Have you ever just looked around you and said something's wrong?
Has there ever been something or maybe even this week or you
know, something that's happening in the world around you and you
just look at it and you say something's wrong here?
Anybody just nod your head. You don't have to raise your
hand. Something's wrong this week.
I was feeling a little guilty because I had a long standing
tradition that I kind of have broken over the last few years
and I I was starting to feel bad about it.
And that tradition was that on Thanksgiving, I like to
celebrate Thanksgiving the way the Pilgrim is meant for us to
celebrate Thanksgiving, which is by stopping at White Castle on
the way home from Thanksgiving dinner.
And so, you know, the last few years I haven't done that.
And I, I thought this year I just was feeling a little bit
guilty about that. And I thought, this is the year
that I reinstate their tradition and I get things back to normal.
Now, listen, I, I, I'm going to get myself in a lot of trouble
if I don't say some things today.
The cooking at Thanksgiving is wonderful.
It's just not my favorite meal. The food was fine, just not my
favorite meal. And so I've always supplemented
the meal with delicious White Castle sliders, the best food.
By the way, South, I probably shouldn't do advertisements, but
South Lebanon, White Castle, the freshest in all the land.
You got to check it out. Anyway, So, so Thursday night
we, we had Thanksgiving dinner and, and it was good.
It was good dinner. And on the way home, I thought,
you know, I'm not really hungry, but I really do, you know, want
to get back to my roots of White Castle.
But I went home and we're hanging out at the house.
And then a couple hours later, one of the boys wanted to come
up to the gym and play some sports.
And so I thought, OK, I'll take you up to the gym, thinking this
is my opportunity. And so I drove up to the gym,
dropped the boys off, and then I headed down 42 because the
closest one now is down at 42 and 275.
So I headed down 42 on my way to White Castle.
I got down there. There were no lights on.
Since when does White Castle close closed?
9:30 We're not talking midnight, we're talking 9:30.
Maybe I was too early. Maybe they open at 11 or
something. But.
But I got there in my hopes and dreams were just dashed.
And all I could think is something is wrong with this
world when White Castle is closed.
No White Castle for me. You ever you ever thought that?
You ever just thought something is wrong?
Not about White Castle. You probably don't have the same
convictions I do. You know, I told I'm coaching
basketball this year and I told them I'm a pastor and our
services end at noon. And so I will coach.
But there is no way that I can coach any game before 1:00 PM.
And I got my schedule this week and I have some games before 1
PM, 10 AM on Sunday, basketball games.
A couple weeks ago we, we had a volleyball tournament tournament
down in Nashville. And, and listen, I, I really, I
don't want anyone to think that I'm being condescending or I
don't want anyone to think that I'm speaking I'll against you.
I'm not. But I want you to say, I want
you to know that I, I think something's messed up in our
world that sports have taken over.
And, and, and listen, I'm there. I'm not, I know, I, I'm living
in this place as a parent that I have kids that are into sports
and I love sports and I want them to be able to play.
But in order for them to play, there's conflict.
And, and, and so I understand where everyone's at, but I sat
there in Nashville a couple weeks ago and it was really
great watching, I love watching my kids play.
I mean, I, I made it through the whole first service, didn't cry
until the very end. And here I am 2 minutes in.
I love watching my kids play sports.
I, I was super proud. But I sat there thinking
something's wrong when we're spending weekends and weekends
and weekends and we're not even doing all of it, but but it
something's wrong when that's taking over life, when you look
at our political system, when you look at the way we interact,
when you look at a simple Facebook post about something
you know, totally arbitrary can turn into hatred, Something's
wrong, right? You've experienced this.
We have hope. Today is the start of Advent
season. And maybe you have thought those
thoughts. Something's wrong, something's
off. Today, as we start Advent
season, the season of preparing ourselves for the coming of the
King, I want you to know that there is something wrong.
There's a lot of things wrong with our world, but the good
news is the King has come and the King is coming again.
