Alright, let's be turning to
Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. We come now this
morning to Luke's account of the birth of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. That is when he came in the flesh.
Now it's important that we take some time to think about and
to recognize why our Savior came into the world. Why did he have
to come into the world in this manner, born of a woman? Well, the Father had a purpose
in sending his Son. The Father has a gracious purpose
in the salvation of his people. He had a gracious purpose in
sending his only begotten son born of a woman after the flesh. It says in John 3, 16 and 17,
for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. For God sent not his son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved." He's got a people scattered throughout the world
and so to save them, to deliver them, he sent his only begotten
son because there was no other way of salvation. There's no
salvation outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see here
that the Father's gracious purpose in sending his Son was to save
a people, a chosen people, that he gave to Christ, his Son, as
his beloved bride. And our Lord purposed to glorify
the Son in the salvation of that chosen people. because we would
fall in sin. We fell in Adam. God knew this. He knew exactly what would happen,
and He purposed that we should believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
to the saving of our souls. He purposed to save a people
by Christ, to glorify the Son. He purposed to do this for His
Son and for His people. And hence our Lord is called
in Scripture in Revelation 13.8 the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. We were chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. God purposed this and He purposed
this to accomplish our salvation and to do that His Son would
have to come and suffer and die. suffer and die. Now as the eternal
son of God he can neither suffer nor die. God doesn't suffer and
God doesn't die. Therefore he must be made like
unto his brethren. He must take upon the weakness
of this flesh upon himself. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
2. Hebrews chapter 2. We'll come back to Luke. In Hebrews chapter two, we'll
pick up in verse 14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood. He's talking about those that
he loves. He speaks of those that he loves as his children. And as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. That describes me, brethren. I was made fearful, fearful of
God. I was made fearful because I
began to see the Lord, being gracious, began to show me the
wickedness and the filth of my works, that I was not righteous,
that my works were not pure and perfect and holy and just, that
my way was the way of sin. And the Lord showed that to me.
And He showed that to you, His people. He makes that known to
His people that we are sinners. We might be religious, but we're
sinners and we cannot save ourselves. And so we're made afraid because
we're always looking and thinking, have I done enough? Have I done
enough? Was that last work good? Why am I thinking these thoughts
now? I said I'd never do that again, and yet here I am doing
the very same thing. I said I'd never do again. And
he shows his people that. That in this flesh, this flesh
is weak. It's sinful, it's ruined, it's
corrupt. We're dead in trespasses and
sins, and so he must save us. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God. to make reconciliation for the
sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted,
to care, to give aid to us that are tempted. He's able to do
that. So Christ's birth is the account of him being born as
a man, coming in the flesh. This isn't the Son of God's beginning. He's eternal. He has no beginning
and no end of days. But as a man in the flesh like
his brethren, this is when he was born. And he was made like
unto us for the purpose that he should suffer for his people,
to come and suffer for his people, as we see described in the gospels. The punches that he took, the
spitting that he bore, the mocking and the hatred and the despising
that he endured for his people. And He went to the cross as the
sin-bearing sacrifice of His people to make an atonement to
put away our sins to obtain forgiveness of the Father for you that believe
Him. For you who have no righteousness
of your own. That's why Christ came into the
world. And why He came in the manner that He came. To die as
the sin-bearing sacrifice to make satisfaction that we who
are His people, given to Him, should be delivered out of the
hands of justice justly. God being satisfied that our
sins have been paid for and put away. put away, and He gives
life in Himself. Not only did He deliver us from
death, but He gives us life and light and understanding of the
true and living God. And so this is the Savior that
sinners need. He's the very Savior that sinners
need. The righteous don't need Him.
The righteous, just like the whole, don't need a physician,
but you that are sick need a physician, while you that are sinners, Christ
is the Savior of sinners. He's the Savior of sinners. And
as we go through Luke, we'll find that the people didn't expect
Him to come the way that He did. Certainly not the religious,
and certainly not the self-righteous. They didn't need that kind of
Savior. They didn't need that kind of
salvation. They thought they were alright
in themselves and their works were good. So the purpose of
our Lord here in these verses, through the details that He gives
us, are all leading us to understand that Christ came and died on
purpose for people. He knew exactly what He was doing.
