[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you'll be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. It is amazing and wonderful to know that He is our God, the God of the universe, and we are worshiping Him, and we want everybody in the world to know about Him.
[0:17] He has paid the price for every man's salvation, and you should be excited about the opportunity to tell people that. Take your Bibles, if you would, and go with me to Luke 2, verse 10.
[0:27] I know your Bible will fall open to Matthew, and then your Bible will fall open to Numbers, but you don't know where Luke is. If you'll find Matthew, find the second place your Bible falls open to, and go over another two books, and you'll find the book of Luke.
[0:43] That's a joke. You can laugh. Amen. Merry Christmas. But anyway, Luke 2, verse 10, the very famous story that gets read and talked about almost everywhere when you talk about Christmas.
[0:57] But I'm going to take it from verse 10 down to verse 20, and if you write things in the margin of your Bible or you take notes, write this down. Good tidings to all people. Good tidings to all people.
[1:09] That's what I want you to take home with you tonight. Luke 2, verse 10, the Bible said, And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
[1:22] Could I get you to repeat that part with me? I'd like you to start with good tidings, and we'll end with all people. Could you read that out loud with me? Are you ready? The Bible says, Good tidings. Hey, all right, we'll start over.
[1:34] I know you're from Georgia. Okay? On the count of three. One, two, three. Ready? Good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Do it again.
[1:45] Read it with me again. Good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
[1:58] And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.
[2:16] And it came to pass, as the angels were going away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
[2:29] And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
[2:40] And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
[2:50] And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them. Father, I pray now that you would take this passage of Scripture and help us learn some truth about tonight, about as we celebrate Christmas and we think about what you did.
[3:08] I pray you'd help Vision Baptist Church tonight to understand more your purpose behind all those great things that were happening that night. And I pray, dear God, that you'd help us as a church to continue to fulfill your will.
[3:21] And I pray, dear God, that people in our church that may not know you as their personal Savior, people here tonight in this service, would come to know tonight that you love them, you care, you're ready to take their burdens and their loads, you're ready to save them through what you did on the cross at Calvary.
[3:37] And I will give you praise and honor and glory for all that you do. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, just a simple series of things I'd like to say to you tonight. Go with me, if you would, back to Luke chapter 2 and verse 10.
[3:49] And just remember this, Christmas is much more than the nativity scene. I don't know what you think about when you think about Christmas. But Luke 2.10, the Bible says, And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
[4:07] And I imagine in your mind, you know, we picture all these things that happen when we talk about Christmas. We picture all the livestock in the stable.
[4:17] We picture Jesus there in the manger. We picture Mary and Joseph. I bet every one of us have been to a bunch of Christmas programs and watched kids come in as Mary and Joseph and all those things.
[4:29] And you've probably done it. So you think about peace and joy and family and happiness and getting and giving gifts and laughter and spending time with loved ones and food and games and fun and drinking and partying.
[4:43] We see cookies and milk and a fat elf coming down a chimney. We've got all kinds of things in our minds when we think about Christmas. Maybe you see wise men coming with gifts.
[4:54] If you're Spanish in your room, maybe January the 8th is a big day. Or you see shepherds with sheep or a baby in a manger and we get all warm and fuzzy and beautiful and Christmas music started a long time ago already.
[5:06] My wife can. Every time she gets in she goes to find the Christmas station. She has to listen to Christmas music even though it doesn't sound like Christmas music I grew up with. Do you see commercialization?
[5:17] Music, fun, spending money, family time. What's the real story behind what we often see as the story? Here I want you to look at some stuff.
[5:27] Why did the angel say that it was a message of great joy? Look at chapter 2 verse 10 right there in front of you. The angel says this is a message of great joy. The angel said to them fear not don't be afraid behold I bring you good tidings good news of great joy and it's for everybody.
[5:46] So the angel stopped him and said I got good news. It had to be a scary thing you're out watching sheep and you're alone just you and some sheep and some other shepherds all of a sudden the whole heaven lights up with these angels singing and this angel says good tidings of great joy.
