SUN 121921

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Portions of the following program may be pre-recorded. I am Pastor Ernie Sanders, the voice of the Christian Resistance. Stay tuned, my radio broadcast, What's Right, What's Left, is coming up right now.

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Good evening, and welcome to another edition of What's Right, What's Left. I'm Radio Pastor Ernie Sanders, and indeed this is the voice of the Christian Resistance on this 19th day of December 2021, and the week of the, as we celebrate the week of the Savior's birth. And you know, that's when we say that. I mean, often you hear people talking about Christmas, Christmas, but it's the birth of the Christ child. It's the Savior's birth that we celebrate. Jesus is the reason for the season. The only reason for the season.

Without Him, there would be no season. And of course, there's no greater thing, no greater gift, than anyone ever could receive than the gift of eternal life. That is the gift that God gave to all mankind.

And so, I don't know, I wish there were ways where we could, you know, like they inject this poisonous poke into people. If we could inject knowledge into the brains of people, into their hearts, that they would understand the realities of life. The realities that Christ came to give us life in more abundantly, and the reality of eternal life. If they could only, if there was a way we could get that through to them and break those stony, unbelieving hearts, folks. But we use the Gospel to do that, and we do the very best we can. And so, I want to wish you all a blessed, blessed week, a day of celebrating the Savior's birth.

Well, we're going to start tonight. The title of the message was simply A Christmas Story. A Christmas Story. And here, we're going to take a good look at, well, this Christmas, we'll be talking about it all week long. And here, it's funny how we're celebrating today, all of us did our Christmas story at the church today, and Christmas isn't really until Saturday next week.

But this gives us the whole week. Let's talk about that miracle where God became flesh, where the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we're going to start tonight in Luke chapter 1. And now here, as we read this, Luke tells Jesus' story from a very, very, very unique perspective of a Gentile, a physician, and Luke actually was the very first historian of the early church. Now, he was not an eyewitness of Jesus' ministry.

He nevertheless is concerned that eyewitness accounts be preserved accurately, and that the foundations of the Christian belief be transmitted totally and completely intact to the next generation. Now, Luke's Gospel here is the source of many of Jesus' parables. In addition, well, more than any other Gospel, it gives specific instances of how our Lord cared for women. You know, in those days, women were considered second-class citizens. And of course, today in many cultures, like Islam, for example, and other cultures, they still are.

And let us start here. Now, as we go and we learn about Theophilus, well, that means one who loves God. Luke addresses the book of Acts to Theophilus also. And Theophilus was a Greek man believed to be of some culture and influence and a strong interest in the Christian faith. Luke's account of Christ's life was written by a, well, Luke was described as a very, very clear-minded, thoughtful thinker. And his work was with perfect accuracy. And who says that? Well, he says that.

Let's go. Starting with verse 1, for as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, or even as they deliver them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word. Well, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things, from the very first to right unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mayest know the certainty of those things where thou has been instructed. Now, there it was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, in the course of Abiiah. And his wife was the daughters of Aaron. Now, here, Herod the Great was confirmed by the Roman Senate as the king of the Jews. Now, what he did is he went and he expanded the temple and he beautified the temple in Jerusalem. He did this to try to garner favor with the Jews.

But then, to garner favor with the Romans at the entrance, he placed the Roman eagle. And that didn't make the Jews very happy at all. And so, as we consider here, and as he was referring to, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous before God, walking in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child because that Elizabeth was barren. And they were both now well stricken in years. And here, it's in shades of Abraham and Sarah. And it came to pass that while he executed the priest's office, by the way, well, you know, at this time, there were about 2,000 priests, which were divided into 24 separate groups.

Just under each group had just under 1,000 priests per group. Now, Zacharias was of the course of Abia. Abia. Abia. I say it backwards.

It's Abia. And think about it, folks. The way that they drew lots, because a priest would be very fortunate to be able to serve once in his lifetime. And so they drew lots. Now, it was not by accident that the lot fell upon him to be on duty at that particular time to serve his once in a lifetime opportunity. So here we see, we find Zacharias in the Holy of Holies. And he was praying for a son. And the people, of course, outside, they were praying for a Messiah to deliver them from the Roman rule.

