Matthew 1, 18-25.
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about.
! His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph,
! but before they came together,
she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
Because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the law
and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace,
he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this,
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife
because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son
and you are to give him the name Jesus
because he will save his people from their sins.
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet.
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son
and they will call him Emmanuel,
which means God with us.
When Joseph woke up,
he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took Mary home as his wife.
But he did not consummate their marriage
until she gave birth to a son
and he gave him the name Jesus.
Can you imagine how Joseph must have felt?
What do you mean you're pregnant?
Joseph, I'm telling you,
I haven't been with another man.
I'm telling the truth.
You haven't been with another man
and yet you're pregnant?
Am I missing something?
Did someone do this to you?
No, Joseph.
I told you I had a visitor a few months back.
He was an angel sent from God.
He told me that I would become pregnant by the Spirit of God
and that this child,
are you kidding me, Mary?
Do you expect me to believe
that an angel appeared to you
sent from God?
That you're pregnant by the Spirit of God?
God, how could you do this to me?
I don't even know what to say to you.
We can only imagine how that conversation went.
We get a little bit of a hint.
Joseph was going to break off the engagement,
which was the equivalent of a divorce
back in their culture and time.
He obviously didn't believe Mary.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have even been thinking
about getting a divorce.
But he also truly loved Mary.
Even though he didn't believe her,
he didn't want to expose her to public disgrace.
He didn't want to ruin her life,
even though she had just broken his heart.
And so he was looking at getting a quiet divorce,
keeping it on the down low.
It was an honorable thing to do.
But after he had considered this,
an angel of the Lord appeared to him
in a dream
and said,
Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife,
because what is conceived in her
is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son
and you are to give him the name Jesus
because he will save his people
from their sins.
Wow.
What an emotional roller coaster that must have been.
First, he finds out that the young lady
that he has chosen is pregnant.
Then, he gets this news from the angel.
The last thing that he would have ever expected
to happen.
She's telling the truth.
He really is conceived
by the Holy Spirit of God.
Can you imagine Joseph's reaction?
Like, I can't believe this.
She's telling the truth.
Who can I tell this to?
If I tell anybody this news,
they're going to think I'm crazy.
A son conceived from the Holy Spirit of God.
That's amazing.
But what's even more amazing
is this one thing that the angel from God said
about this child to Joseph.
You are to give him the name Jesus.
Jesus, which in the Greek of Matthew's day,
Iesus.
But Iesus was the equivalent of the Hebrew name,
Yeshua.
Which literally means,
Yahweh saves.
God saves.
You are to give him the name Jesus.
God saves.
Because he will save his people
from their sins.
I'm going to guess that Joseph
was maybe a little surprised
at that last part.
Perhaps like many of the other
Jewish people of his day,
he would have expected the angel to say,
because he will save his people
from their enemies.
Like the Romans.
The angel had said to Mary
that the child to be born
would be a great king.
That he would take up the throne
of his father,
David,
their ancestor,
King David.
It had been centuries
since the Jewish people
enjoyed true freedom
as a sovereign nation.
Like back in the days
of King David.
The Romans had conquered
the land of Israel
and they ruled over it
with an iron fist.
It was from the Roman Empire
that the Jewish people
longed for deliverance.
This is not what the angel
said to Joseph.
You are to call him Jesus.
You are to give him
the name Jesus.
God saves.
Because he will deliver
his people
from their sins.
According to God
and the words
that he spoke
through the prophets
long before Joseph
was born,
there was a greater enemy
than the Romans.
A bigger problem
than national sovereignty.
According to God,
the sins of his people
are an even greater threat.
An even bigger problem.
Sin is not a word
that we use much today
outside of the church.
But in this context,
it refers to the countless ways
that people have turned
away from God.
To the many ways
that we intentionally
ignore God
or disobey
his commands.
Sin generally refers
to the things
that we think
or say
or do
that are contrary
to the good ways
that God has made us for.
