I DARE YOU TO READ THIS

Daniel 6 click on it  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+6&version=ESV

I dare you to open the Bible above to Daniel 6. Daniel, chapter 6 is a story about a faithful man, also about a man who became steadfast. I want to talk to you about that today, Daniel 6. Let's pray before I get to the meat of this word:

Pray/read this with me-
Lord, as I write this it staggers me to realize that you know every single thing about every single one of those who read this-AND ME. You know our deepest hurts, you know our greatest joys, you are aware of the things that bother us, things that concern us. You know every sin we have ever committed. You know the good, the bad, and the dark, deep, ugly that we hide.

Father, some of us go to a service and we focus and we think on really the wrong things, superficial things, things we may like or not like, when really a worship service is all about you, the One we're worshiping. So now help everyone direct their thoughts, Lord, toward you right now. And perhaps this is the greatest act of worship, listening so we might actually learn of YOU, because it speaks of our willingness to submit to your authority over us, to get realigned, and readjusted. So, Father, I simply invite you to break through to every single heart, some of which are soft and pliable, some of which are more hard and more difficult. Nothing is too hard for you, Lord, in Jesus' name, Amen.


When Christopher Columbus announced his desire to explore new worlds and to discover a quicker route to the West Indies, all the experts of Spain said it was impossible. But because of Columbus' steadfast persistence, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella sided with Columbus, not the experts, and that's a good thing for us.

Henry Ford believed in the automobile. He pursued that dream, but he had a good friend named Thomas Edison who said it wasn't a very good idea. In fact, offered Henry Ford a job to come work for him, to get a real life. But Ford was steadfast, persistent in his dream, and it's a good thing he was.

The Wright brothers Wilbur and Orville believed that man could actually fly in the sky. But they had friends, they knew journalists, and they had a father—their own dad said it was a costly and insane waste of money. But they pursued their vision and their dream because they were steadfast.

Steadfastness is a level above faithfulness. Daniel was a faithful man; we saw that last week, even in chapter 6. But steadfastness is when you are faithful in extreme times. The idea of being steadfast evokes thoughts of strength, intensity. To be steadfast is to grab a hold of, in fact, to even clutch the promises of God.

One author that I've read a lot, William Barclay, writes these words: "So often we have a kind of vague, wistful longing that the promises of Jesus should be true. The only way to enter into them is to believe in them with the clutching intensity of a drowning man." Keep those words in mind as we read chapter 6, because we see Daniel facing his possible death, believing, trusting, grabbing a hold of God's promises like this: "the clutching intensity of a drowning man."

Now, if you are a steadfast believer, you can count on four things that we see in the rest of this chapter. Before we get into those four things, can I just say that life is not fair. That bothers some of us, bothers some people, especially kids. Kids grow up and they say, "That's not fair!" And you say, "Life isn't fair."

But some people never grow out of this idea that life should be fair; that if you do good things, then good things will happen; that if you do bad things that you always have consequences—sort of this cosmic karma that should happen. But that's not real life; life isn't fair. Now, God will eventually bring the fairness and equity; not immediately, but eventually.

I heard about two men, they were in a waiting room, both of them were expectant fathers and their wives were in there having babies. And the nurse came out and said to one of them, "Congratulations! You have a brand-new baby daughter." The other guy stood up and he said, "That ain't fair; I was here first." Yeah, but this man's wife delivered first! NOT FAIR! RIGHT? But there are simply things over which we have no control...life happens at the speed we live it.

What happens to Daniel isn't fair. In fact, he doesn't get delivered from the experience of the lions' den, he has to go through the experience of the lions' den and he's helped while he's in it. Remember what David wrote, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death"? We don't like that. We don't want the valley of the shadow of death, we want to be airlifted from mountain peak to mountain peak and forget the valleys. But the Christian life as you go through it, even when you're steadfast, and I would say especially if you're steadfast.

Now, if you are a steadfast believer, I mentioned there are four things that you can count on: persecution is inevitable, trust is essential, deliverance is possible, and influence is unmistakable. Those are the four divisions of the rest of the chapter that we will look at in this text above. So what I'd like you to do even though we left off at verse 15, and 16 really picks up the rest of the story, I want to draw your attention back a few verses and get the whole thing framed nicely as we move into it.

Number one: persecution is inevitable. Look at verse 5 of Daniel 6. "Then these men," those would be his envious colleagues, if you remember, "said, 'We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.' "And so they went with that thought to the king to get a decree signed that nobody could worship any god or anything for thirty days, except the king.

Verse 10, "So, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows opened toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and he prayed and he gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God."

Now, it would seem that this story took place in one day. That in the morning they brought the decree for the king to sign it, at noon they were already at Daniel's house watching him pray because that was the time that he did it, and then by afternoon they had his death sentence signed again, and that he was put in the lions' den by evening.

It was a Persian custom that a death or an execution should be carried out before nightfall. So this probably all happened in the course of a single day. They knew that Daniel was devoted to God, and they knew that his love for God would always be paramount, and so they exploited that situation in order to get Daniel killed.

Persecution is inevitable. You and I are not going to get through this life without some battle scars. There's going to be some wounds, there's going to be some persecution, and here's why: you're a part of the kingdom of light. Out there is the kingdom of darkness of which you used to be a part of. When the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness come into contact, there is a kingdom clash, there are fireworks.

And Paul put it this way, "Anyone who desires to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." Because if you're steadfast, then others are going to know that you're a Christian, and if others know that you're a Christian, not everybody's going to like the fact that you're a Christian. In fact, they'll talk behind your back, they'll marginalize you, you might not make it up the scale in the corporation, or worse.

Over the many years I have been a Christian, a pastor, a counselor, I have gotten a couple death threats. I wrote a blog about Jesus being the only way to the Father and got some recently by blog-mail "We're going to come, we're going to kill you." Christian if you live your life God and live in a godly way somebody is going to take offense! But there is a misconception that following Jesus Christ is going to make life easier. Really? Ever read the New Testament? The early church had it anything except easy.

We love the promises of Jesus. In fact, some people make whole cottage industries of little promises that Jesus said, and they hold onto that promise for the day but there are some promises that they just sort of leave out. Let me give you a promise that Jesus made to his disciples.

Matthew 10 verse 16. Jesus said to his followers, "Behold, I send you out like sheep in the midst of wolves." Whoa! Whoa! Stop right there. That's not an easy gig—little sheep getting sent to a pack of wolves. "Therefore," Jesus said, "be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."

Every now and then somebody will say, "Wouldn't it be great to live in the time of the apostles?" I say, Eh, sort of. Parts of it would be cool; a whole lot of other parts would not be so cool, this being one of them: "Behold, I send you out like sheep in the midst of the wolves." So Jesus in this section announces this to them, and then he tells them they can expect persecution from three sources.

Number one: the religious establishment; the religious establishment. Jesus said, "Beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues." Did you know that organized religion has been one of the chief antagonists against the gospel? Always has been, still is today.

We send our missionaries out to different parts of the world, they will tell us it's not the common people, it's not the townsfolk, it's not the country folks that give us the opposition, its religious organizations that are opposed to our evangelistic work. Who were Jesus' enemies? Let's see . . . scribes, Pharisee, Sadducees, religious people. Even Daniel's antagonists in this chapter had a religious bent forbidding the worship of any god.

So you'll be persecuted by the religious establishment. Let me take this a step further. You're even going to be persecuted by carnal Christians in your own Bible study groups and churches. Carnal Christians who see your newfound devotion for Jesus, they're seeing that you have a desire to take the dare, to step up, to be steadfast, to pray more, to carry your Bible. And they might say something to you like, "Ooh, look who got so spiritual all of a sudden."

