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00:20 Good morning. The topic assigned to us this morning is
00:26 responding when he comes. is about how we should respond to Jesus Christ.
00:33 To respond appropriately to Christ, we need to understand who he is and why he
00:40 came. So this morning we will take a look at who Christ is and why he came
00:47 based on Matthew chapter 1 18-2 that was read to us just now.
00:54 We will look at this text and see who Christ is and why he came.
01:01 Not only that, we will also want to remove the things that will hinder us
01:08 from taking this text seriously as the word of God. Unless we take this
01:15 text seriously as the word of God, we will not take seriously what it teaches
01:20 about Christ, who he is and why he came.
01:27 But note that the topic is phrased in the future tense responding when he
01:33 comes. I suppose Christmas is still three days
01:39 away in a sense we are still anticipating Christmas but the topic as
01:45 phrase requires us to put ourselves in the place of the people before Christ was
01:53 born the first Christmas before Christ was born long before he
01:59 was born there was an expectation that he would come that's why when he comes not if he comes because there were
02:06 prophet sees in the Old Testament predicting anticipating the coming of
02:11 the Messiah or Christ. So this morning we will look at those
02:17 prophecies too because when he comes we want to place ourselves
02:23 in the position of the people who were anticipating his coming based on the
02:29 prophecies and these prophecies will help us better understand who Jesus is and why he came.
02:37 In fact, what we read in Matthew is a record of the fulfillment of three
02:43 prophecies in the book of Isaiah. One of them is quoted.
02:49 Two of them are alluded, not quoted. Of course, the one quoted is very clear. Isaiah 7:14 about the virgin birth
02:57 Emmanuel. But there are two prophecies in Isaiah that alluded not quoted. Note
03:04 there's an emphasis that Joseph is the son of David. Why emphasize that he is a
03:13 son of David. Now in the record of the
03:18 birth of Jesus in the gospel of Luke the focus was on Mary. Here the focus was on
03:25 Joseph. And the angel said to Jo Mary more than what he said to Joseph
03:31 concerning the son of David. This is what the angel Gabriel said to Mary. Luke 1:31. You will conceive and give
03:38 birth to a son and you are to call him Jesus. So far the same. He will be great
03:44 and will be called the son of the most high. Note this. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And
03:51 he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end.
03:59 What is this text all about? This son of David that God will give to
04:05 Jesus the throne of his father David. This is a fulfillment of Isaiah chapter
04:10 9 verse 6 and 7 which we are familiar during Christmas time especially Isaiah 6 96 for to us a child is born to us a
04:20 son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor mighty God
04:26 everlasting father prince of peace of the greatness of his government and
04:31 peace there will be no end and note he will reign on David's throne
04:36 and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and
04:43 forever. You see, note the wording of Luke 1 and
04:51 Isaiah 9. Jesus also fulfilled Isaiah 9.
04:58 Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace, sitting on the throne of David.
05:05 There's another prophecy that is fulfilled by Jesus because Matthew mentioned
05:11 Jesus he was called Jesus because he will save his people from their sins and
05:17 this is the fulfillment of Isaiah 53 the entire chapter just quickly quote two
05:25 but he was pierced for our transgression he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was on
05:32 him and by his wounds Since we are healed, we all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own
05:39 way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. We have gone astray
05:46 and he came to save us, to bring us back. We have to turn back to the way of
05:51 God. So you see three prophecies from Isaiah
05:58 fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
06:03 The first thing that might hinder us from taking Matthew seriously is this.
06:09 Some of us being alert would notice. There's an apparent contradiction there.
06:14 In Isaiah 7 is very clearly stated that that son shall be called Emmanuel.
06:23 But the angel told both Joseph and Mary, she shall be called, he shall be called
06:29 Jesus. should be Emanuel. Why Jesus?
06:37 Well, we have to recognize that name in the Bible very often does not mean how
06:44 we tolerate another. Name represent who is. We pray in the
06:51 name of Jesus. The name stand for who is what he has done.
