Alright brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 1. Let's begin in verse 18. Now
the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When as his mother
Mary was a spouse to Joseph, before they came together, she
was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband,
being a just man and not willing to make her a public example,
was minded to put her away privately. 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 womb is of the Holy Ghost. and she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins." Now here's where our text begins.
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, and they shall call
his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. 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 until she had brought forth
her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus." Now it was necessary
that the Lord Jesus be conceived of a virgin and born of a virgin
of the Holy Spirit in order that He might fulfill all the Scriptures,
that He might fulfill all the prophets. Now in this hour, we're
going to see Christ fulfilled the prophets. He fulfilled the
prophets. That's going to be our focus
this hour. He fulfilled every word written
by Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, and on
and on. He fulfilled all the prophets. Now first of all, it says here
Christ was born of a virgin that he might fulfill the prophets.
It says in verse 22, all this was done that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, that is, by Isaiah.
saying, 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 in the next hour, we're going
to see what this has to do with Christ fulfilling the law. But
in this hour, for now, I want you to understand that this was
the Lord Jesus fulfilling the word that had been spoken by
the Lord through the prophet Isaiah. Back in Isaiah 7.14 is
where he spoke this. Now, we saw Thirsty that he was
begotten of the virgin by the Holy Spirit so that he would
be a sinless man. If he's going to be fit To bear
the sin of His people, He had to have no sin. And that's why
He was born of a virgin. He had no sin. You and I are
born of corrupt seed and that means we're conceived in our
mother's womb in sin. The seed is corrupt. It's sinful
that we're born from. So, our whole being in our mother's
womb is already sin. For we've done anything. That's
why a baby comes forth crying and mad. that sin exposing itself. God in human flesh, that was
the second reason, that He might be God in human flesh. If everything
He accomplished is going to be eternal and never have to be
done again, He has to be God eternal. And this He was, the
Son of God. Now the angel of the Lord came
here and told Joseph, She shall bring forth the Son, and thou
shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from
their sins. And that's exactly what Christ
does. I won't labor this because we
saw it Thursday night, but the Lord Jesus saves His people from
their sins. He saves us from the penalty
of our sins by shedding His blood on the cross. That's how we're
saved from the penalty of our sin. He saves us from the dominion
of our sin by His regenerating Spirit. That's how the sin ceases
to have dominion over us so that we can actually believe on Christ
and have the love of God in our hearts. And then He saves us
from the being of our sins, from sin being what we are when He
takes us out of this world. And then He saves us from all
the consequences of sin. This wrinkled, corrupt flesh
is due to sin. And these evil, wicked thoughts
are due to sin. That will be no more when He
resurrects us to glory. He saves us from the consequence
of sin. So He saves us from our sins completely. Alright? Then through the prophet Micah,
God promised that Christ would be born in Bethlehem. Now go
to Matthew 2. It says here in verse 4, When
Herod had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people
together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea. For thus it is written
by the prophet. This is what was written, Thou
Bethlehem in the land of Judah are not the least among the princes
of Judah for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule
my people Israel. But Joseph and Mary were not
residents of Bethlehem at the time that she conceived. They
were not residents of Bethlehem at the time that she conceived.
They were living in Galilee in the city of Nazareth at that
time. But the Scripture must be fulfilled.
He must fulfill the Scripture that said he would be born in
Bethlehem. So, God moved the heart of a
king, a king that didn't know God, a king that was spiritually
dead. God worked in his heart and moved
this king, Caesar Augustus, to make a decree requiring that
every man return to his hometown and pay his taxes. Luke 2 and verse 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. And this taxing was first made
when Cyrenus was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed,
everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from
Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea unto the city of David,
which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage
of David. to be taxed with Mary, his espoused
wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they
were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
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. So there's another scripture
that Christ fulfilled. Well, also I want you to turn
to Psalm 72. Psalm 72. Here, David prophesied in Psalm
72, 10, and said, ìThe kings of Tarshish and of the Isles
shall bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall
offer gifts.î Look down at verse 15. And he shall live, and to
him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Prayer also shall be
made for him continually, and daily shall he be praised." Worship,
bow down to. Go back to Matthew 2. Because that was prophesied under
two years after his birth, somewhere between his birth and two years
later, This is what took place. Matthew 2.1, 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, saying, Where
is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star
in the east, and have come to worship him, to bow down and
praise him. Verse 11, And when they were
coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary his
mother and fell down and worshipped him. And when they had opened
their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold and frankincense
and myrrh. And so David's words were fulfilled. Well, by the prophet Hosea, God
promised that he would call his son out of Egypt. He would call
him out of Egypt. So God moved Joseph in his heart
to take him to Egypt. Look at Matthew 2 verse 13. And
when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared
to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, take the young child and
