one more scripture reading this morning comes from luke chapter 12 we're going to be really focusing on one verse in the message this morning that's verse 12 but i will read beginning at verse one of luke chapter two luke two this is the word of the lord beginning at verse one in those days a decree went out from caesar augustus that all the world should be registered this was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the end and in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night and an angel of the lord appeared to them and the glory of the lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear and the angel said to them fear not for behold i bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people for unto you is born this day in the city of david a savior who is christ the lord and this will be a sign for you you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising god and saying glory to god in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased when the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart, And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. Well, finally, after thousands of years of wait in the place of obscurity to nobodies, does this announcement come? there is born to you this day in the city of david a savior who is christ the lord your messiah has come the announcement was made everything in history now focuses on this moment this is what heaven and earth has has bowed to this is where heaven and earth is focused the lowly shepherds in the field receive the most glorious announcement that has come to them from angels there is such joy that is happening at this moment truly isaiah 60 is being fulfilled all the darkness now the light has come there are myriads there are 10,000 times 10,000 of angels proclaiming and singing in the heavens glory to god in the highest and on earth peace toward men of his good pleasure with those whom he's pleased it all comes down to this but i want to consider with you for a moment this morning the faith of these shepherds the faith of these shepherds when they came to the baby jesus what did they see i want you to think about that question did they see the glory what did they understand a major theme in luke's gospel and we see this open up as it moves through the book a major theme in luke's gospel is the opening of understandings to perceive something it's a very prominent thing you'll know that jesus dealt with this on the road to emmaus with his two disciples who were walking and confused and it seemed like the whole chain of events his his death and his crucifixion was something that had gotten away from god and they were confused and remember what jesus did to help them through that they couldn't see him even though he stood right in front of them how did he open their eyes what did he do for them well he said oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken ought not the christ to have suffered these things and entered into his glory and beginning at moses and all the prophets he expounded to them in the scriptures the things concerning himself and two big things happened when he did that when he preached the gospel to them you know what luke says happens at the end of the gospel then their eyes were opened and they knew him and then it says that he opened their understandings so that they might comprehend the scriptures eyes were open so that they finally knew him then he opened the understanding so that they could understand what the Bible's all about. They had been reading it for a long time and didn't get it. So they stood there looking at him but could not see him. He had to open the eyes of their understanding. I suggest this morning that all the things at the end of Luke's gospel are right here at the beginning of Luke's gospel. I want you to listen to verse 17 again. In verse 17 it says, And when they saw, that's all it says. When they saw, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. What did they see? What did they see? Did he glow? Was there a halo around him? What did they see? Was there, I mean, was there already the name written on his thigh, King of kings and Lord of lords? Oh, there it is. What did they see? Well, let me ask you a question this morning. What did you come to see today? not much in terms of what's outward here luke is showing us something this morning that i i believe will really help you this morning in your celebration today as you go home and reflect upon what the lord has done for you he's showing something that the two men on the road to emmaus learned that they had the gospel proclaimed to them and then the eyes of their understanding was opened so that the shepherds from the beginning had the same course presented to them in other words, this is what we need. You're not just coming to celebrate today as the culture does the birth of a baby. You're coming to celebrate. You're coming every day of your life to reflect upon the fact that God gave his son and this is God incarnate who has come to us, who came as the Savior, and that it was the child's destiny being able to see with believing minds the whole path of him and what he had to do in going to the cross. And if you see that today, you will have the same kind of response as the shepherds and celebrate what we're doing in a way that would please God. Don't you want to do that in a way that would please God? Don't you want to celebrate this in a way where God would really be pleased with what we're doing today and not tied to the cultural celebration of american christmas notice here that these early shepherds go home happy and are praising god at the very end of this in verse 20 for all that they had noticed the connection heard and seen there's so much emphasis here tying luke together bookends heard and seen as we open up luke 2 we have uh here the word proving fast and steadfast as hebrew says through angels they're preaching the gospel what a scene to lowly shepherds they come i've always been moved by that it's not the main point of my sermon this morning but i can't help but saying that matthew shows us luke shows us from the beginning the kinds of people that jesus came the kinds of people who were in his genealogy you had Rahab the harlot you had Ruth the Moabitess you had Tamar you can keep going Bathsheba you had messed up people in the family of Jesus and then all these people whom he's appeared to are really nobodies I mean think about it think about who we have Zacharias and Elizabeth shepherds you know shepherds were not valued You have wise men, but wise men were not wise in Israel's eyes, I can tell you that. You had Mary and Joseph. Nobody. Mary understood that. It should be something that impacts and helps us think about this a lot by now, that the Lord must love the common folk because he sure made a lot of them. And this is who he came to at the beginning. Well, here are shepherds out in the field, the lowest class. And they're keeping watch over their flocks by night. All of a sudden, the angel stood, stands before them, and the glory appears. The glory of the Lord surrounds them. It's just wonderful. And they were greatly afraid. They get a light show that day. It was radiant glory. It was the Shekinah glory. It was the glory that made them drop and be deathly afraid. The angel then starts to preach. The angel then starts to proclaim the gospel to them. I am bringing you good tidings of great joy. I'm bringing you good news. This is gospel. That will be to all the people for, and then he says, there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Now don't miss what just happened. They had left at the end of this, having heard and seen. They just heard the gospel. And now what's happened? Christ has been preached to them. Gospel's been proclaimed. He's been announced and heralded by angels. It won't be the common course. God will use sinful men to do this as he still does to this day. But I'm focusing on verse 12 for a moment. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Now, I don't know how many times I've read that. And, you know, as a pastor, I've never given much thought to that. I have read over that in the course of my life. I've read over that every year at Christmas. We read these things and we read these stories, these beautiful words, but do we really ponder their meaning? I'm not sure that I've ever stopped and thought about the simple question there, what is the sign? And this shall be a sign. What is it? It's interesting that our translation says a sign. That's not really how it should be best conveyed to us. It's definite. This will be the sign. There's an article there. It's something very definite. This is the sign. This is the important sign of signs. And the text then goes on and says that you're going to find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And I thought to myself, well, why is that such a big deal? I remember when my firstborn, my daughter was born, I thought we were something special, you know? We went to the hospital and realized there was no room for us in the end. There were babies popping out everywhere at that hospital. And I couldn't believe how many babies. Babies, babies, babies. And how many swaddling cloths. I became a master swaddler, by the way. Not a master of diapers, but a master swaddler. The nurse told me, she said, yeah, it's weird at this time of year. We just get so many babies. And they had charts to document how many babies come out all at the same time. And I tried to calculate, oh, it's February, so that makes sense. We're, it's love month. This is not remarkable. you will see a baby in swaddling cloths. I've seen that all my life. A manger. Babies are born in all kinds of uncomfortable situations. I mean, I always dreaded it happening on the road to the hospital, right? I mean, what guy doesn't? But when we look a little bit deeper into this, there's something much more being conveyed, isn't there? The word means that he was wrapped up tightly in strips of cloth. And he would be in a manger. That will be the sign to you. You're going to see a baby wrapped up in swaddling cloths and in a manger. I want to know what they're seeing, don't you? Verse 16 says that they came with haste and they rushed to see if this was so. And they found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. They found it just as it was said. So they walk in, they find him, and I'm still struggling with what's remarkable about this. Verse 17 gives the impression that this had so overwhelmed them. This had so overwhelmed them. This got so much into their hearts that they left, and it was one big life-changing moment for the shepherds. They never looked at things the same. They were changed men. And so they were so changed, they went out and started broadcasting this everywhere. You're not going to believe what we just saw. What did you see? everyone marveled as they started proclaiming it. In fact, as we look about this and we think about this, clearly by now I'm hoping you're saying something much bigger is here. There's been a lot of debate over what Jesus was laid in. What was Jesus laid in? You'll notice the text says a manger. Some translations here have a little number and off to the side it'll say feeding trough. And I've heard a lot of sermons on it being a feeding trough. And that's starting to get us somewhere. A lot of emphasis is given at this time of year that Jesus went into a feeding trough. That is really a remarkable statement. In terms of the sign, if you know who this is, and this is a feeding trough, that is absolutely astonishing. The King of kings and Lord of lords, through whom everything was made, who had all glory, power, dominion, and might, who with the word of his mouth spoke everything into existence, who knew you, who created you, who knows every thought, who knows everything and ordained and controls. And this is the king. To think that in the incarnation, he went into a feeding trough. It's almost unbearable to think about if we understand who this is. The savior of the world in a feeding trough. And you know the message in this. You know the message in this that for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich for your sakes, He became poor so that you through His poverty might become rich. He went from riches to rags so that you would go from rags to riches. Oh, the love of God. Oh, the love of God. The apostles struggled with words to even know how to explain this. Sometimes you preach and you realize, I don't even know how to convey these things. He emptied himself, and everyone struggled to know how to fully explain that. Obviously, he didn't empty himself of his divinity, but everyone knows what he did was so lowly. He had become so low for us, and a love for his sheep motivated him that he would come down here and do this. I'm sure they thought about that, But I'm saying that they saw even more than that. They saw the whole story. What do I mean? This is the sign, the sign. What would he do? Why would he do it? The sign you will see, says the angel, will be a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a feeding trough. You know what feeding troughs were, right? Feeding troughs were hollow, rectangular containers sometimes made of wood preponderance being of stone here's the sign you're going to walk in you're going to see the messiah wrapped up in cloths in a wood box or stone box most likely remember when everyone was asking jesus for a sign everyone wanted jesus to do something for them so that they would believe we want some kind of sign we want some kind of sign would you show of something, Jesus? Remember what Jesus said, a wicked and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except one, that of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth now there's one sign and that sign is me says jesus going to the tomb if you looked over at uh simeon in this very section in verse 34 you notice he references this sign again and he says behold this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in israel and for a sign which will be spoken against and mary when this happens it's going to pierce your heart your soul because your son's going to die here come the shepherds they gaze on a child wrapped in cloths and lying in a stone box what are they seeing do you see