Jack Hibbs - Let's Take a Look (01/23/2026)
Examining the Facts of Christmas
Church, grab your Bibles this morning and turn to 2 Peter chapter 1. There’ll be no notes on the screen. There’ll be no points. We gave all those people the day off today. We’re just going to go through the Word together. We’re going to consider some things.
I’m going to ask you to actually do as I was suggesting a moment ago in our prayer: to put on, as it were, a robe and a staff—except if I could change that picture in your mind a little bit, I would have you put on a Sherlock Holmes hat with an inspector’s magnifying glass. Because we’re going to step back 21 centuries onto a scene where things are being reported.
I want you to approach this morning first of all as a believer, rejoicing in the facts—as perhaps a skeptic, wondering what is a fact. Maybe you’re here this morning because you’ve been bribed that if you come today you’ll get a gift or maybe a Twinkie or something after service. Your loving family dragged you here.
And I want you, in your unbelief, to be listening. Because we here today—we know exactly what we’re doing on this Christmas morning. We know who we’re worshiping. We know why we should worship Him. We’ve experienced Him. And we come in a long line of believers throughout the millennia that have come to understand that our faith is founded upon fact.
The faith of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Bible is founded upon fact.
Just this week in Israel, coins are being unearthed that are silencing critics—because there are coins with stamps from over 2000 years ago of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem, where there are those walking around today denying the temple ever existed. Isn’t that awesome?
There are documents being unearthed—pottery with names of people and places, inscriptions made on tablets and stone regarding the Bible and regarding people of the Bible and places of the Bible.
But listen—we’re still going to be inspectors this morning.
A Close Examination of Bethlehem
So today the message is entitled: «Let’s Take a Look.» Let’s take a close look and let’s examine the scene, as it were, of the Bible, of Bethlehem, of Christ, and of faith. And we’re going to consider those familiar things: the who, what, when, where, and why of an examination.
2 Peter chapter 1:16—Peter tells us, «For we have not followed cunningly devised fables"—we have not followed slick tricks or stunts—"when we made known to you the coming or the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ.»
Peter is saying we’re not making this up. I want you to remember that in a moment. When we came and spoke to you concerning the splendor or the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter said that we have seen Christ, and the things that we’ve told you—they’re not stories. They’re actual events that took place.
And you might say today, «Well, that’s Peter—he’s just talking. What’s he supposed to say?»
Remember this: that announcement Peter held to all of his life after he met Jesus Christ. He held to that all the way through.
You say, «Well, so what?» Well, I tell you what—so what? All the way through. And according to church history, we know that Peter was arrested for being a believer. By the way, according to church history, so was his wife.
When Peter was condemned to death for being a Christian, they were going to crucify him. And Peter said to his persecutors—he said to the magistrates, «I’m not worthy to be crucified as my Savior Christ was crucified. I’m requesting that I be crucified upside down.»
And according to church history, Peter was crucified upside down. I don’t know if he was crucified upside down or not—I just know this: Peter was killed for his faith in Christ.
Don’t you think at some moment they would have jumped up and said, «Listen—it was all a stunt. It was a cunningly devised fable. We give up»?
But yet not one of those disciples gave up on the story but wound up giving their lives for the story—for the event. Why? They knew something that you and I need to either be reminded of or discover.
John the great apostle—John put it this way in 1 John chapter 1. John says, «We proclaim to you that One who was in existence even before the world began. It is He that we heard. It’s Him that we saw. We saw Him with our eyes, and we touched Him with our hands. He was the Word of life, and He is the One who gives life itself.»
He was revealed to us, and we’ve seen Him, and now we testify to you and proclaim to you that He is Himself eternal life.
That’s what John said. John said we’ve touched Him. Can you imagine being able to say that? We touched Jesus. We lived with Him for three and a half years. Our eyes saw Him.
And it wasn’t just that we saw Him and that we touched Him—He was in existence before the world was ever created. We knew Him.
True or false? We look at an examination today. I encourage you with us to take a look.
The Who of Christmas
Number one: the who, what, when, where, and why. Number one—the who. Let’s take a look at the who or the whos of what the Bible says regarding Jesus Christ—the who of Christmas.
Who is the who of Christmas? When I say «who of Christmas,» do you know—you see what I’m saying? In my mind: Whoville—the Whos—the Grinch—Jim Carrey—spectacular anyway.
The who—the whos of Christmas. Number one—we know this from the Bible—there are the whos who are the prophets.
Now as we take our examination, we start looking, and we cannot deny the existence of the prophets. They were real people. They are recorded in Jewish history. They’re recorded in biblical history. They are recorded in antiquity. They’re recorded in the history of secular nations.
We have the famous Hebrew prophets, and from Genesis to Malachi—Malachi the last book of the Old Testament—we’ve got these accounts of the prophets.
And the prophets wrote, according to the Bible, under the possession of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit possessed them, and the Bible says they wrote what they wrote, not even knowing or understanding what it was they were saying.
And you say, «Well, that’s weird.» I agree—it is weird. But the Bible also tells us that when they wrote what they did write, those prophecies they gave were to be scrutinized and tested.
