Participants: Pr. John Lomacang
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000150A
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00:18 Hello, friends, and welcome
00:20 to another Wednesday Night Bible Study here 00:21 at the 3ABN Worship Center. 00:24 So glad that you've taken 00:25 the time to tune in. 00:27 We are here. 00:28 We'd like to welcome you with a hearty amen. 00:29 Can we all say amen? Amen. 00:31 And wherever you may be joining us from, 00:33 whether here in the United States 00:34 or around the world, 00:36 this is a time to sharpen your focus. 00:40 Now some people, as we've travelled, 00:42 have asked us, "Why did we choose that title?" 00:45 Because we know that many of you study the Bible, 00:47 the topics are not perfectly clear, 00:49 and I use the terminology like a photographer. 00:52 One thing the camera has is a focus point, 00:55 and everything that we appreciate is in focus. 00:59 Have you ever seen a picture out of focus? 01:02 Yeah. 01:03 Doesn't it irritate you? 01:04 And... 01:06 Or if you're watching something... 01:07 And I've seen this happen very rarely, 01:09 I was watching a television program, 01:11 it was a news broadcast, and for whatever reason, 01:13 the camera operator wasn't in complete focus, 01:16 and the production crew didn't catch it. 01:18 We talk production. 01:20 And I was just irritated. 01:21 I'm looking at that, I'm thinking, 01:23 "I'm just going to turn away. 01:24 I'm not going to look at it." 01:25 Because unless it's in focus, we really cannot find 01:28 what God intends for us to see. 01:30 So we keep studying topics that are blurry, 01:33 that don't make sense, that are not very clear, 01:35 and that's why we say as long 01:36 as you keep studying God's word, 01:38 one day, it will come into a... 01:40 Sharper focus. Sharper focus. 01:41 So thank you for taking the time to tune in. 01:43 In just a moment, I'll tell you 01:45 where you can get a copy of the lesson, 01:46 how you can gain access to all the prior lessons 01:49 and all the prior videos, but we're so glad 01:51 that you've taken the time to tune in. 01:53 And before we sing our theme song, 01:55 we're going to have a word of prayer together, 01:57 so let's bow. 01:59 Our loving Father in heaven, we thank You 02:01 that tonight we could open Your Word. 02:04 We also pray that as we open the pages 02:05 that You'll open our hearts. 02:07 Lead us and guide us, Heavenly Father, 02:10 that we will not just understand 02:11 what the Bible says, 02:13 but as the topic is about Jesus, 02:15 that we will see Him more clearly. 02:17 Come, Holy Spirit, be our teacher. 02:19 We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 02:23 Now our theme song tonight is Victory in Jesus, 02:26 We're gonna sing that in just... 02:28 Matter of fact, let me tell you what I'm supposed to tell you 02:30 before we go to Victory in Jesus. 02:31 If you'd like a copy of the lesson, 02:33 lesson number 36, go to this website, 02:36 ASF.3ABN.org, 02:39 and download lesson number 36, The Truth About Jesus. 02:43 If you're following it correctly, 02:45 you might say I did it last week. 02:47 Well, I added more questions, 02:49 and I tend to do that from week to week. 02:51 I added more questions. 02:52 You should come up with 25 questions, 02:55 and chances of us getting that all 25 in tonight 02:58 because, see, tonight, 03:00 between lesson 13 and 25, you might say, 03:03 "That's only 12 questions," 03:04 but every question has two scriptures, 03:07 so that's like 24 questions. 03:10 So we'll try our best, 03:12 but go to that website, ASF.3ABN.org, 03:15 download lesson number what? 03:17 Lesson number 36. 03:19 Now let's sing our theme song together, 03:21 Victory in Jesus. 03:31 I heard an old, old story 03:35 How the Savior came from glory 03:39 How He gave His life on Calvary 03:43 To save a wretch like me 03:46 I heard about His groaning 03:50 Of His precious blood's atoning 03:54 Then I repented of my sins 03:58 And won the victory 04:02 O victory in Jesus 04:05 My Savior forever 04:09 He sought me and bought me 04:13 With His redeeming blood 04:17 He loved me ere I knew Him 04:20 And all my love is due Him 04:24 He plunged me to victory 04:28 Beneath the cleansing flood 04:32 I heard about a mansion 04:36 He has built for me in glory 04:39 And I heard about the streets of gold 04:43 Beyond the crystal sea 04:47 About the angels singing 04:51 And the old redemption story 04:54 And some sweet day, I'll sing up there 04:58 The song of victory 05:01 Key change. 05:02 O victory in Jesus 05:06 My Savior forever 05:10 He sought me and bought me 05:13 With His redeeming blood 05:17 He loved me ere I knew Him 05:21 And all my love is due Him 05:25 He plunged me to victory 05:28 Beneath the cleansing flood 05:32 He plunged me to victory 05:36 Beneath the cleansing flood 05:43 Amen. Amen. 05:45 Victory in Jesus. 05:46 Tonight our topic is... 05:49 Let's repeat that together. 05:50 The title is The Truth About Jesus. 05:55 A few weeks ago... 05:58 relatively speaking, a few weeks ago, 05:59 we began this lesson, 06:02 and I thought, as I chose this topic, 06:05 the Lord impressed me to choose the topic 06:07 because most of the things we talk about are doctrinal, 06:10 but what greater doctrine there is to know about 06:12 than the doctrine of Jesus. 06:14 In fact, Jesus is not a doctrine only 06:18 but Jesus is the Christ, He's the Savior, 06:22 He's the Messiah, He's the Lord. 06:25 And when you think about this topic, 06:26 what we're going to do tonight 06:28 that's going to dive into a different aspect 06:30 of the study about The Truth About Jesus is 06:33 we're going to look at the prophecies about Jesus. 06:35 What are we going to look at? 06:37 Prophecies. Prophecies. 06:38 Now go with me to the book of John 13, 06:43 John 13. 06:46 This is why it's so vitally important. 06:49 You'll discover 06:51 that when Jesus arrived on the scene 06:53 that is beginning His earthly ministry, 06:56 it was very difficult for people 06:59 to accept Him 07:00 because, frankly, He was too young, 07:03 and then to claim to have the prerogatives of God, 07:06 to be able to do what God alone can do, 07:09 forgive sins, cleanse, 07:14 do things that are only of divine origin, 07:18 it was strange to the people of His day. 07:21 Yet to the very people of His day, 07:22 He had given messages centuries before, 07:24 millennia before that were all pointing 07:27 to the coming of Christ. 07:29 If they had only paid more attention 07:32 to the prophecies 07:33 and not become enamored by the symbols... 07:36 They fell in love with the symbols 07:37 and the ceremonies, 07:39 and they missed to whom it was pointing. 