06:57 Look at Isaiah 96. wonderful counselor, mighty God, revelation, but this is also his name. So obviously the name in
07:05 Isaiah 7 and 9 is not talking about how he was actually called, who he is.
07:11 God is almighty God, everlasting father. That means the baby born on Christmas
07:17 day is God himself. The anticipation when he comes that he
07:26 comes is God himself.
07:32 And Jesus, why Jesus? Jesus means the Lord saves.
07:38 Jesus stands for him savior also represent
07:45 who he is and what he will do. Savior. In other words, both Matthew and the
07:52 prophecies upon which it is based the text clearly teaches that Jesus is Lord
08:00 and Savior. Not only savior but lord, king of kings, lord of lords.
08:09 So this is who Jesus is. Savior to save us from our sins. He died
08:15 on the cross to pay the price of sin. But it's God himself. You know, it's
08:20 mindboggling to think that the baby born on Christmas day, the man who was
08:26 crucified on the cross, it's God himself.
08:32 The one who created the heavens and the earth, the one who say, "Let there be light." And there is light. And that
08:39 person that God born baby and died on the cross for our
08:48 sin. How then should we respond? We have to
08:53 deeply understand who he is and why he came. He came as the Lord
09:01 to rule presently rule within the church
09:10 ultimately when he comes again to rule over all creation
09:18 and he came to save to die on the cross for our sin.
09:24 So Jesus fulfilled three prophecies based on this text.
09:31 The second thing that might hinder us from taking this text seriously is
09:38 because in recent times there have been this idea that Isaiah
09:45 7:14 was not really referring to Jesus Christ but
09:51 to a baby born during the time when Isaiah gave the prophecy that was 735
09:59 BC. See, traditionally the church believe and as Matthew quoted
10:09 Isaiah 7:14 is talking about Jesus Christ.
10:14 But the sad thing is there are more and more Bible scholars including those who
10:20 are Christians who fully believe that the Bible is the word of God who say
10:26 Jesus fulfilled that. Secondarily the primary fulfillment happened during the
10:32 time of Ahaz the king to whom the pro the the prophecy was given as a sign.
10:38 You see during the time of Ahaz he was under pressure from two kingdoms in the north. the northern kingdom called
10:44 Israel and Syria and he was frightened. He wanted to
10:51 appeal to Assyria the empire to deal with the problem. Isaiah came to
10:57 him and say do not do that. Trust the Lord to solve the problem. Ask for a
11:04 sign. Any sign to prove that God will solve the problem. Any sign at all. He refused to ask for a sign. And Isaiah
11:11 said, "You don't want a sign, I give you a sign." And this is a sign. Isaiah
11:16 7:14. So people say, "Well, if this is a sign
11:22 for us, how can it be referring to Jesus Christ 700 years later? The sign is of
11:27 no use to us." That is not the major problem. The major problem is this. In
11:33 Isaiah 7
11:39 7:16, it says, "Before the boy,
11:47 the boy who's going to be born of the virgin knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the
11:54 two kings you dread will be laid waste." In other words, say is this prediction that before the boy who is in the womb
12:01 that he's talking about become about 13 years old, the two kings
12:10 that you dread their land which is the northern kingdom, Israel and Syria will be laid waste.
12:17 Sure enough, within 13 years the two kingdoms were exiled. Syria in 73 2 BC
12:27 and Israel 722 BC the prophecy was
12:33 fulfilled. But the problem is if
12:39 that boy before he is 13 the two kingdoms are
12:46 devastated that means he must be born then he must be born around 735 BC. So
12:54 how can that be Jesus Christ? So this is the most maj most difficult problem. Now I do not want to go to the technical
12:60 details. I'll just give you a solution that has been given by two great Old Testament scholar Henber and EJ Young
13:06 that has been forgotten. You see God speak to the prophets through vision and dreams.
13:15 When Isaiah said behold a virgin,
13:20 that virgin, who is he referring to? He was not referring to a virgin who was
13:25 alive then. He was talking about the virgin he saw in his vision.
