Back to Bethlehem – Part 2

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It's active now through December 31st. To give a special year-end gift, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress.

Often the distractions of the holiday season cause us to lose sight of what Christmas is really all about, the entrance of the Savior into the world. So today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress provides a fresh perspective on the most important birth in human history. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Nothing will shatter our preconceived notions about Jesus any more than conducting an in-depth study in the book of Luke. And nothing will inspire a deeper respect for Jesus, quite like spending time with Him, walking by His side. That's the focus of our current study in Luke, and it's also the focus of the brand new 2025 Pathway to Victory daily devotional that I want to send to your home today. In this impressive 532 page book, I've written a chapter for every weekday in the coming new year, and each one is intentionally written to reignite your passion for Christ in every season of 2025. Now, you'll be glad to learn that in addition to receiving the daily devotional, your generous gift will serve yet another purpose. Every dollar you're able to give between now and December 31st will automatically be doubled in size because of the Light the Darkness matching challenge. As we celebrate the birth of Christ this month, we remember that His light has overcome the darkness. And it's our calling to continue sharing this good news so that His light may shine even in the darkest corners of the world.

This record-setting matching challenge in the amount of $1.5 million will enable us to broadcast Pathway to Victory in new cities and allow us to touch more lives than ever before. So, be sure to take down our contact information so that you can participate in this exciting matching challenge and receive the daily devotional that comes with it. Now it's time for today's message. Let's step back in time when God broke onto the human scene as a little baby.

It was an unlikely village where history was changed forever. We're looking today at Luke chapter 2, and I've titled today's study Back to Bethlehem. I'm going to invite you to take your Bibles and turn back to Luke chapter 2 as we take a journey back to Bethlehem to talk about the most important birth in human history. Now, I want you to think of Luke's account of this birth as a play in three different acts.

This is a three-act play. The story begins, you know it well. Now, it came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. The head of each household would go back to the place of his birth where the family records were kept in order to register for the census. And this is where we see Joseph and Mary, this couple we met last time. Joseph was the head of the household, and so he was commanded to go to the place of his birth. He lived in Nazareth, but he was commanded to go to his birthplace, which was Bethlehem. Look at verses 4 and 5. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, that's up in the north, down to the south, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David.

Act 1 of this play began in Rome. Act 2, we go to a small inn in Bethlehem. Look at verses 6 and 7. And it came about that while they were there, the days were completed for Mary to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Isn't it interesting? Only two verses record the most important birth in history. Max Lucado says it this way, stepping from the throne, God removed his robe of light and wrapped himself in skin, pigmented human skin. The light of the world entered a dark, wet womb. He whom angels worship nestled himself in the placenta of a peasant, was birthed into a cold night, and then slept on cows' hay. Paul said it this way in Philippians 2, in talking about Jesus Christ. Although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard his equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

The final act of this play occurs on a hill outside of Bethlehem. Look at verse 8. And in the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. Many of us have been to this place, Shepherd's Field, where this occurred. Now, you have to know something about shepherds to appreciate what is going on here. Shepherds represented the lowest rung in the Jewish culture. Shepherds took care of dirty and smelly sheep. And because they did so, they were dirty and smelly themselves.

There was no sure deodorant back then to take the stench away. So if you were going to have a party, guess who you would never invite to your party? They never made it to any A-list parties, the shepherds. They were the outcasts of Jewish society. Isn't it interesting that God chose to make his announcement at the Savior's birth, not to the political leaders in Rome, not to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. He chose to make this announcement to these smelly, dirty shepherds. Look at how it came about, verse 9. And the angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened.

I would think so. Can you imagine out there in the darkness when suddenly Gabriel appears? And Gabriel said to them, do not be afraid.

Notice how that's his entering line every time he runs into somebody. Don't be afraid. They had every right to be afraid. For behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Well, there were many babies probably born that night in Jerusalem, in all of Israel. So to be more specific, he gave the sign, verse 12.

And this will be a sign for you? You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly the single voice of Gabriel gave way to a multitude, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of angels in the heaven saying, verse 14, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace. Now if you have the King James Version, it says peace, goodwill toward men. That's a very unfortunate translation.

Even though it's a translation we're used to and we see plastered on Christmas cards everywhere. Peace, goodwill toward men. That makes it sound like God has simply given a generic blessing to everybody. Peace you all. Goodwill to everybody. That's not what the text says.

What the text really says is what the New American Standard translates it. Peace among men with whom God is pleased. Ladies and gentlemen, the only people who are at peace with God and peace with themselves are those who have accepted the forgiveness that Christ comes to offer. Romans 5-1 says, therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The only one who enjoys peace with himself and more importantly peace with God are those whose sins have been forgiven by Christ Jesus. Verse 15 says, and it came about when the angels had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherds began saying to one another, let us go straight to Bethlehem then and see this thing which had happened which the Lord has made known to us. Isn't it ironic to you that when the religious leaders in Jerusalem heard the news, how did they respond?

