Luke The Orderly Account of Truth - Good News of Great Joy - Luke 2:1-24

The question I have is have you ever gotten good news that caused great joy

in your life? Yeah, you think about that time? What is that

time? Think about that time good news that caused great joy? Because for

me, I kind of had a hard time thinking about this. When I

was thinking about this question, I was thinking about when my wife said yes

to marrying me. I was like, Okay, that's a pretty good one,

right. The other time I thought about was maybe when Patricia, my

wife, was pregnant with our third child, and we've been praying for a

boy, and then the doctor told us it's a girl. We're like,

and I'm in the car on the ultrasound, like I'm in the car because

it was COVID times and she's like, wait, no, it's a point.

And we were like, oh, that was great news, right,

And so that was super wonderful. But the thing that's funny is that even

those two weren't the ones that really stuck with me. It was actually a

time that was way less significant or more important than those two moments in my

life. It was funny when I brought this up to Patricia, I asked

her the question, h I said, I asked her this question. She

said, was it the phone call? I said, it was the phone

call, all right, So I'm gonna tell you about the phone call really

quick. About a year or so after me, she had first been married,

or within that time frame, we were both working at a hotel and

made it very difficult for us to be here on Sundays, to be a

part of church and all those things. And we had just gotten married and

we really wanted that to be an important part of our relationship, is that

we went to church on Sunday. We were plugged in and involved, but

we were going to at a hotel, and so in housekeeping specifically, what

what And it was awesome, it was cool, It was a great time,

but it made it very difficult because everyone checks out on the weekend,

you know, so that's when that's when you're there cleaning rooms or work in

the front desk like my wife was, And so I want we wanted an

opportunity to be able to do this. I found a different job working construction,

which is super super big blessing. But about a year after after that

blessing, I'd started looking for another job. I'd gotten weekends off that was

super helpful, super great. We were able to go to church together on

Sundays, but I wasn't able to participate in anything pretty much. Monday through

Friday started at seven, and then we got done at the job site whenever

it was done. That's just kind of how it worked. You know.

It was good. It was a good good lessons for a nineteen twenty year

old, totally super great. But as I started looking for new jobs that

would be able to provide me with those things, I found one. A

friend had suggested it, and so I went and applied, and then I

got the phone call that I didn't get the job. I was devastated.

For a twenty year old, this was devastation. This is a big deal

that I didn't get the job. And here's the thing. I wasn't upset

or mad because I didn't like successfully past the interview or anything like that.

I was really more upset and devastated because I was feeling stuck, feeling stuck

in the place where I was at. So I entered probably what would be

like the darkest couple of months of my life. And I say that only

because that's how my wife refers to home, because she knows me best,

and she's like, you were not okay, you were not. I was

like, I think she's like, you were not all right, you were

not all right, and so I take her word for it. I'm moving

along. So I kind of just continued on with my job, and eventually,

a couple months later, another position at the same job opened up.

My friend who worked that was like, hey, should try applying again,

and so I'm like eager to do it, but also I really don't want

to be let down again because that would be devastating two point zero and I

just I didn't want to do that to myself, but I did it anyways.

And so a couple of weeks later, after applying again, I get

a phone call WHI I'm working at a job site, and on the other

side of the line is a lady saying, hey, do you want the

job? And I was like, so when I have to come in for

the interview and do all these other things. She's like, no, no,

no, no, no, you already did all that stuff. You

can have the job right now if you want it, you start as soon

as soon as you can. And I was like, it's insignificant to anyone

else but me, but for me, that was good news and it changed

my attitude for weeks and weeks after that, because ultimately I was feeling stuck

and I was feeling hopeless, but I would receive this good news that brought

me goojoy. Now here's the deal today, and Luke, we're gonna be

talking about a story that also was good news, that would bring good,

that would bring joy. But I can guarantee you it's much more important.

