The Power of Christmas Truth (Selected Scriptures)

• Will you open your Bible as we  look together to this great,   great story of the birth of Christ? And  our text, Matthew chapter 1. And I would   like to begin reading at verse 21 and read  down through verse 4 of chapter 2. This,   to provide a setting for the message that  God has put on my heart for this morning.
• Matthew 1:21: “She will bear a Son; and you shall  call his name Jesus, for it is he who will save   his people from their sins. Now all this took  place that what was spoken by the lord through the   prophet might be fulfilled: saying, ‘Behold, the  virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son,   and they shall call his name Emmanuel.’  Which, translated, means ‘God with us.
• ’   And Joseph arose from his sleep and did as the  angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as   his wife, and kept her a virgin until she gave  birth to a son; and he called his name Jesus.” “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of  Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold,   magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,  ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?   For we saw His star in the east and have come  to worship Him.
• ’ When Herod the king heard it,   he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him and  gathering together all the chief priests and   scribes of the people, he began to inquire  of them where the Christ was to be born.” I want to speak to you this morning on the theme  the power of Christmas truth. I would pray that   somehow even in our society there would be nothing  that would distract us from the awesomeness of   Christmas, although such a prayer, I admit,  I find almost wishful thinking.
• Christmas has   become so complex, so chaotic, so confusing with  all the stuff that the reality of the simplicity   of the birth of Christ has been blended  into the fantasy and lost its significance. Christmas should be simple, not complex, very  simple. Christmas should be stripped of all of   its trappings so that all that is left is the  simplicity of God becoming man.
• That is the   only element in the Christmas seasonal celebration  that has in it any lasting power to effect life.   There is no real strength, no  real peace or comfort or hope   or love or promise or confidence for  the future to be found in Santa Claus. There’s no lasting value in any earthly gift  or any earthly sentiment expressed.