Remember The Promise of Christ this Christmas Season

All right, the Old Testament reading today is Malachi 4 1 through 6 for behold the day is oh, please stand up.

I forgot All right We're back on track for behold.

The day is coming burning like an oven when all the Arrogant and evil doer evil doers will be stubble the day that is coming shall see them ablaze as the

Lord of hosts So that it will leave them neither root nor branch But for you who fear my name the

Son of Righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall and you shall tread down the wicked

For they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act Says the

Lord of hosts remember the law of my servant Moses in the statues and rolls that I command Him at Horeb for all

Israel behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the

Lord comes And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children's and the hearts of children to the father's lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction

New Testament reading is found in Luke 1 Verse 5 and the pew Bible.

It's on page 855 when the days of Herod king of Judea There was a priest named

Zechariah of the division of Abijah and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron and her name Was Elizabeth and they were both righteous before God walking blamelessly in all the commandments

And statutes of the Lord, but they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years

Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty according to the custom of the priesthood

He was chosen by a lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense and the whole multitude of the people were praying outside the hour of incense and there appeared to him in an

Angel of the Lord standing at on the right side of the altar of incense and Zechariah was troubled when he saw him and fear

Fell upon him, but the angel said to him do not be afraid Zechariah for your prayer has been heard and your wife

Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name John And you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth

For he will be great before the Lord and he must not drink wine or strong drink and he will be filled with the

Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb and He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their

God and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just To make ready for the

Lord a people prepared and Zechariah said to the angel How shall I know this for I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years and the angel answered him

I am Gabriel I stand in the presence of God and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news and behold

You will be silent and unable to speak into the day of these things take place Because you did not believe my words

Which will be fulfilled in their time and the people were waiting for Zechariah and they were Wondering at his delay in the temple and when he came out

He was unable to speak to them and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple and he kept making signs to Them and remained mute and when his time of service was ended

He went to his home after these days his wife Elizabeth conceived and for five months She kept herself hidden saying thus says the

Lord Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked at me to take away my reproach among people.

He may be seated Thank you for your singing

Open your Bibles to Luke chapter 1, please We'll end up at the end of Luke But we'll kind of survey the whole chapter almost

So Luke chapter 1 let's go ahead and read 67 279 and his father

Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation

For us and the house of his servant David as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old

That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to show the mercy

Promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant the oath that he swore to our father

Abraham to grant us that we would that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear and holiness and righteousness before him all our days and You child will be called the prophet of the

Most High For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways To give knowledge of salvation to his people and the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our

God Whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death

To guide our feet into the way of peace God in heaven we thank you for this way of peace

Lord, we know that in our sins. We are in darkness. We follow our own fleshly desires

They promise us so much life, but they only result in death death now and death and total later

What a great gift we have that Jesus Christ would come and offer us life by his wounds What a great gift that the

Son of God would take on flesh as a babe deserving so much glory so much pomp and display, but yet he came as a as a baby and to poor parents to Grow up in a poor family

To die a most wretched death on the cross Lord in heaven. We are unworthy of this display of matchless grace

Lord in heaven, I pray that you would open our hearts wider to the displays of Jesus Christ this

Christmas season. May we be amazed at the babe of Jesus and may our hearts culminate into worship that he has grown up and he has died and he is reigning on high

Resurrected from the dead at the right hand of the Father interceding for us in this moment to direct us out of darkness into light

May Jesus be glorified even now. May you be with my lips. May you be with the congregation's ears.

I Naturally do not want to speak your truth. They naturally do not want to hear your truth We need your spirit

God in this moment So may we ask for him every one of us from the heart and may you be kind to us and given us him so that we can hear the good things that Jesus has done and Praise him for it in Jesus name.

Amen Well, it's that time of year already It's the most happiest time of the year as that song says often or as we hear that song often on the radio

And oftentimes that can become There truly is Tim said it earlier. There's every reason to celebrate this day

Because it is celebrating such a magnificent truth of Scripture But you know given the greatness of the blessing that can come forth from the day in our sin

We can use it as great curses and it can turn into something that's very bitter in our hearts and our actions

Instead of it being the most happiest time of the year It can be the most sad time of the year depending on how we're taken this time of the year

Christmas Can be come the culmination point of our whole year where we have placed our trust and Different things and where we are ultimately let down in the most heightened

Anticipated time of the year it can be responded in many different ways by us.

