Good morning. For our call to
worship, let us go to Colossians chapter one. We're gonna read
verses 12 through the end of the chapter. Colossians one,
starting in verse 12. Giving thanks to the Father,
which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saint and light. who has delivered us from the
power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear
son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature, for by him we are We are all things were
created that were in heaven and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones, dominions, or principalities,
or powers. All things were created by him
and for him. And he is before all things. And by him, all things consist. And he's the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have preeminence, preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell, and have him make peace through
the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself
by him. I say, whether there are things
in the earth or things in heaven, and you were sometime alienated,
and enemies in your mind by your wicked works. Yet now he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. if you continue
in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven, where I, Paul, I am made
a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill
up that which is behind the afflictions of Christ in the flesh for his
body's sake, which is the church, whereof I am made a minister
according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me
for you to fulfill the word of God. Even the mystery which has
been hidden from ages, from generations, but now is made manifest to his
saints, to whom God has made known what is the richest of
the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man
and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every
man perfect in Christ Jesus, whereas I also labor striving
according to his working, which works in me mightily. Father God, we come before you
thanking you for this wonderful blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ
where he's everything. Father, thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your grace. Father,
thank you for the message we heard this morning. Thank you
for the gospel, Father. Thank you for this wonderful
privilege of hearing the gospel. We also pray that we might be
blessed also with eyes to see and ears to hear it, Father God. Thank you for all the other churches.
We pray for them, that they may preach the gospel clearly, Father
God, and that it may accomplish all that you have set out to
accomplish, Father God. In Jesus name we pray now, amen. Let's now stand and sing the
hymn on the back of your bulletin. Let every ransomed sinner sing
and praise the triune God. With grateful hearts your honors
bring, let us extol our God. The Father gave His darling Son
to ransom His elect. The Lamb was slain ere time begun,
for we incurred our debt. In the fullness of time Christ
came, God's Son in human flesh. that He might put away our sin
and bring in righteousness. Praise God, the Holy Spirit,
too, for His almighty grace, who sprinkles Jesus' blood on
you and gives your conscience peace. Behold the virgin's infant
child Was Jesus come to save He was and ever will abide The
God-man who can save Emmanuel the God-man died and rose again
for us. With his own blood appears on
high and claims heaven for us. Be seated again, please. Let's open our Bibles together
to the second chapter of Luke, Luke chapter two. We will not have our regular
Wednesday night service this Wednesday night, Christmas day,
but we will have services the following Wednesday night on
the 1st of January, so. I've titled this message, A Glorious
Declaration. God sent angels from heaven to
declare to these shepherds the birth of Christ. And I would introduce this message
by saying that I have some mixed feelings about how it is the
world celebrates Christmas. On one hand, I'm glad that the
name of our Lord is exalted at least one day out of the year,
though it may be not understood. We have a neighbor with a big
yard sign that says, Jesus is the reason for the season. If
they understood who he really was, that Psalm would read, Jesus
is the reason for everything, everything. And though it'd be short-lived,
talking about and pursuing peace in a world that is so filled
with conflict is a good thing. The giving of gifts is always
a good thing, particularly to a world that's mostly consumed
with selfishness and greed. Having family meet together and
giving thanks to God is a good thing. And maybe like religion in general,
it is a means that the Lord uses to restrain the evil of this
world. You understand that's what man-made
religion is. It's a restraining thing that
as Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter two that we might live
peaceable and quiet lives among them apart from a man-made free
will works religion which will not save anyone, we would live
in a world that would be completely unrestrained. The Bible says
the wrath of God will praise him and when he so pleases to
allow man to have his way, that wrath will turn to his praise
and we see that most clearly at the cross. The wrath of man
and crucifying the Son of God is the greatest praise that God
