Let us go to Bethlehem
Blessed and joyous Christmas to you, and to your family, and to your loved ones. I want to show you in today's message what Christmas really means, the fact that Christ gives us the blessings, will, and love. His life in us presents those three things: God’s blessings, God’s will, and God’s love.
The shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us. Luke 2:15
Let's go to Bethlehem. Can we say that together? Let's...
Down the hill, a few hundred yards from Bethlehem, a group of common shepherds were terrified at the sight of the angels because it's not a common sight. They had not seen it before, had not heard an angel talk before, they had not seen such a bright light. They were absolutely terrified when they were told that the very one for whom all of Israel has waited for thousands of years has arrived.
The first thing they said to one another, "Let us go to Bethlehem". And there they went and they found the baby there. And so they return back praising God for what they just saw with their own eyes. Seven miles away from Bethlehem, there is a big city, Jerusalem. Big in comparison to Bethlehem. It's not a big city as you can imagine. As you have probably heard before Jesus was born in the small town of Bethlehem.
This little village was a troubled village. It was a troubled village back then. It is a troubled village now to this day. But listen, please. Your life may be troubled like Bethlehem. You might be facing challenges that are insurmountable and you don't know how to deal with it. You may be seeing problems in your life that don't look good, that don't appear to have a solution. Maybe you're like Bethlehem. I have good news for you today. Just like Mary. Christ can be born in you today. Christ can come into your life and whatever troubled situation you're in he can be glorified in you, but only when you, like the shepherds, say, "Let's go to Bethlehem".
1. A Place of God’s Blessings:
Now, I want to tell you today that little Bethlehem, like your life, has blessings. God chose to be born in that little troubled village. Now, you would expect the Son of God to be born in Jerusalem. I mean, at least it's a well-known city. But he was sending us a message. He was sending all of us a message. His grace comes to the humble and the contrite heart. He graces the humble with his presence. See, God is not impressed with what impresses us. You might be down on yourself, and you might feel that you have failed miserably and you are so discouraged right now, but God wants to come on the inside of you to change all of that.
Bethlehem is also a reminder for all of us that God brings strength to the weak, that God gives value to the valueless. Why? Because we all, like Bethlehem, have blessings. God sees us with a great blessing. Perhaps, like Bethlehem, you feel insignificant. Perhaps, like Bethlehem, you feel you don't measure up. Like Bethlehem, you feel that you really don't matter. Perhaps, like Bethlehem, you feel that you've been passed by. Like Bethlehem, you may feel that you are down on yourself. Oh, but like Bethlehem, God can use you mightily. I know what I'm talking about. That's my testimony. Everyone at the sound of my voice, you're the place of blessings. City of David - Bread of House - Lamb of God.
You see, when God looks at you, he doesn't look at you the way you look at yourself, he doesn't look at you the way others look at you. God looks at you for what you can become. The Lord looks at you individually. There might be masses of people sitting here. No, no. He doesn't see it that way. He sees you individually, and he sees and he knows what you can become if you open your heart to him, if you open your life to him. He can see what you can offer him, and he sees what you can accomplish. The prophet Micah 5:2 "And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come of you shall come forth to me the One to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old from everlasting.” " Jesus said, "No, no. Bethlehem is a place of blessings". Listen to me. God did not come to Caesar's palace; he did not come to Herod's court, but he came to that insignificant little town. Why? Today we can see and you can see yourself have blessings just like Bethlehem.
2. A Place of God’s Will:
Several centuries before Christ's birth, God foretold through his prophets Bethlehem would be the birthplace of his anointed Messiah. Matthew 2:5. When King Herod asked the high priest, you remember the Wisemen who were coming in, and they said, "We saw a star and didn't know what to do, and", and they thought, well, they assumed, "If this is a king, he's got to be born in the king's palace".
So they go to the king. They went to Herod, and Herod was confused. He said, "Well, wait a minute. Let me find out from the religious leaders. Let me find out what the Bible said about where the Messiah will be born". And the high priest said, "Bethlehem. He was born in Bethlehem, the City of David. But Mary and Joseph, they're from the north, from Nazareth, 70 miles away from Bethlehem, but their origin is in the south. His origin is in Bethlehem because Mary is a descendant of King David of Judah. Seventy miles, that's a 5 day journey. Bethlehem did not only become the place of blessings, it became the place of God’s will. God made it happen. How come? Because the prophecy is fulfilled and that Mary delivers her baby in Bethlehem.
