Somebody Loves You

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. And Merry Christmas! It's good to have you with us today. The story of Jesus' birth might be familiar to you, but today Raul will encourage you to take a fresh look at the amazing truth that God's Son willingly left heaven for a manger.

The nativity scene is not merely a seasonal picture; it's a celebration of God's rescue mission set in motion in a stable. Keep listening for inspiration to embrace Jesus' amazing gift. Today's lesson is titled "The Real Christmas" in Luke chapter 2. Here's Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Anybody can give a message on Christmas. All you've got to do is turn the Bible to Luke's Gospel or Matthew's Gospel and give the message. But it's always hard to really live by Christmas. I can remember as a kid, celebrating Christmas Eve, it was a night of drinking. But when I came to Christ and I had little kids, it was totally different.

Reading the story to them, my wife reading the story to them, praying for them, and then giving them their gifts, but reminding them that it's not Santa Claus, but that the greatest gift was the Lord Jesus Christ giving his life for the sins of the world. And I still believe that. There are so many children that are deceived by their parents. They don't really give them the real story about Christ being sent by the Father so that he could come and he could live and he could die and he could rise again from the dead.

And then to come to that place that they would teach their children as they were growing up. And when I was reading the story once again, it reminded me that the Bible never changes. The story never changes. The story changes people's lives. I like that. The story changes people's lives. It changed my life, and I hope it has changed your life.

And then when you think of Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14, he says, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel," which means "God is with us." And then Isaiah 9:6, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

"And of the increase of his government and peace will be by no means end, but upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from old and from everlasting to everlasting.

God's Word, prophesying to us concerning who Jesus Christ would be and what he would come to do as the Savior of the world. I guess he makes it in such a way, I think a little better than Matthew. Matthew kind of shortcuts it. But Luke the physician, he always writes like a physician, very wordy in the things that he does, but very descriptive in what he does. And beginning in chapter 2 here in verses 1 through 7, he gives us the historical facts about that time when he was born.

Beginning in verses 1 through 3, he starts us with political times. He says, "And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus"—here is the Caesar of that time—"that all the world should be taxed or registered. This census first took place with Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone in his own city."

Joseph also went up from Galilee and out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house of the lineage of David. Now, it's interesting that God chose at this particular time to have not only Mary become pregnant and get ready to have her little son, Jesus. He allowed the Romans to tax people at this particular moment so that Joseph and Mary from Nazareth would go to Jerusalem, which is probably about 80 miles away, because he knew that Jesus was supposed to be born prophetically speaking where? Not in Nazareth, but in Bethlehem, the house of bread.

Jesus said, "I am the bread of life." So there's no coincidence of Jesus being born in Bethlehem. It was prophesied way back in the Old Testament by Isaiah, as you go to the book of Jeremiah. And the government that was ruling at this particular time was the Roman government, the one that would kill Christians, the one that not only was chosen by God so that Jesus could minister to the Jewish people.

And here we are today, how many centuries ago when Jesus was not only brought into this world to become the Savior of the world, but also to give opportunity to you, to me, that my family would come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And even as he says in 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and he shall be called Immanuel, God is with us."

Who else could be with us? What religion you belong to? Religion means really nothing, but what kind of personal relationship do you have with whoever you worship? My personal relationship with Jesus Christ is a relationship as I look to him as my Savior, as my Lord, as my King, the Alpha, the Omega, the first, the last, the one that took the time to be sent by the Father into this world that was lost, not only in the first century, but here we are in the 21st century.

Still practicing, still celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ while our government is trying to take away our First Amendment and they're trying to take away from us Christmas and trying to take away from us going to church. This is why Jesus had to come. And that's why we celebrate even tonight, and we will celebrate next year and the following year.

Because it's not about government, it's about Jesus. He was in the time born when the government was ruling. They did not want people to worship, and yet Jesus was sent into the world so that the world not only could understand that this was God himself incarnate in the flesh. And that as he came incarnate in the flesh, he would give salvation to anyone that would call upon his name: Jesus, Yehoshua, God is my salvation. When we say Christ, Christ Mass, Christmas, he's my anointed one, the anointed one of God, Jesus.

