The Christmas Gifts: Hope - The Branch of David
The Christmas Gifts • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Hope, we all need hope.
Without it there, what is there to look forward to.
The wonderful news as we approach Christmas is that there is always hope for those who give there life to Jesus.
In early messianic prophecy they were able to find significant hope in the promises of a future savior.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.
In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.
For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;
Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying,
Thus saith the Lord; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;
Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.
As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.
Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.
Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.
Jeremiah mentions first a significant truth, he uses a phrase to signify what jesus Christ would be...
I. The Branch of David
I. The Branch of David
The branch of David was mentioned in verse 15.
That is significant because he was representing that from David would come one who would lead the world into righteousness and Judgment.
There is some truth about hope.
For those who are willing to follow Jesus/ The Branch of David, into righteousness there will be hope for a future.
That is the reality of Hope.
It does however, pose a question that all of us need to ask ourselves.
We must all in our own life determine if we have true hope.
We know the branch of David has provided an opportunity for true hope, but that does not mean in any way that we are living in that hope.
Only those who choose to follow Jesus Christ are living in that hope.
Now the Beauty of the hope provided by Christ is that this hope is there undeniably
in fact Romans says
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
The hope provided by Jesus cannot be destroyed by the devil, it cannot be destroyed by tribulation, it simply cannot be destroyed.
No matter what you may find yourselves facing today, the hope that is found in jesus is with you when you if you follow Him.
But that leaves in a pivotal moment.
What about for those who do not possess the righteous saving grace of Jesus Christ?
For those there is a simple, yet very sad truth.
They do not possess hope.
Now think of hope in this way.
A child should have hope in their parents, that they will protect and guide them.
But what if that parent cannot guide them because the child will not allow them to.
In other words, the child is so rebellious that they refuse the reprimand, the guidance, and even the love of the parent.
Friends a child who displays these mannerisms have no parental hope.
Does this not translate to a child of God also?
Many will use the excuse that “how can a God who loves judge me”
But the scripture clearly states that the Branch of David was brought into this world for Righteousness and Judgement.
Just cause he created you and He loves you, does not mean He will not judge you.
Judgement comes from God because Righteousness is His priority.
When those who he created do not seek righteousness, Judgement is certain to follow.
Leaving us...
II. Hopeless
II. Hopeless
Could you imagine a world where hope does not exist.
A world where there was no chance for a future.
A world where we were undoubtedly going to be distant from our Father.
That is the truth of existence for those who do not follow Jesus.
A hopelessness in which death is the end of all hope.
The good news is that each one of us still have hope.
We have hope because we are in this place with breath in our lungs.
We have hope that if today we decided to follow Him with our lives Jesus Christ, has provided a means for righteousness.
The prophetic hope that was presented in Jeremiah was that of an eternal dynasty
For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;
The prophetic hope that was presented in this truth was that the dynasty of rule brought by the coming Messiah would reign forever.
What hope and truth was presented in this.
This should begin to lead us to a righteous truth today.
The world we face is facing hopelessness.
Unlike many of those who once read these prophetic truths our world rejects them.
Many of our neighbors, friends, and family reject the truth that was given to us by saying things such as “Jesus was a good moral man”.
Not only do they reject the past filled prophecies, they also reject the future coming prophecy of Jesus's return and judgement.
You may say, I do not reject this truth.
I pray that's true, but lets evaluate it for a moment.
Did you know you can verbally say something is true but reject in action.
For example, if you were to say lying is wrong but you yourself lied on a regular basis, your actions out weigh your words.
In the same way, the action you display in your everyday life could indicate that you were of those who were hopeless.
No matter the words that proceed from your mouth if your actions do not display that of someone who follows Jesus Christ, it is vital you ask the question.
Do I possess His righteousness?
For some, these indications make it clear that certain individuals are living for the world more than they are for Jesus.
The last truth we need to address today is this..
III. True Hope will never End
III. True Hope will never End
In the scripture we understand that the prophecy of Jesus Christ coming to this earth as the Messiah was for Old testament folks, Messianic Hope
For us that Hope exists in the future return of Him to take His church home.
We also know that those who are hopeless, are hopeless due to there own foolishness and lack of willingness to follow Jesus.
But the beauty of all of this is that the hope that is provided to God’s people doesn’t cease.
Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.
Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.
You see many in this time viewed the destruction of Israel and Judah as God’s rejection of His people.
However the truth is that for God to reject these people at this time he would have to cease to exist himself.
It was out of the realm of possibility that this would happen.
The same is true for our hope today.
You see God’s hope is faithful always.
With one simple requirement from us.
Are we willing to follow him.
Are we willing to give up the life of the hopeless so that we may see what true hope is.
Perhaps there are some of us here, who have been so focused on the world, maybe were saved, but maybe we feel hopeless today.
It’s so easy to explain
Wouldn't living far from God give you good reason to feel hopeless.
Perhaps you don’t know what God has next for you in your life.
Have you forgotten his promises?
Are you like those in verse 24 who see all this chaos and destruction in your life and you just ask why?
Has God left me?
Has he forsaken his promises for hope?
I pray today that we would all begin to ask the question.
Has he forsaken His promise or have we forsaken ours?
Whatever is going on in your life today.
You are either a child of His and you have hope.
Or you are far from him and you are hopeless.
Whatever the need is today, perhaps your sin today is forgetting the promised hope of Jesus.
Perhaps today could be the day that you ask Him to forgive you for that.
Or could it be the day that you have realized that you never had his hope.
You have been living in the world and you have neglected the promised hope.
Today is the day to receive that Hope.