If you would open your Bibles
with me to Luke chapter 2, you may want to mark that. We're
going to flip back and forth some this morning from Matthew
1 and Luke chapter 2. As you're turning, I have several
announcements. Number one, Elder Eric Floyd is preaching in Wheelersburg
this morning. We want to remember him. Lord
willing, I'll be preaching Tuesday evening in Danville, Kentucky,
and then we'll be spending the night in Lexington. I have a
lumbar treatment on Wednesday in Lexington, so Eric will be
preaching here. Apparently, they only do these
shots on Wednesdays. Every time I get them scheduled,
they're on Wednesdays, but it'd be a good thing for me to get
done right now. Also on Tuesday, Barb Collins
is going to have surgery on her foot. Her foot has been broken
this whole time, and they just really now listened to her discovery
that she's going to have surgery on Tuesday morning. remember
her. Also, if you take note of our
New Year's Eve service, we're planning on having that on New
Year's Eve. And I mentioned this a few weeks ago about a truck
for Elio Jay. He's one of the Mexican pastors
there, the pastor at Zit-Zantun. He's taking on quite a bit of
traveling in Cody's absence to some of the different churches.
And rather than buy a new truck, Everyone feels like it's a better
thing to rebuild the engine and transmission in his current one.
So we are taking up the offering for that, and we plan to send
that at the end of January, if you'd like to give to that. And also, I'm delighted that
Mabel Lynn and her brand new fiancé Mason are with us this
morning. Mabel was a student at Marshall with us for a while.
They're back visiting this morning, so y'all be sure to greet them
and congratulate them on their upcoming marriage. All right,
Luke chapter two, we'll begin in verse one. And 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 Cyrenus 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 Judea under
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. 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 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. 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'd seen it, they
made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning
this child. And all they that heard it 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 which
they had heard and seen as it was told unto them." We'll end
our reading. All right, let's stand together
as Shawn leads us in singing our call to worship. For unto us a child is born,
to us a son is given. The government shall rest on
him, the anointed one from heaven. His name is wonderful Counselor,
the mighty God is He. The everlasting Father and the
humble Prince of Peace. The increase of his government
and peace shall never end. He'll reign on David's ancient
throne as ruler of all men. Upheld with justice, righteousness,
forever his reign will last. The seal of the Lord God Most
High will bring these things to pass. Okay, if you would now turn in
your hymnal to song number 87, Joy to the World. ♪ Joy to the world, the Lord is
come ♪ Let earth receive her King Let every heart prepare
Him room, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and heaven and nature sing. Joy to the earth, the Savior
reigns. Let men their songs employ, while
fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, repeat the sounding
joy. Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. No more let sins and sorrows
grow, Nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make His blessings
flow, Far as the curse is found. far as the curse is found, far
as, far as the curse is found. He rules the world with truth
and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness,
and wonders of His love, and wonders of His love, and wonders,
wonders of His love. All right, now if you would,
open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter one. Matthew, the first chapter. We'll begin our reading in 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 privily.
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
should bring forth a son and thou shall 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 should be with child
and should bring forth a son and they should call his name
Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Then Joseph being
raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden
him and took unto him his wife, and knew her not, till she had
brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus.
Thank God for his word. Let's bow together. Our Father, Lord, we bow in your
awesome, majestic presence. We bow in fear and trembling,
knowing we come before the throne of the thrice holy God. Yet Father,
how thankful we are to be able to come boldly before your throne
of grace in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, because of
who he is and everything that he's accomplished for his people.
Father, how thankful we are. How thankful we are that you've
given us this time to meet together, to open your word, to have Christ
preach to us, to have this opportunity to worship. Father, I pray that
by your Spirit, you would enable us this morning to worship you
in spirit and in truth. We pray that you'd cause the
name of Christ our Savior to be lifted up and extolled and
magnified, that your people might see him lifted up and in awe
and wonder, worship him. Enable each of us to leave here
this morning, believing in and trusting in, resting in, rejoicing
in Christ our Savior. Father, what we pray for ourselves,
we pray for your people everywhere who are meeting together to worship.
