Why Call Him Immanuel - Part 2

This podcast is made available by this increasing media as to the generosity of our support is your donation today means great podcast ideas remain available to help people look to God daily presentation at our nation today send out all day. Just three little words in Matthew's account of the story and the review of those three words trying human history that I'm turning toward larger marshes. More light on the meaning of God with us and the impact of our creative thinking on human form in the person of Jesus with the conclusion of his message. Why call him Immanuel. And thank you for joining us this is Christmas week were just a few hours away from the celebration of our Lord's birthday and were contemplating some of the questions that surround his coming to this world. One of those questions is why call him Immanuel. Well, he was given many names but one of them was this you shall call his name Emmanuelle Immanuel means, God with us, and this was the way name could convey a mission. His mission was to come and be one of us, he took upon himself human flesh and walk among us on this earth identifying with us in all of our joys and sorrows becoming one of us.

He lived his life seamlessly and as the spotless Lamb of God, he went to the cross and died for us, but here's the wonderful message for right now. If you are Christian you can't forget that Christmas is all about God loving you so much that he sent his own son to be among us, and that God is with you. Whatever you going through right now.

Whatever you're experiencing whatever is challenging you whatever you've never experienced before in your whole life. Let me tell you this, God is with you. Let's open our Bibles to Matthew 123 and let's fling because God is with us. We can for the difficult circumstances of life. I want to read with you.

A Scripture I want to read it first.

The way we would normally read it and I want to read it the way I believe it should be read. This is what the Scripture says for he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

So, we may boldly say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear can man do to me now listen, for he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what can man do to me what the Lord has said is so that we can say what God has said about himself and his presence with us. He has said to us, so that you and I may be able to say I don't have to be afraid. What can man do to me.

I have the Lord with me. The Lord is with me. Psalm 27 is almost exactly the same way some 27 one, says the Lord is my light and my salvation. Shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid throughout the Scriptures. This concept is repeated over and over again.

Psalm 118 verse six says Lord is on my side I will not fear what can man do to me. Isaiah 43 says when you pass through the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, neither shall the flame scorch you. Here is the truth of Immanuel brought down to the everyday experience of each one of us when we're in difficult circumstances. We are never there alone he is with us. He has promised that are part of his coming to be one of us is that he might be with us in the midst of all of our challenges in the Christmas rush in the disappointment of the year-end bonus in the preparation for the new year.

In all of the things that touch our lives. He is there is there with us. One of the stories that came out of 9/11 was the story of the cross on a September morning in 2001, as he was searching for bodies amid the wreckage of the twin towers Frank Cilicia stumbled across a 22 foot tall steel beam cross the collapse of tower one on building six had created a chamber in the clutter and through the dusty sunrise Frank spotted this cross, no winch had hoisted it. No cement had secured it.

The iron beams stood independent of human help.

Several days later, engineers realize the beams of the large cross came from two different buildings when one crashed into another. The two girders bonded into one forged by the fire and when people would ask where is God at 911. Where is the Almighty.

In the midst of all of the rubble. Frank and his friends would point and say the cross is in the midst of the crisis. He is always there max locator once wrote God gets in the things doesn't he gets into red season big fish and liens dens and furnaces. God gets into bankrupt businesses in jail cells Judean weddings and funerals and Galilean tempests look and you will find what everyone from Moses to Martha has discovered God in the middle of your storms.

One of the blessings of knowing that God is with us is that he is with us to help us in the difficult circumstances of life. I'm sure I speak to some today who were in circumstances like that right now. Maybe you have been feeling particularly alone during the season. Wondering if you're going to be left to carry this all by yourself.

I promise you if you know the one whom I am speaking you are not alone. Nor were you ever alone, nor will you ever be alone.

He has promised to be with you.

Secondly, because God is with us.

We can expect the direct answers to our prayers.

There is a marvelous passage of Scripture once again in the book of Hebrews where we are told about the lifestyle of this one who came to be one of us to read this to you, and I think you will immediately make the connection. Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heaven Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tested or tempted as we are yet without sin. What the writer of Hebrews is said is this that are high priest, the Lord Jesus. This one who has come to be with us has a vast storehouse of experience that encompasses every experience that you and I would ever have.

He writes about the fact that he has been tested in every kind of weakness that is known to man apart from having sinned and that whatever it is that you experience whatever I experienced whatever difficulty I go through.

I have a high priest. I have on Emmanuelle, who has been there and done that and when I go to him.

