A Savior Is Born

Let's turn to Luke chapter 2, the gospel of Luke chapter 2, and when the average person thinks about Christmas, what comes to mind?

Probably several different things, decorations, trees, the parties, giving of gifts, but what's

Christmas really all about? Well, we get an answer from the angel. The angel gives a declaration exactly what

Christmas is all about, and have you ever noticed that with Christmas stories, sermons, angels kind of loom large, right?

You hear more about angels during Christmastime than any other time, and when angels give declarations, oftentimes in the

Bible, angels give messages of woe, give messages of judgment, so when the angels appear to Mary or to the shepherds, in every case, they're afraid.

They don't know what the angels are going to say, but here is the message.

We see this in verse 11. It's not a message of woe or judgment at all.

The angel says, for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is

Christ the Lord. So this is what Christmas is all about. God has sent a

Savior into the world. Let's read Luke 2, starting in verse 1. It says,

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone, to his own city.

Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David, which is called

Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who is with child.

And so it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.

And they were greatly, what? Afraid. Then the angel said to them,

Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.

For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is

Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, 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, goodwill toward men.

So we see this is the message of Christmas, a message of good news, glad tidings, a

Savior has come into the world. But it's not just a Savior coming into the world, it's actually

God coming into the world. So as Christians we call this the

Incarnation. If I could say one thing, what we are really celebrating for Christmas, we are celebrating the

Incarnation, when God came to earth to dwell among us.

But I decided to read up, to search, you know, online and look at a few articles and see what other people were saying about the meaning of Christmas, or why

Jesus came. Because it wasn't just for one reason, that's the main reason. He came to save his people from their sins, as was told in Matthew chapter 1.

But this list that I saw gave several reasons why Jesus came. It says, just out of 31 reasons, here are a few,

Jesus came to bring light into a dark world, so that's one reason. He came to seek and to save the lost.

He came to bind up the brokenhearted. And many other nice sounding things that, you know, make us smile.

So those are the positive reasons. And then maybe some not as nice sounding reasons.

Jesus also came into the world to bring a sword. I mean, this is what the Bible says,

Jesus came with a sword. He came to divide. It also says he came to bring judgment.

I mean, this is the stuff that often gets left out. And maybe the one thing we all know,

Jesus came into the world to die. Jesus came, he was born in Bethlehem's manger, all pointing, all headed towards one place, and that is the cross.

It's been said that because of that, many people prefer the image of baby Jesus. You know, the little child laying in the manger, people prefer that.

All the statistics say people prefer that image of Jesus. Why? Because it's non -threatening.

You know, a little baby lying in something like a crib, even though it's really a feeding trough for animals, or something like a crib.

That little baby Jesus, very non -threatening to people, as opposed to the image of the cross, or as some people depicted,

Jesus on the cross. But that is the main reason why he came.

He came as a Savior. How did he save people? By dying on the cross as an atonement for sin.

But again, the angel clearly tells us this is the cause, this is a cause of celebration.

Verse 11, so I want this whole message to be built around this one verse, there is born to you this day in the city of David a

Savior who is Christ the Lord. So despite all the negative things we could talk about, this truly is a message of good news, right?

This is what it said, a message of great joy, which will be for all people.

God first gave this message all the way back in Genesis chapter 3, if you remember. As soon as Adam and Eve gave into temptation, along with that bad news that came that the earth would be under the curse, along with that bad news came the first promise that God would send a

Savior. All the way back in Genesis 3, this was predicted that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent.

There are many other prophecies that were given along the way. Let's look at a few of these. Let's turn to Isaiah chapter 7.

Isaiah chapter 7, as you're turning there, let me just read from Micah chapter 5 verse 2.

This is one of those great prophecies about the birth of the Savior.

Micah says, but you Bethlehem, and then he gives the location because there are actually two

Bethlehems, but you Bethlehem, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one who will be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from old, even from everlasting.

So in that statement you get a little hint of the Incarnation, a little hint at Christ's deity.