We pray a special blessing on our brother Eric that you bless
him in preaching, that you return him back home safe to us and
bless him again Wednesday as he preaches here. Father, we
ask that you bless those who are hurting and who are sick,
who need you especially, who are in deep waters. We pray for
Barb and this upcoming surgery on Tuesday. Continue to pray
for Novi, Father, that you'd open up a way for her to get
this transplant quickly, that you restore her to health and
be with her and her family, comfort their hearts until such time
as you see fit to provide a way out. Now, Father, all these things
we ask and we give thanks in that name which is above every
name, the name of Christ our Savior. I once was far away from the
Savior, and as vile as a sinner could be, I wondered if Christ
the Redeemer would save a poor I was wandering on in the darkness
Not a ray of the light could I see And the thought filled
my whole heart with sadness There's no hope for a sinner And then in that dark lonely
hour A voice whispered sweetly to me Saying Christ the Redeemer
has power To save a poor sinner like me I listened and lo, t'was the
Savior Who was speaking so kindly to me I cried, I'm the chiefest
of sinners Thou can save a poor sinner like me I then fully trusted in the Lord
Jesus And oh, what a joy came to me My heart was filled with
His praises Cause He saved a poor sinner like me ♪ Because he saved a poor sinner
like me ♪ I asked Isaac if he might work
on that song a few weeks ago and suddenly here it was. I just,
I love that song. That's the biography of every
believer. Alright, if you would open your Bibles again now to
Matthew chapter 1. I've titled the message this
morning, A Birth in Bethlehem. You know, at this time of year,
we hear a whole lot about the birth of Christ out in the world.
And much of what we hear is not very good. Some of it is, much
of it is not. I think it's good to bring a
birth, a message on the birth of Christ when everybody's mind
is upon it. And I do that because I want
us to see what God's word has to say about the birth of Christ.
We know what we're gonna hear from God's word is good, don't
we? I want us to see from God's word about the birth of Christ. Now, no one knows what day that
the Lord Jesus was born. I guarantee you this, it was
not December the 25th. You read different historians
and they all have reasons to have his birth in all four different
seasons of the year. Nobody knows if it was in December
Promise you it was not December the 25th. The Lord would never
allow us to make an idol out of that day. He wouldn't do it.
Matter of fact, you search the scripture and you'll find this.
The church is never told to celebrate the birth of Christ. Never. We're
told to celebrate his death, his burial, his resurrection,
but never his birth. But that being true, it is a
good thing for us to learn about the birth. Christ our Savior,
and learn about it in such a way that we're in awe of it, that
we stand thankful for it. Paul wrote to Timothy, 1 Timothy
3, verse 16, and he called the incarnation of Christ a great
mystery. He said, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness, that God was manifested in flesh.
That's a great mystery. In order to find out something
about this mystery, I want to ask and answer from the scriptures,
four questions about the birth of Christ with this goal that
we might learn more of him, that we might trust him more fully. Number one, who was born? Number two, why was he born?
Number three, what did he do? And number four, what should
we do? I think that's four good questions. Let's look here at verse 18 in
Matthew chapter one. 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. And Joseph, her husband, being a just man, not willing
to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. Now, Joseph and Mary were more
than engaged at this time. The word espoused here means
they were legally married. In the eyes of the law, in the
eyes of their religion, they were legally married. Six-month
period or something like this where they were legally married,
but they were not living together as husband and wife yet They
had not come together as husband and wife And Mary must have come
and talked to Joseph and all Joseph knew at this point was
this His wife is pregnant and the baby's not his he knew that
that that's all he knew Now, let me ask you. What would you
do if you were Joseph married come to you and said an angel
appeared to me? I mean, this glorious angel appeared
to me and told me that I'm with child of the Holy Ghost. You'd
say, yeah, right. Yeah, right. Yeah, sir. Sir,
Mary. Who could believe such a great
mystery? Pregnant of the Holy Ghost? Who
could believe such a mystery? And according to their law and
their customs, Joseph could have had Mary stoned. He could have
publicly shamed her. He could have had her stoned,
Joseph must've been a kind man. He was just, he was kind, and
what he was going to do, he's thinking this problem through,
he was going to quietly disannul the marriage and send Mary away
so that she would not be publicly shamed. That's his plan. All
right, now here's my first question. That's the backdrop, that's what's
going on. Now here's my first question. Who was born? Verse
20. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream. St. 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. Now Joseph found out what Mary
was telling him was the truth. The child she was carrying was
conceived in her of the Holy Ghost. Now, who can understand
that? Who can explain that? Nobody.
