and use it with those that are here, dear God, that it would help them to grow closer
to you and help them to further understand and appreciate the birth of Jesus Christ.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Of course, in Luke chapter 2, the famous passage of the
description of Jesus Christ being born, and in this chapter there are three great events,
there are three witnesses to this birth, and the events there, look if you would at verse
number 8, the Bible reads in Luke 2.8. Let's see, am I in the wrong verse? There we go.
Luke 2.8. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch
over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory
of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto
them, Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord.
So for some unknown reason, God chose these shepherds that were just in the field nearby,
just common ordinary people, watching their flocks. He chose to reveal to them first that
Jesus Christ had just been born this same night. And so these angels appear and speak
to these men there, these shepherds, however many there were, and I want you to notice
what he says in verse number 11. He says, For unto you is born this day in the city
of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord. Turn back if you would to Isaiah chapter 43.
I'll show you something. Isaiah 43. Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior
which is Christ the Lord. Look if you would at several verses in Isaiah 43. Look at verse
number 3. Isaiah 43. For I am the Lord, notice the all capital letters, Jehovah God of the
Old Testament. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. You see
that? Look at verse number 11. I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Savior.
Look at chapter 45. Flip over in your Bible to verse 15 of chapter 45. Verily, thou art
a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior. Look at verse 41 of chapter 45.
Tell ye and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this
from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And there is no
God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me. Look at chapter 49
verse 26. Flip over to Isaiah 49, 26. And I will feed them that oppress thee with their
own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine. And all
flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
Look at verse number 16 of chapter 60. Flip over to chapter 60, verse number 16, still
in the book of Isaiah. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the
breasts of kings. And thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Savior. I the Lord am thy
Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. And you don't have to turn there. I'll
read these for you. Hosea 13.4, Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and
thou shalt know no God but me, for there is no Savior beside me. And then Luke 1.47, where
we just were in chapter 2 right before that. Mary, after she's received the vision from
God that she's going to give birth to Jesus Christ, Mary says in Luke 1.47, And my Spirit
hath rejoiced in God my Savior. So who is the Savior? Who is this great Savior that
the shepherds were announced by these angels would be arriving that day? Who is it that
was born in the city of David? A Savior which is Christ the Lord. You see that? Christ is
the Lord. Now, people have often asked me, for example, the Jehovah's Witnesses, they
say, Why has the King James Bible removed the word Jehovah and replaced it with the
word Lord? They say, Why is it that you have stripped the word Jehovah from the Bible?
You're trying to hide it or something. Well, first of all, that's not true because the
word Jehovah occurs in the King James Bible seven times. But there is a perfect reason.
You know what? I'll be honest with you. When I was growing up, I wondered the same thing.
I wondered why the word Jehovah was translated as Lord. I was younger, and I didn't really
understand that God had preserved his word in the King James Bible. And I asked myself
that question many times. And people asked me that question, and I did not have an answer
for them. But as I learned a little more, it became so obvious that in the New Testament,
the word Jehovah is never used one time. In the original Greek, the word Jehovah is never
used one time. And when God quotes a passage from the Old Testament that says Jehovah in
the Hebrew, God quotes that. Jesus Christ himself quotes it. The apostles accorded in
the New Testament as the word Lord, which is kyrios in the Greek. So basically, God,
when he translates his own word, when he translates his own Old Testament, when he speaks in the
words of God while he was on this earth, he quoted the word Jehovah as the word Lord.
