Jeremiah 23:5-6

Discussion Questions

1. Considering the title “the LORD is our Righteousness” (YHWH Tsidqenu), how do we rely on Christ’s righteousness rather than our efforts?
2. Can you to embrace hope in God’s promises, even during times of uncertainty?
3. What can you do this week to “stir up” your heart in anticipation of Christ’s return?

Transcript

We study through books of the Bible here at The Village Chapel. And we have extra copies. If you would like one to follow along, raise your hand up real high, and somebody will drop one off for you. Today, we’re taking a little bit of a departure from our book study, the Gospel of Luke, as today is called Stir-Up Sunday in a lot of streams of the church, a lot of different sectors of the church. And so, we’re going to depart and run to Jeremiah for a minute. I want to thank our friends from Portland, Oregon and Plymouth, Connecticut. These are folks that have joined us online over the last week, also Cambridge, Ontario, Canada and Iligan City, Lanao Del Norte, Philippines. I’m probably not saying that right, but I hope you know who you are, and Cebu City also in the Cebu Province of the Philippines. So, we’re so grateful that you have joined us online and hope you’re able to join us again this week as well.

So, as you turn to Jeremiah 23, it’s in the left side of your Bible for those of you that aren’t 100% familiar with where Jeremiah is. Like I said, we’re going to call this Stir-Up Sunday in keeping with the folks who dubbed this last Sunday before Advent that name. They’ll either call it Stir-Up Sunday or Christ the King Sunday. And that goes back actually all the way to Pope Pius XI in 1925, who established that Christ the King Sunday title. The Lutheran Church of Sweden – How many Lutherans here? Lutheran background, anybody? Okay. Both of you. Okay, that’s good. We got plenty of room for more Lutherans. And once they called it the Sunday of Doom. And so, I put happy in front of all of this because I want to wish everyone a happy Stir-Up Sunday, happy Christ the King Sunday, and even though it sounds odd, a happy Sunday of Doom.

Just to defend the Lutherans a little bit, they focused on the return of Christ and the final judgment, and they see that and tell the story of that as actually a very positive thing, which I agree with them that it is. There are very good reasons to focus on and be joyful for the final judgment. Why? Because Jesus intends to come and set things right. And that’s a good thing. So, the doom is not for you and for me. The doom is for an end to all that is evil and at odds with God in history. Now we’re going to stay with Stir-Up Sunday here in the Village Chapel. That’s the way we roll. And we think that the central message of it is that the coming of Christ in this world means that God wants His family back. And in the personal work of Jesus Christ, God has both come to us and for us. So, we’ll be talking about that kind of stuff over the Advent season. I hope you will indeed bring some of your friends along.

I want to look at, as we said, Jeremiah 23:5-6. And if you want to turn there… Matter of fact, I’m going to read two verses from Jeremiah 1 real quick just so you get to know a little bit about this fella. He’s pretty amazing. Jeremiah’s called the weeping prophet. I don’t know if you’re a weeper. I don’t know if you look that way at the world around you and occasionally, as Kim said, the ennui, the sadness, the prevailing mood of the time can sometimes be that way. But Jeremiah lived in a time, so we get a little context for what we’re going to read in chapter 23. His prophetic ministry lasted about a little over 40 years, somewhere in the late part of the 7th century B.C., which, remember, the numbers decrease as you come this way. So, that’d be 627 is our best guess. And he ministered to about 586 B.C. which is when Judah gets carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, and it’s basically destroyed.

And we don’t really know, but we think Jeremiah may have lived past that time a little bit. But the main part of his prophetic ministry was in that 40-year period of time from, say, 625 to 585 or 586 B.C. But notice these first few verses: “The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah of the priests, who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.” Look at all the live-body detail, name of his dad, name of the region. So, this is not just made-up stuff. These are names and places and real people. “To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, King of Judah, in the 13th year of his reign.” Josiah was one of the few precious few of the good kings that we have once the kingdom splits after Solomon. And we’ve studied this together in 1 and 2 Kings, so you can go back if you would like to and review some of this, but Josiah was one of the good Kings, just one of just a handful of them. And there were 39 total kings between the two kingdoms, but Josiah would be one of the good ones. And he died in 609 B.C. in a battle. He was a bit of collateral damage, really, between this big war that was going on between the Egyptians and the Babylonians.