The amazing thing—none of you in this room right now or none of you watching could ever go and find some sort of a document or some sort of a bit of evidence that disproves or shows you a false prophet in the Bible. Did you know that? There’s none.
What they said happened—happened. What they’ve said is happening. What they’ve said shall happen.
And they said this: the prophets—the who of Christmas begins with the prophets. They said, for example, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son—nearly 1000 years before Jesus Christ was born—specifically 743 years before Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem.
The prophet Isaiah announced that there would be a scandal, and the scandal would be about a virgin becoming pregnant without having sex with anybody, and she would be pregnant of God—that God would instill within her not just a child—it was none other, the Bible tells us, Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 and Isaiah 9:6—that it would be none other than God residing inside of a human woman, her womb.
Sounds crazy—not if you’re God. Sounds impossible—not if you’re God.
The first who of our examination are the prophets.
Secondly—it may or may not get worse for you as you examine this, because the next one’s kind of hard to swallow. I’ll admit this—the next who group would be angels.
So «I don’t believe in angels.» Well, actually—I’ve never seen an angel. I would have to say if my evidence is based upon what I’ve seen, then I agree with you—then that I don’t believe in angels.
But I’ve never seen George Washington either. One of my heroes in life is Abraham Lincoln, and I’ve never seen him.
But let’s listen—let’s just give credence to this though. We’ve never seen an angel—or I’ve never seen an angel—maybe you have. The fact of the matter is the Bible announces that angels are part of a group of who that gave testimony to the fact that Jesus Christ came on Christmas Day.
They appeared. And you say, «Yeah, but that’s weird because you can’t prove it.» I agree—I understand.
But there is another group of who that backs up—listen—watch how this snowballs or even rolls back up the hill to the point of origin.
The shepherds said they saw angels on Christmas morning. The shepherds—their eyewitness account—in their examination, they tell us they saw angels.
And the angels made an announcement. The announcement the angel gave was the exact same announcement the prophets had written down in advance.
So number one—believe it or not—as we examine this case, there is no controversy or there is no contradiction. We just know this as investigators: the prophet said this would happen, and the first thing we see is an angelic—reported angelic—manifestation.
But the interesting thing is the angels that showed up said the same thing the prophets did.
The shepherds—who have no business being involved in anything in life—you want to know why? Back then—in fact, shepherds today in Israel the same way—they have no status in life. You know that? You’re completely uneducated. You have no say. You’re poor. You’re nothing.
Isn’t it interesting—Jesus came and announced to us that He was the Shepherd. I like that.
Now the second thing is—isn’t it interesting—David—King David—everybody loves David. Everybody loves the 23rd Psalm. Everybody loves David. David was a shepherd before he was a great king, wasn’t he?
Wasn’t Deborah—help me out here—wasn’t Deborah a shepherdess in the Bible? Despised.
Listen—shepherds. Shepherds saw the manifestation of the angelic host in the atmosphere as they kept their flocks near Bethlehem.
And the Bible tells us that when that heavenly host ascended back to heaven, that the shepherds got up and they ran into town to bear witness.
They’re a group of who. I just find it awesome that though they’re considered insignificant, here we are 21 centuries later talking about them on a Sunday morning in Southern California. What do you think of that?
And then what about these guys—the Magi. The Magi is their group of whos.
Now look—if you have a nativity scene in your house, how many Magi do you have? Three. Why do you have three Magi? Only for this reason—only three gifts are mentioned in the Bible.
The Magi—you can research them later—quite an interesting group of people. They were actually real people. They were considered—they were like a hybrid of scholars. They were extremely well taught in the sciences—plural. They not only were taught in the sciences—geography, mathematics, astronomy—but they were also taught in mysticism—astrology, the gods of the ancient Babylonians.
They were instructed. I’m not telling you that they believed either one or all things or none of the above—they just knew it all. They were the—what they were—the wise men. They were the wise guys.
And I know in a picture we have three of them going to see baby Jesus, but the truth of the matter is we get that three only because of the three gifts.
Magi traveled in vast caravans. They—because of their wealth and because of their influence—they were great ambassadors for whatever an empire or kingdom wanted to have brought about. They traveled in massive groups. They didn’t travel alone.
Chances are—probably the truth—these Magi traveled in great, great packs. And they went some six to 700 miles or more from ancient areas of Babylon all the way through to Bethlehem.
And the Bible says—what does it say? The Bible says they followed a star.
And I’m not going to debate this morning what kind of star. «Well, you know, NASA says there was Venus at that time.» I don’t care. I don’t care if it was Venus. I don’t care if it was a firefly. I don’t care if it was an actual star that God was moving. I don’t care if it was an angel dressed up like a star. I don’t care what it was.
The Bible says they followed a star. And what’s weird about it is they followed a star, and the star came over and then it stood and it rested or appeared or stayed over where the Babe was born.
Whatever going on is a God thing, right?
And they came—you know, scholars believe that either Magi existed before Daniel—when Daniel was taken captive—or that Daniel the young boy—Daniel the lion’s den Daniel—or Daniel was the originator of the Magi.
The interesting connection is they came out of where Daniel was once held—for his lifetime—in captivity.
But they came searching for the Messiah. How did they know? How did they know?
When they appeared: «We want to see the King of the Jews.»
And boy did that set the Roman Empire upset. Can you imagine walking in right now to the Oval Office in Washington, DC and say, «We want to see the king of America"—I mean the ruler of America? How’d that go over? Secret Service would take you out, right?
Magi show up, and they tell the ruler—the king over the region—"Hey, we’ve come to see the King.»
«Well, what do you mean? The King’s right there in his palace in Jerusalem.»
«No, no, no—not that King. The One who’s born King of the Jews—that King.»
Herod freaks. «What do you mean? What are you talking about?»
And he grabs—you could almost see him—he grabs the Jewish scholars: «Hey—go search your Scriptures and tell me if it says anything about a king.»
You can hear them run off. They run off, they go, and then they come back. Can you imagine? «What’s your report?»
You can just see them: «Well, um—we’ve, um, found something here. It says that in the last days before—there’s going to be a king coming.»
And he embarked upon a manslaughter campaign to kill every young boy of the Hebrews two years of age and under.
There’s also the whos that were in the crowd. The Bible tells us that the shepherds went and spread the news to the villages—specifically Bethlehem first. There’s a lot of people starting to hear. There’re a bunch of whos.
And then there’s two who—Joseph and Mary.
As we examine this, we’re looking at Joseph and Mary. What a story that is, ladies and gentlemen.
Listen—if the gospel message—if the ancient prophets wrote the Bible themselves—they never would have wrote things like this into it.
Here’s the deal: you’re in Israel—you’re in ancient Israel. We’re going to have—let’s think this one up: «I know—we’ll have a young girl about 15 to 17 years of age"—which is normal, by the way. She’s going to marry a guy that’s somewhere around 28, 29, 30, 31—that was normal because those guys had stability. They had money, and they had the ability—that’s just the way the culture was. He could provide and create a family in and through her, and she was of age. And that’s the deal.
So here’s what we’ll do: we’ll have a story drawn up that she gets pregnant out of the bonds of marriage. They’ll be engaged, but she’ll get pregnant outside the bonds of marriage. And even though she’s to be stoned to death, we’ll work out an amazing story. We’ll have them grow up all their lives in a scandal.
And it’d be like this: the boy that they’re going to have—it’ll be someone else’s kid. It won’t be the husband’s kid.
Do you understand? That’ll get you killed in that culture.
In fact, Joseph—who, when Mary told him—can you imagine Mary telling Joseph? «Hi, Joe—how are you? Um, I got to tell you something. Ran into an angel the other day, and he told me that I was going to become pregnant by the Holy Spirit of God, and that the child within me will be the Son of God. He’ll be the Savior of the world. What do you think of that?»
You know what? The Bible—we don’t know much about Joseph’s response except this: it says he went and laid down—or passed out—he went and laid down, and he thought about how—because he loved her—instead of having her stoned to death, Joseph thought, «How can I get her put away? How can I get her divorced so she’s not killed? I don’t want her to die.»
You’ve got to remember—at that moment he thinks she’s been with somebody.
And the Bible says an angel appeared to him and told him, «Joseph—don’t be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. That thing that is conceived within her is of God. And He will come forth, and you’re going to name Him Jesus. He’s going to save His people from their sins.»
Two remarkable whos as we investigate.
The What of Christmas
Secondly, we look at not just the who—we look at the what. The what of Christmas.
The Bible tells us that from Genesis to Revelation, the what is all personified—literally personified—in Christmas.
The what is the message that man is hurting. Man is in trouble. Man is guilty. Man doesn’t know what to do. Man is lost.
So what does God do? He doesn’t send an angel. He doesn’t send a committee—thank God He doesn’t send—what does He do? He sends Himself.
The what of Christmas is the message. The Bible tells us in John chapter 3 verse 15—you know this—that the Bible says that for anyone who believes on Christ, he has granted eternal life.
«For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son"—only glorified Son—"that whosoever would believe"—the word believe is to lean on Him—to put all your weight of trust on Him—this is key—lean on Him—"will not perish but have everlasting life.»
That’s an amazing term because everyone perishes if you think about your life ending at your physical death. But that’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says every human being lives on after their physical death.
You think this is all you’re living for? All the feeling, all the pleasure, all the fun—all of this—grab all the gusto you can? Let’s have as much fun as we can? Let’s do whatever we want?
Why? You know why you live like that? Because you think that that’s all there is to life. «Eat, drink, and be merry—for tomorrow we die,» as people say.
Guess what? The Bible says just like—and you ought to know this—when you go to sleep at night, are you dead? You look dead. I mean, let’s be honest—you look dead. You’re not dead—you just look dead.
Do you know your mind—your body’s pumping blood and all that stuff—but do you know your mind? Think of this—your mind is going, dreaming, whatever you’re doing.
Did you know the soul that’s in you never sleeps? You know it never gets tired. It never gets tired like we speak of being tired. The inside of you never needs a break.
Listen—are you battling cancer right now? Are you sick? Do you have some disease? Do you have some physical ailment? Do you have insomnia?
Listen—do you know your soul doesn’t have cancer?
A church this size—people are being born and people are dying almost every day. When a Christian dies—do you understand—when a Christian dies—if they get hit by a truck, a train, or cancer—did you know that their spirit, their soul, never was ever sick?
