After years of prophetic silence, God announced the birth of John the Baptist to one faithful couple. As Alistair Begg explains, the announcement illustrates the mystery of God’s work throughout history. The events surrounding the birth of Jesus remind us that the providence of God can be seen at work in ordinary events, both good and bad.
Luke 1:5-23 (ESV) | Birth of John the Baptist Foretold
5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty,9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God,17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”19 And the angel answered him, “I amGabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple.22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute.23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
May God bless you and keep you until the Day of Christ’s Return, In Him, Jorge
For the next few weeks, we will take a break from the top-20 lists and focus on Holiday music. As it turns out, there are a lot of bad “Christmas” songs out there, the world cranks out its versions a lot faster and with a lot better production. There are some good ones and I want to focus on those. What makes a good Christmas song? The focus of the song must be Jesus Christ. In fact, a good Christmas song hold meaning and significance all year. A Christmas song becomes a holiday song when singing it outside of the “Christmas season” rings hallow, like “O Christmas Tree” or “Jingle Bells”… those songs are about the holiday, not the Holy One. Today’s song is “Oh What a Glorious Night” by Sidewalk Prophets. This song popped up as I was looking for the Linus clip for yesterday’s post, and I was so excited to hear a good Christmas song that I knew we should share it today.
Music Videos
I couldn’t find an “Official” video for the song, but I liked this fan lyric video because they included stills from the Linus monologue. What I did find from the band was a “behind the song” video that I thought was a good way to hear what the artist (Sidewalk Prophets) was meaning to convey in this song. We’ll look at the Scriptural account after the lyrics.
“What A Glorious Night” was written by Brown, Casey / Smith, Jonathan Lindley / Mcdonald, Ben / Frey, David.
The shepherds came to
See the baby
Stood by his mother’s side
Here laid the Savior
Inside a manger
Oh what a glorious night
Oh what a glorious night
I hear the angels singing halleluiah
Let the earth receive her king
I know that love has come
Singing it out
Jesus Christ is born
Jesus Christ is born
Yeah
The shepherds wondered
They couldn’t hide it
Told everyone in sight
All were amazed
When they heard how
God came down on the glorious night
God came down on this glorious night
I hear the angels singing halleluiah
Let the earth receive her king
I know that love has come
Singing it out
Jesus Christ is born
Jesus Christ is born
Yeah
Glorious
Glorious
What a Glorious night
Glorious
Glorious
What a Glorious night
I hear the angels singing halleluiah
Let the earth receive her king
I know that love has come
Singing it out
Jesus Christ is born
I hear the angels singing halleluiah
Let the earth receive her king
I know that love has come
Singing it out
Jesus Christ is born
I heard that Jesus Christ is born
Yeah Yeah Yeah
All is calm now
All is quiet
A Star shining in the sky
Below in Bethlehem
The king is sleeping
Oh What a Glorious Night
Oh What a Glorious Night
Songwriters
BROWN, CASEY / SMITH, JONATHAN LINDLEY / MCDONALD, BEN / FREY, DAVID
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”16 And they went with hasteand found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
The song progresses to a lead-in for the visit of the wise men from the east with its mention of the star. Let’s look in Matthew 2 for that reference.
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.11 And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
The star led the wise men from the east to the Messiah, Emmanuel, God with us.
Conclusion
It’s a solid song, I really have no concerns with it whatsoever. I’d like to hear this song played more often, throughout the year. If you’re planning a Christmas Cantata, do consider this song.
Last week we watched session 3 of the Reformation Montana 2014 Conference held this past June 19th. We listened to Sye Ten Bruggencate give his talk on presuppositional apologetics, making a reasoned defense of our faith.
This week we’ll skip over Chris Rosebrough’s second talk for session 5 and jump to Voddie Baucham’s sermon regarding the proper reading of Genesis and the Joseph account. Given the fact that we already looked at how the Gospel According to Matthew points back to Genesis, this sermon comes at a time where we can really solidify how we read Genesis in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Today is “Discernment in Music” (DiM) day here at Faithful Stewardship.
2 Corinthians 10:4-6 (ESV)
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
There has been a lot of movement in the Top 20 Charts. Today we will be taking a look at the #8 song “Come As You Are” by Crowder. I’m not sure who his target audience was, but this song is for the Christian who has lost sight of the Grace of God and is being crushed by a burden he could never bear. For the Christian who has been led astray into works-based false theology (purpose driven, word of faith, prosperity, or graceless legalism), this is the call to return to the Only Gospel of the Jesus Christ, to the Grace of God. To the prodigal son and the foolish Galatians alike… come as you are.
Come out of sadness from wherever you’ve been
Come broken hearted let rescue begin
Come find your mercy
Oh sinner, come kneel
Earth has no sorrow
That Heaven can’t heal
So, lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh wanderer, come home
You’re not too far
So, lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are
There’s hope for the hopeless
And all those who’ve strayed
Come sit at the table
Come taste the grace
There’s rest for the weary
Rest that endures
I listened to this song about fifteen times this morning. The message of this song is one that every Believer needs to hear as often as they find themselves in need of forgiveness and restoration (that should be daily). Yes, we need to hear Law and repent of sin, but we also need to hear “you’re forgiven” and “come as you are”. As I listened to the song, I couldn’t help but think of the Prodigal Son.
