Answering Objections to Jesus

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If you would, open your Bibles to Luke. Gospel according to Luke, chapter 2.

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Gospel according to Luke, chapter 2, starting in verse 1.

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Hear now the word of the living and the true God. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

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This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered.

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Each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called

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Bethlehem. Because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

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And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

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And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

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And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

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And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold I will bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

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For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Messiah the Lord. And this will be a sign for you.

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You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising

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God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

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Thus far is the reading of God's holy word. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you'd bless the proclamation of your word today.

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I pray, Lord, for faithfulness in its proclamation, that you would teach by your Spirit, that you'd prepare us as your people to know why we believe that Jesus is the promised

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Messiah, and to be able to explain those truths from your word.

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You promised these things, Lord. You gave us this amazing deposit of your word, the spectacular display of the divine nature of this word.

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You've given it to us. Give to us a passion, God, to know it, to be able to proclaim it and explain it and defend it.

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We pray you bless today for your glory, for your kingdom. May people forget me and remember you.

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In Jesus' name, amen. What a powerful moment, this moment in the gospel, according to Luke, that expresses this historical reality of the entrance of Mashiach into the world.

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Everything that they were waiting for had landed on them. Think of how many generations had gone by with Israel, with the

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Jewish people, where they're sharing the word of God and the expectation. They have the

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Messianic prophecies. They have all of this story. The portrait of Mashiach is so multifaceted.

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It is powerful. Truly, there had to be aspects to it that were just very confusing to them.

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I mean, how do you have a Messianic king that's, according to the scriptures, the prophets say, is a suffering servant.

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He's going to die for the sins of his people. He is going to conquer that death. But also a suffering servant who is also the king of the world, that's going to draw all the nations to God, who's going to be the prince of peace.

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How do you have all that come together? So they can't possibly understand how to put this whole story together.

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And there was conversation about what exactly is this going to be like when he arrives.

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But now it lands here in their lives, in history, as historic reality.

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You have the details for Luke, Dr. Luke, who at the beginning of this gospel explains, and in the book of Acts, this two -volume set he has, he explains the historic details because he says that he actually gathered the eyewitnesses.

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He talked to the eyewitnesses, to the people who were there. He got their stories. He most certainly spoke to Mary because he has details about what

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Mary was thinking at the time and where she was and what it looked like. And you have details here, the historic details about Caesar Augustus and his first registration, governor of Syria.

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And you have Joseph going down because of this decree of a pagan empire.

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And it lands on them. It is a powerful, powerful story. And I think what makes it extremely powerful now that we can look back on it is a quote from Augustine of Hippo.

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And this was what is in your bulletins today. Listen to this quote. I think it powerfully expresses the glory of Christmas, the glory of when we celebrate the advent of the

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Messiah. Augustine said, man's maker was made man, that he ruler of the stars might nurse at his mother's breast, that the bread might hunger, the fountain thirst, the light sleep, the way be tired on its journey, that the truth might be accused of false witness, the teacher be beaten with whips, the foundation be suspended on wood, that strength might grow weak, that the healer might be wounded, that life might die.

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That's powerful. And that is really the glory of the advent, the coming of the Messiah. He enters into the world.

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The long -anticipated Messiah enters into the world. And now they get to experience it. And there had to be elements of this entire story that just constantly mesmerized them and shocked them.

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I mean, this is the creator of the cosmos. And yet he's a little nursing baby. He's fully dependent upon Mary to nurse him and to care for him.

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He had to eat food or he would starve. Jesus wept. Jesus is the truth.

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And yet he's experiencing around him false accusation and all the evil. He's the

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Messiah. And he comes to his own people. And his own people are rejecting him.

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That's the shocking nature of the story, is they're waiting for the Messiah. He's right in front of them. And many of those covenant breakers in the first century are trying to literally take his life during his earthly ministry and ultimately work together with a pagan state to have

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Jesus executed as an enemy of the state. This story is powerful. And it seems like it's total tragedy when it's happening, right?

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It seems like tragedy. And yet God veils his greatest victories in what we think are tragedies.

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What looked like a tragedy, what looked like total defeat ended up being the very victory for the world that God had long promised about Messiah, bringing all the nations to God.

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I mean, thinking about the fact that you've got, even in this room, I love to highlight it, mostly the descendants of pagan ancestors.

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Most of us Gentiles in terms of our ethnicity and where we come from. We're not of Israel physically.

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And yet in this room today, we're gathered together to do what? To worship Yahweh. To worship the

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Lord God of Israel. People who love God's law, long for his truth, long for his justice, which is exactly what the

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Messiah was to bring into the world. It's all happening, will continue to happen until it ends in final victory.

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And so as we reflect on the coming of the Messiah, again, last week, I did a message saying, essentially, do you know why?

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I mean, yes, it's amazing. You know, we're like Christmas freaks at Apologia. Like, we love it. We love the celebrations, we love the lights, we love the gift giving, we love the trees and the feasting.

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We love the Christmas music. We love it all. It's just an amazing time of celebration and family and friends and worship and fellowship and evangelism, but do you know why?

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Right, do our children know that it's more than Bing Crosby's White Christmas? Do they know that it's more than all the gifts under the tree on Christmas morning?

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Do they know it's more than just those amazing moments of celebration we have in December?

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Do they know why Jesus is worthy of your entire life? Can you explain that? And that was the purpose of last week is to challenge you and say, can you explain it?

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If somebody sat in front of you right now and said, okay, I want to know why do you believe

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Jesus is the Messiah? I wanna know why, because his claims are so radical and they're so exclusive.

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You're telling me that I gotta come and die with this guy and rise again. There's gotta be an old self crucified with him on that cross.

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I gotta come to Jesus because he's the only way. So I want you to explain to me, how do

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I know that Jesus is the Messiah? Could you do it? And that's what last week was about, giving us sort of a framework to be able to think through like, okay, there's messianic prophecy.

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We look at the life of Jesus that fulfilled those prophecies. We look at the symbols fulfilled in Jesus and the expected transformation of the world that's ongoing and it's happening now.