Advent is a season that we look back, we celebrate what has
happened, that Jesus came to earth, took on flesh, became one
of us and walked this earth, ultimately gave his life so that
we could have salvation and in life.
And so we celebrate and Advent what has happened, but we also
look forward. Advent is not just about looking
back, it's about looking forward.
And so today, if we say something's wrong, yes, but I've
got good news. The King has come and the king
is coming again, and all will be made right.
Over 1000 years before Jesus showed up, there were
prophecies, there were promises of this coming king, this coming
Messiah. We're going to be looking at
those over the Advent season. Today we're in Jeremiah 23.
Jeremiah is in that the the context of Jeremiah is exactly
where what I was talking about. The people, something's wrong.
They're God's people, the Israelites, they've followed
him. He's delivered them and then and
then raised up kings. We have David and the Lion of
Kings of David. And God had delivered them and,
and God had given them a place and God had given them an
identity and a purpose. But over the course of time,
those kings and leaders and even religious leaders had LED them
astray. And all of a sudden there were
false gods. There were false idols just like
there are today that God in the way and took the place of the
one God, the true God and so Jeremiah in this in writing.
This is a prophet. Jeremiah is called to call out
to proclaim judgment, but also to proclaim the good news.
The promised 1 is coming. Staying with me, we're in
Jeremiah 23 and this isn't going to be on the screen.
The 1st 4 verses, verse five and six will.
But the context of this is that the, the people have been LED
astray. They they've turned away.
They're worshipping other gods, just like in our world, people
have have turned away and it's complicated and it's tricky and
it's messy. That's where the people were the
the leadership, the kings, the religious leaders had had LED
them astray and the people had begun to to go their own path.
And so in Jeremiah 23, starting in verse one says woe to the
shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my
pasture, declares the Lord. Therefore this is what the Lord
the God of Israel says to the shepherds who tend my people.
Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and
have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you
for the evil you have done, declares the Lord.
But then in verse 3 we see a turn.
I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the
countries where I've driven them and will bring them back to
their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in
number. I will play shepherds over them
who will tend to them, and they will no longer be afraid or
terrified, nor will any be missing, declares the Lord.
Now stay up because we still got two more verses.
But once again, something's wrong.
This is addressing political leaders, kings, and it's
addressing religious leaders. Really toward the end of the
chapter, it gets more into the religious leaders, but but
they've been LED astray and and the people are living in this
conflict and and they've messed up.
And so Jeremiah comes and and, and the prophecy is there's
going to be judgment, there's going to be punishment, there's
going to be exile. But in verse 3 we see God will
gather his people back. God will take care of them.
Verse 5 the days are coming. Say that with me the days are
coming. Say it again, the days are
coming declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a
righteous branch, a king who will reign wisely and will do
what is just in right in the land.
In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called the Lord, our
righteous Savior. Praise Lord, you can have a
seat. So.
So we have the prophecy of judgment.
Something's wrong. You've been LED astray.
We have the promise that God has not forgotten about his people.
He will gather them back. Then we have the promise of a
coming king, a savior. The days are coming when I will
raise up a righteous branch, a king and and the people will be
saved. Advent is a time to look back.
I've got good news. The promised one has come.
That's what we celebrated. Advent, the king has come and we
will celebrate it through this next month.
But we also understand the King is coming again.
God's promises are always true. So let's work through this.
The days are coming. Stay with me one more time.
The days are coming. Now the reason I have you say
that with me is because it's not just the days have happened, but
the days are coming. If we're sitting here in our
world and we're saying something's wrong, something's
off, something's messed up, yes, but the days are coming when the
king is coming again and he will restore what's broken.
The days are coming, declares Lord, when I will raise up for
David a righteous branch. I want to start here.
God had promised to David that that he would bring a a savior,
A Messiah from his line. And in Second Samuel Chapter 7,
this is the promise to David. The Lord declares to you that
the Lord himself will establish a house for you when the days
when your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will
raise up your offspring to succeed you and your own flesh
and blood, and I will establish his Kingdom.
He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will
establish the throne of his Kingdom forever.