And he entered into it, then he ended up being killed in that battle. “But it came about in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, King of Judah,” verse three, “until the end of the 11th year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, King of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.” The exile of Jerusalem took some time, didn’t all happen right in 586, 587, took some time, but it began after that battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C. “And the word of the Lord came to me saying…” verse four of chapter one says. Well, this is going to happen over and over again because Jeremiah is indeed speaking the word of the Lord. Jump over with me to chapter 23 of Jeremiah, Chapter 23. Let me hear the rustle of pages or the swipe of glass, either one. I’ll take it. I love to hear that. Chapter 23. And here, just this is after Josiah has already passed away. Jeremiah is still on the ground. He’s still prophesying.

There are four kings left after Josiah. All four of them are horrible, wretched. The final one is a guy named Zedekiah. We’ll talk more about him in a second. But watch what happens and into that a really negative, difficult, dark, traumatic time. “The Lord speaks through Jeremiah and says this, ‘Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture.'” Now, this is poetic language. He’s speaking in metaphor. Shepherds are the kings, and He’s saying, “Woe to these kings,” these four kings especially, at that particular moment that have really destroyed Judah, turned them away from Yahweh, from God. And they have scattered the sheep of the Lord’s pasture. And this is what the Lord declares verse two, “Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are attending my people: ‘You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,’ declares the Lord.”

Pakat is the Hebrew word. And there’s a little bit of play of words there. The Lord is accusing these shepherds, these kings, of not tending to the Lord’s people. And so, the Lord is going to tend to them, and He’s telling us, “I’m holding them responsible for their failure in leadership and for their evil.” Verse three, “‘I Myself shall gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and shall bring them back to their pasture; and they will be fruitful and multiply.'” Yes, it was God who said, “I have driven them there.”

That’s right. You read that correctly. You see, we’re going to continue to make the argument here at The Village Chapel that God is both righteous in His judgment and in His restoration both. And so, we need to remind ourselves of that over and over again. I think we misunderstand who God is, what God’s role in the universe is, and what our role and our place in the universe is. God is God. I’m not. He’s not trying to fit in. I’m not to try to fit Him into my agenda and conform Him to my image. No. It’s the other way around. He’s the creator. We’re the creatures. And when we blur that line, creator/creature, when we blur that line, there’s so much mischief and harm that we do to ourselves, to our children, to our society, and to our culture. So, the Lord, sovereign that He is over the universe, over His creation, and over His people, not only is righteous in judging them and scattering them abroad, but He’s also righteous in restoring them and bringing them back.

He says, “I shall gather them,” verse three, “The remnant of my flock, I’m going to gather them back. They will be fruitful and multiply,” verse four, “I’ll raise up shepherds over them, and they will tend them.” In other words, they’ll do what these four, especially these last four shepherds of Judah, did not do. Their failed leadership was quite harmful to God’s people. But He’s going to raise up new shepherds that will tend to them, and they won’t be afraid any longer, nor will they be terrified, nor will any of them be missing, declares the Lord.

Do you see how much promise there is in that verse to never be afraid? Again, we say it all the time around here, the most often repeated command in the Bible is do not fear. God does not want you to be afraid of Him. The fear of the Lord is a good thing, fear in the sense of respect, awe, astonishment, fealty. I’m His. I serve Him at the pleasure of the King, my King, Jesus. Yes. And so, there’s that, but this kind of being afraid, terrified, all that sort of thing is different.

And then these are the two verses we’re going to study and look a little bit closer at today. And I wonder if you wouldn’t mind reading them aloud with me from the screen so that we’re all in the same translation. Ready? “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I shall raise up for David, a righteous branch; and He will reign as King and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, The Lord our righteousness.'” And look down to your Bible, verse seven, “‘Therefore, behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when they will no longer say “as the Lord lives who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,” but “As the Lord lives who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.” Then they will live on their own soil.'” And you have to keep the background in mind.

