GO, TELL IT!
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on December 3, 2023 under 2023 |
Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message, preached on December 3, 2023 from Romans 10:14-17
Theme: The proper response to the Christmas story is to treat it as ‘good tidings’ … and go tell it!
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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Just a few months ago, I celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the day when I first truly understood the message of the gospel, and placed my faith in Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
When I first heard the message of the gospel, the full meaning of it had been unknown to me. I didn’t grow up in a church-going home. And though I knew a little about who Jesus was, I didn’t know or understand what the Bible teaches us about Him—or the significance of His death on the cross. And so, I grew up in ignorance about Him. But worse still, I had been developing an attitude of rebellion against God. I knew that I was a sinner, and I knew that I was destined for eternal judgment, and I knew that I had no hope. But that was all I knew.
But about fifty years ago, when I first really heard the message that the Son of God came into this world to die for my sins and make me clean in His sight, God graciously opened my heart and I believed. I prayed that evening and placed my trust in what Jesus did for me, and asked God to cleanse me of my guilt. And He did! Instantly! And that night, for the first time in my life, I went to bed feeling clean in the sight of God … and deeply loved by Him.
And the very next day, I called my best friend. I told him, “Hey; do you know what happened to me last night? I became ‘justified’! I put my faith in Jesus, and I became ‘just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned’! Justified!” I’m sure that I wasn’t saying it all exactly right; and that my friend was a little confused. But I was so excited about it all that I had to tell someone. I didn’t know anything about ‘evangelism’ or ‘witnessing’ or any of those things. I didn’t even know whether or not I was supposed to tell anyone about it. I just did! I couldn’t help myself.
* * * * * * * * * *
I think that’s very probably how a small group of shepherds felt two thousand years ago.
There those shepherds were—out by themselves in the cool of the night—performing the uneventful and rather boring task of tending a flock of sheep. And on this particular night, they were probably even just a little drowsy. It’s the kind of job where you can take turns snoozing.
But suddenly, the spot where they were was lit up by the glory of God—as if the heavenly lights suddenly went on to indicate that a great announcement was about to be made. In the King James Version, it tells us that they were ‘sore afraid’; which was an old-fashioned way of saying that they went from bored and sleepy to extremely terrified in a matter of a few seconds. And there, before those shocked shepherds, stood an angel of God. He had to calm them down; and told them;
“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10-12).
I imagine that—in that otherwise traumatic moment—God graciously gave those shepherds the presence of mind to think deeply about what they were being told. A mighty angel had come from the heavenly realms to earth and was telling them that he was bringing them the greatest news ever heard. It was a message not only for those shepherds—and not only for the Jewish people—but also for all people, all around the globe, for all time.
So; what were these “good tidings of great joy” about? The news was about a Baby who had just been born—that very evening—into the world. That Baby was the long-awaited Messiah “who is Christ the Lord”—the Redeemer of humanity who had been promised in the Scriptures from long before. He was the one spoken of in Isaiah 53—in a passage of Scripture that this group of Jewish shepherds would have probably known rather well;
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:4-6).
And what’s more, the angel then went on to tell them that, if they wanted proof of it all, they could go see Him for themselves. They would find Him wrapped in the swaddling cloths of a newborn—lying in, of all places, an animal’s feeding trough. It’s like this whole amazing announcement was tailor-made to speak to the hearts of humble shepherds!
And we’re told that these poor shepherds had hardly any time to take this news in when;
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (vv. 13-14).
And then—as quickly as it had begun—this amazing announcement was over.
I wonder how long those shepherds stood out in the dark fields in stunned awe. Did it take a while for their eyes to adjust again to the nighttime darkness? Did it take time for their hearts to stop pounding, and for their breath to be restored to them? Maybe it took them a while to calm down. But however long it took for them to come to themselves again, they all agreed;
“Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us” (v. 15).
And so they did. They were running distance from the town of Bethlehem; and we’re told that they came “with haste”. They gazed upon Mary, and Joseph, and Him of whom the angels of heaven sang. Can you imagine the looks of wonder on their faces? Wouldn’t you love to have been there with them as they beheld the Redeemer of all humanity in the form of a tiny, newborn baby boy … and as they tried to tell Mary and Joseph what they had just seen and heard?
Now; there’s a very important element to their story. It’s something that I find myself relating to in a personal way; and perhaps you do too. After having heard the glorious announcement that heaven itself declared to them—after having beheld the Redeemer with their own eyes—after coming to grips with the fact that it was all true—they didn’t just go back immediately to ‘business as usual’ with the sheep. How could they? This news—this greatest of ‘good tidings’ ever heard—was just too astonishingly wonderful to keep to themselves. They had to go and tell someone! The Gospel of Luke goes on to tell us;
Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds (vv. 17-18).
