If you have a Bible, we're going to be in second Samuel, chapter seven. We have just finished First Samuel, and this week we're going to jump ahead, jump forward to second Samuel seven, to the Davidic covenant and actually one of the most Christmassy passages of the Old Testament. You may not see it at first, but I think you will by the end. And Kathy, we're just going to read verses 12 through 17 together. So second Samuel, chapter seven, verses 12 through 17. As the Lord replies to David, David intends to build the Lord a house. The Lord's response is that he will build David a house. Look at verse 12. And this is God's word. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the Son of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. In accordance with all these words and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. This is God's word.
And let's ask, Lord, would you bless the preaching of your word and the hearing of your word in your house? We pray. Amen.
St Nicholas of Myra, the one on whom St Nick and all the rest of it is based, spent at least 10 Christmases in prison. May not know that the real St Nicholas of Myra started out as a wealthy young young man. His parents passed away relatively early in his young adulthood. And so he found himself with. With a lot of wealth very early in his life. Well, he decided, though, not to try to hold on to the wealth he had, but began to give it away. Which is why you get these legends of him secretly delivering gifts to people in the town that desperately needed help. And this wasn't like an Xbox. This is like medicine and food, right? He's. He's serving the area and eventually goes into the ministry, becomes a minister. But under Diocletian persecution, which is an emperor of Rome, that probably that may have started and sustained the longest campaign of anti Christian sentiment in the Roman Empire. Nicholas was a major target. He was a prominent bishop at that time in Turkey. And so he was taken to jail. He was, according to most sources, tortured in jail. And the jail became. So this is the legend, the jail became so full of Christians and ministers that. That refused to stop confessing Jesus Christ that they didn't have room for the criminals anymore. They just filled it up with confessing Christians.
Now, here's the thing. You'd think that the jolly old St. Nick couldn't possibly have come out of a Roman prison, right? I mean, when I see him on the Coca Cola ads, he's so happy, he's drinking so much Coca Cola, which, by the way, is where the sort of the modern version of Nicholas came from, just to sell you Coca Cola. But the real St. Nicholas, right, is in a Roman prison for a decade now. How can it be, though, that he comes out eventually of that prison and he is undeterred and even more intent on spreading the joy of Jesus to the people around him? Why is it? Because I think if we understand that, then I think we will begin to understand something profound for our own lives. Because here's what I want to say. Christmas, I think, is a place many of us visit, but not many of us live. For many of us, Christmas is a seasonal high, right? If you look at the statistics, you know, like a lot of. A lot of sort of anxiety and, you know, sadness go down a little bit around Christmas, and then in January, they like, spike. Everyone's just like, oh, my gosh, what are we? You know, they don't have the Christmas spirit to sustain them. They crash, they get the credit card bills. You know, that maybe that's what it is. All of that happens. And so Christmas becomes a place we visit occasionally. We have a high temporarily from a movie or from walking around looking at lights. But it's not a place that we live. And this is the difference with Nicholas. Nicholas lived in that joy. He was so undeterred, he was so rooted and anchored that it didn't matter that he spent Year after year in jail.
Now, here's the reality. Most of us are not. Well, actually, I don't. If I'm looking at you, you're not in jail this year. I was going to say most of us are not in jail, but I realized that's actually not true. All of us are not in jail. Unless there's something you need to talk to me about after the service. You've. You're on the lamb or something. But we don't live where St. Nicholas lives. But we all live in difficult places, don't we? We have broken marriages, we have financial difficulties, we have health issues, we have strained parent child relationships. We find difficult places in. It does feel like we're trying to celebrate Christmas inside a jail cell because of the circumstances of life around us.
And so the question I have for us today is this. How can we not just visit Christmas? How can we live there day in and day out, year round? And I'm going to give you a hint from an old Christmas carol that I think you'll begin to understand as we go. Here is the Christmas carol. In O come, O come, Emmanuel, it says this. Oh, come thou key of David, come and open wide our heavenly home. Christmas is not an invitation to stop by for a visit. Christmas friends hands us a key that we might live there.
