WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.919 Now, you turn with me to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 1. 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:12.720 We began a series in Matthew's, the Gospel of Matthew, last week, leading up to the end 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:16.960 of the year, and then we'll follow it on, obviously, through into the new year. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:24.240 And last week we read the genealogy of Jesus, and today we're just doing the next section, 00:00:24.240 --> 00:00:29.760 which is the birth of Jesus Christ, which is obviously appropriate to us also, as we 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:32.399 think of the incarnation at this time of year. 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:40.840 So it's from verse 18 to 25 on page 807 of your pew Bibles, if you're following in the 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:41.840 Bible. 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:47.079 Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way, when his mother Mary had been 00:00:47.079 --> 00:00:50.359 betrothed to Joseph before they came together. 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:56.600 She was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit, and her husband Joseph, being a just 00:00:56.600 --> 00:01:02.240 man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:05.879 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a 00:01:05.879 --> 00:01:12.640 dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.640 is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 00:01:15.640 --> 00:01:21.520 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from 00:01:21.520 --> 00:01:23.120 their sins. 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:27.240 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. 00:01:27.240 --> 00:01:33.160 Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel. 00:01:33.160 --> 00:01:38.719 It's taken from the reading that Ewan read earlier in Isaiah. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:42.000 They shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:46.680 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. 00:01:46.680 --> 00:01:51.880 He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his 00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:54.239 name Jesus. 00:01:54.239 --> 00:02:01.039 Okay, so I reckon that a lot of people will know about that story, and will know that 00:02:01.039 --> 00:02:03.399 passage of Scripture. 00:02:03.399 --> 00:02:11.479 But I hope as we look into the Scripture today, we will recognize its ongoing relevance and 00:02:11.479 --> 00:02:16.879 significance and truth and power as God speaks to us in His Word. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:30.000 Now, just over 30 years ago, in September 189, I married Katrina, and in January 1991, 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:36.599 our firstborn Scott was born. 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:37.599 And that's the story. 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:39.599 Now, it's quite minimalist. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:42.159 I haven't given you a lot of details there. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:48.400 There's so much more I could tell you about everything that happened and led up to that 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:57.919 momentous and wonderful event and of our life and our journey and of our children and everything 00:02:57.919 --> 00:03:03.240 else that went with it around that particular events. 00:03:03.240 --> 00:03:09.919 You know, I've given you no idea, no idea really of all the people that were involved 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:15.280 in our lives at that time or the emotions that we felt, or sometimes our fears and our 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:17.079 experiences through that. 00:03:17.079 --> 00:03:23.159 And in many ways, this passage is very similar in the sense that it's very minimalist. 00:03:23.159 --> 00:03:25.000 It's very economic. 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:27.599 It doesn't say a lot of things. 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:31.119 It's almost telling us on a need to know basis. 00:03:31.119 --> 00:03:37.079 We need to know the facts of Jesus' birth, but it really doesn't give us much detail 00:03:37.079 --> 00:03:38.079 in any way. 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:41.240 But yet, it's hugely significant. 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:46.560 And I think it's important sometimes for us just to slow down and reflect on the humanity 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:54.200 of this story and of what actually was happening and what did happen because the truth of Jesus 00:03:54.200 --> 00:04:02.000 Christ and the reality of Jesus Christ demands from us, interestingly, more than a minimalist 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.600 economic response. 00:04:04.599 --> 00:04:11.000 Even though the accounts that we are given don't go into great detail. 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:18.480 Our response to Jesus is Jesus looks for us to go into much more detail. 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:23.319 So today we're introduced again into the person of Jesus Christ. 00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:29.159 And you may be sitting here today having read this or heard this and said, well, so what? 00:04:29.159 --> 00:04:30.159 So what? 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:35.560 It doesn't really reflect any significance in my life, or you may say as a Christian, 00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:39.560 I know these things and I'm confronted with these things every week, but so what? 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:41.840 Being confronted with the person of Jesus. 00:04:41.840 --> 00:04:50.520 Well, I am hoping and praying for myself consistently and for you that continually as we open Scripture, 00:04:50.520 --> 00:04:56.480 that Scripture elicits in us a different response than so what? 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:57.720 Or I know this. 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:02.600 Or it doesn't make much difference to me because as we begin to see, continually begin to see 00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:12.000 Jesus for who He is and for who He's revealed to be, then it ought to and has done and maybe 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:19.120 is doing and we hope will do in your life make a great difference to us. 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:24.880 Because I think if this passage says anything else to us, or if it says anything to us beyond 00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:31.399 the mere facts, it reminds us that when Jesus comes into your life, your life is turned upside 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:33.399 down. 00:05:33.399 --> 00:05:37.360 When Jesus comes into your life, your life is turned upside down. 