SERMON TEXT: MATTHEW 2:13-15                    AUTHOR: DR. JERRY VINES

                                OUTLINE

Introduction - Christmas In Egypt

  I. Our Lord's Preservation
     A. The Immediate Peril
     B. The Immediate Plan

 II. Our Lord's Identification

III. Our Lord's Salvation
     A. Redemption
     B. Restoration

                              SERMON TEXT

     We're spending the month of December with Matthew in the second
chapter of his book and we're talking about Christmas through the eyes
of Matthew, the first of the gospel writers.  Today we're going to look
at verse 13 through 15 and then next Sunday we're going to look at
verses 16 through 18 and then on Christmas day verses 19 through 23, so
you know exactly where we're heading.  All of this month is in Matthew
chapter 2 talking about Christmas and the birth of Jesus through the
eyes of Matthew.  All right, in the first twelve verses, you remember,
we studied the account of the wise men who came to visit the newborn
King and who brought Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.  Now
let's look at verses 13 through 15...

     13. And when the were departed (that is, the wise men), behold,
         the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying,
         Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into
         Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod
         will seek the young child to destroy him.

     14. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by
         night, and departed into Egypt:

     15. And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be
         fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
         Out of Egypt have I called my son.

     The visit of the wise men, the gifts which they offered, and the
worship which they rendered must have been a great encouragement to
Mary and also to Joseph, but their encouragement was short-loved.  Very
soon after the departure of the wise men the Bible says that the angel
of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and gave him an emergency
message from heaven.  It was a message of danger that Herod was
planning to kill the young child Jesus and so Joseph took Mary and the
little child Jesus and they went down into Egypt.

     Egypt---what in the world does Egypt have to do with Christmas?
We hardly ever think about Christmas in connection with the land of
Egypt.  Now if you read the Bible Egypt is not an unfamiliar place to
you.  Over 600 times in the Bible the land of Egypt is referred to.  It
is a picture in the Bible of this old world.  The first time Egypt is
mentioned is in Geneses 12, verse 10, where we're told that Abraham
departed and went down into Egypt.  And normally that's the way the
Bible describes Egypt.  It is normally always "going down into Egypt"
and in the Bible the land of Egypt is a symbol of this world with its
lures and its lust, with its sin and its shame, its slavery and its
sorrow, so it's hardly the place you would expect to find a Christmas
message.  What do we mean when we say that Christmas for many people is
going to be Christmas in Egypt?

     Well, you see, if all Christmas means to you is a time of parties
and presents then you're going to have Christmas in Egypt.  If
Christmas for you is going to be a time to exploit your lusts then you,
friend, are going to have Christmas in Egypt.  If Christmas for you is
going to be a time of fussing and fighting, and stealing and snatching,
and drinking and drugging you're going to have Christmas in Egypt.  I
want you to go with me somewhere in Jacksonville today and make a visit
to a man.  This man at one time had a very happy family: he had a wife
who loved him dearly and he loved her; little children were just
growing up like blossoms to the sun in the family.  Yet sin got in the
life of this man, temptation overcame the man and he chose to turn away
from his wife, to turn away from his children and go into the land of
liquor and lust and shame.  So somewhere today there may be this man
and he is sitting in a sleazy motel.  He gets his meals somewhere at a
filthy bar, his life is a misery, he had very little to look forward to
and for this man, at this Christmas time, it will be Christmas in
Egypt.

