Being without hope, being without
hope that things will ever get any better. I would imagine it's the most
difficult thing to endure in this life. Leah just sang to
us about a thrill of hope that the Savior needed. Oh, I pray
God would make us leave here this morning with a thrill of
hope. What a thrill to have hope. Christ
the Savior. I've titled the message this
morning, Why Was Christ Born? Like I mentioned earlier, at
this time of year, you cannot help but think about the birth
of Christ. You hear about it everywhere.
Now, we know this, and if you don't know this, it's something
you probably ought to know. The Lord Jesus was not born on December
the 25th. Lexi was born December 25th.
Tomorrow's your birthday. It's not yours. Bless you. Happy
birthday. Historians, you read a lot of
the different ones, and they have reason to speculate that
the Lord was born every season of the year. So the point of
all that is, is this. We don't know when the Lord was
born. And that's just fine, because
if we did, we'd make an eye out of the day. Somebody made up
the day December 25th. Most people made an eye out of
that. Now, all that being said, Please don't get me wrong. I
am all for Christmas. I mean, I just, I love it. It's
a time we can gather together with our family. It's a time
we can give gifts to our loved ones and try to find a way to
make them happy. Buddy, I'm all for that. People
get time off work, I'm all for that. Between Thanksgiving and
New Year's, people are just kinder, they're sweeter than they are
the rest of the year, all that ends, I understand, January 2nd.
But while it lasts, I'm for it. I mean, I just am a big fan of
Christmas. But there is absolutely no religious significance to
the day. Don't attach religious significance
to December the 25th. And as much as I kind of feel
like I tilted windmills about that, you know, not with you,
but with the world, we're just opposed to this show of religion,
Christmas pageants and sunrise servants and services and churches
and those kinds of things. However, let's be sure we don't
go so far the other way that we err on the other side. Let's never forget to rejoice. The Lord was born. We don't know
when, but he was born and we rejoice. Here's part of the problem
with churches celebrating today is the Lord's birth. You go through
scripture and you'll find this is so. The church is never told
to celebrate the Lord's birth, ever. We're told to celebrate
the Lord's death. That's what we do when we observe
the Lord's table. We remember the sacrifice, the broken body,
and the shed blood of our Redeemer. In baptism, we celebrate the
Lord's death as a person who's been born again. They identify
with the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. We
celebrate his death at that time. Every time we preach the gospel,
if we preach the gospel now, we celebrate the Lord's death.
We're told to celebrate the Lord's resurrection, not on Easter Sunday. And again, that cannot be the
anniversary of our Lord's resurrection. It's a different day every year.
So not on Easter Sunday, every Sunday, every Sunday, the first
day of the week. That's the day the Lord arose.
That's why we meet on Sundays to worship. We celebrate the
Lord's resurrection. He was delivered for our offenses.
He was raised again for our justification. We celebrate that. Christ put
the sin of his people away by his suffering, by his death.
And that's our hope of salvation. That's what we celebrate. But
the Lord Jesus could have done none of that if he wasn't born
as a man, born as a babe in a manger. Anything that causes our world
to stop on its mad rush to hell and think for just a minute that
the Lord was born. That's got to be good, doesn't
it? I know most of them don't know what it means, but you do.
You who believe do. I hope you will, all of us when
we leave here this morning, know what it means. Why was Christ
born? But if we're going to leave here
rejoicing, we're going to leave here with a thrill of hope. We
have to know why he was born. The real question is not when
Christ was born or whether or not he was born. It's why was
he born? And this morning, I want us to
see from the word of God. We're looking at several different
scriptures this morning and see from the word of God, the spirit
might be pleased to teach us why was the savior born? First,
look at Genesis chapter three. Genesis chapter three. Christ was born as the promised
eternal Savior. Before there was a sinner, there
was a Savior, and He is the eternal Savior. Genesis chapter 3, verse
15. This is God speaking to Satan,
and He said, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between
thy seed and her seed, and it shall bruise thy head, and thou
shalt bruise his heel. Right after the fall of man,
God prophesied of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know, that was 2,000 years before God gave Moses the law, wasn't
it? You know what that tells me? The law never was given for
a man to earn a righteousness by it or be saved by his obedience
to it. Salvation's always been in Christ.
