Christmas Eve 2023: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Prelude

Song 1: Movement 1 (Isaiah 52:13-15) - The Corner Room - Video

Welcome and invite to join us next week!

Pray!

Reader 1: Pastor David

The Promised Child

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. And it was good. It was perfect. He made creatures and plants to fill the earth and the sun, moon, stars, and planets to fill the heavens. And it was good. He finished His creative work by making humans, the crown jewel that was a reflection of Himself. And they were good. And He loved them.

He would often walk among them enjoying their presence, and they would enjoy the presence of their life-giving creator. They had everything they needed - food and drink and companionship with the very source of life itself - and yet, they still thought they knew better than their Creator. When God told them that acting a certain way would lead them to death, all it took was a lying snake to convince them that they should decide for themselves what was good and what was bad.

And so they chose to remove themselves from the source of life. They chose to rebel against their Creator, thinking that they knew best how to thrive in their own lives and in doing so cursed themselves, their descendents, and the entire earth to sin and death.

All the goodness that had been created would now be poisoned with sin. Each generation would pass their sinful nature to the next and all of us would choose, like our first parents, rebellion against the source of life. Death and separation from the source of life is our inheritance.

But God, because of His great love for His creation, His great love for us, promised our first parents that it would not always be this way. He promised that there would one day be a human who would crush the serpent and defeat sin!

Song 2: Movement 3 - The Corner Room Video

Reader 2: Rick

Abraham

For hundreds of years, sin continued to tighten its hold on humanity growing in size and strength. It started to seem that God had forgotten His promise to Eve. But then God chose a sinful man, Abraham, and through that man God promised that the entire earth would be blessed!

Genesis 12:2–3 ESV

2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

It would be through Abraham’s line that the world would be blessed with the Snake Crusher, the one who would not fall to the temptation of sin!

Reader 3: Dave

David

Over the following centuries, Abraham’s offspring became the great nation of Israel, and yet the Snake Crusher still had not come! But God had not forgotten His promise. He revealed that it was through David, the great King of Israel, that the snake crusher would come and would reign forever!

Isaiah

Later, God gives us more understanding through the prophet Isaiah about this promised offspring of Eve, Abraham, and David. In Isaiah 9 he promises a light in the darkness of sin.

Isaiah 9:2–7 (ESV)

2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone... 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Reader 4: Phyllis

In Isaiah 7:14 God continues to reveal His plans, saying this through the prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 7:14 ESV

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah speaks more on This Emmanuel Child in Isaiah 52 and 53, revealing that this promised child would not simply crush the serpent for himself, but for all who would turn from sin and follow him. The child would accomplish this by taking the punishment for our sins onto himself and through the breaking of his body we would be made whole again, freed from the bondage of the serpent and sin!

And so it is with a deep longing that we sing out with the ancient people of Israel, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel!”

Song 3: O Come, O Come Emmanuel - Alyssa

Song 4: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus - David

Reader 5: Paul Yontz

Matthew 1:18–25 ESV

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Song 5: Joy to the World

Reader 6: Bill and Darlene

Luke 2:8–20 (ESV)

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Song 6: Hark the Herald Angels Sing -

Sermon: The Reality of Jesus

We celebrate something incredible this evening. This evening we celebrate the last night that sin and darkness would reign over all because the Promised Child of Eve, Abraham, and David, the Emmanuel Child, finally came to rescue his people and crush the head of the serpent on that first Christmas morning 2,000 years ago.

However, far too often our celebrations are far too short-sighted. If our celebrations end with the birth of Jesus, then our joy is stunted and needs to be nourished.

Tonight we celebrate that Jesus, God the Son, the one through whom all of Creation was made (as John 1 tells us), did not consider his heavenly throne as something to be clung to, but gave it all up to come to earth. To face the pain and dirtiness of life as a human: to be born, to nurse, to grow and fall, to need to dress cuts and scrapes, to be ridiculed and spat upon, and to face death, the most unnatural and offensive state for the one who gave life to everything.