For Jewish people, always referring back to the Exodus, it’s like the ultimate deliverance act that God did in all of their history. And what Jeremiah is prophesying about is that, yeah, well, we think that was a big deal. Wait until you see what God’s about to do. These days are coming. They’re just going to completely dwarf that act of deliverance because of this righteous branch, this root of David that God is going to raise up. And it’s going to go beyond even the Exodus that you thought was so great. So, before I get too much deeper into the sermon, here’s the outline in advance. I would like to give that to you. I know some of you’re sitting in the sun over here. You may drop off or nod off. And I want to make sure you at least get this much. We’re going to talk about the promise of a King, the purpose of His reign, and the peace that only He can bring. Before we do that, would you allow me to pray for illumination?

Lord, You never go away from us. Yet, we, and I mean we all the way back to these children of Judah that we’re reading about these leaders, these shepherds, these Kings, the false prophets, the false priests, we often go away from You, and we have difficulty returning to You. Come today, Lord. Stir us up. Call us back. Kindle and rekindle us. Seize us by Your great affection. Be our fire and our sweetness. Let us love and let us run to You. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen and amen.

So, first, the promise of a King. God, it says here in verses five and six, is going to raise up “a righteous Branch” of a descendant from the ancestral line of great King David. And this is a promise that goes back to 2 Samuel 7, you’re welcome to go back and look at that amazing promise the Lord made. This branch, this root or shoot as it might say in one of your English translations, whichever one you have, would be the kind of king that everyone has always wanted. Especially, remember, you’re in the middle of Judah who’s just had four really crummy kings. And I don’t just mean they weren’t good on the microphone or in front of a camera. I mean these were evil people. Their slice of history makes our slice of history look like a cakewalk. Everything about their slice of history was horrible. They had been run over by not one, not two, but three different kingdoms. Egyptian, Assyrian, and Babylonian kingdoms had completely run over top of Israel.

In 722 B.C., just a few hundred and a half years before this time that we’re in right here, Assyria had literally dismantled the Northern Kingdom and all 10 of its tribes. So, understand that the land had been ravaged. Even though it was a split country, North and South, the stories were horrible that traveled down through that part of the world. And then along comes Babylon who had completely destroyed and annihilated both Assyria and Egypt. And they’re going to take away the Southern Kingdom and carry them all away. So, their slice of history was horrible. I’m sure they were asking questions, and their questions had to be and include, “How could this have happened? Where was God in all of this?” Most of us, our times aren’t that grim. We have our own trouble, and it’s very real, and I don’t mean to dismiss it. It can be very dark here. We ask similar questions, don’t we? Where was God when this happened or why didn’t God make that happen that I thought He had promised to me?

If God is both good and all powerful, why does God allow pain, evil and suffering? If you’ve had Philosophy 101 in any kind of course, you’ve been asked that question. And while we cannot answer every single question that arises in troubled minds and troubled hearts, especially about suffering and pain and evil, the one thing that we do know that the Bible teaches is that God never leaves His people alone. He will never leave us or forsake us. That’s the way Jesus said it. And we need to remind ourselves over and over and over again, even if I can’t explain why this one thing has happened or this one thing is about to happen or is happening, I have someone to turn, to run to, to fall before, to weep, to even cry out to for help. It’s not an empty void, just an impersonal universe that I live in. There is a real God who is really sovereign. And yes, even in the times of difficulty, as well as in the times of plenty.

Warren Grigsby says, “We don’t live on explanations.” We may not be able to figure all of this out, but we do live on promises. And the promises of God are based on the character of God. Now, how many of you have ever been promised something and the person who promised that something to you, they just weren’t able to deliver? Raise your hand. Okay. Raise your hand. Come on. We can all do this. Don’t you know any politicians? Don’t you know any pastors? I’m sad to say it’s true. It really is. Let’s be honest. Human beings, sadly even the best, the ones that love us the most, the ones that have walked with us, all of it – we all fail one another at one point one time. And so, when we look to the God of the Bible, and especially when we look to the person of Jesus whom all of Advent is leading up to the coming, the arrival of Jesus, we want to remind ourselves over and over again each and every Sunday that while we can’t explain everything, like Grigsby has said, what we can do is look to the God who makes promises and keeps promises.

