Chapter two, Luke chapter two, we'll begin reading with verse eight. Luke chapter two, begin reading with verse eight. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, 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 this shall be a sign unto you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there were with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them unto heaven, the shepherd said one to another, Let us go now even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which 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 the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, we do thank you for the opportunity that we have here in the middle of this week to come aside from the busyness of our lives and just to meet with you Father, we thank you for the scriptures that you have given to us and the record of the birth of your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And tonight, as we look at your word, we ask that by the power of the Holy Spirit that you would open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts to your word. We ask that by the power of the Holy Spirit that you would put Satan and his demons out of this building. that you would fill it with your presence and that you would guard us. Father, tonight, may your words come alive in our life. May we go forth from here different and changed because we've been in the house of the Lord. Father, we ask that all that's said and done would be done to thy honor and to thy glory. In Christ's name we do pray, amen. This is the end coming to the end. December is the Christmas season, and this is the end, and here in a couple of days, if you're at my house, December 31st, January 1st, all of it disappears, goes in a box, goes back upstairs. Everything goes back to normal, and we go back to our lives. Christmas is over. Christmas, remembering Jesus Christ's birth, is just for the month of December, right? No, it shouldn't be. It should be for all seasons, for all times. But unfortunately, for a lot of people in this world, and even for some Christians, it's just December. For some, Thanksgiving's over, and now we can think about the birth of Christ. Now we set up for Christmas. If you teach in the public school, it's the day after Halloween. Boom, Christmas season has started. But it shouldn't, it should be for all seasons. We should be thinking of the birth of our savior all the time. We should be celebrating it, we should be worshiping our savior and thanking him for what he's done, that he set aside, he left heaven and he came to earth to be born, to live, but to die, to rise again, to shed his blood that we may have salvation forgiveness for our sins. Tonight I want to look here in Luke chapter 2, and I want to look at the shepherds, what happened, what the angels had to say, and the shepherds' reaction to the angels. Who are the shepherds? They were in the same country. Shepherds abide in the field. The shepherds, who are they? They're workers. On, I'll say, the levels, the caste levels of people, there's the upper class, there's the middle class, there's the lower class, and then there's the shepherds. The shepherds, a lot of times, maybe, so many of them were criminals. Many of them were just people who didn't have any family or whatever, and this was a job that they could get. and then they would work with the sheep. They would take care of the sheep. They were out in the field, they were away from town, they were keeping, but here they are this night, they're working. Every night, the shepherds, they work. Shepherds work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, doing their job, they're working. The scripture tells us they weren't asleep. So when the angels showed up, they were wide awake for this. It wasn't like they were woken out of a slumber. And so, have you ever been like that? Have you ever been in a situation where you're half asleep, hopefully not at your office desk, but maybe you're in a situation where you're at your house or something. I can remember one, I was a student at school and I had a room and it was Thanksgiving day, Thanksgiving morning. Not a lot goes on if you don't have family and friends coming where I went to school. And but so it was the morning, I was half asleep in my bed and my roommate's dad was come to visit him. And for whatever reason, my roommate liked me a lot. And so man, he's like to his dad, he's like, come on, come on, you got to meet my roommate, you got to be my roommate. So he came walking in. And so, you know, I get off the bed, I'm like half awake. I meet his dad, like, nice to meet you, sir. Yep, you have a wonderful son, blah, blah. They came, they went, boom, and after it was over, I couldn't have picked that man out of a crowd if, you know, I had just met him. And if he had walked back down the hall with four or five other people, I couldn't have told you which one was my roommate's dad. But this wasn't that situation. These guys were awake, they were working, they were taking care of their flocks by night, and what happens? Verse 9, and lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them. The angel of the Lord came. Who are the angels of the Lord? They are ministers that serve God and do work at His bidding. And the angel of the Lord came upon them. and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. So one angel shows up and lights, the glory of God was there and lit up the whole place. I mean, the glory wasn't just, you know, you ever been somewhere, maybe you see a speaker up on stage and he's standing there and the spotlight's down on him and he's all lit up, but everywhere else is what? Is dark. That's not what this says. The glory of the Lord shone round about them. So here the angel is up over here But yet, it's all lit up. It's shown all around them the glory of the Lord is. And they were what? They were afraid. They weren't, what is this? Oh no, what's happening? They didn't think UFO. They didn't think, you know, what is this? I don't know what this is. They knew what this was. They knew they were in the presence of God. And that this angel, they might not have used that word, but this angel, they knew was from God. They were scared. They knew the Old Testament. They had seen God work in the past. They knew that there was an angel with a flaming sword guarding the Garden of Eden there in Genesis. They knew the stories of the Old Testament where God had used angels to do His bidding. And they were afraid. Why? I think they thought judgment time had come for them. They were afraid. In Daniel chapter 10, it talks about Daniel had been praying for three weeks for an answer from the Lord that he might get an interpretation for the dream for the king there, the Chaldean king. And he had been praying for three weeks. And when the angel of the Lord came with the answer, with the interpretation for that dream, what does it say about Daniel? His strength had left him. It said that he was lying on the ground. He had no strength because of the glory, the power of that angel. But it wasn't the angel that had the power, it was God. And we need to understand that. I've done times where I've done work in people's yards or at their houses and you're out and you're standing in the back maybe and you look in their garden and they have angels in their yard. And I always ask the question, what is that? Why do you have that? Oh, it's an angel, it's to protect my house. Well, first of all, it's a stone statue and that's not gonna protect your house. But only as those angels, the real angels, under the power and the direction of God, Hebrews 1 tells us they are ministers of God, only as they are directed by God do they take care of those, they serve God. And that's where their power comes from. It's not their power, their power comes from God. And the angel immediately in verse 10 says what? Fear not, stop being afraid. I've not come to bring judgment. I've not come to bring harm or fear to you. Don't be fearful of me. I've not come to bring harm to you. Stop being afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings, good news of great joy. The joy that, it's not the joy that I get up in the morning and I read the newspaper and something good happened. I go to work and my boss gives me a raise and I get, oh yeah, I'm happy, yay, isn't that wonderful? This is that joy, that inner joy that knows that you are at peace with God. Blessed is a man that walketh not after the counsel of the ungodly, nor walketh in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. It's the same idea, the same word as the blessing there. That is an inward happiness that says, I am at peace in my life with my God. And the angel says, that's the joy, that's the good news, that's what I'm bringing you. Don't be afraid. And this good news is not only just for you, but it's what? For all people. And what is that good news? For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. They knew these were good Jewish boys. in the sense of they had been raised, they had read the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures, when they were young, they knew Isaiah 9-6. And as the angel is saying, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, they're thinking back to the Old Testament prophecies, and they're saying, yes, these go together, I'm understanding this. And then, not only does the angel say the good news, but the angel says, I've got a sign for you. Don't just believe my word, but I've got a sign to show you that what I'm saying is true. For this shall be a sign unto you, verse 12. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. The angel says to them immediately, here's the sign, here's how you know what I'm saying is true. Go and find this babe lying in a manger. This is not a normal thing. You're not gonna walk into a town and just say, hmm, I wonder which baby lying in which manger. No, there's only gonna be one. And suddenly there was with the angel, verse 13, a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. So one angel comes, gives the good news, gives the sign, and then a multitude of angels show up and are singing. You know what I wonder, and of course, There's no way to know this, but maybe when we get to heaven and God will let me know. Could anybody else hear this? The angels, a multitude of angels out in the field, they're not that far away because they walked to Bethlehem that night. Were they the only ones that heard the angels? I mean, a multitude of angels singing. Have you ever been in a field? Have you called out to someone? How far does your voice go? And if it's a field, if it's open, your voice carries pretty far. Especially if you're up a little bit and maybe there's trees around the edge, your voice carries further. Now just think, it's a multitude of angels and they're up. Or could only they hear it? Now, to be one of those shepherds and to have been in the presence of those angels glorifying God, how awesome would that have been? And so what did they do? Well, it says, first, it says in verse 15, and it came to pass as the angels, well, let me back up. I'm jumping around here. All right, let me back up. What did the angels proclaim? They were praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. So just think of the pendulum swing of emotions here. One second, an angel shows up, and you're thinking, oh no, judgment is coming, maybe I'm gonna die. And the next minute, it's a whole multitude of angels, and they're singing glory and praise to the creator God of the universe. Wow, I'm scared to death. And now I'm almost like I'm being entered into the presence of God through the choir of the angels of singing. And what are they saying? Glory to God. The God who created heavens and the earth, everything that you see, everything that you can't see. You know, I think it's interesting all the time scientists are getting better and better microscopes and telescopes and they're seeing things further and further away or smaller and smaller. And they're like, look what we've discovered. And you know, if God had my sense of humor, I'd be sitting there going, I already knew that. I already knew that. I mean, the James Webb Telescope goes out there, and it sets up all of the, you know, man thinks it's all big and bad, and now we're doing all this, and we spend gazillions of dollars, and we send that out there, and it sees universes and galaxies or whatever, stars and suns and moons and planets and stuff way far away that we've never seen before, and all the beautiful color back, and these guys are looking at that and going, wow, didn't know that was there, didn't know that was there, and yeah, and God's going, oh, yep, that's been there. Yep, that's been there. Yep, I created that. Yep, and that too. And guess what? You know, in another however many zillion years, we're gonna create another telescope and we're gonna send it out in space and it's gonna see pictures further and further away and God's gonna go, yep, I was already there. Yep, I already created that. And these angels standing before these shepherds are glorifying that God who created all of that. And God created it all. with his word, out of nothing. And they glorified God in the highest. This glory, these angels as they're speaking forth, as they're singing forth this, it wasn't just to these shepherds. Their singing, their glory went all the way up to heaven because that's where God is, there. Glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace. What kind of peace? The