The Savior was prophesied long before the law was ever given,
because salvation has always been, eternally, and always will
be, in Christ alone. God purposed that salvation.
before time began. Before he created anything, he
purposed it all in his son. He promised his son, the Savior,
all through the Old Testament scriptures, all that is written
to tell us there's one coming who will put away the sin of
his people. He was revealed in time. He was revealed to the
shepherds we read about, wasn't he? He's revealed to his disciples,
to his people, as he went through his time here on earth, his earthly
ministry. And he's still being revealed
to his people. as the Savior of sinners through the preaching
of the gospel. All this is over. You know what heaven's going
to be? It's going to be a showcase for the glory of the man, Jesus
Christ, who humbled himself to become a man, to fulfill the
father's promise of redemption. And he came and he saved his
people from their sin. He brought all of them there.
He glorified them all. And heaven's going to be a showcase
of his glory, where he will be worshiped forever. because he
is the eternal Savior. 2,000 years after God made this
prophecy, this promise of the coming Savior, 2,000 years after
that, God did give the law, but only to show us our need of the
one he promised in Genesis chapter three. God gave the law to show
us we can't keep it. So the only way we have to go
is to Christ. He is our only hope. That's why
God gave the law, to show us there's no hope in ourselves,
it's all in him. Now you go to Christ. And Christ
came, and he was able to take away the sin of his people because
he's the sinless name. This promised Savior is the seed
of woman. Our Lord Jesus did not have a
human father. He was not conceived of human
seed, so he did not partake in Adam's sinful nature. Joseph
was just his foster father. People thought that was his father,
but God's the father of the Lord Jesus. was just his foster father. And since God is his father,
that makes him sinless. He's the seed of woman. Isaiah
told us, therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign.
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and thou shalt
call his name Emmanuel. God with us, God with us, the
Lord Jesus Christ is the sinless man because he's born of a virgin,
not from Adam's sinful seed. He's God in human flesh. Look at Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one, Christ was
made what he is not. He was made flesh so that his
people could be made what they're not. They could be made righteous
in the end. Romans one verse one, Paul, a
servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle separated under
the gospel of God. which he had promised to for
by his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son. See, this
is the, all the gospel of God and all concerns his son, Jesus
Christ, our Lord, which was made of the seed of David, according
to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power,
according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead.
He was made what he was not. He was made of the seed of David,
but he was declared to be who he is. Almighty God. I look at
Hebrews chapter two. Since Christ was born as a man. Here's what we can do. Verse
nine of Hebrews chapter two. But we see Jesus who has made
a little lower than the angels for a little while. He was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor that he, by the grace of God, should taste
death for every man. For it became him, for whom are
all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
suffering. For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one. For which cause he
is not ashamed to be called their brethren, saying, I will declare
thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church. I will
sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust
in him. And again, behold, I and the children which God has given
me. For as much as his children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not
on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of
Abraham. Wherefore, in all things, It behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for
the sins of the people. That's how he could make reconciliation
for the sins of his people. He took on him the nature. He
became flesh and he's one with them. He says here, he the sanctified
and they are sanctified are all of one. He became one with them.
so he could save them from their sins. He is the eternal promised
savior. All right. Second, look back
at Deuteronomy chapter 18. Deuteronomy chapter 18. Why was Christ born? Christ was
born to reveal God to men. Deuteronomy 18 verse 15. The Lord thy God will raise up
unto thee a prophet, capital P. This is no prophet like Isaiah
or Jeremiah. This is the prophet. He'll raise
up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren,
like unto me. Unto him ye shall hearken. There's
one difference between this prophet, or here's a big difference between
this prophet and Moses the prophet. You'll listen to him. You'll
hear him. Now when Adam fell, all of us
died spiritually. We sinned in him. We died in
him. And since we're dead, we can't
hear anything spiritual. We can't understand anything
spiritual. And the proof of it is, how many prophets did God
send to history? And they didn't hear any of them.
They killed most of them. And the same thing's true today.
