Well, I really do want to wish you all a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart. And so, I got you a gift. And I don't know if you open gifts on Christmas Eve or if you wait till Christmas Day, but this is a handmade gift. I actually handmade it. And it took me hours to make. And I wish I could have spent more time on it for you, honestly. And it is a 12 Days of Christmas Devotional booklet, through the Gospel of Luke, for you to do over Christmas break for you and your family, if you want to. And I couldn't make this by myself; people had to help me with the graphics. People had to print this. But everybody's getting a free copy of this on your way out of here today. And so Merry Christmas, everyone. And so, I hope that you will be inspired to read the Gospel of Luke, if you open it up. It says for those who want to see Jesus Devotional through the Gospel of Luke, and there's 12 days, going through the twnty-four chapters of Luke. In fact, if you could open your Bible and turn with me to what we usually call the Christmas story, in Luke chapter 2, I would like to talk about it with you here for a few minutes. Luke 2:10-12, is where we're going right now. And I've already seen some people here today, that may be this your first time at our church, or you haven't been to our church in a while. But you're here because it's Christmas Eve, we want to welcome you. Can we give them a warm welcome right now, everybody? Thank you for joining us. And if you're new to our church, and this your first Christmas with us, well, we're all new in this new auditorium that we've got. We’ve just gotten here a few weeks ago. So, it's our first Christmas for all of us here. And we are very glad that you are here with us this morning. Thank you so much for being here.
And I just want to reach out to some of you who have been sitting in the wind tunnel here in the auditorium. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Some of you brought your heavy winter coats today because you were afraid you were going to sit under one of these events that were going to freeze you out. You know, we were praying for months for air conditioning, it just goes to show you that God really answers our prayers out here, you know, because the air conditioning came through powerful. And so, our very own a friendliest guy at our church, Brad Comstock, he decided enough was enough, he got up on a lift, and he messed with the registers on every single one of these vents. So hopefully the airflow is not blowing anybody away here today. Can we give it up for Brad caring about us trying to as we're working on it. And so, we're just still figuring out this new auditorium. And we're glad that you're here with us. But I would like if everybody would stand up for the public reading of Scripture. And we're just going to focus in on what the angel says here in Luke 2:10-12. And, and so I want to encourage you to follow along. This is a message sent from heaven to us here on Earth. And we should all pay close attention to what God has to say; please follow along as I read in Luke 2, verse 10.
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
That's the reading of God's word, please go ahead and have your seat. And we get to see hear what the angel says. And, there's so much you could say about how they ended up in Bethlehem, and who the angels are, and who the shepherds are. And I just want to focus on these three verses of what the angel actually says. In fact, if you got the bulletin there, you'll notice there's a handout in the bulletin. And we're going to learn three things from these three verses that you can write down. And if you’ve got the handout, if you flip it over to the back, you'll see that last year pastor Bruce preached at our church, a sermon where he went through all the details of the whole context of the story of Luke 2:1-20. So, if you want to find out more about the Romans and the census, or who Herod was, or who the shepherds were, and how this all worked with Mary and Joseph, and cave there in Bethlehem. If you want more of those details, listen to that sermon. But if the angels got something to say from God to the shepherds, well, we want to zero in on what the angel says. And I’ve just got to be honest with you and just kind of share my frustration about what's happened with Luke 2 over the years. This is a little rant that I have. I'll try not to rant for too long. But we do Christmas services every year, right? Ryan Pierce and I, we always plan these services. And we get frustrated because when I just read those words, a lot of you thought about Linus and his blanket. You know what I'm talking about? A lot of you. This has happened to me as well. We just think Luke 2 is the beginning of the Christmas story, that Luke 2 is like the Christmas tradition of Jesus being born. Luke 2 is the beginning of the Christian story, not the Christmas story. Luke 2 is the announcement, not just that Jesus has been born, but there is good news for every single person who lives on planet earth, good news of great joy. And this is not just for the shepherds on that one holy night. This is for all people everywhere; hey, we've got something to say to the world. And Luke 2 is just the introduction to a great and awesome story. Would you go in during your break and start a movie and watch the first 10 to 15 minutes of the movie, and then turn the rest of it off and act like, what a great movie; I'm so glad I really spent some time watching that movie. That's what a lot of people are doing on Christmas. They're reading the introduction, and then don't even get to the rest of the story. And so, Luke 2 is meant to be this hook, like, wow, an army of angels is showing up telling these ordinary shepherds the most amazing story the world has ever heard. That's meant to get you reading throughout the rest of the book, not just oh, I heard a little bit of it on Christmas. That's enough for me. So, I hope that this will just be a teaser. And you'll be like, wow, I want to read through the Gospel of Luke. Now, the 12 days of Christmas usually are the days counting down to Christmas. I understand that. And we have a silly song, a fun song that we like to sing about the 12 days. And the whole idea of Advent is we're preparing. We're waiting for the arrival. So, maybe some of you have already been reading Luke, counting down to Christmas, maybe this will just be a way to review what you've learned so far. But what I'm asking everybody to do is say, hey, what if we start here with the introduction in Luke 2, and we keep looking at Luke throughout our break, even into the new year, for 12 different days, and then we get the full story of Jesus, not just the introduction, because look at what he says in Luke chapter 2, verse 10. The angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news. And it's not just that Jesus has been born in Bethlehem, the good news is going to become the theme. And in fact, it's even the name the Gospel of Luke means, the Good News of Luke, the good news; this is just the hook. Wow, what is the good news? I want to learn more about it. And it goes all the way to Luke 24.