You say, why? Because God's trying to have a continuity from the Old Testament to the
New Testament that there's one great God, there's one great Savior, there's one almighty
God, the everlasting Father, and that almighty God is named the Lord. Whether he's the Lord
Jesus Christ, or whether he's the Lord Jehovah, or whether he's Lord God Almighty, whatever
name he's called, he calls himself Wonderful, Counselor, Prince of Peace, the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, whatever he calls himself, there's one God, there's one Savior,
and that Savior is the Lord, the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said unto you as born
in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord. And see, if they had read the Old
Testament, which they probably had, they would know that that Savior was the Lord because
the Lord said, I am the Savior. I'm the only Savior there is. Look up Savior every time
it occurs in the Old Testament sometime. See who they're pointing to. See who the Old Testament
saints were looking for when they looked for a Savior. Did they look for a man? Did they
look for a created being? Did they look for a lesser God? No, because they knew that the
Bible said that, O Lord, hear O Israel, there's one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might. He said, there's one
Savior, one God, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, one Lord
Jesus Christ, there's one Lord, and that's who these shepherds were looking for. Now
I don't believe that God just randomly chose some shepherds because they happened to be
nearby and it was a short trip for them to get to the manger. I think that God chose
these men because I think that these men were men who loved God. I think that they were
men who believed the Bible. Look, if you would, at verse number, if you're, are you in Luke
chapter 2? Flip back over to Luke chapter 2 where we started. Look at verse 15 of Luke
chapter 2. And it came to pass as the angels were gone 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. 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. Why did God choose
to reveal the birth of Jesus Christ to these shepherds? Why? I'll tell you why. Because
in verse 17 they were going to make known abroad the saying which was told them concerning
this child. He knew that these men, these shepherds who were watching their flocks by
night would be great soul winners who would not just hear the word of God and not just
go and see the great sight and have the fun and the thrill and the excitement of seeing
God with us. Immanuel, born in a manger and laying there, the babe, the newborn king,
they didn't just keep it in their heart, but they said, you know what, I'm going to
take this great vision that God showed me. I'm going to spend the rest of my life telling
everybody I can about this great king, Messiah Christ, that's born today. Boy, wouldn't
it God that every one of us hear? And yes, God has revealed to us. You say, well, good
night. I mean, if I was one of those shepherds and I saw all these angels and I saw this
big great thing, I'd do the same thing. I'm going to tell you something. God has revealed
himself to us in a greater way. The Bible says we have a more sure word of prophecy
than those in the Old Testament because we have the whole Bible sitting in front of us
written in black and white. We can look at it and see it with our own eyes and see the
truth of God's word. God has revealed to us this great truth of the Christ, the savior,
the Lord, born in Bethlehem, and we need to be like these shepherds and say, I'm going
to make it known abroad, the saying which has told me concerning this child. I'm going
to tell everybody I can. I'm going to get the gospel to everybody I can. I'm going to
bring these great tidings of joy, the glad tidings, the gospel. I'm going to get it to
every single person on the face of this earth. Did you know that the word gospel, this is
the actual literal translation from the Bible, not from some dictionary. This is what the
Bible says gospel means, glad tidings. That's the exact two words that God uses to describe
these, the word gospel, and that's exactly what he says. Bring you, let me find it here,
my place. He says in verse number, I lost my place. He says in verse number 10, I bring
you good tidings of great joy which beat all people. He's talking about the gospel. He's
talking about salvation through his son, Jesus Christ. But look down, if you would, at verse
number 25 of Luke chapter 2, we're going to see the second person that I want to point
attention to. The first person I want to show you is the shepherds that God announced the
birth of Christ to. Now I want to show you the second person, and this is a great story.
Look at verse number 25. The Bible reads in Luke 2, 25, and behold there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout waiting for the consolation
of Israel. So did he know that Jesus was coming? Absolutely. Of course he knew that
Jesus was coming. Of course he knew that Christ the Lord, the Savior, was coming. That's why
Peter said in Acts chapter 10 verse 43, to him give all the prophets witness. You see,
he said the whole Old Testament, all 39 books. You say Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Jonah?
Yes. All the prophets give witness of Jesus Christ as you study your Bible. He says to
him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins. So what is it that the Old Testament prophets witness about Jesus?
Because it says to him give all the prophets witness, period? No, it says to him give all
the prophets witness that through his name, this is what they witness about, that through
his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. See a lot of people
say that people in the Old Testament were saved by their good works. Isn't that amazing?
How could anyone ever be saved by their good works? Good night, especially when you read
about the lives of some of these people in the Old Testament. Good night, if that's salvation
by works, we're all going to heaven, some of these people. But no, it's never been by
works. The Bible says Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The Bible says Abraham
believed God and it was counted in him for righteousness. David said blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not compute sin. And so what was it that the Old Testament saints
were prophesying about the coming of Jesus Christ? What was it that these shepherds had
been reading in their Old Testament, in their Bible? What was it that Simeon had heard from
the Word of God? That whosoever believeth, it says, in him shall receive remission of
sins. That's the Messiah that they were looking for. That's the Lord, the Savior, Jesus Christ
that they were looking for. But look back, you would have Luke chapter 2 verse number
27, I'm sorry verse number 25, waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Ghost
was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death
before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So he knew it was going to happen in his lifetime.
