Meditations on That Holy Night | Pastor Daniel Batarseh | Christmas Eve Service

We're bundled together tonight. We're here because of one reason, and that is to worship the Lord on this Saturday evening. I'm so glad that we can do that. And it seems appropriate, of this room and the blackness outside of these windows to turn our attention to the very night where Christ and when Christ was born. And the Holy Spirit does not give us the precise date of when the Messiah entered into our world.

But in God's wisdom, he has provided detailed accounts surrounding that glorious event. And in God's mind, it suffices for us to know just that so that we can worship him and obey him accordingly. And one of those accounts that have been given by the Lord pertaining to the birth of our savior deals with the angelic announcement of Christ being born on the very night that he did arrive. And I want us to see what happened here because the essence of the angels message to an unsuspecting group of shepherds can be beautifully summarized in one verse. And that's in Luke two verse 11.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. A savior is born. Not a not a social reformer, not a philosopher who would propose some ethical framework to provide humanity some guidance in life, not a charity worker who would give us some examples of how to treat the marginalized, not even a prophet who would merely perform some miracles. What the angel said is loud and clear, a savior is born.

What a title. What a significant purpose given to a child. And the fact that this child would be a savior implies that there is someone or there is something that needs to be rescued. Meditating on this verse should cause us to ask a very simple question. Who is it that the savior will seek to deliver?

And what is it that he will save from exactly? And all we need to do is have a simple surface level survey of the Bible to get a clear idea of what it is exactly that the savior came to do. You know, the Bible doesn't blush about its truths. It doesn't shrink. It doesn't veil anything.

It is clear. And the Bible emphatically declares that the very object of the savior's saving is humanity itself. Humanity is in need of saving. And what do they need to be saved from exactly? What do we need to be saved from?

God himself. We need to be saved from God, and God would save us from God. I know that seems strange, but it makes sense when you understand that the problem humanity faces now and faced ever since the beginning is that God is holy. God is good. God is just.

He is perfect. There is no one like him. We try to make him like us to comfort our conscience, but you will never be able to challenge the heights that the scriptures places this god in. He is so above and beyond what we can even create in our imagination or with these hands or with our own words, with our own ideas. He is holy.

And this God created us. And when he created us, he created us with the intention of glorifying himself and also fellowshipping with his creation. Not because he was lonely, not because he was in need of anything, but out of pure delight, being the creator of all things, he created us in his image. And he gave us one simple instruction. Just don't eat of one tree.

I'm gonna plant you in a garden, and you you can feast on an array of vegetation, and you can enjoy paradise. But there's just one thing that I'm asking you not to do. And some would say, why would God even give the option? And I say, because God is love. And because God is love, he gives you a choice to love him in return.

And our first parents, Adam and Eve, who are our representatives, the federal head of mankind, failed, and they made their choice to not love God, but to love their own desire, their own wishes, their own plans, and to satisfy their own desires. And ever since that happened, the world has been fractured. Humanity has been broken, and only the bible listen to me. If you're a skeptic in this place, I welcome you, and I hope you leave here with answers. And more importantly, I hope you leave here with the savior in your heart.

I've been meditating these past two weeks about how no other book, no other text, no other historical document gives us many answers as the Bible does. When we think about the universal universal element of death and the universal element of sin, There is not one part of the world that can escape it. There's not one, portion of history that has evaded it. No matter where you go, no matter what corner of the globe you tuck yourself in, sin has contaminated it. And no matter what you do to yourself and no matter how much we advance in our technology and our science, we still die.

Why? How do we explain this? Where do we find answers for this mystery? And it's it's right here in this book that I am preaching from. No other person, no other belief system gives the detailed answers and the clarity that God's word does.

And ever since our first parents sinned against God, judgment has been hanging over the human race. And it it has been ready, and and it will soon be poured out on Adam's descendants because we have all, like Adam, like Eve, turned our backs to God and have made a willful decision to satisfy our wishes at the expense of disobeying God. And here's here's the thing. God is not a cosmic teddy bear. He's a moral law giver.

