GLAD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY

D. J. Hutson

Luke 2: 8–20; 15: 3–7; 24: 50–53

“Glad tidings of great joy”, not a theory, not a religion, but a Person. A Person of whom Paul says, “God ... was pleased to reveal his Son in me, that I may announce him as glad tidings”

(Galatians 1: 16), the Son of God. I just want to speak of this scripture, so well known to us (I think I could say to all here), for even the young ones know about the story of Jesus, and the way He came in in Bethlehem’s manger. But, you see, some of these things can become so familiar to us that the import of them, the reality of them, perhaps does not quite register with us. The angel says, “Fear not, for behold, I announce to you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people”. It may have meant literally the Lord’s people here on earth at that time but it does not say so. Would it not include all the people in Bo’ness, all the people who are here tonight, that there are glad tidings of great joy for you? Whatever may be causing you sadness, and I know there are things that cause sadness to those that are here, but whatever it be, there are tidings of great joy because they are all centred in this glorious Person. One who is also known to us as our great High Priest, the One who has been touched with all these things which affect us and cause us sorrow, but who is the subject of the glad tidings of great joy.

Is any heart here heavy with the burden of their sins, their history, whatever it may be? Any boy or girl here who has not yet had to do with the Saviour for themselves? I can tell you that there are glad tidings of great joy for you today, “for today”—that was a long time ago—but it does say, “a Saviour has been born to you”. There was a Saviour, dear friend, who was born to you over two thousand years ago, an amazing thing. Although despised, rejected and refused, the very calendar itself bears witness to the fact that two thousand and seven years ago (actually a bit more) a Saviour was born to you. Men would like to forget about Him, but there it is, and as the years come round another calendar is printed, and there again there is the reminder that a Saviour was born to you all those years ago. And the glorious news in the glad tidings is that that Saviour is still available to you, whoever you are because God desires that, “all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth”, 1 Timothy 2: 4. Well, where is He? He is in the glory. All those years ago, you say, He was born and He is still alive? Yes, He is alive! He is alive for evermore, He is alive in the glory and He is as much a Saviour today as He was when He was born. In fact, I would say carefully and reverently, He is more of a Saviour now than He was then, because He has accomplished the great work of redemption, that lost sinners might be brought back to God—that you might be brought back to God. Is that not good news, is that not glad tidings of great joy?

What does he say, “a Saviour ... who is Christ the Lord”, that is, He is God’s anointed Man. I think you will find that when it is presented like this without the article it means Jehovah, that is God Himself. I love that word in Isaiah, it says, “he became their Saviour” (Isaiah 63: 8).

God Himself has become our Saviour. Where did He become our Saviour? Well, this is where He became our Saviour and what does it say, ‘You will find a Saviour’? No, it says, “ye shall find a babe”. It is wonderful that God should have come so near; that God should have come down as a babe in Bethlehem’s manger,

‘Once from glory’s height descending

To this earth the Saviour came’. (Hymn 414)

I was travelling once with Mr Richmond in an aeroplane and there were three of us in the row of seats and next to me was a lady who had a baby in her arms. I commented on the baby, and Mr Richmond reached across me and he said to this woman, ‘Do you know, your Saviour was like that when He came into the world?’ Is it not wonderful? We all know what a baby looks like, I speak carefully and reverently, for “the holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God”, Luke 1: 35. The wonder of it is—God was there. Do you believe it? Very important that you should believe as to who this Person is of whom we are speaking. Do you know what He said? He said that “unless ye shall believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins”, John 8: 24. The One who said to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM” and “I AM hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3: 14). God Himself, “for unless ye shall believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins”. How important to recognise the glory of this Person as God Himself.

‘God come down, a heav’nly Stranger,

Love to sinners to display’. (Hymn 112)

What a movement, was it not? Glad tidings of great joy, the God against whom we had sinned; God who had a right to come in judgment is still waiting in order that, can I say you—unsaved soul—might be saved? So what do they do? “And it came to pass, as the angels departed from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, Let us make our way then now as far as Bethlehem, and let us see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us. And they came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the babe”— the babe. The angels had said, ‘ye shall find a babe’ but I am beginning to find how important every word of scripture is, ‘ the babe’. Never a babe like it, never a babe that could be spoken of as “the holy thing also which shall be born” (Luke 1: 35); “the babe lying in the manger”. Could you be afraid of a baby? Is there anyone here who is afraid, because at one time you will have to give an account to God? Every one of us will have to give an account to God (Romans 14: 12). Does that make you afraid? You could not be afraid of a babe, could you? and that was how God came near to you in order to be your Saviour. Is it not wonderful? “And all who heard it wondered at the things said to them … And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all things which they had heard and seen”. Well, that was how He came, that was how God drew near to you and to me, as it says, “a Saviour has been born to you”, on this day. As it says in the prophet Isaiah, “unto us a child is born” (Isaiah 9: 6), how wonderful, born to us.

