All right, if you would, let's
open our Bibles to Matthew chapter one. The title of the message
this morning is Christ was born on this wise. Now, America and
much of the world this morning has suddenly become very devoutly
religious, celebrating the birth of the child Jesus. But you know,
today is not the birthday of the Lord Jesus. It's Lexi's birthday. It's not the birthday of Jesus. The taxing that brought Mary
Joseph to Bethlehem, where our Lord was born, didn't even take
place at this time of year. So this is not his birthday.
But now let me make this very clear to everyone. I love Christmas. I am not anti-Christmas at all. I mean, it really is the best
time of year. We look forward to it and plan
for it all year long. It's just a wonderful time of
year. It's a time to be with your family.
It's a time you can give gifts to one another, show your love
for each other, and just enjoy a time being with each other.
But we have to be aware of how, unfortunately, our world today
is midnight a lot of this day, December 25th. You know, Scripture
never tells the church to celebrate the Lord's birth. We're told
to celebrate his death, to remember his death in the Lord's table.
We remember his death. We're told to celebrate the resurrection
of our Lord. And that's not on Easter Sunday.
It's every Sunday. You know why we meet together
to worship on Sunday? First day of the week. Because
our Lord arose from the grave the first day of the week. That's
why we meet on every Sunday. We're celebrating the Lord's
resurrection. He was raised again for our justification. Now, all
that being said, I sure am thankful that our Lord
was born as a man in Bethlehem, aren't you? I'm not anti-Christmas
and I'm not anti the birth of our Lord either. I rejoice that
he was born as man. I felt led this morning to bring
a message on the Lord's birth. I mean, everybody's thinking
about it. This is a good time to do it. In the last weeks,
we've all been inundated with things about the Lord's birth.
Some of them good, some of them not so good. So I'd like for
us to spend a few minutes looking at what God's Word has to say
about the birth of our Savior. The joy to the world is not that
a cute baby was born in Bethlehem. That's not the joy of the world. The joy to the world is in what
that baby will accomplish by his life, by his death, and by
his resurrection. What Mike just sang, that's the
joy to the world. That baby who was born is God. It's not like he's God. He's
not a watered down version of God. That baby who was born on
that day, whatever day that was, that baby is God. The word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. Emmanuel, God with us. What a
mystery. Almighty God was made an actual
human being. Miracle. The son of God became
the son of man. Now God wasn't born. We read
that in Isaiah, didn't we? God was given, a child was born.
The son was given. The son of God became the son
of man for a specific purpose. Not just so we'd have a miracle
we could wonder at. He was born as a man for a specific
purpose. Save his people from their sin.
That's why he came. Verse 18 of Matthew chapter one
tells us that the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. in the
manner that follows. And the manner of our Lord's
birth includes the reason that he came. And the reason that
he came is so important, and that's what I want us to see
this morning. Verse 18, 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.
Now here, Mary and Joseph were engaged. The word espoused means
engaged. The Greek word there comes from
the word that means souvenir. Joseph must have given her some
sort of topum, souvenir of their engagement. So here's the first
point. They were engaged, had not come
together yet. The first point of the manner of the Lord's birth.
The Lord Jesus was born of a virgin. Mary was a virgin. But she was
pregnant. Not by a man, not by the seed
of a man, but by the Holy Ghost. And that is vital that she was
a virgin. The Savior was born without the
seed from Adam's fallen race. If Lord Jesus had been conceived
from the seed of a human father, like all of us. He would have
been just another Jesus because he would have been conceived
from sinful seed. He would have he would have if
he was born like us from a seed of a human father, he'd have
been made partaker of Adam's sin and Adam's guilt. But because
he was formed in her womb by the Holy Ghost, he didn't take
part in Adam's guilt or Adam's sin. The Lord Jesus, Mary's firstborn
child, was the only sinless baby who was ever born. The only one. And that makes him the only possible
Savior for sinners, because he didn't partake in Adam's guilt.
Now that's a truth worth celebrating, and it's vital to our salvation.
But always remember this when you read scripture. Now that's
good doctrine, why he had to be born of a virgin. But you
know, we read these stories in scripture. These are events happening
to real people, just like they're real people with cares and responsibilities
and living their life and trying to make a living just like we
do. And all this was a great mystery to Mary. That angel appeared
to Mary and told her, you're the child, she said. How can
that be? I've never known a man that can't
be. And he explained to her, the
Holy Ghost will come upon you. And that child is formed and
used that holy thing. She just, this is a mystery to
Mary. Well, if that was a mystery to
Mary, after her conversation with that angel, you imagine
how hard that was for Joseph to get ahold of. Look here at
verse 19. Then Joseph, her husband, he
was not her husband. He was engaged to her. They called
him her husband, Joseph, her husband. being a just man, not
willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her
away privately. Now, you've got to think about
this from Joseph's perspective. Mary goes and she spends three
months with her cousin, Elizabeth. And she comes back from being
out of town for three months. And you can just imagine this
couple, they're engaged, you know, they've been apart for three
months. And she goes over to see Joseph. She hasn't seen him
in three months. And she says, now Joseph, She said, I got something
to tell you. I'm pregnant, but I'm a virgin. I haven't been unfaithful to
you, but I'm pregnant. Joseph didn't believe that. He just
didn't believe her. Who could believe that? I mean,
that's just not the way a baby's formed. He did not believe her
and who can blame him? But you know, from everything
I read about Joseph in scripture, I just get the impression he's
a fella we all would really like. I mean, we just really like him.
He's described here, Matthew describes him as a just man.
His character was just. Joseph was a man who always tried
to do the right thing. And he tried to do it in the
right way. He didn't try to do things in a haughty, self-righteous
way. He looked for ways to be kind
and considerate. I mean, you think about this
news Joseph just got. His fiance is pregnant and he
hadn't been with her. It was right for him to want
to break off that engagement. There's nothing wrong with that.
Because he just, he knew Mary had been unfaithful to him. But
this is what he was thinking about. He was thinking, how can
I do this in such a way that I won't cause Mary to be publicly
humiliated? Is there a way I can do this
where she won't get stoned to death? Mary could have been stoned
to death for this. So he's thinking of a way that
she wouldn't be made a public example. And what he was probably
going to do, this is the way they would handle a divorce or
break off the engagement. You'd get two or three witnesses
and you'd give the woman, the man would give the woman a bill
of divorcement in front of these witnesses so everything was,
you know, legal and everything. So Joseph's thinking, okay, I
need to find two or three of my best friends, men of discretion,
men who know how to keep their mouth shut. So they can be the
witnesses. I give her this bill of divorcement.
And afterwards, they won't tell anybody. Mary won't suffer any
consequences. You know, that's a good lesson
for us as we deal with one another. Handle these matters privately.
Handle matters in such a way, if you possibly can, to keep
somebody from being publicly humiliated. Joseph just like
us. I mean, maybe it went through
his mind at least once. It just would make him feel better
to take out his frustration on Mary and see her suffer. But
he's a just man. He's a kind man. He wouldn't
do that. He's trying to find a way that he could handle this
where Mary wouldn't be publicly humiliated. And while he's thinking
on these things, the Lord sent him a messenger. And that messenger
brought a message of joy. And that's the message I want
to preach to us this morning. Verse 20. 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, there's our first point
again. The Lord Jesus is the sinless Savior. He had no original
sin because he was not conceived by Adam's sinful seed. He was
conceived in her of the Holy Ghost. In verse 21, this is our
second point. The Lord Jesus was born on this
wise, for this purpose, to save his people from their sin. Verse
21. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sin. Now the angel told Joseph, you
call his name Jesus. And that's what they named him,
Jesus. But you know, Jesus is the name of our Lord's humanity.
It's the name of his humiliation as a man, Jesus, that was his
name. When the apostles, when they wrote about the Lord, when
they said the Lord did something, they said, Jesus did this, or
Jesus did that, or Jesus said this, or Jesus said that. Identifying
the man that didn't said those things. But when they spoke to
the Lord, never one time did they call him Jesus, never. They
either call him Lord or Master. That's what they call him because
that's who he is. And I'll tell you just this is
a good clue that somebody doesn't really know Christ. They don't
know him in a saving way. If all they ever refer to him
as is Jesus and they don't call him the Lord Jesus. Christ is
your Savior. He's your Lord and King first.
Lord Jesus. And simply calling Christ by
the name Jesus, It just smacks of over-familiarity, doesn't
it? It's just not showing him the
right amount of respect. And the best example I can think
of is my dad. My dad's name was Frank. I named
after him, I'm Frank. Do you know in my entire life,
I never called him Frank, ever, ever. I always called him that
out of respect for who he is. He earned it. He earned that
respect. How much more true is that of the Lord? He is Lord. He's earned it. He earned the
respect that we call him Lord and master for who he is. And
someone might say, oh, Frank, I think you're making too much
out of that. What's in a name? But what is in a name? The Lord's
name reveals his character. It reveals who he is and what
he's done for his people. His name is Jesus. The name means
savior. It means the Lord saves, Jehovah
saves. The Lord Jesus was born on this
wise for this purpose, save his people from their sins by believing
his name. Oh, what a name, what a name. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must accept. His name is Savior. The New Testament named Jesus,
it's the Old Testament named Joshua. It's the Lord's name
revealing his character. You remember the story of the
children of Israel, after they came out of bondage in Egypt
and they came to the promised land, Moses could not bring the
people into the promised land. He could lead them out of Egypt,
he could lead them wherever the Lord told him, but he could not
bring his people to rest in the promised land. Well, why not? Because Moses is a picture of
the law. The law came by Moses. So Moses had to die. Joshua had to be raised up. Joshua,
the captain, Joshua was the first captain of the army. Joshua,
a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation.
It's Joshua that led the people into the promise land. It's Joshua
that divided the land to the people. It's Joshua who gave
the people rest in the land of promise. Because He's a picture. He's a picture of Christ bringing
His people into rest in Him. Bringing them to eternal glory.
And what that story teaches, now that story happened to real
people. But what that story teaches you and me is this. We can never
come to salvation. We can never come to rest from
the law. Through our law keeping. Our
only hope of salvation is in the Son of God. who became the
son of man, Mary's virgin born son, whose name is Jesus, because
he came to save his people from their sin. He came to give them
rest in him. Christ came to save. I think we'd be hard pressed
to find very many people in this world that don't know Jesus saves. I mean, it's a catchphrase, isn't
it? It's a catchphrase you see on billboards This rolls off
the tongue of religious people, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Saves from what? Saves us from
hell? Saves us from living a bad life
on this earth? What does he save us from? The
angel says he'd come to save his people from their sin. Christ did not come to be a reformer,
change the way people live. Christ didn't come to be an example,
to show people how to live. Christ didn't come to be a healer,
to heal people from physical diseases. Now he did that, but
every time the Lord healed someone of some physical disease, it
was always as a picture of his true purpose, to heal his people
from all their spiritual diseases by saving them from their sin,
by being the cure for their sin. Now here's the importance of
Christ being born of a virgin, not partaking in Adam's guilt.
Christ the Savior, if He's going to save His people from their
sin, He's got to be a holy man from the get-go. He's got to
be conceived in a holy way. When you and I are conceived,
we're conceived in sin. Not Christ, He was conceived
in holiness. If He's going to save His people
from their sin, He's got to be a righteous man. He's got to
be born without sin. But then, he had to live his
life, every second of his human life, he had to live it in perfect
obedience to God's law. Outwardly, he had to keep God's
law. In thought, he couldn't even think of a sinful thing. In heart and motive, his desire
had to always be for righteousness and to glorify his father by
keeping the law, by being a holy man. He did. He did. That's something you
and I can't comprehend because we can't do it for a nanosecond.
Christ did it his entire life. And then, in order to save his
people from their sin, Christ had to go to the cross. He had
to suffer and die and save his people from their sin in justice. In justice. And he did. The Lord Jesus Christ How did
he save his people from their sin and injustice? By going to
Calvary as a substitute, as a substitute for his people. Christ didn't
suffer and die on the cross so you'd feel so sorry for him that
you'd accept him as your personal savior. Christ died to satisfy
his father. He died as a substitute for his
people, as a sacrifice that would put away the sin of his people.
And He did that by taking the sin of His people away from them
and making it His, so that He took the sin of His people into
His own precious, holy body upon the tree. The Father made His
holy, perfect Son sin for His people. And then the Father killed
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, He killed Him in justice. because
the law demands death for sin. And Christ died to satisfy the
law. And he never would have been
able to bear the sin of his people unless he didn't have any of
his own. That's why he had to be conceived of a virgin. That's
why he had to live a perfect life so that he could be able
to take the sin of his people away from them into his own body,
put it away by his sacrifice. He had to live a holy life that
was worthy to die, that had perfect blood, that was able, worthy
to pay for the sin debt of his people. And by his death, the
Lord Jesus Christ saved his people from their sin and justice. Christ
died. He deserved to die. He deserved
to. Everyone, now he died as a substitute
for his people. So everyone Christ died for has
eternal life. They deserve it. They deserve
it. Christ's righteousness is their
righteousness. Everyone Christ died for has eternal life because
they deserve life. Because Christ died in their
place as their substitute. He satisfied justice by his death. Joy to the world. The Lord's
come. to save his people from their
sin. The Lord Jesus came. The angel
said he shall save his people from their sin. He got to the
cross. He hung his head and gave up
the ghost. He cried, it's finished. Do you know the Lord Jesus didn't
give up the ghost? He accomplished everything the
father gave him to do. All of the work is finished.
