Sunday Morning, December 27, 2020 AM

Good morning, everyone.

It's good to be here to worship together this morning. Welcome to Sunnyside Baptist Church. We're glad to have you here.

Hopefully everyone has had a really good week of Christmas, celebrating with friends and family. A few announcements as we get started this morning.

As far as the upcoming week looks, come back this evening for our evening service. That's at 530 and then 630

Bible study and prayer meeting on Wednesday, this Wednesday. Also regarding TAG, not this week, but next week.

TAG is going to be resuming. We would love to see TAG kids come back on Wednesday, January 6th.

And then also in conjunction with that, the meal, I believe, is going to be starting back up for those

TAG families on January 6th as well. Before that, next

Sunday morning, there'll be a brief meeting for those that are working in TAG on January 3rd, right after the morning worship service.

Yes, sir. Churchwide evening meal. Okay, great.

So, even if you don't have kids in TAG, you are more than welcome to come and share in that meal with us on Wednesday.

That starts at 545 on Wednesdays. Okay. All right.

Our final verse for this week comes from the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 21, verses five and six.

And he who was seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new.

Also, he said, write this down for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is done.

I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty, I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

The one who conquers will have this heritage and I will be his God and he will be my son.

So good verse to meditate and memorize this week. Again, at the back, if you have any

Christmas cards that you maybe haven't picked up yet, do that. There's also maybe a few

Sunnyside 2021 calendars. That's a church Christmas gift to you and your family.

So pick those up as well. Any budgetary changes for the upcoming year? Try and get those to Jerry or Patty Hines as quickly as you can.

All right. Any other announcements this morning? Okay. It's good to be here to worship together.

We're going to have a time of prayer and preparation. And then after Michael will open us in prayer.

Father, we come before you this morning and we confess that we are needy and you are bound to fall, that we are weak and you are strong, that we are fretting and you are faithful.

We are distracted and you are true and right and holy and glorious.

We thank you for the countless providences that have brought us here today, the way that you have met our needs time and again, whether we knew we had them or not.

You have shepherded us to this moment, to this place. I pray that you would greatly now grace us with even more mercies for we desire to worship you.

We desire to give you praise. And so we confess that if we want to worship you as you deserve in spirit and in truth, we need you.

We are not here because we are proficient. We are not here because we have figured it out.

We're here because of you, because of your son, Jesus Christ, because of your

Holy Spirit bringing us to this place to receive food from your word and to offer you worship.

So we pray that you would help us to do that today and that you would be honored and glorified in our lives.

We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ. We thank you that he is king. We thank you that he now reigns.

And in his light, I pray that you would make us to feel hope for the rest of this year and going into the next, that we would live in courage and in hope in the light of who

Christ is. It's for his sake that we pray, amen. Good morning.

I'm glad to, this morning, earlier, when I saw Brother Red walk in, I was glad that him and Paul were able to return to us after some time of illness, but to make sure and wish

Brother Red a happy birthday today, so happy birthday Brother Red. Amen. If you would, stand for our call to worship.

Our passage this morning is found in Psalms chapter 56. We'll be reading verses 8 through 10.

Read with me together. You have kept count of my blessings, put my tears in your bottle.

Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when

I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word

I praise. In the Lord, whose word I praise. Last Sunday evening, we had the privilege of singing

Christmas songs to the Lord, and as this month is the season of Advent, we're going to continue that, singing

Christmas songs this morning. So if you would, turn to page 145, and we'll sing, O Come, All Ye Faithful.

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant.

O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.

Come and behold Him, the angels.

O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore

Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the

Lord. Sing in exultation,

O sing, all ye brightest of heaven above.

Glory to God the host.

O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore

Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the

Lord. Yea, Lord, we greet

Thee. Born this happy morning.

Jesus, to Thee be all glory given.

O come, let us adore

Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore

Him, O come, let us adore

Him, Christ the Lord. The scripture reading this morning is from Deuteronomy chapter 29, verses 1 through 13, from the

Word of God. I just read yesterday, maybe the day before, when

Solomon dedicated the new temple. They brought the

Ark of the Covenant and placed it in the most holy place. And the

Word said, there was only one thing inside the Ark. One thing inside the

Ark. You know what it was? The Word of God.

The two tablets with the Ten Commandments. The center of the temple.

The Word of God. Not just words, not just a book.

The Word of God. These are the words of the covenant that the

Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab.

