 gather. And then one other thing before we get into our study I was reading today in the Orange County Register something in the in the opinion section and I thought it was interesting enough to read to you. This came out of the Orange County Register today and I thought it was interesting even as I was reading it I was thinking about how how things have changed over the years and all and I think you might if you haven't read if you don't get the Orange County Register if you haven't read this you might find this interesting but this is basically what I read today. At exactly 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve 1906 wireless operators aboard US Navy vessels and United Fruit Company ships witnessed a miracle. A custom don't lead to hearing transmissions of short and long pulses representing the dots and dashes of Morse code wireless operators on that historic night before Christmas actually heard voice and music over the airwaves. That first ever radio broadcast was a product of the pioneering work of Reginald Fessenden. Fessenden was the first to transmit audio by electromagnetic waves. He did so by developing a transmitter that employed amplified modulation more commonly known today as AM. So it was on that Christmas Eve at the dawn of what would come to be known as the American Century that Mr. Fessenden was in Brant Rock, Massachusetts transmission shack which boasted a 420 foot top loaded umbrella antenna and which sent his broadcast to radio enabled ships in the central and south Atlantic Ocean. It began with the message CQ CQ CQ in Morse code which was a general call to all the ships or ground stations in the range. Then came a Christmas program introduced by Mr. Fessenden who was the son of an Anglican minister. It began with a recording of a soloist singing Handel's Largo played on an Edison phonograph. Readings were to follow by Mr. Fessenden's assistant, his wife Helen and his secretary but all three were overcome by Mike Fright. So Mr. Fessenden made a cameo violin in hand treating listeners to his cover of the Christmas favorite Oh Holy Night. Then the first radio broadcast in history concluded with the prayerful words from the book of Luke that resonate as much in our troubled times today as they did nearly 110 Christmas Eves ago on earth peace goodwill to men. And I was thinking about that today how that times have changed haven't they? The first radio broadcast was to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and scripture reading and worship took place. I really feel that we Christians I don't know how to say this in a proper way but we need to wake up. We need to wake up. We've given up a lot of ground to the enemy but we need to wake up because here we are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and isn't that something we ought to be celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior and that's what we're going to look to today at in or tonight at in chapter one here in verses 18 through 25 of the book of Matthew beginning at verse 18 now the birth of Jesus Christ is as follows after his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit then Joseph her husband being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example was minded to put her away secretly but while he thought about these things behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying Joseph son of David do not be afraid to take to you bury your wife for that which is conceived in hers of the Holy Spirit she will bring forth a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins now 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 bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which is translated God with us then Joseph being aroused from sleep did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife and did not know her though she had brought forth her firstborn son and he called his name Jesus the celebration of Christmas is traditionally regarded as a holiday and it's a holiday that is regarded as one that is joyful for many Christmas is about family is about friends it's gifts it's food is celebration it may even also involve attending church services and singing worship hymns and all of these things have value I appreciate the many years that I have celebrated this holiday but what I want to do tonight in our Christmas Eve service is I want to concentrate on the scriptural meaning of Christmas I want to spend time with you sharing the heart of the Christmas message and we can begin by considering what Matthew is telling his readers about the birth of Jesus Christ he makes it clear here in this passage that Jesus's conception was miraculous in that his mother was a virgin her child was conceived by the intervention of the Holy Spirit her child is Emmanuel which means God with us quoting Isaiah 714 and her child was to be named Jesus the name Jesus means Jehovah is salvation and the reason he will be named Jesus is because he will save his people from their sins now these things alone make the Christian faith stand out from all other so-called religious faiths we celebrate the birth of the Son of God who is the Savior and he is the Savior of all who believe when the Apostle Paul was writing to young Timothy and first Timothy chapter 4 verse 10 he said this he said for to this end we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men especially of those who believe he is the potential Savior of any who would come to him the actual Savior of the one who receives him you know what the reason I decided to take this tack today and share with you a little bit about the scriptural reasons that we believe in Christ and all is because today we we have many voices who are basically saying that all religions by and large are worshiping the same God when in fact that's not true this fact needs to be remembered today because I believe that religious people are obscuring what the Bible actually has to say as unpopular as it is allow me to lay a foundation concerning Jesus Christ and his birth you see when you read the gospel of John you immediately notice how John began his gospel in John chapter 1 verse 1 in the beginning was the word the word was with God and he says and the word was God in verse 14 of the same chapter the word became flesh dwelt amongst us we beheld his glory the glory of the only begotten Son of God full of grace and truth the word became flesh in the beginning was the word the word was with God the word was God and the word became flesh so Christmas