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Our scripture reading this morning
is the first 20 verses of Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. And it came to pass in those
days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all
the world should be taxed. This taxing was first made when
Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, everyone
into his own city. And Joseph also went up from
Galilee out of the city of Nazareth unto Judea, unto the city of
David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and
lineage of David. To be taxed with Mary, his espoused
wife, being great with child, And so it was that while they
were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for
them in the end. And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock
by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord
came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about
them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them,
Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And
this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising
God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace,
goodwill toward men. And it came to pass as the angels
were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one
to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing
which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto
us. And they came with haste found
Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when they
had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told
them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered
at those things which were told them by the shepherds. Mary kept all these things and
pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying
and praising God, for all the things that they had heard and
seen as it was told unto them." So far we read God's holy word. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ,
the story of Jesus' birth is so simple that all the children
here this morning know the story. and can understand the things
that the Bible say about that birth. And yet at the same time,
it is so profound that there is no man who will ever plumb
the depths of what happened on that day so long ago when Jesus
Christ was born of Mary. We read in this chapter, it is
introduced with the words, and it came to pass in those days
that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all
the world should be taxed. The actual taxing was done later. It says that in the next few
verses. But everyone had to go at that
particular time to register for the tax that would actually be
coming later. everything being done very decently
and in good order by the Roman governor to be sure they got
all their money. Everyone had to go and register. They had
to register in the town from which their family came, their
origins. For Joseph that meant he had
to go back to Bethlehem to register. So Joseph with Mary And Mary
by this time carrying the wonder of God in the flesh, carrying
that wonder within her womb, they made their way from Galilee
to Bethlehem in Judea. A journey of some 100 miles on
foot to Bethlehem. When they arrived, they found,
as we all know, that there was no room for them in any home,
in any inn. No one had any place left where
they could spend that night. So they found refuge in a cattle
stall, a place normally reserved for cattle. And it was there,
in that place for cattle, Mary gave birth to her firstborn
child, to Jesus, the very Son of God. The wonder child. The miracle of all miracles. That God united Himself to human
flesh. To flesh that is just like ours,
except for one only thing different. Namely, that there was no sin
there. No guilt. No corruption of sin. otherwise no different from us. God united himself to that human
nature. That's the profound part beyond
anything that we can ever begin to comprehend that God the infinite
is united to the human. No one was there to help. No
one was there to celebrate. No one even knew it except for
Joseph and Mary. That was it. No one was there
to rejoice with them in this wonderful event of God come in
the flesh. And that was intolerable. That
was impossible that only they would be the only ones who would
know this, what had come to pass. And therefore, God sent his angel
to a handful of shepherds. in the dark night, taking care
of their sheep in the middle of the night. In the middle of
the night, the darkness of the night is split wide open by the
glory of an angel that comes and talks to them, shining with
the glory of heaven, coming from the very presence of God with
a message about a birth. We read of that message. The
angel of the Lord came to them. They were sore afraid. Of course
they were. The glory of heaven is shining
around them. And the angel says, as he always
does, fear not. Don't be afraid. For, behold,
I bring you good tidings of great joy. Not judgment. Nothing to
be afraid of. Good tidings of great joy. For
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which
is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto
you, he said to them. You shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." And as soon as he
was finished with that, suddenly there was, with that one angel,
a multitude of the heavenly host of angels there singing, glory
to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward
men. And then they were gone. And so the shepherds, immediately
recognizing the importance of this, filled with joy, said,
let us go and see this thing which has been made known to
us. And they went and found, exactly as the angel said, Joseph,
Mary, and the Savior, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in
a manger, a place normally where you would lay that the cows could
eat of it. That's where Jesus lay His first
night. Our attention tonight is drawn
to the angels' song as it explains something of the tremendous significance
of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Consider that song of
the angels under the theme, which is what their theme was, glory
to God in the highest. Notice, first of all, the reason
for this song. Secondly, the goodwill revealed. And thirdly, the praise of His
glory. The praise of His glory. Glory
to God in the highest. First of all, the reason for
the song of the angels. We take notice that after the
one angel finished his message, that there was that multitude
of angels that joined in the singing of these words. How absolutely fitting that angels
would come and sing this song of praise to God, because they
are heavenly messengers performing the work of God That's what an
angel is. He's a messenger sent by God
to deliver a message from God to the people on this earth. Angels are, in some ways, like
us. Angels are creatures. They are
therefore limited. God, of course, is unlimited.
