A Foretold Birth #2

The fulfilled prophecies of the birth of Christ.

I'm going to give you five things that shape your affections, that shape your thinking, that frame your approach to life, that frame the way that you look forward to eternity. What does this foretold birth mean for you today? Welcome to The Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hi, I'm Bill Wright, and we're continuing our series, The Most Blessed Birth, with part two of a message titled, A Foretold Birth. Last time Don began tying together the events of Christmas with the Old Testament prophecies that preceded them. He introduced us to both the making of prophecies and the meaning of them.

He also gave us the first of five practical applications. We are to remember the cross when we think of the manger. He came for that ultimate purpose, to save his people.

On today's broadcast, Don will present the final four points. Have your Bible handy and let's join our teacher now in The Truth Pulpit. What do these prophecies mean for you as you contemplate and remember the birth of Christ? Number one, remember the cross when you remember the manger. Remember that you don't read this story in isolation, but you contemplate it in light of the entire context of the revelation of God, and specifically the whole purpose for which Christ came.

As you remember the manger, you immediately make an inseparable connection in your mind for the rest of your life to come that you remember the cross at the same time. Because, as Peter points out, it is that foretold birth that led to a predetermined crucifixion for sinners just like you. Look at 1 Peter chapter 2, for example, verse 24. Peter had said the prophets prophesied of the coming of Christ and his sufferings, and he gives us interpretation of what that means. Verse 24, speaking of Christ, he says, he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by his wounds you were healed. Chapter 3 verse 18, Christ also died for sins. Verse 18, I hear you turning your pages, I'll give you a moment. Chapter 3 verse 18, Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit.

Step back again, beloved, and remember the context of everything that we're talking about here, and apply these verses in that context. Here we are, we're blessing God for the greatness of the salvation that he has sent. Salvation is a word that means deliverance. For you to be saved means that you have been delivered.

And from what have you been delivered? You've been delivered from sin, you've been delivered from death, you've been delivered from judgment, that was upon you and the wrath of God abiding upon you in your unsaved condition. There you were apart from Christ, dead in sin, utterly unable to do anything to save yourself.

And in the whole context of the work of Christ, what happened? Christ came for you. Christ came as a gracious gift from God and born in the manger with a perfect intention to go to the cross in order to bear your sins in his body, in order to give his righteous life on behalf of your unrighteous life so that you might be cleansed from sin, so that he, in the words of the Scripture that we just read, might bring you to God. That you who were not only a sinner, but a Gentile sinner, alien and foreign to any of the promises of God that he made to his people, that Christ would reach out, as it were, out of the bounty of his righteousness, out of the bounty of his goodness, out of the realm of his perfect holiness, would reach out beyond that to you who were far off and say, I will save you and I will bring you to God. You remember the cross when you remember the manger. Christ came to the manger so he could be crucified and beloved, those of you that are in Christ today. You are the eternal beneficiary of that predetermined plan that was prophesied through the centuries.

You are on the receiving end of stupendous, unspeakable grace. That's what we remember. When we remember the manger, we remember the cross and the salvation that Christ came to achieve. Secondly, what can we say?

I wanted to put the cross front and center on that. Secondly, what can we say? The meaning of the prophecy is for you today in your 21st century shoes, treasure the truth when you remember the manger. Treasure the truth when you remember the manger. Go back to 1 Peter 1.

1 Peter 1. There's so much in Scripture that would humble the human heart that receives it with faith, that understands what is being said. To be in the presence of a holy God, to remember the love of Christ is immensely humbling.

It snaps the rod of human pride and just makes us bow down in gratitude and fear and humility before the greatness of God. There's something that you can add to that on a somewhat human level, you might say, as we look at verse 10 again. As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the suffering of Christ and the glories to follow. Pause there for a second and realize what this is saying about the prophets. God spoke through them and their prophecies are recorded in Scripture for us to study even to this day. And they knew, they were conscious that they had received a word from the Lord. But in their condition prior to the cross, they did not have a full understanding of everything that it meant. They gave their prophecies and then they gave themselves over to studying the word that the Lord had given them, trying to understand, peering into the future with their own human minds, seeking to understand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that were going to follow. And these godly men, these chosen instruments of God had this word that they knew was so valuable and that they wanted to understand and so they applied themselves to it. But there were things that were a little beyond their grasp, a little bit beyond their ability to see before the cross. And so what did God show to them in verse 12? What did God make known to them in the course of their ministry as they had a hunger to know what it meant? Oh God, what does this mean? You're speaking of a Christ who's going to suffer and who's going to have glory, but God, what does it mean?

