My subject this morning is, quite
simply, Tidings of Great Joy. Here we read of the birth of
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not the beginning of
God. God had no beginning. Mary is
not the mother, or was not the mother of God. God has no mother,
God has no father, save His Heavenly Father, and that by eternal generation
But we gather here this morning to acknowledge that the Lord
Jesus, our Savior, came and dwelt in human clay to save sinners
like ourselves. Every birth of a child is a special
time, isn't it? That's a gracious gift because,
you know, An infant is formed in the womb of the mother. There
comes into being a new physical body and a soul, a soul that
will never die. And though our bodies will, the
Lord willing, grow old and feeble, yet the soul will continue and
will continue either in heaven or in the place of torment. The
Son of God came into the world and he took upon himself a human
soul and body. And as I will preach tonight,
the scripture says, great is the mystery of godliness. And this is the greatest mystery
that's ever been made known to folks like us about the very
power of the Spirit of God. I've got several questions I
want to ask you this morning. You follow with me if you would.
First of all, I want to ask you exactly when was it that this
miracle happened? Well, the first few verses of
Luke chapter 2 certainly gives us a good indication of exactly
when it was. Caesar Augustus, he was the first
emperor of the Roman Empire. And this is when all of the known
world was governed by one government and by one king, and that was
Caesar Augustus. Up until this time, many kingdoms
had ruled, including, I'll leave something out, I'm sure, but
the Egyptian kingdom, the Assyrian kingdom, the Babylonian kingdom,
the Persian kingdom, the Greeks, and others have reigned, but
this is the first time since back in Genesis at Babel that
one kingdom ruled over the whole known world. And this is the
time that God sent His Son. Because here's the uniqueness
about the time when our Lord was born into this world with
one government, being the Roman government and one emperor having
authority over everywhere, it became very safe for anybody
to go abroad, travel into other countries, into other cities,
without fear of enemies attacking them. And so God in His purpose
arranged that His Son would be born at such a time when it would
be safe for preachers of the gospel to go anywhere with a
relative degree of safety and assurance that they would have
safe passage wherever they were to go preaching the gospel of
the good news of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see,
God governs all things. Our Lord Jesus, He didn't come
before this. God had raised up these other
empires so that at this particular time, the gospel could go forth
freely into all the known world. And those who preach the gospel
of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ could
go forth freely without any worries or any discomfort in mind and
heart that they would not be received by other countries and
other cities. Learn this, God governs all things. There's nothing in this world
that he is not in charge of. You've heard of Martin Luther.
Martin Luther had a really good friend. His name was Melancthon,
Philip Melancthon. And Martin Luther writes in his
messages, he mentions his friend who was a weary wart, that's
what we'd call him, I don't, you probably don't know anybody
that's a wary wart. But anyway, Timothy was a wary
wart. And Martin Luther said to him,
don't worry about anything. The king governs everything. Why do you fret? Why are you
anxious? Don't you believe the king of
kings governs all things? And I'll tell you this, as God
governed back in the time when the Lord Jesus was born into
this world, so He governs now. And He governs everything in
your life and in my life. And you say, well, the world
is in such a mess. I know that's true. And yet God
still governs. He is bringing His purpose to
pass. I'm sure that the few saints
of God who were alive when Christ was born into this world, I'm
sure that they looked at the sad condition of the world and
said, there's no hope. There's no hope for the world.
Because you see, after hundreds and hundreds of years had gone
by with all of those empires that I have mentioned and others
as well, still the world by wisdom knew not God. And I'm sure the
saints of God said to themselves, among themselves, when they met
for worship, can things get any worse? Oh God, where are you? Oh God, won't you do something?
