Latest / CCC West Covina / Celebrating the Light - Christmas Eve message

Transcript

Celebrating the Light - Christmas Eve message · CCC West Covina

0:00
You know, ever since we've been here on Thanksgiving Eve, we
0:04
begin our Christmas celebration and why you come that the
0:09
auditorium is dark on Sunday mornings.
0:14
Some people like that and others don't like it.
0:17
In fact, I received an e-mail this past week from a lady who
0:19
was so upset that it was dark in here that she refuses to come
0:23
back ever again. But you missed the the symbolism
0:27
of of why it is dark. It won't be dark on Sunday
0:31
because Christmas will have come and gone.
0:35
But the important thing is, is that it's symbolic of the world
0:39
that's engulfed in darkness ever since Genesis chapter 3.
0:45
The world is eclipsed with the shadow of sin, and all of
0:53
creation is steeped and entrapped in the snares of sin.
1:02
In fact, the the world is completely and totally dark
1:05
because of its spiritual blindness.
1:09
The world is unable to see the glorious gospel of the Christ
1:13
because they've been blinded by Satan himself, and therefore the
1:19
Bible describes sinners in this way.
1:24
In Proverbs chapter 2, Solomon says it this way, that sinners
1:29
are those who leave the paths of righteousness to walk in the
1:34
ways of darkness. In chapter 4, Proverbs, Solomon
1:40
says these words. He says the way of the wicked is
1:45
like darkness. They do not know over what they
1:50
stumble. Man's mind is completely
1:55
darkened to that which is true, and that's because of sin.
2:01
And so the solution was to send the light.
2:05
And Christ himself, of course, is the light of the gospel.
2:10
He says that He is the light of the world, and He tells us that
2:15
He enlightens every man that comes into the world and
2:19
therefore our Lord is the solution to man's sinful state.
2:27
And you would think that that man in the the throes of
2:32
darkness would, would flock to the light, that they would
2:36
embrace the light. They would in the midst of all
2:41
their stumbling around in their immorality and in their iniquity
2:46
and in their idolatry, that they would look for a way out.
2:50
But man does not. In fact, man cherishes his
2:57
darkness. The Bible says in John chapter 3
3:01
these words by our Lord. This is the judgment that the
3:06
light has come into the world and men loved the darkness
3:12
rather than the light, for their deeds were evil.
3:18
Man in his sinful state loves to remain there.
3:22
He loves the darkness even though the light has come, even
3:28
though the light has shone down upon us.
3:31
Man loves his sin, and yet there are those who have given their
3:36
lives to Christ. They've embraced the light they
3:41
enjoy The light of the gospel in the Bible says that we've been
3:46
rescued from the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of
3:50
God's dear Son. He says that we once were
3:54
children of the night, but now we're children of the light.
3:59
We were children of darkness. Now we're children of the day.
4:06
In fact, the Bible says in Ephesians 5 verse #8 we were
4:11
formerly darkness, but now we are light in the Lord.
4:18
Because of Christ, we are able to see the beauty of the gospel.
4:24
And so as Christians we we celebrate the light.
4:29
We use this time of the year to accentuate that celebration.
4:35
It's a celebration that's the last all throughout our lives,
4:38
not just during a seasonal celebration.
4:42
It's supposed to envelope us every single day of our lives.
4:48
And yet we take a a moment during the Christmas season to
4:51
focus in on Christ, who is the light.
4:57
So tonight by by way of a devotional, I, I want you to to
5:01
learn to celebrate the light with me and to be able to take
5:06
it with you all throughout your life and to understand what it
5:10
is that Christ wants us to celebrate.
5:14
And we're going to do that by looking at the characters in the
5:19
Christmas story. We're going to look at 9
5:22
specific characters that make up the Christmas narrative in
5:26
Scripture that all of them to some degree celebrated the
5:31
light. To give us the principles that
5:34
will help us learn how we are to celebrate the light of the
5:39
Gospel. We're going to begin where the
5:42
Gospel begins in Luke chapter one with the priest Zacharias.
