Latest / Admonition Podcast / The True Messiah - Aaron Cozort - April 5, 2026
Transcript
- 0:02Good morning.
- 0:10on a day.
- 0:13where much of the world is thoughtful and conscious of Christ.
- 0:25where many who sadly go through their lives week in and week out with no thought to Christ focus on Him on days like today.
- 0:41We often speak concerning Jesus, speak concerning what He did, speak concerning the salvation that is offered through His death, His burial, His resurrection.
- 1:01But as I was considering that and considering what to discuss with you this morning, thought about the fact that, sometimes we make a lot of assumptions about what people
- 1:15know.
- 1:18Sometimes we make assumptions when someone's driving down the road that they have a clue what any of those signs mean.
- 1:27Sometimes, like recently, you get into a car and you make an assumption you know where all the switches and the buttons are.
- 1:34Come find out it's not your car and no you don't.
- 1:37Right, Shelly?
- 1:41We make assumptions.
- 1:46This morning we're going to dispel what for some may be things they don't really know because they've never been taught.
- 1:56and verify and demonstrate from Scripture why Jesus is the true Messiah.
- 2:09that it is not a belief or an understanding that people have as a hope in the dark.
- 2:19It's not a leap of faith.
- 2:23It is something that God in His infinite knowledge, in His infinite wisdom, played out in His plan of redemption from the beginning of time until Jesus came, until Jesus went to
- 2:37that
- 2:38until Jesus died, was buried, was resurrected, and arose the third day.
- 2:46That it was intentional, that it was foretold, that it was every bit according to the plan.
- 2:59and that it was for you and for me.
- 3:04Jesus Christ is undeniably the Messiah, and we're going to show that.
- 3:10I will say this, we're not going to show that exhaustively.
- 3:16We're going to take a few items in the time that we have and demonstrate it from those, and there are mountains more evidence beyond what we can discuss.
- 3:29this morning.
- 3:33We know that Jesus is the Savior of the world.
- 3:39That's what Messiah means, by the way.
- 3:42That he is the Savior of the world sent from God because he fulfilled all prophecy.
- 3:53as you go through the Old Testament, which we're going to do this morning, and you see what God through His prophets in the Old Testament said concerning the Messiah.
- 4:06Jesus not only came to this earth and fulfilled some, Jesus fulfilled all of the things that they said concerning the Messiah.
- 4:19I don't know about you, but most days when I get up, someone might ask me, what are you going to do today?
- 4:27And I might give them an idea on what I think the day holds, and more often than not, I'm proven wrong.
- 4:35There were the things I planned to do that day, and then there were the things that I actually got accomplished, and then there were the things that I had no idea I was going
- 4:45to be involved in that day.
- 4:47And if you and I can't even wake up in the morning and get the day ahead of us right, how could we reach out hundreds of years and be specific and be numerous and be detailed about
- 5:00someone who had not even been born?
- 5:04and not miss it on a single point.
- 5:11answer is we couldn't, but God can.
- 5:15And it demonstrates that Jesus Christ is exactly who He claimed to be.
- 5:22Consider as we examine a few of the prophecies and the fulfillment that demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world sent by God.
- 5:35We begin with the fact and the nature
- 5:39of God's prophecies that were given before Jesus was born and yet they spoke concerning the place of His birth.
- 5:49And before we get into the exact prophecies, I want you to look at a passage in 2 Peter because God does not allow us to have our own assumptions about what prophecy is.
- 6:04He does not give us permission to just make up our own
- 6:09concepts and theories concerning his prophetic work.
- 6:14Rather, God is very specific about what he did in prophecy.
- 6:20In 2 Peter chapter 1, Peter will write, beginning in verse 16, he writes to these fellow Christians, he says, we did not follow cunningly devised fables.
- 6:31When we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
- 6:37but were eyewitnesses of His Majesty." As Peter writes this second letter to his audience, he makes it clear to them, I was there.
- 6:49I didn't tell you about rumors.
- 6:52I didn't tell you myths.
- 6:54I didn't tell you folklore.
- 6:57I didn't tell you what the latest gossip people said.
- 7:00I told you what I was eyewitnessing.
- 7:07while Jesus walked on this planet.
