WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.240 Father, you have through your goodness called out a people to yourself. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:12.720 You have saved us through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:23.120 You are saving us through your Holy Spirit's work within us to make us look more and more like Jesus. 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:34.000 And Father, you will gloriously save us when Jesus Christ returns and we see him face to face and we're made like him. 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:38.960 All of this secured for us in the gospel. 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:57.759 And as a people gathered, as a congregation, as a church plant, we have nothing to offer this city apart from the gospel of Jesus, apart from him crucified and risen again. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:13.840 Father, we pray that by your grace you would help us to center our lives, that we would center our families, that we would center this congregation around the sufficient work of Jesus Christ to save sinners. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:15.519 It's all we have. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:23.519 Father, help us not to be satisfied with lesser things. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:50.239 But help us to gaze deeply at the beauty of Jesus Christ and then live out of that beauty in our city and in our homes and our places of work as we engage our neighbors on mission, proclaiming to them the gospel of Jesus, showing in the love of Jesus through our lives. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:53.120 We pray all this in the name of Christ. 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:55.120 Amen and amen. 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:57.120 Thank you for praying with me. 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:00.959 This morning we're going to be in Hebrews chapter 2. 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:07.920 If you have a Bible, if you want to turn there, or if not, it'll be on the screen for us to read. 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:09.680 We'll be in Hebrews chapter 2. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:14.479 We're going to read from verse 14 down through verse 17. 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:22.400 And when you find your place, and if you're able this morning, uh would you mind standing with me as we read God's holy word? 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:32.719 We want to make a distinction between what is the perfect, infallible word of God and then the proclamation or the preaching of that word. 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:39.599 And so we'll stand as we read that, giving reverence to God and his word. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:43.120 Would you read this with me? 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:45.360 This is the word of the Lord. 00:02:45.520 --> 00:03:03.680 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:09.360 For surely it is not angels that he helped, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:23.360 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:25.199 This is the word of the Lord. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:26.719 Thanks be to God. 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:28.879 Would you pray with me once again quickly? 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:34.319 Father, I pray that you would illumine our hearts as we read and study your word. 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:44.639 May your spirit speak to us and give us eyes to see, give us ears to understand, and then, Father, help us to live in light of these truths. 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:54.800 These are not simply platitudes that we ascend to in our minds, but they are truths that grip our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:56.960 So, Father, grip us. 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:00.000 We pray this in Christ's name. 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:00.719 Amen. 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:01.680 You can be seated. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:02.479 Thank you. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:07.759 The holiday season is hands down one of my favorite seasons. 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:13.919 It's second only perhaps to spring, and then uh maybe the third season of the office. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:16.319 That may be the best season of all. 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:19.920 But holiday season is it's it's it's pretty great. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:23.600 We get to spend time with family, eat delicious food. 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:29.519 We intentionally reflect on many of the good gifts that God has given us. 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:41.439 Then during Advent in particular, which officially begins next Sunday, we join with the church throughout the ages to reflect upon the first Advent. 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:46.319 That word Advent simply means coming, the first coming of Jesus Christ. 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:59.759 And then we walk in joyful anticipation of the second coming of Jesus Christ when he will fully and finally make right again all that is wrong in this world. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:14.800 But between Jesus' first advent and a small room in Bethlehem and his second advent, there stands an event that is the linchpin, it's the crux of the whole Christian faith. 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:20.480 And that is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:41.120 And as we prepare to launch into the season where we're gonna celebrate with joy the birth of Jesus and we're gonna anticipate with joy the return of Jesus, it's absolutely necessary that we do this, keeping in focus the death of Jesus. 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:50.399 Because apart from his death and resurrection, his birth has no meaning and his return has no merit. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:06:12.000 It does our souls good to get swept up in the beauty and the joy of the Advent season, but we must do so, knowing that this beauty, this joy is pregnant with the sorrow and suffering of our Savior. 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:30.079 And so, with that in mind, before we begin next week, the four Sundays of Advent, we want to draw our attention not only to the baby in a manger, but to a bloody cross and an empty tomb and what exactly that means for us. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:34.240 So let me give you a summary of this morning. 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:41.199 If you walk away with nothing else, I hope you walk away remembering and meditating and contemplating this. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:50.800 Jesus was born to die so that he could defeat death and set his people free. 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:58.720 Jesus was born to die so that he could defeat death and set his people free. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:04.240 We're gonna look at three things that arise from our text this morning. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:10.399 First, Jesus' birth was necessarily human. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:15.600 Jesus' birth was necessarily a human birth. 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:17.279 Look at verse 14 in our text. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:25.360 It says, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things. 