Why? Because his goings forth are from what? From eternity, from everlasting.

Even that statement about the seed of the woman, in the Bible women are not said to carry seed or to have seed, so even the term seed of the woman many believe is a veiled reference to the virgin birth.

And of course the virgin birth is the main reason why we can call Jesus the Son of God, because if he was the son of Joseph, he's just a man like you and I, but no he is more than that, he is

God in the flesh, he is the Son of God. And we see another prophecy surrounding that here in Isaiah 7, look at verse 14.

The prophet writes, therefore the Lord himself will give you a what? Sign.

Okay, there's three words in the Bible for miracle, sign, power, or wonder.

So God will give you a sign, something miraculous will happen. What is that?

Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel.

And we know based on Matthew 1, Emmanuel means what? God with us.

So who is Jesus? Who is this Savior who is born? He is

God with us. He is God now dwelling among men.

So again this is the mystery, we call the mystery of the incarnation. Let's flip ahead a few chapters to chapter 9,

Isaiah chapter 9. So you got to read these these verses every Christmas season, Isaiah 7, 14,

Isaiah 9, 6, and 7. These are key verses. But again this is what we're celebrating on Christmas Day, the birth of the

Savior or the mystery of the incarnation. I say mystery because it is kind of hard to wrap your mind around that a man, that Jesus can be both man and God at the same time.

Now it's not hard to believe that God could do that. He's God, he can do whatever he wants to do.

So it really comes down to whether or not a person believes that. Do you have faith that that is true?

Do you have faith that the Bible is giving us the truth here? Isaiah 9, 6, and 7.

Another great prophecy about Christmas, if you will. The prophet writes, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice.

From that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

So this child is not only God with us, his goings forth are not only from eternity, from everlasting.

He will rule, according to this verse, he will rule over an everlasting kingdom, and he's going to be called what?

The Mighty God. Like are you are you getting the message yet? You know some people want to deny

Christ's deity. You really have to deny Scripture to do that.

The Bible is very, very clear. All right, let's go back to Luke chapter 2. Just want to lay the the basics, lay that basic foundation about who

Christ is and why he came. You say, well pastor we already know this. You can't assume everybody knows that because we realize the world is spinning a different narrative, right?

Christmas is about Santa not Jesus. So Santa replaces Jesus in the world system.

The world spins a different narrative that it's about it's about spending money and materialism and you know parties and this and that.

So we need to make sure not only are God's people reminded, you know, there are a few people, believe it or not, who have never heard this.

So we need to not assume things and just lay the basics. Now I know there are a lot of people, let me just ask you this, who likes

Christmas? I'm assuming you do because you're here, you know, but who likes Christmas? I'm not gonna ask who doesn't like Christmas.

There's a few. Before we get into Luke chapter 2, just to address this for a moment because there are some

Christians who don't like Christmas and you encounter these people mostly on the internet and since most people are online these days, you see a lot of talk about Christmas being a pagan holiday and you know all these symbols are pagan symbols and Christians shouldn't celebrate

Christmas and all the rest. Now again are there some traditions that have developed that are maybe not so good?

Yeah, and I already referenced one of them. This is just my opinion, okay, don't call me a

Grinch or anything, but I'm not big on Santa Claus. I just, are there any kids here?

I don't see any young kids, so no parents will get upset with me if I drop the truth bomb on them, but yeah, the way that Santa has replaced

Jesus, I think to me that is the biggest tragedy. You know, every year

I tell people I want to do a sermon, you know, Santa Claus exposed or something like that.

That's the sermon I really want to give this morning, but for those people who maybe are against Christmas or they've heard, maybe some people are wondering, yeah,

I've heard Christmas trees are pagan and all this stuff is pagan because that's on the internet. Since the rise of the internet, that stuff is out there, so just for those people who are maybe not sure or maybe they don't like Christmas, just a few statements.

I just want to address that briefly. Do we live in a pagan world? Yeah, I mean there's pagan traditions, pagan symbols all over the place, but you know what?

It's also God's world. It was God's world before it was a pagan world. Have pagans used symbols like trees and triangles and everything?

Yes, pagans have used all these things, but you know what? God created the trees, so yeah, it's a pagan world, but, and pagans have done all sorts, and when

I say pagan, I mean like, you know, someone who maybe worships nature or the, if you've seen the bumper sticker, tree -hugging dirt worshiper.

Have you ever seen that? That's a pagan, by the way, but you know, they're against Christianity and, but some

Christians have kind of bought into this narrative that all this stuff, you know, these decorations, all this, even a church, even the steeple is pagan and it's all, it's all pagan.

Well, first of all, that's all debatable, okay? Was there, okay, let's deal with this.

Was there a Roman festival around December 25th?

Was there a Roman festival around that time that we now celebrate as Christmas?

Yes, I mean that's true, but is that what we're doing? Are we engaging in this

Roman festival? I know the narrative is that, well, the Catholic Church, you know, Constantine and the

Catholic Church just took paganism and they slapped a Christian label on it. Now, that's true to a large degree within some

Roman Catholic traditions. I mean that, there is some truth there, but not to get too off point,

I just want to tell you how some of the things, some of the traditions we celebrate, they are actually tied to the

Scripture. So, if your conscience says, I can't celebrate Christmas, that's up to you, okay? That's up to you, but my conscience says

I can, so I'm going to, all right? We have the liberty to do that. But what are these traditions that we celebrate that really do have a biblical basis?

Well, just the tradition of giving gifts, right? This was a time in church history,

Christmas, where people gave to those who are less fortunate. This is what

Jesus is quoted as saying in Acts chapter 20, verse 35, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

So, yes, we give gifts, but isn't that what happened on the first Christmas, if you will, where the

Magi, and I realize the Magi were probably not there the moment he was born, but they came bearing gifts, okay?

That's a connection to the Bible, so we give gifts because gifts were given to the

Christ Child. What else? Well, we light, we light things up. We light up our houses, we light up, you know, candles, and we we have lights around Christmas time.

Part of it, it's a dark time of year, right? Was it today that we just start going in the other direction where things are now getting lighter, right?

Things were getting darker and darker until yesterday or today, and now they're gonna get light. But yeah, it's a dark time of year, so it's helpful,

I think, to light things up. It makes us feel better, but more important than that, John 8 verse 12,

Jesus said what? I am the light of the world. So the lights represent

Christ. Even evergreen trees, so I guess Christmas trees were first, it first became a thing in Germany.

Somebody brought a tree inside. I don't see the big deal about that, but evergreen trees have been seen as a symbol for eternal life.

Why? Because they stay green year -round, as opposed to other trees which lose their leaves and they look dead half of the year.

So evergreen trees have been seen as symbolic of eternal life, the eternal life that Christ gives.

Also, the Christmas colors red, green, and gold. Why these colors?

Red, representing the blood of Christ. Green, again, representing eternal life. And gold, representing that Christ is a king.

And then, finally, bells. Bells were associated with the ringing out of good news.

And we have bells around Christmas, and this is what we do. We proclaim the good news at Christmas time.

And I could go over a big long list and probably bore you with the treats that are made, and the symbols that all point to Christ, and there is all that to say this.

There is some, I think, biblical connection. Also, one last thing. We have in the

Bible, in Old Testament Israel, you ever notice they had feast days and holy days? They had many feast days.

This is something we've sort of lost, because we don't think any of this is binding, which is true to a degree.

Like, you don't have to celebrate celebrate Christmas. It's not in the Bible. You don't have to do it, but I think it's important that just as the

Old Testament Israelites celebrated Holy Day, and that's where you get the term holiday from, holy day.

They had holy days. I think it's important that we have holy days or holidays. So, yes,

Easter, I think, is a good thing. Christmas, I think, is a good thing. But there's one holy day that sometimes

Christians will lose sight of. A lot of those people that complain online. This is

Christmas time. I'm going to try to be nice, okay? But most of these people who complain online about everything being pagan, 90 -something percent of the time, those people don't go to church at all, okay?

