Good song. If you would, open
your Bibles to the book of Luke, and we'll go to chapter 1, Luke
chapter 1. That last congregational song,
Tell Me the Story of Jesus, was written by a woman who lived
to be 94 years of age. She was born 1820, died in 1915. Her name was Fanny, last name
Crosby. She just kind of give you a little
bit of interesting things about her. When she was six months
old, she got a very serious eye infection. And her regular physician was
gone. And so there was another man
who said he was a physician. Later he was discovered to be
a quack. But he said he had the answer
for her eye infection. And he treated her with mustard
polstice. And that burnt her eyes and left
her permanently blind. Shortly thereafter, her father
died. She was raised by her mother.
And her mother read the scriptures to her. lots of times every day. Fanny Crosby had a fantastic
memory. She actually memorized the first
five books of the Bible. She memorized the book of Proverbs
and Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon, all four of the gospel
narratives, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. and many of the Psalms. When she was 14 years of age,
she was sent to the New York Institute for the Blind. And there she learned Braille. She, even before that, she was
a poet. In fact, when she was eight years
old, she wrote these words. Oh, what a happy soul I am, although
I cannot see. I am resolved that in this world
contented I will be. How many blessings I enjoy that
other people don't. To weep and moan because I'm
blind, I cannot and I won't. And I thought that was excellent
for an eight-year-old to write those words. She wrote poetry
for many secular causes. And then when she was in her
40s, she began to write songs that the saints of God could
sing. And over the next many years of her life, until she
died at age 94, she wrote over 9,000 songs. We sing a lot of them, Blessed
Assurance, Jesus is Mine, Praise Him, Praise Him, Jesus Our blessed
Redeemer, to God be the glory. He hideth my soul. Jesus, keep
me near the cross. Savior, more than life to me. One of Scott Richardson's favorite
songs, Victory Through Grace. May that be a good one for us
to learn. And many, many others. And I don't want to take a lot
of time about her, but on one occasion a preacher said to her,
It is such a sad thing that you've been blind all of these years."
And she said, well, this was intended by the blessed providence
of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank Him
for this dispensation. She went on to say, when I get
to heaven, the very first face that shall ever gladden my sight
will be that of the Savior. And then she went home and wrote
these words, I shall know him, I shall know him. I shall know
him by the print of the nails in his hands. And one of those
verses says, oh, the soul thrilling rapture when I view his blessed
face and the luster of his kindly beaming eye and how my full heart
will praise him for his mercy, love, and grace that prepares
for me a mansion in the sky. Among the many hymns that she
wrote, is another one that we sing, and this was she and her
husband, she met her husband at the Institute for the Blind,
where she stayed after she graduated, she stayed to become a teacher.
And he was much younger than she was, her husband, he also,
he was blind, and they fell in love and married. And he and
his wife, were led by another man, and they visited prisons
where they would read the scriptures to the inmates. And they spoke
of the mercy of God, and one man, one of the prisoners, he
was overheard as they left. He said, Lord, don't pass me
by with your salvation. And she went home, and in 30
minutes, she wrote that hymn, Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry. But another song that she wrote,
and enough of Fanny Crosby, because I don't want to glorify her this
morning. But another song that she wrote, we sang a few minutes
ago, Tell Me the Story of Jesus. And I hope as you read these
songs, as you sing these songs, and I know it's important to
sort of get the notes right. I understand that, because I
know a little something about music. But it's the words of
the songs. That's what we've got to pay
attention to. And one of the stanzas that we
just sang was, tell me the story of Jesus. Write on my heart every
word. Tell me the story, most precious. It's the sweetest that ever was
heard. I've come here today to tell
you the story of Jesus. The name of Jesus is honey to
the mouth. It's a delightful melody to the
ear. He brings marvelous joy to the
heart. I want to tell you the story
of Jesus. And everybody needs to hear of this story. Moms and
dads, you need to hear this. Boys and girls, you need to hear
this. The old need to hear about the
story of Jesus, as do the young. Those who are believers need
to hear the story of Jesus because here is meat, meat for the strong. Those who are young, young in
the faith, you need to hear the story of Jesus because here is
milk for the young. This is always our subject, the
story of Jesus. And isn't that exactly what we
read from the pen of the Apostle Paul in the book of 1 Corinthians,
the second chapter? As he wrote to the people of
Corinth, he said, When I was with you, I determined not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. Which is another way of saying,
I just told you the story of Jesus. Over and over and over
again. Because it's the only story that
never grows old. It's the story that magnifies
God. In all three Persons of the Trinity. And here's the story the saints
of God delight to hear. The story of the Lord Jesus from
His divine appointment to be our Savior, all the way through
to the end, when every knee shall bow and acknowledge that Jesus
is the Lord to the glory of God the Father. We delight to hear
this story. You cannot tell a believer this
story too often. We never weary of it. We never
get tired of hearing of Him who is our Savior. Listen, He is
our life. He is our all. We have no other
hope but in the Lord Jesus Christ. So His story, the story of the
Lord Jesus, our Savior, our surety, our substitute, God's sacrifice
for sin, this is a necessary story. It's a story that God's
servants delight to tell, and it's a story that God's servants
will tell over and over and over again. The story of Jesus. And so let me tell you this story.
