Matthew C. Mitchell's Blog, page 60

[Matt's Messages] “He Will Reign For Ever and Ever”

“He Will Reign For Ever and Ever”
Isaiah 9:6-7 and Revelation 19:6, 16, 11:15 
December 24, 2017

Did that last song sound kinda familiar to you? It’s a brand new song by Chris Tomlin and Matt Maher, but it’s also homage to a couple of very familiar Christmas tunes. One was “In the Bleak Midwinter” by Christina Rosetti.

And what was the other one? Handel’s “Messiah” right?

“Unto Us a Child Is Born.”

George Frederic Handel was a master at taking texts from holy Scripture and putting them together with beautiful music to form a stunning powerful combination.

And one of those texts was Isaiah 9, verses 6 and 7.

It predicts the birth of Jesus Christ the whole point of Christmas.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (NIV84)

I don’t know about you, but whenever I read these words, I hear Handel’s Messiah in my head. “Wonderful! Counselor! The Mighty God! The Everlasting Father! The Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6-7 is a prophecy of the Messiah of Israel–the promised ruler who would make all things right once more.

Verses 1 through 5 of Isaiah 9 talk of people walking in darkness who have seen a great light, on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.

We’re at the darkest time of the year right now. Each day is short, each night is long.

These people were walking, living in darkness. But now a light has dawned.

And that light is the joyful reversal of the curse on the world and the end of all war!

And that light comes in the form of a child.

Jesus.

This is what Christmas is all about.

Isaiah wrote these words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit about 800 years before the first Christmas.  Before the birth of Jesus Christ.

He didn’t know Jesus’ name.  But He could see the day when Jesus would come.

Now, I’d love to spend time on each of these awesome titles for Jesus and what amazing realities they point to: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ... But we’ll do that another time.

What I want to focus on this morning are all of these words here that talk about his eternal kingdom.

Did you hear them as I read it? I tried to emphasize them. V.6

“...the government will be on his shoulders.”

He would shoulder the government. That’s a big responsibility, calling for very big shoulders.

As a Dad, I understand what it means to have the weight of a family rest on your shoulders.

Well, the weight of the world would rest on the shoulders of this child!

But for how long? V.7

“Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.”

“He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.”

As the choir just sang, “He Shall Reign Forevermore, Forevermore!”

“He Will Reign For Ever and Ever.”

That’s in the Hallelujah Chorus, isn’t it?

The glorious conclusion of part two of Handel’s Messiah. It’s number 37 in your hymnal if you want to look at it. Amazing music.

Most of us have it running in our heads the whole Advent Season.

And I’m sure that our choir’s last song was supposed to ring it again in our ears.

“And He shall reign for ever and ever.”

Where did Handel get that?

It’s in the Bible.

Handel picked three texts from the book of Revelation and put them together.

Revelation chapter 19, verse 6. Chapter 19, verse 16. And chapter 11, verse 15.

From the King James.

Revelation 19:6, John says, “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”

Revelation 19:16, “And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

And Revelation 11:15, “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

Christmas is about the coming of the greatest King and the greatest Kingdom ever.

And it will be an ETERNAL KINGDOM.

Eternal. For Ever and Ever. Without end.

Just think about that this morning. Make that your big Christmas Eve thought for the day. Dwell on this idea that Jesus’ kingdom will be eternal.

Just pick that sentence apart and take it one step at a time.

#1. HE.

He will reign. This child to be born. This son to be given.

Notice (in verse 6) that He is a gift.

The people whom He will reign over do not deserve this King.

They deserve the darkness, not the light.

They deserve the wicked rulers that they have had, not the perfect One to come.

He comes as a gift. And He shoulders the government as a gift.

As much as we desperately need it, we don’t deserve the kind of government that is being promised to us here.

It’s grace.

We don’t tend to think about government being grace to us, but we’re not used to perfect government.

Whenever we think about government, we are painfully aware of its imperfections.

We’re painfully aware of our own imperfections. We are imperfect sinners living under someone else’s government.

And our governments, even our best governments, are made up of imperfect sinners, as well.

But He will reign.

The baby born in Bethlehem will reign.

And He will reign perfectly because He Himself is perfect.

He is the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Not just anybody. But Jesus.

Aren’t you glad that the eternal kingdom to come will be reigned by this Person?

I would hate the idea of an eternal kingdom ruled by anybody less!

He...

#2. WILL REIGN.

And this, of course, is talking about His second coming, more than His first.

He was the King when He came the first time, but His reign had only just begun and is not yet fully realized.

But when He comes again and sets up His eternal kingdom, then He will reign like nothing ever seen before!

Look at the words that Isaiah uses in verse 7 to describe that kingdom.

It’s peaceful. Peace with no end.

And it’s perfect. It’s upheld with “justice and righteousness.”

You know, we can’t really imagine this.

Imagine a perfect place to live with a perfect government.

We can try. But we have never really seen anything like it.

We get foretastes. When something goes right. When government does something well. When you have good parents, good church leaders, good policing, good laws put into effect–you get a foretaste of what it might be like to live under perfection.

But it’s always far from it.

But imagine a world ruled by a Person with absolute power that is ruling absolutely and is absolutely perfect and good!

That’s what this is talking about.

That’s what Christians believe was happening when Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem.

The King had come. The King of Kings had come.

And He will reign...

#3. FOR EVER AND EVER!

“Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.”

That Person, that Perfection. And Forever!

That’s the point of Christmas.

For Ever and Ever.

I can’t wrap my mind around that.

“Eternal” sounds good, but it’s just so hard to comprehend.

But think about the opposite. What if the kingdom wasn’t forever?

If all of that goodness came and then just fizzled and ran out of steam?

What if Jesus came and set up an glorious kingdom but it did not last?

“All good things must come to an end.”

No! That’s not the gospel.

The gospel says, “And they lived happily ever after” because of Jesus.

He will reign for ever and ever!

Isn’t that the good news?!

You know, it’s only good news if you are happy about it.

It’s only good news if this Child born, this Son that is given is your own Savior and King.

He will reign for ever and ever no matter what.

But those who get to enjoy that reign forever are those who have received Him as King now.

Those who have taken Jesus and His gift of salvation by faith.

Those who have come out of the darkness and put their faith in the Light who has dawned.

Is that you?

I hope so. I hope that’s everyone in this room.

And if it isn’t yet, I pray that it will be soon.

I call on everyone here to receive this Son who was given for them.

So that all of us can rejoice together in Him and under His reign forever and ever.

For ever and ever.

For ever and ever.

Amen!

The Colour Red

[Matt's Messages] "The Birth of Jesus Christ"

“The Birth of Jesus Christ”
The Gospel of Matthew
December 17, 2017 :: Matthew 1:18-25 

Last week, we began our newest sermon series very cleverly and craftily entitled, “The Gospel of Matthew.” I’m still working an snazzy title for the whole series.