God has his preachers out in the world preaching today. And
very few people hear him. Masses flock to a false prophet
who does something to appeal to the flesh. that most people
will not hear God's preacher. You know, I can teach you the
fundamental truths of the gospel. I can teach those things to your
head. I can take a child, by the time they're five, I can
make them a Calvinist. I can teach them those things. And
I can show you that they're so from God's word. It's not just
something I made up. I can show you these things from God's word
so that your head can see, you know, I see that. I can't make you hear I can't
make you believe. I can't give you faith in Christ.
Only God can do that. And I'll tell you how he does
it. He does it by the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to the heart.
That's how he does it. God used to speak to men, our
fathers, by the prophets, didn't he? But he hath in these last
days spoken unto us by his son. Now we're not going to hear him
audibly, but we see him. We hear him in his word to the
preaching of the gospel. Here's how we understand who
God is. It's by hearing, seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. We know
God's holy. You know how we know that? By
seeing the perfection of his son. That's how we know God's
holy. We know God's just. That's the
character of God. God will be just no matter what. You know how we know that? Because
he spared not his own son. We made his son stand for his
people. He spared him not. but gave him the full extent
of his justice and wrath. We know God loves sinners. Yeah,
we know that because he sent his only begotten son in the
world to save him by sacrificing himself for him. That's how we
know God loves sinners. We know God's merciful. We know
God's merciful because he saved sinners by punishing his son
in their place. That's mercy. We know God is
wise because we see the Lord Jesus Christ. God found a way
to be both just and justifier. God found a way to justify sinners
and still be just, still be right through the substitutionary sacrifice
of his son. See, we know who God is by seeing
the Lord Jesus Christ. We know God is full of grace
and truth by seeing Christ the Savior. The word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, John
said. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. We see that because the word
was made flesh. And when He speaks to the heart,
when you see Him, you're saved. It came into His own. His own
received Him not. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He the power to become the sons of God. even
to them which believe on his name, which were born. They were
born of the will of flesh or the will of the man. They were
born of the will of God. That's when Christ speaks to
the heart. There's life and you're safe. He came to reveal God to
men. We never would have known who
God is until Christ appeared. Right next, look at Psalm 40. Why was Christ born? He was born
to satisfy God's justice. Psalm 40, verse 6. Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt
offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said
I, lo, I come, and the volume of the book, it's written of
me. All the Old Testament is written of me. I'm coming. I
delight to do thy will. O God, yea, thy law is within
my heart." Christ came to do what all those Old Testament
sacrifices and all the Old Testament law could never do. Now, God
required all that law, didn't he? He required the law, he required
the observance of the Sabbath day, he required every sacrifice
that they offered. But they had to offer those sacrifices
every day, morning, noon, and night. Every year they had to
go through the whole ceremony of the sacrifice of the Passover,
didn't they? Every year they had to go through all the sacrifices
of the Day of Atonement. And they couldn't do them once
and then quit. Every year they had to keep doing
them. Because in those things there's a remembrance, again,
made of sin every year. We had to do that sacrifice again
this year because last year it didn't work. Last year's sacrifice
didn't take away sin. Having to offer those sacrifices
every year just kept reminding the people we're sinners. The
blood of animal sacrifices never did satisfy God's wrath against
the sin of men. Because an animal cannot pay
for the sin of a man, can it? It's got a different nature.
It's got a different blood. Animal's blood can't wash away
sin, can't pay for sin. But Christ, the Son of God, God
doesn't have the nature of man either, does he? So the son of
God became a man so that he would have our nature. He was made
of a woman born under the law. And this man did what we could
never do. This man kept the law. This man
established righteousness and brought it in for his people.
And the father is not just pleased with him. The father said, I'm
well pleased with him. This is the righteousness that
I will accept. Christ did what man could never
do, kept the law. And then he did what those animals
could never do. He offered the sacrifice that
puts him away. He went to the tree. The father
made his son sin for his people. That's not symbolically. That's
not just saying, well, you know, we're going to transfer the debt
on paper like a banker might do from here to over here. It
wasn't like the high priest laid his hands on the head of that
scapegoat and confessed the sins of the people, and it was symbolically
transferred to that goat. No, there's nothing symbolic
about this. Christ was literally made sin for his people. The
father never could have killed him. His justice never could
have been satisfied by killing an innocent man. He was made
sin for his people and the father put him to death. The father's
the one that thrust his sword into his soul and by his sacrifice,
The Lord Jesus Christ took the sin of his people away from them
forever. He took it from them and took it to his own body on
the tree and his sacrifice, his suffering, his blood, his death,
satisfied God's justice and put their sin away. That's what Abraham
was talking about to his son Isaac. Remember, they were going
up to that mountain. Isaac didn't know it yet, but
in Abraham's mind, that boy was dead. He offered him to God.
