Glory To God in the Highest - Part 2 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lacerre Bradley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, the praise of my God and King, the triumph of his grace. This is Lacerre Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. I hope that this season of the year is proving to be a pleasant one for you as families often get together and enjoy some special times of fellowship. And I trust that as we continue the message today, glory to God in the highest, that this message will prove to be a blessing.

It's based on the text in Luke, chapter 2, verse 14. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. We have first considered the angels themselves, and then as we begin today, we're continuing to consider the message that they bring. If you'd like to get this message on CD, you can write us for information.

Many of our listeners plan to make a special year-end donation for the support of this work, and if you can do that, it will be greatly appreciated. Our address is the Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. His glory is seen in the salvation that was brought by the Savior. The message that came from heaven was a Savior is born. Man was in need of a Savior.

As a result of Adam's transgression, he was fallen, ruined, justly condemned. He needed salvation. He could not save himself, but a Savior is born. He receives glory in this matter of salvation, because man cannot save himself or contribute to his salvation, but it is entirely by the grace of God. And the whole intent and purpose in the salvation of sinners is not just for their deliverance, but ultimately for the glory of God. God's name is honored and glorified in this salvation. In Ephesians chapter 1, we find reference to it, verse 4, According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, I get this, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, to the praise of the glory of His grace. Glory to God, then because salvation is in the Savior, the Savior is born. Glory to God because of His electing love, because He has chosen a people to the glory of His name. Verse 12 says that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. Verse 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory. You can't read that portion and not realize that the point of God's glory is of tremendous importance. That's what it is about, that God in His majesty, in His holiness, in His purity, in His power, in His sovereignty, our awesome God is going to bring glory to His name. And therefore, in His electing love, His name is glorified. Furthermore, it's because He sent His Son. Galatians chapter 4, verse 4 says, But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. When the fullness of time was come, God appointed a time.

There was a particular day in the design and purpose of the sovereign God that Jesus Christ would be born. And what a startling thing it was when that angel informed Mary that she was going to have a child. And it would be the highest that would visit her and this child would be born, though she knew not a man. Can you imagine how difficult it was for her to take all this in? She was very poor. When she and Joseph traveled for the census in order to be taxed, she had to walk about 80 miles.

Here she is nearing the time that this child is going to be born. Don't you know that she must have been weary when they got there? In this day, with the convenience of hospitals and the availability of medical help to assist at that time of delivery, it's hard to imagine this young girl walking so far and there was no room for them in the inn. It wasn't an attractive place. They were there with the animals. It wasn't a place concerned for cleanliness like a delivery room would be in our local hospital.

The stench that went up from being in a place where the animals lived had to make it all extremely difficult. An amazing scene to think that it was there, that God came to this earth, came in such a humble setting, came to such a humble family, poor as they were, and yet Jesus owns all things. The very earth upon which He was born, He had made it. And it was held together by His power. But why did He come?

He came in the fullness of time. God sent forth His Son to redeem those that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Glory to God in salvation because He sent His Son.

Glory to God in salvation because of reconciliation. You see, in nature we were alienated from God. We were an enemy to our Creator because of our sin. But in the book of 2 Corinthians 5 verse 18 it says, And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.

Isn't that wonderful to know? That here we were enemies, but we've been reconciled to God. All things are of God. All things of this salvation, this work of reconciliation is His work. He has reconciled us to God, reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. How wonderful to know. Glory to God in salvation because justice is satisfied, but mercy is given.

How could it be? If God just said to fallen guilty sinners, I'm going to ignore your sin. I'm just going to pass it by.

It's not all that significant. Then God would no longer be a holy God. He'd no longer be a just judge. Would you want to live in the city where judges just time after time, case after case, said to those who were guilty of violating the law, those who were criminals, that's all right. It's all right. We'll just let you go.

It'd be a chaotic place to live, would it not? You expect that an honorable judge is going to uphold the law. Well, God in His holiness, God being God, is going to see to it that justice is maintained. But because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, because He gave His Son as our Savior, justice is satisfied, but mercy is granted. Romans chapter 3 verse 26 says, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of Him which believeth in Jesus.

So He's just because the penalty that we deserve was meted out on Jesus Christ. Therefore, He is the justifier of them which believe in Jesus. Glory to God in the highest. Glory to God in salvation.

And then it says, on earth, peace. Now, some seem to think that it was the intent of Jesus Christ to bring total peace on this earth and they wonder why there have continued to be wars and rumors of wars. But we believe that primarily that peace that Jesus Christ brought was the peace that brought us as enemies of God into His communion and fellowship. Romans chapter 5 verse 1, therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access by faith into His grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. There it is again, the glory of God. Being justified, we have peace with God.