Now, Zacharias was actually the very first to be told that God was about to set in motion his own visit to earth. Now, Gabriel was a high ranking angel, not one to be questioned or doubted. And so as we pick it up here, and it came to pass that while he executed a priest's office before God in order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And a whole multitude of the people were praying without in the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing at the right hand of the altar of incense. In fact, it had to be an angel of the Lord.

Had it been an ordinary man, he would have been dead. Because, in fact, you did not go into there without following the law as it was given to you by the Aaronic priesthood. In other words, while the priest was in the Holy of Holies, nothing could stay in there. If the priest was to do something to offend God, he was very likely to be struck dead right there. But now, in fact, they tied a rope around his leg. There would be a rope tied around his leg as he walked around, and there would be bells on the robe. So as he ministered, you could hear the bells ringing.

And if a time went on where there was no movement in the rope or you could not hear any bells, they were to tug on the rope to see if he was okay. And if he was not okay, they were to pull him out because nothing dead was allowed to stay in the presence of God. This was in the Holy of Holies. Now, here Gabriel appears, an angel of the Lord. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing at the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife, Elizabeth, shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. And he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb, and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the obedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this?

For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answered and said unto him, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God, and am set to speak unto thee, and to show you these glad tidings. And behold, thou shall be dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believeth not my words which shall be fulfilled in their season. Now Gabriel had appeared also some 500 years earlier to Daniel. And so here what happened, he had been fighting with Satan, and he was dispatched on the very first day that Daniel petitioned the Lord in prayer. Gabriel was dispatched, but he was held up by the Prince of Persia, the satanic order.

And here he was held there until Michael the archangel came in and set him free. And so here now, the people of those days believed that also as we go through this, that if a woman could not conceive that she was, well, she was out of favor with God. In other words, she had done something and offended God. And they always blamed the individual. If a woman could not conceive, they always blamed the woman.

And also they were looked upon with a frown if she only had daughters and not sons. And so here as we go through this, we see that Nazareth, because of the occupation of Roman soldiers and all the traitors that went through there, well, here it was known to be a city of thieves and whores. And, you know, you got to notice the difference here. Now Zacharias said, how do we know?

How do I know? In other words, he questioned Gabriel. But Mary answered in a different way. She says, how could this be? She asked the question. She didn't say it. She didn't believe it. She just said, how is this done? How can a virgin conceive and bear a child? And so that was the difference in their response.

And so in the sixth month, no, let me pick it up where we left off. And the people waited for Zacharias and they marveled that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them. And they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned unto them and remained speechless.

And it came to pass that as soon as the days of his administration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. And after those days, his wife, Elizabeth, conceived and hid herself five months saying, Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me to take away my reproach among men. Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. Now the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came unto her and said, Hail, thou art hardly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art those from among women. Now both Mary and Joseph were in the lineage of David.

And when she saw him, she was troubled and insane and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou has found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth the Son, and shall call his name Jesus. And he shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. In David's kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be?

He said unto himself, I know not a man. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, Elizabeth, she has also conceived his son in her old age.

And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold, to hand me to the Lord.

Be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. And so I'm going to have to just step over here where I keep a little supplies a little supplies of some bottled water and get me one because I've done a lot of preaching today.

The old vocal cords only hold up only so long. And with that, I'm going to get back here. Now that's refreshing.

There you go. Well, I want to go now over to Matthew chapter one. And in Matthew chapter one, I want to pick it up in verse 18. Now here Mary knew that she could face being called a whore. She could be disowned by her father.

If she was disowned by her father, she would never have another man to marry her. It would be she would be looked upon, down upon. You know, think about this, this young woman, all of these things going through her mind, but she she she knew what she knew. And so here, if Joseph had put her away, she would live a life of shame. But Joseph knew what kind of a woman she was and gave him very good reason to believe in his dream. Both Mary and Joseph were again direct descendants of the lineage of King David. Now Mary knew that the Jews could have stoned her to death according to Deuteronomy 22, 23.

And Joseph also would have been under tremendous pressure to put her away. You know, from all of those people, often people, if it doesn't happen to them, if they don't experience, and often when you try to talk to, you witness to people, well how do you know that? I mean, how do you really know? Well, you know, God speaks to you and he gives you that peace that passes all understanding. And often people, and I and I gotta admit myself, I've been guilty of this myself, and when people have told you things in the past that seem, well, kind of over the top. And we have a tendency, it didn't happen to us, we learned something like that never, so you know, we have a tendency to doubt. Okay. And here, Joseph, he knew what he knew what he knew.

And let's pick it up right there. And the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, the son of David, fear not to take into thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth the son, and shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all of this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth the son. Well, of course, that was over there in Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14.

And they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from asleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife. And he knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn son, and called his name Jesus. Well, Joseph would have been, again, well aware of Isaiah 714.

And he was a man of principle. He would have gotten a whole lot of unwanted advice from people, some with very good intentions, but Joseph knew what he knew. The Lord had spoken to him, and sometimes it's hard to explain to those that are unbelief that you just know what you know what you know what you know. Now Mary remained a virgin until after Jesus was born. And then Mary had other children, just like it says right here. And she had brought forth her firstborn son.

She had four others besides him, okay? And so now there are those out there that are teaching that Jesus was actually the youngest of the children and not the firstborn. Well, the problem with that was, well, they teach that the way that that happened was that Joseph had been married prior and widowed, and now here he was marrying her, and he had already had children by another woman, but there's nothing, no historic fact that bear any of that up at all. I want to go back to where we left off in Luke, chapter 1, and pick it up in verse 39. And in verse 39, we read, And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, and to the city of Judah, and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth, and it came to pass that when Elizabeth had heard the salutation of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost, and she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy, and blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of these things which were told of her from the Lord. And Mary said, And by the way, this is what is referred to as the Magnificat. And it's actually done as a song.

It's called the Song of the Magnificat. And here, as we see it at the first word of the Latin translation of this passage here, Mary's song is often been used as the basis for choir music and hymns like Hannah, the mother of Samuel, Mary glorified God and sung for what he was going to do for the world through her. And so we said here, and Mary says, My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

God my Savior. Now, there are those that teach that Mary was sinless. Well, Mary was a sinless. I can tell you, only a sinner needs a Savior, folks. Only sinners need a Savior. And Mary was a sinner, she said it herself. Right here, she referred to God as her Savior.

For he has regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things. And holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

He hath showed strength with his arm. He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent away empty. He hath opened his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy.

He has baked to our fathers to Abraham and to the seed forever. And Mary abode with her for about three months and returned to her own house. Now, here, what we saw, the Holy Spirit, first of all, had told Elizabeth that Mary's baby was indeed the Messiah. Hearing this would have removed, you know, that Mary had gone through a lot. I mean, folks, you're a young woman, and it was the dream, the dream, the hope, the desire of the young Jewish women that each one would be the mother, the greatest honor, the greatest honor that any woman could ever have would be the one to bring into the world the Messiah, to give birth to the Messiah. And so that was their dream. And this is why Mary said that from now on, all generations were going to call me blessed.

Mary had the greatest honor, the greatest honor that was ever bestowed upon a woman was to be able to bring in to deliver and birth the Messiah. But now, here, we've all had situations and things when sometimes, and I've had times myself when we've had situation, emergency situations where we've done work, work, you know, and we've gone a long time without sleep or we've worked so many days in a row. And I know many of you out there listening probably had the same experience where you worked so many days in a row, and the days start running together, and sometimes you're not sure if what you heard was real or if it was a dream.

And sometimes it gets a little hard to to separate that. Now, Mary, okay, was living in turbulence times there. And even though her expression with her experience with Gabriel the angel, there still in her mind had to be a wonder, did that really happen?