Besides the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb. And Moses summoned all

Israel and said to them, you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt.

To Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land. The great trials that your eyes saw.

The signs and those great wonders. But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand.

Or eyes to see or ears to hear. I have led you forty years in the wilderness.

Your clothes have not worn out on you. And your sandals have not worn off your feet.

You have not eaten bread and you have not drunk wine or strong drink.

That you may know that I am the Lord your God. And when you come to this place.

Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan. Came out against us to battle.

But we defeated them. We took their land and gave it for an inheritance to the

Reubenites. The Gadites and the half tribe of the Manasites. Therefore keep the words of this covenant.

And do them that you may prosper in all that you do. You are standing today.

All of you. Before the Lord your God. The heads of your tribes. Your elders and your officers.

All the men of Israel. Your little ones. Your wives and the sojourner.

Who is in your camp. From the one who chops your wood. To the one who draws your water.

So that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God. Which the

Lord your God is making with you today. That he may establish you today as his people.

And that he may be your God as he promised you. And as he swore to your fathers.

To Abraham. To Isaac. And to Jacob. May the

Lord bless the reading of his word. Father I thank you and I praise you for your goodness.

Your grace. Your mercy. Your love. And your covenant.

You are a covenant making God. And you have covenanted with us.

By the blood of your son the

Lord Jesus. To bring us to yourself. We thank you and praise you for that fact.

And I pray that as we gather this morning. That our hearts may desire to worship you with grateful hearts.

To offer up to you the sacrifices of thanksgiving. To sing your praises.

And as our pastor comes to preach your word father.

May we be nourished by it. And grow in the grace and knowledge of your son the

Lord Jesus. In his name I pray. Amen. You may be seated.

This time of year we think of gifts. The greatest gift that was ever given was the gift of the

Lord Jesus Christ as a little baby in the manger. And he came that he might save that which was lost and he might restore.

Reconcile us to God. That we might have salvation. Eternal life and victory over sin.

Let's sing together who is he in yonder stall. Who is he in yonder stall

Who hath received the shepherd's call

Who is he in deep distress

Fasting in the wilderness Tis the

Lord of Israel Low at midnight who is he

Praising his heavenly King Who is he in yonder tree

Tis the Lord in yonder stall

Tis the Lord in glory At his feet we humbly fall

Who is he that from the grave

Comes to heal and help and save Who is he that from his throne

Rules through all the world of all

Tis the Lord in yonder stall

Tis the Lord in glory At his feet we humbly fall

And our last song is

Oh Holy Night Oh holy night

It is the night

Of our dear Savior's birth Long lay the world

In sin and terror pining Till he appeared

And the soul found its worth The thrill of hope

The weary world rejoices For yonder breaks

A new and glorious morn Oh hear

The angel voices Oh night

Divine Oh night

When Christ was born Oh night

Oh night Divine Truly he taught

Us to love one another His law is love

And his gospel is peace Chains shall he bring

For the slave is a brother

And in his nation shall cease

Sweet hymns of joy In grateful chorus raise we

Praise his holy name

Tis the Lord His name forever

His glory forever

The Lord will reign His law

And glory Evermore Proclaim Merry Christmas I know it's two days after But as we said before we got snowed out a week so We cannot allow that to deter us

From celebrating Christ together So I invite you to open your Bibles to 2

Samuel chapter 12 Let me pray for us

Father again we come before you and we confess our need Our need for you, for your grace, for your mercy

For your light That you reveal in your son Jesus Christ We know that he is the light of the world

Coming into the world that he enlightens every man And in his light is the life of men

That everything in this world only makes sense When seen from the perspective of Christ And his exaltation

Father help us to do that here this morning We pray that you would fill us with your joy

And that your joy The joy of the

Lord will indeed be our strength Now and in the coming days We pray these things for the sake of Christ, Amen I suppose one question that we have at this point is how do we move on from the

Christmas season It's been a whirlwind of Gatherings and phone calls

And gifts Decorations What do we do when the flurry of the celebrations finally settles softly into a quiet blanket of calm

What then? So we clean our houses and tuck away the decorations and settle the bills

What are we going to reflect on Concerning this Advent season? What will be our reflections?

What will we consider? Will we think about those that we missed seeing?

Will we think about the generosity of our loved ones? Will we think about the resilience of our church?