Know this, God is always doing something. And even in the spiritual
darkness, When Caesar Augustus ruled the world, he was the emperor. Even when the Roman Empire had
the power over all the known countries and other smaller governments,
even then God was reigning. Because you see, God always knows
what he's doing. We don't know. You have no idea
what God is doing in this country, in this world, or even in your
life. And we sometimes fret and worry
and we say, Lord, where are you? I'm hurting, I'm aching, I've
got this problem, I've got that problem, I got family issues,
got financial issues, and I got all of these things. Hang on
a minute. Does God reign? Come on now. Does the Lord really reign over
all things? Is He in fact working all things
together for the good of those who love Him, who know Him, those
who are called according to His purpose? And all of you who know
the Lord must say, yes, the Lord does reign. Well, stop fretting
then. I'm like Martin Luther speaking
to Philip. Stop your fretting. Stop your
worrying. The Lord knows what he's doing,
but we don't. And if he wanted us to know,
he'd tell us. You see, no sooner did Augustus,
no sooner did he tax the world than Messiah came. That's when
Messiah came. You say, well, I reckon God knows
what he's doing then. Well, I reckon he does. And I
reckon he knows what he's doing in your life as well. For the first time in the history
of the world, since the Tower of Babel, everyone is under one
government. In fact, here's the fulfillment
of one of Jacob's prophecies of Genesis chapter 49, that Messiah
would come when Israel's government was coming to an end. And that's
exactly what's happening in our text. Know this, David said in
Psalm 31, 15, my times are in thy hands. Can you say that and
mean that? Can you get any comfort from
that? My times are in God's hands. I don't know what tomorrow's
gonna bring forth and you don't either. But I do know this as
one of the Lord's children, whatever happens in the morning or tomorrow
afternoon or next week or next year, if I'm here next year,
whatever happens, God's gonna use it for my good. And he'll
use it for your good. So children of God, remember
this. Our God is too wise to err. He's too good to do wrong. And
he's too strong to ever fail. He is a strong refuge to us in
time of need. And I expect you're like me.
My time is always a time of need. And he's always working all things
together for my good. So that's when this happened.
And that's critical to this story. And then, Who was it that delivered
good news of the coming of the Messiah? Well, it was an angel,
an angel of the Lord. Here were some shepherds sitting
out at night, watching their flock by night. By the way, which
is a clear indication our Lord wasn't born on December the 25th. He wasn't born then. Wednesday the 25th of December
was arranged by people who joined it with actually the worship
of a false god. It was religion mixed with false
religion to come up with and settle on December the 25th.
And I won't go into all of that. But it was an angel of God who
appeared to the shepherds. They weren't looking for him.
They weren't anticipating a voice from the heavens speaking to
them. They were just laborers. They're just workers. Nothing
special about them, except God chose them to receive a glorious
message from heaven, delivered by an angel, by an angel. And you know, if you study and
read in the book of Revelation chapters two and three, the book
of Revelation concerns letters to the seven churches of Asia
Minor, each letter is addressed to the angel of the church of
Ephesus or Laodicea or Philadelphia, to the angel, meaning the minister
or the messenger from God in that locality. Know this, God
still uses angels, certainly winged angels. in this building
this morning. I don't have any question about
that, I'm sure. Within this building, there are
those who can be seen, like we can be seen, but within this
building also, I am persuaded there are many angels of God
sent here, invisible to our eyes, Their singing and praising of
God is deaf to our ears, but I have no doubt whatsoever, but
that the Lord himself has sent angels to assemble wherever his
people meet together to worship and adore the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you ask me if I believe
in guardian angels, I say without a doubt, without a doubt. Guardian angels are with the
Lord's people all of the time. The scripture says in the book
of Hebrews chapter one, they're ministering spirits and they're
sent to those who shall be the heirs of God's salvation. Be thankful children of God. The Lord has sent guardians for
you. They watch over you. Let me ask
you this. Did angels watch over our Lord
Jesus Christ? Sure they did. They're there
at his birth. They're to be seen during his
life. Angels were there in the garden
of Gethsemane. Angels were there at his tomb.
Angels were there when He ascended back to heaven. In every facet
of His life, God Almighty sent angels to watch over Him, and
sometimes to provide encouragement to Him, the man Christ Jesus. And as He did that for His Son,
so He does that for His adopted children. You may be hurting. but you're
not by yourself, you're not alone. The ministers of God are there
with you, with you. The angel brings this glad tidings
to the shepherds. And the angel said, fear not. Now I'm not a winged angel, I
am a bird, but I'm not a winged angel. But I am an angel in the
sense I'm a messenger from God. I'm sent from God with a message. And I say to all of God's people,
fear not. Have you ever noticed in the
Scriptures how frequently God tells His people, do not be afraid? Don't you reckon he sends that
message to us time and time again in the Bible, because so often
we are filled with fear. We are troubled in our hearts.
Well, hear the word of the Lord through the lips of this angel.