Look what he says in verse 4: "Joseph also went up from the Galilee out to the city of Nazareth, to Judea, the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house of the lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, because she was pregnant and she was engaged to Joseph to be his wife, who was with a child."

Now, imagine, she's pregnant, which the law that is given to us according to the Jews, any young woman that was pregnant by someone, she would have to be stoned to death. And the one that impregnated her had to be stoned to death. Here, God protected her all those nine months. Nine months to bear the Messiah, Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior that he would become to the world. And now on her way being pregnant, nine months pregnant, all of a sudden when they get to Bethlehem, she begins to have birth pangs.

They don't want to accept them in the hotel, the Holiday Inn, because it's all packed out. And bear Jesus in a trough where the horses drank water, he would be born. King of kings, Lord of lords, and yet born in a stable for you, for me, and for the world, Jesus. Verse 6: "So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to deliver. And she brought forth her firstborn child and wrapped him in swaddling cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn."

You can underline that. Read that every time you read the Gospel of Luke to remind yourself there was no room. And today and tonight, there is no room for people to have Jesus in their hearts. No room. You're going to be visiting someone tonight or tomorrow morning, or they're coming over to your house. And there will be family members, there will be friends, that have no room in their hearts for Jesus, but they have room for everything else.

Everything else that's going to burn one day. But having room for Jesus Christ is for eternity, forever. That I realize in one day I'm going to die. One day I'm going to have to give an account of my life to the Lord. And it breaks my heart that loved ones or friends have no room for Jesus in their lives tonight. And then one day I may never see them again because of their unbelief, because of their willful rejection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We have such a great testimony in the Bible, the Word of God. The book that doesn't lie. The book that fulfills what it says in the Old Testament to the New Testament. The prophets of old said there was a Messiah that was to come and become the Savior of the world. It was fulfilled. Five hundred prophecies were given. Three hundred were fulfilled in his first coming, and two hundred are left for his second coming. Today, right now, in the kingdom of God according to the Scripture.

No room in the inn for Jesus Christ to be accepted, to be taken upon as my Lord and Savior. But listen, to much is given, much must be required. In verse 8, it says, "Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night." So you have these little shepherds, and this great light and an angel shows up.

He says in verse 8, "And now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night." And then check this out what he says in verse 9: "And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid." Remember Moses when he went up to the Mount, the glory, or the Shekinah glory of God, that came upon him, and he had to wear a covering coming down from Mount Sinai?

It was so glorious that he couldn't really see face to face the Lord, but he saw the back part of our Lord, Jehovah Yahweh. And he got to cover his face. Here are the little shepherds, and the angel shows up, and the glory, Shekinah glory of the Lord, all around them. And then the angel said to the little shepherds, "Don't be afraid. For behold, I bring you great tidings and great joy which will be to all the people."

It's not just to you. I'm bringing great tidings and notice, and great joy to a world that will reject Jesus Christ, that will reject Jesus Christ as those watching through the internet tonight from all over the world. I wonder how many of them don't know Christ? How many of them are visiting their homes of their loved ones and they're watching right now in the internet? You're sitting here and the Holy Spirit is speaking out.

And as the Holy Spirit speaks out, he says, "Don't be afraid. For behold, I bring to you good tidings and great joy to all the people." All of us here, all the world tonight, that Jesus Christ loves them. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Everlasting life, imagine. And yet how many people today, they don't really believe that?

They sit there and they watch tonight, they'll watch Christmas programs, they'll have their suppers with their families, and then they'll break open the gifts, and they forget that the greatest gift was Jesus Christ. That's what Christmas is about. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And that's what I want in my life. He has a purpose in our lives.

And the first purpose is to know him and the power of his resurrection. That he came not just for me, he came for every one of us here, and those that you prayed for this whole year. I pray and we pray that God will touch your lives. But as they see that little manger with that little baby lying there, and the shepherds and the wise men bringing those gifts that would speak of not only his birth but of his death, that he would die.

