to say this morning. Luke 2, verses 8-14. That’s where we’re going to be this morning. Luke 2.

And Luke writes, In the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.

Franklin D. Roosevelt has famously said in his first inauguration address, We have nothing to fear but fear itself. You’ve heard that said, parodied a million times probably. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. And he was saying that to a nation that was climbing out of the Great Depression. And so that was really a great thing to say to people. Like, hey, we need to move. We need to mobilize. We need to do what we can do and should do to be a prosperous nation again. That’s not good advice for you and I as we follow Jesus. Alright? It’s not good advice for you and I because we can’t do anything for ourselves.

And the response of the shepherds that we’re going to look at this morning, it’s the right response.

When approached with the glory of the Lord, they fear.

And, and we, and I don’t mean just us in this room, but humanity have good cause to fear when we’re confronted with the presence of God. Yet God says to us, fear not. Fear not.

I want to talk to us this morning about Christmas peace. We’ve talked about Christmas love. We’ve talked about the exclusive joy Chase talked about last week that comes at Christmas time. And I want to talk to us this morning then about Christmas peace. Christmas peace. Christmas peace.

Luke says in the same region. Well, what was happening in the region for him to say, these shepherds in that region? What was going on in the region? Well, here’s what was going on. Joseph and pregnant Mary

got Jesus in her belly. She’s getting ready to pop, which is not a happy phase to be in when you’re pregnant. I only know it because my wife’s had three kids. I haven’t experienced it, but I know it’s not pleasant. And so they’ve traveled all these miles on a donkey. She’s got this baby. And they come to Joseph’s ancestral hometown, Bethlehem. It’s his ancestral hometown. He’s in the line and lineage of King David. So he had to go by the empire’s decree to Bethlehem for the census. And in his hometown, if you will, Joseph was offered no hospitality. There was no room in the inn. Even inns themselves were not, they were not like our modern hotels. They weren’t really even places you would want to be. It was like, this is our only choice. We have to stay in this place. You didn’t want to stay in an inn. But they didn’t even have room for them. So what does Joseph do? He takes his pregnant wife

to a stable. And it’s in this most humble of places that the Son of God is born. And he’s laid to rest in a slop trough. The Son of God is laid to rest in a feeding box.

How low has Christ come to meet us where we are? So that’s what’s happened in the region. So he’s in the same region. He says there are these shepherds, and these shepherds are washing their flock by night. And don’t, you know, get nostalgic about that. I said that a couple weeks ago. We get nostalgic. We think about these pictures and the little ceramic sets. Being a shepherd was not a sought-after life. They weren’t these clean-cut, well-to-do people. One commentator notes they were known as dishonest people. They were unclean according to the standards of the law. It was not an occupation you wanted. It was the lowest of the low. One commentator said, these are the people who live their life among the dung of cattle. Okay? So we’re going to the lowest of societal low.

And it’s to these, strangely, isn’t it, that the message of the birth of God’s Son comes. Why these people? Well, because I think it’s for these people that Christmas matters.

It’s not dignitaries. It’s not royal people. It’s not powerful people. It’s not to say that they don’t matter. Christmas isn’t for them. But what it makes apparent for you and I, I, this morning, to relish in and to worship the Lord for is this. Christ came, born in a manger, laid in a slop trough with shepherds and animals for a welcoming party to say the love and peace of God is for all people. It’s for all people.

So the angel comes to these shepherds, and it’s not just an audible voice, which would have been enough. Think about Samuel. Remember when the prophet Samuel was a child, and he heard the voice of the Lord, and that was enough to stir him up. They don’t just hear the voice of an angel. It’s the very real presence of an angel. It’s not even just an angel. It says the glory of the Lord surrounds them. So they’re enveloped with the glory of God. And you know, they respond. The only way you can respond when the glory of God confronts you. They fear. They tremble. And why wouldn’t they?

Think about the Apostle Paul. When Jesus in His heavenly splendor visited him on the road to Damascus, what happened? Paul fell to the ground off of his animal.