     Well I want to talk about that a little while today because the
good news of the coming of Jesus Christ is that Jesus went down into
Egypt and there is a Christmas message of encouragement in that truth
today.  So Christmas in Egypt, first of all, tells us about our Lord's
preservation.  I want you to look at verse 13 very carefully.  Here is
the account of the angel of the Lord coming to Joseph for the second
time.  There are four dreams that Joseph had during this period of time
and in all four of those dreams the angel of the Lord appeared unto
Joseph.  Now, of course, we know that Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1, tells
us that in times past God spoke to men through all kinds of methods.
Sometimes He spoke to men in dreams; at other times God spoke to men in
audible voices; but the Scripture says in that verse that God has in
these last days spoken unto us in His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.  So we
do not have to have dreams for God to speak to us today; we do not have
to have a visit of the angel of the Lord from heaven to speak to us
today.  God has spoken to us in His Son, the Living Word, and in the
Bible, the written Word.  But in those days, before the Bible was
written and before the full revelation of Christ was understood, God,
from time to time, would dispatch a messenger from heaven who would
come down.  So by means of a dream God said to Joseph, "Joseph, you're
to take the young child Jesus down into Egypt."

     Now we see here, of course, first of all, the immediate peril.
The angel reveals to Joseph the thoughts of Herod.  Herod had been
secretly planning the destruction of the Lord Jesus.  Look at the last
part of verse 13: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy Him.
Herod had made those plans in private.  Back in the 7th verse of the
chapter it says, Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men,
that is, he had secretly done it.  But, of course, you understand,
don't you, that God knows the secret thoughts of men.  God knows the
secret things in our hearts; the things that we do not reveal outwardly
God knows on the inside of us.  In Hebrews chapter 4, verse 13, the
Bible says all things are naked and open before the eyes of Him with
whom we have to do.  What Herod thought he was planning in secret was
well-known in heaven.  Now, of course, you know the Lord knows the
secret things of your hearts to, don't you?  I was thinking about what
Jesus said over in the gospel of Luke this week.  The Lord Jesus said
in the gospel of Luke these words: Therefore whatsoever you have spoken
in darkness shall be heard in the light and that which you have spoken
in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.  There is
no Sunshine Law in heaven.  God knows all about you and me in heaven.
So as great businesses, behind closed doors, make their plans and plot
their strategies God knows all about it.  As government officials get
behind closed doors and in their caucuses they make decisions that
effect the citizens of their land, God knows all about it.  All things
are open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.  So God knows
the design of Herod, God understands the plan that Herod has in mind.
So, you see, God sends an angel messenger to Joseph to warn him of what
Herod is planning.

     Well, of course, this is reminder to us that Jesus indeed is a man
of sorrows and that His sorrows began even as He was a young child.
Even as a baby He is not immune to sorrow and to heartache and to
attempts to destroy His life.  Well, you know, these are not the best
of times for a little child to come into the world, are they?  The 20th
Century in which we live, it is certainly not the best of time for a
little baby to be born.  We're living in the days of abortion, the
slaughter of literally millions and millions of unborn babies.  I'm
going to make you a prediction.  I'm going to predict that the day will
come that the American people will finally sense outrage at this
needless slaughter of innocent babies and I predict there will be a
reversing of the Roe vs. Wade decision and it will again be against the
law to murder innocent babies.  May God grant that day in this land.
But, oh, we're living in a land where little boys and girls are born
into a world of sexual abuse, where little children are actually
sexually abused and scarred and stained and marked for all of the rest
of the days of their lives.  Also, it is a world of trouble where
little children are brought up into a hostile society, a society that
has organized itself to take those little innocent babies and remove
all innocence from their lives and put shame and degradation and put
addiction and affliction in.

     Well, of course, you know that all of us are born into a world of
trouble.  Egypt is a reminder to us of the attempts of this world to
fill our lives with trouble.  I think about what Job said on a couple
of occasions.  Job said, Man that is born of a woman is of few days and
full of trouble; and again he said, Yet man is born unto trouble as the
sparks fly upward.  Well Jesus understands that kind of world.  I
remember the black spiritual: Nobody knows the trouble I've seen,
nobody knows but Jesus.  And, friends, when Jesus was born into this
world it is a reminder to us that He came into a world of immediate
peril.  At the very time of His birth His life was in danger.

