I want to bring a message today
about the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ from the book of Matthew.
We're going to read there Matthew 121. You probably have that scripture
memorized. But before we do, I want to go
through and just summarize for you everything God said about
the birth of Christ in the New Testament in the book of Luke.
The gospel of Luke was written by Luke And it says in the very beginning
of that book that he was perfectly familiar with all of the details
around the Lord Jesus Christ and his birth and his life and
his ministry, his death and resurrection. And so he wrote the book of Luke. in order that the one he wrote
it to in us might believe the things that were surely written,
surely understood by him and preached by those that Christ
sent. So we're going to look at some
of that in Luke, but we're also going to look in Matthew chapter
1. one of my favorite verses in all of scripture and this
is the time of the year when I always like to bring it out.
But then we're also going to consider a verse in Galatians
chapter four where you would expect to find the birth of Jesus
spoken about in Galatians chapter four but there it is. I guess
the first thing you might be asking is how do you know this
is true? You ever think about that? How
do you know anything is true? How do you know that Sometimes
in college you get into courses in philosophy and stuff like
that. They ask you, how do you even know you're alive? You're
even here. Right there you need to know
that that's the course you need to skip. But how do you know it's true?
It says in Hebrews chapter 11 that by faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the Word of God. So we understand
by faith And what is faith? What is faith? Faith is taking
God at His word. It's taking what God says to
be the way things are. And that's something we don't
have naturally. No man naturally has this faith
that takes what God says at His word. But what is faith in Jesus? Faith in Jesus is believing what
God has said about His Son. And it's through the faith that
God gives to us, which is a gift of God, that we're saved. It
says in Ephesians chapter 2, by grace you're saved, through
faith. So we understand the truth because
God spoke to us. In Psalm 127, the last verse,
it says that the man who has a quiver full of children is
a happy man because his children will speak will speak with the
enemies in the gate. And imagine a son who goes to
school or goes to college or goes to wherever in his life
and he speaks about what his father told him when he was young. And he receives all kinds of
contradictions about what his father said. But he says, no,
I believe what my dad said. That's a son who has received
the truth from his father and believes it. And that's what
God does for us when he gives us faith. He teaches us the truth
about what he said, and we believe it. And that truth, the truth
of God through which he gives us salvation, is the truth about
the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't be saved apart from
Christ. And we can't be saved except through grace, by grace,
through faith. So God has to give us that faith.
So that's the first thing. When we look at God's Word, we're
looking at what God has spoken. It was written down by men of
old and we know it's true because God said it. It doesn't matter
what it is in life, you can't determine the truth of it except
someone tell it to you. You might discover it through
your senses, you might make measurements, but you really can't discover
truth. But you can't discover truth this way when God tells
you the truth. And so that's what the Bible
teaches. Through faith we understand.
Through faith we know things. God has said it, therefore we
know it's true. We weren't there when God created
the world. We weren't there when Jesus was on the earth. We weren't
there even if we were. The interpretation of those things
wouldn't be available to us. We wouldn't be able to figure
it out unless God revealed it. So it's necessary God speak from
his word. Now, it just so happens that
God has graciously spoken through in many ways. Before Jesus was
born, God sent Gabriel, the angel, to Zacharias. He was a priest.
In the book of Luke, in chapter 1, you can read about this in
your own time. Zacharias was married to a woman
named Elizabeth, and they were both old. They couldn't have
children. All their lives together, they had no children. But God
had arranged it in time so that at that point in time, He came
to Zacharias when he was in the temple doing the service of the
priest. And He came to him through this
angel and He told him, you're going to have a son. And your
son is going to be named John. And John is being given to you
as a son. He's going to be a prophet with
the power or the spirit of Elijah, who was the greatest prophet
in all the Old Testament. That's how great John was. He
was the greatest prophet, Jesus said, who ever lived. Because
his ministry, what God gave him to do, was to come before Jesus. And so the angel came to Zacharias,
his father, and he said, you're going to have a son. His name
will be John. And this is what he's going to do. He's going
to turn the hearts of the people to the Lord, their God. Now,
he was speaking about the Lord their God. He was speaking not
only of God generally, but as God in heaven, God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but God the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so he said when he's born,
he grows up, that's his job. He's going to go preach and tell
people about the Lord Jesus. And so Zacharias was the first
one the angel came to. And then the angel came to Mary. Now Mary was a young woman. She
had never been married before. She had never been with a man
before. She was a virgin. And the angel Gabriel came to
her and spoke to her. And he told her that she was
going to have a son. Not by a man. Not through the
agency of a man. Not because she was going to
get married to a man. But because God was going to
cause her to have a baby in her womb without a man. by the Holy
Spirit. God himself would come upon her
and she would become with child and she would give birth to this
son whose name the angel said, you're going to name this son
Jesus. Jesus, that's the name you're
going to give him. And this is who he is. He's going to be called
the son of the highest, the son of God. But he's going to be
born. And that's something we need
to understand, what this means about the Son of God being born.
How can this be? But He's also going to be called
the Son of David. The angel told her He's going
to sit on His Father David's throne. He's going to reign on
that throne forever. His kingdom, there will be no
end to His kingdom. When he's born, he's the son
of God. He's going to be called the son
of David, because he is. And then he's going to sit on
his father's throne. So that's the second time that God spoke
concerning his son Jesus being born to Mary. And then, after
that, the angel came to Joseph, who was engaged to be married
to her. They weren't married yet. before
the angel came to Mary, but the angel came to Joseph and told
him also." And that's the one we're going to read about here
in a minute. But after the angel came to Joseph, then John the
Baptist was born, just like the angel told Zacharias he would
be born. And at the birth of his son,
John, Zacharias, his father, said something. He said these
things by God speaking through him. And if you turn to Luke
chapter 1, we'll see what God said through Zacharias, because
what Zacharias said at the birth of his son John was a prophecy
about the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's important we see this
because this is why Jesus came. Jesus was born for a reason.
He wasn't just born randomly, like all of us seem to be. It's
not random at all. I don't mean to use that word
disrespectfully. God has a purpose for each one
of us. But here, he says in Luke chapter 1 that the birth of Jesus,
when Zacharias spoke about the Lord Jesus, he said these things.
Look at verse 67. Luke chapter 1, verse 67. And this is speaking about John's
father, Zacharias. He said, "...and his father,
Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying..."
This is what he said. This is God's Word spoken through
this man by the Spirit of God. "...Blessed be the Lord God of
Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people." Now a prophecy
is God speaking. But he speaks in prophecy sometimes
about things that are going to happen as if they've already
happened. And that's what's being spoken
of here. He's speaking about Jesus. And He has raised up a horn of
salvation for us in the house of His servant David. A horn
is a hard, sharp thing. If you have a horn, you can push,
and you can't resist a horn, because it's strong. And so when
He speaks about a horn of salvation, He's talking about the strength
of God in saving His people as a horn, compared to a horn that
pushes. And no one can resist that force. He's raised up a
horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as
he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been
since the world began." And here, listen to what he says. Jesus
is born. His birth is going to be according
to what God has spoken in the Old Testament. Since the world
began, God has spoken these things. This is the culmination. This
is the fulfillment. This is the reason for all that
God said before in Scripture. Listen to what it says in verse
71. This is God's promise. That we should be saved from
our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us That's the
first thing, salvation from our enemies. And then in verse 72,
So God made promises. He made a covenant. He made these
promises to all those that he saved from the foundation of
the world up until this time. And he calls out Abraham here
because Israel, the nation of Israel, was born from Abraham. And he says he spoke these things
to Abraham. Made a covenant with him. He
swore with an oath. God's going to do this. that
we, verse 74, that we should be, that we, I'm sorry, that
He would grant us that we being delivered out of the hand of
our enemies might serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness
before Him all the days of our life. And so he goes on and says
in verse 76 and 77 that John, the prophet, would be called
the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face
of the Lord, speaking about Jesus as the Lord, to prepare his ways
to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission
of their sins. Do you see what God is saying
here? First He said to Zacharias, you're going to have a son John,
he's going to preach to the people, the people will be turned to
the Lord, and in turning them to the Lord, John's going to
tell the people to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then
he comes to Mary and he speaks to her about how her son would
sit on the throne of David, be the son of God and save his people.
And here again, Zacharias prophesied and said, he's going to save
his people from their enemies. He's going to do these things
according to God's promise from all this time that went before.
And so, Zacharias was the third one who spoke about this after
the angel came to Mary. And now, I want you to remember
what the Lord said to the angels in Luke chapter 2. The angels
came to the shepherds, or the first one, it says, first of
all, one angel came to the shepherd. And the shepherds were in the
field at night. They were out there watching their sheep, taking
care of their sheep, when the angel appeared to them. And since
it was night when the angel appeared, there was a bright light shining,
and they could see very clearly that this was an angel from God.
And they were afraid. They were afraid. I would be, and you would
be too. Why would we be afraid of an
angel? Because an angel is from God, an angel is holy. And what
are we? We're sinful. And there's nothing
that gives us fear except knowing that we're sinners and God is
holy. And these angels have power.
And so when they saw the angel, they were afraid. But this angel
didn't come to scare them. And so he says to them in Luke
chapter 2, In verse 10, the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold,
I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Not everybody, because lots of
people hated Jesus and wanted to kill him. The king hated him
and did terrible things trying to kill him. So not to everybody. It wouldn't be good news to everybody,
but good news to everybody throughout the world over time. out of every
nation under heaven. Not just to the nation of Israel,
but to this nation, and the nation in Australia, and China, and
Russia, and Papua New Guinea, and Brazil, Portugal, and every
other nation in the world. And that's a wonderful thing,
isn't it? That God would send His Son into the world, and this
would be good news. Why is it good news? Why is it
good news that Jesus was born? Isn't that an important question?
Why? Why do people think about the Lord Jesus being born? What
does God think? Why does God say it's good news?
Well, He says this, "...for unto you is born this day in the city
of David..." What? a Savior. That's why it's good
news, a Savior. If you're sitting on the side
of the pool, and there's people in the pool swimming about, and
you see one person out there drowning, and you're sitting
on the side of the pool, what do you think is going to happen?
There's a lifeguard sitting there. The lifeguard is going to jump
in and save that person. That lifeguard is very good news
to that person drowning, isn't it? If you're sitting on the
side of the pool though, You're not in the water, you don't really
need a lifeguard. A Savior, we need a Savior. God
says we need a Savior. If God says we need a Savior,
you can bet on it, we need a Savior. Why did God send His Son, though,
to save? Why didn't He just send an angel
to save? Why couldn't He have just sent
a strong man to save? Well, I was thinking about this.
You know what a 747 airplane is? They're big, aren't they?
A 747 airplane can lift heavy things, like a tank. They can
fly, they can fly, or like, remember the shuttle that they used to
send in outer space? They'd put that on top of the
747, and then that plane would take off. You would never think
of getting a 747 just to haul one person, would you? That would
be overkill, wouldn't it? Or would you get a horse to carry
a feather for you? Or would you hire a dump truck
to carry a pebble? No, you get something strong
because you have something that is hard to do, don't you? And
so when God sent His Son, who is Himself the Son of God, to
be our Savior, what does that say? What kind of a Savior do
we need? a weak Savior or a strong Savior. Someone who's able to save us
a little bit or to save us all the way. Someone who can save
us just from a few things we did wrong or save us from sin
that's so vile and hateful that God would punish us in hell.
That's the kind of Savior Jesus is. A Savior who saves. A Savior
who saves us from our sins. and from the wrath of God. Remember
what Zechariah said? Who is he going to save us from?
All of our enemies. All of our enemies. Who are our
enemies? Are the Russians our enemies? Are the giants our enemies? Who are they? God says our enemies
are sin and Satan and this evil world. And the sin inside of
us. And death itself. And even God's
law is our enemies because we're sinners. And the wrath of God.
All these things are against us. And without a Savior to save
us from our enemies, our enemies are going to beat us up. They're
going to take over. They're going to take our life
away from us. We need a strong Savior. Someone
who can save us. That's why when the angels spoke
to the shepherds, it was good news to all people. Why? Because all people who hear and
know themselves to be sinners, and find that God has sent His
Son to be your Savior, say, that's good news. That is good news.
Now, the next person I want to talk about here is a man named
Simeon, an old man. Simeon was such an old man, he
was ready to die, but God had shown him that he would not die
until he had seen the Lord's Christ. And this is what Simeon
said when he saw Jesus as a baby. He says in Luke chapter 2, verse
30, He said, Simeon took him up, and if you read back a couple
of verses, it says, in verse 27, he came by the Spirit into
the temple, right when Mary and Joseph had brought Jesus into
the temple as a little baby. And when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him, after the custom of the
law, in verse 28, it says, Simeon took him up in his arms. Simeon took Jesus as a baby in
his arms, and this is what he said. He said, and he blessed
God when he did that, and he said this, now let thy servant
depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes listen
what he says mine eyes have seen thy salvation That's what Simeon said, this
man who had lived his life waiting for Christ to come. He held him
in his arms and he said, now let me die in peace, for mine
eyes have seen thy salvation. He's holding a baby. How could
a baby save him? because that baby was none less
than the Lord God of heaven and earth, born as a man in order
to save his people from their sins. And look at verse 38, then
this other person, Anna, a woman who was old, she was over a hundred
years old, and she came in, in verse 38, in that instant, and
she gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spoke of Him, of
Jesus, to all that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. What
is redemption? Redemption is being set free
from prison and from debt by the payment of a ransom. And
this is the one. Jesus was going to come and redeem
his people. He was going to pay the ransom
price so that God would set them free from their sins. He was
going to give his life. And now look at the verse in
Matthew chapter 1. This is the one I wanted to get to. This
is the last one I want to mention to you. Matthew chapter 1 verse
21. Look at this together. If you
don't understand anything more about the birth of Jesus, understand
this verse. Because this is about salvation.
Everyone God spoke to about the birth of Jesus, He told them,
He's going to be the Savior. Verse 20 says, Actually, look at verse 18. Now,
the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother
Mary was espoused, that means engaged to Joseph, promised to
him to be his husband, before they came together, she was found
with child of the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Spirit of God, in
verse 19. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man, that means he was a good man, he was not He was
not cruel. He was not mean. He was not unfair.
He was a fair man. A just man. And not willing to
make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately.
He loved her. He didn't want to shame her.
He found out she was expecting a child. He thought that child
must be by another man. That's the only way women can
have children. Except in this case. And so while he thought
on these things, at verse 20, Behold, the angel of the Lord
appeared 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, not by a man, but of God. Verse
21, And she shall bring forth a son, and that shall call his
name Jesus. for he shall save his people
from their sins." There it is. Joseph, she's going to bring
forth a son. This woman that you're about
to marry, who's never known a man, she's going to bring forth a
son, and you're going to call his name Jesus. And here's why. Because He's going to save His
people from their sins. What does Jesus mean? Why did
God say His name is going to be Jesus? Well, Jesus is a word
that means Jehovah Salvation. It's like a hyphenated word or
like a word where you're not sure how to connect. Jehovah
is God's name and salvation. We know what that is. It's what
God does to save us from our sins. He who was born was called
Jehovah Salvation. Or you could say it this way,
Jehovah is Salvation. Or you could say Jehovah is my
Salvation. Or Jehovah is the one born here,
Jesus, is the Lord's Salvation, the one God provided. Look at
Isaiah chapter 12. Isaiah chapter 12 says that those
that believe on the Lord's Christ, the Lord's hearer of salvation,
are going to say this when the Lord saves them. Listen to this.