Perhaps about the uncertainty which looms? We can lay aside our

Christmas cards And find new places for the gifts and move on from the annual celebration

But we must not move on from rejoicing in the Beloved We can't move on from that The crux of history must remain the centerpiece of our lives

And so we are to rejoice in the Beloved as God does Rejoice in the Beloved as we're called to do here in the

Word So that His every glorying stroke in Scripture will guide our praise

Now this text, 2 Samuel 12, 24 -25 Comes just after David's sin

With Bathsheba against Uriah Nathan the prophet has confronted

David with his parable And thou art the man God has declared many consequences due to David's sin

And one of those consequences Is that their child,

Bathsheba's and David's first child Will die And though David fasts and he humbles himself for an entire week

The child still dies So David rises from his humbled position

And he proclaims in faith That he will see his son again

And then we come to our passage 2 Samuel 12, 24 -25

I invite you to stand as I read the text Verses 24 and 25 of 2

Samuel 12 These are the words of the Lord Then David comforted his wife

Bathsheba And went into her and lay with her and she gave birth to a son And he named him

Solomon And the Lord loved him And sent word through Nathan the prophet

And he named him Jedediah for the Lord's sake This is the word of the

Lord. Praise be to God. You may be seated I might be mistaken, but I think that most of us are glad to see 2020 coming to a close

It is a pity, I believe, that we and I include myself, that we were not more thankful for freedoms and blessings of which we are no longer stewards.

You only appreciate something after it's gone And I think that many are comforting themselves with the notion that this will blow over, whatever that this is

Or thinking of, but I hope we spent enough time in Jeremiah to remember that there are those who cry peace, peace when there is no peace

I think more losses and further judgment are the

Biblical expectation the Biblical expectation if we see anything in the patterns of Scripture.

A return to normalcy or a reset to socialism both compete they both compete with a repentance unto

God. The solution is not to go back or to go forward, but to get down on our knees and repent

That's the solution. Whatever affections we have for the past or anxieties we have about the future, our attention should be upon Jesus Christ, who is the author and the finisher of our faith

And in this moment of the historical relay race when 2020 is stumbling and falling and passing the baton off to 2021, we are to reflect upon the old and ponder the new in light of the

Son of David the beloved of God. So what do we do with 2

Samuel 12 verses 24 and 25 As we noted last week, this is a passage that declares the fulfillment of the promises

God made to David in chapter 7 God through the prophet Nathan made some wonderful promises to David about the nature of his lineage his seed would reign upon a throne that would be everlasting that his son would build the temple all sorts of wonderful gracious promises given to David by God and David responded in worship

He responded in thanksgiving. He responded by humbly confessing that he was unworthy to receive any element of these wonderful promises and concludes this prayer of thanksgiving and praise to God in 2

Samuel 7 verse 29 and I'll read that again as we did last week Now therefore may it please you,

David is praying to God Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant that it may continue forever before you for you

O Lord God have spoken and with your blessing may the house of your servant be blessed forever.

So what do we do with 2 Samuel 12 verses 24 and 25. Well let us be in agreement with the

Lord's will. What did he want to do but bless the house of David. To bless the seed of David. To bless the son of David.

To bless the throne of David forever. We are to join in with that blessing.

With that rejoicing. With that declaring of praise and agreement with God. Yes indeed blessed be the son of David blessed be his everlasting throne.

Blessed be the house that he builds for God. We are to rejoice in the beloved the one ultimately spoken of here in our brief text.

We are to do this in response to the birth of Jedidiah which means beloved. The son of David.

And we looked at some of those reasons to rejoice last week and we're going to look at the rest of them this week.

Birthday blessings to offer up to Christ in reflection of who he is and why we are thankful for him and we looked at four of them already.

Now number five. Number five. A fifth reason why we ought to give thanks for the beloved is that he builds a permanent temple.

Now according to God's providential timing David and Bathsheba have a second son after the first one died.