What greater peace could be hoped for? And you understand that by our relationship with Adam, whose sin that transgressed the law of God, that we were alienated from God. We had no right to come into His favor. We had no right to come into His presence. We had no communion with Him.

We were alienated from Him. And now, by His grace, He has reconciled us. He has justified us. Oh, how marvelous. Not only have there been continuous wars among the nations of the earth, think of the war that goes on even inside of us, think of how often we've struggled with our own fallen nature and how often we have had to deal with a condemned conscience.

But now, what? We have peace, peace with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Verse 10 says, for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by His life. We have peace. It's not peace in circumstances. It's not peace in the ungodliness of this world, but it is peace because of, in, through our Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus says in John chapter 14 verse 27, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you.

Not as the world giveth, give out unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Peace I leave with you. What kind of peace is that? That's a peace of mind and a peace of heart. That you can say in spite of my failures, in spite of the fact that I see myself as an unworthy, undeserving sinner, I rest my case in His hands. I have peace with Him. Chapter 16 verse 33, Jesus says, These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace.

In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. So He reminds us that in the world there are going to be trials, troubles, difficulties, but from Me ye shall have peace. You know the problem that arises so often in our life is that we fail to recognize the source of our peace. We keep thinking that somehow if we work at it enough we're going to find peace in material things, peace in our situation in life, but where is the peace to be found? In Jesus Christ alone who is the Prince of Peace.

On earth peace, good will toward men. Now there is a sense in which all men benefit from God's providential goodness. It says He sends the rain on the just and the unjust. Every person living on this earth is breathing air that God provides. Life is being sustained because of His mercy.

Daily benefits are theirs because God is a gracious God who is good. When He says good will toward men, we believe there's something more specific in view than His providence. Matthew chapter 1 in the 21st verse says, She shall bring forth a son and thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Good will toward men.

Jesus said in John chapter 10 verse 15, I lay down my life for the sheep. Peace to men of His good pleasure. As it may be seen in the original language, it's talking about God's good pleasure. Good will toward those of His good pleasure. As He spoke once saying, God hath hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed it unto babes.

This is His good pleasure. Good will, good will toward those who were given to Him in the covenant, those whom He came to redeem, He shall save His people from their sins. Now, having considered the shepherds and having considered the message, let's consider some of the specific lessons also to be learned here. First of all, as we think again about the shepherds, they believed the message that they heard. They believed it. As first one angel appears and says, fear not, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy.

There is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord. They believed that. They didn't hesitate. They didn't argue.

They didn't say we need some further sign. And then suddenly there was with this one angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God. This word host is really a military term talking about a great number of men in an army. A whole army of angels appeared.

Many Bible scholars believe that the number of angels are just beyond our ability to fathom. And here after this one angel had appeared with the message, then suddenly the host of angels, an angel, a multitude, a multitude of the heavenly host appeared praising God. And they received the testimony.

What did they do? They acted. They heard that he was born and they said, we need to go see him.

We want to go. Verse 15 says that it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven. Now what's going to happen? The angels have appeared, the message has been delivered. What's going to be the response?

When they'd gone away, the shepherd said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass which the Lord has made known unto us. Let's go now. Didn't say, well maybe we ought to think about this for a few days. Let's see if we can find a convenient place in our schedule to work it out.

Possibly can't do it now, maybe we can go next week, next month, or if we don't make it then, next year. That's the way a lot of people think. They hear the message of God and they say, someday, someday I'm going to really give attention to that.

Someday I'm going to act on that. Nobody said now. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger. They came with haste.

They were excited. You can imagine after hearing that great host of angels sing the praises of the newborn king, surely they said, we got to get there, we want to go now. Oh, how I wish today that I might be able to preach the gospel with such blessing of the Spirit of God that people would say, yes, that's what I believe and I want to do something about it. I want to respond in my life. I want to become a follower of Jesus. I want to commit my life to Him.

I want to let others know that He is my Lord, my Savior. Yes, after the angels left, what's going to happen? They did not hesitate. They immediately obeyed.

They immediately went to find the place where Jesus lay. And then it should be noted that the angels sang about Christ. They didn't seek any glory for themselves.

And let's remember this. The Scriptures tell us about fallen angels. But there is no evidence that God has ever determined to save one single fallen angel. But these angels did not complain about God's divine sovereignty in making such a determination. They did not hesitate and say, oh, if this was salvation for angels, we might sing.

No, this salvation did not even involve angels, it was for fallen men. But they delighted to sing anyway because they knew the ultimate end of it all was God's name would be glorified. They wanted to praise Him because they knew that all glory was due to His wonderful name.

