The Good News

[0:00] Well, if we could, this evening, with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that portion of Scripture that we read, the Gospel according to Luke, Luke chapter 2, page 857 in the Church Bible. Luke chapter 2, and if we read again in verse 13, Luke 2 and verse 13, And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

[0:39] When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.

[0:51] And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And so on. Now, I don't know about you, but for me, buying Alison a Christmas present seems to be getting harder and harder every year, to the point that this year she's actually given up and bought her own present for herself and told me just to wrap it and give it to her.

[1:24] My excuse is, it's hard to be original. It's hard to buy something different from last year and the year before and the year before that. So it's hard to buy something unique because I usually just buy, well, the usual perfume or a voucher or something similar.

[1:41] And maybe it's just me. Maybe you're all very good at buying Christmas presents, but I'm absolutely rubbish at thinking of things to buy. And as Alison knows, that not only goes for buying her Christmas present, it's also the same at her birthday.

[1:54] And you're probably wondering, why on earth is she married to you, Murdo? Sadly, in my opinion, the best present I ever bought for someone was for my dad's 60th birthday.

[2:06] And what I bought him was a newspaper. In fact, it was an old newspaper, but it wasn't any old newspaper. It was the newspaper that was printed the day that my dad was born, which was the 12th of January, 1958.

[2:22] Now, you're probably hoping to yourself, well, I hope that Murdo never buys me a present, whether for Christmas or for my birthday. And I hope he never buys me a newspaper, especially with news that's 60 years old on it.

[2:35] But, you know, I think it must be interesting to read a newspaper of what was happening in the world the day you entered it. It must be interesting to read a newspaper of what was happening in the world the day you entered into it, which actually got me thinking about that if newspapers were produced and printed in the period of the Roman Empire, and we were actually able to get a copy of a newspaper on the day that Jesus was born into the world.

[3:04] And as those living in the 21st century now, we would probably expect the birth of Jesus to be headline news. We would expect the birth of the Savior of sinners to be on the front page, and almost the second page and the third page to be covering this great news story.

[3:22] Because as we all know, the birth of Jesus, it was a world-transforming event in history that we celebrate every single year. But the sad reality is the event would have gone unnoticed in the first century.

[3:38] Because if we'd been given a copy of this newspaper on the day that Jesus was born, there would have been nothing written, and there would have been nothing reported about Jesus, or Mary, or Joseph, or the shepherds, or the angels, or the wise men.

[3:54] There would have been nothing written or reported about the birth of Jesus. But as we consider the account from Luke's gospel this evening, and I'm sure many ministers, they're preaching about the birth of Jesus just now.

[4:07] But as we look at Luke's gospel this evening, I want us to see that it's written like a local newspaper. I want us to see that it's written like a newspaper. Because as Luke says himself in the opening verses of his gospel, chapter 1, he says that he has written his gospel like a reporter.

[4:27] He has found evidence. And he has recorded eyewitness accounts. And he has written all about what people have seen. And here in this chapter, we've been given what you could call headline news.

[4:42] This is Luke's headline news. And you know, in my mind, I have this thought that, well, if Luke had written a newspaper, he would have called it the good news. That would have been the title.

[4:52] Not the daily record, but the good news. Because that's what the gospel is. As you all know, the gospel is good news. It's the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

[5:04] And so as we read Luke's newspaper this evening, chapter 2, I want us to read three newspaper articles. There are three newspaper articles that I want us to see about the birth of Jesus.

[5:16] And these three newspaper articles, they all have headlines. And the headlines of these articles are, The Sovereign Situation, The Singing Seraphim, And The Seeking Shepherds.

[5:29] So they are the three newspaper articles. That's the headlines. The Sovereign Situation, The Singing Seraphim, And The Seeking Shepherds. So first of all, The first headline in Luke's newspaper, His good news newspaper, Is the sovereign situation.

[5:47] The sovereign situation. Look at verse 1. Luke writes, So as a reporter of good news, Luke sets his article in its context.

