Let us pray. O Lord God of heaven
and of earth, we ask thy blessing upon our worship here this morning. We grant, Lord, that we might
have thy spirit's aid, the power of God that accompanies salvation,
and that the spirits of each here might be lifted and encouraged
and strengthened in the Lord their God. Do grant us to know
something of the joy of Thy salvation and the realization that the
Son of God has come. O Lord, do grant unto us afresh
that life and savour in the Word of God and in the meditation
of Thee. We thank Thee for our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for Him that has
come. has suffered, bled, and died,
and risen again, and is appearing in the presence of God for us. We do seek, Lord, Thy blessing
through His dear name. Forgive our sins. Wash us in
Thy precious blood. Renew the spirit of our minds.
Bless each here. Bless their families. Bless their
loved ones. Do remember those who are not
able to come down Be with them in their rooms and help and bless
them. And Lord, do be pleased to bless
the staff also and favour them in their own souls and in their
lives to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, do help us
to sing thy worthy praise this morning and do grant unto us
that we might be strengthened. Lord, remember those that feel
weak and feel poorly and do strengthen them, but strengthen us in our
faith that that might be strong and centred in our Lord Jesus
Christ. We thank Thee for every blessing
and every favour, Thy kindness and goodness to us, and we ask
Thee these things through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us sing the first hymn on
the hymn sheet, Joy to the World. The Lord is come, let
earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare him room,
and heaven and nature sing. Of course the last line is repeated
several times, but hopefully we get it right. So the first
hymn, the introduction first. The reading is on the second
page of the hymn sheet, which is Luke chapter 2 and verses
7 through to 21. And she brought forth her firstborn
son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the inn. And 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 so afraid. And 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 Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And
this shall be a sign unto you, ye shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising
God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will toward men. And he came to pass, as the angels
were gone away from them into heaven, his shepherds said one
to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this
thing which is 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
and praising God for all the things that they had heard and
seen, as it was told unto them. And when eight days were accomplished
for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which
was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Thus far the reading of God's
Holy Word. The word I wish to speak to you
on is verse 10, and particularly the words of the angel said,
Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. I want to just look at the several
parts of that message that the angel brought. Not many words,
but many things that are brought before the shepherds and brought
before us. The first, obviously, is the
fear not. It must have been a fearful thing
to suddenly see this heavenly host, this angel, appear in that
way They've never been seen before, never been experienced like that,
these shepherds watching over their sheep, and suddenly this
appearing. Many times through Scripture,
when the Lord first appears, and it's appearing of blessing,
yet there is fear first, and the first thing that needs to
be done is their fears allayed, and how many times in our lives
has the Lord began to move, began to help us, and at first we have
feared, because perhaps it's come suddenly, it's not coming
the way we expected, it's been something different, and may
we remember this, perhaps in future, suddenly an illness comes,
or trials come, Or maybe visitors come, and their first instance
is fear. Maybe immediately think back
to these shepherds, and think, well, this wasn't a time of fear. The first thing was a fear not,
and there was to be a blessing attending it. And we can think
back to Manoah and his wife, we can think back to Jacob, many
of them that walked this path. Many fear nots in the Word of
God. The second thing is the Behold,
and we have this many times in Scripture, which draws our attention
especially to look and to take notice of what is seen and what
is going to be said. And may we be renewed in that,
as we read our Bibles, as we read the Word, to think of this
word, behold, because we can get so familiar, especially with
these accounts, on this time of the year as if we've, or every
year of our life we've had this said before us, but to have it
fresh again, behold, and to see something new and something that
we have not seen before in it. So may that thought as well remain
during this time of the year, behold. The next thing is that
the first message was that there is going to be good tidings. Good tidings, not bad tidings,
but good tidings. And the whole Gospel, that is
the Gospel message. It is good tidings. And we have
to remember that contrast between the law and the gospel. By the law is the knowledge of
sin, the law a schoolmaster unto Christ, the law making known
