Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/ccbrighton/sermons/87759/christmas-day/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Amen. Amen.

[1:00] Amen. Amen.

[2:00] Amen. Amen.

[3:00] Amen. Amen.

[4:00] Amen. Amen.

[5:00] Amen. Amen.

[6:00] Amen. Amen.

[7:00] Amen. Amen.

[8:00] Amen. Amen.

[9:00] Amen. Wonderful. Do you be seated. And I'm going to invite Timothy, who's from Ebenezer Reformed Baptist Church, to come and pray for us.

[9:14] Thank you. we thank you Lord for your great kindness and your love in sending your son the Lord Jesus Christ we thank you that he is the perfect gift and Lord we come to worship and to praise and adore you this very day we pray Lord that you will bless our brother as he proclaims your word that it will be by the power and the might of the Holy Spirit and you will be honored and glorified in every single way pray for any that do not know you Lord that it would please you by your mighty grace to save them all for your glory's sake Lord we do recognize that your son is the the best gift that mankind could ever have even contemplated or think of Lord we thank you and we praise you Lord we are so often lost for words how can we praise you enough but Lord you have given us breath and and and faculties

[10:26] Lord to praise and worship and adore you so Lord we pray now for your presence we pray for the assistance of the Holy Spirit to worship your right and Lord I pray that all will be done it will be well pleasing in your sight giving much praise honor and glory to you we pray Lord that you will help us to walk in a well pleasing manner before you and Lord that we will be able to speak of the hope that is within us Lord to many folk um at the remaining time of this year and God willing the year to come so Lord presence yourself with us now be with us Lord help us to worship you in spirit and in truth and I pray all these things in the mighty name of our glorious savior whose name is above every other name the Lord Jesus Christ amen amen thank you for leading us in prayer this morning um I think it's time we find another star don't you um who can spot star number two star number two uh people are pointing over there uh Gracie do you want to go and get it for us you can't see it I'll see my I I think you'll see why you can't see in a moment it's down there thank you Gracie thank you so much and what is on the back of this uh numbers 24 verse 17 why on earth is numbers 24 verse 17 on there uh well let's have a read of it and then I'll say very briefly why um let's stick the star up first so you can see it there we go star number t uh it says this uh I see him but not now I behold him but not near a star will come out of Jacob and a scepter will rise out of Israel as the wise men saw the star as they were contemplating what on earth it meant they probably knew this really ancient prophecy from a guy called Balaam who God used to speak God's word through uh and he prophesied of someone who was going to come in the future who would be a ruler he would hold a scepter he would be a king and a star will come out of God's people and they made connections and so they left home and traveled hundreds of miles to follow this star to find this king king king Jesus who we're celebrating this morning we'll see more about that in a little while but first of all we're gonna sing again we're gonna come and worship just like the wise men did come and worship Christ the newborn king as we sing angels from the realms of glory wing your flight over all the earth heralds of creation story now proclaim Messiah's birth let's stand and let's worship

[13:37] Christ the newborn king together Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Eros of creation's story, now proclaim Messiah's crown.

[14:18] Come on and worship, my Son, evil King.

[14:32] Come on and worship, worship Christ, the new one King.

[14:48] Shepherds in the fields abiding, watching by your flocks at night.

[15:01] Long with love is now residing, see the shine, see the light. Come on and worship, Christ, the new one King.

[15:25] Come on and worship, worship Christ, the new one King.

[15:40] I stand in your contemplations Like our visions be the love Seeking in the hope of nations You have seen this night and sound God, I worship, I stand in your contemplations God, I worship, I stand in your contemplations Sin as your teacher rebentes

[16:41] In the guilty, endless ways Justice now rewards the sanctus The secrets we break, you'll change God, I worship, I stand in your contemplations God, I worship, I stand in your contemplations God, I worship, I stand in your contemplations God, I worship, I worship, I worship, I worship, I worship Christ the new Holy Oh, I am good now, we hear We will share His Father's love Now the Roman days will steal Him

[17:42] When He feeds from love come down Oh, I am good now, we hear Christ the evil King Oh, I am good now, we hear Worship Christ the evil King Wonderful, do you be seated.

[18:21] It's time now to find the third star. So, oh, Isaac Rayfield, straight up. Do you know where it is? Excellent, come and find it for us. Let's see, where is the star?