That's what he fully intended to do. And Isaac asked his father,
he said, my father, here's the wood. Here's the fire for the
sacrifice. Where's lamb? We've got to have
lamb. And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for the sacrifice. Abraham knew full
well what he was saying. He didn't know there was going
to be a ram caught in the thicket by his horns atop that mountain.
Abraham didn't know that. But Abraham knew Christ the Lamb
is coming. That's exactly what our Lord
said. Abraham saw my day and was glad. He saw the coming Messiah
being sacrificed for the sin of his people. And God provided
himself as the Lamb because only the perfection of God satisfied
justice. So God became a man. He became
that Lamb. His people are called sheep.
He became what we are. He became the lamb. He became
a sheep. He became the lamb of God. So
his sacrifice could put away the sin of his people. He was
born to satisfy God's justice. Then look at Isaiah chapter nine. Here's the fourth thing. Why
was Christ born? He was born as the sovereign
savior to rule over all. Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6. 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 should be no end 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. There's so many people, boy,
at this time of year, especially, don't they? They love to think
about baby Jesus. They love to have these scenes
where the baby's laying in the manger and they love to think
about baby Jesus. And I'm convinced this is why
they love it. I'm convinced of it. Because
that baby is dependent upon you. That baby needs you to hold it. That baby needs you to feed it.
That baby needs you to clothe it and do everything for it because
the babies help us. I'm convinced that's why they
love baby Jesus. They have no interest at all
in the Lord Jesus. The Lord who is king. You know
why? You've got to bow to a king.
You've got to bow to the Lord. This one who was born, Mary's
firstborn son, she laid that manger. King of kings and Lord
of lords. He's the king. He's not in our
hand like you hold that baby to decide what we'll do with
him. No, sir. No, ma'am. It's the other way
around. We're in his hand. to do with
as He will. You and I don't need to coo at
cute little baby Jesus. We need to bow. We need to bow
at the feet of King Jesus, because that's who scripture tells us
He is. He's King. Isaiah rightly tells us a baby
was born. That's true. But when that baby
was born, the Son of God was given. That baby had a beginning. He was born. But the son of God
who's in that baby is eternal. Isaiah said, his name is the
mighty God. That baby lay there in that manger.
I can't explain this, but Mary had to feed that baby or he would
die. She had to keep him warm. She
had to do things for him that we got to do for our babies.
But that baby is the mighty God. Mary had to do those things for
that baby, yet She's drawn her life from him. In him, she lived
and moved and had her being. I can't explain that, but it's
so. It's not like this baby's God. He is God. And as God, that
baby laying in that manger rules the universe. That's right. He got little teeny tiny shoulders.
He's just a newborn infant, but the government of this creation
is upon his shoulder. It all depended upon him. Yes. He needed Mary to pick him up
and hold him. But all the while, she was held in him. I can't
explain that, but that's so. He's the king. He was born as
who he is, as king, to reign eternally. Micah prophesied in
chapter 5, verse 2, but thou Bethlehem Ephrata, thou be little
among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come
forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel. whose goings
forth have been of old from everlasting. The Lord Jesus Christ was born
to be the ruler in spiritual history. He was born to reign
sovereignly over everything to ensure the salvation of his people.
That's why he was born. Now, I know I'm an old curmudgeon. I always have wanted to be a
grouchy old man. And I don't listen to new Songs, hardly. Well, hardly any new songs whatsoever,
but certainly new religious songs. I just figure they're going to
be bad. I don't listen to them. Janet tells me she told me about
this song once years ago, and she said, well, you wouldn't
listen. And I'm sure she's right. But I did recently hear it. It's a song entitled Mary, Did
You Know? And when I heard it sung, the
whole attitude and spirit in which it was singing it ruined
it. But I looked up the words. It's got great words. The songwriter
asked some questions. Now, you and I know Mary knew
these things. She kept these things and honored
them in her heart. Here's my question. Do we know
these things? The songwriter asked this question. Mary, did
you know your baby boy has come to save our sons and daughters?