6 · The pastor explains the historical context of 2 Samuel 7: David, now established as king, desires to build God a permanent temple
Now, when we come to 2 Samuel chapter 7, we find that David is on the throne of Israel. After all of the up and down and back and forth with Saul, he is firmly in power, firmly the king in Israel. And so he turns his attention to building the Lord a house. He says the beginning of chapter seven that he desires to build a house for God. Now, it doesn't mean like a, like a chateau or something. It means a temple. He desires to build a temple for the Lord. Because if you think of Jerusalem, if you've ever seen maps of it, the. The king's palace, which was the seat of government, would be on one side and then not far away in a short walk would be a temple, would be the religious center. And so the ark of God. The tabernacle has housed the special presence of God. But David is saying, I wish this could be permanent, right? The tabernacle was these. Was this giant, elaborate tent that would move with God's people. But David is looking at this place of God's presence and going, I wish it could live next to me. I wish I could be in the neighborhood with the presence of God. And God says, no, nope, not going to. Not. You're not going to do it. And in fact, this, this passage is all built around a play on words. David desires to build God a house, meaning a temple. But God says, david, I'm going to build you a house. And he doesn't mean David's residence. He means, well, he means a much broader sense of that word of house. He means a dynasty, he means a kingdom, he means a legacy. And so, David, you're not going to build the house. I'm the house builder and I'm going to build a house for you. And I think if we understand, friends, the house of David, the house of the Lord, we will finally understand how not just to visit Christmas, but to live there, to take up residence there.
7 · The pastor expounds the first thread: God's 'house' for David means a better kingdom
So three things. There's so much in the Davidic covenant. There's, there's not going to be. If you're a big fan of the Davidic covenant, you're like, yes, finally, here we go. No, we're not, we're going to do just pull three brief threads, short threads out of this passage that I think will help us understand this better. First thing we want to understand about this passage and the first key to taking up residence in Christmas is this. The house means a better kingdom. When God says, david, I'm going to build you a house, what he means is a kingdom. Verse 10 says this. I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them so they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more, and violent men shall afflict them no more. As formerly, from that time, I appointed judges over my people Israel, and I will give you rest from your enemies. Now notice what God is doing here. This promise to David has overtones of the Old Testament. Now notice something is going to be there, and something is not going to be there in this new kingdom. First, notice what's going to be there. The language used here is, I will plant my people Israel. And that should bring two things to mind, right? If you, if you've read the beginning of the Bible, you know that the beginning of the Bible starts in a garden. And what happens in the garden is that God, you use this language, plants this garden and then plants his people in the midst of this garden. And this garden is meant to be lush and verdant and full of good things. And it is sadly then lost by Adam and Eve's choice to reject the rulership of the king who gave them the garden. In other words, God gives humanity this beautiful gift and says, use this, enjoy this. I'm. I'm giving it to you and Adam and Eve, in a sense, Say, no, we like everything except you. We just don't want to listen to you. We want to be the kings ourselves. And so they reject God. And what happens? Well, the violence, the enemies, the disturbances that it refers to in verses 10 and 11, all of that enters the garden and destroys it. In fact, right after the fall of humanity, you find the first violent act where one brother kills another brother in jealousy. And this is what you should be reading as the overtones of this text. But notice this, the story doesn't end there. It's not just Genesis 1 was great. Genesis 2 is great. Genesis 3 is terrible. And the end of the story. No. God intends from that point to launch a rescue plan for humanity. And part of that rescue plan is to replant, plant God's people in a new garden, a new promised land. And how is the promised land described? Flowing with milk and honey. Meaning it's lush, it's verdant, it's full of good things. And you're like, okay, here we go. We're going back. We're, we're. God is going to recreate a garden with this people. And that is what he's promising David. He's saying, david, as I have given you rest from all your enemies, as I am beginning to fill this land with good things again, this is my promise to you that your kingdom will be a land without all of the violence and sin and difficulty and full of all of the good things again. And you go, yes, perfect. Until you keep reading the David story, right? You get a little bit further and you've already seen David has some flaws, and then he grievously sins. And his pattern of taking multiple wives is really what causes the civil war after him. So all these things he's sown in his life come reaping. And Solomon follows the path of his father David. And from there the king begins to decline. And. And what you see is less blessing, more violence, less fullness and verdancy and more difficulty and more trouble. And you go, oh my goodness. But, but, but what about the promise of 2nd Samuel 7? I thought God was establishing a kingdom. Which is why when you arrive in the New Testament, it is such good news that in Luke 2, the angels announcing the birth of Jesus proclaim peace on earth and goodwill on whom God's favor rests. What does that sound like? It sounds like this promise that rest, that peace. God is saying, the dream of the promised land is not over. The dream of Eden is not over. In fact, this king that has been born in Bethlehem will bring about the kingdom that David could not, that Solomon could not, that all the other kings would not. This promise continues and has now arrived in the person of Jesus.
