I'd like everyone, if you would please, to open the Bible and turn back to the passage that I read in the second chapter of Luke. Luke chapter 2 is the passage this morning that will be the ministry of the Word of God to us regarding the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, you don't particularly remember it. You don't specifically remember it, but you were there. That is, when you were born. And when you came into the world, what do you suppose was the atmosphere? What was it like in that environment on that momentous occasion? What characterized it? And what were the features that were noticed, that would be, if you will, present and marking that particular occasion? I want to tell you that with the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, that certainly it was marked by splendor. by glory, just like that reflection that's coming off of that car out there right now. Light coming in and shining brilliantly, if you will. It was a glorious occasion. And you see that throughout the passage when the angels, for example, it tells us that there they were. And when they came and appeared to the shepherds, were told in verse 9 that there they were, the angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone all around them. Such that, of course, with angelic appearance and with all the splendor, of course, it made them really afraid. We're furthermore told in the 14th verse that just as we were singing there, it says that multitude of the heavenly hosts, they were praising God. And what did they say? It doesn't say what they sang, but it certainly said, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill towards men. What was the response that the shepherds gave? We're told in the 20th verse that after the shepherds saw the Lord Jesus Christ that they were glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and that they had seen. Now, all of that was to be utterly expected in such a momentous, unique event as the God-men coming into the world. It's the Incarnation, it's Emmanuel, it's God with us. What other response could there be? And it's the same today in the souls of men who know the Savior, who see Him for His glory. How do you know that you know the Savior? You behold His glory in the face of Jesus Christ, the Scripture says. It's the same kind of thing that takes place today. And yet, having said all of that, which is true, And all of that being, if you will, stamped with the approval of God in those outstanding, observable ways, yet there was something else that was a feature of the Lord Jesus Christ coming into the world. And were it not for the fact that the Word of God tells us and shows us that this is so, it would almost seem like this other thing that was a feature of that occasion would cancel out the other. And yet, both are true at the one and same time. And that is, not only was this occasion full of splendor, light, glory, but it was also marked by great humility and lowliness of heart and mind. Humility is the thing that marked the Incarnation as well. The passage that Dick read, I had him read it, of course, because it speaks of the humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul uses that as the example of the Christian, because it's in Christ. And you are a little Christ. You are a Christian if you believe in him. Then you follow him in that way as well, who made himself of no reputation. That was his incarnation. He came into the world without ceasing to be what he always was divine. He became what he was not human. And it's in that condescension and in that lowliness that he came to do the work of the Savior. This morning from the passage we're going to consider how it is that that humility is presented to us of our Lord and Savior. Four ways we see the humility of our Lord. It begins for us here in Luke chapter 2 in verses 4 and 5 when it says, also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child." The first way in which we see the humility of Christ being set out for us is in his earthly parents. Now Luke mentions both of them, Joseph, being of the house and lineage of David, and Mary, to whom he was betrothed, not yet, if you will, fully officially married, and yet she was with child. These are the human parents, the earthly parents of the Lord Jesus Christ. Joseph didn't beget Jesus, but he was his earthly father. God put him in that position that he would be the custodian, if you will, of the Lord Jesus Christ during his earthly years of maturity. And certainly Mary is the one, she did conceive him, and that, not of man, but of the Holy Spirit, like we sang in one of the hymns today. He is not created, he is begotten of the Spirit in his incarnation. But here we have the earthly parents of the Lord Jesus Christ. And one of the amazing passages in Scripture that we have about Christ is that it says, and it's in the same chapter, it's in verse 51, it says that then he, meaning Jesus, then he went down with Mary and Joseph and came to Nazareth and he was subject to them. Think of this, the one who always was who became man as that baby, then put himself in subjection to his earthly parents. That is humility. That is humbling himself, taking the form of a servant, as the Scripture says, where the greater then places himself under the oversight of the lesser. The heavenly voluntarily, if you will, places himself under the earthly. of Mary and Joseph. Now, we do have just a little keyhole to look through in the scripture regarding the earthly parents of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, sometimes people tend to make too much. Too much of Mary, sometimes people make too little hard to find the straight and narrow in the middle. But nonetheless, the scripture does give us a little keyhole to look into in terms of the life of the earthly parents of the Lord Jesus Christ, enough to know that they, too, were, if you will, in a humble situation, a humble circumstance in life. Joseph was the village carpenter, and of course, Mary was that very young virgin. Nothing renowned about either one of them, and the truth is from the little window that we look through in the scripture, we know that they were in that humble place of life themselves being poor, if you will. And the reason we know that is because when the time came for Mary, according to the custom, according to the Jewish law, that when a woman had had had a baby, there was a time that then she must, if you will, go through the purification process. And ordinarily she was to take to the temple one lamb, and a dove or a pigeon and there to be offered for the sacrifice and then after the process of so many days then she would be declared ceremonially clean. But the Lord made in his law a provision that if one was not able because they couldn't afford it, if they couldn't even afford one lamb, then the Lord provided for them and stipulated in his law that she instead could take two doves or two pigeons with her in place of the lamb. Which is exactly what the scripture says when it says and when that time came for her to do what was stipulated in the law that there it says in verse 24 of our chapter, to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. That really tells us that Mary, along with Joseph, they were in such a humble position of life that they could not afford even the one lamb for the sacrifice, but God made provision for them even in their poverty. You would never have heard anything about Mary and Joseph were it not that they were the humble, earthly parents of Jesus Christ. You know, truth be told, sometimes children are embarrassed by their parents. Now, I don't tell you that's right. I'm just telling you that's a fact. Sometimes children are embarrassed by their family situation. They could wish that their parents were maybe better educated, spoke with better grammar. had a better job, lived in a better neighborhood, drove a better car, and so on and so forth. And maybe they feel sometimes embarrassed by that, especially with peer pressure, that can be a big factor in that. But I tell you what, the Lord Jesus Christ was never ashamed of his earthly parents, as poor as they were. He never despised them. He never, quote, wished that there was more. Because the Lord Jesus Christ came in the humility of character himself, and the Lord purposely placed him in that poor family because he too would be one marked by great humility. Never was he ashamed, and never should we be ashamed either. He's not even ashamed to own us as his brethren, whether you have great wealth or not. Whether you live in a nice neighborhood or not, whether you own a house or not, or drive a good car or not, when we have our faith in him, he's not ashamed to own us and to associate with the lowly. One of the ways that we see the humility of Christ is the fact that his own earthly parents were of that humble state as well. Notice, secondly, this morning in the passage, the second way in which we see it is given to us in verse seven. It says, and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. The second way we see the humility of Christ that is brought out here is in not only, first of all, the parents that he has, earthly parents, but the place where he was on the occasion of his birth. It says there that she took him and laid him in a manger. Where were you born? Now, some people earlier on, they were born at home because they were old enough that wasn't so popular to be born in the hospital. Some people purpose to have their babies to be born at home. So be it. Where were you born? I will guarantee you if you were purpose to be born at home, there were clean sheets on the bed. It was a clean environment. Where was the Lord Jesus Christ born? Not in a sterile hospital. not upon the most sterilized sheets that could be found anywhere in the world. He was born in a very humble place. Now, the place where he should have been born was not in the manger, but in the inn. That's what Luke tells us. He says that obviously they endeavored to do that. It says the only reason that he was staying there, that they were staying there, is because there was no room for them in the inn. Now, there's something quite humbling about that. Not only were the people being, if you will, set up to be taxed, but the little town was already taxed, taxed in the sense that it had no provision to make for other travelers, such as Mary and Joseph in the state in which Mary was at the particular time. In general, the culture would have been very hospitable. Read your Bible. It's very common, if you will, that they would, as it were, open up And give a room to someone traveling who needed it. And here, even the place which would be a guest room, you know, didn't have the neon light out front flashing, you know, telling you that, you know, the rooms available or in this case, no rooms available. But there was an end. There would have been a guest place for people to stay, but it was already occupied. And that that that place was sort of like, you know, our closets and our garages, how they get it just so cramped that you couldn't get any more in. And so it was that's where he should have been born within the confines of those four walls. And yet the Lord had it on this occasion that it would be full and that it would not be provided for our Lord. Now, maybe the people, you know, in an unwitting way and not in any mean-spirited way, had to turn Mary and Joseph away. I don't know. The scripture doesn't tell us. It just simply said there