1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:04,719 Speaker 1: Joy born at Bethlehem by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, And the 2 00:00:04,799 --> 00:00:08,560 Angel said, unto them, fear not, for behold, I bring 3 00:00:08,599 --> 00:00:11,480 you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to 4 00:00:11,599 --> 00:00:14,960 all people. For unto you is born this day in 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,399 the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord. 6 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:21,760 And this shall be a sign. Unto you, ye shall 7 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:25,120 find the Babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a 8 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:30,679 manger Luke two ten to twelve. We have no superstitious 9 00:00:30,719 --> 00:00:34,840 regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe 10 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:39,759 in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas, first because we 11 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,759 do not believe in the Mass at all, but abhor it, 12 00:00:43,079 --> 00:00:46,280 whether it be said or sung in Latin or in English. 13 00:00:46,759 --> 00:00:50,560 And secondly because we find no scriptural warrant whatever for 14 00:00:50,679 --> 00:00:53,920 observing any day as the birthday of the Savior, and 15 00:00:54,079 --> 00:00:59,159 consequently its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority. 16 00:01:00,039 --> 00:01:04,120 Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Saviour's birth, 17 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,840 although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred. 18 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:11,959 Fabricius gives a catalog of one hundred thirty six different 19 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:16,599 learned opinions upon the matter, and various divines invent weighty 20 00:01:16,719 --> 00:01:20,200 arguments for advocating a date in every month of the year. 21 00:01:21,079 --> 00:01:23,400 It was not till the middle of the third century 22 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:26,439 that any part of the Church celebrated the Nativity of 23 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,519 Our Lord, and it was not till very long after 24 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,079 the Western Church had set the example that the Eastern 25 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:37,719 adopted it. Because the day is not known, therefore superstition 26 00:01:37,879 --> 00:01:40,920 has fixed it. While since the day of the death 27 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,799 of Our Savior might be determined with much certainty, therefore 28 00:01:44,879 --> 00:01:48,959 superstition shifts the date of its observance every year. Where 29 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,519 is the method in the madness of the superstitious? Probably 30 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,439 the fact is that the holy days were arranged to 31 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:59,560 fit in with heathen festivals. We venture to assert that 32 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:01,879 if there be any day in the year of which 33 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:04,040 we may be pretty sure that it was not the 34 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:06,840 day on which the Savior was born, it is the 35 00:02:06,879 --> 00:02:11,400 twenty fifth of December. Nevertheless, since the current of men's 36 00:02:11,439 --> 00:02:14,639 thoughts is led this way just now, and I see 37 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:17,759 no evil in the current itself, I shall launch the 38 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:21,120 bark of our discourse upon that stream, and make use 39 00:02:21,159 --> 00:02:24,479 of the fact which I shall neither justify nor condemn 40 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:27,680 by endeavoring to lead your thoughts in the same direction. 41 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:32,199 Since it is lawful and even laudable to meditate upon 42 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:35,199 the incarnation of the Lord upon any day in the year, 43 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:39,120 it cannot be in the power of other men's superstitions 44 00:02:39,199 --> 00:02:43,639 to render such a meditation improper for today, Regarding not 45 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:47,240 the day, let us nevertheless give God thanks for the 46 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,919 gift of his dear son. In our text, we have 47 00:02:51,039 --> 00:02:54,039 before us the sermon of the first evangelist. Under the 48 00:02:54,039 --> 00:02:58,439 Gospel dispensation. The preacher was an angel, and it was 49 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,759 meet It should be so, for the grandest and last 50 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:05,639 of all evangels will be proclaimed by an angel, when 51 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:08,639 he shall sound the trumpet of the Resurrection, and the 52 00:03:08,719 --> 00:03:12,360 children of the Regeneration shall rise into the fullness of 53 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,800 their joy. The keynote of this angelic gospel is joy. 54 00:03:17,479 --> 00:03:22,080 I bring unto you good tidings of great joy. Nature fears. 55 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 2: In the presence of God. 56 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:27,919 Speaker 1: The shepherds were sore afraid. The Law itself served to 57 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:32,360 deepen this natural feeling of dismay, Seeing men were sinful, 58 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:34,960 and the Law came into the world to reveal sin. 59 00:03:35,479 --> 00:03:39,000 Its tendency was to make men fear and tremble under 60 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:44,039 any and every divine revelation. The Jews unanimously believed that 61 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:47,960 if any man beheld supernatural appearances, he would be sure 62 00:03:48,039 --> 00:03:51,599 to die, so that what nature dictated the law in 63 00:03:51,639 --> 00:03:54,719 the general beliefs of those under it also abetted. 64 00:03:55,479 --> 00:03:56,479 Speaker 2: But the first word of. 65 00:03:56,479 --> 00:04:00,639 Speaker 1: The Gospel ended all this, for the angelic evangelist said, 66 00:04:01,199 --> 00:04:05,759 fear not behold, I bring you good tidings. Henceforth it 67 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,360 is to be no dreadful thing for man to approach 68 00:04:08,439 --> 00:04:12,400 his maker. Redeemed man is not to fear when God 69 00:04:12,479 --> 00:04:16,199 unveils the splendor of his majesty, since he appears no 70 00:04:16,319 --> 00:04:19,120 more a judge upon the throne of terror, but a 71 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:24,120 father unbending in sacred familiarity before his own beloved children. 72 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:27,839 Speaker 2: The joy which this first Gospel preacher. 73 00:04:27,519 --> 00:04:31,279 Speaker 1: Spoke of was no mean one, for he said, I 74 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:35,399 bring you good tidings that alone were joy, and not 75 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:39,519 good tidings of joy only, but good tidings. 76 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:39,959 Speaker 2: Of great joy. 77 00:04:40,759 --> 00:04:43,600 Speaker 1: Every word is emphatic, as if to show that the 78 00:04:43,639 --> 00:04:47,360 Gospel is, above all things, intended to promote and will 79 00:04:47,399 --> 00:04:51,399 most abundantly create the greatest possible joy in the human heart. 80 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:56,040 Wherever it is received, man is like a harp unstrung, 81 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:59,720 and the music of his soul's living strings is discordant. 82 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,959 His whole nature wails with sorrow. But the Son of David, 83 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:08,240 that mighty harper, has come to restore the harmony of humanity. 