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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
Love of the Lord - Christmas Service |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Isaiah 53: 7 |
Date |
2012-12-25 |
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Passage
[Isaiah 53: 7]
"He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.
Merry Christmas!
Let us celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Today is a happy and joyous day.
It is a day that children of God can never forget and when their hearts are moved.
Christmas is the day to celebrate the birth of the Savior Jesus who opened the way of salvation for us so that we can become God's children.
In Luke 2:30-32, we find the profession of Simeon who met the baby Jesus.
He said, "For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,"
Dear brothers and sisters, for those who believe Jesus as the Christ, this profession is also our profession.
Jesus came to us as the light of the world and as the light of life.
He shed His precious blood on the cross given without price and He opened wide the way of salvation for us.
Thanks to Jesus who shed His precious blood, you and I have been able to come to this sanctuary of God and have true joy on this Christmas Day.
Let us give all thanks and glory to Jesus who came to this earth for us about 2,000 years ago, and to God the Father who planned all these things.
The title of today's message is "Love of the Lord."
Isaiah 1:18 latter part says, "Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool."
The love of the Lord is like white snow that covers the whole world with the color of white.
The Lord covered our many iniquities with His warm love.
To those who believe in the Lord and follow Him, the love of the Lord will be stored in their hearts.
That love will clean and purify the sins in their hearts.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will offer up professions of thanksgiving and joy to the Lord who has given us this love, on this happy Christmas day.
Main
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Today's reading passage from Isaiah 53:7 says, "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth."
Isaiah chapter 53 has the prophecy that depicts the cruel sufferings of the cross for Jesus.
It clearly reveals the ultimate purpose of Jesus coming to this earth in a human body.
It is the way of the cross, the providence of salvation of the Father God, which He had planned since before the ages.
It was the love of the Father God for the mankind.
The people cannot measure the depth of this love; they can never understand or comprehend His love with human thoughts.
Jesus showed this impossible-to-measure spiritual love in this physical world.
It is as Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Jesus' body was torn by the scourging; he was pierced by the thorns and the nails on the cross to redeem us from our sins.
He endured contempt and persecutions to take the burdens of all pains and sorrows of all mankind.
When He came down to this earth, He did not say, "I cannot help it because it is the will of the Father God."
He came down with His love for God the Father and for the souls, saying, "I will fulfill the will of the Father without fail."
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in order to more deeply understand and feel this love of the Lord, today, let us delve into the meanings of all the ministries of Jesus, which are also the meanings of Christmas, in three aspects.
First, it is the aspect of justice.
As already mentioned, Jesus came down to this earth to save the souls who were sinners.
But to save the sinners, the price of justice had to be paid according to the law of the spiritual realm.
As Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death.
All mankind were sinners, and they were destined for 'death' according to the spiritual law.
So, to unshackle this curse of the Law, He took all the sins of mankind upon Himself and died on the cross.
But paying the price of justice does not only mean the single incident of the cross.
Jesus coming down to this earth in human body itself was the beginning of paying the price of the justice.
Jesus is one in origin with God, who is the same as God the Father.
He had the glory and power equivalent to that of the Father God.
Nevertheless, He confined His divinity in a human body and experienced the limitations of the physical world.
What were the circumstances when Jesus was born?
He was not born in a royal palace nor was He laid on a comfortable bed.
He was born in a shabby stable and laid in a manger for animals.
It symbolizes that Jesus came to become 'true bread of life' who would save the sinners.
Moreover, He had been as wealthy as having had all the glories of Heaven, but He had to live a poor life to redeem the mankind from poverty.
He had to feel hunger, tiredness, sorrows, and pains just like the fleshly people.
Brothers and sisters, Jesus knew exactly when and how He was going to be crucified.
But some might think that it was not difficult for Him to fulfill His duty of the cross for He is the Son of the almighty God.
But the process of fulfilling the justice for forgiveness of sins was not easy, even for Jesus.
Hebrews 5:7 says, "In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety."
In this way, Jesus paid the full price through His sacrifice by fulfilling the measure of justice.
He knew very well about the forthcoming sufferings of the cross, but He took each step forward imagining the moment of glory when the way of salvation would be opened.
I hope you will spend a day giving thanks from your heart for the love of the Lord who has dedicated all His life and eventually given His life for us.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the second meaning in the ministry of Jesus on this earth is love.
The essence in fulfilling the measure of justice is love.
John 15:13 says, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." As said, Jesus could willingly take the cross because He loved the souls enough to give His own life.
What we have to deeply realize here is that His love is spiritual love that gives life.
Usually, people think that love is doing everything as the other person wants.
But that will be only fleshly love at that level.
The kind of love that Jesus showed to us is spiritual love which causes changes in heart and gives life.
He was not nice and kind all the time to those women who served Him and to the disciples.
Sometimes He turned His face away from them, reproached them, or gave them firm advice.
For example, in Matthew 16:22, we see a scene where Peter asks Jesus not to take the cross.
It says, "Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, 'God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.'"
How did Jesus reply hearing this words of Peter?