[6:13] Because before writing about the personal situation of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus, Luke reminds us about the political situation that was going on in Israel.

[6:25] So before he gets personal, he speaks about politics. And as we read there in verse 1, The first three words, In those days. And Luke sets the scene.

[6:35] He tells us that in those days, Israel was under the rule of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire, as you know, It had expanded and it had extended throughout Europe and even into the Middle East.

[6:48] But in those days, Verse 1, In those days there was, Boys and girls, There was a Pax Romana. There was a Pax Romana. There was a Roman peace.

[6:59] There were no wars being fought. And there was nothing happening with the Roman military. They were no longer extending and expanding the empire. There was this Pax Romana, This period of peace between nations.

[7:14] Of course, There were still tensions. There was still unrest. Because there was always tensions. There was always unrest when the Roman Empire was taking over towns and cities. But as Luke sets the scene of this sovereign situation, He explains that the Roman Emperor, Over the Roman Empire at the time, Was this man, Verse 1, Called Caesar Augustus.

[7:35] And he had not only decreed a Pax Romana, This Roman peace, He also decreed a tax register. He decreed that the whole world, That's the whole of the Roman Empire.

[7:49] Because, Well, If you're a Roman, That is your world, The Roman Empire. He decreed that the whole world of the Roman Empire Would be registered for tax. But, You know, Even though the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, And the governor, Verse 2, The governor of Syria was Quirinius, And also the king of Israel, Who was the Herod, King Herod, Even though all these political powers Thought that they were governing And directing all the affairs of world history, Whether it was their empire, Or their area, Or even their little country, Whatever they thought, All these political powers, They thought that they were governing And directing all the affairs Of their little history, Luke wants to remind us From the outset of his article.

[8:38] He wants to tell us in his report That none of them, None of them were actually in control. None of them were in control.

[8:49] Because in those days, Says Luke, Even though a decree went out From Caesar Augustus, And there was a first registration, When Quirinius was the governor of Syria, Even though as these things happened, There was actually a sovereign situation Taking place.

[9:05] There was a sovereign situation Taking place Where the Lord was in control. And that's what we're singing about In Psalm 93. As we said, It's a wonderful psalm That reminds us That the Lord is sovereign.

[9:17] Where the psalm has said, The Lord hath reign, And clothed is he, With majesty most bright, His works do show him clothed to be, And girt about with might. The world is also established That it cannot apart.

[9:29] Why? Thy throne is fixed of old, And thou from everlasting art. Which means that despite All the political powers That were at play In the first century, The Lord, The covenant king Of heaven and earth, He was still sitting on his throne.

[9:50] And he was ruling over And overruling all things. Because the political situation Was actually a sovereign situation. The political situation Was a sovereign situation.

[10:05] Which ought to remind us immediately That the same is true in our day. The Lord is still sitting on his throne. And although it may seem like We live in a day of chaos And a day of confusion.

[10:17] With all these political powers At play. With all these countries That are coming closer and closer With war. And rumours of war. All these laws That have been passed in parliament.

[10:29] Without, And even though people Are speaking against it, They're still being pushed And passed through parliament. With wars in Ukraine, Unrest in Israel, As well as the constant threat Of terror. Although it may seem like Chaos to us.

[10:42] And we look at our news And we see the absolute confusion Of our world. Luke is reminding us That as it was then, So it is now.

[10:55] The Lord is in control. He's still enthroned on high. And all the political situations In this world, They are all sovereign situations.

[11:07] All the political situations Are sovereign situations. But then as you follow Through the article That Luke writes, He not only reports And even reminds us That the Lord is sovereign In all the political situations.

[11:21] He also reports here And reminds us That the Lord is sovereign In all our personal situations. The Lord is also sovereign In our personal situations. Because Luke writes About the personal situation Of a couple.

[11:35] This couple, Mary and Joseph. And we're told there, As we've read it many times before, That it was because Of the political situation At the time, The decree, And this decree From Caesar Augustus, Because of the political situation, It became a personal situation For Mary and Joseph.

