Luke 2 verse 1. And it came to pass in those
days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all
the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made
when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed,
everyone into his own city. Some say it was a census, some
say it was a tax. At any rate, you had to go to
your 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. He went to Judea because the
Spirit of God had moved Moses to write in Genesis 49 that the
scepter would not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver between
his feet until Shiloh come and unto him would the gathering
of the people be. And this is Shiloh. This is Christ
coming. He went to Bethlehem because
the Spirit of the Lord God spoke through Micah. and said that
out of Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands
of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto me he that's
ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old, from
everlasting. This is not his first going forth. It's from old. He's God. And
it was of the house and lineage of David, Joseph, and Mary, because
the Spirit of God spoke through Jeremiah. And He said, Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, when I will raise unto David
a righteous branch. and a king shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth." This is
all done, everything is done here by the sovereign hand of
God who determined before for this to be done. That's comfort
to us, brethren. Everything the Lord has promised,
promises to His children in the heart, He makes us to see, He
brings it to pass so we know He's faithful, And so we can
rest. He turned this king's heart just
the same as he turns the heart of his children. So we can rest
in him, can't we? We can rest there. I like this
passage in Ecclesiastes 5.8. Let me quote this or read this
to you. If thou seest the oppression
of the poor and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a
province, marvel not at the matter, For he that is higher than the
highest regardeth, and there be higher than they. He's running
the show. Everything on track and the tracks
his. He laid it. He laid it. All right,
verse 6 he says, And so it was, so it was, that while they were
there, The days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling
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 sore afraid." Don't you love how the Lord's
ways are completely opposite of man's ways? They're opposite
of man's ways. There's a way that seems right
to man. God's ways totally contrary opposite to man's way. This is
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is the High Priest
of God that's coming forward. And yet he chose, he chose not
to be born in a palace or in a temple. This is the one who is over all. All things belong unto Him. And
He chose to come through this poor virgin and this man to whom
she's espoused who is a carpenter. This is He that came to robe
His children in the spotless pristine garment of His righteousness. And He chose to be swaddled in
these garments. This is the one who said when
he was going to the cross, I go to prepare a place for you. And
he prepared that place on Calvary's tree. And he said, I go to prepare
a place for you and if I go, I'm going to come again and receive
you to myself. And yet when he came, there wasn't
room for them in the end. This is a diametric contradiction
of us, of how we would do things. If you had... This is just not how we do things.
It's just not. This one is righteous. This one is no need of making
himself of any reputation. He's God. and he comes forth
to serve his children in lowliness. Behold, thy king comes lowly. Lowly. And look at the second
thing here. The very first announcement of
this good news, it's not given to the rulers and to the kings
of the earth. It's given to some shepherds
that's out at night tending some sheep out in the field. When our Lord began His earthly
ministry, He called some fishermen. And just like those fishermen
were, these shepherds here are not the most influential people
in the world. In fact, they're out here working
the graveyard shift. They're out here at night, tending to these flocks. But He's not a respecter of persons.
Our God's not a respecter of persons. Noah was a man that
was despised in his generation. He was a man who found grace
in the eyes of God in the midst of a generation in which he differed
nothing from them save for the grace of God. Moses, he called
Moses. Moses stuttered. He said, I can't
even speak. God said, who made your mouth?
He called him and used him. Jacob was a deceiver. Abraham
was living in a land of idolatry. David was the last son that Jesse
ever thought God would ordain as king. Rahab was a harlot. Ruth was
a Moabitess from the land of Moab. Matthew was a thieving
tax collector. Paul had a thorn in the flesh
so that the people said his bodily presence is weak and contemptible. God's not impressed with our
achievements, is he? You know, if we came to God by
our will, you know what we'd do? We'd poke out our chest and
be so proud of it. If there was some righteousness
we could do that God would accept, that was performed by us, you
wouldn't be able to fit in the same room with us. If there was some kind of holiness
that we could work in our own flesh, we'd look down our noses
at everybody and say, now you stand over there, you're just
not holy enough to come near me. Here's the holy one. Here's the Holy One coming down
to where His people are, and they're not holy in themselves. They're vile and wretched and
miserable and undone, and He's coming down. He's not saying,
stand over there, I'm too holy for you. He's coming down to
do for them what they can't do for themselves. Oh, are we too proud to come
down off our throne Is our life so, so all important
that we got to live it for we lay it down? If we, if you wait
to live your life before you just lay it all down, you'll
never lay it down. Never lay it down. What is your
life? What is your life? It's a vapor. It's when you walk out there,
when you leave here today and you walk out there and you breathe
and you see that vapor come out, see how long it lasts. Breathe
out and then just stop and see how long it lasts. It comes forth
and it vanishes. That's your life. Oh, but it's
so important we can't, we can't lay it down. Pride, pride, ignorance. He's not like us, is He? Look
over at Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. I want you to see
this. Isaiah 55, verse 7. Verse 6. Seek ye the Lord while He may
be found. Today's the day of grace, you
know. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call ye upon Him
while He's near. Let the wicked, who's that? Everybody
that forsakes their way and comes to Him. Say, well, that's not
me. And it's not you he's talking
to. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord. Because our way and our thoughts
are going straight away from Him. That's our way and our thoughts,
to go straight away, let him return, repent, turn to the Lord. And he'll have mercy upon him.
