Being as a Servant

I want to read a thank you before we get into the message here this morning. Dear Church family, I was humbled and quite surprised and blessed by your kind generosity to me today. That would have been two weeks ago, I think.

Thank you. Your support and kindness means so much and is the answer to a financial need. I recently realized I am in great need of replacing the tires on my car.

This gift will make this expense doable. Thanks from the bottom of my heart. May God supply all your needs.

Love in Christ, Isabel. So we had taken up an offering for Isabel, and so she wanted to express her appreciation. All right, this morning we're going to finish our study.

We've been looking at the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're going to finish it here this morning. And kind of, I know the season here, it's kind of fits out just perfectly that we're going to finish it and helping you to understand really the meaning of the birth of Christ and what God intended. But let's take our grace song book here and starting.

And I want to sing a little town of Bethlehem, the first two verses, and then at the end of the service, we'll sing the last two verses. Now, I know a lot of times when we think of these kinds of songs, we think of, oh, maybe the Christmas season or it's associated oftentimes with the world's approach to Christmas. But actually these songs are very deep theologically.

They're written, and I was looking at the history of this one, they're written by godly men. And oftentimes it's not about this time of season, it's just about the birth of Christ and a song. It's like the coming of Christ or the death of Christ.

And here is a song about the birth of the Lord Jesus and a lot of good teaching and theology in these songs. So let's sing the first two verses of this, and then we'll, Lord willing, sing the last two when we finish. ♪ Oh little town of Bethlehem ♪ ♪ How still we see thee lie ♪ ♪ Above thy deep and dreamless sleep ♪ ♪ The silent stars go by ♪ ♪ Yet in thy dark streets shine ♪ ♪ The everlasting light ♪ ♪ The hopes and fears of all the years ♪ ♪ Are met in thee tonight ♪ ♪ For Christ is born of Mary ♪ ♪ And gathered all above ♪ ♪ While mortals sleep the angels keep ♪ ♪ Wondering love nor mourning stars together ♪ ♪ Proclaim the holy birth ♪ ♪ And praises sing to God the King ♪ ♪ And peace to men on earth ♪ And as I was pondering and meditating this week and singing this song, I realized that whoever wrote the song, and there's a couple other songs, was looking at the Bible and drawing out truth from the scriptures.

And we'll bring some of those things out here this morning. So turn with me to Luke chapter number two. This is the fourth message on the birth of Christ, and it will be the last one.

Many people associate the wise men coming to visit Jesus and to bring him gifts, associate that with the time of the birth of Christ, but it would have been probably a year and a half or two years later. And so we want to look at this birth here in Bethlehem. Just a little review.

We talked about the purpose of the birth of Christ and the seed of Abraham, the seed of David and the seed of Adam, because God had made promise to humanity through this child and what God's purpose was in the birth of Christ. We talked about the people that were associated with the birth. Joseph, what a fine young man.

Joseph, a man of character, a man who was a just man, but a man who had a heart of compassion. We talked about Mary, Mary, a godly young woman that God chose to be a vessel for this baby, a virgin young woman, many qualities in her life. And then today we're going to talk about the place, and that is Bethlehem.

And I want to share a few lessons for us and some principles about the birth of Christ. So let's turn here to Luke chapter number two, starting in verse number one. There's a lot in here, but we'll try to shorten it up to bring it for us here this morning.

In verse number one, it says this, and it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. If you look it up historically, it would have been around 4 BC, and all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth unto Judea unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. We'll stop there for now.

Let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, again, we acknowledge you. We acknowledge the fact that this word that we're reading here today and all that we talk about is the eternal truth in the word of God, and that we can have confidence and trust in it.

And Lord, thank you for allowing us to have the truth and to make decisions based upon the truth. And Lord, may you magnify your son. May you teach us biblical principles here that guides our life through this story of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so I submit myself to you. May you give me grace here, and all of us grace to hear and to understand and to bring forth fruit from your word. In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, we talked some, and I've heard people talk about the sovereignty of God and what sovereignty is, the fact that God is ruling over the affairs of men. God is controlling or a controlling influence over the affairs of men. And I know some of these things can be difficult to understand and put them together, but God is, he is sovereign, he is ruling.