[11:54] They became affected By what was going on At the time. Because they had to leave Their home, They had to leave From Galilee, The town of Nazareth, And they had to go To Judea, The city of David, As you read there In verse 4, Which is called Bethlehem.

[12:09] They had to go To Joseph's home village Of Bethlehem, Which wasn't going to be A casual and comfortable journey For a heavily pregnant woman. It was going to be An 80 mile journey.

[12:24] And, I don't know, Part of me wonders, Well, did that 80 mile journey Bring on an early labor? But the thing was, There was no room, We're told there, At the end of verse 7. There was no room For them in the inn.

[12:35] So Mary had to give birth To the saviour of sinners In a barn. I'm sure many of you Have a barn. Imagine a baby being born In your barn.

[12:49] I don't think you would allow it. And yet they kept him warm With grave clothes And laid him In a feeding trough. And do you think so many people Complain about the NHS?

[13:00] But there was nothing glamorous, There was nothing glorious About the maternity ward In Bethlehem When the King of Glory Was born in a barn. But, you know, What Luke wants to report here And what he wants to remind us Is that even though The political situation Had impacted And influenced The personal situation Of this couple, Mary and Joseph, All of it, Everything that was going on In this period, All of it was a sovereign situation.

[13:28] And it was a sovereign situation Because it had all been promised. It had all been prophesied. It had all been written down 650 years earlier By a prophet.

[13:43] The prophet Micah, He writes, But the Lord says, Speaking through his prophet, But you, O Bethlehem, Ephaphra, Who are too little to be Among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth For me, One who is to be ruler in Israel, Whose coming forth Is from of old, From ancient of days.

[14:07] And, you know, You look at this, You read this article, And isn't it amazing That the political situation In Israel And the personal situation Of individuals, It was all a sovereign situation.

[14:19] It was all Under the sovereign control And command of the Lord. Which always ought to remind us And reaffirm to us And reassure all of us That the Lord is in control Of every circumstance And every situation In our lives.

[14:39] There are no chance meetings. There's nothing that happens By accident. Every person we meet, Every situation we enter into, It is all under the sovereign Control of the Lord.

[14:51] And whatever's going on Politically in the world Or personally in our lives, The Lord is there. And the Lord is sovereign. The Lord is in control.

[15:02] He's on His throne. He's enthroned on high. And the amazing thing is, We can go to Him For help. He's there to help us When we feel helpless.

[15:16] He's there to guide us When we feel lost. And He's there to assure us Of His presence When we feel lonely. You know, Our sovereign Lord, And this is what I always Come back to, In every situation in life, Our sovereign Lord Is working all things together By His grace, For our good, And to His glory.

[15:38] Our sovereign Lord Is working all things together By His grace, For our good, And to His glory.

[15:50] And so in the Good News newspaper, Luke's first article, The first headline That he reports on Is the sovereign situation. Then when we read The second article, He reports on the good news With the headline, The singing seraphim.

[16:06] The singing seraphim. So there's the sovereign situation, And then the singing seraphim. Look at verse 8. We read there That in the same region There were shepherds Out in the field Keeping watch Over their flock by night.

[16:21] And an angel of the Lord Appeared to them, And the glory of the Lord Shone around them. And they were filled With great fear. And the angel said to them, Fear not, For behold, I bring you good news Of great joy That will be for all the people.

[16:34] For unto you is born this day In the city of David A saviour Who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby Wrapped in swaddling cloths And lying in a manger.

[16:45] And suddenly there was With the angel A multitude of heavenly hosts Praising God And saying, Glory to God in the highest And on earth peace Among those With whom He is pleased.

[16:59] And so in the second article Of his newspaper Called The Good News, Luke writes a report About the singing seraphim. And the report Is all based upon The first hand witness account Of the seeking shepherds.

[17:13] Everything he writes He has got from the shepherds Because it was only The shepherds Who saw it. But I don't want us To focus upon The seeking shepherds Just now Simply because Well Luke doesn't.