He totally understands this and it wonderful to talk to somebody who understands somebody who's been there who's been through it and the Bible tells us in this passage of Scripture that this one who has come to be with us is one always walked where we have walked experienced what we have experienced every sorrow and agony every disappointment that we have known the son of God knew while he was on this earth and having said all of that, the writer of Hebrews makes this point. Here is the take away because that is true. Notice the rest of the verse. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, to help in the time of need, all while promise this one who has known all that we are knowing all the experience all of the hurt all of the sorrow all the disappointment this one has invited us to come notice to come boldly just come and blurted all out say Lord you've been there you've experienced it.

Let me tell you what I feel what's happening in my heart right now, Lord God, hear my prayer in the Bible tells us because of what he has experienced as our high priest.

He is able to sympathize to identify with our weaknesses, because God is with us. We can face the difficult circumstances in our life we can find direct answers to our prayers. But here's one that may be, particularly for me and others like me who do the kind of thing that I do.

But in essence all of us here in some way or another are involved in some sort of ministry touching the lives of others, but the third point is this because God is with us. We can embrace the demanding challenges of ministry. I made a startling discovery when I was studying the Old Testament some time ago. It probably won't surprise any of you to know what I discovered and that is that everybody that God wanted to do something difficult didn't want to do it every time God went to somebody and said this is what I want you to do. They had 100 reasons why they work the right person for the job.

Sound familiar, and most of the time behind their reticence to respond was fear. The thought that they were able to do it that they couldn't accomplish it.

Think of Moses.

One day God came to Moses and he said you know these four grumbling, complaining miserably unhappy Jewish people here in Egypt, 4 million what you delete amount you want me to do what I want you to be the leader and take them out of Egypt to the promised land. And if you know the story you read it. Moses had his own little paradigm of why he shouldn't be the person but I want you to remember what God said to them in Exodus 412. These are the words of the Lord now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say I couldn't help but throw in. Don't you wish and people you know would take this seriously and let God be with her mouth. I mean this is something we should probably just put in the footnotes of our message for today. Cousin Moses. I know you don't consider yourself to be an orator, which are slow of speech, or you don't think you can stand in front of this sort of people and leave them but most just don't worry about it because I will be with your mouth and I'll tell you what to say.

Joshua had a similar problem.

He was supposed to take the children of Israel into the promised land and help them settle the land of Canaan and just like Moses he was afraid one day the Lord God said to Joshua in the first chapter of Joshua have not I commanded you. Be strong and of a good courage. Don't be afraid, Joshua, don't be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go with Jeremiah the prophet was commissioned to go to a stubborn people with the message of judgment, and was told in advance of his going that number one they wouldn't listen to anything he had to say and if by accident. They happen to hear any of it. They wouldn't do it. That obviously Jeremiah wasn't too excited about that assignment God said to Jeremiah, wait a minute Jeremiah 18 do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord, and to the disciples and us.

The Lord comes with this incredible challenge to going all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, baptizing them and teaching them everything the Lord has taught us and teaching them to observe it, and we stand in awe of such an assignment that is so overwhelming to us and then we hear these words from the Lord along with you always, even to the very end of the age. Can you imagine our friends Alan Sue Graham being called to go to a tribe of Indians to teach them the word of God and discovering that they did not even have a language that they had no written language of any kind whatsoever, and I can hear Al praying and say Lord God I'm happy to teach these people how to read the Bible but they don't have any language in God set out. That's why I'm sending you there. I want you to write their language you want me to make up their written language. How are they going to read the Bible. Al if they don't have a language all right do it in for 50 years this man and his sweet wife went to that group of people and starting with no written language at all, they scratched out words and letters and sentences until finally they had a coherent language and then using the language that God and help them create. They translated the New Testament into the software language and I could hear say God I can't do this. And God said no that's all right I'll go with you I help you. One of the lessons I learned early in my life was this God's commandments are always God's enablement's if God calls you to do. He will help you to do it. It is inconceivable that God would call you to do something and then leave you helpless to accomplish it. And when God called this couple to the satiric Indians to translate the Scripture and to write the language. They were not brilliant translators. They were just humble people who were ready to accept God's plan and understood that they were ever going to be alone. That God would be with them and he would help them. That's what Emmanuel does comes alongside of us when were threatened by the things we know God wants us to do and he stays with it until it's done. So that's Emmanuel, God with us helping us in our difficult circumstances, answering our direct prayers because of what he's experienced in equipping us for difficult things that we would never be able to do without.

