You're listening to the teaching ministry of Harvest Fellowship Church in Boyertown, Pennsylvania. You can find out more about us on the web at www.harvestfellowshipchurch.org. We pray that through our teaching we may present everyone mature in Christ. Again, I'd like to welcome you to our Christmas Eve service. I was thinking at the beginning of the service. that I'm glad that the joy of Christ in our heart is not dependent upon a rebellious candle that doesn't want to light. I lit it this morning, but I guess it didn't want to light tonight. The other thought that I had was, I feel like I have the whole ocean in front of me, because I've never preached a Christmas Eve service before. And Barry, you've probably done like 40 to 45, and you probably start thinking, what am I going to do this year? But this year we're back in a traditional text, but a beloved text in Luke chapter 2. Let's ask the Lord to illumine our hearts as we just glean a few thoughts from this familiar but glorious passage. Father, we bow before you tonight. Our hearts are overjoyed every day that Jesus is the light of the world, the light that is implanted within our hearts. A light that came in to dwell within us when we still were in the realm of darkness. Thank you, O Christ. Thank you, O Father, and thank you, O Spirit. This great Trinitarian display of love is mesmerizing to us. May we love you forever. And now speak truth to our hearts through your word. We pray this in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen. I don't know if you like to play games at all, and I don't mean video games, board games, the types of games that have a little timer in them. Have you ever seen the little hourglass timer that you turn over and it's got the little whatever it is in there, sand or something like that? And those little crystals, they count down. And depending on which vantage point you're looking at, you're probably filled with joy if you're the opposing team. So that means there's no more time left for the team you're going against. And you might be filled with a little bit of panic or terror if you're on the team. But either way, you can see the time literally slipping away. You can see it with your visible eyes. You know the moment that time is up. And I thought of Something much, much more important, much bigger than that, but from that same perspective. In Genesis chapter 3, another very familiar passage to us, we find the great fall of mankind. We find Adam and Eve spitting in the face of God, declaring themselves that we will be like him, that what he has done for us is not good enough. And of course, in that moment, they brought sin, corruption, damnation, and death upon themselves. But when God comes to them kindly, not destroying them, when he comes to them in the garden, And in the famous first proclamation of the gospel, where he promises that a redeemer will come, a deliverer will come to them, the deliverer who crushes the head of the serpent. It's as if he takes his timer of redemption and he turns it over. Time in the context of redemption has begun. It's begun. This promise to redeem mankind from the curse, But there was a challenge for mankind among many. But one of the challenges was that we couldn't see the sand in this timer. We knew that the promise was there. Adam and Eve believed in the promise and those who came after them believed in this promise, but they didn't know exactly when. In fact, Eve thought that her first son was the promised deliverer and of course that hope was dashed very quickly and so did many other subsequent sons who proved themselves to be sinners just like their father and mother. But nevertheless, this timer that had been eternally determined by the triune God had begun. The annals of redemptive time were beginning to slip through that timer even though they were unseen by us. And time passed. A lot of time, thousands of years passed, and along the way, God gave more information, prophetic clues, people came along, the law of God was formally given, and God's people continued in faith, believing in this Deliverer who was to come. Now along the way they were sent out of the promised land because they had become so corrupt, so sinful that God cast them out of the promised land. But later he graciously brings them back. But after he brings them back there's a 400 year period of silence. You know we're troubled if somebody goes five minutes without speaking to us at times but God doesn't speak to his people for 400 years without direct revelation and perhaps those people thought the time would never come. Perhaps God's promise had been thwarted by the serpent that he promised to crush. But God's promise came at the perfect time. God's perfect time when the fullness, we could say, of God's redemptive sand timer was perfectly complete. And even though we couldn't see that final grain of the sand of redemptive time falling from his timer, it fell from that timer in God's perfect timing, we could say in those days as we see at the very beginning here of Luke 2. And so I want to give you three thoughts tonight that are time-based from this passage. And the first one of those is those very first words from Luke 2 verse 1, in those days, in those days, not in these days, in those days. And in those days we see Rome ruling the world. Rome is the complete master of the known world. And we see this leader listed here, Caesar Augustus. And if you know your history, you know that his original name was Octavian. Octavian, the grand nephew of Julius Caesar. And he was the one who defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra. And he was heaped with honor