"Songs for Weary Shepherds: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" Psalm 110:1-7 Sunday Morning Worship Service

Psalm 110.

Yahweh says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

Yahweh sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter.

Rule in the midst of your enemies.

Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power.

In holy garments, from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.

Yahweh has sworn and will not change his mind.

You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

The Lord is at your right hand.

He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.

He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses.

He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.

He will drink from the brook by the way.

Therefore, he will lift up his head.

This is the word of God.

I failed to mention this a minute ago, but I do want to make sure you all know that Dottie Britton went to be with the Lord this week.

She was a wonderful, wonderful woman.

With a very husband I never met.

Her husband went to be with the Lord before I before I moved here.

But everybody talked about how strong and powerful her husband was, and she had the ability to endure him.

And she told me endure was the right word.

And then shine in her own godliness afterwards.

She was just an amazing, amazing woman.

I'm so glad I got to know her.

I know many of you did as well.

There will be uh services for her uh, I think January, the second week of January or so.

Uh I got to visit with her before she went to heaven.

And uh you know, she was so encouraging, still mentally sharp, had all kinds of theological questions written down that she wanted to talk to me about.

And uh afterwards I talked to one of her grand somebody married into her family, who said, Man, she is just ready for the bus to pick her up.

Uh and that is a great way of putting it.

So I'm thankful that she is with the Lord now.

Let's pray and then we'll look at Psalm 110 together.

God, we are grateful for your word.

We do pray that it would quicken our hearts.

Uh we're thankful for Dottie Britton, and we pray that you would um comfort her family and encourage those that she has left behind.

We pray this morning, Lord, as we look into your word, that you would cause us to long for Christ and a second coming.

We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So I know from experience when that happens once, it'll happen other times.

And do you remember the deal we made about this like a year ago or so?

Our deal was that I will pretend I don't hear it, if you also pretend you don't hear it.

And then we just covenant together on that and go forward.

I am uh at the stage of life where I like reading uh murder mysteries.

Make of that what you want, and I have learned quickly in there that there are a kind of murder mystery that I don't like at all.

And that's the one where the author doesn't give you enough clues to solve it at the end.

Where like the detective solves it at the end with, because I found his fingerprints on the door, and you're like, well, that would have been something that would have been helpful to know, you know, when you found it.

I don't like those kind of stories.

And the other kind of stories I definitely don't like is where the author gives you enough clues to figure it out, and so you've solved it before he reveals it to you at the end.

So you might be thinking, what is left then?

Right?

But if you like this genre of reading, you know there is something left.

It's the one where there are enough clues to figure it out, but you don't have the right perspective quite yet.

It's not until the detective, the brilliant detective, and I blame, I blame the school system for this because they introduced these stories to my middle child who started reading them for her English class, and I discovered the genre where there's the kind that there's enough clues given that you need the detective's insight to put them in the right order, but once the detective gives his speech at the end, you're like, oh my goodness, it was there all along.

That kind.

And I know we homeschool too, so it's hard for me to blame the school system.

Psalm 110, through that lens, is the ultimate Christmas mystery.

It sprinkles the clues about this person throughout the psalm, and yet somehow reading this psalm in isolation does not give you enough to crack the case.

But once you find the person that's described in this psalm and you see the psalm from his perspective, everything falls into place.

Klunk, klunk, klunk, klunk, klunk, like the lights.

It all fits together.

This is a psalm that is written describing the Savior who's going to come to the world.

Describing him with kind of outlandish terminology, terminology that doesn't have any place with an offspring of David, none at all.

So much so that this psalm was considered mysterious.

It was considered a psalm that caused grief in the Israelites.

They would read this at every inauguration of a new king, and it caused them to mourn.

Because they recognize that their kings aren't this kind of king.

I mean, imagine reading a psalm to a king when he ascends to the regency to the crown about how he's going to rule the world.

And he's going to be from God himself and sit.

His earthly crown from Jerusalem will be at the right hand of God in heaven, and then you read it and go to lunch.

I mean, it doesn't fit at all.

That's this psalm.

And that is why Psalm 110 is the most quoted psalm in all of the New Testament.

The New Testament writers quote this psalm more than any other psalm, more than Psalm 23.

I mean, what a comforting Psalm, Psalm 23.

That's the Psalm we quote the most, not in the New Testament.

Psalm 22, which has such a clear description of the Savior's crucifixion.