It's much more relevant than getting a new job. Okay, So let's read

our text for today, pray and jump into it. All right, so

you can turn with me to Luke. Chapter two. We're gonna be going

through verses one through twenty four. If you don't have a Bible, we

have bibles in the back for you, please go grab one here. We

regularly go through scripture and so it's just gonna be helpful. It's God's word.

You should have it in your hand so it will be here on the

screen. I'm gonna read from my Bible. Let's read it together. This

is God's word. In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a

census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census

that took place while curing Us was governor of Syria, and everyone went to

their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of

Nazareth and Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he

belonged to the House in line of David. He went there to register with

Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,

and she gave birth to her first born, a son. She wrapped

him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room

available for them, and there were shepherds living out in the field near their

fields nearby keep a watch over their flocks. At night, an angel of

the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them,

and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, do not

be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all

the people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born

to you. He is the Messiah the Lord. This will be a signed

to you. You will find a baby, wrapped in cloth and lying in

a manger. Suddenly, a great company of heavenly hosts appeared with the Angel,

praising God and saying glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth,

peace to those on whom His favor rests. When the angels had left

them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let's go.

Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord

has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and

the baby, who was lying in the ranger. When they had seen him,

they spread the word concerning what had been told about this child, or

told them about this child, And all who heard it were amazed at what

the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured all these things and pondered them

in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the

things that they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been

told. On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child,

he was named Jesus, the name the Angel had given him before he

was conceived. And when the time came for the purification rites required by the

law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to the Jerusalem to present him

to the Lord. As it is written in the Law of the Lord,

every firstborn male is to be concentrated to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice,

in keeping with what was said in the Law of the Lord, a

pair of doves or two young pigeons. Let's pray, Lord God. We're

here gathered in your name, and we asked that as we've opened your word,

as we walk through your word, that your greatness would be shown,

that we'd get to know you better, Lord God, that our affections would

be raised for you, that you would be made bigger in our minds and

in our hearts and in our lives. Or God, so that today after

we leave here, that we would not leave the same. So, lor

God, we thank you for these songs that we got to sing in the

ways you've already prepared our hearts, this message that you have for us today.

Help my words not be from me, but be of your word.

Lord God, help it be specific to where we are at today and the

need that we have today. Or God, we believe that you can do

all these things and more to your glory and Jesus name. Everyone said Amen.

Okay, So we have been in a series going through the Gospel of

Luke. Our series title is the Orderly Account of Truth. Now, the

reason that we have named this message or the series this is because of the

purpose that Luke says he wrote this gospel in the first place. So we

want to look at what Why did Luke write this gospel account? Let's look

at it. He said at the very beginning of Luke Chapter one, many

have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among

us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the

first were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word. With this in mind, since

I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write

an orderly account for you, most excellent theophilis, so that you may know

the certainty of the things you have. And so Luke is writing an orderly

account of the things concerning our Lord Jesus. So what he's decided to do

is lay it out all the facts. He wants to put all the facts

out there. And as he puts forth the truth about Jesus's life and ministry

to Theophilus, we also benefit from this. We also get to learn and

also have our faith built up. As we learned the truth about Jesus,

we hope that our faith would be strengthened as a result. And over the

last several weeks we've been seeing just that that. Line by line, text

by text, verse by verse, Luke has been laying out the facts,

starting with the promise of John the Baptist's birth and then the fulfillment of John

the Baptist being born, which we saw a couple weeks ago. We saw

the promise of our Lord Jesus' birth, and now today as we will see

its fulfillment. Now, I know what you might be thinking, Okay,

are we really going to be talking about the birth of Jesus a month before

Christmas? That's a fair question, And yes we are, because that's just

how the schedule lined up, and so we're dealing with it. Right.

But here's the thing. I think that we have something of great value to

gain from preaching on Jesus' birth before we ever really get to the Christmas season.

