Merry Christmas season to you all. Every Christmas, my family watches the same movies year after year, and therefore it's likely that every time I preach in December, those same movies are going to come up in sermon after sermon. And my personal favorite Christmas movie, or at least serious Christmas movie, is a Charlie Brown Christmas. And it's my favorite because it makes me laugh and it mentions Christ explicitly. When the flustered Charlie Brown asks, doesn't anyone know what Christmas is all about? Faithful Linus with his faithful blanket replies with a text directly from Luke's gospel. And so I ask you tonight, where do you turn to find the meaning of Christmas? Let's say you know it's ultimately about Jesus' birth. Well, let me ask you, where do you turn to find the true meaning of Jesus' birth? Well, we can turn to the Gospel of Luke. So if you could open your Bibles again to that Gospel, Luke opens his account in chapter 1 by saying that it seemed good to him, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. So Luke considers himself, and I think we likewise can consider him a trustworthy source for the truth about Jesus. And so I want to ask, what do we learn from Luke's narrative of Christ's birth? And I will highlight four lessons tonight that I hope will remind us of the meaning of Jesus's birth and give us comfort and joy during the Christmas season. So lesson number one. We learn that God orchestrates all people in all events, great or small, for his purposes. Look at verse one. In those of chapter two, verse one of chapter two, In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Now Luke establishes the event of Christ's birth in a particular historical period with a verifiable geographical location. a national jurisdiction and under specific governmental authorities. Caesar Augustus of Rome and Governor Quirinius of Syria. And friends, let me just start right off the bat by telling you that Luke does not compose a mythical or an imaginary story. He submits an orderly and historical account with verifiable details. The Christian faith is not based in mythology. It's based in historical events that took place in human history. Now many myths and folklores do surround the Christmas holiday, especially if you watch a lot of Hallmark. But the birth of Christ is not one of them. Now, Caesar Augustus was the most powerful person in the world and the first emperor to deify his name and his reign. And he decrees a census be taken of the world, likely for public records, possibly for his own aggrandizement, and this, no doubt, for exorbitant taxation purposes. He is taking a census so that he can know who to tax what. And Mary and Joseph, in contrast to nobodies at this point on the world stage, travel to Bethlehem because they were of the house of David. And perhaps the Romans and the Roman census allowed for the Jews and Jewish families to return and register to the town of their ancestor. Or perhaps Joseph or Mary still own some land in Bethlehem. But either way, Joseph, and all the world for that matter, appear subservient to Caesar's will. And yet, as Christians, we know that God put this decree in the heart of Caesar Augustus. Proverbs 21.1 says, the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wills. Even the mighty Caesar's heart was nothing more than a stream of water in God's hands. And God wields this mammoth political empire to bless his people. You know, Paul, the Apostle Paul states it this way. He says, for by Christ all things were created. in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through Him and for Him." For Him. Caesar, Quirinius, all were created for Christ. They were elevated for Christ. And God creates and employs all things for His glory and His purposes, including unbelieving, powerful rulers. With all His pomp and power, Caesar and his sovereign decree were ultimately subservient tools in the hands of God. See, from all eternity, God decreed everything that would take place according to his manifold wisdom and his holy will. And this means that God planned the birth of Christ in eternity before creation of the world. And he caused his arrival to be prophesied 400 years before its fulfillment. In the prophet Micah, we read, but you, Bethlehem, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for me one to be ruler over all Israel, one whose origins are of old from the days of eternity. I would venture to say that it's likely that that prophecy was not immediately on the mind of Mary and Joseph. And that's not ultimately what brought them to Bethlehem. See, Mary and Joseph were divinely required to be in Bethlehem at a specific time. And God used Caesar as his unsuspecting instrument to bring them there. You see, God directs even the influential and powerful for the sake of his otherwise weak and insignificant people. And so, beloved, if God so ordered history for his good purposes, how much more does he order every detail of your life? You know, Christmas brings joy for some and sorrow for others. But whatever your personal situation, God's hand and direction are not absent. They may appear imperceptible, but they are not absent. He controls all things. He directs our paths. He guides our very steps. And He uses all of our circumstances, from the most pleasant to