SPEAKER_00: This time of year, the world loves the Christmas story: a baby, a manger, a soft glow, a sense of peace.
SPEAKER_00: And even for Christians, we know this story so well that we almost stop listening before it's finished.
SPEAKER_00: We know the angels, the shepherds, the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths.
SPEAKER_00: And that's often where we stop.
SPEAKER_00: But this child wasn't born simply to be admired.
SPEAKER_00: He was born to die.
SPEAKER_00: If you remove the cross from Christmas, you remove its power.
SPEAKER_00: Listen now to God's word from Luke 2, verses 8 through 14.
SPEAKER_00: 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 stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And this will be the sign for you.
SPEAKER_00: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.
SPEAKER_00: Luke gives us a sign, and that sign already points us beyond the manger.
SPEAKER_00: But before Luke shows us the sign, he shows us who hears the announcement.
SPEAKER_00: So let's slow down and listen carefully to how God tells this story.
SPEAKER_00: Luke begins with shepherds, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
SPEAKER_00: They were ordinary, overlooked, even considered unclean.
SPEAKER_00: Their work kept them outdoors, away from the temple and synagogue, and they were often treated as religious outsiders.
SPEAKER_00: If the greatest news the world had ever known was going to be announced for the very first time, these would have been the last people you'd expect to hear it.
SPEAKER_00: After all, who would believe them?
SPEAKER_00: And yet, that is precisely the point.
SPEAKER_00: God announces salvation to humble sinners.
SPEAKER_00: He could have announced it to King Herod, or to a Pharisee, or a scribe.
SPEAKER_00: But God chose these lowly shepherds to receive good news of great joy, which will be for all the people.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't wait for us to clean ourselves up.
SPEAKER_00: He meets us right where we are.
SPEAKER_00: This is the wonder of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: It's offered to the tired, the overlooked, the fearful, and the broken.
SPEAKER_00: If that describes you today, know that the gospel is for you.
SPEAKER_00: The Savior enters the world, not in splendor, but in swaddling cloths, in a stable, among animals.
SPEAKER_00: And the first announcement goes to shepherds living in the dark, unaware that God's glory is breaking through the night.
SPEAKER_00: But in the darkest hour of the night, light shines the brightest.
SPEAKER_00: That light points us forward, beyond the manger, beyond the swaddling cloths, beyond the stable.
SPEAKER_00: The angel doesn't just announce a birth, he gives a sign.
SPEAKER_00: And that sign tells us something profound.
SPEAKER_00: This child is not just any baby, he is the Savior, the Christ, the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And notice carefully, he was born for you, not for someone abstract, not for the world in general, but for you personally, intentionally, so that he could live for you and die for you.
SPEAKER_00: For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, and this will be the sign for you.
SPEAKER_00: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
SPEAKER_00: You might be wondering why the sign for the shepherds was a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
SPEAKER_00: Swaddling was the way newborns were cared for in Jesus' day.
SPEAKER_00: After birth, a baby's body was carefully wrapped in strips of cloth, providing warmth, protection, and a sense of security.
SPEAKER_00: It was one of the first acts of love a parent could give.
SPEAKER_00: Mary's hands, wrapping her firstborn in those cloths, show us a mother's care and compassion, even in a stable, surrounded by animals.
SPEAKER_00: But there's more than maternal care here.
SPEAKER_00: Swaddling also speaks of total dependence.
SPEAKER_00: A newborn cannot survive on its own.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, though fully God, entered the world as a helpless infant, fully dependent on his earthly parents.
SPEAKER_00: His humility is on display from the very start.
SPEAKER_00: And there is a deeper prophetic layer here.
SPEAKER_00: The very same type of cloth used to swaddle newborns was also used to wrap the dead for burial.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're wondering why shepherds were given this sign, they would have immediately recognized that these were the same kinds of strips used to wrap the lambs destined for the temple sacrifice, lambs raised in Bethlehem to be slain for Passover.
SPEAKER_00: Does that sound familiar?
SPEAKER_00: On the very first day of his life, Jesus was wrapped like one of those sacrificial lambs.
SPEAKER_00: From the manger to the cross, his life is a living prophecy.
SPEAKER_00: As Hebrews 2, 14 and 15 tells us, therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was born to die, to defeat death and the devil.
SPEAKER_00: From the very beginning, his mission was clear.
SPEAKER_00: He took on flesh so that through his death he might destroy the one who holds the power of death and free those enslaved by fear.
SPEAKER_00: The Savior, sent to die for his people, was marked by his mission from the womb to the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: On that first day, wrapped in swaddling cloths, he foreshadowed the sacrifice he would make for us.
SPEAKER_00: As John Piper says, Good Friday is the reason for Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: The baby in the manger would grow to die for our sins, so that we could be free from fear, filled with joy, and set to live for him.
SPEAKER_00: From the very first day of his life, he is wrapped like a sacrificial lamb.
SPEAKER_00: On the day of his death, he would be wrapped in similar linen cloths in a tomb.
SPEAKER_00: In the manger, a simple feeding trowel, a humble place for a king.
SPEAKER_00: But it was enough.
SPEAKER_00: God did not wait for grandeur or ceremony.
SPEAKER_00: The creator of the universe came as a baby, fully divine and fully human, taking on our weakness and our flesh.
SPEAKER_00: From the start, his life pointed to his mission.
SPEAKER_00: He humbled himself, obedient even to death, death on a cross, to accomplish salvation for his people, and establish his eternal kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Every moment of his life, from swaddling cloths to a tomb, proclaimed the glory of God and the salvation he would accomplish for his people.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look again at verses thirteen and fourteen in our passage in Luke.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.
