About this sermon
1. All details of history are made to fulfill the sovereign-will and plan of God — even the will of pagan rulers (vv. 1-5)!
2. Observe how little welcome the world gave to its’ virgin-born Savior (vv. 6-7).
3. Notice that the first Gospel was preached by an angel (vv 8-20).
Sermon transcript
Continuing for the reading of God’s Word, we continue the Foundations of Faith sermon series, a series which is being guided by the Apostles’ Creed. Not that we believe the Apostles’ Creed to be inspired, but it is a summary of very important and significant Bible truth. And today we consider Luke 2, verses 1-20, a very familiar passage, especially this time of year. as we consider the truth that we confess that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. The key stress today is on the word born. So let us hear God’s word, Luke’s account of our Lord’s birth and the reaction to it. 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 inn. 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 the heavenly host 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. Dear friends, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord to bless the proclamation of his word. Our Lord and Father in heaven, as we approach this text of Holy Scripture, we are, as it were, standing on holy ground. We are here today to contemplate and consider the significance of these awesome divine mysteries, the mystery of the incarnation and birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, We would ask, Heavenly Father, that these truths, though we are familiar with them and though we have heard this message for many years, in the case of many of us, that we pray that you would grant us the grace to hear these truths with fresh ears and that you would help us, Lord, to have a deepened sense of awe and reverence and praise for the sending of your Son, Jesus our Lord.
For it is in his name that we pray and all of God’s people said, Amen. You may be seated. Well, friends, as you can see, the title of my sermon this morning is Foundations of Faith, Born of the Virgin Mary, and there are about six words, key words, that I’d encourage the children to listen for, the word incarnation, birth, will, welcome, savior, and gospel. Well, dear friends, let me ask you a rhetorical question. What is it that makes biblical Christianity, historic biblical Christianity different from every other religion, every other belief system in the world? Well, I’m sure that there are many answers that could be given to that question. And while there are many things that set apart biblical Christianity from other world religions and other belief systems, I would assert to you, dear brothers and sisters, that the central truth that sets apart our holy Christian faith from every other system of belief, from every other religion in the world is this.
Biblical historic Christianity claims that the almighty God, the God who created the universe and who therefore is transcendent over the world and sovereign over all of creation and all of history, that this God actually entered into human history by becoming a man in the person of our incarnate Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Christianity, biblical, non-revisionist, biblical, historic Christianity proclaims that the only begotten Son of God, the second person of the divine trinity, took upon himself a full human nature. He took upon himself a human body and a human soul, yet without sin, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. God in Christ came down to our level in order to redeem us from our sins, restore us back into friendship and fellowship with God, and raise us up to the heavenly realm. God came down to us to raise us back up to himself.
Friends, when you think about it, these are astonishing claims. If you’ve been raised in the church or if you’ve been a Christian for any period of time, these are claims that are very familiar. But I want you to consider these claims from the perspective of someone who’s outside of the Christian faith. Imagine that you’re not a believer, that you’re not familiar with the Bible, you’re not familiar with the claims of Christ, and you hear these claims. They are truly astonishing claims, truly profound. See, no other religion in the world makes such profound and exalted claims about its founder. Christianity claims that the founder of our religion is God in the flesh. No other religion proclaims that. The divine mystery of our Lord’s incarnation, of His enfleshment in the person of Jesus, was of course made possible by the supernatural action of God, the action of God that the church confesses in the second credo of the Apostles’ Creed, where we confess that our Lord Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
Now friends, on the last Lord’s Day, we focused on the truth that our Lord was conceived by the Holy Spirit. In other words, we focused on the last Lord’s Day on the truth of the miraculous conception of our Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And I sought to point out that that is an essential truth of the Christian faith. And we consider this truth based on Luke’s record of the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would conceive and bear the promised Messiah. And so I would just, by way of review, take us back to chapter 1 and let me read the angel’s words to Mary and her response. In chapter 1, verses 30 to 35, it says, And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. Mary’s reaction, it says in verse 34, Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I am a virgin? And the angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will over, excuse me, will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God. Well friends, today we focus on the truth that our Lord was born of the Virgin Mary.