Things like selfishness.
pride,
hatred,
deceit,
rebelling against authority,
immoral behavior,
and the list goes on.
But the overarching problem
of sin
is not just
the ugliness of it
or how it wrecks
our relationships
with each other.
The overarching problem
of sin
is what we deserve
for it
as people
who have turned
our backs
on the God
who created us.
we have essentially
spit in the face
of our maker.
We were under
his authority
at the beginning.
He made us
and therefore
he has the rights
to us
but we rebelled
and humanity
continues to rebel.
the overarching
problem
with our sins
is that they put us
in a dangerous
position
before God.
He is good.
He is just.
God has been saying
it throughout his book.
A day is coming
when he will take
the seat of justice
and once for all
put everything right.
He will ensure
that no one
gets away
with the wrongs
that they have done
whether that be
great evil
or the smallest
of selfish acts.
The ugliness
of sin
will be eradicated
from his world
and that's a problem
for us
because we are all
guilty of sin
against him
and against
one another.
Sin is our
greatest problem.
It is our
greatest enemy
and it's not just
some disease
that we
innocently caught.
We ourselves
are responsible
for every sin
we have committed.
This is what
half the Bible
is about.
We're in deep
trouble with God
and it's our fault
because we
have sinned
against him.
But now listen
to these words
of the angel
again.
She,
Mary,
will give birth
to a son
and you are
to name him
Jesus.
God saves
because he
will save
his people
from
their sins.
This child
in Mary's womb
is going to
rescue his people
from the guilt
that they have
because of
their sins.
Salvation
will come
through the child
born of Mary.
Amazing.
Jesus,
the son of God
came into our
world on a
rescue mission.
It was a
rescue mission
that would cost
him his life.
He would die
on a Roman
cross
and there
receive upon
himself the
justice of
God
for the sins
committed
by all
who would
believe in
him
so that
we could
be forgiven
completely
and let
off the
hook
completely
for every
sin we've
ever committed.
Why would
God make a
deal like
this?
His own
son's death
for our
deliverance.
God's answer
from the pages
of the Bible
is that no
matter how
far from
home we've
run,
ignoring him,
doing what
we know is
wrong,
God's answer
is this,
I love
you and
I want you
to come
home.
For God
so loved
the world
that he
gave his
one and
only son
that whoever
believes in
him shall
not perish
but have
eternal life
for God
did not
send his
son into
the world
to condemn
the world
but to
save the
world
through him
whoever
believes in
him is
not
condemned
but whoever
does not
believe
stands
condemned
already.
if you're
here this
morning
and you
haven't
believed in
Jesus
I want to
encourage you
it's not too
late to
make peace
with God
it's not too
late to open
your heart
to the most
wonderful and
fulfilling
relationship that
we can have
our relationship
with God
if you're
looking for
help on how
to do this
or guidance
you can
feel free to
talk to me
after the
service or
anyone else
here that
you know
and trust
we'd love to
sit with you
and pray with
you
but for those
of us who
have this
hope and
this faith
in Jesus
and who
know him
Christmas is a
special time
it's an
occasion for
sober
reflection
because we
needed a
savior
we needed
salvation
but it's
also an
occasion for
great celebration
because long
ago in
Bethlehem a
child was
born and
he wasn't
just any
child
he was a
child who
would grow up
to do what
no one else
could
to save
his people
from their
sins
let's pray
father in
heaven we
thank you
for sending
your son
Jesus
the ultimate
gift
a gift we
could never
repay
you don't
even want us
to try to
repay because
it cannot be
repaid
a gift of
grace
a gift of
your kindness
and mercy
to us
and I pray
Lord that
you would
just enable
us this week
to celebrate
deeply and
fully
your son
our salvation
your desire
to be
with us
our Christ
and our
king
the one who
will come
and reign
forever
someday
what a
wonderful thing
that you have
done we
just thank you
and we
praise you
for your
awesome goodness
and sending
Jesus to us
in his name
amen
I'll invite the
music team to
come up and
lead us in one
more song
up and
up