 Let's open our Bibles together to Luke's Gospel chapter 2 when my children were young. We began a tradition in our home that ultimately we brought to this church, which was to read a passage of Scripture. We normally would do that on Christmas Eve. We used to celebrate Christmas Eve as a family and I would have the children sitting around and I wanted to teach them something early. I wanted them to learn that Christmas wasn't about them. I think that presents are great and who doesn't appreciate a good present or two? I'm still receiving them by the way. Presents are great. I mean, it's a great thing to be able to give to somebody else and to receive. But I wanted them to know that Christmas was more than a tree and lights and everything that we associate with that particular holiday in the sense of the presence and things of that nature. And so what I wanted to do is I wanted to teach them the significance from a very early age. So from the time they were very small. We would gather together and I would read this passage that we're going to be looking at today and I wouldn't give them a full teaching as I'm going to try to do this morning with you but I would give to them the things that I believed were very important for them to think about and in that manner they would be able to learn the significance of the birth of Jesus Christ and why it's so important for us to worship him and why he deserves that. We would have them pray before they opened a gift and on Christmas Eve I would have a prayer, I would thank God for providing for us and then I would have them open one present at a time and they only actually on Christmas Eve opened one present so they were able to go and select the one that they wanted to open and then I would have one open the present while the others watched because I wanted to teach them that there's joy in receiving and joy in participating in somebody else receiving and you know how it can be with the kids you know they go they grab their presents they stack them up you know they kind of form a fort you know and then they just tear into it leave a mess for mom and dad to pick up later on. I wanted to try and train them that they could not only receive but appreciate what somebody else had received and also to appreciate what they had given to somebody else and so we've worked real hard for all of their young lives to teach them that basic thing and I get all of that from just the fact that God so loved that he gave and I wanted people to know I wanted my children to know that the greatest present that they could ever receive wasn't going to be found under a tree I wanted them to realize the greatest gift that they could ever have was a gift that God gave to them his son Jesus Christ and as much as I appreciate Christmas and the holidays and all we've done our best to to remove the commercialism from it so that the children would always know as they're now adults raising their own children some I would like to believe that we succeeded in training them in that and so what we're going to do this morning is we're going to look at Luke chapter 2 together I can't help but think that last night was a great service for those who were with us it was a beautiful time of worship and praise this morning was wonderful I am so blessed to see you guys got up and came to church on Christmas day I mean of all days why not Christmas day but thank God you're here bless you bless you for being here may the Lord bless you for putting him first that that's wonderful in Luke chapter 2 beginning at verse 1 it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the world should be registered the census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria so all went to be registered everyone to his own city and 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 cloths laid him in a major because there was no room for them in the end now that we're 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 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 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 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 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 that the same which was told them concerning this child and all those who's 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 when you pick up in Luke chapter 2 some background so that we might see the context of this passage when you pick up in Luke chapter 2 we know that for over 400 years God had been silent towards the nation of Israel God had ceased speaking to them when the book of Malachi had been written and now four centuries of silence have occurred but he's ready to break his silence and God is now as we see this in Luke chapter 2 ready to keep his promise to his covenant people God had made a promise to them he had stated that the Messiah would be born in a small village a village called Bethlehem over 700 years before through the prophet Micah God had said you Bethlehem Ephrata though you are little among the thousands of Judah yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth are from of old from everlasting and so Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem but how can a resident of Nazareth which is to the north how can a resident of Nazareth be moved to go to Bethlehem well the way God moved that is that he simply moved the heart of the petty tyrant and he directed him to order a census the Bible in Proverbs 21 verse 1 says the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water he turns it wherever he wishes and so God moved the heart of this tyrant to order a census and so even though the people more than likely did not want to take the journey God used this time for good the Bible tells us here that Caesar Augustus had issued a decree that all of the Roman Empire should be registered in other words there were to be a census to be taken where their names and the property and their income was all to be registered in order that they might be able to levy taxes easier and that's how he moved him to go from the Nazareth the city of Nazareth to the north down south to Bethlehem and so as this is taking place verse 4 tells us 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 and so Mary's espoused husband Joseph was a descendant a descendant of King David and King David had been born in Bethlehem and so the Jews would keep track of their genealogies and he knew that if he was going to go he had to go to the to the city of his father David and so he came from Nazareth and went up to Bethlehem now by law Mary didn't have to go Joseph could have gone on his own but Mary went with him she didn't have to go for several reasons one her time to give birth was close close at hand Joseph Joseph wouldn't want to leave her so he brought her with him and secondly he wouldn't want to leave her alone because of how she had been treated and how she would be treated while he was gone and then third it may be that Joseph knew that Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem because he knew that his wife was with child of the Holy Spirit and so this is something that God had moved him to do and she came with him and they made their journey down to Bethlehem it says in verses six and seven while she was there the days were completed for her to be delivered now as she shows up there's no room for her in the end nobody would give up the room so they were forced to lodge in an outdoor stable and so as she was there in this outdoor stable the Bible says in verse seven that she brought forth her firstborn son and she wrapped him in swaddling cloths and so there they are in this place there's no room in an end they go into an outdoor stable she gives birth there she's the one who brought forth this child she places him in a manger I want to show a couple things to you real quickly here as we look at this so I want you to notice how it speaks concerning Jesus being her firstborn verse seven she brought forth her firstborn son wrapped him in swaddling cloths laid him in a manger there was no room for them in the end and so I'd like to note with you two things one she brought forth what is referred to as her firstborn son in other words he's the first child that she gave birth to the Bible makes it very clear that she had other sons and daughters Matthew chapter 13 verses 55 and 56 asks the question is this not the carpenter son is not his mother called Mary and 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 and so Jesus had other brothers and sisters as scripture says what's interesting is his brothers did not believe in him until after the resurrection after his resurrection Jesus appeared before James as it states in 1 Corinthians 15 7 and the book of Jude was written by one of the brothers of Jesus we know that James wrote the book of James and so one he had brothers and sisters he's the firstborn of them but also it speaks of him being preeminent Jesus is above all things this is intended to communicate to us his glory and his greatness Colossians 1 15 says he's the image of the invisible God the firstborn over all creation and so Jesus is preeminent now when he's born notice verse 7 she wrapped him in swaddling class and personally laid him in a manger I was reading concerning swaddling class let me read to you something that I that I read on this very quickly when the son of a king was born that child was wrapped in swaddling class after being washed gently with water having 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 the swaddling class were narrow strips of fine linen cloth about two inches wide 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 this was to indicate that he would grow up to be free from crookedness and waywardness that he would walk straight and tall the swaddling class were left on the baby for a time while the parents took time to pray and make the commitment to God concerning the upbringing of the child going on it says in the Middle East people traveling long distances were often met with many hardships and trials on their journeys in the event of a death in travel the body could not continue to be transported for many days for that reason travelers wrapped a thin God's like cloth around their waist many times if someone died on the journey the others would use this cloth refer to as swaddling class to wrap the corpse in before burying them when Jesus was born there was no room in the end so Mary and Joseph used the nearby stable for Jesus's birth with no other cloth to use Jesus was wrapped in Joseph's swaddling cloths the cloth normally reserved for a person's death so the king of kings and Lord of lords came into this world in a lowly manger was wrapped with burial clothes in truth he was born to die to die for the sins of all mankind and so when the Lord Jesus Christ was wrapped in swaddling class it really was a prefigurement of the fact that he would live in order that he might give up his life she laid him in a manger verse 7 says where the animals fed that tells us how filthy that manger was he was placed in a manger as a reminder that people can act like beasts but even those who act like a beast can partake in bread of life we also know that around that manger would have been because animals being what animals are it would have been filthy it would have been filled with dung but that was a symbol of the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ who was willing to be amongst that there was no room for them in this in there wasn't even room for Mary in a stable but there she is out there giving birth to this baby now in verse 8 it says now there we're in the same country shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night behold an angel the Lord stood before them the glory the Lord shone around them 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 it's 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 will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heaven and the host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men and so the birth of Jesus Christ these shepherds may have been keeping sheep that were used as substitutionary offerings that would have been a picture of Jesus who has come to be a sin offering the shepherds were a despised class because they weren't able to keep the law they normally were not schooled in the law of Moses they were considered by people to be ignorant yet in the ordinary event of their life an extraordinary thing occurred God invades the ordinary this angel stood before them as they were going about the ordinary tasks and their service there was a revelation that God gave to them and by the way that still happens to this day the Lord still breaks into the ordinary of our lives to show us something extraordinary we can go through various things various like we can just be alive and God will break into our life in one form or another and he'll reveal himself to us he can do it on the job site he can do it in the house he can do it in a church service he can do it when you're when you're driving in your car and you happen to turn the radio on and you listen to a message that speaks to your heart he can break into the ordinary events of your life and that's what took place and as they were there keeping sheep by night they see the shekinah glory of God and as they do so their their hearts begin to tremble in fear these are people who would have been aware of the stories of miracles they knew that the nation of Israel had angelic visitation they had the men like Abraham and Gideon and Daniel who had expressed through their word that they had seen these angelic beings but now the Bible is coming alive there's an angel that is standing right before them and they begin to fear for their life and the angel speaks do not be afraid in verse 10 I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people don't be afraid even though it is natural for you to be afraid you're seeing something great something beyond understanding but your fear is going to be transformed into joy because the hope of the centuries has now been fulfilled Messiah has been born because he says in verse 11 for there is born to you this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord he's born to you a savior only sinners need saviors every human being born is born with a sin nature we sin because we have a sin nature it's natural for me to sin funny thing about it is I usually don't think that sin is that bad I really don't think in terms of things that I do is being that bad most people that I would assume are pretty much in their own sight pretty good it's kind of like we're all when it comes to our quality of life it's kind of like we're like American Idol type people like you've seen the American idols right where they'll say can you sing oh yeah I sing like a wreath of Franklin then they go out there and they sing and it makes you cry you know it's that bad we all think that if you gave to us a scale of 1 to 10 what our talents are we normally 7 8 or 9 some people consider themselves to 10 but with humility they reduce it to a 9 because they know they're not perfect they're just getting there and so there are a lot of us who think that we're a lot better than we actually are that's just natural that's human nature if you speak to them though and use and you speak honestly and say can we have a real conversation for just a moment can we can we talk about quality can we talk about morals can we speak of these things and if they'll give to you a moment that they might be honest with you and you begin to ask them a question if you ask them if you were able to go in you found you know a vault that was open nobody is around there's no cameras nobody's watching you the vault is so filled with money that if you took a million dollars out of it nobody even notice it and and would you do that would you go and would you take that million dollars if you knew that nobody would even notice it would you take it and most people that you'd speak to on the street would say nobody knows I'm going to take it nobody's going to miss it there's so much money in there that you wouldn't even notice that some of money being taken yes nobody's going to know you walk in you see millions upon millions of dollars there and you can take a million dollars if you want and nobody will know that you took that ever only you will know that you took it would you take it the average person on the street would say what's wrong with you are you a fool of course I take it and so you ask him does it belong to you no it doesn't okay then what does that make you they say well that makes me smart no what that makes you is that makes you a thief and do you believe that thieves go to heaven you know most of us in this room will never have an opportunity to go and steal a million dollars with nobody finding it and there are those who would say that you know that that's really no big deal you know I really don't steal anyway so you say well do you ever pirate music off the internet well you know that's that's not really stealing now is it and then you have conversations related to that and the fact is that all of the laws that gave God gave to us we have either either in indeed or in thought broken you know we have lusted after somebody else we have lied we have stolen we have done those things God standard for for heaven isn't doing your best God standard to enter into heaven which the majority of Americans to this day still believe exists God standard for entrance into heaven is not because you try to be nice or you're good or you went to church once in a while we already know that God standard is perfection every human being needs a savior every one of us do and that's why God provided that for us every one of us has fallen short of the glory of God everyone is sinned we are by nature sinners that's just a fact nobody in this room would ever deny that they have done wrong every one of us knows that we have a conscience and we're able to say yeah there were times when my mom said not to do this and I did it anyway or my dad said not to do this and I did it anyway I have violated I have broken I am a criminal in God's sight that's why we rejoice over a savior this for this day there has been born a savior Christ who is the Lord he is the one who's going to confront the sin of the world there's one who's born to you who will one day conquer Satan and one day he will rule and notice with me again that the angel stated very clearly he is the savior he is Christ the Lord and so Jesus was identified to these shepherds as the anointed one and he goes on to say in verse 12 and this will be a sign to you you'll find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger 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 towards men in a moment of time we receive an understanding that changes our lives one there is no peace on earth except among those with whom God is well pleased to we understand that men are in a state of constant hostility with heaven and that spills over into our relationships with one another but three we know that God has provided a way of peace and he did that through his son so when men become reconciled to God through the death of Jesus men can do something that they really desire to do and that is we can begin to love one another now when the angels had gone away it was told to them according to verse 15 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 and what they had seen him they made widely known that 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 the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen as it was told them that took place 2000 years ago we're gathered here this morning to simply recall with those shepherds their testimony God has broken into humanity took upon himself human flesh he was born of a virgin Jesus Christ lived in order that he might demonstrate to us the way because he is that way this baby that was placed in a manger as a man was placed on a cross and Jesus Christ when he gave up his life for us made the joy of salvation possible when I gave my heart to the Lord 42 years ago this month that's been the one thing I've been trying to learn it's the one thing that God has been trying to teach me that without him I can do nothing but through him I can do all things without him I don't have an ounce of joy but in him I have joy unspeakable without him I have no hope but Jesus Christ is my hope without him I have no life but Jesus Christ is my life and that's what Christmas is all about I've never been satisfied with the present under a tree but I have been satisfied with a man on a tree Jesus Christ the latest life down for me he was born that he might die in order that I might have an enjoyable life with him not only here on the face of the earth but in heaven with him and that's what we do on Christmas we celebrate the reality of the life that God gave to us through Jesus it's not a story it's not a myth it's not a fable it is a fact God so loved the world that he gave his son of all the gifts that we could receive the greatest gift that we have received is the gift of eternal life something I didn't have to pay for something he shed his blood to give to me how can I do anything but worship and thank him how could I live in any other way than to praise him all my days and guess what to do that into eternity all the days that are before us worshiping and praising him because two thousand years ago a young virgin was with child gave birth to the Savior latest life down for me that I might have eternal life you can't beat that for gifts you can't beat that for joy that comes through Jesus Christ