Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
I want to talk to you about some things that can divide the
world. There's a lot of things that can
divide the world today, aren't there?
I mean, major issues that divide the world, things like politics,
that's a major divider, isn't it?
In our nation and other nations as well.
Warfare divides the world. It has historically, and there's
places, there's hot spots of warfare all around the world
even today. Global pandemic, you know, that
divided the world, didn't it? Everybody had opinions on that
and thoughts on that. Anybody want to talk about that
this morning? No, never mind.
I'm just kidding. But that's kind of the idea
isn't divided a lot of people didn't it, this idea, you know,
these these divisive issues, things like, you know, Dunkin or
Starbucks. And you know, the answer to that
is Dunkin. You just say why?
Because your coffee shouldn't spend, you know, it cost more
than your medication. You know what I'm saying?
And so that's why I'd rather have Dunkin than Starbucks, all
things considered, you know, Fords or everything else, you
know, And the answer is, well, everything else, you know,
because of Ford is usually found on road dead, you know, And so I
don't want to, I'm not a Ford guy, you know.
And so these are divisive issues.
I could see, boy, I'm riling you all up right now.
Just even mention these things, aren't I?
There's a lot of divisive issues that are out there.
But you know, those are big things, aren't they?
Whether they're big issues or big companies that we're talking
about, these are all really big things.
But you're the most divisive issue that has ever come across
this world without something very big, but someone very
small. You say, well, who are you
talking about? Well, this morning the title of
my message is this the baby that divided the world, The baby that
divided the world. We think of that wonderful
account of Jesus's birth and we see it here right in Luke
chapter 2, don't we? This beautiful account of Jesus
Christ birth. But in the midst of that birth
that we see is a baby that has divided the world for 2000
years. Now this isn't just me saying
that. This isn't just my thoughts
about that. Jesus himself said this.
In fact He says in Luke chapter #12 verses 51 through 53.
Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on the earth.
I tell you nay, but rather division.
For from henceforth there shall be 5 and one house divided, 3
against two, and two against three.
The father shall be divided against the son and the son
against the father, the mother against the daughter, and the
daughter against the mother, and the mother-in-law against her
daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law law against her
mother-in-law. Even Jesus said that the
divisions would come to Jesus Christ, not just in nations and
not just in cities and towns, but even in families, that
families would be divided about the issue of who this baby is,
who is Jesus Christ. What you decide about Jesus is
the most important decision you will make in your life.
The characters of the account of Christ birth that we're going to
look at this morning from Luke chapter 2 as well as Matthew
chapter number to give us the template for how many people
respond to that same baby Jesus today.
So would you say in peace for the reading God's Word, we're
going to read just the beginning of this account up to where
Brother Justin just read a few moments ago.
So Luke chapter 2 beginning in verse #1 And it says, and it
came to pass in those days there went out of decree from Caesar
Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of
Syria. It all went to be taxed,
everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from
Galilee out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, into the
city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the
house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary his a spouse,
wife being great with child. And so it was that while they
were there, the days were accomplished that she should be
delivered and she brought forth her first born son and wrapped
him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a Manger because
there was no room for them in the end.
You may be seated as we pray together and look at the issue
of the baby that divided the world.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this morning and again thank you
for all who are here. Help me to clearly expound Your
word today to remove myself from the process so that you and Your
word may be forefront in people's hearts and minds.
Thank you for this. Time and again we pray for the
salvation of souls. We pray for those who are saved
to get right with you. Lord, if there are things that
are wrong or simply just to become more conformed into the
image of Christ, whatever it is, Lord, help us all to be changed
for the better by what happens through this message this
morning. And we ask it in Jesus name,
Amen. For more text as well as the
companion passage we're going to look at in Matthew.
Here in just a few moments, we see that there are several
different reactions to the birth of Christ, some positive and
some negative. In the first one is that the
innkeeper rejected #1 We see that the innkeeper rejected.
Look, you've ever been on a trip and it's been a long and arduous
trip. At the end of the trip, having
somewhere to lay your head is a very welcome thing.
For Larry and Joseph to go to Nazareth, to Bethlehem.
I'm told that it would have been somewhere around 90 or so miles
for the traveling to be able to go around Samaria and to be able
to go from Nazareth in the north to Bethlehem in the South.
That would be somewhere around the trip for us to be able to
walk from here to Hartford, CT. And I don't know about you, but
the last time I walked to Hartford, it wasn't a very good
trip. Let me put it this way.
