Come back to Matthew chapter
1. Matthew chapter 1. I want to pick up where we left
off last week. The title of the message is The
Birth of Jesus Christ. There have been billions of births
since the beginning. But without this one, without
this one, there would be no hope for anybody. But because of this one, sinners
have hope. Sinners have hope. Now the first part of this chapter
is dedicated to the genealogy of Christ, which we looked at
last week, proving that he's truly the seed of Abraham, the
promised seed of Abraham, the son of David, the Messiah, the
Savior. He is truly God our Savior. That's who he is. The Jews could
not deny lineage to David and Abraham. You know, most people
can trace their genealogy back a few generations, three, four,
maybe five. His generation is traced back
42 generations, three times 14. You know, there in verse 17,
so all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations.
From David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen
generations. And from the carrying away into
Babylon until Christ are fourteen generations. Forty-two generations.
Indisputable who this man is and who he belongs to. Now after
giving his genealogy, Matthew now gives his birth. His birth. He says, now the birth of Jesus
Christ was on this wise. One thing that jumped out at
me when I read this, the genealogy stops with him. It stops with
him. He is the fulfillment of all
the prophecies, of all the types, of all the pictures. He's the
fulfillment of all. It all stops with him. He's the
alpha and omega of all things. He's the first and the last.
You notice in Genesis, God created the heavens and the earth. It
starts with God creating the heavens and the earth. And here
in Matthew, the first of the books of the New Testament, it
starts with the creation of Jesus Christ in the womb of a virgin. And it says here, when as his
mother, Mary, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together,
she was found with child of the Holy Ghost." Matthew starts here
with his virgin birth. It says in Isaiah 7.14, the Lord
shall give you a sign. He shall give you a sign. A virgin shall conceive and bear
a son and shall call his name Immanuel. Immanuel, God with
us. Christ was to be born of a virgin.
First here, it says, because the Lord is going to give you
a sign. A virgin shall conceive and bear a son. Who ever heard
such a thing? Who ever heard such a thing? Could it be possible
that a virgin bear a son, have a child? How can that be? With God, all things are possible. Is anything too hard for God?
With Him all things are possible. Christ in her, I thought about
this last night, Christ in her was by the same power as Christ
in you. Same creating power. By the same
power that the Holy Spirit created the human nature in Christ, that
same power creates Christ in you now. Everyone that believes
God. Everyone. That new creation is
of Him. No man had anything to do with Christ being in her womb. Not at all. Not at all. This is of God. This child is
of God. This child is God. He is God. No man had anything to do with
his birth. No more than any man has anything
to do with Christ in you. That's a creation of God. That's
the power of God. And it says this happened when
she was espoused to Joseph. She was espoused to him. It was
as good as being his wife. They were espoused to each other.
They betrothed to each other under their custom, sometimes
for years before they came together. So this happened when she was
espoused to Joseph. Here's the providence of God. And here's the care of God. for this young woman. God protected her name. He protected
her this way. For Joseph took her to wife.
And as far as that community was concerned, as far as the
community out there that knew them was concerned, they said
this is the carpenter's son. They said this is the carpenter.
He protected her. He protected her reputation,
her name. Joseph took her to wife. Oh, it's such a beautiful
story. But remember this, he's not Joseph's
son. He's God's son. He's God's son. Joseph had the privilege of being
the foster father of God's son. Adopted him, so to speak. He got to adopt him, so to speak. But he got to be the foster father
of the Son of God. But he's the Son of God. The
human nature of Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit. Nothing of
our sinfulness entered into him, entered into his nature, his
birth, his beginning. Not at all. The sinful seed of
man did not enter into his birth. He was spotless, the Lamb of
God. For anyone to deny that Christ
is the incarnate God is proof they don't know God and they
don't believe His Word. Not at all. Our Lord had to be spotless. He had to be sinless. He had
to be one with us in nature, bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh, but without sin. Scripture says it must be perfect
be accepted. It must be perfect to be accepted. He could not be born of the sinful
seed of Adam's race. He couldn't do that. Not because
he couldn't be perfect. It must be perfect to be accepted.
