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Christmas 2022: Luke 2:1-14 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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And please take your copy of God's Word and join me in Luke chapter 2.
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! Our text for today will be Luke chapter 2, verses 1-14.
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To wish somebody a Merry Christmas, which we've said already many times this season and certainly this morning,
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is to wish them a day full of cheer or good feelings.
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The sincerest version of this desire for a Merry Christmas is for someone to be happy,
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but not simply based in their circumstances, the particular joys of this day,
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but to be happy regardless of their circumstances.
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That their happiness would be based in an enduring reality.
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That reality, the thing that bases our merriest of Christmases, is that God has loved us in Jesus Christ.
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My hope for our brief time together this morning as we take a look at this first bit of Luke chapter 2,
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is that we will marvel at the arrival of God incarnate.
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That our affections for Jesus Christ will be warmed this morning,
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and that those affections will flavor the rest of this day.
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Before I read these 14 verses, let me remind you, beloved, that this is God's Word to us.
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That it was written for His glory and our good.
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And so we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
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Luke chapter 2 and verse 1.
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In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
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This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
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And all went to be registered, each to his own town.
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And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem,
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because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
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And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
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And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger,
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because there was no place for them in the inn.
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And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
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And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
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And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
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For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
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And this will be a sign for you.
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You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, and lying in a manger.
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And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
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Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
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Let's pray together.
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Father, we thank you for your word this morning.
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And we pray that you'll bless us as we've made effort to come together this day,
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and hear what it would say for us,
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that you will bring forth fruit from the preaching of your word.
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And we pray this in Christ's name.
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Amen.
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So in the hope of marveling at Jesus' coming and warming our affections this morning,
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I just want to make two observations from this text.
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Much more could be said, but just two observations.
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First, the humility of Jesus Christ's coming.
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And secondly, the glory of Jesus Christ's coming.
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So firstly, the humility of Jesus Christ's coming.
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Jesus certainly had a humble beginning.
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You can read of this in the first seven verses.
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We see in these verses the circumstance of Joseph's and Mary's travels.
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They were being sent to be counted.
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And the nature of this particular account that was to happen was a poll tax.
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Caesar wanted to know exactly how many people were under his reign
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that he might charge them for the privilege of being Roman citizens.
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They were to give one denarius per year per person.
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So this very circumstance was a humble circumstance, right?
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It was a Roman headcount.
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It was a way of saying, you belong to someone else.
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And it's for this reason that they had to pack up the family
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and take this journey to Bethlehem.
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Bethlehem, a seemingly insignificant town, a humble town.
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The prophet Micah records in Micah 5 and verse 2.
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But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
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from you shall come forth for me one who is able to be ruler in Israel,
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whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
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This little, humble, insignificant town is located just south of Jerusalem,
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85 to 90 miles from Nazareth.
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So even the very journey was an arduous one.
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It wasn't just a hop, skip, and a jump over to the next town.
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It was a travel that had to happen for them to arrive in this town.
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Jesus had humble, societal standing, right?
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He didn't come in a significant way to a significant family.
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Joseph and Mary, seemingly insignificant parents.
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Joseph was a carpenter in the tiny town of Nazareth.
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We find this out in the biblical narrative when Jesus is rejected in his hometown in Matthew chapter 13.
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And in that text, those there go, isn't this Jesus Joseph's son?
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He doesn't seem to be prominent for the furniture that he made in that town.
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Joseph was not a wealthy carpenter.
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Later in Luke chapter 2, Jesus is presented at the temple,
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and a sacrifice is made for Mary's purification.
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If you look at verse 24, we can read,
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And to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord,
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a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.
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And this is from Leviticus chapter 12 and verse 8,
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in which God allows for this lesser sacrifice if a lamb could not be afforded.
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So Joseph wasn't even able to afford the customary sacrifice that would have been made for Mary's purification,
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but had to buy the lesser sacrifice of a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.
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Jesus had a humble ministry.
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He had humble admirers.
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The very first admirers we see here are the shepherds of verse 8.
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And the shepherds were night shift employees, right?
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They were the lowliest of employees.