I mean, that is quoted in the New Testament, but not as much as Psalm 110.

Psalm 19 about the power of the word, one of, I mean, probably my favorite psalm, but it's not quoted this way in the New Testament.

The New Testament continually goes back to Psalm 110 because it is such a powerful prediction of Christ that people could not figure out until he arrives on the scene, and then all the verses of this psalm fall into place.

The psalm begins with a promise of Yahweh to my Lord, it says, and that'll be our outline.

Yahweh promised my Lord.

Yahweh says to my Lord, the ESV there, the Lord says to my Lord, but you you know this, that Lord in all caps, when you see it in your English Bible, that's Bible code for you, that it is supposed to be Yahweh.

In fact, if you look at the introduction to your ESV Bible, it says, when you read Lord in all caps, you're supposed to read Yahweh.

So people ask me when they hear me read Yahweh, what translation are you reading?

The ESV, which tells you to read Yahweh, but nobody reads the introduction.

Yahweh says to my Lord, Yahweh is God's name.

It's the exalted Lord of the universe.

His name is Yahweh.

And this psalm begins with him speaking to my Lord, which is the Hebrew word Adonai.

It means a king or a regent.

It's a word that's used for somebody who owns land or slaves in the ancient Near East.

It's somebody who is exalted, somebody of authority and reputation.

Yahweh says, to my Lord, or to my king, could be another way you could even render that concept.

And when God is speaking, he's giving a promise in this, which we'll see as we unfold.

The Psalm.

The Psalm has promises to come in four stages.

The first is a Christmas coronation.

Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

When the king is born, of course, in Bethlehem, he is born already crowned.

I call this a Christmas coronation, but you understand that he is an eternal king.

And yet his kingdom comes to fruition in a sense when the king comes to earth.

The king arrives.

Even Herod the Great, the butcher of Bethlehem, when he hears of the Savior's birth, do you remember what he says?

Tell me, where is the one who was born king of the Jews?

Herod spoke more truth with his mouth and knew more truth in his head than his heart could tolerate.

He was born king.

And everyone, from Herod to the rulers from Persia, knew it.

The shepherds knew it.

And if you buy into the Christmas nativity scene, the sheep and the oxen knew it.

He was born king.

Of course, he was declared to be king by God.

Yahweh himself tells this king, sit at my right hand, which is a jarring expression, isn't it?

Nobody gets to sit at God's right hand.

Are you kidding me?

Have you ever seen in the Bible someone described as sitting at God's right hand?

In heaven, everybody stands.

God sits on his throne.

And yet God tells this king, you get to sit at my right hand.

Sitting at a king's right hand is a testimony of equality, it's a shared regency.

It's saying that this person has authority.

He's sitting here with me and for me.

But notice the flip side of it, it also shows you it's a delegated power this king has.

This king, who is exalted at the very right hand of God, has his authority, not on his own, but is given to him.

The roles in verse 1 at least are not reversed.

It's not the king who says to Yahweh, come join me on my throne.

It's the king's power that's delegated.

The king, though being God's equal, receives his authority and his life from God Himself.

The king says to the Lord, Yahweh says to my king, my Lord, sit at my right hand.

Again, shocking language.

Because nobody sits with God.

And even though it is the king who sits at God's right hand, there's no confusion about who's on the throne.

You don't read verse 1 and wonder does Yahweh report to this king, or does the king report to Yahweh?

Obviously, the king reports to Yahweh.

It is Yahweh who speaks, it's Yahweh who promises.

It's Yahweh who invites.

In heaven, God sits and others stand.

And that's true right now, by the way.

The Lord is enthroned in heaven.

Christ's reign right now is present.

It is not potential.

Christ's reign is potent.

It's not just something that might happen one day.

It's not pending.

It's reality right now.

And so this is a good verse for us to remember when we're going through trials and we're going through difficulty.

When you or people you know or love have lost their jobs or lost a loved one or children who are rebelling or Christmas, it's a train wreck.

Remember that Christ reigns on the throne right now, even over the trials and losses in our own life.

If you're anxious about your life, remember that history is not undecided.

Christ reigns even now.

Don't interpret the chaos of this world as evidence that Jesus is not on his throne.

Quite the contrary.

The chaos of this world reminds us of the importance of trusting the Christ who reigns over all at the right hand of God.

Verse 2.

