Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Have you ever met somebody that was very influential, very powerful, maybe very rich, had a lot of pull, Somebody that was maybe out of your league and you didn't even know it?
[00:00:15] You know, somebody on a different societal scale than you, and you talk to them, you've noticed them, maybe you got a chance to kind of converse with them just a little bit, but nothing out of ordinary ever kind of leaped out at you to kind of indicate that this person was a little different than you?
[00:00:33] There's a guy named Ingvar Kampred. Anybody ever heard that name? I'm curious. Anybody ever heard Ingvar Kampred? Okay, good. Neither had I.
[00:00:43] This is probably a reason that you don't know this name. He died in 2018. He was 91 years old. He was one of the richest men in the entire world.
[00:00:56] In 2015, Bloomberg estimated his net worth to be $57.8 billion.
[00:01:04] Now, you know rich people in the world, right? But you don't know this guy. And it intrigued me to do a little research on him. He lived modestly. He drove an old Volvo. He always flew economy. He furnished his home with very simple products. He ate at inexpensive restaurants, and he avoided extravagance extremely. You would walk beside Ingvar on a regular basis in a room and not know that you were, you know, bumping into somebody that had a net worth of $57.8 billion. And he was very influential. In fact, let me just make this a little bit more intriguing for you. Almost everybody. Almost everybody, I would say 95% of people in this room have been impacted by this man in one way or another.
[00:01:55] The hint as to who this person was is found in his name, Ingvar Kampred. I k A he is the founder of ikea, and he probably. How many of you have IKEA items in your home like I do, but putting them together makes me lose my salvation every time. His humility and his simplicity were core at IKEA's brand. The reason why you see simplicity at IKEA is because that's who Ingvar was.
[00:02:27] He emphasized everything. This is the man in his. He emphasized everything to be affordable for the masses.
[00:02:36] And he sold his product very well.
[00:02:39] So my question to you now is this. Have you ever thought, like, how many people pass by Jesus and never realized it, never realized that they were passing by the God of the universe? You can take down now.
[00:02:54] How many people do you think passed by Jesus, taught Jesus, talked to Jesus, even corrected Jesus? I don't know how many people had an interaction with Jesus and never even realized they were talking to the God of the universe.
[00:03:12] Isaiah 53:2 reminds us that this was intentional. This was a plan of God. Listen to this. Isaiah 53 is written 700 years before Jesus was born. It's a prophecy about his birth. And here's what it says. He grew up before him like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground. Have you ever seen a root come out of dry ground? Not much to look at, right? Grew like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. You would walk by Jesus and not even recognize him. Now, for us, we have a tendency to kind of put out Jesus movies and make him the star of the show. Strong jaw, strong nose. You know that Greek nose that I got.
[00:04:00] He has that big personality. He's got the white robe, so he stands out. The other apostles, the other disciples, they kind of look like fishermen. But Jesus, you could always pick him out of a crowd. And yet that might be exactly the opposite of what the occasion actually was, what the situation was actually like.
[00:04:21] He didn't look the part. And also, nobody ever expected that they would be meeting God when they met Jesus Christ.
[00:04:30] His glory, in fact, in the Bible says that the glory of God is enough to consume a human being. So nobody ever expected to bump into God. No more than you expect to bump into God on your way out of this facility today.
[00:04:45] There's no expectation whatsoever. And yet they did it all the time.
[00:04:50] The glory of God is different from our fallenness, from our sinfulness. In fact, the word glory is kavod. This is a word meant to describe to us what his glory is compared to what we are not. And his glory is kavod. It's actually a term for weight. It's like a crushing weight. And when you in your sinfulness, when I, in my fallenness, come into the glory of God, we would be crushed by that glory. That's why in the Old Testament it constantly said that nobody would ever see God. If you see God, you will die.
[00:05:28] Everybody knew that. In fact, let me give you a couple of things. Exodus 33:20 says, you cannot see my face. God says, for man shall not see me and live. Samson's parents were visited by a messenger of God, probably a pre incarnate Jesus Christ.
[00:05:48] They were visited by this person and told that they were going to have Samson.
[00:05:54] After the person left, this is what Manoah said to his wife. We shall. Judges 13:22. We shall surely. What church?
[00:06:04] Oh, sorry. Yeah. We shall surely what? We shall surely die because we have seen God. Everybody who thought they would see God knew that they were going to die. So nobody ever expected to see him. Isaiah 6. Isaiah saw God and he said, woe is me, for I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. I'm going to die.
