Luke chapter 2. We've made a little change here. Please let us know what the audio and video is like with the change that we have right now. That would help us out. Is it off a little bit, Sai? Okay. Oh, I guess we need to maybe zoom back out. That's probably why. Is that good? All right, thank you, Cy. Well, Luke chapter two, if you would, this morning, Luke chapter two, verses one through seven. This, of course, is a very familiar Christmas passage, and I hope that by God's grace, it will be new to us, fresh to us, even if it's not new, I guess, fresh to us this morning. Luke chapter two, verses one through seven. Luke chapter two verses one through seven. And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing in governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth unto 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. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 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. Well, one of the challenges, as you might guess, for a preacher is to have messages around Christmas that bring that familiar truth to us in ways that are faithful to the scripture, but also fresh to our mind. I was talking to someone the other day and I said, given the number of services that we have in a week, And the number of times that I have preached on Christmas, comparing myself, which is always a terrible thing to do, but comparing myself to my brothers in ministry who only have one service a week, I have preached more Christmas messages than many of my pastor friends will ever preach in their lives. And that's just the way that it is. But this is a truth, a theme, that is so deep and so wonderful for us. This year, the way that I have began to look at the Christmas story is to look at it through looking at the cast of Christmas, the people who are connected with the Christmas story. And I, as you have seen, I have tried to focus on some of the characters that we might not think of, first of all, as characters in the Christmas story. And we have looked at Joseph, We have looked at Zacharias and we have looked at Elizabeth. Today, I want to look at Octavian. Now you might say, who is Octavian and what does he have to do with the Christmas story? Well, Octavian is actually the real name, the true name of Caesar Augustus, who is mentioned here in chapter two, verse one. Caesar Augustus or Octavian was the great nephew of Julius Caesar. And he was the one actually who ruled in Rome during this time. He ruled Rome for 41 years. That began in 27 BC. It was in 27 BC that he accepted the title of Caesar Augustus. And it was Caesar Augustus, Octavian, chiefly who ushered in what is called the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome. He's the one that orchestrated that peace that settled upon the empire during his time. Caesar Augustus also was instrumental in that he established a system of roads throughout the Roman Empire. Caesar Augustus also established a courier service throughout the empire. He established the Praetorian Guard, that elite force that would guard Caesar's household as well as take other important assignments. He also rebuilt much of Rome that had fallen into disrepair through neglect or even through fighting. He also formed a police force in Rome and he formed a firefighting service in Rome. After Caesar Augustus, Octavian's death in A.D. 14, he was succeeded by his stepson Tiberius. And Tiberius, by the way, is mentioned in chapter 3 and verse 1. But he is the man that God placed on the throne of Rome. And as we look at Octavian today, I want us to remember that God is the one who is sovereign over every other earthly sovereign. He is the one who was and is in charge. Chapter two, verse one, it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered or taxed. Caesar Augustus sat on that throne because God placed him on that throne. God placed Octavian or Caesar Augustus on that throne in spite of many challenges in his rise to power. After the murder of Julius Caesar, which was on March 15th, 44 BC, Octavian, would come to form an alliance with Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus. They would join together in time to fight against the conspirators who had killed, who had led the conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar. They led the fight against Brutus and Cassius. And this alliance of Octavian, Mark Antony, and Lepidus would actually defeat Brutus and Cassius at the Battle of Philippi. You know that word, or that name, Philippi, we have a book called Philippians. It was there that they defeated Brutus and Cassius. Now, this battle, it was probably primarily due to the leadership of Mark Antony that Brutus and Cassius were defeated. But what would happen in time is that then these three leaders, Octavian, Mark Antony, and Lepidus, they would come to divide up the empire between themselves. But of course, as you know, with so many of these leaders in times past, they were not content to leave it the way they had initially divided things up. Their rivalry and ambitions would break up that alliance. Lepidus would end up facing defeat and exile in AD 36. Octavian and Mark Antony would continue to fight against one another until the defeat of the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium. This Battle of Actium was a battle in which Mark Antony