 Today Christmas Day. We'll be looking at Luke chapter 2. Let's begin reading at verse 8. I'll read verses 8 through 14. We'll get into our morning Christmas morning celebration service. Luke writes, Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night. 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 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. Christmas. Traditionally Christmas is a time of celebration as we all know it's a time of giving gifts. It's a time of joy of singing hymns, attending worship services and spending time with our families. And Christmas for many is a time of wonderful fellowship. It's a time that you make some wonderful memories. It's a beautiful time of the year for many people. Well that's because the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, is intended to bring us great joy. Jesus' birth is wrapped up in a story. It's the story of redemption. God sent his son into the world that he might seek and that he might save the lost. And when somebody is sought out and somebody is found, then you're going to have tremendous joy. You might even, as the writer C. S. Lewis expressed it, you might even be surprised by the joy. I know that when I came to faith in Christ almost 45 years ago now, that I literally was surprised by joy. I didn't realize that coming to faith in Christ would be such an exuberant moment in my life. That the weight of my sin would roll off of my shoulders. That the things that I had been doing that harmed so many others. The way that I lived that broke the heart of my mother and my dad and ashamed my brother and my sisters. I didn't realize that when I came to faith in Christ, that joy, inexpressible on occasion, joy that sometimes still to this day will overwhelm me, that that sense of peace with God, the sense of being loved by God, the sense of having the relief of being able to put my head on a pillow at night and not be concerned about who I have harmed or who I stole from or who I owe something to. I can do that now. I've been doing that for a long time where I can put my head on my pillow and with a clean conscience I can say goodnight to the Lord in prayer and wake up in the morning next to a woman who has faithfully loved me for many years. That comes through Jesus Christ. He brings joy. He gives us joy. In Psalm 32 verse 2 it says, Blessed or happy is a man whose sin the Lord does not count against him. So the Christmas season is above all things a time to receive forgiveness and a time to experience the joy that God gives to us. And we the church need to be careful. We need to be careful to preserve the true meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ and we need to be faithful to present his birth in its spiritual context. As we present the story of Christ in his birth, we must remember that his birth is an actual historic event. We must be very careful as a church not to reduce the story of the birth of Christ to a child's fable filled with myth and sentimentalism. We need to teach our children, those of us who are parents, we who are grandparents we need to teach our grandchildren that we're not celebrating just a mythological story just a fantasy some good feeling story to make people happy once a year. We need to be very careful to center our attention on who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus Christ has done. I was mentioning last night in our Christmas Eve service perhaps some of you were with me. How that when my children were born and began to be raised how that we would set apart Christmas Eve. It was our family night that I would have my babies in the front room and we'd be seated there together and we would give them a present and each one of them was given an opportunity to open one of their presents. And so they would hold their present all excited because they're going to be able to open it up. But I would have them hold on to the present and I'd say before we open up this present we're going to speak about the greatest present. And I would read this passage Luke every time and I'd read concerning Jesus Christ the son of God the savior of the world and I'd say the real present that we receive is God's presence in our life because we as sinners we need to know what the greatest gift is. And listen you know for you young parents when you're raising your kids be very careful not to get them to mix Santa Claus up with Jesus Christ because Santa Claus is mythological Jesus Christ is real and they need to know the difference and if we pour into them sentimentalism and good feelings and all the kinds of things that can blind the children from the reality they will run the danger of growing up thinking that the story of Christmas is mixed up with the story of a man named Santa Claus. Now I'm not speaking against Santa Claus because you know I don't really care. You know I don't. What I care about is Jesus Christ and I wanted my children to care about Jesus Christ and to not mix up the ornaments and the gifts but to always know that God has given to us a gift and the greatest gift that he's ever given to us was his son Jesus Christ in life through him. You see that's the Christmas story and that's what we pour into our children. Christmas it's a celebration of God invading human history it's a celebration of God providing salvation for a lost world. Christmas is a celebration of the incarnation God with us. In the Old Testament book of Isaiah written over seven centuries before the birth of Christ Isaiah the prophet wrote in Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 and 7 for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given