13:31 And as far as the prophecy is concerned that vision existed then in his vision
13:36 he was using that vision as a point of reference before the boy who is going to be born from that virgin 13 years old
13:45 these two kingdom will be exiled. In other words saying within 13 years from now
13:52 these two kingdom will be exiled. and it was fulfilled
13:57 strictly. So in other words,
14:02 the vision is all has double purpose. The first purpose is a point of
14:08 reference to predict the destruction of the two kingdoms and another purpose
14:14 because it is Mary 700 years later is a prophecy concerning the virgin birth.
14:23 So there's no problem. Then how is it a sign to Ahaz? Read on to 17. The Lord
14:30 will bring on you and your people and on house of your the house of your father a
14:36 time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah. A very devastating event. He
14:42 will bring the king of Assyria. And this happened in 701 BC when the
14:47 Assyrian king Senak came down and invaded Judah. recorded in three books of the Old Testament, 2 Kings, 2
14:54 Chronicles, and Isaiah. It's a very devastating event. The sign is this because Ahaz refused to trust in God and
15:02 trusted in Assyria, God is saying Assyria will come and invade your kingdom.
15:08 So the sign is this. If within 13 years you see those two kingdoms devastated,
15:14 you can be certain that the Assyrian will come and invade your kingdom. That
15:20 was a sign. So in other words, Isaiah was confirmed as a prophet. So
15:26 therefore, Isaiah 7:14 concerning the virgin birth was very firm. That's why
15:33 there could be an anticipation that Christ would come.
15:39 So this should not be a hindrance for those of us that are aware. You see, it used to be limited to the world of
15:46 scholars and academics. But this idea has somehow gone beyond that because the
15:52 NIV Bible present this view. Those of you who don't know about this,
15:59 well now you know. But there's no problem. Those of you who know about this problem, be assured there is no
16:04 problem. We can take Isaiah prophecy and Matthew's quotation seriously.
16:12 Jesus fulfilled that prophecy so that we can take the tax seriously
16:19 and respond to who Jesus is accordingly. The second problem,
16:27 supposed problem that might hinder us from taking the teaching of Matthew seriously is the virgin birth.
16:39 The virgin birth means a miracle.
16:44 How can a baby be born when there is no embryo as we know it?
16:54 But we are told that it is the Holy Spirit who brought it about is a miracle. But
17:01 in the modern world, we cannot accept miracles. The modern
17:07 mind and from personal experience, I know that even those of us who have believed
17:13 in God and Jesus Christ, our mind may still have difficulty to
17:18 fully embrace all the teaching in the Bible, especially the miraculous. You know why?
17:25 Because in the modern world, modern science
17:31 assumes that whatever science cannot explain, cannot discover
17:38 is not real. And this has influenced our mindset.
17:44 From personal experience I know as a Christian we can struggle
17:50 accepting not only intellectually emotionally
17:55 what the Bible teaches in this case the virgin birth. We need to be able to
18:01 accept this teaching that Jesus was born of a virgin.
18:08 You see science cannot discover
18:15 the spiritual. The nature of science is based on observation. Observation of what we can see and touch.
18:23 Science cannot deal with the spiritual world because the spiritual world cannot be observed. Science the very matter of
18:29 science depends of observation. Whatever cannot be observed, science
18:35 cannot touch. And they are honor scientists who recognize that the spiritual world is beyond science. So
18:41 it's very arrogant of science to say whatever science cannot discover or explain does not exist.
18:49 But that is the assumption of science and have infiltrated our minds. Way back
18:55 when I was doing form sex in I was away from home and have a
19:02 roommate. One day uh my roommate's sister asked a Christian friend to share
19:09 Christ with him. So they were out in the living room talking. I don't know what happened. And he came back. He told me,
19:14 "Oh, my sister's friend came and share about talk about Jesus Christ." And he said, "I told him I told her we don't
19:22 believe in God because we study science."
