From Delay to Design: The Certainty of God’s Promises

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
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[00:00:29] .
[00:00:29] .

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
O come, O come, Emmanuel And ransom captive Israel
[00:01:01] that mourns in lowly exile here until the Son of God appear.
[00:01:29] O come, thou rod of James,
[00:01:35] From Satan's tyranny From depths of hell thy people save And give them victory o'er all

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
God is with us, He's with us now O come, O come, Emmanuel O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer Our spirits by thy light

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death's dark

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Let us pray.
[00:03:54] Let us pray.

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.
[00:04:34] In Jesus' name, amen.
[00:05:01] Let us pray.
[00:05:25] Let us pray.
[00:05:29] Let us pray.
[00:05:53] Let us pray.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Let us pray.
[00:06:24] Let us pray.

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.
[00:06:57] Let us pray.
[00:06:59] Let's pray.
[00:07:28] Let's pray.
[00:07:34] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
[00:08:03] Amen.
[00:08:20] Let us pray.
[00:08:43] Let us pray.
[00:08:44] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:09:12] Amen.
[00:09:27] Let us pray.
[00:09:59] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:10:28] Amen.

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Well good morning Back Creek Church.
[00:11:00] Good to see everybody this morning.
[00:11:03] Let's stand and prepare our hearts this morning through song.

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Come, thou long-expected Jesus, born to set thy people free.
[00:11:57] From our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.
[00:12:18] Reformation, Joy of every lonely heart.
[00:12:33] Come, O promised Star of Jacob, Rise upon this harrowed earth, Fill the silence of
[00:12:49] Son of heaven, Son of Mary Hear the song of angels tell Thou hast come to save thy people God with us, Emmanuel Come now, great Redeemer Come, Emmanuel

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
The Lord is with you.
[00:13:43] He is with you.

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
to deliver born a child and yet a king born to reign in us forever now thy gracious kingdom bring by thine own eternal spirit

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy
[00:14:46] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
[00:15:11] Amen.

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Born our souls to rescue Born to save your very own Long-expected Jesus Make our hearts your home Come thou long-expected Jesus
[00:15:47] Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
Good morning.
[00:16:06] It is good to see you, whether you are a long-time member or you're a first-time guest with us today.
[00:16:10] We're grateful for your presence with us.
[00:16:14] I hope that you had a wonderful time of Thanksgiving with whomever you gathered with to give thanks to the Lord for who He is and for all that He has done in our lives.
[00:16:24] And I hope that the Lord is actively preparing you, just as I pray that He is actively preparing me
[00:16:31] To wonder in this season of Advent that we would really take the time over these next few weeks to reflect on, to meditate on, to celebrate what God has done in the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and victory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:16:55] And we're here today to mark that and to celebrate that as we do
[00:17:00] 52 weeks a year.
[00:17:03] if you are a member and you're using the church center app we'd love to have you check in on the app so that we have a record of your attendance with us if you're a guest or you don't yet have the app if you look to the inside of your row there should be a white folder there and those are a means of connection for us we'd love to have your name and then whatever contact information you feel comfortable giving to us we'd love to be able to reach out to you to find out if we could connect with you further or if there are ways that we could be of service to you so if you give us that information we would really appreciate that
[00:17:33] And also, there is a lot going on in the life of our church during this Advent season.
[00:17:38] The first thing is that I would want to invite you to come back this evening at 5 p.m. We're going to gather out on our front steps in our courtyard.
[00:17:48] Our students are going to lead us in singing.
[00:17:50] We're going to open with a liturgy, a story from a children's Bible.
[00:17:54] We'll sing carols together and we'll light up our Christmas tree of lights in the courtyard.
[00:18:02] During 2020, which seems so close and yet so long ago, it really was a dark time for us.
[00:18:11] And one of the things that we envisioned was just having a tree of lights out in the courtyard so that every time someone walks or drives by on Back Creek Church Road, they would
[00:18:22] Somehow make a connection that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
[00:18:27] And so we gather yearly at this time to mark this season of Advent beginning together.
[00:18:33] So please come out for that tonight.
[00:18:35] It is a sweet time as a faith family together.
[00:18:39] I also want to invite our Kids Ministry lead, Kelly Newd, to share with us just some other special activities that are coming up during Advent.

[00:18:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Good morning!
[00:18:50] Happy Advent!
[00:18:51] I'm always excited for a new season to celebrate Jesus.
[00:18:56] We are having this year, I'm teaming up with Adult Ministries, and we're going to build a feast for Harrisburg this year.
[00:19:03] So in the rotunda there is a box where we're going to be collecting some canned goods and then we will
[00:19:12] Have a big party for Jesus on December 14th.
[00:19:17] It's our happy birthday Jesus party.
[00:19:19] Everybody's welcome to come.
[00:19:20] It is designed for kids.
[00:19:22] We're going to make some fun birthday cake kits while we're there.
[00:19:27] So bring some donations then.
[00:19:30] So that's December 14th.
[00:19:33] We're going to meet at 4 o'clock in the gym and start that.
[00:19:36] But then next week...
[00:19:38] All the cool kids are going Mr. Frank, and we're going caroling next Sunday.
[00:19:44] So, in the pews, there are several of these flyers with all the Advent events.
[00:19:50] So, come join us.

