you you so you you you so so you you so so so you so so Bye. so so so so Okay. Good morning, Grace Community Church. Welcome. Please come in and sing with us. Praise and worship the Lord and Savior. Ooooooh The stars are brightly shining, it is the night of the dear Savior's birth. Long may the world the world rejoices praise O hear the angel voices! O night divine, O night And by the light of faith serenely gleaming, With glowing hearts his pride is bringing, ♪ Consoled by light of the stars beneath the evening ♪ ♪ Giv'n the wise men a glorious plan ♪ ♪ The King of kings, great as the holy angels ♪ this is the stranger. to be and in his name shall see Christ is the Lord. All praise his name forever. and glory evermore proclaim. Yeah, praise the Lord. the humble king, lowly in the manger, fall before his majesty. Hail the little Savior, Oh, but hope no tongue can tell. God has come with us to dwell. His name is Emmanuel. Oh, praise the humble King. Adore in humble state ye your song of angels. Join the wise who call his name, and with all creation ♪ Who, oh who, would condescend ♪ ♪ The unknown that calls our strength ♪ ♪ Love that none could comprehend ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the humble king ♪ Adore the King who came to our world to save us. Born to heal our prideful race, crown us with forgiveness. Follow, follow before the one who in mercy left his throne. ♪ Christ the Lord, God's only Son ♪ ♪ His glory now we sing ♪ ♪ All praise the humble King ♪ Come adore, come adore, come adore the King. Bow before, come adore the Name above all names. Come adore, come adore, come adore the King. Come on, Lord, come on, Lord, come on, Lord. Come adore the King. Come adore the King. Come adore the King. Looking out, seeing all of you, and I'm glad you're here for this festive Sunday morning as we rejoice in the glory of our King and Savior and the fact that He did come to be among us as one of us so that He might die for us and rise on high. So this week, it will be an unusual week because we will not have any Wednesday activities, but we will have service on Christmas Eve at 4 p.m. There will be singing. There will be children. There will be a devotional and you should be out of here by five o'clock. But the main thing is coming together and just in the warmth of what Christmas Eve is. Really thinking about Christmas Eve, it should be sort of one of the darker days because the light came to shine on Christmas Day here in Waccamawgas. And I hope that you can join us for that special service and I'm just grateful that you're here this morning. I want to welcome each one of you. I have a special announcement on behalf of the Bears, Laurel and Jerry, who fixed a lot of goodies for us this morning. There's a lot of donut leftovers, and they're going to prepare for you to be able to take some with you home. So when you leave this morning, go by their table, and they've got some take-home trays of donuts for you to snack on today and keep you in the holiday season. Now, there's still a few people that I haven't, that I have cards for, that I haven't even been able to give to you. So if you weren't here last week, especially you know you don't have a card for me, please don't leave today before I stop and let me give it to you. That'll save me, what, how much does a stamp cost these days? $7, almost a dollar. Wow, that'll save me a lot of money. And give you a Christmas card. Merry Christmas to all of you. Please remember our collection of baby items that will be able to be taken through next Sunday. Those will be baby items taken for the ECFA, that is the Evangelical Child and Family Agency, and also men's socks being collected for the Milwaukee Rescue Mission. Also a note about Dean's preparing to preach at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission tonight at 7 p.m. So keep Dean in your prayers as he prepares for that. And all the men who will be listening, that God will work as his word is proclaimed. And then a reminder about New Year's Eve we're going to have on that Tuesday evening. A prayer gathering from 6.30 to 7.30 in room 204 to pray for country, state, church, families, and so forth. And then looking ahead into the new year, January the 12th, a seasoned soft fellowship lunch. You'll find more information about that. Now, Piggott is gonna come and lead us in our opening prayer this morning. Good morning Grace Community Church. Good morning Elder Al. God is good. All the time. We were blessed to have some results from my testing and for the most part they're all negative and I'm thankful to God for that. I just pray that you continue to pray for me as we go for other tests later on. And I just give the Lord thanks for that things have turned out the way they have so far. Just praise His wonderful name. This morning, I want to open with Psalm 63. O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You. My soul thirsts for You, my flesh faints for You as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So, I have looked upon You in the sanctuary. beholding your power and your glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live in your name. I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied with the fat and the rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips. Let's pray, shall we? Our dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for revealing Yourself to us in ways that we never knew could be, how that You changed us into what You want us to be, and we give You praise for Your goodness and glory and Your grace and Your mercy, and for convicting us of our need of salvation that only You could grant us. You gave us the necessity of faith to believe that You sent Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be our Savior and to save us from our sins so that we could become Your sons and daughters in Christ. You took our sins and laid them on Jesus and in turn You laid His righteousness upon us. This You did to make us clean and pure and fit for heaven and we praise You for that. It is for this reason that we have even begun to seek You and find You and give us peace knowing that we can trust You and Your promises in Your Word, the Holy Bible. Your steadfast love is better than life and our lips will praise You. Your Word leads us and guides us according to Your will and to accomplish the things that You want us to do for You. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts. Our soul longs for meeting together, for fellowship with each other, and to be able to worship you together. Our hearts and flesh sing with joy to the living God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing praise to you. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. O Lord, our God, you are like the sun and the shield to us. You treat us with kindness and with honor, never denying any good thing to those who live uprightly. For this we give you thanks and praise, Lord. Your grace and mercy is what keeps us going for you, Lord, and we just thank you for that. Father, we ask that you would take care of our little church here, Grace Community Church, and to ask you that you would look upon our flock and meet their needs of the leadership and to shepherd his flock. and that they would take care to teach only the truth that is in your word. And for those who are undergoing trials at the same time, whether it be health or anything else, we pray that you would meet their need, Lord. For those who are not able to make it to our gatherings and who may be listening online, we pray that you would strengthen them and comfort them in their time of need. We pray, too, for those who are suffering from cancer, that You might bring healing to them, Lord. For those who are needing pain management, Lord, that You would grant this be accomplished in their lives. We, too, would bring before You our lost loved ones, Lord, and ask that You would draw them to Yourself and to save them from their sins. Your word declares that you are not willing that we should perish but that we should come to repentance. And so we ask that you would please do this for us and for our families. We pray for our country and that you give wisdom to the leaders that would cause them to and could cause them to turn to you in repentance and lead our country in a righteous manner. We pray too for the missionaries that we support. that You would strengthen their endeavors so as to accomplish Your will by reaching the lost. We also pray for their financial needs so that they can continue to serve You out in their field where they're at, Lord. Father, we thank You of our family, our marriages, Lord, we just praise and thank You for the life partners that You've given each and every one of us that our Mary, Lord, we just ask that you would strengthen our marriages, help us to keep you in first place above all, so that we would bring glory to your wonderful name. Lord, we thank you too for this opportunity of coming and singing praises to you today. Lord, we realize that without the hope that You have given us, Lord, that we wouldn't be able to even begin to praise You. And so we give You thanks for that, Lord. Lord, we just give You thanks for all Your goodness and grace and mercy, and we give You thanks in Jesus' name. Amen. Now all in his world, now all in his world, angels and men the dawn of man's right. Sing Alleluia. Sing Alleluia. All is well, all is well. Let there be peace on earth. Christ is come, go and tell. the manger. Sing allel, sing alleluia. All is well, all is well. Lift up your voices ♪ Born is now Emmanuel ♪ ♪ Born is our Lord and Savior ♪ ♪ Singing alleluia ♪ ♪ Singing alleluia all is well ♪ You may be seated. Merry Christmas, Grace Community Church. Just need to get to the passage for today. Okay, so we will be doing some scripture memory. We will review today Exodus 9-16 and then we will move forward with Psalm 97 with verse 6. But just to remind you why we do scripture memory at Grace Community Church, we believe that it's important because it's biblical. Biblical to get God's word into us and to let it wash over our minds, to meditate on it. And if you know these verses, you can say them. David said, your word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. And Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And Paul said, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. So there's so many reasons biblically why we should be memorizing scripture. And so this month is a review month. We went through our verses from September, October, November. And then in January, we will have a new theme of the month and a new set of verses. And then we will also have Scripture Memory Fellowship for January. So let's go ahead and practice Exodus 9.16. Go ahead and stand with me. Try not to look at the screen if you can. Exodus 9.16. But for this purpose, I have raised you up to show my power so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9, 16 But for this purpose, I have raised you up to show you my power so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. Let's go ahead and go to Psalm 97. I want to read the first five verses to you so we can get context and then we'll add verse six to it. Psalm 97, the Lord reigns. Let the earth rejoice. Let the many coastlands be glad. Clouds and thick darkness are all around him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. As lightnings light up the world, the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. Psalm 97, six. The heavens proclaim His righteousness, and all the peoples see His glory. Psalm 97 6. The heavens proclaim His righteousness, and all the peoples see His glory. Amen. angels sing on earth ♪ Joyful all ye nations rise ♪ ♪ Join the triumph of the skies ♪ ♪ With angelic host proclaim ♪ ♪ Christ is born in Bethlehem ♪ ♪ Hark the herald angels sing ♪ ♪ Glory to the new born king ♪ the virgin's womb O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Glory to the newborn King! Hail the Heav'n-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Son of Righteousness! Thine hand, God, into all be praised! Risen with healing in His tears, ♪ While he lays his glory by ♪ ♪ For that man no more may die ♪ ♪ For to raise the sons of earth ♪ ♪ For to give a second birth ♪ ♪ Hark the herald angels sing ♪ like this You may be seated. One of our members has a special gift, I think, for memorization, and he's going to come and share with us the scripture reading this morning from the scriptures. Isaiah 9. Isaiah 9, Isaiah chapter 9, verses 1 through 7. But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Neptali. But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea beyond the nations, Galilee to the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them is light shown. You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian. I just went over this this morning. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there shall be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom, With justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this. I think that's it. Thank you. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God. He was with God in the beginning. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ. Fulness of grace, immense human frailty, this is the wonder of Jesus. His power and glory long may he enter. O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, The fullness of grace, the love of the Father Shown in the face of Jesus Stooping to bear the weight of humanity Walking the Calvary road Christ the Holy Innocent took our sin and punishment. Wholeness of God despised and rejected, crushed for the sins of the world. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed. Homeless, not hoping, Christ we have longed for, brothers of God in Jesus. Through His obedience we are forgiven, op'ning the floodgates of hell. and dreams we bring, gladly as an offering. Coldness of mind and joy unspeakable, God's gift of love to the world. Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. And now, if you would, take your Bibles, please, and turn in them to Luke, Chapter 2. The Gospel according to Luke, Chapter 2. On Christmas morning, or Christmas days leading up to it as we read the birth narrative here. Luke chapter 2, we're going to look at verses 1 through 7. Now we are probably all aware of a particular classic holiday poem, although we might not know it by its original title. Written in the early 1800s, it was originally titled simply, A Visit. Anybody know what poem I'm talking about? A Visit. What's that? Oh, man, y'all are smart. So if you didn't know it before, now you'll get it for sure. "'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there." And on it goes. Well, today is the Sunday before Christmas. And all through the church, everyone is stirring because so much remains to be done. And we do not gather in anticipation of St. Nick. Our greatest concern is to worship the King who already came. And we're celebrating this morning His coming in a special way. So we will do this, though, by hearing from His Word about how the hopes and fears of all the years were met one night long ago in the little town of Bethlehem. Would you stand, please, as we read from God's holy, inerrant, and life-giving Word. Luke chapter 2, verses 1 to 7. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. Because he was of the house and lineage of David. He went to be registered with Mary, his betrothed. who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn." Let's pray together. And Lord, What we need today more than anything is to worship You. All creation needs to worship You. You are worthy of that worship. And there is nothing more fulfilling, more enriching, or more right than that creation sings out praises to its creator. And we sing in a special way those praises today because the Lord of creation has come to dwell among us. And as we open the word inspired by the Holy Spirit of this God, Lord, we pray for your help to grasp, understand, and to pay attention. There's so much going on. To be able to soak in the bread of life, the Word of God this morning. Teach us, Lord, give us strength, give us insight, and draw us to our knees in honor of You, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Well, John, as I read just a few moments ago, wrote these powerful words, illuminating words, clear words, speaking of Jesus, that the Word, who is Jesus, became flesh. and dwelt among us. And we have beheld His glory. Glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. And it was at His birth that He was first visibly beheld as the Word who took on flesh. God became a human being without relinquishing His deity. Jesus was not a vision, but He indwelt a real body. a real human body. He was first seen as such in the little town of Bethlehem as a baby issuing forth from the womb. And Luke's main reason for describing the birth of Jesus with the details that he has included is to inform his audience that the birth of Jesus came at just the right time. in just the right way, in just the right place, and to just the right family. And these are the points that we see as we work our way through the text this morning. I'm going to take them then one by one. At the outset, I want you to see that Jesus' birth happened at just the right time. Timing stands out in these verses from the very beginning. I mean, verse 1 begins this way. In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus. All the Roman world should be registered. So the reason for them to do so was taxation. And Luke further alerts us though that this was the first registration of several when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So there were subsequent registrations and people could put their finger on timing as they considered in respect to those. This one was the first and the details then you can see from the very beginning are pinpointing a time and it was just the right time. These historical circumstances flow together in a chronological way