Peace

Peace on earth to all men. We often sing at Christmas time. And I reflected on that, and I came to understand a little bit that the peace that Christmas is all about is only received, is only really entered into once we understand that there was something that happened before it. That there was a promise that was fulfilled. And because that promise was fulfilled, we have peace.

Have you ever thought about why people make promises? Why do we make promises? It seems reasonable to assume that the reason we make promises is because there's a purpose to it. Promises are made with a goal in mind. There's a future goal involved.

You want to achieve something in the future. But if you've been around for a while, you'll also realise that promises are often made for a slightly different reason, and that's to avoid tension or to relieve a little bit of stress. As a youngster, it was always easier for me to say, yes mum, I'll clean my room. I promise. And then hope that somewhere down the line mum forgets or mum does it.

Perhaps you've experienced that as well. Quite possibly you'll remember. If I make this promise and I keep delaying it long enough, it'll sort itself out. Even as adults today, how many of us haven't said to our kids, oh, you want a new iPhone? I'll think about that.

And then you don't. You don't think about it. In fact, you hope that the Nokia brick that you gave them last year when you bought a new iPhone will sort of be good enough for them. I'm sorry if I've sprung your little skin as well. Kids, just remember that one.

Even wider than that, evidence of this sort of thinking exists. I mean, our whole economic system, our economy is based on that. Our marketing, our sales representatives operate on something. Sales and marketing these days it seems is filled with more hype than fact. Promises about the quality and the effectiveness of products are frequently couched in these tricky, sort of vague terms. I'm sure you've noticed some of the medical, the drugs and tablets and those sort of things that are sometimes sold on television.

And it says these tablets may help with joint inflammation. They may reduce back pain or whatever. They sort of state that they can't make a promise but have a go at them anyway. We make promises not only sometimes that we can't keep, but we also make promises sometimes that we don't intend to keep. But every now and then, every now and then, someone keeps a promise.

And once that happens, it's like a breath of fresh air. It's like, wow, this guy actually or this girl actually did what they said they would do. I read a story in the paper some years ago. It was actually a newspaper in France that reported on a, and I don't read French, but it was in English. That reported on a British man who lent $11 equivalent in cash to an Australian backpacker who was travelling through Europe at that time.

And the loan was repaid nearly forty years after the loan was made. Forty years. The article reads like this: Jim Webb, 72, was in the Belgian coastal town of Ostend in April 1969 with a friend when he met a guy called Gary Fenton, who asked for a loan to pay for a ferry journey back to Britain. Mister Fenton promised to repay mister Webb and noted down his address when they arrived in England. Last Sunday, the newspaper reports, mister Webb returned to his home in Sheffield to find a hand-delivered package with $439 in it.

$11 for each year the loan had not been paid. And a note that read, To Jim Webb, a good man. From Gary Fenton, a tardy payer of debts. Mister Webb told the BBC, I was quite emotional when I read it. In this day and age, promises are made and promises are broken, and sometimes you just lose a little bit of your faith in human nature.

This was a lovely gesture. Forty years is a long time. It must have been preying on his mind that he hadn't repaid his debt. Mister Webb said that mister Fenton, now lives in Sydney, had explained in his note that he had come across the Britain's address while looking through old papers and decided to repay the debt while on a visit to London. A promise is made and forty years later, it is fulfilled.

And this man gets emotional about that. It does something within him. I mean, he probably forgot about that $11. He figured, well, I'll just give it to the guy. The story of Christmas is the ultimate example of a promise fulfilled, magnificently fulfilled. Into a mess of uncertainty and distrust, of promises not being kept, a loving, gracious God makes a promise and He assures that it will happen.

And not only that it will happen, but that it will surpass everyone's wildest imagination. Last week, if you were here, we looked at the promise of God that He would send someone before the Messiah. He would send someone that would prepare the way for the Messiah to come, the coming of the Lord. We looked at the time when the angel Gabriel said to Zechariah, priest of God, that he was going to have a son. And his wife, who was barren, who was well along in years, would have a baby, and they would call him John.

And that this John would become a mighty man of God. That he would be a prophet like of old. And that he would prepare the coming for something amazing. And for Zechariah, we saw that this promise was too good to be true. He didn't believe the promise.

He didn't believe the promise. And so because of his distrust, God said, okay, I will make sure that you do believe it and that the people around you will believe it. And so He made Zechariah mute for nine months. For nine months, Zechariah didn't talk. Until his baby was born and they needed to name the baby, and he had to write down that the baby's name must be John.

And as soon as he said that, his tongue loosened, the Bible said, and he was able to speak again. And the people were amazed. The people were amazed. It's not enough, however, for us to just hear God's promises. It's not enough for us just to hear God's promises.

By God's standards, it's not enough on His part we just trust and believe. According to God's character, and this is what we're going to get into, according to God's character, it's also essential that His promises are true and that they come to fulfilment. That's God's standard. If He makes a promise, if He makes a promise, He's going to fulfil it. If He has promised you something, if He has said something to you, if you read His Word and there's a promise in that Word, God will fulfil it.

He will make it happen. God promises a son to the barren woman Elizabeth and her doubtful husband Zechariah. Nine months after Zechariah was muted because of his disbelief, Elizabeth gave birth to a son. At Christmas time, it's not enough for us just to remember. It's not enough for us just to remember, just to have those warm fuzzy feelings.

It's also essential that we believe. That we believe that those promises were fulfilled. We don't just remember God's promises at Christmas. When we come together, when we celebrate, we revel in the fulfilment of it. We revel in the promises that God made, and these promises are amazing.

We're going to look at a few of them just concerning Christmas. If you have your Bibles open, we're gonna do a bit of flipping backwards and forwards. And I just want to show you how long ago God made this promise and that He was faithful to it. We're gonna go to Micah 5:2. If you don't know where Micah is, have a look in the index.

