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. All right. Well, good morning, everyone. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Take your song books, those Christmas song books, and turn to song number 69. So what we're going to do today, because this is the glorious last day of Christmas songs, we are going to, and I don't lead singing on Wednesday, so that doesn't count. I may be, actually. Yeah, I may be. Son of a gun. Anyway, we're going to do, if you would stand, we're going to do whatever you want as far as Christmas songs. If you have a Christmas song that you want to sing as long as I know it, we're going to try to sing it. So be thinking of some Christmas songs. Tabby wants to sing Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel. I don't really know this song. I know it in theory. So we're going to try it. Okay. All right. I don't even know what that means. Okay, here we go. So song number 69, Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel, song number 69 in your song books. Sing real loud, because I don't really know it. We're going to try it. Song number 69. She's ready. Okay. Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to thee, O Israel. Oh come, thou rod of Jesse free, thine own from Satan's tyranny. From depths of hell thy people save, and give them victory o'er the grave. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to thee, O Israel. Oh come, thou day spring come and cheer, our spirits by thine advent here. Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death our shadows put to flight. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to thee, O Israel. Oh come, thou key of David come, and open wide our heavenly home. Make safe the way that leads on high, and close the path to misery. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to thee, O Israel. Oh come, oh come, thou Lord of mine, who to thy tribes on thine eyes hide. In ancient times, didst give the law in cloud and majesty and all. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to thee, O Israel. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just want to thank you, God, for today. Just another day to meet in your house and hear your word preached. I pray, Lord, that you would just fill our pastor with your power and spirit. In Jesus' name, ask all. Amen. All right, does somebody have a Christmas song they want to sing? And we will try. I had Tabby and Pastor, like, laughing. Was I messing that song up? I told you I didn't know it. I see that. I'm just like, in my head, it's like, I'm doing this so wrong. I will never, this is why I hate Christmas music. All right, anybody have a Christmas song they want to sing? If not, we're just going to go to the book and sing. Anybody? Jojo, you got a Christmas song you want to sing? 42 in the Christmas song. What one is it? Okay. Song number 42 in your Christmas song books. All right, song number 42, We Three Kings. We three kings of oriented are bearing gifts we traverse afar, field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star. Oh star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. Born a king on Bethlehem's plain, gold I bring, true crown am again, king forever ceasing, never over us all to reign. Oh star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. Frankincense to offer have I, incense owns a deity nigh, prayer and praising, almond raising, worship him God on high. Oh star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. Mur is mine, it's bitter perfume, breathes the life of gathering gloom, sorrow sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in a stone cold tomb. Oh star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to the perfect light. Glorious now, behold him arise, king and God and sacrifice. Hallelujah, hallelujah, earth to the heavens replies. Oh star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to the perfect light. All right, that last verse is a little different than the, because it peels through the earth and skies in our normal hymnals, so I understand that one. But the other song, there's no excuse. So some announcements here. The big thing is that there's definitely a lot of people out today. Some people are just being cautious as far as the idea that maybe someone in our church may have COVID and just giving it some time to make sure that no one has symptoms or anything like that. And so I just want to speak on that. First of all, I am not policing anybody, so I am not taking your temperature when we come through the door. I'm not telling you what to do as far as that goes. And you don't have to ask my permission whether you're going to come or anything like that. I just give my advice as far as how we deal with it. As far as if you had a fever, you wait seven days after the fever breaks to come back around people. So I want you to know that I'm not like here to like tell you what to do or not to do. But when it came to the party, the big reason why I basically just canceled it is because there were some people that weren't going to come and because when they found out that it might be someone that's exposed, and I hate doing anything church-related where somebody can't come or it's like, you know, a lot of us are going to be there, but other people just can't come because of something that's going on that's out of their control. So I'd rather us all miss out on it than some people miss out on it and all that. So I know that it sucked to not have that, but that being said, the cases are really high when it comes to COVID right now. And though I am not worried about it personally as far as my health and my kids, because it's not probably going to be anything that would affect us, but I do worry about those that are older, those that have existing conditions that could really mess them up. And so just trying to be cautious on that. But again, anybody that has those conditions that just want to say nuts to that, that's fine. But anyway, so I just want you to know that I'm not like out here to basically rule how you deal with it. But obviously if I'm leading up something, it's on me. So if someone got sick or something really seriously happened, then it's on me because I'm the one that basically let it happen. So anyway, and then the choir, the children's choir, since a lot of the kids are out today, I know we have kind of like half and then the other half aren't here. We're going to do that on Sunday, next Sunday. So I know that's a couple days after Christmas, but you know what? I still listen to Christmas music after Christmas Day, unlike some people that only listen to it like two days before Christmas or something. Anyway, so hopefully you'll still be in the Christmas spirit as we come on the next Sunday. But that's going on. Upcoming events here, we do have, we're going to try to do this New Year's Eve party. So that'll be Thursday because the first is on a Friday. And so we have tentatively showing 8 p.m. So obviously the plan is to stay till midnight, you know, to bring in the New Year together as a church family or just us being together and playing some games, having some popcorn preaching, different things like that. So if you have any ideas for kind of games to play or things like that, that's four hours, just so you know. That's four hours from 8 to 12. And like I was telling some of the folks this morning, we've done this before and when you're doing like preaching time or like popcorn preaching, it goes by pretty quick, right? But if you don't have that, then it depends on the games. You know, we can do sword drills. We can do all kinds of stuff. But anyway, so if you have ideas for that type of stuff, obviously we're going to try to have some snacks and everything else. But more so maybe just like snacks and not like a whole dinner. So I don't know if you're like, I mean, if I wait till 8 o'clock to eat, I'm going to be an angry bear. Like I will be hangry at that point. So I'm going to be eating before that. But you know what, if someone wants to make pepperoni rolls, no one will be sad about that. So anyway, we have a chapter of memory for the month still of 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2 till the end of this month. And then 1 John 5, 20 is our memory verse for today. And so this is a short one, like I was saying earlier. And we know that the Son of God is common, hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God in eternal life. And so you say, well, that's not short. I know it's not short. But it is a good verse, especially we're talking about the coming of the Lord as far as the big theological term advent, which was actually in that song that we were singing earlier. The idea of Jesus coming, and He's the true God in eternal life. So it's a good verse to have for soul winning and just in general. Soul winning, we're going to try to team up for soul winning. I know we're a little sparse today, but we're still going to try to go out and do some soul winning today. And then Tuesday night, just be on the WhatsApp there, Brad Charles leading up to Tuesday night soul winning time. And then all the normal church services. I mean, so I have Wednesday night service, all that. And again, this