I began with a story and I'm going to take the literary license to end with one as well for this, like the first story helps us comprehend in a better way. What it means that God has become one of us Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard told this parable to explain why God communicated his love to us the way that he did. Here is his story. Imagine there was a king who loved a humble maiden. She had no royal pedigree, no education, no standing in the court she dressed in rags. She lived in a humble, she led the ragged life of a peasant, but for reasons no one could ever quite figure out king fell in love with this girl in the way that King sometimes do why he should love her is beyond explaining but love her.

He did and he could not stop loving her and then there awoke in the heart of the king and anxious thought. How was he to reveal his love to this girl.

How could he bridge the chasm that separated the two of them is advisors.

Of course would tell him to simply command her to be his Queen 40 was a man of immense power. Every statesman feared his wrath every foreign power trembled before him. Every courtier groveled in the dust at the king's voice why she would have no power to resist, she would have to become his Queen. She would owe him an eternal debt of gratitude, but power even unlimited power cannot command love honey could force her body to be present in his palace, but he could not force love for him to be present in her heart he might be able to gain her obedience. This way, but coerced submission is not what he wanted. He longed for intimacy of heart and oneness of spirit and all the power in the world cannot unlock the door to the human heart. It must be open from the inside is advisors might suggest that the king give up this love give his heart to a more worthy woman, but this the king will not cannot do the king himself could try to bridge the chasm between the bike, elevating her to his position, he could shower her with gifts dresser in purple and silk, however, crowned the Queen, but if he brought her to his palace if he radiated the son of his magnificence over her if she saw all the wealth and power and pomp of his greatness.

She would be overwhelmed.

How would he know if she loved him for himself or for all that he had given her.

How could she know that he loved her and would love her. Still, even if she had remained only a humble peasant would she be able to summon confidence enough never to remember what the king wished only to forget that he was the king and she had been a humble maiden every other alternative came to nothing. There was only one way. So one day the king rose left his throne removed his crown relinquished his scepter laid aside his royal robes took upon himself the life of a peasant.

He dressed in rags.

He scratched out a living in the dirt and groveled for food and dwelt in the hovel he did not just take on the outward appearance of a servant. It became his actual life his nature's burden, he became as ragged as the one he loved, so that she could be united to him forever. It was the only way is ragged, became the very signature of his presence.

And this shall be assigned to you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. He had no form of majesty that we should look at him, nothing in appearance that we should desire him. The God who, at the last was marked with and then stripped of a purple robe and crucified, wearing a crown of thorns, this is the ragged God.

This is Emmanuelle. This is what God did to demonstrate his love to you and you and you and me he could not get that message across from where he was and where we were. The chasm was too great. How does the creator of the universe communicate to his creature that he loves him that he loves her.

He said this is what I will do.

I will go down to where they are and become one of them.

I will take off the robes of DMT and put upon myself the clothing of humanity and as the God man. I will give myself of them on the cross, then they will now that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believe it in him should not perish but have everlasting life. When the Lord came. He didn't give away his deity know he didn't cease to be God, he took off the robes of his deity. The outward manifestation of it, but he never ceased to be who we was. And as the sinless son of God. He walked among us and he became our Savior.

That's organic talk about tomorrow tomorrow. On Christmas Eve, our lesson will be why call him Savior and will finish that up on Friday on Christmas day. I'm David Jeremiah my privilege all through the year has been to open the Scriptures and direct your thinking in spiritual direction through the radio to television to written books and magazine articles and short segments in all of the stuff we do on social media. The one thing we hope has happened to you is somewhere even in the midst of all of the unwanted sickness of the year you have been nudged closer to the Lord God in your walk with him is better than it was.

That's what our purpose is to draw you near to him. We have nothing to offer except to point you to Jesus and that's what we've been trying to his message came through from Shadow Mountain Community Church insignia pasta Dr. David Jeremiah would love to hear your story of Turning Point impact on your life right there was a Turning Point was that was book 38 for the Ike San Diego, CA 92163 or visit I was excited Jeremiah.org/idea asked me a copy of David 365 day devotional for 2021 strength today. It's filled with truthful each day and the gift of any amount you can also download free Turning Point in my life is not fun never was searching for the keywords Turning Point ministries think axes have programs and resources visit David Jeremiah.org/radio potatoes. I'm very hopefully please join us tomorrow as we continue the series brought the nativity Terrence Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah for taking time to listen to on tonight from these increased in size and