[18:34] It's over the back there. Good spot. You were right at the front as well. Thank you, Isaac. Star number three. And on the back it says Micah chapter five, verse two and four.

[18:49] So what does this say? This says, but you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me, one who will be a ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times.

[19:09] He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and then they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.

[19:25] We're going to see in a moment, as Matthew two is read, that the wise men arrive in Jerusalem and they say, where is the king? Well, the answer that they get is from these two verses, from the book of Micah, and it says that the king will be born, well, the king will be from Bethlehem.

[19:47] So we're going to have that read now to us. George, who's from Grace Church, is going to come and read for us from Matthew chapter 2, verses 1 to 12.

[19:59] Thank you. The Magi visit the Messiah. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?

[20:15] We saw his star when it rose, and have come to worship him. When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

[20:32] In Bethlehem, in Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet has written. But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

[20:50] Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the child.

[21:01] As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him. After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.

[21:17] When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

[21:34] And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. Thank you so much for reading for us.

[21:45] Before we have a look at that chapter together, we're going to sing again. We're going to sing about these wise men. And this song has different verses which help us to learn things that we can learn from the wise men as they travelled.

[22:01] As with gladness, men of old did the guiding, star beholds the star. As with joy, they hailed its light, leading onward, beaming bright, so most gracious, Lord may we evermore, your splendor see.

[22:15] Let's stand and sing this carol together. Let's sing this carol together.

[22:47] Let's sing this carol together.

[23:18] Let's sing this carol together. Christ, demand and adore So with ever-breaking grace May we seek your throne of grace The day of the gifts most rare As your grateful flame and lamb So may we live with holy joy Pure and free from sins at night All our cause, this precious grave Christ, to ye our heavenly King Holy Jesus, every day Keep us in the narrow way

[24:23] And when everything takes a blast Bring our ancestors at last Let it be lost, the heart is shite When all clouds go glory high In the heavenly city rise We lay no created light Through its light, its joy is found You with sun which goes not loud And forever may we say Hallelujah to our King We'll do turn back

[25:26] If you have a Bible with you, do turn back to Matthew chapter 2 We're looking at those verses that George read for us And before we have a look at them, let's pray together Let's pray Father, we ask please That as we look at these verses together That we would see more of the Lord Jesus That we would see more of his splendour and majesty And that we would leave here Excited to be able to worship him On this very special day we pray Amen Well it's here Christmas has come The day has finally arrived The countdown is over And I can see some people rejoicing in their seats about that

[26:27] And we're in this passage this morning And I think it's a great passage to be in on Christmas morning I think it has many of the things that we love about Christmas Or maybe not so much love It has a journey I wonder, some of us will have been on long journeys To be here in Brighton today Maybe we've come from other parts of the country Or maybe even other parts of the world To celebrate Christmas in Brighton today And in our passage We have people who have journeyed from a very long way Hundreds, maybe even up to a thousand miles They travelled to find the King, Jesus We also have stars Christmas is full of stars We have Christmas tree stars We have TV stars We have starring roles in nativities And we have the star that the wise men followed

[27:28] So we have that star in this passage We've also got gifts Some of you this morning were telling me about gifts That you've already received today And today is a day where we give and receive gifts And in this passage we have three gifts We have frankincense, gold and myrrh So today, in this passage, this is really a great journey A great passage even for us to look at As we see the wise men who've journeyed to Jerusalem To come and find the King of the Jews And as we read this passage As we read the word magi or wise men You may have been thinking to yourself Well this is a passage about the three kings, isn't it?

[28:19] We sing sometimes We three kings of Oriental We have Christmas cards with people wearing crowns As they come to see Jesus But it's not quite correct We don't actually have three kings They're not called kings who come to Jesus in this passage But we do have kings in this passage They're not the three kings But we do have two kings We have King Herod And we have King Jesus And we're going to think about them together For a few minutes this morning So the wise men As they journey to Jerusalem They stop at the palace They stop and speak to the king King Herod And they ask this question in verse 2 Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews?

[29:18] We saw his star when it rose And we have come first time in about 70 years or so We have a king on the throne in this country And he is spending Christmas here It's a place called Sandringham It's up in North Norfolk I got to go and visit it one summer a few years ago I wasn't a royal guest I had to pay to get in But it is definitely a place fit for a king to spend Christmas And so of course these wise men Looking for a king Would come to the capital city To Jerusalem They would come and find King Herod And ask him Where is this new king?

