Turn in your Bibles this morning to the gospel, not of John, but of Luke. And Luke chapter 2. pastor colleague of mine and his pattern come around September, October is always to give me a phone call and ask me, so what are you planning to do for your Christmas series this year? It's always a little bit of a challenge to know exactly what to do. I've also had feedback from you, which I do get from time to time. And as now I've been at this, I think this is my 20th Christmas series. And coming at it from different ways, one of the pieces of feedback that have come back to me, you know, I would just wish one year you would just go through the Christmas story. just go through those chapters and verses. Well, we're not going to do that in totality because we only have a short or brief period of time, my being away last week, and Christmas is right on our doorstep. But what I would like to do is go through Luke chapter 2. and looking at the Christmas story there and just seeing people being and beings being confronted by what C.S. Lewis called the grand miracle. the incarnation of the second person of the triune God, our Savior Jesus Christ. So we're going to see these responses being confronted by the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke chapter 2. If three weeks doesn't give you enough in the Christmas story, then here's an advertisement just going through my study in the book of Exodus. There is Christmas in Exodus chapter 30. So, well, it's actually epiphany, but you're going to get that if you come on December the 22nd in the evening, Lord willing. So that'll give you at least four messages that surround this grandest of miracles. And actually, I've been preparing as well to teach on the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. I was reading one writer who said, what miracle is more grand, that God would come to earth or that a man would go to heaven? I want you to be thinking about that over the next week as we anticipate talking a little bit about the Ascension. But here we're at God coming down to earth. I'm going to read Luke chapter 2 for you. A lot here, not just responses to the Lord Jesus Christ. There are several sermons to be preached here this morning and hopefully we'll find the Word of God doing what it always does, meeting us at particular time and in our particular need and situation. So Luke chapter 2 beginning to read at verse 1. 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, 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. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you, you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and 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 among those with whom he is pleased. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us. They went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. When they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning the child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them. Amen. Let's pray one more time together, shall we? Heavenly Father, these are very familiar words to us. We pray that that familiarity would not breed contempt. We ask once again that we would marvel afresh at your great love for us and the gift of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that we as your children would live those lives of response, of grateful, thankful, proclamation response. We have good news to tell. So we pray that you would move in our midst. by your spirit, even the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, to that and so many other God-glorifying and Christ-exalting ends. We pray for Jesus' sake. Amen. So like John, the gospel writer, Luke, who is the beloved physician and the companion of the Apostle Paul, he's writing to engender belief in his hearers. Now, he's writing particularly to one guy, but in God's providence, this is now part of Scripture, and it's written to all of you and all Christians who have lived over the last 2,000 years. That man's name was Theophilus. interesting name, lover of God. He wants to assure Theophilus, that, you know, he's done a good thing by putting his faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and through Jesus coming to life in relationship with the living God. I also should say that this is only one of two volumes that Luke wrote, the first volume being what Jesus Christ has done, and the second volume what Jesus Christ is now doing. So he shared a few things with Theophilus, the recipient of this letter in chapter 1. There is this... vision of a barren woman, Elizabeth, her husband, Zachariah, him going into the temple, doubting what the angel Gabriel has revealed to Elizabeth about the birth of the son, him being made mute, him actually speaking once the Baptist is born and naming him John. And of course, after that, we see also this angel Gabriel visiting Mary, Elizabeth's cousin, and announcing another miraculous birth, but far more miraculous than the birth of John the Baptist. This one would be birthed by the Holy Spirit of God, so that this one in Mary's womb would be Mary's Savior, the Holy One of God, and our Savior too, if we put our faith and trust in Him. So that brings us up to chapter 2. And you get some interesting detail. Luke is a historian as well. He loves to share detail. 