his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring
thee word. For Herod will seek the young
child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young
child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt, and
was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of
Egypt have I called my son." Well, even Herod's wickedness,
even that wicked King Herod, and His wicked act fulfilled
the purpose of God, fulfilled His Word. Look here in Matthew
2.16. This was spoken by Jeremiah.
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men,
was exceeding wrath, and sent forth and slew all the children
that were in Bethlehem, and all the coasts thereof, from two
years old and under. That's because when the wise
men came, Christ was somewhere between somewhere just under
two years old. And he says, "...according to
the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then
was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet,
saying, In Ramah was there a voice heard, lamentation and weeping
and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children. It would not
be comforted because they are not." Well, then Joseph disobeyed
God. Here's a believer who disobeyed
God. But God even overruled Joseph's disobedience so that his disobedience
fulfilled the Word of the Lord. Look here in Matthew 2 verse
22. But when he heard, when Joseph
heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father
Herod, he was afraid to go thither. God had told him to go back and
he was afraid. Notwithstanding being warned
of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee,
disobeyed God. If a man can disobey God, is
that going to make God's Word of none effect? Look right here,
verse 23. And he came and dwelt in a city
called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene. Even Joseph's
disobedience fulfilled God's word. Now, the words Nazarene
and Nazarite are the same word. They mean netzer. It means one
separated, given up to God, devoted entirely to God. And long ago,
Jacob's son, Joseph. Remember Joseph? He pictured
Christ. And when Jacob blessed Joseph,
he made this prophecy. He said, this is what shall befall
you in the last days. And these are the last days since
Christ came. These are the last days. In Genesis
49, 26, he said, The blessings of thy Father have
prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost
bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of
Joseph and, now listen to this, on the crown of the head of him
that was separate from his brethren. That's Christ. He's the true
Nazarite. He's the true one devoted entirely
to God his Father. So throughout the life of Christ,
now we've seen here He fulfilled all the Scriptures in His birth.
So throughout the life of Christ, when you read the Scriptures,
you'll constantly come across the words, and this happened
so that it might be fulfilled. This happened according to the
Scriptures. This happened as it was written.
That means, Whatever it was that took place, He was fulfilling
the Word of the Lord. He was fulfilling the prophets.
And we find Christ fulfilling prophecy right up to His very
last acts. When the Scripture says He took
the vinegar, that was to fulfill the prophecy. When the Scripture
says, he cried, it's finished, and commended his spirit to the
Lord, we've seen in Psalms, that was a prophecy of Christ. So
he fulfilled every word right up until his last breath. Now, let's learn a few things
from seeing Christ fulfill every word that the Lord promised through
His prophets. What do we learn from this? Well,
first of all, we learn that everything written in the Old Testament,
just like the New Testament, is concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. Everything in the Old Testament
is concerning Christ. This is one book, and this book
is concerning Christ Jesus, the Son of God. The Lord said concerning
the Scriptures, out of His own mouth, He said, They are they,
which testify of Me. These Scriptures testify Christ.
When He was on the road to Emmaus, and those men were doubting,
the Scripture says, beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
Himself. If we don't see Him in the Scripture,
that doesn't mean He's not there. It just means we can't see Him.
Because He's there. Luke 24-44, He said unto them,
These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with
you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written
in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. Look at Romans 1. You know what
we preach? You know what our gospel is?
The world is preaching man's works. The world is preaching
man's morality and how he ought to act and this and that. You
know what our gospel is? This is what we're sent to preach
right here. Romans 1.1. Paul, a servant of
Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel
of God. Now he's going to tell us what
the gospel of God is. which He had promised afore by
His prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning His Son, Jesus Christ
our Lord. That's our message. When we look
in the Old Testament Scriptures, we aren't looking for prophecy
just to try to appear wise that we know what's going to come
to pass. We're looking at prophecy to see what Christ has accomplished.
That's our mission. That's our gospel. So that's the first thing we
see. Every word of the Old Testament Scriptures is concerning Christ.
