When you turn back to Matthew
chapter one, I got a text from Charles McGuire about Lissy.
And he said that she's on the last of hospice and would probably
be going into the presence of the Lord in just a few days.
And what a blessing it has been to know this woman. She's been
such a blessing to me for so many years. I was thinking how
many people that attended here are in glory right now in a whole
lot better place than this place is, and she soon will be. Also, David Morris had successful
knee surgery today. I don't know whether you're watching,
if you are, hi. Hi, Sherry. But he did very well,
and we're very thankful for that. I've entitled this message God
with us. Not God against us. Oh may the
Lord enable us to enter in to the reality of this. God with us. Now this is better than God for
us, although God for us is wonderful. God with us. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for thou art
with me. God with us. In verse 22 of Matthew chapter
one, now all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which
was spoken of the Lord by the prophet. I love thinking of this. Everything is done that it might
be fulfilled. There is no action. that is not
a part of his sovereign purpose. In a wonderful living world like
that, where he's in absolute control. I was reading in Colossians
chapter three this week, and it's where Paul said, let your
affections be on those things that are above, or let your affection
be on those things that are above, and not on things on the earth,
for your dead. And I got to thinking about all
the things that are going on in the earth. How much does a
dead man care about them? The economy? Politics? Sports? Natural disasters? He's unmoved. He's dead. You are dead and your life is
hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall
appear, then shall you appear with Him in glory. Now, all this was done that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, and this is a quotation from Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a
son and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted
is God with us. Now the virgin birth of Christ
is not a doctrine just found in the New Testament. The prophet
spoke of this doctrine when he said, Behold, a virgin shall
be with child and she shall bring forth a son. As a matter of fact,
the first gospel message declared the seed of woman, not the seed
of Adam, not the seed of man, but the seed of woman. the virgin
born Jesus Christ without Adam's contaminated sinful nature shall
be with child. Isaiah chapter nine, verse six
says, unto us a child is born and to us a son is given. Now, don't miss that. The child
is born, the Lord Jesus Christ on a day, a calendar date was
born but the son was never born. The son is the eternal son who
was given. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the
government, that means everything there is, he's in control of. The government shall be upon
his shoulders and his name shall be called Wonderful. Counselor, and let me remind
you, Counselor doesn't mean somebody you take counsel from. I'm gonna
go see a counselor. It means his counsel shall stand.
His decree shall stand. That's what that's a reference
to. He's the one who counsels and causes it come to pass. The
mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. In Micah chapter five, verse
two, Speaking of the birth of Christ, but thou 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 talking about the eternal nature of this one, the Lord
Jesus Christ who would be born. Now this all took place that
the scripture might be fulfilled. Now this was made clear before
his birth, before he's ever born. Have this revealed to us, a virgin
shall be with child. And thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now turn
to Luke chapter 24 for a moment. I want you to read this with
me. This is after the resurrection
and the Lord is speaking to his disciples. And he says in verse 44, and he said unto them, these
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you.
before my death, that all things must be fulfilled, which were
written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms
concerning me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. And he said unto
them, thus it is written and thus it behooved. It was necessary
for Christ to suffer Why was it necessary? Because it was
God's purpose. Because he was bearing the sins
of his people and God must punish sin. It was necessary. It behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day. Why? Because he paid
the debt. God said he would be raised the
third day. Just like Jonah was spit out of the fish after three
days, the sign of the resurrection. He completely satisfied God's
law. God's justice demanded him to
be raised from the dead. And that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in his name. Now here is what should
be preached. You want to know what should
be preached? Repentance. and remission of
sins. Repentance is a complete change
of mind. That's what repentance means.
It's a change of mind, and chiefly, it's a change of mind regarding
this thing of the forgiveness, the remission of sins. We all
naturally think that there's something we need to do, and
we'll get the forgiveness of sins because of doing that. And
when God grants us repentance, that thinking is changed. And
we know our salvation begins with the complete forgiveness
of sins by what He has done. And that's what should be preached,
repentance, and remission of sins in his name, beginning at
Jerusalem, the place where he was crucified. I love the way
he says beginning at Jerusalem. These murderers preached the
gospel to them, and you are witnesses of these things. Now, this had
already been told to them that he would rise from the dead.
