The Birth of Our Savior

I thought I would read to you some recently published articles and a survey that was just done a few weeks ago that you might find interesting regarding Christmas. Here's an article from the NYTimes.com, that's the New York Times dot com, and its title is, Is Christmas a Religious Holiday? A Growing Number of Americans Say No. And I'm quoting from it, But a sizable 32 million people do not observe Christmas. You know, Greater Metro New York City is 19 million people, and it touches, I think, three different states in what they call Metro New York. If you took Metro New York and LA and put them together, there are more people don't observe Christmas than live in Metro New York and LA. So again, it may be a minority, but it's a sizable minority. I just wanted to point that out. Continuing now in the article, it says 56% of Americans believe that the religious elements of Christmas are emphasized less now than they were in the past, but only 32% of Americans say that development bothers them, either a lot or some, according to the study. So people are becoming apathetic, they're becoming less religious. Christmas is becoming more of a secular celebration than having any religious influence. Here's what it says. I found this interesting.

The wise men were guided to baby Jesus by a star, at number four, that he was placed in a manger. Only 57% of Americans believe in all four, down from 65% in 2014, just three years ago. There were two factors that contributed to the trend the researcher said. One was that atheists and the religiously unaffiliated appeared even less likely now than in the past to believe the story of Jesus' birth. The second was a small but significant decline of roughly 5% in the share of Christians who believe in the Christmas narrative contained in the Bible. So only 57% of Americans believe that those four essential parts of what you'll find in Luke chapter 2 were true or historical.

Here's another interesting article I found in Forbes.com. The title was, Already Feeling Regret? How to Deal with Holiday Credit Card Debt. This was from January of last year. It said, quote, last weekend, millions of Americans gave gifts they couldn't afford. Before the holidays, 38% of American households already carried credit card debt of $16,061 on average. Despite this debt, many of those families planned to add another $1,073 of credit card debt this holiday season. An article that was on ABCNews.com, its title was, Lingering Christmas Bills Can Lead to Debt Woes.

I really like the quote here. This is from a gentleman, Robert Manning, who's a senior research fellow at the University of Houston. Here's what he says. I just love this quote. The debt industry, and it is an industry, has persuaded people that there wants our needs and that if you really care for someone, you'll spend more money on them. Manning said, they tell you it's so easy just use plastic, but they don't tell you how it will hurt in mounting debt and higher interest rates and higher fees.

So what he's basically saying is that there is pressure from a secular society to buy gifts for people and to spend money on them that you don't have. And the degree of how much that is shows the degree of your love. So if it's a cheapo gift, like the kind I used to get, then people don't love you very much. And if it's really a nice gift, I love, is it the Mercedes-Benz commercial, where it's a snow's coming down and husband brings his wife out?

There's a brand new white Mercedes-Benz with a huge red ribbon on top. Oh, honey, she says. Well, he must really love his wife or he's so guilty about something he's trying to make up for it. But there's pressure from the marketing industry to spend money or you are a scumbag. To spend money that you don't have in order to show someone that you love them a lot. And it's not just the Christmas season. My favorite marketing shakedown is Sweetest Day. How many here have ever heard of Sweetest Day? You know Sweetest Day exists in a whole ten states in the Midwest, the United States? Do you know Sweetest Day was created by the candy industry to spur people buying candy?

I was in a meeting once and someone literally said to me, well, I've got a head on out and I've got to pick up something for my wife for Sweetest Day. I said, really? It's just a marketing scam. It's just a shakedown. Why, will you be a heel if you don't buy your wife something some candy, which I'm sure she needs, some candy for Sweetest Day? The only one happier than the candy industry is her dentist that she's eating all of that sugar. But you see, there are pressures in our culture that you must conform.