Do you know that? Mary, did you know your baby boy has come to
make you new? Mary had to be born again, and
they knew just like we do. That baby she gave birth to.
made her new. Did you know that? The songwriter
said, Mary, did you know this child you've just delivered will
soon deliver you? He's born the deliverer. Mary,
did you know that your baby boy has trod where angels trod? Your
baby was born, but the son was given. He came from heaven where
he trod with angels. He came from heaven where he
sat on the throne over those angels. You know that? Mary,
did you know your baby boy is the Lord of all creation? Did
you know that? And did you know that sleeping
child you're holding is the great I Am? I love to think about that. That
baby she's holding is I Am, the same one that spoke to Moses
from that burning bush, I Am. Great is the mystery of godliness,
that God was manifest in the flesh. I'm so thankful a sovereign
savior was born of Mary. He rules to guarantee the salvation
of his people. He cannot fail to save them from
their sin because he's king. All right, next look at Matthew
chapter one. Why was Christ born? Fifthly,
Christ was born to be the savior of sinners, of sinners now, sinners
who need And you see that so clearly in the lineage of the
savior. Now, normally when they would give a lineage, you can
go back and read in the scripture, the lineage of people. And it
only gives men, the father and the grandfather, great grandfather,
great. They all this man. But here in the lineage of our
savior, there's four women or women. All the rest of them are
men. I think that tells us something. Let's look and see Matthew one
verse three and Judas begat fair as. and Zerah of Tamar. Now who's Tamar? Tamar played
the harlot. She dressed up and act like she
was a harlot and she played the harlot with her father-in-law
Judah and gave birth to these two sons. You know what that
tells us? What's her name in the lineage
of the Savior? That's there to tell us Christ
came to save spiritual harlots. Those who have sold themselves
under the law, sold themselves into bondage. Christ came to
save them. Verse 5 says, the salmon begat Boaz of Rahab. Now Rahab didn't play the harlot. Rahab was a harlot. Christ came
to save harlots. And you know how he did it? He
put them under his blood. He gave them faith in him. That's
how he saves them. Then next in chapter 5, Boaz
begat Obed of Ruth. Well, you know who Ruth is. Ruth
is an idolater. She's a stranger to Israel. She's
Gentile. Christ came to save Gentiles. He came to save idolaters. He
came to save the worst of sinners and reveal himself to them. Then in verse six, Jesse begat
David, the king, and David, the king begat Salmon, Solomon of
her that had been the wife of Uriah. Now it doesn't say her
name, but you know who that is. That's Bathsheba. Bathsheba committed
adultery with David. Her name is there to tell us
this. Christ came to save those who are born in spiritual adultery.
Adultery to Him. Worshipping other idols. Worshipping
anything other than Christ alone. Christ came to save those spiritual
adulterers. And the point of all that is
this. You just sum it up. Put all that together and this is the
sum of it. Christ came to save the worst sinners. He didn't
come to save one small sinner. Not one. He came to save the
worst sinners. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous, but sinners. to repentance. You can be too
good to be saved, but you can't be too sinful. Matter of fact,
you've got to be too sinful. You've got to be so sinful to
see your salvation is impossible anywhere other than Christ, because
he came to save sinners of whom I am chief. Every one of God's
people quotes Paul on that. Every one of them. He came to
save sinners of whom I am chief. If you look at verse 21 of Matthew
1, that's what he came to do. And brother, he got the job done.
She should bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name
Jesus. For he shall, he shall, he shall, he shall, not might,
not maybe, not he'll save them if they decide to accept them.
