Sermon Title: Jesus Appeared-That First Christmas

Let's look at scripture now. So we look at the Old Testament together in Micah chapter five. Micah chapter five, Micah the prophet preaching 700 years before the coming of Jesus. Matthew five, beginning in verse one, you follow as I read.

Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops. Siege is laid against us. With a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

Therefore, he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth, then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And they shall dwell secure for now, and he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and he shall be their peace. Now if you would turn to Matthew chapter two, as we look at Matthew's perspective on the coming of Jesus.

Matthew two, beginning in verse one. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, where is he who's been born king of the Jews?

For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

They told him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet. And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who shall shepherd my people Israel.

Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him.

After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Jesus Appeared in the Providence of God

Ask you this morning to take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter two. Luke chapter two, probably the most familiar text in the Bible when it comes to the birth of Jesus. Been talking about the appearance of Jesus, and today we want to talk about his appearance that first Christmas.

The appearance that brings to us the gospel. You follow as I read these first 20 verses of Luke chapter two. In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria, and all went to be registered each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth 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, who was with child.

And while they were there, this time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.

And the angel said to them, "'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.'. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.'.

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "'Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.'. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.

And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them.".

Let's pray.

Father, open up this text to us, this very familiar text, this text that we know so well. Help us to see the gospel here. Help us to see our Savior here. Help us to see your redemption here. Help us to see this in the way that you want us to.

Thank you again for your grace, which is not an abstract idea, but a grace that is seen in this very text, grace coming in the person of the Lord Jesus. Help us now as we consider this text, as we think about it.

And we'll thank you in Jesus' name, amen. Well, we've heard again the familiar story of that first Christmas. It's familiar to our ears because we have heard it year after year, century after century, for over 2000 years.

It's familiar and yet it's powerful for here is the turning point of the story begun ages before in Eden, the story of redemption. You remember that through Adam, we have been plunged into the darkness of sin and misery.

And then God revealed himself and his plan through a people whom he formed into a nation. And from that nation would come a promised seed who would bring light into this world of darkness and misery. And here before us is the appearance of the promised one who changes everything forever.

And all across the world this week, this familiar and powerful narrative will be read and pondered. Now there is and always has been something marvelous about the birth of Jesus. The manger, the angels, the glorious light, the singing, all of it indicates that something remarkable has begun.

And in the entire story, you see the evidences of God's gracious work for us in Jesus. In this story is the gospel itself. In this story we see the gospel. Even at the moment of Jesus' appearance, you see the evidence of God's gracious work for people who are lost in their sin and how he's going to accomplish redemption.

Here is then the gospel for us. First of all, we need to see that Jesus appeared in the providence of God. Jesus appeared in the providence of God. Have you ever marveled at the fact that God orchestrated all the events that led to Jesus' birth so that those words that Micah said to us would be fulfilled?

The words that Micah had said 700 years before that. God in his marvelous providence moved these events in order to bring about the fulfillment of that marvelous prophecy. He so ordained things that the Messiah's mother and his legal father were living in Nazareth in the north.

He also ordained events that in order to fulfill his word and bring these two insignificant people to Bethlehem, he moved great powers and small in order to get them there. God moved the greatest power on earth for Jesus' appearance and the fulfillment of his word.

Now, it talks about a decree from Augustus, Caesar Augustus, the ruler, if you will, of most of the known world, the ruler of the Roman Empire. Now, this was not a decree as we normally think of it as the king, as the emperor says, okay, I want to send this decree out.

So this is what it's going to say. Make sure it gets to all the parts of the empire. It wasn't a decree like that. It was an administrative directive that went out at regular intervals, probably about every 14 years.

This would go out, all right? Years earlier, Caesar Augustus was contemplating his vast empire and he stumbled on an extraordinary idea for more efficient taxation. Take a census of all the subjects, of all the subject populations of the empire.

That way, he would have better records for more efficient taxation. And this would be done at regular intervals. So for example, every 10 years, every 10 years, we have a census taken in this country to determine the population of our country and to determine our representation in the House of Representatives in Washington.

And this is done every 10 years. A decree does not go out every 10 years to do this. It is something that's set in place so that the government or we can determine how our representatives are going to be apportioned in Washington.

Well, this is something like that. About every 14 years, this would go out so that there would be a census taken. So now the emperor would have tax records. He would have records of the population and be able to know how to tax them.

And so that's what this was. Now, the time had come for this census. And so the usual administrative order went out from the tax department. So you see, the whole process was set in motion years before any of this happened.

Only this time, it touches far off Galilee and Judea, setting an unknown carpenter and his fiancee down the road from an obscure village in the north down to Bethlehem. But you know, in all this, God also used the deceitful manipulations of an evil king in order to fulfill his word of Jesus' appearance.