the government shall be upon his shoulder his name shall be called wonderful counselor the mighty God the everlasting father the prince of peace of the increase of his government in peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon the kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this he is our wonderful counselor our mighty God the everlasting father he is the prince of peace and so we celebrate the giving of the gift of God's own son by God giving us Jesus he's demonstrating to us he's revealing to us openly what love actually is because love needs to be demonstrated we can use the word the society that we live in has dumbed it down has actually voided its content we have made the word love something that God didn't intend it to to be communicated as somebody says I love you so they sleep with their girlfriend that's not love that's lust but what we have done is we have confused the word and it's become a sentimental phrase real love needs to be demonstrated in a real way and God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Paul says in Romans 5 Christ died for us love is shown Jesus said I love you and I love you with a everlasting love and so what we do is we love him in returning in 1st John chapter 4 verses 9 and 10 it says in this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him hearing his love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins the word propitiation is a word that simply means and it means something deep I shouldn't say simply it's a word that speaks of God's righteous anger being satisfied God has wrath towards us because we're sinners and he rightly has this wrath but God is intended to satisfy his own wrath by giving to us Jesus Christ who is the one who satisfies his wrath he has done that because we cannot do that that's Christmas we cannot make God happy we actually grieve him but he sent his son Jesus Christ so that we might be washed clean from our sin his wrath is satisfied and now we have peace with him that's the Christmas story the Bible tells us here in Luke chapter 2 verse 8 that there were in the same country shepherds who were living out in the fields who were keeping watch let's begin very briefly by saying very few scholars believe that Jesus was born in December if that's a given sometimes I see people who want to undermine the celebration of Christmas by pointing that fact out well that fact is well known of course very few scholars believe that Jesus was born in December why? well notice with me it says they were living out in the fields they were keeping watch over the flocks by night normally that was done during warmer months December 25th didn't officially become recognized until the reign of Constantine in the 4th century the date of the birth of Christ was made to coincide with the Roman festival of Saturnalia Saturnalia was a pagan festival it celebrated the return of the sun after days of constantly increasing darkness believers Christians didn't have a problem with this because gifts during that time were given to the poor and Christians have always believed in redemption we redeem things that's what we do so there was no problem in redeeming a pagan holiday as for the celebration of the sun's victory Christians saw that as a symbol of their own belief you see in the Old Testament book of Malachi chapter 4 verse 2 it reads for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings and so in Luke chapter 1 verses 78 and 79 that portion 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 and guide our feet into the path of peace and so they saw that as a picture and they were able to say this is what really did happen the sun is shining and that sun is actually Jesus you see the fact that Jesus was born has always been more important than when he was born now there had been 400 years of silence since the closing of the book of Malachi in the Old Testament at precisely the right time God begins once again to work amongst men Pauling Galatians in chapter 4 verses 4 and 5 said when the fullness of the time had come God sent forth his son born of a woman under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons when it was the right moment now we look at our society right now and we're looking around and we're saying things are changing rapidly things don't seem to be going up they seem to be going down and I don't care how many politicians say it's going to be the glory days in the future without Christ that's not going to happen we know that we know that we're living in some pretty rough times dangerous times even as the scripture says we're living in perilous times and so we're aware of that we're awake but when Christ was born there were perilous times then also and Rome was conquering Rome was powerful there were things going on at that time that were terrible but it was the right moment God said this is the proper time and in the midst of the darkness the light was shining Jesus Christ was born and that's what happens they were performing their ordinary task which was watching over the sheep they would keep an eye on these sheep in three hour shifts they would protect them against predators they protected them against thieves it's interesting to point out that the glory of God is revealed to shepherds who are in a field these are people who are doing their ordinary tasks but I've discovered in some of you that God invades the ordinary an angel of the Lord stood before them he stood in place above them now we remember that Mary and Joseph traveled from a northern town of Nazareth it was in the north and they came down south to Bethlehem