Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week: The sovereign Lord provides a sacrifice - to Day of Atonement to the Manger

The Lord has provided a substitute for you, someone to be your substitute, your savior, to provide forgiveness for your sin.

But wait, there’s more (myrrh

I don’t know what you did growing up, but at Christmas a big part of my childhood was going to the shopping center and sitting on Santa’s knee and telling him what I wanted.

Then we’d go to the Brass Rail, this big tavern in downtown London where my dad was a bouncer and Santa would give us a gift.

A few years later we’d go to the Chrysler dealership and have all you can eat McDonald’s hamburgers, the little 25 cent ones with the strange onions on them, and Santa would give us a gift.

Then there was this one December worship service, during the second year after we’d come to San Jose, and this one beautiful hymn came up, It Is Well , When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll - it’s just beautiful.

And we get to a really powerful part of the song , Though satan should buffet… but it doesn’t say satan - it says Santa.

Santa, Santa, Santa.

Do you remember when you found out that Santa wasn’t real?

I think I was in my 20’s.

Anyway, I found out that Santa doesn’t provide all this stuff you get.

It was your parents, or your grandparents or someone else.

Someone else was doing all this stuff in the background, while you were asleep, and you were like , look at all this stuff that just magically appeared - FOR FREE!

But it didn’t just appear and it definitely wasn’t free.

Someone was orchestrating all of this , putting it all together.

The Lord has provided a substitute for you, someone to be your substitute, your savior, to provide forgiveness for your sin.

Matthew 1:1-2:

But wait, there’s more (myrrh

This morning, as we read our passage, I want you to highlight the word fulfill and to note whenever God does something for someone or through someone.

The title of the message is: the sovereign Lord fulfills his promise.

Let’s see how this theme is played out in this Christmas story:

Matthew 1:1-17

Matthew 1:18-25

(1) The Sovereign Lord fulfills his promise of a lineage (1:1-17)

Fulfillment through the unexpected

What God does here is completely unexpected - the people he sovereignly chooses.

The events he brings together.

Jesus is the fulfillment of two great covenants.

Promises to Abraham and David

The Abrahamic promise, The promise to David of an heir to reign upon his throne.

The Abrahamic promise, The promise to David of an heir

Jesus is the fulfillment of two great covenants.

1:1.

From the very first words of his Gospel, Matthew recorded his central theme and character.

Jesus Christ is the main character in Matthew’s presentation, and the opening verse connected Him back to two great covenants in Jewish history: the Davidic (2 Sam.

7) and the Abrahamic (Gen.

12; 15).

If Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of these two great covenants, is He related to the rightful line?

This is a question the Jews would have asked, so Matthew traced Jesus’ lineage in detail.

1:2–17.

Matthew gave Jesus’ lineage through His legal father, Joseph (v. 16).

Thus this genealogy traced Jesus’ right to the throne of David, which must come through Solomon and his descendants (v. 6).

Of particular interest is the inclusion of Jeconiah (v.

11) of whom Jeremiah said, “Record this man as if childless” (Jer.

22:30).

Jeremiah’s prophecy related to the actual occupation of the throne and the reception of blessing while on the throne.

Though Jeconiah’s sons never occupied the throne, the line of rulership did pass through them.

If Jesus had been a physical descendant of Jeconiah, He would not have been able to occupy David’s throne.

Luke’s genealogy made it clear that Jesus was a physical descendant of David through another son named Nathan (Luke 3:31).

But Joseph, a descendant of Solomon, was Jesus’ legal father, so Jesus’ right to the throne was traced through Joseph.

How is he the Lord of the unexpected in your life?

He is the Lord of the broken - a broken line, a broken life

The lord is able to work in unexpected ways - a new life, a new start, new friendships, new hope

Are you saying, it stops here, I can’t go on?

Are you like so many who would say that they weren’t looking for God but he found you and he changed you?

(2) The Sovereign Lord fulfills his promise of a virgin (1:18-25)

Fulfillment through the miraculous

Salvation from sin

Fulfilling the promise of a savior with a miraculous sign

the explaintion - God with us

(3) The Sovereign Lord fulfills his promise of a king (2:1-12)

Fulfillment through the supernatural - the heavens declare the glory of God

Daniel, working on the house next door, takes a photo and the Lord speaks to him and he comes into my office

The Lord has his reason for everything.

When hard times hit, it is easy for us to second guess the Lord.

We would rather pray and see the Lord makes everything right than having to struggle through challenges, trials, or persecutions.

Maybe the Lord is telling us to flee, but we obstinately refuse.

Maybe the Lord is telling us to let go, but we want to hang on.

We will not understand the Lord’s great plan unless we learn to trust in Him.

It is best to trust in Him.

His timing is always perfect.

When we entered Vietnam 21 years ago, we struggled with being restricted from sharing the Gospel.

This dragged on for many years.

We would have given up staying in Vietnam had we not felt strongly that the Lord called us to stay and serve.

We are still under restriction today, but the Lord is revealing His plan to us.

The children and teachers in areas we serve are hearing and learning about the Lord.