Being a pastor is not easy. Everything that you have fighting
against you and the thing that every sinner has fighting against
us, all those things, temptations and our flesh and all of that. God's pastor has every bit of
that. One of the things that the Lord
uses to motivate his pastors is the people that the Lord's
given him to pastor. And there is truly a unity here
and a love here that as the scripture says, how good and how pleasant.
And you really do make it easy. And I mean that. And I'm thankful
for you. Very thankful. Let's turn to
Matthew chapter 1. Now, the observance of a day
called Christmas or Christ Mass is nowhere in the scriptures.
That's not a scriptural practice. It's not something that Christ
ordained. It's a pagan holiday. It's a
pagan holiday. promoted by papists. Scripture
does not give us the date of Christ's birth, nor does it give
us the date of Christ's death. We attach no religious meaning,
no spiritual meaning, or any significance to December 25th,
nor to any of the customs associated with it. No religious or spiritual
meaning. But it's not idolatrous for a
person to decorate a tree or exchange gifts with their family. That's not idolatry if you don't
consider it to be an idol. Remember Paul told the Corinthians,
he said, we know, you and I who have been born of the Spirit
of God, we know that an idol is nothing in the world. Nothing. in the world, that there's none
other God but One. Paul said idolaters might worship
a day, they might worship a tree, they might worship a star, they
might worship things in heaven, but to us there is but one God,
the Father of whom are all things and we in Him and one Lord Jesus
Christ by whom are all things and we by Him. So if, he said,
if you're not putting any religious attachment on that meat that's
being sold in the idol's temple, he said go right in there and
purchase it and buy it, take it home, cook it, it's good meat.
Nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with putting
up a tree, observing a day. It's only idolatrous if you make
it idolatrous. But I like the fact that this
whole world is reminded that the Lord Jesus Christ did come
in human flesh. I do like that. I love that. And I want you to know who that
was that came. Who was this baby that was born? Who is that? Why did he come? Well, I want to try to show you
that from three texts in Matthew and Luke this morning. And these three texts will be
our division. First of all, that one born named Jesus is named
that for a very specific reason. Look here in Matthew 1 verse
21. She shall bring forth the Son,
and thou shalt call His name Jesus, because He shall save
His people from their sins. Jesus Christ is His name as a
man. That's his earthly name. He came into this world a real
man, just like us, with one exception. He knew no sin. Look at verse
18, it says in the second part there, when his mother was espoused
to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the
Holy Ghost. This child was of the Holy Ghost. Now, every other child that's
conceived in our mother's womb is conceived in sin. I mean,
the very conception is in sin. And as we grow and our members
are fashioned, it's just iniquity being shaped. Scripture says,
Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. And because that's the case,
we read in Psalm 58, 3, the wicked are estranged from the womb.
They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Now that's
describing all of us, every one of us. We are all conceived in
sin. We all were shapen in iniquity
in our mother's womb. And therefore, as soon as we
were born, we went astray from God, speaking lies about God. That's what we all did. You and
me, and every other sinner in this world. It was necessary
for Christ to come without sin. And He did. Mary was a virgin. He wasn't born of corrupt seed.
And here's why that's necessary. for He shall save His people
from their sins. That's why the virgin birth was
necessary. The angel said unto them, Fear
not, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall
be to all people, to all kinds of people. He's got all kinds
of people that are among His elect. Rich, poor, male, female,
young, old, educated, uneducated, Jew, Gentile, all kinds of men. And it says, for unto you is
born this day in the city of David a Savior, a Savior, a Savior,
which is Christ. That means Messiah, God's chosen,
His anointed. He's the Lord. That means He's
sovereign over everything. That's who that baby is. That's who He was when He came
into this world. Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ,
the Savior of His people. Now there's only two men in the
history of the world that ever started out without sin. That's
Adam and the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the reason
is because they're heads of their people. their heads of their
people. Adam represented all who would
be born of him, which means that's all men and women, because we
all came from him. Christ represented all that shall
be born of him, which is all God's elect. And the scripture
says, by one man's disobedience, that's Adam, many were made sinners,
and so by the obedience of one, Christ Jesus, shall many be made
righteous. This thing, we became sinners,
Not because of what we did, but because of what Adam did. And
those who are saved are saved not because of what we do, but
because of what Christ did. The first Adam put us in this
mess, the last Adam brings his people out of it. For He shall
save His people from their sins. His people are the elect, chosen
of God by sovereign free grace without any cause in His people.