[17:24] He comes on to it In a moment. So we'll come back to it In a moment. But before that, Luke he reports On the singing seraphim. In particular Luke reports On the appearance Of an angel Of the Lord In verse 9.

[17:41] He says An angel of the Lord Appeared to them And the glory of the Lord Shone around them And they were filled With great fear. Luke reports That the seeking shepherds Who were camping out In the fields They saw An angel of the Lord In camp Round about them They saw An angel of the Lord In camp Round about them Now if you're using The authorised version It will say The angel Of the Lord Appeared But when you read The original language Which would have been Greek There's no definite article Which means that It's not The angel of the Lord But an angel Of the Lord And there is a difference And I want to highlight The difference Because as I've often said Large doors Swing on small hinges And in the Bible Large theological truths Always swing on small words Because particularly In the Old Testament When the Bible speaks About the angel Of the Lord

[18:41] It's referring to The Lord Himself He's the covenant king He's the second Person of the Godhead He's God the Son And it's referring to him The angel of the Lord It's what you would I don't know People would call A pre-incarnate Christ Before God became man That's who we were singing about In Psalm 34 David blessed the Lord In praise He praised the Lord In painful times of trouble And he confessed That the angel of the Lord Enamps And round encompasses All those about That do him fear And them delivereth But for these seeking shepherds They saw An angel An angel of the Lord And we know that it was An angel of the Lord And couldn't have been The angel of the Lord Because Jesus Has already been born It's not a pre-incarnate Christ Because the incarnation

[19:42] Has now taken place Christ has been born In Bethlehem Now the discussion And debate over a little word And you might think It's insignificant Whether it's an angel of the Lord Or the angel of the Lord It might seem insignificant to you But it's very important Because Luke reports That when an angel of the Lord Appeared before the shepherds The reflected glory of the Lord Shone around them Which implies that This angel of the Lord Could I say Was an archangel An angel that drew near And dwelt near The throne Of God And because this archangel Was in close proximity to And even in the presence Of God It would have absorbed The glory of God And then reflected The glory of God

[20:44] While it was in God's presence It would have absorbed The glory of God And then Out of God's presence Reflected the glory Of God That's what often Happened with Moses That's why he had to put A veil over his face His face shone So brightly And so when this archangel Appeared before the shepherds The glory of the Lord Shone around them The reflected glory Of the Lord Shone around them Now what I find fascinating As I said to the boys and girls There are only two archangels Mentioned in the Bible So this is question two The two archangels are Michael and Gabriel But as archangels It seems that they have Different roles And different responsibilities And I find studying this Very interesting And it's always fascinating To look at it Because Michael appears In the Bible As a warrior Gabriel appears As a messenger So they have different roles They have different responsibilities

[21:44] Michael appears As a warrior Because in the letter of Jude We're told that he contended With the devil And in the book of Revelation We're told that he fought With Satan The dragon But the archangel Gabriel He appears as a messenger He appears first of all Before Daniel In the Old Testament Where he promises Daniel About this Messiah Who is to come And the second time Gabriel appears Is of course To give Mary the message That she's going to give birth To the promised Messiah And with that We can assume That the archangel Gabriel Was the one who appeared To the seeking shepherds Because it's not a warrior That appears But a messenger And Gabriel is a messenger And as at other times Gabriel had a message Of good news He had a gospel message Or it had a gospel message This angel This archangel And the message there Is in verse 10 Fear not For behold I bring you

[22:44] Good news of great joy That will be for all the people For unto you is born this day In the city of David A saviour Who is Christ The Lord Great words From the archangel And you know I love Of course I love it What my good friend J.C. Ryle says About these verses He says about verses 10 and 11 In his commentary We need not wonder At these words We need not wonder At these words The spiritual darkness Which had covered the earth For thousands of years Was about to be rolled away The way to pardon And the way to peace With God Was about to be thrown Wide open The head of Satan Was about to be bruised Liberty was about to be Proclaimed to the captives The recovering of sight To the blind Salvation was No longer to be seen Through types And shadows But now openly Openly