So it's exciting for him. And I believe he's a very old man if you look at the way this
is written. Look at verse 27, and he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the
parents, talking about Joseph and Mary, when the parents brought in the child Jesus to
do for him after the custom of the law, this is when he's eight days old, they're bringing
him in to be circumcised at eight days old, then took him up in his arms and blessed God
and said, so he takes the baby right out of Mary's arms. My wife's thinking, how did that
happen? She's got that nesting impulse because she's pregnant. She says, what? Don't take
my baby away. But he says, then took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord,
now lettest thou, thy servant, depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. Boy, I love it when God, because most of the verses in the Bible are
a little longer, I love it when God just takes a whole verse and just says a short statement
because he's emphasizing it. He's putting a point to it, kind of like that verse I read
from Luke 1 where it said, and my Spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. Every other verse
in the chapter is much longer. Just that one point where Mary says, God is my Savior. And
then here it says in verse number 30, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. I wonder
what he was looking at when he said, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. I wonder if
he was looking at a baptistry tank and watching somebody get baptized. And he said, mine eyes
have seen thy salvation. I wonder if he was looking at somebody eating a cracker and drinking
some juice. I wonder if he was looking at somebody living a good life, somebody doing
a good deed. Maybe he was looking at somebody putting some money in the offering plate.
I wonder if he was looking at somebody joining the church, filling out a little card and
joining a church. No, when he said, my eyes have seen thy salvation, he was looking at
a person and that person was Jesus Christ. He said, if I'm looking at Jesus Christ, if
I'm looking at this newborn baby that's God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, he says, I am
looking at God's salvation. That baby was salvation. You say, what is salvation? Can
you define for me salvation? Salvation is Jesus Christ. If you've seen Jesus Christ,
you've seen salvation. If you have salvation, you have Jesus Christ. He that hath the Son
hath life, he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. I wonder if he saw somebody
come in the temple and say, you know what, I'm going to quit sinning. I think I'm going
to turn over a new leaf and start living right. I think I'm willing to change my whole life
around. No, my friend, he looked at a baby about whom he read in all the prophets, whosoever
believeth in him should have remission of sins. And so salvation is a person. You say,
what do you think of when you think of salvation? Do you think of praying a prayer? Do you think
of somebody getting in church and getting baptized and you see their life change and
you say, boy, that person's saved because look how their life has been changed. That's
not what salvation is. I'll tell you what salvation is. If you want to know what salvation
is, just picture that newborn baby that was born into the world, God in the flesh, God
incarnate. God had become a human being. He was made flesh so that he could suffer the
suffering of death, the Bible says in the book of Hebrews. And so if you want to know
what salvation is, take a look at Jesus Christ hanging on the cross. Look at Jesus Christ
as the blood and water flowed out of his sight on that cross. Look at Jesus Christ dying
for the sins of the whole world. Look at Jesus Christ robed in sinful flesh, weakness like
a human being. Even though he's God almighty, he clothed himself in flesh and became the
Son of Man, the Bible calls him. The Son of Man hanging on the cross, despised, rejected,
dying for the sins of mankind. That's what salvation is. The Bible says in Isaiah 53,
I'll read it for you, Isaiah 53, he's despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we
esteemed him not. Surely he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes
we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own
way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Then in verse 10 it says, Yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He had put him to grief. When thou shalt make his
soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days and the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. You say, what is Christmas all about? What is
the birth of Jesus Christ about? It's about God himself bearing our sins. God himself
carrying our sins to the cross. It's about God himself nailing our sins to his cross
with him and dying for those sins and separating us from our sins as far as the east is from
the west. See Christmas, and although that's not what Christmas is today at all, but that's
what the birth of Christ is about I should rather say. Because you know what? Christmas
is not a day where Jesus Christ is exalted anymore at all. Let's face it. I mean people,
you know when the number one time for people to lay out a church is? Christmas. They lay
out a church on Christmas because they're so busy cooking the meal. They're so busy
with friends and family. They're so busy going out of town. They're so busy with other plans
that they don't have time for the Jesus Christ that they claim that they're celebrating.
And I'm going to tell you something, family can wait until after church. I'm not afraid
to say that. Family can wait until after church. Family can wait until after Sunday
night service. Family can wait until after Wednesday night service, whatever Christmas
falls because I'm going to tell you something. This is my family and God is my father and
Jesus Christ is my brother. I'm not going to be away, you expect me to be away from
my brother on Christmas? You expect me to be away from dad on Christmas? No my friend,
those are my two favorite relatives. My dad, God the father, Jehovah, God Jesus Christ
and my older brother Jesus Christ are my two favorite relatives in the world. And so I'm
going to be in church, I'm going to sing the praises of God, I'm going to have God's word,
I'm going to read the story of Jesus Christ because I'm not going to let it become Happy
Holidays in my house. It's not going to become Merry Kwanzaa and Happy Hanukkah. It's going
to be Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday to Jesus Christ just like every other day in the world
we should be praising Jesus Christ. Can't believe it sometimes how the holidays that
supposedly exalt Jesus Christ seem to drag him in the gutter more than others. And look
I'm not against people going out of town for Christmas at all. I mean good night. People
in our church that are out of town but you know what they're in church where they are.
