SPEAKER_01: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_00: I won't pretend to know anything about other churches, nor will I presume to make sweeping claims about the state of our community, our country, our culture, our society.
SPEAKER_00: I won't even try to guess about what other Christian websites or publications are writing about.
SPEAKER_00: And I can't even back up what I'm about to say with any data.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I might be able to, but not in this case.
SPEAKER_00: But this church, this family of God, this local gathering has prayed, O Lord, how long?
SPEAKER_00: And come, Lord Jesus, more in the year 2020 than we have in any year since I've been here.
SPEAKER_00: And I was here for the last election.
SPEAKER_00: We have just felt, it seems to me, this enduring sense of longing for all things to be made new.
SPEAKER_00: Now that isn't to say, and I don't intend to say, that there have not been great and momentous joys in our fellowship in 2020.
SPEAKER_00: There have.
SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of things to thank God for and a lot of things to be excited about.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen fresh ministry, some God-honoring weddings and baptisms.
SPEAKER_00: There are more babies at first service than there have ever been before.
SPEAKER_00: And there are more new faces among all of you, it seems, every week.
SPEAKER_00: But nonetheless, there has been this prevailing sense of sorrow amongst you all.
SPEAKER_00: There has been this consistent tone of mourning and frustration.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's fair to say that the curse of the fall stung us bitterly this year.
SPEAKER_00: Now we know that any and all suffering and sorrow is just that.
SPEAKER_00: It's the curse of the fall.
SPEAKER_00: It's the result of mankind's sin bringing God's curse upon creation.
SPEAKER_00: We know that it's ultimately our fault.
SPEAKER_00: And natural disasters rage and plague darkens doorsteps.
SPEAKER_00: We know that all of the evil, all of the pain, was introduced through man's disobedience, not God's design.
SPEAKER_00: But we don't grieve as those who have no hope, do we?
SPEAKER_00: We know that God Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, is the righteous judge of all the earth.
SPEAKER_00: We know that he does what is right.
SPEAKER_00: We know that the creator of life is the sustainer of life and the redeemer of men and women.
SPEAKER_00: We know that God is just.
SPEAKER_00: This longing for what's broken to be fixed, this trust in God's character, this hope in his promise, but particularly this longing, this sadness.
SPEAKER_00: It's the posture of the Psalms, is it not?
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 6, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.
SPEAKER_00: Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing.
SPEAKER_00: Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.
SPEAKER_00: My soul is also greatly troubled.
SPEAKER_00: But you, O Lord, how long?
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 13.
SPEAKER_00: How long, O Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Will you forget me forever?
SPEAKER_00: How long will you hide your face from me?
SPEAKER_00: How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
SPEAKER_00: How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 74, we do not see our signs.
SPEAKER_00: There is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long?
SPEAKER_00: How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
SPEAKER_00: Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand, take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them?
SPEAKER_00: Or Psalm 89.
SPEAKER_00: How long, O Lord, will you hide yourself forever?
SPEAKER_00: How long will your wrath burn like fire?
SPEAKER_00: This one sounds especially Christmassy.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 94.
SPEAKER_00: O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth.
SPEAKER_00: There's your Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: Shine forth.
SPEAKER_00: Rise up, O judge of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Repay to the proud what they deserve.
SPEAKER_00: O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exalt?
SPEAKER_00: Or Psalm 119.
SPEAKER_00: It is time for the Lord to act.
SPEAKER_00: For your law has been broken.
SPEAKER_00: When?
SPEAKER_00: When, oh Lord God, when will you make all things right?
SPEAKER_00: It's at least one of the cries of the Psalms, is it not?
SPEAKER_00: How long?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord's answer in the days of old was, as Zechariah chapter 1 tells us, gracious and comforting words.
SPEAKER_00: Often those gracious and comforting words were just an affirmation that God was good, God knew, and then he had the power to do something about it.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So Psalm 6, where we began this morning, it continues, depart from me.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, it finishes.
SPEAKER_00: Depart from me, all you workers of evil.
