This week we look at some of the titles of Jesus that were prophesied in the Old Testament and how they were fulfilled. 

But first, let's look at this word: Messiah. It means "the anointed one" and to be anointed is to have oil poured over you. This wasn't motor oil, but oil with a good scent, oil that smelled good. This anointing would signify a transition of power in some circumstances, such as when David was anointed by Samuel. 

1. The Messiah will be a king descended from David (2 Samuel 7:11-16). This family tree will be cut down, but a branch will grow from the stump (Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5-6). Fulfillment: Matthew 1:1, 17… David wanted to build a house for God, but God said no, I'm going to build you a house, one that would last forever. There would be a time period where that house isn't sitting on a throne, but that eventually a Son of David would rise up to be king forever. Jesus is that king as shown by His genealogy and His life. 

2. The Messiah will be David’s lord (Psalm 110:1-2). Fulfillment: Matthew 22:41-46; Acts 2:33-36… David recognizes that God will send a Messiah in the future and that the Messiah would be his better. The Messiah would be more than David could even dream of being. Jesus is a descendant of David, but he was also before David. How? He was in Heaven with the Father before David was even a thought in his parente' minds. 

3. The Messiah will be a priest forever (Psalm 110:4) Fulfillment: Hebrews 7:14-17…. Wait. Don't priests come from the tribe of Levi? Well, yes, but before that, there was Melchizedek. Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek. 

4. The Messiah will be the divine son of God (Psalm 2:1-9). Fulfillment: Matthew 3:17; 17:5… Some prophecies have dual meanings. Psalm 2 is one of those. It was used for kings of their time. It's a royal psalm. But it also prophecies about the future Messiah, which we now know is Jesus. When Jesus was baptized and when he was transfigured on the mountain, the voice of God came down and said "this is my son." 

John 1:41 gives us one more title for Jesus. He is the Christ. Christ is the Greek translation of Messiah. We often say His name is Jesus Christ, but Christ is a title, not a name. It’s also where the word Christian comes from. A Christian is someone who submits to the Christ. Christ is Lord of the Christian life.

This is the first in a seven week series where we will look at forty prophecies from the Old Testament about Jesus and how they were fulfilled. There's more than forty, but we only have so much time in each sermon. 

Jesus told his disciples: “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luke 24:44).... It's clear that Jesus considered this important, important enough to remind the disciples about it and to teach them about it (Luke 24:45). Why are we going over these prophecies? 1) it's a good introduction to Christianity and as we approach Christmas we'll see more visitors in church. 2) knowing the prophecies and how they are fulfilled is one way to defend your faith. 3) it's a great way to worship, seeing how amazing it is that these prophecies were fulfilled. 

Four prophecies about Jesus in the Law of Moses:

1. Genesis 3:15: The Messiah will be a human, a man, who will be wounded by the devil but will crush the devil’s head. See Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 2:14; Romans 16:20…. So, that's why we don't like snakes! But there's more to it than just that. This prophecy of bruising his heel while crushing the serpent's skull was fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross and was raised three days later. 

2. Genesis 22:18: The Messiah will be a descendant of Abraham. See Matthew 1:1; John 8:56…. Ever wonder why the New Testament starts with a genealogy? This is why, to show the fulfillment of this prophecy. 

3. Genesis 49:8-12: The Messiah will be a ruler from the tribe of Judah. See Matthew 1:2; Revelation 5:5…. The genealogy from the second prophecy confirms Jesus is of the tribe of Judah. We haven't seen the fulfillment on Earth yet, but Revelation tells us it is coming. 

4. Deuteronomy 18:14-19: The Messiah will be a prophet like Moses. See John 6:14; Acts 3:22-23… Moses wrote that the Messiah would be a great prophet like himself, and Jesus certainly fits that description. 

These and the rest of the prophecies we'll look at are clues in the Old Testament to point us towards Jesus. Seeing just one of them doesn't show us much, but when we put them all together, like a stained glass window, we get a full picture showing us that Jesus is the Messiah.

Gospel Centered Forgiveness Series week 3: Forgiving Others

#1) Forgiven people forgive people according to the words of Jesus! Matthew  18:21-35… Peter asks this question thinking he's being generous, but Jesus gives an answer that shows we really shouldn't be keeping count of how many times we forgive others. Then he tells a parable that illustrates why we should forgive others. This servant owed an unfathomable amount to his master and begged for it to be forgiven. His master forgave him. Then the servant goes to another servant who owes him a more manageable amount but refuses to forgive him. The master hears of the incident and withdraws his forgiveness of the debt because the servant didn't forgive the much smaller debt…. We can't pay back the debt we owe to God

#2) Forgiven people forgive people living out the will of Jesus! Matthew 6:9-15… The Lord's Prayer shows us that not only do we rely on God for our daily needs, but also for forgiveness of our sins, and it links that forgiveness to our forgiveness of others. 1 John 1:5-6 also shows that we should be reflecting the character of Jesus. Part of that character is forgiveness. We should desire to be like Jesus. Paul also tells the churches in Ephesus and Colossae. 

#3) Forgiven people forgive people to show the love of Christ ! 1 Peter 2:9-10… As Christians, we represent Christ on Earth. We are to show His love to others. Part of that is showing mercy and forgiveness. Just as Christ has shown that same mercy and forgiveness, we should show it to others. By doing so, we also show them His love.

Sometimes we know that our sins are forgiven but we have trouble forgiving ourselves. 

8 Truths of why we can forgive ourselves of the shame and guilt of our past sins (and an item to help us remember it):

#1) Chains - Foundation of God's forgiveness … When we receive forgiveness from God, we are set free  from the chains of our in. 

#2) Map - God forgives our sins and forgets them (Hebrews 8:12; Psalm 102:10-12; Micah 7:9) …As far as the East is from the West, that’s how far our sin is taken from us. They are cast into the depths of the sea. God doesn’t hold our sins against us when he forgives them. 

#3) Heart - Character of God (1 John 1:9) … God is loving, forgiving, kind, just, and all good things. We are made in the image of God and have the capacity to reflect or emulate those same qualities in our lives. 

#4) A picture of Jesus - Imputation of Christ (Romans 3:21-22; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 2:13-14) … Jesus’ righteousness has been transferred to those who put their faith in Him. We could not achieve righteousness on our own because of our sin, but Jesus took on that sin debt and gave us His righteousness. 

The first 4 are all about what God has done for us. The next 4 are our responsibilities and how we should respond to what God has done for us. 

#5) Backpack - Shame and guilt we carry (John 8:44, 36) … We all carry around some shame and guilt due to our sins. God may forgive and forget, but Satan doesn’t, and he uses those sins to weigh us down with shame and guilt, constantly reminding us of it. Satan wants us to be weighed down, but Jesus says we are free. 

#6) To-do list - Remembering sin can be good (Psalm 51:1-3, 10-12) … We learn from our past mistakes. Often we learn more from failures than from successes, and sins are certainly failures. It’s good to remember how bad sins make us feel so we avoid them in the future. Remembering our sin also allows us to remember God’s grace and how we have grown as people since those sins have been put behind us. David sinned plenty of times and he never forgot it, nor did he ever forget God’s goodness in dealing with him. It helped him to grow and become a good king. 

#7) Mask - We distance ourselves or act fake (Ephesians 4:15-16; Philippians 2:19-20) … We’re called to be the body of Christ and do life together. Satan, obviously, doesn’t want that. Satan wants to distance us so we can’t support each other and help each other grow. 

#8) Family photo - Our life is on display (1 Timothy 1:12-16) … We may not realize it, but our lives are always on display. People watch us to see how we act and respond in different situations. We can help influence people with how we live and even use our lives as ways to bring people to Christ. It’s not always words that convince. Many times, it’s actions. 

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

At the heart of the gospel, is that God offers us forgiveness of sins. That message is evident through the life and preaching of Jesus Christ and is evident in the early church. Paul reminds us not to forget the gospel.

1. Paul reminds them of the centrality of the Gospel (v1-2).... Life gets messy sometimes, and it's important to remember that the Gospel is to be the center of our lives. The Gospel isn't something we just receive and are done with. It continues throughout our lives. When we receive it, we are saved, which is sometimes referred to as Justification. We stand within the Gospel which makes us better, known as sanctification. And we continue to be saved by it into the future where we will be with God in Heaven, known as Glorification. 

2. Paul reminds them of the content of the Gospel (v3-4).... Paul explains the key components of the Gospel here, breaking it into three main parts. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He was buried. And He rose from the dead….. We have all sinned and deserve death, meaning we all need forgiveness. Christ died in our place so that we would have a way to be saved and forgiven. We are called to repent and change our lives by following Jesus to receive His forgiveness. We don't have to be perfect to be forgiven. That would make it impossible. There is no way we can become perfect on this Earth, but with Christ we can grow towards perfection and reach it in Heaven. 

3. Paul reminds them of the confirmation of the Gospel (V5-8).... Paul points out that many people saw Jesus after His resurrection. Why is this important? Because the resurrection is critical. So it's important to show that it really happened and the best way to do that is to point to all the people who saw Him afterwards. 

