Christmas Eve Message

Thank you for coming and being a part of our Christmas Eve service. This is the end of our Christmas celebration, but it's just the beginning of the Christians celebration. What ends with our Christmas celebration is only the beginning of how Christians truly celebrate the birth of Christ all throughout their lives. So important. And I want to talk to you about the real reasons why we rejoice this Christmas season. There are various reasons why gatherings of people get together and celebrate all kinds of things, but there are so many reasons why we are to rejoice.

And to understand them will help you be able to rejoice all throughout the season of your life. That's very important to understand. You know, as I sat here this afternoon, just with the Christmas lights on, it being dark inside and just me in here, it draws me back to the fact that, you know, there was 800 years before the birth of Christ, 800 years since there was the last supernatural event, 500 years since there had been an angelic announcement, a heavenly announcement, 400 years since the prophet had spoken.

It was completely dark, completely quiet until that night in which the Christ child was born and the glory of the Lord would shine all around. But think about Israel and what they were anticipating. Think about what was going on in their minds when they had not heard anything for hundreds of years. We gather together and we celebrate the coming of Christ. We celebrate the risen Christ. And we do it every week because every week is Resurrection Sunday. And we celebrate the glorious resurrection of our Lord.

We're able to read the scriptures and connect the dots and be able to understand all that Israel missed. But the great thing about this is that there are reasons why we rejoice. And I wanna be able to explain them to you this evening. You know, when you think about our congregation and you think about the people in our church over this last year, you think of people like Virginia Benson who had married almost 60 years to her husband and she lost him this year. This is her first Christmas without her husband, Ray.

It's a different Christmas for her. Or you think of Grace Gutierrez who had been married for a number of years to her husband, Tom. And he went home to be with the Lord this year. This is her first Christmas without her husband and her children's first Christmas without their father.

It's a different kind of year for them. But there are reasons to rejoice. And when you understand what those reasons are, you're able to rejoice all year around. And we are a people of praise. That's what marks us out as distinctly and uniquely different than the world, that we live a life of praise. And praise should mark every aspect of our lives. So let me, if I can this evening, just kind of couch it in terms that it will help you understand what are the real reasons why we as Christians rejoice at this time of the year.

The Bible says we're to rejoice always, right? Not just at Christmas time. And the Bible says that we are to rejoice in the Lord always.

And so we realize that rejoicing is part and parcel to our everyday life. And to understand the real reason to rejoice at Christmas gives you reason to rejoice all throughout your life. So let me couch it in a way you'll be able to understand it.

And let me say, first of all, this principle. The reason we rejoice at Christmas time is because of the reality of his presence. The reality of his presence, God has come down. Remember Galatians chapter four, verses four and five. In the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law. In the fullness of time, in other words, at just the right time, at the exact moment, everything was right politically. Everything was right religiously.

Everything was right socially. Everything was right relationally. Everything was right perfectly because it was the perfect timing of God that God sent forth his son, born of a woman. And I love what it says in Luke chapter two because it's so simple. It says these words, verse six of chapter two of Luke. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son. And she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

A classic understatement of the birth of Christ. That's all that's said. We wish we had more information. We wish we knew more of what was happening. It wasn't like Mary was able to take a few selfies while she was in the stall and send them out on Instagram so people could read about and see the picture of Jesus and all that kind of stuff. That's what we would do, right? We want everybody to know about the birth of the kid. So make sure everybody knows. Mary didn't have social media. And she wasn't so sure what people would think about this virgin having a child.

And yet the classic understatement in Luke chapter two is that while they were there, she gave birth to a son. She wrapped him in cloths, laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. That was it. That's it. Nothing else. But the fact is God was present. God was among us. Now we know that God is omnipresent. God is everywhere. There's no place God isn't. But God localized himself in flesh. He encased himself in flesh. And he became a man and dwelt among us. And the Bible says in Isaiah 7 verse number 14 that this will be a sign for you that a virgin will conceive and bear a child and he shall be called Emmanuel which translated means God with us.

God with us. And the Jews understood that. That's why today they celebrate the feast of booths or the feast of tabernacles. It's one of the three great feasts that they celebrate every year. And it's all about how it is they would go out and behind their homes and they would take all these branches and palm branches and all kinds of things to make a thatched hut in their backyard and live out there for a week. Because it would remind them of how God was with them in their wilderness wanderings. How God was present among them.