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But we have to recognize that the early church, the apostles, the leaders in the early church, those

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Christians, they reasoned from the scriptures to demonstrate that Jesus is the

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Messiah. And this is the challenge I offered last week. You'll remember I said this, right? We don't have a faith that looks like the man -made religions of the world that are so very subjective.

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In other words, I believe this because it feels good to me. So much of human experience and human claims is like that.

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It's like, I feel like this is true. We're doing the Mormon temple evangelism. So what do you hear out there all the time?

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Why are you a Mormon? Why do you believe Joseph Smith's a prophet? I said this last week. They will say to you, I have a burning in my what?

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Bosom. You can talk to the people who have recently converted to Islam. And you say like, tell me about your experience.

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And there's sort of this early romance period whenever someone has a conversion to any religion where they tell you like, oh, this really like turned the lights on for me.

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I really felt this or I had this experience, right? And I mentioned because,

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I mean, some of you in this room are very familiar with this. I even mentioned something like Burning Man, right?

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Like people go to this annual event at Burning Man to have this sort of out -of -body experience, this transcendental experience and sort of like I touched the face of God.

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And what do you have? It's like them, it's their story, it's their experience, it exists in them.

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That is not how the truth claims of the Christian faith come into the world. It's not just based upon my experience or the fact that my life has changed.

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All of that is true if you're in Christ. You've been made a new creation. You're alive from the dead.

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God's changed your heart. Nobody's saying that that's irrelevant and insignificant. It's real, it's very real.

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But the truthfulness of this message is not based upon your experience. It's not based upon what's happened to you.

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Like you could say, watch, just as an example, take a shot at this. Let's take an aim at this. A guy is an addict for many years of his life.

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Super addicted to drugs and alcohol, goes down this dark, dark path into a pit. And then he comes out of that because he turns to Christ.

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His life's changed. He never goes back to abusing drugs and alcohol. Everything's transformed.

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His family recognizes it. His friends recognize it. Like it's a real experience. He really was one way and then he went a different way and his life is totally transformed.

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And someone says, ah, glory to God. This guy's life has transformed. Clearly he knows

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God. And here's the deal. I'm not going to take away or detract from it because God does do that. He saves people in that way.

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That's a real experience, yes. But do you know for every Christian that can say God changed my life, he changed my mind, he changed my heart.

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I'm not abusing drugs and alcohol anymore. Do you know that there's also a Muslim who says that? Used to be addicted to drugs and alcohol, turned to Allah, Muhammad is his prophet.

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I'm no longer that way, my life has changed. Do you know how many people go to 12 -step programs that worship the

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God of their understanding? Electricity, the doorknob, this

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God, that God, and they'll say the same thing. I've been sober for 20 years and I came to AA and I turned my life over to the

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God of my own understanding. Here's the point. That's not how the truth claims of the

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Christian worldview come into the world. This is objective truth. It's true whether you like it or not.

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It was true before you got here. It'd be true your entire experience in this world and it'll be true when you're dead.

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And the early church didn't simply come into the world and say, hey, I had this amazing experience with Jesus, you should join the club.

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They didn't do that. They said this specifically, God promised this. He promised it in his scriptures long before it happened.

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He gave a word about Jesus and that has come to fulfillment. I'll give you one example.

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You wanna see it? 1 Corinthians 15. We could show a number of ways that this is said throughout the scriptures, but go to 1

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Corinthians chapter 15, one of Paul's letters, 1

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Corinthians chapter 15. This is where the apostle

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Paul explains the gospel and he explains redemptive history as it's to come.

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Now, what he says in 1 Corinthians 15 is this, verse one, he says, now I would remind you brothers of the gospel, the good news.

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I preached to you what you received in which you stand and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word

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I preached to you unless you believed in vain. And here it is.

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For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins.

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Here it is, in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

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And so that is how the apostle is bringing this story into the world. And here's the deal, ready?

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Let's be honest. I mean, some of you in this room have incredible testimonies of what

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God did save you. I mean, incredible testimonies. Came out of false religion, came out of a cult, came out of drug and alcohol abuse, whatever it may be.

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Some of you guys have some amazing testimonies. But Paul's is better than all of us, right?

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I mean, here you have a guy that says in Galatians, he said that he was so zealous for his faith and so opposed to Jesus as Messiah that he says that he persecuted the church and he says, literally,

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I tried to destroy it. We know Paul is present at a stoning. We know that he's rounding up Christians to have them delivered over to be punished or even killed.

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I mean, he is in total opposition to the Christian church. He hated the Christian church and the message of Jesus.

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And his testimony, if you read Acts chapter nine, is incredible. Getting knocked off of his high horse on the way to round up more

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Christians to destroy him. His eyes are open to the truth. He realizes who Jesus is. He has an amazing conversion story.

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But when the Apostle Paul begins his missionary journey and his evangelism, it says that he takes a beeline for Damascus.

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He goes right to the synagogue. And he proves from the scriptures that Jesus is the

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Messiah. And here he's saying that this gospel, this good news for the world, is in accordance with the scriptures.

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Jesus did this in accordance with the scriptures. Jesus did this in accordance with the scriptures. I had a debate.

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I mean, not like a serious debate, but it was a radio debate on a popular program globally called

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Unbelievable with Justin Brierley. And I had a little bit of a debate with Andy Stanley, Charles Stanley's son.

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Andy Stanley has a massive megachurch in Georgia. Georgia, right? That's right. And Andy Stanley argues that you want to detach the

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Christian faith from the Old Testament. He says you need to unhitch the Old Testament from the message of Jesus.

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Well, you're going to have a heck of a hard time doing that if you read the New Testament itself, the quotes so copiously from the

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Old Testament. So lots of luck with that one. It's going to be very difficult. But also, that's not how the apostles operated.

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They did not operate with a detached Old Testament revelation, like we need to unhitch it.

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No, they actually argued that the truth claims that they were making were actually obviously true because they were rooted in God's previous revelation of himself.

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In other words, God said this was going to happen. And by the way, that's exactly what Jesus says to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, is it not?

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Luke chapter 24, isn't that exactly what he says? When he says to them, you're foolish, slow of heart to believe, what?