And you say, you'd think that if everybody goes out of town on Christmas, right, then
every church would have about the same attendance that they usually have because somebody would
be going somewhere. But every church I've ever been in my whole life, Christmas time,
attendance goes down. Because people go away and nobody's watching them. Mommy's not watching
them and Daddy's not watching them. And so all of a sudden they blow off church and they
blow off the things of God. Now I'm going to tell you something. If your Christianity
is to impress me and you come to church because I'm watching you come to church, good night.
I don't care. I mean I do care that you're here because I want to see you, I want to
spend time with you, I want you to be here. I don't care if you're here personally. But
you know what, I really don't care whether you miss church and stuff like that because
it's between you and God. It doesn't really hurt me is what I'm trying to say. I mean
obviously I love you, I want you to do what's right, I want you to succeed, I want you to
grow as a Christian, I want you to obey God. But it really doesn't affect me, it doesn't
hurt me. I'm in church, my family's in church, God's pleased with me, I'm happy, I'm going
to heaven, you know everything's great. But you know what, when you miss church it's not
me that you're affecting. You know when you, and I understand people miss church for legitimate
reasons, don't get me wrong. But I'm talking about when you just decide that fun and parties
is more important than the house of God. You know the person that I think is offended is
Jesus Christ, I'll be honest with you. I mean I think that's the person that's kind of the
slap in the face too. Because you're pretty much telling him that something else is more
important than he is. Now if something's more important than me, that's fine. And that's
why people that go out of town and go to church, that's great, I mean that's wonderful. I praise
the Lord for it. I think it's great to travel around and I think it's great to see other
churches and to talk to other brethren, you know besides just the people in this church,
and go somewhere else and meet some other believers and rejoice with them and spend
time with them. I think it's great, I think it's great when our people travel and I think
it's great when people travel and visit with us. I love it. I enjoy it. And I'm sure that
people enjoy having somebody visit their church. But you know what, the thing is, you've got
to decide that you know what, this Christmas I'm going to let Jesus Christ have the preeminence.
You know when you go home this afternoon, maybe spend a little time, maybe read the
Bible a little bit on Christmas, right? You know, spend a little time reading about Jesus
Christ. And not only just reading the Bible, spend a little time just sit down by yourself
somewhere maybe, just for a few minutes even, if you can just pull yourself away a little
bit. I know there's family and there's fun and get-togethers, but pull yourself away
a little bit and just sit down and just think, just quietly by yourself. And just ponder
the fact that Jesus Christ came to this world. Just think about what that means. Let it be
very real to you. Think about Jesus Christ coming to this earth. Think about what he
gave up in heaven. Think about the life of suffering that he lived. And think about how
he did it because he loves you. Because he wanted to give you the ultimate Christmas
gift. He wanted to give you the gift of eternal life that he purchased with his own blood,
that he purchased with his own life and death on the cross. And he bought that gift with
his own life and he gave it to you for free. You know, sit down and think about what that
means and just say a thank you to God and say, God, thank you so much for dying for
me. You didn't have to do that. And not only that, but you didn't have to reveal your son
to me. You didn't have to send some soul in or by, you know, as a kid or years ago
or whenever. You didn't have to do that, God. But you saw fit to work in the hearts of men
to bring somebody to give me the gospel. And thank you so much for doing that, God. And
I feel like I'm just as privileged as these shepherds in Luke chapter 2 because God made
sure that I heard the word of God, that I heard the gospel, that I heard the glad tidings
of great joy. And so I want to tell everybody I can about it and I want to make sure that
I honor Jesus Christ and give him the preeminence during the Christmas season. You know, the
God of this world is money and that's why so many people, that's what Christmas is,
spend a bunch of money, buy a bunch of candy, buy a bunch of presents, buy a bunch of things.
But you know what? The things of God can't be purchased with money. And you know what?
If there's not a single present for me under the Christmas tree, I haven't even thought
about it to be honest. I don't even know if there is anything. Is there anything for me?