And I bet if I were to ask, how many of you in this room have ever experienced that God keeps His promises? And you know this personally. Yeah. And I know that if we had a little more time, more hands would go because you’d think back, “Oh, yeah, that time.” And I can’t always explain, like I say, what’s going on in my life and why God’s allowed this or that to happen, but man, the rearview mirror in my life is filled with just… it just says God is faithful. I can’t always see it in the windshield. I can’t always see it out the side windows, but my rearview mirror tells me God, the God of the Bible, is faithful. Our good friend, Chris Wright, in his commentary on Jeremiah, which is great by the way, it’s called Grace in the End, he said, “If Jeremiah, the man, spoke in his day, and if Jeremiah, the book, still speaks today, in both cases, it is because of the God who called the man to speak and commanded the book to be written.”

So, we must encounter the God of Jeremiah. And encountering that should be both profoundly disturbing and ultimately reassuring as it was for him. And so, this God of the Bible is full of surprises. And we will make the argument, especially when we go back to Luke after we turn the corner around the new year, that in Jesus, every one of God’s surprises becomes fulfillment. We see God’s promises and surprises in the fulfillment and their fulfillment in the person and work of Christ. How so, you say? Well, here we have the promise of this righteous Branch. Jeremiah is pointing forward to Jesus. Jesus, the root of David, the descendant of David, the one who will be the King, who will reign, and He will reign with wisdom, as Jeremiah says, He will reign with righteousness and with justice. And in Him, both Israel and Judah will be saved and safe, safe and secure in Christ.

Doesn’t mean we don’t go through bumpy waters, doesn’t mean we don’t ride out on the boat, like Jesus did with his disciples, and experience storms. We will, but Jesus in our boat makes all the difference. Somebody say Amen. I don’t know what people do who don’t have Jesus in their boat, but we who have suffered some, we who have gone through some pain, some difficulty, we turn to this God, the God that Jeremiah worshiped, the God that Jeremiah spoke on behalf of, who points forward to Jesus and all of the fulfillment of God’s promises found in Jesus, including rising from the dead, defeating our last and greatest enemy, death itself. And see, that’s what makes the difference about the Christian faith.

See, if He can do that, He is worthy of our trust. Amen. Yeah, that is so true. Calvin said, “We should ask God to increase our hope when it’s small, awaken it when it’s dormant, confirm it when it is wavering, strengthen it when it is weak, raise it up when it is overthrown.” These quotes, all of this will be up on the website. I think it’s even up there even now if you use the QR code to dial in to the sermon. Very important quote there, I think. And we always want to turn to the Lord because this isn’t just to “give me a J”— a Jesus-cheer session.

When we talk about Stir-Up Sunday, that’s not what this is. I’m one of the guys… I’m just cynical enough. Last name is Thomas. I’m enough of a doubter. I’m just on the edge. I’m just that guy that I don’t like that kind of stuff. I don’t like “give me a J.” I don’t like that stuff. It just seems to trivialize the whole thing for me. And was it helpful when I was a teenager? Yes, it probably was. And my friend, Sam Albury, always says, “If we can’t keep our hands in our pockets at a sporting event, well, how in the world can we do it when we come to church?”

In other words, we should be saying yay. Yeah, that’s true. But we’re not all Pentecostal. And I thank God for my Presbyterian frozen chosen brothers. Because I don’t always feel this way. So, it’s not about feelings is the point. It’s about the direction and the object of my faith. I want to stir you up to direct your faith to the righteous Branch, to the root of David, to the One who will reign in wisdom with righteousness and justice. I want you to know that you can hope in Him, that you can trust in Him. You should turn to Him, as Calvin did right there.