5:51
Luke begins at the beginning simply because the world is
5:56
dark. For 400 years, there's been
5:59
nothing but silence. There's been no voice from
6:03
heaven. There's been no Angel that has
6:05
spoken. God has sent no prophet to
6:09
Israel. The last thing that the prophet
6:12
Malachi said was that the Sun of Righteousness will rise with
6:17
healing in his wings. And so for 400 years people
6:23
waited, but they waited in silence, until one day the Angel
6:30
Gabriel broke the silence. And so you have this priest
6:35
performing his priestly duties in Luke chapter one in the
6:39
temple in Jerusalem, doing what he always does.
6:43
And the Angel Gabriel comes to him and speaks to him and tells
6:47
him that his wife Elizabeth, in her old age, is going to
6:52
conceive Bear a son that will be a forerunner to the Messiah.
7:00
But the problem is Zacharias doesn't believe in the certainty
7:08
of the word that was spoken. He doesn't believe in the
7:12
reliability of the promises that have been given.
7:17
And yet he's a priest. So the Angel says you will not
7:23
be able to speak until after your son is born.
7:27
Some commentators will say that he was unable to speak and
7:31
unable to hear, and probably that would be true simply
7:36
because the word that is used is used of those in the scriptures
7:40
who are both deaf and dumb. So it's possible that Zacharias
7:46
was not just unable to speak as a priest, but he's unable to
7:52
hear as well. And so for nine months,
7:57
Zacharias sat in silence. And the Lord had a purpose
8:04
behind that. Because the very first principle
8:07
that helps you understand how you celebrate the light is that
8:12
you need to consider the prophecies of Christ.
8:19
Zacharias was a priest. He should know about the
8:23
prophecies concerning the coming to the Messiah, But the Lord
8:27
drove him to contemplate, drove him to concentrate on all the
8:33
things that were said in the Old Testament to get him to realize
8:39
the importance of his son's birth, the forerunner to the
8:43
Messiah. And so he would think about
8:46
things maybe from Numbers chapter 24, which talked about
8:49
how the star will rise out of Jacob with a scepter in his
8:53
hand. He begin to think about Isaiah
8:56
Chapter 9, Isaiah chapter 60, and and Malachi 4 verse #2 where
9:03
the son of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.
9:06
Now why do we say that? Simply because after the son is
9:11
born, what Zechariah says tells us what was on his mind when he
9:18
speaks. And so the Bible says in Luke
9:21
chapter 1 verse #77 that the Messiah, or the Son of that the
9:28
foreign of the Messiah, is to give to his people the knowledge
9:31
of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the
9:35
tender mercy of our God with which the sunrise from on high
9:42
will visit us. That's taken directly from
9:44
Malachi 4 verse #2 and then he says to shine upon those who sit
9:50
in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into
9:55
the way of peace. That's taken from Isaiah Chapter
10:00
9. And so we know that Isaiah would
10:03
begin to understand more of what the prophecies were given
10:06
because he doubted the certainty and the reliability of the
10:10
promises that were given. And he was a priest.
10:14
He should have known them. And so the Lord drove him to
10:18
consider the prophecies, to contemplate on those promises,
10:22
to be able to concentrate once again.
10:25
Because if you're going to celebrate the light, you must
10:28
know all there is about the coming of the star, the coming
10:33
of the sunrise. That's why Christ says that he
10:36
was the bright or is the bright morning star that That's why
10:40
Peter says that when the day star rises in your heart,
10:45
salvation has dawned. It's all about the rising of the
10:49
sun, the brightness of the Christ child, the light of the
10:54
world. So Zacharias teaches us that we
10:58
need to consider the prophecies. And then you go from from
11:04
Zacharias, you go to the angels. I'm sorry to the shepherds.
11:13
Let's go to the shepherds because the shepherds teach us
11:17
to embrace His deity. Embrace his deity.
