Sunday 12:19:10

Luke 2:8-12 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” We see in the Bible over and again that there is fear when people see angels. Perhaps it is their appearance, but Charles Spurgeon also noted about these verses that Jews believed that if a man saw a heavenly creature, that he would die because of his sin. But the first words of the Gospel would end all of this. “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” No more would it be a dreadful thing for a man to approach God. This child would change all of that. Those who would come to know, love and follow this child would no longer be in fear but in great joy. Their sin would be put away and the Holy God would be known to them as Heavenly Father, who loves them and shows goodness and mercy to them. “Good news that will cause great joy for all people.” Pierre Teilhard De Chardin, a Christian thinker and theologian said, “Joy is the surest sign of the presence of God.” The Westminster Confession of Faith agrees, saying that the bottom line for you and me is simply this: grimness is not a Christian virtue. There are no sad saints. If God really is the center of one’s life and being, joy is inevitable. If we have no joy, we have missed the heart of the Gospel. Why is the coming of Christ into the world a joyous occasion? 1. Jesus Christ bridged the gap between us and God Sin had separated God and us; but the incarnation bridges that separation. Good took our humanness and united it with his divinity so that God and man should constitute one divine, mysterious man. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. When God looks upon us, he remembers that his own Son, as a man, stood in our place and bore our sin and punishment. 2. Jesus Christ fulfilled the promises of God Abraham was promised that His offspring would be a blessing to all peoples on earth. The announcement of the angel of the Lord to the shepherds was a declaration that the promise was fulfilled, that now in the fullness of time God would redeem his word, and the Messiah, who was to be Israel's glory and the world's hope; has now really come. Jesus fulfilled hundreds of Old Testament prophecies. His birth reminds us that God does what he says. Isaiah 46:9-11 9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. 10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ 11 From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do. Jesus will come again. He will be faithful to complete the work he began in us. We will live with him in paradise. 3. Jesus Christ came as Savior The Lord might have come with thunderbolts in both his hands, to call fire from heaven to punish our sin; but no, verse 11; “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you.” He came full of love and grace. He did not come to judge and punish, but to seek and save that which was lost. He did not come in mighty and power, but mighty to save; able to cover all our sin. 4. Jesus Christ is the Lord The word Lord in verse 11; “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” is Kurios, here used means Jehovah. We cannot doubt that, because it is the same word used twice in the ninth verse, and in the ninth verse none can question that it means Jehovah. Our Saviour is Christ, God, Jehovah. No testimony to his divinity could be plainer; it is indisputable. If an angel had been our Saviour, he would not have been able to bear the load of my sin or yours; or if anything less than God had been set up as the grounds of our salvation, it might have been found too frail a foundation. But if he who came to save is the Infinite and the Almighty, then the load of our guilt can be carried upon those shoulders. He alone is able to save anyone who comes to him. The God who made you, and against whom you have offended, has come down from heaven and taken upon himself your nature that he might save you. He has come in the fullness of his glory and the infinity of his mercy that he might redeem you. Have you experienced the joy of knowing this news? Doesn’t it make you thankful? Where would you be apart from the joy of Christmas? I pray you adore Jesus Christ and find great joy in knowing him.