The Name Of The Promise Is Jesus

The Name of the Promise Is Jesus

TCF Sermon

December 3, 2000

Isn’t it great to begin to hear some of the great Christmas music?

When you were a child, did you misunderstand some of the words of carols?

Then when you learned to read and saw the lyrics, you may have been surprised at what they really said

Fractured Christmas Carols

Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly

We three kings of porridge and tar

Noel. Noel, Barney’s the king of Israel.

With the jelly toast proclaim

Here in our seemingly never-ending election season, we’ve heard a lot of promises

- we’ve heard a lot about promises

Some of the promises we’ve heard from politicians can make us cynical, but

Now, as we begin the season of advent, in anticipation of Christmas, it’s very appropriate that we take time to look at promises as seen in scripture

and very specifically, to look at a promise that’s older than time:

the promise of the coming Savior

Matthew 1:21 it says, speaking of Mary,

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

Note something important in this passage:

Matthew notes that his name will be Jesus…but why?

- because "he will save His people from their sins"

- you might ask:

What does that have to do with His name?

His name means The Lord saves

That’s why this morning’s message is titled:

The Name of the Promise Is Jesus

During this Christmas season, it’s appropriate to remember some key things about Jesus, whose birth we celebrate:

- just as Jesus was God in the flesh, the very embodiment of the Maker of the Universe

- Jesus was also the embodiment of all God promised His people

- of all God promised the world

in fact, He came to be called "the promised One"

Scripture shows us that Jesus is the promise

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No," but in him it has always been "Yes." 20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

The Word of God, our Bible, is a book full of promises

In fact, by one count, the number of promises given in the Bible is 1,260

Singer Michael Card wrote a song called The Promise, and he wrote a little Christmas devotional on this theme:

He noted:

Christianity is founded on a promise. Faith involves waiting on a promise. Our hope is based on a promise.

Promises are made with words. … .that part of myself that goes with every promise is given to you through my words….

Our God is the great maker of promises… His word, our Bible, is a collection of the promises… most of these concern Jesus, who came to be known as "the Promised One"

Through all these promises, God was trying to give something of Himself to Adam, and to Israel, and finally to us. The Bible tells us that when the Promised One came, the Lord poured all of Himself into Him.

What a costly thing it can be to make a promise - it cost Jesus His life.

The fulfillment of this promise of God had a name, and His name is Jesus

We name some of our promises, too, don’t we:

- there’s the "Oath of Office" that public officials take

- there are "Wedding Vows"

- there are various pledges, such as the pledge of allegiance

- political parties have promises called platforms, that include not only promises, but the position which the parties take on various issues

One candidate, Dave Barry, not a serious candidate for president, and if you’ve ever read his column you’ll know that’s true,

made this promise about foreign policy:

I am sick and tired of watching the United States get pushed around by dirtbag nations such as Iraq. If I were president, and Saddam Hussein gave me any trouble, I would unleash the ultimate weapon on him. That’s right: I would have a bomber fly right over downtown Baghdad, open the bomb doors, and drop: lawyers. If that didn’t paralyze Iraq, I would drop more lawyers; and if THAT didn’t work, I would put parachutes on the lawyers.