*below are pre-sermon manuscript notes, not sermon transcript

 

The Inches After Christmas | Isaiah 52:7b

 

Can you finish the following sentence?

Give someone an inch and they will take ___  ________.

Give someone an inch and they will take a mile. 

What does that mean?

Generally speaking, it means that if you give someone a little bit, they might try to take a little more. 

Or if you give in to someone a little bit, they might try to take advantage of you in a bigger way. 

It seems the first time that proverb appeared in print was in a collection of writings by John Heywood in 1546.

This is how it was worded:

John Heywood

Give him an inch and he'll take an ell.

About 6 years ago I was driving down the road near Inman, South Carolina, and looked over at someone’s yard that was full of Christmas decorations. 

One of their decorations was a set of huge letters standing up in the yard that spelled out a word.

There was a strong storm the night before and the wind had knocked down the last letter of that word so that all you could see standing up in the yard were the letters “N-O-E”.

I realized in that moment how honest their decoration had become because there was no “L”.

True story.

In 1546, taking an ell was not like stealing from Pat Sajak. 

It wasn’t the letter “L”, but a word spelled e-l-l.

An ell was a unit of measurement that was about 45 inches. 

A standard mailbox is about 45 inches tall. 

“Give him an inch and he will take a mailbox.”

That just doesn’t have a lot of punch, does it?

So, I guess some Tom, Rick, or Heywood changed it to “a mile”. 

Whether you give someone an inch or an ell or a mile, we all understand the concept of someone taking more than what was offered or someone taking advantage of a situation.

What do we in moments like that?

Some people get mad or frustrated. 

Some people get quiet and cave in. 

Some people chase butterflies or keep crushing candy. 

But what if there were a way that in every single awkward or bad or difficult or sad or frustrating or stressful or fearful situation in life, you could actually feel like you are winning.

That you could actually feel victorious even when everything around you screams that you are losing?

About 700 years before Jesus was born there was a group of people that were about to be overwhelmed with losing – they were going to lose their land and lose their homes and lose their way of life. 

Who were these people?

God’s people. 

God’s people?

• Losing their land?
• Losing their homes?
• Losing their way of life?

That doesn’t sound right.

I thought if a person was in the family of God it was kind of internationally known that they were a winner, no, not a loser? 

What happened to the Lord being our Shepherd?

What happened to the whole pursuing people with goodness and mercy all the days of their lives?

Those are good questions. 

And the prophet Isaiah has some answers.

Listen to Isaiah 52, verse 7:

7 How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation,

Isaiah is foretelling about a time that was not going to be holly and jolly and auld lang syne.

• The government was going to be shut down
• The people were going to be forced out of their homes
• They were going to be prisoners in a foreign land
• They were going to be down and discouraged and desperate

They were going to be desperate for good news. 

And Isaiah had some.

The Babylonians were going to conquer their nation but then a time was coming when the Babylonians were were going to be conquered by King Cyrus and after decades in exile the Jewish people were going to get to go home.

Isaiah’s announcement was that a messenger was coming with good news that was going to be spilling over with peace and happiness and salvation.

That sounds great and everything, but what were they supposed to do until then?

What were they supposed to do before all that peace and happiness and salvation showed up?

What were they supposed to be doing when everything was dark and difficult and discouraging and depressing?

What were they supposed to be doing when nothing seemed to be going their way and they felt like their whole life was one defeat after another?

Ever felt that way?

Are you feeling that way today?

Well, there is another part to the announcement.

Listen to the last part of verse 7:

7 who announces salvation, and says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

On June 2, 1953, Elizabeth II was officially coronated as the Queen of the United Kingdom…and by royal default she also became the Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon.

June 2, 1953 was her official coronation day.

But that was not the day she became Queen. 

She actually became queen the very moment her father, King George VI, died, on February 6, 1952.

That was when her reign actually began. 

The people Isaiah was writing to would be longing to have a coronation ceremony.

They would be longing for someone to come and rescue them and reign over them with peace and truth and justice.

And when that time came, coronation would not be needed.

Why?

Let’s see if we can unpack an answer to that question. 

Our country is 242 years old. 

