Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I've entitled the message for
this morning, God with us. My text is found in Matthew 1,
beginning in verse 22. Now, all this was done that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet. Notice it's the Lord speaking,
but it's by the prophet saying, behold, And this is a quotation
from Isaiah 7, verse 14. Behold, a virgin shall be with
child, and she shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his
name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. God with us, not God against
us, not God out there looking at us, God with us. Now this is a quotation from
Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14. The prophet Isaiah in the Old
Testament written some 700 years before the birth of Christ. And the Holy Spirit gives us
this name, Emmanuel, and then he gives his interpretation of
what this name means. God with us. Emmanuel. God with us. Now, this is not a New Testament
doctrine. This is what the Old Testament has always taught. The virgin born Christ, born
of a virgin. Somebody says that is impossible. With God, all things are possible. And there are people who would
maintain that they believe in the virgin birth, but they would
not be able to give a reason as to why it was necessary. God
with us, born of a virgin. Now, in the first gospel message,
In Genesis chapter three, we're told that the seed of woman,
not the seed of Adam, not the seed of man, but the seed of
woman shall crush the serpent's head. Isaiah chapter nine, verse
six says, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The son was not born because
the son is eternal. He was given, this is the child
that was born of the Virgin. And to us, a child is born, and
to us, a son is given. Micah 5, verse 2, we have this
prophecy with regard to the birth of Christ, but now Bethlehem,
Ephrathah, Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be
ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old, from
everlasting. This is the eternal Son of God
coming to this planet, being born of a virgin. Now, I love the way it says this
all took place, that the Scriptures may be fulfilled. Everything
that takes place has something to do with this statement that
the Scriptures may be fulfilled. There are no random acts. There's
no such thing as luck or happenstance or chance. God controls everything. All things work together for
good. to them that love God, to them
who are called according to his purpose. And the Lord Jesus Christ
was born of a virgin that the scripture might be fulfilled. Christ, the seed of woman, not
the seed of Adam. The seed of woman was born of
a virgin. Now let me try to talk about
this for a few moments. The necessity of Christ being
born of a virgin. Christ was born of a virgin because
the scripture said he would be born of a virgin. That's our
first reason. I believe what the Bible says. The Bible is the word of God.
But I also understand that Christ had to be born of a virgin, because
if he was not, he would be born a sinner. And he's no sinner. He's the spotless, holy Lamb
of God who never committed a sin. Now, 1 Corinthians 15.22 says,
and Adam all died. You see, when Adam ate of the
fruit, he died spiritually, and everybody he represented, that
means everybody born into this world, were born dead in sins. Now, that means that you and
I were born into this world without the ability to do anything but
sin. Now, somebody says, what about
all the good things people do? Well, the Scripture says the
plowing of the wicked is sin. Plowing is a good thing, but
if a wicked man does it, it is sin. And if the Lord Jesus Christ
would have been born of Adam, he would have been born a sinner. By one man, sin entered the world,
and death by sin, so death passed upon all men in that all have
sinned. Christ had to be sinless for
him to die for somebody else's sin. If he had sin of his own,
he couldn't die for my sin. But he is the holy, harmless,
spotless Lamb of God, that one who has no sin. Listen to this scripture. 2 Corinthians
5, verse 21. For he, God, hath made him, the
Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Now this passage
of scripture tells us he knew no sin. Now you and I know sin. It comes natural. You don't have
to teach somebody how to lie. You don't have to teach somebody
how to be selfish. We know sin. We're born that
way. Look at a child. The child could
be seemingly innocent, but underneath his childishness, he's a sinful,
selfish person. That's all men by nature. We
have our own sin. Christ knew no sin. He didn't know what it was like
to sin. He didn't know what it was like to be disobedient, perfect. And what happened on the cross?
God made him to be sin. The sins of God's elect were
taken off of them and placed in the Lord Jesus Christ so that
he became guilty of the commission of those sins. If he had any
sin of his own, that couldn't be done, but he who knew no sin
was made sin, he willingly took the sins of his people on himself. He willingly drank that cup that
was presented to him in Gethsemane's garden, the sins of his people.