It reminds me of the Charlie Brown Christmas the famous Charlie Brown Christmas Where you have all sorts of reactions to the

Christmas time you have Snoopy trying to win a decoration contest to win Earn money to get money for it, right?

So he's taking advantage of the season to get more money You have Sally who writes to Santa asking just for cold hard cash.

Let's skip the presents and toys Just give me cash And of course you have poor

Charlie Brown who's depressed because he just doesn't know what the meaning of Christmas is He realizes it can't be about all this commercial stuff

There has to be a deeper meaning here and he's seeking it out throughout the whole episode And then you have faithful Linus at the end given the meaning of what

Christmas is Telling the story of Luke to the birth of Jesus and he says that's the that's the meaning of I'm missing here

He's what is that famous line? That's that's the meaning of Christmas Charlie Brown something like that And so he gains the meaning by Linus.

Can you imagine that happening now in a television episode? That'd be that'd be far -fetched for sure.

But nevertheless it reminds me of all the different reactions we can have to Christmas vain Excitement or we can have straight -up depression

Because we just are forgetting or we're not mindful of what the meaning of Christmas is And we could be caught somewhere in the middle of those two extremes

And of course, it's good for us as we are approaching Christmas Day to look to the word to see how can we enjoy

Christmas? How can we enjoy Christmas? Linus has a very good start by going to Luke 2 by going to Luke where Christmas first began with the birth of Jesus Christ and I want to of course go there as we're approaching

Christmas I want to go deeper than just simply the age -old saying

Jesus is the reason for the season It's a true statement and there's nothing wrong with it But if we don't have any meat or potatoes to that statement, we won't truly feel the full capacity of the divine beauty of the season

If that statement just stays a statement and we don't know why he's the reason for the season or what that entails

What's the beauty behind it then? It'll just remain a bumper sticker statement and it won't actually have any effect on our heart

So why how can we make this season special what about it?

Is it special and I want to as we are heading towards Luke 2 next week with Pastor Tim as we look at Luke 1

I want to to approach this Christmas season with meat and potatoes What makes this so special and as I look at Luke 1 and 2

I see that it is littered with promise If we're going to understand why the season is so special Then we have to understand why

God's promise is so special if we do not appreciate God's promise We are going to miss everything

We need to know and understand God's promise and why that is so important to our very hearts

And you know you can hear we hear a lot about God's promises a lot so it can go in one ear out the other

But it's not a throwaway statement. It is not a throwaway word You cannot enjoy

God you cannot enjoy this Christmas season if you do not understand and delight in the promises of God and There are contrary promises out there that can distract us and without even knowing it we can be following those promises we can be following those contrary promises as they lead us to an away a

Situation where we think he'll give us life, but it only ends up giving us death and disappointment Which makes

Christmas season all the more depressing? Well promise is very important It should be our delight it needs to be something we understand to delight in and in that way we can enjoy

God We can enjoy the season we can enjoy our Christian life. It's all about promise in fact

You are either enjoying belief and trust in God's promise right now, or you are suffering pursuing

Satan's false promises Promise of God has been from the very beginning

All the way to the garden God promised that if Adam and Eve did not eat they would gain life

They would have life if they ate they would have death that was the promise of God and as they pursued that and trust and Belief they had life indeed

But we see Satan comes in with a contrary promise It's not about following what God has promised or rather there is a contrary promise that you can follow and find your delight in and find your enjoyment in Satan promised the very opposite to Eve and This thus since Adam's fall we all are born in this world thinking we can be fulfilled

By not pursuing what God has promised If I only had a better family,

I'd be happy at Christmas If only I got that present

I would be fulfilled. I remember that as a child If it only snowed

Right before Christmas and we'd have a white Christmas, then I would be more happy at Christmas by the way

Thursday's looking good for that. We can all be excited. We can all be excited I fall prey to that one pretty often.

You can't have a good Christmas without without snow. That's why okay. We'll stop Florida I don't that doesn't ever make sense period and that's one of the reasons why

But if I could only get a boyfriend to spend Christmas or a girlfriend to spend Christmas on I would be happy If my husband would only be more festive

Then Christmas would be better if my wife would just cook better If my loved one was still with me today if he was alive right now, then

I could enjoy Christmas we We got to understand that God has not promised those things.

