WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.879 series in Advent this morning in the Gospel of Matthew. We're going to look at the second half 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:10.200 of Matthew chapter 2. That's page 807 in the Pew Bible, if you want to turn there. 00:00:10.939 --> 00:00:13.700 Matthew chapter 2, we're going to look at verses 13 through 23. 00:00:22.980 --> 00:00:24.980 As we're turning there, let me pray for us. 00:00:24.980 --> 00:00:32.520 God, indeed, heaven and earth cannot contain you. 00:00:35.100 --> 00:00:39.020 And Lord Jesus, when you come to reign, every knee will bow and every tongue confess 00:00:39.020 --> 00:00:47.159 that you are Lord. And so now as we gather on this crisp morning around your word, 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:52.840 we pray that our hearts would be warmed as your spirit takes his word. 00:00:54.979 --> 00:00:58.279 And it opens our hearts and our minds to the reality of who you are, God, 00:00:58.419 --> 00:01:00.019 and what you've done for us in your Son. 00:01:01.559 --> 00:01:08.179 Lord, make these things real to us so that we might go forth today as your people, 00:01:08.939 --> 00:01:15.120 as your servant people in the world, carrying forth the glad tidings of the Gospel of grace and peace 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:17.900 into this world that you have made and that you love. 00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:20.259 Lord, we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:01:20.260 --> 00:01:25.320 So Matthew chapter 2, verses 13 through 23. Let me read this for us. 00:01:27.320 --> 00:01:32.660 Now, when they, that is the wise men, had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph 00:01:32.660 --> 00:01:39.120 in a dream and said, Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:45.000 tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. And he rose and took the child 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.239 and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. 00:01:50.060 --> 00:01:55.099 This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, out of Egypt, I called my son. 00:01:56.760 --> 00:02:02.680 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious and sent and killed 00:02:02.680 --> 00:02:06.939 all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:10.300 according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 00:02:10.300 --> 00:02:17.120 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Ramah, 00:02:17.340 --> 00:02:23.520 weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:30.780 they are no more. But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph 00:02:30.780 --> 00:02:36.320 in Egypt saying, Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel for those who sought 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:42.019 the child's life are dead. And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:46.539 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father Herod, 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:50.819 he was afraid to go there and being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:57.419 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be 00:02:57.419 --> 00:03:01.500 fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene. 00:03:05.500 --> 00:03:11.659 So I don't know about you, but I think Christmas time is a time when it's easy to become sentimental, 00:03:12.599 --> 00:03:19.560 isn't it? It seems like Christmas is the one holiday that just by the force of it seems to be a very 00:03:19.560 --> 00:03:25.659 sentimental time. I know this is true for me, true confessions. One of the things that makes 00:03:25.659 --> 00:03:30.759 Christmas sentimental for me is that this was the time of year when Beth and I got engaged, 00:03:30.859 --> 00:03:36.079 actually. So, you know, Christmas is sort of swept up into my sort of story of, you know, 00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:40.319 being married and having a wife and loving her and all that good stuff. In fact, the first movie 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:45.479 that we ever went to see in the movie theater was the movie Elf with Will Ferrell. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:51.639 So we just kind of put that one on constant loop this time of year. I'm sure our kids will grow up to 00:03:51.639 --> 00:03:59.679 hate that movie. So it's easy to be sentimental around Christmas, right? And yet, and yet, 00:04:01.379 --> 00:04:07.579 doesn't life at the same time just punch holes into our sentimentality this time of year? 00:04:08.919 --> 00:04:13.639 Just yesterday, celebrating the one-year anniversary of the tragedy at Newtown, 00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:19.240 sort of taking the sentimentality of this time and just poking it through with the harsh realities 00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:26.180 of living in a fallen world. Or maybe personally, for many of us, the holidays are a time when we 00:04:26.180 --> 00:04:32.240 actually grieve and are sad because of loved ones that we've lost. You know, as we gather around with 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:36.939 family, we remember loved ones, family members that aren't here with us any longer. 00:04:36.939 --> 00:04:43.180 And I think what that means is, I mean that, I think that means that if Christmas is going to mean, 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:49.779 really mean anything for us, it's got to mean something in those gritty realities of life. It 00:04:49.779 --> 00:04:55.740 can't just be this sort of sentimental escape, but it's got to mean something in the tears. 00:04:58.180 --> 00:05:04.620 And I think what's beautiful about our text today is that it shows us that there was nothing 00:05:04.620 --> 00:05:13.519 sentimental about the first Christmas. Jesus was born into a world spiritually at war, 00:05:14.519 --> 00:05:20.819 a world where the kingdoms of Herod were raging against the kingdom of God and his anointed one. 00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:25.639 N.T. Wright, an N.T. Scholar, says this about this passage. He says, before Jesus had learned to walk 00:05:25.639 --> 00:05:33.740 and talk, he was a homeless refugee with a price on his head. Herod wants him dead. Joseph and his 00:05:33.740 --> 00:05:40.519 family have to flee at night to escape. And they go to Egypt, which was probably over a week's journey 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:46.800 to get there. They're political refugees from the very start. And the angel of the Lord tells him, 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:53.980 don't take any chances, stay there until Herod dies, and then you can come back. And as Matthew 00:05:53.980 --> 00:05:58.840 continues to tell the story, Herod, in a rage, does what seems to us the unthinkable and is the 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:06.019 unthinkable. Not knowing which child it is, he just says, kill them all. Two years old and under, 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:11.599 just put them all to death. Which from the historical sources outside of the New Testament 00:06:11.599 --> 00:06:17.139 that we have, we know that that's completely fitting for Herod's character. This is the guy who 00:06:17.139 --> 00:06:23.059 actually killed some of his own sons and killed what was reputed to be his favorite wife because 00:06:23.060 --> 00:06:28.780 he suspected them of conspiring against him. Greg mentioned some of that last week too. 00:06:32.040 --> 00:06:38.480 So this is the world that Jesus is born into. A world of violence and fear. A world where even 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:47.100 evil often seems to win. And a world where mothers weep for their lost children and find no comfort. 00:06:47.100 --> 00:06:57.500 A world just like ours. And yet against this bleak backdrop, Matthew wants us to see something 00:06:57.500 --> 00:07:03.220 critical. He wants us to see that at each step of the way in this sort of threefold narrative, 00:07:04.760 --> 00:07:11.340 in the midst of all this tension and fear and heartbreak, that scripture is being fulfilled. 00:07:11.339 --> 00:07:20.259 That God's purposes are not being thwarted no matter what Herod or anyone else might do. 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:31.639 And that in itself brings comfort. And in the end, that's what this passage comes to be about. 00:07:32.919 --> 00:07:39.939 That Christmas brings us something infinitely better than sweet sentimentality or a denial of the world's 00:07:39.939 --> 00:07:48.660 problems. No, it actually brings us comfort in the midst of tears. And it brings us hope in the midst of sorrow. 