and adulation. And Julius Caesar was so impressed with his grand nephew. And later the Roman Senate, they confer upon him this title, this name, Augustus. And what did Augustus mean? It's kind of ironic considering the context of what we're looking at tonight, but his name means majestic, sublime, a highly revered person. And he was. He was. And we see in the text that he does something that's innocent, you know, common. This is a common act by a political leader where he says, you're going to come for a registration. Everybody in my empire, in the world that I rule over, you're going to come to register. This is a census of enrollment so that the Roman Empire could tax these people later. And so all the subjects of the Roman Empire, we could say the world, of the known world, they're instructed, you are going to direct your attention, your honor, and your dues to this king, to this leader, Caesar Augustus. Give him all your homage. So the whole world in those days, at that time, they're moving in response to his words, to his decree. He says it, and they do it. But as we read through the Bible, we could ask the question, whose decree moved Augustus to make his decree? What prompted Augustus to issue something that just seemed like it was a very straightforward directive or objective for him? And our hearts might be reminded of Proverbs 21.1, the king's heart is a stream of water. Caesar Augustus's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He, the Lord, turns it wherever he will. It's quite a thing to think about and not just with Caesar Augustus but all the great leaders throughout history. Nebuchadnezzar, all those other leaders who followed him, even Julius Caesar, all these great leaders directed by the sovereign appointment of God. And so this act here by Augustus is part of God's perfect timing. And Augustus is his self-serving actions here that are going to benefit his empire. We could say he's unwittingly obeying the Almighty, he's unwittingly obeying the Ancient of Days. In fact, Christ himself, as you read through Proverbs, you see Wisdom, capital W Wisdom, which is the embodiment of Christ. Christ is wisdom. He says, by me, kings reign. And there's so much difficulty at times in our minds of just getting our minds around because we can't get them around Christ, the creator of all things. Christ the baby boy in this passage. But he says, by me, through my authority, through my power, through my permission, kings reign. Now as we consider that passage that I read in the call to worship in Micah 5.2, This is God foretelling through Micah that this promised deliverer is going to show up in a very specific place, a tiny place, a little place, a very unknown place to just about everybody else in the world. But you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, who are too little, too little to even be listed among the clans of Judah. from you shall come forth from me one who is to be ruler in Israel whose coming forth is from old of ancient days." And if you know your Bible how many times Does it seem like between the prophecy of Micah, which comes roughly 700 to 800 years before the passage we're looking at tonight, how many times did this prophecy seem to be imperiled, to be in doubt? The whole Jewish nation seemed to be clinging to a thread in the book of Esther, ready to be destroyed, and yet God's promises never fail. God's promises never fail. And so this prophecy, it specified Bethlehem, and just in case the reader was confused, it says Bethlehem, Ephrathah. Now I was reading today that there are nine Gilbertsvilles in the United States. Nine. And so think about that in the context of this prophecy. They would have to say Gilbertsville, PA, so that you would know which one because anybody who's outside of Pennsylvania has never heard of Gilbertsville probably. and even a lot of people in Pennsylvania have never heard of Gilbertsville. But Gilbertsville dot dot dot PA, the same thing here, Bethlehem, Ephrathah. And very little people even seem to know about this prophecy. But this is the place, this insignificant place, the place of David whom God promised to give a son who would rule on the throne and establish his kingdom forever, that is the prophecy. And so it's God's hand of providence that moves Augustus at the right time and his decree does something that compels two people, Joseph and Mary, to go to Bethlehem. the place of Joseph's ancestry. He goes to the place of his ancestry and he comes from the line of David and so he goes to Bethlehem in those days. I want to draw your attention as well to another time based phrase in verse 6. the time came. In verse 6, the time came. Now several of you women in this room have gone through the experience of pregnancy and the birthing of children. And I can't imagine that any of you, if you were this late in your pregnancy, would be up for a long 90-mile journey on foot that might take four to seven days, knowing that your day of deliverance is right around the corner. And that's what we see happening here. And we see a really wonderful picture of obedience. The decree is given. And remember, the one who has yet to even be brought forth from Mary, what is he going to say later? He's going to say, render to Caesar that which is Caesar's and render to God that which is God's. And this is not an ungodly decree. And so they obey. It's this first act of obedience. It would have been so easy. We can't go. You're almost due. We'll just have to resist. will break the law but know they obey because they are also part of God's providential plan so that when the time comes for her to give birth it's not in