Turn with me, if you would, to
Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. Today is the
day. The very day that this world
recognizes and celebrates the birth of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. The earthly incarnation of Christ
the Lord. And we know what that means,
don't we? It's not just his name. My name
is Gabriel David Stoniker. His name is not just the Lord
Jesus Christ. Lord means sovereign, ruler,
controller, owner, God. God. And when he came to earth, God
said, call his name Jesus because he's going to become a man and
save his people. That's his human, his name of
humanity. Christ means he is the union
of both. Emmanuel, God in the flesh, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, no one knows when he was
born. Nobody knows when he was born. I do not believe, and I don't
really believe anyone does who has ever studied it, that it
was on December the 25th. Either way, it does not matter.
It doesn't matter. I am so happy to celebrate his
birth today. I am thrilled to celebrate his
birth. Every single day on our calendar
is the perfect day to celebrate the fact that Christ came into
this world. Thank God Almighty. If we stop and think about it
for just a minute, thank God Almighty. He was manifest in
the flesh. Thank God Christ was willing. What if Christ hadn't been willing? This is what I want you to go
do. What if he hadn't been willing? Thank God Christ was willing
to take on the likeness of sinful flesh and dwell among us. Now there's a song that is sung
this time of year concerning the event of his birth and it's
called Silent Night, Holy Night. It says in that song, all is
calm, all is calm. Now I do, I love that song. I
do love these songs. We just sang a few songs we don't
normally sing and come and adore him. Oh, I love that. Worship
Christ the Lord. Love that. And I do love any
song that encourages our worship and adoration of him. How wonderful
was that night, the night of our dear Savior's birth. But
I will say there was nothing silent about it. All right, that's what the song
says. Silent night. Here's the truth. We're going
to declare the truth about it. There was nothing silent about
it. Nothing. There was nothing calm
about that night. Joseph was trying as hard as
he could to get his wife into Bethlehem. Didn't God allow a
decree to go forth? The Lord, the owner, the ruler,
allowed those wicked men to say, we're going to implement a tax
and you have to come pay it in the land you were born in. You
have to do, there's a deadline, April the 15th, you got to have
it done. So they had to go. And Joseph is trying as hard
as he can to get his wife into the town of Bethlehem. They were
traveling on camels. And she was at the end of her
pregnancy. All right. The very end of her
pregnancy, labor pains were setting in. That's what happens on the
night of the birth of a child. Isn't that right? Isn't that
what happens? Labor pains. Joseph finally made it to the
hotel and they said to him, I'm very sorry, but we don't have
any more rooms. Now, can you imagine his situation? Can you imagine his fear, his
horror, his shock, his dilemma? They've traveled all this way.
And he's been telling Mary the whole time, hold on, honey. Hold
on. I know this camel's only going
three miles an hour, but we're going to get there. And I can see him begging the
man behind that counter, please, sir, please, I'm begging you
for mercy, please. There has to be somewhere we
can stay, please. Can't we just stay right there,
right here in this lobby? Just let us get in this corner
right here. He said, no, you have to go. You have to go. So Joseph started
scrambling not only to find him a place to stay, but to find
a place suitable to deliver a child. Mary is crying, hurry, Joseph. The baby's coming. When Sophie was born, our hospital
was 45 minutes from our house, that's too far. Too far for me. I was hurrying. Ticket or no
ticket? Hurry. Hurry. This baby's coming. A mother
knows these things. Contractions set in. Pain gets
stronger and stronger. The night that Isabella was born
was not a calm night. There was nothing calm about
that night. I can enter in just a little
bit to the anxiousness of a husband on the night that a child is
born. It is not, wasn't for me anyway,
it is not a calm night. It's an anxious, anxious night. I can see Joseph running through
town crying, my wife is about to have a baby. Somebody please
help me! Is there anywhere we can stay?
