The Birth of Jesus

say Merry Christmas to you and also just let you know we are going to have the children in service with us today and so it's not going to though we just sang silent night it is not going to be a silent morning and so just be aware of that all right children they're they're not distractions they are Joys and they are gifts to us and uh so we are grateful to have them in here um as I also talk I'm going to have uh ransford if you would go in the back and just kind of Lo me down a little bit that would be great

because I I know I'm loud and so I know you think I'm loud right now too uh but for the rest of us if you could go ahead and grab your Bibles open them up we're going to be in Luke chapter 1 today Luke chapter 1 is where we're going to be and said it is a merry Christmas for us um because it is our way of saying happy birthday to Jesus Christmas is the celebration of his birth it's the celebration of the Christ child the Chris Kindle as we say and as we have already discussed the past four weeks in our series called alien

Advent we've been looking at this Stranger In A Manger we've been looking at this this baby who is not of this world but was rather sent to this world and so to us there is something foreign about him there's something uh different about him there's something kind of sojourning about him because this was not his home but rather he was sent and left his home to come and so we wanted to look at why who is this person who is this baby that was born 2,000 years ago that has uh changed the fabric of our history for the last 2,000 years who has had more

songs written about him books written about him um who has had more debates over this idea of who he is and what he is and the message that he has come and brought and so so much so that over the last 2,000 years um I mean there have been wars fought over this child and and up to this day again a a a spreading of a Ministry a kingdom if you will that is all about this child and so we wanted to take this time during Advent to figure out who this alien is to us and ultimately see whether or not it's a message and

an identity a person that we are to give our whole lives to that we are to believe in that we are to trust in that we are to find Our Hope in in who he was and so what we looked at was simply this this message that came from the angel Gabriel to Mary and Joseph and just let them kind of know hey this is what's going to be happening and then the message that that they even mentioned in that was that this child would be the son of the most high that he would uh take up the Throne of his father David that he

would be the savior of the world uh that this this miracle would happen in a a virgin birth that has never happened before and and so we looked at each of those Concepts to figure out not only who this child is but what this child is and what we kind of came away with is just looking at the idea that that he is different than anything that has ever been born on Earth but at the same time there is something that is same in order to be able to relate with us in order to be able to be of us as well and so what

we looked at was the idea of him being the son of the most high a title given to him that you see here in a moment when I read it but son of the most high is a title given that is not something that originates from here but rather it shows who this baby is and where this baby comes from but also what this baby is that this baby is the son of the god that has existed for eternity past and so unlike other religions that say when Jesus was born he was this created being by God via the Virgin birth that was not the

origin of Jesus that was not the beginning of Jesus but rather it was the continuation of the son of the most high from eternity past now entering into or being written into our story our history so he exists as he exists as the son of the most high but then at the same time he had he had to also be born as a man he had to be of us in order to be able to redeem people in order to be able to say that he is a high priest that sympathizes in every way that that we have experienced in this life and so he

is also considered son of man or son of Mary and so he has been given that role and that title and that's what we looked at this this miracle of the Virgin birth because if we were to receive that information that Mary received we'd ask the same question I know how this works I know how these children come into this this existence um how's this going to happen since I'm a virgin like what how's this going to work without Joseph thinking something else is happening or something else is going on which Joseph did think and he you know was going to go and divorce her

privately but yet the Lord came to him as well and said don't divorce her what is happening is Supernatural what is happening has never happened before but the holy spirit is going to overshadow Mary he's going to envelop her in a way and there's going to be a creation of the god man the god child that has never happened before and and we use some different language and how we looked at that based on how God created Adam when he first took of Earth and then breathed his Spirit into Adam it's a very unique and and similar way where he took Mary that is of

Earth but then breathed into the child the continuation of the son of the most high the second person of the Trinity and so that was the merging and there's a there's a unique theological term we give to that it's hypostatic Union but it is just the merging of God and man to where God came in and also formed a man and then United them two together in the womb of Mary and he became the God man 100% God and 100% man and then last week as we kind of dove into it we talked about just the reality of of why like why did he come

and it was to be the Savior for us and we're going to dive a little bit more into that today as well because I want to just read kind of a tradition that we do when we come to Christmas whether it's Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and we're celebrating I just want to read God's account God's word regarding the story of his son coming from Heaven being born to Mary on Earth and then the ultimate reason of why he came and the reason why I want to read it just from the scriptures is because we believe the Bible is unlike any other written Testament or