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, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 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. Before we even get to the responses, there's a sermon here, isn't there? This is all about God, of course, although it doesn't actually read in that kind of way, does it? It's really focused on the powers of the world and how the powers of the world often affect little people, don't they? So we see that. We see God's sovereignty here, but we also see God's humility in it. So we get this decree from Caesar Augustus that they should be taxed, everybody going to his hometown to be registered for a taxation. We see Luke and his penchant to be a historian, to include little details, like this is what happened when Quirinius was governor of Syria. He does this so that Theophilus and we can be assured that this is historical reality. But if we just back up from this account, we notice some things. Well, Caesar was a big man at the time, wasn't he? He was the Roman emperor. He was the one who issued this decree that upset the lives of Joseph and Mary to travel 111 kilometers from Nazareth to the city of David. But in behind this Caesar, there's someone else who is ordering every single thing in our lives. for our good, for the extension of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the triune God, the Almighty, who superintended mighty Caesar's decree such that the holy couple ended up in Bethlehem of Judea at the precise time of Messiah's birth. And so was fulfilled what the prophet said. 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 from of old, from ancient days." Micah 5, 2. Joel Green, commentator, said this, As often in biblical narrative then, we find here a conjunction of intentions. On one level, Joseph's journey is the consequence of the almighty decree of Augustus. On another, even the universal rule of Augustus is conceived as subordinate to another purpose, the aim of God. One may call this ironic, as if Rome is made unwittingly to serve still a greater sovereign. But it is also prophetic, for it reveals the provisional nature of even Roman rule." So there's much in the way of practical application in these opening lines. Isn't there for us? Luke paints the activity of our God in these opening lines. Silently and powerfully moving behind the scenes, affecting the smallest of details, working everything after the counsel of his sovereign will for our good, which nothing in all the universe can thwart. And what a comfort it is for His children to know that He reigns supremely for us. Amen? All the supposed powers in our day, they're simply players in the story God has scripted and is unfolding. You know, I didn't like it much 25 years ago when it was announced that our company was being sold to another. I was quite comfortable there. And yet it was announced. And we were saddened by that because we would perhaps have to move and find another job and maybe even find another church. But in and through that, God was also doing something in my heart, Sonia's heart, my family's heart, such that eventually we ended up in Sarnia. God is always doing things. Always doing things. And it is hard when people move away, move to another locale. And even for us who are left behind, God is doing a thing. He's working in us that we might cleave more and more to Him. He is the God who is always working. Whole sermon there, isn't there? But another sermon in God's humility in this. Verses 6 and 7, swaddling claws, a manger, no place? Are you kidding me? This is the living God after all. You know, nativity scenes are great. Pageants with little kids, fantastic. I love them. They can all have a sanitizing effect on the Christmas story, can't they? They can rob us of considering how far God stooped to save us. Perhaps reading another translation will write us in our thinking. This is the Holman Christian Standard Bible, verse 7. Then she gave birth to her firstborn son and she wrapped him snugly in cloth and laid him in a feeding trough because there was no room for them at the lodging place. You might be saying, well, I don't get it. This is, after all, God in flesh. Why would God allow His Son to be born in such humble circumstances? Well, as I've already said, to show the depth of His love for us, but also to mark the way of righteousness, the way in which we would be saved, the way of Lord Jesus Christ, not only in His birth, but in His life, living in a sin-cursed world, the very world that He created good, and then subjecting himself to a cruel death on Calvary's cross for the sake of our sin. It also marks the way of righteousness for us. If we're going to come to the living God, we need to come humbly, dying to self, and receiving all that God has given to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, not an in, not an in, Green says, that guest room is the more plausible meaning here is urged by the realization that in peasant homes in the ancient Near East, family and animals slept in one enclosed space with the animals located on a lower level. Mary and Joseph then would have been the guests perhaps of family or friends But their home would have been so overcrowded that the baby was placed in a feeding trough so My apologies to those of you who have played the innkeeper the innkeeper is just like the little drummer boy Parampapum-pum gone should be out of our minds So what do we do with a story like this? We tell it We tell it, and that's what we see going on in this passage of scriptures. We see it in the proclamation of the angels, and we see it in the proclamation of the shepherds. Make known the same. That's kind of the big overarching point. If you remember nothing else, we've been called to