Hebrews says, Moses trembled with fear before the presence of God on Mount Sinai. In the book of Daniel, when Gabriel, when the angel’s giving Daniel the vision of end times, what happens there? Daniel falls to his hands and knees, trembling and shaking in fear. It’s not until the angel touches Daniel that he has enough strength to stand up. The Apostle John in Revelation, when Christ comes to John to talk to him about the end times, it says that John falls at the feet of Christ as though dead. When the angel of the Lord at Jesus’ tomb announces that Christ has risen from the dead, it says the two guards, the two soldiers guarding the tomb, they fall to the ground as though dead. So you see it happens over and over and over again in Scripture as a testimony. So if Christ walked into the room and He didn’t conceal any of His glory as He did when He was raised from the dead, but if Christ presented Himself to us this morning in the full splendor of His majesty and His glory, you know what you would not do? You wouldn’t run up and start worshiping Him. You wouldn’t shake His hand. You wouldn’t start singing songs. Here’s what you and I would do. You know what you would do? You and I would fall to the ground and be like dead people because the greatness and the glory and the majesty of God, it would overwhelm us and it would be too much for us.

And that’s what the shepherds have seen. They’ve seen the glory of this God have been had.

They’re afraid.

Yet, the angel says to the shepherds, fear not. Fear not. Fear not. It’s not that we don’t need to fear God. Only this, we need not fear God will overtake us. Wonder of wonders, the angel says, this great and awesome God who is to be feared, who’s holy and glorious, He brings you a message, a great message. And this great message, it’s going to bring you great joy. And here’s this message for you. A Savior has been born for you. A Savior has been born for you. Fear not. The Savior from heaven has come to the first thing I want us to see. He’s come to save us from Himself. He’s come to save us from Himself.

Notice what’s most beautiful in verse 11. It says, For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior. So it’s not enough that some child was born. Think about the many wonderful prophets of God that have arisen, many great leaders like Moses, even many great kings, King David being the greatest. But the promised one to come is even greater than King David. David was a great king and David loved God. And the scriptures tell us David was a man after God’s own heart. But you know, David was a man. And David sinned like a man. And David grew old and he died like a man. And David was unclean. He was under the penalty of God’s law like everyone else. And he could not be a Savior truly for his people the way they needed a Savior. In Acts chapter 13, verse 36-39, it said, For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers in what he saw corruption. But he whom God raised up, this is Jesus, did not. He did not see corruption. So David’s condemned by the law. He has to pay for his penalties the same. He’s under the law. He is not our Savior. And you’re under the law. And you can’t be your own Savior. The law says do not steal. We steal. The law says do not dishonor your parents. We’ve dishonored our parents. It says don’t envy. You are not coveted. But greatly, it says do not commit adultery. Adultery is rampant among us. And on down the line, God shows us how guilty we are before the great judge, Jesus. The great and awesome holy God is to be dreaded and feared, friends, because you and I have offended a holy God. We need a certain kind of Savior. Not just any Savior will do, because we are not at peace with God. Our sins have shown our hearts are hostile to Him. And note this. God is not a careless God. He doesn’t overlook your offenses. Nor is He lazy. Ah, not worried about it. No, Jesus comes to judge. And justice will come swiftly. And the day of judgment will come swiftly. And Jesus will raise up the living and the dead. And judge everyone. And hold them accountable for how they’ve broken God’s law.

But here’s the good news. Here’s the good news. Before Christ comes the second time, Christ came a first time. And He came to meet us in our lowest of low. He came in the slop trough. A lowly carpenter. And why did He come? He came to make peace between you and His Father. He came to make peace. Between you and Him. God loves you so much. He doesn’t want to pour out His wrath on you. So what did He do? He sent His precious, beloved Son, Jesus, to die in our place.

Colossians chapter 1 verse 19 says, For in Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through Him, what did Jesus do? He reconciled to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven. And what did His cross do? Making peace by the blood of His cross. So you see this Christmas season, Jesus doesn’t give you peace. Jesus is your peace. He is your peace with God.

Friends, you and I need a certain kind of Savior. And the angel has come to say, It’s Jesus. It’s Jesus.

Secondly, Christ has not just come to save us from Himself, He’s come to save us from ourselves.