8 · The pastor uses G
Now, why is that good news? Because you and I, friends, we long for a kingdom that won't quickly fade away, that won't be corrupted, that won't be. That won't be destroyed. We long for a kingdom without violence and disturbance and with the presence of blessing. And yet we find ourselves always unfulfilled and restless in this life. But GK Chesterton has this great poem that I think captures this beautifully. That longing for a kingdom is found here. Chesterton says this to an open house in the evening. Home shall men come. To an older place than Eden and a taller town than Rome. To the end of the way of the wandering star. To the things that. That cannot be and that are meaning the miracles of Christmas. To the place where God was homeless and all men are at home. You see that longing for a homeland that we have, that longing for a perfect place, that longing for it to be like this, the longing is not ever going to be fully fulfilled in this life. But here is the good news, brothers and sisters. It has come in the person of Jesus and will come fully upon his return. We all have a homeland that we long for, that we see glimpses of here and now, but it's. It's not there. And yet I love Chesterton saying, we long for something older than Eden and bigger than Rome, and it's here. It's here in the kingship and kingdom of Jesus Christ.
9 · The pastor applies the kingdom theology to the believer's identity: Jesus offers not a visitor pass to Christmas but full citizenship in God's kingdom
Now, here's the good news then. That kingdom is not a place we have to visit. It is a place that welcomes us to take up its citizenship. Right? When you're an American citizen, it doesn't mean, oh, you get the privilege of visiting. That's. That's a different, you know, different thing. If you're a citizen, that means it's your country, right? It's the place where you take up residence that, friends, that is what Jesus gives to us on Christmas. Not a visitor pass. Not, you know, try to see as much as you can in your three weeks of travel visa. It is. You live here now.
10 · The pastor transitions to the second thread: God's house for David means a better family, not just a kingdom
Second, it's the first good news. Second. The house with a better family. Look at verse 12. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you. Who. Who shall come from your body and will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. And I will Be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And when he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the Son of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before. Now, a house in the ancient world didn't just mean a kingdom, it meant a family. It meant a dynasty. And so what's being held out to David and all those who will follow him is not just a kingdom with land, but rather a relational kingdom, a family kingdom.
11 · The pastor uses Home Alone and Chesterton to illustrate that a house without family is not truly home
Because, look, friends, it's as young Kevin McAllister learned so well Christmases ago. You can have the run of the house and still feel utterly alone, right? There's only so much dancing and cheese pizzas you can have by yourself. And the great thing about it is, he realizes, oh, he hasn't been home the whole movie until what, his family comes home and then he's home, right? Because it's not the house, it's the place. It's the people who inhabit it. And this is what, what God is promising to the house of David. Not just a kingdom, but rather a family. A family. Chesterton says it so well in the same poem, he says, For men are homesick in their homes and strangers under the sun, and they lay there, lay on their heads in a foreign land whenever the day is done. And he says, but this. But our homes are under miraculous skies where the yule tail was begun, meaning this, that even in this life, right, all where we can go, who we can visit, there's always going to be just that hint of homesickness, that hint of, I wish I was around family. And here's, here's what you realize growing up, you. You never are around all the family you grew up with, are you. There's always, like, I wish this person hadn't passed away. I wish this person didn't live far away. Wish like, it's always. It's always not full, isn't it? And yet that speaks to a deeper longing that we long for the family to be gathered around us. And that is what the Lord is promising.