Chosen from before the foundation of the world. That's why He said,
Thy people. He shall save His people from
their sins. And it's... It's significant that He come
to save His people because we're sinners. That's all we are. When
you're a sinner, you can't do anything to contribute to your
salvation. And we can't contribute a thing
to it. The Lord Jesus Christ came forth,
born of a virgin, to live in perfect obedience under the law,
in place of His people, and to bear the sins of His people,
and be made a curse under the fury of God's offended justice
in place of His people, so that He fulfills precept and penalty
of the law. That's why He came. He shall
save His people from their sins. See that word, shall save? Those
two words tell us that there is no possibility that Christ
shall lose one that He came to save. There's not any possibility
that he shall lose even one that he came to save. Scripture said
70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy
city to finish the transgression. Not to make a stab at it, to
finish the transgression. to make an end of sins, to make
reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness,
to seal up the vision and the prophecy and to anoint the most
holy. This is what God wrote down in
His Word before it came to pass and said this is what He is going
to do when He comes. Right here. And He said in Isaiah 42, 4,
He shall not fail. He shall not fail. This is the
Father's will which is sent me, He said, that of all which He
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day. So get this first of all. Jesus
Christ, that one born in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago,
is the Savior of His people. And when we say He is the Savior,
we mean He does it all. He is the author and the finisher
of our faith. He didn't come and shed His blood
in vain. Now, if men who say He died for
everybody, for all men without exception, to give all men a
chance, they're saying He shed His blood in vain because some
for whom He died won't be saved. He didn't get the job done. He
failed. That's not the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible. Scripture
says, when He, by His own blood, entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us, for His people. He obtained it. He obtained it. He didn't die to give us a chance.
Scripture says, Comfort ye, comfort ye My people. He wasn't all men. He didn't come to give all men
a chance to be saved. He said, Comfort ye, comfort
ye My people. My people, speak unto My people
and comfort her and tell her her warfare is accomplished,
her iniquity is pardoned. She has received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sin. It's His people He died for.
What sins does He save us from? Here's what He does. He saved
us from the penalty of sin. by His blood atonement that He
accomplished when He obtained eternal redemption for us on
the cross, when He said it's finished. He saved us from the
penalty of our sin. He saves us from the spiritual
death of our sin when we're born of Him and a new man is created
within us. He saves us from the love of
our sin whenever Christ takes dominion in our heart and He
makes us in our new man to hate sin and to love righteousness. And one day He's going to save
us fully, completely from the presence of sin. When He brings
us into glory, resurrected and glorified and we have no sin.
Now that's a Savior. That's a Savior who does all
that. And that's Christ Jesus the Lord. He said unto me, Revelation
21.6, He said unto me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Now secondly, let's go over to
look down at Matthew 1 and look down at verse 22. That one that
was born, his name is Emmanuel. We just sang it. What does that
mean? Verse 22, ìNow all this was done
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the
prophet, saying, ìBehold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall
bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.î Being
interpreted as God with us. Jesus is really God. Just like He's really man, He's
really God. Really God. He didn't begin to
be the Son of God when He came forth and took flesh. That's
not when He was... He didn't begin to be the Son
of God then. He is the eternal second person
in the Trinity and He's the Creator. He's the Creator. Scripture says
by Him, or all things were made by Him and without Him there
was nothing made that was made. He's God. That's who He is. Jesus
is God. I like that. Jesus is God. Now, nobody can comprehend, none
of us can logically reason out and explain how the Son of God
took a human nature and became one person with a holy divine
nature and a holy human nature. None of us can figure that out.
We can't explain that, how he was formed in the womb of a virgin. Scripture says it's a mystery.
