God Keeps His Promises

6 · Generalizes the principle revealed in Mary's story: God's favor rests on humility and weakness rather than worldly strength

The Lord's eyes settle not on the impressive but the humble. His arm is extended not to the strong but to the weak.

7 · Provides Old Testament examples of lowly women whom God elevated—Rahab, Ruth, and the widow of Zarephath—as typological precedents for what Mary now experiences

Over and over in the Old Testament, she'd heard stories of the women so lowly in the sight of the world get lifted up by the hand of God. Now, in her— now, in the face of her own child, she saw the stories fulfilled. The sinner Rahab hiding spies in Jericho, lifted from destruction to safety by the Lord. The lowly Ruth gleaning wheat in the fields, lifted to honor and family by the Lord. The starving widow feeding the prophet Elijah, lifted to plenty and surplus by the Lord. Story after story of God lifting the lowly reflected in this child in Mary's arms.

8 · Closes the Mary section by returning to the sermon's controlling thesis: God's faithfulness to his promises is visible in Jesus

And as she looked at him, she knew God keeps his promises.

9 · Transitions from Mary's perspective to Joseph's, maintaining the sermon's structure of examining promises through different characters' eyes

Now, what did Joseph see?

10 · Full reading of Matthew's account of the annunciation to Joseph, emphasizing the angel's identification of Joseph as 'Son of David' and the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy

Well, the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 1, we see what Joseph saw. Chapter 1 says this: Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, Son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. And all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. And when Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, and he knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus.

11 · Contrasts Joseph's lowly carpenter status with his Davidic lineage, showing that despite the fallen state of the royal line, God's promise of an eternal kingdom remained intact and was now being fulfilled in Jesus

Now Joseph was only a young man. He spent his time, his days, among sawdust and tools, his hands rough and calloused. Forced, paying taxes to a pagan government, being ordered here and there by a king far away in Rome. If Joseph was a descendant of King David, oh, how far the line had fallen! How shameful the state of the kingdom. A once proud tree of lineage, now a stump. And yet the angel greeted him as a son of David. And so would Joseph's son be another in the line of kings, God kept his promise that the line would not break. No, it would be renewed and reforged. What did Joseph see in the face of his child? God keeping his promise to send the true and forever king to lead his people. In the face of his child, perhaps Joseph saw written 2 Samuel 7:16, and your house, David, and your kingdom shall be made shall endure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.

12 · Develops the Davidic promise by showing how Jesus embodies the virtues of good kings (David, Solomon) while purging the vices of evil kings (Ahab), culminating in the eternal King

The story of all the kings of Israel was written across the face of this child. In this child, the zeal and power of his father David. In this child, the wisdom and glory of his father Solomon. In this child, the failures of Ahab and all the evil kings of Israel were stricken and purged from the line. In this child, the successes of Messiah and the good kings of Israel beautified and purified. Finally, at last, Joseph saw in this child the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. Of the increase of his government and his kingdom there would be no end.

13 · Closes the Joseph section by returning to the sermon's refrain: the fulfillment of God's promises is visible in Jesus

And as Joseph looked at the face of his child, he saw God keeps his promises.

14 · Transitions to worship, instructing the congregation to engage the music as meditation on the sermon's theme

These next couple songs, we're gonna stay seated. Please sing along, but also reflect on God keeping his promises.

15 · Pivots from corporate truth to personal application, preparing the congregation to internalize the gospel's individual relevance

Before we go to our next song, just want to encourage you to pause and take a moment here, because it is one thing to say this Savior, this King, this Messiah was born for everyone, but he was also born for you.

16 · Direct pastoral address to the marginalized or discouraged, personalizing the gospel promise that Christ came for those who feel excluded or inadequate

Maybe you today, like the shepherds, feel the mud and the stain of the world around you. Maybe you feel on the outside. Maybe you feel you've not been been welcomed in. Well, friend, today the good news the angels declare is this: the Lord is born for you. Not just for your family, not just for those who have perfect, picture-perfect lives that come out on a Christmas card that get mailed to you. You think, 'I wish my family could sit still like that.' Not just for those people, not just for the people who could afford a great Christmas feast or the best boys, but for you.

