In your Bible, if you would join me in Luke chapter number 2, Luke chapter 2, the well-known Christmas story. We will begin in verse number 1. This season, my wife is a child of Christmas. People ask me, how many trees do you have up?
I said, I've lost count. I don't know. They're everywhere. And she puts them up before Thanksgiving. They come down, you know, I think it's springtime somewhere, you know. It goes from a Christmas tree to a winter tree.
Anybody else have a wife like that? Yes. Luke chapter 2 verse 1 says, and it came to pass in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. His taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, every one, into his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of Nazareth into Judea and to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. To be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child, and so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
How telling. Verse 8, and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid to say the least.
Shepherding is not an exciting industry. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. This shall be a sign unto you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men. And it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the angel said unto another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haze, found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger.
When they seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart, and the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them. Father, your word is before us, our wisdom and our light. And we pray that you would guide us today through these truths that if anyone doesn't know the Lord Jesus Christ, that today would be the day of salvation for them. For unto us, a Savior has been born, who is Christ the Lord. And we thank you in Jesus name.
And God's people said, Man, you may be seated today. Well, when we step into the Christmas season, there's a lot of different ways you can view Christmas and different perspectives one could have as they enter into this story. We could view it from that of Mary, the young Jewish teenage girl who would give birth to the Son of God, the Savior of the world. It's really incredible that she carried in her womb the one who carries us in his hand.
Just an amazing thought. We could view Christmas from the perspective of Joseph, and Caleb had sung a song last week with that perspective. But he, being the stepfather of Jesus Christ, what would you teach Jesus?
How would you father the Son of God? And from those in Bethlehem, how they missed it, the Magi from the east could see what the people in Bethlehem could not see. And then from the perspective of Herod the Great, he was a great king over Israel, ruthless leader.
He was always worried someone might usurp his throne. He actually had one of his 10 wives killed and three of his sons killed because he was afraid they were going to try to come after his throne. And then to hear the Magi, these Magi were not three men riding on camelback. Erase that from your mind. That is fictitious.
That is not true. These were Persian kingmakers from the east. They were very powerful men, and they would have rode in probably on a thousand Persian steeds ramping into Israel at that time. And it caused all of Jerusalem to be in fear because of what they were doing. And they came in demanding, where is this king of the Jews born?
And imagine Herod's view of this. He had already killed one of his wives and three of his sons, and now he's hearing about this king who's born. And he says, he pulls the scribes together and he says, where is this one to be born? And they went back in the Old Testament and said, well Micah wrote about this 700 years ago that he would be born in Bethlehem. And out of Bethlehem one would come whose goings forth have been evolved from everlasting. And so they went to Bethlehem. They knew from a prophecy 700 years ago the exact location of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Then we could ask the perspective of even people in our day. What would powerful people in the elites today think about the Son of God being born in a manger? What would the rulers of the world think about the king being born in an obscure village in town called Bethlehem?
What is the meaning of it? What is the perspective? And I think about that as we look at this story, but today I want to give you the perspective not of a man, not of Mary or Joseph, or of even the Magi or King Herod, but I want to get Heaven's perspective on Christmas. What does Heaven have to say about the birth of Jesus Christ? Because we have that message and I want to look at that today. So some of the context here as we jump in in verse 1 through 7.
In Luke 2 Mary is ready to give birth to the Lord Jesus Christ. They traveled around 70 miles from Nazareth which was north of where Jerusalem was down. It's not an easy journey. Israel is not a smooth place.
It's rocky. It's difficult terrain to walk across. And so they're traveling all the way down to this mountainous terrain to Bethlehem. This was due to a command by a Roman emperor Caesar Augustus that all the world would be taxed. And this census was not a one-time thing. This happened specifically every 14 years. A census went out and it required you to go back to your home of origin.
You had to go back to where you were born and register there. And it just so happened that it was on the exact time that Mary was nine months pregnant that she ends up going back. Or at least around nine months because she gives birth there. God sovereignly appointed all things to happen for this passage in Micah 5 to come to pass. Now Bethlehem is a small town. In Jesus's day it's estimated to have about a thousand people.