He shall save his people from their sin. He came to save sinners. He got the job done. Thank God
he was born. There wouldn't be salvation any
other way. Not for sin or there wouldn't. Look over at Luke chapter
two. Verse seven says, Luke two, 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 end. And there were in the same country shepherds
biding 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 around 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 will be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
which is Christ the Lord, the Savior was born, and there's
no doubt about it, he got the job done. Eight days later, look
down at verse 30, when they brought that baby in, and Simeon saw
him. Simeon had been waiting for the
consolation of Israel. He'd been waiting to see God's
Savior. In verse 30, verse 29, he said, Lord, now let us, thy
servant, depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. Simeon was not cooing. He had
a cute little baby, wasn't he? He said, this is God. This is
my salvation. I tell you this all the time.
I'll tell you again, and I'm going to tell you again later
on. Salvation is a person. It means that here he is. This
is the savior of sinners. Here's something else about the
people that Christ came to save. I think this will be a blessing
to you. Those angels that came and announced the birth of Christ.
They announced that birth. the shepherds. They're out there
working the midnight shift. Just ordinary working men working
the midnight shift. Clark, you work midnights. Gene,
you pull some midnight shifts. Next time you're on a midnight
shift, look around you. That's the name of God Almighty sent
his angels to announce the birth of his sons. Just common, ordinary
working men. These men weren't the bosses.
They weren't kings. They weren't princes. They didn't
have any input or any influence in society. They were just plain
shepherds. When the Lord saves a person,
a sinner, it's just going to be a plain, common, ordinary
sinner. If they think they're somebody,
God's going to humble them. If you find a humble person,
God's going to save them. He makes all of his people humble
before he saves them. These shepherds were common,
ordinary men, and these angels appear. I mean, you imagine,
here they are out in this field, watching over their sheep by
night. There was no electric lights at that time. You know,
you couldn't over the hill, you know, see all the electric lights
of the city glowing. No. Just in this complete and
utter darkness, and suddenly, this glorious light shines about
them. And angels are singing at the
top of their lungs about the glory of God. His son has just
been born. They were scared to death. And
they told him, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. For the first
time in your life, you've got no reason to be afraid. The Savior's
been born. There's no fear in him. He takes
away all the fear of his people because he takes away the sin.
Don't be afraid. Now, these shepherds weren't
educated men, were they? They're just shepherds. I reckon
they hadn't risen up very high on the totem pole because they
still drew the midnight shift. They're just shepherds, weren't
educated. But if they had been educated,
you know their education wouldn't have helped them a bit. Not one
bit their education wouldn't have helped them. They could
never have found the Christ unless God told them where he was. King
Herod sought him. We read to open the service,
these angels, Or these shepherds, they went and told everybody
what they'd heard. Where the Christ child was. Herod
didn't hear. He didn't hear. Herod, with all
of his education, with all of his resources, could not find
Christ. But these uneducated shepherds
went right where he was. Because God told them, that's
where you'll find him. Verse 12. This should be a sign unto
you. You shall find the bay wrapped
in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. Now, if the angel
didn't tell them that, they never would have found him, would they?
Logic would have told him, a king's born. I'll go to the palace.
If not the palace, surely he's in the hotel. But he's not. They
never would have thought to look for him in the cow barn unless
God told him that's where he is. And the same thing is true
today. We'll never find Christ. We'll
never find salvation until God reveals to us, to our hearts,
where salvation is. It's all in Christ. If left to
our own devices, we'll think righteousness comes by us keeping
the law. We'd never know righteousness
comes by the obedience of another unless God told us. Left to our
own devices, we would think salvation is us deciding to accept Jesus,
not Christ the Lord dying in our place. We would think we've
got to keep the salvation. If God saves us and gives us
salvation, we think that we've got to keep it by living a good
moral life. We'd never know we keep that because Christ is our
sanctification. Not until God tells us we would.
We'd think we've got to clean up this flesh and act better
and act right and fly right. We'd never know you must be born
again with a new nature that cannot sin. We'd never know that
unless God told us. will never look for salvation
in Christ until God tells us who he is and where to find him.
And that's what he does for his people through the preaching
of the gospel. And this one who was born that the angels sang
about, the shepherds went to see, this one who was born, this
baby, he didn't stay a baby. He grew. He grew up as a full
grown man. And all the days of his life,
he lived a perfect life. He obeyed perfectly. He obeyed
his father's law, his will, his covenant. He obeyed it perfectly.
He obeyed his mother, his foster father. He obeyed them perfectly.