17 · Issues a concrete invitation to pause and meditate on the personal implications of Christ's birth before continuing to worship

So let's pause before we continue and take a moment, meditate on the truth. Let it sink in. Christ was born for you. Amen.

18 · Transitions back to worship with theological framing of the songs as declarations of Emmanuel—God with us

As we continue to sing, we will be singing about Emmanuel, God with us, the King of the universe. Emmanuel, God with us. So would you stand as we continue to sing together?

19 · Introduces a dual perspective: before examining what the shepherds saw, the sermon pauses to consider what Bethlehem itself witnessed, treating the city as a character in the narrative

Now, what did the shepherds see in the face of this child? First, we'll see what the city behind them saw. Perhaps you've not thought much about the city of Bethlehem itself, even though it is a character in the story.

20 · Full reading of Luke 2:1-7, establishing the historical and geographical context of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem and the circumstances of no room in the inn

What did this city see when this young child came into the world? Luke chapter 2 says this: In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was a governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.

21 · Develops Bethlehem as a symbol of faded glory and unfulfilled promise—a town once significant as David's birthplace but now forgotten and representing the curse rather than the kingdom

It was only a small town, the kind of town many people and their fathers are born in, but not a town where many of them stayed. Bethlehem's only distinction was that that once, a long time ago, this is where King David had been born. But it was a very long time ago. Once God's land and cities like Bethlehem were meant to be a flourishing glimpse of the first garden. Once they were meant to tell a story of a king and a kingdom. But now this city's best days were long spent, forgotten and out of favor. It now told a different story. Now it told the story of the curse unleashed and the world turning to dust and ash in time.

22 · Imagines Bethlehem's latent hope for messianic restoration based on the prophecy of a king being born there, contrasting their expectation with the reality

Perhaps the city, though, hoped for better days to come. There was an ancient promise that the King of Israel would be born in Bethlehem. Perhaps someday there would be banners and proud new walls around the city and a royal Jewish guard and the city streets cleansed of Roman soldiers. Perhaps one day, again, it would be the outpost of a king and a kingdom.

23 · Contrasts Bethlehem's hoped-for royal welcome with the actual circumstances: a stable behind an inn, the humblest possible setting for the King's arrival

And yet, when a young couple from Nazareth arrived too late in the evening, they found no royal welcome. Instead, they made their way behind the inn to the stable. It was the best the small town could do for them, and it was there the woman had her child.

24 · Delivers the sobering verdict on Bethlehem: the city saw nothing because they missed Jesus entirely due to weariness, wrong expectations, or self-absorption

So what did Bethlehem see when they looked at this child? Nothing. They didn't see the child at all. They missed him, perhaps too worn down by the world to even look out with hope, perhaps looking for a king dressed in fine clothes and not a simple carpenter's son, perhaps too busy with their own lives and joys and sorrows to look beyond themselves.

25 · Shifts from Bethlehem's blindness to God's faithfulness: despite the city's failure to see, God fulfilled his promise—the King was present

And yet, what they longed for was right in right there around the corner. Even when they forgot where to look, the King, the Lord, had kept his promise.

26 · Pivots from Bethlehem's blindness to the shepherds' vision, setting up the contrast between those who missed Jesus and those who encountered him

Now, just behind the town, what then did the shepherds see?

27 · Full reading of Luke 2:8-21, the angelic announcement to the shepherds and their response, establishing the shepherds as the first evangelists of the good news

Luke 2:8, in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night, and an angel of the Lord appeared to them. And the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign 'For you, you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.' When the angels went away from them into heaven, Then the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.' And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning the child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. Them. And at the end of the 8 days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

28 · Establishes the shepherds' social marginalization: ritually unclean, economically poor, and excluded from religious and political life

Now, these were just common shepherds, their bodies unwashed after days in the field, their clothing torn and mended a dozen times. They were, by Jewish standards, nearly always unclean. As life in the town behind them went on, they looked on from the outside. As the politics of their nation twisted and turned, they looked on from the outside. As the great religious debates about the Messiah occurred far away in Jerusalem in the Sanhedrin, they looked on from the outside.

