Lesson 11, God with us. That is our lesson tonight. And it is a excellent, excellent lesson. I almost sent out an email to everybody just saying, hey, don't miss this one. But I did it last week, right? Actually, Annie did it for us. But we sent out an email just reminding people. But this is an excellent lesson. So let's go at it and look at the very beginning together. It says, from the beginning to end, the Bible is one story. Amen? I'll give you guys one book. How many chapters? 66 books, 1,189 chapters, okay? And it's one story. One story from beginning to end. So from beginning to end, the Bible is one story. Its authoritative words are authored by God. Its grand theme is world redemption. Throughout the Old Testament, chapter by chapter, book by book, God unfolded his saving purpose for mankind. He exposed the need for man to be saved from the curse of sin and devised a plan by which he would graciously rescue the sinner. That would be all of us. And graciously is a key word there. All right, he called forth a channel. through which he promised to send a Redeemer and sealed his word with a covenant. He guided and guarded Israel, his channel, through the centuries until the close of the Old Testament. but the story does not end there. The drama continues in the New Testament, a glorious chronicle of fulfilled promises and answered longings of God's people. Moreover, the New Testament is the grand display of the grace and power of God to accomplish His overarching purpose. Here it is, the purchase of world redemption. And I would underline that, you guys. That is the purchase of world redemption. God himself purchased it from himself, right? What his justice demands, and we go free. Our payment, that penalty has been paid in full by God himself. Here it is, four centuries bridge the Old Testament and New Testaments. These are often called the silent years because God did not speak through his prophets during this time. Though God did not speak, He moved decisively and sovereignly to set the world stage for the arrival of the promised Messiah. Okay, so again, those are called the silent years. That's the last book of the Old Testament is called? Malachi, first of the New Testament. Matthew, between those two testaments is 400 silent years. All right, do you guys know what was written in between there? The Apocrypha, correct. So the Apocrypha is ancient Jewish literature. It has been added to the Catholic Bible. After the Reformation, the Catholics held something called a Counter-Reformation, and that's when it was officially adopted into their Bible. And some 1,500, almost 1,600 years later, it was added. So Here does history progress exactly as God planned it, with world domination passing first from Persia to Greece. That's your first blank, you guys. And then from Greece to, there you go, Rome. When all pieces were in place and the precise time had arrived, the chosen one was born. To better understand the world in which he lived, we will briefly trace the evolution. I use that word lightly, right? The evolution of Jewish life from the exile years. All right, you guys. So let's look at this real quick. So the years following the Babylonian captivity. During the years of captivity, the exiles first began to be called Jews. I believe that's number three on your blanks. A title identifying them with the southern kingdom of Judah. The name later came to refer to all the descendants of Abraham. The remnant of faithful Israel realized that the nation had been chastened for despising the covenant they had made with God to keep his commands. Remember that? Remember, they promised to keep his commands. That was the Mosaic Covenant. That was a bilateral covenant, not the unilateral covenant of Abraham and David. Don't confuse those, but the one with Moses. All right, once back in their homeland, God raised Ezra, the priest, to leadership. Ezra's reverence for the law of God and his desire to know and teach it began a spiritual Revival among the people. All right, how many of you guys love Ezra 7.10? All your hands should have gone up. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job. So Ezra 7.10 says this, listen carefully, for Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it. and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel. So there's a three-fold process there. Don't skip that second one, right, where we practice it. If we do skip it, then we become a hypocrite. A hypocrite. And Jesus had nothing good to say about hypocrites, right? All right, excerpts from Nehemiah 8. Now, all the people gathered together as one man in the open square, and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses. Then he read from it in the open square from morning until midday. You think, my sermons are long, right? Look at this. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. So here it is from morning to a midday, and guess what? Do they have nice cushy chairs and air-conditioned, okay, almost air-conditioned buildings? And the answer's no. All right, continuing on, then all the people answered, amen, amen. While lifting their hands, they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. All the people wept when they heard the words of the law." That was a revival that God was doing in their hearts. That was a revival that God was doing in their hearts. You guys, is that our heart attitude when we hear God's Word? Do we just, do we rejoice? Do you guys rejoice? Do you look forward to getting up in the morning so you can spend time with the Lord? Maybe that time's in the afternoon, maybe it's in the evening, but folks, we should savor that time. We should guard it, right, with all of our being. And this should be our attitudes. This should be our attitude. Later, the Jews entered into an oath of obedience to the commandments of the Lord. This covenant expressed a renewed love for God and a growing respect for his law, which had a profound effect on Jewish life. Even though the temple had been rebuilt