Luke 15:11-24 (ESV) | The Parable of the Prodigal Son
11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
My mind also went to Galatians 3, where Paul is urging the Galatians to guard against false doctrine.
Galatians 3:1-14 (ESV) | By Faith, or by Works of the Law?
1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? 7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written,“Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles,so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Dear Christian, come out of sadness from wherever you’ve been, come brokenhearted let rescue begin, come find your mercy, Oh sinner, come kneel. Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t heal. So, lay down your burdens lay down your shame. All who are broken lift up your face. Oh wanderer, come home, you’re not too far. So, lay down your hurt… lay down your heart… come as you are. Focus on the picture Jesus painted of Our Heavenly Father. Come as you are, come home, you’re not too far. Have you been worn down with graceless law (asceticism, Dominion theology, Hebrew roots, etc.) or other false theology of works (word of faith, soul ties, purpose-driven-seeker), or you simply aren’t being fed the Gospel on a regular basis. “Being Saved” isn’t the just a one-time deal that happened a long time ago when you first believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ… The Gospel is home, it’s where the Father’s table is set, where we live and breath, and where we find rest. We live in the “already” and the “not yet”, where we are simultaneously “justified” and “sinner”… until the last Day, when Jesus Christ will come for His bride…
1 Corinthians 15:51-53 (ESV) 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
While the Lord, Jesus Christ, tarries… we must remain hidden within Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church. The Gospel is the bread and water of Jesus Christ, the Promise. Jesus Christ is the mana from heaven in the wilderness, the rock from whom water flowed… He taught us the Law more perfectly, and He IS the Gospel. So come home, lay down your burdens, and enter into His rest.
Hebrews 4:11-16 (ESV) 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. 14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Concerns
This song might be dismissed as an evangelistic song for unbelievers… that would be a mistake. The song doesn’t preach Law and Gospel, it doesn’t call the unbeliever to repentance, it doesn’t declare the message of the Gospel, because without the Law the Gospel resolves a problem the unbeliever doesn’t acknowledge. This song is for the believer who has succumbed to condemnation, shame, or false doctrine. While all of the promises in this song are available for the unbeliever if he would believe, repent, and be saved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ… the problem of unbelief is that they don’t believe they are sinners, or that they need Jesus. This song is calling to the individual who knows they need Jesus but have bought into the lie that they have to first earn the Grace of God by some work. The call of salvation is the call out of the kingdom of darkness… a call that can only be made by the Word of God, not the will of man.
The song isn’t specifically Christian, in that it doesn’t name Jesus outright, so it could be easily hijacked by any false religion. That always seems to be a concern here, in that there is an assumption that everything played on a “Christian Station” must be Christian. That isn’t always the case, so this concern bears mentioning.
Conclusion
I love this song. I cannot get enough of it. I know so many hurting Christians who suffer from malnutrition. They attend church week after week hearing only Law (and mostly man-made law at that) and aren’t faithfully reminded, grounded, and restored in the Gospel of Grace. Worse yet, there are so many who’ve been led astray after false doctrines and false teachers selling empty promises blaspheming the Name of Jesus. Pray for them, reach out to them, remind them to “come home” to the Gospel of Grace, Jesus Christ. This isn’t a song for the unbeliever… though the unbeliever might actually really like it. It doesn’t preach Law and repentance.
This week we’ll take a look at the topic of Apologetics from a believer’s position, one that every Christian can embrace. Sye Ten Bruggencate is a lay minister whose ministry practices presuppositional Apologetics. The approach he uses and teaches differs from what the world wants in apologetics (which tends to begin with an “all views are equal and respected before we debate them) by pre-supposing that our Christian worldview is foundationally True. Namely, we don’t need to prove the Bible is true, nor do we need to prove the God of the Bible is real. According to Romans 1, the world already knows God and has rejected to worship Him as God; therefore any attempt by man to claim to be an atheist is lying about his atheism. Therefore, from a Christian perspective, we do not put our God on trial; rather, we put the lying “atheist” on trial. If the atheist asserts that there is no God, then we ask them “then how do you measure ‘truth’ and how do you define ‘knowledge’ ?” The point of this apologetic is to preach Law and Gospel without putting God on trial, because He is the Judge. This apologetic isn’t about making an unbeliever feel comfortable in his unbelief; rather, it is to expose the futility in pretending there is some philosophical alternative, there is none. There are only 2 positions, belief in Him, or unbelief. Let’s look at some of the key scriptures and then watch the video.
Romans 1:16-32 (ESV)
The Righteous Shall Live by Faith
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another,men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
They know. There are no true atheists, only fools.
Romans 11:33-36 (ESV)
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
I hope you enjoy this presentation as much as I did.
3 For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you,3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly.4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power.8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things,10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.
Prayer for Spiritual Strength
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Amen, indeed. May God bless you and keep you until the Day of Christ’s Return,
In Him,
Jorge
Today, we’ll visit TruthforLife.org for a sermon by Alistair Begg.
Faithful Stewardship 
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