[Music] GL [Music] to encourage your meditation on this Christmas Day ly let me direct your attention to the words found in the first part of the sixth verse in the 9th chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah For unto us a child is born unto us a son is given now those words remind us of what is after all from our standpoint as human beings the most important thing for us to realize on this Christmas Day on any Christmas Day this is a day in which it has become the custom for people to give
gifts and presents to one another it's become increasingly a day on which this is done and it seems to me that this is a very right and a very good thing for us to do I believe that mankind and consciously in doing this is helping to bring out what is as I'm going to try to show you after all the greatest and the most important thing for us to realize about this day so let's start with it on the human level it's a day I say when people give these gifts to one another they think
a great deal about it beforehand and it's a time of great happiness and rejoicing as presents are given and are received it leads to talk it leads to much thought and subsequent contemplation and it is something that leads to differing reactions we are all young enough still to remember days of childhood and to remember that it wasn't always a mixed Joy there was sometimes a failure to appreciate and to realize what had been given well now that in general is the kind of thing that we associate in our minds with Christmas Day and I want
to try to put it to you that this is a very good starting point there from which we can indulge in a few meditations together briefly on this occasion that's a good way I think of bringing alive this Mighty thing that happened on that first Christmas Day because the Bible is very fond of representing it as God's gift to this world that's why I read those words from the sixth verse in the 9th chapter of Isaiah unto us a child is born unto us a son is given now some of us who meet here regularly
have been concentrating on that passage the last two Sunday mornings and I've indicated that point each time but I want to isolate it this morning and to emphasize it in particular you get a corresponding statement in that best known preps verse in the whole Bible God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that's the whole notion which is emphasized for us in the teaching of the scripture so that all our giving of gifts and receiving of of gifts you see is but a pale repetition of this unique event when God gave
to the world his dear and only begotten son very well let's therefore use that in this way let's start of all first of all by looking at the gift itself that's the first thing we do always isn't it we look at the gift and the moment you look at God's gift to mankind what surprises you is this very element of surprise we all as I say try to anticipate these gifts and children particularly do so they indulge their imaginations they wonder what's going to happen what they're going to get and they think what they'd like
to have and so on and the whole world is in a sense like that and there the world that believes in God looks to him and expects things of him but here is the greatest thing that even God has ever done and it is of course the most surprising thing that God has ever done God In His Infinite majesty and glory in all the infinitud of all his Perfections and attributes what would we have expected God to do do for this world well we know we are but men and women and we are told in
so many parts of the Bible what people did expect of God we find what they expected of Our Lord himself when he came on Earth and said and claimed to be the Son of God they were always surprised at what he did and still more surprised at what he didn't do the world always expects some great demonstration of power it tends to estimate greatness in terms of power and bigness but when God sends his greatest gift at first s it's a very small gift just a little babe and a helpless little babe the exact opposite
I say of any great display of military power or pump or authority just a helpless bab and you think of all the various other contrasts he came not to Jerusalem but to Bethlehem Bethlehem was one of the smallest of all the cities of Judah and therefore tended to be despised but it was to Bethlehem he came not to the capital city his mother was not some great personage very ordinary person Mary not even married the circumstances were humble and we remember that he was born in a stable the whole thing is so unusual isn't it
when we think of what we would have expected and have anticipated God to do what our imagination would have produced what actually happened is very different indeed and this is the Marvel and the Wonder and I almost use the word the magic of Christmas but here is God's Gift in this small compass in this helpless B laid in a manger and you think of the poverty the extreme poverty they couldn't afford to offer lens as an offering they could only offer Turtle dos well here it is you see this is God's way of giving a
gift and it's astonishing and it's amazing but you must not only take a casual glance at the gift some of the most precious gifts tend not to attract attention at First Sight because our whole thinking is wrong all our Notions are wrong and we take A hurried glance at something and we see nothing in it but if we go back and and look again then we begin to discover the glory and The Wonder of it all for the fact is that this helpless babe is the only begotten Son of God that is why the Bible
