← ArchiveMiracle in the MangerThe Miracle of SalvationDateDecember 20, 2020SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamText—Passages in this sermonLuke 15:10Matthew 1:2114:42Matthew 519:02Luke 226:29TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Music.0:30Okay, good morning again. I failed to let you know who I am, so my name is Josh Burnham, lead pastor here at Bethel. And you might wonder, well, what is going on in this moment? This is what we call church, the New Testament church. And we believe we, the people gathered in the name of Jesus Christ, called by the name of Christ, who gather in the name of Christ, gather to grow in the word of the Lord, the word of Yahweh. So we believe very clearly that when the people of Christ gather, the Holy Spirit is here.0:59And the Holy Spirit is working in us. And so this is just not an exercise and ritual. We believe that God is doing something in our lives and in your lives right now. And we want to say also, I called a friend this week, she has COVID, and she said, Josh, I just want you to know how thankful I am to watch online because I have not been here since March. So never forget, church, that we have dear friends that are watching online every week.1:28You haven't seen them in months, but they're still here. I met a family here in person today that's from San Diego. So can we just let our round of applause be a warm thank you. For those who are watching online, we miss you guys. And we know that one day you will be here again and we can't long for that day. So again, we are in our miracles series. Really, it's the miracle in the manger. So if you have your Bibles with you, join me in the book of Luke.1:58And we're going to look at three specific passages today. The book of Luke. And just very simply, we want you to be encouraged by today's message. If you're a Christian, you should leave here stronger in your faith than when you arrived. We don't want to leave you in the same condition. We want to leave you better because that's what we believe Christ does in our lives. If you're not a Christian, we want you to be extremely uncomfortable right now. I mean, we don't apologize for that, right?2:27We are going to sing songs about Jesus. We're going to preach the word about Jesus because we simply believe that Jesus saves. There is no one else under heaven or earth. There's no other name by which men can be saved. There's one name and his name is Jesus. And we want you to be so uncomfortable that you run to Christ. And you say, I want this God. I want this Christ to be my Savior. And so if you give your life to Christ today, whether online or here in person, please let us know.2:55We want to celebrate with you today. So as you find your way to Luke, let me just share a story about the birth of Christ. Almost 2,000 years ago, in a dark world, suffering from chaos and isolation. Can anyone relate? Destroyed by the effects of war and shackled by a tyranny of Rome longed for a new leader.3:20And 2,000 years ago, an invasion began. But it might not be what you're thinking. There was not a massive logistical support or huge infantry. No, there was nothing else. You see, history records that it was a quiet invasion.3:48Palestine, in this moment, was looking for a D-Day type military campaign. But not on this day. Not on this night. They were longing for the nation that once was to be restored to the way that it used to be. And for many in Palestine, deliverance was the saving from their discomfort.4:12Especially the discomfort of Rome. And rather than giving them what they wanted, the sovereign Lord knew what they needed. On this morning, the invasion began with minimal fanfare. There was no ordinary conquest, though. On this day, deliverance would come. Not geographically, only for Palestine.4:42And not chronologically or temporarily for the first century. No, this invasion would give peace for the entire world. This invasion, this leader, would give deliverance for every single person who has faith in him. Truly, this is the miracle in the manger. And this invasion is the miracle of salvation. Let's read Luke chapter 1, beginning in verse 30.5:10The word of the Lord says this. Then the angel told her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Now listen, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And you will name him Jesus.5:39So that's going to be our jumping off point today. You will name him Jesus. He will be not minimal. Man, he'll be another kid. Not he will be special. He will be great. And will be called the son of the most high. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.6:08And his kingdom will have no end. Church, this is not your ordinary invasion. It was a quiet invasion. But it's an eternal deliverance. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the day that the Messiah was born. The one who would reign over the throne of David. The one that would give us life. The one that would give us joy.6:38The one that would bless us. And Lord, right now, in this moment, 2,000 years later, Lord, you are still working in this world. A world that is dark. A world that is chaotic. A world that is isolated. But we thank you that you never left us alone. And Lord, we thank you that you're not a God that's content to give us what we want. You're a God that's sovereign enough to give us what we need. So, Lord, we thank you.7:07May you work in our hearts afresh. May your mercies be made new in this moment in our lives. Lord, we pray by your Spirit and through your Son, Jesus Christ. We pray. Amen. And amen. So, the miracle in a manger. The birth of a child is one of the most exciting and anxious, riddled moments of anyone's life.7:34Can you imagine in this moment that the doctor says, I want you to know it's a boy. Oh, but by the way, you don't get to name your child. You would think, what? What child and what name, the power of this name for someone to say, this name is special. This name is great.8:04You don't get to name your child, but here is his name. Because he's going to be unlike any other child in the history of the world. What a memorable name indeed for you to go with this plan. That's exactly what happens to Mary in this moment, in this miracle. We've read it in Luke chapter 1 and beginning in verse 31. Now listen, exciting news. You will conceive and you will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus.8:28Let's look at that name. What is this name and why is it important? The rabbis traditionally said that there were only six men in all of scripture that were given a name from heaven. Isaac, Ishmael, Moses, Solomon, Josiah, and the final would be the Messiah.8:47Talk about great company. Moses, the leader of Israel, Josiah, the one who found the book of the law and reformed the people of God. And this is the name, this is the heavenly attitude that would be given to the Messiah in this moment.9:12Now this name, Jesus, this name, Joshua, I'm partial to it, has a rich legacy. The Hebrew is the word Joshua. It's the man who succeeded Moses. Remember, Moses led the people out of Egypt. Received the Ten Commandments. Split the Red Sea. Led them to the Promised Land. But because of his sin and his rebellion, he could not enter.9:42And so Joshua is the man who led the people of God into the promises. A lesser known Joshua to you, but not lesser known to the people of God, was the man who came back from Babylon with Zedekiah. The man who led them and returned to the lands. Their names were Joshua. And so this name would have been very familiar to the people of God. Mary would have said, oh, I know that name.10:11Wow, Joshua, the one who led the people of God into the Promised Land. Joshua, the one who led us back from Babylon. The deliverer, I will name my son. You see, the miracle in a manger has a name. You can call on him salvation, but you might also call him Jesus Christ. And so when you call upon the name of Jesus, just know you are saying out loud, God is my salvation.10:38Literally, Yah, the covenant name of God, Yahweh, is my salvation. Salvation has a name, and his name is Jesus. But I think there's a deeper lesson here, more than a name. To be saved, you have to ask the question, well, saved from what?11:04And so we need to wrap our minds around, what is Jesus Christ? What is this miracle saving you and saving me from? Well, the Bible gives us the answer. Way back in Genesis, we're reminded that every single person here lives under a curse. And it's a curse that is so deep. It's a curse that runs through our blood, and it manifests itself in our behaviors.11:32It's the curse of trying to be good and never succeeding. It's a reminder that there's not a single good person in this room. And there's not a single good person in their living room. It's a curse to try to live up to the standard of perfection that God requires, knowing that you and I will never be perfect.11:58You don't have to amen that. It's a reminder that there's a curse when we try to put band-aids upon our sin and try to cover ourselves in self-righteousness, knowing that we have deeper abrasions. That's actually an infection. This is the curse of sin. It's the curse in your life that leads to death. It's the curse in your life, in my life, that breaks our relationship with God.12:27And it's the curse that results in eternal damnation. Because I believe what the Bible teaches us, that hell is a real place. And that my sin will lead me to hell if I don't find the remedy. This is a curse. But the gospel screams, listen, this is what the gospel screams at us. The gospel says, it is your fault. We live in a world that says, well, I know I'm a sinner, but it's their fault.12:54They made me do it. I would not have lost my anger if they would not have posted that on my page. Well, Lord, don't you realize how slow they drive in