19:28 And I told him, I said, "Yes, we study science. We don't believe in God.
19:33 Nowhere in my science textbook, nowhere have I heard from my science teachers that because we study science, there's
19:39 no God. Where did I get that? You see, the very nature of science assumes that whatever
19:46 science cannot discover doesn't exist. So that idea got into me
19:55 and as late as 10 years ago, I still had a problem with this. I have no problem with the virgin birth
20:03 and all the miracles in the Bible despite my scientific mindset. But there was one thing that I was struggling
20:09 with. You see in Deuteronomy chapter 11, God promised
20:14 the nation of Israel when you go into the land you cannot
20:19 like in Egypt depend on irrigation to the nar. You need to trust God for rain
20:26 to have a good harvest. But God say obey me and I will send the rain the early
20:33 and the late rain. Whenever you obey me, the rain will come on time. In other words, it will be a regular miracle if
20:41 they obeyed God. And intellectually I had to accept it because this is the word of God. But emotionally I
20:47 struggled. Emotionally I couldn't accept that how could miracle be regular. You see from
20:55 my observation from the testimony I hear miracles are random. It doesn't happen regularly on a schedule
21:02 and I read the Bible the miracles recorded are not regular.
21:08 So I couldn't accept it because of my scientific mindset. So we understand we struggle emotionally
21:17 with teaching in the Bible that we find hard to accept. I understand that because our modern mindset has
21:22 difficulty. We we absorb that mindset and I overcame this problem. You know
21:28 what? How I open problem? I asked my wife. I said, you see, do you have a problem with this? She said no problem.
21:35 Then I knew the problem is with me, not with the Bible.
21:44 So then I was studying the Old Testament and I and I and it dawned upon me God said this is the land where he will
21:52 dwell with his people through the tabernacle. A land that he cares about is a holy land this unusual piece of
21:58 land. So this is unusual piece of land. So do you expect the regular observation
22:05 outside the holy land to apply? That's not my problem. Oh yeah, this is not
22:10 regular land. This is the holy land. So we don't expect miracles to happen randomly outside. It
22:18 can happen regularly inside that I'm God. I'm I'm sort of then emotionally I can fully accept. So now I can fully
22:24 accept everything the Bible teaches. But some of you may be struggling with
22:30 the virgin birth. We need to be able to accept that Christ
22:37 was miraculously conceived and born uh from a virgin because if he was not born
22:44 of a virgin, he's not God. is so crucial is that then the question
22:50 arises why must the savior be god as god and man.
23:02 You see the savior must be god and man. But why we understand why he must be man
23:08 because if only god god cannot die.
23:13 He has to become man to die. And he came to die on the behalf of humanity.
23:21 So he has to be a man to represent us
23:26 so that he died for us. He was raised for us, ascended for us that we can be fully
23:33 identified to him. So he has been man. But why must he be God?
23:38 Can't God create another Adam sinless
23:43 and let this Adam die for our sins? Yes, he did send another Adam. Paul the
23:51 last or second Adam. This Adam is Jesus Christ. But this Adam is uncreated.
24:00 It's God. He was conceived and became a man through the Holy Spirit in the womb
24:08 of Mary.
24:13 Why must the Savior be God? We have to understand the nature of
24:19 forgiveness. What does it mean to forgive someone? If you say I wrong you,
24:28 I did something wrong. You know you went for interview for a good job and uh they
24:35 decided to accept you inform you that you are successful it's good job they have been
24:41 looking for wellpaying job but somehow I got connection with the people in the
24:47 company and I spread rumors about you
24:52 something that is not true and then affected them they rescended the offer
24:58 so I wrong you you suffer the loss of a well-paying job.
25:06 So he said, "I want to sue you for conversation 100,000 ring it. I
25:14 don't have that kind of money." So I come and see pastor Ling will pray for us just now. I said,
25:21 "Pastor Ling, you know this member from your church, he want to sue me. Can you you know talk to him to forgive me? So
25:29 he went and talked to him told to say you know as Christian you must forgive another and you refuse to forgive and
25:35 and pastor came sorry he refused to forgive but never mind he doesn't forgive you I forgive you.