Christ saved his people from all sin. His blood cleanseth
us from all sin, because he's the sinless sacrifice. Christ
saved his people from the condemnation of sin by dying for us as our
substitute. Christ saved his people from
the curse of sin by being made a curse for us. And then Christ
saved his people from the controlling power of sin by giving them a
new nature and a new birth. Now, what does that mean? I think
this will be a blessing to you. What does this mean? Christ has
saved his people from the controlling power of sin. Do you know I still
sin? I don't want to, but I do. So it seems like sin is still
affecting, it definitely is affecting me. It seems like sin is still
controlling me. I don't want to sin, but I do. So what does
this mean that Christ has saved his people from the controlling
power of sin? Well, in the new birth, there's
a nature who's born of God. That new man has a nature that
loves God and believes God. You know, I've grown up, many
of you have too. I grew up hearing the gospel. And I tell you, I would hear
about man hates God. And I would think, well, I want
to love God. And I couldn't. I could not,
I couldn't do it. because I just had one nature.
I had a nature of sin that hated God. I read in Scripture, I can't
tell you how many times I heard a preacher say, you believe on
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. I cannot
tell you how many years I just tried to make myself believe. I never could do it. I never could. I just had one
nature. that refused to believe God. And then God in mercy, God, the
Holy Spirit, mercy came and caused me to be born again. Gave me
a new nature, a different nature that's opposite from my old nature
in every way. And now I can honestly tell you,
I love God. I can say with Peter, Lord, you
know all things, you know I love you. I can't tell it sometimes,
you can't tell it sometimes from watching me, but I can tell you
in all honesty, I love the Lord Jesus Christ. Because He gave
me a nature of love. I can tell you in all honesty,
I believe the Lord Jesus Christ. I say with a centurion, Lord,
I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. But
as weak as it is sometimes, I believe Christ is the only hope of salvation
for somebody like me. Why can I believe that now? Why
do I? And I can't not believe it. What
happened? What's the difference? God gave
me a new nature and a new birth. And set me free from the controlling
power of sin that stopped me from believing and loving the
Lord Jesus Christ. And here's some comfort for you.
Christ has saved his people from their sin. And he rose again
to be the intercessor for his people. The Apostle John said,
my little children, don't sin. I write this to you that you
don't sin. But when you sin, and you will when you sin, do you know nothing changes between
you and God? When God's child sins, nothing
changes between you and God. Because Christ already paid the
debt. Christ already suffered the penalty.
He already suffered the curse. And he ever lives making intercession
for his people. And when he makes intercession
for his people, he's always successful. The father always hears him because
John went on to say he is the propitiation for our sin. The
covering for our sin sits at the right hand of the father.
He looks and sees that propitiation. that lamb as it had been slain.
And it's his blood that makes intercession. He doesn't even
have to say a word. Just in his person, in his sacrifice, he
sits there and his blood makes intercession for the sins of
his people. And the father always says, it's
enough. I don't believe sin. It's gone
under the blood of Christ. Oh, joy to the world. The Lord's
come to save his people from their sins. Third, Christ was
born on this wise, in this manner. He was born as the elect Savior
of an elect people. He came to save His people from
their sin. Christ did not come to try to
save every son of Adam. He did not come to see how many
people He could save. The Father made Christ his first
elect. He anointed the son to be the
savior of his people. He chose him. He elected him
to be the savior of his people. And like we were talking about
for service, Bob, the father first trusted him. He's gonna
save his people in their sin. He anointed Christ as the elect
savior, to be the savior of an elect people. Those elect belong
to Christ. He owns them. Here, they're called
his people. They belonged to Christ because
the Father gave them to Him. In the covenant of grace, He
gave them to Christ to be the surety of His people. And Christ
came. He was born as a man and He saved
every last one of His people from their sin. Look at John
chapter 10. We who believe, we don't believe
because we're smarter than somebody else. We believe because God
elected us unto salvation. He gave us a nature to believe.
In John chapter 10, verse 22. It was at Jerusalem, the feast
of the dedication, and it was a whimper. And Jesus walked in
the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, how long does thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believe not. The works that I do in my father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not because you're
not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give
unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither should
any man pluck them out of my hand. Goats don't believe. Because they've got the nature
of a goat. They've got a nature of unbelief that will never believe
God. And sheep believe God because God's given them the nature of
a sheep that believes Christ and follows Him. And you might
wonder, well, am I one of the elect? Am I one of those ones
that Christ died for? Well, you are one of the elect.
