Would you turn back to Luke chapter
two? I was in my study Thursday morning,
feeling somewhat discouraged and despondent over my sin and
my sickness. I, Todd Nybert, the one preaching
to you, I am a sinner. And as I was feeling oppressed
by that fact, my sin, my sinful nature, and my sins, sins that
I commit, I read this verse of scripture
in verse 11, for unto you is born this day in the city of
David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And here were my thoughts. That is exactly what this sinner
needs. the Savior. I need to be saved. That's not something I asked
for a long time ago. It's something I ask for every
day. I need to be saved. I need to
be saved from the one I've sinned against. I need to be saved from
myself. I am my own biggest enemy. I
need to be saved from my sins. And I need to be saved from the
circumstances that my sins bring on me. I need to be saved and
I need a savior. And let's back back up to verse
one of chapter two. 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 and all went to be taxed, everyone
into his own city. Now, I think this is interesting.
Caesar didn't realize it, but he was a pawn in God's hand doing
God's will. That's all it was. Everything
is done for the glory of God and the good of his people. Now,
Joseph and Mary had gone to Galilee and gone to Nazareth. She was
with child at this time. And because she was with child,
she was gonna have to get somehow to Bethlehem. Well, Caesar taxed
the world, so Joseph would have to go back to Bethlehem, his
hometown. He left Galilee to go to his
hometown. And there they had the Christ,
the Son of the living God, their child. Let's go on reading, verse
four. 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. Now Micah chapter five, verse
two, says that the Christ will be born in Bethlehem. And so
that's exactly why Caesar taxed the world at this time, so on
this day, Mary could be in Bethlehem and bear this child. Don't you
adore God's marvelous providence. Caesar Augustus was the most
powerful man in the world who had no power. He was in God's
hands doing God's will, doing God's pleasure, nothing more,
nothing less. Next time you hear about a powerful
Individual, remember, power belongeth unto the Lord. And all men are
in His hands, accomplishing His purpose. Verse six, 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. Look back at
chapter one, verse 26. And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God into 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. And the angel
came in unto her and said, hail, thou art highly favored. Thou art much graced. The Lord
is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at the saying and cast
in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel
said unto her, fear not Mary, for thou has found favor, grace
with God. God looks upon you with favor.
And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring
forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great,
and he shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord
God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall
reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there
shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel,
How shall this 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." This is the prophecy regarding his birth. And we read
of his birth in chapter two, verses six and seven. Now, while
that took place, verse eight, And there were in the chapter
two, 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. I suppose it could have
very well been Gabriel who came to Mary at first. And the glory
of the Lord shone round about them. They had some kind of dazzling
visible display of God's glory. They were so afraid and this
was not a good fear. They were afraid they were going to be
put to death. They were scared and you and I would have been
too. And the angel said unto them, fear not for behold, I
bring you good tidings of great joy, which should be to all people.
You know, everybody ought to believe the gospel, shouldn't
they? Everybody ought to love the gospel. Everybody ought to
rejoice in the gospel. This is good tidings, good tidings
of great joy. And here's what it is. For unto
you is born this day in the city
of David, a savior, which is Christ Jesus, the Lord. Unto you, there's my first point,
unto you is born a Savior. Now who is meant by you? Unto you is born a Savior. I want to know if I'm included
in that you. Unto you is born a Savior. many answers that I could give
that would be correct. If I said the you is the elect,
those chosen before the foundation of the world, I'd be giving the
proper answer, wouldn't I? If I said the you is those for whom
Christ died, He died for the elect. Those for whom Christ
died, if I gave that answer, it would be correct. If I said
you who are given a new nature, born of the Spirit, you're the
ones He's born a Savior unto, that would be a correct answer.
If I said you who believe and you who repent, that would be
a correct answer. But those answers, while they're
true, do not necessarily comfort me. I want to be described by
those ways. I do. I want to be one of his
elect. I want to be somebody for whom Christ died. I want
to be somebody that's given new life that was not there before
to be a partaker of the divine nature. I want to be, I want
to be born of God. I want to be somebody who believes. I want
to be somebody who repents continually. But do you know who the you is?