On the Jewish throne was a man labeled or with the title Herod the Great, an absolutely ruthless and cunning ruler. This is the one who later on in Matthew chapter two orders the destruction of all the babies in the Bethlehem area, two years and under, orders them all killed.

He was a client king. That is to say, he ruled on the throne at the pleasure of the Romans. Romans weren't foolish. They knew that if they could get local people to rule and even give them the title king, it might things might go smoother for them and they could have a better control over the rest of subject populations.

And so they had installed Herod as the king of the Jews. It was they who'd even given him that name. He had proven effective in keeping the Jews in line with his great political skills. This census has the fingerprints of Herod on it, the evidence of his wily political manipulations.

The Jews had no love for the Romans. If there had been a direct census, in other words, if the Romans had had a direct census, they would have had a rebellion on their hands. And there was one when Quirinius tried it again directly with no so-called king of the Jews.

We find a reference to that in Acts chapter five. If you wanna just turn there just for a moment in Acts chapter five as the apostles are standing in trial before the Sanhedrin, one of the members of the Sanhedrin just mentions in an offhanded way this thing, Acts chapter five, verse 37.

He's saying, he was giving a little history here. After him, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.

We know from history that this census, okay, this census was under Quirinius, but it's a direct Roman census, and so the people rebelled. Herod, Herod was a very wily person. A Roman census would have had the people counted at the place of their residence.

So if the Romans had done this, if the Romans had done it, then Joseph and Mary would have just stayed in Nazareth and been counted in the census. But Herod, no doubt, disguised the foreign nature of this by appealing to tribal and family loyalties, by saying, okay, I want you to go back to the home of your ancestry.

He appeals to their tribal and their family loyalties. And so God used the evil political manipulations of a ruthless king to accomplish the birth of the Savior and the fulfillment of his word. Have you ever felt that you and your faith are inconsequential, irrelevant, in a world of evil power and corrupt systems?

It seems that God's people are nothing in a world that trumpets the achievements of big political and economic and social movements, of outstanding people with lots of power and prestige. And yet the greatest event in history, the appearance of Jesus looking absolutely inconsequential, happens by God's orchestration of those great powers for his purposes.

You need to think about that. You need to think about the fact that this insignificant birth of someone in a stable would change the course of human history, would accomplish God's redemptive purposes.

And God did that through the providential purposes and plan using all of these great powers. God moved the greatest powers of that day to accomplish his purpose of providing a Savior. The mammoth political forces and all the giant industrial complexes are guided by God for the good of his people.

We need to remember that. We need to remember that now. Even in this season, as it seems that no matter what we want to do, no matter what, everything seems inconsequential, God's accomplishing some great things through all that's happening now.

We may not know what it is now, but we do know it is for our good. So Jesus did not appear by accident. Jesus appeared by the sovereign purposes of God. We also see here that Jesus appeared as the suffering servant.

Look at verses six and seven. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.

Now, think about this. You would think that a God who could move empires to bring Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem surely could have provided a room in the inn for them.

Right?

The God who moved the greatest empire at that time, the most powerful empire in the whole world, who could move that empire, could somehow move things so that they could find a room. You would have thought that God would have provided the promised king birth into a noble, wealthy family.

I mean, come on. Wouldn't that then multiply his power and multiply his effectiveness? If he had been born into a wealthy, noble family, don't you think God could have arranged that? And you would have thought that God could have sent out an unmistakable universal summons commanding the rulers of the world to pay homage before this king.

God could have done all of that, couldn't he have? The question is not, though, what God could do, but what he willed to do. And his will was that you would, according to the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9, his will was that you would know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor so that you, through his poverty, might become rich.

The no vacancy signs all over Bethlehem were for your sakes. The wretched filth of an animal shelter was for your sakes. The obscurity of his earthly family was for your sakes. The Calvary Road begins with Jesus' appearance in a stall in Bethlehem and ends with the spitting and scoffing of the Lord Jesus at the cross in Jerusalem.

This is the beginning of what Jesus would suffer in order to redeem a people for God. He must come in poverty. He must suffer for us. In all of his suffering, his entire life was intended for our sakes.

For your sakes he became poor so that you, through his poverty, might become rich. And you must remember that Jesus says to you, his disciples now, that no servant is greater than his master and that if you would follow him, you must take up your cross.

Jesus appearing affects you. His is the way of suffering as we follow in the path that he blazes for us. And so we ought not to be surprised when we suffer. Jesus suffered from the moment he was born and we follow in his path.

We will not be greater than the master. As a matter of fact, Mary and Joseph at the very beginning started down the path of discipleship. God could have sent his son into comfortable surroundings but that would have been a detour from Calvary and the redemption of a people for God.