[00:06:29] Jacob. Jacob, the guy that lied for a living.
[00:06:34] Jacob met God and thought he lucked out because he didn't die. He knew very well who he was. Remember, he stole the birthright and the blessing from Esau. You remember all this?
[00:06:46] He pulled that off against Isaac. His dad got his mom to lie for him. I mean, it's a bad situation. Jacob sees God and thinks, I'm going to die too. But this is what he says. After he realized God had left and he had lived. Genesis 32:30. Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. For he said, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered. So when people saw Jesus Emmanuel God with us, they never expected to run into God.
[00:07:15] They thought the glory of God would consume them. They thought they would die.
[00:07:20] So it's natural that when Jesus shows up and says, I'm God, people would go, yeah, that doesn't make any sense. I'm still standing.
[00:07:29] John 1 clears it up for us. John 1 says, the word shows up. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. That's the name of Jesus Christ, the Logos, the the Word of God. Matthew 1. Another gospel, Immanuel is promised. Verse 23. The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means church.
[00:07:53] God is with us. And then in Luke 2, nobody expects God to show up. If God does show up, they certainly would die if they ever came in contact with him. And nobody expected him to be in the form of. Of a cute, cuddly little baby.
[00:08:10] And yet in Luke 2:11, it says, the angels say to the shepherds, for unto you is born this day in the city of David. Born this day in the city of David. A Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign for you will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. This seems to be a break of protocol.
[00:08:33] Nobody sees God and lives. Everybody who lived after seeing God thought they just got lucky.
[00:08:39] But certainly God wouldn't be a baby. Certainly God wouldn't Feed from a mom. Certainly God wouldn't get his diapers changed. That's a weird story.
[00:08:49] And yet that's exactly what happened when God showed up in the person of Jesus Christ. So is it any wonder why people didn't believe that Jesus was God and he didn't look the part? He didn't fulfill their imagination of what God should look like?
[00:09:08] Until you realize this was the Father's plan all along. Jesus would grow up and be revealed to be the Savior of the world. This was God's plan. And it was God's plan in order to save us. And it's really important for us at Christmas time church. It's really important for us to keep this as the focus because it is so easy for us human beings to forget what things are about. It's really weird for me as I get older to see how quickly people forget about things, like how quickly they're distracted to other things. And I think that's one of Satan's ploys at Christmas time is to get us so in love with the season of Christmas that we lose the person of Christmas.
[00:09:56] Having Christmas without Jesus is like having a birthday party, not inviting the birthday boy.
[00:10:01] And yet that's exactly what Christmas has turned into in our world in 2024.
[00:10:07] I went to Starbucks this morning and I got some drinks for some of the crew that work here this morning.
[00:10:14] And the lady that was in charge, she's a wonderful lady, and I know she's doing this for the right reasons, but the lady, she didn't know I heard her, but she saw one of the persons this morning write Merry Christmas on a cup and hand it out. And she said, don't write Merry Christmas, write Happy Holidays.
[00:10:29] And I understand why she said that. You know, you don't want to offend anybody. I get it, I get it, I get it. But it is Jesus birthday. It's literally in the name Christ Mass.
[00:10:42] So let's remember that Christmas is about this amazing plan of God to give us himself. God in flesh, camouflaged so that we wouldn't even know he was here. Some people get very confused as to what Christmas is. And they get, because of that, even more confused as to what Jesus is. Christmas is confusing enough, but we have a tendency to talk about Jesus like only at Christmas, and we kind of miss the connection of who he is and what his plan was for coming at Christmas time. And I found this skit that you're going to love. Take a look at this.
[00:11:31] I wonder what it would be like to be born in a Manger. Yeah. Wonder whatever happened to baby Jesus.
[00:11:41] He grew up.
[00:11:44] What?
[00:11:45] Wait, so you're saying that the baby Jesus Christmas story is the same as the adult walk on water Jesus?
[00:11:55] Yeah. Thanks, honey.
[00:12:01] Wow. I just never really put the two concepts together. Together.
[00:12:06] Wonder what happened to that guy, huh?
[00:12:12] He. He went to the cross. That's the same guy. Yeah. So what you're saying is baby Jesus is the same as cross Jesus? Yeah.