past Wednesday night, that was also another judgment call, because we've had church here. And I don't know who was here when we had church and we had black ice and it took us like an hour or two hours to get home. No one remembers that? Oh, you went home. Okay, so you did. Okay. Yeah, I remember that time where it was just like literally sitting on the highway for two hours and it was like going like snail slow. So that type of weather I don't like playing with. If it's just snow, like it's not that big of a deal. But man, when it rains and then freezes, then turns into snow, that stuff is nasty. And from what I saw on the traffic reports, I wasn't out in it, but there was some pretty bad traffic. So that's another judgment call, and especially on Wednesday nights, because it's just like at night and that's a really hard time. You know, everything just gets real icy and bad. You can't see anything. But we'll be picking up obviously this coming Wednesday. Women's prayer meeting on the second. So that'll be, so you'll have a day to recover, you know, from the whole New Year's Eve party there for Saturday morning there. And then we'll have to get Joyce next week on the birthdays there. She's on the 23rd. So what's the 23rd? Wednesday. So and I'll say this too with this. I want everybody to know that I'm not mad at you if you get sick. I don't blame you if you get sick. And there's nothing to be ashamed about if you get sick. Okay, does that make sense? Like so if you tell me that you, like especially with this COVID thing, if you tell me you may have COVID, like there's nothing wrong. There's nothing to be ashamed about. There's nothing to like be like, oh, you know, I'm, so it's better for us to know than to not know and then not know if we've been around somebody like that. And I know some of us have been dealing with that with companies where they won't tell you who it is. They'll be like someone had COVID and be like, well, who was it? Was I around the person? You know, should I go visit grandma? Like what, you know, you want to know that type of stuff. So I don't want you to like be ashamed to tell me or anything like that, you know, be like, I'm going to be outed. Listen, that's not outing. Like it's not a sin to get sick. Does that make sense? That you could have sinned to get sick. Okay. But I'm just kidding. I mean, not really, but you can definitely definitely sin to get, you know, you could be sick because you sin, but being sick is not sin. Right. Does that make sense? So if you got sick, we're not, we're not here to like come down. Okay. Everybody gets sick. So anyway, I just want to be clear on that. I'm not mad at anybody. I'm not like, you know, coming down on anybody. I'm not trying to out anybody. I just, you know, obviously we want to try to be as safe as possible around the season. A lot of people are going to see family this week and you know what? I think a lot of people just want to make sure they're healthy for that. So I don't want you to judge anybody that's not here because they're, you know, staying home to make sure that they're healthy to go visit family. You know, because there are some families that are doing that and I just don't want you to be like, oh, you know, they should be in church and all this because it is, it is definitely a very sickly time right now. And sometimes I feel sick just because people are sick. You ever get that? You know, it's like that sympathy sickness. Like people are sick around you. Like I'm feeling sick right now. I don't even know if I'm sick. I just feel sick because I'm living in an infirmary. So anyway, all that to say is that I'm glad to see everybody here today and excited about the service, excited about the fellowship, all that stuff. But obviously it's a fun year. It's a fun year with all the stuff that's going on and all that. So today we'll sing one more song and then brother Jason's going to be reading Luke chapter two for us. All right. One more song. What do we got? Anything? Bella? 12? You guys keep going in this Christmas song book. I should have banned it. There we go. All right. That's a good one. Joy to the world. Okay. I know that one. All right. Song number 12. We'll sing joy to the world. Song number 12. Joy to the world. The Lord has come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing and heaven and nature sing and have and have and nature sing joy to the world. The savior reigns. Let men their songs employ while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains. Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. No more let sin and sorrow grow nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as, far as the curse is found. He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nation prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love and wonders of his love and wonders, wonders of his love. All right. Take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter number two, Luke chapter two, and we'll have brother Jason read that for us. All right. Luke chapter two, Luke chapter two. 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 and all went to be taxed everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea onto 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. 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 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. And the angel said unto them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. And it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherd said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath 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. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them. And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. And behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and the same man was just and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, then took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou has prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his mother, behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against. Yea a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phineel of the tribe of Aser, that she was of a great age and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow of about four score and four years which departed not from the temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord they were turned into Galilee to their own city Nazareth. And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. When he was 12 years old they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. When they had fulfilled the days as they returned the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they had found him not they returned back again to Jerusalem seeking him. And it came to pass that after three days they found him in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors both hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him they were amazed and his mother said unto him son why hast thou thus dealt with us behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them how is it that you sought me? Whisk ye not that I must be about my father's business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them. But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father thank you for your word Lord. Thank you for your son Jesus. I just pray that you would be with Pastor Robinson as he delivers the message this morning. I pray you fill him with your spirit. Give him the words to speak to us and I pray we'd all be edified Lord. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. So you're there in Luke chapter 2 and this very famous passage of the birth of Jesus. And I'm going to be preaching on that. I'm going to be preaching on the nativity of Christ. The nativity of Christ. So that's basically preaching on where he was born and just that whole event that's going on there because Christmas is coming up so you're like that's cliche. I don't care. It's Christmas time so you're like would you want me to preach on hell? Like what do you want me to preach on? No. But I just want to get into this story and just kind of look at some elements in this story and it's very familiar but I just want to kind of dig into a little bit here. So the first thing that we see here in Luke chapter 2 in verse 1 is the idea of the reasoning why Joseph even had to come to Bethlehem okay and with Mary his wife. In verse 1 there it says, 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 in Cyrenius when Cyrenius was governor of Syria and all went to be taxed everyone into his own city and Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into 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. So the reasoning why Joseph was even in Bethlehem is for taxes okay so if there's a sometimes you wonder why there's certain things that are going on but sometimes that things like even taxes which is theft right and not to get into a political sermon on that but Jesus you know obviously even said you know if you tax those that are of the children of the country then they're not free okay that's basically what he's saying is that if the children aren't paying tribute then they're