His teachers, every authority figure he ever ran across, he
obeyed them perfectly. At the end of that time, at God's
appointed time, this is why Christ was born. He was born to die. He was born to die as the sinless
sacrifice for his people. Because he had no sin, He could
blot out all the sin of his people. And just like the children of
Israel who were bitten by those fiery serpents, they'd be healed
if they just looked to that brazen serpent lifted up on a pole. My friend, if you're here this
morning and you're lost, you're bitten, you're dying, the disease
of sin is coursing through your body. If you'll just look to
Christ lifted up, you'll be made whole. That's why he came to
die, to give his people life. That's why he came. Salvation's
in a look. Now you look to him. Don't look
to that baby in a manger now. Look to the one lifted up on
the tree as a sacrifice for sin. He's our salvation. Right, lastly,
let me give you this. Christ was born to bring peace
with God. Verse 13. And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising
God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace,
goodwill toward men. Now this peace that Christ came
as they're singing about here is not peace among men, peace
among nations. Men will never have peace with
each other. Nations will never have peace with each other because
they don't have peace with God. So they can't, it's impossible
for them to have peace with each other. That's not what the angels
are singing about. They didn't sing that the Lord
brought peace to earth, did he? No, they sang that peace is now
on earth. Peace personified is now on earth. He'd been born in Bethlehem because
this one who was born is going to die as a sacrifice for the
sin of his people. And he will make peace with God
through the blood of his cross. His blood takes away the sin
that makes God angry. And God's at peace. His blood
applied to the hearts of his people. gives them a new heart
so that they're not angry with God anymore either. And there's
peace. There's peace. There's eternal
peace. Now, that's why the Bible says
Christ was born. That's why he was born. And like
I said to open the message, I hope and pray that God will enable
us to leave here this morning with a thrill of hope, rejoicing
in Christ. Well, we'll rejoice. You want
to leave here with a thrill of hope? You want to leave here
rejoicing? Do what these shepherds did. Verse 15. It came to pass
as the angels were gone away from them into heaven. The shepherds
said one to another. Let's go to Bethlehem and let's
see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath
made known unto us. And they came with haste. Don't wait till
tomorrow. They made haste. Come right now.
They made haste. and found Mary and Joseph in
the bay 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. And Mary kept all these things
and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returning,
they went back to work. They went back to their normal
everyday life. They returned glorifying and praising God for
all the things that they had heard and seen. as it was told
unto him. And that's exactly what we'll
do. If we go to Christ ourselves, you're still going to have to
get them to go to work. You're still going to have to do all
the responsibilities that you got in this life, but there's
going to be one great difference. Now you're going to be doing the
song in your heart, rejoicing. I've seen Christ this evening.
Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for your word. how we thank you for this plain
teaching throughout your word, why Christ the Savior was born. Father, I beg of thee that you
not leave it there with some intellectual understanding in
our minds, but apply this to our heart. Christ the Savior,
who he is, what he did, why he did it, and where he is now,
give us faith in him, not in the babe in the manger, but in
the crucified, victorious, successful Savior who died as a sinless
sacrifice to put away the sin of his people. If we just get
a glimpse, if you just allow us by your grace to look at him,
we'll have a thrill of hope, a good hope of salvation in your
grace through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
enable us to leave here rejoicing As we enjoy this time and the
next days with our family and our friends, Father, cause us
not just at this time of year, but all year to be able to rejoice
in Christ our Savior. It's in his matchless name that
we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right. Now, you probably heard from
my voice, I have contracted a cold. And so after the service, I'm
not going to go to the back door. I'm just going to stay down here
somewhere. Because the last thing I want to do is a Christmas present,
give you a cold. So if you want to come around,
we'll bump fists or something, but I don't want to give you
a cold. And I hope you all have just the happiest, most merry
Christmas with your families today and tomorrow. I hope you
kids get everything. I hope you get your Red Ryder
BB gun, whatever it is. It's top line. I hope you get
it. And I hope you all just have a wonderful time with your family. I thank God for you. I just thank God for every one
of you. I cannot imagine being with any other people in any
other place, serving our Lord with any other people than you,
and I thank God for that. And just as I pray he bless you
spiritually, I pray he bless you with just a wonderful time
with your family tomorrow.