[23:44] And face to face The knowledge The knowledge of God Was no longer To be confined To the Jews But now offered To the whole World We need not marvel At these words He says Fear not For behold I bring you good news Of great joy That will be for All the people For unto you Is born this day In the city of David A saviour Who is Christ The Lord You know It's the best news Anyone Could ever hear Isn't it The best news That anyone Could ever hear And you know For some of you You have had the privilege Of hearing this message Of good news All your life You've heard this message Of good news All your life I have had the privilege Of preaching this message Of good news To you For the past

[24:46] Ten years But you know The question That concerns me And I hope And pray It concerns you Is what have you done With all that you've heard What have you done With this good news Message About Jesus Christ What have you done With all that you've Heard Because you will have to Give an account For it One day Of all That you have heard But you know Luke he doesn't leave His article there Because he He not only reports On the message of Gabriel He also reports On something remarkable In verse 13 He says And 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 among those With whom He is pleased So as Gabriel Is speaking Angels start Singing And I refer to Luke's headline

[25:46] As the singing Seraphim Because I believe That the heavenly host They were Seraphim As opposed To cherubim Because like The archangels Michael and Gabriel They had different Roles and responsibilities So too It seems Were the cherubim And the seraphim In fact The role and responsibility Of the cherubim It's very similar To Michael Some would even suggest That Michael Was the archangel Of the cherubim You can just Think about that Yourself Michael He's a warrior We said that He fought with Satan But the role and responsibility Of the cherubim Was to guard The holy things Of God The role and responsibility Of the cherubim Was to guard The holy things Of God The cherubim You remember Right at the beginning Of our Bible Just after Adam and Eve Had fallen into sin And they were driven Out of the garden of Eden The cherubim guarded The way to the tree of life

[26:46] They were there With their flaming swords Keeping Adam and Eve Out The cherubim They're also pictured And portrayed In the tabernacle And then later In the temple And they're there To guard the way Into the holy of holies Which was the immediate Presence of God And they're also Inside the holy of holies Overshadowing The mercy seat To guard the way Into God's Holy presence Therefore If the cherubim As we see Through the Bible If they were to guard The holy things Of God The seraphim Were to sing About the holy things Of God So the cherubim Guard the holy things Of God The seraphim Sing about the holy things Of God We touched on that Last Lord's Day We were reading Isaiah chapter 6 Where Isaiah says That he saw The Lord High and lifted up Sitting upon his throne And above his throne He says Stood the seraphim

[27:46] And each one Had six wings And with two He covered his face With two They covered their feet And with two They flew And one cries To another One sings To another Holy Holy Holy Is the Lord of hosts The whole earth Is full Of his glory And so the seraphim They sing about The holy things Of God And that's what Luke Records for us here He records the singing Seraphim Who sang about The saviour of sinners And you know For these seeking shepherds These shepherds Who are out in the field For them to hear The heavenly singing From these seraphim They must have been remarkable Must have been incredible To hear this choir Of seraphim singing This innumerable multitude Singing about the saviour Of sinner And you know It reminds us Doesn't it Of Charles Wesley's

[28:46] Christmas carol That's why he wrote Hark the Herald Angels sing Glory to the newborn King And so in the Good News Newspaper Luke's first article Reports on the Sovereign situation The second article Reports on the singing Seraphim That's who we're singing At the birth of Jesus And the third And final article Reports On the seeking shepherds The seeking shepherds We'll read there In verse 12 This will be a sign For you You will find a baby Wrapped in swaddling cloths And lying In a manger This will be a sign For you You will find a baby Wrapped in swaddling cloths And lying In a manger You know In his concluding article Luke highlights Three things About these Seeking shepherds Luke highlights Three things About these Seeking shepherds The first is They received a sign