[00:19:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
Thank you, Kelly.
[00:19:55] I'll just refer you to the back of your bulletin, also to the church website, and to the Church Center app for more information about how to connect with God, connect with one another.
[00:20:06] Lastly, because it is the Advent season and we do mark this amazing event in the history of the world and in redemption, we do so before our worship service by lighting the Advent wreath.
[00:20:20] So I want to invite the Weller family to come and do that for us now.

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Good morning.
[00:20:49] Today we light the prophecy candle.
[00:20:51] This candle symbolizes the promises delivered by the prophets from the Lord.
[00:20:57] These promises foretold Christ's birth.
[00:21:01] From Isaiah chapter 60 verses 1 and 2 we hear, Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
[00:21:12] For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples.
[00:21:19] But the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.
[00:21:24] This candle is also seen as a symbol of the hope we have in Christ Jesus.
[00:21:29] In the New Testament, we read from Romans chapter 15, verses 12 and 13.
[00:21:36] And again, Isaiah says, the root of Jesse will spring up
[00:21:41] One who will arise to rule over the nations, the Gentiles will hope in him.
[00:21:46] May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
Thank you Mike and Lisa.
[00:22:12] Our purpose and our joy here today is to worship the Lord our God.
[00:22:21] He himself calls us to worship from Isaiah chapter 12 verses 5 and 6.
[00:22:26] Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously.
[00:22:30] Let this be made known in all the earth.
[00:22:33] Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitants of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
[00:22:41] Let's go to the Lord together in prayer.
[00:22:46] O Lord our God, you deserve our praises.
[00:22:50] you deserve our love and adoration you deserve all that we are and so lord we ask that you would help us today to love you with all of our hearts and with all of our souls and all of our minds and all of our strength lord that we would be able to worship you with all that we are in spirit and in truth and to do that lord we need renewal we need refreshment we need a fresh
[00:23:20] And we pray oh Lord that you would give us this fresh appreciation and apprehension as we once again rehearse the story
[00:23:45] Celebrate the truth of how you have redeemed us in our Savior Jesus Christ.
[00:23:52] Over these next few weeks, Lord, as we specifically think about and meditate on and glory in the Incarnation, the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us.
[00:24:08] Oh Lord, I pray that you would create in us a new sense of awe and wonder.
[00:24:15] and yes Lord please a sense of true worship Lord help us to worship you now as we ought in a way that reflects your glory in a way that pleases you and Lord in a way that blesses your people that announces your gospel and Lord even awakens the dead
[00:24:38] We love you, Lord, and we look forward to what you will do in us and through us and for us.
[00:24:43] As we are gathered in your presence, you are in our midst.
[00:24:49] So do not allow us to leave this place unchanged.
[00:24:53] And we ask these things in the name of our mighty Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:24:58] Amen.
[00:25:00] Let's stand and sing together to the Lord.

[00:25:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
On a starlit hillside shepherds washed their sheep
[00:25:41] Slowly David's city drifted off to sleep But to this little town of no great renown The Lord had a promise to keep
[00:26:10] The prophets had foretold that a mighty king would come Long awaited ruler, God's anointed one
[00:26:27] But the sovereign of all looked helpless and small As God gave the world His own Son And who would have dreamed or ever foreseen That we can hold God in our hands The giver of life is born in the night Revealing God's glorious grace
[00:26:56] To save the world One fresh gift of heaven The Father sends the Son
[00:27:26] From time eternal moved by holy love He will carry our curse and death He'll reverse So we can be daughters and sons And who would have dreamed or ever foreseen
[00:27:55] The gift of life is born in the night Revealing God's glorious plan Who would have dreamed forever for sleep That we could hold God in our hands The gift of life is born in the night Revealing God's glorious plan

[00:29:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Sing we the song of Emmanuel This the Christ who was long foretold Knowing the shadows of Bethlehem Promise of dawn now our eyes behold God most high in a manger laid Lift your voices and now proclaim Great and glorious love hath
[00:30:17] Oh, and we've come to sing a song Shepherds, sages before the Lord
[00:30:48] Let us pray.
[00:30:56] Let us pray.

[00:31:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Amen.

[00:31:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
You may be seated.

