Reasons to Rejoice, Part 3

We are looking this Christmas season at the real reasons we are to rejoice as Believers not just during the season but all throughout our lives But I find it very interesting that we look for more reasons not to rejoice than we do for the real reasons to Rejoice which begs the question. Why is it we do that? and tucked away in Luke's gospel are our six verses that help explain and give us some insight as To why it is that people truly don't rejoice at all But should be We told you last week that the Christmas is summed up in three words Expectation celebration and anticipation Though those who who looked with expectation Would live in celebration Those who live in celebration Look with anticipation toward the return of the King years ago in the 18th century It was Charles Wesley.

He wrote some 6,000 plus hymns we sing Several of them here in our in our church One of those hymns that he wrote That we sing is come thou long-expected Jesus It goes this way Come thou long-expected Jesus born to set thy people free From our fears and sins release us. Let us find our rest in thee Israel strength and consolation Hope of all the earth thou art dear desire of every nation joy of every longing heart Born thy people to deliver born a child and yet a king Born to reign in us forever now thy gracious kingdom bring By thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone By thine all-sufficient merit raise us to thy glorious throne that hymn is Based on the six verses tucked away in Luke's gospel About the coming of the expected one The expected one or the coming one is a a description of the Messiah If you go back to Psalm 118 verse number 26, the phrase is given this Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord as You recall that were that was the words that were uttered at the triumphal entry of our Lord in Luke 19 when they sang Hosanna to God in the highest Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Blessed is the coming one Blessed is the expectant one in the Greek.

He's called the Eric. Oh my the the coming one Psalm 40 also speaks of a prophecy concerning the arrival of the expected one as quoted in Hebrews chapter 10 verses 7 8 & 9 So there was this longing this expectation of one who was going to come Whose name was the coming one the expected one and That's where we pick up the narrative in Luke's gospel the seventh chapter For there we have the forerunner to the expected one John the Baptist and you know of John the Baptist John the Baptist was the forerunner to the Messiah He was chosen by God to be that forerunner.

He would pave the way for the Messiah He was the last great Old Testament prophet and the first great New Testament preacher In fact, Jesus said that there was never a man born of a woman greater than John the Baptist So those men born of a woman the greatest one was John the Baptist He was the one who pointed to the Messiah He announced the arrival of the Messiah John knew all about the virgin birth of the Messiah He was born six months before the Messiah his mother Elizabeth would tell him all about his miraculous conception and how Mary would come to her and talk to her about the virgin birth and so he would know this He would know that he was the forerunner of the Messiah He would read his father's song in Zechariah Luke chapter 1 about Zacharias and how he praised the coming of Messiah He was the one who lived An antithetical life to the priesthood because he was going to be a proclaimer of the arrival of the Messiah Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand He was a forerunner And yet in Luke's gospel in a seventh chapter John's disciples come to him and this is what they say Disciples of John reported to him about all these things what things all the things that had previously taken place The healing of the widow's son at name.

He was raised from the dead The healing of centurions daughter and all the miracles that Christ was doing they came to report to John all these things About what was happening to the Messiah? Why would they do that? Because John was in prison He was in a place called Makarus, which is a prison on the northern end of the Dead Sea When it was there you could see the towers of this great palace of Herod's that was seen for miles around And there John was sitting in this dark deep damp Dungeon his disciples would come to him and tell him about what Jesus was doing So the text reads on in verse number 17 Summoning two of his disciples John sent them to the Lord saying are you?

the expected one Are you the coming one or? Do we look for someone else? When the men came to him that is Jesus they said to him John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask are you the expected one or Do we look for someone else Now why would the forerunner? to the expected one Inquire as to whether or not the expected one was the truly expected one Why would he do that? This is John the Baptist greatest man born of a woman Greatest Old Testament prophet or the last great Old Testament prophet first great New Testament preacher.

Why would he ask the question? Are you the Messiah? Are you the coming one? Are you the fulfillment of Psalm 118 verse number 26? Are you the fulfillment of Psalm 40 verses 7 to 8? Are you the fulfillment of that or? Should we look for someone else? ironically John Had already referred to him as the expected one Earlier in Luke's gospel in Luke chapter 3 says in verse number 15 Now while the people were in a state of Expectation why were they in a state of expectation? What tells you and all were wondering in their hearts about John as to whether he was the Messiah?