describes this the Apostle Paul bursts out and says thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift words can't describe it why well because even God couldn't give a greater gift than the gift he's given he has given his only begotten son he has given his dearly beloved Son he has given the one who was ever with him from all eternity and he has sent him into this world of time now this is the great theme of the Bible of course God as the author of The epistle to the Hebrews puts it sent many servants into
the world and to the nation of Israel God who in Sury times and in diverse manner spake in times past un the fathers by the prophets these were all gifts of God all great men are God's gifts every faculty and power and propensity that we all have they're all gifts of God everything is from God he's the author of all being and God has endowed and endued the world with many great and wonderful gifts in the form of outstanding men liberators great thinkers Sears sages and so on but here God has surpassed all that and
outdone all that I say it with reverence and this is the thing that should fill our minds and hearts with astonishment this Christian this Christmas morning that here God has done something which even he himself cannot Excel he's given his only son his eternal son he has sent him into the world you remember our Lord himself worked this out in one of his Parables the parable of a man owning a Vineyard and he'd got unworthy servants looking after the vineyard and there good men he sends his representatives and his servants and their melt treated and
then he aures with himself I'll send my son they won't do this to my son surely they'll respect my son there's nothing Beyond this it's the last act and so we celebrate today God's Supreme gift there is nothing Beyond this God has sent his only son into the world well now what does this then tell us about the giver a gift tells us a great deal about the giver doesn't it and you can estimate more or less what people think of you by the gifts they give you it's a very good way of estimating and
we all habitually do this and we can apply all that to this particular matter so the first thing that I would remind you of this morning is that we must never forget that God is the giver God the father of course it's natural and right that we should think about the bab of Bethlehem our blessed Lord lying as a helpless babe in the manger but my dear friends let's never forget this God is the giver we must never think of all this in terms of the son as it were having to Plate the father that's
quite wrong it is the father who has sent the son into the world it was the father's purpose it is God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son or if you like when the fullness of the times was come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that are under the law so that this really is something that should make us think through the son of the father himself because he is the giver nothing is so wrong as it in ordinary life as
to be more interested in the gift than in The Giver there is no greater insult in a sense to a giver than just to concentrate only on the gift and let us never forget therefore that the Son of God was sent by the father and that he was sent in order to bring us to the father and to enable us to realize certain things about the Father the great Eternal Giver what do we realize what are we reminded of particularly by this gift well above everything else of course the love of God and the grace
of God that's the great theme of the whole Bible why did God send his son into the world why has God given us this Christmas gift we know the answer don't we it's not a as a reward we do give gifts to people to reward them people who' have been faithful people have been kind to us people have been good to us we take the opportunity of giving them a gift as a reward but God hasn't given us his unspeakable gift as a reward we deserve nothing from him neither has he given us this gift
in Return of some for something we've given to him we give presents in return don't we if we think we're going to receive a present we'll give a present it's all right it's quite right that we should do so but you know when you come to this realm that doesn't apply at all what have we given to God no no it's not in return for anything that we have ever given to him the glory and the Marvel of this Christmas is just this that it is entirely from God's side we deserve nothing indeed we deserve
less than nothing we deserve punishment for we've all sinned against God we've all rebelled against God we've all turned our back act upon God we haven't appreciated the gifts he gives us day by day it is he who gives us the Sun and sends the rain it is he who Frac defies our crops and gives us food and clothing and health and everything that we have and everything that we enjoy but we've allowed months and years perhaps to pass we've never thanked him at all indeed we've deliberately disobeyed him and broken his Commandments and we
deserve nothing but punishment and to be deprived of all the blessings and the J of life that's what we deserve we have no claim upon God at all we have no righteous demand that we can make of God and that is the peculiar Marvel of Christmas that it is in spite of us that he did it it is all of grace and grace means by definition favor shown to people who don't deserve any favor at all try to think of yourself or somebody else going out of your way to give a gift to somebody who's