07:42 And so when you read this text, what are you going to see here 07:44 is Jesus was trying to clear up the fog 07:47 about who people did not believe Him to be, 07:51 and He said these words in John 13. 07:55 Look at verse 19. 08:01 Let me see. Is that the one? 08:03 Yeah, that's the one. 08:06 Let me see. 08:08 "That you believe He is..." 08:09 Okay, here it is. 08:11 John 13, we'll start with, "That you believe He is..." 08:14 Look at verse 16. 08:17 And actually, it is verse 19. 08:20 That's the one I was looking at. 08:21 Verse 19. 08:22 He says, "Now I tell you..." 08:24 When? 08:26 "Before it comes, that when it does come to pass, 08:32 you may believe..." 08:33 What? "That I am He." 08:36 He didn't say, "You'll believe it." 08:38 He said, "You'll believe that I am He." 08:41 So the prophecies in the Bible... 08:42 Let's go now to Isaiah 46. 08:45 The prophecies in the Bible were to make it clear 08:48 not to believe in the prophecies 08:50 but to believe in the Christ, 08:53 so when the prophecies came to fulfillment, 08:56 it was to make it very clear 08:58 that these prophecies were talking about Jesus. 09:02 Look at Isaiah 46. 09:05 All right, wait for me. 09:07 I'm almost there. 09:10 Isaiah 46. 09:14 It's easy sometimes to get caught up in 09:17 the things we do and forget its significance. 09:21 Okay, Isaiah 46. 09:25 Let's look at verse 9 and verse 10. 09:28 Here it is. 09:30 "Remember the former things of old, 09:33 for I am God, and there is..." 09:35 What? 09:36 "No other. 09:38 I am God, and there is none like Me." 09:42 What does God do? 09:44 "Declaring the..." 09:45 Together. 09:46 "End from the beginning, and from..." 09:48 What? 09:50 "Ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, 09:53 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do...'" What? 09:57 "All My pleasure." 09:58 In other words, 10:00 "I'm going to do what I want to do. 10:01 Whatever I've said is going to happen." 10:04 So we have prophecies in the Bible. 10:06 Now there are various kinds of prophecies. 10:08 There are apocalyptic prophecies. 10:10 What kind did I say? 10:11 Apocalyptic. 10:13 Now with that word in mind, 10:14 what do you think apocalyptic prophecies... 10:17 What books do you think 10:18 apocalyptic prophecies come from? 10:19 That's not a word you want to say five times in a row. 10:22 Where? 10:24 From Revelation. 10:25 From what other book? 10:27 So apocalyptic prophecies, 10:29 you got to really take your time 10:31 and say that one... 10:33 Say it together. 10:35 Apocalyptic. 10:37 It's like the word millennium. 10:39 Say those together, it could be, 10:41 you know, a total meltdown. 10:43 Millennial apocalyptic prophecies, 10:46 they are from books that are pointing 10:47 to the time of the end. 10:49 Daniel and Revelation are the two most common books, 10:53 but you have other books 10:54 that are not necessarily prophetic 10:56 but have application to both times. 10:58 And then you have also apocalyptic prophecies, 11:01 you also have Judaic prophecies. 11:04 Now to whom do 11:08 Judaic prophecies refer? 11:11 Say it. Israel. 11:13 Israel or the Jews. 11:15 Judaic prophecies. 11:17 Then, without going through all five of them, 11:20 then you have messianic prophecies, 11:22 points to whom? 11:24 Jesus, the Messiah. 11:26 Once you understand the messianic prophecies, 11:30 here's the very important thing, 11:31 you can understand apocalyptic prophecies, 11:33 you can understand Judaic prophecies, 11:35 you can understand prophecies 11:37 that have just been pointed to specific people, 11:41 prophecies that have already been fulfilled, 11:43 prophecies about the end time, 11:45 all those are important, 11:46 but if you miss out messianic prophecies, 11:49 then you miss the one 11:51 that it really points to. 11:54 Go to John 5:39. 11:56 And then we're going to dive into the first question. 11:58 This is the key, there are people 12:00 that study their Bibles and they miss, 12:02 and they miss, they miss. 12:04 What words did I say? They what? They miss. 12:11 Okay, here it is. 12:12 So that's why tonight, 12:14 we're going to look at the prophecies 12:15 that primarily point to confirming. 12:18 And I chose just a few because there are... 12:21 I mean from Genesis to Revelation, 12:23 you'll find that they're prophecies 12:25 that all are fulfilled in the life, the ministry, 12:28 the death, the resurrection, 12:30 and that are yet to be fulfilled 12:31 in the return of Jesus. 12:33 But here's John 5:39. 12:36 This is often used, by the way, 12:37 to tell people to study the Bible. 12:39 There's nothing wrong with studying the Bible, 12:40 is there? No. 12:42 But don't forget why you study the Bible. 12:45 Look at what He says. 12:46 He says, "You search the Scriptures..." 12:48 Or some versions says, "Search the Scriptures." 12:50 Does it say that? "Search the Scriptures." 12:52 That's the King James Version, "Search the Scriptures." 12:56 But the New King James Version says, 12:57 "You search the Scriptures." 12:59 One says, "Search the Scriptures." 13:00 That means that's what you should do. 13:03 The other one is suggesting, clarifying it even more, 13:06 "You do search the Scriptures, and in them..." 13:09 What? 13:11 "You think you have..." 13:12 What? "Eternal life." 13:14 So when you search the Scriptures, 13:16 do you have eternal life in the Bible? 13:17 Yes or no? 13:19 In the Bible? Yes or no? Come on. Together. 13:21 Yes or no? Yes. 13:23 No. 13:26 That is the hook. 13:29 You can breathe now. 13:31 That's what Jesus was saying. 13:34 "You do search the Scriptures, in them, 13:38 you think you have eternal life." 13:42 But look what He ends by saying. 13:45 "And these are they which..." 13:47 What? "Testify of Me." 13:49 He said, "You can read the Bible until you die, 13:53 if you don't find Me, 13:54 you don't have eternal life." 13:56 Amen. 13:57 So don't get caught up in Bible study and miss Jesus, 14:01 that's what he's, in essence, saying. 14:02 There are some people that will study 14:03 the Bible forever and they'll miss Jesus. 14:05 How can you study the Bible 14:06 and think that Jesus is a lesser God? 14:12 How can you study, as it is in walks, 14:15 and I want to say this to keep it in context, 14:17 there is an entire nation of Jews that don't believe 14:20 that Jesus is the Messiah 14:23 because they stick only with the Old Testament. 14:26 How could you even study just the Old Testament 14:28 and not believe that Jesus is the Messiah? 14:31 Because when Jesus quoted the Bible, 14:34 what book in the New Testament did Jesus quote? 14:37 Huh? None. 14:40 He spoke of all the Old Testament. 14:42 So what we're going to do tonight 14:44 is we're going to take a trek 14:45 through the Bible and look at Old Testament 14:48 and what else? 14:49 New Testament. 