     But, of course, we also see in these verses the immediate plan.
God had a plan to preserve the life of the baby Jesus.  Now when you
study what the angel told Joseph to do you will find that there is an
absence of miracle here.  The angel says to Joseph, You take the baby
and His mother and you flee down into Egypt.  Now the word "flee" there
is from where we get our word "fugitive."  As a baby Jesus becomes a
fugitive.  Not a fugitive from justice but a fugitive from injustice.
But you do not see any evidence of miracle here.  Now, of course, we
know that God could have performed a miracle if He had wanted to.  God
is a God of the supernatural, God is a God of miracle, and yet on this
occasion God chose to preserve the life of the Savior by ordinary,
normal means.  And, you see, sometimes that's God's plan for our lives.
Sometimes God's plan for us is to preserve us in ordinary, normal
means.  The life of the Lord Jesus was a life that was lived according
to a blueprint, according to the plan of God.  Jesus said one time at
the height of His career, He said, I do always those things that please
Him.  And He also said, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.
Have you ever thought about it, that the Lord Jesus could take His
Bible, His Old Testament, and read His life ahead of time?  Have you
ever thought about that?  It was all written down in the Book of God.
So, you see, here is Jesus, even as a child, His life is now moving
according to plan, according to the will of God for His life.

     All through the life of Jesus, in fact even before Jesus was born,
there were attempts of the devil to try to destroy the messianic line.
And when Jesus was here on the earth, even from the time of a baby,
there were attempts made on the life of the Lord Jesus.  But all
through them we see God preserving His Son the Lord Jesus.  Now, of
course, when Jesus went to Calvary the devil thought he had Him didn't
he?  The devil thought he had finally accomplished his desire, he had
now engineered the death of the Lord Jesus.  But, you know, when I
think about what the devil must have thought about Calvary, I think the
devil was a lot like the rat who began to gnaw the steel file.  He was
going to gnaw the file in two and when the rat saw and tasted blood the
rat thought that it was accomplishing its objective.  But, you see,
instead of destroying the file the rat was destroying itself.  And when
the devil thought he had destroyed the Lord Jesus when Jesus died at
the cross, instead of being destroyed himself He was ultimately
destroying the devil himself.  And that's the good news of the
Christmas story and the fact that Jesus was preserved down there in
Egypt.

     Now, down in Egypt was a place where refugee Jews had gone for
many, many years.  In fact there are some who have estimated that over
a million Jews were living in Alexandria, Egypt, alone.  In fact we do
know that the Greek Old Testament, we call it the Septuagint, was
translated by the Jews down there in Egypt.  But my point is, God had a
plan for the life of Jesus and that that plan of the Father for Jesus
was that He be preserved down there in Egypt.  Now what Christmas means
to us today is that God also has a plan for our lives.  God has a plan
for you and for me.  Now sometimes that plan may involve miracles but,
you know, most of the time the will of God for our lives is just the
ordinary, day-by-day doing of the will of God, obeying the Lord.  I
love that statement in the book of Psalms where it says the steps of a
good man are ordered by the Lord.  Do you get the picture I get in that
statement there?  The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.  In
other words, it's just that day-by-day, step-at-a-time, walking in the
will of God, doing the will of God.  So Christmas in Egypt means our
Lord's preservation and it means, even in the time of troubles, God has
committed himself to take care of your life also.