our sinnership, the consequences of sin, the bringing in death
as a sentence of sin, but a very, very different message through
the gospel through the Lord Jesus Christ, we think of what Paul
said, what the law could not do, in that it was weak through
the flesh. God sending his own Son, and
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemns sin in
the flesh. And a real contrast in that. So, whenever we look at the Gospel
message, whenever we hear the message that is set forth, Here
is good news, good news for sinners. But the second thing is good
tidings of great joy. And I do desire that we might
know again that joy. As I was reading in a private
reading this morning, I read over the words where the Lord
is coming, His name, the Branch. And the times I've read in the
Old Testament, and my heart has leapt that here is Christ. Here is the Lord set forth. This
is His name, the Branch. This is the name wherewith He
shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. And there's been
a real joy, and I've felt that joy, and I hope you do too. And you think of this, here is
a Saviour, here is One that is to take our sins, who shall bear
our sins, has borne our sins on Calvary's tree. You think
of the joy when Abraham turned and saw the ram caught by his
horns in the thicket. The joy that he could take Isaac
off the altar and put the substitute there. The joy that can be seen
when our sentence of death is taken away. And the great thing
in this Gospel day is, because the man of the word hears which
shall be, We look back and we can see not only the Lord's sufferings
and death, but the empty tomb, a risen Savior, and the Savior
above. You know, if we were to see someone
to take our penalty and go into jail for us, our joy would not
be complete while they were in the jail, but when they came
out, then we knew that our sentence had been paid, and they were
no longer suffering, they were no longer in the jail, they were
free. And so in the Gospel day, our
Lord is ascended. And may we have that sense of
joy whenever we read the passage, and especially when we realize
that the Lord has brought us to know the Lord. who brought
us to believe and to receive His Word and to know the blessings
of redemption, forgiveness and pardon of our sin, and the hope
of heaven. I hope there are times that it
is so sweeps over us that we have heaven through our Lord
Jesus Christ, through what He has done, and there is now no
condemnation. because of the Lord Jesus. Tidings
of great joy. It's not just joy. And what I
felt with this, how often do we really feel this great joy
on the Gospel message, and great joy about what we have actually
received ourselves. Well the last thing that the
angel says is to who it should be. for which shall be to all
people." So of course that message is reflected in what our Lord
said in John 10, that I am the good shepherd, other sheep I
have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And so when it says to all people,
this is not just the Jews now, this is to every nation, kindred
and tongue. And the Jews, they really struggled
in this. They did even when Peter went
to Cornelius, even the apostles challenged him. that He went
in to the Gentiles. And the idea that it is to be
every nation again in our day, 2,000 years after our Lord came,
we can see it in so many nations. Many still have not had the news
of salvation, but most have. And it's a wonderful thing to
realize when you think this Word which shall be to all people,
we can say, which we have seen, we have seen the record of it.
This what was said to them when our Lord was but a babe and just
come, is fulfilled. And the Gospel in preaching right
through the world. And we can say, we as Gentiles,
it's to us. It's come to us. If it was just
the Jews, we'd be shut out. But it's not. It is to us. To all people. And a blessed
thing to say even to me, even come to me." So this is the message
from the angels and may it be afresh to us as a source of meditation
and great joy and realizing that the work is still to be done.
We may have children, grandchildren, loved ones, still the promise
is whatever nation, kindred and tongue to all people. May we be of those that know
this great joy. It's one of the real tokens of
being the Lord, isn't it? Joy and peace in believing. To have great joy in the Gospel
message. So may that be so as we have
sung in our first hymn. Well let us sing the second hymn
on our hymn sheet. which is once in Royal David's
city, the usual tune, once in Royal David's city stood a lowly
cattle shed where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his
bed. Mary was that mother mild, Jesus
Christ her little child. The second hymn on the hymn sheet. Let us pray. O Lord our God, we grant Thy
blessing upon Thy Word and may the message given to the shepherds
be echoed in every sermon and in our hearts throughout this
time. We lovingly commit each into
Thy hand to grant Thy gracious help and make the Lord Jesus
Christ precious. Lord, we are those that may spend
some time with family or family with them, to grant those times
to be a special time, and those who haven't got family to come
and be with them, to draw especially near to them and bless them,
thy felt presence. We ask these things through our
Lord Jesus Christ, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, The
love of God the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you all now and evermore. Amen.