And I pray that God's Holy Spirit would speak to us, to the world, not just to America, to the world. Like the wise men, and like Mary and like Joseph, and like all those people that came to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives once Jesus was born. For 30 years him being trained by the Father, and for the last three years of his life to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. To preach, to teach, and to heal, and to finalize his life to go to the cross and to die for the sins of the world.

"Father, forgive them because they don't know what they're doing. But Father, I love them. And Father, I will continue to love them, even though they don't love me, I love them." That's what Christmas means to me, what he did. He says, he goes on here, "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host"—praising God, hundreds and thousands and millions of angels worshipping, singing—"praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will toward men.'"

They were praising God, they were worshipping, they were singing in the presence of God the Father, as God the Father had sent his only begotten Son into this world to become the Savior of the world. In verse 15, he says, "So it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, going back to heaven, that the shepherd said to one another, 'Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that he come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.'"

What the angel told us, let's go and see if this is true. And they came with haste. They hurried, they ran. And they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And imagine, when they got there, they saw that little baby and the mother and father sitting there. And the angels had gone, and all of a sudden they see these wise men. We see three wise men, but according to history, the actual kings would travel by 70s, not three.

So imagine all of these from Babylon came, 70 wise men that studied the stars and brought these three presents to Jesus and to worship him as the Scripture says. And then he says in verse 17, "And now when they had seen Jesus, they made widely known"—they couldn't help it—"and saying which was told them concerning the child." They started witnessing immediately about Jesus who they saw and who they worshipped.

And they wanted to tell everybody, "Hey, you need to worship Jesus." And then he says, "And all those who had heard marveled at those things which were told to them by the shepherds." They began to believe. They began to say, "Where is he? The one that you saw, the one that you worship, we want to worship too." And then he says, "But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart."

You imagine how she felt knowing that one day he would die for the sins of the world and reminding herself what the wise men have said, to remind herself what the angels have said, and to remind herself what God the Father had said to her about her son. The privilege of being 16, 17 years old, a virgin being chosen by God the Father through the Holy Spirit speaking to her, "You have been chosen to bear my son that has come to die for the sins of the world, so that we may know him intimately and that we may worship him in spirit and in truth."

Guest (Male): Well, on this special day and throughout the coming new year, we encourage you to let the joy of that first Christmas night guide your heart and direct your steps. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's lesson was titled "The Real Christmas." If you'd like to get a complete copy with much more teaching, just call us at 800-634-9165, and for a donation of $5 or more, we'll send one to you.

We'd also like to tell you about Raul's four-part series titled "The Birth of Jesus Christ." Available on CD and USB, this holiday collection celebrates the worldwide redemption that began with a baby's first cry in Bethlehem. You'll see that while God's salvation plan defied all human logic, his unconditional love and perfect sovereignty brought peace to the world through his only son, Jesus Christ.

To order Raul's four-message Christmas series titled "The Birth of Jesus Christ," visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165. We'll send you the CD set for $18 or the thumb drive for just $9. That's 800-634-9165. Or write to us at Somebody Loves You Radio, Post Office Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765.

This ministry with Raul Ries is fully listener-supported, and we are grateful for your partnership. Thanks so much for every contribution. And thank you for joining us today. It's our prayer that you'll feel Christ's love, joy, and peace in a very special way this Christmas Day. Join us next time as we continue this holiday series with a challenge to worship the Lord with your faith and obedience, following his call on your life. Now here's Raul once again.

Raul Ries: And then she comes to the final word, and she says in verse 20, "And then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told to them." When we leave here tonight, we leave glorifying and praising God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for what Jesus Christ has done and what he will continue to do in your lives, and in my life, and through our lives.

A.W. Tozer said, "Nobody has ever seen God, but when Jesus Christ came, he showed us what God was like. The Word became flesh. What we have here is one of the darkest mysteries of the human thought, how the deity could cross the wide-yawning gulf that separates what is God from what is not God." Jesus is God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.