This is exactly according to God's will and purpose for His
people. Our Lord didn't leave anything
to chance. He left nothing to chance. Nothing
that depended upon you or I doing something just right in order
to bring to pass all these other things. Nothing was left to chance.
We'll see here this morning, as we look at some of these details,
that our God brought to pass everything according to his word,
just like he said. He brings to pass his promise,
his purpose. And the reason for that is it
gives us great peace and comfort. to know that nothing is outside
of the hands of our God. Nothing's outside of His control
and power. And so that when He gives His
word of promise, when you read a promise of God, you know He's
keeping His word. He's kept His word. He's fulfilling
everything He says to His people that He says He will do. Nothing
shall fall short of that. You that believe Him, rest in
your Lord. Be glad. Rejoice. You're blessed. And you that doubt him and despise
him, fear and tremble, because he's bringing to pass everything
that he said he will bring to pass, just like he said he would
do it. He's the God who's fulfilled
his promise to us in sending his own darling son, according
as the prophet spoke. Alright, so first in Luke chapter
2 verse 1 and 2 we hear of the time in which Christ was born.
He describes the time in which Christ was born. It says there,
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. Now this is a significant portion
of, this is a significant time. This is the time in which Christ
was to be born. And there's two prophecies that
were spoken hundreds of years before. hundreds of years before
about when Christ would come. And this is the time when these
prophecies are fulfilled in the coming of Christ. We're told
that it would be in the fourth kingdom. The fourth kingdom would
be in power when the Christ would come. And this is the fourth
kingdom which Daniel described as being strong as iron. Strong as iron. And that's how
he described it in Daniel 2, verse 40. You can look it up
later. And it's concerning that dream
that Nebuchadnezzar had, King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
which he didn't tell anybody about. But he said, you wise
men, if you're so wise, you're going to tell me what I dreamed.
And then you're going to tell me the interpretation of it.
And I'll know that it's the interpretation because I'm not telling you the
dream. You're going to tell it to me. And he was about to put
all the wise men to death, and the astrologers, and the people
seeking after various spirits. But the Lord gave the dream to
Daniel. And Daniel came and interpreted
it to him. And Daniel said in Daniel 2,
43 and 44, whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they
shall mingle themselves with the seed of men. But they shall
not cleave. They won't stick and stay together
one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And what he's showing there is
that Rome set up a tremendous kingdom. It was a tremendous
kingdom that they had established in the earth at that time. There
was Babylon, and then the Medes and Persians, and then the Greeks
under Alexander the Great. And we see here Rome. And Rome
did something kind of different in that they tried to push out
their form of government and the way they saw the world and
did things to the other nations that they conquered and tried
to basically adopt them and bring them in as one with them, as
one world governing power, one strong, one world governing power
over the known or civilized world. That's why it says all the world,
all the world. over that civilized known world
at that time. And in the days, verse 44, in
the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be
left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. And that's true. Our Lord's kingdom is eternal.
Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall. They come and they go. They seem
great for a little bit of time and unstoppable until they're
no more. They crumble in a day. They come
in a day, but our Lord's kingdom is eternal. When he set it up,
it's not failed. And he brings in people from
every race, tongue, tribe, and nation, peoples scattered all
over the earth, and our citizenship in heaven, in our Lord's kingdom,
transcends our natural citizenship here on earth in the flesh. We
love our brethren, regardless of their race, regardless of
their nationality, regardless of who they are and their backgrounds. We don't care. By the grace of
God, having a spirit, I don't care what your face is, your
place, your race, your name, your riches, or lack thereof.
It doesn't matter. We rejoice that Christ, my God,
is your God. And we rejoice in that. And the
Lord does that. He breaks down that wall, that
middle wall of partition, and brings together people who would
otherwise never come together. It would be like clay and iron.