00:07:50.779 --> 00:07:56.360 Now these three sections in their fulfillment verses build on one another, I think, in order to make kind of 00:07:56.360 --> 00:08:02.899 one cumulative point about this deep and lasting comfort that Christ has come to bring us and how 00:08:02.899 --> 00:08:07.319 he's come to bring it. So this morning with the time that we have, I want to just sort of move step by 00:08:07.319 --> 00:08:13.719 step through the passage and see how it builds along. So the first one we find in verse 15. 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:20.939 Look at it there in verse 15. Joseph obeys the angel's command, flees to Egypt. 00:08:21.980 --> 00:08:26.939 And then Matthew says, this was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:30.420 Out of Egypt I called my son. 00:08:30.420 --> 00:08:36.200 Now that quotation, if you look in the footnotes of your Bible or if you're a very learned scholar of the 00:08:36.200 --> 00:08:43.820 prophets, is from Hosea chapter 11 verse 1. Now if you go back and you read that chapter of Hosea, 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:48.779 you'll see something that is kind of surprising in light of what Matthew says here. In chapter 11, 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:55.379 Hosea is clearly not looking ahead to the Messiah. He's clearly looking back to the Exodus. 00:08:55.379 --> 00:09:01.480 And the son that he's talking about there in Hosea 11 is actually a reference to the nation of Israel 00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:07.340 as a whole. And he's recounting in that chapter how God brought them out of Egypt to be his people 00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:14.220 and how despite their current rebellion and exile, he will one day roar like a lion and bring them home. 00:09:14.220 --> 00:09:23.240 So the question is, how can Jesus fulfill Hosea 11 1 when it doesn't look at all like something Hosea 00:09:23.240 --> 00:09:33.259 intended would be fulfilled? And the answer is this. When Matthew says that Jesus fulfills this text from 00:09:33.259 --> 00:09:40.019 Hosea, we have to understand that the idea of fulfillment for Matthew and for the rest of the 00:09:40.019 --> 00:09:47.120 biblical authors is a very rich and three-dimensional concept. You know, we often think about fulfillment 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:53.019 in one way, right? Scripture predicts something and then God actually causes that thing to happen in the 00:09:53.019 --> 00:09:59.600 future. Now, don't get me wrong, that is certainly true. The Old Testament predicts lots of things that 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:04.720 are fulfilled in Jesus. In fact, we saw last week how Micah 5 predicted that the birth of the Messiah 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:12.920 would be in Bethlehem. And Jesus clearly fulfills that prediction. But there's another sort of 00:10:12.920 --> 00:10:22.120 fulfillment as well. You see, the Old Testament doesn't just predict what God will do. In many 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:29.800 places, it also prefigures what God will do. Not just predicting, but prefiguring. And what I mean is that 00:10:29.800 --> 00:10:33.860 what we see as we read the pages of the Old Testament in light of the New is that there are persons 00:10:33.860 --> 00:10:40.440 or events or even objects in the history of God's, in the history of God's salvation that function 00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:48.480 as types, as signposts to a greater reality to come. Think about the Old Testament sacrifices. This is a 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:55.200 sort of great example. They were actually signposts to a greater reality, a greater sacrifice that was 00:10:55.200 --> 00:11:02.120 coming that would deal with the people's sin. And so when Matthew talks about fulfillment, 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:08.299 he can mean a prediction is coming true, or he can also mean that the greater reality has arrived. 00:11:09.060 --> 00:11:14.860 That once was just a pencil sketch is now being filled in with all of its true colors. 00:11:16.659 --> 00:11:23.460 And that is precisely the kind of fulfillment that Matthew has in mind here between Jesus and 00:11:23.460 --> 00:11:28.580 Hosea 11.1. You see, just as the Old Testament people of Israel went down to Egypt and God brought 00:11:28.580 --> 00:11:38.500 them out and called them his sons. So now Jesus, God's true son, goes down to Egypt in order to fulfill 00:11:38.500 --> 00:11:46.580 all that Israel was meant to be and do. Another way of saying this is that Matthew wants us to see Jesus 00:11:46.580 --> 00:11:56.420 as the true Israel. As their king, Jesus will repeat Israel's history in order to make things right. 00:11:56.419 --> 00:12:07.620 That where Israel had failed, where you and I had failed, Jesus is going to succeed. He comes to be our 00:12:07.620 --> 00:12:14.099 representative and he obeys and loves God perfectly and he obeys and loves his neighbor perfectly. 00:12:14.100 --> 00:12:24.279 And as our representative, whatever is true of him as the king, as the head, will be true of all those 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:27.519 who are counted among his people who are united to him. 00:12:29.980 --> 00:12:33.940 Now we see a clear example of this a little later in Matthew, in Matthew chapter 4, when Jesus faces 00:12:33.940 --> 00:12:39.700 temptation in the wilderness. Remember in the history of Israel that the nation of Israel wandered in the 00:12:39.700 --> 00:12:46.360 desert. And while they were wandering, they succumbed to grumbling and stumbling and doubting and sin. 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:55.780 And yet what happens in Matthew 4? Jesus goes into the wilderness and he replays that wilderness trial. 00:12:56.300 --> 00:13:02.300 He's tempted by Satan and yet he holds fast and doesn't give in. He succeeds. 00:13:02.299 --> 00:13:10.879 And the rest of Jesus' ministry will be a work of being and doing what you and I were always meant to be and do. 00:13:12.779 --> 00:13:16.799 And what we see here in Matthew 2, with this flight to Egypt, 00:13:17.339 --> 00:13:21.919 is that Jesus the Christ, our king and our savior, 00:13:23.319 --> 00:13:26.639 began to identify with his people from the very start. 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:32.240 He had come to be our king and as our king to act on our behalf 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:35.379 and to do for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:40.759 And this is the first point that Matthew wants to get as he's sort of laying the groundwork here, 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:44.600 that Jesus has come as the king to identify with his people. 00:13:46.460 --> 00:13:47.939 Now consider that for a second. 00:13:47.940 --> 00:13:53.980 The thread that runs throughout the New Testament, friends, is this. 00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:57.780 That in order for us to be accepted before God, 00:13:58.460 --> 00:14:01.720 we need someone to represent us. 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:05.660 Our state before God is such 00:14:05.660 --> 00:14:09.440 that we can't just dig ourselves out of the hole that we're in. 00:14:10.920 --> 00:14:13.840 Christianity is not a message for those who think 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:17.020 they can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. 00:14:18.660 --> 00:14:22.780 After all, try literally pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:26.340 It's kind of a funny image. 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:28.000 I mean, you can tug as hard as you want to. 00:14:28.020 --> 00:14:29.180 Most of us are wearing boots this morning. 00:14:29.280 --> 00:14:30.080 It would be a good exercise. 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:33.020 Most of us could actually tug as hard as we're able. 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:35.860 And friend, you're not going to get off the ground. 00:14:36.160 --> 00:14:37.160 It just doesn't work. 00:14:39.020 --> 00:14:41.920 There was a London minister named Dick Lucas who's retired now. 00:14:41.940 --> 00:14:42.820 I think he's still living, actually. 00:14:43.080 --> 00:14:45.840 But he used to say that growing up in the church, 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:50.840 he always got the impression that what we needed spiritually was just a little push. 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:55.379 That we were basically good and with a little moral improvement, 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:57.879 we could go ahead and make things right with God. 00:14:57.940 --> 00:14:59.440 We just needed a little push. 00:15:00.019 --> 00:15:01.360 And that's what church was all about. 00:15:01.860 --> 00:15:03.740 You come here, I give you a little push. 00:15:04.139 --> 00:15:06.060 You go on your way, and then God accepts you. 00:15:06.059 --> 00:15:11.979 But, Lucas says, once he started reading the Bible, 00:15:13.379 --> 00:15:15.979 he realized that we didn't just need a little push. 00:15:17.139 --> 00:15:18.479 That we needed a redeemer. 