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They went out and they slept amongst the sheep,
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out in the danger in order to protect this commodity that some wealthy man owned.
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Jesus had humble followers,
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largely made up of fishermen,
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at least seven of them,
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a tax collector we know,
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Matthew,
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hated by those Jewish people.
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And his ministry had a humble goal.
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We read in Mark chapter 10 and verse 45.
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Jesus says there,
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the son of man came not to be served,
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but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
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And we know that Jesus' ministry had a humble end.
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Christmas should aim our hearts and minds at Good Friday,
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where this humble servant met the ultimate humiliation in suffering God's wrath for our sin,
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the perfect dying for the imperfect.
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You see,
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God's economy works in seemingly peculiar ways.
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God seems to accomplish everything in his kingdom in an upside down fashion when considering it from the world's standards.
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But we do well to note that God's ways are always right side up.
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Augustine once said,
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man's maker was made man that he ruler of the stars might nurse at his mother's breast,
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that the bread might hunger,
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the fountain thirst,
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the light sleep,
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the way be tired on its journey,
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that truth might be accused of false witnesses,
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the teacher be beaten with whips,
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the foundation be suspended on wood,
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the strength might grow weak,
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that the healer might be wounded,
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that life might die.
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The humility of Jesus Christ coming ought to produce in us great humility.
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In Philippians chapter 2,
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verse 5 and following,
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Paul exhorts us to humility in this way.
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Have this mind among yourselves,
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which is yours in Christ Jesus,
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who though he was in the form of God,
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did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
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but emptied himself.
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And here,
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Paul tells us how it is that he emptied himself.
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He didn't empty himself by putting off his deity,
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but rather,
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he says,
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by taking the form of a servant,
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being born in the likeness of men.
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He emptied himself by adding to his being.
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And being found in human form,
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he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
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even death on a cross.
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Therefore,
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God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
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so that the name of Jesus,
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every knee should bow in heaven on earth and under the earth,
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and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
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to the glory of God the Father.
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Humility that leads to glory.
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Praise be to God that the story doesn't end with Good Friday,
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and that our hearts and minds should then be drawn to Easter.
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Humility that leads,
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that yields to glory,
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a glory that has come and is yet to be fully realized,
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which brings us to our next and final observation this morning.
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So secondly,
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the glory of Jesus Christ's coming.
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So we see in the beginning of this text,
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such humility,
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right?
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In the way that Jesus comes,
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in who he comes to,
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but we also see a great measure of glory.
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This word glory means praise or honor.
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So when I say the glory of Jesus Christ's coming,
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I mean the praiseworthiness of his coming.
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On the evening of the birth of our Lord,
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an announcement is made by an angel,
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and then by angels.
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We see this in verses 9 through 14.
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An ever-expanding cacophony of praise for our God.
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And they model for us how we ought to also praise our God,
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to glory in his coming.
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Angels most simply and rightly understood
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are messengers of God.
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There's a lot of other erroneous things out there,
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some true things out there about angels,
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but we ought to see at their core,
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they come to speak on behalf of our God.
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John Piper once wrote,
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angels were created for Christ's everlasting glory
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and for our everlasting joy.
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So we see verse 9,
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an angel of the Lord appeared to them,
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these humble shepherds out in this field,
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and the glory of the Lord shone around them.
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Note that accompanying this proclamation of glory,
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there's also a tangible glory.
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There's a visible glory.
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In Revelation chapter 21 and verse 23,
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John writes of his vision of the new Jerusalem.
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And he says this,
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and the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it,
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for the glory of God gives it light,
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and its light is the lamb.
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Christ is the radiance of the new earth,
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John tells us.
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And this is what the shepherds in that field
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on that night experienced.
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What a moment to behold.
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And just as the shepherds physically saw
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the glory of God,
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so have we.
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And I've got to meditate on this.
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They visibly saw the glory of God.
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It shone.
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It was radiant before them.
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And so have we.
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Because Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6,
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for God who said,
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let light shine out of darkness,
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has shown in our hearts
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to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
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in the face of Jesus Christ.
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So because we can take up and read,
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and by the illuminative power of the Spirit,
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we can know Christ,
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we also get to behold his glory.