[29:59] This king of the Jews Who has been born? But this is news to Herod Herod is pretty old He probably hasn't had a child in some years And so it disturbs him What is this about?

[30:19] There's no other king I'm the king So verse 3 says When King Herod heard this He was disturbed And so was all of Jerusalem with him People have arrived from hundreds of miles To find another king But he's the king Suddenly his throne and his power Seems under threat And so he gets his religious advisors together And asks them What's the meaning of this?

[30:51] Where's this king? What's happening? And so they get an answer together And it's from one of the verses we read From Micah And they quote it here for us In verse 6 But you, Bethlehem In the land of Judah Are by no means least Among the rulers of Judah For out of you will come A ruler Who will shepherd My people God through his prophet Micah About 700 years or so before A king would be born in Bethlehem Prophesized this So the wise men They're not quite there yet They haven't quite got to the place Where the king is And on long journeys We might say Are we there yet?

[31:43] I might well be saying that As I go up to Norfolk on Tuesday Are we there yet? It can be a very annoying question Especially as you probably know What the answer is The answer is probably no If the car is still going And these wise men As they get to Jerusalem Are we here?

[32:03] Are we there yet? Is the king here? No Just a few miles outside of Jerusalem Is a town called Bethlehem You will find him there And King Herod Who sees that these wise men Are intent on going there Gives them these instructions In verse 8 Go and search carefully for the child As soon as you find him Report to me So that I too May go and worship him And that's really the right response From Herod He should be really wanting to go And join the wise men In worshipping Jesus In fact he should be rushing along With them to Bethlehem That's really what he should be doing But as we read on We see that this king Herod He doesn't actually want to go To Bethlehem and worship Jesus Actually he wants him dead The wise men

[33:04] They're warned about this In a dream Not to go back to Herod And verse 16 We read this When Herod realised That he had been outwitted By the Magi He was furious And so he gave orders To kill all the boys In Bethlehem And its vicinity Who were two years old And under That's not very Christmassy Is it?

[33:33] King Herod wants to kill All these baby boys Around Bethlehem area Because he wants This king of the Jews He wants him dead He wants Jesus gone And out of the way That's the action Of a nasty dictator To get Jesus out of the way To get all these baby boys dead Because his throne And his power Is under threat One of my favourite Christmas films Is this It's called Nativity I've watched it twice Since the beginning of November And there's room To watch it more I love it And if you're not familiar With the story of this film It's about two schools St Bernadette Who are the school in blue And the red school Oakmore St Bernadette

[34:33] Is the kind of Run down state school And Oakmore Is the posh Private school And there's a newspaper Reviewer in the area Ready to go and watch Their nativity performances It's Christmas time Nativity performances Happen in school And what happens Every year Is that Oakmore Gets an outstanding review And St Bernadette Gets a poor review But this year Is going to be different Because Mr Madden The teacher At St Bernadette He says to someone That Hollywood Are going to come Hollywood are going to come And turn their nativity play Into a big Hollywood blockbuster movie It's going to be amazing That was just a little lie Which kind of spiraled Out of control But the school Ended up getting Coventry Cathedral grounds To perform it in They got all the lights And the money And the mayor Invites the teachers To come and have a reception

[35:34] With them And Hollywood Indeed come Flying in on a helicopter Whilst the rival school Oakmore Which are always Number one The best nativity performance They try and think Well what do we do We're under threat Our position as number one Is under threat What do we do Well we're going to Do a nativity All about King Herod And there's a reenactment Of the killing Of all the baby boys It's kind of Really horrible In some ways But it is a children's film And so it's not too bad But it's an astonishing thing To focus your nativity play on They're desperate They want to be number one They want to be The best nativity performance In Coventry And so they will rule As number one In whatever way they can And that's true Of King Herod He's desperate

[36:36] And he wants to Hold on to his power And he wants to Get rid of this threat Who seems a real threat To him The king of the Jews Prophecies foretold him Jesus was coming And King Herod Doesn't like it And you know what King Herod Is a bit like all of us King Herod Does what the Bible Calls sin And I described sin To some of us Like this last week It's where we say Shove off God I'm in charge I'm on the throne Of my life That's what we're saying Not you I'm going to go my way Not your way That's what King Herod says And that's what we say When we sin But There's another King In this passage It's King Jesus King Jesus Is born

