From the Cradle to the Cross in Five Days First B Jackson 2024-12-15 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Good morning, everybody. I'm glad that you all are here. And I think that some people looked out the window this morning, saw some deep snow, and said, maybe we'll see if they still do this online. We were gonna we we be few but fervent. How about that? Would you sing with me? We all know these songs, and we've known the tunes since our young young little elementary school lives and so we're to sing them like we know them. Hymn number two seven eight is Angels We Have Heard On High. Let's sing some folks in from the best of you. Angels we have heard on high sweetly singing o'er the plains, and the mountains in reply echoing their joyous strains glow. In excellency stay. Shepherds, why this jubilee? Why your joyous strains prolong what the gladsome tidings be, which inspire your heavenly song. Him whose birth the angels sing, come adore on mended knee. Christ the Lord, the new born king. Glory on in excellency's day. Oh, glory on. See him in a manger laid. Jesus, Lord of heaven and earth. Mary, Joseph, Langerate. With us sing our savior's birth. Glory up in excellency's day, Amen. How about this one? Philip Brooks' O Little Town of Bethlehem. Oh, little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee light above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark street shines the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. For Christ is born of Mary and gathered all above. While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wandering love. Oh, morning stars together proclaim the holy birth and praises sing to God the king and peace to man on earth. How silently how silently the wondrous gift is given. How God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his head. No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in. Oh, child of Bethlehem, descend to us. We pray. Cast out our sin and enter him. Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angel, their great glad tidings fell. Oh, come to us. Abide with us, our lord Emmanuel. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I mentioned Philip Brooks' name. He's a pastor and wrote the words to that one and a little bit of inspired imagination, I guess, but it's beautiful. The last line, last couple lines always get, we hear the Christmas angels, they're great glad tidings tell. Oh, come to us and abide with us, our lord. God with us, Emmanuel. That's good. Awana is on a. Alright? Awana is on tomorrow night. So, Mondays, 05:45PM starting out in this room and then spreading all out but it is on tomorrow night. We'll be off the next Monday but tomorrow, Awana is on a. The buzzer breath chili cook off is tonight. Tonight, buzzer breath chili cook off at 06:00. Caroling to precede that at 04:30. So, thirty, we will gather here, bundle up, and then walk out into the snow and head towards town. If there's somebody that you'd like for us to visit, we may send out emissaries in the van, the four wheel drive to go but we are planning on going together from here towards town and we will do walk about singing Christmas carols, 04:30, 06:00, we'll gather back here and there it is a competition. If you bring your chili, we will have lots of em to sample and kind of make some determinations on. So, buzzer breath chili cook off and caroling. Tanya is still in charge of the Angel Tree. You may see a few tags left out there. We have had a couple of emergent situations immediate in nature that have come to us just in the last few days. So if you want to talk to her about it, you can call her or text her, (956) 357-3676 or you can just see her. She's here somewhere in a black velvet jacket. So if you see her, that's who she is. Alright? Good Samaritan Mission is in need of some specific winter clothing, food, and some cleaning supplies. We put a list on our website, if you wanna check our website to see what that is, you could fulfill some of those needs for the Good Samaritan mission. Really, really trying to do a good job this time of year. They're working very hard at that. The discovery class is normally on the third Sunday of the month. That's today. We had something else going on. A congregational meeting was between services. So, it'll be next week, fourth Sunday of the month in my office, twenty second. There was a congregational meeting and then next week, that have the congregation meeting already happened. That's why I skipped it. Connect and Philip Jordan and Tim Erastorza were confirmed as elders. So they are on the elder board now. There's a connect hour next week that is a potluck. So between services, 10:00, if you want to be a part of that, bring something to share and we will do a potluck next week in between services. Christmas Eve services, if you're wondering, they are to be the same as we've had them for the last ten years probably, 04:30 and six. 04:30 and six are the time slots. Typically, typically, the 04:30 is the hot ticket. That's where everybody shows up for the 04:30 and there we will have overflow space available down the hall in the fellowship hall. It'll be no delay viewed on the screen down there. No delay in the music. We've been working that getting that to work properly and it does. And so, down the hall will be the overflow. What I ask in the first service, if you're somebody who comes to this and you're just kind of died in the wool, first b, you've been here for a long time and you would like to at that 04:30 service, if you would gather down the hall and allow space for visitors to come into the live room