The name of the message will
be the greatest birth of all time. This is the time of year when
so many people may come to church. It may be only their first or
second time to come to church during the year. They tend to
come at Christmas time and at Easter and don't give church
much more thought or Christ much more thought throughout the rest
of the year. It's a time when we all should
be thinking of Christ all the time. You know, it's not just
once or twice a year, but it's something that should be on our minds daily
even. So, I want to talk to you about where Brian just read the
second chapter of Luke. We're going to read the first
seven verses. In these few verses, we have
the story of the birth of Christ, and it's not just any birth,
but the birth of our Savior, and the greatest birth of all
time. That's my opinion, but I don't
have any scripture to back it up. I try to back up everything
with scripture, but like I say, that's my opinion, but what other
birth could be greater than His? The birth of a child to any parent
is a great event in their lives. Two of the greatest events in
my life was the birth of our children, my son and daughter. It's right up there with marrying
my wonderful wife. So that's, you know, some of
the highlights of your life. But another great birth that
we should all be thankful for is our second birth. You know,
we may not be able to pinpoint the time exactly when it is,
like our natural birth, you know, our natural birth, we know the
exact date, but our second birth may not be revealed to us at
the exact time we remember it, but it's definitely one of the
greatest events of our life, and one of the things we have
to thank the Holy Spirit for, to reveal that to us. It's one of the very important
things for us. Even Jesus talks about it in John 3, 3. Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. He then tells us a couple verses
later. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of
spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you,
ye must be born again. That's in John 3 verses 5, 6,
and 7. These few verses in Luke do not
describe just the birth. of any child. What we have before
us is the birth of the incarnate Son of God, not the birth of
the Son of God, because the Son of God has existed since the
beginning of time, or since God has been here. Some people may associate the
birth of baby Jesus as the birth of God, but the Son of God, say
it right, has always existed. Existed before Christ come to
the earth and exists now. He sits on the right hand of
God. So let the word incarnate, it
means the Son of God embodied himself in the flesh of a human
body. He was already alive but became
human when he was born as a baby to Mary, but he is still the
Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. His
human birth is the most important birth of the world we'll ever
see. This is my opinion, like I said, and I don't have scripture
to back it up, but this is the birth of him by whom and by whom
the worlds were made. Here we see God manifest in the
flesh. That's in 1 Timothy 3.16. What
we have before us in these verses is the birth of Him of whom all
the law and the prophets of the Old Testament spoke. Let's read
Luke's inspired narrative of Savior's birth. Luke 2 starting verse 1. And
it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree
from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And
this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria,
and all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. And Joseph
also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into
Judea, onto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because
he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary,
his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that,
while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should
be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and
wrapped him in swaddling clothing, and laid him in a manger, because
there was no room for him in the end. The Lord Jesus Christ
was born as a child in Bethlehem so that he could die as a man
at Calvary to redeem his people from the curse of the law. This
is what Jesus tells us himself in Matthew 20, 28. Even the Son
of Man came not to be ministered, unto but to minister and to give
life, his life, a ransom for many. The Holy Spirit tells us
in Galatians 4, verses 4 and 5, but when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. I want to focus on four aspects
of the Savior's birth. It's purpose, it's time, it's
place, and it's manner. First up is the purpose of our
Savior's birth. Luke does not record the purpose
of Savior's birth in these few verses, but the Holy Spirit has
recorded it in many places in the Bible. It would be pointless
to talk about the birth of Christ if we did not talk about why
he came into this world. So let's look at the angel's
message to Joseph some nine months before Christ was born. in Matthew
121, and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. This was his whole purpose, and
that is to save his people, not the world. He's not here to save
the world, but he's here to save his people. Christ was the eternal
son of God before he came into the world in human flesh. The
word eternal means existing forever. with no beginning or no end.
He was alive before the birth in Bethlehem and still lives
after the cross. He now sits on the right hand
of God. The Son of God had a people in this world called His people
before He came here to save them. We were His before the world
was founded, and we'll always be His. Jesus Christ came into
the world on an errand of mercy as our substitute, representative,
and a covenant surety to save His people from their sins. He
did what He came here to do. Let's look at Hebrews 10, chapter
10, verses 5 through 14. Therefore, when he came into
the world, he saith, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offerings, and burnt offerings, and offerings for sin, thou wouldst
not, neither hadst pleasure therein which are offered by the law.
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus.
Jesus Christ, once for all. That for all is His chosen people. Not everybody in the world, but
His chosen people. And every priest stands daily,
ministering and offering oft times the same sacrifices, which
never can take away sin. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sin, forever sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstools, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified." That's Hebrews 10, chapter 10, verses
5 through 14. The Lord Jesus Christ saves his
people from their sins by three mighty acts, acts of grace which
he alone can perform. First one is redemption. Christ
came here to redeem his people, his chosen people from their
sins. Next is regeneration. His chosen people are born again
when salvation has been revealed to them by the Holy Spirit and
resurrection. the coming back to life of Christ
after death on the cross. Next up is the time of our Savior's
birth. We have before us a display of
God's wisdom. We are specifically told that
our Savior was born into this world in those days when Caesar
Augustus, the first Roman emperor, made a decree that all the world
should be taxed. This is the first verse of our
text in Luke 2. Now the world in this case was
what was considered civilized world. That meant that The Roman Empire was what was
considered the civilized world at that time. This is an important
fact in the whole scheme of things. We see Lord God promised through
his servant Jacob that Israel would not cease to be a civil
state until Christ came to redeem and save his people. That's in
Genesis. 4910. The scepter shall not depart
from Judea nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh
or Messiah Christ come and unto him shall the gathering of the
people be. Genesis 4910. Our text tells
us the precise fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy. The Jews were
under the dominion of the Roman Empire. They had lost all their
legal rights, civil rights, civil powers, and nation. Strangers
ruled over them and demanded taxes from them. The nation of
Israel was without a government for the first time in their history.
No sooner did Augustus tax the world than when the Messiah,
or the birth of Christ, came. It was the due time and the fullness
of time. Tom's everything, so this text
was chosen at that particular time so that Mary and Joseph
would be in Bethlehem at that particular time. Divine providence
had arranged the best time possible for Christ to come into the world.
When he had fully proved that the world by wisdom knew not
God, 1 Corinthians 121, God stepped into the world by his birth to
make himself known. The Romans and before them the
Greeks had created in their mind hundreds of gods and left men
and women utterly ignorant of God and morally corrupt. The
rulers of all the Gentile world had left the human race in spiritual
darkness, moral corruption, and with political violence that
only grew worse with time. Yet in this precise time, for
the first time since the Tower of Babel, all the civilized world
was under one government, and that was the Roman Empire. By
the time Christ came, God had arranged the whole world in such
a way to make a path for the gospel to be spread into all
the world by the way of the Roman Empire. Roman's empire had developed
a road system throughout their empire that made communication
a lot easier. It provided a way for the gospel
to be spread across the known world. And the Greek language
was also the most common language used throughout the Roman Empire. So that made one language that
become universal, and that also provided a mean of spreading
the gospel across the civilized world. Let us ever find solace
in this fact. All the events of this world,
all history, all governments, all times are in the hands of
our great God. My times are in my hand, he says
in Psalms 31 15. He always knows and always does
what is best. We ought never worry about the
course and conditions of this world, even when we see trouble
in Israel and Ukraine and other places throughout the world.
We sometimes act or think we know better than what should
be done, but God is in control and it's just foolish for us
to even begin to think of something like that. Martin Luther used
to frequently say to his worrying fretting friend Philip, Philip
stop trying to govern the world. We would be wise to heed these
words. Let us ever live in this in this world as the loyal subjects
of the all-wise king, the king of kings, lord of lords. He who
is our God of God, he who is God is God indeed, God over all. He is too wise to err, too good
to do wrong, and too strong to fail. He does what he wills and
he is in total control. the place of our Savior's birth.