And when law is broken as a just judge, he must penalize. And he must summon the subjects who have broken his law into account, and that is all of us. And you might hear that this evening and think to yourself, well, if we are all in trouble, if we have all fallen short of the standard of God's holy law, because in giving this law, he expect he expects his creation to abide by that law and to imitate and reflect his character by upholding that law. If we have all fallen short, then then surely we must do something to save ourselves. Surely, there must be something that we can do to appease this God, to satisfy this God.

But again, as I said earlier, this God is just. We can't do anything to save ourselves just like a criminal who has created a great crime cannot stand before a judge and try to convince him that he can do enough community work to escape any price that has been laid on him for his crime. God does not just brush our sins beneath this universal rug. Somebody has to pay. We have to pay.

And there's nothing that we can do. There is no arm to twist. There is no good deeds that you can heap up that will ever satisfy the perfection that God demands from us because he himself is perfect. So what does God do? Well, if the story ends there, then we're all doomed.

And we we might as well eat and drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. But god is love, and his love is so great that he comes up with a plan even before all things happen because he knew what would happen. And he, through the eternal son, willingly entered into our world so that through his life, death, and resurrection would provide an atonement that would satisfy the justice of God and would cancel the record of our heaping rebellious record of sin forever. He comes to save. And the effect of his saving work by taking on flesh yes.

We look at Jesus as a baby and we sing about it, but he didn't stay as a baby. He entered in as a baby so that he can become a man. And as a man, he took on a whole life of obeying the law of God perfectly on our behalf, and then to die the death that we all deserved. And the effect of that the effect of that is not merely eternal. There are byproducts of that wonderful act of grace that you and I can enjoy today, And that is seen in verse 10.

I read to you verse 11, but the angel began with something else. He said in verse 10, and the angel said to them, fear not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy. Fear not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. That will be for all the people. So remember, this angel appears to this group of shepherds, and they are supervising their flock in the night.

And by surprise, here comes the celestial messenger who breaks open the black midnight sky and appears out of nowhere before these ordinary men, blue collar folk. And as this angel comes, the first thing he says to them is fear not. And I'm telling you the reason why he tries to comfort them is far beyond the element of surprise. When you read verse nine, we not only see that the angel appears out of nowhere, kinda like that. The angel not only appears out of nowhere, but we're told that the glory of the Lord shown around them.

And so there was something of this brilliant supernatural light. These shepherds have seen light. They've seen sunlight. They've seen moonlight. They've seen starlight.

They've seen man made light, but this kind of a light was indescribable, and it caused them to be in great fear. And I wonder if these shepherds with a basic understanding of the word of God were able to put the pieces together of what was taking place in those few seconds. Here is this heavenly messenger who is coming with this brilliant light. Surely, this is the glory of God appearing before us. And if you just had a basic understanding of the old testament, which is the Hebrew scriptures, then any Jew would have understood that for God to appear in his glory is a death sentence.

You're doomed. By virtue of his nature being so pure and so perfect that like the sun will consume anything in close proximity simply because of the brilliance of his holiness and the sinfulness that we are all corrupted with. And so in the old testament, even when God's glory had appeared at different portions of redemptive history, there was great caution given and there was specific instructions given if anybody would even come a step toward the glory of God. And here are these men who are given no notice, no heads up, no preparation like the Israelites at Mount Sinai who were told to cleanse themselves days before the glory of God would show up on the top of that mountain. Just suddenly, this light comes and consumes the scene.

And underneath them and behind them and around them is this light, and perhaps with that light before them, flash their own lives. Here we go. God has come to kill us. God has come to consume us. And the angel instead reassures them, fear not.

Fear not. This is good news. Yeah. What you are seeing is the glory of the Lord, but God has not come to destroy you. He's come to save you.

And just like the shepherds, we too can be delivered from fear because of this good news. You and I do not have to stand in terror before this God. Not now and not when you will stand before him at the end of your life. The gospel that we preach when it is believed on, when it is responded to with faith, eradicates fear. All kinds of fear.