Did that really? But now here, I'm pregnant, that happened. And so now here, when she appears to Elizabeth, just like Gabriel had told her, and Elizabeth verified, she confirms the fact that Mary is carrying the Messiah.

And so here, that if there had been any traces of doubt at all, whether of all of this was for real, that would have removed all of it right there. And so here now, as we pick it up, now Elizabeth full-time came that she should be delivered. And she brought forth a son, and her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her, and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. Well, here it was, the purification process for the boy babies was one week, and the purification process for the girl babies was two weeks here. And here they came and they did what would be tradition, you didn't, tradition meant a lot.

I mean, there was, you just didn't break tradition, you better have a very good reason. And so here now, and it's always, you would always name the son, for example, that would have been called Zacharias, Ben, Ben Zacharias, Ben Zacharias, or Ben Zacharias. In other words, Ben son of, okay, and Zacharias.

So he would have been referred to as Ben Zacharias, the son of Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, not so, but he should be called John. And this had to be, what? What are you talking about, woman?

What have you, you don't talk. So, and they said to her, there's none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to the father, how he would have him called, they didn't believe her, you see. And he asked for a writing table and wrote saying, his name is John.

And they marveled all. And his mouth was open immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake and he praised God. Well, you know, there were, there were doubters throughout the Bible, many historic doubters. Remember Abraham, when he told, when told he would be the father in his old age, he's, how could this be? You know, he was a doubter. Sarah, when she heard she would be a mother in her old age, she, she laughed.

And then she lied about laughing, okay. Moses, when he was told to return to Egypt to lead his people, you know, remember, they, they were, they had a contract on Moses. Pharaoh wanted him dead. And here God's telling him, you're going back there, and you're going to be the spokesman for your, for your people. And Moses said, wait a minute, I'm not, I'm not an elegant speech here, you know. And, but I, I guess when you're standing in, there's a bush that's being on fire, a bush on fire, but it's not being consumed by the fire. And that bush is talking to you.

You got to know that's, that's something out of the ordinary. And so then when you're told to take your shoes off because you're standing on holy ground, then you, you got to have a tendency that that should make you believe. And don't forget about the Israelites, how they complained and, and they were there about, when they faced the difficulties in the wilderness.

They wanted to go back to Egypt, at least back there we had our, our, our locks and, and here and their leaks. And then here, remember Gideon, Gideon, when he was told that he was going to be a judge and leader. Remember where the Lord appeared to Gideon. Oh, Gideon was down in a wine press laying low, hiding out and threshing wheat because the opposition kept coming and taking the food from the people. And the Lord appeared to him and said, Gideon, man of valor and Gideon says, man of valor, do you see where I'm at here?

You see what I'm doing? And God said, no, but that's going to change. Cause here's what you're going to do. You're going to, in a bold and brave way, you're going to lead against the enemy, the people against the enemy. God tells you, you're going to do something, get used to it.

Cause you'll do it. And then, uh, again, we just read here when Zacharias was told that of course he was going to be a father in his old age. And then here, remember the best known doubter of all time, doubting Thomas. And remember what Thomas said, unless I can stick my fingers in the holes in his hands and in the side, I will not believe it.

What did Thomas end up doing? He ended up referring to addressing Jesus, my Lord, my God. And so here, as we pick it up, and fear came on all that dwelt around about them. And all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea.

And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts saying, what manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him. Now here, uh, you know, all these strange events, remember it had been over 400 years since they had last heard since the Lord had spoken to any of them over 400 years.

And now here, all of these strange things are happening. The traditions broke, uh, Zacharias comes out of the, of the temple. He, uh, the Holy of Holies, he could not speak. And all the people have been waiting out and waiting out and waiting out to hear whether or not the Lord was going to provide them with a savior on the side to, to, uh, bring them out from under the Roman rule. And his father Zacharias was filled with a Holy ghost. And he prophesied saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he has visited and rendered and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant, David, as he spake by the mouth of his Holy prophets, which have been since the world began that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us to perform the mercy promised. Well here, you know, when we, we go back and we look at some of these things, circumcision ceremony was important event in the family of a Jewish baby boy. God commanded it when he was beginning, uh, to form his Holy nation in Genesis 17.

