Let's turn now in our Bibles
to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2, and I want to
read the first 20 verses. 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, unto 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, wrapped him in swaddling clothes,
laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in
the inn. There were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock
by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord
came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about
them, and they were sore afraid. The angel said unto them, Fear
not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And
this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising
God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace,
goodwill toward men. And it came to pass as the angels
were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one
to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing
which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto
us. And they came with haste and
found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when
they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told
them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered
at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things
and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned glorifying,
praising God for all things that they had heard and seen as it
was told unto them. The record that Luke gives us
of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ is the longest that we
have in the four gospel narratives. I think in John's gospel, we
have this in six words, and the word was made flesh. Mark, he
doesn't mention the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Matthew,
of course, he does. But today, I want to mention
three truths about the birth of the Lord Jesus in respect,
first of all, to God, and then in respect to these angels, and
then in respect to Christ himself, and lastly, in respect to the
shepherds. Three truths in respect to each
of these. First, about the birth of Jesus
in respect to God. First thing I want to mention
and want to impress upon us is God's superintending providence. In verse one, we read, and it
came to pass in those days. We might ask the question, why
or how did all this that we read about come to pass? God had ordered
it to come to pass in these days. You know, I was thinking earlier
this morning, the prophecy given in Isaiah chapter 7 and verse
14, behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, and thou
shalt call his name Emmanuel. How many years, how many times
did someone read that prophecy? 600 years between the time it
was given and the time of the birth. How many times did someone
read that prophecy and think, when, when, when? Well, we know when, when it pleased
God. You know, we live in a world
that is constantly changing. And many people think that somehow
God is not in control. But I would just remind all of
us again this morning, this is God's world. And everything in
it is His. and he's in control of all things. From the smallest thing, not
a sparrow falls to the ground without his permission. To a
large thing in our eyes, the armies of Egypt all being drowned
in the Red Sea. There's nothing that takes place
in this world that is somehow outside God's providence, outside
God's control. and all things are working together
for His glory and for His honor. The second thing in respect to
God is God's faithful word. As we look at the birth of Christ
in respect to God, first of all is superintending providence
over all things, but secondly, God's faithful word. And here's
just one example. In the Old Testament book of
Micah, Have you ever read the book of Micah? You probably have. You probably have heard a message
or two maybe brought to you out of the book of Micah. But it's
not one of the better known books in the scripture, one of the
12 minor prophets. And yet, in that small book,
God declared that in this place where Joseph and Mary were brought
because of this king, Caesar, Augustus Caesar, being on the
throne. And somehow in his heart, he
decided that there should be a census of all the world that
Rome controlled. And they had to go back to their
birthplace or the house of their fathers. But God had said in
Micah, he had made this statement. He shall come forth unto me that
is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been of old
from everlasting. In other words, in this small
town, and that's the way that prophecy begins, speaking about
Israel, little among the many towns and villages of Judah,
God had determined that his son would be born in this small city
of Bethlehem. And I think of the words of Balaam. You know, Balaam is mentioned
in the scripture several times in both the Old Testament and
the New Testament. He was a false prophet. But God
put words in his mouth. The Holy Spirit put words in
his mouth. You know, there are a lot of
men who stand in pulpits that And people say, well, they say
some good things. Well, sure they do. Balaam said
some very good things. But that didn't change who Balaam
was. Balaam was a false prophet. But
this that he declared about God is so great, so beautiful, what
he said. And we know he said it because
we're told that God the Holy Spirit put these words in his
mouth. God is not a man that he should
lie. neither the son of man, that
he should repent." Now listen to this. Hath he said, and shall
he not do it? Could that be God? Could that
be the God of the Bible? Could that be the creator of
the worlds? That he would say something and
not do it? That there would be some reason
that would somehow Cause God not to keep his word? Oh no. Hath he said, and shall he not
do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall
he not make it good? God had spoken through his prophet
that in this small town, this village of Judah, Bethlehem,
that he would come forth. Who is this one whose goings
forth have been from everlasting? In other words, the word, the
eternal word of God, the son of God, that he would come forth
into this world, born of a woman in this small town of Bethlehem. You say, what does that mean
to me? It means everything to you. It means everything to us. We've got God's word. When God
says it, it's going to happen. And he said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's his word. Believe, be saved, and go on
your way rejoicing. Amen? It's God's word. God who cannot lie. The third
thing in relation to God, God's amazing love. His amazing love. Now the custom of the Jews for
a baby, when a baby was born, they washed the baby first of
all, and then they rubbed the baby with salt. And then they
wrapped the baby in swaddling clothes. But when the shepherds
looked into the manger, They saw a babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes, but they saw more than that. They saw God's great love. They saw God's great love. If you desire to see love, where are you going to see love?