But let me tell you the fear that we need to be most fearful of, if I can say. The fear of God. Not because he's a tyrant, not because he is this bully in the sky who takes delight in our punishment, who is sadistic, but because he's holy and we're not. It's a good kind of fear, and it's a fear that everyone everyone should have if they are uncertain of where they stand with God. But the angel says, fear not.

You can it's almost like a foreshadowing. You can stand in the glory of God now. You you can be face to face with this. Yes. Even in in God's moral majesty and all of his goodness, you don't have to fear.

Matthew tells us that he has come to save us from our sins, and later on, we are told that he has come to save us that we might serve him without fear without fear. So what Jesus does because he's he lives on our behalf and he dies on our behalf and he takes his righteousness and he imputes it into your account, what that does is it evaporates any concern that God will change his mind about your verdict. And there never has to be a sleepless night, and there never has to be a thought that runs through your conscience that says, am I safe before this holy God? Will he abandon me in this life? Will he will he destroy me?

Will he punish me? Will he disown me? Will he will he remove my name from that record that guarantees that I am a citizen of heaven? All of that disappears on the merit of what Jesus has done. Fear is gone.

When you're truly born again, yes, you can be tempted with fear, but let me tell you what what one of the joys of of knowing Jesus is. You're free. You are free. What do I mean by free? Yeah.

Free from sin, but you're free from fear. You know, last night, our family received unfortunate news. Our grandfather passed away unsuspectedly. We knew he was sick. We knew that time would come, but it happened very quickly.

And so my father FaceTimed me last night as I was meditating on these truths to prepare to speak to you tonight. And he was in the room with the rest of my family who were able to make it my mother, her siblings, some of the cousins. And there was my grandfather laying there. And I can tell he was on the threshold of eternity. And many things ran through my mind looking at that and praying at the same time, thinking about him, thinking about his wife, my grandmother, thinking about my mom, his daughter, her siblings.

And then finally, throughout the night and even today, pulling back and thinking about that whole experience, what I saw. You know, scripture says better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting. There's wisdom to be learned when you're faced with the death of another. And I looked at that, and his face from that blurry FaceTime episode stirred my heart to think this is it. This is this is the fate of all of us, for all of you, for me.

And in one FaceTime call that ended within a few minutes, a text came, he passed on. In just a few moments, in one breath, you're there surrounded by your loved ones who are holding on to you, crying over you. From there surrounded by the warmth of love and support, you're in the presence of the glory of God. One breath. One text message with the news that somebody has crossed through the veil of this universe into a world that is more real than this one.

And you don't wanna ask myself, are you ready? Are you ready to stand in the glory of God? For some, that is a dreadful thought. For for some, that is a fearful, fearful thing to even meditate on for a moment. But for the Christian, dare I say, it can be exciting.

You can think about such a thing and actually know a blanket of comfort over your soul. Because what Jesus Christ does is enable you to know a peace with God so that when you meet with God, there there doesn't need to be an ounce of concern that he will expel you from his presence or consume you in his presence. You know what happens because of Jesus? His glory becomes your home. That's what happens.

And the very light that caused these shepherds to fear and rightfully fear for the moment is a light that you and I will enjoy for all of eternity because of Christ. You may have a lot of answers or you think you do about this life. Where are your answers for the next one? Come tomorrow and you'll get some. There is no dread in Christ.

There is no fear. What we see here in verse 10 is more than just fear not. Look at this. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy. So here's what happens.

The good news is not just erasing fear, all kinds of fear, and the most important fear, whether whether or not you're in right standing with God. Now we actually know great joy. The angel was so specific. He could have said joy, but he said great joy. You know what the Greek word for great is?

You know it, mega. I love it. Because I look at it this way, I bring you good news of great joy. I bring you good news of mega joy. Mountainous joy, overwhelming joy, all consuming joy.

A joy that surpasses all happiness. All the little things that you try to thread, all the little things that you try to create, Just try to bring some kind of purpose and gratification. No. This is mega joy, and mega joy can only come from Christ. Joy.

Joy is so profound that those who trust in this good news and open their lives up to the reality of it will be able to testify there is nothing else that compares. There is nothing else that can come close to what I feel in here. How can it be that I can be so full with something that I can't see? How can it be that I can be so secure and satisfied with something that I can't tangibly perceive? You see, this message is so real and its implications are so obvious that it makes this impact on you in a way that moves you.

And this is why a weekend like this is so significant. This is why on a Saturday night, you're choosing to be here and to listen to what I'm saying is because this message revives our joy when we lose fuel in it. You know, you have a lot of Christians that that that make it their mission to look at things like Christmas and Easter and the timing of it, a matter of great controversy. And they become apologists for the faith by, you know, just being controversial. I personally have no issue with celebrating Christmas as long as those who celebrate it, celebrate it the way the Bible would tell you to celebrate it.

There's no date that there is no, there's no call to remember the birth of Christ per se. We're called to remember the death of Christ. But I have no issue to take advantage of what's happening year after year to allow the message of the gospel to revive us again. You know why a weekend like this is important? We can take advantage of it.

Because even the most faithful followers of Jesus Christ can lose perspective on the joy that is reserved within this good news alone. You and I can lose sight of it so quickly, and you and I can get involved in little things. Not that little things and little projects and things in this life and events should not be enjoyed, but then we try to make it the substance of of what we are. And I'm telling you, the closest followers of Jesus can fall into that trap, and I'll prove it to you. After this baby becomes a man and he starts his ministry and he has disciples, he sends out many of them on a preaching crusade, and he gives them authority.

And this authority was not just to preach with conviction and power, but to heal the sick and to cast out devils. And after the little campaign, they come back and they have a debrief with their lord, and they are elated. They are overwhelmed by the authority of the name of Jesus and they tell Jesus, even demons are subject to us in your name. And the Lord hears them and he understands where they're coming from, but then he issues some instruction in light of their happiness of their service to God. In Luke ten twenty, you don't have to turn there, but listen to what the Lord says.

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. He says listen. He's not trying to deflate their excitement of seeing the miraculous or seeing the joys that come with serving God. He's not trying to erase that from them. He's not trying to take that from them, but he wants to teach them a valuable lesson.

Don't have more excitement about what you do for God. You better anchor your joy in what God has done for you. Learn that. Stay there. Relish in that truth over and over.

Let that be the heartbeat of your joy, of your glee, of your pleasure. When I thought about it, I how does a future event, not even future, how does something after I die benefit me now? How does that translate to me experiencing a joy that should be greater than any other thing that I can rejoice in? And it's very simple. If you think about it, it's clear.

Whatever you gain in this life, no matter what you accomplish, you will never ever come close to the privilege that you have in having a citizenship in heaven. And listen, whatever you lose in this life, and you will lose much in this life, whatever slips through your hands, no matter who is taken from you, no matter what heartbreak, no matter what failures you experience, even the failures outside of your control, know that in light of this imperishable and guarded assurance, you have no reason to frown. You have no reason to be overwhelmed. And for Christians, the reason why we sing, the reason why you're happy, the reason why you navigate through this life much differently than others is not because of what you do for him, it's because what he's already accomplished. And you rest there, and you allow that to shower over you.

You know, you think about the apostle Paul in the book of Acts, how he was able to utilize his Roman citizenship to avoid many problems. Right? You have the citizenship in glory. I mean, this world is the closest thing to hell you will experience, Christian. And for the person who is not in Christ, this world is the closest thing to heaven they will ever know, and I find that pretty pathetic.

This joy was so real that the angels themselves could not help could not help but join in on the song. There are many instances, and I'm closing here, where an angel appears on the scene in this world to deliver something from the throne room of God. Many instances, sometimes of judgment and sometimes of glad tidings. But what this angel does and what happens with this angel is unprecedented. You don't find it in any other place.

When he arrives to deliver this message, he is accompanied with a heavenly choir. In Luke, you see it in the same chapter, verse 13 of chapter two. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God. Praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. You can't find one other place in all of the bible where you have this heavenly host appearing in this world in this way.