29 · Reverses the shepherds' outsider status: the angelic announcement welcomes them into the most significant moment in redemptive history

Until suddenly they found themselves welcomed in. Welcomed in by the angel declaring good news. Welcomed in to a multitude of angels singing glory. Welcomed in to the birth of the King of Israel, the Messiah, the Son of God.

30 · Imagines the shepherds' response as undignified, joyful haste, contrasting worldly propriety with kingdom eagerness

Perhaps they ran throwing their possessions on the ground, running without dignity, running with joy to the place where the child was.

31 · Identifies what the shepherds saw in Jesus: the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant that all nations would be blessed, extending God's invitation to the marginalized and unclean

And what did the shepherds see in the in the face of this child? They saw God's invitation to all peoples, even them. They saw in him the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham that through Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed. They saw in him the promise that even those once outside God's people could and would be welcomed in. They saw a king, not just for those in fine gold and bright religious garments, But a King for those whose clothes are stained with mud and dirt. Finally, at last, the blessing promised Abraham and his descendants and beyond, the blessing fulfilled here.

32 · Closes the shepherds section with the sermon's refrain: recognition of God's promise-keeping faithfulness

When they saw the face of the child, they knew God keeps his promises.

33 · Full reading of John 1:1-14, the theological prologue establishing Christ's pre-existence, role in creation, incarnation, and the light-darkness conflict

The perspective of the angels comes to us in the Gospel of John, chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that it was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. For the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

34 · Establishes the angels' glory and their long-awaited role as messengers of the light's arrival, connecting the nativity announcement to Eden

These angels were no ordinary creatures. The angels from the courts of heaven shone with a brilliance and a glory beyond anything the shepherds had ever seen. The joy of the angels spread across the sky with the message they'd longed to proclaim since the Garden of Eden itself, the message that the light had come into the darkness and the darkness would not overcome it.

35 · Traces the promise of Genesis 3:15 (the protoevangelium) as the thread of hope from the fall through redemptive history to Christ's birth

Even there in the garden, as perhaps the angels watched centuries earlier, the light of hope had refused to be snuffed out. Even when humanity chose darkness and rebellion, even as the curse of sin crawled across the face of the earth, not all was lost. Even there, God promised that though serpent and evil hissed and poisoned, one day, one day, the seed of the woman, one day a future King would come to crush the serpent's head. The light in the darkness.

36 · Synthesizes what the angels saw: Jesus as the fulfillment of multiple covenant promises—Davidic, Abrahamic, and Adamic—all converging in the single figure who is the light overcoming darkness

So what did the angels see as this child was born? They saw the light coming into the darkness. They saw the light of the Son of David who would bring a true and forever kingship to his people. They saw the light of Abraham and the one who would bring the light of blessing to the nations. They saw the one who would be called the son of Adam and make a better choice and live a better life than his forefather.

37 · Projects forward to the cross, suggesting the angels foresaw how the light would overcome darkness by entering into it—bearing the accumulated sin of Adam, Abraham, David, and all humanity

And perhaps they knew even then, these angels, where the story would go. Perhaps they saw with clearer eyes than humanity below what would happen next. Perhaps they glimpsed the day that this child would be full-grown, hanging on a cross as the sun itself was covered in darkness, and in darkness the light of the world went, taking onto himself the darkness of his people, the fateful evil choice of Adam, the deception of Abraham, the unfaithfulness of David, and the sin of all his people.

38 · Pivots from the cross to resurrection, maintaining the sermon's light-darkness theme and connecting the nativity angels to the resurrection angels

And they perhaps glimpsed, these angels, even then, that the darkness would not overcome him. Perhaps even some of these would announce the empty tomb not long from now.

