Matthew 1:18-25: God's Son, Our Savior

[0:00] 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.

[0:15] 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.

[0:42] 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.

[0:56] 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 sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.

[1:11] He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

[1:22] Please be seated. Amen. Good afternoon to you. It is a grand joy to be here on this afternoon and to share in this season.

[1:39] So bless it. Now there are some things about the season that probably most of us can do without, but there are some things about this season that all of us need, and I pray that God would use this season in our hearts and lives to enrich us and to better prepare us to be on mission with him in this world.

[2:04] Let me pray, okay? Lord, we bless you, and we honor you on this afternoon. Thank you for the privilege of standing in your presence and being in the midst of your people.

[2:17] Our ears and our hearts are open. May we listen to you with a heart, a mind, and a will to obey.

[2:28] We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. The text on this afternoon is a very familiar one. Many of us have heard it many, many times, and one of the challenges of coming to a text like this is to try to give some fresh bread and not just reach back and get some of leftovers, though leftovers are good.

[2:56] Amen? So on this afternoon, we come to this grand text. We come to it humbly. We come to it prayerfully.

[3:10] We come to it expectantly. What we have here is most foundational to the Christian faith.

[3:22] the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed that we have recited on this afternoon. They include the basic truths that we see in the text that's before us.

[3:36] You've recited the following words if you recited the Nicene Creed on this afternoon. For us and for our salvation, he, that's the Son of God, came down from heaven.

[3:52] And listen, by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary and was made man.

[4:07] Well, last week we heard from the genealogy, Matthew chapter 1, verses 1 through 17. And there, the family history, the roots, if you will, of Jesus were established.

[4:23] Notice in chapter 1, verse 1, the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.

[4:35] Matthew then, having gone through an exercise that connected him with these great stalwarts, if you will, of the Jewish faith, Abraham and David, he then causes us to come in verse 18, and we have information about the birth of Jesus Christ.

[4:59] Look there with me. Verse 18, now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. We go from his roots, his history, would come on this afternoon to his birth.

[5:17] And what I would like to do, I would like to capsulize, if you will, about four things that really this particular text says about the birth of Jesus.

[5:32] Verse 18 and beyond, you see the very first thing. Jesus was born of a woman who was a virgin.

[5:44] Look at verse 18, we see the name of Jesus' mother. Her name is Mary. Miriam would be the pronunciation in her language.

[5:56] She had been pledged in marriage to one Joseph, as he would have been known. Now, unfortunately, in our culture, it is not unheard of children having children.

[6:15] Children, if you will, 12 and 13 years old. A very unfortunate situation. However, in this situation, it is unheard of that these children, if you will, are married at 12 or 13.

[6:37] That would not have been the case in Jesus' day, when young women married as early as the onset of puberty. It was likely that Mary, however, was in her teens.

[6:51] And as customs of that day went, Joseph, who was a hard-working Galilean, he probably would not likely have married at least until he was in his late teens and probably on into his 20s.

[7:07] These two, Miriam and Joseph, Mary and Joseph, were pledged in marriage to one another. Boy, it would have been easy if we were abiding by these particular customs in our day.

[7:22] When I went to ask for Shirley's hand in marriage, I was really, really nervous, and her mother really got a kick out of me not being able to get my words out about her.

[7:36] It wasn't that my parents, my folks talked with her folks and arranged it. No, I had to do the asking myself. And praise God, that's been over 40 years ago.

[7:47] And thank you, Mama Jones, for saying yes to having the hand of your daughter. Huh? Fathers would agree to have agreed to a marriage contract between their children.

[8:00] Joseph would have been brought before Mary and their parents, and they would have had a formal benediction, a blessing over them as they tasted a cup of wine together.

[8:14] Huh? Notice verse 19, it speaks of Joseph as being her husband. And this was just this betrothal period. They were, it was a legal engagement, if you will, that if it were broken off, it had to be done by a divorce.

[8:33] It lasted about a year long, and at the end of that betrothal period, they would then join in marriage, and the wife would then go into the husband, her husband's home.

[8:48] The betrothal was so strong that if a husband died, the woman would have been deemed as a widow, even. While these things were so, the engaged couple would not live together, and furthermore, at least in the conservative Galilean area, region where Joseph and Mary resided, virginity was maintained until they were actually married.

[9:20] What am I saying? Jesus was born to a woman who was a virgin. And if you will look there, as we see at the end of verse 18, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

[9:42] Huh? Found with child from the Holy Spirit. Notice here, Mary was not expecting as a result of sexual relations with some unholy, lustful deity.

[9:58] Ancient stories included accounts of gods inflamed by lusts who cohabited with women. And such tales are just that.

[10:08] They are, in fact, tales, and quite inconsistent with the biblical standards and the purity of what we see in the gospel accounts here. Luke's gospel, and I love Luke, gives us a bit more detail than Matthew.

[10:24] After the angel Gabriel announced to Mary what would be, listen to what Mary said, and you need to turn to it, and Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I'm a virgin?

[10:38] And the angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

[10:52] Therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God. What a wonder, what a marvel, the God of creation condescends to the point of inhabiting the womb of a woman that he had made and that he had designed.

[11:22] Oh, don't you love the season that where we get an opportunity to look again at the wonder of wonders, great humiliation, the condescension of God himself, even to dwell with us, those of us he came to save.

[11:42] Verse 25 also indirectly speaks of Mary's virginity. Not only was she a virgin at the time of conception, she was a virgin after the baby was born because there was no sexual relations between her and Joseph.

[12:00] Joseph did not know her in a sexual way until she had given birth to her son. We'll talk more about that a little later.

[12:12] But here's the deal, brothers and sisters. This conception, this miraculous conception that would provide an earthly body for the holy son of God.

[12:26] His eternal nature, his divine essence comes from God himself, his earthly body, his human nature from Mary.

[12:39] End of the story, God's the father, Mary's the mother. No. Enter Joseph in verse 19.

[12:50] Jesus was born of a woman that was a virgin. But also notice the second thing I believe that this text shows us about his birth. He was born into a family of a God-honoring descendant of David the king.

[13:08] He was born into the family of a God-honoring descendant of David the king. Look at verse 19. And her husband Joseph, being a just man, he termed, unwilling to put her to shame, to divorce her, to put her away privately.

[13:35] Did you notice the text shifts from Mary to Joseph? Character-wise, one word describes him here, and that was enough.

[13:48] Let me ask you a question. if there was a one-word description of your character, preach Pastor Jay, your character, what would it be?

[14:04] Well, again, I'm talking about character, not external features, and I know some of you are tall and handsome and some of you are cute and pretty.

[14:16] Let's put those things aside. You and I know that, don't we, huh? But what would be a one-word description of your character?

[14:28] For Joseph, it was the fact that he is just, huh? The orientation of his life was toward doing what was right, like the parents of John the Baptist that we see in Luke chapter 1, who are described as righteous.

[14:46] Joseph is a man of honor bent on doing the very will of God. He was law-abiding. He was a law-keeper. So it was during this betrothal period of at least a year that he makes a discovery.

[15:04] Mary is expecting and believe this puts him in a dilemma, huh? Because, it puts him in a dilemma because the right thing which was required of the law would be to divorce her.

[15:25] But doing the right thing also meant for him not willing to put her to shame.

[15:38] Huh? Oh, what restraint there? Not willing to do all that the law would allow him to do? Huh?

[15:49] Are there not times when desiring to do the right thing creates tension within ourselves? Ever felt those kinds of tensions?

[16:00] Huh? Huh? We find ourselves wrestling and wondering and seeking direction and wisdom.

[16:11] It could be wanting to do the right thing on the job or the right thing in the classroom and more often not it's wanting to do the right thing in the context of the home within the context of family within the context of even spouses.

[16:26] Sometimes listen to this it just pays to just wait. Don't say it as soon as you could say it. Don't act as quickly as you can act.

[16:38] Don't rush to a decision. Preferably weigh the options. What Joseph did, Joseph pondered what he could do to not embarrass or not to shame Mary.

[16:57] Now he could have made a big deal out of our pregnancy. Oh this woman had done me wrong and I'm going to to the fullest extent of the law. I'll show her no that wasn't his orientation.

[17:12] He could have labored to help other people to see how terrible she is, how wronged he was to in a very open public way to divorce her after all the letter of the law allowed for it.

[17:31] But that wouldn't be because he was a just man and unwilling to shame her. That would not be the way that he took care of business consistent with his character.

[17:46] He would take the high road. There was a provision that would demand less publicity and he felt that would be his choice.

[17:58] But guess what he did? He slept on it. He slept on it. He didn't act. He didn't pull the trigger right away. He slept on it.

[18:10] Look at verse 20. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, and notice what he called son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which conceived in her is from, there it is again, from the Holy Spirit.

[18:35] It's a work of God. Huh? In the midst of this dilemma and pondering in a dream, the Lord spoke to him and cleared things up for him and gave him the direction and the guidance that he needed.

[18:50] I was reading in Psalms this week devotionally and came across this great verse that fit Joseph's situation. Listen to this.

[19:01] Light dawns in the darkness for the upright. He is gracious and merciful and righteous. And here it was, light dawned as far as what he needed to do in the darkness for this upright man.

[19:20] Huh? In the midst of this emotional turmoil that the Lord came to him in a dream called on Joseph by name and referenced his heritage as a descendant of David.

[19:36] The Lord gave him in that dream the very directions that he needed to move on. Look there. Look at the words, the great biblical words, fitting words, do not fear.

[19:49] And this is what, in essence he said, stick with plan A Joseph, that's marriage. Don't go to plan B, public divorce, or even plan C, private divorce.

[20:02] Don't fear. Stay with the plan. You are betrothed to her, you're on the pathway to marriage, stay there.

[20:15] Stay there. There's more to the dream. Look at verse 21. But Joseph had his needed direction. God had chosen his God honoring, this God honoring descendant of David as the earthly and the legal father of his son.

[20:37] Though not his birth father. By marrying Mary, he would be the legal and adoptive father of Jesus. And no, look at chapter 1 and verse 16 again.

[20:52] And Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Christ was born, who is called Christ. He's in the line. He's in the line through Joseph.

[21:05] Through Joseph, chapter 1 verse 16, Jesus would be a descendant. David the king, verse 24, notes that Joseph obeyed the word of the Lord through the dream.

[21:17] He proceeded to marry a pregnant Mary. Rather than divorce his wife, he took her as his wife.

[21:30] And what a difference the Lord's direction can make in our lives. Well, we're not trying to do it on our own and make it on our own. What a difference.

[21:41] It even means our not taking the path, some often means our not taking the path of least resistance. Sometimes it means doing the hard thing that sometimes even can bring us shame and ridicule because we're doing what's right, the God-earnering thing.

[22:03] Jesus was Mary's son physically, son of man, the spoke of his humanity. Jesus was Joseph's son legally, son of David, the spoke of his loyalty.

[22:22] Jesus was God's son eternally, son of God. That speaks, of course, of his deity. What have I said so far?

[22:33] Jesus was born of a woman who was a virgin. Jesus was born into a family of a God-honoring descendant of David the king. But also, notice this, Jesus was born both to save us and to be with us.

[22:49] Verse 21, look at that verse with me. And I'm just trying to see where it's, there it is. This print's a little small.

[23:01] Pastor J is over 60 now. I'm going to have to get a large print Bible. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

[23:18] And let me just read this other verse, verse 22. And 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.

[23:39] The concerns of Joseph's heart had been addressed. I mean, isn't it wonderful how the Lord does things? I mean, he sort of disarmed him emotionally first, and then he proceeds to tell him his plan after that.

[23:54] I mean, he had to deal with emotional kinds of things, which enabled him to hear what was to follow. So he proceeds to speak. The angel's first words concerned the identity of the child.

[24:08] She will have a son, and you will call his name Jesus. But also, the word spoke about the destiny of the child. Huh? The destiny of the child was revealed.

[24:20] His name spoke of his destiny, his mission, his purpose. Physical liberation from the political powers of that day was not what was in view as far as his saving.

[24:34] Huh? That would not be a part at least of the agenda at his first coming. His would not be a rescue from the physical forces of tyranny. The political powers of the day, the kind of deliverer that they had longed for and hoped for.

[24:52] That was not on God's agenda then. But spiritual salvation was what was in view. His deliverance, his salvation, his rescue would be from the enemy of all mankind, your enemy and my enemy, the enemy throughout humankind of the ages, and that is sin.

[25:13] Huh? And just as by one man's sin had entered into the world, so through the one who came as Savior, there would be deliverance from the damage that was caused by the first man.

[25:28] The infection that had invaded the human race would find its cure through the one who was called Jesus, which means Savior.

[25:41] He would save his people from their sins. His deliverance would be from eternal death. the penalty that was exacted by just and holy God.

[25:53] He was born to save us, but he was also born to be with us. Ah, when you look in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, we heard God with us through his teaching, and when you look at Matthew chapters 8, through 8, 9, 8, and 9, we see God with us through his mighty works of miracles.

[26:21] We see God with us as a suffering Savior. We see God with us as he is stretched high on the cross. We see God with us in resurrection power when he arose from the dead.