12 · The pastor expounds a critical reversal: David is not the patriarch of this family—God is
But notice this. This family is gathered around not David, which is a strange thing. God is saying, david, I'm going to build you a house. And David's like, awesome. He's thinking, maybe I'm the patriarch. I'm the. The father of this great house. And do you see what the Lord says, David, you're not actually the father of this house. Notice what he does at the Beginning of chapter seven, he actually takes several verses to remind God. Takes several verses to remind David that David did not start out as a king, but rather God invited David into this grand plan. David's qualifications, when he joined this great house, he was not a nobleman, he was a shepherd, right? He wasn't from a well to do famous family like Nabal. He was from a no name family, the son of Jesse, right? And so David, David didn't arrive. He wasn't even tall like Saul. He wasn't even tall like some of his brothers. So why did he get invited in? He's not the patriarch, he's not the founder of the house. In fact, what the Lord says is to your son, I will be to him a father. Meaning this, that God is the patriarch of the house of David. In fact, David, the house of David isn't really the house of David, is it? It's actually the house of God.
13 · The pastor argues that God as patriarch is good news because a family built on David would inherit David's flaws (as Solomon's failure demonstrates)
And here's why. That's good news. It's good news because if it's the house of David, it's going to have all the same flaws as David, isn't it? If it's a house of David, it's gonna, it's gonna look like Solomon, who had some real high highs and some very deep lows, like destroying the entire Israelite kingdom, breaking it in two. Pretty low, pretty low lows. But this founder, this patriarch, is God himself. And God is gathering outcasts and shepherds and people who are not tall and people who are not well to do and people who are not noble into his house. And that is good news for all of us, isn't it? Because it means, look, it means there's this thread throughout the whole family tree from David to Jesus of liars and sinners and failures and broken people and stuff you wish you could hide from your family tree, right? All of that stuff is right there on the first page of the New Testament in Jesus genealogy in Matthew. And you think, well, that's. There's no king of Kings that's going to come out of that family. I don't want my family centered around any of those people. No friends, here's what the family tree from David to Jesus illustrates. That it's God's family. And God continues generation after generation to welcome people who shouldn't be part of the family. Not because he's not welcoming them by blood, he's not welcoming them by status. He's not welcoming them by wealth. He. He's welcoming them because he has chosen in this language to set his steadfast love on them.
14 · The pastor applies the doctrine of grace-based membership by contrasting human royal families (observed from a distance) with God's royal family (open to all by invitation)
And friends, that is good news for you and me, isn't it? Because otherwise we would be like, I, I, I, I've got, I won't say who they are, but I've got some friends that always follow the royal family of England. The royal family of England. You know, all the drama there and they're like, oh, they're at their third palace. Oh, they're at their summer home. Oh, look at their playing polo. I don't know what they do. I don't follow that stuff. But here's the reality. If you follow the royal family, you're always over here, right? They're up there, they're getting crowned and whatever, you know, and you're just over here in your pajamas watching them. Not so with this family. This family is a royal family open to you and me. And here is the good news. Here's why we see that in the Christmas story. In the Christmas story, who's invited to the moment? The King is born. The King of kings. Jesus Christ. Who is born, who's he born to? Not to a fancy family, not to a royal family, not to a wealthy family. He's born to a carpenter and a young girl. And who gets invited? Not the well to do. Not the well connected again. The shepherds, the people on the outside, the people who are unclean. The, the people who don't have tons of money. That's why they're out in the fields watching the sheep, right? And, and those people are welcomed near into this royal moment. And it's a sign that people like you and me will be welcomed into the family of God.