     But now let's take another thought, Christmas in Egypt.  Christmas
in Egypt tells us about our Lord's identification.  Now look down at
verse 14.  It says, When he arose, that is, Joseph, he, Joseph, took
the young child and His mother by night and they departed into Egypt.
There is almost just a repetition in verse 14 of what was commanded in
verse 13, and the point being that Joseph immediately obeyed.  Don't
you wish all of us were that way?  Don't you wish all of us were that
prompt to do what God has commanded us to do?  He obeyed and the Bible
says that he departed into Egypt.  He is now down in Egypt.  Well what
has that got to do with Christmas?  What has that got to do with the
coming of Jesus into this world?  Well, it is reminder to us that
Christmas in Egypt tells us of our Lord's identification.  Jesus came
down and He lived in this old world of sin.  Now, of course, we know
that Jesus never sinned.  Jesus is the only person who ever lived on
this earth and never sinned.  Now that's why He had to be God in human
flesh.  I want to tell you something, friend, it is absolutely
impossible to live without sin in this world.  You have found that out,
haven't you?  In fact, even after you come to Christ, after you're
saved, you still kind of mess up from time to time.  You do admit that,
don't you?  Let me talk to your wife a little while, let's see what she
has to say about it.  So when I say that Jesus came down to identify
with the world, and when I say that Jesus came down to identify with
our sorrows, with our sins, I am not saying that Jesus partook of sin,
but I am saying that He identified with us in our humanity.  See?

     That's why in Hebrews chapter 2, verse 16, the Bible says that He
took not on himself the nature of angels, He took on himself the nature
of Abraham, the nature of a man, He became a man.  That's what
Christmas is all about.  He identified himself with humanity, he
understands.  Jesus knew what it was to get tired.  We're humans, we
get tired.  Jesus had a human nature, Jesus got tired.  Jesus sat down
by Jacob's well because He was weary from the journey.  Jesus was
asleep down in the boat because He had a physical nature.  He
identified with us.  And you remember when Jesus came to His baptism
and the Bible says that John said, I'm not worthy to baptize you, but
Jesus insisted and do you remember what Jesus said?  He said, Because
it is necessary to fulfill all righteousness.  Not that Jesus needed to
repent of sin but that Jesus identified with humanity in its sin.  All
through the ministry of Jesus He was identifying with man.  When
Matthew was converted, and you remember, Matthew had a big feast, he
had a big supper and brought all of his unsaved friends, oh, how the
Pharisees were scandalized by the Lord Jesus because Jesus went to the
feast where Matthew showed off his new Savior.  Amen!  He identified
with us.  Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, and then
He went to the cross and the Bible says that He who knew no sin, the
Lord Jesus, was made sin for us, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him.  You see, the good news of Christmas is
that Jesus has identified with us in our sin.

     And, friends, if you're lost today, or scripturally speaking, you
are down in Egypt, if you've never received Christ as your Savior you
are in sin land, you are in a land of slavery.  And, oh, do you
remember what the Israelites experienced down there in Egypt?  They
experienced the slavery of sin and the taskmasters made their lives
miserable.  Let me tell you something, friend, when you move down into
old Egypt land Egypt's going to make a slave out of you one of these
days.  I speak to some lost man today and it's just Christmas in Egypt
for you: sin's got its tentacles holding on to you today and sin in
wrapping those tentacles around you and you're finding that you are a
slave to sin today.  Well I'm telling you, friends, that's the good
news of Christmas.  I think about the song that Squire Parsons wrote,
he never wrote truer words than when he wrote these, talking about
Jesus coming, he said: He came to me; when I could not go to where He
was, He came to me.  And the good news of Christmas is God became man,
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

     Abraham went down into Egypt, he was a believer.  And do you know
there's some backslidden Christians here at 1988.  You've gone back
down into old Egypt land, too.  Well I've got good news for you,
because Jesus went down into Egypt it means that He has the power to
bring you out of that old Egypt of backsliding today.  You don't have
to stay down there in Egypt.  Why don't you come back to Jesus here at
Christmas time?  I have seen some of the most wonderful, beautiful
experiences take place in the lives of believers at Christmas time.
I've seen people get in some of the biggest messes in their lives at
Christmas time, but I've also seen some of the most beautiful returns
on the parts of believers during Christmas time.  I have seen families
reunited at Christmas time.  Sir, why don't you come on back to your
family?  Ma'am, why don't you get tired of that old Egypt you're living
in and why not, right here at Christmas time, bring some real Christmas
joy to your boys and your girls over at that house you deserted?  Why
don't you come back to Jesus at Christmas time?  You see, our Lord's
identification means He identified with our sins, it means He
identified with our sorrows.  Christmas in Egypt means our Lord's
identification.

     But then there is a third truth I think we learn here because in
verse 15 it says that He was there until the death of Herod: that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Out of Egypt have I called my Son.  Christmas in Egypt points us to our
Lord's salvation.  Now this is a strange prophecy in verse 15.  Do you
notice that word "fulfilled?"  Do you see that?  It occurs 3 times in
this chapter alone.  We'll look at it again next week and we'll look at
it again the third week.  That's really the key word of Matthew's
gospel.  All through his gospel something will occur in the life of
Jesus and Matthew will say this happened that it might fulfill what the
prophet had said.  But this is different.  He was there until the death
of Herod that it might be fulfilled.  Now we know that Christ moves on
a path paved by prophecy and yet when you read this prophecy it's
strange: Out of Egypt have I called my Son.  Now Matthew takes that to
mean that when Jesus came back out of Egypt He was fulfilling this
prophecy.  When you go back to the book of Hosea where that occurs, the
11th chapter, the first verse, it's very obvious that he is referring
there to the nation of Israel and he is referring to the time when God
delivered the nation of Israel from Egypt by a mighty exodus.  So
Matthew is saying to us that the Christmas story is a reminder to us
that what God did for the nation of Israel in the exodus from the land
of Egypt He wants to do for the whole world in the coming of Christ and
in His cross in salvation in bringing us out of the land of Egypt.

     But now it's interesting to me to look at that statement right
there in the light of the whole story of Hosea.  Do you know anything
about Hosea?  You woke up this morning and you said, I wonder what it
is about Hosea?  What's the deal on Hosea?  Hosea is one of the
greatest love stories in the whole Bible.  Now you girls looking for
love stories, let me recommend the Bible to you.  If you want to read
some love stories what about Ruth?  That's one of the greatest love
stories of all time.  It's right there in your Bible.  You don't have
to read "Modern Romance" and "True whatever it is."  You don't have to
read all of that stuff.  I mean if you really want some exciting love
stories, get in the Bible.  Ruth is one of the great love stories.
Hosea was a prophet of God and he had one of the most unusual, one of
the most heart-rending experiences of any man of God in the history of
the world.  Do you remember the story of Hosea?  Hosea was a young
preacher-farmer and one day this young eligible bachelor Hosea was down
there in the marketplace and he saw the most gorgeous girl he'd ever
seen in all of his life and her name was Gomer.  The book of Proverbs
ways there are several things you don't understand, one of them is the
way of a man with a maid.  Oh, old Hosea just wins her and he woos her
and he proposes to her and they get married and Gomer becomes the wife
of the young prophet Hosea and they're married.  Then as their marriage
proceeds, he can't put his finger on it but there's something that's
just not right.  And then along the way children are born and as the
children are born Hosea becomes more and more suspicious and he hears
the rumors going about in the village.  And the village gossips'
tongues are wagging and he discounts the rumors, he pays no attention
to the gossip, but his suspicions continue to arise.  And then it
becomes very obvious to him that the children born are not his.  So, of
course, the time of confrontation occurs and Hosea has to confront his
beloved wife Gomer about the rumors and about the evidence which has
presented itself to him.

     I can almost hear Gomer as she says to him that night as they sit
at home and discuss this, I can almost hear her saying, Hosea, I've
never loved you; I've never loved you; I'm intended for bigger and
better things.  I can't spend the rest of my life with a preacher-
farmer, I've got to live my life.  Have you ever heard anybody talk
about that today?  I've got to find myself.  I've got to go out and
find myself.  Well, dear Lord, just touch yourself, there you are.
I've got to be free.  Let me tell you ladies something.  Some of you
ladies are falling for the lies of the devil.  When you start talking
about you've got to find yourself, what you mean is you're going to
find somebody else.  That's what you're talking about.  Huh?  Oh, I
just don't love him any more.  Well who are you loving right now then?
So I can almost hear Gomer, she's saying, I've never loved you, I've
got to have my freedom, I've got to find myself.  And he pleads with
her but it doesn't do any good and the book of Hosea says that she went
after her lovers.  I can almost see her the day she walked away from
her husband, she walked away from her children.  I want to tell you
that's the worst thing on God's earth for a man or a woman, to walk
away from his own children and his own wife.  I'll tell you that's the
lowest thing on God's earth you can do.  You say, But you don't know
what I'm going through.  Let me tell you something, friend, you would
be better off if you would go through hell, if you would wade through
hell for your boys and girls than to cause them to go through what
they're going to go through when you desert them.  God have mercy on
you.

