“Confessions of Christmas – the Prophets” – Isaiah 9:6-7

A number of years ago, Peter W. Stoner and Robert C. Newman wrote a book entitled Science Speaks. The book was based on the science of probability and vouched for by the American Scientific Affiliation. It set out the odds of any one man in all of history fulfilling even only eight of the 60 major prophecies (and 270 ramifications) fulfilled by the life of Christ.

The probability that Jesus of Nazareth could have fulfilled even eight such prophecies would be only 1 in 10¹⁷. That's 1 in 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000.

Stoner claims that that many silver dollars would be enough to cover the face of the entire state of Texas two feet deep. Texas is a very big state. Who in his right mind would suppose that a blindfolded man, heading out of Dallas by foot in any direction, would be able, on his very first attempt, to pick up one specifically marked silver dollar out of 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000? (Christiananswers.net)

But the truth is that the life of Jesus fulfilled every one of those prophesies; specific prophesies that include that he would be born in Bethlehem, born of a virgin, die on the cross and be raised back to life.  These prophecies were written by many different people from 400 years before He was born to over 1000 years before He was born and yet Jesus fulfilled them all.

That in itself should bring hope and peace to you since if everything predicted about Jesus in the Bible came true then everything to come will come true and as we all know, in the end, we win.  So, as we continue with our series entitled “Confessions of Christmas”, I want to look at the confessions of the prophets, specifically the confession of the prophet Isaiah in his book.

Like I said, there were a lot of prophets who prophesied about Jesus.  Abraham, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Micah, and Zechariah all foretold his birth, life or death.  And Isaiah made other predictions as well but I ask you to turn to the book of Isaiah chapter 9 and let’s read verses 6 & 7.

⁶ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.⁷Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Isaiah is writing some 700-plus years before Jesus was born and these writings must have brought great peace and joy and celebration to the Israelite people who later read these words, all the way up to Jesus Himself.  I have always wondered what it must have been like for the young boy Jesus to read these words in the scrolls at the temple, knowing that He was the one about who was being prophesied.  Just add that to the things to ask Jesus when we get to Heaven.

But for the Israelites, it had to be a great hope.  It had to bring peace.  It would make you want to celebrate that the beloved people would once again be remembered and blessed by the Messiah.  You know, sort of like it makes us feel even today.  We celebrate Christmas 2700 years after this was written for the same reason that the Israelites celebrated.  The tragedy is that so many of the people of the nation to which this was written fail to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

But for us it brings great joy and peace to think that what Isaiah is confessing came true and will continue to be true.  In fact, if you remember throughout this whole series of “Confessions of Christmas” each of the confessions was intended to bring joy and peace.  When Gabriel went to Mary and told her the good news that she would be the mother of the Christ, it brought joy and peace.  When Elizabeth reacted to Mary’s visit by saying, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear”, that brought joy and peace.  And what about the joy and peace that Simeon had when he held the baby in the temple?  He had so much peace he told God “you now dismiss your servant in peace.”  He was ready to die after seeing the One about who is prophesied here in Isaiah.

Most of you have heard my testimony before.  I came to a relationship with Jesus when I was a child and lived that way for a long time but as I grew older I slipped out of that close relationship and started living just for myself.  And I have to admit that it was pretty fun most of the time.  I had a lot of friends and we had lots of fun but deep down I was miserable because I had no joy and no peace.  I knew the life I was living was wrong because while I had fun sometimes, my life wasn’t worth living without the joy and the peace that I had known.

We have talked lately about how the Holy Spirit works and that is a huge part of it.  The Holy Spirit guides us and directs us and people who don’t have the Holy Spirit often wonder how that happens.  If He doesn’t speak to you audibly or show you a physical sign then how do you know it is the Spirit that is guiding you and not just your conscience or that pizza you ate last night?  The bringing of or the absence of joy and peace as we start to make a decision is often how that happens.

I don’t want to run out of time this week like I did last week so let’s look at the 4 names Isaiah uses here to describe the Messiah we now know as Jesus.  I want to focus just on the 4 names this morning.  No, this does not do this passage justice to only concentrate on such a small part but when have I ever done that?  And besides, this is more than enough for today.  The first name Isaiah uses to describe the Messiah is Wonderful Counselor.

Since there was no punctuation in Isaiah’s written language it is sometimes difficult to translate every nuance and particular meaning but we might do well to put a comma right after “Wonderful”.  That may be a correct translation but we don’t know and for today I want to combine it like it is in most Bibles.  “Wonderful Counselor” – what do you think of when you hear the word “counselor”?

The original Hebrew word simply means one who gives good advice.  This would have been of utmost importance in the days of Isaiah.  They were going through a rough time where the leaders of the country had turned away from the one true God and had started worshipping false gods or no god at all.  And there was pressure from the community and from society to follow the lead of the kings who were going in the wrong direction.  Sound familiar?

It would have been important then just as it is important now to be able to rely on someone who gave good advice.  Have you ever gotten good advice?  Somebody tell me in a sentence or two.  Have you ever gotten some bad advice?  I’ve heard it said that a wise man seeks much counsel…and a fool listens to all of it.  Why is that?  Is it because people are stupid?  Is it because they are mean and want to see you fail?  Maybe sometimes but that’s probably rare.  More often it’s because they are human and see through human eyes.