Think of it! The first recorded human response to the heavenly Christmas announcement was to go out and tell everyone about it. We’re not told anywhere in this story that they were commanded to do that. But it doesn’t seem that they had to be told. This news was so utterly life-changing and world-shaking and joyful—such ‘good tidings of great joy’—that they couldn’t help it. And it has often made me wonder: Could it be that that’s the natural response to the realization that the Christmas story is true?—that God’s Son truly has been born into the world, and has truly saved us from our sins, and that whoever places their trust in Him will be transformed and made ‘just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned’? I know that, when it first impacted me, I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t keep it in. I just had to tell someone.
Now; we’re told that after all this, the shepherds returned to their shepherding duties. But it must be that they had been transformed by it all. We’re told;
Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them (v. 20).
I can just imagine that they would have been talking about it among themselves—and to the other people they would meet—for the rest of their lives.
* * * * * * * * * *
Now; all of this convinces me of something about Christmas.
There are all kinds of ways that people are getting ready for the holiday. Almost as soon as Thanksgiving was over, you began to see the trees strapped to the tops of people’s cars. The stores all started advertising their sales. Several radio stations had already begun—even before Thanksgiving—to devote their full air time to playing popular holiday songs. Company parties were already getting put on the calendar. But I think you’d agree with me that—for most of the people around us—there’s little or no acknowledgment of the glorious announcement that those shepherds heard. Most people around us know that it’s supposed to be about the birthday of Jesus; but relatively few people actually celebrate it as the remembrance of His birth in any meaningful way.
But for us, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it’s a different matter. We gladly acknowledge it as the fulfillment of God’s promise to provide us with a Redeemer. We know it to be just what the angles declared it to be—life-changing news that saves our souls. It’s ‘good tidings of great joy which will be to all people’; because it announces that our Savior came to become one of us, lived for us, died for us, ascended for us, intercedes with the Father for us, and will share His eternal inheritance with us forever. It’s the celebration of something true.
But the experience of the shepherds also suggests to us that it’s more than just a holiday to be celebrated. It’s a message that—if we’re responding to it rightly—we can’t help but declare. It’s news that is too good to keep to ourselves; but that must be ‘made widely known’—news that absolutely must be announced to people who need to be saved by it.
And with that in mind, my attention has been drawn lately to Romans 10:14-17. I think it may be a good passage for us to think about this Christmas. In it, the apostle Paul wrote;
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!”But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:14-17).
I feel as if, in this passage, the apostle Paul is reminding you and me—dear brothers and sisters in Christ—that we need to be like those shepherds in our own day. We need to have personally experienced the impact of the glorious news that the Savior of sinners has been born into the world—and then, to be motivated by the impact of it to ‘make widely known the saying which was told us concerning this Child’.
In other words, the proper response to the Christmas story is to treat it as ‘good tidings’; and—like those shepherds—go … tell it!
* * * * * * * * * *
Now; we need to remember that these words from Paul are primarily about Israel. In this passage, the apostle Paul was talking about God’s love for His chosen people—and was explaining why it was that, even though the gospel of Jesus is meant for them, they have not yet believed it. He explains that God has—for a time—closed their eyes to the gospel, so that it can be sent out to the peoples of other nations. And when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, “so all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26).
But though the words of Romans 10:14-17 are primarily about Israel, they are also meant for the whole world. They are meant to be a call to you and me to bring the good news of the gospel of Jesus—begun in the Christmas story—to all those around us.
And so; let’s look briefly at what Paul says in this passage—particularly in the light of the thing that we truly celebrate this Christmas. First; let’s notice that there’s an absolute necessity attached to the good news that the angels announced; and that is that …
1. IT MUST BE TOLD TO THE WORLD.
People cannot react to it in the way that they need to unless they are clearly told about it. And look at how Paul explained this to us. There’s a wonderfully logical order to it all.
First, he said, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?” And here we see the object of our faith. The message of Christmas that we’re to declare isn’t a vague message about ‘sharing’ or ‘giving’ or ‘loving’. It’s a message about a divine Person. That’s who the angels declared to the shepherds—the Child that was born in Bethlehem. What we’re to tell the world about, then, is a wonderful Person of whom it says in John 1:14;
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
The gospel message isn’t a vague thing. It’s a clear, objective declaration of Jesus as He is told about to us in the Bible—who He is, and what He came into the world to do for us. He—in terms of all that the Bible tells us about Him—is to be the object of faith. How can people call upon Him in whom they have not believed?
