Merry Christmas. I have the great privilege, and I'm very thankful to Pastor Will for giving this privilege to me to preach last week, today, and next week. And we get to consider the arrival of our Lord and Savior.

The, if you look at the Gospels and how they were written, each of them is written, this is true for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. John tells you explicitly near the end why he wrote it. But each of them is written to show you that Jesus is the Christ, that he is the Messiah, he's the Savior of the world. And I want to follow their lead at the risk of stating the obvious, but it's the most important truth ever. So it's not so much stating the obvious as maybe borrowing from the Apostle Peter, stirring up your mind by way of reminder.

They tell us very, very early on in their renderings of the gospel account that the Lord Jesus is the Christ. So I wanna follow their lead and do a bit of a harmonizing of the gospels here and see that the Lord Jesus is the Christ and he is to be trusted in and if you believe in him, and I'm borrowing from the Apostle John, here, that if you believe in Him, you will have life in His name.

Now for the vast majority of us here, you'd say, this is the truth that I'm living my life on, and this is why I'm here. And so I hope that in bolstering you with this truth and turning your mind back to this truth, you are just encouraged as you go out this week, as you celebrate Christmas this week, later this week, that you will be really encouraged in knowing that this season is one to rejoice in because this is the greatest truth.

that the Lord Jesus came, he was born of the Virgin Mary, he lived a perfect, sinless life, he died on the cross, a substitute for your sin, burying the wrath of God in your place, he rose again on the third day, and he is at the right hand of his Father from whence he will come to judge the living and the dead.

So let's look at his birth. Before we do that, let me just pray, and then we're gonna jump around mainly between Matthew and Luke, but it won't be too crazy, so you'll be able to keep up.

Let me pray. Heavenly Father, we appeal for your help as we consider the glorious truth of the coming of our Lord, as we consider the glorious truth that He is the Christ. He is your Son sent as we've even just sung in these hymns and as we've worshiped and listening to the choir perform the hymn that they sang as we've exalted in the truth that our Lord is the Lord and Savior of us and of the world. We ask that you would equip us to perceive this truth rightly, to be even more impressed by it, to delight in your goodness and kindness and love, and to go forth this week rejoicing and trusting in Him, in whose name we pray, amen.

So what I'm laboring to do here is to show that Jesus is the Christ. And I wanna see that this is announced first before his birth. And so if you will, go with me to Luke chapter one. The text that I gave for this sermon is mainly Luke chapter two because that's really his birth proper. We'll get there, but we'll walk up to it and then we'll see some of the things that occur after it as well.

Last week we saw that the Messiah was expected by the people. There was this great messianic hope where the people were looking for a savior. They were looking for the one who was going to save Israel and reign on David's throne, but also the one who was going to be the means through which God would save the whole world. The one who would bear the sin of his people, his people being the believing Israelites, but also the Gentiles who would be brought into that hope. And as the events that the gospel writers record to us kind of lead up to the birth of Christ, you see that there's all these announcements of whom this child would be, this Messiah is coming. 

So you see this in Luke chapter one, And we'll just start with this that, we'll start when Mary receives word from heaven that she will bear the Christ. And if you look at Luke chapter one, verse 26 through 38, it reads as follows. 

Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth. to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. you shall name him Jesus. He'll be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end. 

Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I am a virgin? The angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the Holy Child shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age. And she who was called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, behold, the bond slave of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. 

And we could have spent the whole sermon on this text and all the other texts we're gonna look at. So I'm just gonna highlight some things for us to take note of. Notice that Gabriel the angel comes and he comes to Mary and Mary is called favored one. In Greek, it's literally full of grace. It's where the Catholics get that in their prayer to Mary. They pervert it by saying that she's somehow a dispenser of grace. But what this is pointing out is that actually she's the one that has been singled out to bear the Savior. So it's not that she has a bunch of grace to give you, but that she has received a special grace, a special gift. because she is the one who's going to be the mother of the Messiah. 

And she is told that she is going to have a son. and that she's told what to name him, which is Jesus. Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew word Joshua, which means the Lord is salvation, or the Lord saves. There's a huge clue about who this son is going to be. He's going to be the means by which the Lord God saves his people. 

