Sermon Tone Analysis

Call to Worship

Psalm 90:14 “14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”

Because we have been made satisfied by God’s mercy we will sing today!

This week I was at my kids band concert.

They play We Three Kings and God Bless you Merry Gentleman.

I wanted to burst out in singing.

Thankful to be in a place today with those who will fully understand what has caused us to want to sing.

Bible Reading Introduction

Note about next Sunday / 10-11:30 am / Reading with the kids, songs, celebration

Thank you for those who gave up a nights sleep to get the flooring in

So where do we take our text today?

Turn where you think we should go and we will see how many come to the same conclusion.

Isaiah 7.

Luke 2.

Luke 19:10 “10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

There is no place in God’s Word that could not be the starting point for a message that would point the purpose of Jesus coming to die for our sins.

We will look primarily at one verse in Romans 15 today.

I would like to strongly encourage you to consider what a God-centered Christmas really is and how it will help bring hope to you for the new year.

Romans 15:7–13 (KJV)

7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:

9 And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.

10 And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.

11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.

12 And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.

13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Take Note

v. 7 Receive one another “to the glory of God”

v.8-9 Jesus became the suffering servant unto the Jews so that the “Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy”

Sermon Introduction

How would you answer this question?

All I want for Christmas is my ...

Two front teeth

New phone

Snowy day, a book, and a fireplace while someone cleans my house

If you have been around church any length of time, you should know by now that the answer to what is the chief end of man or any day is “that God would be glorified”

Jesus came for us.

But he came for our sins and He came for God’s glory.

Let us not get confused.

Defining Glory

God’s glory is a big deal in Scripture

more like defining beauty than it would be to define Coca Cola

There are some words in our vocabulary that we can communicate with not because we can say them, but because we see them.

The glory of God is the manifest beauty of his holiness.

It can be demonstrated in our lives.

“wedding vows”

It shines brightly in the story of Christmas

As we celebrate the birth of Christ there are 4 reasons, from this passage, we should bring glory to God

Another way to say this is when we look down at the manager we should bring glory to God for the at least the following reasons

God is revealed to us

The Word is Vindicated

God’s Mercy is Demonstrated

Father’ Purpose is Accomplished

God is revealed to us

Christ came to show the truthfulness of God.

Romans 15:8 “8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:”

What does it mean for God to be truthful?

Humans we are inconsistent.

We lack integrity.

I want to be loving but I do not always act in a loving manner.

God’s attributes are perfectly displayed at all times.

God never diminishes any aspect of Himself when He acts in mercy or if he acts in judgement.

He is always just and always merciful.

He is always wrathful and always loving.

“All of God’s acts are consistent with all of His attributes.

No attribute contradicts the other, but all harmonize and blend into each other… God being who He is cannot cease to be what He is, and being what He is, He cannot act out of character with Himself.”

AW Tozer The Pursuit of Holiness

Simply put: All that God does agrees with all that God is

1 Timothy 3:16 “16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

Jesus coming to earth is God manifested to us

See God’s commitment to justice.

See God’s view of sin.

It is severe, and it deserves punishment.

See the wrath of God being poured out, and at the same moment, see the mercy of God, and the love of God towards sinners.

Transitional Statement: What God had to say to us was not only or mainly what Jesus said, but who Jesus was and what he did.

The Word is Vindicated

What Word?

The ones that you hold in your hands today

Jesus came to show us that God is true to His character, and also that God is faithful to His Word.

Romans 15:8 “8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:”

The patriarchs are fathers of the faith in the Old Testament.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob

In Abraham all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed.

Gen 18:18 “18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?”

Abraham had to think “a great nation” I would be happy at this point at just being a “great grandpa”

God reiterates that same promise to Abraham’s son, Isaac.

Genesis 26:3 “3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;”

We get more information about how this will happen when the promise comes to Jacob.

Genesis 35:10 “10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.”

So this is why in the New Testament when God is speaking to Jewish people, they are called the people of Israel, or called the sons of Abraham.

The blessing will come in the form of a King.

Genesis 35:11 “11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;”

We could trace throughout the rest of the Old Testament, King David, who would come from the line of Judah, to Solomon, and so and so on, all the way to the New Testament.

We could look at the lineage given in Matthew 1:1 “1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Do not discount this as just a history lesson.

This is huge.

Not only did God come to earth so we could know Him but He did it in such an undeniable way as the fullfillment as a promise that we would know that it was Him

Jesus coming is the fulfillment of Scripture

Theme of Peter’s message in Acts 3:24-26 “24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.

25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.