written book that exist in our history because we believe that it was God who inspired it who wrote it who thought it and who kept it inherent infallible without having any of us as humans to be able to come in and and thwart it in any way and one of the reasons why we know that and can believe that and can trust that is because the Bible is 66 books written over a span of 1500 years by over 40 authors and they're all pointing to the same thing it's hard enough to get two people if you've ever co-written anything or you've ever tried to corroborate

a story between two people and you're trying to get them to agree on something that's hard enough but getting 40 different people over span of over 1500 years from different cultures pointing to the same story is ultimately a way of us being able to see that is God's story and that it is inspired by him and this is the the culmination of those two realities those those 66 books coming together hinges on this one individual the birth of Jesus Christ and then his life his death and his resurrection it's all about him and so Luke 1 26-33 we're going to start there and then I'll

just kind of keep reading and guide you through it because we'll jump over to as well because I want you to be able to see all of the context around this this birth and so we're actually going to be hitting about the first two years of Jesus's life as we read through this so not not all of this literally just took place in the manger it kind of jumps around a little bit um for example like the the Magi did not go to the manger okay so if you've got the nativity scene you need to put the Magi across the room um because they come

later all right they come later but starting in verse 26 here we go in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the House of David and the virgin's name was Mary and he came to her and he said Greetings oh favored one the Lord is with you but she was greatly troubled at the saying and Tred to discern what sort of greeting this might be and the angel said to Hero not be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God and behold you

will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus he will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give to him the Throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his King om there will be no end picking up in Chapter 2 in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered this was the first registration when cinius 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 in lineage of David to be registered with Mary his betroth 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 end and in the same region where the Shepherds out were 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 and 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 and they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger and when they saw it they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child and all who heard it wondered at what the Shepherds told them but Mary treasured up all these things and 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 and at the end of eight days when he was circumcised he was called Jesus the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb verse 22 and when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the the Lord as it is written in the law of the Lord every male who first opens the womb Shall be Called holy to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said

in the law of the Lord a pair of turtle does or two young pigeons now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and this was and he was righteous and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ and he came in the spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the Child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law he took him up in his arms and blessed

God and said Lord now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of All Peoples a light for Revelation to the Gentiles and for Glory to your People Israel and his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother behold this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your own soul also so that thoughts from many hearts may be

revealed now I'm going to jump over to Matthew 2 where this kind of turns in when he went to the temple there that was around day 40 of his life this is kind of now in that in between stage of him being 40 up to uh 40 years 40 days old up to about two years old Matthew chapter 2 verse one now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king behold wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying where is he who has been born King of the Jews for we saw his star when it Rose and

have come to worship him when Herod the king heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born they told him in Bethlehem of Judea for so it is written by the prophet and you oh Bethlehem in the land of Judah are by no means least among among the rulers of Judah for from you shall come a ruler who will Shepherd My People Israel then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertain from them what time the star had appeared and he sent them

to Bethlehem saying go and search diligently for the child and when you have found him bring me word that I too may come and worship him after listening to the king they went on their way and behold the star that had the star that they had seen when it Rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was when they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshiped him then opening their Treasures they offered him gifts gold and frankincense and

myr and being warned in a dream not to return to Herod they departed to their own country by by another way now when they had departed behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said rise take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him and he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the day of Herod this was so this was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet

out of Egypt I called my son then Herod when he saw that it had been tricked by the wise men he became Furious and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men then was then was fulfilled what was spoke by the Prophet Jeremiah a voice was heard in Rama we weeping and Loud lamentation Rachel weeping for her children she refused to be comforted because they are no more but when Herod died behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a

dream to Joseph in Egypt saying rise take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel for those who sought the child's life are dead and he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel but when he heard that AR was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod he was afraid to go there and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee and he went and lived in a city called Nazareth so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled that he would be called a Nazarene this

then returns us back to Luke 2 picking up in verse 39 where it picks up at the same place in the story and when they had performed everything according according to the law of the Lord they returned into Galilee to their own town of Nazareth and the child grew and became strong filled with wisdom and the favor of God was upon him let's pray father we thank you so much for your word your story that you have written for us your story to let us in on this ultimate plan this ultimate plan that you have known from the beginning that even when you created us

