"God with us"

Reformed Ex-mormon iconReformed Ex-mormon

2 views

0 comments

00:02
I wish throughout the year we sung more Christmas songs. It's a wonderful thing to worship God and what he's done, which is that wonderful miracle of the incarnation.
00:12
If we're going to, I'm going to have to move this mic over here because one of the blessings of having little ones in the church is that sometimes the sound equipment gets messed with, and it seems that this mic is not working right now.
00:23
So I'm going to set this one to the side and hopefully this will be sufficient for us today. So again, huge blessing just to see everyone here and to sing songs of worship to our mighty
00:31
Lord. Before we look at today's message, we're going to be in Matthew 1, verse 21 -23 for this evening.
00:38
I'm used to saying this morning for Sunday, so I'm going to say that probably at least five more times for tonight. However, please turn there as we just open up with a word of prayer.
00:52
Lord God, Lord, it is such a privilege to be here tonight,
00:58
Lord. It's such a privilege to know who you are, Lord, to profess the essentials of Christianity, which one is,
01:06
Lord, is your incarnation, that you being God, holy, perfect, powerful, all -seeing, all -knowing have come in the flesh and have died for us,
01:17
Lord. So God, may we celebrate that reality today as we consider even your resurrection on the
01:22
Lord's day and what that meant for us in our salvation, Lord. Be glorified today.
01:28
Let us not think an ounce further of what your text has said here, but let us rest our heads fully and securely upon what your revealed word tells us about what you have done,
01:38
Lord. That is, you have ransomed for yourself a people who believe in you, Lord. So we thank you for that,
01:44
Lord. Just let this means of grace glorify you in the preaching today.
01:49
We ask this in your name, Jesus the Christ. Amen. What we're going to do,
01:56
I don't want to make a stand up and down too much, but for today, I would ask that you stand with me as we read
02:01
Matthew 1, chapter 1, verse 21 to 23, just for this special occasion that we are in.
02:17
This is the word of God. She will bear a son and you shall call his name
02:24
Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
02:30
Now, all this took place in order that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled saying, behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name
02:44
Emmanuel, which translated means God with us.
02:50
Thank you. Let's go ahead and sit back down now. When considering what text to preach from today, there's a multitude of places that came to my mind, but this one to me stands out at the importance of what
03:07
Christmas is. I want to ask us today before we even consider this text,
03:12
I want to ask us two questions. Why is it imperative that the
03:17
Jesus that you have faith in is God with us? Why is that so important as Christians?
03:25
The second question I want to ask us today, and this is one that I want you to sincerely consider in your hearts, is do you have salvation today?
03:35
Because if you don't, I would call you to repent and believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even if you do have salvation, even if you know
03:42
Jesus Christ fully and totally, I'm calling you today, believe in that same gospel that has already saved you as it will continue to save you throughout the ages to come.
03:52
But let's look here at verse 21 and consider what the text has for us this evening. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name
04:03
Yahush, Jesus. This Jesus character that so many people in the world talk about.
04:10
This Jesus is going to be the name that Mary is to call her son when she is conceived of him in the womb as a virgin.
04:19
What does this name of Jesus mean to Mary, to you, to I, and to the whole world?
04:26
It says it here for us. He will save his people from their sins.
04:35
This is the definition of Jesus's name that is given to us in the word of God.
04:41
Jesus saving his people from their sins. Let's look here at verse 22.
04:47
Now, all of this took place in order that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled.
04:54
I'm so thankful that the author of this book, Matthew, put this here in verse 22 for us because it's reminding us of what this character
05:03
Jesus is and what he has done. Jesus, as he laid there in the manger 2 ,000 years ago on a night like tonight, he laid there with full fulfillment of prophecy.
05:18
Every promise, all foretelling, every single shadow of the
05:24
Old Testament had met its substance in the anti -type of the word becoming flesh and what would soon take place in the life of Jesus Christ, especially him dying upon the cross.
05:37
It was all fulfilled there. There was not a single thing that Jesus did not accomplish that was foretold that he would do.
05:45
That's what's so important about this is that Matthew is saying that this is the
05:50
Messiah. He is the Christ. Not only are you going to name him Jesus, which means he'll save his people, but he is the one that all the prophets were shouting,
06:00
Jesus, the seed is coming. He's right here. He's the substance.
06:05
He is this figure that we have been proclaiming. Verse 23, behold, the virgin shall be with child, and she shall bear a son, and they shall call his name
06:20
Emmanuel, which translated means
06:25
God with us. In theology, this reality of this son, this man being
06:36
God with us is known as the hypostatic view, that here in the work of Jesus Christ and the person of Jesus existed the full form of God and all the attributes that will exist therein, and the full form of man and all the attributes that exist therein is being a man.
06:53
It existed there fully and truly in Jesus Christ, two natures existing there completely, even there in the manger.
07:02
This means that as he was being held by his mother, as he was being held by his father, he was the creator of his creation that was holding him.
07:12
He was this infinite, eternal being coming flesh and being with us.
07:19
That is remarkable. This is one of these tensions that we have been talking about in our weekly Bible studies.
07:25
These mysteries, these things that are too unfathomable for us to even put our minds fully around, but it is true nonetheless, that our creator, the one that has sustained you and I with every single breath since the day that we were born, had become like us fully and is our mediator in this work of Jesus Christ and his satisfactory atonement that he paid for on the cross.
07:49
Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. Jesus as a baby had all the seemingly fragileness that is life, the meekness of being a babe, yet there he was as the creator of all things being held by his very own creation.
08:06
This is remarkable. Another text that I wanted to read for tonight as we consider those two important questions.
08:14
Why is it imperative that we have faith in Jesus being fully God and fully man?
08:20
And then the question of do you have salvation today? I want to turn to Luke chapter 5 verse 17 through 25 for tonight.
08:30
So turn with me to Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 5 verse 17 through 25 says this.
08:53
We'll actually go ahead and read verse 26. And it happened that one day he was teaching.
09:01
This is speaking of that Jesus who will save his people. And there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, and the power of the
09:12
Lord was present for him to perform healing. And behold, some men were carrying on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed, and they were trying to bring him in and set him down before him.
09:28
But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus.
09:41
I want to just pause here and think about this for a moment. How many of us have found excuse after excuse to not come and worship our
09:48
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Every single week we do this. We look for excuse to not go to church, not to fellowship, not to sing him praise.
09:57
And what is this man, this paralyzed man that cannot even get himself up do? He asks his friends, please carry me there.
10:05
Put me on the stretcher and bring me to Jesus. I can't find my way in to even see him.
10:19
Put me on the roof, destroy the tiles, lower me in front of him. I'm happy none of us have come into church today through the roof because that would be quite expensive for us to fix.
10:31
However, the principle still stands. Brothers and sisters, if you have faith in Christ, you will do everything that you can to worship your
10:40
King. The question of do you have salvation today should be mirrored in the way that you live your life.
10:50
Do you not have the desire to be lowered through the roof to see him? Do you not have the desire to be before him and to have your sins forgiven?
11:00
Because if you don't, you don't have salvation today. And Jesus, seeing their faith, he said,
11:15
Friends, friend, your sins are forgiven you.
11:21
The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this who speaks blasphemies?
11:30
Who can forgive sins but God alone? And our mind should be immediately thinking about John chapter 1, that Jesus, the word, became flesh and he came unto his own, and his own did not receive him.
11:41
Jesus, the Jew, was before Jews even in this text. And what are they accusing him of?
11:47
That he's God in flesh? That he's the perfect lamb? No, that he's committing blasphemies.
11:52
This whole idea and blasphemous talk of the Pharisees would continue on even until the day when
11:59
Jesus is standing before Pilate, and instead of Jesus hearing the praises of the crowds who should be recognizing him in his glory and his honor and his wealth, instead cry out, crucify, crucify.
12:12
It's the same type of idea that is going on in here. He's committing blasphemy. He said his sins are forgiven.
12:17
I want to ask you, why would the Pharisees accuse Jesus of blasphemy if he said your sins are forgiven?
12:23
Well, because they correctly know the theology of the Old Testament, which is taught that only God himself can forgive sins.
12:32
And so them, being the Pharisees, think to themselves, how dare this man who was born, who was a carpenter, who laid in a manger, how dare he say that sins are forgiven because that is only something
12:46
God can do. And to that I would say, man, that is something that only God can do. But he was never blasphemous.
12:53
But yet he is Emmanuel. He is God with us. Look at what Jesus then says.
13:00
But Jesus, knowing their teachings, and in another part of this recorded story for us, it would say that Jesus, knowing their intentions, this was something that was in their hearts, but Jesus, knowing the intentions of the hearts.
13:13
I want to ask you, can any of us look around the room today and know the intentions of another man's heart? That is a divine attribute that Jesus himself possesses here in this text.
13:24
He knows their reasonings. He knows their intentions. He knows what they're saying in the closed rooms and in the dark places where no one else would be able to hear him.
13:33
He knows it. And this is what he does. This is what he says. Why are you reasoning in your hearts?
13:43
Which is easier to say, your sins have been forgiven you, or to say, get up and walk?
13:50
And this is true. Could any of us in this room look at one another and say your sins are forgiven you and be able to say that in a way that you're saying that your sins are atoned by God?
14:01
No, we can't do that. God alone atones for our sins. God alone forgives our sins.
14:09
So what is it easier for Jesus to say, your sins are forgiven you, or to look at the paralytic man that has never walked and to say to him, get up and walk?
14:19
A far more difficult statement to say such a thing to that man. But this is what
14:24
Jesus says here in verse 24. But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic,
14:34
I say to you, get up, and picking up your stretcher, go home.
14:40
And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home silently?
14:50
No. He went home. He went home glorifying who? God, the one who had just healed him, the one that had just forgiven him of his sins.
15:01
He went home glorifying God himself. And astonishment seized them all.
15:09
And they began glorifying God. And they were filled with fear saying, we have seen remarkable things today.
15:17
Brothers and sisters, there's several people that would look at the turning of the water into wine as the first miracle that Jesus performed.
15:29
It is very true that that is a great miracle that Jesus performed. But I would argue that the first miracle that God himself performed was him becoming incarnate there in the womb of Mary.
15:40
That was the first miracle. And miracle after miracle after miracle only validated the truth that Jesus was proclaiming, and that was that he is the
15:50
I Am, and unless you have faith in him as such, you will die in your sins.
15:55
And the greatest of all those miracles, the one that validated every claim that he said, was there when that tomb was rolled back and he got up and he walked out of it.
16:05
It validated it all. Just as when the paralytic man stood up and walked home, everyone there would say, that man's sins have been forgiven.
16:16
And if any of us said, how do you know that? They would say, because he got up and he walked. Likewise today, we can surely say that everything
16:26
Jesus said was true, and was right, and was holy, and that he is
16:31
God in flesh, and that he did pay for the price of my sins upon the cross. Why? That same question that would be posed in the crowd could be posed to us today, and our same answer would be because he rose from the grave.
16:45
I know it surely. There is no doubt in my mind. Brothers and sisters, this is the good news, that it is through Christ, the
16:54
Word becoming flesh, him living a perfect life, and him dying for you, and being buried and rising again on the third day.
17:03
That is the gospel. The question of do you have salvation today rests in your trust of that message.
17:12
Repent and believe in that gospel today. Maybe today something has hit home and has rung true for you in your hearts, and in your ears, and in your eyes.
17:23
Repent and believe and be saved. Maybe you have convinced yourself today that it is because of your works that you are saved.
17:30
I call you out and say repent and believe in the gospel. Be saved today.
17:35
Maybe today you have heard the gospel that has saved you already for the hundredth time.
17:41
Regardless, repent and believe in the gospel and be saved today. Maybe today you have come here and veered off the course, and need the reminder of salvation.
17:53
Repent and believe in the gospel and be saved today. The work you have done is nothing but filthy rags in the eyes of the
18:03
Lord. It takes God and God himself paying your price because it is
18:08
God himself that you and I have sinned against. It is because it is
18:15
God and God alone that you and I have sinned against, it took God himself to become flesh.
18:21
That is what it means for Jesus to be proclaimed as Emmanuel. God with us.
18:30
Brothers and sisters, I ask you this. This is something that gets discussed in many churches. Do you desire to have a revival of some kind?
18:40
Do you want to change the culture? Do you wish more people to come to Jesus? Do you pray for success in missions, church plants, or even growth in your own local body?
18:52
Maybe even within Valley Baptist. Brothers and sisters, I will tell you this. It will not happen.
18:59
It will not happen, beloved church, if you are too afraid to even tell your grocery store cashier about Jesus.
19:08
It will not happen if you keep on waiting for the right moment to tell your friend about redemption that is found in Jesus Christ.
19:17
It will not happen if you prize your relationship of family over the truth of the way, the truth, and the life which is the only way to the
19:25
Father, and that is Jesus Christ. It will not happen if you are more fearful of man rather than valuing the story of God becoming flesh, the word tabernacling amongst us.
19:41
I ask you today that when you look in the manger, that you would see the perfect Lamb being led silently to the trial that you and I deserve.
19:51
And I would ask that you would see His work on the cross and profess
19:56
His resurrection. Go, tell the world, and tell them of your
20:03
King and of His work. Quit being a shameful servant and instead be a warrior for the kingdom.
20:11
Go home, paralytic, and glorify God today. Let us pray.
20:19
Lord God, I thank you again for this wonderful story that we are celebrating as a nation,
20:25
Lord. There are many people who even though they wrap presents, even though they have a decorated tree, they don't know anything about you,
20:31
Lord. And so God, I know with a surety that as the gospel goes out that your sheep will hear your voice, that the drawing that you will do will be effectual,
20:42
Lord, that you will bring your people unto you, Lord, that it is a sure thing that you did save your people, that the name of Jesus was not just some random name, but it is the very name that gives us hope that you did save us,
20:58
Lord. So God, I would ask today that even in the message today that we as a people, as a kingdom people, as priests that have been made ready to serve at your altar,
21:08
Lord, that we would love you, that we wouldn't be silent, that we would be very vocal in proclaiming that name that has saved us,
21:18
Lord. So God, let us consider these things as we look to the manger, as we look and we celebrate your very own birth, this very miracle of you becoming flesh,
21:27
Lord. God, we thank you. We ask this in your name. Jesus the Christ, the one that saves us.
21:33
Amen. I'm going to turn the mic over to Elder Rick as he takes us through a little message.