Luke chapter 2:1 says, And it came to pass in those days, that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the whole world should be registered. Rome dominated the world. That the whole world has to register. This is the census, and the census taken is not like somebody comes knocking on your door. You have to go to your own city. God was the one who was behind this census. He's behind that decree. God is the one who had Caesar issue that decree at the right time. The divine will moved Caesar to issue that global decree. Caesar was an instrument in the hand of God. Caesar was moved by the hand of God.
God promised Jesus in Genesis 3:15 thousands of years before he was born in Bethlehem, and God moved events and circumstances. Why would the whole world be turned upside down? It has to be fulfilled. God's promise has to be fulfilled. God's Word has to be fulfilled. And just right on time, God used this Roman decree to move Mary and Joseph from Nazareth 70 miles all the way to Bethlehem, the home of origin of the tribe of Judah. He moved them from where their family and friends were to a place where they originally came from. If you think that things in your life are out of control, they are not out of God's control. Daniel in chapter 4:17 said, "The Most High rules in the kingdoms of men". Proverbs 21:1 says, "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD".
Bethlehem is a place of God’s will, so is your life. Even though a lot of people didn't understand it at the time; here we are 2,000 years later, we fully comprehend it. Put yourself in their place at the time. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. Galatians 4:4.
Why all of this particularly happening at the time when Caesar issued that decree? And they must have wondered, and I'm sure you've wondered, I have wondered in the past, "Where is God in all of this"? Oh, God was there. God was there. At the same time, God was working to get them to Bethlehem because the hope of the world is going to be born where? In Bethlehem. Oh, my beloved friend, God was pushing His will so that the Messiah be born in Bethlehem of Judea so that God's promise may be fulfilled.
3. A Place of God’s Love:
It's a place of love. Bethlehem is a place of love. Think with me. What awesome love that God gave to handpick that little town of all the other towns, hundreds of them, to cradle the Son of God. Love. What a lovely town. Of all the cities, of all the towns, big and small, he chooses Bethlehem.
Why? Why Bethlehem? Why not Jerusalem? That's a place where religious power resides. Listen to me. God is sending us a message, every one of us, and the message is this, because it continues to this day 2,000 years later. The hope of the world is not in religion. God wants you and everybody to know that the hope of the world is not in politics, the hope of the world is in Jesus.
Illust: Art Gallery:
But why not Athens? Athens was the seat of intellectual power. The hope of the world is not in philosophy. It's in Jesus. And God loved that little town of Bethlehem because the hope of the world can only be found in the Savior of the world. And that is why Bethlehem, which was nothing, was nothing, became the place of love. I don't know where you've placed your trust. I don't know where you place your confidence, whether it be in religion, whether it be in money, whether it be in another person, or whether it be in yourself and your ability. "I can do this".
I want to tell you today on the authority of the very Word of God that Jesus is the only one who is truly worthy of your trust. Jesus is the only one who can truly save you eternally. Jesus is the only one who can change your eternal destiny from hell to heaven. Jesus is the only one who can truly give you hope in the midst of hopelessness. Jesus is the only one who can remove all guilt and shame from your life. Jesus is the only one who can remove every doubt in your life and give you purpose for living.
Let me get real with you. Divine moments come and go to all of us. I'm here to plead with you. You must recognize divine moments when they come into your life because they may never be repeated again. The innkeeper missed it. Now I'm giving you probably one last warning".
I don't know, it could be a divine opportunity. This message that I'm giving you today could be your last chance, I don't know, your last chance to hear and respond to the message of God's love in Jesus Christ. You can have that same love and have Christ be born in you. In fact, your greatest love is to have the Son of God born inside of you. I've met people all over the world. They're persecuted, they're tortured, they live in secret in case their family finds out, and yet every time I talk to one of those people, every time, they speak of the love of suffering for Jesus. They say, "He died on a cross and shed his blood for me. His sinless body hung on that cross. What little persecution in this life". My goodness, I can tell you I feel about that small. I really do. You can become a Bethlehem tonight; and when you do, you become a place of God’s blessings, a place of God’s will, and a place of God’s love.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