So, in the Greek, if you were looking at it in the original language, it was written in by Luke. See, Luke's a guy, he was a doctor. And he came in he did his investigation into what really happened with Jesus. And then he wrote down this orderly account of the whole story of the birth, and the life, and the death, and the resurrection of Jesus. And he wanted to tell us about how this angel came to the Shepherds. Now, if you were reading it in Greek, it would look like this, it would look like “angelos,” the Greek word there. In the Greek, when he got two gammas next to each other, the first gamma acts like a “nu”. So, you’ve got angelos with angel, we get that. And then the angel is just a messenger. That's what the word angel means. It's a messenger from heaven to earth; he's delivering a message. And then the next word, this is what the angel is doing. And you can see the word there, I put them right under each other. “Evangelion”. So, you can see it's like the angel, the messenger is delivering a good message. That's what you want. The “angelion” means it's like an action. It's a verb. And the prefix maybe you've known this before, the prefix here, “eu” means good. Like if you give a eulogy is a good word that you're saying about someone. So that angel is a messenger delivering a message, some news, and this is some good news that the angel is giving. And the good news is not just that he's born. And in fact, the good news is really who he is. And we're going to get to that there in verse 11. But that's what this is about. I mean, this is, I mean, not just breaking news, not just the current headline news. This isn't even news of what's going on, on planet earth. This is like God sending news from heaven to us here on earth, and it's good news. And then look what it says there in verse 10. Not only do I bring you good news, but it's good news of great joy, we'll put those Greek words up here. That's “megali chara.” Okay, we all understand what “mega” means, right? We're talking about large, we're talking about, I mean, really, mega is beyond large, right? We're saying there is a joy if you really hear this good news. If you could really see what this angel is saying to the shepherds, the theme that goes throughout the Gospel of Luke, if you get that, there will be a joy that is larger than life in your soul. Who doesn't need some of that these days, that there is a great joy from this good news. So all the angel is doing here in Luke 2 is he's promising that if you really get what the good news is, and it's going to take the whole rest of Luke to really unpack what that good news is. If you get that good news you will have in your soul, this mega joy, I mean way beyond the happiness of the current moment, way beyond the rollercoaster of emotions, there will be a joy, a great joy bursting out of you in your life. That's the promise that the angel makes, that this good news can give you. And just go skip with me all the way to the end of the Gospel of Luke, just go to the very end, Luke 24:52. If you’ve got your Bible, let's just…spoiler alert, let's just go straight to the end everybody, straight to the end of the Gospel of Luke. And Jesus, just like he comes from heaven and is born as a baby, the word of God put on flesh. That's what we're celebrating. By the end, he ascends back into heaven. That's how Luke ends. And look what it says in Luke 24:52. Just showing you the book ends that it's a complete thought going through the whole gospel. And these disciples who came to know and see who Jesus was, they worshipped him, they came and adored him, and they returned to Jerusalem with what does it say they had there, everybody? …With what a great joy. So, what the angel promised was delivered to the heart of these disciples, by the end of the story, a joy beyond normal experience, a joy that's larger than life. Okay, so that's what this verse here the angel comes, and he starts hyping us up, I got something good to tell you, something that's going to give you a joy that's out of this world. And it's not just for the shepherds.
Go back to Luke chapter 2, verse 10. And look at what the angel says here, because he says, Hey, this good news of great joy. This is for all the people, that includes you, gathering together here at Christmas Eve 2023, on the other side of the world, from a field outside of a cave, in Bethlehem, this good news of great joy. This is for everybody is what the angel has to say. This would be good for all of us to pay close attention to what this good news is.
So, if you're taking notes, let's get that down for point number one here together: “Pay closer attention to the good news.” Pay closer attention to the good news. And if you're not used to reading the Bible, like the Gospel of Luke, or if you're not used to come to church, and listen, and we're so glad that you're here. We want you to really hear what we're going to say here today, what the good news actually is. And if you come here every Sunday morning at nine o'clock, and you’ve got your regular seat, I want to strongly encourage you, don't come into Christmas like you've already been there. You've already done that; you already know all about the birth of Jesus. Come ready to learn more about Jesus than you ever have before. Pay closer attention. Everybody, grab your Bible and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 2. I want to just show you how the writer of Hebrews described this situation that we find ourselves in. Particularly, I want to talk to you if you've celebrated many Christmases already. You've already got some kind of tradition. You've already heard the story, you've already read maybe the Gospel of Luke before. Well, look what the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 2, verse 1. I think the way he says it here is very insightful. And everybody here needs to take it to heart. He says, therefore, his conclusion is, in the old days God spoke to his people through prophets. And there are things that they wrote. Well, now in these days, he's speaking to us through his Son. God's saying something from heaven to earth, through the word of God, who is Jesus. And so, he's speaking to us. Hebrews 2:1, “therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we…What does it say there everybody? Lest we what? We drift away from it. So, Hebrews, he says, there are only two things that are happening, you're either paying closer attention, like I want to learn even more about the good news of Jesus, or you're already drifting. You know what you have to do to start drifting? Nothing. So, all you’ve got to do, don't do anything. And if you're not tied down to the dock, you'll start sailing out to sea. That's how it works. If all you do is go through the motions of another Christmas, then it's good that you're here this morning. If you're just going through, here we go another year, another holiday season, here we go, we'll just do the things that we normally do. And you're going through the motions, then you are already drifting as you sit here this morning. Like if you are not actively seeking to pay closer attention to what you've heard, then you're already kind of drifting away from it. That's what he says. And he goes on to explain it like this in Hebrews 2:2, “For since the message declared by angels.” Now, I just need to say that in context. The Jewish people thought that the law that God gave to Moses, in the Old Covenant was delivered by angels. So, when he says that here, he's not talking about what we just read in Luke 2. Or the angels came to announce the good news. He's talking about the law of Moses given through the angels. And since that message declared by angels “proved to be reliable,” the law of Moses, “every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution.” So, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, by Jesus himself. And it was a test to do us by those who heard by the apostles by the witnesses. And God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will, like, Hey, don't you know the message, the message of Jesus, the message the apostles preached? Haven't you heard about the miracles and the signs when the Holy Spirit came? And how the message spread across Jerusalem and Judea and to the ends of the earth? Like we've got to go pay closer attention, because what's going to happen to us, and I love this line here, in the middle of Hebrews 2:3, “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?”