Imagine for just a second all that has happened in our nation over the last 242 years. 

Now picture that God was silent for 158 years longer than that.   

Silent in in what way?

For 400 years there were no inspired words from God – through the eyes of the Bible that means that the Old Testament ends and then there is 400 years of silence before the New Testament begins.

What happens during those 400 years?

The people of God got bounced around from one superpower to the next with some good years here and there.

Mostly, though, there were a lot of years of darkness and difficulty and depression and recession and oppression.

Does his silence mean that God was playing dead and not doing anything during those 400 years?

No. 

He was constantly at work fulfilling all of his promises and through major political and cultural and religious changes he was preparing to end his silence. 

And how did God end his silence?

He sent his messenger with an announcement of good news of peace and happiness and salvation. 

And he broke his silence in the middle of a time when the people of God were under the oppression of the Roman empire. 

And after 4 centuries God broke his silence and gave his good news announcement to the most logical person on earth:

A random teenage girl named Mary.

Listen to the last part of the announcement that Mary received:

Luke 1:32-33

“…the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

Have you ever looked forward to something?

• A birthday?
• A special concert?
• A big sporting event?
• A holiday break from work or school?
• A holiday feast with family and friends?

Just like the folks that Isaiah was writing to, Mary and all the folks in her day were looking forward to something.

They were looking forward to a king!

After years of kings who did evil in the sight of the Lord, they were looking for a king who would reign with peace and justice and truth. 

And that King was going to be born in a stable in Bethlehem.

It is good and right and helpful and joyful for us to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but kind of like Queen Elizabeth the stable was not his coronation ceremony.

He was already King.

How?

One day Jesus was being questioned by some church leaders and this is what he said to them:

John 10:30

I and the Father are one.

Jesus declared that he was and is God.

That sounded crazy to those church leaders.

C.S. Lewis

Among these Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time.

C.S. Lewis

But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God. God, in their language, meant the Being outside the world, who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else.

C.S. Lewis

And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.

So, what gives Jesus the right to say such things?

Because Jesus is God.

On another day Jesus said this:

John 8:58

“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”

Abraham lived about 2,100 years before Jesus was born.

So, how can he say that he existed before Abraham?

Because Jesus is God.

Ravi Zacharias

He is the only entity in existence the reason for who’s existence is in himself. All other entities or quantities exist by virtue of something else. And in that sense, he alone is perfect.

Jesus is God because he is:

• Perfect
• Uncaused
• Infinite

But what does that have to do with the stable not being his coronation ceremony?

Well, let’s go back to the people Isaiah was writing to.

They might hear and see the announcement that “your God reigns” as the announcement of the future coronation ceremony of God as King of Zion.

But no matter what day the people were rescued and no matter what holiday or ceremony they set up to honor God for their deliverance none of those moments and none of those days would be the day that he became King. 

God did not have to wait for someone to die to become King.

God has always been King! 

He has always reigned!

How do we know that is true?

Romans 1:20

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

The Kingship and reign of God can clearly and easily be seen in creation. 

Sir Isaac Newton (physicist, mathematician, astronomer)

Atheism is so senseless. When I look at the solar system. I see the earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen by chance.

How does that happen?

Because creation displays God’s invisible attributes. 

Or put another way:  Our God reigns!

In a 1995 lecture in Portland, Oregon, genetic engineer Dr. John Medina said this:

John Medina

The lungs contain 1,000 miles of capillaries. The process of exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide is so complicated…

John Medina

that it is more difficult to exchange O2 for CO2 than for a man shot out of a cannon to carve the Lord’s Prayer on the head of a pin as he passes by.

How does that happen?

Because creation displays God’s invisible attributes.

Our God reigns!

One more health picture I saw this week:

Unknown

The body uses energy efficiently. If an average adult rides a bike for 1 hour at 10 mph, it uses the amount of energy contained in 3 ounces of carbohydrate. If a car were this efficient with gasoline, it would get 900 miles to the gallon.

That is one serious hybrid, right?

R.C.H. Lenski

Men cannot charge God with hiding Himself from them and thus excuse their irreligion and their immorality.