There are many people in the state of expectation who were wondering is John the Messiah Because he was so unique and so profound and and so different than anything they had ever heard John answered and said to them all as for me I baptize you with water but the coming one or the expected one Who was mightier than I and I am not fit to untie the thong of the sandals he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire So John had already referred to the Messiah as The expected one but now he's in prison and Now he wants to know whether or not he got it, right Was he wrong?

Did he make a mistake? There's all kinds of doubts surrounding The forerunner to the expected one Who was to pave the way for this one who was coming who was mightier? Than John, why would John ask the question? Why was it John who was looking in expectation not living in celebration? Why was he not rejoicing Why was he not overjoyed with the arrival of the Messiah What had taken place in John's life that caused him to doubt Everything that he had been preaching for the last year and a half. Well tucked away in Luke's gospel in those six verses we begin to understand why it is John wasn't rejoicing Which helps us understand why it is We don't rejoice When the Bible says we're to rejoice always and again, I say Rejoice But John certainly wasn't doing that He was doubting That Jesus was even the Messiah.

So he sends his disciples to ask are you the Expected one What was going on in John's life that would cause him to be disillusioned Because you see John finds himself in the dungeon of disillusionment. Oh, yes He's in a physical dungeon a deep dark dungeon of despair But mentally he's in a dungeon of disillusionment as To who is the Messiah? for four reasons one is because of personal affliction or personal persecution He confronted Herod About his immoral relationship with his wife and how he was wrong Because he was a man of great strength He was a man who would not compromise and yet he found himself in prison He was one who was paving the way for the Messiah and yet he finds himself in prison Afflicted with with problems pain turmoil Despair Questions You see when you see yourself as a faithful servant and John was and Things don't go as you expect them to go Then you doubt whether or not Jesus is really the expected one and that's where John was I Mean after all did he not come to set the prisoner free and I'm in prison Did he come to bring release to the captives and I'm captive So so maybe I got it wrong Because I'm facing Negative circumstances you see when you find yourself facing negative circumstances And you find yourself whether they be physical affliction financial turmoil social relationships and hardships When you find yourself facing negative situations And things aren't going as you expected him to go You can begin to doubt the expected one and Whether or not he's going to fulfill all that he said he was going to fulfill And you find yourself not rejoicing instead of rejoicing That was John not just because of a personal affliction I like this one because of a a popular misconception a Popular misconception as to the identity of the Messiah Even this great preacher this great prophet was influenced by popular misconception That when the Messiah came he would he would release them from Roman bondage he would set them free from their oppressors and they would be able to live free and Full because Messiah was there and everything that had been promised would would would come to fulfillment But but there was this this popular misconception that did not detail the real reason as to why the Messiah had come and Therefore Unfortunately John had bought into that to some degree It's easy to do so We go to churches different kinds of churches and We buy into popular misconceptions as to what Jesus is and who he is and what he is supposed to do Just watch TV preachers.

Just just listen to the radio Except for living word you can listen to that one. But of that, you know, be careful what you listen to right? Listen, you can go to church today and You can learn more about political pundits than the Prince of Peace That's the wrong church to go to If you come out of church knowing more about the laws of the land than the laws of our Lord, you're in the wrong church Why? Because we're to preach Christ Paul said I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and in him crucified We preach Christ crucified first Corinthians 123 first Corinthians 2 2 this is what we preach So if you're not preaching Christ, what are you preaching?

You want people not to have a a popular? Misconception as to what it is God does and how God functions That's what we say a Christ community church is a place where the holy truth is holy taught the holy truth holy is holy taught wholly We want you to know that the truth of the Lord stands firm for the church is the pillar and foundation of the truth So we preach the truth we want you to know the truth about who Christ is and what he does Because when you come we want you to see Jesus It's all we want you to see Because if you see Jesus everything else is clear But if you don't see Jesus properly then everything else is unclear so make sure you see Jesus correctly and properly So you don't get a popular misconception as to what it is You think Jesus is all about third reason?