     This old business of these men and these women just running around
here all over everywhere leaving there little boys and girls and little
children begging their mamas and daddies not to leave, and they're out
here living in sin city, out there in Egypt.  You selfish, good-for-
nothing, low-down, sorry rat!  That wasn't in my notes but that's
right.  I'll tell you it's time America woke up, and it's time some of
you people who claim to be born-again children of God make up your mind
that when you marry that old boy you promise for better or for worse
and you're experiencing a little of the worst but hang in there in the
worse and the worse will get better one of these days if you'll trust
Jesus to put it together for you.

     So she takes off.  Boy, she's going to live.  I'm going to be a
swinger now.  Here's old Gomer, she's going to be a swinger.  Yes, sir,
boy, she's hitting the bars of Egypt, hitting them bars, finding them
dates out there.  And you know what the Bible said?  She that liveth in
pleasure is dead while she lives.  And there's Hosea, trying not only
to be a father but also a mother to those children.  God bless some of
you dear people today, single parents.  You're trying to be a mother
and a father to those children.  God bless you.  And I just believe God
gives special grace to some of you who love the Lord Jesus and you're
doing it the tough way, and you get those children ready, and you get
them to the house of God, and you don't have a companion to help you
but you're paying the price.  I'll tell you what, friends, one of these
days those little babies will grow up to be men and women and they'll
call your name blessed because you paid the price.  There's old Hosea,
can you see him getting those babies in the bed at night all by
himself?  And I can almost see him after the babies were in bed, old
Hosea would go out in the field somewhere and lay down between the rows
of the crops and weep his heart out because he's broken-hearted, he's
got an unfaithful wife and he still love her.

     And then as the book of Hosea proceeds, when you put two and two
together you see Hosea one day and he's in the marketplace and he's
walking through the marketplace there and he goes by the slave block
where they're selling slaves.  And Hosea walks by the slave block,
hardly noticing, he just glances up there, he walks on and then he
stops for a moment, and he says, No, that couldn't be; there's just no
way that could be.  But he turns back and he goes again and he examines
more carefully the woman that's on the slave block and he looks and
though the marks and the stains and the shame and the degradation of
sin are written all over her, it's beyond question, it's his own wife
Gomer.  Brother, there she is.  Friend, you take a good look at what
sin does to people.  You know what?  If I today, if I could just take
right here in front of you two examples, if right up here I could show
you a specimen of what Jesus can do in a life of a person, and then
stand you an individual right over here and show you what the devil can
do in the life of a person, I think any person in this building with
normal intelligence would give his life to Jesus instead of the devil.
Friends, I want to tell you, sin and shame and slavery of old Egypt is
going to wreck and ruin your life, it always does it.  Brother, you're
heading for an early grave, you're wrecking your body, you're tearing
to pieces your nervous system, you're filling your mind and your
emotions with guilt.

