Anticipating Advent: Week 3

Such of the crossing. My name is Andrew, and Merry Christmas.

If you're new or visiting, I'm so glad that you

decided to be here today. This month, we've been in

a teaching series called Anticipating Advent, and each week we've

looked at an Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah, and

we've looked at how Jesus has fulfilled those prophecies. And

a little bit later today we're going to be opening

the Bible to Isaiah chapter sixty one and Luke chapter four.

And as we begin, would you pray with me? Father God,

We thank you for your grace, We thank you for

your presence.

God.

Today we come to receive from you. So we invite

your Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts and to

speak to our minds. Holy Spirit, Would you silence any

distracting thoughts in our minds?

Holy Spirit? Would you silence anxiety? Would you silence fear?

In the name of Jesus and God, may we experience

more of your goodness, more of your grace, and more

of your love. Today, God, we are here to receive

from you. I pray all of this in Jesus' name.

Amen. So just a few days ago.

This past week, my friend, good friend of mine called

me on the phone and he said, what do you

want to hear first, the good, the bad, or the ugly.

How many of.

You are a I want to hear good news first

type of person.

Anybody here?

Okay, A few, a few of you. How many of

you are like me? Give me the bad news first. Yes,

that's I think that's a lot of us. Give me

the bad news.

First, that's what I want.

So I heard a story once about a man who

went to see his doctor and the doctor said I've

got good news and I've got bad news. And the

patient said, okay, well, what's the good news? And the

doctor said, the good news is you have a deadly

illness and you only have twenty four hours to live.

And the patient said, oh my, if that's the good news,

what is the bad news? And the doctor said, the

bad news is I forgot to tell you about the

illness yesterday. We're not done yet, folks. Another story goes

like this. Two women were best friends. They had played

in the same softball league for many years and they

had grown old together and one of the friends her

health was beginning to decline, and as she was nearing

the end. Her friend was by her bed holding her hand,

and her friends said to the sick friend, when you

get to heaven, let me know if there's softball in heaven. Well,

the friend passed away, and then after the funeral, the

surviving friend was asleep one night and in a dream,

her friend from heaven came to visit her, and she

asked her friend, Okay, so tell me, is there softball

in heaven? And the friends said, good news, there is

softball in heaven and you're pitching next Tuesday.

Thank you for your sympathy laughs.

I apologize for the cheesy stories I found on the internet.

I doubt that any of us want to hear bad news,

especially around Christmas time.

We don't want to hear bad news during the holidays, But.

Haven't you ever noticed that bad news doesn't care when

the holidays are Bad news doesn't wait until after Christmas.

Bad news comes when it wants to come, and there's

nothing that we can do about it. Have you received

some bad news recently? Have you received a bad report

from the doctor, or maybe learned recently that a loved

one is not You're not gonna see them this Christmas?

Or maybe it's some bad news at work.

I think things aren't going well. There's been layoffs or downsizing,

or you didn't meet the goals this quarter and things

are stressful.

Have you received some bad news.

I know of one family who's struggled to pay their

rent for the last two months and their landlord has

the power.

To evict them.

Even this month around Christmas time, I know I have

at least one family in our.

Church that's grieving the loss of a loved one. Just

this month. I even learned about friends of.

A friend who this week filed for divorce a week

before Christmas. Bad news doesn't care if it's Christmas time.

Bad news comes when it wants to come, and nobody

wants to hear bad news. When we look at the

Birth of Jesus, the original Christmas story, we cannot ignore

that there was some bad news in the Christmas story.

I mean, just for example, Mary and Joseph were traveling

to Bethlehem and Mary was pregnant and they could not

find a place to stay.

There was no extra room for them.

This is bad news, and so they ended up spending

the night in a barn, or in a stable. Just

a couple of weeks ago, I got to visit my

friends who have a five week old baby girl.

And my friends the parents, they said.

You can hold our baby if you wash your hands first, which, hey,

that's understandable.