I mean this is... I don't know how many people are in Spring Valley but there's more than a thousand. I mean we're talking like a small town, right?
Sometimes we get an idea. You know today there's around 25,000 people there. But you can see Bethlehem from Jerusalem. I've been in Jerusalem. You can see Bethlehem and if you're in Bethlehem you can see Jerusalem. It's about six miles.
And so it's not very far away. And because of its small size it was unable to house all those who were returning for the census. And Bethlehem is first mentioned in the Bible when Jacob's wife Rachel died. It is where the events of the book of Ruth, when you read through that fourth chapter book of Ruth, that's where that happened.
She returned to Naomi's hometown of Bethlehem after the death of her husband where she later meets Boaz. And Ruth would go on to be the great grandmother of a little shepherd boy who was anointed king by the last judge of Israel whose name was Samuel. And that little shepherd boy ends up killing a giant and that boy's name was David.
And so it was in this little town on these hills where sheep are still being washed by shepherds, very likely the same hillsides that David watched sheep when he was a shepherd for his family. Amazingly verses 6 and 7 record that on this night Mary gave birth to Jesus the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in a lowly place where animals were because there was no room for them in the inn. While on earth they could not make room for Jesus Christ, heaven comes and tells us the great news of the magnificent birth of Christ the King. It's an amazing, it's so profound.
There's so much here that I could preach on this for an incredibly long time, for several weeks and months. But when you think about, he comes to his hometown and they have no room for him to be born. John 1-11, he came unto his own, his own received him not. O Israel, if you knew in this time the things that belong to your peace, but now they're hid from your eyes, he turns to the Gentiles, they will see it. He comes to shepherds and it's interesting that shepherds, point A, in the Greek it's the same word used for pastor, shepherd. That's what a pastor or shepherd, it's the same word. They would be the ones who would proclaim the good news. And they go everywhere and there's so much that's laid out behind the scenes that are telling more than what you just read through the physical scene of this. But what is heaven's message about Christmas?
And there's six things I just want to extract from this today. First of all, heaven tells us Christ's birth is a message that God wants you to know about. When we come to this time in history, you need to know that it had been 400 years since Malachi had closed the prophecies of the Old Testament. He was the last prophet of Israel. Israel had sat in silence for 400 years, no open revelations, no signs, no visions, no angels of God. Israel had sat in silence for over 500 years since an angel had appeared unto the nation. 500 years since any miraculous work had been accomplished, any miracle when you knew of Daniel and his three friends, Azariah, Mishael, and Hananiah, the three boys that were thrown into the fiery furnace.
You know their names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but those are their pagan names that were given to them by the Babylonians. But it had been over 500 years since that miracle had happened. Israel had sat in silence for 800 years since there was any long list of miracles in the lives of Elijah and Elisha, the Old Testament prophets. Now, when you come to Luke in this scene in history, an amazing outpouring of the presence of God through signs and miracles and angels begin to just explode on earth, this little place on earth in Israel. Heaven's message came on the lips of angels. The first two appearances in Luke by angels come through an angel called Gabriel.
Over a 15-month period, heaven has at least three appearances through angelic beings. First is Gabriel, who comes to the aged Zachariah in Luke 1, verse 11 through 20, declaring that his wife, who is also up in years, who had never given birth to a child, who was barren, will now give birth when he goes in and offers incense. And that child that she would have would be John the Baptist, who would be the fulfilling of Isaiah 40, the fulfilling of Malachi chapter 4.
And he would be the great voice in the wilderness, preparing the way for the Messiah. Then six months later, her cousin has a reception of Gabriel, who comes to her, and her name was Mary. And Gabriel tells Mary that she was the chosen one to give birth to the one who would be the great king, who would sit on the throne of David, and whose kingdom would rule over all, according to Luke 1, verse 30 through 36. Then nine months later, on the night of the Lord's birth in Bethlehem in Luke chapter 2, an angel comes proclaiming to some lowly shepherds on a hillside in Bethlehem that mankind's Savior has been born into the world.
