So turn with me in your Bibles, if you would, to Luke chapter 2. David read the first good many verses of this chapter this morning, but I want to reread verses 1 through 7. If you notice in the bulletin, my message entitled, The Greatest Gift Ever Wrapped. And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Notice in that seventh verse that Mary wrapped her son in swaddling clothes. She wrapped him. What is the greatest gift that you've ever given? Maybe you've really sewn to the wind and put a big bow on a brand new car and gave it to your wife or your husband. I don't know, I guess we could have a debate tonight about who in this church is given the greatest gift. But we're not gonna do that tonight. I wanna speak this evening about the greatest gift that's ever been wrapped. Gift and gifts are mentioned 109 times in the Bible. The word wrapped itself is found 14 times in the Bible. eight times in the Old Testament, and six times in the New Testament. And it's interesting that all of the six New Testament usages deal with the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe he is the greatest gift that was ever wrapped. I wanna mention five different ways in which Jesus is wrapped according to the scriptures. In our text tonight, we learn that at birth, Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes. The Oriental practice for infants under a year was that a square cloth was placed under the child diagonally. Two corners were turned across its body at its feet, and the other two were crossed under its head. The cloth was then fastened with bands bound around the exterior. The easiest way for us to picture that is really the baby pretty much looked like a mummy when it was wrapped. They were trying to protect the child and keep it from hurting itself and so forth, and it did really look a lot like a mummy. But the birth of Jesus Christ speaks of His miracles. When we look in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we find somewhere between 35 and 40 recorded miracles of the Lord. But of course we realize that many of the miracles that Jesus did while he was here on earth are not recorded for us. And even John speaks of that in the very last verse of his gospel, the gospel of John. There are many other things, he said, that he didn't believe even the world could contain the books that should be written about what Jesus did during his earthly ministry. The virgin birth is a blessing. And the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament, is very careful about how it speaks about the birth of Christ. And the fact that he was born without the benefit of a human father. God was his father. Mary was his mother. But we need to be careful. he was virgin born. There had never been a birth like his or conception like his before, never during his lifetime, and never again since. The scripture speaks about him being a miracle working savior. Some Bible scholars have divided the miracles that Jesus did into five categories using the letter D. Miracles that he performed that were over disturbances, there's the D, disturbances of nature. For example, when he was out on the boat, the storm came up. The disciples worried that they were gonna drown. And even Jesus had said they were gonna go to the other side. They woke him up, he spoke, and he immediately, the sea became calm. Now if you go to the ocean, you go to the seas, and a storm comes up, you watch when the storm's over, There's still waves for a good long time after that. They don't stop immediately. But the picture in the scripture is that the waves immediately laid down and immediately the total storm was over. He had power over disturbances of nature. The second D is he had power over devils or demons. There are many occasions in the scripture where he cast out demons. We don't even need to go to a particular one. There are many of them in the New Testament. The third one is he had power over disease. The scripture indicates on several occasions that he healed all kinds of disease. Now, the healing he did was without medicine. It was instantaneously. We get sick and then we start to mend And there are still several days, right, sometimes depending on what the illness is, that we're still not back up to speed. We're still not back up to our normal routine and our strength. Not so with Jesus. When he healed somebody, they were instantly healed and they had their strength that they normally would have had immediately. He had power over disease. And then the fourth D is difficulties, over-difficulties. The very first miracle was over a difficulty. Jesus and the disciples went to the wedding in Cana of Galilee. And they had more guests than they had planned on. They ran out of wine. And what did Jesus do? He turned water into wine. Now don't let your drinking friends try to convince you that, you know, that approves drinking. The scripture has more mentions of the evils of wine and alcoholic drinks than it does the other direction. And of course you remember that in the early time during the time Christ was here on earth, wine