[00:12:23] I mean, there's some time in there, right? I mean, he. He grew up, he taught people, he lived a perfect, perfect life. He died on the cross and came back to life and, you know, now he lives in our hearts. That's the same guy, that Jesus, that lives in her heart.
[00:12:46] Okay. I was really. Oh, wow.
[00:12:53] Okay. I never really put all those guys together, you know, only one guy. I tell you this here's an idea. Maybe we stop just making Christmas all just this once a year, isolated thing, but we make it an ongoing story about the salvation in our hearts and lives.
[00:13:14] The idea.
[00:13:25] Oh, you missed it. There was a WWJD thing. He was going. This too.
[00:13:32] It's confusing for us to take this baby Jesus concept and understand that this is God in flesh. The reason that Jesus was born was so that he could die. He came on a mission. He came camouflaged behind enemy lines so that he could shed his perfect blood, so that our sins could be forgiven. This is the beginning. His birth is the beginning of this foolish gospel story. This is the delivery method God had in order to give us a savior. Matthew 1:20 says this. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. It's even in his name, Jesus. You know, Jesus Yeshua means God saves. Yet the night of his birth, the night that he was born, only the shepherds showed up. Everybody in Bethlehem slept the night away, not knowing that they were given this incredible gift. Even when Jesus lived his life. They mocked Jesus for claiming to be God in his hometown where he grew up, he preached a message. And they were astounded by the depth of his understanding. Listen to what they said. Matthew 13:55. They said, is this not the carpenter's son? Not is this God? They said, is this not the carpenter's son? Just to clarify, isn't his mother's name Mary?
[00:15:02] And aren't his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? He had brothers. And aren't his sisters all standing here with us? Jesus had siblings, brothers and sisters, and the people in his village are going, this guy. And then, look how they said, where then did this man get all these things? How can this man be so connected spiritually? When we saw him, grew up, we know his mom, we know his dad, we know his brothers, we know his sisters. And even in Jesus day, people didn't recognize Jesus is God. Jesus identified himself as the I am in John 8. And they killed. They wanted to kill him for it. They picked up stones in order to kill him for it. They didn't want to hear it. Even his own family, when he talked about being God, even his own family mocked him for it. Even at the moment of his death. Can you imagine Pilate? Pilate is struggling to try and let Jesus go because he doesn't want to kill an innocent guy. But he knows if he lets him go, these Jewish people are going to create a revolution and he's going to be in trouble with Rome. So he's so frustrated, he wants Jesus to give an answer so that he can kill him with a clean conscience. Jesus won't give it to him. In fact, Jesus starts talking to him about truth. I am the way, the truth and the life. And he's going, remember what Pilate said to him. He looked at him and he screamed at him. What is truth? When he's staring truth straight in the face and he doesn't see it.
[00:16:34] Even those at the cross, Jesus is dying on the cross between two thieves. Both of them know this guy, have heard of this guy, hear the words that he's speaking from the cross. And yet only one of them responded. They both heard the same thing. One of them said, one of them mocked him for it. And the other one responded, well, even after he rose from the dead, he's on his way to Emmaus.
[00:17:01] These guys are on the road to Emmaus. Jesus follows them. And in Luke 24, he said to them, o foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe. All the prophets have spoken. And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them. This is a great. You should underline this in your Bibles. Here's what it says. He interpreted them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself. Jesus thought the entire Bible was written about him.
[00:17:27] And when he met these guys, he starts, like a little seminary class on the way to lunch, he starts showing them where he can be found in the Old Testament, in the Scriptures that they've studied their whole lives.
[00:17:39] And even they didn't see him after he rose from the dead. Now you'd think after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, surely people would see him then. Surely People would recognize him then surely they'd recognize that Jesus must have been God from all that had happened. And yet I give you this picture. This is from graffiti from a cave in Paul's day, in Paul the Apostle's day. You can see this actually to this day. But it mocks those who worship a God who gets crucified on a cross. What it says there is, Alexamenos worships his God, and it has a God with a donkey head on it.
[00:18:20] Nobody saw Jesus as God.
[00:18:23] It seemed like the camouflage was so well done that you could walk by this guy and not even know who he was. Jesus wasn't just difficult to recognize in his day or in Paul's day, but he's also difficult to recognize in our day, isn't he?
[00:18:42] First Corinthians 1:18 reminds us of this. Listen to this. The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved, it is the what church.
