WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:00.320 Amen. 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:05.919 Well, why don't you go ahead and uh get your Bibles open to the Gospel of Mark? 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:10.560 Mark chapter one is where we're gonna be uh here this morning. 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:20.719 And uh as we all know, uh much is made this time of year around the idea of what Christmas is really all about. 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:21.359 Right? 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:27.280 If you were to talk to any number of people, they might all give you sort of a different answer to that. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:35.520 I mean, clearly one of the massive thrusts in our culture today is uh towards consumerism, all right? 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:42.640 It's about uh it's about spending money, it's about it's about buying, it's about receiving gifts. 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:49.920 I mean, I wonder how many of us, you know, really just kind of took advantage of uh the Black Friday deals out there, right? 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:54.159 We're gonna get our you know some of our Christmas shopping done and get some some deals around that. 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:55.039 Nothing wrong with that. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:02.640 I mean, I wonder how many of our kids, you know, have already delivered uh to us their their Christmas uh Christmas wish lists. 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:02.960 Right? 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:07.040 They had those prepared, I think like early June uh or something like that. 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:12.959 Uh you know, some would say that Christmas is is all about being with family, right? 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:19.519 Being with family and loved ones and carrying on our traditions together, right? 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:20.319 Love that. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:30.000 And for you, you know, you think about you know lots of uh turkey dinners uh together, you think about you know all the different unique traditions that you do as a family. 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:31.840 Maybe you have family sing-alongs. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:33.439 I know some uh do that. 00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:37.519 That feels like uh a bit of a terrifying thing uh for me personally. 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:46.719 Um but just to be clear on all of this, um, just so you kind of know where my heart lies in all of it, I I personally have no problem with with buying gifts, right? 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:54.079 I have I have no problem with uh spending money, of course, doing that, doing that within reason, don't blow our budgets uh to do all of that. 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:55.599 But I have no problem with that kind of thing. 00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:02.879 I have no problem with with Christmas trees personally, and you know, enjoying traditions with family and loved ones, okay. 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:14.719 That being said, okay, all of these examples can, of course, overshadow what Christmas is uh actually about, which is the birth of our Savior. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:14.960 Right? 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:15.919 That's what it's about. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:18.879 Now, as believers, we know that. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:19.919 Okay, we know that. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.919 That's that's not news to uh most of us here, I think. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:36.960 Uh, but don't you find it uh somewhat amazing just how how easily the magnitude of the birth of Christ uh is so, can be so lost on us. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:37.520 Right? 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:39.120 We know that it's about Jesus. 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:49.199 It that exists somewhere kind of in the in the back of our minds, at least at certain points it is, but it can easily be eclipsed uh by some of these other things. 00:02:49.439 --> 00:03:00.159 I mean, I don't know about you, but I have had years, I mean you can even ask my wife, I have had years where I have been hyper focused on getting new golf clubs, okay? 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:03.280 At golf town's boxing day sale. 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:03.759 Right? 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:07.919 If you are married to a golfer, uh, you know the disease that that is. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.800 I know I I've been in that kind of a place where that's just dominated my thinking. 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:14.800 I'm like, you know, blinders are on, and and and this is all I really think about. 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:16.240 Right, getting golf clubs. 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:32.400 I know that Ange and I, we also have this tradition that we've been doing in uh the last few years where we kind of ditch our kids to their grandparents and and go and spend a night or two uh in a hotel, usually in Toronto, and just kind of get away and and and eat out and and and walk around and all of that and kind of wind down. 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:32.800 We love that. 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:37.039 And I know that for me, though, that can be like the dominating thing in my mind, right? 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:38.879 It's like I'm living for that, right? 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:43.360 I can't wait to get through through some of these other details so that I can just I can get away with my wife, right? 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:50.639 Our our hearts, they can be so kind of consumed by things like this during the Christmas season. 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:56.879 To the point where Jesus, sadly, he can be you know a little more than an afterthought, I think. 00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:01.039 And so this morning, what we want to do is we want to kind of turn the tide a little bit. 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:13.520 I think we want to try and take some ground here, you know, get our easily distracted minds and and and hearts back onto the birth of Christ so that it's not lost on us, right? 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:19.279 Because we're we're living in a world, okay, that is going after anything but this, right? 