Impossible. Man can't do it, but the Lord,
he does do it, and he did. And so this was the time when
Christ was to be born and set up his everlasting kingdom. Now
additionally, There is another prophecy fulfilled, one by Jacob,
the father of Judah. And he gave his prophecy back
there in Genesis 49, 10. He said, the scepter shall not
depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until. until. There's always going to
be this rule by a king of Judah in the land, we're going to govern
ourselves, the people will govern themselves until the time when
Shiloh come, the peace, and unto him shall the gathering of the
people be. And so here's this enrollment
that they went, all the people in Judah, they were enrolling
themselves to be taxed because they were in subjection to this
king and at this time what Caesar Augustus did is he appointed
a king not from within but from without. Even when Babylon ruled
over them they always had a puppet king that was of the lineage
of Judah so that the people would take to it and be okay with it
but in this case they put another king that was not a Jew. a king
that was not of Judah and from without. And so this was the
time that was spoken of, and this was the time when Christ
would come. And the people were forced to
pay tribute here. Now, brethren, the picture here
for us is that we were created of God. We're God's creation. The true and living God created
us in Adam for His glory, to worship Him, to know Him, to
have fellowship with our God, the true and living God. But
we were put into bondage. We were subjugated. when we rebelled
against the true and living God in Adam, in the garden there,
and became subject to the prince of the power of the air. And
now walk according to the flesh, walk according to the prince
of the power of the air, according to the course of this world. naturally being spiritually dead
in trespasses and sins. But Paul said in Galatians 4,
4, and 5, but when the fullness of the time was come, when God
determined the time to be, God sent forth his son made of a
woman, made under the law to redeem them, to purchase them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons, being delivered from that family of death and ruin
and brought into the family of God as adopted sons and daughters
through the blood of Christ. And so our Lord ordained, we
see he ordained this earthly kingdom of Rome. God ordained
it. This didn't happen outside of
his control and he's all worried and wondering what's gonna happen
now and are his people gonna be okay? No, he ordained the
rise of Rome. He moved and instructed the hearts
of these men who did what? They built roads. They set up
security along those roads, improving trade and relations among nations
all around their world. And man thought, this is wonderful.
This is great. Look at our technological advancements
that we've accomplished by our wisdom and strength and might. they thought they were doing
that but what we see is God did this for the purpose the sole
purpose to send forth his glorious gospel along those roads paid
for by the expense of the Roman government to send that gospel
forth gloriously to the hearts of his people scattered to the
ends of the earth because he said back in his word that Christ
was the salvation of his people to the ends of the earth. So
that seas couldn't get in the way, mountains couldn't get in
the way, thieves and robbers can't get in the way, governments
can't get in the way, his gospel goes forth gloriously. God did
it for that purpose, to prosper the gospel, to reach his people
wherever they are, whatever island they're on, whatever wilderness
they live in, whatever mountaintop or cave they're in, he'll find
them. He finds them. His word will find them. His
spirit will seek them out and bring them to himself. So we
don't need to fear the workings of government, right? The more
we look at government, the more terrifying it is. And we think,
what is going on? These people are out of their
minds. What's going on here? let you think about it the Jews
in their day they were subjugated by Rome they were conquered by
Rome and I'm sure they were thinking what happening here what is going
on this is terrible I'm sure some of them thought I ain't
signing up for this thing I ain't gonna do what he says I'm not
gonna pay my taxes and there was zealots in those days and
there was zealots that were fighting against the the subjugating government
at that time and in that very day when it seemed darkest and
all was lost that's the day that Christ was born that's the day
when he came and into the earth as a man to obtain eternal redemption
for his people. Listen to these encouraging words
by the Apostle Peter who said in 1 Peter 1 verses 10-12 of
which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently
who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. and all you my brethren who believe
this day they spoke of these things which had come to you
of God's grace of God's grace searching what or what manner
of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify
right we think of Daniel Daniel prayed for weeks to understand
what these things meant that he saw and heard. He prayed and
begged God for weeks. When it testified beforehand
of the sufferings of Christ and of the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister these things. They did minister the things
which are now reported unto you. by them that have preached the
gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desire to look into." And, you know,
so carnal man, he does things and he does purpose to hurt you. He's looking out for himself
and to get what he's going to get at your expense, and he doesn't
care about you. Carnal man does mean it for your
hurt, but God has purposed it for your good. He's purposed
it for your good and the salvation of his elect people. We think
about the invasion coming over the southern border with illegals,
but there may be. I believe there is. He's got his elect people that
were entrenched in darkness under the Catholic Church and under
false religion and voodoo and who knows what they're coming
out of from all over the world coming up that southern border.
