Jesus Has Come! Series

“JESUS HAS COME!” Luke 2:1-7

FBCF – 12/12/21

Jon Daniels

INTRO – Last week started series, “Good New of Great Joy!” Looked at Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming Messiah in Isaiah 9:2, 6 – “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned…For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, & the gov’t shall be upon His shoulders. And He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah prophesied that Hope was coming in the form of a baby that would be born in Bethlehem. John MacArthur: “The coming of the Messiah is synonymous with the coming of light to remove the darkness of captivity.” (NKJV MacArthur Study Bible)

That Messiah has come, & that Messiah is Jesus! The coming of the light to remove the darkness of captivity has happened, & that Light is Jesus! And how we need Him b/c the captivity of sin grows stronger & stronger every day.

- Library in Fairfax County, VA – holiday reading display – Bible right next to Gender Queer & Lawn Boy, books that talk about pedophilia & gay sex. The display also featured quotes from a book entitled Satanic Verses. (https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fairfax-county-library-gender-queer-lawn-bible-book-display)

- A pastor in Indiana relieved of his duties after he danced in a drag queen show on HBO, calling it “an incredibly wonderful, refreshing, deepening, powerful spiritual experience” (https://www.foxnews.com/us/indiana-pastor-hbo-drag-were-here-relieve-of-duties-bullied).

These things make us mad, & rightfully so. But it shows us how desperately our world needs Jesus. It shows us how far removed we are from any sense of a Judeo-Christian view of morality. Andrew T. Walker, God and the Transgender Debate – “…the most influential sectors of US culture – academia, media, entertainment, art, law – are increasingly no longer influenced by Christianity, b/c those who occupy places of prestige, influence, & cultural impact are in most cases not Christians, nor are they sympathetic to Christian views” (p. 23).

Yet, today we believe in, we stand on, & we proclaim that Jesus, the Messiah, has come! No matter what the world believes; no matter what the social influencers of our day say; no matter how unsympathetic our society is to Christian views – we will rejoice w/ great joy b/c the Lord has come. We will go tell it on the mountains that Jesus Christ has come!

EXPLANATION – Luke 2:1-7

This passage is so familiar to us that we run the risk of missing out on its impact. Let’s dissect these 1st 7 verses:

The Regulation – v. 1 – Judea was under Roman rule & regulation w/ Caesar Augustus as emperor. Herod, a usurper, a foreign alien power, now ruled over Judea. The Promised Land, promised to God’s people, was in the hands of a heathen power. That heathen governmental power issued a decree for a taxation to take place.

The Registration – v. 2 – The registration here was a governmental census taken by Rome every 14 years for taxation & military purposes. Every Jewish male had to return to the city of his birth to record his name, occupation, property, & family information.

The Response – v. 3-5 – Joseph & Mary headed to Bethlehem in response to the decree. But the greater truth is that God was using the taxation decree by a pagan ruler to bring about His plan for the birth of the Savior. It’s the reality of Romans 8:28. It’s the reality of what Satan meant for evil, God meant for good. Looked what happened in v. 6-7.

The Result – v. 6-7 – “the time came” – “the days were accomplished” (KJV). In those days, they didn’t do gender reveals w/ balloons popping w/ blue or pink confetti, or cannon poppers or golf balls that explode w/ blue or pink smoke. Didn’t have to b/c God Himself had already done the gender reveal thousands of years before in the Garden of Eden when God told Satan that the Messiah would come and HE (not she) would crush Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15). And here HE is – “she gave birth to her firstborn SON.” Matthew 1:25 – “And [Joseph] gave HIM the name JESUS.”

APPLICATION – Jesus has come in those days to give us hope in these days.

3 reasons why Jesus came:

JESUS HAS COME B/C OF MAN’S PROBLEM – Man’s universal problem – SIN.

- “Sin is not weakness; it is a disease; it is red-handed rebellion against God & the magnitude of that rebellion is expressed by Calvary’s cross.” (Oswald Chambers)

We hear those stories of the library’s immoral display, or the pastor dancing as a drag queen & think, “Man! That’s some BAD sin! That’s REALLY ‘red-handed rebellion against God!’” But ALL of our sin is red-handed rebellion against God. ALL of us have the same problem, the same disease.