Reasons to Rejoice, Part 5

It's so good to have you with us tonight as we celebrate On the eve of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, of course It's not officially the the birthday of our Lord But it's the day we celebrate it and we're glad that you're with us to participate in this Opportunity to once again look into the perfect law of liberty and see what God has for us tonight you know, I I have a Great love for the Christmas season. It's always been a great part of my life and our family's life and During the holiday season, especially this year.

I come into work really really early on Mondays and Tuesdays I get here between 530 and 6 and I come in and turn on all the lights not the overhead lights but the Christmas lights I turn them all on and Because just with a clicker we can you know, turn them on now I have to go around and plug them all in and I sit right up here and I begin to pray for our church and For them specifically about the Christmas season and I'll walk around the auditorium because I know where a lot of you sit a lot of You're creatures of habit.

You never move. You're always in the same spot every week And so it's easy for me to remember where you are and where you sit and to pray for you by name and your family And to pray specifically this year that God would cause all of us to know how to rejoice Not just during the Christmas season, but all throughout our lives It's so important for us to realize that that the Christmas story is more than just a Narrative in the Bible. It's the truth of the Living God the opportunity for us to celebrate the greatness of the coming of the Christ is is Something that should not be celebrated just during the month of December, but all throughout our lives And therefore we have looked at this year what it means to rejoice.

What are the real reasons? We are to rejoice during this time of the year plus at any time During the year and so we have been going through them and we've been using the word Rejoice to as a guideline to help us understand. What are the real reasons? We rejoice and the first one of course is the reality of his person if you rejoice because of the reality of who?

Christ is then you can revere his identity and ministry Number two was to rejoice because of the eternality of his plan When you rejoice because of the eternality of his plan, then you're able to rest in a sovereignty Number three was to rejoice in the joy of his pardon for when you are forgiven Then you are able to understand the importance of what it means to truly live in light of that forgiveness and you are able to truly Refrain from all iniquity and then fourthly this past Sunday We covered the obtain ability of peace once you obtain that peace Then you can learn to radiate his tranquility Tonight we will look at the fifth point in that outline and that is the in Inviolability of his promises now, I know it's a big word and you might not understand what it means It simply means that his promises cannot be broken His promises will never change His promises are are steadfast So the inviolability of his promises helps you understand how you can respond each and every day with certainty Because every one of us needs to live a life of absolute certainty for instance the Apostle Paul said These words for we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose He doesn't think about that.

He's a wonder about that. He knows for certain about that He said for I know in whom I have believed and am persuaded That he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him until that day Paul knew that It wasn't something he could guess at he absolutely knew it for certain The Bible says in first John that these things are written that you may know for certain that you have eternal life For those of us who have eternal life, we know it It's not something we guess or hope or we wonder about we know for certain that we have eternal life So all the promises of God according to 2nd Corinthians 120 are yes in Jesus All the promises of God are yes in Jesus If you have been with us this past year and you able to receive this book The Christ of Christmas it truly is about the man of promise that the man of promise foretold the man of promise fulfilled and ultimately the man of promise Foreseen in a second coming And if you had the opportunity to go through this then you're able to understand all the different promises Centered around the arrival of the Messiah and how true they are because all the promises of God are yes in Jesus Christ our Lord and so we understand that these promises are literally fulfilled in Jesus For instance, let me give you an example in Luke's Gospel in Luke chapter 1 when the angel came to Mary He said these words Luke chapter 1 in verse Number 31 the angel said and behold you will conceive in your womb Now that was a literal conception That was not a figurative conception That was not a symbolic conception.

That was a literal conception Mary absolutely conceived a son in her womb and then he says this and You will bear a son That was literal Mary didn't have a girl. She had a son His name is Jesus, that's what it says it says and you shall name him Jesus now we all know that literally Mary conceived literally Mary had a son Literally Mary named him Jesus and then it says this Says and he will be great There is no misconception about that We know that Christ was great and Then it says these words and he will be called the Son of the Most High God Was Jesus literally called the Son of the Most High God absolutely by demons in Mark chapter 5 The man filled with legion Said what do we have to do with you son of the Most High God?