Our Savior was born not in Nazareth of Galilee, where Mary and Joseph
resided. Instead, he was born at Bethlehem.
The prophet Micah had long, long before this event prophesized
that the Lord Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. Micah 5, 2
tells us where Christ will be born. But though Bethlehem, Etheria,
through Thou be little among the thousand of Judea, yet out
of thee shall come forth unto me, that is, to be ruler in Israel,
whose going forth have been from the old, from everlasting." That's
Micah. So it was prophesied that Christ
would be born in Bethlehem. Once more we have before us a
display of God's sovereign absolute rule over all things in providence
to accomplish the good purpose of his grace towards chosen sinners. He who orders all things in heaven
and earth and hell turns the hearts of kings, whithersoever
he will. The king's heart is in the hands
of the Lord. As the rivers of the water, he
turneth it. Whithersoever he will," Proverbs
21.1. It was the Lord God who caused
Augustus to decree and begin to enforce the collection of
taxes at precisely the right time, and that time was when
Mary was pregnant and had come to full term. Neither Augustus
or Cyrenius had any idea what they were doing or why, but the
fact that they issued the decree to collect taxes was making everybody
go to their hometowns to collect the taxes or to be counted there,
and that's the reason Christ was born in Bethlehem. Neither
Augustus nor Cyrenius had any idea of what they were doing.
What they were actually doing was carrying forth the eternal
design of our God for the salvation of his people and the glory of
his own great name. Like the king of Assyria, they
meant it not so, neither did their hearts think so, but they
were performing the works of God unbeknownst to them. This
act of the first Roman emperor was an act which laid the foundation
for the kingdom of God, which all the kingdoms of this world
must soon bow and crumble. Our God graciously and wisely
rules all things, the good and the evil, for the accomplishment
of his will. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee the remainder The remainder of wrath shall thou
restrain. That's in Psalm 76 10. Our Heavenly Father provincially
rules that the universe ought to quicken our hearts while we
sail through the troubled waters of this world. If we believe
God, we should never be greatly disturbed by the affairs of this
world or the conduct of earthly rulers. We ought to regard all
things as the will of God. We should look upon every action
of every political ruler as the oracle of God. Let us learn to
regard all men and all devils, too, as creatures of God Almighty,
created to serve His purpose without the ability to think,
wiggle, or move except by the will of God. God's in total control. Ecclesiastics 5.8 tells us, if
thou seest the oppression of the poor, the violence perverting
of judgment, and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter, for
that he is higher than the highest regardeth, and there be higher
than they. God is in control of everything,
of all politicians, and he's in total control. matter of our
Savior's birth. As she brought forth her firstborn
son and wrapped him in swaddling clothing and laid him in the
manger because there was no room for him in the inn, Luke 2.7. Let us never forget that it was
through his own great humiliation that the Son of God obtained
eternal glory for us. It was through his life of holy
suffering, as well as his death, that he obtained eternal redemption
for us. In 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9,
we are told, For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor,
that ye, through his poverty, might be rich. So he humbled
himself, come to this earth. He has everything, everything
belongs to him, but he humbled himself and come to earth and
was born in a stable. How much more humble could he
be? Learn this too and learn it well. God is no respecter
of persons and we must not be. We must never allow ourselves
to form opinions of people's characters based upon their poverty
or wealth, face or place, race or rank. I can think of no better way
to bring this message to a close than by asking you to read Philippians
2 verses 1 through 11 with me. May God the Holy Spirit give
us grace to follow our Savior's example in dealing with other
people, with one another. Give us the mind of Christ. Philippians chapter 2 verses
1, if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any
comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels
and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like minded, having
the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done
through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind. Let
each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man
on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. who,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of man. And being formed
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also
hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name. That is the name of Jesus. Every
name, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in
earth and things under the earth. And that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. That's Philippians 2, 1 through
11. May we all be more Christ-like
in our lives. Let's close in prayer.