And yet in his ruling, the affairs of men, he has given us free choice or free will. And here in this story, you see the sovereignty of God at the very beginning, and I wanna bring that out. God is acting in a sovereign way.

He is bringing things to pass. He is moving things around. He is influencing hearts.

And this story starts with the sovereignty of God. Ephesians 111 defines or helps us understand what the sovereignty of God is. When it says that we are predestined according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

Nothing is gonna get out of hand and get away from the Lord. He is sovereign over everything. We think about the future and it's going to end up just like the Bible says it's going to end up.

He is sovereign. He rules over all. And yet in the midst of that, he allows free will.

And I have this umbrella up here because the umbrella represents the sovereignty of God. This part here, and it's over us all. And God is orchestrating.

If some of you went to the Messiah a few weeks ago, the conductor up there in the front was orchestrating. And yet everyone in that orchestra had a free will. They could, the tuba could blurt out and make mistakes and it would happen.

And yet this individual was orchestrating all the events and all the instruments to bring about a certain purpose. And so when you think of the sovereignty of God, he is ruling over all yet underneath that sovereignty is a free will that God has given us to make choices underneath his sovereignty. And so in the Old Testament, the prophecy of Micah in Micah chapter five, verse two, it says this, but thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little amongst the thousands of Judah, yet out of these shall come forth unto me that is to be a ruler in Israel, whose going forth has been from old, from everlasting.

And so many years ago, probably five, 600 years prior to this day, Micah prophesied. And he prophesied that this King, this Messiah would be born in this town of Bethlehem. And God then is orchestrating that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.

Remember that Joseph and Mary are in Nazareth about 70 miles north of Bethlehem at this time. And yet God is going to bring them south. He's going to bring them to this town called Bethlehem.

And I like verse number six, and this is what caught my attention here. It says in verse six, and so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. Now, who times these births? Who brings forth children? It's not the mother's will or desire what time these children are born.

Neither is it the midwives timing or desire. It's the Lord and the Lord brings forth when he desires to bring forth. And so now that they have come to the place where the prophet Micah has prophesied that Jesus would be birthed and come forth, it's now time the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

So God has them in the proper location for the birth to fulfill prophecy. Now, how does this happen? How did God do this? Well, if you go back here in verse number one and you read these first two verses, you get an idea of how it happened. It says that it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

And this taxing was, here's the next word, it's important. This taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. So this taxing begun this year.

It was an idea that was given to Caesar Augustus. And I can just picture, you know, Caesar Augustus laying in bed one night, he's sleeping and he arouses from sleep. This is probably not how it happened, but God oftentimes speaks to men and leads people through dreams, but he has this great idea and he wakes his wife up next to him and he says, hey, honey, I got a great idea how we can raise some money for the things that we need here in the Roman empire.

Let's do a taxing. Let's tax all these people that we're overseeing like the Jews and let's tax them. Where did this idea come from? Well, the book of Proverbs says, the king's heart is in the Lord's hand and he turns it with us whoever he will.

And so I have no doubt that this thought, this idea that first came to Caesar Augustus during this time was God's turning his heart to fulfill his will, to bring about this taxing. God is influencing men to fulfill his will. And I trust that Joseph and Mary were not complainers of what is happening here and I'm sure they weren't, but God was fulfilling his purpose through the taxation.

And this 70 mile trip that they had to make was probably difficult for her, but it was God who was overseeing, God who is ruling and bringing about the circumstances. Now I think of our own circumstances. Brother Yoss was mentioning here this morning, circumstances in life, things happen.

And sometimes things happen that make us uncomfortable. You can just picture Joseph and Mary 70 miles on a donkey. That's a long way.