do exactly the same. So let's consider, point number one, the proclamation of the angels, verses eight to 14. Let me reread verses eight and nine, and in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. That's a strange place for God to show up. Not the temple in Jerusalem, that glorious place, fashioned by Herod the Great. outside Jerusalem and the temple. Green comments again, God's glory normally associated with the temple is now manifest on a farm. Luke thus puts us on notice that the new world coming is of a radically different shape than the former one. You can meet this God anywhere through Jesus Christ. Verse 9, And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. Do you remember Zechariah's words, chapter 1, verses 78 and 79? Zechariah, the husband of Elizabeth, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. So that's all backdrop. And now we get the angel and the angels proclaiming. The angel first of all speaks, probably Gabriel, although we don't know this for certain, but probably him. And then we have the angels joining that angel in chorus. So the angel speaks first of all, verses 10 to 12, and the angel said to them, these shepherds out in the field, if you can imagine it, that dark night, tending shepherds, And boom, an angel. Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy. The angel needed to assure them indeed. Good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and this will be a sign for you. You'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. So make known the saying, that's the big point, but there's a lot of little points here that are very, very important. The first thing that really strikes me about what the angel says here is how different it is from what we would find on our daily newscasts and on the daily newsstand. For the angel, the angel proclaims good news, great joy for everyone. The daily news, bad news, great distress for some people. How counter the world is this news? Just remarking how our world just seems to be on fire all over the place. Good news, great joy for everybody. Second thing that we notice is how challenging this news would have been to every single Roman citizen. Unto you is born a Savior, Christ the Lord, This was a challenge, a direct challenge to the authority of Caesar. Here's writings about Caesar from the time. Divine, Augustus, Caesar, son of God. Imperator, which means commander, of land and sea. The benefactor and savior of the whole world. Or how about this one? It's hard to tell whether the birthday of the most divine Caesar is a matter of greater pleasure or benefit. We could justly hold it to be equivalent to the beginning of all things. And he has given a different aspect to the whole world which blindly would have embraced its own destruction if Caesar had not been born for the common benefit of all. Now, who are those statements rightly attributed to? Not Caesar, not just a man, even a great man, but only to this one born in Bethlehem. He alone is the Son of God. He alone is God's promised Messiah. He alone is the Savior of the world. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9 verse 6. The third thing that we notice, and I had never noticed this before, and this is where we get to do a little bit of biblical theology. Isn't it strange that he was born in a manger? Or is it that strange? You know, if you go back 700 years in God's plan of redemption, God had some things to say to His people. He was really angry with them. They had rejected Him, Him whom to know is sustenance and life. I want you to hear how he puts it, how he lays the charge. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib or manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand. You've rejected me as sustenance. And now, here, God in flesh, where is He placed? He's placed in the place of sustenance. And He's calling to each and every one of you to feed on Him. Feed on Him. Find your sustenance and your life in Him. So the angel speaks, not alone, The angels sing, verses 13 and 14, 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 among those with whom he is pleased. So all of a sudden the angel of the Lord is joined by a multitude of angels. God's royal entourage writes green. Imagine that scene now. If the angel wasn't startling enough, the entire sky is now lit up. And they make a proclamation. It is twofold in its direction, vertical and horizontal. Again, the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ is announced. Of course it's got to go vertical. Glory to God in the highest. Why does it have to be vertical? Because every conceivable blessing that we have, and this the chiefest of all blessings, comes from the Father of heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows. From God flows every conceivable blessing, so to God goes every conceivable praise. But it's also horizontal and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. So peace is what we need, and it's not just talking about peace between human beings, although that does come about as sort of a secondary blessing, not in totality in this gospel age, but in the age to come. But the peace that is being spoken of here is peace with the living God. That's what everybody needs, peace with Him. How can I be reconciled to a holy God, one who is a sinner? How can I get out from under God's just condemnation? Well, it is through this Jesus. Through this one. Peace for those whom God is pleased with. Now that's an invitation, isn't it? Well, who is God pleased with? He is pleased with the one who puts his faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's an invitation. Are you marking it this morning? The Savior has been born. The angels make known the saying. He is Christ the Lord. All glory be to God on high. Reconciliation with God has come in the person of this Jesus for all who put their trust in Him. So two applications here. Put your trust in Him. And if you're a believer who has put your trust in Him, make known the saying to others. The angels are excited about this, aren't they? Peter says, angels long to look into these things. 