And we do so based on Luke’s record of our Lord’s historic birth in Bethlehem. And dear ones, we ought not to underestimate the significance and the importance of this event of redemptive history of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The importance of this subject of Jesus’ historic birth is of course highlighted by the fact that without the historic birth of Jesus, God’s plan of salvation could not have gone forward. And just to be kept in obvious for a moment, Jesus our Lord could not have died for our sins if he had not first become incarnate and been born for us. Jesus could not die for you if he was not first born for you and if he had not lived for you. So all of this ties together. Without Bethlehem there would have been no Calvary. no empty tomb, and thus no hope for a lost, sin-cursed world.
And hence the importance of our subject for this Lord’s Day morning. Now before we dive into our text, and I know this is a long passage, I want to assure you that what I’m going to present this morning is just sort of an overview of this passage. We would be here a very long time if if we went verse by verse and if I sought to turn over every rock and dig for every gem in this precious passage of God’s Word. But nonetheless, I do want to say that a major source, I want to give credit where credit is due, a major source for my sermon outline and for some of the basic contents of this sermon is taken from a resource known as the Pulpit Commentary. Well friends, in chapter one, Luke tells us of the circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist, the son of the godly priest, Zechariah, and his wife, Elizabeth.
The birth of John the Baptist, of course, was a very significant event, and John the Baptist himself was a very significant figure in redemptive history. He was the one who had been predicted by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 40, verse 3, as the voice crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. But here, friends, in chapter two, we pass from the person of the forerunner to that of his great successor. The priest’s son was indeed great, but the virgin’s son was greater. So let us now turn our attention to Luke’s detailing of the historical circumstances surrounding the birth of our Lord Jesus, who was indeed born of the Virgin Mary. And let’s first of all focus on the first five verses of chapter two.
And there’s many things that could be said about this passage, many things we could learn from this passage. But one thing I wanna point out, a lesson that we can glean from this passage of God’s word, is that all details of history are made to fulfill the sovereign will of God, even the will of pagan rulers. Let me say that again, all details of human history are made to fulfill the sovereign will and plan of God and this includes even the decisions and choices of pagan rulers such as the mighty Caesar Augustus. Let me read these verses again, it says, in those days, again, Luke is a master historian and he roots these events in the history of the time. In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world, meaning all of the known world, the Roman world, that all the world should be registered.
This was the first registration. He identifies when this took place. 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. Now, why did Joseph do that? Well, as it says, because he was of the house and lineage of David. Joseph was our Lord’s legal father, obviously not his biological father, but his legal father. And so therefore, as a son of David, the Messiah was predicted to be the son of David, and as the son of Joseph, Jesus was indeed a son of David. a descendant of King David. And so Joseph went up to be registered, and it says in verse 5, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
And the details of that were explained in the previous verse. Now, how does this illustrate God’s sovereign will and his providential orchestration of historical events? Well, this is a general truth which is powerfully underscored by this passage of God’s word. Friends, we see here how God, in his sovereign overruling providence, uses the will of Caesar Augustus to fulfill his own sovereign will. Well, how does he do that, Pastor? Well, God did this by moving Augustus to decree for the Roman world to be registered at this particular time. Why is that significant? Well, you see, friends, the prophet Micah, the Old Testament prophet Micah, in that familiar passage of Micah 5, verse 2, reveals that it was God’s sovereign plan that the promised Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. Let me have you just turn there briefly to Micah 5, verse 2.
And I know this is a familiar passage, Micah, towards the end of the Old Testament. A very significant messianic prophecy. Micah writes in chapter 5, verse 2, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days, which, by the way, hints at the eternality and preexistence and deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. But this is speaking about a ruler, a promised ruler. This is speaking of the promised Messiah. And where was the promised Messiah to be born? In David’s city, Bethlehem. But here’s the issue. Up until a very short time before our Lord’s birth from the Virgin Mary, it appeared that Jesus was going to be born, not in Bethlehem, but in Nazareth, where Joseph and Mary resided. If Jesus had been born in Nazareth, then God’s sovereign plan for the Messiah to be born in Bethlehem, David’s city, would have not been carried through.