We’ve begun a multi-month, maybe multi-year, journey together through this theological biography of the most important person who has ever lived–the Lord Jesus Christ.

Last week, we looked closely at his genealogy. Which was a lot more interesting than someone might think at first.

It turned out that his genealogy revealed his identity. It was like a form of ID that the first readers of this gospel would have considered valid and interesting.

Matthew gave us an account of Jesus’ genealogy that presented Jesus as the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the Christ.

The Son of Abraham - Realizing All of God’s Promises
The Son of David - Ruling All of God’s Kingdom
The Christ - Rescuing All of God’s People

And Matthew arranged his presentation of the genealogy into three sets of fourteen generations. Three eras: from Abraham to David, from David to the Exile, and from the Exile to Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus.

Fourteen. The perfect number seven multiplied by two.

And three perfect sets of a doubled perfect number.

I think that Matthew was saying that the time has now come for the Messiah to arrive.

The time is perfect. More than perfect. Doubly perfect. Triply doubly perfect!

This is where the whole line of generations has been heading all along.

What Paul called in Galatians 4, “The fullness of time...” (Galatians 4:4-5).

This is what they’ve all been waiting for.

This Person is Whom they’ve all been waiting for.

And now it’s time to read about His conception and His birth.

V.18 begins, “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about...”

“The Birth of Jesus Christ.”

Now, the funny thing is that there is very little about Jesus’ actual birth in the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel of Luke is the place to go if you want to know most of the details of that story. The who, what, where, when, and how.

Matthew only barely mentions his actual birth.

What Matthew does give us is mostly the backstory of Jesus’ birth from the perspective of Joseph. Luke focuses more on Mary. Matthew focuses more on Joseph.

“This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about...”

That word “birth” in the Greek is “geneseos.” What does that sound like?

Genesis, right?

Which means, “origins, beginnings, births.”

Matthew is signaling that he is going to give us the origin story of Jesus Christ.

He is going to tell us how it all came down. The circumstances that surrounded Jesus’ birth.

And in particular, he’s going to tell us about the scandal and how it was resolved.

There was a scandal brewing, no doubt about it.

Verse 16 made it very clear that this genealogy was the genealogy of Joseph who was the husband of Mary, of whom (feminine pronoun, Mary) was born Jesus, who is called Christ.”

So Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus.

Look at verse 18.

“This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.”

Now, take out Matthew’s words, “through the Holy Spirit,” and you can see how you’ve got a scandal brewing.

Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph.

The old King James word was “espoused.”

And it meant much more to them than our word “engaged.”

They had already signed all of the papers.

They had already been to the courthouse.

They and their families had agreed before witnesses that these two were going to come together in marriage.

Their betrothal period was legally binding and could only be broken by a divorce.

But they had yet “come together.” There were still some significant steps before they were finally and fully married. And that included sexual intimacy and consummation.

They hadn’t got that far.

But Mary was obviously pregnant already.

What happened?

Well, if it was anybody else, we would all know what happened.

Mary must have been with somebody.

I mean, that’s just how it works.

And Joseph knew that it hadn’t been him.

Of course, Mary knew that she hadn’t been with anybody.

Matthew says that she was “found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.”

It’s a miracle.

Don’t miss that.

Don’t miss the miracle.

Our Advent Readings this year are all about the Holy Spirit, the True Spirit of Christmas.

We’re learning about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the story of the birth of Christ.

Don’t miss this one! The Holy Spirit miraculously conceived the humanity of Jesus inside of the womb of Mary who was a virgin.

Wow!

Now, certainly that created a scandal.

But which would you rather have? A non-scandalous birth of a regular old baby who can’t save the world or a scandalous birth of a divinely miraculous baby who does?

We know which one God picked.

He picked the scandalous miracle.

But what would Joseph pick? V.19

“Because Joseph her husband [legally if not fully yet] was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.”

Now we sometimes have a hard time understanding what that means.

It says that Joseph was righteous. And at least in part, that must have meant that he felt duty-bound to divorce this seemingly adulterous woman. That’s what a righteous man would do.

He might think that fully marrying her would say to the world that he was guilty of fornication when he was not.

Now, our world laughs at that.

Our culture seems to think that it’s okay for men and women to have sex together outside of the covenant of marriage. Even to live together like they are husband and wife but not be.

But the Bible calls that kind of behavior “sin.”

And Joseph was a righteous man. He wasn’t going to engage in that sinful behavior, and he wasn’t going to implicitly say to the world that he had.

But the logic of verse 19 says more than that. It says that because Joseph was righteous, he not only wanted to do the right thing, but he wanted to show compassion towards Mary.

“Because” he was righteous he “did not want to expose her to public disgrace.”

He didn’t want a trial.
He didn’t want her to be ostracized and attacked. Maybe stoned to death.

He could have demanded a public divorce and probably got to keep her dowry and the bride price that he had probably put down.

She had reneged on their agreement, not him.

But because he was righteous, he was merciful.

I think that say a lot about what it means to be righteous.

Joseph decided to divorce her quietly. Life was going to be hard enough for her to have no husband to have some illegitimate son.

You know, they probably didn’t know each other very well? Betrothed couples in that day didn’t have any time alone until they were married.

They would have met, but never had much conversation–and always with others listening.

How must he have felt?! So disappointed. So let down.

And yet, he decides to not only do the right thing but to do it as gently as possible.

But then God intervenes! v.20

“But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

And that changes everything!

I have no idea what that might be like. To be visited by an angel. Perhaps “the angel of the Lord.” He’s not named here.

All we get is his amazing message.

Notice what he calls Joseph!

“Joseph, son of David.”

This humble carpenter is a Son of David.

That’s what we read about last week in the genealogy. This guy is the heir to the throne.

In an alternate timeline, we could call him, “King Joseph.”

“King Joseph, heir of David, do not be afraid.”

“Don’t worry what they say about you.

Don’t worry about the scandal. I’ll take care of that. It’s worth it.

Mary has not been unfaithful to you. Marry Mary!

“...do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

That child is very special.

And then the angel say just how special He is. V.21

“She will give birth to a son, and you [Joseph] are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’”

#1. JESUS.

Now if you have the New International Version, it has a footnote for the name “Jesus” in verse 21. We are used to the name “Jesus,” but we don’t always recognize what it meant in the original language.

The NIV footnote says, “Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the LORD saves.” “Yahweh saves.” That’s why the angel says, “give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

The angel is saying that his name has prophetic mean.

“Jesus” means God saves His people.

This little boy whom the angel is telling Joseph to adopt is going to be a savior. A deliverer. A rescuer.

A savior from what?

From the oppression of the Romans?

What does it say (v.21)?

“He will save His people from their sins.”

Not their enemies.

Or at least, not what they think of as their greatest enemies.