00:15:19.319 --> 00:15:20.899 That we needed to be rescued. 00:15:22.679 --> 00:15:27.159 That we needed someone to stand up and stand in for us 00:15:27.159 --> 00:15:29.299 and represent us to God. 00:15:29.299 --> 00:15:35.759 So, friend, this morning, as we're sort of huddled here together, 00:15:36.759 --> 00:15:39.059 are you there yet? 00:15:40.179 --> 00:15:42.599 How do you gauge your condition before God? 00:15:43.659 --> 00:15:46.620 Is your mindset such that you think you just need a little push? 00:15:46.939 --> 00:15:48.099 Just some moral improvement? 00:15:50.779 --> 00:15:53.620 I mean, sure, you might think you're better than the guy sitting next to you. 00:15:54.479 --> 00:15:55.159 I mean, look at him. 00:15:55.159 --> 00:16:00.019 Come on, you're thinking it, right? 00:16:01.339 --> 00:16:02.620 I'm not as bad as that guy. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:04.799 I'm at least not as bad as the guys at work. 00:16:05.459 --> 00:16:06.699 Or my classmates. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:08.120 Bunch of pagans. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:14.039 But think about it, friends. 00:16:15.079 --> 00:16:16.779 You know, if we were somehow demented 00:16:16.779 --> 00:16:18.679 and joined the polar bear club 00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:21.500 and jumped in the water on the shores of California 00:16:21.500 --> 00:16:23.019 and started swimming for Hawaii, 00:16:23.019 --> 00:16:27.039 you know, if the guy next to you swims five miles 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:30.000 and you somehow miraculously swim 40, 00:16:31.559 --> 00:16:34.480 you still need a coast guard 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:36.240 to come pick you up 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:37.600 and take you the rest of the way. 00:16:38.659 --> 00:16:40.000 You're both dead in the water. 00:16:43.439 --> 00:16:45.000 And until we see that, 00:16:45.699 --> 00:16:48.720 we never really understand Christianity. 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:54.160 Jesus is the king who's come to identify with his people 00:16:54.160 --> 00:16:55.560 and to do for them, 00:16:55.620 --> 00:16:56.899 to do for you and for me, 00:16:57.060 --> 00:16:58.680 what we cannot do for ourselves. 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:04.779 And the only thing that we need to bring to the equation 00:17:04.779 --> 00:17:06.420 is nothing at all. 00:17:09.900 --> 00:17:12.380 But that's often the one thing that we don't have, isn't it? 00:17:12.940 --> 00:17:13.500 It's nothing. 00:17:13.500 --> 00:17:16.460 We want to bring everything that we've got 00:17:16.460 --> 00:17:17.720 and try to make a case. 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:20.180 And yet God says, no. 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:22.559 You need to come empty-handed 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:24.920 or you can't come at all. 00:17:29.059 --> 00:17:31.599 But if we get to that place 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:34.180 where we see our brokenness and our sin 00:17:34.180 --> 00:17:35.220 and we come empty-handed, 00:17:35.460 --> 00:17:38.140 then, according to Matthew, 00:17:38.140 --> 00:17:40.140 it's a great entryway 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:42.280 into lasting comfort. 00:17:44.120 --> 00:17:45.580 In the second part of our passage, 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:46.780 Matthew recounts 00:17:46.780 --> 00:17:49.220 probably one of the most gruesome episodes 00:17:49.220 --> 00:17:50.560 in all of the Gospels. 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:52.900 Herod ordering this massacre 00:17:52.900 --> 00:17:55.420 of the male children in and around Bethlehem. 00:17:56.740 --> 00:17:57.780 And then he quotes 00:17:57.780 --> 00:17:59.940 Jeremiah 31, 15. 00:18:00.180 --> 00:18:01.100 Rachel weeping 00:18:01.100 --> 00:18:02.300 for her children. 00:18:03.660 --> 00:18:04.580 And if you go back 00:18:04.580 --> 00:18:05.780 and you read Jeremiah 31, 00:18:05.779 --> 00:18:07.720 you realize that this verse comes 00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:09.940 from the time of the exile, 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:11.299 of the Babylonian exile. 00:18:12.299 --> 00:18:14.519 And Jeremiah is expressing in this verse 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:18.099 the bitter sorrow of that period. 00:18:19.500 --> 00:18:21.220 Rachel here is, as you know, 00:18:21.259 --> 00:18:22.779 one of Jacob's wives. 00:18:23.579 --> 00:18:25.740 But, you know, here Jeremiah is speaking poetically 00:18:25.740 --> 00:18:27.039 that Rachel's sort of standing 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:28.339 for all of Israel 00:18:28.339 --> 00:18:29.619 or even the mothers of Israel 00:18:29.619 --> 00:18:30.579 who are weeping 00:18:30.579 --> 00:18:32.539 as they watch their families 00:18:32.539 --> 00:18:33.200 and their children 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:34.579 being hauled off to Babylon 00:18:34.579 --> 00:18:36.480 or even murdered on the spot. 00:18:36.639 --> 00:18:38.759 Rachel weeping for her children 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:40.639 because they are no more. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:46.240 So this verse becomes a fitting one 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:47.279 for Matthew 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:50.199 as he tries to convey 00:18:50.199 --> 00:18:51.379 and express 00:18:51.379 --> 00:18:52.819 the heartbreak 00:18:52.819 --> 00:18:55.000 of the mothers of Bethlehem 00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:57.000 as they mourn for their sons. 00:18:57.000 --> 00:18:59.920 And yet, 00:19:00.119 --> 00:19:01.980 it's not just that. 00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:04.339 It's more than that. 00:19:05.259 --> 00:19:05.920 Because you see, 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:06.880 Jeremiah 31, 00:19:07.180 --> 00:19:10.079 where Matthew's pulling this text from, 00:19:11.539 --> 00:19:13.700 that chapter is all about hope. 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:17.480 It's all about God's new covenant. 00:19:18.460 --> 00:19:20.539 It's all about the return from exile. 00:19:21.660 --> 00:19:22.000 In fact, 00:19:22.039 --> 00:19:23.500 if you go back and read Jeremiah 31, 00:19:23.500 --> 00:19:25.500 the verse that he quotes here 00:19:25.500 --> 00:19:27.980 is the only one in the whole chapter 00:19:27.980 --> 00:19:31.160 that isn't just brimming with hope 00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:32.299 and good news. 00:19:33.259 --> 00:19:34.519 That isn't just exploding 00:19:34.519 --> 00:19:36.359 with the message of God's coming rescue. 00:19:38.539 --> 00:19:40.880 So Matthew ends up doing something here 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:41.759 in verse 18 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:43.140 that is actually, I think, 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:44.119 completely stunning 00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:45.619 from a literary perspective. 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:47.440 You see, 00:19:47.500 --> 00:19:48.500 what he's able to do here 00:19:48.500 --> 00:19:50.539 is he's able to give full voice 00:19:50.539 --> 00:19:52.259 and full affirmation 00:19:52.259 --> 00:19:53.339 to the weeping 00:19:53.339 --> 00:19:54.259 and the tears 00:19:54.259 --> 00:19:55.720 of the mothers of Bethlehem. 00:19:56.879 --> 00:19:58.279 And at the same time, 00:19:59.500 --> 00:20:00.960 he's able to sound 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:04.099 deep resonances of hope. 00:20:06.339 --> 00:20:07.079 Friends, you see, 00:20:07.159 --> 00:20:08.599 any Jewish reader of Matthew, 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:10.379 and Matthew was probably written 00:20:10.379 --> 00:20:11.879 largely for a Jewish audience, 00:20:12.519 --> 00:20:13.799 any Jewish reader of Matthew 00:20:13.799 --> 00:20:15.259 would have recognized right away 00:20:15.259 --> 00:20:17.319 that he was quoting Jeremiah 31. 00:20:17.319 --> 00:20:20.240 And that means that they would have read verse 18 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:21.939 or heard him quoting verse 18 00:20:21.939 --> 00:20:23.740 while hearing in the back of their minds 00:20:23.740 --> 00:20:26.519 the rest of that amazing passage 00:20:26.519 --> 00:20:28.419 that rescue is on the way, 00:20:28.839 --> 00:20:30.960 that God was preparing a new covenant 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:32.259 that would never be broken 00:20:32.259 --> 00:20:34.319 and that would wipe our sins away 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:35.919 and bring a nearness 00:20:35.919 --> 00:20:37.599 and an intimacy with God 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:39.799 like none we had experienced before. 