14:51 And by the way, 14:52 you'll find that they fit hand in glove like one testament. 14:56 They're not separated, 14:57 but simply the Old Testament is the New Testament. 15:00 I would say this. Let me see if you remember. 15:02 The Old Testament is the New Testament what? 15:05 Concealed. Say it. 15:07 Concealed, and the New Testament 15:09 is the Old Testament what? 15:11 Revealed. Revealed. Together. 15:13 The Old Testament is the New Testament what? 15:17 Concealed. 15:18 And the New Testament is the Old Testament what? 15:21 Revealed. 15:22 In other words, when you 15:23 when you study the Old Testament, 15:25 it points you back... 15:26 It points you to the New. 15:27 When you understand the New, it points you to the Old. 15:29 You can't take them out. 15:30 So let's go to the prophecies tonight, 15:32 let's begin to see how the Bible clearly... 15:34 We're going to begin with number 13, 15:36 how the Bible clearly... 15:37 And if you have the syllabus, you'll notice it says, 15:39 "The prophecies confirming the messiahship of Jesus." 15:44 The prophecies confirming the messiahship of Jesus. 15:48 Each of them has two scriptures. 15:51 Each of the questions have two scriptures. 15:53 Let's go with number 13. Here it is. 15:55 "The Bible predicted the place of the birth of Jesus. 15:59 The Bible predicted the place of the birth of Jesus." 16:02 Let's go to Micah 5. 16:04 Where are we going to go? 16:06 Micah. 16:08 Okay. Okay. 16:11 And you could be way ahead of me, by the way. 16:14 Micah 5:2. 16:19 Okay, let's look at this. 16:21 Here it is. 16:22 And since it's the first Scripture 16:24 we're looking up, 16:25 let's all read it together from the screen, all right? 16:29 Here it is. 16:30 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are..." 16:35 What? 16:36 "Little among the thousands of Judah, 16:40 yet out of you shall come..." 16:41 Who? 16:43 "Come forth to Me One to be..." 16:46 What? 16:48 "Ruler in Israel, whose going forth are..." 16:51 What? 16:52 "From old, from..." 16:53 Where? 16:55 "Everlasting." Where does everlasting start? 16:59 Where does everlasting start? 17:06 We often use the word, 17:07 "Man, it just seems like that sermon went on forever." 17:13 I've heard that before. 17:15 But it hasn't, it really hasn't. 17:17 It has a beginning and an end, and it's hard for us to think 17:20 that there's something that has no beginning. 17:24 Sorry, there's someone who has no beginning, 17:27 and there's someone who has what? 17:29 No end. Let's go to Revelation. 17:30 Look at this. 17:32 Let's do Luke first. 17:35 Well, no, let's go to Revelation first 17:38 because I'm talking about from everlasting. 17:40 I'm talking about from where... 17:42 everlasting. 17:44 Okay, Revelation 1. 17:56 Okay, here we are. 18:03 Wow, this is wonderful. 18:08 Okay, Revelation 1:8. 18:12 Revelation 1:8. 18:14 And then we're going to look at verse 11, 18:16 but let's start with Revelation 1:8. 18:19 "'I am the Alpha and the Omega. 18:23 The beginning and the end' says the Lord, 18:30 'who is, who was, and who...'" 18:32 What? 18:33 "'Is to come the...'" 18:35 Who? 18:36 "'The Almighty.'" 18:38 And who was that speaking about? 18:39 Jesus. 18:40 Because Revelation 18:42 is the revelation of Jesus Christ, 18:43 it's the revelation of Jesus. 18:44 Now, 18:46 you know, some people 18:47 are very hard pressed to think that, 18:49 "How could you possibly believe 18:52 that there was a Man 18:56 that came to earth, 19:00 died, 19:02 came back to life, 19:05 went to heaven, and He's coming back again? 19:09 How could you possibly believe that?" 19:12 Whenever you try to argue the point 19:14 or try to convince someone, 19:17 human wisdom always falls short of winning 19:20 that kind of a tit-for-tat argument. 19:22 But let me give you a key. 19:24 Here's the key to always allow the Word of God to be 19:27 the strength on which you lean 19:29 because Jesus didn't just come to the earth 19:32 and begin a ministry, but He outlined prophecies, 19:34 He outlined what? 19:36 Prophecies. 19:37 And one of the biggest prophecies 19:38 that we're going to deal with in our next broadcast, 19:41 we're going to go ahead and insert that in, 19:43 is one of the greatest prophecies pointing 19:45 to the coming of Jesus. 19:48 It was harnessed right there 19:50 in the Book of Daniel, Daniel 9. 19:53 The 2,300 days or the 2,300 years 19:56 or the 70-week prophecy, 19:58 which is really 490 years, we'll discover every component 20:02 of that prophecy came to pass, not only that 20:05 but that the prophecies in Revelation 20:07 that are coming to pass, 20:08 the prophecies in Daniel that have come to pass. 20:10 And all these prophecies are there like, John just says, 20:13 "I've told you these things beforehand 20:16 so that when they come to pass, 20:18 you will believe the prophecies." 20:20 Is that what it said? No. 20:22 What does it say? You believe in Me. 20:24 "You'll believe that I am He." See? 20:26 When these things happen, 20:28 you're not going to believe them, 20:29 you're going to believe, 20:31 "Hey I'm the God, I'm the Christ, I'm the Lord." 20:34 That's why I'm very careful... 20:36 And I want to say this 20:37 as we go to the second part of question 13, 20:40 I'm very careful not to call Jesus my homie. 20:46 I have a difficult time 20:47 when I hear people say stuff like that. 20:48 "He's my homie." 20:50 And it gets worse than that, 20:52 you know, and not derogatory curse words, 20:56 but they belittle His name 20:58 and bring Him down to like nothing. 21:00 "He's my homie, my homeboy." 21:03 You know, all these terminologies. 21:04 No, He isn't. He's the Christ. 21:07 He's our Lord. He's our Savior. 21:09 He's not somebody 21:10 that we bump fists with or cool, 21:14 you know, we got it like that. 21:16 Be very careful how you talk about the Most Holy. 21:19 Amen? 21:21 Well, matter of fact, a very good point. 21:24 See, my wife thinks for me while I'm speaking. 21:26 I'm speaking, she's thinking. That works. 21:30 When the Bible writers penned the scribes, 21:36 when they penned, and they wrote the name of God, 21:40 they would put the regular pen down 21:44 and pick up a different scribe to just write His name. 21:48 They would only use... 21:50 His name, this particular pen 21:52 was only used to write His name, 21:55 and then they'd put it down and then continue writing. 21:59 Just to write His name, they had one particular, 22:02 and I'm using the word, 22:04 they were scribes, but I'm using... 22:05 I forgot the word that the pen is used, 22:07 but I'm just using the word pen for... 22:10 Huh? Quill. 22:11 The quill. Exactly, thank you. 22:12 They would just pick up 22:14 that one quill to write His name. 22:16 And this is huge, 22:17 and if they didn't do it correctly, 22:21 they didn't erase it. 22:23 I want to crash my... 22:24 They would take the paper 22:25 and throw it away and do it over. 22:27 They would take the parchment and do it all over. 22:32 They would not even erase His name. 22:34 So this is the name, that's why today... 22:36 What's happening in our world today, 22:38 you find commercials 22:40 and movie stars 22:44 and music stars and hair salons and in sports bars, 22:50 they're all using 22:51 "I am, I am, I am, I am, I am," 22:54 that's God's... 22:56 That's the great "I Am." 22:57 Let's not bring the great I Am down 22:59 to the common today. 23:00 From everlasting, from everlasting, 23:03 He's been here before us, and He will be here after us. 23:06 Look at the prophecy, and that's the prophecy. 23:09 Now look at the fulfillment. Go with me now to Luke. 23:11 Go with me to Luke. 23:16 Oh, yeah, go with me... 23:17 Yeah, I tell you. Go with me to Luke. 23:20 We're going to try to browse through some of these. 23:21 I just laid some foundation, 23:23 we're going to move it a little quicker pace here. 23:25 So the Bible said that, 23:27 "He will come from Bethlehem Ephratah, 23:31 which not the least among..." 23:33 Let's look at the fulfillment now. 23:37 Luke 2:1-7, the Bible says, 23:39 "And it came to pass in those days 23:41 that a census went out from Caesar Augustus 23:46 that all the world should be registered." 23:48 Or some say text. 23:50 "This census first took place 23:54 while Quirinius was governing Syria." 23:58 Same Syria today. 24:00 "So all went to be registered, everyone to his..." 24:03 What? "Own city. 24:05 Joseph also went up from Galilee, 24:08 out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, 24:12 to the city of David, which is called..." 24:14 What? 24:16 "Bethlehem, 24:17 because he was of the house and lineage of David." 24:21 And he went there to what? 24:22 "To be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife..." 24:27 That's the word engaged but a lot deeper than that. 24:29 "Who was with child. 24:31 So it was that while they were there, 24:33 the days were completed for her to be..." 24:35 What? 24:37 "To be delivered." 24:39 And it says, 24:40 "And she brought forth her firstborn son 24:45 and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes 24:48 and laid him in a..." 24:49 What? 24:50 "In a manger 24:52 because there was no room for them..." 24:54 Where? 24:56 "In the inn." 24:57 What city was Jesus born in? Bethlehem. 25:01 The city of David. Is that prophecy fulfilled? 25:06 Yes or no? Yes! 25:08 So when you write this down, 25:09 the two components that link the prophecy in Micah 25:12 to the fulfillment in Luke is Jesus was born in the city. 25:16 Now you got to understand the condition of Mary 25:18 in order for that to happen. 25:20 Mary is well on in childbearing, 25:22 she's well on in months. 25:23 She's about to be delivered, she is... 25:28 And I'm not a doctor at all, but I'm thinking... 25:30 How many trimesters are there, ladies? 25:31 Help me out on this. Are there three? 25:34 Okay, I guess that's why it's called trimester. 25:36 Okay, I'm getting it. 25:39 Never had a baby before and don't be surprised. 25:42 But she's beyond... 25:44 She's in her third trimester I would imagine 25:46 because it wasn't very long 25:48 after they got there that this census was taken. 25:51 She didn't travel there in a vehicle. 25:55 She didn't travel in anything comfortable. 25:57 She travelled on the back of a burro, 26:02 a donkey. 26:06 And she went at a time 26:07 where it could've put the child's life at risk. 26:14 What are the chances of this prophecy happening 26:18 the way it did? 26:20 And it was spoken of about 500 years earlier. 26:24 What are the possibilities of this happening the way 26:27 that it was prophesied to happen for her 26:31 at that particular point? 26:33 A husband would've said, 26:34 "Honey, we're going to miss this census." 26:37 But I believe 26:39 that the Lord moved it upon his heart 26:43 to be moved of the Holy Spirit 26:46 so that there will be no doubt at all from the birth, 26:48 to the life, to the ministry, 26:50 to the death, and to the resurrection, 26:51 and the soon return of Jesus. 26:53 Amen? 26:54 As the Bible said, He was born in the city 26:57 that was clearly prophesied. 26:59 But let's go to the next one. 27:01 This next prophecy took place 700 years 27:05 before it happened. 27:07 If I gave a prophecy 700 years ago... 27:10 How many years is 700 years ago? 27:12 Somebody help me out. What year would that be? 27:14 13? 27:16 That's 1316, right? 27:19 Wow. 27:20 If I said in 1316, 27:24 that at 7:27 pm 27:28 on August 24, 2016, 27:32 we're going to be reading Luke 2, 27:36 and I have to make sure this is going to happen. 27:39 I would have to have a serious lineage 27:43 for my son to tell his son to tell his son's son 27:46 and his son's son's son's son's son 27:48 to make sure that whatever you do, 27:50 don't forget on August 24, 2016, 27:54 700 years from now, 27:55 make sure that at this time of day, 27:57 you read Luke 2 'cause if you don't, 28:01 nobody will believe that I am who he is. 28:05 This is amazing. 28:08 Does it blow you away at all to think 28:10 that these things happen 28:12 with such startling accuracy years and years? 28:15 And then there are some of the prophecies 28:16 that are thousands of years old that happened exactly the way 28:18 it was prophesied. 28:20 But let's look at this one. 28:21 Isaiah 7, Isaiah 7, 28:24 "The Bible predicted 28:26 the method of the birth of Jesus." 28:28 "The Bible predicted 28:30 the method of the birth of Jesus." 28:32 Okay, here it is. 28:36 I'll bring it up on the screen. 28:39 "Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign." 28:44 Isn't that amazing? 28:45 Isaiah said, "He will give you a sign." 28:52 Fourteen. 28:54 Yeah, 14. Yeah, 14. 28:57 On the lesson, it's actually 14, 29:00 so change your syllabus to 14. 29:02 "Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a..." 29:04 What? 29:05 "Sign." 29:07 Isaiah the Prophet said that, 29:08 "You're going to get a sign, and here is the sign." 29:10 "Behold, the Virgin shall..." 29:12 What? 29:14 "Conceive and bear a Son 29:17 and shall call His name..." 29:19 What? "Immanuel." 29:21 Now do you know... 29:22 And this is... 29:24 As you read 29:25 through the writings of Josephus, the historian, 29:27 and other Bible writers, 29:29 they said that women, 29:31 whenever they were pregnant, the reason why... 29:35 This is kind of... 29:36 The reason why female children were not as treasured is 29:40 because every woman of Jewish lineage wanted 29:45 to be the one to have Jesus. 29:50 So even when Jesus was born, remember, 29:55 the decree was to kill what kind of children? 30:00 All the male children, two years old and under. 30:04 Girls were just fine. 30:06 They didn't have to worry about anything. 30:08 So whenever there was a woman that was pregnant, 30:12 they thought, "Are you the one?" 30:15 "No, Louis is the father." You know. 30:20 "Oh, that's not immaculate by any means, 30:24 not divine." 30:26 "Oh, no, it's my husband. 30:28 We've been married five years." 30:30 "Okay." 30:32 And any time they heard a woman was with child... 30:38 "Tell me." "Oh, no. 30:41 It's Donald's child." 30:44 Not predicting anything. 30:49 No, no, okay. 30:50 And that was the constant expectation. 30:54 So this young girl... 30:55 Let's read this now. 30:57 Let's go to Matthew and look at that. 30:58 So write down the first part. 31:00 Isaiah said, "A virgin will conceive." 31:02 So that's what Isaiah said. "A virgin will conceive." 31:05 When you read the story, it's an amazing story 31:07 'cause I did the sermon a number of times. 31:09 It was called A Baby had Mary. 31:12 You know, people say Mary had a Baby, 31:13 but I did it backward, a Baby had Mary 31:16 because every change 31:17 that took place in Mary's life happened 31:19 because of the Baby. 31:20 Ladies, don't you know that to be the case? 31:22 If you've had a baby, do you make the changes 31:25 or do the baby make the changes? 31:27 The baby. 31:28 You eat differently, you dress differently, 31:30 you walk more carefully, 31:32 you hold on to your husband's hand 31:33 more carefully, right? 31:35 You avoid slippery places, you have a glow, 31:37 everything about the woman, the baby makes the changes. 31:40 So let's look at this now. 31:43 We're going to go now to Matthew 1. 31:45 Matthew 1, I'm going there, 31:49 Matthew 1. 31:54 The story is phenomenal. 31:55 This is a sermon all by itself. I'm not going to do that. 31:57 I'm not going to sermonize, 31:58 I'm just going to read these two verses. 32:00 But let's look at Matthew 1:22 and 23, all right? 32:10 Okay. 32:13 It says, "So all this was done 32:19 that it might be fulfilled 32:21 which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet..." 32:25 What Prophet? Somebody tell me. 32:26 What prophet? 32:28 Isaiah. Isaiah. 32:30 You'll find that word. Look for that word. 32:32 "The prophet, saying..." 32:34 In verse 23, 32:35 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, 32:39 and bear a Son, 32:41 and they shall call His name..." 32:43 What? 32:45 "Immanuel, which is translated..." 32:47 What? "God with us." 32:50 So when Jesus came, this was the hard part, 32:52 people thought that when the name Immanuel 32:57 was given and the definition was heard, 33:01 the common census was, 33:03 "No, God is not with us. 33:05 That's Mary's child. 33:07 God isn't..." 33:08 "He's not God. He's Mary's child." 33:10 And when He began His ministry, 33:12 He continued to fight that stigma 33:14 that He is not the incarnate God. 33:18 But when the Bible says, "God is with us." 33:20 It wasn't saying God was sending someone 33:22 to be with us. 33:23 It was saying God Almighty condescended, 33:27 took on human flesh. 33:29 How many of us would do that? 33:30 How many of us would leave the courts of adoration, 33:33 a perfect scenario, and come to this world? 33:38 I had a sermon that began with the statement, 33:41 "Who would want to come down here?" 33:43 Who would? 33:45 What could possibly happen? 33:47 Robbed, Shot, killed. 33:53 I mean, there's so many things 33:54 that could have happened in the life of Jesus, 33:56 but He came here. 33:57 Why did He come? 33:58 Somebody tell... 34:00 Why did He come? To save us. 34:01 Huh? 34:03 "For God so loved the world..." 34:04 Why did He come? Because what? 34:06 Because He loved us. He came to save us. 34:08 Amen? 34:10 So when the Bible says "Immanuel," 34:12 He came from the very beginning, 34:16 who knew that He was coming? 34:17 Somebody tell me. 34:19 I'm going to pull it out of you tonight. 34:20 I do all the talking, 34:21 but I don't usually ask questions. 34:23 Who knew that He was coming? Huh? 34:26 The Jews knew. Did they? 34:29 No. 34:30 When the star led the wise men to Jerusalem, they said, 34:33 "Where is He born? 34:35 Where?" 34:36 They said, "We heard it's in Micah. 34:37 It's supposed to be in Bethlehem somewhere." 34:39 They didn't even have the experience, 34:40 although they had 34:42 the knowledge long before it happened, right? 34:43 Who knew? Who knew? Who knew? Mary. 34:47 Who? Mary knew? Who else knew? 34:50 The shepherds. Who knew? 34:54 Hannah the Prophetess. 34:56 Oh, Hannah the Prophetess, yes. 34:57 Who also knew? I heard of it. Satan. 35:01 He knew. 35:04 If the wise men knew, 35:07 if the shepherds knew, 35:10 Satan knew. 35:13 You know how I know he know... 35:14 You know how I know he knew? 35:18 He tried to get Him killed. 35:20 We got to... 35:23 He remembered the last two fights he had. 35:27 He lost the fight in heaven. 35:29 In the garden, the Lord says, "I'm going to crush your head. 35:33 Let's get him before he gets Me." 35:37 And when Jesus came, He had such divine protection. 35:41 You've got to put that together. 35:42 I don't like to run through these stories 35:43 because if the president has Secret Service protection. 35:46 Do you think that Jesus came without any protection? 35:50 Huh? 35:53 Mary was the most protected woman on earth. 35:58 Do you believe that? 36:00 I believe that 36:01 because if the devil could have killed her, 36:04 I mean, he went after her right away 36:05 through her husband. 36:07 Right away, she fell into the difficulty 36:09 of having Jesus being born in her life. 36:12 He said, "You know, we got a..." 36:13 "I know we're supposed to be getting married in a few weeks, 36:15 but this is not going to happen." 36:17 Until the Lord visited him. 36:19 Praise the Lord that He steps in when difficulty arises. 36:22 So right away, God with us, 36:24 the devil knew, the prophets knew, 36:26 but the devil knew, he was waiting for that moment. 36:29 He was waiting for that moment. 36:30 Praise the Lord, God protected His Son 36:34 when He came to this earth. 36:36 Can you say amen to that? Huh? 36:38 He knew. Of course, he knew. 36:39 Let's go to the next one. Let's go to the next one. 36:41 This is very interesting. 36:43 There's so many... 36:44 And I selected some of these. 36:45 So you want to write the answer down to number 14. 36:49 "His name is Immanuel." Exactly. 36:51 "The virgin shall conceive." 36:53 Now here's another, number 15. 36:55 "The Bible predicted that a Star 36:59 would arise out of Judah." 37:00 This is huge because... 37:02 I did a series on the occult. 37:04 And what do they call movie actors today? 37:07 Movie stars. Film stars. 37:11 There's only one star, His name is Jesus. 37:15 See, that's the whole exaltation of humanity. 