I like this better. The you is everything. needs this Savior. Now, how do you fit in there? The you is everyone who needs
this Savior. You see, He is able to save to
the uttermost. Now, listen to that. He is able. This is speaking of His ability.
He is able to save to the uttermost, and that means there's nothing
about me that prevents him from being able to save me. He is
an almighty savior. Turn to Isaiah chapter 43. I'm
sorry, Isaiah chapter 45. Verse 20, assemble yourself, draw near
together ye that are escaped of the nations. They have no
knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image and pray
unto a God that cannot save. Now, what good will a God do
you that cannot save unless you fill in the blank? Will that
kind of Savior help you in any way? He won't help me. They have no knowledge that pray
unto a God that cannot save. Verse 21, tell ye and bring them
near. Yea, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that
time? Have not I, the Lord? There's
no God else beside me, a just God. and a savior. Now don't miss that. A just God. Everything he does is absolutely
just and righteous. He does not save at the expense
of his justice. If you're saved, that means the
justice of God will demand your salvation. It will say, save
him, he's perfect. A just God and a savior. There is none beside me, look
unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for
I am God and there's none else. I have sworn by myself, the word's
gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto
me every knee shall bow. Every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall swear. Surely shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall men
come and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified. He's a just God and a savior.
And shall glory, they're all going to glory in him. Listen
to this scripture. Well, you're there, turn to Isaiah
63. Verse one, who is this that cometh
from Eden with dyed garments from Basra? This that is glorious
in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength,
I that speak in righteousness. Look at those next three words,
mighty to save. Now there is nothing about you
that could prevent him from saving you. He is mighty to save. He's incapable of failure. There'll
be nobody in hell that he came to save. Not one. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, not to make them savable, not
to offer them salvation, not to make salvation available.
He came to save sinners, and that's exactly what he did. When he cried, it is finished,
every single one of them were saved. And here's my response
to that, Lord, I'm a sinner, save me. You said, this is your
words, not mine. You said you came into the world
to save sinners. I'm a sinner. Save me. Nobody needs to be saved more
than me. Unto you. Who's the you? Everybody, without exception,
who needs Him to save them. You're dead sure you can't save
yourself or do anything to make yourself savable or do anything
to contribute to your salvation. You're a sinner and you need
Him to save you and you need Him to do it all. Would that
be you? Now, for unto you, verse 11,
Luke chapter 2, For unto you is born this day. Now this is speaking of the amazing
incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now for him to save you
and me, he had to be born. He had to become incarnate. He had to take on flesh. Isaiah 7, 14 says, behold, a
virgin shall be with child, And his name shall be called Emmanuel,
which is God with us. Not God against us. God with
us. Unto us a child is born and unto
us a son is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulders. That means he has absolute rule.