- 7:11But then he says, for he received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
- 7:25Two occasions where God spoke from heaven and declared Jesus as his son, declared his position, his glory and his honor,
- 7:35One of them was when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River and the other was when Peter and the two other apostles were on the Mount of Transfiguration with him in
- 7:47Matthew 17.
- 7:49Peter says, I saw what he did.
- 7:52I heard the voice from heaven that declared he was the son of God.
- 7:55But then he says this.
- 7:58And we heard this voice, which came from heaven when we were with him on the Holy Mountain.
- 8:02And so we have the prophetic word confirmed.
- 8:07Peter points to those events.
- 8:09Peter points to his eyewitness testimony and says, I know what I read in the Old Testament prophets, and it's been fulfilled.
- 8:16But notice what he says.
- 8:17We have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this
- 8:27first, that no prophecy of scriptures of any private interpretation.
- 8:32for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
- 8:41Peter will nail down the nature of prophecy.
- 8:46If a person makes a prophecy and they thought it up in their head, Peter says, that's not what we're talking about.
- 8:56If the prophet even had any part in interpreting it, he says, nope.
- 9:02not what we're talking about.
- 9:04What we're talking about is that which originated with the Holy Spirit and was interpreted by the Holy Spirit.
- 9:16And the only part that mankind played is they spoke it.
- 9:22That's what he means when he says it's of no private interpretation.
- 9:26It's quite often when we read that we think, he means that, you know, there's only one meaning and we don't all get to have an opinion on what it means.
- 9:35That's not what you're talking about.
- 9:36The wrong subject there.
- 9:38The interpretation in view in this passage is by the prophet himself.
- 9:44In other words, God gave the prophecy and he didn't allow the prophet to mess it up.
- 9:50He didn't allow the prophet to have his own opinion about it.
- 9:53God gave it and the prophet spoke it exactly as God gave it.
- 10:00So since God gave it, God controlled it as it was spoken, God made sure that it was recorded, and then God fulfilled it, guess what we don't have in the midst of any of that
- 10:11chain?
- 10:12Human error.
- 10:16So Peter will point out that I was an eyewitness so I can assure you of the things which Jesus did.
- 10:24I was present when God spoke to him while I was on the mountain, so I know what God testified, but even more so, I know what you can do of your own accord.
- 10:33You can go back and look at all those prophecies that were made and see how Jesus fulfilled every single one of them.
- 10:40And you can have the same assurance that I had, even though I was on the Mount of Transfiguration and you weren't.
- 10:46So that's what we're going to do this morning.
- 10:50Before Jesus' birth, turn to Luke chapter 24.
- 11:02This event doesn't occur before his birth, but I want to talk about this before we get into that.
- 11:06Luke chapter 24 verse 25.
- 11:10Jesus will say to two individuals on the road to Emmaus, O foolish ones and slow of heart, to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, ought not the Christ to have suffered
- 11:27these things and enter into his glory.
- 11:32Now, if you come back this afternoon, we're going to be discussing this passage and the road to Emmaus and the discussion that occurred there.
- 11:40But let us begin by pointing out Jesus said to these two disciples after he was resurrected, why are you so foolish to be so slow to listen to the prophets?
- 11:54Knowing that what God prophesied before, he is going to fulfill.
- 12:00Go to verse 44 of the same chapter.
- 12:03Jesus will say, then he said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses
- 12:13and of the prophets and of the Psalms concerning me.
- 12:16Jesus made it clear that if he did not fulfill every single one of the things that the Old Testament prophets had to say about him, if he didn't fulfill them all, he wasn't the
- 12:29Messiah.
- 12:31but that he would fulfill them all and did in doing what he came to this earth to do.
- 12:39In Luke chapter four.
- 12:45Luke chapter four, beginning in verse 16.
- 12:50Jesus will further point out as He is in Nazareth and as He is in the town of His upbringing around people who knew His family, they knew His parents, they knew Him as a
- 13:03child, and they do as individuals who did so, they did not understand who He was.
- 13:09They did not appreciate what was said concerning Him, but He's going to draw that to a point.
- 13:15We read in verse 16 of chapter 4 of Luke, so He came to Nazareth
- 13:20where he had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.
- 13:27And he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah and when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written.
