If you turn in God's Word to the Gospel of Luke, you'll notice there we have Matthew. Just for you to question, why would we have chosen just those seven verses in Matthew? We didn't. It's Luke chapter 2. Beginning with the very passage that's there, the first seven verses. If you'll remember, Luke is the medical doctor. the one who researched things carefully. He investigated with eyewitnesses. And here he gives to us by the Holy Spirit these amazing moments that we have here of the birth of Jesus. In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place. while Quirinius 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 firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the end." Let's pray together. Father, it is our great desire to see the beauty of Jesus Christ this morning. We ask, Lord, for that working of Your Holy Spirit upon us, that the very words of my mouth would be acceptable in Your sight, and, Lord, You'd give us all ears to hear of the beauty of Jesus Christ. For we pray in His name, Amen. Because I've preached probably over the last 40 years, quite a few times from this passage, I'm going to focus really upon just one phrase this morning. And that is the phrase that's there in verse four that you have really literally out of the house and family. the patria, the family of David, out of the house of David. And we've entitled our message kind of a strange title, really. Maybe if you'll stay with it all the way, you'll see why we have this title, The Tree from the House of David. And I would have three things that I would just ask you to note as we would go through these things. From the house of David, we have A divine decree is behind all of this that's here before us. There's a divine decree. And then, as we go forward with this passage, we would see something of a divine seed that is born from the house of David. And then finally, the tree, the divine tree that God has given in a very special way that goes to the very ends of the earth and stretches with its branches all the way to all the nations. So as we come to this passage, notice these three words, maybe to keep them. The first one being the decree and the second one being the seed and then the tree. First, we look at the divine decree. or almost as a dogma that's there, the divine decree. Now, we have in the passage, in those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree. And if you look back into the history, this Caesar Augustus was a great fellow. He ruled the Roman Empire for 43 years. And he was the one who brought Peace. And so it became that which was known as the Pax Romana, the Roman peace. All the civil wars that had gone on, he brought peace. Before he was Caesar Augustus, before he was the emperor, he had been a pretty nasty fellow. But somehow or another, as he became emperor, he became a pretty nice guy. He tried to bring peace to the whole of his empire. And he is the one who issues this decree. Now, as we look at the passage with closeness, I would ask you to realize something that's very beautiful here, and that is there is something that is a timing that takes place. There is here in our passage something very historical. You have already in the background from Matthew, certainly you have Herod, The Great. We have in this passage a governor. We have a place. We have Nazareth to Bethlehem. There's something very historical in this whole narrative. There's a dating of these things. It reminds us of something. That in the fullness of time, God, God sent forth His Son. born of a woman, born under the law. It's a great historic moment. It's not just a little news item. It's not just a tweet of the morning. It's a great moment in all of history. This moment. Caesar Augustus carries out God's plan. The timing, the city, the place, the message is for all times, for all peoples. This is a great moment. And yet it's to fulfill the very decree of God, a timing for where he was to be born. From Micah, we have that element of how he was to be born in the city of David, Bethlehem. How it was to be this very place because he was to be of that household. And so he was to be born where David was born, in Bethlehem. There is behind all of this the divine decree. Our faith is a historic faith. It's rooted in history itself. But the roots of this decree go all the way back into eternity. God's eternity. His plan. It was not something that merely happened or that here was something they tried to do and they had to change at different times. This was God's plan all the way through from eternity past to this very moment. He was born. And just a small thing. There's biology. Elements all involved in this with such intricacy and purpose. A son is born. That's an amazing thing. God's plan was for this to be a son who would be the savior. It's the 23rd of December. I can remember 49 years ago, just about this time of the morning, our firstborn. In fact, it was what now is known as Banner University. God designs things for his glory. He has designed this to be the great moment of all history. And our faith certainly is that which is historic in a beautiful way. Now, he's called the firstborn. Mary has other children later, they show up and they are spoken of as those who are called James, Joseph, Judas, Simon, and he had sisters. All of this according to God's design. Jesus was a real person born in a real family. He was truly human. He was of the house of David, a family. Behind all of this, behind Caesar Augustus' great decree is God's decree, His sovereign purpose and His sovereignty in all these things. God's decree is present in our lives. God's decree and purpose is present in all the circumstances of our lives and as a nation today. But I would ask you to look at the second thing that I would notice from the house of David, and that is that there is this divine seed born of the house of David. It literally speaks of His family, being of this family. Now, if you'd turn with me back to 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel chapter 7. This classic passage concerning the Messiah. 