ever had. And the rest of that verse says,
and the remainder he will restrain. The remainder that is in the
heart of man to do, but he won't do because of restraining grace, is a good thing and it's for
our good. And so, I said that I have mixed
feelings about the world celebration of Christmas, that would be the
positive side. On the other hand, there is so
much blasphemy in who and how The world presents the Lord Jesus
Christ and his incarnation, God being made flesh and dwelling
among us. But with all that blasphemy,
we must know that the Lord has sent these strong delusions and
that men believe the lie because they've been deluded by God. The means by which, the primary
means that the Lord uses to confuse men is His Word. Yep, the Bible. Men by nature, the Bible says,
rest the scriptures to their own destruction. And I love that
word rest. It's a word picture that images
a man being put on a rack with his hands and feet tied and they're
stretching his body until his joints come out of, his bones
come out of joint. to get him to confess something
that he otherwise apart from that torture would not confess. And so the Lord uses that word
to say this is what men do. They rest the scriptures, they
pull it out of joint. They take a verse here and a
verse there and they develop their blasphemous doctrines and
views of God and particularly of the Lord Jesus and for this
morning's sake, his incarnation by using the very word of God,
making it say something that it doesn't say. So what does God say? May the Lord in his mercy reveal
to us the true meaning of the birth of the Lord Jesus. That we would not rest the scriptures,
that we would not take them out of context, that we would believe
exactly what God has said. Luke chapter 2 verse 9. And lo, the angel of the Lord
came upon them. It's a beautiful thing, the means
by which God speaks, that he would take a lowly shepherd and
that he would speak to their hearts and give them a message
to take to the sheep. It's not to any man's glory,
certainly not to the shepherd's glory. It is to God's glory that
he would use the means of one sinner to speak the truth of
the gospel to another sinner. What are the under shepherds
of God? They are beggars telling other beggars where to find bread.
They are nobodies telling everybody about somebody who can save anybody. The Lord always uses that means
through the foolishness of preaching to save them which believe. How
can they call upon him in whom they've not believed and how
can they believe on him in whom they've not heard and how can
they hear without a preacher? It's a very simple means and
it glorifies God. It glorifies God for the for
the sheep and that they are only on the receiving end. Listening
is passive, isn't it? It's passive. And it's more humbling
for the shepherd. And I suppose you just have to
trust me on that. but I'm sure you can imagine
the burden that one might feel with the responsibility of standing
and speaking for God. Pray for me. And the first words out of these
angels' mouth is fear not, fear not. Now God only has to say
fear not to those who are afraid. The natural man, what were these
shepherds afraid of? They were afraid of God. God
has just appeared into their presence. What does God's word
say about the unbeliever? There is no fear of God in their
hearts. There will be one day, So the
Bible says in the book of Revelation that when the trump sounds and
the Lord Jesus comes and he appears from glory and reveals himself,
that those unbelievers who have no fear of God in their hearts
will flee to the mountains and the hills and they will cry for
the rocks to fall upon them to hide them from the wrath of the
Lamb. And all the people that are celebrating
Christmas and all the churches that are looking at this very
passage of scripture this morning, what is there that's so attractive
to the unbeliever about Christmas? It's a baby, a baby. Who's afraid of an infant? Who
fears a child in a manger? Why is it that Christmas is so
popular among those who have no real fear of God in their
hearts? There's nothing to be afraid
of with the God that's being presented
in religion. But the Lord tells us that that
baby, that baby went to a cross And
he suffered a violent death on behalf of his people. But he
conquered death. He rose from the grave. He ascended
back into glory and he's coming again. And when he comes again,
he's not coming as a baby. He's not coming as a suffering
servant. He's coming as a reigning king.
And his Bible says his eyes will be like fire and his tongue will
be like a sword. What am I trying to say to you?
Fear God. The Lord tells us, fear not them
who can kill the body. Don't be afraid of what the world
can do to you, but rather fear him who has power to throw both
body and soul into hell. And on the heels of receiving
that understanding of who God is, Then the Lord says to us,
fear not, fear not. You see, fear not is only for
those who are afraid. God doesn't have to say to the
world, fear not, they're not afraid. It's for those who have some
understanding of who God is. Some understanding of who they
are. Some understanding of their need
for grace and mercy. And the Lord says, fear not.