You know why they say that? Because they're convicted by your commitment. And they might say, "Well, I'm a Christian too; I'm just not a fanatic." Somebody once said, "A fanatic is just somebody who loves Jesus more than you do."

Number two, Jesus continued: you'll be persecuted by the secular world. He continues, "You will be brought before governors and kings and the Gentiles." You see, a steadfast believer is sort of like a 500-watt light bulb in a pitch-black room; and though it dispels the darkness, it also irritates people. And it irritated the Roman government when the apostles were those bright lights.

And just like Jesus predicted, you know what happened to them? They were flung to the lions. They were burned at the stake. They were sewn into the skins of animals so that beasts could tear them apart. Molten lead was poured over the tenderest parts of their bodies. Caesar Nero even wrapped them up in pitch and put them on poles so that they could be torches in his gardens at night.

But then Jesus takes it a step further in his catalog of promises to them. He said you'll be persecuted by your own family. Jesus said these words, "For brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his own child; and children will rise against their parents to kill them."

Did you know that there are still some cultures today where if a person converts to Christianity, a funeral is held for that family member? And they say, "He's dead to us. He's dead. He's following Jesus now; don't even mention his name." Other cultures are more radical and they believe in honor killings: "This person converted to Jesus, we need to honor our god by killing him."

Now you haven't had those kinds of things probably, but you have had the persecution, many of you by your own family members. Have you discovered that to witness to your own family members is like—that's harder than witnessing to anybody else? They look at you and go, "Who are you trying to kid, dude? We grew up with you. We know you. You're on to some little kick now, but whatever." These are the promises of Jesus—persecution is inevitable.

Back to Daniel, chapter 6. Persecution is inevitable; therefore, trust is essential. Now watch this, Daniel 6, verse 16, "So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions." Just sort of a simple, straight-forward statement: "So they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den."

It was actually a pit. In Babylon (Iraq) there is a square hole in a pavilion where people stand and look, and underneath is a large cavern. In those days it would have been divided into two where the lions were on one side, a lot of them, and then the hors d'oeuvre, Daniel in this case, would be on the other side. The lions would then be let loose.

"So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel," now listen to the pagan king speak. "'Your God, whom you serve continually, he will deliver you.' "What? Why did this king say that? Well, this king has been on the throne of Babylon now for a year at least, perhaps even two years by now.

Daniel is old, as we know he's not afraid of anybody, and he's in the king's counsel. He's on the cabinet of the king. So this king has heard message after message after message about what happened to Daniel by Daniel. He heard what happened with Nebuchadnezzar, what happened with Belshazzar. It was well recorded in their own history books by that time, and Daniel has been steadfast before this king.

"'Your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you.' Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed. Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians were brought before him. And also his sleep went from him."

In this whole episode do you once read of Daniel saying, "This isn't fair! God, I've served you seventy years." No, in fact, we don't have record that Daniel said anything at all, at all. Daniel opens the windows, he prays, that was his custom. He definitely knew that the thing had been signed. He definitely knew that death could happen. He definitely knew what a den of lions was. But he opened up the windows and he prayed, because he always prayed.

And then the death sentence is passed, Daniel is taken and placed in the lions' den; he says nothing. Now he may have said something, but the text is silent. It's like Jesus, he opened not his mouth, but he was silent before his antagonists, and he is lowered into the den of lions.

Daniel's story reminds me of another story that some of you may have heard about a guy by the name of Polycarp who in AD 156—he was a Christian leader in Smyrna, a Christian bishop. Polycarp was brought to be burned at the stake. They brought him to the stake, they tied him up, they lit the fire. And then the executioner said, "Listen, Polycarp, you can get out of this real easy. Just deny Jesus very quickly, we'll let you go, you'll have your freedom."

Not yelling, not screaming, "I hate flames." Polycarp said, "I have served Jesus Christ for eighty-six years," he was eighty six years old like Daniel. "I've served Jesus Christ for eighty-six years, never once has he denied me. He's never done me any wrong. How can I deny him now?" And Polycarp looked down at those flames as the will of God for his life.

And I believe Daniel saw the lions' den and he didn't squawk, he didn't say, "I hate teeth, and lions, and no!" Though he wouldn't have loved it, but he knew his God well enough. And he was steadfast enough to know and believe: "Okay, this is it. I've lived eighty-six years, now it's the lions' den. I had to go one way or the other," and they lowered him into the pit.

Now, it's easy to talk about this, but this is where steadfastness has got to kick in. This is where the clutching intensity of a drowning man has to kick in. This is where your faith needs to move from faithfulness to steadfastness.

Here's a good prayer to remember. Psalm 51, David prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." The Hebrew word means to be fixed or fastened, immovable. "Steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 112 speaks of a good man, a godly man, and in describing him it says, "He will not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord."

I have a question for you: What will it take to move you? What will it take to move you? What would it take—what could possibly happen in your life to have you stop trusting Jesus Christ? Death of a child? Lingering disease? Loss of employment? Is there something that you have said? "I trust the Lord, but as long as this, this, and that happen. If something else happens, I can't, I can't follow a God like that. I can't trust a God like that." Really?

I remember having a conversation with a young lady some years ago. It actually took me by surprise because she said, "Well, you know, I, I believed in Jesus," past tense. "I followed Jesus. I trusted Jesus." But then she said, "But then my grandmother died, and that was it."

And I said, "Well, with all due respect, I'm very sorry for your loss. That is very painful, but did you really think she was never going to die? Because that's never happened before in history. So that was it? It was your grandmother's death that just sort of—you lost it at that point: 'I'm not following Jesus anymore.' Really?

Job lost his estate, all ten of his children, and his health, and he said, "The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord." And then as the book goes on and his situation gets worse, he says, "Though he slay me, I will trust him." He can kill me, I'm not going to be moved—that's steadfastness.

I want you to listen to a slogan of an African-American church in Kansas City. I love it so much. It's their slogan; it's on their letterhead, and they have to probably print small to fit it all in because it's a long one. But listen to this, here's their slogan: "Wake up, sing up, pray up, and pay up, but never give up, or let up, or back up, or shut up, until the kingdom of Christ is built up in this world."

"Wake up, sing up, pray up, pay up, but never give up, let up, back up, or shut up, til the kingdom of Christ is built up in this world."

So there's Daniel and they just sort of take him and they lower him in the pit. And then something frustrating happens in the story, that's verse 17, but look at verse 18. "Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting and no musicians were brought before him and his sleep went from him." Now I'm reading that going, so what? I don't care about the king and his palace. What's going on in the lions' den?

You know, if this were a movie and the camera shows a guy getting let down, the lions roaring, and all of a sudden the camera pans to the king's palace. He goes, "I can't sleep." I'm going, I don't care about you can't sleeping; take me back to the lions' den. But this is the Holy Spirit showing you and I what the king is going through mentally in this entire episode.

Persecution is inevitable; trust is essential. Here's Daniel just seeing this as the will of God: "I'm going to trust in God." You know what Daniel sort of reminds me of? His three friends a few chapters back who said, "Our God is able to deliver us, but if not, we're not going to bow." Daniel knew that—God can deliver him; but if not, here goes. Oh well. Hi, lion.

Now, let's go on in the story and you see that deliverance is possible; it happens for him. "Then the king arose very early in the morning," the text suggests at the dawn of the day, "and went in haste to the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel." Interesting; voice of anguish.