You must do these things or you'll be left out. You must do these things or you must not love your wife if you don't buy her a box of chocolate for Sweetest Day. You must not love your loved ones if you don't just take out that plastic. It's so easy! And say, CHAAARGE! And buy all of these gifts for people, half of them who don't like you anyway, and some of them you barely know. I want to continue from this article here. Again, it was Lingering Christmas Bills Can Lead the Debt Woes. It says, consumer counseling agencies see a 25% increase in the number of people seeking help in January and February, and most of that traffic is propelled to their doors by holiday bills that haunt consumers like the ghost of Christmas past.

Great analogy from Charles Dickens' novel. So you see here that Christmas in our Western world is about marketing. It's really about materialism. It has become a cottage industry. The religion is convenient, but that's not really what it's about anymore. You know, by the way, you know what the best gifts are? The best gift that you can get someone? Those are gifts that are spontaneous and unexpected. Gifts when someone has no idea. That's when it's most exciting. That's when a gift is most appreciated.

Another article here, the final one that I'll mention, this is from cnbc.com. The title was, An Alarming Number of Shoppers Are Still Paying Off Debt from Last Christmas. Quote, What's alarming about this pattern is that many Americans are still carrying last year's debt as they head into yet another holiday season. Millennials are the worst culprits here. 24% still haven't paid off the credit card debt incurred during the 2016 shopping season. That's one out of four. Millennials still are paying those easy monthly payments. Only 21% interest. Those easy monthly payments on their credit card from last year.

And now it's time to go on a whole new binge of Christmas shopping. It says, Millennials are the worst culprits. By the way, 16% of Gen Xers still haven't paid off their credit card debt from last year, and 8% of baby boomers haven't. Well, you know, like much of what the modern world does, the birth of Jesus Christ is shrouded in tradition and myth.

And I thought it might be helpful for all of us today to examine the birth of our Messiah, first of all beginning with the very pages of Scripture so we can separate fact from fiction. We do believe that Jesus Christ was born. We do believe that His birth was a miraculous event, that it was inspirational, that it was a fulfillment of prophecy. But there is a huge gap between the biblical birth of Jesus Christ and what has degenerated in our world today is a celebration of the so-called Mass of Christ, or Christmas.

So let's begin by taking a look at the true story here in Luke chapter 2. If you'll turn there with me, Luke chapter 2 beginning in verse 1. And we'll just briefly read through some of these Scriptures because we want to understand and appreciate that, yes, we do believe that Jesus Christ was born. We do believe that He was born of a virgin. We do believe, indeed, that wise men came and found Him, not the day of His birth, it was some time later, but there were wise men that came bearing gifts.

We do believe that He was the Savior. We believe all of those things. It's just that we choose not to falsely borrow customs from the world in an attempt to worship God. And we'll see why that is so important to God just a little bit later on.

Luke chapter 2 verse 1. And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. There was going to be a census.

He wanted to know how many people lived in various areas of the Roman Empire. This census first took place while Carinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, every one, to his own city. I'm going to read you something that's commented on this verse from the Believer's Study Bible.

Now, the people who put together the Believer's Study Bible have no agenda, meaning they are not Sabbath keepers. Odds are they keep Christmas or they observe Christmas. So what they're about to say isn't because they have an agenda. It's because they're just good historians and pretty good theologians. Here's what they say. Again, this is from the Believer's Study Bible. According to Luke 2, verses 1-5, he was born about the time of a census, ordered sometime between 6 and 4 BC, preferably the latter part of that period, by Carinius, who was twice governor of Syria.

Thus Christ's birth may have occurred in the summer or early fall of 4 BC. Well, we believe that he was born in 4 BC. We believe he was born to fall around the time of the Feast of Trumpets of 4 BC. Continuing, they say shepherds would not have normally have been tending their fields in December due to the cold weather. So that's a pretty powerful statement, again, by the Believer's Study Bible, who doesn't have an axe to grind.

They're just telling it like it is. Telling it like history supports. Carinius was governor of Syria twice. His first census was in 4 BC, and his second was much later in 7 AD. All residents were required to return to the city of their lineage to be registered for the census. Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth, but that wasn't the city of Joseph's lineage, so they traveled and ended up in Bethlehem to be registered.