He's soon joined by a multitude of heavenly angels, declaring glory to God in the highest on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. Ask yourself, name one child that was ever prophesied that would be born into the world. Do you know there's not one prophecy of Muhammad's coming? Not one. Not one.
What does that mean? Not one of Buddha, not one of any other religious leader ever. And of Christ, there are 300 prophecies of his first coming. Absolutely impossible for someone to have fulfilled all of those prophecies, yet he does. And do you realize there's over 1,500 verses that speak about his second coming? If he came the first time, do you think he's coming back?
Right? I mean, you have to be like those in Bethlehem who just miss it to miss it. And friends, he's coming. The world events are setting the stage for the return of Jesus Christ. I'm very tempted right now to preach on that. I don't have time because we're preaching about Christmas right now. But when you come to Luke 2, you find heaven's silence is broken. The birth of Jesus Christ was so magnanimous that heaven breaks its silence. And if heaven breaks its silence over the birth of Christ, shouldn't we?
If there's people in your life that don't know about Jesus Christ, you need to break the silence about Jesus to them. And if you do, you'll act like heaven. That's what heaven does. The first message that heaven brings is that this is such an incredible birth that you need to know it.
And when heaven speaks, earth should listen. Christmas tells us God wants us to know him, and I believe that's why you're here today. I believe God has you personally, specifically here, because he wants you to know him.
He wants you to know him, who he is. That's why he wrote a book, 66 books, 40 different human authors, three different languages, three different continents, fits together like a hand in a glove. I always laugh when somebody says, ah, men made that book up through the years. The only people who have ever made statements like that are the ones who've never studied it. They betray their ignorance by such a statement. I don't mean that in a demeaning way, ignorance, I mean that they just have never studied it. You don't find any scholar saying that.
You don't find atheistic scholars saying that. That's why C.S. Lewis, who was a literary genius, when he rejected Christ, he said, I knew I could not reject the Bible because I was too well learned in literary criticism.
C.S. Lewis was a literary genius. He knew I had to accept it because he did the study of it. He understood where manuscript evidence, and there's actually more evidence for the reliability of the New Testament than any 10 works of antiquity put together.
So if you throw the Bible away, then you erase history. So you have to accept it, and then you have to deal with it. Ignorance is not bliss, is it?
I mean, you don't go to the doctor and say, Doctor, don't tell me if something's wrong. I don't want to know. You want to know.
And so, heaven tells us this is something you must know. This is the most important birth that has ever happened in the world. I know you think your child's the most important birth.
Okay? Some of the parents are like, no. The grandparents think their grandkids are the most important child that's ever born.
Okay, let me put it that way. Secondly, heaven tells us Christ's birth is a joyous message. Look what he says in verse 10.
He says, and the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. Anybody get worn out with negative news? Well, yesterday, about 10.30, that was good news. I went to bed. I can't stay up for a whole game anymore when they're that late.
So I woke up, I'm like at 4.30, I'm looking on there, I'm like, yes. If you don't know what I'm talking about, that's okay. But the Buckeyes gained some victory, right? Good news is good. Today's news is always filled with negativity.
It gets exhausting. If you want to improve your life, just turn off the news for a week, you know, be like, man, I feel so much better. Like all this, everything's breaking news, isn't it? You ever get tired of breaking news? Breaking news!
It's like, no, it's not breaking news. And the world's not going to end if it doesn't go exactly where they're worried about the government shutdown. Government shutdown! As long as heaven doesn't shut down, we're fine.
We could probably use some government shutdown, I think, sometimes. Now, I've found one of the easiest ways to feel better is, again, to turn off the news and open your Bible. You know, the Bible says in Psalm 119, 165, Great peace have they that love thy law, nothing shall offend them. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 57, 21, There is no peace, saith God, to the wicked. The sin-filled life is an anxiety-filled life.
