Now as we close out tonight, I would like you to open your Bibles one more time at Luke's Gospel chapter 2, Luke's Gospel chapter 2 and verse 10, the passage that has been read to us. The words of the angel to the shepherds, fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. No matter where I looked this Christmas and no matter what I read or no matter what I heard, this theme of joy just seemed to come to my heart and come to my life. The theme of joy. And of course that was the message that the angels brought to the shepherds in the fields that were watching their flocks around Bethlehem. on the night that Jesus was born. And they said the message that they brought to them concerning the birth of the infant Christ was a message of great joy. Now, I know that the 25th of December, it doesn't have any inherent joy in it. It's no more joyous than the 24th or the 26th or any other day of the year. And I know from my own visitation with people over the years, that Christmas day and Christmas season, for many people, can be very lonely, and actually a very joyless time of the year. But the joy that is spoken of here is not dependent on what we have. It's not dependent on who we are. It is not dependent either, even on what we have been given. It's a very different type of joy. This is joy come down from heaven and joy that one day will enjoy in heaven for all of God's great eternity. I want to just, in closing, look at this joy with you tonight. It's great joy. It's extraordinary joy. And as we look at it, I think we'll answer some of the great questions that are all wrapped up in the mystery of the coming of Christ as a little baby in the manger at Bethlehem. So as we look at this great joy, I want you to notice first of all with me, it was the publication of good news. Good news stories are hard to come by, no matter what age you live in. The shepherds thought the appearance to them was bad news because the Jews believed if they saw a supernatural being like a shepherd, it was a harbinger of death. They were going to die. But these men weren't going to die. In reality, instead of hearing bad news, it was good news that they heard that night. This phrase, I bring you good tidings, that's in our authorized version of the Bible. It simply means to evangelize. And there's no greater message in the world tonight to evangelize the lost with than the good news that Jesus has come. That the Son of God has come and visited this planet and has appeared in human flesh. Theologically, as we looked at it this morning, if we look at that word, the incarnation, it is just really the enfleshment of deity. Deity came and took onto himself human flesh. That's good news. So at the incarnation, the son of God came in and he took on to himself a human nature. And as our brother read, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. We wonder, we marvel at the eternal Son of God, who, when the fullness of time had come, as we looked this morning in the book of Galatians chapter four, had come, he took upon himself human nature, through humanity in all aspects, and yet without human sin. and that he was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And he got his humanity from the substance of Mary. And the good news is that Jesus came and he visited this lowly, sinful planet on which we live in. And because he came, the destinies of all of his people was changed, not just for time, but for all of God's great eternity. And that's the good news to tell. Nowadays, we're not allowed, in some circles, to talk about Christmas. You have to wish people a happy holiday time, not a happy Christmas. Let me tell you, it's the greatest news the world has ever heard, that Christ Jesus came into this world. The Bible teaches us that the Son of God became man so that the children of man might become the children of God. The second truth that we learn from this great joy is that it was the fulfillment of all the Old Testament messianic promises and prophecies. Some of those prophecies have been read to us this evening. We heard read in our midst by Lydia, Isaiah chapter seven and verse 14. And of course that was fulfilled as we heard it from Matthew's gospel chapter one. But the first messianic promise was given away back at the dawn of human history when our first parents, Adam and Eve, stood before Almighty God and Satan himself was there and God preached a sermon. And this is the sermon that he preached to them in Genesis chapter three and verse 15. I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Now here's the significant thing. It wasn't the seed of the man, it was the seed of the woman. The seed of the woman, whom we know to be Christ. He would come. and he would bruise Satan's head. And everything thereafter in the Old Testament flowed from Genesis chapter three and verse 15. And all the prophets and all the Old Testament saints, they were looking forward to the one who would come, who would be the promised saint, the Messiah. You and I in the New Testament, we're looking back to the historical fact that he has come. We should never lose the wonder. We should never lose the joy. that the promised Messiah has come. Rejoice and be glad, the Redeemer has come. Go look on his cradle, his cross, and his tomb. We're not just asking you to stay beside the manger. We're asking you to look at Christ. He was the promised Messiah who was to come. Thirdly, this event was great joy because people were gonna be changed by his coming. It was going to be to all people. All people. This wasn't something local. This was rather something global. This was a message to the Jew. I'm glad the gospel is to the Jew first. And we need to pray for the Jew that they will be brought to Christ. But it was bigger than that. It was for all people. The one word that the Lord Jesus frequently used right throughout the Gospels, found in Matthew 10, found in Mark 3, found in Luke 14, and especially in John's Gospel, Chapter 3, is that word, whosoever. It's a wonderful compound word, and it means all, it means everyone, it means anyone, all of you, every one of you, any of you, any of all the peoples of all the world, is included in the whosoever. And what do we read about that whosoever? John 3, 16. That great verse that we teach the boys and girls in the Sabbath school and in the children's meetings. That God so loved this world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Whosoever believeth. Whosoever believeth. There's a lot of talk at Christmas, are you a believer? And of course they're asking about Santa Claus, are you a believer? But that's only for the 25th of December. What about the 26th? What about the rest of the year? Are you a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? That's the key to it all. We read in the very final call in the Bible, In Revelation 22 and 17, before all time will end, the Spirit and the Bride say, come. Even at the very end of time, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Bride, the Church of Christ, they're still extending this wide embrace of invitation to the whosoever, and they're saying, come, come before the judgment comes, come. Let him that heareth say come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Whosoever will, all people. I read in heaven concerning that great description of the multitudes that are there. that it's a multitude