It’s amazing to me how the Holy Spirit comes back into our conversation at this point.  The Holy Spirit is our Counselor and as I said he whispers to us through our peace and joy about making the right decisions but the word “counselor” can also rightfully be used of an attorney or lawyer.  Have you thought about that?  Yes, the Holy Spirit is our attorney who not only gives us wise counsel but also stands for us before the Father.  Revelation 12:10 says that Satan stands before God accusing us all day long and the sad thing about is, while Satan is the father of lies, some of what he says is probably true.

And so I need a good attorney.  I need a really good lawyer.  I need a Wonderful Counselor who will stand before God and say, “Your Honor, what has been said may be true but that crime has been atoned for.  That price has been paid and while I may be the Counselor I am also the one who paid the price.  This man is no longer guilty!”  THAT’S a Wonderful Counselor!  I don’t need a lawyer with a nickname like “The Hammer”.  I need one who is known as the Wonderful Counselor.  That brings me joy and peace.

He is not only the Wonderful Counselor; He is also the Mighty God.  The name means strong warrior or even hero.  Do you think about God as being a warrior or a hero?  At this time of year it is appropriate to think of Jesus lying in a manger, helpless and sweet.  But at the same time, He was and is the warrior in chief.  He is the head general in this battle and as such He has everything under control.

Psalm 45:3 says, “Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.”  And Revelation 19:13-16 says, “¹³ He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. ¹⁴ The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. ¹⁵ Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.”^[a] He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. ¹⁶ On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

And while He is a mighty warrior, I have one more passage to help us understand the nature of this Warrior.  Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”  The Mighty God, Hero God, Ancient Warrior who is all-powerful loves us so much that He rejoices over us with singing.  That brings me joy and peace!

He is a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God and Everlasting Father.  Family-life specialists Delmer W. Holbrook and his wife have conducted surveys across America.  In a survey of hundreds of children, the Holbrooks came up with 3 things fathers say most in responding to their kids.  “I’m too tired.”  “We don’t have enough money”.  And “Keep quiet”  (Illustrations for Biblical Teaching)

I don’t know what your earthly father was or is like.  For me, I have to say those exact things to him.  “I’m too tired.  Keep quiet!”  J  No, that’s not true but whatever your fatherly role model, it’s time to quit falling back on that because we have as our Heavenly Father an ancestor, teacher, advisor, priest and protector.  That’s what the words “Everlasting Father” stand for.

Now any of you that are parents know that there comes a time in almost every kid’s life that they start to pull away from Mom and Dad.  First, you can’t kiss them goodbye when you drop them off for school and then they don’t want you to even drop them off.  They would rather walk than be seen with you.  Then, as older teens, most kids finally leave the nest.  They think dear old dad is just stupid and they can do it better on their own.  Until what?  Until they need something, right?  Until they can’t figure out what to do or they have no other option and then they come back asking for help.

The shooting in Connecticut was beyond comprehension.  Nobody can understand how somebody could do such a thing and nobody can comprehend how to keep it from happening again.  You have heard the argument that we need fewer guns or more guns or better mental health programs or less video games or blah, blah, blah.  But you know what happened as soon as the news broke that the shooter had gone to that school and killed those children? 

We prayed.  We as a nation prayed.  The president prayed.  The school teachers prayed.  The TV news anchor prayed!  Because we don’t know what to do and we have no other option, just like kids who have left the house and now we are in trouble, we come back to the Everlasting Father and we cry for help.  The same people who just the day before said there is no God or God is stupid or how could God do this or that are now saying, “God, help us.”

And do you know what God says?  Do you know how the Creator of the universe responds to us when we do that?  Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  That gives me such peace and such joy.

And it should bring us peace because He is the Prince of Peace.  He is the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace.  Oh, how those words must have comforted the Israelites back in the day.  A prince is a representative of the king, a ruler or an honored person and to know that the Messiah would soon come to save them from their enemies had to be comforting. 

I went to Israel probably 25 or so years ago and do you know what?  It had not changed much in any way from those days when Isaiah made this prophesy.  Everywhere you go there are soldiers in uniform carrying high-powered weapons and while the weapons of war may have changed not much else has.  There is still no peace.  There are still being attacked every day on all sides from people who want to take their land.  Psalm 122 tells us even today that we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem but there will be no real peace there until the Messiah comes back.

The good news is though, that peace is not necessarily the absence of war.  Those favored people, the Israelites, can have personal peace right now through a relationship with the Messiah and so can we.  The last part of that passage says that the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.  That word “zeal” means his eager desire is to make all this happen.  God has an eager desire to have a relationship with you; a relationship that means no more guilt and no more shame.  Those things get replaced with peace and joy.

Make that your confession today.  Come before the Everlasting Father and say, “God, I need help.”  Accept His mighty power, his good advice and the peace that passes all understanding even in the midst of war; even in the midst of everything going on in your life.  That is God’s Christmas gift to you this year if you will only accept it.

“Confessions of Christmas” – Simeon – Luke 2:21-35

I want you to go back in history with me for a few minutes.  I want you to think back through time to a very dark age; a time where political officials were corrupt, morals were almost non-existent, people seemed to have no regard for how their actions might impact other people and everybody was out to do what seemed right for them and had no care for others.  It was a time many years ago where selfishness and pride ruled men’s’ hearts and it seemed like God was almost silent as His Laws were trampled and He was deaf to the cries of His people.

