Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. If you would like to turn with
me in your Bible to Matthew chapter 1, I'm going to begin reading
in verse 18. Matthew chapter 1, beginning
in verse 18, we'll read to the end of the chapter. It says,
now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his
mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she
was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph being her
husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public
example, was minded to put her away privately. 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. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. 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 Immanuel, 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 till she had brought forth
her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. God sent two messengers to this
earth. He sent two messengers to declare
to his people what the name of their savior would be. He told
them who their savior was and what his name would be. He sent an angel and he sent
a prophet. And through the angel, God said
adamantly, He said, this is what you're going to call His name.
You write this down and you tell the whole world. I want you to
call His name, Jesus. You tell the whole world His
name is Jesus. Straight from God to us. Verse 21, it said, she shall
bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. And then through the prophet,
the prophet Isaiah, God adamantly said, I want you to write this
down and you tell the whole world, I want his name to be called
Emmanuel. That's what you call Him. Verse
23, 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. I'd like for us to look just
for a moment at why God said He had to be called by these
two names. Why these two names? God said,
call Him Jesus. And he said, call him Immanuel. If I had to summarize the gospel
in just two words, if there were two words that truly summarized
the good news of what Christ has done for his people, it would
be these two words, substitution and satisfaction. That is what Christ accomplished
for His people. That's what He accomplished for
them, and that's what He accomplished for God the Father. Substitution
with His people. He traded places with His people.
And satisfaction. He satisfied the judgment of
God. Now, why those two names? Why
the name Jesus and why the name Emmanuel? Here's the answer.
Substitution and satisfaction. When God said, call him these
two names, God was declaring this is what he's going to do.
He is going to be the substitute for his people and he's going
to be the satisfier of the justice of God. Let's read it one more
time. Matthew one 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 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
Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us." God with us. God sent Isaiah first. He sent Isaiah with the message
first. So I want to begin with Isaiah's
message, but then we're going to look at these two names in
the order that they appear here in our text. Jesus and Emmanuel. Verse 23 is quoting Isaiah chapter
7. If you'd like to turn with me,
go over to Isaiah chapter 7 and it says in verse 14, Isaiah 7
verse 14, Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. A virgin shall conceive and bear
a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. He said, I'm going
to give you a sign of the Messiah. I'm going to give you a sign
of the one who is coming to redeem his people from their sin. A
virgin shall conceive. A virgin shall conceive. This is gonna be done in a way
that man has no part in it. That's what God is saying. I'm
gonna do this in a way where man can take no part in it. Every bit of this is of God. He said, I'll give you a sign.
You're gonna physically see that every bit of this is of God. A virgin shall conceive and bear
a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Emmanuel is coming. That was the message of the Old
Testament, the entire Old Testament. Here's the message. Every story
in the Old Testament, every picture in the Old Testament. Moses slaying a lamb and the
smitten rock and the serpent on the pole and Noah's Ark and
all of these stories cried one thing, Emmanuel is coming. And
now in the New Testament, we're crying, Emmanuel is coming again. He's coming again. Emmanuel is
coming. Now, what does it mean, Emmanuel
is coming? If you look right here in Isaiah
chapter 8, it says in Isaiah 8 verse 10, take counsel together
and it shall come to naught. It'll come to nothing. Speak
the word and it shall not stand for God is with us. God is with us. Here's what we
must understand about the virgin birth. At Christmas time, everybody
loves the virgin birth. They love to put out these nativity
scenes, and it shows a woman holding a baby, and there's a
manger there, and there are other shepherds, and Joseph, and animals. Here's what we must understand
about the virgin birth. Rather than think of it in a
flippant way, This is what we must understand
about the virgin birth. God is three persons, but there are not three gods.
There are not three gods. There is only one God. He said in his word, there's
no other. There's no other. If God came,
Emmanuel means God with us. If God came, the only God there
is came. Does that bring a greater magnitude
to the virgin birth? The only God that there is, the
God of all creation, all heaven and earth came. Now was the Father in heaven
while the Son was on earth? Yes, He was. Yes, He most certainly
was. But if any man or woman saw the
Son, they saw the Father. Explain that. I can't. All I can do is declare
it. All I can do is believe it. God is three persons. They're
not three gods. There's only one God. And he
said, if you have seen me, Jesus Christ said, if you've seen me,
you have seen, you've laid eyes on the father himself. Look right
here in Isaiah chapter nine, verse six, it says for unto us,
a child is born as Christ, Jesus, this man, Jesus Christ, Jesus
of Nazareth. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
The Mighty God." That little baby that was born. Call his
name, the mighty God. Now, if you're looking at it
with me, you see that next part? Call his name, the everlasting
father. Call him, call that little baby
that came, born of a virgin. Call that little baby, the everlasting
father, the mighty God. Call him the prince of peace.