If you're taking notes, under point number one, right, Matthew 22:5. It uses that same word “neglect.” And in Matthew 22, Jesus is inviting everybody to a celebration. He's inviting them to a wedding feast. He's saying, hey, it's time to celebrate, come and gather around, we've got good news, we've got great joy. We've got a reason for everybody to come together and celebrate. And people, they neglect the invitation. People are like I’ve got things to do on my farm, I’ve got too much business to do over here. I ain't got no time to celebrate. I’ve got to have a get-together with my family. I’ve got to go buy more gifts, I ain't got time to celebrate you, Jesus. And so many people neglect coming to the wedding feast that Jesus is inviting them to. And Matthew 22. It's the same idea. You have something great to celebrate, you have salvation in Jesus. And if you ignore that, if you neglect that, and you drift away from that, what do you think's going to happen to you? If you neglect the good news that brings great joy to all people? You know, I get really concerned about what's happening in our lives. Because when people say to me, I can't wait to celebrate Christmas. They're not talking about worshipping Jesus. They're not talking about what I plan on doing on Christmas is I'm going to go spend some time with the book and by myself in a room, and I'm going to pray and I'm going to pour out my heart to Jesus. And I'm going to thank Jesus for humbling himself from at the right hand of God in heaven to being born as a baby laid in a manger, in an animal feeding trough. And I'm going to thank Jesus that he did that for me. That's not what people when they say Merry Christmas, when they say we're going to celebrate Christmas, when they say we're going to a Christmas gathering. Most people's Christmas gatherings aren't church, they're something else that they're going to do, something else where they might be neglecting such a great salvation. It seems like what we're doing these days is not Christ. We're just doing moss is what we're doing. More family, more stuff, more food, when what we really need, what's the only thing that's going to give us great joy? Is Jesus Himself. Can I get an amen from anybody on this?
And so, are you paying closer attention as we come into Christmas? Or if we could be honest, even some people who regularly come to this church would you be honest to admit I'm drifting right now, I can't say I love Jesus more today than I have before. I can't say I'm more in the Word, more on fire for Jesus today than I used to be. No, in fact, I'm just kind of in cruise control at this point. But that it's warning us against that. It's saying, look at what Jesus came to do for you. Look, could you drift away from it? How could you neglect it?
So go back to Luke chapter 2. Now, verse 10, is just the height verse; verse 10 is just trying to tell us you want to listen to this, this is good news. This is great joy. This is for you. It's just trying to bring us in. It's just trying to get our attention. Verse 11 is when we really get to the content of what the good news is: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, Savior, who is Christ, the Lord.” So, notice, it doesn't just say Jesus was born, it actually gives three different titles to tell you who Jesus really is. It says, Hey, I have for you this day, in the city of David, which is Bethlehem, which was prophesied in Micah 5:2 in this awesome way. But let me tell you, there has been born for you a savior. Let's throw the Greek up here. It's “soter” in the Greek. And you might have heard soter before because there's this study called soteriology, which is a section of the ology, which is the study of our salvation. How does God actually take people who are sinners? And how does he actually make them alive in Christ? And so, there's a lot you can study about God's great salvation, and Jesus, he is the Savior. That's the first thing the angel describes him as is “Savior”. Now, Savior is really good news to you. If you think you're in danger, and you need to be saved. But if you're doing fine, if you're doing, if everything's good for you, then savior, it's not that big a deal to you because I'm good. What do I need to be saved from?
Go over to Matthew chapter 1. Everybody turn over to Matthew, chapter 1, when the angel came to Joseph. You know, Joseph found himself in an awkward situation because he was betrothed to marry, he was probably really excited about getting married to Mary. And then he found out that Mary was pregnant. And he knew that he had nothing to do with it. How Joseph must have felt in that moment. And an angel appears to Joseph in a dream, telling him how to think about this situation that he finds himself in. And so, you can see what the angel says, picking it up here and Matthew 1:20. “But as he considered these things,” and I bet there was a lot to think about there, “behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their”…what does it say, everybody? “Sins”. So, see, this is where Jesus being a savior is either going to be awesome, or it's going to be to you if you’re a sinner. Nah. Do you need a savior? Nah. Hey, that's what it says. He came to see, there's this big problem that the Bible talks about, over and over, that we are separated from God, that we are distant from God. And the reason that we're distant from God is we have sin, and we sin against God. We do the things that God tells us not to do. We don't do the things that God does tell us to do. He's holy, we're sinful, there's a separation there. And God loved us so much, that he sent his one and only Son to be our Savior, to come and rescue us, to deliver us out of our sins and give us a new life, an eternal life where we can know God and enjoy him forever. That's good news. If you're a sinner; it's not a big deal, if you're fine. If you're a good person, if you're a religious person, if you're already okay, if you've already kind of straightened your own life out, then maybe you don't need a savior. Maybe it's not good news for you that Jesus was born. But if you're a sinner, then the fact that God sent somebody to save you, well, that's the best thing you could ever hear. Because you're tired of living in your sins, and you don't want the judgment that you would get for your sins. And so, somebody's going to come and save me out of this body of death. They're going to come and save me out of my sins. That sounds awesome. Praise the Lord. I want to celebrate that. See, you get excited about the Savior, depending on whether you think you're a sinner or not. And that's what Luke is written to sinners.
Okay, now we've only got so many of these booklets. Okay, so you can't take ten of them for all of your like, some of you guys are like, yes, last minute Christmas shopping. Great, free booklets. That's not really the idea. All right. This is for you because you came to church today. You get a free booklet and you're thinking of five other people you want to give the booklet to. We don't have five other copies. But people even here at church last night, I watched this happen with my own eyes. I watched a brother in Christ, my bro. He goes through that door, ushers all friendly, gives them a booklet, he comes back in here, like a sneaky son of a gun. He goes out that door and he gets another booklet. And he knows he's sitting in his heart the whole time. And I came in, I confronted him in the name of the Lord Jesus. And I said, bro, you really need to read Luke because it's for sinners like you. And he's smiling, and I'm smiling. And then really, it's like, give me that book back right now. Because I’ve got all my friends at the nine o'clock who need booklets, you know what I mean? So, the point is, though, the book of Luke, is not ready, if you're a religious person, if you're a good person, you will be disappointed in the plot of Luke. It's not really for you. If you're a wretched sinner, you're going to love reading the Gospel of Luke.
