 In Luke chapter 2, beginning at verse 4, Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth and to 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. Though 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, 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. 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 will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger. 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 Christmas, traditionally for us in the United States, Christmas has been a time of celebration, a time of giving gifts, of joy of singing, attending worship services, and then gathering with our families to fight for the rest of the day. For many Christmas is a time of wonderful fellowship. It's a time of making great memories. Christmas for them is a beautiful season. It's a great time of the year. And that's because the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, was intended to bring great joy. Jesus' birth is wrapped. It's wrapped up in a story, a story of redemption. The Bible tells us very clearly that God sent His Son into the world to seek and save the lost. And when found, joy is experienced. Like it says in Psalm 32 verse 2, 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. I believe to our nations hurt we've secularized what has always been sacred. And the birth of Jesus Christ has been divorced from its context. The birth of Christ is regarded as an actual historical event. But many treat it as a myth or a child's fable. It's simply something filled with human sentimentality. But when we have done that, we have taken the heart out of the story of Jesus' birth and the result will always be an emptiness. So what is Christmas? Well Christmas is a time of celebration. God has broken into human history and He's provided salvation for a lost world. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah in chapter 9 verses 6 and 7 sent it like this. He said, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. The increase of his government in peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his 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. And so during the season we gather to celebrate the giving of the gift of God's own Son. And by God giving us Jesus Christ He demonstrates to us something that we don't know. We desire to know, but we don't really know in a complete form until we understand it in the giving of Jesus Christ. We understand love when we understand God and what God has done. By giving to us Jesus Christ, God demonstrated what love is. In 1 John chapter 4 verses 9 and 10 John said, 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. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. That's what Christmas is. As much as I enjoy the various trappings of this holiday, the lights and the tinsel and the trees and neighborhoods that are lighted up, you know, the greetings and all of that, it has to be much deeper than what many people experience. It has to be about God loving the world and sending His Son to be the Savior. When you look at this, I want to point something out very briefly in verse 7 and develop from verse 7 into verse 14, the Christmas Troy. I want you to see a few things here. In verse 7, speak it of Mary, it says, She brought forth her firstborn Son and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. So She brought forth her firstborn Son. It's interesting when it speaks concerning this firstborn Son being wrapped in swaddling cloths and being laid in a manger. It's interesting, but in their lifetimes, during the time of Christ, people would be wrapped in strips of cloth only two times. Once they would be wrapped in swaddling cloths when they were born. The child would be gently washed with salted water, wrapped from head to foot, leave in a portion of the face uncovered so that he 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 and would walk tall before people. When the baby was born, the parents would spend time in prayer. They would make their commitment to God, and then they would unwrap Him. He was wrapped in swaddling cloths. But the second time that they were wrapped in cloths was for their own burial. So in Jesus' birth, we have a picture of His death. It's a picture of Jesus who was born to die. And prophetically, what we have is that He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And so this one, this firstborn son, has been wrapped in swaddling cloths. Now Mary and Joseph traveled from the northern town of Nazareth to a town called Bethlehem. Verse 7 tells us they had tried to secure a room in a home or a hotel, but there was no room, it says, even in the inn. Now this may be something interesting to some of you. Two words are translated by the single word inn. One word that is translated from the Greek into the English word inn speaks of a hostel or a hotel. But the other, the other word speaks of an enclosure. There would be an enclosure where travelers would drive the cattle in for the night. This enclosure had water supplied, it didn't have a host, there was no food, there were no ordinary comforts. This inn was not a hotel with a stable outside, the inn was a stable. So what's being said here literally is that there was no room for Mary even in the stable. So Mary gave birth in the open. And when she gave birth there was no one there who would help her, no one there to attend, no one there to even place Jesus in the manger. In her moment of giving birth, she was without any assistance of other women. And there was no midwife. And so there she was placing Christ in this manger. And as this is taking place, verse eight says, there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night. So in the ordinary events of our lives, God breaks in. These shepherds are simply performing their ordinary task of watching over the sheep. Now the sheep that they were watching, there are many who believe that these shepherds were watching over the sheep that were sacrificial. These are the sheep that would be offered up. So it would be a very important thing to note that they were watching the sheep that would be sacrificed in the temple when the Lamb of God himself was born who would take away the sin of the world. And so they're there keeping an eye on the sheep. They had three hour shifts. They protected them against predators and against the thieves. And so what happens is that God now breaks into their ordinary life and the glory of God is now revealed and it's revealed to ordinary people. There had been 400 years of silence since the closing of the book of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. Now at precisely the right time God begins to work again amongst men. He had earlier dispatched Gabriel to speak to Mary and Joseph had been comforted and directed. And he's about to reveal his salvation to man in the most personal way possible. He is now going to be incarnated. According to Matthew chapter one, verses 20 through 23, the Bible says, Behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take to you, Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bring forth a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child and bear a son. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which has translated God with us. God would be with man in a unique way. The silence has been broken and God is now to be seen in human flesh. And so verse nine says, Behold an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid. As they saw the shekinah glory of God, their hearts began to tremble in fear. Undoubtedly, they were aware of stories of God dealing with Israel. They knew the stories of miracles and angelic visitations. They knew of the legendary leaders of Israel from Abraham all the way to Melanchite. But God has a way of making the book come alive. An angel is there standing over them and they begin to fear for their lives. And this is something, by the way, that's very common in Scripture. When you see an angelic visitation, normally there is a response by that human being that is a little bit more than just casual. I've heard people before as they've been speaking on TV concerning their spiritual lives and they're presenting themselves as some very, very faith-filled preacher or evangelist or whatever and I've heard some of the stories where they speak concerning that, Oh yeah, I've had angelic visitations and as the angels were speaking to me and they speak in a very casual way. Well, the Bible doesn't say it like that. If you had somebody, an angelic visitation like this, there would be fear in your heart because the darkness is now broken by the light and there's these heavenly figures there and the praise and the Lord and it would cause them great fear as this is all taking place. Now, I'm going to give to you something that you probably aren't interested in but most of this that I do, you aren't interested in it anyway. But here's something for you because sometimes people and I just added this just for you who sometimes deal with this kind of an apologetic for you. There are people who will say, you know, Jesus wasn't born December 25th. I mean, how many of us have heard that? We've all heard that. You know, Jesus wasn't born December 25th. As a matter of fact, they'll go so far as to say that what they, what you Christians have begun to do is you have begun to celebrate a pagan festival. Well, we know that very few scholars believe that Jesus was born in December and I'll point out why right here in this scripture because it says that they were living out in the field there in verse eight, keeping watch over the flock by night. And the fact of the matter is, is that it would have been very cold during December and normally living out in the field in that man and that fashion would be done during warmer months. So how is it that we began to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25th? How did that happen? Well, the date of celebration for the birth of Christ was made to coincide with a Roman festival called Saturnalia. And Saturnalia was a pagan festival. And it was designed to celebrate the return of the sun after days of constantly increasing darkness. And Saturnalia was celebrated for seven days in December, which was a celebration of the sun's victory over darkness. Again, some have made a great deal over this claim in that we believers are acting like pagans. And I've known people who will not celebrate Christmas because of its association with Saturnalia. But Christians did something then that we've done historically. We actually redeemed the day out of paganism. You see, in this festival of Saturnalia, gifts were given to the poor. And so Christians said, you know, we ought to be giving gifts to the poor also. It's a good thing to give gifts to the poor. In Proverbs 29 it says, he who has a generous eye will be blessed for he gives of his bread to the poor. And so it became a time of giving gifts to remember the greatest gift that was ever given and that is Jesus Christ. As for the celebration of the sun's victory, Christians saw this as a symbol of our own beliefs. Malachi chapter 4 verse 2 says, you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with the alien in its wings. In Luke chapter 1 verses 78 and 79, those verses speak 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 to guide our feet into the paths of peace. And so, no, we don't celebrate Saturnalia. What we did is we took a pagan holiday and we filled it with meanings that had eternity in them. That God is the one who brings us light. That gifts were given, that Jesus Christ is the greatest gift of all. And for us as believers, the important fact is that Jesus was born. That's more important than the actual date anyway. And so with that said, verse 10 says, 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. You're living in a world that lacks joy. You're living in a world that is under oppression and darkness. It's been so for hundreds of years. I'm bringing you good news. I'm bringing you the great news, the joy that God has brought a savior to this world. I was mentioning last night that this Saturday for me will represent the anniversary when I committed my heart to Christ. I gave my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. I was saved December 27th, 1970. So this Saturday I celebrate my 44th anniversary of coming to faith in Jesus Christ. I celebrated Christmas as a child up to the age of 20, but I didn't know the savior who was given. I celebrated Christmas and as I got older, it became a celebration just as an excuse to party. For me, Christmas simply began to be that day that I'd go out with my friends and get drunk or smoke some pot or do whatever it is that we're going to do. It became the day that maybe I received a gift and I possibly might give one, but that was about it. And on December 25th, I still remember 1970, my father gave me a gift. One of my gifts was a Ouija board because he thought it was funny. It was a parlor game. So that was where we as a family were. We were living in darkness, didn't know the Lord, didn't know anything about Christ. The Christmas story to me was a myth. The joy that you're supposed to have didn't exist. The peace that you're supposed to have didn't exist. The love that you're supposed to have didn't exist. That's why I was a hippie because I was looking for love. I was looking for joy. I was looking for peace. I was looking for something. And what I especially thought I was looking for was family, for a group of people to hang around with who understood me that I could understand that we could spend time with and enjoy one another's company. I didn't know about the Prince of Peace. I didn't know about the joy that comes through a relationship with God. I didn't know about salvation. I didn't know about sins being forgiven. I didn't know about a relationship with God. I