Let's now pick it up here in verse 4. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David. So this is talking about Joseph. Verse 5. To be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. And so it was while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered, and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

And again, as a believer study Bible points out here, I'll quote from them, Swaddling clothes were narrow strips of cloth wrapped around an infant. And Christ was born and placed in a manger led to the tradition that he was born in a stable, but early tradition indicates that he was born in a cave, which may have been used as a stable.

Now dropping down here, let's pick it up in verse 8. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, the angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

And you and I would be too if we were just doing our job, doing our thing, and suddenly an angel showed up, shining brightly, we would be, shall I say, at least startled, probably more than that, and certainly they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people, where there is born to you this day in the seat of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, 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, good will towards men.

So that angel is joined by a multitude of heavenly hosts, and they're all saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men. By the way, a better translation of that verse 14, as it's mentioned in the Believer's Study Bible, is peace towards men of good will rather than good will towards men. Verse 15. So it was when the angels had gone away from them in heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, Let us now go to Bethlehem, and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.

And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger. Now when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying, which was told them concerning the child. And all of those who heard it marveled at those things, which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all of these things, and pondered them in her heart, so that she didn't say much. She's thinking, she's putting the puzzle pieces together, but she's not gloating, she's not boasting, she's not praising herself as the mother of God, or anything like that. Verse 20. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying, and praising God for all the things that they had seen, heard and seen, as was told them. So again, I want to emphasize, I want to point out the humble attitude of Mary, who knew God's promises.

She knew who she was giving birth to, but she didn't openly proclaim her son to be the Savior or the Messiah of Israel. She allowed others to do the praising. She allowed others to give honors to her son. So this is Luke's account of the actual birth of Jesus Christ. So what did these events tell us? We just read them. They tell us that the fulfillment of biblical prophecy was completed. An infant was born to a virgin, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.

He was born to become our Savior, who would live perfectly and die willingly so he could save us from our sins. Indeed, his birth was miraculous, and heavenly angels attested to the fact that Jesus was born that very night, an event that was pictured and foretold in a number of biblical prophecies.

So, as all scriptures, this is very beautiful, and this is very inspiring. But how do we get from the simple scriptures here in Luke chapter 2 to the modern observance of what has become known as Christmas? Well, frankly, it reads like a mystery novel. First of all, no one observes Christmas for hundreds of years after the death of Jesus Christ. Then, as you would see the story unfold, you would see a church that rises to power and prominence in Rome.

But it has a challenge. It has many, many, many, many Romans who enjoy this winter festival celebration that, frankly, they're not going to give up. You know, the Puritans had the same problem. The Puritans came to believe in England that Christmas was pagan, and they tried by law to stop people from observing Christmas. It didn't work. It didn't work any better than in 400 AD, a church in Rome was able to get Roman citizens who were coming into the Roman church to give up a celebration and to give up religious practices that they had been doing for generations and generations and generations. It's not really my intent to provide a lot of history today, because aside from what I could say, it's open and it's public.

You could go to virtually any encyclopedia. You can take a look at literature. You can see a lot of television shows. And they'll very blatantly, very clearly, very plainly explain the pagan origins of much of the Christmas celebrations that occur today. I encourage you, if you've never seen the show, Christmas Unwrapped, by the way, the whole show is available on YouTube.

I think it was originally on the History Channel. It's really, for 45-46 minutes, it's a great program. The first half basically tells you how the Christmas celebrations originated in paganism and how that was all incorporated into the church in Rome. And all of the compromises and all the borrowing from pagan celebrations and religious offerings were all blended into Christmas observance. The latter half then tells about the transformation that occurred by some very savvy marketing men in the United States to create the Christmas that we know of today with the secular man like Santa Claus and reindeer and all the trappings of a secular celebration.