There is no boundary to God in any way. Not in space, not in
time, not in glory. There's no limitation to God.
But angels are limited. They are creatures. Angels are
limited in the sense that they have a beginning. God has no
beginning. But angels have a day when they
started to exist. They existed not in eternity,
but God formed them in the first week of creation, even though
we're not told when, what day He created them. Probably right
away at the beginning that they could behold the glory of the
creation. But they have a beginning, a
birth day, a day when they were formed as Adam was formed in
the seventh day, the sixth day of the creation. They are limited
not only in time that they have a beginning, but they are limited
also in their bodies. Angels cannot be everywhere present.
An angel can only be present in one place at one time. They are creatures. Because they
are creatures, they are dependent. They cannot exist on their own.
God has to sustain them in their physical being just as He has
to sustain us. They are creatures formed by
God. And yet they are different from
us because they are spiritual creatures. They are not of the
earth. They are not of the material
of this earth. Wood comes from this earth. And the stone and everything
we see around us is earthly. And our hands and our feet and
our eyes are of material things that belong to this earth. The
angels are not like that. They are creatures. They have
a body. They've been formed by God. But
they are not material things. They are spiritual creatures
that God has made. They don't belong as part of
this realm. They belong as part of the heavenly, the spiritual
realm that God formed in that first week of creation. If any
time an angel could come and speak to man and man could actually
see the angel and hear the angel, you understand it's because that's
a miracle. God made it possible for men
to see that angel and to hear him speak. Angels could be all
about us and we couldn't hear them or see them because they
are not of the earthly. They are of the heavenly spiritual
realm. They are created spirits. Angels are perfect creatures. They are created holy. They are
created sinless. Some of them we know rebelled
following Satan, who was probably the head of all the angels. And he led a good third of them
away, it would appear, from various places in Scripture. They followed
Him and they are now not called angels any longer, but devils. They are rebellious angels called
demons. But not all the angels fell when
Satan did. God chose some of the angels
to remain holy and sinless. And God's grace preserved them
so that they did not stumble and fall as Satan did. They remained holy. And because they are holy, they
are totally devoted to God Himself. They don't have any concerns
about themselves. There's not a proud angel in
heaven. There's not an angel who ever
thinks about His glory. He's only devoted to the glory
of One that is God because the angels are perfectly holy and
therefore consecrated and devoted to God and His glory. You recall, children, that when
that wicked king Herod took the apostle James after Jesus had
ascended into heaven and put James to death, and then took
Peter and put Peter in prison, that he was such a proud man
that when he was given his speech and the people said foolishly,
wickedly, said, it's the voice not of a man, but of a God, that
Herod liked that. And because of his pride, an
angel smote him with worms that he died. The angels are jealous
for the glory of God above all else. That's all they care about
is God's glory. But the angels are created servants. Servants not only of God, which
is ultimately the one that they always serve, but servants of
us. We read of that in the book of
Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 1, the last verse,
verse 14 says, are they not all, I'm talking about angels now,
are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister
to them that shall be heirs of salvation." They are ministering
servants sent to minister to the spiritual good of those who
will receive salvation. That's us. They are servants
of the elect people of God, somehow serving our spiritual good. That's something we can hardly
even understand. The Psalms give us another small
hint of their spiritual guardianship as we read in Psalm 91, verse
11, For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee
in all thy ways, to preserve us somehow in our way, in the
way of godliness. But because their work is to
minister to the saints. And for one other reason, which
we'll say in a moment, the angels are very, very, very interested
in God's work of salvation. And particularly interested in
