"The Gracious Deeds of the Lord"
Isaiah 63:7-9
Second Sunday of Advent- 12/4/11

Introduction: As December has come upon us do you find yourself busy with the business of Christmas? We talk about Christmas Joy, but it seems hard to be joyful when you are so busy with all that the Christmas season requires. This season is supposed to be joyous, but is often overwhelming. It can be a challenge in our world to remember that Christmas is really about the birth of Jesus Christ. That is why it is good to come to church, so that we might talk about and remember why Jesus came here to earth. In the birth of Jesus Christ, we remember that Jesus came to be with His people; to love them and to be an example for them. But even more, Jesus came to bring joy to those who were suffering and lost by becoming their savior. Jesus knew what He was here to do, and what was going to be coming His way. This morning I want to talk about how joy comes to us because Jesus came to suffer on our behalf. What Jesus did was gracious on our behalf!

I. Jesus the Sufferer- (Matt. 2:13-15; Heb. 2:10-13, 18;

1 Peter 1:6-7; Mark 14:34-36)

a. The hardship of suffering- So, let’s first look at Jesus’ role as a

sufferer. You would think that when God the Son chose to take on flesh, and come into the world, it would be a wonderful experience. He was coming to dwell among His people. But this isn’t how it was. Jesus didn’t have a soft, cushy, easy life. From the very beginning, it was challenging, and there was suffering.

It started when Mary, Jesus’ mother, had to give birth to Jesus in a stable. This was not the place anyone would expect the Son of God to be born. Why not a palace? Why not in a safe and protected setting? Because Jesus was born to suffer on our behalf, and to show us that in life there is suffering.

Think for a moment about the stress of Jesus’ life; the travel to Bethlehem, the birth in a stable, and then having to travel to Egypt.

1. Why did they have to go to Egypt? Well, Jesus’ life was in danger the moment King Herod heard about Jesus. Herod heard that Jesus was the answer to the prophecy about the birth of a savior. Egypt was outside of Herod’s jurisdiction, so God led Mary and Joseph to Egypt. More traveling; more danger; more stress; more worry. We read about it in Matt. 2:13-15, “When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." ¹⁴So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son.”

2. Galilee- Mary, Joseph and Jesus stayed in Egypt until Herod’s death in 4 b.c. After Herod’s death, Joseph again received a message from God through a dream. Matthew 2:19-23, “After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead." ²¹So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: ‘He will be called a Nazarene.’”

WHAT A FIRST FEW YEARS JESUS HAD: ONE OF

STRUGGLE, HARDSHIP, TRAVEL, AND DANGER.

However, if we remember how Jesus suffered, and that God was there to watch over Him and protect Him, then, maybe we will accept the suffering of our own lives and know that God is there to watch over us and protect us. To bring us joy in the midst of our suffering.

b. Made perfect through suffering- In Hebrews 2:10 we read, “In

bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.” We read these words together, “perfect,” and “suffering,” and it doesn’t make sense. How can suffering cause one to become perfect?

Think about a pearl. Pearls are formed inside the shell of certain bivalve mollusks. As a response to an irritant inside its shell, the mollusk creates a pearl to seal off the irritation. Pearls are formed by the suffering of irritation.

Or how about gold? Gold is refined in a hot fire to burn away its impurities. The suffering of the heat causes the gold to be more perfect. As we are told in

1 Peter 1:6-7, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

Sometimes our suffering leads us in a new direction. Sometimes our suffering gives us new insight. Sometimes our suffering teaches us an important lesson. But if we allow God to be there with us, and we seek to persevere, suffering always makes us stronger. We can be joyful about this!

God allowed Jesus to suffer so that all could be saved. But Christ’s suffering also gave Him a more complete understanding of what we experience when we suffer. In this way, Christ is here for us in our time of suffering.

c. Suffering helps us in our temptation- The book of Hebrews also reminds us that Christ suffered in the temptations that He faced. In the Gospels, we read about the distress that Jesus was in, when He faced His temptation of not going through with the crucifixion. Mark 14:34 (Jesus tells the disciples as He goes off to pray alone)- “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” And then in Mark 14:36 we hear Jesus praying: “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me./ Yet, not what I will, but what You will.”

Do you hear the struggle? Do you hear the distress? There in the garden, the Bible tells us that Jesus sweated blood as He agonized over this decision. We read of its affect on us, in Hebrews 2:18- “Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Have you ever tried to help someone who was struggling, but found it difficult because you couldn’t relate to what they were going through? This is not the case with Jesus. Jesus has been there; He has experienced temptation. He knows what you and I are going through when we suffer in our temptations. And He is here to help! In the midst of our weakness, we have One who is strong, and who can make us strong.

II. Jesus the Savior- (Hebrews 2:14-17; Isaiah 63:7-9)

a. Redeemed by Jesus- So we come to understand that there is a

reason that Jesus went through this suffering, and why He chose to come here and be with us. The reason is so that He could be our Savior. Hebrews 2:17 tells us, “…that He might make atonement for the sins of the people.” And Isaiah 63:9 says: “…In His love and mercy He redeemed them.”