in Jerusalem, the Jews who lived scattered throughout the country met in local houses of worship called synagogues to hear and study the scriptures. That's where synagogues came from. They came about after the Babylonian captivity. And when you go to Israel, Lord willing, if and when we ever go again, we will go again someday, right? All of us will. But if we go again, then they'll talk about the synagogues first came about after the Babylonian captivity. All right, men who devoted themselves to the study, interpretation, and defense of the law became known as scribes. Rabbi was a title of respect the Jews gave to their religious teachers. Again, these are all common words that we're used to when we read through the New Testament. Now let's talk about the empires of Greece and Rome. After the Greeks conquered Persia, they enforced the use of Greek as a common trade language throughout their empire, which dominated the entire Mediterranean world. The Greek language and culture had a far-reaching impact on Israel, even up to the time of Messiah's birth. Many Jews knew the law only through a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible called the Septuagint, because Hebrew was not spoken in many Jewish homes. Again, what did they speak at this point in time? Largely Greek. There was Hebrew speakers. Don't get me wrong. There were people who did speak Greek. A lot of these people spoke two, three, four languages. You guys know the old joke, right? What do you call somebody who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call somebody who speaks three languages? What do you call somebody who speaks one language? You guys heard it. You call them Americans, right? Unfortunate, sorry. You guys, that was probably too bad. It's a bad joke. All right. When world leadership changed from Greece to Rome, the Romans initiated military-enforced peace called the Pax Romana. which effectively put an end to years of war throughout the empire. In the sovereign plan of God, both cultures of Greece and Rome heavily influenced Jewish life. And the common language and universal peace enabled the good news of Messiah to spread rapidly. So even though Rome was in charge, Greece was still the common trade language. Right? And just like English, Right? English is now the world language that we pretty much all get by using. You can go all over Europe and speak English and basically have no problems. All right? I've been all over Europe, and that's true. So the time's a Messiah. At the time of Messiah's birth, Israel was dominated by Rome and had been reduced to the satellite province of Palestine, a mere fragment of land between the Mediterranean and Dead Seas. The temple in Jerusalem remained the center of Jewish life, even though many Jews still lived as colonists scattered in cities throughout the empire. Palestine was locally ruled by the figurehead King Herod the Great. Now, listen, folks, don't call Palestine Palestine. Don't do that. Call it Israel. Call it by its proper name. All right? And again, this is simply... Next time I go through these notes, I will change them. But it was simply an invention after the Romans destroyed Rome. and they wanted to try to humiliate and distance the Jews from their homeland as much as they could, so they took the ancient people of Philistia, the Philistines, and they came up with this word, Palestine, and it's stuck ever since. But really, we should call it by its biblical name, and we call it Israel, so. However, the real religious and civil leaders were an elite group of Orthodox Jews called Pharisees. Literalists in their interpretation of the law and legalists as to its practice, the Pharisees placed heavy external demands on their people in their worship of God. Another group of religious leaders at this time were the Sadducees. Unlike the legalistic Pharisees, these leaders were more liberal in their views of the scripture, even to the point of denying or rationalizing the supernatural. If you guys, has anybody ever noticed like the parallel of what was going on in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? Excuse me. how you had these legalistic types and these very liberal types. And then you see, and then you look at how the Gentiles do church today. And you have virtually the same thing. You have some very legalistic people. And unless you're part of their church, unless you're baptized Roman Catholic, 1.2 billion Catholics, I'll just say it. Or you have very liberal segments of Christianity, and really you have these two extremes. And Jesus wasn't happy with the Jews when they devolved into that, and no doubt He wouldn't be happy with a church like that either. So that's why we need to continually go back to God's Word and make sure that we're being good Bereans. All right, so let's look at the four Gospels, you guys. Let's look at the four Gospels. The first four books of the New Testament are the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each of these books records the biography of one life, Jesus Christ. Though not exhaustive, the Gospels are accurate and historical, each bringing a unique viewpoint to a unified identity of Messiah. The word gospel is taken from the Anglo-Saxon god spell and simply means, you guys know, good news. Good news. The good news of the gospels is that God has purchased redemption for man. John 20, 31, it says, these things are written so that you may have, right, you may have life, life eternal. And that's why I usually point people to, I believe John was written specifically for evangelistic purposes, and usually that's where I turn people on first to read from. Maybe Genesis, and right after that I'll bring them to the book of John. Let's look at chapter one, you guys, angelic announcements. Angelic announcements. We're going to go to Luke chapter 1. We're going to start with 5 verses 5 through 17. Listen, you guys, tonight it's going to be Matthew, Luke, Luke, Matthew, Matthew, Luke, Luke, Matthew. We're going to go back and forth several times, so just keep one finger in Matthew and the other in Luke, and we should be pretty good. So Luke chapter 1 verses 5 through 17. Here it is. In the days of Herod king, in the days of Herod, excuse me, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years. Verse 8. Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by law to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside in the hour of the incense offering. Verse 11, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing to the right of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb. And he will turn away many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God." Verse 17. It is he who will go as a forerunner before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children in a disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Isn't that a great passage? So exciting. Obviously, we read those things during Christmastime often. So here we are, angelic announcements, chapter one, really announcing the birth of Messiah's forerunner. An angel of the Lord appeared, right? We know he appeared to Zacharias. God had not spoken to Israel through prophets, visions, or angelic messengers for how long? 400 years. Now what do we say to all these people that write book after book, say that they had Jesus appear to them, you know, and all these other things? I think like, hmm, something's kind of fishy here. And did he appear to all of Israel? No, he appeared to one priest, right? So God's appearance in front of people was very seldom in the Old Testament, all right? It really was. And if you look carefully in the New Testament, you see the exact same thing. No, the silence was suddenly broken by the appearance of the angel Gabriel, heavenly messenger whose name means strong man of God. And this is what he said, "'Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.'" In spite of the social stigma of Elizabeth's barrenness, the old priest Zacharias and his wife were a devout couple, pleasing God in every way. Guess what, folks? They were Old Testament saints, right? They were Old Testament saints. They knew the Lord. God would bless this childless couple who are well beyond the childbearing years by miraculously giving them a son. They were to name the boy, that's right, John, meaning the Lord has shown grace. Isn't that a great name? And he says this, the angel continues to tell Zacharias about him, he will be great in the sight of the Lord. Hey guys, how do you want to be great? You want to be great in the sight of men? You want to be great in the sight of your family? The sight of your spouse? You know, those things aren't bad, but really, we should want to be great in the sight of the Lord, right? And it's Him we're here to please, not... Our relationship with Him needs to trump all familial relationships. Would you guys agree with that? And this is a Trump, even husband and wife, son and daughter, right? Grandchildren, everything else. My relationship with God takes precedence over everything and anything else. All right. God revealed through the angel Gabriel and later through Zacharias his intent for the future life work of this unique individual. Okay, number one, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. These are some characteristics of what John would be like. From his conception onward, God was intimately involved in the life of John. I love what Jesus said about him. Jesus said that no man is greater than John the Baptist. He's basically the greatest, right? And he said, oh, and by the way, even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John, right? So number two, he was the fulfillment of prophecy. Centuries earlier, Isaiah and Malachi prophesied concerning Messiah's forerunner. We're close to Malachi, so let's just look at that one. Just go back a couple of books. Malachi 3.1. Look at what it says here. Couldn't get any clearer. And again, this is the last book. You know, that was before the New Testament. It says this, Behold, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. Clearly, he's talking about John the Baptist and the Messiah. All right, so he's clearly foretold he would prepare Israel to receive the Messiah by turning the people's hearts back to God from disobedience to righteousness. God, or John, excuse me, John would make ready the way of the Lord. And one more, he would be called the prophet of the most high. Like the prophets of old, John would announce beforehand the divine plan. In this case, the long-awaited deliverer was soon to come. Now, let's go to Luke 1, 57, 58, and then 80. 57 through 58 says, now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed his great mercy toward her, and they were rejoicing with her. Can you imagine this childless, older couple And back then, you have to put yourself in that culture. Children aren't valued the way that they should be and the way they were. So here it is, she had lived her whole life probably thinking that God was cursing her, wrongly thinking that, right? And then in the very end, she found out that, hey, she was going to be used by God in such a magnificent way. Now look at verse 80. The child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel. All right, that's John the Baptist. Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she brought forth a son. God, the source of all life, did for Elizabeth as he had done for Sarah, the wife of Abraham. He brought life to the barren womb. There's a couple of verses. Just a couple of what the Bible talks about, who gives life, right? Who is sovereign over life in the womb? Zacharias was obedient to all God commanded him through the angel Gabriel and named the child John. The hand of the Lord was with John from his birth, preparing him for the work he was to do, Luke 166. All right, so let's now announcing the birth of Messiah. So let's go back to Luke 1. We're gonna go back a page or so, verse 26 to 33. Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph. of the descendants of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was very perplexed at this statement, kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, verse 31. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus, He will be great, and He will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob." How long? Forever. And His kingdom will have what? No end. Praise God. Praise God. Now, that should remind you of what God promised to David. Right? In that, again, unilateral covenant, that Davidic covenant. All right. Now, to Mary. Again, announcing the birth of the Messiah, first he announced it to Mary. An astonishing message, you bet it was. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus. Months later, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, a relative of Elizabeth from the town of Nazareth. Mary was a virgin engaged to be married, yet she was told by the angel she would give birth to a son and that she would name him Yes, amen, Jesus. Meaning the Lord is salvation. Folks, could there be a more appropriate name for our Savior than this one? I don't think so. The Lord is salvation. What an awesome, beautiful, glorious name. The angel further delineates the identity of the child. So, he also said this, he will be called the Son of the Most High. The most high is a direct reference to God himself. As a son shares in the characteristics of the father, so this reference indicates that Jesus would be equal with God. A lot of times when people say, when we call him son of God, they'll say, oh, well, that just means he was like a lesser kind of God, a lesser form of God. But let me ask you, men, women, are you lesser than your parents were? Are they lesser than their parents were? Are we all human? Does that make sense? You know the answer to that. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. As Mary was born in the royal line of King David, so her son would descend from his line. The Gospel of Luke records the genealogy of Jesus through Mary's line, linking him both with David and Abraham. Okay, you have to go back to that genealogy. The angel was revealing to Mary that her son Jesus, later called the son of David, would fulfill God's covenant to David. Jesus would inherit the throne of David on which he would rule over Israel forever. Now I want you guys to underline that last sentence there. Jesus would inherit the throne of David on which he would rule over Israel forever. And let's go ahead and look at Isaiah 9. Keep a finger in Luke. Isaiah 9, 6 and 7. Again, one of those ones that we typically read during Christmastime. We even sing it during Christmastime. It says this, for a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government. or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this." Now, did you guys see the break between the first coming and the second coming in these two verses? You have to. Why did the Jews misunderstand their Messiah? Because they read it all together, right? They didn't realize that there was two comings. So the first part, excuse me, for a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us. Clearly, his first advent, his first coming. And then it says, and the government will rest on his shoulders. When's that going to happen? When he comes back. And then it just goes on with that description. Beautiful description, right? I'm so looking forward to that. Should we talk about end times? All right. Luke 1, 34 through 37. Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I'm a virgin? The angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the Holy Child shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. I love this. For nothing will be impossible with God. Then verse 38, and Mary said, behold, the bond slave of the Lord may be done to me according to your word, and the angel departed from her. Now in my margin, I have, you guys can write this down, just says, for nothing will be impossible with the Lord. Genesis 18, 14, I love collecting cross-references. Genesis 18, 14, Job 42, 2. Jeremiah 32, 17. Jeremiah 32, 27. And one more, Matthew 19, 26. Hey, over and over and over again, the Bible says nothing is impossible for our great God. And that's the great God we serve. And we need to continually highlight what kind of God we serve. Now, this was clearly a miraculous conception. So even Mary said, how can this be since I am a Virgin in verse 34, clearly Mary's response shows that she understood the angel to mean that the conception of the child would be accomplished supernaturally. For nothing will be impossible with God. Gabriel answers Mary's question by explaining how this was to come about. And so he did in verse 35, he says, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. God the Holy Spirit brought about the conception of the child just as he had participated in the creation of the heavens and the earth. The same power which created life from nothing would now enable Mary to conceive a son without a human father. And verse 35 again says, for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the son of God. Without a human father, Jesus would be fully God and fully man. It's super key. As fully God, Jesus would be a holy offspring born without sin. There's a number of verses there that talk about. As fully man, by virtue of his human mother, Jesus would possess characteristics common to all humanity, such as hunger, thirst, physical weakness, and emotion. He was truly the God-man. Guys, we wanna have good theology here. What does Satan wanna do? He wants to mess up one side or the other oftentimes, okay? So oftentimes, he'll deny the full humanity, but most often, he will attack the deity of Christ. He will attack the deity of Christ. Colossians 2.9 says, in Jesus, all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. You guys, if somebody comes knocking on your door, and they say, hi, we're with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, aka Mormons, right? You guys, honestly, talk