- 13:32The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
- 13:38He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim
- 13:47the acceptable year of the Lord.
- 13:50Then he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.
- 13:54And all the and the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him.
- 13:58And he began to say to them, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.
- 14:05So all bore witness to him and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.
- 14:09And they said, Is this not Joseph's son?
- 14:12And he said to them, You will surely say this proverb to me, Physician, heal yourself.
- 14:18Whatever you have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your own country." Then he answered and said, "'Surely I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.
- 14:28But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heaven was shut up three years and six months.
- 14:37And there was a great famine throughout all the land, but none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath in the region of Sidon to a woman who was a widow.'"
- 14:48and many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.
- 14:56So all those in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath and rose up and thrust him out of the city and they led him to the brow of the hill where their
- 15:06city was built that they might throw him down over the cliff then he passed through the midst of them and he went his way.
- 15:15Why do we bring up this passage?
- 15:16Number one.
- 15:18because Jesus made it clear he was going to fulfill prophecy.
- 15:23Furthermore, number two, he made it clear that those who knew the prophets and knew what they said and claimed to be the people of God would reject him even in his own city.
- 15:38You see, sometimes what we do is we look at the Bible
- 15:43and we read what it says and we read how it should apply to us and then we look at the world around us and go, but the world doesn't believe that, so I better not either because
- 15:51they must know better something I don't know.
- 15:55We just go along with popular opinion on whatever the current decision is.
- 16:01And as a result of that, we become just as ignorant as they are because we don't choose to believe God.
- 16:11The people of Nazareth who knew Jesus from the time he was a young man all the way up until this point, who knew his father, knew the carpenter that he was, knew his mother,
- 16:21knew his brethren, knew his sisters, still tried to kill him.
- 16:26Why?
- 16:26Because he told him what the prophets said and told them it had been fulfilled.
- 16:32We cannot decide on the Word of God whether to believe it or not based upon what the world around us decides to understand.
- 16:46We must be accountable to God to open His book, to understand what He said, and believe it and obey it because He said it.
- 16:57Now then, consider prophecies concerning the birth of Christ.
- 17:03Now, there are a lot of things you can control in this life.
- 17:06Once you are of sound mind and age where you can start determining things, you can decide where to live, generally speaking.
- 17:15You can decide what job to have.
- 17:17You can decide a lot of things, but I guarantee you what none of you had any say in is where you were born.
- 17:25There was a preacher who I know and love who got up one time many years ago and said, I always wanted to be born in Texas, but I felt an obligation to be where my mother was at
- 17:38the time.
- 17:41You don't get a say where you're born.
- 17:47And yet God, hundreds of years before Jesus came to this earth, told the Israelites where the Messiah was going to be born.
- 17:57Turn to Micah chapter 5.
- 18:03In Micah chapter 5, God will speak to His people.
- 18:12And he will write, but you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose going
- 18:30forth are from of old, from everlasting.
- 18:35God through His prophet Micah is going to tell Israel the one.
- 18:42The ruler, the prophesied one, the one who God is going to send who is God because he's from old, he's from everlasting.
- 18:56He's going to be born.
- 19:01I don't know what's going on with this thing, but if it continues, we'll switch to that one.
- 19:06God is going to tell hundreds of years before Jesus is born that the Messiah is going to be born in Bethlehem.
- 19:16Turn to Luke chapter 2.
- 19:21In Luke chapter two.
- 19:25Hey Jacob, bring me a new set of batteries.
- 19:27Sometimes the batteries don't charge right and that may be the problem.
- 19:31In Luke chapter two and beginning in verse one, it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
- 19:41This census first took place while Quinterus was governing Syria.
- 19:46So all went to be registered, every one to his own city.
- 19:50Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and a lineage of David, to
- 20:03be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.
- 20:07So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.
- 20:12And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in the swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.
- 20:18because there was no room for them in the inn.
- 20:24hundreds of years before the Messiah was born, God said the one who is going to rule, who is God in the flesh is going to come forth in Bethlehem.
- 20:39And as he says that, so it is fulfilled.
- 20:43Give me just a moment.
- 20:55All right, we'll try that.
- 20:59It's fulfilled.
- 21:02But did you notice it's not going to be fulfilled because the family to whom he was born were native to being from Bethlehem?