And then, You notice that in verse 32, he will be great, will be the son of the most high, and he will be on the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. Notice what she is told, what is announced to Mary, is that she's going to have the Christ, the coming son of David. who will save his people and reign from David's throne. Also, that he is the son of God, which we saw even in Isaiah that there was expectations of this coming suffering servant, this coming Christ, as to be God himself. This is, you couldn't get more clear than this statement. about who this child will be. He's the Savior. He's the coming Christ. Mary hears that, and she hears about Elizabeth, and so she then travels from Nazareth down to Judea in order to visit Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John, who will be John the Baptist. And Elizabeth is about six months pregnant with John, And Mary comes to see Elizabeth. 

And if you just look at the next verse here in Luke chapter one, verse 39, you'll see that when Mary comes to visit Elizabeth, Elizabeth praises God and rejoices in Mary's baby, calling the baby, my Lord. So notice this, I read this here. Verse 39 of Luke one, at this time, Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country to a city of Judah and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, The baby leaped in her womb. So this is little baby John in her womb, leaps. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy, and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. 

Mary's praise, or Elizabeth's praise, is recognizing the significance of who this child is that Mary is now carrying. He is her Lord. He is her Lord because he is this coming Christ, who is the Lord, God Almighty, but who is the son of David, who will reign on David's throne. She recognizes who he is. 

When Mary gives her song of praise in verses 46 to 56, She exalts in God as the God of her salvation. And she recognizes in this song that the Lord God is saving and acting to save his people. So you see this where she says she exalts in the Lord. She calls in verse 47, she calls God my savior. And she rejoices in how much he has done for her. But then it says that in verse 53, he's filled the hungry with good things and sent away the rich empty handed. He's given help to Israel, his servant, in remembrance of his mercy. As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever. 

She recognizes that the child she's bearing is going to be the means by which God saves the world, and the means by which God fulfills his promises that he gave to, well, really to the people of Israel throughout the Old Testament, beginning at Abraham, it's where she starts it, and then down through, and we know that Abraham was promised that by his seed, all the world would be blessed, and that in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul connects that seed to the one Lord Jesus, the singular seed, the Jesus Christ, through whom salvation has come to the whole world. 

The Lord God has given this son to Mary to be the Christ. Just through and through, we see just over and over again, this truth being presented to us. It's undeniable. If you're gonna take the word of God seriously, you have to arrive at that conclusion, that this is the Christ. 

Mary probably stays with Elizabeth for the rest of Elizabeth's pregnancy because Elizabeth gives birth to the little baby John, who's gonna be John the Baptist, and you see that in verse 57. Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to her son. Now in verse 56, it says that Mary had stayed with her about three months, and she was already six months pregnant. So then Mary stays another three months with her and then returns to her home. So she probably stayed through the birth of little John and It happened in verse 59 here, if you'll look, that he is circumcised and Zacharias, his father, who's been a mute up to this point, isn't able to say, name him John, but he is able to make signs and to write it out on a tablet. His name shall be John. And when he does that, and he's obedient to the word of the Lord that came to him from an angel, is then able to speak, his tongue is loose, and if you notice that the prophecy that he gives, it's clearly about Christ.

Verse 67, his father, that's John's father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited us and accomplished redemption for his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David, his servant. And as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show mercy toward our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, and that's now he's talking to his son, John, and you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare his ways. "'to give his people the knowledge of salvation "'by the forgiveness of their sins, "'because of the tender mercy of our God, "'with which the sunrise from on high will visit us, "'to shine upon those who sit in darkness, "'in the shadow of death, "'to guide our feet into the way of peace.'"

He's rejoicing in his little child, knowing that this will be the prophet who will be the forerunner of the Messiah. And so he's recognizing, and Zacharias would have been there, in that house when Mary is there as well, he would have known about Elizabeth having little John in her womb rejoice and leap for joy when Mary and Jesus, whom she was carrying, came into their house. And so he is recognizing quite rightly that His child will be the forerunner for Jesus, the Messiah.

After Elizabeth gives birth and Mary returns home, at some time in this period, that Joseph, who's betrothed to Mary, learns of her pregnancy. And he's visited by an angel who announces to him whom this child will be. So we're still seeing that this is before the birth of Christ. We see announcement after announcement, after announcement of who this little baby will be. So if you go to Matthew chapter one, we'll see what Joseph is told is beginning in verse 18. And it's this, that the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows, when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, Son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son. You shall call his name Jesus. He will save his people from their sins. And all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through his prophet. Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us. Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. 

The angel announces to Joseph that this child is from the Lord, is a divine origin. He tells Joseph what he will name him, which is that the Lord saves. Joshua, or Jesus, as we have it, and what he will do. And also, Matthew tells us that this is to fulfill Isaiah 7, 14, and nine, verses six to seven, which is that the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. 

Over and over again, the gospel writers are telling us who this child is. And we see it even more clearly at his birth. So not only do we see that he's announced to be the Christ before his birth, but notice the proclamation of Jesus as the Christ at his birth. 

And go to Luke chapter two. Luke chapter two. Luke 2, verses 1-8 to begin with, and we'll see that, or 1-7, excuse me, to begin with, and we'll see that Mary here gives birth in Bethlehem. Why is she in Bethlehem? Well, for two reasons. The main reason is because that's where the Messiah was supposed to be born. So why did she end up there herself? Not just because the Lord providentially directed it, but because the Lord in his providence used a decree from Caesar Augustus, who's the first emperor of Rome. His real name was Octavius, or Octavian, as it sometime is put, but he was called Augustus. And he sends out a decree in order to number, it says all the inhabited earth, which is everybody in the Roman Empire, And that means then that people need to return back to their proper place, the place where they actually belong, where they've come from, to where their family belongs. And in Israel, everybody belonged to specific tribes and had specific tribal allotments and specific allotments within that tribal territory where their families were from. And for Joseph, who is married to Mary, allotment was in Bethlehem because he's of the house of and family of David it says in Luke chapter 2 verse 4. 

So, in order to be registered there they travel there and it just so happens, this is obviously by the providence of God, that while they were there the days were completed for her to give birth. And in chapter, in verse 7, she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in cloths, laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 

Matthew chapter 2 verse 6 tells us, you don't have to flip there, but tells us that this is a fulfillment of Micah 5 2, where Bethlehem is told that they will But from her will come one who will rule Israel. And so you see this in Micah five verse two, as for you Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah from you, one will go forth for me to be ruler in Israel. "'His goings forth are from long ago, "'from the days of eternity.'" And there's a hint right there, well, not even a hint, a direct statement that this coming ruler will be God himself. If his goings forth are from long ago, but yet he will come in the future, he's already existing, and the only one who has been existing from eternity is the Lord himself. 

when right after Jesus is born, this glorious appearing of angels happens to shepherds. This is what Dylan read for us this morning in the very familiar King James version, which we're all used to hearing, especially if we watch Charlie Brown's Christmas. And I can't hear it read without hearing his, Linus' voice.

They were sore afraid. In Luke 2, verse 8, I'll just read it again. In the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. They were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people. For today, in the city of David, there has been born for you a savior who is Christ the Lord. You couldn't get more clear than that, that this is who the child is, Christ the Lord.

And in order to give further proof that what they're saying is true, in verse 12, they give them a sign. you'll find a baby wrapped in cloths lying in a manger. And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.

When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, let us go straight to Bethlehem then and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as he lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

They're told this is the Savior. They see this huge, glorious, angelic worship choir. I'm praising God for His goodness. And they go and they see the sign confirmed for them before their very eyes with the little baby there in the manger. Jesus Christ is Christ, is the Savior. This is again proclaimed to be the truth after his birth.

So we saw before, during, and after, and notice this. That following his birth, and in Luke chapter two, verse 21, eight days pass, they circumcise him, and that's when they name him. So that's when you name your son. your children, at least your sons, according to Jewish custom, is when they're circumcised on the eighth day. They name him Jesus, as they were commanded to do.

And then 40 days after his birth, they They then come to the temple in order to be ritually cleansed with a sacrifice. We see the poverty of the family in that they bring a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons, which is the sacrifice to bring if you couldn't afford a lamb. And they They come to the temple, and last week we took Simeon's words, whom they meet, as our launching pad to consider the messianic hope. So we'll just notice here that when Simeon sees this child, Christ, come into the temple, he says in verses 29 to 32 that this Jesus is the salvation of the Lord. which the Lord has prepared in the presence of all peoples, and that he is a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and he is the glory of Israel.

Joseph and Mary are amazed at this. And Simeon says in verse 32, or 34, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel and for a sign to be opposed. A sword will pierce even your own soul, to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. And then Anna, who's a prophetess, who's also been in the temple constantly, a widow, living in the temple, and praising the Lord, and worshiping the Lord. She also is declaring to everybody there, if you look at verse 38, that she came up, began to give thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

This is the clear working of the Lord in filling these saints with His Spirit that they would proclaim this truth after the Lord's birth, when he's coming into Jerusalem, that this is the means of salvation from the Lord God. This is the Christ.

Sometime, probably after this, they're still in Bethlehem, and that's when we have the wise men coming. Let me flip over to Matthew chapter two. In all of our nativity decorations, you always have the wise men there while Jesus is in the manger. Matthew tells us, Matthew gives us all the evidence to know that that couldn't be the case. But it looks good in a decoration, I'll give you that. But it says that when they come, they actually find them in the house. So they're clearly not in the stable anymore.

But these Magi come from the East. It says in Matthew 2, verse 1, This is Herod the Great. This is not the same Herod that you see during Jesus's ministry. That's Herod Antipas, who's one of his sons. This is Herod the Great. Herod the Great was known for his brutality. He actually grew up, if I remember right, with Octavian, with Caesar Augustus. So he had a kind of a political in, and that's how he got his authority. And he was known for his brutality, and we'll see that that's even in this passage, his brutality is made known. He killed a few of his sons, I think it was three, may just have been two, because he was worried about them taking his throne.

So, His reaction is certainly in character, which we're gonna see here to these Magi. These Magi come. They arrive in Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. When Herod the King heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Now that gives us a hint about what these Magi were doing. They didn't just go to the palace. and go to Herod and say, hey, where's the king? They were going around Jerusalem asking, where's the king? Where's the king? And to where the whole city is kind of turned upside down.

And it says in verse four, gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what has been written by the prophet, and you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah, for out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. That's the Septuagint's version of Micah 5.2, which we read.

Now, Herod then tells them this and sends them to Bethlehem, where they find the Lord Jesus. So it's before Joseph and Mary have gone back to Nazareth, and it's before they, but it's after they've been in, where Jesus has been in the manger, it's probably after the presentation of Jesus at the temple. And this would have been alarming to Herod to have these magi from the east. There's a lot of discussion about who the magi were, but they at least stretch back to Daniel's time. who he's put over the wise men, and they're from the east, and the eastern empire is Parthia, it's not Rome. It's actually, it's an empire that was constantly at war with Rome. And Herod the king has his authority as a king, quote unquote, because of Rome. Rome gave him this title. And now these wise men from the east, who are part of some sort of, political, religious, governmental group that are known for being a part of the coronations of the kings of Parthia. There's now a delegation from them saying, where is the baby king? Herod's probably thinking to himself, wait a second, is this some sort of coup that's happening? Everything's about to be overturned here.

but he's devious. So he tells them where to go and to go to Bethlehem. In verse seven, he secretly called the Magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared, which has led them over. So there's part of their, um, their order would have been probably astrology and looking at the stars, and then there's the supernatural star that appears most likely, so something they would have noticed is out of the norm, which led them into the east, or sorry, into the west to find this king. And he says, go, in verse eight, go and search carefully for the child. When you have found him, report to me so that I may come and worship him. And hearing the king, they went their way.