39 · Closes the angels section with the sermon's refrain, attributing their worship to their recognition of God's promise-keeping faithfulness

So these angels in the sky above Bethlehem shouted the glory of God because as they looked into the face of this child, they saw God keeps his promises.

40 · Transitions from exposition to application by addressing the danger of treating the Christmas story as a sentimental artifact rather than living truth

Now, here's what I want to encourage us with as we end today, brothers and sisters. It is easy for us in the midst of the Christmas season to take a story like this and think, 'That was nice,' and then put it on the shelf.

41 · Extended personal story about losing and finding a Christmas present in the obvious place he'd already wrapped it, serving as an analogy for the tendency to overlook what's right in front of us

This last week I had an experience. I shared at San Jacinto Plaza with people for— I guess I just enjoy sharing my misadventures with El Paso broadly. And if you're here at the church, you get a regular dose of my misadventures. And so my most current one was this: about a week ago, I lost my wife's Christmas present. I lost it. I had ordered it carefully with enough time to get here before Christmas. I'm no Christmas Eve kamikaze like some of you will be leaving here and braving the outlets or whatever else. I am not one of those. I ordered it, and I obsessively, like usual, as you're supposed to, right? I think everybody does. I obsessively tracked every movement of the package, wondering what is going on in Greenville, South Carolina that is causing such a delay. Eventually it made its way to my house and I put it in the secret hiding place that I have that no one else in the family knows about. It is under my side of the bed. That's where my secret hiding place is, the last place anyone would look. I went— as we were wrapping Christmas presents, I thought, 'Okay, I need to wrap my wife's presents.' So I go under the bed to grab the present, and nothing is there. So I'm chuckling, thinking, 'Oh, I must have moved it.' So I went to one of the lesser-used hiding places around our house, which I will not share, and they are for children's gifts, and they were not there. And so I begin to sweat a little bit, thinking, 'This is not a problem. This is fine.' I know the package is here. I obsessively tracked it. It's in this house. I will find the package. Could not find it. I began checking places that were outlandish. I looked in a box of keepsake childhood mementos. Next to my papers that I got for 12th grade music theory and trophies for soccer, it was not there. Spoiler. I checked in our garage near some paint samples. Again, not there. I checked in the back of the scary closet under our stairs. Never go back there. Wasn't there. And so one of the family members wondered aloud, 'You didn't already wrap it and put it under the tree, did you?' And so I thought, surely not. Surely it's not there, wrapped and under the tree. But out of thoroughness, I will go look. So I go to the tree, and right there under the tree, wrapped and labeled from me to Jen, is the Christmas present.

42 · Draws out the lesson from the lost present story: we often miss what's right in front of us because it seems too obvious to check

And I went back and I thought, okay, why didn't I check there earlier? And I realized the reason I didn't check there earlier is it seemed too obvious. It was like, of course it's not there. That's too obvious.

43 · Applies the lost present analogy to spiritual reality: we search for hope, fulfillment, and promise-keeping everywhere except the obvious place—Jesus in the manger

But that, I think in that we find the irony of the whole Christmas season. The irony of the Christmas season is that we rush around moving from place to place looking for, well, looking for life, looking for hope, looking for someone who's not going to let us down, looking for someone that's going to keep their promises, looking for maybe an engagement ring, looking for a child. To join us in our family, looking for a reconciliation within our family, looking for a new purchase, a new car, a new house, a new thing that will make us happy or happier at least than last year. We look around all and we think, okay, sure, sure, the nativity's there, the Christmas season, I don't know about Jesus, right? But we spend the rest of our time turning the house upside down, looking for the things our hearts long for everywhere but where the Lord says they have been all along, which is in the manger itself.

44 · Synthesizes the sermon's thesis: the Christmas narratives reveal that what we've been searching for—a promise-keeping God—has been in plain sight in the manger all along

And so one of the things I think these Christmas stories remind us, brothers and sisters, is that sometimes we fail to look in the most obvious of places, and yet it is there all along. And what is it that we find? We find in the manger a God who always keeps his promises. Promises. A God who will never leave us, never forsake us, never break his promise.

