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.

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Alright. Our growing band and it is time for children's church downstairs and there they go. So, last week, last week, we're in Acts five twelve through 42 and I said, we're going to take a turn this week. We're going to go towards Christmas and I I actually as I was preparing, I thought, we are going towards Christmas and I want to go towards the cradle. We have already had a reading from Luke one and a song from Luke one and a reading from Luke two and songs from Luke two.

I would like to do selected passages from the gospel of Luke. Same guy that wrote Acts. This is volume. Luke is volume one. Acts is volume two.

So, here we go. Gospel of Luke but would you stand with me? I just sat you down. Would you stand with me? I might tell you a story about this one day too but the Lord's prayer, would you?

Go with me here. 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. The clicker's not clicking. Sorry.

Here we go. Here we go. So this is gonna be from the cradle, the manger, right, to the cross in five days. We're gonna go through five different days in the book of Luke and I'm gonna skip it. It's gonna be Luke two, Luke four, Luke five, Luke 19, Luke 23.

Okay? From the cradle to the cross. Luke uses the word today very emphatically only five... He only uses it five times and these are the five times. So here we go.

Day one, the cradle. Here it is. 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 showed round about them and they were sore afraid or as Tim says, terrified. And the angel said to them, fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign to you.

You shall find this babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. This is a specific message for these people. Right? These shepherds, specifically for them. This is how you're gonna know who this guy is.

This is how you're gonna find him. And suddenly there was with the angel multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, there's today by the way, that this day in this case is today. For unto you is born today, it's very emphatic. And this is what the angels sang out, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men or as we sang in that first song, peace, goodwill towards those upon whom God's favor rests. That rests on a squiggly at the end of one word.

Whether it's goodwill towards men or goodwill towards those upon whom God's favor rest is a squiggly, a little sigma at the end of one word. We'll talk about that next week maybe. I like goodwill towards men because it's a very effective call and then you receive the call and God's favor rests upon you but we'll keep on going and it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them up into heaven. The shepherd said to one another, let's get about this thing. Let's go.

Let's now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass which the Lord has made known to us and they came with haste and they found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. I love the immediacy of the shepherd's actions and when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child and all that they heard and that wondered it. Those things which were told them by the shepherd but Mary kept all of these things and pondered them in her heart. It looks like Luke interviewed Mary. She pondered all these things in her heart.

She didn't want to forget a single detail and Luke is accurately reflecting the story and the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen just as it was told unto them. So, we have the wrong sermon in here. Hold on just a second. In the in the box, there should be one that's listed. We'll just talk amongst ourselves.

Alright? When you save things on the computer, you ever save multiple copies of what you don't want to keep and you accidentally throw the ones away that you do want to keep? You see anything in there, Blake? This one's labeled December 1523 plus. Lord, have mercy on us all.

Okay. Can you all take two minutes for me to run my office and make sure that this thing happened? I will Hey, everybody. Can you hear me? That file should be under the folder marked ridiculous.

Alright. So, I'll tell you the story about the Lord's prayer. Typically, we're not a liturgical church. We don't say the Lord's prayer every Sunday, right? It's it is something that's dear, near and dear to my heart.

I do say it myself but we just don't say it every Sunday. So, one time on December 23, I got in the car to go help somebody get unstuck. And by the time we got to this unstuck, it was way out in the middle of nowhere, and I ended up getting stuck. And then I ended up walking back and somebody from first b stopped and picked me and the other person up and brought us back to Jackson. It was 50 something miles from here.

So I called one of the church members here who had a skid steer and lived near there and I said, hey, why don't you come? Can you help us, you know, the next day? So it's like December 24. And after he got my wife's jeep, which I got stuck, hooked to a chain, and Carl and I were both there with shovels trying to dig out and everything. He said, why don't we say the Lord's prayer in church every Sunday?

Now that I've got both of you stuck here. And I said, we'll say it twice this Sunday and we did. It's been a while since that happened and I left my clicker in my office. Gracious. Here we go.

Somebody else can bring that to me. Here we go. Onward, onward, onward. We're not going say it twice this Sunday. So, gospel of Luke.

When it wasn't wide format with quotations, I don't have it. Just do this. Okay. Keep going then. There we go.

Keep on going. Keep on going. Here we are. So did you all get what happened on day two? No.