Right, Normally, we have kind of the anticipation of the Christmas season

rolling around. We're all looking forward to Christmas Eve really because we get presents

and that's really awesome and cool. But that's what we like, right,

and we can easily skip over the whole reason except for maybe three or four

hours on Christmas Eve, where we go like, oh, that's right,

that's what this whole season's about. That's right. Thank you Jesus, that's

awesome. You are the real gift. And then we go home, we

open presents, and we move on with our lives. But what I'm hoping

is that today, as we get to talk about the purpose and the fulfillment

of Jesus being born, that we would already have our hearts being prepared for

this next month or so to really enjoy and really share in that joy of

the season. So ultimately, I hope that this is a primer for your

heart for this Christmas season. All right, Yeah, we got out there.

Yeah, all right, So let's start breaking down our text for today.

Let's read verses one through seven. In those days, Caesar Augustus issued

acree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was

the first census that took place while query and this was governor of Syria,

and everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up

from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem, the town of

David, because he belonged to the house of House in Line of David.

He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to

him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came

for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn,

a son. She wrapped him in clothes and placed him in a manger because

there was no guest room available for them. So what we just read were

a whole bunch of facts, cool places, things going on awesome. We

read that Caesar Augustus, that was the Emperor of Rome is used a decree

that the entire empire would be registered, and this is most likely for tax

purposes. Sounds about right, And the result is that a man in his

miraculously pregnant fiance who are living in Nazareth have to travel about seventy miles south

to the town of Bethlehem, to Joseph's hometown to register, and the result

is that this woman ends up giving birth to a child in this town.

Now, all these might sound like random, insignificant facts, but nothing could

be further from the truth. It's kind of cool because the Roman emperor may

have thought he was orchestrating the world to fulfill his own plans and desires,

but God was the real one working all things according to his plans. We

see that this one decree brought about by one man resulted in the fulfillment of

many of God's decrees, and this was no accident. This is so cool

because Luke doesn't even say like, oh, yeah, look at all the

verses it fulfills. He's just like, this is what happened. And for

us, as we learn the scriptures and learn to be more knowledgeable about our

Bible, would start to go like, oh snap, he just laid out

facts, but they fulfill all of these different things that we should have been

expecting, and also the Jewish people would have been expecting. And so we're

actually going to look at a couple of those places of the Old Testament prophecies

that have been fulfilled just through this list of facts that was put out.

So let's look at Isaiah seven to fourteen says, therefore the Lord himself will

give you a sign. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son,

and will call him Emmanuel. So thus far in Luke we have met

Mary, who is the virgin who conceived and is now in this town,

and she's given birth to a son who will be called Emmanuel, meaning God

with us. That's what he will be called, a Manuel in the sense

of that he will be called God with us. Next we see in Isaiah

nine six through seven, for to us a child is born, to us,

a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders,

and he will be called wonderful counselor Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of

Peace, of the greatness of his government. In peace. There will be

no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing

and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever, and

the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. This is going to happen.

So we see here that this child is to be born, is told

who he will be and what he will be called. Let's look at one

more. Micah five two through four says, but you, Bethlehem Ephritha,

though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come

from me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old,

from ancient times. Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she

who is in labor bears a son and the rest of his brothers return to

join the Israelites. He will stand and shepherd his flock and the strength of

the Lord in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and

they will live securely. For then his greatness will will reach to the ends

of the earth. So this text says that he will, this ruler,

this shepherd, will come out of Bethlehem. This is actually the scripture that's

quoted in Matthew when it's talking about the fulfillment of Jesus being born in Bethlehem.

And it's kind of cool because we saw at the beginning of this text

that says this ruler who will come out of Bethlehem will his origins will be

from of old and from ancient times. And then we're given this contrast of

and you'll know these things will happen when she who is with child gives birth.

We have all these different Old Testament prophecies, and Luke has just laid

it out plain as day. It's just mere facts that this baby had met

the criteria for every one of these prophecies regarding the arrival of the Messiah.