Makes me think of Romans chapter 11 verse 33 which says, Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been His counselor or who hath first given to Him and it shall be recompensed unto Him again. For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever.

Amen. These angels said, if all things are from Him and to Him and is to His glory, we're ready to sing. What did they sing about? They sang about Jesus Christ.

Oh, that we might follow their example. He, Jesus Christ, is to be the theme of our songs, the subject of our sermons, the object of our praise, the channel of our prayers. The Apostle Paul said, I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We should rejoice in singing. We could spend a lot of time reviewing our struggles, our sufferings, our doubts, and be pressed down with sorrow, but oh, let us learn to sing with joy. Robert Lowry wrote that hymn that we sing periodically, but one verse is not in our book. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known.

Join in a song with sweet accord and thus surround the throne. The sorrows of the mind be banished from the place religion never was designed to make our pleasures less. See, many people have the idea that religion is some kind of a rigid box that encages you so that you're not able to really enjoy life. It takes all your pleasures away. Well, there are some pleasures that are removed. The pleasures of sin for a season need to be turned away from. But there are pleasures of greater magnitude that are given you.

So, religion was not designed to make our pleasures less. Let us then sing his praise with joy. Furthermore, since they sang glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, let us work for peace ourselves.

Sometimes there is little peace within a marriage, little peace in a home. May we labor for peace. Romans chapter 12 verse 18 says, If it be possible as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. As you think about this wonderful story of the birth of Jesus Christ. You think about how he laid aside what he had with the Father for a time. Humbled himself, humbled himself to the death of the cross. Came here at the appointed time to redeem sinners and you today by faith have embraced him and have the hope then that you're one of his. How has he dealt with you? Has he not forgiven you of all your sins?

Was it just some of them? Did he hold back in a few cases and say, here's a sin too great. I can't forgive you. He has forgiven you of all of your sins. If that's the case, you ought to be ready to forgive anybody and everybody else. If there's somebody that you've been holding a grudge against, this would be a good time to get rid of it. Somebody that you won't speak to.

Somebody that you actually have thought terrible thoughts about and might have wished their harm. Practice that sin today. Acknowledge your wrong. Come before the Lord and say, oh Lord, if you have forgiven me, how could I ever have harbored ill will and evil toward anybody? I want to forgive. I want things to be right. I want to get rid of the tension that's in my marriage.

I want to get rid of the strife that's in our home. I want peace, living under the rule of the Prince of Peace. The shepherds believed the message that came from heaven. And they moved with haste to see Jesus.

What about you? I know there's no host of angels here to sing this morning, but we're reading from the inspired Word of God about an event that actually transpired on this earth. Will you not take the testimony of God? The good news is that the Savior is born.

If they moved with haste to see Jesus, will you today not move with haste to say, yes, He's my Savior. I want to follow Him. I want to be identified with Him. I want to be baptized in His name. I want to serve Him.

I want to put Him first in my life. One of James Montgomery's hymns describes the singing of these angels like this. Angels from the realms of glory, wing your flight o'er all the earth. Ye who sang creation's story, now proclaim the Messiah's birth. Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn King. Shepherds in the field abiding, watching o'er your flocks by night, God with us is now residing yonder shines the infant light. Angels from the realms of glory sang so long ago. Do you hear the message today? Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Does that song stir your heart? Do you not find joy to think of the angelic chorus at the creation before the throne of God as they sang holy, holy, holy at the birth of the Savior singing, standing before the Lamb in heaven, thou art worthy for thou was slain. Glory to God in the highest. Do you desire to give Him glory? Then don't keep quiet about it. I was visiting with Brother Bates this week.

I remember that's 101 years old. Several times during the visit, he just burst forth with an expression, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. He said, you know, Elder Bradley, there was a time I think we were too quiet about that. I think it's time we speak up. I think we need to speak it out loud and let people hear it, say praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Would you praise Him today by confessing Him as your Savior? I will praise Him. I will praise Him. Praise the Lamb for sinners slain. Certainly as the angels came from heaven singing this glorious song, giving praise to God, glory to God in the highest, we ought to be giving Him glory in our walk from day to day, giving thanks for His unspeakable gift, Jesus Christ, our wonderful Savior. I pray that God will bless you in the days to come and that you will have many happy seasons at this time.

We look forward to hearing from you till next week at the same time. May the Lord richly bless you all. I will praise Him. I will praise Him. Praise the Lamb for sinners slain. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Brightly, Jr. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217.

That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. For His blood can wash away each stain. I will praise Him. I will praise Him. The Lord.