25:42 Can he do that? No only the person I have done wrong can forgive me not a third party.
25:50 And what does it mean for for you to forgive me? That means you no longer sue me. You absorb the loss.
25:57 You absorb the loss. You absorb the consequence of my wrong. So you see the
26:04 nature of forgiveness. First of all, only the person that I have done wrong can forgive me. And if the person were
26:10 to forgive me, that person will absorb the consequence of my wrong.
26:16 Sin is against God. Therefore, only God can forgive sin.
26:22 And what must happen if God would forgive sin? God himself must absorb the consequence of our sin. And what is the
26:30 consequence of sin? Death.
26:35 Therefore, God must come and die for our sin.
26:45 God himself must bear the consequence of our sin. He's not a third party. When Christ came
26:51 to die on the cross, he came as a God we have sinned against. He's a creator God.
26:56 He did not come as a third party. He came as the first party, the party we sin against
27:03 to absorb the consequence of our sin to die on the cross of our sin.
27:09 Therefore, our savior must be God and man.
27:16 Jesus is Lord and Savior.
27:21 When we understand this truth based on what we have seen in the
27:27 scripture, how then should we respond to Jesus Christ?
27:36 I don't want to offer my own opinion even though we can easily infer based on
27:44 what we have seen who Jesus is and what why he came. He came to rule. He came to
27:50 save and he is God the Lord.
27:56 In Isaiah itself after predicting
28:01 the savior the messiah dying for his people Isaiah 55 talk about how
28:08 we are to respond further emphasize Isaiah 56 because of
28:15 time we won't go through those because those teachings are fulfilled in the
28:20 ministry of John the Baptist remember Isaiah 40 talk about the coming of John the Baptist is
28:27 how we are to respond as prophesied in Isaiah 55 and 56 was embodied in the
28:34 teaching of John the Baptist. You remember John the Baptist came ahead of
28:39 the ministry of Christ to prepare the way for Christ's ministry. And what was his ministry all about?
28:46 The baptism of repentance. And there were some religious people who
28:52 came to be baptized and he doubted their sincerity. He said, "Who warn you
28:58 against the coming wroth?" And he challenged them. If you truly repent, bear fruit of repentance.
29:06 Demonstrate that your repentance is sincere through the fruit of repentance. That means good works uh change life
29:15 through obedience to God. There's a difference between repentance
29:20 and the fruit of repentance. Repentance is not good works. Repentance is change
29:26 of mind and change of heart, change of attitude. In other words, repentance is change of intention.
29:36 Come before God and say, "God, I have sinned. I repent. From now on, I don't
29:42 want to sin anymore. From now on, I want to obey you."
29:47 Isn't that the proper respond to who Jesus is,
29:52 Lord and Savior? Is just a change of intention.
29:58 Of course, we still sin. No matter how deep our intention is, the spirit is
30:06 willing, the flesh is weak. But we are not saved by works. We are saved by grace through faith.
30:13 But repentance demonstrate a turning point in our life that from now on I
30:19 want to obey God. I don't want to sin and whenever I sin I confess my sin and
30:24 accept the forgiveness of Christ. This is not good works. Repentance is not
30:30 good works. But genuine repentance will bear fruit of repentance. Good works uh
30:36 change life. So what happened is this. When we truly repent and believe in Jesus is God. We trust in him,
30:44 we are converted in that sense. The Holy Spirit comes in and change our heart,
30:50 give us a new heart, a new spirit and dwell in us. The spirit of God will empower us to live out our repentance,
30:58 to live out our intention not to sin and to obey God. But we must first repent.
31:08 Then spirit comes in change our hearts empower us
31:15 to live out the repentance and bear fruit of repentance. You say that is John the Baptist.
31:20 Is it what the New Testament teaches? What about Paul the apostle to the
31:26 Gentiles? This is what Paul said. He was on trial before King Agria.