That's not God's promise. He might give us those things That's great. But that's not what he has promised us. And since he has not promised us those things we cannot

Anchor our our delights and our hope and our trust and everything in those promises. That is simply a

Tactic by Satan to get us off of true promises to find our delights in You see

God has not promised us those things and if it was for our most beneficial need that we needed

He would have but he didn't so therefore it's not our baseline need No, indeed.

God has better promises for us that we are to hitch our joy and our delight in And so we cannot say that my

Christmas would be complete if I just had these other promises Well, God didn't promise you those things. So that is not what you fundamentally need

No, instead we must understand what God's actual promise is and hitch everything to that and have our joy in that as we look to God's promise

I Invite you to let go of what you would like God's promise to be Let go of what you would like God's promise to be for you in your own specific instance

I wish I could get this that and the other Let go of those things if you truly Needed those things in order to be joyful and and have peace then

God would have promised you that and he would have given you It but he did not promise you those things He has not given it to you

But he has promised you something that you do need that will give you eternal joy and happiness, especially during this season of Peace that we are to celebrate

So I want to look at the nature of God's promise and see it happening in Luke 1

God's promise starts with God Promising Eve as we detailed in the garden that a seed would come forth from her and destroy the works of Satan We all know this story from Noah to Shem to Abraham to Judah to David We have this promise of God from coming forth from the beginning that from this seed would come the promise that I'm giving the world to For the world to behold and enjoy and find the rest in it begins with given to Actually given to the serpent with Eve hearing it with Adam hearing it going through Noah going through Shem going through Abraham with the covenant promises to Judah and then of course the covenant promises with David we see the promise of God Beginning to display itself in those in that situation

But of course developed along with this as a backdrop is a re -telling retelling of the failures of Adam And that is in Israel as Adam had all he ever wanted in the garden so Israel had all they ever wanted in Canaan a land flowing with milk and honey a place in which they

Had it all blessings outside of them But of course, we know that they use those physical blessings for curses as they disobeyed

God Just like Adam did so Israel did just like Adam failed Israel filled they would take the blessings of Outside of them and they would use that internally to disobey

God and so bring about all these curses So as Adam had failed in the garden, so Israel fails in the promised land

So that's a backdrop of this great promise of all of old This great promise that we are to grab hold of and find peace in it's the failures of Adam the failures of Israel The backdrop of darkness comes forth the

Messiah in front the beauties of light Who would deliver both Israel both all the people the chosen people of Adam chosen people of Israel to end this rebellion

And with the close of the Old Testament and Malachi if you want to go there with me with the close of the

Old Testament We see all these themes coming together before we get to the New Testament, which displays this promise

Malachi 4 we read it already, but it's worth reading again Malachi 4 we see all these things coming together by promise

This is the end of the Old Testament writings And Malachi 4 verse 1 the prophet writes for behold the day is coming burning like an oven when all the

Arrogant and all the evildoers will be stubble The day that is coming shall set them ablaze says the

Lord of hosts so that it will lead them neither root nor branch But for you who fear my name the

Son of Righteousness shall rise with healing in his wings You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall and you shall tread down the wicked for they will be ashes under their souls

Of your feet and the day when I act as the Lord of hosts Remember the law of my servant Moses the statutes and the rules that I command him

Commanded him at Horeb Horeb for all Israel behold I will send you

Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers lest I come and strike the land with the decree of utter

Destruction so you have the basic summary of all the Old Testament right there You screwed up and you screwed up big -time and I'm coming to judge but yeah

I'm going to bring someone who will bring healing To those who are searching for him and then you have also that promise that there will be one who comes

Before him John the Baptist as we know him in the spirit of Elijah who will come who will get who will make ready his way

So there's all those promises coming forth right all the way through the Old Testament and then you have 400 years of silence 400 years of silence think of that 400 years after this where there is no prophetic vision there

There's no prophet being raised up to proclaim the Word of God to proclaim the promise

One of the things that the prophets were to do was to tell Israel how terrible they are But it also was to remind them of the promise of the one to come in light of their terribleness imagine 400 years of complete silence

I Mean 400 years is a long time. I was trying to think of like what 1620?

I think if I did my math, right what was going on in the 1620s that would gauge us I don't know. I don't the

Baptists were just starting off back then. I know that doesn't really help anyone out though I mean, it's it's a long time ago, right?

And so as we're looking now at Luke 1 that long years of silence, we're looking at Luke 1 I just want to pull

I want to say five things from it to get an understanding of God's promise so we can appreciate this

Christmas season as the promise comes into fruition I want to grab hold of five things real quick But to be honest with you, we might not have a time to get through all of them

So it might just be four things. But nevertheless the first thing I want to see about God's promise is it is on his timetable

God's promise comes forth on his timetable not ours It comes forth based off of what he wants to happen

How long he wants it to be not how long or short we might want it to come 400 years from Malachi 4 to Luke 1

Right, and I'm sure that Adam and Eve would have loved for their first son to have brought the promise, right?

You know Eve messes up Adam messes up They hear that there's gonna be one who comes from Eve the promise that would end what

Satan just did Don't you think that they really wanted the next guy to be him and it right away?

Let's not wait so long centuries centuries centuries But we know what happened with Cain and Abel that didn't quite happen one got murdered by the other it didn't happen

Didn't happen even coming forth from that with Noah. Maybe this will be it It goes on and on and on even through David I'm sure they would have wanted it to happen right away

But God's promises comes forth when he determines it to happen and it is a lot of times not on our timetable

It takes time Centuries of darkness centuries of tears

Centuries of hardships God determined to happen before the promise would come

God loves for it to get darker. So when he really shines forth the light it is visible and So we see

God acts his promise comes on his table, which is always better not ours

And We see a second point God's promise is to be believed it's to be believed

Look at Luke 1 as we go through chapter 1 now Verse 5 in the days of Herod king of king of Luke 1 verse 5 in the days of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named

Zechariah of the division of Abijah and He had a wife from the daughters of Aaron and her name was

Elizabeth and they were both Righteous before God walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the

Lord But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and now she was very old

She was advanced in years past her time forgiven for for having children Now while he was serving as priest before before God when his division was on duty according to the custom of the priesthood

Zechariah was chosen by a lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense so what it is is that these these priests would be called to go to Jerusalem at their appointed time in the year and then they would choose lots as to Who would go and burn incense in the temple and that was a very big deal when you did that That was a very big deal to be able to go in You're right by the

Holy of Holies and to burn the incense was a very big deal in fact Tradition has it that you didn't want to go in there and do it too long

Because you were doing something very very sacred you wanted to get in there and get out which is why later on when he's taking

His sweet time because he's seeing an angel before him. They're thinking what is taking so long. They are starting to get a little worried

There's a big deal for him to be doing this to be burning incense before the Lord right by the

Holy of Holies and The whole multitude in verse 10 of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense

There's a time of worship and there appeared to him an angel of the Lord Standing on the right side of the altar of incense now again 400 years of silence

Not much prophecies going on not much angelic activity going on and now all of a sudden Luke 1 it's happening like it was going on all the time 400 years of silence and there is an angel beside the altar and Zechariah was troubled when he saw him and fear felt upon him

But the angel said to him Do not be afraid Zechariah for your prayer has been heard.

What was his prayer? Now some people think his prayer was that that his wife would have a baby because it goes on to say that and if that Is his prayer you got to imagine maybe

I'm wrong here, but you got to imagine as she got past that age He would probably stop praying that Nevertheless this little mini promises coming forth again on God's Timetable or maybe some people say that his prayer was what everyone should have been praying for during that time at the temple that the

Messiah would come right It seems most likely that he's praying for his wife though, but who knows and your wife

Elizabeth will bear you a son So, you know whether or not his prayer when was his prayer? What are they talking about your prayer has been heard from years ago when she could have a baby and now

We don't we're not given that but nevertheless the angel says do not be afraid for your prayers have been heard and your wife

Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall Call his name John and you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice

At his birth and now here the description here and this is just like what we just read in Malachi This is a continuation now that promise 400 years later

Zechariah would have been familiar with these words He would have known what this prophet had said years ago

And what does he say in verse 15 for he will be great before the Lord and he must not drink wine or strong drink

And he'll be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the

Lord their God and he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom

Of the just to make ready for the Lord a people prepared And so we have this is the start of the great promise to happen

Jesus is going to come and first his forerunner needs to come that is John the Baptist who comes in the spirit of Elijah So we see that there is a the promises are going to come now

It's happening after years and years centuries and centuries Here they come now and you are going to have the son who prepares the way for this

Messiah That's very interesting to see Zechariah's response though Zechariah said to the angel how shall

I know this for I am an old man and my wife has advanced in years. That's a pretty understandable question well past the age to have

Children Zechariah's told that your wife is going to have the forerunner of the Messiah and he says how can

I know this is to? Be happening when we're beyond those years You know what I find fascinating is that Mary has a very similar response doesn't she have you notice that right?

Zechariah has a pretty understandable question Mary has a pretty understandable question in relation to what she heard

Gabriel say to her you remember later in chapter 1 When Gabriel tells her in verse 30

Mary and the angel said to Mary in verse 30 do not be afraid It sounds very similar right same thing do not be afraid

Zechariah 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

I mean you gotta imagine this is all the promises of God coming forth now that he's gonna reign over Israel He's gonna grab the throne of David right these are all the promise coming forth from your womb

Mary but there's one issue Mary is a virgin and That's what exactly she asked she says how will this be since I'm a virgin so we see there's the same kind of response

Right there is a miracle promised to Zechariah a miracle promised to Mary And it's a miracle because in one sense they're way too old the other sense

She's young and has never had sexual relations with a man, which is very important to produce a baby so a understandable question, but two different responses

Because the Gabriel says to Zechariah Zechariah in verse 19.

I'm sorry Where am I at here, so this is what happens when I try to flip too far

I start getting In verse 18 and the angel and the

Zechariah said to the angel how shall I know this for I am an old man and my Wife is advanced in years, and what does the angel said and the angel answered him.

I am Gabriel I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news

And what they say and behold you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that things these things take place for months

And months because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their time

Whereas Mary what does he respond with in verse 35 the angel said to her the

Holy Spirit will come upon you, right? That's a miraculous event that's going to happen the Holy Spirit's gonna come upon you and the power of the

Most High will overshadow You therefore the child to be born will be called holy the Son of God And behold your relative

Elizabeth in her old age has conceived a son and later on we see when she visits

Elizabeth What does Elizabeth say about Mary says in verse 45 and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment

Of what was spoken to her from the Lord, so what's the contrast there Zechariah didn't believe

Mary did believe Zechariah asked his question of how could this be through a heart of disbelief

Mary asked that question through a heart of belief and look at the response again going back and forth

I know your eyes are starting to hurt going back and forth, but go back to Zechariah And look what he says to Zechariah, he says in verse 19

I am Gabriel I stand in the presence of God and I was sent to speak to you and bring you the good news

This promise that I'm telling you does not come forth from a weak Person this promise that I tell you comes forth from the

God above I come forth from his presence his word my words are his words the promise

I declare to you comes forth from God himself. How dare you ask that question and disbelief?

We are to believe the promises of God no matter what Influences Zechariah was going on in his head as to why this can't be

Right My wife is way too old to have a child Too many years have gone by No, we are to believe on the promises of God despite the circumstances that would cause us not to And the difference between an unbeliever and a believer is that we have true faith

Despite the fact that sometimes our hearts lead us into but wait a minute Our fear of the

Lord causes us to say although I don't understand at all. I shall believe And so we see here the importance of belief in the promise that God tells us because it comes forth from Him and that is enough for us

The third point I want to look at is God's promise is a fruition of history and for that I know

I know I'm gonna we're just gonna go to the end of Luke 1 This is a going through we have

I mean, there's so much beauty in Luke 1 we have Mary and her song of worship in light of this promise of This promise she has received from God as she's visits with Elizabeth.

I'll meditate through that It is beautiful and wonderful. And then after that we have the birth of John the

Baptist in which they asked What is his name going to be? It's John.

Why in the world would it be John? they actually don't quite believe it at first and then Zechariah has to confirm it.

His name is John. I want to talk and In belief he names him John he's able to talk and what does it say the first thing after being not be able to talk

After being dumb for so long. That's like the literal like the true word dumb there I'm not trying to use some kind of slang after being dumb for so long in verse 64 immediately of chapter 1 verse 64 and Immediately his mouth was open when he named him

John like he was supposed to when he showed his belief in the promise and his Tongue loose and he spoke blessing to God This is a side point

But may we we had the same heart of belief that when God has us undergo a time that is difficult and hard We go through it and we end saying praise be to my

God That's a throwaway point though and Here we have his prophecy or the

Benedictus His his his his prophecy his blessing his praise to God and it's here that I want to focus the rest of the sermon on and the third point

I come across or we are going to label here with God's promise is That God's promise is a fruition of history

It's a fruition of history look at verses 68 to 73 if you look at the this

From Zechariah, we see it's it's broken off into two sentences. There's two sentences in there

There's just two big sentences and one of them is all about the promise of God and what he's doing

And then the second sentence is all about John the Baptist's Position in that promise. It's all about what

John the Baptist is going to do in light of this great promise of Christ So this first sentence, let's read in verse 68 with keep it in mind, right?

God's promise is a fruition of history Look how he mentions history

David Abraham the covenants of old the prophets of old, right? It is a fruition.

This promise is a fruition of history Let's look at 68 Zechariah says blessed be the

Lord God of Israel for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn or a stronghold of Salvation for us and the house of his servant

David now again, why is it so important to break off here? I shouldn't but why is it so important that we would refer to Jesus as the

Son of David? Why would be so important that he would come from the house of David because we are people of the promise we see that God Has promised and he fulfills his promise.

So son of David is highlighting the fact that God makes good on his promise It is a blessed title to give

Jesus that title son of David because you're saying the son of promise Again, he says in the house of his servant

David as he spoke by the mouth of his Holy Prophets from of old There that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to show the mercy promised to our

Fathers and to remember his holy covenants the oath that he swore to our father

Abraham to grant us that we being Delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear and holiness and righteousness before him all our days

We see that God's promise is a fruition of history. It develops in history and it comes forth

Blossoming blossoming like a beautiful flower. But what's amazing about God's promise being a fruition of history is what is that history made of?

What is the soil that the flower comes forth from to look beautiful? It's it's it's dirty

It's nasty the history of Jesus coming forth the fruition of history is one of darkness

One of sadness the one of failure over failure after failure over and over again

And God says let me wait Wait take my time for this because I'm gonna make something beautiful During this time of darkness during this time of failures during this hardship

God's promise is a fruition of history and that history is not something that we typically get cuddly feelings for Read the

Old Testament and it tends to depress you as you see the failures over failures after failures But yet Jesus is being brought forth from that as a promise to look beautiful Again as a beautiful flower with a backdrop of darkness

He references David Abraham covenants of old prophets of old God develops his promise and the development

Period is of darkness of sin and unrighteousness It shouldn't surprise us when we are waiting upon the promises of God that what makes it so difficult to wait

Is that there's so much darkness and sin happening? It should not surprise us that our patience would be tried as we wait upon the promise of God.

That is nothing new But we should always expect the fact that waiting upon the promise of God as it is our hope it is going to be

Terribly difficult in the situation behind us. It has always been that way and it will always be that way

We should go from complaining to expecting to praising our God who's able to do beautiful things from very difficult circumstances

And that is a general statement that applies to you particularly I guarantee it in the path of obedience to the promise

We Should not be surprised at the darkness surrounding us at the sin around us as the unrighteousness around us

You know why we shouldn't be surprised by that because we see it coming forth from our own heart That's been redeemed if it comes forth from within that's been saved

It's gonna come forth from without in this world that is still corrupted in their sin now we should be

Expecting the fact that God loves to produce his promise in Darkness in the worst of situations

We should expect this and then we see The essence of God's promise the essence of God's promise.

Let me remind myself and you The first point of God's promise is that it's on his timetable not yours

The second one is God's promise is to be believed The third is God's promise is a fruition of history.

And now the fourth is the essence of God's promise What is the essence of God's promise?

We see in verse 71 as we go through that first sentence again that we should be saved from our enemies

And from the hand of all those who hate us That's getting to the essence of the promise.

Look at verse 74 It's repeated that being delivered from the hand of our enemies.

We might serve him without fear But I think to get to the actual holiness there though I'm sorry

The essence there is that we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days

The essence of the promise of God is that we would serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days

So if that doesn't get you excited and you would rather be satisfied with lesser promises

Then you need to check your spiritual heartbeat Because the beauties of God's promise is that we he would create a situation where you can serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness

That needs to be glorious in your eyes because that is all what Jesus is doing He's coming to make a people for him that will serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness if you look

And it would be understand understandable if I had more time we could look at the nature of how Jesus was misunderstood the covenant that he was bringing was

Misunderstood by Israel a lot of you who have been in a proper church for a while the teachings of the

Bible You know that Israel came or Jesus came to an Israel that misunderstood the promises that he was bringing

Right as they had Rome surrounding them and within them They think back at the heyday of David and Solomon all they want is to have their freedoms again to have physical prosperity again

The land flowing with milk and honey again so that they can be free and prosperous

Because that is the Old Testament promise, isn't it? One of the reasons well Okay. Well, I'm gonna say one of the reasons why the

Old and New Testament are different is because the Old Testament promises Look at them. They're all physical if you obey me, there's a condition there if you obey me you will have all this physical blessing and God in his grace certainly brings

Israel to a land flowing with milk and honey Great circumstances just like Adam in the garden and he says if you obey me you are going to have physical prosperity

You're not gonna lose any of your children from the womb in the womb. You're gonna you're gonna be able to reproduce Right today that scares people all the idea that I've reproduced but that was actually a blessing from God You are going to be healthy.

You are going to have plenty of food. You're gonna plenty of wine This was a blessing of the Covenant right a physical blessing.

You will have your enemies. You will not be Bowing down to your enemies you your enemies we bow down to you and we see that coming forth from David and Solomon Don't we so we can see that in the framework of the

Old Testament Jesus coming to make a new one We could understand why people why Israel would get this confused Jesus is coming to as the promise said so that we can have

Prosperity again that Rome be kicked out that that Rome would no longer be over us and that we would have all the blessings we could have

But what did that blessings do for Israel? What what is what you know, look at Solomon's a great story, but look at Israel general

How did Israel use the blessings of the Old Covenant? To disobey

God that was to show their sin that in our sin We would take the blessings physical blessings the circumstantial blessings that the

Old Testament gave us and we would use it to sin and rebel against God That's where these blessings of the

Old Covenant led these sinful Israelites is to be disobedient to their

God. They didn't need we don't need if I make attach ourselves there We don't need those physical blessings

We don't need those physical things that we think would make I hope you don't think

I'm stretching too far here would make Christmas so special and good Israel didn't need those things those things led them to disobedience

I guarantee you if God just gives you those physical things those beautiful things around you without something happening within You will use that in sin, too

It will draw you away from the God who gives this is the nature of our sin in us

Now when Jesus came Israel didn't need good circumstances around them. They needed a changed heart within them and Such a changed heart that it doesn't matter what's going on out there

That my heart is so changed and I'm fire for the Lord I love him so much for the forgiveness of sins that I'm gonna use this circumstance.

That's terrible and I'm gonna glorify God in it You see Israel didn't need new circumstances.

They needed a new heart so that it could glorify God in those bad circumstances What do we need?

What do you need? What is this great promise of God? I love it. If God didn't promise you a

Husband a wife if God's cards wasn't for your spouse To be here with you on Christmas is because you didn't need that and I don't say that flippantly.

I know that hurts But you have to be resolved in your heart that if God has promises

That is my need and God has promised you something that you can be spiritually renewed

Awakened in your heart that you would take the bad circumstances and say I'm going to glorify

Christ in this That is your greatest need and he's promised it if you look to Jesus And that's exactly what we see

Look at the promise the oath in verse 73 Verse 73 the oath that he swore to our father

Abraham to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies Is he talking about Rome there?

Do you really think he's talking about Rome there? No, who is our enemy? What is our enemy? sin

Kingdom of darkness it is the greatest of all enemies To be delivered from our enemy was not to be delivered for Israel to be delivered from Rome But it is our greatest enemy is to be delivered from the kingdom of Satan that Why though does he get us out of that kingdom so we can just kind of run around aimlessly?

Of course not that we might what is he saying the end of verse 74? That we might serve him without fear later on.