The first prophecy that was preached in Genesis 3.15 declared that
Christ would be the seed of the woman. That means He'd be the
only child born, not conceived of a man, begotten of the Holy
Spirit. He's the seed of the woman who
would bruise the serpent's head, bruise the devil's head. And
the very last prophecy of the Old Testament is in Malachi 4
verse 2, which said, unto you that fear my name shall the son
of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and you shall grow
up as calves of the stall. That was the last. And from the
first to the last, every word in between is concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what does that mean to you?
When you search these scriptures, Don't go to the Scriptures looking
for idle things that you're just curious about. Go to the Scriptures
looking for Christ the Lord only. I've told you before, God will
see to it that what a man is looking for in the Scripture,
that's what he'll find. If he's looking for vain things,
God will make him find vain things and will deceive him. But if
he is by the will of God, by the power and grace of God, he
goes to this book looking for Christ, God will show him Christ.
Alright, secondly, from Christ fulfilling the Scriptures, we
learn that God is absolutely sovereign. He controls every
person in this world. Everything in this world is controlled
by God. So that God's able to promise
all those many years ago what He would do, what Christ would
do, and then He's able, all these many years later, to bring it
to pass. That's sovereign. That's sovereign. If He didn't tell us beforehand
what was going to come to pass, we could just say, well, this
might have just happened. But He told us before exactly
and then brought it to pass exactly. That's sovereignty. There's no
other God that can do this. The gods of men throughout the
world that men are worshipping, no other God can do this. God
said this, Yea, let them take counsel together. Not just let
them take counsel of themselves. Let all the gods come together
and take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
Me. A just God and a Savior. There
is none beside Me. So He says, look unto Me. Look
unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I
am God and there is none else. It's useless to look to any other
God. This is the one true and living
God. If you don't get anything else
from the sovereignty of God, get this. He's the only God there
is. He said, remember the former
things of old. For I'm God and there's none
else. I'm God and there's none like me, declaring the end from
the beginning. And from ancient times the things
are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand, my word shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure. even things that we don't think
could be accomplished. He said, calling a ravenous bird
from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country,
calling a man who is like a ravenous vulture, who doesn't even know
me, and I'll use him, God said. He'll accomplish my counsel.
Yeah, I've spoken it. I'll bring it to pass. I've purposed
it. I will also do it. So hearken unto Me, ye stout-hearted
that are far from righteousness. I bring near My righteousness. God is so sovereign that the
wicked things that happen in this earth, that men do, the
wicked things men do, the only reason they come to pass is because
they fulfill God's Word, His eternal purpose. And if they
don't, there's a lot more men would do. But if they don't fulfill
God's purpose and don't fulfill His Word, God will not permit
it to come to pass. He will not allow them to do
it. The psalmist said, Surely the wrath of man shall praise
thee. That means if a man does something
wicked, it's to praise God. And the remainder of wrath, that
wrath that could be vented from men, shalt thou restrain. Now listen, when you hear somebody
say, why did God let this tragedy happen? Well, now you know the
answer. Now you know the answer. Because
in some way, It's glorifying God and it's good for the salvation
of His people. I don't have to know how. I just
know that's the case with anything that comes to pass. Are you concerned
about our president? There are so many people concerned
about our president and about all these rulers in the world
right now. Don't be. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. And as the rivers of water, He
turneth it whithersoever He goes. That means, brethren, this God
of this book is the only God to worship. And I'll tell you
something else for fathers and mothers. We pray for our children
that God will save them. This is the God who can break
the stout heart and bring His righteousness near and bring
His child to believe on Christ. So don't despair. God's able. Alright, thirdly, by Christ fulfilling
everything God promised, we learn that God cannot and will not
lie. Because God declared it from
the beginning and told us all these things. These are promises.
We're saved. Our gospel is a promise. We're
saved by the promises of God. And God cannot lie. He will not
lie. Isaiah 45.23, God said, I have
sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness
and shall not return void. That unto me every knee shall
bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. And all that are incensed
against him shall be ashamed. Look at Hebrews 6 with me. Hebrews
chapter 6. And look here in verse 13. When God promised to Abraham,
because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,
saying, Surely, blessing, I will bless thee, and multiplying,
I will multiply thee. And so after Abraham had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. God made good on his word, for
men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife. Say, when they want to confirm
their word, they do it by something greater than them. And so that
ends all strife. You've sworn to do it. Look at
verse 17. Wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel,
to show that His word cannot be changed, He confirmed it by
an oath, so that by two immutable things, in which it's impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who fled
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. God can't
lie. In His own person He cannot lie.