So it's really an interesting show. If you've never seen it, I encourage you to catch it again. It's available to watch for free on YouTube. One type of reasoning, and I've heard this, used to celebrate holidays, which originated in paganism, and to try to honor God is usually presented in this way. I've been told this, I've read this, so I thought I would mention it.

They say God couldn't have a problem with paganism because most everything originated in paganism. So for these folks, there's no attempt to deny that the modern religious customs of Christmas and a lot of customs surrounding Easter and even adoration of the cross began as pagan worship activities. They won't deny that. They don't have a problem with that. And indeed, they correctly point out that much of our cultural heritage has pagan roots, including our wedding ring, the English language, the names of the days of the week, the names of the months in our calendar year, our modern governments, our architecture, our arts, many of our games, and many of our social customs, indeed, all originated in paganism.

So here's how their reasoning goes, and then I'm going to tell you why it's wrong. The reasoning is, since most everything originated in paganism, God is actually pleased when something pagan is converted into being Christian. That that actually gives God pleasure that when something, after all, they'll say, a person can be converted, why can't a holy day be converted from something that was pagan into something that was pagan?

Something that honors God. So again, that's the reasoning that they have. They say God is actually pleased with that. And this is how many sincere people justify why they observe Christmas when they very well know that it has pre-Christian origins. Well, it's face value up front. That may sound like very valid reasoning. But the problem with that kind of reasoning is it's based on human reasoning. It's not based on the word of God. It's looking at something from a mere human perspective, not from God's perspective. If you want to honor God, you may want to consider finding out what God thinks honors Him.

For example, my wife's birthday is in December. Well, how about on the 4th of July, if I said, well, honey, happy birthday, I got you this wonderful gift to honor you. And she opens it up. It's a black and deco variable speed drill. So did I honor my wife's birthday in the way that she would have wanted it honored?

Or did I take the license to do it the way that I want to do it so I benefit so it gets to be done my way rather than a way that honors her? Let's turn to the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 12, if you'll turn there. Because I think the place to find out what God thinks about proper worship, what God says honors Him, aside from human philosophies and human perspectives and human opinions, let's go to God, the one that we claim we want to honor, by celebrating Christmas, and let's see what He says about how He chooses to be worshiped, to be honored.

So we're going to go here to the book of Deuteronomy. As you know, the people of Israel had been immersed in the culture of Egypt, and there were many false gods, and they were worshiped in various attractive ways. Israel was also eventually going to a new land where many of its inhabitants had interesting and attractive worship practices towards their own local gods in the Promised Land surrounding it.

So knowing this, God had a warning and an important message for the people of Israel. Deuteronomy 12, verse 28. Observe and obey all these words I commanded you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God. I want to emphasize this.

God says, if you want things to go well for you, if you want to please me, you have to do things that are good and right in the sight of the Lord. In other words, we have to do it, not how we perceive it, not what we think is the right way, not what we think should be done, but we have to do it according to the way God says he wants it done.

Verse 29, when the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go into dispossess and you displace them and dwell in their land take heed to yourself that you're not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you and that you do not inquire after their God saying, how did these nations observe their gods? I will do likewise. Well, that's attractive. That's pretty. That seems to have religious meaning.

That seems to be spiritual. So what I'll do is I'll just borrow this practice and I'm not worshipping their God. I'm going to worship the true God by borrowing, emulating, copying this religious practice of one of these pagan gods and their worshippers. So he says, do not inquire after their God saying, how did these nations serve their gods? I will also do likewise. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. This is what God says he desires.

This is how God is honored. And every abomination to the Lord, which he hates, they have done to their gods, for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. So aside from all the things that they do, he says, on top of that, also they even burn their sons and daughters to their gods. Verse 32, whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it nor take away from it.

So you won't take something that the Bible tells you is the proper way to worship God, and you won't add to it. By borrowing something from a pagan religious observance, relabeling it, putting a little lipstick on it, putting some makeup on it to make it look beautiful, and saying, now I'm going to do this to honor the true God. I'm going to do this to worship God. God wants His chosen people not to worship Him with borrowed pagan rituals or standards. I'm going to read these verses from the translation God's Word.