And here's first of all the origin of the story. Now if you were
going to write a story, and we have children in here, and lots
of times your teachers will say to you, I want you to write a
story. Write a story for me. And it
may be for grammar or for literature or whatever it is. Let's say
I want you to write a story. Where does that story begin?
What is the origin of that story? Now, don't answer out loud, but
even to you adults, where does the story begin? Well, it begins
in your mind. And it begins in your heart.
And that's where the story of Jesus begins. It begins in the
mind and in the heart and in the purpose of God. You see,
the story of Jesus did not begin at Bethlehem's manger. The story
of Jesus did not begin when the angel Gabriel came to Mary and
said, you're going to have a son. The story of Jesus began before
God ever made the world. If you want to know the origin
to this story, you've got to go back to the eternal council
chambers of God. And see Him in that everlasting
covenant of grace. As He determined to save a people
to the glory of His name. He determined who the Savior
would be. He would be the Son of God. Jesus. What does Jesus mean? It means Jehovah who saves. And
the very first instance of the name being revealed to someone
is here in Luke chapter 1 in verse 31. And this is when Gabriel
comes to Mary. Mary's sister Elizabeth, she
was six months pregnant with John the Baptist. And so this angel Gabriel, and Gabriel
means the man of God or the one who stands in God's presence,
and maybe this is our Lord Jesus right here. But that's a subject
for another day. Here's what Gabriel said to Mary,
verse 31. And behold, here's an extraordinary
thing. Here's a wonderful thing. Here's
a magnificent thing. And the word behold ought to
get all of our attention. No matter who you are, you should
right now be paying attention to behold. This is a heavenly
messenger. And he comes forth with a message.
And he says, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring
forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus. Joshua. Jehovah who saves. Not Jehovah
who wants to save. Not Jehovah who desires to save. Or Jehovah who wants you to let
Him save. But Jehovah who actually saves. Who actually rescues the perishing. Who actually ministers spiritual
healing to those who are diseased in sin. But even this visit from Gabriel
didn't begin the story of Jesus. As I said, we go back to old,
old eternity for the origin of the story. Here's the very concept
of the story of Jesus. It was fashioned in the mind
and in the heart of God, and yet not Not at one time, but
the story of Jesus has always been in the heart and in the
mind of God. I know in order for our puny
little brains to understand the actings of God, the workings
of God, we kind of say, well, He did this, and then He did
that, and then He did something else. Because that's the only
way we can really comprehend. But actually, Jesus has always
been the Savior ever since God has been God, and that is eternally. From everlasting to everlasting,
thou art God. How long has God purposed to
save sinners through the person and the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Forever! Forever. And He's the one who
determined to save. He's the one who appointed the
Savior, the Son of God. He's the one who laid down the
stipulations of salvation. Everything that was necessary
to bring the fallen people to God. He chose us in grace. A multitude which no man can
number, God chose to rescue them. And He chose the Savior and gave
Him this name Jesus in covenant mercy. He's always been the Savior. In fact, God so gave us to His
Son that He joined us to Him in everlasting union. We've always
been one with Him so that we read in Ephesians chapter 1 and
verse 6, we're accepted in the Beloved. And that is the verse
before, verse 7, which talks about redemption. How long have
the people of God been accepted in Christ Jesus? Forever. Forever. You see, this story
finds its origin in the heart of God. And God, in His everlasting
love for His covenant people, He put us in Christ Jesus. Oh, the glorious nature of our
salvation. It doesn't just begin at our
conversion. You've got to trace the grace
of God to us all the way back to the heart of God in eternity. The death of the Lord Jesus,
it wasn't a spare-the-moment decision by God. It wasn't a
knee-jerk reaction to man's sinfulness. No, God ordered all things before
the world ever began. And He was Jesus, our Savior. God said in His own heart, I
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will be merciful
to whom I will be merciful. He chose a people unto salvation. He predestinated those people
to be conformed to the image of His Son. He determined to
save, he determined who the Savior would be, and he determined the
means whereby he would restore unto himself these people who
would fall in Adam's transgression. It would be by the death of his
son, which necessitated his son, who is invisible, the invisible
God, all-wise, all-powerful, all-glorious. He had to take
into union with himself a body. And this time of year, we're