37:17 Trying to make us a star, focusing on man 37:19 when Jesus came to have us focus on Him. 37:22 Let's look at this now. 37:24 We're going to go to Numbers 24, 37:26 Numbers 24. 37:28 All right, and I'm turning there. 37:31 I'm turning there even though I have it on the slide. 37:35 Okay, let's go on the screen. Numbers 24, here it is. 37:38 Here it is. 37:40 "I see Him, but not now. 37:44 I behold Him, but not near. 37:48 A Star shall come out of..." 37:51 What? 37:52 "Jacob. 37:53 A Scepter shall rise out of..." 37:56 Where? 37:57 "Israel, and batter the brow of Moab 38:02 and destroy all the sons of..." 38:04 What? 38:05 "Tumult." 38:07 A star shall arise out of where? 38:08 Jacob. 38:10 Let's go ahead and see this now. 38:11 Let's go to Matthew 2. Let's go to Matthew 2. 38:14 Now what we're seeing, 38:15 let me just go and put this back 38:17 in the context. 38:18 What we're seeing is prophecy 38:20 and we're seeing the fulfillment, 38:21 prophecy and fulfillment. 38:23 Now today, archaeologically speaking, 38:25 there is no doubt that there was a man named Jesus. 38:29 There's no doubt today an entire nations says, 38:31 "Oh, yeah, there's a man named Jesus, 38:32 but He was just a good prophet. 38:34 He was a good man." 38:35 In the Muslim world and the Jewish world, surely, 38:38 in the Christian world, there is no doubt 38:40 that there was a man named Jesus, 38:41 but they put Him in different categories. 38:43 He was a Prophet, 38:44 He was a Good Man, He was a Teacher, 38:45 He was a Rabbi. 38:47 But He's not just a Prophet, a Good Teacher, and a Rabbi, 38:49 He is the Christ. 38:50 That's where you miss it. 38:52 If you take that title away from Him, 38:54 He could be a Good Teacher, a Rabbi, a Prophet, 38:57 but if you take away the Christ, then you're lost 38:59 because there's no other name 39:00 given to whereby we must be saved. 39:03 But let's look at this now. 39:05 Matthew 2:1, 39:07 Matthew 2:1 and 2, okay. 39:14 "Now after Jesus was born..." 39:17 Where? 39:18 "In Bethlehem of Judea in the days of..." 39:23 What? 39:24 "Herod, behold, wise men from the East came to..." 39:28 Where? 39:30 "To Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is He who is...'" 39:35 What? 39:36 "'Born King of the Jews? 39:39 For we have seen His star in the East 39:43 and have come to do,'" What? 39:44 "'To worship Him.'" So, huh? 39:49 Did he come to worship Jesus? No! 39:51 What did he want to do? Kill Him! 39:53 Okay. 39:54 Some people use worship to... 39:57 Ah, that's bad. That's a horrible thought. 39:59 He wanted to use worship to get rid of Jesus. 40:02 Prophecy and fulfillment, write it down here. 40:05 So Numbers 24, 40:07 "Arise out of Jacob," the same city, 40:12 the same city 40:14 in which He was born identify with Jacob, 40:18 identify with David. 40:20 When He was born, 40:22 this prophecy was fulfilled as prophesied 40:27 in the Book of Numbers. 40:29 Now Numbers, who was the penman? 40:30 Who was the one that wrote the Book of Numbers? 40:32 Moses. This is a long time ago. 40:36 This prophecy was way further back, 40:39 farther back than the prophecies of Isaiah. 40:42 So therefore, for this to happen, 40:44 Isaiah had 700 years to cover 40:45 before this was to be fulfilled. 40:47 Was there many more? Way more. 40:50 Moses, long time, that's what he said, 40:54 and I want to go back to that. 40:55 Let me just... 40:57 Let me go back to that, and I want to read 40:58 that very quickly. 40:59 That's why I like the way this... 41:01 And you don't have to bring some of this now. 41:02 I'm just going to emphasize this here. 41:04 That's why I like the way he says it this way. 41:05 He says, "I see Him..." 41:06 What? "But not now. 41:08 I behold Him, but..." 41:09 What? "Not near. 41:10 I could see it, I could see it happening, 41:14 but it's not right now. 41:15 I could behold it, 41:17 but it's not really is not any time soon." 41:20 God gave him a vision that he wrote down in Numbers 41:25 that this is going to happen hence, and it did. 41:29 I could see it but not near. 41:32 I could behold Him but not now. 41:35 And so he wrote it down and praise the Lord. 41:38 That's why I say 41:39 if the prophets were alive today, 41:41 do you think that Daniel could get excited 41:44 about these days in which we live? 41:45 Do you think John 41:47 the Revelator would be excited about it 41:48 and Jeremiah the prophet and Eliza? 41:52 They would be excited about these days. 41:54 So that's why, 41:55 that's why Jesus said to Thomas, 41:58 "Blessed are those who have not seen and..." 42:00 What? 42:02 "Yet believed." This applied to Moses. 42:04 He didn't see it happen, but did he believe it? 42:06 Yes. He did. 42:07 Why did he believe it? Because God revealed it. 42:11 You know, the simplicity of faith is 42:13 if God says it, that should be 42:15 all that is needed to believe it. 42:17 If God says it, right? 42:20 Who said it? God said it. 42:23 Well, how do we know it's going to happen? 42:26 How do you know? God said it. 42:28 And the one thing God can't do is what? 42:30 Lie. He cannot lie. 42:32 Let's go to the very next one, number 16, number 16. 42:37 These prophecies... 42:38 And as I said, I've only picked a few. 42:40 I didn't pick a whole lot of them. 42:41 I just picked a few. There's so many. 42:47 The numeric possibility, 42:49 the scientific possibility of these things happening 42:52 the way they were prophesied... 42:55 They didn't have email. 42:58 There was no letter sent from generation to generation 43:00 to generation to generation, but how did that happen? 43:04 How did all these things get tied together, 43:06 from the prophecy to the fulfillment? 43:09 Say it, David. 43:10 I thought I heard somebody say it. 43:12 Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. 43:13 He was the active one 43:14 that was inspiring them to write it. 43:16 He was the active agent, 43:17 the holy angels also monitored the fulfillments, 43:20 monitored these things. 43:21 And let me tell you, they would have been 43:24 if the Lord wasn't in charge of the affairs of men, 43:28 if the Lord was not in charge of the affairs of men, 43:32 his people could have been wiped out centuries before, 43:35 but the reason why God never wiped out 43:37 the children of Israel 43:38 because He knew through their lineage, 43:40 the Messiah would come. 43:43 David could have been stoned to death 43:46 because of what happened with him and Bathsheba, 43:48 but it was, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, 43:50 he's going to be fulfilled. 43:52 He's going to be forgiven, and then through his lineage, 43:54 Jesus is going to come. 43:56 You see how merciful God is? 43:57 So, so many people 43:59 that were involved in the chain, 44:01 any one of them could have been eliminated 44:03 because of what they did 44:04 or where they were or what battle they were in, 44:06 but the Lord watched over them 44:08 so that these prophecies could happen. 