You're not going to see it in Hollywood. You're not going to
see it in People's Magazine. Where are you going to see love? I'm talking about love, real
love. Well, John tells us, the apostle
John in his first letter. In other words, if you look all
over the world, if you could somehow see all of the world
and everything that's going on in this world here, here, Here,
herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation, the atonement
for our sins. This is where you're going to
see love. And when those shepherds looked down into that manger,
into the face of that babe lying there, that's what they saw.
They saw God's love. Second, about the birth of Jesus
in respect to angels. Well, first of all, in verse
nine, we read, the glory of the Lord came with the angel. Notice that in verse nine. And
lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the
Lord shone round about them. Now this glory must be light. the glory that's shown round
about them, because it's shine, it must be light. And we know
that God is declared unto us as being one who dwells in unapproachable
light. You can't look into the sun without
burning your eyes, can you? You can't look into the sun without
blinding yourselves if you do it long enough. That's a picture of God, of his
holiness, of his righteousness. And this light, this glory of
God shined round about these shepherds. And in the midst of
darkness, darkness, we see there was light. Even as Jesus, the
light of the world, he came into this world of darkness. spiritual
darkness. It's amazing, we read there in
the Gospel of John, we read it at the beginning of the service,
where we are told he was in the world, and the world was made
by him, and the world knew him not. In him was life, and the
life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness.
And the darkness comprehended it not. If we turned off the
lights in this room right now, and someone were to strike a
match, we would all comprehend that light. Right? None of us are blind here this
morning. But men are spiritually blind. So that when the light of the
world came into his world, man comprehended it not. And there
had to be a man sent from God who said, behold, behold the
light. Do we not see the depravity,
the deadness of all men spiritually by nature? that we could not
even, man could not even comprehend the light? The light? But that's the case. The second thing about these
angels, first of all, the glory of the Lord shone round about
them. But one angel, the second thing,
one angel had a message. He had a message to deliver.
Before the host of the heavenly angels began to worship God,
in verse 10, the angel said unto them, that is to the shepherds,
fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. God doesn't use angels to preach
the gospel. We know that. He doesn't use
angels. He uses man. He uses a man like
you and a man like me to preach this gospel. The scripture says
from faith to faith. The righteousness of God is revealed
in the gospel as it is written, the just shall live by faith.
And it is preached and repeated. revealed from faith to faith. I believe and so I speak. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. You believe and you testify and
you speak from faith to faith. God doesn't use angels to preach
the gospel. And one of the things that he
has told us to pray and ask for is laborers. In other words,
preachers, missionaries, pastors to preach the gospel. Why? Because he's chosen to use men. And when I think of how God has
chosen to use men, it shows to me the power of God that he could
take a poor vessel, having this treasure in a earthen vessel,
he could take a clay pot and put the gospel in that clay pot
in a man and cause that man to proclaim the gospel and men hear
and believe and be saved. He doesn't use angels for that
work. The angels cannot testify of redemption because they've
never been redeemed. I'm talking about the holy angels.
And of course, the fallen angels, they sure can't preach the gospel. He sent this angel to announce
good tidings of great joy and notice that it shall be to all
people. From the very beginning, this
message was never to be confined within the nation of Israel.
It's to all people. It's to all people. He's a light
to the Gentiles. He's a desire. We sang in one
of the hymns just a few minutes ago, the desire of all nations
shall come. That's one of his names in the
book of Haggai. The desire, he's the desire of
all nations, of all men. This gospel is to be preached
in all the world. And whosoever believeth and is
baptized shall be saved. The third thing, all of their
praise, I want you to notice this, all of their praise in
verse 14, glory to God in the highest. All glory to God in
giving His Son and providing salvation, that is, peace. They
didn't sing glory to Mary. They didn't sing glory to Joseph.