thinking about that. All the world is thinking about
the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. But Jesus of Nazareth, that was
not when He began. He has always been our Savior. He's always been Jehovah who
saves. And God determined to save a
people for His glory. The Father chose a people, the
Son would redeem those people, the Spirit of God would effectually
bring those people to Christ Jesus. It's the Spirit of God
who works in your heart, who works in my heart, drawing us
unto the Savior, causing us to see our desperate need of redemption,
our desperate need of righteousness that God demands, and it can
be found nowhere else except in the Lord Jesus. And He established,
He brought in that everlasting righteousness by His death upon
the cross of Calvary. And the Spirit of God convinces
us of this, that this salvation is all of God, and all of grace,
and all in Christ, and all in His blood, and all in His righteousness. And the Spirit of God effectually
draws us, He pulls us to Christ Jesus. Because as the scripture
says, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. So this story of Jesus, the origin
of the story, It's the very heart of God himself. Secondly, what
is the design of the story? Or what's the reason for the
story? Why did God do all of this to
begin with? Well, first and foremost, for
his glory. That's why he did it. To glorify
himself. He didn't owe us anything. Why,
He would have been satisfied in the Trinity of His persons
as He had been from all eternity. He did not need us. But to manifest
that glorious attribute of His love, the attribute of His grace,
the attribute of His justice, the attribute of His holiness,
He sent His Son. into this world to be the Savior
and the design of it all is His glory. Therefore we read in Ephesians
chapter 1, three times we read, for the glory of His grace according
to His glory, the glory of the Father, the glory of the Son,
the glory of the Holy Spirit. This salvation, this story of
Jesus is first and foremost for the glory of God. And if your
salvation that you say you have, if it doesn't glorify God in
every single facet of that salvation, you've got the wrong salvation. God has designed this to manifest
Himself and to bring forth honor and glory to Himself. He glorifies
His justice. God can't save you at the expense
of His holiness, at the expense of His justice. Why, sin has
got to be punished. Sin demands death. Or God demands
death for sin, I should say. But God has come to the rescue
for His people. And He says, deliver them from
going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. Well,
what is the ransom? Wrong question. Who is the ransom? The ransom is the Lord Jesus,
this one we're speaking about. This one whose story we're trying
to tell. He's the ransom price. What did
it cost God in order to save and rescue and deliver us from
sin forever and ever? What did it cost Him? His darling
Son, the Lord Jesus. What did it cost Christ Jesus?
It cost Him that humiliation of going from heaven's glory
to being made lower than the angels. It cost Him being obedient,
being submissive. And it cost him suffering, it
cost him pain, and ultimately it cost him his death. What does
it take to put sin away? Don't ever forget, it's the death
of the Lord Jesus. This is the very crux of the
matter. This is the very climactic point
of the story. His death. Well, what's the introduction
to the story? Every story's got an introduction.
You know, the introduction of this story, it's a lengthy introduction. 39 books, from the book of Genesis
all the way through the book of Malachi. That's the introduction
of the story. Where we see Jesus introduced,
he's introduced in types, in pictures, in offerings for sin. He's introduced by, Pictures,
prophecies, predictions, and all the promises of God. That's
the introduction of the story. And the very beginning of the
introduction is found in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 where
God says, the seed of the woman is coming. The seed of the woman
is coming and He addresses Satan. He's going to crush your head.
That's what He said. That's what God said. God told
Satan what was the inevitable thing that was going to happen
to that creature, that vile creature. You're going to have your head
crushed. Who's going to do it? The seed of the woman. The seed
of the woman. Our Lord Jesus was not born of
the seed of man, otherwise He would have been corrupted. He
was born of the seed of the woman. The Holy Ghost overshadowed her. And she was found. by the Holy
Spirit. And all through the Old Testament,
he's pictured. The story develops. It's like,
in this introduction, it's like one step after another. So that in ecstasy, he's presented
as the Passover lamb. In Leviticus, Think about the
day of atonement, the actions of the high priest. Think about
the scapegoat. In the book of Numbers, he's
the rock that was smitten, and the water of salvation flows
from him. The book of Deuteronomy, Moses
said, God's going to raise up a prophet. He's greater than
me. He's going to raise up a prophet.
