You are listening to the Sunday Morning Sermon from Faith Bible Church in Sharpsburg, Georgia. You can find podcasts and other resources at www.faithbiblechurch.us. Well, we want to celebrate today the Lord Jesus, but this is a time of celebration for people who have it all together. I mean, if you're single, you're perfectly content, you use the gifts that you have, and the time you have for maximum ministry, you're pretty much the best theologians in our church. For all the married men that have it together, you love your wives, you have great teeth, you view your job as a ministry and as an extension of our church. You have a perfect balance between leading your wife and fulfilling all of your responsibility to others. To the married women that have it all together, you're obviously respectful to your husband. He knows it and everyone else does too. You're submissive even on the inside. Your pearls shine brightly as the vacuum sings its song. Other women come to you for delicious recipes and decorating advice. The parents that have it all together with your well-behaved, neatly dressed, clean, cheerful children who get great grades in church and excel in everything. The kids who have it together. We're here for you today. You're great at honoring your parents. You're constantly making your brothers and sisters happy. In fact, you are happiest when something great happens to one of your brothers and sisters. And for all the spiritually, spiritually excellent people today, you've already read through the Bible in 2022. You don't even know what to do with your quiet times, because you're so far ahead. You pray plenty. You boldly share Christ every week. You've already ministered to three people this morning. You gave more to the Lord in missions through the church this year than ever before. So this is a great time of celebration for all of the together people here. Now, if you're like me, you're going, I'm not one of the together people. Well, good news for you as well. Christmas is not just a time to celebrate the all together people. It's a time of celebration for shepherds. and shepherds were not the altogether people in Bethlehem at Christmas. Of course, Jesus is why we celebrate Christmas and he's the centerpiece of the season. And of course, Jesus' birth marked the fulfillment of prophecy and secured all that would result from his coming. And you might think, rightly so, that Jesus deserved the greatest birth announcement of all. And the announcement was great, but the people who received the announcement were shepherds. Turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter two, and we wanna see two elements of this greatest birth announcement of all time. The first is the amazing announcement itself. In Luke 2, eight through 14, there are three features of this amazing announcement. The first is the hearers, and that's where we meet the shepherds in verse eight. And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. The same region, that is the region where Jesus was born. That would be Bethlehem, about six miles south of Jerusalem. And this would have been the same area about a thousand years earlier that David was wandering those same hills, watching over the sheep of his family as well. We think of how great shepherds are in the story. And of course we have songs that highlight the shepherds. We have features in the manger scene with some shepherds. Some of the Christmas shows include the shepherds. But actually the shepherds were not a altogether group. They were despised. Their occupation kept them from keeping all of the ceremonial laws of Israel, especially the extra made up laws from the Pharisees. The reputation of shepherds were thieves. They couldn't be trusted. Their testimony in court was considered invalid. Now these shepherds in the fields at Bethlehem may have been different than typical shepherds by reputation. Apparently they were somewhat devout men based on how the angel addressed them and based on their response. But we just know shepherds as a whole were not considered to be the well-to-do. What were these guys doing? Well, they were doing their shepherding. They were out in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night. Perhaps several different shepherds would bring the sheep into one massive flock and take turns watching and sleeping. They would make huts out of branches. Some would nap while others watched. And this happened at night. The second feature of this amazing announcement was the herald in verse nine. And the angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. After the greatest of all events, the incarnation of the Son of God, it's not surprising that God would announce it in an extraordinary way. And that's what happened this night. The angel appeared suddenly, it says, in dramatic swiftness. This could not be seen if, you know, you wouldn't even know what to expect that an angel would just show up. This holy, strong, brilliant, heavenly being was standing right before the shepherds that night. Now this, of course, is not the first angelic encounter in the events surrounding Jesus's birth. Just one page over, we see that the story starts with the angel Gabriel appearing to Zachariah in chapter one, verse 11. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And of course, he announced that Zechariah and his wife would also have a child, a son. And when Zechariah didn't believe and he got wobbly, the angel said the most amazing thing in verses 18 and 19. And Zechariah said to the angel, how shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years. And the angel answered him, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God and I was sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things have taken place because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. You love that. In just a few months, Gabriel had another mission and he wasn't in Jerusalem this time or near Jerusalem in the temple. He was up in Nazareth in northern Israel and he appeared to Mary in verse 26 of Luke 1. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth. to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. So he announced to Mary that she would have the Messiah, born of a virgin. And then in Matthew chapter one, we don't know that this was Gabriel, but in Matthew one, Joseph had a dream and it says that the angel appeared to him in a dream. But as he considered these things in Matthew 1.20, Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. It's always funny that angels start out by saying, fear not. That's so common. And you've got to think backwards and go, why do they say that every time? Because these angels must have been super scary. In fact, do you know any stories where the angel just shows up and doesn't start by saying, fear not? I mean, you don't know those stories because the people were too afraid to write it down. They just ran off terrified. Well, Back in Luke chapter two, this angel appears to the shepherds and they were terrified. And in addition to the visitation, the glory of the Lord shone around them. Don't just skip over this as part of the familiar story. This was God's radiating glory blazing all around them. the heavenly brightness manifesting God's presence and God's power was radiating that night. If they had any doubts at all when they were hearing the first words of the angel, this should have told them the message they were about to hear was directly from God himself. And how did they respond? What does it say? It says they were filled with great fear. Other translations say they were terribly frightened. I mean, the sudden arrival of an angel of the Lord and the visible manifestation of God in his glory in the middle of the night when they're supposed to be taking a nap or watching the sheep. It was a terrifying experience. I'm sure part of it was the unexpectedness and the unknown elements of the event. When I think of the massive, unexpected, unknown events, I'm always taken back to 1994 in January in Los Angeles when the Northridge earthquake erupted at 4.31 in the morning. And there I am in my little apartment in Northridge with my wife, and we were terrified. I mean, in addition to our house being, our apartment being shaken like crazy, you had the parking lot right next to our apartment, all of the cars being jostled and all of the alarms were going off at once. And in addition, just outside of our bedroom window was McDonald's, and the alarm was going off there as well. So you had all these alarms, The house is shaking like crazy. You don't know what's gonna happen next. You don't know if it's gonna collapse on top of you. Is this the big one that we've heard about? It was terrifying. because it was unexpected, and there were so many unknown elements. So the shepherds maybe had a sense of that, this is completely unexpected, and all kinds of unknown elements, they're hearing from the angel of the Lord himself. And remember what he said to Zechariah, I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to give you this message. But then just imagine the glory of God shining right where you were. I mean, that is absolutely stunning. So forget about the angels for a second, and forget about the unexpected nature of it. Let's just suppose that I give you an announcement that tomorrow, not in the middle of the night, but at three in the afternoon, you're gonna be standing before Gabriel with God's glory literally radiating and filling the atmosphere. You, who I think probably included yourself in the doesn't have everything together in your life, like me, it would be terrifying. You know, at three tomorrow afternoon, God's glory is gonna be shining on your sinful self. It would be terrifying. Well, this was terrifying, and they didn't even expect it. They didn't have an appointment, and this is the nighttime. They were terribly afraid, terribly afraid. So the angel in verse 10 starts with the most common angelic words, fear not, don't be afraid, which like I said, is kind of what he says. Verse 13 of chapter one, the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zachariah. In chapter one, verse 30, The angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And so here they say it to the shepherds, do not be afraid, for I bring you good news. Here's the reason, you don't need to be afraid. Even though God's glory is radiating on your sinful selves out in the sheep fields of Bethlehem, I'm bringing you good news. He doesn't just leave it at don't be afraid. Good news, that's the same word later for preaching the gospel. Gospel means good news of forgiveness and salvation through Christ. He says, I'm bringing you good news right now. This good news is gonna be of great joy. The angel's good news involves a great joy. The greatest problem in the world today is not war, It's not inflation, it's not the government, it's not poverty, it's not hunger, it's not the lack of education, it's not our government. The greatest problem in our world today is sin. And the greatest solution is having God's wrath against sin being appeased on His Son on the cross. The greatest joy in the world is the coming of Jesus Christ. His birth was the certainty of God's great solution happening. The joy of Jesus is so great, it should outweigh every possible sorrow of this life. It's not to say there aren't sorrows in this life. It's not to say that our world is not in a bad place. It is in many ways. But all of the griefs, troubles, worries of this world can't compare to the joy of Jesus when you think of it in light of eternity. He brings salvation. The old scales had two pans in them and if you put all of the heavy weight of the world on one side and you put the great joy of Jesus on the other side, it's gonna go way down because it's so much heavier and so much more valuable. Don't be afraid, shepherds. I'm bringing you good news of great joy. And he goes on to say, that will be for all the people. The implications of the message that I'm about to speak to you go way beyond you shepherds. All people in all times regardless of their ethnicity and their education and their social status. You shepherds are on the bottom rung, but this applies to people not just on the bottom, not just in the middle, but up top. It's coming to you. Whatever your religious background, whatever your sex, your age, the message of joy comes. Now what will you do with the message? Well, this makes me think of John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life. The believing ones receive eternal life. Verse 11 continues to spell out this joyful news. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. The city of David is Bethlehem. You can see that back in 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. Bethlehem is the city that David grew up in with his family. So it's called the city of David. There's a promise to David that a great king in his line was to be born and would reign forever. I think that the angel Gabriel is highlighting the fact that it's, he doesn't just say in Bethlehem a savior is born, but in the city of David a savior is born because Gabriel is connecting the dots for the shepherds and for us. There has been born for you He says, for unto you is born this day in the city of David. Born is emphasized by its position in the sentence, in the original language. This long ago promised one is now born. He's born. God made these promises to David that a forever king would be born of his line and reign about 1,000 years before it happened. But now he's born. It's here. It's all coming. It's happening. He's a savior. Jesus is by quality Savior. He's going to save his people from their sins. You know, this is the only time in Matthew, Mark, and Luke that Jesus is called Savior. There's really just a time in John and a couple of other references in the New Testament. He's not often called Savior, but he is here. And by application, it's great to have Jesus as an example And it's great to have Jesus as a friend, but it's most important to have Jesus as your Savior. Otherwise, you'll face holy God still filled with your sins. I mean, it is terrifying to be in God's presence with your sinful self. It ought to be terrifying. because we deserve God's wrath. We need to be saved from God's wrath. We need to be delivered from God's wrath. And the great news for all peoples is the Savior has been born. Who is this Savior? He's called Christ the Lord. Christ is the Hebrew word for Messiah. I mean, that points to the Hebrew word for Messiah or anointed one. He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises. He is the one anointed by the Holy Spirit to be his people's great prophet and sympathetic high priest and eternal king. He's also called the Lord. Some say that first you come to Jesus as your savior and later you make him Lord of your life. Not really, not really. Even as a baby in the manger, the angel of God calls him Lord. Jesus is Lord. It's a fact. If you want Him as your Savior, you are getting the Lord of the universe as your Savior. You are placing your entire faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is great news. Great news indeed. Thomas Watson, one of the Puritans, he had this incredible quote where he was talking about the incarnation and the significance of that baby. He says that the incarnation is the catena aurea, a golden chain made up of several links of miracles. For instance, that the creature, or excuse me, that the creator of heaven should become a creature, that eternity should be born, that he whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain should be enclosed in the womb, that he who thunders in the clouds should cry in the cradle. that he who rules the stars should suck the breasts, that he who upholds all things by the word of his power should himself be upheld, that a virgin should conceive, that Christ should be made of a woman and of that woman which God himself, which he himself made, that the creature should give a being to the creator, that the star should give light to the sun, that the branch should bear the vine, that the mother should be younger than the child she bear, and that the child in the womb bigger than is the mother, that he who is a spirit should be made flesh, that Christ should be without father and without mother and yet have both, without mother in the Godhead, without father in the manhood, that Christ being incarnate should have two natures, the divine and human, and yet but one person. That the divine nature should not be infused into the human, nor the human mixed with the divine, yet assumed in the person of the Son of God. The human nature, not God, yet one with God. Here is, I say, a chain of miracles. We can smile at the thought of this incredible message the angel gave to the shepherds. But imagine if you were a shepherd that night. How would you respond? We know that they were terrified. They were exhausted. They were amazed at this announcement. Verse 12, God's messenger helps them process the truth a bit. How does he do that? Look at verse 12. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. We'll note that the angel does not direct the shepherds to go check out what he's saying. He just gives them the signs and it is assumed that they will go and check out what the messenger said to them. Here's the sign. This is gonna help you locate the baby. And think about this, this is gonna validate and verify the message that I'm giving to you, right? I mean, this is an amazing message. He's saying the Savior has been born. Good news, great joy. He's born, Christ the Lord. Wow, pretty amazing. But when he gives them the sign and they go check it out and find out that it happened exactly like the angel said, what that means is everything else the angel said was completely legit. So it's not just here I'm gonna help you find it, like here's the GPS coordinates for this baby. But it's saying, here's an authentication. Is that the right way to say it? Anyway, this is gonna be, this is gonna validate what I said in the message. Pretty shocking. So what is this sign? Well, you're gonna find a baby wrapped in cloths. Okay, that's not too shocking. But lying in a manger, that is gonna be pretty specific. because the manger was the feeding cloths, the feeding trough for the animals. And that is not where you put a newborn baby normally. So we might think that such a child should be born in the middle of Calloway Gardens in fantasy and lights. I mean, there should be massive lights and jolly trolleys going around. It should be spectacular. But instead, it's gonna be where the animals were. probably in a cave with a little feeding trough, stinky, smelly animals around, and there's a baby wrapped in cloth. So this is very specific. The shepherds probably thought, wow, Calloway Gardens is not my kind of place, but the feeding trough with the animals, that's exactly my kind of place. So we go under the amazing announcement. We've seen the hearers and the herald. The third feature I want you to see is the hosts in verses 13 and 14. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. First you have a normal night. then suddenly the angel is there. And then the glory of God shines. Now you've got a multitude of angels right in front of the shepherds. And we see the word suddenly shows up again. So another sudden appearance of an army of angels. That's what the word host means, army. So a multitude of the heavenly armies, an array of angels. It's probably good that God held the army back off set for a little bit so that the shepherds could kind of digest it one step at a time and didn't pass out. If all the shepherds passed out immediately, we would not know any of this stuff. What were these angels doing? They were praising God, an outpouring of adoration to God. Why? Why did the angels praise God for this incredible message? You see, the Bible tells us the angels knew about the situation on earth. They knew about the sins of humanity, and they know well the wrath of God. You remember, a third of the angels rebelled and went with the devil, and they were cast out of heaven. They knew the consequences of sin, and here's humanity. made in God's image and yet sinful. And how is this all going to be worked out? And now the message comes that the Savior is born. He's called Jesus because it's He who will save His people from their sins. They knew that God was sending His Son to make a way of reconciliation for sinners to get back into a right relationship with God. And they were praising God. These shepherds got a peek into what's always happening in heaven, where there's always an army of angels praising God around his throne. What were these angels saying? Glory to God in the highest. Sending Jesus is a great work of God, and God deserves all the credit for it. He deserves all the honor, all the praise, all the adoration for it. I mean, there's a lot of classic movies, and I hear new movies out about the father trying to make the perfect Christmas for his family, and all of the hijinks that go on when that doesn't happen. Well, we really aren't the ones who make Christmas, are we? God made Christmas. God gets the credit. And it worked out exactly like God intended. These angels recognize that and they glorify God because of it. When you think about all that God did in sending Jesus, your heart should resound like the angels. Glory to God. and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. At the time of Jesus' birth, there was some external peace in that part of the world. You remember Jesus was born in the midst of the Roman Empire under Augustus Caesar. They called it the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome. Yeah, it's peaceful, because Rome conquered the whole world. There was nobody left to fight. So yes, there was peace in all of those occupied lands. But the Roman Empire could never offer true inner peace flowing from the heart. That kind of peace only comes from the Prince of Peace who was born that first Christmas. Jesus came first to give us peace with God. When our sins are forgiven, we have no more war with God. Second, he came to give us inward peace from God. And when two individuals have both peace with God and peace from God, they will have peace with each other. And it spreads this way to all kinds of people, those with whom he is pleased. God's offer of peace goes out to all men, but certainly his peace is received in a special way by those with whom he is pleased. Those whom God has chosen for his good pleasure from before the foundation of the world are the people who will experience God's peace. The offer goes to you today to experience God's peace. But it will only be if you turn to the Lord that you'll receive that peace. And it's only those that God is at work right now in showing them their sin and their need for a savior that will come to God. So that's the amazing announcement. The second element of this great birth announcement, the greatest of all times, are the appropriate actions in verses 15 through 20. And there's four of them, and they're obvious. The first is the rush, right? If you went to the reopening of Walmart in Peachtree City, which I did not, I'm guessing there was a massive rush. I'm certainly, the Walmart was in a rush to get back open before Christmas because they missed it all because of the fire. But that was not the first Christmas rush. The first Christmas rush happened in verse 15. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. Their immediate response to the angel is, come on, let's go. and they found it just like the angel said that it would be. Now, if you don't know much about biblical history and the time, you might think Bethlehem was a big place. I know the song says a little town of Bethlehem. It was pretty small. So there's not a lot going on there. It wouldn't have taken a lot of work to find a baby in a feeding trough in Bethlehem, because it was so small of a place. After the rush, The second appropriate action is the report in verse 17. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. They just spilled to Mary and Joseph. And we've talked about this so many times, but that had to be. Crazy for Mary and Joseph. I mean, it was crazy enough, right? How old was Joseph? Maybe 18 or 19. How old was Mary? Maybe 14 or 15. Having the baby apart from family and friends who were up in Nazareth where both Mary and Joseph grew up. You're all by yourself. You have the baby. You know the miracle baby it is. which has got to, I mean, all parents with their first kids are kind of really concerned about all the stuff, right? Imagine if your first kid was the son of God, how concerned you would be about it all. Oh man. And now here's the dirty, stinky shepherds come and they're all happy. And then they start saying unbelievable things in the middle of the night about your baby. What a report. Third, appropriate action. The rush, the report, comes the responses in verses 18 and 19. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them, but Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. These amazing things happened. and they were just wondering. We don't get this. This is an element of worship. This is the wow of worship. Wow. This is incredible. Now, this little note in verse 19 about Mary treasuring up all these things and pondering them in her heart, probably refers back to all of the experiences over the last few months for Mary. This is a summary of the whole Christmas account. In other words, Mary was just thinking about it. She was treasuring these things. She was treasuring Gabriel's first visit back when she was in Nazareth. the miraculous pregnancy, her older cousin's Elizabeth's pregnancy, because we didn't talk about it, but she actually went to visit Elizabeth while she was pregnant with John the Baptist, who would be the forerunner of Jesus. She made this inspired statement about her child, which we call the Magnificat there in Luke chapter one. Then this imperial decree comes that they have to leave Nazareth late in her pregnancy and go to Bethlehem. Then the new baby comes, now the shepherds come and they make this incredible statement about what the angels had said. Mary is just treasuring these things and thinking about them and worshiping God. But I think another reason why Luke points this out is that Luke himself probably interviewed Mary for this book. Mary was probably the source of Luke's information. And he wants us to know she was thinking about all of these things very deeply. We've seen the rush and the report and the responses. Here's the return in verse 20. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen as it had been told them. glorifying and praising God. That was the right response to these amazing truths. They had heard a remarkable report. They saw a spectacular sight. It was just exactly as the angel said that it would be, which means everything else the angel said was right and legit. They praised God for this. So what are our takeaways from this story? First, when you hear the joyful good news about Jesus, follow the shepherd's example to seek out the Savior. If you don't know God, if you've not repented of your sinfulness and turned to God by faith in Christ, this is great news for you. This is great news for you that the Savior has been born. Jesus didn't just be born and have the wonderful things at Christmas that we celebrate, but he lived on the earth perfectly. He never sinned. one time, even though he was tempted in all ways like we are, yet without sin. And that qualified him to die on the cross as a substitute for sinners. He had to be a man to die for men and women. He had to be God to bear the eternal wrath of God against your sins. And God did it to Jesus on the cross. It's a sobering thought to think you and I deserve to go to hell because of our sins. And when Jesus died on the cross, he took hell on himself on the cross in the place of you. That's what the offer is. You can exchange your sins for his righteousness. your sins can be forgiven. That's what it means to be saved from God's righteous wrath. You might think, well, God just loves people and lets it slide. No, God doesn't do that. That's kind of what I think God does. That's not what the Bible says God does. And we're not allowed to just make up what we want to think about God. The Bible says God is just and God is good. And therefore, because of that, God must punish sin. You don't think it's good for a judge to just let a blatant sinner off the hook, do you? Of course not. Well, God is a good and wise and righteous judge with all the information, not just about what you've said and done, but your thoughts and your words. He knows it all and it will be all on the table. And God is a good judge and wise and righteous and just. So he will punish it. So how can God forgive us? If God must punish our sin, God punished Jesus in your place. That's what it means that the Savior has been born. That's why this is such incredible good news of great joy for all y'all. So seek out the Savior like the shepherds did. You don't get this exchange by working harder and turning over a new religious leaf. You get the gift of righteousness by admitting you need it and humbling your heart and trusting in Jesus. Secondly, when you know the joyful good news about Jesus, spread the story. This is too good to keep to yourself. Use your family time to relate this glorious truth about the Savior being born. And third, when you apply this truth to your heart, sing the song. The Bible doesn't specifically say that the angels were singing this song as they were praising God. I mean, I know most of our Christmas songs say that the angels were singing, but the Bible actually doesn't say that technically. that they were singing this song in verse 14. But certainly these are poetic words like a song and they should reflect our hearts full of praise to the glory of God for his indescribable gift. So may it be that the Lord would help us to quiet our hearts during the chaos of Christmas and worship him and sing his song, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he's pleased. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for this Christmas Sunday where we're able to be together and celebrate Jesus. Celebrating the Savior with the angels and the shepherds as their story is told to us in the Bible. We thank you for Mary pondering these truths and Joseph celebrating so that you would use Mary to tell Luke and inspire Luke to write it down for us to read some 2,000 years later and rejoice. Just like there was joy that first night, we have joy in the house today. And we worship and adore you. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.