[00:32:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
The name Emmanuel means God with us.
[00:32:14] And the remarkable wonder of the gospel story, of the Christmas story, is that God, holy, righteous, unimaginably and unapproachably perfect, would want to be with us.
[00:32:37] Those who have rejected Him, those who have run away from Him.
[00:32:44] And what we most need, what we most need as those who regularly fail to be who we know we're supposed to be, to do what we know we're supposed to do, is to be reminded that our God loves sinners.
[00:33:05] that He in the person and work of Jesus Christ in the presence of the Holy Spirit is with us and He will not leave us and He will not forsake us and He will not give up on us so when we gather together to celebrate who our God is and how great is His love we do so openly confessing that we are the very sinners that He loves
[00:33:31] So let's confess our sins first personally and privately in the quietness of your own heart and then we'll do so together because we sin as individuals and we sin together as the church.
[00:33:42] Let's go to the Lord.
[00:34:27] Now together as the family of God.
[00:34:31] Our Lord and our God, we humbly confess to you our sins.
[00:34:35] We have transgressed your law.
[00:34:38] We have maligned your name.
[00:34:40] We have rejected and rebelled against your rule and reign.
[00:34:44] We have believed the lies of the evil one and disbelieved your word.
[00:34:49] We have neglected your assembly and made meager use of your means of grace.
[00:34:55] We have failed to love you with all that we are, and we have failed to love our neighbors as ourselves.
[00:35:02] We have chosen darkness over light, evil over good, death over life, times without number.
[00:35:09] Forgive us according to your great mercy and steadfast love.
[00:35:14] Cleanse us again and remind us afresh of the righteousness, acceptance, and adoption that is ours in Christ.
[00:35:24] Help us, O Spirit, to live as new creations in him.
[00:35:29] For the name and glory of Jesus we pray.
[00:35:32] Amen.
[00:35:34] Now to all who are looking away from themselves and to Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness of sins, for eternal life, hear the word of the Lord.
[00:35:44] An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
[00:35:57] She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
[00:36:06] Amen.
[00:36:07] I invite one of our elders, Bill Schaffner, to come lead us in a prayer of intercession for the needs of our church as well as those of our neighbors and the nations.

[00:36:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Good morning.
[00:36:23] Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
[00:36:28] Good morning, Lord.
[00:36:30] As we gather here this morning, we do so to lift you high, you, the Prince of Peace, the perfect healer who tells us to put all our cares on you.
[00:36:40] What kind of God takes our problems, our concerns, and our sins?
[00:36:44] Our God.
[00:36:46] You are love that comes for us, humbled on a sinner's cross.
[00:36:50] You broke our shame and sinfulness, then rose again victorious.
[00:36:54] That's worth praising today and every day.
[00:36:58] Father, this week we celebrated Thanksgiving with family, with friends, with neighbors, or some by themselves.
[00:37:06] While joyful for many, for those challenged with loneliness, this time can be painful.
[00:37:11] I pray that your grace and goodness will lift them up.
[00:37:15] I also pray that we take the time each day to recognize the many simple opportunities we have to give you thanks, that Thanksgiving is not a once-a-year event, but a daily celebration of life spent with you.
[00:37:27] Lord, your goodness gives us so much to be thankful for.
[00:37:31] For families, including our church family, help us to realize the body of Christ lives here and that we need each other, a body made up of many different parts, all as important as the other.
[00:37:43] For progress of the school year and our Center Sunday focus, may we lift each other up as we live life together.
[00:37:51] For leaders in our country, our community, and our church, guide them in the difficult decisions they make.
[00:37:58] For our church leaders who can become weary, let them find peace in you when challenging waves seem to keep coming.
[00:38:04] Help them to feel supported and loved.
[00:38:08] Father, we also bring our prayers of concern to you.
[00:38:10] For our neighbors who may face this winter without a place to call home, fill them with hope knowing that so many others care and encourage our community to help and offer relief.
[00:38:21] For those on the prayer list seeking our congregational prayers and support for family and friends.
[00:38:27] For global strife, help us to unite around you and your way, Lord.
[00:38:31] For those in our neighborhood around us, don't let us pass by without them being one of our prayer opportunities.
[00:38:40] Finally, for this Advent season, may we not get so caught up in the busyness and material things that we miss the opportunity to celebrate the night the world forever changed because of the birth of a baby.
[00:38:52] Sing we the song, Emmanuel.
[00:38:55] Fathers, we now take the opportunity to bring our tithes and offerings to you.
[00:38:58] Help us to do so cheerfully, knowing that all we have is from you.
[00:39:02] We do so supporting your work through our church as we pursue connecting people with the hope of your gospel.
[00:39:10] Lord, hear these prayers as we earnestly come to you, glory shining for all to see.
[00:39:15] Hope alive.
[00:39:16] His name is Jesus.
[00:39:17] In your holy name we pray.
[00:39:19] Amen.

[00:39:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, under the law to redeem those who were under the law.
[00:39:40] so that we might receive adoption as sons and daughters.

