Behold the Messiah!
Thesis: We need to behold the Messiah at Christmas and make sure we are focused on Him.
Texts: Luke 2:10,11 " But the angel said to them, ’Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."
Introduction:
Christmas is here once again and with it comes the hustle and bustle of all it’s preparations and programs. All the decorations, and hoop la. The TV. Specials, the Christmas movies, the adds, adds-and sales and sales! The red suits and reindeers. The grinches and the scrooges! The anxiety, the stress, the debt and Oh the debt. The seasons becomes a blur and we sigh at all its WEHHH! But is this really Christmas?
Poem: Adapted from "Can this be Christmas?"
Can this be Christmas?
What’s all this hectic rush and fuss?
Where do all these crowds go in such a hurry?
They speed by so fast they look blurry!
They sit at the lights getting ready to take flight!
They dash into the store and then flash out the door!
Why all of the lights shining so bright?
Why all these trees that make me sneeze?
Why this is Christmas. Christmas in deed!
So this is Christmas, do you say?
But where is Christ on Christmas day?
Has he been lost among the throng?
His voice drowned out by empty song?
He’s been replaced and now receives no embrace.
This poem reflects how a lot of people approach Christmas today. We are coming into Christmas tired, exhausted, frustrated and overwhelmed. The crowds at the stores have pushed out joy. The attitudes of overworked workers have affected us as they snap at the customer because they are stressed out. Share about incident at Best Buy. The traffic jams at malls. How your brother is worn out because of the mad rush on cheese. It was a cheesy deal!
But what we really need to do this morning is sit down and take breath and behold the Messiah. We need to once again embrace the true meaning of Christmas. Lets behold the story of Christmas:
Christmas was first talked about over 2,000 years ago. Lets look and behold the Messiah’s birth.
I. Look at the prophecies! Wow what a preview!
a. Jesus would be born of the seed of woman - Prophecy
i. Genesis 3:15 " And I will pit enmity between you an the woman and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."
ii. Fulfilled in Matthew 1:20 and Galatians 4:4 refers to and states, "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law."
b. Will be born of a virgin - Prophecy
i. Isa. 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son , and will call him Immanuel (means God with us)."
ii. Fulfilled in Matthew 1:18, 24, 25 "She was found with child of the Holy Spirit…Then Joseph…did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus."
c. Will be born from the Seed of Abraham - Prophecy
i. Genesis 22:18 " In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
ii. Fulfilled Matthew 1:1 "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham."
iii. Also Galatians 3:16 " Not to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ’And the seeds, ’ as of many, but as of one,’ And to your Seed,’ who is Christ."
d. Will come from the family line of Jesse - Prophecy
i. Isaiah 11:1 " There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." Also (Isa. 1:10).
ii. Fulfilled Luke 3:23, 32 " Jesus, …the Son of Jesse."
e. Will come from the House of David - Prophecy
i. Jeremiah 23:5 " Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ’That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a king shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the land."
ii. Fulfilled Luke 3:23, 31 "Jesus,…the Son of David…" many others.
f. Will be born in Bethlehem - Prophecy
i. Micah 5;2 " But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to me the one ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.’
ii. Fulfilled in Matthew 2:1 " Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea."
g. He would be presented with gifts - Prophecy
i. Psalm 72:10 " The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles will bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts." (Also Isa. 60:6)
ii. Fulfilled Matthew 2: 1,11 " Wise men from the East came to Jerusalem…and fell down and worshipped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him."
h. His birth would cause Herod to kill children - Prophecy
i. Jeremiah 31:15 " Thus says the Lord; a voice in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more."
ii. Fulfilled In Matthew 2:16 when Herod ordered all the children 2 and under to be killed in Bethlehem.
i. Law of Compound Probabilities - Dr Stoner calculated what the percentage would be for Christ to fulfill just 48 prophecies with his birth and life and came up with the following statistic it ended up 1x 10 (157th power). This figure is beyond human comprehension yet Christ fulfilled over 300 distinct prophecies.
i. If Jesus would only have fulfilled 8 prophecies the reality is it would be equivalent of covering the entire state of Texas 2 feet deep in silver dollars, specially marking one of them, and instructing a blindfolded man to pick the right silver dollar on the first try.
T.S.- Behold the Messiah in prophecy but look at His genealogy too!
II. Look at the genealogy! Could this be true!
a. Matthew 1- Highlight
b. Matthew gave us Jesus’ past to show who Jesus’ ancestors where and say to all "Behold the Messiah".
i. He shows that Jesus was related to Abraham and David. Abraham proved he was Jewish and David’s line proved he could be the Messiah.
ii. Good kings and evil kings mentioned too.
iii. Matthew included women.
1. She was a what!
a. Tamar pretended to be a prostitute
b. Rahab was a prostitute
iv. Could this be true!
1. Gentile blood in the Messiah too!
2. Ladies of ill repute.
3. Even Bathsheeba an adulterous too!
v. But God includes these women and sinners in his line to show he had mercy and grace.
1. God wants us to know that Grace is what Christmas is about!
2. God has not based salvation on being perfect just forgiven.
3. When Jesus was born it was an act of love so the world would be set free.
4. Point -- just because you have black marks in your past does not mean God will not use you for touching peoples lives.
T.S.- Behold the Messiah’s ancestors and see his love and grace and then you understand why he was born in a manger rather than in a palace. Can you see the view?