That John was not rejoicing Because of partial Revelation John does not know what you and I know John had no idea of the coming church age That was a mystery in the Old Testament John had no idea of Christ in you the hope of glory that also was a mystery in the Old Testament revealed in the New Testament There's a lot of things that John didn't know that you and I do know Because we have the completed scriptures, but John knew everything he needed to know at the time to be able to rejoice always For instance if you go back in Luke's gospel to the 24th chapter Those two men on the road to Emmaus Who themselves were discouraged over what was happening in Jerusalem and Jesus meets up with them has a conversation with them.

They do not know it's Jesus and Jesus begins to speak to them listen what he says He says though foolish men in slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets Have spoken key word is all You believe in some of what the prophets have spoken But you didn't believe in all That the prophets had spoken how the Christ was to suffer and die and Rise again the third day So began to explain all that stuff to them and then later on in verse number 44 he says These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you That all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be full filled in other words everything was written there had to be fulfilled, but you see you didn't believe in all that was said a Partial revelation Even though it was partial was enough for John to know how to rejoice and to celebrate the arrival and the Messiah and what He was going to accomplish because he didn't really believe in all the prophets said about Him being a sacrifice for sin How he'd rise again the third day he was disillusioned as he sat in the dungeon of Of disillusionment and therefore there was no rejoicing there was just questioning Because a partial revelation We can fall into that category We we don't know nearly what we need to know We try to teach you we try to lead you through those things but you know when you come sporadically to church or read your Bible sporadically or or Don't do any memorization or Bible study then then you're not going to know very much about the revelation of God You got to be in the word you got to be under the word you got to be listening to the word you got to Be engulfed in the word you got to be embalmed with the truth So you understand the full revelation of what God has said because if not You'll find yourself in the dungeon of disillusionment like John the Baptist was there's another reason And that's because of a profane expectation a Profane expectation His expectation of Messiah was was was abused And was wrong.

He really believed The popular misconception of the Messiah And thought for truth that he'd have an axe in his hand and fire in his mouth and judgment would come But it wasn't coming. He was healing the sick He was forgiving sinners. He was eating with sinners He was doing things that were unimaginable Say in the dungeon of disillusionment When you're when your expectations when your expectations Are not met by the expected one You will always be in the dungeon of disillusionment when your expectations Are not met by the expected one not his expectations your expectations when you begin to expect certain things to happen in a certain way and They don't happen that way and they're not in line with what the Word of God says You will find yourself in the same kind of dungeon of disillusionment that John was in So he said his disciples They came to Christ and asked Your forerunner Wants to know Are you the expected one?

That very time he cured many people of disease and afflictions and evil spirits He gave sight to many who were blind And he answered and said to them go and report to John what you have seen and heard The blind receive sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear the dead are raised up the poor Had the gospel preached to them And then he says those great words Are you ready? Blessed is he Who does not take offense? at me Blessing comes to those Who never questioned the way I go about doing my business You go back and tell John To stop questioning the way I do my business Because true blessing comes when you're able to sit back and watch me do What I do and just trust me And then John could rejoice John would soon lose his head.

He'd be beheaded, but the fact still remains God's called us to rejoice always Rejoice in the Lord always So we are taking time this Christmas season to help you understand what are those principles that will help you rejoice always The first one dealt with the reality of his person Luke 2 11 His saviorship his messiah ship his lordship Because then it helps me recognize his identity in ministry The second one deals with the eternality of his plan Because when I understand the eternality of his plan helps you rest in a sovereignty Galatians 4 4 & 5 is the key verse for that one in the fullness of time God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law that he might redeem those who are under the law It was it was the perfect time.

It was the the exact precious time for the Messiah to be born It was all based on the eternal plan of the Living God The Son would come at the right time And he did as Moses came at the right time to give a physical deliverance in Acts 7 to those in Egypt So Christ came at the right time to give a spiritual deliverance to those in Israel like Jeremiah Jeremiah chapter 1 Jeremiah's name means to The Lord throws right the Lord through Jeremiah Into a 40-year ministry with Judah It's that I formed you.

I knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb. I shaped you I Consecrated you I designed you Jeremiah just specifically for this at the right time because in the eternality of my plan You need to be able to rest in my sovereign grace because you have a plan that I've designed specifically for you And therefore God has designed a plan for every one of us Because God's in charge of our lives That's why I saw him 139 tells us that all of our days were reported before there was even yet one of them Because God's in charge he had a plan from eternity past that deals with unworthy and Unqualified people to give them unending glory in the presence of Almighty God That's his plan plan of redemption And when you understand the eternality of his plan You rest in a sovereignty That was last week This week is point number three Point number three we rejoice because of the reality of his of his person that helps us recognize the the identity and the ministry of Christ Rejoice because of the eternality of his plan That helps us to rest in his sovereignty And number three we rejoice because the joy That comes through his pardon Which helps me to refrain from my iniquity the joy that comes In his pardon True joy comes Because we have the forgiveness of sins you shall Call his name Jesus For he shall save his people from their sins Paul says in 1st Timothy 1 15 That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners That's why he came.

I Love what one man said. He said he said these words If our greatest need had been information God would have sent us an educator If our greatest need would have been technology. God would have sent us a scientist For greatest need have been money God would have sent us an economist For greatest need have been pleasure God would have sent us an entertainer But our greatest need was forgiveness So God sent us a Savior That's our greatest need Our greatest need is to be saved from our sins remember the story and In the book of Matthew, it's recorded in Matthew and Mark and Luke One of those stories that that sometimes takes you back for a moment It's it's Jesus is in this house And they're a great crowd So so so many people around that that you can't get into the house because it's it's just full to the brim Full to the brim that reminds me of what happened yesterday during our children's ministry party at at the low of awesome So it was so filled to the brim.

You couldn't even get in you couldn't walk around the house so many kids so many parents so many people but here it was with Jesus and And and everything was just surrounded and people on the outside trying to look in and get in but they couldn't So four men come and they bring a friend who's paralyzed They can't get in. So what do they do? They climb up on the roof And the Bible says that they unroofed the roof That is a they took it all apart Now you can imagine what's like that to have this thatched roof and and men on top of it trying to rip it apart And all the debris start to fall down upon Jesus and those people around him They're thinking what on earth is going on up there and these guys are are desperate to get their their paralyzed friend before the Messiah And so they unroof the roof and they begin to let him down through the roof right in the presence of Jesus The Bible says And they brought to him a paralytic lying on the bed Seeing their faith Jesus said to the paralytic Take courage son your sins Are forgiven So wait a minute he's paralyzed man can't walk ah See his greatest need was not a physical need his grace.

He was a spiritual need Because Christ could heal him he could get up walk, but still be dead in the stress passes and sitting and when he dies He'll burn in hell So the Lord knows the greatest need You tell them son your sins are forgiven take courage and some of the scribes and said to themselves this fellow blasphemes Can't forgive can't forgive sins he's not God So Jesus knowing their thoughts it's always a dangerous thing Jesus knows your thoughts See that's always good because I don't have to know your thoughts Jesus knows exactly what you're thinking right now What you're thinking about the person next to you in front of you what you think about lunch the game it's almost over He knows what you're thinking And that's good enough for me, and he knows your thoughts He says why are you thinking evil in your hearts?

I love that Which is easier to say? Your sins are forgiven or to say Get up and walk Now you know which is easier What's a lot easier to say your sins are forgiven because who can who can judge that who knows that But if I say to you take up your bed and walk, and you don't I'm a fraud right It's all harder to say take up your bed and walk and have you get up actually and walk when you've been paralyzed your entire Life than it is to say your sins are forgiven But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins So you'll know that I am a forgiver of man's sins now.

You know I am a Savior I am a deliverer. I am a Redeemer so you'll know my true identity. You know who I really am He said the paralytic get up Take up your bed And go home And he got up And went home end of story Just that simple He gets up and goes home And it says that everyone there was awestruck And what had taken place Because there was someone who could truly take away Sins See that's the joy in his pardon That's why you rejoice you're forgiven No longer does God hold your sin to your account What's the kingdom of God the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking?

But righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit the order is very important, right? Righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit the joy only comes because there's peace Why is there peace having been justified by faith Romans 5 1 we have peace with God? We have peace with God because we've been justified by faith Peace only joy only comes to those who have peace with God But those who have peace with God have peace with God because he knew no sin became sin for them That they might be called the righteousness of God in him We now have his righteousness why because he's forgiven us our sins He does not look at us as sinners anymore.