They didn't sing glory to the shepherds, no. They sang glory
to God. That's the desire of God's people,
isn't it? To glorify Him who has provided
this so great salvation And the writer said, how shall we escape?
How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? This is a
message to all people, going to all the world. And this message is a message
of peace. By nature, men are enmity with
God, and yet through the work of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
we may be at peace with God. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. That's a wonderful thing, isn't
it? Be reconciled to God. To be able to lay your head down
on your pillow and know it's all well between you and God. Hasn't always been that way.
No, but through the work of Christ, now you've been reconciled. God
has sent out ambassadors like myself. Be ye reconciled. Put down, throw down your arms,
in other words. Stack your arms. Surrender to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Bow to him as your Lord and Savior. And have peace, no peace with
God. Peace in your conscience. Not
only peace with God, but peace in your conscience. You say,
how is that brought about? By the blood of Christ? That's
the only way. Oh, your sins, they come up and
they torture you when you remember them. How are you going to ever
have peace in your conscience? By the blood of Jesus Christ
sprinkled upon your conscience, saying that he by his blood has
washed those sins away. And peace with others as well. We love peace, don't we? I do,
I know you do too. Preaching peace unto those that
are far off. Well third, I want us to look
at three things about the birth of Jesus in respect to Christ
himself. First of all, Satan and this
world's hatred of the Lord Jesus was manifested almost immediately. King Herod would send his soldiers
to kill all the children two years and younger around Bethlehem. Now, Herod and his soldiers,
they weren't trying to kill all the children. There was one. There was one they were after.
There was one that he hated. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
in this world and he was hated by his own creatures. All these things were done, the
scripture says, that the word might be fulfilled that is written
in their law, they hated me without a cause. You know, if you want to criticize
someone, you want to find fault with someone, you don't have
to look very far, do you? If you want to criticize the
preacher, you don't have to look very far. But finding fault with the sinless
son of God, they hated him without a cause. Did he ever speak a
word that was not the truth, an unkind word? Did he ever do
a deed that was not according to the word of God, the law of
God? Of course not. The hatred of this world was
quickly manifested towards the Lord Jesus Christ. The second
thing, he was born into this world to do his father's will. You know, the first recorded
words that we have of him in the Gospels, when he was 12 years
old, he spoke these words to Mary when he said, wish ye not
that I must be about my father's business. Those were his first recorded
words, wish ye not that I must be about my father's business.
And you know, that question could be written over everything that
he did. When he walked as far as he did,
which was a long distance, to be baptized by John the Baptist
in Jordan, if someone were to ask, what are you doing? Wish
you not that I must be about my father's business? He's told
John, suffer it to be so, now that we might fulfill all righteousness. when he was driven by God the
Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days, fasting
there for 40 days, and tempted by Satan, tested by Satan. Why? Wished ye not that I must
be about my father's business? That was his father's will, wasn't
it? that we might hear and read. We have an high priest. We don't
have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings
of our infirmities, but we have a high priest who may be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities. Why? Because he was in all points
tempted like as we are. With the exception of sin, of
course. When he went about preaching,
Wish ye not that I must be about my father's business? When he
healed. You know, we have recorded in
the Gospels, John said if every miracle, if everything that the
Lord had done had been recorded, he said the world itself couldn't
contain the books. I mean, we have just a few, no
doubt, of the miracles of the Lord healing people who had diseases
and infirmities and wish ye not that I must be about my father's
business. And the third thing, he was born
into this world to put away sin. Think about that. He was born
into this world to put away sin. Turn with me to Hebrews 9. In Hebrews chapter 9 and verse
24, we read, for Christ has not entered
into the holy places made with hands. Remember the high priest,
when Moses set up the tabernacle, he went into the most holy place. Well, that place was made with
the hands of men and he carried blood in there. Put that upon
the mercy seat. But our high priest, he's not
entered into the holy place made with hands. Those were figures
of the true. But he has entered into heaven
itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he
should offer himself often as a high priest entered into the
holy place every year with blood of others. Our priest over those
millenniums would go into the Holy of Holies and offer the
blood of animals. The Lord Jesus Christ, he didn't
offer the blood of animals. He didn't go into a tabernacle
or a temple made with the hands of man. He's entered into heaven
itself before God with his own blood. With his own blood. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared. Why? To put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. How did he put away sin? Did
he put away sin? Those are two important questions,
aren't they? How did He put away sin? He appeared
to put away sin. How did He put away sin? Or did
He? Did He put away sin? Well, He put away sin by the
Father charging the sins of His people, His chosen people, to
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We call that imputation. And those sins, my sins, your
sins, if you're one of his children today, your sins were charged
upon the head of Christ. The scripture said, he hath made
or he hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. And you know, those
sins were transferred in such a way they became his. before
the law of God, they became his sins. And in prophecy and the
Psalms, these are the words of Christ. Innumerable evils have
compassed me about as he was hanging there on the cross, the
priest and the Roman soldiers and all the evil. And yes, even
the desertion of his father. Innumerable evils have come past
me about mine iniquities. He had no iniquities of his own. No, he didn't. But the sins,
your sins, my sins, the sins of every believer were laid upon
him. They were charged to his account.