about the gospel, talk about what saves you. And then also talk about the deity of Jesus Christ, right? Don't get off on all these other tangents, and there's a million tangents that you can go off on. There really are. But, like I was teaching my sons just the other night, and my daughters, hey, I usually go to John 1.1. I want to go to Colossians 1, Colossians 2 is also a good one, and Hebrews 1. There's all ones in there, easy to remember, and that talks very clearly, very easy about the deity of Jesus Christ, all right? So Colossians 1, John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1. All right. So let's read one verse in Luke 1.38. Luke 1.38 says this, and Mary said, behold, the bond slave of the Lord may be done to me according to your word, and the angel departed from her. I also love this about Mary, and you guys have heard me say that in the past if you've been around her very long. I love Mary's character, I really do. All right, so a humble submission, here it is. So she said this, be, let it be done to me according to your word. Mary humbly bowed her will in response to Gabriel's amazing proclamation, calling herself the slave of God. All right, no doubt it's a Greek word, doulos, and the Bible describes us as being slaves too. Do you guys realize that? It does. So, although greatly, and children, sons, adopted sons, adopted daughters, I mean, the Bible has many different descriptions for us. Although greatly honored by being chosen as the mother of Messiah, Mary was an ordinary Jewish girl who loved God. She was neither sinless nor a perpetual virgin, since she went on to have other children by her husband Joseph. You guys, Luke 1, Matthew 12, and Matthew 13 are beyond a shadow of a doubt of being it was clear that Mary had more children. Jesus had brothers and sisters, alright? Even names the brothers that He had. So Matthew 1, 18-25 and let's flip over to Matthew chapter 1. Beginning with verse 18 it says, now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, I'll slow down so I hear a bunch of pages. Before they came together, she was found to be with Chad by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. Excuse me, verse 20. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us. And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife, verse 25, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son and he called his name Jesus. All right, now these special announcements, we're still talking about that, announcing the birth of the Messiah. If you flip back a page in your notes there now, it's announcing the same thing to Joseph. And this is what he said. He said, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. Engagement was as binding as marriage was in those days. When Mary became pregnant, Joseph had a legal right under the law to have her put to death for adultery. But Joseph, being a righteous man, a true believer in God, mercifully considered divorcing her secretly. An angel intervened, appearing to Joseph in a dream, and he was to marry Mary, right? His faithful fiancée. For the child had been conceived miraculously. In fact, the Bible confirms Mary's virginity three times in these verses alone. And folks, listen, I don't care what people say. Any person who says they know Greek and that that word doesn't really mean virgin doesn't know Greek, all right? It means more than just a handmaiden. She was a pure handmaiden, if I could put it like this, all right? It means virgin, how we understand it. They translated that appropriately. And he shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. This profound proclamation announced the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy 700 years before. So that's your blank there, 700 years before. Actually, let me read Isaiah 714. Isaiah 714, and we'll keep going on. It says this, therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son and she will call his name, here it is you guys, 700 years beforehand, Emmanuel. Emmanuel. Mary's child will be called Emmanuel, translated what? God with us and was literally God in human flesh. The Messiah, excuse me, I just pass it up. The Messiah for whom Israel long through Old Testament history was the creator God born into the human race. Only God could save his people from their sins. The genealogy of Jesus through Joseph's line is recorded in Matthew 1, 1 through 16. Folks, how many good works does it take for us to work off a sinful deed of ours? Zero. No one knows. I mean, it is zero, right? It can't be done. So who can save us from our sins? Only one. The judge himself, the very God who created us himself can save us. And so he did. And that's one of the reasons why Christianity alone is the only way. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Amen? But through God, who came down to provide that way for us. All right. Let's read verses 8 through 15, Luke chapter 2, verses 8 through 15. All right. In the same region, here we are talking about the shepherds now. In the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over the flocks by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased. Verse 15, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, The shepherds began saying to one another, let us go straight to Bethlehem then and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. Amen. To the shepherds, behold, I bring you good news of great joy for all the people. What does that remind you of? How about Abraham's covenant? What was the last promise to Abraham that he would, that through him would come a blessing to all the nations or all the people. Here it is. Breaking the 400-year silence with good news of great joy, this fourth manifestation of angels appears now to a group of terrified shepherds. The long-promised Messiah, Savior, and Lord was publicly announced. Glory to God in the highest heaven on earth, peace among men with whom he is pleased. The good news sung out by a virtual army of angels proclaimed, guess this, peace, right? The