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I invite you to take the Word
of God this morning and turn with me to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2, I'll read verses
1 through 14. Now in those days a decree went
out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken for all the
inhabited earth. This was the first census taken
while Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone was on his
way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph
also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth to Judea,
to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he
was of the house and family of David, in order to register along
with Mary, who was engaged to him and was with child. While
they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth.
She gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in cloths
and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in
the inn. In the same region, there were
some shepherds staying out in the field and keeping watch over
their flock by night. An angel of the Lord suddenly
stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.
They were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, Do
not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which
shall be for all the people. For today in the city of David
there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This
will be the sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped
in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly there appeared with
the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying,
Glory to God in the highest. and on earth peace among men
with whom he is pleased." I cannot escape the KJV from verse 14. Glory to God in the highest and
peace on earth, goodwill toward men. Today is the Sunday before
Christmas. Christmas being this Thursday.
It's truly the greatest of the holidays that we celebrate. We
celebrate Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving, all of them
of great spiritual benefit, but truly the greatest in terms of
how it is celebrated in our culture is Christmas. It's characterized
by family gatherings and Times in which we eat rich food together,
characterized by the exchanging of gifts and memories of all
the warmth and tradition of Christmas's past, which is okay. It's fine to have celebrations
and festivals. It's fine to have these things
that strengthen the family and times that we can gather together
as the family. But the season has truly become
very secularized. In fact, in our culture, all
emphasis is given to the secular aspect of the holiday. There's
the lights and the trees and red and green colors. You cannot
escape the red and green traditional colors of Christmas. There's
shopping and gifts and malls and, of course, good food. But it's also the time of the
year in which we celebrate the birth of Christ. We're not commanded
in scripture to set a day to celebrate the birth of Christ.
But this is the time of the year that is dedicated to him. Christmas is from two words,
one Greek meaning Christ, obviously, the other one Latin referring
to worship. And so it's truly a time in which
we worship Christ. It's a time in which we can gather
together to celebrate the wondrous incarnation of our Lord. So this
morning, I want to leave the secular aspect of the holiday
behind and consider for a moment this passage in Luke chapter
2, pondering the marvel of the birth of our Savior, truly the
greatest story ever told It is the marvel that God would take
upon himself flesh and blood and become a man. It demonstrates
that even in our thoroughly secularized culture that this is a story
that's known of all. We all know that Christmas is
a celebration of the birth of Christ and It demonstrates our
Christian heritage more than any other. We're not celebrating
the birth of Mohammed. We're celebrating the birth of
Christ. And we're singing Christmas hymns. And a lot of these hymns have
become traditional favorites. And they point to the birth of
Christ. But while it's the best known
of stories, it's also one that is the least understood. It seems
there's great confusion in every aspect of the Christmas story.
Few understand that this Christ came according to God's perfect
plan of redemption to accomplish something for his people. Luke
1, 68, blessed be the God of Israel for he has visited us
and accomplished redemption for his people. Or Matthew 1.21,
And she shall bear a son, ye shall call his name Jesus, for
it is he who will save his people from their sins. Few people understand
that this baby in a manger came in accordance with the foreordained
plan of God to redeem his elect people from their sins. If you
understand that this Christ child, this one laying in a manger,
was none other than the living God. He became man, but he did
not set aside his deity. He was the perfect God-man. So that this infant laying in
the manger was the creator of the world. And this child was
the sovereign king of the universe. And even with his arrival to
earth in the lowest of conditions, There were still marks of his
majesty and glory as his arrival is announced. If you look at
verse nine in the text that I read this morning. And the angel of
the Lord suddenly stood before them and the glory of the Lord
shone around them. They were terribly frightened.
