Alright, let's begin our service
opening our Bibles to the book of Luke. Luke chapter 1. There's a article here on the
inside of your bulletin I wrote this week. What do I do now?
And I wrote that with many of you on my mind and heart. I hope you'll read it and pray
it'll be a blessing to you. I talked to Brother Don Fortner
on Friday And he tries to tell you he's doing well, but he's
not. And that leaking in his heart
valve is inoperable and is causing him a great deal of difficulty. And as the Lord enables us, let's
remember him in prayer. I remember meeting Don. I was probably 12 years old.
And from what I heard, I thought, well, I'm not going to have to
listen to this guy very much He had cancer going through treatments
at the time, but the cancer didn't kill him. The treatment surely
would. And by God's grace, he did survive that. It's more than
40 years ago. But he's having a time right
now. So let's remember him in prayers.
The Lord enables you. All right, Luke chapter 1. We'll begin our reading in verse
26. And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name was Joseph of the
house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. An angel came
in unto her and said, Hail, thou that are highly favored. The
Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast
in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. An angel said
unto her, fear not Mary, For thou has found favor with God
and behold, thou shall conceive in thy womb and bring forth a
son and thou shall call his name Jesus. He should be great and
should be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God should
give unto him the throne of his father, David, and he shall reign
over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There should
be no end. Then said Mary under the angel,
how should these things be seeing? I know not a man. And the angel
answered and said unto her, the holy ghost shall come upon thee
and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the son of God." We'll end our reading there. I think it's interesting. He should be called, verse 32
says, he should be called the son of the highest. He's going
to be called the son of the highest because that's who he is. He's
the son of God. Mary's baby boy. is the Son of
God. What a mystery. Let's stand together
as Mike leads us in singing our call to worship. Let every ransomed sinner sing,
and praise the triune God. With grateful hearts your honors
bring, let us extol our God. The father gave his darling son
to ransom his elect. The lamb was slain, their time
begun, for we incurred our debt. In the fullness of time Let's
claim God's Son in human flesh That He might put away our sin
And bring in righteousness Praise God the Holy Ghost Holy Spirit
do, for His almighty grace, Who sprinkles Jesus' blood on you,
And gives your conscience peace. Behold the virgin's infant child,
but Jesus come to save. He was and ever will abide the
God-man who can save. Emmanuel, the God-man died and
rose again for us. With His own blood appears on
high and claims heaven for us. Thank you. Be seated. Turn to page 100. Page 100. O come, all ye faithful, joyful
and triumphant, Come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him, born the
King of angels. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. Christ the Lord. Sing, choirs of angels, sing
in exultation. Sing, all ye bright stars of
heaven above. Praise to God, all glory in the
highest. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. Christ the Lord. Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, Born
this happy morning, Jesus to Thee. Word of the Father, now in flesh
appearing O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him Christ Let's turn back to page 84, number
84. Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set thy people free. From our fears and sins release
us, Let us find our rest in thee. Israel, strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth, thou art. dear desire of every nation,
joy of every hung in heart. Born thy people to deliver, born
a child and yet a king, Born to reign in us forever Thou Thy
gracious kingdom bring By Thine own eternal Spirit Rule in all
our hearts alone By thine all-sufficient merit, Raise us to thy glorious
throne. Let's open our Bibles together
to Luke chapter 2. Our pastors ask that we read
a portion of Luke chapter 2 this morning. We begin with verse 1. 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 Cyrenius was governor of Syria. It 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, unto the city of
David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and
lineage of David. to be taxed with Mary, his espoused
wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they
were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for
them in the inn. And 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 so 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 heavenly hosts 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 going away from them into heaven, the shepherd 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." Something had been revealed to them, hadn't it? 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 to them by the shepherds. Mary
kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds,
oh, what they had seen. The shepherds returned glorifying
and praising God for all the things that they had heard and
seen as it was told unto them." Let's pray. Our God, Father in heaven, Lord,
we thank you for this day. Lord, we thank you for this place
you've given us to assemble together. Lord, we're thankful that you've brought
each one of us here. Lord, we pray you bless us with
your presence this morning. Lord, take this which is written
in thy word. Take this which you, our pastor,
studied and prepared, or that which you've laid upon his heart.
Lord, speak to your people here this morning. Lord, cause us
not to just hear the words of a man. Lord, we pray you would
be pleased to speak to your servant here this morning. Bless us with
your presence. Lord, we thank you for your many
blessings. Lord, we thank you for our homes. We thank you for our families.