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:43.159 And that we sit back and we think about that when we think of Joseph and Mary. 00:05:43.159 --> 00:05:46.560 Now we're not going to really speak about Mary today, not because Mary's not really 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:48.199 important, far from it. 00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:49.879 She's usually important. 00:05:49.879 --> 00:05:55.759 But the Matthew account of the birth of Jesus really focuses on Joseph. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:06:01.639 The Luke account focuses much more on Mary and is actually much more detailed. 00:06:01.639 --> 00:06:06.159 But this account in Matthew is really looking at the story of the birth of Jesus from the 00:06:06.159 --> 00:06:13.519 viewpoint of Joseph, Mary's partner at this point. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:17.800 And I just want you to imagine for a moment what it must have been like for Joseph whose 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:27.400 whole life's direction was critically changed at this point in his life. 00:06:27.400 --> 00:06:32.960 We skim over these truths because we know them so well and we think there's ongoing other 00:06:32.960 --> 00:06:36.319 things that are more significant and more important. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:42.560 But just consider the life of Joseph for a moment and think about him at this point in 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:43.560 his life. 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:51.399 You know, as a young man, a carpenter, someone who was working, he wasn't... he didn't have 00:06:51.399 --> 00:06:52.399 much money. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:57.840 He was from... they were poor, the families that they were from. 00:06:57.840 --> 00:06:59.840 And he's got his lovely partner. 00:06:59.840 --> 00:07:04.720 He's this beautiful girl who he's longing to marry. 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:07.680 Mary is this lovely person that she has. 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:11.120 And as he works in wood every day, he's making plans. 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:14.000 He's thinking about the home they're going to have, the future they're going to have, 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:16.480 the family potentially that they're going to have. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:19.519 And while it might be a struggle, there'll be difficulties that will happen in their 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:21.000 lives because they're poor. 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:27.000 He's just probably dayd... in many ways daydreaming through much of his day, longing for and looking 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:30.519 forward to the day that he's married to Mary. 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:38.480 And then Mary comes round one day, ashen white, and his whole life collapses because Mary 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:41.720 says, I'm pregnant. 00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:43.800 I'm pregnant. 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:51.280 And the immediate response for him would have been far more dramatic than is mentioned 00:07:51.280 --> 00:07:53.080 in Scripture. 00:07:53.080 --> 00:08:00.600 You know, you're pregnant, the scandal, the confusion, the brokenness immediately of 00:08:00.600 --> 00:08:02.960 his dreams, the sense of betrayal. 00:08:02.960 --> 00:08:04.640 Who was it? 00:08:04.640 --> 00:08:05.640 Who was involved? 00:08:05.640 --> 00:08:07.240 How could you possibly? 00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:13.639 And then she speaks of stories of angels and God involved. 00:08:13.639 --> 00:08:16.840 And his confusion must have been even deeper and... 00:08:16.840 --> 00:08:21.600 Well, you know, I've heard some stories, but that's the most amazing story that I've heard 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:24.240 for trying to explain away my... 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:32.200 My fiancé's pregnancy here and the great confusion and difficulty that he faced. 00:08:32.200 --> 00:08:37.600 And we need to realize that it's very easy for us to transport 21st century thinking of 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:43.040 relationships and everything into the first century, but things were very, very different, 00:08:43.040 --> 00:08:49.640 particularly in the Jewish religion and the Jewish faith and Judaism of the day. 00:08:49.640 --> 00:08:55.800 If it was made public that she was pregnant before she was married, the law of God made 00:08:55.799 --> 00:09:02.039 clear in Deuteronomy that she and the one by whom she became pregnant would be stoned 00:09:02.039 --> 00:09:06.079 to death. 00:09:06.079 --> 00:09:12.759 And that's why it speaks about Joseph's response following that as a sensitive and gentleman 00:09:12.759 --> 00:09:18.240 wanting to divorce her quietly for fear of that public reprisal. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:22.879 It seemed such a dreadful, bad, miserable situation. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:25.199 We overlook that, don't we, when we read that passage? 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:27.440 Yes, yes, yes, but it was Jesus that was born. 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:32.960 Yes, it was Jesus, but his life was turned upside down as was Mary's by what seemed to 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:37.320 be a dreadful situation that they came into. 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:45.800 And then as he sleeps, fitful sleep, potentially God speaks to him through an angel and tells 00:09:45.800 --> 00:09:48.720 him, this is, don't be afraid. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:51.220 Don't be afraid to go ahead with your plans. 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:55.680 This is the long expected Messiah and I have a name for Him. 00:09:55.680 --> 00:10:00.279 You're to call Him Jesus because He will save His people from their sins. 00:10:00.279 --> 00:10:06.639 And so we find God speaking into His situation and Jesus Christ coming into His life and 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:09.600 Joseph's world was changed forever. 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:13.279 Let's not pretend that Joseph's life from this point on would have been great. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:16.560 Whoop, he's the father of the Messiah. 00:10:16.560 --> 00:10:17.560 Things must have been great. 00:10:17.559 --> 00:10:21.839 There have been many tough times ahead if He had been given a message from an angel 00:10:21.839 --> 00:10:26.159 of God to assure him that what had been spoken to Mary was true. 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:30.799 We can almost guarantee that all the people around about weren't given that. 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:35.879 There would have been a lot of nudging and winking at Mary and Joseph as Mary became 00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:37.319 more pregnant. 00:10:37.319 --> 00:10:42.519 And even who knows if they spoke of the situation, I doubt much they did. 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:49.279 But there would have been many difficult and problematic times ahead for them as He trusted 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:51.879 and obeyed and we're told that He does that. 00:10:51.879 --> 00:10:57.759 He does exactly what the Lord commands Him in the dream and He follows that through. 