But I do know this, that makes that baby God. That baby's the
son of God. That baby is God. Look at verse
23. Behold, a virgin shall be with
child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name
Emmanuel, which is being interpreted God with us. That baby is God
dwelling amongst us. Dwelling as a man amongst us.
Look back at Isaiah chapter nine. This is a mystery. That baby
is both God, here he's both the father and the son, both the
father and the son, Isaiah 9. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given, and the government should be upon his
shoulder, and his name should be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. the prince of peace. This baby is born. Mary gave
birth to a real live baby boy, a human baby boy. But the son
was given. The son was given. The son of
God is eternal. He didn't have a birthday, does
he? Son of God doesn't have a beginning. He's eternal. The baby had a
beginning, but the son didn't. The son was given. The son came
to earth as a baby who was born. And that son is the everlasting
father. He's both the father and the
son. He's one. He's the mighty God. He's the
ruler of the universe. He's the one who controls everything
that happens in his creation. You want to hear a mystery? That
baby that Mary held depended on that baby to give her the
strength to hold him, not drop him. That baby that Mary breastfed
depended on that baby to give her the milk to feed him. What
a mystery. What a mystery. He's the father. He shall be called wonderful
counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince
of peace. You know why he's going to be called all those names?
Because that's who he is. That's who he is. That's who
was born. Now look here at verse seven of the increase of his
government and peace. There should be no end upon the
throne of David. and upon his kingdom to order
it and to establish it with judgment and justice from henceforth,
even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this. This is why I said he's the sovereign
over everything. The government is on his shoulder. And I love how scripture says
that the government doesn't say it's on his shoulders. It's on
his shoulder. Just one. The whole of creation
is upon his shoulder. Now that baby's dependent on
Mary, laying in that manger. But that baby is God, ruling
and reigning over everything in his creation. Now look at
Luke chapter one again. Hope you marked that. We'll flip
back and forth to this. Luke chapter one. Luke one, verse 35. Let's look at here at verse 34.
This is a, after the angel told her about having this child conceived
to the Holy ghost and the verse 34 then said, Mary under the
angel, how shall these things be seeing? I know not a man. This is impossible for me to
be pregnant. And the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy ghost
shall come upon thee and the power of the highest show overshadow
thee. Therefore also that Holy thing,
which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of God. Now
again, he's going to be called the son of God because that's
who he is. I mean, God only calls things
what they really are. He's the son of God. Mary's baby is the
son of man. He called himself that often,
didn't he? The son of man. He's a real man. Bone of our
bone, flesh of our flesh, as much of a man as you and I are
yet without sin. But he's also the son of God.
He's truly God. The math of this doesn't work,
but this is the truth. This is heavenly arithmetic.
The Lord Jesus Christ is 100% God, and he's 100% man. As Brother Richardson said so
often, or at least, I don't know, maybe Scholarly said this once,
he's been quoted a million times, he's as much God as if he were
not man, and as much man as if he were not God. He's God, so
he's holy and sinless. He's one who can satisfy the
holy requirements of God. He's one who can satisfy the
holy justice of God. And he's a man, a holy, perfect
man who can be the representative of sinful men and pay the sin
debt, be the sacrifice, a suitable, perfect sacrifice for sinful
men. You know, I told you, you hear about the birth of Christ
a lot at this time of year. And this is one of the things
we hear about, about this, this bad. Everybody's focusing on
this baby, on this baby. Most people only want to think
about the Lord Jesus as being a baby because the baby is dependent
on us. You know, we can hold a baby.