is a celebration of what we call the incarnation incarnation is taken from the Latin word which is also where the Spanish language comes from the derivative incarnate in flesh the incarnation speaks about God taken upon himself human flesh and Matthew is saying that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and John has made it clear that Jesus Christ is God himself in the flesh so these revelations distinguish the Christian faith from the Jewish faith as well as the Muslim faith because neither recognize Jesus Christ as God in the flesh and without the conviction of the Holy Spirit neither Jew nor Muslim will recognize Christ for what he is recently some of you perhaps saw the same photograph that I saw it was a picture of a young woman holding a sign and the sign read I am a Christian and I love the Quran so if you're a Christian and you love the Quran what does the Quran say about Jesus that should cause me as a Christian to love it why would I as a Christian say that I love the Quran I need to know what it has to say what does it say about the Lord Jesus Christ because today we have people saying that the God of Islam and the God of the Christian is the same God but if the if it is the same God then the Quran would say the same thing that the Bible says about Jesus Christ the Bible says in the beginning was the word the word was with God the word was God what is the Quran saying well it says that Jesus is not the Son of God it reads O people of the Scripture do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter ought concerning Allah save the truth the Messiah Jesus son of Mary was only a messenger of Allah and his word which he conveyed into Mary and a spirit from him so believe in Allah and his messengers and say not three cease it is better for you Allah is only one Allah far far as it removed from his transcendent majesty that he should have a son his is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth and Allah is sufficient as defender it says Jesus was not crucified because of their saying we slew the Messiah Jesus son of Mary Allah's messenger they slew him not nor crucified him but it appeared so unto them and low those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture they slew him not for certain it reads those who believe in the incarnation are unbelievers they have certainly disbelieved to say that Allah is Christ the son of Mary it says those who believe that Jesus is God's son are accursed Christians call Christ the son of Allah that is that is a saying from their mouth in this they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say Allah's curse beyond them how can how they are deluded away from the truth someone said it is strange for someone who professes to be a Christian who presumably believes that Jesus is the son of God the second person of the Trinity who was crucified arose from the dead for the salvation of the human race to profess love for a book that denies all that and says that those who believe it are accursed vile beings who should be waged war against until they submit to the dominance of a group that believes differently a Christian can a Christian can and should say I'm a Christian I love Muslims but we need to remember that love for people is not the same as a love for the book a book that rejects Jesus Christ Christmas is a commemoration of God giving to us his son Jesus God in the flesh as unpopular as unpopular as this message is for some today it is the message of Christmas we have substituted mythologies and parties and gifts and so many things and I come with a sense of sorrow in my heart by having to even say to us as a church that we also need to wake up to what's taking place Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and there is no other way to God except through Jesus Christ let us not forget that as we look at this passage we see a young man who is engaged to be married but he has found that his bride to be as pregnant Matthew speaks of Joseph as being in verse 19 a just man he's a righteous man in his espoused wife Mary has been found with child and now he has to make a decision Joseph is now considering quietly what he must do and he's considering break in his marriage agreement but as he does so the Bible here tells us that the angels spoke to him in Matthew 1 verse 20 Joseph son of David do not be afraid to take to you marry your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit now Matthew makes it very clear that this miraculous event is actually foretold in the Old Testament in verse 23 of Matthew 1 he says behold the Virgin shall be with child bear a son they shall call his name Immanuel which is translated God with us Immanuel God takes upon himself human flesh and he is dwelling with us he's dwelling amongst us and with us and why would the Lord do that why would God take upon himself human flesh somebody said humanity is lost fallen we are separated from God because of our sin and our only hope of forgiveness was for someone completely innocent of any wrongdoing to take all the punishment for our crimes such a perfect life and a perfect love were impossible for any human to achieve so God himself did it for us he sent his son from eternity into mortality from glory into flesh and from a throne to a manger ultimate hope was born in ultimate humility this is the immense love that God has for us and this love is revealed to us in an almost unbelievable an incredible way God's son gave up the splendor of heaven to dwell with us and that reveals to us his great love for us and second Corinthians chapter 8 verse 9 you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might become rich God came into the world the world he created to rescue those who have rejected him and as Christians we realize that the meaning of Christmas is wrapped up in this one word the meaning of Christmas is Emmanuel now this season is a hectic season and because it has become so it's important for us to take a moment to regain our focus the fact is Christmas is the time of the year for us to remember something to remember the love that God has for us it's like what John said in 1st John chapter 4 verses 9 and 10 grace 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 hearing his love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to the to be the propitiation for our sins you see the central purpose of Christmas is to celebrate God demonstrating his love to us it's a time that we rejoice in the love of God it's a time that we rejoice