Christmas Service 2021
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O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
Everybody loves Christmas! Everybody likes to hear the Christmas story of Jesus in a manger. It’s just so cute isn’t it? I mean, everybody loves babies. They’re so cute aren’t they? And can you imagine…Jesus as a baby? Everybody loves the Christmas story…and we all know it.
We all know what happened. God became man…he grew up, taught in the Temple when he was 12. When he became 30 years old he revealed himself as the Son of God. Eventually the religious people of his day killed him by putting him on a cross. He died for our sins. Three days later he rose from the grave. He sits at the right hand of God as our mediator, our High Priest. One day he is coming back for those who believe in Him. The resurrection of the living and the dead. And then the New Heavens and the New Earth.
But, until all that happens…him coming back to get us and the New Heavens and the New Earth and living forever with him…before all that happens...
Right now…He’s is waiting to see who is going to follow him.
He is waiting to see who is going to let Him into their heart.
He is begging people to let him in to their heart...
Some people come up with analogies from the Bible to describe it....
For instance, when Jesus was about to be born, his mother, Mary, went to the Inn Keeper to see if there was room for them…and the Inn Keeper said, “NO”. So…he had to be born somewhere else and his mother had to lay him in a manger.
The analogy would be… “You are now the Inn Keeper…do you have room for Jesus in your heart… it’s up to you. Will you let him in?”
Let me be clear…this is not what Jesus is doing. Jesus is not a beggar. He is not waiting on you for anything! HE is not weak beggar!
Jesus is a Mighty Warrior, He is the King of Kings and He is the Lord of Lords…he is not a beggar!
He came to RULE, to ESTABLISH HIS Kingdom on this Earth and to RANSOM his people!
O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
Ransom: buy; purchase; acquire as property; to redeem; to set free
When you celebrate Christmas with your family this year…I want you to know WHO you are TRULY Celebrating.... You are celebrating a KING…who came to this Earth to Establish His Kingdom. He came to infiltrate the Kingdom of Satan and take his possessions…you and me. He came to RESCUE HIs people from every tribe, language, people group, and nation.
We also love good stories right? Whether it be a movie or someone like Bryan Trull who can tell some good stories.
But let me tell you the best story of all…it will blow your mind.
God Almighty has told the best story that would ever EVER be told. And wrapped up in this story is:
the best Love story,
the best Adventure story,
the best Mystery,
the best Climax of any story,
the best Ending of any story…
I want you to see something that maybe you have never seen before. I want you to start studying this Book like you have never studied anything before…Because it truly is AMAZING!
I want to tell you a little part of this story that some of you may have never heard:
First…you MUST KNOW THIS:
There is no distinction between Israel and the Church. Contrary to what has been taught by many since the late 1800’s...
The BIBLE TEACHES that the Old Covenant Israel (in the Old Testament) is the SEED OF GOD’S PEOPLE WHICH FLOWERS IN HISTORY…IT BECOMES THE GLOBAL PEOPLE OF GOD in the New Covenant Church.
The Westminster Confession of Fatih calls Israel “a church under age” (WCF 19:3).
When you realize this…you can read the Old Testament and see what God is doing in time, in history. If you do not see this…the Old Testament is not going to make much sense to you. And if the Old Testament doesn’t make sense to you right now…I would bet that you have been taught that the Church and Israel are two separate institutions.
One of the mysteries in the Bible was that God Almighty was preparing to establish His Kingdom on Earth and it all started with a man called Abraham back in Genesis 11. From one man he was going to take over the world!
Genesis 1-3: the backstory…who we are as people. Always choosing sin over the Word of God.
Genesis 11: let the adventure begin...
Genesis 12: God makes a promise to Abraham that through him…all the families of the earth will be blessed.
HE promises him Land…a lot of it
He promises him descendants…a lot of them. As numerous as the stars…as numerous as the grains of sand on the earth. THAT IS A LOT OF DESCENDANTS!
Look at Galatians 3 with me:
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.
Let me ask you something…DO YOU HAVE FAITH?
THEN GUESS WHAT? YOU ARE A SON…A DESCENDANT OF ABRAHAM.
Now look at this:
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
And LOOK AT THIS:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Now LOOK AT THIS:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Wrap your minds around that real quick and lets look at WHY JESUS CAME…IN A MANGER…THAT FIRST CHRISTMAS MORNING...
Look at Isaiah 9:2
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.
That was us before Christ came.
We walked in darkness…we lived in “a land of deep darkness”.
We were blinded and couldn’t see the light of the gospel because of our sins. This isn’t just the Jewish people…this is us. This is everyone.
Write this down and look at it later…Romans 13:13-14
But THANKS BE TO GOD THAT “ON THEM”…on us who believe.... “HAS LIGHT SHONE”.
(2 Co. 4:3-6)
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.
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.
Jesus is NOT A BEGGAR! Jesus did not come to BEG people to let Him into their hearts…JESUS CAME TO RULE AND TO RESCUE HIS PEOPLE FROM THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS!
He came to establish His Kingdom on this Earth and His Government will increase, and increase, and increase, and there will BE NO END.
His KINGDOM will establish JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS everywhere it goes…from the time of His birth and forevermore. It will INCREASE…IT WILL GROW AND GROW AND GROW.
AND YOU KNOW WHO WILL DO IT?
The LORD OF HOSTS WILL DO THIS!
He will DO IT…He is not asking for my permission or yours to do it. HE WILL DO IT!
You know why? BECAUSE HE IS A KING…NOT JUST ANY KING BUT THE KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS. And last I checked…KINGS DO NOT ASK FOR PERMISSION!
Remember the promise to ABRAHAM…a blessing to the NATIONS. You who believe are heirs according to that promise…you who believe are descendants of Abraham....