peace which Jesus Christ would make between sinful men and holy God. We say that really is the word reconciliation, right? The making of peace between two enemies, bringing them together. So the peace which Jesus Christ would make between sinful men and holy God. Given a sign that they would find the child wrapped and lying in a manger, the shepherds went to Bethlehem to find him, and they did. Now, number two, chapter number two. Let's keep going on, Luke two, one through seven. Now, in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Verse four, Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger. Because there was no room for them in the inn. You guys, I never get tired of this story. I never get tired of this story. All right, here it is. Born in humility. Born in humility. She gave birth and laid him in a? manger, feeding trough for animals. When the census was ordered by Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor who controlled the entire Mediterranean region, Joseph and Mary were forced to make a difficult 70-mile journey, most likely on foot to their ancestral home of Bethlehem. It was in Bethlehem that Mary gave birth to her son, fulfilling the words of yet another Old Testament prophecy. How about Micah 5 too? But as for you Bethlehem, from you one will go forth for me to be ruler in Israel. Micah 5 too. So considering the backdrop of angelic announcements and prophecies, the actual birth of Jesus Christ is almost anticlimactic in its simplicity. The one who had been chosen from eternity past and promised in Eden, look at this, you guys, let's read the sentence again, because I have this one underlined, it's a really good one. The one who had been chosen from eternity past and promised in Eden, where in Eden? Genesis 3, 15, exactly right, called the Protoevangelium. The seed of Abraham, we've talked about that, right? Through him one would come that would bless the entire world, who would bless all the earth, the long-awaited Messiah of Israel was born into such poverty that his first bed was a feeding trough of animals. Yet this was all according to the plan and providence of God. This was God's holy, perfect, awesome plan for world redemption. So the word providence right there, the working out of God's will in and through human history. Just means this, working out of God's sovereignty in the daily activities of us, right? So does everything that happens today, is that a part of God's providence? Yes. Part of God's sovereignty? Yeah. Right? So it is amazing and difficult to comprehend that every circumstance surrounding the coming of Jesus Christ was determined in the mind of God before the universe was formed. That the army of angels announced Messiah's birth to lowly shepherds rather than to the religious or political leaders of the day was a matter of God's choice. that the census ordered by the ungodly ruler brought Joseph and Mary to the obscure town of Bethlehem and in fulfillment of a prophecy made century early was also a matter of God's, excuse me, choice. God works in and through the affairs of mankind to accomplish his purpose. In so doing, the awesome integrity of God's word as well as his power to execute his will is on display for all to see. Good stuff, huh, you guys? are raised in obscurity. That's where our Savior, the Messiah, was raised in obscurity. With the exception of a solitary passage in Luke's gospel, the boyhood of Jesus is veiled from our view. He was raised in a simple Jewish home along with his brothers and sisters, yet at the age of, that's right, 12, he amazed the teachers at the temple in Jerusalem with his spiritual insights and understanding of his father's business. until his ministry began some 18 years later. Think of that. The Bible simply summarizes his life with the words, Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature in favor with God and men. You teenagers out there, I think this is a really good verse for you. And it's also really good, too, at the end of that, at the account of when Jesus was found when he was 12 years old, it says, and Jesus went home and stayed in subjection to his parents, he writes, and basically until he started his ministry, his public ministry. And so that's also a really, really good verse. Now, I know teenagers don't like to hear that, but it's still a good verse. Okay, divine affirmation. Let's flip back now to Matthew, Matthew 3, 1 through 6. It says this, now, in those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying what? What's the first word? repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand for this is the one referred to by isaiah the prophet when he said the voice of one crying in the wilderness make ready the way of the lord make his path straight now john himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist and his food was locusts and wild honey Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins." We'll stop right there. The ministry and message of John the Baptist. It says this, verse 1, it says, now in the days of John the Baptist, excuse me, now in those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness. At approximately age 30, the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth was already known as the baptized or a baptizer of men. Preaching in the arid wilderness of the Dead Sea region, John summoned the nation back to God to make ready the way of the Lord. His message bore witness that the Messiah's coming was, was near. Was near. So what was his message? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. John's mandate from God was to preach repentance. Many Jews in John's day believed that their ancestral link with Abraham was sufficient for a right standing with God. Consequently, their lives were corrupt and their worship a mockery. But God looks at or on the heart, not heritage or religious affiliation. Like the Old Testament prophets, John called Israel to repent, to make a decisive turn from their sin and to trust God alone for his cleansing. and they were being baptized as they confessed their sins. Again, it's verse six. Those who believed confessed their sins and were baptized. Their immersion into the river waters marked their identification with John's message. The baptism did not remove sin or offer salvation, but rather was a public display of repentance, an internal change of heart and direction. Now, I've given you this definition in the past, and I'd like you to, really, I'd love for all of you to have it memorized, all right? Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of heart that always results in a change of action. Okay, repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of heart that always results in a change of action. I hold out my hands to what we do with our hands and our feet, right? Our eyes, our ears, our tongues, everything. So, you guys, I can't tell you how important repentance is. I really can't. I would say it's the missing link of biblical evangelism today. I really would. I'm gonna give you a resource at the very end of tonight, and I wanna point you guys to an excellent resource on that. But some people will tell you something along the lines, and I've been thinking about this recently, that, well, yeah, I understand that those were the first words out of John the Baptist's mouth, and you can point in chapter four that they were actually the first words out of Jesus's mouth, too. But they say this, well, that was a different dispensation. Jesus and John the Baptist were clearly talking to Jews. And this is what I thought about recently. Well, that's fine. They were talking to Jews. That's the historical context. But then we need to ask this question. How did the Jews get saved in the Old Testament? Was it by works or was it by grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone? Right? And we know the answer to that. It wasn't by work. So clearly he wasn't calling them to a life of works. Right? Certainly that wasn't the case. And so again, and we look at the Bible and repentance is actually a gift that God gives us. Do you guys also realize that your faith is also a gift? These are gifts that God gives us. So when we're praying for other people to get saved, pray for the repentance that God would give them that gift. Pray that God would open their eyes and give them the gift of faith as well. They're both gifts, and it's spoken of multiple times in God's word. Now let's turn to John 1. We do have a passage here in John 1. So John 1, verse 29 and 30, and then verse 34. said this the next day when he saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he on behalf of whom I said, after me comes a man who has a higher rank than I, for he existed before me. And then verse 34 says this, I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God. So John affirmed Jesus as the Son of God, and this is what he said, behold, when he saw Jesus, he said behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So what do you think John meant when he said, when he pointed to Jesus and he said behold the Lamb of God? What was he thinking? Does it remind you of anything? Yes, I hear Passover. Right? You hear sacrificial, the sacrifices of the Old Testament. It's exactly what it was. So let's look at this together. So the public ministry of Jesus began with his baptism. Jesus, though he was sinless, was baptized to identify himself with John's message. As the prophet of God looked up to see Jesus approaching the water, he immediately perceived who he was. Behold, he's pointing, behold the Lamb of God. The Passover lamb. Underline this, folks, this is key. The sacrificial lamb. The words were rich with meaning in the mind of John the Baptist. His proclamation identified Jesus as the Messiah, the one who would take away the sins of Israel and also the rest of the world. The Genesis 3.15 promise. The Abrahamic covenant, Genesis 12, one through three, covenant. It's repeated in chapter 15 too and then again and again and again. These are all the fulfillments. It says, this is the Son of God. Although John was born first, he grasped that Jesus held a superior position and that it existed eternally before the universe was created. In the clearest terms, he declared that Jesus was the Son of God. A title expressing deity inextricably linked him to God the Father. Okay, let's go back to Matthew. I told you we're going back and forth, right? Matthew 3, 16, 17. You guys with me so far? All right. Matthew 3, 16 through 17, not much left to go. After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were open. And he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on him. And behold, a voice out of heaven said, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. God the Father affirmed that Jesus is the Son of God. And again, he said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. This direct affirmation from God the Father identified Jesus as his Son, the second person of the Trinity, and referred back to Old Testament prophecy. There's a couple prophecies there. I was thinking about reading all of Psalm 2 tonight, but it was just a little bit longer, but I would encourage you to do that. No devout Jew whose mind was saturated with prophecies of Messiah would miss this startling proclamation. The baptism of Jesus, and I would say this, I would add a little word here or two words here. I would say one of the clearest biblical displays of the Trinity. I don't necessarily, I don't know if I would put it up as the number one. I'd say it's one of the clearest. But here's a clear display of the Trinity. God the Father spoke from heaven to Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit, pictured like a descending dove, identified Jesus and empowered him for his public ministry. All right, you guys, here we are already at the conclusion. Alrighty, at the conclusion. So who is Jesus Christ? Who is Jesus Christ? If there was one question which is critical to answer, clearly, this is it. Through the