And so God made an oath by Himself, swearing by Himself, because
He could swear by no greater, so He swore by Himself. So we
have God who cannot lie and His oath. Two things that can never
be changed. So we have a strong consolation.
You and I who believe on the Lord, we have strong comfort
that what God has promised, God shall bring to pass. We know
that in Christ Jesus all the promises of God are yes and amen
to the praise and the glory of God. We know this because Christ
fulfills all. And then lastly, by Christ fulfilling
the prophets, We learn that Christ is everything God promised He
would be in the Scriptures. Christ is the seed of woman.
He is the seed of woman. We see that here clearly written
in His Word. He is born of the Holy Ghost.
He is the seed of woman. He is the sinless God-man. I know that men refute this and
men won't receive this by nature. And you know why that is? Because
it's something man by nature can't do. And men by nature,
if they can't do it, they don't believe it. But God gives His people faith,
and faith believes God. Faith merely believes God, simply
believes God. So we believe God. But because
He is that God-man promised, the seed of woman, He came forth. And on Calvary's cross, because
He purged His people of all our sin, He crushed the devil's head. He took the devil's power from
him. Because all the devil had for power was to accuse us with
sin. And God took it away in Christ.
So His power is gone. And soon, brethren, He'll crush
the devil's head under our feet. He's our prophet. You know why
He's our prophet? Because He's the one who God
ordained to teach us effectually in our heart. I can preach the
Word to you, but I can't teach you effectually in the heart.
He's the prophet. He is the high priest who ever
lives. He's not a priest that has to
be replaced every so many years. He ever lives to make intercession
for His people. If any man sin, when any man
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous, and He is satisfaction for our sins. And He is our King
who rules everything in this world for our good. Him being our King means every
believer is a servant in His kingdom. You picture a king in
his kingdom. Everything that king does is
supposed to be for the servants in his kingdom, for the citizens
of his kingdom. Well, he might be corrupt if
he's an earthly king and not do things for the citizens of
his kingdom, but not our king. Our king is holy and true. Everything
he does is for the good of his people. So know that. When bad things happen to you
and me and we're sorrow and full of sorrow and cast down, This
is the will of God concerning you. The King is working for
your good. And then He is the Lamb of God.
He is the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of His people
who are scattered all over this world in every generation. When
our Lord Jesus went to that cross, He was the only one fit to take
the sin of His people upon Himself. And our God made Him sin for
us who knew no sin. He was the only one who was fit,
who was able to be made a curse, bear the justice of God and satisfy
that justice. And that's what he did. So we
can be certain of this, when he cried out, it is finished,
he meant it. It is finished. The redemption
of his people from the curse of the law is finished. You know
what the curse of the law is? On one hand, it is the fact that
it curses you and me. that it declares us guilty. He
removed us from that. The law doesn't declare us guilty
anymore. The other thing that's a curse about the law is you
and I can't fulfill it. We can't do it. We can't obey
it. That's a curse if you have a law that you can't keep. Christ
did. Christ fulfilled it. He's removed
us from the curse of the law. That's what He meant when He
said it's finished. Now wouldn't it be a shame If you went through
this whole life believing the word of liars, that's what God says about the
man who won't believe Him. He says, you're calling God a
liar and you're believing liars. Wouldn't it be a shame to go
through this whole life believing liars whose word is not true? only to find out in the Day of
Judgment that every word you ever heard preached, God declared
in perfect truth. Wouldn't that be something? He
promises every knee shall bow either by His grace in this Day
of Grace right now or in that Day of Judgment. When you see
Christ coming to this earth and you see everything God promised
came to pass exactly as it came to pass, know every knee is going
to bow. I pray God make us bow now in
this day of grace. Bring honor to His name and make
us receive the full assurance that we are redeemed and accepted
of God. I pray He does that for us now.
it'll be a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry
God. Amen. Let's stand together. Our great God and Father, we
thank You that You're true. We thank You that You cannot
lie. We're thankful that everything You've promised, You've brought
to pass, You've verified it in Your Word, You've shown it to
us in our heart. Lord, there's nothing so comfortable
in all this world than to know we have somebody we can trust. When we live in a world of liars
and we're lied to and betrayed, it's so comforting to know we
have somebody whose word we know is true. Forgive us, Lord, our
sins and our unbelief and our doubting and our lies. We ask
this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.