Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

We're gonna have our reading. Now, I don't think the first passage is gonna come up on the screen. So that is gonna be Philippians chapter 2. From verse 5 to 11. And then we're going to read the second verse of Hark the herald Angel sing.

So Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5. In your relationships with 1 another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God did not consider a quality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that's at the name of Jesus every niche about in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

And then, Hark the herald angels sing, verse 2, it might be up there. Yes, it is. Says this. Christ by highest heaven adored Christ, the everlasting Lord. Late in time, behold him come, offspring of the virgin's womb, Vailed in flesh the Godhead Sea, hailed the incarnate deity, pleased as man with man to dwell Jesus are emmanuel.

Hark the herald angels sing glory to our newborn king. For those that are out here, it it you know, I was saying this in the the earlier service. It's gosh. You know, we've had enough now, haven't we? And but it won't be long.

It won't be long. And it's a great old day there. The rain is coming. We've only got another 4, 5, 7 months of that, and then we can be free. No.

We've only got a few months left, I hope. And I was planning this afternoon, the things that we're going do in Easter. And I'm really excited about that we could be really go we're really going big and I've got some great ideas. And so we're looking forward to that. But, I'm gonna depress you even more in the beginning of this talk because I want to remind you that every day you wake up to 86400 seconds, 86400 seconds, and that sounds quite a lot of seconds, but the point is that they go past very, very quickly.

And I've just wasted a few of yours just there. There's another 1 gone, and another. And when they go, they fly. You can never get them back when they're gone, they're gone, and that's the thing about time, isn't it? You can't bank them, you can't say it is a really gray miserable all day.

I think I'll just keep the seconds until the spring comes or the summer comes or the sun comes. When they're gone, they're gone. I read this in a theological book a couple of weeks ago, and I thought it was fantastic and it's on this theme. It'll come up. We poor human creatures are constantly being ustrated by limitations imposed upon us from without and within.

The days of the years of our lives are few and swifter than a weaver's shuttle. Life is a short and fevered rehearsal for a concert we cannot stay to give. Just when we appear to have attained some proficiency we are forced to lay our instruments down. There is simply not enough time to think to become, to perform what the constitution of our nature indicate that we are capable of. I mean, that's an amazing sentence.

Time is running out. There are things that we are created for, but we can't even do. There is simply not enough time to think, to become, to perform what the constitution of our nature indicate that we're capable and that's true. Now, even the ones in this world that do manage to show their skill for a while that sort of stand above the crowd if you like and show that they are skilled, the musicians, and the sportsmen, and the entertainers. And the inventors and the scientists.

Even those ones that stick their head above the crowd, even their time runs out. And they fade and die. And all their glory goes. I mean, you think in this last couple of weeks, the great guitarist, Van Hale. His fingers move no more across the fretboard.

I'm a better guitarist than he is now, or think of the great footballer, Maradona. His feet and his hand are no more. I'm a better footballer than he is now. They reach the peak, and then their peak turns into fading and then dying. The fading and failing and glory of the body and the mind.

It's very sad, isn't it? I'm watching my own mother just fading. Fading. It's almost as if we're trapped in a box and stamped on the box is flesh and time. Or or if you want a more complicated word or a more scientific word, entropy is the word.

Entropy. It's just the slow running down of the universe like a battery runs out of juice. There is time when the battery was doing everything that the little thing that it was in wanted to do, but then it gets slower and slower and meaner and fades away. Now, there are obviously, some who desperately try to rise above all of this. Desperately try to recharge their battery, don't they?

They try to, you know, transcend and transform this body, this body of flesh and dust, they try to do that. Loads of them. And their desire to sort of rule over their body and, you know, they're what I desire, I will make my body submit to it. And when you see this, I I don't know whether you've noticed this, but but people become inhumane in their self rule. They're inhumane to themselves.

I don't know whether you've noticed that. I mean, just think of the cruel, torture, that some people put themselves through to transcend and transform their bodies. The harsh regimes of exercise sometimes exercise is good. But do you see some of them running around Serbeton? Pushing and driving and It's wearisome to see, or the surgery to change the body shape.

Or we subjugate the flesh to something that it isn't it isn't. Try to make it submit to what we want that isn't there. The slimming pills, and the hormone drugs, and the gender blockers, and the abortion pills, and the fertility pills, and muscle building powders. And the those that sub subjugate their bodies to work and work and work to try and prove themselves in some way. All those extreme sports that try to show look I can do danger and beat death, but they can't, in the end, everybody fades and dies.