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has heard my plea, and the Lord accepts my prayer.
SPEAKER_00: All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled, they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Or I love this one.
SPEAKER_00: It's from Psalm 74.
SPEAKER_00: We read the first part, I'll read it again.
SPEAKER_00: How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
SPEAKER_00: Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
SPEAKER_00: Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them.
SPEAKER_00: Very next word.
SPEAKER_00: Yet God, my king, is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Often the gracious and comforting words of the Lord to his people when they cried out to him was, I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: I know.
SPEAKER_00: Trust me.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes, sometimes his gracious and comforting words sounded like this in Psalm 37, which is a beautiful psalm on exactly this idea.
SPEAKER_00: You could spend your whole December in Psalm 37 and have a great Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 37, in just a little while.
SPEAKER_00: Hear the gentleness there.
SPEAKER_00: In just a little while, the wicked will be no more.
SPEAKER_00: And though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
SPEAKER_00: Or Haggai chapter two.
SPEAKER_00: For thus says the Lord of hosts, yet once more, and in a little while I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.
SPEAKER_00: And then one day, after a little while, God answered those prayers.
SPEAKER_00: And the heavens roared for the sound of it.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Oh Lord God, maker of heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_00: Our King from of old, working salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Before you we come, and we come before your word today.
SPEAKER_00: In just humble anticipation of your blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we ask that your Spirit would testify to our hearts of the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And may He do so until Christ is formed in us by faith as we with unveiled faces behold him, as we see him in all of his glory.
SPEAKER_00: Father, those among us young or old who do not yet know you, because they're blinded by their sins.
SPEAKER_00: Oh God, we all pray together, we pray that you would open their eyes, reveal to them your power and your love, and do so however you see fit.
SPEAKER_00: But we also ask, Father, that you would by your grace see fit to use my words as a tool for your word today.
SPEAKER_00: For Jesus' fame and glory, and in his name we ask it.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Would you turn with me to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1?
SPEAKER_00: It's on page 837 of your Pew Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a Pew Bible, if you don't have a Bible at home that you can just sit and read, there's one in front of you, take it.
SPEAKER_00: We would much rather these Bibles sit in your laps than in our pews.
SPEAKER_00: We can always get more.
SPEAKER_00: So 837 in your pew Bibles, Mark chapter 1 and verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: And as the sweet sound of Bible pages in the wind continues, let me introduce myself.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Webster Gehring.
SPEAKER_00: I serve on the staff here.
SPEAKER_00: I plan our services, I pick our songs, I play guitar, and I'm more than halfway through my seminary courses.
SPEAKER_00: So that's me.
SPEAKER_00: That's enough about me.
SPEAKER_00: And the silence of everybody getting to the same place.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I don't get I didn't get to hear the music from up here, but I get to hear that music from up here.
SPEAKER_00: It's wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 1 and verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Let us hear together how God Himself answers the question, O Lord, how long?
SPEAKER_00: Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God.
SPEAKER_00: And what is this gospel of God, this evangelion?
SPEAKER_00: Well he says so, right?
SPEAKER_00: Right there in verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Repent and believe in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And so we see the longing of the prophets, the hopes and fears of all the years, the prayers of the saints of old were bound up in that question: how long, O Lord, when?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus came into Galilee somewhere circa eight, somewhere circa year 30 and said, Today.
SPEAKER_00: Today, the time is fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God, the reign and rule of God, the power of his reign, his kingly authority is at hand now.
SPEAKER_00: The time is fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: It is nearer to them then than it was a moment ago.
SPEAKER_00: But notice, friends, Jesus is not the first one to preach this sermon.
SPEAKER_00: J.
SPEAKER_00: C.
SPEAKER_00: Ryle even goes so far as to call this that old sermon, which all the faithful witnesses of God have continually preached from the very beginning of the world.
SPEAKER_00: And he's right, right?
SPEAKER_00: God preached this sermon in Genesis 3 when he promised the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent.
SPEAKER_00: Noah preached this sermon when his very building of a giant boat preached to all who would listen with their eyes that there was a rain coming.