had far more forces than Octavian. He had an incredible navy. One of the things about the navy of Mark Antony and Cleopatra is they had these ships with these large battering rams on the front of them. They had about twice as many ships as Octavian. Incredible success they had had previously in battle. Now what the strategy would be is that they would basically just row their ships as hard and as fast as they could into any opponent's ships. So Antony and Cleopatra figured that they had this battle won. They had twice as many ships, they had superior technology, and so they figured that their battle was theirs. Octavian and his fleet came into the bay. And what they did was they stayed a little bit out of range, kind of tempting Antony's ships to go out and defeat them. And what they did, Antony's ships, was they rowed and rowed toward Octavian's ships, but the closer that they got, Octavian's ships just distanced themselves further and further. They just left, they retreated. Until the rowers of these powerful ships with the battering rams, until those ships, the rowers, were tired out after rowing miles out into the ocean. And it was at that time that Octavian then came and just decimated these ships. An incredible victory. Octavian essentially would emerge as the ruler, the leader, after years of double-crossing, ambition, oppression, and war. But God was the one who placed him on the throne. We can look at all of those data, those details from history, and say, you know, it really is amazing that Octavian ended up being the one on the throne, but the reason why he ended up being the one on the throne is because God put him on that throne. Octavian reigned by God's sovereign appointment. In spite of the many challenges in his rise to power, and in spite of Octavian's sinful character. Octavian would come to be a good leader. And he would implement those things that I mentioned earlier, roads, courier system, Pax Romana, fire service, police service. But on his road to power, he was deceptive and ruthless, censuring and double-crossing people who were loyal to him. but he felt were weakness to continue to be allied with them. He would take funds that were not his. He would assume power that wasn't his. He would make decisions that he did not have the right to make. All of these strategies and more were utilized by Octavian on his rise to power. He also demonstrated unjust treatment of citizens on his rise to power. over the course of the conflict that he would have with, well, everyone, he ended up displacing either partially or in their entirety, 18 different towns to make room for his forces. Here's your reward. You get to have this city. And it wouldn't matter if there were people already there. Those people were kicked out. They were displaced. 18 towns. It was also, his sinful character was also demonstrated in his acceptance of divine, or at least semi-divine status. See this term Caesar Augustus, this Augustus is the key here. Caesar is a king, but Augustus means one who is revered, essentially one who is worthy of worship. Julius Caesar had been recognized as a deity of Rome prior to this, but Julius Caesar was recognized as deity after he was already dead. Octavian was the first Roman Empire to assume or receive divine status while he was still alive. And what would happen then from that time forward is that every other Caesar would take upon themselves divine status. Every other Caesar would think of themselves as worthy of worship and obviously this would cause great trouble for both Jews and Christians in the future. but it was still God that placed him on the throne. Daniel chapter four in verse 32, the word spoken to Nebuchadnezzar was this, they shall drive you from men. Your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They should make you eat grass like oxen. Seven times shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and get this, and gives it to whomever He chooses. Why was Caesar Augustus the Caesar at this time? Because God had given the kingdom to Caesar Augustus. Romans chapter 13 and verse 1 tells us, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are ordained by God." God put Octavian, Caesar Augustus on that throne at that time. This basic truth should remind us not only of the fact of God's sovereignty, but also of the comfort of that truth. God is in control. There is not a single leader in power today that is in place simply because of their own effort and ambition. God is the one who sets up rulers and God is the one who takes rulers down. Let's trust in God's sovereign power. If God is able to place a Caesar on the throne, if God is able to place, as we read, a Nebuchadnezzar on the throne and take a Nebuchadnezzar off the throne, God has power, sovereign power. should remind us not to despair when the wicked are in authority. It's not good when the wicked are in authority. We don't want to minimize that. It isn't good when the wicked are in authority. But let's not despair because God is sovereign even over wicked rulers. Let's not fear even the greatest of the wicked rulers, the prince of this world, the prince and power of the air. Let us not even fear him because God is sovereign over even him. We sing a song, the prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure. One little word, speaking of Jesus