"The king spoke, saying to Daniel, 'Daniel, servant of the living God.' "Why did he call him that? Where did he get that from? He got that from Daniel. Daniel has been steadfast before the king, so that even this king knows that Daniel believes that all the gods of Babylon, all the gods of Medo-Persia are fake. They're just a bunch of statues without life, but he serves the living God, and so the king calls him that.

"'Daniel, servant of the living God,' " now notice the question, " 'has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?' "Now, frankly, it's a little late for that question; should have asked that the day before. But in that lamenting anguish he asked, "Has your God been able to deliver you?" Silence. Let's see what happens now. Can God do it?

Verse 21, "Then Daniel said to the king, 'O king, live forever!' "I guess the king got his answer, didn't he?" 'My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.' And the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take up Daniel out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury whatever was on found on him, because he believed in his God." Notice that, mark that: "Because he believed in his God" By the way, Daniel held no ill will toward the king who put him in that pit. I don't what he felt about those who told the king to put Daniel in that pit...

"And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions—them, their children, and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den."

Okay, so I'm reading through this story, and it just sort of sounds like, well, the king has insomnia, can't sleep in his palace. That Daniel has a good night's sleep in the lions' den. He gets up in the morning [yawn], "O king, live forever. How's it going up there?" The king can't sleep, gets up early in the morning, laments. Daniel very politely, very thoroughly explains to him the theology behind: "I was stood before God, and God did this for me."

You know, I say that, but it reminds me of a story in the New Testament where Peter the apostle was arrested along with James. Herod had James killed and was going to kill Peter the very next day. So Peter is in prison, the Bible tells us chained between two Roman guards, and he falls asleep. And the angel comes to spring him out of jail, and the angel has to wake Peter up; that's how deep a sleep he was in. And I'm thinking, "Are you nuts? You're going to get killed the next day and you're asleep?" That's trust. Friend, that is trust!

It's like the guy who was in a boat, the boat got into a storm bouncing around on the lake, on, on the sea, on the ocean. And he remembered that psalm that says, "The God of Israel never slumbers or sleeps." And so he looked to heaven and he said, "Since you never get any rest, there's no sense in both of us losing sleep; good night," and he went to sleep. He believed that he would awake secure! Guess what? He was because even if he died he would awake before the Lord he trusted. We can't lose if we believe...

So God delivered Daniel, and we go, wow! Every kid knows this story. Every Sunday school tells this story. He was delivered from the lions' mouths. It doesn't always happen this way, but when it does; it's pretty marvelous, isn't it?

Let me tell you a true story. Paul Harvey told this story; this is where I got it from. I miss Paul Harvey's stories still today...He used to tell the most wonderful stories in such a great way, by the way. He said there's a church in Beatrice, Nebraska, the West Side Baptist Church. The West Side Baptist Church every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. had choir practice, 7:30 sharp every Wednesday.

But one Wednesday—and most people, he said, came to the church before 7:30 so that they could start the practice on time. So they were there on or before 7:30 without fail. But on one particular Wednesday night every choir member had an excuse why they were late.

The piano player took an afternoon nap, she slept too long, she was late. One of the choir members, a student, had homework problems, so he came late. Another couple who sang in the choir, their car wouldn't start, they came late. All eighteen members did not show up, were not at the church at 7:30.

And it's a good thing because on that particular day there was a gas leak in the basement. And at precisely 7:30 p.m. the gas leak ignited the furnace at the middle level and the church blew up. By the way, the furnace room was directly underneath the choir loft. It absolutely decimated and would have killed everybody in that choir loft. Nobody was there—that is deliverance, and that is marvelous.

And I love stories like that, and they happen, but they don't always happen. Even if you love and you believe in your God like Daniel did, they don't always happen. Did Isaiah believe in his God? Isaiah was sawn in two, cut in two. Did Peter the apostle believe in his God? You betcha! He was crucified upside down.

Did Paul the apostle believe in his God? Yup. He got delivered sometimes, but then there was a day when he didn't get delivered. A Roman ax severed his head from his body in one fell swoop on a Roman road.

So here's Daniel, I can just picture him just from what I know of his integrity. He's getting led into that lions' den, he goes, "This could be either a wonderful deliverance out of it, or I'll see you in a few, Lord." Right? Either way would it have been a deliverance? Absolutely! Absolutely! He would of, he would of if he died, been looking into the face of God instead of the face of Darius, saying, "O king, live forever!" That's not a bad thing. So deliverance is possible, and he was delivered.

Look at the last few verses. Here's the fourth truth, and that is that influence is unmistakable. "Then king Darius wrote: To all peoples, nations, languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree." Now he just made a decree, right? That anybody who prays to any god for one month besides me will be killed, that was his decree. You know, they all voted him in. Isn't that interesting? You've heard of "queen for a day?" He was god for a month. They voted him in as god: "You can't worship any god but you." He signed it.

But now listen to this decree, "I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and steadfast forever; his kingdom is the one which will never be destroyed, and his dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues and he work signs and wonders in heaven and on earth," sounds like a psalmist, "who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian."

This is Daniel, this is just one guy; one man literally affects two empires. He affects Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and the Babylonian Empire, and now Darius the Mede in the Medo-Persian Empire.

And I've always believed that his influence extended beyond those kingdoms. I believe the whole reason the Magi showed up at the birth of Jesus Christ—incidentally, the word "Magi" is a Babylonian word. If you looked it up in the Old Testament, the word for wise men in Daniel is Magi. What are Magi from Babylon doing showing up at the birth of Christ looking for the King of the Jews? I think Daniel tipped them off, and they took the tip, and they showed up.

One man influenced two kingdoms. See, it doesn't take a lot of people; it just takes the right ones. One or a few steadfast in their God can influence a nation, can influence a family. Never under estimate the power of a godly life.

One of my favorite guys in the New Testament is John the Baptist. What a fireball!  Didn't care what anybody thought of him. "I didn't like that sermon, John." "I don't care. Have you repented?" Right? He was just this fiery guy. Well, Herod has him arrested and put in prison. But listen to what the Bible says, "Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous man." Something about being around a righteous, godly man or woman that can be unnerving and also very, very influential.

Is that what you want? Do you want to stand up for God? Do you want to influence people? Is that in your heart to do so? Then these words are for you, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

I'm coming to the end, in case you are getting antsy, with one of my favorite stories of all times written by and spoken by a previous chaplain to the United States Senate, Peter Marshall. Which is interesting because Peter Marshall was from Scotland, came to America, got involved in church work and political work here, became the chaplain to the Senate. He told a story called the "Keeper of the Spring," and here's how the story goes, roughly.

He said there was an Austrian village that had a beautiful stream that ran through it. The village was surrounded by the Alps, by the mountains around it. And they hired this guy called the Keeper of the Spring to patrol the hills and to collect debris from the pools that would feed that stream that ran through the town.

He had to pick up leaves and branches, and anything that would pollute or contaminate that stream in the village. And because he did such a faithful job with quiet regularity patrolling those hills, the stream that ran through that village was beautiful, clear, pristine. Swans came, and tourist came, and businesses built their shops there, and farmlands were irrigated, etcetera.

Until one day when the city council had a meeting and they were looking at the budget. And one of the council members said, "What is this line item for a salary we're paying some guy called the Keeper of the Spring?" He scratched his head and he goes, "I've never seen this person, have you?" None of them had ever seen him before.

But they said, "Yeah, but people hear he's up there, and he's working, and you can't see him, but that's why everything is so nice here in town." The guy says, "I think it's a scam." And so they all took a vote and they fired the Keeper of the Spring.