What do you think of as your greatest enemies?

Did your know that your greatest enemy is not your problems?

Your greatest enemy is not your fears.

Your greatest enemy is not your earthly enemies like Korean dictators or ISIS terrorists.

Did you know that your greatest enemy is not even Satan, the enemy of God?

No. Your and my greatest threat to our eternal joy is our sins.

Our sins separate us from God and makes us His enemies. It earns us His righteous wrath.

And there is nothing you and I can do about it on our own.

We are, by nature, dead in our transgressions and sins.

And dead people can’t earn their way back.

We can’t rescue ourselves. We can’t bring ourselves back to life.

But God in His mercy has sent a Savior for us!

And His name is “Jesus.” “God saves His people.”

Here’s how He did it. Jesus lived a perfect life. He never sinned. He lived in perfect obedient communion with His heavenly Father.

And then one day, He took on our sin for us. And He died in our place on the Cross.

The Bible says, “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

And then three days later, He came back from the dead to give us forgiveness of sins and new life!

We’re going to read about that at the end of this book.

But here it is at the beginning!

“Jesus” Means God Saves His People.

Question. Are you one of His people?

That’s a question that we all have to make sure we have answered.

The Gospel of John says, “...to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.”

Are you born of God?

Are you one of God’s people?

You get there through faith.

And faith in alone in Jesus Christ alone.

Have you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ?

Because He came to save His people from their sins.

But it’s not automatic. You need to trust Him. You need to receive Him and believe in His name.

You cannot earn this salvation, but you must receive it by faith.

Jesus means God’s saves his people.

Isn’t that wonderful? Isn’t it wonderful that Jesus came to save?

He could have just come to observe.

Or worse. He could have just come to judge.

But He came to save. To seek and to save what was lost.

And then Matthew takes over, I think, in verse 22 to show how this was a fulfillment of the Old Testament. V.22

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’–which means, ‘God with us.’”

#2. IMMANUEL.

That’s what choir just sang this morning.

“Our God is with us!”

Matthew says that all of this (not just the angel’s greetings but the whole thing, including the potential scandal) took place to fulfill Isaiah 7:14.

Now, that’s one of Matthew’s favorite words, “fulfill.” We’re going to see it again and again in this gospel.

Matthew loves to look at his Old Testament and see what it promised and prefigured and predicted and then look at Jesus and show how He fulfills it perfectly.

Three years ago, we studied this prophecy in Isaiah 7 and 8 in some depth. We took two weeks to unpack what it says and how it relates to Matthew chapter 1.

Basically, it’s a prophetic pattern. God promised King Ahaz a sign even though Ahaz didn’t want one. The sign would be that a young maiden would have a child and before that child could even say, “Mama,” the threats that King Ahaz was so worried about would be neutralized. He would see that God is with Israel.

But it was also more than that!

When the LORD said in Isaiah that a “virgin will be with child,” he actually meant that eventually a VIRGIN would be “with child!”

The Hebrew word in Isaiah 7:14 could be just a young maiden of marriageable age, but it could also mean someone who has never ever had sexual relations.

And the Greek word used in both the Septuagint (the Greek translation of Isaiah 7:14) and in Matthew’s Gospel right here in this verse (23) is almost always used to mean a young woman who has never ever had sexual relations.

And Mary has never ever had sexual relations.

“What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

So Matthew sees clearly that ALL this took place to fully fulfil Isaiah 7:14.

“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel–which means ‘God with us.’”

The Greater Immanuel, the Greatest Immanuel is Mary’s son!

Immanuel was a pattern. The first Immanuel was a sign that God was with His people, Israel.

But the Greater Immanuel, the Greatest Immanuel has come not only to be a sign but to be the literal fulfillment of His name.

God is with us.

This is no ordinary child!

He is literally God in the flesh.

Jesus Christ was not just an earthly savior who came to deliver people from their sins.

Jesus Christ was (and is!) God Himself come to Earth an entering into humanity!

Veiled in Flesh, the Godhead See
Hail, the Incarnate Deity
Pleased as Man With Men to Dwell
Jesus, Our Immanuel

Immanuel wasn’t his name like “Jesus” was.

Immanuel is a title, to describe the essence of Who Jesus was and is.

He is God With His People.

Think about what Immanuel means:

It means that God has walked on Earth as a man.

It means that God understands everything that we humans go through–experientially!

It means that because He was God Jesus could infinitely pay for our sin debt against an infinite holy God. In other words, because He was Immanuel He could be Jesus–our Savior.

It means that God could reveal Himself fully in language we understand–the language of humanity, of personal experience, of human love and sacrifice.

It means that ours is a “visited planet.” We are not alone. There is a Creator who made us and cares about us. Life is not meaningless.

It means that humanity is not just an insignificant class of primates wandering around aimlessly on this planet. Instead we are a significant class of beings, created in the image of God, and blessed by our Creator's humility to take on our nature.  We among the creatures of the universe have a dignity that is unheard of, because God became one of us. Because God was with us!

God “became flesh and dwelled among us.”

Let’s get personal now.

Do you feel alone this Christmas Season?

Christmas is often a hard time for people. Winter has come. It gets darker earlier.  Financial burdens pile up. People get lonely. We miss loved-ones who have died.

I find this a very stressful time of year.

Do you feel alone this Christmas Season?

You are not alone if you know Immanuel.

The most important person in the universe is with you. And for you.

You are not alone.

Three years ago on Christmas Eve, I gave this summary of what it means for God to be with us.

Not Alone
Not Afraid
Not Abandoned
Not Ashamed

God is with you.

Immanuel.

Do you need to hear that?

I know I do.

Because often I live like I am alone.

I live in fear.
I live in anxiety.
I live in anger.
I live in attack mode.
I live in lying mode.
I live in revenge mode.
I live in impurity.
I live in foolishness.

That’s living as if God was not with me.

But we don’t have to live like that!

Immanuel!

God is with us!

God is here.

God has saved us through His Son.

We can live differently!

We can live in joy.
We can live in peace.
We can live in increasing harmony with others.
We can live in hope.
We can live in edifying speech.
We can live in wise choices.

Because God is with us.

And if God is with us, who can be against us?

It’s interesting that the very last thing that Jesus will be quoted saying in the Gospel of Matthew is what?

“...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Immanuel.

Verse 24.

“When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. [He embraced the scandal because He knew about the holy miracle!] But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.”

You know, Joseph never says anything.

He is never quoted in the Bible as saying anything.

He might have been one of those strong silent types. We don’t know.

But he was a man of action.

He was a righteous man. He was an obedient man.

Joseph had that wedding. And after He was born, he adopted that boy. And acknowledged Him as his son.

That boy became his legal heir and heir of all of God’s promises from Abraham on.

Heir of the royal lineage from David.