centuries, Jesus has been characterized as a dynamic teacher, a benevolent humanitarian, a gifted miracle worker, excuse me, a compelling iconoclast, a moral guide, But these images fall far short of the biblical portraits. If we are to understand the true identity of Jesus Christ, we must lay aside our preconceptions and rely upon God's word alone to reveal him to us. Amen? You guys, listen, our preconceived perceptions, perceptions, maybe earlier teachings that somebody told us about, we need to set them all aside in lieu of what God's Word clearly tells us. This is our authority, all right? And that alone. So Jesus, let's look at him. Jesus, meaning the Lord is salvation, pretty clear. Son of the Most High, a title equating Jesus with the Most High God. Savior, one who would save his people from their sins, Matthew 121. Christ, the Greek translation of Messiah, the Anointed One. It wasn't Jesus' last name. Get that in your head, all right? Help people out with that one. Lord. You guys, not just a title of respect, although sometimes it is used that way, but in this context, it was a title of deity. It's very clear. All right, context is king, right? And then Emmanuel, one that I love the absolute, probably most, meaning God with us. The eternal God who came to live as man among men. Love that title. Jesus Christ is fundamentally set apart, altogether distinct from any human being who has ever lived or will live. Amen. Existing as a second person of the Trinity before the universe was formed, Jesus took humanity and dwelt with men. He is the God-man, fully God and fully man, the very embodiment of deity. In the Bible, God reveals himself to man through the written word. The gospel of John identifies Jesus as the living word, the perfect expression of God himself. He is the exact visible representation of the invisible God, amen? In the life of Jesus, the word of God is lived out for all to see. Remember what Philip said? He said, hey, Jesus, show us the Father. And Jesus said, oh, Philip, I have been with you so long. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Very clear. All right, how about some excerpts from John chapter 1? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He, that is Jesus, was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him. And apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being. There's the creation, right, account. Excuse me, and the Word became flesh. This is verse 14. and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father. He, Jesus, has explained him." Such depth and richness, amen? Such good theology there. All right you guys, here's some questions that you guys might want to ask, right? You should be able to answer after we're done with these lessons. All these questions we should be able to answer, right? So what were the positive effects of the Greek and Roman empires on the Jewish life at the time of Christ? Who were the scribes, the Pharisees and Sadducees? What was the meaning of the word gospel? This is one of the key questions that I mark down as key. Who was the Messiah's forerunner? Number four, what was he sent to do? Number five, what does the Bible stress the virginity of Mary at the time of Jesus's conception? Number six, explain the significance of the name Emmanuel. I've got this one circled too. Number seven, what is the providence of God? How was it displayed at the birth of Jesus Christ? Number eight, what was the message of John the Baptist? Message of repent, right? What was the purpose of John's baptism? Did baptism cleanse the sinner? We know the answer to that. Hey, five people getting baptized. You guys excited for that? So am I, really excited about that. You guys, invite people, right? They need to hear five testimonies, amen? They need to hear that. All right. Number 10, what was the meaning of the word repentance? Key. Number 11, also key. Why did John call Jesus the Lamb of God? What are the implications of that title? Number 12, how is Jesus Christ distinct from any other human being? Also key. And number 13, explain the phrase, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Now you guys don't see any resources here. I was really trying to think like, what could I give today as a resource? And so I would say this, some of the things, the most study that I've done on Matthew 1, Matthew 1 and 2, Luke 1 and 2, John, Um... All these things, I would refer you to one, again, is my series in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Life of Christ sermon series. So if you guys haven't heard those opening sermons on the life of Jesus Christ, I would go there. We've spent hours and hours taking apart every single one of those texts, weaving them all together one after another, how they are supposed to be set in one after another. So go to our website, and you guys can find those. Now, I also mentioned another really good resource. You guys, I had the opportunity to take part in a conference on, it was a great conference on repentance. Every speaker only spoke on repentance, what the Bible says about repentance. It was back in 2018, it was what's the NCFIC, so go to ncfic.org. Go to the 2018 conferences, go to conferences 2018, all right? And it will come up with the conference on repentance. And then you have a bunch of just excellent speakers all looking at what God's word teaches about repentance. And I put it like this, I really think I was so blessed by not only by being able to take part in that conference, but I learned so much. And I really had to, I think it was at that point in time that I had to repent of my view of repentance. My faulty view of repentance or my diminished view of repentance. And ever since that time, I believe I see it with a better light. So repentance has been preached from Genesis all the way to Revelation. And it's all throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. Go and just look at some of those sermons. I think you'll really be blessed. I really, really do. All right.