Service 12/24 at 5pm

Christmas Morning: Sunday School at 9am, Worship at 10:15

Normal Services after Christmas

Reading: Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19.

Psalm 72:1–7 ESV

1 Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son! 2 May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice! 3 Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness! 4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor! 5 May they fear you while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations! 6 May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth! 7 In his days may the righteous flourish, and peace abound, till the moon be no more!

Psalm 72:18–19 ESV

18 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. 19 Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!

Prayer

1 Kings 2:10–12 ESV

10 Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. 11 And the time that David reigned over Israel was forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 12 So Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.

This sounds like a great beginning to Solomon’s reign. He has a firm grip on power - the kingdom is his. Enemies are subdued, contenders to the throne are defeated, and now the young king can fully implement his plans.

But things aren’t what they seem. By the end of 2 Kings, we find a very different picture:

2 Kings 25:21 ESV

21 And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.

What happened? How did Solomon’s kingdom, firmly established, become fully exterminated in such a short span of history?

1 and 2 Kings tell us the story of sin in the courts of the kings - the faithlessness of many kings eventually led to the judgment of God and the exile of his people. The books of the Kings show us a hard truth: we need a different kind of king. We need a faithful king - one who will exercise justice and righteousness, who will uphold truth and punish error, who will not show favoritism or prejudice, but will treat all with common dignity. We need the kind of king who can firmly establish his kingdom and keep it that way. We need a king who we can put our hope in, and who will not betray our hopes.

Men put their hopes in all sorts of places, but

Our Hopes are Eternally Secure Only in Jesus Christ

Let me show you in whom we place our hope.

We Place Our Hope in the Perfect King

Solomon was not a perfect king. He did some righteous things, sure. But he also did wickedness. After all, you don’t get hundreds of wives and concubines by being righteous. Solomon did many things that required God’s justice, and so did all of his successors. Whether in the Northern or Southern kingdom, every king was imperfect. Each one had his own struggles, and sinned against God.

That’s not just true of Old Testament kings - you and I are the same way. We fail. We fall short of God’s glory. We sin, and our sin means that we are hopeless. We face condemnation and doom when we are left on our own. We have no business hoping in ourselves, or one another. We need a king who is like us enough to know us and to know our struggles, but one who is different enough that he does not succumb to those struggles.

That’s why we place our hope in the perfect king. He’s the branch from Jesse’s roots described in Isaiah 11:

Isaiah 11:1 ESV

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

The sons of David were unable to retain the kingdoms of Israel and Judah because they were sinners. But this king is totally different. Look at how different:

God’s Spirit Is upon Him

Isaiah 11:2 ESV

2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

God’s Fear Is before Him

Isaiah 11:3 ESV

3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

God’s Righteousness Is from Him

Isaiah 11:3–5 ESV

3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

God’s Likeness Is within Him

Isaiah 11:10 ESV

10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

We Place Our Hope in the Proven King

Not only do we have a flowery description of Jesus’ reign as king, but we also have some evidence to show us that he is the king we’re looking for. Paul writes to the church in Rome some of this evidence.

Scripture Proves Him

Romans 15:4 ESV

4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Service Proves Him

Romans 15:8–9 ESV

8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”

Notice the logic: Christ’s service to the Jews demonstrates the fact that God does not lie. God’s honesty proven by Christ’s service then (a) confirms God’s promises, and (b) brings the Gentiles into those promises, resulting in the nations praising God. And that’s exactly what Micah said would happen:

Micah 4:1–2 ESV

1 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, 2 and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Paul says that Christ, through suffering, would serve. Jesus himself confirms his purpose to serve:

Mark 10:45 ESV

45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Christ came to serve, and that service proves that he is the king we need. Jesus Christ is the firm foundation of our faith - the one in whom our hope is secure.

Concluding Prayer:

Romans 15:13 ESV

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.