free which in turn means that they're in bondage if they're paying taxes so this shows you that obviously Judea or you know the Jews in general were under you know paying tribute to Caesar so they weren't a free nation okay but this is a way that God got them into Bethlehem because this is very important okay the fact that Jesus was born in Bethlehem is a very important fulfillment of scripture okay so I want to get to that first of all as far as Bethlehem go to go to Genesis chapter 35 so we sing the song oh little town of Bethlehem and we know that's where Jesus was born this is a very important point and this is a point where people actually stumbled at and the fact you know that the scripture said he's going to be born in Bethlehem but they didn't realize that he was because he grew up in Nazareth so you know the story that he comes down from Nazareth he's born in Bethlehem then they flee into Egypt for a little bit then instead of going back to Jerusalem or to Bethlehem they go back to Nazareth and he grows up in Nazareth and the Bible talks about how he shall be called Nazarene as it was spoken about the prophets and now the prophets didn't say like I mean as far as being written it's not written in the Old Testament that he's going to be called Nazarene and people stumbled at this okay but this is a very important point and the first thing to realize is Bethlehem and Ephrath are one and the same okay and I'm going to get to that because I just want to really point this out as far as where we're talking about in Genesis chapter 35 verse 19 Genesis 35 verse 19 it says and Rachel died and was buried in the way to Ephrath which is Bethlehem go to Genesis 48 Genesis 48 so this is where Rachel died she died in the way or basically right near Bethlehem okay and Genesis chapter 48 and verse 7 here pretty much says the same thing it says and as for me when I came from Paden Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath the same as Bethlehem okay now the reason I'm kind of showing you this is because Ephrata Bethlehem Ephrata is one of the main scriptures that you see as far as where Jesus is going to be born or the king of the Jews the ruler is going to be born is Bethlehem Ephrata so you see that hey we're talking about the same place when it says Bethlehem Ephrata Ephrata is just another name for that same area also to notice there that that's where Rachel died you remember how she died giving birth to Benjamin okay very interesting now this sermon isn't about that story but when Jesus was born what happened they uh Herod went to go kill all the children that were two years old and under and the scripture talked about Rachel weeping for her children so there's a lot of stuff that's tied into that that's a whole nother summer for another day go to Ruth chapter 4 Ruth chapter 4 Ruth chapter 4 and just to show you okay so well Bethlehem that's where Rachel died and that's at Ephrath so we kind of know the location that we're dealing with here as far as where Bethlehem is at Bethlehem you know and here's the thing the city of David a lot of times talking about Zion or Jerusalem but then it'll talk about Bethlehem being the city of David and really what you have to understand is that Jerusalem and Bethlehem are pretty much right next to each other and the way you got to look at it is Jerusalem's like the big city it'd be kind of like Morgantown and you have Westover Granville Star City and Sabertown but when you mail out something you could put Morgantown on all that does that make sense so like Morgantown is the city and I say that loosely okay it is the all-encompassing city that's around everything right you can put Morgan where I live I put Morgantown I'm way outside of all of that right I'm like three miles outside of all of that and but you can put Morgantown for all of that okay so Bethlehem's kind of like that little province you could say it's like kind of like Westover or Granville to Morgantown if that makes sense so it's not wrong to say like Bethlehem's the city of David Bethlehem's more specific does that make sense like so if you're thinking about Jerusalem being the city of David Bethlehem's more specific because that's where he was born okay and I'm going to prove that with Ruth here Ruth chapter 4 and verse 11 Ruth chapter 4 and verse 11 it says in all the people that were in the gate and the elders said we are witnesses the Lord make the woman that is common to thine house like Rachel and like Leah which did too did build the house of Israel and do thou worthily in Ephrata and be famous in Bethlehem and let thy house be like the house of Pharise whom Tamar bear unto Judah of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young man okay so we see here that Ephrata Bethlehem same same thing so when you see Ephrath and Ephrata it's the same thing okay it's just a different way of saying the same place go down to verse 18 we're going to see this lineage and just to prove to you that this is where David was born okay this is the area so this is where Obed was born does that make sense so Ruth married Boaz and Boaz gave they gave birth to Obed okay so let's look at the lineage here because it kind of talks about Pharise coming of Judah and we know that Jesus is of Abraham and of David and David's of Judah okay so in Ruth chapter four and verse 18 it says now these are the generations of Pharise Pharise begat Ezron and Ezron begat Ram and Ram begat Amenadab and Amenadab begat Nashon and Nashon begat Salman and Salman begat Boaz that's where we're at in the story okay Boaz and Ruth get married right and Boaz begat Obed and Obed begat Jesse and Jesse begat David so in this story in Ruth you're literally just a couple generations back from David and this is where he's from he's from Bethlehem okay so when it says that you know uh Joseph had to go to Bethlehem because he's the house and lineage of David that's why okay and we have proof that that's where he's from okay now go to Matthew chapter two Matthew chapter two because this is very important because this is fulfilling of scripture okay this is showing this is just nailing you say why was why do you have to be born in Bethlehem it's really just nailing down the point that he is of the seed of David he is the son of David okay he is the root and offspring of David okay so we know that Jesus is God and he made David but he's also became a man right God came down and was made of the seed of Abraham and also it says that he's of the seed of David and him being born in Bethlehem is a very crucial point to just nail that in right just as David was born there Jesus was born there right does that make sense and so go to Matthew chapter two in verse one and this is something that everybody you know as far as the the all the chief priests and the leaders in Israel uh knew that that's where he was going to be born okay and here we see the wise men in verse one it says now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea in the days of Herod the king behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying where is he that is born king of the Jews for we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him so we see the wise men that are coming from the east they followed this star and they're saying where is he that's born king of the Jews okay you say well how do they know that this is going to be the case well there's a scripture that talks about this but let's keep reading here it says uh in verse three when Herod the king had heard these things he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together he demanded them of them where Christ should be born so he's asking that question you know where is where does it say that he's he's going to be born okay and in verse five it says and they said unto him in Bethlehem of Judea for thus it is written by the prophet and thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah are not the least among the princes of Judah for out of these shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel okay so we see out that it's it's uh in Bethlehem right and where are they quoting that from in Malachi chapter five go to Malachi chapter five now this verse is a very powerful verse because first of all it tells you that he's going to be born in Bethlehem but it also shows you that he's God okay so uh this shows the deity of Christ but it also shows you where he's going to be born so this is very important to understand that hey uh him being born in Bethlehem that was not by accident like that's where God wanted him to be born okay because you may read the story and be like you know this is just kind of like bad luck right they were going to pay taxes and just happened to give birth in Bethlehem right and and it just wasn't planned that way no this was planned okay this is exactly the way God wanted it to be and you know when you read this story uh you know that's the way it went it was going down that way for a reason now in Micah chapter five and verse one now gather thyself in troops oh daughter of troops he hath laid siege against it us they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek but thou Bethlehem Ephrata sound familiar i just want the