Songs

What a Glorious Night
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
O Holy Night (Hear the Gospel Story)

Sermon

The Hope of Christ’s Birth  |  Luke 2:21-38

I. Law’s Consummation (21-24)
II. Israel’s Consolation (25-35)
III. Salvation’s Celebration (36-38)

Big Idea

Christ’s birth gives us immense hope. Because of Jesus, we don’t have to perform to earn God’s favor. Because of Jesus, salvation has come to all nations and all peoples. Because of Jesus, unknown, little people have purpose and can can take part in eternal work.

Quotes

“His active obedience (perfect lifelong conformity to God’s law for mankind, and to his revealed will for the Messiah) qualified Jesus to become our Savior by dying for us on the cross. Jesus’ passive obedience (enduring the penalty of God’s broken law as our sinless substitute) crowned his active obedience to secure the pardon and acceptance of those who put their faith in him.”
~ J.I. Packer

“The great practical doctrine before us is this, that wherever Jesus Christ comes, with whomsoever he may come in contact, he is never without influence, never inoperative, but in every case a weighty result is produced….Never does a man hear the gospel but he either rises or falls under that hearing. There is never a proclamation of Jesus Christ (and this is the spiritual coming forth of Christ himself) which leaves men precisely where they were; the gospel is sure to have some effect upon those who hear it. Moreover, the text informs us that mankind, when they understand the message and work of Christ, do not regard them with indifference; but when they hear the truth as it is in Jesus, they either take it joyfully in their arms with Simeon, or else it becomes to them a sign that shall be spoken against. He that is not with Christ is against him, and he that gathereth not with him scattereth abroad. Where Christ is no man remains a neutral; he decides either for Christ or against him.”
~ C.H. Spurgeon