Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and we're here today to celebrate His promises to us. Take your Bibles if you would and turn to Matthew chapter 1. Several years ago a man named Charles Dickens wrote a story called the Christmas Carol. In that story He talked about the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas future. Today I want to talk to you about the promise of Christmas past. Next week I'm going to talk to you about the promise of Christmas present. And then we will have, on the 16th of December, a Christmas musical that will talk about Jesus Christ. And then the following Sunday, on Christmas Sunday, we will talk about the ghost, or the promise, of Christmas future. It's interesting because the fact of the matter is there is a ghost of Christmas past. And that ghost of Christmas past is the Holy Ghost. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit knew about the birth and the life and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ as He created the world. The Bible says that as God the Father collected all of the elements together in Genesis chapter one that the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. The word moved there in Genesis chapter 1 means He brooded over. That is He meditated upon all that was going to take place. He knew that mankind was going to sin. He knew that because of man's sin, they would have to face eternal separation from God in a place called hell. And he knew that God loved us and wouldn't want us to go to hell. And so he knew that Jesus Christ would come. And he knew that he would be born in a stable, that he would live 33 years on this earth, and that he would die paying the penalty of mankind's sin. He knew that three days later he would rise from the dead, he would be seen by hundreds. He knew the entire redemption plan. The Holy Ghost knew all of that. The Holy Spirit knew what would take place. And so truly there is a ghost, if you would, of Christmas past. But this morning I want to talk to you about the promise of Christmas Past that came through the Holy Spirit of God. Before we do that I want you to understand as we're getting into the book of Matthew. Matthew was written specifically to let Jewish people know that Jesus Christ did fulfill the prophecies that were given in the Old Testament about His birth. Many prophets had come. Many promises were made. And Matthew in a chronological fashion lets us know that that which was promised by the prophets hundreds of years before was fulfilled in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, the promise of Christmas past. Let's look at the story in Matthew chapter 1. By the way, if you did not bring a Bible, I would encourage you to pick up a Bible in the Pew. In the Pew Bible, we are on page 703. The promise of Christmas path. Matthew chapter 1. It starts off this way. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ. the son of David, the son of Abraham. And then he tells us how this all started. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren. From there on, from verse 2 through verse 16, he gives a genealogy. We're not going to take time to read that this morning for two reasons. Number one, it takes time to read that that we don't have. And number two, those names are hard to read. So we're just going to skip that and go to verse 17. where he summarizes. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations. And from David unto the carrying away of Babylon are fourteen generations. And from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. He's making it clear that Jesus is of the proper ancestry. That Jesus had the proper relations. That Jesus did fulfill this requirement of being the Messiah. The Messiah had to be born of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, of the tribe of Judah, and of David, and he lets that be known in this genealogy. Then he says in verse 18, Now the birth of Jesus the Christ was on this wise, this is how it happened. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before Before they came together, he was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Now understand that in the Jewish tradition, there was a pre-arranged marriage and that Joseph and Mary were engaged in a legal contract. They were espoused to each other, but they were not husband and wife in the sense that we would say husband and wife. They were not, they had not, come together physically as husband and wife. Yet they were engaged in a legal contract. Before they came together she was found with a child of the Holy Ghost. This was a shock to Mary, but it would have also been a major shock to Joseph. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, Now understand, Joseph finds out about this. What would your response be? People say, why did God, why does God use certain people? In this story of Joseph and Mary, we can see why Joseph was used of God. This is just a side note, but I want you to see this. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. Most men in a circumstance like this would have said, how could you do this to my name? How could you do this to me? How could you put me in this kind of situation? Joseph did not. Joseph's concern were, number one, the reputation of the Lord Jesus Christ, of God, of Jehovah God. Number two, he was concerned about Mary. He was concerned about what this was going to do to her. He wanted to take care of this thing in a private fashion so that she would not be publicly humiliated and debased. What a considerate, thoughtful, the Bible says, just man. He knew what he had to do legally. but he wasn't going to do it in a way that would shame her. But the Bible says in verse 20, while he thought, by the way, what would you think if your fiance came to you and said, I'm pregnant? And you said, how did this happen? And she said, I was sleeping one night and an angel woke me up and said that I'm going to have a baby and don't worry about it, it's God's baby. Right. Right. I've wanted something to write home to mom about. Right. The Bible says that he was as shocked as anyone would have been. But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. St. Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." What she told you was absolutely right. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. The name Jesus means Jehovah saves. for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled, again remember Matthew is letting them know, here's the genealogy and here's what the prophet says. This was all done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Immanuel." That's the quote from Isaiah. And then Matthew says, which being interpreted is God with us. This all happened so that that which was prophesied in the Old Testament, that which was promised in the Old Testament would be fulfilled. That a virgin girl would have a baby whose name would be God with us. Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife. Oh, if it was so simple in our life. God tells us to do something and then we got 18 questions of why we should do it and then 18 reasons why we can't. Isn't that the way it is? Can you say amen? We got all sorts of reasons why we can't do what God tells us to do. But that wasn't the way it was with Joseph. The angel said it. He said, okay, that's it. And this was a difficult situation. The Bible says, And he knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. God, Jesus, Jehovah saves. Father, I thank You for Your Word. I pray that You'll help me to communicate the truth that's in this passage about who You are and what this promise entailed. Father, I pray that You'll use this message for Your glory and for Your honor. I thank You that You do not leave us in the blind, that You have proven the truth of who You are through the prophets. I thank You for the promise of Christmas past, and I pray that You'll communicate this to Your people today, and I ask this in Jesus' name, amen. We celebrate Christmas in a lot of different ways. We celebrate by giving gifts. We celebrate by hanging lights on trees. We celebrate by decorating Christmas trees, by singing Christmas carols. And it's a wonderful time. As I've already said, this is a wonderful time of the year to go out and tell people about Jesus Christ. People are open. People are receptive to the truth of Christ. And presently we look back 2,000 years ago and we say, wow, 2,000 years ago God became a man and that's wonderful. But I want you to understand that 2,000 years ago was not the beginning of Christmas. Christmas did not just begin 2,000 years ago. In fact, there was a promise of Christmas much before that. In fact, Christmas began in the mind of God the Father before the foundations of the world. The Bible says in 1 Peter 1, verses 18 through 20, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from the vain conversations received by traditions from your father, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot, who was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but manifest in these last times for you." The Holy Spirit reveals to us that God the Father planned the birth, the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ before the foundations of the world. God knew again that man would sin. God knew the consequences of sin. He knew all that was going to take place and so he had a plan for Christmas. I want to talk to you first of all about this fact that Christmas was promised to Adam and Eve. Christmas was first. Wait, where was the first promise of Christmas? It was first given to Adam and Eve. God You know, the Bible says, on the sixth day, breathed into Adam the breath of life. Man became a living soul. The Bible tells us that Adam was unhappy in the garden. And God said it's not good that man should be alone. So he brought him the woman Eve. And together they were in the garden. Now God said in the garden, you can eat of any tree you want. You've got the pear tree. You've got the apple tree. You've got the watermelon. Eat of the watermelon. If you want some lemonade, there's some lemon trees. Go get some sugar cane and mix the lemon together. Have some lemonade. There's some oranges, grapefruit. If you'd like some grapefruit, go ahead, have any tree that you want. But there's one tree. Don't eat of that tree." And they said, where is that one? God said, it's in the middle of the garden. God told man not to sin. God told man, don't do the wrong thing. Don't disobey me. God said, I don't want you to sin. And yet Adam sinned. Adam disobeyed God. And the Bible told, God had already told him, if you sin, the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that day you will surely die. You will die. That was the consequences. God cannot lie. God cannot be unjust. There has to be consequences for sin. Adam, if you choose to do wrong, you will die. Adam chose to do wrong. He died. He was cursed with death. He became spiritually dead, separated from God. God knew that would be the case. Satan became man's ruler. Because Adam chose to disobey God, and when he did, he chose to obey the serpent. He said, I'm no longer going to be under the dominion of the true and living God. I am going to submit myself to the dominion of the serpent, to Satan. And Satan became the god of this world. People ask the question, they say, why do we have, if there's a God and He's just, then why do we have murder? Why do we have disease? Why do we have death? Why do we have war? Why do we have famine? Why do we have all of these things? We have these things because man rebelled against God and said, we don't want to obey the good and righteous God of the universe. We'd rather submit to Satan. And we were placed under a curse. The God of this world is not a good God. The God of this world is a bad God. A God of this, the God of this world hates mankind and we have wickedness and we have all the vile things that we have. Because the God of this world is a horrible, horrible God. And we delivered ourselves into His