And then think about our planet. Entropy applies to the planet, doesn't it? The slowly running down of the universe. We're told that the planet is choking to death. It's fading.

Creeachers are going extinct at an alarming rate we're told. And even those ones that we love most and teach our children to love, and have them in the nurseries and floating around them as they look at elephants, and giraffes, and or those sort of even those ones that we absolutely love are on the critical list. I told you I was gonna depress you on a gray December wet evening. Now, with all of that in mind, this is where this Carol comes in that we're looking at. This Carol comes in.

We're just taking 3 weeks, 3 times to look at this very famous Carroll Hark the herald. It's a song filled to overflowing with bible truth, and there's good news in that. The truth of life and light and hope and glory, and bigger things than this world. This Carol actually has been called a short systematic theology. If you wanna put it in sort of more normal words.

It's really sort of short summary of the entire bible and it really is. So in verse 1, we were looking at this morning and if you didn't hear that, Tom opened that up, and it's worth you going to hear that. We're told this word, Hark. It starts off with Hark, the herald angels sing. And and what Hark means is, hey, you need to listen.

There is a message to listen to and a message you need to listen to that's come into this dying world of entropy, of dust and decay and fading glory. There is a message of a king who is full of glory, glory to the new born king. Whose come from outside into this earth with his unfading glory. Now, we're on verse 2 of this. Carol.

And the writers, Charles Wesley George Whitfield, are spelling out exactly who this newborn king is. And so we get into it. Here's the first couplet it should come up. Christ by highest heaven adored Christ, the everlasting Lord. Christ, by highest, heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord.

I'm gonna go over these words again and again tonight, so that we get them into our head. Now, that word Christ is the same word as Messiah, 1 is Greek and 1 is Hebrew. And it means this, God's anointed king, God has anointed a king, a ruler. And throughout the bible, this king is promised and predicted and prophesied. And he's constantly predicted and prophesied as the great blessing that's gonna come from outside of creation into this world of entropy and dust and fading glory.

He's God's ruling king. None other than God. And so, unlike our glory that fades and dies, this 1 is like a rising sun you know, and as the sun rises, it gets more glorious and brighter and stronger and warmer and brings light and life. So there's beauty in life, and the strength of his glory is gonna come into this world. So in the bible, you've got these promises and these prophecies and these predictions and and they've become bigger and clearer.

As you read through the Bible more glorious. It starts out some sometimes with just a sort of outline and a sketch and then it it's colored in and sun rises, and there's more warmth and glory, and this is the Christ. And, it's this 1 we're told, who the highest heaven adores. That there is this kingdom above the entropy world. The dust world, the space and time and fading glory world, that in this world above that in heaven itself, this 1 is adored.

Maradona is adored in Argentina. But over time, he'll be forgotten, he'll become a sort of myth. I mean, he has sort of already. But over time, he'll be forgotten. But not Christ.

Christ is adored in the highest heavens, constantly, eternally, He is applauded and spoken of and wondered at and loved and served and worship and adored. As the everlasting Lord. He didn't just score a few goals with his foot and his head in his hand, and then that's done in the past. And there's some past glory there to look back on, but it fades and it's skill fades as he put on enormous weight and then dies. He's always everlastingly skillful.

Always everlastingly adorable. You get a glimpse of it, when John writes his book of Revelation. It's just a glimpse. Have a listen to this. In Revelation chapter 5, there it is.

Let me read it. Then I looked. This is John. Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels. We're in the heavenly realms now.

Of many angels, numbering thousands, upon thousands, and 10000 times 10000. And they encircled the throne that Christ is on, and the living creatures and the elders in a loud voice, they were saying worthy is the lamb. That's Jesus. Who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise. And then I heard every creature in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and on the sea.

Actually, that's the Wellkins that we were looking at this morning. If you don't know what the Wellkins are, because you didn't tune in this morning, and you have to go and listen to that. That's the Wilkins. Every realm, heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and on the see everything you can think of, and they're all saying, what, to this adorable 1, to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb? Be praise and on and glory and power forever and ever.

And the 4 living creatures said, amen, and the elders fell down and worshiped. There's a glimpse of this 1 that is adored Christ in highest heaven, adored Christ, the everlasting Lord. Everlast no fading glory, eternal, wonderful ruler, everlasting Lord. Rory started off with these words, from Isaiah chapter 9. Let's just go back to them.

It says just in the verse before that for us, a child is born, to us a son is given. And then it says about his rulership. The government will be on his shoulders, and here we go. And he will be called wonderful counselor mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace, of the greatness of his government, his rule, and peace. There'll be no end, and he will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on forever.

Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting ruler. And his rule isn't like any government, You know, they make promises to get your votes, they they make claims and then forget it all. Every and then we stupidly think, okay, we'll get rid of them. If we get another government in, it will be and they do all the same. It's always the same.

They're limited. They're limited for their 5 years, whatever it is. They're limited. They can't do what they promised to do, but this 1 can. He's the everlasting look.

And listen, he rules with justice. You want justice? People were crying out for This 1 rules with justice and rightness forever. That's the Christ. Yeah?

And what an amazing thing, because in Christ, I can be free from self rule, with all its tyranny, free from the rule of flesh and time and entropy. With all its tyranny, because there is an everlasting ruler who is adored, eternally. Which goes on to our second little couplet in this song. Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting lord, Late in time, behold, what is he doing? Coming late.

Late in time, behold in come, offspring of the virgin's womb. Late in time. What on earth does that mean? He's the everlasting law, did he sort of, you know, get taken up with everlasting and, you know, missed the train as it were. You know, you you imagine him sort of running down into Kingston to get the train.

He's running up the steps and just gets there and the train moves out. Late in time? What's it it it doesn't mean that, obviously. But what does it mean then if you're laughing? It's hard to get it.

It's old English. But what it means is late later days, latter days, last times, that's what it means, that here you've got time and then late in that time, the last days, the latter days of the time period. That's what it means. That Jesus is not coming late, but he's coming at the end of the time period where there's a whole new era going to begin. All the centuries of promise were right up to this time, this last time so that when Jesus arrived in the world, he could say the kingdom of God is here.

The kingdom of God is near. He brings this kingdom from outside of time. At the end of time, these are the last days where in these days, there's a new kingdom now. Look at this verse in Galatians in the bible. But when the set time had fully come, the end times, the set time God sent his son born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

He's come to bring us into the family of God, to adopt us. In these last days, the kingdom of God is here. Late in time, Off offspring of the virgin's womb. You know these verses. Let's read them though.

But in Luke chapter 1, we see we see Mary in the end of this. Safram was having to play Mary constantly. In fact, I could just ask her and she could real out these words. But the angel comes to Mary and declares that she's going to be pregnant, and we pick up the story. In verse 30, but the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.

You will you will conceive and give birth to a son and you will call him Jesus. And he will be great and would be called the son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever, his kingdom will will never end. How will this be? Mary asked the angels.

I'm a virgin. The angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you so the Holy 1 to be born will be called the son of God. No trouble is we're so used to reading that stuff. This is just stupendous, offspring of the virgin's womb. The 1 who has glory, eternally, whom the highest heaven adores who is the everlasting lord has become an offspring of the virgin's womb.

For glorious everlasting 1, has been made a human in a human mother, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. Now, there's mystery here. And if there wasn't mystery, then it would be unbelievable. Of course, there's mystery here. The Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary and causing her to can ceive a human baby.

The virgin birth, it's extraordinary. It absolutely declares that God, the everlasting Lord has become man. The God man. Therefore, there is only 1 who could reconcile God and people together. This 1.

It's a marvelous thing. Let's go on to the third, cup it. I'm gonna keep going over these words. Yep. Till we get them.

Christ by highest, heaven adored, Christ the everlasting lord late in time, behold income, offspring of the Virgin's womb, veiled in flesh that Godhead see. Hail the incarnate day at Vailed in flesh that God had seen, hailed the incarnate Vailed, put on So so yesterday, those of us that were doing so Dave Law's put on he got out his legs, yeah, and he put on a Roman a Roman suit. That's what it is to veil yourself. I should have been a wise man, but the enemies of Pete said, no, you must be a herod. And I had to put on the garb of herod, completely unlike me.