Imagine a baby being born in a barn.

No amount of hand washing is gonna resolve the germs

and the bacteria and all the things that are growing

and smelling in a bar.

And this is some bad news. And then more bad news.

King Herod, when he learned that there was a baby

born who was called the Messiah, King Herod felt threatened,

and so he ordered that every baby boy in the

region be killed.

And so Jesus and his parents fled to Egypt to

escape King Herod's wrath.

That's bad news. There was some bad news in the

Christmas story. But even though there is some bad news

in the Christmas story, there is better news. There is

great news in the Christmas story because on the night

that Jesus was born, angels visited shepherds in the fields

nearby and announced the birth of Jesus.

This is what we read in Luke chapter two.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,

keeping watch over their flocks at night, an angel of

the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the

Lord shone around.

Them, and they were terrified. But the Angel said to them,

do not be afraid.

I bring you good news that will cause great joy

for all people.

I bring you good news. I wonder, can you say

the words good news with me? Good news. I bring

you good news. It'll be great joy for all people.

Today in the town of David, a savior has been born.

He is the Messiah the Lord.

This is good news. And the Angel announces good news.

The Savior's here, the Messiah's here. And notice when the

angels arrive, it says, the glory of the Lord shown

around them. The glory of God. The magesty of God

lit up the night sky. He penetrated the darkness.

And today I want.

To remind us that the good news of Jesus outshines

all bad news. The good news of Jesus out shines

all the bad news.

That dark night. The glory of God shined in the sky, lit.

It up as clear and as bright as day. The

glory of God pushes out the darkness, pushes out bad news.

The good news of Jesus is greater. Do you need

some good news today. Do you need some hope today?

Do you need to know that it's gonna be okay

even if you don't feel okay. I want to tell

you that the good news of Jesus outshines all of

the bad news.

The bad news that you just got cannot outshine Jesus.

The disappointment you have does not overpower Jesus.

The grief you're walking through does not overwhelm Jesus.

Because Jesus shines brighter than your darkest moment. Jesus is

greater than your deepest pain. Jesus is stronger than the

worst sin in your life.

The good news of Jesus outshines all the bad news.

Before Jesus was born, the Jewish people had anticipated the

arrival of a Messiah. They had expected a savior, and

they called him Messiah or in Greek, the word Christ.

Both these words Messiah and Christ come from a Hebrew

word that means anointed one, the anointed one same thing,

Messiah Christ. And for centuries they had looked for the

anointed one. In the Old Testament, there's more than sixty

prophecies directly predicting an anointed one to come, and based

on some of these prophecies, the Jewish people had expectations.

Some expected that the Anointed One would be a very

great king because the prophecies said he would come from

the line of King David. Others expected that the Anointed

One would be a mighty warrior because there were prophecies

that said he would liberate as people. And even more

believe that the annoints were one was gonna be ad

this strong political figure and restore Israel to its previous glory.

These were all these expectations about the Anointed One, but

nobody expected the Anointed One to be born as a

vulnerable baby to two poor parents spending the night in

a barn. Sometimes the good news is not what we expected.

Sometimes the good news is a surprise. It's not what

we expected.

Messiah means anointed one, and in Isaiah sixty one, the

prophet Isaiah gives a prophecy about the anointed One to

come about the Messiah. This was written seven hundred years

before Jesus was born. Here's what we read in Isaiah

sixty one. The spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on

me because the Lord has anointed me. That's the same

root word for Messiah has anointed me to proclaim what

good news to the poor He has set me to

bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the

captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.

To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Sounds like

good news, doesn't it. The Anointed One is here, The

Messiah is coming.

After Jesus was born, he lived in Egypt for some time,

and then he and his parents moved back to Nazareth.

Nazareth was a town in Israel, and it was Jesus's hometown.

Nazareth is where Jesus grew up as a boy.

And he grew into a man at Nazareth, and then

as an adult, Jesus began to travel throughout the region

and he was preaching about the good news and.

