(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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.