Luke 2 - Setting the Stage, The Events of Christs Birth — Luke 1-2

0:00 My assignment on this Christmas Eve, believe it or not, Luke Gospel chapter two starting at verse one. And I have arranged with Jeremy to only go to verse seven. To have seven verses. So, if you would turn with me to that passage, please, but actually, if I would like to start in the first chapter. Not that we're going to read the whole first chapter but I I'd like to add a few comments about Luke since you're studying the whole book.

0:52 Now I know this particular season, certainly on Christmas Eve, no doubt many of you have at least one detail contained in the record of the holy scriptures of Christ coming into the world that makes you say, wow. It's the wow detail. Wow. And they change. I find in my life, things that made me say wow years ago.

1:30 Now I have other things that make me say wow. So I'm going to open in prayer. And then I'm going to ask if anybody would like to share their wow detail. Now at the Lord's supper, we said wow during the whole meeting. I'm thinking and as he has taught us to remember him through the proclamation using elements.

1:59 But now we will turn our attention to his birth and so we won't dwell long on that, although I must say that there's nothing better than going to a meeting where the elder says to you before you start, We're starting late so you take as much time as you want. Which is would be new to me. No. I say that jokingly. We always stay extra but that's alright also.

2:25 Now, let's pray while and while I'm praying, you certainly join in with your amens as well but think about your wow detail. A detail that makes you say wow. Not verbally. Your soul says wow. Right?

2:37 I'm sure you have one. Father, we thank you for your son, Jesus Christ. We thank you for a day, this day, the first day of this week that we can be gathered to him. Recognizing him in our midst as our head, as our savior. Lord, and now we have your word that you've given us in our own language.

2:59 We pray, Lord, that you would open our hearts to what you have to say. Lord, and your spirit would impress upon us the truths that you would want to speak to us about individually and collectively as members of one another of his body here at Westlake. We thus commit ourselves into your hands in Christ's precious name. Amen. Who's saying wow first?

3:28 Andy. Please stand and say it.

3:32 Verse 38, where Mary gives a response. Be it unto me according to thy word.

3:43 Who's next? We'll do this decently in or at dawn.

3:51 So, minus it's a couple of verses before then,

4:09 Thank you. Go. Very good. Would there be another? Excellent.

6:50 We have a very miraculous, I would say, conversion in addition to him being part of the mission team that Paul traveled with after that point. Of course, that was the point also where the Gospel first went into Europe, all right, across up at the top of the Aegean Sea, and across where the strait goes into, the Black Sea. So Luke is, I think, worthy of our attention. Okay? Worthy of our attention.

7:26 Now there was a man who lived in the late eighteen hundreds. He was a British archaeologist. His name was Sir Sir William Ramsey. There were two Sir William Ramses at that time, believe it or not. One was a chemist and won a Nobel Prize for chemistry, the other was an archaeologist.

7:43 It is the archaeologist that I am speaking about, and he is easy to find if you want to look it up. The point being, he was a Bible skeptic. Couldn't trust the Bible. And he particularly targeted Luke in the book of Acts. For the inaccuracies that he felt was filled with.

8:09 Not the recording of the miracles. In the book of Acts but the history of the book of Acts and it's connected to location. Where it all took place. And so, in order to prove that Luke was probably not very reliable as a source, he moved there. He went in to live in both Ephesus, Thessalonica, in that area of where the gospel is being preached there and he lived and he and he did studies and he dug.

8:46 He archaeologists, they dig. Well, when he came back, he was a Christian. He came back as a believer because he discovered in his search that Luke, believe it or not, was 100% accurate. Now, he's written several books. You can find them.

9:04 They're easy. If you buy Ebooks, they're cheap. So, Sir William Ramsey. And some of his writings that I've been able to read thus far, I enjoy. I do.

9:17 I like history. I like testimonies like that. People who start out to prove the Bible's wrong end up believing the Bible's right. Alright? But one thing that he adds it I think is equal to what Lightfoot added.

9:33 If you're a Greek student and you like language studies, this is what Lightfoot says about Luke's gospel chapter one verse one, two, and three. It's the only reason that we've come to this is to make this point. And as Denzel excellently presented, many have undertaken to draw up an account of things that have been fulfilled among us. Just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you most excellent Theophilus.

10:10 So that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. So, you take that verse and you realize this that Luke decided he was going to sort out everything what? Everything that he heard. Everything that he heard. And if you've watched The Chosen movies, if you do that, you'll notice that Matthew's taking notes, alright?

10:32 To write Matthew's gospel perhaps, but there are many who believe that there were journals kept not only by those by also parts of the 70 who were sent out as missionaries earlier in and there were this and they become known as the queue. Whether they're actually documents, nobody knows. Could have been verbal. Nevertheless, did Luke only rely on what other people told him? That's the question.

11:00 So, that he was subject to everybody running up to him and saying, oh but, did you know this about Jesus? And giving him a a story, a version in their own words that Luke decided when he heard them, oh, I should include them. Is that how Luke's gospel came about? Because if that is how, then I would say, wow, that that not being the eyewitness yourself, not being able to even verify and not even more so on top of that, being able to decide what should be in my gospel. What should I include of all the details people told me about what Christ did?

11:37 You could come up and give me your testimony but if I'm writing the gospel, I don't know if I include that. How how would I know? If I should include what you told me about Jesus Christ. I wouldn't know that. Right?

11:50 So, Lightfoot comes along and he says, well, interestingly, in verse three, in the middle of verse three, where it says, everything from the beginning, which is could be easily translated as such, The phrase the beginning is in fact better translated from above. Where it's translated from above and other places in the gospels using the same language. So, is it not possible that Luke's real testimony of his investigation was, I took everything that people told me that were eyewitnesses that they kept account of, that they gave me, that I wrote down, but more importantly than that. I verified it from above. I verified it from above.

12:41 So that he could have the sense that this is god's stamp of approval on the things that I've been told. Alright? That's what makes it authentic. That the spirit of god had control of Luke to not just keep collecting information that others want to filter down to him about Jesus Christ but in god's presence himself, he had this sense that this is why I'm investigating almighty god. I want to know the truth about your son that I can record so that Theophilus, whoever that might be, or does it stand for all those who love God, is what the word means, would have an accurate account as well.

13:27 Written by a Greek, a Gentile. A wise Gentile. A physician Gentile. Studied Gentile. Learned man.

13:40 Well traveled man. And I would suggest to you that this investigation that he did, Ramsey went and investigated the investigation and got saved. He got saved. Now, I've always loved John's Gospel, but I must say in the past probably fifteen years, I've been well occupied with Luke because of who he is, because of these truths, and also because that he used languages and includes details of Jesus Christ that the other gospels don't. And he used language solely that only he uses.

14:14 That's the words only used by Luke. No other writer used that word. Those are the words that you really appreciate and have such doubts. Anyway, so I commend to you the study of Luke. Now, portion is starts in the second chapter and it starts at verse one and I will read it and I will trust that you are quite familiar with it.

15:08 He went there to register with Mary who was pledged to be married to him and she was expecting a child. And while they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no room, no guest room available for them. And that is the end of my...

15:35 Anybody here have never heard those verses? I love how I get the easy part. Alright? I would just like to make a few comments and and I'm going to try to bring you to the passage that I say wow about. I can't make you say wow.

16:02 I can't. Alright? And you wouldn't necessarily need to say wow to the passage that makes me say wow. On this particular day at my age now, I might have said, well, Nevertheless, the point is that this is the work of God and if God's gonna elucidate or bring to your soul any attention that his son is deserving of. Christ Jesus came into the world.

16:29 It is very clear. He is in the world and even though the world was made by him, John says in his first chapter, the world didn't recognize him. Now, may I ask you and remind you, he's coming back. There will be nobody who doesn't recognize him this time. There will be not one person on this planet who does not recognize Jesus Christ when he's on that white horse.

17:13 And he comes back. And on his side and on his vesture, there's a name written in red. King of kings and lord of lords. And it's one thing to tell Christians that they already know that. The world doesn't know that.

17:37 Israel certainly doesn't know that Nor would they believe it if we told them. The world knows or Christians know that Jesus Christ is the king who's coming back. That will never be that information acceptance of that detail will never be a point of challenge for any Christian. The challenge will always be how many Christians honor him now as the king? Honor him.

18:13 Not just call him king. How do you honor a king in your life? We don't know. We vote. And the power of the individual vote.

18:27 We feel empowered by the system that we help choose and select. He's the king by god's choice. But how do you honor him? And I I I just leave it there. It has really nothing to do with the message, but I just was mindful of what while we were singing about the king.

18:53 You remember what the old prophet said to Eli in the book of Samuel second chapter. You honor your sons more than you honor god. It's a very powerful phrase to me because having a daughter, there were times when you have to be in a position. Well, so does I favor to her or do I favor and the the problem with the flesh is that our family has to come first and god has to be first and even in the issues of the king and and and being gathered to the king. Yes, we're gathered in the name of the lord Jesus.

19:30 The the king holds court and he calls members of his body to be there, to hold court, and you either come and you honor him or you don't honor him. And you come and sometimes even you come in isn't in a self honor other than you put yourself in a position where you can be honored by being influenced by him in his leading, in his headship, and you function as a member of his body. But if you're not here, you certainly could never say, I'm honoring to the king by upsetting myself from being gathered. You can't, I'm sorry, you can't. It's not honoring to the lord to upset yourself when he gathers his people.

20:05 Period. There should be no debate about that. How do you honor the king? Would anybody describe your life as a life being lived in honor of their king? Boy, they have a great amount of respect to their king.

20:23 Do we even use such language? No. We do not. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given.

20:58 Is that this?

20:59 No. No. It's an emergency. It's an

21:01 amber alert. Sorry? Amber Alert. Statewide broadcast. Statewide Statewide broadcast.

21:10 Could be that Christ came in, so we're all broadcast. Right? Close to the angelic alert. Right? That would be Jeremy next week.

21:20 There were there were shepherds and the angels had to come and give him an alert. Anyway, That's why I mute my phone. The zeal of the lord will accomplish us. The zeal, not the power of the lord, not the knowledge of the lord, not god's wisdom will accomplish us. This great promise about a son being given and the government will be on his shoulders.

21:43 The name shall be called wonderful counselor, the mighty god, the everlasting father, the prince of peace but all this is going to be accomplished. His virgin shall give birth. All this is going to be accomplished not just because god's powerful. Right? But the intensity he feels towards it, the zeal of the Lord will accomplish us.

22:09 Not the Lord will accomplish it, that's a given. But something very particular about the Lord and that's His zeal, His intention, How intentional God is to make this happen. I don't know how you see your life in the events and circumstances in your everyday, but at some point, start realizing that the king has intended this to happen. And it's his zeal that brought it about. Because that's what he says about tomorrow, the day we're all gonna celebrate.

22:39 The zeal of the Lord will bring us about. He will establish it. He will make it happen. He will accomplish it. Of course, he gets all the credit.

22:47 But what particular thing about god is exciting is that the intensity in which he has to bring his son into the planet. Now, I don't know if you have that much intensity to celebrate his coming. But he had a lot of intensity in bringing him, didn't he? So we start with this concept, and just as a random comment, just bear with me, I just have fun thinking about these phrases. Those days the verse started.

23:17 In those days. Those days? No. That's how we talk. Well, back in the day, well, that day, not this day, the other day.

23:25 Those days, it just seemed so random that Luke starts out this incredible event with just randomness. In those days? Right? Yeah, in those days. Why?

23:40 Well, know this about senses. And I know that we do one. Alright? I know I know that we do one, but this wasn't his first census. He had done three, at least three.

23:56 And they take about ten to twenty years. And he wasn't the first Roman emperor to have one. Julius Caesar actually started the idea that and it wasn't called a census. It was called a description. I want you 20 scholars to go to this part of the world and draw a map and figure out who lives there and what kind of people they are and how many people live there.

24:17 It was called the description. I want a description. Now, Julius, of course, was assassinated. And the Roman senate then had the triumphant of people to go and chase down the culprits. And that was Octavius, Mark Anthony, and Lepidus.

24:50 And they they get him. And eventually, Octavius becomes Augustus. And he's the emperor. And now the senate wants him to be emperor. And what he doesn't understand is because he was never aware of that...

25:11 I mean, turn to Romans 15 for a second. Romans 15. And just let your mind take the book of Romans in, in consideration of this Luke one. I'm going to have a census of the whole Roman world. And how many years later there's a church in Rome.

25:35 Paul didn't start it. Nobody knows really how the church in Rome came into being. Other than during Augustus' time, as emperor, he was very favorable to the Jews. Alright? Very favorable.

25:52 He, in fact, paid for his own sacrifices. The Jews in Jerusalem, every day, two sacrifices. Every day, two for the Roman imperial family, which is Augustus put in place. And I'll pay for him, Augustus says, because I want to honor your religion, because I want to honor your God. But in Romans 15, we have this verse at verse 12 and verse 13.

26:17 According Isaiah, Paul writes to the church of Romans says, the root of Jesse will spring up. One who will arise to rule over the Gentiles and in him, the Gentiles will hope and may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may have, you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. That sounds like the Christmas message. You Gentiles, know this, the spring of Jesse is coming up and here's Augustus in his great power thinking, even though favorable to the Jews, I want to now, I want a description of Syria and I want a description that in, that's going to include, I want Egypt counted again. He had been in Egypt and yeah, I want it all counted again.

27:05 Whether it's for tax or not isn't important right now. Of course, we know that the Romans used tax to pay for their troops. Pilate had to have a paycheck. All the troops stationed in Jerusalem had to have a paycheck. Well, the Jews should pay for it.

27:20 So, even Christ on her dad, should... Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar? They asked him, well, show me one. Well, it's got... Who's inscription on it?

27:31 Well, by that time, it was Tiberias. It's got Tiberias on it, so give it to Tiberias. But all the money collected was to pay for their soldiers. And the soldiers weren't there to conquer. The soldiers were there to keep peace.

27:43 They had been conquered years ago. All part of God's judgment. Didn't you forget? When that promise was made back to Isaiah the sixth and seventh and that's when they're being dispersed. They're not back yet.

27:59 Just because they have the city, they're not back because god god's now in between, right? He's in between what he's doing with his people. Still using the Roman world to govern, to overrule, to have complete control even though Herod Herod thinks he's in charge. In those days, Caesar Augustus. Yes, Augustus in.

28:41 It's not insignificant if Paul can say years later, I'm a citizen of Rome. How? How could Tarsus be a citizen of Rome? Because when Octavian studied there, before he was Augustus, he said it's going to be a free city, and you're going be able to qualify for citizenship. That happened probably like in twenty five BC.

29:06 Paul was born years later, but his father also could be a Roman citizen because of Octavian, because of Augustus. Alright? It was Augustus who together with Anthony installed Herod. Herod, he became king of the Jews by their decree because we don't want to rule Jerusalem. We rule in Rome.

29:28 Let Herod do it. He knows the Jews. He's married to one of them. He's not a Jew himself, but he'll be a good king. He knows how to control things.

29:37 He was the one who took his army up to Philippi to fight against Brutus and Cassius and left the army there. All his senior soldiers at the Battle of Philippi in forty two BC, he left there. And what happened? Became a city. And where did Paul go?

29:53 First city in Europe that he went and preached to. And a Roman soldier held him in prison. That was all due to Octavius leaving him there. Alright? Because God has control.

30:04 Because God in his zeal is bringing things to pass, bigger than us, bigger than the little details of our life. And he also Octavius, Augustus Caesar, was the originator of... Hold it. I'm going to grant citizens the right to appeal. Alright?

30:26 The right to appeal. They can appeal to me. If anybody's going to kill a Roman citizen or be, they have they have the right to appeal and come into my presence and they can appeal. Of course, he wasn't around when Paul needed it but Paul when he insisted, I have the right to appeal. I'm a Roman citizen.

30:43 That appeal is the legal law that Augustus put in place. He contributed a lot. He really did. But on this day, in those days, he says, I want the description. I want a census.

30:56 I want every registered. And I don't want them registered where they live. I want them registered where they came from. Now, if I told you, I want you to go back to where you came from. Most of you would be in Europe probably.

31:12 You'd be in Europe, India, China. I know at least one's going back to China. Right? And that's what it was. Who enforced it?

31:24 Please don't think that the Roman soldiers got in this corner in the streets and said, okay, let's go. Where are you from? This is where you gotta go to. No. No.

31:32 Probably Herod had to enforce it. I want a census. It wasn't necessarily taxes yet. Taxes were coming but I just want to know where everybody was from. Alright?

31:46 And it's it it it's a detail that we throw in and that we talk about and yet what was the real issue? The real issue that the Romans wanted to keep peace. You've heard of Pax Romana? Alright? The Romans had to keep peace.

32:06 They didn't want to fight any more wars. The only way to keep peaceful was to put soldiers there in a threatening, intimidating manner so that everybody would be afraid to cause a war. What was the real issue with Christ? He's leading in his direction. What was the issue with one of his disciples, with Simon the what?

32:25 The zealot, the patriot, the one who's ready to at any moment to whoop out a sword and fight to get rid of the Romans. Yeah, it was very politically heated place to live. But I want you to turn please with me to the twenty first chapter of Luke. This is a Christ... Of course, Christ on his way to Calvary, and it's the last week of his life on this planet as it was.

33:46 Alright? And then over to Romans 11 real quick. And starting at verse 25, I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may be conceited, so that you won't be conceited. Israel has experienced a hardening, a blinding in part. Until when?

34:16 Until the number of the Gentiles has come in. A number of the Gentiles has come in. And you add that to what you know from the book of Hebrews in the twelfth chapter where he talks about we've come on to this mount and not that mount but to this mount, right? The Mount Zion, the city of the living god, the heavenly Jerusalem verse twenty two and twenty three of Hebrews 12 and you've come to thousands upon thousands of in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. And that word is senses as well.

34:53 That word is senses. God has his own senses. He has his own senses. You, Augustus, according to Luke, inspired by god, a detail he wanted in scripture that in those days, Caesar Augustus says, I want a census. God has his own senses.

35:13 Until the time of the Gentiles fulfilled but also until the times when the full number, the full registration, the full counting of the Gentiles is complete and that's us. That's you and I. That's Jesus Christ building his church, adding one member at a time but there is a final number. It's not a guessing number. It's not a random number.

35:35 It's an exact number of how many and that's the number in verse 23 of Hebrews 12. Your names are written in the record, the senses, the same word used by Luke, the senses in heaven. That's us. That's us. Okay?

35:55 And so we just don't play with the idea that everything's counted and he had to know where everybody lived. God has a record in heaven with you in it. Your name in it. You're counted in heaven. That innumerable amount of people.

36:12 Right? So, of course, Joseph went down to the town of Nazareth. The town in Nazareth. Or in Galilee from Nazareth to Galilee to Bethlehem. That's exactly what he said was gonna happen.

36:30 It's gonna happen in Bethlehem. How did Herod ever send soldiers to kill people outside of Bethlehem? Because when the wise men said, where is he born, the king of the Jews? He didn't know. He didn't know but when they left, he called in the experts.

36:47 Where's the Messiah going to be born? Where is the Messiah going to be born? And the answer was, well, he's going to be born in Bethlehem. We know that. Verse three and six of Matthew two, our brother referenced it earlier.

37:09 In Bethlehem and Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet has written in Micah chapter five verse two and verse four, you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. Out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. And when did that happen? When the time came for the baby to be born. And what a wonderful sequence of events.

37:35 In those days, Caesar Augustus unknowingly controlled by God, a servant, not a servant by choice, an instrument that God used to bring about with his zeal the birth delivery of his son safely the the one one one who's there, as many as possible, for fear that they would identify themselves as the kings of Judah because they wanted to be kings. But the baby is born. And as Todd read earlier, when? At the exact moment. We went from those days to a time when the baby was born to the exact moment of Galatians four:four.

38:38 I know I'm already three minutes over. This is for me. And I have to admit this is a piece of the puzzle I don't have firmly in its rightful place, perhaps. And I'm okay with anybody saying, nah, nah, nah. I'm okay with that.

38:54 Really, I am. Because I'm telling you, I put some pieces to the puzzle together, and it fits exact. This I have a hard time putting exactly where it belongs. I'm admitting that. Verse five of Hebrews 10.

39:11 And I thought our brother was gonna mention it this morning when Hebrews nine, I'm praying, Lord, don't let him go to Hebrews 10. But if you do, it's alright because twice reported. Anyway, when therefore, Christ came into the world. When? Well, we're reading about it in Luke.

39:34 That's when he came into the world. He said, sacrifice and offering you did not desire but a body you prepared for me. Who'd he say it to? It has to be his father. It has to be his father.

39:58 Now, I'm a childlike when it comes to these little details. I want to be the simplest child and just take him for what it says. When you came into the world, lord Jesus, you were a little baby. Did somebody... I don't know.

40:11 That's what we do in America. I don't know if they did. But nevertheless, that's what seems to be the pattern. But when you came into the world, you said to your father, you prepared a body for me. This is it.

40:31 You said, you prepared a body. Verse seven. And then I said, meaning that Lord Jesus, here am I. It is written about me in the scroll. I have come to do your will.

41:03 Oh my God. Now you think Mary and Joseph heard that conversation? Now again, this is a piece of the puzzle. If you're telling me that didn't really take place there, that's quoted from the Psalms, I'm agreeing with you. It absolutely is.

41:22 But somehow the writer of the letter to the Hebrews got this out and the spirit of God said, this is where it fits. When he came into the world, he said, you have prepared a body for me. There it is, a little body prepared. Of course, we know this virgin had the spirit of God impregnant. It's not human birth.

41:40 It's not... You prepared a body for me. When I came into the world, I realized that. You prepared a body for me. So my response, the Lord Jesus says, this is my response to the realization.

42:01 You've prepared this body for me to live in. I've come to do your will. Here am I. I've come to do your will. That is wow to me that that conversation took place.

42:23 You know why? Because I can't figure it out. That's why it's so wow. I can't tell you exactly what part of the manger the conversation was had in. I can't tell you anything else other than what the scripture says.

42:40 This seems to be a conversation between God the Father who promised him a body back in Psalm two and God the Son in Psalm 40. This is the body you've given me to live in. Okay. Here am I to do your will. And guess what?

43:12 He said the same thing in the garden. Here am I. I've come to do your will. And that will is that you are numbered in heaven with him. That you're part of the registry.

43:37 That you're part of the senses, the eternal heavenly senses that God ordered. That Augustus thought he was just a big shot. His will that you're saved. Not willing that anybody in this room should perish. Not willing that I would perish.

44:02 I've come to save Doug. To do your will. Oh my god. That's a while for me because I don't get it. I don't get it.

44:57 We acknowledge and admit that they're beyond us. But somehow your spirit brings them to our attention. As we go out into a world celebrating, we pray, Lord, that Your Spirit would be mightily at work to keep counting the senses of heaven, or to keep putting people in it. We give you thanks in his precious name, Jesus Christ. Amen.