Isaiah chapter 12, verse 1. In that day, when the Lord makes
you to understand that you're a sinner, and that Jesus Christ
is your only Savior, and you see all of your salvation in
Him, this is what's going to happen. In that day, thou shalt
say, O Jehovah, or O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast
angry with me because of my sin, thine anger is turned away, and
thou comfortest me. That's what we say when the Lord
saves us. You were angry with me, and rightly so. But now you
comfort me. Now you're not angry with me.
Your anger is turned away and you comfort me. Look at this.
Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. Why? For the Lord Jehovah is
my strength and my song and He also is become my salvation. Jesus Christ is Jehovah the Lord. He became my salvation. That's what believers say. God
became, God is my salvation. He became my salvation when He
was born. When He came into this world
as a man. It says in Hebrews chapter 10, that when Jesus came
into the world, when He was coming into the world, because He was,
when you were born, did you come into the world? How did you come
into the world? You didn't come into the world.
You were conceived in your mother's womb. And you were born from
your mother, but you didn't come into the world. Jesus came into
the world because before he was born, he already was the Son
of God. And so it says in Hebrews 10
verse 7, when he came into the world, this is what he said,
a body hast thou prepared for me. And He took that body to
Himself. God took the soul, the body and
soul of a man, and in that soul and body, He who is God lives. It says in Colossians 2.9, the
fullness, all that God is, dwells in the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Isn't that, can you understand
that? Can you understand how God, who can't, the heavens can't
contain Him, can live in Jesus Christ in a body? All of God
is in Him. And that's what He says. Anyway,
back to Matthew 1.21. He says, His name will be called
Jesus, Jehovah, salvation. For He shall save His people
from their sins. and then a little later he goes on he says 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 she shall bring forth a son and they shall call his
name Listen to this. Emmanuel. What does that mean? Well, he says it right here.
Which is being interpreted, God with us. This is God's word. Who is Jesus? He is God over
all. He is the Lord of glory. He is
the King of glory. He is the Lord over all. He is
God in the flesh. God in a man. He is the God-man. Now do you see how strong the
Savior is? Remember, the dump truck isn't
needed to carry a pebble. A horse isn't needed to carry
a feather. A 747 is too much for just one
person. It would be too much for God
to take the nature of a man to save us from our sins, if we
could save ourselves. Or if someone else could save
us, if an angel, only God in a body of a man. and the soul
of a man could save us from our sins. What does that tell you
about how bad our sins are? What does that tell you about
how great God's justice is that required His only Son to bear
our sins in His own body and to suffer for them to save us
from them? What does that tell you? It tells
us our sin is horrible, doesn't it? So bad that the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is God, would have to come and take our nature and
bear our sins in that nature and suffer the punishment for
them in order to save us. That's how great the Savior has
to be. And that's how bad our sin is. That's how great God's
justice is. And that's how great God's love
is, that He would send His Son. But in Matthew 121, He says,
you'll call His name Jesus. Now listen to these verse very
carefully. He shall save his people from their
sins. What were his people like? If
you read this verse, what kind of people are they? He shall
save his people from their what? From their sins. These people
are sinners, aren't they? Only sinners sin. He will save
them from their sins. Who's going to do this saving?
Are we going to do it? Is Goliath? How about David?