Somebody hollered, there's a hayloft in that barn. Luke 2 verse 7 says, 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." That's amazing,
isn't it? No room for God. Isn't that something? No room for God. No room. Emmanuel came to earth and there was no room for him.
No room for him. Now, at the exact same moment
that all that was going on, verse 8 says, 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, grown men. And the angel said unto them,
Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And
this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there
was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising
God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace,
good will toward men. Now, when heaven comes, heaven
came, heaven emptied. When heaven comes and starts
crying at the top of its lungs about the glory of God being
manifest in the flesh, crying to earth, you now are about to
have peace come to you. Do you believe that heaven is
silent over that? You believe that's something
that heaven desires to be silent over? Do you believe heaven is trying
to hide it under a bushel? Now, we're going to announce
the glory of the coming of God Almighty to earth, but we're
going to do it very quietly because people are sleeping. Not a chance. Not a chance. The heavens rumbled. Glory to God. Glory to God. You know Moses said, show me
your glory. And he said, I'm going to have
mercy. This was the glory of God. There was nothing silent about
that night. Nothing, not one thing was silent
about that night. Verse 15 says, and it came to
pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, The
shepherds said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem
and see this thing which has 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 her heart. And the shepherds
returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they
had heard and seen as it was told unto them." Now here Mary
is trying to recover. And these men come in and they
all say, we're here to see the king. This child has been delivered,
they've laid him in this manger. And these men all come in crying,
we're here to see the one who was born King of Kings. We brought gifts, gold, frankincense,
myrrh, they see him, there he is. There he is. There's Christ the Lord. They
started telling Mary and Joseph about the things they had just
seen and heard. And there was nothing silent
about the entire night. Nothing. Everything, though,
was holy about that night. Everything, everything was holy
about every night and every day. that he spent on this earth.
How holy is it to think of him submitting himself to Joseph,
who was not his father, but he submitted himself to Joseph in
obedience to the heavenly father. Christ submitted himself to Joseph
and he worked in his carpenter shop for 30 years. You know who
was standing there in that carpenter shop working? God. Has that ever sunk in? God. The God. There's nothing silent about
working in a carpenter shop. You ever been on a job site? Nothing silent. There's nothing
silent about hammers. There he stands, the one who
made the trees. There he stands, sawing them
up into lumber, gluing them together, nailing them together. The one
who laid the foundations of the earth, the same God who said
to Job, where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Did you know that the one who stood in that carpenter's shop
for 30 years was the same one who laid the foundations of this
earth? He asked Job, where were you when I stretched the line
on it? And Joseph is going to teach
him the trade. The same God who made it all,
the same God who owns it all and controls it all is now standing
in a carpenter shop working as an obedient servant. He did that
until he was the earthly age of 30 years old. And he was not 30 years old.
God is eternal. He is the eternal God. Jesus,
the Christ who walked on this earth, said, before Abraham was,
I am. The one who came spoke everything
into existence. By him were all things made.
So he was not 30 years old, but he submitted himself to being
30 years old when he started his earthly ministry. He walked
up to John the Baptist and John cried, behold the lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world. Our savior was baptized in obedience
to the word of God. He was baptized by John in water. Coming up out of that water,
the Holy Spirit from heaven descended like a dove and landed on him. And God the Father spoke out
loud and said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. The holiness of that. Nothing
silent about it. Nothing was silent about it. There was nothing silent about
his entire earthly ministry. Everywhere he went, he healed
poor, helpless sinners. Everywhere he went, he healed
their bodies. He healed their afflictions.