[00:40:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
In the fullness of time God sang His song Immanuel, now behold, incarnate love A virgin and her child, a Savior meek and mild The star became the sign
[00:40:32] In the fullness of time Prophets long they foretold the promised dawn Hail God of God, light of light, begotten one
[00:40:54] By whom all things were made There in a manger laid Now born to us this night
[00:41:05] In the fullness of time.
[00:41:12] Holy, holy, holy moment, God has come to dwell with us.
[00:41:24] Glory to the Lamb, the great I Am who came.
[00:41:30] On that night divine, in the forest of time, Hosts of angels resounded at His birth,
[00:41:46] An host of angels with endless doubt is one And he shall come again, his kingdom has no end All things made new, made right In the fullness of time
[00:42:10] Holy, holy, holy moment, God has come to tell with us, Glory to the Lamb, the great I Am, O King.
[00:42:29] On the night divine, in the fullness of time Holy, holy, holy moment God has come to dwell with us Glory to the Lamb, the great God, the new King
[00:42:56] Holy, Holy, Holy
[00:43:19] Christ the Son, now building flesh in all humanity Kingdoms bow before Him, heaven and earth adore Him
[00:43:43] Holy, holy, holy, in a manger low
[00:44:13] Christ the Son, now fill me fresh in our beauty.
[00:44:21] and Trinity.

[00:44:50] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Kingdoms bow before Him.
[00:44:50] Heaven and earth adore Him.
[00:44:51] God, here in person, hail His majesty.

[00:45:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
The dictionary defines wonder as a feeling of surprise, mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, or unexplainable.
[00:45:20] There has never been anything, in all of history, more surprising, more admirable, more unexpected, or more unexplainable than the God who created everything coming into our world as a little baby.
[00:45:34] That is the wonder of Christmas, and the story of how it all happened uniquely prepares our hearts to wonder and to receive the love that came to save us.