It's an incredibly anxiety-filled life. In a world filled with bad news, Christian, we have some great news. The angels declared to the shepherds, Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. That's very comforting to some trembling shepherds on a hillside. Again, shepherding is not an exciting business. They weren't up there like, man, you know, this is a big night for us, guys.
Sheep are sleeping. You know, I mean, it's just a day in, day out, seven days a week. They did their job. Very, very common, simple thing.
It was not exciting. And all of a sudden, the sky opens up and there's an angel coming down. I mean, these guys would have been trembling on their faces, terrified. And then not only that, but then there's a whole host of angels that begin to start declaring glory to God in the highest.
I mean, this was incredible. And the first thing out of their mouth was fear. But how good that the next word was not, because it could have just ended with fear, right? It didn't have to be good news. What if the angels came and said, bad news, judgments come, for God does not so love the world. He sent his son to condemn the world, not to save it.
That would actually be justice. We take it for granted. We take for granted the truth of that. It could have been real bad news. You understand what angels are capable of? 2 Thessalonians 1.7, one day it will be bad news when he comes. It says, to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, inflaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me say something that many of you may not be aware of, but if you read Revelation 19, when Jesus, the loving Jesus Christ returns, this may be shocking, he will kill so many people that the valley where the great battle of Armageddon will happen, the Bible teaches that blood will flow for four and a half miles, 200 miles, four and a half feet high.
Jesus will do that. Aren't you thankful he came to save us and not to just destroy us? Jesus is not who you think you want him to be, he is who he says he is. Why just think God is? You can create your own God in your mind. When you create God, you are God. If I determine God, I am the God.
But God is not what I say, he's who he says he is. And so just understand that they came, and the phrase good tidings comes from the Greek word euangelizo. Euangelizo is actually translated into the English as evangelize. It literally means, they said it this way, because the word gospel just means good news, I evangelize you with great joy is what they were saying. I evangelize you with great joy, I evangelize you with great joy, I bring you good tidings of great joy. Anybody glad that 2,000 years ago when heaven spoke, it said good news earth, good news.
And the good news is of great joy. It's why we sing joy to the world, joyful, joyful. The angel Gabriel said to Zacharias, Luke 1 14, thou shalt have joy and gladness, many shall rejoice at his birth. Gabriel said to Mary, hail, it can be translated as rejoice, thou are highly favored. Gabriel, or the angels said to the shepherds in chapter two, verse 10, I bring you good tidings of great joy. The word great there is megas, where we get mega, like mega joy.
In Luke 1 46, Mary said, my soul doth magnify the Lord, my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. And on and on, joy and joy and joy. Friend, the world offers you happiness.
That's all it can offer you. Happiness is based on what happens. I hope things happen to go well.
How are you doing? I hope things begin to happen well, and then if they happen to go well, then you have happiness. That's what it's based upon. Joy, on the other hand, is not based on circumstance. It transcends that. Happiness is based on emotions. Joy is based on an attitude, which increases. And joy is based on God. Psalm 16 11 says, thou will show me the path of life, in his presence is fullness of joy. John 15 11, Jesus said, these things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. You'll only have full joy by knowing Christ. And because joy is based on God, that's why the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, right? Galatians 5 22. And because joy is based on God, it's not lost when trials and hardships come.
It's not. When bad things happen, joy can remain because God remains. That's why in Acts 5 41, it says they departed from the council, rejoicing, they were counted worthy to suffer shame. They had just been beaten for preaching Christ, and they're rejoicing over it.
In Acts 16 25 at midnight, Paul and Silas, they're literally in a prison cell for preaching, prayed and sang praises unto God. Paul wrote the book of Philippians while he's in a prison for preaching, and the theme of it is joy. Joy, 16 times the word joy is used. Jesus is our example in Hebrews 12 two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him. Joy is just everywhere. If there's one word that defines heaven, this is the word. Joy. It's unending, unceasing joy. The thing in you, the dopamine in you, the desire in you that feels good.
