This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day two of our look through the book of Luke. This is
chapter two, since we're going a chapter a day instead of a chapter a week, this
survey of the life of Christ. Yesterday we got to look at the announcements of
John the Baptist's birth and Jesus's birth.

John is born and now we're going to pick up on what happened in chapter one with
the birth of Jesus Christ. We saw in John's life that his father had an initial
response to the fact that he was going to be born and then when he was born, God
did give Zachariah his speech back and he was able to sing that song of praise.
In the life of Jesus, his parents see him born and then there's the initial
response to his birth of some shepherds and then in the temple a few days later,
Simeon and Anna and we see all through it the response of the parents to this
birth of Jesus Christ.

What's challenging in my heart and in your heart? What's my response to his
birth? What's my response to the fact that Jesus Christ has come into this
world?

Listen to what happened. These may be very familiar verses to you, but these are
miraculous verses. This is the moment that God invades our world in human flesh.

Luke chapter two verse one, "In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that
a census would be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census
that took place while Kyrenius was governor of Syria and everyone went to his
own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in
Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the
house and line of David.

He went there to register with Mary who was pledged to be married to him and was
expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born
and she gave birth to her first born, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and
placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

These miraculous verses have the most impossible moment in history. A virgin
gives birth, God in human flesh. These verses to me, they've always deeply
struck me.

The humility of Jesus Christ, he allowed himself to take on the frailty of human
flesh, not just to come into this world, but to be born into this world as a
baby. He allowed himself to become dependent on a mother's love to wrap him in a
blanket so he'd be warm. He allowed himself to be placed in an animal's feeding
trough as his bed.

This is the humility of God. This is the love of God for you and for me. He came
into this world to show us that his love for us surpasses anything else in our
lives.

Jesus is born and then comes the birth announcement. When we do a birth
announcement, we send out a card or more likely now we send out an email to all
of our friends. The baby's been born.

God, when he had an announcement of birth, he sent some angels into the world.
That's the way he does it. Here's what happened beginning in verse 8.

"There were some shepherds living in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their
flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the
Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do
not be afraid.

I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the
town of David has been born for you a Savior. He is Christ the Lord.

This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in
a manger. ' Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the
angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace
to men on whom his favor rests.

' Jesus is the Lord. He is the King of kings. He may have been born in a stable
in Bethlehem, but he is the King of kings coming to this world.

In that day, the day that Jesus was born, when a king was born in a country, the
birth of that king would be accompanied with great celebration in the palace.
This celebration, the celebration of the birth of Jesus, it takes place out in
the fields, with common laborers being the first to hear, the first to respond.
" Now there's an interesting point of history here.

These are the fields outside of Bethlehem where these shepherds are taking care
of the sheep. It was the fields outside of Bethlehem where the temple flocks
were kept. These were the flocks of sheep that would be sacrificed in the temple
as an offering for the sins of the people.

Here are the shepherds taking care of the sheep that would be sacrificed, and
now they're hearing about the Savior who's going to sacrifice himself for our
sins. Now in one sense, Jesus is going to put them out of a job, or change their
job, that's for certain, because no longer would those sheep need to be
sacrificed for our sins. Every sheep that was ever sacrificed in the temple was
looking forward to this day.

The only sacrifice that really has meaning is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for
us. So from the very beginning, the birth of Jesus, we're looking forward to the
sacrifice, the death of Jesus, in the response of the shepherds. The shepherds
go and they see Jesus and they celebrate and they go and they tell everyone what
they've seen.

That's the response of the shepherds. And then in verse 22, we begin to hear the
response of some others. The parents of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, go and they take
Jesus to the temple to dedicate him.

And Simeon and Anna, some faithful servants of God, they're serving in the
temple. And we get to hear how they respond to Jesus coming to this world. In
verse 22, when the time of their purification, according to the law of Moses,
had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him, Jesus, to Jerusalem to present him
to the Lord.

Verse 36, skipping down further, there was a prophetess there, Anna, the
daughter of Phanuel, the tribe of Asher. She was very old. She had lived with
her husband seven years after her marriage and then was a widow until she was
84.

She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
Coming to them at this very moment, she gave thanks to God and she spoke about
the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Anna,
this prophetess, sees the child, sees Jesus and knows there is something
different about Jesus.

Before Anna says this, up in verse 25, there is Simeon. Listen to this story.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon.

He was a righteous man, a devout man. He was waiting for the consolation of
Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy
Spirit that he would not die before he'd seen the Lord's Christ, the Lord's
Messiah.

Loved by the Spirit, he went to the temple courts. When the parents brought in
the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the law required, Simeon took
him in his arms and he praised God saying, "Sovereign Lord, as you have
promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your
salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all the people, a light of
revelation to the Gentiles and glory for all your people Israel.