God is not hiding. 

• He is displaying himself in creation
• He is displaying himself in and through his Bible
• He is displaying himself in and through his church

And he has most perfectly displayed himself through the baby in the manger and that baby was and is will always be God and therefore he was and is and will always be King. 

And why did he not need a coronation ceremony?

Because he is God and God has always been and will always be King. 

And how do we know that?

Because creation displays God’s invisible attributes.

Our God reigns!

So, what does all of this have to do with the darkness and the difficulty and discouragement and the defeat that we face way too often in life?

What does “your God reigns” have to do with the moments when you feel like you are losing?

Well, it has everything to do with the ultimate promise in Isaiah’s good news that is found in Jesus of Nazareth.

And what promise is that?

• Jesus is God!
• Jesus is God with us, Emmanuel!
• Jesus is the Savior!
• Jesus is the King!
• And he will never stop being King!

How do we set that truth down into our lives?

Geoff Thomas

Some people live on fear. Some people seem to be constantly looking for something to be afraid of. That is not the Christian point of view.

Geoff Thomas

When men are frightened they tend to act in haste, and when they act in haste they can make big mistakes.

Geoff Thomas

Lose your head and you have lost the battle. Lose your heart and you have lost everything. The devil may roar, but he cannot win. 

The devil may roar, but he cannot win – what does that mean?

Geoff Thomas

It means that nothing can ever happen, however vast, however terrible, however dreadful…that can shake the rule of Mary’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. If that kingdom is secure, then all is safe.

If you are in the kingdom of Christ, then all is safe.

How do we know that is true?

Because creation displays God’s invisible attributes.

Our God reigns!

Abraham Kuyper was Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905.

This is what he said about the grown-up baby Jesus:

Abraham Kuyper

There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, “Mine!”

• Every inch of your home
• Every inch of your neighborhood
• Every inch of this church
• Every inch of this state
• Every inch of this country
• Every inch of this world

And if you are believing in and relying on and trusting in and clinging to Jesus as your peace and your happiness and your salvation, then please know this – with grace and mercy and power and comfort and help and healing and love there is not a square inch of your life that Jesus does not deeply desire and delight to reign over.

• Every inch of your heart
• Every inch of your mind
• Every inch of your soul
• Every inch of your pain
• Every inch of your stress
• Every inch of your fear

If you are a struggling Christian, if you are a struggling saint, please know this:

Your God is not waiting to be coronated.

Your God reigns!

In just a few days we will start a brand-new calendar year of life.

How’s this year been for you?

Have you felt more victory or more defeat?

Have you felt more purpose or more pain?

Have you felt more confident or more confused?

Have you felt more satisfaction or more stress?

Have you felt more affection or more alienation?

Have you felt more affirmation or more apathy?

Let’s flip those last two around and rebrand them as a challenge for our hearts and minds:

Have you given more affection or more alienation?

Have you given more affirmation or more apathy?

Regardless of how 2018 has gone, there is only one resolution that you need for 2019.

In fact, there is only one resolution that you need for the next hour. 

What’s that resolution?

Unknown

Only one life, ‘twill soon be past;

only what’s done for Christ will last. 

John Piper

We must know this is what we were made for. Press on to know the Lord. We are made to know Christ. We are not made to do little diddly things. We are made to know this massive Christ.

John Piper

This world is little two seconds slice and then with him or not forever. It is what we are created to know and do and be about. And when we know him in those ways, we have begun to know the outskirts of his supremacy…

John Piper

for time would fail to speak of his supreme severity and invincibility and dignity and simplicity and complexity and resoluteness and calmness and depth and courage.

John Piper

If there is anything admirable, if there is anything worthy of praise in all the universe, it is summed up in Jesus Christ.

Why is everything summed up in Jesus Christ?

Because our God reigns!

