And the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you, you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloth 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. So it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherds said to one another, let us now go to Bethlehem and see this great thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all those who heard it marveled at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told them. Remember the grass withers and the flower falls, but God's word abides forever. Amen. Well, for the past few weeks, we've been considering the idea of where true fulfillment is found. And as we've looked at the various pieces to that, so this morning and then this coming Sunday, we want to see that in light of true fulfillment, what then becomes the fruit of that? What is manifested as a result? And there's two things that we want to note. The first is joy, and the second is peace. And yet when we hear the subject of joy in Christmas, on the one hand, it's very easy for us to get caught up in joyous occasions with joyous activities and joyous celebrations. It's very easy to have joy when you wake up on Christmas Day or you get together with family on Christmas Eve and find all those presents that are for you. And yet, if you listen to the radio, you can also hear a lot of songs that don't reflect joy. Last Christmas I gave you my heart, and then he gave it away, and so this year I'm gonna give it to someone special. I'll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams. There's no joy in going, I'm all alone or by myself and not having family with me. Decorations of red with a green Christmas tree, but I'll have a blue, blue Christmas. People are reflecting and singing about things that aren't joyful. There's one song that I stumbled across related to Christmas that was quite fascinating in what it described. And just the struggle, and this struggle doesn't even sound like it's the struggle of the loss of a loved one or a broken relationship, but just the fact that they cannot find significance or purpose, especially this time of year. It's called Christmas Song and it was written by Phoebe Bridgers. And part of what she sings is this, this winter's so dry and the dirt road so dusty, at the lightest fall of rain, the bacteria bloom. Tethered to a table with that happy holiday crowd, and it's anchors away looks like smooth sailing, but the merest hint of waves could capsize you. The desire for annihilation is as common as it is unkind, and it's hard to recognize the situation when you're desperately trying to have a good time. You don't have to be alone to be lonesome. It's so easy to forget. The sadness comes crashing like a brick through the window, and it's Christmas, so no one can fix it. Here's an individual who's struggling, dealing with all sorts of depression and sadness. And maybe there's someone here this morning or someone listening via live stream or will listen at a future point in time, and that describes you, especially this time of year. Nothing joyous, nothing good, nothing celebratory, nothing worth giving attention, people all around and yet, You're just sad and you're lonely and you're miserable. And yet I want you to look at Luke 2 and see that it doesn't have to be that way. How so? Did you catch what the angels told the shepherds? In verse nine, the angel of the Lord stood before the shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, don't be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. Joy can be had at this time of year, even when you're experiencing loss and hurt and pain. Joy can be had at this time of year, even when you don't have any of those things present. Because the message that has been given to us through this passage is that there is good news, true news, amazing news, and useful news. And when we consider those four pieces, it ultimately leads us to know and understand true, lasting, and real joy. And so when we understand the true and lasting real joy that is found to us at Christmas, we then can express that along with those in this passage to celebrate what's been given to us. Notice firstly that there is good news for all. We've already read the passage and yet that's what the angel says. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. The good tidings that are provided to us is the message that there is born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And yet notice the response of these individuals when the news initially comes. They were greatly afraid. Why were they afraid? You may think, well, they were startled. I mean, after all, it's the dead of night. They're out alone. Maybe there's the crackling of fire. There's only a few individuals. And next thing you know, here's this unexpected guest that shows up. But it was more than that. It's the angel of the Lord and the glory of the Lord showed around him. There's fear. There's fear because a holy God has penetrated the darkness and shown forth his light to these individuals. Anytime we see God come on the scene in Holy Scripture and he manifests his glory, the response is one of fear. You can think of Moses and the children of Israel who were to meet with God on Mount Sinai. And God said, you have to do all this stuff to get yourself ready. And when I come, you're going to know it. And when he showed up, the mountain itself shook. Mountains don't typically tremble. But this one did. Because the glorious holy creator came down and was present on Earth. There was lightning, there was thunder. Moses himself, the prophet of God, who spoke with God many times over, said, I am afraid. Isaiah, when he saw the glory of the Lord in the temple, so he also then shook, and he in turn responded with woe, and he said, I am ruined. Mary, Joseph, Zacharias, all had to be assured not to be afraid as this holy God came upon them. It was the terror of the creator coming before the creature. A holy transcendent God coming before an unholy sinful people. And yet we