[00:18:54] It is the power of God. People see Jesus, they learn about him. Hitler went to seminary, Hitler took seminary classes.
[00:19:03] And yet Hitler turned out to be the way that he was. You can study about him, you can learn about him, you can know the Bible and yet study still miss who Jesus was.
[00:19:14] The word of the cross is foolishness. You know what the foolish word there is? It's the word moros or moronic. It means nonsense. It makes no sense at all. But for those of us who are being saved, the word of the cross is the power of God. We are like those who say we have seen and we testify to you that God came to be among us so that he could go to the cross, die for our sins, rise from the dead, and show us that if we follow him, if we believe him, we too have hope of eternal salvation.
[00:19:45] This is why every writer in the New Testament after Jesus rose from the dead, seems to scream at us. He was with us. We walked with him. We talked with him, we touched him, we laughed with him, we slept beside him, we did ministry with him, we ate breakfast with Him. We were with God first. John 1 says it this way.
[00:20:11] That which was from the beginning, which we have heard. That which was from the beginning is Jesus. By the way, he never had a beginning. He was before the beginning. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes. Get it? We've seen with our eyes, we've looked upon, we've touched with our hands, concerning the word of life, that life was made manifest.
[00:20:31] It appeared before us and we have seen it. And we testify to you and proclaim to you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. Can you see what he's saying there? We ate with him, we slept beside Him. We did ministry with him. We joked with him, we talked with Him. We were with God and lived.
[00:20:50] And we proclaim to you that Jesus is God.
[00:20:56] God walked among us in the person of Jesus Christ in human form. And yet people met him his whole life and never realized who they were talking to. So I want to tell you this. In humility, Jesus hid His glory from his own creation in order to accomplish his mission.
[00:21:11] In humility, Jesus hid his glory from his own creation. It's up on the screen. So that he could accomplish his mission.
[00:21:22] This is a person with nothing to prove.
[00:21:26] This is a person like Ingvar, who was worth $58 billion but wouldn't care if you knew it or not. This is a person with nothing to prove. A Savior who is meek and gentle in heart. Hebrews 1:3 says it this way. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins. Who is that talking about? Obviously Jesus. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Mission accomplished. This is why when Jesus hung on the cross, he says, it is what it is, finished. Not, it is finished. My life is over with, but it is finished. Mission accomplished. With my death on this cross, human body has been pierced, human flesh has been pierced so that blood could flow and sins can be forgiven. And I want to tell you, some still see him and some do not.
[00:22:27] You can always tell how somebody. If somebody sees Jesus by their reaction to him.
[00:22:34] The atheist will cry, where is God? Show me God. Prove to me that there's a God.
[00:22:40] But the believer will cry, we have seen him. And declare to you that in him there is life and that life is the light of men.
[00:22:49] I love the idea. Those two thieves on the cross. Jesus is hanging there. One sees him and one doesn't.
[00:22:57] The one who doesn't looks at Jesus and says, yeah. Everybody around the cross is yelling at Jesus. They're saying, if you're God, if you're God, you claim to be God, then come on down, right? Like Price Is Right, let's come on down. If you're God, get down and show us that you're God. And the guy on Jesus, let's say he's on his left. I don't Know, one of the guys looks at Jesus and says, yeah, why don't you listen to them? He's literally dying and mocking the guy dying next to him. Now that's anger, wouldn't you say?
[00:23:30] Yeah, if you're God, why don't you get yourself down and get us down, too?
[00:23:35] But the guy on the other side says, don't you know who you're talking to?
[00:23:43] And he says, if you are God, I believe that you are. Would you remember me when you come into your kingdom? Same scenario. Two guys dying, almost dead. One guy in the middle dying, almost dead. Two totally different reactions. One sees him and one doesn't.
[00:24:03] Jesus has always been recognized by faith and not by sight.
[00:24:07] That's why he said, a wicked and perverse generation demands a sign.
[00:24:12] But those who seek me with their whole heart will find me, and the just will live by faith. When the time was fulfilled, God revealed himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. A baby who grew to die for our sins.
[00:24:26] Let me tell you something else.
[00:24:29] This is not just a story we talked about in the past. This is not just an Advent that we do every year so that we can remember the baby that was born so that he could die for our sins, so that we could have salvation in him. But there is a second Advent coming. Every time we do an Advent, it's a reminder there's a second one coming.
