 We're gonna be looking today at Luke chapter 20. I'm gonna begin reading to you at verse one. I'll read verses one through 20, and then we'll get into our study. So let's begin. Luke chapter two, beginning at verse one, it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. To be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered, and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Now, there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be the sign to you. You'll find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger. 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, good will toward men. So it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. Now, when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child and all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherd. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told them. It's a blessing isn't it to be able to gather on a Sunday morning to celebrate Christmas? I was reading something and I'm wondering if their computation might've been faulty, but I read something where they said that this is the last time that we'll be celebrating a Christmas on a Sunday for the next, no, they said 11 years. I still don't know how they know that. But I can tell you this, I won't be here in 11 years, but it's a blessing to be able to be here now. You know, for Marie, my wife and me, this is the 41st Christmas that we're able to celebrate with our people. And I'm blessed to do that. I'm blessed to know that for 41 years God has given to us the joy of celebrating with our church and to celebrate Christmas. Now as we begin, let me share this. I'll give you a little bit of background, a few things to think about. We'll get into the passage in a moment. But as we do begin, very few scholars believe that Jesus was born in December. And an obvious reason for that is found in verse eight of this chapter. There were shepherds, the scripture says, that were living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. Now normally this would have been done during warmer months. So December 25th was not celebrated until the reign of Constantine in the fourth century. Now the date was made to coincide with a Roman festival, a festival called Saturnalia. Many of you have heard that. Well Saturnalia was a pagan festival. It was celebrating the return of the sun after days of constantly increasing darkness. The church didn't have a problem in taking pagan holidays and using them for the glory of God. And that's what they did with this particular date. You see, gifts were given during that time to the poor, which were regarded as acts of charity. And so charity is a good thing. And so the church didn't have a problem with the giving of gifts. And as for celebrating the sun's victory, Christians saw this as a symbol of their faith. They saw it as a celebration of light that was overcoming the darkness. In John chapter one, verses four and five, it says in him, in Jesus was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it. So they saw this as a fulfillment of prophecies like in the Old Testament book of Malachi chapter four, verse two, where it says, for you who revere my name, the son of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. In Luke chapter one, verses 78 and 79, it speaks of the tender mercy of our God by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the path of peace. And so the fact that Jesus Christ was born has always been more important than its date. So we celebrate his birth, not the date of his birth. You see, this promise of Christmas that we celebrate is first found in the first book of the Bible. It was really found in the Garden of Eden. The Bible tells us there that God had created Adam and Eve and commanded them not to eat of a certain tree and that command was broken when they listened to the voice of the devil. After they partook of the forbidden fruit, God had cursed the serpent. He said a descendant of Eve would appear one day and would crush him. In Genesis 3.15, he said, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, you will bruise his heel. And that's the first prophecy we have of Messiah. It's the first prophecy of the suffering savior. So over time, over the years, the promise he had made in the Garden was developed further. He told a man named Abraham that his descendants would be a blessing to the world. That was gonna occur through Abraham's great grandson, Judah. And then through his descendant, Jesse, and finally through Jesse's son, David. So over the centuries, God's prophets gave many details concerning this promise. Messiah would be born to a virgin, God in human flesh. Isaiah 7.14 says, therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel, which being translated God with us. Messiah was gonna be born in a certain town in a place called Bethlehem. In Micah 5.2 it says, but you Bethlehem, Ephrata, though you are small amongst the plans of Judah, out of you will come for me, one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. When you look at your Old Testament, over 300 specific prophecies related to Messiah were given. So by the time of Jesus' birth, the people were longing for deliverance. And it was at that precise moment in time that God fulfilled these ancient promises. Galatians chapter four, verse four and