didn't really know who Jesus Christ was. And so on December 25th, it was just another day, just another day like any other day of the week. It was a day that I went out. I went out that night. So remember going out to a friend of mine's and he lived in Whittier and we smoked some pot, we drank some beer and we celebrated Christmas. That was Christmas for me. Little did I know that two days later, two days later, I would go to the Hollywood Palladium and two days later, I'd hear a message of the gospel. And two days later, I would find out what joy is. It's a forgiveness of sins. It's a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And for 44 years, I've been celebrating the reality of who Jesus Christ is because Christmas is more than a myth. It's more than a fable. It's more than a story. It's more than an excuse to get drunk, to have a party, to give a gift, to receive a gift, to eat until you're too full. It is a celebration of life that God loved us and gave his son, Jesus Christ. What a blessed day Christmas is. And you don't have to be afraid anymore. There are those who are by fear of death, they are held in bondage by the devil. You don't have to have fear anymore because you close your eyes here only to see his face there. That's what happens. And so for us, death does not hold a sting anymore. Death does not hold us captive anymore because death has been swallowed up in life through Jesus Christ. And so that's what Christianity is. That's what God intended to do. He said, I'm bringing you good news. This news is for not just a few people, it is for all people. Isaiah told us like this in Isaiah 50 to 10, the Lord has made bare his holy arm in the eye of all the nations and 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. As a savior, he has been born in order that we who need salvation might be saved. The Bible tells us that all have sin falls short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no not one. Ecclesiastes 7.20 says, there's not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. Galatians 3.22 says, scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. And so God's message, this is a great joyful message. Do not be afraid. There has been a savior born. He is Christ the Lord. He is the anointed one. When it's called, when he is referred to as Christ that points out that the savior of the world has a prophetic and priestly office. Prophets and priests and kings were anointed with oil when they were installed in their offices and Christ is that anointed one. And he has been born to you as savior. He is 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. On earth peace, good will toward men. Before they could react, a choir breaks out and prays. Glory to God, glory to God. And I want you to notice something here in verse 14. It says, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men. Before you can have peace, you learn to give glory to God. There is no peace for those who are unrighteous. There's no ability to have it because you're at war with God. There's a hostility that's taking place. A war, it's constant. And there is no peace for the wicked say of the Lord. And so what happens is in order for me to have peace with God and to be able to say that I have peace within myself, I need to receive Christ as my Lord and my savior because God gave Jesus Christ that my sins would be forgiven and that separation would be dealt with. And so God sent Jesus Christ to die in a cross to take upon himself my sin so that I might have a relationship with God through him. And so if I'm going to have any kind of peace, I need to first learn to give glory to God because peace on earth and good will toward men occurs only after God has given glory. When men are reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ, then they're going to be able to live with one another and actually love one another. They're going to have peace with God, they're going to have peace in their own conscience and they're going to have peace with others. You know, I'll say this again and I do this every time I think of Christmas and do Christmas messages like this. I can't help but transport myself back in time for just a moment and remember what it was like for me as a 20 year old and what I did to my family and how I broke their hearts and the kind of son that I was, the evil son that I was, the lion son, the thieving son, the drunk son, the doper son, that son filled with hatred, filled with anger, filled with self-centeredness, filled with just a narcissist to the max. I was a person who could care less about anybody else. You didn't care about anybody else. And I think about it often. I especially think about it. Around Christmas, how I broke my parents' heart, how I broke my sister's hearts, how I embarrassed my brother by the life that I chose to live and that war, this 20 year old lost hippie punk kid. How God reached down and took me out of the Myrie clay and put my feet on a solid rock. I don't have an over-sentimentality for Christmas. I'll be honest with you. Christmas for us when we grew up wasn't really a happy time, like many of you. It was a time that I don't have good memories of. I have a lot of sad memories of Christmas, but I don't have a lot of good ones, not of Christmas. Just wasn't the time that we celebrated well as a family. And I don't like to think about those times. When I do, I remember that they were not pleasant times. And so Christmas didn't have a great significance to me. And to this day, it really in and of itself doesn't, not the day by itself. Because when I got saved, I became somebody like what Paul said. He said to some, every day is the same. Well, for me, every day is a Christmas day because of Jesus. Every day, I celebrate my savior. Every day, I think of what he's done. Every day, I'm blessed by Jesus Christ. A nation gathers together on December 25th. Amen. A nation gathers together on December 25th and then forgets on December 26th. But I don't. I think of him every day. How good he's been to me. Forgive me for the emotion, forgive me. How good he's been to me. He's not a myth. He's not a fable. He's not a story. He's my savior. And he was born on Christmas day. And I thank God for it. The Bible says, and I'll get away from this emotion because I could get very emotional. I have to stop. The Bible says God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ ambassadors. And so God, we're making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. Billy Graham said it like this, the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our savior went unnoticed by the vast majority of the world that first Christmas night. But no event in human history was more significant. May his birth and all it means not go unnoticed in our lives. And to that I say amen. Jesus, glory to God in the highest. And oh Lord, thank you for the peace you've given to us. And may we extend goodwill towards men.