How do you carry on?  How do you remain Godly in an ungodly world?  When violence and immorality are the norm, where do you, as a believer turn for consolation?  In fact, who or what could possibly console you at such a time? 

We are going to see the answer to that in the book of Luke this morning because while you may have thought I was talking about the dark days of just last week here in the United States, I was actually referring to the period between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  Approximately 400 years go by after the last writings and prophesies of the Old Testament and before the time of Jesus when the New Testament was written. 

It was a dark and difficult time for someone to be a believer in the one, true God, especially for a Jew in Israel.  The once great and powerful nation had been conquered and had a new king who was not in the line of David and their national pride had to be at an all-time low.  But when things were at their worst and it seemed as if a Jew had no where to turn for consolation, there comes, as it says, “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

Turn to Luke chapter 2 and we will continue with the 3^rd in our series of “Confessions of Christmas” and this week we hear the confession of a man named Simeon in Luke 2:21-35. 

²¹ On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.²² When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” ²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷ Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: ²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. ³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation, ³¹ which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: ³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.” ³³ The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

I have to say that up until Friday I would have told you that this was a good past week.  I felt like I got a few things done.  I was encouraged by our worship last Sunday.  We had a real good Bible study Wednesday and I had a great time of worship Thursday with my biker buddies.  Even the weather seemed normal and right for December.  But by mid-morning Friday, you couldn’t turn around without hearing about the horrible shooting in Connecticut that left some 27 people dead including 20 small children.  Words just don’t cut it.

As if that wasn’t bad enough I started to think about other friends and loved ones I have lost; some right around Christmas and others this will be the first Christmas without them.  I watched the news about how the Republicans and the Democrats can’t see eye to eye and now we are all going to pay for it.  Thousands of innocent people in the Middle East are being killed every day.  Some guy in China slashed 22 kids with a knife and lawmakers in Chicago want to give you 6 months in jail for feeding the pigeons!  This place is crazy!  And it was about to make me crazy!

But then I read this passage over again.  And while it doesn’t make this nasty old world any easier to understand, I, like Simeon, found consolation.  I, like Simeon, found peace.  And I, like Simeon, owe it all to Jesus!  And that is my confession as we continue our look at the confessions of Christmas and we see that Simeon here makes actually 4 confessions surrounding the baby Jesus.  If you have a bulletin you should have an insert with an outline that shows those 4 confessions.  Let’s look at the first confession of Simeon that there was a promise.

To understand this promise, you first need to understand a little about Simeon; and that is all you are going to know is a little because that is all we are told.  But what we do know is that he was “righteous and devout”.  Evidently, his behavior with respect to men and God was the object of God’s approval.  We assume that Simeon was an elderly man, although it doesn’t say it.  It would just seem strange for a young man to say, “I can die in peace now.”

The other thing about Simeon that was remarkable was that he had been given a very rare and special blessing.  In some manner, even now before Pentecost, the Holy Spirit rested on him and he was constantly influenced by it.  That same Comforter had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  What a blessing that was to have a promise like that!

And there in verse 29 Simeon confesses that promise had been fulfilled.  We had a fascinating Bible study last Wednesday night discussing what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit and we talked about all the ways that Spirit, also known as the Comforter or Guide helps us.  We know that because of our relationship with God the Father, through His Son Jesus, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit, the third part of the Trinity, to guide us and give us wisdom and to prompt us to do God’s will.  John 14:26 promises us that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and remind us of what Jesus said. And that would be good enough if that was all the promise we were ever made was to receive the Holy Spirit to guide us here on this earth.

But we are promised so much more.  For starters, we, like Simeon, are promised, as believers, that we will someday see the Messiah!  I Thessalonians 4:13-18 says, “¹³ Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵ According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

How are you not encouraged by those words?!  If that doesn’t do it then how about from the mouth of Jesus Himself in John chapter 14 where he tells us that He is going to prepare a place for us and that He is going to come back and take us to be with Him.  That’s a promise that we, like Simeon, can claim.  The Bible is full of God’s promises and while that one in John is tops, let me read just a couple of others.

2 Peter 1:4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Philippians 4:19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

John 14:27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

The second verse of the old Hymn “Standing on the Promises” goes like this:

 Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.

I could have just preached on the promises of God this morning.  There are many more and like the song implies and that last verse I read from John says, those promises bring peace.  Don’t they?  I want you to say it.  “Because of God’s promises I have peace.”  Simeon knew it and he confesses it also in verse 29.

He tells God, “you now dismiss your servant in peace.”  According to my concordance, that original Greek word for peace is “eirene” i-ray-nay.  It means to have a harmonious relationship with God and others manifested in friendliness, rest and quietness.  Friendliness, rest and quietness.  Does that describe you?  It should.  2 quotes:

I have been very rich, very beautiful, much adulated, very famous…and very unhappy. Brigitte Bardot

I remember one day sitting at the pool and suddenly the tears were streaming down my cheeks. Why was I so unhappy? I had success. I had security. But it wasn't enough. I was exploding inside. Ingrid Bergman

How much is peace worth to you?  How much would you pay to be truthfully described using the words, “friendliness, rest and quietness”?  We spend billions of dollars every year trying to find the right product that we can consume to bring us peace and yet what happens when our circumstances are not in our favor?