15 · The pastor pastorally addresses those who feel Christmas isn't for them due to hardship, lack, or disqualification
Look, the good news, friend, is Christmas is for you. You might think, man, I, I don't like Christmas. I don't. It reminds me of difficulties. It reminds me of family members. Not here. It reminds me that I don't have tons of money to buy presents. It reminds me of this. Christmas isn't for me, friends. Christmas is exactly for you. Christmas is for people who need and desire to be welcomed into the family of God. And who are welcomed, notice this by love, not blood, into the family of God. And you're like, I don't have the qualifications, I don't have the money, I don't have the blood. It's okay. These people are God's people because he sets his steadfast love on them. The love of God is a qualification. And those who are joyfully welcomed under his rule again now, so much more we could say this, but let me just, let me just encourage you with this, Christmas then becomes not a place we visit, but a place we live. We live in the family of God. We don't visit for a weekend, right? Have you ever had, like, think of the best family gathering you can remember? Maybe it's from your childhood. Maybe it's last year. Whatever it was, it was the funniest. It was the best. They made the best food. And have you ever had that feeling? I wish this didn't have to end. I wish my sister didn't have to go home at the end of this. I wish. I wish, you know, we all could just stay here forever in this moment. Friends, the good news of the family of God is that it is a forever family. It is not. Okay, one and done. Like, oh, that was a great memory. I guess we'll always have the memories. No, we live there. We live in this family. None of us friends. If we come to the house of the Lord, if we'll claim him as savior and Lord. It is not as though Jesus has us, like, on a trial run in the family. Like when your cousin brings a boyfriend to see how he does with the extended family and are kind of like, let's feel this out. No, none of us are on a trial boyfriend run. We are adopted and welcomed in and brought into the family tree, just like the shepherds, just like Mary, just like Joseph, just like David. And that's good news.
16 · The pastor introduces the third thread: God's house for David means a forever throne
Third. Third reason we should live in Christmas, not just visit. This is a house with a better and forever throne. Notice the throne language in the verses. We read verse 13. He shall build a house for my name, and I will estab the throne of his kingdom forever. Look at verse 16. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. Now, here's the dicey thing about ancient kingdoms and ancient dynasties, okay? In the ancient world, the strength of your kingdom and the strength of your dynasty is. Is only as strong as the latest person on the throne. Meaning this. You could be. You'd have a huge kingdom. You could have a great legacy of all these rulers. But if the latest one is a loser, you're dead right? You have all these stories of. Of Assyrian rulers that did great, and they had these legacies, and all of a sudden their son was just a loser. Like, they couldn't manage, they couldn't fight, they weren't smart. And then the whole thing crumbles, right? Your legacy, your dynasty, your kingdom is only as good as the last person on the throne. And, friends, that's why this is Such good news, because it should be if the kingdom, in a sense, would totter based on whoever was on the throne. Latest. Well, man, the House of David isn't doing great. Like, read first and second kings, you get a couple bright spots for, like, a second before they mess up. And it's mostly a bunch of deadbeat rulers who divide the kingdom and do a terrible, terrible job.
17 · The pastor uses a personal story about marriage to illustrate human inadequacy as kings
And here's the thing. You and I, we find ourselves in that same exact pattern. I remember years ago when somebody was trying to, you know, be funny and encourage me when I had married Jen, so I had just gotten married, and they said something like, oh, guess you're the king of the castle now, huh? And I was, you know, I responded rightly, no, that's crazy. You know, I love my wife, you know, and then inwardly I'm like, that is kind of true. This is the apartment I have provided. I have purchased this couch with my own funds. This is my kingdom. And I. You know, and you realize, like, okay, here's what I've realized over 17 years. If I. I'm not really the king of the castle, but if I were, I would be a terrible king, right? If the king that I'm putting all my hope in is the one in the mirror staring back at me, most of the time, that guy doesn't know what he's doing, right? I've got a parenting challenge. I'm looking at him. You know what to do, and he's looking back like, I got. I don't know, man, right? I have nothing. What about this financial thing? What about this health thing? What about this challenge? What about that challenge? What about this marital conflict? And I'm looking. If the king is the guy in the mirror, then our kingdom is hopeless, right? And that's what happens. That's all. That's the pattern of all humanity. We can look at the kings of Israel and be like, these guys are terrible. But, friends, let us look in the mirror and go, like, we wouldn't do much better. We would not do much better. And our kingdom is only as good, right? As the last king. King on the throne. And if that's the case and it's us, we're in trouble.
18 · The pastor asserts the good news: the promise in 2 Samuel 7:16 goes beyond Solomon to Jesus Christ, who will be both perfect (not failing like previous kings) and forever (never leaving the throne)
That's why this is such good news. Listen to the promise here in verse 16. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me, your throne shall be established forever. What that means, friends, is. Is that this is not just about Solomon. This promise goes far beyond Solomon, because Solomon is a king, just like in the line with you and me. But this son of Solomon, this son of, son of, son of David, who comes in the person of Jesus Christ, will be two things that we long for. He will be perfect and not messing it up, and he will be forever.
19 · The pastor expounds Luke 3's threefold identity of Jesus—son of Adam (true man), son of David (true king), son of God (sinless, perfect)
And the reason that's good news is this. When you and I are living our lives, there's so many times that we mess things up, right? There's so many times, like, if you are struggling with a list of. You're like, I have never missed anything. Just talk to your wife or your kids after the service. Just be like, have I ever messed anything up? And they were like. They'd go, how recently do you want me to go? The reality is this. You and I fail. We fall, we make a mess of our lives. But this king, friends, he is. He is something Luke 3 says is utterly unique. In Luke 3, we don't have time to go there. But in Luke chapter three, it says three things about Jesus. He's the son of Adam. Meaning he's a real man. He's the son of David. He's the king in the line of David. But it adds a third thing, because you're going, okay, well, son of Adam, son of David, they both messed up, right? This is not the king. I want the third thing it says of him is he's the son of God. No sin, no evil, no never knowing what to do. No uncertainty, no loss. He's never gonna get corrupted. He's never gonna get intimidated. He's never gonna get confused. He's never not gonna know what to do. He is going to be the king that David should have been, the king that Solomon should have been, the king that Adam, in a sense, over creation, should have been. And not only will he be perfect, he will be forever right If. If. The kingdom is only as sure as the last one on the throne. Friends, the last one on the throne is Jesus Christ. The last one on the throne is not going to fail. The last one on the throne. Friend, when you and I look in the mirror and we don't know what to do, we remember he is still on the throne. And we can look to him. We close the bathroom and go, let me. Let me open my Bible. I need to find the king, because he's not in the mirror.
20 · The pastor asserts the permanence of Jesus' kingship: Jesus doesn't vacillate on and off the throne—he inaugurated his reign at Bethlehem, ascended to the Father's right hand, continues to rule now, and will bring his kingdom fully at his return
Look, friends, this. This is the good news of Christmas. This is why we can not just visit Christmas, but live there. Because what I mean to say is this. It's not as though Jesus is jumping on and off the throne in our lives or over the last 2,000, 3,000 years. Right. It's not as though Jesus comes in and kind of like, you know, organizes some things and is kind of like a parent, you know, keep this room clean for a day, you know, and walks away. And then you come back and you're like, what did you do? You know, it's not as though that's the situation in the universe, friends. Jesus, when he comes in Bethlehem, inaugurates his rule and reign. He continues to rule and reign. What does it say about him that he ascended to the right hand of the Father, he continues to rule and reign, and then one day he will bring his kingdom fully and finally to every corner of creation and renew all things. Right? That is what it says about Jesus Christ.