There's something more here than what I can grasp. Verse 12, it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. And these things which now have been announced to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Beloved, those great men of God, the prophets who suffered for His name, who received the Word of God, who recorded it, Isaiah tradition tells us, sawn in half, Jeremiah rejected throughout decades of ministry, other prophets too numerous to mention, these great noble men of God were given a word that they wanted to know even as they suffered in their service to Yahweh. And as they searched that out, Scripture says it was shown to them that they were servants of a future generation, servants to you, now on this side of the cross in the New Covenant era, servants to you, that you would have the benefit of their labors.

And what does that do? Well, we step back and we, first of all, we thank God that we have the gospel. We thank God that He has sent the Spirit and has given us understanding that we might know Him who is true and the one who has come who is true and that we belong to Him is true to His Son, Jesus Christ.

This is the true God in eternal life, 1 John 5.20 is where I'm drawing upon there. And we thank God for that, and yet we take a glance back and we realize this, beloved, we realize that better men than us wanted to know the things that have been given to us. And they were told at the time, you're serving a future generation. And now we realize, wow, I'm a part of that future generation.

I received the benefit of the labors of men who went 3,000 years before me. And what does that do? What should it do in your heart? Beloved, it should make you treasure the truth is what it should do. Truth that's from God intrinsically valuable, the truth of Christ who is infinitely worthy of our praise and is part of that, almost subsidiary to that, to realize that the men who gave it to us wanted to know it was withheld from them, and now we have it. And what do we do? We say, as it were, we say, Lord, we're unworthy servants. And we kiss that word because we realize how precious its value is, in part measured by the men who wanted to know and they said it's for someone else to come.

And here we are on the receiving end of it. That should make you treasure the truth because, beloved, you have a position of privilege that great men of God wanted to have and it was withheld. Here you are, 21st century, in a comfortable room and the truth has been given to you by God. The salvation of which the prophet spoke has been delivered to you and now you have it.

So what do we do? Well, we love it. We proclaim it from a pulpit. We proclaim it in our lives to those who don't know. As part of the natural righteous gratitude that should come from being in a position to be able to treasure the truth when you remember the manger.

That's what you do. You sanctify your heart when you remember the manger. Look at 1 Peter 1 verse 13.

That great bridge word, that great transition word that takes you from what has just been said to what you should now think as a result. As a result of the prophets who made prophecy and they were serving you, not themselves, verse 13, therefore, here's what you do with that, verse 13 says, therefore, in light of the prophets, in light of the gospel, in light of this great salvation, therefore prepare your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit.

Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance. But like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior because it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy. What do you do with the manger?

How do you respond to it? Those of you who trifle in sin and neglect the word of God and neglect the salvation that you claim to own for yourself, beloved, what you do is, is you sanctify your heart. And the greatness of the prophesied birth being fulfilled and the truth and significance of it having been given to you in this New Testament era, you say, oh ho, my life therefore is to be devoted to a search after holiness, after a commitment to holiness that reflects something of the holiness of the God who saved me. I cannot live for this world.

My life cannot be centered on the affections and things of this passing temporal age. I've been saved for a greater purpose. I've been saved to live for the one who is holy and therefore I sanctify my heart. I set aside, I repent of, I reject the earthly priorities of fame and fortune. I reject the earthly temptations of lust and pride.

And I say that is not why I exist. I reject it all, you say to yourself, and I'm going to sanctify my mind and without looking back, I'm going to set my affections going forward that my life would be somehow a mirror of the holiness of the one who saved me. You sanctify your heart when you remember the manger because Christ came in order to bring you salvation from a holy God. If you've received that salvation, then you say, ah, then there's nothing else for me to do but to give back. As God gave His Son for me, all I can rightly do is give my life back to Him, that He would be the preeminent King of my heart, that He would have the preeminent claim on my affections, and whether this life brings me riches or poverty, whether it brings me joy or sorrow, whether it brings me a great company of friends or whether I live in isolation, my heart will belong to this God who manifested Himself in a manger. You sanctify your heart in that way.

Fourthly, what do you do? What's the meaning of this prophecy for you? Fourthly, you fear God when you remember the manger. You fear God when you remember the manger.

This foretold birth prompts in you a reverent fear, a reverent fear. Look at verse 17. You see how all of this is just flowing naturally from the statement of the blessing of God on salvation, the remembrance of how the prophets brought it and set the stage for it? All of this just flows.

All of these things just flow. Verse 17, if you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. Verse 20, here again, you see it again, for He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but as appeared in these last times for the sake of you. For your sake, beloved, He appeared. For your sake, according to a predetermined plan of God.

