Good evening, Mary Christus, a trust over these next several minutes that you will put your hearts at rest as we reflect upon this scripture which we have just been told. Unto us the child is born, Unto us the son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
I'd like to share several focused thoughts regarding this fifth candle, the Christ's candle, the candle of peace because God wants your hearts and minds to be at peace tonight.
First of all, to remind you that when the child was born, the child was born not to bring down the law, but rather to bring down grace. He was born not to bring down law upon us, but to bring down his grace. Ladies, there's a lot of excitement in low Michigan. Have you caught him online? Some of the videos have gone viral. Yeah, earlier in December, for two days, police officers in low Michigan were pulling over automobile drivers left and right. Apparently, they were creating infractions of the law. You know, you come to the stop sign and you slow down but don't quite stop and you just go through. All you're driving and you don't realize that your tinted windows are a little too tinted or you're going five miles over the limit. So an officer pulled over and asked for your driver's license registration about 50 of them. Driver's got pulled over and they're pulled over near a department store. While the police officers are asking for their license and registration, some others are listening in to the department store on the conversation as the officer of KitChat and says, by the way, what do you want for Christmas? Well, your kids want it. It's all being taken down inside the department store. So the drivers are expecting to be taken it because they were breakers of the law. But instead, they get a 46-inch television. Or they get a electronic device. Or whatever it was they were wanting for themselves or their families. The officers of the law give them a gracious gift. And so it is with us, the season. That's why you can put your hearts at rest as you're trusting in the Christ child. He's come down, thought to bring down the law upon you. And you are, like me, a law breaker. But he's come down to fulfill the law for us and graciously give you a gift of forgiveness. By giving you by faith his life record, and now treating you as a law keeper, and giving you the gift of forgiveness.
For unto us is born a child. unto us is giving a son, a prince of peace. The law was given through Moses, but grace was given through Jesus Christ. Secondly, you can put your hearts and minds at peace this season because a child was born to make peace out of the pieces. He's born to make peace from the pieces that are broken to put those back together in our laws. You know we're tired of sending our sons and daughters to war. And it's never quite enough when you return home. We're tired of having a hip replacement, a knee replacement, tired of broken relationship, some have gone on for years. But tonight the child is born, the son is given, and he shall be called prince of peace. That's why I like to watch the district channel. And there's one program on there I particularly enjoy. And in that particular channel, we see a restoration by an expert called Rick Dale. Have you seen it? American restoration. He takes an old beat-up antique. He might take an old Coca-Cola machine, the paint saw chip, the handles broken off. It looks pretty bad. But by the time he gets through working on that Coca-Cola machine, man this is good as new. And he does it for gumball machines. Two Christmas ago he did a one horse open sleigh. I like it when they put an old 57 Chevy in there. And it takes a lot of time and energy when you got something all rusted up, broken, some parts missing. Reminds you a lot of life. And yet with a lot of time and energy and a huge investment, a great expense. Sometimes they put $50,000 in a card. But out it goes. Restored, bright and red. Good as new work. My opinion million bucks. We're all tired of the brokenness aren't we? Aren't you tired of it? Tired of the pain that comes with it. But he's come to be born to put the pieces at peace. That's what the word peace means. Prince of peace, peace doesn't just mean to have a feeling in your heart that all is well. And I hope there is a feeling that all is well if you're trusting with it in the Christ child. But peace means literally to be complete, to be put back together to restore to its original whole condition. So tonight, know that there's no more, he tells us no more flesh sins and sorrow grew. Nor thorns and festive grow. He comes to make his blessings flow far as a curse is found. And so we can put our hearts to peace tonight because we are under grace. He's come to give us grace, not law. He's come to take the pieces of your life and the brokenness and put it back together to peace. And finally, you can put your minds at rest tonight as sleep well because the best is yet to come. The best is yet to come. Because there's come any time when you won't need a preacher up here to tell you what you have by faith in the Christ child. You know, one of the things that I like about the way that Christ operated when he was on earth, I like his first miracle and I go back and visit it often. Because in the first miracle that's recorded in the Bible when you recall it, what was happening? It was a wedding, a wedding celebration. A couple had been newly married and people were having a blast apparently until the wine ran out and the party all suddenly came to a screeching halt or did it. And so Jesus sends for six barrels, probably 20 to 30 gallons in the barrel, has them filled with water and he does what only he can do, a miracle, like God coming to earth in a human, a little baby. And then as a grown man, he miraculously turns that water into wine. And here's what impresses me. The same thing that impressed the head waiter because the head waiter didn't see how the miracle had been worked. And when he tasted the wine, do you know what he said? You have saved the best till last. You saved the best till last. And one of the translations puts it this way in John 2. When the head waiter tasted the water, he had become wine. He said everyone brings out the good wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink, but you saved the best till last. Folks, let me tell you, Christ has given you some pretty good stuff to drink here on earth. You know, some have given privies to be given a wife or a husband or a child, or been given your help back. Maybe you've been given a good job. We have these blessings from God, but you know what? You are still sitting in the cheap seats. You are still drinking the cheap stuff. What we have in Christ, the pieces that have been put back together and the grace that's been put down upon you instead of the law, is so far superior to anything that you have yet tasted to me. As the scripture tells us that the Bible closes out, it speaks about the new beginning. You know what it says, and I saw a new heavens and a new earth for the first heavens and the first earth that passed away and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people. He would well with them. They will be his people, and he God himself will be with them and be their God, and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. You were seated on the throne and said, I am making everything new. He has saved the best for last. And then he added, and then he said, write this down for these words or trustworthy and true.
Well, this season they'll be giving gifts and receiving them. And some of you, you know, you're happy to have your hip replacement. You're happy to have a relationship restored, maybe praying for one. Happy to have a new promotion. You know, you're happy to have your son or daughter back from a war, maybe a whole country back from a war. Let me tell you something, the best is still yet to come. For the prince has come to bring us peace, to bring all the pieces back together, to pour out on us a grace that will give us life and fullness in a new world to come, for you who believe. Merry Christmas. Our Father, we bow before you to pray the night that you would need help us to rejoice in our hearts and minds, to put our minds at rest with all the brokenness around us. And by faith, let us believe that you have indeed through your perfect life and substitute death come to put the pieces back together. And we look forward to the best that we still have not yet seen, but now hold it in our hearts by faith. Thank you, Lord, for this Christmas.