I don't even know. To be honest with you, I literally don't even know if there's anything
under my tree. You know, I'm sure there is. You know, people have sent packages. I didn't
even look at them. You know, big boxes, you know, like something for every member of the
family. You know, you get it from different relatives, big box, to Solomon, to Isaac,
to John, to Zuja, to Steve, you know. And I haven't really looked at it. I haven't really
noticed because you know what? If I woke up and there was not a single present under that
tree, I'd wake up and read my Bible and be rejoicing in praise and glory to God. Plus,
I got this ham dinner, you know, some of these presents, right? What do I need anyway? And
so what I'm trying to say is, don't get carried away. Don't get sucked into all the Santa
Claus and the Rudolph and all this garbage. Hey, remember that Jesus Christ has the preeminence.
Why don't you celebrate his birthday? What were these shepherds doing 2,000 years ago
today? And obviously we don't know the exact day, but in our minds, what were these shepherds
doing 2,000 years ago today? You know, they were giving somebody the Gospel. You know,
give a family member the Gospel. Give one of your friends that you're meeting with the
Gospel today. Give somebody the Gospel tomorrow. Maybe you could even have a great way to bring
it up and just say, you know what? It's Christmas time. You know, we're celebrating the birth
of Christ, right? Do you know what that means? I mean, do you know what it means, Jesus Christ
being born? I mean, do you know why Jesus was born? The Bible says he came to seek and
to save that which was lost. The Bible says that he was born a Savior, Christ the Lord.
You know, use this opportunity to preach the Gospel and to give people the Gospel so that
God could be glorified on this day that should be about celebrating him. But let's look at
one last person here. Look, if you would, at Luke chapter 2, verse number 36. Luke chapter
2, verse number 36, and we'll see another person. This is a very sad story in the Bible
if you look at Luke chapter 2, verse 36. The Bible reads, And there was one Anna, a
prophetess, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Aser. She was of a great age. She
was very old. It doesn't say how old she was. But the Bible says, And had lived with an
husband seven years from her virginity, and she was a widow of about four score and four
years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night
and day. Now, if you understand the story, let me just help you understand this. The
Bible says that she was married. She was a virgin when she was married. She was married
for seven years with her husband. Her husband died, and she was a widow for 84 years. So
this woman basically got married 91 years ago. So she's probably 110 years old. She's
an extremely old woman. And so she lived with her husband for seven years. And you might
read it and think she was 84 years old, but she wasn't because it says she was of a great
age. It's just giving a random number for her age. And it's saying that she's been a
widow for 84 years. So here she is, an extremely old woman, married for seven years. Boy, seven
years. She got into that first house. She probably, you know, who knows if she had some
kids. I don't know in that time. I'm assuming so. She probably had some children. You know,
she probably got a Toyota Sienna at some point or, you know, was all excited. You know,
everything was fun and everything was great. But then her life took a horrible turn for
the worse when her husband died after only seven years of marriage. It's terrible. And
she spent the whole rest of her life just a widow for 84 years. So seven years married,
84 years a widow. Isn't that terrible? And here she is in the temple day and night serving
God with fasting and prayer. And it says in verse 38, and she coming in that instant.
So here God had brought these people together at this time. Joseph and Mary holding the
baby Jesus. Simeon, this old man that had been revealed by God that he would be able
to die when he saw Jesus Christ. He would see that before he died. A man who was filled
with the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost upon him. And he brought these people together with
this woman, Anna, who had been serving God day and night. You have to figure these must
have been a couple of God's favorite people. Simeon and Anna were a couple of God's favorite
people. He said, I'm going to bring them to this great celebration. I'm going to bring
them to this baby shower, if you would, at the temple. And he brings them together. He
brings together these five people and it says, and she coming in that instant gave thank
likewise unto the Lord. And what's the next verse or the next verse? And spake of him
to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. See there were all kinds of people
in Jerusalem looking for redemption, looking for salvation, looking for the Messiah, looking
for Christ to come. And the Bible says that God used this old lady, over a hundred years
old, and he used her to preach the gospel to all these people in Jerusalem. Now I'm
going to tell you something. I wish that you could go right now. I wish that we could all
go right now and just be carried up in the spirit of heaven like John was in Revelation
1 when he was on the Isle of Patmos. He said that he came up hither to see the things that
were going to happen and he was brought up to heaven. He was carried up to heaven in
the spirit. I wish we could all just as a church right now go there and we could talk
to Anna right now and just find this woman Anna and see what she'd say. She said, I was