00:10:57.759 --> 00:11:00.519 His life was turned upside down. 00:11:00.519 --> 00:11:07.159 And I think Jesus in our lives elicits the same response. 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:14.279 Here we're Christians for 30 years and 50 years or five months or whoever we might be. 00:11:14.279 --> 00:11:20.439 Jesus in our lives isn't a casual happenstance and isn't a sidebar. 00:11:20.439 --> 00:11:26.399 As we truly understand who Jesus is, then He will continue to turn our lives upside 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:27.399 down. 00:11:27.399 --> 00:11:29.600 There will be that ongoing reality. 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:30.600 Why is that? 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:32.639 Because God is with us. 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:35.240 That's a huge reality and a huge truth. 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:41.600 Emmanuel God with us, we become as Christians part of His family. 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:49.879 We have opened in our lives a closed door, a door that sin closes and that our own reticence 00:11:49.879 --> 00:11:53.320 and rebellion against God has kept firmly closed. 00:11:53.320 --> 00:11:57.560 That in Christ when we come to faith in Christ, when He comes into our lives, it's like a 00:11:57.560 --> 00:12:03.159 spiritual pandora's box is opened into our lives and we know divine intimacy. 00:12:03.159 --> 00:12:06.480 We've never known that before, that turns our lives upside down. 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:09.639 It turns our decision making processes upside down. 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:11.959 We have the indwelling of His Spirit. 00:12:11.959 --> 00:12:14.639 We have forgiveness and we have life. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:19.919 And therefore His work in us is to turn, continually turn our lives upside down because that's 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:20.919 what He does. 00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:24.079 It's not that we look at our lives and we think, we look at the calendars and we go back 00:12:24.079 --> 00:12:30.159 and, well, 27 years ago I made a decision to follow Jesus. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:34.199 I'm a Christian and that's it. 00:12:34.199 --> 00:12:38.199 But there's this continual reality of knowing and being in the presence of and being in 00:12:38.199 --> 00:12:41.919 relationship with Jesus Christ that He's turning our lives upside down. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:47.519 He's changing our hearts desires, our choices, our priorities, our attitudes. 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:54.240 And He's always setting us a war with our own deep seated and sinful desire for autonomy. 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:58.959 I've said it often here in the last few months, the deepest, the biggest, the most challenging 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:03.200 prayer that we ever make is not my will but yours be done. 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:07.480 That's always the hardest prayer that we ever make because we spend our lives really battling 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:10.600 with doing our own will and doing what we want. 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:14.920 And He's saying to us, as He did in Gethsemane in that passage that we looked at a few weeks 00:13:14.920 --> 00:13:18.800 ago and sung about, these are the most... 00:13:18.800 --> 00:13:22.920 That prayer is the most explosive and the most life-changing prayer that we will ever 00:13:22.920 --> 00:13:23.920 make. 00:13:23.920 --> 00:13:24.920 It's very simple, isn't it? 00:13:24.920 --> 00:13:27.040 But it is very profound and life-changing. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:32.919 So Jesus, I think we find and see from this account that Jesus, when He comes into our 00:13:32.919 --> 00:13:34.639 lives, turns our lives upside down. 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:39.719 You see in the second place, we'll look at four things that He does here. 00:13:39.719 --> 00:13:47.120 Second place is He speaks, some of this will kind of dovetail in together from previous 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:48.120 ones. 00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:49.120 He speaks into your life. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:51.639 And we see that in this account very clearly. 00:13:51.639 --> 00:13:55.120 He speaks to Joseph. 00:13:55.120 --> 00:14:00.200 Joseph was confused, circumstances had changed forever. 00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:01.679 This wasn't the plan he had for his life. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:03.840 This wasn't one that he was looking for. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:10.720 And God comes in and speaks to Him through an angel and says, do not fear to take Mary 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:19.519 as your wife for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit, confirming what 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:23.279 Mary had said herself separately to Him. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:27.079 And so the angel is sent to comfort and to explain. 00:14:27.079 --> 00:14:35.079 You know, God could have chosen to leave Him with Mary's explanation. 00:14:35.079 --> 00:14:37.120 He could have done that. 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:44.079 But we see here, and we also see in the passage that we read, that God speaks in very many 00:14:44.079 --> 00:14:50.559 different ways in a sense into Joseph's situation. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:53.839 He speaks through the genealogy. 00:14:53.839 --> 00:14:56.000 We spoke about the genealogy last week. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:01.279 That would have in time spoken into Joseph's life as he thought about who Jesus was and 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:03.319 the line that he came from. 00:15:03.319 --> 00:15:05.759 He speaks directly through his word. 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:09.959 And he also speaks through dreams and through an angel. 00:15:09.959 --> 00:15:14.879 And ultimately through Jesus' own birth and young life. 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:20.639 God spoke into Joseph's life as well as his life being turned upside down, and we see 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:28.200 that moving forward in the journey to Egypt and all these things, even in his early life. 00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:34.320 And of course, Joseph obeyed what God said, and that brought huge consequences into his 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:36.639 life. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:40.000 And our God still speaks. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:43.159 When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we recognize that. 00:15:43.159 --> 00:15:49.639 And it's one of the biggest realities of being Christian for us, is that God, when we wondered, 00:15:49.639 --> 00:15:54.639 you know, how on earth do any people believe in Jesus, God never speaks. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:58.039 We find as Christians that God speaks into our lives. 00:15:58.039 --> 00:16:00.759 He speaks into our fears. 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:02.480 Do not fear Joseph. 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:03.519 And he speaks into our fears. 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:04.519 He knows us. 00:16:04.519 --> 00:16:06.519 And he knows what we need to hear. 00:16:06.519 --> 00:16:09.199 He knows what's important for us to hear. 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:15.560 When he speaks into our lives as Christians, as individuals, he brings words of hope, of 00:16:15.560 --> 00:16:23.160 comfort, of challenge, of rebuke even, because our God is a personal God that we enter into 00:16:23.160 --> 00:16:26.879 a personal relationship with through Jesus Christ. 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:28.879 He's a relational God. 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:34.120 You know, if there's one way we could describe God, we could describe Him as a communicating 00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:35.560 God, isn't it? 00:16:35.560 --> 00:16:37.640 We could say that's who He is. 00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:43.879 He speaks the world into being in Genesis 1 verse, you know, it starts with the Word 00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:44.879 of God. 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:48.159 It starts with Him communicating and speaking. 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:53.159 He speaks in the Word of God, the Bible that we have completed for us, His message. 00:16:53.159 --> 00:16:59.840 So it has weight, and it has authority and significance as He unfolds His laws of love, 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:05.879 unfolds the spiritual problem and difficulty and battle and struggles that have led to 00:17:05.880 --> 00:17:08.680 Jesus Christ in salvation. 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:16.120 It speaks of His redemptive story, His rescue, which we sung about in Psalm 130. 00:17:16.120 --> 00:17:20.680 And Jesus Himself, as it were, is the divine amplifier. 00:17:20.680 --> 00:17:25.440 You know, if we wonder about God speaking, we find it most clearly in the person of Jesus. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:27.720 That is God speaking powerfully. 00:17:27.720 --> 00:17:33.640 And the question is, are we listening to Him, particularly in our lives as Christians? 00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:35.520 Because He speaks to us. 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:38.079 He speaks to us through Jesus, through His Word. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:41.279 He speaks to us in worship when we come together like this. 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:45.279 He speaks to us in our circumstances, as He did with Joseph. 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:51.519 He speaks to us when other Christians give us advice and comfort and strength and pray 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:52.519 for us. 00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:54.720 He speaks to us in our conscience. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:59.240 He speaks, the Holy Spirit speaks through all of these means to our lives. 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:03.319 I even believe He speaks in dreams and will send angels. 00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:08.919 And I think it happens very often, but I'm not going to discount that because it's in 00:18:08.919 --> 00:18:10.279 Scripture here. 00:18:10.279 --> 00:18:12.679 He certainly can do that. 00:18:12.679 --> 00:18:14.200 And if they need a rose, He would. 00:18:14.200 --> 00:18:18.279 But He's given us a completed Word, which really speaks all we need to know. 00:18:18.279 --> 00:18:20.639 There's a dreadful darkness. 00:18:20.639 --> 00:18:23.480 Come on, you notice that? 00:18:23.480 --> 00:18:24.480 Clouds are black. 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:25.480 It's very looming. 00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:27.159 I hope you're listening. 00:18:27.159 --> 00:18:30.759 He speaks through all of these things. 00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:35.359 Maybe you are just sneaking off to sleep, and He's made it dark so that you're forced 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:37.240 to listen again. 00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:42.200 Never, but anything that He does speak to us, maybe in these unconventional ways, will 00:18:42.200 --> 00:18:47.359 never contradict what He's already revealed in His Word, which is His final Word to us. 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:49.879 You know, it's economical, isn't it? 00:18:49.879 --> 00:18:51.079 It's a need to know basis. 00:18:51.079 --> 00:18:53.200 It doesn't tell us all things. 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:58.720 Much of what we need to know comes through that relationship with Him, through the wisdom 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:03.519 of that relationship, of learning from Him, of relationship with the Holy Spirit. 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:11.920 And so our walk of faith, therefore, as Christians, is to be characterised by communication with 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:18.799 the divine being, with the living God, with Jesus Christ, listening, trusting, and from 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:19.799 that obeying. 00:19:19.799 --> 00:19:23.120 It's a dirty word today, but it's an important word. 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:28.679 We find that Joseph, with a little knowledge he had, was quick to obey and follow what he 00:19:28.679 --> 00:19:39.119 was told, and sin is what makes us truth-deaf, tone-deaf to the voice of God in our lives, 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:40.119 God-deaf. 00:19:40.119 --> 00:19:41.119 And it's a developing art. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:44.119 It's something that... 00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:45.479 It doesn't come naturally. 00:19:45.479 --> 00:19:47.839 It's not easy for us to listen to the voice of God. 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:51.359 We often rebel against that. 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:54.039 It does take time and intentionality. 00:19:54.039 --> 00:19:58.519 So think back to this week, this last week that you've had. 00:19:58.519 --> 00:20:01.439 As a Christian, think back to this last week. 00:20:01.439 --> 00:20:04.359 Have you had an open Bible? 00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:06.399 Have we allowed the Spirit to be leading us? 00:20:06.399 --> 00:20:10.799 Are we listening for Him in all of these circumstances in His Word? 