And we're in the second chapter of Luke this time, Luke chapter two. And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 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 sore 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 was 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 he came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven. The shepherd said one to another, let us know gap now go even onto Bethlehem and see this thing, which has come to pass, which the Lord has 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 they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them. Amen. We leave the reading there. And we give thanks to the Lord for the word which is extant to us these days. Let's bow in prayer and ask the Lord's help. Father, we give thanks that we are able to turn to the word of the Lord. And we thank the Lord for the record of thy word. and the wonder of thy word, Lord, that in so few words so much is conveyed. And Lord, the more we read, the more we see, the more we understand, the more we recognize as being so important. And Lord, just a few words which seem to pass by in a dialogue or in a telling of a story suddenly become quite pertinent to what is going on there. And so, Father, we pray that Thou wouldst help us to call upon Thy name when we read, and to ask Thee to reveal great things to us, that we might be certainly swept away by the Word of God into realms of praise and of worship, that we might give glory to Thy name for Thy greatness and Thy wonderful works to the children of men. So hear us, we ask. Continue with us now. to speak for these few moments as we have this short service this morning to remember the Lord Jesus Christ, his birth, and the wonderful works of God from the foundation of the world. Bless us now, we ask thee, and help us in Jesus' name. We ask it, amen. I want to take these words which are found in verse 14, which are the words of the angels, the heavenly host, which is spoken of and suddenly it says, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God. Now the angel appears then to these shepherds and is surrounded by the glory of God, which is an interesting thing perhaps to say in verse nine, the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of Jehovah or of the Lord shone round about them. So the Lord shows forth his glory. Now we know the Lord Jesus Christ is called the glory of God. He is the express image of God. He is the glory of God. In Isaiah we read that God says, I will not give my glory to another, and yet Christ has it. And here it is, shining forth as the angel appears to these shepherds. Here's a lone angel speaking to them. But then suddenly there breaks through this great host from heaven, and the angels appear and begin to praise and to glorify God saying these words, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. So I want to take those words because I see in these words a summary of the whole of history concerning Christ and concerning the work of God. For I see here in these words first of all our duty toward God, in the words, glory to God in the highest. Secondly, the dispensation of the grace of God, and on earth, peace. And finally, the disposition of God, goodwill toward men. So when we think of this, we recognize that we have a duty toward God as our creator. God has made us. God upholds us. We realize and read in the scripture indeed that we are upheld by the word of his power. It is through Christ that we exist and everything that exists in our understanding and in our comprehension exists because God upholds it. It is God who has spoken these things into existence and we cannot tell how many possible existences there are. We know that some say that there may be lots of different dimensions which go along with this one, but we don't know. But we do know this, that that which surrounds us, it does exist and we exist in it. But everything is upheld by God and it is all come from the mind of God and the understanding of God. And God, of course, understands all things. I would suggest to you that everything that God understands has, in our idea of time, existed or does exist in God's understanding because he is without time. So here we have God. God in the highest realms, God in the highest heavens. The word there, actually, in the Greek, is in a plural. which seems a bit strange to us, but glory to God in the highests. I'm not sure if that's even the word, the highests. But it's so perhaps we could add a word to it, which is what sometimes the translators do. But glory to God in the highest places. Glory to God in the highest praises. Glory to God in the highest existence. Whatever it may refer to. God is highest in everything. There is nothing above him. There is nothing apart from him. I said recently, actually, that some people have this kind of a notion that God can be judged because there is a law by which God can be judged. But there is nothing that exists apart from God. God is the law. God is not judged by something outside of himself because there is nothing outside of himself. apart from that which he has spoken into existence and has brought into existence and continually upholds. Our duty, therefore, before God is to glorify him because there is nothing greater. Men find all kinds of things to glorify. They glorify celebrity. They glorify footballers. They glorify singers. They glorify political figures sometimes. They glorify philosophies and philosophers. They glorify all kinds of things, but all of those things are in the creation that God has made. So above all of those things, whatever they may be, there is God. So if we are to give glory to any, surely we ought to give glory to God in the highest. In 1 Peter 4.11, we read, if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him do do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen. That God in all things may be glorified. Again, Paul writes, the Corinthians says, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. In the Old Testament, too, we read in 1 Chronicles, in chapter 16, verse 29, give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Our duty to all God then is to glorify him. And this is exactly what the angels do here as they suddenly appear breaking forth in the midst of the glory of God and say, glory to God in the highest. Even the great commandment, someone asked Jesus, what is the great commandment? And he answered and said, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength. And then the second is like unto it that we should honor and and love one another as ourselves. But first of all, God, glorified God. So here is the very foundation