[6:02] What in the world was the good message? Verse 13 a heavenly choir started to sing to them. Look at verse 13 and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men.
[6:21] In the story why are the shepherds so happy? Chapter 2 verse 20 Luke 2 20 look in your Bible and the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told and everybody is excited.
[6:36] Everybody is happy about this little baby being born in Bethlehem. That's what we ought to be thinking about. Well what's it all about? What was the excitement? And here it is.
[6:47] The second thing you can mark down if you're writing things down. The excitement is over the fact that God was moving in the salvation of mankind. you can't understand Christmas if you don't see the dark background behind Christmas.
[7:03] You have to understand that roughly 4,000 years have gone through human history and man has found out that he is a failure and man has found out there's no way to please God.
[7:14] Man has failed. He failed in the Garden of Eden. He failed after he got out of the Garden of Eden. He failed so bad that God destroyed the whole world with a flood. He failed after that with trying to build a tower up into the heavens.
[7:26] He failed when Abraham was put into place. He failed when they had a kingdom. He failed when they had prophets. Man just fails all the time and that's the background. And every Jewish young man and everybody knew things aren't all that good in our lives.
[7:44] Things aren't all that good in our country. Look if you would in Luke chapter 2 and verse 30. Simeon is at the temple and he knows something big has got to happen. He knows something big has got to happen and he's waiting and he's been praying and asking God if he can see something very special before he dies.
[8:02] And look what he sees in verse 30. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. You should underline that. You should put a star beside it. You need to know that when Simeon saw Jesus he knew God's here.
[8:15] Salvation is here. Sins are going to be taken care of. God is about to do something. Look at verse 31. Luke chapter 2 in verse 31 says which thou hast prepared before the face of all thy people.
[8:28] Now you need to underline it in verse 31 God prepared it. You need to underline it in verse 31 God prepared it. Salvation wasn't prepared by man and it wasn't prepared by Baptists and it wasn't prepared by churches and it wasn't prepared by the apostles and it wasn't prepared by Joseph and Mary.
[8:45] it's God who prepared salvation. The real human history the real story of human history is that we have all sinned against the holy God. The real story is that we have all sinned against the holy God.
[8:59] Our sins and rebellion have brought death and destruction on us. God loving us came to find us in our sins and save us from our sins.
[9:10] This is not the popular thing I'm about to read to you but it is the truth. and that is Matthew chapter 25 and verse 41. There is a real place called hell and those who live in their sin and their rebellion and do things their way that's their destiny according to the Bible.
[9:31] In Matthew 25 41 the Bible says then shall he say also unto them on the left hand depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
[9:43] That's a wild verse. Did you notice in there that God didn't make hell for us? God never wanted anybody to go to hell. Hell wasn't made for a group of people that would later be put there.
[9:54] That wasn't the plan. When God made hell it was prepared for the devil and his angels. But when men rebel when men rebel when men go their own way when men choose how they'll live then death and hell is what waits for them.
[10:08] The Bible says in John chapter 3 and verse 36 he that believes on the son has everlasting life. He that believes on the son has everlasting life.
[10:18] He that believes not shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides on him. Here's the teaching of the Bible. Once you're born a human being you never die.
[10:34] You need to hear that. You never stop existing. Life never ends. life. When you're born as he and by the way nobody was in heaven waiting to be born. God gave you life when you were conceived in the womb and then and then you're but you will never cease to exist.
[10:51] And so what will happen is in the Bible when it uses the word life it means heaven and God it means Jesus. He's life. He's light. And if you don't know him you'll never see life.
[11:03] You'll go to death if you don't know him. If you've not confessed your sin and turn to him. And so the wrath of God abides on him. What a wild and crazy verse.
[11:17] Look at it. The wrath. The anger of God because of our sin is on us if we will not believe on Jesus. But he loves you.
[11:28] And the whole Christmas story was I've got good news. The angels are excited. The shepherds are excited. Simeon is excited. Anna is excited in the story.
[11:39] Everybody is excited. Salvation is here. By the way all men everywhere are responsible to God. They will die and go to hell without Jesus.
[11:50] He is the only way. John 14 6. I know you know the verse with my heart but it says Jesus said unto him I am the way the truth and the life.
[12:00] No man comes unto the father but by me. Now you want to hear a wild one? You might think we all believe in the same God. Okay I'll give you that. We all believe in the same God.
[12:11] I'm not saying that a Muslim doesn't believe in the same God. I'm not saying that anybody else doesn't believe in the same God. But here's the crux of the matter. Here's the main thing. Here's the sticky point.
[12:22] God said there's only one way to get to him and that's through Jesus. You can't get there through Mary and you can't get there through Muhammad. You can only get there through Jesus because Jesus was God in human flesh come to the earth.
[12:36] In John chapter 5 and verse 24 here's some beautiful promises that are all about Christmas. I'll be back to the Christmas thing in a minute. I just want you to see something. John 5 24 Jesus said verily verily or truly truly telling you the truth listen to me is what he's saying I say unto you that he that hears my word if you hear the word of God know what the word of God says if you hear it and you believe on him that sent Jesus God who sent Jesus you have everlasting life underline that in your Bible you have everlasting life put a circle around half half means you have it right now has everlasting life I'm not waiting to get it I'm not hoping I'm going to get it if you put your faith to Christ you have it and shall not come into condemnation never will the time come that God looks down and says you're wrong you're condemned your sins are brought up God will never do that because Jesus takes care of all of them and then it says but it's passed from death to life you got to understand the whole human race is pointed towards death the whole human race is on its way to die
[13:42] God sends Jesus to bring salvation so we can have life that's why they're excited they're excited because everybody's headed towards dying everybody's headed towards hell but God sends Jesus who is God in human flesh to die on a cross so that everybody can be saved now in Luke chapter 2 in verse 10 there was good news and good tidings to all people and the reason is it's God's desire that the whole world know about salvation look if you would at Psalm 67 2 that thy way may be known on earth thy saving health among all nations the prayer in the psalm is God that your way would be known that we figure out what you're looking for what you want God that we know that and that your saving health could be known everywhere among every nation do you remember what it said in Luke 10 it said good tidings of great joy for all people good tidings a great joy for all people it's like an announcement of 2000 years of world evangelism excitement
[14:50] God's like we're fixing to do something big I'm going to get the gospel to the world I'm getting the gospel to the Gentiles the non-Jewish people look if you would at Luke chapter 2 again you should have it open there in front of you Luke chapter 2 verse 25 Luke 22 25 the Bible says there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and the same man was just and devout he was saved and he was serving God he was waiting for the consolation of Israel he's waiting for God's blessing on Israel and the Holy Ghost was upon him and in verse 26 the Lord showed him I'm going to let you see my answer to your prayer I'm going to let you see that and in verse 27 it says and he came by the spirit into the temple so he showed up at the temple it's been eight days since Jesus was born they brought him to the temple to be circumcised which was a part of the Jewish culture and the parents brought in the child Jesus to do him for him after the custom of the law verse 28 then took he him up in his arms and blessed
[15:54] God Simeon takes Jesus and he holds him in his arms and he says man God I thank you I bless you I'm so excited I appreciate so much what you're doing I want to thank you I want to bless you because of that look at verse 29 we get an idea what he said Lord now you can let me die you can let me go on to heaven because like you said mine eyes have seen your salvation God I've seen it I've seen that you really did do it this is a miracle a virgin has had a baby this is impossible God but you have come to earth it's happened and you prepared a way and in verse 32 Luke 2 32 he said it's a light to lighten the Gentiles in other words you gotta understand until now these Jewish people had no concept of ever telling us the story they were kind of selfish with the story and as Jesus is coming to see me and said man I know what's happening the baby is here
[16:55] Jesus is here he's come to die on a cross and God wants the whole world to know and Gentiles that's us that's us that's us Georgia rednecks that's us African Americans that's us Hawaiians even that's us Latin Americans all of us God's gonna let us hear the gospel message and be saved as he quoted Simeon was actually quoting Bible I want you to know God's always wanted all of us to be saved God has always wanted the world to be saved in Isaiah chapter 49 in verse 6 he thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles I want the Gentiles for light to get a light that you may be my salvation unto the end of the world all the world was going to hear about Jesus God has always wanted all the world to know about him and what 98 and verse 2 the
[18:02] Lord have made known his salvation his righteousness had the openly showed in the sight of the heathen you see God made known his salvation this isn't a plan a Baptist church came up with this isn't a plan some preachers got together and put together this isn't a plan the apostles got together this was God's plan and that's what they're putting together and that's what they're working and that's what they're telling people about and in verse 3 he said that's in Psalm 98 verse 3 he said he hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God here's something great happening Christmas time is a time when God stopped history and said okay I'm going to step in here and do something big I gave the gospel to the nation of Israel they knew that Jesus died they knew a lamb had to die they knew all those things but I'm fixing to fulfill all my promises to fulfill all my prophecy I'm here to prove everything
[19:03] I ever said and Jesus was born and in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 5 here's a wild thing God listed the genealogy and when he did he put two gentile women in Jesus heritage two girls that weren't Jewish were placed into the line of birth of Jesus and their names are mentioned now you don't even think that's a big deal you're like well of course women ought to get mentioned and of course gentiles ought to get mentioned but Jewish men would say only men no women number two only Jewish men and God said no I'm going to throw in a couple of women and they're going to be Gentile women not even Jewish women because I want you to know something I love the world our God loves the world and he wants everybody to be saved so in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 5 you find Rahab and Ruth in the same verse as they are going to be part of Jesus two they're not
[20:14] Jewish leaders they have come from afar they've come from a great distance to visit Jesus because he is the Messiah of all people he is the Messiah of all people Jesus is the Messiah for those who live in Africa those who live in India those who live in China those who live in Europe those who live in North America he's the Messiah for everybody world evangelism listen to you've got to know this as our church world evangelism is not an afterthought I want you to understand something when Jesus was born in Bethlehem he knew he had come to die God knew he come to die Jesus knew he come to die and it didn't surprise him when later on they grabbed him and crucified him didn't surprise him at all because he came to give his life a ransom a sacrifice to save us he came to seek and save us and we're lost we were messed up we needed help and so the
[21:18] God of heaven loving us came and took on human flesh and came to die on a cross it's not like Jesus died and the apostles got real quickly got in the back room and said we've got to figure out how to spin this we've got to get it on CNN and Fox in a little while and make up an excuse for why Jesus died that's not the story at all the story is Jesus told him before he died they're going to kill me I'm going to my father told me to I want to I'm going to and I'll take it back up again I will rise from the dead so you need to know what happened at Christmas God came to earth at Christmas God came to earth so what does Christmas and all this mean for us tonight if you're here and you're not saved it means that tonight is your night if you're here and you don't know for a fact that you're going to go to heaven when you die tonight is your night you can be saved let me explain to you everybody in this room we've all been down the same trail we've all been down the same road and we all got here the same way here's what
[22:36] I want you to know every one of us had to come to a place where we recognize that we had sin against the holy god the bible says in romans 3 10 there's none righteous no not one nobody perfect nobody good none not a one on the planet the bible says for all have sinned everybody is messed up nobody reaches god's point of what's right nobody nobody and the bible said that all of our sin we earned death and hell with that but he has done everything that needs to be done to save you that's probably the biggest lesson you need to learn it is finished on the cross of calvary jesus said it's finished he didn't say now i'm getting you started i'm going to kind of jump start you did anybody ever were you young people ever alive when you had push a car you wouldn't start the batteries dead you kind of push it and then they pop the clutch you get it going has anybody ever done that before that ain't what happened with salvation that's not what happened with salvation jesus didn't say i'll give you a good push and hope you can crank up that's not what happened he said i'll do it all it's finished i have a verse i want you to read with me if you would second corinthians chapter 5 verse 19 look up on the screen look at this verse who he reconciled the world he reconciled the world to himself not imputing not counting their trespasses unto them and he gave us the gospel the word of reconciliation i want you to understand what happened on calvary he paid the sin debt of everybody you need to hear this he paid the sin debt of the world reconciling the world unto himself he paid the sin debt for everybody so everybody could go to heaven so everybody could be saved he paid the sin debt for everybody and so now here's the deal it doesn't mean you're going to heaven it certainly doesn't mean you're going to heaven it just means the price has been paid but you will accept the gift you will trust