When they cut loose from their body—do you know in that moment they’re free? The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Can you imagine?
You remember how—if you—I’m trying to remember how it is to have a really good sleep. You remember when you just lay down, and then when you have a really good sleep, the next thing you do is you wake up.
And here’s the great—watch—are you with me? You have no idea how much time’s passed until you look at the clock, and you look and you go, «Wow—I’ve just slept eight hours.» You know that feeling? You don’t know that until you look.
Have you noticed that? Don’t you—when you wake up—don’t you look at the clock?
What happens if you slept 45 minutes? It’s like, «Ugh.»
Exactly—the inside of you never sleeps and never gets sick. It never gets cancer.
And the Bible says that’s the part that lives forever—absolute awake, absolute consciousness, absolute reality.
Jesus said if a man dies believing in Me, yet shall he live. That means the moment you blink—close your eye on this world—and you open up your eye—the next you’ve passed from this world of time into eternity.
The Christmas message is an amazing message that God sent His Son into the world. The message is this: to save us from our sins.
And if you’re here today saying, «I don’t have any sins"—you’re the biggest reason why He came.
I mean—He came and died for a soul. But if you’re here today saying, «I don’t need any help"—boy, are you messed up. You’re exactly the reason why He came.
«Pastor—clearly you don’t know how moral I am.» Oh brother—you can be moral, but your head is so full of pride you can barely get it in the door. Pride.
We all need Christ. The Bible says we’ve all sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Jesus is the Christmas message. He’s the package.
Think of that.
The truth of the matter is this—and we’re all into messaging. Oh, you know—messaging. I text like this. I’m so pathetic—my wife, she’s like boom.
I see you young people—you’re sending messages all around the world. Isn’t it amazing? I’m not—I’m like—messaging is important. It’s always been important.
Some people put messages in a bottle. Some important places put a time capsule because they’re going to send a message to a future generation. Messaging is important.
We have poets. We have people who say things like this: «Well, I left you a message.» You know—just because you left me a message didn’t mean I get it. Did you know that?
By the way—I learned something from a congressman. You know in Congress—they don’t do that stuff. Did you know that? They don’t—if you didn’t talk to somebody, it didn’t happen.
«Well, I left you a message about the end of the world—we’re going to like nuke somebody yesterday. Didn’t you get my message?»
They don’t leave information that’s important like that—they actually talk to somebody. That’s a good thing for all of us.
Well, how do you know? «Well, I heard the message about this.» Did you talk to them about it? «Well, no—I mean, I heard that this guy said about this guy…» Don’t go there.
God didn’t do that. God sent us His message that can be experienced. His message—the who, the what—the what is a message. And He wrapped that message for Christmas personally—which is amazing to me.
The Bible says the Word became flesh. The Word—the Logos—the will of God became personalized in skin—Jesus Christ.
Check this out—have you—um—this is third service today. Did you guys already open your gifts? No—raise your hand if you’re going to go home and open up gifts.
Raise your hand if you’ve already opened up your gifts—even Stephen. How many of you opened your gifts last night? Oh wow—that’s amazingly—what a fair and balanced group of people.
So let me ask you this—you’re going to get a—you’re going to go get your package. You’re going to get your package, and there it is right there—got your name on it.
And you—what—you take the wrapping and the bow off, and you just go, «Oh my goodness—look at this bow. I’m just going to sit over here for a moment and I’m just going to really enjoy this packaging. Look at the paper.»
Kids know how to do it—they dive head first into it. There’s just shrapnel flying every which way—bows and paper, right?
You don’t look at the wrapping. You want to know what’s on the inside.
Listen—God veiled Himself in human skin. This is amazing to me. It’s not about the skin—inside Jesus Christ on the inside was who He has always been—Eternal God.
This is the miracle of Christmas—He put on a human suit. He put on human skin.
The Bible says He was born. The Bible tells us in 1 Timothy that when Jesus Christ was born into the world, the angels looked at Him coming in—being—I should say coming out. The angels were watching the birth of Jesus.
Why? He had never been in skin before—God in skin.
Remember when He went to the Mount of Transfiguration, and Peter, James, and John are there, and they’re watching—eyewitness accounts—and they said He was transformed in front of them while He was on top of the mountain, and He was completely light?
The Bible says God is light. Isn’t that amazing?
The miracle is—how did Jesus keep from glowing all the time? When He came out of Mary—it looked like a little light bulb. You would think, right? They would have had to put like masks on: «Joseph—get your glasses on. Here comes the Son of God—the Light of the world.»
Absolutely awesome—amazing.
He was God in skin. And the Bible says that Jesus was tempted in all points—in every area—just like you and I.
Think of that for a minute—yet without sin.
He was tempted just like you, but He never sinned.
Why? Because Jesus was to go to the cross as a sinless sacrifice—to pay the price—to be a perfect sacrifice—to appease the righteousness of God—to pay the bill of what you and I had done in life.
Did you know that He paid—listen—from Adam—Jesus paid for Adam and Eve’s sin all the way out to the last sinner in the future. Jesus paid for it all.