Dow Welsh | December 30, 2018 © Holland Avenue Baptist Church

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Above are pre-sermon manuscript notes, not sermon transcript

Sermon scriptures NASB unless otherwise noted

Lots of help from many pastors and theologians

Weekly help from Bruce Hurt at www.preceptaustin.org

So can you finish this sentence: give someone an inch and they'll take...a mile. Get gives someone an inch, they'll take a mile. What does that mean? Will? Basically it means that if you give somebody a little bit, they may take mohr than the little bit that you gave him. Or if you give in just a little bit, they might take advantage of you. Yeah. I think from the mouth of babes to the mouth of heroin. I mean, he'd be pulling them both off. Great. I love it. Seems the first time that this was ever used, or at least first time it was ever printed was in fifteen forty six and a collection of sayings from John Haywood. And this is how it read in that collection. Give him an inch and he'll take an L given an inch and he'll take an L. Six years ago, I was riding near in and South Carolina, same time of the years now, and I looked over and there was a yard that was just full of Christmas decorations and one of the decorations that they had in the yard, where these large letters that spelled out this word. Now, the night before we had had a pretty strong storm, and the wind had not down the very last letter of this word in the front yard. And so all you could see you were the letters in oh and E. And I realized in that moment how honest there decoration had become because they're truly was No l. I've been hanging over that for six years. I mean, just waiting for a moment where I can do something with it. So you're the moment yards. Get better as the day goes on to US fifteen forty six. Taking an L was not stealing something from Pat Sajak. There was something different going on with this. It wasn't the letter. L It was a word. L, E L L and an l was a unit of measurement, and that measurement was about forty five inches. So a standard mailboxes about forty five inches tall. So the phrase could have been give a niche and they'll take a mailbox. Kind of have a lot of punch, you know? So I guess somewhere down the line, it got changed two miles. Now all of us have had this moment, right? We've had a moment where we've given someone an inch and they've taken a little more where we've been taken advantage of in some way shape or for me, we've all had that moment at least once. And what do we do in moments like that when we do a lot of stuff? Sometimes we get mad. Sometimes we get frustrated. Sometimes we found our hand on the table. Sometimes we quiet and we cave in and give in. Some people just aren't even paying attention, you know? They're chasing butterflies. They're crushing candy there. They're just not paying attention to anything that's actually going on. But what if there were a way that in the moment that were being taken advantage of in the moment that we've given a little bit, somebody's taken a little more? What if there was a way in that moment to still feel like we are winning? How could we possibly in a moment of defeat, in a moment when it feels like we're losing? Actually, we'll be able to say no. You know, I'm I'm still winning right now. How is that possible? About seven hundred good years before Jesus was born, there was a group of people that were about to go through a lot of losing. They were about to lose their homes. They're about to lose their land. They were about to lose their entire way of life. And who were these people? Well, they were the people of God. That sounds a little odd, right? The people of God, we're going to lose. Everything meant. That sounds strange. What happened to the Lord is our shepherd. What happened to the quiet waters and the nice green pastures? What happened to the God that's supposed to pursue us with goodness and mercy all the days of our lives? How come his people seem to not have a lot of good? Not a lot of mercy in that moment? Well, those are good questions, and Isaiah is gonna have some answers to encourage us alone. Listen to you as a A fifty two for seven. How lovely on the mountains or the feet of him, who brings good news to announce his piece and brings good news of happiness? Who announces salvation? Isaiah's for telling about a time that was coming. That was not going to be Holly and Jolly and Auld Lang's on? No, it was going to be a time where it was difficult. They were goingto lose their homes that were going to lose their land, that we're going to lose their way of life. They were going to be captive prisoners in a foreign land. They were going to be down there, going to be discouraged. They were going to be defeated and they were going to be desperate, desperate for some good news. As a has got some good news coming, Isaiah says yes. There a time is coming that that Babylon is goingto defeat your nation. But then they're going to be defeated by Cyrus. And after decades of exile, the Jewish people were going to get to go back home. Sounds like great. Whose butt? But what do they do? In the meantime? You know what they do. In the meantime, before this, this piece and this happiness in the salvation was supposed to come. That's a great announcement. That's good news. But what do you do until the piece gets there? What do you do during the moments of difficulty and darkness and depression and discouragement? What do you do in the moments when it feels like life is just one defeat after another? Anybody ever