Day one. Day two is this. Day two is... There we go. Day one, what happened?

The savior is born. Just in case while you're talking amongst yourselves, you forgot about it. A savior is born. Today, it was today. It was very emphatic.

Today is born in the city of David. A savior which is Christ the Lord. Amen. Luke four is day two. Jesus returned the power of the spirit into Galilee and there he went out of fame of him through all the region round about and he taught in their synagogues being glorified of all.

So Jesus is growing in popularity and fame and he came to Nazareth his hometown where he had been brought up and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up for to read and there was delivered him the book of the prophet Isaiah and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. He looked for it and found it. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Imagine Jesus saying this. They'd heard this on a cycle for many many many years.

In fact, it was written seven hundred years before. Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Jesus said, 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 recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. He opened up the favorable time of God, the age of grace. That's what he was doing.

Here it is in Isaiah, the spirit of the Lord of God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He 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. And Jesus closed the book and he gave it again to the minister and he sat down and what he really did was this. Alright. That is staggering what he just did.

Now, for many reasons, one of those is it was the guy who the prophecy was about reading the prophecy. And all of the eyes of them that were in that synagogue were fastened on him. Wrapped attention and he began to say unto them, today, that's emphatic. Today, right now, is this scripture fulfilled in your hearing or in your ears. You have heard this fulfilled right now.

I'm proclaiming freedom. And all bear him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth and they were indeed gracious words. He didn't read the whole prophecy. He stopped before it was over. And they said, isn't this Joseph's son?

Call him back to the cradle. Isn't this Joseph's son? The carpenter? Builder? Mason?

Whatever? And they said, isn't this Joseph's son? This is not... Who does he think he is? Well, it's starting to build.

So day two, what happened so far on day two? Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 61. Whoo. Among others, 53, 49, a few other messianic prophecies. But he claimed it right there with them.

This has been fulfilled in your hearing. That's what he said out loud. Now, where he left off was significant. He read just part of the prophecy and he stopped. And where he stopped was, and the day of the vengeance of our God.

He didn't say that part. That was their favorite part. If you're going to read all that other stuff, don't stop there because we want to kick these Romans out of here. We want to have our own autonomy. We want to be a people who's not subjugated or oppressed.

We've been oppressed by the Babylonians and the Assyrians and everybody. Now, it's the Romans. The day of the vengeance of our God was their favorite part of this song and Jesus didn't say that. And then he said to them, well, you will undoubtedly quote me this proverb, physician heal yourself. Meaning, do miracles here in your hometown like you did those in Capernaum.

But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. That's just not the way it works. Familiarity breeds contempt. Certainly, there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah's time. When the heavens were closed for three and a half years and a severe famine devastated the land.

Yet Elijah was not sent to any of those needy widows. He was sent instead to a foreigner, an outsider, a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon, not a good Jewish gal. And many in Israel had leprosy in the time of the prophet Elisha but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian. A guy who was outside of the covenant chosen people of God but the prophet of God knows the word of God and he knows that they were supposed to be a light to those nations and he through his prophets was saying, the gospel, the good news is that God loves all the peoples. And back to today, He's born this day, a city in the city of David, a savior who is Christ's Lord and it's good news of great joy for all the peoples.

It's... That's that's the way it goes. It's everybody. And so when Jesus says this, He didn't just skip the part about the vengeance of our God, he calls it out and says, it's not just for you people. And when they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious.

That says they were wondering about the gracious words that were coming out of his mouth, but then when they heard him delineate what he was talking about, they were furious. And jumping up, they mobbed him, they forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built, and they intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way. Now, Nazareth Ridge is 1,300 feet. It's just a little bit taller than Snow King and it is a pretty hefty cliff. So what happened on day two?

He claimed to be the fulfillment of Isaiah 61. He read part of a prophecy and the religionists went into a murderous rage and tried to kill him. Day three, here we go. Keep on going. Don't get hung up there.

He got away. On one of those days, that doesn't say today, that's just on one of these days. As he was teaching in Luke five, very next chapter, Pharisees and teachers of the law, that's probably Pharisees and Sadducees sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed. Now, we've been in acts and we've been seeing people bringing the...

They're sick and they're hurt and they're blind and they're lame to bring to the apostles and this is Jesus doing this. This is where they learned it. Miracles are authenticating his message and behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who's 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. They went up on the roof and they let him down with his bed, threw the tiles into the midst before Jesus and when he saw their faith, when he saw their faith, that's amazing. If y'all are praying for somebody to come to Jesus, keep on praying.

Keep on praying. Keep on pleading. Keep on as much as you can. When he saw their faith, he said, man, your sins are forgiven you and the scribes and the pharisees began to question saying, who is this who speaks blasphemies? Now, if it were not true, it would be blasphemy.

And the scribes and the pharisees began to question saying, who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? This is a stone worthy blasphemy category three, arrogation of the divine prerogative. Unless you are the divine and Jesus was. When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, why do you question in your hearts?

Why is it that you're reasoning within yourself? Which is easier for me to say? Your sins are forgiven you or to say rise and walk. Now, had not yet said rise and walk. He said, which is easier?

Well, if you say rise and walk and he doesn't rise and walk, you look like a a real fool. And you're guilty of blasphemy. If you say your sins are forgiven you, you run the risk of somebody calling you out for blasphemy. Your sins are forgiven you. Which is easier?

I think your sins are forgiven you is easier but which is easier? Your sins are forgiven you or say rise and walk. But so that you may know the son of man, his favorite name for himself, but so that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he turned and said to the man who is paralyzed, I say to you, pick up your bed and go home. Now this guy had been on this bed for a long time. He had been lowered through the roof by his friends.

It doesn't say anything about his faith up until this point. Jesus says to him, rise, pick up your bed and go home and immediately he rose up. So he put his faith in Jesus, he did what he said immediately. There's a there's a theme here today. There's some immediacy to hearing what it is about Jesus and then responding to it.

Immediately, he rose up before them, he picked up what he had been lying on and he went home. How? Glorifying God. Amen. In amazement sees them all and they glorified God and they were filled with all sin.

We have seen extraordinary things today. That's... It brings it home. It it really happened in real time. Third day, what happened?

Desperate man's friends found a way to get him to Jesus, they carried him. Jesus claimed to be able to forgive sin and then he proved it with a compassionate miracle. Think about that. Almighty God present in human flesh, Jesus. Day four.

Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there whose name is Zacchaeus. This is later in Jesus' ministry, 19. It's pretty good ways down the road from chapter five. Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town and there was a man there named Zacchaeus and he was the chief tax collector in the region and he had become very rich.

He tried to get a look at Jesus but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead, he climbed a sycamore fig tree beside the road for Jesus was gonna pass by that way. Y'all know the song, don't you? I don't have to sing it. Okay.

I had a Scottish pastor one time and I always wanted to say, oh, Zacchaeus was a wee little man. A wee little man was he. When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. Zacchaeus, he said, quick, come down. I must be a guest in your home today.

There's a today. Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. He just wanted to get a glimpse of him and now he's coming to the house but the people were displeased. He is going to be the guest of a notorious sinner. Do you see a theme emerging there too?

It's not just for the religious folks. In fact, the religious folks are the ones who are scowling and opposing him at every turn. But the people were displeased. He is gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner. They grumbled.

Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, I will give half my wealth to the poor, lord. And if I've cheated people on the taxes, I'll give them back four times as much as I took. And Jesus responded, salvation has come to this home today. For this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. As much as you think he's a scoundrel and an outsider and that he's a traitor and that he is a rebel against his own people.

Salvation has come to his house today and he is a true son of Abraham because Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness and this is what Zacchaeus was showing. For the son of man came to seek and to save those who are lost. Amen. Day four, what happened? Zacchaeus the wee little man undertook effort to get to see Jesus.

Jesus recognized him and that effort and he invited himself in and then he saved him. Salvation has come to this house today. In the story of the paralytic it is, your sins are forgiven you. That's salvation. Right?

Salvation in the in the synagogue in Nazareth. It's about claiming freedom to the captives. It's all the same message. Every single day is today. Right?

Day five, what's heck... What's gonna happen? Two others who are criminals. I said from the cradles of the cross in five days, here we are at the cross. Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him.

And when they came to the place, it's called the Skull Golgotha. There they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. What a compassionate thing to say. And they cast lots to divide his garments.