Tell me something exciting. They stayed right where they were. But when the shepherds, the lowest rung of society heard it, they went with haste. This is the first instance of a Christmas rush in history. They went quickly to see this thing. Verse 16, they came in haste and they found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as he lay in the manger. Look at verse 17, and when they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told to them about the child. Verse 20, and the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all that they had seen and heard just as had been told them.

You know, there is so much I could say about this. I want you to go back to verses 10 and 11 for just a moment. Look at the announcement of Gabriel. And the angel said to them, do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, underline that, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Someone has said, if man's greatest need had been instruction, God would have sent a teacher. If our greatest need had been for a law, God would have sent a legislator.

If our greatest need had been for money, God would have sent an economist. But our greatest need is for forgiveness, and that's why God sent a Savior. For unto you is born this day a Savior, a Savior. Remember what the angel said, you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall what? Save his people from their sins. Jesus came to be our Savior, he didn't come to save us from ourselves, or save us from the hostility of this world. He came to save us from our sin, and the consequences of our sin, eternal separation from God.

That's why Christ came. And notice what Gabriel said about this news. He said, this is good news.

Don't let anybody fool you. The gospel is not bad news, it's not a message of hate, it's a message of hope. This is good news of great joy, and guess who it's for? It's for all the people. The good news didn't come just to the Jews or Gentiles. It's not just for Baptists or Catholics.

It is for everyone, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Atheists, anyone and everyone who trusts in Christ can be forgiven of his sins. I bring you good news of great joy, which shall be for all the people. You know, just as Gabriel's good news broke the darkness of that night, the gospel does the same for you and me. It doesn't matter how dark your situation is right now. Some of you feel like you're in a hopeless situation.

You feel like there is no way out. No matter how dark and bleak your situation is, the good news of Jesus' forgiveness bursts through like light and dispels the darkness forever. Paul said when we were lost without hope in this world or the next world, that's when God sent Christ for us. God demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, he sent Christ to die for us. You know, Paul had that experience himself.

Remember, he was a murderer, a blasphemer of God, but when he was on that road to Damascus, the light of Jesus Christ burst into his life, and he was never the same again. And when he talked about that experience until the day he died, he said it this way in 2 Corinthians 9.15, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. Paul actually made up that Greek word, indescribable, that's how it's translated.

He just made up his own superlative. Thanks be to God for that incomparable, indescribable, beyond description, that gift of Jesus Christ. What is it that makes the gift of Jesus indescribable? Or as one translation says, far too wonderful for words.

And more importantly, how are you and I to respond to that story? I want to suggest in closing today two principles that I think 2,000 years later inform us of what our response to God's indescribable gift of Christ should be. First of all, God's gift is to be acknowledged, not ignored.

God's gift is to be acknowledged and not ignored. Just imagine, these shepherds out there in the middle of the night, they see the spectacular sight, thousands of angels praising God, announcing the birth of the Savior. The angels go back to heaven.

The day turns back to night. The shepherds look at one another and say, boy, that was really something. Let's get back to our sheep now.

You wouldn't have imagined such a thing. Such an announcement demanded a response from the shepherds. And it demands a response from us as well. You can't ignore what happened 2,000 years in Bethlehem. You just can't ignore it. You can't say, well, I know that happened, but it doesn't change my life. No, you can't ignore the facts.

The facts are Jesus was born in Bethlehem of a virgin. You can't ignore that. You can't ignore that he died on the cross. You can't ignore that three days later he was raised from the dead, and after that, in 40 days, 500 people, eye witnesses saw him.

You can't ignore that. You can't ignore the fact that millions of people have given their very life for their belief that Jesus is real and he's alive today. You can't ignore the fact that hundreds of millions of people throughout history say that their lives have been transformed by this resurrected Jesus Christ. You can't ignore that any more than those shepherds could have ignored the angels.

We have to respond to what happened 2,000 years ago. Somebody says, well, you know, I believe in Jesus. I believe he was a good moral teacher like Aristotle or Plato or Confucius or Buddha, Muhammad. He was a good teacher.

That's my response. I appreciate Jesus and a lot of the good things he did. The problem with that is Jesus doesn't allow you to make that kind of response because, you see, he himself claimed to be God. He claimed to be the Messiah. He said, I and the Father are one. He who has seen me has seen the Father. Remember when he stood before Caiaphas the high priest who was enraged by his claims and Caiaphas said, are you the Son of God? He said, I am.

And one day you're going to see me descending from heaven. You can't ignore that. You can't just say he was a good man.