the most difficult or inconvenient, to complete the good work that He has begun in us. And for Mary, I mean, just consider what this meant for Mary. This meant needing to travel 90 miles likely on a donkey, while pregnant, nearing labor, and then giving birth in a crowded place, and laying her child in the feeding trough among the animals. That was difficult, and that was convenient, and yet through all that, God was fulfilling his promises. And in the birth of Christ, even in the circumstances around his birth, we have evidence that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. God orchestrates all events for his purposes. But I want you to also remember, Christian, that you do not have any need to fear the state. You have no need to fear the governing powers. You know what others may mean for evil? God means and uses for the greatest absolute good. And that is evidence in Christ's death, but it's also evidence at his birth. See, those in power are nothing more than tools in God's hands, unwittingly working out the counsel of His will, even as they may rage against Him. And so, beloved, you may be shocked to witness the momentous changes in the basic nature of our culture and our society. But God never changes. And God always remains in absolute control. And we have no need to fear the state, because God will fulfill every one of his purposes for our lives. Well, our God sovereignly orchestrates all things, and not the least of which being the very incarnation of his only begotten son, who is also the son of David. So secondly, we learn from this account that Jesus is the son of David, the Messiah. Jesus' birth took place in Bethlehem. Look at verse four. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. because he was of the house and lineage of David. Now, Bethlehem was the city in which Jesse, the father of David, lived. And as a result, Bethlehem was the city in which David was born. And more than that, you may remember from your Bibles that Bethlehem is the place that the prophet Samuel secretly anointed David to be Israel's future great king. And later in David's life, God promised David's throne would be established forever. God said to David, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Now, however, Caesar's very mention reminds us that conquering and foreign nations had cut David's mighty and royal tree down to a small and insignificant stump. There was nothing more than that. So at the time of Jesus, no Hebrew king reigned in Israel. And Luke draws upon the irony that these poor and lowly people, Mary and Joseph, were of the seed and the stock of David. This is what David's house had become. And yet through them, the Old Testament promises of the Messiah were coming to fruition. See, God also promised that there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And so a branch would sprout out from this lowly stump, and this branch would rule over not just Israel, but over the entire known world, would rule over a kingdom far larger and far more permanent than Caesar Augustus. See, this child in Mary's womb as a descendant of David possesses the birthright given to the firstborn of the very house of David. You know, the Gospel of Matthew focuses on this Davidic sonship theme in a different way. They do it by reporting on the historical visit of the Magi, the wise men who sought and found and worshiped Jesus as King. And when they arrived, they gave very noble and majestic gifts, gifts fit for a king. And those gifts would remind the knowledgeable Jewish reader of the homage that the Gentile queen of Sheba paid to Solomon with her gifts of spices and gold. And Solomon was the son of David. the very first heir to sit on his throne. See, the Magi magnificently foreshadowed the future submission to and worship of Christ the King by all the Gentiles. And the Davidic King who brings heavenly peace and light to a world in darkness has arrived. And God is the one performing all of this, faithfully fulfilling every one of his promises. And he promised our redemption. And so, beloved, we must remember, God always keeps his promises. God makes promises. God keeps promises. And that truth should always sustain our hope. You see, your sin, your foolishness, your failures, even if we take them as a whole, can never forfeit all of God's blessings for you. Because Jesus himself took them upon himself as a whole. You see, God, the birth of Jesus reminds us that God is true to his word, and his word is truth. And so he is faithless, faithful, even when we are faithless. And that's what the birth of Christ teaches us. And since he came on that day to deliver us, fulfilling thousands of years of promises, he will undoubtedly come again. and deliver us again. And we can trust his promises and live by his promises. But note also that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. See, Samuel anointed David in secret at Bethlehem. And if you know anything about the story of David, you might remember that David suffered much persecution before he was able to sit on his throne and to do so in peace. Well, likewise, God's anointed one arrives quietly, at least for now, into the world that he came to save. He doesn't look like a king at that moment, just as the youngest shepherd boy did not look like a king at