11:22
Remember, it's over 12 months later from Luke chapter 1 to
11:29
Luke chapter 2. John the Baptist is born.
11:34
He comes. The Messiah is going to come
11:37
ever since Zacharias received the promise that his wife would
11:43
bear a son, and the Messiah would be born after that.
11:46
You have about a year between the two.
11:49
And so the glory of the Lord would shine all around the
11:54
shepherd fields in Bethlehem. And the Angel would say to them,
11:59
For unto you this day in the city of David has been born a
12:03
Savior, who is Christ the Lord. In other words, who was born is
12:12
important. He is the Messiah, He is the
12:16
Savior. And the shepherds would know
12:20
about the God of Israel, who was the only Savior, and this Savior
12:26
is the Lord. Now note, the glory of the Lord
12:30
would shine all around them, and they knew from the book of
12:35
Ezekiel that the glory of the Lord had departed from
12:38
Jerusalem. They knew that while they were
12:42
in captivity in Babylon, Ezekiel had this vision of the glory of
12:47
the Lord leaving the temple, moving out of the gates of
12:51
Jerusalem, passing up over the Mount of Olives, out into the
12:55
Judean wilderness because Ichabod had been written across
12:59
the nation. The glory of the Lord has
13:02
departed. That's what Ichabod means.
13:05
And so they they were waiting for, for the glory of the Lord
13:08
to come. At the very end of Ezekiel, the
13:11
very last phrase in Ezekiel is Yahweh, Shema.
13:16
The Lord is there. In other words, there is hope
13:19
for Israel because the Lord will be there once again.
13:24
And so now all of a sudden, the glory of the Lord signs all
13:26
around them. And now the shepherds know that
13:29
the Lord is here. They know that the Lord is among
13:33
them because the glory of the Lord is the is the presence of
13:37
God manifested it in brilliant light and he was shining all
13:41
around them. And they would begin to realize
13:44
that this, this Christ child is the Lord.
13:48
He is God in the flesh. This is the Messiah of Israel.
13:52
And they would embrace his deity.
13:54
And they would go with haste to to see Mary in Bethlehem, to see
13:58
Joseph in Bethlehem. And they would, they would go in
14:02
haste to make known this statement that had been given to
14:05
them because they wanted others to hear what they had heard.
14:10
They embrace the Christ child. They embraced him as the Son of
14:14
God, Son of Man, Son of David, Lord of the universe.
14:19
And when you want to celebrate the light, it begins because you
14:23
consider his prophecy, and then you embrace his deity, and then
14:29
#3 you long for his mercy. And that's where Anna the
14:35
prophetess comes in. Anna, the prophetess, she was
14:39
there when when Simeon would take the Christ child into his
14:43
arms in a Luke chapter 2. She was one who was looking for
14:47
the consolation of Israel. And that word look means there's
14:51
a there's a longing in her heart.
14:53
Remember she had been a a widow for 84 years and she had spent
14:59
all of her time in the temple praying and fasting and talking
15:04
to people because she was a prophetess about the arrival of
15:07
the Messiah. And when Simeon would would take
15:11
take in his arms, the Christ child Anna was there and she
15:18
would begin to speak more and more about the mercy of God upon
15:22
them. Mary when she spoke, spoke about
15:25
how God's mercy was from generation to generation.
15:28
When Zacharias spoke, he talked about the tender mercies of God.
15:31
You see, God gives mercy to those who are miserable, and
15:35
those who are in darkness are an absolute misery.
15:38
But the light had come and sort of celebrate the light.
15:42
Once you consider the prophecy concerning the Messiah and you
15:46
embrace His deity, you realize who He is.
15:49
You long for His mercy because His mercies are new every
15:54
morning. And it's because of His mercies
15:56
that we are. We are not consumed.
16:01
And so you move to principle number four.
16:04
In the fourth principle is where Mary the mother, the Messiah
16:08
comes in and she exalts His Majesty.