SPEAKER_00: Rain.
SPEAKER_00: Rain submits to the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: It obeys its master.
SPEAKER_00: Rain serves its king.
SPEAKER_00: And the kingdom of God was at hand in the flood.
SPEAKER_00: Rain is coming, declares Noah.
SPEAKER_00: That herald of righteousness, as Peter calls him.
SPEAKER_00: And repent and believe in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: But what was Noah's gospel?
SPEAKER_00: The judgment was coming upon the sons of man, but that God had provided a way out.
SPEAKER_00: All they needed to do was believe, repent, and get on the boat.
SPEAKER_00: Whether anybody was verbally invited on the boat, we don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Whether he actually said, You should probably get on my boat, we don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Whether anybody tried to get on the boat, aside from Noah and his family, we don't really know.
SPEAKER_00: But we do know that those people who did get on the boat believed that rain was coming and repented of the things of earth.
SPEAKER_00: This is the same sermon that Joshua preached to Rahab when Israel encamped across the Jordan.
SPEAKER_00: Here are Rahab's words in Joshua chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: For we, that is Rahab and all of her compatriots, have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: And what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.
SPEAKER_00: And as soon as we heard it, faith comes by hearing, right?
SPEAKER_00: As soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you.
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above, and on the earth beneath.
SPEAKER_00: Rahab saw that the kingdom of God was at hand.
SPEAKER_00: It was just over there.
SPEAKER_00: She'd heard the news that God's army was coming with the king out front.
SPEAKER_00: And now you're wondering why we're preaching this in Christmas time.
SPEAKER_00: Where were you a second ago, Webb?
SPEAKER_00: We just sang all of the ones in the middle of the hymnal.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Sermon of Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: This is the message of the incarnation itself.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
SPEAKER_00: When before Bethlehem, when before Bethlehem was the kingdom of God as close or as at hand or as near as it was on that day when the king himself took on flesh and dwelt among us.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, this is the sermon of the angels in Luke chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night, and an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
SPEAKER_00: And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you gospel, good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
SPEAKER_00: For unto you is born this day, today, in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: In David's city there has been born a son of David, a savior, a Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He is the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is at hand because the king has come.
SPEAKER_00: The time is fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: O Lord, how long?
SPEAKER_00: Now God is doing something.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy One of Heaven has chosen today, say the angels, today, for the Christ has been born in Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: Go.
SPEAKER_00: You will find him in a manger.
SPEAKER_00: And what else did the shepherds see but the armies of the God of armies in the sky?
SPEAKER_00: This is the sermon that the heavens, that the very star declared to the Magi in Matthew chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born, king of the Jews?
SPEAKER_00: For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.
SPEAKER_00: The star told the Magi the king had come.
SPEAKER_00: And that the time was now.
SPEAKER_00: Get up, go, run to worship him.
SPEAKER_00: Repent and believe, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's the response, that's the application, that's the challenge or the homework of this sermon, of Jesus' sermon in Mark 1, and of the sermon of the whole council of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: What did Nineveh do?
SPEAKER_00: What did the city of Nineveh do when Jonah preached that God's kingdom was coming to overthrow them?
SPEAKER_00: They first believed that it was really going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Then they repented of their wicked and evil ways and turned from the violence that was in their hands.
SPEAKER_00: What did Rahab do?
SPEAKER_00: She believed that the kingdom of God was coming by faith.
SPEAKER_00: What did the shepherds in the fields by night do?
SPEAKER_00: Hark the herald angels sing, they said.
SPEAKER_00: Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.
SPEAKER_00: There can be no escape.
SPEAKER_00: There is no denying it.
SPEAKER_00: There can be no negotiation.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is upon you, say the angels.
SPEAKER_00: Says Jonah.
SPEAKER_00: Says the host of the Israelites across the Jordan.
SPEAKER_00: Says Jesus, after John had been arrested, coming into Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God was nearer to the shepherds than it was to the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God was nearer to the people by the Sea of Galilee than it was to the shepherds.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see this progression?