And then Joshua comes along and he tells us, the captain of our
salvation is coming. We get to the book of Judges
and there's a great champion who steps forth on behalf of
the people of God and our Lord Jesus is typified by Samson. He's a great champion, the warrior
of his people. And the book of Ruth. There he
set forth as our kinsman. Redeemer. And we get to Samuel, 1 and 2
Samuel. He's set forth as David, the
man after God's own heart. David, the shepherd. The shepherd. And that shepherd would later
write a psalm that we delight to read and memorize. The Lord
is my shepherd. Jehovah, our savior, he's our
shepherd. And on and on we could go. Job
sets him forth as being the daysman, the daysman, that one who stands
between us and God. Proverbs, he's wisdom. He's wisdom. He's the very beginning of knowledge. You don't know anything unless
you know Christ Jesus. Unless you know how God can be
just and justify the ungodly, you have no true wisdom. You
have no real understanding. And we get to the book of Ecclesiastes,
Christ is the preacher of wisdom. You get to the book of Song of
Solomon, Lover of the unlovely. He is the one who is the fairest
among ten thousand to the souls of His people. He's the one who
is altogether lovely. Look at Him. Look at Him very
closely. Inspect Him. Take the magnifying
glass to Jesus of Nazareth. Will you find any blot? Will
you find any spot in Him? Will you find anything wrong
in Him? No! No! More than that, God put
the magnifying glass to His Son. He didn't find any spot in Him.
Therefore saying, this one is worthy to be the substitute for
my people. He's worthy to die. And then
you get to Isaiah. Isaiah through Malachi. Peter
told the folks in the house of Cornelius, to this one, to Jesus,
give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever
believeth in his name, they shall receive remission of sins. If
you believe him, you'll receive remission of sin. I don't care
who you are. you'll receive remission of sin. He's the child that is born.
He's the son who's given. His name is, as we read to begin
the service, Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. Isaiah says he's the root out
of dry ground, that he would be despised and rejected of men. He's the one whose very soul
was made an offspring for sin. And Malachi says, kind of, he
sums up all of the message of the prophets. Malachi says, He
shall come! And 400 years went by. Then He came. Then He came. Tonight I'll tell you the circumstances,
how the circumstances were when He came. He shall come. That's the introduction to the
story. But then there's the very heart of the story. Let's get
into the meat of the story. It's found in the four gospel
narratives, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew and Luke speak
of his birth. Matthew and Luke speak of his
ancestral lineage to set forth his real humanity. and that He
was David's son as well as David's Lord. Mark identifies Him as
being God's faithful servant. Come to do the will of the Father.
And you can almost hear Him there in Hebrews chapter 10 as He enters
into the womb of Mary and He says back to the Father, Lo,
I come to do Thy will, O God. What is His will? The will of
redemption. the will of saving those people
entrusted to him. Luke identifies him as the son
of man. He's one of us. He's one of us. Born in a manger, raised in Nazareth,
went about doing good. And John tells us He's the everlasting
God. He's the Word. He's the Word
who preceded time. He had no beginning. And yet
John says, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. When did that happen? 2,000 years
ago. The Word, that One who bears
the image of God perfectly, who states the will of God in His
own words. who manifests God. He came into
this earth. He dwelt among us. That's the very heart of the
story. And then, as I've already indicated, we get to the climactic
part of the story. His sufferings and death. His death was not because he
couldn't avoid it. It wasn't because Satan outmaneuvered
God. and therefore Jesus died? No,
you see, back when He was appointed to be our Savior in that covenant
of grace, He was said to be the Lamb who was slain before the
foundation of the world. He's always been Jesus, our Savior. And then the time came for Him
to die. Oh, when Simon Peter He picked
up his sword and he tried to defend the Savior and he cut
off the ear of the high priest's servant, a man by the name of
Malchus. He cut his right ear off and
the Savior bent down, picked the ear up and reattached it
to the man's head. No stitches, no scabs, just as
though it had never happened. And he said, Peter, put up your
sword. Don't you know I could call 10,000
angels and they'd come down here and defend me. But then how shall
the word of God be fulfilled? No, he would not be released.
He is born to die, born to satisfy justice, born to save His people. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
you read in Matthew 1, for He shall save His people from their
sins. And all those Old Testament sacrifices
depicted His death. And Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John, they all speak of His sacrifice. He said, I'm the good shepherd.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. The Apostle Paul says Christ
died for the ungodly. He laid down His life. He said
in John 10, no man takes my life from me. I lay it down on myself.
I got the power to lay it down. I got the power to take it again.
