Please open your Bible to Isaiah chapter seven for a scripture reading this morning, Isaiah seven. This passage contains a prophecy, a messianic prophecy that we will be discussing from the New Testament perspective later on during my message. The context here is interesting. It's King Ahaz is being threatened by the enemies of the people of Israel and The Lord is speaking to him and invites him to ask for a sign from the Lord that the Lord would protect him, and he declines that offer. And so the Lord says, I will give you a sign. Of course, that's that great prophecy that we're going to read this morning. Isaiah seven. I want to begin reading in verse ten. Moreover, the Lord spake again and the AHAs saying, Ask the sign of the Lord thy God. Ask it either in the depth or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David, is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Let's pray together. Our father, we thank you for this marvelous prophecy through Isaiah, a prophecy that could look into the future at that time and see the coming of your Messiah. To see the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this prophecy pertains to him and what a marvelous sign it is to us. I pray, Lord, that you would speak to us through the fulfillment of this prophecy, through the passage that we will look at later today. I pray that our hearts would be open and receptive and that you would help us today to focus our full attention on our great Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. May he not get lost in the busyness of Christmas and all of the distractions, all of the things that might occupy our time at this season, but help us to focus on him. And may he get the glory that is due unto him. We pray your blessing on our worship time together today. May it be a sweet time of fellowship and a wonderful time of worship. May it be pleasing to you. We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. Well, please open your Bible to Matthew chapter one. Let's begin with the word of prayer together. Our Father, we do really want to admire our Lord today. We want to come to him and adore him and worship him. And I pray that you will help us to focus our attention now on this passage this morning. I pray that you will help us to remove all of the distractions, All the other things that occupy our minds and at least for this moment to focus our attention on your word and on the message that you have for us today. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Well, in case you have been too busy and too distracted to realize Christmas is just a few days away and kind of sneaks up on you, especially this year, it seems like the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed especially short. But Christmas is almost here, and there's another preacher who observed a top 10 list of indications that Christmas is nearby. It's almost Christmas time. Number 10. There are more pine needles on your carpet than on the tree. Number nine. The credit card is smoked along with the turkey and ham. Number eight. It's a wonderful life has been shown for the 13th time. Number seven. A trip to the mall and back is more challenging than the Indy 500. And if you doubt that, just ask our daughters. They gave us quite a story of that. Number six, the Salvation Army bell ringers start accepting credit cards. Number five, you are pulling an all-nighter because of the three words, some assembly required. I have personally experienced that. Number four, your Christmas list is written in black and white. While your checkbook balance is written in red, right? Everything is turned negative. Number three, Santa's belly is not the only thing shaking like a bowl full of jelly. Number two, the stockings are full and your pockets are empty. And number one, the infamous fruitcake returns from its 12 months of hiding. There is a theory that there's only one fruitcake in the world and it just keeps getting passed around from person to person. Well, the sad reality is that none of these things on this list have anything to do with Christmas. And that's really my point of reading them is to realize just how far afield we have drifted from the true meaning of Christmas, how distracted we are with so many other things. A few years ago, there was an online survey and people were asked to answer this question, what does Christmas mean to you? And the answers are Kind of funny, but then disturbing as you think about this is the answer they gave to that question. The first one sounds good. Reconnecting with people you haven't seen in a while. Number two is eating ham. I think some students answered this not having to go to school. Getting free stuff from your parents. Christmas. This is an answer. Christmas is a pagan holiday hijacked by Christianity. but still a good time to get drunk with family. This is the so-called best answer to that online survey. And it's a list of things. Christmas means winter break, Christmas lights, cookies, hot chocolate, family, presents, stockings, Christmas trees, music, and snow. And what I want to assert this morning is that none of those things really have to do with the true meaning of Christmas. Our world has really gone far afield and they have lost their way. They become distracted and the real meaning of Christmas has gotten lost in the shuffle. And this should concern us as believers who want to be a light in this present darkness. We want to shine the light of God's truth. We need to be a reminder to the world of the true meaning of Christmas. And so what we want to do today is look at The biblical reality, those who take Christ out of Christmas are denying reality. We want to look at the biblical reality, the biblical account of the birth of Christ. That's the real focus of Christmas. We commemorate the birth of Christ at this time of year. And so let's focus our attention now on Matthew's account here, Matthew 1, beginning in verse 18. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When, as his mother, Mary, was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately or privately. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now, all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying. And these words should sound familiar to you now. Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife. and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son and he called his name Jesus. Now this passage clearly affirms to us the doctrine of the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And those who refuse to accept this doctrine and refuse to accept this biblical account do so on the basis of unbelief. A refusal to believe generally those people do not believe in miracles at all. And so consequently they don't believe in the miracle of the virgin birth either. But in denying the reality of this miracle they are in fact denying the Jesus of the Bible. They are denying the God of the Bible who inspired the Bible and they're in danger of the judgment of God for rejecting God's Messiah, the one he provided for us. And this is a fundamental doctrine of our faith. I mean, we should embrace this. There should be no hesitancy on the part of the believer to believe in the biblical account of the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it's been some decades ago that this was a big battleground and this was a defining moment, really, for fundamental Christians. To return to the fundamentals of the faith, this was identified as one of those fundamentals. It was under attack. This doctrine was under attack. Why is it so fundamental? Well, it has to do with the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ. It has to do with the veracity of the word of God. And when people start to pick and choose what they're going to believe in their Bibles, they're on dangerous ground. I mean, you start to pull that thread and the whole Bible becomes unraveled. And then what do you believe? Whatever you want to. What do you not believe? Whatever you don't want to believe. And so we want to affirm. That this book, the Bible is the word of God, every part of it. Every account is inspired by God, the birth account of the Lord Jesus Christ is inspired by God, this doctrine. is a doctrine that we must embrace as believers, the doctrine of the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we want to affirm all of these things. I mean, let's face it, the account of the virgin birth that we have here in Matthew's gospel is the gospel. It is an inspired account, inspired by the Holy Spirit, the very same spirit that was involved in the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary. And really, as we look at the essence of Matthew's account here, what we see is that Jesus is the holy son of God. I mean, that just screams at us from this passage. Jesus is the holy son of God. And what I'd like to do in the time that we have together today is to consider three confirmations that Jesus is the holy son of God that comes straight from this passage. Three confirmations. The Jesus is the holy son of God. The first of these confirmations is this. Jesus had a holy conception. Now, verse 18 begins using some very discreet language, and I will be discreet this morning as well, but it's speaking of Jesus holy conception. And we learn from this account that Jesus had a human mother. Mary was his human mother. She's described here in this verse as a chaste virgin. And Luke, in fact, in his account, really emphasizes this point in Luke one. And that reads there. And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the Virgin's name was Mary. And so, the emphasis here is on the human mother of the Lord Jesus Christ in her virginity, her purity, her chaste behavior. And she is the fulfillment of a promise that was made long before, way back in the book of Genesis. And you probably are familiar with that account. When Adam and Eve sinned and fell and God was laying out the curse that would be upon them, he also cursed the serpent. And it's interesting that the very first promise that God makes in the whole Bible, he makes actually to that serpent who, of course, was possessed by Satan himself. And in that promise, God says, I will put enmity between thee and the woman in between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. Well, the seed of the woman that's promised way back there in Genesis is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. And in fact, that is finds fulfillment as expressed in Galatians four, four. But when the fullness of time was calm, God sent forth his son. And he was made of a woman made under the law. And so we have Jesus being born of a human mother. But we also learn in this account, very importantly, that Jesus had no human father. No human father, and that's That is the virgin birth at its core. We learn here in verse 18 that Mary was espoused to Joseph, or you might see the word betrothed to Joseph. And this speaks of the Jewish betrothal period. During this point in time, according to the Jewish tradition, a man and a woman would be betrothed, promised to one another. These betrothal periods would typically last up to about a year. And during this time, even during the betrothal, this was a formal and legal commitment to marriage, so much so that they would, in fact, be called husband and wife even during this period. But also during this period, they would remain chaste during that time. And that was kind of to prove their own purity, their own devotion to one another. And under Old Testament law, a breach of faithfulness. during the betrothal period was in fact considered adultery under the law. And originally it would be punishable by stoning as adultery was punished. But eventually it was a cause for divorce. And so that's why Joseph here when he learns that his betrothed wife Mary was with child. He really was faced with a moral dilemma. I mean, after all, we're told here in verse 19 that he was a just man. He was a man who wanted to obey the Old Testament law. He was a keeper of the Mosaic law. And from his perspective and according to the law, his espoused wife, was obviously unfaithful to him. And therefore, she was adulterous and therefore he could not marry her. And so he was of a mind to divorce her. But not only was he a just man, he was compassionate and loving and he loved her. And he did not want to make a public public spectacle of the situation. And so he resolved this in his own mind that he