God With Us

As we continue to reflect on the birth of the Savior, let's take our Bibles and open them up to the book of Matthew this morning.

The book of Matthew. If you're using the pew Bibles there in front of you, you can find that on page 757 of the Bibles there in front of you.

And we will read from verses 18 through verse 25 this morning. Matthew chapter 1 verses 18 through 25.

Matthew 1:18–25

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.

When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,

Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.

When Joseph woke from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.

He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to his son, and he called his name Jesus.

Jesus, and this is the word of God.

Let's bow once more and pray as we open it up this morning.

Lord, again, we thank you for the birth of Christ that we've just read about.

We thank you for your unfailing word and the many ways that you've promised his coming,

and promised his coming, and promised his coming, and now he's here.

And we pray now as we reflect on these words that, again, Lord, you would stir our hearts to worship you.

We pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Sadly, I don't have the best memory in the world, but I do distinctly remember the birth of each one of my children.

We have three boys.

You can probably hear them from time to time.

And from time to time, Amanda and I will flip through pages of old pictures and old videos from when they were just born,

and it brings back just the flood of memories of what it was like as we were getting ready for them to come.

Were we ready?

Were we prepared?

Did we have enough supplies?

Did we have enough diapers?

Was there enough of the things that we needed into the house?

We remember the trip to the hospital and me trying not to complain about how cold the room was

or how hungry I was while Amanda was working hard to bring these babies into the world.

And then, of course, the sheer joy of finally laying eyes on our newborn baby, holding him into our arms.

There's absolutely nothing like it.

And we had glimpses along the way.

There were pictures and ultrasound images along the way.

There were the kicks and the bumps that told you that a child was coming.

But that moment when he finally came and you could look him in his eyes, hold him in your arms, look him right in the face,

you just can't take your eyes off of him.

And there's almost no words to express how beautiful of a moment that is.

And we've been through the same experience now three times, but for us, each one was unique and special

and just as exhilarating and exciting as the last.

But, of course, as special as those births were to us, in the grand scheme of things,

they are not really all that unique.

About 385,000 babies are born every day on our planet.

That's over 140 million babies per year.

And all of the stories of how these babies were made, how they were carried,

how they were brought into the world are all, for the most part, going to be fairly similar.

But here at Christmas, we tell the story of the most unique birth in the history of the world.

And this was a birth that was unlike any other.

It was certainly the most unique birth story in the story of mankind.

And if you don't understand what makes the birth of Jesus just so special,

you might be asking this morning,

why in the world do Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus in the way that we do?

Why this one baby out of all the babies born every day throughout the world,

all the babies throughout church history and the history of mankind,

why do we make so much out of the birth of this child, especially here at Christmas?

What makes this birth so special?

And so the answer, of course, is that there has never been a child born like this.

Never has there ever been a child born like this.

So this morning, I want to focus our attention on this question.

What makes this child so special?

Why do we celebrate the birth of Jesus?

What makes this child so special?

Why do we fix our attention on this birth?

Why do we worship this child?

And what we'll see this morning in our time together is three answers to that question this morning.

This will be our outline if you're following along, taking notes.

Three answers to this question.

It's that he was miraculously born,

he was biblically foretold,

and he was purposefully sent.

Three reasons this birth is so special.

He was miraculously born,

biblically foretold,

and purposefully sent.

First,

this child is special because he was miraculously born.

In verse 18 of our passage,

it says that the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.

When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph,

before they came together,

she was found to be with child.

Now,

some of you,

I know you get so tired of television shows,

things that you watch on television,

books that you read,

because they're just so filled with drama,

and scandal,

and tension,

and so you close,

you turn off the shows,

and you open up your Bible instead.

But here in the very first moments of Jesus' story,

it's a scandal,

drama,

and tension.

Mary and Joseph were betrothed,

and this was similar to our engagement period,

but it was much,

much more formal than that.

People in our culture,

they break off engagements all the time,

and although that is serious,

there's really no consequence,

it's not such a big deal,

but here in this culture,

to be betrothed,

it meant that you were legally bound to be married.

So you weren't husband and wife quite yet,

but you were legally heading that way,

and since they were not officially yet husband and wife,

they were not to come together as husband and wife,

until that moment came.