Nazareth. the entirety of the world's history. Every single thing that had happened in the history of the world had led up to this very journey of Joseph and Mary. It's stunning to think about. It's incalculable to think that anything like that could have happened by chance. And so she is in Bethlehem. While it says she gives birth to her firstborn son while they were there in Bethlehem. Now to face value it seems like a pretty insignificant event. Yeah sure she traveled but how many other women before her in history? How many women in history since her? Billions have given birth to babies. And we find this one, what seems to be an insignificant birth in a place that hardly anybody's ever heard of before. And it's literally the hinge on which the history of the world turns. And so she endures this lengthy trip. It may even have been the rainy or the flooding season. And she goes with Joseph, but her birth pains, they don't come upon her on the trip. They don't come upon her to give birth after they come back from the census. They come on her at the right time, God's appointed time. It's that strand of time fleeting down from God's hourglass. It's the last part of it. Because she is in the place of God's perfect timing. And Paul captures that well in Galatians 4. He says, but when the fullness of time had come, when the hourglass was completed, God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. And so Mary gives birth to her firstborn son. She wraps him tightly and securely in swaddling cloths. She lays him in a manger because it says there was no place for them in the inn. No room for them. And I don't think that's an intentional malice by the innkeeper or whoever they were trying to stay with. It just simply was no room. We don't have any more room. We're overcrowded. There's a lot of people here right now. There's no place for you here. There is a parallel thought to that, is that quite often in this world as people come across or encounter Christ, it seems that there's no room in their heart. There's no room in the heart. And it isn't always because of overt, outward hatred toward God, but it's simply that the heart is overcrowded. The heart is overcrowded with all sorts of other thoughts, thoughts of riches, of grandeur, of honor, prestige, business, pleasure, advancement, fulfillment, Because it's so overcrowded with those things there's no time for Jesus. There's no time for Jesus, there's no time, there's no space, there's no capability to reflect on his identity or the purpose for which he came. We find Jesus the creator of all things. He's born in this lowly stable. He's laid in a feeding trough. And there's a picture for us there that it signifies exactly what he'll say later, that the son of man has no place to lay his head because he's homeless in this world. This is not really his home. He's a pilgrim on this earth. But in the same way that he comes, in this way that he comes, he's laid in this lowly stable, it shows this picture of how he welcomes all who come to him. And no payment is required. No money is required. 2 Corinthians 8-9, Paul again, he says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, exceedingly rich, infinitely rich in all glory and grandeur as God Almighty, yet for your sake, O believer, he became poor. At the right time, he became poor. so that you by his poverty might become rich, rich in Christ, rich in eternal life, rich in the hope of the glory of God. And we see here the materialization of God descending to man and he's come with the purpose to raise man back up to God. Well the final thought from this passage that's time based is if we jump to verse 11 where you see the phrase, this day, this day. And as we think of the way that Christ came and you think of who Christ is, he's the King of Kings, he's the Lord of Lords, he's the creator of the earth, he upholds everything through the word of his mouth. And we would ask the question, where was the fanfare? Where were the world's leaders to welcome the King of Kings? Where was the palace that was prepared and ready to coronate and to receive his royal birth? Shouldn't this day have been a day where the loudest gong of a clock went off worldwide for every ear to hear and to be startled and to rejoice and to worship together? But that wasn't God's plan. That wasn't God's way of announcing the God-man to the world, the deliverer to the world. He was not going to be revealed in such an ostentatious display. Instead, the announcement comes to some poor guys, some poor shepherds, a looked down upon class of people. You know, when you're shepherded in the Judean area, there was always people looking down on you because they always perceived you to be ceremonially unclean. And taking care of your sheep is a seven day a week, 24 hour job. And nobody wanted to be around the dirty shepherds. And they've got this meager existence. They're barely making it by in life, but they picture something that's so beautiful. They represent for us, and we should have great hope in this, the poor in spirit who are ready, who are waiting to receive and to hear God's good news. And we see the servant saying this, the suffering servant, the servant of the Lord in Isaiah 61, where he says, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. And of course, as we see in the passage, it comes through an angel. I don't know about you, but I think I would have been just as, if not more terrified than these men. Suddenly see an angel that you didn't even know was coming. This angel suddenly shows up. And not only that, but there's the brightness of God's presence, his glory, and it's all around them flashing. And