16:12
And if you're with us on Sunday, we talked about how Mary would
16:17
with her soul and with her, all of her heart would rejoice in,
16:21
in God her Savior, because her whole song is a song of
16:25
exaltation, where she would exalt the, the majesty of the
16:29
Messiah, knowing in full well all that God had done for her.
16:34
And she would begin to consider all the promises that had been
16:39
given. And she would accentuate the,
16:41
the, the attributes of her God by talking about his mightiness
16:45
and talking about His Holiness and talking about his mercy.
16:49
And she would recognize that God had shown her mercy in her
16:52
humble state and she would exalt the Lord.
16:54
And when you celebrate the light, you want to lift up the
16:58
majesty of Christ. When you celebrate the light,
17:01
you want to lift him way above yourself, because that's what
17:04
believers do, that they want to They want to exalt the name of
17:09
Christ. They want to lift his name above
17:12
their name, above everyone else's name, above everything
17:15
else in their lives, because Christ is preeminent.
17:19
And those who celebrate the light, they consider the
17:23
prophecies and then they they embrace his deity, long for his
17:29
mercy. They exalt His Majesty and #4
17:35
those who celebrate the light, they bow to his authority.
17:41
And there's a, there's a, there's a silent character
17:44
pretty much throughout the Christmas story.
17:47
We don't talk much about him. His name is Joseph.
17:51
But Joseph is the classic example of one who bows to the
17:56
authority of God in his life. That's how he would celebrate
18:01
the light. The Bible tells us in Matthew
18:04
chapter one that he wanted to, he wanted to divorce Mary.
18:07
He wanted to put her away secretly.
18:10
Why? Because even Mary could not
18:13
convince Joseph that she had not been with another man.
18:20
And so the Angel Gabriel came to Joseph.
18:24
And the Bible says these words in the book of Matthew.
18:30
It says these words, Joseph son of David.
18:33
Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has
18:37
been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
18:40
She will bear a son, and you should call his name Jesus, for
18:44
he will save his people from their sins.
18:47
Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the
18:50
prophet through the spoken by the Lord through the prophet.
18:53
Behold, the Virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and
18:58
they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means
19:01
God with us. And Joseph awoke from his sleep,
19:06
and did as the Angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as
19:12
his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son.
19:18
And he called his name Jesus. As soon as he awoke from his
19:24
dream, he immediately bowed to the authority of God in his
19:31
life. And then as you read on in the
19:34
story, it says verse #13 it says now when they had gone, behold,
19:42
an Angel of the Lord, that is the Magi, appeared to Joseph in
19:45
a dream and said, get up, take the child and his mother, flee
19:48
to Egypt and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is going
19:52
to search for the child to destroy him.
19:55
So Joseph got up and took the child and his mother while it
19:59
was still night and left for Egypt again.
20:04
He bowed immediately to the authority of God in his life.
20:09
It wasn't like, you know what, I'll wait till the morning to
20:11
go. No, I'll wait till it stops
20:14
raining to go. No, he obeyed immediately.
20:19
He bowed to the authority of God in his life.
20:24
And then you read on in the story.
20:26
After Herod dies, it says, behold, an Angel of the Lord
20:32
appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, get up, take the
20:36
child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for
20:39
those who sought the child's life are dead.
20:42
So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and came into
20:47
the land of Israel. He didn't say, you know what, I
20:51
like it in Egypt. You move me here.
20:54
It's great here. It's warmer down South.
20:58
The sun is brighter down here. We just bought a house in Egypt.
21:02
We don't want to leave now. Nope.
21:03
He got up and went right back to the land of Israel.
21:06
Why? Because if you're going to
21:08
celebrate the light, you need to bow to the authority of God in
21:13
your life. You can't say you celebrate the
21:16
light and then argue with God. You can't say you celebrate the
21:20
light and debate with God. No, when God says move, you
21:23
move. When God says you do this, you
21:25
do that. When God says you are to be the
21:28
leader of your family, gentleman, you lead your family.
21:32
Think about Joseph. He was the leader of Mary, the
21:37
mother of the Messiah. She had to follow Joseph's lead.