the coming, therefore, of the Messiah. Interested because their
goal is to serve the saints who shall be saved. But interested
also because the Messiah is their Messiah. Because when the chief
of the angels fell, it put a certain negative shadow upon all the
angels. They all felt the guilt, if you
will, of the head of their realm falling into sin and a whole
third of their group leaving God and becoming the enemies
of God. And they're looking for the one
whom God had appointed to be their head as well and the one
who would redeem them also. Not redeem in the same sense
that we are redeemed from sin. These angels didn't sin. Nonetheless, they are zealous
for the coming of the Christ who will now be their head and
take away all that embarrassment, all that shame of Satan and his
guilt. We read of their great zeal for
this in 1 Peter chapter 1. In 1 Peter chapter 1, where it
speaks of how in the Old Testament the prophets would come with
a message concerning the glory of Christ and the sufferings
of Christ and that it was revealed, we read in verse 12, unto whom
it was revealed that not unto themselves, that is the Old Testament
saints, but unto us they did minister the things which are
now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel
unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Then this,
Which things the angels desire to look into? The angels desire
to look into it. And God, already in the Old Testament,
revealed that urgent desire that the angels had to look into the
things of Christ as you recall that there was the ark where God dwelt. And over top
of the ark, you children remember what was over top of the ark,
two angels with their arms, their wings stretched out and their
heads looking down at that ark. Where once a year, the high priest
would come and sprinkle seven drops of blood. The angels were
zealous for the coming of Christ and for the redemption that God
promised through that, that coming Savior. So every time that God
would give any kind of hint to man about the coming of the Messiah,
because you understand, the angels are creatures. They don't know
what God's plan of salvation is. But any time that God would
speak a word about that coming Messiah, the angels would be
all ears, so to speak. When God said, I will send the
seed of the woman that will crush the head of the serpent, the
angels heard that. And every time a prophet spoke,
they were there listening. And they desired to inquire into
that. And they must have gone back
to each other and said, now did you hear what the angel said
there? Did you hear what the angel was
sent to say to the men? And did you hear what the prophet
Isaiah said? And did you hear what the prophet
Micah said? Did you hear that? And they were
zealous to know what was coming. So eager they were for the coming
of the Messiah. They could hardly wait for the
full revelation, for the coming of the Messiah that would redeem
God's people of whom they were ministers and even redeem them
and become their head. You understand then, that in that field where the
angels came and sang that glorious song to the shepherds, It was
not a choir that was merely fulfilling their duty. That God said, well
alright, these are the people, these are the angels I want to
go and sing this song. And so they sort of carried out
their duty in a detached manner. No way. They were excited. They were so full of enthusiasm. The Christ was born. When they
sang, glory to God in the highest. It was, if I may put it that
way, with all their heart so full of zeal for the glory of
God and for the salvation of His people. That's the angels. They sang, therefore, with all
their might. They had every reason to sing. The Christ was born. Now, that
might not seem to be something all that great in the eyes of
men. It wasn't that impressive in the eyes of men. A baby was
born. That's not that impressive a
thing. It happens all the time that
babies are born, and the parents are excited, and the relatives
are excited, but really it's not that big a thing to have
a child born into the world. And anyone who would have gone
to see that baby lying there would not have been very impressed
by that if they only looked at it with the eyes of natural man,
born in a cattle stall. wrapped in rags. That's what
swaddling clothes are. That's the dress, the clothing
of the poor who have no money to go out and buy fancy clothes
for their children. They had to wrap them in swaddling
clothes in a kind of rag and lying in a manger. And the parents weren't anything
special. They were obviously dirt poor. They were ordinary
people. The child was nothing special.
He cried when he was hungry, just as any other child did. There was no crown on his head.