We celebrate that Jesus really was the promised child, the Messiah, the Christ! We celebrate that he really did come in the flesh and never fell to the temptations of the serpent, living the life of perfect obedience to God the Father that we all rejected. We celebrate that he didn’t even shrink back from facing death for our sake, diving into battle with death and coming out victorious! Because of this we can sing “Now we need not fear the grave! Peace! Peace! Jesus Christ has come to save!” Jesus has defeated death on our behalf! He died and yet lives again! He resurrected from the grave and now sits at the right hand of God the Father, speaking on our behalf! We, who have committed cosmic treason, now can have a representative who is perfect who is speaking for us! The death we deserved, Jesus defeated, and the judgement we deserve from the Father, Jesus took upon Himself and offers eternal life to those who will be His people! It is through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus that we can be at peace with God Himself!

Jesus is real! And He really offers salvation to those who believe He is who He says He is, God himself, the King of all Creation, the firstborn of the New Humanity! He offers salvation for those who will turn from deciding for themselves what is right and wrong and turn to him to and follow his teachings on what is right and wrong.

But friends and family, the reality of Jesus means that you must choose to either follow him or reject Him. He does not give you a middle path. Jesus makes it clear in Luke 14 that a half-hearted follower is no follower at all.

Luke 14:27–33 ESV

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

To be a follower of Jesus is to count the cost of being his follower and considering it to be worth everything! To decide that HE is worth turning from every pleasure that you chase, to know the great gift of being saved from yourself and the serpent. He isn’t someone that you can choose to honor one or two days a year on Christmas and Easter. He calls you to be all in, one way or another.

Because the reality of Jesus is this: He is returning one day to judge the living and the dead. No one will escape it. To those who counted the cost and found Him to worth even their very lives, who knew His goodness and honored Him as King, they will be given eternal life and a place before the throne of God Himself. To those who do not count the cost and claim to be His followers, but show that they honor someone or something else as king, Jesus says He will reject you and everlasting death will be your reward. To those who outright reject him, you will face the same.

So I plead with each of you here tonight, recognize that Jesus is real and He is good! Count the cost, and see that what Jesus offers to you is priceless! Choose this day whom you will serve, choose Christ, and never look back!

Jesus certainly calls his followers to a difficult task, but he has such comforting words to those who would come to him and follow him.

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Tonight, we have many different people in this room and everyone, long time members and first time guests are welcome to come to me and speak with me if you have questions or are in need of prayer.

Some have counted the cost and found Christ to be worth everything. If that’s you, then I encourage you to make yourself available to those who are lukewarm or cold toward Christ. God may use you to draw in another brother or sister.

Maybe you are from out of town, visiting with family, or you’re from around here spending the evening with your family and you are a member of a different church- then when you go home, please go home to your church and give them our greeting and blessing, and commit yourself to being a part of and loving your church with the love Christ has for His people in the ways he has told us to love one another.

Maybe you are someone who claims to be a Christian, perhaps even a member or baptized in this church!, but haven’t taken the practice of your faith seriously for quite some time (maybe this is your first time meeting me and you consider yourself a member here) - Jesus warns that lukewarmness is not going to be rewarded. Come and join us and see how good it is to be in the flock of the Good Shepherd. Repent of your sinful apathy and return to your Savior!

If you are lukewarm and only visiting here, then when you go home, join a church there that is firmly proclaiming the Word of God and the Gospel and not the pastor’s opinions and seek the help of your pastor to count the cost and joyfully follow Christ alone!

And maybe you’ve never heard such a thing as what I said tonight. Maybe you have never even thought of following Jesus, but please consider my words. Following Jesus is worth the cost.

He knows your struggle. He knows who you are even better than you know yourself, and He is calling you to repent, to turn away, from your sin and come to Him. To the one who is unfaithful, he calls for you to come to Him, He was born to save you. Come and find rest and freedom in Christ.

Song 7: O Come all You Unfaithful - Kailey Special

Light Candles

Song 8: Silent Night - Kailey Leading

Pray!