And God says, perfect love, perfect love casteth out fear. And hearing is love. Hearing
is love. Let the world celebrate Christmas
and glory in their love for God. Hearing his love, not that we
loved God, but that he loved us and gave his son as a propitiation
for our sins. And that perfect love and greater
love hath no man than this. Greater love hath no man than
this that he laid his life down for his friends. The Lord Jesus
in praying to his father said, father, I have loved them to
the end. It was his love that took him
to the cross. Romans 3, verse 17 says, the
way of peace they have not known, and there is no fear of God before
their eyes. When God comes in grace, He speaks
to the heart. That heart which would be afraid
apart from these words, fear not. Don't be afraid. All the wrath
that you deserve has been poured out. We have a propitiation,
that's a big word, It just means that the wrath has been appeased.
There's no more wrath, there's no more anger. Let the world
say, God is not angry. Psalm chapter 7 verse 11 says,
God is angry with the wicked every day. He's angry with the
wicked every day. Oh, but those who are found in
Christ His wrath has been appeased. The fire has been quenched. The
sword of God's justice has been wet by the blood of his son. And there's nothing in his heart
for his children, but mercy and grace and love. And he says to
them who know that they are worthy of wrath, don't be afraid. What a blessed word it is when
God by his shepherd or God to the shepherd says by his angels,
don't be afraid. Notice in verse 10, and the angel
said to them, Lord, I need you to speak. I don't want to just
hear the words of a preacher. I don't want to just, You know,
talk myself into something by the power of positive thinking,
Lord, I need for you to speak to me. I need you to make it
so clear to me that I have no reason to be afraid. The glory of the Lord shown round
about them. and they were sore afraid. The
glory of God is, well, belabored that point,
haven't we? Verse 10, and the angel said
unto them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings. See the word good tidings? It's
the word gospel. It's the word gospel. I bring
to you the gospel, the good news. People by nature aren't interested
in the gospel any more than they're interested in good news. Start a newspaper or a news outlet
and put nothing on it but good news and see how long you last.
You'll go bankrupt in a month. Why? Because people aren't interested
in good news. They want to be tantalized with
all the troubles of the world. Why? Why is that? Because if I can see someone
else's trials and troubles, it makes me feel better about myself. And if like a lot of people do,
as I understand on Facebook, Maybe you've got some friends
on Facebook and you look at their page. I hope you're not this
way. I mean their life is just filled with nothing but exotic
trips and happiness and their children are successful and everybody's
doing wonderful. And everything is just glorious
and great. And you read all of that week
in and week out and day by day and you think, oh, what is my
life? Their life's not that way either. talking to a man just the other
day, old friend I hadn't seen in years, very wealthy man, extremely
wealthy, telling me about his house, his lake, and his boats,
and his children, and grandchildren, and where they went to college,
and what their jobs are, and while I'm talking to him I'm
seeing this little broken capillaries in his swollen nose and I'm noticing
his hands shaking just a little bit and I'm thinking to myself,
yeah, it's not all roses, is it? You got a problem with alcohol,
don't you? I didn't say anything. I let
him glory. But I'm telling you, that's the
reason why men don't want to hear good news because it puts
them in their place. It makes them feel like, well,
there's something wrong with me. And that's the same reason why
men don't wanna hear the gospel. Because it exposes you for what
you are. And it says to you, yeah, there's
something wrong with you. But men don't wanna see that. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
53. Isaiah 53. What if the one who is glorying in his
possessions and in his accomplishments receives you into himself and
gives you not a pipe dream of some unbelievable life that he's
pretending to live, but an actual life of glory, a life of accomplishments. You see, that makes it good news,
doesn't it? Look at Isaiah chapter 53, verse
10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief when thou hast made his soul
an offering for sin. He shall see his seed and shall
prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. And he, God the Father, shall
see the travail of his soul. God Almighty is looking from
heaven and seeing what the Lord Jesus is doing on Calvary's cross. And he says, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. The sacrifice
that the Lord Jesus has made on behalf of his people, satisfied
the justice of God. It's satisfied the demands of
God's righteousness and God's holiness, completely satisfied. And it's the only thing that
God is satisfied with. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant, that's Christ, justify many and he shall bear their
iniquities. Therefore, will I divide him
a portion with the great. The father speaking of his son,
and he's saying, sit down here at my right hand. The father
received the son back into glory and gave him his rightful place
at the right hand of the majesty on high, rewarding him for the
success and the accomplishment of his work. And now look at
the rest. and he shall divide the spoil
with the strong. Because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Oh, you see, the good news is
a double-edged sword. The good news exposes us for
what we are. Men don't want to be told they're
sinners. Men don't want to be told they're hell deserving.