been most offensive to you and whove done his best to malign you and to drag your name in the mud or to get you down try to imagine yourself saying well I'm going to give a gift to that fellow to that person but think of yourself giving the most precious thing that you're capable of giving to such a person it's almost Unthinkable we don't do things like that alas but that's how what God has done it is all of Grace it is in spite of us that God sent his only begotten son into the world
God so loved the world that had sinned so grievously against him it tells us of his love and of his grace in a way that nothing else can do but you see it also tells us about his purpose I was reminding you just now that we think of these things weeks and months ahead of time don't we've got a plan the purpose I'm going to do this I'm going to give so and so this particular thing and it gives us great pleasure isn't something you do at the last moment hurriedly if it is well you're
a very poor giver and you don't understand this business however that's how we do when we're at our best we have a plan and we have a purpose and we think it out and my dear friends that's exactly what God has done the teaching of the Bible is that God had planned to give this gift to the world before they ever made made the world itself before the foundation of the world he planed it's the universal teaching of the whole of the Bible so what we have at Christmas is this TR mendous carrying out of
what he' purposed Before Time so the gift itself tells us of the purpose we say why was Jesus Christ born there in Bethlehem on that particular day why did this happen and why did it happen then there's only one answer it had all been planned by God that's why we must always hold on to that great statement of the Apostle in the epistle to the Galatians when the fullness of the times was come and the timing is most amazing you read your Old Testament you see God's got a purpose he's moving in a certain direction
but then everything seems to hinder it and nothing seems to happen you know there were 400 years of absolute silence between Malachi and the beginning of the preaching of John the Baptist and many people thought that God had forgotten or that everything had gone wrong that the devil and hell and sin and evil had been stronger than God but is all wrong God do a great plan and a purpose and he knew the exact moment and when it came God sent his son God gave his gift so the gift tells us about this great purpose
of God and thank God for it on a morning like this in a world that is so full of trouble and of Anguish and of pain and of Sorrow my dear friends God still is a purpose for this world and this day reminds us of that very well it also goes on to remind us of something else it reminds us of God's truthfulness you read the Old Testament and you'll find that God keeps on making a promise he says I'm going to do something I'm going to send a messiah I am going to send a
deliverer in other words God had promised throughout the centuries that he was going to give this gift and there's nothing more wonderful to me about Christmas than just this aspect of the matter that here God is keeping his promise God is fulfilling his word God is doing what he said he would do and is there anything more wonderful than that AR the Glad sound the savior comes the Savior promised law and here he's come and God's veracity and truthfulness are Vindicated and established and are proclaimed and therefore you see as we receive this gift from
God and as we look at this gift it tells us this tremendous thing about God God says I'm going to give you the gift I've given you the gift very well believe all is other promises and we need them and he's given us them exceeding great and precious promises there's nothing more wonderful about being a Christian than just that that you're surrounded by the promises of God he says I will never leave thee nor forsake thee he's promised to take care of us he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us
all how shall he not also with him freely give us all things but yes somebody can I trust God can I believe these promises can I rest upon them of course you can Christmas tells you yes God had promised this so many long centuries before the day came and he fulfills his promise so that Christmas should give us this unshakable assurance in the word and the promises of God they're always true they'll always be fulfilled never will one of them fail for his Merc a andure ever faithful ever sure and so then we can with
confidence I say look to the Future this is the most glorious thing about God he's unchangeable what he has been he is he ever will be what he has said he will most surely perform he sees the end from the beginning so we can look at this day in that most wonderful and interesting manner that we can calmly and quietly rest in the promises of almighty God he is as it were saying to you this morning I told you I'd give you the Supreme gift I've given him and everything else I promise you I will
most surely also perform very well there are some of the things there are many others I just leave those few Thoughts with you that's what the gift tells us about the great the Glorious Giver the Everlasting and eternal God but let me put a last main thought in your minds what what does this gift tell us about ourselves now I said at the beginning that we all are still young enough to remember that sometimes our feelings were mixed on a Christmas day when we received various gifts the gift in other words tests the recipient not
only tells us about the giver but about the receiver and nothing is more important for us this morning than to just test our reaction to God's gift to us I'd simply ask these questions is it what uh you had expected is this what you would have anticipated God would do for the world and for its people or let me ask another question is it uh what you like is it what you would have preferred above everything else or let me put it in another form do you appreciate the gift gifts are a tremendous test of
us you remember our Lord compares the kingdom of God to a merchantman seeking goodly pearls he's an expert and one day he's looking around some antique shop as it were and suddenly he sees a pearl and he realizes its value and he realiz that it's so valuable that he's ready to sell all he's got in order to buy that now many people had looked at that and couldn't see anything in it but there's men he saw the value he appreciated its worth or like the men stumbling across the treasure in the field a gift always
does this it always tests us or I could illustrate this at Great length you people can look at Great masterpieces in the realm of art but they see nothing in them I've heard people who have had no appreciation at all of some of the greatest masterpieces of Music we agree that that doesn't tell us anything about the music but it tells us a great deal about those people our appreciation of something always tells people a great deal about us and so the question I'm asking is this do you realize this morning that here is God's
unspeakable gift the most precious gift how how do we realize it's preciousness well these are the simple tests aren't they do you see your need of this gift the great world this morning is not rarely interested that God sent his only son into the world why not why isn't the world interested in Christ why does Christmas mean so little in this world and in this true sense why is it the case that if you could blot him out of History the vast majority of people would be left entirely unaffected why is that there's only one
answer they' have never seen their need of him never seen their need of him and if you haven't seen your need of him you'll see nothing in him and so you'll see nothing in the greatness of the gift or let me put it to you like this do you realize the cost of this gift you like to think of that don't you if somebody whom you love has given you a gift you like to think oh look at the money he spent or she spent must think a great deal of me the cost well just
try and think of this think of what this gift has cost the father can you imagine it we can't of course the Eternal Father Son and Holy Spirit dwelling together from eternity and suddenly the father sends the son any parent knows what it is for a child to leave home for the first time but think of the Everlasting God sending his only begotten dearly beloved Son away from home to a world of sin and shame and darkness and squall even that's what he did the cost and think of what it must have meant to the
son he who counted it not robbery to be equal with God was always with God equal with God co- equal co-eternal sharing the Everlasting glory in the glory of Heaven he comes out of it all there he is born as a helpless babe in a stable oh the C the self humiliation the self humbling the cost of it my friends without my mentioning the end of the Cross and the shame the Der elction The Agony do you realize what it has cost the Triune Eternal God that you and I might be redeemed so I asked
my last question do we realize exactly what this gift of God to us provides for us do we realize that it provides exactly what we need and infinitely more do we realize that it is because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish here is a gift that saves us delivers us from punishment from Hell From Misery from Eternal unhappiness outside the life of God God is giving us free pardon deliverance from the punishment we deserve but look at it positively he reconciles us
to himself through this gift he's restoring us to his favor not only that he's even adopting Us in him the Son of God Isaiah quoting John Kelvin again became the son of men that the sinful sons of men might become the sons of God he came down to raise us up we are given New Life a new nature we are adopted as children of God we are made AES of God join HS with Christ so that through this gift we are able to see beyond this world Beyond this life through death Beyond it all to
the glory Everlasting that is coming in which we shall be with him and reign with him and enjoy his glorious presence forever and forever if I may so put it with reverence at First Sight the parcel seems to be a very small one but all the wealth God has opened his heart has given the ultimate at such a cost and in this gift and with this gift he he gives us all we need and infinitely more rensen healed restored forgiven what can we say who like thee his praise should sing my dear friend does this
unspeakable gift of God fill you this morning with gratitude with amazement with praise Amen Let us sing this great and glorious Hymn of Charles Wesley hym number 84 hymn number 84 hark the herald angel sing glory to the newborn King hymn number [Music] 84 the Mighty GL GL GL [Music] beever May beh the [Music] s hallelu the [Music] the [Music] thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift and May the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit abide and continue
with us all now throughout the remainder of this day throughout the remainder of this hour short UNC Earthly life and pilgrimage and until we see him in All the Glory of his Perfection and shall be made like unto him amen
