Rediscovering the True Meaning of Christmas

• Christmas Celebration [00:21:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts cultural traditions (shopping, decorating) with the biblical priority of welcoming Christ, noting that the point of Christmas is often missed.
• Salvation and Faith [00:24:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes that the primary response to Christmas is becoming a follower of Jesus, trusting Him as Savior, and receiving Him personally.
• Biblical Narrative ([Luke 2](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2&version=KJV)) [00:22:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the account of the shepherds in Luke 2:15-20 as the model for the 'first celebration of Christmas' and the first spiritual priority: welcoming Christ.
• Personal Salvation [00:27:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that hearing the Christmas message is insufficient; one must personally trust in Jesus as Savior, correcting the cultural idea that Jesus came to condemn by stating He came to 'rub it out' (forgive).
• Evangelism and Witness [00:29:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the shepherds as examples of the first evangelists, the pastor encourages the congregation to share the gospel, addressing the 'bait-and-switch' of feeling unqualified by noting that God often uses the 'unclean' and uneducated to share His message.
• The Hypostatic Union [00:38:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the theological concept of the hypostatic union, defining it as the personal union of divine and human natures in Jesus Christ, emphasizing that God added human nature without diminishing His deity.
• The Hypostatic Union [00:38:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the theological concept of the hypostatic union, defining it as the personal union of two undiminished natures (divine and human) in the one person of Jesus Christ, emphasizing that nothing was taken from God but a human nature was added.
• The Value of Christ vs. Commonality [00:41:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the illustration of children playing marbles with diamonds, the pastor argues that Christians often treat the extraordinary value of Jesus' birth as common and ordinary due to familiarity, urging them to recognize Him as the greatest treasure.
• Meditation and Treasuring [00:43:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor analyzes Mary's example of 'treasuring' and 'pondering' events in her heart, explaining this as storing up valuable truths and mulling them over, applying this to the believer's need to meditate on salvation, grace, and God's love.
• Worship and Transformation [00:48:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects the shepherds' return to their work as 'new men' glorifying God to the Christian life, asserting that Christmas celebration must result in worship and that believers should return to their daily routines as changed people who praise God.
• Christmas Celebration [00:50:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the true essence of Christmas as worshiping and extolling God's name, moving beyond cultural obligations to spiritual engagement.
• Fivefold Response to Christ [00:50:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor outlines a specific sequence for believers: Welcome Christ, Witness to others, Wonder at His work, Weigh/Meditate on His nature, and Worship Him.
• Priorities and Idolatry [00:51:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor warns against occupying time with 'lesser significance' and 'background material' while leaving Christ out of the picture until it is too late.

• Sermon Illustration [00:20:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The Wright Brothers' 1903 flight was buried on the sixth page of a local newspaper with the headline 'Wright Brothers home for Christmas,' illustrating how the most important story of the century was missed, just as the true meaning of Christmas is often missed today.
• Sermon Illustration [00:25:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > A story from David Jeremiah's book about 'Old Man Klein,' a miserable man who heard a hymn singing 'Jesus died for old man Klein' and realized the gospel was personally for him, illustrating that Christ died for individuals.
• Sermon Illustration [00:28:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor quotes the carol 'Good Christian Men Rejoice' and a saying that 'Jesus didn't come to rub it in, He came to rub it out.' He also shares an anecdote about Charles Spurgeon's grandfather preaching in his place, stating that while the grandson might preach the gospel better, he can never preach a better gospel. Finally, he recounts Bill Bright's practice of viewing any two-to-three-minute encounter with someone as a divine appointment to share the gospel.
• Sermon Illustration [00:41:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a story from Vance Havner's book 'Playing Marbles with Diamonds' about a traveler in an African village who sees children playing marbles with actual diamonds, unaware of their value, to illustrate how Christians often treat the preciousness of Christ as common.
• Sermon Illustration [00:51:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references a partially finished painting of King Frederick the Great by Adolf Menzel, noting a bare patch in the center with only a charcoal outline, though the transcript cuts off before the full application is made.
• Sermon Illustration [00:51:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells the story of Adolf Menzel's unfinished painting of King Frederick the Great, where the king is missing from the center because the painter died before finishing him. He uses this as an analogy for how people often fill their Christmas with inconsequential background details while leaving Christ out of the picture.

• Pastoral Charge [00:28:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > To personally trust Jesus as Savior and respond to the gospel message immediately.
• Pastoral Charge [00:28:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > Trust Jesus as Savior
• Pastoral Charge [00:32:57 ▶️ 📄]
  > Invite someone to the Christmas Eve candlelight service
• Pastoral Charge [00:34:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray for a heart of compassion for the lost
• Pastoral Charge [00:50:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor outlines a five-step process for celebrating Christmas: Welcome Christ (receive Him), Witness (tell others), Wonder (be amazed), Weigh (meditate), and Worship (praise God).
• Pastoral Charge [00:51:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor issues a direct evangelistic call for those who have not accepted Christ to 'Take Jesus to be your Savior,' and a pastoral prayer for the existing congregation to engage in witness, wonder, weighing, and worship.
• Pastoral Charge [00:51:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > Accept Jesus as Savior
• Pastoral Charge [00:53:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > Spend time alone to ponder and weigh who Jesus is

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:01] So good to see you today. Good morning. Welcome to Gathered Worship at Faith Bible Church.
[00:00:07] It's great to be here together as you make your way in and find a seat.
[00:00:11] Those of you that are already seated, help those that are looking.
[00:00:14] If there's a spot on your row for a couple or a family, make sure you make space for them.
