Love Came Down, Part 1 Hope
Genesis 3:15
It
happened yesterday about 6:30am I was out of the house at 6am on my way up to
speak at a mens breakfast for a
A)Started at 7am 7am on a Saturday I was
running late starting to stress
B)So I am cruising down the freeway
trying to not speed too much flow of traffic 80
1)Listening to a Study, being Spiritual
compensate for the speeding
C) Thinking
about my message watching the Speedometer and I am watching for HWY
Patrol
1)And I was praying let there
not be traffic border check open
D)Who says Guys cant Multitask
So
all that is going on that is when I saw It!
A)What was the it Sticker on a car!
B)There are a lot of stupid things that people put on their cars - What is the point
C)Every now and then there will be one that just gets you right in the heart
D)Divine message: God speaking} The Sticker
Stress is a
Choice Oh Man busted
Now
I mention that because this time of year seems to bring a lot of stress with it
A)Shopping/ parties/ lots of extra responsibilities
B)We completely lose sight of the what is the miracle and the wonder of the
season.
C)Not a season so much for gift giving but a Season for celebrating
Gods Gift
Today
we are starting a series entitled Love came Down!
Celebrating the meaning of the incarnation
A)Incarnation- Simply is a reference to the Miracle / the
wonder - that God became a man.
B)God left heaven and invaded our domain!
C)As we go thru this series over the next few weeks I want us to keep in
mind two things.
1)#1 There are pp in countries like
2)Who are hearing this story for the first time.
D)They have grown up their whole lives believing something else but have now
embraced Jesus
1)And this year are celebrating their first Christmas ever! How Crazy is that -
E)Pondering for the first time Love came Down God became a Man not just a
man a baby
1) WOW!!!!
But the 2nd
thing I want you to be thinking about is this: Go
back 3-4 thousands yrs ago Enter
into the mind of a Jewish person
An Israelite who throughout
his whole life has
been hearing about a Messiah who is coming
That is their Hope Prophesied
1,000s of yrs befor
That
is what we are going to do today{ Journey thru the
Bible Gen Rev and see how God was instilling a hope a yearning in the heart
of His pp!
A)God would add layers to the picture build upon it causing hope to
grow!
B)With each new prophecy God was giving his pp a little more insight into
the Messiah who was coming!
C)Starting in Genesis 3
In
the first two Chapters of the Bible we see God creating the world and
everything in it.
A)End of each day- It is good!
B)Ch.3 things go south the Devil enters the picture disguised as serpent
1)Tempts man to do what God told him not to do eat of the forbidden fruit
What
God does from that point is absolutely fascinating though
A)He curses the serpent our adversary and says something really interesting
in v.15
And
I will put enmity { or animosity } between you and the woman, and
between your seed (offspring all that is evil)
and her Seed; He shall bruise
your head,
And
you shall bruise His heel."
B)Now this is kind of
weird grammatically because God is talking about all of the offspring of the
serpent and all of the offspring of the woman
C)AND THEN THERE IS A HE that comes crashing in!
1)Talking offspring plural then we jump to He singular
D)So as soon as Sin, death
and conflict between the forces of good and evil enter the world God drops
this major hint that a HE IS COMING.
E)Genesis 3:15 there is a HE coming who is going to strike at the heart of Sin
and evil
1)At THAT moment the first RAY OF HOPE
- enters into the heart of man!
Genesis
49:
Jacob who becomes
A)Comes to
Genesis 49:10
The scepter {Kings ruling staff}
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet, until
See it again in the NIV
Genesis 49:10
The
scepter will not depart from
nor the ruler's
staff from between his feet,
until
He comes to whom it belongs and the
obedience of the nations is His. NIV
So the picture
broadens gets a little more distinct
A)Genesis 3 there is a He who is coming who is going to Strike at the very heart
of Sin and evil
B)Genesis 49:10 the He who is coming is going to be a King!