4. Paul reminds them of the calling of the Gospel (V9-11).... Paul reminds the readers of his past, that he had persecuted believers before he was one, and yet he was called to salvation. The calling isn't just for salvation, but also to be an ambassador of Christ, to serve Christ. It's a call to a new life, a call to life in Christ. 

1 Corinthians 10:16-22

Baptists usually call this event “The Lord’s Supper” (from 1 Corinthians 11:20). Another term for this event is “Communion” (from 1 Corinthians 10:16). The Greek word koinonia is often translated “fellowship” or “partnership.” In this passage it is translated “communion” (KJV), “participation” (NIV, ESV), or “sharing,” (CSB, NASB, NLT).

The Lord’s Supper expresses our fellowship with Christ (10:16).... It's a reminder that we have a communion with Jesus. This act doesn't create the communion or fellowship, but it helps us remember. 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 shows us that the fellowship is created by our repentance and faith. 

The Lord’s Supper expresses our fellowship with other Christians (10:17).... We all share in the body of Christ; we are all part of the body of Christ. We are meant to fellowship together, to do life together. Taking the Lord's Supper together is a reminder of that. Even though we may have differences and maybe even some grudges or disagreements, but we are still meant to fellowship together. 

The Lord’s Supper reminds us that we cannot share fellowship with idols or demons (10:18-22).... There were many idols and pagan temples in Corinth. Paul explains that idols are nothing, but there is evil behind them. He instructed readers to not eat or drink anything directly tied to the idols or sacrifices straight from the temples. Paul says food is food but that eating straight from the idol is participating in that sacrifice and worship, but that getting it elsewhere after the fact is fine. For us, Halloween is a similar thing. Bats are bats. Cats are cats. We can use Halloween to reach children and families with Christ centered fall festivals or trunk-or-treats, but we should avoid the darker aspects of the holiday that could lead some, even a tiny amount, to demon worship like those people back in Corinth eating from the idols.

Genesis 23-25

This is the last sermon in this series. We've seen Abraham and his family go through a lot of stuff and had many teachable moments. Here's a few more to finish off the series. 

The final three episodes in Abraham’s life relate to the future:

Abraham buried his wife Sarah (Genesis 23).... Sarah passed away and Abraham mourned her death. He wept for her. But he had no land to bury her in, so he bought a cave and used it as a burial tomb. He was living in the promised land, but had no land, and yet he still clung to the promise God had made to him. 

Abraham secured a wife for his son Isaac (Genesis 24)... Abraham wanted to make sure Isaac married one of his people, so he sent a servant back home find a woman. The servant went and found Rebecca, a distant cousin to Isaac. Rebecca returns with the servant and marries Rebecca…. Parents can't control their child's destiny, but they can help set up their child for success and provide them with a good foundation. For people looking for a spouse, this story shows that you should determine the type of person you want to merry, look in the right places for them, and be faithful to God in the search. 

Abraham died and was buried by his sons (Genesis 25).... Abraham's spirit left him as he died surrounded by his people. His sons buried him with Sarah. Later, Isaac and Rebecca would also be buried there. Then Jacob and Leah. Finally, following the Exodus, Joseph's bones, which were 100s of years old, were buried in that cave too. We might not see everything fulfilled in our lives, but we can be confident that God will keep His promises in the future even if we don't see it. 

All these were still living by faith when they died (Hebrews 11:13-16).... There's more to come. We look forward to the future, where we know God's promises will be fulfilled. 

Abraham is still alive (Mark 12:26-27).... Jesus says that Abraham is still alive. God is the God of the living and when we pass away on Earth, we just go home to Heaven. 

If you believe in his offspring, Jesus, you can meet Abraham one day (Matthew 8:11).... There will be a reunion of God's people where we will get to meet everyone else who was saved by God's grace through faith. 

Genesis 22:1-19

Two kinds of tests: 

1. God allows trouble or hardships (Deuteronimy 8:2) 

2. God gives strange instructions (Exodus 16:4) 

The test Abraham faces is of the second type. God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. This is the promised son, the son of Abraham and Sarah. God tells Abraham to sacrifice him as a burnt offering. (22:3)

Abraham obeyed. He also had faith that both, he and Isaac, would be returning alive. Hebrews 11:9 confirms that. So Abraham took Isaac and built an altar, and tied his son to it. But just before he could bring the knife down, an angel stopped him. A ram was provided. (22:3-14)

Abraham was blessed for his faithfulness and obedience. God reaffirmed the Covenant He had made with Abraham. Abraham and his offspring would be blessed. (22:15-19) 

Some people think this story never happened. They think that Abraham made it up. They think it's impossible that God would ask this of anybody. However, we shouldn't be rewriting the Bible. We submit to the Bible and what it says. God won't tell you to sacrifice your children or commit murder today. How do we know this? Since this event happened, God revealed the ten commandments among others. In those, He says not to kill. Later He even says that His people should not sacrifice children. He won't ask us to do something that goes against that. 