So how is it that God orchestrates events to get Mary to Bethlehem in time for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem? Well, lo and behold, Augustus, the pagan emperor of Rome, issues a decree and a census that a census must be taken of the Roman world. Now these registrations, these censuses took place periodically at that time in history. There was a very unpopular census that took place in AD 6 that was very disruptive. This is obviously referring to an earlier census that had been called, but in any case, the timing of it is under God’s providential plan. One of the implications of this decree that the Caesar issued was that Jewish families needed to go to their tribal cities in order to be registered. In verse four, Luke explains that Joseph, who was of the house and lineage of King David, had to go to Bethlehem, which was the city of David.
It was God’s sovereign plan that the Messiah, great David’s greater son, was to be born in the city of David, his prototype. Verse 5 informs us that Joseph took with him Mary in order to be registered with her. Now, what was the purpose of such registration? Well, there’s basically two purposes that were served by these periodic censuses that were taken. One was to register men for military service in the Roman Empire. Another purpose was for the purpose of taxation. Or it could be a registration, a census that was taken for both purposes. Here the purpose, at least in Joseph’s case, was was likely for purposes of taxation. After all, at the time, Jewish men were exempted from military service in the Roman Empire. This simple circumstance of the calling of this census was used by our sovereign God to bring Mary to Bethlehem, the divinely appointed place of the Messiah’s birth, just in time for her to give birth to our Lord Jesus.
Among other truths, this shows that God exercises full command, even over the wills of men, even over the wills of those who are not his worshippers, such as the pagan emperor, Caesar Augustus. God is sovereign over all people, whether or not they know it, whether or not they like it. This doesn’t mean that our choices don’t matter. This doesn’t mean that we are puppets on a string. But in God’s mysterious overruling providence, his providence ultimately controls and guides all actions and all decisions and all details of his creation and of human history. And this is even the case with the mighty emperor Caesar Augustus. Now beloved, how should this encourage and comfort us? How should this truth encourage and comfort us? Well dear ones, this truth should give us confidence and hope, especially as we live in this fallen world where dictators and tyrants and other evil men so often seem to hold sway.
For it assures us that they can do nothing outside of God’s sovereign and permissive will. God is greater than even the greatest among men. God is more powerful than even the most powerful among men. And God is able to overrule evil for his ultimate good and the ultimate good of his, for his ultimate glory, I should say, and for the ultimate good of his church. The coming of the virgin-born Prince of Peace into a hostile, unwelcoming world assures us that God’s good plan of salvation cannot be defeated. Praise be to God. God’s sovereign plan for your life and mine, brothers and sisters, cannot be defeated, for all things are made to fulfill His sovereign will. But speaking of the Savior’s welcome into the world. This brings me to my next point, which we’ll focus on verses six and seven for this next point.
Observe, dear friends, observe how little welcome the world gave to its virgin-born Savior. Observe how little welcome the world gave to its virgin-born Savior. It says in verse six, and while they were there, while Mary and Joseph were there in Bethlehem, the time came for her to give birth. The fullness of time had come, as we’re told in Galatians 4. When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. The time had come for Mary to give birth to the Savior of the world. And it says in verse 7, Luke is very straightforward and unadorned in his record of the birth of our Savior, but he indicates some interesting things about our Lord’s birth. It says, That was a custom back then to keep little ones warm, as strips of cloth would be strung around the little baby’s body, wrapped up almost like a mummy in that sense, but it kept the child warm.
And then it says that she laid him in a manger. What is a manger? It’s a feeding trough for animals. That’s where we get all of the customs and of the Christmas crash, the manger scene and so forth. The assumption is that Jesus was born among the animals, where animals were kept. Why? It says because there was no place for them in the inn. Friends, our Lord’s birth in Bethlehem was the most important birth which had ever or will ever take place in all of human history. Most important birth ever. Had the world truly appreciated the advent of the Christ child, it would have spread the news from shore to shore. Caesar would have sent out couriers, messengers to proclaim the news throughout the empire. The high priest in Jerusalem and the Jewish Sanhedrin would have proclaimed it among God’s people if they’d understood it and recognized it.
