The title of the message this morning is, The Highest Glory to God. This is the praises to God that the angels will bring. Last week in verses 1-7 we had the intersection of two kings. You have Caesar Augustus, that's not even his real name, he's Gaius Octavius. But Caesar becomes synonymous with king and Augustus means exalted one.

A title given to him by the Roman Senate. Born in the right place, in the right family, he's the grand nephew of Julius Caesar, adopted by him, named his heir. He's the ruler of the known world. He commands that a census be taken for taxation purposes. Little does he know, he's just a tool in the hand of God to move nobodies from nowhere to another town that's really not significant for the birth of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

So if you wanted to know how God works in human history, so often this is it. It's not through the Caesar Augustus's. It's from nobody's from nowhere's-ville and this is how he keeps us from robbing him of his own glory As if we were born in the right place Had all the right connections and he used us we would somehow find a way to take the credit for ourselves. He's not about to have that. He's the one acting in human history to do anything that's good that we see done in this world.

And he ought to have the glory for it. And one of the way he secures the glory for it is to use people who are of no consequence and raise them up out of the dust. It's really so much of what we've been reciting in what's known as Mary's song is how he humbles the proud and raises up nobodies to accomplish his purposes. So praise God for that. Last week, the intersection of two kings.

In today's text, heaven announces the birth of a Savior. So we have a declaration from heaven. A Savior is born, but the announcement is to a very surprising group of people, and I might add to a very surprised group of people. These were not people who were looking for any announcements from heaven. They were just out doing their work, minding their own business when Heaven comes to announce the birth of the Savior.

As we come to this text, let's ask God to help us. God, thank you for your Word. It's a treasure. We need it. And I thank you for capturing these events for us.

How would we know these things unless we found them in your Word? They ought to be known. These are things that ought to be known. God, thank you for revealing them. Receive the praise from them.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, let's subdivide. Let's start verses 8 and 9. Hopefully your Bible is still open to Luke chapter 2.

Follow along as I reread verses 8 and 9. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Behold, an angel of the Lord stood among them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them." And they were greatly afraid. In these two verses, an angel appears to the shepherds and makes them greatly afraid. If you're filling in blanks on the handout, there are two blanks, and greatly afraid fills in the blanks.

An angel appears to the shepherd shepherds and makes them greatly afraid. Now why were these shepherds living out in their fields? Because that's what shepherds do. You don't want sheep to be stolen by thieves or eaten by predators by lions or wolves or bears, Then you live with them in the fields day and night. If you don't live with them in the fields day and night, they're stolen by thieves or eaten by predators.

Sheep cannot defend themselves and they're notoriously stupid. I hear that they're actually not stupid, they're stubborn. They're worse than stupid, they're stubborn. Listen to what Jacob said about shepherding 1800 years before this. So, by the way, in those 1800 years there were no advancements in technology that made what Jacob said about shepherding no longer true.

This is what Jacob said about shepherding as a shepherd. Jacob was a shepherd and here are his observations in Genesis 31 verses 39 through 41. Genesis 31, 39 through 41. Jacob says, That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you. So he's talking to his father-in-law Laban and defending his record as a shepherd.

That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. There I was in the day, the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes. Thus I have been in your house twenty years.

I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times." So Jacob's observation is I was with them all the time so it wouldn't be stolen by day or by night, and I was, I didn't require from you anything that the beasts devoured, but Whether it was burning hot or whether there was frost on me by night, I was with your sheep. Sound like fun? Sound like what you want to be your chosen occupation? Well, it is for these men, but there are distinct hardships that go with it, and this is why they are living out in the fields, because that's what shepherds do. Day and night, if you want to keep them from thieves and from predators, you have to be with the sheep.

Listen to what David said about shepherding about a thousand years before this and by the way he was shepherding in the same place these shepherds are shepherding in the in the regions around Bethlehem. Here's what David said about shepherding. By the way, here he is explaining to Saul why he's qualified to go fight a giant. He says, because I'm a shepherd. This is 1st Samuel 17 verses 34 and 35.

David said to Saul, your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth. And when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck it and killed it." So David's experience of shepherding in this area where these shepherds are in our text in Luke chapter 2 was that Lions and bears would come and take lambs from the flock, and as a shepherd it was his responsibility to go after it and reclaim that lamb. Now I'm not saying that every shepherd was like David, but I'm saying every shepherd faced the same perils that David faced. So shepherding is a tough profession. Shepherding is not for the faint of heart, and so shepherds are tough.

Because of their occupational hazards, shepherds have to be tough. This was the same country where Jesus was born, verse 8. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields. The use of the word country here is like we often use it. Like I'm from the country, meaning I'm not from the city.

It literally means the rural region surrounding a city or village. That's where they were. They're in the rural region around Bethlehem, very, very near where Jesus was born. And an angel of the Lord, The Lord's angel, an angel who has been sent by the Lord, stands before them. And they are engulfed by the shining glory of the Lord.

They're watching their flock by night, but now it's like it's not night at all." Okay, so this is the scene. They're watching their flocks by night, but now it's like it's not night at all. And this visible manifestation of God's presence and glory is shining all around them. So if the question is what's this shining all about, that's the answer. It is the visible manifestation of God's presence and glory.

That's what it always is. In 1st Timothy 6 verse 16, Paul says that God dwells in unapproachable light. In the Old Testament, when God liberates the people from bondage in Egypt, He leads them by a cloud during the day and by a pillar of fire at night. In Revelation 21 verse 23, we can just fast forward to the end, one page from the end of Scripture, Revelation 21 23 says of the New Jerusalem, the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light." So the shepherds are simply experiencing a little down payment of this.

The visible manifestation of God's presence in glory is there with this angel of the Lord, this angel sent by the Lord. What happens to these hardened shepherds? I don't mean at all that they were men with hard hearts. That's not what I say when I, it's not what I'm meaning when I say hardened shepherds. I mean that their profession has hardened them and normalized risks that would frighten most people.

So based on what I've said about shepherds, do you buy that? For shepherds, things that would frighten you have been normalized. Things that go bump in the night are normalized to shepherds. The prospect of thieves and predators are normalized for shepherds. So what has happened to these men who have been hardened against things that would frighten us what has happened to them.

They are greatly afraid. So I've been trying to communicate. These are not guys easy to spook. You'll have to save your jump scares for somebody else. They are greatly afraid.

That makes us three for three. What do I mean? I mean that we have already had three appearances by angels and Luke. We're just getting started in Luke chapter 2. We've already had three appearances by angels and the result is always the same.

Gabriel appears to Zacharias in chapter 1, chapter 1 verse 12, fear fell upon him. Chapter 1 verse 13, Gabriel says, do not be afraid. Then Gabriel appears to Mary, chapter 1 verse 29. She was troubled, chapter 1 verse 30. Gabriel says, do not be afraid Mary.

Now this, spoiler alert, the angels going to say do not be afraid To these hardened professionals who have things that would make us afraid, it's normalized to them. They are made very afraid and the angel will need to say, do not be afraid. Let's keep going. Verses 10 through 14, follow along as I reread. Verse 10, Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.

For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, good will toward men. In these verses we have the message of the angel and response of the heavenly host. If you're filling in those two blanks on the handout, message and response fills in the blanks.

The message of the angel and response of the heavenly host. Now the angel speaks, saying what the angel almost always needs to say, don't be afraid. Why not be afraid? Because angels are not fearful? No, that's not why not to be afraid.

They are fearful. For or because, don't be afraid, four, don't be afraid, because I bring you good tidings. The shepherds need not be afraid because the angel has been sent to bring good tidings. The word is, the Greek word is, uangalitsou. Sort of looks like evangelize if you actually look at it.

Uwangalitso. The verb form of the root, the gospel. You could responsibly translate it. I'm not, I'm not labor, I'm not arguing for a change of translation here. I'm just saying you could responsibly translate it to proclaim the gospel.

Okay, I bring you good tidings could be responsibly also translated. I proclaim the gospel to you. To preach the gospel. I preach the gospel to you. Why should you have no fear?

Because I've been sent from heaven to preach the gospel to you. To announce good news to you. The good news. Not some good news. Heaven sent me with some good news.

No, no, no. God has sent me from heaven with the good news. The angel has been sent to announce good news of great joy. News that will make you greatly rejoice. When you hear this news, you will have no choice but to greatly rejoice.

You'll have to. Which will be to... Which will be to... Okay amen, but it will be to all people praise the Lord it will be to all people I have a claim on the great joy of this good news. You have a claim on the great joy of this good news.

Don't give me a dead reading of this where it was too long ago to apply to me. I reject that. You should reject that. It says to all people, Are you or are you not part of all people? Now we haven't actually gotten to the good news yet.

What is the good news being announced? Verse 11, Verse 11, there is born to you this day, today, in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Oh, preach the gospel. Today the Savior has been born into the world. That is good news.

So, Jesus is a savior. Israel has known many saviors. Moses was a savior. All of the judges In that horrifying time of Israel's history, all of the judges were saviors raised up by God to save the people from their enemies. No, but in Matthew 1.21, the angel tells Joseph, You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." The law came through Moses.

He didn't save people from their sins. Grace and truth through Jesus Christ, Romans 1. The judges saved people from hostile nations and tribes. They never saved the people from their sins. People went on in their apostasy.

They're backsliding against God. That's what we need. Not just to deliver from temporary hardships, real hardships, not diminishing any of that. You might desire to be rescued, want to be rescued, need to be rescued from real hardships. Devastating hardships, but temporary hardships.

What you really need above and beyond all that, far and away beyond all that, is to be saved from your sins. God sent Jesus to save His people from their sins. That's why His name is Jesus. That's what the word Jesus means. He'll save His people from their sins.

So often we'd be so satisfied to just be saved from our temporary hardships. Just a little relief from our temporary hardships. Hey, that's real. But what we need far and away beyond that is to be saved from our sins. Jesus came to do that.

Listen to Acts 412, Peter's preaching the gospel. In Acts 412 he says, nor is there salvation in any other For there is No other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." In other words, if you are to be saved, there's one name for your salvation, the name of Jesus, because He was sent to save His people from their sins. No one else ever has been. No one else can. So Jesus is not a Savior.

Jesus is the Savior. Jesus is the only Savior. There's only one name under heaven by which we must be saved. If you were to be saved, it is through the name of Jesus. Of Jesus.

And Jesus is Christ. This is a synonym for Messiah. It's really the same word. In Greek it's Christ, in Hebrew it's Messiah. They're the same word and they literally mean anointed.

So to anoint is to pour out oil on the head of someone, symbolically commissioning them for an appointed work. So no one can ever wonder was he appointed to this work or not because you poured oil on their head. That's memorable. No one forgets that. It's so physical.

It's so tangible. You anoint to commission for an appointed work. This is Jesus. Symbolically, God the father pours oil on his head to commission him to save sinners. And Jesus says, I take upon myself this work.

Send me to save sinners. In the Old Testament, prophets are anointed, priests are anointed, kings are anointed. Jesus is anointed to save and to be the prophet, priest, and king of the people that He saves. And Jesus is Lord. He's called three things here.

He's called Savior, He's called Christ or Messiah, the Anointed One, He's called Lord. Jesus is God. Psalm 2 is about God the Father making His Son the King of all kings. And the kings of the earth better kiss the Son lest he be angry with them. This is Psalm 2.

It's about God the Father making His Son the King that all kings are under. And He better, they better not make Him angry. Revelation 19 verse 16. Jesus appears in His glory with this written on Himself, King of kings and Lord of lords. It is written on Himself when he appears in his glory.

Revelation 19 verse 16. Again remember in chapters one and two, Lord, this word is used many many times totally without distinction of both God and this baby. That is so significant. We're being taught that Jesus is God. There is no distinction.

In chapters one and two, over and over and over again, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, sometimes, obviously God, sometimes, obviously talking about this baby, used totally without distinction. Jesus is God. The Bible so clearly teaches that in a thousand different ways. The people who say the Bible doesn't teach that Jesus is God, I don't know what they're reading! What book are they reading?

It's everywhere. Let me summarize what the angel has said in a single phrase. He's here. He's finally here. For millennia, for thousands of years, Across many, many, many prophets, God has made all these promises.