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:17.439 Are we obeying when He does reveal His truth, even when that is difficult, taking God to 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:24.320 His Word, because when we do, it turns our world upside down. 00:20:24.320 --> 00:20:31.240 That's the challenging reality, because His Word is generally nothing like the Word of 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:38.559 the voices around us in society, and sometimes the well-up within our own sometimes selfish 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:40.440 hearts as well. 00:20:40.440 --> 00:20:43.360 And that is a huge challenge for us. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:48.039 And yet, we recognize His grace and His forgiveness and His love. 00:20:48.039 --> 00:20:53.279 So He speaks into your life when He turns it upside down. 00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:54.279 But I also... 00:20:54.279 --> 00:20:55.279 I think He... 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:57.759 I believe He triggers questions in our life. 00:20:57.759 --> 00:20:59.599 That's the third thing I want to say. 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:00.599 He triggers questions. 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:02.479 And I hope that's the case. 00:21:02.479 --> 00:21:09.959 Now, we're not told here, and I hope you don't think I'm interpreting into the situation 00:21:09.959 --> 00:21:12.319 something that's not there. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:20.119 I am, but I'm doing it on, I hope, a biblical basis, because Joseph's questions aren't recorded 00:21:20.119 --> 00:21:21.119 here. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:23.079 I'm sure he had many questions. 00:21:23.079 --> 00:21:27.720 Even the answer of the angel, you know, do not fear, you know, don't be afraid to go 00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:28.720 ahead. 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:32.799 He must have had questions about what he was going to do with Mary and the whole situation, 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:35.119 although it's not recorded, it's minimalist. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:41.839 But if we go to the Luke account and the same event happening with Mary, then she has got 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:42.839 questions. 00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:46.480 And these questions are verbalized and they're recorded for us. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:52.759 And as we read the story, we should also have questions. 00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:57.720 If you have read this story today and you don't have any questions, then I think you 00:21:57.720 --> 00:22:02.480 should probably be challenged a little bit by that, because a story like this should 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:06.519 bring up for us lots of different questions. 00:22:06.519 --> 00:22:07.759 And maybe you've asked some of them today. 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:13.839 Maybe if they're factual questions, you know, well, why does it speak about Joseph divorcing 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:14.839 Mary? 00:22:14.839 --> 00:22:16.559 He wasn't even married to Mary at this point. 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:19.000 Why does the Bible contradict himself in this way? 00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:23.319 Now that's because marriage and the whole circumstance was different in the Middle East. 00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:29.920 And when you were betrothed to a woman for a year before the marriage, it was much more 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:35.200 significant than a UK engagement, as we would have it today. 00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:43.200 It needed a certificate of divorce to be broken, and it was a hugely significant and important 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:44.580 time. 00:22:44.580 --> 00:22:47.160 So you would maybe ask that question. 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:48.160 Or why? 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:49.759 Why was Jesus, maybe you're asking why? 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:53.160 Factually, why then was Jesus not called Emmanuel? 00:22:53.160 --> 00:22:55.039 Why is He called Jesus and not Emmanuel? 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:58.120 Because we're told here that the prophecy from the Old Testament, and they shall call 00:22:58.120 --> 00:22:59.120 His name Emmanuel. 00:22:59.120 --> 00:23:04.360 He's not called Emmanuel. 00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:07.439 But it's also told to us that He shall have a name. 00:23:07.439 --> 00:23:09.639 The angel says, and His name shall be Jesus. 00:23:09.639 --> 00:23:12.279 He will save His people from his sins. 00:23:12.279 --> 00:23:16.699 And in the Old Testament tradition, we recognize and find out that sometimes names are given 00:23:16.699 --> 00:23:22.799 because it describes their work, or it describes more about them. 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:27.759 It describes their nature rather than their given name, the name that they was called. 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:33.519 Now we see that from Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6, because after the passage that you 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:37.119 have read, there's a little bit more about this promised Son from to us as a child is 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:38.119 born. 00:23:38.119 --> 00:23:39.119 We often read it at this time of year. 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:41.680 The Son is given and the government shall be going to show this. 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:46.400 His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:47.400 Peace. 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:49.839 Now we don't call Jesus these names. 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:53.799 He didn't go into the carpenter shop and say, well, I wonder, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, 00:23:53.799 --> 00:23:56.000 Prince of Peace, will you make something for me? 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:57.319 That wasn't the name He was given. 00:23:57.319 --> 00:23:59.519 Jesus was what He was called. 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:06.200 But these names described, and here He is described as Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Everlasting 00:24:06.200 --> 00:24:07.200 Father. 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:13.480 This is no sidebar individual. 00:24:13.480 --> 00:24:19.000 So maybe a factual question or maybe a theological question, Virgin Birth. 00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:20.000 Really? 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:22.119 A Virgin Birth? 00:24:22.119 --> 00:24:23.680 Can you really expect me to believe that? 00:24:23.680 --> 00:24:29.840 Is that not just a conglomeration of other kind of myth stories from around that time 00:24:29.840 --> 00:24:32.600 that God would be born of a virgin? 00:24:32.600 --> 00:24:35.880 Why do we need a virgin birth? 00:24:35.880 --> 00:24:38.840 So weird, it's so out of the ordinary. 