because God sent his son for us if we look at the condition of the world our nation our state the cities or even our families we can lose hope we may very well be overcome with sorrow even a sense of hopelessness and helplessness you see when Jesus Christ is absent from Christmas Christmas has no meaning when you look in the Gospel of Luke and you look at chapter 2 verses 9 through 14 and that portion of scripture records how that that God gave what we would call today a heavenly birth announcement and he did that to shepherds who were in a field and when you read Luke and you see chapter 2 it says in verse 10 that the angel said to these shepherds I bring to you good news good news of great joy the birth of Jesus the savior of the world is intended to bring great joy and that's because God is with his people that is because God is delivering them from the slavery that they live in the slavery to their sin Paul and 1st Timothy 1 15 said here's a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst Christmas has the message the message of God's presence with us the message of God loving us the message of God forgiving us of our sin and that's the heart of Christmas and because a savior being born is so important Satan has worked overtime to obscure and diminish that message today we simply look at the Christmas story as a myth we even see it as a child story many have taken the heart out of the story of the birth of Christ and in doing so have left it empty of its power to save when my children were small growing up Christmas Eve was the night that we would gather together we did this all of their lives until they moved out till they got married and we would gather together on Christmas Eve and when they were small we would give each one of them one present to open and oh man they were so you know they they wanted to tear into those presents so bad it's because their mama did and they wanted to too they wanted to tear open those presents but I would have them hold on to the present and they would be all excited and and I'd say but before we take a moment to open the presents we're gonna open the word and I would open the gospel and I read to them out of Luke and I would share with them and I would say this this is the kind of thing I would say to my children I would say Christmas is not about presents Christmas is about Jesus Christmas is not you receiving a present Christmas is you receiving him in your life and as we have these presents it's a it's a blessing that God provides for you and I don't want you not to be happy that you're receiving when you should it's a gift to you but the greatest gift that you'll ever receive is the gift of eternal life and here's something for you that many people today seem to be disagreeing with I would say to them you know Santa Claus doesn't exist oh no don't tell my kid that he believes in him well here's the thing when my kids grew up they never were confused about whether or not there is a savior and they were taught that Jesus Christ and his birth that's a fact but there are myths and traditions around a man named Santa Claus or Chris Gringle or Saint Nicholas or whatever you want there are mythologies you know revolving around him and I would say you know some of your friends you know their parents tell them there's a Santa Claus and say you know don't blow it for him but there isn't one I taught him the same thing around Easter and I'd say you know the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs you know because we didn't hunt for Easter eggs in our house and we didn't talk about the Easter Bunny they they heard that other places they didn't hear it with us and I would tell them you need to keep the resurrection the center of your understanding about Easter has nothing to do with bunnies it has nothing to do with baskets it has nothing to do with bonnets it has everything to do with Jesus Christ being raised from the dead and I would teach them that and one day my son Joseph had an assignment I think it was eight years old and he was in class and the assignment was to draw something about Easter and he drew something about Easter I've never forgotten he was around eight years old he's now 34 so it was a long time ago but he drew a picture of the empty tomb he has the picture of the tomb he had it was open he had a stone in front of it and it had a picture of an Easter Bunny bowing before the empty tomb because that's what I taught him every knee shall bow including the Easter Bunny parents make sure your children know who Jesus Christ is make sure you teach them the truth of who Jesus Christ is the Son of God second person of the most holy trinity he took upon himself human flesh he was born in order that he might die he is the savior of the world and we celebrate Christmas because God gave the greatest gift to us he gave us his son we need to remember that he loved us one of the things about love is in order to understand it it needs to be demonstrated and it needs to be received you see God's love is openly declared it was manifested it was expressed visibly the Bible tells us I just read this in 1st John 4 verse 10 in this the love of God was manifested because he says God sent his son why did he send his son well mouth Matthew in chapter 1 verse 21 here says that she's going to give birth to a son you will give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins so the Bible says clearly God sent his son that he might provide salvation for sinful man throughout the Bible man is revealed to be separated from God and what separates us from God is our sin Isaiah tells us in chapter 59 verses 1 and 2 behold the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear but your iniquities have separated you from your God your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear sin make separation there's none righteous the Bible says no not one all have sinful short of the glory of God the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through his son Jesus Christ it's appointed unto men to die once the Bible says and after this the judgment but God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life to hear my word and believe in him who sent me you will have eternal life and you have passed from death into life and so what we have in Jesus Christ is life the Bible tells us very clearly that what we deserve because we have violated God's standards we have sin what we deserve is his judgment but God gave us a way through grace and through grace we have an