But there was so little true wisdom in the world that the precious Christ child had to steal into the world, if you will, and he had to be born in a stable and among the cattle. It was humiliating enough for the eternal divine Son of God to be born, period. It would have been humiliating for the eternal Son of God to be born even in a king’s palace. But what an utter act of voluntary humiliation that our Lord was willing to be born in what was likely a common cattle pen, or perhaps a cave that was being used for that purpose, all because there was no lodging place left for Mary. Now some of you might say, wait a minute, cave? Actually, there was a strong early Christian tradition that says Jesus was actually born in a cave that was being used to house animals, and that’s certainly is a possibility.
There’s a lot of, sometimes there’s a lot of sentimental speculations about certain events that are connected with the birth of our Savior. But in any case, Jesus was born in humble circumstances. By being born in such circumstances of more than ordinary abasement, to draw on the language of our confessional standards. In doing so, our Lord identified himself with the poorest among us. Indeed, he identified himself with us poor, wretched sinners. He came down to our level that he might redeem us and raise us back into friendship and fellowship with God. A couple points of application I want to make, friends. Our Lord humbled himself in his incarnation and birth so that we who trust in him might be exalted with the blessings of eternal salvation. Dear listener, let me ask you, do you trust in Jesus as your very own Savior, as your very own Lord?
If not, God in the gospel calls you Repent and believe. Believe the glad tidings of great joy. Believe the good news that the Savior has been born, that he has lived for you, that he has died for you, and he has been raised for sinners just like you and just like me. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation from your sins, and you shall be saved. and you shall know the real reason for the joy that is celebrated here at the historic birth of our Savior. But how does this impact our lives as Christians? Well, beloved, if our Savior was willing to humble himself to such a great depth in order to identify with us and to save us from our sins, then we who claim to be his followers should seek to be characterized by the virtue of humility.
I’m reminded of what the Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 2 on this matter. He writes the following in Philippians 2, beginning at verse 1. He says, so if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, Any affection and sympathy complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Easier said than done, right? Only by the grace of God and through the power of the Spirit can we do this. But then he goes on to say, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Verse four, let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, one of the clearest statements of our Lord’s full deity here, Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. It doesn’t mean he stopped being God. It means that he humbled himself by taking upon himself our humanity, being born in the form of a servant. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
This is what we are called to, brothers and sisters, to have this same mind among ourselves. Obviously, we’re not God, we cannot humble ourselves in the same manner that our Lord Jesus did, but on a creaturely level, we are to humble ourselves to serve one another. Our Lord was willing to humble himself to serve us and save us. Let us serve one another in love and in humility. But finally, beloved, I want you to notice, as we move on to the next section of our passage, notice that the first gospel was preached by an angel. What I mean is the first gospel proclamation after the birth of Jesus, the first announcement of the good news of our Savior’s birth was preached by an angel. Let’s go to verses eight through 20. Now, what we have in this passage is our virgin-born Savior’s birth announcement.
And we could certainly spend a lot of time in this wonderful passage, but I just want to highlight a few important truths that we can glean from this passage. As I mentioned in my last point, even though the importance of our Lord’s birth in Bethlehem was unrecognized by most of humanity, the angels in heaven understood its vital importance and significance, for the heavenly hosts of angels cannot be silent about it. Excuse me, look at verse eight. And in the same region, the region around Bethlehem, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. Let me tell you something about how most people viewed shepherds in the first century. They were not viewed with respect. They were kind of looked down upon, and especially among the Jews. The shepherds engaged in activities and because of the nature of their work, they were often ceremonially unclean by the standard of God’s ceremonial law in the Old Testament.
And so they were often unclean and set apart from the religious life of Israel. They were looked down upon as a general rule. It says that the angel announces this to shepherds. There were shepherds in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord, this is a supernatural angelic being, a messenger from the Lord, appeared to them. And the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were filled with great fear. Perhaps this was the Shekinah glory of God shining around them. Imagine being in their sandals, being out in the field, keeping watch over your flock by night, and you see this amazing revelation of the glory of God shining around you. And it says they were filled with great fear. That’s the usual reaction to angels in the Bible.