and the result was this, that while Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem to be registered, the time came for her to give birth. So timing was an issue in God's plan and He worked it out to perfection. God's timing is always right timing. It was right timing because, as we will emphasize, the right timing put the all-important event in the right place. Now many times in life we wonder about timing. We wonder about timing in our own lives and in our own generation. I just imagine though that when Mary and Joseph received the news of the registration, they both thought to themselves, oh no, not now. This is terrible timing. We have a baby on the way. And he's almost here. This is not the right time to travel 90 miles south for this absurd registration. I don't like taxes. I don't want to have to pay them. And to heap on top of that, we have to go a three days journey now? I can just hear Mary saying that to Joseph, or Joseph saying that to Mary, and then both shaking their heads. But you and I, we never feel that way, do we? Of course we do. Timing affects every day. There are traffic jams and lines to wait in. There are numerous matters of inconvenience. Things sometimes seem to us to happen at the worst possible time. There are deadlines, due dates, and sometimes it just feels like it's just too much. We might even complain and throw up our hands in frustration and get all agitated with the rush. Well, I want us all to take a deep breath and stop for just a moment this morning to be assured of something very critical for our hope and for our sanity. God never gets in a hurry. God is never frustrated. He never feels that there's more that has to be done in an amount of time that can't be done that way. He is never rushed. And yet, He is always on time. And His time is the right time. And He is in control of all the things that affect our time. And our time is His time. The heart of the King is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever He will. And there was a day when in the providence of God, Caesar Augustus gave a decree that everyone be registered. And it was at just the right time. Mary and Joseph could have been all frazzled and all been out of shape, or they could have said to each other, you know, God has a plan and His timing is always right. Let's embrace the adventure and trust Him. Well, last weekend, Melissa and I took our grandchildren to see Paw Patrol live. And it was, it's a live show with these, you know, big life-size puppy puppets. It was there at the Milwaukee Theater at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning. So I went to Sheboygan on Friday and brought the kids down to spend the night so we could be sure to be on time the next morning. And we did pretty well, although we had to say, come on, let's go, let's go, let's go. But then we arrived at the parking garage. I had prepaid for parking, and I had a QR code on my phone. And I drove up to the kiosk at the entrance, and all I could tell was that they wanted me to stick my credit card in somewhere. And I was thinking to myself, but I already paid with a credit card. There's got to be another way to get in this place. and it should be by scanning, scanning this QR code on my phone. And I thought, what am I supposed to do? I did notice an area that looked like it might be for scanning, and in spite of all the instructions I saw at the kiosk, I stuck it in, but there was nothing happening. So I began to get a little frazzled. I drove around the block, backed up. Well, what I did, I backed up. out of the little narrow, thankfully nobody's behind me and thankfully it was Saturday morning because in Milwaukee on that street there was no other traffic. So I could back up, turn around and drive around the block and look for another entrance, one that was maybe for people that prepaid. There wasn't another one. That was it. So I drove back. I don't know what I was thinking but hopefully somehow something will happen and we can get in here without paying twice. So as we neared the entrance again, Melissa saw a person with a yellow vest on, and she pointed him out to me. And as I was pulling in, he disappeared behind a pole, so I started hollering, help, help! And he reappeared from behind the column. He was a security guy. So I began explaining my problem to him, and he took my phone and said, let's see. And he took it and stuck it right where I had been sticking it, and the arm went up. And we proceeded directly into the parking garage. That man was at the right place at the right time for me. Before that, I was like, though, what am I going to do? I mean, I've already paid, and if you know me, I don't want to pay again. And I also thought, and time is running out, and we've got to walk across the street to the theater with these kids. I thank the Lord for sending that security guard at just the right time. Now, we may not always experience a solution like this, but we can always be sure that God's timing is always right. We need to settle down and embrace the peace of knowing that the Lord has everything under control. He works just the right way at just the right time. Next, I want you to see that Jesus' birth happened not only at the right time, but in just the right way. The Scripture teaches Christians that we are to obey the governing authorities. Now, lest I be misunderstood or misquoted here, let me point out that there is clearly a time when there is an exception or when there are exceptions to that obedience. If the government ever requires you to violate your conscience before God. That is, if the governing authority ever demands that you sin, that you break the law of God in order to keep the law of the land, then you are not only free to disobey the government, but indeed you must disobey. Whenever what God's Word teaches contradicts with what government says, then you're obligated to stick with what God says. And by the way, that's probably the hardest time that there ever is to do what God says because there's resistance and there's opposition and there is likely a penalty to come on you for you doing it. But that is an exception and generally we will not find that to be the case. Paul instructs us that the authorities that exist are appointed by God and to resist civil authority is to resist God. And to quote the apostle further he says, for because of this you pay taxes for the authorities are ministers of God. So then it is not wrong to obey the government and it is right to pay taxes as repugnant as it might be. Godly people are model citizens. What I mean is when you are godly, you will be a model citizen because part of true godliness is being a model citizen. So even when the time comes in which Christians must not comply with the law, they nevertheless must do so with honor toward the authority. Now, why do I bring up this point today? It's COVID so long ago, right? Well, I bring it up because the circumstances that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem include not only the decree that went out from Caesar Augustus, but also their obedience to that decree. Rome was an oppressive and ungodly empire whose rule was tyrannical. But when the decree went out, Joseph and Mary did not decide they were going to defy the tyrant. Joseph and Mary did what the tyrant said. Joseph departed from where he was staying in Galilee in the town of Nazareth. He left there and he went up to Judea to the town of Bethlehem. So on the one hand, it is important that Caesar Augustus issued the decree. But on the other, it is equally critical to God's plan that Joseph complied with the decree. He behaved righteously in this regard. And thus, we conclude that the birth of Jesus took place in the right way. It took place in the context of humble obedience. Obedience to the Lord is always critical. If we disobey God, we dishonor Him, and we expose ourselves to corresponding danger. The principle is clearly much broader than merely the application to how we respond to civil authorities, although it certainly applies here. The refusal to obey God's commands in general, if we don't obey His commands, we expose ourselves to danger. Sometimes people come to me with questions about difficult situations and how do they respond. And sometimes the difficulty is because it's really hard to do what God clearly says to do in that situation. There's a lot of reasons that you could say, oh, this will be disadvantageous. But you have to go back and say, well, what does God say? And that's what we must do. To do otherwise is to expose ourselves to danger as well as to disobey God, which is the worst thing we could do. God ordained that Joseph and Mary would be in Bethlehem at just the right time, and yet He fulfilled His plan by graciously putting in the heart and mind of Joseph, putting him in such a spot as he would willingly submit according to the will of God. I once was a kid, and then I had kids. and now I have grandkids and it is a joy and yet in every case I can point to countless examples of the fact that human beings by nature have a bent away from complying with authority. We do not want to be told what to do and we do not want to do what we are told. It is by God's grace though that he tells us what to do. And it is by God's grace that we do what we are told when we do. And still, it must be our determination as Christians to be obedient. No matter what the cost, or no matter the inconvenience, or no matter the consequences that seem disadvantageous, it is the right way to live. And when we obey, what does it do? It proves we love the God we say we love. He who keeps His commands is He who loves the Lord. And you can be sure that God blesses obedience. Those who refuse to obey the truth will find themselves in the hotbed of God's wrath and fury. But those who obey the Gospel, who believe in the Lord Jesus, are the ones who will be saved. There are many good reasons God tells us what to do. And there are even more reasons we ought to do what he tells us. It is right, it is blessed, and it is the best thing for you and me. Now, Jesus' birth then happened at the right time in the context of Mary and Joseph doing the right thing. Now, let's think for a few moments on the fact that the birth of Jesus happened at just the right place. The place was Bethlehem. We all know that. There are many people not even in church this morning that could probably answer that question correctly. Bethlehem. And what songs they know might remind them that Bethlehem was not a very big town? A little town of Bethlehem? Out of the way. And so, this place where Jesus was born may not seem like the right place for the King of Kings to be born. Here was the God of the universe. could pick out anywhere in the universe to be born. And the same God who does everything in just the right time, He's the one who chose the place. And of all places in the world that could be chosen, Bethlehem was the place He chose. When ambassadors and leaders from foreign nations visit other places, I mean, they go to major cities. They're generally welcomed with pomp and fear. They receive special treatment and the best that can be offered. But here is the one of whom the angel said, He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. This is who that is. And the Lord planned that he would be born in Bethlehem. What kind of welcome does he receive there? He emerges from the womb six long miles south of the capital. Did God somehow miss the mark by just about six miles? No. He aimed it and got right on the bull's eye. A small shepherding village of all things and yet this is God's plan. It's a humble welcome by the size of the town alone. But it seems that this little town was full of people and none of them really knew what was going on. It was an overcrowded little town. People were having to return to their hometowns to be registered and the number of folks who hailed from Bethlehem was quite large, not to mention the Roman officials who were there to carry out the registration. There