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"THE COMING OF THE SAVIOR"
Text: Luke 2:1-20
Matt. 2:11
The Coming of Jesus Christ to this earth is without a doubt the single greatest event that has ever happened in History.
Historians have no doubt as to the fact that it did happen, but as we have learned through History His coming produced many different reactions, and is still doing that today...
You cannot encounter the Christ of Christmas, and walk away without making a decision. You either choose to accept Christ, allowing Him to change your life profoundly, or you walk away in rebellion choosing to walk your own path in life that ultimately ends in destruction.
I want to ask this question for you to think about today:
How has His coming to earth affected you?
Other than the fact of celebrating Christmas each year...
We’re going to look at just a few of the things that people did when Christ came 2,000 years ago...
There are many more than these four we’ll look at, but time would never permit us to expound on the profound effect that the Birth of this one child had on Humanity then or now...
First of all in vs. 9 and 10 that
I. FEAR ACCOMPANIED HIS COMING
Luke 2:9-10
An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. [10] But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
The Bible says that the Shepherds were watching their flocks by night and that the Glory of the Lord came and shone round about them, and they were afraid...
Now the Glory of the Lord that shone around them was the Shekinah Glory that symbolized God’s presence...
We see other examples in the Old Testament of when the Glory of the Lord came that it produced a tremendous fear from the awesomeness of it all..
Can you imagine the Shepherds amazement as they went from hearing the bleating of the sheep in the dead of night to the skies being filled with the Glory of the Lord that shone brightly upon the dark hillsides...
How could the Glory of the Lord produce fear?
Because they had never seen or witnessed anything like it...
There are times today that the coming of the Lord produces a fear among people as well...
The Shepherds were just caught up in their work and doing what they always did at that time of evening until the Glory of the Lord came...
We need to get back to the place where the conviction of the Holy Spirit produces a fear in people’s hearts of the seriousness of Sin in their lives...
You’ve heard the stories and I have too of people who sat and heard the preaching of the Word, and literally had to run to the altar realizing the awesomeness of their sins...
Too often today we promise people rewards and try to entice them or argue them to the Lord, but we need to allow the Holy Spirit to convict and produce a fear of God that will produce a change in their lives...
Here it was fear of the unknown, at Salvation it is fear of the known...
We realize that we are a sinner and one day sin and the sinner alike will be punished for all eternity...
We see though how soon their fear turned into joy as we read in vs. 10 that the angel instructed them to "Fear Not" why? Because these were Good Tidings of Great Joy!
63 Mentions to “fear not” in the Bible, with 48 of them coming in the Old Testament, and 15 in the New Testament.
Isn’t that what the Gospel is?
Good Tidings of Great Joy that a Savior has come to take the penalty of our sins and nail them to a cross...
How quickly our fear turns into joy when we realize the blessings that we have in serving Christ...
How quickly our fear turns to peace when on the raging sea of Life the Master says, Peace Be Still...
Once the shepherds realized that the News was good, they had no reason to fear anymore...
So we see not only that Fear accompanied His coming, but was soon replaced as...
II. PRAISE ACCOMPANIED HIS COMING
We read in vs. 13,14 that the Heaven’s were filled with Angels praising God and saying "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men."
Luke 2:13-14
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
[14] "Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
All of Heaven rejoiced at the birthday of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords...
The Angels realized the significance of the Birth of the Son of God in a lowly stable in Bethlehem...
If there was anyone who knew the profound distance from the Throne of Glory to the Stable of Humility it was the Angels of Heaven...
People get nervous today when someone begins praising God a little bit...
Well, it’s time to get over that, because that’s what is happening now, and will happen in the future when we all gather on the other side...
Many our churches today would have rebuked the Angels and the Shepherds for getting too emotional...
Well, they realized that Christ was coming to take the Sting of Death, and cancel the Debt of sin that mankind owed...
To them Christ was the obedient Son of the Father who had chosen to humble himself even to the death of the cross…
They knew that true Peace had come to Earth in the form of the little babe in the manger, and they were ready to praise God.
How low Christ stooped to rescue Mankind...
The Angels saw Christ in His Glory, now in His humility...
The land of Persia was once ruled by a wise and beloved Shah who cared greatly for his people and desired only what was best for them. One day he disguised himself as a poor man and went to visit the public baths. The water for the baths was heated by a furnace in the cellar, so the Shah made his way to the dark place to sit with the man who tended the fire. The two men shared the coarse food, and the Shah befriended him in his loneliness.
Day after day the ruler went to visit the man. The worker became attached to this stranger because he "came where he was". One day the Shah revealed his true identity, and he expected the man to ask him for a gift. Instead, he looked long into his leader’s face and with love and wonder in his voice said, "You left your palace and your glory to sit with me in this dark place, to eat my coarse food, and to care about what happens to me. On others you may bestow rich gifts, but to me you have given yourself!"
As we think of what our Lord has done for us, we can echo that fire tender’s sentiments. Oh, what a step our Lord took - from heaven to earth, from the worship of angels to the mocking of cruel men, from glory to humiliation!
We see that not only did the Angels praise God, but in vs. 20 we see that the Shepherds also praised God when they realized that the Promise of the Ages had come...
Luke 2:20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
The real secret was they saw and they believed and then they had to praise God for what they had heard and seen...
I think we need to get a new glimpse of the Savior today as well...
When you really see and hear what Christ has done for you, there ought to be praise welling up within you, and it ought to come out of our mouths...
Psalm 98:4 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
Psalm 150:6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
Praise should be an expression of our realization of the Savior that has come to take away the Sins of the World...
This morning I was watching a Choir sing a powerful song of the birth of Christ, and as they were nearing the end, I almost felt like clapping my hands, but thought I’ll just leave it to the crowd on the TV, plus I didn’t want to wake anyone, but there was no response whatsoever!
So not only do we notice Fear and Praise Accompany the Coming of the Lord we also see That
III. WITNESSING ACCOMPANIED HIS COMING. 17,18
Luke 2:17-18
When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, [18] and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
When they left the manger scene after seeing the Savior, they went out and as we see in vs. 17 began to share the Good News of the coming of the Messiah with those they came in contact with...
The Shepherds knew that it was good to praise the Lord, but the responsibility didn’t stop there...
They just had to tell others of the powerful event that had just happened and what they had seen and heard...
I believe that our encounter with the Lord at Salvation when He comes into our lives, must be more than mere praise, it must move us to tell others of the joy and peace we have found...
Has the coming of the Lord into your life set you on fire with excitement to tell others what Christ has done for you?
A witness is someone who can testify to an event or happening that has occurred in their life...
They saw and heard it with their own eyes...
No one can ever convince a true witness that they’re lying...
They may not be believed, but that person will go to their grave knowing they were right about what they saw...
I believe when you really get to know Christ as your Savior, there will be no question of whether or not you’re saved...
Hope So doesn’t work... When I ask someone if they know Christ... It needs to be yes!
Not only did the Shepherds see it as their responsibility but as a joy to share the News of Christ’s coming...
When was the last time you shared Christ with your friends or neighbors?
The Witness of an Opthalmologist
Howard Hendricks writes…
The greatest witness for Jesus Christ that I know anything about in the city of Dallas is not a preacher. He’s an ophthalmologist. He was in the power structure of an evangelical church for twelve years and never led anybody to Jesus Christ. A group of college kids came along one day and said, “Hey, Doc, are you sharing your faith?”
The doctor said, “No, as a matter of fact, I’m not. I don’t even know how to go about it.”
They said, “We’ve got a little training program. How about getting involved in it?”
He said, “Count me in.”
They taught him how to share his faith.
This guy leads people to Christ as if it’s going out of style: I was way out in a remote section of India, and I use this story as an illustration, but I didn’t use his name, figuring nobody knew Dr. Jack Cooper. When I finished, a doctor came up and said, “You were talking about Jack Cooper weren’t you?”
I said, “How did you know?”
He said, “I went to medical school in Dallas. While I was there, I went to see Dr. Cooper about my eyes. He led me to Christ and discipled me all the way through medical school.”
