We read from Holy Scripture this morning, Luke chapter two, Luke two. We'll read the first 20 verses. Our text is verses eight through 20. Pay attention to those, I'll not read those again. It came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Serenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into 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 inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night and low. 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, ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host 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. They came with haste and 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. But 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. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, the birth of Jesus Christ is the occasion for great joy among us. what the angel of the Lord indicates in the announcement of that birth to the shepherds the night he is born. Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people." Those good tidings are the good tidings of the Gospel. And those good tidings are of great joy because that child is identified as the great hope that God had promised to his people and that they were looking for in the Old Testament. The angel indicates that. Unto you is born this day a Savior. He is the great hope that the people of God were looking for in the Old Testament because he is the Savior. And their hope is the greatest hope because he is the Savior from the greatest evil, sin and death. These good tidings are of great joy because that child is no ordinary human being, but is identified again by the angel as Christ the Lord. He is the Messiah. He is God's own servant, his prophet, his priest, and his king, and tasked with saving God's people. And not only saving them, but leading them and guiding them as both Christ and Lord. That's possible, of course, only if the babe lying in the manger is also God. This good news is joy, even great joy, because also His birth is announced as a salvation of grace. It's not a salvation that one can purchase, that one can earn, that one can merit. or one can obtain by his own strength, it is a salvation of grace. That's evident even in that night in which the Christ child is born and that the glorious God in the highest chooses first and actually to be the only Witnesses to that birth, to the good news of that birth, lowly shepherds. Lowly shepherds are the ones whom God chooses to both announce these good tidings of great joy and to be witnesses of the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. We continue this morning to consider the saints looking for that blessed hope, this morning now the shepherds, as witnesses. The witness of the shepherds. Consider with me in the first place what they witness. Secondly, how they witness. And finally, why they witness. In this section of the story of Christ's birth in Luke chapter 2, and indeed the majority of the attention is paid to that particular part of the story, the emphasis is upon what the shepherds themselves witness, what they see and hear. and what they do when they return after witnessing the Christ child in a manger. That is by design. That is meant to impress us, to impress upon us the fact that the first and only witnesses of the good news of Christmas are shepherds abiding in the field. keeping watch over their flock by night. Surely there were many in Palestine and in Jerusalem who thought themselves worthy to be the witnesses of the birth of the Christ. Surely there were many who would want that honor from the mighty Herod, to the pious leaders, the teachers of the law, the priests, the scribes, and Pharisees. Surely there were even many of God's people who were looking for that blessed hope, but God does not choose them. does not choose many of the godly fathers and mothers, such as a Zacharias or Elisabeth, to witness the birth of the Christ. He does not select many of those who were his children, such as the rich Joseph of Arimathea or a Nicodemus, not even aged saints such as Anna and Simeon, who will see the Christ only 40 days later. God chooses to reveal this good news and to have as the first and only witnesses of that good news to be those who are engaged in the lowliest profession that one can find in Palestine. lowliest profession, not simply because they were laborers in the field or because they were poor, but because shepherds were often the outcasts. They were strangers and aliens. They were those of dubious origins and parentage. In fact, we're told by historians that often Shepherds could not even be landholders or witness in court because of their lowly profession. But this is important because these lowly shepherds are representative of all the people of God whom He would save by this Child, by the Christ, who is the Lord. All the people of God saved by Christ are not only represented by sheep who go astray, but also as shepherds who tend those sheep. That's why so many in the Old Testament were shepherds. Many of them. Abel was a keeper of sheep. The patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, kept sheep, Moses kept sheep for 40 years. The Bible tells us of prophets like Amos who kept sheep and kings like David who kept sheep. And that is because those whom the Christ saves are made Christians. They partake in his anointing and he is the great shepherd He is the good shepherd according to himself in John 10, the chief shepherd according to 1 Peter 5, the shepherd and bishop of our souls. And that's true not only of office bearers, but of all of us. We are all considered lowly shepherds, you mothers and fathers. are shepherds of little sheep. A child is a shepherd to his siblings, and old and young in the church are shepherds to one another. To these God appears." We're told these witnesses, the shepherds, were witnesses of things that they both heard and what they saw. What they heard in the first place was the words of the angel of the Lord in the fields. He came upon them. And we read, the glory of the Lord shone round about them so that they were sore afraid. This was no ordinary angel. This was the angel of the Lord. A particular angel, a special angel, hand-selected by God Himself to bring this initial announcement of the Gospel that the Christ, the long-awaited Christ, had been born in Bethlehem, the city of David, and that He would be found with Mary and Joseph wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. The message is, for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, the joyful gospel of the long-awaited Savior, in the darkness of the night, in the darkness of the times, in the darkness of sin and death, the long-awaited Messiah, the Lord is born. The purpose of this Gospel, this announcement of good tidings, is to relieve their fears, to take away those fears. Fear not, says the angel, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. The words of the Gospel are intended for comfort. They're intended to alleviate the fears, the angst, the anxiety, the trouble, and that which is caused by sin and death, by sin before God, the guilt and the shame of sin before God. Then there are the words of a multitude of heavenly hosts who suddenly appear and join the angel of the Lord in praising God, We do not know whether they sang or whether they shouted, but nevertheless, they gave forth an anthem of praise to God. Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. That is, the angels give forth a message of thanksgiving to God. and witness to the truth that was spoken by the angel of the Lord. After this, the shepherds go to Bethlehem. And suddenly, as they appear, the angels disappear. And the shepherds talk amongst themselves. And they decide, let us go to Bethlehem Let us now go even to Bethlehem and see this thing, which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. They go with haste, as quickly as they can, and they see things exactly as they had been told they would be. They see Joseph, they see Mary, and there in the manger In a cattle stall, in a trough for feeding cattle, they find the babe who is Christ the Lord wrapped in swaddling clothes. That's why the word of the angel is so important because otherwise what they would see is simply another poor child born in Palestine, another child of poor parents that indeed is what many see That's indeed what only many see in the Christ. A child born into poverty, a child who is the Christ in that he eliminates poverty, earthly and physical poverty, because he is sympathetic being born in such poverty himself. But what they see, what they are told they will see, is actually Christ the Lord, God's Christ, God's appointed servant according to the will of God toward men. The Christ appointed to be savior, the deliverer, the savior from death itself, and one who is the Lord. God himself who owns them. Who owns them because He purchased them. Who rules over them. Who rules over all of their life and property. The promised king from the line of David. That is what they see there in the cattle stall. What they see is one born unto them. Born unto you this day. is the Savior, who is Christ the Lord. That is, they see a man, a human child, a man made like unto you in all things, sin accepted, born as a man from the Virgin Mary, one who is born of the house and line of David, who shares in your misery and in your trouble, who has a body like unto you and a soul like unto you. He is a Savior for you. Born this day is a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and that Savior is for you, Savior of your sin and Savior from your death. It's evident in the initial fear that the angels cause to the shepherds. They stand before the angel shining with the glory of God. And that glory to a sinful man is too much, too great. When sinners stand in the presence of God, they ought fear and to quake, except for the Savior. So the great blessings, the great joy of the Holy Gospel is that He is for you. The blessings of peace on earth and goodwill toward men are for you, the angel announced. And the point is when they go to look, what they see is a sign. This shall be a sign unto you. What you see when you go to see that babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, he is a sign. A sign indeed that the message of the angels is true. No matter how it might seem, no matter how it might look, no matter that you see a child, an apparently helpless and poor child there in the manger, he is a sign. And a sign that what the angel says that unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, is all true. He's a sign that this child is a wonder of God's grace, that He does not come from man and by the power of man. He does not come by the will or worth of man. He comes in God's grace. God provides Him. God gives Him. God sees to it that he's wrapped in swaddling clothes and is there in the manger because there's no room in the inn. And he's a sign of that grace of God. How now do the shepherds witness? How they witness is rather significant. They first leave the fields and with haste go to Bethlehem and see things exactly as they are told they will appear. But then you notice, they do not stay and hang out in Bethlehem. They do not stay around in the cattle stall with Joseph and Mary. There are many that criticize that. Sometimes wonder, how the church world today, if we were called to be witnesses to the birth of the Christ, if we, like the shepherds, had seen the angels and made haste to Bethlehem and stood there in the presence of the Christ, how we would react. Certainly, there would be many who are unbelieving and who would be doubting. just like in the church of Jesus' day. There could have been a host, an innumerable throng, as it were, who crowded there in Bethlehem, who paid great money to witness the phenomenon, and would have walked away trying to explain it, to explain it away. Others, no doubt, even if they had been told, wouldn't have bothered to go the few hours to see the Christ. There couldn't possibly be a Christ who is lying in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Still others would probably act with a great show of outward piety. They applaud the shepherds for promptly leaving the fields and hasting over to Bethlehem, but then criticize them for leaving so soon, so quickly, say to themselves, what they should have done is called a worship service. What they should have done is held a collection to relieve the poverty of the child. And Mary and Joseph would have hung around in Bethlehem and tried to do all sorts of great and noble things, but that's not what they do. As quickly as they go to Bethlehem, they leave. We don't even read that they worshipped the Saviour in Bethlehem, only that they came and they saw and they left. No doubt, they likely praised God there. No doubt, they worshipped the Child as the Christ who is the Lord. No doubt they blessed Mary and