His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Unto us this child
is born. And understand this, he didn't
come to condemn. We're already condemned. He came
to save. I love the way Jesus Christ is
called the Savior of the world. What a name, the Savior of the
world. Now, he came in the flesh, born
into this world, and lived a perfect life, completely fulfilling God's
holy law. And that is my righteousness
before God. And he died on Calvary's tree,
having never sinned in his own person, yet the sins of the elect
became his sins. God took their sins and placed
them upon him. Somebody says, how could God
do that? I don't know, but he did. He did, he's God. With God,
nothing shall be impossible. That's something he could do
as an almighty savior. And Christ bore those sins and
put them away. They are gone. And he was raised
from the dead for the complete justification of every single
one of his people. He is mighty to save, and that's
his purpose for coming, to save. Unto you, is born this day in
the city of David, Bethlehem. Micah 5 to thou Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of
thee shall he come forth who is to be ruler in Israel, whose
goings forth have been of old from everlasting. He's the eternal
son of God. He never had a beginning. and
He is the one who's coming to be born in Bethlehem. And I'm
thankful that the Bible points this stuff out to us because
we have a beautiful picture as to who the cross is. We can identify
Him. He's the one who was before of old, the one who is coming
to rule in Israel, the one whose goings forth have been of everlasting. He never had a beginning. Unto you is born this day in
the city of David. A Savior. A Savior. Not a judge to condemn
you and punish you. Until you is born this day in
the city of David, a Savior. Now what does a Savior do? He
saves. He saves. Do you need to be saved? You are dead sure that you cannot
save yourself or do anything to aid in your salvation or make
yourself savable. You need to be saved. That is
why he came to you. He's born this day in the city
of David, a savior. Now turn with me to Matthew chapter
one. It's when the angel appeared
to Mary, verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise. When asked his mother, Mary was
espoused to Joseph. Let me stop reading for just
a second. I thought there's people that think in this message I'd
be preached on Christmas. No, needs to be preached right
now and every other day. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise when his mother, Mary was espoused to Joseph before
they came together. She was found with the child
of the Holy ghost. Then Joseph made her husband
being a just man, not willing to make her a public example
was minded, put away her, put her away. Privilege. He didn't
believe she was a child of the Holy ghost. He, he thought that
she had got with another man. And he was a just man, he didn't
want to embarrass her, so he's going to take her away and divorce
her in a private way so as not to bring humiliation upon her.
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
shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus,
Savior is the name. That's his name. That's his name,
Savior. For he shall save his people
from their sins. Let me give you a five point
message real briefly. He, not him and you, he. when he had by himself purged
our sins. He sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high. You see, he didn't need you to
help. He, here's the second point,
shall. Not will if you fill in the blank. He shall. Not he might, not he will if,
he shall. Whatever it was he intended to
do, he did. He said, I've glorified thee
on the earth, I've finished the work thou gavest me to do. Here's the third point. He shall save. He shall save. Not he shall make
salvation possible. He shall save. And the fourth
point is his people. He shall save his people. Now why is it so important to
make an issue of this? Because it is important. Christ
Jesus came to save the elect. He didn't come to save all men
without exception. He didn't come to save all of
Adam's race. He came to save the elect. And that's precisely
what our text tells us, and that's what he did. He shall save his
people from their sins. Now, to say that he came to save
everybody is to say he failed, because not everybody's saved.
To say he came to save everybody is to say that salvation is by
works if some are saved and some aren't, because what he did didn't
save them, it's what they did that make them so. Yeah, it's
a monstrous, wicked, evil doctrine to stand up before men and say
he came to save everybody. He didn't. And if he did, he's
a failure and salvation by works. That's how monstrous that doctrine
is. But thank God the word of God
doesn't teach anything like that. He shall save his people. Somebody
says, well, am I one of his people? Do you need him? Do you need
to be saved by him? Somebody says no, then you're
not one of his people. Do you need him to save you?
Yes, you're one of his people. He shall save his people from
their sins. From the condemnation of sin.
I'm never gonna have to give an account for my sins. There's
therefore now no condemnation within there in Christ Jesus.
from the power of their sins? And I love saying this because
somebody's thinking, sin seems to have a whole lot of power
in my life. Well, no doubt it does because you've got an evil
nature, a sinful nature that still loves sin, that still is
evil, that still finds pleasure in sin. But you have another
nature that you didn't have before. There was a time when you couldn't
believe, you do now. There was a time when you had
no love for God, you do now. Why? You've been delivered from
the power of sin. Somebody says, sin doesn't have power over me.
Well, you're under its complete dominion. You have no understanding
of what sin is in the first place. But if you're somebody who believes
the gospel, you've been delivered from the power of sin. And one
of these days, you're gonna be delivered from the very presence
of sin, that evil nature that you possess right now, you'll
have no longer. And you will be perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ, justified. Now, back to our text in Luke
chapter two, verse 11. For unto you, all who need him is born. He
came in the flesh this day in the city of David, according
to the Old Testament scriptures, a savior, which is? Christ the Lord. This savior that saves his people
from their sins is Christ the Lord. Now Christ is the Greek
translation of the Hebrew word Messiah. It means the anointed. God's anointed. Word. Prophet. He is the prophet. He is the Word of God. When God speaks, Christ comes
out of His mouth. He's the visible image of the
invisible God. He's the Word of God. He's the
thought of God. He is God. He is the Word of
God. There is no knowledge of His
Word apart from the prophet. He is God's anointed Now, a prophet
brings men, the word from God, a priest brings men to God. Now, I don't need any silly human
priest to bring my name to God because they're just as sinful
as I am. They can't do me any good. I think it's so weird the
way people go to a priest in a Catholic church and start confessing
their sins to them and they're supposed to bring, that's strange.
And I don't mean to say that disrespectively, because I would
believe it, apart from the grace of God. I'm not saying that like
I have some kind of superior knowledge, but that's just wrong
as it could be. But this priest, oh, if he brings
you into the presence of the Father, you must be saved if
he brings you. You see, he's the Savior. He
put away your sin, gave you his righteousness, and presents you
to God. And as king, God's anointed king,
he's able to do all that's necessary for your salvation, because as
king, his will is always done. Now turn with me to Daniel chapter
nine. We looked at this on Wednesday
night, five or six weeks ago, but here we have what the Messiah
will do. And if you can identify the one
you're hearing preached, by this to see if this is the true Messiah. Daniel chapter nine, verse 26,
it says, after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut
off, but not for himself. So we see this is talking about
the death of the Messiah, Christ anointed. Now here's what he
will do, verse 24. 70 weeks are determined upon
thy people and upon thy holy city. This is talking about when
he will come. 70 weeks is 490 years. It was told when he would
come, And here's what he would do when he would come. First,
to finish the transgression. And notice the definite article,
the. He's going to blot out everything
Adam did. It's going to be no more. He's
going to finish the transgression. Every sinful propensity you and
I have comes from Adam's transgression. We fell in him and he's going
to finish it. He's going to put it away. He's
going to make an end of sins. Now notice the word sins is the
plural. That's not just talking about Adam's transgression. That's
talking about my sins, your sins, the sins that come from Adam's
transgression. He is going to make an end of
those sins. He's going to put them all away
when he comes. That's what he did. That's what he did. My sins
are gone. Thirdly, he's going to make reconciliation
for iniquity. If when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his son, Romans 5 10. He made
complete reconciliation, complete atonement. That means all sin
has been blotted out and cast out. And fourthly, he's going
to be bringing in everlasting righteousness. Everlasting righteousness. His righteousness that never
had a beginning and it can't go bad. It can't sour. It's everlasting
righteousness. That's what he brought in, given
to every one of his people. And then to seal up or to fulfill
the vision and the prophecy, he came to fulfill all scripture
and to anoint. most holy. Now what's that mean? Well the scripture says you have
an anointing from the Holy One. He came to make every believer
holy and that's exactly what he did. He made every believer
Holy, by the which will we are sanctified. We are made holy
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Now, a Messiah
that doesn't do those six things is not the Messiah of the scripture. He is the Christ, who's a spectator
text, Luke 2 11. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord. That's the one whose will is
always done. Christ the Lord. I love his name
as the Lord. He said, you call me master and
Lord. And you say, well, for so I am. He's the master and
he's the Lord. That means he controls everybody
and everything. He's the Lord of creation. He
spake the world into existence. He's the Lord of providence.
He controls everything. He's most especially the Lord
of salvation. And the leper told us what that
meant. When the leper came and worshiped
him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And that is what is meant by
the lordship of Christ. Lord, if you will, it's up to
you. I don't have any control. If
you will, you can, you're able to make me clean. And I love the Lord's answer
to him, I will. What power there is in those
words, I will. Be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. And let's go on reading a few
more verses, verse 12. And this shall be a sign unto you, he
says to the shepherds in the field, this angel, 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. Now can you imagine what that
must have sounded like? Now we're talking about a multitude
of angels. Angels. are greater in power
and might than we are, the scripture says. They're ministering spirits
sent forth to minister to them who are to be the heirs of salvation.
And angels are very interested in the gospel, which things angels
desire to look into. Last week, we were watching the
Super Bowl. I was thinking, I wonder how
many angels were watching the Super Bowl. I doubt any. I don't think that's something
that would particularly interest angels. But oh, how interested
they are in the things of the gospel, in the things of Jesus
Christ. You know, they love God. They
love us because we're his children. And I don't know that I've ever
seen one before. Maybe I have. And I think that scripture, be
not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained
angels unawares. Maybe I have, I don't know. They're
glorious beings, they're unfallen. and they cannot understand things
that we understand. They've never sinned. They don't
understand what it is to be sinful. They don't understand what it
is to be forgiven. They don't understand what it is to experience
grace but how they love looking on because they see the entire
scheme of redemption glorifies God and here's what they have
to say, this heavenly host seething and praising God what do they
say in verse 14 glory to God in the highest and on earth peace
goodwill toward men now understand this angels understand it salvation
is for the glory of God everything he does in the salvation of the
sinner glorifies God save sinners for his own
glory. Now, what is sad is there'll
be some people thinking, well, why is he so egotistical? Why
is he so concerned about his own glory? And the only reason
we would think something like that is because we can't see.
We're sinful. We don't understand. It's only
right for him to seek his own glory. And the best thing that
can happen to you is for him to glorify himself in your salvation.
He gets all the glory. Every attribute, His holiness,
His justice, sins can be punished, His wisdom, finding a way to
be just and justify the ungodly, His sovereignty in saving whom
He will, His love and grace in giving His Son. Every attribute,
His immutability and not removing His love from these sinful creatures.
Every attribute glorifies God and any doctrine that doesn't
give God all the glory is not of God, it's not gospel. What
do the angels cry? Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Now I have heard so many
when I've seen television shows like Searching the Historical
Jesus or they're trying to find out who was Jesus Christ and
they'll say things like he was radical in his days, he believed
in peace and he wanted to have goodwill toward men and not you
know be at war and so on and that That has nothing to do with
what that passage of scripture is saying, nothing at all. He
says, he, as long as men are men, there will be wars because
men are evil and they're going to try to take what other men
take or protect themselves from other people. There's always
going to be wars. I wish there wasn't, it's such a horrible
thing, but there will always be wars as long as there's men.
And as far as that goes, the Lord said, think not that I came
to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. I've come to set a man in division against his father,
and so on. There's always a division because
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Always has been, always will
be. When he's saying peace on earth, he's talking about that
peace that he achieved in behalf of his elect. And my peace is
because I have no sin to worry about. It's all been put away,
and I am justified before God. God's at peace with me. There's nothing for Him to be
angry with. He's at complete peace with me. I'm perfectly
righteous, holy, unblameable, and unapprovable in His sight. He's at peace with me, and the
only thing that gives me the feeling of peace is seeing God's
peace with me. on earth peace good will God's
good will toward me the Lord said I came down from heaven
not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me and
this is the will the father's will which sent me that of all
which he hath given me I should lose nothing but raise it up
again at the last day by the witch will by God's will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. Now what could the angels say? Glory to God in the highest in
this glorious salvation and on earth peace, goodwill, God's
goodwill toward men. Unto you all who need a savior
like the one just described to you from the scriptures. To you
who cannot save yourselves and need to be saved is born in the
city of David, a Savior, which is Christ Jesus, the Lord and
his Savior, says, come unto me. Come to me. This is a command. This is not good advice. This
is a command. It's a command to me. It's a
command to you. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. And that's talking about that
burden that I was talking about at the first of this message.
Burdened with sin. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I'm able to do
it. I'm willing to do it. I'm going
to do it. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest
for your souls. My yoke is easy. Because it's
all of grace. And my burden. Is light. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you for our
Savior. Give us the grace. To come to
him. In our hearts by faith. and rest
in him and have the peace that comes from knowing that he is
our peace with God. How we thank you for your goodwill
toward men. How we thank you for this precious
promise. Unto us is born in the city of
David a Savior, Christ the Lord. In his name we pray, amen.