you knew we would fall in your sovereignty in your your omniscience and your omnip omnipotence you you knew everything and so when we fall you were not surprised and you gave the Proto evangelon the First Gospel to The Serpent and to Mary when you told us that through her offspring would come one that would crush the head of the serpent but in so doing the serpent would bruise his heel that promise has been echoed throughout all of the Old Testament in all of the characters and the symbols and the typology that point to you as Paul says in Colossians these were just Shadows but the

substance belongs to this child Christ and so we thank you Father that you have written the story that you were not surprised by our sin and that you had a plan all along to bring us back into reconciliation with you to bring us back into relationship with you and it was going to come through you you had to intervene you had to step in and you did it by sending your own son Jesus and this story that we just read is not just some mythological story that is made up to sound good but rather is true as CS Lewis once said this is the true

myth the only one that actually happened and happened in this way and so as we talk about this for the next 20 minutes or so Lord I just ask that you would illuminate our hearts and our minds to the beauty of this truth and that your Holy Spirit would just lead us to Marvel at the work that you have accomplished in the work of your son Jesus and what he is here to do for us as he has stepped out of Heaven to come to Earth so that he might allow us to step out of Earth and come to heaven we thank you for all

that you have done it's in your name we pray amen now I read a lot and I know most of us who hear me preach each week you're thinking he could preach a lot as well and so uh just because I read a lot does not mean I'm going to go through and unpack it verse by verse like I normally do but there are a lot of things thank you Bryce there are a lot of things in this that we can talk about but in all honesty what I want to just Center our attention on is one verse within it now I read the whole

thing because I wanted you to have some context clues and I wanted you to hear some character in scripture and some things that happened um in the in the story of it but the central component is I believe Luke 2 verse 11 which says to us for unto you is Born This Day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the lord I believe the birth announcement is also kind of tipping its hat to this child's obituary in all honesty I I think that this announcement isn't just drawing attention to a miraculous event that has happened in our human history which I believe

it is and as you heard me say a couple of weeks ago if if we were if there was a hall of fame for miraculous or just Monumental events in all of our human history I think there are going to be two events that are going to be at the top considered the goats the greatest of all time and that's going to be the birth of Jesus Christ the resurrection of Jesus Christ I think those are two events that we from a mere human U perspective and even from a scientific perspective are going to look at those dumbfounded like we're going to look at those

and say there's no way we can figure out from a scientific physical tangible perspective how this was pulled off we don't know and therefore they are the greatest things to have ever happened in our physical material world it's alien to us in that that regard but I believe they are connected I believe they are connected I believe just like I mentioned kind of in the prayer is that the events of the Old Testament as as Paul says in Colossians are shadows they they're pointing forward to a greater thing that is going to happen in the person of Jesus Christ actually also with this story of

the birth of Jesus Christ The Narrative of Jesus Christ in his birth I also believe is a shadow I also believe that it is a typology of a greater event that is going to happen which is the life death and resurrection of Jesus I think it's pointing to it and the reason why I say that and bring that up is because I want to just show you if we were to kind of parallel the two events of the birth of Jesus and the death of Jesus it actually shows you that the birth of Jesus is all about the death of Jesus it's all about accomplishing

something for us where you can't can't just look at this thing and say it was miraculous it was amazing it was awesome it's never happened before and then never get to the death of Jesus because if you just look at this event and say it was miraculous and God stepped out of heaven and allowed his son to be born and then he lived a beautiful life but then just died and never actually get to the resurrection then this doesn't matter and actually then if you never get to the resurrection shows that this is actually just disproven it didn't happen it didn't happen if it wasn't

also connected to the resurrection so I want to that and the way that I'm going to show you is I'm not go back and reference each passage in what I've already read but rather just give you some references of the passages that are connected to it in the resurrection and so the way I'm going to do that is I'm going to say Christmas this is what we're looking at and then Easter this is the connection to it and so just beginning it off with when we look at Christmas one of the phrases that we mentioned or looked at in Luke 2 was the fact that

