Our Great Emmanuel

Good morning, everyone. Turn in your Bibles. We'll start at Matthew 1. A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to just thank you all and give acknowledgement, I suppose, that the Lord was moving in our midst. It seems like from that's developed a bit of a message this morning. So Matthew 1, we'll look at Verse 20 to start. Okay. Matthew 20.

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, that's Joseph, in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost origin. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

We can't have any union or any reconciliation with God until sin is dealt with. And we know that the Lord Jesus Christ was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, that the Lord would be able to have fellowship, would be able to operate in the hearts and the lives of his people because they'd be cleansed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we must be forgiven of our sins. But let's read on.

Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, that's Isaiah 7, 7-14 actually, saying, behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel. which being interpreted is God with us. It's a promise, isn't it?

And we might not see it, but there will be reconciliation and God will operate in the hearts of his people and in the lives of his people. Now, this whole world is geared to looking In the distance, religion especially, it's geared to working towards this meeting with God, this time with God. Even the apostles, with carnal thinking in acts, thought that there was gonna be an establishment of a physical kingdom in the world. But we have been reconciled to our God, and that was a promise in Matthew 1.

And I guess I've been reminded of it lately. It's always brought me great joy, but at the end of the day, it's just something that I seem to understand a little bit more from the circumstances we've been through lately. Often, I'm busy with Matt over there, me darling, and I don't get time sometimes to fellowship with you guys. But I have the most incredible opportunity of sitting in the back or sitting on the side and watching all the interactions, interactions between the saints of God. Hearing the discussions, maybe if I walk past to get something, and just hearing the Lord's name or the sermon brought up or people being encouraged and comforted. And it does, it brings me great joy.

Over the years, our church has had many great trials. And they've been individual, but they've also been collectively. But our God has always prepared a feast in the midst of our enemies. So it's in and through these trials that the Lord unites his people. He grows their relationships and he causes each one of them to grow together in his gospel.

Recently in the midst of some difficult times in our church, our great God took us back to the farm where we met. He reminded us of how frail we are Then he strengthened us in our faith and our unity, and he did it again, individually and collectively. And it's these relationships that have struck me, especially again with this other trial that we've got with Jen's injury, because it's in these relationships, it's in these interactions, that we actually do see Christ, our Saviour, dwelling in and with his people. You know, after the resurrection, Christ was only seen, we know, he was only revealed to his people. We have the most amazing opportunity, the most incredible opportunity. We see his fingerprints, we see his footprints. We see his activities in our relationships.

You know what Matthew 18, 20 says? For where two or three are gathered together, we say, in my name, there I am in the midst, in the relationships, in the interactions. So we can actually look at our relationships in church and see Christ our Savior. operating, working actively in us and amongst us. Now he does it individually as Christ is formed in us, as he's implanted and grown in us, but then that in itself works in union, collectively in church. Christ is revealed in our relationships. He's amongst us. He's in the midst.

Colossians 2 puts it this way. You don't have to turn there, but I'll read it. Colossians 2, 18 and 19 says, What a description of false religion! and not holding, verse 19, you listen to this, the head from which all the body by joints and bands, joints and ligaments, having nourishment ministered and knit together, do you see, that's not our work, it's being done for us, increaseth with the increase of God. Do you see, joints and marrows. individually and collectively. It's the Spirit's work in his church. Why did Don and Shirley fit in so well? We didn't know. They didn't know us. But the Lord's activities in and amongst us meant we had sweet joy from the start.

Turning your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12. I did this last week, but I'll do it a little bit differently this week. And I'd just like to read you, again, some of Ephesians. Because Ephesians shows us how our God owns his church and how he builds it, his way. So I'll just read a few of these while you turn.

Ephesians 1, verses 22 and 23 says, And God hath put all things under his feet, Christ's feet, and gave him to be head, so his authority, his head, over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. He's the one that fills it. Ephesians 2, 21 and 22, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple, in the Lord, in whom you also are builded together," this is church, this is the relationships in church, for a habitation of God through the Spirit. Again, it's not our work, is it? It's the work of the Holy Spirit. According to the effectual working in the measure of every part, oh sorry, sorry, from Christ, whom the whole body, sorry Ephesians 4, fitly joined together and compacted, so strengthened by that which every joint supplies, this is the spirits working in the individual, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, so he distributes what measure is given, And it maketh increase of the body, and there's a purpose, the edifying of itself in love.

Ephesians 5.30, just to draw on one more.

For we are now, this is now, we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Church is a habitation for God. It's a temple that he builds. and he has a purpose, that he can dwell amongst his people. It's his church and it's his work, but he also both equips his people and he motivates them, again with a purpose, to serve him by serving one another. It's beautiful, isn't it? And he does it all.

In 1 Corinthians 12, we're going to read a little bit of it in a minute, but we see very clearly just how we're equipped to serve one another. So I want to read from 4 down to 11. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. And there are differences of administrations. but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. It's a triune work, isn't it?