Actually, we read verses four through 14 and reaffirmed through Moses and Leviticus 12 verses one through three. It was a time of joy when friends and family and members celebrated the babies becoming a part of God's covenant nation. Now, back in those days, especially to family lines and family names were very, very important to the Jews. The people naturally assumed the child would receive Zacharias name or, or, you know, if he didn't have a father, maybe it was the father had been deceased, but I don't know. Uh, and they were really, really surprised, really surprised that both Elizabeth and Zachariah wanted his name to be John.

Uh, and why was that? Well, because Gabriel told him his name is going to be, you're going to call him John. That's going to be his name. And so don't argue with God folks. And so here we go back. We read to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his Holy covenant, the oath, which he swear to our father, Abraham, that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in the holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life and the child should be called the prophet of the highest for thou shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercies of our God whereby the day spring from on high should hath visited us to give light to them that's set in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet unto the way of peace and the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in the deserts to the day of his showing into Israel. Now, remember Zacharias had just recalled hundreds of years of God's sovereign work in history, beginning with Abraham and ending in eternity.

Then in tender contrast, his personalized story, his son, had been chosen for a key role in the drama of the ages. Although God has unlimited power, he chooses to work through, well, you know, God does his work through us frail human beings, huh? But only through those that are faithful to him. Why did John live in the deserts? And prophets used the isolation of the uninhabited wilderness to enhance their spiritual growth and to focus their message on God. By being in the wilderness, John remained separate from the economic and political powers so that he could aim his message against them. He also remained separate from the hypocritical religious leaders of this day.

His message was different from theirs and his life proved it. And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar, Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made with Cyrenius, the governor of Syria. And it all went to be taxed to everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went out from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, into the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David.

To be taxed would marry his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there in the days where accomplished that she should be delivered, that she brought forth her firstborn son, again here it's talking about the second time, the firstborn, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Now, swaddling clothes were strips of cloth used to keep babies warm and it gave a sense of security. And they were believed to protect its eternal organs.

The custom of swaddling if it's still practiced in many of the Eastern countries. And also they did it too, so that their limbs would be straight, their limbs wouldn't be crooked, okay? Here, this mention of the manger is the basis for the traditional belief that Jesus was born in a stable. Stables actually were often caves with feeding troughs. The manger is carved into the rocky walls here.

And of course, you know, we see this, but we're going to take a look at this too as we go through here. Because you often see the nativity scenes, the nativity scenes out there. Often you have, here Jesus is in a manger with the animals in the lane. And here, we see the three wise men there came to bring him gifts. But that wasn't the way it was at all. As we go through here, we'll see that he was around two years old at the time the wise men appeared and they were living in a house.

They had their own house. So it wasn't like it's depicted. And so often so many things, just like the portrait of the Lord's table, we have one that's in the church that would be much more accurate portrayal of the actual event than you see in most of these pictures you have out there of the Lord's table taking place. And as we go here, and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Well, when I was in Israel, there's a place where they say they claim some of the historians feel that this was the place where the shepherds were, when the angel of the Lord, and actually that's when Christophany came and spoke to them.

But let's look at this. Listen very carefully so you actually understand the real miracle what's happening here, okay? And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night, and the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.

Now you might notice I'm using a little emphasis in some of these words, and it's a good reason for that. And they were so afraid. 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. And he shall be a sign unto you, and you shall find the bay wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in the manger. And suddenly there were with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts, praising God and saying glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were going away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us now go even into Bethlehem and see this thing which had come to pass. And the Lord hath made known unto us, and they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad, saying, Which was told them concerning the child, and all that they heard, wondering at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things which they had heard and seen, and it was told unto them. And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was named the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of Mary's purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. Now Jewish families went through several ceremonies soon after a baby's birth. Circumcision, every boy was circumcised and named on the eighth day after birth.