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Now, this should fill our hearts with praise,
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but also with awe.
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And you notice the shepherds,
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they were filled with great fear.
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Rightly so.
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To have such a being present himself to them
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and such a radiant glory exposed,
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they were afraid.
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But in the wonderful kindness of God,
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the angel says to them,
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fear not.
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For behold,
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I bring you good news of great joy
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that will be for all the people.
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Gospel news is what he's declaring to them.
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It's a victory declaration.
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He says, don't be afraid.
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I come to you declaring victory.
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Right?
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This God who said,
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let light shine out of darkness,
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is now shining in to the world.
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And he is declaring that sin and death will have its defeat.
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This is for our God's people.
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Great joy.
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And it is for,
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note he says,
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all the people.
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And I love that right here,
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the angel makes a declaration of God's global purpose.
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Right?
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That his glory would spread across the earth
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and the saving work of Christ.
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Right?
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This Christmas text is also a mission text.
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He goes on,
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for unto you is born this day in the city of David,
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a savior who is Christ the Lord.
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So we see here in the text that this is the aim of Christmas.
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Jesus came to die and to be resurrected.
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I said this last night,
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but we do well as we think about the baby,
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the humble baby,
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wrapped in swaddling cloths,
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lied in a manger,
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to not let our thoughts stop there.
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Right?
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They must go on.
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They must go higher than that.
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Christmas points us to Easter.
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And we don't celebrate Christmas well
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without a mind toward Easter.
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In fact,
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each day of the Christian life
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ought to be a celebration of both.
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And as we gather corporately,
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each Lord's day,
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we do the same.
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Our lives are meant to be a celebration
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of the incarnation of God,
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his life,
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death,
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resurrection.
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Right?
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His now reign and his soon coming.
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Right?
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So,
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unto you is born this day in the city of David.
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Right?
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Let me insert.
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A baby who is Christ the Lord,
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the Christ,
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the Messiah,
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the promised one who will come,
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conquer,
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take his people,
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and reign forever.
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Jesus sums this sentiment perfectly
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in Luke chapter 19,
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verse 10,
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where he says,
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for the Son of Man came to seek
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and to save the lost.
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Right?
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The Son of Man came,
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Christmas,
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to seek and save the lost.
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Easter and beyond.
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After this astounding announcement,
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the angel then gets really practical
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and says,
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this will be a sign for you.
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You'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths
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and lying in a manger.
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He gives them specific directions
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on how to go and praise,
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like how to give glory to this baby.
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Then a great heavenly host
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joins in this solitary angel's purpose.
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So we see it broaden.
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Suddenly there was with the angel
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a multitude of the heavenly host
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praising God and saying,
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glory to God in the highest
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and on earth peace among those
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with whom he is pleased.
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We see that the angels glorify God
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because of the peace that Christ brings
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and Christ seeks to glorify God
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in the salvation of his people.
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At his trial before Pilate,
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recorded in John chapter 18 and verse 37,
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we read,
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Pilate saying to him,
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so you are a king?
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And Jesus answers,
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you say that I am a king.
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For this purpose I was born
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and for this purpose I have come into the world
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to bear witness to the truth.
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Everyone who is of the truth
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listens to my voice.
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John in chapter 8 and verse 47
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records Jesus' words,
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whoever is of God
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hears the words of God.
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The reason why you do not hear them
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is that you are not of God.
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And so, beloved,
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if we are God's people,
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as we open God's word this morning
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and read from it
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about the purpose of Christmas,
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that we would learn
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the humility of Jesus Christ's coming
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and the glory of Jesus Christ's coming,
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we will hear this
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and our hearts will be moved
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in affection toward him.
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And if we don't,
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if our hearts are hardened
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against him,
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then I would plead with you
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that today would be the day
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of your repentance,
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that you would throw yourself
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on the mercy of this Christ
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that we celebrate today.
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I hope that this morning's
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brief look at this text
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has aided you
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in marveling
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at the arrival
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of God incarnate
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and that your affections
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for Jesus Christ
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have been warmed this morning
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and that those affections
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will flavor
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the rest
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of your day.
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Let's pray together
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to that end.