[00:00:18] If you're a guest with us today, so happy that you've joined us.
[00:00:21] I want to encourage you, if you are visiting Faith Bible for the first or second time, make sure you stop by the Welcome Center out in the lobby.
[00:00:28] You can get some information about Faith Bible.
[00:00:30] Somebody will be there to answer any questions you might have, welcome you to this church family.
[00:00:36] This morning, we've got a lot of good things happening.
[00:00:39] We're going to continue in our Advent sermon series that we've titled A Christmas Story.
[00:00:43] Mark's going to be preaching out of Luke chapter 2, verses 15 through 20.
[00:00:47] Also, I wanted to notify you about a project that we took on earlier this month.
[00:00:52] It's the Christmas sacks that you guys put together for FaithWorks of the Inner City.
[00:00:57] Many of you took those, filled them with things for the students at Scheidler Elementary and the kids at FaithWorks.
[00:01:04] Well, you filled about 550 of those sacks, which is more than we've ever filled before.
[00:01:08] And I wanted to just celebrate that and also tell you that outside of the library this morning, there's some tables set up with a lot of thank yous and notes of gratitude from the people of Scheidler
[00:01:18] and those who those sacks had benefited.
[00:01:21] So stop by there and take a look at those.
[00:01:22] I think that'll be encouraging.
[00:01:24] In the next two weeks, so on the 26th and the 2nd, 26th of December and the 2nd of January, we're not going to be having our adult Bible fellowships meeting.
[00:01:34] We also won't have our children's Sunday school and our students' Sunday school.
[00:01:37] Those will not be meeting either.
[00:01:39] We will have nursery, so you can be aware of that.
[00:01:42] And then we also have our normal routine Sunday morning schedule, 8, 15, 9, 30, and 11.
[00:01:47] So those things won't change, but we won't be having those other ministries on those Sunday mornings.
[00:01:52] So be aware of that in the next couple of weeks.
[00:01:54] Also, at the end of this coming week, Friday night, that is Christmas Eve.
[00:01:58] Guys, you need to get your Christmas shopping done because it's coming.
[00:02:01] Whether you like it or not, it's almost upon us.
[00:02:03] So you guys can go ahead and start that.
[00:02:05] But on Christmas Eve, the 24th, we have three candlelight services planned, 2 o'clock, 3.30, and 5.
[00:02:13] So bring your families.
[00:02:14] That's always a great tradition.
[00:02:16] It's a great event here at Faith Bible Church.
[00:02:18] We want to encourage you to be a part of that this coming Friday night.
[00:02:22] Our call to worship is from Psalm 95, the first two verses in Psalm 95.
[00:02:26] Bow your heads with me and just think on these words.
[00:02:30] The psalmist writes, O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord.
[00:02:34] Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
[00:02:39] Father, we come into this place today looking to you, our Lord and our Savior.
[00:02:44] Lord, we want to sing for joy.
[00:02:47] And maybe joy is far off in our hearts today as we come in.
[00:02:50] maybe despair and depression has set in. And so we want to look to you, the Lord who is joy, that in you are pleasures evermore. We want to look to you and give you glory and ascribe you
[00:03:03] worth and praise your name today because you have saved us and we have much, much to praise you for.
[00:03:10] Be with us now in these moments to come in Christ's name. Amen.

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:03:14] Amen. Well, good morning to you. Would you stand? Let's let the joy of our salvation and overflow in our singing as we sing the carols of Christmas together this morning.

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:03:27] Let's keep lifting our voices.
[00:07:52] He comes to Joseph and says,

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:11:37] Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.
[00:11:46] Emmanuel, not just a name, but a name that allowed Joseph to see who this baby truly was, God with us and allows the same thing for us this morning. Our English pastor and author Matthew Henry wrote this, and I think it's profound. By the light of nature, we see God
[00:12:05] as a God above us. By the light of the law, we see him as a God against us. But by the light of the gospel, we see him as Emmanuel, God with us. And so we worship this morning the God who is with

[00:12:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:12:20] us. Continue to sing with us. Hearts together in prayer. Father, we gather here in your presence

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:16:34] this morning to worship you, to praise you, to exalt your great and your glorious name.
[00:16:40] Father, we remember those words of scripture this morning to tell us that Jesus, it's a trustworthy statement that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Father, we thank you for a Savior. We thank you for a Savior who came to us and became one of us to rescue us. I pray
[00:16:59] this morning that you'll use our singing and our fellowship and our time in the Word of God to move us to love you more deeply, to serve you more faithfully, to proclaim you more fearlessly.
[00:17:11] Fathers, we open your Word now. We pray that you'll open our eyes and our hearts to see Jesus this morning. We ask these things in His precious name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated.
[00:17:24] Welcome to Faith Bible Church this morning. It's great to have you here with us this morning. It's final Sunday before Christmas as we celebrate together the coming of our Savior into the world.
[00:17:36] So Merry Christmas to all of you. I think somewhere in the balcony, I guess, Pavel, are you and your family here? Where's Pavel Miskovich? Where's your family here? Sam here.
[00:17:47] There they are. Yeah, you guys stand up there. This is one of my students from DTS. They're from Moscow, Russia. They're here with their family. They're four kids. And so it's great to see them here today. Where's Pavel? Good to have you guys. Pavel's been a great encouragement
[00:18:00] to me at the seminary, so it was one of my students. So it's great to have you guys here with us today. Well, our Advent series this year is a four-part series in Luke chapter 2
[00:18:09] that we've titled A Christmas Story, and we'll finish that up on next Sunday, Lord willing.
[00:18:14] So if you'll take your Bible and turn with me to Luke chapter 2, we'll continue our study there.
[00:18:20] Some of the children and young people here might be able to relate to this story this Christmas.
[00:18:25] for several weeks before christmas there was a little boy and he was bugging his parents about the gift he wanted that year and it was a watch he wanted this watch more than anything else
[00:18:36] you all know how it is with children or young people and they get on something they want for christmas man you just hear about it over and over again so he was just reminding his parents
[00:18:44] over and over again that he wants this watch so finally his dad tells him he says if you don't quit bugging us about that watch he says i'm not going to give you're not going to get it he says
[00:18:53] So don't mention this watch again.
[00:18:55] We don't want to hear about it again.
[00:18:57] So one night, right before Christmas, his father asked him if he'd like to lead in prayer before dinner.
[00:19:03] And he said, sure, I'd love to.
[00:19:04] But he said, can I quote a scripture before I pray?
[00:19:06] His father said, oh, this is great.
[00:19:08] So he says, sure, feel free.
[00:19:10] So they bow their heads and the little boy says, I want to quote Mark 13, 37.
[00:19:15] Jesus said, I say unto you what I've told you already, watch.
[00:19:21] Now that's a pretty crafty use of the Bible.
[00:19:23] and appropriate use of the Bible. It's always good to turn to the Bible at Christmas, right?
[00:19:28] And we're going to turn there this morning. So let me read Luke chapter 2 for us, verses 15 to 20, our text for this morning. When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds
[00:19:39] began to say to one another, let us go straight to Bethlehem then and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. So they came in a hurry and found their way to
[00:19:49] Mary and Joseph, and the baby as he lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this child. And all who heard it wondered at the things
[00:19:59] which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as had been told them. May the Lord write his eternal word on our hearts this morning.
[00:20:16] on december 7th december 17th 1903 orville and wilbur wright made their first airplane flight at kitty hawk north carolina on their fifth attempt this primitive plane they had under the control of orville managed to stay aloft for a 12 second flight i mean it was an epic event
[00:20:35] the first time man had ever flown wilbur rushed to the local telegraph office and sent the following message to his sister, Catherine. We have flown for 10 seconds. We will be home for Christmas. Well, upon receiving the telegram, Catherine hurried to the newspaper office and
[00:20:54] she told the editor of her brother's new flying machine and their 12-second flight and informed him that they would be home for Christmas. And she also asked him if he would like to, they would do
[00:21:06] an interview with him about their flight. He told her that that was nice and he'd be sure to put something in the paper regarding the boys. So on December 19th, so it was 118 years ago today,
[00:21:18] the local newspaper there placed the following headline on the sixth page of the paper, Wright Brothers home for Christmas. Now you talk about missing the point, right? I mean, buried back there in the sixth page somewhere. This was the most important story of the year,
[00:21:33] one of the greatest stories of the century, and the editor missed it. I mean, the thing just blew right over his head. Now sadly that's how it is a lot of times this year at Christmas. The trees
[00:21:44] are decorated, the lights are off, the music's festive, the shopping's done, the shopping's right, the season's right. There's six shopping days I think today left until Christmas. Yet the point of Christmas kind of gets totally missed, which raises a question for all of us this year and
[00:22:02] really every year. How do we really celebrate Christmas in a biblical way? What should we do to celebrate the birth of our Savior? We all have different ways that we celebrate Christmas. We open presents. Some do it Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. We watch football games.
[00:22:18] We decorate our houses. We visit friends and relatives. We send Christmas cards. We eat great meals. We shop. We host and attend parties. We give to others in need. We eat great meals. I know
[00:22:29] I mentioned that twice, but that's my favorite thing. But there's a lot of traditions we all have at Christmas. But here in Luke chapter 2, verses 15 to 20, that really records for us the
[00:22:41] first celebration of Christmas. Jesus has just come. We find out how the shepherds and how Mary celebrate this first Christmas, how to really celebrate it. And so in this passage, we have what I call five responses to Christ's advent that are recorded for us here. You could call these
[00:23:00] five spiritual priorities at Christmas. So what I want to do this morning and what I hope will be a very practical message for all of us is look at these five priorities together and allow God
[00:23:13] to show us here as a church, as individuals, but also in our families, what we should really be doing this year and every year to celebrate Christmas. So the first key to celebrating Christmas is to welcome. So I've got five points here. They all start with W. The first one is
[00:23:30] welcome. We must come to Christ. We must welcome Christ into our life. You see that in verse 15 and verse 16. The shepherds had gone, the angels went into heaven. The angels began saying to one
[00:23:43] another, let's go to Bethlehem. See this thing that's happened. So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph and the babies who lay in the manger. So by far, the greatest, most
[00:23:55] important way to celebrate Christmas is by welcoming Jesus Christ and coming to Him and receiving Him, by becoming a Christian, by coming to Christ and trusting Him as your Savior from sin. The best way to celebrate Christmas is by becoming a follower of the one whose birth we
[00:24:13] commemorate at Christmas. That's the best way to celebrate Christmas. If you're here today and You've never become a follower of the one whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.
[00:24:22] That's the beginning point.
[00:24:25] We see this in the shepherds.
[00:24:26] These lowly shepherds were the first to receive the announcement of the Savior's birth.
[00:24:31] The announcement to them was, unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
[00:24:38] A Savior has come.
[00:24:40] And you'll notice how individual and personalized it is.
[00:24:44] Unto you or for you a Savior has been born.
[00:24:47] and i pointed this out last week you'll never see another baby announcement ever given where it says this baby was born for you and christ not only was born for us but he lived and he died for us
[00:24:59] as well he was born for you and for me and he died for you and for me died as a substitute for us he died to pay the full debt for our sins but he died for us personally individually unto you
[00:25:13] a Savior is born, and they come to Him and receive Him individually and personally.
[00:25:19] There's a story, I know I haven't told this in quite some time. I know I told it sometime a few years ago. It's from a book by David Jeremiah called The Love of God. He tells the story like
[00:25:28] this. Mr. Klein was a miserable old man. He lived every way but good. He fought every battle but the good fight, and he knew it. He wasn't worthy of anyone's friendship, so he reached out to no one.
[00:25:40] He didn't go to church because the back pew was too far forward for someone like him.
[00:25:45] He wasn't proud of his sins, but he was painfully aware of them.
[00:25:49] Then one Sunday, he walked by a church and heard the people singing and rejoicing, and he felt a pain of loneliness.
[00:25:56] For just a moment, he paused in his steps and listened.
[00:25:59] He heard the melody before, and he listened to the words of a hymn they were singing.
[00:26:04] Saved by grace alone, this is all my plea.
[00:26:07] Jesus died for old man Klein, and Jesus died for me.
[00:26:11] And he's astounded.
[00:26:13] Jesus died for old man Klein.
[00:26:14] How could there be a hymn that identified him specifically?
[00:26:18] Why would these people be singing it?
[00:26:20] He couldn't resist slipping into the back of the church and sliding secretly onto that back pew.
[00:26:25] He had a lump in his throat knowing for the first time the gospel was for him.
[00:26:30] Then he picked up the hymnal and found that what he really heard was Jesus died for all mankind.
[00:26:35] or was it it says it didn't matter old man Klein knew what his heart had heard and after all all mankind had to include him it's a beautiful picture of God's providence a man's walking along and hears him singing Jesus died for old man Klein he died for all
[00:26:53] mankind he died for you and he died for me unto you for you a savior has been born who is Christ the Lord these days he was the shepherd savior he's your savior he's my savior and you notice
[00:27:05] they responded immediately. It says they kept saying, let's go straight to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened. So no delays, no detours, no distractions. Some people have called this the first Christmas rush. Everybody's always rushing around at Christmas. They came in
[00:27:24] a hurry. So this is kind of the beginning here of the Christmas rush. But they had to come to Christ. It wasn't enough just to hear. They heard the message, they believed, and they come to
[00:27:36] Christ. And it's the same today. You can't celebrate Christmas in a way that pleases God until you come to Christ and you trust in Him. The best way to celebrate Christmas is to become a Christian by accepting and receiving Christ as your Savior. You have to come to Jesus Christ
[00:27:54] first. There's an old carol that says that your good Christian men rejoice. One of the lines says good christian men rejoice with heart and soul and voice now you need not fear the grave peace
[00:28:05] peace jesus christ was born to save calls you one calls you all to join his everlasting hall christ was born to save christ was born to save that's why he came jesus was born to be our savior
[00:28:20] and you have to come to him personally i know there's a little statement i quote this often in the church, but I love this. Jesus didn't come to rub it in. He came to rub it out.
[00:28:31] And a lot of people have this idea that Jesus came to condemn them, to rub it in, but he came to rub it out to forgive us of our sins. So why not come to him now if you've never
[00:28:41] trusted him as your Savior? You have to come. You have to respond. It's not enough to hear.
[00:28:46] It's not enough to have a warm feeling inside. You have to come personally to Jesus Christ and trust Him to be your Savior.
[00:28:53] That's the beginning point of any true celebration of Christmas.
[00:28:57] That's what the shepherds did.
[00:28:58] Now the second thing we have to do is witness.
[00:29:02] We come to Christ and then we tell other people about Christ.
[00:29:06] The shepherds became witnesses of this event.
[00:29:08] Notice verse 17.
[00:29:10] When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this child.
[00:29:17] So after rushing to Bethlehem and seeing the baby Jesus, they immediately began, it says here, to spread the word about what was told them about this child.
[00:29:27] So they immediately became the first evangelists, if you will, and they went out and told anybody who would listen all that they had seen and heard. It was impossible to keep these shepherds quiet.
[00:29:40] Now, we talked last week, if you were here with us, and you probably heard this before, but shepherds were despised in that they were considered unclean. They were the lowest on the social scale of that day.
[00:29:52] In fact, they were so low on the scale, their testimony was inadmissible in court back in that day.
[00:29:58] Yet isn't it ironic here that men whose testimony was inadmissible in court in that day become the first witnesses to the birth of Jesus Christ and become really the first evangelists of Christianity.
[00:30:12] The very first to go out and to announce to the world that the Savior has come.
[00:30:17] And I don't think that's an accident.
[00:30:18] And I think there's a lesson for us, because if I could read you all's minds this morning, I'm certain that in many of your minds, maybe in most of your minds, you may be thinking
[00:30:28] to yourself, well, I'm not really authorized or very qualified to really go out and tell people the good news about Christ.
[00:30:35] I'm not a pastor.
[00:30:36] I've never been to seminary.
[00:30:38] I don't know a lot about apologetics.
[00:30:40] People are going to ask me questions I don't know the answer to.
[00:30:42] You may not feel very qualified.
[00:30:44] I think God had the message of the gospel come first to a bunch of shepherds.
[00:30:50] They were uneducated.
[00:30:51] They were considered unclean.
[00:30:54] Nobody would even take their testimony in court.
[00:30:56] They're the first ones to go out and to announce to people that the Savior has come, the Messiah has come.
[00:31:02] And to me, that's a lesson for us that all you have to do is know Christ and know the good news, and you're qualified to share it with others.
[00:31:10] I've mentioned this here, I know, over the years, but it's just like one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.
[00:31:16] It's what it is.
[00:31:18] The good news is for sharing, and the power is in the message, not the messenger.
[00:31:25] It's not the messenger that matters, it's the message.
[00:31:27] What did Paul say?
[00:31:28] The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe.
[00:31:33] Charles Spurgeon, I quote him a lot, all preachers do.
[00:31:35] He's probably the greatest preacher since the Apostle Paul.
[00:31:38] pastor of the first great mega church in london england in uh in the 19th century he tells this story he says i'll never forget one day when my dear old grandfather was alive i was supposed to
[00:31:50] preach a sermon in a certain place there was a great crowd of people waiting there but i didn't arrive on time because the train was delayed and so my venerable old grandfather started preaching in my place he was far on in his sermon when i made my appearance at the back door looking at me
[00:32:06] he said, you've all come to hear my grandson, and he's here now, so I'll stop that you can hear him.
[00:32:12] But he may preach the gospel better than I can, but he can never preach a better gospel.
[00:32:18] I love that. Some of us can maybe preach the gospel better than others of us, but no one can preach a better gospel. The gospel can never be improved upon. And you and I, if we know the Lord,
[00:32:29] can tell someone who Jesus is and what he's done for us. Christmas is a time to imitate the shepherds and witness to a dying world about Christ. People are thinking about Jesus this time of year. They're thinking about Christ and spiritual things. It's a great opportunity this
[00:32:46] time of year to witness for Christ. So how can I do that? Well, you can send someone a Christmas card and maybe write a personal note in there. The music that you can share with people who
[00:32:57] has the gospel message in it. You can invite someone to church, to a meeting. You can invite somebody to our Christmas Eve candlelight service this Friday evening. You can begin to pray for a relative or a friend that maybe you just see kind of every year like this at the holidays that you
[00:33:14] know needs Christ. And you can pray for an opportunity and an open door to share with them and always be sure to pray for boldness at the same time. Because sometimes I pray for open doors
[00:33:27] and God opens a door and then what do we do? We chicken out, right? We're cowards. So pray, God give me the open door, and God give me the boldness to go through that door. That's what we
[00:33:36] need to be doing this time of year. There's something I read years ago about Bill Bright.
[00:33:42] Some of you may not know that name, but he was really a towering figure in evangelicalism years ago. He founded Campus Crusade for Christ, and he was a tremendous evangelist. But there's something I read that he said years ago that's always convicted me, but in a good way. He would
[00:33:58] always say that if he ended up with someone for more than two or three minutes by himself, alone with that person, that he assumed that he was there by divine providence, and that was an appointment
[00:34:09] to share the gospel with them. Now think about that. Anytime you're just with another person for two or three minutes alone with them, he always took that as divine providence that God had an appointment between him and that person to tell them the gospel. Now I know that, you know, Bill
[00:34:24] bride had the gift of evangelism. Most of us don't have that spiritual gift, but all of us can be witnesses. We're all witnesses to what Christ has done for us. And so with our lives and with
[00:34:36] our lips, we can give testimony to who Jesus is. Someone said it like this years ago, because Jesus came, we must go. That's the message of the gospel. He comes and we go. So let's pray this Christmas,
[00:34:49] all of us for a heart of compassion for the lost. I mean, it may be a child. It may be one of your grandchildren. I mean, maybe a father or a mother that you're going to be with this year. And I know
[00:35:01] with the people that we're closest to, sometimes it's difficult to share with them. But be praying for an open door and an opportunity to witness about Christ, for open doors and for the boldness to enter those doors when God brings them. So the first thing we have to do to celebrate Christmas
[00:35:17] has come to Christ. We have to know the Christ of Christmas ourselves. The second thing we need to do is tell others about Christ. The third way to celebrate Christmas is wonder. We must be amazed
[00:35:29] at Christmas. Look at verse 18. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. That word wondered there means to marvel or to be astonished or to be bewildered.
[00:35:44] In other words, when people heard all about this, it blew their mind.
[00:35:47] Think about all the things the shepherds were telling them.
[00:35:50] Telling about the angel appearing and then the multitude of the heavenly host and going and finding this baby lying in a manger wrapped in cloths.
[00:35:58] I mean, think about what they shared.
[00:36:00] And when people heard this, they were blown away.
[00:36:02] They were telling them this little baby was the long-awaited Messiah.
[00:36:06] He's the Savior of the world.
[00:36:08] And you and I ought to be equally amazed every year at Christmastime that Jesus left a mansion for the manger, that He gave up a crown for the cradle, that He left the streets of gold
[00:36:20] for a straw bed, that He exchanged the riches of heaven for the rags of this world.
[00:36:26] We should be filled, all of us, with a sense of wonder.
[00:36:30] But God has visited us and He's become one of us.
[00:36:34] You think about, we look at just the whole Christmas scene.
[00:36:36] The Ancient of Days is lying in a manger.
[00:36:40] I mean, the old one, the one without beginning and without ending is lying in a manger.
[00:36:44] The one who thunders in the heavens is crying in a cradle.
[00:36:47] The one who gives to all their food in due season is feeding at Mary's breast.
[00:36:53] The mighty God is a helpless child.
[00:36:55] The Alpha and Omega is wrapped in cloths.
[00:36:58] The one who flung the stars in space is born in a smelly stable.
[00:37:04] John Wesley years ago put it like this.
[00:37:06] This is a great thought.
[00:37:07] This is something right here to be amazed at.
[00:37:10] God was contracted to the span of a virgin's womb.
[00:37:14] You think about that.
[00:37:16] That's a powerful statement, a powerful thought.
[00:37:18] God, the eternal God who created everything to exist, He was contracted to the span of a virgin's womb.
[00:37:25] That's who Jesus is.
[00:37:28] St. Augustine put it like this years ago.
[00:37:30] I'll read this kind of slow.
[00:37:31] This is pretty theologically thick here.
[00:37:34] He says, He so loved us that for our sake He was made man in time, through whom all times were made, was in the world less in years than his servants, though older than the world itself in his eternity,
[00:37:48] was made man who made man, was created of a mother whom he created, was carried by hands which he formed, nursed at breasts which he had filled, cried in the manger in wordless infancy.
[00:38:04] And on and on we could go.
[00:38:05] I mean, this Christmas we need to take time to be amazed at Christ and to be filled with wonder to kind of add another layer more texture to this the apostle paul in in first timothy 3 when he speaks of christ coming into this world in flesh
[00:38:22] he says great is the mystery of godliness you can ponder and you can be amazed at it and think it think it through you'll you'll never plumb the depths of it in fact you'll crack your head apart
[00:38:32] thinking of it but when when jesus came to earth as a man god took on a new nature now think about this. Something was added to God that had never been there before. Nothing was taken away. Nothing
[00:38:46] was diminished, but something was added. We call this, here's a theological term for this. I love this. It's called the hypostatic union. The word hypostasis means substance. And in theological language, it came to mean a person. So the hypostatic union is the personal union of two
[00:39:06] natures, divine and human, in the person of Jesus Christ. These two natures are undiminished deity and unfallen humanity joined in one person. So think of this. You have the triune God. God is one in essence, but he's three persons. He's existed from all of eternity. And at a point in
[00:39:27] time at Bethlehem, the second member of the triune Godhead comes to earth and something is added to Him that was never there before, a human nature, an unfallen human nature. And Jesus today, as He
[00:39:41] sits at the Father's right hand in heaven, He is a man. There's a man in heaven. He's a God-man.
[00:39:48] He's God and He's a man, but He's a man who's seated there in heaven. He'll never cease to be a God-man. He took on this human nature and He'll have this human nature eternally. Martin Luther
[00:39:59] said it like this. He said about Jesus, He sunk Himself into our flesh. He sunk Himself into our flesh. He became one of us apart from sin. He's unfallen humanity. His personal union of these
[00:40:13] two natures. Now, that is something to be amazed at and to think through. You'll never be able to understand it or to grasp it, but just to know that and just to be amazed at that and wonder at
[00:40:24] out on each Christmas. Adrian Rogers put it like this, the babe of Bethlehem was the earthly child of a heavenly father and the heavenly child of an earthly mother. The child was older than his
[00:40:37] mother, but the same age as his father. He was fully God. He was as much God as though he was not a man at all. He was as much a man as though he were not God at all. He was not all God and
[00:40:49] no man. He was not all man and no God. He was not half God and half man. He was fully God and fully man. He was the God-man. That's who Jesus was and is. Jesus is God's perfect man, and He's man's
[00:41:03] perfect God. So don't fail this year and forget to take time to pause and to be amazed at the wonder of it all, of what it really means that God and Jesus Christ became a man and became
[00:41:18] one of us. Don't ever allow the coming of Jesus Christ to this earth to become just common and ordinary in your thinking. It's easy to lose the wonder because of the familiarity with it.
[00:41:32] Back in 1985, Vance Havner, he was a well-known preacher years ago, he wrote a book titled Playing Marbles with Diamonds. And the title of the book comes from a story that he heard about a traveler who'd gone to a poor African village and witnessed an incredible sight. There was a
[00:41:48] large group of children who were gathered in a circle on the dusty ground playing a game of marbles. And as the traveler moved closer, he saw something that absolutely astounded him.
[00:41:59] These children who had no material possessions were not actually playing the game with glass marbles. They were playing with diamonds. They were playing the most common game that a child can play with large diamonds. These kids were kicking up dust, flicking diamonds into the air
[00:42:16] and trying to knock other diamonds out of a dusty circle.
[00:42:19] They and their parents obviously had no idea the value of what they were holding in their hands.
[00:42:25] Some of you may have been looking for diamonds this Christmas for somebody to know how much they're worth, right?
[00:42:30] But it seems crazy.
[00:42:31] These children played with diamonds like they were glass.
[00:42:35] They treated something extraordinary like it was just ordinary.
[00:42:38] Something of inestimable value as if it was just common.
[00:42:42] I mean, the story shocks us, playing marbles with diamonds.
[00:42:47] But the truth is, you and I, if we're not careful at Christmas, we can do the same thing.
[00:42:53] It's far too easy at Christmas to play marbles with diamonds.
[00:42:58] We've read the story so many times.
[00:43:00] We've watched the movies.
[00:43:02] We've heard the sermons.
[00:43:03] We've seen the nativity scenes.
[00:43:05] We've heard all about the shepherds and the angels and the manger, the wise men and the star.
[00:43:12] You and I have to remember every Christmas, we are handling diamonds.
[00:43:16] This is not commonplace.
[00:43:18] It's not ordinary.
[00:43:18] We're handling the greatest treasure.
[00:43:21] Jesus is the greatest treasure in life.
[00:43:25] Let's don't go out and play marbles with diamonds.
[00:43:27] Let's realize the value of the treasure that we have in Jesus Christ.
[00:43:31] Let's wonder this time of year at who He is and what He's done for us.
[00:43:36] Never, never lose the wonder of it all.
[00:43:39] So to celebrate Christmas, we need to welcome Christ.
[00:43:42] We need to come to Him.
[00:43:43] We need to witness.
[00:43:44] We need to tell others about Him.
[00:43:46] We need to wonder.
[00:43:47] we need to be amazed at Him. And fourthly, we need to weigh. We need to meditate upon who Jesus really is and what He's done. Notice in verse 19, but Mary treasured all these things, pondering
[00:43:59] them in her heart. Now, you and I are never to pray to Mary. We're never to venerate Mary.
[00:44:06] There's some in Christianity who do that. But Mary herself would never want us to do that because she would never want us to detract from and dishonor the son that she treasured so we don't pray to mary or venerate mary but we are to follow the example of mary her beautiful
[00:44:25] thoughtful pondering faith the word treasured here mary treasured all these things is a word that means to store up what's valuable it was used in that day of hoarding money or riches so all the things that were said about her son by by the angel gabriel and later by anna and simeon
[00:44:45] and by the shepherds and later by the wise men mary was taking all these things and putting him in the sealed vault of her mind she was storing these things up and treasuring them storing up what was valuable in her mind and then it says she was pondering them in her heart
[00:45:03] That really, to translate that in our languages, means she was mulling it over.
[00:45:08] You could really translate this where she was putting the pieces together.
[00:45:12] Trying to put together the pieces of all these things she's hearing.
[00:45:15] And Mary had a lot to ponder.
[00:45:17] The angel came and told her that he's going to be the descendant of David and in his kingdom there's going to be no end.
[00:45:23] She's pondering his nature.
[00:45:25] Who is he? He's God and he's man.
[00:45:27] She's thinking about his future.
[00:45:30] As he fed at her breast and she changed his diapers, Mary was pondering and putting the pieces together.
[00:45:39] Think about that.
[00:45:39] When the one who's the eternal Word said His first word, what was His first word?
[00:45:45] Mary pondered these things.
[00:45:46] And when Mary touched Jesus, He was touching the face of the infant God.
[00:45:52] That's who Jesus is.
[00:45:53] Mary had a lot to ponder.
[00:45:56] And so do you and I.
[00:45:56] We have a lot to ponder.
[00:45:58] We need to treasure these things and ponder them in our heart.
[00:46:01] By the way, one of the things you and I should ponder is that we haven't suffered the just punishment for our sins.
[00:46:06] If we know Christ as our Savior, we'll never be punished for our sins. Jesus took it for us.
[00:46:12] We need to ponder that God loves us. John 3.16, God so loved the world that He gave. He gave.
[00:46:19] We need to ponder the wonderful beauty that we've heard the gospel. Many people in the world have never heard the gospel. They don't know about Jesus. They don't know about the Bible, the truths we know. We ought to ponder that and be amazed what God's done for us. If you've been brought
[00:46:34] up in a Christian family, a Christian home, you need to be amazed and ponder that. We need to ponder that God has saved us by His matchless grace. One of my favorite verses this time of
[00:46:45] year, 2 Corinthians 8-9, says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, although He was rich, for your sakes became poor, that through His poverty you might be made rich. It's not talking
[00:46:55] there about money. Jesus was rich, and when He came to earth, He became poor. Jesus became bankrupt spiritually. He became so poor because He took our sin debt upon Him. The one who was rich became poor
[00:47:08] that by His poverty spiritually, you and I could become rich as we trade our rags of our own sin for His righteousness. You and I need to ponder that. We need to ponder that God in His wisdom
[00:47:24] has devised such a glorious plan of salvation.
[00:47:28] After Paul has gone through his great treatise on salvation in the book of Romans.
[00:47:34] In Romans 11.33, he hits this climax.
[00:47:37] Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God.
[00:47:40] How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways.
[00:47:44] For who has known the mind of the Lord?
[00:47:45] Who has become His counselor?
[00:47:47] Or who has first given to Him that it might not be paid back to Him again?
[00:47:51] For from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things to him be the glory forever amen to ponder the glorious plan of salvation that god has brought about so you and i need to ponder the depth of these things but also the simplicity of
[00:48:09] it there's a there's a there's a profundity and a depth of this but there's a simplicity of it and there's a beauty to it to ponder and meditate upon our precious savior and his salvation for us
[00:48:20] well the final thing in this text is worship we must worship god for christ verse 20 the shepherds went back glorifying and praising god for all that they had seen and heard just as had been told them
[00:48:34] we come back to the shepherds here in verse 20 and they're glorifying and they're praising god so they came as seekers and then they leave as worshipers and they were never ever the same again. They leave exalting and elevating the name of Jesus Christ. And that's at the heart, really,
[00:48:53] of what it means to celebrate Christmas. If you and I have not worshiped this Christmas, then we really haven't celebrated Christmas. If we haven't worshiped this morning, then we really haven't celebrated Christmas. Our celebration of Christmas must move us
[00:49:07] to a greater passion to praise the Lord. We do that in words that we speak. We do it in song.
[00:49:15] We come to our services here at church.
[00:49:18] We bring our family.
[00:49:19] We come to the Christmas Eve service.
[00:49:21] All these opportunities we have to come together, to extol and to praise God corporately, but also do it individually as we're by ourselves in our time with the Lord.
[00:49:31] I love these words here in verse 20.
[00:49:33] It says, And the shepherds went back.
[00:49:36] They went back.
[00:49:37] So they went back to their old jobs as new men.
[00:49:40] So they go back to being shepherds.
[00:49:42] Think about the night after all this happened.
[00:49:44] They're there again, dead quiet, like every other night, probably be the same for the next 20 years.
[00:49:49] That one night changed everything, but they're there the next night, sitting there looking up at the stars again, but they're new men. They went back to their old work as new men. They went back
[00:49:59] glorifying, magnifying, extolling, praising God. And think about this, Christmas eventually ends for all of us. We get some time off around Christmas generally from the daily routines of life. But eventually you have to go back to the classroom or back to the office or back to the
[00:50:15] shop or back to the neighborhood, back to our family responsibilities. And my prayer is for us is that we'll go back, but we'll go back as changed men and women. We'll go back glorifying and
[00:50:26] praising God because that's what Christmas is really all about. It's about worshiping and extolling His great name. So how do we celebrate Christmas? Well, we welcome, we come to Christ and we receive Christ into our life.
[00:50:41] That's where it starts.
[00:50:43] Then we witness.
[00:50:44] Once we've received Christ, we go witness and tell others about Christ.
[00:50:47] Because He came, we go.
[00:50:50] The third thing we do is wonder.
[00:50:51] We need to be amazed at Christ and the depth of what He's done and who He is.
[00:50:56] Then we need to weigh and meditate upon Christ and then worship Him to worship God for Christ.
[00:51:03] So don't miss the celebration of Christmas this year.
[00:51:06] If you've never done the first pointer to welcome Christ, that's where it starts.
[00:51:10] Take Jesus to be your Savior.
[00:51:12] And if you've done that, then for all of us here, may God help us this Christmas to witness and to wonder and to weigh and to worship.
[00:51:20] If we don't do that, we really haven't really celebrated Christmas in the way that God wants us to.
[00:51:26] Don't miss it this year.
[00:51:28] In a Berlin art gallery, there's a painting of King Frederick the Great by the German painter Adolf Menzel.
[00:51:34] And it's very unique because it's only a partially finished painting.
[00:51:38] There's a bear patch right in the center of the painting with just a charcoal outline around it.
[00:51:44] What happened is this painting was intended to show Frederick the Great speaking with some of his generals.
[00:51:50] And the painter Menzel painstakingly painted the generals in the background and he left the king until last.
[00:51:58] So he put a charcoal outline of King Frederick there.
[00:52:02] But the problem is Menzel died before he finished the painting.
[00:52:06] So the king is missing from the picture.
[00:52:07] everything else is there but the king is missing when i read that i thought about christmas because how many people today spend all their time at christmas occupied with things of lesser significance and the background material of inconsequential things but they leave the king
[00:52:25] until last and they never really bring him into the picture look we have a savior who's christ the lord may our hearts and our priorities this year celebrate him in a manner that's worthy of
[00:52:39] a king. He's the king. He's the diamond, and he's the treasure that you and I seek in life.
[00:52:48] This year, maybe give him his due and worship him and praise our king and our treasure. Let's pray together. Father, we come before you now this morning, all of us, and I know that we love you.
[00:53:03] We're thankful to you, but Father, we also realize how far short we fall. Father, we've been given the greatest treasure in life, yet sometimes we keep it so much to ourselves. We're ashamed of the gospel. Father, help us to see the diamond and the treasure that Jesus Christ really is
[00:53:23] for ourselves and to have a great desire, Father, to share with others. I pray for each one of us here today, myself included, that you'll give us opportunities, Father, you'll give us the boldness to tell those that we come across in these next weeks about Jesus, the treasure.
[00:53:41] Father, help us to get alone sometime this year by ourselves and ponder and weigh these things, and who Jesus really is.
[00:53:47] He's the God-man forever.
[00:53:51] Father, help us to worship you.
[00:53:52] Help us to do it here corporately as we're gathered.
[00:53:54] Help us to do it individually as we have our time with you.
[00:53:57] Help us to do it as families.
[00:53:59] You can be pleased with our worship of Jesus Christ this year.
[00:54:02] He's our treasure.
[00:54:03] May his name be praised forever.
[00:54:05] Amen.

[00:54:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:54:06] Love the world, treasure heaven Brilliant like the stars In the wintery sky The joy of the Father Reach through the darkness Shine across the earth Send the shadows to the tragedies of time Well, thank you so much for coming to be with us

[00:58:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:58:48] here this morning at Faith Bible Church.
[00:58:49] We appreciate your presence so much.
[00:58:51] If you're visiting with us, if you've got these doors a little ways down, there's a welcome center and there's some folks who'd love to give you some information about our church.
[00:58:58] I'll be down front after the service, our elders and pastors who are here will be down front as well. We'd love the opportunity to meet you this morning. Maybe you have a prayer need or a burden.
[00:59:07] We'd be glad to meet with you and pray with you about that as well. Let's bow our heads now for the benediction as we leave here with the Lord's blessing upon us. Oh, Father, we come and thank
[00:59:16] you for Jesus, our treasure, the diamond, our king. We pray that you'll send us out now with the true light, the true joy, and the true peace of Christmas radiating from our lives, Father, for all to see.
[00:59:30] Father, we love you and we thank you for Jesus.
[00:59:32] May his name be praised forever.
[00:59:33] All God's people said, Amen.
[00:59:37] We'll see you Christmas Eve.