was always diluted with many parts of water. It'd take a long time to get drunk drinking what was available back at that time. And then the last D is over death. I've always wondered what it had been like to have been standing on the edge of the sidewalk, if they had them at that time, when the procession came down the street with a casket with a widow of Nain's son in it. Now remember, they didn't have Social Security. They didn't have Medicare, Medicaid, Medi-whatever. Didn't have health insurance back at that time. And for a woman whose husband had died, then to lose her only son. She lost all means of support. All means of support. And here was the widow and her friends and the mourners following after this casket. It's called a beer, B-I-E-R, in the scripture. And Jesus came upon that realizing in his mind what had happened. And here was a woman now that was out without any earthly income at all and protection from her oldest son. He was there in the casket. But what did Jesus do? He walked up to the casket, He touched the casket, and this is why I wanted to be on the sidewalk. It says he sat up. And I'm wondering how far those fellas carrying that casket, how far they ran. They dropped it to the ground in my mind's eye, and they took off running. I mean, that's what I'd do if I was carrying, I've carried a casket before, been a pallbearer. And I'll tell you one thing, if that thing opened up and somebody sat up in it, I'd drop my corner on my edge of it. But Jesus had power even over death. And the second way in Jesus was wrapped is he was wrapped in human flesh. The incarnation speaks of his humiliation. In 1 Timothy 3.16 it says, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. And then Philippians chapter two, verses five to eight. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Jesus left all the glories and all the honors of heaven for you and for me. I love the verse found in 2 Corinthians 8-9. It says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Talking about spiritual riches, not necessarily material riches. But in life, Jesus was wrapped in human flesh. And then the third way that Jesus was wrapped was at his death. In all four Gospels, we learn of his wrapping. He was wrapped in linen. If you looked at Matthew 27, 59, Mark 15, 46, Luke 23, 53, in each of those passages, each of those verses, Jesus is spoken about by his body being taken down from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and wrapped in linen. John, if you turn with me in your Bible to John chapter 19, John mentions that Joseph wasn't alone. He had a helper. In verse 38 of John 19, it says, after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him leave or gave him permission. He came therefore and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus. Now we're reading about him in John chapter three. Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight. Then took they, Joseph and Nicodemus, took the body of Jesus and wound or wrapped it in linen claws with the spices as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus, therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day, for the sepulcher was nigh at hand, or nearby. Jesus was wrapped in death in linen. This speaks of his salvation, the gift of salvation to us. The Asheville Citizen newspaper had a sports writer and columnist named Bob Terrell. He worked for them for over 50 years. And he wrote over 30 books He died nine years ago in 2009. But his columns were always very interesting. And I wanna read a column that he wrote back on December 11th, 1980. Steve McQueen. the tough movie actor who lived most of his life as recklessly as the characters he played, on the screen died a dedicated Christian, Billy Graham said. This is one of the most heartwarming stories of my ministry, Graham said earlier this week at his home in Montreat. I think it illustrates how lonely most well-known people are, how guarded they must live, and how they really are searching for something. Steve McQueen found what he was looking for. McQueen was a collector of airplanes. He owned 11 flying machines. I might add, in looking up and researching this, not only did he own 11 airplanes, but he owned over 100 motorcycles and over 50 vintage automobiles. But about three months before cancer was discovered in his body, he bought a World War II vintage airplane and hired a pilot named Sammy Mason to teach him to fly it. A warm friendship developed between McQueen and Mason during the days of Steve's flying lessons. And one day McQueen remarked to Mason, I see something in you. You have a marvelous disposition. What is it? I am a Christian, Mason said. There at a small airport in California, Graham said, Steve Mason led Steve McQueen, Sammy Mason led Steve McQueen to Christ. McQueen and his wife Barbara, by the way, this was his third wife, typical of Hollywood, right? But she was a Christian, and they attended a small Baptist church in Ventura, California, with Mason and his wife. Mason told me that Steve studied the Bible religiously, Graham said, and that