Now He placed at my image in its
place From above reinstate a sin He may be seated. Thank you, Sherry. Go back to
Luke chapter 2, which Brother Parks read to us, Luke chapter
2. I read verses 8 through 11 again. They 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. 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." Now, this is the season when
everyone, most everyone throughout the world even, is forced to
think about the birth of a child years ago named Jesus. Most people don't know Him, but
there was a time when I didn't either. He was in the world where
it was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. And this thing wasn't done in
a corner. Even his birth was heralded by angels. Hark, the herald angels. God put a star in the sky. It's
hard to miss a bright star, isn't it? You look out there at nighttime
and see some of the larger planets shining brightly over and above
the rest. God put a star. And most people
didn't see it. They just thought, well, it's
a star. But it was shining upon and announcing the Lord Jesus
Christ is coming. And they still do the same. The
stars in heaven still do that, though men don't see it. There's
a bright and morning star. There's a much brighter star
that God put in the sky now, every day, day after day under
His feet, night after night, knowledge, saying, Behold your
King. Now, I didn't see it. I was blind,
like so many others. But there were some fellows who
did see it. Many, many signs that were given
to announce, to foretell the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and He came, just like God said, in the fullness of time. At the
exact time when He said, had men been looking, they would
have clearly seen. But they weren't. None that seeketh
after God, the Scripture says. God has to reveal Him to them.
He came to His own, and even His own received Him not. But
as many as received Him, as many as received Him, like these shepherds,
to them, to them. What grace to receive Him. Here's the point I first want
to make about this time, this season, what's going on here
at this time. Most do not know who that child
was. Most do not know why he came.
But he did. And it's impossible for anyone
right now to ignore it. For that reason, I'm glad. For that reason. What he did,
they don't know. Where he is now, they don't know.
They don't believe that. But many in here who were just
like that, God revealed Himself to you. And by His sovereign,
electing, redeeming grace, you now know who He is and you come
to worship Him. You come to rejoice in Him. And
you know, we can't let religion, with all its superstitions and
all its sentimentality, and all of its pagan traditions and so
forth, can't let them keep us from worshiping our Lord and
rejoicing in God sending His Son. I rejoice that God sent
His Son to be born unto us. These angels announced something
glorious. These angels were shouting from
the heavens, Glory to God! Unto you is born this day. Somebody needs to shout that
out. Somebody needs to shout that. Men don't do it. Some, you know, pretend to. But
we can't let people, though they're hypocritical and though they
don't know Him and so forth, and though all these traditions
and superstitions are involved and sentimentality, we're not
going to let them keep us from worshiping our Lord and rejoicing
in God sending His Son. Thank God He was born. Huh? Thank God he was born. Thank
God he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. Thank God he
was made flesh that he might be made sin. That's why he was
made flesh. We see Jesus, yes, made a little
lower than the angels. Why? For the suffering of death. That's why. Thank God he was
made of a woman. Why? Made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. That's why. And, you know, there's
an old saying, don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Meaning, though all of this stuff is involved, we're not going
to let them keep us from rejoicing that unto us a child was born,
a son was given. We call His name Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. We don't still think
of Him as a baby. We never did. We never did. But isn't it wonderful? Isn't
it amazing? Can you think of anything more
wonderful than God being manifest in the flesh? God taking upon
Him human flesh? God walking among us? He had
to be born. But why? Why was He made flesh? Why did He come here to be born? of a woman made under love to
die. He came to die. Oh, yes, he came
to live. Brother Sammy prayed that. Thank
you for coming and living and establishing that righteousness.
Thank you. He had to be born to do that, didn't he? But if
he hadn't died, he wouldn't need a thing. He died. We celebrate, we commemorate
We worship Him more than anything for His death. Christ and Him
crucified. In fact, our Lord told us to
do two things that remember that. Two things that we use. Two symbols. The only symbols
that our Lord told us to use. The only symbolic things we are
given to remember Him by. And it was baptism. and the Lord's
Table, both of which tell of Christ's crucify. And this is God's greatest glory.
It's glorious. It's, I can't even imagine, amazing
that God became a child. It's amazing. But that's not how we ever think
of Him. And again, that religion loves
to think about Jesus the baby because He's vulnerable. He's
in their hands. That's the way they always like
to think of Him. And they worship the creature
more than the Creator. They worship the womb and not
the One who was put there. They worship Mary and not Mary's
Lord, not Mary's Father. that call her the mother of God.
No. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no. She's a borrowed womb. She's a woman whom the Lord chose
for His Son to be born of flesh. We worship Him. But it's amazing. It's amazing that the angel said
that holy thing. The shepherds, when they heard
it, they wondered at those things. Here are some questions. Should
we celebrate His birth? Should we celebrate the birth
of the Lord Jesus Christ upon this earth? No, it's not commanded. Nowhere in the Scriptures will
you find it. Nowhere is it found in the Scriptures that the early
church commemorated or celebrated his birth on this earth. But
they do celebrate every time they come to the table the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is commanded. This do, he
said. This do in remembrance of him.
This do. And someday we're going to be
at the marriage supper of the Lamb. It's going to be forever.
We're going to be remembering him in that way. The Lamb slain. from the foundation of the world
to eternity future. We're going to be celebrating
his death. But we're thankful. We're thankful
for his birth. We rejoice in his birth. When
was he born? Was he born December 25th? No,
he wasn't even close. You have that article in the
Bulletin that tells us that it clearly was not born on that
day. And there's a reason why the Lord did not clearly tell
us the day. Why? Because people will worship
a day like they do now, don't they? That's why we don't know
when he's coming. That's why no one knows except
him. We don't worship a day, but worship
him. Worship him. Well, is Christmas
wrong? is Christmas Rome. Well, the
name is real bad. Christ Mass. It has Roman Catholic
origins. Very pagan, heathen origins. Christ Mass. I hate the name.
Generally, when I sign letters, if I want to say something about
it, I use X. The sentimentality around it
The way people get all sentimental about baby Jesus and His mother
and so on and so forth, and all that goes on, all the pagan tradition
and so forth, the manger scene and all of that stuff, the idolatry,
that's bad. It's bad. It really is. The commercialism of this time
is bad. Jesus is not the reason for this
season. Money is. I mean, really, you
know that, don't you? That's what it's all about. The
commercialism of it is bad. And what about a tree? What about a tree? I used to
feel pretty strongly about that. I read Jeremiah 10 when I was
just a young believer, not having a clue what it meant. I read
it again this morning and I thought, I didn't have a clue what that
meant. It's saying the same thing as Psalm 115 and Psalm 135 about
idolatry, about graven images that people carve out of a tree
and worship it and carry it around, give it names like Esther and
Ashtoreth and Bel and Nebo. And he said there in Jeremiah
10, it's just an idol. Our God's in the heavens and
so forth. If I see anybody carrying around a pine tree, I'll address
it. If I see any of you on your knees
before that tree, we'll have to address that, won't we? But that's not the issue, is
it? I used to make it one. You need to be careful what we
make an issue if it's not the issue. Now, if you see somebody
wearing around their neck another tree, a cross of wood, That's the issue. Make that an issue. Say, that
tree is an idol right there. We don't worship the cross he
hung on. We worship the one who hung there. Okay? All you'll
do if you make these things issues that are not issues is make people
hate you. You'll be a Scrooge all right. Raise your Ebeneezer, but don't
be a Scrooge. Okay? Isn't it a shame? Isn't it a shame that that's
the only thing people know about Ebenezer? I don't know. Merry Christmas. Well, we're fine. Wonderful. Yes, merry to you too. But that's
not the issue, is it? That's not the issue. What the
world does with Christmas is bad. But what they do with this
Bible and everything in it year-round every single Sunday is bad. What
are we going to do, throw it away? They abuse this scripture. They twist it and corrupt it.
Everything they say is wrong. Most everything. There's some
truth mingled with a lot of error. What are we going to do, throw
it away? No. I say we use it. I say we'll
be wise as serpents and harmless as devils. Crafty. Paul said, I took you in craftiness.
He went to Mars Hill that time. Remember? He went to Mars Hill
and he looked all around him and saw all these idols. And
he could have started addressing every one of those idols. But
he didn't, did he? He said, I beheld a statue right
over here that said, To the unknown God. Him I declare unto you. And he started preaching Christ. Start preaching Christ. Dad used
to say, if you want to point out a crooked stick, just lay
down a straight one right beside it. You don't have to describe
the crooked stick too long. Christ said, if I'll be lifted
up, all these idols will fall to the side. They'll quit worshiping
things. If they behold Christ's glory,
they'll quit worshiping Mary. Oh, yes, they will. Oh, yes,
they will. In God's good purpose, I was
made to realize this finally, I believe. In God's good purpose,
the world right now is forced, everybody, at least once a year,
and at Easter, which by the way is a biblical word, isn't it?
Easter. At any rate. And bunnies and
eggs, I don't know where that comes from. I like eggs and I like bunnies.