We're thankful for all that your hand has provided. Lord, we thank you for these
many little ones that you've blessed us with. Lord, we pray
that you'd watch over and protect and keep them in this world.
Lord, chiefly, we pray that you would be merciful to them. or
that you would cause them to see that in your time you would
reveal Christ unto them. Lord, for those of our number
who are in a time of trouble or a time of heaviness, Lord,
we pray that you would bless them with your presence. Your
hand would be with all of them. Lord, we thank you for our brother
Don, and Lord, we think especially of him. in that congregation, Lord, in
this time of trouble and difficulty, Lord, that you would grant them
your presence in a special way. And Lord, for those of our number,
Lord, there are many, Lord, that we know of and those that we
don't know of, in a time of trouble and difficulty, Lord, comfort
and strengthen your people, Lord, knowing that thou doest all things
well. Lord, forgive us when we murmur
and complain. Forgive us when we find fault.
Lord, teach us to look to Thee and rest in Thee for all time. Lord, again, we pray for
Your presence here this morning. Lord, we pray that You would
do for us what You did for those shepherds of old. Lord, reveal
to us where Christ is found. Lord, cause us to see him, cause
us to rest in him. And Lord, let us go away from
this place this morning, rejoicing, rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ
and giving glory to God, giving glory to thee for all that you've
done for your people. Lord, bless us for Christ's sake,
we pray. O little town of Bethlehem How
still we see Above thy deep and dreamless
sleep The silent stars go by Yet in thy dark streets shine
the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the
years are met in thee tonight. For Christ is born of Mary, and
gathered all above. ? While mortals sleep ? ? The
angels keep their watch ? ? Of one dream love ? ? O morning
stars together ? ? Proclaim the holy birth of God ? Praises sing to God the King,
and peace to men on earth. How silently, how silently the
wondrous gift is given. So God imparts to human hearts
the blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear his coming, but
in this world of Where meek souls will receive
him still, The dear Christ enters in. O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend
to us, we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in. Be born in us today. ? We hear the Christmas angels
? ? The great glad tidings tell ? ? O come to us ? ? Abide with
us ? ? Our Lord, Emmanuel ? Alright, if you would, open your
Bibles first with me to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews, the 12th chapter. I titled the message this morning,
Things Not Shaken. Hebrews chapter 12. We'll begin
looking at verse 25. See that you refuse not him that
speaketh, for if they escape not who refused him that spake
on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from
him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth.
But now he hath promised saying yet once more, I shake not the
earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet once more signified
the removing of those things that are shaken as of things
that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Now, over the past few weeks,
I have been seeking the Lord's will on whether or not to bring
a message this December on a message on the Savior's birth. I don't
do that every December. since our Lord was not born on
December the 25th. Yet it does often seem to be
a good idea to bring a message on the Lord's birth while everyone
is thinking about it. I don't know, it's just me. I don't want to do it every December,
kind of make it like a, I don't know, I can't explain it. But at any rate, I'm diverse. The Lord answered my prayer this
week when I began studying our text this morning. The writer
is talking about things that are shaken, that will be shaken,
and things, other things which can never be shaken. And the
things that are shaken, that will be shaken, are anything
that has ever been touched by sin. If it's been touched by
sin, it's going to be shaken. Well, that's everything in creation,
isn't it? Everything in creation has been
touched by man's sin. One day, scripture tells us,
creation itself will be destroyed with fire. A fire so hot that
even the elements will melt. The elements that comprise this
creation will melt with the fervent heat. So this creation will be
shaken and destroyed. And all the work, all the works
that are done in this earth will be destroyed. Everything that's
been built is going to be destroyed. We don't even have to wait for
a lot of those things to the end of the world. They destroy
it, aren't they? already, shaken. Everything we've
miserly saved up can be burned up. All the good works that we've
done in an effort to leave a legacy. People do that. Boy, they want
to leave a legacy. Well, I'm telling you, it's going
to be shaken. It'll be forgotten. Every human
relationship will be destroyed. Our human relationships are important,
but we need to remember this. They'll be shaken one day. I
love Janet Sue. I mean, I love her whole mind.
And I just, I cannot imagine life not being married to her.
I just, I just can't imagine that. But in glory, one day that
relationship will be shaken. We won't be married anymore.