Only God can do that. Think of that—isn’t that awesome? It’s wonderful.
The When of Christmas
Third—let’s look at the when. The who, what, when.
The when of Christmas—think about the fact that God, at a very specific time in His plan, engineered the coming of Jesus Christ.
I know many people would say, «If I could just see Jesus today—if I could just experience—if I just could walk where He walked or do what…»
Listen—God in His plan knew exactly the when of Christmas and when it should be—exactly to the detail.
The Bible tells us—first of all, this is kind of fun—listen up—that Jesus Christ came when the Roman Empire was ruling the world.
Now we can go off a thousand directions on this one. I’ll just give you two really fun things.
Number one—the guy—he was just a guy—going from memory now—Octavian is his last name—Gaius Octavian. As soon as he became the emperor—do you know what his title was? Caesar Augustus.
«Hey, Octavius—take out the trash, will you?» Then the next day he’s the emperor of the Roman Empire, and now he’s God.
Did you know the Roman Empire—the Romans believed that the emperor was God on earth? Did you know—listen—listen—when Jesus Christ was born, that Caesar Augustus—that his citizens of the empire called him by this title: Caesar Augustus, the savior of the world.
Did you know that «the savior of the world"—that’s what was going around the empire?
And now you have a Kid born—a Baby—that there’s a rumor that the angels announced that the One born in Bethlehem is the Savior of the world.
We’ve got a problem brewing, ladies and gentlemen. We’ve got two kingdoms with two kings.
One has got the power to crush your face, and the other one’s got the power to go to the cross and die in your place.
One can flex his muscle and destroy worlds—the other One created worlds.
One brought quote «peace» to the world by its iron fist—the other One brought peace into the world by riding on a donkey into Jerusalem.
The when—so the Roman Empire was in place, and the leader—the emperor—was called the savior of the world.
The second thing to this is—at just the right time—the when—God—isn’t it amazing—God engineers all these things. And He engineered this—that He brought His Son into the world when the first internet—see, Al Gore—he did not invent the internet.
The first internet was an invention of the Roman Empire. Did you know that?
He said, «What are you talking about? The world was never connected in those days until Rome engineered one of the greatest wonders of the ancient world—the famous Roman road.»
Did you know that? Did you know that the Roman Empire built Roman roads all over the empire?
And this was the reason why—number one—it was built for military prowess. They built the military engineering of Rome. Engineers built the Roman road because the emperors wanted their military power to march on the roads to take over kingdoms. That’s why.
And I’ve had the privilege of being on a Roman road in Turkey. I’ve been on the Roman road in Greece, in Italy, in England, Germany—Roman road dating over 2000 years old. You can go—you can walk on it.
Because they used it to link the world together—number one for military conquest. Number two—once you establish conquest, then you would establish trade.
We have interstate highways. We have freeways. And did you know—I don’t know if you know this or not—in American history, when we built our freeways, did you know our economy went through the roof because of freeways? Did you know that? Interstate commerce—it’s an ancient practice.
Rome built—well, what else happened? Who cares about the Roman road and that Caesar is the savior of the world?
For this reason: the believers that got saved in Jerusalem—guess what they got on? They got on the Roman road.
All along the way—when you mark the growth and the planting of churches around the ancient world all the way through to England—guess what? They went all the way through off the Roman road. They just went preaching the gospel.
When you hear about Paul the apostle on his missionary journeys—if he’s not on a ship, he’s on the Roman road.
Don’t you think that’s significant?
At just the right time—God says in Galatians chapter 4:4 and 5—at just the right time God sent forth His Son, born of a woman—which I find that hilarious—born of a woman.
Are we not all born of—how many of you were born of a woman? Raise your hand. Some of you not raising your hand—okay.
Of course we were all born of a woman—called Mom.
Here’s the deal—when the Bible says that God sent forth His Son born of a woman, that means that ain’t going to happen again. That means it happened once—born of a woman, born under the law.
That means Jesus answered the demands of the law of God for you and I because we couldn’t.
At just the right time—you and I today are celebrating Christmas because 21 centuries ago God came into the world at just the right time. And He did that—born of a woman, born under the law—to deliver us, the Bible says, from the curse of the law.
«Say, well—how can the law be a curse?» Because it’s the law that points to you and I being sinners.
Did you know that when you came here today—did you go—was the sign say 35 miles an hour? Were you going 35 miles an hour? That was the law pointing at you.
Did you know that next time when you leave here today—think of that as you drive off to go eat your turkey or whatever you’re going to do—remember that, «Honey—how fast you going?» «85 in a 25.» «Well, I’m hungry.»
Just know this—the law is going just like this. Isn’t that terrifying? That’s what the law does. The law has no emotion. The law has no feeling. The law just says, «You’re guilty. You are guilty—guilty.»
Isn’t that amazing?
And the Bible says Jesus came to deliver us from that finger that points. Isn’t that rude? Look at that—she—you shouldn’t point. I shouldn’t point. But I’m pretending—the law always points.
That’s why when you do something wrong and people ask you, «How you doing?» «Why—what are you asking for?» It’s because you feel the law pointing.
When you have guilt on your heart—you know where that comes from? God—He’s pointing.