hand. And when we did that, and since we've done that, we have suffered the consequences. Now God knew that was going to take place. And so God comes into the garden and He meets with Adam and He meets with Eve. And He says to Adam, what did you do? He said, it wasn't me, it was the woman. Isn't that the way man is? It's the woman that thou gavest me. By the way, it's not just her fault, it's your fault. You gave her to me. God, it's not my fault. And he began to make excuses, and God said, Listen, you've sinned, and you've got to suffer the consequences of your sin. He went to Eve, and he said, You've sinned, and you've got to face the consequences of your sin. And he went then to the serpent, and he said to the serpent, You're going to face the consequences of your sin. And then as he was speaking to the serpent, He made a promise. He made a promise to Adam and Eve that they would and their generations would be delivered by a child that would be born of the woman's seed. In Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, After speaking to the serpent he said, I will put enmity, there will be warring between thee, between the serpent, between Satan and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. Now not the seed of man. Man is the one that carries the seed and fertilizes the egg that is in the woman. But he said there's going to come a time when a woman is going to have a seed within herself. This child is going to be born without the aid of a human father. I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed and it shall bruise thy head. and thou shalt bruise his heel." You're going to bite the heel of the seed of the woman, but he with his heel is going to crush your head. The first promise of Christmas was given to Adam and Eve in the garden as soon as they You're going to need a deliverer. And I'm going to send him. And I'm going to send him through a virgin that is going to bring forth a child. And that child is going to defeat the one who defeated you in the garden. Aren't you glad for God's promise of deliverance? Can you say amen to that? the virgin-born child would come. Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14 says, The first promise of Christmas then was given to Adam and Eve. I want you to see the second promise of Christmas. Christmas was promised not just to Adam and Eve, but Christmas was promised to many others. Abraham Abraham was called of God. And God said to Abraham, God said to Abraham, I'm going to pull you out. I'm going to make of you a great nation. And from you will come the seed that I promised to Eve. Genesis chapter 17 and verse 19 says, And God said, Sare thy wife, shall bear thee a son. I will indeed, I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him. This child had to be born then that was going to come from Eve, had to come through Abraham. And then the promise was continued through Isaac. And then the promise was continued through Jacob. And then the promise was given to the tribe of Judah. In Genesis chapter 49, the Bible says to Judah, one of the 12 sons of Jacob, The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall be the gathering of the people." So God made this promise, the promise of Christmas. There is going to come a deliverer. There is going to be one that is born of a virgin woman. And that child is going to come through Abraham, going to come through Judah, going to come through David. David, the shepherd, the little boy who was taking care of his father's sheep. And one day, while he was taking care of his father's sheep, his brother came to see him and said, you need to come with me back to the house. Dad wants to see you right now. Well, what did I do? Just come with me. And David follows his brother back to his house. And when he gets to his house, his father introduces him to Samuel, who needed no introduction. Everybody knew who Samuel was. He was the judge of Israel. He was the prophet of God. And Samuel said, I'm here to anoint you. And Samuel put oil on his head and anointed David as the king of Israel. God said to David, not only are you going to be king, but from you the seed will come. The one that was promised to Adam and Eve. The one that was promised to Abraham. The one that was promised to Isaac. The one that was promised to Jacob. The one that was promised to Judah. The one that was promised is coming through you. In Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 5 and 6 it says, Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his day Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name, whereby he shall be called the Lord, that is Jehovah our righteousness." He is going to be called Jehovah our righteousness. I want you to understand this promise came to Adam and Eve. This promise came to Abraham. This promise came to Isaac and Jacob. This promise came to Judah. This promise came to David. So that all of Israel waited for Christmas for centuries, waited. The word Christmas means the coming forth of Christ. They waited and they waited and they waited for the coming forth of Christ. Christmas didn't just begin 2,000 years ago. The promise of Christmas came with our first parents and continued for 4,000 years. Then 2,000 years ago, that promise was fulfilled. And what was the promise? What was the promise? Well the promise was that the Christmas promise was that a king would be born, that he would be a perfect king. Christmas was promised as the birth of a perfect, perfect king. Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6 says this. Here is the description of this king that would be born. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. and the government shall be upon his shoulders. And his name will be called Wonderful." He would be wonderful. People would be in awe of him. He would be called the Counselor. He would be called the Mighty God. He would be called the Everlasting Father. Jesus Christ is wonderful. He is the Counselor. He is the Mighty God. He will be called the Everlasting Father. He will be called the Prince of Peace. It goes on to say, of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end. upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of Jehovah, the zeal of Jehovah, or the Lord of hosts will perform this. This isn't a maybe. This is something that Jesus Christ is going to do. God's going to establish this child who is going to reign and the government's going to be on His shoulders. He will take control. His government will increase. There will be no end at His birth. He will begin to take the government of this world and He will complete His government in the millennium. He is a wonderful God. He is a wonderful King. He is a wonderful Counselor. He is a mighty God. He is the everlasting Father. And He is the Prince of Peace. He is our King. He is the One who will reign forever. We need to understand that. as we face difficult times. When we're talking about this baby that was born in a manger, we're talking about God in human flesh. We're talking about one who is indestructible. We're talking about the one who controls the universe. We're talking about the one who conquered death. We're talking about the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Do I have to worry about what's going on in the world today? Do I have to panic as though God is asleep? Do I have to worry because my God has gotten old and He can't take care of it? No. He is the King of kings. He is still sovereignly in control. Do you believe that? Can you say amen to that? We need to understand that. We need to understand that reality. He says several things. He says five things about this king. He says as king he will inspire awe. As king he will inspire awe. That's what he means when it says he is wonderful. People will look at him with wonder. When I was in Bible college there was a black preacher who came and preached to us. His name was S.M. Lockridge. S.M. Lockridge had a church in San Diego and was reaching that community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He came and he talked about the lordship of Jesus Christ and he talked about him as king of kings and lord of lords. I've often thought I would love for you to hear that message. I want you to hear what he says about our king. The Bible says, My King is the King of the Jews, He's the King of Israel, He's the King of Righteousness, He's the King of the Ages, He's the King of Heaven, He's the King of Glory, He's the King of Kings, and He's the Lord of Lords. That's My King. I wonder, do you know Him? My king is a sovereign king. No means of measure can define his limitless love. He's enduringly strong. He's entirely sincere. He's eternally steadfast. He's immortally graceful. He's empirically powerful. He's impartially merciful. Do you know him? He's the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world. He's God's son. He's a sinner's savior. He's the centerpiece of civilization. He's unparalleled. He's unprecedented. He is the loftiest idea in literature. He's the highest personality in philosophy. He's the fundamental doctrine of true theology. He's the only one qualified to be an all-sufficient savior. I wonder if you know him today. He supplies strength for the weak. He's available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and He saves. He strengthens and sustains. He guards and He guides. He heals the sick. He cleanses the lepers. He forgives sinners. He discharges debtors. He delivers the captive. He defends the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He regards He rewards the diligent, and He beautifies the meek. I wonder if you know Him. He's the key to knowledge. He's the wellspring of wisdom. He's the doorway of deliverance. He's the pathway of peace. He's the roadway of righteousness. He's the highway of holiness. of glory. Do you know him? Well, his life is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting. His love never changes. His word is enough. His grace is sufficient. His reign is righteous. And his yoke is easy. And his burden is lighter. I wish I could describe him to you. He's indescribable. He's incomprehensible. He's invincible, he's irresistible Well, you can't get him out of your mind You see, you can't get him off of your head You can't outlive him, and you can't live without him Well, the Pharisees couldn't stand him But they found out they couldn't stop him Pilots couldn't find any fault in him Terrorists couldn't kill him Jets couldn't handle him That's my king. That's your king. That's the king of kings. and the Lord of Lords. We need to understand that He is the King. He inspires awe. He is wonderful. You look at all that He is. And oftentimes we get our eyes off of Him and we get looking at the world around us. Oh what's going on in business. Oh what's going on in politics. Oh what's going on in our world. Oh what's going on with our finances. Oh what's going on. Hey listen. He knew all about it before it took place. Can you say amen to that? He is a wonderful King. He is wonderful. He inspires awe. As King, He will inspire hope. He is our counselor. He inspires hope. When we are down, we can go to Him. We can go to His Word and remember that He's in control. I have been reading through the New Testament the last a few weeks just reading through it again and listening to His words and how He talks. Jesus never talks with a hopeless attitude. Jesus always speaks with a positive frame, knowing that he's going to the cross, he says it's okay. When he says to his disciples, you're about to deny me. Peter, you're going to deny me three times. The next thing he says is, don't let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. He is our counselor. He is our comforter. He encourages us to keep serving. He is our King. As King, He is all-powerful. He is the mighty God. He is all-powerful. He puts in power those He will, and those He takes out. It is God that's in control. You've got to remember that. You don't have to panic. I turn on news. I turn on