Matthew 1, verse 18. I'm just going to use this as a base text. Just a part of this phrase, part of this verse. Matthew 1, verse 18, where we read, Now 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. It's just that simple phrase, the birth of Jesus Christ. With God's word open, let's just bow briefly and momentarily in prayer, please. Gracious God and eternal Father in heaven, we thank thee this evening for what our ears have heard already, what we have been singing about, Emmanuel, God with us. We thank Thee for the birth of Thy Son. Lord, how we rejoice tonight in the person and work of the blessed Lord Jesus. Lord, we want to thank Thee from the very depth of our souls for each one in this church building this evening who knows Christ as Saviour for the joy, unspeakable joy that Thou hast given to us. Lord, because of the birth, the life and death of Thy Son. Lord, speak to each and every heart, from the youngest to the very eldest. Make Thy Word plain, simple, easy to understand. We ask, Lord, that Thou wilt grant that each and every person will be left without doubt of their personal need to come to Christ for salvation. Hear and answer prayer. Make much of Thy Son. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. This morning I was speaking at a church doing a children's address and I was speaking about the greatest gift ever given at this time of the year. Of course, there are different times of the year when we are involved in giving gifts. For instance, at birthdays, special awards, but especially at Christmas time, we give and we receive gifts. A lot of thought is put behind gifts and a lot of expense. I was in town yesterday or should I say the city and I was in the city yesterday afternoon and you know what? It seemed as if money was going out of fashion. People were on a mission and that mission was to get as much as they could and to spend as much as they could. With bags and bags full of goods and they of course were out there purchasing and acquiring gifts. And yet the greatest gift ever given, the most expensive gift, the most costly gift, the gift of God's Son. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The greatest possession, the greatest gift that any man or woman can ever receive is Christ as Savior. Heaven is home. Peace with God. Tell me, have you received that gift? Not only were there many people going around, of course, on a mission to buy gifts, but there were also a number of people giving out gospel tracts, and that's encouraging. And giving out tracts to remind people about why we celebrate this particular time of the year, what we want to focus on. And that, of course, has to do with the incarnation, with the birth of Jesus Christ. And we need to think about that message. Sadly and tragically, that message is lost today out there in the world, in the hustle and bustle and the busyness of life. We need to stop and think of the birth of Christ. I want us this evening to think upon the birth of the Lord Jesus from Scripture. We are going to look at a number of points. The first thing we are going to consider is the promise of the Saviour's birth. This book from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation, is all about Christ. He is the very center of the Word of God. Everything in God's Word points us to consider who Jesus Christ is, what Jesus Christ has done. And you know, whenever we turn to the Old Testament, sadly many people think that the Old Testament saints knew little of the Lord Jesus. That they knew little of Christ. that looking forward in time, that they didn't really understand or know much about the Savior. Well, that is very contrary to what the Bible teaches. Let me say that great men and women of God, they knew who Christ was. They, by faith, were trusting in Christ. They were looking forward to the cross. The disciples were there at the cross. We're looking back to the cross. But there is only one way whereby man, sinful man, can be reconciled to God, and that is through Christ at the cross, whether looking forward at or looking back. They knew much about the Savior. Men and women like, for instance, Moses, Noah, David, men and women of God, Job said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. And there Job, thousands of years before the Savior would be born, he looked forward in time to that day when the Son of God would come into the world. He would die there upon the cross. Not only would he die, but Job says that he would be resurrected, that he would live again. And so he did. And so Job by faith was looking forward to the promise of the birth of Christ. In fact, Abraham, a great man of faith, he knew, of course, much about the Savior. The Lord, of course, testing Abraham there at Mount Moriah when he was called to basically sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham's faith was really put to the test. Abraham, you say you love me. Now prove it. Take your son Isaac and offer him there as a sacrifice, a burnt sacrifice. The whole thing would be consumed. And there he found that by faith, Abraham went and he'd done that. He was prepared to, in a sense, go