Verse seven, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all, to profit everyone collectively. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit. to another working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues. But all of these worketh that one and the self same spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

So was it our adherence to law or our wisdom or our work that leads to attaining to these gifts? That's what religion will tell you. We've heard it before and we'll hear it again. We'll be harassed for free grace by people that want to work to produce these things which are promised. by God to be produced in us and amongst us. Also, many assume that people only have certain or particular gifts, and then they assume they can control them as they like. It's not what we just read there, is it?

The gifts can vary. They can vary in variety and in strength, and they vary as it pleases the Lord. These are the fruits of the Spirit. You can read about them in Galatians 5. And that word of is origin. They come from him. So that's where our gifts and our abilities for service to God and to his church come from. They're God given. But how does God the Holy Spirit motivate us? to use those gifts for his purposes. Again, does it come from our flesh? Does it come from law? Does it come from religion?

No. 2 Corinthians 5.14 says it's the love of Christ that constraineth us. And again, as Angus keeps telling us, the ETH means he's continuously doing it. There's not a moment he's not doing it.

In Matthew 21, and I spoke about it recently, but you don't have to turn there, there's two brothers, it's a short parable, they're asked to serve their father. And one, as religion, as fleshly man, as all of us in the flesh do, said, yes, I'll go. And they failed miserably. And one said no, he was honest, he said no. and yet something happened in his heart. It's a picture that there's only two people in humanity, carnal man and those that have been moved by God. See, God constrains us internally. He moves us internally. It's not about obligation, it's a willingness, it's a love, it's a zeal, it's a passion.

Okay, I just want you to look at the last verse in 1 Corinthians 12 before we move on and we won't worry about the chapter divisions. We'll just read through this one. It says, And that's what we do naturally. That's what was at the start of that chapter.

You know, they're good gifts and they're great to have and we should want them, but we still don't understand the operations of God in our midst. We still think we can take the reins and we know what we're doing. There's a more excellent way, he says, and just keep reading. Though I speak with the tongues of men, in 1 Corinthians 13, and of angels, and have not charity, that's love, or Christ. We've done that before, we've read it before, and inserted Christ's name into it. And it's a better way to read it in a sense.

But if you're not motivated internally by Christ's activities, you become like sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. You're solitary, you're working alone, and you don't make sense to anyone on your own. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, love, Christ, I am nothing. I'm no help to others, I'm no love to my neighbors, I don't profit anything. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, love Christ, it profiteth me nothing. There's no testimony in that.

And then we have a long and lengthy description. And again, it's of our Saviour. And it's of the characteristics of the nature of His love. And then look at the last verse. And now abideth faith, hope, and charity, love, Christ. These three, but the greatest of these is charity. See, love's the bond of union. amongst men and between men and God.

Love's the motivator. Love inspires us. Love causes us to do amazing things out of ourselves. We were born into this world in Genesis 3, in a sense, and there was only one person we love. It's ourselves. Love is the bond of our unions. Now, just turn in your Bibles now to 1 John 4, please. Sorry, there's a bit of turning, but...

See, the Lord's people rely on the inner working of God Himself. We rely on Him working in our inner man. We rely on Him powerfully moving us by love, not by law. equipping us with whatever is needed, and again with a purpose, for the edification, for the growth, the strengthening of His body, the Church. It's Christ in us, loving Christ in others. And how? By creating His own love in us. And this motivating love, it's also built on the firmest, most secure foundation in the world, the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, which means he can never fail.

Remember, this is a promise of his activities in us and amongst us. It doesn't matter how small we are and insignificant. It doesn't matter where we are in the world, what time in the century it is. It's a promise when he gathers the church together. We've seen this for 20 years, him raise up what's necessary amongst us. And we're a frail band of people. And yet we've wanted for nothing, we've lacked nothing.

Paul says in Philippians 1.21, for me to live is Christ. It means sacrifice. And like I said in Genesis 3, we were born only loving ourselves. So where does the motivation come from? We can't produce it. We can't make it happen. We naturally can't make it happen. We can't cause ourselves to love anyone We can't cause ourselves to love the Lord. We need the Lord to work in us, to work this love.

And this love's not like the love of the world, fleeting, failing, insignificant. This is real love. We're gonna read from verse seven in 1 John 4. He says, Again, it's origin, isn't it? This love can only come from God. And everyone that loveth is born of God. You see, God must dwell within you individually before this is expressed collectively. And they knoweth God. It's relationship. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. If you know him, you'll understand his love and the ways it operates. And who that love is.

In this was manifest the love of God towards us, because the God, I'm sorry. Sorry. In this was manifest the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him. Here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

There's your foundation of love. God must be reconciled to his people before he can express love in their lives and in their hearts. And the Lord Jesus Christ did it before the foundation of the world so he could operate freely in us and through us and be in relationship with us. But also so we can have church and we can be in relationship with one another and encourage each other in what? in the gospel. The greatest way to love anyone is by declaring the gospel to them.