Well, OK, I've never done it before.
None of us want want to do that today.
Why do we not want to do that? Well, because it's a long trip.
It's not something that we want to do.
Somebody done that before. All right, we got someone in the
crowd here. Ralph will try.
All right, Ralph. Okay, well, so other than Ralph,
nobody here wants to walk 90 miles, but I'll tell you who
did. It would have been Mary and it
would have been Joseph. And may I remind you that Mary
was not just with child, but the Bible says great with child.
Now, there's a lot of assumptions that we take from
this text. There's a lot of assumptions
that are there. First of all, that Mary would
have been riding on a donkey. Now, that could have very well
been the case, but we don't see that here in our text.
I mean, certainly it would have been great if he could have
secured a donkey. If not, maybe an Uber would have
been great, but probably it would have been an animal or
something like that. If he could have, that would
have been the case. But at the end of a weary trip,
you know what you want to do. You just want to rest your head.
That's what you want to do. A few weeks ago we were
traveling from Springfield, MO after preaching to go to
Oklahoma City to see Bethany and Carter and we left Springfield
later than we wanted to and then we ended up getting to Oklahoma
City at about 2:30 in the morning.
Can I tell you, the great thing was that the hotel, they left
the lights on for us. You know what I'm saying?
We didn't stay at a Motel 6, but they did leave the lights on for
us because it was so nice to know there was a room that was
ready and it was a waiting for us because we were ready to go
to bed. Now here's the issue for Mary
and Joseph. Now, we don't know anything
about this innkeeper because the Bible really doesn't tell us
anything about the and listen, here's something that's really
interesting. The Bible doesn't even say there
was an innkeeper. The Bible never mentions the
innkeeper per SE. A lot of what we get from the
Christmas story, if we're not careful, comes from Christmas
pageants and plays or Christmas specials.
This is where often times we get our information because we're
just so used to it. As you just read, it was never
said that there was an innkeeper who was standing in front of
this inn, who was standing in front of this hotel and just
went like this and pointed to a stable.
That's not what we see. We don't see that at all.
In fact, it's much different than we would realize from first
blush. Why?
Because when we think of an inn today, when we think of a place
where people would lodge, we think of hotels, we think of
motels. But what we're not talking about
here this morning is a Four Seasons or a Club Med.
Listen, we're not even talking about a Motel 6, because the
ends of that time were much different than what we would see
here today. They often had minimal comfort
by modern standards. Simple rooms, shared sleeping
spaces and places for animals. And sometimes those places for
the animals were in where you were staying in the inn.
Well, OK, that kind of got confusing there for a second.
But inside the inn was the place where the animals would stay
with you oftentimes. And the fact that this inn would
have been in Bethlehem, a town that probably had just a few 100
people, meant that this would have been a very, very modest
space indeed. Not anything luxurious by any
measure. And so we don't know that there
was necessarily an innkeeper, I have to admit that.
But I will say someone had to make the decision to say you
can't come in. Someone had to make the decision
to say you are not welcome here. Now, listen, the laws of
hospitality as such in that culture in that time should have
been to see someone who had no place to launch.
To see someone who had no place to go, particularly to see a
woman who was great with child, and to turn her away knowing
that the only place she could go would be a habitation of
animals, would have been a very sad state of affairs indeed.
It shouldn't have happened. It should have been something
that took place. But what happened?
The innkeeper, whoever that may be, there was a person who said
this. We have no room for Jesus.
If they had only known what they had done, if they could only
have understood at that very moment that they were turning
away Jesus Christ himself who was about to be born.
You know what I've often found about people who reject Jesus
Christ? They have no idea what they're
doing in the moment. But there will come a time, the
Bible says, where they will have full understanding.
And at that time, a full understanding.
It will be everlastingly too late for them to reject Christ.
Oh yes, there are many even at this time of year that reject
Jesus Christ. In fact, you think of the
multitudes of people who are celebrating this time of year.
Just yesterday we went to the store.
Well, I didn't go to the store. I stayed outside with with one
of the kids and Diane went into the store with another one of
the kids. She went to TJ Maxx and she
found what she wanted and saw the line and said what I'm
getting is not worth the line of people who are here.
She says it's going to be 45 minutes for me to get out of
here. I can't imagine anything that's
worth waiting in the line for 45 minutes.
It's a TJ Maxx for I can't imagine anything worth waiting
in the line for 45 minutes to buy anything.
