The Joy of Christmas
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What do I want them to know? the Joy of Christmas
Why? We all long for joy
What do I want them to do? Rejoice in the joy of Christmas
Why? Joy brings life
ME/WE
How’s your JOY been this year? If you think about your JOY METER...How’s it been during this Christmas season, especially as you hear the songs being play called Joy to the World, and it’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Some of us are going to say my JOY is off the CHARTS, my JOY meter is OVERFLOWING…I have had the most JOY in my life.
Others are going to say my JOY is not off the charts....It has been hard to find JOY this year.....
I have not been able to the things I normally do that bring me JOY....My JOY has felt restricted and limited.
Others are thinking JOY, you all are NUTS, they would say I can tell you and we will find out how they have joy when we read the scriptures (do you know what 2020 is it is a curse word or could be called GLOOM, this the year from that place HELL )where is there to find JOY this YEAR....WE SHOULD LABEL THIS YEAR GLOOM.
We have had a pandemic
A year of homeschooling kids
Financial crisis
I haven’t been able to see family or friends
We have a contentious election
And racial tension
How can you have JOY with all that has went on this year.
SET UP
If you find yourself at the spot where you are over flowing with joy we are going to pour more fuel on your JOY meter,
If you are here today and it’s been hard to find joy we are going to discover where we can find joy
If you are today and your life has been DOOM and GLOOM…we are going to discover the God of the BIBLE is the ONE who moves us from GLOOM to GLORY and JOY
TENSION
We are going to do this by diving a time period 700 year before the birth of Jesus and take a look at the Nation of Israel.
What is going on with the nation of Israel 700 years before Jesus?…How was their JOY meter? Was it off the charts? Was the nation in a wonderful spot?
NO, they are at time when most people would call it the GLOOMIEST SPOT FOR THE NATOIN OF ISRAEL
Why? Because in 721 B.C. the Northern Tribes of Israel were invaded, attacked, destroyed, dismantled and the people were captured, and by Assyria…
In 721 B.C. the nation of Israel at the hands of Assyria the Northern tribes of the Nation of Israel were destroyed
There FREEDOM was GONE, their FINANCES gone, hope of a good FUTURE GONE, FAMILIES torn apart
Can you imagine that? How much JOY would you have?
Very little...
AND WHY ARE THEY HERE…Is God just mean, no God is
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
God is the God of justice....He is slow to get angry BUT IF YOU CONTINUE TO ON THE PATH OF SIN and not BLESSING IT WILL NOT GO WELL WITH YOU.....sin has consequences, painful consequences…this is a good thing…why? ....if sin has no consequences would we stop? NO
I love what pastor Chip Ingram said this weak, “I am thankful for the pain of the consequences that helps me turn around.”
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
Why is the nation in the GLOOM SPOT they are in? SIN…not not just sin of lying, cheating, and stealing…but the sin of walking away from God....walking away from God leads to GLOOM.
Let’s read what they did
Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?
To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward.
And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.
God says since you have walked away from me, it’s darkness, it’s gloom. it’s hopeless, it’s joyless
As we said in earlier they are captured and defeated by Assyria
We can read in 2 kings 15:29 what happens
In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria.
They are captured....all hope is lost
Some of you are thinking BUT WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ME? Interesting story....some of you might be checking out because it feels like in history class.
What does this have to do with me???
I didn’t walk away from God or I wasn’t against God or God’s ways…really …maybe not this year… your story is you walked with God your whole life??? Is this what Scripture
BUT WHAT DOES SCRIPTURE SAY
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
but at one point all of us were like the nation of Israel....we all were lost in our trespasses and sin or did we forget that part.....
WE WERE JUST LIKE ISRAEL 700 YEARS AGO AT SOME POINT IN OUR LIFE
This sin brought two consequences in our life
- the GLOOMIEST of ALL GLOOMS....What were the two GLOOMIEST all GLOOMS? Two things
but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
Seperation between us and God
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Death
THIS IS NOT GOOD NEWS....this is the GLOOMIEST of NEWS…this is worse than 2020…death and separation between us and God..
What hope is there for us, or joy is there for us? What will make the GLOOMIEST SEASON CHANGE???
What can I do to change this season?…There is nothing that you can do....THAT’S NOT GOOD NEWS PASTOR PETE....YES IT IS....IT IS NOT WHAT YOU DO THAT WILL GET YOU OUT OF IT, BUT WHAT HE DID THAT WILL GET YOU OUT OF IT...
What hope you have this is the, that is directly tied to Joy is the CHRISTMAS STORY
The hope and joy the nation of Israel and we have is Christmas story....the Christmas story that was prophesied 700 years before the birth of Jesus
How does this give us HOPE and JOY?
Listen to what Is 9:1 says....The verse right after it says there are is going to GLOOM and darkness for those who walk away from God.
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
Who or what or where is the Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali....these were the first tribes of the 12 tribes of Israel to be captured and taken over by Assyria....why??? Judges 1:30, 33 says because they did not walk in the ways of the
But what does the scripture say to Zebulun and Napthali, to this to TRIBES WHO WALKE AWAY FROM GOD....there will be no more GLOOM for you Zebulun and Naphtali....
HOW? I thought if you walked away from God it was over? If that’s the case we’ve all walked away and we are all doomed....
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
Isaiah says in some later time your God is going to turn your GLOOM to GLORY and JOY…Don’t worry Zebulun and Naphtali and to the whole world....God is going to turn the worlds GLOOMIEST SITUATIONS TO GLORY AND JOY
Where in? In the Galilee of nations, the place where Nazeth, Caperum, the a place the first walked away from God, a place that turns out to be a mixture of Jewish people and Nations, because of all the nations capturing and settling there.
Why?…is God going to bring GLORY TO THE GALILLEE OF THE NATIONS AND NOT ISRAEL....this is where the Messiah is supposed to come…the heart of Israel....God is telling us something all the way
What does John 3:16 say? For God so loved Israel...
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
How is God going to do it? Through a God man named Jesus…look what Jesus says in Matt 4:12-17
Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.
And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,
so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Jesus says I am the one who is going to move your DOOM and GLOOM to GLORY AND JOY
How?
Isaiah 9, the prophetic words given 700 years before Jesus, shows us three ways
First, Isaiah says Jesus brings light into the darkness…to those who are in GLOOM and DOOM and DARKNESS…LIGHT IS GOING TO SHINE
God’s presence has come to those who were far off, just like Is 9:2 said
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.
Can you believe this? The people who have rebelled, the people who have walked away from God, including you and me, a great light has shone....why? because of God’s love and grace
Specifically, what does light do to us and to them? Light removes darkness, where this light there can be no darkness, a room either has light or darkness, and brings goodness and life..
Jesus comes to remove DARKNESS and bring Goodness and life
Let’s read what John 8:12 says
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Jesus says if you follow me, give your life to me you will have the light of the life....
Life is found in Jesus, and in now where else
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Do you know what light brings to those walking in darkness? To those who cannot get out of darkness? TO THOSE IN DOOM AND GLOOM? TO THOSE WHO CANNOT SEE?
You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
What does God’s light bring to us? JOY
Why do we have joy? It is because that God removes the darkness and brings goodness and life....not only that, God comes near to us and saves us who are lost in DARKNESS....He is immanel God with us....
This is something the nation of Israel and many of us have never thought could happen…that God would ever come near us because of the things we have done....we have walked away from God, sinned, like really sinned....but the good news, the joy news....IS NOBODY IS TOO BAD FOR GOD....nor is anyone good enough for God....that means we are all sinfully flawed....but God the light of the world has come
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Not only does Jesus come to bring light to the world that is dark....
2. He comes to break the yokes of the bondage of sin
he is a bondage breaker, sin destroyer
For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.
What does Isaiah say, remember the day of Midian…the day when God did the impossible…remember when God raised us Gideon (the smallest tribe, least likely tribe) and 300 of Israel soldiers defeated Midian this huge empire with 135,000 Midiante soliers…they are outnumber 450 to 1 …but God performs a miracle and the Midinates warriors are defeated miracle of God....nobody thought this was possible....but God does the impossible… that is the only way it happens.....
Isaiah just like God did the impossible with Gideon he is going do the impossible with Jesus… Jesus comes to break the power, affects and bondage of sin....and as a result bring FREEDOM from SLAVERY
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus says I have come to break the power of sin, to set the captives free, to bring light to the blind.
As a Song by Phil Wickhams ays
Who breaks the power of sin and darkness?
Whose love is mighty and so much stronger?
The King of glory, the King above all kings
Jesus is the bondage breaker
NOT ONLY IS JESUS
the light defeats that darkness and brings goodness, life, and joy
Not only does he break the power of Sin
3. He brings peace between us and God.
THE BEST NEWS IS JESUS HAS COME TO BRING PEACE BETWEEN US AND GOD
let’s read
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.
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.
God send His son into the world at Christmas, not just to teach us the ways of God, not just to be the light, He also comes to reconcile us back to God..
As Is 59:2 says
but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
How does Jesus do this?
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.
How does Jesus bring peace between us and God? By being the sacficial lamb that takes away the sins of the world....Jesus gave up His life so that we can have life....
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
HE DID THIS SO THAT WE CAN HAVE PEACE WITH GOD...
US
This is the Christmas story, this is why it is JOY TO THE WORLD THE LORD HAS COME, the SAVIOR REIGNS....
Our savior has come to bring us out of darkness and into light
Our savior has come to break the power of sin
Our savior has made a way for us to be a peace with God.
I would like to contend with you, what I would like to push into you and me
- The reason we or I do not have joy at times or JOY HAS BEEN HARD TO FIND FOR US THIS YEAR is because we HAVE HAD 2020 vision and NOT CHRISTMAS VISION
- our vision has been all about the year 2020
- and our vision has been all about what we see in front of us
IF WE HAVE JESUS WE HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH
That our prayer is that God would return to you
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
ANd we have Christmas vision, Jesus vision we will have JOY.
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