Making Christmas Clear
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The God Of Redemption
The God Of Redemption
Intro
How many of you have ever had a situation happen where things just went wrong and you tried to restore it. Maybe it was something you said in a relationship, maybe it was something you broke. No matter what you did you could not fix it or get it back.
I remember I broke
There is nothing and no one that God cannot redeem if we turn to him!
Man sinned in the Garden and messed everything up. The first thing man try to do was to fix the problem, but they could not.
But God made a way through Jesus to ultimately redeem us and our sin mistake’s.
Matthew 2:1-12 paraphrase
Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men* from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose,* and we have come to worship him.”
3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”
5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:
6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
are not least among the ruling cities* of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’* ”
7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”
9 After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
There is Nothing Greater Than Jesus
13 After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, 15 and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”
NO MAN IS GREATER
Matthew makes the correlation between Hosea’s Prophecy in
1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and I called my son out of Egypt.
God called his people out of Egypt and he used Moses to do it.
Moses was the deliverer of the people of Egypt. He was a type of Savior to God’s people
The Jewish community held Moses in Highest honor.
Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience and is desiring to validate the deity and greatness of Christ and proving that Jesus is greater than Moses.
The writer of Hebrews speaks to the same point
1 And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and are partners with those called to heaven, think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger and High Priest. 2 For he was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses served faithfully when he was entrusted with God’s entire house.
3 But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a house deserves more praise than the house itself. 4 For every house has a builder, but the one who built everything is God.
5 Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later. 6 But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.
Servant: A person who renders service—‘servant.
Son: Descendant, offspring, heir; (with gen.) often one who shares a special relationship with or a likeness to someone or something; disciple, follower.
It is a term Of endearment .
NO EVIL IS GREATER
16 Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance.
As we see in Vs 16 -Herod tries to stop the plan of God
Herod – an Evil King hears the plan of God for the savior to be born in Bethlehem and orders for every child to be killed that two years and younger.
APPLICATION
No matter what has happened in your life
No matter what person comes against you
No matter what attack the enemy has tried to destroy you
JESUS IS GREATER!!!
There is nothing and no one that Christ can’t redeem.
God is in the Business of Redemption
18 “A cry was heard in Ramah—
weeping and great mourning.
Rachel weeps for her children,
refusing to be comforted,
for they are dead.”
15 This is what the Lord says:
“A cry is heard in Ramah—
deep anguish and bitter weeping.
Rachel weeps for her children,
refusing to be comforted—
for her children are gone.”
Matthew quotes from the prophet Jeremiah regarding the destruction of the children in Israel by King Herod.
· It is important to understand that when people referenced scriptures in the Old Testament the Jewish community would have immediate understood the context of the entire passage.
· The prophecy in Jeremiah gives us a greater picture of the Nature of God to Redeem his people
· Jeremiah is speaking to the nation of Israel and their exile into Babylon
God Redeeming Power is our hope
But now this is what the Lord says:
“Do not weep any longer,
for I will reward you,” says the Lord.
“Your children will come back to you
from the distant land of the enemy.
There is hope for your future,” says the Lord.
“Your children will come again to their own land.
I have heard Israel* saying,
‘You disciplined me severely,
like a calf that needs training for the yoke.
Turn me again to you and restore me,
for you alone are the Lord my God.
I turned away from God,
but then I was sorry.
I kicked myself for my stupidity!
I was thoroughly ashamed of all I did in my younger days.’
God longs to redeem His people
20 “Is not Israel still my son,
my darling child?” says the Lord.
“I often have to punish him,
but I still love him.
That’s why I long for him
and surely will have mercy on him.
21 Set up road signs;
put up guideposts.
Mark well the path
by which you came.
Come back again, my virgin Israel;
return to your towns here.
22 How long will you wander,
my wayward daughter?
For the Lord will cause something new to happen—
Israel will embrace her God.”
23 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “When I bring them back from captivity, the people of Judah and its towns will again say, ‘The Lord bless you, O righteous home, O holy mountain!’ 24 Townspeople and farmers and shepherds alike will live together in peace and happiness.
God wants to have his people dwell in rest and unity.
25 For I have given rest to the weary and joy to the sorrowing.”
26 At this, I woke up and looked around. My sleep had been very sweet.
God has promised us a New Covenant
31 “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord.
33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
11 Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. 12 But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 13 There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. 14 For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.
15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,
16 “This is the new covenant I will make
with my people on that day, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”
17 Then he says,
“I will never again remember
their sins and lawless deeds.”
18 And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.
19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
God is in the Business of Redemption
God’s Redeeming Power is our Hope
God longs to Redeem His People
God wants to have his people Dwell in Rest and Unity
God has Promised us a New Covenant
If you are a believer in Christ you are living in the New Covenant.
JESUS IS GREATEST !!!