He healed their infirmities. He healed their souls everywhere
he went. He forgave their sin. This scripture
says he went about doing good. It was not silently done in a
corner. It was noised abroad. That's
what the word says. It was noised abroad. The fame
of him was noised abroad. Sinners came running to him. Can you imagine that beautiful
sight? Sinners fell in love with him. Have you ever met somebody
and you just have fallen in love with them? Sinners fell in love
with him. They came running to him and
they all cried to each other. He's the friend of sinners. This man is the friend of sinners. He did not come to call the self-righteous. You see those people who are
so much better than us. He said he didn't come to call
them. He came to save us sinners. He has compassion on sinners. Real sinners. I mean, real sinners,
harlots, doesn't he? Murderers. You know who wrote
half of the New Testament, who God used to pin half of the New
Testament, a murderer, his name was Saul of Tarsus. God came
to him and changed his name to the Apostle Paul. Thieves. Sinners every time. He showed mercy and compassion
to a guilty sinner, a sinner who was truly ashamed of what
he was. A sinner who had nothing but
guilt for the life he'd lived. A sinner who thought there was
no hope left for him. None for me. Every time God showed
mercy to a true sinner, that sinner went running and he told
every other sinner that would listen, you must go see this
man. You must go see this man. And
here is what I have to say this morning. You must go see this
man. This is my message this morning. You must run to this man. I say this is one center to another
center. I say this is one center to another
center run to that man. Run to that man. Here's why.
All right. This is the reason. I want to
show you a silent night. I want to show you a holy night. All right. There was nothing
silent about our Lord's life and his work on this earth. Nothing. But this is the glory of our
salvation. The hope of our redemption and
the wonder of the gospel, our rest and our assurance is all
because of a silent night. This is wonderful. This is wonderful. I want you
to go with me over to what we're going to consider to be our text.
Go with me to Acts chapter 8. Now here's one sinner running
to another sinner in need. Acts chapter 8 verse 26 says, And the angel of the Lord spake
unto Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south unto the
way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And
he arose and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, and eunuch
of great authority, under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who
had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for
to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot, read
Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip,
go near and join thyself to this chariot.' And Philip ran thither
to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and said, understandest
thou what thou readest?" Do you understand the glory of what
you're reading? Now, a moment ago, we had a brother
stand up here and he read for us the prophet of Isaiah. This man was reading the same
words we just read. And Philip came to him and he
said, do you understand the glory of what you're reading? Isn't
it so easy for us to read this word, one verse, next verse,
skip over it? What did it say? I think I got
it, move on. He said, do you understand the
glory of what you're reading? I'm sure you've heard about religion.
He'd been to Jerusalem to worship in religion. I'm sure you've
heard about salvation, but do you understand the wonder of
it all? You understand what this is all about. Do you see the glory? Do you
know why this is such good news for sinners like you and me?
Do you know why people become so needy and hungry for what
you're reading. Verse 31, and he said, how can
I accept some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that
he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture,
which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter. And like a lamb done before his
shearer, so opened he not his mouth. He was completely silent. Completely silent. That night
was a silent night. That was a holy night. After the glory of his birth. The glory of his life. The glory
of his ministry. After all the fame of all the
good was noised abroad. He was brought before trial.
He was threatened with crucifixion. He was lied on, he was beaten,
he was accused, and he never one time opened his mouth to
defend himself. Is that not amazing? Never one
time. Why did he not? Was he not perfect in every way,
shape, and form? Yes, he was. Was he not absolutely sinless? Absolutely sinless in every thought,
in every action, the entire time that he walked the face of this
earth. Wasn't Christ sinless? Yes, he was. Then why didn't
the sinless one open his mouth and defend himself? Do you know why? Understandest
thou what thou readest? Is God just and is God fair? What would we say if somebody
grabbed a person we knew was innocent and brought them before
a trial and said, he murdered a man and he has to die. Would we all say, Oh, that's
too bad. They got the wrong guy. We cry. This is an outrage. He's innocent. He's innocent. Do we understand what we're reading? Why would the sinless one not
open his mouth and defend himself? The reason is because he was
not standing there as the sinless one. He was standing there as you
and me. You know who stood before Pilate that night on that silent
night? Gabe Stoniker. They spit in his face. He didn't
do anything. You know why he didn't do anything? That's what I deserved. I deserved
to stand there and let them spit in my face. They looked him right in the
eyes and they said, you're a liar. He didn't say a word. You know
why he didn't say a word? He was all true. That's what
I am. That's what this flesh is. They
laughed at him, they mocked him. They beat him, they said, we're
going to kill you. We're going to kill you. He never
opened his mouth. You know why he never opened
his mouth? That's what God's justice demanded for me and you. He died as us. He died for us as us. That's the glory of the gospel. People believe that he died for
sinners. You believe Christ died for sinners?
Oh, sure. You know what we don't understand?
Understandest thou what thou readest? He died as his sinners. You know what? I deserve to be
judged. I'll be honest with you. I am way worse than you think
I am. If you could see what went on
inside this mind, and if you could see what went on inside
this heart, I deserve to be judged. And you know what? I was. I was. I was condemned. I died. God judged me. He died as me. He died in our place. He died
as our substitute. God poured out His wrath on us
in the person of His Son. God killed us. We deserved death. So God killed us. God judged us for our sin against
him in the person of his own precious son, his own perfect
son. That's what it means when we
say we died in him. We died in him. Verse 33 right
here says, in his humiliation, his judgment was taken away.
And who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the
earth. And the eunuch answered Philip
and said, I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this of
himself or of some other man. Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him the Lord
Jesus Christ. Here is the glory of the gospel. Here is the amazement of grace.
Salvation is not something that we have to try to earn. Here's
the glory of it. Salvation is something Christ
earned for us. Salvation is not secured by trying
to become better people. I believe we all ought to become
better people, but that's not how salvation is secured. It
was secured on that silent night. It was secured on that holy night.
Everything I am was pressed into him. Everything he is was pressed
into me. On that night, he took everything
we'd ever done And we know we've done things, don't we? He took
everything we've ever done and He laid it on Himself. He took
everything that He has ever done and He laid it on us. And because
of that, He went to meet God as us. He went to meet God as us and
God judged Him and God killed Him. Because of that, we're going
to get to go meet God as Christ. Isn't that amazing? We're going to walk to the throne
of grace as Christ himself. We're going to be received as
God would receive Christ himself. Whatever he has to say to Christ,
that's what he's going to say to us. Whatever he had to say
to us, that's what he said to Christ on that silent night. Because of that, whatever he
has to say to Christ, that's what he's going to say to us.
Well done, now good and faithful servant. Well done, enter into
eternal life. Thank God for that night. He opened not his mouth. Thank God. Now turn with me very
quickly, I'm going to close, go with me over to Isaiah 53.
Isaiah 53 verse 1 says, Who hath believed our report? Who hath believed our report?
To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Has God revealed the
truth of Christ to us? He shall grow up before Him as
a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He hath no form
nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that
we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it
were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Boy, we didn't deserve that,
did we? Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep,
have gone astray. We have turned every one to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so opened
he not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Let me ask you this, understandest thou what we readest? Do we see what it's saying? He's
going to come before God. It's all going to be laid on
Him. He's going to take it all the way to the grave, and God
Almighty is going to be satisfied. And all in Him, every soul that
He gave to Him is going to be justified. Slate wiped clean. Verse 12 says, Therefore will
I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the
spoiled with the strong. We're all going to share His
inheritance. Because he hath poured out his soul unto death,
and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bear the
sin of many. Not every soul on this earth,
but thank God it was many. And he made intercession for
the transgressors. Now therefore, chapter 54, verse
1 says, sing, O barren. Thou that didst not bear, break
forth into singing and cry aloud. Because of his silent and holy
night, every soul that he redeemed is going to spend eternity crying
at the top of his lungs, worthy is the lamb that was slain. Worthy
is the lamb. He redeemed us back to God. You opened not your mouth. You
bore our sins. You paid our penalty. You redeemed
us back to God. May that be our cry from here
on out. May that be our cry. May his
glory be noised abroad. May this never ever be a silent
message. May it be noised abroad from
here on out. All right, amen. Let's stand
together.