All of these things further go on to prove true what the Angel had told

Mary from the beginning. Let's look at that again. This is when the

Angel showed up to Mary to tell her what the plan was. What's going

on. In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the Angel Gabriel

to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married

to a man named Joseph and a descendant of David. The virgin's name was

Mary. The Angel went to her and said, greetings, you, who

are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at

his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the Angel

said he do not be afraid. Mary, you have found favor with God.

You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to

call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of

the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father

David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants. Forever. His kingdom will

never end. How will this be, Mary asked the Angel, since I

am a virgin. The Angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come on you,

and the power of the most High will overshadow you, so that the

whole so the holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.

So Luke just described for us was the fulfillment of this prophecy, the

fulfillment of the Angel's words to marry, and also the humble manner in which

the Son of God took on flesh and was born a son of man.

Let's look again at the end of that Luke text, verses six through seven,

it says, sit out there, I'll just read it. While they

were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she

gave birth to her first born, a son. She wrapped him in cloths

and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them.

So while they were in Bethlehem, the time comes for Mary to give

birth, and Luke reminds us that this is her firstborn son, being that

she is the virgin who miraculously conceived that she wraps him in cloth and places

him in a manger, which you guys know what a manger is, right,

it's a feeding trough for animals. Okay, she lies him in a

manger and then there was no room for them. There's no guest room available

for them. Now, to remind you, Bethlehem would have been packed,

right, that kind of makes sense why there's no room. Want is showing

up who's a descendant of David to register and as a result, the guest

room and hotels are booked, right because they didn't have alllin reservations or anything

like that. I was actually thinking about this today, like that's actually kind

of crazy. Do you know how crazy that is? That? Like,

it's crazy for me, just to be clear, all right, it's crazy

for me. Maybe not some of you guys here, but it's crazy for

me that there was a time when you had to just travel somewhere and then

basically go like, I hope we can find somewhere to stay. You couldn't

make reservations. You couldn't you couldn't you couldn't call on the phone, you

couldn't make online reservations. That was a real time. So they just showed

up seventy miles away from home and are and they find no place for them.

Now. Think it's also kind of interesting is it doesn't really tell us

where they stay, but we can deduce that being that there was a manger

there, the likelihood was that it was a stable, a nearby cave for

animals, or maybe a peasant's home that would have had a a manger carved

into the floor of basically their one living room, like one bedroom apartment.

Right. Either way, what this means is that when the creator of the

universe took on flesh, he was born in a humble setting as a helpless

baby to a poor family. And we'll see that later in place in a

manger because there was no room for them. And if you think that this

is a meager welcome for the author of life, you're correct. We could

camp here for the rest of the night, but we're not going to because

I have more text to get to, So let's continue Luke two eight through

fourteen. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch

over their flocks at night, and an angel of the Lord appeared to them,

and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

This is what happens every time an angel shows up, But the Angel

said to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good news that

will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David,

a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the

Lord, and this will be assigned to you. You will find a baby

wrapped in cloth and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the

heavenly host appeared with the Angel, praising God and saying glory to God in

the highest Heaven and on earth, peace to those on whom his favorite rests.

So though initially the welcome party on earth for the birth of the Messiah

seemed anything but grandiose, a nice, humble setting, a woman giving birth

to her baby. The only place that they have to place him is in

a manger. As we talked about, the author of life is born,

and this is the setting in which he's placed in a major in a feeding

trough for animals. But the think that's cool is that though initially this party

was not very crazy, Heaven itself could not contain itself. So interestingly enough

angels show up to shepherds. It's actually kind of interesting. We all know

the story because we know the Christmas songs and we kind of have the little

Nativity scenes. But the angel show up to shepherds out in the field to

proclaim this good news. What's interesting about it is that they don't show up

to the Emperor. They don't show up to the religious leaders or even the

mayor of the town to be like, yo, nei, there's something crazy

going on. You should probably know about this. Maybe you get throw something

together. But instead the angels show up to rugged, dirty community outsiders.