We see not just the Christmas coronation, but the advent advancement.

The kingdom will expand.

The king is going to reign until his enemies are placed under his feet.

DSV renders it footstool, but it's the expression for underfoot.

You know, we live in a very shoe-oriented world, so we don't even use that expression anymore.

You know, the only time I hear people in English use the expression is you when you're walking barefoot in the grass, the grass is underfoot.

You might hear somebody say it like that, maybe.

Judging by your looks, no, you don't hear that either.

Alright, it's officially a retired expression.

But it lives on in the Bible, and it is translated here in Scripture as your footstool.

So you're gonna reign, Yahweh tells Jesus, until your enemies are crushed under your feet.

Well, how is that gonna happen?

The kingdom is gonna advance.

Notice in verse 2, Yahweh sends forth from Zion a scepter.

It's Yahweh who's extending the king's scepter.

The scepter is in the king's hand.

So Yahweh is reigning, and he's extending his reign by putting his king on the throne.

The king has the scepter, and Yahweh is extending the scepter and the reach of the scepter throughout the world.

The scepter is just a metaphor or a visible expression or an idiom, whatever you want to use, for the kingship.

There is the expression of the sun never set on the British Empire.

Okay.

Wow.

But you recognize that's an expression.

It's not about where the sun is shining, it's an expression that means global reach.

That's what's in mind here in the Psalm.

The scepter is gonna keep extending.

It's not that the actual scepter itself is gonna grow from Jerusalem.

No, it's the reach of his reign will grow and grow and grow.

And it'll grow because it's sent forth by Yahweh Himself.

And he's gonna rule in the midst of his enemies.

And so I'm talking about a bit of a mystery.

Language that doesn't make sense.

This is what I'm talking about.

How can his scepter, how can he be the king who's reigning on the throne over the world and his reign is growing throughout the world, even though he's surrounded by his enemies?

That's not the way kings normally advance their rule.

They normally advance the rule by crushing their enemies.

But this king advances his rule in the midst of his enemies.

Well, he's surrounded by his enemies.

He's got enemies on every side.

And he's not defeating them in battle like one would expect.

But his reign is going forth in the midst of them.

That lets you know that his reign is advancing not by armies, but by his own will.

Amen.

It's not advanced by military might or charismatic might, but by the glory of his power.

So the command there from God to the king in verse 2 is rule in the midst of your enemies.

And you see the expansion of the gospel through the world as people are converted.

Notice the language in verse 3 of conversion: your people will offer themselves freely.

In other words, God's reign expands not through national boundaries and elections and military might, as I said, but his reign expands through internal conversions when people then subject themselves to his kingdom willingly.

That's the term.

They offer themselves freely.

That's how somebody goes from fighting God to the advancement of his scepter around the world is when his citizens, his subjects, offer themselves volitionally according to their own will.

They bow their knee to God.

They offer themselves freely and the day of his power.

And they're in holy garments.

They're clothed as priests.

As his scepter advances, his followers become priests robed in holy garments, fit for worship and proclamation of the gospel.

His enemies then are becoming converted and they're becoming his priests.

What kind of king advances his army around the world through priests?

Well, do you remember when the Israelites entered the promised land?

It was the priests that went first.

That's the image for this king's conquest.

His scepter expands.

He's followed by his priests who are offering themselves of their own will.

God's army is not conscripted but converted.

And he gains followers, again, not by conquering people, but by converting them.

Now some of his enemies are slain, and we'll get to those in a second.

Some of his enemies will be finally crushed at the great white throne judgment when he will vindicate himself and trample his enemies underfoot, and their blood will rise to the bridle of his horse.

That's the language in Revelation.

He will trample his enemies.

But other of his enemies, rather than slain, are converted.

They're slain and reborn.

They die to themselves because they're born again.

That's a celebration of baptism, that someone has died to this world and risen in newness of life.

They died as a member of the army fighting God, and they rise as a priest wearing new garments, the white robe representing that.

The mark of being in the Lord's army is joyful submission to his will, then.

That's the point of verse 3.

That you know you're a soldier of the Lord, as they say, when your will is joyfully submitted to God's will.

That's the Advent advancement.

I call it Advent advancement because it's his presence that expands his reign.

Advent just means his coming.

It's his presence that expands his reign.

Wherever the gospel is preached, or the language of Matthew 18, wherever there are two or more gathered under the conscription of a church and the authority of the elders, there I am with you, Jesus says.