reason i went all back to that is to show you when it says Ephrata it's not like this is a different place or just weird that it would say that right okay Bethlehem Ephrata is just the same place right Bethlehem Ephrata though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of these shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been from of old from everlasting so that's saying that this ruler that's going to be born right this ruler is going to be born in Bethlehem is going he's from everlasting okay so when the the wise men came and said where is he that's born king of the Jews they know who they're talking about we're talking about the king of kings we're talking about God right being born into this world and so this is a very important point but you notice that those chief priests didn't read that portion off did they because you only look at Matthew chapter two that's not the narrator speaking okay so you say well it doesn't sound as it seems like they're kind of taken off now sometimes you know when it's quoting scripture it won't look exactly the same but it says the same exact thing right but this is what the chief priests and rulers were saying and notice they stopped you know after they said where he was going to be born that he's going to be a ruler but they didn't say you know whose goings forth have been from of old from everlasting notice they didn't say that that last part there and and so that being said is that that's a big point people are missing when they when dealing with the Christ in general is the fact that he's God right he's not just a king it's not like well you know we're in bondage right now we need a king to bring us out of bondage and it's like this this savior that's going to be born right does that make sense like like this man is going to come I'm going to send him to you like a Josiah or a Joshua or an Elijah you know what I mean like like I'm going to send you this great man that's going to like basically bring the kingdom back to you no we're talking about God coming we're not talking about just a man we're talking about God coming as a man to be ruler in Israel and you could also see how this would also be very uh where people will be thinking well is it going to come now right because a lot of these scriptures are pointing to him being the king him you know bringing in the kingdom and all that's true but it still hasn't happened yet okay and you can see how people are confused as far as like when that's going to happen go to john chapter seven john chapter seven it's interesting because people choked on this as far as the fact that they knew that they knew that he was supposed to be born in Bethlehem and this is a classic state or a classic case of people asking the wrong question right verse 40 here so John chapter 7 verse 40 it says when many of the people therefore when they heard this saying said of a truth this is the prophet others said this is the Christ but some said shall Christ come out of Galilee hath not the scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was so there was a division among the people because of him see see the wrong question it's not it's not should he come out of Bethlehem the question is did he come out of Bethlehem right because they're looking at where he grew up in Nazareth and they're just assuming that's where he was born does that make sense and they're missing the whole mark because most people probably don't know the story as far as that he was born in Bethlehem and then he fled they fled into Egypt and then they ended up living in Nazareth right and so it's not like you know he had a long time in Bethlehem where everybody just knew that he lived there okay and so they're asking the wrong question but so they had the scripture and they're holding on to be like well he's supposed to be born in Bethlehem they're holding on to that but they don't realize that he was born in Bethlehem okay so they kind of choke on that go back to Luke chapter 2 Luke chapter 2 Luke chapter 2 and the thing that we see here in this story I don't think anybody denies it is that you see how poor of a birthplace Jesus is born and I also don't believe this is by accident okay I mean do you think that this just happened by chance and God's like oh man you know I wanted to be born in the world but I didn't want to be born in a stable and have to be put into a manger no I believe all this was happening exactly the way God wanted it to happen and in Luke chapter 2 and verse 6 it says and so it was that while they were there the days were accomplished that she should be delivered 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 so there's a whole I preached a whole sermon on this about no room for Jesus you know as far as the idea that they came to an inn you know like a hotel or motel that you would think of and there was just no place for them and so they had to basically go to a stable and or to a barn or whatever it was it doesn't really say exactly you know what kind of situation it was but they laid Jesus in a manger now a manger is like a feeding trough right where you would put meal for the for the cattle or whatever to eat in and I'm sure they laid some stuff in there right they didn't put them on like wood I'm sure they put hay and you think of the way in the manger you know the description that's there that's not inspired obviously in that song but I'm sure that you know they put hay in there and it was you know keeping them comfortable and all that but that being said this is a very very poor birth okay I know some people have been born in cars and all that like on the way to the hospital and everything but the idea here is that they didn't have any place for for him you know being like no crib no like area this was not this was you know you think a home birth you know at least that's comfortable you know you have your own house you have this or that this is where there's animals around okay there's animals around and you're giving birth out there and just just the whole idea of it is just very uncomfortable okay now go to second corinthian chapter eight second chapter eight because I believe that there's a reasoning for this right Jesus is not coming into the world this first time you know basically just showing off that he's king showing off that he's the son of God actually throughout his ministry he keeps saying don't tell people right don't tell people I don't want and he'd say he basically cut himself off from the people because they were trying to make him king right and so he's coming for a different purpose he's coming to seek and save that which is lost right he's not coming to rule and reign on the earth at this time and he's coming meek and lowly and how much lowlier can you get here than being born in a barn pretty much being born in a barn and being and as a baby being put into a manger now in second corinthian chapter eight and verse nine that really kind of put some gravity to this verse in verse nine so second corinthians eight verse nine it says for you know the grace of our lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that he through his poverty might be rich and so it's just a great picture of this you know a physical picture right as far as what Jesus did you know you think about this right he's sitting sitting on his throne right in heaven at the right hand of the father before all this happened before he came down to the earth he's got all the glory he's got angels saying glory glory glory you know or holy holy holy i'm sorry holy holy holy is the lord god almighty and just like all these angels worshiping him and just obviously he's the most high he's the son of the highest right and he has all of that but yet he came down and was born in a stable and put into a manger as a child right if that doesn't just encapsulate the fact that he became poor for us uh you know i don't know what else would now go to hebrew chapter 2 hebrew chapter 2 hebrew chapter 2 and verse 9 not only was his birth you know a very poor man's birth right the idea of him coming down and becoming a man right and being made flesh you know taking on flesh and blood is what we're dealing with and i know jesus was a man before that you know obviously melchizedek and his appearances before that and all that so don't get me wrong with that but what i'm saying is that becoming the seed of abraham and the seed of david right at that point he was not the seed of david or the seed of abraham and notice what it says here in verse 9 so hebrew chapter 2 verse 9 it says but we see jesus who is made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of god should taste death for every man now that really shows you why he did it right the whole reason that he's coming is that he for the suffering of death why did he become and you say well what does that mean to be a little lower than the angels well he just got done saying that as men we are made a little lower than the angels right so he's kind of talking about how david you know a certain man testified in a certain place you know what is man that thou are mindful of him or the son of man that thou visited him thou has made him a little lower than the angels right