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All that the prophets have spoken. In other words, as we've said, they should have been standing outside the tomb like Saturday night late.

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They should have been there in anticipation, building a barbecue, like ready to have a party because they should have known the scriptures.

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Not only did Jesus say this was going to happen in his ministry, I'm going to Jerusalem, they're going to kill me, I'm going to rise again from the dead.

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Not only did he keep saying it to them, but they had the scriptures. And what does Jesus say in Luke 24? He says, was it not necessary for the

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Messiah to suffer? Was it not necessary? What's that word necessary mean? Necessary as in it was guaranteed to happen.

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It had to happen. It was necessary by nature of the fact that God said it was going to happen.

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He declares the end from the beginning. He sovereignly controls all of history. He does everything. And Jesus says, was it not necessary?

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Why aren't you believing what the prophets spoke? And then when Jesus sits these disciples down, he takes them through the

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Old Testament, showing them everywhere that it spoke about the Messiah and was fulfilled in him.

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Can you imagine being there for that incredible Bible study? I mean, I've been in some amazing Bible studies. There are some godly, amazing teachers.

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But that had to be the best Bible study in the history of Bible studies, no question. To have

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Jesus walking you through everywhere. I mean, I so wish we had like MP3 recorders then, right?

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Just to hold on to that and just listen to it over and over and over again. But the point is, is that's how the church did it.

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They showed from the scriptures. They didn't believe that this story of Jesus was something that just dropped out of the sky, like let's go this direction now.

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Like so many religious movements are like that, right? I mean, you can think about just the last 30 years of our own experience.

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What do you got in the last 30 years? You've got the Branch Davidians, David Koresh and all of his wacky, crazy claims.

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You've got Heaven's Gate, you know, aliens are coming. We had to kill ourselves after eating Murray calendars and then hop onto the spaceship that's passing by behind Hale -Bopp and all that.

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I can't even remember all that stuff. I mean, so many just wild, crazy movements that sort of dropped out of the sky.

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And that's not what this is. As a matter of fact, the early church militated against the idea.

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Took pains to make sure everyone understood that this message of Jesus is not a novelty.

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It is a more sure word. And one more word on this point. When I was having the discussion with Andy Stanley, his argument was that the truthfulness of the

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Christian faith is not based upon the word of God. He said it's based upon the event of the resurrection.

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The event of the resurrection. To which I said, scripture's really clear about that one too.

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Deuteronomy 13, starting at verse one, God's test for a prophet is even if there are signs and wonders, even if there are signs and wonders, but the prophet leads you after other gods, you are to reject that prophet.

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So even if somebody rose again from the dead, if they contradicted God's previous revelation, they're not a prophet.

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And you know the story, the famous story, the amazing story of the Jesus gives of the man in Abraham's bosom, the rich man in Lazarus, that story that Jesus gives where you've got the rich man in torment, he's just begging for a little bit of water, and finally he says, you gotta, this is a paraphrase here, you gotta send someone back to my family.

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You gotta let them know about this place. You gotta help by sending someone. Tell them about this place.

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And what's the message of the angel to him? They have

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Moses and the prophets. If they're not gonna believe them, then neither will they believe if someone rises again from the dead.

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What's the word there? It's a more sure word than even an amazing miraculous event.

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It's based upon the self -attesting revelation of God. God spoke, it's guaranteed.

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It's guaranteed, and that is how the Christian faith comes into the world. This is historic,

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Jesus touched this dirt, Jesus breathed this air, Jesus bled, Jesus died, and Jesus conquered death for his people, and it was on time, and it was as plans.

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That's the glory of the gospel, is that this is an assurance, a confidence that is guaranteed.

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This is who Jesus is. He's Mashiach, he's the promised king, he's the deliverer, he's the savior, he's

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God in the flesh. But there are, of course, challenges.

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Every time you preach the truth, there's gonna be someone that wants to debate against it, of course, we expect that. And Christians are to be ready with a reasoned defense, an apologia, an apologia, 1

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Peter 3 .15, a reasoned defense. Are you ready for it, are you?

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Are you ready to defend your faith? You need to be, you need to know what you believe, why you believe it. How about in the area of transgenderism?

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How about in the area of gay mirage? How about when the Mormons come to your door?

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I got off the plane last week, and as soon as I got out of where the security is, and I used to go to take the escalator down to baggage claim, there are

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Jehovah's Witnesses posted up right there with their literature and material as people are coming.

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Weird place, by the way, to post up for Jehovah's Witnesses, right? Like, no one has any time to sit and talk to you. We're going to get my

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Bible, right, so weird, but they're there, and they're there to preach their false gospel, to preach their false

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God. Do you know how to reason with them? Do you know how to defend the faith? Now, not only do you need to be ready to express, this is how we know

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Jesus is the Messiah, but you need to be able to actually take down the very, honestly, sometimes very silly arguments and arguments made just from pure ignorance that people make, oftentimes, about these texts.

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So take last week's sermon, put it together with this one ...to get sort of a complete study, although this is in no way exhaustive.

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So, one thing that's important about this as you talk about this... ...and this is really, I think, the glory of the

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New Testament. Now get this, and please don't lose this, because it actually is powerful. Sometimes we like to think about things as just flat or linear, right?

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And you do have that in the Old Testament in terms of a prophecy is given... ...it tells you the specific identity of the

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Messiah... ...it can't be anybody else but Him, it's very specific. There's only one God and it says,

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Messiah is God. He's coming, to do what? And it gives you descriptions. To save His people from their sins, to establish justice and righteousness...

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...to bring all the nations to God. He's going to take the punishment they deserve. All that, sort of flat like it's a line.

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Here's what He's going to look like, here's what He's going to accomplish, and boom. Or, this is crazy, you even have, it's amazing, it's divine...

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...you even have specific timing indicators. God will tell you when the Messiah is coming...

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...so that there is a start time, a land time, and it can't happen past this point. Like so specific like that.

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But I think that the glory of the story of the Messiah in this history of redemption...

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...is in the incredible deep layers that go down and down and down about Jesus.

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Not just those flat messianic prophecies that aim right in direction and land on Him... ...but

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the layers are what really, I think, bring awe to the story.

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And here's why, if you can just think about this, and I hope I can express this well. There are elements to the

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Old Testament history of the Jews and Israel. It's real history.

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You can study biblical archaeology that is just amazing to go and study the places. You can take a trip to Israel today.

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You can go touch the places where Jesus preached. You can go walk on the dirt He walked on. You can go to where He was crucified.

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You can go to where all these events happened in Israel's history. You can go and you can feel and smell and taste and all those things.

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It's all real history. But here's what's incredible. The story of Jesus is embedded in the story of Israel.

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In a way, listen, that no one can manipulate. They're just walking through it.

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They're just sort of passively walking through history... ...and this stuff is happening to them.

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So when they're in Egypt and they're enslaved and they're in bondage... ...and you've got a pharaoh who's not letting them go...

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...and God's bringing all these plagues into Egypt... ...and then you have the firstborn and the blood over the doorpost...

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...and the lamb with no spot and blemish don't break its bones... ...and then they go out of there through the Red Sea wandering in the wilderness.

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All that story is real historic narrative. It really happens to them. But here's the deal.

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They had no idea that what God was doing in their lives... ...was not only showing them how great

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He was... ...it was not only bringing redemption to them out of slavery... ...and God entering into this covenant, this beautiful loving relationship...

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...but God was actually ultimately telling the story of Jesus. He was telling the story of Jesus.

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And you can't... Listen, this happened in history with real people... ...and they had no clue.

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Like, they don't understand why God is saying... ...about 1400 years before Jesus comes...

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...to take a lamb with no spot and no blemish on Passover... ...and don't break its bones. Right? And put the blood of that over your door...

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...so that God's wrath and judgment passes over your house. Like, all they know is like... He said, do it, so I'm gonna do it.

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Right? They don't understand that. When God's building a temple with a high priest and a day of atonement... ...and you've got the scapegoat and then the one that dies...

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...and the laying of on the hands, confessing the sin onto the goat... ...and all this stuff... ...they don't really, honestly, really...

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...understand the significance in terms of Messiah. But then all of a sudden Jesus enters, fulfills all the prophecies...

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...and you look back and go, whoa, wait a minute. Wait. Now you're looking at the cross differently.

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You're going, hang on. Hang on. This is Passover. He's sinless.

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He has no spot and blemish. Wait a second. They broke the legs and the bones of the criminals with Jesus.

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Oh, Jesus said that I needed him for forgiveness of sins. If I trust in him, the wrath of God passes over me.

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It was given to him. Oh my goodness, by his wounds I'm healed.

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Just like the prophets said. Oh my goodness, he's the mediator and he's my priest...

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...who is actually giving the blood sacrifice, but it's his own blood. And oh, my sins are washed away now...

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...and God has taken my sins and put them onto the scapegoat... ...to remove them from me as far as the east is from the west.

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You see, like they look now at the cross and they're going... ...whoa, wait a minute. That whole entire story just came alive.

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It came alive in a way that they could not even understand... ...which is, by the way, why you've got some very confused disciples... ...on the road to Emmaus.

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They're so confused because they're like, wait a second... ...the Messiah is supposed to rule the world and bring the nations to God... ...and bring salvation to the ends of the earth from sea to sea...

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...from the river to the ends of the earth, and he died. I don't get it. He died. I saw him murdered.

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I saw him bleeding. He's dead. And they're like, I just don't understand. And then all of a sudden

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Jesus is like, it's all here. It was all said before. This is what it all means.

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And that's why those early Christians were on fire. That's why they were on fire.

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Because they realized, this is not something man can conjure up. People can't control all of history...

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...and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years of a story of redemption. Can't control that. You can't keep one religious leader in line with his fiction...

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...and his false prophecies. I always say it because it's our community and it's around us... ...but

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if you just look at just one, just look at one... ...we can do Jehovah's Witnesses, you can do Christian Science, you can do all that.

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If you look at one religion, Mormonism, in about 200 years old...

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...and in one religion you have in just the first generation... ...false prophecy after false prophecy after false prophecy after false prophecy.

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They can't get it right in a single generation. They can't keep their prophecies together in a single generation.

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And this revelation that spans hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years... ...separated

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from one another in geographical location and authorship... ...prophecy

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after prophecy after prophecy that lands right on Jesus... ...and the depth is to the degree that the story is embedded in their own history...

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...in what they're just passively experiencing. It's incredible. The layers are amazing.

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They saw the entire story of redemption as being Christ at the center. It was all about Him.

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So let's go as quickly as I can because we got chilly. Some of you are like, yeah, let's go.

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Okay. So now we'll start the sermon. I'm joking, okay. Go to Isaiah 53.

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Isaiah chapter 53. One of the most powerful, not verses, but sections of scripture.

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Sections. So, this is a popular argument...

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...by Jewish people against using Isaiah 53 about Jesus.

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And I even heard an atheist this week make the argument... ...sort of just like, just waving the hands.

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Like, Isaiah 53 is not about Jesus. It's about Israel. So you're going to hear that. And by the way, you should know, yes, there are reports...

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...that Jewish people actually keep Isaiah 53 out of their annual reading of the scriptures... ...because of its controversy.

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And what they mean by controversy, I imagine, is that it sounds too much like Jesus. It's a little too close for comfort.

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And so, Isaiah chapter 53 is a powerful section that clearly is about Jesus. Now, what you're looking at right now, and what's in front of you...

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...was written down about 700 years before Jesus. 700 years before Jesus comes

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Isaiah 53. This is written by a monotheistic Jew, I'm going to lay this down... ...who recognizes at the outset his own sin.

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Isaiah chapter 6, he recognizes his own sin. When he gets a glimpse of God's glory and this vision of his holiness...

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...he's the one that actually does what? Covers his mouth and says, I'm a man of what?

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Unclean lips. I'm a man of unclean lips. He recognizes his own sin before God.

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And if you read the book of Isaiah, he certainly recognizes that Israel is sinful. We could do that for days.

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So if you know Isaiah, you know he recognizes A, his own sin... ...and B, the sin of Israel.

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Keep that in mind for a minute. But somebody might say about Isaiah 53, oh, they wave the hand.

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That's not about Jesus, that's about Israel... ...because Israel is actually called God's servant.

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Israel is called God's servant. So if you look for a moment now, Isaiah 52 verse 13.

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Now remember the chapter subdivisions and verses are a later addition to scripture. But this is all together one revelation.

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So if you look at Isaiah 52 verse 13, here's what it says. So here we go.

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We have this opening up with this servant of the Lord who's coming. He shall be high and lifted up.

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He's going to do this, but he's called the servant of the Lord. So Jews today will try to wave their hand at the Lord. this and they'll say oh the servant of the

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Lord is Israel so Isaiah 53 that's about Israel well let's find out first thing to respond to is this is that yes

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God uses the terminology of servants of the Lord not just for Israel but he uses it for Abraham Abraham's called the servant of the

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Lord in Psalm 105 42 Moses is called the servant of the Lord in Exodus 1431

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David King David is called the servant of the Lord in 2nd Samuel 7 5 through 8 and Israel yes is referred to as the servants of the

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Lord in Isaiah 41 8 that's true very true however let's take a look at Isaiah 53 and see if this has anything do to do with Israel and Israel is experience so remember a does

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Isaiah in this revelation in this book does he recognize his own sin Isaiah 6

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B does he recognize Israel sin yes it's throughout the book of Isaiah so much of it is about just that theme

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Israel sin Israel's covenant unfaithfulness all the rest but in Isaiah 53 look what it says could this be the story of Israel who has believed what he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of the

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Lord been revealed for he grew up before him like a young plants and like a root out of dry ground he had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him he was despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not it sounds a lot like Jesus but let's continue surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken smitten by God and afflicted but he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the

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Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all so what's that say they were going to think that he was being punished for his own sins we despised him we esteemed him stricken smitten by God and afflicted what did the

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Jews standing at the foot of the cross think was happening to Jesus on that day what they think they thought he was a criminal that he was worthy of death and that he was being punished by God because he was a false

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Messiah because he claimed to be king of the world king of the Jews and the text says in Isaiah 53 they esteemed him stricken smitten by God and afflicted but he was pierced through for our transgressions and God's laying on this servant of the

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Lord the iniquity of us all now just pause there for a moment because we could say more about this throughout the text but we'd be here all day pause here for a moment does that sound like Israel does this sound like Israel in terms of this it says this one who is coming this servant they were gonna think he was dying for his own sins but he was actually dying for their sins and that God was laying on this one the iniquity of us all question can

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Isaiah take away your sins why he's a sinner can

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Israel take away anybody sins no read the story of Israel it is one face plant after another it is redemption salvation collapse it is glory justice law righteousness

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God's goodness and collapse it is face plant after face plant after face plant and what you don't want is

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Israel taking your sins in your place why because Israel's life is codified by sin and rebellion and failure all throughout the entire

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Old Testament the waving of the hand over this passage that says that this is the story of Israel does not match the story of Israel Israel can't take away anybody's sins and that's why this is such a peculiar section of Scripture because you have

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Isaiah telling you the story about someone who is coming a servant of the Lord who's gonna bear our own iniquity it's incredible it gets deeper but it's not possible for this to be about Israel because Israel is sinful next somebody might say nowhere does it say in the

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Old Testament that the Messiah would die and rise again now pause on that for a moment does this sound like when someone makes that claim does this sound like they've read the

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Old Testament no and isn't it interesting that when Jesus is on that road to Emmaus Luke 24 go read that when they're a bunch of sad saps walking on this road and they're all like oh he's died and we thought he was the one to redeem

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Israel Jesus said what slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken was it not necessary that the

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Messiah suffer wasn't it supposed to happen in other words he's challenging them saying what you were supposed to know this why are you doing why are you why are you acting this way why are you being so foolish a slow of heart to believe because it was necessary the

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Messiah would die and rise again so a couple this is not exhaustive but let's give you something to work with okay brothers and sisters if somebody said to you right now okay

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I'll challenge you right now before we go okay this is my little test for you see where you're at someone says to you the

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Old Testament says nowhere that the Messiah would die and rise again do it don't yell it out don't yell it out because I want to make everyone feel bad

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I'm just joking okay I'm teasing no but think about it if you were challenged on that right now would you know what to say would you know where to go it's important that we do know where to go here's why because Jesus said to those disciples who like walked with Jesus and saw his ministry he said they were foolish and slow of heart to believe let us never have that as a true indictment about us because he gave it to them in other words he tells them you were supposed to know this and they didn't even have access to the

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Bible like we have access to it today they didn't so nowhere does it say that he would die and rise again okay you're in Isaiah 53 let's keep reading

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Isaiah 53 verse 7 after it says he the

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Lord lays on him the iniquity of us all it says this he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that has led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its years is silent so he opened not his mouth sound like Jesus in terms of Jesus going willingly to that cross saying nobody takes my life from me

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I lay it down of my own accord he was going and being led away and it's to the point where pilot is super frustrated right he pilot says what he says don't you know

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I have the power to let you go I can get you out of this Jesus say something and he says what you don't have any power except that was just given to you by God and Jesus just goes like the lamb led to the slaughter and actually biblically the lamb led to the slaughter and the text says by oppression and judgment he was taken away there's

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Jesus trial there's Jesus condemnation and as for his generation who considered that he this one pierced through for our transgressions this one crushed for our iniquities it says this that he was cut off out of the land of the living where would we ever get this idea that Jesus wasn't gonna die for the sins of his people it's right here in the text cut what does it mean okay let's make it easy what's it mean to be cut off out of the land of living what's it mean you're dead it says he was cut off out of the land of living but stop it doesn't just say that he was going to be cut off out of the land of living it says this stricken for the transgression of my people why is he cut off out of the land of living because of the sins of God's people and then it says and they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man and his death although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth quick question is

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Israel story filled with violence yes is Israel story filled with deceit yes and the one who wrote this revelation