But all of those people, that sea of humanity, I have to
wonder this question. All of them celebrating
Christmas, but how many of them reject Jesus Christ like that
innkeeper who have no idea what this day is all about, who have
no idea who the Christ in Christmas truly is?
Now maybe this morning you would say, well, pastor, I'm not
rejecting Christ here. I am at church here I am at
Liberty Baptist Church just days before Christmas.
If anybody was not rejecting Jesus Christ, certainly it would
be me. And, and I hear your argument
today, very likely you may not be outwardly rejecting Jesus
Christ, but I will say this, that you must make a decision
about Jesus Christ. And there are many who have said
I don't know what to decide about Jesus Christ Christ, or
I'll put off that decision for later, or eventually I'll come
to a place in my life when I get older or when my my situation
gets better. Or maybe I'll wait till the
beginning of a year when I make New Year's resolutions.
And at that point I will decide if I will do something with
Jesus Christ. May I tell you that there is no
neutrality when it comes to Jesus Christ.
There is no spiritual Switzerland when it comes to
Jesus Christ. You must decide to choose Jesus
Christ your Savior. And if you choose to wait or if
you choose to put that decision off, that is in essence
rejecting Jesus Christ as your Savior, saying this, I have no
time for you right now. Go on to the next house.
I have no time for you. Go on to the stable.
You can go there, but you have no lodging place in my heart.
People do this today. They do it all the time.
That's why Isaiah 53 verse 3 says He is despised and rejected
of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And He was hid as it was our
faces from Him. He was despised and He esteemed.
We esteemed Him not. Isaiah day of 53 says He is
despised and rejected of men, and he was despised, meaning
this the is being the present, the was being the past.
He was and is despised by many even today.
He was in the past despised of many, and he is despised and
rejected of many even today. Oh no, don't reject Jesus
Christ. Don't be like that innkeeper.
Don't be like that person who would have realized
everlastingly too late that they turned away the very Son of God
the innkeeper rejected. But #2 we see that the shepherds
rejoiced. The shepherds rejoiced.
Now I'm not going to take time to read what comes in verse 8
and following, and the reason why because Brother Justin kind
of got that reading for us a little bit a few minutes ago.
But I will say that I find it interesting that the shepherds
started and what they read or what we just read, they started
by being afraid. It says that when the Angel of
the Lord came upon the verse 9 and the glory of the Lord shone
around down about them, they were so afraid.
But once they heard the good tidings, once they heard what
was taking place right there in their own town, once they heard
what was taking place just minutes from where they were on
that lonely night, their fear turned to rejoicing.
Why? Because they realized the
Messiah has come. Could I tell you today that for
you and your life that the sorrow, the difficulty, the fear
that you have can be banished away and can vanish?
Why? When you realize and recognize
who Jesus Christ is, you say the troubles of my life will go away
when I accept Jesus Christ? I didn't say that.
I said the fears and the anguish and those types of emotions can
vanish. I didn't say the problems will
pass away. But what I'm telling you is that
in the midst of those problems, you have Jesus Christ your
Savior. You can rejoice even in the
midst of the deepest, darkest storms.
And here are the shepherds. They're rejoicing.
Why? Because they understood who?
Jesus Christ was. Every time we see someone in the
Bible who recognizes who Jesus Christ is, they rejoice.
When people meet Jesus, they may come with burdens, but they
leave rejoicing. There was a woman at the well
who had burdens but left rejoicing when she knew who
Jesus was. There was a man named Zacchaeus
who was a wee little man who was up in a Sycamore tree.
But when he knew who Jesus was and Jesus called down to him or
called up to him to come down. I'm going to your house today.
What do we see that this man who had burdens rejoiced when he met
Jesus Christ? There was a woman who was caught
in adultery. There was a woman who had an
issue of blood. There was a father who had a son
that was possessed by a devil. There was the halt, There was
the blind, There was even the dead.
And they all rejoiced when they came to the understanding of who
Jesus Christ is. Friend here today, if you want
to rejoice at this time of year, if you want to rejoice at any
time of year, there is no greater way to have true
rejoicing in your life than to understand who Jesus Christ is,
To understand that you're a Sinner, to understand that only
Jesus Christ can save you through his precious blood, and
that when you call upon Jesus Christ to save you, you'll
rejoice in a way that you've never rejoiced before.
I remember on December 2nd, 1998, when I accepted Christ as
my Savior, I, I felt as light as a feather.