But that doesn't mean we're preaching mysticism. It's a mystery. It's definitely a mystery. But
faith is the evidence of things not seen. We believe what God
says. We believe what God says. And
here's what God says. Listen to Luke 1. Turn over there
to Luke 1. Look at Luke 1 verse 35. This is how it happened right
here. This is all God reveals. This is all faith needs. The
angel answered, said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore
also, in addition to being called Jesus, that holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. the Son
of God. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth,
she's also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the
sixth month with her who was called barren. Well, how in the
world did barren Elizabeth conceive John the Baptist? The same way
Mary conceived the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at the next verse.
For with God nothing shall be impossible. That's how. That's
all we need. That's all faith needs. I believe
God. With God, nothing is impossible. Now think on this, brethren.
He's Emmanuel, God with us. God with us. God condescended. to come down and take the closest
association with His people, the most intimate association
with His people. You think of this condescension
from the heights of glory, we can't even fathom, all the way
down to take human nature that He created and He created like
He came to be made the nature of His people, Abraham's seed,
His elect. And it wasn't the nature of angels. It was the nature of His fallen
sinful people. That's where He came in the likeness. In the likeness. God sent His
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Just thank God with us. closeness with us, intimate association
with us, walking and dwelling amongst us. And think about this. God who changes not. The Lord
Jesus Christ who Scripture says is the same yesterday, today
and forever. He went through all the changes
that we go through as we grow up. From an infant to a toddler,
to a child, to a teenager, to an adult. Scripture says, you
talk about something you can't explain. Scripture says, Jesus
increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. and he was touched with the feeling
of our infirmities in all points tempted like as we are yet without
sin. This one who is the God-man,
this one who is really God and who is really man, he really
hungered and thirsted like we do. He really did. He got up in the morning and
went to work as a carpenter and got calluses on his hands just
like we do, and got sore muscles from working all day like we
do, and grew weary and tired like we do. This one sorrowed. He suffered
bereavement over the loss of his loved ones, the death of
his loved ones. There was no loss to him. But
He suffered everything we suffered. And this God with us, brethren,
is God reconciling His people to God our Father. Back into
friendship with God our Father. That's what He was doing. Making
it eternal so that it could never be undone again. Making us inherit
more than we lost in Adam. An eternal union that will never
be severed again. Look over at 2 Corinthians 5.
Here's what God with us was all about. 2 Corinthians 5. Verse 18. All things are of God. who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation,
to wit that God was in Christ. God was in Christ. He's God with us. reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Why
not? Verse 21, For he hath made him
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Look back at verse 19, the second
half. And He hath committed unto us
the word of reconciliation, and now then we are ambassadors for
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled to God. Stop warring against God. God
has come down, He is God with us, and He reconciled His people
to Himself. That's what He did. In Acts 20,
28, Paul said, God purchased His church with His own blood. That's who He is. Emmanuel, God
with us. That's an astounding, amazing
truth. Here's the third thing I want
to show you this morning. That baby born in Bethlehem was
born king. Look here at Matthew 2. Let me
see if that's right. It might be Luke 2. No, Matthew 2. Matthew 2, verse
1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem
of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came
wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born
king of the Jews? They didn't say, where is He
that shall be the King of the Jews? They said, where is He
that is born King of the Jews? That's what they said. You know,
God's Word is so true. When God gives you a heart to
understand spiritual discernment, you start seeing that God's Word
is in harmony. Every scripture is in harmony.
If there is something that seems like it contradicts another scripture,
we don't understand it correctly. That's the problem. The dates
are, one's using one date, one's using another date, or one's
starting ordering things at one period in time, and another at
another, something like that. It's us that don't understand
it, because God's Word is in harmony. And it's so true. Herod here, you know where this
man was from? He was an Edomite. Remember,
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated? He's an Edomite. He's of Esau, a descendant of
Esau. He wasn't even of Judah. He wasn't
of Israel. He was of the despised race.
He was of the forsaken race. That's who he was. How did he
get to be the king over Israel then? The Romans who had Israel
captive set him up and propped him up as a king over Israel
to do what they told him to do. That's how he got to be king.
But the point of that is this, brethren. He wasn't really a
king. He wasn't really a king. You
remember this? Jacob, God said through Jacob,
the scepter, the throne, the kingship shall not depart from
Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come. And unto him shall the people
be gathered unto. unto him. What does that mean?
