Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Series: Advent (Willour)

Christ’s Poverty, Our Riches

About this sermon

Paul urges the Corinthians to give generously, and he points them to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was rich and became poor for our sake. Christ laid aside the glory he shared with the Father and took the humble form of our humanity in his incarnation. Through his poverty we become rich with forgiveness, adoption, and the promise of glory. Every believer, whatever his bank account, is rich beyond measure in Christ.

More sermons from 2 Corinthians · Browse all sermons

Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word, my sermon text this evening. is from Paul’s epistle to the second epistle to the Corinthians. Second Corinthians chapter eight, verse nine. Second Corinthians chapter eight, verse nine. I’m gonna read the first nine verses to give you the fuller context here, but our focus will be on Second Corinthians eight, verse nine. Let us hear God’s holy word beginning at verse one of chapter eight. Now brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints.

And this not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well. But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also. I’m not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever.

Amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this evening is Christ’s Poverty, Our Riches, and you’ll see a number of words that you can be listening for in my sermon tonight if that helps you follow along. The words riches, poverty, Lord, grace, incarnation, and humiliation. Well, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, the Apostle Paul is urging the Corinthian church to complete its collection to benefit the impoverished Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. Paul uses the generous example of the less affluent Macedonian churches to spur on the more well-to-do Corinthians to give generously to aid their Jewish brothers and sisters. Paul ascribes the generosity of the Macedonian Christians to the grace of God. If you look at verse one and two, Paul writes now, brethren, we wish to make known to you, what?

The grace of God, which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. In other words, what Paul is saying is that the eager generosity of the Macedonian believers was the result of God’s grace at work in their hearts and in their congregation. It was a response of gratitude to God for his gift of salvation through Jesus. Well, in our text for this evening, Paul reminds the Corinthians of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as an incentive for them, like the Macedonians, to demonstrate the grace of generous giving towards the needs of their needy brothers and sisters. The grace of our Lord was a grace that moved him to exchange the riches of heavenly glory for the poverty of an earthly existence so that he might lift us up from the spiritual poverty of our sin to the spiritual riches of eternal salvation.

Friends, during this Christmas season, as we remember and celebrate the incarnation and humble birth of our Lord, This is a very appropriate passage from God’s word for us to ponder as we turn our thoughts once again to Christ, our newborn King. And as we dive into our verse for this evening, consider first of all, the riches of our Lord Jesus Christ, the riches of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul writes in verse nine, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, Yet for your sake, he became poor. Now some of you might be thinking, maybe some of you children might be thinking, well, wait a minute, Jesus wasn’t rich, was he? He wasn’t born in a king’s castle. He was born in, as our confessional standards put it, he was born in circumstances of more than ordinary abasement and humiliation.

But Jesus was poor. He became poor in the sense of leaving his heavenly glory to take upon himself an earthly existence. And before that, he was rich in terms of spiritual and heavenly glories. We’ll talk about that in just a moment. But let’s go through this verse. Paul says in verse nine, at the beginning of verse nine, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, Paul is saying to them, I’m not telling you anything that you don’t already know. Oftentimes, when you come to church and you hear a sermon, if you’ve been a Christian for a while, and you’ve been in the Lord for many years, and you’re familiar with sound doctrine, you’re familiar with the scriptures, you’ll often hear things that you already know. And you might think, well, why bother to come to church just to hear what I already know?

Or, pastor, you’re not telling me anything new. But the scriptures often encourage us and spur us on in our faith by reminding us of that which we already know. Because even though we know these things, we need to know them experientially. We need to work them out and live out the implications of these truths in our hearts and lives. And that’s why Paul is bringing to the attention of these Corinthian believers. And the Corinthians were very gifted in terms of spiritual gifts and in terms of gifted teachers in their midst and so forth. But he says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. They needed to be reminded of what they know. already that they might be inspired to complete what they had promised with respect to giving generously to their needy brothers and sisters, their needy Jewish brothers and sisters.

For you know, that implies they’d already been taught the gospel. They knew the gospel of Jesus Christ. And what is the gospel about? Well, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, the apostle of grace, reminding the Corinthians of the grace they had known, the grace they had already received. Again, as I mentioned this morning in this morning’s sermon, the law, which is good and holy and righteous and which we delight in as God’s people, the law reveals God’s righteousness and justice. The gospel, on the other hand, reveals God’s grace and mercy. Law and gospel are not opposed to each other. They complement each other. They work together in God’s plan and purposes. But here he is focusing on the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. In particular, that grace that moved him, being sent by the Father, to take upon himself our humanity, that he might lift us up from the spiritual poverty of our sins into newness of life.

And notice he says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we need to pause there. We need to ask ourselves, why doesn’t Paul just say, for you know the grace of Christ, or you know the grace of our Lord, or you know the grace of Jesus, or even you know the grace of Jesus Christ? Why does he say our Lord Jesus Christ? That’s our Lord’s full name. It reminds us of Christ’s divinity, the term Lord. He is God, He is Lord, He is Sovereign, He is Master, He is King. Jesus, Yeshua, or Jesus in the Greek, the Lord is salvation, and then Christ, anointed one, Messiah. Why does Paul here, in appealing to the Corinthian believers, use our Lord’s full name and title? Well, our Lord’s full name and title are used by Paul for solemn emphasis, as Norman Hillier points out in his commentary.

This is for solemn emphasis. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what was that grace? How was that grace manifested? Paul goes on to say that though he was rich, again, children, it’s not talking about Jesus being materially rich or wealthy. This describes Christ in his pre-existent, pre-incarnate state of divine glory and blessedness. This is describing the richness, the spiritual and riches and divine majesty of our Lord that he shared with the Father and the Holy Spirit prior to his incarnation. It does not have in view earthly riches or material prosperity, but rather eternal divine glory. Again, what did the riches of Christ include? Well, first of all, as I mentioned, his pre-incarnate divine glory, his eternal perfect face-to-face communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and his divine privileges and prerogatives.

So we see the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. But as we move on in our consideration of this passage, take to heart next, beloved, the poverty our Lord embraced in His incarnation and a state of humiliation. Let’s take to heart the poverty that our Lord embraced in His incarnation and a state of humiliation. Why did Jesus embrace our poverty, an earthly existence, the poverty of an earthly existence? Well, Paul says here, yet for your sake. For your sake, believer, think of it. The eternal son of God voluntarily took to himself a human body and soul and allowed himself to be born in humble circumstances for you and for me, dear brother and sister in Christ. What amazing grace indeed. We are not forgotten by the Lord. The Lord has remembered us. The Lord has come for us.

The Lord will guide us all the way home because Christ, our Savior, has been born, has lived for us, has died for us, has risen for us, has ascended for us, intercedes for us at the Father’s right hand, and is coming for us at the end of this age. Again, what amazing grace indeed. And it says, he became poor. Now, what does that mean? Elsewhere, Paul talks about our Lord’s emptying of himself. In what sense did Jesus empty himself of the riches of divine glory? Does that mean that when Jesus was born that he stopped being God, that he emptied himself of his divinity? Well, no, it doesn’t mean that. It means that he, after all, God cannot stop being God. God, by definition, is eternal. He is the necessary being. Our sovereign triune God cannot stop being God.

But nevertheless, he emptied himself of certain of his divine privileges and prerogatives and of the divine glory that he might clothe himself in our humanity to redeem us from our sins. And so his poverty involved more than just a lack of material wealth, although Jesus was not born into a wealthy family as such. But nevertheless, he was born in order to become poor by adding to his divine nature, a truly human nature, and being born in circumstances of more than ordinary abasement. Again, these are probably familiar scripture passages, but let’s recall what the apostle John says of our Lord Jesus in his prologue in John 1. Verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, the Logos, that’s Christ. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. Christ, the eternal Word. The Son of the Father was eternally present with, face to face with God.

And the Word was God. This asserts our Lord’s full divinity, full deity. But then skip down to verse 14. And the Word became flesh. He didn’t stop being the Word, He didn’t stop being the Divine Logos, but He became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory. Glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace. and truth. Or we think of what Paul, as I’ve already alluded to, what Paul says elsewhere in Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 through 11, where he’s urging the Philippian believers to have a Christ-like attitude one toward another, and the incentive for that attitude is the example of Christ himself. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, There’s a few places in the New Testament that are clear in asserting the full deity of Christ.

Although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. Again, this is not saying that he emptied himself of his divinity, but that he took the form of a bondservant by taking to himself our humanity, yet without sin. For this reason, verse nine, for this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess, will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Our catechism talks, gives us wonderful instruction about this in a shorter catechism question and answers 22 and 27.

If you’d like to follow along, you’re welcome to. If you turn to page 969 in the back of your Psalter hymnal, 969. Let me just get there. 969, question 22 asks, How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man? How did Christ, the eternal Son of God, the Lord of the universe, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, how did Christ, the Son of God, become man? The Bible-based answer is this, Christ, the Son of God, became man, doesn’t say by emptying himself of his deity, but no, he became man by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary and born of her, yet without sin. or consider the question and answer on the next page, question and answer 27, speaking of Christ’s estate of humiliation.

The question is, wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist? The Bible-based answer is, Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross, and being buried and continuing under the power of death for a time. Again, why did Christ embrace this, our humanity? Why did he become poor? Again, Paul says in our passage for this evening, yet for your sake, he became poor, that he might enrich you, dear brother, sister in Christ. Beloved, the picture of the Christ child being laid in a manger is a picture of the deep humiliation of the eternal son of God. Dear listener, let us praise our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for His willingness to undergo the humiliation of the incarnation and virgin birth in order to rescue us from our sins.

Finally, beloved, rejoice in the great benefits that come to us as a result of our Lord’s voluntary poverty in His incarnation. Paul has focused on the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ displayed in his incarnation. He’s focused on the meaning of the riches that he left and the poverty that he embraced. What are the benefits that we derive from that? Well, Paul goes on to say, again, the quote from verse nine, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that what? So that you, through his poverty, might become rich. Oh, Pastor Will Auer is preaching a health and wealth gospel. No, I’m not. The riches that he speaks of here are the spiritual riches of salvation. Now we need to remember that Paul is writing to relatively wealthy Corinthians.

Unlike the Macedonians, the Corinthians believers were a little more well-to-do. But he’s obviously not speaking here, Paul is obviously not speaking here of material poverty or material wealth. He’s speaking, rather, of spiritual impoverishment and the spiritual wealth that comes in Christ, the wealth of salvation. Dr. Murray J. Harris, in his commentary, comments on the phrase, te ekenu tokea, through his poverty. And Dr. Harris writes that the dative probably means as a consequence of, rather than by means of. In other words, Christians are enriched not exactly or solely by Christ’s poverty, by his incarnation, but by his death as the climax of his entire incarnate life of obedient service. What is the point that Dr. Harris is making? Well, he goes on to say, Calvary complements Bethlehem. There was no Bethlehem, no baby born of the Virgin Mary laid in swaddling cloths, laid in a manger, born in Bethlehem as predicted by the prophets.

If Christ had not been incarnate and born, obviously he could not grow up and become a young man and go to the cross to redeem us from our sins by his atoning, substitutionary atonement. Now in what ways are we spiritually impoverished? You might not like the language that Paul uses here. That Christ, though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich. That statement implies that you and I are not rich. Whatever your material wealth may be, apart from Christ, you and I are impoverished in the greatest sense of that term. Well, in what ways are we spiritually impoverished? Well, we could spend a long time talking about that, but just giving a brief summary of the scripture’s teaching on our spiritual impoverishment apart from Christ.

Remember, brothers and sisters, that in Adam, our original covenant head and representative, in Adam, we are fallen and therefore we inherit the guilt and corruption of a sin nature. We are conceived and born in sin, and so we are already conceived and born in a state of spiritual poverty. And thus, by fallen nature, by our fallen nature in Adam, we are enslaved to sin. Apart from Christ as well, apart from Christ as those who are fallen in Adam and enslaved to sin, apart from Christ and his saving grace, we are liable to the curse and condemnation of the law and thus subject to eternal damnation. In what ways does Christ enrich us as believers? In what ways does his impoverishment in taking upon himself our humanity and leaving the glories of heaven to live in the poverty of an earthly existence?

Well, many things could be said in answer to that question, but just to summarize the biblical teaching, by His saving work, by our Lord Jesus Christ’s saving work, we, His people, are delivered from the guilt, the power, and the penalty of sin. We are already saved in our justification in the sense that we are saved from the guilt and penalty of our sin. We are being saved with respect to our sanctification, being conformed more and more into the image of Christ. And one day we will be saved in the ultimate consummate sense in our glorification. And the indwelling of the spirit serves as a seal guaranteeing our inheritance, the inheritance of eternal salvation in Christ. So we are redeemed from the guilt, from the dominating power, and from the penalty of sin. We are justified by faith, and faith alone in Christ, and Christ alone.

Not only that, we have received adoption as his children. Before Christ saves us, we are, spiritually speaking, we are children of the devil. But in Christ, we are not only new creations, but we also join a new family. The Lord welcomes us as adopted sons and daughters, redeemed by the blood of Christ into his forever family. And we are being sanctified. The Lord is at work in us. God is not through with us yet. He who has begun a good work in you, brother, sister in Christ, will carry it through to completion. Our Lord’s incarnation, His voluntary impoverishment and humiliation in the incarnation guarantees that. And not only that, as I mentioned before, we will one day be glorified. We will be raised in glorified souls and bodies, reunited in the resurrection at the final day, to live with our Lord forever, free of pain, free of suffering, free of mortality, in the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness dwells.

But in the meantime, we are pilgrims on the way. Again, as Paul writes, And what he writes to the Corinthians is true of you, brothers and sisters here at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich, richer than Elon Musk, richer than the most richest man or woman on the face of the earth. If you are in Christ, doesn’t matter what your financial status is. If you know Christ as your Lord and Savior, if he saved you by his grace, you are rich beyond measure because Jesus came. He came for you and for me. During this traditional Christmas holiday season, let your heart and your attention be focused anew upon all of the spiritual riches that you have received in Christ.

And as you face the new year with all of its uncertainties, rejoice, rejoice. The Lord is with you and he will never leave you nor forsake you. Amen, let us pray. Our gracious Lord God and Father in heaven, we thank you for the voluntary humiliation of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you, Lord Jesus, that at the call of your Father, you willingly and voluntarily left the glories of heaven to take upon yourself our humanity, to live in our midst, to live for us, to die for us, to rise for us, and to raise us up from earth unto heaven. We ask, O Lord, that our hearts might be filled with gratitude, and that whatever challenges or blessings the new year may bring, that you would be with us through it all.

May we walk with confidence as pilgrims on the way, knowing that you are with us, that you will never leave us nor forsake us. Send afresh your comforter to us, renew and fill us, and may our joy be overflowing. May we know that peace which passes all understanding. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

December 25, 2022
Revealed in the Flesh

About this sermon

Christmas celebrates the mystery of godliness: God revealed in the flesh. Paul calls the church the household of God, the pillar and support of the truth, and so it holds up Christ before a watching world. The church’s confession has objective content, against an age that looks inward for meaning. The eternal Son took on flesh for us and for our salvation, and every hearer must receive him by faith.

More sermons from 1 Timothy · Browse all sermons

Sermon transcript

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for God to bless the preaching of his word today. Gracious Lord and Father in heaven, your word tells us that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. We pray, Heavenly Father, that that faith that is produced by your sovereign mercy through the word of Christ, that that faith in us would be built up and strengthened this day as we consider this portion of Holy Scripture. We ask, Lord, that you would grant unto me, your unworthy servant, the grace to declare your word with clarity and power. Once again, Heavenly Father, we pray that the seed of your word would take deep root in our hearts and bear spiritual fruit unto holiness and sanctification in our lives.

We pray that Jesus would be exalted this day and really present with us this day through His Spirit in the proclamation of Your Word. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, Amen. Congregation, you may be seated. Well, dear ones, the title of my sermon this morning is Revealed in the Flesh. And if you there is a sermon outline in the foyer, if you want to follow along that and there’s a number of key words you can be listening for today, calling Christ household confession, mystery, savior and incarnation. And I often suggest to the young people that they can choose one or two of those words to keep track of in my sermon today. The number of times that I say those words, if they find that to be helpful in following along in this sermon.

Well, again, Merry Christmas, everyone. As I’m sure that you know, the Christmas season is a very busy time of year. On those rare occasions when Christmas Day happens to fall upon a Lord’s Day, such as is the case today, we are especially reminded on such days of the fact that the Christmas holiday was set in place not as a commercialized season to boost the economy, such as it has become today, nor primarily as a special family day, although it is often that as well. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but rather it was put in place historically by the church as a church holiday, or as we in the reform tradition prefer to call it a feast day. It’s a day that’s intended to focus the attention of God’s people upon the most amazing events of redemptive history.

The event of the birth of Jesus, the promised Messiah. But what exactly is it that makes the birth of Jesus of Nazareth so important and so amazing? So much so that multitudes of professing Christians all the world over today are celebrating His birth this very Lord’s Day. Well, today, I want to try to answer that question by having us consider a passage from God’s word, which I suspect is not often preached at Christmastime, but which nevertheless gives us some important insights into the significance and the importance of that special baby who was born in Bethlehem to the Virgin Mary some 2000 years ago. Now, this passage is found in Paul’s epistle, his first epistle to Timothy. First Timothy is often referred to as a pastoral epistle. Why is it referred to as a pastoral epistle?