00:20:43.539 --> 00:20:45.960 So you see what Matthew's able to do here? 00:20:45.960 --> 00:20:48.600 Matthew's able to say, 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:53.519 yes, grieve and mourn and weep 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:55.700 for the evil that has been done. 00:20:57.079 --> 00:20:58.660 And at the same time, 00:20:59.299 --> 00:21:00.140 in your mourning, 00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:02.720 know that hope has come, 00:21:03.819 --> 00:21:06.519 that the exile is about to end 00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:08.960 and that death will not win 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:11.840 and that sin and evil have been defeated. 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:15.899 And Matthew can say all this 00:21:15.899 --> 00:21:18.359 because Jesus has come. 00:21:19.939 --> 00:21:21.480 Because Jesus is the king 00:21:21.480 --> 00:21:24.199 who puts that new covenant into effect, 00:21:24.659 --> 00:21:27.119 who in his own person and work 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:29.220 ends the exile from God 00:21:29.220 --> 00:21:31.639 and establishes a new relationship 00:21:31.639 --> 00:21:32.639 between us and him. 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:36.940 So you see the second section 00:21:36.940 --> 00:21:39.300 of our text is building on the first 00:21:39.300 --> 00:21:41.540 to say that in the midst of our sorrow, 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:42.920 Jesus is the true son 00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:45.160 who comes to comfort his people. 00:21:47.960 --> 00:21:49.520 And as we think about this second part 00:21:49.520 --> 00:21:50.040 in particular, 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:51.280 it reminds me of what Paul wrote 00:21:51.280 --> 00:21:52.259 in 1 Thessalonians 00:21:52.259 --> 00:21:54.720 about not wanting his brothers 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:55.840 and sisters in Christ 00:21:55.840 --> 00:21:57.100 to grieve, he says, 00:21:57.140 --> 00:21:59.280 as others do who have no hope. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:01.079 You see, friends, 00:22:01.160 --> 00:22:02.220 believing in Jesus 00:22:02.220 --> 00:22:04.200 allows the Christian to do something 00:22:04.200 --> 00:22:06.480 that's very incredibly unique. 00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:08.420 That in the face of evil 00:22:08.420 --> 00:22:09.639 and of loss and of violence, 00:22:09.720 --> 00:22:10.519 on the one hand, 00:22:10.859 --> 00:22:12.819 Christians are free to grieve, 00:22:13.819 --> 00:22:16.240 to weep and to wail even. 00:22:17.980 --> 00:22:18.440 You see, friends, 00:22:18.519 --> 00:22:19.160 true Christianity 00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:21.399 is not a stoic resignation 00:22:21.399 --> 00:22:23.200 to life as it is. 00:22:23.660 --> 00:22:25.420 It's not a stiff upper lip. 00:22:25.420 --> 00:22:28.340 Because we believe 00:22:28.340 --> 00:22:29.740 that this is a fallen world 00:22:29.740 --> 00:22:31.680 and that sin isn't 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:32.800 how it's supposed to be 00:22:32.800 --> 00:22:35.000 and that death is an enemy. 00:22:38.080 --> 00:22:39.340 And so we're enabled 00:22:39.340 --> 00:22:41.279 to genuinely grieve. 00:22:41.640 --> 00:22:42.740 But on the other hand, 00:22:43.300 --> 00:22:44.259 we're empowered 00:22:44.259 --> 00:22:46.460 to genuinely hope. 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:49.140 As Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 00:22:49.140 --> 00:22:49.940 and as Matthew says 00:22:49.940 --> 00:22:50.920 in his own way here 00:22:50.920 --> 00:22:51.660 in chapter 2, 00:22:51.660 --> 00:22:53.320 we grieve as those 00:22:53.320 --> 00:22:55.880 who have real hope. 00:22:57.160 --> 00:22:58.100 That grief doesn't need 00:22:58.100 --> 00:22:58.920 to consume us 00:22:58.920 --> 00:22:59.940 or destroy us 00:22:59.940 --> 00:23:00.759 or end us 00:23:00.759 --> 00:23:01.800 because we know, 00:23:02.779 --> 00:23:04.540 like Jeremiah 31 15, 00:23:04.660 --> 00:23:07.500 that a greater background exists. 00:23:08.019 --> 00:23:09.540 And that makes all the difference. 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:11.300 You see, for the Christian, 00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:12.500 the ultimate reality 00:23:12.500 --> 00:23:14.420 is the resurrected Christ 00:23:14.420 --> 00:23:16.420 who took on flesh and blood 00:23:16.420 --> 00:23:18.500 to deliver all those 00:23:18.500 --> 00:23:19.660 who through fear of death 00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:22.259 were subject to lifelong slavery 00:23:22.259 --> 00:23:23.880 as Hebrews chapter 2 says 00:23:23.880 --> 00:23:25.040 that we've been looking at this fall. 00:23:26.300 --> 00:23:28.600 His indestructible life, 00:23:28.900 --> 00:23:29.540 his mercy, 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:30.640 and his grace, 00:23:30.980 --> 00:23:32.220 those are the final 00:23:32.220 --> 00:23:34.100 and the ultimate realities 00:23:34.100 --> 00:23:34.940 for the Christian 00:23:34.940 --> 00:23:38.160 against which nothing will stand. 00:23:40.440 --> 00:23:42.320 And grief finds its place 00:23:42.320 --> 00:23:44.680 against that backdrop 00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:46.920 and will one day 00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:48.000 be swallowed up 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:49.500 by it. 00:23:52.140 --> 00:23:52.799 But you see, 00:23:52.980 --> 00:23:55.779 if you inhabit a worldview 00:23:55.779 --> 00:23:56.460 without God 00:23:56.460 --> 00:23:57.240 and without Christ 00:23:57.240 --> 00:23:58.160 and without the gospel, 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:00.200 it's just the opposite. 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:02.060 That life 00:24:02.060 --> 00:24:02.640 and mercy 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:03.360 and grace, 00:24:03.660 --> 00:24:04.440 these things are just 00:24:04.440 --> 00:24:05.539 temporary blips 00:24:05.539 --> 00:24:07.200 on the radar screen. 00:24:08.620 --> 00:24:09.539 And the background 00:24:09.539 --> 00:24:10.360 of everything, 00:24:11.740 --> 00:24:13.120 the terrible rumble 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:14.039 beneath it all 00:24:14.039 --> 00:24:16.639 is loss and grief. 00:24:19.239 --> 00:24:20.579 But don't you see, friends, 00:24:20.979 --> 00:24:21.719 that in the gospel 00:24:21.719 --> 00:24:22.879 it's reversed. 00:24:24.099 --> 00:24:25.519 That grief is temporary 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:27.539 and life is eternal. 00:24:29.019 --> 00:24:29.899 That's what Christ 00:24:29.899 --> 00:24:30.679 has come to do 00:24:30.679 --> 00:24:32.000 and to win for his people. 00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:35.339 You see, 00:24:35.399 --> 00:24:35.879 the privilege 00:24:35.879 --> 00:24:37.319 that we have in Christ 00:24:37.319 --> 00:24:38.679 and where Christmas 00:24:38.679 --> 00:24:40.179 ultimately takes us 00:24:40.179 --> 00:24:41.319 is to a place 00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:42.000 where we can grieve 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:42.480 with hope, 00:24:42.619 --> 00:24:43.480 to be comforted 00:24:43.480 --> 00:24:44.920 even in our sorrows. 00:24:46.599 --> 00:24:47.519 And in the last section 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:47.960 of our text, 00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:49.099 Matthew points us 00:24:49.099 --> 00:24:50.400 to where this comfort 00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:51.559 ultimately comes from. 00:24:53.180 --> 00:24:53.680 Let me read 00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:54.619 this last section for us. 00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:55.220 He says, 00:24:55.259 --> 00:24:55.900 When Herod died, 00:24:55.980 --> 00:24:56.180 behold, 00:24:56.220 --> 00:24:56.859 an angel of the Lord 00:24:56.859 --> 00:24:57.759 appeared and dreamed 00:24:57.759 --> 00:24:58.480 to Joseph in Egypt 00:24:58.480 --> 00:24:58.700 saying, 00:24:58.799 --> 00:24:59.099 Rise, 00:24:59.440 --> 00:24:59.960 take the child 00:24:59.960 --> 00:25:00.359 and his mother 00:25:00.359 --> 00:25:01.099 and go to the land 00:25:01.099 --> 00:25:01.400 of Israel 00:25:01.400 --> 00:25:02.180 for those who sought 00:25:02.180 --> 00:25:02.940 the child's life 00:25:02.940 --> 00:25:03.400 are dead. 00:25:03.980 --> 00:25:04.579 And he rose 00:25:04.579 --> 00:25:05.279 and took the child 00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:05.740 and his mother 00:25:05.740 --> 00:25:06.400 and went to the land 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:06.779 of Israel. 00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:07.700 But when he heard 00:25:07.700 --> 00:25:08.319 that Archelaus 00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:09.299 was reigning over Judea 00:25:09.299 --> 00:25:10.059 in place of his father, 00:25:10.119 --> 00:25:10.559 he was afraid 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:11.140 to go there 00:25:11.140 --> 00:25:11.940 and being warned 00:25:11.940 --> 00:25:12.380 in a dream, 00:25:12.460 --> 00:25:12.820 he withdrew 00:25:12.820 --> 00:25:13.280 to the district 00:25:13.280 --> 00:25:13.900 of Galilee. 00:25:14.580 --> 00:25:15.080 And he went 00:25:15.080 --> 00:25:15.340 and lived 00:25:15.340 --> 00:25:15.800 in a city 00:25:15.800 --> 00:25:16.759 called Nazareth 00:25:16.759 --> 00:25:19.180 so that what was 00:25:19.180 --> 00:25:20.280 spoken by the prophets 00:25:20.280 --> 00:25:21.380 might be fulfilled, 00:25:22.420 --> 00:25:23.340 that he would be 00:25:23.340 --> 00:25:25.460 called a Nazarene. 00:25:26.920 --> 00:25:27.340 Now, 00:25:27.380 --> 00:25:27.820 it's important 00:25:27.820 --> 00:25:28.600 that when Matthew, 00:25:29.140 --> 00:25:30.220 that Matthew mentions 00:25:30.220 --> 00:25:30.780 prophets 00:25:30.780 --> 00:25:32.340 in the plural here. 00:25:33.020 --> 00:25:33.880 He's telling it, 00:25:34.080 --> 00:25:34.660 he's telling us 00:25:34.660 --> 00:25:35.940 that this last fulfillment 00:25:35.940 --> 00:25:37.620 isn't of a particular 00:25:37.620 --> 00:25:38.200 verse 00:25:38.200 --> 00:25:39.620 or a single saying, 00:25:39.619 --> 00:25:40.659 but it's a fulfillment 00:25:40.659 --> 00:25:42.099 of an entire theme, 00:25:42.879 --> 00:25:43.839 an entire motif 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:45.479 that runs through 00:25:45.479 --> 00:25:46.859 God's scripture. 00:25:48.099 --> 00:25:48.519 And in fact, 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:49.199 if you go back 00:25:49.199 --> 00:25:49.699 and you look through 00:25:49.699 --> 00:25:50.299 the Old Testament, 00:25:50.879 --> 00:25:51.939 you will never find 00:25:51.939 --> 00:25:52.419 a verse 00:25:52.419 --> 00:25:53.759 that literally says 00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:54.559 he will be called 00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:55.159 a Nazarene. 00:25:55.399 --> 00:25:56.019 It's not there. 00:25:57.259 --> 00:25:57.679 Instead, 00:25:57.819 --> 00:25:58.439 Matthew is saying 00:25:58.439 --> 00:26:00.059 that this is a concept, 00:26:00.179 --> 00:26:00.879 is a thread 00:26:00.879 --> 00:26:02.299 that goes throughout it all. 00:26:03.739 --> 00:26:04.239 Of course, 00:26:04.279 --> 00:26:04.739 the question is, 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:06.059 what exactly does that mean? 00:26:06.759 --> 00:26:07.479 What thread 00:26:07.479 --> 00:26:08.599 is Matthew pulling here? 00:26:08.599 --> 00:26:09.099 Well, 00:26:09.099 --> 00:26:11.919 to get to what Matthew 00:26:11.919 --> 00:26:12.480 has to say, 00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:13.439 we need to realize 00:26:13.439 --> 00:26:15.579 that the little town 00:26:15.579 --> 00:26:16.500 of Nazareth 00:26:16.500 --> 00:26:18.759 was of zero significance 00:26:18.759 --> 00:26:20.019 in Jesus' day. 00:26:21.079 --> 00:26:22.740 It had no religious significance. 00:26:23.579 --> 00:26:24.299 It is not mentioned 00:26:24.299 --> 00:26:24.980 in the Old Testament 00:26:24.980 --> 00:26:25.699 one time. 00:26:26.699 --> 00:26:27.439 There was nothing 00:26:27.439 --> 00:26:28.079 of note there. 00:26:29.339 --> 00:26:30.659 And it had no cultural 00:26:30.659 --> 00:26:31.959 and no political significance. 00:26:32.079 --> 00:26:32.500 In fact, 00:26:32.839 --> 00:26:33.759 some scholars think 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:34.939 that the town of Nazareth 00:26:34.939 --> 00:26:36.819 had less than 500 people 00:26:36.819 --> 00:26:37.500 who lived in it. 00:26:37.500 --> 00:26:39.119 Do you realize 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:40.160 that if we really packed in, 00:26:40.220 --> 00:26:41.519 we could fit almost 500 people 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:42.180 in this sanctuary? 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:45.019 That means we could have 00:26:45.019 --> 00:26:46.759 fit Jesus' entire hometown, 00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:48.660 his entire world 00:26:48.660 --> 00:26:50.180 growing up for 30 years 00:26:50.180 --> 00:26:51.359 into this single room. 00:26:54.420 --> 00:26:54.859 Friends, 00:26:54.940 --> 00:26:57.220 Nazareth was a backwater village 00:26:57.220 --> 00:26:59.579 where nothing important happened. 00:27:00.660 --> 00:27:01.640 In the Gospel of John, 00:27:01.940 --> 00:27:02.460 do you remember 00:27:02.460 --> 00:27:04.140 when Philip comes to Nathanael 00:27:04.140 --> 00:27:04.480 and says, 00:27:04.860 --> 00:27:05.140 come, 00:27:05.640 --> 00:27:06.300 see the one 00:27:06.300 --> 00:27:07.040 who's the Christ 00:27:07.040 --> 00:27:08.060 that Moses talked about, 00:27:08.320 --> 00:27:09.220 Jesus of Nazareth. 00:27:09.440 --> 00:27:10.800 And Nathanael looks at him 00:27:10.800 --> 00:27:11.220 and says, 00:27:11.960 --> 00:27:12.740 can anything good 00:27:12.740 --> 00:27:13.680 come out of Nazareth? 00:27:15.160 --> 00:27:15.759 It'd be like someone 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:16.520 in New Haven saying, 00:27:17.180 --> 00:27:18.640 the Messiah born in Bridgeport? 00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:19.700 Give me a break. 00:27:21.600 --> 00:27:22.480 You have to be careful 00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:23.140 when you're not actually 00:27:23.140 --> 00:27:23.680 from an area 00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:24.420 saying what town, 00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:24.700 you know, 00:27:24.780 --> 00:27:25.080 anyway. 00:27:27.480 --> 00:27:28.340 Some of my best friends 00:27:28.340 --> 00:27:28.900 are from Bridgeport. 00:27:29.020 --> 00:27:29.340 No, I'm just kidding. 00:27:29.339 --> 00:27:31.059 Friends, 00:27:32.199 --> 00:27:32.819 the point is this, 00:27:32.939 --> 00:27:34.119 Jesus grew up 00:27:34.119 --> 00:27:35.759 in obscurity 00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:38.819 in a despised 00:27:38.819 --> 00:27:40.199 and forgotten place. 00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:43.319 And running through 00:27:43.319 --> 00:27:43.859 the prophets 00:27:43.859 --> 00:27:46.359 is a shocking theme 00:27:46.359 --> 00:27:48.099 that the one 00:27:48.099 --> 00:27:49.059 who was to come 00:27:49.059 --> 00:27:51.319 would not just be 00:27:51.319 --> 00:27:52.220 this triumphant 00:27:52.220 --> 00:27:53.740 son of David, 00:27:53.740 --> 00:27:56.699 but also the lowly 00:27:56.699 --> 00:27:58.439 and despised servant. 00:27:59.799 --> 00:28:00.959 Our reading earlier 00:28:00.959 --> 00:28:01.980 from Isaiah 53 00:28:01.980 --> 00:28:03.399 is one of those places 00:28:03.399 --> 00:28:04.559 where this theme 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:05.879 comes out to the fore. 00:28:07.399 --> 00:28:08.379 Remember what Isaiah 00:28:08.379 --> 00:28:08.839 says there, 00:28:08.899 --> 00:28:09.939 he had no form 00:28:09.939 --> 00:28:11.119 or majesty 00:28:11.119 --> 00:28:12.099 that we should look at him 00:28:12.099 --> 00:28:13.500 and no beauty 00:28:13.500 --> 00:28:14.699 that we should desire him. 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:16.619 He was despised 00:28:16.619 --> 00:28:18.319 and rejected by men, 00:28:19.179 --> 00:28:20.339 a man of sorrows 00:28:20.339 --> 00:28:22.139 and acquainted with grief. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:24.740 Or as Matthew 00:28:24.740 --> 00:28:25.220 would put it 00:28:25.220 --> 00:28:26.319 to his contemporaries, 00:28:27.079 --> 00:28:27.699 he'd be called 00:28:27.699 --> 00:28:28.500 a Nazarene. 00:28:29.339 --> 00:28:31.939 Just think 00:28:31.939 --> 00:28:34.059 that Jesus' entire life, 00:28:34.619 --> 00:28:35.459 he would be known 00:28:35.459 --> 00:28:37.220 not as Jesus 00:28:37.220 --> 00:28:38.579 of Bethlehem 00:28:38.579 --> 00:28:40.059 with all those rich, 00:28:40.279 --> 00:28:40.839 royal, 00:28:41.179 --> 00:28:42.639 Davidic connotations 00:28:42.639 --> 00:28:43.599 that came with that, 00:28:43.959 --> 00:28:45.359 but he'd be known 00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:45.859 as Jesus 00:28:45.859 --> 00:28:47.459 of Nazareth. 00:28:48.439 --> 00:28:49.019 Obscure 00:28:49.019 --> 00:28:50.459 and despised. 00:28:50.899 --> 00:28:51.819 No significance, 00:28:52.379 --> 00:28:53.319 no reputation. 