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Isaiah said when he got a glimpse of God's holiness he said I'm a man of unclean lips he recognizes the seat in his mouth so this is not a story of Israel it's not the story of Isaiah there's one who's coming that's gonna die for the sins of God's people he's gonna be cut off out of the land of living by the way that word do a word study on it the word for cut off is used to describe ready a violent death look it up so this one who's coming that's gonna be cut off out of the land of living he's gonna die a violent death for the sins of God's people but it gets better then it says in verse 10 yet it was the will of the

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Lord to crush him he has put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt here it is he said he shall see his offspring he shall prolong his days the will of the

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Lord shall prosper in his hands out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied and by his knowledge shall the righteous one my servant make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities so what do you have in verse 8 he's cut off for the sins of God's people and in verse 10 what's it say it says that he sees his offspring and he prolongs his days he dies and he rises again amen do you see it so when someone says out nowhere does it say that he will die and rise again

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I'd say you're not reading your Bible and you're slow hard to believe all the prophets have spoken and you're foolish okay so but there we could do this again for days

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I'll give you some references here in Psalm 1610 you have the prophecy that the

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Messiah would not be left in Sheol or he would not be left to decay the argument of the early church in Acts 1335 as they preached about that text was that David died and he did see corruption in other words

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David's dead and he's corrupted he's rotten but this Holy One who's coming he won't see corruption he's not gonna see decay and Jesus of course conquered death so the point of the early

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Christians was like that was penned long before Jesus came and when David penned it he saw corruption

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Jesus didn't he rose again from the dead that verse was about Jesus that was their argument you can also go to Psalm 22 read that later

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Psalm chapter 22 gives you the passion of the Messiah about a thousand years before Jesus comes it tells you the amazing beautiful details of the passion of the

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Messiah that he'd have his hands and feet pierced that he'd be surrounded by dogs they wag their heads they would mock him they would cast lots for his clothing his heart would be like wax melted within him they pierced his side through his ribcage into his heart sack all that's there and then it says he's laid in the dust of death and then it says that all the families of the earth return to worship

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Yahweh because of his work so you have the passion of the Messiah clearly his victory over that death moving into all the families of the earth to worship

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Yahweh next somebody challenges you and says yeah but the

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Old Testament doesn't say that Mashiach is God it's one of those other things that I love to hear in terms of a conversation because I'm like oh wait oh that's awesome let me show you real fast because it's right there in the text and we'll just do this again this is not exhaustive but to give you something to work with same book go to Isaiah 9

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Isaiah 9 and we talked about this last week of course when we talked about the verses that give us the identity of Messiah so as you get to Isaiah 9 to the

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Christmas verse it's our favorite Christmas verse right I want you to consider something very important the

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Bible teaches strict strict strict strict monotheism mono meaning one and theism for God there is only one

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God and that is what separates biblical revelation biblical religion true religion from all the false religions of mankind creator creation distinction one

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God eternal God one being of God for all eternity and in Isaiah you have some of the most powerful references to the fact that there is only one true and living

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God none before none after Isaiah 50 43 10 Isaiah 44 6

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Isaiah 44 8 he's the first to last the beginning in the end he doesn't even know of any other gods there's only one

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God the Jewish person who wrote this would have said the Shema Deuteronomy chapter 6 first verse 4

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Shema let's do it together so you know we got new people now maybe you don't all know it let's try it ready Shema wait wait wait hey superstars you're like I'll finish okay let's do it together say

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Shema Yisrael Yahweh Eloheinu Yahweh echad hero

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Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one there's only one God and the

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Jewish person who wrote this believed that said it a number of times in this book and he believed there was only one

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God and oddly 700 years before Jesus comes this monotheistic

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Jew who only believes in one God says this about the Messiah Isaiah 9 verse 6 for to us a child is born to us his son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name should be called wonderful counselor those are names of God by the way in the

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Old Testament but it gets more explicit mighty God El Gabor that's it in Hebrew El Gabor the mighty

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God everlasting father that's the that's the the the eternal one the father of eternity the

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Prince of Peace of the increase look at that I want you to remember this for a second now remember this of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no ends it increases ongoingly up and up and up that's progress of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no ends on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore the zeal of the

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Lord of hosts will do this so what is this explicitly about Moshiach throne of David the kingdom of God but what's it say about the child and the son the human being child son born a baby it says that he is going to be

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El Gabor and if you're like just how exclusive is that title let me show you you're in Isaiah 9 moved

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Isaiah 10 good Isaiah 10 21 but starting verse 20 actually this is one chapter later it says in that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them but will lean on what's the text a the

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Lord you see in capital letters in your Bible do you see the capital letters capital L capital

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O capital R capital D the capital letters there in English are telling you that the word behind this is what

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Yahweh the the unique divine name if you see those capital letters you know the

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English translation is trying to signal to you it's Yahweh in the Hebrew so it says this they will lean on Yahweh the

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Holy One of Israel in truth a remnant will return the remnant of Jacob to what's it say the mighty

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God here you have El Gabor the mighty God the

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Holy One of Israel Yahweh El Gabor is an exclusive name for Yahweh himself the only true

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God so why in the world is Isaiah and Isaiah 9 saying that this son and this child is going to be

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El Gabor there is only one mighty God God's coming as a man where did we ever get the idea that the

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Old Testament doesn't say that the Mashiach would be God himself you have other references you can appeal to Isaiah 714

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Micah 5 2 we can unpack those and address all the issues that come up with that but there's some examples okay so quickly go to Matthew now

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Matthew chapter 1 the next challenge that people will say is they will say an atheist love love love love this

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I think it's like an atheist handbook with stupid arguments and they say here use these sorry

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I don't have respect a lot of times for just silly arguments that show no acquaintance with what the other side believes but it's used some of the verses that are quoted in Matthew's gospel are quoted out of context let me show you what they'll say they'll say hey look at your

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Bibles in Matthew and I wanted to show you something Matthew is abusing this verses they'll say look at Matthew chapter 1 verse 23 it says behold the