Fear not. The Lord said, I'm with you always,
even to the ends of the world. You see, it's to the messengers
of God The angels over the churches, his preachers, it's left to us
to deliver the glad tidings of salvation in, through, and by
the Lord Jesus Christ. I would suggest to you that a
literal angel, a winged angel, could preach more eloquently
and with far more understanding of who God is than I can. But
I tell you what the angels cannot do. They cannot speak from this
perspective, a sinner saved by grace. They desire, the winged
angels desire to look into salvation by the bloodied sacrifice of
the Son of God. But they have no concept of what
it means to be saved by the grace of God, to have your sins washed
away by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have no concept
of what it means to be garbed or robed, clothed in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, which He established for us by His
death upon the cross of Calvary. But saved angels, saved preachers,
no. And I can tell you from experience,
this is absolutely glorious that God saves sinners by His grace
through the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. We might be tempted to think,
you know, if more people could actually receive a visit from
a winged creature, from an angel, perhaps if more people could
receive such a visit as did these shepherds, then they would be
more inclined to believe. Don't think that way. Because
you see, the ability to believe is not given by angels. The ability
to believe is given by the Lord Jesus Christ, whose spirit works
through the preaching of the gospel to give us the gift of
belief. Leads to my third question, who
were the recipients of the glad tidings? Shepherds. Why not the
Pharisees? Why not the Sadducees? Why not
the scribes? Why not the chief priests? Why
shepherds, just common laborers? Well, I tell you, because it's
the only ones that God sent the angel to, just the shepherds. Here's an illustration of God's
sovereign choice. By faith in my minds, I can see
out there at midnight or so, Out there in the hills of Judea,
these men probably around the campfire and the sheep, they've
all settled in for the night. Maybe the shepherds are singing
or talking or maybe they're sleeping, I don't know. But I know this,
this visit from an angel was not due to anything that they
had done or anything that they would do. God chose them. You see, God is a God of choice.
He is sovereign. He reigns in all things. He chose
these men only to be the recipients of a message from an angel. And know this, God is sovereign
in all things. He reigns, He chooses who's going
to receive His message. Did you know God chose, God appointed,
God purposed that you'd be right here in this auditorium, this
congregation, among this congregation this morning so you could hear
of the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, His substitutionary
death, salvation by grace, that God gives the gift of faith and
repentance, God chose you to be right here this morning, and
you're being visited by an angel. Me. You're being visited with
a message. God could have easily prevented
you from being here. But know this, before God ever
made the world, He purposed that you'd be right here, December
the 22nd, 2024. You'd be in your pew or you'd
be watching the computer screen. You'd be watching this on television.
God ordained that you would hear the message of the glory of His
Son and that salvation that is to be found only in Him. And
I pray that God has also purpose that you would not only hear
with these ears, but that your heart would be visited with omnipotent
grace and God would save you from your sins. The recipients
were shepherds who were chosen of God to hear the good news.
And you have been chosen of God to hear the good news this morning. The fourth thing I want to point
out to you is what was the good news that the angel came to convey. Well, it says in verse 10, Fear
not, for behold, I bring you good tidings, I bring you the
gospel, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be to
all kinds of people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. He's
identified, the Savior is identified as being Christ the Lord. Mary's
not the Savior. Joseph is not the Savior. Two
years later, the wise men will visit. They're not the Savior.
The Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's a fact. Unto you is born
After thousands of years of promises and predictions and prophecies, the Savior is born. And He's born in the city of
David. That is Bethlehem, the place
of David's birth. And here's the majesty and the
identity of the one who was born. He's a Savior. He's a Savior. He's the one who comes to rescue
sinners from sin. And he's Christ the Lord. The
help we had to have had to come from above. And our Lord Jesus Christ descended,
formed in the womb of Mary by the power of the Holy Ghost.
And she carried in her womb for nine months. the only savior
of sinners. You see, he had to be man to
suffer the wrath of God in the stead of guilty sinners. But
he had to be God, God over all, glorious forever, to accomplish
this and to have it stand as a sure means of salvation, accomplishment
of salvation, before God himself. The scripture says he was rich,
yet for your sakes became poor, that ye through his poverty might
be rich. Well, to whom did the angel render
the highest praise? Well, to the Lord. Because you
see, here's what happened. He says in verse 12, this shall
be a sign unto you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes, lying in a manger. And I'll just say this before
I move on. He wasn't born in a palace. He
wasn't born in a decorated crib. He was born in a manger, in a
feed trough. He's really the son of man. He's
really man. But all of a sudden, after that
angel makes that announcement, suddenly, verse 13, there was
with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God.
How many would make up a multitude of angels? I don't know. One writer ventured to say he
thought that all of the angels that God created, those elect
angels that did not fall, he said he thought that all of the
angels together filled the sky when the Son of God came. After
all, he's their creator. He's their sustainer. They have been in his presence
ever since they were created. They saw when he created all
things, the sons of God shouted for joy, the angels that is,
when all things were created. And now they see their creator
born in a manger. And he is to be presented, not
to the religious elite of the world, not to the so-called holiest
people in the world, but just to working men. Isn't that wonderful? Just to working ordinary people
like us, like us. And all of these angels just
filled the sky. and the song of praise that they
had been singing forever in glory, now they sing it so these shepherds
can hear." Boy, that was some kind of singing right there. And you know what we're going
to be doing when we depart this life, the children of God? We're
going to enter into the presence of the angels. More importantly,
into the presence of departed saints. even greater than that,
we're going to enter into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ
and all the praises, all of the singing, all of the glorification
of Christ that's going on in heaven, we're going to just join
right in with the rest of them. You say, Jim, where's my spouse
who passed away? Where's my children who passed
away? Where are my parents who passed
away in faith? Where are they? They're gathered
at the throne of the Lord. That's a peaceful thought. That's
a glorious thought. Well, what are they doing? They're
praising God too. See, we praise God here on earth,
but it's rather pitiful praise, but we'll praise Him in glory. They're praising God, giving
Him glory. There's saying in verse 14, glory
to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward
men. Glory to God in the highest for
his covenant of grace that he chose us, that he wrote our names
down in the Lamb's book of life. Glory to God for his wisdom in
establishing salvation for us. Salvation by substitute. Salvation
by suitable sacrifice that's pleasing to God and meets the
needs of sinners like us. Glory to God for His love that
began this salvation. Chosen in love, predestinated
in love, Christ was sent by love. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and gave Himself to be the propitiation
for our sins. And glory to God for his grace
in saving sinners. Well, another question, what
would be the result of God sending his son? Well, sinners are gonna
be saved. Verse 14 says, glory to God in
the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. He's not talking about civil
peace. He's not talking about peace among people. Here's the
peace that the angels are singing about, the fact of God's everlasting
peace established for his people by means of the bloody death
of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary. See, our
Lord said, I came not to send peace, but a sword. He said, well, I wish the Lord
would establish peace in this world. There will be no peace
in this world until the Prince of Peace comes back. I have news
for you on that. Because of the enmity of our
hearts, the sinfulness of our hearts, there are going to be
wars and rumors of war all the way up to the end of time. This peace where it says, and
on earth peace, Know this, the peace on earth is Jesus Christ
Himself, because Ephesians chapter 2 says, He is our peace. He's our peace with God. He made
our peace with God. I've sinned against God. I deserve
everything that is damnable and judgmental and everlasting wrath. I deserve all of that. But Christ
came down and by paying my sin debt to divine justice, by His
death upon the cross of Calvary, He made my peace with God. God's not angry with me. God's
not mad at me. Because Christ made my peace. Don't you listen to these preachers
who say, now you need to make your peace with God. You cannot
do that. How would you even go about that?
You say, well, I tell God I'm sorry. Well, you ought to be
sorry. But that don't pay your sin debt. Repentance doesn't pay you sin
debt. Faith doesn't pay you sin debt. Christ, Christ is our peace
and he made our peace by the blood of his cross. He is our
peace. Well, the angels went away back to
heaven. God the Father said, y'all come on back. And the angels, They said among
themselves, let's go visit, let's go visit this manger. We want to see him. Tell you
what, if God the Spirit ever visits you with his grace, you
want to see Christ by faith. So they went, verse 17, verse
16, they came, saw Mary, Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger,
and when they had seen, they made known abroad the saying
that was told them concerning this child." They went everywhere.
They went back out, and the next day, they went to their homes,
they went to their communities, and they said, you're never going
to believe what we saw last night. We saw the Son of God incarnate. We saw the Savior. He has come, folks, he's come. And everybody who'd listened
to him, that's what they said, he's here. Emmanuel is here,
God with us. The Savior has come, let's all
rejoice. But most people didn't. But some did. And these men did. And they just went home rejoicing.
And I'll tell you this, If God the Spirit visits you this morning
and you, by faith, see the glory of the Son of God and His finished
work of redemption upon the cross of Calvary, finished as evidenced
by His resurrection from the dead and His ascension back to
glory, if you see Him by faith, you'll just want everybody to
see Him. You'll go tell your family and your friends and say,
oh my. I've been visited in grace by the Lord's Gospel. I pray
that God will bless you with the knowledge of His Son. Let's sing a closing song.