The following sermon is by John MacArthur, pastor, author, and Bible teacher with Grace

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And now unleashing God's truth one verse at a time.

Here's Grace to You, Bible teacher John MacArthur.

Now I want us to kind of pick up where we left off last Sunday, and that was with some very explicit statements from the angels in Luke 2.

So let's go back to Luke chapter 2 where we pick up the narrative in verse 8.

There were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.

And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them and the glory of the Lord shown around them, and they were terribly frightened.

But the angels said to them, do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people.

For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

Now we focused on the word Christ. And I told you last week that's not Jesus last name.

That identifies Him as the Messiah, that is the word anointed one.

In the Old Testament, Messiah was the anointed one.

And when Christ came as the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies, the angel says the anointed one has anointed one.

He has arrived. He is the Savior and the Redeemer. He is the deliverer, but He is in particular the anointed one.

That's what the word Christ means. So all through the New Testament you see Him identified with that title Christ, the anointed one.

And I pointed out to you last time that in the Old Testament there were three separate men who received in the anointing for special service.

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