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:39.839 When we think of Advent or Christmas, we of course think about the baby in a manger, the silent night, holy night thing, which is a bit of a ridiculous concept for a song introducing a baby into the world. 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:44.319 But have you ever asked why? 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:48.639 Why was Jesus born? 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:51.279 Why did he have to become human? 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:53.600 I mean, he's God. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:59.120 He's the second person of the Trinity, he's the eternal son. 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:02.399 So why did he have to be born in this way? 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:08.720 Why couldn't he simply save his people through some other means, by some other way? 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:22.639 The author of Hebrews tells us here in verse 14 that the reason Jesus had to be born in the flesh was because those whom he desired to save were flesh. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:25.040 They were human. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:27.600 We are human. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:32.960 Humans under a curse because of our sin. 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:44.080 See, way back in the garden, our first parents, Adam and Eve, rebelled against God and disobeyed his command to not eat of the tree that was in the midst of the garden. 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:51.840 He said, You can have and rule over and enjoy everything that is in this garden, but don't touch this tree. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:54.879 But they did. 00:08:55.840 --> 00:09:02.240 And when they did, they, along with all of the human race, became cursed. 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:05.840 And God told them, You will surely die. 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:20.240 After that, God gave the law for us to know what is good and right, and then to show us that we in fact are not good and right, pointing us to our need for a savior. 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:43.440 And in Galatians chapter 4, verses 4 and 5, Paul tells us, he says this, but 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 the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 00:09:43.600 --> 00:10:05.600 In other words, in order for those who were cursed under the burden of the law, or we could say, for humans, for men and women to be saved from that curse, there had to be one who would come under that same burden that we could not carry and carry it for us. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:17.840 It would not do to simply take away the law, or to ignore the curse, or to sweep the transgression or the rebellion under the rug. 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:20.960 That's not justice, that's not good and right. 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:24.000 And so that wouldn't do. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:32.879 The law is good and right, it reflects the character and nature of God, and therefore it cannot be ignored and it cannot be done away with. 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:42.879 However, for those under the curse, the weight of the law is too much for us to endure. 00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:44.720 We cannot uphold it. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:52.559 This is the predicament, this is the human condition apart from Jesus Christ. 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:58.399 And this is why our Savior had to be born of flesh and blood. 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:09.840 See, we needed a human savior, a savior who could do what we cannot do, which is be perfect, uphold the law. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:14.000 We needed someone to stand in our place. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:24.879 And Paul says that it had to be someone who was like us, born of a woman, born under the law, born of flesh. 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:31.120 And so the writer of Hebrews says that Jesus partook of this same flesh and blood. 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:44.559 And while he was and remains fully God, through his birth, he became fully man, so that he could be that sufficient human savior. 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:49.120 And so Jesus was born in the flesh. 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:52.960 He was born of the woman Mary, and he became like us. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:57.440 This was necessary for God's plan of redemption. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:01.759 It was necessary for human salvation. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:09.679 And therefore, Jesus' birth was necessarily a human birth. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:15.759 Second, Jesus' death defeated death. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:18.639 Look at verses 14 and 15 with me. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:36.960 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:48.480 So we not only need a human savior who can keep the law for us, we also need a human savior who can defeat death for us. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:52.799 Because the penalty of our sin is death. 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:55.360 This is what was promised in the garden. 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:59.440 If you eat of this tree, you will die. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:19.679 So if we are truly to be saved, then not only must we have a substitute who comes under the law for us and upholds it for us, we must also have a substitute who bears the penalty of our curse. 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:24.960 Because friends, God keeps his promises. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:31.120 And when he says, if you eat this, you will surely die. 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:54.720 And then if we go a little bit forward, when he looks at the serpent in the garden, he says, a day is coming when the seed of the woman will come and you will bruise his heel, but he will crush your head. 00:13:57.440 --> 00:13:59.600 And God keeps his promises. 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:19.279 And so when God promised the serpent, you will one day be crushed by a seed of the woman, he was pointing us forward to the sufficient Savior and the God man, Jesus Christ, who would crush the serpent. 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:32.960 See, we not only needed a lawkeeper, but we needed a substitute who would be crushed under the weight of the penalty of our sin. 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:38.720 And Jesus does just that in his death on the cross. 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:47.919 See, he was not suffering under the penalty of his own sin, but rather he was bearing the weight of the curse for all his people. 00:14:51.279 --> 00:15:00.720 We needed someone who could come under the law, keep it when we couldn't, and bear the repercussions of our rebellion against it in our place. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:06.159 If we took those penalties ourselves, we would be destroyed. 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:11.360 We would suffer the just payment for our sin, which is death. 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:16.559 But Jesus, after fulfilling the law, bore that payment for us. 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:21.679 And this was not injustice. 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:26.240 This was not cosmic child abuse. 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:48.960 Because Jesus wasn't being wrongly crushed for a sin that he didn't do, he was standing as a substitute, allowing for perfect justice to be carried out while making way for the freedom of his people as he bore the curse for them. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:55.919 And in doing this, Jesus took away the greatest tool that the enemy had to use against us. 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:59.840 He took away the very power of death itself. 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:05.840 That thing that we all try to run from, that we all try to escape, death. 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:13.279 We try to avoid it, we try to hold it off, but because we're human, it's inevitable. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:21.679 But Jesus, through his death, hollowed out any threat that death makes toward us. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:22.399 How? 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:25.600 By raising from the dead. 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:29.200 By not staying dead. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:34.320 He raised from the grave, defeating death. 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:42.720 Through his death, he destroyed any power that it might have over us. 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:53.039 All the threats, all the fears that we hold on to because we're afraid of death. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:55.519 Jesus destroyed them all. 00:16:57.120 --> 00:16:58.799 He wiped them out. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:05.599 Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians. 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:09.519 This is 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 54 through 56. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:18.960 He says, when the perishable puts on imperishable, that is when we move from death to life. 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:28.160 And the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:31.039 O death, where is your victory? 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:33.680 O death, where is your sting? 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:45.839 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:52.559 This is why it's so important that we keep the cross in sight as we celebrate Christmas. 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:58.160 Christmas is meaningful because of Good Friday. 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:09.440 The birth of Jesus matters because the death of Jesus is what satisfies the wrath of God for sinners. 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:15.680 Jesus' birth matters because his death satisfies God's wrath for us. 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:23.039 And the resurrection of Jesus is what defeats death and strips it of its power. 00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:27.359 Oh, death, where is your sting? 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:30.319 Where is your victory? 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:35.920 Jesus has stripped it of its power for all who believe. 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:39.519 See, he put on flesh and blood. 00:18:44.079 --> 00:19:01.119 And then died in our place and rose from the dead three days later, so that all those who trust in him will no longer be crushed under the weight of their sin and its deadly penalty, but will be set free from both its punishment and its power. 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:15.279 Third. 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:19.680 Jesus' sacrifice was sufficient for all our sins. 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:21.359 You may have gathered already. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:27.119 I tend to talk with my hands, and holding a mic is I don't I don't know how to talk. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:29.920 My words are hard. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:36.000 Jesus' sacrifice, this is number three, was sufficient for all our sins. 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:38.160 Look at verse 17 with me. 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:51.440 Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:00.720 This wasn't a plan drawn from a hat. 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:10.240 This wasn't a cosmic game show wheel that the Trinity gathered around and spun it and said, Yeah, that one will work. 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:11.119 We'll try that. 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:20.640 No, in order for God to carry out his rescue plan to save his people from their sins, Jesus had to come in the flesh. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:24.160 He had to be made like us. 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:35.519 And verse 17 says that the reason this is so is so that Jesus could be a merciful and faithful high priest. 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:47.599 In the Old Testament, the high priest was the one who would go into the most holy place in the temple, and he would stand, he would mediate between men, between the people and God. 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:56.240 He would offer up a sacrifice for the people so that their sins could be forgiven. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:01.680 Sacrifice of the blood of a spotless lamb. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:08.720 He would do this year after year after year as the people continually needed to be forgiven. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:34.000 But the writer of Hebrews is telling us here that through his incarnation, that is, uh through his becoming human like us, Jesus became the great high priest who would then stand between the people and God and offer a sacrifice, but not the sacrifice of the blood of a lamb, but he himself would become the Lamb of God. 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:55.839 And the sacrifice that he would offer for the people would not have to be done year after year after year, friends, but it would be a sufficient sacrifice that would handle, that would carry the load of all the sins of his people. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:09.440 So that we could fully and finally be forgiven of our sins and be made right with God. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:17.200 The author says that Jesus was made to be a propitiation for the sins of his people. 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:24.640 That word propitiation simply means that what Jesus offered satisfied. 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:29.039 There's a line in one of my favorite songs. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:34.640 It says that Jesus on the cross, it says that he drank God's wrath down to the dregs. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:43.039 Meaning there is no more wrath left for the people of God. 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:49.519 For all those who are in Christ Jesus by faith, there is no more wrath. 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:58.960 Because Jesus took it all upon himself, and in doing so, he satisfied the wrath of God. 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:10.799 He made sufficient payment for our sins so that we could be forgiven and be made right with God again. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:31.119 Jesus, our high priest, our sufficient Savior, was born as a man so that he could die in the place of sinful men and women, defeating death, and then setting us free from its power. 