00:24:38.840 --> 00:24:46.840 I think it's only weird to us if we disbelieve that God who by the Word of His power created 00:24:46.840 --> 00:24:51.519 the universe, and if we discount all the miracles of the Bible, or if we think God is 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:57.759 just a little bit better than us, but surely not good enough to create life in the womb 00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:02.759 uniquely and miraculously, He's infinite and omnipotent. 00:25:02.759 --> 00:25:05.440 But why? 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:07.879 Why does there need to be a virgin birth? 00:25:07.879 --> 00:25:10.799 Does it really matter if that's true or not? 00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:12.799 Yes, it does. 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:18.920 It matters because the Bible tells us it matters, the Bible records it, but it's also matter 00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:21.600 because it matters because it reminds us who He is. 00:25:21.600 --> 00:25:26.360 He's truly human, but He's also truly divine. 00:25:26.360 --> 00:25:28.039 He's the Son of... 00:25:28.039 --> 00:25:36.200 He comes from the genetic DNA code of Mary, but He's also God who comes, God the Son who 00:25:36.200 --> 00:25:40.200 comes, and that matters because of who He is. 00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:43.320 He's unique, absolutely unique, and it breaks... 00:25:43.320 --> 00:25:48.360 It also breaks the reality of inheriting a sinful nature from our fallen humanity. 00:25:48.359 --> 00:25:55.039 Maybe Jesus is spotless and innocent from God, but connected intimately with humanity 00:25:55.039 --> 00:26:02.319 through the umbilical cord of Mary, and the virgin birth testifies to that. 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:03.319 So you may have feel it. 00:26:03.319 --> 00:26:05.359 And I'm presuming you might have questions. 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:06.359 I'm... 00:26:06.359 --> 00:26:08.039 That's one of the problems of preaching, isn't it? 00:26:08.039 --> 00:26:09.039 I'm presuming on the question. 00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:13.719 You may have completely different questions, but that my prerogative is to ask the questions 00:26:13.719 --> 00:26:17.919 you may not be asking or may be asking today. 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:22.680 Maybe you have biblical questions about the Old Testament prophecy that you and I read 00:26:22.680 --> 00:26:24.840 about this... 00:26:24.840 --> 00:26:29.920 You will be a child, the virgin will be a child and give birth to a son, and they shall 00:26:29.920 --> 00:26:31.560 call his name Emmanuel. 00:26:31.560 --> 00:26:36.720 Well, who was Isaiah speaking about and who was it fulfilled with in the original context 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:41.600 because we usually find that there's a close fulfillment in Isaiah's time. 00:26:41.600 --> 00:26:44.160 In fact, the prophecy is timed. 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:47.240 It's given within a certain time that it will be fulfilled. 00:26:47.240 --> 00:26:51.759 And then there's a fuller prophecy in the person of Jesus in many of these prophecies. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:54.079 Well, there's lots of different questions. 00:26:54.079 --> 00:26:57.640 We don't have time to go into that because it's an idea that there's no real answers 00:26:57.640 --> 00:27:00.680 to definitive answers. 00:27:00.680 --> 00:27:08.200 But it may well have been that Isaiah was speaking to King Ahaz who was afraid of all 00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:14.039 the surrounding nations that were going to swallow up the people of God, and they were 00:27:14.039 --> 00:27:21.159 tempted to get into a union with these nations and follow their gods and forget who the living 00:27:21.159 --> 00:27:23.119 God was that God was with them. 00:27:23.119 --> 00:27:29.559 And it could be that it speaks about King Ahaz's son, Hezekiah, who was a good and godly 00:27:29.559 --> 00:27:36.279 king who was evidence that God was still with his people and would redeem them if only 00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:38.159 they would listen to him. 00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:45.680 Because these nations that almost overwhelmed Israel and Judah, they were great and powerful 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:48.920 nations but they all fell. 00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:52.240 But God was faithful and God was with them. 00:27:52.240 --> 00:27:58.080 But the ultimate fulfillment is in the person of Jesus because Matthew, inspired by the 00:27:58.080 --> 00:28:02.240 Holy Spirit, gives us that fulfillment. 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:07.320 Matthew takes the word for virgin and its literal meaning to apply to Mary. 00:28:07.319 --> 00:28:11.079 And interestingly, Matthew, remember, if you weren't here you wouldn't remember, but 00:28:11.079 --> 00:28:16.799 last week we said that Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew was written originally to a Jewish 00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:19.639 audience who knew that they would have known the Old Testament. 00:28:19.639 --> 00:28:23.799 And it's interesting if you see verse 22 it says, And all this took place to fulfill 00:28:23.799 --> 00:28:25.919 what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. 00:28:25.919 --> 00:28:31.159 Now he says that 12 times in this Gospel, and all this, exactly the same formula, all 00:28:31.159 --> 00:28:34.519 this was took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. 00:28:34.519 --> 00:28:39.720 Because he knew the people knew the Old Testament and he knew that Jesus wasn't just someone 00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:43.480 who had happened to come along, he was a fulfillment of prophecy. 00:28:43.480 --> 00:28:45.879 And that's the story that we are given. 00:28:45.879 --> 00:28:51.680 And we recognize and see that there's a reason for this Old Testament prophecy. 00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:53.359 So you may have biblical questions, you may not. 00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:55.359 But you also may have personal questions. 00:28:55.359 --> 00:29:00.480 You may have come today with many personal questions, many doubts, many fears. 00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:03.559 You know, your own life, your own life of faith. 00:29:03.559 --> 00:29:07.240 You're not a believer and you've come with many questions. 00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:11.480 But as a believer maybe it baffling circumstances. 00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:16.319 If things that fill you with great fear, whether it's health or circumstances or relationships, 00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:20.279 and you have no answers, and you say, Well God's turned my life upside down, but I didn't 00:29:20.279 --> 00:29:22.119 expect it to be like this. 00:29:22.119 --> 00:29:25.720 I expected it to be much easier. 00:29:25.720 --> 00:29:28.639 It's good to have questions. 00:29:28.639 --> 00:29:30.639 And if you're not a believer here, it's good that you have questions. 00:29:30.639 --> 00:29:32.599 I would expect you to have questions. 