Teaching the people.

He's performing miracles, healing the sick, casting out demons, and

people began to take notice of Jesus, and some of

them began to wonder, could this be.

The Anointed One?

Might this Jesus be the one, the Messiah, the one

that we've been waiting for. And then one day Jesus

returns to his hometown in Nazareth and he goes to

the synagogue on the Sabbath. And in Luke chapter four

we see that Jesus is invited to read from the scriptures,

and who does he choose to read from? But the

prophet is Look at Luke chapter four with me, tell

me if these words sound familiar to what we just read.

Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.

But on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue,

as was his custom. He stood up to read, and

the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.

Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written,

the spirit of the Lord is on me, because he

has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has set me.

To proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight

for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim

the year.

Of the Lord's favor.

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to

the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in

the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying

to them, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,

Jesus says, he fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that Jesus

fulfills the messiah prophecy. Jesus is the Savior. Jesus is

the Christ.

He's claiming to be the anointed one.

He is him, and everyone who's listening is surprised because.

They've known Jesus since he was a boy. They've seen

Jesus grow up.

In fact, verse twenty two says, all spoke well with

him and were amazed at the gracious words.

That came from his lips. Isn't this Joseph's son?

They asked. They had known Jesus since he was a boy.

They had known his parents, Like.

Isn't this Joe's boy? Is isn't is it the boy

that we've seen grow up?

They were surprised because sometimes the good news is not

what we expected.

Sometimes the good news is surprising.

Today, I want to look closely at what Jesus says

in Luke chapter four, and I want to emphasize one.

Thing that Jesus says.

There's a lot in the scripture that he emphasizes. We

could talk about his miracle power to heal. We could

talk about all the different things that Jesus does as

the Savior. We could talk about the year the Lord's

favor but I want to talk about one specific thing

that Jesus mentions. Look at verse eighteen again says he

that's God. The Father has sent me Jesus to proclaim

freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free. I want to talk about

freedom today. The good news of Jesus sets you free.

There is freedom because of the good.

News of Jesus.

You might remember an international incident that happened in twenty eighteen.

It captured the attention of the world and news media,

and that summer in July twenty eighteen, there were thirteen

boys and their soccer coach in Thailand that got trapped

in an underground cave. This cave was a tourist destination.

It was a popular visit for tourists. You could explore,

you could go hiking all these tunnels and caves that

people visited all the time.

And so one day.

These boys in their soccer coach, after soccer practice, go

to this tourist destination. They're exploring the caves. Then all

of a sudden, without warning, a flash flood hits and

starts flooding the cave with water, and so the boys

push further into the cave, trying to escape the rising floodwaters,

and they find a dry piece of like a sandbar

in the tunnels that was high enough above the water line,

But the water was so high it completely shut off

the exit, completely shut off the entrance, and the boys

had gone so far in the tunnel they were more

than two miles from the entrance, underground, stuck in darkness,

trapped in a cave. Have you ever felt stuck? Have

you ever felt spiritually trapped? Do you feel like you're

separated from God? Do you feel like God can't hear you,

you can't see what God's doing? You feel distance from God?

Have you been trying to live your life on your

own terms? Have you been trying to survive in this

life without asking God for help?

Just like these boys stuck in the cave. They were

stuck underground in complete darkness, no way out, no.

Escape, and the only way that they could survive.

You see, they didn't have any food, they didn't have any.

Survival materials, and the only way that they could survive

was by licking the water coming down.

The cave walls. Because the flood water was polluted.

They were licking the water coming down the cave walls.

Have you been trying to survive without asking God for help?

Trying to look for all of the things in this

life to give you satisfaction, The things in this life

to calm your anxiety, the things in this life to give.

You more control and more powerlel like licking the water

coming down the cave.

You see, you and I are separated from God because

of our sin. Our sin has trapped us in spiritual darkness.

You see the failures in.

Life, the mistakes in my life, the.