If you go from here, 20, 30 miles South of Columbus, traveling, I don't know what the weather was like in those days, but traveling that distance and yet it was God's purposes. And I'm sure Joseph and Mary were not saying, oh, why do we have to do this and this taxing and all this new stuff and having to travel all the way down there. I trust that they weren't, but sometimes we complain and when it comes down to the end, we're gonna realize that God was actually leading us into the will of God and fulfilling his purposes through our lives, through oftentimes difficult situations.

And that's why the Bible says to give thanks in everything. Amen. Because even in a situation like this, Joseph and Mary, what are you doing giving thanks? You gotta come down here and pay taxes and travel with a pregnant wife.

Yes, but we trust God that God is sovereign that he is fulfilling his purposes. And so we can have confidence. Now, God is sovereign over all, but he gives us a free will and that's a deep subject.

Bible says in a classic example of this, the Bible tells us that God is not willing that any should perish. He's not willing. He will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

And if you ask God, is it your heart and desire that men be saved? He says, my heart is that every man would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked would turn from his wicked way. And yet, even though God is sovereign and his will is that none perish, yet we know, even as Jesus said that the road to destruction is broad and many there go, they go in that way, but the road to life is narrow and few there be that find it because God is in his sovereignty.

He said, okay, I'm gonna rule over all, but I'm gonna give you a free choice underneath my sovereignty. So man has choice. I think of Jesus and I don't believe he was putting on a front, but when he stood over Jerusalem there and he said, how long I would have gathered you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not.

I would, but you would not. So it's my desire, Jesus said, I believe he was honest with his heart. I want you to come under my protection, but you in your free will are choosing not to.

So God in his sovereignty has given man free will under that sovereignty. And you look out there and you see on one side of the street, you see the Sovereign Will Baptist Church. And then you see the Free Will Baptist Church on the other side of the street.

And these two are fighting back and forth. And the truth of the matter is both of them are right in some way. And because our flesh loves debate, our flesh loves strife, our flesh loves division, it's in us.

We tend to do those things. We tend to take doctrine and make them conflicting instead of looking at both sides and understanding the entire truth. And so I believe that God is a sovereign God.

He is overseeing everything. It's going to be fulfilled just as he desires it. And yet he is able to give us free will.

And so God here is influencing Caesar Augustus to tax knowing full well that Joseph and Mary are going to be required then to go to Bethlehem. And that's when the birth is going to take place. And so you have a free will.

Calvinist talks about irresistible grace. And someone might think of Paul. I think of Paul and Saul on the road to Damascus.

You know, the thing he experienced. Who wouldn't? Who wouldn't say, Lord, what do you want me to do? The power that came upon him. Yet in spite of that, I think of Pharaoh.

And I don't know about, you think about Pharaoh and the things that God put Pharaoh through and the hammer that came to Egypt and all the things, the loss of his firstborn, the plagues. Yet he shook his fist against God. So even in those things, God has allowed man to make choices and everyone here, every human here has a choice to make.

You have a freedom to choose, but your choice is not going to affect the sovereignty of God. He's going to move this thing to his final purpose. Amen.

Well, let's keep reading here in this story. That's lesson number one, the sovereignty of God. God is working all this out for Joseph and Mary.

In verse number seven, it says, "'And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.'" And I want to emphasize here that there is no room for them in the inn. I practically think of the fact that there are a lot of people coming to Bethlehem. I don't know.

It's a small place. We're told by Mike, it's a small town, much like Martinsburg. Maybe a hundred people there in the town, but there's a lot of people coming for the taxation and they're late.

The inn is now full and we're told that they came to the door and they knocked and from inside, the word comes out, there's no room for you. And we're not told this, but they probably are looking around for some place and probably there's a little place to park your horses and your animals while you're at the inn. And so they find this place next to the inn, maybe that's got the animals in it.

And they find a place there to lay down and they find the manger and the whole idea. But this idea of no room for you in the inn is a foreshadowing. It's a type of the life of Christ.

He will always be one who will be despised and rejected of men and there'll be no room for him. We're told many times in the Bible, he came unto his own and his own received him not. He came to an inn and there was no room for him.

