Matthew (2)
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Psalm 22
Psalm 22
To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David. 1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. 3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” 9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. 10 On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. 11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. 12 Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; 13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; 15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— 17 I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. 19 But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! 21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! 22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: 23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! 24 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. 25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. 26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. 28 For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. 30 Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; 31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.
Prayer
Prayer
Introduction
Introduction
On Friday, we celebrate Christmas. We celebrate the birthday of Jesus. We remember when Jesus came to earth as a little baby.
We all know the story of Christmas.
We know about the angels that came to visit Mary and Joseph.
We know about Mary, a godly, unmarried woman who was to have the child and her godly fiance who was going to divorce her quietly because the baby was not his.
We all know about the trip to Bethlehem that fulfilled the prophesy from Micah 5:2.
2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days.
We know about the manger that Jesus was laid in.
We all know about the shepherds who saw the angels and went to find the baby Jesus to worship him.
Prophesy
Prophesy
But Jesus’ birth wasn’t just something that happened. Or something God needed to do to fix a problem. Jesus was part of God’s plan for over 4000 years before He was born.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.
The Lord = Yahweh
Ezekiel was born hundreds of years after king David so we know that this passage is referring to a descendant of David who will be the shepherd.
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.
Immanuel = God with us.
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.
1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
But it wasn’t just the Birth and time as a baby that was prophesied.
John was prophesied in Malachi 3:1, 4:5
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Remember when Jesus road the donkey into Jerusalem?
Or
12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver.
Do you remember when Jesus was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver?
Then we come to the real reason God came to earth.
Isaiah 53:1-12. Is a prophesy of the coming of Jesus. It covers not only his birth - but his suffering and death. He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
It is almost like Jesus was born to die.
Even as Jesus died and the soldiers cast lots for his clothing, he fulfilled Psalm 22:18.
18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
The pierce in Jesus side and the life without bones was prophesied in Psalm 34:20
20 He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.
Jesus, on the cross pointed people towards Psalm 22, which we read earlier this morning. He did this when he quoted verse 1 and Thereby referenced the entire psalm.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
The sum of Jesus’ life can be seen in Psalm 118:22
22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
The religious people of Israel rejected Jesus - yet He is the cornerstone.
You see, we can’t discuss the Birth of Jesus without pointing towards the death of Jesus.
Jesus was born to die.
Aren’t we born to die??
Aren’t we born to die??
It is the same with each of us. We are born to die.
No, we won’t save the world with our life or our death. But we were born to make an impact on this world. For some, the impact is positive and for other’s the impact is negative. But our impact is not neutral.
Each of us were born into the world as a child. A product of our mother and our father. We were raised in homes that may have been good and may have been bod. Each of these things shaped who we are. We made choices. Some for good and some for evil. Our choices and our actions impacted others.
Some of them we should be commended for. Some we must apologize for.
In the totality of things, either we are responsible for bringing people towards the kingdom of God or we are responsible for bringing people away from the kingdom of God.
One day, we will be done on this world. For Jesus, he was done at 33 years of age. I don’t know how long each of us have. But I do know that God assigned a set time for each of us while we were still in our mother’s womb.
This Christmas
This Christmas
This Christmas, each of us have a choice to make. We can bring people closer to God or we can push people away from God.
Don’t forget to keep Jesus at the center of your Christmas celebration this year. This isn’t the Santa holiday. It isn’t about the elf on the shelf. This is Christmas - a celebration of the Birth, life, and death of our Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ.
For the Birth of Jesus means nothing if it were not for this death and resurrection. This is the good news - the Gospel. I want to encourage you to make it a Christmas all about Jesus that you and your family will remember forever.
Benediction
Benediction
Remember that on your tombstone, there will be a birth-date and a death-date. In between there will be a dash. We live in that dash. It is the opportunity that God has given us to live for him. Make the most of your dash.
May God bless you.... May He give you the strength to make a positive impact for His kingdom during this Christmas season.
