I'll be preaching today from
the book of Luke chapter 2. My main text is verse 14 of Luke
chapter 2. It's where the angel appeared
before the shepherds at the birth of Christ saying, glory to God
in the highest and on earth peace and goodwill toward men. And
I picked this verse because uh... obviously because of the season
but i want to say this you know just every year it never fails you'll see these debates even
existing among true believers of whether or not christians
should celebrate christmas how they should celebrate you have
it goes from the extreme of somebody saying we just don't recognize
any Religious holiday or whatever and listen. I know I'm with y'all
the materialism the idolatry that Revolves around all this
is sickening You know that But I had a man tell me one time
he said I don't even want you to use the name Christmas the
word Christmas because Christ mass and that that has a Catholic
origin false religion and Mass meaning Christ's death. We believe
in the death of Christ, we just don't believe in it like the
idolaters do and the false religionists. And I told the man, I said, well,
you better go home and change your calendar then. He said he
didn't want to have anything to do with idolatry. I said,
well, you better go home and change your calendar because every name of
the months has its origin in idolatry. Did you know that?
Every day of the week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, has its origin
in idolatry. And I don't know what kind of
car you drive, but the name of that car might have its origin in
idolatry. You better get out. Don't get into it. You know,
that kind of thing. Don't be superstitious. And don't
be overly zealous in this thing. I mean, we don't want to do things
associated with idolatry. But where are you going to live?
Mars? You know? Well, that's idolatry, isn't
it? That's a false god. No, we couldn't go on Mars, could
we? People go crazy over this, and one of the things that sparked
this message is, as you know, and I'm gonna read a little bit
to you now. I don't normally like to read anything but scripture,
but don't go to sleep on me, it's not that long. But I was
reading about this conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn that's
supposed to take place tomorrow night. And some of you astronomers,
or astronomers or whatever it is, you might be interested in
that. I was always interested in the stars physically. And
that is the handiwork of God, isn't it? I mean, that's an amazing
thing, this physical world. And so tomorrow night, December
21st, there's supposed to be a conjunction of Jupiter and
Saturn, which is, that's the winter solstice. Tomorrow's supposed
to be the first day of winter, the winter solstice. And Saturn,
I'm not giving you a science lesson, but Saturn takes about
30 years to go around the Sun. Jupiter takes about 12 years.
And every 20 years, Jupiter catches up to Saturn as we see it from
the Earth. And the last Jupiter-Saturn conjunction
was in the year 2000. But these conjunctions aren't
all created equal. The 2020 great conjunction that
we're supposed to see tomorrow night will be the closest since
1623, and the closest visible since 1226. And so on December
21st, 2020, Jupiter and Saturn will be only about an nth degree
apart as we see it, and it will simply look like one large star.
Now, people are saying, well, that's the Christmas star. You
know, there is a star concerning the wise men, the magi, The star
led them to Christ, to the Christ child. And the person who wrote
this said this. He said, if this is true, hallelujah. You know what hallelujah means?
It means praise God. And of course, the movements
of the stars, they are a work of God, aren't they? Movement
of it. And she said, thank you, Jesus,
for the beautiful reminder. I know some have seen the post
about the Christmas star appearing this year on December 21st. They
said, that's the Christmas star. And so she said, I couldn't help
but really take a deeper look at how amazing that this occurrence
would be happening in the year 2020. In the year that when Jesus
was born, there was violence, there was chaos, there was political
and social unrest. And of course, it was dark day.
And of course, we've all been talking about 2020, how bad this
has been, especially because of COVID-19. And everybody's
saying, boy, I can't wait till 2021 gets here. Do we know what's
gonna happen in 2021? Might be worse. I mean, I've
got some years in my life that I really call worse than 2020.
And there was a lot of inconveniences this past year, and still is,
you know, as we go through this COVID thing. But this person
said, the Magi found Christ by way of the star, which was the
meeting of three stars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars. And they followed
the star until it rested on where Christ the babe was, and they
began to worship him. But now I got to clear up a little
mythology here. The Magi came later. They weren't
at the stable. I hate to break up all these
Nativity scenes, but the Magi were not there. Some say they
came days later, some say they came months later, some say they
came as much as two years later. But they did come to see the
Messiah. They were led there by God. How
did they know about the Messiah? We don't know. Some speculate
that they could have read the book of Daniel, because they
were from that area where Daniel prophesied and wrote what he
wrote. And so this person says, in a
time where it was dark, light was brought into our world, Jesus
stepped into the chaos and brought peace. And he did, in a way, And that's
why I entitled this message Peace on Earth Question Mark. But he didn't bring peace on
this earth. I mean, it was just sometime
afterward that King Herod decreed that all firstborn of Israel,
two years and under, be killed. That didn't sound very peaceful
to me. Israel was under the Roman boot. Doesn't sound very peaceful.