Yet,

even though they were not officially husband and wife yet,

according to Mosaic law,

any sexual unfaithfulness during this betrothal period

constituted adultery,

and if punished to the fullest extent,

would result in the death penalty,

by stoning for the guilty party.

This was a scandal.

It's a young, unmarried couple,

a pregnant wife-to-be,

the threat of death,

public embarrassment,

and Joseph,

being a much better man than me,

verse 19,

says he resolved instead to divorce her quietly.

He didn't want to bring any public shame on Mary.

But as he considered these things,

an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream,

saying,

Joseph,

Joseph, son of David,

do not fear to take Mary as your wife,

for that which is conceived in her

is from the Holy Spirit.

In other words,

this birth,

this child,

is not the result of infidelity.

This child is unique.

There's something special here

that's utterly unique to Jesus.

No other baby in the history of the world

came into the world like this.

He was conceived of the Holy Spirit,

not by natural means,

but conceived of the Holy Spirit,

and born of a virgin.

And of course,

theologically liberal scholars

have gone to town with this,

coming up with reason after reason after reason

why this just could not be true.

Nobody is born of a virgin.

Simple science tells us that that is impossible.

Virgins don't have babies.

So this is just a story that the church has come up with

to promote the name of Jesus.

And in one sense,

we have to agree with them that,

yes, this is not ordinary,

or natural,

or scientifically probable.

It is, by definition,

a miracle.

And without it,

this baby would not be worthy

of our worship.

Scientifically speaking,

I'm not sure if you've had this talk yet or not,

but here we go.

Stick with me.

Every child has to have both a mother and a father.

You've got to have both.

Both of those are required to have a baby.

And babies come into the world

with characteristics

from both their mother and their father.

So they might have their father's eyes,

and their mother's nose,

and their father's ears,

and their mother's hair.

And as they get older,

you start to see that develop

in their personality as well.

So people that know the family well

might say something like,

wow, she talks just like her,

mom.

Or a grandparent might say,

I remember when you used to walk around

and do exactly what he's doing.

All of us,

born of human flesh,

we inherit

what we call a sin nature.

We are born into sin.

So every man,

every woman

that is descended from Adam,

we inherit from our father,

we inherit from our father,

Adam,

his sinful nature.

And so we act like our father.

We talk like our father.

We think like our father.

We get his sinful ways

passed down to us.

But not Jesus.

Not Jesus.

Jesus was different.

He was born of a virgin.

He was born of a virgin.

He was born of a virgin.

He was born of a virgin.

Conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Joseph,

although he was not the physical father of Jesus,

he adopted Jesus as his own.

He was not his biological father.

He did not inherit Adam's sin nature.

Jesus was totally God

and totally man.

That is a miracle.

And unlike you and me,

he did not come into this world

with a nature corrupted by sin.

He came in with a real humanity

inherited from his mother's side.

And on his father's side,

he was as he has always been.

The eternal son of God.

Infinite.

Eternal.

Unchangeable.

Holy.

And righteous.

In this birth,

God became man.

He took on our human nature.

The eternal son of God

stepped into our mess.

He took on our weak human flesh

to live in our place.

And see,

because he did not have a sin nature

like you and me,

he was able to resist it.

To overcome it.

But because he was fully human

like you and me,

he was able to redeem sinful man.

He was able to succeed

where Adam and you and I have failed.

He was able to live perfectly

in the place of sinners

like you and me

who have failed over and over

and over again.

And without this perfect life

from a perfect sinless child,

we could not have any hope

of salvation.

Without the virgin birth,

we could not be saved.

If he was just another child

born in just an ordinary way,

descended from Adam,

born into sin,

friend,

there would be no hope of salvation.

There would be no reason

to make much of this birth.

There would be no reason

to celebrate the birth of Christ.

But we praise God

that this child is special

and his birth was miraculous.

Second,

this child is special

because his birth

was biblically foretold.

Matthew highlights this for us

in a couple of ways here.

One is by just repeatedly telling us

that this child is a son of David.

He's a son of David,

son of David,

son of David.

Matthew has that track

on repeat for us here.