Selfishness when I've chosen myself first. Those things have separated

me from God. You are separated from God because of

your sin, and there's nothing that we can do to

escape the darkness. Just like those boys trapped in the cave,

we are prisoners in the spiritual darkness because of our sin.

We are doomed without a savior.

But Jesus came to save us, to give us freedom

from the power of sin. In fact, Jesus says in

John twelve, I have come into the world as a

light so that no one who believes in me should

stay in darkness. Jesus sets you free from sin. Jesus

sets you free from sin. These boys were trapped.

Underground more than two miles from the cave entrance.

Without any food, without any emergency supplies, that were trapped

in darkness, and it took more than eight days for

rescuers to search for them. For eight days, rescue teams

on the surface were trying to locate the boys. For

eight days they were looking on a way to get

into the cave because the water was still so high

that it blocked off the exit and the entrance.

And there was no way to get in.

You see, these caves were so tight and so narrow,

and they were filled with water, and it was completely dark,

so you couldn't see where you were going. Some of

the tightest spots in this cave were just barely two

feet by two feet. Even in the dry and with light,

you'd have to squeeze through. And now it's covered by water.

More than ten thousand people were working on this rescue project,

one hundred professional divers, one hundred different agencies, trying to

find a way to get to the boys.

After ten days, they made contact with the boys.

The divers found a way to get through the tunnels,

and it would take more than five hours from the

entrance to make their way to where the boys were, and.

They started bringing food, and they started bringing.

Supplies to the boys, but they still didn't have a

strategy to get the boys rescued. You and I cannot

save ourselves from the spiritual darkness of sin.

You and I are powerless to rescue ourselves.

Our sin is so great and it is so serious

that we cannot earn our own freedom. No amount of

good works can pay for our freedom. You can't work

it off, you can't earn it, you can't pay it back.

To set yourself free, we need a savior. Just like

those boys stuck helplessly in the cave, we are helpless

without a savior. One of the volunteer professional divers was

a man named Simon Goonen. It was retired TI Navy

seal and he volunteered to help bring the supplies and

the food through the tunnels to the boys. And so

for more than five hours he would swim underwater carrying

the supplies, going through all the narrow chambers and tunnels,

and on one.

Trip he delivered the supplies.

He delivered the food of the boys, and then he

put his oxygen mask on and he went back into

the tunnels under the water, and while he was making

his way back through the tunnels, he ran out of

oxygen and he died. He gave up his life to

rescue these boys. Jesus gave up his life to save us.

Jesus says in John ten, the reason my father loves

me is that I lay down my life only to

take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it

down of my own accord.

I have authority to lay it down and authority to

take it up again. This command I received from my father.

You see, Jesus died to rescue us, died for our freedom.

When Jesus died.

On the cross, he paid the price for our sin

so that we can be forgiven. When he was on

the cross, he absorbed our punishment. He absorbed the wrath

of God for us, so that you and I can

be forgiven, so that we can be free from the

power of sin. And three days after he died, Jesus

rose from the dead, defeating send, defeating death, securing our

eternal life, so that if anyone trusts in Jesus, we

will be saved, we will be freed. So these boys

were trapped in the tunnel underground, more than two miles

from the entrance, in complete darkness, and after nearly eighteen days,

the rescue divers created a strategy to get these boys

out safely. It was a unique strategy and it required

that each boy completely trust the dive team. The strategy

was that each diver would carry one boy at a

time through the tunnels, and in order to do that,

each boy would be sedated with anesthesias so they'd be

asleep so that they didn't panic or get scared, or

or harm themselves or harm anybody else in the rescue process.

They had to completely trust these divers, and so each

boy was sedated and then an ox masks put around

their face, and then the diver would carry them swimming

through these dark, unlit tunnels for more than two miles,

and the divers would be so close, squeezing through some

of those tight narrow passages, they would put their head

above the boy's heads so that their head would hit

the diver's head would hit the ceilings, so the boys

didn't putting their face right there just carrying them through.