*Loudly* You can’t do that!  That’s not right!  I’m calling the cops.  I’m writing my congressman.  I’m calling the Better Business Bureau.

Now, think about Simeon.  Seeing the baby Jesus didn’t change his immediate circumstances one bit.  Seeing baby Jesus didn’t give him any more money or power or freedom or respect or anything we think we have to have to have peace so what was it about Jesus that brought him that i-ray-nay, that peace?  It is the same thing that brings us peace here today as we fellowship with Jesus.  It is realizing that through a harmonious relationship with God through His Son that everything is going to be ok.  Whatever that means!  It’s going to be ok.

It is having faith that God is not going to put more on you than you can handle.  It is knowing that your sins are forgiven.  It is knowing that God loves you and He hears you and He wants the best for you.  It is knowing that this nasty old place is not our home but that we will spend eternity with Him.  And how do we know those things?  Because they are God’s promises!

God promised Simeon that he would not die until he saw the Messiah.  And when that happened, Simeon knew that everything was ultimately going to be ok.  He had peace because he knew that the little baby he held in his hands would change everything.  His circumstances might stay the same for now but the outcome was going to be radically different. 

2 Tim. 1:12 says, “That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”

Paul was going through difficult circumstances and yet he had i-ray-nay, peace - friendliness, rest and quietness.  You can too all because of that little baby born so many years ago so far away from here.  You can have peace in this nasty old world where pride and greed are the norm and it is hard to see or hear God in all of the hustle and bustle.

Because God had proven Himself trustworthy to Simeon, he had peace and because God has proven Himself trustworthy to us, we can too.

“Confessions of Christmas – Elizabeth” – Luke 1:39-45

Last week we started by talking about stupid criminals. This week, let me start by giving another example. Waylon Prendergast, 37, of Tampa, Florida, committed a spur-of-the-moment robbery while on his way home from a late-night drinking session. A very inebriated Mr. Prendergast forced his way into the house through an open upstairs window, filling a suitcase with cash and valuables before setting the living room on fire to cover his tracks. He then escaped through the back door and made his way home, chuckling all the way. Only as he turned the corner into his own street, however, and discovered three fire engines outside his house, did he realize that in his drunkenness he had, in fact, burgled and ignited his own property. His comment: "I had no idea I had so many valuable possessions."

Now while there is some humor involved with this, it’s also sad. It’s sad because in his drunkenness, he lost all of his stuff but it’s also sad because it took losing all of his stuff to realize how valuable it all was and how he had been blessed. “I had no idea I had so many valuable possessions.” What he is really saying is, “I had no idea how blessed I am.”

Do you think God blesses crazy old drunks? I think it’s safe to say that God blesses all of us in spite of our sin and shortcomings. I can vouch for that. You probably can too. And what a perfect opportunity, right here at the busiest shopping time of the year to think about how blessed we are and how much more stuff do we really need to make us happy?

How many more cd’s and sweaters and electronic gadgets that start with a lower-case “i” do you really need before you are happy? There is nothing wrong with having stuff. That’s not the point of this message. I just hope to encourage you to think about and appreciate all the ways you have been blessed this Christmas and hopefully you will be a blessing to others out of your abundance as well.

We are going to look this morning at someone in Luke chapter 1 who was blessed. I love to go to family reunions. When I see my relatives, it makes me happy. Well, most of them make me happy. But while they seem to enjoy seeing me and always greet me warmly, I have never gotten a greeting quite like Mary gets from her relative Elizabeth in Luke 1:39-45. My relatives and I are happy to see each other but we will see the difference here between happy and blessed.

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, ⁴⁰ where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth .⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.⁴² In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!⁴³ But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

If you were here last week, you remember we looked at the previous passage where the angel Gabriel comes to Mary and confesses to her that she is about to be the mother of the Messiah. In that same visit Gabriel confesses to her that her relative (we think she was a cousin) Elizabeth was also going to give birth and was in her 6^th month. Here we see that Mary has gone to visit Elizabeth but we are not told exactly why. Any of us might guess why. It could have been that Mary didn’t want to be around when word got out that this young woman who was not yet married had become pregnant.

Maybe she just wanted to be around another woman who was pregnant. Maybe she just wanted to tell somebody she saw an angel. Maybe it doesn’t matter why and so the Bible doesn’t say. And that’s ok. There are still a couple of things I want us to see in this passage.

As we continue talking about the confessions of Christmas, I want you to see in this passage Elizabeth’s confession of blessing and her confession of promise.

Have you ever been so excited for somebody else that you couldn’t help but holler? A friend of mine at the biker church got a new trike the other day. I saw it outside and knew it was his and I practically ran inside and then ran up to him and hugged him and realized I was almost hollering as I told him how pretty it was and how glad I was for him. I think I almost scared him but I couldn’t help it. I saw that he had been blessed.

See, blessed or bless-ed means more than just “happy”. “Happy” indicates how a person feels. “Blessed” is what he is. A person is blessed when God’s favor rests on him, when the Lord delights in him. And when Mary came through her door, Elizabeth knew that she was blessed and she said so in a loud voice! In verse 42, she says, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear.”

This is the same thing that Gabriel told Mary in verse 28. “You are highly favored and the Lord is with you!” I’m sure that made Mary happy to hear both of them say that but happiness is a feeling that can fade. Blessed is a fact. And I’m sure it was a fact that Mary needed to hear.

Now there are 3 things about Elizabeth’s confession of blessing to Mary that I want to elaborate on real quickly. As a blessed people we need to say it, hear it and realize it.

When we see other people have been blessed we need to say it. I love the fact that Elizabeth was so excited for Mary. There was no jealousy. There was no envy. She was truly excited for Mary. Even though she knew through the Holy Spirit that Mary was going to be the mother of the Messiah, Elizabeth was nothing but happy for her and not envious at all. You know why? I Corinthians 13:4 says, “Love does not envy”. Love doesn’t envy.

Elizabeth loved Mary so much she was glad for her and wanted the best for her. Here at Christmas time it is easy for somebody else to unwrap a present or get a great gift and for us to be envious. “Her sweater has two snowmen on it and mine only has one.” When somebody else has been blessed it is important that we not compare and just be glad for that person and to tell them that they have been blessed.

It was also important to Mary that she hear that from Elizabeth and from Gabriel. I’m sure that some people back then were already talking behind Mary’s back about how she was about to be an unwed mother. Rumors were surely flying around about this great scandal and who in her neighborhood was really going to believe the truth at this point? What an encouragement it was to Mary to have a friend who believed and understood and was excited for her!

Sometimes God blesses us in a way that can be hard to understand. It’s easy to see that God has blessed us when we get a new Corvette ZR1 in Velocity Yellow. But other times when God is blessing us with patience or when He blesses us with an affliction that makes us more like Jesus it is hard to believe that it is a blessing at all. Sometimes being reminded that we have been blessed is a blessing itself.

And that helps us with the next thing and that is realizing that we have been blessed. We need to say it, hear it and realize that we have been blessed. As a good parent, do you give your children everything that they want? I hope not. For the same reason you don’t give your 4 year old a new BB gun for Christmas, sometimes God doesn’t give us everything we want.

Oh, I’m sure your 4 year old is mature for his age and he has been begging and pleading and can’t understand why you don’t just buy it. Isaiah 55:8 says His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. And while God is able and ready to give you blessings pressed down and running over He doesn’t always give us what we think we want or need and we need to realize that is a blessing. When we truly realize that everything that comes into our lives is being allowed by God for our good and the good of His kingdom, then we realize how much God loves us and we realize that we are blessed.

Elizabeth makes another confession to Mary in verse 45. She confesses a promise. Verse 45 says, “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.” The promise is that what God said will be accomplished and what God said was that she would be the mother of the Messiah. But the blessing comes with belief.

I talk a lot about BOOCOD – the blessings of obedience and the consequences of disobedience but there is also BOBCOD – the blessings of belief and the consequences of disbelief. Elizabeth knew this well. Her husband Zechariah was given similar news to what Mary received and did not believe Gabriel when he told him. We see this in verse 20 of the same chapter where Gabriel tells Zechariah, “And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.”

Elizabeth understood the importance of belief. And while some women would think it was a blessing that their husband couldn’t talk for a while, she knew that when God says something you better believe Him. Malcolm Mugridge - "Our 20th century is one of the most credulous in all of history. It is not that people believe in nothing, which would be bad enough, but that they believe in anything, which is really terrible.” 


So, how do we know that the things that God says will, as Gabriel said, “…come true at their proper time”? Well, there are 3 things related to belief that we need to understand. First we need to know it, then we need to trust it and third, we need to live it.

If we are to begin with knowing what God says, then how do we do that? Well, we all know that we need to spend time in His word and in conversational prayer with Him but let’s use Elizabeth as our model. How did she know that God had told Mary she would be pregnant? Look at verse 41. “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” How does the Holy Spirit work like that?

Let me give you an illustration. A friend of mine, not me but a friend, cheated on a test one time in high school. And it wasn’t even my, I mean his fault. The guy behind him knew that my friend had not studied and was not smart enough to pass the test so he just whispered into my, his ear the right answer. That is sort of how the Holy Spirit works. You know, without the cheating.

The Greek word for HS is “paraclete” which means “one who stands beside” or “counselor”. Think of Him as an attorney highly invested in His client. So, if we are going to believe what God says then we have to know what God says and how we know it is through Bible study, prayer and, like Elizabeth, through the HS. And you receive the Holy Spirit only by having a relationship with God through His Son Jesus. It’s a package deal. So, if you are not hearing from the HS then you better check your relationship. This doesn’t mean God will reveal everything all at once, of course, but John 14:26 says, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

So, once we know what God says, the next step is to trust it. This is where the real blessing starts to really kick in. John 20:29 says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” So, how do we really trust what God says? One word: history. In your own life, has God ever let you down?

 Has He ever told you something that wasn’t true? Now, I could refer you to the Old Testament and to the prophesies that have all come true but I want you to see it for yourself.

And when I ask if God has ever let you down maybe you are not sure about the answer. Maybe there have been times in your history when you wondered if God had let you down. There was a time like that in my own life as a young adult. I was having a hard time believing that everything God said was true and right and so you know what I did? I looked to other people’s history. I made a concerted effort to look at the lives of the wisest people I knew – not necessarily the smartest but the wisest - to see what they thought. In their history, had God ever let them down? I think you know.

So, to wrap all of this up, if we are to be blessed then we need to believe. And if we are to believe then we need to know what God says through His Holy Spirit. We need to trust Him because history shows that He can be trusted. And since He can be trusted, we need to live like it.

