Well, I reserve the right to
refuse to come. By the way, I'm Ann James Shuler's
brother. Thank you for both those specials,
they were sweet. Well, as you heard our brother
read, he read the Christmas story, so... I'm gonna preach on the
Christmas story. So this is your Christmas message
this year. So, religiously, you only have
one more service to attend, that'll be Easter, so you'll be all right. What was read to you is a gospel
from on high. Good news for poor, wretched
sinners. This takes place sometimes between
the middle of October and the middle of November, which was Zechariah's season
for his priesthood. It was also the time of grazing
for the sheep, the season before the month of
Marsh Javan. And Marsh Javan was the rainy season. And it had to do with the brook
Kidron. The brook Kidron was really just
a ditch. For most of the year, they cast
every bit of refuse and vileness into that ditch. And it was nasty. And it stank. And then came moisture
man, the rainy season. and that filled that ditch with
clear water and run all that refuge down into the Dead Sea.
It was this time of the year that the rain from heaven came,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and washed away the sin of His people. It was this time of the year
that God ripped open the skies and physically stepped into this
terrestrial area. It was the second watch of the
night, midnight, the graveyard shift. And the shepherds were quietly
going around their business. And the word says, lo. That's
the title of my message, lo, glory. In case you wanted to
know it, write that down. The angel of the Lord appeared
to them. This word low carries with the element of surprise,
in the sense that this was really something to see. The angel came
upon them, it says. He suddenly and wondrously appeared
in their midst. And it says the glory of the
Lord shone round about them. The word used for glory is a
word that has to do with a great regard or high esteem declaring
that this wondrous occurrence was actually understood for what
it was. This means that the shepherds
knew that they were in the presence of the glory of God. This is
the first publication, the first declaration publicly of the gospel. Until this, only Mary and Joseph
and the six-month-old John the Baptist knew about this. These
shepherds were the elect, the eternally chosen. And we know
this because they understood that they were in the presence
of the glory of God. And we know that the natural
man receiveth not the things of the spirit, they are foolishness
to him, neither can he know them nor discern them because they
are spiritually discerned. But the spiritual man discerneth
all things. Yet he is not discerned of any.
When they perceived that they were in the presence of God,
they were said to be filled with fear and awe. In verse 9, this
is a reasonable fear for no man shall see God and live. But this
glory, however, does not cause fear for life or incite fight
or flight. This fear is reverence and awe. for the word that was spoken.
And the word that was spoken was the gospel. This glory is
God shining in the heart of men. It's actually a divine, audible
proclamation of the means of grace. The only means that God
employs in the salvation of the elect. That is the preaching
of the gospel. This glory is God shining. It
speaks of that in the Psalms. Our God has shined out of Zion,
out of Zion. In both the Old and New Testaments,
the word shepherd is almost always metaphorical with a pastor or
for a pastor. Here and in every other passage
in the New Testament, the word shepherd and pastor are the same
in the original language. Even the term angel is accounted
for as pastor in Revelation 1. So here out in this meadow, surrounded
by sheep, are some shepherds, some pastors. Not the noble,
not the wise, but the lowest sort of folk. mere shepherds
appointed to a singular task of feeding and caring for God's
flock. That's all they're there for. That's all the pastor's
there for, to feed the flock of God. Our Lord, after the fishermen
had quit the gospel preaching and gone out to take up fishing
again, when he told them to cast the nets on the other side and
they brought in all the fish that was in the sea, he stood
on the shore and said, ain't you all hungry? How sweet. And he cooked them a meal, and
as Peter sat across the fire from him, he said, do you love
me? Peter said, yeah, you know I love you. He said, feed my
sheep. Then again he asked him, Peter,
do you love me? He said, you know I love you, Lord. He said,
feed my lambs. And he asked him again, Peter,
do you love me? He said, Lord, you know everything.
You know I love you. feed my sheep. That's the job,
the singular and only job of the pastor is to care and feeding
of God's flocks. These shepherds appointed to
a singular task and these shepherds abode in the wilderness which
means that's an intimation of being alone or be by themselves
not the heart of polite society. Brother Mahan told me one time
many years ago when I first started, he said, be everybody's friend
and nobody's best friend. You're alone in the wilderness
for a great part of your life, keeping watch over the flock.