And we won't be sad about it. She's going to be married to
a far better bridegroom than me. But that relationship is going
to come to an end. All of our individual family,
children, all those relationships, those will be shaken. And in
eternity, there won't be any of that. We'll be one family,
the family of the living God. Now, since we know everything
that we see and everything that we touch is one day going to
be shaken, going to be dissolved, what manner of person are we
to be while we live in this earth? Well, we should hang on to temporary
things very lightly, shouldn't we? Very likely. But there are
some other things that cannot be shaken. And those are the
things we ought to hang on to for all we're worth. The things
that cannot be shaken are things that are the results of our Lord's
birth. His coming as a man and the salvation
that he accomplished for his people as a man in the flesh. And I told you the Lord answered
my prayer, but whether or not to bring a message on the Lord's
birth, I'm going to bring a message this morning on the Lord's birth
from these verses that we just read, things that are shaken
and things that are not shaken. And you're wondering, how's he
going to do that? Well, let me give you, especially you younger
people, maybe you may not know this. I don't know, but I just,
I thought maybe you should know this. If you have a Bible with
a center reference here, do you know what that means? You read
through scripture, we read through our text here, and it says here
in verse 26, yet once more I say, not the earth only, but also
heaven. That has a little letter by it, in Italian, a little D.
You know what that means? When you go over to the center
reference, you find that little letter D, and it's got another
scripture there. When you're reading the scripture,
studying the scripture, and you wonder, what would this verse
mean? If it's got one of those little letters by it, look and
see and go back and read where that came from. It may tell you
exactly what this means. That's what's happened here in
our text this morning. Look back at that little D there, it says
Haggai chapter 2. Look back at Haggai chapter 2.
If you've got the authorized version, that's page 1168, you
go to the end of the Old Testament, go back three books, Haggai,
Zechariah, and Malachi. Haggai is three from the end. These things that cannot be shaken
are things that are the results of the Lord's birth. And I can
make good on that by what the writer to the Hebrews is quoting.
He's quoting a prophecy from Haggai of the coming of Christ,
the Savior. Haggai way back there in the
Old Testament. He's not alone. Many other men
did, too, wrote and prophesied of the coming of the Savior,
the Lord's birth. Haggai 2 verse 6. This is where the writer to
the Hebrews got this phrase. For thus saith the Lord of hosts,
yet once it is a little while, it won't be long. And I'll shake
the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And
how is he going to do that? He said, I'll shake all nations
and the desire of all nations shall come. And I will fill this
house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The prophecy here is
the whole earth is going to be shaken off of its foundation
when Christ The desire of nations comes. That desire of nations
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the desire of a people
from every nation. Because Christ came to save a
people from our sin, a people from every nation under heaven.
He came to save these, the desire of people from every nation.
The songwriter said, come, desire of nations come. Fix in us thy
humble home. He's talking there about the
Savior. Rise the woman's conquering seed and bruise in us the serpent's
head. That's who the Old Testament
saints desired. They were longing for God's promise
to fulfill this promise of the coming Messiah. Another songwriter
wrote, a thrill of hope, a thrill of hope. The weary world rejoices. Why does the weary world rejoice?
What's made this world so weary? It's our sin, isn't it? What
makes the weary world rejoice? The coming of the Savior. Long
lay the world in sin and error pining. That's what made us weary.
Till He appeared. Till He appeared. Oh, the soul
felt its worth. Your soul was shaken when He
appeared, wasn't it? It was shaken. God's people are thrilled to
see Christ, who is the desire of our hearts, appear. And the
one who's coming to fill the Lord's house with glory is the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to come and glorify
every attribute of God. When Christ came, we saw the
glory of everything that was going on at Solomon's Temple.
The glory there wasn't that building that Solomon built. The glory
was the one who's coming. He's going to bring and show
us the glory of every sacrifice, every ordinance, every ceremony.
We'll see that when we see Christ. Now, the coming of Christ shook
some things. I mean, he shook things up, didn't
he? He shook some things clear off its foundations. First of
all, creation itself was shaken when Christ appeared. When Eric
read that about the angels coming and appearing, those shepherds,
a multitude of the heavenly host came and started singing. Some
of the writers say that was every angel in heaven came singing. Don't you reckon the earth shook?
Oh my goodness! I think sometimes, you all are
singing, this building just shakes, you know? That beautiful sound
of those angels singing just rolled over those hills, over
those pastures, just shook the earth. The glory of that light
had to be seen for miles. The shepherds were seeing something
they'd never seen. They'd never seen light like
that in the night before. I mean, we're used to seeing light in
the night. They'd never seen that before. They were so afraid. But they were filled with joy,
too. You see, creation shook with the greatest news ever told
human beings. The Savior is coming. Coming
in your flesh to save sinful men and women. Second, the covenant
of the law was shaken when Christ came. The earth shook. We looked at this last Sunday.