[00:46:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
If you're a child second grade and younger, you're welcome to stay with us for the message.
[00:46:05] But if you and your parents agree, you can be dismissed right over here through this door for kids worship.
[00:46:11] And you'll return as we're responding to God's word in song.
[00:46:39] We're going to be in three very short passages this morning, but we're going to start our Advent series together in the very beginning of the Bible.
[00:46:49] So the third chapter, Genesis chapter 3, verses 14 and 15.
[00:46:54] So we'll start there and then we'll move to Isaiah 7 and Isaiah chapter 9.
[00:47:00] When you are a child, Christmas is filled with wonder.
[00:47:07] Beauty is everywhere, from twinkling lights to resplendent trees to all kinds of decorations.
[00:47:16] Surprises are always around the next corner, from delicious treats to massive inflatables that make little ones say, look mama, to waking up to flurries and hoping that by the end of the day your backyard is going to be Narnia.
[00:47:37] The unexplainable happens at Christmas too.
[00:47:42] We go to sleep after Christmas Eve service and maybe a little having to settle down from a lot of excitement, but then we wake up and there are presents.
[00:47:54] And while we might sing about the most wonderful time of the year and the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love,
[00:48:07] As grown-ups, we tend to spend our holiday seasons trying to recapture that sense of wonder that came so naturally and easily when we were kids.
[00:48:23] To be honest, it's elusive.
[00:48:28] We get it back in some measure when our children are small, but eventually that fades too as they get older and the wonder diminishes for them.
[00:48:39] An author named Dale Alquist writes about why this may be.
[00:48:49] He says, the key to wonder is humility.
[00:48:56] Humility means being small enough to see the greatness of something and to feel unworthy of it and privileged to enjoy it.
[00:49:07] I want to read that one more time.
[00:49:11] The key to wonder is humility.
[00:49:14] Humility means being small enough to see the greatness of something and to feel unworthy of it and privileged to enjoy it.
[00:49:26] Kids have a natural advantage when it comes to wonder.
[00:49:32] They're small enough to be in awe of the bigness of beauty, the scope of surprise, the immensity of the unexpected.
[00:49:44] They're little.
[00:49:46] They know they're little.
[00:49:48] And everything about Christmas is big.
[00:49:52] So it's only natural to wonder.
[00:49:56] And as we get bigger, we tend to lose that capacity.
[00:50:02] And it doesn't seem like any amount of lights and trees and carols and decorations and presents and gatherings will restore it to us.
[00:50:11] They're not big enough.
[00:50:14] And we're not small enough.
[00:50:18] But the story of Christmas, the real story,
[00:50:23] of the most beautiful, most unexpected, most unexplainable event in the history of the universe.
[00:50:31] That is big enough.
[00:50:33] And if we will really stop and reckon with the greatness of the event of the incarnation and birth of the eternal Son of God as a human being, we will find ourselves once again small enough to wonder.
[00:50:51] And this amazing and true story
[00:50:53] It doesn't start with the manger and the shepherds and the angels.
[00:50:58] It starts in the very heart of a God who always keeps His promises.
[00:51:04] This wonder starts with the wonder of prophecy.
[00:51:09] So I'm going to read these three passages beginning in Genesis chapter 3.
[00:51:12] Genesis 3, 14 and 15, Isaiah 7, 14, and Isaiah 9, 6 and 7.
[00:51:20] I'm going to read them without context, but we'll hopefully fill that in as we move through the message.
[00:51:27] Genesis 3, 14 and 15.
[00:51:32] The Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field.
[00:51:42] On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
[00:51:48] I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring.
[00:51:55] He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
[00:52:00] Isaiah 7 verse 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
[00:52:09] Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
[00:52:18] Isaiah 9 verse 6 and 7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.
[00:52:27] And the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
[00:52:37] Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.
[00:52:42] On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
[00:52:56] The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.
[00:53:00] Let's go to the Lord together in prayer.
[00:53:03] Lord, our God, we thank you for Christmas.
[00:53:08] Thank you for the incarnation of our Savior and our Lord.
[00:53:13] We thank you for the Advent season, and Lord, we do ask that you would allow us the grace
[00:53:24] To have the story of Christmas and the person of Christ grow so big in our hearts and we so small in comparison that we might truly wonder at you and what you have done and at how it has changed us.
[00:53:49] Lord, we love you.
[00:53:52] So grateful for your word.
[00:53:54] Your Word spoken thousands of years ago and how Your Word has come true in our Lord Jesus.
[00:54:03] Help us wonder, Lord, for Your name's sake and for our good, we pray in Jesus' name.
[00:54:09] Amen.
[00:54:13] Multiple times in my lifetime,
[00:54:17] Influential leaders, at some measure, have attempted to prophesy about the return of Christ.
[00:54:26] In the 80s, it was Hal Lindsey with The Late Great Planet Earth and Countdown to Armageddon.
[00:54:33] In the 90s, it was a guy named Edgar Wisnant with And Now the Earth's Destruction by Fire and, as if to clarify, Nuclear Bomb Fire.
[00:54:44] In the 2000s, it was Harold Camping updating and revising his dates on family radio every time one of them failed.
[00:54:51] Two months ago, it was a guy in South Africa, Joshua McClella, saying for sure that it would happen on September 23rd or 24th, 2025.
[00:55:04] What do all these supposed prophecies have in common?
[00:55:09] They failed.
[00:55:12] They failed to happen, which means that they failed the simple biblical test for a legitimate prophecy found in Deuteronomy 18.22.
[00:55:21] If what a prophet claims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message that the Lord has not spoken.
[00:55:33] The way we know if a prophecy is legitimate is if it comes true.
[00:55:39] And history is littered with failed prophecies.
[00:55:44] It's hard to say what will happen in the future accurately.
[00:55:50] There's a math and astronomy professor named Peter Stoner, and he calculated that we could cover the entire state of Texas two feet deep in silver coins.
[00:56:02] We could mark one of those silver coins with a red dot, mix it all up, drop a random person off someplace in this area as big as the state of Texas on top of two feet of silver coins, blindfold them,
[00:56:19] and Tell Them to Pick the Right One.
[00:56:20] And that, them doing that, would be as likely to happen as for only eight of the Old Testament's more than 300 prophecies about the Messiah to be accurate.
[00:56:36] If you're a math person, that's 10 to the 17th power.
[00:56:42] Yet,
[00:56:45] The wonder of those 300 plus prophecies in the Old Testament is that they all, without fail, found true and clear fulfillment in one historical person, Jesus of Nazareth.
[00:57:03] This includes prophecies about his birth and early life, four of which the Apostle Matthew shows fulfilled in the first two chapters of his Gospel.
[00:57:13] I want to focus on the three prophecies that we read and I want us to see and think about three truths that Lord willing will prepare our hearts to wonder.
[00:57:25] The first truth is this, the wonder of prophecy is that it's not implausible, it's impossible.
[00:57:36] The wonder of prophecy is that it's not implausible, it is impossible.
[00:57:41] Yesterday was Rivalry Saturday in college football.
[00:57:45] And there's a panel of experts on an ESPN show called College Game Day.
[00:57:50] Anybody watch that one?
[00:57:52] And they try every week to accurately predict the outcomes of the games before those games are played.