Today that doctor is the only licensed neurosurgeon in that part of India. He has absolutely unbelievable impact for Jesus Christ. He will tell you it started in the office of a Dallas doctor who knew why he was here instead of in heaven.
—Howard Hendricks, “Beyond the Bottom Line,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 101.
vs. 18 says that they who heard the News from the Shepherds wondered or "Marveled" at what they heard from them...
People must have thought to themselves "why are these men so excited. Men aren’t supposed to get excited about anything! There must be something tremendous about what they’re sharing...
Who did you say this one is that’s being born?
The Savior? The Messiah? In a Stable?
Don’t you know that the promised Messiah is going to be a King?
Don’t you know that someone born in a stable is not a King?
Some may have tried to talk them out of what they believed...
But they were witnesses...
They saw the Angels, Heard the Angels, Saw the Babe in Swaddling Clothes...
There is a major difference between a witness, and someone who is going by “hear say” – As a matter of fact, in a court of law, “hear say” evidence is not even admissible because there is no way to prove what is being said.
This world needs to hear the words of witnesses, and not just those who have decided they want to turn over a new leaf.
We need to be firmly convinced of what we believe and why we believe it...
Not simply because the church believes it, but because we have seen and heard with our own eyes and ears..
Not only did Fear, Praise, and Witnessing accompany His coming, but we see that
IV. GIFTS ACCOMPANIED HIS COMING.
Matthew 2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
Worship Provides Holes in the Ice
Not long ago, the world watched as three gray whales, icebound off Point Barrow, Alaska, floated battered and bloody, gasping for breath at a hole in the ice. Their only hope: somehow to be transported five miles past the ice pack to open sea. Rescuers began cutting a string of breathing holes about twenty yards apart in the six-inch-thick ice.
For eight days they coaxed the whales from one hole to the next, mile after mile. Along the way, one of the trio vanished and was presumed dead. But finally, with the help of Russian icebreakers, the whales Putu and Siku swam to freedom.
In a way, worship is a string of breathing holes the Lord provides his people. Battered and bruised in a world frozen over with greed, selfishness, and hatred, we rise for air in church, a place to breathe again, to be loved and encouraged, until that day when the Lord forever shatters the ice cap.
—Craig Brian Larson, Arlington Heights, Illinois. Leadership, Vol. 11, no. 2.
These Wise Men heard about Christ’s birth, and came and presented to Him gifts...
First of all we see the Gift of Worship as they walked into the House at this time...
And saw Mary with Jesus and immediately fell down and began to worship the Savior...
It had been prophesied by Daniel that a King would be born around this time, and much of their knowledge of the Savior came from their Study...
Last Sunday night, Pastor Josh shared some words of Prophecy from the Old Testament as well as some timetables as to the birth of Christ and ultimate death on the cross. The O.T. is filled with prophecies that point to the Coming of Jesus Christ the first time, and might I add, the second time too.
I like one thing about these Wise Men though, and that is they weren’t too High-Minded to worship Christ...
Their knowledge didn’t get in the way of doing what was right, and that was worshipping the King...
God didn’t tell us to figure Him out, just to believe on Him...
These Wise Men were Wise enough to bow in the Presence of the King of Kings...
And Wise Men still Seek Him today!
Not only do we see the Gift of Worship but we see the Gift of Treasures that they brought as well...
Simply believe that when we confront the Savior, we have a heart to give to Him...
True Worship always will lead one to give...
We see even some significance in the Gifts as Myrrh was one of the ingredients that were used to make the Holy Anointing Oil...
And Frankincense was one of the ingredients used in the Sacred Incense Exodus 31:6 And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee;
Exodus 31:11 And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.
The incense and the An. oil were important parts of the Worship in the O.T....
So I believe that even in the Gifts that were presented we see an ingredient of Worship...
I believe so strongly that when we give to the Lord our Time, Talents and Treasure it should always contain the ingredient of Worship...
The Coming of the Savior produced many actions and reactions then and now...
but how has his coming affected you?
1. Fear Accompanied His Coming
2. Praise Accompanied His Coming
3. Witnessing Accompanied His Coming
4. Gifts Accompanied His Coming