And we do have a holy day once a week, every Sunday. It's called the

Lord's Day, and this is very, very important. So, all that to say this, we need to hold on to these traditions.

Hold on to the biblical truth, first and foremost. But I think these traditions are good for God's people.

It's a reason to get together and praise God. It's a reason to get together with family.

And as long as you keep Christ at the center, as long as that guy with the red suit isn't at the center, as long as Jesus is at the center, you can't convince me that that's a bad thing, okay?

So, let's keep Christ at the center. That's what we do here. But let's get into this text.

We'll go through it quick and just find the takeaway. But like I said, angels, going back to that original statement, angels are talked about more at Christmas than any other time of year.

So, what was the message of the angel? Look at Luke 2, 1 again, and it says, and it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

Or some of you have a different translation and it says what? Yeah, all the world should be taxed.

And then it says in verse 2 that Caesar ordered that a census be taken. Of course, that's one of the main reasons why censuses are given to make sure you can get the maximum amount of tax money.

We have a census in this country. It's been held every 10 years going back to 1790.

It's mandated in the constitution. So, it has to do with the House of Representatives, but it also has to do with make sure they're getting tax money.

So, I just find this interesting that Caesar, what does he have on his mind? He wants to know the might and the power of his kingdom, and he wants to make sure he's getting the maximum amount of money.

So, he issues this decree, and that's sort of the free will of man aspect.

Caesar is issuing this decree, but you know what? God has already made a decree that this would take place for a very different reason.

So, we see this in verse 3. All went to be registered, every one to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea.

So, here is Joseph and Mary. She's going to give birth to the Messiah, but all the prophecies, remember from Micah, said that Jesus would be born where?

Bethlehem. Well, the problem is they're living in Nazareth, so because of that,

God has decreed, God has prophesied that this would happen, therefore Caesar's decree kind of works right into the plan of God.

I find that amazing. So, Joseph is with Mary, verse 5, his betrothed wife, who is with child, so it was that while they were there, now in Bethlehem, the days were completed for her to be delivered, and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

So, Jesus, he's wrapped up and laid where? A manger.

Okay, what's a manger? Yeah, feeding trough for animals. So, what does that tell you?

It says something about the way God works versus the way man works. You had Caesar the king living in a palace concerned with worldly things, and now you have

God's king born most likely in a barn or in a stable, hence being laid in a manger.

That tells us that God works completely different than the ways of this world.

It also shows us that Jesus is identifying with the meek and the lowly, the average, ordinary person.

That's who God cares about. These are the people that typically are most receptive to the message, not the rich, wealthy, ruling elites.

They typically didn't care. Caesar didn't care. Herod didn't care. All Herod cared about was killing

Jesus. So, we see some symbolism there as well. Verse 8 says,

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night.

This is another identification with the average, ordinary person because there was nobody more ordinary in the ancient world than who?

Shepherds. God uses average, ordinary people. Look at verse 9. And behold an angel of the

Lord stood before them, the shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. It says they were greatly afraid.

Now why is that? Because anytime angels show up, people were terrified. I know some of you might think, well if an angel appeared to me,

I would think that was pretty cool. No, you would be on the floor, face down, you know, shaking.

So what is this message of the angels? Again, angels often came declaring doom and judgment.

But what does this angel say? Verse 10, The angel said to them, Do not be afraid.

For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.

So what are the angels declaring? They are declaring good news. In the

Bible, angels, like I said, always seem to be, well in the

Old Testament, they've brought judgment, they've killed people. In the book of Revelation, you know, there's the angels blowing the trumpets of the three great woes and the end times.

But these angels are bringing a message of good news.

So this is the message of Christmas. It's not a message that God is angry with the world.

It's a message that God so loved the world. Now is God angry?