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:38.720 Because this is true, friends, this is our gospel conviction. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:48.480 We must trust in Jesus Christ alone to set us free from the power of sin and death. 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:51.680 We cannot do it ourselves. 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:56.480 Friends, that's what we try to do. 00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:01.920 We try to become our own self-sufficient saviors. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:05.839 And we fail every time. 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:12.480 This is why Jesus had to come in the flesh. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:21.279 This is why he had to put on human flesh and die on a cross and raise from the dead because we cannot save ourselves. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:26.319 But Jesus did not leave us without hope. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:31.440 He entered into human history as a baby in a manger. 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:31.920 C.S. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:33.440 Lewis uses an analogy. 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:39.359 He says it's kind of like the playwright writing himself into the play. 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:55.200 God, in the person of Jesus Christ, wrote himself into human history so that we could know him and be forgiven of our sins and made free from the power of death. 00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:06.799 He entered human history as a baby in a manger and then marched toward a cross in order to save his people from their sins. 00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:22.079 You see, the joy of the birth in a manger is beautiful, and we should and need to reflect on that and celebrate that, but it is not in a vacuum that we do that. 00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:29.119 It's a joy that's pregnant with sorrow because Jesus marches toward a cross. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:35.759 And he does so to make provision for all those who will come to him by faith alone. 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:48.160 Trusting in him is their only sufficient sacrifice to free them from their self-salvation and make them alive again. 00:25:51.920 --> 00:26:01.839 Because of that, I want to give you a couple of practices to help us live out this conviction as we launch into this Advent season. 00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:10.160 First, I would encourage you to reflect on the work of Jesus' death and resurrection in community. 00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:21.680 So as we begin to press into this celebration of Jesus being born as a man, I would encourage you to discuss that and reflect on that in community. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:32.799 So be it with your family or in a miso community or across the lunch table, whatever the case may be, I would encourage you to talk about what the birth of Jesus means in light of his death and resurrection. 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:38.799 Second, pray with confidence. 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:44.880 A little later in Hebrews chapter 4, verses 15 and 16, the writer says this. 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:56.720 He says, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:09.039 He says, Then let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we might receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need. 00:27:09.200 --> 00:27:20.720 Brothers and sisters, let me encourage you to pray with confidence in this Advent season, knowing that Jesus, our great high priest, has satisfied God for us. 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:23.200 And so we can draw near. 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:30.799 And then, third, I would encourage you to be intentional about Advent as we launch into this season. 00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:44.880 I want encourage you to be intentional over these next uh uh four weeks or so, because we're seeking to keep the full scope of the gospel in mind throughout this season. 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:55.839 And so be intentional as you reflect and as you joyfully anticipate both his first coming and his second coming. 00:27:55.920 --> 00:28:01.759 And here are a couple of helpful resources that will help guide you and your family through this season. 00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:03.359 Three resources in particular. 00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:04.240 Two are free. 00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:06.319 You can download them uh for free. 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:08.480 One is very affordable. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:10.319 So I would encourage you to get these. 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:13.119 One, The Dawning of Indestructible Joy by John Piper. 00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:14.880 Again, free PDF download. 00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:22.400 It gives you a reading for each day during Advent and it will help steer your heart toward the full gospel story in this season. 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:24.319 Second, the Jesus Storybook Bible. 00:28:24.400 --> 00:28:41.359 If you if you read, uh if you've used the Jesus Storybook Bible written by uh Sally Lloyd Jones, um, incredible resource, but they they've put together an Advent reading guide that takes you from the garden all the way up until the birth of Jesus through uh through the Jesus Storybook Bible. 00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:44.000 Great to do with kids, great to do as an adult. 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:46.319 Helps us to center on the gospel. 00:28:46.480 --> 00:28:51.039 And then third, this one uh costs about 10 bucks, but I would highly encourage you to get this one as well. 00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:52.880 This is the one my family and I will be using. 00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:57.599 It's a it's an Advent guide called Come Let Us Adore Him by Paul David Tripp. 00:28:57.920 --> 00:28:58.880 Incredible resource. 00:28:59.039 --> 00:29:01.839 I would encourage you to get those. 00:29:02.720 --> 00:29:29.759 As we close out uh our time in the Word, would you join me in a word of prayer as we ask that the Lord would help us as we begin this season of Advent to not only celebrate with joy, but that we would do so keeping our eyes on the cross, remembering that Jesus' work and his death and resurrection fully paid for the sins of his people to make us right with him and free us from its power and its penalty. 00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:31.519 Would you pray with me, Father? 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:36.880 Thank you for your kindness to us in Jesus Christ. 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:39.920 And it is all of grace. 00:29:40.079 --> 00:29:44.799 We have not done anything to deserve it or to merit it. 00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:49.200 But you offer it freely to all who will believe. 00:29:49.359 --> 00:30:08.079 And so, Father, help us to keep our eyes on Christ and his work as we see the beautiful baby in a manger steer our gaze toward the cross and an empty tomb, trusting in Jesus for our salvation. 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:10.480 We pray this in the name of Christ. 00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:12.400 Amen and amen.