2 Samuel chapter 7. We'll just read a couple of verses there. Beginning with verse 11, we read, The Lord declares, 2 Samuel 7, 11, the Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you when your days are over and you rest. This is God's promise to David. When you rest and rest with your fathers, I will raise up your seed or offspring. And it's the same word to secede you who will come from your own body. And I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." There was this promise that from that family of David, from his very household, from his very body, there would come one who would be his seed, and his kingdom would be one that would be forever. Now, As we look at Scripture, certainly Galatians 316 speaks of how the promise to Abraham was not many seeds, but it was one seed. And Paul says, and that seed, Galatians 316, was Christ. He is the seed. Or as we go back and read that passage from Genesis 12, it is one seed who is going to bless all the nations of the earth. He is the seed from the house of David, from David. There is this amazing story that goes all the way back to the very beginning of Scripture. Turn with me in your Bibles to that classic passage. We call it the first gospel. Genesis 3 15. And if you'll notice there in that passage, God speaks to the serpent. And in verse 15, He says, And I will put enmity between you, the serpent, and the woman, and between your seed, offspring, and hers. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel." Now, it's not just in a general way that there's many seeds, or somehow this one who is coming is some kind of general thing, but it says he and his. It's speaking from this very beginning time of one who would come who would be the champion, who would crush the head of the old dragon, of the serpent, of Satan himself. There was this promise that was given all the way back. It speaks there, the serpent himself, to be bruised, crushed, his head. It is a reality that's given to us from the very beginning of Scripture and how that's unfolded all through the book of Genesis and on into the very wonderful way in which the New Testament even applies it. as it speaks of how there would be one who would come and would crush Satan's head. There would be one who would be the one who would crush the dragon and destroy him. Even the one who would try to devour the sun, he would be crushed by this great champion, this one who was born of a woman. Now, it's interesting as they Study those genealogies of Joseph and of Mary. They are of the household of the house of David. The differences of their lines, but they are both from that same household of David. So God keeps his promise. God is the one who makes His promises certain and He fulfills His promises. God, the Holy Spirit, overshadows Mary, which is what is the woman that is her divine seed. How can it be that of her would be this champion? It tells us in the very passage of Luke or nothing will be impossible with God. And so this house of David is where that seed is from. The house of David one is born. Now the third word that I want us to look at is that there is the divine tree that bears fruit to the house of David. Now, if you've read your Old Testament psalm, you know that Jeremiah and Isaiah, they speak of a branch that will come. This branch that will come will be the Lord. Yahweh tisidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness. It's spoken of in Isaiah chapter 11, how this one will come who will be the branch. This great champion, One who will be the branch, the Lord our righteousness, Jeremiah. He speaks of that with clarity. Zechariah speaks, I will bring my servant the branch. And Zechariah speaks how he will come and in one day, he will remove all the sins of his people. One was coming who was the branch. Turn with me to Psalm 1. We enjoy looking at the Psalms and seeing how Christ speaks there and is spoken of there. Psalm 1, we have some who have that learned by heart and certainly a beautiful passage. Blessed is the man And then it goes on through and then it comes to how His delight is in the law of the Lord. And on His law, He meditates day and night. And then this interesting verse 3 of Psalm 1, He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever He does prospers. And I believe there is a metaphor there that describes really only one in all the different trees. There's only one Jesus Christ, who whatever He does prospers. His leaves never, never wither. He is that one who is fruitful always. He is the one who meditates day and night. Yes, on God's Word. He came to do the will of God perfectly. And we can speak of him as being there is none like him in all the trees. He is the tree of life, the Lord himself. In fact, the book of Revelation is it it speaks in different parts of the book of Revelation. It speaks of this tree of life and it in a beautiful way identifies with the Lord. He is our tree of life. And so I would ask you to follow me with this metaphor of a tree. There is actually a passage in Song of Solomon, chapter two and verse three. Turn there just to see this beautiful love story of Song of Solomon and one which is of love between the beloved and her lover and one with another. And this little metaphor that's there right in the very beginning, chapter 2, how the one speaks, I am a rose of Sharon. And then verse 3, the metaphor is, like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, is my lover among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade and his fruit is sweet to my taste. And certainly there are many trees, but in one sense, when we think of Christ as the tree of life, there is none like him of all the trees. And just taking this as a metaphor and looking to Christ as the tree of life. He is not, in a sense, as we might think of all the different trees, he's not a pine tree in that sense or an ash or in any other sense other than probably what is spoken of here is a fruitful tree. And whether the Hebrew has exactly that it's an apple tree, it's a tree that is found out in