I will be his Father and he will be my Son.
The promise is through David, God will bring a Messiah, a
king. Now we Fast forward and the
people have messed up the the line of kings.
Some of them were good. David was a a good king.
There were other good kings. The current king at the time of
writing this is Zedekiah. He was not a good king.
You know that sometimes we have leaders that are good.
We have leaders that are bad, right?
Hopefully you're not in one of those bad times right now.
There were good kings. There were bad kings.
There were kings that led people toward God.
There were kings that led people away from God.
There were religious leaders that led people to God.
That is my goal to point you to Jesus.
And there were kings that were selfish and, and were self
interested and were corrupt and LED them the wrong way.
And so, so the promise had come. But at this point, if you
thought of the Kingdom David's line as a tree, it's as if the
tree was withered or falling down.
Anyone have a dead tree in your yard?
Anybody. I'm the only one.
OK, great. I hope none of my homeowners
association is here. Yeah.
Thank you. I appreciate you.
I got this little tree in the backyard.
It's it's like nothing on it for years.
I'm like, I need to chop that thing down.
But every once in a while in the spring, something will shoot out
of it. There's new life.
You've seen that right? Something that appears to be
dead will sprout new life and you're reminded that it's not
totally dead. That's where the the whole line
of David here. It was like it was like the the
tree was cut off. It was like it's over in the and
they're facing the judgement in the condemnation.
But but God says the days are coming when I will raise up for
David a righteous branch out of the seemingly dead.
A new, a shoot, a branch comes up, and that branch is Jesus.
See, God had promised, and when God promises something, it comes
true. We can mess up, we can blow it,
we can get off track. And that's what the people had
done. That's what the kings, the
leaders had LED them astray and they're facing judgement.
And it's as if Jeremiah's saying, listen, I, I hate to
tell you this, but it's going to get worse before it gets better.
But the good news is it's going to get better.
The judgement is coming. I, I love what I, I read this
week. I thought this was really good.
It said the judgement was coming, but it was just the
beginning of God's ultimate plan of restoration.
See, when we face judgment or discipline, we think it's the
end. But the truth of the gospel is
God has promised us the hope of eternal life.
And when we mess up, when we blow it, when our world is
messed up and we say, hey, something's not right here, that
doesn't mean that God is gone. He's abandoned.
Yes, they blew it. Jeremiah was there to say you've
messed up, you've gone your own way.
But good news, God's promise stands, and a righteous branch
will come out of the line of David.
Jesus is from the line of David because God's promises never
fail. That's good news.
Today the king was coming. Spoiler alert, the king has
come. That's what we celebrate at
Christmas. The king has come.
The prophecy is true. The second thing, what what is
the king come to deliver? Well, verse 5A, King who will
reign wisely, who will do what is just and do what is right in
the land. What would this king, what would
this righteous branch do? He would bring justice, he would
bring wisdom, he would bring righteousness to the land.
So we look at our world and we say something is wrong and it
looks like at times that the bad is winning over the good, right?
It seems like people that are not following God are, are
prospering where at other times the people of God aren't.
But a king is coming who will reign wisely, who will do what
is just and right. Jesus came and Jesus is the
truth. He sets things right.
And so Jesus came and and he showed up and the promise was
true. But I want to say this again, He
is coming again. And we're living in this weird
in between right now where Jesus has come and he's shown the way,
but we still live under some corruption, some difficulty,
some brokenness. And sometimes we say something's
not right. Sometimes we've, I think this is
probably where the people were that, that we can be torn in the
middle. Like we know that something's
not right, but what do we do? What's the path forward?
And Jesus came to reign wisely, to be just and right.
Here's the good news. The Savior has come and he's
shown us the way. We have this amazing gift, God's
word, that teaches us who he is and what he's all about.
And so in the in the difficulty, in the tough decisions, because
it's tough to live in this place where something's not right.
Admittedly, guys, I'm a father, love my kids, love sports, want
my kids to do well. There's a lot of places in my
life that I feel this tension of something's wrong.