in here and enjoy it from down there. Other than that, if you don't have a preference and you don't have something else that's pushing you to come to the 04:30, you might want to choose the six just to free up space in the 04:30. Does that make sense to all of Okay. Good. So Christmas Eve services are 04:30 and six, and I think that's the last slide, is it Blake? We have an advent reading this morning. The Daltons, Tim and Melanie are coming forward and they'll be lighting the candles for this week. Thank you, sir. Did I say good morning? You did now. This is the third Sunday in Advent. On the third Sunday in Advent, the candle of joy is lit. Jesus came to give us give us fullness of joy and abundant life. Joy is ours because of Jesus. His presence brings the promise of joy. Luke two eight through 11 says, and there were shepherds living out of the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were terrified. But the angel said to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today, in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. Amen. And we have a hopefully special music. Come along expected Jesus born to set thy people free from our fears and sins releases us. Us find our rest indeed. Israel's strength and consolation, hope above all the earth thou art. Dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart, born thy people to deliver. Born a child and yet a king, born to reign in us forever. Now thy gracious kingdom bring by thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone by thine all sufficient merry praise us to thy glorious throne. Amen. Thank you, Emily. Thank you very much. And Judy, thank you. Beautiful. I will ask you to stand and we're gonna sing after the announcements, angels from the realms of glory. How about that? Angels from the realms of glory. Would you sing it with us? Thank you, Emily. Angels from the realms of glory, win your flight o'er all the earth. Ye hears a great Haitian story, now proclaim Messiah's birth. Come and worship. Come and worship. Worship Christ, the newborn king. Shepherds in the field abiding, watching o'er your flocks by night. God with us is now residing yonder shines the infant's light. Come and worship. Come and worship. Worship Christ, the newborn king. Though an infant, now we view him. He shall fill his father's throne. Gather all the nations to him, every knee shall then bow down. Come and worship. Come and worship, worship Christ the new born king. Amen. Amen. How about joyful, joyful, we adore you? Hymn number two seventy one. Y'all know the tune of this one. Sing it with us. Joyful, joyful, we toward you, God of glory, Lord of light. Angels lifting praise before you, sing throughout this holy night. In a manger lies a baby child of Mary, son of God. Voices joined in joyful chorus. Praise you for your gift of love. All your works declare your glory. All creation joins to sing. Praise resound as earth rejoices in the birth of Christ the king. Shepherds kneel before the infant trumpet sound and anthems race. As with joy, our hearts are lifted, joined in wonder, love, and praise. Amen. Y'all can have a seat and I'm gonna invite the ushers to come forward. Thank you, Emily. Thank you, Judy. God, thank you for this time of year that we we can dwell on your incarnation that you came, Lord. In humility, you in the in the most literal sense of the term, you condescended. You came down to be with us. God with us. Thank you, Jesus, that you walked it out perfectly, that your life was lived, and that your your sacrificial and atoning death was all for others, Lord. And that's why your name is above every other name. In Jesus name, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord To the glory of God the Father, thank you Lord that we're a part of what's going on. Thank you for using this church to advance your good gospel. I pray that we would be humble and obedient servants of our king Jesus. Your will, Lord, done in your way is what we long for and that's what we want to do. Would you take these offerings and do with them whatever you would do, Lord. And may we may not inhibit it in any way, but be gracious, loving, merciful, and giving. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Thank you, Judy. So we have been in a study of acts lately and we're up to acts five twelve through 42 last week and I said, we're gonna take a turn towards Christmas in this week, and all the songs have been Christmas songs, and we've got folks coming back to us to come in around Christmas, and it's really good to be here. So I wanna turn our attention towards Luke two which we already read a passage from Luke two. We've already sung songs about Luke two but I don't want to stop there. Today, these selected passages from the gospel of Luke and as you know, Acts is volume two of the Gospel of Luke. Okay. The good news that began with Jesus in Gospel of Luke carries forward in the book of Acts and so the Gospel of Luke, we're gonna do selected passages. Would you read with me, stand with me, and recite Lord's prayer? I know you just sat down. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I know that we're not a liturgical church and we don't say that every single week. This morning, I had the wrong sermon in when I got up here. What came up on the screen was something different than I wanted and we had said the Lord's prayer by that time and I came back and I told this little quick story before I get going. One time, several years ago, somebody came in and said they got their car stuck. It was just outside the road, no problem. And so I said, oh, yeah, I think I can pull you out. So I jumped in my wife's Jeep, And I went, had street tires on it, didn't really have mud tires on it or snow tires really. And so I went down to just North of Bondurant on Forest Road 30530 Creek, Cliff Creek Road, if you know it. And when I turned off the road, I expected to see a car and I didn't, and we went about a mile and there was a big mess. And I said, wow. Wow, this was a And it's 34 degrees and rising. It was the December 23. Tanya thought I was going to be somewhere else. I don't have any phone service down there, and I see this big I said, wow, that's a kerfuffle to the person I was riding with. She said, yeah, that's where the tow truck got stuck last night. It was a mile beyond that before we got to the car. And then, I got Tanya's jeep stuck, and then we had to walk out, and the first b member actually rode by and picked us up and brought us back to Jackson. So, next day, I called somebody who's been in this church since he was a little boy and I said, hey, he lives down there and so I said, hey, I heard you had a skid steer. Can you come help me out? And he came to help out and when he got there, we hooked the chain to Tanya's Jeep and Carl and I were both there and he said, well, I've got my two pastors here. Why don't we say the Lord's prayer every Sunday like we used to when I was little? And I said, man, well, we'll say it twice on Sunday. And so, every time that I you see this slide, that's what I'm thinking about. I know we don't do this just as a matter of course, but it is good and it's really good when you see thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And if we are subjects of the king, we can do his will on earth as it is in heaven. We can. If it starts with us, it spreads from there. So, select passages from the gospel of Luke. I want to talk about the from the cradle to the cross in five days. So, there are five times in the book of Luke where Luke uses the word today and they're emphatic. It's like he's stomping his foot every single time. Today, and it starts in Luke two. We've already read the passage. So day one is that day from Luke two eight through 11. We're gonna talk about the cradle and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night and low the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shown round about them and they were sore afraid or as Tim read, terrified and so the angel said to them, fear not for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be for all the peoples to all people. For unto you is born this day actually is the translation we hear most often but really, it is straight up today. For unto you is born today and it's emphatic in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord and this shall be a sign unto you, shepherds. It was specifically to them. This is how you're going to know who this Christ child is, the Messiah, the anointed one, the savior in the city of David. This shall be a sign unto you. You will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. What a strange place for a king. 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, goodwill toward men. Now, this is the King James or the New King James translation and the the songs that we've sung, a couple of them said, peace on earth, goodwill towards men and that's a good translation. You might also hear this time of year, glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace, goodwill unto those upon whom God's favor rests and that's a good translation. There's a sigma at the end or there's not a sigma at the end, one or the other. So I might go into this next week. I'm thinking I might go into this next week. The sigma at the very end of that verse, it either means peace on earth goodwill towards men like God has goodwill and he's sharing it with you or it means God's will has rested upon those who have already accepted him. I think it means both. I think the persistent question often, the persistent questions is because both things can be proven true from other places in scripture. Right now, I'm just gonna say God's will is goodwill towards men. It's a it is a very real and very effective call for all who would believe. So, let's stick with this one for now. Luke two fourteen. Then in 15, it says, and it came to pass just as the angels were gone away from them up into heaven that the shepherd said to one or let's be doing this. He said, go. Let's go or the angel said, go. Let's go. Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass which the Lord has made known to us. Angel means messenger. They recognize it as a message from God and they came with haste and they found Mary and they found Joseph and they found what? The babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger just as it had been said to them and when they had seen it, they made known all over the place the saying which was told them concerning this child and all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds, shepherds of all people. But Mary kept all of these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke says that he was going to make an orderly account and he gives evidence of where he got his information. He interviewed Mary. He got all the things that Mary kept and pondered in her heart. Quite possibly, interviewed some of the shepherds, at least some that the people they told, the shepherds returned. How? Glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and all the things they had seen just as it was told unto them. That's an immediate prophecy. This is Christ the Lord and you're going to find him wrapped in swaddling clothes and then they did. Prophecy fulfilled. Jesus does that all the time. So, day two is next. What happened on day one? Today, he's born in the city of David. A savior who is Christ the Lord. So, on day one, a savior is born which is Christ the Lord. Day two, Jesus returned in the power of spirit. This is from Luke four. So we're going from Luke two, skipping over three, getting to four. This is the next emphatic use of the word today. And Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee and there went out a fame of him through all the region around about and he taught in their synagogues being glorified of all. And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up his hometown and as was his custom, he went into the synagogue which is the assembly or the gathering place. He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read and there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Can you imagine this scene? Jesus in his hometown and the one the prophecy is about stands up to read. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. It was so true. Now, it was written seven hundred years before. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and the recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised and oppressed to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. That's Isaiah sixty one one and the beginning part of verse two. The spirit of the Lord, God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, the acceptable time of the Lord, the age of grace. It was forecast seven hundred years before Jesus' ministry and it says that Jesus read just the first two verse, not even all of verse two and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, he closed the book. He gave it again to the minister and he sat down. Mic, mic drop. And all of the eyes of all of them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. They he had their wrapped attention and he began to say unto them, today, emphatic by placement in the word. Today, is this scripture fulfilled in your hearing or within your ears? You're hearing this actually come true. He just proclaimed liberty to the captive. He just proclaimed the recovery of sight to those who are blind. Today, is this scripture fulfilled in your ears and all of those bear him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. They recognized the grace in his words for more than one reason actually. But then they said, isn't this Joseph's boy? Isn't this Joseph's son like the guy who's the builder? The guy who laid the foundation for my house? That isn't isn't this Joseph's son? That doesn't make any sense. And why did he stop where he stopped? That doesn't make any sense. That's not a whole thought even to them. So day two, so far, what has happened? We see that Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 61. He said, this today you have heard, in your hearing come true. And this was what he read. But what did he skip? Their favorite part. If you think about the time and the place, Nazareth, Galilee Of The Gentiles, they're surrounded by Roman oppression. When they make their trip from Nazareth, if they go through Samaria to Jerusalem or if they go down to the Jordan River and go to Jericho and then go back up the hill, whatever way they go, they go through Roman checkpoints all the way and they're oppressed and they don't like it and they want to hear this line. Jesus read part of the prophecy and stopped and what they want to hear is the day of the vengeance of our God. Right? That's what they're looking for. Oh, yeah. I know this song. I know my favorite part is coming up. It's right here and Jesus stops before he gets there. He opens the acceptable year of the Lord and then doesn't say anything about the vengeance of our God. And if you want to talk theologically speaking, Jesus' first coming was to inaugurate the age of grace. His second coming will be about the vengeance of our God. It will be. It's coming. I don't want to deny that, but Jesus was opening the age of the acceptable year of the Lord. The day of the vengeance of our God, Jesus did not say. Struck that part out, dropped the mic, sat down, handed back the scroll to the minister, and they were dumbfounded. And he said to them, seated, you will undoubtedly quote me this proverb, physician heal yourself. Meaning, do miracles here in your hometown like you did in Capernaum. We hear you. We're we're here you somebody. We hear the news. We hear what you did in Capernaum. Do miracles here in your hometown like you did those in Capernaum but I tell you this, the truth. No prophet is ever accepted in his own hometown. Certainly, there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah's time when the heavens were closed for three and a half years. What a terrible drought. Certainly, there were widows in Israel. Three and a half years of drought and a severe famine devastated the land. Yet, Elijah, prophet of God, nobody would have argued whether he was or wasn't, he was. Elijah was not sent to any of those widows. He was sent instead to a foreigner, an outsider, a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. God cares about everybody and this is what Jesus is proclaiming the acceptable time of the Lord as it's beyond the bounds of just you, religious chosen ones. You're supposed to be a light to the Gentiles and Jesus is saying, I'm opening that up. Many in Israel had leprosy in the time of the prophet Elisha but the only one healed was Naaman, Assyrian. You remember that story? Yeah. Outsiders, both of em. Jesus has just proclared the acceptable time of the Lord and then while they're confused about why he didn't go on about the vengeance of our God, he tells stories about outsiders. We need to be reaching out to outsiders and when they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious And jumping up, they mobbed him and they forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff. That's terrible. By the way, Nazareth Ridge, it's almost exactly the same height as Snow King. It's probably within 50 feet of the same height except for it's a sharp cliff. They intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way. Thank God he did. So he read part of a prophecy and the religionists went into a murderous rage and tried to throw him off off of the cliff. He got away. Day three. Day three. On one of those days, that doesn't say today, that's just one of these days. You know, one of these days. It's in chapter five, so it's immediately after the story about the synagogue in his hometown in Nazareth. As one on one of those days, as he was teaching, probably in Capernaum, that's what it says in another gospel. Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and from even Jerusalem and the power of the Lord was with them to heal. We see this in Acts, right? We've been seeing the disciples, the apostles, standing in Solomon's colonnade and they're gathering people around because it says the Lord was present to heal them all is what it said last week. The power of the Lord was with them to heal and behold, some folks, men were bringing on a bed, a man who was paralyzed and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd inside of this house. They went up on the roof and they let him down with his bed through the towels into the midst before Jesus and when he saw their faith, when he saw their faith, that's amazing right there. If you're praying for somebody to get saved, keep on praying for em. God is looking not just at their faith. He's looking at your faith. I mean, that's pretty awesome. When he saw their faith, he said, man, your sins are forgiven you. And the scribes and the pharisees, scribes probably were sadducees by the way, maybe, probably. The scribes and the pharisees began to question saying, who is this who speaks blasphemies? Blasphemy is when you call something good that is evil or you call something evil that is good. Blasphemy is when you take upon yourself the prerogative of God. That's what this would have been had he not been God. So, man your sins are forgiven you, who is this who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone? That is to say, Jesus is claiming his divinity to forgive sins. Who is this who speaks blasphemy? It would have been blasphemy if he were not God. Who can forgive sins but got along? And when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them and said, why is it that you are questioning in your hearts? He's perceiving their thoughts, by the way. That's pretty good. I can see on your faces when you understand or don't understand sometimes, but I can't perceive your thoughts. When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, why do you question in your heart? Which is easier for me to say? Your sins are forgiven you or to say rise and walk. Well, one of those things would be miraculous. The other one would just be kind of an impertinent thing to say and possibly possibly if you're not God. Blasphemy, if they called you on it, especially scribes and pharisees being together, they're going to call you on it. Which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you to say, rise and walk but so that you may know that the son of man has the authority on earth to forgive sins. Son of man is himself and he's saying, so that you know the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins and he turns and says to the man who is paralyzed, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home. And immediately, I love the immediacy of it. The immediacy of the shepherds, boom, right there. Now, the other people immediately got angry and tried to throw him off a ridge, but immediately, they he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and he went home glorifying God and amazement sees them all and they glorified God and they were filled with awe and saying, we have seen extraordinary things today. Stomp the foot, right? Today, salvation came to that man. Salvation was your sins are forgiven you. It's great that he healed him but forgiveness of sins was even better, right? So day three, what happened? A desperate man's friends found a way to get him to Jesus. They carried him in and Jesus seen their faith. He claimed to be able to forgive sin and then he proved it with a compassionate miracle. Most often, you will see that Jesus' miracles confirm Jesus' message and his message he presented in Nazareth was freedom for the captives and that the lame would walk and that the recovery of sight to the blind and all of that stuff. It was a compassionate miracle that authenticates his message. So, on to day four. Day four, Jesus entered Jericho. This is Luke 19. So we've got from Luke two, Luke four, Luke five. Now, we've skipped forward to Luke 19. It's getting closer to the end of Jesus' three years of ministry. Jesus entered into Jericho down the hill about 3,500 feet down the hill from Jerusalem along the River Jordan. When he entered into Jericho, he made his way through town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus and he was the chief tax collector in the region and he had become very very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus but y'all know the song, he was too short to see over the crowd. I loved it when Florian was here. There was always a visual aid around for this little story and I used to have a Scottish pastor actually We were in South Carolina. We had a a guy with a very thick Scottish brogue and I always wanted to hear him say, Zacchaeus was a wee little man. A wee little man was he. He tried to get a look at Jesus but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead. He climbed up a sycamore fig tree beside the road. Actually, by the way, I didn't mention this first service. Sometimes, the second service gets more information. Sycamore figs are very significant in Israel. They're very very significant. They are representative of Israel often. When he says to Nathaniel, I saw you under the sycamore tree. It's really really important. When you mention a rich man and that he climbed a sycamore fig tree, you automatically think of Amos. Amos. Amos. Amos. He said, listen, the word of the Lord goes to the king, delivers his message. It's not a not a good message for the king and his guy or the right hand man of the king is saying, you can't deliver that bad message to to the king and the message was you're oppressing the poor. You're not taking care of the poor. You who are very rich are not taking care. In fact, you're taking advantage of the poor. That was Amos's message and Amos said to the servant of the king and then he says to the king and then he said, you can't tell that to the king. He says, listen, I was minding my own business, tended to my sycamore figs and my goats. I was minding my own business but the word of the Lord came to me and I had to deliver the message. It's so good. It it ties together so many different ways. So, he ran ahead. He climbs up this sycamore fig tree. This little rich man beside the road for Jesus was going to pass that way and when Jesus did come by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. Zacchaeus, he said, come quickly down. I must be a guest in your house today. And Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus into his house in great excitement and joy, but the people were displeased. Really? There will always be naysayers. The people were displeased. He's going to be the guest of a notorious sinner. Their position in Israel, in Capernaum, in Nazareth, in Jerusalem, Judea, Bethlehem, wherever, their position during the Pax Romana, the Roman peace, it was an enforced peace and they hated the Roman oppression. They hated it. And Zacchaeus was a tax collector for Rome. He was taking taxes from his own people and his own people saw him as a traitor, as a mutineer, as a rebel, as an awful awful instrument of the Roman oppression. So that's why the people were displeased. He is gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner, they grumble. Meanwhile, while they're grumbling, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord Jesus and said, I will give half of my wealth to the poor. Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I'll give them back four times as much. He was putting his belief in Jesus into practice in a very practical way. Jesus responded, salvation has come to this house today. For this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. Yes, he was a tax collector for Rome and I know you all hate him for this but Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. And Zacchaeus believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. He was shown, he showed himself to be a true son of Abraham for the son of man, that's Jesus, came to seek and to save those who are lost. So day four, what happened? Zacchaeus undertook effort to get to see Jesus. He was looking for him himself. Wasn't his friends dragging him there. He was looking for him and Jesus recognized that effort, recognized him, knew him, and invited himself in and then he saved him and it is about salvation. Salvation has come to this house today, Jesus said. So, there we were for day four. Here we are on day five. I said it was going to be from the cradle to the cross in five days. These are each of the times where Luke uses today. Today is born in the city of David. A savior who's Christ the Lord. Today, we've seen amazing things here. Here, we are at Luke 23. This is at the cross. Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with Jesus and when they came to the place that's called the Skull Golgotha, they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right and the other one on his left, and Jesus said, Father forgive them for they do not know what they do. This I think, because in another gospel it says that those two criminals, it said there were two criminals that were being crucified with him and both of them were reviling him. Those criminals were reviling him and in Luke, it says what Jesus said. It says it in other gospels too. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do and they cast lots to divide his garments, another fulfillment of prophecy. And the people stood by watching. The people stood by watching but the rulers. Remember last week where the rulers said, now you're trying to make us guilty of this man's death. While he's on the cross, they're scoffing at him saying, he saved others. Let him save himself. If he is the Christ of God, his chosen one, the soldiers, the Roman soldiers picked up and mocked him also, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, then save yourself. Did you see that it says, let him save himself? The soldiers said, save yourself. It is about salvation. Each one of these episodes of today and Paul says later on, today is the day of salvation. Today. If you're the king of the Jews, save yourself and there was an