1)The line of
C) Jump to 2 Samuel 7:16
David
is the first King from the tribe of
God tells David no your
son is going to do that David but here is what I am going to do for you.
And your house
and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be
established forever."
2 Samuel 7:16 God tells David there is one coming
from your line who is going to rule forever!
Coming
hero / a King / Everlasting rule!
A)God Kept sending prophet and
prophet adding to the layers expanding the picture of Hope!
B)So much so that Israelite women in child birth would often pray let Him
be the ONE !
C)In the midst of giving birth let it be a boy and let him be the MESSIAH!
D)In good times under
good kings like David hope was an even better King is coming
1)Difficult times under Kings like Ahab and Mannasseh
Evil was rampant
E)Hope of one who would come and make things right
F)In times of captivity
Psalm
2 Another prophecy that reveals a little more about the He who is coming! RD
V.1-9
A)Now in verse 7 it gets a little grammatically weird God is saying you
are my Son
. Begotten brought forth
B)Picture is expanding in Psalm 2 There is a
He who is coming called Messiah be a King who is going to rule with an iron Sceptor crush his enemies
C)What is really
amazing is He is going to have a
father son relationship w/ God Almighty!
D)Now at this point I am sure their heads are starting to spin a little!
Isaiah
11:1-9
A)Here we are given an incredible picture of what Messiah will be like and
what He will do.
B)Messiah will come full of Gods spirit with wisdom understanding, counsel, and
might.
C)He will usher in an era of peace where all of creation is reconciled
literally to the pt where animals are no longer going
to eat each other.
D)Kids will play with snakes little kids
are going to be riding around on Simba lions
E)So if you are an Israelite this is the Hope that is being birthed ignited
in your heart
1)These are passages you are constantly being reminded of ! ONE IS COMING !
Jeremiah
23:5-6 the picture narrows a little bit.
A)Note that phrase the days are coming this is the first time in the Bible
that God uses that phrase in talking about the coming of the Messiah
B)The Days are coming! It is being narrowed down
C)Zechariah gets a little more direct
Ch.13 / 14 IN THAT DAY
This is my point
there is a very distinct progression of thought here.
A)Move from not so specific to very specific talking a day when messiah is
going to come!
B)Then there is a 400 year period in the History of
1)Nothing more is said about this Hope.
C)Israel is living under the oppression of yet another Kingdom this time
Jesus
shows up on the scene beginning of His ministry he was preaching a pretty
revolutionary message. Matthew
Ch.4:17
From that time
Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand."
The
Kingdom all that was promised is Now-
not it will be/ but it is now it
is at hand
A)Pp heard that and started to get excited this is what we have been
waiting for.
B)Kick
1)Miracles/ authority whip temple / demons / Dead
C)But as time goes on Jesus starts to add to the message Matthew 16 He
tells of a future Kingdom
Matthew 16:27
For
the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then
He will reward each according to his works.
Matthew 25:31-32
31 "When
the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He
will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before
Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his
sheep from the goats.
Started
creating this tension between the Kingdom now and Kingdom not yet? Confused
A)You are here why do you keep talking about another coming ?
B)They didnt understand that there was going to be two comings
C) They missed the
prophesies of His first coming
Isaiah 7:14 Virgin would
conceive
Isaiah 9:6 A child would be born
Micah 5:2 Born in
Zechariah 11:12 Betrayed
for 30 pieces of silver
Zechariah 12:10 Type of
death pierced hands/ feet
Isaiah 53 Crucifixion
Psalm 22 Crucifixion
They
completely missed this so when Jesus started talking about His future coming
confused
A)When He died their hopes were shattered
B)
But we were hoping that it
was He who was going to redeem
C)Their hope was shattered but then He rose
D)Hope was reignited they began to understand
In His
first coming He came to deal with a greater enemy than that of
A)Suddenly Genesis 3:15 began to make sense
B)This was the seed of the woman Woman doesnt have seed Virgin birth
C)He was bruised but through His death and REZ He render a crushing blow
to Satan
D)Deliver us from the power of Sin and Death
1 John 3:5
And
you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no
sin.