Well, go back to Luke with me. In fact, jump ahead to Luke chapter 7. There are many passages that we could point out in the Gospel of Luke. One of the main themes of Luke is that Jesus came, not just for the Jews, Jesus came for all people, and all people needed Jesus to come and be their Savior, because Jesus, he came to save sinners, and we're all sinners. That's what Luke is trying to communicate. And one of the stories that really grips me in Luke is when a Pharisee...this is Luke, Chapter 7 is where I want you to turn Luke chapter 7. And there's a story it starts in Luke 7:36, when one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him. So, here's a Pharisee. Pharisee is like a religious person. Pharisee would be one of the good guys, one of the supposedly morally upright, religious leaders of the Jewish people. And he's like, hey, this guy, Jesus is interesting. Let's have Jesus over for dinner. That's the kind of guy he is. And while he's going over to the Pharisee’s house for dinner, a woman comes in. Then this woman, she's worked up, she's emotional about this. And she's like, bowing down on the ground, crying tears, and her tears are going on the feet of Jesus, and she's using her hair to wipe the feet of Jesus. She's putting this precious ointment on the feet of Jesus, there's like a woman bowing down and washing the feet of Jesus. And the Pharisee is like, if Jesus knew what kind of lady that lady was, he wouldn't be okay with her doing that. And Jesus, one of the things you'll see if you read Luke is Jesus knows what people are thinking. Jesus knows what people are thinking. They don't have to say what they're thinking for Jesus to know what's going on. And so, Jesus tells a story here, starting in verse 41, where he says a certain moneylender had two debtors, one owed 500 dinar, and the other 50. And when they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more? And Simon here, the Pharisee he answered, “the one I suppose for whom he canceled the larger debt. And he said to him, you have judged rightly. Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman, I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, you gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you her sins, which are many are forgiven, for she loved much, but he who has forgiven little loves little, and he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’”
See, I read that passage. And I realized, I have to ask myself, am I the kind of Christian who just wants to invite Jesus over for dinner? Or am I the kind of Christian who can't stop kissing Jesus' feet? And that goes down to what kind of a sinner am I. Have you been forgiven for a lot of sin? Or have you just been forgiven for a little sin? Do you love Jesus a lot? Or do you just love Jesus a little? See, who are you? Are you the religious person who thinks you're pretty good? Well, and the book of Luke is coming after you if you're a sinner, who knows you’re wretched and you see the good news of a savior. That's exactly what I need I because there's different kinds of Christmas lists. Some people make Christmas lists, and it's like, here's what I would like for Christmas, other people make Christmas lists. Here's what I'm going to buy for other people this Christmas, the kind of Christmas list that the Gospel of Luke is going to encourage you to make is a list of all the sins that you were dead in the sins that you would be judged for the list of sins that Jesus came and he paid for every single one of them. Do you have that kind of Christmas list where you can see yourself as a sinner, and because you know who you are, then you can see who Jesus is as a savior. And you're like, I really need Jesus to come and save me. Anybody else really need Jesus to come and save them on Christmas morning, then you're going to love reading the Gospel of Luke. But if you just want to hang out with Jesus a little bit, Luke's not really going to be your style. Because Jesus came to seek and to save the last. Are you someone that needed Jesus to come? You had no other hope, you had no other way out except for Jesus. That's what it's saying here when it says, hey, I've got good news of great joy, someone's coming, and he can actually solve the real problem. He can actually deal and give a solution with what you really need. The Savior will come, and he will save his people from their sins.
Go back to Luke 2, because that's not all that Jesus says. It says he's the savior. And that's what his name means. So, when you hear Jesus, you should think Jesus equals savior. Okay? Jesus is actually just the Greek way to say a Hebrew name, Yeshua or Joshua. Joshua, it was the same name really, as Jesus, one Hebrew, one Greek, Joshua means the Lord is salvation. Jesus means Savior, the Lord is going to save. So, whenever you hear the name Jesus, you're referring to him as a savior. And the reason you should get excited about Jesus is because you are a sinner who needs a Savior. And that's what the Gospel of Luke is going to try to make very clear. If you're one of the religious people, if you're a good person, you're not going to love Jesus very much. But if you're a sinner, like the rest of us, oh, it's going to be good news that Jesus came, But he is not just a savior. Look at Luke 2:10. He is, and this is very important for us to understand. Jesus is the Christ, Christ in the Greek, it's “Christos”. And so, this is an interesting Greek word because they don't translate it, they transliterate it, which means they just take the Greek letters, and they put them into English letters. In Greek, it's Christos, in Hebrew, it's Messiah. If you translate it, it means “Anointed One.” When you say that Jesus is the Christ, you're saying that Jesus is the one, he's God's Chosen One, God's special one. He's the one that God has been telling us about through all the prophecies. He's the one that the Jewish people have been waiting for. He is the one who's going to come and do all the things that God intended to be done. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life. He is the one way to God the Father in heaven. That's what we're saying here, when we say that Jesus is the Christ, and the unveiling, the unfolding, the revelation of who Jesus really is. That's the point of Luke. Like, do you come to see that Jesus is the one? Like, some people, they're going to be like, Jesus is impressive. Jesus is worth having holidays about Jesus, is worth showing respect to, but they're not going to really see who he is.
Go over to Luke chapter 9. And let me show you the moment this kind of breakthrough moment that happens in the Gospel of Luke. Luke 9 is really the turning point of the gospel. Because it's when the disciples really see it's kind of like that scene in the movie where you all of a sudden see that the main character, the hero, really coming into his own, and everybody's like, it's him. He's the one, right? All great stories, they kind of have that character. Oh, he's the hero. He's the one; look at him. Look at him. There he is. Luke 9 is that moment in the Gospel of Luke. And it says here in Luke 9:18. “Now it happened that as he was praying alone, that disciples were with him.” Okay, so one of the things you're going to notice, if you read through Luke is Jesus is regularly going away and spending a lot of time in prayer, sometimes all night in prayer. And so, if you read through Luke, you're going to start asking yourself what I asked myself is, if Jesus is the Son of God, and he's spending all-nighters in prayer, how much do I then need to be praying to God? And so, he's trying to get away and pray, but the disciples, they won't let him get away. They're coming after him. And so, the question that Jesus asked them here in verse 18, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” And they answered, well, people have a lot of different thoughts, John the Baptist, but others say Elijah, and others that one of the prophets of old has written. So, I mean, respectful things, good things about Jesus, like he's one of the great prophets. I mean, they think he's from God, he's speaking words of God. But then Jesus asked the real important question in Luke 9:20. “Then he said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ And Peter answered, ‘the Christ of God.’” You're not just one of the prophets. You're not just one of God's messengers. You are the Anointed One. In Israel, there were three kinds of people that got anointed, the priests got anointed for their duty to bring the people to God. The Prophets got anointed for their duty to speak the words of God to the people. And then when someone was going to reign as king, they got anointed as the king to lead God's people. Prophets, priests, and kings were all the anointed ones of Israel. Well, Jesus, he's coming to speak the words of God. He's coming to be the priest. bringing people to God and Jesus, he's coming to be the king who will lead the people of God into his everlasting kingdom. And so Jesus, he is that one, the Christ, all the promises to Abraham, all the promises to David, all the hope of Israel. It's all in Jesus. Jesus is the one, and from this moment that they say we know who you are, Peter, you're the spokesperson of the disciples. You're the one Jesus is like, it's almost like he says, yeah, come on in here. Come on, in. Now, let me tell you what I'm really up to, I'm going to be handed over to sinners, and they are going to kill me, I'm going to suffer, guys, and I am going to die. But on the third day, I will rise. And the guys are like, what, that's the script of the rest of this story. That's a terrible movie, who would want to watch that? That's their initial reaction. The one doesn't die, the one isn't handed over to sinful men, and killed, that can't be what happens. And Jesus is going to start telling them multiple times, hey, I'm going to suffer, they're going to get me. But on the third day, watch for it, I will rise. And so you have to see that all the promises, all the prophecies are all fulfilled in Jesus, because he is the one the one who came to die for our sins, and rise again.
Go back to Luke 2, because there's a third title that we want to see. We've seen that he's the Savior, we've seen that he’s the Christ. And really, you got to read the whole story of Luke to really see how these themes are developed to really get the identity of who Jesus is. This is just the announcement. And then you see it, how it plays out. But if you go to Luke 2:11, here, it says “Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ.” And then the last one here is Kurios, the Lord. This is used over 100 times in the Gospel of Luke. And when you say that he someone's a Kurios, you're basically just saying, someone's the boss. Okay? Another word that's often with Kurios is Dulos, which means slave, the servant who works for somebody, so somebody's the master, and somebody's the slave, that was very common language. So, like today, you might say, hey, sir, and you try to treat somebody with respect. Well, that's how the word Kurios was. And so, it's used a lot of times, it's not always referring to Jesus.
But Go with me to Luke 24. After he dies on the cross, after he rises again, well, then here in Luke 24, you can see that's when they start to realize that Jesus is the boss. And it's after his resurrection. That's what really Kurios is in this statement here in Luke 24. If you look at it with me in Luke 24:34, when the word starts to spread among the disciples, that, hey, wait a minute, he's not still dead, he's alive. And they start saying, The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon! So now, when he's risen from the dead, that's when he really starts getting this title of Lord or boss. If you've ever studied the resurrection before, you know that when they went to the tomb on that Sunday morning, on what we call Easter, there was no body in the tomb because he was not there. He had risen, just as he said. And so, they were like, what happened, and they're trying to figure it all out, and he appears to his disciples, and then they watch as he ascends into heaven. So, the resurrection, it leads to a series of other events. One of them is the Ascension. That's how Luke ends, as they watch him go back into the clouds up into heaven. And then once he's in heaven, there's an exaltation where God places Jesus at the right hand of his Majesty on high, and he gives Jesus the name that is above every name, so that someday every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus the Savior, he's the Christ, he's the Anointed One who died and rose again, and he is the Lord. That's what everybody's going to know about. Everybody in heaven, everybody on earth, even everybody under the earth, they're all when you see Jesus and you will see Jesus, everybody in this room, we are all going to see Jesus unveiled, glorified. Here he is the one who died and, behold, he's alive forevermore. And now he has authority in heaven and earth. Now he decides whether you live or whether you die. There he is. As soon as you see Jesus, you will know the whole movie was about him. And you will realize you were foolish for thinking that you were doing something else other than worshiping him, other than seeing him, other than living, to come and adore him and to obey him because he is the boss and we're just the Dulos. We're just here to live to serve him because it's real. It’s all about Jesus and not about us. Someday, that will be very clear to you. I would love for it to be today, Christmas Eve, where you realize, wow, Jesus is the one that I need to submit my life to. I can't be living for myself. I’ve got to be living for Jesus Christ like we have. We have so lost the plot; we are so missing the point of Christmas. Jesus. I mean, he's supposed to be the focus. But I did something yesterday that I'm not really recommending. I went to the Westminster Mall. Have you ever heard of this place? Have you ever been there? This place is where we're like, classic malls have gone to die, the Westminster Mall. Like I guarantee you, the person next to you has a theory of what they're going to do with the Westminster Mall and how they're going to tear it down and rebuild it. I've heard every possible explanation of what we're going to do with this place. You know, yesterday at the Westminster Mall, I couldn't find a place to park yesterday at the Westminster Mall. That place was rocking and rolling. And I'm just like, I just need to get something real quick. We have lost our minds, my friends, what are we doing here? Right, we're here. We're here because Christmas has become about something completely other than the worship of the Lord. People are chasing after something that is not going to satisfy them. Someday people are going to realize that I thought Christmas meant going to the Westminster Mall, when Christmas meant that the Lord had humbled himself to come and save a sinner like me. Because he was the only one, the Anointed One who could do that. Someday, it's going to be so clear. What is so confusing right now where we live, that Jesus is the Lord. It's all for him. Like we think Jesus is the gift for us. Really, we are the gift for Jesus. That's really what it's about. Jesus came to get a people for himself, and those people, they're going to cast their crowns down at his feet, those people they're going to fall on their face when they see Jesus. And all of us, all the people of Jesus from every nation, from every tribe, and every tongue, we're all going to say Worthy is the Lamb. To him all praise, all honor and glory be, to Jesus because he is the Lord.
So I’ve got to ask you, like, Is Christmas a time for you to come and adore Jesus? Is there something in your heart? Were you if you were by yourself, and you made a list of your sins that Jesus saved you from? If you looked up your favorite prophecies, and you thought about how Jesus is the one, if you look to the future, and how he's going to return, and every eye is going to see him. And he's going to reign in the kingdom that goes forever? Would you really come and worship Jesus? Or are you going to be so busy, relaxing, hanging out with your family and getting more stuff, that it's going to be hard for you to fit Jesus into what you got going on at Christmas? So, what is this really all about? This is about us coming to adore Jesus. And we're going to sing in a moment. And we're going to publicly worship and come and adore Jesus, thank you for coming to save me. Thank you for being the one that the world has been waiting for. Thank you for being risen as the Lord, I want to worship you, I want to adore you, I want to love you more than I ever have in my entire life this Christmas. That's what we're going to have a chance to do here in a moment. But I want to ask, when are you going to do that? Just you and Jesus? Is there any private time that you're going to have like, I'm asking you right now? Do you really have a relationship with Jesus? Where if it's just you and him, and you're by yourself and nobody's around, and it's a quiet moment, you don't need to fill that moment with something else? Because you know, you are not alone because you know, Jesus. Are you really going to worship him?
Point number two, let's get it down like this: “We need to come and adore the one who came for you. Come and adore the one who came for you. Oh, come let us adore him. I love the line in that song. It's like, I'm so ready to respond to Jesus. I’ve got so much love in my heart for Jesus. Where's Jesus? Let me add him. Please, let us come and adore him. Like who's holding me back? Who's getting in my way? I’ve got to remove every obstacle. I’ve got to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles me, and I want to run to Jesus because it's about him. I don't want to drift away from him. I want to pay closer attention to him. I want to come and adore him. Is that your heart attitude? Maybe God brought you here this morning, so you could not miss this Christmas. So you could really worship Jesus. He's the Savior. He's the Christ. He's the Lord. And if you don't worship him this Christmas there will come a day where you will worship Jesus. And I will love for you to do it now, with a whole heart and experiencing great joy in the goodness that you have a Savior. He's the Christ. He's the Lord.
Now go back to Luke 2 and look at verse 12. Because it then says, well, how do you know this? Right? Because the shepherds and angel shows up. And we're such an experiential group of people. We're such a visual group of people. Like if the if you don't have pics, it didn't happen these days. You might even have pics through AI. And it still didn't even happen. You know what I'm saying? That's how we think like, is there a video I can watch? Because then I have proof. And if there's no video, then there's no proof. Well, here's how there was going to be proof that what the angel was saying to the shepherds was real, was something you could believe in. It was true, it says, and this will be a sign for you, you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloth and lying in a manger. Now that's an extraordinary thing. You would never think of a precious newborn child being placed in a feeding trough for animals. That's shocking. With a baby in a manger. That's not what you're expecting. So that's like, well, that's unique, you're going to go over here. And the shepherds, they're so into it after the angel says this, they make haste. And they find Mary and Joseph. And they tell everybody what the angel said to them. And they're like, wow, we’ve got to see the baby. And they're glorifying and praising God. But this is what a lot of people are waiting for. They're waiting for a sign. They're waiting for something to happen. Like, they think, oh, you're talking about Luke. I don't know if that's really that interesting, or that's going to change my life. But if an angel showed up, maybe that would change my life. If there was some kind of miracle that took place. Maybe that would change my life, this will be a sign for you. Okay, well, that's not how this Christmas story is supposed to work. Luke is going to make this very clear, I'm writing this down, so that you can know, so that you can be certain that what you've heard about Jesus is true. Like I put together an orderly account, the gospel of Luke is meant to be the sign for you. The Scripture is meant to be the means. As you hear the good news through the Scripture, that's how you're going to believe. In fact, even when the angel says, this will be a sign for you. That's actually referring to a previous event.
Go with me to Isaiah, chapter 7, everybody, it's referring to a prophecy. Prophecy is the compelling reason to believe in Jesus, if you're waiting to see a miracle, well, guess what, when miracles happen, they were written down so you could read about them, not wait for a miracle to happen to you. That's how it's supposed to work out. Miracles took place, you should believe because of the miracles, but the miracles were written down for you to read. If a miracle happened to everybody, it wouldn't be called a miracle anymore, it would be called Tuesday. All right? That's how it works. If we all experience it, then it's not a super extraordinary event. It's just a normal awesomeness of God and bringing the sun up every single day and given life and breath to our lungs every single day. Okay? So, the miracles were written down. And as you read about them, that's going to be the sign for you. Okay, so look at what it says here in Isaiah chapter 7. And there's a famous prophecy in here, but let's get the context. Look what it says in Isaiah 7:1. “In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it.” Did everybody understand what I just said there? Okay, so there's a king of Judah, Judah as the good place. That's where David reigns, that's where Jerusalem is. Okay. That's where the temple is. But Syria and Israel from the north, two kingdoms are coming against one kingdom. That's not good when they’ve got two and you’ve got one. That's not the kind of odds you're looking for. And so, the people in Judah are freaking out. People in Judah are like, oh, no, we're outnumbered. We're outgunned. We're outmanned. They're going to come, they're going to get us, and people are afraid. There is a panic going through God's people there in Judah. So, God through the prophet Isaiah, brings the message to this guy, Ahaz, who's the king at that time? Hey, don't worry about these two nations, Syria and Israel. Those nations are actually going to be gone before your God. So, God is making a promise. I'm going to be with you. I'm going to make sure you guys keep going. You guys are my people. I'm with you. Those guys, they might look tough right now, in this moment. I'm here to tell you. They're both going to be gone before your God. So, everything's all right. And God, wanting to prove this to his people, wanting to demonstrate his love and care and protection and power to his people, he says this and. And look at Isaiah 7:10. Here where it says, again, the Lord spoke to us, and he's speaking through Isaiah, the prophet here. This is verse 10. “Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol.” Sheol is Hades, the place of death, “or as high as heaven.” So, God's like, I understand, you're all afraid, I understand, you're all freaking out. Tell you what, I'll give you guys a sign. Let me show you something, so that you can know that I'm going to protect you from your enemies. So, I'm going big. I'm giving you here like a blank check. You want to see something as deepest as death, something as high as the glories of heaven? What do you want to see? I’ll show it to you. Now Ahaz does hear one of the dumb church moves of all time, one of the like, I'm too religious. For God moves of all time, right here, Isaiah 7:12, where he has said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Like, dude, you're afraid, your people are freaking out. And God's ready to show the people how much He loves them and cares for them. And you're over here being like, oh, I don't need to see anything from God, I'm good. I'm fine. Thank you very much. And just so full of yourself that you can't see that God's ready to do something awesome. And so, God, look how it goes on here, Isaiah 7:13, here. “And he said, ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? What kind of a response was that, man. And so therefore, if this is the kind of sign that God's ready to give, therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. And this is what I think we're supposed to think of. When the angel says this to the shepherds in Luke 2:12, that Lord himself will give you a sign, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” And Immanuel means what, everybody? God with us, you're too proud, you're too full of yourself to ask for a sign. Well, here's the kind of epic thing that God's thinking, here's the kind of thing that God wants to do, to prove his love, and to show everybody they can trust him, and believe in Him. A virgin is going to have a baby, and when the virgin has the baby, that will be God with us. So, that's the sign, that baby is the one that's going to be in the manger. And, and it keeps going here, the story of what's going on with King Ahaz in Isaiah, and how God's going to rescue them from Syria and Israel. In fact, it's still going in Luke 9, go over to Luke 9. Maybe you've seen this on a Christmas card, maybe you've heard somebody singing this, at the top of their lungs, where it says in Isaiah 9:6, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end on the throne of David over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness. From this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this, there's going to be one who's born. See, this is really all of the buildup, there's so much hype going into the birth of a child, someone in the line of Abraham, someone in the kingly line of David is going to be born. And now the angels are saying to the shepherds, I've got the sign for you. Look for the baby, look for him where you won't expect him. Look for him wrapped this way, in the manger. It's the sign. It's the one born of the virgin. You can really go all the way back to the very beginning, when there was the fall into sin when all of a sudden there was a separation between Adam and Eve and God, when Satan crept in, and he deceived Eve, and they fell into sin. What does God say right away, right? When sin comes into the story, he says, hey, from that woman, that you deceive Satan, from the seed of the woman will come one who will crush the head of the serpent. The story has always been that a baby is going to be born and save the world, and to defeat our enemy. The baby, yes, watch for him. He's coming from Abraham. Watch for him. He's coming from David. Watch for him. He's coming from a virgin. And when he went on to us, that child is born when the Son is given to us. Wait, do you see what that baby's going to do? That's the sign. And the sign is that God had Isaiah write this down over 600 years before Mary had Jesus. See prophecy God telling you what he's going willing to do before he does it. That's God's signature. That's the sign.
Let's get it down like this for point number three: “The sign that you can see is the scripture you can read.” The sign that you can see is the scripture you can read. And the book of Isaiah is an epic sign that God has given to anybody who will go and read it. You can read in Isaiah over 600 years before Christmas, you can read the whole story of how he's going to be born, and how he's going to die, and how he's going to rise again, and reign forevermore as Lord of heaven and earth. It's all right there. It's all packaged for you in sixty-six chapters of Isaiah, over 600 years before Christmas. God already told you the whole plot, so that when you see the story play out, you could see the sign that God is showing you. He's the one doing it, and that you would believe based on what the scripture says. So, we've got a special treat another Christmas gift, not just this little booklet that will take you through the Gospel of Luke, we have in the revival room after the service, Scott brought a facsimile of the great Isaiah scroll. I don't know if you've heard about the Dead Sea Scrolls, and how they found the scroll of the book of Isaiah. Well, we have it I think it's 24 feet long facsimile of that Isaiah scroll where you can see that when people were saying, well, how do we know these prophecies are true? How do we know that over time, they didn't change it now that Jesus was born, now that the story happened a certain way? How do we know that these Jewish scribes didn't go back and change the old Hebrew writings to make it look like there's prophecies? Because those prophecies are so spot on. Nobody could have done that. So, how do we know they didn't change it? Well, if you go take a look at the replica we have of the Isaiah scroll, that the Dead Sea Scrolls, that library of scrolls. If you've discovered, if you've studied the discovery of the scrolls, archaeologists say that that library there in the caves of Qumran was already out. And about by the time of Jesus, the Dead Sea Scrolls prove that the Hebrew Scriptures were already widely populated and spread before Jesus was even born. So, they couldn't have changed it because they already had ancient libraries of scrolls with Isaiah, written before Jesus. And you've got an example of the proof that God called all of his shots hundreds of years beforehand, and he had Isaiah write them down, he gave you a sign of virgin is going to have a baby, what does God need to do to prove it to you, he tells you where the baby is going to be born, in Bethlehem. He tells you what the baby's going to do, and its life. And then Luke, who comes along later, carefully investigates all the other stories that people are telling about Jesus. And he writes them down in the Gospel of Luke, so that we can be certain and so people who want experience and they want a sign of what God has given us is the Scripture.
And Luke, he makes this point again and again. Luke is going to tell a story about a rich man, and a poor man. And the rich man, he's living it up on Christmas; the poor man, he's barely got enough to survive. And guess what happens? What happens to all people, eventually, if you give it enough time, what happens to all people, it's the rich man dies, and the poor man dies. And the rich man when he dies, he goes to Hades, the place of death, Sheol, and the poor man, when he dies, he's right there next to father Abraham. And to all the Jews, wherever father Abraham is, that would be the good place that would be where you want to go. And so, wow, in life, they had one experience, the rich man was living it up high on life. Poor man, he had a low experience, a hard time. And then they die. And all of a sudden, there's the poor man in glory. And here's the rich man in torment. And, and in Luke 16, Jesus tells this story, where it's like the rich man can see the poor man, that he remembers Lazarus, that was his name. And he says, father Abraham, can you have Lazarus? Come bring me a little bit of water for the tip of my tongue, because I'm in torment down here. And Abraham's like, no, no, no, that's not how this works. There's a great chasm. Nobody's going back and forth between the two places. And so, then the rich man, he gets this idea, and he says, father Abraham, you’ve got to send Lazarus back. They all know who Lazarus is. You’ve got to send him back. Send him back from the grave, send him back from the dead, because I've got five brothers, and they're still feasting. They're still going to Westminster Mall and looking for deals. They're missing the plot. They've lost the story. And so, you’ve got to warn them. I don't want my brothers to come here where I am. This is a story that Jesus tells in Luke 16. So, if you send Lazarus back from the dead if there's a resurrection, then they'll believe. Do you know what Abraham says to the rich man who's in torment in Hades, who's caring about his brothers not coming there? Given the way that they would believe if they could see a sign of Lazarus coming back from the dead. Man, what Abraham says there, it blows me away. It changes the way I think about life. Because Abraham says, know your brothers, they've got Moses, they've got the prophets. Let them listen to them. You know what Abraham says? No, no, no, we're not sending anybody back from the dead. They've got the whole story right here. If they want to believe; they can read it. This is where the power to change people's lives is going to come from, the Word of God, not some experience, not some sign. If you're waiting for a sign, you'll be waiting until it's too late. If you take a look in the book, if you get your eyeballs in the Bible, you might see the very glory of God. And it could change your life. At the end of the Gospel of Luke, if you read it all the way through with us, if you go to the all twelve days, if you really want to get inspired, and you really do read Luke all the way to the end. After the whole story, after he dies on the cross, and it describes that after he rises, and the tomb is empty, Luke tells us a scene that nobody else tells us about. It's these two disciples who are walking on the road to Emaus. And all of a sudden, Jesus joins them as they're walking, but they can't tell it's Jesus. And these guys are like, can you believe what just happened in Jerusalem? And Jesus is talking to them, like he doesn't know what happened. And so, they start to, and they're like, how do you not know what just happened? And they start to explain it to him, and they start to talk about the death. And now people are saying, he rose. And what Jesus does with these two guys who can't tell that it's the resurrected Lord Jesus, he starts explaining. He actually says, “you fools” to them, slow of heart to believe, don't you know what the prophets have said? And Jesus starts to go through the law of Moses, and the prophets, and all the prophecies, all the scriptures that are about the Christ, and how the Christ would come and save us, and how the Christ would die for us, and how the Christ would reign and live forever and have a kingdom. And he's showing them all the prophecies, and these guys, they're like, wow, this is amazing. Will you come have a meal with us? Will you come stay with us? Don't keep walking, please, we love talking to you. Will you come have a meal with us? And so, they sit down to have a meal, and Jesus breaks the bread for them. And at the moment that he breaks the bread, their eyes are opened, and they realize it's the risen Lord Jesus. And then right then in a moment, he disappears, and he's gone. And one of the disciples turns and says to the other disciple, was it that the best Bible study you ever had? Did not your heart burn when he opened to us the Scriptures? These guys were more excited about what they saw in this book, than seen Jesus right in front of their eyes. And Luke tells you that story to show you that's how God's going to do it. God's going to do it, as people read the Word of God, their eyes will be open to see the glory of God. And they will respond in faith to God. But if you're just waiting for something to happen to you, it already happened. It's already been written down. And it needs to be read. It needs to be studied, it needs to be known. It will change your life. This gospel, this good news, it will give you great joy. But you’ve got to get into the book. So, I want to ask you, well, you read through Luke, or you go through it, please don't just come to one service and get the introduction to the story, and call it Christmas. No Luke 2 is just the hook, to get you read in the rest of the book, and to see the whole story of the glory of Jesus Christ. So let me pray for us right now.
Father in heaven, I thank you for everybody who would be here. It's so great to have so many people here at church on Christmas Eve. Father, thank you for the people who are here every week. Thank you for those who decided to join us today, who don't normally gather with us. Father, I pray that you would help us to see how you're showing us Jesus. And it's not through the angel appearing in the sky. All of us know that already happened, that already happened to the shepherds on that holy night. And so now it's for us to go and read about it. And, Father, I pray that you would put it on our hearts that we would want to pay closer attention to the Christmas story than we ever have before. And that we would see that the story of Jesus being born is just the beginning of the Gospel. And that we would want more of Jesus, that we would come and adore Jesus, that we would see him as our Savior because we are definitely sinners, that we would see him as your promised one, how he's fulfilling all of these epic prophecies, that we would see Jesus as the Lord on your right hand, ready to return and how even our knees are going to bow. And even our tongue is going to confess that someday we're going to see it's all about Jesus. And Father, I pray that we could see that on this day on Christmas Eve. Father, I'm afraid that when some of us came here this morning, this was just a stop on the way to Christmas. And I pray that you will open our eyes to see that we were on our way to missing Christmas if all we do is family, if all we do is gifts. And if we miss Christ, then we have missed the whole plot of the whole story, because it's about Jesus getting the glory for being the Savior, the Christ, and the Lord. So, Father, I pray that you would change hearts, that you would open eyes. I pray for those who are drifting, that you will bring them back. And for those who have never seen that, they would experience what it's like to come and adore Jesus, to love him more than we ever have before. To worship Him with all of our hearts and know joy that is so great. It cannot be contained in skin and bones because it bursts out of our souls, that I'm alive because Jesus is alive. I am loved because Jesus loved me. I find my identity not in myself and my family and in the United States of America, but I find my identity, and the one who loved me so much. he put on flesh, he died in my place. He rose again so that I could be righteous. I find my identity in the Jesus who came to save me. Father, I pray that we would love Jesus, that we would worship Jesus. O Father, please come and let us adore Jesus this Christmas. We pray this in his name. Amen.