FBC Midweek Service – December 16, 2020

Well, good evening. I trust you've had a good day today in spite of the, you know, kind of cold, cloudy weather outside.

Nevertheless, it's a little over a week away from Christmas, and so we're kind of into that Christmas season, and I hope into the

Christmas spirit. You know, we're just reflecting on the fact that the Savior has come, and it may be cold outside, but he warms our hearts when we reflect on him and meditate on him.

Well, I hope your week has been going well also, halfway through it, and here we are, the middle of the week service, and I trust that the message tonight will be an encouragement to you.

Let's pray and ask the Lord to do just that. Bless, O Lord, these thoughts to our hearts tonight as we open your word for a few minutes, and we reflect on this wonderful song of the

Lord's King, and we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. So, we'll have a little time of study of the

Word and then share some prayer requests, and we'll pray for those here in just a few minutes.

So, when we think of Christmas songs, there's a lot of Christmas songs that can come to our minds, but I am thinking particularly of Christmas songs that come from the

Bible itself. There really aren't very many of them, are there? I suppose we probably right away would go to Mary's Magnificat, and rightly so.

That is a wonderful song of praise to the Lord for fulfilling his promise to his people.

But there's one of the Psalms that actually could be sung at the birth of Jesus, the

Messiah, Psalm 2. There's a line in Psalm 2 that says,

You are my Son, today I have begotten you. Now, on the one hand, it's true that in the book of Acts that statement is applied to Jesus' resurrection, and that is certainly a case where, you know, this day when

Jesus rose from the dead, he has been begotten, if you will. But then there's also this interaction between Jesus and Nicodemus in John chapter 3.

You remember that? They go back and forth, and Jesus tells him you need to be born from above, and so on and so forth.

But then we get to this point in verse 16 where Jesus says this. He says,

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. So obviously

Jesus isn't referring there to the resurrection as he speaks of himself as the only begotten

Son. So Psalm 2, we could say, is the song of the

Lord's King, the only begotten Son who is the King. I mean, that Psalm is really all about the kingship of the

Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son. He is the King begotten on Christmas morn, and in this song, it's interesting how the song does not begin with praise and accolades to the

King from those who are his subjects. In fact, it's quite the opposite. The Lord's King in the first couple of verses of this psalm actually receive earthly rejection.

Listen to those first three verses. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,

Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. We don't want the bondage. We don't want the control.

We don't want the authority exercised upon us from the Lord and his

King and his anointed one. So the Lord's King, instead of receiving homage, he receives earthly rejection.

And it seems that the nations and the peoples in verse 1 who rage and they plot in vain are simply following the leadership of their kings and their rulers that is brought out in verses 2 and 3.

Now that is certainly true of what the King, the only begotten

Son, experienced on earth, isn't it? Think of the Herods that he encountered.

The first was Herod the Great. Encountered him pretty early on in his life after the

Magi came. You remember that? The Magi came wanting to worship the

King, the newborn King. But Herod the Great wasn't too crazy about having him having any homage, any worship whatsoever.

And so what Herod tried to do was to kill all of the babies in the Bethlehem area and therefore hopefully exterminate this king.

So Herod the Great certainly rejected him at his birth. But then there's

Herod Antipas who came later and Jesus encountered him during his earthly ministry.

And one of the ways Herod expressed rejection toward the King, the only begotten

Son, was his behavior toward, his actions toward John the Baptist. John the

Baptist, of course, the forerunner of the Lord Jesus, the one who's heralding the righteousness of the

Lord and heralding the kingdom, the coming kingdom of the Lord. Remember, Herod Antipas is the one that had

John the Baptist beheaded. And Mark's Gospel tells us something rather interesting, that there was, after John was killed, reports were coming to Herod of some amazing things that Jesus was doing in his healing ministry and so on and so forth, performing miracles.