How does He become your Saviour? This is how He became a Saviour, but how does He become your Saviour? You could not make any movement on your side, but this is the way He came in order that He might reach you where you are, and how far did He go? In love for you, dear friend, he came where you were, and where were you? For the love of the Christ constrains us, having judged this: that one died for all, then all have died”, 2 Corinthians 5: 14. As far as God was concerned, you might say, without a spark of life towards Him, but “one died for all, He reached you where you were. He came under the judgment that was due to you and that was due to me. This Person did. I would have hesitated to say it had Mr Raven not said it, that God Himself came into the place of man’s judgment (NS Vol. 5, p.53).

The judgment that was due to me as a sinner, which has made me feel my lost condition was borne by Jesus. It simply says here in this parable which Jesus spoke, He will “go after that which is lost, until he find it”. If you want to find something you have to go where it is and that is what Jesus did. I was under the judgment of God so He had to come where I was, under the judgment of God. The only way I could be saved, I found, was that He has borne my sins in His body in the tree. A brother once said to me that he came to a point in his life when he felt there was no way back, but he read that scripture where it says, “who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2: 24), and he said ‘if it was in His body, it was real. Who can say what that means? Think of my sins that would for me involve, apart from the saving work of Jesus, a Christ-less eternity. Not only my sins, but I would love to be able to say the sins of every one in this room. It is available to you, for your sins, if you put your trust in Him. The sins of many in this room, if not all, were borne by Jesus, and the judgment of God on those sins, a holy, sin-hating God, borne by Jesus. Immense! I hesitate almost to speak of it, it is so immense.

And not only that but the very thing itself, which I feel I can never do other than simply say what the scripture says, “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5: 21). He was made the very thing. Man had done his worst; sin had been demonstrated in its extreme by crucifying the Son of God. That was but the occasion of the exposure of man and all that he is in his heart, but also the occasion of the manifestation of the infinite love of God, when all that was due to man on account of what he had done was laid upon His only-begotten Son. Judgment was exhausted so that the sinner might go free, and that life which was absolutely delightful to God, such as He had never had before, was given up for ever. Let us ponder that. He laid down His life. In those thirty odd years of the life of Jesus God had perfection in the condition in which you and I are but apart from sin; the condition of blood and flesh. He had perfection and that life was given up. The only life of a man that was not forfeited on account of sin was given up. He laid it down of Himself, no man took it from Him and such a life, a life in the condition of blood and flesh in perfection under the eye of God, will never been seen again. It says in the psalm, “For the redemption of their soul is costly, and must be given up for ever”, Psalm 49: 8. Although Jesus is alive, alive for evermore in the glory, He is not in that condition now, and His precious blood was shed as a witness that that condition was ended before God.

The blood belonged to God, He said the blood is Mine, but “I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul”, Leviticus 17: 11. What a gift! We have been speaking this weekend about the things that God has given, but think of Him giving the blood of Jesus for a guilty sinner like me.

Have you appropriated it? If you do you will cause joy in heaven. We have been speaking about joy, glad tidings of great joy, but to think that a guilty sinner like me can cause joy in heaven by accepting the Lord Jesus, not now on the cross, not now in the grave, but in the glory. He is the One who effected so great salvation, and accepting Him to myself as my own personal Saviour, I can cause joy in heaven. As it says later, “there is joy before the angels of God”, Luke 15: 10. What joy they had when they said, “glad tidings of great joy”, and you can give them more joy tonight by accepting the Lord Jesus as your own personal Saviour, the One who died on the cross in order to save sinners like me. Young sinners, old sinners, men and women, boys and girls, not one is excluded, “one died for all”, 2 Corinthians 5: 14. He has been where we were under judgment. He has been into death where we were, in order that He might find us and bring us back, as it says, “having found it, he lays it upon his own shoulders, rejoicing”.

It is wonderful to think of the strength of Jesus who is going to carry you all the way home, if you put your trust in Him, if He finds you tonight as a result of a simple word in the gospel. It also says in the prophet, “the government shall be upon his shoulder” (Isaiah 9: 6), one shoulder; the government of the world on one shoulder; but the returning sinner is borne on two shoulders as it says, “he lays it upon his own shoulders, rejoicing”. He will rejoice tonight if you accept Him as your own personal Saviour, and you will cause joy in heaven.