Steve and Barbara both grew greatly in Christ. McQueen tried to telephone Billy Graham soon after his conversion, and when Billy got the word, he tried to call McQueen back, but they failed to make contact. Then illness struck. McQueen was ravaged with cancer. Physicians called it terminal. McQueen went to Mexico for treatment not available in the United States. Between visits to the Mexican clinic, he lived on a ranch near Ventura. Not a working ranch, but a hideaway where he could escape the hustle and bustle of Hollywood life. Late in September, McQueen tried to call Billy again and missed. Billy was on his way to Japan for a month of crusades. He returned the call from San Francisco and McQueen was away again. I didn't know he was sick, Billy said, until I read about it in the English papers in Japan. When Graham returned to the States on November 2nd, A message awaited him at the Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles. Call Steve McQueen. Billy called immediately and Grady Ragsdale, manager of McQueen's Ranch, answered. Steve really wants to talk to you, Ragsdale said, and he's in a bad way. They arranged for Ragsdale to pick Graham up at the hotel the next morning and to take him to the ranch. McQueen was in bed when Billy arrived. I wouldn't have recognized him, Billy said. He looked like a little old man of 90, all wrinkled and shrunk, but his eyes sparkled above the oxygen mask he was using. Praise the Lord, McQueen said when Billy walked in. I've been wanting to meet you for a long time. He told Billy that he had watched his crusades for years on television. I used to drink to forget my guilt after you preached. He said, I wanted what you preached, but wasn't willing to pay the price. After a few moments of conversation, the two nurses came in and asked Graham to wait in the next room while they tended McQueen. When Billy was asked to come back in, McQueen said, I can't find my Bible anywhere. Let me give you mine, Billy said, withdrawing from his pocket a small, brown, leather-backed New Testament, one that Graham had carried all over the world. He had marked many passages in it and made notes in the margins. Read it to me, McQueen said. Billy turned to Romans chapter eight. What a great chapter. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. He read the entire chapter and then prayed with McQueen. McQueen showed Billy his stomach. It was terribly swollen, he said. It looked like a pregnant woman. The medication I've been taking has destroyed all the tumors with this one, McQueen said. It must be taken out surgically and there's a 60% chance I won't survive the operation. He seemed to be resigned to that fact. He was leaving for El Paso that day, he said, for the operation in Juarez, Mexico. He asked Billy to go to the airport with him. We drove to Oxnard Airport near the beach, and Steve asked me to come into his Learjet with him. The jet was equipped with a bed for McQueen. Pray with me one more time, McQueen said, and Billy prayed. Lord, it's your will. If you want to take him on to heaven, thy will be done. He's ready to go. McQueen smiled. That's what I've been praying to. I am ready. That was the last Billy saw of Steve McQueen. He died four days later when his heart failed during the operation. Interesting thing that Bob Terrell ends with, he says, he died on November 7th, 1980, Billy Graham's 62nd birthday, with Billy's Bible resting on his chest. Jesus wrapped in linen speaks of his gift of salvation to us. It also speaks of his love. Hebrews 13, 12 says, wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Jesus suffered an early death, 33 years of age, a voluntary death, and a victorious death. Now we talk about the greatest gift that ever wrapped. It takes three things to complete a gift. It takes, first of all, a giver, right? Secondly, it requires a gift. And thirdly, it requires a receiver, somebody to receive the gift. The fourth way in which Jesus is wrapped was he was wrapped with a garment down to the foot. Take your Bible and turn with me to Revelation chapter number one. We learn in this passage that John was on the Isle of Patmos on the Lord's Day. And while he was there, He was in the spirit and he heard a voice behind him, according to verse 10. Heard a great voice behind him as of a trumpet. And then in verse 13, it says this. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed or wrapped with a garment down to the foot. and gird about the paps, or the breast area, with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes as a flame of fire. And his feet likened to fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. When I saw him, John said, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and death. He was wrapped in a garment down to the foot. This speaks of encouragement. Sometimes things take us by surprise. I didn't know my son David was gonna come tonight to the service, but he did. I knew Tammy was at our home for a few days, but didn't know David was gonna come. I was surprised. But you know, it speaks of encouragement and indicates that Jesus is in control. He knows everything that's taken place in your life and in mine. Nothing takes Jesus by surprise. If we belong to Him, He's directing our lives. He's protecting us. He's guiding us. He's only allowing things that'll be a help to us in the long run, right? Romans 8, 28, all things work together for good. Now, if you took a cake mix and you were fixing it the old-fashioned way and fixing all the stuff, you would not enjoy eating the thing separately. But if you mix them all together in the right proportions and then you put it in the oven and you bake it, You fix it, then it'll taste good, right? But the ingredients many times by themselves don't taste good. And sometimes things that happen in our lives don't taste good either. We don't like them when they happen, but they're still under the Lord Jesus' control. Nothing takes him by surprise. The last way that I want to mention tonight that Jesus is wrapped is found in Revelation chapter 19. Revelation chapter 19 and verse 11. John is speaking, he's just fallen to his down in front of an angel, and the angels ordered him to stand back up. He says, I'm a servant just like you. And then he says in verse 11, and I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture, here he is wrapped again, clothed with a vesture, dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations and should rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he had on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In just these few verses, we see three different names that are applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's called, in verse number 11, the faithful and true. In verse 13, he's called the word of God. And then in the last verse, verse 16 that we read, he's called and probably in your Bible in the largest print that's ever used in your, whatever edition you have of your Bible, right? The largest print to emphasize it as much as possible. He's called the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This speaks of hope. This is yet future. But Christ and his heavenly army will be victorious at the Battle of Armageddon. I want to read a poem that was written a good number of years ago by Russell Stellwagen, who was a missionary to Japan. It's called God's Christmas Gift. The festive spirit fills the air and people's hearts are gay. There are trees and lights and lots of toys. It will soon be Christmas Day. So much is said of Santa Claus and of the gifts he gives. So little said of God's dear son, whose own birthday it is. While merriment is on every hand, they drink and dance and curse. They must forget what Christmas is, why Jesus came to earth. If he should speak at Christmastime, I'm sure that he would say, I'd rather you my birth not keep, than do it in this way. Even as it was one long bygone night, far off Bethlehem, when Jesus in a manger lay, no room within the inn. Today he's shut outside men's hearts, hearts filled with sin and wrong. They care not that with nail-pierced hand, he's not there oh so long. They give their presents to their friends, receive gifts from everyone, neglecting God's great Christmas gift. he gave his only Son, to die upon the awful cross and pay our debt of sin, to open wide the gates of heaven and let us enter in. The gift's still waiting at the tree, so few his word believe. Though offered freely to all men, they will not Christ receive. The tree is just a cross of wood, unsightly to behold. But oh, the gift that Lord Jesus gives is far better than gold. There are no lights to light his tree, no decorations fine. No pretty tinsel balls and bells that glitter, gleam, and shine. and yet there's stains of his own blood to ransom our whole race. There's light to guide the wanderer home that shines from his dear face. Why should his gift rejected be? How God must grieve today when he has paid so great a price? Should Christ be turned away? Oh, open now your heart's door wide. Receive God's gift of love. His joy and peace and grace he'll give eternal life above. I want to close with us thinking about a verse found in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 15. And it says this, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Unspeakable means precious or beyond the telling or indescribable or inexpressible. It's a free gift. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. One Bible scholar, wrote this after studying the scriptures for over 50 years and writing a Bible, reference Bible, and notes. This gift is no doubt God's gift of his son. And R.C. Sproul said this, our giving is only a small imitation of God's own excellent generosity to us. especially in the inexpressible gift of His Son. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. I believe, I hope you agree with me, the greatest gift that was ever wrapped is our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you hear this message and you've never trusted Him as your personal Savior, I invite you to accept Him today. Repent of your sins and put your faith in the greatest gift that was ever wrapped.