right through with it. But of course, the angel of God intervened. The Lord stepped in and God provided the substitute. And there Abraham looked forward that day to the cross. When the substitute, the Lamb of God, would come, the Messiah, He was reminded of that fact, that the Lord Jesus would come. God chose around 40 men to write down His words. Some of them, of course, prophesied about the birth of the Lord Jesus. For instance, Isaiah, he not only wrote about the life of Christ, His sinless perfect life, he not only wrote about His cruel, agonizing, suffering death, but Isaiah also wrote about and prophesied the birth of the Saviour. that the Messiah would come. Come with me please to Luke chapter 2, because as we think about the promise of the Messiah's birth, the promise of the birth of Christ, in Luke chapter 2 we're told that not only were the Old Testament saints, were they looking forward and resting on that promise, believing that promise, but in Luke chapter 2 we find that There were those in the temple who were also waiting. They were resting on the promise. We read about two individuals here in Luke chapter 2, in the verse 28. We read here about a man by the name of Simeon. Simeon's in the temple. Simeon is waiting there for the Son of God to be born, the promise to be fulfilled. God is true to His Word. And as God promised that the Messiah would be born, Simeon believed God. He knew it would happen. And there he was waiting, verse 28, as the parents of Jesus bring in the newborn babe, we find, verse 28, Then took he him up into his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now thy servant depart in peace. according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel." And Simeon there was basically saying, Lord, as you have promised, as prophesied, So it is now fulfilled. It is according to Thy Word. And we also read of Anna once again, waiting there before the Lord, resting upon the promise. We have the promise of the book. Messiah will come. And praise God, the Messiah has come. The promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. But there's also, when we think of the birth of Christ, not only the promise of His birth, but also the place of His birth. That, of course, was spoken about and written about in the Old Testament in the book of Malachi, in chapter 5, verse 2. Now we read about the place of Christ's birth. The Lord not only promised that He would be born and spoke about that, but also tells us of the place. But thou, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee Shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting?" And yet how could that take place? After all, Mary and Joseph, they were not in Bethlehem. They were not in that locality. And yet we find that how God providentially orders the circumstances of life, the sovereign Creator God, He overrules in the affairs of men. He brings about an event. to bring Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. And we read about that in Luke chapter 2. We read about Caesar Augustus and the taxing of the world. And we read there in verse 3 in Luke 2, And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And there as Joseph and Mary returned to Joseph's home city of Bethlehem, we find now Scripture. is being fulfilled. The prophecy is coming to pass, just as God has promised. The Savior will be born in Bethlehem. So He was, the place of His birth. We read there that there in Bethlehem, in verse 7, And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. Because there was no room for them in the inn. No room for the Messiah. No place for Christ. You know, as we think of that occasion, whenever Mary and Joseph came to the inn, to the innkeeper, he must have been a very hard, uncompassionate man. Because here standing before him was Joseph, and we're told that Mary, that she was about to give birth. She was heavily pregnant. She was about to give birth to her child. And yet we read that he turns him away. There's no place. There's no room. How hard men are to the Gospel. How hard men and women are to the things of God. Oh, they have time for business, time for pleasure, time for just about anything, but no time for Christ. What a great tragedy. I wonder, have you made time and room in your life for Christ and for the Lord and for His salvation? How many people there are like that today? The promise of His birth, the place of His birth. We also read here in Luke chapter 2 about the proclamation of His birth, the announcement, and what a great announcement it was. We read here that it started off as just an ordinary night there on that Judean hillside for the shepherds around Bethlehem. It was just the same night as it had been the previous night. Shepherds tending, watching over their flocks by night, going about their daily routine, going about their business. It was just going to be the same as far as they were concerned. Just going to be the same. Maybe that's a picture of you here tonight in the church. You come to the meeting, you leave. You come to the meeting, you hear the gospel, you leave. And tonight finds you in the house of God, and you