Nothing changed at all in town; everything was exactly the same for a few weeks. But after a few weeks when summer turn to fall, and the leaves started dropping, and the twigs on the trees started breaking off, and the debris started mounting up and clogging up the stream, one day one of the villagers noticed that the stream wasn't so clear anymore. It had a yellow tint to it, and a few days later it was brownish, and several days later it had a stench that came from it, and the swans left, and the tourists did too.

And the water wheels that diverted the water from the stream into the fields to be irrigated slowed down and eventually stopped. And the village elders realized their error, and they said, "Go get that guy and hire him back." And so they found the Keeper of the Spring and they gave him his job back, and within weeks it was restored to pristine beauty.

And what Peter Marshall's point was is that what the Keeper of the Spring was to that Austrian village, the steadfast believer is to the world, and even to the church. One life well lived can impact a family, a neighbored, a city, a country, two nations like Daniel. It doesn't take a lot of people; it just takes the right ones.

Jesus had twelve disciples, and he said go, and within one generation the known world heard the gospel—that's steadfastness. You can't be steadfast and you can't be powerfully used by God unless you know God to begin with.

Can I just say to you as I come to the close of this DARE,  I'm so happy you're here and reading it, but I wonder if you know Jesus Christ personally. I'm glad you've come to read this, but my goal has never been to have a lot of people come, but to have a lot of people know Jesus Christ. Are you sure that you know him?

I'm not asking if you're not a nice person, you might be a wonderful person. I'm not asking if you have a high intellect or an advanced education, you might. People might like you, you might be very, very influential in a lot of different areas of life, you might be very religious, but religion is not what Jesus is all about. The most religious man/woman on earth can still go to hell, but here is the real question do you know Jesus Christ personally? You can you know...

You can't be a keeper of the spring until you've tasted and drank from the stream yourself of living water. Do you know Christ? That's where you begin. And when you begin there, then you let his life give you real life, real purpose, real meaning. You want a cause to live for? There's nothing greater than the cause of Christ, but you must begin with Christ. Let's pray.

My prayer for you my friend,
Father, we are again impressed with a man who lived without much support, if any at all, in a foreign country surrounded by a different worldview and a different belief system, in fact, in many cases antagonists and scoundrels who were out to get him. And he was not only faithful, but he was steadfast. That got him persecuted. That made him trust more. He was miraculously delivered; some aren't.

But whether we are or not, the biggest issue is whom are we influencing? How are others impacted by our drawing breath and breathing it out again, and living and eating and moving in our community? Lord, that's what we long for. That's the kind of deep purpose we want.

Lord, I pray for those who have read this today who after an honest appraisal of their lives they realize they believe you exist, but there has never been a commitment to you, a personal commitment, a surrender, of a life being serious about God and godly things.

We know, Lord, that Jesus said he came into this world not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. It's my prayer, along with the prayers of many who have invited friends today, and love ones, family members, that more commitments, real commitments would be made to you personally. So reveal yourself, and rescue, and draw, and save some we ask.

With your heart now bowed before your Creator, as you are thinking about who you are honestly before God, if as you do so you realize: "I've never really committed my life to Christ. It's never been real and personal. I've known about God, I've believed in God, I agree there was a Jesus who lived historically, but I don't walk with him. I don't love him yet, and I want to change that. I'm ready now to turn from the past and turn my life over to Jesus Christ."

I hope you sense that in your heart. Or for some of you to come back to Jesus after wandering away for some time. If that describes you and you want to come to Jesus and have your sins forgiven, and receive his life and purpose. Say it right now as you read this. Lord Jesus, I have come to you many times under false pretenses. I want to get right with you as I pray and read this. I am sinner and I realize that your great grace is my only hope of heaven. I choose YOU because YOU first loved me even while I was deep in my sins.


Father, for those who have affirmed this prayer. Meet with them now and grant them the mercy that is all inclusive in the cross you died on. Meet them with the mercy and grace that your position in heaven as a living Savior can provide. And I pray, Father, that what they are about to do would become so real to them, so overwhelming to them that they would never turn back. But I pray that they would discover your embrace and your love, and what it means to have their sins forgiven and washed, and to have purpose of life and a purposeful future. I pray for that redemption in Jesus' name, amen.

Dear reader, if you've been dancing around this thing for too long, you've been playing with it too long, you've been waiting another week too long, another hour too long, you've been sitting back with your arms folded too long—get in the game. God loves you. It's true. What Jesus said is true, there's heaven and there's hell, there's choices, there's eternity. Where do you want to spend that eternity? What are you going to choose right this minute my friend?

(Thanks to Skip Heitzip Calvary Church in Albuquerque, NM for letting me borrow from him-tell Pastor Chuck I miss him) 



See you next blog,
Ted

Is Your Husband Demanding or Commanding Respect?

Every leader wants to be respected. But respect is something that has to be freely given by your followers. You can’t demand it, you can only command it, earn it.
Not getting respect is frustrating, especially by those who may perceive this as an attack on their leadership, a personal affront even. They will often respond by demanding respect, mostly based on the fact that they have a certain position (‘I am the leader of this household so I make the decisions, not you’) REALLY? You call yourself the leader but only by position you think is automatically granted you by the Bible or your church. I think the best way to determine what leadership looks like is by looking at Jesus himself. You see, you husbands that demand respect have in fact shown immature and inadequate leadership! You heard me right! Real leaders don’t have to demand it because they have earned it.

I served under a young lieutenant in the Army who never once told us to do something that he would not or had not done himself. I had a Captain who just could not lead but the young lieutenant made him look better by doing the things the Captain could not or would not do. We would have followed that young lieutenant into hell, and did a few times!

Getting respect from your family takes time and effort, but it’s well worth the investment. Just demanding because of your supposed position will only make you look like the fool you are acting like. Once you’ve gained the trust from your family you made have discovered a secret that allows to lead others.

As I stated above, every leader longs for the respect of his or her followers. But respect has to be commanded, not demanded. You have to earn it. But how to command respect from those you lead? I’ve found acting out this verse day-by-day made a big difference:
“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Phil. 2:3, 4 NKJV)


Here are five lessons that Jesus taught by his own example and we as husbands would do better to learn from that verse in how we should lead:


1. Be Honest
Don’t use manipulation or conceit to get your way. Be open and honest about where you want to go and try to persuade others to come with you based on vision, not deceit or force. Don’t play out people against each other, make them choose sides or spiritually manipulate people to support you. Be very, very critical of your own ambitions and constantly search your heart to check your motives (Psalm 139:23, 24). Being honest means that you take full responsibility for your failures and admit it! Jesus always told the truth, even if it was painful but never left that person in despair if they would demonstrate a receptive heart.

2. Be humble
Don’t ever forget that you are a leader by the grace of God. It has God who deserves all the glory, you’re just a vessel in His hands. Treat your leadership as a gift, not an entitlement. The minute you feel you deserve certain things because of your leadership role, is the minute you've become too proud to be effective. Jesus was a King in heaven but humbled himself unto death like a pauper to bring eternal salvation to all who would demonstrate a hearing heart.

3. Admit your failures
You may feel this is a sign of weakness, but it’s actually a sign of strength. Having the courage to admit when you have been wrong,honestly, or to say you were wrong and change your mind is a great way of gaining your followers’ trust. They see you’re not pretending to be perfect or better than them, not covering up your mistakes and that will go a long way in making them respect you.

4. Be unfailingly kind
Being a leader doesn't equal being harsh, judgmental or mean. Even when you disagree with people, even when you have to make decisions that don’t have the majority’s support, be kind. You can say no to people without making it personal. You need learn how to give negative feedback mixed with wisdom and hope without being harsh. You can oppose someone and still be cordial. Don’t make fun of people, talk behind their backs to humiliate them in front of others. Respect them and treat them with kindness, even when you disagree or when they’re acting stupid. Show love and grace in all your contact with other people, treat them as Jesus would have treated them. If you wonder why he didn't treat the Sadducees and Pharisees as well, he looked upon their hearts to see the evil intentions within. He called them what they were...”open graves whose mouth leads others to hell!”