[00:57:59] And most of them have been doing this for a long time, but that doesn't seem to help them very much.
[00:58:05] Yesterday, four out of five experts picked SMU to beat Cal.
[00:58:11] Cal won.
[00:58:13] Three out of five picked South Carolina to beat Clemson.
[00:58:16] Clemson won.
[00:58:18] Three out of five picked Tennessee to beat Vanderbilt.
[00:58:22] Vanderbilt won.
[00:58:24] Somehow, two of them chose Florida State to beat Florida and I don't know why they did.
[00:58:31] Year after year, week after week, these guys struggle and fail to accurately pick the immediate future with an unbelievable amount of information about what might happen.
[00:58:44] It's pretty implausible for any of them to have a perfect prediction Saturday.
[00:58:50] But if they did, fans would celebrate it as remarkable because it's just so hard to do.
[00:59:00] When it comes to biblical prophecy about the incarnation of God the Son, implausible doesn't even come close.
[00:59:10] It's impossible.
[00:59:12] In Genesis 3.15 passage,
[00:59:16] The context of that passage is that Adam and Eve, the first human beings who are made in God's image for relationship with God, they're supposed to be our first parents.
[00:59:27] They're supposed to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and to subdue it, to enjoy relationship with one another.
[00:59:33] To enjoy relationship with God in perfection and to let that flow through them to every successive generation of human beings so that the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.
[00:59:45] Perfection is the reality in all of the universe.
[00:59:51] And everything is, in God's words, very good.
[00:59:58] Well, that's not the world we experience.
[01:00:02] Why not?
[01:00:03] Because Adam and Eve in chapter 3 are deceived by the devil in the form of a serpent who tells them that God doesn't want them to do the one thing that he has commanded them not to do, not for their good, but rather so that they don't become like God.
[01:00:24] They want to be the captains of their soul.
[01:00:28] They want to be the determiners of their own destiny, and so they reject God and all that He has given them, including Himself.
[01:00:38] They choose their own way.
[01:00:41] They break covenant.
[01:00:43] They break relationship.
[01:00:45] And as a result, they receive, not only on their behalf, but on ours as well.
[01:00:51] Just as we would have inherited a perfect world and absolute righteousness and joy for all eternity long, so we also inherit the consequences of their failure.
[01:01:06] Brokenness and sorrow and darkness and sin and death and devastation.
[01:01:16] that's the context and the Lord pronounces a curse on the earth on creation which now turns against humanity and makes things hard for us at times it tries to kill us on the man and on the woman and on the serpent not just the physical reality of a snake but we can all agree those are cursed
[01:01:43] but also a curse on the evil one on the one who desired to destroy God's good plan for humanity on the one who has our destruction as his extreme bent and focus at all times as a means to get at the God that he has rejected in the midst of God pronouncing all of these curses he gives a prophecy
[01:02:11] And this prophecy is that one day, a human being, an offspring of a woman, a woman like Eve, is going to have his heel bruised by the serpent, the evil one.
[01:02:31] But when that is happening, he's also going to be crushing the head.
[01:02:35] of the Evil One.
[01:02:36] That one day all that sin and the curse have brought is going to be brought to an end by someone born of a woman.
[01:02:49] And that's not just implausible.
[01:02:52] That's impossible.
[01:02:54] How can a mere human born of a woman crush the serpent's head?
[01:02:58] How can a mere human like me or you born of a woman
[01:03:02] How can we defeat evil and make all wrong things right, make all the sad things come untrue?
[01:03:08] How can a mere human born of a woman be representative for all humanity as Adam was and reconcile us to God where Adam separated us from God?
[01:03:23] Maybe in the garden this seemed to Adam and Eve implausible.
[01:03:28] But after their first kid murdered their second kid, and things got worse from there, and we see human sin played out on the stage of history, generation after generation after generation, we have to grasp that our problem is an impossible one.
[01:03:49] No mere human can fix this.
[01:03:54] How could this millennia-old prophecy
[01:03:58] Be true.
[01:04:00] Well, the key to that is another impossible prophecy.
[01:04:07] Isaiah 7.14.
[01:04:08] Isaiah 7.14, which says, Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
[01:04:23] The context here is that in Judah there's a king named Ahaz,
[01:04:28] Not a good king.
[01:04:29] But he is in David's line.
[01:04:32] And Ahaz disbelieves God and he refuses to ask God for a sign of God's presence and protection with his people.
[01:04:41] And the Lord says, fine, you don't have to ask.
[01:04:43] I'm going to give you a sign anyway.
[01:04:45] And it's going to be a miraculous sign.
[01:04:47] A virgin is going to have a baby.
[01:04:52] Now, we like to think that we are super advanced scientifically and in knowledge over the peoples of the ancient Near East, but they knew something that we know equally well regarding this question, and it's simply this.
[01:05:05] Virgins don't have babies.
[01:05:09] That's impossible.
[01:05:11] It's not just implausible.
[01:05:12] It's not just unlikely.
[01:05:13] It's impossible for a virgin to have a baby.
[01:05:18] That's not how it works.
[01:05:22] So it seemed to God's people unlikely, maybe impossible, that God could still be with them when they had failed so much.
[01:05:39] When it seemed they would be forever under oppression, that they would be forever walking in the darkness of their own creation, that the glorious throne of David would ever somehow be restored when Isaiah speaks again.
[01:05:55] 9, 6 and 7.
[01:05:59] For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be on his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
[01:06:10] Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.
[01:06:15] On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
[01:06:29] You know what sounds impossible right now?
[01:06:32] In our world?
[01:06:34] Peace.
[01:06:40] Israel, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine, Democrats, Republicans.
[01:06:47] It just doesn't seem like peace is very likely, does it?
[01:06:52] Righteousness?
[01:06:54] People doing the right thing because it is the right thing?
[01:06:58] Justice?
[01:07:01] That right would be established?
[01:07:04] That right would somehow win?
[01:07:06] Peace, righteousness, and justice?
[01:07:11] That is not the world that we see.
[01:07:18] Here's the good news spoken by Jesus in Matthew's Gospel.
[01:07:23] With man, this is impossible.
[01:07:28] But with God, all things are possible.
[01:07:34] One impossible problem of needing a human advocate, a hero, a rescuer, and having no one in all of history qualified?
[01:07:47] One impossible scenario of having a virgin, having a baby who represents God being with us?
[01:07:56] One impossible hope of peace and righteousness and justice in a world of difficulty and darkness and death?
[01:08:05] What if?
[01:08:07] What if these three impossible things came together in the most wondrous fulfillment of impossible prophecy?
[01:08:18] Good news.
[01:08:21] Luke chapter 1 verses 26 through 38.
[01:08:26] In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David.
[01:08:41] And the virgin's name was Mary.
[01:08:43] And he came to her and said, Greetings, O favored one.
[01:08:48] The Lord is with you.
[01:08:50] But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.
[01:08:55] And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
[01:09:01] And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son.
[01:09:06] You shall call his name Jesus.
[01:09:12] He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.
[01:09:18] 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.