Notice as we continue in this narrative, this wonderful familiar narrative, Jesus appeared as the savior for all men. How is that seen? The angels appeared to whom on that first night? Who did they appear to?

They appeared to shepherds. These were the ones to whom God chose to announce the appearance of Christ the savior and king. Now, again, we are so familiar with this. Does that make sense to you? Does it make sense that God would announce the coming of the savior to shepherds who are the lowest caste in society?

These smelly, dirty laborers who took care of sheep. They were so low on the social ladder that if you were a shepherd, you were not allowed to testify in court. You weren't even allowed to bear witness to anything in court.

This is the lowest of the lowest and these are the ones to whom God revealed the glory of this coming savior. This is amazing when you think about it. The question is, why would God do it that way? Because all would then know that this savior king was the savior of all men.

Not just acceptable people, not just the movers and shakers, not just the unobjectable, unobjectionable elements of society. It's for all men. He came to rescue those who were lost. Jesus would say in Matthew 9, it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

So even at the point of Jesus' appearance, it becomes obvious that he came for those who needed a savior, for those who recognized that they were lost. Again, even at his appearance, Jesus reveals how he will accomplish God's will, how his disciples will work.

Now look, this is instructive for us. How is God going to get his redemptive purposes accomplished? If you are in charge, would you go to the lowest people of society and reveal that redemption to them?

Or would you go to those who have influence, to those who are in the upper strata of society? How often do we say things like, wow, wouldn't it be great, wouldn't it be something if Aaron Rodgers would come to Christ?

What a platform that would be. This incredibly talented, famous person could be a spokesman for Christ. What kind of influence would happen? That's not how normally God works. Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter one for a moment.

We see here in Luke chapter two, the very way God always accomplishes his purposes. 1 Corinthians chapter one. Let's begin reading in verse 26. For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards.

Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. God does not normally work through the rich and the famous and the influential and the powerful, right?

So many of us have bought into this idea that, boy, if we could only engage our culture in a way like, boy, if we could establish some studios and produce really good, entertaining Christian things, what kind of an influence we'd have, right?

Remember several years ago, several years ago now, I can't remember how many years now, the passion of the Christ came out. Oh, this was going to be the greatest thing that ever happened in the history of Christianity.

Seen any major differences since then?

No.

Why?

Because that's not how God works. He didn't work that way in the beginning. He tells shepherds about the coming Savior, the lowest of the low. Jesus uses those kinds of people to make his name known. He uses those kinds of people in the salvation of the lost.

And again, notice what happened immediately afterwards. When you look at the rest of the chapter in verses 17 through 20, what happened? Shepherds go out and tell everybody what happened. And they're amazed at what's happened.

So when Jesus appeared, he appeared as the Savior of all men, using the lowest to accomplish his redemptive purposes. He is the Savior of all men. And he uses the lowest to accomplish his redemptive purposes.

Jesus Appeared for Your Joy

What else do we see here? Well, we look at verses nine through 12. Jesus appeared for your joy. Jesus appeared for your joy.

Look at it.

Verse nine. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling claws and lying in a manger.

What do we see here?

Well, first of all, the angel says, do not be afraid. The shepherds were terrified, and they were terrified for the right reasons. Here's why. Notice it says, the glory of the Lord shone around them. Now, what is that all about?

Well, do you remember when you go to the Old Testament, there was that great shekinah, what they call the shekinah cloud, that great cloud that led the people of Israel out, the great cloud that settled on the tabernacle, the great cloud that settled on the temple when it was built.

This was the visible manifestation of God's holiness and presence. What appeared to them that night was what had appeared long ago at the temple and the tabernacle. The glory of God that caused people to fall down in terror when God would appear at the, you remember those stories where God would appear at the entrance to the tabernacle and speak to Moses and speak to the people, and they would be terrified.

This was the same glory that left the temple just before the nation of Judah was destroyed, and the temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. Ezekiel talks about the glory departing from the temple, and they had not seen the glory of the Lord since then.

And suddenly, that night, the glorious manifestation of God's holiness and presence suddenly appears to these shepherds. Of course they were terrified. It's the glory of God, come back. This was the sign of his presence has now appeared because the God-man has appeared.

And yet the angel says that they should not be afraid, but instead they should rejoice.

Why?

Because good news has arrived with the presence of the Lord. Good news has arrived that should change this terror into joy. He is a Savior. The Savior has come. Jesus appeared to save or to deliver his people.

Now, I'm not sure that the shepherds understood all that that meant. I'm not sure that they understood all that. I'm not sure that everyone did on those first opening, the opening chapters of the gospel.