21:42
So Joseph, in order to be the effective leader of his family,
21:46
had to bow to the authority of God in his life.
21:50
In the same is true for you and me.
21:53
If you want to celebrate the light, you need to first of all
21:56
consider, contemplate, concentrate on the prophecy
22:04
concerning the Messiah, and then you need to embrace His deity.
22:11
This is the enfleshment of God. This is the incarnation of the
22:16
sun God coming down to man. And then you long for his mercy
22:24
as Anna did, as she was longing for the for the redemption of
22:29
Jerusalem. You exalt His Majesty, you bow
22:35
to his authority. And next, in order to celebrate
22:40
the light, you need to radiate his glory.
22:46
When the angels came and the glory of the Lord would shine
22:50
all around, the heavenly host would say glory to God in the
22:55
highest peace on earth toward those whom God, who who truly
23:03
fear the Lord. And these were the people who
23:06
who gave glory to God. Angels never missed an
23:10
opportunity to put God on display.
23:12
Angels never miss the opportunity to glorify the name
23:15
of their God. And when you celebrate the
23:17
light, you always radiate with the glory of God.
23:21
That's why the Bible says the First Corinthians 10/31 that
23:23
whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, you do all to the
23:26
glory of God. First Corinthians chapter 6 says
23:29
that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
23:32
Therefore God must be glorified in our bodies.
23:35
That's why Paul says in Ephesians chapter 3 verse #21
23:38
let there be glory in the church.
23:40
Why? Because we are the ones who are
23:42
to reflect the the radiant glory of our Redeemer in all that we
23:48
say, in all that we do. Why?
23:51
Because that's what the angels did and they were created
23:54
perfect and they always magnify and glorify the name of Christ.
24:01
And if you want to celebrate the light, then you radiate with His
24:06
glory. And then if you want to
24:09
celebrate the light, you must adore His identity.
24:14
And this is where the magi come in, because the magi were were
24:18
led by this * and the star really truly is not a normal
24:23
star. It was a supernatural star.
24:25
It was the Numbers 2417 star. It was the glory of the Lord.
24:32
It was the presence of God manifested in brilliant light
24:35
that took them from one place to another.
24:37
And they followed that star until they came, Matthew 2 says,
24:41
to a house. And there was the child, not a
24:45
baby, but there was the child, right?
24:50
And therefore they would fall down, they would worship him,
24:54
and they would give him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
24:58
Why? Because they understood his
25:00
identity. They worshipped his identity.
25:03
They gave him gold because he was a king.
25:06
They celebrated his royalty. They gave him frankincense
25:10
because they celebrated his deity.
25:12
Why? Because frankincense was an
25:15
incense offered only to God. And then they gave him myrrh
25:19
because they celebrated his humanity.
25:23
Myrrh was that which is used to embalm bodies and wrap bodies
25:27
that were that were going to die.
25:29
That they understood the identity of the Messiah.
25:32
They knew he was the King. They knew he was God in the
25:34
flesh. They knew that he had come to
25:36
die. And in their worship of God,
25:39
they adored his identity. They adored him for who He was.
25:43
And if you want to celebrate the light, you adore the identity of
25:47
the Christ child, who is the light of the world, and then you
25:53
come to Simeon. And Simeon would celebrate the
25:57
light when he would trust in his sovereignty because Simeon was
26:03
told by the Lord that he would not die until he saw the Lord's
26:11
Messiah. Remember, it's the Lord's
26:13
Messiah. Christ is not Israel's Messiah.
26:19
He's not your Messiah, He's not my Messiah.
26:24
He is God's Messiah. And so the Bible tells us that
26:29
Simeon was given his promise that he would not die until he
26:34
saw the Lord's Messiah. Now how long it was before he
26:42
was told that and he actually embraced the Christ child, we
26:46
don't know. But he had to trust in God's
26:49
sovereign plan for his life. He had to rely upon what God was
26:53
going to do in his life, trusting the sovereign purposes
26:56
of God. So when he went to the temple,
26:58
he would wait and trust and depend upon God leading the
27:03
Christ child to him. So here comes Mary and Joseph
27:07
and they had the Christ child. How did Simeon know that Mary
27:13
and Joseph held the Christ child?