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: It is coming.
SPEAKER_00: These are the things into which the angels long to look, my friends.
SPEAKER_00: You can choose to believe it or choose to bury your heads in the sand, but it doesn't change the fact.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is coming.
SPEAKER_00: The shepherds believed and they left their fields and worshipped.
SPEAKER_00: The magi believed they offered their treasures and bowed down.
SPEAKER_00: They came and knelt before their king.
SPEAKER_00: Before he got there.
SPEAKER_00: There was one man who believed that a king was coming, and he didn't repent.
SPEAKER_00: The magi preached the same sermon to Herod the king that the star preached to them and Matthew, who has been born king of the Jews.
SPEAKER_00: And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he what is written by the prophet.
SPEAKER_00: So then Herod tells the Magi, Go find him and tell me where he is, so I can come and worship him too.
SPEAKER_00: And then God speaks to the Magi in a dream and says, Don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: And then God speaks to Joseph in a dream and says, Get out, flee to Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: A little bit further down in Matthew chapter 2, verse 16, Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became furious.
SPEAKER_00: And he sent and killed all All the male children in Bethlehem, and all in that region who were two years older and under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.
SPEAKER_00: You see, not everyone thinks the gospel is good news.
SPEAKER_00: Not every citizen of Jericho laid down their arms and surrendered to Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: The wicked man is no more glad to see the coming of the kingdom of God than a criminal is to see a police officer.
SPEAKER_00: Herod saw the coming kingdom of God and the threat it was to his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: The Magi preached, Today the kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?
SPEAKER_00: It's nearer to you than it was to you yesterday, Herod the king, for he's been born in Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: But Herod.
SPEAKER_00: Herod was so consumed with himself that he missed it.
SPEAKER_00: All he could hear was a king to replace you, or maybe a king to overthrow you.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Herod was so self-absorbed in himself as Herod the king, that he didn't realize that the coming of the king was good news.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't believe.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't get it.
SPEAKER_00: He believed a king was coming, but he did not understand that it was the king because he should have been happy.
SPEAKER_00: He should have rejoiced, but he didn't.
SPEAKER_00: Because he was proud.
SPEAKER_00: Because he was so caught up in himself.
SPEAKER_00: And so he tried to fight to remain sovereign in his life.
SPEAKER_00: And he lost, didn't he?
SPEAKER_00: Herod flailed against the coming reign of God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we tend to think that in hell there are millions of people who are filled with remorse and regret as if suddenly when they see the judgment of God, they repent.
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh.
SPEAKER_00: It's as if the only sin worthy of that kind of condemnation is ignorance.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think that's the case.
SPEAKER_00: And I think the scriptures paint a picture of at least some people who will gnash their teeth in anger at the coming of the king.
SPEAKER_00: They will rage against the coming justice of God for all eternity.
SPEAKER_00: No, friends, the condemned in hell aren't ignorant, they're proud.
SPEAKER_00: How could God put me here?
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't He know who I am?
SPEAKER_00: I was a good person.
SPEAKER_00: It's better than that guy.
SPEAKER_00: I gave money to charity every December, except for 93, 97, 01, 07, and 2019.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm still a good person, God.
SPEAKER_00: How dare you punish me?
SPEAKER_00: You see, hell is at least a little bit, if not a lot of bit, like the temper tantrum of the ages.
SPEAKER_00: Where the toddler knows they're wrong, and they're mad at you for being right.
SPEAKER_00: In hell, they sing laments for me, me, me, and the key of pity party, destroying each other as they do.
SPEAKER_00: The citizens of the kingdom of heaven sing praises to their king and the key of grace.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be you, friends.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be any of us.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Repent and believe in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: You see, repentance is simple.
SPEAKER_00: You already have everything you need to do it.
SPEAKER_00: You already have everything you need to repent.
SPEAKER_00: It's the flip side of belief.
SPEAKER_00: If you really believe the kingdom of God is at hand, that God is really coming to make things right, that he will answer the question, oh Lord, how long?