1 John 3:8
For
this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of
the devil.
The
Baby that was born in the manager was born to die to crush Sin and death
Set us Free Give us new life!
A)We live in the middle of this tension between Hope Now and Hope Not
Yet!
B)Hope Now because Jesus is alive Beat death He paid the Price for our
sins
1)Rose to give us life
1 Peter 1:3-4
He
has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable,
undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.
ESV
C)We live with Hope now Because Jesus is alive and well working Still
Heals forgives
1)Restores He is the answer for the problems of man with the world
Most
of you have seen the Christmas classic, Its A Wonderful Life. In the
movie Jimmy Stewart plays the character George Bailey.
George
feels trapped in a boring, humdrum job. His frustrations come to a head when
hes falsely accused.
George despairs of life.
In one scene Bailey is sitting in a roadside
restaurant, when he lifts his eyes toward heaven and prays, God
God
dear Father in heaven, Im not a praying man, but
if Youre up there and You can hear me, show me the
way. Im at the end of my rope. Show me the way, God
I read some comments Jimmy Stewart made about
that particular scene. He recounts, As I said those
words, I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to
turn and my eyes filled with tears. I broke down sobbing. This was not planned
at all, but the power of the prayer, the realization that our Father in heaven
is there to help the hopeless, had reduced me to tears. Jimmy Stewart
It
reminded me of Robert Morgans encounter in
He
ducked into a newsstand to grab a paper and a cup of coffee. A little old lady,
with oversized glasses, was manning the check out. Morgan commented, I guess you just stand her all day and watch the world go
by, dont you?
The elderly cashier replied, Yes, and much of
it is sad.
She
pointed to the mens restroom across the concourse. You wouldnt believe the suicides they take
out of that washroom. Men go in there and kill themselves, and the paramedics
take them out one after another, all the time. Her bluntness caught Robert off guard. Morgan is a
Christian. He forgets his hopeful world is
an exception - not the rule. Without Jesus life is doomed to
hopelessness.
Christmas
time Most Suicides Depression is at an all time high
A)Time where we need to be ready to share there is Hope for the world
1 Peter 3:15
But sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone
who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.
Priviledge
Christmas
reminds us that God kept his promise 2,000 yrs ago Messiah came
A)Fulfilling over 300 prophecies first coming
B)Because He came first time because He rose we can rest assured live with
Hope An absolute expectation of coming Good
C)Messiah is coming Jesus is coming AGAIN!
A)We now are to live with the expectation that at any moment Christ could
come AGAIN for His bride
1 John 3:2-3
Beloved,
now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be,
but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as
He is pure.
Right
now we live in this tension between already and not yet
A)The Kingdom is here because Jesus is alive He is advancing Hope is
alive
B)But the Kingdom is still not yet! He is coming
C) Turn to Revelation 21:1-4
C)Our hope is now because Jesus is alive Heals hearts He works in lives
1)He touches He restores there is hope for the hopeless { Hope for
today in Jesus bright hope for tomorrow
Turn to
Revelation 21:1-4
Rev 22:7
7 "Behold,
I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this
book."
Rev 22:12-13
12 "And
behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me,
to give to every one according to his work.
Rev 22:20
20 He who
testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly."
Here is how the
Bible ends John says Amen even so come Lord Jesus Come!
He is coming Count on it! Closer
Theres a bar in
And this qualifies. For over a decade the sign has
been hanging in front of Scottys Pub, and not a single ounce of free beer has
ever been poured.
Obviously, the sign communicates a promise that
never gets proven. Free anything tomorrow is a hollow promise.
Thats why Jesus doesnt just promise us a better
life tomorrow. Hell do it today! Right now is Gods acceptable time to act.