They couldn't kill the Lord Jesus Christ. He had to give up His
life and He did it voluntarily. And He did it because of the
honor of God, the justice of God, the glory of God. And He
did it to save His people. When He bowed His head and gave
up the ghost, justice was satisfied and we were redeemed. That's
why we sing, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. This is the
very climactic point of the story. It was determined in old eternity. It was foretold throughout the
introduction of the Old Testament. It was pictured by the deaths
of multitudes of animals. which could never satisfy God. Hebrews chapter 10, the blood
of bulls and goats could never put away sin. Well, what's it
going to take to make things right with God? Well, it's going
to take a whole lot more than you making a decision, I can
tell you that. It's going to take a whole lot
more than you walking down an aisle somewhere and answering
yes to a few questions that a preacher asked you. What's it going to
take to satisfy God's strict, unbendable, inflexible justice. I'll tell you what it's going
to take. The death of the Son of God. Nothing less than His
death. And I'll tell you, in His dying
breath, He said, it is finished. It's accomplished. What's accomplished? That which was purposed in the
covenant of grace? That which was promised all through
the Old Testament? The salvation of his people,
it was finished. And then we get to the continuation
of the story. He died, but he didn't stay dead.
He arose and he appeared to many after his death, after his resurrection,
and then he went back to glory. And he's been exalted to reign
over all. Who reigns this world? We'll
probably sing it next week. I don't know whether I picked
this out. Joy to the world. Did I pick it out for tonight?
I can't remember whether I did or not. He rules the world! Who does? The Lord Jesus. Our Savior. It's a continuation
of the story. Where is Jesus? He's at the Father's
right hand. He rules over all. And He's been
exalted to provide for poor sinners. You Sunday school teachers know
the story very well of Joseph. When he wound up in Egypt, then
he was eventually exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh. And
Joseph took care of all the granaries of Egypt. He filled them up,
filled the barns up. And then when time came for famine,
if they got any food, they'd have to come to him. And I'm
telling you, there's bread for the hungry in Christ Jesus the
Lord. He's at the right hand of God
the Father. You hungry? Hungry for forgiveness? Hungry for righteousness? Hungry
for God? Hungry for salvation? Hungry
for everlasting life? Come to Christ Jesus. All the granaries of heaven belong
to Him. In fact, it was said of Joseph,
He gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much until He
left numbering, for it was without number. And our Lord Jesus has
mercies without number. Mercies for you. Mercies for
me. Oh, that God would give us a
hunger. And He's been exalted to execute the will and the purpose
of the Father. He has accomplished the Father's
redemptive will and now He is accomplishing by His Spirit that
spiritual revelation so necessary so that people will know Him
and know the God who saves. Back there in that story of Joseph. Pharaoh exalted him and said,
I'm going to give you another name. Zaphnath-Paeonea. Nice little easy name. Zap-nap-pioneer. But you know what it means? Revealer
of secrets. That's our Lord Jesus by His
Spirit. He reveals the secrets of God
to us. The disciples asked the Master,
said, why do you speak to those Pharisees in parables? And the Savior said, I speak
to them in parables so that they won't understand. But I'll cause you to understand.
And I'm telling you, the only one who can make you understand
the story of Jesus is the Lord Jesus himself. He's the revealer
of secrets. The secret of how God can be
just and yet justify an old rebel like you. And now he's working all things
together for the good of his people. You who are the Lord's
people, troubles, trials, they're real. but he has been exalted to work
everything together. The things that happen to you
are according to his sovereign will and he takes all of these
things and he molds them together to make up your life. And everything works for your
good and he's making intercession for his people. And lastly, and
normally we would say here's the, ending of the story, but
it's an everlasting ending. It's an everlasting conclusion. Because the story will never
end. This story is without beginning
and it's a story without ending. And we read in Philippians chapter
2, He's been exalted. And given a name which is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess that
He's Lord to the glory of God the Father. And you know, someday
all who are known by Him and all who know Him, all who are
loved by Him and all who are brought to love Him and believe
Him will be brought to His feet, will be made like Him. And we're going to forever sing,
worthy is the Lamb that was slain. who redeemed us to God by His
blood. And the wicked are going to be
forced to bow to Him and say, Jesus is Lord. To the glory of
God the Father. And then this Jesus, who's the
judge, is going to cast them into hell. Here's the only question. Will God show you mercy or not? And I hope and pray He will.
And those of you who don't know Him, oh how I pray for you. I mentioned to the Bible class,
a couple of men that we met came to hear me preach over in Honolulu. And I asked them to pray for
these men and another new couple as well. You know why we ask
people to pray for folks? Because the only one who can
save is God. The only one who can do a work
of grace is the Lord. I'm not asking you to do something
for God. I'm asking God to be pleased to do something for you.
If He does something for you, He'll do a good job. And it'll
be forever. That, to the best of my ability
anyway, is the story of Jesus. Now let's sing a closing song.