And they long in anticipation of the arrival of the Messiah who would dwell among them once again. The feast of tabernacles. The feast of booths. It's a celebration that the Jews celebrate every year because they live in anticipation of the coming Messiah. That God would dwell among them. And every Jew understood that. That's why the men wear yarmulkes because it symbolizes that God is above them and all around them. I told you a story about my friend Ezekiel in Israel. When I asked him, you know, you're always wearing this yarmulke on your head.

Why do you do that? He said, well, it's a reminder. I said, you actually need to be reminded of something? He goes, yeah, I do. We are reminded that God's always above us and always around us. I said, I don't need to be reminded of that. I know that. I understand that God is everywhere. I understand the omnipresence of God. I don't have to wear a yarmulke to believe that or understand that. You see, Jews are into symbols. They're into all kinds of outward symbols. And so we realize that the Jews understood God was among them.

God was around them, right? But one thing they didn't understand is that God would be in them. That's the mystery, you see. Colossians 1, 27, Christ in you, the hope of glory. They didn't get that. The closest they could come to that would be what Ezekiel says in the new covenant promise in Ezekiel chapter 36, verse number 25, which says, Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.

And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And you will be careful to observe my ordinances. The closest they could ever get to understanding anything about Christ being in you was that God was gonna put a spirit within them. And that's exactly what he did. In fact, he said that to his disciples that I'm gonna go away, but I'm gonna send you another comforter, another of the same kind, the spirit of God, and he will dwell in you.

In fact, the Bible says in John's gospel, John chapter 14, these words, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him.

What a statement. God makes his abode with us. He enters us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's the great salvation that God offers to his people. And so the reality of his presence is the fact that not only is he among us, not only is he above us, but in all reality, he is in us. And that's reason enough to rejoice because Christ lives in me. What better reason to rejoice knowing that Christ lives in me, Christ moves me, motivates me, cleanses me, works in me and uses me for his glory and for his purposes.

The reality of his presence, knowing that God is near, alleviates all anxiety. Did you know that? Anxious people don't recognize the presence of God. They recognize the presence of the circumstances. They recognize what they don't have. They recognize that there is something before them. But those who understand the reality of his presence live anxious, free lives. Listen to what Paul says in the book of Philippians, the fourth chapter. Philippians chapter four, Paul says these words. Philippians four, verse number four.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Next phrase, be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing. Why? But in everything, my prayer and suffocation with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. In other words, he says, because the Lord is near, be anxious for nothing. You have no need to worry about anything because of the reality of his presence.

Because not only is he near to you, he actually lives inside of you. That's just a remarkable thing to realize that God came down, not just to be among us, but that he could live, die, rise again in order to live within us, walk within us, that we would be marked as his people. So the reason we rejoice is because of the reality of his presence. God has come down to man. The great incarnation of God to understand how God encased himself in flesh and dwelt among us that we might behold his glory and that we might understand the reason for his coming.

The second reason we rejoice is not simply because of the reality of his presence, but number two is because of the eternality of his promise.

The eternality of his promise. In other words, God made a promise. He didn't make the promise recently. He made the promise in eternity past because he's an eternal God. El Olam, he's called the everlasting God. He is from everlasting to everlasting. In 1 Timothy 6, he's called the king eternal. And all throughout the Old Testament, the thing that encouraged Israel the most is that God was everlasting God. He was the eternal God. In fact, in Isaiah chapter 9, verse number 6, the verse that's on most of our Christmas cards, right?

His name will be called what? The everlasting father. And the question comes, how can the son be the father because the son's not the father and the father's not the son. And the spirit's not the father nor the son. So how does the father become the son? Well, to understand the Jewish genre is to understand that he is the originator as father. He is the creator of eternity. In other words, the prince of peace, the mighty God, the wonderful counselor is the creator of eternity. In other words, only an eternal God can create eternity.

Now try to wrap your mind around that one. It's impossible. But there's an eternal promise because he was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. In other words, before there was ever a creation, he was in the mind of God, the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. And Revelation tells us that our names are written in the lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. It's an eternal promise that God has made. Think about this. He promised in eternity past to redeem you.

That's just an amazing, amazing thing. That causes great rejoicing, that this wasn't something he just came up with out of the blue. Hey, I'll redeem that one. Maybe I'll redeem that one. I don't know. But no, he planned this out from eternity past that he redeem us from our sins. It's the eternal promise. For unto you this day, this day, David's been born a savior, a redeemer, a deliverer. This is the eternal God that made a promise in eternal past to redeem a bride for his son. That was the promise.

Way back in Genesis chapter two, God said, let us make man in our image. So who's he talking to? He's talking to himself. He's talking to the son. He's talking to the spirit. We're going to make God in it. Why are we going to do that? Why? Because you're going to redeem a bride for a son. The fall of man just didn't happen upon God and God now had to come up with another plan. There was always one plan from the very beginning. It happened in eternity past. And the eternality of his promise is something that we cannot escape.

That the eternal God has an everlasting plan. And the eternal God is the only one who can grant eternal life. And the eternal promise is that, listen, I will save you and give you eternal life. Not just a long life. Everybody lives forever, right? Either live forever with God or live forever without God. But the fact of the matter is you live a quality of life that lasts not just now, but into eternity because it's a life of Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Our hope is in the glory of the Lord and we live in anticipation of that.

The eternality of his promise is reason to rejoice. Way back in the book of Isaiah, the 40th chapter, Israel had wondered whether or not God had forgotten them. And so he says in verse 27, Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God.

We ask that question all the time. How come God didn't know about this? How come God let this happen? Why is it that this situation occurred in my life when God could have stopped it? Where's God's justice in all this? Has it escaped his mind that I still exist, that I'm still here? So the Lord says, why do you ask that question? For he says this, do you not know? Have you not heard? Do you not understand this? He says, the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary.

His understanding is inscrutable. And the Lord describes himself as an everlasting God. How can they ever forget you? I'm always here. I'm always present. I'm the eternal God. My presence is perpetual. It never ends. I've always been with you. And one day, his promise is that one day I'll be in you. That's because of the incarnation. So the reasons we rejoice is simply because of the reality of his presence and the eternality of his promise. A third reason we rejoice is because of the joy of his pardon.

You should call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sin. Everything about the incarnation is the fact that Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. Forgiveness comes to those who give their lives to Christ. And there's great joy in the forgiveness of sins. Listen to what David says in Psalm chapter 32. He says, how blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. I acknowledge my sin to you and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the guilt of my sin. There is great joy in how God forgives his people. The joy comes because no longer do I live in the guilt of my sin. I have been set free from that guilt.

And so the Bible says that we are to continually to confess our sins, to say the same thing about our sins that God says about them.

And he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity. The great thing about Christmas and the reality of rejoicing in the season is that joy has come down through the forgiveness of sins. There is joy in the pardon of God. God forgives us. And the great thing about that is that our Lord truly wants to set us free from our sin. When you realize that, that's why David said, restore to me the joy of my salvation. Remember that when he had sinned with Bathsheba? His joy had been zapped because of a sin.

Sin does that, you know. Even for us as believers, when we live in sin, joy is gone. If we're bitter, if we're angry, if we're resentful, if we're vengeful, if we slander, if we are involved in all kinds of immoral behavior and sinful behavior, joy is gone from our lives. And either we confess that sin or we continue down a sinful path that allows us to not experience the joy of forgiveness. But Christ came because in his name is salvation. In his name is the forgiveness of sins. The real reason we rejoice is because of the reality of his presence, the eternality of his promise, the joy in his pardon, and number four, the obtainability of his peace.

Great word. The obtainability of his peace. Listen to what the Bible says. Luke chapter two. Glory to God in the highest, verse 14. And on earth, peace among men with whom he is pleased. Peace does not come to those with whom he is not pleased. It only comes to those with whom he is pleased. So peace is obtainable only to those with whom God is pleased. So the question comes with whom is God pleased? And where do you find the answer? The Bible, right? What better place to find the answer? And where do you find it?

Psalm 147, verse number 11. The Lord is pleased with those who fear him. That's it. The Lord is pleased with those who fear him. And the theme of the Christmas story is fear. Zacharias in the temple performing his priestly duty and the angel Gabriel appears and he was terrified. Mary, the angel came to her. She was terrified. The angels came and the glory of the Lord shone all around the shepherds and the shepherds were terrified. Joseph, he too lived in fear when the angel came to him. But you see, it's the believer who fears God.

And peace comes to those who fear him. Listen, the Bible says in Isaiah 26, verse number 3, these words.

I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me. You know, so many times we as Christians go through life and we live unsettled lives, disturbed lives, anxious lives. We should live lives at peace because the kingdom of God, what is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit produces righteousness, peace, and joy in our lives. And so joy should characterize our lives. Peace should characterize our lives. And righteousness should characterize our lives. If we don't live a righteous life, there is no peace, there is no joy.

But he who keeps his mind stayed on God, it says he will keep him in perfect peace. In fact, the Hebrew says peace, peace, because there's no other way to explain the calmness that comes to those whose mind is stayed on Christ. Why do you think we had you read the Christ of Christmas throughout the month of December? Why is it we wanted you to have the devotional every day? We want your mind stayed on Christ. It's so easily to be disrupted during this time of the year. So many activities, so many parties, so many places to go.

We lose track of why we're here. So for a brief moment each day, we wanted you to stay focused on the arrival of the Messiah. Keep your mind stayed on him because he will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. In fact, the Bible says in Psalm 119, 165, great peace have those who love thy law and nothing causes them to stumble.

Great peace, not good peace, great peace. Those who love the law of God have great peace and nothing causes them to stumble. So if you live a life with no peace, ask yourself, do I love the law of God? Is my mind stayed on God? Is it focused above and not below? Is it fixed on God? Because peace is obtainable. And the reason I rejoice is because of the obtainability of peace. It comes to those who fear him. And therefore, I can rejoice not just at Christmas, but all throughout my life, no matter what situation, no matter what circumstance, simply because my God has made me at peace with him.

Having been justified by faith, Romans 5, verse number one, we have peace with God. Do you have peace with God? Peace is obtainable. That's why we rejoice. Number five is because of the infallibility of his prophecy. The infallibility of his prophecy. We had you go through 25 of them, 24 as of today, number 25 tomorrow. But why 25? Because there's 25 days in December. There are a myriad more prophecies, but every one is infallible. In other words, it's without error. It's perfect. And the fulfillment of the prophecy we wanted you to see because Christ was the fulfillment of the prophetic literature.

To help you understand that Christ was the perfect fulfillment of the Messiah promised by God himself. He is the Lord's Messiah, the Lord's Christ. And those promises are infallible. And what that does is tell me that everything God says is trustworthy.

I can believe what God says. I don't have to doubt what God says. I believe what God says because everything pointed to the Messiah came true.

Everything about his birth, everything about his life, everything about his death, everything about his resurrection, everything about his coming again is true. Why? Because everything was fulfilled exactly as promised when the Lord came some 2000 years ago. And therefore, because of the infallibility of his prophecy, I can rejoice because I believe that God is trustworthy. In fact, let me say it to you this way.

Luke chapter one, verse number 31. And behold, he says to Mary, you will conceive in your womb. Didn't Mary conceive a child in her womb? Yes, she did. It was a promise seed of Genesis 315. You will conceive in your womb and bear a son. Did Mary bear a son? Yes. His name is Jesus. We know that. OK, it says. And you shall name him Jesus. So the answer is yes to Mary conceiving a child. The answer is yes to Mary having a son. The answer is yes to Mary having a son named Jesus, right? It was all fulfilled literally, specifically, right?

Without question. We understand that. We know that. So it says he will be great and will be called the son of the most high. Was that true? Absolutely. Was he great? Absolutely. Was he called the son of the most high? The demons called him the son of the most high. They knew who he was. All that literally, specifically, was fulfilled in the arrival of the Messiah, right? Read on. Now it says this. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. Did he do that? Not yet, but some will tell you it's just figurative.

It's not literal. That's not true. Because if the succeeding verses are all literal, why would God change and say, well, he's not really going to have the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. Did he do that? Nope. But will he do that? Yes. How do I know? Because of the infallibility of prophecy. If it all happened the way God said when he came the first time, it's going to happen the way he comes the second time.

He will sit on the throne of his father, David. He will rule from the city of Jerusalem. He will rule over his people, Jacob. And it says, and his kingdom will have no end. That's going to be true as well. See, I know that because of the infallibility of his prophecy. God doesn't speak truth in one area and then not speak truth in another area. He's the God of truth. So everything he says is spot on. So I rejoice at Christmas because of the infallibility of his promise. The infallibility of his prophecy.

I rejoice because the reality of his presence. I rejoice because of the eternality of his promises, the joy that was part of the obtainability of peace. The infallibility, the infallibility of his prophecy. Next, you rejoice at Christmas because the clarity of his proclamation. The angel said, I bring you good news of great joy. The good news is the gospel. The good news is the gospel about a God who is good. And that gospel brings nothing but great joy. The proclamation was so clear. It was so concise.

There was no confusion in the mind of the shepherds. The angel made it very clear when he said, do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people. For today, in the city of David, there has been born for you, you shepherds, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, the Messiah, the Lord of Israel. He has been born. He's the Savior. This will be a sign for you. You'll find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Very clear, very concise, no confusion.

And they could not wait to go and see this word. That's what it says. It says, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began to say to one another, let us go straight to Bethlehem then and see this thing or this word or this reality that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. They knew what was said. We want to go see what was said. And they did. They went in haste. They dropped everything to go and see the Messiah. The clarity of his proclamation is so important.

Why? Because that's the only good news there is. We live in a world of bad news. Some would say we live in a world of fake news. That's true, too. We live in a world of good news. And the only good news centers around the proclamation the angels gave to the shepherds about that which brings great joy. The Savior, Christ the Lord, has been born. And lastly, the causes for rejoicing this season, not just because of the reality of his presence, the eternality of his promise, the joy of his pardon, the obtainability of peace, the infallibility of his prophecy, the clarity of his proclamation, but the excitability of his people.

The excitability of his people. For those who lived in anticipation of his coming, Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, the Magi, Simeon, Anna, the only ones we have, they lived in anticipation of his coming. There was an excitement that encompassed their lives. There was an excitement in the life of Herod because Herod was filled with jealousy. There was an excitement in Mary's family because they were filled with familiarity. There was an excitement in the Jewish community because they were filled with religiosity.

There was an excitement in the innkeeper because he was filled with the monotony of his activity. There wasn't any excitement in the religious establishment because they were filled with self-sufficiency. All those things take away from joy and the excitability that rivaled the Messiah. But for people like Mary and Joseph, people like the Magi, who had to travel over 700 miles, talk about excitability, that was a long haul on the backside of a Persian steed. But they came by the thousands. They didn't come in threes.

They came in packs of hundreds and thousands. That's why there was trouble in the city of Jerusalem when they arrived. Everybody feared. No one feared three guys riding on a horse or the backside of a camel. When you have a thousand people coming into your city on the backside of Persian steeds with all kinds of crowns and paraphernalia, people are living in fear. What's going on? What's happening here? Where is he who was born king of the Jews? They lived a life of excitability. And how about Simeon?

Simeon had been given a promise by the Spirit of God. He was a devout, righteous man that he would not die until he saw the Lord's Christ. And one day, Mary and Joseph, just a few days after his birth, would walk up to the city, up the temple steps, into the place in which they would dedicate their child, as was custom in Judaism. And Simeon saw the child. How did Simeon know that Mary and Joseph had the Christ child? Did he have a halo on his head, glowing at night? Nope. God told him. God went right up to him and took that baby in his arms and said, What?

Now I can die. Why? Because everything I've longed for has happened. Everything I've lived in anticipation for has come to be. Everything that gives my life any kind of excitement has been fulfilled. I have held the Christ child in my arms. I can now die. The light of revelation has come to the Gentiles. That which consoles Israel, because he was looking for the consolation of Israel, has now arrived. My people now can be comforted. I can die. Because there's nothing else to live for except one person.

And that's Christ. And the reason we live a life of no excitement is because we live for a person other than the Christ. We live for something or someone else other than the Christ. But when you live for Christ, there's an excitability about your life that causes you to rejoice day after day. They lived and longed in anticipation of the arrival of the Messiah. They kept looking even though it was dark. And for 400 years no one had said a word. But they never gave up. They kept looking and longing for the arrival of the Messiah.

And Simeon, completely satisfied by holding the Savior in his arms, now I can die because everything I longed for has come to be. The reason we rejoice simply is because of the excitability of his people. What were they excited about? They were excited about the Christ child. They were excited about the Messiah. They were excited about one person and one person only. And that's what motivated them. That's what drove them. That's what caused them to live a life as devout and righteous people is because they loved Christ.

And when you love Christ like that, you rejoice all year long. Let me pray with you. Father, thank you, Lord, for tonight. The opportunity you give us to spend a few moments in your Word. You realize, Lord, that this comes to an end, our Christmas celebration. And yet, it's just the beginning of we as Christians celebrating the Christ every single day of our lives. May we live in anticipation of your coming again, knowing that what your Word said about your first coming was fulfilled, so what your Word says about your second coming, it too will be fulfilled.

In Jesus' name, amen.