Hey, podcast listeners. Thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. And right now, your generous gift will have twice the impact thanks to the Light the Darkness matching challenge. 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. The shepherds. I mean, shepherds were absolutely despised in Jesus' day.
And the reason is obvious. They worked with sheep. That means they smelled like sheep as well.
Nobody wanted to be around the shepherds. And yet it was this group of all of the people God could have chosen that God chose to announce the coming of the Savior of the world. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. And Merry Christmas. You know, the busyness of the Christmas season often causes people, even Christians, to gloss over the meaning of Christmas Day. So today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress invites us to slow down for half an hour. Take time to stop and smell the manger by looking at five key players in the Christmas story. Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David. And welcome again to Pathway to Victory. In light of the Christmas season, we've devoted the entire month of December to celebrate the person and work of Jesus Christ.
It's a subject that's appropriate any time of the year, but especially so at Christmas. Before we turn our attention to my message, let me remind you that time is running out to request your copy of the brand new Pathway to Victory daily devotional for 2025. This navy blue edition with gold leaf accents is more beautiful than ever before. And it's our gift to you when you give a generous year-end gift to Pathway to Victory. Plus, when you give right now, the amount is matched and doubled because of the light, the darkness matching challenge in the amount of $1.5 million. For a few more days, your generous gift of $100 becomes $200. A $500 gift becomes $1,000.
A $5,000 gift would be matched until it becomes $10,000. Any amount has twice the impact between now and December 31. All these resources will go directly toward expanding our ministry reach in order to shine a light of hope in these desperate times of darkness. I'll say more later in today's program, but right now, let's turn our attention to Bethlehem. Christmas isn't a fairy tale. When Jesus appeared on the human stage in the form of a little baby, history changed forever. So in these brief moments today, let me encourage you to set aside everything and fully engage in the miraculous birth of Jesus.
I titled today's message, Stop and Smell the Manger. Helen Hayes, the late and legendary actress, was certainly a great actress, but by her own admission, she wasn't a very good cook. In fact, she avoided preparing Thanksgiving dinner for her family for years, but finally she decided she ought to tackle it. And so before she did, she sat her husband and young son down and she said, you know I'm not a very good cook, but I think I ought to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for us, so this is what we're going to do. I'm going to prepare the dinner, I'm going to bring it out, and after a few bites, if you don't like it, no comments, just quietly push your plate back, stand up silently, and we'll go to the nearest restaurant together. Thanksgiving came, she worked all day in the kitchen preparing that turkey, and when she walked out of the kitchen into the dining room, her son and husband were already wrapped up in their coats and their gloves on, ready to go.
That's what you call low expectations. I think of that story every time I preach the Christmas message. I've done 35 of them, I was counting it up today, 35 Christmas messages. And I have a sense you already have your coats and your gloves on, ready to leave. Maybe not literally, but figuratively, you're thinking about all the things you probably have to do between now and Christmas Day to get ready.
Plus you come with probably some low expectations of today's message. I mean, after all, how many different ways can you tell the Christmas story? The plot line doesn't change, or it shouldn't change in what you're telling.
The characters certainly don't change. So how do you get something fresh out of the Christmas story? That's a challenge every pastor has.
And so today I'm going to do the best I can to encourage you to take the coat and gloves off for a moment, to spend a few unrushed moments as together we stop and smell the manger of Bethlehem. Today, we're going to look at the five major characters in the nativity scene and learn some eternal lessons about what it means to love and obey God. We're going to start with Mary. Now, frankly, you don't hear that many sermons about Mary in a Baptist church or any evangelical church.
The reason is easy to understand. We understand there are some faith traditions that have elevated Mary almost to a position equal to Jesus Christ. Some who say that we should worship Mary. Some say we have to pray to Mary to serve as a go-between between us and God. And the Scripture is very clear about that. Mary is not Jesus. She's not a go-between, a mediator.
The Bible says there is one mediator, one go-between, between God and man, and it's the man, Christ Jesus. No, Mary's not to be worshipped, but I think too many of our churches have gone to the other extremes and we've ignored Mary. No, she's not to be worshipped, but she should be admired because she is a central character in this story. You know, the fact is, were it not for Mary, this Christmas story would have never taken place. And what we learn from Mary is that God chooses those who are available to him. Whom would God select to be the mother of the Savior of the world?
God had to find somebody who was available. And we find her story in Luke chapter 1 beginning with verse 26. Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, the descendants of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, the angel said to her, greetings favored one, the Lord is with you.
But she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of greeting, salutation this was. The angel said to her, do not be afraid. Anytime the angel made an appearance, he had to start with don't be afraid because angels usually symbolize bad news, judgment coming. Gabriel said, in this case, Mary, you don't have to be afraid for you have found favor with God. I mean, think of it, of all of the billions of women throughout history that God could have chosen to be the mother of Jesus Christ, why did he choose Mary?
I want to suggest to you, God uses those who are available. And Mary exhibits four qualities of what it means to be available to God. First of all, Mary was pure. She was a virgin. Now remember, 700 years before the birth of Christ, in Isaiah chapter 714, it was prophesied that the Messiah would be born of a virgin, somebody who had not had a sexual relationship with a man. Fast forward 700 years now, it's time for the Savior to come and God has to search for somebody who meets that qualification.
Not just anybody would do. He had to find somebody and that somebody was Mary. She was a virgin. Now, let's be honest, Mary wasn't a plaster saint.
Most scholars believe she was a 15-year-old girl, a peasant girl, living in Nazareth. She had all the normal drives and hormones of a teenage girl and she was deeply in love with a man named Joseph she was going to marry. She could have rationalized having a sexual relationship with Joseph. She loved him.
They were bound together for life. Why not go ahead and do what was natural? If she had given in to those desires, she would have been disqualified from being the mother of the Savior of the world. You see, when God is looking for somebody who is available, he looks first of all for somebody who is pure. Given the choice between pure and not pure, God always chooses to use vessels that are pure. In fact, that's what Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, verses 21. Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel of honor, sanctified and useful to the master, prepared for every good work.
Paul is using a very pedestrian illustration. He says, think about your house. Just imagine for a moment. It's one of those hot 120-degree days in Texas in August and you've been working out in the yard and you're thirsty and you need a drink of water. And so you come into your home, into the kitchen, and all of the glasses are in the dishwasher and it's in the mid-cycle. And there are only two choices you have to get some desperately needed water. In the sink there is a crystal goblet that is caked over with dirt and grime from a dinner party you had two days before. The only other available vessel is an empty peanut butter jar that has been thoroughly cleaned out and cleansed. Now if you were going to drink water, would you choose the crystal goblet that was filthy, even though it was much greater value? Or would you choose the empty but clean peanut butter jar?
I think most of us would go for the peanut butter jar. We don't care about the worth, we care about the cleanliness of the vessel. And it's the same way, Paul is saying, when God is looking for somebody to use, he chooses those who not necessarily are the most gifted people in the world, the most talented, the most beautiful, but those who are pure. That was Mary.
She was pure. Secondly, she was available to God because she believed God's Word. Hebrews 11 says, without faith it is impossible to please God. Look at Luke 1 45. Elizabeth, her cousin, said about Mary, and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. She doesn't understand how she was going to give birth when she had not yet had sex, but she believed what God said and she acted accordingly. Thirdly, Mary was available because she placed the glory of God above her own reputation. Mary probably knew enough to know that if she was willing to be used like this by God, she would suffer a blow to her reputation. After all, who was going to believe her story? Did you know, in fact, a lot of people didn't believe her story, that the father of her child was God? There was a rumor that circulated around Nazareth that went on for 30 years that Mary's pregnancy had been the result of a one-night stand she had with a Roman soldier who was stationed in Nazareth. That was the rumor about Mary.
In fact, during Jesus' ministry, that's what the Jewish leaders accused him of. They said, you're illegitimate. You're not a legitimate child.
You're illegitimate. They knew that rumor as well. But Mary didn't care about those rumors. By the way, do you know many teenage girls who don't care about what other people say about them? I don't.
In fact, I don't know many adults who don't care what people say about them. We're all so concerned about what people are saying behind our backs, not Mary. When God said, this is what I'm going to do, look at what she said in Luke 1 38. She said to the angel, behold, the bond slave of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word. She was willing to place the glory of God above her own reputation. And finally, she was available to be used by God because Mary was willing to sacrifice that which was most important to her. She knew the consequences of what it meant to allow herself to be impregnated by the Holy Spirit of God. You see, the Old Testament law said that if a woman in the engagement, the betrothal period, was unfaithful to her to be husband, the law was very serious. She was to be stoned to death for that violation. She knew Joseph well enough to know that he probably wouldn't do that to her.
But he knew it would mean the dissolution of their engagement and the loss of the person who meant everything to her. You see, to be available to God means to be willing to sacrifice what's most important to you. Are you willing to do that? Every time you look at this reproduction of Mary in a nativity scene, ask yourself this question, am I available to God like Mary was? Am I really available? Am I doing everything I can to keep myself pure, free from sin? Do I believe the promises of God? Am I willing to place God's glory above my own reputation?
Am I willing to sacrifice that which is most important to me? God uses those who are available. And the second character we're going to look at in this nativity scene is Joseph. I've always felt kind of sorry for Joseph. Have you ever known when a baby is born, everybody oohs and aahs over the baby? Everybody rushes around to take care of the mother and that's understandable. She's gone through nine months of a pregnancy and painful childbirth and everybody's around them. But we fathers, when a baby is born, nobody gives us any attention.
I mean, we just stand around with that stupid grin on our face, you know, and we don't know what to do. But I want to suggest to you today, Joseph is integral to this story as well. Without him, there would have been no Savior.
Why do I say that? Again, Scripture was very precise about the requirements for the Messiah. The Messiah, to be the king of Israel, had to be in the lineage of King David. He had to be a legal heir of King David to be qualified to be the Messiah. And the right to rule, the right to be the Messiah, the right to be a king always came through the father. And Joseph, although he was not the biological father, he was the legal guardian, the legal father of Jesus.