And to our God, for he'll abundantly pardon. You mean God will do
that for somebody who's totally gone straight away from Him,
rebelled against Him, thought thoughts absolutely contrary
to God Almighty who is holy? You mean God will have mercy
on me if I come to Him? He sure will. You know why? Look
at the next verse. He says, For my thoughts are
not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts. This is a God of mercy. The foolishness
of God is wiser than we are. The weakness of God is stronger
than we are. No flesh is going to glory in
his presence. Leave everything and just come
to him and say, Lord, if you will. If you're willing, Lord,
you can make me whole. He said, I'll have mercy on you.
You come to Him asking Him to have mercy, and He says, I'll
have mercy. Altogether different than us. Well, look down at verse
9. That's who He chose. He came
this way, and He spoke to these shepherds, and look at verse
9. Lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, And the glory
of the Lord shone round about them, and they were so afraid."
I don't know how to describe the shining of the glory of the
Lord other than to say light. Light. Light came upon them. It's what's going to happen if
you hear Him speaking this morning. You're going to have light shine. Light's going to shine. And because
we're in darkness and because we're like these shepherds are,
we'll be so afraid. Tremble. This is evidence of
sin. So afraid. Why would we be afraid
of God? He's not like us, is He? But
this light shined. And when this light shined, here's
the message that came with it. This is the message that comes
with it. And the angel said unto them, fear not. Oh, what's going
to settle your heart? I don't know how to describe
the fear of God, which is wisdom. Well, it shouldn't scare me.
Well, yeah, it should. But it ought to make me at the
same time not fear. That's God's fear, the fear He
gives, the wisdom He gives. It makes you tremble and at the
same time He says, now fear not. You see who God is and then you
hear God say, now let me tell you how it is. Fear not, for
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be
to all people. Fear not, I bring you. I bring
you. Salvation is always brought to
the recipient. It's brought to you. You had
some gifts given to you yesterday. You know how those gifts were
given to you? They were brought to you. And they were given to
you. Somebody else paid the price,
somebody else made the purchase, somebody else wrapped everything
up and brought it to you and gave it to you. And you know
what you did? You received it. It was a gift. It's always the
recipient of grace, the recipient of salvation has it brought to
them by God. And He says, these are good tidings,
good news. That's what the Gospel is. It's
good news. And He says, which shall be to
all people. Let me ask you this. When you
watch the evening news, or any time you hear of news, it's done,
isn't it? The news, that's what it is.
It's already been done. It's news. It's done. If you believe it's done, you're
believing didn't make it happen. And if you don't believe it's
done, you're not believing, don't make it cease to have happened.
Does it? Whether you believe it or not,
it doesn't affect the news at all, does it? Well, the good
news of this gospel, it's to all people the same good news. Whether they believe it or they
don't believe it. We got one message. One message. No matter
who it goes forth to. And it's glorious good news and
great joy. And it's the same message. Whether a man believes it, a
man doesn't believe it. To everyone that He sends this
good news to, they're going to effectually receive it freely
given to them and rejoice in it just like these shepherds.
They couldn't stop this light from shining around them. They
couldn't stop this voice from speaking into their heart. This
angel, it came to them. I love that passage that Brother
Jaime read in there, Isaiah 52. Right before that, right where
he says, the watchman had come. He says, you're going to know
it's I that speaketh. It's the glorious God, our Savior
speaking. And you can't stop His voice.
You can't stop it. We know, this is a natural thing
we can understand. Stop this right here. Eric, you can't stop that, can
you? You can't stop a voice coming
to you. You can't stop God's voice entering into your heart
and calling you. And when He calls you, you hear
Him and you're going to follow Him. But now what if somebody
doesn't believe it manifests He didn't call them. It manifests
Christ didn't do anything for them. It doesn't change the news. It's done. It doesn't change
it whatsoever. Romans 3.3, What if some did
not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? Shall they make what God has
faithfully done non-effectual because they don't believe it?