Well, unlike most of the epistles or letters that were penned by the Apostle Paul, the pastoral epistles, namely First and Second Timothy and Titus, were written to individuals rather than to churches. Most of Paul’s letters were written to local Christian congregations or groups of congregations. But the pastoral epistles were written to individuals, and not just any individuals, but individuals who served a pastoral role in the church in the first century. And so 1 Timothy was written to Pastor Timothy. whom Paul describes as his son in the faith, and whom Paul had helped to train for the gospel ministry. As Paul makes it clear to Timothy in this passage, the focus of this letter is on how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God. As it says in verse 15, Paul says, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God.

Here in First Timothy 3.15, Paul gives his purpose statement for writing to Pastor Timothy. In other words, Paul’s focus is on proper behavior within the household of God, which is a description of the church of Jesus Christ. And the language of the church being the household of God reminds us that the church is not just an institution, it’s a family. We are the forever family of God in union with Christ. And verse 16 of our passage for today, is likely an early Christological creed or hymn or creedal hymn, if the case may be. In other words, a hymn or creed that focuses on the person and also the work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And it is in the text of this creedal hymn that Paul speaks of Christ as the one who was revealed in the flesh.

Now, let’s put this passage in its proper context. In the first part of chapter 3 and verses 1 through 13, the Apostle Paul has been describing the qualifications of men who would serve in church offices, the church offices of either overseer, the Greek term is episkopon or bishop, and as well as the office of deacon from the Greek word diakonos. Look at verses 1 and 2 of chapter 3, for example, it says, Paul writes, it is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, that’s episkopon or bishop, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach and so forth. And he lays out the qualifications for those who would serve as overseers or bishops in the church.

And then if you skip down to verse eight, he describes the qualifications for those who would serve as deacons. It says in verse eight, deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double tongued or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain and so forth. Pastor, why are you bringing this up? Why are you taking us back to the beginning of chapter three? Well, because it throws light upon what Paul is speaking about in our passage for today. In light of these lists of qualifications for officers in the visible church of the Lord Jesus Christ, what that implies is that in context, the church of the living God that Paul refers to in verse 15 would be referring primarily to what would be called the visible organized church. In the Bible, the term church can be used in different senses, can be used to describe all true believers throughout the world, Those who name the name of Christ, wherever they may be located, or the church invisible or the church Catholic or universal in that in that sense.

But here it is speaking of the church visible and in particular, the visible church in its local expressions. That seems to be what what Paul has in mind when he talks about how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, namely the church of the living God. And what’s interesting, what follows this passage that we’re considering today? Well, our passage for today is then followed in the early verses of chapter 4 by a prediction and warning about the apostasy from the faith that the Holy Spirit says will take place in what is described as later times. Look at chapter 4, verse 1. Paul writes, but the Spirit explicitly says that in later times, some will fall away from the faith paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. Now, however we are meant to understand these later times, the point is that the visible organized church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and local congregations of that visible church must continue to hold up and bear faithful witness to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as that truth is summarized in our passage for today.

Especially the truth about who Jesus is. and what Jesus accomplished for us and for our salvation. And we must hold up and bear witness to that truth even in the face of later time apostasy, even in the face of persecution and apostasy and spiritual apathy and so forth. And so that brings me to my first point. If you’re following along in your sermon outline, this is the first point in your outline. Let’s consider, first of all, what we learn here about the church’s calling, the church’s calling. What is the church called to do? According to Paul in this passage, the church is to hold up God’s truth before the world by confessing the truth about Jesus Christ. The church is to hold up God’s truth before the world by confessing the truth about Jesus Christ.

In verse 14, Paul Paul includes sort of a personal note to Timothy saying, I’m writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before too long. And he hopes to see Pastor Timothy before too long. Paul loved those who labored with him in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Paul was a man, you get the sense from his epistles, his letters, that Paul was a man who loved people. And he felt a deep connection with his brothers and sisters in Christ, even when he was separated from them geographically. And so he’s expressing to Timothy his hope to see Timothy before too long in person. But then he goes on to say in verse 15, but in case I am delayed, we all know about travel delays, especially this season. In case I am delayed.

I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. Now, I want you to notice, brothers and sisters, how Paul describes the church. And again, remember, he is thinking especially of the church as a visible, organized covenant community. And he says, this is how you are to conduct yourself in the household of God. The church is described as the household, the oika of God. What Paul is giving us here in this passage is basically house rules for the household of God, for the church of Jesus Christ. Paul has been explaining, for example, how Christians are to behave in the life of the church. For example, he speaks to Timothy about the importance in the church of resisting false doctrine.

He gives instructions earlier on for public prayer. He speaks of the relationship and the roles of men and women in the church. He talks about church offices, those who would serve in the visible organized church, and so forth. And this is so significant, as I as I mentioned just a few minutes ago, the church is the household of God. The church is I mean, we are blessed at Grace Church to meet in a wonderful church building. But as you know, the church is not the building. If something were ever to happen to this building, we could still meet as a church. We might have to meet elsewhere in a rented facility, but the church is the people of God confessing the truth of God, meeting together around the Word of God to sing the praises of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We are in Christ, the forever family of God. So the church is described as the household of God. Not only is it described as the household of God, but notice when he clarifies the meaning here, he says, I’m writing so you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is what? The church of the living God. Notice Paul doesn’t just say that the church is the church of God. but the church of the living God. Why does he tack on that word living? Why does he emphasize that the God that we worship is the living God? We know that, right? The only God is indeed a living God. Well, I suspect that Paul uses that adjective, living. He uses that to underscore the fact that we Christians worship and serve a living God.

Indeed, the one true and living triune God. We do not worship lifeless, dead idols. Timothy, Pastor Timothy, laboring in Ephesus. Ephesus was known for its pagan temples, and some of those temples were majestic. The pagan temples were architectural wonders at times that housed their gods, images and statues of their gods. But those pagan temples housed dead idols, idols of gods that do not really exist. But a Christian church is a congregation, an ecclesia of the living God. And that living God has come to us in Christ to dwell among His people. That true and living God was indeed in Jesus revealed in the flesh. So the church is described as the household of God. The church serves the living God, not lifeless dead idols. The church is also described as a pillar and support or buttress of gospel truth.

Again, looking at verse 15. Paul writes, in case I’m delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. What’s the reason for that language? What is Paul saying when he when he describes the church again, the visible, organized church that confesses the true faith, Why does Paul describe the church as a pillar and buttress or support? Well, the term pillar in the Greek is stulos. It means a visible witness. We as the church are called to be a visible witness before a watching world of Jesus Christ. We are to hold up before a watching world the claims of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The church is also called the buttress or support of the truth.

The Greek word is hedreoma, and it means an enduring support, an enduring support. These images that Paul uses here, this language that Paul uses, highlights the church’s calling to hold up before the world a visible witness for the gospel. And thus, by holding up a visible witness for the gospel of our incarnate Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the church also holds up a witness against false teaching. You cannot preach for Christ without being against the world, which is in opposition to Christ. The two go together. They are inextricably intertwined. And so the church is the household of God. It is it serves the living God, not dead idols. It is a pillar and buttress or support of gospel truth. The notice also in verse 16 that God’s church is called to confess openly the good news about Jesus.

That’s the point of this creed or creedal hymn that Paul either composed or is quoting from in verse 16. And let me read verse 16. By common confession, the word in the Greek that is translated there as common confession or some translations say by common consent, Great is the mystery of godliness that word common confession. I believe it’s the only time that word is used here in in the Bible the New Testament and it is it speaks of what we confess before the watching world and Great is the mystery of godliness. He who, or as some translations put it, God, who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory by common confession. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the New Testament makes it very clear that confessing Christ, a willingness to openly acknowledge Christ as your Savior and Lord, is an evidence of true saving faith.

We are justified by faith alone apart from works. But one of the evidences of that saving faith is a willingness to say, yeah, I’m a wretched sinner and my only hope is found in Jesus, my incarnate, crucified, risen Lord and Savior. I’m reminded of what Paul writes elsewhere in Romans 10, verse 9, that if you confess with your lips, Jesus is Lord, or the Lord Jesus, and believe in your hearts that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Heart, belief, and mouth confession go together. Remember what our Lord Jesus taught in Matthew 10, verses 32 and 33. If you want to turn there, Matthew 10, verses 32, In 33, we read the Lord Jesus says, Therefore, everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.

But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. If you trust Jesus and love Jesus and know Jesus as your Savior, you’re not ashamed to let others know. You want others to know that He is indeed Lord. The point of all of this, getting back to our passage for today, is that Jesus Christ has formed his church to be a confessing community of faith. We corporately organically as a church together are to confess Christ before a watching world. That doesn’t mean, by the way, as many Christians are taught today, that doesn’t mean that all of you are obligated to shove a gospel track down the throat of everyone who comes across your path or to give everyone a Jesus sales pitch. That’s an unbiblical notion of evangelism.

In the Bible, in the New Testament, evangelism means the official proclamation of the gospel by one called and set apart to proclaim that gospel. But certainly all of us are called to be witnesses for Christ, to confess Christ, to always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us to everyone who asks for that reason. And so we we as a community, we all gather together just by coming to church on this Lord’s Day. You are witnessing to your neighbors, many of whom I’m sure are sleeping in today, and even many of your Christian neighbors, because there sadly are many churches that decided to cancel their worship services today because today is Christmas. Well, again, not to just to bring out my Puritan credentials a little bit here. This is primarily the Lord’s Day.

Because it’s Sunday. This is the day that Jesus rose from the dead. That’s why we worship on the Lord’s Day. And it’s not an option. It’s an obligation. It’s a joyful obligation. Yes, it is also a day where we traditionally celebrate and remember the birth of our Savior. But just by coming to church today, you are owning and confessing to your neighbors and to our communities that, yes, Jesus is our Lord. He is the one who came, was revealed, manifested in the flesh. And we hold up that truth before a watching world. Even if the world ignores us or scoffs at us, we must be faithful in holding up the truth of the gospel of Jesus, our incarnate Lord and Savior. But to make this a little more personal, if you, dear listener, are holding back from publicly confessing Christ as your Lord and Savior and uniting with the visible expression of his church in communicant membership.

What’s holding you back from obeying Jesus your Lord? So church, let us be bold in proclaiming and serving and bearing testimony to Christ our Lord. But the next point is we as we Consider further what we may learn from this passage of God’s word. Consider next, and this is my second point in your outline. Let’s consider next the church’s confession, the church’s confession, the content of the faith the church is to proclaim is summarized here in this creed or creedal hymn. So we consider the content of the faith that we are to bear witness to, that we are to hold up, that we are to proclaim as the church. Paul describes this as the mystery of godliness. Verse 16, by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. What’s Paul talking about when he uses this language of the mystery of godliness?

Well, the short answer to that question is Paul’s talking about the gospel, the good news about Jesus. But let’s dive a little deeper into that word mystery. The Greek word for it is musterion. Now, when we use the language of mystery, we tend to use that language to refer to something that you can’t really completely grasp or figure out. Sometimes in theological lingo, we talk about the mystery of the Trinity. The truth that God, the one true and living God, exists in three co-equal, co-eternal persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that all three persons of the triune God share fully in that one divine essence. And you try to wrap your brain around that and you just can’t completely figure it out. Because you’re finite and God is infinite. And that’s okay that you can’t fully figure it out.

So in that theological sense, we use the term mystery to mean something that is true, that is a revealed truth that we believe and confess, but we don’t claim to understand it or to be able to grasp it exhaustively. But when Paul uses the term mystery, he is referring to that which was previously hidden, but is now made known all because of the coming of Christ. And so as one commentator explains this term, mystery of godliness, this phrase, mystery of godliness, one commentator says the phrase means the revealed secret of true piety. Now, hold on to that. The mystery of godliness equals the revealed secret of true piety. In other words, he goes on to say, in other words, the secret that produces piety in people. That secret, as the following words indicate, is none other than Jesus Christ.

His incarnation in all its aspects, particularly His saving work, is the source of genuine piety. In other words, friends, the gospel message, that message centered on the incarnate person and the saving work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Savior who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem and who lived and died and rose again and ascended and now reigns in exaltation at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, all for us and for our salvation as the people of God. That is what the mystery of godliness is referring to. You see, before the advent of Christ, before Christ came to this earth, this mystery was in large part hidden from God’s people. Now, God’s people living in Old Testament times, they knew about the gospel. They knew about the promise that God would send a Messiah, the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head.

They had prophecies, they had types, they had shadows. So the gospel was known to God’s people under the old covenant, but it was known in shadow and type. It was not known in full substance because the substance of that mystery was hidden to God’s people in Old Testament times. But now that Jesus has been born, now that Jesus came to this earth, the mystery that was hidden for ages has been revealed and not only revealed for the benefit of Jews who come to believe in Jesus, but also for the benefit of the nations, the Gentile nations as well. Now, there’s so many takeaways from this observation, from the truth that Paul is teaching here when he describes our faith as the mystery of godliness. But let me let me make three points of application or suggest several takeaways.

First of all, what this teaches us, beloved, is that our Christian faith has objective content. Our Christian faith is not just a subjective experience. It’s not merely an edifying personal mythology, for example. Our Christian faith has objective content because the gospel proclaims, the gospel makes truth claims about what God has done in real space time history in the person of his son, Jesus Christ, to redeem and rescue sinners from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. We live in a hyper subjective age. We live in an age where we are more than ever turned in on ourselves, and our culture encourages us to find our ultimate meaning and our ultimate identity within, in our personal feelings. This is basically secular humanistic paganism. It is the rot of humanism at its core, and it’s unsustainable over the long term, by the way.

But here against that radical subjectivism of our contemporary age comes the Christmas message. Indeed, the gospel message that God in Christ was revealed in the flesh for our redemption. So our Christian faith has objective content. And what does that mean for you and for me when we’re sharing the gospel with friends and loved ones and neighbors? Well, confessing Christ before others means confessing historic truths about Jesus Christ, such as the truth that we celebrate at Christmastime. It’s not just about sharing our personal testimony about what Jesus means to us personally. I remember some of you may be familiar with the White Horse Inn podcast, you know, Dr. Michael Horton and out in Westminster Seminary West. And I remember at one particular podcast or lecture that Dr. Horton was giving, he made it. He offered this illustration.

He he talked about how he was. I think he was interviewing folks on the street, perhaps, or in the churches and asking them, well, tell me what the gospel is. Oh, it’s wonderful. It’s changed my life. It’s transformed me. Yes, but what is the gospel? Oh, it’s just amazing. Jesus means so much to me. He’s transformed my life. Now, don’t get me wrong. Your personal testimony about what Jesus has done for you. That’s a fine thing to share. That’s a wonderful thing to share. Because that is part of the fruit of the gospel. That’s the outworking of the gospel in our lives. But what Jesus means to you, what he’s done in and for you, that’s not really the gospel. What is the gospel is who Jesus is and what he did to save his people from their sins.

It’s an objective message. The church’s calling and mission as a body of God’s people is to support and hold up and bear faithful witness to the truth about Jesus Christ and the good news of salvation that he has wrought. Personal testimony can come as a fruit and result of that. But our primary testimony is to Jesus. Because, brothers and sisters, we’re not the gospel. I can share with you that Christ has transformed my life. I praise God for His grace and mercy. That He deigned to have mercy on a wretch like me. That’s a wonderful thing and I’m happy to proclaim that. But you know what? I’m not the good news. I’m still a sinner. And so are you. I’m a sinner saved by grace, but still a sinner. The good news is not us or how Christ has transformed us.

The good news is Jesus, who he is, what he’s done for us. And that, as a result, does transform us. But also reflecting on this phrase, mystery of godliness, notice that it is the truth of the gospel and especially the truth of our Lord’s incarnation, which the church traditionally celebrates during this festive season. Notice it is that truth that is the revealed secret of true piety. Mystery of godliness means revealed secret of true piety. Notice Paul doesn’t say that the law is the revealed secret of true piety. It’s not the law of God that produces true piety and godliness in God’s people. Oh, pastor, you’re being antinomian. No, I’m not. The law of God is good. It’s holy. It’s righteous. We love the law of God. We delight in the law of God after the inner man.

If you’re born again by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit has put within your soul a love for God’s law. A desire to obey the law of God. So we love the law of God. But the law in itself does not produce true piety. After all, the law condemns us. The law is a mirror that exposes our sin and our lawlessness, our law breaker, our law breaking. And this, in God’s economy, is its primary and proper role. Yes, we believe and confess the third use of the law. It does set a standard for us. It shows us what God requires of us. It shows us what we should be aiming for as we strive to walk after a new obedience out of gratitude for God’s gift of salvation. But the law is not the secret, the revealed secret of true piety.