00:28:53.319 --> 00:28:56.799 And so you see, 00:28:56.859 --> 00:28:57.259 what Matthew 00:28:57.259 --> 00:28:58.759 wants us to see, 00:28:59.000 --> 00:28:59.500 what he wants 00:28:59.500 --> 00:29:00.359 to show us, 00:29:00.759 --> 00:29:01.559 putting all three 00:29:01.559 --> 00:29:02.399 pieces together, 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:04.119 is that Jesus 00:29:04.119 --> 00:29:04.779 is the true 00:29:04.779 --> 00:29:05.460 Son of God 00:29:05.460 --> 00:29:07.179 who brings comfort 00:29:07.179 --> 00:29:07.919 to his people 00:29:07.919 --> 00:29:10.119 by giving up 00:29:10.119 --> 00:29:10.599 his comfort. 00:29:12.339 --> 00:29:13.139 That he will 00:29:13.139 --> 00:29:14.700 redeem our sorrows 00:29:14.700 --> 00:29:16.619 by bearing 00:29:16.619 --> 00:29:17.379 our sorrows. 00:29:17.380 --> 00:29:21.500 you see that 00:29:21.500 --> 00:29:23.380 when God 00:29:23.380 --> 00:29:24.740 spares his Son 00:29:24.740 --> 00:29:26.660 from Herod's rage 00:29:26.660 --> 00:29:28.500 and calls him forth 00:29:28.500 --> 00:29:30.260 into asylum in Egypt, 00:29:31.260 --> 00:29:32.300 he does that 00:29:32.300 --> 00:29:33.320 not so that Jesus 00:29:33.320 --> 00:29:34.460 can avoid 00:29:34.460 --> 00:29:35.160 suffering 00:29:35.160 --> 00:29:35.900 and shame 00:29:35.900 --> 00:29:36.640 and death, 00:29:36.700 --> 00:29:39.760 but so that he can 00:29:39.760 --> 00:29:41.160 go straight into it. 00:29:41.160 --> 00:29:43.580 so he can take 00:29:43.580 --> 00:29:44.440 all of our 00:29:44.440 --> 00:29:45.240 brokenness 00:29:45.240 --> 00:29:46.220 and suffering 00:29:46.220 --> 00:29:47.400 and shame 00:29:47.400 --> 00:29:48.580 into himself. 00:29:49.740 --> 00:29:50.060 You see, 00:29:50.100 --> 00:29:50.500 for Jesus, 00:29:50.620 --> 00:29:51.140 the road 00:29:51.140 --> 00:29:52.220 out of Egypt 00:29:52.220 --> 00:29:53.860 leads not to Bethlehem, 00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:54.940 not to Judea, 00:29:55.080 --> 00:29:56.080 not to a throne, 00:29:56.600 --> 00:29:57.660 but to Nazareth. 00:29:58.759 --> 00:29:59.960 And from Nazareth, 00:30:00.259 --> 00:30:01.620 it leads to the cross. 00:30:03.820 --> 00:30:05.480 And as Isaiah 53 00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:06.180 goes on to say 00:30:06.180 --> 00:30:06.960 at the cross, 00:30:07.660 --> 00:30:08.160 Jesus bears 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:09.259 not just our sorrow 00:30:09.259 --> 00:30:10.620 and our shame, 00:30:11.160 --> 00:30:12.300 but he bears 00:30:12.300 --> 00:30:12.980 our sin 00:30:12.980 --> 00:30:14.180 and our guilt 00:30:14.180 --> 00:30:16.060 and the condemnation 00:30:16.060 --> 00:30:16.740 that we deserve. 00:30:17.900 --> 00:30:18.500 You see, 00:30:18.580 --> 00:30:19.279 this representative 00:30:19.279 --> 00:30:19.940 king 00:30:19.940 --> 00:30:21.980 is our substitute. 00:30:23.180 --> 00:30:24.279 He's our substitute 00:30:24.279 --> 00:30:25.220 who takes the penalty 00:30:25.220 --> 00:30:25.759 of sin 00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:26.460 in our place. 00:30:28.100 --> 00:30:29.460 And in exchange 00:30:29.460 --> 00:30:30.420 for our sin, 00:30:31.220 --> 00:30:31.880 he gives us 00:30:31.880 --> 00:30:33.140 his perfect righteousness 00:30:33.140 --> 00:30:34.880 to everyone 00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:35.560 who believes. 00:30:37.880 --> 00:30:38.800 So friends, 00:30:38.860 --> 00:30:39.340 in the midst 00:30:39.340 --> 00:30:40.779 of our tears, 00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:42.720 where does comfort 00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:43.380 come from? 00:30:45.380 --> 00:30:46.420 It comes first 00:30:46.420 --> 00:30:46.880 from knowing 00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:47.580 that Christ 00:30:47.580 --> 00:30:48.580 understands 00:30:48.580 --> 00:30:50.080 our deepest sorrows, 00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:50.700 that he too 00:30:50.700 --> 00:30:51.640 was a man of sorrow, 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:53.120 despised and rejected 00:30:53.120 --> 00:30:53.720 by men, 00:30:53.840 --> 00:30:54.500 that there is 00:30:54.500 --> 00:30:55.300 no hardship, 00:30:55.740 --> 00:30:56.580 no grief, 00:30:56.800 --> 00:30:57.740 no pain 00:30:57.740 --> 00:30:59.019 that he has not 00:30:59.019 --> 00:30:59.900 experienced 00:30:59.900 --> 00:31:01.759 alongside of you. 00:31:01.759 --> 00:31:04.140 comfort comes 00:31:04.140 --> 00:31:04.940 comfort comes 00:31:04.940 --> 00:31:05.579 from knowing 00:31:05.579 --> 00:31:06.599 that Jesus 00:31:06.599 --> 00:31:07.160 has gone 00:31:07.160 --> 00:31:07.879 to the depths 00:31:07.879 --> 00:31:09.019 of the cross 00:31:09.019 --> 00:31:10.279 to pay the penalty 00:31:10.279 --> 00:31:10.799 of sin 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:11.519 for everyone 00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:12.500 who trusts in him. 00:31:13.980 --> 00:31:14.619 Comfort 00:31:14.619 --> 00:31:16.319 comes in knowing 00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:18.019 that our relationship 00:31:18.019 --> 00:31:18.779 with God 00:31:18.779 --> 00:31:19.799 has been restored 00:31:19.799 --> 00:31:21.259 and that our sins 00:31:21.259 --> 00:31:22.000 have been forgiven 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:23.859 and that we can face 00:31:23.859 --> 00:31:24.640 suffering 00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:25.839 and death 00:31:25.839 --> 00:31:27.819 with confidence 00:31:27.819 --> 00:31:29.500 that it will 00:31:29.500 --> 00:31:30.439 not end us. 00:31:32.879 --> 00:31:33.259 You see, 00:31:33.319 --> 00:31:33.439 friends, 00:31:33.460 --> 00:31:34.059 there's nothing 00:31:34.059 --> 00:31:34.659 sentimental 00:31:34.659 --> 00:31:35.859 about Christmas, 00:31:36.279 --> 00:31:37.339 nothing sentimental 00:31:37.339 --> 00:31:38.279 but everything 00:31:38.279 --> 00:31:39.279 of comfort. 00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:41.599 Jesus has come 00:31:41.599 --> 00:31:42.200 to identify 00:31:42.200 --> 00:31:42.980 with his people 00:31:42.980 --> 00:31:43.859 in the midst 00:31:43.859 --> 00:31:44.599 of their sorrow 00:31:44.599 --> 00:31:45.619 to bring them 00:31:45.619 --> 00:31:46.159 this comfort 00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:47.259 and this passage 00:31:47.259 --> 00:31:47.680 tells us 00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:48.680 loud and clear 00:31:48.680 --> 00:31:49.340 that despite 00:31:49.340 --> 00:31:50.040 the tears, 00:31:50.360 --> 00:31:51.000 there's hope 00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:52.779 that the king 00:31:52.779 --> 00:31:53.500 is here 00:31:53.500 --> 00:31:55.180 and the herods 00:31:55.180 --> 00:31:56.060 of this world 00:31:56.060 --> 00:31:57.100 and the sorrows 00:31:57.100 --> 00:31:57.920 of this world 00:31:57.920 --> 00:31:59.519 will not reign 00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:00.200 forever, 00:32:00.600 --> 00:32:01.300 that their days 00:32:01.300 --> 00:32:01.759 are numbered 00:32:01.759 --> 00:32:03.400 and into the mess 00:32:03.400 --> 00:32:04.460 and the suffering 00:32:04.460 --> 00:32:05.500 and the violence 00:32:05.500 --> 00:32:06.160 and the evil 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:06.880 and the jealousy 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:07.580 and the envy 00:32:07.580 --> 00:32:08.420 and the cruelty 00:32:08.420 --> 00:32:09.120 of this world, 00:32:09.680 --> 00:32:10.400 he comes 00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:13.240 not to be immune 00:32:13.240 --> 00:32:13.779 from it 00:32:13.779 --> 00:32:16.040 but to identify 00:32:16.039 --> 00:32:16.659 with it 00:32:16.659 --> 00:32:17.519 on behalf 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:18.139 of his people. 00:32:20.859 --> 00:32:22.200 And once we see that, 00:32:22.460 --> 00:32:23.180 once we see 00:32:23.180 --> 00:32:23.879 that this is 00:32:23.879 --> 00:32:24.339 what Christ 00:32:24.339 --> 00:32:25.399 has done for us, 00:32:26.259 --> 00:32:27.440 it begins to shape 00:32:27.440 --> 00:32:27.899 how we live 00:32:27.899 --> 00:32:28.379 in the world. 00:32:29.639 --> 00:32:30.299 Let me end 00:32:30.299 --> 00:32:30.759 with just a few 00:32:30.759 --> 00:32:31.259 applications 00:32:31.259 --> 00:32:31.879 real quickly. 00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:33.399 First, 00:32:33.539 --> 00:32:33.740 friends, 00:32:33.960 --> 00:32:34.599 if Jesus is 00:32:34.599 --> 00:32:35.299 the son of God 00:32:35.299 --> 00:32:36.980 and if he can 00:32:36.980 --> 00:32:38.299 choose to grow up 00:32:38.299 --> 00:32:38.819 in a town 00:32:38.819 --> 00:32:39.899 like Nazareth, 00:32:40.899 --> 00:32:41.559 then surely 00:32:41.559 --> 00:32:42.960 God can use us 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:43.720 no matter 00:32:43.720 --> 00:32:44.659 what our background. 