In verse 20,

the angel appears to Joseph

and refers to Joseph

as Joseph,

son of David.

The beginning of the book of Matthew,

the genealogy.

He traces the genealogy

of Jesus Christ.

What does it say?

The son of David.

Verse 17,

it says the generations

from Abraham to David.

You see where he's focusing

our attention here.

From Abraham to David

were 14 generations.

And then from David

to the deportation

to Babylon,

14 generations.

And from the deportation

to Babylon

to the Christ,

14 generations.

It's so easy to skip over

that part of Matthew

and just pass right by it.

But Matthew is going out

of his way

to show us

that this child,

even though Joseph

was not his physical father,

because Joseph adopted him

as his own,

he has full legal claim

to the throne

of David,

the king.

And this was significant,

of course,

because God had promised

David something

in 2 Samuel chapter 7.

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

Back in the Old Testament,

thousands of years

before Christ arrived,

he promised David

a child

from his line

who would come

and reign forever.

The throne

of his kingdom

would be established forever

and his kingdom

would never end.

Matthew,

in his own way,

is drawing a line,

as it were,

from this promise

in Samuel

all the way

to the birth

of Christ,

saying,

this is him.

This is the one.

This is the king

that we've been waiting for.

This is the Messiah.

This is the long-awaited ruler

of the world

whose kingdom

will never end.

This is the birth

of the promised one.

He also draws

a line

to a prophecy

from Isaiah.

We've been spending

some time

reading from Isaiah

last night

and this morning.

Here in verse 22,

he says,

all of this

took place

to fulfill

what the Lord

had spoken

by the prophet.

Behold,

the virgin

shall conceive

and bear a son

and they shall

call his name

Emmanuel,

which means

God with us.

You see,

the writers

of the New Testament,

they did a much

better job

interpreting

their Old Testament

than we tend to.

Right?

We read our Old Testament,

we tend to read it

just as stories

with morals,

kind of disconnected

stories about what

God has done

and events

that happened

in the past.

But what it really is

is a story

of preparation

for the coming Messiah.

So ever since

the entrance

of sin

into the world

back in Genesis

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3,

God has been

making promises

that he would

one day

send a child.

One who would

break the curse

of sin.

One that would

crush the head

of the serpent.

One who would

come and rule

and reign

and redeem

what has been

lost by sin

and all the way

through the Old Testament

there were these

faint images,

bumps,

and kicks

of a child

on the way.

And now Matthew

says that time

has finally come.

The child

is here.

He's here.

The promised one

has come exactly

as God has told us

again and again

and again.

He has come

exactly as the

word of God

has foretold.

You see,

the Old Testament

is written

in the key

of anticipation.

It's constantly

leaning forward

and waiting

and anticipating

this promised

coming

Son of God.

We have to read it

and understand it

this way,

leaning towards

the promised Messiah.

J. Barton Payne,

he says that there

are as many

as 574 verses

in the Old Testament

that in some way

point towards

the coming Messiah.

Alfred Edersheim,

he says that there

are 456 verses

in the Old Testament

that in some way

anticipate this

coming Messiah.

And even the most

conservative

estimates

say that there

are at least

300 prophecies

that Jesus fulfilled.

and I would be

inclined to go

on the high end

of those estimates.

And I just want you

just to stop

and think about

how incredible

that is

for a minute.

Maybe you've never

thought about this

or maybe

it's been a while

since you've thought

about this.

And maybe that you

don't even believe

a word that I'm saying

or maybe you're

getting ready

to leave here

and go spend

some time with family

who you know

don't believe a word

that we're saying

here.

Listen to this.

I've never been

great at math

and I'll leave

that to the experts

but some mathematicians

have taken it

upon themselves

to try to

mathematically

understand

the probability

of just one person

fulfilling these

prophecies

about the Messiah.

Dr. Peter Stoner

was one of them.

You may be familiar

with his work

with this story.

Dr. Stoner

was the chairman

of the departments

of mathematics

and astronomy

at Pasadena City College

and was the chairman

of the science division

at Westmont College.

In other words

he was way smarter

than me.

Okay?

One of those

big brain academics.

And he set out

to find

the probability

mathematical probability

of one person

fulfilling

just eight

of the clearest

Old Testament

prophecies

of the Messiah.

Just eight.

In other words

he wanted to make this

as agreeable

as he possibly could

to non-believers

to skeptics

so the clearest

possible

eight messianic prophecies

in the Old Testament

that undeniably

happened

in Jesus' life

put the two together.

What are the odds

that one person

could fulfill

just eight

of these prophecies?

So for those of you

who are keeping score

this is what they

looked for.

What is the probability

that one individual

would be born

in Bethlehem

as Micah 5.2 foretold?

That there would be

a forerunner

of that individual

a prophet

who would come

announcing his coming

as Malachi 3.1 said?

That this individual

would enter Jerusalem

on a donkey

as we see

in Zechariah 9.9

that he would be

betrayed by a close friend

as we see

in Psalm 41.9

that he would be

betrayed for just

30 pieces of silver

as Zechariah 11.13

tells us.

That this same individual

would remain silent

during his trial

although the consensus

would be that he

later would be deemed

innocent

as we see

in Isaiah 53.7

and that this same

individual

would eventually

be crucified

on a cross

as Psalm 22.16

foretold.

What's the probability

of one person

doing all of this

exactly as these

eight prophecies

foretold?

And again

it's undeniable

just from a

sheerly historical

standpoint

that all eight

of these events

were true

of Jesus'

life.

This was as

conservative

as he could

possibly get.

What are the odds

that one person

could fulfill

eight undeniable

Old Testament

prophecies?

And they determined

this.

This is what he said.

The chance

that any man

might have

fulfilled

all eight prophecies

is one

in ten

to the

seventeenth.

That would be

one in

one hundred

quadrillion.

Okay?

So if you're

writing down notes

that's one

with seventeen

zeros

followed

at the end

of it.

One with seventeen

zeros

at the end.

Just to put that

in perspective

for you

the odds

of us

any one

of us

getting struck

by lightning

sometime

in our life

is one

in fifteen

thousand

three hundred.

The odds

of any of us

winning the

Powerball jackpot

are one

in two hundred

ninety-two

million.

That's just

six zeros.

The odds

of one man

fulfilling

just eight

of these

prophecies.

One

in one

hundred

quadrillion.

Ten

to the

seventeenth.

Stoner

says that

if we were

to take

ten

to the

seventeenth

silver

dollars

and lay

them over

the face

of the

state

of Texas

they would

cover

the entire

state

two feet

deep.

And then

he says

now mark

one of

these

silver

dollars

stir

the whole

mass

thoroughly

blindfold

a man

and tell

him he can

travel as

far as

he wishes

and just

pick up

one silver

dollar

and it

must be

the one

that was

marked.

What chance

would he have

of getting

the right

one?

He says

just the

same chance

that the

prophets

would have

had of

writing

these eight

prophecies

and having

them all

come true

in one

man

provided

they were

writing

in their

own

wisdom.

But as

we know

they were

not

writing

in their

own

wisdom.

These

were the

very

words

of God

foretelling

promising

anticipating

waiting

expecting

the birth

of this

son

of God.

When is

the last

time you

just

marveled

at what

a miracle

that is?

The

word of

God

promising

a

Messiah.

And just

thank God

for sending

his son

his faithfulness

to promise

and to

fulfill

and to

speak

and to

send.

Church we

worship

this

child

because

he

is

the

promised

Messiah

foretold

by the

scriptures

and sent

into the

world

by God

in order

to redeem

it.

Which is

the third

reason

this birth

is so

special.

The third

reason

this birth

is so

special

is because

this

child

was

purposefully

sent.

Purposefully

sent.

He was

born

with a

redemptive

purpose.

We

worship

this

child

not just

because of

how he

came into

the world

miraculously

but because

of what

he came

into the

world

to do.

Most of

the time

in our

culture

it's a

pretty big

deal to

name a

child.

You spend

months and

months and

months

thinking about

it.

Oftentimes

the mother

has already

had a name

picked out

since she

was a

child and

so the

husband

doesn't

have to

do too

much

thinking

about it

at all.

But there

is always

thought and

purpose and

significance

to the

name that

is given

to each

individual

child.