a young girl. I was happy. I was married. I was excited. My husband died and I said,
you know what? I said to be bitter at God instead of going out and getting drunk and
drinking away my sorrows and partying and going to the world for the fun. She said,
you know what? I'm just going to spend the rest of my life just praying and reading the
Bible and serving God and loving God. I'm going to stay in church. It said she departed
not from the temple. She said, I'm going to be faithful to church. And after a whole life
of 84 years of that, boy, God allowed her to be one of these great witnesses of the
birth of Christ and be there at his eight-day-old circumcision when he was a newborn and to
rejoice with them. And then he used her to announce his birth to the whole city of Jerusalem,
to everybody that was waiting for redemption. You see, John the Baptist, he announced Jesus
Christ's coming. He prepared the way of the Lord 30 years later. But who prepared the
way of the Lord when Jesus was first born? Who was the first one to announce, get ready,
here he is, it was shepherds that were watching their flocks. And then it was a man named
Simeon, an elderly man who was filled with the Holy Ghost, who had the power of the Holy
Ghost upon him. And then it was a woman, Anna, who was a widow lady that probably everybody
probably felt sorry for her. But you know what? Nobody feels sorry for her now because
she's in the Bible. She's been immortalized in the Bible. She's living in heaven right
now rejoicing and excited probably right side by side with all the people that she won to
Christ at over 100 years of age. Isn't that an amazing story of this woman who became
a great soul winner, who won all kinds of evil, who announced the birth of Jesus Christ
from the most horrible circumstances of life? But our life's like a vapor. She probably
thinks, those 84 years, seems like nothing now. Now there were 2,000 years later, and
boy, a billion years from now, it seems like nothing. And so we should envy this lady because
she was used by God in such a great way. And so all that to say this, throughout the Old
Testament, I'll close with this and we'll enjoy our meal, but throughout the Old Testament
you'll see all the way from the book of Genesis when God sacrificed an animal in the garden
of Eden to clothe Adam and Eve after they'd sinned against God. All throughout the Old
Testament, all the sacrifices, all the different stories, all the pictures, all the types of
Jesus Christ, it was like a great preparation that God was doing for 4,000 years. Can you
imagine? For 4,000 years, God just worked out one story after another, one page of the
Bible written after another, one animal sacrifice after another after another. It was all leading
up to the point when, as the Bible says, when the fullness of time was come, God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. When the fullness of time was come
after 4,000 years of great preparation, the Word, the Almighty God, the second person
of the Godhead, the eternal Word of God, was made flesh and dwelt among us and would be
held his glory as of the only begotten of the Father. And if you think about what heaven
is going to be like, first of all, 4,000 years of preparation, Jesus Christ is brought forth,
witnesses have been prepared, Simeon, Anna, the shepherds, later the wise men, and the
great birth of Christ comes. What was the greatness of Jesus Christ coming to this earth?
Woe is the excitement, besides the fact that he was going to die, of course, for our sins
and be the Lamb of God, slain for the foundation of the world, which taketh away the sins of
the world. The great, exciting, glorious thing about the birth of Christ is that joy to the
world, the Lord is come. What's heaven going to be about? What's it going to be like? Well,
in Revelation 21, the Bible says, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he
will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them
and be their God. See, the glorious thing about Jesus Christ was wrapped up in his name,
God with us. We beheld his glory. Can you imagine what it must have been like for people
even just to look at the newborn baby of Jesus Christ and know who it was? I mean, can you
imagine what it was like for those disciples that walked and talked with him for three
and a half years? I mean, can you imagine what it must have been like to sit and look
face to face with Jesus Christ and to speak with him and to see God in the flesh, God
with us, that which we have seen and heard? The Bible says, Declare we unto you, is what
John said in the book of 1 John. He said, I saw him. He said, my hands handled him.
He said, I reached out and touched him while he was on this earth. He said, I saw him.
I heard him. The word of life, the word of God, Jesus Christ in the flesh. He said, truly,
our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. But I'm going to tell
you something, you don't have to imagine it, because one day, if Jesus Christ is your Savior,
you'll be in heaven, and you will see Jesus Christ face to face. You weren't there for
the first coming, but my friend, you'll be there for the second coming. And so let's
bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for coming to this world
and dying for us, dear God. We thank you so much for being born so many years ago, for
coming and dwelling with us. I don't know why you chose to love us, dear God, and I
don't know why you chose to come to this earth and spend time with us and to fellowship with
us and to fellowship with mankind, and that one day we'll spend eternity fellowshiping
with you. But dear God, thank you so much for everything that you've done for us, and
thank you for the love that you have for us.