84 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,079 And where his gracious fingers move among the strings, the 85 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:15,240 touch of the fingers of an incarnate God brings forth 86 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,800 music sweet as that of the spheres, and melody rich 87 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:22,319 as a seraph's cant Gal would God that all men 88 00:05:22,439 --> 00:05:26,319 felt that divine hand in trying to open up this 89 00:05:26,439 --> 00:05:31,120 angelic discourse this morning, we shall note three things, the 90 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:34,879 joy which is spoken of, next the persons to whom 91 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:39,000 this joy comes, and then thirdly the sign, which is 92 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,759 to us a sign as well as to these shepherds, 93 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:46,959 the sign of the birth and source of joy. One first, 94 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:50,480 then the joy which is mentioned in our text. Whence 95 00:05:50,519 --> 00:05:54,040 comes it? And what is it? We have already said 96 00:05:54,319 --> 00:05:57,800 it is a great joy, good tidings of great joy. 97 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,319 Earth's joy is small, her mirth is trivial. But Heaven 98 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:07,439 has sent us joy immeasurable fit for immortal minds. Inasmuch 99 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:10,720 as no note of time is appended, and no intimation 100 00:06:10,879 --> 00:06:14,120 is given, that the message will ever be reversed. We 101 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:17,439 may say that it is a lasting joy, a joy 102 00:06:17,519 --> 00:06:20,639 which will ring all down the ages, the echoes of 103 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:25,079 which shall be heard until the trumpet brings the resurrection. Aye, 104 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:29,079 and onward forever and forever. For when God sent forth 105 00:06:29,079 --> 00:06:32,040 the Angel in his brightness to say, I bring you 106 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:35,199 good tidings of great joy, which be to all people, 107 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:38,839 he did as much as say, from this time forth 108 00:06:38,879 --> 00:06:41,560 it will be joy to the sons of men. There 109 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:44,480 shall be peace to the human race, and good will 110 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:47,959 towards men forever and forever, as long as there is 111 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:52,240 glory to God in the Highest, Oh, blessed thought, the 112 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:56,839 star of Bethlehem shall never set Jesus, the fairest among 113 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:00,759 ten thousand, the most lovely among the beautiful, is a 114 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:05,920 joy forever. Since this joy is expressly associated with the 115 00:07:05,959 --> 00:07:09,120 glory of God by the words glory to God in 116 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:12,120 the Highest, we may be quite clear that it is 117 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:15,959 a pure and holy joy. No other would an angel 118 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:21,000 have proclaimed, and indeed no other joy is joy. The 119 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:24,759 wine pressed from the grapes of Sodom may sparkle and foam, 120 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:27,800 but it is bitterness in the end, and the dregs 121 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:31,519 thereof are death. Only that which comes from the clusters 122 00:07:31,519 --> 00:07:34,680 of Eshkol is the true wine of the Kingdom, making 123 00:07:34,759 --> 00:07:38,319 glad the heart of God and man. Holy joy is 124 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:42,079 the joy of heaven, and that, be ye sure, is 125 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:45,439 the very cream of joy. The joy of sin is 126 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:48,959 a fire fountain, having its source in the burning soil 127 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:53,000 of hell, maddening and consuming those who drink its fire water. 128 00:07:53,639 --> 00:07:57,519 Of such delights we desire not to drink it, were 129 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:00,279 to be worse than damned to be happy in sin, 130 00:08:00,839 --> 00:08:03,240 since it is the beginning of grace to be wretched 131 00:08:03,279 --> 00:08:06,720 in sin, and the consummation of grace to be wholly 132 00:08:06,879 --> 00:08:09,879 escaped from sin, and to shudder even at the thought 133 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,319 of it. It is hell to live in sin and misery. 134 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:16,839 It is a deep lower still when men could fashion 135 00:08:16,879 --> 00:08:21,000 a joy in sin. God save us from unholy peace 136 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:25,000 and from unholy joy. The joy announced by the Angel 137 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:28,120 of the Nativity is as pure as it is lasting, 138 00:08:28,639 --> 00:08:32,360 as holy as it is great. Let us then, always 139 00:08:32,399 --> 00:08:36,000 believe concerning the Christian religion, that it has its joy 140 00:08:36,039 --> 00:08:39,759 within itself, and holds its feasts within its own pure 141 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:44,080 precincts of feast, whose vians all grow on holy ground. 142 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:48,759 There are those who tomorrow will pretend to exhibit joy 143 00:08:48,919 --> 00:08:52,080 in the remembrance of our Saviour's birth, But they will 144 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:55,399 not seek their pleasure in the Savior. They will need 145 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:58,840 many additions to the feast before they can be satisfied 146 00:09:00,039 --> 00:09:03,120 in Emmanuel. Would be a poor sort of mirth to them. 147 00:09:03,879 --> 00:09:07,080 In this country. Too often, if one were unaware of 148 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:10,559 the name, one might believe the Christmas festival to be 149 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:11,279 a feast. 150 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:12,799 Speaker 2: Of Bacchus or of Sarees. 151 00:09:13,279 --> 00:09:17,080 Speaker 1: Certainly not a commemoration of the divine birth. Yet is 152 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:20,320 there cause enough for holy joy in the Lord himself, 153 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:22,879 and reasons for ecstasy in his birth? 154 00:09:22,919 --> 00:09:23,600 Speaker 2: Among men? 155 00:09:24,279 --> 00:09:27,200 Speaker 1: It is to be feared that most men imagine that 156 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:31,320 in Christ there is only seriousness and solemnity, and to 157 00:09:31,399 --> 00:09:37,039 them consequently weariness, gloom, and discontent. Therefore they look out 158 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:40,360 of and beyond what Christ allows to snatch from the 159 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:43,759 tables of Satan, the delicacies with which to adorn the 160 00:09:43,799 --> 00:09:47,519 banquet held in honor of a savior. Let it not 161 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:51,399 be so among you. The joy which the Gospel brings 162 00:09:51,519 --> 00:09:55,440 is not borrowed, but blooms in its own garden. We 163 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:57,679 may truly say, in the language of one of our 164 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:01,679 sweetest hymns. I need not go abroad for joy. I 165 00:10:01,759 --> 00:10:05,639 have a feast at home. My sighs are turned into songs. 166 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:09,960 My heart has ceased to roam down from above. The 167 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,759 blessed dove has come into my breast to witness his 168 00:10:13,919 --> 00:10:18,879 eternal love and give my spirit rest. Let our joy 169 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,399 be living water from those sacred wells which the Lord 170 00:10:22,519 --> 00:10:26,360 himself has digged. May his joy abide in us, that 171 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:30,399 our joy may be full of Christ's joy. We cannot 172 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:34,039 have too much, no fear of running to excess when 173 00:10:34,039 --> 00:10:36,960 His love is the wine we drink. Oh to be 174 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:41,559 plunged in this pure stream of spiritual delights. But why 175 00:10:41,639 --> 00:10:43,919 is it that the coming of Christ into the world 176 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:49,000 is the occasion of joy? The answer is as follows. First, 177 00:10:49,279 --> 00:10:52,519 because it is evermore a joyous fact that God should 178 00:10:52,519 --> 00:10:56,279 be an alliance with man, especially when the alliance is 179 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:59,720 so near, that God should, in very deed take our 180 00:10:59,759 --> 00:11:03,600 man into union with His Godhead, so that God and 181 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:09,320 Man should constitute one divine, mysterious person. Sin had separated 182 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:13,480 between God and man, but the incarnation bridges the separation. 