just outside of Jerusalem according to verse 7 here in chapter 2 they had tried to secure a room in a home or a hotel but there was no room for them in the inn two words are translated in one word speaks about a hotel but the other speaks of an enclosure where travelers would drive the cattle for the night it wasn't a hotel with a stable outside it was a stable and so what's being said here is there was not even room for Mary in a stable Mary gave birth in the open there was no one there to help her no one there to attend her there was nobody there even to help place Jesus in that manger and in her moment of giving birth she was without assistance there was no midwife there was no other woman she was alone in many ways except she wasn't alone because Immanuel was there God with us she wrapped him according to verse 7 in swaddling cloths laid him in a manger with her own hands now people during that day were wrapped in strips of cloth twice once when they were born the child would be great would be gently washed with salted water would be wrapped from head to foot leave in a portion of the face uncovered so that the baby could breathe his body would be held very straight with the hope that he would grow up to be free from crookedness of the heart that he would walk tall before people the parents would spend a time in prayer they made their commitment to God and then they unwrapped him but the second time they were wrapped in cloths it was for burial in Jesus' birth we have a picture of not only his birth but also his death because he was born that he might die he is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world the bible again in verse 7 says she brought forth her first born son not simply in chronological order but in preeminence in importance that's what he was and the angel of the Lord according to verse 9 stood before them and the glory of the Lord shown around them so they received this birth announcement they're watching their sheep the sheep that were intended for temple sacrifice they're in the same fields that David would be in when he kept watch over the sheep and as this happens they see the shekinah the glory of God and their hearts begin to tremble in fear undoubtedly these shepherds were aware of the sacred stories of how God had dealt with Israel they had heard of the miracles they knew of angels who visited men they knew of the legendary leaders of Israel from Abraham to Malachi but now the book comes alive there's an angel standing over them and they fear for their lives and that's why in verse 10 we read it says do not be afraid I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people you live in a world that lacks joy you live in a world that is under oppression you live in a world that has been in darkness for hundreds of years but I'm bringing you good news and this good news this good news is for all people Isaiah 52 verse 10 says the Lord has made bear 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 says in verse 11 there is born to you this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord a savior has been born because we need salvation the Bible says all have sin and fall short of the glory of God Ecclesiastes 7 20 says there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin Galatians 3 22 says the Scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe when we make Christmas about ourselves and gift giving we're failing to understand why God would even take upon himself human flesh when we have a philosophy that states all men are by nature really good and they learn to do evil we're missing the point of what the Bible teaches concerning our human nature those of us who are parents know that our babies when they're small can get so angry over the smallest things that if they were big they'd kill us on the spot if they had teeth they'd gnaw on us we know that because wrapped up in the child is rebellion human nature unchecked can do the most evil thing now not all people do what they ultimately can do in terms of have the potential to do not all become as evil and do as much evil as is potential there are some who stand out who do there are some very evil people we see them but we very often say well that's the exception and in many senses it is but we have to ask ourselves what is restraining them what is restraining them from doing what they want to do because the bottom line is we all by nature are sinners and we all do sin we sin through thought we sin in word we sin in action and we do that because that's natural for us to do that we all need a savior I don't understand anybody who would argue that we don't we all need help I don't understand those who think that you can talk somebody out of their sin nature you can't you can take a monkey and you can put him in a tuxedo it's a well dressed monkey but it's still a monkey he needs a nature he needs to be changed and sometimes we dress ourselves up in good works appearing to others to be good but in reality we know our own hearts we go to bed at night and we know we are not what we ought to be and the Holy Spirit takes God's Holy Spirit to awaken us and to be able to identify to us what the problem is the problem is not my education or lack thereof it isn't my economic opportunities the problem is my nature the problem is who I am intrinsically what I am that's the problem and how do you solve that problem you take them to college and you educate them you just make them a better educated pagan you give them religion you give them theology you give them philosophy what they need is forgiveness that's what we needed that's what we needed when I heard the gospel clearly for the very first time that I actually listened to it and the Holy Spirit had opportunity I was open to hear what God would have to say I actually said God speak to my heart and when he did as mentioned earlier I was surprised to see myself for what I was there at that Maranatha concert they're listening to the Christian music and hearing the people speak and then that still small voice that you read of in Scripture spoke to my heart through conviction and I still remember the conversation almost 45 years ago where the Spirit of the Lord spoke to my heart unmistakably saying to me you're uncomfortable and my response was yes I am and the next thing I heard in my own heart was why and my response was because I'm not like these people and then the next question was what makes you different and my response was I'm not a Christian for me that was unbelievable to even admit within myself and I assumed to be having a conversation within myself to myself when in reality it was the Spirit of the Lord speaking to me and it was the first time in my life at the age of 20 that I actually admitted even within myself that I did not know God because I was the kid who was raised in Catechism I was the kid who made my first communion I was the kid who made my confirmation I was the kid who would argue with Protestants I would argue with Protestants even when loaded even when smoking pot and I would say to them you're wrong no this is what you should believe I would argue that because I was convinced within my own heart like many of you that I was a Christian you could not argue me out of that you couldn't I had people try to argue me out of that and I'd say you're wrong no I'm a Christian I know who Jesus Christ is he is the second person of the most Holy Trinity he was born of the Virgin Mary he suffered under Pontius Pilate he was crucified he died he was buried he rose again the third day ascended into heaven he sits at the right hand of the Father one day he'll return I believe in God the communion of saints the resurrection I believe all of that because I was taught that the apostles creed when I was 7 years old and I believed it in my head theoretically so when you would argue with me I knew enough to be able to argue with you I knew enough to be able to say you're not right about that but if in my quiet time I ever thought you know Jesus Christ it didn't matter to me it didn't matter to me because I knew that one day in my heart of hearts I knew one day I'll marry a good Catholic girl I'll be like my dad I'll work a 5 day work week and mow the lawn on Saturday drink some beer on Sunday I'll stay home my wife takes my kids to church that was my plan for life that's what I was going to do I'll go to church for weddings I'll go to church for baptisms I'll go to church for funerals I'll go to church I'll never deny that there's a God there is a God and then when I'm real old I'll stop sinning I'll start going to Mass every day I'll do my rosary I'll die and my wife will pray my soul out of purgatory that's a fact that was my hope that was my eternal life good works when you're too old to sin I used to say that when I get older and I can't sin anymore I'll become religious that's what I said I didn't know that there's no sinner like an old sinner you don't stop sinning you refine it that's what you do right you don't stop you refine it that's the first lie you ever told maybe there's one person who lied in this room I remember the first lie actually not the first lie the first time I stole something I do remember that I was about 5 years old my dad took me to a supermarket it was called Shoppers Market it was in Norwalk there was a can of bird seed it had a green parakeet on it it was a yellow can we didn't have a parakeet so I took it I put it in my pocket I stole the bird seed and went home with it because it was just a good looking bird I liked it my mom was doing the wash she found the can of bird seed she said what's this doing in your pocket I stole it she took me to Shoppers Market took me to the manager had me hand the bird seed to the manager and confessed that I had stolen it I still remember that I got busted but I got good at stealing later and I started using my stealing to support my habits and I would steal from pretty much anybody if you had money and it was out and you were my best friend you might be losing a couple bucks if I was there I would have some wine in front of me and you walked out of the room finders keepers I would drink it I had the habit I became a thief I would steal just to support I'd go to J.C. Pennies and steal town craft t-shirts and I would sell them to friends and I'd buy drugs with it that's what I did that's what I did so you get caught stealing bird seed and you eventually got caught burglarizing a jewelry store it just keeps going forward and you keep getting better I would walk into stores I'd see a jacket that I liked I'd take the tags off that's before they put the little electronic gadgets in it and I'd put the jacket on and I'd walk out of the store I walked into one store one time I went to a clothing rack and I filled it up with the clothes that I liked and I'd put my hand underneath all the clothes and their hangers and I walked out between two people who were at that counters I walked out and I dragged out all this clothing that I stole I walked right in front of them I was very good at stealing I stole a lot and I got very good at it so you don't turn away from it you refine it I was a liar I used to make up stories I would watch people as their eyes would get big and I'd just I used to say it was fishy and I'd just isn't it weird I'm a pastor now lying and stealing do you trust me? I hope you do because I came to the point through the conviction of the Holy Spirit of knowing I am a sinner and the Christmas before I got saved my dad gave to me a Ouija board for my Christmas gift a Ouija board so that I could contact spirits but it was the Holy Spirit two days later who contacted me and I took that Ouija board and I burned it in my parents' fireplace and I said this boy is going to serve the Lord not Satan and that's what we did that's what God does God changes you and God brings us peace and we give to him glory he is Christ the Lord he is Christ he is the anointed one when it speaks concerning his name it points out that the savior of the world in his prophetic role is his royal and he is priestly he is the anointed one prophets, kings and priests anointed with oil when they were installed in their offices and Jesus is the anointed one and finally he says to us verse 12 this will be the sign to you you will 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 glory to God and then peace to the glory of God Christ who is our peace has been given to man Jesus is not simply bringing peace Jesus is incarnating peace he is our peace and the only way to have any peace is to have him in a manger in the manger of your heart that manger is where the animals would feed it was a feeding trough it was polluted by their filth all around there in that area would be the the what they would be leaving behind stinky dirty animals who would relieve themselves around that manger they would eat there and they'd robber and that's what the Lord was placed in you would have thought that he should have been in the finest we can't call it a hospital but the finest place to be born but he was placed there in a manger which reminds us that where his presence is all the uncleanness must flee our hearts are like manger's polluted and filthy but when Christ becomes a center of it it changes it into something that's holy men are in a state of hostility with heaven and with one another the carnal mind the bible says is enmity against God and man by nature wars against his maker but now you can have peace with God because you can be reconciled to him and that comes through Jesus Christ one last thought let me remind you of and then we'll close with prayer there is a spiritual war that is becoming very obvious we Americans have been isolated from its reality for a long time but it's a war that's been going on for many many centuries the war is spiritual in nature and it's ideological in terms of its expression and there are those today who will say that Christians and members of Islam worship the same God I see that sometimes on bumper stickers bumper sticker theology and bumper sticker philosophy is very often extremely shallow and I see that the fact of the matter is there is a war going on and the war is for human souls the church has been given by God a message the message has been called terms of peace it's the gospel the gospel is referred by the apostle Paul to being the gospel of reconciliation the word reconciliation speaks of reconciling or bringing to peace two warring parties and what you and I have been given as Christians is what is called the gospel of reconciliation to what God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and what we have been handed are terms of peace God who is at war with man because of man's filthy sinfulness sinful man at war with his holy God when he hears the terms of peace gives to God an unconditional surrender God's terms of peace is not a negotiated peace God's terms of peace is unconditional surrender and he says I have won you have lost you need to reconcile with me and that comes through the gospel and the church has been given the message of reconciliation so we say God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself God took upon himself human flesh dwelt amongst us we beheld his glory the glory of the only begotten son of God full of grace and truth he is given to us a message Jesus according to Ephesians 2 14 is our peace and we received crisis lord and savior now we've been delegated to go out with this message and what we have today are Christians who are saying things like I'm a Christian and I love the Quran but the Quran says that Jesus Christ is not God's son that God has no son so how can you love a message that undermines the gospel message you can't Jesus said either you're for me or you're against me but there's no neutrality who are you going to serve and that's why Joshua would say as for me in my house we will serve the lord that's who we serve we need to understand that today we cannot be lulled into sleep with this desire to have peace with people you cannot have peace with people if they hate your God you can't they crucified Christ they will persecute you fast to the truth gear up it's a time for war be ready no I'm not saying let's go out with bazookas and take them out I'm saying let us take the word of God live it and give it and see God move and be glorified because of Jesus Christ who is the prince of peace he will give to us peace in Christ that's how it comes it's a time for us to wake up let us not reduce the gospel to sentimentalism it is a powerful declaration of God being with you he is for you and if he's for you who can be against you hold fast to him don't back down hold your line he is lord and I will serve him with all of my heart to the day I see him face to face that's what God has called us to do that is Christmas a savior has been born Jesus Christ