You can see angels praising God in heaven. You see that throughout the book of Revelation. But I'm talking about a choir from heaven invading into this world and celebrating an event that is taking place right there and then. You can't find it. And do you know why you can't find it?

Very simple. Because there is no greater message in this world that can demand such a response. There is nothing in this world, there's nothing that this world has ever produced that would ever demand such a response from heaven. The eternal son of God, whom these angels stood in the presence of, whom these angels sang to, whom these angels knew far beyond you and I can imagine, are now seeing him become a baby. That's glorious.

They gloried in his humiliation. They rejoiced in his love. They could not help but break out in song as they realized they deserve wrath. They are wicked. They have rebelled against the holy one.

And you would perhaps disagree with me on this, but if God had chosen to judge the world instead of saving it, I'm sure the angels would have sang the praises of God nonetheless because he is holy. But instead, they they had a new song to sing, one that would be unexpected, perhaps, and that is this God has now come to abide in the womb of a virgin girl, to become so vulnerable, so helpless, so exposed. The one in whom we could not even behold with our eyes is now hanging from a woman's breast. And he will learn how to walk, and he will have a first word, and he will know the temptations and the temptations of this life for one purpose, so that he can develop hands that would be nailed, feet that would be pierced, a side to be penetrated, a beautiful head to be crushed with thorns, a beard to be pulled, eyes and nose and lips to be spat upon to save. A savior has been born.

And this savior who was born, he's still saving today. Are you saved? I'm offering you a gift. It's free. You probably have things wrapped underneath a tree.

Maybe you're excited to discover what it is that your wife got you, your husband got you, your kids got you. It's gonna turn to rest. God forbid a thief might steal it. One thing's for certain. Hug it as tight as you want on your breast, on your dying moment.

Somebody's gonna take away that thing, stitch you up, put some makeup on you, stuff you in a casket, and bury you. While you, yeah, you, the real you, the you that's not just this flesh, will be standing in the glory of God. That could be an exciting thing. That could be a terrifying thing. I want it to be an exciting thing.

And how you translate from terror to treasure is you acknowledging you need to be saved. God is not demanding for a righteous performance between now and that final breath. He's demanding for you to humble yourself in the presence of God even now to say, I don't know why I'm here. Maybe you saw a pamphlet on your doorknob this past week. Maybe you're invited by a friend or a family, but I'm here.

And I'm here, and I heard a message that demands a choice. God, I ask that you forgive me. I see what my sin has done. I know that if I were to die today, I would not be standing in right. Would you wash me clean?

If you did come to save, save me, rescue me, and let my name be written among the righteous so that I would have no more fear. And I want that great joy, that mega joy that that preacher talked about. Would you do it in my heart? I wanna tell you that that savior, the savior that I preach, the savior that I am not ashamed of, by the authority of God's word, he will save you, and you'll know it. How will I know you'll know it?

How? The same way if you had a 100 pounds riding on your back and all for a sudden somebody just cut the rope for it to be loose, and you feel this lightness and you feel this burden just disappear, that's how you'll know. You Christians know what I'm talking about. And so as we sing in closing, you have every right to speak to this God who is alive and well and who has ordained this moment for you to hear this message so that you would be saved. And, oh, I pray that you would be saved.

A savior has been born. Let's stand together. Would you pray with me? My prayer is gonna be geared towards a person in this place who might not be saved, And also a prayer for the saved to have their joy revived in the fact that their names have been written in heaven. Lord, in this place, as we are ready to go back to our homes, here who does not truly know you, that their hearts would would not shake off conviction or the tug of the Holy Spirit that they might be experiencing at this very moment.

Oh, Lord, we we pray on behalf of those who might not know you, and that, Lord, you would manifest your great glory to them in the gospel, in the cross, so that they could see clearly your great love for them. And, Lord, for us who know you, over time have become very familiar with this message, We pray for a fresh touch to realize the reality of eternity and that everything because of Jesus has been taken care of. We are going home, And there is no one who can condemn us because it is God who justifies. Lord, we worship you, and we ask that you would be blessed by our praise. In light of what we heard, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.