- 21:12that the family from which he is going to be born weren't living in Bethlehem at the time?
- 21:19That the family from which he was going to be born were not going to be long-term residents in the city of Bethlehem?
- 21:28God is going to see that the fulfillment of this occurs through a decree of Caesar Augustus, a Roman emperor who decides to make the entire nation go participate in a census
- 21:42and in order to be registered, they had to go back to where their family was from.
- 21:49So Joseph, who had lived in Nazareth, took the woman who he was betrothed to, who was with child, and brought her back to Bethlehem, where he was from, to be registered.
- 22:00And while they were there, the Messiah was born.
- 22:05and God fulfilled exactly what He said He would do.
- 22:09Turn to Luke chapter 9.
- 22:11In Luke chapter 9, beginning in verse 21, we read this.
- 22:21And He, Christ, strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the
- 22:31scribes, and be killed and be raised the third day.
- 22:34Then He said to them, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me.
- 22:41For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
- 22:46For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and himself
- 22:51is destroyed or lost.
- 22:52For whoever is ashamed of me in my words of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his own glory in his fathers and in his fathers and with of the holy angels.
- 23:03But I tell you truly that there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.
- 23:14As Micah prophesies concerning this one who's to come, as he prophesies concerning the location where he's going to be born, he prophesies that he is going to rule.
- 23:27And Jesus will make it clear to His apostles that they will not see death before they see His rule enacted.
- 23:37See, it's not just about the place of His birth.
- 23:39If He was born there and never ruled, prophecy not fulfilled.
- 23:46If He ruled, but He was born somewhere else, prophecy not fulfilled.
- 23:51But God, when He spoke concerning the birth of Jesus, spoke specifically.
- 23:58He spoke in detail and it was fulfilled in detail.
- 24:03Turn to Daniel chapter two.
- 24:05In Daniel chapter two, you will find as Nebuchadnezzar has had a vision and he has had a dream and he has seen this vision of this image that has a head of gold and belly, or
- 24:21sorry, shoulders and arms of silver and belly and thighs of brass and...
- 24:25legs of iron and feet of iron mixed with clay that he sees this vision and he doesn't know what it means and he needs it interpreted and guess what Daniel will tell him.
- 24:36Daniel will tell him I don't interpret dreams.
- 24:41God does.
- 24:43And I'll tell you what the interpretation means but it's not me who interprets dreams.
- 24:51God does.
- 24:53So Daniel will make the same point that Peter made.
- 24:56Vision wasn't given by man and vision wasn't interpreted by man.
- 25:00It was interpreted by God.
- 25:02Therefore it was right.
- 25:04In Daniel chapter 2 and in verse 40 we read this, Daniel will say to Nebuchadnezzar as he interprets the dream, and the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, and as much as
- 25:14iron breaks in pieces and scatters everything, and like iron that crushes that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.
- 25:21Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron
- 25:30mixed with ceramic clay.
- 25:31And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
- 25:38As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.
- 25:47And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.
- 25:53And the kingdom shall not be left to other people.
- 25:55It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
- 26:00Inasmuch as you saw, the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold.
- 26:08The great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this.
- 26:13The dream is certain.
- 26:16and its interpretation sure.
- 26:20As Daniel speaks to Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel will tell Nebuchadnezzar about a kingdom that was the head of gold and he says that's the Babylonian Empire.
- 26:29And he will speak to the king about the shoulder and the arms of silver and he will tell him that's the Medo-Persian Empire.
- 26:36And he will speak to him about the belly and the thighs of brass and he will reveal that that is the Grecian Empire.
- 26:42And he speaks to him about the iron legs and the
- 26:45feed of iron mixed with clay, he will declare that that is the Roman Empire as you go through the entire book.
- 26:53And as history is fulfilled, in the days of the kings of the Roman Empire, God says, I will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.
- 27:05Wonder of all wonders when Jesus there Luke chapter 9 tells his disciples about the kingdom that he is going to establish and about the fact that it is going to exist while
- 27:17they are still alive.
- 27:19Guess what kings are ruling the Roman Empire.
- 27:26God speaks concerning His Son being born.
- 27:29He speaks of where He will be born.
- 27:32He speaks of the rule that He will have.
