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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

The Joys and Troubles of When Christ is Born

It is written by the prophet Isaiah that the Messiah would be born of a virgin.

It was written by the prophet Micah that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

It was written by the prophet Hosea that the Messiah would be called out of Egypt.

It was written by the prophet Malachi that the Messiah would be proceeded by a forerunner.

It was written by a prophet of old that the Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.

It was written by the psalmist that the Messiah's hands and feet would be pierced.

It was written in an ancient scroll that the Messiah would be given vinegar to drink.

It was also written that soon after Christ the King's joyfully anticipated birth, there would be trouble.

My message today is entitled, The Joys and Troubles of When Christ is Born.

Let's bow our heads together as we pray once more.

Father in heaven, just want to pause once more at this moment to acknowledge you, to recognize that we're about to enter into the part of the service when your voice speaks.

When your voice speaks, and we pray, Lord, that our hearts would be receptive, that we would be in tune with your voice to recognize that still small voice that speaks through your word and we thank you Lord that you've brought us here today in your presence and we thank you in Jesus name amen Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright.

The silent night when Christ was born, what a night it was.

Joseph and Mary gently held him in their arms.

They tenderly wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.

All the heavenly hosts sang praises to his name.

They glorified him the night that he was born.

The reason why the star of Bethlehem did not orbit the center of the Milky Way galaxy together with the other stars is because this star was in fact A luminous cluster of angels singing praises to the newborn King, the night that Christ was born.

This is how the gospel writer recorded the scene in Luke chapter 2, verse 13 and 14.

And suddenly there was an angel and a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.

The night that Christ was born, it was a beautiful night of praise.

The silent night and holy night when Christ was born, shepherds found him and they fell on their faces before Him and worshiped Him the night that Christ was born.

And the Gospel of Luke continues in verse 20, then the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen and it was to ask it was told them the night that Christ was born the voices that could be heard were voices of praise they were glorifying God the night that Christ was born it was a calm night that was a song in the air The song of angels rang in the night.

Let every heart proclaim Him, prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and heaven and nature sing.

I think that you've captured the scene, the night that Christ was born.

All was joyfully bright the night that he was born Because the nativity of this child was not just any ordinary birth.

A plan that had been put together long before the existence of mankind.

This was a plan that was kept secret since the foundation of the world.

A way of redemption would be slowly disclosed.

This ancient secret would be slowly revealed and disclosed in time to the human race.

You know there's a certain excitement and I'm sure that many of us can relate because it's part of the human story.

There's a certain excitement that comes when revealing things kept secret for a long time.

Things that we keep secret until they're revealed and what joy that brings.

Whether it's a surprise birthday party or the announcement of a pregnancy or a retirement party, you name it.

We have so many experiences of things kept secret until the fullness of time.

I have several stories I could share with you of secrets that I kept until the grand revelation.

My favorite surprise that I kept for several months.

I mean come on, I mean especially when you're married to a woman like my wife Heidi.

During the whole duration of our engagement, I was behind the scenes planning our honeymoon, and Heidi did not have a clue.

In fact, I actually kept the destination secret, as I said, for the entire engagement and up until after the wedding.

You know, she had to trust me on that 1 because, yes, she did know we were going somewhere, just didn't know where.

And so that meant that I had to tell her how to pack and what to pack.

I even processed a visa for her without her having a clue where we were going.

And I purchased airline tickets again without her ever knowing where the destination would be.

Needless to say our honeymoon to France and Egypt was an amazing experience that we'll never forget.

In fact it was an amazing experience because the secret was gradually revealed from the glass pyramid in the Louvre Museum in Paris to the ancient pyramids in Giza, Egypt.

But to unveil, to disclose the secret kept since the beginning of our relationship was 1 that we'll never forget.

And so according to the prophet quoted in Matthew chapter 13 verse 35, if that secret was kept throughout that entire period of time, disclosed at the right time bringing great joy to our hearts.

But wait a minute What exactly was the revelation kept secret since the foundation of the world?

I'll tell you what the secret was, a lamb, a lamb, a lamb that would be slain, a secret that God himself would disclose gradually.

But God would disclose the secret gradually through biblical prophecies.

After all, the Bible says in Amos chapter 3 verse 7, that the Lord God does nothing without revealing his what?

His secret to his servants, the prophets.

Peter Stoner, he's a former chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena College.

He was a man who was passionate about biblical prophecies, and rightly so.

Together with 600 students from the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Stoner looked at 8, 8 prophecy specific ones about Jesus.

He looked at 8 prophecies and this is what they did.

They came up with the extremely conservative probabilities that each 1 for each 1 being fulfilled.

What would be the probability of 1 being fulfilled?

And then they considered the likelihood of Jesus fulfilling all 8 of these prophecies.

And they were conservative in their calculations.

The conclusion to this research was staggering.

In fact his mathematical analysis as recorded in his book, Science Speaks, was as follows.

The odds of just 8, 8 of the major prophecies being fulfilled by 1 person is 1, the odds now, 1 in 10 to the 17th power.

And this is just 1, I mean rather, this is only 8 of them.

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The Joys and Troubles of When Christ is Born

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