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Part 1
Big Idea: Receive the blessing of Emmanuel, God with us, by waiting in faith.
Part 1 - A Sign as High as Heaven
Christmas is a time of waiting.
What are you waiting for right now that you would say, “I just CAN’T WAIT?”
Maybe you kids are waiting for a certain present that you hope you get tomorrow morning...
Maybe you parents are waiting for your kids to open that present...
Maybe you are waiting for a memorable time with your family...
Or maybe you are waiting to just get the holidays behind you...
Right now, I’m saying, “I just can’t wait until my whole family is healthy and we can get this stomach bug behind us!
The celebration of advent is the acknowledgement that God has designed his blessings to come through waiting.
That’s been our focus this entire Advent season at Oak Hill...
Big Idea: Wait in Faith
The celebration of advent is the acknowledgement that God has designed his blessings to come through waiting.
That’s been our focus this entire Advent season at Oak Hill...
At Oak Hill this Christmas season, we’ve been learning that God has designed his blessings to come through waiting.
We’ve learned that the blessing of hope comes when we learn to wait for the right thing… for the arrival of Jesus Christ himself…when our hopes are set on his return and the kingdom he is bringing.
The blessing of peace comes when we learn to forsake the first impulses of our flesh and instead worship him in our waiting...
The blessing of joy comes when we trade our strategizing and doubts and shame for the joy of surrendering to the work only he can do...
The blessing of love comes when we are looking for the right kind of love… the vertical love of God we cannot earn or purchase… the only love that removes our shame and satisfies our soul.
The blessings of God come THROUGH waiting and they come FROM the presence of God himself.
That’s why Christmas is so important… it is the celebration of the presence of God come to DWELL with us...
We celebrate the WONDER of this name of Jesus: “Immanuel, God with us.”
But there is a really important element to waiting that we need to touch on tonight…
And that is that waiting REQUIRES faith.
The essence of waiting… true biblical waiting that waits or the right thing and experiences the presence of God is FAITH.
Series Vision: Find the blessing in waiting for the arrival of Jesus Christ.
The essence of waiting is faith.
The essence of blessing is the presence of God.
And at the intersection of faith and the presence of God is the story of Christmas.
Tonight we are going to look briefly at three passages of scripture that tell the Christmas story and lead us to apply THIS BIG IDEA:
Big Idea: Receive the blessing of Immanuel, God with us, by learning to wait in faith.
This Christmas Eve, I want us to see...
Three Reasons “Immanuel, God with Us” Produces Faith
The first instance of this name “Immanuel,” comes in the book of the prophet Isaiah…
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
( ESV)
The prophecy is actually judgment against a King over God’s people in Judah about 800 years before the birth of Jesus… his name was Ahaz…
The story of waiting began the moment sin entered the world…
It began the moment direct access the presence of God
Three Reasons “God with Us” Produces Faith
Part 1 - Wait in faith because Immanuel is a sign as high as heaven.
(Isa.
7:10-14
Context:
You see, Ahaz is WAITING and WORRYING about what is going to happen to him and to Jerusalem… and he is NOT waiting in faith…
His enemies Syria and Israel are about to wage an attack on him… they want to remove him from the throne and set up a puppet government who will stand with them against the king of Assyria…
And so Ahaz and the people of Judah are scared...
“Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”
But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.”
And he said, “Hear then, O house of David!
Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
(, ESV)
tells us, “the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.”
God says, “Do not be afraid of them… I’m the one in control here and they will soon come to nothing… only stand firm in faith!”
God says, “Do not be afraid of them… they will quickly come to nothing… stand firm in faith!”
But Ahaz doesn’t believe God…
God wants to build up Ahaz’s faith… but Ahaz is finding it hard to stand firm…
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.
(2016).
().
Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
So God wants to build up Ahaz’s faith…
So God moves even closer to Ahaz… in verse 10, 12 read, “Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”
What’s a sign?
A sign is a marker of what is ahead…
If you are traveling for Christmas tomorrow, you will pass signs saying, “Exit 2 miles… exit 1 mile… exit here...”
God wants to give Ahaz a clear sign that he can believe God for what is coming next.
Here’s what we learn: There is nothing God could to in order to secure a deeper faith in you than to send you his son.
And there is nothing God wouldn’t do in order to secure a deeper faith in Ahaz… he can ask for a sign as high as heaven or as low as Sheol… God is will to move heaven and hell to show Ahaz that he can trust him…
but Ahaz is so gripped by fear that he faithlessly rejects God’s offer.
He makes it sound all spiritual: But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.”
He really just doesn’t want to find out that he needs the Lord… he’s hiding fear behind a fake front of faith.
So God responds, “Hear then, O house of David!
Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
The house of David… the line of Kings who were supposed to represent God’s authority over his people…
had acted faithlessly for too long… and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.
(2016).
().
Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
And God says, “I told you to ask me for a sign as high as heaven and you refused so here’s the sign I’m giving... I’m rejecting you and I’m coming myself.”
The first reason Immanuel, God with us, produces faith is this...
“Immanuel, God with Us” is a sign as high as heaven.
Even though this is a statement of Judgment against Ahaz and his descendents, it is a word of ultimate hope to Israel… a sign that would bring peace and joy and love to God’s people...
In the near future, there would be destruction… the Northern Kingdom of Israel would be desolate and Ahaz’s southern kingdom would be soon to follow....
But there would come another son… born of a virgin…
But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.”
And he said, “Hear then, O house of David!
Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
(, ESV)
A virgin will conceive and bear a son…
A woman will produce an offspring…
And he will be called “Immanuel, God with us.”
This is the promise mankind had been waiting for since the Garden of Eden.
“Immanuel, God with us” was the experience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as they experienced perfect fellowship with their Creator...
“Immanuel, God with us” was what they lost when they fell into sin.
“Immanuel, God with us” is what was promised to be restored when God was issuing the curse for their sin and he said to the tempter… to Satan, that the offspring of the woman would crush his head.
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