It's in the Old Testament. Micah was written about five hundred years BC, five hundred years before Jesus. And this is what God said to His people. If you don't have it, I think we might have it on the screen. Micah 5:2.

God said, but you Bethlehem of Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. I don't know if you've ever been to Bethlehem or Israel, but Bethlehem is so small. It is so small. They estimate that in the time of Jesus, Bethlehem may have had about 50 people living there, normally. 50 people.

It is so small. It's a little speck next to Jerusalem. And here in Micah, God makes a promise that even in this small little place called Bethlehem, though it is the smallest in the clans of Judah, out of this little place, the ruler of Israel is gonna come, whose origins are from of old, from ancient time. This is a mystical king. It's not a human king.

This is something special. Then I want us to have a look at Isaiah 7. Isaiah 7:14. And again, you probably know this one. Isaiah is written 700 BC.

Seven hundred years BC. Isaiah said God says through Isaiah in verse 14 of chapter 7, therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. Alright. And then we're just gonna have one more.

Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23:5-6. Jeremiah 23:5. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous branch. A king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.

In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called, the Lord our righteousness. So what do we see? We see in Micah that He will be born in Bethlehem. A king of old.

A king of ancient times. We see in Isaiah 7 that this child will be born of a virgin. That He will be Emmanuel, God with us. In Jeremiah 23, we see that He will be born of the line of David, of the royal line of David, that His name would also be Lord our righteousness. And interestingly, if you have a look at verse 6, Lord our righteousness is written in capitals, which is Yahweh our righteousness.

This one is God. These are the promises that the Jews were looking forward to. These were the promises that were made to Israel. And then we come to Luke 2:1-7. It says, in those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.

This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone went to his town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and the line of David. He went there to register with Mary. He was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn. Just before that, in Luke 1:34, we read Mary's response to being told that she was going to have a baby. How will this be? Mary asked the angel, since I am a virgin.

The angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age and she was said to be barren, who is now in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God. We read in Luke 2 and Luke 1 these amazing promises coming together.

The line of David in the town of Bethlehem, God Himself coming and overshadowing this virgin who gave birth to a son. Amazing promises. And friends, what God promises, He will deliver. What God promises, He will deliver. It might not be our standard to keep promises, but it is God's.

What He has shown you in your life, what He has shown you this year, what He has shown you for the year to come, whatever He has laid on your heart, trust Him in that this morning. Whatever doubts you may have, whatever struggles you may be going through, the questions that you have, now asking, is God really on my side? Does He understand me? Does God really love me? He promises in His Word, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

He promises in His Word that I am making all things new. I'm making all things new. You are a new creation. And that leads us to why the promise was made. Why this promise was made of Jesus.

There was a reason for it because all promises have reasons. There was a reason, a goal that needed to be achieved. It wasn't just to create a cute nativity scene. It wasn't to feel warm and fuzzy about a pink little baby wrapped in soft linen. This baby was to grow into a man.

This man was to go out into the world. This man was to become king of all the earth. It would take sacrifice. It would take discipline. It would take suffering.

This is why the goal was the promise was fulfilled. The promise was that Jesus would come, of course, born in Bethlehem in the line of King David to a virgin. But the other promises, the other promises associated with this one king coming is also just as true. He would take on the responsibility of bringing God's people back to Himself. This one would take on the responsibility of a king to save a kingdom.

This is what Christmas means for Christians. The arrival of our king. The birth of our king. The king who cared so much for His kingdom that He would give His life for it. And so this morning, as we celebrate the coming of this king, we also look towards what He was going to do and how He was going to do that.

How He was going to bring the world back to Himself. This morning is a celebration. It's a celebration of happiness, of joy, and that's why we should have our massive feast, and we should have family together, and we should have the peace and the joy of Christmas in our hearts. But there's a reason for that peace. There's a reason for that joy, and that reason is God's promises were fulfilled.

The saviour came. The saviour had a job to do. That's why we're going to this morning, which is a little bit unusual for us at Narang, we're going to celebrate the Lord's Supper. And this morning, I would invite all of us who confess that the coming of Jesus is a good thing, is a great thing, the greatest thing that has ever happened to humanity. I would invite you to come to the table.

And this morning, as we reflect on this coming of our king, I also want to reflect a little bit on another promise that Jesus made. The night before He went to the cross. This is what He said. In the night before Jesus went to the cross, He took bread, He gave thanks, He broke it, and He gave it to His disciples saying, take and eat. This is my body.

It's a promise. Then He took the cup, He gave thanks and He offered it to them saying, drink from it all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. This too is a promise. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom.

The last promise is a kingdom is waiting for us. It is the will of the Lord that all believers join in this communion. For although it is true that our sins have made us unfit to come into God's presence, it is just as true that Christ has offered Himself as a payment for all our sins. He is the king who came to rescue the kingdom. Surely, is what the supper teaches us.

All who trust in Jesus Christ, the crucified and the risen, are accepted by God in grace. They may also share at this table the communion with Jesus Christ and with all who, even in trial and persecution, look with uplifted head towards the day of our Lord. The bread and the wine which we share this morning represent the body and the blood of the saviour. They are received as signs and seals of all the benefits of the sacrifice on the cross. The bread and wine are an illustration and a guarantee to believers of the forgiveness of sins, of the strengthening of our faith, and of the communion, the sharing of all believers with Jesus as well as with each other.

Jesus welcomes to the fellowship of His table all those who are sincerely sorry for the sins that they have committed and who renew their promise this morning to live a godly life. It doesn't matter where you've been. It doesn't matter what you've done. This morning is another opportunity for us to come right with God. So come then with a glad assurance and a joyful praise that your sins will be forgiven in the name of Jesus.