and he's quoting scripture but he's basically saying but we see jesus who was made a little lower than the angels why because he's a man right he became one of us and notice as you keep reading there it says in verse 10 by the way that says he tastes the death for every man not not just the elect okay so put that in your cow in this pipe and smoke it he died for everybody okay takes the death for every man verse 10 says for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings for both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren saying i will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church i will sing praise unto thee and again i will put my trust in him and again behold i and the children which god hath given me notice in verse 14 for as much then as the children are partakers of what flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same and so when we're talking about him becoming a little lower than the angels and becoming poor for us what it's talking about is talking about the fact that he he took part of flesh and blood right he became flesh and blood okay and this really gets into the fact that jesus christ didn't come just by by water right but by water and blood the bible says in first john chapter five so that's very important that it was by blood as well he wasn't just physically a man right because water would represent the physical right because it says you must be born of you must be born of water and of the spirit says that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that was born of the spirit of spirit so he wasn't just flesh he was flesh and blood okay and blood shows you lineage blood shows you that you have a physical you know like lineage like back to david as as it you know or back to abraham as it'll say here and notice in verse 14 for as much then i'm sorry i i i'll keep reading verse 14 it says that through death he might destroy the him that had the power of death that is the devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage notice in verse 16 for he for verily he took not on him the nature of angels but he took on him the seed of abraham wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest and thanks pertaining to god to make reconciliation for the sins of the people okay so this is why he came and became poor he was made a little lower than the angels the whole reasoning for that it states here is that he might taste death for every man that he might abolish death right they might destroy the works of the devil right for this cause the son of god is manifesting he might destroy the works of the devil right and that's the reason why he came so when we read this story as far as jesus coming into the world you know obviously it's it's a very familiar story and it's a very heartwarming story that jesus christ came down here but the ultimate goal for him to come into this world was to taste death for every man right this is the whole reason why he was born into this world and you know the fact that he was born in the manger and the fact that he had this poor and lowly birthplace is just a testament of who he came to be and listen no one is going to match the service of jesus no one's going to match the meekness and lowliness of jesus i mean we're all trying right you know we all want to strive to be like jesus but no one will ever come close to that okay and this is just a physical representation of what he came to be okay even at his birth it was lowly right it was lowly poor you know now going on from that go back to luke chapter two luke chapter two so i just want to kind of point out a couple things that i see when i read this story this is what i see i see the lowliness and the poor birthplace that he has and just how that represents what he came to do and so he didn't come in as a rich person with a silver spoon in his mouth okay he came in poor and that's an extreme difference from where he was before that right and you say well how do you know he's got he's from everlasting okay micah 5 2 will put that to bed right there that jesus was already uh in existence before the birth uh you know at bethlehem's major um but going back to verse 8 here so luke chapter 2 verse 8 another thing that i see is dealing with the shepherds okay in verse 8 here 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 lord came upon them and the glory of the lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid so we see that as this is going on there were these shepherds that were abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night so they're basically up awake watching over their their flock of sheep right or whatever flock they have right we assume it's sheep but it could be anything right but the idea here is the fact of shepherds watching and keeping watch okay go to acts chapter 20 and you know what i preached a sermon before on this as far as an interesting thing is that notice who comes to jesus's birth when he's first born the shepherds that were there in that country right later on we see that the wise men come they don't come that same time so i know you see that nativity scene where the wise men and the shepherds and everybody there at the same time the wise men were not there at the barn you know when he was in the manger because it says that they came to the young child in the house and also to think about that too is that how old were the children when harret said i want you to kill these children he didn't say kill all infants he says two years old and younger right so jesus could have very well been like two years old okay i know that's that's still a child right you're just getting into maybe toddler years right but the idea here is that uh shepherds first wise men later people of israel first gentiles later right and you kind of see that same correlation with jesus coming onto his own his own receiving him not right for three the three and a half years and he says i go on to the gentiles you know the idea is that um you know he was going to his own to fulfill the promises and to just leave no doubt that hey i have come for you and to fulfill these promises not that he wasn't for the gentiles but the idea is that the new testament is there's neither jew nor greek right there's neither jew nor gentile and you see that correlation there but the thing that i see here with these shepherds besides that they're of israel right they're of judah they're of probably bethlehem right they're in that country um is that they are watching right what you're dealing with here are diligent and good shepherds here okay and at shepherd 20 this is you know a pastor is synonymous with being a shepherd you think of the word pasture right like a pasture of you know for for cows or whatever or you know sheep a pastor is over that pasture right and a shepherd is over that flock you know um or over sheep and stuff like that right so the idea here is that a pastor or a shepherd needs to be watching the flock by night right awake did you know sober vigilant and the idea there is that um notice in act chapter 20 and verse 28 here paul is giving exhortation to the elders or the you know the bishops the pastors the shepherds in emphasis and verse 28 here it says take heed therefore unto yourselves to all the flock over the which the holy ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of god which he hath purchased with his own blood so he's basically saying hey you're overseer that's another you know you think of the word bishop that's what that's talking about and verse 29 says for i know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock also of your own self shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years i cease not to warn every one night and day with tears so he's telling these shepherds you need to watch you need to watch for wolves what do you think those shepherds are doing you know by night you think they just can't sleep you know you think they just enjoy just staying up during the night you know when they're watching their flock no they're watching because they want to protect the flock right either from themselves or from wolves right because it even says here that you're dealing with wolves shall enter in but then even of their own selves right so the idea is that you're watching that you know one doesn't escape you know like you think of like one like you know departing and you gotta go find it right you're making sure they're not running away somewhere they shouldn't be going but you're also making sure no one comes in and destroys the flock and so you're dealing with some good shepherds here that are watching and they get rewarded for being good shepherds meaning that they get to see this this host of heavenly angels telling them hey the lord has come right the lord jesus christ the saviors come and you get to go see them okay and you say well how does that apply to us well it should apply to the fact that hey as christians we should be watching uh go to matthew uh mark chapter 14 mark chapter 14 say watching for what are we supposed to just look out the window and just be looking for something right i've heard this before you know when especially pre-treated preachers they'll be like and you never hear those stories you're like is that even true like because they'll always be like i know you know this preacher would always tell me this that he would do this and be like did he really do that or was it some other person that did that they're just telling that same story like you just never know if these stories are even true or if it ever actually happened but they're like this one preacher he would just be looking out the window looking up into the sky and everybody and someone would always come up to him be like what are you looking what are you looking at i'm just looking just watching watching for jesus that is not what it's talking about okay it's not like i'm not just gonna be staring up the sky and be like i'm just waiting for first of all we don't believe in an imminent return so that's ridiculous but you know what i'm not just looking up in the sky wait you know like when it says watch it's talking about spiritually watching okay spiritually being sober awake alert vigilant that's what we're talking about now to give you that idea you know mark chapter 14 this is where jesus is in the garden of gethsemane and notice what he says in verse 37 or what it says here in verse 37 says and he cometh and findeth them sleeping and saith unto peter simon peter simon sleepest thou couldest thou it could couldest not thou watch one hour watch ye and pray lest ye enter into temptation the spirit truly is ready but the flesh is weak okay now this is a concept and you say well how does this apply okay well obviously as a pastor this applies to me because i'm supposed to be vigilant i'm supposed to be sober i'm supposed to be alert i'm supposed to be awake right i'm not supposed to be asleep you probably hear that idea of being awake right the truth movement right you know we're awake you know awake to what to the truth of what's going on right the to deception whatever it may be right and the idea here though for us looking to the future when you think of these shepherds watching their flock by night this is the first coming of christ that this happens right but how does this apply to us in the future well the bible is constantly telling us go to luke chapter 21 luke chapter 21 to be to watch and be ready now people will take that ready and be like well you know that means that if you're not living for christ then you're going to be left behind or you're not living for christ and you're going to go to hell and like they'll take this stuff like way too far listen the spirit is ready but the flesh is weak so when you're dealing with peter in the garden of gethsemane he's not saying like you're just completely not ready does that make sense spiritually speaking if you're saved you're ready right so when it says those that are ready he'll come for or whatever you know and it'll use that type of language well if you're saved you're there okay but physically speaking okay if you're not ready then there's consequences okay and luke chapter uh 21 here notice in verse 36 because this is a familiar thing that jesus says dealing with the end times or dealing with his second coming is saying is saying to watch verse 36 watch ye therefore and pray always sound familiar it's just like the garden of gethsemane but he's talking about in the future here it says watch ye therefore and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the son of man now what's this talking about well spiritually speaking like i said if you're saved when jesus comes you're going to be raptured you're going to be caught up together with him in the clouds okay it has nothing to do with how you live for christ does that make sense but the question is will you be still alive okay go to revelation chapter 3 revelation chapter 3 and this is where i believe when you're dealing with the end times when jesus comes the second time that god will bless those that are watchful those that are ready those that are serving him that those are the people that if you're watching and you're praying always then you'll be able to escape these things now what does that mean by escape it means that you're going to survive right the idea here is that that you'll be able to stand before the son of man okay because if you're dead you're not standing does that make sense right if you're asleep in jesus you're not standing okay so you'll be the first to rise okay so there's there's a silver lining right you will not prevent them which are asleep if you're alive and remain right but the idea here is that there's a blessing here that if you're ready and watchful just like those shepherds that were watching by night right that there's a blessing that you'll be able to see the lord when he comes do you see that because those shepherds if they weren't watching by night if they were sleeping they wouldn't have gone over and got to see the lord jesus christ lying in a manger right and that's the first coming right of jesus christ and the same would apply here i believe in his second coming and listen you say well is that is that parallel listen everything parallels in the bible have you not seen that yet when the first coming the second coming and all these allegories and how everything is parallel to each other as far as things that repeat themselves and how that works now in revelation chapter 3 and verse 10 it says this it says because thou has kept the word of my patience i also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth now this is talking to christians okay now this is not saying that he's going to keep you from tribulation okay but the hour of temptation if you go back to uh Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel's three friends it says the hour that you don't bow down and worship this image you'll be cast alive into the burning fiery furnace and what are you talking about death right you're talking about physical death obviously Shadrach Meshach and Abednego were saved people right they believed in god they were they were saved right and so they would have went to heaven but because they said we will not serve thee and we will uh you know our god's able to deliver us but if not we're gonna still you know even if he doesn't deliver us we're still not going to bow down to your image and what happened jesus saved them out of fire to where not even one of their hairs was singed and their clothes weren't didn't even have the smell of smoke on them right and the same thing i believe applies because you you know going into great tribulation be like well you know i'm just gonna you know stop serving god at that point and just try to hide and you know all that you know the bible is very clear that hey if you serve him he'll protect you and i believe this is a promise that he's giving us that hey if you watch and you're praying always you may be accounted worthy to go through you know and it's basically stating that hey if you keep his word notice in in revelation chapter 3 and verse 10 because thou has kept the word of my patience i will also keep thee right so it's an extra thing it's not just like you just got saved right you because you believe in christ i will keep you from the hour of temptation because you believe in the lord jesus christ uh you'll be able to stand there before the son of man that is coming right no this is something that if if you want to be counted worthy or basically be able to stand there and look up and see jesus coming in the clouds you need to be watching you need to be ready right and in matthew chapter 24 go to luke chapter go back to luke chapter 21 i'm going to read matthew 24 and verse 13 which this is also in other places as well as it says but he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved this idea is of enduring unto the end watching and praying always keeping the word of his patience all these things are tied into when he comes the second time and it says that if you do that you'll be saved if you do that you'll stand before the son of man if you do that you'll be kept from the hour of temptation which i believe is death right which i believe is being put to death now you say well what about the people that are going to be martyred for christ well there's going to be some people that are not going to accept deliverance you're like who would do that uh people already did you know in hebrew chapter 11 it says and some would not accept deliverance that they might receive a better resurrection so there's some people that could have been delivered but they're like no i want to die i want to die for you and you get a better resurrection so that's a choice you can make in the end do you want to die you know be a martyr for christ or do you want to stand there and and see him at his coming and that's quite a choice i don't know you know and when you get to that point if we're there when that happens um you know that's a choice you're gonna have to make okay but um but that being said uh i don't know about you i'm not against dying for the lord jesus christ but i would love to stand there physically to see the lord jesus christ coming in the clouds i mean how many people are going to be able to say that throughout all eternity that you were there standing there physically and you were watching and waiting and keeping the word of his patience and doing all that so that you could stand there and see him at his coming and i believe this is a spec this is a privilege okay because people are christians are going to be dying okay not everybody right because he shortened the days instead of being three and a half years of great tribulation he shortened those days to where it's more like a few months right but even at that people are dying okay people are being put to death being beheaded for christ for the cause of christ and you know what i want it to be said go to luke chapter 21 verse 27 so in verse 36 it's talking about watching that you may be a kind of worthy to escape all these things that when these things uh you know when these things come to pass to stand before the son of man right that's what he's talking about it's not saying to be saved from hell right did it say anything about being saved from hell no it's saying that you may be able to stand before the sun man and what are you doing when you're standing before the son of man in verse 27 that's what it says and then shall they see the son of man coming in in a cloud with power and great glory and when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh so just like those shepherds that were watching their flock by night okay they were diligent they were vigilant they were sober they were ready and they were given the privilege to go see the lord jesus christ at his birth okay the first advent if you will of christ and in the end times in the second coming i believe it's going to be similar okay now if you remember jesus even made this distinction he said if they do this in a green tree what shall they do in the dry right there is a difference between his first coming and his second coming right there's a difference in just the there's a difference between a green tree and a dry tree does that make sense but the idea here is that those shepherds weren't like being beheaded for the cause of christ does that make sense when they went to go see the lord jesus so it wasn't this great tribulation that's going on them right there but it's also a different type of coming right his first coming is to be meek and lowly and to come to save the world the second time he's coming he's coming as a lion he's coming as the king of kings lord of lords coming on a white horse you know with all of us to execute judgment right but uh so i just wanted you to see that when i see the the shepherds washing their flock by night i first of all i think of good pastors i think of good diligent pastors that are that are keeping watch over their flock even by night when they're tired when they want to go to sleep um you know what they're watching their flock keeping them safe okay and god blessed that you know and those shepherds got to go see the lord jesus christ at his birth and i believe in the end times there's a blessing if you're diligent watching waiting looking for him and when you look at all those passages as far as like watching you say what's the point you know we're all saved anyway right listen there's a blessing on top of that do you know there's there's there's other things to to work for god or to that are that you can receive besides eternal life you know that's great you know salvation is the most important that's the foundation right there's a lot of other things that are on top of that i want to be the friend of god i don't know about you i want to perfect my faith and be like abraham who is called the friend of god that's not to everybody you're my friends if you do whatsoever i command you and to be counted worthy to be able to survive the greatest tribulation the world has never the world has ever seen or never seen i guess it doesn't matter which way you say it because they've never seen it right but to survive that to go through that as you're preaching the gospel and living for god that's something like Nebuchadnezzar and the the uh daniel's three friends and you say well how how is he going to save us i don't know he did it many times in the past maybe there'll be some miraculous thing to where they try to behead you and it's just not possible right right the guillotine breaks in half i don't know you know like something could happen to where you survive and you're standing there to see the son of god coming in the clouds and what a day that would be right to see that and uh and i see a parallel i see a parallel here with this coming of christ now go back to um luke chapter two luke chapter two so first you see in the story you see the fact that he's born in bethlehem it's very important he's born very poor in a poor state right that obviously shows physically how he was going to be the rest of his ministry he's going to be a man of sars he's going to be meek and lowly and even when he comes in as being the king into jerusalem before he dies he's coming riding on an the cult to fall of an ass right meek and lowly okay and so that's how he came the first time and then the shepherds watching their flock by night i see a parallel there with his second coming as well okay peace on earth um this is this is the message that we see here of the angels right and notice in verse 10 here it says and the angel said unto them fear not for behold i bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is born this day in the city of david a savior which is christ the lord and this shall be a sign unto you you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a great i'm sorry with the angel a multitude of an heavenly host praising god and saying glory to god in the highest and on earth peace good will toward men so we see here first of all this message is this good tidings which was another way of saying that the gospel right glad tidings of good things the gospel now it's to all people all people jesus christ is the savior of all men especially of those that believe right but he has come as a savior to all men whether they get saved or not he was their savior but it's not imputed unto them as being a savior if they don't accept him okay he can all he can always save those that will actually let him save them does that make sense now also we see here that this message is it says glory to god in the highest and on earth peace good will toward men now this this this whole message here is not saying that we're all going to sing kumbaya and there's going to be peace on earth as far as just everybody's going to be holding hands singing and i feel like there's a way a lot of people read this what we're dealing with here is actually the gospel piece in the peace of god with men okay so when we when we sing like hark the herald angels sing uh that's talking about reconciling us sinners with god okay go to roman chapter 10 very famous passage obviously dealing with soul winning we use this all the time during soul winning but i want you to see that the gospel is called the gospel of peace okay so the idea here is that the the glad tidings is peace right the gospel of peace the glad tidings of peace so nothing that these angels are saying are wrong but i feel like people take it too far right they're like well there's going to be peace on earth and that's what god wanted when he came to earth is that everybody would be lockstep together in unity now everybody would be in unity if everybody believed the gospel okay everybody would be in unity if everybody followed god's word but that's not going to happen okay not in this not until the new heaven and new earth okay that everybody's just gonna be in lockstep with that in in roman chapter 10 and verse 13 it says first i shall call upon the lord shall be saved how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except if he sent as it is written how beautiful are the of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things okay so we see here that when we're preaching the gospel we're preaching the gospel of peace and the reasoning for that it's not peace necessarily between other men okay like you believe and now you're like at peace with everybody else the idea is peace with god now go to romans chapter 5 romans chapter 5 and verse 1 this is my last point of the sermon here but the idea here is that it's a beautiful statement that's being said you know peace on earth goodwill toward men but the idea here is that it's not a matter of like peace between men and all that it's it's dealing with god and men okay the idea is reconciling the world with god not reconciling the world with each other do you see how people mix that up though and they're just like oh this is we need to we need to get back to that message on peace on earth listen peace on earth yeah as long as it's according to the bible but good luck with that because most people don't want anything to do with the bible now in roman chapter 5 verse 1 it says therefore being justified by faith notice this we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of god sound familiar that's what we're talking about there okay so it's not like anything that's said there is wrong or out of place it's just misinterpreted right it's just it's taken to some other extreme but when you understand that when