27:17
Did he have a Halo around his head so that when he came in
27:21
there was this glow about him? No.
27:25
Did Did Mary and Joseph had a glow about them?
27:29
No. How did Simeon know?
27:32
Every day he would go to the temple, Every day he would wait.
27:35
Every day he knew that he was going to live until he saw the
27:40
Lord's Christ, and then he could die after that.
27:46
And so he would tell everybody, I'm not dying until I see the
27:48
Messiah. And so people go to the temple.
27:50
Hey, Simeon's still here. He's still alive.
27:53
The Messiah has not come yet. But whenever Simeon would
27:57
eventually die, you would think that the people who heard and
28:01
saw him would know that the Messiah had arrived because he
28:06
lived and trusted in the sovereignty of God.
28:09
So the Bible tells us in Luke's Gospel these words, when he
28:13
takes the Christ child in his arms, he says, Now, Lord, you
28:18
are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace according to
28:24
your word. For my eyes have seen your
28:27
salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all
28:31
peoples, a light, a revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory
28:37
of your people, Israel. When you celebrate the light,
28:42
you truly consider, you truly contemplate the prophecies
28:48
surrounding the Messiah. When you do that, you embrace
28:53
His deity, you long for His His mercy.
28:58
You exalt His Majesty, and then you bow to His authority.
29:09
You radiate with His glory and you adore His identity.
29:16
You trust His sovereignty. And then the last thing you do
29:21
is you explain His story. And every one of them were
29:30
involved in explaining the story, whether it was Anna,
29:34
whether it was the the shepherds, whether it was the
29:38
angels, whether it was Simeon. All of them were involved in
29:42
some way in explaining to other people the excellencies, the
29:48
extraordinary acts of God. The Bible says in first Peter 2
29:53
verse #9 that we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood
30:00
designed to declare the excellencies of Him who called
30:06
us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
30:12
And when you've been called into the light, you celebrate the
30:15
light. And one of the ways you truly
30:18
celebrate the light is that you just explain the story you tell
30:24
others about the extraordinary acts, the excellencies of God,
30:29
the heroic acts of God. You want them to know that
30:33
Christmas is all about the light that came into the world and
30:38
that we truly celebrate the light of the gospel of Christ
30:43
because he is the author of the gospel.
30:46
He is the good news that brings great joy.
30:49
And that's why we as believers live in the realm of joy.
30:53
That's why we rejoice is because we understand the light has
30:58
dawned. We understand the sunrise from
31:01
on high has come down to us and we embrace the light tonight as
31:08
we as we close our time. What I want to do is have you
31:13
have you take the candle that you have in your possession this
31:17
evening. And what I'm going to do is I'm
31:20
going to light my candle with the the candle that's right
31:24
there. And as the men come down this
31:28
morning or this afternoon, excuse me, or this evening, I
31:31
guess it's night time now that they're going to come down here,
31:33
I'm going to light their candles.
31:34
And then they're going to walk down the aisles and light each
31:38
person on the end of the Pew. And then you will light the
31:41
person on the inside of you. And we're going to sing a song,
31:46
a very familiar song called Silent Night.
31:49
And as we light the candles, we're going to sing this song
31:52
together because it's going to be a reminder to everyone of us
31:56
that we are the light of the world.
32:01
Christ, who is the light, indwells us.
32:05
That makes us children of the light.
32:08
And we should shine bright for Christ, not just at Christmas,
32:12
but all throughout our lives. And may this be a symbolic
32:18
gesture in all of our lives to remind us that the light has
32:22
come. And if you've embraced that
32:24
light, if you've given your life to to Christ, you now become the
32:30
light of the world, and you shine so others might see your
32:36
good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.