ability to not be judged God demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us that's the purpose in God sending his son he came to save us by living a perfect life and then yielding it up for us in Luke 19 verse 10 we read the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost somebody says I loved God but the Bible says no he loved you he loved you first and he demonstrated what love is when he gave his son again first John 4 10 says not that we loved God but that he loved us and he sent his son we didn't love him first the opposite is true he loved us first and loving God occurs when we receive his love for us it's a response of gratitude I've been telling myself you shouldn't speak personally give personal illustrations because probably dilutes the message but I'm going to give you a personal illustration anyway because I learn things and I put them into practice and then I try and say this is how I learned it and you know it's never one of those things where I'm trying to do anything other than that when my mom and I when I was a little boy my mom when she would speak to me we'd always use illustrations always that's how we conversed when my mom wanted to teach me something she would give me an illustration and that's how I learned to communicate and that's how I teach I teach this way because my mom spoke to me this way so she'd say David is like this or David's like that and then she'd illustrate and so that's what I do and and so one of the things to try and bring this this lofty concept of God loving and you responding I look at human relationships because very often they mirror what the Lord's relationship with me is and and I can tell you this many people know in this fellowship if you're a visitor then this may be the first time you've ever heard this those who are part of this church you already know this but I'll say it this way everybody who knows me knows that I'm in love with a woman by the name of Marie everybody knows that because I mentioned her every time I preach and I don't mean to I just do well that's really not true she pays me to but that's another that's that's entirely different but why why do I love my wife the way that I do I want to make this practical and this is how I do it because I'm thankful I am thankful that this woman loves me I'm thankful that she loves me all these warts with all these imperfections but she loves me I don't know I haven't understood it yet we've been together over 40 years I still don't understand it how come but you know what that's made me do it's made me love her with everything in me everything I'm supposed to give to a woman I give to that woman why I'm thankful I'm grateful I'm loved and that's why out of the abundance of my heart I will speak it I will say these things it's not because I'm forced to it's not because oh I've got some weird self-esteem issues it's I'm grateful and when you are loved you are set free to be who God intended you to be when I began to realize how God loves me I responded to his love I am not one of these these believers and I hope none of us are but I'm not one of these believers who is going to say I'll show you how much I love you I'll prove to you how much I love you I'm not that way with God we have a man by the name of the Apostle Peter the Apostle Peter tells the Lord Jesus Christ if everybody denies you I never will I will die for you and what he's basically saying is I really love you now in the Old Testament the Bible says love the Lord thy God with everything within you and so the Apostle Peter is an individual who's saying I love you with everything within me that's the great commandment and I love you and I would never betray you and I will even die for you and yet you have somebody else by the name of John who keeps on saying in the Gospel of John that he's the one whom Jesus loved and as I look at those two different men you have one boasting about the immensity of their love I will do anything for you I will die for you and when Jesus was taken there in the Garden of Gethsemane it's the Apostle Peter pulls out a sword and tries to take Malchus's head off I will die for you and I'll die in combat for you but when it all came down to it and Jesus is on a cross and some women are around him including his mother where was the Apostle Peter where were the other men Peter was boasting I will leave and die for you I love you more than the rest of these people I'll prove it by dying for you but he wasn't there the one who said I love you with all of my heart was not at the cross but the one who said I am loved by you he was I want to boast become one who says oh I love no no it's not that I loved him is that he loves me and he gave his life for me and that makes me want to serve him the rest of my life because he loves me he is the savior of the world Christmas is not about what you can do for God it's about what God has done for you he gave you a son and we give gifts to our children that will perish with the using but my Heavenly Father gives him life and that eternal so what's the most precious gift to receive on Christmas eternal life life that is from God himself God sent his son and we receive that gift God would have us receive that gift the Bible tells us in John 1 11 and 12 he came to his own his own received him not but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to those who believe on his name so Christmas reminds us that we need a savior Christmas reminds us that God has provided salvation through Jesus Christ God offers forgiveness and he offers life and he does so freely we we simply humbly repent and in faith receive what Christ offers us and then he restores us then he places his spirit within us and then like Paul said then we become new creations old things passed away you hold all things become new the Bible tells us with the heart one believes to righteousness and with the mouth confession is made into salvation when the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart as he spoke to yours and said it's time to get right with me that's when I said God be merciful to me a sinner I receive this gift of life that you gave to me through Jesus Christ the one who is born the savior of the world so as we celebrate Christmas it isn't a myth it isn't a children's story it is the gospel it is truth God took upon himself human flesh he dwelt amongst us and his glory was beheld the glory is of the only begotten Son of God Christmas is not a story it's a fact and we celebrate the reality of Jesus