True meaning of Christmas Pt.2

The True Meaning of Christmas Pt.2

Last week, if you were here with us, you might remember we started talking about the true meaning of Christmas. I hope that you all were here Wednesday night for our candlelight service as well. When we looked at scripture, we sang some Christmas songs and just had a wonderful evening of fellowship and being together and worshipping our Lord and Savior. We need to remember this season. This week is Christmas. We know that. We know it's coming up. We stress because we haven't got all of our gifts bought. We stressed because we have Christmas dinner. We need to get our houses in order. Because all the families coming over.

I was thinking just as I was preparing this message the other day, I was thinking about all the preparation that we do for Christmas every year. We buy gifts months in advance. We wait maybe till Black Friday, we see what all the sales are so we get Christmas gifts and a little cheaper. We plan this, we plan dinners, we get our house in order, we clean our house, we get it ready. We may go out and buy some chairs, we may buy a little foldable table so that everybody has a place to sit. We do all this preparation. Are we preparing ourselves for eternity?

That's a question that I think we need to be thinking about. We understand preparation. We prepare for everything. We prepare for vacation, we prepare for holidays, we prepare for this, we prepare for that. But it seems as if we don't ever want to prepare. For heaven. We want to prepare for everything else. We don't want to think about heaven. Something we need to be seriously concerned about or our preparations made. Are we ready? If Christ would come back today, right now, are we ready? Where would we spend eternity? You've only got 2 choices. It's up to us. You've got 2 choices on where to spend eternity. Which one will it be?

Getting back to the Christmas story for just a second. Remember this season. Remember the true meaning of Christmas. Remember while we are here. Remember why this season exists. It's a season to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. Now there's always people out there who will say, well, that wasn't really when he was born. He wasn't really born December 25th. No, chances are he wasn't. But that is the day that we choose to celebrate his birth. That's what we need to remember.

Now if you were with us last week, we talked a lot about prophecy and some Old Testament prophecy of John the Baptist. I want to go back to the book of Isaiah Chapter 7. I want to start off this morning, Isaiah Chapter 7, verse 14. It says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the Virgin will be with child embarrassed son, and she will call His name Emmanuel.”

Now, if we've been in church most of our lives, chances are we've heard this verse from way back in our childhood. We've heard it a lot. We know that someone is coming. They knew for years and years, hundreds of years before the Messiah came. They knew someone was on the way. They knew God would be sending somebody. He would be sending them Asiah now, Isaiah prophet Isaiah said. He would come by the verb by the birth of a virgin. And we're going to look at some more of this story here in just a second. But think about how important that was. This is a detail that we cannot miss. Not only does it fulfill prophecy like we're looking at today when Jesus was born of a virgin. But it's also a miracle as well. Because only God can do that. We can't do that. We don't have the ability. That's not how nature works. But God can do anything. We'll get back to that here in just a minute.

Go to the Book of Luke chapter one. Look at verses 26 through 33. It says, “Now, in the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David. The virgin's name was Mary. Coming in, He said to her, Greetings favored one, The Lord is with you. She was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The Angel said to her, Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God, and behold, you will conceive in your womb embarrassed Son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the House of Jacob Forever, and his Kingdom will have no end.”

So what we see here, we're starting to get into a little bit of an intro, if you will, into Jesus and his birth. We know that Gabriel, we seen Gabriel last week as well. Go to the parents. John the Baptist. Now he is went to Mary. We know Mary is engaged to a man named Joseph, and there Joseph is a descendant of David. That is also prophecy in the Old Testament, if you will, that the Messiah would come from the lineage of David. This virgin's name was Mary and she got a a visit from an Angel, the Angel Gabriel, and he told her what was going to happen. He told her you are going to conceive and you're going to bear a son. And you've got an important job here. You're going to name him Jesus. He's going to be special. He's going to be called the son of the Most High. He will reign over the House of Jacob Forever. His Kingdom will have no end.

How do you think Mary must have felt about this? Think about how she felt not only we'll find out here in a minute when she asked how can this be? And how was she felt about the responsibility? How did she feel about what she was going to do? Not only was she going to bear a child, but this child was going to have this very important job. This child was going to be the Messiah.

Move down. Look at Luke chapter 1, verses 34 through 38. It says, “Mary said to the Angel, How can this be, since I'm a virgin? The Angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will over shadow you, and for that reason the Holy Child shall be called the Son of God. Behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son. In her old age she was called Baron his now in her six month for nothing will be impossible with God. Mary said, Behold the bond slave of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word. And the Angel departed from her.”

And one thing that is always amazed me about this story is that she agreed pretty quickly. You know, it's obvious that she was a little bit concerned on how this could happen. I don't think she was doubting the Angel. I don't think she was doubting God, but she was just curious. I guess you will. How can this happen? We know how this happens normally. We know I've never been with a man. I'm a virgin. How can this happen? How am I going to become pregnant? Gabriel even helps her out there a little bit, he says. Elizabeth, your relative has also conceived to marry child as well. They didn't think that she would be able to, but she's conceived and now she's in her six month.

And I really like that verse 37 for nothing will be impossible with God. Remember back last week? We talked about how God can use anybody. We talked about how God can do anything. Just because we think that we have a problem, just because we think that we have something that we can't get past, that problem is not a problem for God. God can take care of that. We know that nothing is impossible for him when he is involved, everything is going to be OK.

So we know that after Mary was told this, she wanted to go visit Elizabeth. That's where one of the greatest things in Scripture happens here, verses 39 through 45.It says, “Now at this time, Mary arose and went in a hurry to the Hill Country, to a city of Judah, and entered the House of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled. With the Holy Spirit, she cried out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, my baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”

Now to me, this is one of the greatest verses in Scripture, and I know Todd agrees here, it's one of his favorite, but we can tell from the beginning. From the beginning. John the Baptist knew who the Messiah was. He was in his mother's womb and when they walked in, he leaped in the womb. That tells us without a doubt who Jesus was, tells us that he is the Messiah. There's no doubt about it. Now I know again, I know Todd does. He loves that verse. I look forward every year to studying and looking at these passages of scripture. Because it shows us a lot of things. It teaches us a lot of things. Teaches us to trust God. It teaches us that God's plan is always right. It teaches us that nothing is impossible for him to do. Because ordinarily in our world today, ordinarily none of this could have happened. It would have been impossible. But with God, everything happened just the way that they said that it would. How important that is.

Let's move down. Let's look at some more scripture here about the birth of Jesus. Luke chapter 2 verses one through 7. It says, “Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus and the census to be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quinarius was governor of Syria and everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Those of also went up from Galilee from the city of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and family of David in order to register along with Mary who was engaged to him and was with child. While they were there, the days was completed for her to give birth. She gave birth to the 1st. Born son. She wrapped him in clothes, laid him in a Manger because there was no room for them at the inn.”

So we see here the humble birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. One thing that I really like about these verses. Is they were doing what they were supposed to. What I mean by that is I'm sure that in those days they didn't have GPS trackers, they didn't have cell phones, they didn't have all the things that we have today to be able to track people. I'm sure that Joseph probably could have gone away without ever going to that census. He could have probably stayed exactly where he was and not had a problem. But he chose to go to the census, and therefore that is when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Now you might ask, well, why is that a concern? Prophecy. Prophecy said that had to happen.

There is somewhere around 300 prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. He's the only person to ever come close to fulfilling all of them. That's why this is so important. This proves that he is the Messiah. Because ordinarily he wouldn't have been born in Bethlehem. He would have been born in Nazareth. But that wasn't where he was supposed to be born. That wasn't where the Messiah was supposed to be born. If you're with us on Wednesday nights, we've been studying the book of John, and that's one thing that the Jews really questioned. Jesus is the Messiah is not supposed to be born from Nazareth. But they didn't study, they didn't do their due diligence. Because he was actually born in a Manger in Bethlehem. He was there for the census. So you see, this is what God planned. He orchestrated all this and it worked perfectly. We need to trust God's timing. Because we know all throughout Scripture that His timing is perfect, but we need to trust His timing. Because look at how all this took place. Look at how all this happened. They can be the same thing for our lives as well. Trust God's timing in our lives.

Move down. Look at Luke chapter 2, eight through 20. It says, “In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock. By night an Angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened. The Angel said to them, Do not be afraid. To behold I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you, and you will find a baby wrapped in clothes, laying in a Manger. And suddenly there appeared an Angel with a multitude of heavenly host. Praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace among men with whom he is pleased. When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying 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 Mary and Joseph and the baby he was he was laying 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 about the things which were told to them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. Shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and just been told them.”

So just a couple things real quick about these verses and we've got a lot of scripture to look at today, but I want to get through and. I think it's important to note shepherds were considered very low in society. Think about that. They were very low in society. They were kind of off to themselves. They were kind of out in the wilderness with their flock. It wasn't the prominent people. They were the first to know. Not only was Jesus's birth as humble as it could be, he wasn't born in the mansion. He wasn't born to the most prominent, richest family. He was born and he was laid in a Manger. Was wrapped in clothes, laid in a Manger where they kept animals. It was even room for them at the place to stay at the end. And not only that. But the first people to know? Mr. Shepherds was the outcast. Shows who Christ died for. That shows who he came to earth for. Not just this group of people. Not just that group of people. But every single person. He loves every single person. He died for every single person. Our social status doesn't matter to him. How much money we have in our bank account doesn't matter to him. He died for us all. He came to Earth for us all. Never forget that.

The last thing that I want to mention this morning, we'll close here in just a few minutes. Recognize what God can do for us in our lives. Look at what he has already done for us. He's given us the greatest gift we could ever imagine, the greatest gift that we could ever think of. He gave it to us free and willingly. We didn't ask him to come to Earth and die. We didn't ask him to do all these things for us that he did anyway. He did it out of love.

One of the great things that we celebrate about Christmas, one of the first things as children that we think about about Christmas as gifts. Christmas gifts are important to us. There's nothing wrong with that. It shows generosity. I mentioned this last week, but I want to mention again that verse that says it's more blessed to give than to receive. We understand that when we see our loved ones and our children opening gifts on Christmas morning. We've been given the greatest gift ever. We've been given the gift of salvation. Are we going to take that gift? Are we going to accept Christ into our lives? Are we going to follow his commandments? Are we going to be baptized? Are we going to profess our faith? Are we going to accept the gift of salvation? I can't think of a better day to do that. There is no greater day to do that than today. What a wonderful and special thing that it is.

So I just want to recap just for a minute or two, some things that we talked about. The first thing that we mentioned was that God can do anything. We know that little verse. Nothing is impossible with God. We need to remember that because a lot of times we get in our lives and we think that, well, this is a problem. We think that I can't get past this, I can't get through this. You can't with Christ. You came with God. Because there are problems are not a problem for him. When we think that all hope is lost, he's right there. He's not going anywhere.

The next thing that we mentioned was to trust God's timing. I don't care where you look at in Scripture. In the immediate time, it looks like that God's timing might be off. It looks like his timing might be a little late. But we know that his timing is always perfect. No matter what, his timing is always perfect. Remember that we need to look at Scripture and look at things on his birth and the things that happened just the way that it had to. All those 300 and some prophecies that were fulfilled perfectly. All that happened because of God's timing.

And finally, we need to remember what God can do in our lives. Remember what God can do for us. Remember that special gift of salvation. If you haven't accepted that, I invite you to do that today, right now. Don't wait another second. Because we're not guaranteed another minute on this earth. We don't know when we will leave this earth, either by the way of the grave or by Christ. Return. Don't put off the time.

Invitation.