This is my last point. And for all of these points I have tried to illustrate it or give a verse to agree with it but for this point I am going to let you practice what I have been preaching. I want us to bow our heads and close our eyes and just let the Holy Spirit whisper to you what this last point means to you personally. What does it mean for you to live out your beliefs? What has God told you lately that you are not fully embracing because you have not acted on it; you haven’t lived it out?

Maybe He has revealed some great secret to you about yourself and yet you have refused to change it. Maybe He has revealed to you that somebody else needs to hear a word of blessing from you and you have yet to do it. Or maybe God just wants to encourage you with a blessing this morning because He loves you so very much. Use this time to just allow yourself to humbly, yet boldly go into the throne room of the King and seek His face. What a blessing it is to be able to do just that!

 

"Confessions of Christmas - Gabriel" - Luke 1:26-38

Most folks enjoy reading or hearing about stupid criminals.  You know, the guy who robs a bank with a note written on the back of his own deposit slip; or the guy who robs a convenience store with a gun and sets the gun on the counter to grab the money and the clerk grabs the gun.  Those always appeal to us.  That's just funny.

But sometimes the bad guy pulls one over on the cops and it makes for a funny story as well.  Authorities in Florida said that 30 year old Patrick Townsend was busted last week with a large amount of meth and was taken to jail.  There he confessed to the crime.  He said he normally deals in a much larger amount than what he had on him that day so he just confessed.  The funny part is that after he confessed on tape to a detective, Townsend asked to go to the bathroom.  When he did he grabbed the tape recorder without the detective noticing and went to the bathroom and flushed the whole thing.

I understand he was still convicted and even sentenced for tampering with evidence but I bet the detective felt pretty dumb and doesn't let that happen again.  Sometimes we confess things that we wish we hadn't and sometimes we don't confess and wish we had.  But confession doesn't always mean you did something wrong.  The definition includes giving a word of affirmation, truth or significance.  You may confess that God is good or confess that Jesus is coming back soon.

I Tim. 6:13 says that Jesus made the good confession before Pilate. (Read 1 Timothy 6:13) And that confession that Jesus made was that His Kingdom was not of this world.  He was confessing to be God.  For December, we are going to be looking at some confessions of Christmas; confessions that Jesus is coming, that He is going to be a blessing, how to find Him and what it means for us today.

Today we are going to look at the confession of the angel Gabriel in Luke chapter 1.  Gabriel is mentioned in the Bible a few times.  He is mentioned in the Old Testament in Daniel as the man Gabriel who came to tell Daniel he was highly favored.  Then in the New Testament he is mentioned in the passage just before the one we are going to read today when he chastises Zechariah for not having enough faith in what he was telling him about the coming Christ.

In chapter 1 verses 26-38, Gabriel comes to Mary with some incredible news.  It is basically the same news he gives Zechariah but he tells Mary that not only is the Messiah coming, but she is going to be the mother.  Let's read in Luke 1:26-38.

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Note in verse 26 that Gabriel is "sent".  That word "sent" is the same root word we use for the word "apostle" or "one sent with a message".  And the message he is sent with is very similar in its beginning as the one he gave Daniel many years before.  "You are highly favored!"  Now, I don't care how favored I am, if Gabriel appears to me, I'm afraid the "fight or flight" reaction is going to kick in but Mary; young, sweet, innocent little Mary, who was probably not much more than a child is only "greatly troubled".  I'm sure that was very true.  I would be greatly troubled if an angel appeared to me and said anything.

But Gabriel continued on with his message and actually confessed to Mary 6 different things about the baby.

1.  The first thing he confessed was in verse 31 that she would name Him Jesus.  This is the same thing that Joseph was told in the dream recorded in Matthew: “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).  -Read John 3:17  The name Jesus means Savior.

2. “He will be great” (v. 32.) This concerns His significance. No doubt, He is the most significant personality in human and divine history.  After all, He is God, come in the flesh!   And the work He was to perform, the Atonement, would be the most meaningful in the history of humanity.  How is Jesus great in your life?

3. “He . . . will be called the Son of the Highest” (v. 32). Read Psalm 2:7–8. It tells us, “The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the end of the earth for your possession.” What David wrote about in the Psalms, Gabriel announced to Mary!

4. “The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David” (v. 32). This looks back to the prophetic word from Isaiah, (Read Isaiah 9:7) “Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever” (9:7).

5. “He will reign over the house of Jacob” (v. 33). In short, Jesus is Israel’s promised Messiah! They need not look for, nor expect, another!  The house of Jacob means the same thing as the “family” of Jacob, or the descendants of Jacob - that is, the children of Israel. This was the name by which the ancient people of God were known, and it is the same as saying that he would reign over his own church and people forever. This he does by giving them laws, by defending them, and by guiding them; and this he will do forever in the kingdom of his glory. (Barnes commentary)

6. “Of His kingdom there will be no end” (v. 33). Many kingdoms over the course of human history will come and go, but Christ’s kingdom will have no end. Going back to the book of Daniel in chapter 7:13, 14 it says, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

So, those are the 6 confessions of Gabriel to Mary in the book of Luke.  I hope that is helpful in understanding Who Jesus is.  We will now be dismissed and go have some lunch at Dos Chiles to start our celebration of Christmas.

But now wait just a second.  Before we start celebrating Christmas, maybe we should figure out what this passage means for us today.  If we are truly going to celebrate the real "reason for the season" maybe we should think about how the advent of Jesus should affect our lives some 2000-plus years later.  I don't exactly have to give a "spoiler alert" when I tell you that everything Gabriel said absolutely came true.  We all know that so how should this affect us today?

For me, it brings great joy!  It should bring all of us great joy to know that what was prophesied so many years before in the Old Testament came true with the birth of Jesus in the New Testament.  If all of those prophesies came true then that means all of the other prophesies that are still to come will come true as well.  And in the end (here's another spoiler alert) we win!  I'm tired of this nasty old place called earth and if I thought this was all there was to life then I would be pretty depressed but I know different and it brings me great joy.

It also brings me great peace to know that baby grew up to be a sinless man and die on a cruel cross to pay for my sins.  He was then taken off that cross, a dead man buried in a tomb for 3 days but then, because He is God, He rose again and I can have a relationship with Him even today.  And in that relationship, He proves Himself to be trustworthy even when I am not.  He proves Himself loving even when I am not.  And He proves Himself worthy even when I do not.  What a mess my life would be without Him but with Him I have peace.

And lastly, I have forgiveness.  Thank you Lord for your forgiveness!  I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” I need to be purified and I have an idea you do too.  And because I have been purified by the work of Jesus on the cross and not because of anything I have done, Jesus promises me a place in Heaven with Him.

Joy, peace, forgiveness and a place in heaven; man that's exciting!  That's almost a little too exciting.  I feel my blood sugar going down.  Hang on just a second.  This is the best chocolate.  It's so creamy and good.  The texture is just perfect.  Just melts in my mouth.  I think I better have a little more, you know, for my blood sugar.  Oh, wow!  That's good!  I bet you wish you had some right about now.  Should I share?

How bad do you have to hate somebody not to share the most incredible thing you have ever experienced?!  If that chocolate is the most incredible thing you have ever had in your life, don't you want somebody else to have it too?  If that chocolate changed your life and brought you joy, peace and forgiveness then wouldn't you go tell your neighbor about that goodness?  Wouldn't you tell your family and co-workers about the wonderful, dark, sugary goodness inside that foil wrapper?

But the thing is that while that chocolate is incredible tasting, it will, like everything else in this world, not last.  And people in our community are hungry and thirsty for the joy and peace that lasts for eternity.  And we have it!  It is time for all of us to start confessing it.

“David Was Thankful” – I Chron. 16:1-6

When you go to visit a new doctor, the first thing he usually asks is, “So…what brings you in today?”  I want to ask the same question.  What brings you to church today?  Why are you here this morning?The ultimate reason why we come to church is to worship God.  If you can’t say that is the main reason you are here, then maybe you need to reassess your motives. I’m reminded of the old Dennis the Menace cartoon where Dennis and his parents are leaving church and the pastor is at the back door shaking hands.  Dennis gets up to him and says, “Thanks pastor.  Not a bad show for a nickel.” 

But there are any number of reasons why we come here to worship.  It may be because you just love God and want to please him.  Maybe you are broken-hearted today and know that with a close walk with the Lord, joy comes in the morning.  Maybe you need wisdom and have come for the prayer and closeness that comes with worship.  Maybe you have a lot for which to be thankful and you want to worship while telling the Lord how grateful you are for his protection and provision; his mercy and grace; his power and love, forgiveness, or just His presence!

That’s a great reason to worship.  When we see who we really are in the light of Who He really is then you can’t help but be thankful and you can’t help but want to worship Him.  You can’t help but be thankful for God’s healing presence in your life and in the life of this church.

Do you feel God’s presence here?  I do.  I don’t feel Him physically.  I have never audibly heard His voice.  I have never seen Him here with my eyes or like some people who have seen Him in a painting, an oil spot or a grilled cheese sandwich.  But I feel the presence of God here in a real way.  Especially when others are here as it says that when two or more are gathered in My name, I am there also, but even on a Tuesday morning by myself I feel a holiness about this place; a feeling that this place is special and set apart.

And when you know and feel that God is present, that should make you very thankful and that thankfulness should impact your worship.  It did for David in the Old Testament.  In I Chronicles chapter 16 David is thankful and rejoicing in the fact that God is with him and the nation of Israel in a real way.  And it all revolved around the Ark of the Covenant.

Now, as 21^st century believers it is hard for us to appreciate the significance of the Ark.  I mean it’s just a box with a few trinkets in it, right?  That “box” was significant enough to have wars fought over it.  It was significant enough that many lives were lost because of it, some of those lives were lost because the person only touched the Ark.  It contained the stone tablets of the 10 Commandments, Aaron’s rod that had budded and a jar of manna; all significant reminders of how God had provided and protected the nation of Israel.Let’s look at I Chronicles 16:1-6 on page 297 of the Bible in the pew in front of you and see that David was thankful and because he was thankful, it impacted his worship. 

16 They brought the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and they presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before God. ² After David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. ³ Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each Israelite man and woman.⁴ He appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to extol,^[a] thank, and praise the Lord, the God of Israel: ⁵ Asaph was the chief, and next to him in rank were Zechariah, then Jaaziel,^[b] Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel. They were to play the lyres and harps, Asaph was to sound the cymbals, ⁶ and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.