the left lane? And that is illegal, by the way. And so it's not my fault that I lost my religion on these people. And we live in a world that says, don't worry, it's not your fault. But the gospel says the opposite.13:25The gospel says it is your fault. And one day I will not be judged for your sin. And I will be judged for my sin. And what a dreadful day that will be because we all live under this curse. And yet, the one who is born in the manger, the name which means salvation, reminds us that he will deliver you from your sin and its penalty. And that he will restore you back into right relationship with God.13:55And then he will impart and he will give you everlasting life. See, I think the danger is sometimes we want to jump to heaven. We want to jump to God. What do you give me? And we forget that he saves you from your sin. He saves me from the eternal consequences of our sin. And he restores us back into right relationship. Guys, that is the Christmas story. Forget the manger.14:24The Christmas story is that God delivers you through his son, that he restores relationship with us, and he gives you eternal life. That is the Christmas story in one sentence. This is how God saves us. And Matthew 1.21 gives us an addition to the name of Jesus. Matthew 1.21 says, And you will call his name Jesus because he will save the people from their sins. You see, you cannot isolate the salvation of Christmas from the salvation from sin.14:53And this is the hopeful declaration of Jesus' name. Every time you speak the name of Jesus Christ, you are saying, God, I believe that you will save me from my sin. And not only do I believe you will save me from my sin, I believe by saying the name of Jesus that you are the Savior.15:18There is power in the name of Jesus Christ. The miracle in the manger has a name. The miracle in the manger has a name. Call him salvation, but you can also call him Jesus Christ. And whoever believes in the name of Jesus will be saved. And so we ask ourselves, like we have to ask ourselves, do you believe?15:44Now, I understand you're sitting in church right now. And so you're going to say, well, pastor, I would not be here if I did not believe. Oh, how foolish for us to think that everyone in here is a Christ follower. How foolish would it be for us to think everyone watching online is a Christ follower. How foolish and how damning would it be for you just to assume that I am a Christ follower.16:08Ask me, seek me, challenge me. May the Lord work in me and through me for his glory and for our good. So do you believe in miracles? I know you say, well, of course we do. No, do we really believe in miracles? Because if we really believed in miracles, we wouldn't freak out over pandemics. We wouldn't freak out over death. We wouldn't freak out over difficulty.16:38Because every time we lose our mind, we're saying, God, I say I believe, but God, you know my heart. But there was one here that believed and her name was Mary. And she's found in the next several verses. Verse 45. We see this. She's met by her cousin. A lady who's older. I don't know how old she is. You can put an old qualifier on her.17:08I'm not stepping into that today. She's an older lady. She's past her child birthing years. Again, you put the age on there. I don't know. And she's with child. And she's with child. And a child named John. And so she hears by the Holy Spirit that her cousin Mary, with the birth of Jesus Christ, is with child. And in this moment, we see the first visit when they get the news.17:36Look at the word of God right here in verse 42 through 45 of Luke 1. Mary believed and she was blessed. So Elizabeth says, she exclaimed with a loud cry, blessed are you among women, Mary, and your child will be blessed. How could this happen to me that the mother of my Lord? Now, listen to the words.18:06I don't believe that any word in Scripture is an accident. Elizabeth says, this is the covenant name of God, by the way. She doesn't say God. She doesn't say Elohim. She doesn't say Adonai. She uses the word Yahweh, the covenant name of God. It's the word Yehoshua. The Lord is our salvation. She says, how could this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, this baby leaped for joy inside me.18:34Blessed is she who has believed. That the Lord would fulfill what he has spoken to her. Talk about faith. Talk about faith in this moment. This is actually the first beatitude in the Gospel of Luke. This word blessed is the same word that Jesus uses in Matthew 5 on the Sermon on the Mount.19:02Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the merciful. To be blessed, let's kind of take off our 2020 years. You know, sometimes we just say, well, I'm too blessed to be stressed. What does that even mean? You don't know. What does that mean? I'm stressed all the time. But blessedness in Scripture, blessedness from heaven means this.19:29This is exactly what Elizabeth