In Mark, I believe it is, one of the other gospels, either Mark or Matthew says that those two criminals were reviling him, both of them. They were reviling him. It says they were both doing that as he's being nailed to the cross and saying, father forgive them for they know not what they do. And the cast lots divide his garments, that's another prophecy fulfilled and the people stood by watching the rulers, but the rulers scoffed at him. The people were watching.

Probably some of the people in the crowd knew about Jesus. Some... One of the disciples was present, we know his mom was there present, we know. There were people there that were watching this innocent one die. But the rulers scoffed at him saying, he saved others, let him save himself.

Salvation, salvation, salvation, let him save himself. He he is the anointed one of God. His chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him. Coming up and offer him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.

Salvation, salvation, salvation. There was an inscription over him. This is the king of the Jews. Doesn't say it in Luke, mentions in other gospels that they were aggravated that Pilate had written that and he finally stands up and has some backbone says, what I have written, I've written. It states, this is the king of the Jews.

Never truer words have been written. One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him. Now, was both of them. When they're on the ground, before they're hoisted up, it says, both of them were reviling him but the simple act of Jesus' merciful presentation apparently had a change of heart in one of those guys. One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him saying, are you not the Christ?

Save yourself. Salvation. Here it is again. Save yourself and us. But the other one rebuked him saying, do you not fear God?

You're under the same sentence of condemnation. We're all here dying together. Do you not fear God? And we indeed justly deserve this. We're receiving the due reward of our deeds but this man has done nothing wrong.

He recognized his own guilt and he recognized Jesus' innocence and he turns and says to Jesus, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, truly I say to you, today, today it's emphatic, today you'll be with me in paradise. So what happened on day five? Jesus promised paradise to the criminal who trusted him, he saved him. Now, I've seen a lot of memes lately about the you know, the guy on the cross arrives in heaven and it's like, what just happened?

Oh, were you a pre millennial, pre tribulation, whatever? What do you believe about so and so? And he goes, I don't know. He says, well, how'd you get here? He goes, the man on the middle cross said I could be here.

He saved him. It was that simple. So, here we are today. Paul tells us today is the day of salvation. Today is the day.

So what's happening right here? Jesus' work... At work right here today. He was at work in the soundcheck. He's at work.

Hopefully, he'll be running down the hall and figuring out which message to put up here. He's at work. He's constantly at work. Jesus is at work right here today. So have you heard good news and great joy since you got here this morning?

We've been singing about it. Yes. We heard good news of great joy. This is what the shepherds did in Luke two. They glorified and praised God for all the things they had heard and seen in Luke four And all of those people who bore him witness at that sermon wondered at the gracious words.

Grace is unmerited favor. They wondered at the gracious words which were proceeding out of his mouth. Even though they got mad and wanted to throw him off the ridge, they recognized grace when they saw it. Luke five, immediately that man with that pallet picked it up and was glorifying God. Amazement seized everyone else and they all glorified God.

That is good news. Luke 19, Zacchaeus for the son of man came to seek and to save those who are lost. He's still in this business today. Remember me when you come into your kingdom as a simple enough prayer for Jesus to extend paradise to this criminal. So today, what is happening?

Jesus is still at work right here today. I believe that he is. And he's still saving people today. And will you let him just do his job? And if you don't know what his job is, go back to Isaiah 61.

Stop at the part about the vengeance of our God. I know that makes you mad. It's coming. The vengeance of our God is coming. It's a possibility.

There's a second coming that's coming but we're still in the time of the acceptable year of the Lord. The age of grace is the age we're living in. Let us be gracious as he is gracious. Let us be merciful as he's merciful. Let us be extending the word of God in the way that we live our lives, in the way that we use our words.

I think that's my last slide And I think that the song we have is pretty appropriate. So the altar is always open, always open. If you wanna come forward, this is a hymn of invitation and response. It's a traditional way of looking at this, but I'm here. And the elders are here and we are ready to receive.

If you'd like to come forward just to pray, you're welcome to do that. If you'd like to come forward and talk to one of us, I'll I'll turn off my microphone and put the base down. Would you receive this kind of a blessing? God, help us. Help us, lord.

Help us to see that you are active. Help us to see that you are active in and through your obedient servants. Would you show us how you want us to walk it out? Would you bring people into the kingdom? Lord, would you do what it is that only you can do and would you allow us to see glimpses of it?

Help us to understand, lord. Amen.