Untitled Sermon (2)

Outline:

A Familiar Story

Line by Line Look

“And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them”

Angels are Messengers

Angels are Worshippers

Why do they worship?

Glory of the Lord

What is this glory of the Lord?

Define glory - “the glory of God is the manifestation of His holiness” -

The angels, a “higher” being, not impervious to sin, but sinless, behold this glory, this holiness, this perfect nature of God, and they can’t help but worship!

- “In your presence there is fullness of joy”

is telling us that this same glory, this same glory that the angels experience on a constant basis, was shining around them, shining off of them

Moses’ face -

And just as Aaron and the Israelites were afraid, so are the shepherds

“And they were filled with great fear”

Why were the shepherds filled with fear at the sight of the angel? And why do we have many Biblical examples of of fear in the presence of angels, and the glory of God?

- Israel’s fear at presence of God on the mountain

- There is no darkness in God

We fear because the glory of God, the light of God, the holiness of God illuminates the ugliness of ourselves, our unholiness, our lack of perfection, our darkness, our sin

Adam & Eve hid from God’s presence

This is what Isaiah realized in our passage in

‘Woe is me.....”

We fear because God is holy, and we are, well, not.

“And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.”

If our fear is rooted in the fact that God is holy, and in light of Him we see how desperately filthy we are, how can the angel say fear not?

The only way we fear is if the holy God provides a way for us not to fear.

Good news of great joy!

A Savior had been born

The Christ, who could save us from our depravity, from our unholiness.

How?

We know this today to be the finished work of Christ on the cross. That’s the good news, and it leads to incredible joy

This is why we, today, can “Fear Not”

We are hopeless apart from Christ

Such good news

It all rests in Him

Great Joy

Joy - a feeling in the soul, not dependent on ourselves, produced totally by God, upon our realization of the beauty of Christ.

Joy isn’t happiness, it’s deeper

Joy is always rooted in God, experienced through Christ, and expressed through worship

Not dependent on ourselves - we have seen that in light of God’s glory we come to realize our total depravity

Not dependent on our circumstances

Shepherds hadn’t actually done anything, their situation hadn’t changed.....

The angels declare what they’ve known and experience all along, the great joy of Christ

From the throne room to the field, Christ is the root of great joy, and the reason they worshipped.

Application:

To the non-Christian

Do you understand God’s glory

Do you know this great joy?

To the Christian

Angelic template

Joy was rooted in Christ

Joy was retold

Shepherds followed suit

Is your life evident of this great joy?