[29:48] The second is He mentions The manger And the third is Seeing swaddling cloths So Luke reports On these things About the seeking shepherds Receiving a sign Mentioning the manger And seeing swaddling cloths So receiving a sign The seeking shepherds They receive a sign And that was without Even asking for it They received a sign Without even asking for it And yet as you know There are so many people They want a sign from heaven I don't know if you've ever Asked for a sign from heaven But I've met so many people Who want a sign from heaven To convince them And to convert them Into knowing that God is real And the gospel is true But Jesus tells us In the gospel No sign shall be received Because the sun has been revealed No sign shall be received Because the sun has been revealed So they received a sign

[30:49] Luke also mentions The manger Which as we said Is a feeding trough It's where you'd put the Where you'd put the food For the animals In fact Luke mentions The manger three times He mentions it in verse 7 She gave birth to her Firstborn son Wrapped him in swaddling cloths And laid him in a manger Because there was no place For them in the inn Mentions it again in verse 12 This will be a sign for you You will find a baby Wrapped in swaddling cloths And lying in a manger And then again in verse 16 They went with haste And found Mary and Joseph And the baby lying in a manger And Luke mentions the manger Again and again and again In order to emphasize And explain to us The humility of Jesus That's what we need to see We need to see the baby In the feeding trough We need to see the baby Born in the barn We need to see the one Who came Not to be served As a king

[31:50] But to serve As a slave And to give his life As a ransom For many And Jesus did that By humbling himself We've said it so many times Before Jesus has humbled himself From the crown of glory Down to the cradle In Bethlehem All the way down To the cruel cross Of Calvary It was from the crown To the cradle To the cross From glory To Golgotha To the grave And that's where Luke Is actually directing us That's where he's bringing us Right at the beginning Of his gospel He wants to bring us To the end He wants to point us To the climax And culmination Of his gospel Right from the outset Because he directs us To the third thing The swaddling cloths Because the swaddling cloths They were wrapped around The little body Of baby Jesus And they would have been there Of course To keep this little baby Warm at his birth But swaddling cloths Would have also Been wrapped around

[32:51] The broken And the bruised body Of Jesus To bury his body At his death Because that's what Swaddling cloths were They were a shroud They were grave clothes And they were usually used Boys and girls They were usually used Not at a birth Or a birthday But at a burial And that's where the Lord Was directing these Seeking shepherds He was directing them Not just to the birth Of Jesus But to the death Of Jesus This Savior Was born For a purpose And that's where Luke Is directing us This evening As we read Through these articles Luke is reporting Yes on the birth Of Jesus But he's reminding us That God has a perfect plan He has a perfect purpose And it's all going to Outwork in his Perfect providence And it's all In the part of the work Of salvation It's not just about The birth of Jesus We can't leave Jesus In the manger

[33:52] No we need to follow him All the way through our Bible Right to the cross And see the death of Jesus Because the climax And culmination Of the good news Of the gospel Is not the cradle It is the cross That's where Luke Wants to bring us He wants to remind us That this Jesus He came into the world Yes But he came into the world To save sinners And the only way That he saved sinners Was by dying In our room And in our stead Christ Jesus Came into the world To save sinners And that's where Luke Is bringing us He's bringing us Right at the beginning From the cradle To the cross And he's telling us You need to fall down At this Jesus And worship him But you know And with this I'll conclude Luke's three articles Were written Of course So that we'll believe That's why they write The gospel They want us to believe

[34:54] They want us to believe In Jesus Christ And his three articles His three headlines The sovereign situation The singing seraphim And the seeking shepherds These three headlines They highlight for us That a response is required A response is required When we read the good news So when you read this newspaper You don't just throw it away When you're done You don't put it Into your blue bin No, no, no Luke says You need to respond To what you have just read A response Is required And what does Luke report?