was no room for them in the end. Period. You know, we add to that and we make up scenarios how that worked out. It just tells us the fact. That's where he should have been born. But indeed, he was not. The place where he was was there in that manger. And that environment, that place, bespeaks the humility of our Lord that he should be born in a place more suited to an animal than a person. Because that's exactly what it was. And that place, called a manger, could have been so simple, simply as a few boards, if you will, fastened together in which you put feed for the animals. It may or may not have had even a shelter over the top of it. Again, the scripture doesn't tell us. But this much is absolutely, unmistakably clear. It was a place of great humility for a pregnant woman to bring forth her very first child into the world. A place of great humility. That's where he was born. All of this to bespeak the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, when you study the life of our Lord and you study it all the way through, especially if you take the two bookends, his coming into the world and his death, you know, both of those extremes, especially, not exclusively, but especially coming into the world and especially his crucifixion there, are greatly set apart in the atmosphere of lowliness and of humility. We see him here in the passage being born there in that manger environment. And there we see him on the cross in all of the humility, in his nakedness, in being reviled. And even when he dies, he doesn't have his own tomb to even be put into, but a borrowed place. All of humility. Bespeaking the character of the one who came to seek and to save the lost. And so how do we see him? We see him presented, yes, with glory and grandeur, and yet all the while with meekness, gentleness, lowliness, and humility of heart. We see it in his parents. We see it in the place where he was born. Thirdly, in verse 8, we see it in connection with the people. It says, now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night the people the very first people to whom the announcement was given is of course the shepherds now you have to appreciate you have to really appreciate these people as being in the scripture, the first ones to whom it was announced that the Lord had been born. It's quite possible. I say possible. It's quite possible that these shepherds were shepherding sheep that would be used in temple sacrifice. I can't say it's absolutely so, but it's possible that that's the case. If that is the case, then they were the first ones to see the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. The real Lamb, if you will. The one Lamb without spot or blemish. They were the first ones, if you will, as far as the Scripture is concerned, other than the parents and so forth, to see that Lamb of God. Now, for sure, you would not want to have been a shepherd. You would really, really have to have loved, if you will, those animals, or you just like living a rough life and bivouacking night after night, because the scripture says, you know, here they were at night. And the way our translation puts it is good. In verse eight, it says here the shepherds were living out in the fields. You know, they didn't go out for eight, 10, 12 hours a day, check on the animals and then go back to the comforts of their home. This is where they were living. As a result, the reputation of a shepherd was not very high. On the social ladder, they were on the bottom rung. That's how they were thought of, if you will. Not a lot of social appreciation. And yet, to whom did the great announcement come that there had been born a Savior? The Lord, you see, in His great design as He sent forth His Son, He passed over the palaces of kings and governors. He bypassed, if you will, priests and scribes of the temple. And he goes to the open fields where those who were basically the outcasts of society were to be found. He didn't go to the greatest. He went to the least. He didn't go to the highest in the rank, but he went to the lowest in rank. You know, the songwriter said, Yet to view, speaking of the condescension coming down of the Lord, he said, yet to view the heavens he bends and yea to earth he condescends, passing by the rich and great for the low and desolate. That's exactly what he's done. He, in his humility, has come down to those who are also humble in life as well. This is the way the Lord goes about it. He hides things from the wise and the prudent and reveals them to babes. Which is to say, not those who are proud and those who are greatly dignified in the eyes of the world, but those who are humble and lowly. Can you feel and see our Lord's lowliness and his humility here as it's being presented in the scripture? That now, because he is the one who has come down and is this one who is of the humble heart, now there can be fellowship between us and him if we be poor of spirit and humble in heart as well. And this is the scriptural portrayal of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You see it. You see it in the scripture. You see it in his parents. You see it in the place where he is born. You see it in the people to whom the announcement was made. And then lastly, you see it in verse 12. We see it in this way. It says, and this will be the sign to you. Speaking to the shepherds, you'll find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. You see it in his presentation. The way he's presented is or the sign that was given to them is You'll find him wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. How would the shepherds know? How would they be able to identify? Well, the identifying mark here is quite simple. It's not the baby that has the most trinkets in its bassinet. It's not the baby that has the glowing halo over its head. It's the baby that's simply wrapped up in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Now, the fact that the first two facets to the sign, there are two parts to it, you know, you see they're swaddling cloths, manger. The fact that the scripture says wrapped in swaddling cloths, you see, that's nothing unique at all. In fact, that is used for every baby. Every baby would have been wrapped in claws. In other words, when you look at him, you see nothing different. The way, if you will, he was received and treated, and there he was, just like any other little newborn baby in a manger. And that is his humility. that he lays where every baby laid, that is, wrapped in swaddling cloths and yet in the lowliest of places. The way he was presented also speaks of his humility. Do you see it in the scripture? Do you see it in the character of Christ in all of these different ways that we have given to us in the passage this morning? Now, what do you do with that? As the scripture presents to us Christ in this particular feature as he was born and here as the scripture portrays him in his humility. What do you do with that truth? What application do you make of it? What difference does it make? Well, one thing, certainly not the greatest, perhaps the least thing that we can do with that is, of course, when we hear of the humility of Christ, you know, king of kings, and yet He's born and enters in such a contrast to that. Takes upon himself the form of a servant. In all humility, here he is. One of the things that that does to us, if you give it any thought and contemplation at all, it brings us a rebuke. A rebuke that we need to heed. A rebuke that we need to be reminded of. Regarding regarding pride that so easily creeps into the hearts of everyone. You know, the scripture says that pride and arrogance. I hate that's the Lord speaking pride and arrogance. I hate that you may hate traffic jams and you may hate spinach and you may hate catching the flu and being late for an appointment. But do you hate pride? The Lord says, I hate it. The opposite of pride is humility. If he hates pride, he loves humility, right? That's the way it goes. Do we hate pride? It's a rebuke to us in the life and character of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we think of ourselves big and everybody else is little, when we think of ourselves high and everybody else is low. But the truth is, without humility, You can't have a blessing from the Lord because the Lord says that he resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. If you would have blessing from the Lord, then you have to walk in the same spirit of humility. Without humility, you can't pray. You won't pray because you'll think yourself self-sufficient. And you won't pray and you won't trust in the Lord, or if you do, you'll pray like a Pharisee and you'll say, I thank you, Lord, that I'm not like that person over there because I do this and I do that. And you counsel out the whole thing because of pride. Without humility, you can't have peaceful relationships in marriage, in family, in the church, in society and so on and so forth. At the very, very least, there is here at least a rebuke for pride. But that's not the greatest thing. What do you do with it? Well, when we consider the Lord Jesus Christ, especially as portrayed here in his birth, coming into the world and that indeed he came with all humility, it certainly serves as a rebuke to us not to be to be prideful. It also provides for us an example to follow. No, that's not the greatest thing, but it does provide that for us as an example to follow. Not that we can, if you will, you know, go back and let's start life all over and be reborn and all of that. No, not that, but from here forward. That's the point that Paul made with the humiliation of Christ in Philippians chapter 2. That's the application. He says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant. In other words, he says, this is your great example. Christ took that to himself. You take that to yourself. You walk where he walked. Be humble as the Lord is humble. William Plummer, when he was expounding the doctrine of humiliation of Christ in just one little paragraph of application here, he said, let us not be afraid of humiliation. You know, something like it like the plague. In the end, it will do you no harm. It's the highway to glory. If we would be very high, let us know the fellowship of Christ's sufferings and be made conformable even to His death. If we would reign with Him, then let us suffer with Him. And that's the point that the Scripture is making in the sense of being an example Don't set your mind on high things, but associate with the lowly, even as Christ associated with the lowly, if you will, in all of this humility. So what do we learn from this? Well, we certainly have a rebuke not to be prideful. We have an example to follow to be humble. But those are the very least. Those are the very least things. What is at stake with the humility of Christ that is so clearly portrayed here and throughout Scripture? We're not saved by being rebuked. We're not saved by following an example. We need far more than a rebuke and an example to follow. The Scripture says, even concerning the humility of Christ, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. His humility, yes, it is a rebuke to our pride. His humility, yes, it is an example for us to follow. But most importantly, his humility is such that it positions him, if you will, as he carries that out in obedience even to the extreme of the death of the cross. In other words, it was necessary for him to be humble that he might die that death in place of others. We need more than a rebuke and more than an example and a pattern to follow. We need a savior. And we're not saved by rebuke. We're not saved by examples. We are saved by sacrifice and by substitution. We are saved by atonement and propitiation. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ in his humility. That's what's at stake. And that's the greatest thing that we take from it is indeed he's our savior. You know, theological studies for who knows how long, probably centuries, when they have studied all the life and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, they've taken all of that and they've categorized it into two great, if you will, columns. And those two columns of all the life and work and ministry of Christ salvificly are his humiliation and his exaltation. Even the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question, it says, wherein did Christ's humiliation consist? And the answer is, Christ's humiliation consisted in His being born, and that in a lowly condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the accursed death of the cross, in being buried and continuing under the power of death for a time. The humiliation of Christ and the fact of His birth, it says, and being born, just the fact of being born and that in a lowly state is part of the humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're saved by sacrifice. We're saved by substitution. were saved by the atoning for our sins and that through the Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, he became poor, that we through his poverty might become rich. It was one who knew no sin, yet became sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him. What's at stake is salvation. He, the Savior. We need more than a rebuke and more than an example. We need one who humbled himself to the point of death and even the death of the cross as he bore our sins in his body to the cross, the scripture says. And so what do you do with him who is of humble character? What do you do with him? We believe him. We trust him. This is what we are to do. This is the first and greatest and best response that any soul can give to him who is in all of that humility come into the world. What do we do with him? We adore him. We worship him. We exalt him. Because indeed, he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Do you trust him? Do you adore him? What do we do with him? We serve him. We follow Him. We obey Him through all of life, through all of life, even into death. That's what we are to do. To dedicate our lives to Him. That's following in the path of humility as well. To say no to everything else and to say yes to Him. And the thing for us is that we now know the story and we know the end of the story. And we can trust him, we can follow him, we can adore him, we can in all of these ways dedicate our lives to him in the way of lowliness because we know the promise. And that is just like the Lord Jesus Christ. who humbled himself and yet was exalted and was given the name which is above every name. So we know the end of the story. And the end of the story is that he who humbles himself will be exalted. God doesn't put us, if you will, on a fool's errand to follow Christ in faithfulness. He puts us on the road of life, and of exaltation, and of glory, of peace, and of everlasting life. That's the one that we follow, who has come in the humility of life, and yet has now been exalted to the right hand of the Father. Trust Him. Follow Him. Dedicate your life and soul to Him as well. Amen. Brian, would you lead us in prayer this morning? Heavenly Father, we do worship you and bless you, Lord, for this reminder of the humiliation and humility of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we confess that every one of us in this room had a thousand percent more than he ever did when he was on this life, living Lord, and we just pray that you would help us, O God, that we would indeed, as we've heard, dedicate our lives to you, that we would acknowledge that it is by your grace that we have come to you, it is by your mercy that you have saved us, and we simply worship you this morning. What more can we do but come before you and bless you and praise you and worship you as true and a living God? For though you were slain and though you were killed, yet you live even now at the very right hand of the Father, making intercession for us even at this present moment. And though there be few within this room, yet we have the audience with you, the most holy and august God. The angels are veiled in your sight before you at this present moment. And the saints, looking to these things, the cloud of witnesses that surround us, And Father, we worship and praise you and we extol you with all of our strength. Father, we've given many gifts to each other, Lord, and we've received many gifts from one another. And yet, Lord, there is no greater gift than the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ, the gift of eternal salvation, of eternal life. that you have given to us, and we simply praise you. There is no way for us to repay that gift you've given to us, but Lord, we trust that we would be the living sacrifices unto your glory, that you would have us to be this day and every day of our lives. Father, we love you, we bless you, we thank you for the gift of faith within our hearts that we're able to believe these things, and we pray, oh God, that your will would be accomplished in our lives, and that one day that we would see you with our own eyes, and that we would marvel at your exaltation, and we would bow before you, and that we would worship you, truly the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. As we give our worship, Lord, we pray. In Jesus' name.