1 Peter 1, 12. The angels have an interest in it indeed, but they don't have a saving interest in what's going on here. We do. Shouldn't we, like them, tell this good news? May God help us so to do. We've got the proclamation now of the shepherds, verses 15 to 20. Oh, everything changed for them. Everything changed for them. I'm not saying that they were no longer shepherds. They're just shepherds with a purpose now. You identify with that? You're not just a person in the plant. You're not just a person in the field. You're not just a kid at school. You're not just a retiree. You may be all those things at a level, but now you are those people with a purpose. You're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the grandest of all purposes. And the shepherds, they have come. to saving realization of this. We read verses 15 and 16, and when the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds went about shepherding. Still, no, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. The angels depart the scene. Shepherds are left to themselves, and having been told this glorious message and having been given an accompanying sign, they, like Mary before them in chapter 1, verse 39, enter fully, this is it, enter fully into what God is doing. They enter fully into what God is doing. Yeah, that's a challenge to us, isn't it? Let's just stop here a moment before we see their telling and responses to their telling. A few things here. God visits shepherds, not Caesar or Quirinius. One writer said, as the recipients of a divine visitation, the shepherds are highly esteemed in the world of the birth narrative. This is not an esteem shared by the rulers of chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. Their power is relativized, and they receive no news of divine intervention. Good news comes to peasants, not rulers. The lowly are lifted up. When I thought about that, that's so true, isn't it? Consider your calling, brothers and sisters. Not many of you are wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 1 Corinthians 1, 26-29. This is how God rules. It's not that he never saves kings or prime ministers or presidents or rulers. He does indeed. But often in his plan of redemption, we see him going after those who are lowly and indeed lowly of heart. The second thing that I want us to notice here, just before we get to their response of telling and responses to that response, God here visits the shepherds and not Joseph and Mary again, at least not directly. Indirectly he does. Green says, this portends or anticipates the considerable ramifications of this birth which cannot be conceived as a family affair and may also anticipate the redefinition of family in Jesus' ministry. To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." John 1, 12 to 13. Thirdly, God visits the shepherds, and this shouldn't surprise us if we're familiar with our Old Testament scriptures, because God often likens himself to what? A shepherd. He likened David to a shepherd. He likens David's son to a shepherd. Not surprising that he would proclaim this news to shepherds, this one of a shepherd king. Now, verse 17. When they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. So they take leave of the field, have no idea what happened to their sheep, But they take leave of them, they go to Bethlehem. I don't know how long it took them, but they were persistent enough to find them. And they find them, and when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. What saying? Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those whom God favor rests. That's the saying that they make known. It was made known to them, they make it known to others. Who are the others here that they make it known to? In the immediate context, who are they making it known to? Now, obviously, if they're knocking on doors, they're making it known to everybody. But once they arrive at their destination, who are they making it known to? Joseph and Mary. Joseph and Mary need to hear the message of the gospel again and again. Christians need to hear the gospel again and again. Yes, says John Calvin, because we are idol factories all the time. We are unbelievers all the time. We need to hear the gospel every single day of the week. So too, Joseph and Mary, who needed this Jesus, who is now lying before them in a manger. And the shepherds proclaimed to them this good news of great joy, which shall be for all the people. So they tell as well. We'll come back to that. But you get these responses here. There are three. There is wondering, there's pondering, and then there is praising. Wondering, pondering, praising. Those three things. Wondering. All who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. I have to say, all these responses are good at a level But it's the last one that really proves that the response is a saving response, okay? Because you can wonder at a thing and not be saved. That happened all the time in Jesus' ministry. And that's what happens first of all. They marveled at what was said. It falls short of belief. Green says again, although not characterized as necessarily negative in tone, amazement is not tantamount to faith and is no guarantee that a correct understanding of the extraordinary has or will be reached. So they wondered. That's good at a level, but it's not saving good. What about pondering? Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. Now Mary at this point, believer, She's treasuring up all these things. Notice that key word that we find in terms of themes throughout the scripture. We are ones who treasure this word about the living God and the living God himself. She treasures up all these things and she ponders them in her heart. But I just want to focus on this idea of pondering. because I think some people are really trapped in this. They kind of marvel at the message when they first hear about it, and then they think about it, and that's all they do, and they think that will be availing when they stand before God. I know people like this, who will come before the Lord God, and they'll say, well, I was thinking about it, kind of trying to figure it all out. Not good enough. The word ponder here is to converse with oneself. It's a good thing to do when one hears the gospel message. It's good to meditate and reflect on what has been said, but it falls short of a believing response. The believing response is found in verse 20. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them. That's the believing response. It's one that fully appropriates the message one has heard. So what does that look like? It doesn't look like hiding our light under a bushel. Oh, kids, well done. No. It doesn't look like sequestering that to ourselves. It doesn't look like isolating oneself in a monastery. Or it doesn't look like going about the regular stuff of shepherding or of life with the only difference being now that you've got fire insurance in your pocket. It looks like getting out there, doing the regular stuff of life, the stuff of your present calling, but engaging in all that as one who has come to life. Indeed, eternal life and relationship with God. Indeed, it is a life that is full of praise. Not just happening on a Sunday or midweek meeting or whatever at a Bible study. It's happening all the time with Christians. We are a praising people. That is proof positive of a believing response. which has come about by the grace of our great God. So the shepherds make Nome the same. The people wondered, pondered, and got out there glorifying and praising God. Application, what's your response to the saying this day? Again, wondering, pondering, not enough. A saving response to the gospel always, always, always issues in worship of the one true and living God. Always. Backing up, big point, in terms of the conclusion, make known the saying. I understand that there are different gifts in the church. Some are gifted to be evangelists, but we're all called to evangelize, every single one of us. That is found out in the Holy Scriptures. Some are gifted to it, some we struggle with it, but we still have this message to tell. Your moms and dads right now, you've got a very wonderful trust with your children in the home. It's so short. Make known the saying to your kids. Make it known by example. Make it known in words. Make it known every single day. You're in an awful place in your work environment right now. Your boss is godless. All your colleagues can do is just talk about the stuff of the world and debauch stuff at that. The depravity that is out there, make known the same. In your life, how you live, how you work with integrity, such that when they see you, they will ask you about the hope that is in you. You who are contemplating your retirement years or are in your retirement years, it's not all about, as John Piper said, picking up seashells at the beach or about your summer home or your retirement plan. Make known the thing. There's no retirement for the Christian. Amen? No retirement for the Christian. Now that's one application to close, but there's another application as well. Make known the saying to yourself. You need to make it known to yourself every single day. Pick up the Word of the Living God. Ask the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ to open up your eyes to see wonderful things in your law. Be encouraged. Be encouraged. Make known the saying. If you are not hearing about that love for you in the Lord Jesus Christ, You are not going to live a life of love for Him in making known the saying. So my prayer in this Christmas season is that each of us would do this. Make known the saying to others and to ourselves that everybody, everybody that we come into contact with truly, truly have a Merry Christmas. Amen. Let's pray. And now, Heavenly Father, we get to move on in that story. We get to reflect on where all this led. Jesus gaining all righteousness through His life and through His death on the cross. We get to participate in an ordinance that not only Not only brings us to that point in the story, but it also brings us to the finishing point in the story. Jesus Christ, the resurrected Jesus Christ, who's reigning at God's right hand right now, ascended on high, coming back and making our salvation complete. And so in these moments, help us to make known the saying, to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ until he comes. Bless us as we enter in, for Jesus' sake, amen.