If he's going to be the Savior of sinners, he's got to be a
perfect Savior. Now let's look here at Joseph's
conduct. Then Joseph, here in verse 19,
her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a
public example, was minded to put her away privily or privately. You can only imagine how devastated
Joseph was at this time. Mary, his espoused wife, turns
up pregnant. What a trial this was for him
and her. That's how she's going to explain
this to Joseph. You know she's thinking that. How am I going
to tell Joseph about this? And Joseph finds out she's pregnant
and he just, and I have no doubt, he's devastated. He's devastated. This is my wife. He no doubt, he first thought,
he first thought she's committed adultery. Something, you know,
something happened here. She's committed adultery. And
according to the law, he could do three things. He could have
her stoned publicly. They would stone her to death. He could privately divorce her,
put her away. Or he could go ahead and marry
her. He had three choices there. And it says here he chose to
put her away privately. He didn't want to make a public
spectacle out of her. This says volumes about his character,
doesn't it? This says volumes about what
God, the grace of God, had been at work in this man. It says
there he was a just man. He was truly a justified man. And he wasn't just looking at
the letters, he said, now I have three choices here that I can
do. When he found out, I know he
was devastated, but he immediately thought, how can I handle this
the best way for her? Not make her a public nuisance.
He loved her. This man loved her. Spurgeon
wrote this, when we have to do a severe thing, let us choose
the tenderest manner Maybe we shall not have to do it at all.
Maybe we won't have to do it at all. But Joseph sought to
hide what he thought was to be sin in her. He thought the best
of her, and he sought the best way to deal with it for her sake. That's grace, isn't it? That's
the evidence of grace in the heart. It is. Solomon said this,
Love hideth the matter. Love hideth the matter. Now after pondering this, being
agonizing over this, and praying about this, it says in verse
20, but while he thought on these things, he was pondering this,
and I had no doubt praying about it, behold, the angel of the
Lord appeared unto him in a dream. St. 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. Oh, what good news! Don't you
know that rejoices the heart? Christ in you is the best news
you can hear. He said that which is in her
is of the Holy Ghost. Just as Christ in you is of God. It's a work of God. Now take
unto thee and marry thy wife, for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost. Joseph was seeking the Lord's
will in this matter, and how to handle it. Showing patience, patience here,
in dealing with this subject, this difficult situation, subject. And God sent him a heavenly messenger. God sent him a heavenly messenger.
He sent an angel to him. That man who will cast his care
upon him will not be disappointed, will he? If we cast all our cares
upon him, we'll not be disappointed. And Joseph was. And like Joseph,
we must learn to trust our Lord under all circumstances and seek
his will. Seek it. And you can only imagine,
I tried to imagine this as I was studying this, Joseph in this
situation. And you can only imagine how
relieved Mary was when Joseph came to her, took
her by the hand and said, come on, it's all right. I told him
that which is in you is of the Holy Ghost. He took her by the hand and told
her about the angel's message. And they both rejoiced in Him. They
both rejoiced in the One that was formed in her womb. Oh, the
good news of Christ makes sinners rejoice, doesn't it? It makes
sinners rejoice. And here's the angel's message.
He starts off, Fear not. You don't have nothing to be
afraid of, Joseph. No sin has been committed here.
No adultery has been committed. Fear not. Oh, it was a message
of comfort. He came to him with a message
of comfort. Those who have Christ in them, Need not fear, for the
Lord is on thy side. We have no need to fear. Fear
not. Fear not. It's good news. The angel came
to him and said, I have good news. You don't have anything to fear.
Fear not. Thou son of David. Thou son of
David. No one else recognized him as
the son of David, did they? There was no room for them in
the inn. They put him out in the barn. But the angel came
to him and said, Thou son of royal descent. He didn't look
like it. You don't look like it either.
You and I do not look like royal descent. But our genealogy spiritually
is Christ. We trace right to Him. Take unto thee Mary thy wife. Take her home with you. Take her home with you. Care
for her. And raise the Messiah. Raise Him. My, what a blessing.
For Christ is their blessing. That house is blessed where Christ
dwells. Take her with you. Take her,
Joseph. Take her home. For that which
is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is
the creator of the sinless human nature of Jesus Christ. Our Lord
said, a body hast thou prepared for me, made for me, created
for me. As the Scripture says, the son
is given, the child is born. And she shall bring forth a son,
She's going to bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name
Jesus. For He shall save His people
from their sin. This is who He is, and this is
what He's going to do. He's the Savior, He's the Messiah,
He's the Promisee, and He's going to save His people from their
sins. Oh, the message was a message
of grace. It was a message of redemption. It was a message
of hope that was brought to them and to us. He says, Thou shalt call His
name Jesus. God identifies Him as the Savior. You take all these other so-called
saviors like Muhammad and all those others. God never recognized
them. But God Almighty, the God of
this Bible, has recognized one name, Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth is the
Savior. He's the Savior. This name identifies
His work, Savior. He came to save chosen sinners
given to Him by the Father before the world was. That's what He
came to do. And He did it. And He's doing
it. That's what He came to do. He was born to save. This Jesus,
this One that is begotten in Her womb, He's born to save. He's the Savior. He's the Messiah.