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:20.560 After anything but Jesus. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:21.759 And what is the world trying to do? 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:26.079 It's trying to trying to sweep us up along in the chaos. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:31.360 All right, and so I want to pray, and then we'll read uh Mark chapter one and get right into this. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:33.600 So why don't you join me as I pray, Lord? 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:35.759 We thank you for this time together in your word, Lord. 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:49.680 And and as we you know focus on Christ and we focus on uh his birth, God, I pray that this would not just be like, oh yeah, one of those things I think about on a Sunday, and then I'm just back into the fray of all the other things that tend to dominate my thinking and in life. 00:04:49.839 --> 00:05:04.800 Lord, I pray that this would truly grip our souls, and and Lord, that um the power of uh your birth, the virgin birth, the incarnation, Lord, I pray that I pray that it would strike us here. 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:09.199 Lord, I pray that it would soften our hearts, I pray that it give it would give us joy, Lord. 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:20.560 I pray uh that it would lead us to deeper repentance, I pray that uh that it would lead us towards uh just following you and seeking to carry out your mission in your power and for your glory. 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:22.959 And so, Lord, uh speak to us here this morning. 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:29.519 Lord, as we work through these verses, I pray that you would encourage us, I pray that you would challenge us, I pray that you would inspire us, Lord. 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:31.439 We pray all this in your name. 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:32.399 Amen. 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:33.360 Amen. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:38.000 So is your focus on Jesus this season? 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:43.920 Is your focus on his birth and all of the many implications of that? 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:48.560 Now, maybe uh some of us here would say, Yeah, you know, I kind of think so. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:58.160 I feel like I, you know, I've been in God's word and I've been kind of thinking about this quite a bit, and I'm not much of a shopper, and so those things uh tend to not overwhelm me and take over. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:05:58.720 Right? 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:11.839 Maybe for you, you're kind of thinking, well, you know, no, I'm not really focusing on Jesus to be uh perfectly honest, or others still may be saying, you know, I I I think so, but but I'm not I'm not too sure. 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:16.639 Maybe it's not enough of a focus, or you know, how can I how can I even tell? 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:20.480 Okay, well, that's really what we're trying to get into here today. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:31.680 And so here's the first thing if you're a note taker, it's this the birth of Christ is not lost on me when I accept that my need to repent is what made it necessary. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:36.959 Okay, take a look at verse one as we go through the first uh five verses here. 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:37.759 Look what it says. 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:43.759 It says, uh the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:55.120 You know, interestingly, uh that word uh beginning there that you see is the same word that we saw last week in Matthew, which is translated there as genealogy. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:07:00.000 Remember, we spent time going through the genealogy and tracing the lineage of Christ. 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:03.199 Now, do you remember what that word genealogy or beginning literally was? 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:04.319 Pop quiz church. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:07.120 You remember what that word is in the original language? 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:08.879 So we're Genesis, right? 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:09.600 Genesis. 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:18.319 Now, here, Mark, he doesn't present us with uh a genealogy, but he does use the same word to convey the same idea as Matthew. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:26.800 Okay, that the entrance of Christ into his creation ushers in a brand new beginning for mankind. 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:40.879 Okay, which for you and I is as as we read that, it signals to us that something truly epic is about to take place here that Mark is going to get into uh as he uh writes his gospel. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:45.920 Okay, Christ coming is no ordinary event. 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:48.319 It's not a ho-hum thing. 00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:54.480 It's like it it's it's the event upon which uh all of human history uh really pivots. 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:57.439 Okay, and so let's take a look at verse 2 now. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:07:58.399 It says this. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:02.079 It says, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet. 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:12.160 Okay, now Isaiah is mentioned here because um most of the content of these next two verses that you see there in your Bible, in in quotations and indented there, you see that. 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:17.920 Okay, most of that is uh it comes from Isaiah uh chapter 40, verse 3. 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:23.519 Okay, but the very first part, that first line, comes from Malachi uh 3, verse 1. 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:25.199 Look what it says here in verse 2. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:31.600 It says, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way. 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:33.360 That's Malachi 3, 1. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:35.679 Now, this is Isaiah 40, verse 3. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:44.720 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:56.000 And now all of this is referring to uh John the Baptist, okay, the one whom both Malachi and Isaiah uh prophesied about. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:09:00.639 Okay, he is the one who whom God would send uh to prepare. 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:02.399 You see that word there in verse 3, right? 