Sunday 04:03:11

Luke 2:1-20 vv. 1-3 – Clay pointed out, “How would God have Jesus born in Bethlehem as prophesied in Micah 5:2 when his parents lived in Nazareth? He would use a pagan government.” vv. 4 – Jesus would be David’s descendant, the king who would always be on His throne. vv. 5-13 – Born in a manger. Angel told shepherds, not political nor religious rulers – humility. v. 14 – “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Favor – (eudokia) “good will, kind intent, delight, pleasure” Easter is a celebration of God demonstrating his love for us. The Lord shows Moses his glory. Exodus 33:18-20 18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” 19 And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Exodus 34:5-7 5 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” When God showed Moses his glory, He pronounced his compassion, grace, abundance of love and faithfulness to men. He also spoke about His justice, punishing sin – and how did he do that? He punished sin by laying our punishment on His Son. To hold up your goodness as evidence of your worthiness is to make little of the glory of God’s grace. Isaiah 64:6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, [All. Unclean like someone with a terrible disease who are not allowed to participate in religious ceremony.] and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; [Righteous acts are filthy rags, what about your unrighteous acts.] we all shrivel up like a leaf, [the effects of sin] and like the wind our sins sweep us away. All the while, God knew that you were a mess. He knew that all you had to offer was a train wreck. He knew that your heart and thoughts were wicked. That was the whole point of the cross of Christ. To hold up your goodness as evidence of your worthiness is to make little of the glory of God’s grace. Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The cross is the great picture of his love for you. It is the greatest demonstration of love in the world. The thought that we have nothing to hold up as our own goodness, worthiness or value is against our human nature, but you are supposed to rest in his favor, love, grace, mercy for you. This should create two things in you: repentance and gratitude. You should desire to repent of the things in your life that don’t honor this great love. Your life should show thankfulness for all He’s done.