Joseph. But that's not the emphasis of the text. That's not what we're told. That's not what is the main point of the story. They leave. And what they do is two things. First, we read, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. Verse 17. That's important. Notice it doesn't say they first made known abroad the saying or the events that they witnessed, that they saw with their own eyes. That's true. They are going to witness of the things they see as well as what they were told. But first we're told that they made known abroad what they heard. That's important because this is about the Gospel. This is about good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. And this witness is indicative of the nature of that Gospel. The nature of the Gospel of this Christ, who is the Lord. And that is, that He's received and the Gospel of that Christ is spread abroad by speaking and by hearing, by telling. The Gospel is not what one sees with the eyes, but what one hears with the ears of faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. It's indicative of the fact that the preaching of the Gospel, the preaching of this Christ, is going to be witnessed in the world this very same way. It's remarkable, if you think about it, that here you see the first spread of the Gospel by these humble shepherds that no one thought of. The story isn't simply about what they see, but what they hear. And then that they go and spread abroad that which they hear. They witness to the Christ and His gospel. Indicative also that the word of the gospel, the holy gospel, the good tidings of great joy, the chief means of grace, is by the preaching of that gospel. Jesus saves through that gospel. Jesus proclaims that gospel through preachers and through preaching as he's doing here this morning. And notice too, they spread this word abroad. They witness to that gospel to everyone they run into, to whoever they find. to whoever they come into contact with. Again, that's how the Word is preached. It's not simply preached in the church to believers, but it's preached promiscuously. The Good News is presented the world over to believer and unbeliever alike without respective persons. The Good News goes forth and it begins with these humble shepherds. We read that they returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them. The emphasis here is that whatever they gave witness to and however they witnessed, they did it as shepherds. It means that they returned back to the fields where they came from. They returned back to the occupation from which they were called to go witness to the birth of the Christ. They didn't decide that they were now going to become preachers of the Holy Gospel. They didn't make themselves fishers of men. They witnessed to those things as they heard and those things that they had seen as lowly shepherds. It's worth emphasizing because that's a common mistake that people make. When they first encounter the good news of the Holy Gospel and they receive that Gospel, oftentimes they mistake the joy, the great joy, the great flood of joy that arises in their soul as the work of the Holy Spirit calling them now to be pastors and teachers. And oftentimes they have to be reminded, no ordinarily, Ordinarily, God calls His people by the preaching of the gospel to witness to His great grace and to the holy gospel in the occupation, in the place, in the station and calling where they currently are. To witness to the great grace and the good news of salvation as a mother in the home, or as a father in his job, no matter what that job might be, as a child in the school, Wherever one goes to work and play in that occupation, they witness to the Holy Gospel that's minimized today. We often think to ourselves even, that the only ones that are doing anything great in the Kingdom of Heaven are the pastors and teachers or the elders and the deacons. that extends into the greater Christian church world, where it's assumed today that the only ones who are doing anything great are those flying all over the world to do so-called missions, which missions basically is to relieve the poor and the needy of their physical needs and necessities, are those with great ministries on the television set. Are those with fancy church buildings who donate lots of money and time to this cause or that cause, when the fact is the bulk of the work, the majority of the work, in this case even the first and most important witness to the Holy Gospel, is by lowly shepherds, common ordinary people laboring in their fields of labor to which they go after receiving faith and believing in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice also they praised and glorified God as they returned in the calling which God had called them to. Important thing there too about witnessing to the Holy Gospel. It isn't always that one sets forth the truth, although it certainly includes that, that a child has been born in Bethlehem who is Christ the Lord, who is both man and the Son of God, God out of God, light out of light, that there is in the Christ one, The second person of the Holy Trinity showing forth that God is triune, three persons and one being and sets forth the truth that Christ must be both man and God in order for man to be saved and there is no salvation. There is no under name, under heaven by which men are saved in the name Jesus who is the Christ. Certainly witness includes such things. as did the witness of the shepherds who did spread abroad exactly what they saw and exactly what they heard. But witness is also simply praising and glorifying God for such things. Worship on a Sunday or on a special holiday like Christmas is not the only time we ought praise and glorify God or the only time when we do that publicly. Our whole life and everything that we do ought to be praise and glorifying of God so that people even ask, what's the reason for this hope that lies within you? We don't often do that, do we? Not publicly, not telling everyone into whom we come into contact that we serve the living God and we worship Him and glorify Him for this great salvation of the Christ born in Bethlehem. But that is how the shepherds witnessed to the Christ. Now why? Why did they witness the way they did to the birth of Jesus Christ? Why did they make known abroad these sayings, what they heard and what they saw with their own eyes? Why did they glorify and praise God in the highest? The reason is, in the first place, they