45 · Contrasts human promise-breaking with divine promise-keeping by surfacing common experiences of broken promises to heighten the significance of God's faithfulness

And I think all of us have had experiences, right, where we have encountered people who have broken their promises to us. Maybe a loved one, maybe a spouse, maybe a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a family member, maybe a boss, maybe a politician, maybe, you know, somebody else that they've said, 'Don't worry, I will be there. I will not let you down. I'm going to be there no matter matter what, and yet then they aren't.

46 · Addresses the pastoral danger of projecting human unreliability onto God, asserting God's radical difference from all promise-breakers

And so I think we get used to living in a world of broken promises, and sometimes I think we apply that to the Lord. We think, well, he's just— he's probably just like everyone else. But in the manger, we find a God who is utterly unlike everyone else, a God who always keeps his promises.

47 · Issues a concrete two-part application: First, examine scripture to verify God's promise-keeping across redemptive history

So this this morning, I want to encourage you to ponder two questions as you head into Christmas tomorrow. First question is this: Has he not kept his promises? Go ahead, search the Old Testament Scriptures. See if there is a promise that the Lord has not yet fulfilled or will not fulfill. The Lord always keeps his promises, even separated— those promises we read separated by thousands of years, unforgotten by the Lord, always fulfilled by the Lord. And then think about your own life. It's a beautiful activity, I think, if you've got— especially it goes better with a warm cup of hot chocolate in your hand and a roaring fire. If you want to sit with your family or by yourself with a journal and privately ponder what promises has the Lord kept for me, for us, for our family this year. Maybe promises to never leave us or forsake us. Promises to bring peace where there is no peace, promises to give hope where there is no hope. What promises has the Lord kept? Review those today.

48 · Addresses the already-not-yet tension by instructing believers to pair past promises fulfilled with future promises awaited, trusting the same faithful God for both

And then second, ask the question: will he not then keep his promises? Look, we live in between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. We live in between the coming of the King and the full fullness of his kingdom. The kingdom has come surely in our hearts. The kingdom is advancing through the church, but the kingdom is not fully here yet, right? Injustice has not been fully wiped away yet. War has not been fully put away yet. And yet we see in the manger God does keep his promises. So it reminds us that he will keep his promises. And so in light of that first list of God's promises kept, put your list of of promises waiting to be fulfilled and match them together. And remind yourself, friend, that the same God who's kept all of these will keep all of these.

49 · Personal story of his 4-year-old son's anxiety that December 25 might not come, fearing the calendar's reliability, serving as an analogy for anxious faith

My son Anson, 4 years old, this is the first year he is really grasping the Christmas season and all the hubbub. When you're like 2, Christmas just happens and you're excited, but you don't understand. But at 4, He now begins to understand there are a lot of presents. They're building up under the tree. There's kind of a momentum here. And so the other day he asked, 'But Dad, 2/5 is after 2/4, right?' I was like, 'What?' And I realized on his little Advent calendar, it goes up to 2/4, but there's no 2/5 because 2/5 is Christmas. And so he's like, 'When are we opening the presents?' '2/5.' 'Is 2/5 after 2/4?' 'Yes.' 'Always?' 'Yes.' I mean, you're just like, This is the way calendars work, son. But he harbors at 4 years old a deep fear that perhaps this year 2:5 will not follow 2:4. We will skip it and go on to 2:6, and the presents will just sit there.

50 · Applies the Anson illustration to the congregation: like a 4-year-old doubting the calendar, we doubt God's next promise despite the unbroken record of his faithfulness

And yet, man, I wonder how many of us are like that. We see the march of the calendar of God's promises kept over and over and over, and yet we think the next one Will he keep it? Really? Are we sure? Yes, we're sure. God always keeps his promises. Amen?

51 · Formal conclusion transitioning the congregation from word to worship with a doxological charge

Let's close with rejoicing in a God who always keeps his promises.