felt that way. Maybe you're feeling that way this morning. Well, as a A has a little more to this announcement, and the Mohr is good news. Listen to the rest of her. Seven. Who announced this salvation and says to Zion, Your God, Raines. On June second, nineteen fifty three, Elizabeth was officially coronated as the queen of the United Kingdom. June second nineteen fifty three was her official day of coronation, but it was not. When her reign began, it was not. When she became queen, she actually became queen on the moment that her father, King George, died February six nineteen fifty two. That's when her reign actually began the people that Isaiah was riding, too. They were. They were longing for coronation ceremony. But they were. They were longing for for someone to come and tow terrain over them with peace and justice and true. And that day was coming. But when that day came, there was not going to be the need for coronation ceremony. Why? Well, let's see if we can kind of unpack an answer to that question. Our country is two hundred forty two years old now. Just, you know, quick glance through high school history or however much history you have in your mind. Just just think of all that has happened in the last two hundred forty two years in our nation and then a match, Jin, that God was silent to his nation for another one hundred and fifty eight years God with silent for four hundred years to his people. What does that mean? Well, it means that there were no inspired words from God. It was it was silent when it came to inspired words from God. Practically speaking, we could put it this way. From the end of the Old Testament to the beginning of the New Testament, there were four hundred years where God did not speak any inspired words. So what was happening to his people during this four hundred years? Well, they were bounced around underneath the oppression of one superpower to the next. Some years were good. But most of the years were hard. They were difficult, and there was a lot of depression and oppression. And what about God being silent for four hundred years? Does that mean he was like playing dead and not doing anything? No. He was constantly working. He was continuing to fulfill all of his promises and through major political and cultural and religious changes, he was preparing things for him to no longer be silent. He was going to break his silence And how did he end to silence? Well, he ended his silence through an announcement of good news of peace and happiness and salvation. And he broke his silence during a time where his people were being oppressed by the Roman Empire. And after four centuries of silence, he broke his silence in a very logical way by letting everyone know that his message was coming to the most logical person, that it should come to the right. A random teenage girl named Mary. That was how God broke to silence. This was part of the message and the announcement that Mary got Luke. Chapter one versus thirty two and thirty three. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And his kingdom will have no in Have you ever looked forward to something? Maybe a birthday or a special concert? A big sporting event, maybe. Ah, holiday break from work school, maybe a holiday feast with family or friends. Well, Mary was looking forward to something just like the people that Isaiah was writing to. They were looking forward to something, and Mary Ruth was part of looking forward to something with a whole lot of other people. They were looking forward to a king after years of of evil kings that had oppressed them. After these empires coming and taking them over, they were longing for someone to come and reign over them with peace and truth and justice. And that king, that royalty that was coming. I was going to be born to marry in a stable invest, William. But that stable was not going to be a coronation ceremony. He wasn't going to be coronated as King in the stable that night because he was already keen. What does that mean? One day Jesus was being questioned by some church leaders, and this is how he responded to them. John ten, verse thirty I and the father, our one Jesus declare without any confusion that he wass and is God. Now that sounded crazy to those church leaders, C. S. Lewis writes. Among these Jews, there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if he was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says he always existed. He says he is coming to judge the world at the end of time. But this man, since he was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God, God. And their language meant being outside the world who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips Jesus was not being confusing. He was being clear. He said that he is gone on another day. Jesus said this and John eight fifty eight. Truly. Truly I say to you before Abraham was born. I I am bless his heart. He has to be crazy. Abraham lived more than two thousand years before he was born. How how in the world could he have existed before? Abraham seems impossible. How is it possible? Because Jesus is God. Robbie. Zachariah said this. He is the only entity in existence. The reason for whose existence is in himself. All other entities or quantities exist by virtue of something else. And in that sense he alone is perfect. He exists because of him. I don't exist because of me. I exist because of other people. I exist because of my parents. I exist because of someone thirty nine that got fearfully and wonderfully made me. But Jesus Jesus exists because of