The second son he was the one promised by God to David through the prophet

Nathan the one who would reign in David's stead when David got old and was in his latter days then this is the seed this is the son who would come and take the throne ensuring a succession from David to his son because that wasn't the case with Saul you remember and that this succession would prove

God's promises that this would be an everlasting throne and this would be the son this would be the seed of David who would build the temple rather than David himself and this son is

Solomon a man of peace who would reign in his father's place who was a man of war so this is the son and he will build a permanent temple now let's look back at chapter 7 because here is the bulk of the meaning behind our passage in chapter 12 so look back at chapter 7

I'm going to read verses 1 -5 talk a little bit about verses 6 -11 and I'm going to read verses 12 -13 so that we all can hear for ourselves what it is that God said to David and why these two verses in chapter 12 are so significant verse 1 of chapter 7 now it came about when the king lived in his house and the

Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies and the king said to Nathan the prophet see now

I dwell in a house of cedar but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains Nathan said to the king go do all that is in your mind for the

Lord is with you but in the same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan saying go and say to my servant

David thus says the Lord are you the one who should build me a house to dwell in for I have not dwelt in a house since the day

I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt and he goes on to talk about how it is that God has always been faithful and true to his people but why is it that David should be the one to change the wandering status of the ark of the covenant of the tabernacle into a permanent house

David certainly wants to do this David says look

I've been given permanent residence why is the throne of God not in a permanent residence why do

I have a palace with walls of cedar and God's throne the ark of the covenant the mercy seat the throne of God on earth why is that in a temporary dwelling place this should not be

David knows he is not as glorious as the Lord the Lord should have a better place than David he wants to rectify this but God says you're not the one who is going to do it your son is going to do it and he says that in verses 12 and 13 when your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers

I will raise up your descendent after you who will come forth from you and I will establish his kingdom he shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever so why is the building of a temple a permanent temple to replace the temporary tabernacle why is that so important well it has to do with why the tabernacle or the temple is important at all why is that important because the tabernacle in the old covenant was the center for reconciliation of God and man and you'll notice the reconciliation of man to man where was the tabernacle located in the wilderness in the middle of all of the tribes and they all encamped around it they were all focused on it so they were all to be reconciled to one another and if they weren't they had to get it right before they came to be reconciled to God the pattern was the tabernacle was the centerpiece where God and man and man to man were to be reconciled and things unified and so building a temple in Jerusalem would mean that that would be the centerpiece on Mount Zion that would be the centerpiece where all of Israel would gather to have their special feast where they would go to offer up sacrifices and faith that one day

God would bring them his lamb how long did the temple that Solomon built how long did the house that Solomon built stand in Jerusalem 410 years 410 years and it was destroyed by the

Babylonians when the exiles returned from Persia and they came to Jerusalem and they eventually got their act together and rebuilt the temple the second temple the one that was remodeled by Herod into a wonder of the ancient world how long did that temple stand 585 years do you know that a mosque has stood longer in Jerusalem than a temple unto

God has ever stood so let me ask you where is this permanent temple where is the house of God shall we look to brick and mortar shall we look to cinder block no you see the desire for a permanent temple an unfailing place for God and man to be reconciled for sin to be paid for for peace to be achieved would not be realized in stone and mortar this is why 1st

Chronicles chapter 29 is so important if you haven't read it in a while go read it what

David prepared and organized Solomon took and accomplished

David wasn't allowed to build the temple but boy did he prepare for it and then

Solomon took everything that his father prepared and then he completed it when Jesus Christ the son of David came the beloved of God he took and accomplished in the new covenant all that had been prepared and organized under the old covenant this was good news in chapter 2 of John the

Jews said to him verse 18 what sign do you show us as your authority for doing these things what was he doing he was cleaning out the earthly temple saying this place is a den of thieves this place is rotten to the core what authority do you have for doing these things verse 19

Jesus answered them destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up the Jews said it took us 46 years to build this temple meaning since Herod the

Great started the remodeling project it's been 46 years and will you raise it up in three days but he was speaking of the temple of his body so when he was raised from the dead that his disciples remembered that he said this and they believed the scripture and the word which

Jesus had spoken when did it become clear that Jesus was the temple when did it become clear that Jesus and that God the son incarnate in human flesh that he was the centerpiece of reconciliation between God and man and man and man when did that become clear after the resurrection after the resurrection you want to read the

Bible rightly read it with a post resurrection hermeneutic read the

Bible in light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and we rejoice in the beloved we offer him birthday blessings why because Christ achieves his peace filled task his bringing of shalom through what the building of the temple he's the son of David he builds the temple he's the son of David he builds the house of God it is in Christ that his people are reconciled to God and we are living stones of this temple he brings us together into one house well it's a permanent temple in Christ but also a preferential treatment of the beloved of the son of David when we read this we read that the

Lord loved him send word Nathan this this is the son that I love of David's out of all the 20 sons of David 20 sons

David had it was Solomon whom the Lord loved didn't say that about the others not even not even