He bare our sins in his own body on the tree. And because of what
he did, that we, everybody he died for, everybody he represented,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. You see, unlike all who were
born of Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ was born with a holy,
sinless nature that didn't even have the potential to sin. And that's the only way he could
be substitute for his people. Now, our text says, This was done that it might be
fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, behold,
a virgin shall be with child, and she shall bring forth a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted,
God with us. Now this is an amazing thing. God became flesh. God became a fetus in his mother's
womb and was in the darkness of his mother's womb for nine
months. Did he have consciousness at
this time as this fetus in his mother's womb? I don't believe
so because we don't, but he was still God, but he had to go through
this. And then she brought forth this
son, Emmanuel, God with us. I love the words to the hymn,
veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate deity,
pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark the herald angels sing,
glory to the newborn King. Now, at the time of his birth,
God moved Caesar Augustus to tax the world. Caesar Augustus
didn't realize why he was doing this. He thought he was doing
this to enrich Rome. But he was doing this because
God sovereignly determined for this to be done so that Joseph
and Mary would have to leave Nazareth and go to Bethlehem
where he would be taxed at the place of his birth. That's why
the Lord was born in Bethlehem. It was foretold. he would be
born in Bethlehem. And she brought forth this son,
and his name was called Jesus. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Now I've got
three points to this message. The first point is God. God with
us. My second point is us. God with
us. And my third point is God with
us. God. All people believe in God intuitively. They believe in God's existence.
What about atheists? They haven't always been atheists.
There was a time when they did believe in the existence of God,
and I dare say the time is coming when they're coming to die that
they'll be believing in God's existence once again. You know
the saying, there are no atheists in foxholes? That's true. You
get somebody in a foxhole, getting ready to die, all of a sudden
they're crying for mercy. There are no such thing as atheists. All people believe in God intuitively. No one is born an atheist. Atheism is illogical. Atheism is irrational. Atheism
is unreasonable. Why is there something and not
nothing? There's only one logical, rational,
reasonable answer. God is. That is why there is
something and not nothing. Somebody says, well, why are
there atheists then? Very intelligent people are atheists because they
don't like the implications of God is. There are things that
they, dislike about thinking of the existence of God, and
so they make that blind leap of faith saying God is not. Now there's a blind leap of faith.
An atheist believes something. He's got a belief system. There's
no such thing as God, but it takes a blind leap of faith to
come into that position, because everybody knows truly God is,
and he will reward the righteous and punish the wicked. It's only the fool who said in
his heart, there is no God. Psalm 53, one. But the God spoken
of in our text, is the same God, the one that God with us, spoken
of in our text, Emmanuel, God with us, is the same God spoken
of in Genesis 1.1 when it says, in the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. That's the same one. John 1.1
says, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God,
the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God, all
things were made by Him. and without him was not anything
made that was made." Now, this one who was born on this particular
day of a virgin, God with us, made many pre-incarnate appearances
in the Old Testament. Now, he didn't actually become
flesh until that time when he was conceived in his mother's
womb. In that time he was born, but
he made many pre-incarnate appearances in the Old Testament. The one
I like to think of the most in some respects is when he appeared
to Moses as the bush that burned and could not be consumed. Moses
saw this bush that was burning on fire. Perhaps he thought lightning
had struck it and there it burned. And he looked again two hours
later, it was still burning. Maybe the next day it was still
burning. And he said, I've got to go see
this great sight of how there's a bush that burns and it's not
consumed. It just keeps burning. And that's
when the Lord spoke to him, I am that I am from that burning bush. Now, this is so significant.
This burning bush speaks of the two natures of Jesus Christ,
that child that was born and that son that was given. That
bush did not need the energy of the wood to keep burning. This speaks of Jesus Christ as
independent God. He did not need the energy of
the wood to continue to burn. Only God is independent. You
and I are so dependent in every respect, but God has no needs. He is utterly independent. And
what's good news about this is that means He doesn't need you
to do something before He can do something for you. If He had
to wait for you to do something, me and you would be toast. But
thank God, He doesn't have to have something from me or you
before He can do something for us because He's the independent
God. And the fact that it was never
consumed speaks of the perfect humanity of Jesus Christ. He could not be consumed. When
He was on that cross, and the wrath of God came down upon him,
the wrath of God did not consume him, he consumed the wrath. So there was none left. He consumed the wrath, the absolute
deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, very God of very God, Christ
has two natures, absolute deity and perfect humanity. This is who was born of that
virgin, the Lord Jesus Christ. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. This is the God being spoken
of in our text. Listen to this scripture from
Colossians 2, verse 9. In the Lord Jesus Christ dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ every attribute of God dwells. Fullness of holiness. Fullness of absolute sovereignty. He rules and he reigns, he controls
everything. Fullness of independence. Fullness
of power. Fullness of wisdom. All the omnipresence
of God dwells in this body. Fullness of immutability. fullness
of love, fullness of grace, fullness of justice, fullness of eternality. He never had a beginning. Whatever
attribute of God there is, it is in the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ in His fullness. Now this is the God. who was
born of the Virgin Mary, the God-man, the second person of
the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. So that's my first point, God.