Verse 11, Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to also to love one another. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, read this, God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected It's fulfilled. It comes to fruition in us. The scriptures say we're to love each other as our saviour loved us. And we're sinners. We can't do that. We're imperfect.

But what happens is when His love wells up in us and is expressed through us, to subjects of his love. He's there in the midst. We see him as we see his characteristics in that love. See, he is love, and it's him working himself in and through us, manifesting himself amongst us. bringing that union that he's promised. The one he promised in John 17, the one he prayed for in John 17, the one that's been promised from cover to cover in this book.

It's a love and it's built on forgiveness, which absorbs and covers sins and offences. which in turn frees relationships and refocuses us all on Christ, on his gospel, and on his church. 1 Peter 4, 8 says, and above all things, have fervent charity, love amongst yourselves in the midst of your relationships. for charity, for love, shall cover a multitude of sins.

And I think this is the greatest thing about church. It's the greatest wonder at the moment for me about church. And we see dimly. We do see dimly. But we still get to see more and more of our amazing Saviour. And it's not just by faith. It's a bit like John 3. There is real physical evidence. We don't see it with the eye, but we see the impact of it in our lives and in this world, and we do feel it. We feel it and we see it in these relationships and these interactions for the gospel's sake. And we get to know to know, really know, experience know, the meaning of the word Emmanuel. God with us.

We read it at the start. And there's many, especially at this time, that are looking for an establishment in this world of a kingdom, a physical kingdom. Many trying to, I don't know, wiggle into some sort of favouritism with the favoured country as if Jerusalem is already established on this earth, and it's established in church.

God walks amongst His people, He interacts with His people, He reveals Himself to His people. We read it in 1 Corinthians 12, 7, I'll just read it to you again, but the manifestation of the Spirit The Holy Spirit doesn't operate independently. Wherever He is, the triune God is. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. Do you believe that? What an amazing promise. What an incredible privilege. The triune God working and walking amongst us. It's an incredible privilege.

We're called to love our neighbours as ourselves, and in that, fulfil the law. And often in carnal thinking, we'll think, well, I've got to give the same quality food to the people that I share food with, or I've got to treat them. And we can think about all those things and never, ever fulfil them. But we can love each other perfectly and equally if Christ is working in us and it's his love for himself in his church. Christ in us, perfectly loving others. So the last thing I wanna say, I think it's important with the recent challenges we've had to what we preach here in the church. I just want to look at a comparison of law and love. Law works externally.

It tries to motivate you to embrace the Lord, but you're actually embracing the lie of Satan, that one that says you shall be as gods. It sets us an impossible task. It blinds us from seeing spiritual things with a delusion of personal glory. And it always promotes division. Always.

Love, however, moves us internally and willingly. It turns our thoughts to Christ and his completed salvation. It causes us to serve one another in love and joy. And to especially serve us by declaring the gospel to one another. Romans 13.10 says, God fulfills his law in us. Brothers and sisters, all things necessary for our salvation have been supplied in Christ from before the foundation of the world. Thy God reigneth. And that TH, he's actively reigning every second, every moment.

I pray God to be pleased to continue to unite us in his gospel. I really pray that he grow our faith, individually and collectively. I really pray that he'd cause each one of us to love each other more. But most of all, I really pray that he'd show us, he'd open our eyes and show us himself in the midst. Show himself manifesting amongst us. You know, God's with us, God's amongst us.

This should just make everything more serious for everyone involved. For believers, it'll make us more reverent and it'll just make us more secure and more comforted. For those that would set themselves against us, it should make them more fearful. We're a weak band of people, and they can target us, but there's something bigger in our midst that they're addressing. And I pray God will give them eyes to see it here in this world. Thy God reigneth, especially in church. Amen. I think we're gonna take a break, aren't we? Oh yeah, I pray so. Heavenly Father, only you can take these things and cause them to be spirit and life to us, to cause them to be living and active in us, to move us, to serve us, to cause us to love each other, to cause us to love you, Heavenly Father, more.

We look to you for all things, and when we don't, please turn us back there again. When we meet together, help us to love each other, Father, most of all by turning each other. Just cause us to look again at our Saviour and see the wonders of your grace in our lives. Cause us to see church and see you in the midst of it, Heavenly Father. Walking amongst us, ministering to us, applying your word, nurturing relationships, going before us and blessing us and guiding us in all we say and all we do. Oh Father, help us to see more of the wonders of you in church. Pray in mercy upon us, and I pray for all those that can't be here. Please set the heart more and more on church, where you gather your people together. We pray in the name of our King and Saviour, and always for your glory's sake, Father. Amen.

Our Great Emmanuel

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Our Great Emmanuel

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