He looks at us as as righteous Saints Because that's who we are we've been clothed in his righteousness and So when Christ looks down from heaven, he sees us clothed in his righteousness Because our sin has been dealt with at Calvary's cross That's why it's so important to realize Psalm 103 and you know the verse bless the Lord all my soul And all that is within me bless his holy name Bless the Lord all my soul and forget none of his benefits and what's the very first benefit listen?

Who pardons all your? iniquities That's the first benefit Because without that there are no other benefits That's the ultimate benefit you've been forgiven of your sins all your iniquity And so we we now become possessors of joy because we've been forgiven we possess the Spirit of God the Spirit of God reigns within us because there's actually a clean place for him to live and therefore he can live within us and The fruit of the Spirit is joy So Christians possess joy That's why Christ said to the 70 in Luke chapter 10 after they had gone out and they'd seen all these miracles take place and and all the greatness of what was happening and and and And in Christ's look all the miracles are great But don't rejoice over that Rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven That's what you need to rejoice over why you've been forgiven Heaven is your destiny Don't rejoice over the ministry around you But rejoice over the destiny before you You're going to glory That's what causes real joy joy in his pardon Because it helps me refrain from my iniquity Why do I want to sin against the one that's forgiven me?

Why don't want to continue in sin? So that I offend my Lord, why would I want to do that? He's forgiven me my sin But you know what Satan wants to plunder all joy He wants to destroy all the joy in your life. He's the father of lies Johnny 44 He goes around like a roaring lion seeking who made me devour He wants to destroy all Joy in your life. He'll stop at nothing to do so He will and you must know that sin will always poison joy if you're living in sin You'll have no joy Thank You King David It's all 5111.

He said restore to me the joy of my salvation. Why because he had no joy why he lived in sin He had sinned with Bathsheba. He had not confessed his sin. He had not forsaken his sin He had not asked for forgiveness of a sin he just tried to hide his sin and All while hiding his sin Psalm 32 says God's hand was heavy upon me and I drenched my couch with tears He was a miserable man out front in front of the people. He was the king out front in front of people He looked like the king. He spoke like the king But in the privacy of his home, he was miserable.

There was no joy So he cry out restore to me the joy of my salvation How's that happen Through the confession and in the asking of forgiveness of sins That's how that happens I love what What Peter said to Cornelius in Acts chapter 10? when he said these words of Jesus all the prophets bear witness that through his name Everyone Who believes in him Receives the forgiveness of sins That's the joy You come to Christ to receive the forgiveness of sins. You don't come to Christ to get a better marriage You don't come to Christ to get a better job You don't come to Christ to get better physically You come to Christ because you're a sinner and you need the forgiveness of sins and only he can do that And when he wipes the slate clean Micah 7 tells us he separates them as far.

I'm sorry He throws them to the depths of the sea Psalm 103 tells us he separates them as far as the east is from the west He deals with our iniquities in his way He brings them up no more because there is no condemnation for those who in Christ Jesus We've been set free from our sins and that's the beauty of forgiveness Psalm 35 verse number 9 the psalmist said My soul shall rejoice in the Lord it shall exult in his Salvation His salvation Solomon say in Proverbs chapter 28 He that covereth his sins shall never prosper But he who confesses and forsakes them Shall find mercy You know, there are a lot of people who had no joy because they had to cover their sins Hide their sins Their lives are miserable joy comes with the forgiveness of sins a Restoration of a relationship that is broken not because of God but because of us Our sins separate us from God not because God wants to be separate from us, but because We have something we're holding Against God our sin Needs to be confessed.

It needs to be forsaken It needs to to be repented of There is joy In his pardon and that helps me refrain from iniquity Keeps me on the straight and narrow Living for the Lord Joy always comes to those who have received the forgiveness of sins Because you don't bear the guilt of that sin anymore We're not weighed down by the consequences of sin. Why? Because the Lord has forgiven us of that We've been set free and Therefore we rejoice. How about you? Are you rejoicing today? Because of the joy found in the pardon of the Living God The one who takes away your sin Who forgives you because he loves you so That's what Christmas is all about It's about a Savior Who's the Messiah?

Who's the Lord? Who had a plan? From the very get-go That was all about the redemption of men from his sins That's why we rejoice