That's how the gospel goes forward.

And so the psalm describes a Christmas coronation, an advent advancement.

And thirdly, this is the one that seems out of left fields, an infinite investiture.

Now, investiture, speaking of old words, investiture is one.

But I have been one to one in the United States.

I went to one of the Supreme Court justices' investitures.

It's the only place I know in our American world where we still use that term.

But in a in a monarchy, investiture is a very common term.

It's the idea that the person becomes king when the previous king dies.

They're anointed king or they're coronated as king and the crown is put on his head and whatnot.

Investiture is when he takes the robe and gets the key to the castle, so to speak.

At the Supreme Court investiture that I got to go to, it was like the key to the courtroom is symbolically presented, and the person now becomes a judge.

Yeah, he was affirmed by Congress, you know, whatever, a few weeks earlier, but now he becomes the justice.

And so there's a timeline problem in this in verse four is that this king, his investiture, appears to precede his coronation.

In fact, I ran this psalm into ChatGPT and asked ChatGTP to analyze the chronology of this psalm.

And it told me that there appears to be a chronological problem and that in the psalm, the investiture, it comes chronologically in the psalm after the coronation, but it appears to have taken place before the coronation.

And my computer, which knows me well, says, as a preacher, you want to be sure to explain that.

I'm starting to call Chat GTP my intern, by the way.

My intern told me to explain that.

How can the investiture be before the coronation?

It goes afterwards in the world.

Well, here in verse 4, Yahweh has sworn and he will not change his mind.

You are a priest forever.

After the order of Melchizedek.

So the king is born in Bethlehem, and he's born already crowned, and he's going to expand his army around the world with willing converts.

That's all gonna happen.

And it's gonna happen because already God has promised to the king.

Now, when is he already talking about?

Well, David is the one who wrote the psalm.

You know who David is?

He's before Jesus, by the way, chronologically.

The smooth 800 years before Jesus.

David says, God has already promised to this king.

He's already made the promise to him.

The king's not going to be born for eight more centuries, but at the time David writes Psalm 110, David can say that Yahweh has already promised to the king.

How is Yahweh talking to this king when this king is not yet even born?

That's the mystery of the psalm.

That's what's unsolvable, it seems, at first reading.

And what exactly did God promise this mystery king before the king was born?

Well, he promised him that he would be a priest by the order of Melchizedek.

So that is its own problems.

And I remember in seminary I had a preaching professor said, be careful talking about Melchizedek from the pulpit because it's a it's a it's a tar pit that preachers fall into and they can't get out of.

Like once you start down the Melchizedek road, there's no rescuing the sermon.

You're just stuck there and you'll be dug out by Hispano San Cristo at 1245.

But the most basic part of Melchizedek, according to the New Testament, the one thing you need to know about him is that he's before Levi.

He's before Abraham.

So the priests in Israel come as descendants from Levi.

The high priest, descendants from Aaron.

The twelve tribes, descendants from Abraham.

Melchizedek's before all them.

So, in other words, this king who's going to be reigning from the throne in Zion over the world through the nations, he's going to have an army of priests, but these priests are not like the priests of Israel because of their birthright.

They're not priests of Israel because they're of the right tribe or the right family.

These priests are priests of the most high God.

That was Mekiznex's language to Abraham.

That he's a priest of the most high.

It's not about when you're born or who you're born to, it's about this divine right to be a priest that God gives through faith.

And that's what the king is making his army of.

It's those kind of priests.

Because the king himself has already been promised.

And God's not going to change his mind.

And that should be the warning sign to you that something, something strange is happening here in Scripture when God makes, does God need to say something and then follow it with the and I promise?

Of course not.

And does he need to say something and say, I promise?

Also, I really super triple dog promise.

Like I'm not going to change my mind this time.

I mean, everything God says is like that.

So when the scripture tells you that, it means, oh, pay attention here.

God has promised to this king, and he's not going to deviate from it.

This is speaking of an internal promise.

The language that Hebrews uses about this is the promise of today.

Hebrews adds the word today to this.

Today I've sworn to you.

Today you are my son.

When the book of Hebrews uses the word today, it's something that's true every day.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

That verse is just as true today as it will be tomorrow and as it was yesterday.

The way the New Testament uses the word today is to mean every single day, ever.

Jesus has been appointed the king and the high priest over God's people every day he is.