I, I remember that it seemed like my whole world changed.
That moment. I was only 16.
I didn't grasp anything about life.
I mean, actually, I thought I knew everything about life when
I was 16. I didn't grasp anything about
life, but I knew in that moment that everything had changed.
And I will tell you whether you are 5 or whether you are 16 like
me, or whatever age you accept Jesus Christ your Savior,
listen, it will cause you to rejoice.
You say, well, I'm too burdened down with care.
That's usually where people find Jesus when they're burdened down
and when they're low, it should cause us to rejoice.
And so if you don't know Jesus Christ, your Savior, don't be
like the innkeeper who rejected, be like the shepherds who
rejoiced. And I would say this this
morning to you who are believers this morning.
Listen, there's a lot that's going on this time of year.
There's a lot that's taking place.
You've got parties to plan and parties to go to and parties to
avoid. All right?
You got all these different things to be able to take care
of. Listen.
But believer, rejoice because even in the midst of the hurry
and even in the midst of the care and even in the midst of
the difficulty, listen. You have Jesus Christ in your
life, and so you should leave here.
If you're a believer, you should leave here as happy as anyone
that's out there today. Why?
Because you have Jesus Christ in your life.
But you say, pastor, you don't understand what I'm going
through. I don't understand what you're
going through, but Jesus does that only cause us to rejoice?
Pastor, things are looking dim and they could be looking dim,
but I'll tell you this, who is the light?
Jesus Christ. He's the one who will light your
life and he's the one who will light your path.
Listen, his word is a lamp unto our feet and a lighted to our
path. We can rejoice in who he is.
Believers, listen, lift your head up be be a proper billboard
for biblical salvation to those who are around you to be able to
show them who Jesus Christ is. When Christians are miserable
during Christmas, that's not a good advertisement.
When Christians are stressed out during Christmas, that's not a
good advertisement. Listen, it happens to all of us.
I was driving around yesterday. I saw two different accidents
within about a 2 hour stretch. I was driving down near 5
corners and I saw a Tesla come out and just T-bone somebody who
was going straight, airbags going off, fluids going out of
the car. I did get out and try to help
and call 911. A couple hours later, I saw it
at Target, the same thing, not the same thing, but the same,
same type of incident where there was a collision there in
the parking lot and I'm going through parking lots and I'm
driving. And at one point I did something
like this because people were going crazy and I just did this.
You know, there's a fundamental law.
This has nothing to do with my message, but I'm going to get it
out anyway, all right? There's a fundamental law that
sometimes we forget that when you are in your car and you
react to somebody, other people can see that.
And so I'm doing this. I'm thinking like, what are
these people doing? And I saw someone about a car on
the other side come the opposite way.
We're going slow enough that I could see him.
And she's just laughing at me. And I thought, boy, I hope I've
never given her a track or she's ever seen Liberty at Home or
whatever. The thousands of people that
watch Liberty at Home on Easton Community Access Television, I
hope, well, dozens of it. Well, a dozen people that watch
it on, on Easton Community Access Television, whatever it
is. But I thought, but I'm not being
a good billboard for Jesus at this moment.
Listen, rejoice, be calm, be still.
Rejoice says later that Mary kept these things and pondered
them in their heart. What does that mean?
That in the quietness of life she was able to rejoice and what
God had done through her in that time.
The innkeeper rejected the shepherd's rejoice #3 Herod
recoiled. Herod recoiled at what he found.
We turn to Matthew chapter #2 very quickly.
Matthew chapter #2 just a few pages away.
Matthew chapter #2 how many, how many Christmas season stresses
you? Outlet me, see your hands?
I'm going to be Oh, come on now, be honest.
You're in church. All right.
How many, how many of you are embarrassed to say that
Christmas stresses you out so you won't raise your hand?
Let me see. All right, there you go.
All right, that's what. OK, all right, that's good.
You know, that's how we all feel, don't we?
It, it gets that way, doesn't it, man?
Chapter 2 Look at verse #1 It says, Now when Jesus was born in
Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King, behold, there
came a wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he
that is born king of the Jews? For we've seen a star of the
East, and are come to worship Him.
And when Herod the King had heard these things, he was
troubled in all Jerusalem with him.
Now you'll remember we looked at this a couple weeks ago.
We saw the prophecy of the book of Micah.
Chapter 5, verse #2 We looked at this a few weeks ago.