This was not just a mere human child. He was the perfect God-man,
the eternal Son of God, who came to accomplish the will of the
Father. Few people understand that as they hear the Christmas
story. And there's another part of this
passage that is misunderstood. This morning I want to prayerfully
set before your attention verse 10 of the passage. that the angel
said to them do not be afraid for behold I bring you good news
of great joy which will be for all the people the verse tells
us that the angel announced good news of great joy for all people
so the question we have to ask ourselves is what is this joy
that we say so much about in the Christmas season. Joy has
really become a word that's tossed around freely during this season. We sing joy to the world. We receive Christmas cards with
joy and peace blazing across the front. Joy is a word. You even get Christmas ornaments
with joy written on them. It's a word that goes along with
Christmas, but for most people, the season will come and go without
experiencing the very nature of true joy. What is this joy
that we associate with Christmas? Well, it is great joy and it's
inseparably connected to the good news. Verse 10 again, I
bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the
people. The phrase, I bring you good
news, is from one word, euangelizum. Those that understand the Greek
language know that word very well. Euangelizum. It literally means, I bring good
news. I bring the gospel. I preach
the gospel. Sometimes in the New Testament,
it's actually translated preach. It means to bring glad tidings.
It is this joy that we're speaking about is inseparably tied to
the gospel. Cannot separate it. And verse
11 further explains this good news of great joy. For today
in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior who
is Christ the Lord. So it's good news and it's great
joy and it involves the Savior. In the new members class this
morning, remember our new members class right now is occupied by
two young men, one of whom is 10 years old and the other one
is 12 years old and At the very beginning of the class, I asked
them the question, so let me ask you again, what is the gospel? That's something that every Christian
should have a firm handle on. If you're a Christian, I should
be able to come to any one of you and ask you, well tell me,
what is the gospel? And you should be able to spout
it out without really thinking. The gospel, you're saved by believing
the gospel. What is the gospel? What is this
good news that is so intimately connected or this joy that's
so intimately connected to the gospel? Well, what is then this
good news, this joy that we celebrate on Christmas? Well, I bring this
sermon In the midst of a series of sermons that I've been preaching
on Sunday mornings from Ephesians chapter four, we've been looking
at the wonderful unity shared by the church of Christ. Ephesians
four, beginning with verse three, Paul says, being diligent to
preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. And then
he goes on using the word one. There is one body, one spirit,
just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over
all and through all and in all. This word one describes the very
uniqueness of our union. One body, one spirit, one hope,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. In
the midst of this Christmas season, I want to add one more element
that unites us together as Christians. One joy. That's the title of
the sermon this morning. One joy that we share together
as the body of Christ. So, joy. What is it? Well, it's one of those One of
those words that's difficult to define. As soon as you begin
to reflect upon feelings that affect the soul, it becomes very
difficult to define them. Sometimes we try to define them
using an antonym, the opposite. So we say, well, love, which
is another word that's difficult to define. Love is the opposite
of hate. Well, yes, but what is love? And we say, and peace. Well,
peace. Well, peace is the absence of
war. Fine, I agree. But what is peace? And joy. Well, joy. Oh, that's
the opposite of sorrow. Well, yes. But what is joy? Joy is a true joy. It's that which fills our hearts
with contentment. It fills our hearts with a sense
of fulfillment, fills us with all manner of satisfaction and
delight. It is happiness in its greatest
expression. These are merely words to describe
the dictionary definition of joy. But only the Christian,
just as with love and with peace and with joy, Only the Christian
truly has a comprehension of these things. They are wonderful
expressions of the Spirit of God dwelling in us. In Galatians
chapter 5, Paul tells us the fruits of the Spirit. In other
words, what is the evidence of the Spirit of God dwelling in
you? And he says, well, the fruit of the Spirit is love. So here's
this word that it is the opposite of hate. But in terms of the
Christian, it is a word that truly only the Christian has
a full understanding of it and still Paul says in Ephesians
chapter 3 that it's beyond knowledge. It's beyond our ability to fully
comprehend. We speak of peace and peace is
that which Paul says in Philippians is it passes all understanding. It's beyond our ability to comprehend
fully. And such is the nature of all
of these fruits of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
beyond knowledge. Joy, truly beyond our ability
to fully comprehend it and explain it. Yet, we who are Christians
experience it continually. Peace, the same thing. Patience or long-suffering. Gentleness,
goodness, faith, neatness and temperance. All these things
are beyond the ability to fully explain, but yet they are a part