the forest, not in the garden, not in the orchard, but out in the forest. So in the house of David, there is one who is evergreen, There is one who is always fruitful. There is one who is the true tree with life-giving fruit. One who never, never withers. One who died on a tree. Our Lord Jesus Christ died on a tree, cursed for our sins. Jesus Christ, in that sense, is the apple tree. There's a fascinating sermon by Charles Spurgeon that he preached, I think, in 1873 from this passage of Song of Solomon, applying it as a metaphor to Jesus Christ in a beautiful way, speaking of how Jesus Christ is the apple tree that gives us all we need. He says in that sermon, when we came to him, we We're worn out. We were hungry to get rid of our sins. But we are now rid of them, every one of them. Spurgeon says, you remember when you first came to that precious tree where the Savior died? Not other trees. There were no fruit really there. Spurgeon says, let us always be preaching about the apple tree. Let us preach up Jesus Christ. Let us make tracks to the tree of life. So I would say to you this morning, come to the tree of life. Come to the apple tree that has real fruit that gives us what we really need. I was given about a couple weeks ago this old Christmas carol. Let me read to it. Some of you'll find it so quaint that you're probably not interested in it. But I think there's a beautiful metaphor here that is applied to Christ that is very amazing. Written in 1784, Jesus Christ the apple tree. It goes like this. The tree of life my soul has seen laden with fruit and always green. The trees of nature fruitless be compared with Christ the apple tree. His beauty does all things excel by faith. I know but never can tell the glory which I now can see in Jesus Christ, the apple tree." And then he has this stanza that you have to listen carefully with. For happiness I long have sought, and pleasure dearly have bought. I missed from all, but now I see tis found in Christ, the apple tree. I'm weary with my former toil. Here I will sit and rest a while under the shadow. I will be of Jesus Christ, the apple tree. This fruit does make my soul to thrive. It keeps my dying faith alive, which makes my soul in haste to be with Jesus Christ, the apple tree. Now, there's a beauty to this in the sense, I think, of even the passage to think of Christ. He is the one who is out in the forest. He's out in the reality of everyday life. He's not in an orchard with a big fence around it and you have to do all kinds of things to get into the orchard. No, Jesus Christ is the fruitful tree of life. He is the one who is, yes, right there. He's at your fingertips. He could not be closer. He never, never withers. He has life in Him. We have life in Christ. God sent Him. He is the seed. He is the apple tree. Now, some time back, we were in a, I guess what you'd call those Amish kind of old houses and we found this I thought it was just almost worth hanging up somewhere. It simply says anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the apples in a seed. And yes, there is a people who are going to come to Christ throughout all the world through this seed, Christ. There is a number which no one can count. They're coming from all the different peoples of the earth. And there's a voice that goes out that He is present. Come to Him. It's not that you have to do all these different things, but come to Him right now. Wherever you are, that voice goes forth. I ask you, can you hear my voice? Come to Him. There is a fruitful life in Him that's an enjoyment. And He will give you all you need. Can you hear my voice? It's for you. Those words we know, just as I am. Your love, unknown, has broken every barrier down. Now to rely on you alone, O Lamb of God, I come. None. are excluded, but those themselves exclude. None are excluded, but those themselves exclude. Welcome the learned and polite, the ignorant and rude. Come. There's shade. There's rest. There's place of enjoyment under that tree. It's life everlasting. Jesus Christ the apple tree. Now, I would ask you the question, have you come to be under that shade? Have you come to taste of that fruit? Have you come to the wonder of Jesus Christ? Are you enjoying Him? God is revealed to you not just in a manger, but in the great reality of the cross. He came and died for our sins. And there's life in Him who rose again from the dead. He is the tree of life. He shows us salvation. He is the apple tree. Like no other tree, He gives us life. And I would say to you, come and drink those living waters of Christ. Enjoy Him. As a Christian, enjoy Him every day. As one who has never really come to eat of that fruit, come right now. Enjoy Him. It's not coming to the front. It's not going to a side room. It's not going through something in the church. It's coming to Jesus Christ. Not with the movement of your feet or hands, but it's in the heart. Believing on Him and trusting in Him and coming to faith. in Jesus Christ. Just as I am, I come. As Christians, we come daily to Him and enjoy Him as the tree of life. And we find rest and refreshment under the apple tree. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for the tree of life, Jesus Christ. We thank You that that tree has roots all the way back into Your eternity. Your great decree to send Jesus Christ to be the Savior of sinners such as we are. We thank You, Lord, for Your amazing salvation. Touch all of our hearts afresh, even as we would sing and remember how Jesus Christ is all we need. I pray, O Lord, You would give us a sense of knowing, assurance, those who struggle with health problems, those who are struggling with their own sins, O Lord, give us a sense of how You alone have given to us salvation in Jesus Christ, and that we would every day put our confidence and trust in Him who is truly our tree of life. We ask now, Lord, You'd bless our singing, that we would look to Christ as we sing, and once again, that we would be under the shade and enjoyment of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen.