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Father in heaven as we come to your word open our hearts and minds help us see In Jesus name amen I Remember a minister telling a story about a young couple who? Were in ministry he was in ministry for the first time he graduated from seminary. He was an assistant pastor and he and his wife and their baby about 18 months were Going home after the Christmas Eve service going to her home She'd long to be with her family for Christmas, and it was about a four-hour drive and so after the Christmas Eve service they piled into the car and They were driving and they got hungry and they found a diner that was open and they stopped To eat and while they were there They noticed that there was a man sitting by himself that we probably would refer to as a bum He was disheveled looked like maybe he hadn't shaved or showered and quite some time She was uncomfortable being in the same place with him there weren't that many people in the diner So They were getting ready to go and they didn't notice but their little 18 month old Got away and walked over to this person and Made the mother very very nervous And she said we need to go I want to go I don't like this so The husband got up to pay the bill and she walked over and the little baby boy had crawled up into the lap of What she only recognized as a bum That's kind of the story of Christmas the shepherds were considered the bottom of society They didn't go to the temple because they were ceremonially unclean They smelled like sheep and Other shepherds, I'm not sure which is worse They were known as thieves Saying was thine is mine Their testimony was often not admissible in court So it's even more astounding then That when the birth of Christ is announced it's announced by angels to shepherds shepherds of all people It's interesting that the the birth of Jesus is announced to shepherds whose word is not admissible in court and then When Jesus is raised from the dead the first to see that are women Again women were considered the bottom of society and their word was often not admissible in court So what does this mean? It means that God comes to the lowly Paul writes for consider your calling brothers not many of you were wise According to worldly standards that many were powerful Not many were of noble birth But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong God chose what is low and despised in the world even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are So that no human might boast in Pre in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus whom God made our wisdom in our righteousness and Sanctification and redemption therefore it is written. Let the one who boast boast in the Lord That's what's interesting is when I was first In ministry with the PCA Church planting wisdom was that you wanted to plant your church To make sure you were reaching out to people who were relatively well off so they could fund your church But of course that's not what God does he comes to the lowly And to the shepherds not that he eliminates those who are well off, but he comes to the lowly The scripture we read said that in the same region there were shepherds Keeping watch and an angel of the Lord appeared to them in the glory shown around them and they were filled with fear This is a story throughout the scriptures whenever an angel of the Lord shows up or the Lord himself shows up people are filled with fear Abram Abram Abram Moses Isaiah Ezekiel Paul over and over and over again when God comes to anyone they're filled with awe and fear Isaiah said woe is me Woe is me I am undone for I live Among a people of unclean lips and I'm a man of unclean lips Ezekiel and the Apostle John when they saw the angel of the Lord they fell down as dead men Our modern conception of angels has been influenced by our culture One of the most popular Christmas movies ever I know some people don't like it, but it's a wonderful life And the angel for George Bailey the character Jimmy Stewart plays as an old man named Clarence Clarence in order to get his wings has to do something In George Bailey's life But these angels display the glory of God They have weight there's light They're singing and they don't come to the rich and powerful they come to the weak and the lowly the rejected and the left out The angel said I bring you good news of great joy Why is it good news? Because the gospel Jesus coming to earth is for sinners Among whom you and I are such He comes for sinners, and that's why it's such good news You will call his name Jesus, and he will save his people from their sins There is born this day a Savior Christ the Lord But the real astounding thing or one of the most astounding things is that God initiates with the lowly These shepherds were not at seeking They weren't out in the fields attending the sheep on this night seeking the Lord God initiates That's what he says to the disciples in John chapter 15 you did not choose me But I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and your fruit should abide So that whatever you ask my father in my name He may give it to you Another passage in Ephesians chapter 2 it's a little longer But it speaks to this very thing And You were dead in your trespasses and sins In which you once walked Following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that's now at work in the sons of disobedience Among whom we all Paul's including himself Once lived in the passions of our flesh Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and we're by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind Now what are Paul's passions of the flesh? He wasn't an adulterer he wasn't a drunkard he wasn't a sluggard he Wasn't a glutton so what were his passions of the flesh his passions of the flesh were his Self-righteousness That he thought he was above reproach Until the angel met him on the road to Damascus the Lord met him And he fell down as a dead man He goes on to say in Ephesians 2 for but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us Even when we were dead and our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved Born to you this day as a Savior Christ the Lord You will call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sin And he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus So what are we saved from? We're saved from our sin he asked and The Savior has to be God his own son. He has to be man the word became flesh and he has to keep the law perfectly Why do we need a Savior One of the things it says is there will be peace on earth The question is what does that mean? peace on earth Is it military mees peace is a personal peace? Verse 14 says glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased Of course the King James version is the verse that's most oft quoted Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men It's the most frequently quoted because it speaks to a deep desire in every human heart to be at peace Even if even if we constantly thwart our own desires It resonates with each of us and it's throughout the scriptures Jesus Says in John 14 peace I leave with you peace I give to you not as the world gives you do not let your heart To be troubled do not be fearful Paul promises peace in Philippians the anxious for nothing but in prayer But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be named known to God in the peace Which passes all comprehension will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus So it would seem that