Now drop down to verse #16 it says this.
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was
exceeding wrath, and sent forth and slew all the children that
were in Bethlehem, and all the coast thereof, from two years
old. And under according to the time
which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
You know, Herod did not just reject Jesus Christ, he actively
opposed Jesus Christ. Now listen, denying Jesus Christ
is denying Jesus Christ, however you want to look at it.
But Herod took that to another level when he actively opposed
Jesus Christ. Now I want you to understand
this. There are forces at work in the
world today, much like King Herod, who believe that they can
stop Jesus Christ. There are those those who think
they can eradicate the name of Christ or can eradicate biblical
Christianity. And sometimes as a believer, it
might seem like they're winning. Sometimes as a believer, it
might even seem like they aren't getting ahead.
But I will tell you, verse #19 tells the rest of the story.
Sure, Herod was opposed. He was greatly troubled.
Herod killed all those children believing that he could kill
Jesus Christ. But look at the 1st 4 words of
verse #19 and it'll tell you everything you need to know.
But when Herod was dead, you don't need to read anymore.
I'm not telling you to ignore the rest of the verse.
I'm just saying that tells you what you need to know.
There was a time when Herod was, well, dead.
He may have rejected Jesus Christ, but there came a time of
judgment for him in his life. And listen, those who try to not
just reject, but recoil, those who are trying to actively
oppose Jesus Christ, listen. They are dead.
They are gone. They are spending an eternity in
the lake of fire and they see this.
Jesus Christ is still standing. Listen, those may oppose Jesus
Christ, but yet Jesus Christ still stands.
The French philosopher and Bible critic Voltaire, I mentioned him
once in a while. He said this 100 years from my
death. The Bible will be a museum
piece. He said this in the 1800s.
One hundred years later, after his death, the French Bible
Society set up its headquarters in Voltaire's old home in Paris.
Why? Because Voltaire is gone, but
Jesus in his word still stands. Last eve I paused beside the
blacksmith's door, and I heard the anvil ring, the vesper
chime. Then looking in, I saw upon the
floor old hammers worn with beating years of time.
How many anvils have you had, said I, to wear and batter all
these hammers? So just one, said he.
And then with twinkling eye. The anvil wears the hammers out,
you know, and so I thought the anvil of the Lord.
For ages skeptics blows have beat upon.
Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard, the anvils are
unharmed and the hammers are gone.
And those who have tried to beat against who Jesus Christ is,
those critics make many noises, just like the noise of the
hammers upon the anvil. But yet the anvil stands and the
hammers are gone. Those who have recoiled against
Jesus Christ and actively opposed who Jesus Christ is,
listen, they're gone and Jesus Christ is still around.
Listen, you want to have Jesus Christ in your life, You need to
have Jesus Christ in your life. There is no one else to have in
your life but Jesus Christ. Because he says I am the way,
the truth, and the life. And no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me. The innkeeper rejected, the
shepherds rejoiced. Herod recoiled.
We kind of have the bad and the good and the bad, and we end
with #4 the good. The wise men revered.
The wise men revered him. We speak of these last as they
were the last to see Jesus and probably were around 2 years
after Jesus was born. And I've said before here at
Liberty, listen, if you have a nativity scene at your home and
you have the wise men there at the stable, there's nothing
wrong with that. There's nothing necessarily
wrong for you to be able to do that.
But if you want to be biblically correct, you know, what you want
to do is to take the wise men and put them on the other side
of the room, all right, from where the stable is.
Because they weren't there. They were just kind of trucking
on the way, you know what I'm saying?
And so if you put them on the other side the room, eventually
they're going to get there, you know, and it'll be all right.
And that's the way you probably ought to do it.
But there's so much about this really, that again, from the
pageants and from the Sunday school lessons and from all
those things that kind of we fill in blanks that the Bible
doesn't fill in for us. For instance, we 3 kings of
Orient are, we've sang that before.
We think of the three wise men. The Bible doesn't tell us how
many wise men there were. Bible tells there's three gifts.
And so perhaps every wise man had a gift.
And listen, I'm not going to fist fight with anyone over it.
You know why? Because well, well, pastor, I'm
not going to fist fight with anybody.
But you understand, Well, actually I should fist fight
with anybody anyway, now that I'm looking at myself.
But I'm just saying this, and you shouldn't either.
All right? That's what I'm trying to get
at. But I will say this.
Listen, it makes sense that there could be 3, but the Bible
doesn't say so. And why would Herod wanted to
have killed the children two years and under after having the
interaction with the wise men? It very was likely because this
star would have led them in a very progressive way until a
later time. In fact it even says in verse
#11 and when they were coming to the house they saw the young
child. Doesn't say they went to a
stable. It says they went into a house.
It doesn't say they saw a baby, it says they saw a young child.
I believe when you put all these together that it shows us that
very likely that they saw Jesus in Nazareth later on in not
there in Bethlehem, after they had escaped to Egypt and after
they come back. And So what do we see over
before they had escaped to Egypt?
Excuse me. And so it says, a young child
would marry his mother. And what did they do?
They fell down and worshipped Him.
And when they opened their treasures, they presented unto
him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And being warned of God in a dream that they should not
return to Herod, they departed into their own country another
way, which would have been much more difficult from Bethlehem
being so close to Jerusalem. But yet what do we see?
We see here that there was a group of men who revered Jesus
Christ. We see that they final outgrowth
of everything that has come. The rejoicing is this.
You have to fall on your knees and worship King Jesus.
Listen, the outgrowth of what we spoke of before is it shouldn't
just be that you rejoice that Jesus Christ has come.
Listen, you have to fall on your knees and accept Him as your
Savior. And once you are saved, listen,
we have to always fall on our knees and never get over the
wonder of who Jesus Christ is. Don't ever get over the wonder
of not just that baby Jesus, but also that Jesus who is 12 years
old and was going into the temple and confounding the
lawyers and the scribes. Don't get over the wonder of the
Jesus who for three years in his earthly ministry went about
doing good as the Bible says. Don't ever get over the wonder
and the spectacle of the cross and Jesus was born to die.
We'll hear that song on Wednesday night that he wasn't
just born to live, but he was born to die to make the
propitiation the the substitutionary death for our
sins that yes, this is what Jesus did.
Take that in take in the fact that that he died, but that he
rose again and has death over power over death, hell and the
grave. Listen, we worship him for who
he is. The wise men understood.
In fact, they were so wise that they we realized we've got to
find this child, and we got to fall at his feet.
They fell at the feet of a baby. Well, yeah, because they
realized who that baby was. They realized the prophecies,
the Old Testaments, the timings of the Old Testament.
They saw all of this together, and they realized what the Jews
did not even understand. Remember, the Jews of Jerusalem
were terrified, just like Herod was.
But these wise men from the east, perhaps even of some
relation many generations ago to the order of men who knew
Daniel, would have come to that time and that place and said,
yes, this is the one that's been prophesied of.
And we fall at our feet, fall at his feet, right there in the
midst of a stable, or rather not in the midst of stable.
Nobody just said that wasn't the case in the midst of a home
where a young child was and they fell at His feet and worshipped
Him. Listen, do this.
Have you done this in your life? Have you again accepted Christ
as your Savior? But even as believers, do we
truly worship Him? Salvation is acknowledging His
lofty position and who He is. By the way, believers, This is
why we use His name reverently. This is why we don't take His
name in vain. Why?
Because of who He is and His high, lofty position.
The name of Jesus Christ isn't a curse word.
The name of God isn't something that we just fill into
conversations because it's something that we say.
You know, when we use his name, we use it with reverence and
respect. Why?
Because His name is above all names.
The name of Jesus. We see the innkeeper rejected,
the shepherds rejoiced, Herod recoiled, and wise men revered.
But the irony of all of this comes down to this point.
He was the baby that divided the world, Yes, but truly he was the
baby that not only divided the world, but actually came to heal
a divided world. You see, the world was already
divided before Jesus Christ came.
Why? Because there were people who
believed in God and people who did not believe in God.
There were people who believed in Jehovah and people who did
not believe in Jehovah. We talked about this this
morning in Sunday school. I'm not going to go back to the
beginning and talk about it again, but I will say this.
Jesus came for division, yes, but he also came to expose the
divisions that were already there and to seek and to save
that which was lost. He came to bring healing to a
divided world just as much as he exposed the divisions that were
already there. As an adult.
Jesus asked a group of Pharisees this question in Matthew 22.
He said this. What think he of Christ?
You know, that question still
rings true today. What do you think of Christ?
Is he to be obeyed? Is he to be trusted?
Is he to be loved? Is he to be followed?
And primarily before any of those questions, is he your way
of salvation? Not Jesus and works, not Jesus
and money, not Jesus In a good bloodline that goes through a
church for hundreds of years. No.
Who is he to you? Is he the one that will save
you? He is the only one who can save
you. But will you allow him to be
that today? When you think of him, what you
think of him as a determining factor of everything else in
this life as well as a life to come?
So many people think life is about good works.
And again, we talked about, I feel like I've said this a
couple times, and we talked about this in Sunday school this
morning as well. You know, a lot of people get
their theology this time of year, not from the Bible, but
from Charles Dickens. What would you be talking about,
the Christmas Carol? He didn't like Christmas.
He was a miser. He was a Scrooge.
And then all of a sudden, after three angelic visits, he has
restored himself to the spirit of Christmas once again.
And he was saved by the fact that he revered Christmas, That
the ending near the ending, it says this.
And it was always said of him that he knew how to keep
Christmas well. If any man alive possessed the
knowledge, he became as good a man, a good a friend, a good a
master as the good old city ever knew.
A lot of people's idea of this time of years, if I just have
this real kind of warm and fuzzy feeling about Jesus that throws
some money in the kettle for the Salvation Army and I make some
cookies for a neighbor and I, you know, maybe pay a little
extra on my tip to my server a couple days before Christmas,
that that just shows the Lord I'm square with him.
No, the Bible makes it clear that your righteousness is as
filthy rags and you need Jesus Christ to save you.
As I said on Wednesday night, and I'll say it again, God
didn't just come to be able to reform your life.
You want to bring revolution to your life.
For an old creature to become new.
All things passed away and all things to become new.
A divided heart in a divided world.
Jesus came to heal that. Wherever you are today in your
spiritual walk, I ask you this question.
One unbeliever. We accept Jesus Christ as your
savior today. Listen, don't wait, don't tear.
You don't know how long that you have.
None of us do. Young people may seem like they
have a lot of time. We don't know.
Older folks may think they don't have a lot of time.
They might have lots of time. But here's the question.
Why would you wait when there's something so important on the
line? I know you have to decide for
yourself and you have to consider these things, and it's
not my desire to try to pressure anyone today.
But I wouldn't be the pastor I'm supposed to be if I didn't lay
out for you very clearly what the Bible says and implore you
to ask Jesus Christ to be your Savior today.
Say, so if I ask Jesus to be my savior and I go through a 12
step program and then I go through the church membership
class and then I get baptized and then, you know, I do nice
things for the pastor and his family.
You'll be saved. And the answer is, well, the
nice things for the pastor and the family, that's a very nice
thing. But no, no, no, I'm just
kidding. None of those things.
Yeah.
No, none of those things will save you other than Jesus
Christ. Amen.
Ask Him to save you today.
And if you're a believer here, there are many believers here
today and I'm getting ready to close.
If you're a believer today, listen, our hearts can be
divided as well. Even once we're saved.
We're not talking about being becoming unsaved again.
The Bible makes clear that's not the way it works.
But our hearts can end up being divided because it's Jesus and
work, Jesus and prestige, Jesus and money, Jesus and self, Jesus
and sin. You know what ends up happening?
Our hearts can become divided even after we're saved.
And then we could end up having the heart of an innkeeper or the
heart of a Herod, even if we've not actively rejected Jesus
Christ. But we can incorporate some of
their characteristics even into our own lives as believers.
That's a dangerous thing. Listen, medicine has learned how
to heal a heart, but it hasn't learned how to fix a divided
heart. What do you mean?
Listen, When it comes to the spiritual things, a heart that's
divided can only be made right again by Jesus Christ.
Are you struggling with your flesh?
Are you struggling with sin? Are you struggling with self and
yourself? Will you know where the answer
is? The answer comes January 1st.
You're going to do better this year.
Studies I've just read recently said by July, or rather by
January 9th, more than half the people have made decisions for
January 1st have already said no to those.
How do we know that? Because by well, by January 9th,
gym membership goes way down, or at least gym attendance.
Listen, the answer for a divided heart, even for a believer.
Let's get back to Jesus. What do we need to do?
Rejoice in Him, worship and Revere Him.
Don't be distracted this time of year from all the other things.
Listen, it's all about Jesus Christ.
When you're unsaved, it's all about Jesus Christ.
Get saved if you are saved. Listen, it remains to be all
about Jesus Christ. The baby that divided the world
actually came to heal a divided world, and He'll take your
divided heart, and He'll heal that too.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.