The same

is true

for Hebrew

culture but

even more

so in a

strange way

a lot of

times biblical

names are

not only

descriptive

they're also

prescriptive.

In a strange

way they

sometimes tell

us a bit

about what

a person

will be

like.

For example

Jacob

you see it

means heel

or trickster

and of course

he was a

trickster.

He tricked

Esau out

of his

birthright.

Jonah

means dove

it was a

word in

that culture

for foolishness

fleetiness

and as we

know Jonah

the prophet

was told

to go one

way and

he fled

and went

the exact

opposite

away from

the call

of God.

Moses

it means

to pull

or to

draw out

and as we

know the

birth story

of Moses

he was drawn

out of the

water but

also he

would be

the one

to draw

Israel

out of

slavery

in Egypt

and here

we're given

two names

for the

Christ child

two names

that tell us

not only who

he is but

what he

came to

do.

The first

of course

is the

name of

Jesus.

Look there

to verse

21.

The angel

came to

Joseph to

talk him

off the

ledge

convince him

not to

divorce his

wife

that his

child was

no product

of infidelity

but rather

this is the

promised Messiah

come into

the world

and look at

what he says

in verse

21.

She will

bear a

son and

you shall

call his

name Jesus

for he

will save

his people

from their

sins.

As we

know the

name of

Jesus it

literally means

the Lord

saves.

It means

the Lord

is salvation.

The Lord

has come

to seek

and to

save

the lost.

We see a

second name

given here

in verse

23 as

Jesus fulfilled

the Old

Testament

prophecy of

Isaiah.

The angel

makes this

connection

that this

child in

the manger

his name

shall be

called

Emmanuel

which

means

God

with us.

You see

baked into

his very

name is

his purpose.

Not just

who he is

but also

what he

came to

earth

to do.

We celebrate

the birth

of Jesus

because this

child has

come to

seek and

to save

the lost.

His birth

was no

accident.

He was

sent with

a purpose.

He was

sent to

die in

the place

of sinners.

He was

sent to

restore what

has been

broken and

lost by the

curse of

sin.

He's

come to

put an

end to

suffering

and disease

and distress

and death

and to rise

from the

dead to

finally put

an end

to sin

and death

and the

grave for

all who

come to

him and

know him

and love

him by

faith.

That's why

he's come.

Because we

have strayed

far from

God.

God has

taken it

upon himself

to draw

near to

us in

Christ.

I can

think of

no better

way to

honor him

this Christmas

than to

honor the

purpose for

which he

came.

He came

that we

might believe

and by faith

in his name

that we

might have

our sins

forgiven.

Receive the

gift of

eternal life.

Have you

received that

gift?

Are you

rejoicing in

it this

Christmas?

See Christmas

time is a

time when

we remember

that out

of his

unfathomable

mercy and

grace God

looked down

upon our

sinful state

and said

they can't

come to be

with me.

Their sin

is too

great so

I will send

my son down

to them to

bring them

up to

me.

So we

worship this

child because

he is

Emmanuel.

God with

us.

Come to

save his

people.

from their

sins.

Church this

is a story

of a birth

like no

other.

As we

ponder the

miracle of

the birth of

Christ this

Christmas let's

give him

honor and

glory and

praise and

worship him

as he

deserves.

And as we

go from this

place this

morning to

whatever we

have planned

to do for

the rest of

the day let's

do as Mary

did and

treasure these

things up in

our hearts.

Take this

miraculous story

of this

incredible

birth and

behold this

child.

Hold him

close in

wonder and

rejoice and

then go and

spread the

word that

the Savior of

the world has

come.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Lord we

do rejoice

that the

Savior has

come and

we do

rejoice that

out of your

sheer mercy

and grace not

because of our

goodness not

because of

anything in

us but

because of

your mercy

and grace you

took it upon

yourself to

send your

son to

save sinners

like us.

What good

news of

great joy.

And we

pray Lord that

as we go from

this place that

those words would

be fresh on our

lips as we

gather with

friends and

family as we

reflect on the

birth of Christ.

Help us to be

quick to share

the good news

of what you've

come to do.

We love you.

We pray this in

Christ's name.

Amen.