of the world, the very foundation upon which this existence is. And the very problem that we have is that we fell from glorifying God and Adam in the garden. Stopped glorifying God and began to glorify or either Satan's words or else himself and his ability to make judgments for himself This is a part of the creation Which God has made that we should be able to make our own judgments and God says to us you can make your own judgments But you will make mistakes And Adam, of course, was the first to make mistakes, and we've been making mistakes ever since. But by the grace of God, he continues to offer unto us salvation that we might be redeemed. We read of some who have written on this subject, and indeed, there are these words which have been written concerning duty to God, and that is that we should Glorify him because of our appreciation We might take a verse from scripture just to sum that up. We read in Psalm 8 and verse 3 when I consider the heavens The work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained When we consider what God has created and certainly it should cause us to give glory to his name When we look around us when we see the mighty things which God has done even in this creation and at the depths of the purposes and of the knowledge of God, surely we should return and give him praise. There are those who study such things as genetics and they look at how our whole Bodies have come together through genetics. And as you look into the genetics and how all of these things and these four little characters, if you like, in the gene. And you look at that and you see how bodies can be created. We have the case in point here, of course, at Christmas, as we think about the Lord Jesus Christ being born. And everyone who has had a child or has seen a child first born, we recognize how amazing that is. I remember my daughter saying, looking at her daughter it was at the actual time. not the two sons, I'm not quite sure if she thought they weren't quite as good as the daughter, but anyway, looking at the daughter and just speaking about the perfections which are there, the tiny little ears, perfect, the tiny little fingers with fingernails, and just everything about that child which has been born. How from an egg and a seed can these things come about And from those two cells coming together, making one cell and splitting, can all of those things find their place? Why are eyes always in the same place? Why is your hair only on your head when you're born? Why is it that we have the same parts to us? five fingers, four fingers, thumb, eight fingers, two thumbs. But why do all these things occur and appear in the right places? How can possibly the cells know when every cell has exactly the same information in it? How does it know where to go? How does it know where to grow? Should we not give glory to God who has designed us in such a way that not just like man may design something and then build it, but God has designed something and not only built it, but it builds itself continually throughout the ages. And of course, it's so not just with the human body, but all the bodies of the animals and the fish and the birds and the plants and the whole ecology of the planet and the planetary systems themselves and the galaxies. and everything when I consider the star, the work of the heavens, the work of thy fingers. We think of the appreciation that we should have for God, our duty toward God, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Our adoration also, in Nehemiah 8, 6, it says, and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, amen, amen. with lifting up their hands, they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Just because of who God is and the great things he had specifically done for them in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, bringing them back out of captivity, not forgetting them, and even though the judgment of God had been upon them. Here we see his grace in bringing them back once again, back to their land. And of course, part of this very story, that Jesus Christ was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea, and therefore they couldn't stay in Babylon. They had to come back because the work was not completed. We think of affection also. Deuteronomy 6.5, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. Do we have an affection? Do you have an affection for God? Child of God, do you have an affection for God? Do you love God because of himself, because of his beauties, because of his works in your life? Are we actually affectionate toward him? Having an appreciation is one thing. An adoration even of his position and authority and power is another thing. But to have an actual affection to say to the Lord, I love thee, Lord. I love thee. I love to be in thy presence. I love to read thy word. I love to pray. I love to get apart from the world and just spend time with you. I love to tell people about you because you are such a blessing and a joy to me. Do we have an affection for the Lord? And then our duty toward God once again in subjection. In Acts 9 verse 6, we read of the apostle having seen the glory of God and having been brought low on the road to Damascus saying to the Lord, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. What wilt thou have me to do? Are we subject to the Lord? Or do we just fit him in when it pleases us? And I think that we can all say that we have experience of that, whether we live by it or whether it is occasional. So often, we fit God in around everything that we have to do. We don't really have him first, but we have him somewhere in our lives, and our subjection is not to him, but we kind of subject him to our whim, our duty toward God. But it is this, of course, which we have fallen from. This is what humanity has come to, that we don't glorify God, that men don't glorify God, that the humanity of this planet does not glorify God in all of his glories and beauties, and certainly in his way of salvation through Jesus Christ. For there are many religions, of course, and they all purport to have a God. Well, most of them do anyway. I'm not quite sure about Buddhism. That's slightly different. But nevertheless, most of them have a God of some kind. And they say, well, we worship God. And there are those in these days who wish to be syncretistic, bring all the religions together, and say, well, we're all kind of the same, and you can worship God any way you like. And it doesn't really matter. You can be Hindu, and you can be Muslim, and you can be whatever you want, Baha'i, or Taoist, or whatever else it might be. And you can worship God in your