That's who came. That's who came. The apostle
Paul told Timothy, Great is the mystery of godliness. What a
mystery. He said great is the mystery
of godliness. The one and only God there is,
was manifest in the flesh. The Apostle John wrote, the Word
was the one and only God there is. In the beginning was the
Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. The one and
only God there is. And He said, the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. The Word was God. And God was
made flesh and dwelt among us. Our Lord Himself said, He that
honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father that sent Him.
Why is that? It's because He and His Father
are one. If we don't honor the Son, we
can't honor the Father. They're one. They're one in the
same. All the fullness of the Godhead,
all three persons, dwell in the Son. All the fullness of the
Godhead. You see all that fullness in
the Son. The only God there is, The one
who has no beginning. The Old Testament was saying
he's coming, he's coming. What the Old Testament was not
saying is it was not saying he's not alive yet, but he will be.
He was saying he's coming. Jesus Christ has no beginning.
None. And no end. The One who created
all things. By Him were all things created.
By Him all things exist. He's the One who spoke this world
into existence. People believe it was the Father.
This Word says it was the Son. Jesus Christ spoke everything
into existence. He is the One who will reign
for all eternity. That very One was born of a virgin. That's amazing. That's amazing. And when he was born, God said
concerning Emmanuel, God said, call his name, call Emmanuel's
name, Jesus. Call him Jesus. Why Jesus? It's
because Emmanuel is going to save his people from their sins. Jesus means Savior. Savior. How's he going to do that? How
is he going to save his people from their sins? He is going
to be their substitute. He came to be the substitute
for sinners. Sinners that His Father chose
and gave to Him. The substitute for particular
people called His people. His people. Now let's see what
the one and only God did as our substitute. Okay, let's see this
substitution. Turn with me over to Luke chapter
2. Luke 2, verse 1, and this is
just amazing to me. This is glorious. I pray you
might find it glorious too. Luke 2, verse 1, it says, 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 Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, every
one 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. That's where he had to go to
be taxed by law. Verse 5 says, To be taxed with
Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. She was at
the end of her pregnancy. 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 end. She laid him in a manger. Now that sounds like a special
little place. It sounds like a quaint, cozy little spot. But
what that was in reality is, that was a feeding trough for
farm animals. That was a feeding trough in
a barn for horses or pigs. That was just a place to throw
slop, feed or slop. Why would they lay him there?
Why would they lay him in that? It's because there was no room
for them in the inn. No place for them in the end.
No bed for him to lay in. No place in the end. Don't we
realize who this is? Don't we realize that all the
Old Testament prophesied that he was coming? Don't we see who
is here? Yes, we do. We most certainly
do. We know exactly who this is.
This is our substitute. This is our substitute. And being
our substitute, from the moment he entered this world, he was
cast out as our substitute, an outcast. In order to die for
the outcasts, he had to be outcast. He had to be. The moment that
Adam sinned in the garden, God said, cast him out. The moment
he sinned, God said, cast him out and cast out every son of
his with him. Every son of Adam is cast out. And that's what we are. We all
came from Adam. So Christ entered this world
as a Son of Adam, the Son of Man, the scripture calls Him.
And as the Son of Man, immediately He was outcast. Not only was
He born outcast, He died outcast. His entire life on this earth
was spent rejected, despised, outcast. And when it came time for him
to die on the cross of Calvary as the substitute for his people,
he died an outcast. He died an outcast. He was not
allowed to be born in Bethlehem and he was not allowed to die
in Jerusalem. In Bethlehem, they said, take him out there to the
barn. And in Jerusalem, they wouldn't
let him die in the city. They said, take him without the
camp. Get him out of here. An outcast. Now we're going to
come back to this spot if you want to hold your place, but
look with me at Hebrews chapter 13. It says in Hebrews 13 verse
11, for the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the
sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without the
camp. In the Old Testament, they had
all these sacrifices that pictured God's Lamb, Jesus Christ, the
one true sacrifice for sin. They were just types and pictures
telling us who truly would take away the sin of His people. But
they were all burned. The bodies of those sacrifices,
they were burned without the camp. Those filthy, vile, dead
carcasses, all the stench and all the rot, they said, get them
outside of the camp. Cast those things out of here.