00:32:46.039 --> 00:32:47.359 God can use us 00:32:47.359 --> 00:32:49.659 in 1 Corinthians 00:32:49.659 --> 00:32:50.819 that God delights 00:32:50.819 --> 00:32:52.399 in taking the things 00:32:52.399 --> 00:32:52.899 that the world 00:32:52.899 --> 00:32:53.659 despises 00:32:53.659 --> 00:32:54.980 and making them 00:32:54.980 --> 00:32:56.139 trophies of his wisdom 00:32:56.139 --> 00:32:56.859 and his power 00:32:56.859 --> 00:32:58.019 and his glory. 00:32:59.079 --> 00:32:59.579 Paul says, 00:32:59.659 --> 00:33:00.180 not many of you 00:33:00.180 --> 00:33:00.819 were wise 00:33:00.819 --> 00:33:01.720 according to worldly 00:33:01.720 --> 00:33:02.200 standards, 00:33:02.359 --> 00:33:02.779 not many of you 00:33:02.779 --> 00:33:03.399 were powerful, 00:33:03.819 --> 00:33:04.240 not many of you 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:04.960 were of noble birth, 00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:06.059 but God chose 00:33:06.059 --> 00:33:06.920 what is foolish 00:33:06.920 --> 00:33:07.440 in the world 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:08.619 to shame the wise 00:33:08.619 --> 00:33:09.700 and he chose 00:33:09.700 --> 00:33:10.259 what is weak 00:33:10.259 --> 00:33:10.680 in the world 00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:11.659 to shame the strong 00:33:11.659 --> 00:33:12.700 and God chose 00:33:12.700 --> 00:33:13.420 what is low 00:33:13.420 --> 00:33:14.420 and despised 00:33:14.420 --> 00:33:14.799 in the world, 00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:15.480 even the things 00:33:15.480 --> 00:33:16.319 that are not 00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:17.440 to bring to nothing 00:33:17.440 --> 00:33:18.359 the things that are 00:33:18.359 --> 00:33:20.379 so that no human being 00:33:20.379 --> 00:33:21.059 might boast 00:33:21.059 --> 00:33:22.059 in the presence 00:33:22.059 --> 00:33:22.639 of God. 00:33:25.859 --> 00:33:26.319 Friends, 00:33:26.399 --> 00:33:27.960 if Jesus can choose 00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:28.879 Nazareth, 00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:32.419 then surely 00:33:32.419 --> 00:33:33.440 he can choose 00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:33.940 and use you 00:33:33.940 --> 00:33:34.539 no matter what 00:33:34.539 --> 00:33:35.440 your background is. 00:33:36.980 --> 00:33:37.779 But second, 00:33:39.180 --> 00:33:40.220 Jesus accomplished 00:33:40.220 --> 00:33:41.299 God's plan of redemption 00:33:41.299 --> 00:33:42.500 not in spite 00:33:42.500 --> 00:33:43.220 of his growing up 00:33:43.220 --> 00:33:43.680 in Nazareth, 00:33:43.759 --> 00:33:44.079 you see, 00:33:44.659 --> 00:33:45.579 but in and through 00:33:45.579 --> 00:33:46.419 growing up there. 00:33:48.319 --> 00:33:49.619 It wasn't in spite 00:33:49.619 --> 00:33:51.759 of his despised, 00:33:52.019 --> 00:33:53.059 rejected status, 00:33:53.059 --> 00:33:53.759 but it was in 00:33:53.759 --> 00:33:54.579 and through that. 00:33:56.700 --> 00:33:57.139 And you see, 00:33:57.220 --> 00:33:58.460 that means that life 00:33:58.460 --> 00:33:59.940 in the kingdom of God 00:33:59.940 --> 00:34:02.059 works utterly differently 00:34:02.059 --> 00:34:02.819 than life 00:34:02.819 --> 00:34:03.480 in the kingdom 00:34:03.480 --> 00:34:04.180 of this world. 00:34:05.379 --> 00:34:06.159 In the kingdoms 00:34:06.159 --> 00:34:06.819 of this world, 00:34:06.980 --> 00:34:07.839 what's the way up? 00:34:07.839 --> 00:34:09.440 The way up is power 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:10.340 and wealth 00:34:10.340 --> 00:34:11.360 and prestige. 00:34:13.139 --> 00:34:14.699 How different that is 00:34:14.699 --> 00:34:15.759 from the kingdom of God. 00:34:16.759 --> 00:34:18.500 Whereas Jesus shows us 00:34:18.500 --> 00:34:20.599 humility is the way in 00:34:20.599 --> 00:34:23.480 and sacrificial service 00:34:23.480 --> 00:34:24.279 is the way up. 00:34:26.799 --> 00:34:27.659 So friends, 00:34:27.779 --> 00:34:28.420 which priorities 00:34:28.420 --> 00:34:29.380 are running your life? 00:34:30.059 --> 00:34:31.239 Which kingdom values 00:34:31.239 --> 00:34:32.420 are driving you? 00:34:34.279 --> 00:34:35.119 Herod lives his life 00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:36.000 by the world's values 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:37.500 and he dies paranoid 00:34:37.500 --> 00:34:38.440 and alone. 00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:43.519 Jesus lives his life 00:34:43.519 --> 00:34:43.960 in obedience 00:34:43.960 --> 00:34:44.780 to God's kingdom 00:34:44.780 --> 00:34:46.960 and he dies 00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:48.760 to rise again. 00:34:51.360 --> 00:34:52.480 Humility is the way in. 00:34:52.920 --> 00:34:53.940 Service is the way up. 00:34:55.420 --> 00:34:56.260 Third and last, 00:34:56.320 --> 00:34:57.500 if Jesus came to love 00:34:57.500 --> 00:34:58.619 and to serve us 00:34:58.619 --> 00:35:00.119 by identifying with us 00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:02.900 and bearing our sorrows, 00:35:03.900 --> 00:35:04.780 then our love 00:35:04.780 --> 00:35:05.500 for one another 00:35:05.500 --> 00:35:07.140 and for our neighbors 00:35:07.140 --> 00:35:08.620 will take us 00:35:08.620 --> 00:35:09.480 on the same path. 00:35:11.220 --> 00:35:11.680 Friends, 00:35:11.720 --> 00:35:12.220 are we willing 00:35:12.220 --> 00:35:12.980 to be limited 00:35:12.980 --> 00:35:14.720 and to be humbled, 00:35:15.220 --> 00:35:17.140 to be despised even 00:35:17.140 --> 00:35:18.640 by the world's standards 00:35:18.640 --> 00:35:20.080 in our pursuit 00:35:20.080 --> 00:35:20.540 of loving 00:35:20.540 --> 00:35:21.760 and serving one another 00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:23.260 in our city? 00:35:24.640 --> 00:35:25.440 Are we willing 00:35:25.440 --> 00:35:25.980 to identify 00:35:25.980 --> 00:35:26.880 with those 00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:28.820 that might make us 00:35:28.820 --> 00:35:29.620 embarrassed 00:35:29.620 --> 00:35:30.580 in the eyes 00:35:30.580 --> 00:35:31.220 of some people? 00:35:31.219 --> 00:35:33.019 are we able 00:35:33.019 --> 00:35:33.579 to identify 00:35:33.579 --> 00:35:34.339 with those 00:35:34.339 --> 00:35:35.159 that the world 00:35:35.159 --> 00:35:35.959 kind of says 00:35:35.959 --> 00:35:37.019 not worth it? 00:35:40.539 --> 00:35:41.419 Are we willing 00:35:41.419 --> 00:35:42.079 to identify 00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:43.719 with Christ 00:35:43.719 --> 00:35:45.379 and with his church 00:35:45.379 --> 00:35:46.759 and with the broken 00:35:46.759 --> 00:35:48.039 and the despised 00:35:48.039 --> 00:35:49.179 and the sorrowful? 00:35:50.459 --> 00:35:50.919 You see, friends, 00:35:50.959 --> 00:35:51.699 when we look 00:35:51.699 --> 00:35:53.119 at all that Christ 00:35:53.119 --> 00:35:54.219 has done for us, 00:35:54.859 --> 00:35:56.099 how he identified 00:35:56.099 --> 00:35:57.000 with us 00:35:57.000 --> 00:35:58.480 when we were rejected 00:35:58.480 --> 00:35:59.440 and despised 00:35:59.440 --> 00:36:00.179 and shamed, 00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:03.840 then we realize 00:36:03.840 --> 00:36:06.860 that this costly work 00:36:06.860 --> 00:36:07.639 of love 00:36:07.639 --> 00:36:10.139 is the path to joy. 00:36:11.579 --> 00:36:12.519 What he has done 00:36:12.519 --> 00:36:13.139 for me 00:36:13.139 --> 00:36:14.539 surely will then 00:36:14.539 --> 00:36:15.639 flow out to others 00:36:15.639 --> 00:36:16.860 and as it flows 00:36:16.860 --> 00:36:17.480 out to others, 00:36:17.579 --> 00:36:18.179 I find 00:36:18.179 --> 00:36:19.860 that that's where 00:36:19.860 --> 00:36:20.920 life is to be had. 00:36:21.500 --> 00:36:22.440 That's where peace 00:36:22.440 --> 00:36:23.639 and blessing flow. 00:36:23.639 --> 00:36:28.420 George MacDonald 00:36:28.420 --> 00:36:28.920 once wrote 00:36:28.920 --> 00:36:30.900 that the Son of God 00:36:30.900 --> 00:36:32.539 suffered unto death, 00:36:33.119 --> 00:36:34.359 not that men 00:36:34.359 --> 00:36:35.739 might not suffer, 00:36:37.019 --> 00:36:38.239 but that their sufferings 00:36:38.239 --> 00:36:39.539 might be like his. 00:36:42.980 --> 00:36:44.239 You see what he's saying there? 00:36:45.699 --> 00:36:46.559 The Son of God 00:36:46.559 --> 00:36:47.319 suffered unto death, 00:36:47.599 --> 00:36:48.299 not that we might 00:36:48.299 --> 00:36:49.239 not suffer at all, 00:36:49.960 --> 00:36:51.639 but that in our sufferings 00:36:51.639 --> 00:36:53.719 we might become 00:36:53.719 --> 00:36:54.319 like him 00:36:54.319 --> 00:36:55.819 and actually 00:36:55.819 --> 00:36:56.679 be like him. 00:36:58.219 --> 00:36:59.500 That in our suffering, 00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:00.400 in our pouring out 00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:01.239 of our lives, 00:37:01.619 --> 00:37:03.339 we can actually bring 00:37:03.339 --> 00:37:04.420 hope and peace 00:37:04.420 --> 00:37:04.980 to others. 