5. Put others first
There’s a lot of buzz going around the Internet right now about the shameful actions of the captain of the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that ran aground in Italy a few days ago. Captain Schettino abandoned ship long before all the passengers were evacuated and refused to re-board even after a direct order from the Coast Guard. He will spend time in prison for his error, but worst of all he will be remember forever as a deserter in time of trouble. People died needlessly under his poor leadership. Husbands! Are you vacant in the position of a spiritual leader in your home, especially when trouble within is present?

Husbands! As a leader, you have to put the interest of others first. Your actions over a period of time show credibility. You’re the captain, you don’t just abandon ship when disaster strikes. Instead, stand in the gap and be willing to take the heat! The safety and well being of your passengers is your first priority. But even when you’re in stormy waters, you protect your crew, your passengers first and foremost. You don’t do anything that could possibly harm them.  You will be remembered for the right things you did even if a wrong decision got you there.

Husbands! In marriage that means making decisions that are beneficial to your family to make them the right kind of leaders for their families in the future. But it also means changing your perspective and your language from ‘I’ to ‘we’. Take a team approach and talk about ‘us’ and ‘we’ instead of just yourself. Invest in great relationships with your team(family), not because that benefits you, but out of genuine interest in who they are. 

"Those who never learned to take orders can never give orders"-George Washington.

“Credibility is a leader’s currency. With it, he or she is solvent; without it, he or she is bankrupt.”
– John Maxell


How have you gained the respect of those you lead? Would you add anything to this list?

See you next blog,
Ted

A Poem To An Abuser 2017

I decided to start the New Year with helping men and women understand how terrible abuse within marriage really is. There are other subjects that need to be covered but right now I choose to focus on you, the abused that are afraid to do anything about it! Some time ago I decided to take up the cause of spousal abuse and spousal rape in Christian homes! Why? Because it is happening all over the world and is even sanctioned by cultic sects and even overlooked by some mainstream churches and pastors. These churches teach men every scripture about the woman's role in being submissive but the miss the real importance of a man's role as being Christ in the home. It is, in fact, Pharisaic Legalism! Jesus never condoned legalism! To this type of cowardly man, sex and dominance in the home is everything in the relationship, not love.

The poem below is a testament to just how crippling abuse, whether physical or emotional, can be. It truly takes a cowardly fool to abuse your covenant partner!



You and Me
A Poem To My Abuser

The world knows a different you
You tell me and them  I'm crazy and some believe it too
Why shouldn't they - you're so gentle and kind
They don't know what goes on in your mind.

If I told them that there is a different you,
a person they would loathe if only they knew
They'd probably think that i was to blame,
and i'd only be putting myself to shame

'Cause emotional abuse leaves no scars they can see.
You are not breaking bones - you are breaking me
You trample the core of my being - deep inside,
taking away my dignity, my respect and my pride.

I can't wait for your leaving in the morning,
and dread your return at night.
Being around you makes me edgy,
just waiting for the next fight.

What will I be ?- a slut or a bitch?
Useless or ugly and an evil ice witch?
Or will it be I'm just a cheap whore?
Someone "nobody but you could love anymore"?

Or will you ask me what i did with my day,
And then put me down for what I say?
Waiting to accuse me of lies and deceit,
Saying I'd sleep with every man  but you on our street?

Will you criticize or throw out the meal I prepared for you,
or just find fault with every single thing that I do?
Will you punch me with words so hard that I cower,
All in an effort to regain your control and power?


Will you again resort to threats of violence maybe death?
I wish i could tell you to just hold your breath...........
'Cause you cannot kill someone who no longer exists,
who died a slow death by words and sometimes fists.


Its always the same ending after a fight,
you expect me to make love all through the night!
You sicken me and all i want is to be left alone and in peace
To be in a happy place where the hurting can cease

In this dysfunctional relationship that you call love,
You torture me some many times without a push or a shove.
But your words cut deeper than gashes and bruises could,
and my heart bleeds more than my body ever would.

For time will never heal the scars that I bear
I just bury them deeper year after year.
And slowly give in to who you want me to be,
It makes it far easier than me being me

Laura du Toit - 2009

If you live in a home like this...get out and get out quick! Seek help from whomever is willing to help you, but if you're a believer seek a Christian counselor that understands the terrible things that abuse does to someone. I would tell you to seek your pastor but first make sure he is an honorable man who upholds the biblical rights of a godly woman in need of help.
See you next blog,
Ted

The Supernatural Birth of Jesus

Like Him, love Him, deny Him, or hate Him Jesus was real! He was either a liar, a lunatic. or truly Lord and Savior. The following is from Dr. John MacArthur and puts us in a position to decide what we believe about the man from Galilee who DID claim equality with God the Father!

The Supernatural Birth of Jesus

Selected Scriptures December 4, 2016 81-4

     I’m always glad when Christmas comes around, because I finally have the opportunity to sing one of my favorite hymns, and it’s only sung around Christmas. That hymn is “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” It is not only my favorite Christmas Carol, but it is one of my very favorite hymns, and I’m not alone. In 1872 the Church of England selected the four greatest hymns in the English language, and “Hark the Herald Angels” was one of those hymns. I wait all year to sing this hymn, and then I find myself singing it and humming it to myself all through the season. It is a tribute to our Savior, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is one of the greatest treasures that the church has musically, and it is a treasure to the mind and soul of everyone who has memorized the incredible words to this hymn.

     It was originally written in 1739 by Charles Wesley who wrote it as a Christmas day hymn. Fifteen years later, along came George Whitefield, the great preacher, great evangelist, and he felt that the words needed a little bit of editing, so he Calvinized it. And fifteen years after the original work of Wesley, Whitefield brought its lyrics into the familiar form that we sing today. It needed a tune, and the years went by, and Wesley had always said it needs a kind of a somber, slow tune. But it never really caught on with that kind of tune.

     And then about a hundred years after Whitefield in the mid 1800s there was a famous German Jew who was baptized a Christian, baptized into the Christian faith. This German Jew wrote a cantata in the honor of Johannes Gutenberg who invented the printing press, and in that Cantata there was an amazing tune, and that is the tune that since about 1850 has been associated with “Hard the Herald Angels Sing,” and that German Jew who converted to Christ was Felix Mendelssohn. So when you get a song that has Wesley, Whitefield, and Mendelssohn, it’s going to be good; and it is good. It is the best.

     I know you know it, but I can’t go any further really without reminding you of the words: “Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!’ Joyful, all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies; with the angelic host proclaim, ‘Christ is born in Bethlehem!’ Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King!’

     “Christ, by highest heaven adored; Christ the everlasting Lord; late in time, behold Him come, offspring of the virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail the incarnate Deity, pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King!’

     “Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Son of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings. Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die; born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King!’” And there are at least three other verses that are not in the hymnal. Great hymn. Just an incomparable hymn, and every verse ends with, “Glory to the newborn King!”

     Wesley and Whitefield instruct us concerning the person of Jesus Christ in this hymn. He is the newborn King, but He is also identified as the Prince of Peace, the Son of Righteousness, the Everlasting Lord, the Incarnate Deity, and most of all Emmanuel, God with us. It’s an almost breath-taking Christology in this magnificent tribute.