Who made that? And who do you think fulfills that? When you get to heaven, you'll be so addicted to him. You'll be like, I've never seen anything so beautiful. You ever seen that sunset? Walk out on a night sky and the sky's lit up with incredible stars and the moon just massive in the fall and that harvest moon. Some of the things God does in just the sky. Some of those deep space scenes when they take pictures further out than they've ever gone and you say, wow, who must this God be?
Can you imagine seeing the one who did that? What he must look like, what the feelings will be when you have a body that's able to contain feelings that could be generated by viewing such a glory. Heaven awaits. The earth offers happiness. A fleeting credit card, plastic happiness. And God offers you unceasing joy. Never ends, cannot be interrupted forever. So which one do you take? I'm going to hang on to my plastic or are you going to receive the riches of heaven?
This is offered, isn't it? And let me say this, I know for some today this is hard. You know, for many people, Christmas is a joyous time, but there are some who will be here today and it's a time when your heart's been sad all week because you have a loved one that's not going to be with you this year. You know, I had a funeral yesterday morning, funeral week before that. I was in a hospital two days ago witnessing to a 46-year-old man who's dying and who passed away yesterday.
I had a wedding yesterday, a joyous occasion. I'm around those situations and I know that this is a sorrowful time, but I just want you to know that for the believer, we don't have to sorrow as those who have no hope, right? For some of your loved ones that are not with us, this is their first Christmas with Christ.
What glory they'd get a behold. And if they can't be with us, where else would we want them to be than with Him, right? And so find peace in that today and let it also be a motivation that everyone in your life needs to know about Jesus Christ because if they don't know Christ, they're not ready. The third truth that heaven tells us about the birth of Christ is this is just heaping good news upon the other. Verse 10 says, This is good news not only for some, not only for the Jews, but which shall be for all people. Aren't you thankful that God opens the door for everyone? The door of salvation is for all people. Luke 2, verse 30 says, Mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou has prepared before the face of all people. That was what the old godly Simeon said of Jesus, the baby. Romans 2, 11 says, There is no respect of persons with God. You know, when you read the Bible, the Bible's filled with people from all walks of life that God poured His grace out upon, from kings to peasants, from rich to poor, from those who greatly educated to the uneducated. None of that matters to God. He opens the door of grace to all.
It's to all people. So I don't know what your past is this morning, but I do know this. There are some people in here that you feel like your life has been defined by your sin.
And you carry that. And you feel like you'll never be acceptable because you know things about you that no one else knows, and you just keep defining yourself by this. What you need to know today is God doesn't define you by your sin. You are defined by your Savior. That your sin has been covered by the grace of God. That He has opened the door of grace. And the people that flood around Him in the Bible are the ones who are the most sinful people because in Him, they finally found freedom. Today, freedom is offered. Forgiveness is found. Salvation through Christ.
And it's available to all. Jesus never said to any... He never rejected anyone's invitation. It's a fascinating thing because even like Simeon the Pharisee who invited Jesus over to his house, Jesus went to his house. And there's a bunch of stuffy, self-righteous, legalistic guys. And he goes in there and he speaks truth in their life. He offends them all, but he goes. And then little Levi gets saved and he's like, Jesus, will you come over? And everybody over at his house is a bunch of tax collectors and prostitutes and harlots. And Jesus goes over there and they're all thankful that Jesus comes and they receive the message.
Isn't that something? What is something is that most people won't even give Jesus Christ an invitation to even begin to work in their life. God, I want you to speak into my heart. I want you to show me truth.
I want to know you. There are some people who are not saved who have put like zero effort in knowing God. And it always amazes me because it's the same people that would go to the doctor to make sure they get a clean bill of health. But they have no concern for where they're going to be in a thousand years. Why would you be so concerned about your physical health but then your spiritual eternity, which is so much more important unless you don't believe there's anything.