Secondly, not only do we want to stir you up to the promise of the King, we want to stir you up to the purpose of His reign as well. That last king that I mentioned, the four kings, the last one in Judah was Zedekiah. Notice up on this… I’m not sure I wrote this all as clearly as I should have, but his name means “the righteousness of the Lord,” which is really ironic because he totally belied the meaning of His name. This guy was wretched. As a matter of fact, in 2 Kings at the end of the book, as it’s describing Zedekiah there, here’s his resume:

“And Zedekiah did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Okay? So, here, this guy with the name “the righteousness of the Lord” is doing everything unrighteous that he can possibly do. He’s got the jersey on, but he’s not actually on the team. How about me? How about you, Christian? Wearing the jersey only or actually on the team? This is important for us. We need to be stirred up, awakened to those kinds of questions. Zedekiah, like I say, ironic about his name, but the righteous branch is called the Lord, our righteousness, Yahweh, Tsidkenu.

And what’s really funny is that Jesus, the righteous Branch, actually lived up to His name. And then go further, in stark contrast to Zedekiah, not only did the righteous man live up to His name, but He doesn’t just reflect God’s righteousness. He conveys God’s righteousness. It says in the end of verse six there. His name shall be called, what? The Lord, our righteousness. Not following the rules is my righteousness. Not going to The Village Chapel is my righteousness. Not just taking all kinds of marching in the right parades and marching in the right protest, that’s not my righteousness. Not voting one way or another, that’s not my righteousness. My righteousness is Jesus, the righteous Branch, the root of David. He’s the one who is, Himself, my righteousness.

Now, get this because some of you have difficulty forgiving yourselves. Some of you have difficulty with shame and guilt and all that sort of thing. Please understand, when those thoughts are crossing your mind, it’s because you’re thinking it’s about you. It’s not about you. Your righteousness is about Him. He’s your righteousness. You got to live in that, you got to walk in that, and you got to rest in that. And you can be free in that. It’s really, really important. I know this isn’t the most well-known verse in Jeremiah 29:11. There’s probably more well-known, those of you that know it. But this may be, for me, the two most beautiful verses in Jeremiah.

I wonder if the apostle Paul, who knew the Old Testament well, I wonder, when he read verse six, his name shall be called “the Lord our righteousness,” I wonder if this is what inspired, will you read aloud with me, the apostle Paul to write, “There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.” Are you Christian? If you are, you are in Christ Jesus. And I love Romans 8. It begins with no condemnation, and it ends with a lot of… You’re familiar with the end of chapter eight. It ends with no separation. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that’s in Christ. So, this is great bookends for chapter eight. No condemnation. No separation. Nothing can drive me away from God. Nothing can. I’m not found guilty at all. Why? Because I’m in Christ Jesus. And therefore, the love of God is mine forever.

And nothing can separate me from it. No condemnation. No separation. I wonder if the apostle Paul had Jeremiah 23:5-6 in mind? I wonder if, when he wrote this, he had that in mind? Read with me. “But by His doing, you are in Christ Jesus who became, to us, wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, just as it is written, let Him who boasts boast in the Lord.” So, we don’t boast in ourselves. We boast in the Lord.

It’s His righteousness. So, when we say we’re righteous, we’re in right standing with God. It’s not because of anything we’ve done. It’s because we trust in Christ who has done it all. He’s done everything necessary for me. And did you notice those same descriptors from Jeremiah 23:5-6 about the righteous King, the righteous Branch? He will reign in what? Wisdom and in justice, right? That is so beautiful. And in righteousness. And the apostle Paul picks up on that again right here, those same descriptors. 2 Corinthians 5:21. Some of you know this really well. Let’s read. “He made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

So, let me give you these pronouns refer to: He, God the Father, made Him, Jesus God the Son, who knew no sin, to become sin or to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. What an amazing exchange. So, when you do gift exchanges, if you do gift exchanges this year, that’s awesome. They’re like small glimmering little bits of confetti pointing to the ultimate exchange. Here’s the ultimate exchange. I give you my failed life, my failed attempts at righteousness. I give the Lord Jesus all of my sin. I confess it all to Him. What does He give me? A robe of righteousness. He puts a robe of righteousness on you and on me. What an amazing exchange that is. Who wouldn’t want that?

Lewis, “In mere Christianity…” We make it a habit of reading it once a year in our household. “The world is a great sculpture shop. We’re the statues. And there’s a rumor going around the shop that some of us are someday going to come to life.” You need a little of that in your life this year. Turn to Jesus. Turn to the Lord, the righteous King, the righteous branch, that, all the way back in Jeremiah… And next week, we’re even going further back in the Old Testament to see this whole thing foreshadowed even more. So, this is going to be really, really amazing.

Last, the promise of a King, the purpose of His reign, and the peace that only He can give. I love this. Jeremiah promises that, in the days of this righteous Branch of a King, Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. That’s what I really, really love there. It’s in verse six. Look at that. In His days. Whose days? In the days of the righteous Branch. Are we in His days now? Yes, we’re in His days. And we’ll really be in His days when He returns the second time, this second Advent of Jesus that Kim will be talking about in our podcast.

I want to make sure you dial into that because she’s going to be talking about the Advent that’s already happened and the Advent yet to come. But in His days, Judah, that’s the Southern Kingdom, will be saved, Israel, that’s the Northern Kingdom, it will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called the Lord our righteousness. So, I like that there are these personal pronouns that Jeremiah has immediately shifted to after using this metaphor of the righteous branch.

And if you’re a literalist like I am, sometimes, you’d think he’s talking about trees or he’s talking about some kind of vine or something, but no, he immediately starts using personal pronouns when he’s talking about this righteous Branch. So, that means this righteous Branch is a poetic statement. It’s designed to show us, to point us to a person. And this person, indeed, we would argue is Messiah Jesus. And Judah, the Southern Kingdom, Israel, the Northern Kingdom, in other words, the totality of God’s people will rest in safety and security because Jesus is righteous, Jesus is wise, Jesus is just, Jesus brings about justice and will heal the land. And I love that at the end there, too. He says, verse seven and eight, “They will then live on [their own land] their own soil,” at the end of verse eight.

And surely, partial fulfillment of that has got to be when Cyrus, in 538 B.C., allows so many of the Jews to begin returning to the promised land, to Jerusalem, to rebuild the walls, you see. And this is in the time of Nehemiah and Ezra, that sort of thing. So, that’s partially fulfilled there. But man, when the Lord doesn’t just restore one little part of the planet, but the whole new Heavens and new Earth comes, we are just going to rest safe and secure for all of eternity. I don’t know about you, but I’m stirred up about that. I’d like that to happen.

I turned 70 this year. The older I get, the more things creak. And I feel like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. I just need a little oil here and a little oil there. And you guys, that are 40 and 30 and 20 and teens, don’t worry. It’s coming. You go, “What’s he talking about?” I don’t know what that is. This is where it goes, but I’m stirred to hope. I’m stirred to action, too, to serve Him. I’m stirred to hope because of who He is. I’m stirred to action because I want to get busy walking in His wisdom, working with Him toward justice and righteousness in this world.

And by the way, I love that video and all that it showed us about how God is using you, your faithfulness, our faithfulness together, to actually make a difference in the lives of some folks that are really hurting. And I appreciate that so much. But we need to take our words, what we believe, and turn it into what we do as well, and so it’s words and deeds both. And then also, we need to be stirred not only to deeds, but also to the robust worship that… not just because, again, not just to do it, “give me a J, give me an E, give me an S” – not that, but because God deserves better than milk toast, bland, boring, worship.

He deserves more than I… Even when I think I’m giving my best, He deserves more than that. So, we all need to let that settle. And again, I don’t want to come in here next week, and you’ll all be swinging from the chandeliers. I’m not talking about that. I’m just talking about you could come in here and be pretty reserved and still really mean it. And please understand it. So, it’s not just about your physical display, but it’s also not never about your physical display.

Love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, with all of your mind, with all of your strength. That’s your physical person as well. So, yes, we need to love Him. We need to sing to Him, which is, that’s the second most often repeated command in the Bible. Sing. And it’s usually in reference to singing and worshiping the Lord. I do love the way you sing. It always inspires me. As we get closer to Advent then, beginning next week, “The Christmas message,” according to Packer, “is that there’s hope for a ruined humanity, hope for pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory.” I think Packer is right there.