Now look at verse 12. Wherefore Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without
the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto
him without the camp, bearing his reproach. How glorious that
is. His reproach. He took the reproach
for himself. That was His reproach. Should have been ours. But He
took it to Himself. Outcast. That's what God meant
when He said, call His name Jesus. Call His name Jesus. He's going
to save His people the only way they can be saved. As their substitute. As their true substitute. Look
with me at Hebrews chapter 2. In Hebrews 2, it says in verse
16, For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels, He
didn't come in the likeness of an angel, but He took on Him
the seed of Abraham. He was born into the likeness
of sinful flesh. Verse 17 says, Wherefore in all
things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren. that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people." That means he made himself to
be in all points our substitute. All points. Now let's continue
seeing that. Go back to Luke chapter 2. Luke 2, it says in verse 21,
And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child,
his name was called Jesus, which was so named to the angel before
he was conceived in the womb. Now think about this. They cut something off of him. And they threw it away. He was perfect. He was spotless. Why was he circumcised? Circumcision
was given to Abraham as a token, as a remembrance. That's why.
A remembrance of the mercy that God was going to show to him.
Abraham and his children needed mercy. And God said, I'm going
to show it to you. It's my covenant with you. I'm
going to make a covenant and I'm going to show you mercy.
And that covenant is going to be remembered through the token
of circumcision. God said, Abraham circumcised
every male in your house. And in that circumcision, they
were crying out to God, I need mercy. That's what they were
crying out to God through that circumcision. I need mercy. And you've promised to show mercy.
Well, Christ didn't need mercy. He was perfect. He was spotless.
Why was he circumcised? It's because he was our substitute.
As our substitute, He was going to take upon Himself all of our
sins. And His hope before God was that
God His Father would not leave His soul in hell. So as our substitute,
He remembered God's promise and He pled the covenant of the sinless
blood that was going to be shed. He pled the covenant. Call His
name Jesus. He's going to be born of a woman.
He's going to be born an immediate outcast. He's going to plead
God's covenant of mercy. Luke 2 verse 51, it says he's
going to be subject to his parents. He's going to obey whatever they
tell him to do. It says in verse 51, he went down with them and
came to Nazareth and was subject unto them. But his mother kept
all these sayings in her heart and Jesus increased in wisdom
and stature. Not only is He going to humble
His body, He's going to humble His mind. He increased in wisdom
and in stature and in favor with God and man. How is that even
possible? He is God. How is that even possible? All we can say is, call His name
Jesus. That's all we can say. In Luke
chapter 3, it says that John the Baptist baptized Him. Why
was he baptized? Men and women came to John the
Baptist to be baptized, confessing two things. Number one, it says
in Luke 7, they came justifying God for His punishment toward
them because of their sin. They came justifying God, confessing
their own sins and justifying God, saying, you're right in
your judgment against me. I deserve to die. That's what
they were saying through baptism. Well, why was Christ baptized? He didn't have any sins of his
own to confess. Here's the reason. Call His name
Jesus. He will confess their sins. He
was baptized confessing the sins of His people. Never did He commit
one sin. He was spotless. but he made
our sins his very own. He said, they're mine. They're
mine. Now, our Lord never performed a miracle for himself. He did
it for others, but not for himself. Why not? He was our substitute. Call His name Jesus. Now I want
to finish this message with call His name Emmanuel. Call His name
Emmanuel. Why did God say call His name
Emmanuel? Here's why. Because God is with
us. That word with translates to,
it means to and it means in. Christ came to secure a union
with his people. Us in him call his name Jesus. Him in us. Call His name Immanuel. Everything we were went to Him. Call His name Jesus. Everything
He is came to us. Call His name Immanuel. If God
be for us, who can be against us? Till next week, may the Lord
bless His word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m., and 6 o'clock
p.m., Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next week
for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.