King David, or maybe the Apostle Paul or Peter, no. Jesus, He
shall save His people from their sins. And what is He going to
do for His people? The Savior does, what does the
Savior do? He saves. What does the lifeguard do? He
rescues people who are drowning. Jesus is the Savior. That's why
this name Jesus is so dear and precious to us, because we're
sinners and we need to be saved. He shall save. He can't fail
because He shall do it. He won't fail. He certainly saved
them from their sins. Because He He is Jesus, the Lord,
Jehovah. If He didn't do what His name
is, then He couldn't be who His name says He is. Jehovah is salvation,
but if He didn't save His people, then He can't be Jehovah is salvation,
can He? Our names, our parents give us
names because they don't know what we're going to be like when
we grow up. If they knew, maybe they could give us a name to
describe us. I can't imagine what kind of a name I would have
been given. It wouldn't have been pleasant. Sinner. That's what God calls us. Sinful
people. Oh, sinful people. But here He
says, the Lord Jesus Christ is named Jesus because He is the
Savior. The Savior of sinners. The Savior
of sinners. And who are His people? Well,
what is He going to do for His people? It says here he's going
to save them. How do you know who his people
are? Those he saves. He can't fail. Jesus said in
John 10, 16, other sheep I have, which are also of this fold,
them also I must bring. I must. I must have them. He's
not going to leave any of his people unsaved. He's going to
save them all. He didn't come to try to save
people. He didn't come to make a salvation
possible so that we could make that salvation work by doing
something. He came to save, and He did what
He came to do. He accomplished it. In John 19,
verse 30, Jesus cried from the cross, It is finished. And what was finished was all
God gave Him to do. This is what His name is. He
shall save His people from their sins. And He did what His name
says. He did what He was given to do. the Savior who came, the Savior
who saved, the Savior who saved His people from their sins. When
He rose from the grave, He had already saved His people from
their sins. God says that He perfected them
forever by His one offering. By His one offering, He perfected
forever all of God's people. By His one offering, He Himself,
by Himself, completely washed them from their sins when He
Himself laid down His life. And you know how we know He did
that? Because He rose from the dead and He sat down on Heaven's
throne. He reigns because of the triumph
the victory over his enemies. You know why he reigns as king?
Because all of his enemies have been subdued under his feet.
And He's going to reign there forever and ever. And He's going
to bring His people to glory with Him. And He's going to make
Himself known to them, those He saves. He tells them this. He speaks from His word and He
speaks in their conscience and convinces them, they're sinners,
and He convinces them that He's the only Savior. And He causes
His people to know that He has saved them from their sins by
this message. by the remission of their sins,
by His blood that paid the debt. They couldn't pay. Their sins
owed God. He paid that debt. The Lord, Jehovah, has become
my salvation. Jesus shall save His people from
their sins. Can God fail? Is there something
too hard for God to do? Is there anything too hard for
the Lord? That's why the Lord had to do
it. Because it was impossible for all but Him. If God required
His Son to die, then nothing else could save us from our sins. Our sins are that bad. And God
is that good that He would do this, and His justice is that
high that it would require His Son to die. And His Word is that
faithful that what He said cannot fail. Do you believe Him? Are you a
sinner that needs the Lord Jesus to save you? I am. I am that bad. I cannot save
myself. I cannot do one thing of all
that God requires. I need a Savior who saves. It
says in Scripture that we are dead in trespasses and sins. Our Savior needs to raise us
from the dead. And He needs to give us life.
And that life He gives to us, He gives us faith to see Him
who laid His life down to save us from our sins. The Lord Jesus
Christ, His name is Jesus, and don't you love that name? I do.
Because in that name I find all my hope for eternal life. All
of the sins I've committed, all the sins I still will commit,
things I've thought, said, and done, I can't find anything good
in it all. But in Jesus Christ, God found
nothing wrong. He saved His people from their
sins. and he sat him on heaven's throne. God wouldn't do that
to someone who hadn't done the job. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that the
Lord Jesus Christ actually saved his people from their sins. He
did it all. Thank you that we hear this word
like the angels spoke. Now we hear it from your word
again. Cause us like those that heard it then, Zacharias and
Mary and Elizabeth and the shepherds and and Simeon and Anna, all
those who heard, who believed on Him, Lord, we pray You'd give
us that faith, that life that the Spirit of God must give to
us, so that in our heart we would be persuaded that Jesus Christ
is all my salvation, and we would rest in Him. and we would come
to you with this as our only way of coming that Jesus Christ
and all he did is enough to bring this sinner to God and to clothe
him in perfect righteousness and bring me to glory and to
give me all that you are going to give your son. Lord, we pray
this blessing on all that are here. We pray that you wouldn't
leave one of us outside of your kingdom, that you would bring
us in and cause us to see and glorify and worship your Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of glory, the Son of David, who
saved his people from their sins. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.