Caesar Augustus issued a decree now Caesar Augustus one of the first Roman emperors of the Roman Empire incredible um world leader renowned for what he accomplished doesn't even realize that he's a pawn in God's sovereignty doesn't even realize it but what God did and and and saw fit as we'll see down here in a minute when it was the right time to send his son to the world he ordained and orchestrated the whole thing to happen and so Caesar Augustus is probably in his own mind thinking you know what a good idea would be is to make sure that I have a count for everyone

who's under my authority right now I because again there you know sometimes Earthly leaders have some control issues he wants to kind of how do you control that well the only only way you control that is from a military perspective and how you increase your military you got to prove something that you need military in order to be able to take care of all your people but really at the end of the day it's just a a guise for wanting to have control and so he is going to have a good idea let's just figure out how many people we have and so let's do

a census not realizing that Jesus now or uh in the womb of Mary being in Nazareth is is thinking there's got to be a fulfillment here like as we know according to scripture he's got to be born in the city of David he's got to be born in Bethlehem so this decree that gets issued out from Caesar Augustus a Roman Empire Roman official who is not connected to the Lord who is not following God who is not Jewish in any way has no idea what he is doing is actually fulfilling a prophecy of the birth of Jesus to be born we also have Roman officials

at Easter we have Pontius Pilate at that time the emperor didn't really know what was going on in Jerusalem and and kind of the turmoil that was going on there but we do have Roman officials that are in play and Roman officials with Pontius Pilate at the time literally kind of signing off on the execution of Jesus thinking I'm just trying to keep the people at Bay I'm trying to keep control I'm trying to keep Authority in in check and I'm just trying to make sure that they're not going to Riot and that they're not going to go nuts here and so let's just give

Jesus over he's like I don't find any fault in him but you know what if y'all want to kill him then y'all go ahead and do that again he's thinking this is a good choice this is a good idea not realizing that he is also just another Pawn in God's ordination and his plan his orchestration of what he is accomplishing another thing that we see is that They Come From Galilee in order to be able to come to the city of David at the same time with Easter where did the predominance of Jesus's Ministry take place in Galilee so he's leaving Galilee and he's coming

to Jerusalem in order to have the crucifixion we see that in Luke 19 in the Christmas narrative we have a Mary all right we have a Mary at Easter also in Luke 24 we have multiple Marys all right so Mary's multiplying herself okay so we have Mary Magdalene we have Mary the mother of Jesus we have Mary uh the mother of the sons of zebede James and John we we have multiple Marys that are at play there we also have Joseph the adopted father in the Christmas narrative now most people are thinking where's Joseph at Easter and we don't know where Joseph is most theologians

and Scholars and historians believe that he died somewhere along the lines of that silent time between Jesus being 12 and Jesus being 30 years old we we we know nothing about what happened with Jesus during that time time as far as according to scriptures go um but they just believe Joseph probably passed away sometime during that well to just kind of keep the narratives connected we do end up having a Joseph Joseph of Aria in Luke 2350 Joseph comes and and where Joseph the adopted father was a provider we also have another provider in the form of Joseph of Aria when Jesus needs to have

uh a place to uh not only die be buried Joseph steps in and provides his own tomb a wealthy tomb in order for Jesus to be buried in in our narrative we have swaddling cloths at Christmas we also have linen cloths both in which Jesus is wrapped in we also have a virgin womb well just as I mentioned with Joseph A verus tomb we have a virgin tomb it was a tomb that was never used before nobody resided in that before we have um in the Christmas narrative there are spices when the wise men come and they provide the spices in our other in Easter

we have also have spices that the women prepare and are taking to the Tomb in order to conduct some rituals there we have messenger angels with have messenger Angels literally just scattered all over this entire narrative both of them all right anytime people are like are you sure Angel and they just step in and they're like here yes yes we are sure stay on track stay focused believe us Luke 24:4 we see again messenger Angels at Easter as well I I Love Actually the Angels at the resurrection because the people are just kind of standing there again dumbfounded looking up like what and the angels

are like what are you doing like just stop looking around okay we told you he was going to raise like like stop like it happened so go do something we see the invitation at both of them we see the invitation of the come and see the newborn child that was given to the Shepherds at in Easter we see the come and see the reborn Christ come and see the resurrected Christ we see that in Luke 24:12 we see in Christmas narrative Simeon which is also another just spelling variation of Simon but we see um him being the first one that the child is revealed to

when it comes to taking him to the temple well we also see in the Eastern narrative in Luke 24:34 there's this one little moment that happens that's mentioned that a lot of people actually don't talk about Peter had his denial and he denied Jesus three times and then most people jump immediately to uh Peter going fishing and then Jesus bringing him to um the shore and then fixing him breakfast and asking him the three questions do you love me do you love me do you love me feed my sheep feed my sheep feed my sheep but that's not not the first time Jesus interacts with