Again, this is Deuteronomy 12.29. Follow with me what I think this is just powerfully said. The Lord your God will destroy the nations where you are going and force them out of your way. You will take possession of their land and live there after they've been destroyed.

Be careful! You aren't tempted to follow their customs. Don't even ask about their gods and say, how did these people worship their gods? We want to do what they did. Never worship the Lord your God in the way they worship their gods, because everything they do for their gods is disgusting to the Lord. That kind of puts it plainly. It says, I'll read that last part again, everything they do for their gods is disgusting to the Lord.

He hates it! They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods. Why would God have said this? Because He knows the human mind. He knows our basic human nature. He knows people would be attracted to pagan customs and would want to modify them, want to adopt them to worship the Creator of heaven and earth. And He calls doing this disgusting. What God detests is the use of pagan religious practices in an attempt to worship Him. He is not pleased. God does not feel honored when people copy or borrow religious customs from pagan observances and relabel them in an attempt to worship God. Now let me answer a question.

This is kind of a sidebar, but this sometimes comes up, when people have been confused about paganism for many, many years in the Church. If it's true about religious observances, what about cultural practices that originated in paganism, like the wedding ring, as I mentioned earlier, the English language is pagan, all the days of the week, which we pronounce are pagan, all the names of the months, which we pronounce are pagan, our modern governments are pagan, architecture, the arts, many of our games and social customs. So what about them?

Does God condemn all paganisms? Does He condemn everything that originated in paganism? Well, some in the Church have always confused and blurred these two very important distinctions. The truth is that God condemns the relabeling of pagan religious practices in an attempt to worship Him. That is what He condemns. He does not condemn other customs that originated in paganism unless they violate His moral law. Because they're just cultural. And it's man's culture, all man's cultures are dysfunctional. We live in an age in which every human culture on earth without exception is diseased, dysfunctional. So we need to understand what God condemns and what He doesn't.

Many didn't have a balance in the past, and they went far beyond what God detests. I've known people who wouldn't use playing cards originated in paganism. I won't play with cards. I won't roll dice. Dice originated in paganism. I've known people who felt that way about many things, and it was a constant judgment that I won't participate.

I won't do something if it originated in paganism, which frankly eliminates about 99% of things you could ever do. What God condemns is borrowing a pagan religious practice and using that in an attempt to worship the Almighty, magnificent, true God. That's what He condemns. Let's go now to Exodus chapter 34 and verse 12. Turn there with me. Exodus chapter 34 and verse 12. Again, when one attempts to honor God by borrowing a pagan worship practice, it dishonors Him by lowering His status.

It is demeaning to God. That's how He views it. That's His perspective. He hates it. It's disgusting. When you borrow a practice and you say, I'm going to use this to honor God, it is demeaning to Him. You have lowered His majesty to the level of a man-made, created God. And that's why He hates it and He detests it. If we want to worship God and please Him, we have to do it in a way that He says pleases Him, not in the way that we want to.

Exodus chapter 34 and verse 12. Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you're going. Lest it be a snare in your midst. So He says, don't make a religious covenant. Don't compromise. Don't blend. Don't copy. Don't mix together their beliefs with what you've been taught in God's covenant.

Verse 13, but you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images. What's He saying? He's saying, destroy it. Destroy all of it. Because God hates and detests all of it. Don't take parts of it and relabel it and say, here, God, I'm doing this to give you honor. I'm doing this to celebrate or to worship you. It can't work that way. Verse 14, for you shall worship no other God, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

The word jealous here is from the Hebrew kana, and it also denotes not just jealousy but anger. To the point, as we read earlier, God said He hated the borrowing of those customs. He said that in Deuteronomy 12 that we just read a few minutes ago. He hates. He detests the borrowing of those customs in an attempt to celebrate or to worship Him. I'm going to read verse 14 again from God's Word.