five, Paul wrote this. He said, when the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law to redeem those under law that we might receive the full rights of sons. And so God fulfilled his promise. So when the angel Gabriel was speaking to Mary and he told her that she was going to be mother of the Savior, she didn't ask, what Savior? She asked, how can this be? Well, it was made possible by the Spirit, for with him, nothing is impossible. Now as we look at this passage before us and as we begin, Mary and Joseph have traveled from the North, from Nazareth, South, into a place called Bethlehem. And they had tried, according to verse seven, they had tried to secure a room in a home or a hotel. None were available. People had come from all around to register. All available space was taken. Now you may ask yourself, well, why didn't they just stay with relatives? Because Joseph was not the only one who was descended from David. There must have been other relatives who were there in that area at that time. Why didn't they just stay with the other relatives who undoubtedly would have had a place for them? Well, they didn't stay because Mary was with child and Mary was unmarried. And so it was regarded for what it was, it was a great sin, the people regarded that as wrong. And as a matter of fact, when this all had taken place, Joseph, when he discovered that his betrothed wife to be was with child, he was thinking within himself, what am I gonna do? And it took the angel to come and speak to him and say, Joseph, don't be afraid to take Mary your wife because that which is conceived in her is of God, it's of the Holy Spirit. It took the Lord to tell Joseph not to be afraid to take her. He was minded to put her away privately. What that simply means is he didn't wanna make a show of this because under the law, he could have had her put to death because she had committed a sin. She had been with another man, at least in his mind. She became pregnant, it was obvious. She had left for three months and came back and now she's with child because she had gone to her relatives, she was with Elizabeth. And so in Joseph's mind, there's only one way for a woman to become pregnant, she has obviously done me wrong. You see, because in Jewish marriage rights, when they were betrothed, that was the same as marriage. They were regarded as married. That's why Mary is called his wife. They were regarded as married though the ceremony and the consummation was yet to take place. And so as he's thinking about this, he's saying within himself, she's obviously had an affair of some sort. I don't want to take the full penalty of the law against her because the scripture says Joseph was a righteous, a just man. That's why he was thinking on this privately, but the angel had to say, don't be afraid. Mary, when the angel spoke to her and said she was gonna give birth to the son of God, she says, how can these things be seen that I'm a virgin? I've never been with a man. And he said, the spirit of God is gonna produce life in you. And so the relatives, those who knew Joseph, those who knew Mary, the relatives were not about to recognize that as a right thing. So now they're in Bethlehem. They're not gonna go to their family that may be there, may have a place for them. And so they begin looking for a place that they can be and there's no room for them anywhere. Verse seven says there was no room for them even in the inn. Now the word inn speaks of a shelter. It's a word that speaks of a shelter with walls and a roof. It also is a word that can be translated a stable. There was no room for Mary even in the stable. So Mary gave birth in the open. There was no one to help her and there was no one to attend to her. Verse seven says she wrapped him in swaddling cloths, laid him in a manger herself. Think about it ladies, in the midst of her pain, her embarrassment, her poverty. In the midst of all of that, all the rejection and everything that she was socially dealing with. In the midst of all of that, there was joy. She was giving birth to Messiah. Heaven is about to explode with joy. Verse seven says she wrapped him in swaddling cloths. Now people at that time were wrapped in strips of cloth twice. First time was when they were born. When a child was born it was wrapped in swaddling cloths after being gently washed with water that had a small portion of salt in it. The salt symbolized the qualities of truth and honesty and was used so that the child would grow up speaking words that were salted. Swaddling cloths were narrow strips of fine linen cloth about two to four inches wide and 15 to 20 feet in length which were wrapped around the baby's body. The child was wrapped from head to foot with only a part of his face left uncovered so he could breathe. The baby's body and limbs were thus held very straight revealing the parent's desire that he would grow up to be free from crookedness and waywardness and would walk straight and tall before the people. The swaddling cloths were left on the baby for only a short time while the parents took time to pray, make their commitment to God concerning the upbringing of the child. I can still remember when our babies were born, our four babies. I can still remember that when they brought the baby and handed the baby to me as the father and then I handed the baby to Marie. I can still remember that with all four of those babies I can still remember praying with my wife. The first thing we did when our babies were given to us is we prayed and dedicated our children from the moment of their birth. We'd already been praying for them prior to their birth but from the moment that they parted the womb I can still remember holding the baby and walking up next to Marie and praying, Father in Jesus' name I pray that you use this child that you will save my baby, that my baby one day will grow up to serve you. I can still remember that. I can remember when my son Joseph was born. He's our third. Prior to Joseph's birth, Marie had become pregnant and I still remember when she came walking out of the bathroom in our small home in Ontario and she had in her hand a miscarried baby, the baby that should have been born before Joseph. And I can remember her ashen face and I can remember as she said, I just miscarried. And I can still remember that. And so when she became pregnant again and Joseph was born, I can still remember that they handed us this little guy and the only one of my four that I can remember doing this specifically, how I held him in my hands and I lifted him before the Lord in that little hospital room. And I said, this one shall serve the Lord. I still remember prophesying over that baby. I don't know what you did when you gave birth, those of you who are moms and dads, but that's what we did. And that's what they would do in ancient Israel. The baby was wrapped in swaddling cloths when they were born for the reasons I just mentioned. And then the mother and the father would pray that God would bless this child. And that was the first time that they would be wrapped. The second time would be that the same strips of cloth that were used to wrap the limbs of babies were used as a wrapping for the bodies of the dead. So Jesus' birth, even as he is wrapped in swaddling cloths, Jesus' birth prefigured his death as the Lamb of God for us. Notice in verse seven how it says there she brought forth her firstborn son. That speaks of him being firstborn in prominent order of importance. Now, as this is taking place, verse eight, there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. These shepherds were performing the task of watching the sheep. They watched them in three-hour shifts. They would protect them against predators. They would protect the sheep against thieves. These were sheep that were intended for temple sacrifice. And they were pastured there in the fields of Bethlehem. Now, it is to these shepherds that the good news is about to be given. You see, when you read your Bible, the last book of the Old Testament is Malachi. They called the years between Malachi and the gospel, the first gospel, Matthew. They called that 400 years of silence. So after 400 years where nobody has been recording any inspired words, it's the right time. It's the right time for God to reveal himself. And he does so in the most personal way to men. Notice how verse nine says, Behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them. The glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were greatly afraid. The angel of the Lord, it says, stood before them. That literally means he stood in place above them. It says that the glory of the Lord shone around them. And notice their fear. They were greatly afraid. Now, when it speaks of the glory of the Lord shining around them, that's a reference to what is called the Shekinah glory of God. I used to call it the Chikano glory, but it was the Shekinah glory of God. It's a bright light. You see, when Moses dedicated the tabernacle, God's glory was actually present. In Exodus 40 verses 34 and 35, it speaks of the cloud covering the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filling the tabernacle. And Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it. The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. The glory also filled the first temple that was built by David's son Solomon. It says when the temple was being dedicated to God, that God's glory once again was experienced. First Kings 8, 10 and 11, it happened that when the priest came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. And so they see this glory, this glory that is of God and their hearts are trembling in fear. And so the angel has to speak to them. Verse 10, the angel said to them, "'Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings "'of great joy which will be to all people.'" Don't be afraid. I'm bringing you good news, not bad. You live in a joyless world. You've been under oppression as a people for centuries. So I'm bringing you good news. And this good news isn't for you alone. This good news is for all people. This good news will first be experienced by Israel. But then this good news will be taken to the entire world. God has made it possible for you to be totally forgiven, for you to have a new life. And that's a central message of Christmas. It's the gift of salvation. The joy of salvation isn't for Israel alone. It was for everybody. Isaiah 52, 10 says it like this, the Lord has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. And he goes on and he says in verse 11, there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Your Savior has been born. And it's because as a sinner, you need a Savior. You need salvation. Because the Bible says from the old to the New Testament that every human being has sinned. Every person needs forgiveness. There's none good, the Scripture says, no, not one. The Bible makes it very clear there's none that do good. In Ecclesiastes 720, it says there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. This salvation that we celebrate on Christmas comes through a baby that has been born in Bethlehem. And by trusting him, by believing in him and what he has done, you will be saved. Galatians 322 says the Scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. The salvation that has come through Christ is for us. Notice in verse 11, he's the Christ. He is Christ the Lord. He is the anointed one. Now when it speaks of him being the anointed one, the Christos, the anointed one, this reveals Jesus in his prophetic, his royal and his priestly office. Prophets, kings and priests were anointed when they were installed into their office. And he is the one who is installed. He is Messiah. And he says in verse 12, this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger. Now, the sign is in contrast between what they just saw and what they're gonna find. The king of the universe will be found, not in a cradle, but in a feeding trough. The Bible says that he created and he owns all things. Yet this one who did so is placed in a dirty manger. And in this way, we understand that Jesus reveals himself to us and that he understands us. We don't have a God who is so distant from us that he can't understand us. Jesus Christ took upon himself human flesh and he dwelt amongst us. And we were able to, the writer says, behold, it's glory, the glory is of the only begotten son of God. Jesus Christ, God took upon himself human flesh and dwelt with people. He understands us in a way that nobody else ever has. He understands us because as a human being, he understands what human beings go through, but as God, he never sinned. And so God loved us so much, he gave his son and his son was given to us that he may lay down his life. But what he's calling us to do is to believe in him, to trust in him. And see, I think that's where a lot of people make mistakes, especially around this time of the year. We have a nation that celebrates the birthday of somebody they don't even believe in. We have a nation that calls Christians hypocrites because they say we don't live up to what we believe when in fact they're celebrating the birth of someone they don't believe in. See, hypocrisy is there. But the fact is we believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not just a baby in a manger. Jesus Christ was placed in a manger but he was also placed on a cross and he was placed on that cross so that he might save us. That's why we trust him. That's why we in faith believe in him. And it's not just the accumulation of information. You see, a lot of people grew up in a church and a lot of people grew up going to Sunday school. They've heard the story of Christmas many times, but Christmas is still empty to them. Why? Because it's just information and never produced transformation. You see, I grew up in a time in the 50s and all when Christmas was a celebration that whole cities would celebrate. We did have the Christmas parades. We did have the various things that, you know, the different kinds of things that were decorating the roads and we had banners and we had the whole nine yards. And we grew up in that atmosphere and we heard of Christmas, but we didn't believe in it. The nation didn't believe in Jesus Christ. The nation just tolerated and made his birth into a kind of a national symbol of celebration. And so I grew up in a time, as many of you did, where it really didn't mean anything. It was just a time where you may give a gift or receive a gift, but for a lot of us, it was just a time of going out to party just to do what we do, you know? And that's the way it was for me. I still remember the last Christmas, December, that I remember celebrating Christmas Day December 25th, obviously of 1970. And for me, the day of Christmas, it was boring. It wasn't something I cared about. I didn't care about Christmas at all. What I was planning on doing, which I did, was to just kind of tolerate the presence with my family for a while and then go out and do what I did, which was get high, get drunk. That's what I did. Christmas, for me, was an excuse and an opportunity as for some others in this room. It was an opportunity to get drunk and smoke some pot and just to party. That's what I looked for. That was December 25th, 1970. It was not a time of celebration of the birth of Christ. It was not a time of joy. It was not a time of being with family and enjoying each other's company. It was just an opportunity to take off that night and get high. That's what I did and that's what I'd been doing for a few years prior to that. Little did I know that two days later, I would be taken to hear the gospel and for the first time I actually understand it and then this upcoming Tuesday in a couple days, I will celebrate 52 years of walking with Jesus Christ and I didn't receive him on Christmas, but two days later I did and for the last 52 years have had the joy of understanding that Jesus Christ came to save me. That's why he came. That's why there's joy. The king of the universe, he was gonna be found, but it wasn't gonna be in a cradle. It was gonna be in a manger where the animals would eat and their saliva would be found. Jesus was placed in this humble place called a manger, but in that way we know that he understands us. Well, as this has taken place, verse 13, suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace. Goodwill toward men. You know, we for many years have sung the traditional song Silent Night, but it wasn't silent. It was loud. It was loud. There was a multitude, multiple angels that were standing, hovering there and in that darkness, a great light had shown. In that darkness, the angels celebrated the birth of the Savior. If you've ever been to Israel, and if not, we all have gone through the desert. And at night when you're in the desert, it seems like the heavens are opened up and there's a multitude of these bright stars, but it's pitch black. You can't see anything really in front of you. There are no street lamps if you're out in the wilderness, it's just dark. And you need light to see. Couple of years ago, Marie and I, my wife and I were driving to New Mexico and we left late at night and we were driving through Arizona. I have a condition in my eyes. I have glaucoma and at that time I had a cataract and I'm also night blind. So I can't see a thing in the dark. I rely on the light. And as we're driving, we went into this particular patch of road that was under construction. And as we're driving, the road didn't have any, it was actually two lanes, but it didn't have the white dividing line. And then there was a gully and then on the other side was the traffic that was coming towards us. So there was this road here and then there was a gully and then there was the road that was coming in the opposite direction. As we were driving, there's no lights, I'm relying on my lights, but I can't turn the brights on because I don't wanna blind the eyes of the drivers who are coming in my direction. So I'm driving literally blind, literally blind. Marie doesn't know it, but I did. So as I was driving, I started realizing I can't see the edge of the road. I'm going 55 miles an hour, but I can't see the edge of the road. I am relying on the light of my headlights. And I get this small voice in my heart that says, turn on your bright lights. I still remember that, turn on your brights. And I argued with myself, it was like I was saying to myself, turn on your lights. And so I argued with myself. I said, no, if I turn the lights on, I'm gonna blind the drivers that are coming in this direction. And then I heard within me, turn on your brights. So I did. And when I turned the brights on, I was going right towards the edge of the gully. If I had not turned on my lights, I'd have gone flying off, I'd have hit and who knows what could have happened. We need light in darkness. I need it. I appreciate it. I appreciate the light in darkness because I have a night blindness, a condition that it's as good as me being blind. It's as good as that. So I need the light. Well, the Bible says that people sat in darkness, moral darkness, darkness of sin. But unto those who were in the darkness, those who sat in darkness, a great light has shown. In the darkness of that desert there in Bethlehem, in the darkness of those fields with no lights anywhere, these shepherds who are taking care of the flock by night, suddenly this darkened sky is illuminated. It's absolutely bright. And as the brightness is piercing through the darkness and they're seeing the light and the angel begins to speak, the angelic host begins to speak forth. They break out in praise, like it says in Psalm 103, 20 and 21, praise the Lord, you as angels, you might do ones who do his bidding, who obey his word, praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. And so this angel, angel of the Lord stood before him, verse nine again, the glory of the Lord shone around them. They were greatly afraid and as they're going through this, the angel said to them, do not be afraid. Behold, I bring to you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. There is born to you this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. 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. It wasn't a silent night at all. It was a night of glory and praise. Well, it's interesting how it says glory to God. And then it says and on earth peace because you'll never have peace until you give glory to God. Notice it doesn't say peace on earth. It says first, glory to God in the highest. Why? Because without God, you will never have peace. Without the Lord, you will never have peace. Look around the world right now. Look around. Open our eyes, Lord, to see what's taking place. Help us to understand the things that have been normalized into what people say is acceptable behavior. Help us to understand that these are the things that the enemy uses to brainwash us to accept the evil. We're living in morally dark times. Morally dark times. We're living in times where sin, things that used to be done in secret are paraded openly now. And you are regarded as being a weirdo if you don't go along with that. You're looked at as being benighted, being just stupid, ignorant. You don't get it, but the fact is we who have sat in darkness have seen this great light. And we know the difference between good and evil. That which is bitter, their saying is sweet. That which is evil, their saying is good. But because of the Lord, because of his word, because of his spirit, because we've been illuminated, because we have peace with God and give glory to him, we can have relationship with others. Listen, we cannot ever be at peace with men until we're at peace with God. There isn't a law that can be passed to make somebody like me love somebody else. No law can do that. Laws are usually constructed as moral parameters to keep my behavior in line with that which is accepted in society. That's what laws do. They're to restrict evil behavior. There's no law for me to do good. Name a law that says I need to do good. It's not found in our system of rule and law in the United States. It's not found that way anywhere. No law can make me love somebody. No law can. A law can keep me from doing something because there's a penalty. I'm afraid that the penalty, therefore, obey the law. You can tell me not to say something about somebody under penalty of law. I can be fined or jailed. But you cannot. No human being can make another human being love somebody. To be a believer requires that you love one another. You can be a good police officer, but you don't have to love the people you serve with. You can be a good soldier and you don't need to love the unit that you serve with. You can be in a fraternity or you can be in some club There's no requirement that you should love those people that you're organized with. No requirement at all. You can be a union member. There's no requirement for you to love the other people in the union, but to be a believer. There's a requirement. And the requirement is for you to love one another. Jesus said that. By this shall all men know you are my disciples if you have love one for another. That's how you're known as a Christian. It's not what we don't do. It's what we do. It's not that I just don't act hatefully to somebody. It's that I care about that person and that comes not by a law. That comes by grace. That comes because my darkness was illuminated by his light and that's why the shepherds are seeing these angels and the fear of God comes upon them and these men were not irreligious men. These are the ones who are raising the sheep for temple sacrifice. They were righteous men, but as they were watching this take place the fear came into their heart and that's why the angel had to say don't be afraid. Why? Because God has done something. He's broken into the darkness. He has brought a great light and that light is Jesus Christ. So glory to God and then peace toward men. Again, we never experience peace until we first give glory to God. You see, Jesus not only brings peace. Jesus is our peace. In Ephesians 2.14, it says it like that. He himself is our peace. The only way to have peace is for him to be in the manger of your heart. This filthy manger is made clean by confession of sin. And that prepares for him to be able to enter. There is no peace on earth except among those with whom God is well pleased. When men are reconciled to God through Jesus that's when they love one another. And that's what Jesus came to do, to reconcile men with God. And to reconcile us with one another. More than once in this fellowship, more than once, we have had correctional officers who attend our fellowship and I've seen it. Where you'll see a man embracing this other fellow and then I'm told later that correctional officer, that's a correctional officer there, yeah. He was just hugging somebody that he used to guard. He was just hugging somebody that he used to guard in the prison. Only God can take a prisoner and the guard and make them brothers. That's what God does. That's what God did through Jesus Christ. Christmas has been eviscerated. It has been emptied of its real meaning. We substituted partying and family time and all the other things. We substituted those things for what Christmas is. Christmas is a celebration that God is with us, that God sent his son, Christ, to bear my sins and to take him to that cross. He was placed in that manger, but he was also placed on that cross. That's what it's all about. And how can I have peace with men if I'm not at peace with God? And that's why you have peace first with God. We'll reconcile to him. And then finally in verse 15, so it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherds said to one another, let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us. They came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. Now, when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child and all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told them. They not only heard, but they acted upon what they heard. They rushed to find what the Lord had made known to them. I've shared this before, I'll share it briefly again. The Jewish way of thinking and the Greek Gentile way of thinking during the time of Christ especially was different. The Greeks believed that knowledge was the gathering of information. That if you had a lot of information, then you had knowledge. So they looked at knowledge as being something you acquired. It was something that you would be able to repeat. And as a philosopher, you might be able to share some things that other people hadn't thought about, but over your studies and time, you might present those things, people would see them as unique and deep and all, and they would say, this man has knowledge. Well, the Jews were not that way. The Jews considered knowledge to be something that wasn't information alone. It was not something that was simply information. For them, knowledge was information plus assimilation which produced transformation. So knowledge for the Jew was knowing something and acting on it. A lot of people were raised in Christian homes. They have knowledge, but they never acted on it. They know what is right. They can tell you. They can speak to you about Christmas. They can quote scriptures. They can tell you things John shared earlier. That was his experience. He was raised in the church, but at one point he decided this isn't for me. He lived in a different way. He had knowledge, but he didn't have the real knowledge. The real knowledge comes from knowing and doing. That's why Jesus said, if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. It isn't just gathering knowledge. It's not just the ability to give the Christmas story. It's not gathering my kids around the tree on a Christmas morning, reading them the story, and then opening up the presents. The real present was the gift that God gave to us through Jesus Christ. That's the gift that keeps on giving because when you're little, you may be excited about it being Christmas Day. All of you older people know what I'm saying right now. When you were little, Christmas was fun. When you're older, it can be a bummer. So much going on, so much I have to do. You lose the joy. I can still remember when I was a kid, my brother and I getting up early, like at four in the morning. One, we couldn't go to sleep. We would lay in bed just, oh, it's Christmas. Tomorrow we get to have our gifts open. We were so excited, and so we couldn't sleep. And finally, we woke up around four. I still remember my brother that say, David, you awake? And I'd say, yeah, and so we would get up. We did this several times and crawled, opened up the door to the front room, and looked at the presents under the tree. I still remember getting a, my father got me a bicycle and it had the little training wheels. I must have been about 21 or 22. He had the training wheels and I can still remember getting up and climbing on the bike and riding it around in the front room just, oh, this is too much. I enjoyed it. Then I put it back under the tree where I found it. And I went with my brother and we got my tin pans and big spoons. And we opened up their bedroom door and began to bang on those. We would do that. And we'd yell out, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas. You know, and my dad would say, go to bed. And we said, nah, Merry Christmas. Some of you did stuff like that. It's Christmas. You got that bike, you got that present. And the next year, you want something new. Why is that? Well, you know, I know, I'll just say it because nothing I ever received on Christmas morning lasted for eternity. What I received that lasts for eternity is life through Jesus Christ. And the real present wasn't under a tree. The real present was in an empty tomb. Life that we have because of Jesus, because this lamb was born to die. Truly, Merry had a little lamb. This lamb was born to die. That's Christmas. We celebrate. God is with us. And the shepherds say, let us go and see. Let us act upon what we've been taught. So they rush and they find what the Lord had made known to them. They saw Jesus in swaddling cloths. That was what the sign was, that this one is wrapped. This is the one. And they shared with others. Again, these were the ones who cared for the Passover lambs that had been and were to be offered to God. And they recognized Christ as that perfect lamb and they went and told everybody. And that's what every believer does. The lamb was born to be a sacrifice for our sins. We don't only receive and we believe, but we give. Now, Merry, Merry had just given birth and she's seen all that's taking place and she's thinking of what has happened. Quietly, she ponders the immense significance of what has happened. And that's so touching. Merry kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. This one that I have had the joy to give birth to, the Lamb of God, savior of the world. What does this mean? What does this mean? And then one day, 33 years later, she stands at the foot of a cross and she says, this is what that meant. This is what that meant. I gave birth to the one who would die for me. I gave birth to the lamb. The shepherds are overwhelmed by what they've seen and heard. But Merry ponders these things in her heart. And as she ponders these things, the shepherds return glorifying and praising God for all the things that they'd heard and seen as it was told them. They left and they told people what they had seen. And that's what we do. That's what we're doing right now is we're simply telling people what we've seen. We've seen that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who take away the sin of the world. We see that, we believe that, and we tell others. Christmas is not a day of the year. Christmas is every day of the year. For he has given to us the one gift that satisfies forever.