says. A beatitude is a blessing spoken over someone who has what is necessary for a joyful life and who has received Yahweh's gift of redemption. A true blessing is someone who has what is necessary for joy and has received the true blessing of redemption. You see, blessed, this is what the Bible teaches us.19:58Blessed is everyone who has believed in Jesus Christ. Listen, God wants to bless you. But this blessing has a name. The name of God's blessing upon your life is Jesus Christ. That's exactly what Elizabeth says. She says, how blessed it is to believe in Him. Listen, church, if you have Jesus, you are blessed. If you have Jesus Christ, if you are here today and you say, yes, Jesus is my Lord.20:31He is my salvation. Then you are blessed. Because you have what is necessary for joy. And you have what is necessary for eternal life. And so let's not buy into the easy blessings of the world where we say, well, I have a nice home and I have a lot of food. I'm too blessed to be stressed. What we need to say is, I have been saved from my sins. I have been restored into right relationship with God.20:59I have been given eternal life. And because of that, I'm blessed. You see, blessed is everyone who believes in this Christmas miracle. And the most incredible blessing that you and I have in our lives is to know and believe in Jesus. That is the most incredible blessing that we have in the Word of God. It's interesting, the word used here in verse 45,21:27blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill. It's the same Greek word that Jesus Christ used on the cross when He said, it is finished. It's the reminder that what Jesus is doing right here in the womb of Mary, He will continue in her life and He will continue in yours. See, the blessing to Mary is this,21:57that what God has promised her, He will bring to completion. And the same is true in your life. What God has promised you through His Word, what He has promised you through His Son, He will bring to completion. There is not a single promise that God has ever made that He breaks. God is bringing the completion of your redemption. And the reminder to the promise of Mary22:24is the reminder that God is still working in 2020. And He's still working in your life right now. Listen, believe in Christ and be blessed. And the reverse is true. If you have believed in Christ, you are blessed. This is the miracle in the manger. But I want to share with you that the blessedness of Christ and the blessedness of this miracle doesn't end in the manger.22:54It continues in the field. So let's look at the shepherds really quick. In chapter 2, verse 11 of Luke, you might know the story that in the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields. And they were washing their flock at night. And the angel shone around them. And this is what the angel says in verse 11 of chapter 2. The angel says,23:23Guys, don't worry. Actually, the angel probably said, Okay, pick yourselves off the ground. You're shepherds. Get it together. The day in the city of David, a Savior has been born. Don't miss this. For you. For you. And this will be a sign. He's Messiah, the Lord.23:52You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger. Now this is what we do when we read this. Because many of you know the Christmas narrative. You read the angels and you say, Aww, how cute. Sheep. At the birth of Jesus. And they have cute little figurine shepherd people that are joining them. But in the first century, shepherds were not this way.24:22In the first century, actually, shepherds were the lowest of the socioeconomic ladder. They were uneducated. They were poor. So much so that there's even first century documents that say, the rabbis would say about the shepherds, do not listen to them because their testimony cannot be trusted. They're liars. They're cheaters. And so when the announcement of the birth of the Messiah comes to the shepherds, the people reading this would have said,24:52no, that's preposterous. There's no way God would have asked shepherds to deliver this message because they are not trustworthy. They're poor. They're uneducated. Listen, you would not have invited shepherds to Christmas dinner. They're not welcome anywhere. And in this moment, these people who are outsiders heard these words, right? Thank you, verse 11. The angel clearly says,25:20guys, in the city of David, born for you. Born for you. For you. A Savior has been born. Here's what the Word is teaching us. You are not too poor or too lowly to have Jesus Christ as your Savior. And maybe you feel today25:50like you are the shepherds. Maybe you feel like you are the poorest of the poor. And you feel like you're an outsider. And you feel like no one cares about you. No one listens to you. Listen, the gospel screams at you. You are not too poor. You are not too uneducated to have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And even more