SPEAKER_00: The shepherds were terrified, but then they heard the angels sing.
SPEAKER_00: And what did they sing about?
SPEAKER_00: God's glory and God's peace.
SPEAKER_00: Peace for those with whom he is pleased.
SPEAKER_00: Peace not earned by power or wealth, not bought with merit, but freely given through the Savior, wrapped in swaddling cloths.
SPEAKER_00: And this peace isn't just a nice feeling, it's the tangible expression of God's love, the one who delights in us, not because of what we've done, but because of who he is.
SPEAKER_00: He entered our world to rescue and redeem.
SPEAKER_00: This is the very love of God breaking into our world, the love that the angels heralded.
SPEAKER_00: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
SPEAKER_00: He who believes in him is not judged.
SPEAKER_00: He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil.
SPEAKER_00: For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed.
SPEAKER_00: But he who practices the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been done by God.
SPEAKER_00: And of course that comes from John three.
SPEAKER_00: God's love is not theoretical or distant, it's personal, it's effectual, it changes hearts, and it changes lives.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're thinking, God could never love me.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what I've done.
SPEAKER_00: I've failed too many times.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, the gospel says the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: God's love doesn't depend on your perfection or your goodness.
SPEAKER_00: It has and always will depend on God's grace alone and the completed works of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: God proved his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: Fully God and fully man, he came to die in your place, so that you could truly live, born again into new life in Christ, at peace with God, and free to love and live in harmony with others.
SPEAKER_00: There's no greater love than that.
SPEAKER_00: None.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: Are you fearful?
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to fear death.
SPEAKER_00: Christ has already faced it and defeated it for you.
SPEAKER_00: Through him, the power of death and Satan is broken.
SPEAKER_00: God's love has reached you even in your fear.
SPEAKER_00: Are you weary?
SPEAKER_00: Your joy rests on God's love, displayed in Jesus, who came to rescue, redeem, and restore.
SPEAKER_00: He loves you, not because you're perfect, but because of who he is and because he is perfect.
SPEAKER_00: And for our church, we don't stop at the manger.
SPEAKER_00: Following Christ means following him to the cross and out of the empty tomb.
SPEAKER_00: We live as people transformed by his love, sent to be salt and light in our world.
SPEAKER_00: God first loved us, and now we love because he first loved us.
SPEAKER_00: All of this, freedom from fear, renewed joy, and life shaped by God's love points us to the same truth.
SPEAKER_00: The source of hope, peace, joy, and love is not in what we do or what the world offers, it's found in Christ alone.
SPEAKER_00: Are you seeking more hope in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Seek Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Are you seeking more peace in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Seek Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Are you seeking more joy in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Seek Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Are you seeking more love in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Seek Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Everything you're looking for finds its ultimate satisfaction and fulfillment in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If you're trusting in yourself to acquire these things, if you're trusting in anything other than Christ alone, you are rejecting God's free gift to you.
SPEAKER_00: And during Christmas time, no one wants their gift rejected by the one they love.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine someone being gifted a brand new vehicle and responding, No thanks, I'll just keep walking.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's even worse than that.
SPEAKER_00: It's like turning down a lifeboat while drowning.
SPEAKER_00: The fool says in his heart, there is no God.
SPEAKER_00: The proud say that there is no need for God.
SPEAKER_00: But Advent reminds us that God didn't wait for us to fix ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, we'd be helpless and lost.
SPEAKER_00: He came in the flesh to rescue us and transform us, renewing our hearts, minds, and our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The world loves the baby in the manger, soft, sweet, and safe.
SPEAKER_00: But Scripture gives us more than a baby.
SPEAKER_00: It gives us a Savior wrapped for sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was born to die, so that those who die might live.
SPEAKER_00: He came to seek and save the fearful, the weary, the broken, and the lost.
SPEAKER_00: He came to give life where there was death, hope where there was despair, and peace where there was chaos.
SPEAKER_00: This is why the angel sang, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.
SPEAKER_00: Not peace earned by our own effort or abilities, but peace freely given through the one who first loved us.
SPEAKER_00: And this is why Christmas joy will never fade, because the same Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloths, the Lamb of God, the Savior of the world, is still alive and reigns as King above all kings, Lord above all lords, and over every ruler on this earth.
SPEAKER_00: His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and at his name every knee shall bow.
SPEAKER_00: He makes his enemies his footstool.
SPEAKER_00: And to all who receive him, who believe in his name, the Apostle John writes about Jesus, he gave the right to become children of God.
SPEAKER_00: Romans eight one declares, There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe that today?
SPEAKER_00: Or are you still walking in the chains of condemnation?
SPEAKER_00: Turn to Christ and live.
SPEAKER_00: He's the chainbreaker.
SPEAKER_00: As we close out this Advent series, let's remember what we've seen all along.
SPEAKER_00: From the promise in the garden to the fulfillment in Bethlehem, God's love has always been at work.
SPEAKER_00: This is the heart of Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gospel, the good news, and this is why we rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we're so grateful that you are a God who loves us, loves us so much that you gave your Son Jesus to come into this world and to die for us.
SPEAKER_00: That all who believe in his name have eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: God, we thank you that you offer us hope in a world that is filled with despair.
SPEAKER_00: You do not abandon your people, and you fulfill every single promise you make.
SPEAKER_00: God, if it depended on us, we would be hopeless and helpless and forever lost.
SPEAKER_00: But we praise you that it always depends on you.
SPEAKER_00: You are the one who is unchanging and unfailing.
SPEAKER_00: And we give you the glory in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.