But what in fact typically happens is this. People will not praise God for all the blessings they have, but then when something bad happens, they now blame God. God, you're not worthy of my praise, but you are worthy of my condemnation. You're not worthy of my worship, but if anything bad happens, it's on you. And so I will never seek you. I will never desire you. I will hold bitterness.
And I've had people tell me this. You know what my problem is, Pastor Josh? I need to forgive God after I pick myself up off the floor. And again, I understand bad things can happen to people. But do you know anyone that was 33 years old that got crucified for nothing he did wrong, suffered more than any man, beaten, beer ripped out, crown of thorns shoved on his head, piercing into him, medial nerve torn apart, pain riveting his body, ligaments exposed, who became thirsty so we could be full, who was beaten so we wouldn't have to be, who took the wrath of God so that we could have the grace of God?
Do you have that name? I deserve the cross. Anything good that happens in my life is undeserving. People sometimes say, why do bad things happen to good people? They don't.
They never have. The truth is there are no good people. The Bible says there's none that doeth good, no, not one. Jesus is good. And the worst things happen to him.
The real question is why do good things happen to bad people? That's the inverted truth. That's right side up truth in an upside down world. It sounds awkward to us, don't it? Because we've been Americanized, man. We have been culturized. What the world tells us, we're like, man, that just sounds off.
That's actually what's right side up. One day in heaven we'll be like, that's real. Like our eyes will be opened.
Let me give you the last couple of things. Number four, heaven tells us Christ's birth is a saving message. Look at what verse 11 says. This is what heaven says. For unto you is born this day in the city of David. Again, heaven's open to say this. Unto you is born in the city of David a savior.
Who is it? Who is the savior? It's Christ the Lord. Why didn't they say Jesus? Because Yeshua means salvation.
That's the literal definition. For unto you is born in the city of David Yeshua, which is Christos Koryos. I'm not speaking in tongues, those are the Greek words. Jesus who is Christ the Lord. He is the savior. Not one who shall be a savior, but literally born a savior. He wasn't going to become a savior.
He was born as the savior. If our greatest need was health, God would have gave us a doctor, it's been said. If our greatest need was finance, he would have gave us a banker. If our greatest need was social, he would have gave us a counselor. But our greatest need was a savior.
And so that's what he sent. Heaven knows salvation is man's greatest need, but do you know that today? If you stood before God and he said, why should I let you into heaven, what would you say?
What would you say? Are you good at checking your physical health, but not good at checking your spiritual health? I think I'll be okay. I'm not a bad person. It's not like I've killed anyone. It always encourages me when people tell me that. I'm glad you didn't kill anybody, that's nice.
It's encouraging. I have worked with several, I had one year where within about six months I had three different people coming to my office and said, I've killed somebody, I need to talk to you about if I can be forgiven. A couple of months later another guy, by the third guy coming in I'm like, I might need to, you know, get a guy in here with me. I ain't planning on doing this again any time soon, I just need to know.
Can you fill this little paper workout before we meet, I need to start check the guy, make sure I can make it out of my office if I need to, you know. But you know what, the Bible tells us we've all sinned, Romans 3.23, we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. What is sin? The Bible says sin is breaking God's laws. Some of God's laws are like the Ten Commandments, so if you were put under the Ten Commandments, how would you do?
There's a lot more than that, there's 638 prohibitions in the Bible. So if you stood before God and he said, you know, why should I let you into heaven? Have you ever told a lie before? Would that make you guilty of lying? The Bible says all liars will be cast into the lake of fire according to Revelation 21.8.
It's pretty serious. The Bible says if you take God's name in vain, God will not hold you guiltless. According to Exodus 20 verse 3, blasphemy, taking God's name in vain. God says love him with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.
If we put things in front of God that's called idolatry. I mean, you and I sin three times a day for a year, that's over a thousand sins. You and I stand before God, just imagine how many sins you're going to have. Friends, we're going to be guilty. That's why Romans 3, 19 and 20 says all the world will be found guilty before God.