himself. Therefore Jesus becomes perfect because he is un caused and he is infinite. He is God great. What is the happy to have a stable? What is what does that do to the stable and the fact that there was not going to be a coronation ceremony? Well, let's think back to the people that Isaiah is writing, too. These people are hearing this announcement. Your God reigns, and they would have been thinking, finally, finally, there's going to be someone who's going to come and take over there's there's going to be this coronation ceremony that's goingto happen. We're we're finally going to get the King that we've been looking for. But no matter what day, they were going to be rescued, no matter what holiday or ceremony they would set up as a day to honor God for their deliverance. There was no time and none of those days and none of those holidays that God was going to become king. Why? Because he was our heady king. God is king. He has always rain. There has never been a moment that he has not been on his throne. How do we know that's true? I just picked one way just one way. We can think about that today. Romans, Chapter one, verse twenty For Since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse the kingship. The reign of Guy can be clearly seen simply in creation. Psoriatic Newton, famed physicist, mathematician and astronomer, said. This atheism is so senseless. When I look at the solar system, I see the earth at right distance from the sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light that did not happen by chance. I saw a bumper sticker yesterday. It said the great thing about science is its true whether you believe it or not, and I kind of just walked through the parking lot. I started thinking through that now is like, I mean, that's cute and just, like, silly, you know, it's like, I don't even know what that means because the whole beauty of this moment, this quote from someone who clearly believed in science, was I can't explain this. It is too amazing. Oh, it is in the amazing where I see the truth. So how does it happen if it doesn't happen by chance? Well, it happens because all of creation displays the invisible attributes of God. It happens because our God Raines in nineteen ninety five and a lecture in Portland, Oregon, genetic engineer Dr John Medina said this the lungs contain a thousand miles of capital Aries. The process of exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide is so complicated that it is more difficult to exchange o two for Theo to than for a man shot out of a cannon to carve the Lord's prayer on the head of a pin as he passes by. That's a that's a visual image, right? And why? How is it that the CO two and this photo how does this complicated thing happens? It happens because the invisible attributes of God clearly seen in creation her God Raines another health picture I saw this week. The body uses energy so efficiently. If an average adult rides a bike for one hour at ten miles an hour, it uses the amount of energy contained in three ounces of carbohydrates. If a car were this efficient with gasoline, it would get nine hundred miles to the gallon That's serious harbored right there. This is This is crazy science, right? But But how can it happen? How will this all of this true? It's true because the invisible attributes of God are clearly seen and what we cannot explain in creation. It's true because our God reigns. R ch. Linsky said. This men cannot charge God with hiding himself from them and thus excuse their religion and their immorality. God's not hiding. He's not hiding anywhere. He is displaying himself and creation. He's displaying himself through his Bible. He's displaying himself through his church. He is not hiding. And the most perfect way that God has ever displayed himself is through baby and a stable in Bethlehem. And that baby Wass and is God. Therefore, no coronation ceremony was necessary because if he is God, then that means he was. And he is and will always be king. That can't change. The baby in the manger was already the king. How do we know that? Because the invisible attributes of God we're seeing even in the manger, even in a smelly stable, are gone rain. He reigned. So what does all that have to do with the darkness and difficulty of life? What does What does all that have to do with with the moments that we're feeling defeated? The moments that we feel like we're losing it has everything to do with that. Here's why she Jesus came to fulfill all of the promises of God and the promises of God are all found in Jesus. And who is Jesus? He is Immanuel God with us. He is the savior. He is the king. Jesus is the king has always been the came and will never stop being the king. So his peace, his happiness, his salvation, his truth. His justice are from before time began and they will never Yeah, I'm telling you, truth like that will see you through mid term elections. A truth like that. Well, see, through any coronation of any king or any queen on the planet, he is king forever. So how do you set that truth down into your life today, Jeff Thomas writes Some people live on fear. Some people seem to be constantly looking for something to be afraid of. That is not the Christian point of view. When men are frightened, they tend to act in haste. And when they act in haste, they can make big mistakes. Lose your head and you've lost the battle. Lose your heart and you have lost everything. The devil may roar, but he cannot. With Does that mean he goes on? It means that nothing can ever happen. However vast, however