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Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel but if you go back to Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 and you look at that verse in Isaiah 714 it's actually talking about someone living in that day see

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Matthew's abusing the Bible he took a verse that was about it was describing somebody in Matt in Isaiah's day and he's applying it to Jesus it gets worse look at the text in Matthew he does it again this trickster in Matthew 2 verse 15 when it's describing this scene where Joseph is told in a dream by an angel to flee to Egypt Matthew then again abuses the

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Bible and in verse 15 it says and remain there until the death of Herod this was to fulfill what the

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Lord had spoken by the Prophet out of Egypt I called my son but if you go back to that passage if you go back to that passage that he's quoting from in Hosea 11 1 you'll see that Yahweh there was referring to Israel out of Egypt I called my son

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Israel and so you see Matthew's just abusing the Bible what's the challenge here what's the challenge is that for the early church they understood that there was not only direct prophecy timing indicators of land right on Jesus identity indicators prophecies about his death and his resurrection and how he would die but they also understood this clear point this that the entire

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Old Testament revelation that redemptive story is summed up in Jesus the whole story was ultimately about Jesus and so I want to show you what

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Matthew is actually doing he was doing what the Apostles and early Christians were doing when they saw

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Jesus as the fulfillment ready of Adam true Adam the perfect Adam Israel the true and perfect Israel he's the true temple he's the true priest he's the true sacrifice you see they understood that entire story of redemption as being summed up in and finding its climax in Jesus to the degree that when

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Matthew opens his gospel that is clearly directed towards a Jewish mind and Jewish people quoting the

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Old Testament copiously he doesn't just quote this was to fulfill what was written by the prophets but he also gives you the entire narrative of Israel itself to show that Jesus is the true and perfect Israel here's what

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I mean just open to Matthew 1 quickly I'm going to show you quickly Matthew 1 what's he doing there he shows you that Jesus has the royal right to the throne by birth he's physically descended to have the right to the throne it's very important the

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Messiah had to be a son of David David from Abraham he shows you that Jesus has the royal right to the throne here through his adoptive father

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Joseph next as the story unfolds the story unfolds and you have a virgin giving birth to a son only this isn't the only place that we're learning about a woman a woman's seed who's coming to crush the head of the serpents we don't have just that one verse but something peculiar about that verse about a virgin conceiving and bearing a son is that the name of the son is

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Emmanuel which means what isn't it interesting that on Isaiah 714 the name of the one coming

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Emmanuel is God with us and Isaiah 9 6 through 7 it's El Gabor the son and the child when you read it together it's actually incredible but it keeps going so Jesus now is coming into history and he's coming into where Bethlehem I say

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Matthew chapter 2 verse 5 when Herod's trying to discern the

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Messiah is coming where is he coming from in verse 5 they told him in Bethlehem of Judea for so it was written by the

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Prophet and you Bethlehem in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people

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Israel where did Messiah have to come from brothers and sisters where Bethlehem Bethlehem how did

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Mary and Joseph get to Bethlehem the census who called that census Jews a pagan

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Empire they called the census and that was that's what put them in Bethlehem where Jesus was born which is the fulfillment of prophecy but it gets worse

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Matthew then tells you the story where an angel tells Joseph in the dream to flee to Egypt take the child and get to Egypt so now you have

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Jesus God's true servant the true and perfect Israel beginning now in Egypt now

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Israel was called God's servant Israel was called God's son but Israel failed

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God as God's servant and Israel was a disobedient son so what is Matthew automatically at the beginning painting the picture as Jesus is the perfect Israel Jesus is the true son of God Jesus is in Egypt and then something happens here right in Matthew that shows you the depth that Matthew is going for what happens as soon as Jesus goes to Egypt what happens

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Herod comes for the lives of the boys and a slaughter takes place does that sound familiar does this sound familiar a familiar story who else was in Egypt when there was a slaughter of the boys

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Moses so what is Matthew telling you about Jesus now he's the better Moses he's the better Israel he's recapitulating the story of Israel these verses are being quoted he wants to give you the depth of the story that that whole narrative is about Jesus because Jesus goes to Egypt of God's Son they come for the life of this true and better Moses and then what happens and then

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Jesus then comes into the ministry opens up with John the

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Baptist John the Baptist baptizes I would argue actually anoints Jesus as a son of a priest he anoints

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Jesus he baptizes Jesus Jesus goes through the waters into the wilderness sound like a familiar story sound like a familiar story you've got

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Egypt you got the death of boys you've got going through the waters like the

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Red Sea and going into the wilderness what's Matthew doing he's recapitulating the story of Israel in the life of Jesus showing you that he's a true and perfect Israel because guess what what

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Israel did in the wilderness was face plant was sin against God was moan and complain they had been they'd gone through the waters in Egypt and now they're in the wilderness wandering because of their sin and disobedience only when

01:00:00

Jesus goes to the wilderness what happens with Jesus he stands on the revelation of God he has victory over Satan and he comes out of the wilderness proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom

01:00:11

Matthew is not just giving you a flatline prophecy of it says this and it lands here

01:00:16

Matthew is telling you the story of Mashiach it has layers it is deeper and more beautiful than we could have even imagined

01:00:22

Jesus is the true and perfect Israel Matthew is showing Jesus as the fulfillment of the true servant of God as he recapitulates

01:00:32

Israel's story now the prophecies are not only or simply direct lines there is a redemptive symbolism that God embedded in actual history that nobody could control or manipulate next and I'll just end on this one rather quickly because most of you guys already know these verses we do this enough talking about the victory of the

01:01:00

Messiah in history atheists and Jewish people

01:01:08

Jewish friends and family people who are descended physically from Israel will argue that Jesus isn't the

01:01:16

Messiah because the Messiah was to rule the world he was to rule the world and this goes to show you brothers and sisters why ask a hashtag eschatology matters eschatology matters because you see we live in a time we live in a time where the popular eschatology of our day is summed up in the left -behind series left -behind books right we've got a rapture seven years of tribulation so Jesus returns and then seven years tribulation then he returns again and then there's a literal kingdom of the