were thankful for that salvation that was given to them. The salvation that was for them by that Savior who is Christ the Lord. Thankful for the kind of Savior that He is. It's obvious that the shepherds did not go to Bethlehem, poke their head into the stable, stick their noses into the air and were offended by what they saw. It's obvious they did not go there and say, what? This now is our Savior? This is our Christ? This thing? This helpless baby there in a manger from these people? They weren't offended. They praised and glorified God for what they saw and what they heard. They did not simply praise God and glorify God because they saw angels, glorious, wonderful angels surrounding them and saying what they did, but they glorified God because what they said, what was announced to them by the angels was verified in that child born in Bethlehem there in the manger. They rejoiced in that child. They rejoiced in that message. They rejoiced in that This was the Savior. And it's obvious that this was the kind of Savior they were looking for too. It's obvious they understood. Perhaps as babes, as the children they were, that the Christ would be unusual. Everyone knew he would be born in Bethlehem, the city of David, which wasn't much. No doubt they were more amazed at what they saw than they imagined. Such is our salvation. It is far greater, more wonderful, and God shows forth His grace in more amazing ways than we can possibly imagine. The goal of this salvation, the end of this salvation, is greater than I have seen or ear heard, nor even has it entered into the heart of man to imagine such things. What ought to excite us this morning to glorify and praise God, to tell others what we have seen and what we have heard is the same thing. There are many today who on this day do not praise and glorify God, because they are offended at the things they see and hear. They may speak loudly of a crucifixion and the Christ who suffered and died, but are offended that we still have to suffer and die, are offended that there is suffering for us yet in this world, offended that Christ continues to bring his holy gospel to the lowly and to the despised to manifest Himself in the way He does. They want a Christ who is powerful outwardly, who commands kingdoms and nations physically from a literal throne in Jerusalem. But the shepherds are thankful, thankful for the salvation given unto them and for the kind of salvation it is. What kind of salvation is it? What was it about the nature of that salvation that they were thankful for, that they gave God praise and honor and glory and the highest for? And the answer is that it was a salvation of grace. and evidently and powerfully a salvation of efficacious grace, a powerful grace to accomplish that salvation exactly according to the will of God. That too is brought to their mind. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace. Goodwill toward men sets forth what God's will is. And what they see is salvation exactly according to the will of God, not the will of man. They recognize the power of God in that salvation. That He is a Savior for us. Not simply in the sense that He is a Savior presented to us. A Savior who supposedly died for all men, but doesn't actually accomplish that salvation. Who loves everyone and tries real hard to save everyone. Who brings peace to everyone in that sense, but not really. It's still dependent upon you and what you do and what you think. but a God rather who accomplishes it all. Have no doubt that those shepherds went away glorifying and praising God for the same reason that we do, that when God sets His affection upon us and God reveals the things that He does, even though He might not do it physically by literal angels, nevertheless, anyone who knows themselves as dead in trespasses and sin Those who are lame and blind spiritually, those who are deaf and dumb spiritually, who then can miraculously and wonderfully see and hear the things of the Holy Gospel, who can say, that is true, I know that to be true. give praise and glory to God because they recognize, they know, faith knows, it always does, that this is the very work of that Savior. This is what it means that He's the Savior who is Christ the Lord. Is that not what makes us praise and glorify God this morning? Who are you? Who are you? Who are we? We're nothing in the eyes of the world. We're lonely and despised. We're nothing in and of ourselves. And we gather here to praise and glorify God because we recognize the very glory and the praise that we put forth is our salvation from this Christ. This is the ultimate purpose of the Savior, is it not? Praise and glorify the name of God. Isn't that really the wonder of the Christmas story? It explains why God chooses the lowly. To show His salvation. That His salvation is all of grace. To show that His salvation is all of grace. So that we don't walk away patting ourselves on the back. Saying to ourselves, God chose me because I'm part of the rich and the mighty and the worthy. I glorify and praise God because one says I am nothing, a humble shepherd, despised like my Lord, and then say glory to God in the highest, literally, literally that reads, the highest glory to God. There is no glory to God if it's a salvation by man and for man, and of man's will and of man's work. It's a salvation of grace, and it's for the glory of God. Christmas and our celebration of Christmas isn't about ourselves. It isn't about self-indulgence. It's about the praise and glory of God. So celebrate today. Do that with your family and friends. But don't do it at all without glorifying and praising God for the great grace He's shown unto you. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father which art in heaven, O Lord our God, we thank Thee Thou hast visited us in Thy love and mercy and shown unto us this morning the babe lying in a manger. The babe who is the son of David, the son of Mary, the son of Abraham, the son of Adam. He who is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. but he who is also thy son, the only begotten son, so that he is our Emmanuel, God with us, the fulfillment of all the covenant promises, the one in whom and by whom and through whom we have covenant fellowship with thee, our God. We thank thee, O Lord, for giving unto us this morning the good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people Help us to show forth that joy in the praise and glory of Thy name. Amen.