Now let's open our Bibles again
to Luke chapter 2. My text this morning will be
verse 14. We are going to look at the praise
that the heavenly host gave unto God, glory to God in the highest. and on earth peace, goodwill
toward men. But before we come to the text,
I want to make four observations to us from this passage of scripture. First, I want us to notice that
it was to shepherds, to shepherds that God announced the birth
of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Good Shepherd's Birth. It
was first announced unto shepherds. The angel's message was of good
tidings of great joy. You notice that in verse 8. And
there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of
the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them, and they were 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. The angel's message to these
shepherds was of good tidings of great joy. And this message
was to all people, to all people. It was not a message simply to
the nation of Israel, the Hebrew nation, but to all people, Gentiles
as well. And as I thought about this this
past week, shepherds, you know, they were working men, working
men, that the Lord announced the birth of His Son to, first
of all, all nations or all people, all sorts of people. And I got
to thinking of the different sorts of people in the scriptures
that we read of, that the Lord saved, that this was glad tidings
of great joy, the gospel to all sorts of people. I thought about
a rich man like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, a religious man
like Saul of Tarsus, a beggar like Bartimaeus, A man in some
authority, like Theophilus, to whom Luke dedicated the gospel
to. Men of all sorts. Thieves. The man who was crucified alongside
the Lord Jesus Christ, who was being executed because he was
a thief. And yet he heard glad tidings
of great joy. This message of Christ is to
all people, all sorts of people, rich people, poor people, beggars,
religious people, irreligious people, thieves, slaves, yes,
remember Onesimus in the house of Philemon, all sorts of people,
just like all of us here today, all sorts of people. We come
from various backgrounds, various educations, but the gospel, the
message of Christ is to all people. All people. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? Exclude
yourself if you want to, but the gospel message is glad tidings
of great joy to all people. A second observation is the message
of glad tidings of great joy concerns a person. It doesn't
concern a plan. It doesn't concern a system of
theology. The gospel, the glad tidings
of great joy, concerns a person. Look in verse number 11. For
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which
is Christ the Lord. The universal need of all men
is a savior. If I were to ask this morning,
each individual in this room, do you have a need? What's your
need? And I would receive various answers. And I would give a different
answer. But here is the truth. Here's
the bottom line, as people like to say. All men need a Savior. A Savior. If you look back to
verse 35 of the previous chapter, chapter 1, these are the words of Gabriel
to Mary when she asked him this question in verse 34. How shall
this be? How will I have a son, saying,
I know not a man? How shall this be? Now notice
in the answer. 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
One which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Do you see that God God the Holy
Spirit, God the Father, and God the Son, all provided us a Savior. The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, the power of the highest, the Father, and that Holy One
which shall be born of thee. Yes, he was born of the Virgin
Mary. He came out of her womb. And
yet He is to be called the Son of God. He was man, absolutely. He was man, but at the same time,
He's God. God Almighty. We worship God
when we worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior is God, Jesus
Christ, our Lord. And the universal need of all
men is a Savior, and this is what God has provided for us. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. He has provided for us a Savior. A Savior. Now, a third observation,
I want us to see that the shepherds, they were given a sign. In verse
12, the angel said, and this shall be a sign unto you. Ye
shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a
manger." Now, surely that sounded strange to these shepherds? That's a strange sign. I mean,
here the glory of the Lord shone round about them. An angel was
speaking to them, speaking of the birth of the Son of God,
and yet here's the sign. You will find this babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. They might have imagined
we'll find him in a palace. We'll find him wrapped in clothes
of fine linen and embroidered with gold and silver. We'll find
him in a baby bed, a bassinet, or a crib. that may be made out
of silver or gold, no, you're going to find him in a manger,
a manger. The Apostle Paul said this, for
you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he
was rich, and we cannot even begin to describe the riches
of Christ, though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor,
that you, through his poverty, might be made rich. You'll find
him wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And notice
in verse 16, they came with haste. You see, salvation, when you
hear the gospel, Something whispers in your ear
tomorrow, next week. Oh, I've got plenty of time. I'm a young man. I'm a young
lady. I've got my whole life before
me. These shepherds, they came with
haste. And when you hear the gospel,
salvation is not to be delayed. Today is the day of salvation,
the Word of God declares. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call upon him while he is near. This is what the Word of God
teaches. These shepherds, they didn't procrastinate. They didn't
say, well, maybe sometime or I've got plenty of time. No,
with haste, with haste they came. Oh, I tell you here, If you're
here today without Christ, without Him as your Lord and Savior,
you need to go with haste and cry unto Him for mercy. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call upon
Him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And God has sent a preacher here
today to declare the gospel. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. These shepherds, they went with
haste, and you see, they found it exactly like the angel told
them. That doesn't surprise us at all,
does it? God's word is faithful and true. In fact, the scripture says,
let all men be called liars, and God is the truth. He is faithful. A fourth observation
is this, the shepherds made known what they had been told concerning
the child. In verse 17, and when they had
seen, they made known abroad the saying which was told them
concerning this child. Now I find it interesting as
I read this passage again that it was what they were told. Now
they did wonder at what they had seen, but they began to tell
what they had been told. And this emphasizes to us, again,
the fact that God uses His Word. I'm not here preaching some vision
that I've had or some dream or anything like that, but every
time you come into this building and any other gospel church,
what you're going to hear is the Word of God. It's not thus
saith the preacher, it's thus saith the Lord. And they began
to tell what they had been told. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. Now, let's consider the heavenly
host praise. First of all, what is a heavenly
host? What is a heavenly host? Well,
it's an army. It's an army from heaven. It's
an army, a multitude of angels. They were praising God with these
words, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill
among men. You see the Savior's birth was
announced to these shepherds by one angel, but then there
was a multitude, there was a host of heavenly angels praising God. Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace, goodwill among men. Now let's look at these
three stanzas, if you will, of their praise. First of all, glory
to God in the highest. Glory to God in the highest.
All of God's work, all of God's work brings glory to Him. His work of creation. When you
look at the sun and the stars and the moon and everything else
that we see in this universe and we see in this world, we
see God's glory. The marvel of creation. And when we think about providence,
how that God works all things after the counsel of His own
will. that nothing takes place in this
world by chance, by luck, there's no such thing, that everything
is ordained of God. Everything. The psalmist said,
thou knowest my sitting down and my rising up. There cannot
be a word upon my tongue, but thou knowest it altogether. You
don't know what you're going to say next. God does. We marvel, don't we, at the glory
of God in creation, the glory of God in providence, but listen,
nothing, nothing, not creation, not providence brings glory to
God like God sending His Son into this world to save sinners. Let me mention a few things.
First of all, The power of God is glorified in His incarnation. What do we mean by incarnation?
Well, the Word was made flesh. That's what it is. John chapter
1 and verse 14. The Word was made flesh. We read just a minute ago the
words of Mary, of the words of the angel to Mary, rather, the
power of the high shall overshadow thee. In Galatians 4, the apostle
said, when the fullness of the time was come, God set the time
of the birth of his son way before there ever was a sun shining
upon the world. He's a savior, crucified, a lamb
slain from before the foundation of the world. But yet in God's
time, God set the stage, make no mistake about it. God rules
in this world. And God set the stage. It was
no accident that this Roman governor decided that all the world would
be taxed at this particular time. And that to be taxed you had
to go back to the place of your parents' birth. That Joseph and
Mary would have to go to Bethlehem. In the fullness of the time,
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
that He might redeem us from the curse of the law. Now Job,
that Old Testament patriarch Job, he asked several questions,
very good questions. I encourage you sometimes just
read through the book of Job and And notice at the top of
the chapter who's speaking. And in those chapters where Job
is speaking, look at the various questions that Job asked. What a blessing it would be to
men and women if they would consider these questions. Can a man be
just with God? Is that possible? A man that
drinks Iniquity like water? Is it possible that one of Adam's
fallen race can be declared by the thrice holy God to be just? Can a man be just with God? If
a man dies, shall he live again? But the question I want to call
to our attention today is this question. There's many of these
questions that Job asked. We live in a fast-paced world,
don't we? People are hurrying on their
way to eternity. And most people don't have time
to contemplate and think. Why am I here? Who made me? Where am I going? What's the
end? What's the purpose of life? Evidently,
Job had time to think and consider these important questions. And one question he asked was
this, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? And then he
answered his own question, not one. It's not possible. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? Not one. What did the angel tell
Mary? With God, nothing shall be impossible. Mary herself was not clean in
the sense that she was not a sinner. She says as much in her praise
when she says, God, my Savior. And yet, God brought a clean
thing out of an unclean vessel. That is, His Son was made in
the likeness of sinful flesh. He brought a clean thing out
of an unclean thing. Only God can do that. He's made, as I said, in the
likeness of sinful flesh, but He Himself is just and holy. He is without sin. He who knew no sin, the Apostle
said. Did you know that even the demons
recognized and testified that the Lord Jesus Christ is the
Holy One, the One without sin. The Lord went in the synagogue
one day and there was a man there with an unclean spirit and that
unclean spirit cried out and he said this, I know thee, that
thou art the Holy One of God." God's power is glorified in His
carnation. How that, yes, this babe, born
of the woman, is God. God manifests in the flesh. So much God that He is referred
to as the God-man. And His blood is called the blood
of God. Never doubt, never question the
deity of Jesus Christ. Because if He's not God, He's
the biggest hoax that this world has ever known. He said, I and
my Father are one. He that has seen me has seen
the Father. I do always those things that
please Him. Yes, God's power is glorified
in His incarnation. And God's power is glorified
in His sacrifice. We should never forget that Christ's
death was a sacrifice. It wasn't an example. Some people
try to teach, well, it is an example that even after man did
this to God's son, that God still loves us. His death, my friends,
was not an example. His death is a sacrifice, a sacrifice. In Hebrews 9 in verse 24, but
now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. What kind of sacrifice was he?
Well, he was a voluntary sacrifice. He said, no man takes my life
from me, I lay it down. This commandment have I received
of my father. He had power both to lay down
his life and to take his life. It's a voluntary sacrifice. And
his sacrifice is a substitutionary sacrifice. He actually died in the place,
in the stead of his people. Some people like to talk about
what they call a universal atonement, which really means he didn't
accomplish anything. The Bible doesn't teach any such
thing. He substituted himself for those
people that God had given him in eternity past. He said, This
is the Father's will that hath sent me, that of all which he
hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the
last day. His sacrifice was voluntary,
it was substitutionary, and it was a propitiatory sacrifice. What does that word propitiatory
mean? It's the same word that's translated
the mercy seed. He is the mercy seed. It is His
sacrifice, His blood that satisfies God. The Bible teaches us that
God is angry with the wicked every day. And the only thing
that satisfies God is the blood, the propitiatory sacrifice, the
mercy seed, Jesus Christ. Nothing else. And His sacrifice is not only
voluntary and substitutionary and propitiatory, but also it
is successful. It is successful. Scripture says,
He shall see His seed. He's not going to be disappointed. He's not disappointed. He shall
not fail nor be discouraged, the prophet said. He shall see
of the travail of his soul and he shall be satisfied. This man, the scripture says,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. God's power is glorified in him
being able to bear the weight of the sins of all his people. I think of those words in the
book of Lamentations. Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? Is there any sorrow like unto
my sorrow? When we think of Jesus Christ,
God's dear Son, the Lord God Almighty laying upon Him the
iniquity of us all, how was He able to support, to bear the
judgment, the wrath of God in the place of His people? He's the God-man. God said, I
have laid help upon one who is mighty. And God's power is glorified
not only in his birth, his incarnation, in his sacrifice, but also in
his resurrection. His body lays sleeping there
in the borrowed tomb of Joseph. But on the third day, the scriptures
declare that the Lord Jesus Christ came out of that tomb. God raised
him from the dead. And with that resurrection, the
apostle Paul tells us that he is declared to be the son of
God with power. No one can doubt that He is who
He said He is. The eternal Son of God come into
this world to save sinners. By His resurrection, not only
is He declared to be the Son of God, but it is declared that
God is satisfied with His sacrifice. He was weighted down with the
sins of all His people. When He died, He was buried But
God justified him. God declared he is righteous,
that he is satisfied, that our sins are gone. The wisdom of God, not only the
power of God, but the wisdom of God is glorified in providing
a savior, which is Christ the Lord. You know, many people focus,
and we all like to do this, we focus on the fact that God is
love. But we should never do that to
the extent that we forget that God is holy, that God is righteous. that God is just, and because
He is, He has declared that He will by no means clear the guilty. God's wisdom is glorified in
providing a Savior in the birth of His Son, and in this way,
God is both a just God, yes, absolutely, perfectly just, holy,
righteous, but at the same time, a Savior. a just God and a Savior. The wisdom of God. All of the
sins of God's people are paid for. God doesn't just kind of
forget about them, just kind of sweep them under the rug,
so to speak, and say, well, I'll just forget about that. No, no.
God's justice is absolutely satisfied by His Son coming into this world
and taking the place of the guilty, that God might be both just and
justifier of the ungodly. And the goodness of God is glorified
in providing a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And under
goodness, I would include his love, his grace, and his mercy. The goodness of God is glorified
in providing a Savior. The angels sang, glory, glory
to God in the highest. His power is glorified. His wisdom is glorified. His goodness is glorified in
providing a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. The Apostle
Paul seems to me to sum it all up in one verse of Scripture
in Romans chapter 5. when he said, for scarcely for
a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man
some might even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Notice the second line of their
praise, on earth peace. What does that mean? On earth
peace. We live in a world where you
cannot turn on the news without seeing war, chaos, slaughter
all over this world. And it has been like that for
the last 2,000 years. When Christ came into this world,
relatively speaking, the world was at peace. But what does this
mean when the angel said, on earth, peace and on earth peace. The Lord Jesus Christ said himself,
think not that I am come to send peace on earth but a sword. What does this mean then when
the angels say peace on earth when Christ himself said think
not that I am come to send peace on earth but a sword. And in
that context Where he's made that statement, he goes on to
show that he is the divider of all men. He mentions even in
a family, one follows Christ, one believes and trusts in Christ
and loves Christ, and here's another person in the same family
who has no use for Christ, no interest in Christ. And so there's
a division. There's a division between them. He divides men. There's a division
between those who confess Christ and follow Him and those who
deny Christ. And remember this, He said, if
you are not for Me, you are against Me. Man likes to think he's kind
of straddling the fence, doesn't he? No, that's not possible. We're either for Him or we are
against Him. No man can serve two masters. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
declared. Well, then what does this mean,
peace on earth? Well, the Savior, who is Christ
the Lord, He is the Prince of Peace. And now He was born. He was born here in this world,
and He was born the Prince of Peace, and He's the one who is
our peace. He is at peace with us, those
of us who know Him today, He's at peace with you. God's at peace
with you. He is the one who has made peace
for us, and He's the one who bestows His peace upon us. The Savior who was born is the
one who has made peace with God. And how did He make peace with
God? Well, Paul tells us He did it
through the blood of His cross. through the blood of His cross.
There can be no peace for any sinner, for anyone outside Christ. There is no peace. The scripture
says there is no peace to the wicked. And there will never
be peace to any person until his or her sins are put away. peace on earth. The Prince of
Peace was here. And then the Apostle Paul also
tells us in Ephesians 2 how that Christ, the Savior, has brought
peace between the Jews and the Gentiles. And the way he did
that, Paul says, there was a wall between the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews, they looked on the
Gentiles as dogs. I mean, they couldn't speak ill
enough of the Gentiles. And the Gentiles, for the most
part, had no use for the Jews. He made peace. He is our peace. How? He broke down that wall
of separation. That wall of separation was the
law of Mount Sinai that God had given to the nation of Israel. Kept them separate. And so all
these other nations, they tended to think, well, you think you're
better than us. And they did think they were
better than them. They hated them. Do you know where there's peace
among all people? It's where the people are saved. There's a lot of struggles and
a lot of problems in our country. and there will continue to be
as long as there is sin. He is our peace. He hath made of both one. There's one holy nation, there's
one holy family or household of God, there's one holy temple
And everyone who is born of the Spirit of God, we are one in
Christ. We have peace. And the last thing,
goodwill toward men. The Savior, who is Christ the
Lord, was now on earth because of God's goodwill toward men. God provided no Savior for the
angels. We don't know how many angels
there are. We do not know how many angels
that fell, but the scriptures seem to indicate there are millions
of angels and a third part of them maybe have fallen. And do
you know the scripture says that they are reserved in chains of
darkness until that day. There's no hope for any fallen
angel. There's no savior. But God's
good will toward men, men, you, me, his Savior is born, Christ
the Lord. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given. To you, I go back again to what
the angel told these shepherds, unto you is born this day in
the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. I pray that the Lord will speak
to you if you're here today and you do not know Christ as your
Lord and Savior. But you would take these words
that the angel said to those shepherds years ago, unto you,
unto you, to me, a Savior is born. That's what I need. That's
what I need above everything else. I need a Savior. Someone
who is able to save me from my sin and all the consequences
of my sin. Death, hell, the grave, the judgment. Unto you a Savior is born, which
is Christ the Lord. May God give you grace to look
to him.