All that is literal. None of it is figurative. None of it is symbolic It's all true. It all happened just like it was told to Mary and then it says this and The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David Did Jesus receive the throne of his father David when he came no He did not Was it promised in the Old Testament? Yeah with the Davidic covenant covenant. It was promised But did he receive it when he came? No, that means he's yet to receive it And then it says and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever Well, we know he didn't reign over the house of Jacob because they rejected him as their king but the text says he will do it forever and Then it says this and his kingdom will have no end in other words if the first part of the verse is literal and not figurative or symbolic You can't say now that the second half of the verse is Not really going to happen as it was stated It's a figurative Reigning he's figuratively on the throne of David now and he is reigning over his people Israel No, that's not what it says.

It says that absolute facts that this is exactly what's going to happen Therefore we believe that one day Christ is going to return he is going to inhabit the throne of his father David He will rule from Jerusalem Literally not figuratively and he will rule over Jacob and his kingdom will last forever Why because Isaiah 9 7 says so So we believe in the promises that are given Why because they're unchangeable They're ironclad Nothing about them is going to change So when God makes a promise he keeps his word.

He is the God who does not lie So I begin to think about all the different promises that were fulfilled you can think about remember there were 333 specific prophecies around the coming of the Messiah a 109 of them were fulfilled in his first coming that would mean that there are 224 yet to be fulfilled So if the hundred nine were all fulfilled literally, does that mean the next 224 are not going to be fulfilled literally?

but symbolically No They're gonna be fulfilled literally as well Because God is true to his word He never backs away from his word What is true with the Davidic Covenant and the Abrahamic Covenant where the Lord will sit on the throne of his father David and he? Will rule over the land of Israel all that was an unconditional irrevocable covenant made by God with God Never to be changed and therefore it will happen just exactly as Jesus said That's very important to understand that Why because if you're gonna rejoice all throughout your life You must believe and understand the promises of God that they are unchanging So as I was thinking about that, I thought to myself, okay What what promises could I share with you this evening that would encourage you?

Let me give you a couple of them. I've got a list of them I'm not gonna give them all to you because I'm not gonna have enough time to do that Because my wife asked me she goes how long is your sermon? I? Well, I got to be done by six, so that's how long it's gonna be Well, really five till six because we got to sing one more song But here's the point. How about this the promise of the redemption of man? That's a promise the promise of the redemption of man When was that promise made it was made in eternity past And God made a promise that he was going to save man he was gonna redeem a bride for his son and That promise is being fulfilled every time someone gives their life to Christ When you gave your life to Christ that was a promise fulfilled in your life That God saved your soul This is so important.

Why because he was gonna buy us back From the slave market of sin. That's what it means to redeem to purchase back. He would pay the price What was the price well Peter tells us over in first Peter chapter 1 when he says this Verse number 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold From your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers But with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless the blood of Christ For he was foreknown before the foundation of the world But as appeared in these last dimes for the sake of you Who through him our believers in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory?

Set your faith and hope are in God You were redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb When Christ came he came to die He came to give his life away He came to remove our iniquity first John chapter 5 tells us at the same time to destroy the works of the enemy Because he was gonna buy back man He was gonna buy your soul so that you would be one of his children You see God is a Savior He's a Redeemer and the reason we rejoice so much over the promises of God is that God made a promise to redeem?

his own And he does it he does it without partiality He does it without exclusion He's a saving God Remember way back in Exodus chapter 3 verse number 15. I'll just review it for you. So you understand it There's that name that memorial name of God that when Moses asked him. What is your name? She said tell him my name is I am and And that just makes up is made up of four Hebrew consonants And we had a couple of vowels in there and we call him Jehovah, right? But this is his memorial name It says in Exodus 3 15 that his name this memorial name is to be remembered from generation to generation It's never to be forgotten.

Why because he was a deliverer a redeemer of man. He's a savior of men That's who Jesus is So I love what it says over in Isaiah chapter 43 When the Lord speaks he says for I am the Lord your God the Holy One of Israel. I am your Savior He says in verse number 11. I even I am the Lord and there is no Savior besides me verse number 14 Thus says the Lord your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel God reiterates over and over again that he is Israel's Redeemer He is Israel's Savior and then I love Isaiah 44 verse number 6 because I've had the opportunity to travel to Israel and talk to some of my Jewish friends that are there and I love to talk To them because because I consider myself a rabbi see and so I when I talk to them I tell him that I am their personal rabbi.

And so when I talk to them, I ask them questions And so when I talked to one of my good friends Ezekiel, I said to him Ezekiel Tell me do you know who the Messiah is? He goes? No, no one knows who the Messiah is I said but I do and I said I know who he is and I don't even have to read the New Testament to know Who he is He goes, how do you know who the Messiah is? I said the book of Isaiah 44 chapter 6 verse Take out your Hebrew Bible. So he takes that up see your Bible because he goes to synagogue every morning at 5 a.m Takes out his Hebrew Bible and begins to read I said so you read it in Hebrew, but translate it for me in English So he says, okay So he reads it and it reads just like my New American Standard reads it says Thus says the Lord the King of Israel and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts I said, okay.

Stop right there That verse tells you two things One is that there's a Redeemer and That Redeemer is called Yahweh or Jehovah But notice what it says in the first part of the verse It says thus says the Lord who also is Yahweh the Lord of Hosts and his Redeemer How can you have two Jehovah's when there's only one God?

He looked at me says I'll have to ask my rabbi I Said no. No, I'm your rabbi I'm telling you there are two Jehovah's how can there be two when there's only one God? Because the Redeemer is also God and that Redeemer came to redeem you from Your sinful lifestyle just like you came to redeem me from my sinful lifestyle and I said you need to understand that because all throughout the Old Testament God manifests himself as a Savior a deliverer a Redeemer and the promise was that he was going to redeem a bride for his son How with the precious blood of his own?

being He did That's the promise. And So when you're redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, you have been a part of the promise of God That's been fulfilled in your life Knowing that but number two the reality of peace.

That's another promise The reality of peace we talked about this on Sunday Peace was offered Luke chapter 2 verse number 14 Luke chapter 1 verse number 77 It's all about how he will guide us in the way of peace He is the Prince of Peace who has now come to offer us peace And when you have the peace of God when you experience the peace of God you enjoy peace with God see When you experience the peace of God having been justified by faith you have peace with God You enjoy that peace and you live in a realm of that peace And that's a promise that God gives to his own And when you give your life to Christ, the kingdom of God is all about righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit What's needed to promise number three the the?

Not just a reality of peace and not just the redemption of man, but number three it simply is The resource of the Holy Spirit That's a promise The resource of the Holy Spirit way back in the book of Ezekiel the 37th chapter In what is commonly called the New Covenant Listen to what God says to Israel He says in verse number 22 therefore say to the house of Israel thus says the Lord God it is not for your sake Oh house of Israel that I'm about to ache About to act but for my name sake Which you have profaned among the nations where you went.

I will vindicate the hope with the holiness for my name's sake Which has been profaned among the nations which you have profaned in their midst Then the nations will know that I am the Lord declares the Lord When I prove myself holy among you in their sight For I will take you from the nations Gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols moreover I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will be careful to observe all my ordinances This is a new covenant promise I'm gonna sprinkle clean water on you I'm gonna wash you thoroughly so when Christ taught the Nicodemus and John chapter 3 and said a man must be born again and Nicodemus asked the question.

Well, how can a man be born again? What does what do you mean born again and Christ said you must be born from above you must be born of the water and of the spirit he was referring to Ezekiel chapter 36 and Nicodemus would know that Because he was a student of the law He understood those things and Christ says in that in that whole realm of his conversation with Nicodemus what it means to truly be born again based on what Ezekiel 36 says when God says I will give them a new heart and a new spirit I will give them my spirit and what does that spirit do that spirit causes you to walk?

according to God's statutes according to his ordinances That that's why when someone gives their life to Christ their life changes because the Spirit of God invades their life and Causes them to walk in line with what the Word of God says and that's what Christianity is all about walking in line with what the Word of God says simply because the Spirit of God lives within you and That promise was given by God to the nation of Israel for his namesake And so when Jesus comes Jesus says these words in John chapter 14 He says I will ask the father and he will give you another helper that he may be with you forever That is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot perceive or receive because it does not see him or know him But you know him because he abides with you and will be in You Christ says look, here's the promise.

I'm gonna go away I'm gonna give you my spirit and everything that Ezekiel was told by my father in heaven is going to come true You will be clean and my spirit will walk in you and will abide in you and will rule in your life See we need the Spirit of God Why because we need to walk in the spirit or we can't We will fulfill the lust of the flesh We need to walk in the spirit we need to be controlled by the Spirit Ephesians chapter 5 so we can sing to one another in Psalms and hymns and Spiritual songs so we can submit to one another and give thanks to God for all that He's done.

We need the Spirit of God and that's a promise that God gives way back in Ezekiel chapter 36 Jesus then reiterates that in John 14 and says you're gonna receive my spirit. It will be in you It will make its abode inside of you And we had that promise Fulfilled because we've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and We have received the Spirit of God and experienced the reality of his peace Those are promises that God gives that are unchangeable Irrevocable He promised these things He also promised us number number four the reliability of his presence The reliability of his presence I will be with you lo I am with you even to the end of the age Everything about Christianity is Christ in you the hope of glory over in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 It's the apostle Paul who says these words when he quotes from the Old Testament For we are the temple of the Living God Just as God said I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people That's a promise that God gives That he will be in them the reality of the presence of God.

He lives within us He goes with us wherever we go. We are never in a place. He is not Why because he's on the present so the promise of the reality of his presence goes with us No matter what happens in our lives in the wood the psalmist say yea though I walk through the valley the shadow of death. I will fear no evil for thou art with me Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me Why because God's presence is always with us and we need to know the presence of the Living God So many times we we never rejoice because we don't realize that God is with us but he is like we said on Sunday with the men in the boat and they were fearful for their lives and The Lord was right there with them Physically present with them and yet they lived a life of fear and that's why I said why you guys such cowards How can you be a coward with the Almighty God right here with you?

But you were and they began to fear even all the more We experienced the presence of God We Have the opportunity to rely upon him every single day So the promise of the reliability of his of his presence the promise of the reality of peace the promise of the redemption of man the promise of The resource of a spirit. There's also the promise of the return of the Lord He's going to come again just like he said acts 1 verse number 7 and He's going to come because it's been a fixed day in the future where our Lord's going to return that's why Jesus said Let not your hearts be troubled neither.

Let them be afraid If you believe in God believe also in me for in my father's house are many dwelling places If it were not so I would have told you But I go and prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will receive you unto myself that where I am There you may be also that's how Jesus comforts the troubled hearts of his disciples Same way he wants to comfort your heart I'm going to come again. I'm preparing a room for you a specific room just for you Furnished just by me And I'm gonna come again.

I'm gonna receive you to myself so that where I am there you may be also There's that promise of the return of the Lord. He came the first time just like he said He's gonna come the second time just like he said Revelation chapter 19 now you go to his read it and understand the implications of his arrival first testimonies for 13 to 18 And when he returns again, guess what?

There's another promise and there's a promise of the reward of believers of the reward for believers He says in Revelation 22 12 behold. I am coming quickly and my reward is with me There's also the promise of the resurrection of your body God's gonna raise your body from the dead John chapter 5 Everyone who is alive will hear his voice and everyone will be raised from the dead believer and unbeliever the believer to a resurrection of life the unbeliever to a resurrection of death a resurrection of separation from God forever That's a promise You need to understand that there's also the promise of the retribution For unbelievers second Thessalonians chapter 1 verse number 7 Says when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire Dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who don't obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction Away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes to be glorified in his Saints on that day and to be marveled at among all who have believed That's a promise he's going to come again and those who do not know God and Those who do not obey the gospel of God Are going to receive the retribution of?

God It's important to realize that Also, there's the promise of the reassurance of heaven We are guaranteed heaven Jesus said these words in in John's gospel in the in the fifth chapter John chapter 5 He says these words verse number 24 He says truly truly I say to you he who hears my word and believes him who sent me Has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life There's a promise that God gives that reassures the believer that heaven is his destiny But let me give you one more If you are doing this devotional Hopefully you are If you are you know that on December 24th The Messiah is called the satisfier of man And in here we we talk about the fact that it's only the Messiah who can satisfy the needs of man and So we realize that a promise that God has given Through his word is the promise to resolve or restore or replenish all of man's needs That's a promise Paul says my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus our Lord That's a promise that God gives he will restore replenish He will resolve Every need that you have not your wants But every need That you have Why the Old Testament calls him El Shaddai, you know that word right El Shaddai a Lot of us translate it God Almighty I'm not sure that's the best translation because it comes from a root word Shad which which means breast which talks to us about how the the Lord is the feeder and nourisher of His own So El Shaddai means the all-sufficient God He is the Almighty God who can supply and suffice for every need that you have It's used 48 times in the Old Testament in fact six times in the book of Genesis and the first five times it used it's used it deals with meeting the needs of the patriarchs in a very specific sufficient kind of way He is El Shaddai he is the all-sufficient one who supplies all of our needs He does that that's why I love what the Bible says and in Jeremiah 31 25 for I satisfy the weary one and refresh everyone who languishes What a great verse Only God can refresh those who languish Psalm 107 verse number nine.

He satisfies the thirsty soul in the hungry soul He has filled with his goodness That's our Lord In Malachi chapter 3 verse number 1 it talks about he is the messenger of the covenant in whom we delight And hang I chapter 2 is called the desire of the nations Why because he fulfills the desire the ultimate desire of every nation through his life that was given away That's why the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 8 verse number 9 for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus That although he was rich Yet for your sake he became poor That you through his poverty Might become rich It's not material riches But a spiritual blessing The inheritance that God gives us He is the great I am That means as the great I am he satiates all of our longings He is the one who can do that No one else can That's why he says I am John 6 the bread of life I Am the bread of life, I am the only one who can eliminate All your hunger I'm the one who does that Why for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness Matthew 5 6 they and they only shall be satisfied so the Lord says I Am that I am and I am the bread of life I'm the one that eliminates all your hunger and Then in John a says I am the light of the world I'm the only one who can illuminate you in the midst of your darkness I'm the only one who can do that nobody else can He is the light that came into the world that enlightens every man to the truth of the knowledge of God So not only is he the bread of life and in the light of the world and John 9 says I'm the door I'm the door of a sheepfold and Only the Shepherd can open and close the door And because he says I'm the door.

I'm the one who initiates Which way you go and where you go? Not only am I the door John 10 says I'm the Good Shepherd. I'm the Good Shepherd And because I am the Good Shepherd. I'm the only one who can obliterate all your fears. No one else can Why because when you walk through the valley of shadow death you fear no evil why because he's with us he's the Good Shepherd If you read in our in a devotional book the Christ of Christmas about Christ being that chief Shepherd that glorious Shepherd who cares for?

His own that's what he does. He obliterates all of our fears. There's nothing to fear Why because he is the Good? Shepherd in John 11 He's the resurrection the life I am the resurrection in the life. I am the one who dictates your destiny I'm the only one who can do that. He holds the keys revelation 1 to death and Hades. He's in control of all things I'm the one who dictates your destiny because I am the resurrection. I am the life I am the life giver and no one else is and then From John 11 you go to John chapter 14 and Christ says I am the way I am the truth and I am the life Because I in the way, I'm the one who delineates your path Because I am the truth.

I'm the one who renovates your mind Because I am the life. I am the one who liberates your soul. No one else can only Christ can And then you go to John chapter 15. He says I am the true vine Right because I am the only one who can stimulate and cultivate your spiritual growth No one else can I? Am that I am I am the great I am He says in Revelation 1. I am the Alpha and the Omega That is he mandates our submission And he elevates our Anticipation of his coming again See only Jesus can do that That's who he is That's why he is the only one who promises to resolve and to replenish all of your needs because he's the only one again nobody else can Because the needs that you and I have our needs that cannot be met in the external realm only in the eternal realm By an eternal God an infinite God who wants to take up residence in your life and live in and through you every single day Do you know that one?

All the promises that he gives Our promises that cannot change will never be broken And are available to you and the question is will you receive them? Will you embrace them will you accept them and say yes Lord because all the promises of God are yes in Jesus let me pray with you father.

Thank you for tonight a Chance to briefly look once again at the Word of the Lord There there is so much to say about the birth of the Messiah the coming of Christ in the whole narrative surrounding your arrival the first time There there are not enough hours in the day to exhaust the the text of scriptures that explained to us about your coming and Yet the promises fulfilled Are extraordinary They're specific.

They're literal And so we're coming again Father we anticipate that But in the meantime, we pray for everyone in the room tonight That there would be none here who leave without knowing and embracing the man of promise And knowing that the promises available to them can be fulfilled If and only they embrace Christ as Lord and Savior Pray this in Jesus name Amen