I’m sure some of those guys have their feelings hurt now because of how I pronounced their names but that is not the important part of the passage.  The important things to see here are that David’s thankfulness to God for His presence is reflected in David’s worship.  That Ark is representative of God’s presence in a somewhat similar way that this building is representative of His presence.  We know that God does not restrict Himself to living only in this structure.  God is everywhere.  He lives in us.  His Spirit guides us.  We have a relationship with His Son and for that we are thankful.


Similarly, David and the other Israelites knew that God didn’t restrict Himself to living in that Ark but in a very real way, it symbolized God Himself including the character of God to protect and provide, to show mercy and justice and to bring peace.  And so David rejoiced to have the Ark back where it is supposed to be.  In the previous chapter it says that he danced with all his might in front of the Ark.  I doubt it was Saturday Night Fever-style dancing.  He was just excited to worship and it manifested itself physically.


I have a question I want you to answer.  What is it about worship that excites you?  Is it just something you do out of habit or is there some aspect of your worship of God that still excites you?  David was so excited that it manifested itself physically in the previous chapter but in our passage today there are 3 ways that David’s thankfulness impacted his worship.

1)     It impacted his offerings.

2)     It impacted his prayer.

3)     It impacted his music.

And it should do the same for us today.  It says that David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to God.  The burnt offering signified their total devotion to God.  With these they were saying that all they have belongs to God and He can do with it as He chooses.  They were completely dedicated to God and they proved it through their burnt offerings.  Does that sound like you?  Is your whole life totally dedicated to God?  Have you told Him that?  This is the same kind of sacrifice referred to in Romans 12:1 where it says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”


Let’s take time to do that right now.  Let’s bow our heads and close our eyes and just tell God that we are offering ourselves and everything we have as a burnt offering to Him to use as He sees fit.  What part of your life are you not letting God have?  He knows.  You know it.  Stop being stiff-necked and give it to Him in faith and with thankfulness.


Now the fellowship offering was a little bit different.  It was a voluntary act of sacrifice that was shared with the others in the temple at the time of worship.  They didn’t burn it up.  From what I understand they basically cooked it and ate it right there with everybody sharing in the sacrifice.  Well, things are different nowadays…but not completely.  We’re not going to have a barbeque but I am going to ask you to do something that some might consider to be a sacrifice and that is I want you to get up and share with one person a reason that you have to be thankful for them.  Tell just one person but make sure everybody gets told something.  Don’t make it up.  If nothing else be thankful that they are here.  Go for it.


Next we see in verse 4 that David assigns some of the priests to pray for specific things in regard to their thanksgiving.  Not only did David’s thankfulness impact his offering but it also impacted his prayer.  It says that they made petition, they gave thanks and they praised the Lord in their prayer.  So, what’s the difference in all those?  To petition is obviously to make a request of God; to ask Him for something.  Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”


It also says that they gave thanks to God.  Several times in David’s beautiful prayer in this same chapter he gives thanks to God.  In verse 8 he says, “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.”  In verse 34 he says, “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”


And then it also says they praised God the God of Israel.  The difference in this and giving thanks to God is that in giving thanks to God they were thanking Him for what He had done.  Here they are thanking Him for Who He is and how He works.  Let’s do all of that right now.  Let’s ask God to meet our needs but also thank Him for what He has done and for Who He is.  Jesus said my house will be a house of prayer.  How appropriate it is for us in our thanksgiving to praise Him in prayer as a church.


So we have seen that David’s thankfulness impacted his worship through his offerings and his prayer.  Lastly we see that his thankfulness impacted his worship through music.  In verses 5 and 6 we see guys with impossible to pronounce names playing all kinds of instruments.  You might say they had a “blended service”.  They had lyres, harps, cymbals and trumpets.  I can’t imagine what that sounded like but there is no doubt it was a joyful noise. 


There is something about music that brings back memories like nothing else.  You can hear a song on the radio and think immediately of somebody you haven’t thought of in years.  Music is powerful and it expresses our feelings like plain words just can’t. 


Since we don’t have any lyres or harps or trumpets let’s do something for just a few minutes that we often do.   Let’s sing a couple of our favorite hymns.  Let’s sing some songs of thanks and praise.


Today’s worship service has been a little different.  I know I broke all the rules.  You are not supposed to get up and have fun during worship.  You’re supposed to pray only at certain times and only sing before and after the sermon.  But if we are guilty of anything it is of being thankful in our worship in a biblical way.  That’s how my friend David did it so I’m pretty sure it will work for us. 


If you don’t have that relationship with God through His Son Jesus that I talked about earlier, you can do that today.  Romans 3:23 says that we have all sinned.  Sin is anything that displeases God and we have all done something that displeases God.  Then in Romans 6:23 it says that the wages of that sin is death.  What we deserve for displeasing God is eternal death in Hell separated from God and everybody else.  And that is the bad news.


The Good News, though, is found in verses like John 3:16.  You probably know that verse.  It says, “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  It says that all you have to do is believe in Jesus and that belief is a life-long walk in faith, learning about Him and becoming more like Him.  You don’t have to clean up your act or your life before coming to Him.  You don’t have to understand everything.  All you have to understand is that Good News.  Jesus loves you and died for you.  For that we can all be very, very thankful.