And Herod, you know, there's speculation. Who is this? Who could this be? And Herod concluded, this must be

John the Baptist, raised from the dead. He certainly didn't have any use for or have any interest in submitting to this king, the only begotten

Son. In fact, Luke's Gospel tells us that the Pharisees came to Jesus when he was in a particular area and they encouraged him, they exhorted him, you need to leave, you need to get out of this area, because we read in Luke 13, 31, the

Pharisees came and said to him, get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you. Herod Antipas wanted to kill

Jesus. Well, he shows up again, Herod Antipas does, in the life of Jesus, at his crucifixion.

In Luke 23, you read about that in verses 6 through 11, that basically, you know, this is after Jesus has come before Pilate and he finds out, you know,

Jesus is from Galilee, and so that's the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas.

And so Pilate sends Jesus to Herod, who happened to be in Jerusalem at the time.

And when Jesus showed up in Herod's court, Herod was delighted, because he wanted

Jesus, he didn't want to bow down before Jesus and acknowledge him as his king, but he wanted

Jesus to do some kind of miracle show for him. You know, show me, apply your trade as a miracle worker.

It was Herod's idea. Jesus, of course, absolutely refused. He wouldn't do that, and consequently, we read in verse 11 of Luke 23, that Herod, with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and mocked him.

No recognition of the king by Herod Antipas. And then, of course, there's Pontius Pilate himself at the trial and the crucifixion of Jesus.

Here's Pilate expressing a rather condescending attitude toward Jesus and, of course, inflicting cruel and excruciating, painful, humiliating treatment of the only begotten

Son, who is the king. And he made a mockery of him, clothing him in robes and having a crown of thorns on him and mockingly saying to the

Jewish people, behold, your king, in such a derisive way.

And then eventually, of course, giving Jesus over to be executed, knowing full well that Jesus did not deserve that execution.

Yes, the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the

Lord and against his anointed. They despise him.

The Lord's king faces earthly rejection. But the

Lord, God the Father, doesn't allow that to stand. Instead, he vindicates his son.

So in verses 4 through 9, the Lord's despised king receives the

Father's vindication. So notice what the

Lord says in verses 4 and 5. In verses 4 and 5, as the

Lord responds to these kings, we read that he who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision.

They may deride Jesus, his son, but the Lord holds them in derision.

Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury. So one of the ways that the

Lord, the Father, vindicates his son, the king, is in his response to those earthly kings who want to have nothing to do with the heavenly king.

And he responds to them in derision and in fury. He holds them in derision.

He terrifies them in his fury. I wonder how the rest of life went for Herod Antipas and for Pontius Pilate.

I understand that in Pilate's case, especially, he didn't have a good go of it. He didn't have a particularly smooth sailing for the rest of his life.

Herod Antipas either for that matter. But what's even more troublesome is what they face in eternity.

The eternal derision, the eternal terrifying fury of the

Lord who vindicates his son by this response to these earthly rejecting kings.

But another way that the Father vindicates his son is seen in verses 6 and 7 as he establishes the son in his position.

So what the Father says to these kings is, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.

I will tell the decree. The Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you.

So the Father vindicates the son by establishing his position as the king set on the holy hill of Zion.

And that message was understood and received and communicated at Christmas.

Mary certainly got that message. Remember what she said in Luke 1 verses 30 to 33?

The angel had said to her, do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God and behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name

Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the

Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom.

There will be no end. So Mary got the message from this angelic visitor who said, yes, the

Father has vindicated the son by establishing him in his position on Zion, the holy hill, his position of king.

Well, the Magi also got that message. You don't know exactly how they got that message, how they understood that this star that communicated to them in the east was communicating that the king of the

Jews had been born. But that's certainly what they understood when they came to Jerusalem looking for him.

They wanted to know, where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him.

So they got the message. The Father has vindicated the son by establishing him in his position.

He's born the king of the Jews. I think the shepherds got that message too, didn't they?

Luke chapter 2 verses 10 and 11, the angel said to the shepherds, Fear not, for behold,

I bring you good tidings of great joy that will be for all the people, for all peoples.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the

Lord. And that designation of the savior as Christ the

Lord is, I wouldn't say code word, but it's a way of referring to the king in his position.

