We'll turn back with me this
morning to Luke chapter 2. By way of introducing the message
this morning, I want to point three things out to us from this
passage of scripture that we know about the birth of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You know there's much tradition
that has grown up around his birth as well as every other
thing in the life of Christ. But I want to point these three
things out to us. First of all, we know that he
was born in the city of David, Bethlehem, because his supposed
father, that is Joseph, was of the lineage of David, and his
mother, she also was of the lineage of David. And one of his titles
is the son of David, the son of David. And all the blessings
of the gospel are put forth to us in the mercies of David. We know that. We know that he
was born. in Bethlehem because he was of
the lineage of David, King David. And second, we know that he was
the firstborn son of Mary. We notice, if you will, in verse
seven, and she brought forth her firstborn son. We recognize that as he was Mary's
firstborn son, that he is God's only begotten son. Fulfilling the prophecy in Isaiah,
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the same person, a child
born, a son given. The child of Mary, but the son
of God, one person. And three, we know that his birth
was announced by the angels at night. We see that in verse 8,
and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night. I have four parts to
the message, and each part concerns something about the angels. The angels. First, the angels'
appearance to the shepherds and their reaction. That's the first
thing I want us to think about. The angel, his appearance to
the shepherds and their reaction. Notice in verse 10, and the angel
said unto them, fear not. And before that, in the last
part of verse eight, they were sore afraid. And lo, the angel
of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them. and they were sore afraid. Their reaction, when the angel
came, was first of all, fear. Not just a little fear either,
the scripture says, but fear. Out in the countryside, in the
darkness of the night, something happened which had never happened
before. They experienced something that
this world had never experienced before. And that is the glory
of the Lord shone round about them. I want you to notice that
it emphasizes the fact that when the angel of the Lord came upon
them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, When
the glory of the Lord shone round about them, then they were sore
afraid. The glory of the Lord. What was
this glory? What was this glory that shone
round about them? Well, it was light. It was light. Holy angels are called in the
scriptures the angels of light. because they dwell in the presence
of God who is light. Remember the Apostle John said,
God is light and in him is no darkness at all. These angels of light, the glory
of the Lord shone round about them. God is light and in him,
the Apostle Paul tells us, he only hath immortality. God only
hath immortality. Only God has life in himself. You have life today. I have life. All men around us have life,
but we have life that is given unto us from God. Only God has
immortality. Only God is eternal. Only God
has no beginning nor ending. We have life, we live, we move,
we have our being in him, the scriptures declare. Who only
hath immortality dwelling in light which no man can approach
unto. If you or I were to approach
unto God Almighty right now as we are in this body, we would be destroyed. the holiness
of God, and here we are. And these shepherds, they were
like you and I, they were men of soul and body, but now here
comes a pure spirit, a holy spirit, a spirit of light shines round
about them, and sure, they were afraid, they were afraid. This was a night unlike all other
nights since the world began. Because you see, this night,
our dear Savior was born. It seems only fitting, as I thought
about this, it seems only fitting that when he was born, who is,
he is the light of the world, that his birth be attended with
light, the glory of the Lord. You see, suddenly they were in
the presence of this holy being, an angel of light, and their
reaction was fear. If you and I were suddenly in
the presence of a holy angel manifesting himself unto us,
the same thing would happen to you, the same thing would happen
to me, and that is fear, fear. Suddenly, we who are mortal in
the presence of these immortal angels of light, holy beings,
we are sinful beings by nature. So that's the first point I had,
the angels' appearance to the shepherds and their reaction,
their reaction. One of the things that is charged
against mankind in Romans chapter three, showing the depravity
of man is there is no fear of God before their eyes. You, I
feel somewhat sad for all of us here, we live in a day when
Most people have no respect for God. People talk about God as
their co-pilot and Jesus as their buddy. No respect in so many
different ways. No reverence of God. We come here to worship. It's
a time of reverence, isn't it? The hymns which we sing, the
prayers which are prayed, the word of God which we study, it
all speaks to us and leads us to him who is worthy of reverence. That's what we mean by fear.