When God spoke from heaven, He gave the law. Sinai shook, didn't
it? That mountain burned with fire
and blackness and darkness and tempest. And the people were
filled with fear. They told Moses, don't let God
speak to us. You let him speak to you, you come back to speak
to us. The sight was so terrible, even Moses said, I exceedingly
fear and quake. And all that laws, all the commandments
and ceremonies of the law, given on Mount Sinai, stood for more
than 1400 years. And then suddenly, Christ came.
He came and so that the power of the law could be broken by
the obedience to that law, to that baby boy born that day.
And the Lord Jesus came and he did what he came to do. He broke
the power of the law over God's people by keeping it for them
as their representative. That's why the apostle Paul could
write the believers and tell them, sins shall not have dominion
over you. Christ broke it. You're not under
the law, you're under grace. And then thirdly, man's works
religion, man's righteousness earned by what he thought was
his own obedience was shaken when Christ came. See, Christ
came to do what Adam and his race never could do, obey God. God gave Adam one law and he
couldn't keep it. We've got Adam's nature. What
makes you and me think we can keep all the law of God? What
makes us think that? Well, if Adam could keep one
law, why did God give hundreds more? Why did he do that? I mean,
we can't keep one. We know we can't keep more. Why
did God do that? To make us weary, to make us
the weary world so that we would long for Christ to come. We would long for the desire
of nations to come. That's why God gave the law,
to make us long for Christ to come. And when Christ came, he
kept the law so well. He honored and magnified. He
made glorious what had always been death to us. That's right. The law has always been death
to us. All the law can do to you and me is say, you've got
to die. But Christ came and kept it so perfectly. He kept it so
well. He honored it and magnified it
and made God's people see the glory of it. That's why David
could say, I delight in my law. I love your law. Because I see
a glorified, magnified in Christ's obedience to it. And Christ came,
didn't He? He suffered. He died. When He
died on the cross, He gave up the ghost. He cried, it's finished.
What happened? The door in the temple was torn
in two. The Jewish religion is over.
All the ceremonies, all the daily sacrifices, the priesthood is
over. There's no need for a priest
to go to the Holy of Holies now. That's important too, the way
you come yourself. If you believe Christ, you are
a priest. God's made us kings and priests under God. You meet
that priest dressed up in that outfit to come to God for you,
you go yourself. In Christ, in Christ. The Jewish
religion is ended. And the only reason I point that
out is to say this, none of us are Jews, have not been under
the law, have not kept all the ceremonies and all those things.
But this applies to us too. Because Christ's coming put an
end to all man-made works of religion. Now, I know it didn't
put an end to it. All that stuff still goes on
in the name of religion today, doesn't it? But man's works of
religion, you know what it's doing? All it's doing is popping
up a dead corpse. That's all it's doing. There's
no life there. There's no spirit there. There's no power to it.
Christ came and he made an end to that by his obedience to the
law. So our obedience, I mean, it
always has been non-existent. Christ just made it appear and
revealed it. It's non-existent. We don't come
to God that way by our works religion. We come to God in Christ.
All that ended when Christ came. And then governments, governments
and nations were shaken by the coming of Christ. In 70 AD, Jerusalem
was destroyed. Look at Matthew chapter 24. I
read about this this week, the history of this. The Romans came
and besieged Jerusalem for four months, and they killed an estimated
1.1 million Jews in those four months. And then they broke through
and they destroyed Jerusalem. They burnt the temple and they
destroyed it. Now, the temple been destroyed before, been rebuilt
from 70 AD to today, never been rebuilt. There's a little portion
of that wall that's still up. The rest of it's gone, never
been rebuilt. You know why it's never been rebuilt? The Lord
told us it wouldn't be. Matthew 24 verse 1. And Jesus
went out and departed from the temple and his disciples came
to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. I mean, I'm sure
it was something. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these
things? You see them all? You think they're
impressive? Verily I say unto you, there
shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be
thrown down. Every one of these stones is
going to be thrown down in a heap. In less than 40 years, it happened. And the Jewish government and
all that, it's no more. And again, I point that out just
to say this. This applies to man's religious
works, just like it applies to the Jews' religion. It's non-existent. And don't be surprised when governments
fall. I mean, what, long after that,
the Roman government fell. I mean, you know, all these,
you know, governments, it's going to happen over and over and over.