highlighted this to be good news. It's good news because God himself has come to declare that he is going to do something about the very thing that scares us as he's present. He's come to deal with our unholiness. He's come to address our sin. He's come to deal with our condition that so clings to us, that brings us down, that so affects us and impacts us, that keeps us from being able to have right relationships with one another, it keeps us from understanding ourselves, it keeps us from joy at this time of year, and it keeps us from being able to have a right relationship with the one who made us. and even loves us. And he brings this message, this good news, to these shepherds. The good news also came to Herod at a later date, it came to royalty, it came to the king, it came to others, and yet their initial response wasn't one of wanting to run and to see, instead it was one of a response of, we've got to undermine and undo this because he's threatening our position. But the shepherds heard and they immediately responded. It was important that God brought this message to them because he's continuing to show the lowliness and the humility that the Son of God is entering into by coming into this world. He wasn't esteemed. The news of his birth was brought to lowly shepherds who were disdained by all. They didn't understand their own property and so they willingly went on others in order to feed their sheep. They were untrustworthy because they took things from other. They were unclean ceremonially because of their job. They couldn't even be trusted to give a proper account in a court of law. And yet God brings the message of good news to them. It's a picture of us. When we rightly understand who we are, this then is good news, because we are a people who sit in great darkness, and yet there is a great light that has come. We are a people who sit under the shadow of death, and yet the message of life is brought forth. We are a people who are afflicted with the miserable condition of sin related to our nature and our actions, and we are in grave danger But God has engaged and he willingly then brought a message of salvation to us. This truly is good news. And yet even as we consider it to be good, we also want to note that it's true. I mean, what good is good news if it's not true? For example, if you're walking with me afterward and I in turn say, hey, did you get that million dollars that I sent to you? You didn't? Well, I didn't send it. What do you think of me? What do you think of the message? But God hasn't done that to us. He's given us a message that is true, it's real, it's legit. It's not some sick joke. Consider the context in which this declaration of good news of great joy comes to us. Luke identifies the historicity of the event itself. back in verses one through three. He cites the specific Caesar, Augustus. He cites the specific action that the world should be registered. He cites the way in which this occurred, that a census went out, and therefore then all who were to be registered all went about. The historicity shows it to be true. But then furthermore, consider people involved. I mean you would think if you're talking about the birth of a king that you would do this then in the context of a palace, you would do this in the context of riches and pleasure in a place where all would know and all would hear and the royal announcement would go forth and the people were sitting there in the streets just waiting with anticipation and bated breath that finally the baby would arrive, the next in line would be there, and then there would be days upon days upon days of celebration. But not here. And yet there are witnesses. There are individuals who saw this. And if God wanted to have witnesses, why then would he have, of all people, these shepherds? I mean, he's just adding to this story where you're going, really? These are the guys? And yet they willingly tell. They immediately tell. They immediately share. And they put it forward. Common folk have a baby, they're poor, and they lay them in a food trough. And yet, all of these things are true. They're true because God has given it to us in his word. They're true because we see line upon line the fulfillment of prophecy again and again and again. even just in our text where this message is, for unto you is born this day in the city of David. The prophecies that were declared regarding the birthplace of the Savior, that it would be in Bethlehem, that although you were lowly and you were looked down upon and no one really considered you, yet you would have the great God be born in your midst. Isaiah notes that he's the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, God with us, again noted to us in this text. Isaiah says the sign would be that the Virgin would conceive and bear a child and she will have a son, and again we see the fulfillment of that promise. The royal line of David, brought forth as God had promised to David in 2 Samuel 7, that he would have a son, a true son to sit on his throne, that this would be the seed of Abraham, the seed of the woman, the scepter of Jacob. And Luke carefully sets for us this good news for sinners is true. It's real. It's legitimate. And yet, even though it's good and it's true, it's amazing. Think about just how amazing it is of what the angel declared. The angel said, unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior. who is Christ the Lord. Those titles in and of themselves are just amazing. The idea that you have a Savior. It means that we need a Savior because what good is a Savior if you're not being saved from something? And here then is the promise. that there would be one who would come to address our sinful nature and our sinful actions. that God continues to bring forth his promise as he did long ago. And just as God engaged with the first Adam after he sinned by coming to him, and by calling out to him, and by meeting with him, and by addressing his sin, and then with that by promising, I will send one