For your sake, precious blood was spilt. You can't have a casual reaction to that. This is not a matter of light indifference. This is not something that you hear and say, okay, now it's time to watch television. Now I'll think about, you know, and no, this stops you in your tracks. This is a showstopper for life to realize these things. You know, my friends, when we contemplate these things, we realize that we are standing on the knife's edge between time and eternity. The life that is and the life that is to come. We realize that we brought into a realm that shows us that our earthly lives are part of a far greater plan than what we usually think about. And it brings us to want to repent of the trivial way that we treat Christ and the trivial way that we give our affections to Him. And Peter wakes us up from all of that and says there should be a sense of fear with which you live your life.

What kind of fear are we talking about? Simply this, a wholehearted life of humble worship in response to the great salvation that God has brought to you. The gospel comes to you and places a preeminent claim on your deepest affections and loyalties and says you must give your life to Christ as the only appropriate way to respond to this.

There's no other option. The day is coming where you'll give an account for what you've done with that gospel. There's a final thing that you do. We go out on an extremely high note you might say.

What do you do? What's the meaning of these prophecies? You remember the cross. You treasure the truth. You sanctify your heart. You fear God when you remember the manger. Finally, number five, you rejoice when you remember the manger. We sang earlier, joy to the world the Lord has come. Why joy? Why gladness? Why delight?

Why the super intending and super abounding gladness in response to these things? Why the joy that Christ was born in Bethlehem? Oh, beloved. Beloved, your hope was born into that manger. Your peace with God was born into that manger. Your salvation was born into that manger. Your greatest treasure in life and eternity was born in that manger.

Look at verses 20 and 21 again. For he was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you. For your sake. For your benefit. To help you. To provide for you. To give to you.

This is why he came. Who through him, verse 21, are believers in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that for this purpose, your faith and hope are in God. All of a sudden, all of the tragedies of life, all of the sorrows, the sins, the broken relationships, the lost friendships, the coming and going and reversals of fortune, all of it is put into a context that says it all diminishes insignificance realizing that my hope, you say to yourself, my faith, my confidence, what I am living for is resting in God, never to be taken away from me. A salvation has been given to you that includes an inheritance that you have yet to enter into and the joy of being in heaven, the majesty of seeing the face of Christ, the certainty that the grave holds no power over you, that your sins will never be called into account against you by a holy God.

He'll never do that because of what Christ has done for you. All of that realizing that this meager life is going to yield into glories far beyond your hope, far beyond what you could ask or think. Oh, beloved, that's reason to rejoice. Reason to be glad, to realize that you unworthy have been saved by Christ worthy, given an inheritance far beyond anything that you could imagine, far greater than tongue or word could ever describe and that belongs to you and the Christ who began the work in you at a point in time in your life past is certainly going to perfect it until the day of His coming, the day when you enter into heaven. That's reason to rejoice.

Your hope and trust are in Him. Beloved, is it possible for some in here today that all of this discussion of truth has awakened you to the reality that you are not in the truth, that these affections are foreign to your heart, that you're still dead in your sin? Take this opportunity to come to Christ. Christ came in a manger. Christ is coming again in the clouds with great glory. Today, my unsaved friend, He comes to you through the proclamation of the Word and invites you to come to Him for salvation, that these great glories could belong to you.

Come to me, He says. Come to me and find eternal life, forgiveness of your sin in Christ. If you've heard it a thousand times but today it makes sense, today the light has come, that's an indication that the Spirit has awakened your heart. Come to Christ and be saved.

As Pastor Don Green has taught us the past couple of days, when thinking of the manger, we are to remember the cross, treasure the truth, sanctify our hearts, fear God, and then rejoice. Don will have more of our series, The Most Blessed Birth, next time here on The Truth Pulpit. Be with us then.

Right now, though, Don's back in studio with some closing words. Well, hello, my friend. I want to thank you for listening to The Truth Pulpit. Thank you for being a student of God's Word.

You are the reason that we do these things. We want to bring God's Word to you in a way that makes it alive and applicable to you and brings you into a deeper knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, if you've benefited from this broadcast, we just ask you to do a simple thing. Go to our webpage or go to our Facebook page. Look us up on Facebook and just drop us a little note, just a word that would let us know that you've appreciated today's broadcast or the other aspects of our ministry.

We would love to hear from you. Thank you for listening to The Truth Pulpit. We are grateful to Christ for you. Thanks Don. And friend, remember to visit thetruthpulpit.com to learn more about this ministry. That's thetruthpulpit.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Bill Wright and we'll see you next time for more from The Truth Pulpit.