[00:24:47] This is an Advent to remember the birth of Jesus. But there will be a second Advent, and that will be a time when we see him again. Every time we do communion, we remind ourselves, do this as often as you do it. Remember me right until I come again. There's always a promise. Jesus himself said, I will be with you wherever you go. And then there's verses all the time, all the places in scripture where the angels see him ascend and the people, the disciples, see him ascending. And the angels say, what are you doing? Just stop standing around. Go do what you need to do. Because this same Jesus who you saw go into heaven, he'll come back for you. Jesus in John, chapter 14. If I go to prepare a place for you, I will. What? I will come again and receive you unto myself. That where I am, there you may be also. Promise after promise after promise. Listen, if you're celebrating this Advent season as a reminder that Jesus was born so that he could die on the cross, you're halfway there.
[00:25:44] But the end of the book is much better than the middle. Finish the book. The finish of the book is Jesus is coming for us again.
[00:25:52] You, when you die. You will be. If you're new follower of Jesus Christ, you will one day be resurrected. You'll have a new body, a body that doesn't break down, that doesn't go old, that doesn't decay. You will have a body that couldn't sin if it wanted to. And you will live with Jesus. And those who follow him will for all eternity. That is a second Advent. That is why we celebrate the first Advent. Because the first Advent is really good. But the second Advent is much, much better.
[00:26:23] And those who live by faith, they will not miss it. It won't be an empty barn like in the first Advent.
[00:26:30] We're going to fill this place with believers.
[00:26:34] The whole earth will be full of his glory, and we will be there with Him. It won't be an empty barn with two confused people having a child and throwing him in a manger, with shepherds who show up in the middle of the night saying angels sent them and maybe a few animals. Around this will be a throng of people gathered together to worship the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
[00:27:01] Revelation 17 says it this way. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. Isn't that great?
[00:27:12] And all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
[00:27:17] I am Alpha and Omega, says the Lord God. Who is and who was and who is? To what church?
[00:27:26] Who is to come. I like how he says it. I am the one who is. He doesn't start who was. He starts with, with who is. Why? Because he's the I am. Never had a beginning, never will have an end.
[00:27:38] He is a constant progressive verb form the I am. I am the one who is. I am the one who was. I was incarnate. I walked among you. I touched you. You bumped into me. We had conversation. I did miracles. I'm that guy, too. Unlike the guy decorating the Christmas tree. He's saying, I'm all those. I'm the one who. Who is. I am the one who was, and I am the one who is to come.
[00:28:03] If I go, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That where I am, there you may be also. We are dealing with a humble God with nothing to prove.
[00:28:13] He's not willing to do anything to elevate himself from his surrendered glory. But he is willing to do anything to elevate us to eternal glory, even being born in the flesh. Listen to this verse, 2nd Corinthians 8, 9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that Though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich.
[00:28:46] The Word became flesh. The rich became poor. The immortal took on mortality so that you, through his poverty, might be made rich.
[00:28:59] Jesus took the first step toward us so that we could know Him. This is our camouflaged God, the infant baby who created his own mother in her mother's womb.
[00:29:15] The word became flesh. John 1 dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word was God. The Word became flesh. This is the most concise statement of the Incarnation in the entire Bible.
[00:29:34] And because of this Incarnation Church, every regular Joe could bump into the God of the universe and survive.
[00:29:44] In fact, not only survive, but have hope of eternal life.
[00:29:50] So what, why do we talk about this this morning? Two things I want to share with you. Number one, Jesus is the glory of God.
[00:29:59] You may have bumped into him when he was walking around on this planet and not even realized who he was. And I want to tell you that happens to this day as well.
[00:30:09] Jesus himself says, I rain blessings on the just, and I rain blessings on the unjust. I give blessings to those who recognize me and I give blessings to those who refuse to recognize me. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter if you're in this room. You have been blessed by Jesus Christ.
[00:30:28] You have been blessed by God.
[00:30:31] And you may have had challenges in this life. You may have had way more struggles than the person next to you. You. But regardless of that, you have been blessed by this little baby in a manger who has been good to all of us.
[00:30:47] He is the glory of God, this God of the universe. This is our humble God, who even though we recognize him or don't recognize him, still shovels blessings our way.
[00:30:59] This is our camouflage God sent behind enemy lines in order to rescue those imprisoned by sin in this broken world. Philippians 2:6 says it this way. Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking on the form of a servant and was born in the likeness of men. Jesus is the One at the Father's right hand. He made it possible so that we could receive a glimpse of God for ourselves. And if we didn't live in those days, we. We have stories of what he did in the Gospels. That's why we constantly. When you come to this church, we constantly talk about Jesus because everything revolves around Him.
[00:31:45] He hid his glory so that we could see the Father.
[00:31:50] Right before he went to the cross, right after he went to the cross, he looked at Philip and he said, I'm going away. And before he went to the cross, John 14, he looked at Philip and he says, I'm going away, but if I come, I receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And Philip said to him, listen, if you show us the Father, that'll be enough for us. And I got to think, after all of these years with Philip, after all of these years camouflaging himself and then revealing a little bit of his glory every now and then, like on a mount of transfiguration, or when he did a miracle or something like that, people go, holy smokes. This has got to be God every once in a while. And philosopher Philip was there for all of it. And Philip said, listen, if you just show us the Father, we'll believe. And Jesus responds to Philip. You remember what it was? Have I been with you this long and you still don't get it?
[00:32:36] I've been walking with you. I've been talking with you. I've been teaching you. I've been showing you the Father. I am God. Immanuel among you.
[00:32:46] His hidden glory was finally revealed once and for all after the resurrection. This is our glorified Lord. Philippians 2 continues to say, therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee. Church should what?
[00:33:05] Every knee should bow in heaven, in earth, under the earth, wherever there's space in this universe. And every tongue confess that. Let's do it together, Church. Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
[00:33:23] You want to bring glory to the Father?
[00:33:27] Then you confess, Jesus is Lord today, the next day, the next day.
[00:33:36] You live like you believe that he has come to save us from our sins. You follow. You give your life to him. You make it your passion in life to live out the promises, to live out the truth of this Jesus.
[00:33:52] That's how we bring glory to God.
[00:33:56] This humble Savior camouflaged himself so that we could get a glimpse of who he was and a full picture. Now that he is resurrected from the dead, I love that, too. Because when he resurrected from the dead, remember Mary went to grab him once. She said, mary. And she recognized it's Jesus. And he said, don't touch me, don't touch me. Don't touch me, don't touch me. Remember that number two. You can share in God's glory. Because of Jesus. This is our gracious God. This is this kavod glory that shines on our soul. The glory of God that weighs on us. Some people are scared of this glory of God. Some people are scared of it, and I totally get it, because it's like this bright light. It's like you did something wrong, and somebody that you're responsible to finds out and you've really disappointed them. And then they come over and they look at you and they go, I know what you did. And you know what you did, too. And now you know you're found out. And what happens? You get all flush in the face. Like you feel this weight. You're going, oh, I've been found out. This is not what we are meant to see the glory of God as. Understandably so. In fact, that's why he calls it the light. He. He is this neon light that shines into our soul. And we go, oh, man. Yeah, I totally understand who I am. And now I understand who you are. And I feel the weight of your glory. But that's why Jesus came. He came so that he could transfer to us the ability to stand in front of God blameless.
[00:35:32] Jesus is the only one who can stand in front of God and not feel the weight of judgment. Did you know that? He's the only one. He's the only perfect one.
[00:35:40] But because he died on the cross and rose from the dead, he gives us this ability to clothe ourselves in his righteousness. So when God looks at you, Church, listen. When God looks at you and you go, I know. I'm such a loser.
[00:35:54] I've disappointed you.
[00:35:57] I've been found out. And that light has been shined into my heart, and I have nothing to hide. And I am crushed under this weight of your glory.
[00:36:12] This is when God comes to us and he picks us up and he says, you don't get it. This is why I sent my son, so that you are not crushed under the weight. Because he was crushed for you.
[00:36:25] He was pierced and crucified for you. You lied. He became a liar. You stole. He became the thief, you cheated. He became the cheater. He took the sins of us. Somehow, theologically, I do not understand it.
[00:36:40] But he took our sins on that cross.
[00:36:44] And when he did it, you were set free.
[00:36:53] And those who have been freed by Jesus, he says, have been freed indeed. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. The book of Romans says, this is our privilege in Jesus. We have Been freed from the kavod, the weight, the light. I don't know what you've done in your past, but join the club. Every one of us has dropped the ball. Disappointed people, hurt people when we don't mean to.