A savior who is Messiah the Lord, the Messiah, the anointed one established by the

Father to be the king on the throne of his earthly ancestor

David. Well, whether or not people get that message now and understand that message that Jesus is established in his position as the king, there will come a time when all will.

We know that in Philippians chapter 2 verses 9 through 11 where we read, Therefore God has highly exalted him,

Jesus, the Son, and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord to the glory of God. The Father. Every tongue will bow and everybody will bow the knee and every tongue will confess that yes, this one, this

Son, this only begotten Son is the king established on his throne.

So the Father vindicates the Son in his response to the kings and he vindicates his despised king by establishing his king in his position.

And the third way that the Father vindicates his despised king is by defining his royal authority.

We read of this in verses 8 and 9 where the Father says to the Son, Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

What authority he is to have, a worldwide global authority over all nations and authority to rule with a rod of iron and dash into pieces any opposition.

Now this meshes well with the prophecy of Isaiah 9, doesn't it? Verses 6 and 7 where Isaiah prophesies and says,

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. 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 Lord of hosts will do this. The Lord of hosts, the

Father, God the Father, vindicating God the Son in his royal position as King by defining his royal authority as being

King of kings and Lord of lords and ruler over all the earth. Revelation tells us about the fulfillment of this.

We read in Revelation 11 15 that the seventh angel blew his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven saying,

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.

And in chapter 15 verses 3 and 4, they sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the

Lamb saying, Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God Almighty, just and true are your ways,

O King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy.

All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.

So the Lord's King receives earthly rejection, but the Lord's despised

King receives the Father's vindication. Well, then finally this song ends with the

Lord's exalted King receiving the deserved homage that he ought to be getting.

He receives that deserved homage. So in verses 10 to 12, everyone, all, are called upon to honor the

King. We read this, Now therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned,

O rulers of the earth, you kings who might be inclined to, you might be inclined to set yourself and you rulers who might be inclined to take counsel together and to reject this king.

No. He says, be wise kings and be warned, rulers of the earth, serve the

Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the

Son, that is, bow down before him, do homage before him, honor the

King, the Son of the Most High. All are called upon to honor him.

But the way this psalm ends points out that the destiny of all who are called upon to honor him is determined by their response.

Will you do it? Will you kiss the Son? Will you give him the honor, the homage that he is due?

Those who receive, those who refuse, verse 12 says, they receive anger and wrath and eternal punishment.

It says, kiss the Son lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.

Oh, don't despise the Son. Don't despise the Lord's King. Instead, bow down before him, because those who do receive blessed refuge.

Blessed, the song ends, are all who take refuge in him. Well, again, this dovetails quite well with that encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus.

In John 3, 16, Jesus said, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten

Son, the King, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

They will have that eternal refuge. But John 3, 18 warns, whoever does not believe, that is, whoever will not bow the knee, who will not kiss the

Son, whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only

Son of God, the King. So what's the conclusion of the matter in John's gospel?

Chapter 3, verse 36 tells us, whoever believes in the Son, the

King, has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the

Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Exactly what Psalm 2 says, kiss the Son, lest you do not see life and experience the eternal wrath of God abiding upon you.

Kiss the Son, because those who do, those who do and take refuge in him, they have eternal life.

Well, I trust and I pray that you have kissed the

Son, you have bowed before him in repentant faith, and you have received him, and you are trusting in him, and you are confident of your eternal life.

The scripture says, blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Whoever believes in the Son, the King, has eternal life.

Well, may God bless those thoughts to our hearts tonight. Before we close, let me just share with you a few prayer requests to pass on and then to pray for.

I mentioned Sunday morning in the morning service asked us to pray for a

Lady Carol, who I had encountered first when I was chaplain in that manufacturing facility here in Sterling.

I asked you to pray for her that she had cancer in the last stages of it. She actually passed away.

She died yesterday morning. And so pray for her family and pray for the funeral service.

I'll not be conducting that funeral service, but I know the pastor who will and trust that he will be sharing the gospel in that.