Jesus came to set us free from that—at just the right time, just the right place when He came for us.
The Where of Christmas
Number four—who, what, when, where—and the why. We look at the where.
Number four—the where. The where of Christmas is this: the Bible tells us that God—establishing and creating the scene for which all of these prophetic things were to take place—God had a plan.
In Isaiah 46:9 and 10, God says, «I am God—there is no other God.» And this then—listen—He lays this down as a challenge: «I am God—there is no other God. I am God who tells you the future in advance. I write it down before it happens so that when it happens, you know that I am God.»
Is that awesome? That’s amazing.
«Well, I don’t know if you can—I don’t know if God’s real or not.» Well, you know—I love you—but just stop being so lazy. Get up and find out: did God ever write anything down in advance, and it came to pass exactly as He wrote?
Oh yes—thousands of times. You should know that.
Our belief in Christ and His Bible is based upon fact.
And one of the facts is this—in that census I was talking about a moment ago—or the rulership, I should say—of the emperor, the Bible tells us this in Luke 2 verse 1: that at the time the Roman Empire—Caesar Augustus—decreed that a census should be taken throughout all the Roman Empire.
You know what’s fun about that? That says it in the Bible—it also says it in Roman history.
Then verse 2 adds something that didn’t need to add at all—parenthesis in your Bible: «This was the first census taken when Quirinius was the governor of Syria.»
When we research back and find out: did Syria ever have a governor by the name of Quirinius, and was it during this time of the emperor Augustus? The answer is yes.
Wow—faith founded on fact.
What else happened? The Bible tells us this: that all returned to their ancestral towns to be registered for the census.
And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem of Judea—David’s ancient hometown.
So Joseph and Mary are living in the north—up in the region just west of Galilee—and they’ve got to make a nearly 90-mile trek down while she’s just about ready to give birth—on a donkey or walking—I don’t know how she made it. But she makes it to Bethlehem because Joseph was a descendant of David.
God’s got to get pregnant Mary to Bethlehem—you see.
Well, who cares? Why Bethlehem?
I knew you would ask.
I hope a friend of mine is not watching right now. This year I was speaking at a national security briefing in DC, and one of the aspects—my contribution was—they wanted someone to represent how religion affects the security of a nation.
Are there religions that threaten the security of a nation? Are there religions that strengthen the security of a nation? In other words—what a people believe matters to the stability of the nation. Are you with me? It’s a side note.
But during that presentation, I wound up meeting—and I’m going to be safe by not mentioning his name—but a very, very high-profile rabbi. And he spoke as well.
And after, we just hit it off. And so we text each other back and forth from time to time.
And so just yesterday he texted me—and now you got to remember he’s a rabbi—he texts me and he says, «Merry Christmas, Pastor Jack.»
And so I text him back, and I said, «Happy Hanukkah, Rabbi [beep].»
But I always give him verses. And every time I give him a verse, it’s never from the New Testament—it’s always from his Old Testament. Are you with me?
And every time I do this, there’ll be about a two- to three-week silence in our texting—every time. And if you’re watching—you know it’s every time.
But it’s because I love you, and you know that.
So I text him this—this morning. So I said, «Happy Hanukkah, Rabbi,» and I gave him Micah 5 verse 2 from his prophet.
Listen carefully—skeptic in the house: «But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of villages of Judah, yet out of you will come forth to Me"—God is speaking—capital M in the Hebrew—"Me"—God—"the One who will be the Ruler over Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, even eternally.»
And I hit send.
Listen—I just ruined his Hanukkah.
Because listen—because I’m not Jewish—I’m a Gentile—but the God I worship is a Jew. Did you know that?
God’s Jewish. If you’re anti-Semitic—think about that—then you’re probably anti-God.
Jesus came—He came—look—He didn’t come as a Canadian: «And born unto you this day in the city of Toronto shall be Christ the Lord.» Of course not.
«Pastor—He who is born unto you in Bel-Air will be…» He’s not a Californian either.
Isn’t it amazing that the eternal Creator of the universe came to earth—He chose to be a Jew?
Isn’t that—that’ll make you think for a moment.
And I sent that Micah 5:2.
You see—what are you saying? The Bible says in Micah 5:2 that God said His Son—the Messiah of the universe—would be born in Bethlehem.
Not only Bethlehem—guess what? During the time of Christ at His birth, there were two Bethlehems—two villages went by the name of Bethlehem—one was in one county and one was in the other county.
The Bible says Bethlehem Ephrathah. Jesus was born in that county.
What do you think of that?
Our faith is founded upon fact, ladies and gentlemen.
And whoever is born in Bethlehem would have a shroud of mystery about him—that he would be a virgin—or that he would be born of a virgin—and that he would be born in Bethlehem.
And when Herod wanted to find out where this King was going to be born—that’s the verse the rabbis came to him and reported to Herod. They said the prophet said it would be Bethlehem.
And there must have been a cold chill that went up his back—because he had a rival.
Does the coming of Christ rival you, or does it cause you to be delighted? Do you get excited about Christ, or does He threaten you?
The Why of Christmas
Which leads us to this closing and final thing—it’s the why. The who, what, when, where, and the why of Christmas.