Jesus Christ is God, I love to say that. Jesus Christ is God
Almighty, the creator of the universe. And here's my second
point, us. God with us. Now, who is designated by the
pronoun us? God with us. Who's he talking
about? Well, the context of this passage
tells us in the previous verse, in verse 21, and she shall bring
forth a son. This is the word to Joseph with
regard to his Mary, who was pregnant, and he
was getting ready to divorce her. He didn't believe that that
which was born of her was of the Holy Ghost until the Holy
Spirit appeared to her. or the angel appeared to him
to tell him of her, verse 21, and she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. Now, the us and the them, would
be His people that He came to save from their sins. Now, His people, what's that? His elect, those the Father gave
Him before the foundation of the world. That's who His people
are, His elect his sheep. He said, I pray for them. Speaking
of his sheep, I pray not for the world, but for them which
you have given me, for they are thine, his people. And let me tell you something
about his people. Every one of them can be described like this.
They're people who need to be saved from their sins. They can't
save themselves. They're completely dependent
upon him to save them in every respect. That's who his people
are. They're sinful people. They're
flawed people. They're people who need his grace.
They're people who need his mercy. They're people who need to be
saved from their sins. That's the us referred to in
our text. God with us. The us refers to
his people. Are all men his people? Well,
all men belong to him. He said, thou has given him power
over all flesh. that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. The people that are saved
from their sins are those that he is with. People that are saved
from their sins by what he did. Now, I never enjoy saying this,
but there is a place called hell. Scripture teaches that. And the
people that are in hell certainly were not saved from their sins,
were they? They're being punished for their sins. But His people
are the ones that He has saved from their sins. These people,
the us, God with us, is the same us of which Paul said of God
before us, who can be against us. He that spared not his own
son, but delivered him up for us all? How shall he not with
him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Somebody's saying, am I one
of his people? Are you a sinner? If you're a
sinner needing a Savior, you are one of His people. This is who He came to save from
their sins. Now, this message is for everybody.
God commands all men everywhere to repent. I'm not trying to
figure out, well, I'm looking for his people. No, I'm preaching
this message to everybody. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. If you come to Christ, you will
not be cast out. But this is the message to all
his people. God Us, his people, here's the third
point, God with us. Now, if you're in trouble and
I say I'm for you, that means something. But this means more,
I'm with you. I'm right there with you every
step of the way. God with us. David said, yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil,
for thou art with me. thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me." When those three Hebrews in Daniel chapter 3, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace because
they wouldn't bow to the false image that Nebuchadnezzar had
set up, Oh, Nebuchadnezzar had the furnace heated seven times
hotter than it was usually heated. Those men were cast and bound
into the fire. And Nebuchadnezzar looked from
a distance into the fire, and he said, didn't we throw three
men in there? Lo, I see four walking, and one
likened to the Son of God. You see, there was somebody in
that furnace with those men. It was the Lord Jesus Christ,
God with us. I know that The Scripture says,
if God be for us, who can be against us? And that's true.
But this is equally true. If God be with us, who can be
against us? He is with every believer. He said, Lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world. He's promised, I'll never leave
you, nor forsake you, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is
my helper. I will not fear what man can
do unto me. He's with you when you're awake.
He's with you when you're asleep. He's with you when you're aware
of it. He's with you when you're not aware of it. You know, providence
That's everything that happens in time is not fate. It's him
being with you. He controls every event and he
is always with you. Listen to this scripture from
Revelation chapter 17 verse 14. He's called King of Kings and
Lord of Lords and they that are with him. Here's where I want
to be, with Him. They that are with Him are called,
called by His grace, chosen by Him, faithful and able to be
so. That describes everybody with
Him, called, chosen, and faithful. He said in John 17, verse 24,
Father, I will. Now he's the only one who would
pray like that. If me or you pray like that,
it would be disrespectful. Father, I will that you do. No,
no, Father, for me, I will let this be done. But he, the son,
could say, Father, I will that they whom you've given me be
with me where I am. that they may behold my glory. For thou lovest me from the foundation
of the earth." Heaven will be being with Him. And heaven on earth is being
with Him. God with us, not God against
us, God with us. May the Lord enable us to enter
in to all that that means. To receive a copy of the sermon
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