of the experience of the Christian life. And so the Christian understands
these elements. They are beyond comprehension. They are really beyond and outside
the realm of anything that elicits them. And so we love, apart from
anything that draws us to love so we can love our enemies and
the same thing with peace and the same thing with joy and he
even mentions faith while that's true that love for the Christian
exists completely outside the realm of circumstance so that
you can love outside the realm of whether or not the person
is lovely you may have a mate that you've been married to for
thirty years and you're having a very rocky time. But Christians,
on the other hand, can love in spite of differences, in spite
of the weaknesses of the other person, in spite of the sinfulness
of the other person. That's the nature of love. And
joy, also, is that which exists within us apart from external
circumstances. So then, I often use as the example,
Paul and Silas in jail at midnight, suffering under being beaten
and singing for the glory of God, singing hymns at midnight
with joy. Although they were not in a joyous
situation. That said, there is an object
in all of these. So that for, you know, we have
faith. And faith is that which is unseen. Hebrews says, well, we know that
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. And so our faith is not built
upon that which we can feel and touch. We haven't seen Christ,
yet we love Him. But on the other hand, our faith
is not merely credulity. It's not merely that which does
not have substance. Our faith has substance, and
it is fixed upon the person of Christ. And our peace is not
without substance. It is fixed upon the person of
Christ. And our joy is not without substance. It is fixed upon the person of
Christ. It is apart from worldly conditions
and worldly situations so that a person in the hospital bed
suffering greatly without any expectation of being healed can
still smile with joy at the nurses when they come in because our
joy is not fixed upon whether we're healthy or whether we're
wealthy or other external circumstances. It is fixed upon Christ. And
so for the Christian, joy is a wonderful work of God within
us, fixed upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, this inner
work of the Holy Spirit, so that the Christian can experience
true joy. For us, we have found the source
of true delight. So we find here in verse 10,
that Luke gives us this expression, this phrase, I bring you good
news of great joy, which will be for all people. It speaks
of universal joy to all people. So this morning, I want to look
further at this joy that's universal for Christians. But there's a
sense in which is universal to all men. Again, verse 10 says,
the angel says, Do not be afraid, for I bring you good news of
great joy, which will be for all people. In what way is it
joyful for all people that Christ has been born? Well, we can't
take it in an absolute sense. Because we truly understand that
for most people, the birth of Christ is not an event worth
celebrating. For most people, they find no
joy in Christ. In fact, the object of their
delight, for the Christian, the object of our delight and the
object of our joy is Christ. For the lost person, the object
of delight is not Christ. The object of delight is fixed
and founded upon this world. The things of this world, the
desires of the flesh, the pleasures of life, the hope and expectation
of something I can do greater tomorrow, but it's not fixed
upon Christ. John 1, 4, In Him was life, and
the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not comprehend it. Christ is far from the sight
and hearts of lost people. John 3.19 This is the judgment
that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather
than light for their deeds were evil. The Apostle Paul speaks
of a promise of a reward for all who love the appearing of
Christ. 2 Timothy 4.8 Paul says In the
future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which
the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day,
but not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing."
Or for the lost person, they're not rejoicing in the birth of
Christ. In fact, they despised it. They
would rather it not be so. Because Christ is the judge.
They stand guilty, and they know they're guilty. Christ stands
forth as the judge, and they despise Him! Remove Him from
our midst! They don't mind thinking about
a baby in a manger. Babies are non-threatening. But the King of Kings coming
with flaming fire, bringing justice upon all of humanity, a flaming
sword, which is the Word of God, the Law, being pressed upon every
human being, and they will all be standing before Him to give
account. The Bible tells us, and every
knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. For most, they are exactly
as those that stood with Pontius Pilate, When he says in Mark
15, Pilate said to them, What then shall I do with him whom
you call the king of the Jews? And they shouted back, Crucify
him! Pilate said, Why? What evil has he done? But they
shouted all the more, Crucify him! Get him out of the way! The reason people will not receive
the gospel, do not want to contemplate it, do not want to consider the
issues of their own soul, is because they stand condemned
and they do not want Christ. They do not want to bow before
Him. And so in their heart it is, away with Him! Remove Him! I find no joy in Him. I find nothing of delight in
Him and surely He is not worthy of my life. So, the angel says,
I bring you good news of great joy. I bring you the gospel.
