My text this morning is Matthew chapter one that I'm going to get to eventually. This is one of the facets of the story of the birth of Christ. This took place before he was born. where an angel appeared to his stepfather, Joseph. Joseph was not his natural father, but his stepfather.

But before I read this portion, I want you to turn to two passages of scripture with me. And I'll show you where I'm going with this. The first one is 2 Corinthians chapter 13. If you turn there with me. 2 Corinthians chapter 13. Now, I've entitled the message Four Searching Questions. Now, what I'm gonna talk about is, in general, is examining ourselves. And here in 2 Corinthians 13, look at verse five. This is a command that God gives through the apostle Paul to his people. And it's a very, very important part of the Christian life, continually examining ourselves.

But a lot of people, when they think of self-examination, they have the wrong idea. And I'll show you what I mean. For example, in verse five, he says, examine yourselves whether you be, now notice this phrase. Don't let this go by you. Whether you be in the faith. You see that? That's a good translation of it, even from the original. He says, prove your own selves, that means test yourselves. Know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates. Now this is serious business, isn't it? You know what a reprobate is, that's one who's going to die in unbelief and perish. So he says, test yourselves. Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith.

Now, the reason I say that in the faith is so important, and I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians now, chapter 11. The idea of in the faith, a lot of people have the idea that self-examination is to examine myself to see that I have enough faith, okay? And whenever I have people tell me that, I ask them this question, I say, enough faith for what? And how much faith is enough faith? Now we know that all faith, true faith, is God given. He gives it. And I remember one time when the disciples, it's recorded in the Word of God, he looked at his disciples and he said, oh ye of little faith. And then the Bible tells us how to strengthen faith through the word of God. That's what the whole idea of study thyself to show thyself approved of God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

And so in the faith would be like saying examine yourselves to see if you really believe the truth. The faith there is the doctrine of Christ, the gospel, the body of faith, what faith believes. Now, I could stand up here and tell you, I believe the moon is made of green cheese. But it's not. Well, that's my faith, you know? Well, that's crazy. There are people today who say, I believe the earth is flat. Now, I don't want to offend anybody. I found out coming out of the woodwork, they think the earth is flat. I was telling him the other day, I said, I've got this guy on the internet who constantly barrages me with literature, trying to get me to change to be a flat earther. And I wrote him back and said, don't send me anything else. I said, number one, I don't care. I don't. If it is flat, I don't believe it is. But if it is, OK. I know the part I walk on mainly is flat, because this is the flattest part of the country I've ever been in. But I don't care. So if I have that kind of faith, what good does that do me? That's not the faith that saves. The issue of being in the faith is not how much faith you have, but in whom is your faith? Is it in yourself? Or is it in Christ? That's what we're going to get to.

But look here in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Now, we're going to take the Lord's Supper today. And, you know, there are churches who have different views of communion. The Catholic Church calls it Eucharist, and that's not good. There are others who try to fence it around, say, well, if you're not a member of our church, you can't take it with us, and all of that. They use it as a tool of discipline.

But the Lord's Supper is not a tool of discipline. The Lord's Supper is a memorial service where believers, and that's the only ones here, if you're a believer, you're welcome to take it with us, okay? But if you're not a believer, I suggest you don't take it, because that's serious business. But we leave it up to you to examine yourself and partake or not partake.

And that's what he says here. He's talking about how the Lord instituted the Lord's Supper. He gave him the cup. He gave him the unleavened bread. That's a symbol of Christ's sinless humanity, his body. And then he gave him the cup of wine. That's a symbol of his blood. So you have the work of Christ there. That's what the Lord's Supper is about. What we're memorializing is not our worthiness, but he says, verse 28 of 1 Corinthians, he says, but let a man examine himself, that you women too, examine yourself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lord's body."

Now a lot of people have different views of what that verse 29 means but my point today is what is it to eat and drink the elements of the Lord's Supper worthily? What is it to eat and drink unworthily?

All right, Now I don't know about you, but I grew up in a church where they used to teach us that if there was any sin in our lives, unconfessed, we better not take the Lord's Supper or we're damned if we do. That's not what that's teaching. And I can tell you right now, there's some sins in your life that's unconfessed, individually.

Now when we confess, to God under the leadership and revelation of the Holy Spirit that we are sinful people who cannot earn or deserve salvation no matter what we do, not even based upon our best, but our only hope of salvation is Christ crucified, risen from the dead, his blood, his righteousness. I've confessed in that statement every sin that I've ever committed or ever will commit. And I'm not trying to let myself off the hook and say, well, I don't have to think about it. I think about it all the time.