It means that God promised there would be a king in Judah until
Christ came. Until Christ came. But then there
would be no king in Judah. And just like God promised, Christ
was born when the scepter had departed from Judah and Herod
was not even a king of Judah. The scepter had departed. Shiloh
means he whose it is. And He whose the throne is, is
King Jesus. It's His. The power and the dominion
of His kingdom is His. And it's to Him that all His
people are gathered. To Him. And the people He's gathering
are the true Jews. His spiritual Israel, the elect
of God. He's not a Jew which is one outwardly.
A Jew is one inwardly. Circumcision is not outward in
the flesh. It's inward in the spirit. And praise is not of
men, but of God. This thing, that's who He came
to save, His people. And Christ has been the King
of His people from eternity. And He'll be the King of His
people forever when time is no more. He's the King over His
people. Herod, he didn't even know what
the scriptures said concerning where he was to be born. And
he asked, and here's what they said, Matthew 2, look at verse
5. They said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it's written
by the prophet, And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not
the least among the princes of Judah. For out of thee shall
come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. Now listen
to what they left out. Micah 5.2 says, "...whose goings
forth have been from old, from everlasting." He's been the king
from eternity. You remember whenever Samuel
got all down in the mouth and God had set him up to be the
king and the judge, the prophet, the preacher, everything for
the people. And they rejected him. They said,
we don't want you to be the king. We want a king like that he the
nations have. And remember what the Lord said?
They haven't rejected you, Samuel. They've rejected Me. That I should
not be the King who's reigning over them. That's Christ the
King speaking. That's who they rejected. Well,
how long will Christ be the King? The angel told Mary in Luke 1.33,
He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom
there shall be no end. Now, the Lord made King David
and He made the political nation Israel to give us a picture,
to paint a picture for us and show us a picture of Christ the
King and His spiritual kingdom. That's what He was showing. But
see, those that didn't have spiritual discernment when He came and
still today, Many that don't have spiritual discernment, they
think Christ came to establish an earthly kingdom. And Christ
said, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of
this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered
to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from
his. If his kingdom was of this world,
you can guarantee he would have never been crucified and his
kingdom would be set up right now in this earth. His kingdom
is not of this earth. Look over at Hebrews 2. I will
show you this. Hebrews chapter 2. Look at verse 5. Hebrews 2 verse 5. Chapter 1 verse 5. Unto which
of the angels said he at any time, Thou art
my son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a
father, and he shall be to me a son. Look down at verse 8.
But unto the Son, God said, Thy throne, O God, is forever and
ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of Thy kingdom. Speaking of the work He finished
when He walked this earth, God said, Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even Thy God,
hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. And Thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
works of Thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest. They all shall wax old as doth
the garment, and as a vesture thou shalt fold them up, and
they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy
years shall not fail. To which of the angels said he
at any time, Sit on my right hand until I make thy enemies
thy footstool. What should we do, knowing this
is the eternal King? He says, We ought to give heed
to this gospel we've heard preached. We ought to give heed to it. How shall we escape if we neglect
such a great salvation? There'll be no escaping. Well,
how do you get in Christ's kingdom? How does a sinner get in Christ's
kingdom? He said, heed this gospel you've
heard. Heed this gospel you've heard.
And through this Gospel, the Holy Spirit regenerates and gives
us faith and does what we saw this morning. He irresistibly
causes us to come to Christ. That's how. Listen to Colossians
1 verse 12. If you want to turn there, Colossians
1 verse 12. This is when we give thanks unto
the Father who's made us meet. He's made us fit. Right now,
you who are born of God, He made you meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light. What does that mean? It
means if you died, you could go to heaven right now. You could
go there right now. Nothing needs to be done. He
made you fit to be there. What did He do? How did He do
that? Verse 13. Who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear
Son. in whom we have redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sin." The kingdom comes without
observation. Christ the King is risen and
reigning and His kingdom is flourishing right now in this earth. We are
reigning with Him as kings and priests unto God and the world
don't even know it. The world don't even know it.