[35:34] He says in verse 16 This is how The shepherds responded They went out With haste And found Mary and Joseph And the baby Lying in a manger And when they saw it They made known The saying That had been told them Concerning this child So they told them About the singing seraphim And all who heard it Wondered at what The shepherds Told them Then verse 20 And the shepherds returned Glorifying and praising God For all they had heard And seen As it had been told them So Luke reports That the shepherds Responded These seeking shepherds Notice what happened to them The seeking shepherds Became speaking shepherds Then they became Sharing shepherds And then they finally were Spreading shepherds The seeking shepherds Became speaking shepherds They started speaking About what happened They became sharing shepherds

[36:35] And then they were Spreading shepherds They began to speak Share and spread The good news Of the gospel They began to speak Share and spread This wonderful Good news message That Jesus Christ Has been born To save sinners And you know Needless to say Needless to say That's what we are To be doing This Christmas We are to speak And share And spread The good news Of the gospel Because what is That good news Well Luke tells us In his newspaper He tells us That unto you Is born this day In the city of David A saviour Who is Christ He is Christ The Lord May the Lord bless These thoughts to us And let us pray Our Father in heaven

[37:38] We give thanks For reminding us This evening That every situation In life Whether political Or personal That we are the one Who is sovereign Sovereign over every situation In our lives And help us Lord To acknowledge To acknowledge That thou art the God Who is working In our lives By his grace For our good And ultimately To his glory And so Lord Teach us we pray Teach us to be more Like Jesus Teach us to surrender And submit our wills To his will And that his will Would be done On earth As it is in heaven Be gracious to us Lord We pray Help us to speak About this Jesus And to share about him And to pass on This wonderful Glorious gospel message That Christ Jesus Has been born Into this world To save sinners But Lord That we would never Leave Jesus in the cradle That we would always Take him And go with him To the cross

[38:38] And to see that This Jesus died That we might have life And have it more abundantly Lord hear us And we pray Bless us In the week That lies ahead A week that is unknown To any of us But Lord We give thanks That what better place To begin our week Than in the Lord's house On the Lord's day Acknowledging the Lord Who is sovereign Over our lives Keep us and we pray Do us good We ask For Jesus' sake Amen Well we're going to Bring our service To a conclusion This evening And we're going to Sing the words Of Psalm 98 Psalm 98 It's in the Scottish Psalter Again It's on page 360 Psalm 98 We're singing From the beginning Down to the verse Mark 4 Psalm 98

[39:39] From the beginning Before we sing I have The questions Okay Question 1 What does the phrase Pax Romana mean? Don't all shout out at once Go for it A Roman piece Well done Good job Anna Question 2 What are the names Of the two archangels Mentioned in the Bible?

[40:06] Michael and Gabriel Good job Who was singing At the birth of Jesus? Seraphim Yep It's quite hard To pronounce that one Seraphim And what was A swaddling cloth Usually Used for?

[40:25] Sorry? Burial Yeah So not the birthday And not birth A burial I won't ask you The headings That's too much Is it? Okay Well done Do very well Listening Psalm 98 We're singing From the beginning And we're singing Down to the verse Mark 4 It's this psalm That was actually Used Or the foundation Of the Christmas carol Joy to the world It was all based Upon the words Of Psalm 98 Because Psalm 98 It speaks about The promise The promise That a saviour Is coming Salvation Is going to come That's what he's singing about Sing a new song To the Lord For wonders He hath done His right hand And his holy arm Him victory Hath won That's what Paul Picks up on About Jesus Winning the victory The Lord God His salvation The Lord God His salvation Is in the heathen's sight He openly Hath shown So he's going to make Known his salvation

[41:25] Why is he going to do it? He has been mindful Of his grace and truth To Israel's house Hath been And the salvation Of our God All ends of the earth Have seen Grace and truth Is going to come In the person Of Jesus Christ It's a wonderful psalm That speaks about The coming Messiah So Psalm 98 We're singing from the beginning Down to the verse mark 4 And we'll stand to sing If you're able To God's praise O sing a new song To the Lord For wonders He hath done His right hand And His holy army In victory

[42:27] He hath won The Lord God His salvation On a cause To be known The justice In the heathen's sight The hope When he hath shown The mindful Of his grace And truth To Israel's house Hath been

[43:29] And the salvation Over God All ends of the earth Have seen Let go the earth Ex ung amangle Sojen And those the Sath and Hollywood attend And those Butt News Be sg Offah From The Follow To Hymn This is our great joy.

[44:28] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forevermore. Amen.