terrible, however dreadful, that can shake the rule of Mary, son, the Lord Jesus Christ. If that kingdom is secure, then all is say all the same. One of the the songs in the hymnal and the Christian Christmas section is called All is all is well. All is well and all is safe If you are in the kingdom of Jesus If you have repented and received this salvation this peace this happiness all is safe And all is well because the invisible attributes of God have shown us that through creation And then God not being invisible at all showed us that through the manger through Jesus, our God rain Abraham Keiper was prime minister of the Netherlands between nineteen o one in nineteen o five. This is what he said about the grown up baby Jesus. There is not a square inch and the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry mine. Not an inch every inch of your home, every inch of your workplace, your school, every inch of your neighborhood, ever. Inch of this church, every inch of the state, every inch of the country, every inch of the nation, every inch of the world. There is not an inch of creation that Jesus does not say. Yet that is mine. And if you are believing in and trusting in and relying on and clinging to Jesus as your ultimate peace, happiness and salvation, then please know this. His greatest desire and delight is to reign over every inch of your life. Every inch of your heart, every inch of your mind. Every inch of your soul, every inch of your pain, Every inch of your stress, every inch of your fear. This is what Jesus desires to do. It is his character. It is not invisible. It is what he came four. If you're struggling Christian, if you're struggling St. But I want you to know that this is not just a Bible verse from the Old Testament. I want you to know because of the invisible attributes of God and because of the truth of the Christmas story and because of the truth of the cross and because of the truth of the empty tomb your God Raines, he reigned. So this week we get a brand new calendar. Year of life. How's this past year been for you? Has it gone? If you were to look at your life, have you experienced more victory or more defeat? Have you experienced more purpose or more pain? Have you experienced more confidence or more confusion? Have you experienced more satisfaction or more stress? Have you experienced more affection, arm or alienation? Have you experienced your affirmation, arm or apathy? Let's take these last two and turn him around and kind of offer him as a challenge this past year. Have you given Mohr affection or have you given Mohr alienation? Have you given Mohr affirmation, or have you given Mohr apathy? Is there something that you need to change today? Don't wait for New Year but today there's actually only one resolution that you need to have for two thousand nineteen. Really. It's the only resolution you need for the next hour and then the hour after that. The hour after that. The hour after that. Just just one resolution defines life. And what is that resolution? The old saying says it this way. Only one life. It will soon be passed on ly What is done for Christ will last. Don't miss that. Think of whatever you own right now. One day you won't own it. Think of whatever trophy you have right now. One day it won't be on yourself anymore. Think of whatever building has been named after you. Whatever title that you have been given those things will one day cease to be the on ly thing that will last. It is what is done. You're crying. Does that mean don't build buildings and don't own things? And don't do things. No, no. Live your life to the fullest. For the glory of God, do all you can for others. But no that there is on ly one life and it will soon be passed And on Lee, what is done for Jesus Christ? For the name of Christ on Ly that will last. John Piper said this. We must know this is what we were made for press only to know the Lord we're made to know Christ were not made to do little deadly things. We're made to know this massive Christ. This world is a little too second slice and then with him or not forever. It is what were created to know and do and be about and when we know him. In those ways, we have begun to know the outskirts of his supremacy. The outskirts of his reign, the outskirts of his kingship, the outskirts of his kingdom. The more you study about King Jesus, the more there is tonight. Then he says this for time would fail to speak of his supreme. That word's not coming out. We're gonna start over for time, would fail to speak of his supreme severity, an incident. Four Time would fail to speak of his supreme severity and invincibility and dignity and simplicity and complexity and resoluteness and calmness and depth and courage. This's our king. You can't begin understanding is that great? And then he says this. If there is anything admirable if there is anything worthy of praise in all the universe it is summed up in Jesus Christ. It's it's all in him. Why? Why is everything summed up? And Jesus Christ here's why the invisible attributes of God reveal. But he isthe king and Jesus in every sense of word and deed, has a firm that he is God. Therefore Jesus is king. He was, he is. He will be forever. So anything admirable in the universe is all found in Jesus? Because he is the on ly king that brings peace and happiness and salvation and truth and justice and hope and peace and love and comfort and grace and mercy today and forever and ever and ever and ever. That's why everything admirable can only be found in Jesus he is God! You are our God.