Not afraid in the sense we'd be afraid of a person, but fear
out of respect. He's such a high. Such a holy
being, and here we are. As the psalmist said, when I
consider the heavens the works of thy hands, what is man that
thou consider'st him? They were afraid when this angel
appeared unto them. They were sore afraid. The second
part, the angel's message to the shepherds, once again, beginning
in verse 10. 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. You know, in the Old Testament,
In the book of Judges, there was a man and his wife who were
childless. And the angel of the Lord, the
angel of the Lord, in the Old Testament, that was Christ. One
of his pre-incarnate appearances, that is before he became flesh,
as he did this night that we're studying about, he appeared under
various ones in the Old Testament. He appeared to Moses at the bush
that burned but was not consumed. But he appeared to this woman
and he told her that she was going to have a son. And she
told her husband and they were so excited, but her husband said,
well, if he appears to you again, come and get me. I want to hear
that too. And the angel Christ appeared
unto both of them together. His name was Manoah. And they
questioned him, this angel, what's your name? What's your name? And the angel said, it's secret,
which really means wonderful. It's wonderful. And this night,
this one who is wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting
father, the prince of peace was born here in our text in Jerusalem. Now to the shepherds, this angel
announced the birth of him who is truly wonderful. Wonderful. I want you to notice three things
about the angel's message. First of all, it's one of good
news. It's one of good, the gospel
is good news. That's what the word gospel actually
means, isn't it? Literally, glad tidings. The gospel is good news. I thought about that Old Testament
prophet by the name of Jonah. God sent him to the city of Nineveh
with a message, but it wasn't a message of good news, it was
a message of bad news. 40 days and Nineveh shall be
destroyed. 40 days, there wasn't any hope
expressed at least in that message at all. It was a message of what
I would call bad news. This city God's going to destroy
in 40 days. But this message the angel gave
unto the shepherds, it's a message of good news, good tidings of
great joy, great joy. There's no joy like the joy that
comes from knowing Christ. People in this world, they seek
joy in so many different things. Sometimes people seek it in fame. Some seek it in prestige, wanting
to be recognized above other people. And some people seek
it in the bottle through drink, and some in drugs. And there
are just a number of different ways that people seek joy. But
that joy is not real. It's not lasting. But oh, the
gospel brings joy into the soul of a person, joy. It's a message
of good news, of good tidings, of great joy. And then secondly,
it is one for all people, A-L-L, all people. Did you see that?
Let's read that again. Fear not, for behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. It's not confined, this message,
this gospel, it's not confined to the nation of Israel. It's
to all people, to the Gentiles who sit in darkness, as well
as the Jews. This message is to all people,
it's to governors, and those who are governed. It's to the
rich and to those who are poor. It's to the learned and to those
who are unlearned. This message is to all people. That includes you. That includes you. That includes
me. This message is to you. This
message is to me. Kind of reminds me of that scripture
in Isaiah when the Lord said, I am God and look unto me and
be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth. Well, who's not here in
the ends of the earth? This message is to all people. God said, all ye ends of the
earth, look unto me and be ye saved for I'm God and there is
no other. This is a message for all people.
And we thank God for the man that God calls pastors and missionaries
and not just men who take the gospel, but all of us. who live
in this world as believers. We've got a message to share
with everyone, with our neighbors, with our friends, with our coworkers. This is a message for all people. It's for you. And I'm so thankful
it's for me. Can you say amen to that? I'm
so thankful it's for me. This message is for me. That
a Savior is born for me. That's what I need above everything
else. I need a Savior. I need one who
can save me from my sins. One who can reconcile me unto
God. It's good news of great joy. And it's for all people. Exclude
yourself if you want to. I don't want to. I want to be
included in this. And a third thing about this
message, it's of one person. It's a message of one person,
that is of Christ Jesus our Lord. When the Apostle Paul took the
gospel to a city named Corinth, a city of Greece, it was a wicked
city. a wicked city. And the Apostle
Paul later said that when he went to Corinth, he determined
to do one thing. He didn't go there to reform
the government. He didn't go there to lead a
protest against the brothels and the beer joints and the cantinas
and all of those things. He didn't go there to lead a
demonstration down the street for righteousness and justice. He went there to do one thing
and one thing only. That was to preach Christ and
Him crucified. His person preached Christ, who
He is. And His work, He was crucified. And to the Jews who seek after
a sign and the Greeks who seek wisdom, we preach Christ We preach
the cross, he said, and to them which are called, Christ is the
power of God unto salvation, both the power and wisdom of
God unto salvation. Now, how did that turn out? I
said he went there determined to do one thing, to preach Christ
in a very wicked city. How did that all turn out? Well,
He was able to write back and say, such were some of you. Such were some of you. Right
into a church, a church made up of some of these people. Such
were some of you. What is he saying? Sinners, really. Sinners. Such were some of you. fornicators, idolaters, adulterers,
effeminate, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners. Such were some of you. But you
were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. All was accomplished. Here was a church raised up,
a church that loved God and worshiped God and served God, made up of
sinners. Every church is made up of sinners,
because that's all there are in this world, sinners. And Christ
came to save sinners. He was able to accomplish all
of that. through the preaching of the
gospel. Don't ever, don't ever think
lightly of the gospel. Don't ever think lightly of the
preaching of the gospel, because God is chosen by the foolishness
of preaching. Not foolish preaching. There's
plenty of that going on. But by the foolishness of preaching,
just telling people the truth about God, about Christ, about
ourselves, And somehow, by the power of God, someone hears that
message. Just like in a congregation here
today. And your life is changed forever. Your life is changed forever. Now you have a new master. You
have a new father. You have a new home. You have
a new family. and all of that accomplished
by God's blessing, the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It's still the power of God unto salvation unto everyone that
believeth. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. My third point, the angels' praise
of three lines, just three lines, the angels' praise of three lines
Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward
men. First line, glory to God in the
highest. One of the old writers gave suggestions
how this might be understood. It might be understood like this,
glory to God in the highest strains, Let the praise of men and angels
be raised to a higher level. This that was accomplished that
night, the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, it needs to be
celebrated in a way much greater than just normal celebration,
the birth of Christ. Glory to God in the high strains. Let the praise of men and angels
be raised to a higher key. I thought about, let's bring
out the big guns. Let's bring out the big guns
tonight when we celebrate the birth of this one, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Wonder of wonders. I'm still
amazed, aren't you? I'm still amazed today. I'm rejoicing
in the fact that God came into this world as a man, and he came
as a savior. Oh my. We've got to praise him with
a greater, greater strength than ever before for this. Let glory
be given in the highest heaven. You see, just a part of the angels
came and appeared here to these shepherds. We don't know how
many millions of angels, a host of armies of heaven. how many
millions of angels, but these angels here, they say glory to
God in the highest. In other words, all the angels,
those that were here at this location that night and all of
those in heaven, let us all join together and praise glory to
God in the highest. And third, Glory to God who dwells
in the highest. You know the Jews and the scriptures
indicate this. There are three heavens. There's
the heavens where the birds fly and build their nests. There's
the heavens and the stars and the galaxies. And then there's
that third heaven where God's throne is, where God manifests
his presence, the highest heaven. highest heaven, glory to God
in the highest, the highest place, the holy place. This God who dwells there sent
his son to assume this nature, the nature of man, and to lie
in a manger. Glory to God in the highest,
and this is the way I understand it, that through the birth of
this son, the Lord Jesus Christ, God is going to be glorified
in the greatest of ways. When he dies upon the cross,
Every attribute of God is going to be magnified and glorified
to its highest extent. His love, His justice, His righteousness,
His wisdom, His mercy, His grace could not ever be magnified greater
and by the coming and the living and dying of this Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord. Glory to God in the highest.
The second line, on earth peace. He which was born we know is
the Prince of Peace and he reconciles men to God. He made peace, the
apostle tells us, he made peace through the blood of his cross.
And the Spirit calls and sends out men ambassadors. That's what I am. You didn't
know that, did you? I'm an ambassador, not for the
President of the United States. Oh, no, no. Much higher than
that. I'm an ambassador for God Almighty. And he sent me here today to
say unto you, be reconciled unto God. You say, what does that
mean? It means lay down your arms.
Surrender. Absolute surrender to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Be reconciled. Quit fighting. You're not going to win that
fight. You know that. You know that. You may be here this morning
and you're fighting against God. You've heard the gospel. You've
heard it many times, but you won't surrender. You won't submit. You won't bow. Let the potsherds of the earth
strive with other potsherds. If you want to fight with somebody,
fight with somebody like me or somebody less than me that you
can really beat up on. But you're not going to win this
battle with God. You're not going to do that.
Be reconciled through the death, through the person of Jesus Christ. Claim Him, bow to Him, look to
His blood, His righteousness alone. And the third, goodwill toward
men. God's gift of his son to be the
Savior is an expression, isn't it, of God's goodwill toward
men. You know, there's a scripture
in the Old Testament which tells us God takes no pleasure in the
death of the wicked. Oh no, but that you be reconciled,
that you submit to God, bow to him. Goodwill toward men. No words
can express the greatness of God's love in giving his son,
giving him to be our kinsman, redeemer, bone of our bone, flesh
of our flesh. The last part of my message,
the angel's words to the shepherds experienced, if you still have
your Bible open here to Luke 2, I want you to notice in verse
12, the angel said, you shall find, And then look down in verse
16. And they came with haste and
found. You shall find. And they came
with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in
a manger. You shall find. And they found
the babe lying in a manger. Can we not see this morning the
words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians when he said, for
you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know that grace, don't you?
You know that grace, don't you? That though he was rich, rich, rich in glory, rich in
honor, rich in worship, yet for your sakes, he became poor. Here he is lying in a manger,
a babe. How he humbled himself, being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that you, through his poverty, might be made rich. You shall find, and they found,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Seek,
our Lord said, and ye shall find. Seek, and ye shall find. Someone
said, well, I sought the Lord one time, but he wouldn't save
me. I want to tell you about that. Evidently, you were trying
to bring something. If that's true, you had something
in your pocket. You had something good about
you that you were going to try to impress God with. I want to
tell you how to come. Come empty-handed. Come without
anything to plead. Come as a guilty sinner. And
bow. Save me, O Lord. Have mercy upon
me. He's never refused any yet. And you ain't going to be the
first one. if you bow this morning to him. I pray the Lord. What a wonderful thing, isn't
it? The birth of Christ. Can you rejoice in that? That
he was born to save you? You know, a peace on earth, that
conscience that God has given us, I know a man's conscience can
be seared, and a man's conscience can be trained to accept evil
things. But I want to tell you something.
When your conscience convicts you of sin, that you've done
evil, you've done evil. You've done some wicked things.
Nobody knows about it but you and God. There's only one thing
that's going to pacify that conscience, and that is the blood of Jesus
Christ. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. May the Lord bless this word.