44:11 That's only divine intervention. 44:12 That's not coincidence. Praise the Lord for that. 44:15 Look at the other one. 44:18 "The earthly family line of Jesus 44:20 was also revealed." 44:21 "The earthly family line of Jesus 44:24 was also revealed." 44:25 I was like Matthew, I'm going to turn there. 44:28 We'll read Genesis, and I'll go ahead and give... 44:31 We're going to Luke 2, but let's look at Genesis, 44:36 the answer here first or the prophecy, the prophecy. 44:39 Now this is a long time back, 44:42 "Judah, you are he whom 44:45 your brothers shall praise. 44:49 Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies. 44:53 Your father's children shall do..." 44:55 What? "Bow down before you. 44:58 Judah is a lion's whelp, from the prey, my son, 45:03 you have gone up. 45:04 He bows down, he lies down as a lion. 45:10 And as a lion, who shall rouse him?" 45:16 Continuing, "The scepter shall not depart 45:19 from Judah nor a lawgiver 45:21 from between his feet, until..." 45:24 Who? "Shiloh." 45:26 That's the prince of peace. 45:27 "Until Shiloh comes, and to Him shall be 45:32 the obedience of the people." 45:35 So now get this, 45:36 let me just make a comment about Judah. 45:39 Judah was very successful. 45:44 Judah was a very successful person, 45:47 and the Bible says, 45:48 "Your brothers shall bow down to you." 45:50 Now that's one thing, the problem with Judah though 45:53 before he was converted is, and by the way, 45:55 Judah's mentioned in Revelation. 45:56 So Judah did overcome. 45:58 The one that's not mentioned in Revelation 46:00 out of the original tribes is Dan. 46:02 He's not there. 46:03 But Judah did overcome... 46:05 When you study the life of Judah, 46:06 Judah knew that he would be successful 46:09 and the prophecy his father was telling him this prophecy 46:12 that his brothers will bow down and praise him, 46:15 the problem with Judah is he knew that. 46:18 And he almost insinuated 46:20 that they should bow down and praise him. 46:22 Can you imagine having a brother like that? 46:24 "Hey, Yanick, you need some money. 46:28 You wish you were like me, don't you?" 46:31 No, Judah had to overcome that. Yes, he did. 46:33 He was very self-centered. 46:35 He was very successful, 46:36 but he had to overcome his self-centeredness 46:38 for the Lord to use him. 46:40 But the Lord looking at this man... 46:42 I'm trying to give us some courage 46:44 because some of us got stuff to overcome. 46:46 Come on, help me out. 46:48 Some of us, I said, right? 46:51 Can you change to all of us? 46:53 Okay, the Lord looks at us broken-folk, and He says, 46:58 "Oh, Kevin, I got a plan for you. 47:01 I'm picking on Kevin tonight. 47:02 I got a plan..." 47:04 "You're broken in some areas, 47:05 but I'mma a fix you 'cause I got a plan for you." 47:08 Amen for that? 47:09 God looked at these broken men, these faulty men, and said, 47:14 "I've got a plan for you, 47:15 so I'mma fix you so I can work out my plan." 47:18 He had to fix Judah 47:20 so that this prophecy could be fulfilled. 47:23 "I am not letting Jesus come through a pride-filled man. 47:28 I would not have a pride-filled man 47:30 connected to My Son in no way. 47:32 I got to humble him 47:34 so that when his name is mentioned 47:36 in the fulfillment of the life of Jesus, 47:38 people will think of Judah differently." 47:41 And that's why he mentioned Judah in Genesis. 47:44 It took that many centuries to fix 47:47 what was wrong in Judah's life. 47:49 Amen? Amen. 47:50 So by the time, Jesus came, 47:52 and they mentioned the name Judah, 47:53 "Oh, very nice man. 47:55 I've heard about him. My father told me about him." 47:57 But his brothers are going to tell you the real story. 47:59 "Judah, no, no, no. We knew a different Judah." 48:03 But that's what God does, amen? 48:05 He looks at us where we are and says, 48:07 "Yanick, you're broke, but I'mma fix you 48:10 so that My plan could be fulfilled 48:12 in your life." 48:13 That's what I like about studying 48:15 these stories, these prophecies, 48:18 as none of these men were perfect. 48:22 They were just as faulty and messed up as we all are. 48:25 Let's go to the fulfillment now. 48:27 Let's go to the fulfillment, Luke 1. 48:30 Luke 1, okay, 48:34 so the answer... 48:35 Huh?. 48:38 Oh. Yeah, I tell you. 48:42 And by the way, these, 48:44 you know, the answers are the same for both verses, 48:47 but one of the prophecy... 48:48 Oh, where we're going now? Luke 1, okay, here I am. 48:50 Why am I Romans? I have no idea. 48:53 That's what happens 48:54 when your hands are turning fast. 48:55 You pick up a whole clump of paper, 48:57 and you turn it really quickly. 49:01 That's why I'm so glad. 49:02 We don't have to finish the lesson in one night 49:05 because there's so many things behind these verses that, 49:08 you know, we just go prophecy, 49:09 fulfillment, prophecy, fulfillment. 49:11 You're kind of like, "Okay, I got it." 49:12 But there's so much 49:13 behind the stories of the people 49:15 that are included here. 49:16 Here it is, Luke 1:30-32, 49:20 "Then the angel said to her, 49:22 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you 49:26 have found favor with God. 49:29 And behold, you will conceive in your womb 49:32 and bring forth a..." 49:35 What? "A Son. 49:37 He will be..." 49:38 What? He will be what? 49:42 "And call His name Jesus." Sorry. 49:45 Verse 32, "He will be..." 49:46 What? 49:47 "Great and will be called the Son of the Highest. 49:51 And the Lord God will give Him 49:54 the throne of His father, David." 49:57 When you follow David's lineage, 49:59 go with me now to Matthew 1, 50:03 Matthew 1. 50:08 You have the prophecy, you have the fulfillment. 50:10 Look at Matthew 1. 50:18 'Cause, see, what happened is... 50:21 Okay, we're going to go ahead mess around here 50:25 and go start tracing stuff back. 50:30 Matthew 1:17, 'cause you might wonder, 50:35 "David, didn't he just say Judah?" 50:38 How do we get to David from Judah? 50:42 You got to go through the lineage. 50:44 Matthew 1:17, look at this. 50:47 "So all the generations 50:50 from Abraham to David are..." 50:52 What? 50:53 "Fourteen generations, 50:55 from David until the captivity in Babylon are..." 50:58 What? 50:59 "Fourteen generations, 51:01 and from the captivity in Babylon 51:03 until the Christ are..." 51:05 What? "Fourteen generations." 51:06 Then how many generations is that? 51:09 Forty two generations. 51:10 He said, "You got to go back 42 generations to find out 51:13 how we got Judah connected to David." 51:17 That's a seriously... 