May I be permitted to share a brief word or
two at this time of year when traditionally we remember the birth of
our Lord Jesus Christ, Who came into the world to be its Saviour? I want
you to hear the words of a man who was filled with the Holy Spirit and
who rejoiced in the birth of the Saviour. His name is Zacharias
(Lk.1:67), the father of John the Baptist and whose wife, Elizabeth, was
the cousin of Jesus' mother, Mary. Zacharias was struck dumb because of
his refusal to believe the words that Gabriel had spoken (vvs.19, 20).
His mouth was opened and he began to praise God; and in his worship of
the living God, he prophesied and said, "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel; for He has visited and redeemed His people..." (Lk.1:68).
Allowing for the fact that Zacharias was a Jew, a Hebrew, his prayer related to the Lord's chosen and ancient people, Israel, (v.68). He thanks God that He has visited and redeemed His people - the Jews. Whilst he ought to have known that God demanded that Israel show mercy to the outsider, the Gentiles or non-Jews, quite clearly he had forgotten this fact. Yet God accepted his worship and had it recorded for posterity in the pages of Scripture.
Allowing for the fact that Zacharias was a Jew, a Hebrew, his prayer related to the Lord's chosen and ancient people, Israel, (v.68). He thanks God that He has visited and redeemed His people - the Jews. Whilst he ought to have known that God demanded that Israel show mercy to the outsider, the Gentiles or non-Jews, quite clearly he had forgotten this fact. Yet God accepted his worship and had it recorded for posterity in the pages of Scripture.
But did God visit and redeem His
people Israel only? Clearly that is not the case. Yes, He visited them
in the Person of His Son at that time, and through His death on Calvary
He purchased their redemption. But He has also visited and redeemed us.
How? Well, in addition to what happened in Bethlehem some two thousand
years ago, when the Gospel is preached in our hearing, God is visiting
us. Oh, how careful we ought to be when we hear the Gospel? This is God
visiting us with a personal message of salvation. You have heard Him and
so have I. But what have you done about it? Have you opened your heart
and received it? Or, have you gone on rejecting it?
God has visited His people. But
He has also redeemed the world through the death of Christ. Redemption
for all has been purchased by the blood of Christ. God has shown His
marvellous grace to a guilty human race in providing redemption for it.
Does the world deserve redemption? Not at all. It deserves the very
opposite. Does the God Who purchased that redemption at such colossal
cost want all men everywhere to receive the benefits of that redemption?
Yes, and a million times yes. He now reaches out His hand of grace to
draw into His family and fold all who receive His Son, Jesus Christ.
Have you? There is no need for you to perish forever for God has
provided the only way of escape - and it becomes yours through trusting
in the blood of God's only Son, "Jesus of Nazareth, the Saviour of
mankind," to quote Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones as he finished a sermon I heard
him preach in Leeds in 1973.
Is
Christmas about cards and gifts and trees and turkey and trifle and
tinsel? Not a bit. It is what was necessary for the Saviour of the lost
to die on Calvary. When you commemorate the Saviour's birth this year,
remember why it was that He came all those years ago. He came so that He
could visit and redeem you for Himself. He has visited you in the
Gospel and through those godly lives that have come into contact with
you and through that Gospel tract that you've received - and you know
it! On
Calvary He has redeemed you, but do you know that? Have you bowed the
knee and received this glorious salvation, this redemption, that cost
God His Son and the Son His life? And if you are to receive its
benefits, it is going to cost you as well - it will cost you your sin.
Are you prepared to give up what you cannot keep in order to have what
you cannot lose? Think on these things.