they're understandably afraid. But it's pretty amazing to think about the full import of what the angel says when he says, don't be afraid, which essentially is stop being afraid. And when you think of that phrase, stop being afraid, how long does that fear go back? That fear goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. As soon as they sinned, as soon as they sinned, what happens? It says that the man and his wife, they're afraid. They hide themselves from the presence of the Lord. And ever since then, in his sinful state, mankind was afraid to be in the presence of the Lord. And the angel tells these shepherds, don't be afraid. Why should they stop being afraid? Because the good news that the angel declares to them is this, that God's perfect timing has arrived. The promised one is here. He's come to crush the serpent's head. He's the in-person solution to mankind's problem with sin. and his estrangement from God. So this day that we read about here in Luke 2 is the greatest of days, the grandest of days, the day of the best of news, we could say, that the Savior, the Deliverer, the Messiah, the Lord of all creation, the Son of God has come in the flesh. The time to wait that mankind had been waiting for so long is over. He's here. He's here. We think of the words that were spoken to Joseph in Matthew 1, she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. For he will certainly, without a doubt, he will save his people from their sins. Furthermore, the angels says he's here for all the people, all the types of people. It doesn't matter what nationality you have. It doesn't matter about your age. It doesn't matter about your income bracket, whatever fame you may or may not have, your social standing, whether you're a man or a woman or a child, whatever educational background you have. He's even come for shepherds. And he was born As the angel says, this day, this day, the day that was long ago promised and today it is fulfilled. But this message that resounds to the ends of the earth, this message that goes out around the full circle of the earth, we could ask this question, for whom or to whom is this good news of great joy? Is it good news of great joy for every single person who's ever lived? The answer is that it's good news of great joy for everyone who gladly embraces the message, everyone who believes the message. It is for them. It is for you if you believe good news of great joy. And with whom is God well pleased? Who is it that God is well pleased with? Who alone has peace with God? Paul gives us the answer again in Romans 5, it's those who have been justified by faith. He says, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, declared righteous through the instrument of our faith in Christ, faith in Jesus as Savior, he says, we have, we possess peace with God. You know what that means? That means before you had faith in Christ, you didn't have peace with God. And if you don't have faith in Christ right now, you don't have peace with God. And so the peace that He came to provide is for those who place their faith, their hope, their trust in Him as Savior alone. And these shepherds, they believed. They believed the message. They went with haste. They went quickly. They told anyone who would listen, can you believe what we've just experienced? They shared the message the same way that the Samaritan woman that we've talked about the last two weeks did in John chapter four. And I ask you tonight, just by virtue of reading Luke chapter two, you have also heard this message. The shepherds heard this message and now you have heard this message and how will you respond on this day? How will you respond on this day? Let's close in a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we bow before you and we think about your perfect timing. A time that we could not see, but now on the other side of the cross, on the other side of the incarnation of the God-man, we can see all things came to pass exactly as you declared. We praise you, O Lord, for the amazing faith of those who preceded Jesus. Believing in the Deliverer to come and we pray, O Lord, that our faith will be just as strong, believing that the Deliverer has come. Let us give you all the glory, all the honor for such a marvelous plan. And we thank you for this in the name of Jesus. Amen. At the end of Luke chapter two of the passage that we looked at tonight, you see this heavenly choir We could say the angelic army, an army of angels. They gather together. They cry out with this worship filled joy, a worship filled joy for the incarnate baby Jesus. These angels who are not omniscient, just like we're not, they're in awe of something. They're in awe of God's indescribably marvelous gift of love. And their response should inspire us to cry out in worship in the exact same way, lifting our voices to Jesus, our Savior, our King. There's this outpouring of adoration, glory to God in the highest. And so we're going to conclude tonight, we're going to sing two songs. And I'm going to ask the deacons to come because they're going to distribute these candles that we have at the front. So for the first song, as you receive the candles, we're going to stay seated and we're going to sing Silent Night. And then we're going to stand with the candles and we're going to sing a song of exuberant worship, joy to the world. And so that's how we'll conclude the service tonight. Just as these shepherds who returned, it says they were glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen. And let us do the same for we have heard and seen the same King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.