And the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them, which sounds a lot like the pillar of cloud and fire that we see in Exodus, until it came and stood over the place where the child was. And again, in all of our nativity decorations, that's over the manger, but it would have been over the house. where Jesus, Joseph, and Mary were. And verse 10, when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy, and coming into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother. They fell to the ground and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they presented to him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the Magi left for their own country by another way. Now they don't obey the king, they obey God, and they leave and they don't report to him where this child was. He finds out. and determines to have all the male children within the timeframe that he determined from the wise men, all the male children that could have been born in that timeframe in Bethlehem killed. And in order to protect the Lord, an angel tells Joseph to take the child and go to Egypt until he's told to come back. because Herod is going to search in order to try to destroy him. And that actually becomes a fulfillment of another prophecy out of Hosea 11, verse one, that out of Egypt I called my son, which is most properly considered about the Exodus, and then somehow is also connected to the Lord Jesus. It's one of those great New Testament uses of the old, which has theologians and scholars constantly debating about how to properly consider it.

When Herod, in order to slay all the male children in Bethlehem, two years old and under, according to the time which he determined from the Magi, that's the end of verse 16. That fulfills a prophecy in Jeremiah of Rachel weeping for her children, and then Herod dies, and Joseph is told, in a dream, by an angel of the Lord, to then go back into Israel. And because of Herod's son who's ruling and was known for his brutality as well, Joseph takes his family back to Nazareth in order that the Lord Jesus would be called a Nazarene. That's a quick harmony of these events that bring us back to the time that, not bring us back, that get us through the Lord's announcement and his birth and the events immediately after.

And you'll notice that all the way through, there's no way to get away from the truth that Jesus is the Savior, that he is the Christ. And as you would go through the rest of the gospel accounts, you would see that his whole ministry, he's declaring the word of God, he's performing the miracles and works that only the Messiah could accomplish, only one who's capable of doing that. who has God with him.

He's declaring himself to be God and showing in his signs, I think maybe most vividly his raising of Lazarus from the dead, himself to have the power of God over life and death. He's forgiving people of sins, which is something only God can do. And when he dies on the cross, He bears the sins of His people in order to secure their life from the dead, which He secures most, maybe you could say most finally, in His own resurrection on the third day.

This is the Lord Jesus. He is the Christ, the Savior. And when you read these accounts, this is what you're left with, that Jesus is the Savior of the world. He was announced to be before and immediately around the time of his birth and then even immediately just in a few months after his birth, all during that time.

And the Apostle John, when he's getting near the end of his gospel, the gospel that bears his name, the gospel of John, He says this, therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples which are not written in his book. These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

So why did I spend 30, 40 minutes telling you something that is really just, is obvious from the text? Why did I spend all this time reading so many scriptures in order to put before you this truth, because there is life in the Lord Jesus Christ for you. He came to save his people from their sins. And he came to save you from your sins, if you will have him. He is the savior of the world.

And his death is not, there's nothing lacking or deficient in his death that you or I need to do in order to enter into the salvation that he came to accomplish and did certainly accomplish. He died vicariously for you and me. He rose from the dead victorious over the grave. He is the Lord. He is the Christ. He is the Savior.

If you have been trusting in Him for any length of time, and He is your Savior already when you came today, then I would encourage you, rejoice this week as you consider His birth, and as you are reminded of the fact that He came for you. And if you are not trusting in the Lord, and yet you found yourself here in this gathering, being confronted with the reality that the Lord Jesus is in fact the promised Christ. who came and fulfilled prophecy and lived and died for sinners, then I would encourage you, come to Him and this week delight in Him, not just as the one in whom we sing about during Christmas time, but delight in Him as your Savior.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are just struck by how wonderful this truth is that Jesus Christ is Savior of the world, is our Lord and Savior. We delight in him, we delight even through him because it's in his name that we're able to come to you and speak to you in prayer and it's in him and through him that our worship is pleasing to you. Lord, we praise you.

I pray that You would encourage us and strengthen us, that we would go about this week rejoicing in the salvation of our Lord, rejoicing in His birth, rejoicing in His ministry and the work He accomplished on the cross, in His resurrection, and in the certain hope we have of His coming and of our rescuing from the wrath to come. Lord, we praise You by the power of the Spirit, through Jesus Christ, amen.