- 27:34And He speaks concerning the nature of His Kingdom and the very nations that will be in power when that Kingdom is brought forth.
- 27:46Now you answer for yourself, what factor of all of those could a man have controlled on the day he was born?
- 27:58Alright, I give up.
- 28:07Don't tell my wife, even I can take a hint.
- 28:11But then consider that God made prophecies concerning his lineage.
- 28:19Now some of you were born to good reputable families.
- 28:26Some of you, I don't know.
- 28:30but you just have to tell me one way or another.
- 28:32But the reality is this, you didn't get a say.
- 28:37You can pick your friends.
- 28:39You can't pick your family.
- 28:42You weren't asked what family to be born into.
- 28:45You were born, and you got what you got.
- 28:50But consider that God
- 28:53when he brought forth his son into this world, fulfilled prophecies concerning that son's lineage.
- 29:00Go back to very beginning, to Genesis chapter 3.
- 29:04In Genesis chapter 3, God will speak there in the garden after that first sin was committed, after the things that had occurred there in the eating of the fruit of the tree
- 29:16of the knowledge of good and evil.
- 29:18And in Genesis chapter 3 and in verse 15, God will make a statement concerning the judgment of these things.
- 29:25He says in verse 14, to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle.
- 29:31And more than every beast of the field, on your belly you shall
- 29:34go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise your head and you shall
- 29:46bruise his heel God will speak to the serpent and he will declare that Satan through his actions through his choices would cause an injury to occur to the seed of not man but
- 30:02woman
- 30:03and that that seed of woman would cause a death blow to Satan.
- 30:11Then consider what Isaiah writes 800 years before Jesus is born.
- 30:18Isaiah will write in Isaiah chapter 7 concerning the coming Messiah.
- 30:25In Isaiah chapter 7 and in verse 14 rather
- 30:30He will say, therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
- 30:35Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name, Emmanuel.
- 30:43When you turn over to Luke chapter one, we find that...
- 30:49God fulfilled exactly what he said in Luke chapter 1 and in verse 35.
- 30:56As the angel is speaking to Mary, Mary said to the angel, verse 34, how can this be since I do not know a man?
- 31:05She's not saying I walked around this city and there are no men here.
- 31:08That's not what she's saying.
- 31:11She's saying she's never had sexual relations with a man.
- 31:14She is a virgin.
- 31:15And she says, how in the world am I going to have a child being a virgin?
- 31:20And the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you.
- 31:25Therefore also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
- 31:34The angel will make it clear to Mary.
- 31:38that the thing which is going to occur, the child which is to be born will not come forth from man's seed, but will come forth as an act of God's creation.
- 31:50But then turn to Galatians chapter four.
- 31:53Paul as he writes to the church at Galatia.
- 31:56as he writes to these Gentiles and Jews that are together in this congregation.
- 32:01We'll write to them in verse four of chapter four, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under
- 32:16the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
- 32:21Paul will point out that God not only sent
- 32:25his son not only sent his son born not of a man but of a woman but he sent his son at the exact right moment he intended to
- 32:42If Jesus had been born in 200 BC, it wouldn't have been the right time.
- 32:49If Jesus had been born in 2026 AD, it wouldn't have been the right time.
- 32:55If Jesus had been born on the day after the first sin had been committed, it wouldn't have been the right time.
- 33:04No, Paul makes it clear.
- 33:05God brought forth his Son at the exact time that was right.
- 33:14Because God doesn't do things by way of happenstance.
- 33:20Because God doesn't make a statement and hope it turns out.
- 33:27God speaks and it happens.
- 33:31But then consider as well that not only did God make it clear that Jesus would be born of a woman, not of a man, but that he would be born to the descendants of Abraham, to the
- 33:45descendants of Judah, to the descendants of David.
- 33:48generation after generation after generation hundreds of years separated from one another God is going to make it clear that this is going to occur as he fulfills and brings forth
- 34:01this prophecy over 1600 years.
- 34:06Genesis 12 God is going to tell Abraham that his seed singular as Paul points out will be a blessing to all nations.
- 34:18and God will fulfill it.
- 34:22As Jacob is preparing to die and Jacob makes a prophecy concerning his son Judah, Jacob will declare that from Judah will come forth the scepter, that from Judah will come forth
- 34:37a king, and Jesus will be a descendant of Judah.