Governments are going to come and governments are going to
go. Kings and rulers are going to come and they're going to
go until Christ returns. None of them are going to last
forever. You know why? Because the only eternal ruler is that
baby boy born in Bethlehem. Born a king. King of kings and
Lord of lords. shall reign forever. All right,
now look back at Isaiah, the book of Isaiah, chapter nine. Those are some things that are
shaken, but the birth of Christ guaranteed some things that would
never be shaken too. Isaiah chapter nine, verse six. 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.
Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no
end. This is never going to be shaken.
Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it
and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth
even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this. These things cannot be shaken. His kingdom cannot be shaken
and nothing in his kingdom can be shaken. See, everything that
the Lord Jesus Christ came and established as a man, as the
man, they'll never be shaken. I want to give you eight things
that can never be shaken because Christ came in the flesh. And
I promise you I'll be brief. First, look back at the Hebrews,
the book of Hebrews chapter 10. God's covenant of grace can never
be shaken. God's eternal covenant, His promise
to His people is to save His people by His grace. And He's
going to save them through the obedience and through the sacrifice
of His Son. That's God's eternal promise,
His covenant. And Christ came in the flesh
to fulfill that covenant so that it's sealed, it's ratified, and
it can never be shaken. You know, everybody's talking
today, this time of year, about why Christ came. Here's why He
came. Hebrews 10 verse 4. For it is
not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take
away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith,
Sacrifice an offering thou wouldst not. But a body, a human body,
hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the
volume of the book it is written of me. I come to do thy will,
O God. That's why he came. Above when
he said sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering
for sin, thou wouldest not. Neither has pleasure therein
which are offered by the law. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first. That
first, that covenant of words of the law, he took it away.
He was shaken and taken away that he may establish the second.
Establish it so that it can never be shaken. By the which will
we're sanctified. through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. See, it would happen once for
all and it never has to be done again because it'll never be
shaken. God's covenant, His promise to save His people by His grace
can never be shaken. It can never be changed for two
reasons. Number one, God's covenant of
grace cannot be changed because if it's going to change, God
has to change. He didn't have to change it. And second, God's
covenant of grace, His salvation of a people through grace in
Christ Jesus can never be changed because Christ ratified it with
His own blood. And anything bought with the
blood of God's Son can never be changed. Look at the book
of Galatians. The law could never change it.
Don't get confused by the law. The law doesn't change that.
The law doesn't alter God's covenant, God's promise of grace in the
least. I'll show you that in the book
of Galatians. Chapter three, beginning in verse eight. And the scripture for seeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before
the gospel and Abraham saying in these shall all nations be
blessed. Now the gospel was preached to Abraham. Abraham believed
God that he would save his people, not by their works to the law.
No, the law wasn't given yet. Abraham did not believe God was
going to save anybody by the law. Abraham believed that God
Almighty would save a people through a child that's coming
from the sea of Isaac. He believed that. He believed
salvation was in the Christ who was to come. That's what the
Lord meant when he said, Abraham saw my day and was glad. That's
what Abraham believed. And God revealed his covenant
of grace now to Abraham 430 years before he gave the law to Moses.
Now what came first? Grace did. God's covenant of
grace came first, didn't it? And when the law was given, that
could never change salvation by faith. Look at verse 16. Now
to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not
unto seeds as of many, but as of one. And to thy seed, which
is Christ, this promise was made to Christ the Savior as the representative
of his people. In this I say that that covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ The law, which
is 430 years later, cannot disannul. The law which was given 430 years
later could never shake God's promise of grace, that it should
make the promise of none effect. God's covenant of grace can never
be shaken because God who promised it cannot change. And it was
purchased, ratified in the blood of Christ. All right, number
two, salvation in Christ's righteousness can never be shaken. I look back
at the book of Luke chapter 2. Eric just read this first part
of Luke chapter 2 for us. And we saw there that the Lord
Jesus was born of a virgin. We sing about the offspring of
a virgin's womb. Now that is very important. The
virgin birth is vital to the gospel. There would be no gospel
without the virgin birth. The Lord Jesus had no earthly
father. He was conceived in Mary's womb
by the Holy Ghost. Now that is so important that
the Lord Jesus was not conceived by the seed of an earthly father.
If he was, if he'd been conceived by Joseph's seed, his foster
father, he'd have been a sinner, wouldn't he? Because he would
have immediately received Adam's nature through a man's seed.