In eternity past, in the present.

So much so that when David writes the Psalm, he can say, That promise already happened.

So much so that Jesus is born with a crown on his head.

So much so that at the cross he can give up his spirit and know that he's going back to his heavenly Father when he ascends into heaven.

He'll take his seat at the throne and reign over the world according to promise that has been given to him.

So much so that we look forward to his second coming, knowing that it's already assured that he is the king.

It's every day.

Titus 1 borrows the language from this text and says that God promises to himself.

What a wonderful encouragement.

Again, that God has promised that Jesus will be the high priest, will redeem his people, and will reign over the world.

It's as if C.S.

Lewis might say, every day is Christmas Day.

God comes to us every day.

He comes to us once in the birth of Christ, so come to us a second time as Christ makes his second coming.

But every day Jesus is the Christmas King.

Every day he is the Christmas priest.

In the Old Testament, there's a separation of powers.

There's the priests from Levi and the kings from Judah, and never the two shall meet.

And it's a great punishment for a king to act like a priest in the Old Testament.

And of course, no king could come from Levi.

And yet you have this king.

How can it be?

How can it be?

How can he be a priest and be the king?

That's a great mystery.

But it's a mystery that God has promised from before time.

The one who commands our obedience has secured our forgiveness by being our priest.

And that's the nature of this king priest.

He can tell his subjects you need to follow me, and you need to follow me willingly.

And yet he can say, You can do it because I've forgiven you of your sins.

This is true forever.

Well, finally, the psalm goes to a Christmas culmination.

A Christmas culmination.

Jesus is coming again.

At his second coming, I love the SV, gives you even a break there between verse 4 and 5.

That's so helpful.

There's a pause there.

There's a time lapse.

There's a 2,000-year time lapse in that space there.

Yahweh is at your right hand.

He will shatter the kings on the day of his wrath.

This is Jesus reading the scroll in the temple in Luke 4 and stopping in the middle of a verse and saying, This has been fulfilled in your hearing.

The king has come.

He's come to make peace and to bind up the brokenhearted.

He's come to give sight to the blind.

He's come to bring healing and forgiveness.

That's been fulfilled at his coming.

He's coming again to bring judgment and vengeance, the day of his wrath.

That's still future.

Verse 4, when that happens, he will execute judgment among the nations.

He will fill them with corpses.

He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.

Everybody who raises up, I love they give a deluded word for king there, chief.

Every provincial ruler, every city council member, every neighborhood watch captain who raises their fist against God will be shattered by him at his second coming.

It's a scene of bloodshed and war.

That lets you know that our king right now, though he's exalted and in heaven, is not in repose in heaven.

He's not just on vacation.

No, he's doing work.

His kingdom grows throughout the world.

He's doing work.

And that work will culminate in him shattering the unbelievers and crushing his enemies over, verse 6 says the wide earth.

And what a contrast with him.

His final verdict is decisive, righteous, and complete.

And what does he do?

He lifts up his head from the brook by the way.

It's a fun expression, isn't it?

This king has just conquered the world and defeated in a bloody battle everybody who dares raise their fist against him.

And you look at him, and he's sitting down in a grassy field, like some picture some like dirt road in the hills of Virginia with a nice creek running beside it.

And there's the king who just defeated the world, hanging out in the grass drinking water on a sunny day.

He just defeated the world, isn't it?

It's like Tuesday for him.

What a picture.

The world is crushed, and he is exalted, and now he drinks.

Now in verse 7, he lifts up his head.

Now he relaxes.

Or the language of 1 Corinthians 15.

When he crushes his enemies under his feet, he will give everything back to God, and all will be all in all.

That's the future of this.

The cradle, when he's born with the crown on his head, points to his kingship.

And his kingship points to his ultimate victory, that he will reign over the world.

So that about wraps up the mystery.

Those are the four points of the psalm on the screen.

And you can see why this would be a mystery.

Who could this possibly be?

Who could be the king who is from the womb of the dawn?

And you can even draw your lines.

I skipped it earlier, but your eyes up to verse three.

From the womb of the morning or the womb of the dawn.

That's where this promise comes from.

That's literally in Hebrew, that's the gestation of light, is what that means.

I like the ESB gives you the womb of the morning.

It means where light gestates.

What in the world?

Before there was sun, before there was day one, the very beginning there was light and darkness.