     And, by the way, this is Christianity. Christianity is that God, the Eternal Son, left heaven, came to earth as a baby born to a woman miraculously without a human father; born to save the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. That is Christianity, and that birth is how the New Testament begins. So let’s go to the beginning in the book of Matthew and the very first chapter. Over the next four weeks we’re going to look at Matthew’s account of the birth of the King.

     Jesus asked the Jewish leaders about Messiah one day, recorded in Matthew 22. “He said, ‘Whose son is Messiah to be?’ And they replied immediately, ‘Son of David. Son of David.’” Royalty. They saw Him as a man born in the line of David. That is exactly what the Old Testament declared back in 2 Samuel, chapter 7. We are told that the greater son of David, the Messiah who will establish God’s kingdom will come through the royal line of David.

     Whoever is the Messiah, whoever is God’s anointed king must be a descendent of David. That is why Matthew begins the way he does, verse 1: “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David.” And then you have a detailed genealogy coming all the way down to “Joseph” – in verse 16 – “the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.” The Messiah, verse 1, must be a son of David. Messiah is, in David’s line, the royal right, passing through Joseph.

     Let me hasten to say this: Jesus was not related to Joseph by blood, but in Luke, chapter 1, there is a genealogy of Mary, and Mary also came from David’s line. Mary gave Jesus the royal blood, Joseph gave Him the royal right, because the royal right always came from the father.

     But it’s more than just the son of David that Messiah must be. He must be the son of David. He must have the blood of the line of David coursing through His veins, and He did through Mary. He must have the right to the throne, which He received through the fact that Joseph was His legal father in the earthly sense. But He had to be more than just the son of David, He had also to be the Son of God. And that is the message that Matthew gives us, starting in verse 18. Not only was He in the line of David, but He is divine. Not just man, not just royal, but He is divine, He is the Son of God.

     Verse 18: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’ And Joseph awake from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.”

     Mary’s Son is God with us. Mary’s Son is Immanuel. We are thus introduced to the incarnate God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, this account of His birth is a very critical identifying mark that sets Him apart from any and every human being who has ever been born. He is the only one born of a virgin, conceived by God in the womb, the God-man: fully divine, fully human.

     But Matthew focuses particularly on His kingship, on the royal right that He has to the throne as God’s Anointed. That’s why he gives the royal genealogy at the very beginning. And then he gives this remarkable birth that adds to His human royal line: divinity. Matthew presents to us all through his gospel Jesus as King. Let me just give you a little bit of a look at that.

     First of all, Matthew shows us the King revealed. The person of Jesus Christ is always painted in royal colors. His ancestry, as we saw, is traced through a royal line. His birth is dreaded by a rival king. Wise men offer Him royal gifts. His herald, John the Baptist, declared that He is a king and that His kingdom is at hand. His temptation reaches its climax when He is justly offered the kingdoms of this entire world. His great Sermon on the Mount is the manifesto of the King, setting forth the standards of His kingdom. His miracles are His royal credentials. His parables are called the mysteries of the kingdom.

     He is hailed as son of David, but also as Son of God. He claims freedom from paying tribute to earthly kings, because He Himself is the Son of the Great King, and is Himself a King. He makes a royal entry into Jerusalem where He declares Himself to be the King. And while facing the cross He predicts that He will rise again and He will establish His future reign. He proclaims sovereign power to command angels. Even His last words are a kingly claim and a royal command: “All authority has been given unto Me in heaven and earth. Go therefore.” So Matthew presents Him as royalty, as God’s Anointed King, the revealed King.

     But Matthew also presents Him as the rejected King. The rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ is emphasized by Matthew all the way through. Before He was born His mother was in danger of being rejected by Joseph. At His birth, Jesus faced the possibility of death. Jerusalem was troubled by His birth. Herod sought His life. In Matthew’s account, on the plains of Bethlehem, no angel choir sings. But in Matthew’s account, mothers weep as their baby sons are slaughtered in an attempt to kill the true King.

     Even as a child He is hurried away into obscurity in Egypt for awhile, and then He’s hurried back up to Nazareth, and obscure town where He stays in obscurity until He’s 30 years of age. His forerunner and cousin John the Baptist is arrested, imprisoned, and beheaded. During the time of His ministry He has no home of His own, nowhere to lay His head. He is a wanderer. His parables demonstrate the character of His kingdom age, and they are rejected by His people.

     In His death, He is forsaken by His people, He is forsaken by God. In Matthew, there’s no penitent thief praying. There’s no word of human sympathy recorded by Matthew as He faces death. But Matthew does describe the reviling, the mocking, and the bribing of the soldiers to lie about His resurrection. No other gospel so chronicles the bitterness of the rejection of the King.

     But, finally, Matthew’s focus is not only on the revealing of the King and the rejection of the King, but on the return of the King. No other gospel says as much about the second coming of Christ as does Matthew. It is a gospel of triumph. The King is to be revealed, He is to be rejected, but He is to return and establish His promised kingdom and reign there forever and ever. Matthew begins at the very beginning with His birth.

     Just a note about the genealogy. In the genealogy you have many men listed. But tucked into the genealogy are the names of four women in the first seventeen versus of Matthew 1. Interesting women. There is Tamar, guilty of prostitution and incest. There is Rahab, a prostitute and idolatress. There is Ruth from Moab whose whole line was cursed because it descended from incest. And there is Bathsheba who was an adulterous woman, and whose husband was murdered out of that adultery. Those are the four women in the genealogy, which is a declaration by God that the King is a gracious King, and the King has come to identify with sinners.

     The greatest credential for the King is not His genealogy, as wonderful as it is, it tells us in the royal line, it tells us He will be a gracious King. He will identify with sinners. But the greatest credential is His birth, and that’s what I read you in verses 18 to 25. This identifies Him as having come from heaven.

     Now the facts are clear, you saw them there. Joseph and Mary were engaged, betrothed, not yet officially married, not yet having consummated that union. Joseph knew Mary was pregnant, and he knew that was not his child. We are then told the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary. And then Joseph is commanded to marry her and name the child, who is God with us, with the name Jesus. Those are the simple facts of this very understated massive divine work of the virgin conception and birth of the Son of God. Now let’s look a little more deeply.

     First of all the virgin birth conceived – and we’ll look at verse 18. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.” This is just such a simple explanation of a staggering, incomprehensible, divine miracle. The Bible does that a lot, simply states things that are beyond our comprehension.

     We don’t know anything about Mary really. John 19:25 mentions her sister, who was also one who followed Jesus. That’s really all we know. We look at Luke 1 and we get her genealogy, so we know the name of the family behind her. We know she was related to Elizabeth, who was the wife of Zacharias the priest, and they were the parents of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus. We know she lived in Nazareth, which was a town in the north of Israel up in the Galilee area, a nondescript town of which it was said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” A blue collar down, insignificant religiously, insignificant historically. That’s all we know about her in terms of biography, in terms of earthly background. We know nothing about her family, what they did.

     But we do know about her character, which is what is most important, because in Luke, chapter 1, in verse 38, Mary says in response to being told by Gabriel the archangel that she’s going to be the mother of the Most Holy Child, the Son of God. She says, “Behold, the slave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” This is a 13-year-old girl or so who sees herself as a slave of the Lord, a willing, loving slave of the Lord who wants only to do whatever the Lord asks her to do.

     She is a worshiper. Over in verse 46, in response to this, she says, “My soul exalts the Lord, my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for He has had regard for the humble state of His slave; for behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name.” And she goes on to quote Old Testament passages in that beautiful Magnificat.

     She is theologically astute. She knows God, she knows the attributes of God, she knows the Old Testament. All that she says is drawn right out of the Old Testament. She is a righteous young girl, a slave of the Lord who believes what the Lord says and wants only to do what He asks her to do. She’s a godly young girl.