I bring you the Euangelism. I bring you good news of great
joy. Well, if this is good news, then
why is it that all men do not embrace it? Because the angel
says, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for
all people. Why then do not all people embrace
Christ? This gospel, good news. Why not? Because Christ will only be good
news of great joy to those who feel their need of Him. And most
people do not feel their need of Him. Revelation 22, verse
17. The Spirit and the Bride say,
Come. That's the charge of the gospel.
Come! It goes forth to all men. Come!
The Spirit and the Bride say, Come! Let the one who hears say,
Come! Let the one who is thirsty, Come! Let the one who wishes to take
water of life without cost. So here's the Gospel. It is offered
freely to all. The water of life without cost. Come! But you've got to be thirsty. A person well satisfied who's
been drinking water all day doesn't have a sense in which more water
is his delight. The person who's been in the
desert and has gone a whole day without anything to drink, that
water is a source of delight. The gospel says, come to those
who are thirsty. The reason that the gospel is
not great joy to most people is they are not thirsty. For those who die without Christ,
they will stand before Him without joy. There will be nothing but
mourning and weeping and gnashing of teeth. So when we say the
gospel or the coming of Christ is great joy universally to all
men We cannot say it in an absolute sense. However, there is a sense
in which we can say it regarding all men. There is a sense in
which the birth of Christ should be a source of joy for all men. Because even the lost man should
understand that the advent of Christ is the very source of
God's mercy upon all men. We are living in an age of mercy
that is only possible because Christ was born. When Adam sinned,
God could have destroyed all flesh. He could have justly destroyed
all flesh, but instead of instant death, God made a covering for
Adam as a token and foreshadow of his atoning mercy in Christ. The birth of Christ is testimony
to God's mercy upon all of humanity. We are living in an age of mercy,
a temporary reprieve from death. The sad thing is most people
say, that's okay, I don't want it. Temporary reprieve, that's
okay, I'll just continue to hate God. God's wrath could have at
once commenced. He could have deprived creation
of every blessing, every comfort, and every pleasure. But we're
living in an age of mercy. In the days of Noah, the same
thing. We read in Genesis 6, the Lord was sorry he had made
man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. The Lord
said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face
of the land, from man to animals to creeping things to birds of
the sky for I am sorry that I have made them. But then verse 8 of
Genesis 6 says, But Noah found favor in the eyes of God. Noah found grace because of the
redemptive purpose of God in Christ Jesus. The fact that all
men today are not in hell is because of God's redemptive grace
in Christ Jesus. It is a temporary reprieve. It
is a time of mercy. It is temporary. The mercy will
not endure. But it is in this life that God
has given mercy, a temporary grace. But not only are we living
in an age of mercy, we're also living in an age where God displays
His glory through His goodness. And that too is through the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, His first advent. God richly provides
for both the wicked and the righteous. Matthew 5.45, He causes the sun,
He causes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good. Sins
reign on the righteous and the unrighteous. Or Psalm 145.15,
The eyes of all look to you. And you give them their food
in due time. You open your hand and satisfy
the desire of every living thing. God preserves the earth because
of His goodness. And it's only because of His
redemptive purpose in Christ. So that He not only gives us
food to enable us to exist, but He gives us food that is tantalizing
to our palate. so that we're not eating the
same bland food from the same tree every day, every day. But my goodness, if your house
is like my house during the Christmas time, it's amazing what ladies
can do with a few ingredients. When we have our feast upstairs
in a few moments, our Thanksgiving or our Christmas banquet, The
things that ladies can put together with some flour and some lard. I don't guess they really want
to call it lard. Some shortening, sugar, and a
few other wonderful ingredients. And oh my goodness, God is a
good God. Gives us good things to eat.
It gives us wonderful things, aromas to smell. Our five senses
are nothing more than receptacles or the means of receiving the
goodness of God. So we're able to touch and we're
able to taste and we're able to smell the aromas that God
has provided, the flowers in the field and the aromas that
rise up when good food is prepared. things to feast our eyes upon,
beauties that are breathtaking, beautiful sunrise. When I was
at the ARCA-GA this past April, early in the morning I was at
the Phoenix airport preparing to catch the flight, and through
the window was one of the most stunning sunrises I've ever seen. I pulled my phone out and started
snapping some pictures. It was stunning. Ask me and I'll
show it to you. But I glanced around and most
people were sitting there. Oh hum, so what? God's displaying his glory before
us. People unstirred. Well, God has
given us all these things. The gift of hearing, to be able
to hear the sounds of birds chirping in the early dawn. Wonderful
things that God has provided all from his goodness And all
because God was pleased to send forth His Son to redeem His people
from their sins. And while we are living in this
age of mercy, He continues to bestow His goodness. Should that
not be cause for all men to rise up on Christmas morn and say,
Oh God, how wonderful You are in displaying Your goodness to
the children of men. Indeed, I bring you good news
of great joy which will be for all people." Well, truly, all
people should rejoice in the birth of Christ. And the greatest
rejoicing should be because of the Gospel. It's glad tidings. Because God could have left us
in our sin. He sent forth Christ. And I know
that there are people in here right now who have never received
Christ as their Savior. And this good tidings of great
joy is set before you and it is good news. It is offered to
all, the wonders of John 3.16. For God so loved the world I
know sometimes as Calvinists we really get twisted out of
shape because of that word, world. I say, well it can't mean the
whole world, can it? I think it can. God so loved
the world, all human beings. He loved His creation. and he loved his creation to
the extent the gospel goes forth to all. It's not just, we're
not hyper-Calvinist that says, you know, the gospel just goes
forth to their legs. You don't need to bring the gospel to anyone
else. No, we bring the gospel to all
men. And all who repent and turn from
their sins will be saved. There's great rejoicing in the
reality of the universal offer of grace to all men through the
gospel. But the joy of verse 10 is really
a particular joy. And that's why I titled this
morning's sermon, One Joy. Because it's truly only the Christian
that understands true love. Only the Christian has the capacity.
Only the Christian knows peace. Only the Christian. Only we know
what it means to have this inner tranquility, knowing that we
are right with God and right with our fellow man. That's peace
for us, and you cannot understand it outside of Christ. You cannot. The best you can do is say, well,
peace is not being in conflict. With them, it's the John Lennon
understanding of Christmas. How's it go? And I'm drawing
a blank. And not any fear. I think, how's that go? Well,
you don't need to hear John Lennon's account of Christmas. But for
him, peace is nothing but the absence of war. No fear. And well, no. Peace is far more
than that. And joy. Joy is that which the
Christian understands. It's rich and full and fixed
upon an object. And that object is an object
of delight. And we rejoice in our greatest
delight. And for us, it is Christ. So, how is it then that the Christian
shares uniquely in this joy that only Christians can appreciate.
So what is this unique joy that we have? Well, first of all,
we have joy because Christ has come for us particularly. We find great joy in Christmas. I hope in the hustle and bustle
of the season you can stop for a moment to consider Christ has
come for us. Matthew 1.21 again, She shall
bear a son, ye shall call his name Jesus, which means Savior,
for he will save, he will save his people from their sins. That's joyful for us. We are
the beloved bride of Christ. He has loved us from all eternity. And He has come to redeem us. I love the Ephesians 5 passage. I'm looking forward to preaching
it in a few weeks or a few months. Ephesians 5.25, the charge is
given to husbands. It says, Husbands, love your
wives. And then our attention is turned to Christ, our Bridegroom. So if you want to know what a
husband should look like, look to the Bridegroom. But just as
Christ also loved the church, a particular love for us. He loved the church and gave
himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her and cleanse
her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present
to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or
wrinkle or any such thing but that she should be holy and blameless. Picture these wretched ones,
the bride of Christ covered in filth and shame, in all manner
of abomination. And here she is, polluted in
sin, filthy, and he comes for her, she is his bride, he comes
and lifts her up out of the mire. cleanses her and washes her with
His own blood, and raises her up, so that in that day He might
receive us unto Himself, bring us to the joyous wedding feast.
We are the virgins awaiting the coming of the bridegroom, and
we are remaining faithful, looking to Him. That should bring us
great joy. Second of all, because we have
tasted of the heavenly gift, We are the partakers of Christ. We have found the treasure that
exceeds all treasures. The people of this world, they
cannot see it. So for them, the treasure is a new car, a new
house, new clothes, a new trip, new this, experience this, new
job, promotion, a raise. And these are the things they
strive for. It's the objects of their delight. You can always
tell what the object of someone's delight is. You can see it in
how they worship. You can see it in how they direct the priorities
of their life. But for us, well, the kingdom
of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. And upon
finding the one pearl of great value, He wouldn't have sold
all that he had and bought it. That's joy. The object of delight
in which we find nothing else brings the same joy that we find
now in Christ. There's a new hymn by Keith and
Kristen Getty. It's going to be in our supplement. We'll have to learn it. Perhaps
some of you have already discovered it. It's titled, My Worth is
Not in What I Own. And in the refrain, I rejoice
in my Redeemer, greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul. I will
trust in Him, no other. My soul is satisfied in Him alone. Is that your heart? I will rejoice
in my Redeemer. He is my greatest treasure. My
soul rests on Him alone. Do you find great joy? He has
come and He's come for me and I have a relationship with Him.
We have fallen in love. It's one reason I enjoy reading
Song of Solomon. Now Song of Solomon, it's a love
story and I don't think it's a prophecy and I don't think
it's necessarily meant to be taken as an allegory of Christ
and the church. But we can surely see the nature
of true love. It should be the nature of you
and your wife and you and your husband. It should be the nature
of our relationship with Christ and Him with us. Song of Solomon
510. My beloved is wide and ruddy,
chiefest among ten thousand. Can you say that about your spouse,
your husband or your wife? The chiefest of ten thousand.
If she or he is the chiefest of 10,000, you won't have roaming
thoughts and roving eyes seeking someone else to bring you pleasure
because you have found the chiefest. Is that the nature of your relationship
with Christ? You won't find yourself seeking
in an adulterous eye to look to some other source of delight
because after all, He's the chiefest of 10,000. Yea, verse 16 of Song
of Solomon 5. He is altogether lovely. This
is my beloved and this is my friend. Or 1 Peter 1.8. And though you have not seen
him, you love him. And though you do not see him
now, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy. Inexpressible and full of glory. That's the joy that we know because
it's fixed upon the object of Christ. Christianity is a relationship. We are in a living relationship
with the living Christ. It's about a relationship with
a person, an object of delight. Have you found him as the object
of delight? And does it fill your heart with
joy? I know that this world is filled with sorrow, disappointments,
difficulties, Sometimes when we get caught up in the difficulty
and in the responsibilities and in all the things that garner
our attention in this world, we can be distracted from our
chief joy. But He really is the object of
our delight. And we can rejoice in the birth
of Christ. Thirdly, because our sins have
been forgiven, our sin is our greatest sorrow. It's mine. and it's yours I am continually
disgusted at myself all the time our sin is our greatest sorrow
but isn't it wonderful that in Christ our sins have been forgiven
we will never ever know condemnation Romans 8.1 there is now for no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So though we
weep at our sin because it's displeasing to our Lord, whom
we love and He's the object of our delight, and we're brought
to great sorrow when we disappoint Him, we know we will never ever
experience His condemnation. We will never know His anger. Never experience His wrath. Romans
5.11 We also exult. It's an unusual word. Exult. ESV translates it rejoice. King James translates it joy. We also exult in God through
our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we now have received reconciliation. It's a great source of joy. Reconciliation. Fourthly, because we have the
privilege of adoption. We are able to look to the God
of glory, the infinite, eternal God and call him Father. Can
you imagine such a thing? That we can look to the Creator
and say, Father, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name. We understand he's holy, but the fact that this transcendent
God allows us to come before him and he says, my beloved child,
welcome. And the Spirit bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. brings us unspeakable
joy knowing that we are a part of a family like no other. That
we are surrounded by brothers and sisters who also love the
Lord Jesus Christ and we will spend eternity as a family together
before Christ. Joy that brings. Fifth, we find
great joy in His providential care. Paul reminds us in Romans
8, he says, for we know that. We know it. It's an experience
for us. We know that. All things work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are the called according
to his purpose. He's working out his providence
for us, for the ongoing work of conforming us to Christ. And then finally, and I suppose
we could go on and on, but finally we rejoice in his return. Paul again, speaking of that
crown of righteousness, and it's in the context of him saying,
you know, I've fought a good fight, he says, I've finished
the race, or I've finished the course, I've kept the faith.