31:32 He was trying to demonstrate that he had been faithful to his calling.
31:38 through his preaching and this is what he said in Acts chapter 26 verse 19. So
31:43 then King Agria I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven first to those in Damascus then to those
31:51 in Jerusalem and in all Judea and then to the Gentiles to you and me. I preach
31:57 what did he preach? He said, "I preach that they should repent and turn to God
32:02 and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds bear fruit of repentance."
32:08 Repentance means turn away from sin to God. You can turn away from sin but to something else is not repentance in the
32:15 biblical sense. Repentance always away from sin to God because we have sinned and we have been alienated from God.
32:22 Repentance means come back to God. Someone say I repent. I don't want to sin but I I I I'm not coming back to
32:28 God. It's not repentance. It may be some other repentance. Not repentance in the biblical sense. Repentance in the biblical sense is turn away from sin to
32:35 God. That means even though Christ death on
32:43 the cross is sufficient for every human being that forgiveness is available to
32:49 every human being but not everyone will experience a forgiveness.
32:54 Why? There's a strange
32:59 case in the United States in in the year
33:08 1829. George Men was convicted of robbery and murder to be sentenced
33:15 sentenced to death to be hanged. For some reason, the the President Andrew
33:20 Jackson pardoned him. But unexpectedly, George Wilson refused
33:27 the pardon. So the whole case gone to the Supreme Court and this is the decision of the
33:34 Supreme Court. The Chief Justice John Marshall read out the decision of the
33:39 Supreme Court. He says a pardon is a paper the value of which depends upon
33:45 its acceptance by the person implicated. It is hardly to be supposed that one under sentence of death will refuse to
33:53 accept a pardon. But if it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be
33:58 hang. And he was hung. Christ death on the cross is sufficient
34:04 for all human being. The forgiveness is available for all but it will not be a
34:10 forgiveness until it is accepted. It is unimaginable for someone who is
34:18 under the death sent death sentence spiritual death would not accept the pardon. But if it is not accepted, it is
34:26 no pardon. We will bear the consequences of our sin.
34:32 Why why did George Wilson
34:37 when he refused to accept a father? Uh I I I really don't know. But uh there's a
34:42 parallel case in Malaysia recently that may help us understand remember Ibrahim
34:48 they were discussing about getting a pardon royal pardon and he stated very clearly I am not guilty I won't want a
34:55 pardon if I am required to admit guilt
35:01 so when he was finally pardoned he said it's not because I'm guilty but because
35:06 of miscarriage of justice and and the and the argu also agreed His pardon is
35:12 based on miscarriage of justice in the court not because he's guilty. But there is a wrong use of term. Pardon means you
35:19 are guilty. The very nature what I Abraham received was not a pardon but an announcement.
35:27 The verdict was announced because if you believe he's not guilty, he need not be pardoned. Pardon assumes
35:35 guilt. I suppose this is the case with Josh Wilson. In order to receive the burden,
35:41 he must admit guilt. Perhaps he refused to admit guilt. Refuse to repent. Therefore, he was hung. In the same way,
35:50 how do we respond to Jesus Christ? We must admit guilt. We are sinners
35:56 condemned to hell.
36:01 Then willing to repent to receive the forgiveness.
36:06 Repentance means from now on I do not want to sin anymore. I want to obey God. And this is not a one-off thing. When we
36:14 repentance, we need to live in repentance through our life. Confess our sins whenever we fail
36:21 to obey God. That is how we respond to Jesus Christ
36:28 appropriately because he is Lord and Savior. Let us pray.
36:36 Uh, Father God, we thank you so much for Jesus Christ. It's mindboggling to think
36:41 that the creator God himself was born a baby and died on the cross for our sins
36:47 that Jesus is Lord and Savior. Oh, speak to us, God. Help us to respond to Jesus
36:54 accordingly to who he is and why he came. For we pray this in Jesus name.
36:59 Amen.