Peter there's these couple of obscure passages where it literally just says and the Lord appeared to Simon the Lord revealed himself to Simon we see that in in 1 Corinthians 15:20 where it's just giving kind of the order of events of of um the Lord appearing after his resurrection and in those order of events there is one specifically where it says he just appeared and revealed himself in a special way to Peter to Peter which is why I actually then think when he gets to the shore and and builds that breakfast for him that they already had a private conversation and so when Jesus is

asking them three times uh do you love me do you love me Peter's like we talked about it you know that I love you but I don't think it was just for Peter I think it was for the rest of the disciples to see this public affirm and this public confession of Peter that I do love him and that I am going to feed the sheep and so they also are able to hold Peter accountable for that when he begins his ministry with the church and then we also have um the first born of Mary mentioned in the text and then in first again 1

Corinthians 15:20 we see that Christ is the first fruit of the church the first born of this new kingdom that is being ushered in and so what the New Testament does is it connects the Incarnation of God with the salvation of man like that's what's happening and the uniqueness of God coming to man is also showing us and revealing to us the uniqueness of man being able to come to God they're all interwoven and so to kind of the way that you can look at it is not just kind of having them side by side to one another and saying yes this looks like this

this looks like this but really rather that they're interwoven so to pull on one is to tug on the other they're so connected that it it it draws in this idea of the god man being connected his Incarnation to us is so connected to his reconciliation of us is that you can't have one without the other and so you cannot have Resurrection without virgin birth and you cannot have virgin birth that does not point to Resurrection and so the last parallel that I want to show you is I want to read for you Galatians 43-7 um that kind of just throws in the theology behind

what is going on in this moment so this is Paul now writing to a church in galatia to the people in galatia to the churches there and he's just kind of um summing up what I've just kind of laid out in that parallel and that interwoven connectedness the Apostle Paul is just drawing those together in about four four or five verses he says this in Galatians 4 3-7 in the same way we also when we were children we were enslaved to the elementary P principles of the world that can also be translated in the original language as Elemental spirits of the world and what that

is ultimately saying is that there there are two things that enslave us the elementary principles of the world is our flesh it's what connects us to the world it's what makes us physical and tangible and what that is is that we are we are born as humans born physically born tangible mother and father and we are under the elemental principles of our headship which is Adam so because Adam and Eve sinned that sin spread to all humanity and so we are enslaved to that Elemental principle of the world at the same time there are also a separate thing going on mental spirits of the world

and that's talking about the Fallen kind of demonic realm within the world that is also seeking to enslave us or ens snare us or entangle US or to deceive us to ultimately keep us from ever seeing the truth of Jesus Christ and so those two things are always going to be happening your own sin that you're born with and inherited from the elemental principles of the world is entangling you enslaving you and you're bound to it and then at the same time as you're living and navigating through your life there are going to be moments where the gospel message is going to be spreading and

you might interact with it you might hear it or you might have a friend or someone who's in relationship with you that wants to share it with you well guess who doesn't want you to hear it and doesn't want you to have it are those who are going to perish for eternity who have fallen out of Earth or fallen out of heaven and are here just wreaking havoc and chaos and that's the element mental spirits of the world the Demonic realm who as and and one of the best ways to kind of read in a more of a fictional way how they operate is the

book screw tape Letters by CS Lewis it's his perspective of uh one demon kind of discipling his nephew and the strategies they use in order to keep people from ever seeing and knowing Jesus Christ and so that's going on in our world and so what Paul is saying here is hey uh when we were children like this is what we were succumb to this is what we were under is not only our own sin but the deception of the world around us so then verse four when the fullness of time had come so again God's looking at right around 4 BC to 2 BC somewhere

in that range God saying Now's the Time like the fullness of time has come now I'm going to exact my plan that I've always had going on now is the time when the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as Sons so what he's saying there is is he came to be born in the same way that we are born now his is a little unique obviously because of the overshadowing of the holy spirit so he doesn't have Earth Earthly father

like what we do but he was still born of man of mankind in order to be a man to be able to redeem those who are under the law which just means that the law is telling us how bad we are it it's telling us hey you're under this category of Elemental Elemental principles of the world Elemental spirits of the world as well like you're under this category this umbrella that's referred to as the domain of Darkness as Colossians 1 says you you're stuck there there's no exit there's no way out you can't fumble your way out you can't earn your way out you can't

good your way out you can't like you can't uh achieve some other level of divinity to get yourself out like that was the whole reason for our developing of Greek mythology or other world religions is um as we're kind of just swimming around the domain of Darkness we don't want to wait on the fullness of time we're just going to try to figure it out our own way and we're going to borrow some of those truths that we've learned about the creative order of the world and the way God did things we're going to borrow from that we're going to create our own things and