183 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:16,960 It is a prelude to the atoning sacrifice. 184 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:19,960 Speaker 2: But it is a prelude full of the richest hope. 185 00:11:20,519 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 1: From henceforth, when God looks upon man, he will remember 186 00:11:24,399 --> 00:11:27,960 that his own son is a man. From this day forth, 187 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:31,360 when he beholds the sinner, if his wrath should burn, 188 00:11:31,679 --> 00:11:35,360 he will remember that his own son, as man, stood 189 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:39,240 in the sinner's place and bore the sinner's doom. As 190 00:11:39,279 --> 00:11:42,039 in the case of war, the feud is ended when 191 00:11:42,039 --> 00:11:45,720 the opposing parties enter Mary. So there is no more 192 00:11:45,759 --> 00:11:49,279 war between God and man, because God has taken man 193 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:53,840 into intimate union with himself. Herein then there was cause 194 00:11:53,879 --> 00:11:57,279 for joy. But there was more than that, for the 195 00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:00,720 shepherds were aware that there had been promises men of old, 196 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:03,559 which had been the hope and comfort of believers in 197 00:12:03,679 --> 00:12:07,879 all ages, and these were now to be fulfilled. There 198 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:11,080 was that ancient promise made on the threshold of Eden 199 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:14,360 to the first sinners of our race, that the seed 200 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:18,159 of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. Another promise 201 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:20,720 made to the Father of the faithful, that in his 202 00:12:20,919 --> 00:12:23,759 seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed. 203 00:12:24,279 --> 00:12:27,519 And promises uttered by the mouths of prophets and of saints, 204 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:31,519 since the world began now. The announcement of the Angel 205 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:34,799 of the Lord to the shepherds was a declaration that 206 00:12:34,879 --> 00:12:38,480 the Covenant was fulfilled, that now, in the fullness of time, 207 00:12:38,879 --> 00:12:42,440 God would redeem his word, and the Messiah, who was 208 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:45,919 to be Israel's glory in the world's hope, was now 209 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:50,559 really calm. Be glad ye heavens, and be joyful o Earth. 210 00:12:50,919 --> 00:12:53,799 For the Lord hath done it, and in mercy hath 211 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:57,399 he visited his people. The Lord hath not suffered his 212 00:12:57,519 --> 00:13:01,720 word to fail, but hath fulfilled unto his people his promises. 213 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:06,679 The time to favor zion Yea. The set time is come, 214 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:10,639 now that the scepter is departed from Judah. Behold, the 215 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:14,559 Shiloh comes. The Messenger of the Covenant suddenly appears in 216 00:13:14,639 --> 00:13:19,240 his temple. But the angel's song had in it yet 217 00:13:19,279 --> 00:13:22,879 fuller reason for joy. For our Lord, who was born 218 00:13:22,919 --> 00:13:27,320 in Bethlehem, came as a savior. Unto you is born 219 00:13:27,399 --> 00:13:31,200 this day a savior. God had come to earth before, 220 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:35,360 but not as a savior. Remember that terrible coming when 221 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,799 there went three angels into Sodom at nightfall. For the 222 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,679 Lord said, I will go now and see whether it 223 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:45,600 be altogether according to the cry thereof, He had come 224 00:13:45,639 --> 00:13:48,759 as a spy to witness human sin, and as an 225 00:13:48,759 --> 00:13:51,799 avenger to lift his hand to heaven and bid the 226 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:54,960 red fire descend and burn up the accursed cities of 227 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:59,200 the plain. Horror to the world When God thus descends, 228 00:13:59,759 --> 00:14:03,440 If sin I smokes, when the laws proclaimed, the earth 229 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:06,879 itself shall melt when the breeches of the law are punished. 230 00:14:07,559 --> 00:14:10,440 But now not as an angel of vengeance, but as 231 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:13,960 a man in mercy. God has come not to spy 232 00:14:14,039 --> 00:14:17,919 out our sin, but to remove it, not to punish. 233 00:14:17,519 --> 00:14:19,159 Speaker 2: Guilt, but to forgive it. 234 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 1: The Lord might have come with thunderbolts in both his hands. 235 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:26,639 He might have come like Elias to call fire from heaven. 236 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:30,000 But no, his hands are full of gifts of love, 237 00:14:30,519 --> 00:14:34,320 and his presence is the guarantee of grace. The babe 238 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:37,759 born in the manger might have been another prophet of tears, 239 00:14:38,159 --> 00:14:41,159 or another son of thunder, but he was not. So 240 00:14:41,759 --> 00:14:45,279 he came in gentleness. His glory and his thunder alike 241 00:14:45,519 --> 00:14:50,440 laid aside, twas mercy filled the throne, and wrath stood 242 00:14:50,519 --> 00:14:54,480 silent by. When christ On the kind Errant came to 243 00:14:54,639 --> 00:14:59,240 sinners doomed to die. Rejoice, ye who feel that ye 244 00:14:59,279 --> 00:15:02,600 are lost. Your Savior comes to seek and save you. 245 00:15:03,279 --> 00:15:03,919 Speaker 2: Be of good. 246 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,919 Speaker 1: Cheer ye who are in prison, for he comes to 247 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:11,120 set you free. Ye who are famished and ready to die, 248 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:15,039 Rejoice that He has consecrated for you a Bethlehem, a 249 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:17,720 house of bread, and he has come to be the 250 00:15:17,759 --> 00:15:22,200 bread of life to your souls. Rejoice, o, sinners everywhere, 251 00:15:22,559 --> 00:15:25,559 for the restorer of the castaways, the savior of the 252 00:15:25,639 --> 00:15:29,879 fallen is born. Join in the joy, ye saints. For 253 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,240 he is the preserver of the saved ones, delivering them 254 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:37,080 from innumerable perils. And he is the sure perfector of 255 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:42,039 such as he preserves. Jesus is no partial savior, beginning 256 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:46,440 a work in not concluding it, but restoring and upholding. 257 00:15:46,759 --> 00:15:50,360 He also perfects and presents the saved ones without spot 258 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:54,519 or wrinkle or any such thing before his father's throne. 259 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:58,840 Rejoice aloud, all, ye people, Let your hills and valleys 260 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:01,960 ring with joy, for a savior who is mighty to 261 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:02,799 save is. 262 00:16:02,799 --> 00:16:03,639 Speaker 2: Born among you. 263 00:16:04,919 --> 00:16:08,039 Speaker 1: Nor was this all the holy mirth, For the next 264 00:16:08,039 --> 00:16:10,720 word has also in it a fullness of joy. 265 00:16:11,559 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 2: A savior who is Christ. 266 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:17,840 Speaker 1: Or the anointed our Lord is not an amateur savior 267 00:16:18,159 --> 00:16:21,440 who has come down from heaven upon an unauthorized mission. 