Christ, shall fell him. God is in control. God has placed Octavian on the throne. Octavian reigns by God's sovereign appointment. But also, Octavian rises on God's sovereign timetable. It is no accident that it is in the time of Caesar Augustus, that it is in this time that Caesar Augustus is on the throne. God has used Caesar Augustus to usher in the conditions that are right for the birth of his son. But even prior to that, God had been at work putting things in place so that the right person would be on the throne, for God's purposes at the right time. The world is now prepared with the mobility that comes from the Roman system of roads. It's prepared with the stability of the Pax Romana. It is prepared linguistically with Koine Greek, the common Greek established as the common language of the world. The language into which God's word would be placed. Not only is the world prepared, but the cast of characters is in place. At this point, Zacharias, Elizabeth, John, Mary, Joseph, even Quirinius, chapter two, verse two, or Cyrenius as the King James version. It's the same person, just a different way, just a different spelling or wording of his name. Every shepherd is in place. Simeon is in place, as we'll see next week, Lord willing. Anna, the prophetess is in place. All of these people are in place. God has put Octavian on the throne at that time for that purpose. His plans are set. It's God's sovereign timetable. Daniel chapter two, verses 20 and 21, Daniel having received wisdom from God regarding dreams. It says, blessed be the name of God forever and ever for wisdom and might are his. And he changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. But notice, he changes the times and seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings. Octavian is on the throne because God has placed him on the throne, and he is on the throne when God wants him to be on the throne. Looking at this in the bigger picture, if you will, the bigger purpose of God, which we will get to in just a moment. Galatians chapter four, verse four says, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son. All of this is happening on God's sovereign timetable. He, in his infinite power and wisdom, is placing all of the people in their correct spots. We, in the past, have seen Rob work with some of the kids for the play. And we've seen how he's tried to put them in their correct spots. And often they don't end up in their correct spots. But here's God putting every character in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. This is something that we should marvel about. That God is able to do such a thing. That God is able to put every person in place, including this sovereign, including Octavian, exactly when he wants them in place. And listen, friends, brothers, sisters, if God can orchestrate things so that every person is in place in the fullness of time for the sending forth of his son, do you not think that God can order your life for good and for his glory. That's not to say that we'll always understand it. There are a lot of terrible things that would ultimately lead to Octavian being in power. And even while he's in power, there are all kinds of people that are in difficult and desperate situations, but God is still working his will. And so in our lives, We might wonder why something happens when it does. We might wonder why something doesn't happen when we want it to happen. But looking at this story reminds us once again that God is in control and God puts things in place for his own purposes and for the good of his children. Listen, here we are in 2020. What a mess of a year that seems to be. There is not a single one of us, I think, who would have planned 2020 this way. No one of us would have said, you know what I am hoping for? I'm hoping for on Christmas Sunday that we'll have an empty auditorium with a few people scattered throughout it. I'm hoping that this Christmas we will never be able to have our fellowship meal together. I'm hoping that this Christmas we won't be able to hug each other. We won't be able to talk to each other. That's what I'm hoping for. Of course not. would not have wanted that. And we don't understand right now why God is doing it. I mean, we can understand in big picture, right? God is working all things together for good. We can understand that God is being glorified and will be glorified in this, but we don't understand all of the details. It doesn't mean that God isn't at work. It doesn't mean that things aren't unfolding on his sovereign timetable. All of this reminds us, trust God. Trust His timing. Trust His plan. Which leads me to the third point. I said out first that Octavian is actually reigning by God's sovereign appointment. I said then secondly that Octavian rises on God's sovereign timetable so he's in place at exactly the right time. But finally, Octavian rules according to God's sovereign plan. Octavian rules according to God's sovereign plan. Do you think that it was just a random decision that Octavian decides that all the world should be registered for the purpose of taxation? Do you think that was just a random decision? Of course not. He tells the world, and of course he's talking about the world of Rome, that great empire, you all have to be registered for the purpose of taxation. This happens during the time where