00:29:32.599 --> 00:29:39.359 I'm very happy that all of us should have questions in our lives, especially about God, 00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:41.839 because God is different from us. 00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:48.199 And if we're sitting just casually taking and everything, but letting it swill over 00:29:48.199 --> 00:29:53.679 our brains and our heads and our minds and our lives, then we have to ask ourselves whether 00:29:53.679 --> 00:29:57.639 we understand and know who this God is. 00:29:57.639 --> 00:30:01.039 Because it's what we do with our questions that's always important. 00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:02.559 It's how we learn, isn't it? 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:03.559 Our children learn. 00:30:03.559 --> 00:30:05.359 They ask lots of questions. 00:30:05.359 --> 00:30:08.759 I'm glad when children ask questions because they're learning. 00:30:08.759 --> 00:30:13.279 Sometimes it might seem that they're questioning truth, but they're just really learning. 00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:16.480 They're wanting to know and they're wanting to hear your answers. 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:20.919 And we take our questions and we ask one another about them. 00:30:20.919 --> 00:30:22.519 We ask God about them. 00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:29.079 We develop faith and trust in our relationship with them, especially when my way seems much 00:30:29.079 --> 00:30:33.559 easier and better than God's, and we have lots of questions. 00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:39.199 Take them to Him and be accountable to one another so that we can learn from each other's 00:30:39.199 --> 00:30:40.879 experiences about God. 00:30:40.879 --> 00:30:46.019 Grow and learn and trust and pray these roots where we're sending our roots to the living 00:30:46.019 --> 00:30:51.879 water and the questions we take to Him also. 00:30:51.880 --> 00:31:01.120 And the last thing I want to say about this passage which reflects Jesus coming into our 00:31:01.120 --> 00:31:05.240 lives is that He's the one who rescues our lives. 00:31:05.240 --> 00:31:09.040 Such a beautiful and simple description of His name. 00:31:09.040 --> 00:31:10.040 She will bear a son. 00:31:10.040 --> 00:31:15.520 You will call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from His sins. 00:31:15.520 --> 00:31:19.880 Jesus is the same name in the Old Testament Hebrew word named Joshua. 00:31:19.880 --> 00:31:24.040 Joshua just means God saves or God rescues. 00:31:24.040 --> 00:31:26.800 It's what we sung about in Psalm 130. 00:31:26.800 --> 00:31:30.960 This was the great longing that they had for a God who would come and save them. 00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:33.800 They didn't know what it would look like. 00:31:33.800 --> 00:31:35.160 God redeems. 00:31:35.160 --> 00:31:37.720 God saves His people from their sins. 00:31:37.720 --> 00:31:40.240 And really that's great for us, isn't it? 00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:43.720 Because that's the picture of Jesus Christ. 00:31:43.720 --> 00:31:47.400 That's the, you know, if you were asked a million different questions about who Jesus 00:31:47.400 --> 00:31:52.280 is and what He's like and how important, this is the key reality for it, is it's the central 00:31:52.280 --> 00:31:54.240 theme of the gospel. 00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:55.240 Not just for us. 00:31:55.240 --> 00:31:59.200 For the whole of humanity, it's that Jesus is the one who saves His people and all of 00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:01.920 the world are His people from their sins. 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:04.080 It's the need for redemption. 00:32:04.080 --> 00:32:08.200 That's the important truth of the gospel for all of us in our lives. 00:32:08.200 --> 00:32:10.440 And it's the theme of so much of life. 00:32:10.440 --> 00:32:14.360 It's the theme of so much of life even without God, isn't it? 00:32:14.359 --> 00:32:24.679 Going back, finding significance, putting wrong things right, having meaning and purpose, 00:32:24.679 --> 00:32:31.240 rescuing a seemingly meaningless life to give it purpose and direction and not just be abstract 00:32:31.240 --> 00:32:35.559 and purposeless for the few short years we're here. 00:32:35.559 --> 00:32:44.319 It might express itself in saving society politically, environmentally, relationally, 00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:45.319 socially. 00:32:45.319 --> 00:32:50.039 There's lots of different ways in which this world just shadows out this truth of needing 00:32:50.039 --> 00:32:58.839 redemption and needing rescue and needing purpose and significance, finding worth and 00:32:58.839 --> 00:33:02.519 meaning in our often short and broken lives. 00:33:02.519 --> 00:33:06.960 And that is the great truth in reality of the gospel message for us. 00:33:06.960 --> 00:33:13.799 That Jesus is the one who tells us that and reminds us that we are people who need rescued. 00:33:13.799 --> 00:33:14.879 We need a rescuer. 00:33:14.879 --> 00:33:16.559 We need a Savior. 00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:20.279 We try and find in ourselves and in a million different ways. 00:33:20.279 --> 00:33:25.079 But Jesus points to Himself as the answer. 00:33:25.079 --> 00:33:29.000 The ultimate answer to all these questions is towards God. 00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:35.160 Is that we need a Savior towards God, we need a redeemed and rescued towards God again, 00:33:35.160 --> 00:33:41.119 who's the author of our life, from our rebellion and from our sin that separates us from His 00:33:41.119 --> 00:33:43.039 love and from His life. 00:33:43.039 --> 00:33:47.599 That's what we need rescued from, the sin that separates us and introduces the misery 00:33:47.599 --> 00:33:51.880 of death into our existence and eternal separation from Him. 00:33:51.880 --> 00:33:58.599 Jesus Christ makes the angel on His behalf, but Jesus confirms it in a million different 00:33:58.599 --> 00:34:00.319 ways in His life. 00:34:00.319 --> 00:34:07.000 He claims to be the only one who can do this for all of humanity, for anyone you meet, 00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:12.679 for the most irreligious or the most religious or the person you think least likely to. 00:34:12.679 --> 00:34:19.759 He says, you know, He's the only one that can make this claim of Himself to save you 00:34:19.759 --> 00:34:21.799 from your sins. 00:34:21.799 --> 00:34:25.639 You know, when He healed that man that came through the roof, He said, you know, what's 00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:31.199 it either to say rise up and walk or son, your sins are forgiven you. 00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:35.480 He's a madman, if you could say that. 00:34:35.480 --> 00:34:39.239 You see, both of these things, but particularly your sins are forgiven you can say that, but 00:34:39.239 --> 00:34:42.799 God alone, nobody else can say that. 00:34:42.799 --> 00:34:47.839 And that's what Gethsemane and Golgotha speaks about, is He paid the price. 00:34:47.839 --> 00:34:51.279 So He could be the one who makes that stamp and that seal in their lives. 00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:56.280 It's true, but when His love came in town with Jesus Christ, and He comes with that great 00:34:56.280 --> 00:35:04.040 love and that great commitment to be able to forgive us from our sins and give us that 00:35:04.040 --> 00:35:09.160 identity and purpose and redemption and rescue that we need. 00:35:09.160 --> 00:35:11.080 Wild claims, aren't they? 00:35:11.080 --> 00:35:12.080 Wild claims. 