And again, that's verse 14 from the translation God's Word today. Jealousy, you know, is defined as a feeling or showing suspicion of someone's unfaithfulness in a relationship. God likens false worship to committing adultery. Numerous times, particularly in the Old Testament, the prophets would say and would condemn ancient Israel for their unfaithfulness to God because they wouldn't tear down altars, because they would continue to blend the worship of what they had originally been taught with the pagan cultures of their time.

And the prophets would say, you're committing adultery. Spiritual adultery. And brethren, trying to worship God by observing Christmas and saying you do it to honor Him is like committing adultery and claiming you're doing it to honor your spouse. It just doesn't work. It may be human reasoning, but it just doesn't fit. John 4, verse 19. We'll take a look at a scripture here, a conversation that Jesus had with a Samaritan woman and see what He told her about the kind of worship that God desires, that the Father particularly desires.

John 4 and verse 19. He's carrying on a discussion with her, and then we'll pick it up here beginning in verse 19. It says, the woman said to Him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

I believe this is after He told her exactly how many times she had been married and the fact that the guy she was living with now, she wasn't married to Him. So it kind of dawned upon her that He could read the heart, that He could go in and see her insides and know what's going on in her thoughts and in her life.

So she says, I perceive that you're a prophet. She says, Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where you ought to worship. And Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. The temple is going to be destroyed and everything is going to be turned upside down. He says a powerful statement here in verse 22. You worship what you do not know. And many people celebrate Christmas in an attempt to worship God and they worship what they do not know.

We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. And indeed God gave Israel the covenant and the books that included the law of God and the teachings of God. And verse 23, For the hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. He says the hour is coming when even the temple is going to be destroyed and all of those old covenant offerings that were done every day, all of the rituals, all of that stuff is going to be swept aside.

It's going to be taken care of. It's going to be rid of. Because the Father is seeking worshippers who will worship Him in spirit, not through ritual, not through animals, not through physical shedding of blood, not through hand the way you wave your hand, and all of those, not the way that you move your head and what you wear, and all of these things that people try to do to make themselves religious. Jesus says the Father's true worshippers worship Him in spirit and in truthfulness.

For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit. And those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. There certainly is nothing about mistletoe and Christmas trees and all the things that are associated with Christmas that has anything to do with worshipping God in spirit and in truth. Verse 25, a woman said to Him, I know that the Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When He comes, He will tell us all things. He'll straighten everything out. He'll reveal to us true wisdom. She says, and Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He.

So here Jesus tells the woman what He feels about proper and acceptable worship. People simply can't worship God the way they want to. It is not honored or respected by God. We have to worship God the way He instructs, the way He desires, if we're really interested in honoring Him and not just doing what we want to do, or not just doing something to conform, or not just doing something because we'll feel like a heel if we don't pull out that plastic and spend money that we don't have to give gifts to people that we don't like.

But that's what happens in our world today. The scriptures we have read can be paraphrased this way. God says, I'm the true God. I'm not honored by the ways that mere man decides to worship me. My awesome majesty can't be polluted by religious practice borrowed from things that I despise. That's putting it in a nutshell with the scriptures that we read today.

The scriptures are clear. We can worship God in spirit and in truth. We can honor God in the way that He desires, the ways that we're taught and lived by His Son, Jesus Christ, who observed the Holy Days, who respected the plan of God. We can do that, or we can worship God the way we want to in order to fit in with our culture, in order to receive acceptance by others.

And the decision is ours. May God grant us the wisdom and the courage to worship Him, indeed, in spirit and in truth. Romans 11, verse 5, what should our attitude and approach be towards those who do observe Christmas? What about your loved ones who enjoy Christmas and maybe celebrate Christmas? And you've spoken to them and they're not interested in hearing what you have to say. To them, it's a family tradition and they enjoy it, and they're going to keep on doing it.