Men want to be, they want to be, they want to receive the
glory for their, for their good works. I've got a man in my, I think
he calls me twice a week. Every time he does something
for somebody else, he tells me about it. It's so sad. You know what? Don't let the
right hand know what the left hand's doing. Lord, I'm an unprofitable
servant. What have I ever done? Men don't
want to hear that, do they? They want a glory in their accomplishments. They're like that guy on Facebook
who's putting everything out there to make himself look better
than he is. Don't want to hear good news because the good news
has to start with bad news. I can't be saved until I'm lost.
I can't be made alive until I'm put to death. I can't glory in
Christ until I quit glorying in myself. Isn't that the truth? I bring you good tidings of great
joy. This is not a Kumbaya song of
world peace that everybody glories in for a few days this time of
year. This is the gospel. This is peace with God. This
is the forgiveness of sin. This is the hope of my salvation.
This is I'm being made nobody that he might be all things. What did John the Baptist say? I must decrease. He must increase. This is the
Christmas story that the world's not telling. They're talking
about a baby that nobody's afraid of. They're talking about peace
in the world. Just treat everybody right and
speak nice and be sweet. Let's sign some world peace,
whatever it is that they do. I will divide my spoils. The Lord Jesus got all the spoils
of war. He went to battle all by himself.
He got the victory all by himself. He put our sin away all by himself. We can't get any glory for it.
But what's he do? He divides the spoil with the
strong. Those who have been made strong
in his strength. You see, the only strength there
is, is his strength. And his strength is made perfect
in my weakness. That's why Paul said, I will
glory in my weakness for when I'm weak, then I'm strong. Then
I'm strong. And all of God's elect get the
same spoils. It's not that some get, you hear
people talk about mansions in heaven and some people get this
and that and other people get. I am thy shield and I am thine
exceeding great reward. How are you going to get any
better than that? There's a story where David's
fighting a battle. He's got 600 men at the time.
And the Bible says that two of them are so exhausted from the
previous battle, they can't go back into battle. And so 400
of them go to battle and 200 of them, the Bible says, stay
back with the stuff. I love that. They just sat with
the stuff. You ever feel like that? I said,
I just got a bunch of stuff that I'm sitting with. And after the
400 won the battle and they came back and they found the 200 that
were sitting there watching the stuff, The 400 said, we're not
sharing the spoils of this battle with those 200. They didn't do
anything to deserve it. And David put his foot down and
said, no, no. The spoils are divided equally
among all of my men. And he wrote a decree and made
that a king's decree from then on out that whatever spoils of
war were earned by those who fought in the battle, they were
distributed evenly among all of God's people. What a blessing. I will divide the spoils with
the weak. But this sword cuts both ways,
doesn't it? And men don't wanna hear the good news because they
gotta listen to some bad news first. The angel said to them, fear
not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, great
joy, which shall be to all people. Is this good news for everybody? Well, it's for whosoever. It's
for whosoever. Men make whosoever will a qualification
for salvation. I said, well, if you're willing,
then this is for you. God's done his part, you have
to do your part. You put in your two cents worth
and the spoils are for you. The qualification for salvation.
does not lie in the status, the merit, the
decisions, the work, or the value of its recipients. The qualification for salvation,
I'll say this again, does not lie in anything in the recipient. And that's what whosoever means. Whosoever is not a qualification
for salvation, whosoever will. Whosoever describes that there's
no qualifications in you. That's why the Lord tells us
in his word, it's for the rich and the poor, the bond and the
free, the male and the female, the Jew and the Gentile, You
see, there's no merit, there's no qualifications in the recipient
of salvation that qualifies them. This is for the whole world.