And as we move toward Christmas, that’s what we want to focus in on, the incarnation, this miracle, this amazing thing that has happened, and why did God do it, and why does it really matter? And the great news for us, as Bible believers and as people of Christmas, if you will, or people of the incarnation, we can enjoy all of the outside lights. Somebody put your outside lights up? Anybody? Okay. We did yesterday. And I’m disappointed. I’d sidebar here, but man, do you ever buy a whole bunch of lights and start plugging them in, and they’re the wrong color, they’re just not right? And I felt like Chevy Chase a little. And I plugged them in, and it’s just not right. Back to the original. Wrestling with my first-world problem there, my color of my lights. Watch this. But the light of the world has indeed come into the world.

And He can push back the darkness in our world, the darkness in our world that we, sometimes, walk right past, don’t even see, the darkness in our world that is constantly thrown at us. If we’re on social media, if we’re on networks or cable news or whatever, it’s just constantly tossing darkness at us. I think, man, one of the best things you can do is turn it all off, get in the Scriptures, and get before your righteous King. Spend time with Him, more time with Him.

I heard a sermon by a guy named D.A. Carson last week that really moved me. He was talking about his dad. His dad was a pastor, never spoke at a conference, just a faithful pastor in a small church somewhere. Nobody ever heard of him or anything like that. But his dad gave Don Carson his journals. And in there, there was a prayer written that he said, “This is me praying,” or this was him praying. He just said, “Lord, keep me from the sins of older men.” And one of them was that, “I just want to pray more. I don’t want to look back and think I didn’t pray enough. I didn’t spend enough time with you.” He also said, “I don’t want to turn on the television too quickly.” And sometimes, we just leave it rolling in some houses, right? I need to not do that. I also need to spend more time with my Father who’s in heaven. So, there’s really, really great testimony and legacy he left behind.

So, here’s the great news. I hope this stirs you up. Jesus is the King we’ve always wanted, and Jesus is the King we’ve always needed. You believe that? Say Amen. It’s one thing to want that King, but sometimes, we don’t want the king that we actually need. Sometimes, we get the king… And I’m not talking necessarily just about politics, but you could certainly include it, but sometimes, we get what we wanted, and we don’t like what we got.

I’ve been on the planet long enough to have seen that happen multiple times. I don’t always know. That’s why I need a righteous Branch who will reign in wisdom. He knows way better than I do. So, I want to trust Him with the outcomes, all outcomes. Okay? I want a righteous King who will reign and work for justice, bring about justice and righteousness in the land. Here is what… If I were to summarize the whole message, I wonder if you would stand with me, and we would read these three lines out loud.

If you agree with this, this is our cry to God. This is what we want him to stir us up to. And if you look at these and you agree with me, would you read aloud with me? “Stir us up, Lord, and awaken us to our need for redemption. Stir us up, Lord, to acknowledge that we are hungry for something only You can give. Stir us up, Lord, to place our faith in King Jesus who is Himself our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Amen.”

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs:

“Victory In Jesus (Christ Won the Victory)“ by Eugene M. Bartlett, alt lyrics: Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, Matt Boswell
“Crown Him With Many Crowns“ by Sir George J. Elvey, Matthew Bridges, Godfrey Thring arr. Tommy Bailey, Nathan Mickle
“There Is A Hope“ by Mark Edwards and Stuart Townend
“The Lord Almighty Reigns“ by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, Matt Boswell, and Matt Papa
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois

All songs are used by Permission. CCLI License #200369

Call To Worship: Give Thanks to the Lord

Left Side: Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon His name; Make known his deeds among the peoples!
Right Side: Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Tell of all His wondrous works!

Left Side: Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
Right Side: Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His presence continually!

Left Side: Remember the wondrous works that He has done, His miracles and the judgments He has uttered.
Right Side: O offspring of Israel His servant, Children of Jacob, His chosen ones!

All: Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; For His steadfast love endures forever!

Source: 1 Chronicles 16:8-13, 34

Classic Prayer: John Baillie, 1886-1960

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