SPEAKER_00: You really believe that in the end God will make all things new, well then what is he coming to fix in you?
SPEAKER_00: If God comes in judgment, will he correct you?
unknown: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Repentance is admitting it.
SPEAKER_00: Rahab quit her blatantly immoral job.
SPEAKER_00: The Ninevites in the book of Jonah said, Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham stopped trusting in his own plans.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah, that great preacher of the Old Testament, declared, Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.
SPEAKER_00: He preaches, and his lips are unclean.
SPEAKER_00: Paul said to Timothy, Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.
SPEAKER_00: If you believe, then repent.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't repent, then you're believing something that's not true.
SPEAKER_00: You're believing in something other than the good news that the king is coming.
SPEAKER_00: Herod believed in himself.
SPEAKER_00: Repent and believe.
SPEAKER_00: It's a command.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a question.
SPEAKER_00: It's not an invitation.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a plea.
SPEAKER_00: The king of the universe is not begging.
SPEAKER_00: He's commanding.
SPEAKER_00: Repent and believe.
SPEAKER_00: And my friends, now that I've told you, you have even fewer excuses than you did a moment ago.
SPEAKER_00: But that leaves us with just one pressing question.
SPEAKER_00: What does Jesus mean when he says the time is fulfilled?
SPEAKER_00: What is he saying in verse 15?
SPEAKER_00: I've been presenting it so far as this urgency, right?
SPEAKER_00: Today.
SPEAKER_00: Now.
SPEAKER_00: And that's there.
SPEAKER_00: But the language here is there's more than that.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying that this is the end of something and the beginning of something else.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: It has always been coming, and its coming is certain.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus says, today, Galilee, circa year 30, today the kingdom of God is closer.
SPEAKER_00: The time is fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: The ages are filled up.
SPEAKER_00: That's been long enough.
SPEAKER_00: Something new is happening now.
SPEAKER_00: There's a distinct difference.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is closer.
SPEAKER_00: Keeping that Rahab illustration.
SPEAKER_00: It's an illustration, not an allegory.
SPEAKER_00: But keeping that Rahab illustration because it's so clear.
SPEAKER_00: Israel hasn't just left Israel, left Egypt through the Red Sea.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua is at the Jordan.
SPEAKER_00: And spies are looking in the windows.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is closer in a significant and irrevocable way.
SPEAKER_00: There is no going back.
SPEAKER_00: Things are different now.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a line, a hard line in the sands of history.
SPEAKER_00: You can't turn back this hourglass today.
SPEAKER_00: Galilee, circa year 30.
SPEAKER_00: Today.
SPEAKER_00: The time is fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: Notice that Jesus didn't say, and Mark didn't write that the time was fulfilled when he was born.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't say at the time, the age, or the era was fulfilled when John was preaching or after John was preaching.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't fulfilled when Jesus was baptized or when the dove descended or when he went out to the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't even fulfilled when he came back into Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: The time is fulfilled, friends, in part because of Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: Because of the incarnation, because now, Galilee, circa year 30, God Himself preaches.
SPEAKER_00: Now the Son of Man preaches more than the stars, more than the angels, more than the magi, more than the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: God himself is standing in Judah and proclaiming his own good news.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: The resolution to all the sorrow of the world, the judgment of the wicked, the healing of the wounded is nearer on that day when God took on flesh and dwelt among us than it ever had been before.
SPEAKER_00: In Bethlehem, the kingdom of God was at its closest at that point.
SPEAKER_00: But on this day, it was even nearer.
SPEAKER_00: When the Emmanuel stood in Galilee and preached, the kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: And so you see that the time is fulfilled not at the signs, not at the rumors of wars or actual wars or natural disasters.
SPEAKER_00: The time is fulfilled at a time when no one knows except the Father.
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus say to the disciples when he ascended in Acts chapter 1?
SPEAKER_00: He said, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
SPEAKER_00: The times, the seasons are fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: One ends and another begins.
SPEAKER_00: Winter turns to spring, nations rise and fall.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God marches forward through history when God says so.