then and then at the same time not only are we going to create our own things left to our own devices we have that ability at the same time the Demonic world I 100% believe are also influencing that and saying that's a good idea it's a good idea take that Glory that you're supposed to attribute to God create some kind of little Graven image and put his glory on on that image and begin worshiping that thing not only that put that and personify it into a person make him a leader make them a king make them whatever you want to make them and then ascribe

all the glory to them which coming back to the Luke 2 ver 11 which says Christ is Lord comes in the context of in that day and age guess who they thought Lord was Caesar they believe Caesar was some type of demigod who had come to earth or or was uh kind of United again borrowing from the Lord United in a way where he's like half God half man so we now say Caesar is Lord so in this context Jesus is coming into the scene and being countercultural to what their culture is establishing which is we ascribe all glory and worship to Caesar Caesar is

Lord Caesar is our King Caesar is our provider Caesar is our Lord Caesar is our our greatness everything is about Caesar put his face on the coin everything is about him and so this baby the angel is saying no no no no no God wants his glory back Christ is Lord and when you say that it's not going to go well for you but you are to say it you are to say it to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoption as Sons God sent his son so that we might also become sons and daughters and then verse six

because you are Sons God has sent the spirit of his son into your hearts crying ABA father because what were we crying before that we were not crying ABA father we were crying Caesar as Lord we're crying man as Lord we're we're crying out man is Sovereign we're crying out anything and everything that is of the world of the tangible of the material is going to provide the satisfaction that we're so longing for and so we're ascribing it to it we're giving it to it and we're going all out on it and he's saying here no no no no no you're always going to fall

short in that because creation was never meant to provide for you the satisfaction that only the Creator can provide for you so in the Garden of Eden for example they were created to Simply enjoy God as Creator now when you're enjoying God as Creator you also get to enjoy all of his stuff and that's just the most simple way of saying all of his creation and all of his ideas and so not only do you get to enjoy relationship you get to enjoy food you get to enjoy drink you get to enjoy sex you get to enjoy entertainment you get to enjoy all of those

things but the en enjoyment of creation is always meant to go past Creation in order to ascribe glory to God and saying God you thought of it you created it you made man and woman you made food you made made art you made Beauty you made all of these things that we can look at and we just call it the book of nature that is declaring the beautiful and excellencies of God and so we're looking at all of it and if we look at it and never get to God then guess what we start worshiping creation and then we fall and that's exactly what Adam

and Eve did is they stopped looking at God the serpent came in and deceived them and said look at creation and if you go after creation guess what you get to become God you get to be your own God you get to be your own mythology you get to be your own story you you get to do whatever you want to do and obviously that doesn't work well for us and so as soon as we fell and we began lowering the glory of God onto creation God has in his plan been waiting patiently for the fullness of time in order to be able to come

in and provide a way for us to go from ascribing Glory To Creation to then ascribing Glory back to God and the way that he does that is through God himself coming to earn everything for us in living out creation enjoying relationship enjoying drink enjoying food now he didn't enjoy sex um but we'll we'll kind of there's a way that you can talk about that theologically that I'm not going to in the room right now with the children but there's a way that is called the consummation of Christ and the church in the end when like who are we considered in scripture the bride of

Christ who is he the groom and so so we are there is a consummation in which there is an enjoyment of Christ in the culmination of all things that isn't necessarily like what we would deem sex but the intimacy behind it and the union behind it is still there it's still there it's still his idea and so all of that is going to happen and it comes because God sent his son and so because you are Sons God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying now ABA father we now have the ability to take that Glory that we're ascribing to creation

and we can now attribute it back to the father and so you are no longer a slave you're no longer a slave but a son and if a son then an heir through God he reverses everything so where we tried to take all of his stuff we then lost all of it and we lost relationship with him and then now through his son Jesus and what he's earning for us not only do we get him back but we also get all the stuff that comes with it he is a good good God and so the last parallel that I want to make between Christmas and

Easter is the pain and the suffering we experience before the joy in celebration I believe it was in day 20 of the Advent devotional that talked about this as well um you can imagine what Mary experienced on the night of Jesus's birth I mean think about it she's promised to deliver the new king and savior of the world who is coming from heaven and is the Son of God if I'm marry I'm thinking I'm gonna have the best treatment I'm gonna have the best doctor I'm G have the best hospital I'm gonna have the I mean it's it's God's son the holy spirit said it's