00:35:12.080 --> 00:35:13.080 Beautifully wild. 00:35:13.080 --> 00:35:16.920 There's no one that could come near that in your life. 00:35:16.920 --> 00:35:20.680 You'll never hear a message like that anywhere else in this world. 00:35:20.679 --> 00:35:24.279 Nobody can make that claim. 00:35:24.279 --> 00:35:30.119 And so I guess if you're walking by, if you don't believe that, then can I simply ask 00:35:30.119 --> 00:35:33.759 today, if you're not a believer, it's great, it's really great that you're here. 00:35:33.759 --> 00:35:35.839 We love the fact that you're here. 00:35:35.839 --> 00:35:36.839 It's great. 00:35:36.839 --> 00:35:39.079 We don't take that for granted at all. 00:35:39.079 --> 00:35:44.639 But can I ask you just to question what it is you struggle with? 00:35:44.639 --> 00:35:49.679 Question whether you feel that the idea of accountability to God is something that you 00:35:49.679 --> 00:35:51.440 find very difficult. 00:35:51.440 --> 00:35:55.839 The idea of needing someone outside yourself as a Savior, or maybe you don't feel you need 00:35:55.839 --> 00:35:58.399 to be rescued. 00:35:58.399 --> 00:36:06.719 The whole idea of attributing your sin or your imperfections and your imminent death sooner 00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:14.279 or later to having a spiritual dimension. 00:36:14.279 --> 00:36:17.960 Can I ask you just to consider these questions and what Jesus says about it? 00:36:17.960 --> 00:36:22.440 Or maybe it's something that you're here and you're desperate to be rescued. 00:36:22.440 --> 00:36:25.360 You're desperate for forgiveness and for a new start. 00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:26.639 And you just don't know how. 00:36:26.639 --> 00:36:32.559 Well, can I ask you, there's no salvation in the church or in relationships with people, 00:36:32.559 --> 00:36:35.400 however important and significant they are. 00:36:35.400 --> 00:36:41.280 Can I ask you just to consider Jesus Christ and his claims, recognizing we come, we all 00:36:41.280 --> 00:36:46.440 struggle and we all have battles and we all have difficulties. 00:36:46.440 --> 00:36:49.800 What he has made for us as Christians is the greatest change we could ever dream of in our 00:36:49.800 --> 00:36:55.320 lives and we implore you to consider him for who he is. 00:36:55.320 --> 00:37:00.960 If you're struggling as a Christian, and who of us aren't to a greater or lesser degree, 00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:05.440 can I ask you to go back to basics with Jesus and remember the bigger story? 00:37:05.440 --> 00:37:09.840 Take your questions again to him, cry out to him. 00:37:09.840 --> 00:37:11.720 Remember what he says, I am with you. 00:37:11.719 --> 00:37:18.439 I'm with you till the end of the age, not just in his intellectual knowledge of who 00:37:18.439 --> 00:37:19.439 he is. 00:37:19.439 --> 00:37:21.359 He says, I've given you my spirit. 00:37:21.359 --> 00:37:23.879 I'm with you in your conscience, in your heart. 00:37:23.879 --> 00:37:29.879 I'm with you because your sin was with me on the cross and I've done with it, I've paid 00:37:29.879 --> 00:37:30.879 the price for it. 00:37:30.879 --> 00:37:32.279 So I will never leave you. 00:37:32.279 --> 00:37:34.279 He says, I'll never forsake you. 00:37:34.279 --> 00:37:36.839 In your death bed, I will not forsake you. 00:37:36.839 --> 00:37:40.279 I will take you through these things. 00:37:40.280 --> 00:37:44.280 I'll take you through and you will always know me and you will always be with me. 00:37:44.280 --> 00:37:52.720 And so in our struggles, can we say we will obey him when his will just seems so contrary 00:37:52.720 --> 00:37:53.720 to what we were? 00:37:53.720 --> 00:38:00.000 Remember back to Joseph, remember to the beginning again, and his life being turned upside down, 00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:07.360 but when the angel spoke to him, you know, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded. 00:38:07.360 --> 00:38:12.200 And can that be the simple walk of life that we have, that we do simply what he asked us? 00:38:12.200 --> 00:38:18.960 Not because we're compliant and thoughtless and willing to be dictated to, but because 00:38:18.960 --> 00:38:19.960 he's good. 00:38:19.960 --> 00:38:28.000 But he's good and because he's God, and he's worth obeying at that level. 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:33.400 And if you're walking by faith, maybe not struggling today as a Christian, and I just 00:38:33.400 --> 00:38:40.000 encourage you to stay close to him, to give thanks for the many, many things that we have, 00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:47.680 but to continue to expect your life to be turned upside down. 00:38:47.680 --> 00:38:51.360 Don't become complacent and thankfulness. 00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:56.519 Don't think we've got to that stage where, you know, being a Christian is easy and we 00:38:56.519 --> 00:39:00.360 just go from week to week and we don't change that much. 00:39:00.360 --> 00:39:05.000 And yeah, I became a believer a long time ago and it's just what I am. 00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:13.440 Expect him to turn your life upside down every day, your heart, your emotions, your will, 00:39:13.440 --> 00:39:16.039 your desires, your longings. 00:39:16.039 --> 00:39:21.360 Let him keep, the older we get in a sense, the more we should feel him turning our lives 00:39:21.360 --> 00:39:22.360 upside down. 00:39:22.360 --> 00:39:27.519 That's a great thing because we know the dark, we know our heart, the darkness of our heart 00:39:27.519 --> 00:39:31.039 more and we are more aware of the beauty of his light. 00:39:31.039 --> 00:39:40.000 And so there should be a deeper revelation going on in our hearts the older we are. 00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:46.159 Know that and know that he loves you enough, much more than you'll ever imagine and enough 00:39:46.159 --> 00:39:51.759 to keep you going and keep you through and transform you into his likeness. 00:39:51.759 --> 00:39:52.759 Let's pray. 00:39:52.760 --> 00:39:57.920 Father God, we ask and pray that you would help us to understand who you are. 00:39:57.920 --> 00:40:03.480 Forgive us when we just shrink you down to a really small size and make you one that 00:40:03.480 --> 00:40:09.640 we can ignore and run from and reject and rebel from. 00:40:09.640 --> 00:40:16.440 And yet the Psalms so often speak to us of the psalmist who is crying and wrestling and 00:40:16.440 --> 00:40:21.360 angry and frustrated but he takes them to the Lord and his heart is softened and changed 00:40:21.360 --> 00:40:22.360 and moved. 00:40:22.360 --> 00:40:26.480 So may we see what we experience and may we know the beauty of our lives being turned 00:40:26.480 --> 00:40:28.800 upside down. 00:40:28.800 --> 00:40:33.400 Sometimes with the fear that goes with that but we know that there's no peace like the 00:40:33.400 --> 00:40:35.400 peace of a graveyard. 00:40:35.400 --> 00:40:41.760 And so may we not seek peace at all costs but may we seek truth and may we seek his 00:40:41.760 --> 00:40:47.480 peace which is different from the peace of a graveyard and is a piece of revolution and 00:40:47.480 --> 00:40:50.280 of radical transformation. 00:40:50.280 --> 00:40:52.400 We ask it in Jesus' name. 00:40:52.400 --> 00:41:21.400 Amen.