God forbid. Let God be true and every man
a liar. It wasn't my believing that made
God choose me. It wasn't my believing that made
Christ redeem me. It wasn't my believing that made
me accepted of God. It was God's grace. Believing
was the result of what He did when the news came and He affectionately
called me. I received a gift, wrapped up,
completely bought, purchased, and performed, given freely.
That's what the good news is. It's done. It's done. Done. All right, let's see what happened. Here's the good news, verse 11.
When He comes and speaks this, He says, for unto you, for unto
you. Was He speaking to somebody directly?
He was, wasn't He? He was speaking to these shepherds
directly. And when He speaks, He speaks
this directly. And it doesn't become a thing
about That person or that person, or mama or dad, or aunts and
uncles, it becomes personal between you and Him that's doing the
talking to you. And He says, unto you. Unto you. like these shepherds, you who
are like these shepherds, you who are working out in complete
darkness, working, working, working in darkness, complete and total
darkness, not able to find rest for your souls, not able to know
the work is done, the work is finished, I can rest working,
out working, out tending. And He comes, and He says, unto
you is born this day in the city of David. You know what He's saying to
them? Everything that God has ever
said in His Word is true. When God says unto you, and He
speaks and says, in the city of David, It's the same as saying
this word, this word that you had no regard for, this word
that you looked into and it was just... a jigsaw puzzle. It made no sense to you. This
Word becomes the Word of the living God, ordered in all things,
sure, and just comes together, and you behold, it's exactly
as God said it was. As He's been saying throughout
His Word, ever since He began speaking through men by His Spirit. It's exactly, the Scripture's
exactly as He said it would be. unto you, exactly according to
the Scriptures. He's born, verse 11, a Savior,
which is Christ the Lord. A Savior is one who saves those
who cannot save themselves. That's what a Savior is. A Savior. And this Savior is the Christ.
That means He's God's anointed. He's the one God chose. and sent forth and anointed. And He's the Lord. He's the Lord. He won't be my Savior if He's
not my Lord. He won't be my Savior if He's
not my God. That Savior who's dependent on
you is not God's Christ, the Lord, who calls and draws and
effectually works His work. Because that one, a Savior is
somebody that saves His people from their sins. And if He's
counting on you to help Him, there's only one Savior. And
I'm not it, and you're not it. You think about it. We saw this
in Isaiah a few weeks ago. It said, He's our lawgiver, and
He's our King, and He shall save us. He's our Savior. He's our
judge. That is, this one judged. He did everything His righteous
judgment requires to be done. He did it Himself. And He's the
lawgiver. That means just like he turned
the heart of this one, this king, Caesar Augustus, to make this
tax to bring about everything he said he was going to bring
about in his scriptures, even though that man didn't know him
or believe him or have any care for him, he turned his heart,
even though he was the enemy of God, because he's the lawgiver. He turns men's hearts. Whether they believe Him, by
His grace, or don't believe Him. He's the one doing the turning.
He's the lawgiver. And He is our King. He's the
one seated upon the august, majestic throne of God. And He's our Savior. He'll save
us. He'll save us. Well, verse 12. He said, this shall be a sign
unto you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes
lying in a manger. He said to Ahaz, I'm going to
give you this sign anyway. A virgin shall conceive, bring
forth a son, call his name Immanuel. He said to these ones, here's
the sign, there's going to be a babe in swaddling clothes in
a manger. He said to those, that multitude
following Him, He said, we would believe if you just give us a
sign. And He said, there won't be any sign given to you but
the sign of the prophet Jonas. Well, how come He said to one,
I'm giving you a sign, and He says to them, I'm giving you
a sign, but then He says to this, an adulterous generation seeks
after a sign. Because the sign is Christ alone. And until He gives this covenant
in our hearts and makes us to behold Christ in our hearts,
we'll seek every other sign we can but Him, but Christ. He's the one sign in heaven and
earth and in the heart. This is what He said, Thus saith
the Lord, in an acceptable time I've heard thee, in a day of
salvation I've helped thee. I'll preserve thee and give thee
for a covenant of the people. He's the sign. Verse 13, 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 and good will toward men. This is what happens too
when he speaks in the heart. The heavens open up. We behold
things as they really are. We behold the heavenly host.