you're saying glory to god in the highest peace on earth goodwill toward men on earth peace and goodwill toward men that idea is talking about between god and men right there's listen there's one mediator between god and men the man christ jesus and it says he is the savior of all men especially those that believe it says he will have all men to be saved and to come into the knowledge of the truth and that whole idea there of being saved reconciled and that peace that's brought there and i have another verse in here but it's just for sake of time i i kind of leave it off but you know you go to ephesians chapter 2 and he has made peace with us but then he's also broken down the middle wall partition and now there's peace between jew and gentile meaning that it's all one you know we're all in christ together there's neither jew nor greek and all that and there's definitely peace that's involved with believers okay that's going on there but even in that case you're not dealing with believers and unbelievers being at peace together does that make sense but what i want to make a point here go to matthew chapter 10 this is what it's not saying this is not saying that you're going to be at peace with everybody in the world or that he's saying you have you need that you have to be as a christian and if you're not at peace with everybody in the world you're not right with god actually it's quite the opposite okay so matthew chapter 10 matthew chapter 10 verse 34 notice what it says it says think not that i am come to send peace on earth i came not to send peace but a sword so listen either these contradict or you're misinterpreting luke chapter 2 okay jesus when he came being born in the virgin was not to bring peace between all men okay it's to be to bring peace between god and men okay and that glad tidings is the gospel and if you don't obey the gospel or believe the gospel you're not going to have that peace okay you have peace by faith that's what it says in roman chapter 5 and it says in verse 35 for i am come to set a man at variance against his father and and the daughter against her mother and the daughter in law against her mother-in-law and a man's foe shall be they of his own household so does it sound like jesus is saying no you're gonna have peace with everybody on the earth whether they're saved or not no it's actually saying quite the opposite and it's saying to the extreme that's going to be family members that you're going to be at variance with notice in luke chapter 12 luke chapter 12 and verse 51 parallel but you know it says a little differently here so he said no i didn't come to send peace but a sword and why a sword because there's going to be division okay luke chapter 12 verse 51 it says suppose ye that i am come to give peace on earth i tell you nay but rather division for for from henceforth shall there shall there shall be five and one house divided three against two and two against three the father shall be divided against the son and the son against the father and the mother against the daughter and the daughter against the mother the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and i don't know how many people in our church can attest to this right now just on the gospel alone that it causes division that you believe the gospel you believe is by faith alone that you cannot you'll lose your salvation and that you're saved forever no matter what and how that divides families i mean i would almost say every person in this church would say that that to a certain extent has happened so to say that you know the message of the angels is saying it's going to be peace between all men okay now one day there will be peace on the whole earth that's when jesus christ is rolling and raining but even then you're going to have people that are going to rebel at the end and then the new heaven and new earth is when there's peace completely on earth okay but until then that's not what jesus came to do the first time does that make sense when he came the first time he came meek and lowly he came poor and to to die for us to take that taste death for every man but he did not come to send peace between all men okay he actually came to do quite the opposite he said i didn't come to send peace but a sword and division and so the gospel get this the gospel of peace will cause division just a fact you say well you know the good news yeah it's crazy isn't it when you tell people that jesus died for them people get offended at that like what are you doing talking to me about this religion you're offending me i'm triggered my blue hair is catching on fire like people get upset about this type of stuff and you're not talking about reprobate you're not talking about sin you're i mean you're basically saying hey we're all sinners can we at least agree with that oh i'm offended it's like well people get offended and people are going to be divisive and listen the true gospel divides because it divides from all this work salvation garbage that's out there which is not a gospel it's not good news okay working your way to heaven not good news because good luck with that being good to go to heaven that's not good news because jesus said there's none to do it good but one that is god there's none righteous no not one so that's not good news that's bad news okay so you can label it good news just like joe biden can label himself a christian it doesn't make it so who else saw you don't have there's an article that says we had the first president that's a church-going president oh man i just want to throw up just thinking about someone even saying that out of their mouth are you kidding me oh man praise god we got joe biden such a good christian you know he goes to church every once in a while obama went to church too what are people talking about it's like anyway that being said people could call themselves christians and people can say that they have the gospel on their tongue but if works are coming out of that repent of your sins is coming out of that that is not the gospel and that's not the gospel of peace the the gospel of peace and goodwill toward men is believe on the lord jesus christ and thou shalt be saved the gospel of peace is for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of god not a works as any man should boast that's the good news and that's why they were rejoicing when the angels were coming to them and they got to see the lord jesus and so the christmas story here is a very uh beautiful story but there's a lot of stuff in there as far as what's going on to uh look at how that applies to you right and especially as adults you kind of look at them and be like all right we're going through the christmas story again like like i know you're not saying it like that but the thing is it's like you know what you've heard how many times have you heard the christmas story and you're just like all right we got it you know he's put into a manger that's great but listen sometimes you got to think about those things as far as how it's significant okay and how that applies to the whole uh picture and you know what there's a lot of beautiful stuff in there and there's a lot of stuff i haven't even touched on um that i could touch on in another sermon so uh but that's you know merry christmas and you know it is a great story and i i love the christmas story i love reading it um i love thinking about it what did what what honor would it have been to be one of those shepherds that got to see the lord jesus lying in a manger you know and so uh let's end with a word prayer day honey father we thank you today and thank you for your word and just pray to be able to start the rest of today i pray to keep us healthy keep us safe and lord just help us to bring glory to your name we thank you for coming and being born of the virgin mary so that we can have life through you and lord thank you for dying on the cross for our sins ultimately and rising again for salvation and lord we love you and pray also in jesus christ's name amen the brother will come sing one more song and that will be dismissed all right take your christmas song books again and turn to song number two song number two if you would stand we'll sing the first noel the first noel the angels did say was to certain poor shepherds and fields as they lay and fields were they lay keeping their sheep on a cold winter's night that was so deep noel noel noel noel born as the king of israel they looked hooked up and saw a star shining in the east beyond them far and to the earth it gave great light and so it continued both day and night noel noel noel noel born as the king of israel and by the light of that same star three wise men came from country far to seek for king was their intent and to follow the star wherever it went noel noel noel noel born as the king of israel star drew nigh to the northwest or bethlehem it took its rest and there it did both stop and stay right over the place where jesus lay noel noel noel noel born as the king of israel then entered in those wise men three for reverently upon their knee and offered there in his presence their gold and myrrh and frankincense noel noel noel noel born as the king of israel