The angels here were the first evangelists. They showed up to the lowly to

proclaim the good news. As we've already seen time and time again, when

angels show up, people are terrified, but the angel reassures them and tells

them that not only do they have good news, but it's good news that

will cause great joy for all the people. And what is that? Good

news? That a savior has been born, and not just any savior,

because Israel's had saviors throughout its entire history, the kind of problem up,

but they always would fail in some kind of area. It's not just any

savior, but it's the Messiah. The Lord had arrived. This is the

one whom they've been waiting for. And the sign that they gave to the

shepherds is that of the baby in the humble t state of cloths and lying

in a manger. What's kind of cool is like I almost wonder if like

there was like like these angels were just like waiting for this news to go

out, because immediately the sky's burst open and and you have angels. It

says a great multitude, And it doesn't tell us how many that is or

a great company, but I can guarantee you that doesn't mean two. It

probably doesn't mean five. But for me, I picture the entire sky is

probably filled with angels who are proclaiming and singing God's praises. And they sing

praises of God, declaring glory to God and peace to those whom God is

pleased. And when I kind of think thought about like how many angels could

this be? What kind of came to my mind is when Jesus is in

the garden before he's led to the cross and he's about to be taken by

the soldiers and his disciples. I started to like pull up and kind of

be like you ain't taking him, you know, and Jesus like, calm

down, don't you think. Don't you think if I needed don't you think

if I asked my fe he could send twelve thousand angels? You're not sorry,

twelve thousand legions of angels? Sorry, I want to back that up

because twelve or twelve legions of angels? Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself.

I'm excited. Okay, is anywhere between thirty and seventy thousand angels?

He says, don't you think I could ask my father and he would easily

give me twelve legions of angels to come at my aid? I can only

imagine how many showed up for the birth of the Messiah to sing what these

shepherds really got to experience? And here I bet it was really cool.

Now, for amazing is the sight and experience would have been, We're told.

What's really amazing is the greatness of the news that they're proclaiming. And

it's actually that news that evokes something out of the shepherds. Continuing on in

Luke fifteen through twenty, it says, when the angels had left them and

gone into heaven, the shepherd said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem

and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was

lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word

concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it

were amazed at what the shepherd said to them. But Mary treasured up 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, which were just as

they had been told. They were just as they had been told. So

these shepherds had been told this good news, and then they're like, let's

go check it out for ourselves. And once they find the baby, they're

like, well, we got to tell you, what's why we're here in

the first place. This might kind of seem random. We should be able

to feel to here. We are to share with everyone what the angels had

proclaimed to them concerning the child that had just been born that's lying in this

manger. And it says that Mary treasured up all these things in her heart,

which totally makes sense, because don't we do that as parents? We

were like treasure up those special moments with our children were like, I hope

I remember this forever, like I hope I remember this forever. And I

also think that something really cool is happening in this scene. Not only is

the good news of the born Saviors starting to spread, but once again,

how amazing would this confirmation be If you're Mary, this confirmation, I feel

like would would be very just uplifting to confirm the words that had been told

her concerning her baby from Gabriel. Initially, because I mean, like,

you really think about this trip. You're pregnant, if you're a female,

right and you're traveling seventy miles south, your fiance is like, we gotta

travel, you know what I mean. It's not like you just got like

got on the train or got on the plane or anything like that. You

had to travel, which probably meant walking seventy miles and soon to deliver a

baby. I cannot imagine that that would be great. But what I feel

like would maybe be worse is that you show up and they're like, yeah,

we don't have any room for you, sorry, and you're like,

okay, well I'm gonna have to figure something out. I can understand they're

potentially being panic or worry. That would start to set in, as they

had no place. Doesn't tell us where she gave birth, but to the

extent where she does give birth and then lays her baby in a manger,

her newborn baby in an animal feeding shroth for especial as a birth as this

was, it had been anything but glamorous. But I can imagine how special

it would have been when they got a knock on the door or wherever they

were, maybe on the side of the where there should have been a door,

I don't know, and there's shepherds there saying, hey, is that

the baby because and she's like, what do you mean. She's like,

well, we were told that we would find a baby, and she's like

from who? Well the angels? What? Well? What do they say?

