Luke 2:1-14
God's Christmas Gifts
One of the highlights of Christmas is the giving and receiving of
gifts. Over the years, we have developed traditions of creating
suspense with our gift giving. Every family is different but most
families start the gift giving by going to grandma and grandpa’s
house with a trunk load of wrapped gifts, making the children ponder
what’s inside while they eat and talk, then finally - when the child
is about to explode giving him or her a wrapped gift to rip into.
This usually happens several times as there are several sets of
grandparents and other parties to attend. Many families also open
more gifts on Christmas Eve. Then the finale. Get up on Christmas
morning to see if the biggest gifts are under the tree.
Parents get joy as they watch their child’s anticipation grow. But
what would happen if the children decided not to participate one
year. They decided not to get excited. They decide not to open their
presents. It would be a miserable Christmas.
God has six gifts and He wants you to open them all. Some, even in
this building this morning, may have left God’s Christmas gifts
unopened!
I. \\#Luke 2:11\\ "unto you a Savior is born"
A. Christmas is about receiving the greatest Gift ever given to
mankind. The gift of a Savior.
B. The idea of giving and receiving gifts was not man’s idea. It
was God’s.
1. Christmas has changed much in the last 100 years.
a. While the holy day has been celebrated for thousands
of years, the first gifts given were far more simpler
and practical than in our luxurious times.
b. Gifts of old might be a few pieces of fruit, a pair of
much needed shoes, or a new dress.
2. God gave the first, the greatest, and the most needed
Gift, our Savior.
a. All of the gifts we give are a pale comparison to the
gift of salvation.
C. Why was a Savior needed?
1. God created mankind but not as we are today.
2. God created us pure, without sin. We had no lust, no
hatred, no envy, no prejudice.
3. But Satan stepped onto the scene and planted thoughts of
lust and desire into Eve’s mind.
a. She acted upon them, being the first to bring sin into
the world.
b. Then Eve tempted Adam, who also acted upon his desires;
thus sin contaminated them both.
c. From these two sinners, all human beings were born
d. The black, the white, the brown, the yellow, the red—
we all have a common ancestry.
(1) The Daily Mail released a story on December 9,
2018, stating that there is some scientific DNA
evidence that the whole human race descended from
just two humans.
(2) Some question Daily Mail’s reliability but
whether there is evidence or not, the headline is
true.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6424407/Every-person-s
pawned-single-pair-adults-living-200-000-years-ago-scientists-
claim.html
4. In that condition, the whole human race was to be
separated from God for all eternity.
a. People are eternal beings.
b. Hell is the place where God is not and it is the place
where the souls of those separated from God will
spend eternity.
5. With man in that condition, God sent a Savior.
a. God sent Himself, more specifically, His Son to this
world to live a sinless life and then to be separated
from for (instead) of us.
b. This was Jesus.
(1) Jesus was God moving from heaven into the body of
a Baby.
(2) Born without a human father for God Himself is
Jesus’ Father.
(3) He set aside all of His power to be like a normal
man.
(4) Even so, He lived a sinless life.
(5) Then God allowed Jesus to be taken by cruel man,
beaten as a sinner, and executed as a scoundrel.
(6) But even worse, while hanging upon the cross,
Jesus took our sins upon Him, being separated
from God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
(7) Somehow, in those hours upon the cross, Jesus
paid our separation from God penalty.
(8) Jesus became the Savior.
(9) Now, no human being need be separated from God—
not now and not in eternity.
D. But you must claim this Gift of a Savior.
1. The Gift has been given but if you do not claim Him, it
avails you nothing.
2. There are two things you must do.
a. You must believe the sin and Savior story.
b. The best you know how, you must turn away from sin
and allow God to rule in your life.
II. \\#Luke 2:14\\ "on the earth, peace"
Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good will toward men.
A. Peace? What kind of peace is this referring to?
1. World peace?
a. Yes, one day there will be world peace, but not yet.
b. The world peace will come when Jesus ascends to the
throne and rules from Israel.
2. Israel’s peace? No. It was not peace for Israel.
a. Soon after the birth of Jesus, wise men came to bring
Him gifts. They stopped by Herod’s palace,
revealing to him for the first time that a King had
been born.
