Take your Bibles with me and turn to Luke 2. Luke 2. This text is going to be VERY familiar to you today. We read this text several times every year - it's the most famous Christmas text in the Bible. The story of the birth of Christ.

I've preached this text at least 14 times. Probably more than that. So I've probably preached more sermons from these verses than any other verses.

Now, obviously, it's not Christmas. It's barely August. (I mean, someone needs to tell Hobby Lobby.) But's it's not Christmas.

So I have a double challenge this morning:

• First, I need you to see these verses for what they are, not just for their nostalgic Christmas value.
• Second, I need to think of a way to preach these verses that is different than the way I've preached them the last fifteen times.

With that in mind, let's read.

[!bible] Luke 2:1-20 - KJV

1. And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5. To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7. 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.
8. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
20. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Now, I want you to read the first two verses again.

[!bible] Luke 2:1-2 - KJV

1. And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

I want to notice the king that is mentioned here: Caesar Augustus.

I'm calling this message "A Tale of Two Kings" today. "A Tale of Two Kings."

Why did Luke mention Caesar Augustus? Two reasons:

First, I think Luke wanted to remind us that these things happened during an actual time in an actual place. The story of Christ doesn't start with "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away." It doesn't start with "a long long time ago in a far away place." It starts with "in this specific place and at this specific time, these things happened.

The story of Jesus is not a fairy tale. It is not a legend. It really happened.

But there was a second reason why I think Luke mentioned Caesar Augustus. I think he was purposely trying to draw a contrast here. So let's take his lead and do the same.

Let's start by talking about:

The first king - Caesar Augustus

Caesar Augustus did not start out as "Caesar Augustus." He started out as a sickly boy in the Roman upper classes named "Gaius Octavius Thurinus."

There wasn't much special about Gaius. He was a weak little boy who struggled his whole life with bouts of sickness and was really a mother's boy. In the super macho Roman World, this made him kind of despised and overlooked person.

The biggest thing Gaius had going for him was that his great uncle was a guy named Julius Caesar, and when his dad died in his youth, Gaius was brought into Caesar's orbit.

As Gaius Octavius got older, he got closer to Caesar. He wasn't able to take part in Caesar's military stuff because of his health - but he did the best he could and even risked his life to take a long journey and go visit Caesar on the battlefield.

This paid off, because Caesar changed his will and posthumously adopted Gaius as his son and named him as his heir.

Then, right after he did that, Caesar went and got killed in the famous Ides of March, "e tu Brute" incident. Basically, he made the powerful people mad and so they just all murdered him.

No Caesar had a right hand man, a guy everyone assumed was "up next" - named Marc Antony. Marc Antony was in for quite a surprise though when he read Caesar's will and found out Gaius was the heir.

But because of the politics of it all, Gaius did not immediately rise to the throne. Instead, he spent about ten years working towards what was his. He started a three way power share with Marc Antony, a guy named Lepidus, and himself called the second Triumverate.

Then over time, he went to war with those guys and defeated Lepidus and then later Marc Antony, (Marc Antony and his girlfriend Cleopatra committed suicide) he killed his adopted brother, killed a bunch of Marc Antony's followers, and made himself Caesar. Through all this war, he wasn't enriching Rome, he was enriching himself. Everything he conquered was Gaius'. This made him the wealthiest man on earth, personally in control of much of the world.

Then he set his sights on controlling Rome. He instituted a bunch of reforms that took more and more power from the Senate - basically ending the Roman republic. Before doing it, the Senate give him the title Caesar Augustus - (Augustus means "revered one" or "worshipped one".)

Caesar Augustus is probably one of the five most important people who ever lived. More than anyone else, it was Augustus who made Rome Rome. If it wasn't for the changes he made, Rome probably wouldn't have lasted 50 more years, never mind 500. He got rid of a lot of corruption, got control of the vast holdings, cleaned up their tax system, and much more.

Because of that - he was worshipped in his lifetime as a living god. They built a temple to him. He was the first Roman emperor who was treated as a god.

Now, to get there, he had to have a burning ambition. He had to kill a bunch of people. He had to betray some good friends. He divorced his wife the day his daughter was born to marry someone else.

But there is no doubt that Caesar Augustus probably accomplished more in his life than just about any other man. Here is what I want you to remember about him: He rose from being a sickly nobody to a living god - in charge of most of the known world.

And that brings us back to our text. Look at verses 1 again:

[!bible] Luke 2:1 - KJV

1. And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

This would have been part of Caesar's tax reforms. Part of him getting the messed up Roman system under control. He was taking a census of his whole kingdom so he could make sure he was taxing them right.

And this extended all the way to the far reaches of his kingdom - to the little land of Israel which was under Roman rule at the time.

So because of this one man's machinations - Mary and Joseph had to take a long journey from Nazareth in Galilee (Northern Israel) to Bethlehem in Judah near Jerusalem. And Mary is full term at this point.

You can imagine it can't you - this very pregnant Mary (today they would say don't travel so many days near your due date) - this very pregnant Mary shuffling the several days to Bethlehem - or maybe riding on a borrowed donkey.

It had to be hot, long, sweaty and miserable. And they get there and, surprise, surprise - lots of other people are traveling there for the same reason - there is no room in the inn.

They have no family to take them in. (That would have been the normal thing.) They can't stay in the inn. All they can find is a manger - probably a stable with animals and it is there that:

...she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger;

And so we've talked about one king: Caesar Augustus. Let's talk about

The second King - Jesus Christ

When Mary and Joseph were there in the stable - no one knew who they were. They were just a poor couple, forced by Rome into this terrible situation, and having to have a baby in a stable.

But that baby wasn't just any baby. He was God. He was Immanuel - "God with us".

No one knew that - but the angels knew. They surprised some poor shepherds.

[!bible] Luke 2:10-14 - KJV 10. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

They knew who that baby was - He wasn't just a baby - He was Christ the Lord. He was a Savior. The one who would bring peace on earth and show God's good will to men.

Look with me at Philippians 2:5-8:

[!bible] Philippians 2:5-8 - KJV 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

You couldn't come up with a stronger contrast than the contrast between Caesar Augustus and Jesus Christ.

Caesar started as a nobody and became a living (little g) god by ambition, treachery and violence, taking over the world.

But Jesus started as God in Heaven above, already owner of the world, and he became a nobody, he became a nothing, so that He could save us.

Caesar magnified himself. Christ humbled himself. Caesar conquered through violence. Christ conquered through humble obedience - obedience unto death - even the death of the cross.

How did Caesar Augustus' life end? He ended as a living god - living in a palace in the greatest city on earth - his face was on currency used around the world. He was in control of most of the known world and would be revered for centuries after his death.

How did Jesus' life end? He ended as a nobody. Dying on a cross at the hand of Caesar's government - the deed no doubt done by people so unimportant Caesar wouldn't even know who they were. He was betrayed by His own people. He was executed like hundreds of others by the Romans every day.

But do you want to know the irony: Jesus won.

Unless you are a massive history buff - chances are you only think of one thing when you think of Caesar Augustus - and that is Luke 2:1. You think of him as that guy that had that tax that caused Jesus to be born in a manger. That's it.

Today, if you were to say to a guy on the street "Who was Gaius Octavius Thurinus?" They would look at you like you had six heads. But if you were to say "who was Jesus Christ?" Almost everyone would know that name.

Now, I want to wrap this up by making three points this morning:

1. God became man to save you. Have you believed the good news?

This is really what is happening in Luke 2. God became a man. A humble man. He left the throne room of Heaven to walk in the mud of this earth. He left the song of the angels to deal with dysentary and mosquitos. Why?

It's in the angels song: "peace on earth, good will to men."

Mankind was separated from God. We are separated by our sin. Try though we may, we can never erase our sin or live up to God's standard.

So God sent Christ to do it for us, and on Jesus, God placed our sins.

[!bible] [2 Corinthians 5:21 - KJV](https://bible-api.com/2 Corinthians+5:21?translation=kjv) 21. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

And what God requires of you is to believe the gospel. Have you believed? Have you trusted in Christ as your savior?

Let me put it this way - if you were to stand before Peter at Heaven's gates - and Peter were to ask you "Why should we let you in here?" What would your answer be?

Would it be "I'm a pretty good person." "I went to church." "I read my Bible." "I gave stuff."

None of those are good answers - they all assume we can please God - which we can't. The right answer is "Because of Jesus - because of what He did for me. I'm trusting only in Him."

Have you trusted Christ? Why not today?

A second thing I want you to think about is this:

2. God became man to save you - and He is worthy of our praise.

Look at those verses in Philippians again:

[!bible] Philippians 2:8-11 - KJV 8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Caesar had a little temple built for him in Rome. But Jesus will be worshipped because of what He did for us by every tribe and every tongue, by the angels in heave and animals on the earth and every man - whether he wants to or not.

Jesus is worthy of our glory and our worship. He is worthy of our praise. And Jesus shows us more than anything that God is worthy of our obedience and veneration.

There is one more thing I think we need to learn from this story:

3. God became man to save you - and gave us an example of how we should live in humility, service and obedience.

That passage in Philippians starts with and let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

Jesus showed us a different way to live.

There is God's way and the way of GOd's people - and there is the way of the world.

Caesar represents the way of the world. He rose to power by his ambition. He stepped on everyone he could to get there. He killed and maimed and hated. He wanted all the glory for himself.

And Jesus stepped down from power and became a humble servant.

• Caesar wanted to be served - Jesus served.
• Caesar wanted to rule - Jesus was obedient to God.
• Caesar took things into his own hands - Jesus trusted the will of God.

Which one are you living like? Are you a little Caesar (Pizza Pizza) or are you a Christian?

[!bible] Philippians 2:5-8 - KJV 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Let's stand for prayer.