Mine iniquities are more, he said, than have taken hold upon
me, so I'm not able to look up. They are more than the hairs
of mine head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. My heart faileth me. In the garden,
even before the cross, he said, my soul, my soul is wounded. How did he put away sin? How
did he put away sin so that God may be just and justify everyone
who believes in him by taking our sins and burying them in
his own body on the tree that he might bring us to God? Did he put away sin? Did he? I want you to look in Revelation
with me, just a moment. Revelation chapter seven. Did he put away sin? Revelation chapter seven in verse
nine, John says, after this I beheld and lo, a great multitude. which no man could number, of
all nations and kindreds and people and tongue stood before
the throne. Now think, if he did not put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself, not one, not one of
this great multitude would have been there. Not one. No, not one would have been there. And yet there's a great multitude
who are there. How are they there? Because he
put away their sins. And now they can come into the
presence of almighty God and rejoice and rejoice forevermore. Well, let me close with this.
Fourth, about the birth of Jesus and respect to these shepherds.
Three things about them as well. First of all, God chose shepherds
to whom he would announce the birth of his son. He didn't choose
kings. He didn't send a message to Rome,
to Caesar, or to Herod's court. No, he sent this angel to shepherds. He didn't send his message to
the philosophers of this world, the highly learned. No, he chose
shepherds, men who worked, men who knew what it was to suffer
out in the night, in the night air even, be away from home.
And all of this, I believe, to send a strong message to you
and to me. to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The hymn writer put it like this.
Come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity, love, and power. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requireth,
is to feel your need of him. He announced this message to
shepherds. Well, to me, it sends a strong
signal to you and to me and to everyone that we preach this
message to. Come. Come, you sinners. Come
to Christ. You say, how do you come? Look. Look. Second thing, God chose
shepherds to look upon his lamb. I don't know how many shepherds
there were, but they were men who tended sheep. Don't you know
that they had seen lambs born many times? They looked at little
lambs born out there in the field or in the place where they kept
them. But here, now they see God's
lamb. They looked at their lambs or
their employer's lambs, little lambs being born and just come
into this world, but now they're looking at God's lamb. God's
lamb that John the Baptist would later point out and say, behold,
the lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. And
the last thing about these shepherds, God chose these shepherds to
glorify and praise Him that they found and they left on testimony. They found everything as it was
told unto them. Notice that in verse 20, back
here in Luke chapter two. And the shepherds returned, glorifying
and praising God for all the things that they had heard and
seen, as it was told unto them. As it was told unto them. That's what we do when we preach
the gospel, isn't it? We tell people. Someone told
me, more than one actually, And I'm thankful, aren't you? I was in God's world, lost, away from God, far off
from God, as we all are. Someone told me about a Savior. Praise God. Praise God. Someone told me about
a Savior. Not a savior, the savior. And
God gave me faith to believe. And that's why I preach the gospel
to you today. I'm telling you about a savior,
someone who put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And you
do like these shepherds. You look to him. And you'll find
it just like I'm telling you, just like the word of God tells
you. Believe, and thou shalt be saved. May the Lord bless his word to
all of us here today.