You children—Do not think heaven is a long way away and He is not interested in this time that we have together. Would you not like to give joy in heaven—“joy in heaven for one repenting sinner”? It might be you, will it be you? is there going to be one here who will give joy in heaven tonight? A Saviour who died and rose again, what an evidence, what a witness that God is completely satisfied in the work that He has accomplished, who has been “delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification”, Romans 4: 25. God can view us not only as forgiven but as completely clear, not only atonement but remission. The whole thing sent away; it says in one place, “thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7: 19), all my sins. When one dear sister was questioned about them at one time she said, ‘and God has put up a notice ‘NO FISHING’’. You cannot bring them up, you see. It is not that God has forgotten them; you may have forgotten most of them, or many of them, but He knows them all, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done”. John 4: 29. Would you like somebody to know all things you had done? I am glad that Jesus knows all that I have done, I can be thankful for that, because if it depended upon me confessing my sins as I knew them, I would always be afraid that I had not gone far enough; but He has gone far enough because He knew them all, and He took them all upon Himself, on the cross. Is that not wonderful? So He has been raised again for our justification, completely clear.

Does God say, ‘their sins and their iniquities I will forget’? No, He says, “I will never remember any more”, Hebrews 8: 12. How clear we can be through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is, as we say, a divine prerogative, only God can do that. You cannot say about something that you will never remember it any more, it might be something in your life that you would like to forget and for a time it goes, but then at the least opportune moment it comes back again, but God says, “I will never remember any more”, completely clear, and that is how He would regard you if you put your trust in Jesus. He went into the distance and He removed the distance, but not only did He remove the distance but He removed the man that was in the distance so that God can view you entirely new, “if any one be in Christ, there is a new creation”, 2 Corinthians 5: 17. There is something which is going through into eternity which has never been stained by sin; it is wonderful, is it not? These are realities and that is how God looks upon you if you put your trust in Jesus, and He brings you into the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is righteousness, that is everything is established on that basis, righteousness according to God and peace, as we said earlier, “having been justified on the principle of faith, we have peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5: 1), and “joy in the Holy Spirit”, Romans 14: 17. He gives you the Holy Spirit so that you might enter now into the joy which will be yours eternally as brought into these blessed, holy and eternal relationships with God Himself. How great these things are.

So it says, at the end of Luke’s gospel, “And they, having done him homage, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God”.

These things make a difference to us, and it is not just for Lord’s day morning or for the Lord’s day, but continually. God takes account of us with this joy in our hearts, and something springing up in order that there might be a response to Himself. Wonderful thing that God, in view of securing His own joy and satisfaction, should take up a sinner like me at such cost to Himself and fill my heart with joy. Well, that is the Saviour I have to speak of, these are the glad tidings that I have to present. I trust that everyone here may come, if never before, to give joy to heaven. You say, ‘I was converted ten, twenty, thirty, forty years ago’, but what about now? Are you a repenting sinner? Is it a current matter with you? Of course there is in me, as a believer, the work of God in all its purity and impregnable character, as it says, “whoever has been begotten of God does not practise sin” (1 John 3: 9); nevertheless I am still here and I may fail, but when I fail I can get back to the Saviour and I can acknowledge that I have failed, and find that already forgiveness is there, “if our heart condemn us. God is greater than our heart”, 1 John 3: 20. My Saviour is there in His presence, He is there as my advocate, so that, “if any one sin, we have a patron with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins; but not for ours alone, but also for the whole world”, 1 John 2: 1, 2. God has been propitiated, satisfied in relation to the question of the sins of the whole world, and soon He is going to take it all away, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”, John 1: 29. My Saviour is there, my Patron, the One who is “the propitiation for our sins”, and as I come to Him again afresh and acknowledge that I have failed, I give joy in heaven.

Well, dear brother and sister, let us continue to give joy in heaven as repenting sinners. If there is anyone here who has never yet done it, as acknowledging the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, may they do so without delay, because this time of the announcement of glad tidings of great joy is fast running to a close. This may be the last time you hear it; you have heard that said before, it may be the last time you hear it. Not only are believers expecting to be taken to be with our Saviour for ever, but things happen in this world, things happen suddenly. Who knows that this may not be the last time that you or we all may hear these glad tidings of great joy? May you give Him joy in heaven, and may we continue to give joy in heaven as repenting sinners, tonight and from now on; in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Preaching at Bo’ness
1 April 2007