You can read about it in Matthew 16, but this is just another
example of the divine authority of the scriptures as it's written. What saith the scripture? The
scripture saith that the scripture might be fulfilled. We really
believe scripture alone. I believe that from the depths
of my heart. This is the word of God. This is the inspired
word of God. And by his grace, we believe
the word. We preach the word. Now, Christ was born of a virgin. As scripture said he would, as
the seed of woman, conceived by the Holy Ghost. Isn't that awesome? Just the
very thought of it is so awesome and glorious and above us, we
believe, we bow, we worship. What a glorious gospel that God
was manifest in the flesh, that he was born of a virgin, conceived
by the Holy Ghost. in verse 20 of Matthew chapter
1. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto 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. Now, this is the only man in
the history of the universe that was not and will be the only
man in the history of the universe that was not in Adam. You see, if he would have been
in Adam and had Adam's seed, you know what that would have
made him? A sinner, with Adam's fallen nature. 1 Corinthians
15, 22 says, in Adam, all die. If he would have been in Adam,
he would have died. Romans 5, 12, by one man, sin
entered the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men, ended all sin. He didn't because he was never
in Adam. He lived a perfectly sinless
life. He couldn't have been sinless
if he had been born of Adam, but he had this sinless nature. So because of his sinless nature,
he never sinned. He knew there was no sin. He
could take somebody's sins on him. And the reason I can't do
it. And I said this in the last week
or two, if my daughter was in trouble and I could take her
punishment, I would do it, but the law wouldn't allow it because
I didn't do it, she did. And the law would demand her
condemnation. And if the Lord Jesus Christ
had any sin, he couldn't take my sin. He'd have to pay for
his own sin. But because he had no sin, he
knew no sin. I love that thought of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You think about how well you
know sin. He had no understanding of sin. He never experienced
sin. Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, made higher than the heavens. He knew no sin. And because He knew no sin as
the spotless Lamb of God, He could take the sins of the elect
on Himself and put them away. Now, for He hath made him sin
who knew no sin. You know, on the cross, He cried. There are two things He cried
on the cross. One of them was this, By God,
My God, why has thou forsaken me? He really was forsaken. I don't know what all that means.
No way I can understand it or enter into it, but he was completely
forsaken by God. It wasn't pretend. It wasn't
play acting. He was forsaken by God because
of sin. For he hath made him to be sin,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him." Now, no virgin birth, no salvation for you or me, but
thank God he was not born of Adam's seed. He is the woman
seed, which would bruise and crush the serpent's head. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet
saying, behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring
forth a son." Now think about this, God spent nine months in
his mother's womb He started out a seed, went through this
nine month period of gestation, a fetus, living in the darkness
of Mary's womb. All we can say to that is bow. There's no other response. She
shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus.
Look in chapter two, verse one. Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem
of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came
wise men from the east to Jerusalem. Look down in verse six. And thou
Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among the princes
of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule
my people Israel. Now he's in Bethlehem. That's not where he was from.
But I think this is so glorious in his town, and I believe it
was Nazareth. Augustus Caesar decreed that
all the world should be taxed. Now, he was acting, he thought
on his own, but he was being directed by God. He was doing
what he did so freely, and he didn't, all he was wanting to
do was put more money in the Roman coffers. Decree he made
everyone you had to go back to the place where you were born
and There you would pay your taxes. So Joseph and Mary have
to head to Bethlehem to pay their taxes and that is where she would
have the Lord Jesus That's where he would be born. Just as the
scripture said now. I love that. I Caesar Augustus,
the emperor of the world, he makes a decree. He thinks my
will is being done. He didn't know it didn't have
anything to do with him. This was the purpose of almighty
God, to send his son, that his son might be born in Bethlehem. Now I've got three very simple
points to this message. Look in verse 23, behold a virgin
shall be with child and they shall bring forth a son And thou
shalt call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God
with us. I've got three points. God. Number two, us. Number three,
God with us. Now Matthew was writing to the
Gentiles, and that is why he gives the interpretation. Behold,
a virgin shall be with child, and she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Immanuel. He knew that the Gentiles
wouldn't know what that meant, so he lets them know under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Here's what that means. God with
us. God. Do you know that all people believe
in God intuitively? Everybody that's ever born into
this world believes in the existence of God. No one is born an atheist. Atheism is illogical. It's irrational. It's unreasonable. Why is there something and not
nothing? There's only one rational, reasonable,
logical answer. Because God is. Now, why are there atheists then?
You know, they're very intelligent people. I'm not calling into
question their intelligence. Why are there atheists then?
Well, because they do not like the implication of God. The scripture
says in Romans 128, they did not like to retain God in their
knowledge. They didn't like the implications
of that, what that meant to them, what that meant about the universe.
So they take this blind leap of faith, no God. The fool has
said in his heart, no God. Everybody naturally believes
in God. But the God spoken of in our
text, God with us, It's the same God spoken of in Genesis chapter
one, verse one. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. That's the God being spoken of.
The same one of whom John said in the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. And 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. You know, He made many pre-incarnate
appearances. Somebody says, what's a pre-incarnate
appearance? Well, it's an appearance before He actually became flesh.
He became flesh that night in Bethlehem, whatever day it was
on, but he made many pre-incarnate appearances where he didn't come
in flesh, but he came. There's so many of them. I have
no doubt that it was he that was walking in the garden in
the cool of the evening and said, Adam, where art thou? He was
the voice of God. That's who he is. I love his appearance
too. Moses. This is so glorious. He appeared in a bush that was
on fire and could not be consumed. Now, I imagine Moses looked at
that and didn't think anything about it, probably thought a
bolt of lightning hit it. And maybe he looked at it a couple
hours later and It wasn't consumed. I don't know, it could have been
he went to bed that night and got up and it was still burning. And
then he said, I'm gonna go aside and see this great sight. What
it is, and the Lord spake to him from this bush. And what
is said about this bush burning and not being consumed? That
lets us know that this bush could stay on fire and burn with no
need of the energy of that wood to keep burning. It was independent
of that. And what that's talking about
is the independence of the Lord Jesus Christ as God. He has no
needs. Now let me tell you what's glorious
about that. That means he doesn't need anything for you to do in
order for him to save you. He does it all. And that is so
glorious. He has no needs. Independent
God and the fact that that Bush was not consumed speaks of the
perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He could not be
consumed by God's wrath. He consumed God's wrath. This
is the two natures of Christ in this picture. Absolute deity
and perfect humanity. I love it when Joshua sees it and He came to
him. I don't know whether how big
he was in this appearance. I don't know if he's just the
size of a man. It doesn't say. But evidently he was very threatening
when Joshua saw him. And he said, tell us, are you
for us or for our adversaries? Neither. I don't take sides. I'm the captain of the Lord of
hosts. Take your shoes off your feet. You're on holy ground.
He hit the dirt as everybody does who sees him and says, what
sayest thou to thy servant? He's not asking now for him to
hear what I say. No, what do you have to say to
me? This is the Lord Jesus Christ. He said from the bush to Moses,
I am that I am. What a name for God. Tell them
I am, saith he. Not I was, not I want to be,
not I would be, not I could be, not I should be, not I will be.
I am that I am. And the Lord said in John 8 24,
if you believe not that I am, you will die in your sins. What a solemn word. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God with us. Colossians 2 9 says, In him dwelleth,
resides all the fullness of the Godhead. in a body. Now, God is so immense that He
can't be contained by the universe. The universe is in Him. That's
how immense He is. Fullness of sovereignty. dwells
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Fullness of omnipotence dwells
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever He wills, He has the
power to make it come to pass. Fullness of omniscience dwells
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Fullness of eternality, He never
began to be. Fullness of immutability, He
can't change. Every attribute of God. Fullness
of justice, fullness of holiness, fullness of love, fullness of
grace, fullness of pity and compassion. Every attribute of God in its
fullness dwells in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a glorious person, the God
man, the Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. That's my first point. God with
us. Here's the second point, us.
Us. God with us. Who does the pronoun us refer
to? Well, in the immediate context,
look in verse 21. And she shall bring forth a son,
thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sins." Now from that verse we find out who the us
is. Now first of all the us is his
people. This is not talking about every
son of Adam. This is talking about His elect, His sheep, those
for whom He died. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. The Lord said, I pray for them.
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me. This is the us. If God be for
us, Who shall be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. How shall I not with him freely
give us all things? That's the us he is speaking
of, the elect. Now I've heard preachers say,
well, the us is those who believe. The us is those who believe.
Do you know that's the truth, but that's a compromise? It's
the truth. There's no doubt about it. But
if I leave it there, I can conclude that it's my faith that makes
me one of them, the us, those who believe. Well, yes,
the us is those who believe. Why do they believe? Because
they're elect, because Christ died for them, because God the
Holy Spirit regenerated them and gave them life. That's the
us, his people. But notice how it says, he shall
save his people from their sins. That lets me know that every
us is a sinner. Every one of them. If I can't
identify myself, you know, people talk about, how do you identify? I guess
the reason I'm saying this, I went to the doctor today and they
asked me how I identify. Well, I identify as a sinner. And I'm thankful that God's given
me grace to do that because Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners of whom I am the chief. Sinful men and women. Now I can tell you this, you're
not one of his people if you're not a sinner. But if you are
a sinner, you are one of his people. That is the us that he
is speaking of. This message is not for Well,
somebody says, is this, but is not this the message for everybody?
Yes, it is. Yes, it is. The Lord said, go
ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. God commanded all men everywhere
to repent. I love John 6, 37, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me.
I will in no wise cast out. We give all men this assurance.