The boys had to completely trust, completely surrender to the divers.

And thankfully, all thirteen boys in their coach were rescued

safely without harm.

They had to.

Trust their dive team. Have you trusted Jesus completely? Have

you surrendered your life to Jesus? Have you placed control

of your life in the hands of Jesus. Jesus sets

us free from sin.

The good news is our freedom.

I want us to also notice what Jesus says in

Luke four, verse eighteen. He says that he came to

set the oppressed free.

He came to set the oppressed free.

When I surrendered my life to Jesus many years ago

and trusted him, I believe that Jesus saved me.

I believe that Jesus forgave me.

I believe that Jesus gave me eternal life in heaven.

And yet I still felt oppressed. I still struggled with

shame fear.

I had this oppression that I was ashamed of my sin.

I was ashamed of.

Secrets in my life that I didn't want anybody to know.

I was embarrassed about some things in my life, sinful things,

and the devil was oppressing me, torments to me, lying

to me, and accusing me, until Jesus healed my heart

and Jesus set me free.

From that oppression. Jesus sets you free from oppression.

I believe that there are some of us who are Christians,

We're believers. You've trusted Jesus, you've prayed a sinner's prayer,

You've put your faith in him. You trust him, and

yet you still struggle with some oppression, Still feel that oppression,

that pressing down, that burden. Jesus says that he's come

to set the oppressed free when he says oppressed in

Luke chapter four.

This word oppressed has.

Roots in the Greek language that come from a word

that means pressed, broken, crushed, squeezed. Does it feel like

there's something pressing on you, crushing you, Grief crushing your heart,

Fear squeezing hope out of you, anger pressing joy.

Out of you? You feel oppressed by envy?

You see that other person and you're jealous of what

they have that you don't have it.

It says oppressive.

You're oppressed by shame, like me. What does the voice

of shame sound like? The voice of shame? It says

you'll never be good enough, You don't deserve a second chance.

The voice of shame lies to you.

And says God doesn't care, God doesn't love.

The voice of shame says, you're just like your dad,

or you're just like your mom. You're gonna make the

same mistakes. That's the voice of shame. But Jesus has

come to us free from oppression. In Romans chapter ten,

it says anyone who believes in him Jesus will never

be put to shame. You see shame, it is a

lie straight from hell. When you look at the beginning

of humanity. The first two humans, Adam and Eve in

Genesis chapter three. They were made without sin, and yet

they chose sin. They disobeyed God, and then in their

sin they became a shamed. And when God came looking

for Adam and Eve, he said where are you? And

Adam said, I'm hiding because I'm a shamed. You see,

when the devil lies to you, and if you believe

the lives of shame, then the devil has one power

over you. But when you come to Jesus and you

release that and you surrender that, Jesus sets you free.

Jesus is greater than the worst day of your life.

Jesus is more powerful than the worst regret in your life.

Jesus is stronger than addiction. He's stronger than hurt.

He's stronger than the brokenness that you can't see past.

Jesus said, anyone who believes in him will not be

put to shame. We've been looking at this prophecy from

Isaiah in verse in chapter sixty one.

We keep reading.

Notice it says in verse one, the spirit of the

Lord is on me, because the Lord has annointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

And then look at verse seven.

Instead of your shame, you will receive a double portion

instead of disgrace. You will rejoice in your inheritance. When

you put your trust in Jesus, you become a co

heir with Jesus. You inherit eternal life, You inherit heaven

stead of shame. You receive grace instead of disgrace. You'll

have joy instead of self hate. You have a purpose

instead of despair. You have hope instead of death. You

get life. Jesus sets you free from oppression. Therefore, how

do we live in the freedom of Jesus? How do

we live our lives in the freedom of Jesus? And

I want to say make the exchange.

We live in his freedom. When we make the exchange,

you don't have to raise your hand.

But how many of you are completely done with your

Christmas gift shopping?