Rather, it is the gospel that produces true piety and godliness. Through the Holy Spirit, the Gospel unites us to Jesus Christ by producing saving faith within us. As Paul writes in Romans 10, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word or message of Christ. It is that saving faith that the gospel produces in us, which therefore enables us more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness since we are united to Christ in his death and resurrection by faith and faith alone. True piety is not produced by a legalistic spirit, a spirit that says, well, I, I just need to do more and try harder and be better. Yeah. Good luck with that. You can’t put, you can’t pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. The law cannot produce true piety within you.

But when you understand that in union with Christ, your sins are forgiven, you are an adopted son or daughter of God, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, you are sealed unto the day of redemption. When these glorious truths, these blessings and benefits that we sung of in our opening psalm, when those blessings and benefits, Understand and embrace those truths as true for you. Oh, your heart will be filled with joy and love for God and a desire to live a pious, godly life. A desire to obey His law and walk after a new obedience. Again, true piety is not produced by a legal spirit. A legal spirit, a self-righteous spirit, only results in hardened pride and further self-righteousness. Rather, true piety is only produced through the gospel of Jesus Christ, applied by the Holy Spirit to our hearts and received by God-given faith alone.

And that gospel is centered on the one who was revealed in the flesh, the one whom we celebrate on this Lord’s Day, known as Christmas Day, and indeed, the one whom we celebrate and remember and worship every Lord’s Day. It says of Him, and this brings me to my final point, consider in closing, the church’s Savior. The church’s Savior is the incarnate Christ. By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. He who was revealed in the flesh. Now, pause there. Some of you may be looking at your Bibles and say, wait a minute, Pastor. My Bible says God was manifested or revealed in the flesh. Well, the reason for the differences there, this is a textual issue. Many ancient texts, copies of the original contained the statement, he who was revealed in the flesh.

Other copies, manuscript copies, say God who was revealed in the flesh. But you know what? And by the way, it’s my understanding and belief that the most accurate manuscripts, the earliest and most accurate manuscripts, read the way it is translated here in the New American Standard Version. He who was revealed in the flesh. But does that lower Jesus, from God to something else? No, no. Because in the context, whichever translation is correct, whichever textual tradition is the most accurate and original, the context makes it clear that Paul is talking about the incarnation of the living God. As it says in verse 15, The church, the household of God is the church of the living God. And it is this living God who was revealed in the flesh, as we read of in verse 16. Now, the fact that he was revealed in the flesh, that God, the son was revealed in the flesh, this living God was revealed in the flesh.

What does that teach us about Jesus? Well, it teaches us a number of things. First of all, it teaches us that he was preexistent. He was revealed and manifested, and that language implies that he existed before he was revealed, before he was manifested. So the pre-existence, and by good and necessary inference, the full deity of Christ is implied by this statement. But the incarnation of Christ is also implied here, or it’s rather directly taught, I should say. He who was revealed, how was he revealed? In the flesh, the true and living God was revealed, was manifested in the flesh. He existed from eternity past. He is eternal God, but he was manifested in the incarnation of Christ. Dear listeners, think about it. What we celebrate on this Lord’s Day is nothing less than the very incarnation, which means the very enfleshment of God the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.

As the baby Jesus was lying in the manger, wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in the manger with respect to His human nature. In that very manger, our Savior was governing the universe in His divine nature, as Jesus was laying there in the manger. He was controlling all of the billions of galaxies and trillions of stars out there. He was governing all of creation. It blows your mind when you contemplate it. When you think about it. Why did God do this? He, the very Son of God, was manifested in the flesh. Why? Why? was He manifested in the flesh. Why Christmas? Why did God the Son become a man? Well, as we confess together in the words of the Nicene Creed, it was for us and for our salvation. Puny and finite as we are. Sinful as we are.

God, out of love for us sinners, was moved to choose to send Christ. From eternity past, He decreed to send Christ to be our Savior from sin. Dear listener, have you trusted Jesus, the incarnate Lord, the One manifested in the flesh? Have you trusted Him as your Savior from sin? On this Lord’s Day, which also happens to be Christmas Day, why not receive Him by faith? as your very own Lord and Savior, may God in his sovereign mercy open your heart to believe upon Christ, to trust in Christ and repent of sin this day. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, sovereign and eternal God, we thank you and praise you for Christ. We thank you for the gospel, this mystery of godliness, this revealed secret of true piety. We ask, Lord, that as we embrace the good news of the gospel, that we might be impelled more and more to die unto sin and walk after a new obedience from the heart.

We pray these things in Jesus name and all of God’s people said. Amen. As we close our time of worship. Let’s sing this joyful Christmas hymn, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. We’ll rise and sing number 311, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, 311.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

December 25, 2022
The Virgin Birth: An Essential Doctrine

About this sermon

Gabriel announces to Mary that she will conceive by the Holy Spirit and bear a son who will reign on David’s throne forever. Against liberal theology’s attack on the miracles of Scripture, the virgin birth stands as an essential doctrine: it marks Jesus as the promised messianic King, as the sinless Son of God, and as God incarnate. Nothing is impossible with God, and Mary answers his word with faith and submission: “May it be done to me according to your word.”

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Sermon transcript

Amen. Please remain standing, dear friends, as we come to the Word of God. This evening I’m going to preach from a passage in the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 1, verses 26 through 38. Luke chapter 1, verses 26 through 38. This is Luke’s account of the foretelling of the birth of our Savior. entitled my message this evening, The Virgin Birth, An Essential Doctrine. So let us hear God’s holy word. Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, greetings, favored one. The Lord is with you. She was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.

The angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I am a virgin? The angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the Holy Child shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age.

And she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, behold, the bond slave of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Please join me in your hearts as we pray for the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of his word. Gracious Lord and Father in heaven, We ask that you would illuminate us this evening by that same Holy Spirit who conceived Jesus in the womb of the Virgin Mary. We ask, O Lord, that by your Spirit you would help us to see the power and the relevance and the significance of this passage of your Holy Word. And we ask, O Lord, that we might treasure this message and this truth, this doctrine, of our Lord’s virginal conception and supernatural birth.

We ask, Lord, that during this season, when there is so much focus on material things and busyness, that we might reflect within our hearts upon all that this doctrine means to us. We pray that we might be faithful as a church and as individual believers in proclaiming this important essential doctrine of the virgin birth. We pray that you would be with us now, grant unto me the grace, Lord, to declare your word with power and clarity, feed our souls through the word this evening, and build us up in our most holy faith that we might go from this place strengthened in our discipleship. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said. Amen. You may be seated. Again, as I mentioned, the title of my sermon this evening is The Virgin Birth, An Essential Doctrine.

And there’s a lot of key words you can be listening for this evening if you find that to be helpful, which are listed on your sermon outline. Well, my dear friends, if you’re familiar with the works of Dr. J. Gresham Machen, you are familiar with how he objected to a saying that was very popular in his day, but is also quite popular, I imagine, today. And that is the saying, Christianity is a life, not a doctrine. Have you ever heard anyone make a statement like that? Sometimes this sentiment is expressed in a slightly different way. Sometimes it is expressed by the saying, doctrine divides, love unites, or doctrine divides, service unites. Now besides presenting a false dichotomy, a false distinction, as if Christian living could somehow be untangled from or separated from Christian truth, these sayings express the anti-doctrine spirit of theological liberalism, also known as modernism.

Modernism or theological liberalism, today it’s called, quote, progressive Christianity, is a false heretical theology that gained domination in the mainline churches at the beginning and into the middle of the last century. Liberal theology, with its anti-doctrine emphasis, wasn’t just about attacking obscure and abstract academic debates that might take place in the ivory tower of the theological seminary, but which had nothing to do with the central truth or the vital core of the Christian life or with the daily lives of ordinary believers. No, my friends. Instead, theological liberalism, or modernism in general, was a full-frontal assault on the miracles of the Bible. And therefore, as a full-frontal assault on the miracles revealed in God’s Word, theological liberalism was, and it continues to be, an attack on the historic, supernatural, redemptive Christianity that is revealed in the Holy Bible.

And even today, you will likely find many among the liberal clergy and in the membership of mainline churches who reject core central teachings of the Bible and of historic Christianity. You would be able to find out there clergy and even members of such churches who would reject such vital doctrines as, say, the literal deity of Christ, his miracles, his death upon the cross as a substitutionary atonement for sin. Now that doctrine is often despised in the liberal denominations. And even his physical bodily resurrection from the dead is rejected by professedly Christian ministers and members of such churches. So-called liberal Christianity or progressive Christianity is thoroughly anti-supernatural to its core. And I would suggest to you, brothers and sisters in Christ, not intending to say this in a spirit of harshness or judgmentalism, but in a spirit of honesty, I would suggest to you that such anti-supernaturalism of theological liberalism is thoroughly anti-Christian.

It is my conviction that theological liberalism or modernism is of the spirit of the Antichrist and that true, faithful, Bible-believing Christians need to separate themselves from such evil anti-Christian doctrine. Now among the miracles of the Bible that theological liberalism in the churches dismisses as edifying myths, few miracles have been more under attack historically as the doctrine of our Lord’s miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and his birth of the Virgin Mary. This doctrine of the virgin birth is often mocked in theological liberal circles. Indeed, it is likely that many among the apostate liberal clergy and in the mainline churches would probably consider the doctrine of our Lord’s virgin birth to be at best an optional belief, a theory that you can take or leave as you may choose, or at worst, a silly, superstitious, outmoded, and irrelevant belief that should be discarded by today’s enlightened, intelligent Christian.

I recall as a college student I was taking a class in college on church history and I studied at a college that was not known for its biblical orthodoxy and I remember in that class we used a textbook written by a gentleman who, I believe that he, I mean, as reading this book, I believe that he accepted the bodily resurrection of Christ, but he seemed to, if I recall correctly, have issues with the virgin birth of Christ. I’m sort of like, how do you hold those two things together? If you believe that God has the power to raise Jesus from the dead, certainly God has the power through his Holy Spirit to conceive Jesus in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Well, dear ones, for those of us who believe the Bible to be the divinely inspired and authoritative Word of God, the doctrine of our Lord’s supernatural conception and virgin birth ought to be viewed as an essential, non-negotiable doctrine of our holy Christian faith, an essential doctrine of the historic, supernatural, redemptive Christianity revealed by God himself in his inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word, the Holy Bible.

And to many today, making a statement like that might sound, quote, fundamentalist. But it’s not fundamentalist in the negative sense. It is fundamental to the integrity of the biblical system of doctrine revealed in the holy scriptures. As we study the holy scriptures, we find the scriptures indicating this doctrine to be essential to a sound, orthodox understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ in particular and of the Christian faith in general. Now, It’s also a doctrine that is highlighted, of course, and celebrated during this traditional season of Advent and Christmas. Now, I want to just make a clarification. When I use the term essential, it’s always important to define our terms. When I use the term essential, I don’t mean that it is essential in the sense that there are no possible or conceivable providential circumstances where someone might be genuinely converted to Christ but either ignorant of or confused about the doctrine of the virgin birth.

We might think of circumstances where a young believer, a new believer, has just come to faith in Christ and is unfamiliar with the teachings of the Bible. All they’ve been taught is that Jesus is the Son of God incarnate, that he died for their sins and rose from the dead, and that all who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life, and they’ve been converted. They’re so unfamiliar with the Bible that perhaps they’ve not heard of the doctrine of the virgin birth. So I’m not saying that it’s essential in the sense that if you’re not aware of it, or if you’re ignorant of it, or confused about it, that there’s no hope of salvation. But it is essential in the sense that it is vital to the integrity of the biblical gospel, as I hope to show.

If you willingly and knowingly reject the biblical doctrine of the virgin birth, you know that the Bible teaches the doctrine, but you refuse to believe it, then there is good reason to question not only the soundness, but the genuineness of your faith. So let’s dive into our passage for this evening. And in terms of setting our passage in its context, who wrote the gospel known as the Gospel of Luke? The human author of this gospel is traditionally regarded as Luke, the beloved physician. Luke was a missionary traveling companion of the Apostle Paul. And, again, there is no good reason to reject this traditional understanding of the human authorship of the Gospel of Luke. There’s good reason to believe that, indeed, this was Luke, the beloved physician, who wrote this lengthiest of the Gospel accounts. And the Gospel of Luke was probably written sometime between 60 and 70 AD.

Now some liberal scholars try to push it later into the first century. But what’s interesting is that the same author who wrote the Gospel of Luke also wrote the Book of Acts. Acts was like volume two of his historical work. And it’s interesting that in the Book of Acts, Acts ends with the Apostle Paul imprisoned in Rome. It is very likely that if Luke was written after Paul was martyred, and Paul was, according to reliable early church tradition, Paul the apostle was martyred probably in the mid-60s. And certainly, if Luke had been written after the martyrdom of Paul, we would have expected Luke in the Book of Acts to record the circumstances surrounding the death of Paul the Apostle. But he does not do that, which indicates that Luke, the Gospel of Luke, as well as Acts, were both written before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD.

If you go to the opening introductory statement in Luke chapter 1 verses 1 through 4, these verses indicate that Luke consulted many reliable sources for his gospel, including eyewitnesses. Again, he did this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And as we read in Luke 1, 1 to 4, Luke writes, inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, It seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught. This passage, again, indicates that Luke was a careful student of history.

The Holy Spirit used his research and skills, including his consulting of eyewitnesses, as the basis for what he records in his gospel. Indeed, I bring this up because it is quite possible that Luke got the information on the events recorded in our passage for this evening from none less than Mary, the mother of our Lord herself. Well, from our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, let’s consider some of the reasons why the doctrine of our Lord’s virgin birth is indeed an essential doctrine of our faith according to the word of God. And first of all, I would point out that the virgin birth is an essential doctrine of our holy Christian faith. First of all, because it bears witness to Jesus as the promised messianic king. Let’s take a look at verse 26. It says, now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel Here is an angel, a holy angel sent from the presence of God himself.

This angel is named. The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth. In the sixth month from what? What is Luke referring to here? In other words, the sixth month after Elizabeth, who was John the Baptist’s mother and Mary’s relative, had conceived John. In the context, that’s what this sixth month is referring to. We see that as we look back at chapter 1, verses 24 and 25, where we read, after these days, Elizabeth, his wife, became pregnant. And she kept herself in seclusion for five months saying, this is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked with favor upon me to take away my disgrace among men. And then if you skip ahead to verse 36, it says, the angel Gabriel says to Mary, And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is now in her what?

In her sixth month. So that kind of gives us the historical parameters that Luke is speaking of here in this passage. And then we move on to verse 27. We see that this angel Gabriel was sent to a city in Galilee called Nazareth. Nazareth was a city that had not a great reputation. It was a small, it was an obscure place, and yet that’s where That’s where Mary, who was prepared by God to be the mother of our Lord, resided. It says the angel was sent to a virgin, engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David. I preached this morning on Matthew 1, 1 to 17, Matthew’s genealogy of the Lord Jesus, and we saw that in that genealogy, Matthew establishes that Joseph as the legal father of Jesus, and therefore, the one through whom the messianic promises would come to pass, as it indeed demonstrates that Jesus is of the royal lineage of David.

Again, of the descendants of David. Joseph was Jesus’ legal father, and therefore Jesus was legally regarded as a descendant of King David, just as the Messiah was predicted in the Old Testament to be. And we see this royal emphasis here in Luke’s gospel as well when we skip ahead to and look at verses like 32, as the angel Gabriel speaks to Mary and reveals this great plan of God for her to be the one who was to bear the son of God. He says to her in verse 32, He will be great. He, Jesus, the one whom she will give birth to, will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him what? Will give him the throne of his father, David. and skip on to verse 33.

Notice Gabriel describes Jesus as being the one who will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end. Unlike King David in the Old Testament, this descendant of David, great David’s greater son, his kingdom will have no end. And, and verse 33 also mentions the fact that he will reign. So what does the virgin birth here have to do with the Messiah ship of Jesus? Well, it has everything to do with the Messiah ship of Jesus because Isaiah chapter seven, verses 13 and 14, which I read earlier in the service this evening, predicts that the Messianic son of David would be conceived of a virgin. that virgin birth was a fulfillment of messianic prophecy. That is also confirmed in Matthew’s gospel, in Matthew 1, 20 to 23, as we look there briefly.

Matthew chapter 1, verses 20 to 23. Here we read of the angel sent to Joseph, And it says this, when he, when Joseph had considered this, considered putting away Mary, his wife, because she was with child, and they had not yet come together, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, The name Jesus’ children again means the Lord is salvation. You will call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. And then notice verses 22 and 23 of Matthew chapter 1. Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet.

And he quotes there from Isaiah chapter 7. Verse 14, behold the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us. Now some translations like the revised standard version and some of the translators of the RSV had some more liberal leanings. It is a good translation overall but In that translation, you will notice if you read that translation, it doesn’t say the virgin will conceive, it says a young maiden or a young woman will conceive. However, the term for young woman means in the Hebrew, a young woman of marriageable age, which was assumed to be a virgin, and that’s why I believe it is in the Septuagint version, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is translated as virgin. And so we are justified in seeing the virgin birth as a fulfillment of messianic prophecy, which bears witness to Jesus as the promised messianic king.