III. Look at the stable! Pee Yew! We get a smelly view!
a. It was not pretty but smelly.
i. But Jesus would take the past and the stable and make it smell fresh and renewed
b. It was not fit for a king let alone the King of Kings.
i. Yet still the angels sang and rejoiced that the Savior came.
ii. It was not the place of a king but it was the Birth of the greatest king of Kings.
iii. A king of love and amazing grace did not care for man’s praise.
iv. He came to save and set men free and knew this was only the beginning for you and me.
c. It was full of animals
i. Yes, even animals where there but, "He will be back some day and what will he ride from Heaven above? A white horse!"
ii. God likes animals like you and me so why should they not see."
iii. But even if the animals can see should not you and me see!
T.S.- We got a view of the stable but lets look at the family too. How’s you view?
IV. Look at the family! It could have happened to you! Think about this view?
a. Mary- Could you here the whispers when she was found due
i. I’m sure it was a big ado!
ii. Did you look at her and see the view!
iii. She got pregnant before the big I do (wedding).
b. Joseph- He did not want to go through with it until the Lord broke through!
i. But he saw a different view after the angel was through
ii. I’m sure he thought, "WOW what a blessing for me to go through to be apart of raising the Savior - to present to the world "The Messiah!"
T.S.- The family beheld the Messiah and was blessed and you can be blessed if you continue to behold the Messiah. So catch and behold the view!
V. Look at the visitors! It was quit a crew!
a. Shepherds- Surprised by the heavenly view.
b. Angels- Singing glory, glory -this will be a story-and oh what a story!
c. And wise men too- they came from afar to bring him presents of Gold, Myrrh and incense. But when they beheld the Messiah they received more than they could have ever believed. They where warned in a dream to stay away from Herod the real Grinch who tried to steal Christmas. By killing all the babies looking for Jesus.
T.S.- Behold the messiah the shepherds, wise men and angels they got quite a view!
How about you? Are you starting to focus on the view?
VI. Look at this time of year! Has it become an Ugly Grizzly bear! Then it’s time to change your view!
a. What do you see and behold!
i. Business and dizziness
ii. Cha ching, cha ching and the cash register just keeps ringing
b. Who do you see and behold the Messiah or!
i. Rudolph the red nose reign deer had a very shiny nose!
1. "They all said it glowed" - Jesus glows brighter!
2. "You’re go down in history." - Jesus created history and will make history in the future!
ii. "You better watch out, you better not cry let me tell you why Santa is coming to town."
1. Jesus is coming to town soon and very soon - you better watch out!
iii. "Was the night before Christmas not a creature was stirring not even a mouse."
1. Read Twas the night before Jesus came!
iv. Mr. Grinch! "You’re a mean one Mister Grinch!"
1. There are Grinches out there the real one was King Herod!
2. In the world there are sent ones to steal the true meaning of Christmas from you they are called Demonic forces!
3. The head Grinch is - Satan
v. Frosty the snowman
1. " A jolly happy soul" Jesus is the one who gives a jolly happy soul!’
2. "He will be back again some day!’ Jesus is the one coming back again some day!
vi. Mr Scrooge, "Buhh Humbug!"
1. A man self centered you see’s the light and becomes born again - this is what can happen to you!
T.S. - Do not look at Christmas as a bear but look at with eyes that are clear! Behold the Messiah and see the true view!
VII. Look at Jesus! Put Him in view and then Behold the Messiah! Now History is in view!
a. Refocus on the symbols of Christmas and behold the Messiah.
i. Christmas date Dec. 25 th .It ’s a symbolic day picked by the church years ago to recognize Jesus’ birth.
ii. Poinsettias - Symbol of Bethlehem star and story of little girl in Mexico.
iii. The Dove sign - symbolic of the Holy Spirit - peace and goodwill to man.
iv. The Christmas tree - Symbolic of the tree Jesus Died on.
v. Xmas Greek for Christos!
vi. The Candy cane - represents the story of Christmas - the color white symbolizes purity and the red the blood of Christ which makes us pure. The Cane represents that Jesus is the Great Shepherd and if you turn it over it’s the first Initial of Jesus. A J!
vii. Santa Claus - was actually a true follower of Jesus - today he would be irate at what they did with his life!
b. There are 9 steps you can do to teach children the true meaning of Christmas to help them Behold the Messiah: Adapted from e-How!
i. Discuss the origins of Christmas and the meaning behind the symbols of it.
ii. Look for an age appropriate book on Jesus’ birth and read it to them.
iii. Take your family to Christmas services to learn about it’s purpose and blessing.
iv. Try to de-hype and simplify Christmas.
v. Encourage your children to look beyond their own Christmas desires and presents. Ask them to donate one of their toys to a child in need, or take time to serve someone at Christmas.
vi. Set firm Christmas spending limits for the whole family to follow. This will help keep you out of debt and teach the kids it’ not about spend -spend -spend! Get-get-get!
vii. Get your kids involved in Christmas- Make Christmas cards for you family together.
viii. De-emphasize TV. Christmas has little to do with TV programming at Christmas. Be selective about the shows your kids watch and remind who the focus is this time of year!
ix. Put an emphasis on family time, Jesus time, and togetherness under the umbrella of Jesus the Messiah.
c. He is here for you just like he was 2,000 plus years ago!
i. He is the savior of the world! Not Santa!
ii. He is the one who can fly! Not Rudolph!
iii. He is the one who will go down in history! Not Rudolph!
iv. He is the one you better watch out for! Not Santa!
v. He is the one who will return! Not Frosty!
vi. He is the one who will turn scrooges into servants of God.
Conclusion: Lets take the time this morning and behold the Messiah and catch a view of what’s true!
Show Video! Of Jesus