Go into all the world, preach the gospel. That's all the Lord's
saying. He's not making whosoever will
your qualification. He's identifying The fact that
there are no qualifications in me. I can be a whosoever. It
doesn't matter what my background is. It doesn't matter what my
life has been. It doesn't matter what I've done or what I haven't
done or what I've accomplished or haven't accomplished. It doesn't
matter. It's for the whole world. It's for whosoever. See, we've
turned this thing upside down, haven't we? The world makes it just the opposite
of what God's saying. This gospel's for everybody and
anybody. So how do I know it's for me? Look. Verse 11, for unto you. It makes it personal unto you. Let me ask you a simple
question. Are you willing to drink of the
river of life freely? Are you willing to be saved in
such a way that you can claim no credit, no glory? Are you willing to be saved in
such a way that God gets all the glory and Christ did all
the work? The natural man's not. I think I've told you all this
before, some of you weren't here with us. When we had our old
building, we had services in the old building, we had some
makeshift pews. that we had taken some chairs and tied them together
with plywood and they were ugly. You remember that? They were
comfortable, they were real squishy, you know? And we got some new
pews and one day we took all those old pews and I put them
right out there on the road and put a big sign, F-R-E-E. And
we spent the whole day working, trying to get the new pews in
order, in place, and getting the building ready for the next
service. Those pews sat there all day with a big free sign
on them. I went out there, and I flipped the sign over, and
I put $5 on it and put it back. I mean, within 10 minutes, somebody
stopped and got every one of those pews. Five bucks. That's just the way man is, isn't
it? Free? Free, you mean I can't get any
credit for any part of my salvation? Yeah, you wanted to be saved
that way? That's the whosoever. When God makes his people willing
in the day of his power, they are willing to give to Christ
all the glory for their salvation. They can't take any credit whatsoever. That's contrary. What did the
hymn writer say? Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These for sin could not atone.
Thou must save, and thou alone. In my hand, no price I bring,
only to thy cross can I cling." Come to God with nothing but
your sin. Nothing but your unworthiness.
Nothing but your need for mercy. Nothing! Christ gets it all. He gets all the glory, did all
the work. Not, you know, God did his part,
now I gotta do my part. You gotta pray this prayer. You
gotta make this commitment. You gotta make Jesus Lord of
your life. You bow to Him. Bow to Him. God's already made Him Lord of
your life. The Bible says that Jesus Christ
is Lord over the living and the dead. He reigns sovereign over
believers and unbelievers alike. What is the willingness that
God puts in the heart of His children? We rejoice in having
Him reign over us. We don't raise our fist to heaven
and say with the unbeliever, I'll not have that man reign
over me. We bow and say, Lord, I need someone to reign over
me. I can't fix my problem. I can't lead my life. I can't
figure this thing out. I've got to have you, Lord. Not only am I willing, but I must have Christ. I've
got to have him. Jeremiah said, heal me, oh Lord,
and I shall be healed. Heal me, save me, and I shall
be saved. For thou art my praise. Save
me, oh God, for the waters have come up upon me. Lord, save me,
I'm gonna die. Lord, I'll leave this world into
a godless eternity. Lord, I'll destroy my life. I've
got no power over my sin. I've got no power over anything.
Lord, save me. I'm drowning. The billows are,
the waves are, Peter, Peter's drowning in the water. What'd
he cry? Lord, save me. And it was that cry that the
Lord put in his heart. Peter wasn't making the decision
to let Jesus save him. He had no other option. Lord, save me lest I die. This is who the gospel's for.
Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be
to all people, anyone, Whosoever, no qualifications for unto you. Is that me? You wanted to be saved by God,
God's way. You need to be saved by God. Someone said, well, can a man
lose his salvation? Depends on who saved you. If your salvation is dependent
on a decision that you made or work that you performed or anything
that you do, then yeah, you can be lost. You are now, but you
know, you can lose that hope. If God saves you, no, no. What he starts, he finishes every
time. The Lord Jesus said this to the
disciples, now is my heart troubled. And what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour? Nay, but for this hour came I
unto the world. When the Lord Jesus went to Calvary's
cross, he said, I could have called 12 legions of angels to
deliver me. 12 legions. But he didn't. He never cried, Lord, save me. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? He was fulfilling that prophecy
to show to us that it pleased the father to bruise him, that
our sin on him caused the father to forsake him. And if God almighty
forsook his darling son because he saw sin on him, what do you
think he's gonna do to me and you if he sees sin on us? Our sin has to be, it has to
be carried away, it has to be taken, it has to be buried, it
has to be covered by the blood of Christ, every bit of it. And
the Lord Jesus said, what shall I say? Father, save me? Nay.