And because of that, Jesus inherited the right to rule from his father. What I'm saying to you is, if Joseph had bailed on Mary when he got the news about her pregnancy, Jesus would have been disqualified from being the Savior of the world. I want you to think about this story from Joseph's point of view. What was Joseph's profession?
This isn't a hard question. What was he? He was a carpenter. Do you know carpenters? If you know anything about carpenters, they're very precise.
They're very neat. I mean, they want everything measured and cut and planned for in just the right way. I imagine that was Joseph's temperament as well. He and Mary had been childhood sweethearts. They knew they were going to get married. I'm sure Joseph had a blueprint for what their lives were going to be like. They'd get married. They'd save some money. Then they'd build their dream house in Nazareth.
Three bedrooms, two baths. They would have two sons and two daughters. I mean, he had the blueprint all set and ready to go when one day his fiancé comes in and says, Joseph, I'm pregnant. Oh, and by the way, the Father is God. Now, how would you have responded to that?
Honestly, come on. How would you have responded to that news from your fiancé? We know how Joseph responded.
The Scripture is very clear. He didn't believe her, not at first. The Bible says that he knew he wasn't going to stone her, but he decided to dissolve the marriage, dissolve the engagement so as not to cause any shame to Mary. Can you imagine what that news must have been like to Joseph to realize the person he loved most in the world had betrayed him?
At least that's what he thought. He was getting ready to end the relationship when something dramatic happened. Listen to Matthew chapter 1, verse 20. But when Joseph had considered this, considered what?
Ending the relationship. When he had considered all of this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And Joseph awoke from his sleep, and he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and he took Mary as his wife, and he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son and called his name Jesus. You know what Joseph reminds us is, Joseph reminds us that God uses and honors those who are obedient. Here the angel comes and says, God is the one responsible.
You take her as your wife. There was no arguing with Joseph. He didn't understand how it happened. He didn't understand how it would turn out, but in the darkness, he obeyed God. That's what it means to be obedient. When you see Joseph in these nativity scenes, ask yourself the question, am I being obedient to what I know God has told me to do, even though I can't see the outcome of my obedience to him?
God uses those who are obedient. The next characters in the Christmas story, the shepherds. The reason I love these shepherds is, you know, the fact is God could have chosen anyone to announce the coming of the Savior of the world, the birth of Jesus, but of all the people he chose, he didn't choose kings or princes or rulers or the rich. He chose the lowest rung of Jewish society, the shepherds. I mean, shepherds were absolutely despised in Jesus' day, and the reason is obvious. The reason they didn't get invited to the A-list parties in Jerusalem was because of their work. They worked with sheep. That means they smelled like sheep as well. Nobody wanted to be around the shepherds, and yet it was this group of all of the people God could have chosen that God chose to announce the coming of the Savior of the world. Listen to the words of Luke 2, 8 through 14. I bet you can recite them by heart almost. In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night, and an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened.
Understandably so. But the angel said to them, here it is again, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which shall be for all people. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. I have much more I want to show you about this magnificent scene when Jesus, the King of the universe, stepped into human history.
And it all started in a humble setting, and of all places, in a manger. We celebrate our Savior's birth on December 25th. Christmas Day arrives soon.
But let's be clear, there's nothing magic about the holiday itself. At Pathway to Victory, we celebrate Christmas every day of the year because Jesus is a Savior for all seasons. And for that reason, we're not bashful about calling upon friends like you to join us in an all-out effort to touch more lives. As we set our sights on 2025, we're courageously marching into a new year with every intention to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word.
But we can't succeed without you. Gratefully, a generous group of friends have set aside a matching challenge in the amount of $1.5 million. That's one of the largest matching funds in our history. And when you give today, your investment will be doubled in size, yielding twice the impact. Plus, your generous year-end gift entitles you to request the 2025 Pathway to Victory daily devotional as well.
It's beautifully bound in leather, and it's something you'll treasure for many years to come. It's our greatest privilege and responsibility to shine the light of Christ to our nation and to our world. Please don't allow this opportunity to escape without taking advantage of the Light the Darkness matching challenge and to receive your copy of this beautiful daily devotional.
The deadline is December 31st at midnight. May I count on you to respond today? Thanks so much. Here's David with all the details.
Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Today, when you give a generous year-end gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, we'd like to say thanks by sending you the brand-new leather-bound 2025 Pathway to Victory daily devotional. To request your very own copy, call 866-999-2965. Or, it's even easier, go online to ptv.org. Now, when your gift is $100 or more, you'll also receive this month's teaching series titled Reigniting Your Passion for Christ. We'll send that on both DVD video and MP3 format audio discs.
Remember, your contribution right now will be doubled in impact through our Light the Darkness matching challenge. So be sure to get in touch today. Call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. You could also send your donation by mail. Write to P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
That's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. We'll be inviting you back next time when Dr. Jeffress continues this message called Stop and Smell the Manger. That's Friday, 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.