So that’s the first reason why we should regard the virgin birth as an essential doctrine of our faith. Because it bears witness to Jesus as the promised Messiah in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. It also is essential because it bears witness to the incarnate deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is my second main point, if you’re following along in the sermon outline. It bears witness to the incarnate deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice how the angel Gabriel describes the child that Mary will conceive. How does he describe this child to her? Look at verse 32 again. He will be great, and will be called what? The Son of the Most High. The Son of the Most High. This language of divine sonship points to the incarnate deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you skip down to verse 35, it also says, as Mary questions the angel, well, how can this be?

I’m a virgin. The angel answers in verse 35, the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the Holy Child, it is a child, a human child, but this Holy Child is also called what? The Son of God. Again, The virgin birth of Jesus Christ is an essential doctrine of our holy Christian faith because it bears powerful testimony to Jesus as the incarnate deity, our incarnate Lord. Why was it that the Savior, the Messiah, had to be true God, fully God, as well as fully man? Well, dear ones, the Messiah had to be both true God and true man in order to be qualified to serve as our Redeemer. Our sin is so serious in the eyes of the infinitely holy God that only God himself can save us from our sins.

But given our humanity, He can only save us and represent us and substitute for us as a man. Christ’s virginal conception was the miraculous means of our Lord’s incarnation. I’m reminded of what the Heidelberg Catechism states in answer to question 35. You’re welcome to follow along there in your Trinity Psalter hymnal if you want to turn to page 800. 78 in the back of your Psalter hymnal, 878. As we look at Heidelberg Catechism question and answer 35, the question there under Lord’s Day 18 is this, What does it mean that he, quote, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary? Here the Heidelberg Catechism giving an exposition of the Apostles’ Creed and this statement in the Apostles’ Creed. What does it mean? to confess that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.

The Bible-based answer is this, that the eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God, took to himself, through the working of the Holy Spirit, from the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, a true human nature, so that he might also become David’s true descendant, like his brothers in all things, except for sin. And so the virgin birth of Christ bears testimony to the fact that Jesus is true God, fully God, and fully man in one divine person, yet without sin. And on a more theological note, The virgin birth of Christ is an essential doctrine to our holy Christian faith because it was the miraculous means by which our Lord’s human nature was preserved from the stain of original sin. This is my third point in your outline. The virgin birth is essential because it was the miraculous means by which our Lord’s human nature was preserved from the stain of original sin.

What do you think it would mean if Jesus had been born in the ordinary natural manner by ordinary generation, to use the language of our Westminster divines? If he was conceived by and born by ordinary generation, what would the implications of that be? Well, if Jesus had been born in the ordinary natural manner that the rest of us were born in, then he would have inherited, like us, he would have inherited a sin nature from Adam. He would have been in the same position that you and I are in as fallen sons and daughters of Adam. And if Jesus had been born with original sin, he certainly would not be qualified to serve as our sinless savior. He would not be qualified to serve as the spotless lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world.

Jesus would have been a sinner just like us, and thus he himself would have needed to be saved just like us. And so denying the virgin birth of Christ is denying, as an implication, a denial of the sinlessness of Christ. And denying the sinlessness of Christ is to deny Christ as the Savior. That’s the logical implication of rejecting the virgin birth of Christ. If you look at verse 35 again, the angel Gabriel says, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the Holy Child shall be called the Son of God. He’s the Holy Child. He’s not conceived or born in sin. but he is the holy child because he’s been conceived by the Holy Spirit. Being conceived by the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus himself would be holy from his conception.

Dear listener, only a Savior who is not only true God and true man, but also himself without sin is qualified to serve as our Savior. You and I need a sinless Savior to save us from our sins. Do you trust in Jesus Christ as your sinless Savior and Lord? The Gospel, God in the Gospel calls you to believe in Christ, to trust in Him as your sinless, divine Lord and Savior, and to repent of sin. Believe and repent today by the grace of God. And finally, the doctrine of the virginal conception and virgin birth of Christ our Savior demonstrates the truth that nothing is impossible for God. As the angel Gabriel assures Mary in verse 37, for nothing will be impossible with God, not even a virginal conception. God doesn’t need the aid of a man to conceive of the Lord Jesus in the womb of Mary.

Dear friends, God is omnipotent and sovereign. This supernatural miracle of the virgin birth is a miracle that shows Jesus to be God and Lord incarnate. It shows him to be sinless. It shows him to be the Messiah. And it also bears testimony to the truth that nothing, nothing is impossible for our God, the true and living God. Mary is obviously convinced by the message from the angel, for look at her response in verse 38. And Mary said, behold, the bondservant or bondslave of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. Oh, what great courage. What a great privilege Mary had to bear in her womb the very Son of God incarnate. But what difficulty that must have brought into her life, knowing that she and Joseph were not yet married, had not yet had normal marital relations, people would look at her and say, oh, you know, this is not good.

You had a child out of wedlock, right? No. Mary was willing to put up with that because she trusted the Lord’s word to her through the angel. Gabriel, and she recognized that nothing is impossible for God. Let us, brothers and sisters, respond to this message with the same kind of faith and submission exhibited here by Mary, the mother of our Lord. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, sovereign and eternal God, we praise you and bless you and thank you for this time of year, When we reflect upon. the majesty and the mystery and the glory of the virgin birth, the incarnation and virgin birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. May we hold forth and bear testimony to this doctrine as indeed an essential doctrine of our holy Christian faith, and may we see the practical implications of this doctrine for the life of the church and in our lives as believers in Christ.

We pray these things in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

December 18, 2022
Genealogy of God’s Chosen King

About this sermon

Matthew opens his Gospel with a genealogy that presents Jesus as the Messiah, the son of Abraham and the son of David. Matthew arranges the names in three groups of fourteen, and he traces the line through Joseph, Jesus’s legal father, to secure his claim to David’s throne. The list includes Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth, sinners and outsiders brought in by grace. God keeps his promises across the generations, and the Savior came for sinners of every kind.

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Sermon transcript

Well, dear friends, let us rise for the reading of God’s Word. Again, we’re continuing to take a break during this Advent season from our consideration of the Gospel of Mark, and this morning we’re actually in the Gospel of Matthew. My sermon text today is Matthew chapter 1, verses 1 through 17. Matthew chapter 1. Verses 1 through 17. Dear friends, let us hear with reverence and awe the word of our God. Reading from the New American Standard Version. The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.

Ram was the father of Aminadab. Aminadab the father of Nashon, and Nashon the father of Salmon. Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba, who had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa. Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah. Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Ammon, and Ammon the father of Josiah. Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

After the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud. Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Mathan, and Mathan the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. So all the generations from Abraham to David, are 14 generations, from David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, 14 generations. Dear ones, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord to bless our study of his word this morning.

Our gracious Lord God, Heavenly Father, we praise you that you are the God of history, that all of history is working out and falling out according to your sovereign and eternal plan. And we thank you that Christ is the center of all history, not only cosmic history, but our own personal history as well, as Christ is indeed our Savior and King. We ask that by your Holy Spirit, as we consider this portion of your word this morning, that you would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word, feed our souls through that which we consider today, and we ask that you would deepen and strengthen our faith, our hope, and our love. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is Genealogy of God’s Chosen King, and if you’re following along in your sermon outline, you’ll notice that there’s three words that you can be listening for if you find that helpful to follow along in the sermon, and those words are Messiah, covenant, and promise.

Well, my dear listeners, the Gospel of Matthew appears to have been written to Jewish Christians in the early church in order to confirm their faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah that had been promised by God in the Old Testament scriptures. And though the gospel itself is technically anonymous, the united unanimous testimony of the early church affirms that this gospel was written by none other than the Apostle Matthew. And in spite of the fact that many critical and skeptical scholars have gone to great lengths to argue against Matthew’s authorship, there’s really no compelling reason not to accept the early church’s unified, united testimony to the Apostle Matthew as the author. of the gospel that bears his name. Now our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is Matthew’s introduction to his gospel account. And as I was reading this passage, I suspect that some of you might have been thinking to yourself, oh boy, this is gonna be a snoozer of a sermon.

We’re considering a genealogy. Well, how boring, right? You may wonder, why does Matthew begin his gospel with a genealogy of Jesus? I mean, usually if you’re writing a book or if you’re giving a speech, the common wisdom is, well, you want to start off your book or your speech or your lecture with a hook. You want to grab your audience’s attention and draw them in so that they pay attention to what you have to say. But is this really an effective hook, if you will? How is it that by beginning his gospel with a genealogy, Matthew expects to draw in his readers and keep their attention? Well, we need to understand that Matthew is addressing a different audience than a 21st century Christian audience. You see, for us 21st century Christians, reading the genealogical lists of the Bible is about as exciting and interesting as, say, reading a copy of the phone book, or perhaps reading a table of technical statistics.

But for the Jews of the first century who knew Old Testament history and who knew their scriptures, genealogies like this one would indeed serve as an appropriate hook for them. It would draw them into Matthew’s narrative, for it would bring to their minds important truths and events and personalities from their own scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures. You see, the purpose of the genealogies in the Bible is not merely to give factual information about family and tribal history and so forth, although the genealogies of scripture certainly do that. But we need to understand that biblical genealogies were also recorded for the purpose of teaching theological truths about God’s redemptive work in history. And what is true of biblical genealogies in general is also true here in Matthew’s gospel as he presents his readers with the genealogy of Jesus, God’s chosen king.

That’s what the term Messiah or Christ means, God’s anointed one, his anointed, chosen, spirit-endowed king. Now we need to, if we’re gonna appreciate and understand what the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Matthew is doing here in this passage, we first of all need to observe and understand the structure and significance of Christ’s genealogy. And children, if you’re following along in your sermon outline, that’s my first main point. Observe the structure and significance of Christ’s genealogy. Friends, as we will see, under the Spirit’s inspiration, the Apostle Matthew structured this genealogy of Jesus Christ in a way that strongly highlights and strongly underscores the messianic royalty and kingship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is what this genealogy, if you will, shouts out at us. Jesus is The Royal Messiah. He is the Royal King promised by the Father.

And from the very first verse, it also emphasizes that the covenant promises which God had given to Abraham, the patriarch, and later on to King David in Old Testament times, that these promises are fulfilled in Jesus the Christ. Again, the Christ being God’s anointed, chosen king. Now in verse one, what we have here is the title and introduction of this genealogy. And let me just read this verse again. Matthew begins his gospel in verse one, the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. This is, again, as I mentioned, this is intended as a title or introduction to the genealogy. Now, I read from the New American Standard Version. I prefer the ESV here, translation on this particular verse. That version reads, The Book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ.

This is a caption, a title, a heading. But that leads Bible scholars to ask important questions. Namely, does this introductory statement here, this title, this heading or caption here in verse one, is it intended to introduce just this genealogy? Or is Matthew intending this verse and this genealogy to introduce the opening chapters of his gospel, such as chapters one and two? Or is it intended as an introduction to the whole gospel account? Well, scholars are divided on that particular question, but it seems at least, at the very least, to be introducing the opening passage here, if not the opening chapters of this gospel account. Now, how is Jesus spoken of here in this passage? Well, again, it is said, the record the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah or Jesus Christ. Both of those names are significant.

Children, what does the name Jesus mean? What does the name Jesus mean? It means the Lord is salvation. The name Jesus or Yeshua means the Lord is salvation. And what an appropriate name for the promised Messiah, the savior of the world. He is Jesus, the one who is by definition, the Lord, our salvation. But what about the term Christos or Christ, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew term for Messiah? Well, that word Christ or Messiah was originally a title. But over time, because the name Jesus was closely associated with the title Christ, over time, Jesus and Christ were read together as if Christ was his last name. And here in this particular context, it appears that Christ, the term Christ, seems to have come to be used as a last name more than as a title.

But at the same time, the fact that Jesus of Nazareth, the one who is the Christ or anointed one, came to be called Jesus Christ, still underscores his royal messiahship. And what is surprising about this opening verse, this opening title, is Jesus’ lineage. His lineage is traced to David and ultimately to Abraham. The record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Now you may be scratching your head and thinking, well, wait a minute. Jesus was not the son of David. David lived centuries before the Lord Jesus came to this earth. And Abraham lived even further into ancient history. Well, by introducing our Lord’s genealogy and his whole gospel with these words, what Matthew is indicating is his intention to demonstrate in his gospel that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the promised Messiah, the one in whom all of the covenant promises made to the patriarch Abraham and all of the covenant, the royal covenant promises made to King David.

In Christ, those covenant promises are ultimately fulfilled. Now, again, as I pointed out, there were multiple generations between King David and Jesus, and even more generations between the patriarch Abraham and Jesus. Yet Matthew tells us that Jesus is the son of David and the son of Abraham. Is Matthew in error here? Is Matthew being deceptive? Is he using the term son in some kind of a deceptive way? Well, no. Friends, this is just one of numerous instances in scripture which shows us that genealogies in the Bible are sometimes, and often, in fact, intentionally selective, and they may contain generational gaps, sometimes even large gaps, such as verse one. Now, Matthew goes on to fill in those gaps a little bit when he gives the further genealogical information, but there are gaps in this genealogy from the standpoint of verse one.

It’s important to understand, friends, that in the Bible, the term son of can sometimes mean, more broadly, descendant of, just as the term father of can sometimes mean ancestor of. And that is how the term son is being used here. Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, he is the son of David in the sense that he’s descended from David and ultimately descended from Abraham. I don’t think in verse one Matthew’s intending to say that David was a son of Abraham, although David certainly was, but it is Jesus who is described as son of David and son of Abraham. There are a number of kings and perhaps some other individuals that Matthew also chose to exclude from his genealogical list here in chapter one. Again, not because Matthew was mistaken or uninformed or being deceptive, but because he had a purpose behind his intentional selectivity.

We need to understand, friends, that this was regarded as a perfectly acceptable literary practice in Bible times. And Matthew was selective because he wanted to structure his genealogy to include three groups of 14 ancestors for symbolic and theologically significant purposes. And we’re going to take a look at that. Now we’re not going to go through all these names, don’t worry, we’d be here a very long time if we considered all of these names and the significance of all of these names, but I want to have us look at the symbolic structuring of this genealogy. Matthew explains at the end of this genealogical list in verse 17, he explains the symbolism that he’s getting at by structuring his genealogy in this way. As it says in verse 17, so all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations Notice, by the way, that 14 is, you know, seven times two is 14.

The number seven is very significant as a symbolic number in scripture. The generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations. From David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations. And from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, how many generations? 14 generations. Now, this was probably done to emphasize the royal messianic kingship of Jesus as the son of David. Well, what are you talking about, pastor? Well, in the Hebrew language, names could have a numerical significance. And as Dr. D.A. Carson explains in his commentary, the simplest explanation, the one that best fits the context, observes that the numerical value of the name David in Hebrew is 14. By this symbolism, Matthew points out that the promised son of David, referred to in verse 1, the Messiah, has come. And if the third set of 14 is short one member, perhaps it will suggest to some readers that just as God cuts short the time of distress for the sake of his elect, as our Lord Jesus will explain in his Olivet Discourse in chapter 24, verse 22.

So also he mercifully shortens the period from the exile to Jesus the Messiah. Now let’s focus in on the three major eras of redemptive history that are covered by Matthew in this genealogy. The first set of 14 ancestors that are recorded in verses 2 through the first part of verse 6, these ancestors cover the history of God’s covenant people from the time of the patriarch Abraham up until the time of King David. And so this first set of 14 ancestors traces the rise of the Davidic monarchy. The second set of 14 ancestors recorded from verse 6 through verse 11, this covers the history of God’s covenant people during the era of the kings, beginning with King David, and ending with the tragedy of Judah’s deportation into exile in the land, the pagan land of Babylon, which was a judgment of God upon his people for their covenant breaking, their unfaithfulness.

This era underscores the tragic event of the loss of the royal throne to the House of David. We don’t seem to really get today just what an impact that made upon the Jews at that time, around the time of the Babylonian exile. To see their beloved city sacked and their temple, the great Temple of Solomon, destroyed and to be dragged off away from God’s presence. which was represented by the temple and so forth, to be dragged away into a foreign land, the land of Babylon, to see the end of the Davidic king reigning on the throne in Jerusalem was a tragedy. But the third set of 14 ancestors is the answer to that tragedy. That’s recorded, this third set of 14 ancestors, which is recorded in verses 12 through 16. This covers the history of God’s covenant people from the tragedy of their exile in Babylon through post-exilic times, when the people were able to return from Babylon and rebuild the temple, the second temple, up until the birth of Jesus Christ.

And so the point here in this structuring is, again, to underscore the fact that in Christ, the one who is the son of David and the son of Abraham, in Christ the royal throne of David is restored, at least spiritually speaking. For Jesus Christ, as we like to say, Jesus Christ is great David’s greater son. David in the Old Testament was a type, a picture of the future Messiah who would come and not only reign over his covenant people, but would reign over all of creation for the sake of his people. Jesus Christ, great David’s greater son, he is the ultimate fulfillment of the royal Davidic line, for he is the Messiah, God’s chosen divine king. But you may have picked up on an interesting feature of this genealogy as we read in verse 16.

Notice that Matthew gives the genealogy of Jesus through his legal father, Joseph. Matthew is not giving the genealogy from Mary, he’s giving the genealogy that leads to our Lord’s legal father, Joseph. As it says in verse 16, Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. What’s the significance of that? Why does Matthew do that? Well, this is an important detail because Jesus could only be counted or regarded as a son of David and therefore as an heir to the messianic promises if his legal father was a descendant of King David. That’s what the prophecies of the Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would be of the house and lineage of David. Now, does that mean that Matthew is denying the virginal conception of Christ?

Well, no, because later on in this very chapter, Matthew records the events of the conception and birth, the supernatural conception and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Matthew’s not denying the virgin birth. Matthew makes it clear here and in the verses that follow that Jesus was indeed conceived by the Holy Spirit and therefore that Joseph was not our Lord’s natural biological father but Joseph was Jesus’s legal father and it was necessary for Jesus’s legal father to be a descendant of David in order for the messianic promises regarding the Messiah being a son of David to apply to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that we’ve considered the basic structure and significance of this genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ, let’s consider some of the other truths that we can learn from this important passage of God’s Word.

And we could spend a lot of time in this passage. There’s many lessons that we could learn from this passage. But I want us to focus in especially, I want us to consider next, how this genealogy answers some of the Jewish slanders that have been raised against the origin of our Lord Jesus. This is my second main point in your outline. Consider how this genealogy answers some of the Jewish slanders that have been raised against the origin of our Lord Jesus. If you were to talk to a committed Orthodox Jew and ask such a religious Jew what they believe about Jesus of Nazareth, well, you would probably get an answer like this. Well, Jesus was a false prophet. He was a sorcerer. And not only that, he was an illegitimate child of Mary. He was a bastard child.

He was illegitimately conceived, conceived out of wedlock. Now it’s interesting that Matthew’s gospel lists in its genealogy, this genealogy here that Matthew presents, lists a number of women. And given the culture of the time and given the practice of that time, it was a patriarchal culture. It was not common to list female names in genealogies unless, and when a woman was listed in the genealogical lists, it was because that woman had a very special or particular historic significance within the history of the genealogy. Again, many commentators have noticed that Matthew’s genealogy includes a number of Old Testament women who were ancestors of our Lord. Why does Matthew do this? Let me just, again, review some of the verses. Look at verse three. It says, Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. And then skip down to verse five.

It says, Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab. And skip down to verses six and seven. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba, who had been the wife of Uriah. And then verse seven, Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Ubiah, and so forth. Why the mention of these particular women? Well, again, one suggestion that I find persuasive is that Matthew here is apparently subtly seeking to answer the Jewish slander against Jesus, the slander that said that he was illegitimately born, that he was born of fornication, by mentioning these women. The mention of women like Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba were likely included by Matthew to counteract the allegation that Jesus was conceived out of wedlock. Well, how is that, pastor? Well, think about it. Let’s go through and consider some of these women. and consider the grace of God in the lives of these women, in spite of the circumstances that we will consider.

Back in the book of Genesis, we learn that Tamar had conceived Perez and Zerah through an incestuous union with Judah, her father-in-law. Judah was a rather seedy character as one of the patriarchs. He was not a good fellow. He was there when Joseph was sold into slavery. Judah was all in favor of that. And we read of Judah moving out of Canaan or moving out of the house of his father, marrying a Canaanite woman. He gave birth to his first two sons were Ur and Onan. And God slew, God killed those sons of Judah because of their wickedness. And Tamar, who had been the husband of these, I’m sorry, the wife of these two sons of Judah, Tamar was left alone as Shella, the third son of Judah, had not been given to her in marriage.

And she’s thinking, what can I do? You know, when you were a woman back then, you needed a man for support. There weren’t many options for, outside of prostitution, for a woman to survive unless she was connected with a household. And so she dresses herself up, covers her face as a prostitute. Judah goes into her and she conceives Perez and Zerah by them. And so, pretty, pretty, seedy account of what goes on there. Or think of Rahab. Who was Rahab? Well, she was a Canaanite woman. And before coming to faith in the true and living God, the God of Israel, she had been a prostitute. But she welcomed the spies, and she was embraced in God’s covenant people in spite of her background. What about Ruth? Well, Ruth was a Moabitess. And while the scriptures speak highly of Ruth’s character, she was a descendant of Lot, and therefore, one whose ancestor had been conceived through an incestuous union.

You can read about that in Genesis 19, verses 30 to 38. That passage indicates that after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot’s daughters had gotten their father drunk so that they could conceive children by him. And one of those children, Moab, was Ruth’s ancestor. And, of course, we read of Bathsheba. This was the wife of Uriah the Hittite. She’s mentioned in verse 6. This woman, Bathsheba, was the woman with whom David famously had committed adultery. And so you might say, well, pastor, this isn’t really edifying stuff. Well, yeah, I got some news from you. I got some news for you. If you read the Bible, not every, you know, reading the Bible is not like reading chicken soup for your soul. The Bible, not everything in the Bible is edifying. in the sense of, you know, uplifting.

The Bible is very honest and forthright about human sin and wickedness. And so in connection with these women in Israel’s history, there was a lot of sin, a lot of wickedness. And yet the Lord Jesus was regarded as a descendant of them, legally speaking. Now again, why would Matthew mention all of these Old Testament women with their sordid histories? Why would he mention these women in his genealogy of Jesus? Well, I think Lenski, Dr. Lenski is correct when he suggests that Matthew brings up these stains from Israel’s history as a way of responding to Jewish slanders against the Lord Jesus. Again, to quote from Dr. Lenski, he says this, let them occupy themselves with these real stains attested in the Old Testament history itself and not slander the pure maiden whom God chose to be the mother of his son.

So again, remember, Matthew’s writing to a Jewish context, to a context of Jewish Christians who would be familiar with all of these names, all of these personalities, and the sordid history connected with them, and they would understand, oh yeah, our Jewish neighbors who reject Jesus as the Messiah, they claim, well, he’s just, you know, he was illegitimately conceived, illegitimately born, he’s a bastard child. Well, remember your own history. Okay? And obviously, Matthew goes on to record the real story behind Jesus’s birth, namely his miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And by the way, I’ll be preaching on the vital doctrine of the virgin birth this evening, for our service this evening, as we consider the virgin birth as an essential doctrine of our holy Christian faith. Well, in closing, dear friends, what are some takeaways that we can get from all of this?

You might be thinking, well, this is, I have never looked at a genealogy this way before. I’ve never understood why these details were here in this particular genealogy, but what is, how does this connect to me? How does this connect to the church today? Well, I think many things could be said, but I think a couple of important things need to be highlighted. And so this is my final point, some lessons for personal application from this passage. What we learn in this genealogy, brothers and sisters, is that God is faithful to keep his promises against all odds. God is faithful to keep his promises against all odds. This genealogy emphasizes that the coming of Jesus the Messiah, the advent of Jesus the Messiah took place through an historical process that was guided by God’s special providence.

A process that whereby God shows victory even over a sin in the life of his people. Now there were times in that history of God’s people, there were times when it looked like God’s promises would fail. Times such as the loss of the Davidic throne at the time of the exile to Babylon. But in the fullness of time, God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to be born of a woman, to be born of Mary, whose husband was Joseph, Jesus’s legal father. And therefore God’s promises proved to be true after all. And what that means for you and for me, brother and sister in Christ and dear listener, what that means is that God’s promises are true, even if they don’t seem to be true. even if they don’t seem to us, even if we wonder, well, how’s God gonna, you know, how’s God gonna work out His will in this situation?

Oh, God is faithful. He is faithful to His warnings, where He warns of wrath against sin, and do not let God’s patience and forbearance fool you. His patience, his long-suffering is intended to lead us to repentance. God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and covenant faithfulness. And so, as we’re told in 2 Peter, the Lord is not slow, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wanting any to perish, but willing that all should come to repentance, all of his people should. He is patient that all of his people should be called to himself by grace. But God is also faithful to his promises of salvation. Because God has shown his faithfulness to keep his promises throughout redemptive history, you can be sure that his promises of grace in the gospel are certain, and you can bank your eternity on them.

John 3.16. John 3 16 is sure and certain for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life. Are you, dear listener, trusting in God’s promises of forgiveness and grace and salvation that are offered to you in the gospel of Jesus Christ? God’s word is true. He keeps his promises. And if you come to Christ, if through sovereign grace God opens your eyes to see your sin and to see Christ as your only hope of salvation, Jesus says, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come to Jesus Christ. and find rest for your soul. Take the burden, the weight of your sin and dump that at the foot of the cross.

Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners just like you and me and he rose from the dead so that whoever believes in him, trusts in him and him alone for salvation from sin might not perish but have everlasting life. This passage of scripture, because it shows that God is faithful to keep his promises, to bring about the coming of the Messiah, it underscores the truth that he is faithful to keep all of his promises. His word is trustworthy, trust in his word. I think another lesson, another takeaway from this passage is that the great variety of individuals that are mentioned in our Lord’s genealogy, both the good and the evil, both the moral and the immoral, These individuals highlight the amazing grace and humiliation of our Savior. And it shows that he came to save all kinds of people, even people like Rahab the prostitute, even people like a covenant outsider, like Ruth the Moabitess, who by grace became part of and was enfolded in God’s people.

And so, dear listener, this highlights that our Savior is indeed a Savior of sinners. Sinners like me, sinners like you. And oh, what amazing grace. Oh, what amazing condescension our Lord showed in coming to this earth to redeem us from our sins. Dear friends, let us take these truths to heart, and by the grace of God, may the implications of these truths be worked out practically in our lives. For the glory and honor and praise of Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, the royal, anointed, divine King, our Lord. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, sovereign and eternal God, we thank you that you sent your son Jesus to be our savior. We thank you, Lord, that you are faithful to keep your covenant promises. We thank you, Lord, that your word is indeed trustworthy.

We ask, Lord, that you would strengthen our faith through what we’ve considered today, and may your Holy Spirit draw forth from us praise in response to what we’ve heard today. We ask these things in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, amen. Dear friends, as we close our time together, we’ll rise and sing as our hymn of response, number 303, all praise to you, eternal Lord.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

December 18, 2022
The Fulness of Time

About this sermon

When the fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman and born under the law. God rules over history, and he chose the moment of Christ’s coming. Unlike every man-made religion, the gospel announces that God himself takes the first step to save sinners. Christ obeyed the law in our place and died under its curse to redeem us, and then God adopted us as his sons and daughters.

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Sermon transcript

Well, please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. My sermon text this evening is taken from the Apostle Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, and our focus will be on Galatians chapter four, verses four and five. Galatians chapter four, verses four and five. But I’m going to read from chapter three, verse 26, through chapter four, verse seven, sort of to fill in the context here. So let us hear God’s Holy Word beginning at Galatians 3 verse 26 and going through chapter 4 verse 7. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. Now, I say as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave, although he is owner of everything. But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son.

And if a son, then an heir through God. And again, our sermon text is verses four through five. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law so that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Dear friends, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Join me in prayer as we seek the Lord’s blessing upon the proclamation of his word. Our gracious Lord and Father in heaven, we ask that by your spirit once again that you would give us open and receptive hearts. Lord, humble us that we might receive instruction from your word, challenge us, confront us where necessary, build us up, comfort us, encourage us, strengthen our faith, hope, and love.

And once again, fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Grant unto me, your unworthy servant, the grace to declare your word in a clear way, with power and assistance by your spirit, for the glory of your name, the salvation of the lost, and the edification of your saints. We pray these things through Christ our Lord and all of God’s people said. Amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this evening is The Fullness of Time. And if you’re following along in your sermon outline, there are some important words to be listening for in my sermon this evening. Fullness, gospel, grace, law, redemption, and one of my favorite words in scripture, adoption. Well, dear ones, our text for this Lord’s Day evening is a marvelous summary of the message that we celebrate during the Advent season and on Christmas Day.

And that is the message that at just the right time, God’s appointed time, God the Father sent forth his son into this world to redeem fallen sinners like me and like you. This is an incredible message. It’s a message that no other religion on the face of this earth teaches or proclaims. As we will get into in a bit, I will explain one of the things that makes the biblical gospel, true biblical Christianity different from false religions, man-made religions, is precisely this truth, that in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son. And so let’s dive into our text for this evening. I first want you to observe, brothers and sisters, that the sending forth of God’s Son to be born of a woman happened at the time appointed by God the Father. This is my first main point in your outline.

The sending forth of God’s Son to be born of a woman happened at the time appointed by God the Father. Again, as we read in verse 4, But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son. What does Paul mean by this language of the fullness of time? The Greek word is the pleroma of time. Well, the fullness of time refers to God’s predetermined time. You ever wonder why it is that God sent the Savior, the Messiah, at the particular point in time in human history when He chose to send Jesus? I’ve heard atheists and skeptics say, well, why did God wait for so much human history to come and go before he decided to send Jesus to be the savior of sinners? Why didn’t he send Jesus earlier on in human history?

Well, God had his wise plans and reasons and purposes for that apparent delay. At God’s predetermined time, he sent forth his son. God’s sovereignty over time and over history is asserted here, is assumed here in this statement. As I said in my sermon this morning, and I will repeat it this evening, hopefully not repeating it ad nauseum, but it is the point that we need to take to heart. Again, history is his story. The coming of Jesus Christ to this earth means that the fullness of time, the fullness of the time has come. Oh, wonder of wonders. What an amazing thing that God the Father would send his only begotten son into this world to redeem unworthy, hell-deserving sinners like me and like you. There’s some important takeaways from this point here that Paul asserts in this passage.

This passage of God’s word reveals to us and reinforces to us the uniqueness of the gospel message. Biblical Christianity, historic Bible-based Christianity is the only faith that proclaims that the true and living God himself actually came down to this earth and took upon himself our human nature. He became a man in order to bring fallen man back into a right relationship with himself. And think about the direction of that. It’s not man climbing up to God. We don’t climb Jacob’s ladder or whatever. It’s God comes down to us to bring us, who had fallen away from him, back into a right relationship with himself. Whereas man-made religion reverses that and has man climbing his way up the mountain to God. Your listener, are you in a right relationship with God? Well, you’re in a right relationship with God if you believe this good news, if you are trusting in the one whom God the Father sent to be the savior and redeemer of sinners.

You’re not in a right relationship with God if you’re trying to merit or earn your salvation by good deeds or religiosity, because if you were to seek to be in a right relationship with God through your own works, you’d have to be perfect, you’d have to be sinless. Because God is perfect, God is sinless. Heaven is a perfect sinless place and you need a perfect righteousness to serve as your title to heaven. And as a fallen sinner in Adam, you and I don’t have that perfect righteousness. We don’t have, we don’t possess in ourselves that title to heaven. But in the fullness of time, God sent his son Jesus so that whoever believes in him might be given that title to heaven, might be cleansed from sin and clothed in the perfect, everlasting righteousness of Christ.

Jesus Christ is the one mediator between God and man, and he is the only way to the Father. Trust in him for salvation from sin, and by the grace of God, you will be saved. Another thing about the gospel, it underscores God’s initiative in salvation The gospel of Jesus Christ, the biblical gospel, is fundamentally theocentric, which is a fancy way of saying it’s God-centered, it’s not man-centered. Whereas, again, in contrast, false religion, man-made religion, teaches man’s initiative in salvation, or at least man’s cooperation in the attaining of his own salvation. You see, man-made religions basically teach that Humanity is basically good in seeking after God, or at least humanity is morally neutral and thus is capable of seeking after God. That man has a free will that is capable in its own strength and power to decide for Christ and to seek him.

But what does the Bible teach? Well, I could spend a long time talking about total depravity and what the scriptures teach about man’s sinfulness, but the The Word of God teaches that man is a fallen creature, fallen in Adam, that we are dead in our trespasses and sins, as we’re told in Ephesians chapter two, verse one and so forth. Therefore, salvation is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. God takes the first step towards us. We don’t take the first step towards him. And if you take a step towards God, if you open your heart to God, it’s because he’s first opened your heart and drawn you with the cords of love unto himself. This is all assumed by the statement, when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son.

God is the one who takes the initiative in our salvation. Our part is a response of grace. Ultimately, our faith itself is a gift of God purchased by Jesus for his people. And so there’s no reason to boast. There’s no cause for boasting. For Jesus did it all. Again, the gospel proclaims that God reached out to us first. God is the one who acts to deliver his people. And of course, his greatest act of deliverance was the sending forth of his son into this world to redeem his people from their sins. So who is this son that the Father sends forth? Well, consider next what our text teaches us about the kind of person Jesus is. Consider what this teaches us about the kind of person Jesus is. In theological terminology, this passage has much to teach us about Christology, which is, again, a fancy theological word that means the doctrine of the person of Christ.

Well, we learn from this terminology here in verse four, first of all, that Jesus Christ is God. We are told God, meaning God the Father, sent forth his son. Now, this statement that God sent forth his son implies a number of things about Jesus. First of all, it implies the pre-existence of Christ as the son of God. There are some who teach that Jesus did not become the son of God or did not receive the title as son of God until his incarnation. However, Galatians chapter four, verse five, I’m sorry, verse four, Galatians four, verse four, the statement that God sent forth his son implies that Christ was the son prior to being sent forth from the father. God, in the fullness of time, sent forth whom? He sent forth his Son, the one who before his incarnation was the eternal Son of God.

And thus, this passage also not only implies the pre-existence of Christ as the Son of God, it implies his eternal Sonship. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity. This passage supports the doctrine of the eternal sonship of Jesus Christ. And so all of this serves to underscore our Lord’s full deity. In the fullness of time, God sent forth his eternal, preexistent, divine Son. But notice it goes on to say, when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son, Born of a woman. Born of a woman. What does that imply? That implies that Jesus is truly human, for though He is the eternal, preexistent, divine Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, in His incarnation, He became a man. He was born of a woman.

The fact of Christ being the Son of God underscores His divinity. The fact that He was born of a woman Meaning, of course, the Virgin Mary underscores his genuine humanity. Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man united in one divine person. He is the God man. He is the word made flesh. He is Emmanuel, God with us. In him, the fullness of the deity was pleased to dwell in bodily form, as Paul tells us in Colossians. That was the only way that he could be qualified, by the way, to serve as our savior. Our sin is so serious and heinous in the sight of the infinite, holy creator God that only God himself can rescue us and redeem us from our sins. But he can only do so as our representative. And so he clothed himself, Jesus Christ, the son of God, clothed himself with our humanity in the incarnation to serve as the second Adam.

The second Adam who undoes all the harm that was done by the first Adam. The second Adam, the last Adam, who succeeded where the first Adam failed. Jesus Christ is the one mediator between God and man. As it says in 1 Timothy 2.5, for there’s one God and one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. Jesus is the man, our representative man. the one in whom we are forgiven and saved. And how did that occur? How did that salvation? How is that made possible? We’ll notice next that we’re told in the latter part of verse four that Jesus was born under the law again, verse four. But when the fullness of the time came, when God’s preordained, predetermined time came, God, God the Father, sent forth his son born of a woman. There’s the incarnation, but next born under the law.

What does that mean? What is Paul talking about when he says that Christ was born under the law? Jesus was certainly born in a Jewish context. Jesus himself, with respect to his humanity, was a Jewish man. He was born as a Jew under the obligation of keeping the Mosaic law. He was born under the demands of God’s law in order that he might fulfill that law on behalf of his people, and also in order to redeem them from the curse of the law against sin by dying on the cross. You see, in Adam, we are under the law as a covenant of works. Adam is a covenant breaker, and in him we are all covenant breakers. We are conceived and born as covenant breakers, as law breakers, lawless ones. So the law condemns us even from our conception.

But Jesus Christ, the second Adam, the last Adam, kept the law perfectly for us, and he suffered the curse of the law in our place, in our stead. And so this statement that Christ was born under the law is such a brief and simple statement. But so much is packed into that statement. Christ, the eternal son of God, born of a woman in his incarnation, was born under the law. He was born under the law as a covenant of works. And he, the second, the last Adam, perfectly kept the covenant of works for us. And he suffered the penalty of that covenant for us that we might be redeemed from our sin. And so Christ has provided us not only full atonement for our sins, but a perfect righteousness. How did he do this? He did this by both his preceptive and his penal obedience, meaning that he perfectly kept the precepts of God’s holy law for us.

And he suffered the penalty, the curse of the law in our place, in our stead. Indeed, the scriptures tell us He became a curse for us that we might receive the blessings of His grace and salvation. The theologians refer to these different aspects of our Lord’s obedience under the law as His active and His passive obedience. His active obedience meaning His living for us as the second Adam, His meriting of perfect righteousness for us, and His passive obedience referring to his sacrifice on the cross to redeem us from our sins. And those aren’t two, really, those aren’t two different obediences. They are inextricably intertwined. Christ would not be able to die on the cross as a substitutionary atonement for our sins if he did not perfectly obey God’s law as the second Adam. Nevertheless, we can distinguish those two aspects of his obedience.

And it is by his obedience that we are redeemed saved, justified, kept. It is in him that we have full and free salvation from first to last. Beloved, our Savior was born not only to die for us, but also to obey God’s law for us. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the good news is not only that Jesus died for your sins. Praise God, he did die for our sins and we celebrate that. as God’s people when we gather around the Lord’s table as we are scheduled to do this evening. And we have this memorial celebration of Christ’s body being broken for us, his blood shed for us. In other words, Jesus dying for us to offer full atonement for us. But praise God, our Lord Jesus Christ also lived for us. Jesus was born for you.

Jesus lived for you. Jesus died for you. He rose for you. He ascended for you. He reigns at the father’s right hand where he now is your great high priest intercedes for you. And again, one day he will return in glory to come and take you to be with him forever. And so as we wrap up our time this evening, consider next is my final point. Consider the blessings of redemption and adoption that Christ has won. for his people. Consider the blessings of redemption and adoption that Christ has won for his people. This is brought out by Paul in verse five, where he says he speaks of Christ doing all these things. God sent forth his son. He was born of a woman born under the law. Why? Verse five, so that he might redeem those who were under the law.

See, in Adam, we were under the law as a covenant of works. We were covenant breakers by nature, by fallen nature in Adam. But praise God, Jesus Christ was born under the law to redeem those who were under the law. Why? That we might receive the adoption as sons. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they were expelled from God’s presence. They lost their status as a son and daughter of God. And humanity was sent east of Eden. Humanity was sent out to toil upon the cursed soil. But now in Christ, we’ve been adopted. We’ve been brought back into the garden, if you will. We’ve been brought back into a right relationship with God through Christ. And all of this was that, as Paul writes, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Now, adoption means being taken into the family of God.

Redemption refers to being bought back, rescued from our slavery to sin and its consequences. Adoption means not only being free from slavery, it means being brought into the very family of God. What are some takeaways from this? Well, first of all, beloved, if Jesus had not been born, He would not have been able to die on the cross to redeem us or to rise from the dead. That’s pretty obvious, yes, but we need to remember that. The importance of Christ’s incarnation and birth is in the fact that he came to this earth. God sent him forth to be our Redeemer, our Savior. To quote from Dr. Philip Graham Reichen in his commentary on Galatians, Dr. Reichen writes, Christ had to be born before he could die, of course. There could be no Easter without Christmas, but God the son was born of the Virgin in order to die on the cross.

Let those words sink in. Jesus was not born so that we could have a sentimental manger scenes and and all of that. Jesus Christ was born in order to die. That baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger whom we remember and celebrate this time of year. He did that so that he might be able to grow up and ultimately go to the cross. Again, Dr. Reichen goes on to say Christianity is not a religion of stable and straw. It is a religion of thorns and nails, wood and blood. The incarnation cannot save us without the crucifixion. Christ did not redeem us by his life alone. He redeemed us through his death. And that central point is why on the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus did not appoint Christmas as a holy day.

For example, that’s a wonderful edifying celebration, but it is a man-made celebration. Jesus said, what? Do this in remembrance of me. He took the bread. He took the wine. He said, this is my body broken for you. This is my blood shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me, because that which we remember and memorialize in the Lord’s Supper is that which is central in redemptive history. That was the goal towards which redemptive history flowed. Beloved in Christ, Jesus did not only redeem us from the curse of the law, By his grace, praise God, he also adopted us as his sons and his daughters. That means that in Christ, you and I belong to the family of God. You see, before we come to Christ, before God saves us, we are, yes, we are creatures of God.

We were created in his image, but we are fallen creatures and we are children of the devil, spiritually speaking, apart from Christ. But in Christ, we are his adopted sons and daughters. Again, to quote from Dr. Reich, and he says, Once Christ had gained our freedom, he gathered us into his family. He went beyond redemption to adoption, turning slaves into sons. When Jesus died and rose again, he not only paid for our freedom, but also provided us with our adoption papers, making us sons and daughters of the most high God. Wow. Let those glorious truths sink in and let them encourage your heart this season. And let us, during this Advent and Christmas season, as we reflect upon and celebrate the incarnation and birth of our Savior, let us always keep in mind what his incarnation and birth was for the purpose of.

Namely, being able to go to the cross, and pay for our redemption on the cross of Calvary and rise from the dead for our justification that we might receive the gift of eternal life. Let us keep that gospel-centered focus during this season. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, sovereign and eternal God, we thank you for the finished work of Christ, your eternal and only begotten Son, the one who is the second and last Adam, the one who was born under the law to redeem those of us who were under the law but are now in Christ. We pray that by your spirit, these truths would be a source of great comfort, peace, hope, and joy in our lives. And we ask, Lord, that you would be glorified as we continue our worship of you this evening.

In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

December 11, 2022
God has Visited His People

About this sermon

Zacharias and Elizabeth, old and childless, receive a son, and they name him John, ‘the Lord is gracious.’ God opens Zacharias’s mouth, and his song declares that God has visited and redeemed his people. John goes before the Lord to prepare his way. Christ came first in obscurity, and he will come again in glory, so every heart must prepare him room now, in faith and repentance.

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Sermon transcript

Well, congregation, as we prepare for the preaching of God’s Word, I’d invite you to rise for the reading of my sermon text today. We’re taking a little break from our study in the Gospel of Mark to consider various passages as we do a do a mini series during this Advent season, and today we’re considering a passage from the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter one, verses 57 through 80. Luke chapter one, verses 57 through 80. Dear friends, let us hear with reverence and awe the word of our God. This speaks of the birth of John the Baptist. Now, the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth and she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed his great mercy toward her and they were rejoicing with her.

And it happened that on the eighth day, when they came to circumcise the child and they were going to call him Zacharias after his father. But his mother answered and said, No, indeed, but he shall be called John. And they said to her, There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name. And they made signs to his father as to what he wanted him called. And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows. His name is John. And at once his mouth was opened and they were astonished. And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed and he began to speak in praise of God. Fear came on all those living around them. And all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea.

All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, What then will this child turn out to be? For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him. And his father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited us and accomplished redemption for his people. and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David, his servant, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to show mercy toward our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father, to grant us that we being rescued from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him. all our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God with which the sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit And he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel. The grass withers and the flower fades. The word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for God’s blessing upon the preaching of his word. Our gracious Lord God and Heavenly Father, we do pray that by your spirit you would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word.

And we ask, Lord, that that you would feed our souls this day through that which we consider from the scriptures. Build us up in our faith and enable us, O God, to respond to the word with faith and obedience that we might glorify you in our lives and in the church. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said. Amen. Congregation, you may be seated. Well, there are three key words that the children and the adults, if If you adults find this to be helpful as well, there’s three key words to be listening for in my sermon today. And the first word is a very important word. It forms the sort of the central focus of my sermon this Lord’s Day morning, and that is the word visitation. So listen for the words visitation, salvation and joy.

Well, dear friends, a turning point in God’s plan of the ages to save sinners is about to be reached. The light of the messianic age is about to rise and to shine upon God’s people. God is about to visit his people. Jesus, God’s promised Messiah and Savior, is about to be born. And God, in his special providence, sets about to prepare the way for the promised Messiah by raising up the forerunner to the Messiah, namely John the Baptist, the one who was called by God to prepare the way for the Lord. It is a time of great anticipation in redemptive history. It is a time of great hope, a time that points to a bright future for God’s people. Now, earlier on here in Luke chapter one, we learn about John the Baptist’s parents. They are named Zechariah or some translations translated as Zechariah and Elizabeth.

This was a godly couple, an older godly couple who had lived blameless lives, and Zechariah served as a priest in the temple. They were an older couple, as I mentioned, and they had never been able to have any children for Elizabeth was barren. And that was a very sad condition for them to be in, especially in the Jewish culture of the first century, which not only viewed children as a sign of God’s blessing, but which also tended to view infertility as a sign of God’s judgment or disfavor. And so there was a great stigma attached to the condition of infertility. If you go back to chapter 1, let’s look at verses 5-7 where Zechariah and Elizabeth are introduced, and it says this, 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 notice how they are described in terms of their character and their devotion to the Lord. Look at verse six. They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and they were both advanced in years. Verse six sort of pushes back against that unfair stigma that was often attached to the condition of infertility there. Well, one day when Zacharias was burning incense in the temple, he received a supernatural vision from the Lord. It was a vision of the angel Gabriel who announced to him the good news that his wife Elizabeth would bear a son and instructing him to name his son John. Now, children, what is the significance of the name John? Do you know what the name John means?

Well, the name John means The Lord is or the Lord has been gracious. What an appropriate name for this one who was called by God to announce the coming of the Messiah. Indeed, John is the appropriate name for the forerunner of Jesus, for the Lord is and has been gracious to his people. And so Zacharias receives this wonderful promise, this wonderful vision. But instead of believing this wonderful good news, godly Zacharias doubts the message of Gabriel. After all, Elizabeth was beyond childbearing age. And as a chastisement for his unbelief, Zacharias is rendered unable to speak until God fulfills his promise of a son. If you are still in Luke chapter one, skip down to verses 18 through 20. Let me read those verses. It says Zacharias said to the angel, how will I know this for certain?

How do I know that what you say is actually going to happen? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years. Zacharias is looking at the human situation here, the human condition that they’re in rather than looking to the power and the promises of God. How does the angel respond? Verse 19, the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God And I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time. And so, friends, the God who, through the angel, had visited Zechariah with good news and who then visited him with a temporary chastisement for his unbelief.

In our passage for today, this same Lord visits Zacharias with restoration and with spirit-inspired words of revelation. Our passage for today records that Zacharias speaks inspired words of praise to his gracious covenant Lord who has fulfilled the promise that he had given to him through the angel Gabriel. Well, dear ones, this passage of God’s Word that we’re considering today is deep and rich in the spiritual truth that it points us to, and it has many things that we can learn from it. But one of the major themes of this passage of God’s Word, as I mentioned before, is the theme of visitation. You know, the Scriptures often speak of God visiting people, and that’s not always a good thing. sometimes, but it means that he visits people in a special way. And sometimes that’s a negative thing, because God sometimes visits people in judgment and wrath for their sins.

But at other times, he visits his people in mercy and grace. He acts and he moves forward his plan to accomplish mercy and grace for his people. Zechariah’s prophecy recorded in our passage for today puts the main emphasis on God visiting his people, not in wrath or judgment, but in mercy and grace. This theme of God’s visitation will serve as the center of our focus as we seek to learn what the Holy Spirit is teaching us in this portion of his word. And if you’re following along in your sermon outline, I come to my first point today. First of all, brothers and sisters, let us consider how God in his sovereignty orchestrated the events of history in perfect harmony in order to pave the way for the coming of the Redeemer. God in his sovereignty orchestrated the events of history in perfect harmony in order to pave the way for the Redeemer.

I would have us focus now on verses 57 through 66 as we consider this point. And in this simple account of the birth and naming of John the Baptist, we join the neighbors and relatives of Zacharias and Elizabeth in being filled with a sense of holy fear and awe. For it is clear that God is at work in a special way in the circumstances surrounding John’s birth. It says this in verse 57, Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth. She had conceived in her old age, according to God’s promise through the angel Gabriel, just as God had promised to her husband Zacharias. And so the time had come and she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed his great mercy toward her, and they were rejoicing with her.

The scriptures say, Rejoice with those who rejoice. mourn with those who mourn. And certainly this was an occasion for rejoicing. And her neighbors and relatives are filled with a sense of of all because they recognize God’s mercy in enabling Elizabeth, who, as I mentioned, was they were both old and and she was beyond childbearing years. And yet the Lord had blessed her with this child. And verse 59 tells us, and it happens that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, according to the law of God. You know, Zechariah and Elizabeth are devout Old Covenant saints, and so they bring their child for circumcision, and it was customary, apparently in those days, that at the time of a child’s circumcision, that’s when the child was named. And it says, and they were going to call him Zechariah after his father.

This is what everyone expected, right? Going to name him Zacharias, right after his father. But notice what his mother, Elizabeth, says, verse 60, 60. But his mother answered and said, no, indeed, he shall be called John. John, why do you want to call him John? Verse 61, they said to her, there’s no one among your relatives who is called by that name. Why call him John? Says in verse 62, and they made signs to his father as to what he wanted him called. Now, this verse would seem to indicate that not only was Zacharias unable to speak, but apparently his hearing was impacted as well, or at least the people associated his inability to speak with his inability to hear. So they’re making signs to him. They want to get the father’s perspective. Verse 63 says, he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows.

His name is John. Again, what does John mean? It means the Lord is gracious. The Lord certainly has been gracious and kind to Zacharias and Elizabeth. And by giving John the Baptist to this world and to his people, the Lord is being gracious to his people in sending the forerunner. And it says in verse 64, once Zacharias writes that on the tablet, what happens? He is immediately released from this chastisement, verse 64. And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed. In other words, he was able to speak again. And what’s the first thing out of his mouth? He began to speak in praise of God. He praises God. He doesn’t complain. He doesn’t say, Lord, finally, you know, why did you do that to me? No, he knew why the Lord had given him that chastisement.

And ultimately, that was a work of grace for the sanctification of Zechariah, that he had undergone that temporary inability to speak. But the first words out of his lips were words of praise to God. And what was the response of those who witnessed this? Verse 65, fear came on all those living around them, and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea. Oh, this is These events were spread through the grapevine and everyone was talking about Zacharias and Elizabeth and the marvelous birth of John and the naming of their son, John. Verse 66 says, All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, What then will this child turn out to be? For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him. Well, what will this child turn out to be?

Well, that’s the subject of Zechariah’s prophecy. But here we see in all of these events, we see that there is a divine hand working behind the scenes in all of this to accomplish his sovereign purposes and to prepare his people, indeed to prepare the world for the coming of the Redeemer, the Messiah, the Savior. And next, friends, as we consider and study this passage, understand next that in Jesus, the Messiah, God visits his people with his saving mercies of forgiveness, light and peace. In Jesus the Messiah, God visits his people with his saving mercies of forgiveness, light and peace. Verse 67 kind of rewinds it a bit and reflects upon the first words out of Zechariah’s mouth. Verse 67 says, And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit. We are to learn from that that these words are not ultimately the words of Zechariah.

These are the words of the Holy Spirit using Zechariah as his instrument to declare this word from the Lord. It says that he prophesied. Zechariah was given the spirit of prophecy, and these words are therefore the word of the Lord. And what does he say in verse 68? Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited us and accomplished redemption for his people. God’s people, think about the historical circumstances under which God’s people were living at that period of history. The Israelites, the Jews were living under foreign domination. They were living under the control of the Roman, the pagan Roman Empire. And oh, that situation, that set of political circumstances irks the Jewish people. It bothered them. And oftentimes they were oppressed by the Romans. But this would have said, hey, God has visited us and accomplished redemption for his people.

Now skip down to verse 72, which which speaks of this redemption and grounds this redemption in God’s covenant mercies. It says, that God is doing this to show his mercy toward our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. You see, all of these events are in fulfillment of God’s covenant promises, which he gave to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. And verse 73, the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father, to grant us that we being rescued from the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all our days. might sound from those words taken in themselves that that the Holy Spirit through Zacharias was promising God’s people a temporal deliverance, a nationalistic deliverance of deliverance from the yoke of Rome. But then you need to read on to get the fuller context here.

God would rescue his people from their enemies that they might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all their days. And then he addresses this prophecy to his son. John the Baptist, he says, and you, child, will be called the prophet of the most high God. Oh, yes, John the Baptist was a mighty prophet of God. The last and the greatest, if you will, of the old covenant prophets who who bridged the gap between the old covenant and the new covenant. And why would he be a great prophet of God? Well, it goes on to say in verse 76, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare his ways. Now, whose ways, children, did John the Baptist prepare for? Who did John the Baptist prepare the world for? For Jesus. And yet this passage says that you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.

This implies, by the way, that Jesus is Lord, that he’s God. This passage implies the divinity of the Messiah. And verse 77, to give his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. By the forgiveness of their sins, this wasn’t just a national temporal salvation and redemption that is being spoken of here. This is a spiritual salvation. This is eternal salvation that will be accomplished by the coming of this. Lord, whom John the Baptist will announce and prepare the people for verse 78, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the sunrise from on high will visit us. There’s that word visit again. to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. Oh, we apart from Christ, we sit in spiritual darkness.

We sit in the shadow of death. But with the coming of Christ, the sunrise from on high has visited us with the good news of salvation. And this guides our feet into the ways of peace. Peace with God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and peace with our brothers and sisters in union. with Christ. Here in Zacharias’ prophecy, which is often called the Benedictus and which is similar to Mary’s Magnificat, which we recited together earlier in the service, here we see the continuity of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, which includes, since this prophecy includes numerous references to or allusions to Old Testament themes and passages, and yet it connects those themes and passages to their fulfillment in Jesus and in his saving work, pointing us, beloved, to Jesus the Messiah as the one in and through whom God visits his people with his saving mercies of grace, forgiveness, light, spiritual light and understanding and peace with God and with one another.

And so, friends, in conclusion, observe that God raised up John the Baptist as his special instrument to prepare his people to receive their Messiah, namely, his son, Jesus. John the Baptist has been raised up by God as a special instrument for the purpose of preparing his people to receive their Messiah, his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Again, we’ve already gone through verses 76 through 79, but these verses in particular highlight the role and the purpose of John the Baptist and of God raising up John the Baptist. The words of Zechariah’s prophecy about his son, John, shows that the redemption and the salvation that Zechariah is speaking of in this prophecy, again, it’s not merely a political or national or temporal salvation, even though he uses some old covenant language and references old covenant passages. Rather, it is a spiritual salvation, a salvation which includes the forgiveness of sins.

It is that which God has visited you and me with, brothers and sisters in Christ. And so what are some of the takeaways from what we have considered from this beautiful passage of God’s word, this benedictus, this glorious prophecy spoken by Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, as he spoke under the inspiration of the Spirit. Well, friends, just as God, in his sovereignty, orchestrated events to prepare the way for the coming of Christ the first time, so our Lord continues to orchestrate the events of history in order to make the world ripe for the second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That will be God’s final visitation before the eternal state, before the new heavens and the new earth where in righteousness dwells. During our morning instruction period this morning, we watched a video lecture by Dr.

R.C. Sproul, where he spoke of the return of Christ and that that return is our blessed hope. And one of the points that was made in that lesson is that the first time that the Savior came to this earth in his incarnation, at his first advent, he came to this earth in relative obscurity. He was born as a baby. The God of the universe was born of the Virgin Mary, wrapped in swaddling cloth, laid in a manger. And his first advent, his first coming was relatively, I mean, it was it was secretive. There were a few people who knew about it. The shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night and all of that. There were some people who knew about that. But most of the world was completely oblivious. to the coming of the Son of God to this earth at our Lord’s first coming.

But one day Jesus will return, we are told, in glory. And it will be a public event. It will be a visible event. It will be a glorious event. He will come with the clouds of glory, with the trumpet of God. There will be no secrecy with our Lord’s second advent. But God was at work in the history of Israel to prepare his people and to prepare the world for the coming of Jesus the first time. Does that mean that after Jesus came to this earth and was born and died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead and went back to heaven, that God is no longer at work in the world? That things are just kind of rolling out? History is just kind of rolling on without meaning or purpose?

No. God’s plan continues to go forward and it continues to go forward as the Church of Jesus Christ faithfully carries out its mission to preach the gospel to all the nations. to baptize, to bring the good news to people and bring people to faith in Christ and into the fellowship of his church. All of this is to say, and I know I said this before and you’re probably going to hear me say it many more times, but it’s an important point. History is his story. All of history is, to use a fancy theological term, all of history is eschatological, which basically is a fancy way of saying that All of history, in all of history, God is working out his plan and his purpose. All of history is moving toward the fulfillment of God’s sovereign plan to show the world both his holy wrath in his judgment against the unrepentant wicked, but also to show the world his amazing grace.

And that will be displayed in its consummate glory on the final day of judgment, when Jesus returns in glory at the end of this age. World history, friends, isn’t just random stuff that happens for no apparent reason. There is a divine plan behind it all. And what does that mean for you and for me as individuals? Well, brothers and sisters, dear listeners, what this means is that your history and mine is also moving toward a preordained goal. Our lives are filled with God ordained meaning and purpose and significance. Contrary to a secular, naturalistic view of the world and the universe, you and I are not just cosmic accidents. According to naturalistic Darwinian evolutionism, for example, you and I were just descended from pond scum. We are animated meatbags who show up for a brief flash in cosmic history only to die and take an eternal dirt nap.

According to that secular worldview, your life has no objective transcendent meaning or purpose. Your existence is meaningless. There’s no hope in that worldview. But praise be to God. Because God exists, not just a God, but the true and living God, of Holy Scripture, the triune God of Scripture who sent his son to redeem sinners like me and like you. What this means is that we were created for a purpose. Believer, you and I were created to, what does it say in the Shorter Catechism, the first question, what is the chief end of man to what? To glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. And if you are in union with Christ, then that is where your God given journey will take you. So do not despair.

Your life has meaning and significance. And if you are in Christ, God’s plan for you is good. And he causes all things, not just the good things, but even those other things to work out for your ultimate good and his ultimate glory. But in terms of the theme of visitation, Brothers and sisters in Christ, consider this believer in the gospel, the good news of your salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in the gospel and by his Holy Spirit. God has visited you in grace and mercy. God’s visitation in mercy to you and to me as sinners saved by grace, all of that was made possible Because God visited this world 2000 years ago in the person of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the word made flesh, the one who is God incarnate, Emmanuel, God with us, that special baby born in Bethlehem, who was nailed to the cross, laid in the tomb, risen from the dead, ascended into heaven.

And who is, as I mentioned before, he is coming again for us at the end of this age to take us to be with himself so that we might be with him. forever. And so, believer, with Zacharias, you and I can rejoice in the spirit of God that God has visited and redeemed his people through the coming of Jesus, the Messiah. In fact, joy ought to be the tenor of our Christian lives. We ought to be the most joyous people on the face of planet Earth, for God has forgiven our sins through Jesus again. Think about what Zacharias says in verse 77, that the Lord is coming to give what? To give his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. Now, God has given us all different personalities. Some of us are more grumpy than others.

And that’s OK. We don’t all have the same personality types. Being filled with joy doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re The shallow in that joy or that you always have to go around saying praise the Lord as if everything is good. We do suffer. We do experience tribulations and trials and grief in this present age. And yet, undergirding it all, there is that deep abiding joy in knowing that in union with Christ, who was born for you, who lived for you, who died for you, who rose for you, who ascended for you, who intercedes for you, and who is one day coming for you to take you to be with himself. Through Jesus Christ, your Lord, God has visited you in grace and mercy. Oh, dear believer, are you walking in the joy of God’s forgiveness of the fact that God has visited you in mercy and grace?

Now, if you’re here today or if you’re listening online and you’ve not yet been visited in mercy, then you do need to be warned that if you don’t repent, God will one day visit you with the fullness of his wrath unless you repent of your sins. and believe the glad tidings of great joy. Consider what the scriptures say in that very familiar passage in John chapter three, and I’m going to read from John three verses 16 through 21. The Lord Jesus speaking to Nicodemus and says this for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish. But have eternal life for God did not send the sun into the world to judge the world. The judgments coming later. God did not send the sun into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

He who believes in him is not judged, but he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. This is the judgment that the light has come into the world and men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. Oh, dear listener, don’t be complacent. Receive Christ today. Come to Jesus Christ in faith and repentance today. His arms are wide open to all who recognize their need. Come to Jesus. by faith and repentance, and he will receive you.

May God in his sovereign mercy open your heart to Christ today. So what is the conclusion of all of this? Well, friends, let every heart prepare him room in this traditional Advent season. Let us prepare our hearts to celebrate and to rejoice in the incarnation and birth of our Savior. We’re about to sing our closing hymn, which is a wonderful classic Advent hymn, Joy to the World. And those words say joy to the world. The Lord is come. Indeed, God has in Christ visited and redeemed his people. Therefore, let every heart, including your heart and mine, prepare him room. Amen. Let us pray. Gracious Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you that in sovereign grace and mercy, you have visited us with your forgiveness, with good news. We pray, Lord, that we might embrace that good news and that we might live in the light of that good news.

So very often, Lord, we are guilty of doubting, like Zacharias doubted the words of the angel Gabriel. So we find ourselves at times doubting your word, your promises. But Lord, give us grace to receive the light of the truth of the gospel that we have considered today, and we pray that we might know your peace, your presence, and your joy during this holiday season and throughout the year. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

December 11, 2022
In the Last Days

About this sermon

Isaiah foresees the last days, when the mountain of the Lord’s house rises above every hill and the nations stream to it to learn God’s ways. The last days began with Christ’s first advent, and Christ himself is the true temple on that mountain, with his people as living stones. The peace of swords beaten into plowshares is already present in Christ and will come in full at his return. God teaches his ways so that his people will walk in them, and sound doctrine must lead to faithful living.

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Sermon transcript

Now, I’d like to invite you to rise for the reading of the sermon text this morning, which is found in Isaiah chapter two. We’re going to take a little break from our study of the gospel of Mark for this Advent season. I’m going to be doing an Advent mini series, and we start the Advent series with a passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah chapter two, verses one through five. So, friends, let us hear. God’s holy word. The word which Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it will come about that in the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us concerning his ways and that we may walk in his paths.

For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he will judge between the nations and will render decisions for many peoples. And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation. and never again will they learn war. Come, House of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Dear friends, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s ask the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of his word. Our Lord and Father in heaven, what a privilege it is to hear from the creator of the universe, to have the gift of revelation from you. We thank you, God, that you have given us your word. It is indeed a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path, a guide unto our way.

We ask that by your spirit you would now instruct us from the word. We pray that you would give us open minds and open hearts to behold wondrous things from your word. And we do ask that you would grant unto me, your unworthy servant, the grace to declare your word with clarity and power and with the assistance of your Holy Spirit. for the glory of your name, the edification of your saints and the salvation of the lost. In Jesus name we pray and all of God’s people said Amen. You may be seated. Title of my sermon this Lord’s Day morning is in the last And there’s a number of key words you can be listening for today, as you’ll notice in your sermon outline. Advent, redemptive history, last days, mountain, temple, Messiah, peace, and promises.

And children, if you’re looking for some particular words to keep track of in my sermon, I’d recommend the words mountain, peace, and promises. Well, dear friends, this time of year is the season in the traditional church calendar that is known as the season of Advent. Now, what does the word advent mean? Children, what do you think the word advent means? Well, advent is a word that means coming. It refers to our Lord’s arrival. When we talk about the first advent of Jesus, we’re talking about when our Lord Jesus came to this earth in his incarnation to be born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem. And when we talk about the second advent of Jesus, we’re talking about a future time when the Lord Jesus Christ, who went back into heaven after his resurrection, will come again to this earth from heaven, not as a baby, but rather in great power and glory in the clouds of heaven.

The second coming of our Lord will be not an obscure or secretive coming, as was his first advent. But it will be a rival, a coming that all of the universe will know of. So right now, brothers and sisters, we find ourselves living in a period of redemptive history between our Lord’s first advent, which took place 2000 years ago, and his future glorious second advent, which is yet to come. In our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, the prophet Isaiah writes about this present period of redemptive history in which we find ourselves living. This age between the ages, this period of time between our Lord’s first advent and his future second advent. And as I will hope to demonstrate, this prophecy of Isaiah that we’re considering this morning is a prediction about the messianic age, this present Messianic age, this present age of redemptive history that was ushered in by the first advent of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, a prediction that reveals God’s gracious plan to gather the nations into his kingdom through the missionary labors of Christ’s church and which gives us as God’s people hope and confidence in the present as we look forward to our Lord’s future return.

The Reverend James G. Kirk, in his book, Meditations for Advent and Christmas, introduces our passage as follows, and I quote, he says, Isaiah’s vision is of the time when the mountain of the Lord shall be established. The nations shall flow to it as people seek to learn God’s ways. The law of the Lord will judge all nations fairly. It will be a time when weapons are reforged into instruments for cultivating the land. Indeed, a glorious description, right, of a time of peace. But that description that we find here in this prophecy of Isaiah, does it not sound quite different from the world in which we now live? A world where news of violence, war, terrorism, injustice, oppression and other social upheavals continue to dominate the news cycle, especially nowadays. And yes, we prayed for for the situation in Ukraine.

We know that this brutal war between Russia and Ukraine has already claimed thousands of lives. So where are the swords being reforged into plowshares in our present situation? How then are we to understand and interpret this passage of God’s Word? And how could this passage possibly be referring to this present New Covenant age, given the fact that there are still so many wars and rumors of wars. These are some of the matters that we will be wrestling with as we consider our passage for today. But it’s always important for us, whatever portion of scripture we are considering, to put that passage in its proper context. And so we need to consider the context of our passage for today. Think about the prophet Isaiah. Who was Isaiah? Well, Isaiah was a great prophet of God who received his call to be a prophet probably sometime around 740 BC.

And he was probably martyred by the wicked and brutal Manasseh, king of Judah, sometime around 680 BC. So Isaiah’s prophetic ministry spanned many decades and he prophesied under the reigns of many kings, numerous kings. Isaiah ministered in Judah during a period of time when God’s people were often unfaithful and compromising and giving into the idolatrous ways of their Gentile neighbors and thus in need of being challenged and called to repentance. Isaiah’s prophetic oracles often alternate between threats of judgment on the one hand and gracious promises of mercy on the other hand. We see in our passage for today a gracious promise of mercy, a promise of mercy that will apply to what a period of time that Isaiah describes as the last days. And that brings me to my first main point. If you’re following along in your sermon outline, the first thing I want us to consider is the meaning and significance of the last days.

And sometimes when Christians from various church backgrounds get together and have conversations, one of the favorite topics of conversation among God’s people seems to be prophecy, Bible prophecy. And oftentimes the question is raised, I wonder, are we in the last days? You ever been talking to a brother or sister in Christ and that topic comes up, you know, boy, we must be in the last days. Look at the news. Look at all that’s going on in the world. Well, what does Isaiah mean when he speaks of the last days? Well, let’s dive in. In verses 1 and 2, it says this, the word which Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. That gives us the setting. This is a word, a revelation from God that Isaiah has received as a prophet of God.

He receives direct revelation from God and he says, Now it will come about that in the last days, some translations say in the latter days, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills and all the nations will stream to it. The last days, this terminology of the last days, this is what the theologians call an eschatological term or eschatological terminology. This prophecy has eschatological significance, meaning that it points us forward to the outworking of God’s plan in redemptive history. Verse one tells us that Isaiah saw the word, the word which Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. That language of word and of saw This is the language of divine revelation. Perhaps God revealed this word, this prophecy to Isaiah by means of a vision.