We can, we can coo at a baby. You know, you don't have to bow
to a baby. Everybody just likes to go look at the baby. Look
how cute the baby is. Here a little bit, when we dismiss the service,
I don't have to wonder where Lynn Harrell's gonna be. I just
find where there's a group of people, and I know that's where
Lynn is. Everybody wants to look at the baby. Oh, look how cute
the baby is. But now listen, the Lord Jesus
is God. He's God. We don't hold him in
our hand. He holds us in his hand. The
Lord Jesus is God. We do not decide what we will
do with him. He decides what he'll do with
us. Now one more scripture to show
you. This baby's God. Matthew chapter
two. This baby is God. Matthew two verse 11. And when
they were coming to the house, this is the wise men who came
circling searching for the Christ child. When they were coming
to the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother,
and fell down and worshipped him. They fell down and worshipped
him. And I'll tell you what, you only fall down and worship
God. These wise men would have been
worshipping an idol if that baby wasn't God. But they weren't
worshipping an idol because that baby is God. The Lord Jesus,
who was born in Bethlehem, Mary's firstborn child, is God, and
that's who we worship. All right, now that's who he
is. Here's my second question. Why was he born? Why was Christ
born? Now, there are many, many reasons
why Christ was born, but here's the first and foremost. Here's
the primary reason he was born. He came to save his people from
their sins. Look at our text again, Matthew
1, verse 21. And she should bring forth a
son and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. Now that's why he came. The Lord
Jesus did not come to give every son of Adam a chance to be saved. No, he didn't do that. If he
gave us a chance to be saved, nobody would be saved. Christ
came, he did not come to try to save as many people as he
could. As many people as he might, you know, get to feel sorry for
him and to accept him. Christ came to save His people. His people. Who are his people? They're his elect people. The
father chose a people and gave them to his son to save in the
covenant of grace. And that's who he came to save.
Those people and only those people. And that's what he did. He saved
those people from their sins. And you call his name Jesus. Now that is the New Testament
name for the Old Testament name, Joshua. Joshua. His name is Jesus. His title is Christ. That's who
he is. He's Jesus Christ. His name and
his title. He is the Christ. Jesus Christ
came as a savior, the savior, to save his people from their
sin. And he's going to save them from their sin by delivering
them from the condemnation of sin. He's going to deliver them
from that condemnation by suffering that condemnation for them. He's
going to suffer and die for them. in their place as their substitute.
See, he had to come as a man to do that. God can't be your
substitute, can he? But a man can, a man with your
nature can. That's why he came as a man.
He came to be your substitute, to bear the condemnation for
the sin of his people. He came to be the sacrifice for
the sin of his people. Now the law can't do that. Moses
can't do that. Remember when the children of
Israel finally came to the promised land, Moses could not lead the
people into the promised land, could he? Because Moses was a
type of the law. The law can't give anybody rest.
The law can't bring anybody into rest. All the law can do is make
you work and work and work and work and work some more, can't
it? Moses couldn't lead the people in, but Joshua could. Joshua,
the type of Christ, could. He led his people into rest. The land of the father that God
promised to give to him. The law can't put away our sin. All the law can do is show us
we're sinners. All the law can do is keep pointing out our sin.
All the law can do is aggravate our sin, but Christ can put it
away. And that's why he came, to put
the sin of his people away. And he had to do that as the
God-man. See, a man brought in sin. We
looked at that Wednesday night in Genesis chapter three. Adam
brought in sin, didn't he? Well, it's going to take another
man, another representative man, a perfect man who can put sin
away and bring in righteousness. And that man is the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's why he came. We saw Wednesday
how Adam put us under a curse. He put this whole world under
the curse of sin. You know why Christ came? To
take that curse away. To take it away. The Son of God
had to be made flesh. so he could be made a curse.
So he could be made a curse for his people and pay for that curse,
put that curse away by his precious blood. And he had to come as
a man to do it. What's the curse of the law?
Death, death. Well, God can't die, can he?
God can't die, but a man can. So Christ came as a man, the
son of God came as a man so that he could die. Mary's baby boy
was born in Bethlehem for this reason. He was born to die. Now all of us are born and we're
going to die. Christ was born to die, to die
for the sin of his people, to put the sin of his people away.
And while December 25th is not the birthday of our Lord, I sure
am glad he was born, aren't you? I sure am glad he was born. But
we don't want to focus on that baby. Because a baby can't save
anybody. No, a baby can't save anybody.