01:01:56

Messiah set up on earth for a thousand literal years and all that story you that's a popular version of our day that view of end times didn't exist in history the church until the 19th century so it's it's a novelty in history it's less than 200 years old that view of end times no

01:02:16

Christian in history believe that new thought of that it's it came from a very popular reference

01:02:21

Bible but it is the popular view in our day and I want to say this it gives ammunition to Jews who know and are right that this messianic

01:02:35

King was supposed to draw all the nations to God was supposed to bring the knowledge of God over the earth like the waters cover the sea he was supposed to be the one that brought the families of earth to God to worship

01:02:47

Yahweh and they'll say wait a second you're saying Jesus is the Messiah yeah so where's his kingdom and you have people today

01:02:57

Christians arguing well you see his kingdom comes later it's not it's it's here kind of but not really it's coming loose will actually be fulfilled the problem is the

01:03:07

Jew will say that's not how the Old Testament says it takes place that's not what the Tanakh and the

01:03:13

Torah say to which many Christians in history would say we know because Jesus did teach that his kingdom had arrived in history when

01:03:22

John the Baptist here is introduced in Matthew chapter 3 what does he say he says repent for the kingdom of heaven is what at hands he says you better repent in a hurry because his winnowing fork is in his hand the axe is already laid at the root of the trees it is right here at fingertip reach and when

01:03:38

Jesus comes in his ministry in the same book Matthew 10 he said this to the Jews of his day if I cast out demons by the

01:03:45

Spirit of God then the kingdom of God has come upon you what did the early

01:03:51

Christians call Jesus the king of what the king of what kings and the

01:03:59

Lord of Lords the king of kings and the Lord of Lords he is the ruler of the kings of the earth that's what they said about Jesus in the first century during the

01:04:09

Roman Empire the early Christians believe that Jesus had already been seated on his throne he was ruling and he was reigning as the ruler of the kings of the earth and they believed like Jesus taught that the kingdom of the

01:04:21

Messiah was going to grow like a what seed mustard seed that became a tree it'd be like leaven in a lump of what dough it would start small and then it would permeate and it would increase till it filled the entirety of the loaf which all the moms in this room right now are like I know what you're talking about I'm on that game right all you bread makers in here big on your stinky yeast right like I love when the women of this church will like pass around yeast like this yeast this is like 500 years old how do you get a 500 year old bunch of yeast

01:04:53

I'm like that is first of all if you ever smelled that it's stanky right people like love and brag on like this is 150 year old strain of yeast it's like that's you but you get the point you bread makers like a little bit of yeast and then it's like kaboom right it blows out fills the whole thing isn't it interesting that Jesus believed that his kingdom had arrived he said that he had all authority in heaven and on earth and so he says so therefore go get the nations because I have all authority here on earth now the early

01:05:22

Christians were saying Jesus is Lord not Caesar that Caesar had to obey Jesus that Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth today and so eschatology matters because you see the

01:05:34

Old Testament just do this later do it later the Old Testament did not teach it did not teach that the

01:05:42

Messiah was going to come into the world and flatten the world with his kingdom didn't teach that no as a matter of fact if you read

01:05:51

Daniel chapter 2 it tells you when he's coming and in Daniel 2 it says there's gonna be four kingdoms from Daniel's day four kingdoms and the

01:06:00

Messiah's kingdom is gonna arrive during the time of the fourth kingdom and if you count down from Daniel's day what do you have

01:06:05

Babylon Persian Greek Roman oh lo and behold that's when

01:06:12

Jesus entered isn't that strange and then it says in Daniel chapter 2 it says the Messiah's kingdom was gonna be like a stone like a little pebble like a little rock right it was gonna destroy and then it was gonna fill the entire earth and become a mountain that filled the entire earth so this little rock is gonna fill the earth and become a mountain the

01:06:34

Messiah's kingdom was not going to fill the earth with the knowledge of God covering the earth like the waters cover the sea bring the nations to God like a mountain dropping on the earth and obliterating it it was gonna start small and grow into a mountain and then lo and behold what's

01:06:48

Jesus say when he comes in in Matthew chapter 13 he says it's like a seed it's like a mustard seed you barely see it in your hand but when it grows it's bigger than a man it's like leaven you can't hear the leaven working you can't ultimately really see it's like in that moment taking place it's slow it takes place almost invisibly right you come back to it it's like whoa what happened and that's how

01:07:17

Jesus says the kingdom would grow in history so when someone says well it says in the

01:07:23

Old Testament the Messiah would rule the nations and all the nations would come to God because of the

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Messiah what I want to do is just simply look at a room like this and say do you see what's happening do you see the people all over the world who worship and love the

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Lord God of Israel because of Jesus the Messiah do you see the fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 2 where the families of the earth are coming up to God's mountain and his

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Torah is going forth from the people of God who's who are the people today that are proclaiming righteousness and justice according to God's standards who are they who are they they're the followers of Jesus the

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Messiah who are the ones standing against evil and confusion and oppression and injustice and sin

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I'm not saying we do it perfectly we do not we're failing in many ways but who are the people the history of the church that are actually proclaiming righteousness in God's standards in the world who are they they're the followers of Jesus the

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Messiah you see that's exactly what the story was going to be but one final word if you read first Corinthians 15 this is the end of this first Corinthians 15 when

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Paul tells the story according to the scriptures according to the scriptures according to the scriptures he says this

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Jesus he must reign he seated he must reign he's reigning now on that throne so he believed

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Jesus was the Davidic King he believed he was the Messiah he said he must reign until all of his enemies are placed under his feet as a footstool for his feet and he quotes

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Psalm 110 1 the section of Scripture that talks about the Messiah's reign that he will have victory over the world and put all of God's enemies under his feet and the way this first century monotheistic

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Jew saw it is that Jesus is on that throne now and he is putting all of his enemies under his feet as a footstool for his feet all those prophecies are being fulfilled and they will be ultimately fulfilled as Jesus wins this world with his gospel of peace that's the story praise

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God let's pray father I want to thank you for your word today please bless what was given today for your glory and kingdom

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Lord let us use these truths to bring your sheep to yourself and proclaim your glory and victory in Jesus name