SPEAKER_00: Not when we say so.
SPEAKER_00: That day, that day, hope you see this.
SPEAKER_00: God said so.
SPEAKER_00: He stood there and he said so.
SPEAKER_00: There could be no going back from that day.
SPEAKER_00: It was different.
SPEAKER_00: There, God wrapped in flesh like swaddling claws, with the same man who was born a baby in that manger, and the same eyes that would weep for Lazarus, the same skin that would sweat drops of blood in Gethsemane.
SPEAKER_00: Emmanuel, God with us, with the same voice, the same vocal cords that cried out, It is finished.
SPEAKER_00: Those lungs would breathe out, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Repent and believe in the gospel, and there could be no going back.
SPEAKER_00: For time marches forward, just like the host of heaven, God never retreats.
SPEAKER_00: And that day the kingdom of heaven had crossed, crossed the line.
SPEAKER_00: And by an act of pure mercy, the people of Galilee were given an opportunity to repent, to surrender.
SPEAKER_00: And some did, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like the shepherds left their sheep, Simon and Andrew left their nets.
SPEAKER_00: But some didn't.
SPEAKER_00: Like Herod, the scribes and the Pharisees raged against the coming of the kingdom, while even the very commander of the Lord's armies himself sat with them and showed them time and time again that he was there.
SPEAKER_00: Not making this up.
SPEAKER_00: I'm right here.
SPEAKER_00: There could be no going back from this point.
SPEAKER_00: This is a distinctive moment.
SPEAKER_00: Because you see, long ago, and at many times, in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: That day in Galilee, instead of speaking through the prophets, or speaking through the heavens, or speaking through the flood, or speaking through Noah, God Himself opened his own mouth.
SPEAKER_00: And he spoke to the whole world.
SPEAKER_00: And now they've heard it from him.
SPEAKER_00: And now you've heard it from him.
SPEAKER_00: It's one thing to reject the prophet.
SPEAKER_00: It's another thing to reject the God of heaven himself.
SPEAKER_00: The excuses crumble as the kingdom of God comes closer.
SPEAKER_00: At the incarnation, at Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: It's good news.
SPEAKER_00: All things are being made right.
SPEAKER_00: Stop pretending like it's not coming.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you guys see what I'm trying to paint for you.
SPEAKER_00: With every passing moment, with time.
SPEAKER_00: God is using time.
SPEAKER_00: He created time.
SPEAKER_00: With every passing moment, the kingdom of God gets closer.
SPEAKER_00: The armies of the Lord of armies are on the march.
SPEAKER_00: The saints of God cry out, O Lord, how long?
SPEAKER_00: And God's reply is once more.
SPEAKER_00: And then a little while.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God draws ever nearer.
SPEAKER_00: But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, Peter writes.
SPEAKER_00: That with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises, some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
SPEAKER_00: But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
SPEAKER_00: Then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved in the earth, and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
SPEAKER_00: When your works are exposed, it's too late to repent.
SPEAKER_00: O Lord, how long you cry.
SPEAKER_00: A little bit longer, says God.
SPEAKER_00: I will wait for them, for more of them to repent.
SPEAKER_00: Not as if if more people repent, suddenly God will change his mind.
SPEAKER_00: But that he has planned the times, the seasons, the days, the boundaries of all of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And he put you here today, on December 6th of 2020.
SPEAKER_00: The time is fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Repent and believe in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And so I have good news for you, my friends.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is closer to you than it ever has been.
SPEAKER_00: And it's closer now than it was when I said that.
SPEAKER_00: We cry, O Lord, how long, with every second, He's answering that promise.
SPEAKER_00: Because while we, yeah, oh guys, while the people in Galilee in circa 30 that year, when they heard God with them, Emmanuel preach, you all, we, we have seen him die on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: While they, while the Messiah heralded the coming kingdom of God all over Judah, we've seen him raised to life.
SPEAKER_00: And while the Son of Man lifted high the good news, you, through his word, have seen him lifted high up, ascended to the right hand of God.