[01:09:28] And Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin?
[01:09:34] And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
[01:09:41] Therefore the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God.
[01:09:46] And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren, for nothing will be impossible with God.
[01:10:02] The wonder of prophecy is that it is not just implausible, it is impossible, but nothing, nothing, nothing will be impossible with God.
[01:10:14] And so our one impossible problem of a human being who could be our representative and our rescuer?
[01:10:23] He shall be called the Son of the Most High.
[01:10:25] Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.
[01:10:29] The virgin shall conceive and give birth to a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, which means God with us.
[01:10:36] He will be of the line of David, and he will sit on the throne of David.
[01:10:41] And with God all things are possible, and with Jesus all God's prophecies and promises are fulfilled.
[01:10:51] The wonder of prophecy that is not that it's implausible, it's impossible.
[01:10:54] Second, the wonder of prophecy is that it's not prediction.
[01:10:59] It's promise.
[01:11:02] It's not prediction, it's promise.
[01:11:05] In one of my most beloved Christmas stories, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, a Scrooge, Ebenezer Scrooge, are you familiar?
[01:11:17] Okay.
[01:11:19] He's in the last stage.
[01:11:21] of his experiences with the three spirits.
[01:11:26] There's four if you count Marley.
[01:11:29] Five if you're going Muppet version.
[01:11:34] It is the best film adaptation.
[01:11:37] We won't argue.
[01:11:43] But in this third experience, he's with the ghost of Christmas yet to come.
[01:11:49] And he is shown
[01:11:51] The consequences of his fearful and self-focused life.
[01:11:58] And he cries out, Spirit, are these the shadows of things that must be?
[01:12:04] Or are they the shadows of things that might be?
[01:12:10] Surely these shadows can be changed.
[01:12:15] The ghost is giving Scrooge a prediction.
[01:12:20] What might be?
[01:12:21] The wonder of prophecy is that it is the Word of God.
[01:12:27] And so, as the Word of God, it never, ever fails.
[01:12:32] It is no mere prediction.
[01:12:34] It is promise.
[01:12:36] And because we have seen God keep His promises in the past, including the impossible, we can trust Him in the future.
[01:12:48] We can wonder at His wisdom, at His grace, and at His glory as our promise-keeping God.
[01:12:58] I just want to encourage you that the things that God has said about who you are, forgiven, not just of some of your sins, all of them, free.
[01:13:19] Free from the penalty of your sin, the wages that you have earned.
[01:13:24] Free from the domination of sin over your life.
[01:13:28] Free to live in a way that actually matters, immediately and eternally.
[01:13:36] Adopted.
[01:13:38] That you were once an enemy of God, but He has made you His very child.
[01:13:43] And He calls you by name, and He loves you completely.
[01:13:48] Right here, right now, I know that I've said this often, but God does not love some future version of you that has it all together and has finally gotten your act cleaned up.
[01:13:59] He loves you.
[01:14:01] Right now, in the midst of whatever it is that you're either going through or that you're causing.
[01:14:10] He loves you.
[01:14:16] The things that God has said about who you are, the things that God has said about what He will do for you, which is to give you eternal life, to lavish on you all the riches of God in the ages to come.
[01:14:34] that He will raise your body from the grave just as Jesus' body was raised from the grave that you will live with Him forever on a new heaven and a new earth where there is no more pain or sorrow or death anymore for the old things have passed away that you will be completely and totally new and filled to overflowing with joy.
[01:14:55] All the things that God has said about who you are right now and what He will do for you in the future, whatever it is that you're walking through right now, whether sorrow or suffering or sin, all of these things that He has said, all of the prophecies that He has made, they're not mere predictions.
[01:15:16] They are promises.
[01:15:19] And the wonder of Christmas is that because our God is able and has done the impossible, that He will keep His promises to you.
[01:15:30] Not implausible, impossible.
[01:15:34] But with God, all things are possible.
[01:15:37] Not prediction, promise.
[01:15:41] Not possibly, for sure.
[01:15:46] And lastly, the wonder of prophecy.
[01:15:48] is that it's not delay, it's design.
[01:15:53] It's not delay, it's design.
[01:15:57] There was an awful long time from God's promise in Genesis 3.15 to His promises in Isaiah 7.14 to their fulfillment in Luke 1 and 2.
[01:16:11] There's been a long time between the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus to right now.
[01:16:24] I just want us to take a moment and realize that what looks like delay, and it must have looked like delay as every generation of God's people in the Old Testament
[01:16:41] Waited and looked for the offspring of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent, for the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, past generation after generation after generation.
[01:17:01] I just want us to realize that what looks like delay is always God's design.
[01:17:07] And just like He is writing a beautiful story of redemption in history, He is also writing a beautiful story with your life.
[01:17:19] And if we're honest, in both cases, a lot of it feels like waiting.
[01:17:29] But I want to point us to the impossible prophecies that found powerful fulfillment in Jesus.
[01:17:36] The yes and amen to all of God's prophecies and all of God's promises.
[01:17:41] And I want to point to that as an invitation to trust the author of your story.
[01:17:46] Whatever you are waiting for, it is not delay, it is design.
[01:17:51] And the wonder of it all is that our God is at work in all things for His glory and for your good in the fullness of time.
[01:18:06] How do we know that?
[01:18:08] How can we trust that it's not delay, it's design?
[01:18:18] It must have seemed like such a long time for the people of God.
[01:18:25] But Galatians 4, verse 4, But when the fullness of time had come,
[01:18:37] It wasn't delay.
[01:18:39] It was design.
[01:18:42] When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
[01:19:01] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, so you are no longer a slave, but a son.
[01:19:13] And if a son, then an heir through God.
[01:19:19] It's not implausible.
[01:19:21] It's impossible.
[01:19:23] It's not a prediction.
[01:19:23] It's a promise.
[01:19:26] It is not delay.
[01:19:29] It is design.
[01:19:33] And if that doesn't make us wonder, let's pray.
[01:19:44] Lord Jesus, we know and believe that you are the yes and amen to all of God's promises, to all the prophecies that we find in God's word.
[01:19:56] Lord, we thank you for these specific ones.
[01:20:00] You, the offspring of the woman, would crush the head of the serpent.
[01:20:03] We praise and thank you for how you did that in your life, death, and resurrection.
[01:20:10] We thank you for the promise that the Virgin would conceive and give birth to a son, and his name would be called Immanuel, which means God with us.
[01:20:22] We thank you for the truth that you are the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, that you are King.
[01:20:30] And that, Lord, one day you will return to reign over a new heaven and a new earth from the throne of David, that you will steward peace and righteousness and justice forever.
[01:20:47] The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
[01:20:52] Lord, we thank you and praise you for these things.
[01:20:54] We thank you and praise you that you spoke so long ago and that you kept your promises.
[01:21:01] Help us, Lord, to apply this to our lives, to believe and to trust, and yes, Lord, please, to wonder.
[01:21:09] And we thank you in your name.
[01:21:12] Amen.
[01:21:13] Let's respond to God's word now in song.