it's not without biblical warrant that God is promising Peace that we should even expect peace because of Christ coming and if the Bible is true Then we need to ask or maybe you thought well, where is this peace? I mean what is being offered here? One possibility is this peace between nations yet it seems the history of mankind from the beginning until now is one of constant conflict I Think somebody added it up one time in the last 2,000 years. There has been about 30 years of peace on earth I mean you think of the wars World War one World War two the Korean conflict Vietnam War the Persian Gulf War Lately there have been hostilities between Hamas and Israel and Russia attacking Ukraine It would seem them by any standard of measure that the birth of Christ did not bring peace Between nations At least not yet What about personal peace Perhaps the peace that the Bible promises in Christ is personal peace In one of his books dr. James Boyce the late dr. James Boyce pastor of 10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia points out that many famous successful people Having attained their success wealth confessed that on their list of priorities is peace Might be peace with family members or peace of mind or peace of conscience whatever form it takes. It's peace. That's desired Even though they sought something else all of their lives whether it was fame or fortune Peace It's what they wanted. It's no wonder that it just a brief look at Amazon.com or dot ca You'll see that it's filled with books designed at least in part to bring peace in one form or another I Had a look this morning or this yesterday morning and it said doing less than having more These are all book titles seven spiritual laws of success. Don't sweat the small stuff It's all small stuff Here's one coffee self-talk That's a book that while you're having your coffee you talk to yourself in give yourself positive things Another one declutter your mind Another one which just gives up on all this stuff is called modern stoicism And another one is stop overthinking There's no doubt that each of us desires what we call peace of mind And it can be found but talk about peace of mind And it can be found but talk too often there's false peace and the Bible is full of examples of false peace Remember Jonah Was instructed by the Lord to go to Nineveh and preach against the sin of the city And he didn't want to he didn't want to because he hated Ninevites And So, what did he do he got in a boat a ship and was sailing in the other direction and He was asleep in the bottom of the ship He was at peace, but it was false peace it was circumstantial peace We're vulnerable to the same sort of false peace It's a kind of not these references you may not get since you're all not a little older It's a kind of Norman Rockwell or Korean and Ives kind of peace. It's peace But it's circumstantial and it's temporary It's a beautiful picture But it's false peace. It seems pleasant enough at the time, but it doesn't deliver the implied promise a Little history lesson and before World War two the British Prime Minister was a man named Neville Chamberlain and Britain along with most of Europe were weary from World War one. It hadn't been that long 15 20 years since World War one ended and the ravages of all of that And so when Hitler began rattling his sword and trying to advance on other nations Never Neville Chamberlain went to meet with him And he came back literally Waving the agreement with Hitler and proclaiming to the world that we have peace in our time We know what followed World War two So if it's not mainly peace between nations or peace of mind that Christ came to bring Then what is the good news? What is the great joy? The answer is found in the words of the angel to Joseph she will bear a son you will call his name Jesus For he will save his people from their sins Modern people don't like to talk about sin But we sing about it, maybe you didn't notice but we sing about it in all our favorite Christmas hymns Listen to the sum of the words Come thou long expected Jesus. We sang that this morning Born to set thy people free free from what? From our fears and sins release us Let us find our rest in thee. Oh Holy night the stars are brightly shining. It is the night of the dear Savior's birth long lay the world in sin and error pining Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King peace on earth and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled No more let sin and sorrows 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 The peace that Jesus was born to bring is the peace between sinners and God Ephesians 2 says we've been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace that he's established peace that he's Reconciled us both in one body to God through the cross by having put to death the enmity He came preached peace to those who are far off and peace to those who are near See people a lot of people when they talk about Christmas they'll talk about the baby Jesus they like the baby Jesus Hanzo was telling me about I hope I get this right the Czech Practice of they don't have Santa Claus they have the baby Jesus I'll try to tell it and I'll try to get it right, but if I don't Hanzo will correct me afterwards Not publicly I hope So On Christmas Day or is it Christmas Eve? Christmas Eve Is when they celebrate Christmas Eve at some time? the father will Take the children for a hike a Couple hours be gone at least a couple hours take him for a hike and Then while he's hiking with the kids the mother What a blessing the mother gets to decorate the Christmas tree Cook the Christmas meal wrap all the presents and put them under the tree And When the kids come back she announces that while they were gone the baby Jesus was here Now it's Christmas People love the baby Jesus People love the baby Jesus because he's harmless they think He's cute we have manger scenes But baby Jesus grows up Baby Jesus pays the price for our sins There's always a cost to peace And the cost was the cross Peace with God peace of mind peace between peoples Peace between races these are all The blessing of the gospel When Mary heard these things she treasured them up in her heart Now I Was telling you a story at the beginning about a baby and a bum This baby crawled up in the lap of what the woman Considered a bum and she was just a gas Here's her little child and she's sitting in the lap of this guy and she doesn't know how clean he is and what diseases He might have and how dirty he is and here's her little baby Sitting in his lap and she if the horrified look on her face walks over and the man speaks to her and he says Thank you so much for letting your baby Remind me about Christmas. I've lost all my family I'm all alone And this Just this brief moment or two makes this the best Christmas I ever had The woman grabbed the baby Ran out to the car Got in the car and started weeping Her husband said what's the problem what's wrong? What's wrong? She was crying so hard She couldn't quite get it out, but she finally was able to express I'm the bum She said I'm the bum And Jesus became a baby for me So I could be forgiven of all my sin. I'm the bum And that's true of all of us That we're all in that position when we're born and only through our Savior Christ the Lord Do we experience this good news of great joy, which is the gospel? Let's pray father. Thank you Thank you for the gospel thank you that it's true. Thank you that we can celebrate it today in Jesus name