They said, A savior has been born, the Messiah, the Lord.

I can imagine that this would have just been edifying, and not in

a sense that like Mary was doubting, not like that. I just under

those circumstances, you can imagine that's already a lot. But for such a

humble and lowly place, the reassurance of the good news shared from the shepherd's

I'm sure also was something really to be treasured and pondered in her heart.

It says that when the shepherds returned that they were glorifying and praising God for

what they had seen and heard, which had been just as that it had

been, just as it had been told to them, which is also another

theme that we've been seeing through already in this Gospel of Luke, that something

is told to them as God's word, and then it comes to pass,

and then more news is shared, and then it comes to pass. We

keep seeing this thing, that this good news happens. The angels are overjoyed

with it and glorify God and praise God, and then they share that good

news, and then we see these shepherds who are like, well, we

should probably check out what these angels are talking about. And then they walk

away responding just the same way. And I think it's so amazing that they

get to see God's word proven true. And I think it's amazing and for

us to even remember how faithful and amazing God's word is, knowing that it

won't deliver to fail or it won't fail to deliver what he has promised.

And it finishes this section of scripture by saying on the eighth day, when

it was time to circumcise the child. He was named Jesus, the name

the Angel had given him before he was conceived. When the time came for

the purification rights required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took took

him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in

the Law of the Lord, every firstborn male is to be concentrated to the

Lord and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law

of the Lord, a pair of doves or two young pigeons. Now here's

the deal. These last pretty much three verses are going to be actually the

beginning of next week's message. Okay, But what I wanted to read here

and point out is that it's confirmed that he's named Jesus, all in accordance

to the law. His parents are faithful in that regard. But what's interesting

here is it says a pair of doves or two young pigeons, that that

is what they were supposed to offer as a sacrifice. But when you actually

go back to read in I believe it's Leviticus where they're pulling that from.

This is actually part two. After a woman would give birth and after all

the purification things. When they would go to offer the sacrifice, they were

supposed to sacrifice a lamb unless they couldn't afford it, in which case they

had the option to offer these birds instead, which is where we kind of

get clued in to see that he was also born into a poor family.

They couldn't afford a lamb, so they used the second option, the alternative

option for offering a sacrifice. And the reason for me pointing this out is

I really want us to see and understand who our Savior is. I want

to lay this all out. Jesus, the god Man, the Messiah,

the Christ, the Savior was born in an obscure village as it related to

the rest of the world, where there was no room for them, to

the extent that his first crib was a feeding trough for animals. He wasn't

met with a parade or a huge celebration, but was visited by shepherds who

rejoiced to see the Savior who had been born. But just like the Savior

wasn't born in the circumstances that would seem fitting for a savior. Isn't the

same way that I think that if we're not careful, we may not actually

understand him truly as the savior he is. What do I mean by this?

I mean that we need to understand who the Savior truly is and what

he came to save us from. We use the word savior a lot.

He saved us, He's the savior. Israel themselves were looking for a savior.

Israel themselves actually felt stuck and they were waiting for this save. They

felt stuck under the Roman Empire and their rule, and they were sick and

tired of this empire that was ruling over them. So they were waiting for

their savior to come save them from it. But Jesus came to save them

from something so much deeper. Just like many of us might be even feeling

stuck in maybe areas of our marriage, maybe at our job, or in

various areas of our life. Jesus came to save us from something so much

deeper than just those circumstances. He came to save us from our sin.