But he wasn't conceived by the seed of a man. If he was conceived
by the seed of a man, he'd be a sinner and couldn't save anybody.
But the Lord Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost. So that means
he was conceived of holy, sinless seed, doesn't it? That gave him
a holy nature. And that holy nature enabled
the Lord Jesus to save his people from their sin. People argue,
you know, could Christ have broken the law? Of course he couldn't
have. Of course he couldn't have. He had a holy nature. You and
I can't keep the law because we got a sin nature. Christ couldn't
break the law because he had a holy nature and he kept the
law for his people and he made them righteous in his obedience
to the law for them. And since Christ came in the
flesh, perfect man, he can save his people and the salvation
that's in Christ could never be shaken. Luke 2, look down
at verse 25. Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem
whose name was Simeon. The same man was just and devout,
waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was
upon him. He was longing for this desire
of nations to come, wasn't he? And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. He knew, I'm going to see. And
he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents
brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of
the law, to have him circumcised on the eighth day, that he took
him up in his arms. And he blessed God and said,
Lord, now let us thy servant depart in peace according to
thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Simeon didn't
just see how God was going to save his people, did he? Simeon
saw the Savior. Oh, he saw the Savior. His heart
was thrilled. All of God's salvation is in
this person that Simeon held. I just held a brand new baby.
Oh, my goodness. Simeon held a baby about the
same size in his hands. He said, that's God's salvation.
All of God's salvation is in this child born in Bethlehem. And since the Lord Jesus Christ
is all of God's salvation, then God's salvation can never be
shaken again because of who earned it. Thirdly, salvation in Christ's
sacrifice can never be shaken. Now, God promised he's going
to save a people. He chose a people. God's elect.
He chose to save those people. But in order for God to fulfill
that promise and save his people from their sin, something's got
to be done with that sin. Doesn't it? There's got to be
a sacrifice to put it away. There has to be a perfect lamb.
Come who has blood, perfect blood that can cleanse from sin. Well,
none of us are perfect. You're not going to find a perfect
person in Adam's sinful race. Now God, He's holy and God's
perfect. But God can't be the sacrifice
for you and me. He got different nature. He can't
be our representative. He can't be a sacrifice for us.
And God can't be sacrificed. God is spirit. He doesn't have
blood to shed. So what's to be done? Almighty God came in the flesh. He took on him flesh. Christ
came as God manifest in the flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Father,
prepared him a body. You know why he prepared him
a body? A body that was to be sacrificed, that had blood to
shed. We just read in Hebrews chapter
10, by the witch will, by this sacrifice, we're sanctified,
made holy, perfect through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Through the offering of that
body that the Father prepared for him. The sacrifice of Christ
made salvation Eternal. The transaction is done. The
price is paid. God will never take it back.
Because of who was sacrificed. That baby born in Bethlehem.
Just a little later in Luke chapter 2, Simeon told his mother, Oh
my, this is God's salvation. That sword is going to pierce
through his soul and yours too. He's going to die. He's got to
die. And because of who died, God's
salvation is eternal. Never be taken away from His
people. Thirdly, God's purpose for the salvation of His elect
can never be shaken. God's purpose. I purpose to do
some things. I purpose to do some things this
afternoon, as a matter of fact. I purpose to do some things. I don't know if I'm going to
do it or not. I might take a nap. I don't know. Good chance. A good chance of what I'm purposing
to do today won't get done until tomorrow. But when we talk about
God's purpose, This is not talking about a plan that God has out
there in the future. Once you get a hold of this now,
this will tell you why this cannot be shaken. God's purpose is already
done. The work's already finished.
God's purpose is the salvation of his people, and that purpose
can never be shaken because it's already done. It's already done
so well. Scripture says if you believe
Christ, you're already in heaven. I know you're sitting right here,
but scripture says you're already in heaven, seated in the person
of your representative. It's already done. The father
elected a people so that salvation can never be shaken. Romans 9
verse 11 says this, the children be not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to
election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. It was
said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. God's election
can never be changed. His election of a people can
never be shaken. He'll never take it back and
change his mind. God elected a people and then Christ came
and he redeemed all of those people with his precious blood. And the Holy Spirit is going
to give every last one of them faith in Christ. That salvation
can't be shaken. It can't be destroyed. Scripture
says the works were finished when? for the foundation of the
world. It was already finished. So that
after the Apostle Paul preached in Acts chapter 13, the Gentiles
heard him preach and they were glad. They glorified the word
of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life, they
believed. Wayne, they believed because
God didn't leave their salvation up to chance, did he? He ordained
them to eternal life and they believed. because God ordained
it. See, the work's already finished.
