FBC Daily Devotional – December 16, 2020

Faith Baptist Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Wednesday, that is, middle of the week, December 16, 2020.

00:07

We are just a little over a week away from Christmas. I hope things are going well in your household as you're planning for whatever you're planning for for the

00:18

Christmas season this year. Mentioned in our devotionals last week that this week

00:25

I was going to focus on some Christmas related devotionals, and hope those will be an encouragement to you that our

00:34

Christmas celebration will be focused in the right direction. Several years ago, let's see, this is 2020, so in the year 2000, our family moved away from Shelburne, Vermont, and when we lived there, not far down the road from where we lived, there was a fortune teller that set up shop and hung out a shingle.

01:01

She was there in operation for a few months anyway, but she didn't stay in business very long because,

01:10

I don't know, maybe five, six months after she opened up her little shop, she was arrested for fraud.

01:17

The local newspaper had an article about that and sort of sarcastically pointed out that she should have seen it coming, but she certainly didn't.

01:30

And you remember the days of the 900 numbers? You remember those? You get those ads on the television, you know, call this 900 number.

01:38

Well, there was one ad at one time for fortunes by Frida. So you call her 800 number and Frida would tell you your fortune.

01:48

Now, several things about this ad really kind of amazed me. One is the outlandish claim of someone being able to foretell the major developments of your love life and your financial windfalls that are certainly going to come your way from such a great distance.

02:09

A second thing that surprised me in those ads was the testimonials of people who claimed that they wonderfully benefited from Frida's prophecies.

02:22

And then a third thing was a little disclaimer at the bottom of the ad that said this, quote, adults 18 years and older, for entertainment purposes only, $3 .95

02:35

per minute. The fourth thing that amazes me about those ads is that people actually called those places.

02:44

That's pretty sad. But in contrast to that hucksterism of the prophecies that are set up for people to make some money, we have the prophecies of the

02:57

Scripture, the prophecy of the Word of God. There's no hype about those prophecies.

03:02

There's no extravagant promises of personal windfall, no testimonials of people who are going to tell you why you ought to listen to those prophecies.

03:12

And all those prophecies came at no charge. And yet the Lord's prophecies are 100 % accurate.

03:22

So the next couple of days, I want to look at three particular kinds of prophecies that are fulfilled at Christmas.

03:32

The first, and we'll look at this one today, the first is the prophecy of hope, the prophecy of divine hope.

03:42

And hope is something that was prophesied at the very beginning when hope was dashed.

03:48

I'm talking about in the Garden of Eden, in Genesis chapter three. And right after the fall of man, the

03:55

Lord issued the curse that has come upon man.

04:01

It's not that it went without warning. The Lord said, if you eat that fruit, don't eat that fruit in the middle of the garden.

04:07

It's forbidden. You can have anything else, but not that one. The day you eat that one, you're going to die.

04:14

The Lord warned us, but nevertheless, Eve and then Adam with her ate that fruit.

04:20

And the result was a loss of hope, was death, sin, expulsion from the garden.

04:30

So the context there shows the need for hope. But in that context, there is a prophecy of divine hope, came well before the birth of Christ in Genesis 3 .15,

04:43

when the Lord says to the serpent that your seed, the seed of the serpent, is going to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman.

04:52

But the seed of the woman is going to crush your head, he speaks to the serpent.

04:59

And that statement gave a glimmer of hope to an otherwise hopeless situation.

05:08

It was a prophecy of the coming of the birth of Christ, the coming of Christ, who would be the one who crushes the head of the serpent.

05:15

And that hope is then verified at the birth of Christ. You remember

05:22

Simeon's prophecy in Luke chapter 2? He says in verses 25 -30 that this baby that he's holding in his arms, this baby is actually the source of salvation.

05:35

Listen again to what he says, Luke chapter 2 verses 25 and following. He says,

05:40

Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation or for the salvation of Israel, the

05:51

Messiah who would bring salvation in Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him.

05:57

And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit that he should not taste death before he had seen the

06:03

Lord's Christ, the Lord's Messiah, that consolation of Israel. And Simeon came by the

06:09

Spirit into the temple, and when the parents, Mary and Joseph, brought in the child

06:15

Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, then Simeon took Jesus up in his arms and blessed

06:21

God and said, Lord, now let us thy servant depart in peace according to thy word.

06:28

Now listen, For my eyes have seen your salvation. My eyes have seen your salvation.

06:36

And what Simeon is prophesying is that this little baby that's now 40 days old when he's holding him in his arms, this little baby is the source of salvation.

06:49

He is the one to bring consolation to God's people. And that salvation that is found in this little baby is for all peoples.

07:03

It's not just for a select group of people. It's not just for Jewish people. This salvation is for all people.

07:11

Back in Luke chapter 2, remember when the angels appeared to the shepherds.

07:16

This is what they said in verses 10 and 11. The angel appeared to them and said, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all peoples.

07:28

Plural, all peoples. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is

07:34

Christ the Lord. So the prophecy here of hope, of divine hope, is verified at the birth of Christ.

07:45

But then it's realized, that prophecy of divine hope, it's realized in the purpose for the birth of Christ.

07:54

That purpose is revealed to us in John chapter 3, verse 16, where Jesus says,

08:01

God so loved the world, he loved the world in this way, that he gave his only begotten

08:09

Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

08:18

Notice that the condition to the experience of this divine hope is faith.

08:26

Whoever believes in him, whoever puts their trust, their confidence, their total dependence for their soul's salvation in him, whoever believes in him.

08:39

And then secondly, notice that the center of that hope is Christ.

08:44

It's not you. The center of hope is not you, and what you can do, and what you can accomplish, but it's

08:50

Christ. Whoever believes in him, see, there's really no other legitimate object of faith.

08:58

There is no other legitimate center of hope. It is Jesus, the one who came in that manger, the one who was held in the arms of that man in Simeon in Jerusalem.

09:14

And what is the fulfillment of that hope? They should never perish, but have everlasting life.

09:23

The fulfillment of that hope is that the curse that was pronounced in Genesis 3 is nullified by faith in Christ.

09:36

Oh, my friend, I hope that you have experienced the fulfillment of that divine hope, that prophecy of divine hope in your own life, that you have personally come to faith in Christ.

09:51

You have put your trust, your faith, your dependence, you have believed in him, in Jesus, the gift of Christmas.

10:03

Well, that's one of the prophecies. We'll look at a couple more in the next couple days.

10:08

Let's pray and ask God to bless this to our hearts today. Our Father and our God, we're thankful that your prophecies are 100 % accurate, and this prophecy of divine hope has been fulfilled in all who have put their trust in Jesus.

10:25

I pray your blessing upon us in the remainder of this day, and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, well, have a good rest of your

10:33

Wednesday, and just a reminder that in the midweek time, we normally would have a 7 o 'clock service.

10:40

I'm not going to have that in person, but I am going to do a live stream devotional tonight at 7 o 'clock.

10:47

You can catch it on Facebook Live or the church homepage. So, I hope you can tune in for that.