God's son I mean he he owns a cattle on a Thousand Hills right which means he owns and possesses all resources like Limitless resources so according to that I'm thinking uh it's going to be a very smooth labor and delivery yet Mary finds herself likely worried about where they are going to sleep worried about whether or not she's going to deliver this baby in a healthy place beginning to proc uh beginning the process of Labor as well when they arrive in Bethlehem which again I haven't personally experienced but I've witnessed it three times and it's not comfortable to say the least and the women here

are like you could have gone way deeper than that like it's it's awful um Betsy child's Howard says on our hardest days it's not to feel God's love it's not easy to feel God's love we may feel pain we may feel doubt confusion or despair because we cannot understand what God is doing when our circumstances get worse instead of better we may question whether God loves us I mean when they couldn't find a place and they end up Landing in a Manger I can just imagine in that moment they're thinking did the angel deceive us like was did we miss something here I don't know

if Mary questioned God that night in Bethlehem as she pushed through contractions but I do know she was Experiencing God God's love in a way exponentially deeper than anything that could ever be felt she was giving birth to the Savior who would save her from her sins and what did that experience feel like it was painful it was painful it was difficult through this humble and humiliating circumstance Dreadful pain and weary experience when Mary held Jesus In Her Arms For the First Time The Suffering was all worth it was all worth it because of the joy she received in that moment it's why Psalms um

30:5 says reaping May t for the night but joy comes in morning as Betsy child's Howard goes on to say as Mary gave birth to Jesus she was feeling the labor pains that came into the world through the curse of sin Genesis 3:16 but the baby she bore would reverse the curse so that there would one day be no more tears of pain I mean again talking about those parallels those interwoven Fabrics of the story of God this is why I believe for us when it comes to what we experience this side of Glory versus what we we will experience in glory I believe this

is why Paul says things like Romans 88 18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to US 1 Peter 1:6 Peter says in this you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials 1 Peter 510 Peter also says after you have suffered a little while if necessary you have been or I'm sorry I lost my place after you have suffered a little while the God of all Grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore confirm strengthen and establish

you Isaiah 54:7 says for a brief moment I deserted you but with great compassion I will gather you see the painful delivery of Jesus led to the joyful delivery of Mary and all of us who believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord but it's not easy to do that and that's why the Bible connects this idea that there is pain and suffering that we are going to experience this side of Glory this side of life and a lot of that pain and suffering is going to come because of the trust and faith in Jesus Christ because as soon as you believe in Jesus and trust

him for the Forgiveness of your sins and you kind of plant that flag in your heart and you say I'm team Jesus and I'm on his side guess what now is going to turn on you all those Elemental principles of the world and the elemental spirits of the world are going to look at you and say traitor traitor and so even though they can't take from you what Jesus has already purchased for you they're going to do everything they can to keep you from allowing others to see it and to savor it and to hear it and so they're going to come after you and

if you're like I don't know I thought when you believe in Jesus that your life is supposed to turn out like phenomenal all of a sudden like you like trusting in Jesus is the thing that actually changes all your bad circumstances right like that's what we that's the health wealth and prosperity like my life's not going well for me I've been trying to figure it out myself oh the problem was I need Jesus and so now that I have Jesus my bank account's going to get better my relationships are going to get better my career is going to get better like everything's going to get

better right but that's not what's promised now he does promise that I can provide you truth and principles and a way of stewarding your life that will help your bank accounts stop doing dumb things but what he's not what he's saying is I'm not going to just like that inheritance isn't just for here like there's a day for that so it's not about all the circumstances changing but it's about that ABA father that changes it's about that hope that comes within us the spirit of Christ that dwells within us because of his life and his death and his resurrection something that he did that we

could not do ourselves that he then just gives it to us as a gift I mean when we're talking about Christmas and celebrating presents and giving gifts to one another we're talking about the Father in Heaven saying I got a gift for you and it's my son Jesus that I'm GNA send in a supernatural way and he's going to be born of a virgin it's never happened before but you're going to believe it because you need to believe it because it's the only way that I could disrupt the the the inheritance of Adam and the sin so that he's going to be born sinless and

not only that he's going to be sinless and live a perfect life on your behalf so that when he takes all of your unrighteousness and all of your filth and all of your mess and all of your domain of Darkness I'm going to crush him on the cross all that is due to you and because I love you don't just take that as hard discipline but because I love you everything that he earned in his perfect life that perfect righteousness that being born under law under the law and then fulfilling the law and practicing it and doing it I'm also going to credit your account