He says, henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
but not unto me only, but to all who have loved his appearing. That's a two-sided edge, or a
two-sided corn. One is birth. How many people
in this world rejoice in the birth of Christ, which is what
we're talking about this morning. But there's another appearing
of Christ. It's yet to come. And we are looking with expectation
and with joy. We should go to bed at night
and at times say, wait a minute, do I hear the trumpet? Because
we know that the Lord shall descend with a shout and the voice of
the archangel and the trumpet of God. I don't know what it
will be like. I know it's going to be loud,
boisterous. You know, the voice of the archangel. It's like the voice coming here
saying, I bring you glad tidings. This voice will sound forth.
The trumpet of God. It's like the shofar. You know, I can't even imagine
the sound. But you ever, you go, hark, do
I hear the sound of the trumpet? As we live in continual expectation
of the return of our Savior. And does it bring you fear and
trembling to go hide under a rock? Or does it bring you joy that
the bridegroom is coming to receive his bride to himself? All of
our joy is in Christ. Who can leave Christ out of Christmas,
because He is Christmas. And we have found the highest
gift, the greatest treasure. We no longer find our chief joy
in the things of the earth. We stand along Israel as we are
the ultimate fulfillment of Israel. And Isaiah 51, 11 says, So the
ransomed of the Lord will return. and come with joyful shouting
to Zion. And everlasting joy will be on
their heads. And they will obtain gladness
and joy. And sorrow and sighing will flee
away. May God fill us with joy unspeakable
as we ponder the birth of His Son. Or may the words be continually
on our heart. Joy to the world, the Lord is
come. Let earth receive her King. joy to the world indeed. May
that joy be upon our hearts as we fix our joy upon the object
of our delight, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly
Father, indeed as we contemplate the joy of Christmas, indeed
our joy is fixed upon our treasure, the wellspring of our joy, the
wellspring of our delight, the one before whom we look and find
the source of all things. We thank you, Father, for the
privilege and pleasure of Christ Jesus our Lord, the peace and
comfort of knowing that our sins are no longer held against us.
He has redeemed us to the utmost, and we are awaiting the return
of our Savior. Father, help us to live each
day with joy unspeakable, Indeed, he has come that our joy may
be made full. So we rejoice in him, Father.
We thank you for your goodness, for you indeed so loved the world
that you gave your only begotten Son. Now, Father, as we contemplate
this feast that we're about to partake of, a banquet, it is
testimony to your mercy. a testimony to your goodness
as you display your glory before us. So we receive it with thanksgiving. We thank you for the wonderful
savers that you set before us in this world. Not the sole object
of our delight for this is in Christ alone. Father, we thank
you that you give us other delights upon this earth, joys to experience
because you're a good God. Father, we pray that you bless
our time together. Bless the food to our nourishment.
In Jesus' name we pray.
One Joy
Series Christmas
| Sermon ID | 1222141218492 |
| Duration | 52:06 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Luke 2:1-14 |
| Language | English |
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