was going to put her away privately. He was going to kind of quietly divorce her. How would that be done? Well, under the law, a divorce required two witnesses. And so it would be between him and her and these two witnesses that he would divorce her. I think that Joseph, being a just man, would have acted on this plan that he had. Had it not been for divine intervention and that angel appeared to him in a dream and short circuited his plan and told him what he needed to hear so that he would go ahead and proceed with the marriage. Now all this underscores the fact that Jesus had a human mother but no human father and at the at the core of the virgin birth. That is what this doctrine is all about. The verse 18 makes it clear. That the conception came about through the agency of the Holy Spirit. And in Luke's gospel, it gives us all the specifics that we need to know. In Luke 135, it says, And the angel appeared and said unto her to Mary, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Now, you see the connection, the virgin birth is connected to the identity of Christ as the son of God. It's very important that we believe this doctrine. Donald MacLeod, one Bible commentator, said the virgin birth is important to us as Christians for at least three reasons, and I'm going to get a little doctrinal on you, but I'm going to explain this as we go. First of all, it precludes the error of adoptionism. Now, this was an old heresy in the early centuries of the church, and I'm just going to state it very simply, that this false doctrine was that Jesus was a normal man whom God adopted to be his son. You see that error. That is completely wrong. That is false. Adoptionism is a heresy of the early church. And so by believing in and understanding the doctrine of the virgin birth, we understand That Jesus was no just ordinary man that later on God adopted. But in fact, from the very conception, he is God in the flesh. He is the son of God. He is the the son of God who preexisted eternally with God, the father who has been sent to the earth, who has taken on human flesh. And through the virgin birth, we understand this. His second thing, second point. It avoids the problem of double paternity. That would be that Jesus has two fathers, a human father and the heavenly father. And that would be confusing to us. But in fact, the Bible affirms to us that the heavenly father is his true father. And Joseph really was just a stepfather who adopted him and brought him up, but not his biological father. So it avoids the problem of double paternity. And in fact as you read through the Bible you'll see that the Bible writers are very careful not to name Joseph as Jesus father. In fact in Luke's genealogy of Jesus he uses this language referring to Jesus being as was supposed the son of Joseph. And so you'll see that the Bible is very careful. God has carefully inspired those Bible writers to make sure that they don't imply that Joseph is Jesus biological father. And the third important reason that the virgin birth is important to us that this commentator names is the virgin birth is clearly a matter of the divine initiative not human initiative. That's important for us to understand this is God. Stepping in to our world, literally, this is God intervening in the affairs of man. This was not human initiative. This is not an act initiated between a man and a woman. This was an act initiated by God. And God is the one who's giving the revelation, sending his messengers to Mary, to Joseph, to others to inform them of what he's doing. He is sending his son into the world. And he has ordained that his son would enter this world through that humble birth in the manger. And first, John 410, it says this here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. It's an expression of God's love. The virgin birth is an expression of God's love. The sending of his son is an expression of God's love to us. So, again, this passage is affirming that Jesus is the holy son of God, and the first confirmation we see of that in the passage is a holy conception. The second confirmation we see is a holy name. Notice in verses 20 and 21, where the angelic messenger says to Joseph, Fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now, according to Jewish tradition, when a Jewish father gave the name to his newborn son, he would do so at that son's circumcision. And when he did that, He was declaring publicly that he was accepting that child as his son. That son then had legal status as a son of that father who named him. And there's Old Testament precedent for this pattern. In fact it's God who sets this precedent in Isaiah 43 1 where he says to Israel I have called thee by thy name thou art mine. And so, that very act of naming the son, of calling that son by name, is a declaration. That son is mine. That's what Joseph was saying when he named him. Well, we want to focus on the name. This is a holy name that is given unto him. It's the name Jesus. And we talked about this name before when we read in our English Bible the name Jesus. It comes from the Old Testament name Joshua. which is actually a shortened form from the Hebrew Yahoshua. And it means Yahweh is salvation. Jehovah is salvation. And so in the very name itself, it's a declaration that God saves. Isn't that marvelous? The name Jesus means Jehovah is salvation. And what's interesting is as you look in your Old Testament, And you read about that name Jehovah or Yahweh, as it is in the Hebrew. And you read through your Old Testament, what you'll see, you'll come across verses like this in Psalm 3 8. Salvation belongs unto the Lord. And that word Lord is in all capital letters. It's the name Jehovah Yahweh. And so if God is salvation. And Jesus, in his very name, means Jehovah is salvation. Jehovah saves. Do you make the connection? Jesus is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. Jesus is the fulfillment of all those promises that God will save. Jesus saves very simply. Jesus says he is the savior and we call him that, too. We give him that title. He is the savior, the one who saves. His name proclaims this. And the angel said to Joseph, for he shall save his people from their sins. It's all wrapped up in his name