And Joseph named that boy “Jesus.”

And that boy grew into His name. He saved His people from their sins.

And He grew into His title. He was truly God with us. Immanuel.

***

Previous Messages in This Series:

01. The Genealogy of Jesus

Blossoms in Monet's Garden, France

[Matt's Messages] "The Genealogy of Jesus"

“The Genealogy of Jesus”
The Gospel of Matthew
December 10, 2017 :: Matthew 1:1-17 

This is the first message in our new series which will be on the Gospel of Matthew.

I wanted to have a fancy schmancy title for the series like we did for Gospel Roots or the Truth of the Gospel in Galatians, but I haven’t thought of one for Matthew yet. I’ll keep working on it, but for now we’ll just call it “The Gospel of Matthew” which is exactly what it is.

Let me tell you why we’re going to study Matthew next.

It’s my brother’s fault.

At Thanksgiving while we were eating a delicious turkey dinner, I was telling my brother Andy that we were really close here to finishing our series in Galatians and the Gospel Roots series, and he asked me what was next.

And I told him I didn’t know.

I started to list the books that I have preached through in the last 19 and a half years. For example, I have preached through the Gospels of Mark, Luke, and John.

And I told him that I expected to preach a few messages about Advent and Christmas and then start something new in the new year.

I told Andy about having finished The Books of Kings at the beginning of last year and that I didn’t think it was quite time to go back to the Big Story of the Old Testament yet.

I said, “I just don’t know what the Lord would have me do next.”

And he turned to me and said, “Well, it seems like December would be a perfect time to start the Gospel of Matthew with the birth of Jesus and everything. And you haven’t done that one yet.”

And I’m like “....yeah, yeah, that would be a perfect time to start Matthew...”

And a few weeks later, here we are.

So if you enjoy the Gospel of Matthew, you can thank my brother Andy. If you don’t, you can blame him! I’m sure I will blame him at times as I’m writing messages! What are brothers for, anyway?!

The Gospel of Matthew is a wonderful book full of spiritual treasure. We are going to learn all kinds of glorious things as we study it together.

Matthew is a theological biography of the Lord Jesus Christ written, I think, by one of His very own disciples, Matthew/Levi. A man whose life was radically transformed by knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus’s life, His example, His teaching, His amazing sacrifice on the Cross, and His Resurrection–Matthew gives us a marvelous, inspired perspective on all of these things.

It’s the most Jewish of the four gospels. It may have been written specifically to reach the Jews with the gospel. Matthew quotes the Old Testament again and again and again, and one of his favorite words is the word “fulfill.” There are like 60 Old Testament references in this book, and Matthew shows how Jesus fulfills them all.

This book has it all. Remember those parables we learned about at Family Bible Week? There’s tons of them in here. There’s also prophecy. If you enjoyed last week’s message on the Return of Christ, wait till we get to Matthew 24 and 25! And there are miracles, and there’s the Sermon on the Mount, and there’s the Great Commission, our marching orders to make disciples. And there is Jesus’ promise to build His church.

We’re going to learn so much about Jesus and how to follow Him in these sacred pages.

I’m really excited to get started.

And the book even starts out really exciting.

It begins with a 17 verse genealogy! 

Eh. I don’t know about you, but I don’t tend to get all that excited about genealogies.

They’re kind of “meh” for me.

My Mom loves them! I asked her a simple genealogical question yesterday about our family tree, and I got a long impassioned answer back with three attachments!

I don’t know how you feel about genealogy, but the Jews of Matthew’s day would feel more like my Mom does than like I do when they encountered the opening words of Matthew chapter 1.

“A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham...”

That would have caused them all to sit up and pay attention.

“Did you say genealogy?”

“About whom?”

“Jesus? Who is that?”

“Jesus Christ [or Messiah] the son of David, the son of Abraham?”

Those are big words!

Those are big claims.

We’re used to those words, but imagine being a first century Jew and hearing them for the first time.

“Who do you think this person is? Who is this book about?

By dropping those names, you’re saying that this Jesus person is ‘the goal and climax of Israel’s history’” (Craig Keener’s phrase).

You’re saying the Messiah has arrived, and He’s on the scene.

This week, my son Andrew turned 16, and we went down to the DMV for him to take his knowledge test to get his learner’s permit to start driving.

And the guy behind the counter would not take my word for it that Drew was Andrew Charles Mitchell, aged 16.

He wanted documentation. He wanted proof. He wanted his credentials to be presented. He wanted I.D.

This genealogy is one form of ID for Jesus.

It’s a presentation of his legal and royal and spiritual credentials.

A presentation that would have gotten the attention of a first century Jew.

It’s not arranged like we do genealogies today. It’s not focused on dates or chronology or shoehorning in all of the irrelevant data that he could find.

No, instead, Matthew carefully arranges his material and deliberately presents it in a highly stylized way to make his theological argument. It’s good history, but it’s history done a different way than we are used to.

It’s fascinating, when you study it, to see what Matthew includes and what he leaves out.

I mean, the genealogy in Matthew 1 is significantly different in places than the genealogy in Luke chapter 3. And they are both the true genealogies of the same man!

I used to think that it was because Luke was Mary’s genealogy, and Matthew is Joseph’s. That’s possible, but I think unlikely.

I think they’re both Joseph’s genealogy, but Luke’s goes through the biological DNA line and Matthew goes through the line of royal succession and then they meet at the end. (And there are probably some Levirite marriages in there, too.) They are both really good history, but they are tracking it in a different way than we are used to doing.

To get what Matthew is saying, we’ve got to learn to think like a first century Jew.

We’ve got to put ourselves in the shoes of someone who has been waiting a very very very long time for God’s promises to be fulfilled, God’s perfect king to come, and God’s salvation to be accomplished.

And for four hundred years, there has been no Scripture. No prophetic voice breaking the silence.

And now Matthew comes on the scene and writes, “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham...”

Notice in verse 1, that Matthew makes 3 big claims about Jesus.

He says that Jesus is:

- The Christ
- The Son of David
- The Son of Abraham.

And then he sets out to prove that, and really does in the opposite order.

Son of Abraham, Son of David, The Christ.

What I want to do is step down through these 3 kind of paragraphs or sets of genealogies and for each one, make one major point of application for our lives today.

In verse 17, Matthew is going to say that he’s given us 3 sets of 14 generations.

And that’s, maybe, so that we can memorize them. Like a mnemonic device. Or maybe he’s actually emphasizing something else by doing it that way which I’ll try to show you in a little bit.

But let’s take the first one (verses 2-6) that starts with Father Abraham.

And that’s interesting that Matthew starts there. Luke actually starts with Jesus and then works all the way back to Adam and God!

Matthew flows the other direction, and he starts with Abraham.

Remember Abraham? We’ve talked about him a lot this year in connection with the book of Galatians.

He shows up for the first time in the book of Genesis.

Abraham is called by God to leave Ur and to go to what we now call “The Promised Land.”

Why is it called that? Because God promised it to him!

Do you remember the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant.

If you know your Old Testament, the book of Matthew will make a lot more sense than if you’ve never read your Old Testament.

What did God promise Abraham?

Offspring, Land, and Blessing.

And the whole big story of the Old Testament is the long and winding path to see those promises fulfilled.

Isn’t it? Genesis. At the end of Genesis how many people in Abraham’s family? 70. How much land do they own? Just a burial plot. They are actually living in Egypt.

How much blessing. A little bit. A lot more to come.

God promised that all of the nations on Earth would be blessed through Abraham and his seed.

What did Galatians teach us about that?

Galatians 3:16, “The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds,’ meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed,’ meaning one person, who is...[whom?] Christ.”

Because Jesus is THE Son of Abraham:

#1. HE WILL REALIZE ALL OF GOD’S PROMISES.

He’s the One.

He’s the One through whom all of God’s promises will be realized.

That’s what Matthew is claiming.

Matthew is saying, “We’ve found the One that fulfills Genesis 12, and Genesis 15, and Genesis 18, and Genesis 22.”

We’ve been waiting a long time, but the Son of Abraham has arrived.

There are lots of sons of Abraham. But that’s not what Matthew is saying. He’s not saying that Jesus is a Jew. He is saying that Jesus is THE JEW.

And that all blessing is found in Him.

He starts to give the line. V.2

“Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,”

Those names should be very familiar to you. If they aren’t, go read Genesis again.

The promise is given, and it’s passed down. First to Isaac and then (not to Esau) but to Jacob, and then to all of Jacob’s sons.

How many sons did he have?  12. The twelve tribes of Israel.

But Matthew singles out one of them. Judah. Why Judah, why not Joseph?

Because it’s through the tribe of Judah that the ruler will come (see Genesis 49:10). The Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Do you remember a few years ago when we tracked that lion together?

It’s Jesus.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, then? V.3

“Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar...”

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Hold up there. That’s very unusual. Back in that time, it was very unusual to include the names of women in a genealogy. You might include a queen or two. We saw that back in the Books of Kings.

But this lady dressed up as a prostitute to trick her wicked step-father into siring these twins to carry on her line and to carry on the promise.

You don’t see that very often in a genealogy.

And in the holy Scriptures, no less!

That’s different. Why do you think that Matthew includes this lady who (while not acting righteously was acting more righteously, according to Judah, than he was!)?

And she was a Canaanite!

Why did she make it into Jesus’s genealogy?

You know what? There are 5 women in here. Not just Tamar. And they are conspicuous.

Four of them are foreigners. At least 3 of them were sexually promiscuous and their children weren’t necessarily what we call quite “legitimate.”

In many ways, they were used. They were treated shamefully with very little representation and advocacy and basic dignity.

They probably would have used the hashtag “Me, too” were they on social media today.

These woman are in the bloodline of the Messiah. And Matthew wants to show us that. Why do you think?

Keep following the line. V.3

Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, [We’ve gotten into the times of Exodus and Numbers now] Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab...”

Are those names familiar to you?

We’ve reached the books of Joshua and Judges.

By the way, Matthew is skipping lots of names. He isn’t trying to give you every single link between Abraham and Joseph.

There are hundreds of years going on here.

And that’s normal. The word for “father” or “begat” in the old King James English can also mean “grandfather” or “great-grandfather” or “ancestor.” It shows line-of-descent, not necessarily just one step in that line.

We don’t have a good word for it in English. “Was the father of” is the best we can do right now.

Same thing with “whose mother was” in verse 5.

Rahab the prostitute. Do you remember her from the book of Joshua?

She hid the spies. She believed in the God of Israel. She let the spies get away and they came back for her. And she became a part of Israel.

In fact, she married into Israel. Her descendent was an upright man named “Boaz.”

Remember Boaz from the book of...what?  Ruth. V.5

“Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.”

Now, before we get into David, let’s remember what Matthew is proving. All along, Matthew is showing that Jesus is the Son of Abraham par excellence.

And because He’s the Son of Abraham, He will be God’s instrument to realize all of God’s promises for Israel and for the nations!

In other words, Jesus is where the blessing is.

God is faithful. God always keeps His promises.

And He’s made some big ones. And sometimes it seems like they’re never going to come. You might be feeling that right now...

But those promises are all YES and AMEN in Jesus.

He will fulfill them all.

So this is a call to be patient and to, like Abraham, trust God and wait on His promises to be realized.

And believe that they have arrived in the coming of Jesus.

Don’t go anywhere else. Jesus is where the blessing is.

Now, this next set of genealogies is very important to Matthew.

This is where his telling of the story diverges from Luke’s and (to some degree) from 1 Chronicles, as well.

And I think it’s because Matthew wants to emphasize the royalty of Jesus.

He is the Son of David, par excellence.

In verse 6, David is called “King David.”

He’s the only one in Matthew’s genealogy to have his title listed. There are many other kings, but he’s the only one called “King” in this list.

And I think that’s important because in verse 1, Matthew made a big deal about Jesus being the Son of David.

In other words, He’s the King...of Kings!

Right? He’s the fulfillment, not just of Genesis 12, 15, 18, and 22.

He’s also the fulfillment of 2 Samuel 7.

Remember when we studied 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel a few years ago?

Sometimes we call it the Davidic Covenant?

That King David would have a descendent that would be the King that would reign over Israel perfectly? And have an eternal kingdom?

“Great David’s Greater Son”

Do you remember these? Thumbs-up or Thumbs-down from the Books of Kings?

They just had one job, lead the nation in covenant faithfulness.

How many were two thumbs up? Not very many?

How about David. Sometimes. But look at verse 6 again.

“David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife...”

Matthew had to put that in there!

Bathsheba. Mrs. Uriah. David was a murderer and an adulterer.

That was the lowest point in his behavior, and it led to the lowest points in his life.

How about Solomon?

He was pretty good for a while there. Building and dedicating the temple. Writing those Songs and Proverbs, exercising that phenomenal wisdom.

But then he just about lost it. Marrying all of those wives. Bowing down to other gods.

I like to think he came back and that Ecclesiastes tells us the story.

But he wasn’t two thumbs up. V.7

“Solomon the father of Rehoboam [thumbs down, the kingdom splits], Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.”

Those names should be familiar to you. We just went over all of them (and the rest that Matthew skips over) in 2016.

Like a broken a record.

So many thumbs down.

A few bright lights. A little thumb up every once in a while. Asa, Uzziah, Hezekiah, Josiah.

But so many thumbs down. And down. And down until the exile was inevitable.

But they were the kings! And where there is a kingly line, there is hope.

Do you remember last year’s advent readings and sermons?