- 34:42In 2 Samuel chapter 7 in verse 12, God will tell David,
- 34:48that from his son God will bring forth one who will rule forever.
- 34:56And all of these things will be fulfilled if you look at Luke chapter 3.
- 35:02Luke chapter 3 beginning in verse 31 Luke will speak concerning these things and Luke chapter 3 verse 31 as he describes the lineage of Jesus.
- 35:15He says that he is the son of Melia, the son of Menon, the son of Mathiah, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of
- 35:26Salman, the son of Naishon, the son of Amenadam, the son of Ram, the son of Hizran, the son of Pires, the son of Judah.
- 35:38Luke looks at that lineage and he says, check, check, check, check.
- 35:48He goes on and he says, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham.
- 35:57You go forward to, or go backwards rather, to Matthew chapter 1.
- 36:03You see, because Luke gives the lineage of Joseph.
- 36:07And someone might say, well, that doesn't count.
- 36:10You see, you just told me he was born of a woman.
- 36:13Joseph didn't have anything to do with it.
- 36:15You can't use Joseph's lineage.
- 36:17It's not going to work.
- 36:19Well, that's okay.
- 36:21Because God doesn't do things by happenstance.
- 36:24Notice in Matthew's record as Matthew makes it clearer.
- 36:33that both through the lineage of Mary and through the lineage of Joseph, it's going to be fulfilled.
- 36:41Notice what we read in Matthew chapter 1.
- 36:44We're not going to read all of it.
- 36:46We're going to start in verses 1 through 3.
- 36:48book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
- 36:52Abraham begot Isaac.
- 36:53Isaac begot Jacob.
- 36:55Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.
- 36:57Judah begot Peres and Zeran by Tanpar.
- 36:59Peres begot Hezron and Hezron begot Ram.
- 37:02He's going to go all the way down.
- 37:04And notice what you find in verse 15.
- 37:06uh
- 37:11Jacob, Jacob, got Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
- 37:17I got them backwards.
- 37:18Luke describes Mary's lineage.
- 37:20m Matthew describes Joseph's.
- 37:24Shouldn't always believe my own notes.
- 37:26They're not prophetic.
- 37:29What do you find?
- 37:30Doesn't matter which one you use.
- 37:33You use Mary, you get back, and you find every prophecy fulfilled.
- 37:37You use Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus in the form of his upraising in his household and his Jewish lineage, and he fulfills every prophecy.
- 37:49But then consider the details of his death.
- 37:52We'd be here all day if we discussed everything in between those two, but we're just dealing with his birth and we're just dealing with his death.
- 38:01In Psalm 41, the psalmist writer will declare in prophecy in Psalm 41 and in verse 9, even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against
- 38:24me.
- 38:26The psalmist writer hundreds of years before Judas Iscariot was ever born.
- 38:31will prophesy concerning the betrayal of one of Jesus' closest friends.
- 38:38The betrayal of the Messiah by the one who sat at bread with him the very night he betrayed him.
- 38:48You turn to Zechariah.
- 38:50Zechariah will further prophesy concerning these matters.
- 38:56In Zechariah chapter 11,
- 39:04Zechariah chapter 11 and in verse 13, notice what we read.
- 39:11And the Lord said to me, throw it to the potter, that princely price they set on me." Now notice, this is the Lord who says that there was a price set on him.
- 39:32And notice what it was.
- 39:34So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter.
- 39:44The price of a slave is what this was, thirty pieces of silver.
- 39:49And for the price of a slave, Jesus Christ is going to be betrayed.
- 39:53but not only is God going to be specific that a friend is going to betray him, not only is he going to be specific and detailed that he is going to betray him for thirty pieces of
- 40:03silver, but he is further going to point out that those thirty pieces of silver will be cast back to the ones who gave it.
- 40:12And as you open the text of the New Testament and you turn to Luke chapter 6
- 40:19Luke chapter 6 and in verse 16, we read Judas, the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
- 40:32Luke's going to record that this is the one who betrayed Jesus.
- 40:36His name was Judas Iscariot.
- 40:38Turn to Mark chapter 14.