[01:22:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
I know from Satan's tyranny From depths of hell thy people say
[01:23:26] O Israel O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer Our spirits by Thy
[01:24:16] Rejoice, rejoice!

[01:24:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
O come, thou Key of David, come And open wide our heavenly home Make safe the way that leads on high
[01:25:08] and close the path to misery Rejoice!
[01:25:18] Rejoice!
[01:25:22] Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel

[01:25:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
Thank you so much for gathering with us for worship this morning.
[01:25:51] I want to invite you once again to come back at 5 for Light the Way.
[01:25:55] But as you go out into the world, if you belong to Christ, you go with his blessings.
[01:25:59] So lift up your heads and your hands and your hearts and receive now the benediction of the Lord our God.
[01:26:04] The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.
[01:26:07] on those who have dwelt in a land of deep darkness on them has light shown for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders and he shall be called Wonderful Counselor Mighty God Everlasting Father Prince of Peace and all God's people said Amen

[01:26:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Jesus Christ, born to save your living hope Come, expectant Jesus, make our hearts your home Come, thou great Redeemer, come, Emmanuel Bless the nations with your presence here
[01:27:28] Those to rescue, born to save, your very own Long-expected Jesus, make our hearts your home Come now, long-expected Jesus

[01:27:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
And thou long-expected Jesus

[01:28:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
... ... ... ... ...