00:37:07.699 --> 00:37:08.420 You see, friends, 00:37:08.460 --> 00:37:09.279 in the face of our tears 00:37:09.279 --> 00:37:09.619 and sorrow, 00:37:09.699 --> 00:37:10.839 that's what Christ brings. 00:37:11.440 --> 00:37:12.900 Not sentimental distractions, 00:37:13.079 --> 00:37:13.859 but true comfort. 00:37:14.960 --> 00:37:15.500 The assurance 00:37:15.500 --> 00:37:16.339 that he's come down 00:37:16.339 --> 00:37:16.960 to us, 00:37:17.900 --> 00:37:19.319 stooped into our sorrow 00:37:19.319 --> 00:37:20.679 and sin and death 00:37:20.679 --> 00:37:21.899 in order that we 00:37:21.899 --> 00:37:22.879 might be reconciled 00:37:22.879 --> 00:37:23.339 to God, 00:37:24.559 --> 00:37:25.859 in order that our lives 00:37:25.859 --> 00:37:27.119 might be set on a path 00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:28.719 to love the same way 00:37:28.719 --> 00:37:29.239 that he did. 00:37:31.099 --> 00:37:31.699 Let's pray. 00:37:38.599 --> 00:37:39.480 Lord, it is humbling 00:37:39.480 --> 00:37:41.079 to think that you would come 00:37:41.079 --> 00:37:44.859 and enter into such 00:37:44.859 --> 00:37:46.559 a broken and evil world 00:37:46.559 --> 00:37:48.139 of suffering 00:37:48.139 --> 00:37:48.860 and tears. 00:37:50.239 --> 00:37:50.980 Lord, that you would 00:37:50.980 --> 00:37:51.719 make yourself 00:37:51.719 --> 00:37:52.960 of no reputation 00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:54.599 a man of sorrows. 00:37:56.159 --> 00:37:57.039 Lord, you would do that 00:37:57.039 --> 00:37:57.639 for us, 00:37:58.440 --> 00:38:00.199 for those who had 00:38:00.199 --> 00:38:01.239 rebelled against you, 00:38:01.779 --> 00:38:03.840 for those who had chosen 00:38:03.840 --> 00:38:04.880 to take our own path, 00:38:04.960 --> 00:38:05.440 for those, 00:38:06.579 --> 00:38:07.239 God like us, 00:38:07.279 --> 00:38:07.799 who had chosen 00:38:07.799 --> 00:38:08.659 the way of Herod, 00:38:09.340 --> 00:38:10.139 the way of power 00:38:10.139 --> 00:38:10.880 and control 00:38:10.880 --> 00:38:11.599 and autonomy. 00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:13.659 Lord, that you would come 00:38:13.659 --> 00:38:14.279 and you would suffer 00:38:14.279 --> 00:38:14.940 for us 00:38:14.940 --> 00:38:17.879 to forgive us 00:38:17.879 --> 00:38:18.819 and to bring us out. 00:38:21.899 --> 00:38:23.139 God, I pray this morning 00:38:23.139 --> 00:38:24.379 that you would do 00:38:24.379 --> 00:38:25.379 a work in our hearts. 00:38:25.839 --> 00:38:27.059 Lord, that you would begin 00:38:27.059 --> 00:38:29.059 to do a renewing, 00:38:29.199 --> 00:38:29.799 reforming work 00:38:29.799 --> 00:38:30.279 in our hearts. 00:38:30.399 --> 00:38:30.940 Help us, Lord, 00:38:30.980 --> 00:38:31.460 to see 00:38:31.460 --> 00:38:34.000 that the path 00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:34.739 of following 00:38:34.739 --> 00:38:37.480 our crucified 00:38:37.480 --> 00:38:38.500 and risen Messiah 00:38:38.500 --> 00:38:39.460 takes us 00:38:39.460 --> 00:38:40.340 along the path 00:38:40.340 --> 00:38:40.920 of humility 00:38:40.920 --> 00:38:42.760 and sacrifice. 00:38:44.559 --> 00:38:45.559 Lord, in service. 00:38:47.219 --> 00:38:48.159 Lord, and give us 00:38:48.159 --> 00:38:48.699 the hope 00:38:48.699 --> 00:38:49.860 in the midst 00:38:49.860 --> 00:38:50.619 of our suffering 00:38:50.619 --> 00:38:52.579 that you have overcome. 00:38:54.699 --> 00:38:55.239 And Lord, 00:38:55.280 --> 00:38:56.039 that we will participate 00:38:56.039 --> 00:38:56.539 with you 00:38:56.539 --> 00:38:57.199 in the resurrection 00:38:57.199 --> 00:38:57.980 on the last day. 00:38:59.800 --> 00:39:00.639 God, we ask 00:39:00.639 --> 00:39:01.300 all this 00:39:01.300 --> 00:39:01.940 and pray all this 00:39:01.940 --> 00:39:02.559 in Christ's name. 00:39:02.719 --> 00:39:02.920 Amen. 00:39:02.920 --> 00:39:03.019 Amen. 00:39:03.019 --> 00:39:03.079 Amen. 00:39:03.079 --> 00:39:03.139 Amen. 00:39:08.500 --> 00:39:13.199 We're going to sing 00:39:13.199 --> 00:39:14.500 a closing song together 00:39:14.500 --> 00:39:15.780 that wraps together 00:39:15.780 --> 00:39:16.519 some of these themes 00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:17.739 that we find in Matthew 2. 00:39:18.340 --> 00:39:19.099 So let's sing 00:39:19.099 --> 00:39:19.860 this last song 00:39:19.860 --> 00:39:20.579 as our prayer 00:39:20.579 --> 00:39:21.420 and as our response 00:39:21.420 --> 00:39:21.860 of worship 00:39:21.860 --> 00:39:23.619 to the great things 00:39:23.619 --> 00:39:24.139 that God has done 00:39:24.139 --> 00:39:24.880 for us in Christ. 00:39:24.880 --> 00:39:24.940 Amen. 00:39:38.500 --> 00:39:51.179 I cannot tell 00:39:51.179 --> 00:39:52.619 why Him 00:39:52.619 --> 00:39:55.760 whom angels worship 00:39:55.760 --> 00:40:00.719 should set His love 00:40:00.719 --> 00:40:04.820 upon the sons of men 00:40:04.820 --> 00:40:09.940 or why as shepherd 00:40:09.940 --> 00:40:12.140 He should seek 00:40:12.140 --> 00:40:14.380 the wonders 00:40:14.380 --> 00:40:18.640 to bring them back 00:40:18.640 --> 00:40:21.620 they know not how 00:40:21.620 --> 00:40:24.019 or when. 00:40:25.059 --> 00:40:27.620 But this I know 00:40:27.620 --> 00:40:33.059 that He was born of Mary 00:40:33.059 --> 00:40:38.139 when Bethlehem's manger 00:40:38.139 --> 00:40:42.440 was His only home 00:40:42.440 --> 00:40:47.400 and that He lived 00:40:47.400 --> 00:40:49.539 at Nazareth 00:40:49.539 --> 00:40:52.659 and labored 00:40:52.659 --> 00:40:56.759 and so the Savior, 00:40:56.759 --> 00:41:00.679 Savior of the world 00:41:00.679 --> 00:41:03.159 is gone. 00:41:04.419 --> 00:41:07.719 I cannot tell 00:41:07.719 --> 00:41:09.960 how silently 00:41:09.960 --> 00:41:12.759 He suffered 00:41:12.759 --> 00:41:17.219 as with His peace 00:41:17.219 --> 00:41:18.419 He graced 00:41:18.419 --> 00:41:22.399 this place of tears 00:41:22.399 --> 00:41:26.119 or how His heart 00:41:26.119 --> 00:41:28.759 upon the cross 00:41:28.760 --> 00:41:30.520 was broken 00:41:30.520 --> 00:41:35.500 to crown of pain 00:41:35.500 --> 00:41:40.660 to three and thirty years. 00:41:40.660 --> 00:41:44.540 But this I know 00:41:44.540 --> 00:41:49.540 He heals the brokenhearted 00:41:49.539 --> 00:41:54.019 and stays our sin 00:41:54.019 --> 00:41:58.519 and calms our lurking fear 00:41:58.519 --> 00:42:04.079 and lifts the burden 00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:08.820 from the heavy laden 00:42:08.820 --> 00:42:12.840 for yet the Savior 00:42:12.840 --> 00:42:16.559 Savior of the world 00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:19.420 is here. 00:42:19.420 --> 00:42:23.800 I cannot tell 00:42:23.800 --> 00:42:28.660 how He will win the nations 00:42:28.659 --> 00:42:33.239 how He will claim 00:42:33.239 --> 00:42:37.199 His earthly heritage 00:42:37.199 --> 00:42:41.399 how He will claim 00:42:41.399 --> 00:42:42.399 His earthly heritage 00:42:42.399 --> 00:42:43.399 how satisfied 00:42:43.399 --> 00:42:48.099 the needs and aspirations 00:42:48.099 --> 00:42:53.099 of east and west 00:42:53.099 --> 00:42:53.839 of sinners 00:42:53.839 --> 00:42:54.480 of sinners 00:42:54.480 --> 00:42:58.559 and of saints 00:42:58.559 --> 00:43:01.839 but this I know 00:43:01.839 --> 00:43:04.000 all flesh 00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:07.259 shall see His glory 00:43:07.260 --> 00:43:12.220 and He shall reap 00:43:12.220 --> 00:43:14.000 the harvest 00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:17.000 He has sown 00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:21.000 and some glad day 00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:24.000 His sun shall shine 00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:27.000 in splendor 00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:31.260 when He the Savior 00:43:31.260 --> 00:43:35.179 Savior of the world 00:43:35.179 --> 00:43:36.659 is known 00:43:36.659 --> 00:43:42.760 I cannot tell 00:43:42.760 --> 00:43:45.480 how all the lands 00:43:45.480 --> 00:43:47.380 shall worship 00:43:47.380 --> 00:43:52.340 when at His bidding 00:43:52.340 --> 00:43:54.519 every storm 00:43:54.519 --> 00:43:57.240 is filled 00:43:57.240 --> 00:44:00.920 or who can say 00:44:00.920 --> 00:44:05.260 how great the jubilation 00:44:05.260 --> 00:44:10.380 when all the hearts 00:44:10.380 --> 00:44:12.860 of men with love 00:44:12.860 --> 00:44:15.640 are filled 00:44:15.640 --> 00:44:19.440 but this I know 00:44:19.440 --> 00:44:22.420 the skies will thrill 00:44:22.420 --> 00:44:24.440 with rapture 00:44:24.440 --> 00:44:29.320 and myriad, myriad 00:44:29.320 --> 00:44:33.440 human voices sing 00:44:34.220 --> 00:44:38.599 and earth to heaven 00:44:38.599 --> 00:44:41.000 and head to earth 00:44:41.000 --> 00:44:43.480 will answer 00:44:43.480 --> 00:44:47.440 at last the Savior 00:44:47.440 --> 00:44:48.700 your Savior 00:44:48.700 --> 00:44:51.659 of the world 00:44:51.659 --> 00:44:53.880 is King 00:44:53.880 --> 00:45:00.220 Amen friends 00:45:00.220 --> 00:45:00.860 thanks for coming 00:45:00.860 --> 00:45:01.400 this morning