Folks read the Scriptures and they say, well, that's speaking
of something way down the road. That's speaking of what He's
done now. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation. Lowly, riding upon an ass, and
upon the coat, the foal of an ass. Why did He come like this? If He is the King, why was He
born a baby? If He had come in all the pomp
and all the splendor of an earthly King, and come riding into Jerusalem
on a mighty stallion, everybody would have fell down at his feet
because he would have been so attractive to us. Because that
sort of thing impresses our flesh. But by coming like this, he's
showing that his kingdom is not of this world and he's not depending
on man's power or any gimmick to attract the flesh to him. He don't need that stuff. All
this junk the world's doing and the way they're preaching and
things that they're doing to try to get sinners in and then
keep them in there. He don't need that. He does it
right here through this Gospel. That's how He does it. He came
lowly that He might have fulfilled all justice and have salvation
free for His people because He worked it all out. That's why
He came. He's making this Gospel cross
our path wherever these people are. He is bringing his people
into his church. You will sit here and all of
a sudden somebody will show up. And they will just sit here,
start hearing, not leave. See, this is our weapon. This
is it. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal. They are mighty through God to
the pulling down of every vain false refuge. putting down all
the imaginations of our sinful flesh and every high thing that
exalts itself against God. And He brings us all to the obedience
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He brings us to bow and trust
His obedience as our obedience to save us from our sin. All
through this Gospel right here. John was shown all these enemies
and they were making war with Christ and he said, These shall
make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them. For
He is Lord of lords and King of kings. And they that are with
Him, those He has already conquered by His grace, are called and
chosen and faithful. Why? Because He called them.
Well, how did He call them? John said, Out of His mouth goes
a sharp sword. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. He's using his pastors. Paul
said, in the behalf of Christ, we beseech you, but it's the
voice of Christ that we hear whenever the word comes in power.
He said, out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he
should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod
of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and
wrath of Almighty God, and he hath on his vesture and on his
thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. What does that mean? It means
he is the king ruling every king on this earth. That is right. He is ruling our president. He
is ruling the fellow in England and the lady in Germany and all
over the world wherever they are. He is ruling every king.
And he is ruling his people. And there is not a thing in this
world coming to pass that is out of His sovereign control. And I am saying this as Him risen
right now as the God-man. There is a man seated in glory
who is God and He is the one doing this. Because He is the
head of the church with all power to do it. Have you heard His
name? He said at the name of Jesus
every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
That's going to happen in the last day, but I'll tell you what,
it's happening right now for His people when He speaks into
their heart, power. They're bowing and confessing
Him to be the Lord. If you have part in this first
resurrection, the second death will have no power on you. That death of being thrown into
hell, it will have no power on you if you partake of this resurrection. Have you heard it? Have you heard
His name? Have you heard His voice speak
into your heart? Why does He do it this way? That
no flesh should glory in His presence. That's why. But of
Him are you in Christ Jesus. Who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. That as it is
written, He that glories, let Him glory in the Lord. That's
why He's doing it this way. Now let me end with this. Go
to Luke chapter 2. I've titled this message, What
Simeon Saw. What Simeon Saw. Now if you don't
yet behold Him, if you have not yet heard His name, my prayer
is that He would make you see and behold Him like old Simeon. Simeon was an old man. But God
had promised him he was going to see Christ. He was an old
man. He had given him spiritual discernment. And they had brought our Lord
Jesus there when he was eight days old to be circumcised. That was the first thing that
brought you under the law. Made you a debtor to fulfill
the whole law. So he came to be circumcised. He was fulfilling
the whole law for his people. They brought him there and Simeon
sees Him and He knows exactly who He is. And I don't have a
doubt about this. See men, they said He took Him
up in His arms. I don't think He was sitting
there holding Him like this, loving Him. I think He took Him up between
God the Father and Him as His mediator and prayed to God the
Father through Christ His mediator. And here's what He said. Verse
29, ìLord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according
to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.î Thatís who
He is. Heís Godís salvation. ìWhich
thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to
lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.î
Sinner, no need to look in any other place. Neither is there
salvation in any other. For there is no other name under
heaven whereby we must be saved. It must be Christ the Lord. I
pray God give you grace now to see what Simeon saw. I pray He
give you grace to see Christ is God's salvation. That you
might behold Him as your Savior. That you might behold Him as
your God. That you might behold Him as
your King and trust Him for everything. That's my prayer. Amen.