I'm much more like a wise man, but I had to veil myself with herod veiled in flesh that here is Jesus putting on flesh, God, putting on flesh, And listen, he didn't come as some handsome man that you see in often those films of Jesus. He certainly wasn't blonde haired and blue eyed walking around Palestine. That would have made him a freak. He was just an ordinary bloke in fact, Isaiah 53 says, there was nothing about him that attracted you to him humanly He was just an ordinary looking man. When you saw him, you saw a human, veiled in flesh.

He really was. He took on this flesh, this dust, this stuff that has entropy on it. But look, the Godhead Sea. The term Godhead means all the fullness of God, fullness of the deity of God You wanna know what God looks like. You wanna know what God is like, then you look at Jesus.

You don't have to take a big book out about the immutability of God. You'll never understand God through philosophy. You'll understand God through Jesus. When you look at Jesus, Jesus said, if anyone see me, they've seen the father. Hail, the incarnate deity.

Encarnate. Just you know, you you have chili con carne. That's flesh. It's chili flesh. What it is.

Chile meat. And that's what this is, incarnate, in flesh, God in flesh. Hail the flesh. God. God in flesh.

G k chesterton, was a Victorian writer. He's a he's a fantastic writer. He is worth reading it and sometimes sticking at reading because it can be quite difficult because quite quaint. But 1 of his quotes is this, and I love this. He says, truth must necessarily be stranger than fiction.

Truth must necessarily be stranger than fiction. Fiction, he says, is the creation of the human mind, and therefore, congenial to it. So fiction fits with our mind. Truth must be stranger. And here is a strange truth, God was big enough to become small.

Extra straw God was big enough to become small. God never ceasing to be God was created in a womb, in the flesh. Extraordinary, isn't it? Imagine the frustration of that. Imagine you being the greatest artist and greatest designer and creator and maker shoved in a womb for 9 months being made.

Extraordinary the invisible being made visible. God the son who is adored in the highest heaven taking on dust and becoming a man, the holy 1 coming into a world of sinners. They are the verses that we read. Just have a look at these. From Philipp's to 2, the next slide.

In your relationships with 1 another, have the same mindset of Christ Jesus. And what's the mindset of Christ Jesus? Listen to this, who being in the very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he who's the he? Christ, in highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting lord, He, Christ in highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting lord, made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, Christ in highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting lord, a servant, Being made in human likeness and being found in the appearance of a man, he humbled himself, Christ the everlasting lord, In highest heaven adored, humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death on a cross.

No wonder, that's what God is like. Because in the next verse, you see that that's the 1 he exalts. Just go over. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place in heaven, he's back there again. Adored for what, forgiving himself.

And gave him the name above every name that every that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven on an earth, and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledged that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. There he is, veiled in flesh that God had see hailly incarnate deity, but look at the next next couple in this this song. I'm gonna read it again. Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting lord, late in time behold in come. Off spring of the Virgin's womb, veiled in flesh the God said God head see.

Hail the incarnate deity. And here we are, pleased as man with man to dwell. Jesus are emmanuel. Pleased as man with man to dwell Jesus are Emmanuel. Man there, that first man is the single man Jesus.

Pleased as man that he would become dust, the everlasting Lord, And the second man with man to dwell is the generic word for man, mankind, people, humankind, men, women, boys and girls, us. But I wanna emphasize that word, pleased. It's extraordinary, isn't it? It's not duty and who am Ist? It's not that God's to the father said go.

He said, He's pleased. Now, that doesn't mean to say it didn't massively cost him. It didn't mean to say that it was going to drain him and cost him. My father, he says, if it's possible made this cup be taken from me, but not yet not my will, but your will be done. It cost him greatly, massively, cost him.

But he's still pleased to do it. It's like a mother saving their little child, isn't it? Or a father? That, you know, if you see the little child and there's a car coming, the mother will just jump out in front of the car and may get massacred by the car, broken legs, arms, back. It hurts.

It's painful. It's costly. But she's pleased to do it. Because it rescues her child. So this cost the Lord Jesus everything, the eternal becoming dust to be a servant, to die on a cross, even the death on the cross, it cost him.

But he's pleased to do it. Please. Pleased to stand amongst us, that this 1 was pleased to stand amongst us. Couple of years ago, I caught the bus, the 4 65. Just just down by the sort of guildhall.

And I got on it. It was quite full. In fact, it was very full. There was standing room only, except for 1 seat. There's 1 seat next to this bloke, next to the aisle.