[00:37:27] God gave us Jesus Christ so that he could shine that light into our heart and say, all right, let's take care of this.
[00:37:34] And when he does, he washes it away. And you are made white as snow.
[00:37:39] No condemnation. Some people think that when they get to heaven and see God, he's going to go, oh, yeah, you. I remember everything you did. Let's go through it. Screen, please.
[00:37:50] Then we show on the screen for you and all of your loved ones to see. All of the ways you disappointed God.
[00:37:59] That is not the God of the Bible.
[00:38:03] The God of the Bible has cast your sins as far as the east is from the west. Do you know why he doesn't cast your sins as far as the north is from the south. If you walk north far enough, eventually you start walking south, right? But if you walk east long enough, you never start going west. You just keep going east. He casts our sins so that they cannot be found. Into the deepest sea. Jesus has washed them away. If you don't know Christ as your Savior. If you've been celebrating Christmas and you've missed the glory of God, that will crush you. But the glory of God that came to us so that we could receive God's glory. You have missed Jesus and you've missed the Gospel.
[00:38:46] He is able to forgive us because he is God and he offers us his own glory. No judgment. Only riches in Jesus. No fear. Only love from Jesus. No isolation. Only a rightful place in his family. Romans 8:16 says it this way. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit. We are what, Church?
[00:39:08] Come on. We are what?
[00:39:10] We are. Children of God. And if children, then what? How would you like to be heirs to a long lost uncle that had $56.8 billion? Be pretty nice, right? I'm here to tell you your heir is the God of the universe. And you have his inheritance at your disposal. Forget Ingvar. Money burns. God's riches are yours for eternity. You are children. You are in the family. And therefore you are heirs. Heirs of God. Fellow heirs with Christ. Providing we suffer with him in order that we also may be glorified with Him. Church. He laid aside his glory to give us glory.
[00:39:56] It's on the screen. He laid aside his glory to give us glory. He came to be with us so that he could take us with him and he's coming again and giving you the same offer he gave to me years ago when I accepted him as my Savior. John 1:21. To all who receive him, who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
[00:40:17] We may be impressed with the knowledge of knowing a rich tycoon like the founder of ikea. I always remember the elf scene. You remember the elf scene? Hey, guys. Santa Claus is coming tomorrow.
[00:40:28] I know him. I know him. Do you remember that scene? He's dancing around. I know it. Santa's coming tomorrow. I know him. Listen, Church, you know the God of the universe. Not some Santa Claus, not some $58 billion billionaire. You know the maker of all things and the one who holds all things in his hand, the controller of all things. And he loves to talk to you.
[00:40:57] You are his child. If you know him as your savior. Listen, Church, I don't know Santa Claus, but I know the founder of the universe. I know the one who made Bill gates, Elon Musk, St Nicholas, or even the Virgin Mary. I know him. And he is meek and he is gentle in heart. And we would be glad to introduce you to him maybe because you've never met him as your Savior at all.
[00:41:26] And if you would like to be in his family, that offer is as open to you as it was yesterday and the day before. And I don't know what's going to happen before the end of the day, but today might be your day of salvation. Call on his name. Give your life to him. Know him and know freedom. Let's pray.
[00:41:49] Father God, I am grateful for the story of Christmas. That we get to remind ourselves every year. Jesus, you came to us in the form of this little, innocent, cuddly, squishy little baby.
[00:42:04] A radical thing nobody would ever know, like only a few people as you grew, ever saw you. Simeon was one and Anna was one at your birth. And we have these people, the disciples, but they didn't even get it fully.
[00:42:19] Even after your resurrection, this amazing miracle that no one could deny. Even then, people missed you every day. They miss you today.
[00:42:31] And so, Father, my prayer is that if you have given us this one more day, that you would add more into your family.
[00:42:39] More children in call, more to yourself.
[00:42:43] May this generation experience a revival that they've never seen before. May we walk around in our lives with a new step, with a new excitement. Because we know you.
[00:42:58] Not Bill Gates, not Elon Musk, but we know you.
[00:43:04] And you are greater than any human that has ever existed.
[00:43:09] This is only possible because you loved us. And because you love us, Father, we love you. So if there's anyone who has never given their life to you that doesn't understand what it's like to be a part of your family, work in their lives today. Help them to make this Advent season an Advent that would change their lives forevermore. I pray in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:43:31] You stand.