Now there is that other side of it. That's true. But this is why Jesus came. He came as a

Savior. Romans chapter 5 verse 8 tells us that God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners,

Christ died for us. So this is the message. Look at verse 11 again. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a

Savior who is Christ the Lord. This is the reason why Jesus came, to save his people from their sins.

One last point before we close. You have very, what you might say is inclusive language here in this chapter.

So you use that term inclusive and people's ears kind of, you know, pop up.

You do. You really have inclusive sounding language, even universal sounding language like good tidings of great joy to who?

All people, right? All people. And then people that all means all. It's all people.

But then, like I said, in Matthew 1, you see something different where Jesus said he comes to save his people from their sin.

So you have to ask this question. This is crucial. Now, is it inclusive?

Is it universal sounding language? Yes it is in the sense that the gospel is to be proclaimed to everyone.

Okay, this is good news for the whole world. That is true. And, you know,

I only emphasize this point because someone was telling me how they attended a service at one of these denominational churches where this word all was emphasized.

And the minister turned this into a universal type of salvation where everyone's a child of God.

Everyone's fine. Everyone's going to heaven. Is that the language here?

Well, some might say that it is. But after this pronouncement of the

Savior, look at verse 13. You see, 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, goodwill toward men.

Again, doesn't that sound very inclusive? Just goodwill towards men in general.

Some of you have a different rendering of that, don't you? Some modern translations put it this way.

Here's how one translation puts verse 14, glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.

There's a totally different ring to it. Okay. Now, I admit I grew up with the

King James version of the Bible and I read from the New King James and I'm a traditionalist.

I admit I do kind of prefer the, you know, on earth peace, goodwill toward men.

That has that ring to it. I mean, it was in the Charlie Brown special after all. It's very near and dear to our hearts and all the rest.

Is that really what's being said though? I mean, this is the point. Is God really just proclaiming the salvation that everyone is going to be saved?

Jesus saves everyone. He is the Savior of all men. Well, that's stated in first Timothy chapter four, the apostle

Paul does say that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men. But then he says, especially of those who believe.

Here's another translation of verse 14, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among people with whom

God is pleased. That says something totally different.

Now I'm not saying the King James is wrong. Don't misunderstand me. It's just, you have to, you have to interpret this.

What's the point? What's the point that I'm making? You want to make sure that you have

God's favor this morning. Yes, this is a message of great joy for all people, but you want to make sure that God is well pleased with you.

So how do you do that? That's the real question. You see this statement in the song, the great hymn written by Isaac Watts.

We're going to sing it next joy to the world. This is how it goes. Joy to the world. The Lord has come.

Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing.

This is probably the saddest part about the Christmas story.

Not every heart has prepared him room. Just as there was no room for Mary, Joseph and Jesus in the end, there is no room in some people's heart for the

Lord Jesus Christ. But it's our prayer this Christmas season that for many people that would change, that would change because it's very easy to have

God's favor. It is very easy to have Christ, to have

God being well pleased with you. What do you have to do? You must prepare room in your heart for him.

And then once he's in your heart, this isn't one of these things where you just repeat the words and it's done and you can go back living your life.

No, I pray that someone this Christmas season would receive Jesus into their heart and he would do what he does.

When you really receive him, what does he do? He changes your heart and that's only, only the beginning of a life lived in service to the

King. So just closed on this verse again, verse 11, this is what

Christmas is about. If anyone asks you, these other things are nice, the food and the gifts and everything else.

These things are nice. This is what it's really all about. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a savior who is

Christ the Lord. Let's pray. And father, we do thank you for your great gifts.

As we embark on a time of giving gifts, you've given us the greatest gifts of all, the gift of your son, the gift of peace, peace with God and the peace of God.

And we thank you Lord for the gift of eternal life that is given freely to all those who believe.

And Lord, because of these great gifts, I just pray that you would bless the hearts of your people this

Christmas season. And we continue to pray for those who don't enjoy this peace.

May your Holy Spirit draw them into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.