In Philippians, we get this beautiful example of Jesus's purpose of coming in humble

human form, and I need the band to please come up. Let's read

it. Philippians two five through eleven says this and your relationships with one another

have the same mindset as Christ. Jesus. Listen carefully, this, listen

this who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God

something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and

being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to

death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the

highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. That at

the name of Jesus, every kneed should bow in heaven and on earth and

under the earth, and every tongue acknowledged that Jesus Christ is Lord to the

glory of God the Father. Like we've been seeing text after text today,

Jesus came and was born as a man, just like he was prophesied to

be inhumility as a servant. He didn't even know. This one's kind of

crazy. He didn't just come like as a humble servant, right, he

didn't. He didn't just come and be like, yes, I am going

to be humble. But even in his circumstances and the life, he had

to live was humble, but he was born hump in humility as a servant,

so that ultimately he would go on to humble himself even to the point

of death for who for us, for his people. At this baby we've

spoken of would grow up to live the perfect life that we could not live.

And then he would humble himself even further and become obedient to death by

dying in our place on the cross. It says this five Romans five six

through eleven. You see it just the right time. When we were still

powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a

righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still

sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his

blood, how much more shall we be saved by or from God's wrath through

him? For if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him

through the death of his son, how much more having been reconciled, shall

we be saved through his life. Not only is this so, but we

also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received

reconciliation. Jesus was born at the right time to die at the right time.

Our greatest need is a savior, not just from the circumstances of our

life, but from the sin that so easily entangles and wants to destroy us.

Jesus saves us from our sin. Jesus, and the way he does

that is he saves us from the wrath do our sin? Does? He

set us free from sin one hundred percent when we look to him as our

lord and savior, he sets us free. But the reason he died is

because there was wrath do our sin. That we had sinned in rebellion against

a holy, mighty justice God, a just God. We had rebelled it

day after day after day, slaves to sin, stuck in our ways.

But Jesus was born a savior to save us not only from our sin,

but from the wrath do our sin. That's why he died. He took

the wrath that was meant to come on us, that was meant to punish

us for the actions that we did. Do we don't have an excuse.

None of us can walk out of here going like well, I haven't sinned,

so I should be fine. That's not the case. If we have

sinned, there is wrath do our sin. But Jesus, if we looked

at him as a savior, that wrath was poured out on him on the

cross, and he did so willingly. Jesus gave himself up willingly. This

was God the Father's plan. He didn't force Jesus too late out his life.

Jesus says, I laid out my life of my own accord. And

why does he do that? To save his people from their sins, to

save them from the wrath, do their sins and moving forward, to start

to set them free from the sin that they have been a chain and in

bondage to Jesus saves us from our sin. I wanted to say that,

but I really it's just it's not full enough. It sounds like it's saving

me just from the things that I do. That sometimes I just get bad

consequences forward. But if we don't understand why sin is bad, it doesn't

matter. He didn't just save us to make us do the good things.

We've done a lot of wrong. We've needed a savior, and he took

that wrath and he's given us a life. And I think it's with that

understanding of with that news, that we actually can rejoice and we can actually

find joy in who this Savior is, because not only did he give us

what we don't deserve, but giving us newness of life to be able to

walk in and set us free from our sin and continuing in the pattern of

that sin, but also the thing that we did deserve, which was and

eternity apart from God. He took that penalty for us, He lived a

perfect life. He gives us that perfect life in exchange for taking the wrath

on himself. Now here's the deal. I do want it to be understood

that God knows where you are at right now. I also wanted to be

understood that the sin in your life will always, always, always be the

most fundamental root of all your problems period. But what I want us to

remember is that if God is willing to deal with the most fundamental problem that

we're facing, how much more confident can we be that He would meet us

in the circumstances that we are facing that do feel outside of us, that

maybe are a result of our own consequences. He actually does give us a

path forward. He actually does provide for all of these surface level needs,

because most of the time that's what we take to him. Most of the

time we take God, my car broke down. That's not wrong. God,

I need a new job. That's not wrong. But that is not

what Jesus is the savior of He saved us from our sin. And I

love the way that it's put in Romans eight thirty two. Let's look at

it says he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up

for us all, how will he not also, along with him graciously give

us all things. I think with that we can say amen. And so

as we turn to our time of response, I want us to know how

we can really apply what we learned today. What I really want us to

hone in on today is that a savior was born. That's the good news.