- 40:40In Mark chapter 14 and in verse 10,
- 40:45We find there the text says, then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priest to betray him to them.
- 40:57Judas goes because he wants to be paid, but Judas is not going to get to decide how much he's paid.
- 41:09They're going to decide what to pay him.
- 41:13Judas is the friend who is going to betray his very Lord.
- 41:19Turn to Matthew chapter 26.
- 41:22Matthew chapter 26 beginning in verse 14 and notice what Matthew records.
- 41:28Then one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot went to the chief priest and said, what are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you?
- 41:39and they counted out to him 30 pieces of silver.
- 41:46So from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.
- 41:51Turn to chapter 27.
- 41:53Matthew chapter 27 verse 3, then Judas his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned.
- 41:59was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, have sinned by betraying innocent blood.
- 42:07They said, what is that to us?
- 42:10You see to it.
- 42:11Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself.
- 42:18But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.
- 42:25And they consulted together, and they bought with them the potter's field to bury strangers in.
- 42:32Therefore that field has been called the field of blood to this day.
- 42:36Then they fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of him who was priced, whom they of the children of
- 42:47Israel priced,
- 42:48gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me."
- 42:57There's a lot of things you can control as a person.
- 43:01You can't control where you're born.
- 43:03You can't control what family you're born into.
- 43:07You probably can't control the price your enemies put on your head or the willingness of your friend to take it.
- 43:18And as you're hanging on the cross,
- 43:21You can't control the fact that he decides to take it back, throw it at their feet as he goes out to hang himself, or what they'll do with it afterwards.
- 43:34But when God makes a prophecy, he's specific, he's detailed, and he's right.
- 43:41but then consider even the place of his burial is prophesied in Isaiah chapter 53.
- 43:46The prophet Isaiah will write beginning in verse 9, and they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death because he had done no violence.
- 44:05nor was any deceit in his mouth.
- 44:08Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
- 44:10He has put him to grief.
- 44:11When you make his soul uh an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
- 44:21He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge.
- 44:26My righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities."
- 44:31Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the
- 44:41transgressors and he bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors." As they take Jesus to the cross, as they lift him up on that cross, he is lifted up in
- 44:57between two
- 45:00thieves.
- 45:03And before the deed is done, one of those thieves coming to his senses will make it clear we are here because we deserve to be here.
- 45:16but he doesn't.
- 45:20Even that thief will make the point that this innocent person in whom there was no guile, who was tried three different times and found innocent every single time, was lifted up
- 45:39and numbered with the transgressors, even when he wasn't one.
- 45:48And yet, as he is buried in Matthew chapter 27, we find that Matthew will point out the location of his burial.
- 45:58No, Matthew's not going to walk through the locations all throughout the gardens of Israel and say, this is the tomb.
- 46:05Make sure that when you go visit Israel in modern times, you can walk straight to the right tomb.
- 46:11No, that's not what he's going to do.
- 46:13Matter of fact, what he is going to do...
- 46:15He is going to write, now when evening had come there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
- 46:25This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
- 46:28Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him.
- 46:31When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock.
- 46:42And he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb and departed.
- 46:46And Mary Magdalene was there and the other Mary sitting opposite the tomb.
- 46:53You see, Isaiah said, he's going to be killed with the transgressors, but he's going to be buried among the rich.
- 47:03Because he's going to be buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a tomb that had never been used.
- 47:14but then he's going to be resurrected.
- 47:17In Psalm 16, the psalmist writer will write concerning Jesus, will write concerning the Messiah, that he's not going to go to the grave like everyone else.
- 47:34God is not going to permit him to be put in the grave, to be there, to decay, and to remain there until judgment.
- 47:43Rather in Psalm 16 verse 9, we read, Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices.
- 47:50My flesh also will rest in hope, for you will not leave my soul in sheol.
- 47:56Nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.
- 47:59You will show me the path of life, and your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand, our pleasures forevermore." Someone say, well, he's talking about the resurrection.
- 48:09He's talking about the final day.
- 48:10He's talking about, this is David talking about himself.
- 48:14In Psalm 110...
- 48:21In Psalm 110 and in verse 1, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
- 48:35The Lord shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion, rule in the midst of your enemies, David writes.