[26:35] God with us. Huh? In the sense of this being a title or description, God was very present with his people in the person and the work of Jesus, and we sing about it, don't we?

[26:54] Veiled in flesh, the God had seen. Hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with man to dwell.

[27:07] There it is. Jesus, our Emmanuel, huh? He was born to save us and born to be with us.

[27:22] Jesus was born of a woman who was a virgin. He was born into the family of a God-honoring descendant of the King of David. He was born to save us and be with us, but listen to this fourth point.

[27:33] He was born in fulfillment of Old Testament scripture. You see that in verse 22? All this, here's the gravity, the weight falls there.

[27:49] All this, all of what, all of what had preceded and what he was talking about, the birth, the conception, the conception, and these things, by the Holy Spirit, all of these things happen to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet.

[28:07] When we come to verse 22 in Matthew chapter 1, we're introduced to a phrase that is like a master key, if you will, to the book of Matthew in that it unlocks one's understanding of the purpose of the book of Matthew.

[28:27] Throughout this book, Matthew, he has this particular phraseology, it just appears about 12 times, but Matthew, more than any other gospel, he's quoting the Old Testament, he's making reference to Old Testament accounts and various pictures, huh?

[28:46] To introduce these Old Testament passages in his efforts to show the ways in which Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled the Old Testament scripture, Matthew chapter 5 verse 17, Jesus says this, think not that I came to destroy the law of the prophets, I didn't come to destroy them, I came to fulfill them, as a matter of fact, turn over to chapter 2 and I don't want to get into this too much, but I want to show you, even in this prologue, in these first two chapters, again, we're introduced to what could be called this fulfillment formula, turn over in chapter 2, and verse 15, and remained there until the death of Herod, and we'll look at this I believe on next week, this was to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet out of Egypt, I've called my son, look at verse 17, then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet

[29:53] Jeremiah, and he goes on and quotes there, and then in verse 23, and he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, he shall be called a Nazarene, and you can go on throughout the book, whether it is through that introduction, but there are other ways in which he introduces Old Testament passages to show that Jesus fulfilled them, so after all, his readers were primarily Jewish, and he seeks in his writing to strengthen their faith by showing them that Jesus' life and ministry fulfilled Old Testament scriptures, and here's the first such quotation, and as one would think, it concerns Jesus' birth, his entry into the world, he shows that what happens in the previous verses, Mary's pregnancy and all that surrounded it, was the fulfillment of the passage that he quotes in verse 23.

[31:01] We know it as Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14, a prophecy about the birth of a child, to one who was a virgin, that was a sign of the Lord's being with his people and for his people.

[31:18] We need to look at it in its context. Let's look at it right now. Isaiah chapter 7. Isaiah chapter 7.

[31:36] The historical context in Isaiah chapter 7 is in 8th century BC. During the reign of Ahaz, you'll see him in this genealogy in Matthew chapter 1, verses 1-17.

[31:54] He was the king over Judah of the southern kingdom. What was going on was that the king of Assyria was harassing the smaller nations in Palestine.

[32:06] Israel in the northern kingdom and neighboring Syria had formed this coalition and they were pressing Judah to join them. Judah refused.

[32:19] And so this coalition then they come, they turn the tables and they wanted to get in Judah, they wanted to replace Ahaz's king. Look at chapter 7 and verse 1.

[32:32] In the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remelia, the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it.

[32:49] When the house of David was told, Syria is in league with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of the people shook as trees of forest shake before the wind.

[33:00] The Lord said to Isaiah, go out to meet Ahaz, you and share Jashu, your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the washer's field and say to him, be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands at the fierce anger of Rezan and Syria and the son of Remelia, because Syria with Ephraim and the son of Remelia has devised evil against you saying, let us go up against Judah and terrify it and let us conquer it for ourselves and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it.

[33:48] Thus says the Lord. So he goes on down and as we look at verses 4 through 14 and don't have time to get into all of this, but notice particular, let's look at verse 10.

[34:03] again, so the Lord is speaking here and he's speaking about these powers and what's going to happen to their eventual fate.

[34:15] It says, verse 10, and the Lord spoke to Ahaz, ask a sign of the Lord your God, let it be as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven.

[34:26] But Ahaz said, I will not ask and I will not put the Lord to the test. And he said, hear then, O house of David, is it too little for you to weary men, but you weary my God also?

[34:37] Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and call his name Emmanuel.

[34:51] In Isaiah, in this context, the birth of a baby was the sign of God's faithfulness to his Davidic promise. There was an 8th century B.C.

[35:02] there was a fulfillment which was an indication of God being with his people and thus we see in this context on into chapter 8 we see the appearance of the name Emmanuel, God with us.

[35:17] But an even greater fulfillment of this prophecy took place at the appearing at the arrival of Jesus. And as in the original context, we've heard this do-not-fear word coming to a descendant of David at that time, even in the Matthew chapter 1 context, we hear again a do-not-fear word coming from God to a descendant of David.

[35:46] And as was in the case of ancient Israel, there was a sign of the birth of a child by a young maiden. So would be the case in Matthew chapter 1.

[35:56] So as in Matthew, the birth of the child was a God-given sign that he was at work to fulfill his word, to fulfill his Davidic promises to them.

[36:10] That's what had fulfillment in Isaiah's day. And if you look at the context of their different views, was this Isaiah's child by second wife in chapter 8 and other views that they had.

[36:23] Of course, there is some that would say this particular prophecy, even in the book of Isaiah chapter 7. It was a singular fulfillment in looking forward to the birth of Christ, and that particular view doesn't adequately, I believe, consider the ancient context.

[36:40] Then there are those who would say it has a double reference. It has a reference to the historical context as well as the context of the coming of Christ, which I believe is a more solid and more correct view.

[36:54] That which had fulfillment in Isaiah's day would have ultimate fulfillment in Joseph's day through the birth of God's virgin-born son through Mary.

[37:12] I need to begin to bring it to a close, a time hopefully is well spent and far spent. But what might be some takeaways from this text on this afternoon?

[37:29] Let me give you a few. While sexual purity is not the primary focus of this particular text, sexual purity does come into view.

[37:44] Regardless of the opinions of this world, we must see that virginity, though it is made fun of by the world, is not something that people should be ashamed of.

[38:03] Our relationship with God does not exclude our sexuality. Sexual purity goes along with being a God-honoring and righteous person.

[38:19] And it's not simply good for unmarried and single people. It must be at high value for all of us, regardless of who we are.

[38:32] The central truth that emerges from this text is the following. The Son of God became the Son of Man in order to be with us and to save us.

[38:46] Matthew takes us back to the incarnation. He shows that in Christ, God came to be with those that he came to save. John put it this way, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the only Son from God full of grace and truth.

[39:09] I love the way that Eugene Peterson put it in the message. The Word became flesh and he moved into the neighborhood. Like moving into the slums, Jesus moved in with broken humanity and that includes the likes of those that we saw in the genealogy, Jew and Gentile, male and female, known and unknown, moral and immoral.

[39:37] People like them but people just like you and me, sinners all. and not only did he move in with us, he became sin for us.

[39:48] That's what the cross was about. Paul put it as well as anybody in Philippians. He who, though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality of God a thing to be grasped but he made himself nothing.

[40:02] Taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross in the incarnation, God became one of us in order to have compassion on us because Jesus was God with us.

[40:25] He can have just that. The writer of Hebrews put it this way, since then, children are sharing flesh and blood. He himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy him who had power over the death that is the devil.

[40:41] Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people because he himself suffered when tempted is able to succor to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

[41:04] the result of Jesus being God with us. We're going to sing about it now. Not only is all of these things but guess what it means?

[41:18] It should mean joy to the world. God's son enters into our poverty in order to make us rich in himself.

[41:31] Let me answer a question. Do you possess that joy? That joy that comes because of a relationship with Jesus Christ?

[41:43] When we sing about God coming down through his son, what does that mean to you? Does that in some way warm your heart, charge your heart, encourage your heart?

[41:55] Or does it fall with a great thud? Oh, as you wear great music with great verse, together, ah, just to cause us to lift up our hearts and praise and worship, huh?

[42:09] Do you possess that joy? You could have it. If you don't have it, if you receive God's son, virgin born, let us pray.

[42:23] Dear Lord, we give thanks on this afternoon for your great kindness to us through your son, our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[42:34] Lord Jesus, thank you from coming from heaven to earth to show the way from the earth to the cross, our debt to pay.

[42:47] Lord, we celebrate you during this season. I pray, Lord, that as we ponder the great truths that come to us through passages like Matthew chapter 1.

[43:00] We pray that we would be recharged. We pray that our vision would be cleared up. We pray that our hearts would be uncluttered. We pray that you would be glorified in the whole of our being and all of our lives.

[43:14] We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. Won't you stand as we sing?