They were based on Isaiah 11. The Trudes read it to us last week again.

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.”

Jesus is the Son of King David.

And because of that:

#2. HE WILL RULE ALL OF GOD’S KINGDOM.

The exile will come to an end.

The book of Lamentations will be reversed.

His kingdom will come and it will last forever.

Isaiah 9!  “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.”

That’s what Matthew is saying with this genealogy!

He’s saying that the time of thumbs-down kings is over.

Because their perfect descendant has come.

When the kings are at their best, they reminds us of Jesus.

And when the kings are at their worst, they reminds us of why we need Jesus.

And Matthew says, “Here’s Jesus!”

The King has come!

And His rule and reign will be perfect.

He’ll reign in righteousness.

I long for that. Don’t you?

My personal application of that beyond longing for the return of the King is to submit myself again to His Lordship.

Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth. He says that at the end of Matthew.

And that means that I should act like it. I should obey everything that He has commanded of me.

Because His reign and rule are perfect. I can’t go wrong by following Him. It’s always the right thing to do.

Repentance and redirection in submission is always appropriate before the King of Kings.

Skip down to verse 17. I want to show you one other thing about Jesus being the Son of David. Verse 17 says, “Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.”

Now, I always thought that meant that he was saying that’s all the generations there were. But he’s actually saying that’s all of the generations I’ve listing for you in each of those 3 eras.

He’s saying, did you catch how I did that? I selected 14 generations. That’s 7 times 2. A doubled perfect, and there is three of them. So much perfection. Perfection is on the way.

And those three eras? From the Abrahmic Promises to the Davidic Promises, to when it all fell apart, to when Jesus came to put it all back together.

He’s saying, “Now it’s show time!”

And there might be another hidden message there. I don’t believe in very many hidden messages in the Bible. I think God put them all right there in plain sight.

But I also think that the first readers would catch subtle stuff, too.

Like the fact that in Hebrew, letters have a numerical value, and the number 14 is the numerical value of the name....want to guess?  DAVID.

And which is the fourteenth name in Matthew’s genealogy?  King David.

Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.

Jesus is the Son of David. And because of that, He will rule all of God’s kingdom forever.

One last set. Verses 12 through 16.

See if you know any of these names.

“After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.”

Most of those names don’t appear anywhere else in Scripture.

Some of you know Shealtiel and Zerubbabel.

Zerubbabel rebuilt the rubb-ible when they came back from the exile.

Most of the men from verse 12 through 15 are unknown to us.

There was no Scripture being written during their lifetimes.

God was silent. The Old Testament was over, and the New had not yet come.

But God was still at work.

Quietly. Very very quietly.

A man named Joseph got married to a woman named Mary and adopted her son.

We’re going to learn next week that before they every came together, she was found to be pregnant.

The word “whom” in verse 16 is feminine.

Jesus was born of Mary, but not of Joseph.

He was the husband of Mary but not the biological father of Jesus.

He was the adoptive father of Jesus.

The legal father of Jesus.

And all of these men who came before him lent their Abrahamic and Davidic lines of succession to him.

And this One was born, Jesus.

Born of a virgin.

Another woman in the genealogy!

But not a promiscuous one. A pure one.

She had never laid a man and yet she gave birth to a son.

The son of Father Abraham.

The son of King David. V.16

“Who is called Christ.”

And because He is the Christ:

#3. HE WILL RESCUE ALL OF GOD’S PEOPLE.

That’s what "Christ" means.

It means “Messiah” or “Anointed One.”

It means the Rescuer, the Redeemer that was promised.

Jesus is the Christ!

I believe that Matthew shows us whom Jesus is from to show us whom Jesus is for.

I read a tweet this week from Pastor Sam Allberry.

He says, “Matthew’s genealogy includes the outcast, scandalous, and foreigner. The family Jesus comes from anticipates the family he has come for."

That’s why the women are in there.
That’s why the Gentiles are in there.
That’s why the notorious sinners are in there.
That’s why there are people in there that nobody has ever heard of.

Because Jesus came for the unexpected.
Jesus came for the unlikely.
Jesus came for the unknown.
Jesus came for the undeserving.

Jesus came to redeem the lost.

Remember Galatians 3:28? “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Doesn’t matter who you are.

Doesn’t matter whether the world values you or not.

Doesn’t matter if you pretended to be a prostitute or you were a prostitute or you went to visit a prostitute or you killed a woman’s first husband.

Doesn’t matter if you are from this nation or that nation.

Doesn’t matter if you are a natural born citizen or a immigrant.

Doesn’t matter if you’ve been thumbs up or thumbs down.

Jesus has come to rescue you.

That’s what Matthew is saying with this family tree.

That’s what Matthew is saying with Jesus’ genealogy.

He’s saying that Jesus is going to realize all of God’s promises, reign over all of God’s kingdom, and rescue all of God’s people who repent and put their faith in Him.

He did it by dying on the Cross and then walking out of His tomb.

Jesus is the Christ.

And so may He get the glory.

Maple Tree in Winter Storm

Gospel Roots (1892-2017)

A 2017 sermon series celebrating the foundational values that have shaped Lanse Evangelical Free Church for our first 125 years. Describing the church that we have aspired to be.

01. Jesus Christ and Him Crucified
02. Sing!
03. Lost and Found
04. The Church That Prays Together
05. Where Stands It Written?
06. The People On Your Fridge
07. I'm So Glad I'm A Part
08. Not In Vain
10. Here We Stand (Reformation Sunday)
11. Steadfast
12. Ready and Waiting

[Matt's Messages] "Ready and Waiting"

“Ready and Waiting”
Gospel Roots (1892-2017)
December 3, 2017 :: Hebrews 9:27-28

This is the last message in our Gospel Roots sermon series. Last week, we completed our series on Galatians. Next week, we’ll start a brand new sermon series. This week, we are completing our other series on the foundational values that have shaped our church family for the last 125 years.

Our Gospel Roots.

It’s been a great year to look back on what has been most important to our congregation.

First, the Gospel itself. Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.

Then singing the gospel in corporate worship.

Sharing the gospel in evangelism. Seeking the Lost.

Being a praying church. The church that prays together.

Being a church that stands on the Word of God.

Remember the Swedish catchphrase for that?

“Var står det skrivet? Where stands it written?” Show me in the Bible.

Being a missions-minded church and supporting the people whose pictures are on our fridges.

Being a loving church family that supports and cares for each other.

Being a church full of servants who use their gifts in ministry.

Being
Being a church that is a heir of the Protestant Reformation, taking our stand on the Gospel of grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone.

And being a church that trusts that God even in times of trouble. Putting our faith in His steadfast love and His mercies that are new every morning.

That’s our church.

It’s at least the church we’ve aspired to be over the last 125 years. That’s the church we want to be. The church we have been when we’ve been at our best in God’s grace.