Angels were not those, you know how sometimes in artwork around Christmas time, you see cards and little figures of angels, little chubby cherubs, not very scary beings, are they? When the angels show up in scripture, they’re terrifying. They’re holy beings. They’re terrifying beings. And so what does the angel say? The angel said to them, fear not, for behold, that means pay attention, I bring you not the message of God’s judgment and wrath. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people, meaning all the people of God. 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 clothes and lying in a palace. No, lying in a manger.
And then what happens? Heaven explodes with praise. 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 among those with whom he is pleased. Now I want you to notice a couple of things. Consider first the audience to which the angel announces this good news of great joy. As I mentioned, these are humble shepherds who were likely despised as shepherds have often been throughout the ages. The angel appears not to Caesar Augustus in Rome or to the high priest or the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council in Jerusalem, or to other influential or powerful men, but he appears to humble, despised shepherds. In this event, we see that kingdom principle where the first shall be last and the last shall be first.
We see that principle playing itself out even here in the events of our Lord’s birth. And what is the message of the angel? Well, the message of the angel that we read about in verses 10 through 12 is the glad tidings of our Savior’s birth, a gospel which is intended for all the people of God. And then we notice the angelic choir in verses 13 and 14. What was the response to the angel’s announcement of this good news? Again, heaven exploded with praise. The earth was by and large ignorant of what had happened, but heaven knew what was going on. Praise and worship is the appropriate response. to the good news of our Savior’s birth. This shows us, by the way, friends, that an appropriate response to the preaching of the gospel is the singing of praise.
Let us, brothers and sisters, respond to the preaching of the gospel by singing out and celebrating the gospel, the good news of our virgin-born Savior. And how do the shepherds respond? We’ll notice finally the shepherd’s witness to the good news of the Savior’s birth. It says this in verse 15, when the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, boy, that was weird. Wow. Did we just see a hallucination? No, they don’t say that. It says, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem. They believe the good news. They believe the announcement. Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. They recognize the authority and the divine origin of this good news. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.
And when they saw it, what did they do? They witnessed, they preached, if you will. These shepherds had become proclaimers, preachers of the good news. They made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it, all who heard it, that implies not just Mary and Joseph heard this, all who heard it. They’re so excited they can’t keep this message to themselves. All who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them, but Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart and so forth. When the angels departed from the shepherds, these shepherds immediately went to Bethlehem in search of the Christ child. Apparently they had taken the angel’s announcement in verse 12 as an implied command to go in search for the child, a command which they obeyed.
They came with haste to Mary and they gazed with rapture upon her virgin-born child. They see and believe. They are ready to accept this little child as the savior of the world. A little child was leading them. Next we find them becoming, as I mentioned, his faithful witnesses as they spread the good news of what the angel had told them. Having found the Savior, these humble shepherds cannot help but proclaim him to others. One person who listened to their story was none other than Mary, the mother of Jesus herself. For again, we’re told in verse 13 that she pondered these sayings in her heart. And brothers and sisters, we would do well to imitate Mary’s example and ponder these things in our hearts, for these are the deep things of God. This powerful passage ends on a note of high praise in verse 20 where it says, the shepherds returned, they returned to their sheep.
They had trusted God’s providence to watch over their sheep, or perhaps they had hired others to temporarily watch over them, but in any case, they returned to their vocation, but they returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them. Dear ones, Christ was indeed born of the Virgin Mary. He was born in humility. and yet exalted with heaven’s praise. During this season, let us join with the shepherds in proclaiming the good news of great joy, and let us join our voices with the voices of the angels, saying glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. Amen, let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we do praise you that the Savior has come that the Savior has been born, that he has died for us and accomplished our redemption, that he has been raised and ascended for us, and that he reigns at your right hand. and we look forward to his second advent at the end of this age.
Oh Lord, as we ponder, like Mary, these deep things, we pray that your spirit would build us up and strengthen us, deepen our love for you, our reverence for you, and our obedience to you. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, amen. We close our time of worship today by rising and singing 299. Joy to the world, the Lord is come. 299.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.