So pray for that family. And then for the physical needs of people in our congregation, pray for Heather and the continued healing of her hand.

We're praying for Bob and his fighting with cancer, for Kent. Kent is in need of a kidney transplant and actually, they're going up to Mayo next week, late next week, or maybe shortly after that,

I think right after Christmas anyway. So pray for Kent and Lori and that.

And pray for the strengthening of Kathy's knee and Harold and his shoulder.

He's recovering from these different maladies. So I want to pray for them. Then we also want to pray for those who are downcast and discouraged during this holiday season, this

Christmas season. This is normally a time when families get together and big crowds get together and so forth.

There's a lot of uneasiness about that and a lot aren't doing what they normally do and that's creating some discouragement.

And if that's you, I trust that the Lord will encourage you by helping us to see and focus on what

Christmas is really all about. Yes, we miss our families and we miss those get -togethers and those times

I trust will come and come again soon. But we want to pray for that encouragement. Then if you would, pray for a court hearing this

Friday afternoon. I'm not sure the details of that right here and now, but many of you would be at least vaguely familiar with the situation.

Pray about that. Pray for justice to be served in that hearing and the outcome of it.

Pray for our nation and its political ills and especially its moral and spiritual malaise.

And then we want to pray for the COVID crisis. Thankfully, we're seeing a reduction in the numbers of positive cases of this.

But pray for this to be eradicated soon. And then pray for our

Missionary of the Week, Chuck and Ruby Kempf. And pray that the Lord would take care of them and provide for them, meet their needs materially, physically, and spiritually.

So let's look to the Lord in prayer, shall we? We do thank you, Father, that the

Lord Jesus is our King and as the King of kings and Lord of lords, He is on the throne and He reigns even now.

And as King, He's also priest. And He who reigns also intercedes on behalf of His people.

Thank you for that intercessory ministry of you, our Savior, even at this time.

And we pray for these various needs tonight. We pray for the family of Carol who has died and pray that you give comfort to those loved ones.

Pray for the sharing of the gospel in her funeral service. And pray that you would bring many to faith in Christ, even as she, late in life, came to that faith.

We do pray for the continued recovery of your people here who are struggling with different difficulties physically.

For Heather and her hand, for Harold and his shoulder, and Kathy and her knee, for Bob and his fighting with cancer.

Lord, for Kent, his need for a kidney transplant and his ongoing struggles with fatigue,

I just pray that you would give him health and strength. Father, we pray for those who are discouraged at this season of the year.

Some are lonely just because of their circumstances of life in general.

Others are particularly discouraged because of the impact of COVID this year.

I pray, lift up the downcast and center our hearts on our

Savior, the King, who has come to redeem us. Father, we pray for the

Kempfs, and just ask that you would encourage them and meet their needs physically and spiritually and materially.

Provide for them, we pray. We pray for the COVID crisis. Father, we would pray that this thing would dissipate before there's even further harm that would come to people, maybe in adverse reactions to vaccines or whatever.

We just pray for you to graciously and mercifully intervene in this situation. And our nation, in its political and spiritual and moral crisis,

O Lord, I pray, bring us to our knees as a nation and turn us to you, we pray.

And Father, we do pray for this hearing Friday afternoon, and just ask that by your grace justice would be served.

And the situation there would come to a good resolution. We commit these things to you,

O Lord. We thank you for all that you are, all that you have done, and all that you will do for the sake of your people.

And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, well,

I trust you'll have a good rest of your week on Sunday, the Lord's Day. We'll be continuing what we've been doing the last several weeks.

We'll have in -person worship service at 10 30, if you're comfortable in attending in person.

We'll also be live streaming, of course. So this Sunday, continuing this theme during the

Christmas season of a cross -centered Christmas, and looking at the climax of Christmas this

Sunday morning. So if you can make it in person, we hope to see you then. Otherwise, join us as we broadcast live at 10 30

Sunday morning. Well, you have a good night, and may God bless you richly in the rest of this week.