The 1 seat was empty, and I couldn't understand it because people were standing. And I thought to myself, whoa, I I don't want that seat because I wanna read my bible. And so I'd quite like that seat. So I'd said to people, remember I'm sitting all the way. No.

No. No. You don't I thought, what's going on here? And I sat down. And as soon as my bottom touched the the seat, I realized why no 1 was sitting next to this bloke.

He apps Absolutely. I could smell something, but I just thought it was someone had let something go. But this bloke absolutely hundred percent reeked. He stank. I didn't know what to do.

I was not pleased to be sitting there, in fact, I got off at the next bus stop and waited for half an hour for the next bus. But the 1 who's been adored in the highest heaven, the everlasting lord, was pleased. To come amongst you. And if you think you smell better in your sin than that man, you are so mistaken. To the beautiful, gorgeous, adorable, perfect son of God.

He was pleased to stand amongst transgresses. Jesus are Emmanuel. God with us. God was pleased to be with us. See, Jesus, get this, please.

It's so important. Jesus came to to give us much more than just information about God. He didn't even give us gifts You gotta get out of your head that God at Christmas time gave the gift of love and gave the gift of truth. And gave the gift of hope and gave the gift of holiness. If they were gifts, created gifts like every gift They're in they'll they'll die.

They'll fade and die. He didn't give gifts of those things. He gave himself. Who is those things? There's a huge difference.

Emmanuel, gave himself who is truth and love and joy and peace. What a gift? Emmanuel, God with us, which leads me to the last phrase. Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting lord, late in time, behold in come, offspring of the Virgin's womb veiled in flesh to Godhead Sea, Hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with man to dwell. Jesus, Ari Manuel.

Hark. Hark. Listen. Will you listen? The herald angels sing glory to the newborn king.

Hark. We're back there again. Hark. Pay attention. Pay attention.

But much more than that. Get this message in your very DNA, and then eternity will be there. Put it into action. Listen. Hark.

The Christ, the heaven the doored 1. Emmanuel, God with us has penetrated into the depths of our darkness and seized our ruin and retched humanity. And recreated it in his everlastingness. Hark Listen to the everlasting Lord. We saw right at the beginning.

That we have limitations and our glory is fading. And everyone in this room is old enough for your glory all of it already to be fading. When you hit 18, you're losing more brain cells, You're dying. Your body will be a wreck not too long from now. But not with God.

There's no limitations with God. Eternal is what he is. Did you get it? For him, time doesn't pass into death. It remains a future forever.

And those who harked to Christ share with him in all the riches of his limitless, timeless, eternal years. God's not in a hurry. He never is. He doesn't need to be. He's not like us rushing around, got to get the bucket list done.

Got to do this, why don't experience this in this world, my life, it means nothing. He doesn't need to do that. And to know that God isn't in a hurry, will quiet your spirit. You don't need everything now. There's plenty of time for that.

You don't need it all crammed into this time. You know when we look at people and say, I wish I had what he had or what she had or why aren't I this? And what? Doesn't matter. It'll come.

There's plenty of time for all of that. To know this relaxes your nerves, you will not miss out. You will not miss out. For those outside of Christ, well, you will. Time is a devouring beast, isn't it?

They're they're sons of dust, and time, and flesh, and entropy. But the gift of eternal life is in Jesus Christ and it's limitless. In God, there is life enough for all and time enough to enjoy it. So respond, Park. Listen.

The second response I should have gone on, can you go on to the next slide? Is a door. Hark and a door adore him, adore this 1. If you don't, You are so sick in your rebellion. Unbelievably, so.

You are so full of self and pride. You are so sick. The only thing I can say to you is don't you know your time is limited? When Jesus was coming in Jerusalem, the disciples were praising him and the religious people that were all into themselves shouted out and said, this is too much and they said, to Jesus. Tell your disciples to shut up, and Jesus said this.

Jesus said this. I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out in praise. Are you harder and thicker than a stone? Because the stones will praise him because they know. Are you so dead your heart is so stone like you can't adore him?

Let yourself go and adore him adore him. There is a third response, but Ben's gonna tell us that next week in the third verse, so you need to come and listen. Father God, Help us. As we sing this song to be reminded of these great truths, that we may hark and adore The Lord Jesus Christ.