And that's what led C.S. Lewis to develop what we call the trilemma. You know what a dilemma is. It is two choices.

When you have two choices to make, A or B, a trilemma is three choices. He says, in light of who Jesus claimed to be, more than a mere teacher but the Son of God, we have one of three choices of what to call Jesus. We can call him a liar. I mean, maybe Jesus just claimed to be God and he knew he wasn't. He was a liar. He was a religious charlatan. Does anybody want to stand up here today and say Jesus Christ is a liar?

Nobody's going to say that. Secondly, some people say, well, he was just mistaken. He thought he was God. He thought he was a God.

He was just out of his mind. He was a lunatic. He was either a liar. He claimed to be God when he knew he wasn't. He was a lunatic. He thought he was God when he wasn't. The only reasonable third alternative is he is Lord. He's exactly who he claimed to be. And that's a response we have to make.

Is Jesus who he claimed to be? You can't ignore that any longer. God's indescribable gift has to be acknowledged rather than being ignored. And that leads to a second truth.

God's gift is to be shared and not kept. Look at verse 17 for a moment. And when they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. And verse 30, and the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen just as been told them. You know, in recent weeks, there's been a lot of discussion about the word evangelical.

Have you seen some of the discussion in the news? What does it mean to be an evangelical? People are talking about evangelicals voting this way. A lot of people are wondering, what does that mean, an evangelical? Well, the word evangelical comes from the root word evangel. And the word evangel is actually a transliteration of a Greek word, evangel, that means good news.

It's the word that is used in verse 10 when Gabriel said, I bring you good news of a great joy. So, if evangel means good news, an evangelist or an evangelical or an evangelist is someone who shares the good news. Now, isn't it interesting that the very first evangelists in the entire Bible were not prophets, they weren't priests, they weren't pastors, but they were smelly, dirty shepherds.

They were the first ones, as soon as they heard about the birth of Jesus, went away as quickly as they could to tell others what they had heard. I mean, that's what an evangelist does. He shares the good news. I mean, think about it. If you have discovered the cure for cancer, if somebody discovered the cure for cancer, would you just keep that to yourself?

Of course not. You would share that with anyone and everyone. Ladies and gentlemen, do you realize you and I have discovered the cure to something far more serious than cancer? We have been given the cure to man's greatest problem, his sin sickness, his alienation from God. And you and I have been entrusted with that good news to share with other people about not one way, but the only way to find God's forgiveness.

Remember what Jesus said in Luke 19, 10 about himself? He said, for the Son of Man has come to do what? To seek and to save those who are lost.

He came on a search and save mission. And if we are Jesus' disciples, listen to this, if we really claim to be his followers, we're going to have the same heart to share this news just like the shepherd's dead with as many people as possible. You know, one writer said it this way, Jesus not only calls us to come to him, but to go for him. Go into all the world and make disciples. Did you know Jesus issued that imperative five different times? Go and make disciples. Go and make disciples. We call that the what? The great commission.

It's not the great suggestion. And ladies and gentlemen, that's what our church is all about. And that is to share the good news of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible before he returns. God's message is to be shared and not kept. That's our calling as a church and that's our calling as the body of Christ.

Jesus said to go into all the world and make disciples. Gratefully, Pathway to Victory has enjoyed the generosity of a global audience that shares our commitment to the great commission. People just like you have given above and beyond so that Pathway to Victory can expand into new cities. And as a result, we've been able to advance into enemy territory and bring light into the darkness by adding new radio and television stations. Today, our program is heard in the far corners of North America and around the world, reaching more people than ever before. Let me add, our mission is never complete.

We won't be finished until the Lord returns. Until then, I'm calling on every one of us to give generously toward this cause, to bring momentum to our efforts. Several generous friends have banded together to create the Light the Christmas Matching Challenge.

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David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Today, when you give a generous year-end gift toward our Light the Darkness Matching Challenge, we'll say thanks by sending you the brand new 2025 Pathway to Victory daily devotional. To request your copy, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. And when your gift is $100 or more, we'll also include the teaching series Reigniting Your Passion for Christ.

You'll get that on both DVD video and MP3 format audio discs. Remember, right now, because of our Light the Darkness Matching Challenge, your gift will be doubled in impact by another generous donor. So request your copy of these resources today. Call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. Now, if you'd prefer to write, jot down this mailing address, PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. That's PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins. What sort of qualities does God value most? What kind of people does God choose to honor?

We'll find out the answers to these questions next time in a message titled The Prophet Who Lost His Head Over Jesus. That's Thursday, here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. And right now, your special year-end gift will be matched and therefore doubled in impact thanks to the Light the Darkness Matching Challenge. Take advantage of this opportunity to double your impact before the deadline on December 31st. To give toward the matching challenge, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory.