← ArchiveChristmas is...Christmas Is God With Us (Matthew 1:22-24)DateDecember 17, 2023Speaker—TextMatthew 1:22–24Passages in this sermonMatthew 11:52Exodus 34:12Isaiah 7:145:49Genesis 68:42Psalms 239:25John 1:1415:12Romans 519:22Luke 1:4625:32Luke 1:3625:53Audio recordingDownload the recordingTranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Thank you very much. Thank you very much.0:30Welcome to the church at Bethel because this is not a church until the saints gather and we believe the promises of scripture that where two or more are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ, there he is also.1:00So don't forget, guys, girls, God is in our midst. That is his promise and his glory among us. We are in the midst of a Christmas series because it is Christmas.1:27Actually, it's an Advent series called Christmas is fill in the blank. And thankfully, because I'm the pastor, I get to fill in the blank. So we looked at Christmas being a broken curse. Last week, we looked at we remind ourselves that Christmas is a fulfilled promise. And today we're going to center our gaze upon the word of God in Matthew chapter one. Really, one verse.1:57Chapter one, verse 23. With the reminder that Christmas is Emmanuel. God with us. And for our grammarians in the audience and for those of you who are watching online, we thank you for being here. Some of you will notice that Emmanuel is spelled with an I. And some of you will notice that Emmanuel is spelled with an E.2:24And so you ask, well, which is correct? This is why I love Hebrew because both are correct. So in ancient phonetics, it could be spelled with an E or an I. So do not let your hearts be troubled, my English majors. Trust in God. It could be I or E. Matthew chapter one today. They will call him Emmanuel. These are weighty words indeed.2:54Just ask Joseph. The man who heard these words by way of vision into his heart. He was a brand new father who was engaged, not married. Committed to a young bride named Mary, pregnant by the Holy Spirit. And if that was not enough of his worry and consternation in his heart that he was engaged, not married,3:20and his bride-to-be was pregnant with a child that was not his own. These words were expressed by a divine messenger, an angel of the Lord. The same angel. Uh-oh. The same angel. I didn't do anything. I'm just going to stay like this.3:49For those watching a line, I have not frozen. Okay. We'll roll with it. For those listening to the text and hearing Joseph, the angel of the Lord, the same angel appeared to Abraham. It's the same angel of the Lord that was found in Exodus chapter 3, where Moses sees the bush, but it's not being consumed.4:12That was the angel of the Lord. The same angel that appeared to Gideon and Elijah and Zechariah, among others. Surely, Joseph would remember those stories and would have never forgotten the words that we are about to read. His name will be called Emmanuel, for he is God with us. As far as we know, no one else in Scripture calls Jesus that name.4:41We have no one in Scripture calling him Emmanuel. We find no birth certificate in Bethlehem or tax assessor's record in Nazareth with Emmanuel, son of Joseph. So this is not his name in the same sense as Jesus was his given nomenclature. Emmanuel was not necessarily his name, but his essence. Emmanuel was a description of who Jesus is.5:11He is God with us. Surely, Joseph would have never forgotten these words or that day. And I pray that today we, too, will not forget these words, that Christmas is God with us. So if you have your Bibles, please join me in the reading of God's Word, Matthew chapter 1, beginning in verse 22 through 24 this morning.5:30Now, all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophets. That's the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14. See, the virgin will be pregnant and give birth to a son.5:56And they will name him Emmanuel, which is translated God with us. When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord's angel had commanded him, and he married her. Let's pray. Father God, may the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart be pleasing unto you, Lord.6:15Where there are shadows and sin in our life, may your holy word and your holy presence, because you are a holy God, make sin flee. And may your light shine upon us. Lord, we thank you that your son truly is God with us.6:43We thank you that his blood was shed, that our dark and guilty sins might be made white as snow. We thank you that your son is God with us. And Lord, as we gather, we believe that your presence is with us, because that is what you promise. So, Lord, in this holy assembly, may we be not only hearers, but doers of your word.7:10And, Lord, like Joseph, may these be words in a day that we never forget. Father, open our eyes to behold your glory. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. God with us. Three simple words. Yet, these are words that will change your life.7:35So, first, let's look at the with of God with us. And for those who like structure and order, I apologize. We're going to look at with us. Then we are going to look at with us. And then the third point will be the God with us. So, we're going to do point two, point three, and then point one. If you're following along.8:04It's easy to gloss over small prepositions, isn't it? With. It's a simple preposition that means accompaniment, relationship, or purposeful direction. And in Scripture, we see the with us part of our faith indoctrinated in each way in God's people. With was the most essential conviction in all the Old Testament. With was the word that Noah heard.8:32When the Lord said to him, I will destroy the earth by flood. But in Genesis 6, I will establish my covenant with you. And for those who remember the story of the flood, do you remember how the door was shut? Noah didn't shut the door. The Lord shut the door. As a reminder, Noah, I am with you. Relational. From the burning bush, Moses heard the same in Exodus 3, verse 12.9:02God himself, through the angel of the Lord, said, I will certainly be with you. Which was terrifying for Moses because he knew that if the Lord was not with him, the dire constraints that would mean. In Psalm 23, it's the withness of the good shepherd that was more than enough for David. You remember those words? He says, even though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no danger.9:32Why? Because you are with. And you thought prepositions couldn't change your life. It's the reminder that if God is with us, we have everything that we need. This is the Christmas story. This is our need. God with us. And I believe that there is a deep longing in each of our souls.10:00Where we cry out, God, are you really with me? God, look at my life. Look at what's happened. Look at the brokenness. Look at the fallenness. Look at the hurt. Look at the pain. God, are you with me? And Noah would say, I asked the same question during the flood. And God is with us. Moses would say, when I went to the burning bush and I had the same question, God promised that he would certainly be with us.10:28You say, well, when I walked through the darkest valleys, is God with me? And David would say, I asked the same question. I've walked the same valleys. And even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will not fear. Because he is with us. And Joseph would say, when I had the dream and I felt like my world was falling apart, I was engaged and my bride was already pregnant and I was going to divorce her.10:55And I didn't know what to do. But God sent a messenger and reminded me that if he is with us, we have all that we need. Church, Christmas in the incarnation is God's visible reminder that he is with us. The longing of this prophecy and the cry of every heart is to be with the Lord.11:25You see, the presence of Yahweh and his people, to be with them, is the story of the Old Testament. The presence of Yahweh with his people is the reality of the Christian faith. You see, God is not a force. God is not a big man upstairs. He's not a watchmaker.11:53He's not even from Switzerland. God is not a moral code or a spirit in the sky. Yahweh is a person. And he is a person who is ever-presenced with his people. He is with us. This is his promise. This is his reality. They will call him Emmanuel. Why? Because he is with us.12:22John Calvin once said, For out of Christ we are alienated from God. But through Christ we are not only received into his favor, but we are made one with him. So in Christ, Jesus is not only with you, but you are with him. Think about the reality of that deep covenantal truth for all who call Christ theirs. He is not only present with us, but he is in you and you are in him.12:52In Jesus Christ, you receive the eternal pleasure of God with you and you with God now and forevermore. And you will call his name Emmanuel. And you will call his name Emmanuel. God with us. You in Christ and Christ in you. But there's this third word at the end of this definition.13:19They will call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us. If with describes the need for Christmas, us describes the humanity of Advent. So why was Isaiah's prophecy so remarkable? Because he said that the prophecy would be fulfilled in a child. Now, Israel had no struggle with God being with them.13:49Look to the tabernacle. Look to the temple. Look to the Ark of the Covenant. Look to the covenant of Abraham and David. They would say, of course, God is with us. But then Isaiah says, no, this will be fulfilled in a child. Now, do not miss the extraordinary fulfillment right before our eyes. And I know you have nativity sets at home and you're thinking, of course, Jesus is a child.14:15How would we have nativity sets if he wasn't a child? We would just have animals and lots of wise men. But do you understand that the Jewish people were the least people on earth who would have said God would be a person? Because the Jewish people are monotheistic. Mono meaning one and theo meaning God.14:44So they would say that God is one. So for someone to say that God would take on flesh, God the Father and God the Son, they would say that cannot be. Because God is not human. And yet Isaiah says, no, God will clothe himself in the flesh. The Apostle John describes it this way in John 1.14.15:12The Word, that is Jesus, became flesh and dwelt among us. Now dwelt is again a highly symbolic word. It's the word for tabernacle. It means Jesus pitched his tent among us. He tabernacled among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. So by taking on flesh, the second person of the Trinity took up residence in this world.15:41And to the Jewish reader who had received the Gospel of Matthew, they would say, that cannot be. God cannot, will not, would not become human. This is impossible. And yet John reminds us that this happens. So church, do not miss the fact that this is a miracle.16:11I've had people tell me before, well, I can't believe that someone would die on the cross and rise again. And I would simply remind them, but if you can believe that God himself would be incarnated and take on flesh, you can believe in the resurrection. I would argue that the incarnation might be a greater miracle than the resurrection. That God would take on flesh. Why would God do this? Because when the Son of God took up residence in Bethlehem, began in the manger, in that moment, he identified with you and I.16:42Each of you, no matter how independent you are, began life as a completely dependent infant. None of you birthed yourselves. No matter what you might think. None of you learned yourself how to walk.17:09Or you did not change your own diapers. And I believe there's a sense that we begin as infants because we are all here today because we are dependent on someone else to be here. As a reminder that we are still dependent today on the very breath that God gives us. And Jesus was born as an infant to identify with us. For we do not have, Hebrews says, a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness.17:38But one who has been tempted in every way, yet was without sin. So none of us can ever, before the throne of God, say, God, you don't understand why I sinned. God, you didn't have Instagram. You didn't have Twitter. Have you seen that dumpster fire? Or X, sorry, my apologies. Lord, you don't know my life.18:08And yet he does. Because we have a high priest who is tempted in every way. Which means he understands us and he removes our excuses all in one. They will call him Emmanuel for he is God with us. Chuck Swindoll said that he who resided in heaven, co-equal, co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, willingly descended into our world.18:32He breathed our air, he felt our pain, and he knew our sorrows, and he died for our sin. The Lord identified with you and me in the manger. We see God with us.19:00Why with us? Only with us as a man, taking on flesh, could Jesus do what the first Adam failed to do. You see, it was through one man where sin comes into the world according to the scriptures. And it is through that sin that death follows. And in the same way, it is through one man who is our mediator, that life comes to all who believe in Romans 5.19:22And just as Adam, we all die because God is without us because of our sin. In Jesus Christ, we all can have abundant life because God is with us in the incarnation. They will call him Emmanuel because he took on flesh.19:49Church, grace is a person, not a concept. Salvation is a person, and his name is Emmanuel. God in flesh. But there's one more part of this equation we need to rectify, and that's the God portion.20:14You will call him Emmanuel because he is God with us. Now, if the with is the need for Christmas, and if the us is the humanity and the identification of Christmas, then God is the response. Knowing that he is God calls us to do something. So we turn ourselves to the primary meaning of God, primary meaning of Christmas.20:41It is the God portion. It is God taking on flesh. It is one thing the grass that God himself could take on flesh and become a man. But it is the deity of Jesus that proves his eternal righteousness. Now, let me remind you that there was never a single heresy in the world that said that Jesus was only human.21:04Because if Jesus was only human and not God at all, then there would be no deity. That's not heresy. That's you and I. It's not heresy for me to say that I am only human. So there's never actually a heresy throughout the history of the world that would say Jesus is only human. That's not heresy. That would either mean Jesus is a liar.21:33He wasn't God and the scriptures were liars. Or Jesus believed he was God and he was confused. He was a lunatic. But he is God. And if Jesus is who he says he is, then that deity of Christmas calls us to do something. They will call him Emmanuel, Matthew says. Because he is what? He is God with us.22:00G.K. Chesterton said it this way. Christmas reminds us that God is not a ghost. He's not the ghost of Christmas past. He is not a gilded idol. Or he is not a fading shadow of a prophet. You see, if Jesus was only a prophet, he would not be worthy of our worship today. He would be a good man. And there are good people that sit in this church today and listen online.22:26But we don't gather to worship good people. We gather to worship a holy God. And if Jesus was only God and not man, he would be a stranger to our weakness. But the reminder today is he is fully man and he is fully God. They will call him Emmanuel because he is God with us.22:55So how do we respond to this? Because Emmanuel demands a response. When Christ was born of a virgin in Bethlehem, the world lost its right to be indifferent. Raise your hand if you know how many children have been born in Bethlehem throughout time. We don't know because it doesn't matter.23:26Raise your hand if you know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born in Bethlehem. Because when that happens, church, the world lost its right to be indifferent. Do you remember when Moses was born in Bethlehem? And you remember the dignitary Mary? And, you know, Jim and Sue? Do you remember any other baby born in Bethlehem?23:56Now, you do know it is the house of bread in the city of David. But when Jesus was born, the world lost its right to be indifferent because the godness of Jesus Christ demands a response. Jesus was entirely man, fully God. Joseph did as the angel commanded. Joseph gets it. Because look at verse 24. When Joseph hears in his vision that Jesus is God with us, he didn't wake up and say,24:26that was a strange dream. What did I eat? I will never drink eggnog before bed again. No, Joseph knew that this was more than a premonition or growing pains. Joseph fundamentally knew that if God is who he says he is and Jesus is who he says he is,24:50that I have to change. And in verse 24, it says, Joseph immediately woke up and did as the Lord's angel had commanded. Joseph changed his life. Because the godness of Emmanuel demands a response.25:16It was the godness of Jesus Christ that caused the magi to fall on their knees in worship. It was the godness of Jesus that made Mary's soul praise the greatness of the Lord in Luke 1.46. It was the godness of Jesus Christ where the heavenly host burst forth in song. It was the godness of Jesus Christ that Simeon's life was fulfilled.25:44And now he said, I can lay my life down in peace. It was the godness portion of Jesus in Luke 1.36 where Anna began to thank God for seeing this child at the temple. Church, if Jesus is really God, we have to respond. And if you leave here and you say, well, I don't believe, that is a response.26:11But we have lost our right to be indifferent. We can no longer flip the channel and say, that's a nice story. When Jesus was born and when God took on flesh, the world was never the same again. There's a chaplain, theologian by the name of T.F. Torrance, who served in World War II.26:37And as chaplains often do, he ran up to a man who was dying in Italy on the battlefield. There's a 19-year-old soldier. And as he runs up to the soldier, the soldier says, Padre, is God really like Jesus? I think that's the question we're asking today. And Torrance assured the dying man with these words.27:07He said, God is indeed really like Jesus. There is no unknown God behind the back of Jesus for us to fear. To see the Lord Jesus Christ is to see the very face of God. These were words that comforted a dying man. To see the face of Jesus is to see the face of God. And church, I stand here before you today to say what God said is true.27:37He is Emmanuel. He is God with us. He is Emmanuel. He is God with us. He is Emmanuel. He is God in the flesh and with us. I don't think that the miracle of the incarnation begs us to ask the question, well, what do we make of God?28:02I believe the Christmas story asks us to ask better questions. We need to ask when we read the Bible, God, what does your word and what does Jesus Christ make of me? Because to live a life without Jesus Christ is to not live the life that God has for us. I would argue that no one is fully human until they find and give their life to Jesus.28:33Because you will always be searching for something until you find what you're searching for. That is why God sent his one and only son. For the sinners in our midst. And if you're wondering if I'm talking to you, the Bible says that we all have sins. So if you say, well, you're not talking to me. Yes, I am. We're all sinners who are looking for forgiveness.29:03For the sinner who's looking for forgiveness, you will find what you're looking for in Emmanuel. God with us. For the one who says, Pastor, I'm longing for the answer to my question. Can God really love me? You will find that in Emmanuel. God with us. For the one who says, Pastor, can I ever be good enough to go to heaven?29:32Or can I ever know if I would be in the presence of God? You will find that answer in Emmanuel. God with us. See, in Messiah, we get a glimpse of the person we were always intended to be. And I love what happens to Joseph here in verse 24. Joseph woke up. And he did as the Lord's angel had commanded.30:03Maybe Matthew gives us this blessed truth in his gospel to wake us up. What if I told you that this Christmas some of us are simply asleep? And God is asking us, hey, wake up. What I wrote to you in my word is true. I am really with you. I dwell in your midst. I tabernacle in your presence. I empathize and I understand your weakness because my son was tempted in every way that you were.30:34He took on flesh. May we wake up to this beautiful heavenly truth. And today, maybe this is your wake-up call. Maybe you've given your life to Christ, but the fire of the gospel is no longer a fire, but it's barely a coal. And today, the reminder is to wake up. Wake up and run to Jesus because he is God with us.31:03For the sinner, you can't wake up on your own, but the Holy Spirit is waking you up to your sin and saying, repent of your sin and find forgiveness in the cross. Because Jesus died and he shed his blood for guilty sinners. So that all who call upon the name of the Lord will what? Will be saved because he is God with us.31:31I love what Charles Spurgeon said about this. God with us. If you think it doesn't matter, it matters to the heavenly realm. He said, For Satan, God with us is hell's terror. I would imagine every time we read that scripture, there are chills going up and down Satan's spine. Satan trembles at the sound of it.32:00His legions fly apace, and the black-winged dragon of the pit quails and quakes before Emmanuel. I think as a little child, when we say God is with us, Satan puts on his earmuffs. Because he does not want us to know that God really is with us. For the disciple of Jesus, Spurgeon says this, God with us.32:30Tis eternity's sonnet. Tis heaven's hallelujah. Tis the shout of the glorified. Tis the song of the redeemed. Tis the chorus of angels. Tis the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky. God is with us. And because he is Emmanuel, we will never be the same. Father, we thank you.32:59Father, we thank you.← Previous in Christmas is...Christmas is A Promise Fulfilled (Matthew 1:2-17)Next in Christmas is... →Christmas Is A Light To The Nations (Luke 2:25-35)More sermons on Matthew →
