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Quick reminder. We do have the Ten Commandments today and looks like we have a smaller crowd. So Man, we have to jump on those Prayers and the prayers of the people. Let's take a moment just to prepare our hearts for worship.
Grace and peace to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to the worship of our God, please stand. The Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion rule in the midst of your enemies.
Your people shall be volunteers in the day of your power in The beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning. You have the dew of your youth the Lord has sworn and will not relent. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
The Lord is at your right hand. He shall execute kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the nations. He shall fill the places with dead bodies. He shall execute the heads of many countries.
He shall drink of the brook by the wayside. Therefore he shall lift up the head. Psalm 110 the most quoted psalm in the New Testament. The Lord our God is King. Amen. Come now. Let us worship him. Please pray with me father son and Holy Spirit.
We.
Joyfully come into your presence. Heeding your call as your people to come and worship you. We pray our worship would be lively that it would be acceptable in your sight and we have great confidence. Because of your dear son our Savior Jesus Christ our mediator.
We pray that this would be a sweet aroma in Your nostrils that the melody would resound in your ears and Oh Lord. Even now as we sing to you, we ask that you would sing over us. And bless our worship.
We ask all this in Jesus name.
Amen.
Please kneel now for the corporate confession of sin. Let us join together now in one voice. All mighty and mercy merciful father. And we have done those things which we ought not to have done and there is no health in us.
Oh Lord have mercy upon us miserable offenders. Spare those Oh God who confess their faults restore. According to your promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord Grant that we may hereafter live a godly righteous and sober life to the glory of his holy name.
Amen, please stand my little children these things I write to you so that you may not sin and If anyone sins we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
Who is a pardoning God like you? Our Lord is a forgiving God and if you be in Christ Take heart today and rejoice your sins are forgiven. Amen. Wonderful let's take up the hymnal and number 203. Hark the Herald.
Angels sing this is Advent Sunday the first Sunday of the season and though the celebrations are often premature We should be in a different state of mind we want to sing all the great Christmas music.
So let's sing hark the heralds joyfully to the Lord. Now number.
Please take up the hymnal once more.
And we are singing Psalm 100 from the Trinity hymnal. It is as has already been mentioned the first hymn all People that on earth do dwell. Psalm 100 let us begin.
Please remain standing for the reading of the word from.
Genesis 32.
Genesis 32. So Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him When Jacob saw them he said this is God's camp and he called the name of that place Mahana.
Then.
Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of seer the country of Edom and He commanded them saying speak thus to my lord Esau. Thus your servant Jacob says I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now.
I have oxen donkeys flocks and male and female Servants and I have sent them to tell my lord that I may find favor in your sight. Then the messengers returned to Jacob saying we came to your brother Esau and he is also coming to meet you and 400 men are with him.
So Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed and he divided the people that were with him and the flocks and herds and camels into two companies and He said if Esau comes to the one company and attacks it then the other company which is left will escape.
Then Jacob said Oh God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac. The Lord who said to me return to your country and to your family and I will deal well with you. I am NOT worthy of the least of all the mercies.
And of all the truth which you have shown your servant. For I crossed over the Jordan with my staff and now I have become two companies. Deliver me. I pray from the hand of my brother from the hand of Esau for I fear him.
Lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children. For you said I will surely treat you well and make your descendant as the sand of the sea Which cannot be numbered for multitude. So he lodged there that same night and took what came of his hand as a present for Esau his brother 200 female goats and 20 male goats 200 ewes and 20 rams 30 milk camels and their colts 40 cows and 10 bulls 20 female donkeys and 10 foals.
Then he delivered them to the hand of his servants every drove by itself and said to his servants Pass over before me and put some distance between successive droves and he commanded the first one saying When Esau my brother meets you and asked you saying to whom do you belong and where are you going?
Who are these in front of you? Then you shall say they are your servant Jacob's it is a present sent to my lord Esau and behold. He is also behind us. So he commanded the second the third and all who followed the drove saying in this manner You shall speak to Esau when you find him and also say behold your servant Jacob is behind us.
For he said I will appease him with the present that goes before me and afterward. I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me. So the president went on over before him but he lodged that night in the camp and He arose that night and took his two wives his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed over the fort at Javik.
He took them and sent them over the brook and sent over what he had. Then Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when he saw that he did not prevail against him.
He touched the socket of his hip and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said let me go for the day breaks. But he said I will not let you go unless you bless me.