If we're found guilty, what happens? Well, the Bible tells us exactly, exactly what happens in Revelation 21. But the fearful, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters and all, what's the consequence, what's going to happen? They shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death.
Now a doctor could give you a report and say you got stage 4 cancer, this is what's going to happen. You could reject that, but you don't change reality. This is reality.
And so, this is serious. But can't my good works pay for my bad ones? Well the Bible says it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. If you could save yourself, Jesus would not have come. He is the only savior. His name is Christ the Lord, it's not Josh Bevan, it's not your name, it's not anyone else.
And it's great news. And you're literally here today because he wants you to be here. God sovereignly chose to have you here today. This is a God who is in control. And he wants you to know the truth. Now you're responsible for what you do with that truth.
And you will be held accountable. And he can save you today if you would turn to him. If you would come to him and humble yourself and say you know what Lord I am a sinner, I have broken your law, I need forgiveness, I need salvation, I can't be good enough to get to heaven, I need my sins washed away, I believe you died, you were buried, you rose again from the dead, and I need you to be the Lord of my life.
Knowing that information does not save you. Submitting to that truth that Jesus is your Lord will save you. The Bible says confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord or the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved. Lord remember me in your kingdom. Doesn't mean perfection but it means that you've submitted your life to Christ.
Don't give me any of this why pray prayers to Jesus I believe in God stuff. And then your life is no different, you live as lost as everybody else. If you're saved people know it.
Right? If you're alive people know you're alive. If you're dead they probably will find out pretty soon that you're dead. And if you're living a Christian life that would be known.
There would be fruit. Jesus said you'll know them by their fruits. Number five heaven tells us Christ's birth is validated. He tells him in verse 12 through 15 he says this will be a sign unto you.
You'll find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying glory to God in the highest on earth peace good will to men. So these shepherds very quickly they go down to say let's see this great thing and so when they went down they find the babe lying in a manger.
You know what I love about that? It says in verse 15 it came to pass the angels were gone away from them into heaven the shepherds said one to another let us now go even to Bethlehem and see these things which has come to pass which the Lord made known to us. They searched it out they sought it and they were found of God. Their pursuit was rewarded by the truth.
I'm amazed again at the people who will not even seek it out. You know the truth of Scripture is a fact of history. Jesus Christ's birth is the most magnificent event that has ever happened. You know of all the kings, rulers, all the presidents, all the great authors, orders, singers, philanthropists. No one has impacted the world more than Jesus Christ.
The one born in a manger. The noted historian Kenneth Scott Lutterett said as centuries passed the evidence is accumulating that measured by his effect on history Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet. That influence appears to be mounting. Out of a hundred billion people estimated that has ever lived Jesus is the most influential person ever to live. There's a reason why the encyclopedia Britannica gives more room to Jesus than any other human that's ever lived. Why?
Because if God was born into the world he would make that kind of effect. This is the truth friends. I'm going to wrap up. You said you've been wrapping up, closing down, shutting shop for the last three points.
I know I'm working there. Number six, heaven tells us Christ's message is a message of peace between God and man. So in verse 13 and 14 and suddenly there was with the angels the multitude of heavenly hosts, they're praising God and saying, verse 14, let's read that together, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will toward men. There is a biblical equation, when God is glorified man is blessed. When God is glorified man is blessed. I've had people say, you mean God's all about his glory? Yeah. You mean God believes he's the best?
Yes. Who else would he point glory to? What's interesting about it is this, anyone else that claims that it's blasphemous, it's prideful, it's annoying, it's off. That's why when I say it it's like that kind of sets people back a minute.
But it's true. If Jesus is the most glorious, the most beautiful, the most wonderful, the creator the sustainer of all things and he's the one to be worshipped the one who is glorious above all things, then it would be idolatry for him to point you to anything else. And the greatest gift he could give you is himself. What would he point you to?