We hear this heavenly anthem ringing. And we behold them saying
the preeminent thing. And the preeminent thing they
sing is the preeminent thing in our heart. Glory to God in
the highest. Before we were seeking our own
glory. That's what unbelief is. It's us seeking our own glory. Glory of His love and His grace
and His mercy towards the people that hated Him, the love of His
holiness, the love of the glory of His justice, satisfying His
own justice, the glory of His power, the power of His resurrection,
judgment accomplished, righteousness accomplished. Everything required
accomplished, the power of His resurrection in the heart, His
regenerating grace, the power of the resurrection in the end
when He raises us to newness of life, the power, He's, He's,
ah, the power, the power of His faithfulness in fulfilling everything,
the glory of His faithfulness in fulfilling everything that's
written. Why were they singing of God's glory in connection
with this babe that they were singing about? Why were they
singing of His glory in connection with this infant? The Word was
made flesh and we beheld His glory. You want to think on something
and just get lost in the awe of it? The glory has of the only
begotten of the Father. I've read everything I can find
on those two words, only begotten. And nobody on this top side of
this earth has even scratched the surface to glory as of the
only begotten Son of God. The Son who was with God from
the beginning, eternal, and the Son who was made. Only one ever
like that. Only one. Only one. Who is God. was made of woman. That's why. And that's where
we're going to behold His glory is in His face. Christ Jesus. Don't start looking at an infant
and just say, there's an infant. He wasn't bound by that body. He wasn't bound by that womb.
He wasn't bound by that manger. This is God Almighty. on earth peace. He's the peace. Christ Jesus is the peace. You
know, outside of Christ there is not peace. That means just
this, kind of like the 1960s, just peace. Everybody peace.
Everybody love, brother, peace. No, no, no, no. Outside of Christ
there is no peace. Herod wanted to kill Him. And
he wanted to kill anybody connected to Him. The religious host. We want to kill Him. Because
Herod wanted to be the king and the religious host wanted to
be the king and wanted to be their own glory and their own
salvation. And therefore they said, we won't
have this man reign over us. We want to kill Him. But in Christ Jesus, not outside
of Him, in Him, of God, in Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus, there
is peace. reconciliation to God. He's the
peace of God wherein God reconciled His people unto Himself. He's
the peace of God in the heart whereby He brings you to see,
ah, peace is wrought between me and God. No matter if I'm
in a peaceable frame of mind or I'm being opposed and everything
in the world's chaos and unrest and not peace, there's peace
with God between me and my God and it's this one Christ Jesus
and it can't be changed. He's the peace that destroys
the enmity that's in me and you by nature, that hatred against
God, hating God. He's the one, the peace himself
that comes in us and bruises the serpent's head. In us. In
us. He's the peace who makes peace
between He and His brethren. Between His brethren and His
brethren. He takes every, He takes the middle wall of partition.
That law that we think separates us, male or female, Jew or Gentile,
bond or free, rich or poor, all that fleshly legal wall that
we think, that makes me a little bit better than that one. This
one comes and he levels that wall and he makes you a dunghill
beggar with everybody else He saved, and He makes you to behold. He's your peace. How can two walk together if
they're not in agreement? He's the agreement. He's the
agreement. He's the tie that binds. He's
the peace in the hearts of His people. And notice here He says,
they say, good will toward men. You've noticed the direction
that good will is. Man's good will to God is God's
good will to men. That's who this one is. What
is it? John 6. Look at John 6. What
is it? This is what he said it is. John 6, verse 35. Jesus said unto them, He's speaking
to this religious host, I am the bread of life. He that cometh
to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. That's good news, great joy. Is it going to be affected whatsoever
if somebody doesn't believe it? It's not going to change the
truth of it, is it? But those that He is the bread
of life for, they're going to believe it. How are they going
to believe it? Let's see. I am the bread of life. He that
believeth on me shall never thirst. Verse 36, But I said unto ye
that ye also have seen me, and believe not. They just saw him
with these eyes, and they didn't believe him. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will. This is the good will toward
man. You ready? This is the Father's will which
is sent me that of all which He hath given me, I should lose
nothing. If he loses one, God's not God,
and we're... We got nothing. We got... Everything's
just a miserable nothing. But he said, I shall lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will
of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the sun and believeth
on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. Look down at verse 44. They kept saying and kept
saying. He said, marvel not, don't murmur
amongst yourself. No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him. I'll raise him up at
the last day. It's written in the prophets,
they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. You want
to see that? You want to see it happen? Let's
go back to Luke 2 verse 15. You know who's calling? You know
who's drawing? What happens when he does it?