Look at what God is up to...
“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
The Father will make the NATIONS His heritage and the ends of the Earth his Possession!
Look at Psalm 86:9
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
May he have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth!
May desert tribes bow down before him,
and his enemies lick the dust!
May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands
render him tribute;
may the kings of Sheba and Seba
bring gifts!
I could go through so many verses like this. They are all throughout the Scriptures talking about THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
Isaiah is full of them
Ezekiel is full of them…its amazing but i just want you to get the picture this morning that Jesus is a King…not a beggar. He came to RULE and establish his KINGDOM…and for it to grow all over the Earth. AND IT WILL!
Lets FAST FORWARD:
MARY IS confronted with an angel from Heaven...
Look here at Luke 1:32-33
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Are you ya’ll ready…the Kingdom is coming!
The KING IS ON HIS WAY!
Let me read you Mary’s Song:
And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
WHO IS HIS OFFSPRING?
ALL OF THOSE WHO LIVE BY FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST THE KING. (Gal. 3)
You and me, Christian!
THE KING IS COMING TO SET UP HIS KINGDOM! To RANSOM His people from bondage…to rescue YOU AND ME FROM our bondage of sin, pride, arrogance, self-righteousness…to set us Free.
Look at what Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, says about our KING...
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
THE KING IS COMING!!!
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 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. 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.
The KING IS HERE...
HE grows up...
and His cousin, John the Baptist, the forerunner ENTERS THE SCENE:
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN...
The child was born....
the government will rest on his shoulder....
there will be no end...
it will rule forever from this day forward....
He will have the NATIONS...
Jesus, the baby grows into a man...
He begins His ministry with this:
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The Kingdom of God is not some thing that is going to come in the future...
The Kingdom of God is not something we are waiting on to come to Earth one day...
The Kingdom of God is HERE…and our KING is RULING on his Throne RIGHT NOW...
Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
This Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom that is in our midst RIGHT NOW!
And HIs KINGDOM INVADES THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS AND WILL OVERTAKE IT! (Matt. 12:28).
King Jesus came to this Earth to Rule! He came to set his captives free…He came to ransom his people from the dominion of darkness...
His Kingdom will grow and grow and grow…there is no end to its increase...
At first…it was just a man named Abraham…and God made a promise to him that he would inherit a lot of land and have a ton of descendants.
Abraham had Isaac.
Isaac had Jacob.
Jacob had 12 sons…the twelve tribes of Israel.
They were held captive in Egypt.
God set them free in the Exodus.
They eventually…after 40 years wandering in the desert…made it to “The promised Land”.
They thought that was it.
But guess what…THE PROMISE WAS BIGGER THAN THEY EVER DREAMED!
It wasn’t about this piece of land by the Mediterranean…we call Israel. It was about inheriting everything Christ inherits. It wasn’t just about the descendants of Abraham’s physical offspring…but the true ISRAEL are those who live by faith! That is us!
The promises made to Abraham and to Israel in the Old Testament are promises to the Church…
WHY? HOW?
because of this:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
AND THIS:
Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
AND THIS:
And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
SO…all those promises about a King coming that will RULE the world…BELIEVE THEM!
Those promises in the OLD TESTAMENT that promised ALL THE NATIONS would come to know GOD…BELIEVE THEM...
JUST like Abraham…when it all sounds crazy and too good to be true…BELIEVE THE PROMISE like Father Abraham did...
The King’s Kingdom will grow and grow and grow…AS BLEAK AS IT MAY SEEM TO YOU NOW…trust HIM. He says that HE WILL DO IT!
The kingdom of God sometimes grows slow…sometimes it has seasons of large growth…but it’s increase will not end...
Its like this: A MUSTARD SEED:
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
The Kingdom WILL CONTINUE TO GROW AND CHRIST WILL INHERIT THE NATIONS…
THIS IS WHY THE GREAT COMMISSION IS THIS:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Our KING IS REIGNING AND RULING HIS KINGDOM RIGHT NOW…
And Church…we have a lot of work to do! But if we can focus small, on our families, on our children, on those we know, our friends…then we take it to our community…We tell them about KING JESUS, the Sovereign God of Heaven and Earth. We tell them of their sin and the Law of God and how there is nothing they can do to make things right with this King other than total surrender.
Remember, the terms of peace with this King is TOTAL SURRENDER!
It starts in your home! Then to your friends and families then to our community…to the Nations!
Everybody thinks Jesus is about to come back…but I believe we have a lot of work to do for him to inherit the Nations...
I believe he will come back when this happens:
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
I look around and there seems to be a lot of enemies of the Cross out there...
The JEWISH LEADERS in Christ’s day didn’t understand the Scriptures as well as they thought they did. THEY MISUNDERSTOOD THE PROMISES OF GOD...
Many people today do not understand the Scriptures today...
They see Christ as a beggar, pleading that someone would just let him into their heart...
But that is not who He is...
He IS A SOVEREIGN KING, HE IS A WARRIOR AND HE HAS ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH...
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Christian…this is your KING that was born and placed in a Manger. He came to establish His Kingdom and He rescued you from the kingdom of darkness. Now…because He has saved you…go…make disciples! Teach them!
If you are here and you are not a true believer I pray God Almighty changes your heart and gives you faith. Faith to believe in the Only Son of God. I pray you TRUST in Him Alone to save you from your sins against the Holy Eternal Sovereign God of all creation!
You know that you have sinned against Him and I am not asking you to let him into your heart…I am telling you to repent, turn from your sinful ways and LOOK TO CHRIST ALONE AND LIVE.
I want to end by reading you this:
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.
May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us;
let all the ends of the earth fear him!