If you come to Christ, you will not be turned away. Look in,
well, I'll quote Luke 10, 2, 10, the message of the angels
to the shepherds, fear not. For behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Well, how can you preach the
gospel to all people if you say he'll only save the elect? I
got no problem with it at all. Anybody who comes to Christ,
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. We can preach
just as freely. Actually, we're the only ones
preaching freely when we preach this message. How are you? You're living it to the elect.
Yeah, I am. But this is for anybody who'll
come. This is for anybody who needs His mercy. This is for
anybody who needs His grace. That is who the us represents. This is a message to every man
and for every man. What serves, what must I do to
be saved? Believe. on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. God, the God of the Bible, us,
his people, sinners. And here's the third point, this
is the last point. God with us. Now, if I say I'm for you, you're
going through a hard time. I'm for you. I'm in your corner. That's a good thing. But if I
say I'm with you every step of the way, no matter what, that
means a bit more. The three Hebrew children, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, refused to bow before Nebuchadnezzar's
image. And he has them thrown into a
fiery furnace. You remember the story. He said,
who's the God that'll deliver you out of my hands? And they
said, our God's able to deliver us. We know that, we have no
question about that. But if he doesn't, be it known
unto you, we're not gonna bow. And he became so angry, he had
the furnace heated up seven times hotter than it normally was.
And he had them cast into that fire, bound. And even the people
that got close to the flames, they were destroyed by the flames.
And then Nebuchadnezzar looks into that fire And he doesn't
see three men. He sees four men in the fire
walking loose. There was one with those three
men. And Nebuchadnezzar said, he's
like the son of God. Now, how did he know that? The
only way I can figure that out is if you see him, you'll know
who he is. I mean, you can't see him who he is and not know
who he is. He knew he was the son of God. And when those three men came
out of the fire, there wasn't even the smell of smoke on them. And on their clothing, not one
singe of their hair was burned. And that's when Nebuchadnezzar
said, there's no God that can deliver after this sort. The
son of God was with them. Do you know the Lord was with
you before you were? Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee. He was with you when physically
you had no existence. He was with you when you were
born. You didn't know it, but he was
there. Because he said, I'll never,
lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world. He
was with you during your youth when you didn't know him. He
was with you when he revealed yourself to him, and he's with
you at all times. That's why David said, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and isn't
this what this life is? It's the valley of the shadow
of death. Death is just around the corner. And I have no reason to fear
any evil. Why? Because thou art with me
at all times, when I'm aware of it, when I'm not, when I'm
awake, when I'm asleep, thou art with me. You know, providence, is not
some blind force. It's Him with you. Under all circumstances. He who
controls everything. It's Him with you. I love the way His people are
described in Revelation chapter 17 verse 14. He is called King
of kings and Lord of lords. and they that are with Him. Now
I love that, don't you? That's who I want to be. I want to be with Him. I want
my only identification to be with Him. They that are with
Him are called, chosen, and faithful. Every one of them are called
by the gospel, called by the grace of God. And the reason
they're called is because they were chosen. And because they
were chosen, they will remain faithful, believing all the way
to the end. That's the description of those
that are with him. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
two. We're going to look at just a few scriptures and then quit.
Ephesians chapter two. Verse four, but God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. I was with Christ when Christ
was raised from the dead. I was in Him. I was with Him.
When He was raised, I was raised. By grace are you saved and has
raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places
In Christ Jesus, together with Christ. Colossians chapter two,
just a few pages over. Colossians chapter two, verse
12. Buried with him. Colossians chapter two, verse
12. Buried with him. in baptism, wherein also you
are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God
who has raised him from the dead. And you being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him." having forgiven you all trespasses. Now in his great
high priestly prayer for his people, in John chapter 17, verse
24, he said these words, Father, I will. Now what would happen if you
said that? It would be daring presumption. It would be wicked. It would
be arrogant. It would be sinful. Father, I
will that you do this. No. If it be thy will. But he as equal with the father
could say, Father, I will. that they which you have given
me be with me." Where I am. Now, wherever He
is, I'm with Him. Yes, that's talking about heaven,
that they may behold my glory. That's what heaven is going to
be, beholding His glory. Father, I will, the day which
you have given me, be with me where I am. That's where I want
to be. With him where he is. I don't want to be anywhere else.
I want to be with him. Now, we're with him now. All who are in him are with him
and heaven will be being with him, beholding his glory. God with us. Let's pray. Lord, your gospel is far too
glorious to be the invention of depraved men. This is a gospel worthy of your
glory and your name. And Lord, by your grace, we say
with Paul of old, we're not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. for
it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. How
we thank you for this precious truth, God with us. And Lord, we ask that you would
enable us to believe God with us, not God against us, Lord, we're
thankful for God being for us, for you being for us, but how
we thank you that in your Son, our Emmanuel, God with us. Drew, come lead us in, I'm closing
in.