     Now she is, it says in verse 18, betrothed to Joseph. You have to understand Jewish marriage contracts were a little different than we have today. People get engaged and disengaged, then engaged, then disengaged, and we’ve all become pretty used to that happening. In the Jewish plan of marriage, when you were engaged or betrothed, that was a binding legal covenant. You literally bound yourself for life to the one that you had desired to marry.

     You can find that back in Deuteronomy 20 in verse 7. Betrothal was a legal contract demanding, defining two people as committed to one another for life. Betrothal was a trial period. There was no consummation during betrothal. That came after the actual marriage ceremony. There were usually several months during the betrothal period.

     What was that for? Well, in some ways, the husband needed to make preparations for the wedding. That would be an extensive responsibility that he would have. But even more than that, it was a trial time to see if the person that you had committed to would be faithful to that covenant. It was a time to prove your holiness, your virtue, and your righteousness. It was clearly before they came together that they had been betrothed. So they were set by covenant, by legal contract for a marriage. But this was the trial period to find out if the person would be faithful.

     And, back to verse 18, before they came together, before they were actually married, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. The worst possible scenario was that a betrothed woman would become pregnant. That’s why you had the trial period to prove her integrity, her virtue. She was pregnant. She was about three months pregnant, if you calculate what the New Testament says, at this time when Joseph gets the information.

     And by the way, she knew she was pregnant. How did she know? Luke 1:26, because the angel Gabriel came to her when they were back in Nazareth and said, “Behold, don’t be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God” – verse 30, 31 – “Behold, you will conceive in your womb, bear a son; you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. He will reign over the throne of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” He’s the King.

     “Mary said, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angle answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the Holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” Nothing will be impossible with God. So she knew, she knew. But apparently she knew before Joseph knew. Maybe she was just trying to figure out how to explain that since that had never happened.

     Now Joseph found out that she was pregnant. I can’t imagine the shock and devastation, because this is a virtuous girl that he knows and loves and is committed to for life, and he finds out that she is pregnant. And according to Deuteronomy 22, verses 23 and 24, if a betrothed woman became pregnant, she was to be stoned to death. So a cloud of suspicion and shame and scandal is hanging over her head, because she doesn’t know how to explain this.

     There’s really no precedent for this, there’s no way to explain it. In all human history there’s never been a virgin birth. And now Joseph is in shock because he’s found out that she is pregnant, and he can’t understand it. And so in verse 19, “Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.” Righteousness is a wonderful word, It embodies holiness, virtue, morality; but it also embodies compassion. Part of being righteous is being compassionate. This is a righteous man.

     You might say, “Well, if he was a righteous man, he’d make a public display out of her. A righteous man would uphold righteousness, and a righteous man would make this public and say, ‘She has been unfaithful; I want to declare her unfaithfulness. We’re going to bring her before the appropriate witnesses and we’re going to deal with thing publicly, because she needs to be a warning sign concerning this kind of sin.’” But there is inherently within true righteousness compassion and deep affection and love. He loves her, he cares for her. He doesn’t understand what has happened, he has no explanation for it, but his heart is compassionate toward her.

     And so we saw the virgin birth conceived in verse 18, and now the virgin birth is confronted in verses 19 and 20. It’s confronted by Joseph. They’re betrothed. He’s a righteous man, that is he desires to do what is pleasing to God. You could even say that he has been declared righteous by faith in God in the same way that Old Testament saints had. Certainly Mary was one of them. He is a true Old Testament saint justified before God by faith. The justification of that man and even the transformation of that man’s heart is evidenced in his obedience to God, his desire to obey God, to marry a godly, virtuous woman.

     And to also demonstrate compassion. Mary was precious to him, the girl of his hopes. But he had to do what was right. But he doesn’t want to disgrace her – back to verse 19 – wanting not to disgrace her. There’s no bitterness. There’s no anger. There’s no hostility. There’s no desire to make a display out of her, just confusion and compassion.

     Two courses are really open to him at this point. The harshest would be to make a public example of her. And even though capital punishment as a punishment for sin had disappeared in the history of Israel, there was still the threat of a public divorce, a bill of divorce, a public lawsuit against her; and she would be brought into some kind of court, and there would be witnesses coming into the court to testify against her that she was pregnant and that Joseph was not the father.

     In ancient times she would have been stoned to death. But in more recent times, during the time of their life, divorce had taken the place of stoning. He could have had a public divorce and sort of exonerated himself, but he doesn’t want to do that. “So he decided to” – it says at the end of verse 19 – “send her away secretly.”

     Send away is the word apoluō. It’s the New Testament word for divorce. But not publicly, not with witnesses testifying against her to justify his action, but a very quiet, very private divorce. He wasn’t going to go through with the marriage to a woman who was unfaithful. He is devastated, he is crushed. It is all unthinkable to him, unimaginable. But he loves her, he cares for her, and so he decides that he is going to just do this very secretly.

     However, verse 20 says, “When he had considered this,” – he was in the middle of considering it, meditating on it; apparently he falls asleep, mulling over in his mind what he’s going to do with this love of his life – “behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.” I don’t understand the reality of that; I don’t know how to define that. It says a dream, and yet it says an angel of the Lord actually appeared to him in a dream. This is a supernatural experience, that’s all we can say, that’s all we need to know.

     “An angle of the Lord appears to him in a dream and says, ‘Joseph, son of David,’ – again reiterating that he is in the royal line – ‘do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.’”

     What an unbelievably shocking dream. You know, he probably felt like most men feel, “I’m really not good enough for her.” And then he might have thought for a moment, “Maybe she’s not good enough for me.” And now he hears from an angel that God Himself has planted a life in her womb, something that has never happened to any woman. And now he goes back to saying, “If I thought I wasn’t worthy of her before, I’m sure not worthy of her now if out of all the world God has chosen her to be the mother of His incarnate Son.”

     We think about people being engaged having a difficult time waiting until they’re married to display their affection. I think Joseph must have felt like he needed to stay away from her, because he was some kind of transcendent person beyond anything he could ever imagine himself to be worthy of. He is told that the child in her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity. He would know the Holy Spirit from the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit coming on people for all kinds of reasons in the Old Testament, bringing God’s power and God’s presence into a life.

     This is stunning, shocking. It’s the same message that Mary heard back in Luke 1: “The child will be produced by the Holy Spirit. This will be a Holy Child. This will be the Son of God.” So Joseph is now trying to figure out just exactly, “How do I fit into that?” Little wonder then that when the angel said, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.”

     Fear was the first reaction of Joseph. “Stop being afraid. You can take her as your wife. She is not so transcendent, she is not so holy, she is not elevated that she cannot be your wife. What has been conceived in her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit.”

     Verse 21: “She will bear a Son; and you shall call his name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” She will bear a Son. It doesn’t say, “She will bear you a son.” Never says that.

     In Luke 1:13, the Lord said to Zacharias, “Elizabeth will bear you a son, because you are a participating father.” That is never said to Joseph. It’s just, “She will bear a Son.” This is Mary’s Son and this is God’s Son. This is not Joseph’s Son.

     By the way, throughout the 2nd chapter of Matthew, Mary is identified as His mother and Joseph is never stated as His father, never. “Arise, take the young Child and His mother and flee into Egypt. Take your Child. Arise, take the young Child and His mother, go into the Land of Israel.”

     This is not Joseph’s Son; this is God’s Son, this is Mary’s Son. In fact, in the 2nd chapter of Matthew, God says, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.” Jesus was God’s Son and Mary’s Son, never Joseph’s Son.