I'm sending a Savior. I'm sending one who is anointed. I'm sending the Lord. And now the one to fulfill them all has been born. He is in the world.

As of today, this is what this angel is saying, As of today, He's here. Yesterday He wasn't here, and today He's here. J.C. Ryle makes this very important observation. Ryle says this, Let us mark who they were to whom the tidings first came that Christ was born.

They were shepherds. To shepherds, not to priests and rulers, to shepherds, not to scribes and Pharisees. An angel appeared proclaiming unto you is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. The things of God's kingdom are often hid from the great and noble and revealed to the poor. Moses was keeping sheep, Gideon was threshing wheat, Elisha was plowing, when they were severally honored by direct calls and revelations from God.

The last are often first, and the first last. The high priest's home. Angel of the Lord here. The promised Savior is here. It's not what's in our text.

The palace gates. That's not what's in our text. An angel appears to nobodies. That should teach us that we should stop thinking that way, thinking in those terms. It should teach us that God doesn't think in those terms.

What then? The angel gives them a sign. They can see for themselves. The Savior was born today. You can see for yourself.

Going to Bethlehem, you'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a feed trough. Manger is such a nice word, such a gentle word. You have that soft j-manger. Not a guttural sound to be found. It's a feed trough!

Go. When you find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloth and lying in a feed trough, that's the one. When the angel had announced this sign to the shepherds, suddenly the angel was joined by a host from heaven. The Greek word translated host is a military term. In Greek, only a military term.

Why do I make that distinction? Sometimes when we use the word host, we just mean a lot. But in the Greek, that has already been said by the Greek word translated multitude. So the word host here is not to say a lot. That's said by another word.

It's a multitude of the heavenly host. Of the heavenly host. So yes, there is a lot, there are many, there is a multitude, but it is a multitude of the army of heaven. So You've been to too many nativity scenes and it's ruined you. This is a multitude of the army of heaven.

This is not a prim and proper nativity choir. This is a multitude of the army of heaven, and they are saying, not singing, Christmas carols notwithstanding. I don't know where that comes from. There may be a text that I'm not thinking of that it comes from. All I'm saying is it does not come from this text.

They are saying, not singing. They are declaring their praise of God. So don't think of prim and proper of prim and proper nativity choir. Think of a multitude of the army of heaven declaring God's praises. What are these praises?

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward man. There's a debate about whether in the highest means place or degree. Glory to God in the highest place in the heaven of heavens where God is. Glory to you where you are God, or glory to God in the very highest degree. All the most whole-hearted praise to God, every creature praising God with all their heart.

Linguistically, just looking at the Greek, it can be either. But I'm personally convinced that it is degree, meaning that the highest glory comes to God through the display of His goodwill towards mankind and His offer of peace to them in the sending of His Son to die for sinners. I'm going to say that again because it's a long sentence and it's the most important sentence of this hour. So just tune in, tune back in, listen to the sentence. The highest glory comes to God through the display of his goodwill towards mankind and his offer of peace to them in the sending of his Son to die for sinners.

God never gets more glory than he gets for that. He gets for that. The Greek word translated goodwill literally means kindly intent. Kind intentions. God, what are your intentions?

They're kind intentions. Intentions of kindness. The birth of Jesus represents the kind intentions of God towards mankind and his offer of peace to rebels. Think about that. Let's get a double dose of Matthew Henry.

Matthew Henry quotes first. Matthew Henry says, God's goodwill to men manifested in sending the Messiah redounds very much to his praise. Other works of God are for his glory, but the redemption of the world is for his glory in the highest. Amen. Second Matthew Henry quote, Matthew Henry says, God's goodwill in sending the Messiah introduced peace in this lower world, slew the enmity that sin had raised between God and man, and resettled a peaceable correspondence.

All the good we have or hope is owing to God's goodwill And if we have the comfort of it, he must have the glory of it. Amen! If we're to have the comfort of God's kindly intentions and his offer of peace to rebels, God must have the glory of it, mustn't he?" Matthew Henry says, in in sending Jesus, God slew the enmity that sin had raised between God and man. Sin had raised hatred between God and man, and God killed that hatred by sending Jesus. Not a wonderful way of thinking of the birth of this child.