And this is saying that this promise comes from where that light came from.

The light that was at the very beginning, wherever that came from, that's where this promise was.

And so you look at this and you say, how can any of this be?

How could this king be promised before there was light?

And yet how could he be David's son?

How could he come after David?

How can the two of these make sense?

How can he crush his enemies and yet be their priest?

How does this make any sense at all?

And so you're in the last chapter of the mystery and you wonder, did the author give us enough clues to figure it out?

And there was one super obvious clue that you have read, but you may have failed to apply to our current mystery.

It's in the very introduction.

Remember earlier I said nobody reads the introductions.

The introduction in the Bible, Genesis 3, is where the clue is.

It was in the first pages of the mystery.

When the first sin entered the world, God comes to Adam and says, the seed of Eve will come and will crush the devil under his feet.

Do you know the only other place in the Old Testament that phrase is used is right here in Psalm 110?

There's only two places in the Old Testament where the word for crushing and underfoot are used.

Genesis 3 and Psalm 110.

That's a pretty obvious clue.

Whatever God is talking about in Genesis 3, the next place he mentions it is Psalm 110.

There will be a Savior who will right the wrong and crush the devil's head.

And it's as if he's stomping on a snake.

And you remember from Genesis 3 that he'll be struck by that snake, won't he?

I mean, if you stomp on a snake and the snake bites you, where do you think he's gonna bite you?

It's gonna be your foot.

You're kicking him in the head.

The Savior will be bit by the snake, and yet the Savior will win.

He will crush the devil's head, he will defeat death and the devil, destroying sin forever.

The New Testament, of course, advances this mystery by quoting Psalm 110, as I mentioned earlier, more than any other psalm.

It's quoted all over the New Testament.

It's as if the authors had this big epiphany, like, this is what it was.

We sang the song at every king, not understanding it was the king who would be born in Bethlehem.

We sang the song at every coronation, not understanding it was a coronation in eternity past.

We sang this song all the time, but didn't get who it was about.

And now we see him.

And now we understand by looking at him on the cross that he's a high priest, not like those that descended from Aaron, who can go into the Holy of Holies but once a year, and they have the bells on them and they have to part the curtain and they splatter the blood on an altar that's sitting right there in Jerusalem.

Not that kind of high priest at all.

He's the kind of high priest that will tear the veil from top to bottom, who will sprinkle his blood not on the mercy seat in Jerusalem, but on the mercy seat that is in heaven.

He's the kind of priest who won't merely make atonement for the sins of those who gather at the Passover, but who will make atonement for all of his saints, all of his own priests from all time, chosen by God from before the foundation of time, who have their names written in the Lamb's book of life.

He's the kind of high priest who will make atonement for them.

And when he does it, as I mentioned, the veil is ripped and the temple is destroyed.

And his kingdom goes forward throughout the world.

He's the kind of king that will undo the curse.

And once you see it from his perspective, all of Psalm 110 falls into place.

My favorite use of the Psalm in the New Testament is Romans 16, verse 20.

Romans 16:20

After the Romans, the most wonderful book in the New Testament.

This is how Paul signs off.

This elaborate theological treatise.

Romans 16, 20.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Notice that Paul has no problem swapping out the King of David with the God of peace.

They're the same person.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

His victory will be our victory.

He will reign until he crushes his enemies under his feet.

And then we will reign with him.

The New Testament doesn't just help solve this mystery, but it reveals to us that the object of our faith is the priest who defeats the devil.

Lord, we're grateful for that Christmas morning promise that you came to us.

The high priest of heaven wins our victory.

What better gift could there be on Christmas morning but to receive the Savior?

We're grateful for this promise that transcends time, that predates light, but shines into our hearts even now.

We're grateful for Christ.

It's in his name we pray.

Amen.

And now, for a parting word for Pastor Jesse Johnson.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, or if you want to learn more about what it means to follow Christ, please visit our church website, ibc.church.

If you want more information about the Master Seminary or our location here in Washington, DC, please go to TMS.edu.

Now, if you're not a member of a local church and you live in the Washington, D.C.

area, we'd love to have you worship with us here at Emmanuel.

I hope to personally meet you this Sunday after our service.

But no matter where you live, it's our hope that everyone who uses this resource is involved in their own local church.

Now may God bless you this week as you seek Jesus constantly, serve the Lord faithfully, and share the gospel boldly.