Last Thursday morning at 1048
a.m. Cooper Thomas coffee entered
the world and he's a cute little guy. And I started thinking about
how wonderful that is. Isn't life amazing? Isn't it amazing? He's here. There he is. Talked about him, waited on him.
He's here. And thinking about that whole
scenario reminded me of something. Turn with me over to Isaiah chapter
9. Isaiah chapter 9, look at verse
6. It says, For unto us a child
is born. Unto us a son is given, and the
government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall
be called Wonderful Counselor the mighty God, the everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. All I want for us to do this
morning is look at the birth of a Savior. That's all I want
us to see, the birth of a Savior. O come, all ye faithful, joyful
and triumphant. Come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him. O come, let us adore Him, Christ
the Lord. There are two great events, two
very great mysteries that I will never understand. I'll never understand them. The
first one is how the mighty God could become a man. I mean a
real man. A man. To say God was made flesh,
but to understand that more deeply, to say He became a true man. And everything that means. How
He could know everything as God and Jesus knowing their thoughts.
And at the exact same moment in time, wait on the Lord by
faith, call on Him, seek His will. How is that possible? How is that possible? The second
thing I'll never fully understand is how God could die. I understand God became a man.
And I understand and fully believe that a man hung on that cross
But there is no doubt in my mind that man is God. And one of these
days when I go see God, I'm going to see that man. Do you believe
that? The same one that hung on that
cross is the same one that's going to be sitting on that throne.
How is that possible? Verse 6 says, Unto us a child
is born. unto us a son is given, and the
government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall
be called." Everybody kept asking Luke and Tracy, what's his name?
What's his name? That's what everybody wanted
to know. What's his name? What's his name? Well, a son shall be
given, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor the
mighty God, the everlasting Father, and through His own sacrifice,
through His own cross, the Prince of Peace. We will never, ever stop talking
about what our Lord did for 33 and a half years while He walked
on this earth. For all of eternity, We'll never stop dwelling on
that. You know that? That's what we'll be looking
to. Desiring to know into all of eternity. This morning what
I want us to dwell on is the birth of a Savior. The birth
of a Savior. God announced it back in Genesis
chapter 3. Turn with me over to Genesis
chapter 3. sin and rebellion entered the
world, and death by sin, right? In Genesis
3 verse 14, the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou
hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above every
beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go,
and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will
put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel." What is the Lord God talking
about, the woman's seed? The woman's, think about that,
the woman's seed. The woman's seed is going to
bruise the head of the enemy, crush it actually. Going to set his people free,
restore them back to everything that God made them to be. What
is all that? What is all that? The woman's
seed. The woman's seed. Go with me
to Isaiah 7. Isaiah 7 verse 10, Moreover the
Lord spake unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy
God, ask it either in the depth or in the height above. But Ahaz
said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And he
said, Hear ye now, O house of David, is it a small thing for
you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore
the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. a virgin shall conceive." Mary
was of the lineage of David, of the house and lineage of David.
And in Luke chapter 1, the angel Gabriel came to Mary and he told
her that she was highly favored by God. That's what he said,
thou art highly favored by God. She was one of his own. Highly
favored means graciously accepted. You know who are graciously accepted
by God? His own. You are graciously accepted. And I'm quite positive that Mary
grew up worshiping God with her family. She was one of His own. And like he always does, he calls
his own to a knowledge of himself. He calls them out from among
the people. He gathers them together. And I'm quite positive she went
to the house of God to worship, meditated on His law. That's
what we're doing right here. I'm quite positive. When our Lord stood up to preach
one time, do you remember he went into the temple and the
pastor of the church handed him the Bible? And he opened up to
Isaiah 61, didn't he? And he read it. They had these
scriptures back then. They used them in worship. They
meditated on his law. I wonder if Mary ever heard one
of the Levites preach from Isaiah 7. A virgin shall conceive. and bear a son, call his name
Immanuel." I wonder if she'd ever heard that. Mary, she kept receiving all
this news. She was told all these things
by the angel. She was told quite a few things
by the wise men when they came. And it keeps saying she pondered
all these things in her heart. Aren't we doing the exact same
thing? Isn't that exactly what we're doing? The Scriptures. She was pondering a Messiah that
was to come. You know what we're all pondering?
You know what we ponder Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday
night, on the radio, through our bulletin? You know what we
ponder and ponder and ponder? A Messiah that is to come. And the same thing that happened
to Mary is going to happen to us. The exact same thing. You know,
she heard about these things. She heard about these things.
One day they started becoming a reality to her. A reality. I'm a huge fan of
music. I am a huge fan of instruments. I can't wait to hear trumpets.
I've heard about them. I've read about them. I've had
certain Levites preach to me on them. I've pondered them.
I've thought about them. One of these days, the trump
shall resound. I mean, it's going to resound.
And as soon as that happens, you think there's going to be
any pondering going on? What is all this? Also, what happened to Mary is
what we see in salvation, the calling of a child of God. We
heard about these things, and we heard about them, but one
day God causes something to take place in this heart, doesn't
He? One day He causes this heart
to start pondering these things. Yeah, I heard about Jesus, and
I heard about all that stuff. Wait a minute. Something in me
is pondering all these things. Something happens inside, a new
creation, a reality takes place. Well, it was prophesied that
the Savior would come all through the Old Testament. Finally, He
came. He came. Go with me over to Matthew
chapter 1. Matthew 1 verse 18. Now the birth
of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused
to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the
Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet
saying, behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring
forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is God with us. Mary and Joseph were not married. They're not married. And sadly
to say, today that's no big deal. Just no big deal. But back then
it was worthy of death. Worthy of death. She was to be
brought out into the street and stoned to death. Absolute shame. Absolute shame. And Mary had
to walk around for nine months in absolute shame and humiliation. It's pretty obvious, isn't it?
Pretty obvious. That's how our Lord chose to
enter this world. Not in honor. Not the son of
Pharaoh. He came a root out of dry ground. That's what he came. As one born
out of due time. One who this world wanted to
hide its face from. Everybody wanted to hide their
face. Do you know why he did that?
Love. Love for his brethren. That's
why he did that. As he is, so are we. How's that possible? He's God,
isn't he? He is the sinless, holy, almighty,
wonderful Counselor, the Governor. How is that possible? It's because as we were, so became
He. That's why. He became what we are in all
of our shame, in all of our humiliation. He entered this world in absolute
humiliation, but that's only what the world could see on the
outside. This is my favorite part. That's
what the world could see on the outside, right? Go with me over
to Luke chapter 2. Luke 2 verse 1 says, 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. And Joseph also went
up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judah 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 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." No room for the God of glory. Is that not
amazing? No room for the King of Heaven. How foolish is man! You know, it's not, will I make
room for Him? It's, will He make room for me?
How foolish is man! He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not. Verse 7, 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 end.
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. 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 Saviour, which is Christ the Lord, the
promised one." The promised one, the woman's seed. The one who
has come to bruise the head of the serpent. Here he is. The
one who has come to end sin. Here he is. Conquer death. Give
us the victory. Unto us a child is born. Man, that's the gospel. They
came flooding the earth with the gospel. Verse 12 says, 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, goodwill toward men. 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 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 her heart." Amazing grace,
how sweet the sound. Amazing love, how can it be? How can it be? God is with us. That's what everybody was telling
Mary, telling Joseph. You understand what's going on?
A messenger from heaven came, and as soon as he said, God is
with you, the multitude of the heavenly host appeared, glorifying
God in the highest. You think that had an impact? Hearing what those wise men had
to say, Hearing what an angel from heaven had to say. Can you
imagine Mary sitting there looking over into that manger? Just sitting there looking into
that manger. Pondering all these things in
her heart. That's the savior of man. That is the Savior, not will
be, that is. It's not he will be king, he
is king. He was born king. It's not he
will be God, he's going to grow up one day and be God. Nope,
he is. That's the Savior of man. Peace
on earth and mercy mild. God and sinners reconciled. Right there in that manger. How many scriptures do you think
were going through her mind? We do that from time to time,
don't we? She's sitting there, they had maybe a quiet moment.
It was over, she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, laid him
in that manger, sleeping. Mary and Joseph don't really
know what to say. Then said I, lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me. him. Behold my servant, he shall
not fail. He shall grow up before him as
a tender plant. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We esteemed him not. She thought there was no room
in the inn. We're in a manger. We're in a barn. 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. You think she
loved Him as her Savior? Verse 21 says, And when eight
days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, His
name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before
he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her purification
according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought
him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written
in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall
be called holy to the Lord. and to offer a sacrifice according
to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle
doves or two young pigeons." Everything about the Savior,
everything about the gift of God fulfilled God's law. He did for man what man couldn't
do for himself from moment one. He satisfied God. Verse 25, And
behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And the
same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of
Israel, and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed
unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before
he had seen the Lord's Christ. And the same thing is true for
every single child of God, every single one. They will not see
death until they have with eyes of faith seen the Lord's Christ."
Not just Jesus, the Lord's Christ. That thief on the cross, he saw
him, didn't he? He saw the Lord's Christ. Verse 27, And he came
by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law,
Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord,
now lettest thou thy servant depart 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. There's a children's song. It's
in our hymnal, but I consider it a children's song. that says,
away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus
laid down His sweet head. Now it is true He did make Himself
to be an infant. And it is true His head was sweet
and altogether lovely, beautiful, precious. But we began this by
reading, This is the Counselor. This is the counselor. This is
the mighty God. Christ, the highest heaven adored. Christ, the everlasting Lord,
veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. What did Simeon say? Hail the incarnate deity. That means he's God. pleased
as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Mild he lays his
glory by, born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons
of earth, born to give them second birth. Simeon said, I can die
in peace. Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord. I've seen thy salvation. What
is salvation? If somebody were to ask the question,
does anybody want to be saved? Do you want to be saved? If somebody wanted that, what
would they get? Christ. What is salvation? It's this
person right here. It's this one person right here. the one who was born into the
world to be the prince of peace. Verse 33 says, and Joseph and
his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him.
And so do we, don't we? So do we. Tonight, we're going
to come back and we're going to see some more things that
were written of him. And if God will bless us, we'll
marvel at him. Marvel at him. Thank God that Christ was made
flesh and dwelt among us. Let's all stand together.