God killing the hatred between God and man that was raised up by sin and rebellion. In Philippians 2, Paul says that because of, as a result of, Jesus humbling himself and taking on our humanity and dying for sinners, therefore God highly exalted Jesus and gave him the name above every name. And all this is to the glory of God the Father. Glory to God in the highest. Let's give J.C.

Ryle a turn. When I quote Matthew Henry, J.C. Ryle gets jealous. And I have to quote him. J.C.

Ryle says, Now has come the highest degree of glory to God by the appearing of His Son Jesus Christ in the world. He by His life and death on the cross will glorify God's attributes, justice, holiness, mercy, and wisdom as they never were glorified before." So true. Now listen to what he says here. This is wonderful. Creation glorified God, but not so much as redemption.

Now has come the time when God's kindness and goodwill towards guilty man is to be fully made known. His power was seen in creation. His justice was seen in the flood, but his mercy remained to be fully revealed by the appearing and atonement of Jesus Christ. We just came out of Genesis. Do you remember the glory of Genesis chapter 1 of speaking the worlds into existence just by the power of His word?

That's nothing. Do you remember the flood in the psalm that said God sat enthroned at the flood? And you see how he loves good and hates evil and judges righteously. That's nothing compared to the revelation of himself and his kind intentions towards mankind in sending Jesus to die for rebels. Nowhere has his glory ever been revealed more highly than that.

So that's the message of the angel and the response of the heavenly host. Let's keep going. The last five verses, 15 through 20. Follow along. So, it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherds said to one another let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass which the Lord has made known to us.

They came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a feed trough. Now when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them." These verses we have what the shepherds and Mary did next.

Next fills in the blank. The angels depart, returning to heaven. As soon as they do, the shepherds say to each other, let's go see. The text says, they came with haste. So there's no delay.

Angels return to heaven and the shepherds say let's go see and go to Bethlehem. On the handout for men's Bible study I put trust but verify, But that's wrong. That is actually not a reflection of this text at all. That's not what they're doing, going to verify. They actually say, let us go and see this thing that has come to pass.

The Lord has made it known to us, it has come to pass. Let's go see it. In David Garland's commentary, he notes another commentator and says, as Coleridge recognizes, they do not go in order to believe, but because they believe. That's good. Trust but verify is bad.

It doesn't reflect the text. That they do not go in order to believe, but because they believe is right on. This is actually an act of faith that God has said it has come to pass and so they go because they know it's come to pass. They come and find it just as they were told. How did they find them?

Most estimates of The population of Bethlehem from archaeologists and historians pegged the population between 300 and 1, 000 people. It's not a big place. We don't know exactly, but it's not hard to imagine. Shepherds leave, make these things widely known. No one is surprised by that.

How could you have experienced these things, seen these things, heard these things, and not make it widely known? We're going to see this throughout Luke, throughout all the Gospels. Even when Jesus tries to swear people to secrecy, they can't help it. They have to talk about the things that they've seen. Because they've seen things that no one else has seen.

Shepherds make these things widely known. Of course, the people who hear the report marvel. Just recognize this, the birth of Jesus was very humble, but it was not secret. Paul, when he's standing before the authorities, is able to appeal to Herod Agrippa and say, I know you know about these things. These things were not done in a corner.

They were not done in a corner. It was a humble birth, but it was not a secret birth. You have shepherds roaming the countryside telling people of a host from heaven coming to praise God and saying that the Savior has been born, Christ the Lord. Bethlehem is on the doorstep of Jerusalem. Commentators say you can see the palace from Bethlehem.

If you think this report didn't create a major buzz in all of Israel, then you don't understand how these things work. The grapevine is fast when there are reports like this. The grapevine works overtime when there are reports like this. God announced the birth of His anointed one. Listen again to Matthew Henry.

The humblest circumstances of Christ's humiliation were all along attended with some discoveries of his glory. For even when he humbled himself, God did in some measure exalt him. When we saw him wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger we were tempted to say, surely this cannot be the Son of God. But see his birth attended as it is here with a choir of angels, and we shall say, surely this can be no other but the Son of God." God left his marks. This was not just a baby like the others.