Nathan the son of David not the prophet but the son of David named Nathan who was the was the ancestor of Mary not even him it was

Solomon that says the Lord loved him what does that mean it means that there is a special love that God had for Solomon the same thing we read about Israel of all the nations only

Israel God had known that didn't mean that God only knew about one nation in the world and was ignorant of all the rest but there's only one nation whom he had specially loved and out of all the sons of David there's preferential treatment for Solomon now the

Lord loved him what does that mean it means that God favored him read the stories

God favored him God treated Solomon unequally to that of the others it means that God privileged him the other sons were born of David's previous wives other sons were born after Solomon many of some of them tried for the throne illegitimately but only upon Solomon did the

Lord set his love and how often does that happen in the story of redemption how often does that happen in the biblical story

Abel Seth Shem Abraham Isaac Jacob Judah David Solomon all had brothers who could have should have would have been picked first but God favored these there's preferential treatment throughout the entire lineage of the seed of the

Messiah till he come to Christ the story of redemption you see is not about making things fair and equitable it is about how

God loved his son more than anything and everything else it is the father's delight in the son that is the

Spirit's declaration throughout all of Holy Scripture again and again the father's delight in his son the declaration of the

Spirit Hebrews one five through six four to which of the angels did he ever say you are my son today

I have begotten you and again I will be a father to him and he shall be a son to me these are quotes out of 2nd

Samuel 7 I thought I thought

God said that through Nathan to David of David's son Solomon writer of Hebrews has a post resurrection hermeneutic he says

God is saying this of his son Jesus Christ the ultimate fulfillment of the son of David to which of the angels did he ever say you are my son today

I have begotten you and again I will be a father to him and he shall be a son to me and when he again brings the firstborn into the world he says and that all the angels of God worship him you see how much the father delights in the son preferential treatment for the son of David it is

Christ with whom God is pleased are you it is

Christ with whom God is pleased are you that's the question you should ask of those you want to evangelize

I don't know where you're going to spend eternity I'll lose sleep for weeks if you were to die tonight

I have no idea where you're going to end up those people you think of in your mind those loved ones those you care about those you work with ask there are many many stories in the

Bible to show how much God is pleased with Christ and here's the question to us are we are we pleased with Christ are we all about Christ is he our everything the one nail upon which we hang our entire life that's the question and a preeminent title along with the preferential treatment he calls him

Jedidiah yes the Lord loved him Lord loved the son of David and sent word to Nathan the prophet he named him

Jedidiah for the Lord's sake we don't hear Solomon being called Jedidiah later on he's not introduced to the queen of Sheba as King Jedidiah that's that's not a name that he operates with later on in the stories and so what does it mean here it means this is this is a title this is a title that he bears in fact later on in the

Bible we hear this refrain about Solomon that he was beloved of God you see that points back to this title

Jedidiah means beloved it means beloved God was showing his commitment to his promise to David to be a father to David's son and the son of David to be

God's son by naming him my beloved he has this preeminent title nobody else got that title just the son of David there was understanding of that and this caused anticipation among the believers in the old covenant that there would be one loved of God a son of David to come a king to which the daughter of Zion would sing

Hosanna and so it was when

Jesus was baptized by John in Jordan River Matthew 3 17 and behold a voice out of the heavens said this is my beloved son in whom

I am well pleased again he says it on the Mount of Transfiguration while he was still speaking a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the clouds said this is my beloved son with whom

I am well pleased listen to him this preeminent title of Jedidiah of the beloved is given to the son of David who is

Jesus Christ the Lord he is God the son in human flesh and we behold the wonder of the incarnation he's named beloved isn't it interesting and you can do this on your own run a search on your bible program on your phone or blow the dust off your strong's concordance at home replace whatever you were propping your table up with with that and just look up beloved in the

New Testament look up the word beloved in the New Testament and here is something we ought to be thankful for and rejoice in Christ about how often are we called the beloved why why are we called the beloved we're not the son of David we deserve no preferential treatment we've done nothing for God whereby we could repay him or inform him or help him out why would we ever be called the beloved because by grace alone through faith alone we are in the beloved united to him and so that what

God says of the son he says of us that we are beloved we are beloved we ought to be thankful for that and rejoice in Christ for that number 8 a perpetual throne perpetual throne so David and Bathsheba have another son