Christ did die for you if you need Christ to save you. If you
need Christ to do all of the work of the redemption of your
wretched soul because you can't contribute to it in any way,
Christ died for you. Christ died for you if you are
a helpless, hopeless sinner. If you don't have any other hope
of your soul being saved except Christ being your Savior, you're
one for God's love. He died for you. He was born
in this manner as the elect Savior of an elect people. Fourthly,
Christ was born on this wise, this purpose, to be the successful
Savior. He shall save his people from
their sin. There's no doubt there, is there?
He shall. He didn't come to make his people
savable. He saved his people from their
sin. He didn't come to try to save anybody. He saved His people
from their sin. He didn't come to offer salvation
to as many people as might want it. He saved His people from
their sin and He put that salvation in them by His power and by His
grace. The great transaction is done. The work is finished. Joy to
the world. The Lord's come. to save His
people from their sin. Now you look to Him in the mirror.
Look Him in the mirror. If you look, you'll be saved,
because He's the successful Savior. And then lastly, Christ Jesus
was born on this wise, on this manner, to fulfill all Scripture,
verse 22 back in our text, Matthew 1. 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 is being
interpreted, God with us. Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. He fulfilled every prophecy concerning
the Messiah. Every Old Testament prophecy
you can find, Christ fulfilled it. And he came to fulfill it. He did fulfill it because he's
the eternal Savior. He's always been the Savior of
his people. And when he came, he did exactly
what he came to do. He accomplished it all. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the promised seed who came and crushed the
serpent's head. Now his people are free because
the power of Satan has been crushed by the death of Christ at Calvary.
Joy to the world. The Lord's come. We have good
news for sinners because Christ has come to save his people from
their sin. Now, That's the message Joseph
heard of the angel. And you know what hearing that
message produced? It produced the obedience of faith. Joseph
changed everything he was planning to do. He changed everything
about the rest of his days on this planet. You know why? He believed the gospel when he
heard it. Verse 24. 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." Joseph named
that baby Jesus. Well, why didn't he name him,
maybe Joseph's father's name maybe was Abraham, or, you know,
why didn't he name him after some of the patriarchs? You know,
he could have given him the name Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob,
David, he's the son of David. Why did he choose the name Jesus?
Because he believed that that baby was God's salvation. This is the Savior. He knew this
is God's salvation. And eight days later, when Simeon
said so, Joseph was not surprised. Joseph just stood there and amened
him. He believed this child's a Savior. You see why there's
such a joy in the birth of Christ? There could not be salvation
for any sinner unless God was born as a man. He took on him
flesh and bones just like we have, yet without sin. He had
to be born as a man. He had to be made in the likeness
of sinful man to be our representative and our substitute. And he never
could have established righteousness for his people unless he became
a real man. And as a man, made of a woman,
born under the law, kept the law for his people. He had to
do that as a man. He had to suffer and die as a
man to be the sacrifice for sinful men and women. So you know what
the father did? The father prepared for him a
body. Prepared for him a body in the womb of Mary. And she
brought forth that child. Christ the Lord come to save
his people from their sin. Joy for the world. The Lord's
come. May God be pleased in his mercy
and grace To do for us what He did for Joseph and give us the
obedience of faith. Follow Him, bow to Him and beg
Him for mercy. Let's bow in prayer. Our great God, our merciful Heavenly
Father, how we thank you that you are God alone, that you always
accomplish your will and your purpose. We thank you, Father,
for your grace. Only God, in such grace, could
save sinners such as we are. Only God, who is love, could
love sinners like us and save us through the sacrifice of your
Son. And how we thank you for your wisdom. How we thank you
for your wisdom in providing a way that you might be both
just and justifier by sending your Son to be born as a man,
to grow up as a child, to grow into a man, to completely keep
the law, establish righteousness for his people. And as a man,
bearing the sin of his people who are sinful, vile men and
women, that he might take our sin into his precious body on
the tree and put that sin away by the untold glory of the sacrifice
of himself, his precious blood shed to cleanse us from all sin. Father, we thank you. How we
thank you for a savior who is successful, who shall save his
people from their sin. Father, we pray this morning
that right now you might reveal yourself to one of your people.
We know you're able for you shall save your people from their sin.
Thank you and we praise your precious name. It's in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the savior of our souls. We give
thanks.