 And so we're gonna be looking today at Luke chapter two. Let me begin reading at verse three. And again, this is a condensed version. I tore out a whole lot of my notes to just try and bring it to the bare bones thing to make sure again that you're able to go and enjoy the rest of the day with your family. And so beginning at verse one, reading to verse three 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 Carinias was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. We know that Luke was a historian. He gives to us historic facts that I'm not gonna deal with at this moment, but he's writing this as a factual account. Now as we begin this study for over 400 years, God had been silent towards Israel. You see in the Old Testament, the last book that God inspired to be written was a book of Malachi. And the prophet Malachi had ministered in a very, very evil time. It was a time when Israel had become terribly corrupt. When you read the book of Malachi, the priest became tired of serving God. Corruption had entered into the priestly and religious system of Israel. And so what happened at that time is God inspired a man by the name of Malachi, a prophet to preach to the nation, to call them to repentance, but they refused to do that even though the message was very clear. But they refused and because they refused, God became silent and he stopped speaking to the nation of Israel and that was 400 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Now after 400 years, God has intended now to break his silence. At time is right for him to keep the promise that he had made to the people of his covenant. You see God had prophesied he had promised that a Messiah would be born and that this Messiah was going to be born in a small village, a village called Bethlehem. He had made that known by the prophet Micah over 700 years before Christ. In Micah five verse two, it says, you, Bethlehem, Ephrata, though you are small or insignificant among all the clans 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. They're ruling your origins are from eternity past beyond the vanishing point. He's speaking about God coming and taking incarnation and so now the conditions are right and Messiah has come to Israel. Mary and Joseph were residents of Nazareth to the north of Bethlehem. So the question is how could a resident of Nazareth be led to go to Bethlehem? Bethlehem is approximately 90 miles south of Nazareth. We know that that would be a walk that would take several days. And so how are you gonna get two people to go from the north to the south? Well, the answer is that God moved a petty ruler to order a census and that's what it's saying here. It speaks concerning this in verse one, the decree that went out from Caesar Augustus. So God moved the heart of a petty ruler. Proverbs 21 verse one is a beautiful verses as the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water. He turns it wherever he wishes. And so that we ought to keep in mind by the way when we're praying for those who govern over us God is able to turn their hearts and that's what God did here. And so Caesar Augustus had issued a decree that all the Roman world would be registered. In other words, that their names would be recorded that their property and their income could be taxed. Well, Joseph according to verse four, 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 Mary's espoused husband Joseph is a descendant, a descendant of the king, the great king David. Now, Jews have been in Israel for around 4,000 years from the time of Abraham that ought to keep, that ought to cause us to keep some things in mind because especially what's taking place today when the individuals are saying that the Jews don't belong in the land that they've had for 4,000 years. Well, David was to go to, rather Joseph was to go to Bethlehem because King David was born in Bethlehem 1,000 years before Christ and because the Jews keep track of their genealogies Joseph knew that the city he was to go to was Bethlehem. Well, it says in verse seven, 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 cloths laid him in a manger because there was no room for them. In the end, now, in spite of the fact that Mary was terribly pregnant, nobody would give her a room. So what they did is they were forced to lodge in an outdoor stable and according to verse seven, she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths. Now notice in verse seven how it says she brought forth her firstborn son. Jesus is the firstborn to Mary. But when you read your Bible, she'll discover that she later would have other children and she had the other children with a man by the name Joseph, her husband, who was a carpenter. And in Matthew 13, 55 and 56, the question is asked, is this not the carpenter's son? It's not his mother called Mary, his brothers, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas and his sisters. Are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things? So Jesus is referred to here. She brought forth verse seven, her firstborn. He's spoken of as firstborn because he is preeminent. Jesus Christ has preeminence over all things. So that gives us insight into his glory. According to Colossians 115, Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is the preeminent one. He is the firstborn over all creation. And so she wrapped him, it says in swaddling cloths and she laid him in a manger. The word manger actually speaks of a trough. It was where animals would feed. Now swaddling cloths were wrapped around the baby and they became its clothes for a year. And they wrapped these cloths around the baby at birth. But you might be interested to know or to remember that they were also used later in burial. And she laid him in a manger where these animals were feeding. Again that reveals the humility of his birth. He was placed in a manger, someone said. So we who act like beasts might have the bread of life. Now there was no room for them in the inn, this enclosure. The inn is an enclosure that was used for caring for animals. It had water supplied, but there was no host, there was no food, there were no ordinary comforts. It was an hotel. A lot of times we look at it when it says there was no room in the inn. We think of a small hotel or a hostel, it wasn't that at all. It was a stable and it was a stable outside. There wasn't even room for Mary in the stable is what he's saying. Mary gave birth to Jesus in the place that was used for the care of sheep. Now as this is taking place here, it says in verse eight, there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. These were the shepherds and they were disrespected because the work they had would keep them from observing Jewish law. But what it shows me is that when Jesus was born, not only was he placed in a manger, placed in a trough, but that his birth was one of humility because it's showing us that those who were disrespected in the society for not keeping the religious laws were the ones who were gonna have the opportunity to first encounter him. And it shows us that he's available, that he's available to any who might seek him. Aren't you glad about that? Aren't you glad that he was available to you? That you didn't have to make yourself good enough for him that he came for you because he loved you? That to me is such a revolutionary thought. I was sharing yesterday in our Sunday morning service about a little bit about that help because in a couple of days we celebrate the 53rd anniversary of coming to faith in Christ. And as I can look back at my life, and I won't do it now, but as I look back at my life, I can see how gracious the Lord is, how good he is. I did nothing to prepare myself to meet him, but he drew me to where I could. And I did nothing to make myself better so I could be appealing to him. But he saved me in the condition I was in in order to remove me from that condition and put me into the condition he had planned for me. He did the same for you. When I got saved, I was one thing, but now I am something else. And somebody says, well, yeah, after all these years, of course, you're something else. You're too old to party. You know, people like you go to bed at nine o'clock and you think you're wild when you go to bed at 10 and there's some truth to that. We just started partying earlier. That's all, you just party at three. No, isn't it good? You know, I don't want to take up all your time, but I am thinking about that. I am thinking about how good the Lord is, how that God would, that he would take upon himself human flesh, that he would be placed in a manger and announcements in all would be made to ordinary people not the religious elite and not the king of the nation, but the announcement would be made to shepherds who were keeping their sheep, watching the flock by night, and that he planned on reaching these who were in society's eyes, not quite as good as the others, that Jesus would be placed in a feeding trough, not even, not a beautiful bed, nothing that was fit for a king, but that he would humble himself for people like us. In 1 Corinthians 1, 26 through 29, Paul said, brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. No one can say because of my goodness, no one can say because of my skills, because of my wealth, because of the nobility of my birth. Nobody can say I deserve the grace that God gives and these shepherds may have been keeping sheep that were being used for the sacrifices. So God now invades and breaks into the ordinary routine of their lives, the way that he does. You had your life, some of you who are a little bit older will understand what I mean by this, you had your life planned out. You were gonna do these things and you were gonna get to this goal. Many of us planned out our lives. But God breaks into your plan sometimes and he redirects those plans and he does it in a way that at the moment he's doing it may not make sense. But at the end you turn around and you say, so that's why you had me do this and that's why you directed me here. I didn't know you would do that. So my brother gets saved and I have a heart to go and speak to my brother so I take my sister and every week we go on a Monday night to teach him a Bible study. We start in the Gospel of Mark and he begins to invite friends. I didn't wanna come to Ontario, I lived in Norwalk. I was sharing with the guys the other day, for me, San Bernardino, can anything good come out of San Bernardino County? Are you kidding me? And Chino, Chino? Can anything good outside of flies because at that time there were so many dairies out here. The fly was on the, it was the city mascot. I mean, there were just flies everywhere and it smelled and when it rained it was horrible. Who'd wanna come out here? Are you kidding me? I'm from LA. But God said, no, I'll bring you out there. You're gonna come out there and this is how he did it. My brother gets saved. So he needs a Bible study. My sister and I started driving from Norwalk to Ontario. He starts inviting friends. A young woman comes in one day, he says, David, this is Marine and that was it. Now I love Chino. But I didn't plan that out. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? I didn't plan that out. For my life goal, I'll say this quickly, my life goal was to get my degree. I was going to Biola. So I was gonna get my five year degree. Then I was gonna take master's classes. Then I was gonna go out and see if I could be hired as a pastor. That's what I was gonna do because I thought that's what I should do. God had other plans. I went to college, never graduated, started a Bible study while I was going to college, stopped going to college so I could concentrate on the Bible study and here I am today. God has other plans. He has that way of doing it. And I'm sure he's done that with you. What you may have thought was an accident of the moment was in fact the spirit of God guiding your footsteps to a certain place so he could intersect with you and say, you need to turn in this direction so you can have these things that I have planned for you. So these people are going about their ordinary duties. They're out there taking care of sacrificial sheep. They're disregarded by and large by the society surrounding them but God now invades and breaks into the ordinary routine of their life to direct them. Notice verse nine. It says, an angel of the Lord. Behold, that's a surprise. It's a surprise. Behold, surprise. An angel of the Lord stood before them. The glory of the Lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid. And we say, oh God, show me your glory. If you did, we'd all be running out of here wetting ourselves. I mean, it would be scary. If you showed you his glory, no. But that's what happens and the glory of the Lord just becomes visible to them. The way the glory of the Lord had become visible to Moses when God appeared to him in a burning bush. The way that the glory of the Lord shone before the children of Israel when they were in the wilderness and he was going before them in a pillar of fire. The way that he revealed his glory to King Solomon when Solomon dedicated the temple of God to him, the shekinah glory of God, shone around them and their hearts trembled in fear. They knew the stories that were well versed in scripture. They knew that angels had visited men like Abraham and Gideon and Daniel. They knew the stories of God's visitations and how God manifests himself. But now there's an angel standing before them and that book has become alive to them. That's what happens, by the way, when you receive Christ, you know, you may have read this story before you probably did as a non-believer, probably heard this before you came to faith in Christ. And it's just a story. It's just a book. It doesn't mean anything. It's maybe a myth. It may be a fable. But it's a nice thing to believe. You've heard it and you've heard it and you've heard it. But when you came to faith in Christ and the things began to show themselves or what they are and God manifested himself by his word and you awaken to the reality, these things are true. This isn't a myth. This isn't a fable. This isn't a story. This is history. This is what God has done. And he opened your eyes to this. Well, the book came alive. They knew those stories. They knew about Abraham. They knew God had moved and all those old, these men were not ignorant of scripture. They were well versed. They would memorize the first five books of the Bible. These people knew scripture. They may not have been adhering to all the complete law in terms of regulations at least in the side of the people. But they knew these stories. They knew of these heroes of the faith and how God administered to them. But now this book has come alive and that's what happened when I got saved is these words on this page, they took a life and that life was my light. And as this is taking place, verse 10, the angel said to them, do not be afraid. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. I'm bringing you great news, great tidings, mega-carous, I'm bringing you things that are beyond your understanding. Now it's natural for you to be afraid. But their fear is now gonna be turned into joy because the hope of the ages has been fulfilled. The Messiah has been born. He says in verse 11, there is born to you this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord. This day in other words is signaling the dawn of a new day. Man has been imprisoned in darkness, spiritual darkness, spiritual blindness, you're groping around hoping you can find something but you can find nothing because you're walking in the dark. And walking in the dark can be dangerous. You're injured as you walk in the dark. Years ago, now a few years ago, we had our stage set up for the VBS and they put all kinds of props up here and I'm not blind, you know, I know what it's like to walk in some kind of darkness. When it's pitch black, I can't see a thing. When it's even, not even pitch black, when it's just dark, I can't see a thing. Marie has many times she'd take me by the hand and she just leads me because I don't know where I'm going. I'm walking in the dark. And I come walking out of this back and I didn't know there was a prop in front and I hit the prop. I hit it with my foot as I was walking and I popped my hamstring. Anybody who's popped a hammy, you know pain. You want to talk about pain? You know pain. I popped two hamstrings, my left and my right. I popped one when I hit in the dark. I popped the other doing a baptism. A good-sized lady took me down. Popped my hammy. That's the truth. So some of you know what it means to walk in the dark. As a matter of fact, we all know what it means to walk in the dark, groping for something. And it may not be because you're physically blind but it was because you were spiritually blind because you were hoping to be able to find your way in a darkened world. And you couldn't. You can't because you're in spiritual darkness and that's why you rejoice that the light has shined. Isaiah 9, 2 says, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death upon them, a light has shined. And John 1, verse 4, it says, in him was life and the life was the light of men. Well, they say in verse 11, there's been born to you this day in the city of David a savior. There's been born to you one confronting all the sin of the world and he is the savior. He is Christ the Lord. Now, Gabriel had told Joseph to call his name Jesus. He was to call him Jesus because he was to save his people from their sins. And Messiah will save any and all who believe. Both Jew and Gentile, Isaiah 52, 10 says, 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. He is Christ, he says. He's the Lord. And he's Jesus. And he's identified for the shepherds. The anointed one, the Messiah, Messiah. And this he says in verse 12 will be the sign. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger. So Jesus is in the enclosure that was used to house sacrificial animals. The animals would include the sheep that were to be sacrificed. And the sheep would be used as offerings for sin. And so that's a picture of Jesus who is the sin offering. In John 1.29, the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And this is what you're going to find. You're going to find Christ the Lord. He's lying in a manger. Verse 13, 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 we've been singing silent night for so long when in fact it wasn't. It was an amazing group of singers who were actually they were making a statement. They were simply out there speaking forth, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men. So this silent night was broken by their statements. In a moment of time we receive understanding and understanding that you change our lives. It says here on earth peace, good will toward men. You see, there's no peace on earth except among those with whom God is well pleased. Men are in a state of hostility with heaven and with one another and God has provided a way of peace and it comes through Jesus Christ. And when men become reconciled to God through the Son then the hostility has changed. They actually begin to love one another. What is it that changes lives? If you're at hostility with somebody else what will change that when you learn to love that person? And when that person learns to love you because love has a way of breaking through barriers that would normally cause hostility between us. God has a way of doing that. Instead of keeping within me the rage and the anger and the hurt and all that I could have towards those who perhaps have wronged me in some way at least I've perceived them to have done so. When I release that into the hand of the Lord and say God in Jesus' name I pray that you'll help me to care about that person to pray for that person and to even love that person. Everything changes. But as long as I keep nursing that, nurturing it, wrapping it up in some kind of miserable cloth and every once in a while unwrapping it to look at it and remind myself of what they did and wrap it back up. As long as I keep doing that kind of thing with my hurts and unforgiveness I'm going to be most miserable. But when God saves a wretch like me and awakens me to the fact that other riches exist and perhaps that person doesn't know you Lord and therefore they're just as rich as I have been God give me the ability to forgive, to let go to release them, to actually care about them. You see peace comes when we're reconciled first to God and then it's spoken to others through us. It's the gospel of peace. 2 Corinthians 5.19 and 20 says God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ not counting men's sins against him and he's committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us we implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God. So peace on earth, glory to God and the highest on earth peace, good will toward men. So it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherd said to one another let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass which Lord has made known to us and they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger and when they had seen him they made widely known the same 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 and the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told them. Now they weren't told exactly where to find Jesus if they were interested they needed to go they needed to obey the directions and search and find him. Isaiah 556 says that like this, seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he's near and so they went and sought him out and when they had seen him they made widely known the same the shepherds in other words became the first evangelists they began to tell people what had happened you know as we've said recently when Greg Laurie brought out his Jesus Revolution movie people were fascinated by it they looked at it as some kind of historic account of what took place in that revolution the Jesus movement revolution and all and let me tell you one of the things and I'll say it briefly but this is what one of the things was that made it what it was is that we were not silent about what we believed we weren't afraid of offending sensitive hearers because we knew that they needed Jesus Christ we knew it and for us to keep this to ourselves was not loving them it was hating them and somehow this society has made it for us for believers it's made it almost a sin for us to speak about Christ when in fact the fact is it's sinful for us not to God has called us to tell the truth and you know what we're discovering I'll say this again briefly I keep saying that because I'm lying to you because I keep I'm going to keep talking but it's true we're seeing this yesterday when we gave the invitation the majority of the people who came forward were about 20 years old 21 years old because the young people want to hear the truth and we're here closing our mouths when they should be hearing what is true and other people are lying to him in the church is a co-conspirator with the world don't be ashamed of your faith it's the only thing that saves people don't be afraid of Jesus Christ and preaching his name don't be afraid of it what are they going to do are they going to do cancel you so what who cares you know the one that you're going to fear is not the person who says I'm going to you know oh you're no good or whatever it's when God cancels you and so that's what made people don't seem to understand that that's what made the Jesus movement the Jesus movement that's what we're seeing in the book of Acts they got saved and they spoke and the people said you be quiet you shut up we're going to beat you and Paul said I'll die for the name of Jesus Christ I'll go anywhere for Jesus Christ if it's true then we ought to speak it that's why I told my brother that's why I told my sisters that's why I told my dad that's why I told my mom that's why I told everybody that's why I teach Bible studies so people will know Jesus Christ and that's what these shepherds did they went out and they said guess what Messiah has been born and they're the first evangelists they're glorifying they're praising God and God's word is true and they wanted others to know it but in this place Mary kept according to verses 19 and 20 all these things and pondered them in her heart now the people who had heard were marveling the shepherds who were visited were beginning to share they were glorifying they were praising God but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart she thought about what she had been told by the angel at the Annunciation when he told her that you are going to be conceiving of the Holy Spirit and bringing forth God's own Son she remembered how Joseph had shared what he had been told she considered how the shepherds were overwhelmed by the angels pondered the response of the people who only wondered at this strange story and she wondered what will all of this lead to and eight days later the answer was supplied in Luke 2.34 and 35 when she was presenting Jesus Simeon blessed Joseph and Mary the scripture says and said to Mary his mother behold this child is destined for the fallen rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken against yes a sword will pierce through your own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed what is this going to lead to what is this beautiful birth what is this going to lead to it is going to lead to your son dying on a cross the manger that held Christ as I shared yesterday became a cross that held Christ and that cross led to a grave a tomb that could not hold Christ we have a living savior Jesus Christ who was born fulfilling hundreds of prophecies and God's word being true and the promises being made to us is that Jesus Christ was born our savior and our king who rules over our hearts now when we yield ourself to him and we celebrate his birth knowing full well that it wouldn't have been December 25th shepherds wouldn't have been in the fields in a very cold night we don't celebrate the date of his birth we celebrate the fact of his birth he was born he is our king and even as the shepherds praised God even so we do we glorify him and we praise God for all the things that we have seen and that we have heard