SPEAKER_00: If the time was filled up enough in Galilee, that Simon and Andrew left their nets, then the time is bursting at the seams for you.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is so much closer to us than it was to them.
SPEAKER_00: As Peter said, the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
SPEAKER_00: That cup runneth over with anticipation.
SPEAKER_00: What are you going to do about it?
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: One of the best places to go whenever you have a question, because you'll leave with more questions.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good thing.
SPEAKER_00: But Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1, what are we going to do?
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
SPEAKER_00: For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
SPEAKER_00: It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles, by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.
SPEAKER_00: Does that not sound like the rest of the New Testament to you?
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 3, verse 12, take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
SPEAKER_00: But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, as Herod was.
SPEAKER_00: For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
SPEAKER_00: But as it is said today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
SPEAKER_00: As in the rebellion.
SPEAKER_00: Today.
SPEAKER_00: Not tomorrow, for that may be too late, not yesterday, for that day is long gone.
SPEAKER_00: No, today, if you hear his voice, repent and believe in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: For that, that is the meaning of Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: It really is.
SPEAKER_00: It's not gift giving, it's not selflessness, it's not family.
SPEAKER_00: The meaning of Christmas is that in the fullness of time God sent forth his son.
SPEAKER_00: Because the kingdom of God was at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Repent and believe in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And then keep doing it.
SPEAKER_00: Keep doing it.
SPEAKER_00: Keep believing.
SPEAKER_00: Keep repenting.
SPEAKER_00: So long as you keep sinning, keep repenting.
SPEAKER_00: So long as there's pain in the world, keep believing.
SPEAKER_00: So long as your heart cries out, O Lord, how long?
SPEAKER_00: Keep believing.
SPEAKER_00: When Charles Spurgeon preached this sermon, on that day, you all are unlucky.
SPEAKER_00: You were born for this day instead of that one.
SPEAKER_00: But when Spurgeon preached this sermon, this passage, he said this: sinning, repenting, and believing.
SPEAKER_00: These are three things that will keep, that we will keep with us till we die.
SPEAKER_00: The first of Martin Luther's 95 theses went like this.
SPEAKER_00: When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, repent, he willed that the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
SPEAKER_00: Repent and believe that the kingdom of God is at hand because that's the message of Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: That's your message this December to your friends.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is coming.
SPEAKER_00: It's good news.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna fix it.
SPEAKER_00: December was bad.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, 2020 was bad.
SPEAKER_00: It was hard.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of your neighbors are crying out, oh Lord, how long, and they don't even know him.
SPEAKER_00: Tell them.
SPEAKER_00: Tell them the kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: It's nearer to you now than it was a moment ago.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that God Himself was born in Bethlehem of Judea?
SPEAKER_00: That is the message of Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: So this week, take your Bibles in your hands.
SPEAKER_00: Look to all those, oh Lord, how long of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: If you want a list, I'll give it to you.
SPEAKER_00: But see how many of them.
SPEAKER_00: Just see how many of them end up with the guy who said it having to repent and believe before the psalm was over.
SPEAKER_00: Think of Job.
SPEAKER_00: Think of Habakkuk.
SPEAKER_00: And pray, come Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so let's do.
SPEAKER_00: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_00: Our Emmanuel.
SPEAKER_00: Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Our Redeemer.
SPEAKER_00: Our substitute.
SPEAKER_00: Our friend.
SPEAKER_00: Our advocate.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, holy child of Bethlehem, ascend to us, we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we are a sin sick and weary globe.
SPEAKER_00: This whole earth groans.
SPEAKER_00: Father, cast out our sin.
SPEAKER_00: Send your Son and your Spirit, enter into our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Please, by faith, be born in us today.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we have heard the Christmas angels their great glad tidings to tell.
SPEAKER_00: And so we ask, O come to us.
SPEAKER_00: Even so, O come to us.
SPEAKER_00: Abide with us.
SPEAKER_00: Our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Our Emmanuel.
SPEAKER_00: It's in your name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_01: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.