That's what He came to do, to save. And He saves us. He saves his
people from the punishment of sin, the guilt of sin, the ill
effects of sin, and the power of sin. He came to save. How's this one man going to save? How's he going to do this? Here's
how he's going to do it. He's going to be born into this
world as a man. And as a man, a real man, He's
going to live for every one of those given to Him. He's going
to live an absolutely perfect life. And then He's going to
die. He's going to die in their sin.
He's going to take their torment. He's going to take their punishment.
He's going to take it. He's going to bear their sins
in His body on the tree. He's going to be made sin for
them. Oh, this one who was created perfect. I can't explain it.
I'm not even going to attempt to explain it. But I tell you
this, He was made to be sin for us. I can't explain that. We're not
called to explain it. God didn't call us. He called
us to proclaim it. Unbelievers try to explain it.
Believers just proclaim it. He's going to live and die and
rise again for you. That's just substitution. That's
what that is. That's substitution. He's going
to satisfy God's law. And I know the world thinks nothing
of God's law, but he sure does. He thinks a lot of it. It's him. Reflection of him. And he's going to satisfy God's
law. This One who is to be born is going to save. He's going
to save His people from their sins. It says, therefore, He
shall save. He shall do it. You know, salvation
is not a cooperative effort on our part, says it. It's not a
cooperative effort on His part. God's part and my part. No, it's
Christ. He purged us from our sins by
Himself. That's what it says over in Hebrews chapter 1. It's not a cooperative effort.
He'll do it by Himself. That's how He's going to save.
He's going to save by Himself. And then this name identifies
Him with us. Jesus. He's our Savior. He's our mediator. He's our surety. He's our high
priest. He's one of us. Our brother, our friend, our
advocate, our surety, our high priest is one of us. Jesus, bone of our bone, flesh
of our flesh. He was created for us. He was created for us and He
was created for God. God needs His sacrifice as much
as you and I need it in order for Him to be a just God and
a Savior. And who shall He save? His people. That's who He's going to save.
His people. There is a spiritual genealogy
that belongs to Him. Him. And every one of them is
going to be saved. You go back and read the genealogy
in the first part of this chapter. Not all of them were saved. Not
all of them. But every one given to Him by
the Father. shall we say. Every one of them. And what's he going to save them
from? The Jews look to be saved from the Roman government, the
Roman Empire. They look to be saved from that.
Well, since here he's going to save his people from their sins. It's a spiritual salvation. Spiritual
salvation. Not just sin, But their sins. He didn't die just for sin. He
died for their sins. Which means that when He died
on the cross, He died for particular sins that belonged to a particular
people. His people. His people. He died for their sins, their
injustice, their iniquities. That's what He died for. He's going to save His people.
from their sins by taking their place and their punishment and
then rising again for them. He didn't come to perform physical
healings only or set a moral example, but he came to save
his people from their sins. That's what he came to do. Then verse 22, and I'll wind
this up. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets,
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." Here is the fulfillment of that
prophecy in Isaiah 7.14, that a virgin shall conceive and bear
a son. God always, always fulfills His word. You can take God at
His word. He will do just as He says. And here is his union
of two natures, God and man. We need both in order to be saved. We need both. He's God who justifies. He's a man who can suffer. God
couldn't suffer for our sins, but this man can. But this God-man
can. Oh, what a mystery. What a mystery. Oh, the wisdom of God. The Scripture
says all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily. And the best news that any sinner
can hear is this, Immanuel. This one born, this one whose
name is Jesus is Immanuel. God with us. You know it could
just as easily have been written God against us. But it comes
out God with us. Then Joseph, you'll know here,
and I'll close, Joseph was obedient. He was obedient. It says there,
Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the
Lord had bidden him, took unto him his wife, and knew her not,
till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called
his name Jesus. He took Mary to be his wife,
took her home, knew her not, until the Lord was born. And
he called his name Jesus. You know what? He still bears
that name. Lord Jesus. That's what we call
him. Lord Jesus. He still bears that name. For
he's still saving his people from their sins. He's still doing
it.