     There she is.  Look at her on the slave block.  Walk on by, Hosea.
Don't pay any attention to her, Hosea.  But you know what that
incredible prophet of God does?  That incredible prophet of God finds
out what they're asking for her.  Do you know what they were selling
her for?  Fifteen shekels of silver, a homer and a half of barley,
which was half the price of a slave.  Half-price.  See, that's what the
devil always does to you, friend, he puts you on the bargain counter of
life, slightly soiled, price reduced.  That's right.  That's what's
happening to some of you.  The devil's put you on the bargain counter
of life.  But Hosea goes and with a half the price of a slave he buys
his own wife back.  You say, Well, Preacher, what in the world has that
got to do with Christmas?  Well you see, Christmas in Egypt points us
to our Lord's salvation.  That's why Jesus came.  See, Jesus came down
to this old Egypt slave market, and Jesus Christ went to the cross of
Calvary, and in the price of His own blood He paid the price of our
redemption.

     You see, friends, when that crown of thorns was put upon His head
and those drops of blood began to pour Christ was saying, That's what
I'll pay for you.  And when they beat the back of the Lord Jesus and
the blood began to trickle down the back of the Lord Jesus, Jesus said,
That's what I'm willing to pay for you.  And when they took Him to
Calvary's hill and they drove the nails into His sides and the blood
began to pour, Jesus said, That's what I'm willing to pay for you.  And
when they drove the spear into His side and water and blood came out,
Jesus is saying, Every drop of that blood is what I am willing to pay
for you.  Because the Bible says, Forasmuch as you know that you are
not redeemed with corruptible things but with the precious blood of the
Lamb as of a Lamb without spot and blemish.  Christmas is the story of
redemption.

     But that's not all Hosea did.  Not only did he buy her back,
that's redemption, but you know what the Bible said he did?  He took
her back home and he made her his wife again, that's restoration.  And
that's exactly what Christmas in Egypt is all about.  It's that Jesus
Christ has come down into this old land of sin and slavery and shame,
that He has paid the price of our redemption in His precious blood and
now He says you just come on home, I'll restore you, I'll make you my
child.  You know, that's something.  Here's a little baby leading an
exodus out of Egypt.  When Jesus was transfigured on the mountain and
the Bible says Moses and Elijah came and spake with Him, Luke says in
his 9th chapter that they spake of His decease which He should
accomplish at Jerusalem.  And the word "decease" means exodus.  They
spake of His exodus, His leading out of Egypt which He should
accomplish at Jerusalem.  You see, friends, when Jesus died on the
cross of Calvary He led the procession out of Egypt, and every born-
again child of God, every sinner who by faith will receive Jesus and be
born again, Christ will lead you out of the land of sin, He will
deliver you out of the land of sin.  He'll do that for you spiritually
right now, but you know what?  He'll do it for you physically one of
these days.

     I want to close with this.  Joseph, you remember, was down in
Egypt and he came to die.  You remember that?  And Joseph gave
commandments concerning his bones.  You remember that?  And he said to
them, Now don't you leave my bones down there in Egypt, don't leave my
bones down there in Egypt.  And you remember what happened?  When the
exodus occurred they took those bones of Joseph out of Egypt, all the
way into the land of promise, and when you read the book of Joshua you
know what you find out?  You find out that they took those bones of
Joseph to Shechem.  I've been to the very tomb where those bones are
buried.  And they buried the bones of Joseph in Shechem.  I can almost
imagine whoever buried those bones, if he listened carefully, he could
have heard a chuckle from the coffin as those old bones of Joseph said,
The foot bone's connected to the ankle bone, and as the ankle bone's
connected to the leg bone, and the leg bone connected to the hip bone.
I can almost hear those bones saying, I told you so; God wasn't going
to leave my bones down in Egypt.

     Well, bless your heart, one of these days the Lord Jesus Christ is
going to come from heaven and when He does Abraham is going to reach
over and touch Noah, and Noah is going to reach over and he's going to
touch Abraham, and Abraham is going to reach over and he's going to
touch Moses, Moses is going to reach over there and he's going to touch
Hosea, and Hosea is going to reach over there and he's going to touch
you and our bones are going to come out of Egypt.  You see, that's what
Christmas is all about.  It is the good news that Jesus came down here
and took your hell so you can have His heaven.