But that's what this person's looking for, that this star would
bring peace on earth in 2020. And so with that in mind, look
at Luke chapter two, look at verse eight. Now you've heard
this story. 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. There was a physical manifestation of the glory of the Lord. 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 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,
goodwill toward men. Now, it is true that the birth
of Christ brought light joy and peace into the world. But not
to all people without exception. You notice there what the angel
said? That it would be to all people? All people. And this peace, this
peace is not peace on earth between men and nations. What was the
angel, the messenger of God announcing here? Well, he was announcing
the coming of the Messiah, which had been prophesied way back
in Genesis chapter three, which had been typified and pictured
all through the Old Testament. The Messiah is here, the Savior. And he said, behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
Now the good tidings, is not just the announcement of the
birth of Christ. The good tidings is the gospel. The good news of salvation. His
name shall be called Jesus. Matthew 1.21. Why? Because that
means He shall save His people from their sins. There's the
good news. Oh, His birth is good news, but not just His birth.
His name shall be called Jesus. or he shall save his people from
their sins. Can he do it? Well, his name shall be called
Emmanuel, which being interpreted as God with us. He's God manifest
in the flesh. The gospel is the gospel of peace. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6, he
says, stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth
and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet
shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And is the
gospel light good news of great joy to all people without exception?
Look over at John chapter 3 with me. I'm going to be preaching
on these verses here later on. It says in verse 18 of John chapter
3, now here's the question, is the gospel light good news of
great joy to all people without exception? Is that what the angel
was announcing here? Well it says in John 3.18, he
that believeth on him, believeth on Christ, is not condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. That doesn't sound
like it's good news to some. Verse 20, for everyone that doeth
evil hateth the light, and neither cometh to the light, lest his
deeds should be reproved. It's not good news to all. But
now verse 21 says, but he that doeth truth cometh to the light,
that his deeds may be manifest that they are wrought in God.
There is good news to some, isn't it? Without question, These words
that the angel said that it'll be good tidings of great joy
which shall be to all people does not mean all without exception. The gospel does not bring joy
to all people. Even the announcement of Christ's
birth didn't bring joy to all people. Didn't bring joy to King
Herod. Didn't bring joy to the scribes,
the Pharisees, the Sadducees. And if it weren't for the Spirit
of God entering into our lives to give us a new heart, a new
mind, and eyes to see, it wouldn't be really a joy to us. It'd just
be a season, which everybody kind of gets together and gives
gifts, has warm feelings. I'm not against warm feelings,
don't get me wrong, I like them. I love to sing the biblical,
what they call Christmas carols. You know, there's some that aren't
biblical, but I love to sing the ones that are. In fact, I
wouldn't be adverse to singing them all year round myself. Joy
to the world. Oh, the writer of that hymn,
I know what he believed, because I've read some of the other stuff
that he'd written. He wasn't talking about the world, everybody
without exception, talking about God's people all over this world.
Jew and Gentile, every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation,
God has a people. But to some, this news brings
greater condemnation to the reprobate and the unbelieving. It's a savor
of death unto death. But it does bring this great
joy to all of God's elect all over the world and all nations.
Christ is born. Christ lived. Christ died. was buried and arose again the
third day. Here in Luke 2.14 it says, glory
to God in the highest. What does that mean? What is
God's glory? It's the revelation of himself,
his honor, his characteristics, his attributes, and his great
work. It's that which sets him apart
as the one true and living God. No one to be compared with him.
He's everything. Every attribute of God's character
revealed in this person, the Lord Jesus Christ. For in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In him God
is both a just God and a savior. Every attribute magnified, honored
in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Glory to God
in the highest. There's no higher glory of God. There's no higher honor of God.
that you can find except in the person and work of Christ. God
glorifies himself in the establishment of this peace. He says, and on
earth peace, goodwill toward men. Well, what kind of peace
is he talking about? The gospel nowhere promises political
peace. Oh, 2020 has been a real bang
up year for political peace, there's not been any. You think
2021's gonna bring it? You think a Christmas tree's
gonna bring political peace? Hadn't yet, has it? I don't believe
it's going to. It really, listen, this peace
doesn't mean civil peace between nations, between men, doesn't
even mean domestic peace. I pray God give us all domestic
peace, peace in our homes, in our families. It doesn't mean
carnal peace of any kind. It's not peace on earth between
nations. Let me show you this passage.
I used to wonder about this before I was converted, but look at
Matthew chapter 10. Now, remember what the angel
said, glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and goodwill
towards men. Look at Matthew chapter 10, and
look at verse 34, Christ speaking to the disciples. And he says
in Matthew 10, 34, he says, thank not that I am come to send peace
on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. Now, if the angel meant peace
on this earth between people and between nations and politics,
if that's what he meant, then Christ is a failure. And the Bible doesn't tell us
the truth. That's not what he meant. And here's what he's talking
about here in Matthew 10. He's talking about the division
that comes between people, even families, over the gospel. It'll divide mothers and fathers
and sisters and brothers over the gospel. Christ did not come to bring
joy and peace. between people and nations and
politics and all of it. He did come to bring joy and
peace. But peace, here it is, peace between God and sinners. That's the peace the angel's
talking about. Salvation. Reconciliation. God reconciled
to his people and his people reconciled to God. There's the
peace that Luke 2 14 speaks of. But see, now listen, and this
is very, very important. Randy said it from Psalm 85. In fact, look at that passage,
Psalm 85 that he read. Before there can be peace between
God and sinners, righteousness must be established. Without
that, there can be no peace between God and sinners. Listen to it,
it's talking about salvation through Christ. This is a prophecy
out, Psalm 85, nine. Surely his salvation is nigh
them that fear him, nigh them that believe in him and worship
him. That glory may dwell in our land. Glory to God in the
highest. How does that come about? Look
at verse 10. Mercy and truth are met together. God's a merciful God, but he
doesn't lie. not in order to have mercy. Righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. God is a righteous God and a
loving God. How does that come together?
Well, look at verse 11. Here's how it comes together.
Truth shall spring out of the earth. Now, where do you suppose
that came from? That comes from this babe in
the manger. The incarnation of Christ, born
of a woman, the seed of woman, made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. He said, I'm the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh under the Father
but by me. His truth shall spring out of
the air. That's Christ. That's the birth of Christ. Righteousness
shall look down from heaven as he finished his work. in the
person that he existed as God manifest in the flesh. He established
righteousness. He was risen from the dead. He
ascended into the Father. Righteousness shall look down
from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good to his
people and our land shall yield her increase. Speaking of spiritual
Israel, righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in
the way of his steps. That's how peace comes about. I read in the opening of our
service, Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6. Listen, this is directly
connected with his birth, but it doesn't stop at his birth.
It doesn't leave him lying in a manger. It says in Isaiah 9,
6, for unto us a child is born. That's his humanity, his sinless
humanity. And a son is given, that's His
deity, the second person of the triune Godhead, the Son of God. The government shall be upon
His shoulders. What government? The government
of God's covenant people. The government of God's grace
is on His shoulders, not yours, not mine. It's all conditioned
on Him. It's all founded upon Him. The
weight of it, the fulfillment of it, the finishing of it, it's
on Him. And his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. And how's he gonna do it? Verse
seven, of the increase of his government and peace, there shall
be no end. This is not gonna be a failure.
He's going to accomplish the peace which he came to establish
between God and his elect people. And it'll be upon the throne
of David. That's the lineage, the human lineage that he came
through. He's the son of David, made of David according to the
seed of David. And upon his kingdom, to order
it, to establish it, listen, with judgment and with justice. That's righteousness. From henceforth
forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Let me read you this. This is Isaiah 32. This is a
prophecy of the Messiah. the king who shall reign in righteousness.
And it says in verse 17 of Isaiah 32, it says, and the work of
righteousness shall be peace. And the effect of righteousness,
quietness and assurance forever. So before there can be peace
between God and sinners, there must be righteousness established.
That's why Christ had to be born of a virgin. That's why he had
to be born of Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And by his
life unto death, his obedience unto death, he brought righteousness,
which reconciles God to his people and his people to God. You see,
this reconciliation, this peace is two ways. Number one, God
reconciled unto sinners. That's our justification. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that
justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ,
this one who was born, conceived in the womb of the Virgin by
the power of the Spirit, who was born on that day, whatever
day it was, who lived and grew in wisdom and stature, who walked
the earth, who kept the law, who suffered on the cross unto
death, who was buried and raised again the third day. That's our justification, the
ground of it. who accomplished righteousness.
Even at his baptism he said that. Suffer it to be so that we may
fulfill all righteousness. That's the ground of peace. Look at 2 Corinthians 5. This is how it all happened.
Verse 19 of 2 Corinthians 5. Talking about the ministry of
peace. Or the ministry of reconciliation. Verse 19, to wit that God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. What he's saying
is God is reconciled to whatever world he's talking about. God's
reconciled to them. God is at peace with them. They
cannot perish. What is this world? It's the
ones to whom God is reconciled, look on, not imputing their trespasses
unto them. It's the ones to whom God does
not charge with their sins. And if He doesn't charge you
with sin, He can't send you to hell for them. What did He do
with those sins? He charged them to Christ. That's
what He's talking about. Again, blessed is the man to
whom the Lord imputed not iniquity. If God doesn't impute or charge
sin to you, you're blessed, not cursed. You're righteous based
on His righteousness imputed to you. And so, and hath committed
unto us the word of peace, the word of reconciliation, verse
20 says, now then we are ambassadors for Christ, we are servants of
a higher power, a higher authority, as though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's name, be ye reconciled to God. Now God's reconciled to his people,
we preach the gospel of reconciliation, be ye reconciled to God. And
God's people will be. Upon what ground, verse 21, for
he hath made him, the father hath made the son to be sin for
us. A sin bearer, a sin offering,
sins imputed, charged to him, Christ who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We stand before
God at peace because Christ has made us the righteousness of
God in him. And so when he says on earth peace and goodwill toward
men, that's what he's talking about. This is the issue. That's why he says the kingdom
of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost. Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace, goodwill towards men. Now, Is this saying that God is at
peace with all men without exception? Well, the Bible tells us those
who believe not shall perish. Is this saying God is trying
to be at peace with everybody without exception? No. Is this
saying that it's God's will to save everybody without exception?
No, it's not saying that at all. It's only for people with whom
God is well pleased. If you Go back and study the
original language. This verse could be interpreted
and would be better interpreted this way. Glory to God in the
highest heaven and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased. That's what it means. Glory to
God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those with
whom his favor rests. Or people he favors. Well, who
are the ones with whom God is pleased? He's not pleased with
any of us by nature. And He's not pleased with any
of us based on our works or our efforts or our decisions. He's only pleased with His people
as they are sinners saved by His grace through Christ, His
beloved Son in whom He's well pleased. He only accepts us through
Christ. And it's not because of our good
works or our good decisions. For by grace are you saved, through
faith that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works lest any man should boast. But because of his grace in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ, that's why. So the message of the incarnation
is God's goodwill towards man, but the Holy Spirit does not
leave us to guess what that goodwill towards man is. This is not a
book in which we have to fill in the blanks like that. God
the Holy Spirit tells us exactly what the goodwill of God is.
Christ said it, I quote it all the time, when he said, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. This is the will of him that
sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing
but raise it up again at the last day. That's God's goodwill
towards his people, his chosen people whom he sent Christ to
redeem. by his death on the cross. Turn
to one more scripture and I'll close with this. This is Hebrews
chapter two. This kind of summarizes everything
I've intended to say here. Verse 14 of Hebrews chapter two. It says in verse 14, for as much
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He, that
is Christ, also Himself, likewise, took part of the same. That's
why He had to be born. That's why He had to be conceived
in the womb of the Virgin. That's why His humanity had to
be born of that Virgin. He was every bit man without
sin. He had to identify with His children,
God's elect, His sheep. And He took part of the same,
that through death. That's why He had to become human.
That's why he had to be made flesh, he had to die. That's
the satisfaction to the justice of God that brings forth righteousness,
which equals out to peace. That through death, he might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil.
And I believe that's talking about the power of the devil's
accusations. He accuses, he's the accuser
of the brethren. But if we're in Christ, If we're
washed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness, the accusations
cannot stick. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Verse 15, deliver them up who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. That's what we were by nature,
trying to save ourselves, the bondage by our works and our
efforts. And verse 16, for verily he took
not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of
Abraham. God's chosen people. And wherefore,
or for this reason in all things, it behooved him. He was indebted
to be made like unto his brethren. Why is it? Because their sins
have been charged to him. He's our surety. He promised
to do what was required. And so he had 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, peace. for the sins of the people. For
in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, tested, that is
all through his life and all the way up until the death of
the cross, he's able to succor, to comfort them that are in him,
them that are tempted. The Bible tells us that they
are in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. Set on Christ,
for he is our peace. He made peace by the blood of
the cross. That's the peace on earth. It's
peace between God and his people, and his people and God. And that's
what it's about. Now, come on, Amy. There's nothing
wrong with looking at that planet alignment tomorrow night. If
you got a telescope, they say it's best to look at it through
a telescope. That's probably a marvelous thing to see. Like I said, that's
the handiwork of God. But if you're looking at it just
hoping it's the Christmas star, I don't think you're going to
be satisfied myself. All right?