and in his person, he shall save his people from their sins. Now, when Joseph heard those words, it may have registered with him being some Jew who studies the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures. Because it sounds an awful lot like Psalm 130, verses seven and eight. And they read this way, let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord, there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Wow. And that's basically what this angel was saying to Joseph. This child, Name him Jesus. Jehovah is salvation because he will save his people from all their sins. He is the fulfillment of all of these prophecies from the Old Testament. And again, we see this connection in the Old Testament. It says Jehovah will be the one to save in the New Testament. We see the fulfillment of that that Jesus is the Jehovah who saves. John 317 says God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. He's the Savior. He's the Savior who was born and the real surprise for the Jews living at that time was not so much that a Messiah would come. But the last part of that phrase that he would save his people from their sins. You see, the Jews in the first century at the time of the writing of the New Testament, they were looking for and hoping for Messiah, looking for and hoping for a redeemer, a deliverer. But what they were looking for was someone who would be a political deliverer, who would deliver them from the oppressive power of Rome and free God's people. But Jesus came to save people, save his people from their sins. Something far, far greater, far more important. The salvation that Jesus brings is spiritual, not political. The salvation he brings is eternal, not temporal. The salvation that he brings is a deliverance from sin. What a wonderful savior he is. And of course, he did this. We know the end of the story. He did this. Not by being born, but by dying, by dying on the cross, by shedding his blood to pay the penalty for sin. In First Peter, 224, it says who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. That we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes he or he'll. Hebrews 9 12 says neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered into he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He is Jehovah who saves. He is the savior who saves by giving his life, dying on the cross for us. What a marvelous savior. And so, again, here in Matthew's account, we see that Jesus is the holy son of God. And this has been confirmed by the fact that there is a holy conception. He is given a holy name. And the third confirmation we see here that Jesus is the holy son of God. Is that all this was done according to a holy plan? God's marvelous plan of redemption. Unfolding before our very eyes as we read this account in the New Testament. God's marvelous plan of redemption first revealed at the fall. Her seed will crush your head. God said to the serpent. Hinted at throughout the Old Testament prophesied by the Old Testament prophets. All those prophecies finding fulfillment in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled in Christ. In his birth, in his sinless life, in his death on the cross, in his resurrection from the dead. His birth completely and exactly fulfilled the prophecy that I read earlier in Isaiah 714, to the letter, completely fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what Matthew is talking about here in verse 22. Now, all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of by the Lord, spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Now, if you remember that prophecy in Isaiah 714, God says, God, I myself will give you a sign. What is a sign? What does it take to be a sign? Well, it would have to be something very unusual. It would have to be something that is supernatural in origin. And so does this meet the test of a sign? Oh, indeed, it does. I mean, the virgin birth is not only unusual. It's a one of a kind event in all of history. It is supernatural, the Holy Spirit himself. is involved in this, in the virgin birth. We see the historical fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy right here in Matthew chapter one. All fulfilled exactly as the prophet had laid it out. Notice the name here in verse 23, and they shall call his name Emmanuel. which being interpreted is God with us. Emmanuel is a transliteration of the Hebrew. In other words, you take the sounds that the Hebrew alphabet makes and you move that right over into the English. And so it sounds in the Hebrew like Emmanuel. And that L on the end, of course, is a short name for God. You hear Elohim and so forth. L is a shortened name for God. And so literally, In the Hebrew and we're given this trans this interpretation here in verse twenty three it literally means God with us. Now if you just take that and take a superficial understanding of that you might look at this event and say well OK God is with us in the sense that now he has sent his deliverer he has sent his Messiah. His Messiah is with us. And so, God's right here with us. He's standing right here with us. He's got our back covered. You might take a superficial understanding like that. But of course, that's not what this means. This means that God himself is present with us. It is an affirmation, yet another confirmation, that Jesus is the Holy Son of God. You see, Jesus not only fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 714, but he also fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 9. And I'd like you to turn there. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 9. And those liberal theologians who just don't want to accept the doctrine of the virgin birth, you don't want to see a miracle here. We'll look at Isaiah 714. and not see the miracle of the virgin birth. It will not make the connection. They will not look all the way forward to the time of Christ. They will not say it's a prophecy concerning the coming of Messiah. And yet, if you read on in the book of Isaiah, you're going to see other prophecies. They can only meet their fulfillment in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 9, verses 6 and 7. And you probably are familiar with this passage too. 