Did He commend Peter saying, "You surely do love Me. I know your love for Me, but I have to take the cross."? Not at all!
He sternly rebuked Peter saying in Matthew 16:23, "Get behind Me, Satan!"
This harsh rebuke was Jesus' great love for Peter.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, true love is not just to cover and accept faults or to be giving all the time.
It is true love to show the other person the right way that is truly beneficial for him.
If you do that, at times you might feel the pain.
You might have to sacrifice yourself.
But it is also love to endure all these things to let him know the right way and to be patient with him so that he can go the right way by himself.
Jesus willingly took the cross for us because He had this kind of love.
He gave the people reprimands and advice to guide them to the way of life, for He loved them so much.
When you go through trials, you can overcome and win the victory if you remember this love.
Even when you cannot go into spirit as you wish, you can avoid being disheartened or dismayed.
Even if you tried hard but only received rebukes, you will not be tired or give up working.
You will rather feel that it is the love of the Lord who is leading you to perfection, and make it another chance to engrave the truth in your heart once again.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let me tell you a story.
Through this story, I want you to think about what true love for the other person is.
There was a young couple.
This husband and wife loved each other so much.
One day, something miserable happened.
The wife lost sight in both eyes.
Fortunately, she found a job that she could do even with her blindness.
The husband always took his wife to work and he always brought her back home after work.
After several months, the husband told his wife.
"I cannot take you to work forever. It will wear me out. So I think from tomorrow you can go to work by yourself. I believe you can do it well on your own."
The wife was always feeling sorry for her husband, but when she actually heard such words, she was disappointed.
She even felt betrayed.
But she accepted the reality.
She firmly decided to go to work all by herself.
While she was bumping into many things and falling many times, she even cried with sorrow.
Two years passed.
It was now comfortable for her to go to work, she got on a bus and took a seat as usual.
The bus driver said to the wife.
"Oh, your husband is not with you today? You know, he was always next to you. You two are very famous among us drivers, too. You must be so happy for your husband is always with you. He couldn't take his eyes off you, probably because he was so worried you might get hurt."
The wife came to know that her husband had always been with her and burst into tears.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, though we cannot see with our eyes, our Lord is always watching and is praying for you.
He is encouraging each of you so that you will not stop the march of faith and eventually come forth as true children of God.
I hope you will always remember this love of the Lord and His earnest hope that He has for you, thereby accomplishing spirit and whole spirit quickly.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the third meaning of the ministry of Jesus on this earth is glory.
Jesus fulfilled the way of cross with justice and love, which I have explained so far.
And the fruit that he gained through justice and love is glory.
Jesus fulfilled the justice with love, and now we are enabled to enjoy the authority and glory as the children of God.
Namely, Jesus changed our status from sinners to children of God.
Through this the Father God also received glory greatly.
Through the sacrifice of Jesus, numerous children who used to belong to the enemy devil and Satan were brought back to God, and so this ministry of Jesus glorified God greatly.
Jesus was glorified greatly, too.
It is as it is written in Philippians 2:10, "so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,"
Moreover, whenever His children overcome the world and win the victory, it glorifies God.
And if His children become children of spirit and whole spirit, can you imagine how greatly God will be glorified?
Men of spirit and whole spirit can perform with the power and authority of God and thus reveal His glory.
The powerful works manifested on this earth is the evidence through which so many souls can believe in the existence of God the Father.
Seeing this evidence, believers can also keep their authority as the children of God despite so many persecutions and temptations of the enemy devil and Satan.
As we keep on increasing our faith, we will eventually come forth as true children who have faith of spirit and whole spirit, thereby glorifying God.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we looked into the love of the Lord in three aspects, which are justice, love, and glory.
After all, the love of the Lord is endless, and the origin of the endless God is also love.
Jesus showed true love to mankind, the sacrificial love that gives life, to confirm the love of God.
Along with this love of the Lord, Christmas, December 25, reminds Manmin members of another kind of love.
Beginning Christmas day in 2010, this love gave life in you once again.
God gave a chance for you to be able to repent and be forgiven of sins and iniquities that could not be cleansed or forgiven.
But to bring down such grace, the price of justice had to be paid with sacrifice.
Because I know the heart of God the Father and heart of the Lord very well, and because I love the flock entrusted to me so much, I willingly sacrificed myself.
The struggle went on until all the energy in me drained out.
But when I did not have any strength even just to stand up, I still thought of the faces of the souls who were shedding tears of repentance.
I could still hear the voices of the souls who were crying.
So I had to stand back up again.
Through this, so many people could participate in the glory of God's children once again.
Now, you run towards whole spirit not with the fear of the retribution of sins but with the hope of New Jerusalem.
Also, for the last two years, how much increase of your faith have you experienced?
Even if some of you have not reached the rock of faith yet, please do not forget that the love of the Lord is already imprinted in your heart.
And I want you never to forget the time of grace we had back in 2010.
As 1 Corinthians 6:20 says, "For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body," I pray in the name of the Lord that you will receive the Lord when He comes to take us as beautifully adorned brides and glorious, true children of God.
I wish you will have a happy day on this Christmas.
Merry Christmas! |
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