Don't have to raise your hand.

I do all of my Christmas shopping on Amazon, ninety

nine percent of it on Amazon.

It's just easy.

I can build my card, I can read reviews, I

can find the deals that I want, and I order

it and then I just trust that Santus I mean,

the Amazon truck will arrive on time. But this also

means that I've got to make some returns, you know,

because sometimes what I order doesn't fit, or it's the

wrong size, got to send it back, or maybe the

picture is not exactly what I get got in the package.

Just so have to make some exchanges. And Amazon makes

it really easy to make these returns. You just go online.

You say I'm.

Returning this, and they ask why are you returning it?

You'd be as honest as you want. I think one

time I even typed in I don't want it, and

they accepted that, and you just take it to Whole Foods,

drop it off, no questions asked. It's an easy exchange

if you want to live in the freedom of Jesus.

Make the exchange.

Exchange shame for grace, Exchange fear for hope, Exchange sin

for forgiveness. Make the exchange today. I want to invite

all of us to make the exchange. We've been looking

at Isaiah chapter sixty one. This prophecy written about the

anointed one. If you keep reading in Isaiah sixty one,

you'll see it.

Describes the great exchange. Isaiah sixty one. It says He

has sent me.

To comfort all humourn verse three, and provide for those

who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of.

Beauty instead of ashes. Exchange the oil of joys in

a morning.

Exchange the garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

Exchange you see, Jesus sets us free, so we can

exchange oppression for his freedom, exchange sin for his forgiveness.

You see. The exchange is at.

The heart of the Gospel. It's at the heart of Christmas.

Jesus exchanged his power and authority in heaven to be

born as a humble baby in a barn. Jesus exchanged

his perfect, innocent, holy life for us when he died

on the cross.

It's exchange he died as our substitute.

He died in our place, and so we and we

exchange our junk for his hope.

We exchange our baggage for his healing.

What do you need to exchange today? You need to

exchange anger for his peace? Do you need to exchange

trying to keep control?

Trust?

What do you need to exchange today?

Because Jesus wants to set you free? So today I

want to invite all of us to respond and make

the exchange. There's a prayer that I'm gonna lead us

through here on the screen. You can read it, but it.

Says, Jesus, I trust you. I want to live in

your freedom. Today.

I'm giving you fill in the blank in exchange for you.

Give me the faith to trust you. Would you take

a moment and respond?

Would you take a moment to pray that prayer to

fill in that blank. You can bwe your head and

close your eyes if you'd like, but just take a

moment and then I'll close.

Kay. I want to encourage you to make the exchange.

Fill in the blank.

Surrender that pain from the past, that hurt, it's under

that fear, that anxiety. Make the exchange. And today I

do not want to end without extending an invitation anyone

listening who is not in relationship with God. If you

have not trusted Jesus, if you have not asked for

forgiveness of your sins, and you're listening today and you want.

To trust Jesus that.

I invite you to make that decision today as we

continue in prayer. If you want to ask for Jesus's

forgiveness and shrow in your life to him, I would

just invite you to pray this prayer after me. To yourself, say,

Dear God, I admit that I'm a sinner and I

need your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus died for me

and rose from the dead to save me. Today I

confess Jesus as Lord of my life.

I exchange sin for your forgiveness.

And with our heads bowed, our eyes closed, if you

prayed that prayer.

No one else is looking around.

I just wonder if you'd be brave enough to raise

your hands so I could see you, so I could

say that God loves you, he cares about you, he

sees you.

Let me close us in prayer.

Father God, thank you for your grace, Thank you for

sending Jesus to make the exchange for us.

Thank you for the grace and the freedom that we have.

And so God, as we go into this week, would

you fill us with more hope, would you fill us

with more joy?

And God, maybe walk in the freedom.

And when shame comes knocking, when oppression comes knocking, maybe

we silence it voice with the good news of Jesus.

And I pray all this in his name. Amen.