And I pray that he brings his elect under the sound of the
gospel, and they're called that of darkness. Because it's not
for the sake of the others, it's for the sake of his people when
he's moving people around. It's for the elect. It's for
the elect. It's for their sakes, for their
good. And so God's timing is always
perfect. And this is seen when we look
at the birth of Christ. It's seen when we see his birth.
Paul said to the Romans, Romans 5, 6, for when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. And before
he could die, he had to be born. That he had to come as a man
to suffer and to die for his people according to the promise. And so it's to say to you, God's
promises cannot, shall not, will not fail. It won't fail. It won't fail. He'll bring to
pass exactly what he's promised to do and that's a comfort to
me. That should be a comfort to all of you. It should be a
comfort. Now not only was this time ordained
of God, but so was the place of our Lord's birth. The place
was ordained of God. God brought our Lord down to
Bethlehem that he be born in the city of David according to
the prophet's word. That's what the prophet said.
Mary and Joseph lived up in Nazareth of Galilee of the Gentiles, far
north, far away from Bethlehem, but the prophecy said he's got
to be born in Bethlehem. Micah 5, 2 says, but thou 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 of old,
from everlasting. And so for that cause, for that
cause, God put it into the heart of Caesar Augustus to finally
bring to pass this decree that he had. Supposedly, I remember
reading somewhere a long time ago that it was supposed to kick
off a little earlier, but it was delayed for some reason.
And here we see God delayed it. God delayed it for this time.
And so he decrees that there's going to be an enrollment for
the taxation of all these people that are now under my rule. And
it says in verses 3 through 5, and all went to be taxed, everyone
into his own city. This is Luke chapter 2. And Joseph
also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth. into
Judea unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because
he was of the house and lineage of David to be taxed with Mary,
his espoused wife, being great with child." And so here's all
these families being interrupted and moving about the country
and having to pick up at a time when it really wasn't very convenient. and they're all going about being
providentially moved by the hand of God for the purpose of bringing
Joseph and Mary down to Bethlehem. God did that. It's extraordinary
because God's making it known to you that he's in control of
all things. He's doing this according to
promise. Now he brings him to Bethlehem
and Bethlehem means house of bread, house of bread. And that's
a fitting place for our Lord to be born who is the bread of
life, who came down from heaven, the bread of heaven to feed his
sheep. And we know that David, David
was born in Bethlehem. And David was a shepherd of his
father's sheep. And then David became king. And
when he became king, he didn't continue to rule in Bethlehem,
but ultimately he went to the city of David, which is Jerusalem,
which is the city of Zion, the city of Zion. And so our savior
is the son of David according to the flesh. And therefore he
also was born in Bethlehem and he too is the shepherd of his
sheep. You that believe him are his
sheep, and he is the shepherd of his sheep. And having faithfully
accomplished all the work that his father sent him to do, he
now rules his people. He rules his people over that
heavenly city, which is Zion, the city of Zion. As Peter said
in Acts 5, 30 and 31, the God of our fathers raised up Jesus,
whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his
right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And so Christ right now
is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He won't rule in the future,
he's ruling right now. He has the book in his hand and
he's undoing the seals. He's implementing the will of
his Father in the earth right now. And he rules from the right
hand of the throne of his father, implementing God's perfect, holy,
righteous will, both in heaven and on earth. He's doing all
things. He's conquering the hearts of
his people and sending that gospel forth to deliver us from darkness
and to bring us into his everlasting kingdom right now, right now.
But before that glory of his death for his people, we behold
the pictures that we see of his grace and provision at his death.
Verses 6 and 7, Luke 2, 6 and 7. And so it was that while they
were there, the days were accomplished that she, or Mary, 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 so the first place they go
to is an inn in Bethlehem. Why would they go to an inn?