     The mystery of all of this is profound and confounding, and when it says down in verse 25 that he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son, I can fully understand that, that he wouldn’t want to do anything to touch her. It was not legal to do that anyway, just because they hadn’t had the marriage ceremony. But I think it would have been hard to imagine himself even putting a hand on such a set apart and anointed life chosen by God for such singular calling.

     But Joseph, you do have a role to play. Father gives the name, so verse 21, “You shall call His name Jesus Yeshua” – Old Testament Joshua – “for He will have His people from their sins.” Yeshua means Jehovah saves, Jehovah saves. That’s His name, Jesus, Jehovah saves, for He will save His people from their sins.”

     There are a lot of names that are given to Jesus in the Old Testament, you’re familiar with them: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity – Isaiah 9, Servant of Jehovah, Yahweh – lots of names of Jesus. But here is a new name. His name is to be Yeshua, Jehovah saves. That’s remarkable.

     Back in the 43rd chapter of Isaiah, God claims some singular characteristics. He says, verse 11, “I, even I, am the Lord,” and yet in the New Testament Jesus is declared Lord. God says in the same verse, “There is no Savior besides Me,” and yet Jesus is to be named Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins. God is a Savior; Jesus is a Savior.

     In that same chapter, verse 13, God says, “Even from eternity I am He.” John 1:1 says that Jesus was in eternity with the Father. Verse 14 says, “The Lord is your Redeemer.” In the New Testament, Jesus is the Redeemer. The Lord is the Holy One; in the New Testament, Jesus is the Holy Child. Things that God declares for Himself alone are also declared of Christ, which is to say that He is therefore God.

     Chapter 42 of Isaiah, verse 8, “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another.” That’s true. But He gives His glory to Christ, because glory to Christ is not giving glory to another. Christ is one with God.

     So He is the Savior. He’s the only Savior; He’s the Savior of the world. There is no other Savior, it is God and God alone who saves His people, and He does it through the work of His Son Jesus. “There’s no salvation in any other” – Acts 4:12. Who is able to save? Who is mighty to save? Only the virgin-born God-man, Son of David, Son of Mary.

     And then in verses 22 and 23 you have the virgin birth connected, connected. We saw it conceived and confronted, clarified in regard to the name as the message came to Joseph. But here it’s connected, and it’s connected to an Old Testament prophecy: “Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’” That is a direct quote from Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 7:14.

     Here Matthew shows us that the virgin birth was promised, was promised. And if you go back to Isaiah 7:14 that’s exactly what you read with the addition of just an opening statement: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and will call His name Immanuel. The Lord will give you a sign.”

     The word here “virgin” in verse 23 is parthenos in Greek, and it always means virgin and only means virgin. It’s used about 12 or 13 times in the New Testament. It always and only means virgin.

     The text of Isaiah 700 years before uses the word almah, and some people say, “Well, almahcan mean a young girl. A young girl doesn’t have to mean a virgin.” Although it is used nine times in the Old Testament, eight of them, it has to mean a virgin. One time it may be just a reference to a young girl. But clearly the intent of almah in Isaiah 7:14 is to be used at virgin, because that’s what the Holy Spirit inspires Matthew to write. The New Testament writer under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is interpreting the word almah in the Old Testament as parthenos in the New, which is virgin. And that’s the only thing that makes sense.

     Critics like to say, “Well, no, Isaiah 7:14 should simply be stated, ‘A young woman will be with child and bear a son.’” There’s something missing in that. And what is it? The opening statement: “The Lord Himself will show you a sign.”

     If I say to you, “A young woman is going to become pregnant and have a son,” what sign in that? That’s not a sign of anything, that happens every day. That’s not a sign of anything. But a virgin becoming pregnant and bearing a son, that’s a sign. That’s the sign of Isaiah 7:14. “Look for a miracle. Look for a virgin becoming pregnant and bearing a son.” Even from the scientific standpoint, critics love to tamper with this, and some have suggested that Mary had a sort of spontaneous generation, a kind of parthenogenesis on her own and produced Jesus on her own without God intervening, that there is a scientific natural explanation to this.

     And if you read any science, any of that – I’m reading a big long book on the history of genes; and in studying that, it’s fascinating to say that you can go back into history in the nineteenth century, and even back before that, and people were trying to reproduce life. There were all kinds of very fine insects, and there were sea urchins, and they were trying to see if they could generate without the normal male-female coming together. And there had been some indications in history where this could happen, and then there was Pincus and his rabbits, and there’s some machinations done with animals like that.

     But the problem is this: even in those cases where you have that, you have a problem. Mary, if she spontaneously generated Jesus, could only have a daughter, because there’s no Y chromosome. Y chromosome comes from the man. That’s what’s so important about, “She will bear a son, she will bear a son.”

     And this son will be the one prophesized in Isaiah 7:14, “And the sign will be that she will be a virgin bearing a son, and you shall call His name Immanuel, which translates into God with us. She will have the Son of God.”

     You know, the rabbis kind of hovered around this notion that Messiah would have a unique birth. They said Messiah may not have an earthly father. Some rabbis said Messiah will be born without defect. One rabbi said Messiah’s birth will not be like the birth of other men. One other rabbi, one other rabbi said that Messiah’s birth will be like the dew of the Lord as drops on the grass without the action of man. The book of Enoch 150 years before Christ says, “Of the Messiah, He appears by the side of the Ancient of Days.” In other words, they even seem to acknowledge Messiah’s pre-incarnate existence.

     But they really didn’t understand it and they rejected, they rejected Him. “He came to His own, His own received Him not.” But the prophecy was fulfilled. The coming of the King, the virgin-born Son of God, son of David, fulfills the sign prophecy of Isaiah 7:14. Galatians 4:4, Paul puts it this way: “In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman,” – born of a woman, but the Son of God.

     A final word, the virgin birth completed in the last two verses: “Joseph awoke from his sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, took Mary as his wife.” They had the wedding ceremony. Kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.” He got the message, believed it, and named her Son, Yeshua, Jehovah saves, because He came to save His people from their sins.

     He kept her a virgin, by the way, until she gave birth to a Son, which means that He didn’t keep her a virgin after that, and that’s clear in the New Testament, because Jesus had brothers and sisters born to Joseph and Mary, and they’re named and referred to. She was not a perpetual virgin, and she was not immaculately conceived without sin. Those are fantasies of the Roman Catholic system. She had many other children, but not until after Jesus was born did Joseph come near her. So that’s the story. That’s the story from Matthew.

     Paul looks at that same story in these words: “He, the Lord Jesus Christ, existed in the form of God. Did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted Him, bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, those in heaven and earth, under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

     The supernatural birth of Jesus is the only way you can account for His life. An unbeliever once said to a Christian, “If I told you that a child had been born without a father, would you believe it?” The Christian answered, “Yes, if he lived as Jesus lived.”

     The King is revealed. His birth proves who He is. In Christ, God came to dwell with us – with the sick, to heal them; with the demonized, to liberate them; with the poor in spirit, to bless them; with the meek, to lift them up to His kingdom; with the fearful and guilty, to free them from care and dread; with the lepers, to cleanse them; with the diseased, to cure them; with the hungry, to feed them; but most of all, with the lost, to seek and save them. Through His poverty we are made rich. The King is born. Next week, we’re going to see who and why the wise men were.

     Father, thank You again this morning for an incredibly wonderful, rich time in fellowship and beautiful music and worship. Fill our hearts with joy and thanksgiving through this season as we contemplate the wonderful gift of Jesus Christ who came to save His people from their sins. We are His people by grace, through faith, and we rejoice. May that joy be unbounded and demonstrate itself in our faithfulness to You, we pray in His name. Amen.