EX. “A Picture of Atonement,” p. 34, Illustrations Unlimited, #1.

Think about a one-room school house, in a time where severe discipline was used, to keep students from getting rowdy, and to keep students in check. It was just after lunch and the teacher was interrogating the class about the disappearance of Sally Jane’s lunch. A small cry was heard; it was little Billy; a thin, undernourished boy. His family was the poorest of the poor. “Did you take Sally Jane’s lunch?” demanded the teacher. “Yes, sir,” Billy struggled to say through his tears. “I was hungry.” “That is no excuse,” replied the teacher. “You stole the lunch, you must be punished.” The teacher ordered Billy to the front of the room as he went to get the leather strap. Billy’s shirt was removed, but just before the teacher hit Billy a shout came from the back of the room. “HOLD IT TEACHER. LET ME TAKE THE WHIPPIN’ FOR HIM.” This comment came from big Jim. The teacher reluctantly consented. So big Jim took the whipping, and Billy never forgot it.

ATONEMENT is the sacrifice that Jesus made to free the people from the penalty of our sins. REDEMPTION is buying a slave out of their slavery. So in our case, Jesus’ sacrifice paid the penalty for our sins and bought us out of our slavery from sin. Without Christ, we would be forever slaves to our sinful nature. And just as Billy remembered what big Jim did for him, so we should never forget what Jesus Christ did to pay the price for our sins.

b. Jesus lifts us up- But Jesus goes even further than that, as the

Scriptures tells us in Isaiah 63:9- “…He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”/ As our savior, He doesn’t just take care of our punishment for us, He also carries us throughout our life. EX. If you have ever tried to climb a rock climbing wall, you know how challenging it is to move from one small rock to the next. You know how difficult it is to keep your footing and keep hold of the rocks as you slowly move up, and as you take the time to decide where to move your hands next, and where to move your feet next, all the while hanging there and getting tired. Yet when you slip and fall you don’t fall very far because you are attached to a harness and secured by the Guide. And so even if you make it up almost to the top, because you were saved by the guide, you give thanks to the guide who kept you secure. Then you can swing back to the wall, and continue on in the climb.

That is what Jesus does for us. Jesus is our GUIDE, here for us to help us when we fall, and to lift us up when we stumble, and to carry us when we are too weak and tired.

We should never speak of Christ/ His purpose, His mission, without thinking about how we should respond. To talk about it without responding to it, is merely information without action; reason without purpose. SO, what should our response be?

Our response is not only to be grateful, but it should also be one of action as well. Most of all, our response of action should be to talk to people about Jesus, the One who has come to make a difference here in our lives; the One who makes a difference in this world. We should be telling others of His love, mercy, and sacrifice. We should tell them how Jesus came to suffer and be tempted, so that we could have One who is able to help us in every way. One who can bring us joy in all situations! We should tell people that Jesus is the One who has made it possible for us to live eternally with God in heaven.

I’m not here today just to tell you about what Jesus did. I want this message to impact your life. I want you to know that Jesus loves you so much that He did allow Himself to suffer and be tempted and to struggle. Jesus wanted to provide a way for us to experience the joy of this life, and the joy of our life in heaven. Without Jesus we could not experience any of this.

Conclusion: You might wonder why I am talking about Jesus’ suffering and temptation. How does this fit with the Advent season? Well, even before Jesus was to be born, God made a plan for all this to take place. Advent is a time to remember who God is, how He came into the world in the person of Jesus Christ, and why He came into this world.

Illus. “Legend of the Taj Majal,” The Applause of Heaven, by Max Lucado, p. 131.

There is a story of the legend of the Taj Mahal. The story goes like this: the favorite wife of the emperor Shah Jahan died. The emperor was devastated at this loss, and so he resolved to honor her by building a temple that would serve as her tomb. Her coffin was placed at the center of where the tomb was to be constructed, and the temple was begun around it. The place was to be magnificent, no expense spared. Weeks turned into months, and the Shah’s grief was replaced by a passion for the project. It no longer was about being a memorial to his wife, but it was about the magnificence of the temple. One day while walking the site, his leg bumped into a wooden box. Angry that he had been injured by this box, he ordered for the box to be thrown out; the box of his dead wife’s coffin. The one, who was to be honored, had been forgotten.

Does this sound familiar? Do we remember that Jesus is the reason why Christmas exists? Do we worship Him as He deserves? Do we allow His gracious deeds to bring us joy? Today is the Sunday of Joy, the day to remember the Joy we receive because Christ was born. Because of Christ’s existence, He suffered so that we might have Joy. The Joy of Christmas is in honoring the One who is here for us. Let us never fail to do this. Let us give ourselves over to Christ, and to His deeds, this day and forever. Amen.