Quirinius is governing Syria. We're given a time stamp here. But it's no accident. This seemingly random timing for this random event is not random at all. Had this decree not been issued, do you think Joseph would have gone to Bethlehem at this time? Do you think he would have decided, you know what, it's a good time to take a trip to Bethlehem? Absolutely not. Why wouldn't he have done so? Well, he's already from Nazareth. And while he might be facing some of the jeers of his fellow man in Nazareth, his betrothed wife, Mary is very pregnant. This is hardly the time for Joseph to say, you know what, Mary, let's go take a 90 mile trip to Bethlehem. Seems like great timing. The trip to Bethlehem would have been a trip that had lots of hills and valleys. It would have been incredibly difficult on a woman who is reaching the full term of her pregnancy. At this time in this part of the world, given the conditions in this area, people would probably travel maybe 20 miles a day, generally. And we don't know if Mary's condition made things even slower. But either way, there's no way that Mary, a just and righteous man, would have thought this is a great idea to take my betrothed wife 90 miles on this difficult journey when she is so close to the end of the term of her pregnancy. Of course, had there been no motivation to go to Bethlehem, Jesus would not have been born in Bethlehem in accordance with biblical prophecy. All of this is in keeping with God's sovereign plan. Micah chapter five, verse two says, but you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me, the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. See, this decision at this time might have seemed to inconvenience many people, including Mary and Joseph, but God does this according to His plan and purpose. It's a reminder that the King's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As rivers of water, He turns it wherever He wishes. That's God. And of course, all of this is in keeping with God's sovereign saving plan. We began reading Galatians chapter four, verse, we began the service by reading Galatians four, four and five. Let me read them again. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Or as we're told in chapter two, verses three to seven, so all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David because he was of the house and lineage of David. to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Why was this decree made? so that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. Born in Bethlehem in accordance with prophecy, born in Bethlehem reminding us of the link that Jesus has to the throne of David. He goes to the city of David. The bread of life will be born in the house of bread, Bethlehem. All of this for the saving of God's people. We looked at it a couple of weeks ago as we looked at Matthew chapter one in Joseph. You shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. Why did God put Octavian on the throne? Because he's going to use Octavian as one of the pieces in this play, which will ultimately result in Jesus coming and being savior of the world. Octavian rules according to God's sovereign plan. This, friends, should remind us to rejoice in God's wisdom and God's grace. That God would use someone like this to accomplish Jesus being born in Bethlehem. We look at the twists and turns that bring him to the throne. We look at when he comes to the throne. We look at this decision, which seems to come out of nowhere, but all of this is in accordance with God's wisdom and his power and his grace. Romans 11 33 tells us, Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. Rejoice in God's sovereign wisdom and grace. See, this message where we think about Octavian is a message ultimately that should focus us on God and on his grace in Jesus. That's the point. That God has moved to fulfill his promises to his people, to bring salvation to us. And he has even used a man like Octavian. Rejoice in God's sovereign wisdom and grace. Whatever else may be going right or wrong for you at this time, remember that God has sent his son. No matter what may seem to be messed up in life right now, or whatever might seem to be going smoothly, remember Jesus. Remember God's grace. Remember God's sovereign power that accomplishes our salvation. And of course, if you have not yet, receive the grace of God. And not just recognize it, not just remember it, but receive it. God's saving grace is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Every day is the right day for salvation. How much more wonderful it might be in your own memory to receive the grace of God, receive Christ this Christmas season. receive the grace of God. And for those of us who have received God's grace, let us remember and rejoice in it this season. There's a lot of mess going on right now, but there's a sense in which the weird stuff of 2020 is forcing a lot of us to slow down and not do as much as we normally would do. So don't waste that time. Remember God's great grace. Focus on God's great grace. Meditate on the work of God in Christ. God is sovereign, even over the sovereigns of this world. And he sovereignly worked his plan to bring salvation in Jesus. That's something worth singing about and celebrating this Christmas season. Well, we have one more hymn. If I can find my paper here.