There was no halo about his head. What's the big fuss, man would
say? Why would you have angels singing
about the birth of this child in Bethlehem? But the angels
knew better. This was Christ. This was the
Son of God. This is the one they'd been waiting
for for hundreds and hundreds of years. And not Gabriel brought
the message to Mary that said, the child that shall be born
of you will sit on David's king forever. This is the king. They
knew that. Holy Ghost shall come upon you,
Gabriel had said. The power of the highest shall
overshadow you. Therefore, that holy thing that
shall be born shall be called the Son of God. The angels heard that. They knew
the message that Gabriel brought. This wasn't an ordinary child.
This was the very Son of God. You couldn't see it. The glory
of the Son of God was covered with the human flesh. That's
all that you could see with the natural eye. That's all the angels
could see too. But they knew. This was the Savior's
promise to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This was the
hope of all the believers. This was the hope of all the
angels who were in glory. The desire of the nations. Glory
indeed. They pronounced that because
it was a most glorious birth, this Son of God, God in the flesh. But then they added, and this
is a reason for their great joy, peace on earth. What does that mean, peace on
earth? It is commonly understood that this peace on earth is some
kind of a pronouncement that God makes that there will be
no more war. That there is no war. Let there
be peace on earth, at least tonight, while the babe is lying in Bethlehem. Let there be peace all over the
world. No wars, no strife, no enmity,
no bickering in the homes. Let there be peace all over the
world. That is not What did it mean? That's not what the angels were
saying. Let there be a moment of silence, so to speak. Let
there be a moment where there's no fighting in all the earth.
Where there's nothing but peace on the earth because of this
special moment. That's all they meant. That really
isn't all that impressive at all. The President of America
can say, let's have a moment of silence to commemorate some
event. That's all the angels meant.
That's not that important. And the proof of that is, first
of all, that the Bible doesn't use that word very often at all
simply to say, let there be no war. That's not the importance
of peace. And Jesus said, in fact, quite
the opposite in Matthew 10. He said, think not that I am
come to send peace on the earth. Don't think that. I came not
to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." In fact,
the exalted Christ is the one who sends out the red horse.
And the red horse gallops through the whole of the earth. And what
does it do? It brings war. It brings bloodshed. So Christ
did not come to bring peace on earth, as this is so often misinterpreted. No, this peace is much, much
better than that. It is a spiritual peace that
the angels announce at this moment. A peace between God and man. And the great importance of that
is that man and God were at war with each other until that very
moment. They were at enmity with each
other because of man's rebellion against God. Originally, God
created man to be in perfect harmony with Him. Adam lived
even in the blessedness of being like a son who could enjoy fellowship
with God. And he could go to God and God
would come to him and they could speak in the garden and enjoy
tremendous fellowship together. All of that was lost when man
sinned against God and became a rebel against Him. Tried to
rob God of His very authority and power and say, no, I will
rule here on the earth in my name. And so God cursed him. God put corruption and death
upon him as a punishment, a fitting punishment. Man became full of
sin and death. He could not love God. He could
not serve Him. And there could not be a friendship
between this fallen rebel and God. There could not be a friendship. God couldn't even love such a
thing so unholy, so corrupt and vile. That's impossible. God
is the Holy One. There is enmity between God and
man. God determined to make peace. between himself and man. To restore man to friendship. To make man able to love God
and able to serve Him. And this little child lying there
in that manger in Bethlehem is the one that God will use to
accomplish that. To bring about this peace once
again between God and man. To do it through suffering. To
do it through death. To take upon Himself the sins
of those given to Him eternally by the Father. And to pay the
penalty of their curse and their guilt and their death. And to
bear it all away. Then by his active obedience,
not only to take away the sins of his people, but to earn a
righteousness for them. A righteousness that would make
them have the right to go to live with God and to be at peace
with God. Righteousness is the key. Absolutely. That's why Romans
chapter 5 shouts that great message. Therefore, being justified, that
is, being declared righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ,
we have peace. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Righteousness. and peace. We sang of that in Psalter number
232. Righteousness and peace are at
harmony with each other. Before the coming of Jesus Christ,
there is righteousness, but there cannot therefore be peace with
fallen man. But now righteousness and peace
are met together in the cross of Jesus Christ and His suffering
and death. That's why Paul can say to the
Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 5.18, And all things are of God,
who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. God took us,
His people, and reconciled us back to Himself through Jesus
Christ. And also, says Paul, that's why
we come with a word of reconciliation and we say, We are ambassadors
of Christ, for Christ rather, as though God did beseech you
by us. We pray you in Christ's stead. Be ye reconciled to God. Live at peace with Him. Approach
unto God. You have that right because God
has reconciled you to Himself. Peace there is, the angels declare. But even it goes beyond that.