And today, I have one last gospel root to emphasize, and it’s very important.

We have, in our 125 year history, emphasized the return of Jesus Christ.

This world is not all there is. Jesus Christ is coming again, and He’s going to bring His kingdom. And the glory of the Lord will fill the earth like the waters cover the sea.

Jesus Christ will come back, and He will change everything.

He will restore everything to how it was supposed to be in the beginning.

And even better!

He will bring justice.

And He will bring salvation.

That’s actually what the song “Joy to the World” is all about. By Isaac Watts?

We sing it at Christmastime, but it’s actually about Jesus’ second coming. Not His first!

Joy to the world! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room, and heav’n and nature sing!

No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace, and make the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love.

This church has always believed in the second coming, and it’s been one of the threads woven throughout the fabric of our century and a quarter together.

And it goes back even further than that. Do you remember the Lay Bible Readers movement that we’ve mentioned several times this year? The old Swedes in Sweden who wanted to read the Bible for themselves? Well, they rediscovered the importance and encouragement that comes from believing in the second coming.

In his book This We Believe, Dr. Arnold T. Olson the great EFCA President from the last century, wrote, “...even in the old country, as these future immigrants to our shores began studying the Bible, there was kindled a little flame of hope in their hearts. Christ’s coming was not only to judge to the Christian it was a hope, a blessed hope, a much to be desired event. So there was added to the main points of discussion in prayer and Bible study groups...another question: What does the Scripture teach about the last things and the coming of the Lord? Lay preachers became zealous prophets warning the sinner and the backslider and exhorting the saint to make ready for the sure and soon return of Christ. It caught fire” (pg. 313).

Remember this guy?

He is not a Civil War general those he looks like it. This is Frederick Franson.

Frederick Franson was the Free Church leader who was always looking for missionaries.

And he visited our church in the late 1800's, when our church was only 5 years old, and we made him a promise to support those missionaries...until when?

Until the Lord returned.

I’m pretty sure that our forebears couldn’t have imagined that we’d still be doing it 125 years later, but that was the promise.

Until the Lord returned.

Franson was so passionate about missions because he was passionate about the return of Christ. Doctor Olson wrote that Franson’s "missionary conferences were also prophetic conferences. The great burden of his appeal for missionary volunteers was the urgency of the hour. Not only were souls dying, but the Lord was coming. No time could be wasted...‘as the King’s business required haste.’ The Gospel had to be preached until all the ends of the earth” (pg. 313).

It was in that kind of a church culture and spiritual movement that our particular church was born. In the original constitution, our founders called upon all of the members to have “entrusted themselves to the Lord...and to persevere and come to the final fulfillment, namely at last to be transformed with Christ in Glory.”

And the theme of Christ’s return has permeated the teaching of our church for 125 years.

I read in our history book that we used to have Watch Night services on New Year’s Eve that we shared with the Lanse Baptist Church.

I remember when I first got here listening to audiotapes that were still here from Pastor Kelly preaching on the return of Christ.

And I’ve tried to keep up the tradition by regularly talking about the second advent.

I was encouraged last Summer when I was going through our doctrinal statement with Nathan  and Matt , that they both felt like they had learned about Jesus’ return through the ministry of this church.

And Bea and Raph Johnson put at the end of the 100 year history and Lita copied it again at the end of our 125 year history, “May we serve [the Lord] with renewed vision and effort until He comes! Even so come, Lord Jesus!”

Those are just a few of the ways that this doctrine has worked itself into the life of this church.

So, what is the doctrine? Let’s look at Hebrews 9:27 and 28.

Yes, that was all an introduction. But don’t worry. The sermon itself will be very short. Hebrews 9:27&28.

I think this passage of scripture forces us to ask two very important questions.

Very simple questions, but very important ones.

Here’s number one.

#1. ARE YOU READY?

Specifically, are you ready to face the judgment of God?

Look again at verse 27.

“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment...” Stop there.

That’s a pretty big opening clause isn’t it?

Humans are destined to die, how many times?

Once.

And after that comes what?

Judgment.

If you have the King James Version, it says, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

How do you feel about appointments?

I generally like appointments, as long as they aren’t with doctors or dentists!

But this says that everybody has an appointment with death. And, unless we are aprt of the generation alive when the Lord returns, we’re going to keep that appointment!

One of my favorite stories from Peter Marshall, the late chaplain of the US Senate is the story of a servant of a merchant in ancient Baghdad. I’ve told it many times myself.

“One day the merchant sent his servant to the market.  Before very long, the servant came back, white and trembling, and in great agitation said to his master: ‘Down in the market place I was jostled by a person in the crowd, and when I turned around I saw it was Death that jostled me.  Death looked at me and made a threatening gesture.  Master, please lend me your horse, for I must hasten away to avoid Death. I will ride to Samarra and there I will hide, and Death will not find me.’ The merchant lent him his horse and the servant galloped away in great haste. Later the merchant went down to the market place himself and found Death standing in the crowd. He went over and asked,‘Why did you frighten my servant this morning? Why did you make such a threatening gesture?’‘That was not a threatening gesture,’ Death said,‘It was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.’”

We will all show up for our appointment with death.

But really, that is nothing. What is an even more terrible thought–after our death–we will face judgment.

God is saying in His word that we are all destined to face the judgment of God.

Are you ready?

How could anybody be ready?

We are sinful and unholy, rebels against God’s perfection.

We have all fallen short of the glory of God.

How could we be ready?

You know the answer to that, right?

Is the answer on your tongue? Do you still have the taste in your mouth of the bread and of the cup?

Verse 28 tells us how someone gets ready.

“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people...”

That’s the only way that we can face judgment and survive!

That phrase “take away the sins” should remind us of Isaiah 53.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

That’s why we started with communion.

Are you ready to face judgment?

So many are not ready!

The only ones who are ready are those who are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

Those who have put their faith in Jesus and Jesus alone.

To those are justified, counted as righteous in Christ.

There is no reincarnation and do-overs.

There is only death and judgment. And you and I will fail that judgment if we are outside of Jesus Christ.

That’s why this church preaches Christ. Because He is the only One Who can save us.

The gospel says that Jesus has come to make us ready to face death and judgment.

That’s the point of Christmas.

But this letter says more. It says that Jesus will come again to bring salvation. V.28 again.

“...and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin [not this time], but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

Second and last question.

#2. ARE YOU WAITING?

Because this actually says that you can know that you’re ready if you know you are waiting.

The people who get the salvation that the returning Christ is bringing are those who are (King James) “looking for him” (ESV) “eagerly awaiting him.”

They are the ones who have faith and hope in Jesus so that they long for His appearing.

You can know that you’re ready if you know you are waiting.

So, how do you know if you’re waiting?

What does waiting look like in the Bible?