Good news is the king has come who is right and just and you.
And you know what? When the world is full of
hatred, when the world is worshipping idols, we don't have
to because the king has come, a king who will reign wisely.
See, there were kings that were good.
They were kings that were bad. But but King David, you know,
King David was a good king. You know, he didn't always do
everything perfectly. In fact, he messed up in some
pretty big ways. But the true king has come who
is right and just the one who is perfect.
It goes on in verse 6 in the days in his days, Judah will be
saved and Israel will live in safety.
So so the king is coming. The righteous branch is coming
up from the line of David. He is the king that is just and
righteous and is wise and and but I want you to see this next
part. It says in his days Judah will
be saved and Israel will live in safety.
This is a short term promise, but it's also a long term
promise and it's for all of us that we can live in the safety
and salvation of Jesus, the King who has come and is coming
again. Here's the thing.
He's not just a good king that's wise.
He's not just a good king that is righteous.
He's not just a good king that brings justice.
He's a king who loves his people and wants to save his people and
wants to give them life and peace and safety and hope in the
midst of brokenness. Jesus is the King that delivers
justice, righteousness, and salvation to the people.
That's us. Somebody get excited about this
guy. Somebody say Amen.
Come on. I feel like nobody's with me
here. Come on And listen, I get it.
We talk about this every year and I feel that as a pastor.
But I want you to know that the King has come and he's coming
again. And he didn't come just to be a
good king. He came to save his people.
And that's good news, because that's the only reason that any
one of us is here. He brings justice, He brings
righteousness, He brings salvation.
Jesus is the king. And even in a broken and a
corrupt world, we can live. This is the cool thing, guys.
We can sit here as the church and we can say something's wrong
and we've all done that right. Just nod with me so I know
you're with me. We've all done that right?
We've said something's wrong here, OK?
Can I tell you that? Because Jesus has come, because
the righteous and just King has come and offers salvation and
grace, we the people of God can live right and just right now in
2025, in the brokenness, we can be a people of peace and
righteous and righteousness and justice.
All right, let me, I talked about sports.
I'm going to, I'm going to take a detour back here for a second.
I want to encourage you guys if, if sports are an issue, which
they are for my family and they are for a lot of us, I want to
encourage you that you can still worship.
You can still worship every single day.
You can still pray and, and you, you can even still worship on
the weekends. Maybe your, maybe your games are
going to be during worship time, but I promise you, there are
churches. One of the, one of the great
things about today is that we have the opportunity to put the
service out there so that you can join us.
Even if it's later, you can join us or there are all these other
churches. This is really cool.
I went to Nashville. I got on Google Church of the
Nazarene. There were two churches of the
Nazarenes within 10 miles of me that I could go to.
Praise the Lord. I had the gift of being able to
worship even though I had the struggle.
OK, political stuff, the hatred, the division.
You don't have to be a part of that.
In fact, not just you don't have to be a part of it.
You should not be a part of it. You should be a person of grace
and love and truth, not a person of division and hatred.
Good news, the King has come. He's righteous.
He's he's bringing justice, He is good.
He loves His people and He offers us the path today.
You're not left to your own devices to figure out how to
live a righteous life in a broken world.
You have the Word of God and you are filled.
If you're a follower of Jesus, you are filled with the Holy
Spirit and you can pray and you can be guided by the Spirit to
know how to navigate this world. It's tricky.
Guys, please understand, I am not getting on anybody.
I'm not trying to bring condemnation, but I do want to
be true to the Word of God that there is judgement and that our
world is corrupt and broken. And it's tricky and it's tough,
but there's a King that's come and he reigns.
And if he reigns in my heart and my life, he shows me the way,
shows me how to live in the midst of the mess.
Jesus has come. The third part of this.
This is the name by which he will be called the Lord, our
righteous Savior. So, so the righteous branch is
coming. The promise is fulfilled.
The promise is true. A king is coming.
He's a good king. He's a righteous king.
He's a just king. He's also a king for his people,
that loves his people, that offers us justice and
righteousness and all of that. And verse 6 tells us he's the
Messiah. He is the Lord, our righteous
Savior. Now this is kind of cool.
At this time King Zedekiah, the king of the people, was a messed
up bad king that led them astray.
The the name Zedekiah actually means God is righteous.
It's it's his name proclaims that God is righteous and good,
but his leadership in his life LED people away from God's
goodness and righteousness. You see the problem there?
But this righteous branch, this king, well, his name is the
Lord, our righteous Savior, Jehovah Sidkanu, the Lord, our
righteousness. Not just a name, but in
function, Jesus, the one that has come, the one that we look
back and we celebrate, and the one that we look forward to, his
coming again is our righteousness. 2nd Corinthians 5
says God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him
we might become the righteousness of God.
This is so cool, guys. We can look around and we can
say the world's messed up, but if I'm being really honest, I
can stand before you today and say I failed.
I've messed up, I've fallen short.
And there's not a person in here that can sit, can stand up here
and not say the same thing. Every single one of us has
fallen short, but a savior has come, the Lord of Righteousness.
He's not just a prophecy. He's not just a king.
He's not just a good king. He's not just a king that's for
his people. He is our savior and our
righteousness. Here's the beautiful thing.
I don't care what you've done. I don't care how far you've
missed the mark. If you accept Him as your Lord
and your Savior, when you stand before God, it won't be a
laundry list of all of your sins and all of your shortcomings.
What the Father will see is the righteousness of Christ.
That's good news, guys. The King has come, the promised
one has come. He showed up.
God made him who had no sin to be sin.
That doesn't mean that Jesus sinned.
It means that that he took on the sin of all of us and gave
his life as a sacrifice so that we could be saved, that that he
took our place. And now he is the Lord, our
righteous Savior. Praise the Lord, guys.
Something's wrong with our world, to be honest.
Something's wrong in the church sometimes something's wrong with
leaders. We're not perfect.
And sometimes kings and political leaders and, you know,
bosses and all of those things, sometimes something's wrong.
I've got good news. The king has come and he's
righteous and he's just, and he is the Lord, our righteous
savior worship team. Come on up, stand with me.
Today as we start Advent, we look back.
We're talking about hope today for the people in Jeremiah, for
the people of Israel that Jeremiah is prophesying to.
His message is a message of judgment, but his message is
ultimately a message of hope and a message of a coming Messiah
and Savior. And the message is the same
today. Something's wrong.
There will be judgment. Here's the beautiful thing.
Jesus has come. He gave his life so that we
could be forgiven, so that we could be saved.
So as we start the Advent season, I want to call you to
worship. And, and here's the thing, all
you have to do to to have the righteousness of Christ is
accept him as your Lord and Savior to say, forgive me for my
sins. I want you to be my Lord.
I want you to be my king. Sure, we're going to live under
presidents and we're going to live under bosses and we're
going to live under, you know, crazy things that are messed up.
But today there is one true King, and He is our first
authority, and he lives. As we talked about earlier, He
lives. And today all you have to do is
believe, surrender, repent, and turn to Him.
And you are made clean. You are given righteousness.
And yeah, something's messed up in our world, but we don't have
to be. We can live in his
righteousness. As we sing this last song, I
want to encourage you to respond.
If you've never made that commitment, today you can make
that commitment. It's simple.
It's just to say, hey, I've messed up.
But Lord, I want to follow you. If you've already done that,
then this should be a time of celebration and praise and
recommitting ourself. Let's make sure that every
single one of us is there. Jesus came.
The promised one showed up and he offers us life and salvation
today. Don't miss it.
Father, speak to us, help us to respond to you today.
We give you everything. We worship you.
If there's anyone here that's been maybe missing the mark, if
there's anyone here that's been messed up, if there's anyone
here that's maybe been worshipping the wrong gods,
Lord, today I pray we would surrender everything to you,
that you would be our safe here. You would be our king.
I thank you Lord that you're here.
You're moving our hearts in Jesus name.