[37:37] At the end of Matthew chapter 1 And he's given The name Jesus It says in verse 21 Of Matthew 1 It says he's given The name Jesus Because he will save His people From sins From all those times When we say Shove off God I'm in charge Not ye This is good news For King Herod It's good news For all of us Jesus The saviour king Is born And Matthew 1 Shows us At great length How Jesus Is born Into a royal family line How he really is The king Who was born And that prophecy In Micah That King Herod Advises Finds Shows that too And these wise men These wise men Who've travelled Hundreds Maybe even A thousand miles To come to Jerusalem To come and find The king of the Jews They knew this too

[38:37] They were very Clever men They spent time Studying the stars We don't know What they did They might have been Some kind of scientists Astrologers Astronomers Something like that But they studied The stars And they knew There was something Really special About this star That they saw Way over in the east Hundreds of miles away From Bethlehem And they knew They had to do Something about it They knew that From things That they had read They probably heard That prophecy We read from Balaam Way back in the Old Testament I see him But not now I behold him But not near A star Will come out Of Jacob A scepter Something kings have Will rise out Of Israel A ruler A very special Ruler Was coming They probably Also had access To the writings Of Daniel Who was over In the east

[39:38] In Babylon In exile But whatever They knew And whatever They saw They knew This star Was special And it was Worth leaving Everything behind To come to This king Jesus They knew that And so they Left it all Behind They probably Travelled months Probably on camels To come And find This very special King And as we've seen They hear He's not in Jerusalem They're not there yet But they're nearly there They're just a few Miles away And so we read This as they Continue on On their journey In verse 9 After they had Heard the king They went On their way And the star They had seen When it rose Went ahead of them Until it stopped Over the place Where the child Was When they saw The star They were Overjoyed

[40:38] They had found The place Where the child Was There in Bethlehem The star Stopped over there They knew They had arrived And it says They were overjoyed When they saw The star Now I don't think They were overjoyed About the star Particularly They knew it was A special star But if they were Just overjoyed At seeing the star Again They could have Probably just Stayed where they were They could see The star there But they were overjoyed Even more They could find Jesus It was worth The journey They knew This is a significant Special Important King A king who is God Who has come To rescue people From their sin And their response To this other king Couldn't be more different Than King Herod King Herod Remember Wants Him dead Wants Him out The way

[41:39] But how do The wise men Respond Well verse 11 Tells us On coming to the house They saw the child With his mother Mary And they bowed down And worshipped him Then they opened Their treasures And presented To him Gifts Of gold Frankincense And myrrh They don't They don't Try to kill him They don't Try to get him Out the way They don't Say shove Off God I'm in charge Not you No they bow Down and Worship him They give Their treasures To him They worship him They love him They don't Hate him They don't Try to kill him And these men They are from the outside They are from a land Far far away Hundreds Maybe a thousand Miles off And they come

[42:40] And bow down Before him And we read These words At the start Of our Our service About people Herds of camels And people Coming From distant lands Bearing gold And incense Proclaiming The name Of the Lord Isaiah foretold That And these wise men Are doing that As they come And bring Their gifts In praise Of the Lord Jesus Because this Is the king Of the Jews This is the king Of the whole world The king Come to save us From our sin And God was Making a way For outsiders For people Who are sin Who sin Who are cut off From God To come And bow down Before him As king And yet Just a few miles From Jerusalem King Herod

[43:40] And his people They quote Words from scripture They're not far They're just a few miles away It wouldn't take them Very long at all To get there And instead of Coming to bow down Before him They want him dead You see There's two responses That we see In this passage There's two kings There's also two responses Two responses To king Jesus The Herod way Or the wise men way So we can be Like Herod We can be like Herod This morning And want him Out the way Because actually You want to be The king Of your life Life is all about You Me Me Me Christmas Is all about What you want to do You'll spend it In the way you want it To be spent You'll spend it With the people You want to see You're in charge Of whether you eat Brussels sprouts Not your mum And dad