- 48:45But when you turn to Acts chapter 2,
- 48:50after the events of that Sunday morning, after Jesus has been resurrected from the grave by the power of God, after he has walked through the earth and spoken to over 500
- 49:07witnesses according to what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15.
- 49:13after he has shown himself to be alive and ascended into heaven and given his apostles instructions to remain in Jerusalem until they are endued with power from on high and
- 49:23after that event has occurred and begun Peter is going to preach and he is going to say this Acts chapter 2 verse 22 men of Israel hear these words
- 49:36Jesus of Nazareth a man attested to by God to you by miracles wonders and signs which he did through him in your midst as you yourselves also know Him being determined by the him
- 49:49being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God You have taken by lawless hands have crucified and put to death Whom God raised up having loose to the pains
- 50:02of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it
- 50:06For David says concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken.
- 50:15Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was made glad.
- 50:18Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope, for you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.
- 50:26You have made known to me the ways of life.
- 50:29You will make me full of joy in your presence.
- 50:32And notice he says, men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and that his tomb is with us to this day.
- 50:43As Peter spoke those words in the midst of the assembly, Peter could have walked out of that assembly and walked to the grave of David and said, see, he's still here.
- 50:55And they all knew it.
- 50:57But he goes on to say,
- 51:00Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his
- 51:09throne.
- 51:10He foreseeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
- 51:18This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
- 51:23Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out that which you now see and hear, for David did
- 51:31not ascend into the heavens.
- 51:34But he says himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
- 51:42Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord.
- 51:52and Christ.
- 51:57As we conclude, know this, we do not follow cunningly devised fables.
- 52:07We do not follow myths.
- 52:11We do not worship a savior who is dead and in the grave.
- 52:19We do not follow
- 52:21the stories of a man who lived in a far-off land of which there is little evidence about what he said, what he did, or how he acted.
- 52:33No, we follow Jesus, of whom there were prophecies hundreds and thousands of years before he was born.
- 52:45of the very nature of his birth, of the very place of his birth, of the family from which he would come, of the lineage through which he would proceed generation after generation
- 52:56after generation, that he would be born in the days of the Roman Empire, that in the days of the Roman Empire he would set up a kingdom which would never be destroyed, which Jesus
- 53:06said in Matthew chapter 16, I have come to build my church.
- 53:11and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." And he told his disciples that while you are yet alive, that kingdom will be set up, and you will see it come with power.
- 53:26And it did.
- 53:29And so Peter would preach on the day of Pentecost that those same people who had put that same Jesus to death
- 53:40now needed to confront the fact that God had made him both Lord and Christ.
- 53:48That means Messiah.
- 53:51He's the Savior of the world.
- 53:53He's been established as being what He said He was by prophecy from the beginning of the world until today.
- 54:03So the question for you as you consider who Jesus is.
- 54:10is what are you going to do with the knowledge?
- 54:14As I mentioned before, this is not an exhaustive list of prophecies.
- 54:19As a matter of fact, there are 300 prophecies about Jesus.
- 54:26And every single one of them, he fulfilled.
- 54:34So if He is Lord and Christ, the question for you is, are you obeying Him?
- 54:44Jesus would say in John chapter 12, and in verse 48, by my words you will be judged.
- 54:54If you're here this morning and you're outside the body of Christ, if you're outside of the kingdom that He built and established for your salvation, if you're outside of the
- 55:02redemption that was prophesied of old time that He might bring about the salvation of the world,
- 55:09If you have not been obedient and submissive to him, may I encourage you to begin today, because you're not assured of tomorrow.
- 55:20But you can be assured of this, the one who spoke in Genesis chapter 3 of the seed of woman and spoke concerning the one who was going to be born and the place he was going to
- 55:30be born and the lineage from whom he was going to be born and the nature of his birth and the nature of his death and the place of his burial and the place of his resurrection and
- 55:38the power that he would have.
- 55:39If that God could speak accurately about this, then know this.
- 55:45He also spoke accurately about this.
- 55:48He said, is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.
- 55:53There's coming a day where you will stand before the Lord and the Christ, and you will be judged by His words.
- 56:02Are you ready?
- 56:04If you have need of the invitation to be obedient or submissive to Him, to return to Him in righteousness and obedience, why not come forward now as we stand and as we sing?