with every thought Jesus had with every service Jesus did with every miracle that he performed all of those things that are deemed good and right and according to the law of righteousness guess what I'm going to give it to you in your account and it's going to look like you accomplished it yourself so that when I look at you I'm able to look at you and say you are my son and my daughter because of what my son did what he did that's a gift I mean you cannot outgive that you can't you can't outgive that but what you can do is continue to give

that same gift that's what the world does not want us to do but we're going to continue to give that gift by spreading the message of Jesus Christ the true meaning of Christmas that this baby who came and was born as the God man wasn't just for us to celebrate and kind of nitpick and look man how did the Holy Spirit pull that one off well he's God that's how he pulled it off he created everything out of nothing explain that one he can do this but the reason why he did it and the parallel and the interwoven fabric of it was he did it

because he was writing the obituary of his son the day God would die when our children are born and we've had two born this week not like me but like in our church there have been two born this week I think one's like in the hospital right now they're probably pushing they're experiencing the labor pains but the reality is is that when our children are born and I lost my train I thought of where I was going to go on that so it'll come back around to me I'm sure at some point the let's just skip it we'll move on yes there there when our

children are born they're born but they're natural and they're born Sinners and Jesus being born was perfect but he was born to die that's where I was going to go when our children are born we don't know when they're going to die we don't know what their life's going to look like we don't know when it's going to end but when we read the story and the narrative we know that the clock starts ticking and there's 33 years and then Jesus is going to go to a cross and he's going to die a death we know that and so the question to ask is why

why and do I believe it do I believe it do I believe it and when you start asking that question do I believe that this is true as CS Lewis said the true myth if I believe it's true then it's going to change some things it's going to change some things it's going to change how you live your life because you're no longer going to live for yourself and the elemental principles and Elemental Spirits you're not going to live for them you're going to live for God you're going to live however God wants you to live because again his ways are higher in our ways

and his ways are better in our ways Proverbs 14:12 there's a way that seems right to a man and it leads to death so I want to go by his ways not my ways I want to go by his intuition not my intuition I want to go by his design not my design his Design's good and right and perfect he's God and so this is what it is purchasing for us is a way to live do we believe it do we believe it what I want to invite you to because we saw invitations in both both the the the come and see invitations is if

you believe that this baby was born to die for you to forgive you of your sins then you're also saying that the way in which he did that was by crushing his body and shedding his blood on the cross so that you don't have to crush your body or shed your blood you don't pay the penalty of death that God requires of you Jesus did that on your behalf and if you believe that this is why we celebrate communion every single week this is why we come to the table is because we are saying Lord you did something for me that I was supposed to

do that I owed God because of my sin but yet because you took it from me and you paid for it at the cross I'm able now to cry out ABA father I'm able now to uh live with him for all eternity I'm able to be called a son and daughter of his I'm able to to rule and Reign alongside Christ as an inheritance I'm able to have all of these things because of your story and your Plan of Redemption that culminated at the cross of Jesus and so we say thank you we say thank you thank you is an act of worship we're saying

that glory is no long longer on us trying to work our way to God but rather this is ascribing Glory to him because of the work that he accomplished and that Jesus said at the cross it's done it's finished and so let's go ah and stand together if this is a message that you believe then I'm going to invite you to come down get the elements bring them back to your seat we're going to partake together if this is a time where you're like hey I've never heard this before or maybe I just never heard it before like eyes to see ears to hear and

maybe for the first time you're like you know what it's more than just a Christmas story because we say the same thing every Christmas it's more than just an Easter Story it's more than just mythology maybe for the first time it's like ringing a bell like it's really coming in and you're like oh like I actually need salvation I need forgiveness sins I need Jesus and I want to put trust in him I want to believe that he did live the life that he said he lived that he did die the death that he said he died and that he did Rose not only that

he said he rose but we have all these account of witnesses of over 500 people that saw him for over 40 days before he ascended back into heaven like do we believe that message and if you believe it for the first time I also invite you to come come down and partake of this meal because if you partake of this meal and you don't believe those things there's nothing special about this you're actually just casting more condemnation on yourselves we don't want that we want you to believe and trust that it's true and if you do that there's salvation for you there's forgiveness for you

and so we invite you to come on down grab the elements bring them back to your seat and we will then partake together