Jesus is the savior who was born to say people from their sins.

And so if you don't know him as your savior and Lord, the good

news and that's what the gospel is is this in Romans ten ten thirteen.

It won't be up on the screen. It says, for it is with

your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that

you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, anyone who believes

in Him will never be put to shame. And God's word holds true.

Remember that, never be put to shame, for there is no difference between

you and gentile. The same Lord is Lord of all, and richly blesses

all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the

Lord will be saved. So your application, if you haven't, is to

call on his name. You will find him to be a perfect and great

savior. For those of us who have put our faith in Jesus, the

good news of our Savior is the cause of our deepest joy. He is

the cause and the root of our deepest joy. Joy is what march believers,

because we have found the only thing that gives lasting joy and true joy.

It's not just a happy feeling, but it's something that in the midst

of everything being taken away from me, I could look at my Savior and

go, I am filled with joy because I have you, because you have

me, because you say so. For us, as believers, what we

need to make sure that we do is that we're not looking for that joy

in anything else we found it, don't trade it. So let's assess our

lives. What have we been looking to to give us joy? Are you

still looking to Jesus as your savior? And as we go into this Christmas

season, let us as believers be filled with everlasting joy because of the good

news in which we have heard, received, and found to be just as

we were told that He is a good savior. And let us, like

the angels and shepherds, spread the good news and glorify and praise God for

this great gift of salvation that he has given us in Jesus Christ, our

Savior. I want to end with this line from a hymn. It says,

good CHRISTI and friends, rejoice with heart and soul and voice. Now

you need not fear the grave. Jesus Christ was born to save. Would

you please stand to your feet. We're going to go into a time of

response. What this means is we're going to have our elders on the side

of the room to pray with you for anything that you need prayer for.

That's giving your life to Jesus, if that's realizing that you've taken your focus

off of Jesus I've been looking to other things. You've set up idols in

your heart to give you joy, and you want to repent of that.

I think it's great to have someone to walk through that with, to be

able to share that and confess that too, so that we get to pray

over each other and with each other to encourage one another. If you have

any other prayer requests about any other thing that's going on in your life,

please don't hesitate to come get prayer from the elders. Also, if you

don't feel confident in doing that or comfortable doing that, we also have our

connect cards. You can write your prayer requests on the back of that and

put it in the Connect card or in the offering box out in the lobby.

So if you did come prepared to give today, we'll also have the

opportunity to do that. But I do want to say also is that if

you want your prayer, we send out our prayer requests that do get turned

in because we believe as a church that the one that we pray to is

faithful, and so as much as we can, we want to gather around

each other as brothers and sisters and share those prayers. If you don't want

to share those prayers and have them to send out to the entire church.

Just write private on there and they'll only go to the elders and they'll be

praying for you. Okay, let's pray and then sing the song or praise

Or Jesus, who are a perfect Savior. We thank you that you willingly

lay down your life, that you willingly humbled yourself to take on the form

of a servant by being found in human likeness, born as a baby helpless.

Or God, that you went from the throne to the manger or God

ultimately to go to the cross to die for our sin and give us new

life. Or I asked that as you, as your word has gone out

today and it does not return void, that the seeds planted, Lord God,

would sprout and multiply and be fruitful for your kingdom. Or God,

that you would call those home who have been wandering away, who've been wandering

off, Lord God, who have been far away, or God, but

you've put them in a situation to hear your good news and find the cause

of great joy, to find salvation in Jesus Christ's name, your name that

we look to, that we call on that we rejoice in the Lord.

We love you. Where God, let this word sink deep into our hearts

and be the joy that we get to share and proclaim. Do all of

those around us as we go out this next month or so to really celebrate

you and what the birth of the Savior means. It means that you provided

for us from our deepest need, to our every need. Lord, So

Lorre God, we give this to you. We submit it to you,

and we give you all glory and praise in Jesus name. Everyone said Amen.