In order to do what he came to do, in order to save his people
from their sin, put the curse of their sin away, put their
sin away so that they might be accepted with God, that baby
has to grow to a full grown man. And as he's growing to be a full
grown man, the entire time he has to keep God's law perfectly. And then, that man has to be
cut down. and it has to be in the prime
of life. It can't be as an infant now. That infant didn't save
anybody. He has to be cut down in the prime of life, just like
the Passover lamb. When that father went out and
chose that Passover lamb, it had to be a lamb in the strength
of life. It couldn't be just some newborn lamb. Had to be
in the strength of life. And then his blood has to be
shed in order to pay the sin debt of his people. The law demands
death for sin and a man must die. A full grown man must die
the death that his people deserve. But he can't stop there. After
he dies, he must rise again. He must rise again for the justification
of his people. And he can't even stop there.
He must ascend again back to glory where he would sit on the
throne of glory, sit on his father's right hand as the successful
reigning savior and the mediator whoever lives to make intercession
for his people. And then he can't stop there.
He's going to come back. He's going to come back. He's
not coming back as a baby this time. He's not coming back as
a servant this time. He's coming back as the king.
He's coming back to gather his people to himself that where
he is, there they may be also. That's a man's work. And a full-grown
man did it. But he had to start out as a
baby first, didn't he? He couldn't just come as a full-grown
man Because you didn't come as a full grown man. You had to
go through all those growing pains of being a child and being
a baby. He had to come just like us.
He had to suffer and endure everything that we endure in the flesh.
That's why he came as a baby. And when he came to a full grown
man in the prime of life, that's when he was cut down to pay for
the sin of his people. That's why he came, to put the
sin of his people away. Second, Christ came to fulfill
all of the scriptures. all the Old Testament prophecies
of the Savior. Verse 22, Matthew 1. 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. Now Christ came
born of a virgin. He was not born from the sinful
seed of Adam. He was not born with the aid
of a man. See, if he was born of a Joseph
seed, just like all of Mary and Joseph's other children, he'd
had a sin nature. Just like his brothers and sisters
did. Christ came born of a virgin,
born not from the seed of man, but from the seed of the Holy
Ghost. And that makes him sinless. See, that's what makes him sinless.
That was what makes him not part of Adam's transgression. He was
not born from the seed of man. And that makes him able to establish
righteousness. That makes him able to make his
people righteous. His sinlessness is what enables
him to take the sin of his people away from them and put it away
with his precious, sinless blood. God could never accept blood
tainted with sin to put away as a payment for sin. It has
to be pure blood, sinless blood. That's why Christ was born of
a virgin. So he'd be sinless. And he came to fulfill this prophecy
and every other prophecy and picture of scripture. Christ
came as God with us. God tabernacling among us as
the savior. Just like that tabernacle in
the wilderness was always in the center of the camp. All the
tribes around. That tabernacle was in the midst
of the people. Christ came tabernacling among
us. The glory of God. hidden behind
that veil of flesh. He went up to that mountain one
day, didn't he? Pulled that veil back just a little bit. The disciples
saw it. They saw that Shekinah glory
of God shining forth. That's what the high priest saw
once a year when he went into that Holy of Holies to sprinkle
the mercy seat with blood. It's Christ tabernacling among
us, God with us. Christ came as Abel's Lamb. He's
the one way to God, through the blood of his sacrifice. Christ
came as the Passover lamb, whose death satisfies God's justice
for us, enables us to live. Christ came as a sin offering,
who would bear the sin of his people and die putting that sin
away. He came as a scapegoat, who would
bear the sin of his people away from them forever, to a land
uninhabited where nobody sees it, where even God says it's
behind his back. means his blood put it away. So it doesn't exist
anymore. Christ came to be everything
that we need. Haggai in his prophecy of the
Lord Jesus called him the desire of all nations. You know why
he called him the desire of all nations? Because Christ is everything
that we need and he's everything we desire. Even if you don't
know Christ is the answer to what you desire, he's the answer.