268 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:26,240 But he was chosen, ordained, and anointed of God. He 269 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:29,480 could truly say, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, 270 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,639 because the Lord hath anointed me. Here is great comfort 271 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:36,759 for all such as need a savior. It is to 272 00:16:36,879 --> 00:16:41,559 them no mean consolation that God has himself authorized Christ 273 00:16:41,679 --> 00:16:44,759 to save. There can be no fear of a jar 274 00:16:44,919 --> 00:16:48,000 between the mediator and the judge, no peril of a 275 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:52,320 non acceptance of our savior's work, because God has commissioned 276 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:56,039 Christ to do what he has done, and in saving sinners, 277 00:16:56,279 --> 00:17:00,559 he is only executing his father's own will. Christ is 278 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:05,319 here called the anointed. All his people are anointed, and 279 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,680 there were priests after the order of Erin who were anointed. 280 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:13,079 But he is the anointed, anointed with the oil of 281 00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:18,079 gladness above his fellows, so plenteously anointed, that, like the 282 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:21,640 unction upon aaron's head, the sacred anointing of the head 283 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:25,759 of the Church distills in copious streams, until we, who 284 00:17:25,799 --> 00:17:28,880 are like the skirts of his garments, are made sweet 285 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:32,559 with the rich perfume. He is the anointed in a 286 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,720 threefold sense. As prophet to preach the Gospel, with power, 287 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:42,119 as priest, to offer sacrifice, as king, to rule and reign. 288 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,519 In each of these he is pre eminent. He is 289 00:17:45,599 --> 00:17:49,839 such a teacher, priest and ruler as was never seen before. 290 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:54,359 In him was a rare conjunction of glorious offices. For 291 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:58,000 never did prophet, priest and king meet in one person 292 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:01,400 before among the sons of men, Nor shall it ever 293 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:05,400 be so again. Triple is the anointing of him who 294 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:08,920 is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, a prophet 295 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:12,599 like unto Moses, and a king of whose dominion there 296 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:16,039 is no end. In the name of Christ. The Holy 297 00:18:16,079 --> 00:18:21,519 Ghost is glorified by being seen as anointing the incarnate God. Truly, 298 00:18:21,599 --> 00:18:24,799 dear brethren, if we did but understand all this and 299 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:27,960 receive it into our hearts, our souls would leap for 300 00:18:28,079 --> 00:18:30,839 joy on this Sabbath day to think that there is 301 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,400 born unto us a savior who is anointed of the Lord. 302 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:38,599 One more note, and this the loudest. Let us sound 303 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:42,799 it well and hear it well. Which is Christ the Lord. 304 00:18:43,759 --> 00:18:47,920 Now the word Lord or curios here used is tatamount 305 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:51,880 to Jehovah. We cannot doubt that, because it is the 306 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:55,079 same word used twice in the ninth verse, and in 307 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,480 the ninth verse, none can question that it means Jehovah. 308 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:02,200 Hear it, and lo, the Angel of the Lord came 309 00:19:02,319 --> 00:19:05,279 upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round 310 00:19:05,319 --> 00:19:09,000 about them. And if this be not enough, read the 311 00:19:09,039 --> 00:19:12,240 twenty third verse. As it is written in the Law 312 00:19:12,279 --> 00:19:15,440 of the Lord. Every male that openeth the womb shall 313 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:19,000 be called wholly to the Lord. Now, the word Lord 314 00:19:19,079 --> 00:19:23,319 here assuredly refers to Jehovah, the One God, and so 315 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:24,079 it must do. 316 00:19:24,279 --> 00:19:24,519 Speaker 2: Here. 317 00:19:25,279 --> 00:19:30,160 Speaker 1: Our Savior is Christ God Jehovah. No testimony to his 318 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:35,000 divinity could be plainer. It is indisputable. And what joy 319 00:19:35,039 --> 00:19:38,039 there is in this. For suppose an angel had been 320 00:19:38,039 --> 00:19:40,759 our savior, he would not have been able to bear 321 00:19:40,799 --> 00:19:41,519 the load. 322 00:19:41,319 --> 00:19:42,799 Speaker 2: Of my sin or yours. 323 00:19:43,359 --> 00:19:45,839 Speaker 1: Or if anything less than God had been set up 324 00:19:45,839 --> 00:19:48,799 as the ground of our salvation, it might have been 325 00:19:48,839 --> 00:19:53,119 found too frail a foundation. But if he who undertakes 326 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:56,519 to save is none other than the Infinite and the Almighty, 327 00:19:57,200 --> 00:19:59,400 then the load of our guilt can be carried upon 328 00:19:59,519 --> 00:20:03,640 such show. The stupendous labor of our salvation can be 329 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:07,799 achieved by such a worker, and that with ease, For 330 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:10,960 all things are possible with God, and he is able 331 00:20:11,039 --> 00:20:14,160 to save to the uttermost them that come unto God 332 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:18,039 by him. Ye, sons of men, perceive ye here the 333 00:20:18,079 --> 00:20:21,400 subject of your joy. The God who made you and 334 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,799 against whom you have offended, has come down from heaven 335 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:28,680 and taken upon himself your nature that he might save you. 336 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:31,960 He has come in the fullness of his glory and 337 00:20:32,039 --> 00:20:34,039 the infinity of his mercy, that. 338 00:20:34,039 --> 00:20:37,839 Speaker 2: He might redeem you. Do you not welcome this news? 339 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,799 Speaker 1: What will not your hearts be thankful for this? Does 340 00:20:41,839 --> 00:20:45,759 this matchless love awaken no gratitude. Were it not for 341 00:20:45,839 --> 00:20:49,440 this divine Savior, your life here would have been wretchedness, 342 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:53,759 and your future existence would have been endless woe. Oh, 343 00:20:53,759 --> 00:20:57,000 I pray you adore the incarnate God and trust in him. 344 00:20:57,559 --> 00:21:00,400 Then will you bless the Lord for delivering you from 345 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:02,920 the wrath to come? And as you lay hold of 346 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,480 Jesus and find salvation in his name, you will tune 347 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:10,200 your songs to his praise and exult with sacred joy. 348 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:15,759 So much concerning this joy, Two follow me while I 349 00:21:15,799 --> 00:21:19,000 briefly speak of the people to whom this joy comes. 350 00:21:19,519 --> 00:21:23,759 Observe how the Angel begins. Behold, I bring you good 351 00:21:23,799 --> 00:21:27,880 tidings of great joy, For unto you is born this day. 352 00:21:28,799 --> 00:21:31,599 So then the joy began with the first who heard it, 353 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:36,720 the shepherds. To you, saith he, For unto you is born, 354 00:21:37,559 --> 00:21:40,720 beloved hearer, shall the joy begin with you to day? 355 00:21:41,519 --> 00:21:44,519 For it little avails you that Christ was born, or 356 00:21:44,519 --> 00:21:48,240 that Christ died. Unless unto you a child is born. 357 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:52,799 And for you Jesus bled a personal interest is the 358 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:57,440 main point. But I am poor, saith one. So were 359 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:01,759 the shepherds, O ye poor, to you, this mysterious child 360 00:22:01,839 --> 00:22:05,480 is born. The poor have the gospel preached unto them. 361 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,880 He shall judge the poor and needy, and break in 362 00:22:09,039 --> 00:22:14,160 pieces the oppressor. But I am obscure and unknown, saith one. 363 00:22:14,799 --> 00:22:18,079 So were the watchers on the midnight plain, who knew 364 00:22:18,079 --> 00:22:21,480 the men who endured hard toil and kept their flocks 365 00:22:21,519 --> 00:22:26,000 by night. But you, unknown of men, are known to God. 366 00:22:26,599 --> 00:22:29,519 Shall it not be said that unto you a child 367 00:22:29,599 --> 00:22:33,240 is born. The Lord regardeth not the greatness of men, 368 00:22:33,559 --> 00:22:37,759 but hath respect unto the lowly. But you are illiterate, 369 00:22:37,839 --> 00:22:41,920 You say you cannot understand much be it so, but 370 00:22:42,039 --> 00:22:45,880 unto the shepherds, Christ was born, and their simplicity did 371 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,759 not hinder their receiving Him, but even helped them to it. 372 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:54,480 Be it so, with yourself received gladly the simple truth, 373 00:22:54,559 --> 00:22:57,960 as it is in Jesus, the Lord hath exalted, one 374 00:22:58,039 --> 00:23:02,000 chosen out of the people. Nor aristocratic Christ. Have I 375 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:04,920 to preach to you, But the Savior of the people, 376 00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:09,359 the friend of publicans and sinners, Jesus is the true 377 00:23:09,519 --> 00:23:13,160 poor man's friend. He is a covenant for the people, 378 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:17,039 given to be a leader and a commander to the people. 