inscription also over him which Pilate had said, write it up there in these three languages, this is the king of the Jews. Now, the scoffing ruler said, no, no, no, no, put on there he says he's the king of the Jews. And Pilate finally gets a backbone and says, nope, what I've written, I've written. This is the king of the Jews. Never have truer words been inscribed. One of the criminals who were hanged there was railing at him. Now, Mark tells us I think it's Mark tells us that they were both reviling him there on the ground before they were hoisted up. And then, father forgive them for they know not what they do. That gracious words that were coming out of his mouth in the very act of his execution. One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him still saying, are you not the Christ? Save. Salvation is what it's about. Save yourself and us, but the other rebuked him saying, do you not fear God? Since you're under the same sentence of condemnation, you know that you're about to die for crimes Oh, actually, let me just let him say it. And we indeed justly are going to die for the crimes that we actually did. We're receiving the due reward of our deeds. What we have sown, we are reaping, but this man has done nothing wrong. He recognized his own guilt and Jesus' innocence. And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He hadn't been baptized, he hadn't been to catechism, he hadn't been to Sunday school, he just turns to Jesus and says, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, truly I say to you, today, it's emphatic. Today, you will be with me in paradise. So, what happened on day five? Day five, Jesus promised paradise, heaven to the criminal who trusted him. He saved him. It was about salvation. It always is with Jesus. I've heard I've seen a lot of memes and I've heard a few sermons lately about that. The entry of that criminal into heaven. Can you imagine? He comes in. Oh, wow. We're glad you're here. What did you believe about eschatology? What did you believe about this? What did you believe? Those aren't the questions, but his his only act was to to turn to Jesus, recognizing his guilt, recognizing Jesus' innocence, and saying, remember me. And his only plea of how how did you get here into heaven was the gal on the middle cross said so. That's our only hope. That's our only our only hope too. He saved him. He's still in that business. So, I'll just ask you. We got little time today, this day, right now, 12/15/2024. What's happening? Well, Jesus is still at work. He's at work right here today. He was at work. He inhabits the praise of his people. He was here during the song service. He's here right now. The Holy Spirit illumines his word and he convicts of our sin and convinces us of God's righteousness and his goodness and his innocence. Jesus is at work right here today. So, have you heard good news of great joy since you got here this morning? Yes. Over and over and over. Right? In the song service, in the in the five passages we've covered, I'm going show this is what the result of each of these was. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God. That's the right response to what they saw. In the case of the man lowered through the roof, all bore him witness. They wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. The grace of God, the acceptable time of the Lord. Oh, this is this is that, the sermon. The acceptable time of the Lord was pronounced and this guy through the roof got up and went home glorifying God. That's what you do when you recognize the salvation of Jesus. Amazement sees them all and they glorified God. We've seen extraordinary things here that we can't explain today. Zacchaeus, today, today, salvation has come to this house. For the son of man came to seek and to save those who are lost. Salvation is what it's about. That's his business. That's his job. It's what he did. That's what he said in that first sermon. That's his job. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Today, you'll be with me in paradise. So today, what is happening? Jesus is still at work right here today. He is. He's still saving people today. He is. To have the the pleasure of baptizing that fellow last week in the Snake River. Freezing tail cold. He's still saving people. He's rescuing people. He is still on a rescue mission. Today, he's using the church. Right? He's today, he's using us to proclaim his message. Will you let him do his job today? Whether that is saving you because you've never trusted him before or whether that is using you to reach out to others to keep on proclaiming and glorifying and praising God. Will you let Jesus do your job on earth as it is in heaven today. Amen. I think that's all I got. I think this is last slide. I'm the altar is always open. You're welcome to come forward. If you want to talk to me, I'll turn off my microphone and they can finish the song. We know the song. We're going to sing Silent Night. Invitation and response. Would you respond to what Jesus wants to do in your life today? Amen. Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright, round yon virgin Lord, at thy birth. Amen. Would you pray with me? God, I thank you for this day. I thank you for today that you are active and you're at work. I pray that each of us would experience your love in a fresh and new way that we would see your face and may your face shine upon us and may you smile upon us and may we reflect that smile to a world that does not know you yet. Lord, would you use us today doing your will and your way in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, God.