Anything else he would point you to would be less. You know humans are the only creatures that were designed to respond to greatness. Some of us like eagles they don't line up and say, Frank over here has a record last year he hit 208 miles an hour flying off the cliff to get that salmon out of the river. They don't keep stats.
Bears don't keep stats. Cheetahs. Human beings are the only ones that do this. We respond to greatness. It excites us. It excites us so much like we'll wear a jersey with a name or a number and everybody knows what that represents.
If you have a Steelers jersey on I won't tell you what that represents but you get my point. But we are created, do you ever think about that? We are designed to excite, we are excited by it. Somebody can take that ball and throw it at us, it's like wow that was credible.
That little white ball and you hit that thing and mine goes that way but these guys are good it just takes off it's like whoa. And we respond to that. Who can drive a car the fastest?
Who can run the fastest? We keep stats on everything. Why do you think we do that? We do that because God engineered us to love greatness. And the problem is we celebrate the creation when we've been designed to celebrate the creator. If you think the creation's grand you wait till you behold Him. And the Bible teaches the more you glorify Him the more blessing pours out upon your life. Why is that? Because you center your life with reality. What is really real, everything else becomes idolatry when we fall into it too far. But when you line your life upright vertically, horizontal living makes sense, it falls into place.
You know what's interesting? Every year we hear about mental health, mental health every year they do a study, Gallup poll since like 2001 in 2021, 2020, 2021 they did a study on that. It was the lowest it had ever been.
COVID. Men's health, mental health was down by an average of 8%. Women's mental health was down by an average of 10%. Probably because some of the men were staying home with them at times.
They declined for it now. But what was interesting, the people who made the most money in America, they were down on an average of 12%. Everybody was down, the entire nation. The only people, and this is not a Christian group, the only people they found who were in the positive, a positive 4 were people who attended church regularly, weekly.
Is that fascinating? Glory to God in the highest on earth. Seems like when you line your life up, it doesn't mean you go to church, everything is always perfect, but it means that you're making a priority out of God, right? Those who came casually like seldom, like maybe once a month, their mental health was down negative 12%. I found in my family when we grew up in church and out of church and in church and out of church, we didn't benefit that much from it because it wasn't that big of a priority because we just kind of ebb and flowed. Because God was not, we were not fully committed to him.
Our commitments were just, it doesn't mean that if you can't make it every Sunday you don't love Christ, that's not what I'm saying, but I'm just telling you, there is a commitment that Christ has with your heart when you surrender to him. And the peace and blessing, God is not here to make you miserable. He wants to bless your life. Glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace, good will to men. Great peace have they that love thy law, nothing shall offend them. God will bless his people with peace. Jesus, the day before he died said, peace I leave with you, not as the world gives give I unto you, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Who says that the day before they die? What kind of man is that? The glory of God, incredible, isn't it? Today, do you know him?
Do you know him? If you stood before God and he said, why should I let you into heaven, what would you say? And when he shines the light of the law upon your life and you are found guilty as a sinner, that you've broken his laws, that you've disobeyed his commands, you've taken his name in vain, you've lied, you've stolen, you've disobeyed your parents, you've taken, different sins.
And when you're found guilty, what are you going to do to defend yourself? The Bible says every mouth will be stopped, all the world will be guilty before God. And that day, friend, he's your savior today, he would be your savior today, and that day he'll be your judge.
If you don't know him, you need to know him. To say no to him on a day like this, after him coming to the world, being born in a manger, knowing that, suffering and dying for your sins, don't say no to that. If you're here today and you don't know that answer today, we have men and women that will be standing down front, I'll be here, why don't you come today, say I need to be saved, I need to trust in Christ. If you're a Christian today, are your children saved? Are your children even saved? Your parents saved, do you know that? This is the week to talk to them. We got little cards out there on your way out, grab those, there's a QR code, it goes through the gospel, they could watch that video. Listen, don't put this off, this is the reason for the season, isn't it? Heaven opens up and says, Earth, there is great news, but you know what, it's only great news if you receive it. And so today receive the truth, amen. Let's all stand this morning.