379 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:21,559 To you is Jesus given, Oh, that each heart might 380 00:23:21,599 --> 00:23:25,559 truly say to me, is Jesus born? For it I 381 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:29,839 truly believe in Jesus. Unto me, Christ is born, And 382 00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:31,759 I may be as sure of it as if an 383 00:23:31,759 --> 00:23:35,319 angel announced it, since the scripture tells me that if 384 00:23:35,319 --> 00:23:39,599 I believe in Jesus, he is mine. After the Angel 385 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,079 had said to you, he went on to say, it 386 00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:47,759 shall be to all people. But our translation is not accurate. 387 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:51,440 The Greek is, and it shall be to all the people. 388 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,920 This refers most assuredly to the Jewish nation. There can 389 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:59,880 be no question about that. If anyone looks at the original, 390 00:24:00,279 --> 00:24:02,920 he will not find so large and wide an expression 391 00:24:03,079 --> 00:24:06,799 as that given by art translators. It should be rendered 392 00:24:07,079 --> 00:24:10,400 to all the people. And here let us speak a 393 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:14,279 word for the Jews. How long and how sinfully has 394 00:24:14,279 --> 00:24:18,279 the Christian Church despised the most honorable amongst the nations. 395 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:23,079 How barbarously has Israel been handled by the so called church. 396 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:27,079 I felt my spirit burn indignantly within me in Rome 397 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,039 when I stood in the Jews Quarter and heard of 398 00:24:30,079 --> 00:24:33,720 the cruel indignities which popery has heaped upon the Jews, 399 00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:37,880 even until recently. At this hour, there stands in the 400 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,640 Jews quarter a church built right in front of the 401 00:24:40,839 --> 00:24:44,279 entrance to it. And into this the unhappy Jews were 402 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:49,039 driven forcibly on certain occasions to this church. They were 403 00:24:49,079 --> 00:24:53,799 compelled to subscribe. Subscribe, mark you, as worshippers of the 404 00:24:53,799 --> 00:24:57,119 one Invisible God, to the support of a system which 405 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:00,759 is leprous with idolatry, as were the king whom the 406 00:25:00,839 --> 00:25:06,200 Lord abhorred. Paganism is not more degrading than Romanism. Over 407 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:08,720 the door of this church is placed in their own 408 00:25:08,799 --> 00:25:12,799 tongue in the Hebrew these words. All day long have 409 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:17,240 I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying generation. 410 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,480 How by such an insult as that could they hope 411 00:25:21,519 --> 00:25:25,680 to convert the Jew. The Jews saw everywhere idols which 412 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:29,079 his soul abhorred, and he loathed the name of Christ 413 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:32,920 because he associated it with idle worship. And I do 414 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,240 not wonder that he did. I praise the Jew that 415 00:25:36,319 --> 00:25:39,319 he could not give up his own simple theism and 416 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,680 worship of the True God for such a base, degrading 417 00:25:42,759 --> 00:25:47,359 superstition as that which Rome presented to him. Instead of 418 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:49,960 thinking it a wonder of unbelief that the Jew is 419 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,119 not a Christian, I honor him for his faith and 420 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:59,319 his courageous resistance of a fascinating heathenism. If Romanism be Christianity, 421 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:03,440 I am not, neither could I be a Christian. It 422 00:26:03,559 --> 00:26:06,240 were a more manly thing to be a simple believer 423 00:26:06,319 --> 00:26:10,200 in one God, or even an honest doubter upon all religion, 424 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:14,039 than worship such crowds of gods and goddesses as popery 425 00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:17,400 has set up, and to bow as she does before 426 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:21,440 rotten bones and dead men's winding sheets. Let the true 427 00:26:21,519 --> 00:26:25,480 Christian Church think lovingly of the Jew and with respectful 428 00:26:25,559 --> 00:26:30,759 earnestness tell him the true Gospel, let her sweep away superstition, 429 00:26:31,319 --> 00:26:33,920 and set before him the one gracious God in the 430 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:37,599 trinity of his divine unity. And the days shall yet 431 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,519 come when the Jews, who were the first apostles to 432 00:26:40,559 --> 00:26:44,720 the Gentiles, the first missionaries to us who were afar off, 433 00:26:45,279 --> 00:26:49,160 shall be gathered in again. Until that shall be the 434 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:53,680 fullness of the Church's glory can never come matchless benefits 435 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:56,880 to the world are bound up with the restoration of Israel. 436 00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:00,519 Their gathering in shall be as life from them the dead. 437 00:27:01,279 --> 00:27:04,799 Jesus the Savior is the joy of all nations. But 438 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:08,319 let not the chosen race be denied their peculiar share 439 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:11,960 of whatever promise Holy writ has recorded with a special 440 00:27:12,039 --> 00:27:15,680 view to them. The woes which their sins brought upon 441 00:27:15,799 --> 00:27:20,079 them have fallen thick and heavily, And even so let 442 00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:25,359 the richest blessings distill upon them. Although our translation is 443 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:30,119 not literally correct, it nevertheless expresses a great truth taught 444 00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:34,759 plainly in the context. And therefore we will advance another step. 445 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,480 The coming of Christ is a joy to all people. 446 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:43,039 It is so for the fourteenth verse says on earth peace, 447 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:47,440 which is a wide and even unlimited expression it adds 448 00:27:47,799 --> 00:27:52,799 good will towards not Jews, but men, all men. The 449 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,839 word is the generic name of the entire race. And 450 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:58,519 there is no doubt that the coming of Christ does 451 00:27:58,599 --> 00:28:01,759 bring joy to all sorts of people. It brings a 452 00:28:01,799 --> 00:28:05,000 measure of joy, even to those who are not Christians. 453 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:08,720 Christ does not bless them in the highest and truest sense, 454 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:12,440 but the influence of His teaching imparts benefits of an 455 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:16,839 inferior sort, such as they are capable of receiving. For 456 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,559 wherever the Gospel is proclaimed, it is no small blessing 457 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:21,920 to all the population. 