was little room in the little town, so the young couple was not privy to the Grand Hotel or even Motel 6. There was no privacy and no luxury The word, in fact, is translated in as in there was no room for them in the inn. It refers either to a publicly recognized lodging place or to perhaps a guest chamber in a private home. According to that view, Joseph and Mary possibly were staying at the home of friends or relatives, but the small dwelling and its guest chamber were so full that they had to be housed in the lower portion where the animals were housed. The point here is though that Jesus did not receive a rousing welcome from a bunch of dignitaries at the Ritz Carlton. No, He came to relatively poor people and He came as one of them. So outwardly, Bethlehem is not a place that suits who Jesus is. However, it is just the right place in the thinking and planning of God. It's the place He prophesied the birth would be. God spoke through the prophet Micah 700 or more years before his birth. And He prophesied the coming of a new David who would bring deliverance to God's remnant. Micah 5 says, But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is of old from ancient days." The message highlighted a couple of things. One, Bethlehem was seemingly an insignificant place. And two, the future king would come from there. This was unmistakably a prophecy from God about the place. that Messiah would be born. So Bethlehem was the right place because it's the place not only that God planned, but God in fact put His reputation on the line by prophesying beforehand that that's the place that His Messiah would be born. And then we think about a decree coming at just the right time and there being a willing man and woman coming to obey and take him to just the right place according to God's plan and according to God's prophecy. We can take from these facts that the Word of God is absolutely dependable. He keeps His promises. He fulfills His prophecies. He initiates prophecy in order to demonstrate that He can be trusted and that He possesses the power to keep the word that He gives. And that if He kept His word in regard to Bethlehem, He will keep His word when He says to His people, I will never leave you or forsake you. the fulfilled promise of a coming king to be born in a particular place. It's also evidence that calls us to believe. Call us to believe in the baby who was born there. Evidence that supports biblical claims. It's evidence that strengthens our assurance that the baby born there more than 2,000 years ago is indeed the one sent by God to save all who will believe. Our Christmas carols are not in vain. They are not empty. They hail God, born in human flesh. They announce that He has come to deliver us from sin and shame. He has come to triumph over death and rule over all in the interest of His people for the glory of God. But we must not overlook the humble circumstances for which an insignificant village stands. O little town of Bethlehem, It's too little to be among the clans of Judah. King David, the great King David, Israel's greatest king to this point, hailed from Bethlehem. But he too seemingly came out of nowhere. Remember when the Lord told Samuel to go and anoint a king and go to Bethlehem to do it and anoint one of the sons of Jesse who lived there? Well, seven of Jesse's sons passed before Samuel, and some looked the part, some looked like they might be kingly, royal material, and Samuel's eyes were attracted by them, but the Lord said, no, not them, not that one, not that one. And so all these seven sons passed before Samuel, and he was quite puzzled because the Lord rejected all of them. So he asked Jesse if he had any more sons. And Jesse said, well, yeah, there's the youngest, but he's out in the field taking care of the sheep. So what did Samuel say? Bring him here. He is clearly the most unlikely, and that is the one the Lord chose. This one who came from the humblest position was raised to the highest position in the land. He became king. The Scripture teaches us that the first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Humility before exaltation is the way the Lord works. It was so with Bethlehem. It was so with David. And it was so with Jesus. The little town of Bethlehem is an emblem of humility. So the incarnation was indeed humiliating for Jesus. When I say incarnation, you know what I mean, right? Most of you probably do. But if you're new here, you might not. We're not talking about flowers. Incarnation is God becoming flesh. This was humbling, humiliating for Jesus. Holy God not only became part of his creation, which is a step down, but part of his fallen creation, His sinful creation. And yet, this is the glory of God that He is willing to stoop this low in order to save. This stooping is what it took to ransom us. Though the Son of God was in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. But He made Himself nothing. Taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of being born in Bethlehem. and then taking up a cross and being obedient all the way to the point of death. That is how Jesus And it was because he came this way that God has now highly exalted him and given him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. With Christ Jesus, humility precedes exaltation. with God Himself. He humbled Himself in order to be exalted. And it is the same way with each of His followers, you and me. We ourselves must first humble ourselves and cast ourselves completely on the mercy and grace and Word of Christ. And we are called to be His servants and followers, His subjects. But we are made to be fellow heirs with Him and to share His glory in the kingdom of God. So as Peter instructs us, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you. When you think about the baby in the manger, when you think about the baby being Jesus in the manger, and you're full of the Christmas spirit, you should be full of humility. This is not really about me. This is about Him. Glory to God in the highest. What a privilege it is for me to humble myself before Him, not just figuratively around the manger, but in everyday life to submit myself to the will of God, to be willing to be a servant, to help others, to put myself in second place and let God do the exalting. Do you feel sometimes that the circumstances of your life are humble circumstances? Like you were born in Bethlehem, maybe. Or that you're living in Bethlehem. Do you feel that you deserve better circumstances than the ones that God has placed you in? You kind of ruffle under where you are in life. You may look around and see others that seem to have it better than you and you wonder what you are doing wrong. Let me ask you, what did Mary and Joseph do wrong to get situated in Bethlehem and have a baby? They were sinners, just like us, but it wasn't our wrong that landed them in Bethlehem. It was God, because that's what was right. That's what fulfilled His plan. And now we think of Mary and Joseph with honor, because they had such a high privilege. You might think, well, what's a high privilege of giving birth in a crowded little town? with nowhere but a manger to put your baby. And yet, that's God. That's God. So, don't be surprised when you find yourself in an out-of-the-way place or out-of-the-way circumstances or they're difficult or hard or not what you expected or hoped for. Don't go thinking you surely deserve better. Because the truth is we all deserve far worse. But God, God in His wisdom even puts us in the hard places. at the right time, in the right way, because it's the right place in His wisdom. Because we need to embrace humility and we need to submit to Him. And that is where we will shine the brightest. Trust God in bringing to pass what His great and awesome plan is. We need to see our own unique circumstances as God's special plan and purpose for us to demonstrate His power and His wisdom and His mercy and grace. And so in humility, let us embrace what God has ordained for us and trust His wisdom in bringing His plan to pass. Well, Jesus' birth happened at just the right time. in just the right way and in just the right place and to just the right family. That's where we conclude this morning. Obviously, this was the right family. Mary and Joseph, just the right parents for the Son of God. They were right because of their ancestry in the first place. You may know that in the Scripture there are two genealogies of Jesus and Matthew and Luke and they differ somewhat. They nevertheless trace the ancestry of Jesus back to David and then beyond but through different paths to David. So one appears in Matthew and the other right here in Luke. And there are two viable explanations that have been posited as to why there is a difference in these genealogies which go from Joseph to David. The explanation in one case embraces the idea of a levirate marriage. That is the case when a man dies without any children and his brother marries the woman who is now a widow, and brings children up to her in the name of his brother. And that's what some put forth as an explanation that this happened in the case of the mother who gave birth to Joseph himself. Luke is then said to be tracing Joseph's ancestry back through the legal path, while Matthew traces it back through the biological path. And there is the other explanation for the seeming discrepancy. It's that Luke traces the ancestry of Jesus by way of Mary, while Matthew traces it by way of Joseph. Now, this second option is one I gladly embraced from the first time that I learned of it. But either way, the point is that Jesus, in His humanness, is genuinely a descendant of David, and that makes this family the right family for Jesus to be born to. Because according to God's promise, Messiah would be born to David's descendant. God sent Nathan the prophet to inform David that he would make David's descendant into an eternal dynasty. He said, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom, I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever, and your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me." Your throne shall be established forever. Now the Jews understood this covenant, and they were looking for Messiah. And they also knew that Messiah would be a descendant of David, and that he would be born in Bethlehem. So, Joseph and Mary constitute just the right family from the point of view of ancestry. It's a point that Luke takes great pains here to highlight. All went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph went up from Nazareth in Galilee to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. Why? Because he was of the house and lineage of David. So Jesus totally qualifies as David's descendant to sit on David's throne because he is of the house and lineage of David. And his rule will never end. And I don't want you to overlook an important word in this thing. Do not overlook that Jesus was Mary's firstborn son. He was her firstborn because she had other sons afterward and He was the first. But firstborn in the Scripture is also a title simply of preeminence. In Psalm 89 verse 27, the Lord speaks of His servant David whom He will strengthen and protect and raise to the highest heights in accord with His covenant. And there He also says this, I will make him the firstborn. Not He will be born first, but I will make Him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. Jesus was Mary's firstborn son, but He is also the firstborn of creation, God's highly exalted King. Now, Bethlehem may not have been the swankiest place for Jesus to have been born, but Mary and Joseph were the right parents and Bethlehem was the right town. And it happened there because of who they were. Ultimately, the birth took place in Bethlehem because of who God is. And the whole thing calls us to glorify God. To join in the song of the angels that they sang to the shepherds. Because from God and to God and through God are all things. To Him be the glory. But there is another detail. There's a detail here which tells me Jesus was born to the right parents that I want you to see before we close this morning. It is this fact that although Jesus was laid in a manger, we know what a manger is, right? Not a crib, no crib for his bed. A manger is like, you know, a feeding trough made for cows. Yeah, it's up on the screen too, yeah. whatever, wild, you know, animals. And Jesus was put in a manger. But I want you to, I want to focus on the fact that though he was perhaps put on hay in a manger, we're told clearly that he was also in swaddling clothes. And what does that tell you? It tells me Mary and Joseph cared about him tenderly. They made out to have the best place to have their son be born, May not have been the most comfortable place. Certainly it wasn't the most prestigious place. It was far from it. But it didn't matter what they didn't have. What they did have was love and tenderness and care for their child. So they wrapped him in swaddling cloths. Earlier this week, Melissa and I were down to visit the Ivey family and share in the joy of newborn Jack. He was but three days old and so sweet to hold. And as I placed my hand under his little neck, To hold his head up, I noted that he was swaddled so tight and cozy, wrapped up comfortably to keep him secure and warm and without a cry to be had. And my mind went to the manger in which Jesus was laid. And he may have been laid upon hay in a feeding trough, But he was swaddled well by a caring mother and father. He was born to the right family. One that would really care for him, especially in those tender years. God's care for his only begotten son was real. Here's something else for you. His care for his adopted is no different. Those swaddling cloths, they not only tell us something about Mary and Joseph, they tell us about God the Father. And this is how He wants, even if He ordains for His Only Begotten to be laid in a manger, He's going to be in swaddling cloths. And God loves and cares for Him. And if God loves and cares for His Only Begotten that way, you and I who are His adopted children can think the same way. That is the way He cares for us too. We are wrapped in the same love. We are wrapped in the same care. And that is amazing, because sometimes it may feel like we have been laid in a manger in life. Life can be all rough and smelly sometimes, but if we are the children of God, He will ensure that we are swaddled in His loving care. Be sure the Lord will never leave or forsake His people. He is a mighty God, but He is gentle. As Isaiah says, He will tend His flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. Behold your God. Jesus was born to the right family. And if you have been born again, you've been born into the right family, the family of God. And if you have been born again, this is where you are. Now that that is the right family for you and me. Each of us, when we were born from above, were helpless little ones. But God has placed us in the care of His church to be loved. and nurtured as we grow. And even when we feel as though we're in a manger in life, let us thank God for His wisdom and care, doing for us exactly what He knows we need and swaddling us in His love. Away in a manger. No crib for a bed. The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head. Stars in the sky. Look down where he lay, the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. Be near me, Lord Jesus. I ask Thee to stay close by me forever and love me, I pray. Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care and fit us for heaven to live with Thee there. Would you pray with me? O our Lord God, very familiar and very touching and very powerful account of the birth of Jesus is a place where you have also shown us graphic illustrations of how wonderfully you work and how deeply you care for your own adopted children as well as you cared for your only begotten son. And you sent him here into our midst in a humble way, and we praise you for that because it shows us that salvation is not cheap. It is not easy. It is not natural. It is not what should be expected from sinful human beings. It is the unexpected. It is the supernatural. It is the shockingly, surprisingly, awesomely wonderful reality that God loved us in such a way that you sent your only begotten Son to live, die, and rise again from the dead so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. And Father, we pray that all of us who have received that everlasting life already would rejoice in You and praise and glorify You with a fresh enthusiasm this morning and throughout this week. But we earnestly pray For everyone in this room and everyone who comes in contact with any one of us that are gathered here today, Lord, that You would cause that message of Christ's gospel journey to resonate. That He was humbled for us to the point of birth in Bethlehem, a life on the run, a death on the cross and yet new life out of the grave for our salvation. And that they please help, Lord, these who are not believing, to believe in Him, to acknowledge that they are sinners worthy of worse than the cross, but granted the opportunity to receive life eternally in Jesus. We give you thanks. We give you praise. We give you glory. And we offer these words in Jesus' name, Amen. angels sing, glory to the newborn King. On earth thy mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Joyful, all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies. With the generous proclaim, Christ is born, near death, again. On the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King. Christ, my eyes adore, Christ, the everlasting Lord. ♪ Late in time behold him come ♪ ♪ Offspring of the virgin's womb ♪ ♪ Veiled in flesh the Godhead see ♪ ♪ Veiled incarnate deity ♪ ♪ Raised as man with man to dwell ♪ ♪ Jesus our Emmanuel ♪ The Lord bless you and swallow you in His love. The Lord calls you to willingly submit to His glorious Son and give you peace. Amen. Thank you very much. Why? Why? you you