" Here is Simeon seeing from the very beginning, this baby, he sees in Jesus
that he is the Messiah. He says those famous words, "Now released," in Latin
that is nuke demetis, "Now I have seen your salvation God. Now I am released to
go and be with you in eternity because I have seen what you have promised.

" Those are amazing words. Those are words that Jesus can release in every one
of our lives. There's promise that he has for your life.

That sense of promise of what God has made you for, what he's created for you,
what you're looking forward to in life, now it is released in Jesus Christ. In
this story of the birth of Jesus, we get to see from the very beginning the
response of those around him and they see that there's something different. And
now Luke takes us ahead.

We see the birth of Jesus. We get to see Jesus just a few days old in the temple
and how people are responding. And now he skips ahead to age 12 and something
that happens when Jesus is 12 years old.

When he was 12 years old, they went up to the feast according to their custom,
Jesus and his parents. After the feast was over, while his parents were
returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware
of it. Thinking that he was in their company, they traveled on for a day and
then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.

Now just pause for a minute. Can you imagine the feelings of Mary and Joseph
here? Any parent can imagine the feelings.

They have gone to Jerusalem for this feast. They have traveled away. They think
Jesus is with them.

He is not with them. They're a day away and all of a sudden they realize this 12
year old son is not with them. And there's a sense that they've lost their
child.

Even more, they've lost the son of God. God has entrusted Jesus to them and they
have lost him. Any parent can understand the panic that they felt.

Now some of us wonder how this could have happened. It's important to understand
how this could have happened because it's going to play into what happens in
just a moment. As they traveled up for this feast, it was not just the family.

Many people would travel together and in traveling in that day, usually the
women traveled in one group and the men traveled in another group and they would
talk along the way and they might see each other at night. Mary and Joseph had
been traveling in these different groups and when they saw each other at night
and compared notes, Mary thought that Jesus was with her and Joseph thought that
Jesus was with him and they realized he's with neither of them. Here's the
interesting thing.

Probably on the way up to Jerusalem, Jesus, age 12, he's a boy and it's very
likely he would have been traveling with the women because the children traveled
with the women. One of the reasons they may have become confused, that I believe
they became confused, is because on the way back, Jesus, age 12, he's gone up
and he's celebrated at the temple. Now he's a man.

Mary is thinking now he's traveling with his father because now he's a man. And
Joseph is thinking, well he's still traveling with his mother, I'll have to
teach him to be a man. And they compare notes and they realize that Jesus isn't
there.

He's not traveling with his father, he's not traveling with his mother, he's
still in Jerusalem. So they rushed back to Jerusalem, obviously, and listen to
what happens in verse 45. When they did not find him, they went back to
Jerusalem to look for him and after three days, after three days, they found him
in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking
them questions.

Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his
parents saw him, they were astonished and his mother said to him, "Son, why have
you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for
you.

" Verse 49, "Why are you searching for me? " he asked, "Didn't you know I had to
be in my father's house? " Here are his parents expecting him to travel with his
father, Joseph.

Here is Jesus understanding that his true father is God and he's in his father's
house now as a man. There's something in this that helps you and I to know that
from the age of 12, Jesus realized that he was uniquely related to God as his
father. When did Jesus know that he was God?

I don't know exactly. The Bible doesn't tell us. But here at age 12, we have a
deep sense that he has a deep understanding of his unique relationship with God.

God is his father. In a day when no one would call God his father, Jesus
understood who he really is. As I walk through these chapters as a parent, it's
hard for me not to notice the reaction of his parents, of Mary and Joseph.

The shepherds come and in verse 19, the Bible says, "Mary treasured all these
things in her heart and she pondered them in her heart. " Simeon prophesies and
in verse 33, the Bible says, "The child's father and mother marveled at what was
said about him. Then Jesus prophesies in the temple and down in verse 51, his
mother treasured all these things in her heart and Jesus grew in wisdom and
stature and favor with God and men.

" Let's pray together. Lord, the question for me is, how am I going to respond
to you today? We get to see how shepherds responded and Simeon responded and how
his parents responded.

The question is, how am I going to respond? What am I going to say to you? Will
I ignore you?

Will I follow you? Will I trust you? Will I trust myself?

Lord, how am I going to respond to you today? That is the ultimate question of
life. Help me to respond with faith.

Help me to respond with knowledge that you love me. Help me to respond with a
deep sense of trust in who you are. I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

This ends for us the first major section of Luke's story, announcements and
births and responses. The next major section starts tomorrow, the preparation
for the ministry of Jesus.