And this goes back to what we heard last week. The Spirit is with us to give us comfort, right? To strengthen us. But the Spirit also abides with us to save us from ourselves. The beauty of the Gospel is not this. Christ came and He died on the cross, and He wiped out your sin. Now you can go out and make a big mess of it again. That’s not why Christ came, so you can keep running up debts. Christ came to wipe your slate clean, but by the Spirit, Christ came to dwell in us so that we would stop being the people that ran up the list in the first place. Christ saved us, but by His Spirit, He is saving us. He’s changing us. He’s making us new. He’s daily sanctifying us, making us holy as He is holy. We have the Spirit in us testifying. You’re not who you were anymore. You’ve been saved, and you’re being saved. So when you and I get to heaven someday, we can worship God and say, Jesus, You saved me when You died on the cross. You were saving me throughout my life and who I was. You were preserving me, and You’ve saved me perfectly now with You here in glory forevermore. He saved us from ourselves. He’s made us new. He’s made us one with Him.

Here’s the third thing that Christ has done through Christmas peace. He saved us from one another.

If we’re against God and we’re without the peace of God and only the peace of God is genuine, real peace, if I can’t know God and the holiness and righteousness as I ought to know Him, and I’m at war with God, whatever other relationship I have or you have in life, guess what? It’s not going to be what it ought to be. There’s going to be some kind of friction. And it’s not even something you need me to describe to you, is it?

From petty arguments to world war,

people butt heads, to say it nicely. People have friction. People have, you have, you have experienced great friction with people in your family, with people you work with, with people you know. Something’s broken in our human relationships. We are hostile towards one another. We are not good at blessing. We are good at cursing. We are not good at building up. We are good at tearing down. But one of the beauties of the Gospel is this. You haven’t just been made right with God. In Christ Jesus, we have learned how to love and forgive, so that you and I can have peace with one another. That’s why it’s such a shame, I think, when inside the walls of the church we have so much division. That’s why it’s such a shame that so many people walk away from the church broken because they’ve been raped over the coals by poor relationships and being treated so poorly. I’ve seen it happen. I will say I’ve experienced it in multiple different ways. You probably have too. But here’s the power of Christmas peace. Friends, we must love and forgive. What did Jesus say in the Beatitudes? And we should know this, walking through Matthew for two years. Beatitudes. Blessed are the peacemakers. They shall be called what? Sons of the living God. So how can I know, how can you know if I have peace with God? Jesus says, here’s a dead giveaway. You won’t be able to stand it to not have peace with your fellow man. Sons of the living God, those who belong to God, they live in the harmony of peace. That they’ve been given and shown in Christ.

You know, back in the Old Testament when Israel, they had God for a king. They didn’t have a king. It was just God. What did they say though? We want a king. Give us a king. We’ve got to have a king. And God said, you don’t want a king. He’ll take your land. You just don’t want that. It’s not going to be. Give us a king. Give us a king. And what did they get? They got good old King Saul. And it was amazing. It was a mess. It was a mess. And when Jesus came, they said, Jesus, you be the king we want. You defeat the Roman Empire. Jesus, that’s not the kind of king you need. You and I don’t know what we need. You and I know what we want.

It’s like a baby. Josie’s about that age. You ever seen a baby that wants to touch fire? Oh, it’s what they want. But you know that’s not what you need.

Friends, the joy of Christmas is God has loved us beyond even how we think we need to be loved. We don’t even know the kind of help we need. But God knows it, and He perfectly supplied it in His Son, Jesus.

So I say to you this morning, fear not. God has sent you the Savior you need. You don’t need to fear today. You don’t need to fear about this. You don’t need to fear about that. You don’t need to worry about this problem, that problem, that ailment. I’m not saying they’re not real problems. But at the end of the day, you and I can have a supernatural peace because we have a supernatural Savior. And our Savior has given us all peace. And what we know in part, you and I will know in full someday, the peace of God. The peace of God.

I want to say also, great peace is cause for great joy. Let’s not make the mistake of disconnecting Advent, like thank you for love and thank you for peace and thank you for hope and thank you for joy. No. God has loved you by sending His Son to bleed and die on the cross, which gives us peace with God. And that peace and salvation can’t be taken away. So I have joy unspeakable because my joy is something I have in Christ. And because that joy is so sure because it depends on what Christ did, I have hope for the future of what certainly will be in eternity. Friends, we have joy because we’ve been loved and God’s given us peace and we have hope in everything.

And lastly, I want to encourage you. Are you a peacemaker? Are you a peacemaker? You know, like, oh, that guy loves a good argument. You shouldn’t love a good argument. That guy’s always picking on somebody about something. That guy can always talk about his feelings, always getting hurt. You should walk into the room and say, man, that guy, that girl, man, they just know how to bring peace to the room. They’re looking for solutions. I’ve tried to offend them and I can’t offend them. I’ve tried to make them mad. I can’t make them mad. They just have this peace that they can get past things. Get past things. Are you so hung up on all the hurts in your life, you can’t realize how much you’ve been loved and forgiven and the peace you have, so you can’t manifest that peace? Friends, that’s a great privilege we have. Don’t wait on eternity. We’re experiencing it and we’re growing in it in the spirit now in part. You and I should have peace. Have peace.

That’s a great privilege,

because if you see me that I continue to see this, but we continue to see this. It’s out there. We want to see peace. I say that because I’m draft horse wise. We’re no introduced to this world.

Right now I live by it to my eaten half. So we don’t have a whole الذ wholeness cause the rest of us

angels are uh enigmatic kind of mysterious creatures to us you know we we want to know more about the bible says a lot about them but not as much as we’d like you know for the bible to say about them but what what are angels what do angels do angel in the greek angelos it means mostly sent ones uh angels are messengers that’s mostly what that word means and when we look in the bible we see god sending angels to give messages to people all throughout the scriptures think about mary and the angel comes and says hey you know the the spirit’s gonna pass over you or telling joseph hey you know it’s the lord um we see in the old testament the angel coming uh to daniel to give him messages we see angels are powerful creatures that fight on god’s behalf uh gabriel tells daniel that that daniel that’s in some way gabriel and michael they’re warring against the prince of of persia there’s a spiritual demonic battle going on that angels are always fighting in so so we see these many many examples um in in the old and new testament where angels are about the lord’s business delivering messages to god’s people fighting on behalf of god’s people watching over god’s people but here’s to me the most interesting thing about angels that we discover they’re very very very interested in the affairs of the church namely god’s plan of salvation for the church we’re told they rejoice when a sinner comes to salvation first peter 1 12 says that the gospel it’s something that angels they long to look things into which angels long to look i love that phrase that peter says

but think about this with me angels will never actually taste and experience this salvation will they it’s not something that they’re actually going to get to enjoy if we sifted through the whole bible you won’t find anything that alludes to one that’s going to be the any angel or fallen angel a demon desires to be forgiven or shown mercy nor will you find any example of an angel wanting to be forgiven or shown mercy you don’t see either one jesus talks about when a demon leaves a person he goes out and gets seven more and comes back um the man that was possessed atians uh that the demon says jesus why are you here to point to torment us before the appointed time so that’s just not a reality at least as far as we can see in scripture that god God offers to them. It’s not. It seems, friend, a fallen angel, it’s a very fixed reality when they’ve turned from the Lord.

But friends, it’s so different for you and I, isn’t it? It’s so different.

If angels who will never taste and experience the grace and peace of God and the birth and death and resurrection of Jesus, they wonder and watch all the ages of human history unfold and they glorify God, God, shouldn’t our worship as those who will actually taste the grace of God, shouldn’t our worship be so much more loud? Is our worship compared to angels’ worship a little underwhelming?

Should we maybe get a little more rowdy, sing just a little bit louder, the God of heaven, of living things, inanimate things, the God of all creation, did not have to, redeem us, but he chose to spill the blood of his son Jesus so that you fallen creatures who deserve his punishment would inherit the blessings in the heavenly places for eternity to come. I think we just don’t live in that wonderful Christmas reality. That’s Christmas every day. Is it not?