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. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, and upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom To order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Well, you read that prophecy and that can only find its fulfillment in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is marvelously fulfilled in him. One commentator said this regarding the incarnation, Matthew's claims. Not that God, Matthew claims, not that God has given us a representation of himself, but that he has come in person to share our situation. He is Emmanuel. He is God with us. He is God in the flesh. He is the son of God. Fully possessing all the deity of God, the Father and God, the Spirit. Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus is the fulfillment of every messianic prophecy because he is the Messiah. And we should worship him, he is the Christ, he is the anointed one of God, the chosen one of God, the one who would deliver us from our sins. And as you think about the Bible and all of these prophecies that find fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ, I mean, it should cause you to marvel. It should cause you to fall on your knees and to worship the God who has orchestrated such a marvelous plan of redemption and to worship his son who gave his life to redeem us from our sins. All of the prophecies fulfilled in Christ, part of God's marvelous plan, And I'd like you to see a summary of that from a message that the Apostle Peter preaches in Acts chapter 2. This message, this sermon that he preaches is on the Day of Pentecost, a marvelous sermon. Someday, Lord willing, we'll have a chance to study it in its entirety. But I want to direct your attention to verses 22 to 24 in Acts chapter 2. where Peter summarizes for us this marvelous plan of redemption that has been fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. He have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it, kept in its power." Wow. What Peter is saying is that God's marvelous plan of redemption that was predetermined and planned by God long before finds its complete and ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's God's holy plan. And this is a confirming sign that Jesus is the Son of God. Everything happened according to God's plan. Jesus was born exactly when and where God had determined it would take place. In exactly the manner that God determined it would take place through the means that God had predetermined it to take place through the agency of the Holy Spirit conceiving in the womb of Mary, that child who would be called the son of God, that holy thing, as the angel referred to it, shall be called the son of God. Everything happened according to God's plan, Jesus grew up. He lived a sinless life because he is the son of God. He gave his life on the cross as a substitute for us to die for our sin, all according to God's marvelous plan of redemption. And he didn't remain in the grave. He arose on the third day and he ascended to heaven. He is our living savior reigning from heaven. And someday he's coming back all according to God's marvelous plan. So we see in this passage in Matthew one. That Jesus is the holy son of God. And it's confirmed by a holy conception, a holy name and a holy plan. He is the holy son of God. And the question is. What are we going to do with this truth? Do we embrace this, do we believe this? Is there someone in this room who's being confronted with this truth and has never turned to Jesus as your savior? You must individually make that choice. You must see that his death on the cross was for you, for your sin. And you must embrace him as your savior and let him save you from your sin for the vast majority of us in this room who have already put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. What should you do with this truth. How do you respond to this marvelous account of the virgin birth. Well I think one thing you should do is stand firmly in it not shy away from it. You should boldly proclaim it because it is it just flies in the face of all those out there who deny that there is a God in heaven. And point them to the biblical account and have them try to find fault in it. They can't. And there have been many testimonies of people who have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because they would have been given such a challenge. So boldly stand in. But I think at a deeper level. What the Lord would have us to do. Is to look at our Savior. And worship him. And adore him. He is worthy of our worship. He is worthy of our adoration. He is a marvelous Savior. He's the Holy Son of God. And our heart should just at this time of year, especially we should be inclined toward our Savior. And we should fellowship with him and worship him. He's worthy of our adoration and our worship. Don't be guilty of taking Christ out of Christmas. Maybe you don't do it in name. Maybe you don't write Xmas on your window and we can talk about that. X is the first letter of the Chi and all that. So Christ is still in that Xmas. You can't take Christ out of the Christmas. But don't do it in practice. Let's make Christ central. Let's worship him this season of the year on Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, whatever your family tradition is. Open the Bible. and read the biblical account and affirm it together and worship and adore the Savior. The hymn reads this way, O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold him, born the king of angels. O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him. Oh, come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord. Let's pray together. Our Father, we marvel at your amazing plan of redemption. We are a sinful people. We are unworthy of your love. And yet in your great love, you have determined to redeem us. And you sent your Son to accomplish the work of redemption for us. It's a marvelous plan, Lord. I pray that we would never lose our admiration for what you have done for us. And help us, Lord, to adore our Savior, to worship Him, To see him as the holy son of God. To affirm this doctrine as biblical truth. And allow it to inspire our hearts. To worship and adoration. I pray in Jesus name, Amen.