He leaves his marks all along the way to tell us, this is the Savior, This is the Savior. This is the fulfillment of all the promises. This is the fulfillment. What does Mary do? She keeps all these things and ponders them in her heart.

She learned amazing things from Gabriel in chapter 1, but she didn't learn everything. You go back and see what Gabriel said to her. It's a lot, but it's nowhere near everything. There's so much still that she can't even guess. She keeps getting and assimilating data points about her baby.

And through the rest of chapter two, with Anna in the temple, with Simeon in the temple, She's going to keep getting and bringing together these data points about her baby. So more is to come on this in this chapter. David Garland says this, She continued to try to put the pieces together to see the whole picture. That's exactly what's being communicated here. She's drawing these pieces together as she gets them to see the whole picture.

Today's text concludes with verse 20. Then the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told them. They saw the angels. They heard the angels. They went.

And it was just as it was told to them. So what else are they going to do? They're going to glorify God and praise God. What else are you going to do? We should glorify and praise God for these things as much as they should.

Applications I'll give you too. This first sentence makes me sound like Paul, meaning it's too long, so hang with me. Really long and much less inspired. How about that? Application number one.

Because the origins of Christmas are dubious, there are elements of the origins of Christmas that are definitely dubious. And because the regular principle of worship holds us back from doing things in our corporate worship that aren't solidly grounded in Scripture, meaning why do we do what we do when we're here? Because we think that these are the things and only the things that are solidly grounded in the New Testament instructions on church life. If we can't find a straight line between something we're doing and the instructions about church life in the New Testament, we want to get rid of it, with no exceptions. So those things are true of us.

Because the origins of Christmas are dubious, and because the regulator principle of worship constrains us to only do things that we see solidly grounded in the New Testament, there can be a counter reaction that dampens our celebration of the incarnation. We have some of that impulse in some churches. It's a really, really strong impulse. These two things have made them paranoid about wholeheartedly celebrating the incarnation. So here's the application for me and I hope for us.

We should affirm the first and guard against the second. In other words, we should not be uncritical in thinking about the origins of Christmas. We should turn a blind eye to that. The regular principle of worship is really important for governing local church life. Amen!

We should cling to all that, but we should guard against that dampening our celebration of the Incarnation. If there's anything on planet earth worth celebrating, it's that Jesus was born into the world to save rebels. Two. So Back to one. Celebrate the incarnation with gusto.

In some ways that should make you even more guarded about your celebration of Christmas that it not get hijacked by things that have nothing to do with the incarnation. So celebrate it with gusto. Protect it with gusto for celebrating the incarnation. Don't let it be lost and all the other stuff. How easy is it for Christmas to swallow up a celebration of the Incarnation?

How ironic is that? Two, finally, God's intentions are kind, and Jesus is such a willing Savior. Sometimes because God must judge rebellion, We get it all twisted up as if his intentions aren't kind, as if what he relishes is judging rebellion. His holiness requires him to judge rebellion, but God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Do you know that's in the Bible?

Do you know that God is not willing that anyone would perish? Do you know that's in the Bible? His intentions are kind. God is not the problem here. Jesus is such a willing Savior.

Why would he leave heaven if he didn't want to save? Why would he subject himself to a life in the sin-sick world if he didn't want to save? Why would he go to the cross if he didn't want to save? He's such a willing Savior. He's not turning people away who long to be saved from their sins.

That's not how it works. If you've not repented and believe, there's no day like today. The things you walk away from are not worth anything anyway, and the things that you gain are the sweetest. Taste and see that the Lord is good sweeter than honey and the honeycomb God I thank You for Your kind intentions expressed. In the birth of that baby on that day, a real time and place, A real baby came into the world anointed to save.

Jesus, thank you for your complete willingness to take upon yourself this saving work. Thank you for being such a willing Savior. I pray that there would be some here today who have been given eyes to see things they could never see before and hear things they've never been able to hear before. Raise the dead. Pray in Jesus name, Amen.