it at the end of luke's gospel we have joseph of arimathea went and he comes and i quote and he asks for the body of jesus and he takes it down and he wraps it in linen cloth and he places it in a tomb cut in the rock you see i believe luke wants you to make the connection i believe luke wants you to look at the beginning of the book and the end of the book it wouldn't be righteous to look at the beginning of the book you got to look at the beginning and the end of the book and he takes that imagery to fill out the picture the gospel was preached to them and the sign they would see is that he would die for them to be their savior listen his whole life if you put this together he would wear those grave cloths and they would not come off until he finished the work in paying for sins and then he would set them aside at the tomb he's the savior he was in a cave-like existence from the beginning and a cave-like existence he went into the tomb and he burst out in victory and that gives some punch now to the proclamation of the gospel that they heard that day behold there is born to this day in the city of david a savior a savior from what isn't it sad that most christians today when they're asked that question cannot answer that they don't even know what they're being saved from and they break out in song as they say that you have a savior glory to god in the highest and on earth peace toward men of its good pleasure where did that leave the shepherds this morning you'll notice as soon as the angels left they run with haste to the to to see this sight and when they had gazed their eyes on him we read they saw and it's very emphatic in the original it's put up front they saw that day like the Emmaus road the eyes of their hearts were open and they understood and they went home verse 20 listen to this they went home verse 20 glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen the gospel proclaimed and they saw what it was all about for the first time the eyes of their understanding was open you know you could be here today you could be a skeptic we might have people from all different walks and varieties of life come together. You're here family. Maybe you're here because your parents go to this church and you've come. We're thankful you're here. Maybe this has really never taken root in your heart. Maybe you've been a skeptic. Maybe deep down you're an atheist. Maybe you're an agnostic. Maybe you have some kind of cultural affinity for what we're doing today because the culture celebrates it. You know it's a good thing you should come to church. You could be here thinking that you've come to worship a child and the message has yet to bring the change that's recorded here one pastor said you could walk away asking as pastors often hear well what was the point pastor what was the point i don't get the point listen the point's always been clear point has always been clear do you have the peace of god that surpasses all understanding have you been reconciled to him to the blood of Christ? You. And you know today, people search for peace in a lot of things. That isn't bringing peace, is it? Peace in a bottle, peace in drugs, peace in things, peace in family. It's not what brings peace. What brought peace to the lives of the shepherds that day was an understanding of who came down for them to save them. And oh, the marvel of the love of God. I was just talking with a man the other day and I was explaining to him out in public my sermon for today. I don't know how it happened, but I got to preach it early. And I got into it over at the gym. Sorry, I had to tell you where it was again. And he stands there as I'm explaining it and he wells up with tears. And he says, Chris, he says, before I walk out of here, I will have already forgotten this. I don't understand. He says, we give him so little and he loves us to this degree. This was a Christian man, very mature Christian man. And I was so taken to think that's exactly right. Our God has been so wonderful to us today. We have so many reasons to celebrate, but the greatest reason to celebrate is that Jesus came today to be a savior from all of our sins so that today, whether you live or die, you can have peace with God and know that whether you live or die, you belong to the Lord and nothing can separate you from His love. Sin has brought separation. You can accept that today or not. I pray you accept it and believe that. But I pray then that you will turn with all your hearts to the answer because judgment and hell is real. It's real and it's coming. But God has announced today, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. We're no different, you see, than these shepherds. The gospel was just preached to you today just like it was to them. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy and it's for all people. It's for you, he just said. It's for you in 2015 sitting at the Escondido URC. Jesus says, i went underwent the ultimate humiliation for you i took on your rags i wore your death cloths i put on your death cloth your grave clothes and i'll tell you what they weren't suits i suffered the wrath of god for you i went into the grave so that you will never have to know that kind of sorrow and suffering and taking on punishment for your sins so that you can know today that whether you live or die you belong to the lord i underwent that and the sign has always been the same it's me life death and resurrection that's christmas that's christmas and if he has come into your hearts the response too will be the same you will desire to make him widely known if you're going to go out and be just thrilled today of the love of god that surpasses all understanding and you will leave today with peace glorifying and notice how this ends praising god for all that you have heard and can you say now have seen with the eyes of faith that Jesus has done for me and given himself for me. That would be a Christmas today we're celebrating. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you have been so wonderful in sending your Son. Oh, the love of the Father that he would give his only begotten Son. Oh, Lord Jesus, that you came with that kind of love and affection and desire to save all your sheep, to bring them home and to have this good news today proclaimed in the mess of this world and all the misery that's around us to have him proclaimed to your glorious name proclaimed as the way of escape. And look what you're offering. Life, freedom, joy and you'll take away the bitterness of our hearts. What a reason to celebrate today all that you've done for us as we call this day Christmas. It's a celebration every day of our life of your whole life. And that today you're reigning on your throne, resurrected in glory, ascended and seated, so that today we leave praising and glorifying God for all the wonderful things you've done for us. Holy Spirit, unless this translates to hearing and then believing and perceiving and understanding and seeing, Unless your work is in hearts, it will all fall on deaf ears. Work powerfully the gospel today and those who heard and bring them to Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.