which no man can number, Revelation chapter 7, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues. And they stand before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. Heaven must be a wonderful place. It's going to be populated by different types of people. from different ethnic groups, from different backgrounds, from different nationalities, and what an innumerable company is gonna make up the congregation there. There's no racism in heaven. For we're all part of one race. We're all just part of Adam's fallen race. But we thank God for those who have been changed in that race by his coming. I'm glad the gospel is for whosoever will. It's for you tonight, it's for all people. And I'm glad here in this lower part of Mourne we're included in it. He didn't exclude Anna Long when he said all people. He's included us this evening in that all-embracive invitation. The fourth truth we learn from this little phrase, great joy. is the purpose of his coming. Why did he come? Well we'll look at verse 11. He was born in the city of David to be a savior. He was God. He was very God of very God. And of course he was man, and as we ought to consider the humanity of Christ, we consider his impeccability. He was sinless. He was a man without sin. Now we know that's a seemingly obvious contradiction. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ was a man without sin. He was the only perfect man. And he lived a perfect life for us. He lived a life we should have lived but couldn't live. And he had to be the perfect man if he was going to die for sinners on the cross of Calvary. Because it had to be a perfect sacrifice. In Hebrews chapter 12 and 2, we read about his joy going to the cross. It's the joy of Christ. It said, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus endured the cross because he knew that through the cross and his dying on the cross, his people would be saved. What joy there was when he was born. But even as Jesus went to the cross, there was joy in his heart, knowing that people would be saved through his death. And one day, I love that doxology it's found in the book of Jude verse 24, one day he's going to present all those who have trusted in him, he's going to present them faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. He came to this world to bring great joy. He lived a life of joy. Though he was the man of sorrows, he went to the cross. And he endured it for the joy that was set before him, the joy of knowing that souls would be saved. And one day, men and women, those who have trusted him, believed in him, young people, children, older people, he's going to present us faultless before the Father's throne. And he's going to say, these are the people I died for. These are the people that I came to save. These are the people through who my coming I have brought to heaven. There's a purpose in His coming. He was not only born to be Saviour, He was born to be their Lord. Many people say they're saved and then live whatever way they like. But if you're saved, you have to say Jesus is not only your Saviour, He's your Lord. He is your Lord. What He says you have to live by. And that means His commandments, both in the Old and in the New Testament. A true disciple, is one who genuinely desires to follow Christ and obey Christ. And you'll never know, you'll never know the great joy of Luke 2, verse 10, until, until you crown him as Savior and you crown him as Lord. Fifthly, and we'll close with this, there has to be a personal response to this great joy. I've been reading through Luke's gospel and It's a wonderful expression, exposition of the joy that knowing Jesus brings. The angel of the Lord, remember he appeared unto the father of John the Baptist. And he said unto him in Luke 1 13, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John, and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. He was, of course, the cousin of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the forerunner. He was the one who was to prepare the way before him. And many, the Bible says, would rejoice at his coming. There was joy. In Luke 144, we read that when, as low as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. This is the response of Elizabeth's baby in the womb. We often think, do babies in the womb hear? Of course they hear. Babies in the womb hear, and they're listening, and they know the voices that they hear. And this little baby that was in the womb of Elizabeth, who was the cousin of Mary, therefore the cousin of Jesus according to earthly genealogies, when he heard the greetings from Mary, the mother of Jesus, he leapt in the womb of Elizabeth for joy. This was great joy. We read of Mary's song of praise, that great magnificant. In Luke 1, 46, 47, Mary said, my soul doth magnify the Lord. What does that mean? It just means to put the spotlight on the Lord and to lift up the Lord. It's as if she had the magnifying glass and she didn't want to magnify herself, she wanted to magnify the Lord. And she said, my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my savior. She found the joy. and the joy was in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. And I want to say to you all this Christmas again, the only joy that's real joy, true joy, lasting joy, is the joy that's found in knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We'll come to this closing passage here, the response of the shepherds. How striking it is. Verse 15, they personally responded in faith and they went to Bethlehem. They went, they didn't stay in the fields and listen to the angels sing. They said, no, we have to go and see, is this true? And then verse 17, they published abroad what they had heard. And then verse 20, they praised God for all that they had heard and all that they had seen. You know, those who believe can know something of this great joy that these men know just by personally responding. As Luke's gospel opens with this theme of joy, it continues with it, and it closes with it. And we read in Luke 24, 52, 53, remember this is at the ascension. We're on the other side of the crucifixion and of the resurrection. At that moment, Jesus is about to be taken up into heaven. We've come through all his life. Who is he in yonder stall? We'll sing all about it tonight. And we read in verse 53, They worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. That's great joy. They knew who he was. They knew though he had gone, he was coming back for them. He was coming back again. and they had great joy. Dear Christian tonight, don't allow anything this Christmas or any season of the year to rob you of that great joy of knowing Christ and his simple salvation. The Lord Jesus has come. He's visited. And he wants to know, will you receive him as your king? Will you receive him as your Lord? Isaac Watts wrote that lovely hymn. Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare him room. and heaven and nature sing. At Christmas this year, what room do you have for that great joy, the Lord Jesus Christ? You've got to prepare him room. I know that many of you, like ourselves, will have visitors over Christmas, and you will have to make preparation for them. You wouldn't invite them without preparing room for them. And now you're gonna have to prepare room for Jesus in your life. First step is to open your heart's door and let him in.