Verse 15, And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away
from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one 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, they
made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning
this child. And all they that heard wondered at those things
which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things
and pondered them in the heart." You know what they did? They
came. Why? The Father drew them. They were taught of Him. They
heard the voice. The glory of God shined round
about them. The angel of God spoke into their
hearts. And you know what the result
is? They came. They didn't start, you know,
they didn't say, I've got a yoke ox and I need to go try them.
I've got a wife, I need to go tend to her. I've got all these
earthly responsibilities I've got to tend to. Who's going to
tend to the sheep? The shepherd who did the calling. You mean they're just going to
leave those sheep there that they were tending? Yeah, they weren't
tending them anyway. The shepherd was doing the tending
all along. You see, here's the point. Many use responsibility, responsibility,
my responsibility, my responsibility as an excuse for nothing more
than earthly affection. Everything under the sun. I've
got to tend to this. I've got to tend to this. I've
got to be responsible now. You and I and no man will be
responsible until God makes us to know in the heart we got one
responsibility. And when He calls us in the heart,
He makes us responsible to do that one thing. Bow down and
worship His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He said it this way,
and everything else will be added to you. And when he's done that, everything
else will become secondary and we'll be truly servants then. Until then, everything's out
of order. We're not being responsible. We're not being responsible. He says, come, but you can't
come. But when he makes you, he draws
you, he shows you He's the shepherd. When they came, what did they
do? They saw. They came and they saw. What did they see? They
saw a baby in a manger. What did Zacchaeus see when he
was told, come down? He saw a man, grown, walking
along with a crowd of people around him. What did the thief
on the cross see? He saw something marred beyond recognition. But you know what they all saw?
You know what every believer sees? Look down at Luke 2, verse
28. Simeon. took him up in his arms and blessed
God and said, Lord, now let us tell thy servant to part in peace
according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light
to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. I've
seen your salvation. He was, he said, now I can die
now. You know when you'll stop fearing
death and the bondage of death? When you've got life. When you've
seen the salvation of God. And what happens when you see?
They return. Look at verse 20. The shepherds
returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they
had heard and seen as it was told unto them. Now, look at
this connection here. Read the first part. And the
shepherds returned, look at the second part, as it was told them.
Everything they were told before they went was so. And they were
told to go and they went. And then they were sent and told,
now go and tell what you've seen and heard. That's how God makes
a witness. Go tell now what you've seen
and what you've heard. And they went glorifying and
praising God. That's who they saw. That's who
they saw. They went glorifying God and
praising God for everything. that they had heard and everything
they had seen. That's what a witness is. You
tell what you've heard and what you've seen. It's not speculation. I know this. Well, what's the gist of all
this? Whenever the Lord came to those,
Peter and the others that were fishermen, He did this for them. And he said, follow me. Everything
we just saw happen to these shepherds happened to Apostle Peter and
those other fishermen. It happened in their heart. The
light shined and they saw him. And he said, follow me. I'll
make you fishers of men. You know what it is right here?
He came to some shepherds and he said, follow me. I'll make
you shepherds of men. I'll make you shepherds of real
sheep, my sheep." And they went back telling what the shepherd
told them. That's how we're made responsible. Whoever they were working for
before, whoever owned those sheep, whether they owned them or they
were working for somebody and had somebody working for them, their employers and their employees. You know what they said? I don't
know what happened to him. He's better than anybody I ever
had working for me. They became truly responsible
shepherds. God turned everything right side
up the way it is. And now they see the shepherd,
and everything they can do now they do with peace in their heart,
knowing this is God, my Savior. I can depart in peace now. I've
seen thy salvation. I hope this light shines for
you in your heart today, and I hope He says to you, come unto
me. Come unto me. Oh, the heavens
roll back like a scroll and you hear that heavenly host. And
now you behold, everybody, everybody, your true brothers and sisters,
your true family in heaven and in earth, everybody, they're
not looking at you. They're not depending upon you.
They're not trying to put burdens on you. Everybody at once is
looking at one. Oh boy, I tell you, there's some
peace when all the eyes are taken off of me and I know they're
on my Savior. You know that's true when you
feel like the eyes are on you. Everybody's focused on you. It's
bondage. It's oppressive. Because you're
going to fail and disappoint Him. And you know it. You know
it. But when they're all on Him and
you know all eyes are on Him, That load's taken off of you.
That heavy burden's off of you. And we're all, oh, we're rejoicing. I pray He'd give you that rejoicing.
Take that burden off of you this morning. Rest, rest, rest, rest. Amen.