Saving faith always results in obedience. Paul says we're saved by faith. James says we're saved by works. Both refer to the story of Abraham. Do these views contradict each other? No. They are two perspectives of one truth. Saving faith produces acts of obedience. Paul emphasizes the cause. James emphasizes the result. Together, they reveal the truth. 

God will ask us to do unusual and difficult things. He even asked His Son to do something difficult. He asked Jesus to die on a cross for our redemption. Just like when He provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in place of Isaac, He provided Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins. 

Genesis 19:1-29

One reason our pastor likes to go through entire books or the full lives of Biblical characters is that we see both good and bad. We see God's grace and mercy, but we also see His wrath. Sometimes pastors get stuck in the trend of preaching about only the positive things or only doing hell and brimstone sermons. But going through a series like this tends to reveal both. Today we see some of God's wrath. 

God destroys: God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sin (19:1-13, 23-29).... Lot had been living in Sodom for a while at this point and his own morals had taken a bit of a fall, as we see when he offers his virgin daughters to the men of Sodom in place of the angels that were visiting him. There are some trends in society that we can embrace, like fashion or haircuts, but our values should always remain grounded in the teachings of the Bible. Whenever we have a feeling or desire that runs counter to the Bible, such as unrighteous anger or, as in the case of Sodom, homosexuality, then one of two things will happen: 1) we submit our feelings to the Bible or 2) we submit the Bible to our feelings. If we choose option 1, we remain faithful to God, but option 2 puts our feelings above God, which is idolatry. 

God offers a place of refuge from his destruction: God rescued Lot and his family and provided them a place of safety (19:14-22).... God offered Lot a way to survive this judgment and Lot tried to get his sons-in-law to come with him and his family, but they laughed. Lot's wife went but then looked back and turned to salt. Lot and his daughters kept going and survived. 

Throughout the Bible, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is an example and a warning of God’s judgment:

• Babylon (Isaiah 13:19), Moab (Zephaniah 2:9), and Israel (Isaiah 3:9) are warned of such destruction.

• The destruction of Sodom is a preview of hell (Jude 1:7).

• Jesus said Capernaum would face worse judgment than Sodom (Matthew 11:23-24).

• The return of Jesus will be as unexpected and sudden as the destruction of Sodom (Luke 17:26-32).

This passage and these other verses show us that people respond to the offer of salvation in three ways. Some will never accept salvation, just laughing at the idea of it. Others will entertain the idea of it but ultimately won't persevere and will turn back (whether they were saved and lost that salvation or were never saved to begin with is another discussion). Only those who accept salvation and continue to obey God's commands will persevere. 

Genesis 18:16-33

God revealed to Abraham his plan to destroy the city of Sodom (18:16-22). God opened the door for Abraham to intercede for the city. We can learn some lessons about intercessory prayer from the example of Abraham:

1. Intercessory prayer is based on the knowledge that people are headed for destruction (18:23).... God revealed to Abraham that these people were about to be destroyed. We also know that the unsaved people are headed for destruction. We should be praying for them. 

2. Intercessory prayer rises from a concern for other people (18:23).... Abraham wasn't going to be personally affected by this judgment, but he was concerned for Lot and others. 

3. Intercessory prayer must align with the character of God (18:24-25).... Abraham appealed to the character of God in his request. 

4. Intercessory prayer approaches God with boldness and humility (18:27-28).... There's boldness in Abraham's prayer, but also humility. He makes bold requests, but in a humble way. 

5. Intercessory prayer is cloaked in mystery (18:29-33)... There's some stuff we have trouble explaining. God would have already known how many righteous people He would find and still let Abraham go through this. Why? God wants us to participate in His plan. He wants us to pray for others, for those who might not be praying for themselves. 

God has revealed his plans to us. Will you pray?

1. Pray for groups of people to be spared from judgment…. Pray for America. This country is far from righteous and needs prayer. Our church has adopted an unreached people group to pray for, the Wolof people; pray for them and that Christianity will spread. 

2. Pray for specific individuals to be spared from judgment…. Pray for your family and friends who aren't saved. Pray they will come to know Christ as Savior. Don't give up on that prayer, no matter how long it takes or how far the person strays. Continue praying for them.