Isn’t not just sitting around and twiddling your thumbs.

The eager expectation and watching and waiting in the New Testament is a very active sort of thing.

We are to be busy for the Lord while we wait for Him.

The EFCA Statement of Faith puts it this way:

We believe in the personal, bodily and premillennial return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service, and energetic mission” (Article #9).

I think that says it well.

Godly living. You know that you are waiting if you are growing in godliness.

Your faith in Christ and your hope for His return motivates you in sanctification.

1 John 3 says, “ [W]e know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

So we fight against temptation and sin because we know that Jesus is coming back.

And we keep gathering together for this kind of corporate worship and mutual edification in Christian community.

Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing [they’ve dropped out of church], but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Church becomes more important as the Return of Christ gets closer.

Sacrificial Service. In Evangelical Convictions, our explanation book for the EFCA Statement of Faith, the authors write about how being watchful means that we are energetically serving the Lord. They say, “Being watchful does not mean that we should sit out on the porch like a lonely dog, pining away until our master returns. Instead we are to live with the certainty that Christ is coming, and when he does we will be held accountable for how we have lived. Jesus compared our situation to that of stewards responsible for the master’s estate (Matthew 24:45-51) or to financial managers entrusted with the master’s money (Matthew 25:14-30). We have a job to do, and when our Master returns, he will reward his servants for their faithfulness” (pgs. 229-230).

I just preached on that last month at the Deep and Wide Conference [based on this message from 2 years ago]. How we are to do our jobs, our work, faithfully in light of the coming of Christ.

Did you do that this week?

Did you do your job faithfully because you know that Jesus is coming back and coming back soon?

Energetic Mission. Just like Frederick Franson told us over a hundred years ago, we need to get the gospel out because Jesus is coming back soon!

I don’t know when.

Nobody knows when!

The worst kind of preaching on the end times is the kind that gives you the idea that you know when it’s all going to happen.

We don’t. Our Lord Jesus said that He didn’t even know when it was going to happen!

Our Sunday School just read Acts 1 last week.

"‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’ “He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.’”

That’s not for us to know.

So we need to be humble about it. Very humble it.

By the way, I love that about our approach to the end times in the EFCA.

We believe they are very important to study.

We believe that it’s very clear that Jesus was will return, His return will be personal and bodily. Just like He left, He will come back. Not some invisible return or just a spiritual return.

We believe that it’s important to study all of the details about the End Times, Daniel Revelation, the Olivet Discourse, the books of Thessalonians. It’s all over the Bible, and it’s all to be studied and believed.

But we also believe that there are a lot of details that are hard to understand and hard to synthesize. Hard to put into order. It hasn’t happened yet, so there is a lot to try to get straight.

And Christians have disagreed over the finer details of eschatology for a very long time.

Like every other area of ministry, we agree on all of the essentials and we allow people to disagree on the non-essentials, on the secondary things.

Not that both are true but that we extend grace and try to help each other to see what we each see there.

To use the big words, we have people who believe in pre-tribulationalism, mid-tribulationism, pre-wrath, and post-tribulationalism, and probably other positions. Some believe in "pan-tribulationalism" that it will all pan out in the end!

And we all get along!

And like I told you this last Summer, we are considering opening our doctrinal stance just a little wider by no longer requiring premillennialism.

I’m a committed premillennialist, but I don’t think it’s an essential like the other things in our statement of faith. I think it’s secondary at best.

And I love that we’re talking about all of this.

Because it’s all in the Bible, and it’s all important.

And we need to study it and learn it and to stay humble about it at the same time.

This “waiting” in verse 28 is not setting dates. It is staying busy and staying watchful and purifying yourself and staying in fellowship with others.

And it’s longing for Jesus to come back.

Longing.

Do you long for Jesus to come back?

You aren’t ready if you don’t have some desire for Jesus to return.

In the second to last verse in the Bible Jesus prophesies His own return. Revelation 22:20. “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’"

And the very next words are our response.

"Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

Are you waiting?

I’ll bet you are wondering what is the artifact in the box for today.

I don’t have one.

There is nothing in the box because this isn’t really about our past.

It’s about our future.

And our future is glorious.

I do have a couple of pictures though. Of things from the past that point to the future.

Does anybody recognize this?

This is the time capsule from the 100th anniversary celebration. It's a 50 year capsule, set to be opened in in 2042.

25 years ago, the folks here (many in this room) buried that time capsule.

Anybody remember what’s in it? That’s before my time.

Probably some pictures? Maybe some letters. Somebody told me that there was some Kids for Christ stuff in there.

If the Lord holds off and gives me life, I hope to be present at the opening of that time capsule in another 25 years. I’ll be 69 years old that year, and if I’m retired, I hope the church invites me back to witness it.

I’ll recognize a lot of those names.

That’s the future.

Here’s another set of time capsules that we have buried.

My son is very familiar with all of these as he’s helped with the mowing at the cemetery for the last several years.

These are all time capsules, as well.

Not that we will dig them up, but that the Lord will.

Because one day each grave will be opened and the Lord will give His people new resurrection life.

Not as zombies. But as glorified saints and citizens of the New Heavens and the New Earth.

Philippians 3:19&20.

“[O]ur citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

The Thessalonians were concerned about their loved ones who had died before the Lord returned.

They knew the Lord was returning and soon, and they were worried that those whom they had buried were somehow missing out on the resurrection.

So this is what Paul said to assure them and what I’ll end with for us today. 1 Thessalonians 4:13.

“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep."

No, they have first dibs!

"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Therefore encourage each other with these words.”

“Encourage each other with these words.”

Don’t let go of the return of Christ.

Keep it in front of you.

It’s our blessed hope.

His coming changes everything.

And makes it all worth it.

Let’s all be ready.

And let’s all be waiting for Jesus to come again.

***

Previous Messages in This Series
01. Jesus Christ and Him Crucified
02. Sing!
03. Lost and Found
04. The Church That Prays Together
05. Where Stands It Written?
06. The People On Your Fridge
07. I'm So Glad I'm A Part
08. Not In Vain
10. Here We Stand (Reformation Sunday)
11. Steadfast

Blossoms on an unidentified tree, Monet's Garden, France

Resisting Gossip Teaching Series Now on Vimeo

Rejoice with me!

The videos we created a few years ago to go with Resisting Gossip Together have now been uploaded to my Vimeo channel and arranged into an album. [They are already available on YouTube.]

So if Vimeo is your preferred site for watching and sharing video, you can now watch and share the 10 teaching videos, an introduction/trailer, and the blooper reel. Enjoy!

And one of the great things about Vimeo is that in addition to being watchable and shareable, they are also downloadable from this site so you can take them places with no internet!

Thank you again to Spencer Folmar of Third Brother Films for creating them and, especially, to CLC Publications for making these available free to the public!