458 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:23,920 Speaker 2: Note this fact. 459 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:26,799 Speaker 1: There is no land beneath the sun where there is 460 00:28:26,839 --> 00:28:30,440 an open Bible and a preached Gospel where a tyrant 461 00:28:30,559 --> 00:28:34,240 lung can hold his place. It matters not who he be, 462 00:28:34,559 --> 00:28:38,119 whether pope or king. Let the pulpit be used properly 463 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,519 for the preaching of Christ crucified. Let the Bible be 464 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:45,039 opened to be read by all men, and no tyrant 465 00:28:45,119 --> 00:28:48,960 can long rule in peace. England owes her freedom to 466 00:28:49,039 --> 00:28:53,279 the Bible, and France will never possess liberty lasting and 467 00:28:53,319 --> 00:28:57,519 well established till she comes to reverence the Gospel, which 468 00:28:57,559 --> 00:29:01,920 too long she has rejected. There is joy to all mankind. 469 00:29:02,039 --> 00:29:06,319 Where Christ comes. The religion of Jesus makes men think, 470 00:29:06,759 --> 00:29:09,720 and to make men think is always dangerous to a 471 00:29:09,799 --> 00:29:14,200 despot's power. The religion of Jesus Christ sets a man 472 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:18,640 free from superstition. When he believes in Jesus, what cares 473 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:23,039 he for papal excommunications or whether priests give or withhold 474 00:29:23,079 --> 00:29:27,240 their absolution. The man no longer cringes and bows down. 475 00:29:27,799 --> 00:29:30,599 He is no more willing like a beast to be 476 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:34,480 led by the nose, but learning to think for himself 477 00:29:34,599 --> 00:29:38,319 and becoming a man, he disdains the childish fears which 478 00:29:38,359 --> 00:29:43,079 once held him in slavery. Hence, where Jesus comes. Even 479 00:29:43,119 --> 00:29:45,920 if men do not receive Him as the Savior, and 480 00:29:46,039 --> 00:29:49,240 so miss the fullest joy, yet they get a measure 481 00:29:49,319 --> 00:29:53,400 of benefit. And I pray God that everywhere his gospel 482 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,440 may be so proclaimed, and that so many may be 483 00:29:56,599 --> 00:29:59,400 actuated by the spirit of it, that it may be 484 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:03,599 better for us all mankind. If men receive Christ, there 485 00:30:03,599 --> 00:30:07,119 will be no more oppression. The true Christian does to 486 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:09,839 others as he would that they should do to him, 487 00:30:10,359 --> 00:30:13,720 and there is no more contention of classes, nor grinding 488 00:30:13,759 --> 00:30:17,480 of the faces of the poor. Slavery must go down 489 00:30:17,519 --> 00:30:22,519 where Christianity rules, and mark you. If Romanism be once destroyed, 490 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:27,480 and pure Christianity shall govern all nations, war itself must 491 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,599 come to an end. For if there be anything which 492 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:34,039 this book denounces and counts the hugest of all crimes, 493 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:37,680 it is the crime of war. Put up thy sword 494 00:30:37,799 --> 00:30:41,680 into thy sheath. For hath not he said, thou shalt 495 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:44,599 not kill? And he meant not that it was a 496 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,799 sin to kill one, but a glory to kill a million. 497 00:30:48,359 --> 00:30:51,599 But he meant that bloodshed on the smallest or largest 498 00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:56,400 scale was sinfull. Let Christ govern, and men shall break 499 00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:59,480 the bow and cut the spear in sunder, and burn 500 00:30:59,519 --> 00:31:02,880 the cherry in the fire. It is joy to all 501 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:06,440 nations that Christ is born, the Prince of peace, the 502 00:31:06,559 --> 00:31:11,680 king who rules in righteousness, but beloved. The greatest joy 503 00:31:11,799 --> 00:31:15,359 is to those who know Christ as a savior. Here 504 00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:20,319 the song rises to a higher and sublimer note. Unto us, indeed, 505 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:23,119 a child is born if we can say that he 506 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,960 is our savior. Who is Christ the Lord? Let me 507 00:31:27,079 --> 00:31:30,440 ask each of you a few personal questions. Are your 508 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:33,920 sins forgiven you for his name's sake? Is the head 509 00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:37,200 of the serpent bruised in your soul. Does the seed 510 00:31:37,279 --> 00:31:41,799 of the Woman reign in sanctifying power over your nature. Oh, 511 00:31:41,839 --> 00:31:44,400 then you have the joy that is to all the people, 512 00:31:44,759 --> 00:31:48,720 in the truest form of it. And dear brother, dear sister, 513 00:31:49,279 --> 00:31:52,279 the further you submit yourself to Christ the Lord, the 514 00:31:52,359 --> 00:31:55,599 more completely you know him and are like him, the 515 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:59,599 fuller will your happiness be. Calme surface joy is to 516 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,680 those who live where the Savior is preached. But the 517 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,680 great deeps, the great, fathomless deeps of solemn joy, which 518 00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:10,000 glisten and sparkle with delight, are for such as know 519 00:32:10,119 --> 00:32:14,119 the Savior, obey the anointed One, and have communion with 520 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:18,160 the Lord himself. He is the most joyful man, who 521 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,880 is the most christly man. I wish that some Christians 522 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:26,279 were more truly Christians. They are Christians and something else. 523 00:32:26,759 --> 00:32:31,039 It were much better if they were altogether Christians. Perhaps 524 00:32:31,079 --> 00:32:34,359 you know the legend or perhaps true history of the 525 00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:38,200 awakening of Saint Augustine. He dreamed that he died and 526 00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:40,720 went to the gates of heaven, and the keeper of 527 00:32:40,759 --> 00:32:45,960 the gates said to him, who are you? And he answered, Christianus, 528 00:32:46,079 --> 00:32:50,359 sum I am a Christian. But the porter replied, no, 529 00:32:50,559 --> 00:32:53,640 you are not a Christian. You are a Ciceronian. For 530 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:56,519 your thoughts and studies were most of all directed to 531 00:32:56,559 --> 00:32:59,920 the works of Cicero and the Classics, and you neglected 532 00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:01,279 the teaching of Jesus. 533 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:02,880 Speaker 2: We judge men. 534 00:33:02,799 --> 00:33:06,200 Speaker 1: Here by that which most engrossed their thoughts, and you 535 00:33:06,279 --> 00:33:09,440 are judged not to be a Christian, but a Ciceronian. 536 00:33:10,319 --> 00:33:13,440 When Augustine awoke, he put aside the classics which he 537 00:33:13,519 --> 00:33:16,720 had studied, and the eloquence at which he had aimed, 538 00:33:17,119 --> 00:33:20,480 and he said, I will be a Christian and a Theologian. 539 00:33:21,119 --> 00:33:23,839 And from that time he devoted his thoughts to the 540 00:33:23,839 --> 00:33:26,960 word of God, and his pen and his tongue to 541 00:33:27,039 --> 00:33:30,440 the instruction of others in the truth. Oh, I would 542 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:33,079 not have it said of any of you, Well, he 543 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:36,119 may be somewhat Christian, but he is far more a 544 00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:40,880 keen money getting tradesman. I would not have it said, Well, 545 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,519 he may be a believer in Christ, but he is 546 00:33:43,559 --> 00:33:47,559 a good deal more a politician. Perhaps he is a Christian, 547 00:33:47,839 --> 00:33:49,799 but he is most at home when he is talking 548 00:33:49,839 --> 00:33:57,119 about science, farming, engineering, horses, mining, navigation, or pleasure taking. No, No, 549 00:33:57,359 --> 00:33:59,640 you will never know the fullness of the joy which 550 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:02,880 Jesus as brings to the soul, unless, under the power 551 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:05,839 of the Holy Spirit, you take the Lord your Master 552 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:08,960 to be your all in all, and make him the 553 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:13,920 fountain of your intensest delight. He is my Savior, my Christ, 554 00:34:14,079 --> 00:34:18,119 my Lord. Be this your loudest boast. Then will you 555 00:34:18,199 --> 00:34:21,519 know the joy which the Angel song predicts for men. 556 00:34:23,159 --> 00:34:25,039 Speaker 2: Three. But I must pass on. 557 00:34:25,679 --> 00:34:29,039 Speaker 1: The last thing in the text is the sign. The 558 00:34:29,119 --> 00:34:31,880 shepherds did not ask for a sign, but one was 559 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:36,280 graciously given. Sometimes it is sinful for us to require 560 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:40,440 as an evidence what God's tenderness may nevertheless see fit 561 00:34:40,559 --> 00:34:44,400 to give us as an aid to faith. Wilful unbelief 562 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:48,719 shall have no sign, but weak faith shall have compassionate aid. 563 00:34:49,519 --> 00:34:51,679 The sign that the joy of the world had come 564 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,679 was this. They were to go to the manger to 565 00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:57,119 find the Christ in it, and he was to be 566 00:34:57,239 --> 00:35:02,239 the sign. Every circumstance is there for instructive. The babe 567 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:06,679 was found wrapped in swaddling clothes. Now observe as you 568 00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:09,519 look at this infant, that there is not the remotest 569 00:35:09,519 --> 00:35:14,199 appearance of temporal power. Here mark the two little puny 570 00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:17,280 arms of a little babe that must be carried if 571 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:20,679 it go Alas the nations of the earth look for 572 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:24,559 joy and military power, by what means can we make 573 00:35:24,599 --> 00:35:28,559 a nation of soldiers? The Prussian method is admirable. We 574 00:35:28,639 --> 00:35:31,800 must have thousands upon thousands of armed men and big 575 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:36,199 cannon and ironclad vessels to kill and destroy by wholesale. 576 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:40,039 Is it not a nation's pride to be gigantic in arms? 577 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:44,480 What pride flushes the patriot's cheek when he remembers that 578 00:35:44,599 --> 00:35:49,079 his nation can murder faster than any other people? Ah, 579 00:35:49,119 --> 00:35:52,880 foolish generation. Ye are groping in the flames of hell 580 00:35:53,079 --> 00:35:56,559 to find your heaven, raking amid blood and bones for 581 00:35:56,639 --> 00:36:01,039 the foul thing which ye call glory. A nation's joy 582 00:36:01,119 --> 00:36:04,559 can never lie in the misery of others. Killing is 583 00:36:04,639 --> 00:36:08,719 not the path to prosperity. Huge armaments are a curse 584 00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:12,079 to the nation itself, as well as to its neighbors. 585 00:36:13,119 --> 00:36:15,719 The joy of a nation is a golden sand over 586 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:19,159 which no stream of blood has ever rippled. It is 587 00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:22,519 only found in that river. The streams whereof make glad 588 00:36:22,559 --> 00:36:26,480 the city of God. The weakness of submissive gentleness is 589 00:36:26,599 --> 00:36:31,880 true power. Jesus founds his eternal empire, not on force. 590 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:32,599 Speaker 2: But on love. 591 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:37,719 Speaker 1: Here o, ye people, see your hope. The mild pacific prince, 592 00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:42,000 whose glory is his self sacrifice, is our true benefactor. 593 00:36:43,079 --> 00:36:46,239 But look again, and you shall observe no pomp to 594 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:46,960 dazzle you. 595 00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:49,920 Speaker 2: Is the child wrapped in purple. 596 00:36:49,519 --> 00:36:53,440 Speaker 1: And fine linen. Ah No sleeps he in a cradle 597 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:57,559 of gold. The manger alone is his shelter. No crown 598 00:36:57,639 --> 00:37:01,119 is upon the babe's head. Neither does a ronnette surround 599 00:37:01,119 --> 00:37:04,920 the mother's brow. A simple maiden of galilee, and a 600 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:07,599 little child in ordinary swaddling bands. 601 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:09,719 Speaker 2: It is all you see. 602 00:37:10,199 --> 00:37:13,920 Speaker 1: Bask not in courtly bower or sun bright hall of power. 603 00:37:14,519 --> 00:37:18,880 Pass babel quick and seek the Holy land from robes 604 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:23,840 of tyrene and dye. Turn with undazzled eye to Bethlehem's glade, 605 00:37:24,199 --> 00:37:28,800 and by the manger stand alas the nations are dazzled 606 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:32,519 with a vain shaw. The pomp of empires, the pageants 607 00:37:32,519 --> 00:37:34,039 of kings are their delight. 608 00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:36,360 Speaker 2: How can they admire those. 609 00:37:36,199 --> 00:37:40,599 Speaker 1: Gaudy courts in which too often glorious apparel, decorations and 610 00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:44,360 rank stand in the stead of virtue, chastity, and truth. 611 00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:48,719 When will the people cease to be children. Must they 612 00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:52,960 forever crave for martial music which stimulates to violence, and 613 00:37:53,039 --> 00:37:56,719 delight in a lavish expenditure which burdens them with taxation. 614 00:37:57,639 --> 00:38:01,719 These make not a nation great or joy bah. How 615 00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:05,440 has the bubble burst across yon Narrow Sea? A bubble 616 00:38:05,480 --> 00:38:10,079 empire has collapsed? Ten thousand bayonets and millions of gold 617 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:14,599 proved but a sandy foundation for a babel throne. Vain 618 00:38:14,679 --> 00:38:17,760 are the men who look for joy and pomp. It 619 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:21,679 lies in truth and righteousness, in peace and salvation, of 620 00:38:21,719 --> 00:38:24,880 which yonder newborn prince in the garments of a peasant 621 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:29,559 child is the true symbol. Neither was their wealth to 622 00:38:29,599 --> 00:38:33,440 be seen at Bethlehem. Here in this quiet island, the 623 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:37,079 bulk of men are comfortably seeking to acquire their thousands 624 00:38:37,079 --> 00:38:41,599 by commerce and manufacturers. We are the sensible people who 625 00:38:41,639 --> 00:38:44,599 follow the main chance and are not to be deluded 626 00:38:44,679 --> 00:38:48,039 by ideas of glory. We are making all the money 627 00:38:48,039 --> 00:38:51,679 we can, and wondering that other nations waste so much 628 00:38:51,719 --> 00:38:55,559 in fight. The main prop and pillar of England's joy 629 00:38:55,960 --> 00:38:58,840 is to be found, as some tell us in the 630 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:02,960 three Percents, in the possession of colonies, in the progress 631 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:08,199 of machinery, in steadily increasing our capital is not Mammon 632 00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:11,559 a smiling deity. But here, in the cradle of the 633 00:39:11,559 --> 00:39:15,159 world's hope, at Bethlehem, I see far more of poverty 634 00:39:15,199 --> 00:39:18,920 than wealth. I perceive no glitter of gold or spangle 635 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:23,239 of silver. I perceive only a poor babe, so poor, 636 00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:26,360 so very poor, that he is in a manger laid. 637 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:30,039 And his mother is a mechanic's wife, a woman who 638 00:39:30,039 --> 00:39:34,320 wears neither silk nor jam. Not in your gold, O, Britons, 639 00:39:34,639 --> 00:39:37,920 will ever lie your joy, But in the Gospel enjoyed 640 00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:44,039 by all classes. The Gospel freely preached and joyfully received. Jesus, 641 00:39:44,119 --> 00:39:47,599 by raising us to spiritual wealth, redeems us from the 642 00:39:47,679 --> 00:39:51,079 chains of Mammon, and in that liberty gives us joy. 643 00:39:52,199 --> 00:39:56,079 And here too I see no superstition. I know the 644 00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:59,800 artist paints angels in the skies and surrounds the scene 645 00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:03,760 with the mysterious light of which tradition's tongue of falsehood 646 00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:06,880 has said that it made midnight as bright as noon. 647 00:40:07,639 --> 00:40:08,400 Speaker 2: This is fiction. 648 00:40:08,599 --> 00:40:12,599 Speaker 1: Merely there was nothing more there than the stable, the straw, 649 00:40:12,639 --> 00:40:17,159 the oxenate, and perhaps the beasts themselves, and the child 650 00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:21,000 in the plainest, simplest manner, rapped as other children are. 651 00:40:21,599 --> 00:40:26,559 The cherubs were invisible, and of halos there were none around. 652 00:40:26,599 --> 00:40:30,159 This birth of joy was no sign of superstition. That 653 00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:34,119 demon dared not intrude its tricks and posturings into the 654 00:40:34,159 --> 00:40:37,559 sublime spectacle. It would have been there as much out 655 00:40:37,559 --> 00:40:40,599 of place as a harlequin in the Holy of Holies. 656 00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:44,920 A simple gospel, a plain gospel, as plain as that 657 00:40:45,039 --> 00:40:47,079 babe wrapped in the commonest garments. 658 00:40:47,599 --> 00:40:49,559 Speaker 2: Is this day the only hope for men. 659 00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:54,039 Speaker 1: Be ye wise and believe in Jesus, and abhor all 660 00:40:54,079 --> 00:40:57,239 the lives of Rome and inventions of those who ape 661 00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:01,840 her detestable abominations. Nor does the joy of the world 662 00:41:02,039 --> 00:41:05,960 lie in philosophy. You could not have made a schoolman's 663 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:09,000 puzzle of Bethlehem if you had tried to do so. 664 00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:12,039 It is just a child in the manger, and a 665 00:41:12,119 --> 00:41:15,440 Jewish woman looking on and nursing it, and a carpenter 666 00:41:15,559 --> 00:41:20,079 standing by. There was no metaphysical difficulty there of which 667 00:41:20,119 --> 00:41:23,440 men could say. A doctor of divinity is needed to 668 00:41:23,559 --> 00:41:28,280 explain it, and an assembly of divines must expound it. 669 00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:31,039 It is true the wise men came there, but it 670 00:41:31,119 --> 00:41:34,679 was only to adore and offer gifts. Would that all 671 00:41:34,719 --> 00:41:38,360 the wise had been as wise as they Alas human 672 00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:42,519 subtlety has disputed over the manger, and logic has darkened 673 00:41:42,559 --> 00:41:45,960 counsel with its words. But this is one of man's 674 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:51,159 many inventions. God's work was sublimely simple. Here was the 675 00:41:51,199 --> 00:41:55,280 Word made flesh to dwell among us, a mystery for faith, 676 00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:59,599 but not a football for argument. Mysterious, Yet the greatest 677 00:41:59,639 --> 00:42:03,360 simpleelicity that was ever spoken to human ears and seen 678 00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:06,920 by mortal eyes. And such is the Gospel, in the 679 00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:10,840 preaching of which our Apostle said, we use great plainness 680 00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:15,559 of speech. Away Away with your learned sermons and your 681 00:42:15,679 --> 00:42:20,440 fine talk, and your pretentious philosophies. These never created a 682 00:42:20,519 --> 00:42:24,719 jot of happiness in this world. Fine spun theories are 683 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:28,440 fair to gaze on and to bewilder fools, but they 684 00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:31,719 are of no use to practical men. They comfort not 685 00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:35,000 the sons of toil, nor cheer the daughters of sorrow. 686 00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:38,760 The man of common sense, who feels the daily rub 687 00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:42,599 and tear of this poor world, needs richer consolation than 688 00:42:42,639 --> 00:42:47,239 your novel theologies or neologies can give him. In a 689 00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:50,159 simple christ and in a simple faith. In that Christ, 690 00:42:50,599 --> 00:42:53,880 there is a peace, deep and lasting. In a plain, 691 00:42:54,039 --> 00:42:58,039 poor man's gospel, there is a joy and a bliss unspeakable, 692 00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:01,840 of which thousands can speak, and speak with confidence too, 693 00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:05,880 for they declare what they do know, and testify what 694 00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:09,599 they have seen. I say then, to ye who would 695 00:43:09,599 --> 00:43:13,039 know the only true peace and lasting joy. Come ye 696 00:43:13,079 --> 00:43:16,119 to the Babe of Bethlehem in after days, the man 697 00:43:16,159 --> 00:43:21,880 of sorrows, the substitutionary sacrifice for sinners. Come ye, little children, 698 00:43:22,079 --> 00:43:23,719 ye boys and girls, come. 699 00:43:23,639 --> 00:43:27,639 Speaker 2: Ye, For he also was a boy. The Holy Child. 700 00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:32,400 Speaker 1: Jesus is the children's Savior, and saith still suffer the 701 00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:35,199 little children to come unto me, and forbid them not. 702 00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:39,239 Come hither, ye maidens, ye who are still in the 703 00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:42,840 morning of your beauty, and like Mary, rejoice in God 704 00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:46,639 your Savior. The Virgin bore him on her bosom. So 705 00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:50,639 come ye and bear him in your hearts, saying, unto us, 706 00:43:50,679 --> 00:43:53,719 a child is born, unto us, a son is given. 707 00:43:54,639 --> 00:43:57,360 And you, ye men, in the plenitude of your strength, 708 00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:01,360 remember how Joseph cared for him and watched with reverence 709 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:03,400 solicitude his tender years. 710 00:44:04,119 --> 00:44:05,119 Speaker 2: Be you to his. 711 00:44:05,199 --> 00:44:09,199 Speaker 1: Cause as a father and a helper, sanctify your strength 712 00:44:09,239 --> 00:44:13,559 to his service. And ye women advanced in years, Ye 713 00:44:13,599 --> 00:44:17,320 matrons and widows, come like Anna, and bless the Lord 714 00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:21,440 that you have seen the salvation of Israel. And ye warheads, 715 00:44:21,519 --> 00:44:24,960 who like Simeon are ready to depart, Come ye and 716 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:28,320 take the Savior in your arms, adoring him as your 717 00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:33,239 Savior and your all. Ye shepherds, Ye simple hearted, ye 718 00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:37,159 who toil for your daily bread, Come and adore your Savior, 719 00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:41,079 and stand not back. Ye wise men, Ye who know 720 00:44:41,199 --> 00:44:45,239 by experience and who by meditation peer into deep truth. 721 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:48,679 Come ye, and like the sages of the East, bow 722 00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:52,000 low before his presence, and make it your honor to 723 00:44:52,039 --> 00:44:55,480 pay honor to Christ the Lord. For my own part, 724 00:44:55,679 --> 00:44:59,119 the Incarnate God is all my hope and trust. I 725 00:44:59,159 --> 00:45:02,119 have seen the world religion at the fountain head, and 726 00:45:02,239 --> 00:45:05,920 my heart has sickened within me. I come back to preach, 727 00:45:06,039 --> 00:45:10,119 by God's help yet more earnestly the Gospel, the simple 728 00:45:10,159 --> 00:45:14,400 Gospel of the Son of Man Jesus Master. I take 729 00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:18,079 thee to be mine forever. May all in this house, 730 00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:21,000 through the rich grace of God, be led to do 731 00:45:21,119 --> 00:45:24,199 the same, And may they all be Thine Great Son 732 00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:27,360 of God in the day of Thine, appearing for thy 733 00:45:27,440 --> 00:45:28,320 love's sake. 734 00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:33,079 Speaker 2: Amen and of Joy. 735 00:45:33,119 --> 00:45:35,719 Speaker 1: Born at Bethlehem by Charles Spurgeon