But you know, you have sins in your sleep. And you won't even remember them when you get up. You might have a dream that's a Lulu. You wake up, I don't remember what a dream. And that's sin. And there are people that say, well, in order to be worthy to take the Lord's Supper, you've got to be sparkling clean in your life. Have you had any sin this week? Well, you better not take it. Or you're gonna get a whipping or whatever, I don't know. But that's the way people think naturally. But that's not what it's saying.

Now he said you eat and drink unworthily, not discerning the Lord's body. not understanding the reality of what salvation is all about because if you don't understand the reality of what salvation is all about, you're eating and drinking, you're not memorializing Christ, you're just doing some kind of religious ritual. So understand that.

Now with that in mind, I've got four searching questions that I want you to think about in examining yourselves. And it has to do with who Christ is and what he's done and things like that. We're going to talk about that just briefly. But in this issue of self-examination, I've always said this, there's really about three things that I want to know.

Number one, I wanna know. Now, I will say that everybody here today claims to be a Christian. Don't you? Maybe somebody doesn't, I don't know. But I've preached in crowds, I can't. But you all profess that Christ is your Savior. Okay? Now in self-examination, here's what I wanna know. I wanna know that the Christ I'm looking to and believing in and resting in is the true Christ of this Bible. That's what I wanna know. Or am I trusting a counterfeit? And believe me, friends, there are a lot of counterfeits today. Christ said that. Remember when he was teaching his disciples on the end time? He'll say, they'll come saying, here's Christ, there's Christ. He said, oh, follow him. Paul dealt with the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11, I think it was, where he said, if they who come preach another Jesus, and the word another there is the Greek word for another of a different kind, not another of the same kind. It's like another gospel in Galatians. So in other words, if I claim to be a Christian, am I really following the Christ of this Bible? Or am I following a counterfeit?

Now, how am I gonna know that? Well, you have to study the scriptures. You have to go where the scriptures are preached, not where they're just having a good time. You say, well, all my friends are here. Well, that's okay if they're preaching the scriptures. If they're telling the truth about who Christ is, that's what we're gonna look at.

And then the second thing I wanna know is do I really believe in him and trust him? And I'm gonna do a whole message on that later on. And then there's other questions that we look at. But look at our text, Matthew 1, verse 18. It says, now the birth of Jesus Christ. Now you understand that Jesus is the name that God gave him. We're gonna see that. Christ is not his last name. Christ is a title. It means Messiah, the Anointed One. So he says, now the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, the birth of Jesus, the Anointed One, was on this wise. Here's how it happened. As his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, that means before they had sexual relations, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. She was found with child. She had a baby. Where'd that baby come from? Came from the Holy Spirit. Oh, well, that's just myth, you know? That's reality, if you believe the Bible. And you know, you can argue with me, but I'll tell you right now, I'm gonna believe the Bible, not you. It's been around a little longer.

So she, this is what they call the incarnation. The incarnation, it comes from the word flesh, but not sinful flesh. Christ, he had a human body created for him in the womb of the Virgin Mary, all right? A sinless humanity. Now you and I, we're born in sin. That doesn't mean it come through physical blood or anything like that. It just means we're born spiritually dead. We're born fallen in Adam. We're born sinful in that way. And that's the way we are by nature, that's as we're naturally born. That's why in order to be saved, we must be born again from above. That's what Christ told Nicodemus.

But Christ came into the womb of Mary, the humanity of Christ, the sinless humanity came from the Holy Spirit. So that however it comes through physically, according to science, that's okay. But he had a sinless humanity that he united with his deity. He didn't bring the humanity from heaven. It was created for him in the womb of the virgin. But his deity came from heaven.

And let me give you a verse that kind of says it that way. Galatians 4.4 says, in the fullness of the time, God sent forth his son, that's his deity, the Son of God, second person of the Trinity, in every bit God, equal with the Father and the Spirit, God sent forth His Son in the fullness of the time, and it was the time of His birth, we don't know when it was, I don't think it was December, I don't think it was in winter, but I don't care. I just know He came, and I'm glad He did.

So, God sent forth His Son, That's his deity. Made of a woman, that's his humanity. Back in Genesis 3.15, that was prophesied as the woman's seed. Now I'm no biologist, but I know that the woman doesn't have the seed, the man does. So where'd that seed come from? It come from the Holy Spirit. So made of a woman, that's his humanity. made under the law," That's his mission.

All of salvation according to what God requires was conditioned on Christ. Now see, preachers all over this world will tell you that salvation is conditioned on you. What you do, what you decide, whatever. You make the difference. That's wrong. All of salvation was conditioned on Him. How else could a man like David say that my salvation is ordered in all things and sure? David blew it a lot of times. He did some good things, but he blew it a lot of times. Not just with Bathsheba too. But his whole salvation was conditioned on the Messiah to come.

So made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, Let's buy them back with a price. That's what this blood, this wine symbolizes. The redemptive price by which Christ bought back His people, His brethren, His sheep, His church. And who are they? All who believe on Him. all whom God gives faith. And so to redeem them that were under the law. So that's what that's about.

We'll look back at our text. It says verse 19, then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, he wanted to do right, not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privileged. So he was gonna put her away and not marry her. And it says, but while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, Saint Joseph, thou son of David. Now that's the line through which the humanity of Christ came, the line of David, the line of Judah, see?

And if you notice that all through Israel's history, that even 700 years before this, when he obliterated the Northern Kingdom, the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom, he kept the Southern Kingdom together because they were mainly made up of the tribe of Judah. Why'd he keep them together? Now, here's your answer. The Messiah was to come through that tribe, the tribe of Judah. And God wasn't finished with it. But you know what happened to them afterward? In AD 70, they were obliterated. God made a clear statement there. Salvation is not about being a physical Jew. It's not about being a physical descendant of Abraham. Salvation is about being a spiritual Jew. spiritual child of Abraham, who's that? A believer, who's been circumcised in heart, born again by the Spirit. So there you have it.

So he says, the angel came to him in a dream saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. This is God's work. And look at verse 21, now this is the main, she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus," What does the name Jesus mean? There's varying shades of it but what it means, God our Savior. "...for He shall," Now look at it, His name shall be called Jesus. "...for He shall save His people from their sins." Don't you love that?

So there's a lot of questions you could bring, a lot of answers you could give from the scripture on this. For example, in searching myself, in examining myself, I want to know who, do I trust the true Christ? Well, here's the first question, searching, who exactly is Jesus Christ? What does the Bible say about him? Well, He is the Son of God, He is the Son of Man, He is the Savior, He is the Lord our Righteousness. You know how the gospel is the revelation of the righteousness of God? Who is that? That's Christ. Christ is my righteousness. And He is the Savior. He's the one and only Savior. He said, I am the way, the truth, and life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

Let me ask you a question. When you go to church, do they tell you there are other ways of salvation other than Christ? If they do, get out. Now, I'm serious. That's a counterfeit. There's one way. one way of salvation. Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead is the Lord our righteousness. Who is Jesus Christ? He is God in human flesh. Look at verse 22, now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, and he's gonna quote from Isaiah chapter seven here. Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel. Oh, wait a minute. His name is not Jesus, it's Emmanuel. His name is both. And what does Emmanuel mean? Well, anytime you see that little last two letters on that word, L, That's God. That's the Hebrew for God. El Shaddai, have you heard that one? That's God. He is Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us.

Who is Jesus Christ? He's God, manifest in the flesh. He's both God and man. And it says in verse 24, then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son and he called his name Jesus. Who is Jesus Christ? He had to be both God and man in one person. in order to accomplish what he was sent to do, which was to save his people from their sins. If he'd been only God, he couldn't save sinners. All he could do is condemn them. Because death had to come. How many times have you quoted Romans 6.23? The wages of sin is death. Do you believe that? Somebody's got to die, but not just anybody. I could die, but I couldn't die for you because I'm a sinner too. A sinner cannot die for a sinner and take away the guilt of their sins. It takes one who is both God and man in one person. He was set up from the beginning before the world ever was created. God chose the people and gave them to Him. His people, who are His people? That's all who are brought by God through the Holy Spirit's work from Christ to believe in Him and rest in Him for all salvation. That's who they are. And they're sinners. That means without a proper Savior and a proper payment, all they're destined for is death and hell.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Now, you might say, well, you know, I know I'm not perfect, but I'm not as bad as some people. Well, that's not going to do you any good. You say, at least I go to church. Well, going to church is not going to wash away your sins. Did you know that? Getting into baptistry and getting dunked is not going to wash away your sins. Drinking the wine and eating the wafer is not going to take away your sins.

Now there are churches who preach that those things will at least in part if not all take away your sins and they won't. There's only one thing that'll satisfy the justice of God for my sins and your sins and that's the blood of Jesus Christ. Nothing else and don't add anything to it. If you add your works or your decisions to it, somebody said, well, you gotta accept him. Let me tell you something. If left, read the Bible. If left to yourself, you will not accept him. You will not believe in him. You will not come to him.

Well, what does it take for me to accept him and believe? You gotta be born again by the Spirit. That's what John 1, 12, and 13 says. It's not of blood, that's physical descendancy. It's not of the will of the flesh or the works of the flesh, and it's not of the will of man, but of God. God said he'll have mercy on whom he will, he'll be gracious to whom he will, so then it's not of him that runneth, that's works, nor of him that willeth, that's freewillism, nor of him but of God that showeth mercy.

And so what do we do? Seek the Lord. Say, Lord, open my eyes to these truths. Who is Jesus Christ? There's a whole denomination that claims to be Christian that denies his deity. It's counterfeit. And then secondly, what did he accomplish when he obeyed unto death? What did he actually accomplish? Did he make salvation possible if you do your part? Read the Bible. He secured the salvation of all whom the Father gave him. He said that in John 6, 37. All whom the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

He went on to say, this is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose, what? Do y'all know the word? Nothing, no one. But raise him up again at the last day. That's grace. What did he accomplish? He satisfied the justice and law of God against the sins of his people. The Bible teaches that the sins of his sheep were laid to his account. That's the debt of sin. He took responsibility. He said, put them on my account. That's called imputation. Our sins were imputed to Christ. They became his not by any infusion or any impartation, or any corruption, but only on the books of the account of God, they were made His." That's what the Bible says.

And so, His righteousness, which was accomplished by His obedience unto death on the cross, when He satisfied the judgment of God against the sins of His people, His righteousness has been imputed, charged, accounted to His people. And it's called the righteousness of God. The gospel is there, therein the righteousness of God is revealed. Not your righteousness, not mine, we don't have any. Nothing we do, you know, you talk about being worthy. People say, well, I gotta examine myself to see if I come up to snuff. You don't. You say, but preacher, I'm trying. Okay, that's good, but you're still not gonna make it. because the perfection of righteousness can only be found in Christ. His person, His obedience, His death, and He arose from the dead and ascended to the Father, and He now is seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for His people. He is our propitiation. You ever heard that term? You'll find it three times in the New Testament and variations of it all through it. That's his satisfaction to justice.

So it says this in Romans 8.33, who shall lay anything to the charge, to the account of God's elect? It's God that justify, who can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea rather that is risen again and seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for us.

Who is Jesus Christ? What did He accomplish? He didn't come down here to die to just try to save anybody. He shall save His people from their sins. Isn't that His name? His name shall be called Jesus. That little babe in a manger is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The one and only Savior. The one and only righteousness that His people have. And so we stand before God pleading the blood of Christ. The wine that we're going to drink represents that blood. And that blood was given by the death of his body.

Now I know concepts like God-man are hard to understand, but that's okay. That's okay. All that proves is we're not God. We're just human beings struggling down here on this earth. And I mean struggling. And if you're not struggling now, hold on, it will be. You will soon. Sooner than you think. I mean, I'm 72, and I look back on my life, and it seems like it just gone like that. I'll think of things that I think were maybe six months to a year ago, and my wife will remind me and say, that was 20 years ago. Good night.

Who is Jesus Christ? What did he do? What did he accomplish? Ask yourself that way. What did he accomplish when he said, it's finished, and gave up the ghost? Well, he accomplished everything that God requires for the salvation of his people. He settled it. How do you know he did it? He rose from the dead, and he ascended unto the Father. and set on the Father's right hand, acceptance.

Here's another question. Why did He do it? Well, it wasn't because God felt sorry for us. God is a compassionate God. His compassion has its limits not because of anything in Him, but because of His purpose. And what is His purpose? To glorify Himself. in the salvation of sinners by his grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all for God's glory. It's not for yours. That's why I don't stand up here and brag on you and brag on me. I'm bragging on Christ. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why did he do it? He said in John 17, In his high priestly prayer, glorify thou me with the glory which we had together before the world began. And that was based upon, he said, the work that you gave me to do, I finished it.

And then lastly, where is he now? Now, you may say, well, we all take these things for granted. Don't take them for granted. I went to a seminary. When I was lost, I didn't know the true gospel, thought I did, and in that seminary when I went to classes, and it was a Baptist seminary, I had three professors who denied the literal resurrection of Christ. That's a counterfeit. But the reason, here's what's more important, the reason that he arose from the grave is because he settled the debt. He settled the debt that God gave him to settle in all that he did in his obedience to the law. He kept the law perfectly, never sinned, and he died for the sins of his people accounted to him.

Now when you examine yourself whether or not you should take the Lord's Supper with us, and I hope you do, but settle that self-examination with are you really trusting this Christ and not a counterfeit? Because that's what it's all about.