Then, Paul went on to say, “And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” This speaks of the way that He is known. The message about Jesus isn’t a message that was meant to be merely discovered by human investigation, or developed by human ingenuity. It’s not that some very smart and scholarly people needed to put all the pieces together with the power of their minds. It comes from heaven to earth; and it therefore needed to be proclaimed so that it could be heard. The angels of heaven came to earth to announce it. And now, even today, the announcement needs to be heard by those who need to be saved by it. How can people believe in Him of whom they have not heard?
And that takes preachers. Proclaimers. Paul asked, “And how shall they hear without a preacher?” This speaks of the ones who do the telling. That’s what those shepherds were. The whole world wasn’t out there present in the fields to hear that announcement. Only those shepherds were there. But it transformed them; and they then felt the strong compulsion to go out and proclaim it far and wide. They weren’t trained speakers, of course. They were only humble shepherds. But that didn’t matter. They had the speaking power that comes from the conviction of heart. They themselves had heard the good tidings, and believed it, and then ran out to declare it. That’s how you and I need to respond to the Christmas story.
And finally, notice the authority to proclaim it. Paul wrote, “And how shall they preach unless they are sent?” In this, we have something that those shepherds didn’t have. They ran out and told everyone because they were excited about the news concerning Jesus. And we have not only that, but also the very authority of the Lord Jesus Himself. In the Great Commission, He said;
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
So; there’s our message, our method, our messengers, and our mandate. The natural response to the Christmas story is to go out and tell it!
And as Paul then goes on to show us …
2. TO TELL IT IS A GREAT BLESSING.
Paul went on to quote from the Old Testament and say, “As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’”
Paul was quoting from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah—in Isaiah 52:7. Isaiah was writing about the deliverance of the people of Israel from their time of captivity in the land of Babylon. God had sent them into captivity for a while because of their sin. But Isaiah was declaring the good news from God that they would be delivered from their bondage. And he was declaring the blessedness of those who would declare that good news:
How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
“Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7).
And Paul lets us know that those words were an Old Testament picture of an even greater New Testament reality. How much more beautiful—how much more welcome and blessed—are the feet of those who come to declare the “good tidings of great joy” that we declare in the Christmas story! A Savior has come—not only for the Jewish people, but for all people! He came to deliver us; not just from captivity in a foreign land, but from the guilt of our sins!
Now; that’s the message that it’s our privilege to declare! What a blessing it is to declare it! How beautiful are the feet of those who take it forth! But as Paul goes on to show us;
3. IT’S TRUE THAT NOT EVERYONE WILL BELIEVE.
We all know that by experience; don’t we? Many of us have family members and friends and loved ones who hear the true message of Christmas—just as the angels declared it; but who passively ignore it … or who actively reject it.
Paul spoke of this primarily with respect to his own kinsmen—the Jewish people. In verse 16, he wrote, “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?’” In saying this, he was once again quoting from the prophet Isaiah—this time from Isaiah 53:1. That’s a clear description of the promised coming of our Lord, and of His sacrifice for us on the cross. That passage begins with Isaiah—a prophet to the Jewish people—asking, “Who has believed our report?”
As Paul went on to explain in the Book of Romans, God has chosen to close the minds of some to the message of the gospel and to open the minds and hearts of others. He closed the minds of the Jewish people for a time, so that He could give the gospel to the Gentiles. But as he goes on to finally assert in verse 17;
4. FAITH STILL COMES BY HEARING THE WORD.
“So then faith comes by hearing,” he says, “and hearing by the word of God” … or, as it is in some translations, “by the word of Christ”. It’s a message that has been declared from heaven. It’s a message that God graciously opens the hearts of some to believe. And it’s a message that it’s a glorious privilege for us to be able to carry it out into the world.
But it must be proclaimed; for it’s only by hearing it that the lost and needy people around us can believe it and be saved by it.
* * * * * * * * * *
The Christmas holiday, then, is a wonderful thing to celebrate. And as we draw closer to it this month, I hope we will begin now to celebrate it with all our hearts and to the glory of God. But it’s more than that. It’s not just a holiday to be celebrated. It’s a message to be proclaimed to the saving of people’s souls. I hope that you have wholeheartedly believed what it tells us.
And what would it be like, this season, if—when we hear someone wish us ‘a happy holiday’—we were to graciously say, “Thank you. May I take just a moment to share why it’s so happy for me? May I tell you why I consider it the greatest news the world has ever heard?”
By God’s grace and help, let’s be like those shepherds. Let’s go … and tell it!
AE