Nay, I'm not gonna cry out to my Father to save me. For this
cause came I into the world. I came to be forsaken. I came
to be put to death. I came to shed my blood. that
my people might be able to cry, Lord, save me. Unto you, that's personal, is
born this day, Salvation, say, well, how do I know it's for
me? Well, if you're thinking that, you know, I'm gonna do
business with God somewhere down the road, or I've got the potential
of getting things right, I'm gonna clean up my life, I'm gonna
quit this, I'm gonna do that, you know, we'll settle that somewhere
else. Until you was born this day.
Now is the day of salvation, right now. Salvation is not something
you You can't do anything tomorrow. You ever done something tomorrow?
Can't do anything tomorrow, can you? The only time anybody can
do anything is here and now. The Lord said now, right now. I'm
pleading with you, I'm encouraging you to do what I'm trying to
do in my own heart. Come to Christ right now. Right
now, without moving a muscle, without raising your hands, without
performing a work, just bow and, oh Lord, Lord, I've got no place
else to go, I need to be saved. And it's not a one-time event,
is it? This is how we keep coming. Unto you is born this day, in
the city of David, This is the fulfillment. Let me just go to
one verse, Micah. Micah chapter five. I know it's one of those small
Old Testament minor prophets. It's between Nahum and Jonah. Micah chapter five. Look at verse two, but thou Bethlehem. Now Bethlehem translated means
house of bread, house of bread. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the bread of life. I'm that manna that came down
from heaven. But unto you Bethlehem, Ephratah, though thou be little,
"'among the thousands of Judah, "'yet out of thee shall he come
forth unto me, "'that is to be ruler in Israel, "'whose goings
forth have been from old "'and from everlasting.'" God purposed it in the covenant
of grace before time ever was for his son, to be born in Bethlehem. This taxing was all ordained
by God to get Joseph and Mary back to Bethlehem, the city of
David, the birthplace of King David, the house of bread, that
the bread of life might come into the world, into this very
place. so that the angels would come
and say, unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior,
a savior. The only sinners need a savior.
We don't need a teacher. We don't need a doctor. We don't
need a psychiatrist. We need a savior. Our problem
is sin. And only the Lord Jesus can, You shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. He saved us. He didn't offer salvation or
provide an option of salvation or give a means of salvation. He saved his people. He bowed
his head. He said, it is finished. He shed
his precious blood. He accomplished the salvation
of his people. Unto you was born this day in
the city of David, Bethlehem, a Savior, which is the Christ,
the Anointed One, the Messiah, the one Son of God in the full
power of the Holy Spirit, to accomplish the work that his
Father sent him to do. The Lord said to his mother,
did you not know that I must be about my father's business?
What was his father's business? To save his people. He did it. Unto you is born this day. This is good news. For sinners,
it's good news. A savior, which is the Christ. And he is Lord. He's Lord. And we rejoice in him reigning
sovereign. That's what Lord means. And when God gives faith, those
to whom he gives faith, the Bible says they beat their swords into
plowshares and their spears into pruning forks. They lay down
the weapons of their resistance against God and they bow. They believe. It's good news. And the shepherds, what did they
say? Don't be afraid. Fear not. It's for those who
know they have reason to be afraid except God say fear not. I bring
you the gospel. And this to anybody, for unto you is born this day
in the city of David, a savior, the Christ who is Lord. Our heavenly father, thank you. Thank you for the hope of salvation
in thy dear son. Thank you for giving us your
word. Lord, we pray for the faith to
believe exactly what you've said. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Adam? 87. Let's stand together. Number
87. Is that in the hardbacked hymnal? 87. I hope we'll sing this with some
understanding of the good news that we just heard about. We're
gonna do it acapella. Joy to the world, the Lord is
come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and heaven and nature
sing. Joy to the earth, the Savior
reigns. Let men their songs employ, while
fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, repeat the sounding
joy, repeat the sounding joy. Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. No more let sins and sorrows
grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make His blessings
flow Far as the curse is found Far as the curse is found Far
as, far as the curse is found He rules the world with truth
and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness
and wonders of His love, and wonders of His love. and wanders, wanders of his love.