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:06.080 To prepare people's hearts for the coming of the Lord. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:15.840 Okay, so Jesus would come and and he would do something so entirely paradigm-shifting, right? 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:22.480 And that being the redemption of his creation that's just been completely demolished by by sin. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:23.440 Right? 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:31.440 That people needed to be prepped and prepared in advance for such a momentous moment. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:32.720 That was John's task. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:34.159 Come and prepare them. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:39.440 You know, I think I can give you a bit of a negative example uh of that. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:10:09.039 Just last uh Sunday, okay, our family continued our magical tradition of going out uh to cut down a Christmas tree, okay, but just getting uh super frustrated by the whole event and getting lost along the way, and then going out there in the freezing cold, and then not being able to find a tree at all that looked anywhere half decent, and then just deciding to stop by a tree stand on the way home and cutting or just buying one that was pre-cut. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:10.080 Right? 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:14.879 Truly a whimsical time of year uh for the Armstrongs. 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:15.519 Right? 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:20.159 Now the kids' excitement, it was, as you can imagine, at a fever pitch. 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:20.559 Right? 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:22.000 They are just jacked. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:23.519 They are buzzing, right? 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:25.759 No caffeine needed whatsoever, because they're so excited. 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:34.399 They can't wait to get the tree home, and they know that's gonna mean hot chocolate, and they get to decorate it, and we're probably gonna have pizza and watch a Christmas movie, like all of that type of thing. 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:35.440 They're psyched. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:35.679 Okay? 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:42.240 And so what we started to realize uh earlier that morning was like, you know what, we're gonna have to prepare these kids because we know how this is gonna go. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:44.639 We're all gonna be in bad moods, right? 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:48.240 We're not gonna find a tree, it's gonna be terrible, right? 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:57.679 And so we started, hey, guys, just so you know, you know, because we're preparing them for the fact that, hey, this might not quite work out as uh as you think it might. 00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:04.159 Now, here in our text, okay, John was sent to prepare people for what would definitely happen. 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:08.159 Okay, and it was going to be far from a miserable thing, it was gonna be an awesome thing. 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:17.919 Okay, Jesus was entering into the world uh to pay for just the crushing sin debt that humanity had racked up and was unable to pay off. 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:34.320 And by doing this, Jesus, by this act, Jesus would would bring you and I, he would bring uh mankind into a right relationship with our Creator, with our God, with with the Lord, as it was all intended from the very beginning. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:42.480 Okay, now, what exactly was that preparation piece that John the Baptist uh was sent to do? 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:43.279 What did that look like? 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:45.440 Well, take a look at verse 4, it shows us. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:47.360 Okay, John appeared, okay. 00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:48.639 So there he is, right? 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:59.360 He's the fulfillment of the prophecies that we read about in Malachi 3 and in Isaiah 40, prophecies that happened 500 and 700 years before he came. 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:00.399 Pretty amazing there. 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:01.919 So John appeared. 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:03.120 What did he do? 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:12.240 Well, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:23.759 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:26.240 You know, a couple of things to flesh out there. 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:28.639 Okay, first of all, John's baptism. 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:37.679 Okay, if we've talked about that word before, that word literally means uh to dip fully uh or to plunge or to immerse. 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:42.559 Okay, now when we hear that, when we hear the word baptism, we're just kind of like, well, yeah, like baptism, right? 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:57.919 Like we we just had one of those services here just a few weeks ago, probably a month ago now, baptize three students, and we do that a couple of times a year, and and it's a wonderful thing and an amazing thing for our church, something many of us, most of us probably, uh, have done as a step of obedience uh to the Lord. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:03.759 Maybe you need to understand that that for these people though, they'd never seen anything like this before. 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:04.240 Right? 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:08.960 For them, this was this was an entirely new concept. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:25.679 Okay, Kent Hughes, he's uh he's a theologian, and and he notes that their their only real understanding of uh of something baptism-like prior to this was what would have happened when Gentiles converted to Judaism. 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:36.000 They were they were kind of kind of baptized, not in the same way, but they were baptized as a as a symbolic cleansing uh from their prior paganism. 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:42.080 Now it was a little bit different, it was something that they kind of administered, it was like a ritual kind of washing uh that they did, okay? 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:46.960 This was Gentiles when they became uh when they became when they converted to Judaism. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:50.799 Okay, but but Jews getting baptized? 