But that's not the issue, is it? Let's talk about the one
who arose, where he is now, what that means. But back to this,
Krishna. God in his purpose at one time
of the year forces the world over, even those that don't want
to think about it. They're forced to think about
it. Somebody came. Isn't that good? That's good,
isn't it? I'm glad. that somebody was born
2,000 years ago, and his name was Jesus. And they say he was
born a virgin. I don't believe that, but that's
what the story says. And people are forced to deal
with that. And I'm glad. You know, you don't have to fight
a myth, do you? Myth. We're not standing up dealing
with Zeus or all these fellows. But people are still forced to
deal with the Lord Jesus Christ some 2,000 years later, and they
can't get away from it. Why? Because He lives. That's why. And He won't let
it. He said, I am He that was dead, and behold, I live forevermore. And you, every single person
on earth, is going to be forced to deal with it. That's good. That's good. And they even sing. People who
never sing a hymn, who never sing anything about God, about
Jesus Christ, they get together in these little groups around
pianos and it all feels good and has a festive spirit. Holiday
spirit, no drinking eggnog. Laced spikes. And so they start
singing, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. And their own mouths are
condemning them. Joy to the world, the Lord has
come. What did you say? You see that? You see this? God is not mocked.
He's mocking them. He's mocking them. Like He stood
before Pilate at that time. Pilate said, Are you a king?
He said, Thou sayest. See the wisdom of our Lord? The
greatness of our God? Oh, my. And there's probably
no one going to... You know, we sang these hymns.
Oh, my. And you almost want to put them
aside because the world sings them at this time and makes tradition
out of them and so forth. But oh, my. Did you hear the
words? Oh, hail the Son of Righteousness. Light and life to all He brings.
Risen with healing in His wing. 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. Second Adam from above. Reinstate
us in Thy love. Glorious. We're going to sing
an old hymn in a little while. It's one of the most popular.
Gloria in Excelsior Deo. Gloria. in excelsis Deo. I taught you some Latin one other
time. Victim, factum. Victim, factum. Said, done. That's what we studied
in Genesis 21. Said, victim, factum. I'll teach
you one more lesson. Gloria in excelsis Deo. to God in the highest. That's
what that means. What's wrong with that? Let them
say it in every language. They're doing it in Spanish.
There's some doing it in French. There's some doing it in Portuguese.
They're doing it all over the world right now in every language.
Let them do it. I say do it. They're ringing
bells. Ring them! They're shining lights. Somebody
needs to. But we need to take the Word
This is the job of the true preacher, to define the truth. The true
preacher tells men why he came, who that was that came, why he
came, what he did, who he did it for, and did he do it? That's
what the true preacher does, different from all the rest.
Get rid of all the wood, hay, and stubble and get to the pearl
of great pride, the gold and the silver and the precious stones
of why Christ came. Why did he come? I want to start
here. Who came? Who came? Call His name Emmanuel, which
being interpreted, God. God was manifested. Well, why
did He come? Call His name Jesus. A man, Jesus,
named Jesus. But it means Savior. He shall
save His people from their sin. Not try to save. Not try to save
everybody. Not make an attempt to save,
make an atonement for his people, his particular people. Did he
do it? Glory to God and high. When he
had by himself purged our sin, sat down at the right hand of
the majesty on high, where is he now? Seated in the heavens,
expecting his enemies to be made his footstool. Sending His Holy
Spirit, who is sovereign, rounding up every single one God chose,
gave to Him in a covenant, and whom Christ died for and paid
for their sin. Sending His Holy Spirit to the
preaching of this Word, this Gospel, and it won't return void.
It will bring them all in. All the children that the Lord
gave Him. It will bring them all to glory. Bring them all
to faith, all to repentance, all to love Christ, all to bow
to His feet, and all to be seated with Him in the Heavens someday
to the praise of the glory of His name. sovereign, redeeming
grace. Yes, sir. That's who came. That's
why he came. That's who he came for. That's
what he did, and that's where he is now. Now, there's probably nobody going
to hear and believe through these songs and all that, but I heard
them this morning. And I looked at a few of you
as we were singing it. We got to those verses, and you were
smiling. It was worth it, wasn't it? I'm glad Brother Charles
Wesley wrote it. And I rejoice, and I rejoice in Him, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I rejoice in a little goodwill
every now and then. There's too much bad going around. This time of year, you ladies,
you know, I know, I know, you have a lot to do and it kind
of makes you, you know, grumpy. But I feel, I get, it makes me
feel pretty good. It makes me feel pretty good.
All the smiles and gifts and all that. You've got a problem
with these gifts, bring them to me. I'll dispense of them.
Okay, yours? You've got a problem with them?
I'll do away with them for you. Workers, you know, you workers
get a bonus. Isn't that good? That's good. You're going to get time off,
24 hours, but it is time off. I like that. It's all good, isn't
it? People that normally wouldn't give you time a day may smile
at you. That's a good thing. What's wrong with that? Nothing. Nothing. And we need to be like
Spurgeon. That man, the Lord blessed him,
gave him wisdom. He said at a time when people
are thinking about something, deal with it. At a time when
people are forced to think about it, deal with it. And the job
of the true preacher and the witness is to declare the truth
in the midst of all this mess. Rightly divide the word of truth. Define the truth. Well, go to
our text and just briefly look at these verses in closing. Verse 10. The angel said to these
shepherds, Fear not. Behold, I bring you good tidings
of great joy which shall be to all people. This is good news. Oh my. Good news that ought to
give great joy. Paul said it's worthy of all
acceptation. Why don't all people hear this?
Why doesn't it give all people great joy that Christ came into
the world to save sinners, even the chief? Isn't that good news?
It can only be one reason why they're not sinners. Oh, what a wonderful thing to
be made to know that you're a sinner. And hear the good news that Christ
came into the world to save sinners. You can't save yourself. Oh,
man. One of those hymns talks about
we're not there by our merits, but by the merits of Christ.
That was so good. First time I'd ever seen that.
What good news. What a glorious thing. It gives
me great joy. It gives sinners great joy that
Christ came into the world to save sinners. To all people,
Jew and Gentile. Verse 11, He said, unto you is
born this day in the city of David the Savior, which is Christ
the Lord. Unto who? Who were they talking
to? These angels were the ones which
they were men. And these angels were the ones
that were telling it to who? Shepherds. Lowly shepherds. Nobodies from nowhere. Who gives
shepherds a thought? Who would think on shepherds
up there on the hill at night time? Lonely fellows, just plain
old ordinary fellows, probably smelled like sheep. Ragged fellows
all night sitting on that hill watching sheep. These are nobodies
from nowhere. Who would think on such a one?
God did. This is who He sends the Gospel
to. This is who He sends the good news to. Unto you. That's
why He shepherds us. Oh, why would He visit us? Why
would He tell us? Because you'll appreciate it.
The lowly. Do you see your calling, brethren?
Do you see your calling? God calls nobodies and nothings
from nowhere, because they'll esteem Christ highly. They'll
give Him all the glory. Sinners, unto you. Unto you. Oh my, they were sitting on the
hill one day, watching those sheep one night, and it said,
Lo, verse 9, the angel of the Lord came upon them. Sounds just like Jacob, doesn't
it? Yes, it's the same. Same Lord. Same gospel. Same thing happened. And the
glory of the Lord shone round about them. That sounds like
Saul's hearses, doesn't it? That's what happened to me. And
they were so afraid. They were so afraid. Fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. When God shows you who
He really alights, just, holy. When God shows you Christ in
all His glory, you'll first fear Him. And then you'll hear, fear
not, I bring you good tidings. Great joy. And then they said
to him, in verse 11, unto you is born this day in the city
of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. City of David. Paul
wrote Romans, when the Lord had him write Romans, said he's declared
to be the Son of God by the prophets. I don't want to misquote it.
Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the
seed of David, according to the flesh. The city of David. Where is that? Bethlehem. Bethlehem. There's a reason he
was born there. Bethlehem. People don't know that. They
need to know. I was at someone's house the
other day, and a man was there visiting, and he found out I
was a preacher. Oh, I hate that. But he did. And he said, I've been to Israel
six times. I said, well, wonderful. Been to Bethlehem. Why? Why go there? We don't worship
a city. We don't go there to find something
meaningful and something spiritual or whatever. We don't go to his
tomb. It's empty. The Lord said, don't come here. Why do you think
they're living among the dead? Don't come here. That's not a
holy land over there. No, no, no. We don't go over there. But there's
a reason why the Lord chose Bethlehem. Because He said so. Micah 5.2,
Thou Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands
of Judah. This is where the tribe of Judah
lived. Jacob said, the line of the tribe
of Judah. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah. Till who? Shiloh come, the prince
of peace. Judah. Bethlehem. Listen, in
Bethlehem, Rachel gave birth to Benjamin. In Bethlehem. His name means the son of the
right hand. Christ. That's exactly what God
calls Him. The Father's right hand. In Bethlehem,
Ruth met Moaz, her kinsman-redeemer. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our
kinsman-redeemer. That's where he came. In Bethlehem,
David was born, chosen of God to be king over Israel. King
of kings and Lord of lords. The Lord Jesus Christ was born
in Bethlehem. Bethlehem means house of bread. Lo and behold, Christ, our manna,
was born there. Bethlehem, the Scripture says,
is little among the thousands of Judah, and that's to whom
Christ came, little ones. Unto you is born this day in
the city of David. You see why? He had to be born
in Bethlehem, but we don't need it anymore. Do we? We don't need it. We don't worship
Bethlehem. Don't go there. Don't go there. I mean, if you want to, fine. Let me be honest with you, I
wouldn't mind seeing those places. But don't go there expecting
to feel it. Don't do that. That's making
an idol out of a place. We don't worship Bethlehem, we
worship Him who was born there. We don't need to see Bethlehem,
we need to see Him who was born there. Now here's the gospel,
in the city of David, a Savior. That's who came, a Savior, a
Savior, the only Savior. The only way, truth, which is
Christ the Lord, a Savior from sin, a Savior from bondage, a
Savior from the God of this world, a Savior from death, Christ our
Messiah, Christ our Covenant Head, Christ our Mediator, Christ
our Advocate, Christ our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, Sovereign,
King of Kings, Lord of Lords, reigning and ruling over all
flesh, over all principalities and power, the Lord Jesus Christ. Good news! He's here. He came,
he left, he's seated, he's coming again. Great witness, great joy
to all people, all people. Here's a sign, they said, you'll
find that babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. Said
that twice and they came and found it just as they said, swaddling
clothes. What on earth does his clothes
he's wearing have to do with identifying him as Christ? Let me ask you that again. What
the clothes that he wears have anything to do with him being
the Christ? It has everything to do with him being the Christ.
The clothes he wears are the clothes I wear. The robe that
he had that they were so careful not to rend that he was wearing
on Calvary's cross is the robe I now wear, seamless from top
to bottom. The swaddling clothes are warming
clothes, covering clothes, a nurturing clothes. You're all wrapped up
and just swaddled. Oh, Lord, clothe me in Thy righteousness. Let Jesus Christ be my swaddling
clothes. Manger. What's in a manger? What
is a manger? Well, that's where cattle feed. It's food for cattle. That's
where the cattle will go to find their food. That's me. That's where I find my food,
in Him, Christ. And He's in a manger. They said
you'll find Him in a manger. He wasn't found in a palace.
He wasn't found in the temple. He wasn't found in Jerusalem.
Lo and behold, He's found down there in that little lowly town
called Bethlehem, outside the camp, in a barn, in a manger
with the lowest of the low, nothing but sheep gathered around. Praise
be to God. That's where you'll find Him
now. You won't find Him in modern religion. You won't find Him
in these big cathedrals. Lots going on in His name, but
He's not there. I'll tell you where you'll find
Him. Go out on the hillside somewhere and find a bunch of lowly nobodies,
and you'll find Christ right there in the middle. Among the
low. Among the low. And they said,
and suddenly, and I quit, verse 13 and 14, there was with the
angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill
toward men. Glory to God. Oh, glory to God
for sending His Son, for the Lamb that was slain, for His
Son who was born of a virgin. lived as our representative,
went to Calvary's tree as our substitute, died and rose again
for our justification, is now seated and is coming again, glory
to God, in the highest. And on earth, peace, goodwill
toward men. There is not peace on earth,
is there? There wasn't then. Our Lord said
there are going to be wars and rumors of war. And people say,
peace, peace, when there is no peace. There never will be peace
among people on this earth. What they were saying was God
sent His Son, the propitiation of our peace. The propitiation
of God's peace. The chastisement of their peace
was to be laid upon Him. that He is our peace, the peace
of God's people. These shepherds whom the angel
came to announce who Christ was and why He came and who He did
it for and what He did, said to them, He has come to be your
peace, to make peace with God for you. Yes, the peace of God
is now on earth in the body of a man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And He is your peace. And He is my peace. And the only
peace that anybody will ever have among themselves is when
God breaks down that partition, that wall in us, and creates
in two enemies, reconciles us to God. That's the only way we're
going to have peace. Goodwill toward man, that doesn't
say that, toward men. And God, bless the Lord, He hath
made known unto us the mystery of His will, His sovereign will. God will have mercy on whom? Whom He will have mercy. And
He said to these shepherds and a people of every tribe, kindred,
nation, and tongue, as many as receive Him, it's God's will
for you to know Him, to see Him, to worship Him. Aren't you thankful
that He chose you?