Solomon the Lord loves this son and he names him Jedidiah this is the son that was promised to David in chapter 7 the promise included other things like God would chasten and discipline the son of David should he stray that he would love him and establish him on the throne but there was also a promise connected to the giving of Solomon a promise that just doesn't fit within the realm of Solomon's 40 years alone or even the reign of his son

Rehoboam or his son or his son because as brief as the temple was in Jerusalem even briefer was the reign of a son of David upon the throne in Jerusalem Jeconiah was the last of the lineage of David to reign upon a throne in Jerusalem there hasn't been a physical descendant of David reigning on a throne as king in Jerusalem for the greater part of all history there was a brief span so how is it that God's promise is true how is it that God has kept his word that there is an everlasting throne upon which the son of David reigns in Zion how is that promise fulfilled well it's interesting that in a critical moment the son of Solomon was was not a good king his name was

Rehoboam and God in judgment split the kingdom and he gave 10 northern tribes to a man named

Jeroboam and speaking to Jeroboam he told Jeroboam why he was not giving him all 12 tribes why just the northern lands of the nation of Israel why split it up why even leave

Rehoboam in charge of Jerusalem if he was so bad God explains it 1st Kings 11 36 but to his son meaning to the son of Solomon or to the son of David I will give one tribe which is

Judah that my servant David may have a lamp listen to it may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem it was vital to God that the son of David that his servant

David would have what in Jerusalem a lamp before God in Jerusalem this is what

Jerusalem is the city where I have chosen for myself to put my name hold on to that I'm not giving you

Jeroboam I'm not giving you the whole thing I'm not giving you Judah I'm not giving you Jerusalem there must be a descendant of David upon the throne in Jerusalem the place where I've decided to reveal my name the lamp must remain and although Abijam Rehoboam's son was also bad he was also wicked

God did not destroy him and end his lineage why 1st

Kings 15 4 God explains why but for David's sake the

Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem to raise up his son after him and to establish

Jerusalem you following it Jerusalem has to remain a lamp has to remain in Jerusalem this is the place where God has chosen to reveal his name and the lamp the descendant of David must be there a light in Zion of course

Jerusalem was destroyed wasn't it Jerusalem was destroyed and after Jeconiah there was no true king of Israel for many generations and in fact it took 70 sets of 7 years from the time that Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild

Jerusalem it took 483 years actually for the

Messiah the king of the king the son of David to come into his own and when he arrived he announced what at the kingdom of heaven the kingdom of God had come near but it was not of this earth the earthly Jerusalem was slated for judgment but that the new

Jerusalem would never be shaken Jesus is the son of David and he currently now reigns amidst the bride called

Jerusalem the lamp brothers and sisters has not gone out there is a lamp in Jerusalem Revelation 21 22 -23

I saw no temple in it no brick and mortar for the

Lord God the almighty and the Lamb are its temple and the city which is described in Revelation 21 as the bride of Christ and if you're the bride of Christ simply raise your hand the bride of Christ is called the new

Jerusalem the new Jerusalem is called the bride of Christ now listen the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it for the glory of God has illumined it listen and its lamp is the

Lamb there's a lamp in Jerusalem there's a son of David upon the throne an everlasting throne and he's still reigning he's still reigning for a child will be born to us a son will be given to us and the government will rest on his shoulders government does not rest on an election the government does not rest on the integrity and the wisdom of men government is upon Christ's shoulders and his name will be called wonderful counselor mighty

God eternal father prince of peace there will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace like there was with Solomon Rehoboam and so on no there will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forever more the zeal of the

Lord of hosts will accomplish this not us yes through us and around us and with us but the zeal of the

Lord of hosts accomplishes this so listen no matter no matter who claims to be the authority over us and no matter what kind of tyranny is attempted and no matter who considers themselves to be president elect

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever and of his kingdom there will be no end reason to be thankful offer up Christmas blessings which leads us to the ninth reason to be thankful we're reminded of in this text a paramount truth and when

God keeps his promise to David and he gives David and Bathsheba a second son they name him

Solomon it's this man of peace the Lord loves gives this title of beloved to let's think back and the fulfillment of this promise at the giving of the promise the response of David to this promise 2nd

Samuel chapter 7 and looking at verse 20 David is responding

David is praying David is giving glory to God and listen to this verse 20 again this is

David speaking again what more can David say to you for you know your servant

O Lord God for the sake of your word and according to your own heart you have done all this greatness to let your servant know for this reason you are great

O Lord God for there is none like you and there is no God besides you according to all that we have heard with our ears why are you doing this why are you making these amazing promises to me you know who

I am it can't be me the reason why you make these promises about a seed and everlasting throne and a temple it can't be because of me it's because of you you're doing it because of your word because of all of your promises that you've given you're doing it because of you because of your glory because of your name because of your greatness and that's the paramount truth that's the paramount truth that God made these promises and kept them for his own glory to manifest his own power and magnify his own praise that's what

Christmas is about for that is what Christ does this is what

Christ does as the son of David the beloved son of God he reveals the greatness of God he reveals the greatness of God he reveals the uniqueness of God there is no other

God just the one true God he reveals the power of God and all that he says and all that he does this is what

Christ does in the incarnation he reveals God to behold to behold the light of the incarnation is to behold the manifest glory of God and for those made in the image of God there's no greater purpose than this for those of us here we are every one of us here is made in the image of God there's no greater purpose for each and every one of us than this than to inhale the glorious wonder of God and exhale grace filled worship that's what we were made for and when

Christ is at the center of our lives that's what we're able to do because he's the one who manifests the glory of God he's the one who redeems us and delivers us and saves us out of spiritual death and bondage to a life filled with this kind of praise and worship and glory and thanksgiving in the strange and sad story of Solomon and most of us are thinking yeah but Solomon he messed up a lot and it's true

Solomon did a lot of awful things but in the strange and sad story of Solomon we must remember that he was only shadow he was only shadow he wasn't the savior and all the flaws of Solomon must not cause us to miss the point we know of his spiritual and moral bankruptcy and that's 1

Kings chapter 11 fittingly enough the bankruptcy of Solomon 1

Kings chapter 11 but that should not distract us from his God magnifying glorious exaltation in 1

Kings chapter 10 read those together chapter 10 of 1

Kings shows how God magnifies himself through the glory of the son of David chapter 11 we get to the reason why

Solomon ain't the Messiah the difference between Solomon and Christ is the difference between someone's shadow and the person themselves

Christ is forever perfect and he will never be bankrupt of his worthiness or of his goodness or of his glory he is the beloved he is

Jedidiah remember this about Solomon being shadow his bankruptcy his moral and spiritual bankruptcy occurred simultaneously with the height of his wealth with the height of his political alliances at the height of his popularity as Christians we don't succeed as the church we don't succeed as the people of God we don't succeed in the great amassing of wealth and political alliances and popularity these things come and go and if they ever do arrive in force it is because we're to be good stewards of them no the reason why

Solomon went bankrupt is because he no longer rejoiced in the Lord he no longer rejoiced in the

Lord and the joy of the Lord is our strength been saying all this year in this year that we need wisdom and knowledge the fear of the

Lord is the beginning of wisdom the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and no one can ever rightfully truthfully claim that we are being foolish or ignorant if we begin everything we do with the fear of the

Lord well the joy of the Lord is our strength we need strength we need endurance we need we need

God's grace to continue on to forge forward into whatever he has for us next well I commend to you the joy of the

Lord the joy of the Lord think upon Christ think about who he is think about all the things that he has done itemize it like the old hymn says count your blessings name them one by one count the glories of Christ name them one by one and rejoice in Christ for the joy of the

Lord is our strength let's pray Father I thank you for the time that you have given us here today in your word we thank you that we have a rich and robust picture of Christ in the keeping of your promises concerning the son of David and Solomon Father we thank you that there are many many more reasons to give you thanks to rejoice in the beloved and I pray that you would fill our minds with these reasons and to fill our hearts with these affections that we would rejoice in you and know your strength we pray these things for Christ's sake

Amen. Would you stand with me for our song of interdiction?

I couldn't help but think while brother Michael was preaching on our bulletins today it says go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born so look for opportunity this week to share the gospel the good news of salvation and the

Lord Jesus Christ with somebody this week our song of interdiction this morning is the birthday of a king

In the little village of Bethlehem there lay a child one day and the sky was bright with a holy light for the prince where Jesus lay

Alleluia how the angels sing Alleluia how it rang and the sky was bright with a holy light it was the birthday of a king it was a humble good place but oh how much

God gave to us that day from the manger bed for the path that's led what a perfect holy way

Alleluia how the angels sing

Alleluia how it rang and the sky was bright with a holy light it was the birthday of a king

May the love of the Father and the grace of the