Emmanuel - God with Us

[0:00] In Matthew 1.23 it says, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us.

[0:20] Is God with you? Are you with God? As we follow him, as we become his, as we belong to him, as we're born again, God is with us.

[0:31] God comes with us, and we are with God, and we are together. I exist to glorify the God of this universe, every one of us. That's why we exist. That's why we were born.

[0:41] That's the purpose we were made, is to glorify God, to give him praise. God with us, and God for us. In Romans 8.31 it says, If God be for us, who can be against us? And that's true for you as a Christian.

[0:56] If God be for us, who can be against us? If you belong to the Saviour, God is for you. It brings a whole new meaning to life, doesn't it? A whole new reason for living. And many who celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus do not realise that the Christ of the cradle is also the Christ of the cross.

[1:14] And they don't realise how they need to repent, and trust him, and receive him as Saviour, as Master, as Lord. You know, at Christmas time people think of a baby in the manger, but they don't think of the Christ on the cross, bleeding and dying for man's sin, and risen, alive, coming back again to receive us to himself.

[1:36] And Spurgeon said, This was not just a babe in a manger.

[1:59] This was Almighty God, robed in human flesh, and clothed in human skin. And God is not just watching over us from a distance, some far away kind of deity, but he is close by.

[2:12] He's very close. He's not some remote, disconnected power. He is very really present, engaged, personal, now, with us, right here and now, this very moment.

[2:24] God with us. His very presence is with you, wherever you go as a Christian. It's not like you visit him in church, and you say goodbye to him when you leave. God is with you. God is with us all the time, day by day, 24 by 7, by 365.

[2:41] And God's real presence bodily dwelt in the body of that child, the Lord Jesus, as he was born. He took upon him human form. He was made in the likeness of man.

[2:51] And God is close by. He's not far away today. And that should be a source of encouragement to us. In Haggai 1.13, it says, The Lord's message is, I am with you, saith the Lord.

[3:04] I am with you, saith the Lord. And when you go about your day by day, whether you face challenges and struggles and difficult times, I am with you, is his message to us.

[3:16] He is with us. Do you know that God is with you? God is with you. Sometimes we forget, we neglect to think of that. That God is with you in the test, in the grease, in the disappointments, in the hardness, in the trying times, in the shadows, in the joys and in the sadness.

[3:32] When we are in trouble, God with us. When we are stumbling, when we are despairing, when we are hurting, God with us. Take heart, take encouragement today in that truth, that in every circumstance of life, God with us.

[3:48] He is still Emmanuel. He is still Emmanuel today. God with us. He visits with us. He abides with us. His presence is with us. As we know it says, he's promised to be with us wherever two or three are gathered together in his name.

[4:04] The one who was in the cradle, the one who was on the cross, the one who is now on the throne. He is with us. He is with you. And I trust he's on the throne of your heart.

[4:16] The one who has, really the only one, who has the rightful claim over your life. He is truly the King of kings and the Lord of lords. They crowned him with thorns.

[4:27] He bled there. Pierced, wounded, bruised for you, for me, in our place. Taking our sin. They crucified him there. He was crucified and he bled in our place.

[4:40] Do you know him yet? You know, we may take it for granted that we're all Christians here today. But only, really, God knows them that are his. And I just trust that you'll take heart to think, is he with you today?

[4:53] And if you are a Christian, he is with you. Even though you may not always feel like it, he is with you. It's faith that claims that promise. And we can come to know him, to love him, and he will be there for us.

[5:07] He will be there for you. God's presence. And what's more, he will never leave us. We can take heart. If you trusted him, he says to you in Hebrews 13, 5, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

[5:20] That's a promise that you can personally receive today. And he says, as he was leaving, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen.

[5:31] Take heart today. God with us. And we can be encouraged to make that personal today as we reflect on those words. Emmanuel. Emmanuel. Emmanuel. Emmanuel. Thank you.