51:18 How far can you trace your lineage back? 51:21 I just found out about my grandfather, 51:23 and that's about as far back as I can go, 51:26 from the Philippines on one side, on the other side, 51:29 Native American, African-American, 51:30 on the other side of branch. 51:32 I mean, that's just two generations, 51:35 father, grandfather. 51:37 Go back 42, Jonathan. 51:40 How many of us could do that? 51:41 You know what makes the Bible so beautiful as a book? 51:44 You can follow the lineages. 51:47 Now the book that... 51:49 I got to say this in the right manner. 51:53 When I first started beginning to read Numbers, 51:56 my wife and I were reading Numbers together. 51:58 When I first started reading Numbers... 52:02 This is a terrible confession for a pastor to make, 52:04 but I said, "Honey, those names are just driving me nuts." 52:10 I honestly said that 52:11 because there's so many names, 52:12 you know, Zadok and Meruba. 52:14 And I'm thinking, "Could he just not say family?" 52:18 But you know what was happening? 52:20 The Lord was setting up all the generations, 52:22 so if you sat down with a pen 52:24 and decided to trace David's lineage, 52:27 you're going to come up with some names 52:29 that are far from being modern, 52:31 but you'll be able to find every connection 52:33 all the way back. 52:38 And so let me give you some proof. 52:40 We got five minutes. We'll get to another question. 52:44 Look at Matthew 1. Let's just try that. 52:48 Let's just try that, okay? 52:50 Because we're talking about prophecy here, 52:52 and if we don't get to the next question, 52:54 this is a great place to end. 52:56 "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ," 52:59 and then he says, 53:01 "the Son of David, the son of Abraham," 53:04 now look at this, Matthew put that in here 53:09 so that when we get to Jesus, 53:12 we could know legitimately, yes, 53:14 he's got a family line. 53:15 Now are any of these people 53:17 that we're going to read about from heaven? 53:20 Yes or no? No! 53:21 Not one of them. 53:23 Did any of them have any issues in their lives? 53:25 Yes! 53:28 It ought to give us courage every day to wake up 53:30 and look at Jesus' family and say, 53:32 "We're doing all right." 53:35 Amen? 53:37 Because the same Lord that... 53:38 The same Father that connected Him 53:40 to that family line, He says of us... 53:45 This is huge, this is powerful. Are you ready? 53:49 Ready, Louis? 53:50 Jesus got connected to an earthly family line 53:54 so we can get connected to a heavenly family line. 53:57 That's powerful. That's huge. 53:59 He said, "I'm going I'm going to connect You 54:01 to some messed up folk." 54:02 Just don't take too much time to look at them, 54:04 look at Jesus 54:06 because if you look at Jesus' family line, 54:08 and you say, "Are you sure He's the Messiah?" 54:11 But if you look at Jesus, there's no doubt. 54:13 So this very quickly, 54:15 "Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot..." 54:17 Who? 54:18 "Jacob and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. 54:20 Judah begot Perez and Zerah and Tamar and Perez begot..." 54:25 You could do that tonight after the meeting is done. 54:28 But archaeologically and genealogically, 54:32 you can trace these back to real places 54:35 that existed in history. 54:38 You can place this back to real cities 54:40 that are there still today 54:42 'cause Christianity is not an old religion. 54:46 You can trace these back, and you have some names in here 54:48 that some of you've never heard before. 54:51 Verse 6, yeah, 54:52 "And Jesse begot David the King, 54:54 David the King begot Solomon by her 54:57 who had been the wife of Uriah." 55:00 What happened there? 55:02 Oh, that was some serious stuff. 55:07 But you see, what's happening? 55:08 "Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, 55:12 Abijah begot Asa." 55:14 Read Asa, Asa had problems. 55:17 Asa was the kind of guy that always got upset 55:19 when he saw people that were successful. 55:21 It was of Asa that did not understand 55:23 why God allowed the wicked people to prosper 55:25 until he went into the sanctuary 55:27 of the Lord, and he said, "Now I understand." 55:30 All these faulty... 55:31 And then you have, "Uzziah begot Jotham." 55:34 What happened to Uzziah? 55:37 Huh? 55:40 Uzziah was king, but he died a leper. 55:45 "Begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, 55:48 Ahaz begot Hezekiah." 55:49 What happened to Hezekiah? 55:53 When the Lord gave him extra time, what did he do? 55:54 He spend that time to show 55:56 on the people all his possessions. 55:58 Messed up men. 56:00 It keeps on going, and you go back... 56:02 I mean, you could spend a whole lot of time in that, 56:05 but when you keep going all the way back, 56:07 and I like it when it comes down 56:10 to verse 16, 56:11 "And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, 56:16 of whom was born Jesus who is called the Christ." 56:19 Amen. 56:20 So it's not how... 56:22 This is the beauty, it is not how the story begins, 56:25 it's how the story ends. 56:29 A minute and 34 seconds, real quick, 56:31 number seven, number 17, 56:33 we're just going to the question in here. 56:35 Let's go to number 17. 56:37 "What did the Bible teach concerning 56:39 the government of Jesus? 56:40 What did the Bible teach concerning 56:41 the government?" 56:43 I'll go right to it in the interest of time. 56:46 The Bible says in Isaiah 9:7, 56:48 "Of the increase of His government 56:53 and peace, there will be..." 56:55 What? 56:56 "No end upon the throne of David 56:58 and over his kingdom to order it and establish it 57:02 with judgment and justice 57:04 from that time forward, even..." 57:06 What? "Forever. 57:08 The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." 57:12 So I'm just going to go ahead 57:14 and just in the interest of time, 57:16 we gave you the prophecy, but next week, 57:20 we're going to give you the fulfillment. 57:22 Now what did you learn tonight 57:24 about how much the Lord loves us? 57:27 Does He love us because we're good? 57:29 No! 57:31 But He works out His plan in the lives of those 57:33 He chooses. 57:35 How many of us did He choose? All of us. 57:37 Every one of us. 57:39 He's got a plan for your life, 57:40 your life, your life, our lives, 57:43 and when you look at how God's grace 57:45 and His mercy 57:46 and His forbearance is extended to the human family, 57:49 you begin to look at yourself in the unfolding 57:51 of the genealogy of Christ, and you say, 57:54 "I don't understand it now, 57:55 but I'm going to keep on reading my Bible," 57:57 because one day, whatever doesn't make sense, 57:59 friends, I guarantee you, 58:00 it will come into A Sharper Focus. 58:03 God bless you. |
Revised 2018-08-09