I'm not sure that they understand all of it. We do know what Matthew said, that he came to save his people from their sins. And even though they might not have known all that at that point, it became evidently clear as Jesus grew up, as he proceeded in his ministry, that he came not just to deliver these people from oppression, but first of all, to deliver them from their own sin.

To deliver them from the us, them, right? We're the good guys, they're the bad guys. And he came along to tell them, you're the bad guys, too, and you need to be delivered from your sin. He is a Savior.

He is the Christ. The Christ, which means the anointed one, the promised king. Jesus appeared as a king to rule and to reign. He came to save you in order for you to know the delight of serving him, of being subject to this king.

You know, I really love the Second London Confession of Faith, the Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. It says this, because we have turned away from God and are utterly unable to return to him, and also because we need to be rescued and rendered secure from our spiritual adversaries, we need Christ's kingly office to convince, subdue, draw, sustain, deliver, and preserve us until we finally enter his heavenly kingdom.

Isn't that wonderful? The king has come to convince, subdue, draw, sustain, deliver, and preserve us until we finally enter his heavenly kingdom. That's marvelous. That's the king. That's the king that we serve.

He is protecting us, he's preserving us, he is ruling right now for our good, and someday he will rule unopposed in this world as all the vestiges of sin have been eliminated, and he rules without any kind of opposition.

Notice as well that the savior king is God incarnate. You can't get any clearer words than he is the Lord. It doesn't get any clearer than that. He is Christ the Lord, okay? Again, I don't know if everyone understood all that, but it's clear now that this is the Lord.

There's only one person called the Lord in the Old Testament. It's the one God who can deliver you from your sins.

God alone.

Who has the power and authority to forgive sins?

God alone.

Why is it that you can call on Jesus to save you? Because he is Christ the Lord. That's how he can save you. If he was merely a man as, for example, the Jehovah's Witnesses assert, if he was just another man or another created being, how in the world could he save any of us?

He couldn't. So Jesus appeared for your joy because he is the complete savior. Lastly, you will notice that Jesus appeared for your peace. Verses 13 and 14, and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

Suddenly, after the announcement to the shepherds, a whole host of angels appear. There'll have been one, right? Glory of the Lord, one with the glory of the Lord. They're terrified, and the angel gives them this message, and all of a sudden, boom, the choir comes up, the backup comes up to the solo angel, right?

And the choir starts singing. The choir starts singing.

Wouldn't it be great to hear.

The melody of that announcement? That would be super. This host of angels appears, breaking out in this tremendous hymn of praise, glorifying God. They do so because peace from God has been pronounced with the appearance of Jesus on earth.

Something will happen. It is a peace that comes to all upon whom God's favor rests, to all who have embraced Jesus, to all who have embraced this one who has come, this Savior, this Christ, this Lord.

All who embrace him will know peace. To those who bow the knee before him and submit themselves to him will know peace. All of you here, listen to me. All of you listening now, you need to think about this.

This Savior works peace for us in the midst of turmoil. It begins with God working with this Lord Jesus, working his peace with us before he conquers everything else and brings peace around us. He works peace in us first.

That is, he gives us a taste of the peace that is yet to come. We are at peace. We are satisfied. All those who embrace Jesus have, can have peace in the midst of anxiety and fear, peace in the midst of turmoil around you.

When everything's going badly, you can have peace, even in this moment. Now, everybody right now, right? Christmas has been changed this year for everybody listening to me. Do you have peace or not? Ask yourself, why not?

Ask yourself, why not? We can have peace. Jesus appears that all those favored by God will experience his peace. When did Jesus begin to preach the gospel? Many of us would say, well, he started preaching the gospel when he's about 30 years old, about 30 years from now, and I would suggest to you that's not the case.

Jesus began to preach the gospel at the moment he appeared. At the moment Jesus appeared, the gospel, the good news from God appeared. It didn't come by chance, it came by his providence. It came in the form of someone who was going to suffer for us, for our sakes.

It came to people. It was announced to people who no one would look at, the lost, the outcast. He came for your joy, he came for your peace. The gospel began the moment Jesus appeared. What we need to do is to heed the gospel as we see it here in Luke chapter two.

We need to embrace all that Jesus is for us. We need to abandon all that we are in ourselves and embrace all that he is. We need to dispel the, the unnecessary romantic ideas of what's happening here and instead embrace the truth of what Jesus has accomplished.

That's what we need to do with this text. This very familiar text, the text that we read every year. Hear the gospel and believe it. Father, thank you once more for your, for stooping to us in order to save an unworthy people.

We marvel at your love. We marvel at the obedience of Jesus and coming according to your will, willingly, lovingly, even on that day, that night, coming for us. Thank you for such a great savior. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.