He's everything we desire. Christ came to be the mediator
of a better covenant, established on better promises, the covenant
of grace. Oh, aren't you thankful to live
under the covenant of grace, not the covenant of law? Christ
came to bring that covenant in. Christ came to bring peace with
God. The angel sang at his birth Now,
peace himself, peace personified, is on earth. He was born to die. He came to make peace by the
blood of his cross. Christ came to bring spiritual
light so that we could see. We don't have to try to look
in the dark shadows of the law and the prophecies and the pictures.
Christ came to bring spiritual light. And in him now I see,
I have light to see. Now I see, oh, here's how God
saves sinners. It's by his obedience, not mine.
It's by him fulfilling everything that's required of the law, not
me doing it. Now I see how sinners are to come to God. It's not
in our righteousness and our doing and our, all this religious
ceremony. We come to God in Christ. Now
I see he came to give light. Christ came to bring spiritual
life to the dead. And he came to set the prisoner
free. He came to bring redemption to
his people, to them. He didn't come to offer it. He
came to bring it. I've used this illustration before.
I'll use it again because I like it. During the Civil War, President
Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. He declared all
the slaves were free. He sent General Grant to accomplish
it. And he brought freedom to those
slaves. He brought it to them. Nobody's
going to set them free. Somebody came and brought it.
That's what General Grant did. That's what General Sherman did.
He came, he brought it. He brought it. That's what Christ
came. He came to bring redemption to
his people. He came to bring the actual.
He didn't come to bring the shadow of the law. He came to bring
the substance of it in the light of his glory. He came to enable
God to be both just and justifier of everybody that believes in
Christ. That's why he came. Aren't you glad? Oh, we'd never
have any of that if Christ didn't come. Well, here's the third
question. We know who he is. We didn't
know who was born. We know why he came. We know what his mission
was when he came. Here's the third question. What
did he do? What did he do when he came? He did exactly what
he came to do, no less. Since the Lord Jesus Christ is
the God-man, he's able. He's able to save. Since he's
God, he's able to satisfy God. He's able to satisfy God's perfect
requirements. He's able to satisfy the holy
nature of God. He's able to pay for sin so fully
and completely that God says, I don't see it anymore. And since
he's man, he's able to save sinful men by being their representative. Since he's a man, he's able to
identify with our weaknesses and be our comforter, be our
mediator. Since he has a perfect sacrifice,
he's able to be our mediator and plead his blood before the
father for us. The angel told Joseph, you call
his name Jesus, for he's gonna give a shot at saving his people.
That's not what he said. He said, call his name Jesus,
for he might be able to lead his people into the promised
land like Joshua did, but then they might mess it up and lose
it. That's not what he said. He said, you call his name Jesus,
for he shall, he shall save his people from their sins. Oh, I
love, I love, I love the certainty of the gospel. Don't you? I love
the certainty of salvation in Christ. That's just exactly what
he did. He saved his people from their
sins. He did everything the father sent him to do. I told you, I
want to find out from scripture. What does scripture say about
this? Let me read you some scriptures. This is what the scriptures tell
us he did. John 17 verse four. Father, I have glorified thee
on the earth. I finished the work. that you
gave me to do. Then brother, it's finished,
isn't it? It's finished. John 17, verse 12. Father, those
that thou gavest me, I've kept them. I've kept every last one
of them and none of them is lost but the son of perdition that
the scripture might be fulfilled. Oh, he saved everybody he came
to save. Nobody's ever gonna fall away from him if he came
to save. You know why Judas fell away from him? He's a son of
perdition from the beginning. The other 12 all ran scared too,
didn't they? Peter didn't deny him like Judas
did, but Peter denied him. All the rest of them ran and
fled. The Lord gathered them all back together. You know why?
He came to die for them, not Judas. Everybody he came to save,
he saved. He didn't lose one of them. Romans
four, verse 25. Who was delivered for our offenses,
he was crucified, killed, slain for our offenses. And he was
raised again for our justification. You know why he was raised again?
Because all the sin laid on him is gone. It's gone. He did what he came to do. He
put away the sin of his people. Ephesians 1 verse 7, in whom
we have redemption through his blood right now. We have it in full possession. We have it because he did what
he came to do. Ephesians 2 verse 13, but now
in Christ Jesus, you sometimes were far off, you're made nigh,
you're brought back close to God, nigh, how? By the blood
of Christ. Hebrews 7.25. Wherefore he is
able also to save them to the uttermost, that come to God by
him, seeing he ever liveth, to make intercession for them. Hebrews
10.14. You just can't have any doubt
Christ came to do, or did what he came to do. For by one offering,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. You just
read scripture, it can't be more obvious. It can't. Christ redeemed
everybody he came to save. He did everything he came to
do. He didn't leave one thing undone,
not one. All right, now my fourth question.
What should we do? In light of this, in light of
who came, in light of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, what He
came to do, what He did, what should we do? What should my
reaction to this be? Well, the people who are around
our Lord's birth give us some pretty good indication. First
thing is this, we hear this, who Christ is, what He's accomplished
for His people. First thing we should do, is
worship him. Look at Matthew 2 verse 11. We
read this a minute ago. And when they were coming to
the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother,
and fell down and worshiped him. And when they had opened their
treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold and frankincense
and myrrh. Now, these wise men, they had
a trip. I mean, they put some effort
into finding this Christ child. They ask around everywhere, they
travel, and they finally found him. And when they did, they
worshipped him. They fell down and worshipped
him. And that word worship means to lick the master's hand like
a dog would. You know about this, we have
one left, these crazy Yorkies that we've had. We've got this
dog, he's, bless his heart, it's a good thing he's got a good
home. He's dumb as a box of rocks, but he's sweet, he's sweet. And
he was kind of wandering around the living room. Jan and I were
watching TV last night. And he just, like he'd never
seen the place before. And I picked him up and held
him on my lap while we were watching TV. And the whole time I held
him, you know what he did? He licked my hand. He licked
my hand. It's a sign, I guess, the word
means this. I don't know what a dog licks
your hand, what that means exactly. But the word means it's a show
of respect. It's a show of awe. It's a show
of love and need. And when the wise men, all they
diligently sought out to Christ's child, and when they found him,
they worshiped him. And you and I'd be wise to do
the same thing, to worship him. And you know, one of the best
ways that I know of to worship Christ is to beg him for mercy,
to beg him to forgive sin. He came to forgive sin, and that's
what the angel said. He came to put away the sin of
his people. Wouldn't it be a mighty good idea? Lord, forgive my sin.
He came to save his people from their sin. Lord, save me. Lord,
would you please save me? I've got no merit. There's no
reason that you would other than this. I'm a sinner. I need help.
Would you save me? That's worshiping you. Scripture
says that leper that came to our Lord and said, Lord, if you
will, you can make me whole. He said, that's worship. He worshiped. Now look over at Luke chapter
two, here's the second thing we should do. In light of who
Christ is, what he came to do, what he accomplished, we should
praise the Lord. That's what the angels did, Luke
two verse 18. Or verse eight, excuse me, verse
eight. 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 Savior,
which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto
you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger, and suddenly, There is 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. We praise the Lord
for who he is. Just, I don't understand what
he's doing, but glory to God in the highest. Glory to God
in the highest. Not just for what he's given
me, but who he is. Peace is on earth. The revelation
of God's greatest glory in saving sinners by a sovereign mercy
is on earth. Praise the Lord. Third thing
we should do in light of who Christ is, what he's done for
his people, what he's accomplished. Third, we should tell people
about Christ. You know, that's what people
need the most is to hear of Christ. That's what the shepherds did.
Verse 15. 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 it, they
made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning
this child. And all they that heard it wondered
at those things which were told them by the shepherds. In verse
20, the shepherds returned, they went back to their job. They
got a job to do, they went back to their job. They returned,
glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had
heard and seen as it was told unto them. They just told, they
told what they knew to be true, that Christ's child is here,
Christ the Savior is here. And that's what we should do.
You don't have to be a theologian like John Gill to tell somebody
about Christ. Just tell them what God's done for you. Here's
the fourth thing. We should keep these things in
our heart. Who Christ is, what did he do? Did he accomplish it? We should
keep these things in our hearts, verse 19. But Mary kept all these
things and pondered them in her heart. Now I implore you, don't
make the gospel and the preaching of the gospel a mental exercise. Don't make the hearing of Christ
a mental exercise where you gotta understand everything and get
all these ducks in a row and I understand everything, you
know, and then I'll believe it. The gospel is a mystery. It's
a mystery. It's a glorious, grand mystery. Great is the mystery of godliness,
Paul said. You can't understand it. Don't
make a mental exercise out of this thing. Just believe. Just believe, just believe. Paul
told Timothy, this is worthy of all acceptation. Everybody
ought to believe this, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, of whom I'm chief. By God's grace, I believe him.