so, I don't know if you caught it, but this is what the angel says. The angel says, today in the city of David,26:18a Savior has been born. He's a Savior. And he is... Okay, Luke 2, 11. Savior has been born and he is... Christ the Lord. You will not hear that combination anywhere else in the Gospels. And so it's to these lowly, uneducated,26:49uneducated, untrustworthy men that this profound theological statement is given. He is Messiah, he is Savior, and he is the Christ. I love it that our Heavenly Father believes that high theology can be given to lowly people. That gives me hope. I'm like, if they can get this, I can. What a powerful statement. And in this moment, listen to what the angels say. Today,27:19Today, in the city of David, and this will be a sign. And the angels say this, right here in verse 14. Glory to God in the highest heaven. I don't know how high that is, but that's really high. He didn't say just heaven, like the highest heavens. peace on earth to people He favors. Because there is great joy in this announcement.27:47Verse 10 even reminds in the highest heavens, I will bring you good news of not little joy, not some joy, great joy. And the reminder is this, that when you hear about Jesus Christ, joy will always occur. Accompany that. So not only should you believe and be blessed in this miracle, you should receive and find joy.28:17Anyone need joy this year? Right? I don't think there's ever a moment in my life where I don't have enough joy of Christ. And the reminder, when you feel on your darkest day where there's no more hope, listen to the profound statement that's given to the shepherds. When you feel like, God, I just don't matter and I'm uneducated and God, I just don't have what everyone else has,28:46listen to the announcement to the shepherds. Today, in the city of David, was born for you. God did not tell the shepherds. You go and you tell other people about the Savior. He said, no, it's first just for you. Church, receive the message of Christ with joy. And I never want to be a person who gets over that statement. I always want to read this and say, God, did I read that right?29:16So let me restart. Today in the city of David, a Savior, okay, I got that easy. But he was born for me. I think the shepherds would have had a hard time wrapping their minds and saying, God, for us, I never want to get over that for you statement. Because those who receive the miracle of salvation in the manger will have joy in their lives. Church,29:46Church, receive it with joy. But there's one more person I want to look at today. Not only should we believe and be blessed, not only should we receive and find joy, but we should also perceive Christ and find rest. Anyone need more rest this year? Anyone just worn out? Let's look at Simeon really quick. And Simeon is a guy that you don't know much about because he's not anywhere else in Scripture other than this passage. So don't go looking for him anywhere else in Scripture.30:16This is it. Luke 2, beginning in verse 30. That's what we're going to key in on. Now before this, Simeon is an older man. Again, you put the age on that. And he's waiting for the consolation of Israel. God has told him, you will not die until you see the Messiah. I can't even imagine what a promise that would be. You know, I would, I can't, I'm not going to do that. I would be driving30:46a hundred on the interstate and say, I will not die until I see the Messiah. There's nothing that you can do to me until I see the consolation. The joy, I would be, I would be bulletproof. Thinking, man, God has promised me to see the Messiah. And look at verse 32. So he's at the temple. By the way, he's at the temple because he, God is reminding people here, even church people can be saved. Some of y'all need to hear that. You're thinking, I'm not a shepherd, I'm a church. Well, even you can be saved. Okay,31:16Okay, verse 30. In the temple, Simeon says, my eyes have seen your salvation. In verse 20, 29, he says, now master, you can dismiss your servant in peace. This is the standard liturgical nunc dimittis. Even today, the churches will pray this prayer at night as part of the worship. It is, Lord, we can depart in peace. Why? Because we have seen31:44your salvation. It's that Simeon is saying, now God, I can leave my signpost. Here's the joy of Jesus Christ. If you know him, you can die in peace. You can die in peace. I can die today saying, God, if this is my last breath, I will die and I will give you glory because I will see you in glory because Lord, now your servant can depart. I can depart32:14in peace. And we need to receive the rest of the peace of Christ. That's God's promise in Jesus. Did you know that one of Jesus' nicknames, another name given to him in scripture, is Prince of Peace. If you have Christ, you have peace. And you can die in peace. And you can live in peace because this is the miracle in the manger. I don't know about you,32:44but I need more peace in my life. I need more joy in my life. I need more blessedness in my life. And the reminder in the gospel is that we have all of those things because of Jesus. on December 21st or 22nd, the northern hemisphere celebrates the darkest day of the year, the winter solstice.33:14But in the old Julian calendar, the darkest day of the year was not the 21st or the 22nd. The darkest day of the year was December 25th. Sound familiar? I don't think, church, that it's an accident that we celebrate the birth of Christ. We celebrate all of this that scripture says is true on the darkest day of the year.33:44Even today in some cultures on December 25th, they celebrate death. They celebrate the rebirth of the sun because they know it's a dark day in the northern hemisphere. But let me tell you something. On the darkest day of the year, something happens. We read about it. On the darkest day of the year, a light for the revelation of the Gentiles34:13and the glory for your people Israel was born. That's exactly what Simeon says. He says, On the darkest day of the year, which we celebrate, church, a light for the Gentiles, a glory for your people Israel. Because of Jesus Christ, because of this miracle in the manger, a light shines in darkness. Because of the miracle in the manger, those living in the darkest34:42night of sin, those living in the darkest night of sin can see again. Because we can call His name Jesus. Because He saves people from their sins. On the darkest night of the year, people can be blessed who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. On the darkest night of the year, because of Jesus, everyone who receives35:11this good news will find joy. And yes, even in one of the darkest times of the year, and maybe for you, maybe the darkest year of your life, those who receive Jesus Christ can find rest. Church, this is the miracle in the manger. So how do we respond35:41to all of this? Well, today our response is going to be very simple. We're going to sing Silent Night and we're going to remind ourselves that Jesus Christ is the light that we have been looking for. As we sing, we're going to say, Jesus, You are the light. But the candlelight doesn't simply end with Jesus. If you remember,36:11Jesus says to His disciples, like a city on a hill, You are the light of the world. And so if you are a Christ follower, this is what I'm going to ask you to do today. Will you look at the light and sing like you've never sung in your life? Would you sing like you were a shepherd and say, God, You did this for me? God,36:41God, this joy can be mine. God, this blessedness can be mine. Would you sing as if you believe for the first time? And as you look at the light, would you remind yourself that as we leave here today, God says, So let your light shine that others would see your good works and that they would glorify your Father in heaven. Church, the reminder in the Word is that we should live37:09as light so other people might believe in Jesus. Because He is our only hope. And in Christ, light not only pierced our darkness, but He gave us a new calling. And maybe you're here right now and listening online and you would say, Pastor, I don't have any lights. This year has been horrible. It's been dark upon dark37:39upon dark upon dark. And maybe as I had someone tell me last week, I said, I don't believe in this Jesus person. And I said, well, that's okay because He believes in you. He died on the cross for your sin. And maybe today would today be the first time that you would say, I need this light. I want the light of Christ to be mine. If that's you, and for the first time you need to put your faith and hope in Jesus Christ, the Bible says that you talk to God38:08through prayer. And there is no prayer that I can say over you that will save. It's the prayer of the authentic heart that sounds something like this. It says, God, I know that I'm a sinner. You've got to own your sin. And God, today I will turn from my sin because I believe Jesus Christ was born in a manger. I believe Jesus died on the cross. I believe Jesus rose again and He did it for me. And today, I want this light38:38to be my light. And I will call upon the name Jesus. Because why? Because He saves from our sin. Roma says that if you believe in your heart and you confess through their mouth, if you prayed that, the Bible says that you will be saved. And I believe that God is still in the saving business. And I believe there are people here right now that God is saving. And if God has done that in your life, if He's changed39:08your life online, would you let us know? After the service, would you come share with Pastor Jared or Pastor Benny or myself? Share what God is doing in you. But we're going to darken our stage and our auditorium as a reminder that we all need light. Thank God for the lights.← Previous in Miracle in the MangerThe Incarnation