know, in a sense, it's just an ordinary meeting for you. It's just going to be the same. But what was to transpire and take place that night, those shepherds would never be the same. That's the miracle of what God is able to do. And it was, of course, because they sing Christ. And let me tell you, when you lay hold upon Christ by the eye of faith, your life will never, never be the same. We read here about these shepherds in Luke chapter 2. It tells us here in verse 9, And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. They were terrified. Of course, that's natural. A celestial being come from heaven, appearing before them. It was terrifying to them. We find that when it comes to the Word of God, that the Word of God has much to say about angels. And we're not going to look at the whole subject of angels this evening, but we find that, especially with the birth of the Son of God, we find that the angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias in the temple. And there, as he was going about his business, just an everyday, ordinary Jew, as a priest going into the temple, we find there that on the right side of the altar of incense that the angel appeared to him with a message that his wife Elizabeth would have a son. Of course, speaking about John the Baptist, the one who would come before and prepare the way before the Lord, then we find with Mary herself that the same angel, Gabriel, appears to Mary. and speaks to her of the fact that she is to conceive, though she knows not a man and hadn't known a man. And it was by the miracle of the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon her. Then Joseph, in his sleep, we find that an angel appears to him via that vision, that dream, and speaks to him about the work of God and how the Lord had ordered this. And Mary indeed was pregnant. by the Holy Ghost. We find here that angels came to that Judean hillside. And these terrified shepherds, these frightened shepherds, the message they received, the proclamation, verse 10, if you look at it, it says, 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. The Messiah is born. The Son of God has come. What a great announcement. What a message. The hope of man. The Savior himself. It's amazing there that the angels came And there they lifted up their voices in a great anthem of praise. Look with me at that great angelic choir and what they said. Verse 13, And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven and earth, peace, goodwill toward men. And here the angels, with all of their being, they praised and they worshipped God. How much more ought we as those redeemed with precious blood. It's interesting to note that Satan, the devil, when he was cast out of heaven for his rebellion, Revelation tells us that he took one-thirds of the angels with him. They rebelled also. We do not read And there is no plan in the counsel of God to redeem or to rescue those angels, those fallen angels. And yet we read in the Word of God about man that God created to know Him, to glorify Him. Man that likewise rebelled against Him. And yet in love and mercy, God ordained a plan. God sent His Son to redeem fallen man, to reconcile him to God. And can I say that as a people of God, we have much to thank God for. You know, sometimes we get our focus and our vision wrong. We focus rather on what the devil does rather than what the Lord is able to do. One third of the angels cast out of heaven. But you know what? Two-thirds remain. That's, of course, twice as many angelic creatures who worship and praise God as the demons who were cast out. Of course, God always has a victory. The shepherds, they wanted to see this news for themselves. Now, notice what the angel said to the shepherds. Verse 12, "...and this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped and swaddled, enclosed, lying in a manger." Now that's the sign. So here we find that the shepherds, they begin to commune among themselves, talk among themselves. We need to see this for ourselves. Let me put it to you very clearly this evening. You've heard about your need to be saved. You've been told the need to come to Christ. You've heard testimonies. You've listened to what God has done in the life of others. But can I urge you, come and see for yourself. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Come to Christ yourself. That's what the shepherds wanted to do. They'd heard the report. Now they wanted to see with their eyes. We find there they made their way into Bethlehem, and the Bible tells us that they found the babe lying there in the manger. And of course, it was according to the word that they had received. It was, as God had said, the proclamation of the birth of Christ. But also, moving along quickly, we have the perfection of the birth of Christ. For in John chapter 1 and verse 1, we read these tremendous words, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We are reminded of the incarnation. Verse 14 reminds us that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth. Here is the great miracle, that the Son of God, the Messiah, was born of a virgin. It was also a great mystery, for here we have the One who is God, perfect God, and yet He is man, the God-man. One person, but with two natures. The Word of God reminds us, of course, that we are to worship God only. And in Matthew chapter 2 we are reminded about the occasion whenever the wise men came to worship the Lord. And perhaps at that stage the Lord was around about the age of one and a half to two. He wasn't that little babe in the manger any longer. He was now a little infant. And as they come before Him, we're told in Matthew 2 verse 11, when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshipped Him. Now the Bible says we are to worship God only. There is but one true God and we are to worship Him only. And yet we find that the wise men, they did exactly that. They worshipped God. For here before them was the Son of God, and God the Son, the God-Man, Emmanuel, God with us. We find that they opened their gifts. They presented unto Him gold, frankincense and myrrh. The gold, of course, reminds us about divinity. It speaks to us of kingship. Jesus is the King of kings. He is God. Frankincense. was gathered from the sap of the boswellia tree. Frankincense was part of the ingredient that was used there in the temple and also in the tabernacle at the altar of incense. The Lord spoke about that particular perfume, that incense that was burned, and He said it wasn't to be replicated, it wasn't to be copied. But we do know that part of that makeup of that ingredient was frankincense. And there it was used in the worship of God. And it's interesting to note there that here they come and they present frankincense to Christ. Because they're coming and they bow down before Him. They acknowledge Him as God, the Savior of the world. I wonder, is He your Lord as we close this evening? I want us just to think in closing of the purpose of the birth of Christ. The birth of Christ is purpose. Why was the Savior born? In Matthew 2, we're told of that occasion whenever the wise men were making their journey, seeking out the young Jesus, that they might worship Him. We're told there that Herod was troubled because he heard the news that the king of the Jews had been born. And so he orders all the children, two years of age and under, to be executed, to be put to death. Basically, he was afraid that he was going to lose his kingdom. For Herod, like many, many others, tragically thought that the Savior would come, the Messiah, according to prophecy, they thought, would come and would set up an earthly kingdom. That is not why Jesus came. Some people would try to tell us that the Lord Jesus came and He tried to set up this kingdom. He tried to establish it on earth, but through weakness He was unable to do that. And so the cross became an afterthought. That is not what the Bible teaches. He is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. The cross was no afterthought with God. Let me say this. Jesus Christ came to die. That's why He came. He came to die. The purpose of His birth. We find here in our reading in Luke chapter 2 that Mary, she took forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and let him in a manger. And there at His birth we are reminded of the purpose why He was born. The very garments of death, those swaddling clothes that were used to embalm dead bodies, they're the little baby Jesus. He's not wrapped in a blanket, as it were, or some other garment. No, it is the garments of death. Because at His birth, we're pointed to His death. For because the two are inseparable. It's part of what we call the fundamentals of a Christian faith. We believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. That's essential to being a Christian. We believe He lived a perfect life. We believe He died on the cross there as a perfect substitute. We believe He rose again. But here we find that He's wrapped in the garments of death. We're also reminded once again of the fact that He came to die. when the wise men presented unto him gold, frankincense, and myrrh." Myrrh was used oftentimes as a perfume. When the body was embalmed and prepared for burial, myrrh was used to perfume that body. Once again, we're reminded that He came to die. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That meant that he would live a perfect life before man and unto God. That he would die there on the cross as the perfect sacrifice and substitute. Not for any wrongdoing that he had done, for he's the holy, the spotless, the sinless one. But he would die there as the substitute, bearing our sin, paying the price of our sin. and bearing our sins in His own body to the tree. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Christ came to die. It's good to focus upon the Saviour's birth. It's good to focus and to think upon the reason why He came. He was born that He might live a perfect life and die a perfect death. Tell me, do you know the Lord Jesus? The gift of God is eternal life. Do you possess the greatest gift any man or woman, young person could receive. Are you saved? Come to Christ. Trust Christ. O come, let us adore Him. May the Lord bless His Word to our hearts for Jesus' sake. Amen.