The angel says, fear not, worship. Fear not, worship. It’s like the angel, the angel couldn’t even get out, he’s a baby in his mouth, and they all start worshiping and he sees thousands upon thousands, throngs of angels and they’re worshiping Jesus for coming in a slop trough. And he’s just, that’s another Christmas, gifts, parties, desserts. No. The God of the universe bled and died for you, mankind. He restored the image of man. He restored the image of God inwardly, in Christ Jesus. We have been uniquely saved. We have been uniquely saved. You who have fallen, fear not. God means to raise you to new life in his son Jesus. You who have cursed God, fear not. He blesses you through his son Jesus. You who deserve the torment of hell, fear not. Heaven’s darling has perished in your place. We have much to say. Sing and shout about this morning, this Christmas season. You and I have peace with God. God has freely made peace with you and I. So we sing about it and we should shout about it. But you know something else that we should do if it’s so good? We should be what the apostle Paul calls in Romans 12. What does he call that? I urge you therefore, brothers, to be what? Living sacrifices. And this is your spiritual worship. This is your spiritual worship. So worship is great. And I think we should take a cue from the angels. And Sunday mornings, it should be a time where I am excited to come and I want to sing and I want to lift my voice up and I want to take a cue from these angels and from the whole of the Psalms and see a very real part of being a saved person is singing about it. Love singing. Value singing God. It’s how we worship God. But Paul says, let’s go further in Christ. Don’t just stop with the singing. Keep singing. But Paul says, live on. So yes, the Spirit is sanctifying me. That’s not an excuse for me to sit back and say, sanctify away, Spirit. Paul says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. You and I worship as we labor with the power that God has put within us to sanctify us. And that brings worship to this God who did not have to, but He did call you and I to saving faith that we would have peace. We would have peace with God.

If you would have Christ for a Savior, you must have Christ for a Lord.

I think that that’s probably one of the most important things that could be said at the beginning of the 21st century to the church. A lot of people want a Savior, don’t they? I’ll take a piece of Jesus. I’ll do this so He looks the way I want Him to look. But yeah, I would love a Savior. I’d love for my church experience to look like this. I’d love for the Bible to read this. I’d love for you to press into my life this much.

No. If you would take Christ to be your Messiah, which is what Christ means, your Savior, you must take Him to be your Lord. You must surrender the whole of your life to Him. Is Christ your Savior and your Lord? Last thing I want to say is this. If you and I have been given such a wonderful, unique salvation, our worship will survive. Spill over into evangelism and mission. I’m not going to be able to keep it to myself. If I’m beholding the grace and the goodness and the love of God in Christ born, living, crucified, buried, resurrected for my sin, I’m not going to be able to keep it to myself. In Luke 2.18, you know what the shepherds did? They went out and it says, all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. Do you think? Do you think you’d be able to keep it to yourself if you saw what they saw? You wouldn’t be able to keep it to yourself. But friends, you’ve seen it no less through the witness of God’s Spirit. You’ve seen it no less with the eye of faith. You’ve seen it no less with the written Word of God. You have seen it. Rejoice in it and give it away that not just you, but the world would wonder at the love of God for fallen mankind.

So the manger, the slop trough, I like slop trough better, is all calls for worship and evangelism and mission.

I lived with my grandma for a while.

Gosh, 11 years ago, 12 years ago now. My grandfather used to own a bunch of pawn shops. It’s kind of what he did.

When Jessica and I were going to get married, she pulled out this giant box of rings. She’s like, hey, y’all can just pick one of these for your rings. Of course, I’m like, I don’t think we want one out of there. But I just kind of took a few of them. I didn’t think about it. Just a few weeks ago, I don’t know if Jessica was rummaging, and she said, hey, here are those old rings we got from Grandma Emo.

And I thought, hmm. So I took them up to this exchange gold for cash place. I got over $200 for these two little nothing dinky gold rings. I mean, there wasn’t anything to them. I didn’t realize what I had the whole time. And I walked out of there with two. He just grabbed the money out of his pocket, handed me cash. I was like, this is great. And I went home. I started looking around for other rings to take up to me.

Friends, do we realize what we have in the gospel? Do we really realize the great treasure we have in the Christmas season? Please don’t let it be about Christmas trees. Please don’t let it be about this and that. All that stuff’s good, and I’m not. No, that’s bad. Let’s spend time with family. It’s all so good. But isn’t the gospel all so much better? Aren’t we a gospel people in this room? Isn’t that what matters the most? Let’s cherish Christ. Cherish His peace.

Verse 14, Glory to God in the highest, they sang, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased. With whom He is pleased. And who is God pleased with? Who gets His peace? Who gets God’s peace? Well, those with whom He is pleased. Well, whom is He pleased with? Romans chapter 5 verse 1 tells us,

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

You know whom God is at peace with? Those who by faith receive His Son Jesus.

And that’s it. There’s the gift. He’s at peace with those who want to be at peace with Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. Fear not. God offers peace to us all. Receive it through faith. Receive it.