Episode 263: A Savior, Who is Christ The Lord | +Quigg Lawrence

Introduction

Good morning, friends. Good evening, friends. Good evening. I said good morning to so many people coming in today. It's embarrassing. I'm going to give you the bottom line up front because some people go, what did the man say? I don't know what he said. Okay, I'm going to tell you what I'm going to say, and I'm going to say it again. It's one verse. And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a 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. We'll get there.

Personal Reflections and the Birth of Christ

So, I remember when I was a kid, I grew up right on the border of Goochland County. Now, it's all paved, but back then, it was kind of rural. Rural people and it was a coal miners church back in the 1850s or so. We went to this little church, maybe you could smash 200 people in there, but Christmas Eve was always different. And as a kid, like, I didn't know the Lord, but I could sense it was exciting, right? There were smells. There were garlands and the trees, and I know these don't smell, do they? Let's see. Not so much. But anyway, the garlands and the Christmas trees and there was plenty of wassail and cologne in the air, and it was very festive, very festive. And I remember Mister Grumpy Pants. I won't say his full name, but his first name was Paul. He's Mister Grumpy Pants, and he had a wax mustache. The only time I saw the man singing all year was Christmas Eve. Again, probably had a lot of wassail, but he was singing with all his heart and with so much gusto.

I remember feeling special in those services. I didn't know Tim, I didn't know what was going on, but I could sense something was there. I knew the basic details. So, there's a baby. His name? Jesus. Jesus. He was born in a manger, and he was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and an angel appeared and talked to some shepherds who were watching their flocks by night. And he said, fear not. I knew all the details. The thing I didn't know was, like, what the heck does that have to do with my regular life? It's awesome on Christmas Eve. Awesome. I just didn't know how to take the thing I was experiencing, the feeling I was having, and apply it Monday through Friday, the other days of the year. It's like nobody had connected the dots for me. They weren't connected, and so I had this awesome feeling, but I didn't know the Lord. I didn't really get Christmas.

Focus on the Main Scripture

So I thought maybe we'd look at the scripture, and because you don't want to be here for an hour during sermon time tonight, maybe we're going to hit, like, the main point. Would that be okay with y'all, or would y'all like to stay here longer? My wife, every time I say, honey, what should I do? Keep it short. Every time. So let's look at the scripture, but we're really going to hone in on the main verse. It was the verse that actually changed because, again, I knew the basic facts, but I didn't get the point. So we'll rip through the basic story, but then we'll hone in on the main point.

It says, in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered or taxed. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Now, if you're like me and sitting in church, you start hearing that, and it sounds like somebody talking advanced physics or tools that maybe mechanics use on some machine you've never heard of, and just kind of start, right? Why is that in there? Why do they waste our time with all that? Have you ever wondered? Like, why why did the Lord waste his time telling us about Caesar Augustus and Quirinius, governor of Syria, and the registration or taxing? Why did he do that?

Yeah. Timeline. And again, you know, scholars love to fight over this stuff. That's their only job is to argue and fight. But, you know, who cares? I don't care if Quirinius was in this year or that year or whether he preceded Caesar. The main point of this is they're real people. You read the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindi scriptures? I know because I lived in India. They told me, oh, they're made up. They're all made up. They're not real. It's not a real person. A lot of religious traditions, they're not real. They're not real. They're just make believe. But the Lord anchors this with real names, real people, real places. It's not make believe. That's the point.

Alright. Let's pick it up. So it says, 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 the line of David. Again, you hear that, go, nice story, Hallmark, awesome. What's the point? What's the point? Do you know? Would anybody like to run up here and tell everybody? The point is that God told King David, and it's in Jeremiah 23, I think. You can read it. But God told King David that he was going to raise up a righteous branch for his people in the line of David. And the branch that he's going to raise up would be a king. And it says, in fact, he will be called the Lord, our righteous savior through the line of David.

And so all these things we read and go, that's nice. It actually is important because the Messiah was to come from the line of David, and Joseph was from the line of David.

The Birth of Jesus

Alright. Well, let's pick it up. So he went with who? Who'd he go with? Who did Joseph go with? It's not that hard. It's not a trick. Mary. Right? And Mary, who was with child, went to be registered with Mary as betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to a firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.

Friends, this feels like somebody who's never been in a game. Who wrote this? Luke 2. Who read it? Luke. Luke is a? Physician. Physician. He's also a man. He's a man. Isn't this written like a man describing childbirth? Oh, yes. It's great. He says, the time came for her to give birth. She was there with her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and placed him in a manger. Women tell me it's not like that, is it? It's earthy, it's granular, it's painful, it's real. It's real. And so, as awesome as Luke wrote it, what I want to say is, for Mary, I'm sure it was a much tougher experience. But Joseph went with Mary to be registered so he could be taxed. It says, and while they were there, it was time to give birth, and she did give birth to her firstborn son. It says in verse 8, and in the same region, this is where the shepherds come in, hints. In the same region, there were dwelling shepherds. They were out in their fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And the angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

See, I don't know that much, but I think we all want to see the glory of the Lord. We've seen the brokenness of the world. We've seen the fake stuff. We've seen the hyped-up stuff, but sometimes we want something real, and we want to see a real God who loves real people, who gave his real son so that they could be saved. And so we pick it up. And I mean, this is what I love about scripture. When I first read it, I'm like, this is a book of human failure. The whole book is a book of human failure. What did the angels say to the shepherds? I mean, shepherds, they're pretty tough dudes, right? They live outside. They handle sheep. They fight off wolves and bears. What did he say to the shepherds? Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Do you need God to tell you that? Don't be afraid. I do. And you all come from a long list of worriers. You know, my mother is pretty, she's awesome. She's the best. I had the best mom. But she worried. She got it from her dad, who was a professional worrier. I might have come down a little bit through the family line, if you know what I'm saying. We worry. We worry because we don't have control. We don't know what's going to happen. We're going to run out of money. We're going to have too many years of our life before the money runs out. Something bad's going to happen to us. We're going to get cancer. We're going to get this and this and this, and we worry and worry and worry. The Lord says, fear not. Don't be afraid. Fear not. He said it to shepherds. He said, I bring you good news. Most people go to church, they're expecting bad news. Somebody yell at them. I didn't need anybody to yell at me. I didn't. You know what? I already knew I was a sinner. I already knew I didn't know God. I needed somebody to yell at me. He says, fear not. I bring you good news with 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. That's the verse. That's the verse.

The Significance of the Birth of Christ

And you see, it's good news, but it's also bad news. It's good news for me because all those years, I couldn't put the pieces together. You know, it's like I didn't connect the dots. And you know, children are given these little coloring books, you probably had them yourself. And you see, you open it up, and there are all these little dots, and you go, that looks like nothing. But then if you actually take the time to draw and connect them, what do you see? Daffy Duck. Right? And so, like, we're trying to connect the dots. The point of this, I don't really care about swaddling clothes. I don't care if it's in a manger or a cave. But the point is that God provided a savior because we need to be saved. The problem is in my early life, I didn't know that. I didn't believe that. I was almost like the drowning person that's drowning, but they haven't realized, like, the size or the bigness of their situation, the gravity of their situation. And this scripture is kind of a poke in the eye, if you will. And it says a savior has been born because that tells me that I need a savior. I need a savior. You need a savior. If you can't remember anything else from Luke 2, know that God did the work. He brought a savior because you needed saving from your sins. You friends were on the naughty list.

I want to now, I'm going to hack off any really conservative types by showing this video, but you know, it's better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. I did run it by my daughter and wife. So, rotate.

(Here the transcript includes a humorous exchange with children about being on the naughty list and good list, which the speaker found priceless.)

You are absolutely right—that's why you're on the naughty list. I would swear. Trust me. Well, that's why you're on the naughty list because you're being naughty right now. So you're going to be on the naughty list if you keep talking like that.

No. No. Because Father Christmas is not being very nice to me.

Because you're being naughty.

So you're on the naughty list.

No. No. I'm not.

Actually, I'm on the good list.

You're not because you, you're not because you ain't being good.

I am on the good list.

If you keep saying that word again and again and again, I'm not on the naughty list.

Father Christmas rang me last night when I was at work and said, you better tell Jackson to start being a good boy or he's going to stay on the naughty list and he won't get any presents for Christmas. That's what he said to me. So you gotta start being a good boy.

Then I will do an apple cut to him.

No. No.

He won't do, mate. What? Punch him. Punch his beard off.

You're just silly, man. Trust me. I'm not on the bad list.

You're on the naughty list, mate.

No, I'm not.

You guys, that was so priceless. I wanted to use it in the sermon no matter how I could tie it in. I've been thinking for six days, and what's the little fellow's name?

Jackson.

Jackson, like, kinda gets away with it because he has a British accent. Like, the people online, no kidding, on YouTube, they're like, that kid is such a brat, but I love his accent, so he kinda like gets by because of his accent. I understand, like, in the early service I was very nervous because the kids are gonna see some kid being very disrespectful to his dad. I get it. But then I realized Jackson is us. Jackson is on the naughty list. Jackson is not good enough to go to heaven. Jesus said, there's no one good. No one. No one. Scripture says so many times, Isaiah—you probably heard of that book. Isaiah 53 says, all we like sheep, all of us have gone astray. All of us. No. I mean, I appreciate they went to prep school and he has a tie on at age five. Appreciate there's a preppy sweater. That's awesome. But he's on the naughty list. We all have gone astray. Everyone's turned to his own way. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Romans 3 says this, no one is righteous. Then that's an even playing field. No one is righteous. No, not one. All have turned away. All have become useless. No one does good. Not even one. Romans 3:23 says, for all have sinned. I could go on and on. Romans 6 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. And so, as funny as that is, and it is funny, it's also sad. Do you see what he tried to do when he got confronted with the truth that he's on the naughty list? Did you see it? I think the guy's gonna make a great lawyer. He's awesome. He's funny. But what he tried to do is he just goes, I am not on the naughty list. And you can say it 100 times. You can say it loud. You can say it passionately. You're still on the naughty list. You need a savior.

And then, when that didn't work, what did Jackson do? Violence. He would have knocked Santa in the chin and knocked his beard off. So, friends, what I'm saying is, rather than fight it, just embrace it. We need a savior. Like that woman I saved at Virginia Beach who didn't want to be saved. I had to let her drown some more until she realized she had no ability to save herself. She, in fact, needed a rescuer and a savior.

And so, while we can make jokes about Jackson, his preppy little sweater, his preppy little tie, we all are people walking in darkness. We need a savior, and the awesome message of Christmas is that God, for no other reason than his own pleasure, and enjoyment, and love for you, brought one. And the little baby Jesus that we can't relate to is nothing more than the Lamb of God who will be crushed for us.

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.