[44:40] It's all about Me As for bowing The knee To king Jesus No I don't want To do that That's what you Might say You might say I'd rather Jesus Didn't exist I'd rather He was just A little Innocent child Who lived A couple Thousand years Ago That would Make my life Easier And if he was Then maybe My mum Dad Sister Brother Friend Whoever We've come With this Maybe they Would stop Wasting their Life following Him too You're like Herod You want to Be at the Center of your Life To reign on The throne Of your life And you'd much Rather just Get rid of Jesus In any way You can But Herod As he tries To get rid Of Jesus As he tries To kill him Off As if you Read through The rest of The chapter

[45:40] You see how God keeps His king Jesus safe More words Of prophecy Are fulfilled But as you Read through The rest of The life of Jesus You can do That through The rest Of Matthew's Gospel We see More rulers Who want to Come together And kill him And eventually They succeed And at just The right time God's king King Jesus Is put to Death Instead of Being raised On a great Royal throne He's raised On a cruel Cross Instead of Being crowned With a crown Of gold He's crowned With a crown Of thorns But he hung There for Us This was part Of God's Great plan This was No mistake God's great Plan to Save people From all Over the World People like You and me Even people Like Herod Who sinned Who would

[46:42] Rather he Was out The way Like kings Of history This king Died But unlike Other kings Of history This king Didn't stay Dead Because nothing And no one Could keep This king Down Down And so he Rose And so he Rose Again And he Did that So that we Could do What the Wise men Do Like Herod We could Reject him But like The wise Men we Can bow Down and Worship This king This king Who has Come to Save us From our Sin From all Those times When we Say shove Off God I'm in Charge I'm on The throne Of my Life Not you This Jesus Has come So how Will you Respond to Him Today Let's Pray Father we

[47:51] Thank you For king Jesus We thank You that He is The long Promised King Who came To save And we Pray that You would Help us As we Go away And think About these Things We pray That you would Help us To respond As the wise Men do And worship Him Glorify Him This great King We ask This in Jesus name Amen Amen Amen Amen Just to Say Maybe Some People Here Maybe You would Like to Think more About the Lord Jesus More about What the Bible Says At Calvary Church Here we're Going to Be running In the New Year A Hope Explored Course There's Some Cards On the Way Out You can Fill in Put in Your contact Details Or just Email me Phone me

[48:52] To say You'd Like to Come If These Days And Times Don't Work For You Do Get In Touch As Well If You'd Like to Do it Because Love to Find a Way To do This With You Hope Explored Just a Three Week Course Exploring Some More Of This Stuff Together We're Going To end Our Service By Giving Glory To The Newborn King I'm Sure These Wise Men If This Song Was Written Then I'm Sure They'd Be Singing This With Great Joy Hark The Herald Angels Sing Glory To The Newborn King Peace On Earth And Mercy Mild God And Sinners Reconciled Joyful All You Nations Rise I Think Of Those Wise Men Rising!

[49:39] Glory Angels Sing Glory To The New Born King Peace God Has The Mercy Mile God Has Sinners Reconciled Joy For You Nations Rise Join The Triumph Of The Skies With Angelic

[50:40] Host Proclaim Christ Is Born In Bethlehem Hark The Herald Angels Sing Glory Dear That New Born King Christ Thy Highest Lamb Atore Christ The Ever Lasting Love Late In Time Behold Him Come Offspring!

[51:19] Of A Virgin's Womb Belled In Flesh The Godhead See Hail The Incarnate Deity Pleased As Man With Masks To Dwell Jesus Our Emmanuel Of The Herald Angels Sing Glory To The New Born King Hail The Heavenly Prince Of Peace Hail The Son Of Righteous Thus Light And Light To All He Brings Brings With Healing In His Wings How

[52:20] He Lays His Glory By Born Love We No More May Die Born To Raise Us From The Half Born To Give A Second Life Heart The Herald Angels Sing Glory To The New Born King Come This Hour Of Nations Son Make In Us Your Humble Heart Rise The Woman's Conquering Seed Bruised In Us The Sun That Sand Adam Like Let Smile With

[53:21] Face Some Pure Image In Its Place Second Adam From Above Give Us Life In Heart You'll Love Hark The Herald Angels Sing Glory To The New One King Let me end with a prayer now may the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace Amen and do have a wonderful rest of your Christmas day I don't know what you're doing

[54:43]  I eat food scary I don't know what you're doing I eat