that moment. And Jesus, too, would have to suffer much before he could fully establish and sit on his throne in heaven. But it's important to remember that at the apex, at the climax of Luke's gospel, Jesus asked his disciples, well, who do you say that I am? And Peter answered, the Christ, the Christ of God. Now we're gonna consider just in a few moments all of what that means for us, but I just wanna ask you tonight, if you were here listening to me, who do you say that Jesus is? Who are you celebrating this Christmas? I see Luke writes the narrative of Jesus' birth to lead you to the very same conclusion of his disciples. that he is the Christ. Well, God orchestrates all things, and he makes promises and keeps promises by bringing the Davidic son into this world, but we also learn, thirdly, by the circumstances of this event, that God often works in unexpected ways. Look at verse five. Joseph and... came to be registered with Mary, his betrothed who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn. Now God works in several unexpected ways in this passage, but let's think about just two unique and paradoxical ways in which God works. And the first is this, that Jesus' very conception and birth were extraordinary. In verse five, Luke reminds us that Mary was betrothed to Joseph. And that word betrothed meant that they were legally promised to each other in marriage. It's like a more intense version of engagement here. In a sense, they're engaged, but it's distinct from our experience because then they would have actually been legally bound to Mary. their legal requirements began at betrothal. And I think Luke chose this word betrothed instead of married, for instance, because I believe that he's meaning to suggest that Mary and Joseph might have been living together and perhaps ceremonially married in the way we understand husband and wife, but to that point, they had not had sexual union. They had not had any sexual union before the birth of the child. So if you flip over back to chapter one, you might remember that an angel comes and speaks to Mary and says in verse 31, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. And if you go down to verse 34, and Mary said to the angel, How will this be since I am a virgin? Luke is deliberately making the point that Mary is still a virgin at Jesus's birth. And the virgin birth is important first because it assumes that our Savior is not only a man. But He is the divine Son of God. The God-Man. Paul says that though Jesus was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. He didn't count equality with God as something He should take advantage of when He came to earth. But rather He emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant. and being born in the likeness of men. This baby, at this point in the story, is no ordinary human being. But secondly, the virgin birth confirms, importantly, that our Redeemer is entirely and truly a man. He was born of a woman, just like we are. And yet, He is without sin. See, He would not share in our humanity if He was not born of a woman, like the rest of humankind. But nevertheless, he was born in a very distinct manner. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. And that meant that he was untouched from the stain of sin that's transmitted to all who are in Adam's race. So this birth brings us the truly divine and truly sinless human Savior. This birth is utterly extraordinary. But also, it's really quite ordinary. I mean, just think about this for a minute. He passed through the birth canal like all humanity does. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes as all vulnerable and helpless babies are after birth. Unlike most kings, he was placed in a manger, not in a palace. You see, Jesus did not fit the Jewish mold of the expected Davidic ruler, but he wondrously fits the mold of a common person, the common person that he came to save, the person like you, the person like me. See, beloved, we must never ever forget that God uses the common, the insignificant, and the despised to bring glory to himself. You know, Jesus came not to a big and important city, but a tiny, despised, and forgotten town. He didn't come to a great nation, but a conquered and oppressed one. subjugated to the indignities of political domination. He didn't come through great and wealthy people, but the lowly family of a carpenter, riding on donkeys long distances, pregnant only for the purposes of being counted for their taxation. But Paul says that God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are. You see, beloved, God does not seek the spectacular. and nor does he seek a following of whoever at whatever cost to his glory. And so as his people, we too must value the despised people and the seemingly weak means that God so loves to use. We all tend to emphasize big works, big people, Big names in big places. But most such emphasis is of the flesh. See, not many of us in this room are exceptional by the world's standards. And yet He chose us to see the light of this wonderful mystery, to be able to answer truthfully about who Christ is, and therefore we are the means of God's testimony. So I ask you, in this Christmas season, which affords many opportunities to talk about Christ, how are you, weak as you may be, sharing