GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST
1. Happy Holidays? What is that all about? I want you to be happy this holiday? So the question that I have to ask, is what are you happy about? 2. Are you happy that you are going to have lots of presents under the tree. Is this the time of the year that you put aside your differences with others and get the festive season’s spirit? What is the reason of HAPPINESS?
3. Beloved, this is the time of the year, when most people all get mushy and sort of become loving. I have seen another side of Christmas already, and quite frankly, I want to divorce myself from that side altogether.
4. I was on a mission the other day. My youngest son announced that he just had to have a Wii. For those of you, who are kid desires ignorant, this is an entertainment game console, which is the hottest selling item on the market. Normally, we do not give in to the different fads of the seasons, but for some unknown reason this year, we thought we might just capitulate. We had some other errands to do, and so we thought we would stop and visit every store that might sell this toy. The questions we had, were do you have a Wii, when will you be getting one. How many days will we have to stand in line only to be disappointed? Watching the news the other day, I saw the physical damage that the desire to obtain a Wii can inflict upon a person, and as a result, I have seen the ugly side of Christmas, and am cured……?
5. Beloved, enough complaining, whining and temper tantrums about me not being able to find what my son wanted. I want to share with you today, that at this time of year, there will be manifested many gods in the lives of various people. This time of the year there are those that worship the god dollar; the god alcohol; the god drugs; the god anger, frustration and pain.
6. Beloved, this is the month that is set aside by mankind to honor and bring praise to the most beautiful and wonderful God, and that is the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. There are many out there who are wrapped up in their own self righteous works that will write books and pamphlets and preach on the fact that they have discovered that Jesus was not really born on the 25th of December, and that this day should not be worshipped any more than any other day.
7. I agree, we should not worship this day, it is wrong to worship a day, or a month, or a time period. Beloved, I do not worship a day, or anything else, and I am not so bound up in imprisoning religion that I am going to force my stupidity upon someone else, and so take their focus of the real and true God, Jesus Christ. Like the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:2, we must preach and focus only on the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
8. Beloved of Jesus, do not allow anyone, or anything to get your focus off Jesus and onto some ridiculous law which in itself becomes a god. WHO DO YOU KNOW? I am FREE in Christ Jesus. Get off my back, and take the yokes of religiosity back to where they came from.
9. Beloved of Jesus, this is the best time of the year for me. Each and every day, I worship the Creator for his coming to earth, for His adult life of perfection, for His death, burial and resurrection. Very rarely do I take time to focus on WHAT GOD DESIRED AND BECAME FOR ME.
10. At this time of the year, let us focus on what God ordained for Himself, and what He became for us. ISA 9:6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ISA 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
11. Beloved, this is the time of the year, when we focus on the gift that God has given to us. On that night so many years ago, the Almighty, Most Powerful, Infinite, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Creator God, laid all this aside and became half a human Chromosome, bonding himself with the Chromosome of a human woman, Mary, and so began growing into a human being. Nine months He grew into human form within the womb of a woman, His creation, and all because He desired to give us the gift of eternal life with Him.
12. Paul explains this quite adequately in PHP 2:6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, PHP 2:7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
13. This is what all the excitement has been about throughout the ages. God, in Love, gave up everything, and put Himself in the hands of His evil creation. This is what the prophets foresaw and foretold throughout history, until that day when the time was right, and God sent His messengers ahead to proclaim that it was going to happen.
I. THE WORKING OF GOD’S GLORY
A. It Was Planned From The Beginning.
1. In the beginning when mankind sinned, God, who foreknew all things proclaimed that which was going to come.
2. GE 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. GE 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
3. He foretold that He, God, would be born of woman and be wounded, but would triumph over Satan. He would come to save mankind from their sins.
B. It Was Proclaimed Throughout The Ages.
1. The plan was proclaimed throughout the ages, by the messengers of God. All of life in the Old Testament pointed to that glorious time when God would come as a human to save mankind. There are at least 32 prophecies concerning the coming of the Christ.
2. Prophecies:
i. GE 22:18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will
be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
ii. GE 49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the
ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it
belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.
iii. ISA 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The
virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will
call him Immanuel.
iv. JER 23:5 "The days are coming," declares the LORD,
"when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King
who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
v. MIC 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are
small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of
old, from ancient times. "
vi. ZEC 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout,
Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
vii. ZEC 11:12 I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay;
but if not, keep it." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. 13
And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"--the
handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty
pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to
the potter.
3. That which they so faithfully proclaimed, they were unable to see, but longed to see it. As Peter says: 1PE 1:10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
II. THE TIME FOR GOD’S GLORY
A. And So It Begins At The Right Time.
1. As was the plan of God, from eternity, the time for His glory was at hand. The most powerful God was about to endure the banished life of mankind. He was about to take the punishment that was due to mankind for sin. God had been promising and promising, and now the time for the beginning of the Kingdom was here. Everything happens by purpose. JER 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
2. And so it begins, the parents of John the Baptist are born and are later married, and yet are unable to have children. Even though they were probably upset by this, it was all in God’s plan, as their child was to be special, as it had been planned for all eternity.
3. We pick up the beginning with the announcement to the parents of John the Baptist. The Archangel Gabriel, comes with a message from God. LK 1:8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. LK 1:11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. 16 Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
3. HALLELUJAH- THE PEOPLE ARE BEING PREPARED TO RECEIVE THE LORD GOD IN THEIR MIDST. It is God living with men once more. It is the purpose of God to be with mankind, because He loves them.
B. The Creator Begins To Fulfill His Promise.
1. The age old argument goes on about when a person becomes a human. Beloved, life begins at conception, when the two chromosomes join and begin to grow. We see the Creator now beginning to fulfill His promise of redemption.
2. The Messenger of God, the Archangel Gabriel now comes with a message to a poor little virgin girl, who didn’t really understand what was going on, but was willing to do as the Lord commanded.
3. LK 1:26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." LK 1:29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God." 38 "I am the Lord’s servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
4. Now this was going to cause a problem for this young girl and embarrassment to her family, not to mention her husband to be, and so God has that all planned out too. MT 1:19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" -- which means, "God with us." 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
C. The God Of Heaven And Earth Is Born As A Human
1. Throughout this time, the Lord and the plan of the Lord had evil men who wanted to stop the plan. The evil one had plans to destroy the works of God, and attempted to destroy God from the beginning. This young woman could have been stoned and her baby with her.
2. In order to fulfill prophecy and to keep with the plan of Jesus being born in Bethlehem, the emperor of Rome at the most inopportune time demands a census of all. The mother and step father of Jesus travel to Bethlehem to register, where the Son of God, the Creator, is born as one of His creation.
3. Not born in a Holiday Inn, or a hospital, or a nice home, but no they were delayed on the road, and so had no place to stay, and so the King of Heaven was born into the dirt and smells of an animal stable.
4. LK 2:1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register. LK 2:4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
III. THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD’S GLORY
A. For Unto Us A Son Is Born
1. The Son of God has been born on earth, and so is manifested the salvation plan of God. It was an event that all of creation in heaven and on earth had been waiting for. HALLELUJAH, GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST. This was not something that was going to happen quietly. It needed to be proclaimed.
2. The Shepherd of the World had been born in Bethlehem, and so to the Shepherds came the Angels of God, singing and praising Him and Glorifying Him. LK 2:8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 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. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." LK 2:13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, LK 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
B. Our Response To The Glory Of God.
1. Beloved of Jesus, this is the most magnificent thing that had ever happened. It had never entered into the mind of man, and even today, cannot be perceived by many of mankind.
2. The mindset of mankind, is “I have committed sin, I must make restitution.” I want to share with you something, YOU CAN’T, and this is the Glory of God. What has God done for you? He has come to earth, and so has given you peace.
3. Beloved of Jesus, this month of December, as we gather at the manger of Jesus Christ, what are looking for? What will we find? Will we find the Glory of God, or something else? Is this baby the Savior of the World and your Lord?
C. Joining The Angels Giving Praise To God.
1. By coming to earth, God has begun the process of Salvation. We can look at it in the past and read about it, and largely, many will ignore it.
2. I want to challenge you today to respond to the Gift of God in the same way that the Angels did. Let us read again their response to this. LK 2:13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, LK 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.
3. This Christmas let us focus on the Gift of God, and as children of God, let us focus on giving this Gift of Good News to all those who are lost and in anguish and pain. THANK YOU JESUS FOR YOUR SUFFERING GIFT.
CONCLUSION
1. Beloved, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I wish to introduce you to Him. He is the Son of God who takes away our sins, and makes us whole again. It is only in Jesus Christ that you can find peace that passes all understanding.
2. You may spend all eternity, your health, money and sanity looking for peace, but I will tell you right now you can only find it in Jesus, who allows His favor to rest upon His own.
3. You can become one of His own today, by accepting the gift that He gives to us and proclaiming Him as your Lord and Savior. Ask Him today to come into your heart and make His residence there.
4. Beloved, if you are not living your life in step with the Holy Spirit, then you need to take that repentant step back and confess your sins. He is faithful and will forgive us all unrighteousness. Beloved, be covered in the Baptism of His Holy Spirit