I believe him. Now keep these things in your
heart. Don't make the gospel a matter of doctrines that we
understand and we remember and we defend and we argue with folks
about, you know, that don't have the same doctrinal stance that
we do. Don't make this thing a mental thing now. Ponder these
things in your heart. In your heart. Roll them around.
When you hear Christ the Savior preached, savor those things. Savor them in your heart. Roll
them around in your heart and savor them. Feed on them. Find pleasure in
them. Just rehearse them in your heart.
I thought of this example this morning. Last week, Janet and
I were away, and on our way home, we stopped by her mother's house.
And Ethel is, she's got, like some people have a green thumb.
I don't know what kind of thumb you call this. She can make desserts. I mean, wow. She knew we were
coming. She made us peanut butter fudge.
We ate some there. We took this peanut butter fudge
home with us. In the evening we're watching TV, I have me
a piece of peanut butter fudge. And that's what I always do with
Ethel's peanut butter fudge. I get me a piece of fudge and
I never just take a bite of it and chew it and swallow it. I
don't do that. I take a little bite. I'm going
to smish it in my tongue up to the roof of my mouth so that
it just dissolves and it runs all over my tongue, all over
my mouth and then I swish it all around my mouth and hold
it there for a second and then I swallow it. And then I do it
again. And usually what happens, I finish
the first piece, and I can't quit now to have a second piece. That's what I'm telling us about
the gospel. It's not just a mental exercise. I know a woman that
can make fudge and cakes. No, that's not it. Keep these
things in your heart. Keep these things. Solomon said,
keep your heart with all diligence. Be diligent about this thing
now. For out of it are the issues of life. Keep these things in
your heart all year long. We don't just have a special
service on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning or something, you know.
Keep these things in your heart all year long. Roll them around.
Save for them. Get life. Get strength from them.
I pray the Lord bless that to your heart and into his glory. If the Lord enables us to see
his glory from it, our hearts will be blessed, won't they?
Unfortunately, I will not be here Wednesday night, so I won't
see all of you before Christmas, but I want to wish all of you
the merriest of Christmas. I hope you all have just the
best time with your family. Whatever your Red Ryder BB gun
is, I hope you get it this year. I just want you to just have
the best time with your family. And come here, Eric. Wednesday,
you'll have a message for us. And again, next Sunday, all right? Let's bow together. Our Father,
oh, how we thank you for the unspeakable gift of your son,
our Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for a successful
savior who completely and utterly saves his people from their sin,
who reveals himself to them, gives them life, keeps them,
preserves them, and will one day bring them all together with
him in glory. Father, how we thank you. Father,
I pray you bless your word as it's been preached. I pray that
you'd overcome our stumblings and our bumblings and our wandering
attention and apply your word to our hearts that we might believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, that we might, in our day, Father,
see his glory. For it's in his precious name
that we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, please stand
and turn to song number 93, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. ["Hark
the Herald Angels Sing"] Hark the herald angels sing,
glory to the newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled. Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies, With angelic hosts proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem. Hark! the herald angels sing,
♪ Glory to the newborn King ♪ ♪ Christ by heaviest heaven adored ♪ ♪
Christ the everlasting Lord ♪ ♪ Late in time behold Him come ♪ ♪ Offspring
of a virgin's womb ♪ Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the
incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus of Emmanuel. Hark the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King! Hail the heaven-born Prince of
Peace, Hail the Son of Righteousness, Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings. 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,
Hark! the herald angels sing, Glory
to the newborn King! Come, desire of nations, come,
Fix in us thy humble home, lies the woman's conquering seed,
bruising us the serpent's head. Adam's likeness now effaced,
stamp thine image in its place. Second Adam from above, Reinstate
us in Thy love. Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King. you.