And that's why the angels can say, peace on earth. Because
you see, the Savior Jesus Christ would not only redeem the angels,
would not only redeem His people, He would redeem the world. God so loved the world, Professor
Engelsmo will preach tonight. And that world includes not only
the elect, but it includes the whole of His creation. That will
be redeemed by Jesus in His cross. There will be peace. God will
reconcile the whole of the creation to Himself in Jesus Christ. That's the significance of the
song of the angels, peace, peace on earth. And goodwill toward men. Goodwill. What does that mean? The meaning
of that phrase depends a little bit on the meaning of the translation
that is given to this text. As we have it in the King James,
glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward
men. And perhaps you're aware that
some of the modern translations translate it a bit differently
and say, peace on earth toward men of His good pleasure. Toward
men of His good pleasure. The difference therefore is Based
on that translation, the translation goes back to the fact that there
are different Greek manuscripts. There are in fact thousands of
different Greek manuscripts, most of which agree almost entirely. But once in a while there are
copying mistakes because they hand copied all these Greek Testaments. And there are some of them that
have that other reading. Peace on earth toward men of
His good pleasure. For myself, I can very well go
with exactly what we have here in the King James, and really
it isn't going to make that much difference which translation
we take. This one is a very good translation. There's reason to
remain with it, as the majority of the Greek texts have this.
And it's a very smooth translation. Peace on earth. Goodwill toward
men. I say it doesn't make that much
difference because it doesn't if you look at what it means.
God's pleasure. God's good pleasure. What is
that exactly? His good pleasure. Well, it is
God's good pleasure is what delights Him. It's what delights Him. It's what is pleasing to Him. His good pleasure. And the Bible uses that in a
number of ways. For example, in Ephesians chapter
1, the Bible says, according to His good pleasure, He chose
certain men to salvation in Jesus Christ. That's His good pleasure
to save those men in Jesus Christ. And that obviously would be the
men of His good pleasure. God works in His people both
the will and the to-do of His good pleasure, Philippians. Paul
writes to the Philippians, the will and the to-do of what pleases
God. His good pleasure. God rather said about His Son
Jesus, My Son is well-pleasing to me. I am well-pleased with
Him. That's the same idea. His good
pleasure. For again, Jesus said, it seemed
good. That is, it was the Father's
good pleasure to hide the truth from the wise and prudent and
reveal it unto babes. That was God's desire, His good
pleasure. So it's clear, no matter what
translation you take, that God's good pleasure, that in which
He delights, is always particular. It's not for all men. He delights
in His people. God cannot be pleased with sin,
with rebellion, with everything that is contrary to Him, He cannot
be pleased with that. He can only be pleased with righteousness
and holiness and that which is good and true. The angels do
not, therefore, announce some kind of a universal goodwill
toward men. That's impossible. At the very
moment that the angels sang, was God well pleased with the
Pharisees who didn't even want the Messiah? who only wanted
people to be impressed with them and their works that they performed. And when Jesus came, they would
show how wicked they were and how corrupt. And Jesus would
expose their wickedness. Was God pleased with them? Of
course not. Was God well pleased at this
moment when the angels sang with Herod, who would try to kill
all the children of Bethlehem in order to destroy the Christ
child? Was God well pleased with him?
Of course not. The angels are not pronouncing
some kind of good will toward all men. That's impossible. Nonetheless, they sing it. And
it's a beautiful song. Because at this moment, on that
Christmas day when Jesus is born, God is displaying His good will
toward men as it had never, ever been seen before. Good will toward
men who knew, I do not deserve anything good from God. I deserve
only God's wrath. And now God sings through the
angels, My good will is to you. That's purely what it is. God's
good pleasure. His good will. God doesn't need
this. God doesn't need anything that
happened on Christmas Day. He is the most blessed God. He
is the most beautiful and glorious God, whether He saves people
or whether He has no one. When God created all the myriad
of angels and they began to sing His praises, it wasn't as if
now God is more glorious than He was a moment before that.
And if God should take the whole race of mankind and destroy every
last one of them because they are wicked and deserve it, God
is not more glorious or less glorious. God is the eternally,
infinitely glorious God. He doesn't need to save anyone
to add to His glory. But it's simply out of His good
pleasure that He determined gather to his people, gather to himself
a people, his good pleasure. No one deserves it. All men deserve
to perish eternally in hell. But God, out of his good pleasure,
sends his Son, Jesus, to be born in human flesh in order that
he might, in the likeness of sinful flesh, live among men,
nor that His Son might be despised and rejected by men. He came
to die. Surely the angels could see some
of that. They couldn't see the whole of
it. They didn't know what was in store, a dreadful cross, and
the rejection of men. And yet, they had to understand
something of it as they saw the Christ child born, not in a mansion,
not draped in purple robes, but lying in a manger wrapped in
rags. They had to understand that the
glory of this Son would mean suffering. This was the first
step in his steps of humiliation. that would lead ultimately to
the depths of hell. The angels had to understand
something of what was coming for this Messiah. That he would die, not only at
the hands of men, but bearing the very wrath of God for rebels
who did not deserve it. This sending of His Son is a
manifestation of the good will of God. That's all you can say
about it. Because nobody deserves it, I
say again. But it's simply God's good pleasure
to redeem His people. You can understand then why the
angels sing with such enthusiasm for the glory of God. As God
has revealed His good will to the people that they, the angels,
are serving, are trying to bring down the right path. They see God's good pleasure
and they sing of it. To the men, to the earth. It isn't merely to Jews any longer.
This will be to all people in all lands as the angels testify. And all of that as one goal. To magnify the glory of God. That's the goal of it all. Glory
to God in the highest. What does that mean? That phrase,
glory to God in the highest. It could mean that God is the
highest. And that's true, of course. The
Bible says that Jesus is the Son of the highest. in the sense that God is exalted
and everything else is creature. But the interesting thing is
that in the original, this is plural. Glory to God in the highest. Plural. As if to say, glory to
God in the highest places. And what the angels have in mind
there is that This is a reference to the heaven of heaven. that in the glory of heaven,
where even the angels shine forth with holiness, that in that heaven
of heavens, their God deserves to be praised in all His glory. Glory to that God who inhabits
the heaven of heavens, who is in the highest places. And you understand then, if the
glory of God is to be proclaimed there in the highest of all the
heavenly places. Surely His glory fills the whole
of the creation. Surely His glory fills all of
the earth as well. And there's an implied exhortation
to us people of God, if the glory of God is on display in the highest
of places, ought not you to be giving God the glory as well
of the earth? That's the implication of that.
Join us in giving God the glory. But what is that glory of God?
The glory of God is His perfections. His infinite perfections. If
you would take all His perfections, His truth, His love, His mercy,
His wisdom, His power. Take all of the perfections of
God and you recognize that those perfections are infinite. There's
no limit to those perfections. Take that perfection of God and
the radiation from that is God's glory. God dwells in a cloud
of glory to which no man can approach. The angels cover their
faces before the glory of God. It is so glorious. So brilliant. God's glory. All His infinite perfections. The glory of God shines forth
in His works. That's when Jesus performed the
miracle of the changing of wine. We read there, this beginning
of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth
His glory. His glory was seen in the work
of changing water, to whine. When Lazarus was sick, Jesus
said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God. So that when He would raise Lazarus
from the dead, that would be for the glory, the power of God. His infinite power is evident
to raise one from the dead. Even the heavens and the earth
declare the glory of God, we sing in Psalm 8. God created
angels for His own glory, the Bible says. Even the wrath of
man praises God somehow. That too reflects His glory. But of all the works that God
has ever done, you understand the one work that manifests the
glory of God more than anything else is the work of saving His
people. There the glory of God is on
display above all else. That He elected a certain people
out of a lump of humanity, so to speak, one lump of clay. That
He elected a certain people that He fashioned to be vessels of
mercy. That He would pour into them
His glory. God determined that from all
eternity. filling them with the fruits
of righteousness for the praise of His glory, bringing them one
day to heaven, an innumerable host that each individual saint
would reflect in a creaturely way some small aspect of the
glory of God. That's why we will be in heaven,
to reflect His glory. And so the angels sing of that. And how do you glorify God? How
do you do that? You don't add anything to His
glory, but you do what the angels were doing. You ascribe to God
the power and the glory, the wisdom. You ascribe it to Him. You speak of His righteousness
and His truth and His wisdom. You speak of His infinite perfections. And when you see that glory,
you humble yourself before it. That glory which is on display
in His Son. The glory of the Savior. The
glory of the infinite God united to human flesh. This is where
the glory of God is on display. This is beyond our comprehension.
That great work of our God. When you see the glory of God
as a covenant God, taking to Himself a people, giving His
Son into the flesh in order that He might gather to Himself a
people that would live with Him and know His glory from experience,
not merely behold it, but know it. All glory. That's the purpose of God sending
His Son. Don't ever forget that. The purpose is not, as the Arminian
says, well, to save us. Well, yes. But that's not really
why. Ultimately, the sending of His
Son was for His own glory. The glory of His own name. The
riches of the glory of His grace are on display in heaven forever
and ever. That's why Jesus was born. That's
why the angels sing. That's what they recognized. Glory to God in the highest. That's their song. That's their
theme. The rest of it only is supporting
evidence. Peace on earth, of course. Goodwill
toward men, of course. But glory to God. That's the
theme. Thanking Him. Praising Him. That's how we sing praises to
God. In our thanks, in our prayers,
in our songs. But there's more. We praise God
when we tell others about the glory of God, when we talk about
it amongst ourselves, and when we tell others about what great
things God has done. If when we hear the song of the
angels and we recognize the great glory on display on Christmas
Day, if we are not able then to go out and tell others about
it, then it doesn't mean very much. then we're not very impressed
with the glory of God. If we can keep this in and not
tell anybody about it tomorrow, then we're not giving God the
glory. We're not. We tell others. That's how we
give God the glory. We give God the glory when we
live a life of praise. When our life is a testimony
to the power of His grace. When we want to keep His commandments
out of thankful obedience, we are giving honor and glory to
Him. We join the angels. And yet,
you do know that we praise God in ways that angels cannot praise
God. You can sing in a certain sense with
more understanding when you praise God than the angels could to
the shepherds. They are moved at the glory of
God. They sang this song because of the glory of God. And they
know, of course, that Christ is their salvation too. But you
and I, Sing as participants of that glorious salvation that
God has determined for His people. We are participants in that.
We are those who know sin. We are those who have looked
into the depths of hell and say, that's what I deserve. And now
when we stand at that manger in Bethlehem, we say, there's
our salvation. There's our deliverance. This
means we're going to heaven. We get to live with God forever.
We're not perishing in hell. If anyone in all the world can
sing, glory to God in the highest, it is we. May God give us that grace. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God, we thank Thee for the
gift of Thy Son and for the work of the Spirit that enables us
to understand, to know this as much as we can and to live out
of the power of the cross of Jesus Christ, giving glory to
Thee. This is what we desire now and
eternally. So, Lord, hear us. and grant
that our hearts are full of praise and thankfulness to Thee all
the days of our life. For Jesus' sake, Amen.
The Song of the Angels: Glory to God in the Highest
| Sermon ID | 1225111832354 |
| Duration | 54:41 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Luke 2:14 |
| Language | English |
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