Circumcision symbolized the Jewish separation from the Gentiles and, of course, their unique relationship with God. Here now, now the ceremony included buying back, redeeming the child from God through the offering. Thus, these parents acknowledged that the child belonged to God, who alone has the power to give life, purification of the mother. For 40 days after the birth of a son and 80 days after the birth of a daughter, the mother was ceremonially unclean and could not enter into the temple. At the age of her time of separation, the parents were to bring a lamb for a burnt offering and a dove for a sin offering. The priest would sacrifice these animals and declare the clean. And if it was too expensive, the parents would bring a second dove. Instead, this is what Mary and Joseph did.

Okay. And Jesus was God's son, but his family carried out these ceremonies according to God's law. He was not born above the law. Instead, he fulfilled it actually perfectly. And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named to the angel, and he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of the purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was upon him, and it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And it came by the Spirit unto the temple, and when the parents brought him in, the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, they took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen the salvation which thou has prepared for before the face of all people, delighting the Gentiles in the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken. And Simeon blessed him and said unto Mary his mother, behold, this child is set for the fall and the rise again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against you, a sword appears through thy own soul, and the thoughts of many hearts are revealed.

Of course, he was talking about the crucifixion. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Penul of the tribe of Assar. She was of great age and lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and she was a widow of about four score and four years, which departed from not from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayers at night and day. And she was coming in that instant, gave things likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all of them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. And when they had performed all of these things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to see their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew and was strong in spirit and was filled with wisdom and grace of God was about him.

I want to go back now to Matthew chapter 2 and pick it up where we left off. Now, here we read, Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem and Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen a star in the east, and we have come to worship him. And when Herod the king heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and the scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophets, And thou, Bethlehem and the land of Judea, are not the least among the princes of Judah.

For out of these shall come a governor, and he shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privately called the wise men and inquired of them, diligently what time the star appeared, and sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child. And when he was found, bring him word again, that I may come and worship him also.

And when they heard, you know, I gotta say, today he would be called a democrat. And when they heard the king, they departed, and lo, the star which they saw in the east went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they were coming to the house, they saw, now you see, here you go, they saw the young child and he was in a house. And Mary's mother fell down and worshiped him, and when they opened their treasures, they presented him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

This is why they say there were three wise men, because there were three expensive gifts. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in the dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt. And be thou there until I bring the word for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

And when he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt and was there until the death of Herod, then it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. Well, I'm going to stop right there, and folks, when we talk about this time of year, you know, you can't help after all these years I've been here, I still get a kind of a special feeling around Christmastime. We call it Christmas as we think about how the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And the greatest gift, and when you think about this, too, you know, when I was telling you that as I stood there where they claimed that, where they believed the shepherds were, that was the Lord himself. That was God is omnipresent. It was the Lord himself himself. And the reason you know that is because the angels worshiped him, and where the Lord was, there were Shekinah glory. And so Jesus, being omnipresent, as he tells you there, especially the 139th Psalm, was announcing his own birth a few miles away. And so, you know, God's word, the Bible, folks, is perfect. And I can tell you this, that, well, that gift that he gives you of eternal life, you have to accept that gift.

You need to call upon the name if you haven't already. And I want to say to all of you listening out there, I hope this is your best Christmas ever. You know, when the Lord is dwelling within you, even in the darkness of our society, even with our brothers and sisters in a persecuted church who are not blessed like all of us, yet this time of year is very special. And there comes, even up in times of tribulation, a peace that passes all understanding at this time of year as we think about Christmas, and we think about the Christ child, and we think about that night there so many years ago. So, again, I want to say to all of you out there, this has been, it's been a very interesting year, but I want to thank all of you for all of the blessings and all the support that you give us. And I want to thank all of you and ask that this is your best Christmas ever, that your blessing, and remember that God has raised us up for such a time as this and how blessed we are and how much we have to be thankful for. So, again, as we say Merry Christmas, I'm out of time for tonight. So until tomorrow, I want to say God bless, Merry Christmas, and until always, always keep fighting the fight. What's right, what's left.