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:51.360 Right? 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:55.120 That was in entirely uh unheard of. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:57.039 Okay, yet here they were, right? 00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:07.120 They were they were going out, it says, to be baptized by John, and his baptism focused entirely on uh repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:22.000 Okay, and so these people, just kind of picture, as they're going out to do this, they would have had some understanding that that John's baptism and that being about their repentance meant that that something new was brewing here. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:22.320 Right? 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:23.679 Something new was afoot. 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:29.200 There's this dramatic shift now taking place for them as a people. 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:31.120 It was like the dawn of a new age. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:36.720 Okay, that John ministered in the wilderness, that's also something that we need to know here. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:40.399 Very significant and uh very intentional. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:48.320 Okay, because when you hear you know the Israelites, or you hear about the you know, the Jews and the wilderness, what do you automatically think? 00:14:48.799 --> 00:15:02.240 Well, your mind is probably drawn back to you know the Old Testament when they when they left Egypt, right, and they came out with Moses in that 40-year time period between that and just before they got into the promised land, right? 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:05.679 Where they they wandered uh in the wilderness. 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:19.519 Okay, so when when verse 5 says that all the country of Judea and and all Jerusalem were going out to him, out into the wilderness and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, right? 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:26.559 Just as they had once passed through the Red Sea there, the waters of the Red Sea, so you can see some connections here with water. 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:30.879 Okay, they're they're they're uh in the river Jordan, confessing their sins, right? 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:33.360 The symbolism would not have been lost in them. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:33.840 Right? 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:38.080 They they would have been thinking, wow, this is this is this sounds very familiar to us. 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:39.120 Right? 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:50.879 The 40 years of of wandering in the wilderness was an extremely crucial time uh for them in this nation, their history, where they experienced, and I mean we know the stories, right? 00:15:50.960 --> 00:16:04.240 Usually the hard way, the profound reality of their hard-heartedness, of their stubbornness, of their of their sinfulness, and and out of that their great need for God to forgive them and save them. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:10.799 Okay, so the wilderness was was where God gave Israel the law, right? 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:15.519 Where where through the law their their spiritual eyes were opened. 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:16.799 That was the intent of it. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:22.720 And they and they they would realize, wow, like the Lord is is so holy, right? 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:32.559 We we see his standards here, we see, we see the the how meticulous it is, but at the same time, they would have been realizing, uh-oh, I am not holy. 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:33.039 Right? 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:36.159 I I am not good at at following the law. 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:39.840 Uh, how could I possibly obey his law properly? 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:45.759 Because they would have been realizing just the crooked bent of their of their sinful nature, right? 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:53.360 Which meant that they would just be constantly reverting back into their prideful ways, into their into their selfishness and and sin. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:17:01.039 All which really meant that they were predisposed to just rejecting God continually. 00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:19.680 Okay, so the wilderness was was God's you know ordained time period where he unearthed to them the true depth of their depravity and their need for God, again, to forgive them and to pour out his grace, which he did when they did what? 00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:21.680 Repented. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:22.240 Right? 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:32.400 When they repented, repentance, you see the word in there, it literally means uh to change one's mind, okay, or or to alter one's understanding. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:42.160 And it's it's it's the confessing of sins, as you see there, where we essentially we're changing our minds about our our sinful deeds. 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:42.640 Right? 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:49.359 We're no longer holding on to that and saying, what I am doing is right, what I am doing is good. 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:52.000 No, repentance means that now we agree with God about that. 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:55.599 And what what he says about that, that that we're in the wrong. 00:17:55.920 --> 00:18:03.359 And as James Edwards, another theologian, puts it, repentance is where we seek moral and spiritual renewal. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:16.079 And so here in Mark chapter one, God was moving through John the Baptist to prepare God's people for the plan that he was about to set into motion. 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:18.240 Okay, that plan, of course, was Jesus. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:20.559 Okay, and he would be born in a manger. 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:28.000 Okay, so that but so that the the importance and the magnitude of all of that, his birth, would not be lost on them. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:40.240 Okay, they would first need to realize that that their sin against God requiring repentance is what made Christ's birth necessary in the first place. 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:49.119 See, again, this time of year for you and I, it's just so easy for us to become so dulled to all of this, isn't it? 00:18:49.839 --> 00:19:06.319 We're dulled by the kind of the commercialized and sanitized and watered down versions of Jesus that we see all over the place in Hallmark movies and and in Christmas greeting cards and in you know songs on the radio, even sometimes. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:15.599 And sometimes I wonder if the main reason the significance of his birth gets lost on us is because we're not properly prepared. 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:23.599 We haven't prepared ourselves, we have we haven't carefully and and honestly kind of considered our need for Christ. 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:24.079 Right? 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:32.000 And as a result, or there hasn't really been enough repentance in our lives, or or maybe it's just been too shallow, like, oh yeah, that's wrong, I shouldn't do that. 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:40.799 You know, but we we don't we don't kind of consider these things deeply and contemplate how far we fall short of God's standards. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:56.880 But when we do and and we repent as as the Lord in his grace and in his goodness, as he exposes our sin to us, and as we lay that before him and ask for forgiveness and seek more grace, then we grow more appreciative of his birth. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:02.400 And his birth, when we consider what he why he came in the first place, that begins to stir our hearts. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:11.599 The birth of Christ becomes wonderful to us, it has a more profound effect on us because we realize just how necessary it was that he came. 00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:15.039 Because if he didn't, what does that mean for us? 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:18.160 It means that we're all still lost in our sin. 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:24.880 We're still under the condemnation of the law, and we're at odds with our Maker. 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:32.799 So, hey, as you and I, as we're considering these things here this morning, I'll just kind of frame it up in a question this way. 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:36.880 Okay, do you do you need to go to the wilderness today? 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:39.839 Do you need to spend some time doing that? 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:46.400 Is there some sin in your life that that you need to again kind of change your mind about, right? 00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:49.119 And get into agreement with God about. 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:50.079 Right? 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:55.440 As you can tell, we're we're good, we're gonna be taking communion up here this morning in in a few minutes. 00:20:55.599 --> 00:21:05.039 And and so we I think it's good for us, even as the word is being preached right now, to just consider these things and continue to lay our hearts before the Lord and seek Him for forgiveness. 00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:09.440 And Lord, show me, is there anything wrong within me that I need to confess? 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:12.720 Lord, show me how good it is to do that. 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:21.839 Okay, keep in mind that as God's work of repentance takes effect in your heart, your appreciation for the birth of Christ, it'll only grow. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:24.640 Because again, you'll realize the necessity of it. 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:40.559 Listen, don't don't ever view repentance as you know some unfortunate topic that I guess we need to talk about that, but but let's only do that as as little as possible because it's too uncomfortable. 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:42.559 No, don't don't don't view it as that. 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:45.839 View it as kind of the gateway to joy, right? 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:52.079 View it as the gateway towards towards peace, joy in the birth of your Savior. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:54.240 All right, let's keep going. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:59.759 Next thing the birth of Christ is not lost on me when my life. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.599 Reflects one that's been totally transformed by him. 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:19.759 Now, here's the part as we uh get into the verse here, we start to see not just kind of what type of guy that John was, but but what happens in you and I as we get saved and apply the reality of uh of Christ's birth in deeper ways. 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:20.160 Right? 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:23.440 What happens is that we're transformed, right? 00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:24.880 We're we're made new. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:25.279 Right? 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:28.240 We've internalized this. 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:33.759 It's something that happens inwardly, and it's something that naturally affects us outwardly as well. 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:38.160 All which is a sign that the birth of Christ has not been lost on us. 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:38.559 Right? 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:53.680 Again, it's it's this internalized thing, and and we've done that, and we think about the implications of that, and we're acting on that to the point where God has used the gospel to totally change our hearts, and then of course our very lives as a result. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:59.359 But before we get too much into that, let's take first take a look at who John the Baptist was a little bit. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:00.960 Verse 6, take a look at this. 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:12.079 It says, Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:27.759 You know, usually what happens at this point in the sermon is the pastor kind of pauses here for a second and you know, he kind of makes some comments about how you know kind of unique and how kind of strange uh this is and how how kind of wild of a guy John the Baptist must have been. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:32.079 But kind of the way that this was striking me this week is like this is this is not even strange at all. 00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:35.680 This isn't weird even a little bit. 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:36.000 Right? 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:44.960 If you've ever shopped at like you know, Whole Foods or Nature's Important, you've seen like John the Baptist guys all over the place, right? 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:47.920 Just walking up and down the aisles, right? 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:54.799 They're you know, they're buying their locust and raw honey energy bars, right? 00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:59.039 Wearing ethically sourced camel hair, fleece sweaters. 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:00.880 Maybe that's a bit of a reach. 00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:06.559 Okay, but seriously though, John John wasn't John wasn't like some weirdo. 00:24:06.640 --> 00:24:09.920 Okay, we kind of look at that and we're like, yeah, he was, but but he he wasn't. 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.640 It's it's rather that he he just believed the message that he was proclaiming, right? 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:21.039 He'd internalized it, he had been transformed by it himself, and he was now living it out. 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:24.400 Okay, he was he was very similar to Elijah. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:35.200 Okay, Elijah, in in actually in 2 Kings 1, verse 8, it tells us that that Elijah uh must have shopped at the same store as as uh as John the Baptist did. 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:37.359 They dress very similarly. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:42.720 In in Luke chapter 1 in verse 15, it actually links Elijah and John together. 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:43.599 I'm just gonna read it. 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:55.279 It says, For he will be great, this is John, he will be great before the Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. 00:24:55.440 --> 00:25:03.680 And he will turn away many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and the power of who? 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:15.440 Of Elijah, hey, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the people uh for the Lord a people prepared. 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:24.480 Hey, so just as Elijah's deal was proclaiming a message of repentance uh to the Jews, uh John's was the exact same. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:24.960 Right? 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:41.359 It was his his his clothing, his his food, it was it was really uh a heartfelt kind of protest uh of the rampant uh materialism and worldliness and and godlessness of his day. 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:45.920 Okay, very similar type day as as the one that we live in. 00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:49.519 And again, it was a message that he himself was living out. 00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:58.160 Okay, John was all in, not just on telling other people what to do, but living in line with that very message himself. 00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:04.960 And it was, of course, this message of repentance that set the table for the coming king. 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:12.880 Now we've we've already covered how Christ would come to forgive, okay, but he came to do even more. 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:13.359 Right? 00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:19.279 He came to totally transform the hearts and the lives of the people that he came for. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:32.240 Okay, John uh points out next not just how much greater Jesus is compared to him, but how deep uh the transformative effect Christ's work would have on those whom he saved. 00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:34.960 And we see all that starting in verse 7. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:46.960 He says, And he preached, saying, After me comes one who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I'm not worthy to stoop down and untie. 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:47.519 Right? 00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:49.039 What humility there. 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:49.759 Right? 00:26:49.839 --> 00:26:51.359 John John knew his role. 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:51.759 Right? 00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:53.359 He knew he was a setup man, right? 00:26:53.440 --> 00:27:01.039 He he he he knew his his job, his position, and how great the Messiah would be who was coming after him. 00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:01.599 Right? 00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:06.720 If you continue in the verse, he says, I have baptized you with with water. 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:10.720 Okay, so think of that as as an external act, okay? 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:13.359 Uh washing with water being an external thing. 00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:18.000 He says, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:22.960 Okay, something that Christ does to us internally. 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:30.480 See, this is John's way of saying that that his call to repentance is necessary, right? 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:32.079 It's very good. 00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:35.920 Okay, but repentance on its own is not enough. 00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:38.480 It's not the whole story. 00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:41.359 Okay, you and I need grace. 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:50.480 We need the power of the Holy Spirit to do the heavy lifting of cleansing us and transforming us. 00:27:50.960 --> 00:28:04.160 We need the Holy Spirit to wash us clean and to give us or be the very power that functionally, practically, actually changes us. 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:12.079 Okay, this is a this is a work of grace accomplished for us in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. 00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:34.960 Okay, when we get saved, all right, we are given or we are baptized with the Holy Spirit that God has given us, okay, that he pours out on us internally with real effectual power, which is exactly what you and I need to be forgiven and be transformed. 00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:35.440 Right? 00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:39.920 In order to be righteous in God's eyes, we need that. 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:44.319 In order to then live righteously, we need that. 00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:44.880 Right? 00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:47.839 This is the good news of the gospel. 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:48.400 Right? 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:49.279 I love that. 00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:49.759 Right? 00:28:49.920 --> 00:29:04.160 Recognizing your sinfulness, very necessary, an important, crucial step, but ultimately very little, if it's not accompanied by real power from God to cleanse and transform our hearts. 00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:11.200 Okay, all of which, of course, is God's plan inaugurated at Christ's birth. 00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:23.119 Now, as our hearts are transformed inwardly, right, that as that is happening, this leads to outward transformation as well. 00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:37.759 Okay, if you think about it, as as as your hearts and and as your desires and as your motives are cleansed, okay, as they are, as they are changed, this will inevitably lead to outward action as well. 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:38.240 Right? 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:43.759 Outward action that lines up with what your heart now truly desires, which is God's glory. 00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:48.000 Okay, so let me kind of put it this way: give an example of sin. 00:29:48.400 --> 00:30:04.319 Okay, when a person um has been humbled and repents of something like viewing pornography, let's say, okay, and their heart is changed by the gospel, okay, their desires will change. 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:08.319 Okay, they'll be sickened by their sin. 00:30:08.799 --> 00:30:09.119 Right? 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:14.799 They'll desire to love Christ more than they love themselves. 00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:15.279 Right? 00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:18.960 That that's that's that's the inward transformation that is taking place. 00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:26.160 And then and then outwardly, what will happen is there will be there will be a visible trans uh transformation that takes place as well. 00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:31.359 Okay, and that the person no longer, you know, actually looks at pornography. 00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:31.759 Right? 00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:34.960 They live in obedience to Christ. 00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:42.720 Now, of course, we know that this is uh, you know, I I made that sound like a real simple thing, and that's real easy, and that's pretty clean, and let's tie that off. 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:49.519 We know that that's messy, but we we know that when we are saved and as our hearts are changing, we will change outwardly over time. 00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:54.559 Okay, so listen question are you transforming? 00:30:55.599 --> 00:31:06.640 If you are inwardly and then outwardly, it's a sure sign that the birth of Christ, okay, the gospel, has not been lost on you. 00:31:07.119 --> 00:31:07.440 Right? 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:13.359 You you you get it, or you're you're learning, and you know, you you know that that you're hopelessly lost. 00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:27.359 You know that you need to repent, and you have, and you are, you're continuing to do that, and you you've been saved, that happened, and and you've been cleansed, and you've been baptized by the Holy Spirit, which again involves your heart and your mind and your actions being transformed as well. 00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:34.559 All of which is initiated at Christ's birth and and completed through his death and through his resurrection. 00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:38.559 So, church, are again, are are we transforming? 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:40.640 Are we growing? 00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:44.880 Is the power of the Holy Spirit at work in you? 00:31:45.119 --> 00:31:45.359 Right? 00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:54.240 Can you can you see the effect that you know the Holy Spirit's effect on your life as you kind of look back on your life and look at it in the rearview mirror? 00:31:54.480 --> 00:32:00.079 You know, as you look back on the last, you know, several months or or on the last several years, can you see that? 00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:01.519 Yeah, I can see signs of grace. 00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:06.559 I can see signs where my heart is is changing, and I know that I have some bad days, certainly. 00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:12.880 But I can also see that the Lord's Spirit is is at work in my heart and in my life. 00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:20.720 Again, if you can see that, again, it's it's a sign that his birth has not been lost on you, not at all. 00:32:21.839 --> 00:32:29.119 Okay, but listen, if you don't see transformation happening, then we should be concerned. 00:32:29.680 --> 00:32:31.680 It's a good thing to be concerned about that. 00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:36.799 Worst case scenario, it might mean that you're not actually saved. 00:32:37.599 --> 00:32:44.000 Maybe you thought that you were, but maybe there's no real change happening in your life really at all. 00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:49.759 And maybe the message for you here today is that you need to surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ. 00:32:50.079 --> 00:33:02.319 You need to repent of sin, you need to receive the forgiveness that Christ offers you, that he accomplished for you in his coming, in his death, his resurrection. 00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:14.960 Or if if you don't see much in the way of transformation, or you know, you are you know, you know, kind of burdened by the fact that it's it's really slow, I think a lot of us kind of feel that way. 00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:15.440 Okay? 00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:22.000 Perhaps it just means that that we've been quenching the Holy Spirit through our pride and through our sin. 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:38.640 Okay, and if so, we just say continue to confess those things, continue to work towards repentance as you kind of think deeply and carefully about the birth of your Savior, as you think about why he came in the first place, purpose in your heart this morning. 00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:42.640 That this is this is not gonna be lost on me this time of year. 00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:47.920 As I think about Christmas and there's all the competing voices as to what that's all about. 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:52.559 I'm I'm not gonna let those things drown out what it's truly all about. 00:33:52.799 --> 00:33:55.440 I'm not gonna do that now, I'm not gonna do that ever. 00:33:55.839 --> 00:33:56.160 Right? 00:33:56.240 --> 00:33:58.640 That's gonna happen by grace, of course, but commit to that. 00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:15.840 Allow the greatness of Christ's entrance into this sinful world motivate you to plead for more grace, to plead for more Holy Spirit power in your life so that you continue to change to the glory of God.