own way, and it'll all be the same in the end. The point is that God has sent forth his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He has come into this world himself. And in order, therefore, to worship God, you have to worship the God who has come and revealed himself to us. For no other God is God. And so we come that we might glorify God. but we don't do we and that's where we come to the second words and on earth peace on the one earth peace and how does that peace come when it comes through the Lord Jesus Christ who is called of course the prince of peace as I nine six well known verse for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor the mighty God the everlasting father, the prince of peace. And this shows forth the wonderful dispensation of the grace of God, that God, while we were yet sinners, sent forth Jesus into this world that he might reconcile us to God, that he might bring peace within the hearts of his people. And every person who takes hold of Christ and receives the offer of that gospel knows the peace of God within their hearts. We are, of course, exhorted by the Apostle Paul to, as much as life in us, be at peace with all men. And it's a way of peace that we learn, that we are to be at peace, that we are to be gracious, we are to be kind, we are to be long-suffering, that we are to be forgiving, and so on. That way of peace is the way that the Lord has called us to. but then also more importantly, we are at peace with God through Jesus Christ. Christ who is our peace. Ephesians 2 verse 15, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances. So that is the law which we have all failed and fallen short of, but we don't give glory to God. Remember the first commandment, thou shalt love, thou shalt Honor the Lord God, I've forgotten it now, the first commandment. And the more I think about it, the further it goes from my head. It'll come back to me, and I'll tell you what it is when I get there. But we have that first commandment, which is to glorify God. It is to honor God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. I knew it would come in the end. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And that is the first thing that we fail on. Because we have all kinds of gods, we have all kinds of things before him. But Christ takes the commandment, he takes the law of God, and he brings us back into communion with him. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross having slain the enmity thereby we are made peace with God because there is forgiveness for the sins that we have committed we are still called upon of course to keep those ten commandments but nevertheless the fact that we don't keep them perfectly is covered by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ This is the dispensation of grace and on earth peace and the angels desiring to look into these things, look into the world and they look at the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ and they wonder at the grace of God, which sends forth this salvation to a people who have rejected him, to a people who have hated him, who are people who don't glorify him, to a people who worship themselves and exalt man above God. and yet in his grace, he sends forth salvation unto us. And in this dispensation of grace, we see the disposition of God. Goodwill toward men. This is the disposition of God, God's way, and God's thoughts toward us. Here we see it, goodwill toward men. Just to read a passage of scripture, not too many verses, just six verses here from Romans chapter 5. And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man one will die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. So we see God commending his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners. And in verse 10, for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. This is God's disposition toward us. Because we don't seek him, because there is none that seeketh after God. There is none righteous, no not one. But God seeketh after us. and hear the angels bursting through in the glory of God, cry out, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. And that goodwill is set toward you this morning. And if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, then call upon his name, for that goodwill is still there. God still is gracious. He is long-suffering. He has come and commended his love toward us. while we were yet sinners, while we were yet enemies, when we were yet without strength, and he offers and says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The Lord Jesus Christ said, but go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So here we have really these wonderful words that the angels speak of the whole of the problem of sin in the world, the way of salvation, and the disposition of God toward us to bring us to know him. And at this time of the year, we see the beginning of that work which Christ would do as he is born, not as an angel, came not with the nature of angels, but putting upon himself the seed of the woman comes into the midst of us. And the last words of those verses in Romans chapter 5, and not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement, which brings us full circle back to glorifying God in the highest. And if you are the child of God here this morning, let's seek to glorify him. Let's appreciate him. in everything that we see and everything we consider. Let us adore him because he is the creator of all things and without him there is nothing. Let us have an affection toward him and that may take time to grow just as an arranged marriage might end up with an affection one for another but is not there at the beginning. So that affection will grow toward God and let us be subject unto him because the Lord leads us aright and teaches us the way in which we should go. We give thanks to the Lord, therefore, for these words. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Let's bow in prayer. Father, we give thanks that we are able this day, once again, to consider really the whole of the world condition of man and the blessedness of the God who has not forgotten us or left off to care for us, but has, while we were yet enemies, given a way of redemption, of salvation, and to cause us to be reconciled unto thee, that we might indeed give thee the glory which is due unto thy name. Bless our hearts, we pray, in this day as there is so much going on with dinners and presents and children and friends and so on, Lord, we pray that we might not forget to give glory to thy name. Hear our prayer, we ask thee, and go with us each one. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.