He says In verse 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people and the forgiveness of their sins

You know that you do not need to fear God or fear any

Circumstances at all as Paul says whenever you have the forgiveness of sins from God through Jesus Christ, that's it

You don't have a reason to fear anymore You don't have a reason to fear

Approaching God as you did when your sins were not forgiven and you have no reason to fear the Circumstances around you as you know, and you've been told as a promise that those circumstances are for your good to know

Jesus more No reason to fear at that point. That's it That is a promise you can hold on to that is a promise as you consider the promise to come and baby

Jesus as he delivers on that promise as it comes to fruition you can get jazzed up about That no matter how what's going on around me

Jesus has forgiven me of my sins by my trust in him and there's no reason to fear. I can approach

God boldly I can go through this life boldly not by my own strength, but by the strength that Jesus provides by his work

If that doesn't get you excited I'm not saying you guys all start clapping right now But in your heart in your spirit, if that doesn't get you

Jesus, thank you for forgiving me of my sins For what he says in verse 74 75 in holiness and righteousness

Before him all our days why we're able to serve him without fear is because through Jesus we are made holy

We are made righteous all our days we are set apart holiness to be set apart for a particular purpose and We are able to be set apart from darkness to be made light that is we are made righteous made light before God for all the nations to see this is the essence of The promise of old

The Old Testament God promised outside life for inside obedience The New Testament God promises inside life no matter what is going on around you no matter outside circumstances

So the best way The only way to enjoy Christmas this year is to delight yourself in the promises of God Ask yourself that as I'm seeing as I'm celebrating the birth of Jesus the fruition of the promises of old coming

Collectively culminating to him am I delighting myself in everything that he represents as the forgiveness of sins of making me separate from the world of darkness and setting me up as Perfect righteousness and perfect light that is what he provides for me that no matter what's going on around me

I can live as righteous before God because of Jesus's strength. I may have the worst marriage

I may have the worst circumstances. I may have everything feeling like it's coming down, but praise be to God He has saved me through Jesus Is that the promise that you're holding on to if it is and you are going to enjoy

Christmas this year? I guarantee it it might be through tears might be through pain But you are going to have an underlying enjoyment and beloved.

This isn't just a Christmas thing. This is a forever thing This is for all times

God promises what you need most Think about it. Why would God waste time promising you things that you don't really need?

Why would he do that? If he promises it that means that's what you need most you better You can bet everything on it, and if you think you need something else more.

It's not an actual truth It's a falsehood. You're making up that you think will give you deliverance or some kind of joy satisfaction

Satisfaction, I always say that word wrong But since God has promised it we can guarantee

We can know that that is what we need that is what we bring ourselves to that's what we submit ourselves to And that is what we are to delight in He has promised us one thing

That the world needs it's Jesus Christ The forgiveness of sins who makes us righteous who separates us to himself for godly use to be a light in the midst of great darkness

So now instead of being a slave of your circumstances It is your passion to use it as a slave of Christ That is your whole purpose, and it fills you with all sorts of peace with God and joy joy joy

I'm gonna end there God in heaven. Thank you so much for your promise Lord as the rest of my sermon was going to detail as we see that John the

Baptist was to Was to go before to Declare this great gospel truth to a people to prepare his way

We know that we are the people who have gone after Jesus's came as John the

Baptist is the forerunner We go after Jesus and we are to declare the same message There are people who are sitting in darkness today in the shadows of death a death that needs their feet to be guided into the way of peace

Lord may we be people in which we have experienced that peace We have experienced that light we have experienced

Jesus Christ and the great promise of old and it has become our delight So that Lord as we go to this dark world

We don't just stay in and lament and say oh if only it was how it used to be if only it was better but instead we know that Your promises are comes into fruition in times like this

So that we can go to this dark world and tell them about Jesus Christ the light of all the world

Oh God in heaven may we have this as our aim this Christmas season so that we are full of excitement that if we are in a family that are full of unbelievers and It's darkness

We would see it as our great aim to be the light That we would see that the good circumstances that you have given us if we are surrounded by loving family

Surrounded by festivities centered on Jesus that we would know that this is came from your hand and would be full of happiness in you

Well, Lord, let us know that everything has been brought to us through Jesus Christ All that we need is found in him.

So may we all every one of us in here trust in this promise Let us not be satisfied with lesser promises that Satan promises us

But let us be satisfied in the promise of Christ because this is what you have promised But our delights being it this year and may you be glorified through that in Jesus name.