these truths with others? And beloved, we also must never forget something else that the birth narrative teaches us, that humility comes before honor. And a true greatness, greatness in the way God defines it, is not always visible. And it's always invisible when assessed by the world's standards. This humility is modeled in our Savior's birth. And so friends, if you do not know Christ, I want to say first to you that there is absolutely no salvation without preceding humility. You must be able to humble yourself that God may be exalted in your life. This is the way of Christ's kingdom. I mean, how could any of us ever be proud when the divine savior so humbled himself? Well, God orchestrates all things to bring the divine son, the son of David, into the world, and he does it through so many unexpected means. But finally, we learn from Jesus' birth that we need a suffering savior. Look at verse seven. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn. The manger birth foreshadows Jesus' future rejection and sufferings. You see, the Lord had nowhere to lay his head at birth, and then therefore he had nowhere to lay his head during his ministry. And later in Luke's gospel, one called out eagerly, I will follow you wherever you go. I think if someone said that to me, I'd be like, yes, you're on my team. Jesus replied, foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. See, at his birth, Jesus made himself content with the habitation of animals, foreshadowing the fact that later in his life, there would be no room for him among his own people or in human society. Even the wrapping and swaddling clothes foreshadows the purpose of his birth. Because intriguingly, the next time Luke mentions Jesus being wrapped in anything is when Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and asked for the dead body of Jesus. And then he took it down from the cross and he wrapped it in linen shroud and laid him in the tomb. You see, friend, Jesus was born among us that he might die for us. And he needed to die for us because instead of trusting and obeying God as our king, humankind rebelled against God and set up its own kingdom, wanted to rule ourselves. And this sin makes us unable to obey God's law and leaves us completely unable to save ourselves. And even more so, it puts us in the precarious position of being under his judgment that awaits an appointed time. But God sent his son, Jesus, to become a man. And He did so, so that He might take the punishment we deserve by dying on a cross, alone, in our place, so that you and I can be forgiven of our sins and made right with God again and be brought under His blessed rule. because the one who was wrapped at his burial came out of his grave clothes. He triumphed over death, and he fulfilled every purpose of his coming. You see, Jesus' birth teaches us that God alone conceives, initiates, and secures our salvation. There's nothing we can do. We need him to come to us. And so if you don't know Christ or you don't consider yourself a follower of Christ, just let me tell you that this Christmas, the greatest gift you could possibly receive is Christ. You see, in truth, He is the only gift you absolutely need. He is the only gift that can save your life. and He is the only gift that is permanent. So humble yourself to receive His gift. Believe that He is the Christ, that He is the Savior, and that He is your only hope of forgiveness and living forever. If you wanna talk more about that, I'll be at the door at some point after the service, or just talk to someone that you came with. And believers, I'll close with this, that Jesus' birth reminds us that we must not forget that he said, he who would come after me must deny himself and take up his cross. See, our God was born wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger and then died naked and abandoned upon a Roman cross. And you must remember that the servant is not above his master. And that the life of a Christian is one of self-denying love for others. And that self-denying love always comes at a cost, but sometimes it comes at a great cost. But we see that it's worth it. And so what can you learn? about Jesus' Christmas, you learn that the one who was swaddled like us was utterly unlike us. He is the sinless God-man. You learn that the one who was wrapped like us died and was buried for our sin. And you learn that the one who was wrapped at his burial came out of his grave and came out of his grave clothes alive because he is the king of the universe. That's who that baby was laying in the manger. Let's pray. God in heaven, marvel at your manifold wisdom, that you yourself would come for our rescue and our redemption, that through a virgin you would be born truly God and truly man, that you would use powerful people and the most powerful people of the time to bring two lowly people to a certain place just so that you could be faithful to your promises. God, thank You for giving Christ to us. Help us during this Christmas season to depend on You and to remember that You are a faithful God. Please encourage every one of us, no matter what we're going through, that we can trust You, and that You have come and You have saved us, and You will deliver us now, and you will deliver us when you return. In Jesus' name, amen.