to make this right. So God now fulfills to the first Adam by giving the second Adam. to be that Savior who would be able to be true and righteous man and also true and righteous God. He's the Savior of men, and in order to be the Savior of men, He Himself had to be one of us. And so what does the passage then tell us? That there is one who is born for you. And the sign would be a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. This one did not simply just get dropped down from the sky one day. As fascinating as it is to watch, say, Superman, the way in which Superman does not relate to humanity is that he's not one of them. He's from another planet, and he comes in, and he has great power, and he has great strength, and nothing can stop him except for kryptonite. And yet, no one can relate to him, and he can't relate to them. But not so with Jesus. He's a man who was touched in all points as we are yet without sin. He was conceived in the womb of the Virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit. He grew through those nine months He was birthed. And He learned and grew in favor with God in men. He is a man like us, yet without sin, so that He could represent us as our Savior in order to deliver us. from the wrath of a holy God and overcome the sin that we committed. And yet not only is he a savior, he is also Lord. I don't know if you caught this or not, but notice the way in which the word Lord is used through this passage a few times over. You have the angel, the Lord, who stood before them, and yet we also have the promise, there is born to you the one who is Christ the Lord. And then notice what is said in verse 15. Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known. It's a way in which we are being shown that Jesus truly is God. It's emphasizing to us his deity. If he were only a man, he couldn't save us, even if he were a good and righteous and even a perfect man. Because as our catechism rightly reminds us in accordance with scripture, for this one to represent us, to be our mediator, he must, yes, be like us, but he must be more than us. He must also be the true and living God, for no mere creature can sustain the burden of God's wrath for sin. And yet He is then Christ. He fulfills all the offices necessary to be this One who can be our true mediator. He's the One who has made known the will of God for us concerning our redemption. He Himself offered Himself on the cross as a sacrifice for sin. And He's the One who then rules over us as Lord and Master and King. and He defends us and He preserves us in the salvation that He has secured for us. This anointed one, sent by the Father, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, is the one who has secured the salvation of sinners. And what's so amazing about this and what's so glorious about this is that God did not leave us alone in our sin, but he addressed our condition and he himself did it. That's why this news is so amazing. Because if it were any one of us and we had been offended by another, would we do this? No. You miserable little piece, right? What in the world are you doing? How could you do this to me? And as a result, we're going to take care of it. But not God. God came in and he intervened and he resolved by sending Christ the Lord. And yet if this is amazing, true, and good news, now what? The last thing to see is that it's useful. It's useful in this, that the angel declares to the shepherds, I bring you good tidings of great joy. Joy has a sense in which it is a connection to us. This isn't just simply, hey, I bring you good tidings. Great, what do I do with it? I don't know. This isn't just simply, yay, we've got great news, woohoo! This is news that is impactful, that creates the response of joy. It's not just simply a joyous occasion with joyful news, but it also has a joyful impact. Here are five things. The first one, it's joyful, useful news because it means we're not alone. We're not alone. Isn't that the struggle that individuals dealing with depression and discouragement and loneliness and struggle at this time of year are working through? I feel so alone, I feel so down. Isn't that what we heard in that song at the beginning of this? And yet the promise of Emmanuel means God with us. He doesn't look at us as orphans just left to ourselves with no one caring for us, who cry out and have no one to attend and no one to help. God hears our cry and He has responded by sending a Savior who is Christ the Lord. God with us who has come to our rescue to save and heal us assures us that he understands us, that he considers us, that he loves us, that he will never leave us nor forsake us and therefore this is joyous news. The second occasion for joy is that the way to God has been made right. that God doesn't look at us and in turn even enter into this world and then live before us in the way in which he does to not then address our concerns and our needs and our condition. But he looks at us even though we're guilty in sin and he resolves that. He reconciles us to himself. Jesus Christ, the righteous, he who knew no sin became sin for us, that in him we might receive the righteousness of Christ. The joy at Christmas is that this little one who was born lived, suffered, died. And the significance of his death on the cross is that he satisfied the demands of a holy God, and he then appeased his wrath in order to secure forgiveness, eternal life, peace of conscience, and satisfaction for the soul. Jesus having come is significant for us, and it's an occasion of joy. And so I ask, do you know that joy of being made right with God through this Savior? The scriptures testify to us, Jesus himself assures you that he has satisfied this wrath. For Jesus, before he entered into his significant and extreme suffering, prayed to his father and he said, let this cup pass from me. And yet he said, thy will be done. And towards the end of his prayer, he then said, give me the strength of your spirit that I may go forward. And when he then hung on the cross, he being innocent, declared as such, and yet condemned as a criminal and crucified while he was on the cross, he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And towards the end of his time on earth, he then cried out, I thirst. And in his declaration of thirst, he said, I have drunk for the cup, and I can take more. And he also said, I have worked. And at the end of his time, he then said, it is finished. The debt has been paid. The demands have been satisfied. Reconciliation has been made. Joy is found in the truth that Christ, the Savior, the Lord has come. But there's more. There's more because it means that as we know of this one, we can endure. That the significance of having one who has overcome our condition and our sin, he then gives us strength and this is the message then also of joy. It affected the shepherds as they heard, they immediately went out and they told. They immediately went out and they shared and then they went back to work. They didn't build some monastery and separate themselves in order to continue to reflect on the message that they had heard and what they had observed and seen. They still engaged in their lives and they could do so because they had joy in God and they had strength because of the significance of this knowledge that had been brought to them. Listen to the words of the prophet Habakkuk. In chapter three, verse 17 and 18. Habakkuk was a prophet who had endured affliction with the people of God. And at the beginning of it, he basically says, yeah, God, you need to work. And in the end, he says, yeah, God, I need to trust you as you work. And he then says this, though the fig tree may not blossom nor fruit beyond the vines, though the labor of the olive may fail and the fields yield no food, though the flock may be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls. And that sounds pretty miserable, right? You've lost it all. You've lost your livelihood, you've lost your job, you've lost your food, you've lost your power, everything is gone. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, he says, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Not just simply I'll rejoice in God because he's there. Not because I'll rejoice in God because he providentially cares for me, although he does. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. Meaning that as we have been reconciled to God and understand the significance of Christ the Lord who is our mediator, there is strength to live and dwell in this no matter the circumstances. Because if God be for us and he reconciles us as his enemies, who then can be against us? But there's another joy. It's the joy of life. Listen to what the psalmist writes in Psalm 16, verse 11. If we have been brought near to God and we have been translated from darkness to light, from death to life, This life is not only now, but it is forevermore. And it means then that we have opportunity to walk in the fullness of the joy of our salvation in Christ as we walk before this holy God. And he welcomes us. We've been reconciled. We have peace. We walk favorably with him at all times, knowing that we nevermore will be thrown into condemnation or we will never be put into a position of desperation or a position of destruction and judgment, for that has all been overcome. And Jesus then assures us that as he has risen from the dead, so what lies ahead for us is that death then will be overcome in our life. We will be risen with new bodies to dwell forevermore with the Lord Jesus Christ in the new heavens and the new earth. And we have the hope of eternal glory because Christ the Lord was born. a Savior who has secured a position for us. But lastly, we also then know that Jesus will one day return. That as we live in this world as it is now, it won't always remain this way. And when Jesus comes back, He will come to take us then to be with Him forevermore. And as we would go with Him, we will be in a place where we will have intimacy and connection and relationship with Him. But before He grants us that, He will then come back to make all things right and all things new. He will demonstrate the rule of His righteousness, the display of His justice to overcome all evil and all ills in this created order in the nations as well as in this world. It means then that we look with Jesus with joy. We look with joy to what lies ahead so that even now, as we still feel the effects of sin in our flesh, as we still see the effects of sin in this world, as we still see the things that are occurring in this world with conflict and difficulty and everything else, we still can sing joy to the world for the Lord has come. and joy to the joy to the Lord for he will come again as king. True fulfillment then is seen in this message of joy. And it's a joyous message because it brings us good news. A Savior is born. True news that happened in this world. Astounding news. God then has addressed our sin and reconciled us to himself. And it then becomes useful. not only for our salvation, but for our day-to-day life of understanding who we are, how to live in this world, and how to go forward as God's people. Some of you may be dealing with a loss of joy today. Some of you may struggle at this time of year with the experience or the expression or the understanding of joy. You may be surrounded by people, but you feel that it's lacking and it's gone. Remember the message of the angel. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior. who is Christ the Lord. It's of good tidings of great joy. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, help us, we pray, to not live by our feelings or by our circumstances, to not walk by what we see, but instead to consider what you have done for us through Christ our Lord. Help us to know of the joy of salvation, the joy of fulfillment, the joy of belonging, the joy of connection, the joy of community, the joy of anticipation. And we ask this even as we pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.