So what should our attitude and approach be towards those who have decided to continue to observe Christmas? Romans 11, verse 5. Paul wrote, even so then, at this present time, there's a remnant, speaking of the Church of God, a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace, otherwise work is no longer work. So he's saying that there is a remnant who realized that they've been saved by God's grace. Period. And because they've been saved by God's grace, it's a byproduct of that.

They will use God's Spirit and grow and change, do everything they can through their efforts and through the power of the Holy Spirit, become better human beings, develop the mind of Christ. But having said that, they understand that their salvation is by grace, not by anything that they can do. Verse 7, what then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but the elect, again speaking of the Church, the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded, just as it is written, God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear to this very day.

What Paul's saying here is that God has opened the minds of some, a remnant, those whom he has given his grace, and the rest of the people in this world are blinded. They're not able to see the spiritual truths of God. There will indeed come a day when the blinders will be removed, but for now, it's not their time. They simply cannot see or comprehend spiritual things. And we must understand that this is how and why most people observe Christmas. They are simply blinded to the truth that we're talking about today. We have to realize that people don't wake up on Christmas and say, Okay, children, now we're going to honor God the way the heathen Germanic tribes did by holding hands around the Christmas tree and singing, Oh, Tannenbaum.

That's not why people observe Christmas. That's not it at all. Most people observe Christmas because about to them is loving their family and giving gifts and sharing traditions. So having said that and realizing that they're blind, it does no good to get in someone's face. It serves no purpose to ridicule someone's beliefs, to harshly challenge their observance of Christmas. They are spiritually blinded, not knowing what God really wants in worship and not knowing how to honor Him. I've used this analogy before, but I'll give it to you again.

So my late father-in-law, he was physically blind and he would come over my house and sometimes he would walk into something. Someone would leave the hammock out there and he'd stumble over the hammock or a chair or a toy when the children were young. Now, you know, it would have been rude and insensitive to correct a ridicule, a blind man, for running into a hammock or a toy or a chair because he's not capable of seeing. And he was physically blind.

This is a good reason for us, this is a good lesson for us, on how to deal with co-workers and family and friends who observe Christmas. Certainly, we need to be willing and prepared to discuss our beliefs if anyone, from any walk of life, says, why don't you believe in it? Why don't you celebrate Christmas? We need to be able to tell them God's truth in a professional and in a way that explains very clearly that we choose not to participate in borrowing pagan customs in an attempt to worship God.

And that's fine. We should be prepared. We should have that knowledge. We should be able to have that kind of a discussion. But we have to be very careful not to come across to people who are very sincere in what they're doing. They're just sincerely blind and being too harsh or too dogmatic or too judgmental with them because it doesn't do any good, as a matter of fact, if God does try to call them. It may even have made it a little bit harder for them.

We're entering a time of the year when many people sincerely attempt to honor Jesus Christ by celebrating His birth. A lot of evangelicals use a phrase that I always get a kick out of. They'll say something is fulfilled in Christ. And what they usually mean by that is the phrase is used to describe scriptures or biblical teachings or acts of worship that they feel are no longer commanded or important. And a lot of times they'll use that phrase referring to their attitude about the Sabbath or Holy Days.

They'll say, well, I don't keep the Seventh Day Sabbath because it was fulfilled in Christ. I don't keep those Holy Days because they were fulfilled in Christ. But you know something? If there was one thing in Scripture that was fulfilled in Christ, it was the birth of Jesus Christ. There is no record of Christ Jesus or His disciples later celebrating His birth. It happened only once. The birth of Jesus is only mentioned again in Revelation 12 as a prophecy regarding the protection of the end-time church.

Biblical scholars and historians candidly admit that the birth of Christ was not celebrated for centuries after His death, and today is immersed in borrowed pagan celebrations and myths. So if there's any event that was fulfilled in Christ, it was the event of His birth. Jesus was born only once, and all the prophecies which spoke of His birth were fulfilled on that day. Many people say they want to bring Christ back into Christmas.

Well, you can't bring Jesus Christ back into something He was never part of in the first place. On the other hand, with what we've been discussing today, it always tickles me when I think of contrasting this celebration of Christmas to God's Holy Days as outlined in Leviticus 23. God's Holy Days are all centered on Jesus Christ. They all point to what Jesus Christ has done, what He is doing, or what He'll do in the future.

Let's talk about the Passover. It looks to a time when all people who have lived will accept the shed blood of Jesus Christ for their sin. His elect have already done that. As Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 5 and 7, he said, Now, if you had a choice to observe something, why would you ignore something that's in Leviticus 23, that the great Apostle Paul himself tells the Gentiles over 20 years after the death and resurrection of Christ is important? Why would you not do that, yet attempt to worship God with borrowed pagan religious practices?

Does that even make any sense? The days of unleavened bread, they look forward to a time when all people will desire to obey God and reject sin as a way of life. God's elect have already doing that. They're already in the process of doing that. As Jesus stated in John 6, verse 35, So understanding the days of unleavened bread in Leviticus 23 and what Jesus says about himself as the bread of life, why would you not observe that as a religious practice, but instead go to borrowed pagan practices and call it Christmas? Does that even make any sense?

Pentecost looks forward to a time when God's Spirit will be offered to all peoples and nations. God's Spirit has been given to his elect already, who have repented of their sins. Jesus said in John 14, verse 23, So why wouldn't one celebrate the receiving of the Holy Spirit in the day of Pentecost? The Feast of Trumpets, pictures the return of Jesus Christ. To save the world from complete destruction, to usher in the coming kingdom of God. Paul taught in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, that's his return, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

So knowing what Leviticus 23 says and what Paul is teaching here, why would one ignore the Feast of Trumpets and instead try to honor God with borrowed pagan religious practices? Does that make any sense? The Day of Atonement. It looks forward to a time when the author and the original cause of human sin, Satan, will be defeated and banished. As Paul wrote in Romans 16, verse 20, The God of Peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will be with you. Amen. So knowing what Leviticus 23 instructs and what Paul tells us about the defeat of Satan and his removal from influencing humankind, why would one ignore the beautiful meaning behind the Day of Atonement and replace it with attempting to honor God through borrowed pagan religious practices? The Feast of Tabernacles, when the Kingdom of God is established on earth, we all look forward to that. Peter was inspired to write in 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 10 and 11, he says, Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things, you will never stumble, for so in interest will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Why would you not celebrate the rich and wonderful meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles symbolized in Leviticus 23, spoken about by numerous prophets, part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of the coming Kingdom of God? Why would you not celebrate that day? And replace it with borrowed pagan religious practices in an attempt to honor God? We can either choose to honor God in spirit and in truth, or we can be like the world and choose to honor God the way we want to.

And then there's the last great day, or the eighth day, the time of the great white throne judgment, the time when everyone who has been blinded, we just read about that a few minutes ago, will indeed have their opportunity to understand and to know God, as it says in Revelation 20, verse 5, but the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. So why would someone not celebrate the exciting news of God's offer of salvation for the billions and billions and billions of people who lived and died and didn't know Him, and replace that with borrowed pagan religious practices in an attempt to worship God called Christmas? Does it make any sense to you? This is the paradox. Millions of people blindly reject these holy days that I've just spoken about, and they say they were fulfilled in Christ while embracing artificial Christmas celebrations in an attempt to honor the Son of God. What a twisted, turned upside-down world we live in today. So yes, we're going to continue to hear the music, and we're going to continue to see the lights. You may even have people come up to you and ask you what you bought your wife for Christmas. I usually say, same thing I got her last year. Nothing. So we can all look forward to a time that is pictured by God's holy days when the King of Kings returns to earth, and all of the confusion and all of the false worship and all of the paganism will finally be swept away, and all peoples and all nations can be taught how to worship God the way that He desires in spirit and in truth. Have a wonderful Sabbath day.