commentators. I listen to conservative or liberal commentators. We're going to fall off a fiscal cliff. I want you to understand, no matter what cliff you ever fall off of, Jesus will be there to catch you. Can you say amen to that? You need to understand that. He is King. He'll inspire us. He's wonderful. He's the King that will comfort us. He's our counselor. He's the King that's all-powerful. He's Almighty God. He's the King that'll give us eternal direction and correction. You say, well, I don't know where to go. I don't know what to do. I don't know what—you don't know the circumstances I'm in. I want you to understand the Bible says that He is our everlasting Father. He is there to give you answers. He is there to give you direction. And if you get out of the way, He will correct you. He will spank you and get you back on the right path because He is a Father that cares about you. He'll give instruction. He'll give direction to our lives if we'll just let Him. Go to Him. You say, I don't know what to do. Go to Him. Ask Him. Give direction. Give me leadership. He'll give you that direction as a king. As a king, He is wonderful. As a king, He inspires hope. As a king, He's all-powerful. As a king, He gives us eternal direction. And as a king, He will bring peace. You do not have to live in turmoil. The Bible tells us that He is the Prince of Peace. He will give you peace. The Bible tells us that on the cross, he made peace with God. He made peace with God. You see, the Bible tells us we are all sinners, and because we're all sinners, we are at enmity, that is, we are warring against God. And so God is our enemy. God hates sin. And so the Bible says we're at enmity with God. But the Bible says that because God, in the person of Jesus Christ, became a man, He died and paid for our sin in our place. He was buried, three days later He rose from the dead, was seen by hundreds and went back to heaven. Because He did that, He wiped away the enmity. He took God's wrath upon himself so that we can be at peace with God. So that God looks at us and says, I love you. God doesn't love you because you're good. God doesn't look at you today and say, well, I love you because you went to church. God doesn't look at you and say, I love you because you got baptized. I love you because you're such a good daddy. You're such a good mommy. God doesn't love you because of any of that. God loves you because Jesus took His wrath upon Himself, and you're set free from that wrath, and you have peace with God. Can you say amen to that? It's not dependent upon you. It's not dependent upon how good you are. God's wrath was poured out on Jesus Christ, and now you have peace with God. But that's not all. You can, if you want it, if you want it, you can have the peace of God. The Bible says the peace of God which passes all understanding. It just, it irritates me to watch Christians who are biting their fingernails, who are churning, getting ulcers inside, because they're worried about what's going to happen tomorrow when Jesus gave specific instructions, don't worry about tomorrow. Are you eating today? Well yeah, but I'm going to make sure that I'm eating like ten years from now." You may not even be alive ten years from now. Jesus may have come and we may be ten years from now. The tribulation could be over and we're in the millennium ten years from now. I've got to make sure you—Jesus said specifically, don't worry. You can have the peace of God if you'll just remember that He's the King, that He's in control. There's no panic button in heaven. He's not worried. Now I'm not saying you need to be foolish, but you don't have to worry and fret about tomorrow. You're king. The king of peace is still in control. Can you say amen to that? Say amen to that. That's true. As king of kings, He is wonderful. As King of Kings, He is the Counselor. As King of Kings, He is the Mighty God. As King of Kings, He gives eternal direction. As King of Kings, He brings peace. And we can have the peace with God. We can have the peace of God. Allow Him to reign as King in your life. Allow that to happen. Today He rules as King. Today we should be in awe of Him. Today we should see the hope of His calling. Today we should trust His power to deliver us. Today we should follow His direction as our Father. Tell other people about Jesus. Invite them into the kingdom so they can have the peace the promise of Christmas past. Today we can have peace because we serve Jesus Christ in the midst of toil. I want to encourage you, now listen to me as Christians, listen to me. First of all, let me say this, if you're here and you don't know for sure you're going to heaven, you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, that I encourage you today to come to Him He will give you peace in the midst of turmoil. You can know for sure you're going to heaven. Just come to Him. Receive Him as your Lord and Savior and God. If you're a Christian, stop worrying. Stop fretting. Stop fussing about tomorrow. trust Jesus Christ, do what's right, live for Him, be faithful to Him, give, serve Him, tell other people about Him, and then trust Him with the world that He's in control of. Can you say amen to that? Father, I pray you'll help us to take you at your word. Thank you for the promise. You promised that you would come, and you came. You promised it for hundreds of years, and people believed you. You promised it to Adam and Eve. You promised it to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Judah and David, and you came. I thank you, Father, that you keep your promises. Father, you've promised that if we trust you, you'll take care of us. David said, I've been young and I've been old, but I've never seen the righteous forsaken or a seed begging bread. I pray, Father, that you would take care of our needs, supply our needs according to your riches and glory. Help us to be faithful. I pray Christians will today just commit to you and recognize you as King. Diocese in Jesus' name.