Back to the Stable

Over two thousand years ago an angel of the Lord appeared to several simplistic men of faith to announce the most glorious news that this world had ever heard: “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Lk. 2:8-11). And these humble men heard only the message, never considering where or how the Savior was born; but they rather rejoiced only that they were allowed to receive this news and have the privilege of going to worship the newborn king. And this is where God’s people need to get to today, in order to enjoy and rejoice in the simplicity and pureness of that baby king having made the way for us to be truly and literally free from sin, and full of his love and glory. As it was on that holy night, so it is now: The only people who are following that newborn king are the ones who are content with the grand privilege of being able to be freed from sin and filled with the divine peace that accompanies that state. Religion won’t get it done for you. Ceremony won’t get it done for you. Dress codes won’t get it done for you. Increasing ‘church’ services won’t get it done for you. Going to a nice religious affiliation that is acceptable to the religious community won’t get it done for you either. Having great numbers in your religious affiliation won’t get it done for you. Only repentance with humility and honesty of heart, with total faith and dependency on Jesus will get that job done for you. If and when you meet those criteria then you will be baptized by Jesus with his holy Spirit, which experience is the true new birth that he died and rose to give us (I Cor. 12:13; II Cor. 5:17). And when you are baptized with the holy Ghost you will manifest the accompanying heavenly witness of speaking with other tongues (Acts 10:44-46).

That’s where we come back around to the stable. The scripture states that God has chosen things that men count as foolishness to confound those who are wise in their own conceit and arrogance (I Cor. 1:18-20,27). A whole lot of people will go along with a whole lot of things regarding what they perceive to be the Gospel of Christ, but when it comes to God’s chosen sign that he appointed to accompany the experience of receiving the remission of sins, they want to balk. And why is that? Simply because they don’t want to come fully clean with God and receive the only real born again experience in existence. You see, you have to give up and surrender all of yourself in order to be approved of God and be baptized by Jesus; and God is the only one who knows when someone has done this (Acts 15:7-9). The way of Christ is not, and never has been, accepted or esteemed by men. Speaking of the religious order of God’s people when he was here, Jesus said: "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Lk. 16:15). In prophecy of the coming Messiah, Isaiah said, "he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not" (Isa. 53:2,3). The way of God has not changed my friend, and Jesus can still only be found by simplistic humble people who are more than willing to be in the number of those who not only are not ashamed of this truth and reality; but also rejoice that they have been allowed to be a part of the only true presence of God in this world. The true sheep of God’s pasture care only for the presence of the Great Shepherd, and do not consider how that presence is found, or who it is among, or where. "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift" (II Cor. 9:15). So Happy Christmas Eve my friends, and may God bless. Amen.