The why is this: the why is Christ came to set us free.
Jesus Christ the Baby born was destined—it was not an accident—destined for the cross.
The why was the Christmas Child going to the cross.
Now listen to this, and we’ll be done.
Luke 2:8 picks it up: «Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in their fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel—one angel—of the Lord stood before them.»
Watch what happens: «And the glory of the Lord shone around them.»
This is awesome. The Bible tells us that shepherds were there, and an angel appeared. And when the angel appeared, the word here in the Greek means they were completely enveloped in the light of the angel’s presence.
That had to be awesome.
You look at angels in the Bible—it’s amazing. They’re not little naked cherubs over your grandma’s toilet bowl with the little bow and arrow and the little wings with the chubby buns—you know—looking at you with a smile.
Angels are terrifying. Some angels have four faces on one head, the Bible says. Think of that for a minute—think four faces on one head.
And it’s—by the way—the Bible says on one face it’s the face of a human. On the other side of the face is the face of an ox. On the other side is the face of a lion. And on the other side is the face of an eagle. And they have six wings.
That should cause you to stay up with me all night long. Can you imagine?
I want to see an angel. No—you don’t.
Because the Bible shows you—when people—Daniel saw an angel, and he was sick for days. He was physically sick. It freaked them out.
Can you imagine? Wow.
And this angel shows up, and he’s making an announcement, and the shepherds are enveloped in the glory.
And listen what the angel says—of course the first words out of the mouth makes perfect sense to me: «Don’t be afraid. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.»
Did you hear that? Christmas is to bring great joy to all people. That’s the message.
«For there is born to you this day in the city of David"—oh boy—here you go—here comes trouble—"a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.»
There goes the emperor.
«And this will be a sign to you: you will find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.»
And then verse 13 explodes—I wish Spielberg could capture this. Verse 13 says, «And then suddenly there was with the angel"—singular—"a multitude of heavenly hosts.»
Heavenly host is a massive gathering of angels.
And what did they do? They praised God. And this is what they said—verse 14: «Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.»
That was the message. Did you hear that? That was the message the angels were announcing—their orders from heaven.
«Hey, shepherds—awesome news. Merry Christmas. It’s God’s desire that there’ll be peace on the earth.»
Isn’t the earth messed up? The earth is so messed up. Why is it messed up? People—don’t blame God. «Oh—don’t—I blame religion.» That’s people.
God is not religion. Listen—if you haven’t learned this yet—religion is a man-made invention. Religion is man’s attempt to dethrone God. Nimrod started it at the Tower of Babel—he created a global religion to dethrone God.
God doesn’t want you involved in religion—He wants you to know Him so that you might have goodwill—peace on earth among men of goodwill.
What is men of goodwill? Men with hearts that are open to receive.
Are you open to receive the Christmas message? That’s the why.
And so all of this is going on—all of this remarkable announcement—God wants you to have peace.
Isn’t it amazing—we’re coming down to an epic moment prophetically in the world.
Isn’t it amazing—you know today all around America, the United States, and Western Europe—did you know that we were under—not we personally but collectively—the Christian was told this week by ISIS: «You go to church—you die.»
Did you know that they had produced or listed churches to distribute among their lone wolves to go attack churches in America today?
Is that what the angel said? Instead of «Glory to God in the highest,» it’s «Gory, gory to the earth—my message is to spread mayhem, violence, and death.»
Cheer up, ladies and gentlemen—Jesus Christ wants you to have peace.
The answer to the world is Jesus—not religion.
You say, «Well, I just joined a church.» A church can’t do anything for you.
«Well, I just—listen—well, I just signed up. I just passed the test—I became a Christian.» You don’t do it that way.
Listen—you can be a Christian and wind up in hell. Are you a Christ follower? That’s the difference.
Do you know what it’s like to have a relationship with the living God? That’s why He came. That’s why there’s Christmas.
The why of Christmas is that He came to save us.
Now in a day like this—listen—we’re all done—on a day like this you’re going to go home—especially the younger you are, the more prone you are to do this—and that’s just to dive right under the tree.
Do you remember when you were kids—you’d shake things? Were you like me—you’d shake the gift? As soon as my mom had it wrapped, I’d be—as soon as she put it on the tree—I’d be—I’m—I was terrible. I’d be shaking it: «Sounds plastic—it’s kind of heavy.»
Did any of you do that? You’re quiet there for a minute—I didn’t know if you were—you know how you sometimes accidentally rip the paper? «Mom—I don’t know how that happened. I think the dog did that.»
Why? You’re so excited—you want to find out what’s in that thing.
And if you anything like me and my brother and I—it was we’d get at 4, 4:30, 5:00 in the morning, and my—remember my parents: «Go back to bed.»
So excited—we wanted to unwrap that stuff, man. We wanted to get it going—whatever it was.
We dove under that tree.
2000 years ago there was a tree, as it were—a wooden cross on Calvary just north of the Temple Mount. Today it’s right at the top of an Arab bus stop—it’s still there—Golgotha, the place of the skull—Calvary—which is what this church is named after—Calvary. Mount Calvary means skull—place of the skull—Skull Chapel. You’re in Skull Chapel right now.
The cross was there. Jesus died on that cross.