Well, it's a picture. It shows us that our Savior, our Lord
Himself, is a soldier. He has no lasting home, no lasting
city, no place to lay his head. But they went to the inn to seek
temporary residence there, a temporary residence. But they found no
room in the inn, and so they stayed in an animal stall where
animals lie and animals feed and animals go and are kept. And there she gave birth to Jesus. And she swaddled him in rags. and laid him in a manger, a manger
is that from which animals feed, even sheep. And so the Lord of
glory, he humbled himself to take upon him the form of a servant,
made like after his brethren, and comes in total poverty in
order to redeem his people, to obtain eternal redemption for
his people. Now, what this says to us is
your time and my time, our time and our place, is very short. We're here but a vapor. You boys
are young. It's gonna go fast, very fast. We're here but a short, short
time. And we that believe are strangers
and pilgrims in this land. We're strangers and pilgrims.
And in this flesh here, this tent, it's temporary housing.
It's temporary. This is not our lasting habitation. And we're told in Scripture,
our Lord tells us faithfully that it is appointed unto men
once to die, and after that, the judgment. the judgment. And
our Lord has told us in the scriptures is that we that are born after
the seed of Adam, according to nature, are dead in trespasses
and sins. We've offended Holy God. We have
a debt that we can't even come close to paying off. We don't
have the righteousness. We don't have the works with
which to muster up a payment to deliver ourselves out of the
hands of justice. We can't do it. And there's a
lot of people throughout the ages that have tried to work
a righteousness for themselves, but he's showing us that all
are under sin. The scriptures have concluded
all are under sin and so we're not going to deliver ourselves.
In other words, we are poor, bankrupt, poverty stricken sinners
who have nothing to give to God. nothing to ransom our souls with,
nothing to pay Him who is holy, just, perfect and righteous. But we have a good hope, and
we have a word of good hope for the sinner. for you that are
sinners, for you that are bankrupt and poor and have nothing, no
righteousness, to recommend yourself to God and to deliver your souls,
we have that good hope which is the Lord Jesus Christ whom
the Father sent for His people to deliver them from death, to
deliver us justly out of the hands of justice and to give
us an expected end in fellowship with our God, to know Him, having
life and light and liberty in our Savior, being delivered from
these dead things that cannot save. And we're told, for ye
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty
might be rich, rich in the things of God. rich in the blessings
of our God in Christ Jesus. He wouldn't have made himself
poor if we weren't poor ourselves. And what he's communicating to
us there, what he's telling us there, is that we are indeed
destitute of good works and righteousness. It's not going to stand up before
the all-seeing, all-knowing eye of God. Our righteousness is
not going to stand before Him. We'll be carried away in our
sins and our unrighteousness is like a dead leaf. Like a dead
leaf. And so our Savior was born as
a man in the flesh. Born of a woman in extreme poverty
and low in stature. Because that's what we are. Because
that's what we are. We are poor, bankrupt, ruined
sinners in extreme poverty. And He fulfilled In that poverty,
in that weakness, he fulfilled every jot and every tittle of
the law, loving God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength,
and his neighbor as himself perfectly. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the end. And then he went willingly to
the cross to make a sacrifice, to make an atonement for the
sins of his people by the death of himself. And so it says that
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them
that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. We look for him and we rejoice
because he's shown himself to us faithfully, graciously, kindly,
and brings salvation to our hearts and delivering us from death
and darkness. And he did that by coming in the flesh. In the
flesh as a man born just like you and me, yet without sin,
and was faithful in everything the Father gave him to do. So
that's our rejoicing. When we think about our Lord
being born at this time, that's what we think of. And when others
talk about it, and some people say the silliest of things at
this time, and focus on death, things that cannot save.
But when you think of our Lord's birth, you remember why he came
and you direct others of the good hope and the joy that you
have that Christ did come because it shows us that our God is sovereign.
He's got everything in control and he accomplished redemption.
And I'm thankful for that. So I pray the Lord bless our
hearts with that word. Amen.