21 · The pastor returns to St
Now, this is why I think St. Nicholas could spend 10 years in jail and come out happier and more convinced of Jesus than ever. Do you know why? Well, we know another thing about Nicholas that you may not have known. You may not have known that he was in jail for 10 Christmases, but also you may not have known that he participated in one of the most important church councils in the history of the Church. So after the. The persecution lifted, there was a big convention, in a sense, in Nicaea, from which we get the Nicene Creed. And it was convened to clarify who Jesus was. And one of the people at that saying, I know who Jesus is, was Nicholas of Mira. And at that. So I want you to make a connection here at that council. The truth they confessed in a creed, I think was the same truth that sustained Nicholas for the 10 years he was in prison. All right, you ready to hear this? This is a word for us today, friends. This is a word that Nicholas could live in for a decade, even inside of a Roman prison. And you can live in right now. The Nicene Creed says this. Imagine Nicholas holding on to this truth in the jail cell. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, he suffered and was buried. And on the third day, he rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead. Whose kingdom shall have no end. Can you imagine Nicholas again and again, them asking him, will you finally bow the knee to the emperor and put aside all of this foolishness? Will you finally acknowledge that the emperor is the one on the throne? And Nicholas, year after year after year, says, no, there is someone else on the throne, and he rules over you, and he will reign forever. Friends, that is why we can live in these truths.
22 · The pastor pastorally addresses the congregation's unknown circumstances—health, unemployment, relational strain—and declares the certainty of Jesus' eternal reign
Look, I don't know how. How you've come in today. I don't know what circumstances in your life are going on. I don't know if there's health issues, unemployment, relational issues, tensions, estrangements, all that stuff, right? Could be going on in your life. But I know this. The king of kings is on the throne. The king of kings has been on the throne. He is on the throne. He will be on the throne. And none of us are waiting to go. Well, let's see what the latest king does as it gets. Going to be okay? Nope. He's never getting off the throne. This son of David reigns forever.
23 · The pastor makes the gospel explicit: Jesus' incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection are what make the king's reign good news for sinners like David and us
And notice this, notice this. This king of kings, this king of the kingdom, this founder of the dynasty, invites you and me because of what he did, not only in the manger, but on the cross. Look, the truth is this, that if you didn't have the middle of the Nicene Creed, it would be a great thing about some guy up there somewhere, but it wouldn't be for you and me. The. The reason that the king on the throne is good news for us is this. That he was incarnate and was made man and was crucified for us and suffered and was buried and rose again. Meaning this. It's a perplexing thing to think. Well, how can David, a guy who so thoroughly messed up, still expect to be in the kingdom of God? How can people who mess up still be welcomed in? Because if the king is perfect, isn't his kingdom perfect? It is. So then how can all those people be in the genealogy in Matthew 1? How can they possibly be welcome into the family because of this? Because through his death, Jesus died for people like David and for people like you and me. He died to cleanse them, to pay for their sins, and to open wide the home of heaven and the house of God to all who will come through Jesus Christ.
24 · The pastor illustrates salvation by grace through the image of Jesus handing believers a blood-purchased key to God's house, not accepting merit-based payments for time inside
And so the good news is this. It's not as though you got to earn enough merits that you come up to the front door of Jesus house and go, hey, how much time is this gonna buy me in the house today? Right? I think Some Christians, I think sometimes I live that way where I gotta work up some good deeds and I'm gonna come bring em and be like, cool, I did, I did this and this and this. How much time does that buy me? And you're like about an hour. You're like, okay, you know, if that's where it was, friends, none of us would even get in the house. But the good news is this. Jesus meets us at the door and he meets us with a key that he shed his blood to purchase. And he hands it to us that we might unlock the house of God and live there forever. Now let me end with this. I want to, I want to read just the last bit of Chesterton's poem because this, this is just an excuse for me to read one of my favorite poems to you. As you can tell if you, if you're new here at the church, that just happens regularly, I'll just find stuff that I'll just look for excuses to read. And yet I think this, this so goes with the though come oh come Emmanuel. Remember what I said the hint was the key to not just visiting Christmas, but to living. There is this. Oh come thou key of David, come and open wide our heavenly home, Jesus is the key by which we unlock the house of God. And Chesterton says this a child in a foul stable where the beasts feed in foam only where he was homeless are you and I at home. We have hands that fashion and heads that know, but our hearts we lost how long ago in a place no chart nor ship can show under the sky is dumb. And what he means there is, is we have all this stuff, we have all this knowledge, we have all this fashion, we have all this industry. And yet we have lost our hearts and would forever have been left out in the cold. Apart from this the world is wild as an old wives tale and strange the plain things are. The earth is enough and the air is enough for our wonder and our war. But this is the turn but our rest. Far as the fire Drake swings and our peace is put in impossible things where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings round an incredible star. What he means is this, that we had lost our hearts, we had lost our homes and this world we can wander and we can look for things and it's filled with war and challenge and change and all the rest of it. But what we long for, friends, we do not find anywhere else out in the world. We find it in the manger at Bethlehem. We find it as the angels shout peace on earth. Good Will to men. Because the king has now come.
25 · The pastor applies the sermon's theology to concrete assurance: believers are okay—not as wishful thinking but as certainty—because Jesus reigns on the throne, believers are welcomed into God's family, and they already live in a foretaste of the eternal kingdom
And what this means, friends, is when you live in Christmas, you'll always be okay. Last thing at our home group this week, we had a great time. It was awesome. I saw a bunch of people from our home group in the first service, and it was such a great time. We had surprises for the kids. We had this huge feast. We had a birthday cake for Jesus that Mrs. O' Neal led us through with the teaching, and it was just. It was so good. But the gift we got is inexplainable to anybody who's not in our group. And it's this little mug that says, you're okay. You guys see this? It's a mug. You don't get one of these because you're not part of our group, and you're okay. And the reason we got this is that Mr. O', Neill, one of the people at the group, says, you're okay all the time. That's his regular encouragement. It's become kind of a joke. He always just says, you're okay, you're okay. And regularly at home group, we'll be sharing about, you know, this medical thing, this. This parenting thing, this challenge, this uncertainty, this job thing. And he'll often encourage, but he'll begin his encouragement by saying, you're okay. You're okay. And here's the thing. After I got to know Mr. O', Neill, I began to realize he's not just saying it as a trite. Like, he's not saying, listen to this. He's not saying, I hope you'll be okay. He's not. What he's saying is, you are okay because of what we just looked at in the Bible. What he's saying is this, Friend, whatever's going on in your life, you're okay. And I know you're okay because the Lord's still on the throne. Whatever's going on in your life, you're okay because you are. You've been welcomed into the family of God. Whatever's going on in your life, you're okay. Because you right now are living in a foretaste of that true and better kingdom where you will live forever. And, friend, doesn't that put life in perspective? It's like whatever you're facing this week, whatever Christmas morning brings for you, whether there's grief or sorrow or loss or frustration, whatever it is, here's the good news. You will be okay because of 2nd Samuel 7. You have a king, you have a kingdom, you have a family, and it's all forever. Amen.
26 · The pastor closes with a prayer for two groups: first, for those on the porch of God's house who have not yet entered, inviting them to confess Jesus as Savior and Lord and take up residence today; second, for believers who have been welcomed at great cost (Jesus' incarnation and crucifixion), that they would not visit but live permanently in the home Jesus purchased for them
So would you stand and let's pray this morning? Heavenly Father, Lord, I pray that. I pray for any soul, Lord, that right now is on, as it were, on the porch of your house, but has not yet come in. I pray that they would come into the house today. If there's anyone who has trying to be the king of the castle or the king of their life and is realizing it is not going well and they wish they could find another home, I pray that they would hear your call. You're welcome today. And I pray that they would come in. I pray that they would confess you as Savior and Lord. And I pray that they would take up residence in the house of God and Lord. I also pray then for all of us as brothers and sisters in Christ who have been welcomed at an incredible cost. Have you going from heaven to the manger and from the manger to the cross, Lord, that cost is what you paid that we might be handed the key of David that opens wide our heavenly home. And Lord, I pray that for us, we would not visit, but we would live in the home that you have purchased for us. Amen. Amen.