God often communicated his direct revelation to his prophets by means of things such as visions and so forth. And what is the content of this particular vision? Well, it’s interesting, before we dive into the details of this passage, I want you to turn to another prophet of the Old Testament, a prophet who was a contemporary, a younger contemporary of the prophet Isaiah, namely Micah. Turn to Micah chapter 4, and let me read verses 1 through 5 of Micah chapter 4. Micah is after the book of Obadiah, or after the book of Jonah. Micah chapter 4. Verses one through five and see if these words don’t sound familiar to you. And it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains.

It will be raised above the hills and the peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us about his ways and that we may walk in his paths for from Zion. will go forth the law, even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war. Each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree with no one to make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

Though all the people walk each in the name of his God, as for us, We will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.” Does that sound familiar? Well, it should, because it’s almost verbatim the same as the prophecy recorded here in Isaiah chapter 2, prompting some scholars to speculate that perhaps Isaiah borrowed this from Micah, or vice versa, or what have you. Or perhaps both Micah and Isaiah were borrowing from a a prophetic tradition that was already out there and was shared by the prophets of the Lord. But whether this saying was original with Isaiah or not, the Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah to use these words to his own purposes, to take these words upon himself and to communicate them as a word from the Lord to the people. No damage to divine inspiration is provided if Isaiah happens to have borrowed this from Micah or from elsewhere.

But this word did come to the Lord, we are told, and Isaiah communicates it to us. He says, it will come about that in the last days, or latter days. What does this terminology of last days or latter days refer to? Well, as you may have guessed, there are many different interpretations out there in the Christian world. For example, our dispensational friends view this prophecy and this terminology as describing conditions that will take place during a future millennial kingdom, an earthly millennial kingdom when Christ is expected to return to earth and to rule from Jerusalem over a renewed Israelite theocracy until the time of the final judgment and the consummation and so forth. Still others seem to view this passage in Isaiah chapter 2 as as a prophecy describing the eternal state. The last days, according to this view, are the ultimate last days of the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness dwells.

But others, and I would include myself in this category, others view this as a description of this present new covenant messianic age, this period of history between our Lord’s first and second advents. When Isaiah speaks of the last days, Well, brothers and sisters, I will show you in a few minutes that the New Testament says that we are in the last days. Indeed, we have been in the last days ever since Jesus came to this earth, died for our sins, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and has poured out the Spirit upon the church. One of the great scholars of our church who has supported and advocates this view is Dr. E.J. Young. Dr. Young had written a a massive three-volume commentary on the prophet Isaiah, on the book of Isaiah, and Dr. Young says the following about this particular period, this particular prophecy.

He says, quote, the period which is intended by the phrase, quote, the last days, is the age of the Christian church, which began its course with the first advent of Christ. It is true that from the Old Testament alone so much is not apparent. But in the Old Testament, the phrase does signify the age or time of the Messiah, the period of deliverance and salvation. He goes on to say, Isaiah takes the figures which were the property of the Old Testament economy and makes them the vehicles of expression for the truths of salvation and blessing, which were the characteristics of the age of grace. And, you know, as we compare scripture with scripture, We find this kind of language about the last days, or the latter days, or the last hour. We find this kind of language prominent in the New Testament as well.

One of the places we find that language is in the passage that I read for you earlier in the service from the book of Hebrews. If you go back to Hebrews chapter 1, let me once again read Hebrews 1, verses 1 and 2. Hebrews 1, 1 and 2, we read these words, God, after he spoke long ago, to the fathers, that would be the patriarchs, Moses, the prophets and so forth. After he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days has spoken to us in his son whom he appointed heir of all things and so forth. Now notice there’s a contrast in verse one. He speaks about an age that he describes as long ago. the age when God spoke by God appointed prophets.

But then he contrasts the age of long ago to, in verse two, to these last days. In these last days, God has spoken to us in or by his son. Now, let me ask you, folks, when do you think the epistle to the Hebrews was written? What century was this epistle written in? It was written in the first century. Here the author of Hebrews, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, here he describes the situation that existed even in the first century, the century in which he was writing, as these last days. So if any brother or sister asks you, do you think we’re in the last days? Point them to Hebrews 1 verse 2 and say, yes, we’ve been in the last days since Jesus came to this earth in his first advent.

Or consider 1 John 2, verse 18. 1 John 2, verse 18. John doesn’t just speak of the last days or latter days. He actually speaks of the last hour. In 1 John 2, verse 18, John writes, children, it is the last hour. And just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now, many antichrists have appeared from this. We know that it is the last hour again. When did the apostle John pen this first epistle? Which century did he write in? Obviously he wrote in the first century and he describes the time in which he was living, not just as the last or latter days, but as the last hour. Brothers and sisters in Christ, what that means is that this is the last period of time before the final consummation of Christ’s kingdom. And that leads me to consider also the significance of the last days.

We’re told in verse two, now it will come about that in the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains. Now, what does Isaiah mean when he refers to the mountain? of the house of the Lord. Well, in the ancient world, as I’ve pointed out on numerous occasions in my preaching in your midst, in the ancient world, the gods were often worshipped on mountains. Mountains were an appropriate symbol of transcendence and majesty and so forth. And obviously, and I’ve also made the case in the past that I believe that the Garden of Eden was actually a mountainous region. It was the original temple garden of the Lord. from which flowed the streams, the rivers that watered the area around the Garden of Eden. But the mountain of the house of the Lord that Isaiah is referring to here is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

And what was the significance of that mountain? That was where the Temple was. And what was the significance of the Temple? The Temple was a symbol of God’s gracious dwelling in the midst of his people. In the temple was the Ark of the Covenant, symbolizing God’s throne, his reign over and presence in the midst of his people. But of course, when we study the scriptures and what the scriptures teach us about the significance of the temple, the Bible points us to the fact that Jesus Christ himself is the living temple and we are living stones in union with Christ. We are living stones that make up that living temple. Christ, the living temple, ultimately fulfills this temple imagery here in the prophet Isaiah. So Isaiah is here using old covenant language to describe the new covenant realities that will come about in the last days, the new covenant realities that are fulfilled in Jesus Christ and in his church.

So in speaking of the mountain of the house of the Lord, brothers and sisters, I would argue that Isaiah is prophesying by that language, that old covenant language. He’s talking about Jesus and the gospel of the kingdom that Jesus brings with his incarnation. He says the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. And this is significance, the significance, the last line of verse two, and all the nations will stream to it. All the nations will stream to it. What does this speak to? This speaks of the ingathering of the Gentiles. This speaks of the Great Commission. This speaks of the gospel going out into the world and sinners from every tribe and tongue and people and nation being brought to saving faith in the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Gentile nations are pictured as flowing into the Temple Mount to learn the ways of Yahweh, who is described in verse three as the God of Jacob. It says in verse three, And many peoples will come and say, Come, Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us concerning his ways and that we may walk in his paths. Again, this is Old Testament language being used to picture new covenant realities for the ingathering of the Gentiles into Christ’s church and kingdom that was only made possible by the first advent of our Lord. and by the missionary and evangelistic labors of Christ’s true visible church. And so here we are, 2000 years out from the coming of Christ, and the gospel has spread throughout the world.

And there are believers in almost every corner of the planet today. Yes, there are. There are people groups and there are parts of the world that are closed off to the gospel. We need to pray that God and sovereign mercy would open up those closed people groups in those closed areas. We must pray that God would open up a door for the gospel of Jesus Christ to spread amongst the unreached peoples of the world, for there are still unreached people to be reached for the gospel. But nevertheless, throughout the world today, there are millions upon millions of folk who confess Jesus Christ as Son of God, Savior, Messiah and Lord, and who profess worship and allegiance to him, and that is in fulfillment of this particular prophecy. Beloved, here we see a picture of Gentiles whose hearts have been regenerated and converted.

The evidence of that new birth, the evidence of that conversion being a teachable spirit, a spirit that is willing to learn and follow the ways of the Lord. So for what do these nations, these peoples who stream into of the mountain of the Lord. What is it that they say? Why do they want to go to the mountain of the house of the Lord? Verse three again, come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, so that he can make us healthy and wealthy and give us prosperity. Know that he may teach us concerning his ways. You desire to be taught the ways of the Lord. and that we may walk in his path. They want to learn his ways so that they might walk in his path.

That means walking in faith and obedience unto him. For the law will go forth from Zion. Zion is where the Temple Mount was, where the temple was located. But again, that is all that Zion imagery. The mountain of the house of the Lord imagery is all fulfilled in Christ, the living temple. Our Savior and great high priest and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Your listener. Does this language describe your spiritual state? Your current spiritual state is your heart truly teachable, truly eager to know the ways of the Lord. Do you hunger to know God’s word and to walk in his ways out of gratitude for his gift of salvation? If not, may God the Holy Spirit convict you of sin, humble your heart and bring you to faith in Christ and know that God through the gospel calls you to repent of your sin and to believe upon Christ and Christ alone.

For Christ was crucified for sinners just like you and raised from the dead so that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life. And so, beloved, we’ve considered the significance and the meaning of the terminology of the last or latter days. But next, I want you to notice, as we move on to verse four, consider the peace of the messianic age. And this is where so many have trouble viewing this as a description of this present age of redemptive history. Verse four, it says, And he will judge between the nations and will render decisions for many peoples, and they will hammer their swords into plowshares. and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation and never again will they learn war. Oh, that we could live in a world without war.

Would that not be a blessed thing? But how are we to understand this passage? Well, friends here, the last day’s age, the last or latter day’s age ushered in by the Messiah is idealized as a time of universal peace among the nations. It is pictured as a time when weapons of war and violence, namely things such as swords and spears, are to be refashioned into peaceful domestic instruments, things like plowshares and pruning hooks. Again, it is precisely here that many Christians have trouble believing that this passage is a description of this present age, since there are still so many wars and rumors of wars in our world today. Some believe that this verse refers to and predicts a future golden age for the church, a time before the return of Christ, when the nations of the world will be converted as a whole and Christianized, not through political action or military action or cultural endeavors or what have you, but through the missionary labors of the church, through the power of the gospel and a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the nations.

And this is one possible way to understand this passage. This is the view known as the post-millennial view. It was a view held by many of our Puritan forefathers. It was also a view that was held by some of the prominent Princeton theologians like B.B. Warfield and Charles Hodge and A.A. Hodge and so forth. It’s a view that is attractive and yet, I don’t know about you brothers and sisters, I’m not fully convinced of it because I think that it does not take into consideration other biblical data. And so I tend to think that Dr. Young, since I’ve been quoting from E.J. Young, I think he offers a wiser, more biblically sound and consistent perspective when he writes the following. He says, even at the present day, insofar as men believe the gospel and seek to practice it in their lives, this prophecy finds fulfillment.

At the same time, it must be remembered that sin is still present. And it will not be until the complete removal of sin at the second advent of the Lord that this prophecy will be realized in its completeness. In other words, he’s arguing for what the theologians call an already, not yet, aspect to this prophecy. Yes, in principle and in Christ, we are already at peace. But in reality, in terms of the outworking of that, there is still a lot of war. Only when Christ returns will the reality and the situation in principle become a visible reality. Again, friends, it would seem that in verse 4, Isaiah is using this idealized language of international peace to point to a deeper spiritual reality. And that spiritual reality is the union of Jew and Gentile who believe in the Messiah in the one covenant people of God.

This is not, as our dispensational brothers and sisters sometimes accuse us of, this is not, quote, replacement theology. This is what might be better described as expansion theology. The true church of Jesus Christ, the true Israel of God, the church does not replace Israel. The church is the Israel of God, expanded to include the Gentiles. In the old covenant, under the old covenant, the church was confined to a national theocracy. But now the Church of Jesus Christ is an international reality, inclusive of Jew and Gentile, who profess faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Savior of sinners. And so, by his incarnation and saving work, Jesus Christ has already, in principle, secured this spiritual peace of which Isaiah prophesies. We see that brought out by the Apostle Paul in his wonderful epistle to the Ephesians.

If you look with me at Ephesians chapter two, and let me just read a few verses from, let me start at verse 11 and read through verse 19 of Ephesians chapter two. And in this passage, Paul is addressing Gentile Christians in particular. And he says this, he says, therefore, remember that formerly you, The Gentiles in the flesh who are called, quote, uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands. Remember that you were at that time, at that time before the coming of Christ, before before you came to faith in Christ, you were at that time excluded from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus. You who formerly were far off, that would be the Gentiles, have been brought near.

And how have the Gentiles been brought near and incorporated into the covenant people of God by the blood of Christ, by his substitutionary atonement? And notice verse 14. For he himself is our peace. This is the peace that Isaiah 2 verse 4, I believe, is speaking of. Christ himself is our peace who made both groups into one. and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing what? Peace. And might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were far away, That would be, again, the Gentiles and peace to those who were near.

That would be the Jews. For through him, through Christ, we both have our access in one spirit to the father. So then you, you Gentiles, you’re no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God’s household. You are now, even if you’re a Gentile, if you believe in Jesus as the Messiah, you are a child of Abraham. You are in. the Israel of God, the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear friends, our Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace, said in Matthew five verse nine in one of his Beatitudes, he says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God by the grace of God. Let us strive as brothers and sisters in Christ who, in principle, are already at peace with one another and peace with God, our Heavenly Father.

Let us strive to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, as we are exhorted to in Ephesians 4, verse 3. But what is the conclusion of all of this that we’ve considered, this great prophecy of the prophet Isaiah? Well, that brings me to my final point. Let us consider, finally, the moral imperative of these last or latter-day promises, the moral imperative implied by these latter-day promises. In verse five, Isaiah, again, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he says, Come house of Jacob and let us what? Let us walk in the light of the Lord. The Bible talks about walking with the Lord or in the light of the Lord, and it’s talking about living out the implications of your faith, walking in faith and obedience. Since the Gentile nations will seek Yahweh and his word in the last or latter days, this messianic age, as we were told back in verses three and four, since that is the case, should not the professed covenant people of God among Isaiah’s contemporaries, who are described here as the house of Jacob, should they not walk, meaning live in faith and obedience to God’s ways?

Isaiah’s contemporaries weren’t walking in faith and obedience. walking in idolatry and unbelief. And so he calls them to walk in the light of the Lord. To walk in the light of the Lord is to walk under the guide of his Torah, his covenant instruction by faith. And should not we, who are God’s professed covenant people today in this messianic new covenant age, should we not seek to walk the talk and live out the implications of the truth that we learn from God’s word? That’s, of course, a rhetorical question. The obvious answer is, of course, we should. Yes, we should. Dear ones, the goal of learning the word of God is so that we may walk in his paths, as we are reminded in verse three, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us concerning his ways and that we may walk in his paths.

And that’s very significant. The goal of learning sound doctrine, and we in the OPC, we love sound doctrine, and well, we should. Sound doctrine is important. Knowing your Bible is important. Knowing sound doctrine and theology is vitally, vitally important. But the goal of learning such subjects is not merely to stuff our heads full of Bible knowledge and theological truth. Remember that knowledge can puff up, but love builds up. The goal of doctrinal instruction is discipleship. And children, what is a disciple? A disciple is a student. If you are a disciple of Jesus, that means you have been enrolled in the school of Christ and you’ve been enrolled in the school of Christ. Your baptism implies that, by the way. You’ve been summoned and enrolled into the school of Christ so that you may learn how to walk with Jesus in faith and repentance.

The goal of doctrinal instruction is discipleship. The end goal of instruction in the ways of the Lord is obedient living unto the Lord. Learning Bible truth without living out what you learn, well, that will turn you into either a self-righteous Pharisee or a hyper-critical, hypocritical, theological nitpicker. And sadly, we in the Reformed tradition have too many of those. One of the things I’ve noticed over the years of my ministry in the OPC, and I love the OPC and I love the reformed faith. But I have periodically encountered individuals who they love theology. They love to talk about the things of the Lord. They’re really into theology, and let’s talk about superlapsarianism and infralapsarianism and all of that. They get into all of the deep theological stuff, and I love that stuff, too. I think that’s wonderful stuff.

But then they don’t always live out the implications of their faith in their daily lives. Beloved, that’s not the way it ought to be. Let us make learning sound doctrine a top priority in our lives and in the church. But let us also make sure that we are learning so that we might live out the implications of what we learn in faith and obedience. Let us echo What the people described here in verse three say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. In other words, let us go on to Jesus, the living temple and his gospel. And that we may that he may teach us concerning his ways and that we may what walk in his paths, may God give us the grace to respond to his word with with such faith-filled obedience.

Amen. Let us pray. Lord and Father in heaven, we do thank you and praise you that you have caused your kingdom to spread throughout the world. We thank you for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the Great Commission. We thank you that you are spreading your word through your church throughout the world and drawing many sinners from every tribe and tongue and people and nation to faith in Christ and repentance unto life. We ask that you would grant us the grace, O Lord, to learn from your ways and to walk in obedience to your word. In Jesus’ name we pray and all of God’s people said, Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

December 4, 2022