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Book: Acts
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Acts 3:25,26 The Purpose of His Coming
To Bless Us
I. God had promised Abraham that through His Seed, all of the nations of
the world would be blessed.
A. Peter makes reference to this promise.
B. Paul points out that in the Hebrew the word seed was singular
not plural, and that Seed is Christ.
C. The whole earth had been cursed because of Adam's sin.
1. God said to Adam, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake,
in sorrow you will eat of it, all the days of your
life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to
thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou
return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken:
for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return.
2. All of the misery and sorrow that you see in the world
today is the result of man's sin.
a. You do not see the world as God created it, you
see a world that is under the curse because of
sin.
b. You do not see man living today as God intended
him to live, you see men living under the curse
of sin.
c. All of the suffering that you see in the world
today is the direct or indirect result of man's
sin.
d. Pain, sorrow, suffering, death have resulted
from the curse brought by sin.
D. God has now promised that all the earth will be blessed through
one of Abraham's descendants. By one man Adam, a curse came
upon all now by one Man Jesus a blessing will be available to
all.
E. To the Galatians Paul declared that Christ has redeemed us from
the curse of the law, for it is written, cursed is everyone
that hangs on a tree.
II. Peter declared to the people that God has sent His Son to bless them.
A. The truth is that God loves you and wants to bless you.
1. In spite of your failures and shortcomings, He still
desires to bless you.
2. This was His purpose in giving to man the law, it is
the secret to the life of blessing and to fail to keep
it will bring pain and sorrow upon your life.
3. The Psalmist said, "Blessed is the man that walketh not
in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way
of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and in the
law does he meditate day and night." He then tells of
the blessings of meditating in the law. "He shall be
like a tree, planted by the rivers of water, bringing
forth its fruit in its season, his leaf shall not
wither and whatsoever he does shall prosper."
4. Keep the law of God and you will be blessed and happy.
Disobey the law, and you are inviting pain and sorrow.
5. Let's take a for instance. In the law Exodus 20:13 God
said, "If a man lie with a man as he lies with a woman,
both of them have committed an abomination, they shall
both die."
a. Some men have scorned that law, and demand that
to be treated as a normal,
lifestyle they want it to be treated as an
alternate lifestyle.
b. Look at how Aids is decimating the
community. Is it the judgment of God? I don't
believe so, I believe that it is just the
natural consequence of the unnatural practice.
1. When God designed the human body He
built in a marvelous immune system so
that the body recognizes any foreign
protein that is introduced into it and
builds up an immunity to protect the
body from that foreign invader. This is
how you fight off the flu and other
viruses.
2. When the body is receiving scores of
different foreign proteins, the immune
system begins to breakdown from
overwork, so that it can no longer
provide adequate defenses against the
different viruses.
c. I believe that God loves the s just
as He loves any other person, He sought to warn
them of the consequences of the unnatural
practices, even as He knows the pain and sorrow
and breakup of the family that adultery causes,
and with the breakup of the family the social
disorder, and has warned against that form of
sin also.
6. Man has broken the laws of God and is living under the
curse of sin, yet, God so loved the world that He sent
His Son to bless us by turning us away from our
iniquities. Look again at that Baby as He lies cradled
in a manger, that Baby is the Son of God come into the
world to turn us away from our iniquities that we might
be blessed of God, rather than cursed because of our
sin.
III. Just what are some of these blessings that God wishes you to enjoy?
A. Listen to the announcement of the angels to the shepherds.
1. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a
Savior. Before He was ever born the angel said to
Joseph, "You shall call His name Jesus for He shall
save His people from their sins." His name means
Jehovah is salvation.
a. The first blessing is salvation.
b. Salvation from what? The consequences of our
sins.
c. As God has pronounced the sentence of death
upon all sin, that Baby is born to die that He
might save you from death.
d. What a blessing it is to know that I am no
longer condemned to die. There is therefore now
no condemnation to those who are in Christ
Jesus.
2. Christ, the anointed One, Messiah.
a. The word Messiah means the anointed one.
b. It was the custom to anoint the man who would
reign as king over the people.
c. The priests were also anointed before serving
in the priesthood.
d. The Jew understood that the Messiah was God's
anointed One to reign as King and priest
forever.
e. Over and over God had spoken to the prophets of
the coming of the Messiah and the glories of
His reign.
f. That little baby lying there in the manger is
the One who the prophets for thousands of years
had been prophesying about for He is the
promised Messiah.
3. Lord.
a. How we needed someone to rule over our life
that had our good at heart. You see, whether
you like it or not, you've got to serve
somebody.
b. Satan had been ruling over man, but he is
intent upon destroying man. Look how
destructive sin is.
c. Those who are being ruled over by Satan are in
the process of being destroyed.
d. Those who have submitted to the rule of Jesus
Christ are being prepared to live forever in
the glory of His presence and His kingdom of
which there shall be no end.
e. That little Baby lying there in the manger is
the King of King and the Lord of Lords, and He
shall reign forever and ever.
4. Peace on earth.
a. Man had been at war with God and with the law
of God.
b. The prophet had said, "Woe to him who strives
with His Maker."
c. Man had been striving with God, the Bible says
that we were actually enemies of God and at
enmity with Him.
d. That war with God had taken it's toll on
mankind. The Greeks used to say that the dice
of the gods are loaded. i.e. you cannot go
against God and possibly win.
e. This little child that lies in that manger has
come to bring to man the possibility of peace
with God. The scripture says, "He is our peace
who has broken down every wall." He can break
down the walls of bitterness, and hatred, and
strife that you have built up, and can give you
peace.
f. One day He said to the multitudes of people,
"Come unto Me, all of you that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
5. Good will toward man.
a. You really cannot have good will toward man
until you have peace with God.
b. When men sign peace treaties that is not a
guarantee of peace, it often says, "I still
hate you and want to kill you, but I won't."
Love is the only guarantee of true peace. I
have come to love God thus I have peace with
God. I now have through God good will towards
man.
These are the blessings of God that have been brought to
man through the birth of that child in Bethlehem. But a
gift is not truly yours until you have received it. "But
as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to
become the sons of God, even to those who believed on His
name."
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