you will believe god and the bible says in romans chapter 6 in verse 23 the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ our lord it's a gift you simply receive will you believe god right now for what he's done for you if you're here tonight and you're already saved you have the privilege of sharing the good news with everyone i recognize that the majority of you attend our church at least sporadically and i realize that you realize that you have good news you might come and say i didn't need to hear about getting saved i've been saved are you sharing the good news with your family and friends good news like this what would you imagine would have happened had the shepherds when they heard all that good news and the angels started speaking and the choir started singing and they had come home and said i ain't telling nobody about that man that's the wildest thing i've ever seen i ain't telling nobody that's not what happened when they came home they're like you're not going to believe this we saw an angel and an angel said god had good news for everybody they told everybody wise men came from afar to find out about what's going on it's the wildest craziest thing everybody is talking about you should be do you realize that there is life after death see we don't believe that anymore but it's still the truth god's truth when you die it's not over and so when your friends die when your mama dies when your brother dies when your family members die when your neighbors die it's not over if that is true how can you rest without sharing and praying that your friends and family come to know jesus as their savior this is more about
[26:36] more than just a church or building our church or having a good attendance it's more than just saying that we're christians everybody in the southeast is a christian everybody that's not what it's about it's about knowing him about being born again what will we do as a church based on christmas on this christmas message based on what's right here in luke chapter 2 we will continue to train up our people to go to the world with the gospel we will pray for the world and our missionaries preaching everywhere we'll give like crazy so more can hear are you involved in giving praying going and making a difference around the world more than anything christmas should remind us of jesus and what he did on calvary now i know that when you hear about christmas i mean you see the you see the angels and you see the shepherds and you see the little baby jesus and you see joseph and mary and you see santa claus and you see rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and you see all of that but the truth is that what's really happening at christmas is god coming well that's important it's god stopping and by the way we count our days this is the year 2014 after christ the year of our lord the lord jesus it stopped history they recounted the way they counted the calendar and so know this it's much more than that god became flesh and lived among us he showed us his great heart and love all the time he was here on the planet he paid the price for everybody to be saved he sent us to tell others all about him we should go and share great news god has come and brought salvation for all we should get excited i'll take you back to the first and i ask you you know you see christmas and the nativity scene and you see all of that pretty scene and i even heard of one church they're having a drive-through nativity scene you can drive through and go through stages and see all i think that's great that's wonderful the truth is so often it's like tradition it's like nostalgia it's like oh look at the camels look at the sheep look at the goats and we see all of it but we don't think about what it was all about why were the shepherds so happy why were the angels so happy why did wise men come from such a great distance to come to jesus why was all of this story told because god loves you because god loves you because god loves the world because jesus died for everybody that's the real story it's the real story and if you don't know him you can get christmas gifts and you can sing christmas carols and you can go caroling and you can know silent night and holy night and jingle bells anything else you want to know but you are still in your sins you're still in your sins but jesus paid the debt so you can be saved jesus has done everything and all that's lacking is for you to receive it and as a church i don't know how to tell you this there are so many people that have never heard this story they live in our community they live all around the world we have the truth we must tell others about jesus would you have a word of prayer with me please father i thank you so much for the opportunity to be in your house and i thank you for the chance to talk to these wonderful people and i'm asking you dear god to save people tonight i am certain there's somebody here that doesn't know that they go to heaven if they were to die and i'm asking you to save them i'm asking you dear god to work in people's lives and i'm asking you to save people
[30:37] and i'm also asking you dear god to help church people wake up to our great responsibility to get your word around the world would you please deal with hearts would you please make this real tonight this message was recorded at vision baptist church in alfredo georgia for more information log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times location contact information and more audio and video recordings bye bye bye bye bye bye