He came to his people and they despised and rejected him. There's another beautiful picture and I think we ought to be mindful of this one. In Revelation, it says he comes to the church and he knocks on the door of the church and he's outside the church.

And his request is if any man will hear my voice and open the door, just like at the inn. Will somebody open the door? Is there any room for us in the inn? Is there any room for me here in the nation of Israel amongst you, you Jewish people? No, we're gonna cast you out. Is there any room in the church today? You know, we look back and say, wow, these people weren't very smart.

They didn't have any room for the Lord and his parents there. That was a mistake. If you look back on it, yeah, it was a mistake.

The Jews, they look back on it. That was a mistake. We had no room for the Lord Jesus when he came, we cast him out.

And yet here we sit, are we gonna make the same mistake? The last church there in the book of Revelation, there was no room for him. He's outside knocking. Can I come in? From birth to death here, the Lord Jesus finds no place, no room.

I mean, if you take his birth, he was rejected. No room. His death on the cross, no room.

No room for you. No room anywhere. So Joseph and Mary come to the door and they knock and there's a voice inside, no room.

Now, why is there no room? It's busy. People, a lot of people are in Bethlehem and there just isn't any room. Now, I drew this picture up here of the human heart and that's your heart, my heart here this morning.

And it's got a lot of rooms in it, a lot of compartments in it. And I just wanna ask you the same question we can learn from this story. Is there any room for Jesus in the heart? Now, you know, the right answer is, of course there's room for Jesus in the heart.

You know, if I know he wants in, there's plenty of room for him in the heart. But the truth of the matter is, many of our hearts are filled. Just like the inn, it's filled.

The Bible talks about the heart that's filled with lust of other things and cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches and it's filled up. There's no room for a seed, like the seed here this morning to fall into the heart and to change the life and to bring forth fruit because the heart is so filled. You know, in the very real sense, the Lord can knock on your heart here this morning, just like Joseph and Mary at the inn.

And the truth of the matter is, there's no room. There's no room. I've got hobbies.

I've got hobbies. I'm involved in some hobbies and I love the hobbies that I'm involved in. I have a business, I'm running.

And I have so many things that I have in my heart about my business. I have the cares of this life. I have a family to take care of.

I have children. I have a wife to take care of. I need to make money and all these things consume the heart.

And the very thing that happens, the Lord is standing outside and he could be outside here and speaking to us. Is there anybody in the church there that has any room for me? Any room? And I know that's a real thing. I'm a human and I'm a child of God.

And it was mentioned here this morning. Do you have room? And here's how you can tell whether you really have room. I know the right answer is, yes, I have room.

But the truth of the matter is this, when Jesus stands on the outside and he knocks, he says, anyone hear my voice? I wanna come in and I wanna sup with you. I wanna sup with you. That's the question.

I wanna sup with you. In other words, I wanna eat and I wanna have fellowship with you. By the way, in the early church, the best time for fellowship is when you break bread and have fellowship together.

They fellowshiped around the meal. As a matter of fact, the communion service was around the Lord's supper, the meal, the Passover meal. So you'd come together and you'd sit down and you'd have a meal and you'd sup.

That's what Jesus did when he went on the road there with the two disciples. He took them in, they broke bread. And during that time of breaking bread, he showed who he was.

You know, the question is whether or not you're supping with him. You know, if there's room in your heart, then you're supping with him. If there's no supping with him, there's no room.

He's outside the door. I wanna come in and sup with you. Yeah.

Wow. I think we have a great privilege here as a congregation to have a meal every Sunday because there's something good about a physical meal, supper, supping. But when you combine that with a spiritual meal, when you sit down and break bread physically and also commune around the Lord Jesus and his word, those are rich times, amen? You wanna sup with your brother and sister, invite them over for a meal and then open up the book while you're doing so and sup around the word of God.

Well, he wants to sup with you. I know this is a message on the birth of Christ, but we can learn some lessons here. He wants to sup.

He doesn't want outside knocking on the door. He wants to have fellowship. He wants to talk to you and he wants you to talk to him.