peace that we want here in America, the peace that these Israelites wanted, what kind of peace did they want? Well, they wanted the Romans thrown off. They wanted a king to come, created a great army, and go and drive the Romans out here in America. We're always sending our soldiers here, there, and we appreciate our soldiers and the freedom that we have from it, but we are trying to put out wars and fires and create peace all over the world, and that's not the kind of peace, though, that these angels are talking about. These angels are talking about a peace that passeth all understanding. A peace in the heart that one can only have when sinful man is made right before a holy God. A peace that is paid for by the blood of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was born here as a baby. Who will grow up and one day will be nailed to that cross. His blood will be shed, but he won't stay dead, but he'll rise again. And he'll win the victory over the power and the penalty of sin. And these angels are singing that praise at this time. To these shepherds who are here in this field as they are singing, And so the announcement goes to them, and then the angels are gone. Verse 15, it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them unto heaven, the shepherd said one to another, hey, what just happened there? Did you see that? Whew, maybe there was some bad pepperoni on my pizza tonight there from the, no. No, that wasn't their response. Their response wasn't, what was that? I don't know what that was. They knew exactly what that was. And what does it say the scriptures tell us? It came to pass as the angels were gone away from them unto heaven, the shepherds said unto them, now, let us now go unto Bethlehem. They knew exactly what to do. And see this thing which is come to pass. Did you hear that? They did not say, hey, you think that was true? Hey, wonder what they were talking about. I haven't read about that in the newspaper, any special baby being born. Let's go see if that really happened. What did they say? Now let us now go, even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass. It has happened, let's go see. which the Lord hath made known unto us." They knew exactly who those angels were sent by. And they said, let's go see it. And they came with haste. They didn't walk. They didn't say, hey boss, can we go check out? Need some time off. The scripture says they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger. And then what? They sat back and said, wow, that's really neat. Let me take a picture. Let me post it on my Instagram. Let me post it on Facebook. Let me share it with all my... Oh, they didn't have those things, of course. But what did they do immediately? Immediately, it says, and when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning the child. They went out and told anybody and everybody what had happened. and what they had seen. When all they had heard it, wondered at these things which were told them by the shepherds. Here they are, the shepherds, they're the people who live out there, they take care of the sheep. There's not a lot of interaction with those people and with the village people, with the town people. But the shepherds, They didn't care that they weren't of the upper class, middle class, lower class. The scripture says when they had seen it, what did they do? They immediately started telling people. I'm gonna tell everybody. I'm gonna tell anybody and everybody. If you'll stop, I'm telling you. You know, that was a rebuke to me as I was reading through this. And I was seeing that and I thought, they told everybody. Not just the people that they were good friends with and felt, okay, I'm comfortable with this person, now I can share the gospel with them. When they had seen it, they may known abroad the saying which was told them concerning the child. The idea there is they told everyone they came in contact with. Is it your job, is it your responsibility, was it the shepherd's responsibility about the response from the other people? No. Does everyone receive the gospel the same way? No. Verse 18, and all they that heard it wondered at these things which were told them by the shepherds. They wondered, okay, what are they saying? Does this line up with what I believe? Let me go check the scriptures. I'm sure there was all the way from, yeah, right, what are these guys, crazy? To, I'm gonna go check this out, I wanna know, does this line up with the scriptures? I wanna find out. But again, that's not our responsibility. Our responsibility, as it was with the shepherds, when we hear, when they heard the good news, they went. We have the good news, Christian. Our job is to go and to share the gospel with people. but also as the angels to give glory to God in the highest. We are to praise God for what he has done for us. He is the creator God, he is the sustainer God. As the angels sang praising God there in verse 13, so should we. And as the shepherds went forth to share what they had seen, we should go forth and share what God has done in our lives with those around us. We're not responsible for them, how they receive it, what they do with it. We're responsible, though, to share it, to let people know. It's kind of a corny saying, but still it's true. We need to share with them, and what is the reason for this season? Why do we have Christmas. What is the true meaning of Christmas? It's not about all the parties. It's not about the gift giving. It's about the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The salvation that he provides, what he has done for us, he can do for you. Our job, God brings all sorts of people into our lives, and our job is to give them the gospel, to share with them, and to tell them The good news. As the angel said, we bring you good news, which will be to all people. Our job is to get it to all people. And as they'll listen, to help them to understand the truth from the word. As we go into this new year, I'm not really a big New Year's resolution person, but I'm into a new day. What am I doing today? to serve my Lord. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for your love, your goodness, and your word. We do ask, as we read your word, that you would help us to understand. We ask that you would help us to act upon the truths found in your word as you reveal them to us. And as the angels glorified you that morning, we ask that you would help us to glorify you in the things that we say, the things that we do, the places that we go, but also as the shepherds, when you teach us truths in your word, we ask you would help us to do those truths and to reach out and to share with others. the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, in whose name we do pray, amen.