So he said to him. What is your name? He said Jacob and he said you shall no longer be called Jacob. But Israel for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed. Then Jacob asked saying tell me your name.
I pray. And he said why is it that you ask about my name? And he blessed him there. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel for I have seen God's face to face and my life is preserved. Just as he crossed over Penuel the Sun rose on him and he limped on his hip.
Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank which is on the hip socket. Because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip in the muscle that shrank this is the word of the Lord.
Let us now joyfully confess our faith in the singing of.
Apostles Creed, please find the insert.
And on the opposite side of Psalm 98 you'll find Comfort comfort ye my people. We have used this for Psalms of the month. We just practice it. Let us sing this true advent hymn to the Lord comfort now comfort you my people.
Please now take up the Trinity hymnal the red hymnal and turn to number.
196 come thou long expected Jesus number.
196 please make preparations now for the prayers of the people.
Let us pray together now in unison. Oh God from whom come all holy desires all good counsel and all just works. Give to us your servants that peace which the world cannot give and Also that we being defended from the fear of our enemies may live in peace and quietness Through the merits of Jesus Christ our Savior who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit God forever.
The Lord says I am the Lord your God you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it. Holy honor your father and your mother.
You shall not kill.
Or God. We never think this about ourselves. Especially when you harbor Animosity in our heart hatred in our heart towards our brothers and sisters across the hall across the street across the keyboard.
God, I pray that we would seek diligently to be faithful in keeping the law here in Christ, and not killing by not harboring hatred and anger in our hearts towards one another. I pray, God, that you would grant us this grace and have mercy on us.
I pray so in Christ.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
You shall not covet. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, mind and strength.
Today is the day we sing Psalm 98. Please stand. This is the Psalm of the Month. Just a reminder that the parts for the singing in parts is listed in the song. And we are ready, I believe, to sing. And I hope this becomes really imprinted in your heart that you would be able to carry this song with you in the rest of your life as we practiced it.
And now we're singing it as the Psalm of the Month. Psalm 98.
Let us begin.
Please turn in your Bibles to the book of Micah, chapter five.
I'm going to read verses two through five. This is God's holy and infallible word. But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.
Therefore, he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth. Then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel. He shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall abide, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And this one shall be peace. Please pray with me now. Lord, we thank you for your inscripturated word. We thank you for the prophets of old.
Who told of the coming of that day when Christ would come. Lord, as we enter into the history of our spiritual forefathers with a deep sense of longing, trouble on the horizon, trouble at our door, calamity, even that we would have hope, a hope that the righteous king would come.
And oh Lord, today we we look to your second advent, not knowing what will transpire between now and then, but we have great hope that you will come again. And in this we rejoice. We ask your blessing now in the name of Jesus Christ.
Please be seated. The title of the message today is Hope the King Will Come. I have supplied the five points in the outline on the Slack channel. I'm going to give those to you really quickly. The first is the house of bread.
The first point today is the house of bread. Second, the coming king will be God himself in the flesh. Thirdly, we will consider. The bread of life, the bread of life. Fourth, we'll consider the proof of his coming.
The people of God are abiding in Christ even today. The people of God are abiding in Christ. And finally, Christ himself is our peace. The theme of today's message is really the theme of Micah in some ways.
It is who is a God like you? And this is. Really tight, closely tied to Micah's name. This is what his name means. And we we think about the significance of naming a child. And sometimes we attach great spiritual meaning to it.
And Micah, it seems, took his name very seriously. And it becomes even the theme of his prophetic book. Who is a God like Yahweh? Jehovah, who is a God like you? Today, it'll be important for me to give a little context for the book of Micah in order for us to consider this very familiar passage that we study at this time of year.
So let's take just a brief moment to get some of the background of Micah. Micah is unique in that his prophecies speak both to both kingdoms, both the northern and the southern kingdoms. And he foretells the imminent fall of Israel to the Assyrians and their capital, Samaria.
And he foretells, and it seems his focus is on the horizon a bit further down, more than a hundred years from then, the future Babylonian captivity of Judah. Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea.
And like them, he called God's people to repentance. The message we should always be calling God's people to, and God's people don't always like it. We need to repent from our sin. He ministered and prophesied during the second half of the eighth century B .C. during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
Those are the kings from Judah. He doesn't even mention the wicked kings of the north. And during this time, the king of Assyria, Shalmaneser, will capture Samaria and conquer the northern tribes of Israel.
And now there's a threat to Jerusalem and to Judah. His sharpest warnings, it seems, were against the leaders who used their power to oppress the poor. Does that sound familiar? Very relevant thing politically.
And really every society, the powerful and the wealthy, take advantage of those who don't have those things. There was great injustice in the land, and he seems to be really eager to think of this and to call it out.
It's interesting. There's also almost a war of the country and the city afoot. Micah is from the country about 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem, and much of the condemnation that he speaks of happens in the big cities.
Political corruption is rampant. Israel and its capital, Samaria, are on the verge of falling, as I've already mentioned. The siege itself is coming to Jerusalem, and there's going to be a restoration.
We're not going to be able to talk much about that. But this predates the Babylonian captivity, and he speaks about things in a very real and present, close sense, but there's also a dramatic eye to the future.
The Babylonian captivity, as I said, is over 100 years away. What will happen to the people when their leaders will be mocked and even smited on the face? A powerful humiliation of the most powerful. What will become of the weak ones?
What will become of the little people? If the rulers and the kings will be so shamefully treated, what will become of them? Chapter 1, judgment is coming upon Israel. Samaria will be plowed over and laid in ruins.
When we think about the story, one of my favorite stories, the woman at the well, these people are going to be integrated into Assyria. They're no longer going to be part of Israel. They're going to be part of Assyria.
In Chapter 2, woe is pronounced against the evildoers. A message of the prophet always pronounces judgment, it seems, on the wicked. The evil one, the wicked one in their midst should repent. It's harshest language in Chapter 3 is related to the wickedness of the rulers and of the prophets themselves, the so-called prophets of God and the rulers who are God's ministers.
They were wicked people, and it seems that the judgment of God is coming because of the wickedness of the rulers and the wickedness of the prophets. In Chapter 4, we have a great promise for the future.
The Lord shall reign in Zion. We've just sung about it, but only after they have exiled in Babylon. See, if you remember this from the language of our book we studied in Zechariah, in Chapter 4, verse 4, it says,.
But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. In Chapter 4, verse 10, it says, There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. Then we skip over our section and go to Chapter 6, and we find a covenant lawsuit is initiated against the people.
God says to them, O my people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? What an incredible thing for God to say to his people. What have I done to you? What kind of evil have I done to you?
And how have I wearied you? And he says, testify against me. I find this to be halting for us and our attitudes and our contentment. We grumble and complain, and we have this great salvation in Christ.
We've been integrated into the church. We have fellowship with the people of God. He's provided for our material needs. Look at how healthy everyone is. Everybody's been able to eat, and yet we grumble, we complain.
God reminds them of his dealings with them in history. He says, for I brought you up from the land of Egypt. I redeemed you from the house of bondage. He evokes the imagery of the Exodus, the formation of the people as a nation.
And what about all of the countless interventions that he has accomplished since? In his prophetic dialogue that Micah offers, the people try to make a plea bargain of sorts. In verse 6 it says of chapter 6, with what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Is it more sacrifice that he wants? Is there some religious duties to perform? Will this appease the just wrath of God if I conform more fully to the religion of my fathers?
Will the Lord be pleased with, children notice this, thousands of rams, if we bring thousands and thousands of rams, will then the Lord be pleased with us? Will he be pleased if we bring 10 ,000 rivers of oil squeezed from individual olives?
10 ,000 rivers of, if we bring oil, if we bring grain, if we bring rams, will he be pleased? And even, shockingly they said, they don't believe this, but they're grasping for a way to be right with God.
They say, shall I give my firstborn for my transgression? Of course, that language is loaded because of Abraham and Isaac. The judgment of God favoring the Israelites and their blood covering over the Egyptians and the people cry out to God's accusation.
They say, do you want our firstborn children for our transgressions? If we exchange the fruit of our bodies for the sins of our soul, will you then be pleased with us, oh God? And God says, no. And probably one of the most famous quotations in Micah chapter six, verse eight, he says, he has shown you, oh man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you? But to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. No mere external performance of religion will do. The Lord requires a heart circumcision, a change, a dramatic, profound, individual, personal, familial, covenantal, national doing of the right from a just heart to love mercy, to do justly and to walk in humility with and covenant with their God.
And after sorrow is expressed for the sins of the people in chapter seven, we land at the end of the chapter. If you're able to turn there, you can turn with me in Micah seven, verse 18 and following it says, who is a God like you pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage.
He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast out our sins into the depths of the sea, the hope and promise of reconciliation, a renewal of covenant, redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn to our fathers from days of old. Oh God, you will keep your covenant. And the question has to be asked, and I hope we can answer today.
How does he do it? How does God remember his promises? How does he keep his word? How does he save his people? Oh God, how have you done it? I'll turn back to Micah chapter five and verse two. And this is the first point, the house of bread.
In Joshua 15 verses 20 to 63, there is a listing of all of the notable cities of Judah. And in those listings, they would say, and their villages. And it's known to be true, but I went through the list again and Bethlehem is not mentioned in the notable cities of the land of Judah.
It's only six miles south of Jerusalem. It's not really that far. People in those days walked that far easily in a day. They would travel six miles from Bethlehem to Jerusalem or Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
But you, it says, Bethlehem Ephrathah, and Bethlehem means the house of bread. That's why we've titled our first point, the house of bread. And Ephrathah is really the field of fruits or the fertile fields.
It's kind of a synonymous name for the region and the place known as Bethlehem. The question of how God is going to keep covenant and how his promises are going to be realized, why the people should have hope is there's a king who's coming and it's the Lord Jesus Christ, but he's not coming for 700 years.
What lays before them is trouble. They're going to be gathered in troops and they're going to be surrounded and many people are going to lose their lives in the short term. They're eventually going to be brought back under Zedekiah.
But the coming and the promise of the Messiah is laid before the people in their tumult as a reason and ground of their hope. And he says, you Bethlehem, the house of bread, the field of fruits, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, you're not even mentioned in the list, yet out of you shall come to me, come forth to me the one to be ruler of Israel.
Now, the first thing that we should observe, and it may be a room for application even at the outset is this. We might think that the Messiah, if you're thinking about a worldwide saving Messiah, maybe he would be born in Caesar's house in Rome.
You can almost imagine a literary work, a cinematic production where the one who's going to reclaim it, the power and do right in the world is going to be born in a house of honor. The place of military might would be, the ultimate expression of military might be Rome up until the rise of America in Washington, D .C.
Military power resides in these places, but that's not where Jesus is born. Jesus himself is the divine wisdom, the word made flesh. Maybe he would be born in Athens, a great city of learning, a place of education.
Maybe somewhere like Alexandria, be born somewhere like that. That's not where he would be born. In fact, he's born in an insignificant place just like his forefather David was born. In the city of David, the place we know as Bethlehem.
I was surprised to know today, and I know my wife's mom had been there. I don't remember if you'd been there to Bethlehem. My wife's mom went there on Christmas Eve 25 years ago, let's say. It's a very amazing experience for her to do that.
Today, the place where Jesus was born is largely a tourist trap, and only 25 ,000 people live there in the suburbs. It's only six miles from Jerusalem, largely controlled by Palestinians in the region of the West Bank.
But Bethlehem is the birthplace of the Messiah. In fact, it is without exception acknowledged that Bethlehem would be the place of the Messiah's birth. You may remember there was a dispute among the Jews about the teaching of Jesus.
There were some murmurings that maybe Jesus was the Messiah, and they described him as being Jesus of Nazareth. That would immediately disqualify him as being a disciple. You see, people didn't stray very far from their homes, and it would seem a wicked king's worldwide census would cause Jesus to go back to the place where his family was from, God working in Providence.
Quirinius orders a census of the world, the empire, and Mary and Joseph have to go back to the place of their family. And so Jesus, not surprisingly, should have been born in Nazareth, in Galilee. He finds himself born in Bethlehem, the city of David.
Let's turn over to Matthew 2 really quickly to give some evidence and proof to this. I hope this will enliven our thoughts about this. Matthew 2 verse 1 says this. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem.
Now the prophecy is the Messiah is going to be born in Bethlehem. The Jews universally acknowledge this is where the Messiah is going to be born. Wise men from the east come to Jerusalem, verse 2 saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews?
We say that maybe Jesus and the Christ and the church are not very political in their effect in the world. Well, Herod happens to be the king of Israel. And so Herod is immediately at odds with this idea that there would be another king born.
In fact, he wants to snuff out this so-called king. They say to him, where is he who has been born the king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.
And listen carefully, children. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, you see, you must understand that scholarship in the religious world, the Jews was really hinging on the coming of the Messiah so he could throw out the Romans.
They were searching the scriptures to find out who and where and from where the Christ would come. He gathers all the priests and the scribes, the scholars together. He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
I want you to look at verse five. What does it say? They said to him in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet. Paraphrasing the language we just read, but you Bethlehem in the land of Judah are not the least among the rulers of Judah.
For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. The universal consensus is the Messiah is to be born at Bethlehem. The Lord Jesus Christ had to be born there. Of course, you know how the story goes.
They deceive Herod. He's not able to find for the child. They go home another way. They bring frankincense and gold and myrrh to him. We're divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod.
And then Jesus and this beautiful picture of redemption. The only time he ever leaves his country is he flees to Egypt with his parents. And like Israel before him out of Egypt, I have called my son. So, so Jesus, like the people of God before is going to go down to Egypt in exile and he's going to come back and fulfill all that he does in righteousness.
These are beautiful themes, wonderful things we think about this time of year, probably exponentially more things happening than we realize on the surface. Now, come back to Micah chapter five, please.
God uses the ordinary, the base, the weak, the little. To confound the wise. The Christian church has not been filled with prominent celebrities. But he's been pleased to use them, use ordinary people like us.
Saul, the first king, that guy looked like the king. He had all of the external appearances of the great king. He was head and shoulders above everyone else in stature. He's very handsome. He just looks the part.
But God looks at the heart and he sends his prophet to Jesse's house and the family brings out the oldest son and then the next down the line and so on and so forth. And they never even considered little David, the last one, and who's a shepherd in the fields.
And Samuel inquires of him and they bring him. And it's then that Samuel realized this is the king of Israel. This is the man who will be a man after God's own heart. The promise of kingship and reign and ruler, the the eternal kingdom of the Messiah is going to run through him.
All in this little. Obscure, unknown, unappreciated place. Out of you, out of the house of bread. There's going to be a ruler in Israel. The second point is. And it's really unmistakable here in the language at the end of verse two.
Who's going forth are from of old, from everlasting. The Messiah who's coming and and maybe the the dimness of faith was a cloud over them, but they had to recognize that what God is promising is that God himself would be their king.
That God himself would be their ruler, that he would be their God and they would be his people. And I don't know that they could have seen this, but the reality is here in verse two, we're speaking of nothing less than the eternally begotten son of God.
The eternal generation of Jesus Christ in the beginning was the word and the word was with God before there was a beginning, there was a Lord Jesus Christ. The second person of the Trinity and he who's going forth are from of old, from everlasting.
He's going to appear in time. And be born. In Bethlehem, in the interest of distraction, I'm not going to have you turn there. Quote John one here. It's perfect. I quote that a lot, it seems. I want to read you the opening verses of the epistle to the Hebrews.
I want you to think about in light of this prophecy. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in the time past to the fathers by the prophets. Has in these last days spoken to us by his son.
Whom he has appointed heir of all things. Now listen carefully, children. Through whom also he made the world's the baby that is conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary is the creator of the world's grasp that for just a moment while he's in the womb of the Virgin Mary, he's holding the universe together by his own power.
Who being the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins. Sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
Having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. And again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son.
Then again, he brings the firstborn into the world. He says. But all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he says, who makes his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. But what does he say about the sun?
Oh, let your heart sleep within you. Let us bow down and worship our God. He says about Christ born in Bethlehem, born of the Virgin Mary, your throne. Oh, God is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness. More than your companions. How are Jesus's goings forth from of old from everlasting?
John tells us the author of the Hebrew epistle tells us you, Lord. Covenant name of God. In the beginning laid the foundation of the earth. And the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain.
They will all grow old like a garment, like a cloak. You will fold them up and they will be changed. But you are the same and your years will not fail. But to which of the angels did he ever say, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies.
Your footstool, the one who is going to be born in Bethlehem, is going to be of the seed of David, his family line. But, you know, right now in history and Micah, they are fading from the scene. How is he going to do it?
How is he going to restore the kingdom and the kingship to David? And the answer is in Jesus Christ. That's how he does it. And who is Jesus Christ? He is the second person of the Trinity. He's the creator whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.
You may remember the scene in John 8 when Jesus is in the midst of a disagreement, spirited with his opponents. He says, before Abraham was, I am. Abraham's the great patriarch. Thousands of years before Christ.
And Christ says, before Abraham was, I am that I am. Do you remember Moses' interaction with God in the burning bush? Same language. Who shall I tell them has sent me, O God? Who will I say is sending me to deliver the people?
And God says, I am that I am. And the Lord Jesus Christ says, I am the great I am. And this is all happening 700 years before the birth of Christ. That takes us to our third point. The ancient of days is going to find himself born in Bethlehem.
The promise of God in the midst of this turmoil and hardship, the promises of God are yes and amen. And Christ, he will fulfill it. He will keep covenant. He will take away the sins of his people. Righteousness will reign in the land and in every land.
Verse 3 and following it says, therefore, he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth. I believe this is a direct reference to. The birth of Christ. Then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel.
And what we're going to see happen with the arrival of Christ is not only is Jesus the Messiah of Israel, but he is the Messiah of the nations. The promise of the Gentile in gathering. How is that realized?
It's realized in the person and work. Of Christ. Verse four, it says he shall stand and feed his flock. Jesus is. The bread of life, isn't it something? That the one who would say I am the bread of life.
Would be born in the house of bread. God, these are not incidental things or accidental things. He will feed his flock. How does man live? Does he live on bread alone? No, he lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
And then God himself comes in the flesh and he speaks all the words of God. And man has life and nourishment. The manna in the wilderness. What a miraculous gift that God would feed his people from on high out of his own hand that they would survive in the wilderness.
Wondering how much more so now when the bread of life comes and he feeds the people with the very words of God. He himself is the word of God and. Quite powerfully, he even gives us his body. And his blood is real food and real drink that we might live.
Jesus is born in the house of bread. The coming king promised in Micah is going to be God himself in the flesh. The ancient of days and the virgin birth foretold and the bread of life, the good shepherd will feed his flock.
He'll do it in the strength of the Lord and the majesty of the name of the Lord, his God. And that takes us to our fourth point today. What is the proof of this? It says, and they shall abide. Christianity has been banned all over the world and it thrives and flourishes.
We are at the end of the Sabbath day. If we started the calendar day in the east with Japan or somewhere over there, we are at the end. The vast majority of God's people have come into his presence today.
We are at the end of the day. Nearly all of the church has gathered in the name of the Lord on this day. We're in the West. We're at the end of the day. Martyrdom hasn't stopped it. Communism abolishing it.
Some kind of legal magisterial declaration to ban Christianity. It doesn't stop it. The coming of the Messiah has been efficacious. It's accomplished its desired effect. We abide in him and he abides with us.
He is the vine. We are the branches. And now, even now, his name will be great to the ends of the earth. This is the ends of the earth from Micah. And now his name is great here in Longwood, in this place.
Surely this is a good proof of his legitimacy. The proof of his kingship. The proof of his power. And this one will be our peace. There's something very important today. I was thinking about this. It comes to mind occasionally.
When we think about salvation, we think about things like we need forgiveness of sins. We need a mediator. We need someone to atone for our sins. And those are all good things to think about. But what we desperately need is not someone to give us an inner tranquility and peace.
We need to be united to peace himself. I need Christ. And I get all his benefits. We think about his benefits, but we need to be united to Christ. We need to esteem and love and cherish Christ. We need to long for Christ.
Not just the things he does for us. We need to love him for who he is. He is himself the shalom, the complete wholeness and wellness of the person redeemed. All of it is found in Christ. So the question today for us is, is Christ your peace?
Is he your God? Is he your savior? Is he your king? He must be. And the other thing that we have to consider, we must really ponder. Are we willing to go through hardship and labor for an end that we will never see?
The prophecy of Micah is there's a lot of doom and darkness. But someday the Christ is going to come. We're optimistic about the future, but what if our optimism is 700 years from now? Does that change your perspective?
Are you only optimistic if it can happen in five years that you can enjoy it? Are you willing to build and advance the kingdom that maybe it takes 800 years to see the fruit of? It's a very different kind of faith that we're called to.
Micah is calling a people in the midst of darkness to look to an unforeseen, an unknown date in the future. After they go into captivity. And 70 years after that, they return home and when they return home, it's not that great there either.
And then they have to wait another 500 years. But oh, then Christ comes. And for us, we long for the return of Jesus and his second advent. But what if it's 800 years away? Will you labor and break up hard, rocky soil now?
For future generations to build their roads upon? Their lives of faith? Are you laboring maybe more for your grandchildren, your great grandchildren than your own satisfaction? It seems the people of God have been called to wait for something in the future.
And that passage when Jesus says, I am before Abraham was, I am, he says that Abraham longed to see his day and rejoiced. Maybe that's why Abraham is the man of faith. The promises aren't coming true, at least for thousands of years.
After him.
So this advent season. Today. We wait. Today, maybe we have hardship. But stars appearing over a little town. And in 24 days, we'll celebrate the arrival of the bread of life. In the house of bread. We're going to know again and learn again that he is God in the flesh.
God with us. And that his incarnation, his death, burial and resurrection has caused a worldwide movement that has passed through generations and ages. Billions of people are abiding in Christ. Because of what he has done, surely.
Christ is our peace. Give me Christ. Not temporal peace. I want Christ. That should be our hearts refrain. Do you have hope today? You should. The king will come. He has come once. He will come again.
Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for your servant, the prophet. Pray that you give us an appropriate sense of. Expectance. That we would realize we have. Need of like our spiritual forefathers, we have need of repentance.
We have to make straight and prepare a way for the Lord. And when I pray that you would reveal to us the work that we have to do in our own hearts and lives, the lives of our children, our wives. This church.
Lord, help us to be an expectant, waiting, hoping people. Though now we lament our failings, we look to you in faith and hope and. And to Christ, we say, oh, Lord, you are our God and. We have no one in heaven but you.
Oh, Lord, I pray that you would stir holy affections in us, that we would love you as we ought. We need your help to properly love you. We need the infilling of your spirit to cause us to worship you and obey you.
As is fitting of your kingship and your reign and rule and your love and your grace and your mercy. Lord, I pray that we'd be instructed in your word. We pray, Holy Spirit, that you would. Pierce us deeper, that we would learn more and more of these things in the coming weeks.
We ask this all in Jesus name.
If you need a Sabbath day activity, I urge you to read the whole book of Micah. You don't take very long. We're going to take you about 20 minutes, probably at the most. Twenty five. Let's take a moment now and offer our thanks to God through the tithe and the offerings time of worship.
Please stand and let's pray together now. Oh, Lord, we thank you for the sure mercies that have come. I pray that you'd give us contentment in our circumstances. And that includes with giving and working.
Lord, we we often are unsatisfied with our jobs and our vocations. But Lord, we we ask that you give us a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving for the provision you have given us. That in faith, we would acknowledge your ownership of it all and return back to you that portion.
Which you are entitled to that you have requested that we would use it faithfully here as a church to accomplish the work that you have for us. We ask this all in Jesus name.
Let us respond to these wonderful things like praying through the commandments and singing Psalm 98 and singing Advent hymns with the singing joyfully of the Gloria Patri. Let us begin. The Lord be with you.
Lift up your hearts. Let us give thanks to the Lord. It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you. Oh, Holy Lord, Father, almighty, everlasting God, because you sent your beloved son to redeem us from sin and death and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life.
That when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing. Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we praise and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising you and singing.
Please be seated and let's pray together.
Oh, Lord, we acknowledge you to be the true bread from heaven. And in you, we find life and salvation and. Peace and wholeness and nourishment. Pray that your people today would be encouraged and blessed and built up in the faith for.
Through the provision of your sacrament, the offering of yourself. Shown here in the eating of bread and the drinking of wine. Oh, Lord, help us to eat and drink and taste and see that you are good and help us to to see the more profound nature of all of these things that we do so frequently.
Lord, I pray that we would have a sense of humility and honor. We consider this great work that you have done. And we ask this all in Jesus name. Our Lord, on the night he was which he was betrayed, took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to his disciples.
This is likewise. He took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Drink from it all. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death.
Therefore, we proclaim the faith. Let's approach the table with a humility, fitting the occasion with the sobriety about our sin, but also the victory that has been won. The celebration, the feast of Christ, the victor.
Let's pray together. We do not presume to come to this your table. Oh, merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table.
But you are the same Lord who always shows mercy.
Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear son, Jesus Christ, and to drink of his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us.
Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
Therefore, let us keep the feasts.
The gifts of God for you, the blessed people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Recipients of covenant blessings have covenant obligations, and let's ask the Lord for his help to keep them. Let's pray together. Almighty and ever-living God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your Son, and heirs of your eternal kingdom.
Eternal Lord, grant this us the other benefit, that you will never allow us to forget these things, but having them imprinted on our hearts, may we grow and increase daily. Now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.
To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, the honor and glory now and forever.
Please stand. Receive the blessing now. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