And it says, to them the angel spoke, to them. to them, not
to the world, not to the synagogue, not to the nameless, faceless
multitude, but a few ignoble, inconsequential pastors. To them
did the angel of the Lord appear. Then in verse nine, it says the
angel of the Lord, the messenger from the Lord God came upon them. This signifies showing up unannounced
and unexpected, and they were surrounded with the glory of
God. The first words that proceed
from the mouth of the angel, the words of comfort and peace
to the elect, for they are good tidings. I bring you good tidings. That's just another way of saying
the gospel. The good spiel, the good spell,
the good tidings, the good news, as we say. The message is not
the message of fear and despair or work yet to be done. but rather
of great joy. Joy is said to be the inward
disposition of the new heart and mind, the heart and mind
touched by sovereign grace. It is a calm of peace in the
soul. The message is said to be to
all people, yet it was only revealed to a few. Perhaps this is a reference
to the preaching of the gospel to the entire world. It is, however,
delivered in person, but to a few. to God's people. The thing to
be considered is the kind of people to whom the glory of the
Lord was revealed and to whom the gospel was preached and is
preached. The glory of the Lord is not
revealed to Herod, who was a king. In fact, when he heard it, he
set out to kill Christ. It was not revealed to the Pharisees.
They were too busy with their religion. Caesar Augustus didn't
get the message. And neither was it delivered
in the city of David. It was revealed to illiterate,
common, poor laborers in this world. And to the uneducated,
and the undesired, and the unkempt of the world, the gospel was
personally delivered. It says, unto you, unto you in
verse 11, for unto you is born this day in the city of David,
a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. For unto you, not the masses,
not the religious, not the righteous, not the good, but a lowly bunch
of herdsmen, is born the Savior, Here we find out who is the you
of Matthew, or rather Isaiah 964, unto you a child is born. We know he's born in the city
of David. Micah prophesied that, but thou
Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands
of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto me, that is to
be a ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old and
from everlasting, a savior. For unto us a child is born,
and unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Mighty,
the Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. This is who came, and this is
who was announced. He had already come. He had already
been born. He was laying in a manger, in
a cow trough, in some little stable somewhere, and the angel
showed up and started, something's happened. Someone has come and
that one who's come is none other than the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. How sweet and precious the language
of God is. Who would be interested in such
a message of a Savior coming? To whom would it be good news?
Only those who need one. Only those who need a Savior.
We talk about Jesus Christ, you see his name plastered on signs
along the road, Jesus is Lord. You see all these religious signs
in front of churches. They talk about Jesus all the
time and they think that people need him. But I've been pastoring for 44
years, you've been at it longer than I have. And I found that
most people have no need of him at all. But occasionally, rarely
and wondrously, the messenger appears and speaks the words,
and the glory of God comes, and a sinner's found who has a need. A need. He needs to be saved. The concept
of salvation is so watered down to mean nothing in this day,
but you don't need to be saved unless you're in trouble, You
don't need to be saved unless someone's holding you captive.
You don't need to be saved unless you're in the bondage of sin. You don't need to be saved. If
you don't know that about yourself, the only way you know it is if
the Holy Spirit teaches you. You don't know you have a need.
You don't have a need. And I've had people actually
say, I don't need to hear this. I don't need to hear this. The
Savior, this Savior that was born unto you is the one promised
and anointed and sent by God. He is the Christ. The Christ,
the theme and song of scripture, the message of every gospel preacher,
the Christ whom God sent to sit as a king on Zion's holy hill. the Christ who came to finish
transgression, make an end of sins, make reconciliation for
iniquity, and bring in everlasting righteousness, and seal up the
vision of the prophecy, and anoint the Most High. And He will do
it, this babe who's in a manger. He'll complete it because He's
the Lord and He cannot fail. King of kings. What intrigued
me about this passage was a phrase in verse 15. of our text. It says, And it
came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven,
the shepherds said one to another, Let us go now, even unto Bethlehem,
and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath
made known unto us. What a thing! There are two things
very important, paramount importance in this short passage. Though
they heard these words from an angel and from the messenger,
they did not attribute the words to the messenger. They attributed
it to the words of the Lord. The Lord told them, they said.
The Lord had made this known unto them. Though they saw the
messenger in the midst of the brightness of the glory of God,
they attributed the words of the Lord to the Lord. You know
what Paul said in 1 Thessalonians? He said, you heard us talk, but
when you heard us, you said, that's not your words. That's
the very Word of God you're speaking there. The very Word of God. It's not the messenger. It's
never the messenger. Except in one case, where Christ
was both the message and the messenger. But it's never the
messenger, it's the message. It's the message. With the words
made known, the shepherds declared that what they now know they
knew by revelation. Made known. The shepherds declared
that what they knew, somebody told them. If they are to know
anything, it must be by revelation. We looked at that last night.
And our Lord, thank God, Lord of heaven and earth, that he
had revealed these things and that he had hid these things
from the wise and the prudent and revealed them unto babes.
Because it seemed good in his sight. No man knoweth the father
but the son, no man knoweth the son but the father, and he to
whomsoever the son will reveal him. Barnard, you say gospel
is by revelation, and it is. Has God been revealed to you
in Jesus Christ? We who know the gospel do not
know it by overwhelming human reason. We do not know it by
our inflated deductive skills or our years in academic endeavor. If we know the truth, all glory
is to sometime a messenger came along out of nowhere and told
us. and the glory of God filled the area. God sent it to us like
a sudden shower, like marsh javan. He revealed it to us. There's
a passage over in Joel chapter 2 and verse 29 where
he talks about the former and the latter reign. If you have
a marginal reading, those things mean the teacher of righteousness. The former reign means the teacher
of righteousness and the latter reign, the original meaning is
according to righteousness. That's the reign from God. That's
how it comes. Woke up this morning, went out,
opened up the garage door and there was snowflakes falling.
I thought of the words of Job, hast thou entered into the storehouse
of the snow? I wasn't expecting snow, but
there it was. I wasn't expecting rain, but the Word of God came
to me one night. I was a preacher when He did.
I was a sovereign grace preacher when He did. I was a legalistic
sovereign grace preacher when He did. Jim was there that night. Moose Parks was there. Missionary
of the Caribbean was there. W.R. Cruz was the man preaching. I thought I knew everything.
I was a theological whatchacallit. And that night, the messenger came. And the glory
of the Lord shone round about. And I was so afraid. But the
message was sweet. Peace on earth. and God's goodwill toward men
was revealed. What a thing. What was the thing
that the Lord made known to these shepherds, these pastors? It was the gospel preached by
the messenger of God. Our God, excuse me, in his great
wisdom never uses words for a filler, never does. When he said something,
it's because he had something to say. Over and over in the
message, which his angel preached, is the principle of how the gospel
is revealed, how men come to know it. The words of the messenger
are wonderful. He said, behold, I bring. Do
you know the word bring in the original language means preach? Behold, I preach. And then he
said, I preach good tidings. And you know what that is in
the original word? Preach. I preach preaching, is
what he said. There's no preaching that is
not the gospel. Did you know that? Men may spend
their life taking this word apart and coming up with all kinds
of little ditties for folks to put on their wall and hang around
their neck. All kinds of little things to
become mottos for their life to help them in this world along.
But if a man does not preach the gospel, he does not preach
the word of God. And a man cannot preach the word
of God unless he preaches the gospel. It's just that simple.
We bring good tidings to you. Good tidings. Same word. Bring
in good tidings. Same word. There is no preaching
if it's not the gospel. If you know the gospel. If you
know the gospel. It ain't cause you heard it from
a bluebird. It ain't cause it was written on some sign. Somewhere
along the line, somebody came and told you something. God raised
a man up on his hind legs to come and tell you the gospel.
Preach the word. And I know that people say, well
you can read the word of God and be saved. And I ain't going
to corner God and say that don't happen. Because there's a lot
of sermons in the Bible of men actually preaching sermons about
Christ. So that could happen. But, I don't have warrant or
reason to tell you that. Because faith comes by what?
Hearing. And hearing by what? The Word
of God. The Word of God. And Peter made
it clear, we're not born again of corruptible seed, but incorruptible. Even the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. All men are like grass. Like
the flower of the field, they come forth and they fade away.
It ain't nothing to them. But the word of the Lord endureth
forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you. God is pleased through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. That don't mean foolish
preaching. It means the fools that say it.
The foolish men. To the world it's foolish. Think
about it. It isn't a wonder and an amazing
thing for me to stand up here, be nobody, except I'm Ann James
Shuler's sister, that's about it. You see who got the talent
and the looks in the family. Nobody, nothing. Why? Why does God choose men? Wretched,
vile creatures who can't rubbed two thoughts together most of
their lives. Why? For the glory of His grace. So
that nobody can ever look at me and say, you did something
for me. Nobody can look at Jim and say,
you saved me. They're going to have to say,
we were saved in spite of you and in spite of me. God sends
men to preach the gospel. And it brings great joy, for
it speaks of the greatest of persons. Paul said, we rejoice
in Christ Jesus. These glad tidings are to all
people. This phrase, all people, means
a great part of the population gathered together, a group, a
tribe, a nation, all those who are of the same father, the same
stock, and same language. That sound familiar? We read
in Hebrews on the first night how Christ said, I'm not ashamed
to call them brethren. They're all children of God.
And because they were children, I took flesh and blood and came
and saved them. Language is so important, you
see. It's how we communicate. It's how we become communities. Because we can understand one
another. I understand a little bit of Cherokee language. Not
a great deal, but I can understand sometimes. And I always listen
for one word. Unagi. That means white man. So if that's in the language,
I know they're talking about me. But isn't that what happens
when we hear a foreign language? We listen and we think, they're
talking about me. We think that, don't we? Isn't
that what God meant when he said, I'll have them in derision? Those
who oppose his sovereignty. He says, I'll let them mock when
their fear cometh. I'll laugh and I'll have them
in derision. You know what derision means? You'll speak to them in
a language they do not understand. Language is so important. God
divided the language at Babel, didn't he? So men couldn't understand
each other. And so they had to, whoever spoke
the same language gathered in communities and moved and formed
communities. Language is important. God says
in Zephaniah 9 about his people, I'm going to turn them to a pure
language. A pure language. He says in Hebrews chapter 1,
God at certain times and in diverse manners spoken to the fathers
by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us in son. That's his language. That's the
language. And you know what? I got friends
over in India that I don't even know. That little book I wrote
on Galatians has been translated into a thousand copies and sent
to India. They sent me one that I don't understand any of it.
But they're my brothers and sisters because we do speak the same
language. Even though our language that we speak in nature is not
the same, we have the same language. That pure language. That Word
of God. That Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Gathered people. Stock of the
same stock and the same Father. The same Father. Genesis 49 says,
Judah, to Judah shall all the gathering of the people be. All
of them will be gathered at Christ. This Gospel is a person. I think
Henry May was the first person I ever heard say that. The gospel
is a person, a particular person. Particularly described. The person
is born unto you. What a thing. Who is born unto
you? A people who have the same father
and same language. A people who gathered out of
a great population. Particularly to these shepherds,
these pastors. Unto you a child is born. The
infinite days and the ancient of days. The child is the savior.
He's born with a title. Why call him that? Now he's just
a baby in a manger, but he's said to be the Savior. Why call
him that? It's not a job application. He's said to be the Savior. Why? Ain't one reason to call
him that. Ain't one reason to have that
title. That is because he saves his people. That's why the Lord
gave him that name. Thou shalt call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sin. Old Simeon took
him up when he was just a babe, held him in his arms and looked
at him and said, you can take me to heaven now. I've seen the
salvation of God. You know, Anna, the prophetess,
who was hanging around in the temple at the time, everybody
come in looking for redemption in Israel, what did she say?
Look to that one, look to that babe. That's the Savior. That's the Savior. The child
is Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one, anointed for the task of
saving his people by substitution and satisfaction. And the greatest
of all is that the one who has undertaken your salvation is
also the same one who possesses all power to perform it. He's
the Lord, Lord over all, Emmanuel, God with us. God with us. Though he is God, yea, very God,
he's a man, a man of humble birth, meek and lowly, born of a woman,
born under the law, the seed of woman. Where are you going
to find him? Where God says he is. He told the shepherds, he's in
a stable, in a manger, and that's where you'll find him. He's meek
and lowly, and you shall find rest to your soul in him. You'll
find him where he is. That's important to know. Where
is he? Well, the shepherds, he was in
a manger. For us, he's enthroned. He's enthroned. Say, well, I
can't go to him there. Well, you can't and you can.
because in Ephesians chapter two it says you're in heavenly
places with him right now. I don't know what that means
but it sure sounds sweet, don't it? It sure sounds sweet. Well,
what is the message? Glory. This is the message. Glory
to God in the highest. That's the message. Glory to
God in the highest. This is the chief end of man
and the sole purpose of all that exists and breathes in this universe. This is the reason that the child
was born in Bethlehem, the Savior, who is Lord. He came and lived.
He gave his life a ransom for many. He died. He rose. He ascended
that God might be glorified. in the salvation of the elect
by the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, which
we will observe and rejoice in in a few moments. The result
of this great doing is that on this earth there is peace. Peace. This is the message. Glory to
God in the highest and peace on earth. Peace on earth. Not among nations. Not among
neighbors. sometimes not among the people
of God. Peace with God by the blood of the cross. Peace with
God. God's not mad at us. He's got
a smile on His face for us. Peace and goodwill toward men. This good will is full of gospel
import. It means God's choice. That's
what His will is. God's choice toward men. His
good pleasure is toward men. He delights in men. He delights
among the people. His delight toward men and His
satisfaction toward men. That's what is His pleasure.
That's His will. These words are words that relate
to the message of the gospel. Words like election and love
and propitiation. Glory to God in the highest and
on earth, peace and goodwill toward men. What happened when
they heard this? Said they came in haste. They
got on the stick as we say, they came in haste. They found Mary
and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger, just like God said
where he was. when you come seeking the one
whom God has promised to the place where God said you will
find him described as God has described him you will find salvation
for your soul look at verse seventeen and when they had seen it they
made known abroad the saying which told them concerning the
child they published it out we see that's what the gospel is
that's what That's what Isaiah said way back in Isaiah chapter
52. Before he told the glory of how
it all took place in chapter 53. He said this, how beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of them that bringeth good tidings.
And that's not talking about pretty feet. It's talking about
the sound of someone coming with the word. The sound of someone
coming, showing up with a good word from God. But what is that
good word that brings good tidings, that publisheth peace? Now, you
can't publish something unless it's already been written. That
publishes peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth
salvation, that saith unto Zion, and this is where all of salvation
begins, saith unto Zion, Reigneth. There you go. There you go. Preach the gospel
to every creature. God will call His own. And it
says they went out and they may have known what had been told
to them. They didn't come up with something
new. They preached the gospel to everyone that was around them.
They say in which they were told or taught or preached to or revealed
concerning this child. And the gospel is concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ according to Romans chapter 1 and verse
6. They preached what they had been preached to them. All that
they had heard it said. They told all that they had heard.
And they told to all that would hear
them. They told it. They told it. They wondered, marveled in admiration
at those things which were told and preached to them by the shepherds,
is what it said. This is the first New Testament
preaching of the gospel. The first time. It not only sets
forth the message, but also the means by which the message is
delivered. God's going to raise up a fellow to tell you the truth. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call on Him
in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe on
Him in whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sinned? That's a formula, folks. That's
God's formula for you calling on the name of the Lord. Now,
you've heard about Him. I told you all I know. It ain't
much, but I've done the best I could. You've heard Him. You've heard of Him. As God shed His glory in your
heart and opened your eyes, as He told you where He is, enthroned
in glory. Well, go out there and find him.
You seek the Lord with all your heart. Scripture says you'll
find him. That's just so. That's just so. Well, thank you for having me. God bless you.