And their salvation can never be shaken. And our Lord Jesus,
giving comfort to the hearts of His fearful, doubting sheep,
said, All that the Father giveth me, they shall come to me. It's not that they might, it's
not most of them will. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, As
long as he minds his P's and Q's, I'll never cast him out.
As long as he don't sin too bad, I'll never cast him out. That's
not what he said, is it? Thank God that's not what he said.
All that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. The work is finished. Their salvation
from start to finish is already done. The work is done and it
can never be undone. can't be lost, can't be shaken.
Fifth, life in Christ can never be shaken. By one man's disobedience,
sin and death came into the world. Or by another man's obedience,
righteousness and life came into the world. The Apostle Paul says
in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 22, for as in Adam, all die. Even
so, in Christ shall all be made alive." Everybody in Christ is
going to be made alive, just as surely as everybody in Adam
is going to die. And life in Christ, what does scripture call
that life? It calls an eternal life, doesn't
it? Everlasting life. Well, then
that can never be shaken. It can never be taken away. Our
Lord said, I give unto them eternal life. And just so you know what
eternal life means, you know what he said? They shall never
perish. That's what eternal life means. They shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." That's eternal. That's life that cannot be shaken
because it's life in Christ. You're still there in Luke. Look
back at Luke chapter 1. Here's the sixth thing. God's
mercy, God's mercy to his people can never be shaken. Luke 1 verse
46. And Mary said, my soul, doth
magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior,
for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. For
behold, from henceforth shall all generations call me blessed,
for he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy
is his name, and his mercy is on them that fear him from generation
to generation. I know that God's mercy is forever. It's from generation to generation. It has to be, doesn't it? It
has to be. Why? What is she talking about
here? The Savior is going to come through
her womb. He's going to be born of the
flesh. Since Christ has come in the flesh, mercy personifies
on earth. It can never be shaken. God will
never take mercy away from his people. Never. What's mercy? What is the definition of mercy?
Mercy is God not giving me what I deserve. Why won't God give
me what I deserve? Why will God be merciful to me?
Because this baby is going to grow to a man. God's going to
give him everything I deserve. He's gonna pour the fire of his
wrath upon his son. He's gonna take the sword of
justice that I earned and plunge it into the heart of his son.
You know why? So he doesn't do that to his
people. Now the father is merciful to his people because he sacrificed
his son in that place. That mercy is unchangeable. Do you think for a moment the
holy father I'm the Father. Oh, He loves His Son. I mean,
all of His love is in His Son. If the Father loves you, it's
because you're in Christ, and that's the only reason. All of
the Father's love is in His Son. Do you think for a moment He
would crucify His Son? He would take that sword of justice
and personally plunge it into the heart of His Son? Or you're
sinning, and now you go to hell? His mercy forever. He'll never be shaken. Then peace
with God can never be shaken. Luke 2 verse 13. And suddenly there is 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, peace personified is now on earth. It's not peace among
nations, peace personified. This baby born in Bethlehem,
he is God's peace. He's now on earth. He's been
born in Bethlehem. Peace with God is now on earth
because peace with God is coming because the Lord Jesus Christ
came into flesh. Now he's got a body to sacrifice.
He's got blood to shed. And by that blood, he's going
to purchase peace with God. for all of his people. He could
have purchased that peace because God's angry with sin. God's angry
with the wicked every day. But the blood of Christ blots
out the sin that makes God angry. And now there's peace. The Father's
not angry. No, not if Christ died for you,
not. The blood of Christ blotted out
your sin. God's not angry. But this peace
is two-sided, isn't it? There's going to be peace with
God. You and I got to surrender. Surrender. Oh, surrender right
now where you sit. Surrender. Just quit. Quit your rebellion. Quit your
saying, but I this and but I that. Quit and surrender. Brother Henry,
you say stack it, put up shotguns, stack your arms, surrender. And
there'll be peace. You know when you'll surrender?
In the blood of Christ. And that peace, You can never be shaken. Now I say that from time to time,
you're going to be terrified. And there can be things that
you think, I don't feel very peaceful. Christ died for you. You've got
peace. Peace with God. You'll never
be taken away. And then lastly, look at the
book of Matthew. Matthew chapter one. God, the desire of nations,
is going to come. Just like we looked at in our
class this morning, our lesson, He's going to go to a house full
of publicans and sinners. He's going to go to a house that's
full of the worst sinners imaginable. And He's going to sit down and
eat with them. He's going to have fellowship with them. He's
actually going to dwell in the hearts of His people. And that
relationship never be shaken. Matthew 1 verse 21. And she should
bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall,
without a doubt, this is something that can never be shaken, he
shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted Is God with us? God is with his people. He dwells
in the hearts of his people. And that's a relationship that
can never be shaken. It'll never be changed. God is
now with his people. And you know what his precious
promise to his people is? Brady, if he didn't promise this,
you know what we'd think? We think, I'm so sinful. I'm
so rebellious. I've heard the gospel and I still
doubt and I still fear and God's going to leave me. God's going
to leave me. I mean, he's not going to leave
you all. He's going to leave me because I just... So he promised,
I will never, no never, no never leave or forsake my people. That's a relationship that's
unshakable. And I know right now, everything that we see in
our world Seems very unstable. It's very easy for me to imagine
how everything that I see in this world is going to be shaken
and destroyed. It's just all a house of cards.
I mean, I lay awake at night and I can't sleep. And I'm telling
you, I can easily imagine before my grandchildren would ever go
to kindergarten that this country is no more. I mean, it's easy
for me to see how that could happen. But listen to me. We're not going to live in a
creation like that forever. One day, right soon, God's going
to speak to you. Christ is going to return, and
he's going to put an end of all shaking, all changing, all destruction,
and all decay. Once more, Christ is going to
speak in judgment, and everything that we see is going to be shaken
and removed, and God's going to make all things new. He's
going to create new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness,
and then everything's going to be unshakable, unchangeable forever. In our text there, Hebrews chapter
12, that's what he's talking about when he speaks. There's
one more time God's going to speak from ever. It's when Christ
returns. Verse 27 says, in this word,
yet once more, this is what this signifies, what it means. It
means that the removing of those things which are shaken, that
the things which are made, those things are all going to be taken
away, that those things which cannot be shaken, may remain
and that new creation is going to be unshakable. It's all going
to be unshakable because Christ came incarnate because he was
born in Bethlehem and because of what he accomplished for his
people when he came as he grew to be a man. Everything in that
new creation is going to be there. It's because of what Christ accomplished,
what he accomplished for God and what he accomplished for
his people. I said that right. He came to accomplish something
for God, didn't he? He came to enable God to be both just and
justifier by taking away the sin of his people. For God can
save anybody, something's got to be done for God. That's what
Christ came to do. And secondly, Christ had to come
and do something for his people to enable them to be saved by
his grace. And that can never be shaken. And when you hear someone talking
about in the next few weeks why Christ came, You can tell him if you want
or you can just know it in your own mind. That's why Christ came. That's why he came. He was born
in Bethlehem, that he might save his people with a salvation that
can never be shaken. Thank God he came. All right,
let's bow together. Our Father, oh, how we thank
you for the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you would
send your own beloved son to be born a baby, born of Mary's
virgin womb. Father, how we thank you. There's
no salvation for sinners apart from Him who was born, bone of
our bone and flesh of our flesh, yet without sin. That your people
are saved in His obedience, in His obedience that He earned
under the laws of man. His people are saved by His sacrifice,
His body, body and soul sacrificed. Put away the sin of your people
so that that salvation is unshakable. It's eternal. Father, we're thankful. Oh, how we thank you that you
left no part of salvation up to the will of man. But it's
all according to your will, the doing and the dying of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior. Father, I pray you bless your
word, that you get glory to your name through your word preached
this morning, that you get Glory to your name by causing your
word to go forth and penetrate the hearts of your people and
give some life and faith in Christ our Savior, we pray this morning.
Use your word to reach out and comfort the hearts of your people.
That while everything in this world is shaking and decaying
and being destroyed, that everything we have in Christ Jesus will
never be shaken. Father, let that be the comfort
and peace of our It's in the precious name of Christ our Savior.
We pray and ask this blessing. Thank you. Mike, you come. I
think it's in a song. Let's stand and sing. Page 93. Page 93. 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 the angelic hosts proclaim, Christ
is born in Bethlehem. in Bethlehem. Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King! Christ by highest heaven adored,
Christ the everlasting Lord Light and time, behold Him come Offspring
of a virgin's womb Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, Veiled
in carnal deity, Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our
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. Rise, the woman's conquering
sea, bruising us, the serpent's head. Adam's likeness now effaced,
stamped an image in its place. Second Adam from above, Reinstate
us in thy love. Hark, the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King.