And everybody who comes to the cross—you can come to the cross today. You come to the cross, and you can unwrap—you can unwrap the forgiveness you’ve never had. You can unwrap joy that you’ve never had. You can unwrap the acceptance that God has for you through Jesus Christ. You can unwrap that.
You say, «Well, Pastor—how much money do I give you?» Keep your money to yourself.
«Well, what do I need to do? Do I need to do five steps to the right, two kneels, and a…?» None of that stuff.
«Well, give me some hoops—I’ll jump through them.» You can’t do it.
All you can do is come to Him and say, «Lord—I recognize this day that You died on the cross for my sins, and I come, Jesus, with nothing in my hands. I have nothing to give that can impress You, King. And I submit my soul to You, God. And I pray that You forgive me of my adultery or my bank robbery or my hatred or my pride or my evil thoughts or my thievery or my hate—angry—whatever it is—whatever it is with us—God, please forgive me.»
And you know what? He—you know—He delights in forgiving. He loves it.
And when you do that for real—He comes in and transforms your life.
I love God big time because I know how much He has forgiven me of sins that I should be dead for. And I ain’t going to tell you what they are—before I accepted Christ I should be dead. I should have been dead. And Jesus saved my life.
That’s why I can’t—people tell me to shut up. I can’t shut up.
If you don’t shut up, we’re going to get you in trouble. I’m not going to shut up.
You don’t understand how much I’ve been forgiven. I have been forgiven so much.
Okay—do you know this? Do you know this—the why of Christmas? The who, the what today could be you.
Prayer
Let’s pray.
Father, we thank You, God—thank You so much for Your kindness and Your generosity and the fact that You’re most often so quiet. And even on a day like this—the freeways are quiet, the town is quiet—it’s so quiet.
And then there’s those times when somehow You shout without a voice in us—it’s in our minds, it’s in the middle of our gut—but it’s so bizarre to put our finger on. But we know that we know that we know that You’re speaking. And You’re saying this is truth. You’re saying it to us, and You’re saying this is right. And You’re saying to us: do this.
Father, we thank You, God—thank You so much for Your kindness and Your generosity and the fact that You’re most often so quiet. And even on a day like this—the freeways are quiet, the town is quiet—it’s so quiet.
And then there’s those times when somehow You shout without a voice in us—it’s in our minds, it’s in the middle of our gut—but it’s so bizarre to put our finger on. But we know that we know that we know that You’re speaking. And You’re saying this is truth. You’re saying it to us, and You’re saying this is right. And You’re saying to us: do this.
And so today—here’s the challenge. And while heads are bowed and eyes are closed—I’m just going to trust you to be honest.
I’m going to ask you to stand—and that’s all I’ll be asking you to do. But for this reason—I’m going to ask you to stand if this applies to you. Don’t stand unless you are in agreement. But if you would say in your heart—in all honesty—yes—then you stand.
Why? Because Jesus said if you acknowledge Me before people, I will acknowledge you before My Father which is in heaven. And if you reject Me, then I must reject you.
So listen—I guess the old saying is: if the shoe fits, wear it, right?
So number one—if today you’re a Christian, and as you come to the end of this year on this Christmas Day—nobody needs to know the reason why, nobody needs to know anything—but today you’re a Christian, you love Jesus, but you want to rededicate your life to Jesus Christ today—I’m going to ask you to very quietly stand.
Let’s all remain in an attitude of prayer. But if you’re a rededicating Christian—your life to God today—I want to just have you stand wherever you’re at.
Number two—if today you’re here and you think you’re quite something—you’re a very moral person—you’ve looked around already of those seated around you, and you’ve concluded you’re better than all of them, and you don’t really need God.
Did you know that the Bible says that Jesus Christ only is the way, the truth, and the life—and no man can come to the Father but through Him?
Did you know your good works without Christ are a zero to God?
If you want to have Him wash away your pride and make you His own child—will you stand to your feet right now?
Maybe thirdly—today you’re a person that is saying, «I’m a very spiritual person, Pastor. I am so spiritual. I have a Bible. I have a Ouija board. I have a Quran. I’ve got crystal balls. I’ve got pyramids. I’m—I got all my bases covered.» Yes—the yes—you’re a pantheist—you have all these different idols and gods.
Listen—Jesus is saying to you today: I’m the only One.
If that’s happening to you today—if He’s changing your mind today—and you want to accept Him today—that is, you want to become not a Christian but a follower of Christ—why don’t you stand to your feet if that’s you today?
And finally—maybe you’re here today and you’re saying, «Pastor—I walked in this building today thinking I’m an atheist. These are some serious challenges though given in a quick period of time. I cannot refute these things—the who, what, when, where, and why. These are facts. I get that enough to know that I’m hearing truth. I know I’m hearing truth, and I need Jesus today.»
Will you now stand to your feet?
God bless you.
No one looking around.
Those of you who are standing—will you pray this out loud with me? Just say this out loud:
«Dear Lord, I’m asking You to take possession of my life. I’ve heard about You today, but I want to experience You. I’m inviting You to come into my life, into my world, and take over. I don’t want religion. I don’t want any hype. I want to know God, and I want to know You.»