And the truth of the matter is if you cannot make time to get in a closet somewhere and meet with God and take his word and pray through his word and let his word speak to you and you speak to God, you're not supping with him. You're not supping. And there's so many other things going on in your heart.

I don't have time for that. I have to get about my business. I have to get about my hobby.

I have these cares in life and there's no room for him in the end. Amen. But if you've let him in, then you're supping.

You're supping because that's the purpose. How much time is your daily life involved in supping with the Lord? In communion with him or is life just too busy? You know, here in Bethlehem, there's a lot of people and there's a lot of movement and things are happening and there just isn't any room for you in this inn. I'm sorry.

And so just a caution for us here, make sure that we're not doing the very same thing. There's no room. I got too many things.

And there wasn't anything bad about what was happening there. They were coming down, obeying the law and paying their taxes and the innkeeper probably was sincere. Hey, we just don't have any places.

It's packed. So many people in Bethlehem for the taxation. I don't have any room for you.

We can just get busy about good things. Truth of the matter is if you're not spending time with God alone, you're not supping with him. And if you're not supping with him, he's outside the door knocking.

Well, let's look at verse number eight. It says, and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.

And they were sore afraid. Now, this whole account here is bathed. It's bathed.

I mean, one of the things that many people talk about if you go to most church services and you hear a sermon on the birth here in Bethlehem, it's generally gonna be down this road. It's just bathed in lowliness. It's bathed in humility.

And everywhere you turn in this story, there's something small. There's something little. Songwriter says, oh, little town of Bethlehem.

But Joseph and Mary, as we've already learned, they were from Galilee. They were of those who were poor. They were the uneducated.

And both of them seem to be from Nazareth. And you remember what I think was Philip who said in John chapter one, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Nazareth of all places. Bethlehem is the smallest of the towns in Judah.

It's like a Martinsburg. You got a manger. And then here you got shepherds.

I think this is maybe the greatest day in human history. This is the birth of the Messiah. What day outside of the creation or maybe the cross, but this is the greatest day in human history.

And you would think that God would place this day before kings and have fireworks in the heavens and let everybody know about it. But it is so inconspicuous. It's just nothing.

Everything is so small. Shepherds and just a few of them, only a few lowly shepherds even get to witness what's happening here. It says here in this story that it was at night.

Verse eight, and they were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks. By night, it was probably the middle of the night. And so it makes me think, and we've talked about this before, that God does big things with small people.

Joseph and Mary. God does big things in small places. Bethlehem, not Jerusalem, not some major city, but little tiny Bethlehem with two little tiny people in the eyes of men and with small things.

A manger and swaddling clothes. Everything is small. Everything is insignificant.

And yet Caesar Augustus doesn't even know what's happening in all his pomp and circumstance. He knows nothing. And here you have, I don't know, five, 10 shepherds of all places, shepherds, lowly shepherds are the ones who get to see an incredible event, which makes me think of the verse here, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up.

And that means that you have a choice to humble yourself today, amen. You can humble yourself. And we'll see here in just a minute, this is the avenue the Lord is taking.

He's trying to teach us. We as human beings, especially we lost, we who are, or those who are lost, they're always seeking to elevate themselves more, more fame, more prosperity, higher up. Everyone is trying to move up.

And yet the Lord is showing us that great things happen when we move down. We ought to be heading down. And of course the Lord shows us this example.

Jeremiah 45, five says, seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. You know, there's a lot of young people and us older ones. I'm gonna be, yes, children in school, I'm in grade school.

What do you want to be when you grow up? President, an astronaut, a doctor, a sports hero, you know, all these big things. Boys be a wise young man. What do you want to be when you grow up? A servant, a servant.

I want to be like Jesus when I grew up because he became a servant. And to seek or to pursue a low place. And you have that choice.

All of us have that choice to seek, not great things for yourself, but seek those things that are lowly. And I shared with you a few weeks ago, God has chosen the foolish thing. He's chosen the base thing.

The things that are despised, he has chosen those to bring to naught, the things that are. So I want to be chosen of God. Well, you're not gonna go this way to be chosen of God.

You're gonna have to go this way. You're gonna have to make choices in life. Seeking the lowest places to live.

Martinsburg is a good place. But you know, it's the heart of man. I want to go to Los Angeles.

I want to live in Las Vegas. I want to live in New York City. I want to live in a big place.

You know, that's the human heart. That's why they're so packed with people. Who wants to go to Bethlehem? Bethlehem, Nazareth, Galilee.

Indeed. Seeking the lowest position. Being a servant.

Wanting a lower place. Seeking the lowest standard of living. Oh boy, that's a good one for us Americans.

Seeking to live humble, lowly. Jesus is our example. He had not a place to lay his head.

Born in a manger. And he came and he chose this lifestyle. He chose a simple, contented lifestyle.

And I would encourage all of us to be heading in that direction. What does the Bible say? They don't want to be rich. That's not a good direction.

Don't go that way. They that want to be exalted, they're gonna be humble. Don't go that way.

And all those attempts to be rich to go up, God says, I'm gonna put you down. But if you'll head down, I'll lift you up. And so this story is a beautiful picture of that.

Everything here is small. It's little. Philippians chapter two, you don't have to turn there.

I want to read to you. It says, these are very familiar verses. It says, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. By the way, isn't that how you are when you're trying to go up? It's like you want to step on people. I don't want to care about you.

I want to get up. And yet the Bible says to look not on your own things, but on the things of others. That means you're actually putting people above you.

Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. This is the mind you ought to have in you, each one of you. He made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore God has highly exalted him.

I want to be exalted by the Lord, amen. You know, you can be exalted in this life and get way, way up there. But I can tell you this, at the end of the road, you're going to be taken down.

Or you can spend life going down, down, down, down, down, down, and someday at the end, he'll lift you up. Find something low. You know, it's a good place.

This is good, I think good counsel. Find something low and be faithful in it. The Bible says these shepherds were out at night.

They're shepherds, they're out faithful at night, watching their sheep. Just some lowly people doing faithful things in the middle of the night, third shift. And the Lord says, I'm going to show that, these people right here.

And so I'd like to recommend to you all that kind of a life. Find something low in the church here to do. It's a good place to find something low.

Somebody just say, hey, I'm going to find something low to just be faithful in, something lowly. Set a cup of water here on the pulpit every Sunday. What's that? It's something low, something simple.

But you can be faithful to do it. Appreciate Nathan here. He's here every Sunday early, getting the water and the coffee right over there.

No fanfare, no fireworks, just doing it. Some of the young ladies here, every Lord's supper. You don't know this, probably some of you, but they're faithful.

Just doing things that nobody knows about, having the Lord's supper ready. There's a lot of things like that, but choose that. Choose that direction.

Go out on the sidewalk on snowy days and be here early. And in your heart say, if there's ever snow, I'm going to get to church early and clear the sidewalks. Buy a shovel.

We got one out there, buy some salt. Just going to do some lowly things. I'm going to get to church early and greet everyone when they come in.

That's something lowly, just simple. I don't have to be the elder, I don't have to be a deacon. I could just find some lowly things I can be faithful in.

Well, you get a bunch of people just going down and trying to be faithful to the lowly things. We'll have an amazing revival here. Wow, what's happening in this place? People are actually going down.

Wash tables, it's a beautiful thing. I love seeing when they're over there eating, people coming along and just washing the tables. Spend time with the children, organize the children.

Oh, who wants to do that on Sunday afternoon and here in the winter time? Organizing the children with a little craft or something to do. Many things could be done lowly. God reveals himself and his secrets to the lowly, the shepherds that are watching the fields or their flocks by night.

And when we sing this song here, I was just amazed here at how many little words are in this song. Oh, little town of Bethlehem, how still, still, it's no fanfare, how still we see thee lay above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by. Yet in the dark streets, the dark streets, shineth the everlasting light, the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

How silently, how silently, that's where we get the song, Silent Night. The wondrous gift is given, that's amazing. This songwriter, it's amazing that this greatest gift, Paul says this unspeakable gift is given with such silence in the middle of the night in a little town in Bethlehem to shepherds.

So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear him coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls, meek ones, will receive him still, the dear Lord enters in. I think it's an exciting thing for us to really pursue that low road and just be a shepherd.

By the way, we're going to ordain, Lord willing, some men to be shepherds. This is a good pattern for shepherds, just doing your job. Nobody out there in the middle of the night, nobody sees you doing lowly things, amen.

But God exalted them. Let's keep reading here in Luke, in verse 10, and the angel said unto them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. And again, I'm not a Calvinist, but it says here to all people, all people.

That's the message of the angels. Every human, all people, this is a message of great joy. All people, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

You know, God's promised to Abraham, I want to bless all the families of the earth through this boy. So there's no special people that are ordained to eternal life and others are ordained to eternal damnation. No, the angel says that this child is to bless all people, all people.

In verse 11, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And you know, this is not some ho-hum birth, amen. This is big.

And that's why I think all those little tinkling lights and the tinsel and all the Christmas trees and all that stuff is a distraction from what is real. And the purpose that God has to bring forth here a savior. In the city of David, a savior.

And I can just imagine being one of those angels. We're gonna see them, angels are singing here, but these angels come. I can imagine these angels as they look down from a distance and they see this world and all of us in it, billions of people, and they realize that from their perspective and God's perspective, that this world is all, they're all lost and they're all heading to eternal damnation.

They're all going to spend eternity separated from God forever. And they are coming with the greatest news for this planet, that this child here is going to save you from your eternal destiny. Boy, it's probably a big thing for them.

But it's sad how few of us even make it a big thing. We become accustomed to all these things. We hear them over and over again, but it is a big thing.

And in a million years, you'll understand how big it is, that Jesus was born into this world to save us from our sin. And the angels proclaim that wonderful news. Verse 12, and this shall be a sign unto you.

By the way, there's no star here. The star shows up when the wise men start hitting over, but there's no star. It says, and this shall be a sign unto you.

You shall find the babe, not where you follow that star, but you shall find a babe, the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And so they went out through Bethlehem that night. I don't know, middle of the night, and they probably walked down the streets like here in Martinsburg.

Hey, there's a manger over there. Go check that one. And then somebody runs over there.

Guys, there's nothing in there. And there's one over here. Let's go check this one.

And they checked around and finally, finally they found the one. Here it is, here it is. There's a young couple here and a newborn baby right here.

And they come. And then verse 13, and suddenly there was a, with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill towards men. And again, I like to think about, God sends these angels down with a message and you know, it's not, you know, he's gonna judge you and send you to hell if you don't repent.

It's peace to you and goodwill towards men. That's coming straight from the throne. The angel's message to those is through this child.

There is going to be peace and goodwill towards men. True salvation, if you have experienced the Lord Jesus Christ will bring peace and it'll bring goodwill towards men. It's only not natural, it's only supernatural.

You know why that is? Is because when you truly find that your sins are forgiven and you find peace with God, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God. I'll tell you what, when you have peace in your heart with God, you can get along with people really well. But if you're frustrated in your heart and your heart is condemning you and you're guilty, you'll get aggravated over the smallest things.

I think of Cain, Cain was frustrated. He couldn't find peace with God. He kept bringing these offerings from his garden and he never felt he could get peace with God and because of his turmoil in his heart, it caused him to not have goodwill toward his brother.

You'll find that people who have conflict in relationships, have conflict with brothers and sisters, have conflict in their homes, have conflict in the church, have conflict with their neighbors, you'll find that the problem is they have conflict in their heart with God. You know that? I'll tell you what, if you're at peace with God, I mean, you can go through all kinds of things. People can run over you, spit on you, curse you, and God bless you because everything's all right in here.

And so the angels, their message was on earth, peace. That's salvation. That's a heart that's right with God and goodwill towards men.

And you'll find in our society, because people are losing peace, they have no peace, that as Jesus said, wars are gonna increase and there's gonna be great turmoil, fighting, more murders, more conflict, because people are struggling under their guilt and condemnation and they take it out on the people around them. Frustrated, just like Cain was frustrated. He couldn't find peace.

And Abel had to suffer for it. And that's why, you know, the picture of children of God who are truly walking with God, they have peace with God and they can bless those that put them on a stake and burn them because they're so frustrated in their hearts, those who are burning them and the children of God are so much at peace. So I hope that you're at peace here this morning.

Maybe what you ought to do is you ought to look around at your relationships, those who are nearest to you and those that extend out to you and see how your relationships are. Now, I realize you can't keep people from being upset at you, but you can have peace in your heart. And if some people bother you, if some people stir you, if there's issues like that, then you ought to examine your own heart.

You know, that cross up here, the analogy is if you're here and God is up there and you're at peace with him, all those horizontal relationships fall in line. That's why the Bible says, when you're converted, you ought to love your brother. It's natural or it's supernatural.

Peace in your heart will lead you to treating others with kindness, with compassion and with long suffering. That is that goodwill to men. And when someone fails, you don't condemn them, you don't judge them, you don't act self-righteous, you look with compassion upon them and not harsh judgment.

You agree with that? Because your heart bleeds for them. People treat others cruelly because of the inner turmoil of their own heart. Verse 15, let's keep reading.

It came to pass as the angels were going away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, let us now go even into Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord has made known unto us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. And so they come and they see that it's true what the angels had told them and they were amazed and they went and spread it. And good news ought to be spread, ought to be spread.

And that's just the natural response of a child of God ought to be to spread good news. And that's what makes us all ministers or preachers of the gospel. When I thought about that, I thought about this story here in 2 Kings.

And all of us are a bunch of lepers, we're all sick. We all have sin until the Lord comes and heals us. But in 2 Kings here, it talks about the king of Syria besieging Samaria, you remember that story? He besieged the city and they were starving inside the city and they were actually eating babies.

You remember the story that one woman said that you boil your child today and I'll boil my child tomorrow. It's because the city had been besieged and they were starving. And finally these lepers, they decide, hey, we're gonna die anyway.

Let's just go and go up to the Syrians and just surrender and maybe they'll kill us or maybe they'll give us something to eat. So it can't be any worse than the situation we're in here. And so they head that direction and they come there, this first tent they find and they realize there's nobody there and there's no people around.

And so they, listen to the story here, I'll read it to you. Here's what happens. And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent and did eat and drink and carried then silver and gold and raiment.

Can you imagine what a day that was? And went and hid it and came again and entered into another tent and carried then also and went and hid it. And then they said one to another, I like this. We do not well.

This day is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace. We're experiencing all these great things and you know, this is not right. We should tell other people about it.

Amen. And they did. And so that's the way it is with this child, the Savior.

I experience good things, peace, treasures, manna from heaven. I ought to tell somebody about it and not keep it to myself. And so they became evangelists.

It's not about whether you're an evangelist or not, it's about whether you have experienced salvation. You know that? Anybody who has experienced the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life and the presence of God's spirit would want to go out and tell others. Amen.

And so let us be little. Let's take our psalm book again and we'll sing the last two verses here. Oh, little town of Bethlehem.

Number 224 in our gray book. Then we'll open it up for anyone who'd like to share this morning. ♪ How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given ♪ ♪ So God imparts to human heart the blessing of his heaven ♪ ♪ No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin ♪ ♪ Where meek souls will receive him still ♪ ♪ Dear Lord, stand to sin ♪ ♪ Oh, holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray ♪ ♪ Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today ♪ ♪ We hear the Christmas angel, great tidings tell ♪ ♪ Oh, come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel ♪ I like that.

Cast out our sin and enter in and be born in us today. Ah, you like the birth of Christ and the story there. Why don't you consider letting him be born in you? The Bible says you must be born again, be born in you.

I've enjoyed just not only singing some of these songs, but also pondering and meditating on the birth of Christ. Does anyone have anything they'd like to share this morning as we close this subject here?