Matt 2:3 When Herod the king had heard these
things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with
him.
b. And well they should have been troubled for within
months, Herod will send to Bethlehem and slay all the
male children two years old and under in an attempt
to make sure Israel’s new King was killed.
3. Jesus’ Peace? It was not to be peace for Jesus.
a. While we know very little of Jesus’ early years, we
know that His three plus years if ministry were
filled with traps, confrontations, and accusations
from the religious of His day.
b. We also know that He was betrayed by friend, abandoned
by His disciples, and crucified by His enemies.
c. No. Jesus did not have peace.
4. For the present, the gift of peace is YOUR peace.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I
give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I
unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither
let it be afraid.
B. In a world filled with unrest, hatred, violence, war, crime,
disease, uncertainty, and much more, you can have peace if
you know Jesus as your Savior.
1. Perhaps you doubt this, but let me remind you that peace
is not the absence of problems.
2. You will have problems in this life because of sin and
sinners.
3. While peace does not remove the problems, it can remove
the turmoil inside of you.
C. How? In several ways.
1. First, living as Jesus taught us will eliminate many self-
inflicted troubles.
2. Second, living with Jesus gives us the assurance that
whatever problems come into our lives, Jesus will use
them for His glory and our eternal good.
III. \\#Luke 2:14\\ "goodwill to all men"
A. Goodwill is good desire. God is offering mankind a gift of
goodness to one another.
1. Christians are the embodiment of God’s love.
2. God loves everyone wherever they are. (He may not want
them to stay where they are but He loves them wherever
they are.)
B. In the last few years, racial tensions have increased again,
political and moral issues have not only divided us, but
angered and stoked us.
1. In these days, we must remember that the gift given to us
is goodwill.
2. Christians should never harbor malice, hatred, or even
anger toward those who think differently, behavior
sinfully, or even act violently toward us.
3. This is the ability God wants us all to have but it is
one of the gifts that came with the Savior.
IV. \\#Luke 2:32\\ "a light to lighten the Gentiles"
Luke 2:32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and
the glory of thy people Israel.
A. This gift is to the non-Jewish nations.
B. Until Jesus, Gentiles had been in darkness. They were
separated from God by their sins; but largely, they did not
even know it.
1. God showed the Gentiles some earthly mercies in that He
did not destroy them out right for their evil—at least
not until it got really, really bad.
2. But all millions of those nations died separated from God
and will forever be separated from Him.
C. Then Jesus came and with the church came the Gospel
Commission:
Matt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you….
D. Today, all of the American Gentile churches, as well as the
German, the English, the French, the Russian, the African,
and all of the churches scattered across the globe, remind us
that Jesus came not just to the Jews, but to the whole world.
V. \\#Luke 2:32\\ "the glory of thy people Israel"
Luke 2:32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and
the glory of thy people Israel.
A. God has always intended Israel to outshine the other nations.
1. If that bothers you, get over it.
2. With the Christ-child, Israel was to receive the crown of
it’s existence.
3. Isn’t it a shame that after 2,000 years, they still
haven’t opened their present?
B. They will. They will open their Present during the
tribulation and will step into the glory God has always
wanted them to have during the millennial reign of Jesus.
VI. \\#Luke 2:34-35\\ "a sword shall pierce through thy own soul:
Luke 2:34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto
Mary his mother, Behold, this [child] is set for
the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and
for a sign which shall be spoken against;
35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own
soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may
be revealed.
A. These prophetic words were spoken by Simeon to Mary.
1. Although she had the privilege to bear the Messiah to the
world, she would also have to watch what the world did
to her Son.
2. It would be as a sword run through her very heart.
B. But there is a price for all who accept Jesus Christ.
1. We all step into His sacrifice and suffering.
2. Jesus made it clear that we are no longer our own to live
as we please.
Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man
will come after me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Luke 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his
cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
C. If we are Christ’s, we must…
1. Turn from our sins and pleasures,
2. surrender to His Lordship,
3. and serve His cause.
D. While this may sound like a high price to pay, it comes with
eternal rewards.
This morning, have you opened all of the gifts God has for you?
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