Merry Christmas 2024! (Christmas Preaching)

Rural Church Podcast 2.0

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Welcome to the Ruled Church Podcast. This is my beloved son, with whom

00:05

I am well pleased. He is honored, and I get the glory. And by the way, it's even better, because you see that building in Perryville, Arkansas?

00:13

You see that one in Pechote, Mexico? Do you see that one in Tuxla, Guterres, down there in Chiapas? That building has my son's name on it.

00:21

The church is not a democracy. It's a monarchy. Christ is king. You can't be

00:26

Christian without a local church. You can't do anything better than to bend your knee and bow your heart, turn from your sin and repentance, believe on the

00:37

Lord Jesus Christ, and join up with a good Bible -believing church, and spend your life serving

00:44

Jesus in a local, visible congregation. Well, it's finally here. Christmas!

00:50

Or, as I like to say it, we're only 12 months away from Christmas 2025.

00:56

What we're gonna do on today's episode is we're going to listen to a couple of sermons from Pastor Jacob Tanner and Pastor Nick White.

01:07

These are brothers that I have gotten to meet in the year of our Lord, 2024.

01:13

Great brothers, great preachers. Jacob is a pastor at Christ Keystone Baptist Church.

01:21

Let me make sure I said that right. Oh, Christ Keystone Church in Middleburg, Pennsylvania.

01:29

And then Pastor Nick is a pastor at First Baptist Church of Hamburg, New York.

01:36

So forgive me for having a couple of Yankees on the podcast.

01:41

No, I'm just joking. They're great brothers, and actually very excellent preachers of God's Word, fine expositors.

01:50

So I thought that we would release this episode. In fact, I think we'll release this episode and the next episode both on Mondays, just around the holiday time.

02:01

And that gives you the opportunity to just maybe play this episode in the background while you're doing something and just listen to Christ being preached.

02:09

So a couple of Christmas sermons for you. Up first is Jacob's sermon from Revelation 12.

02:16

And then after that is Nick's sermon, just back to back on the virgin birth of Christ from Matthew chapter one.

02:23

So I pray this is edifying. Maybe you're able to listen to this around a fire or maybe while you drift off to sleep or who knows how you're listening while you're driving to grandma's house, whatever the case may be.

02:33

We hope that Christ is honored. We hope, Eddie and I, hope that you all have a very

02:38

Merry Christmas. God bless. Amen.

02:44

If you have your Bibles this morning, take them and open them please to Revelation chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12.

02:51

We're gonna be looking today from verses one down through 12. So for all of those who have been wanting me to preach

02:57

Revelation, here you go. Revelation chapter 12 verses one through 12.

03:04

Now here's the plan. Lord willing, I hope to do basically a part one this morning and then a part two next

03:11

Sunday. So this morning, our text, our main focus will be verses one through six.

03:17

And then next Sunday, again, Lord willing, it will be verses seven through 12. But we're gonna read all of the verses together because in a sense, they explain one another.

03:27

And the title of this morning's sermon is The Birth of the King and the Dragon's Defeat. So it actually goes along very well with the song that we just sang.

03:37

Revelation chapter 12. If you're there and if you're able, please stand with me once more for the reverence of the reading of God's word.

03:43

Revelation chapter 12. Or should I have said Revelations?

03:49

Would you have liked that better? Revelation chapter 12, beginning with verse number one, the word of the

03:55

Lord reads. And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head, a crown of 12 stars.

04:07

She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.

04:13

And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and 10 horns and on his heads, seven diadems.

04:23

His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them down to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she bore her child, he might devour it.

04:34

She gave birth to a male child, one who was to rule the nations with a rod of iron.

04:40

But her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God in which she is to be nourished for 1 ,260 days.

04:53

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

05:04

And the great dragon was thrown down that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.

05:11

He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our

05:20

God and the authority of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our

05:28

God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony for they love not their lives even unto death.

05:36

Therefore rejoice O heavens and you who dwell in them, but woe to you O earth and sea for the devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows that his time is short.

05:49

Thus ends this reading of the Holy Inspired in Aaron infallible word of God. Let's go ahead and go to the

05:55

Lord in prayer. Father, as we come before you this morning, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the truth of your word and Lord, we thank you that it is entirely true.

06:03

It is entirely accurate that we can trust it as being inspired by the Holy Spirit.

06:09

And so even though we are reading this morning, the words of the Apostle John who wrote from the

06:15

Isle of Patmos, we know that these are words that were inspired by you through the

06:21

Holy Spirit. And thus every word is true. Every word is right. And Lord, we also recognize that this is admittedly a difficult book of the

06:31

Bible to understand. Lord, we know that many have joked about it over the years. Many have made even crude remarks about reading the book of Revelation and understanding the book of Revelation.

06:43

And yet Lord, as we look at it this morning, my great prayer is that through the power of the Holy Spirit, you would illuminate this text for us.

06:51

And so we would understand that it's not as difficult as we make it out to be. But in fact, this text is a great encouragement to us, not only during Christmas as we think of how you sent your son

07:04

Jesus to this earth to be born of the Virgin Mary, but this text is a great encouragement every day of the year for it is a reminder of the not just birth of Jesus, but the victory of Jesus and the defeat of Satan.

07:21

And so Lord, our prayer this morning is that you would unveil the gospel for us once more in a new and powerful way.

07:29

As we look at this text, we pray that you would make clear to us the reality of Jesus's birth and that we would get out of our minds that sort of precious moments nativity scene and that we would recognize this was a real birth where God became man, that we would recognize there was a real war taking place and that this was the determining factor, the birth of Jesus.

07:56

And Lord, I pray that if there's one here or one listening who doesn't know you as Lord and Savior, that you would utilize your gospel, that you would utilize me, weak vessel that I am, to draw sinners unto salvation, to accomplish your purposes.

08:11

Edify the saints this morning, put merriness within our hearts that we would be truly merry

08:16

Christians. And I pray Lord that you would receive the glory, honor, and praise that you alone are due for it's in Jesus name that we pray.

08:23

Amen. Thank you, you may be seated. Now, Christmas time is of course a good time to dwell on the birth, the incarnation of the

08:38

Lord Jesus Christ. Christmas Eve is a good day to consider John 3 .16,

08:43

for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

08:53

This is a good time of the year to think about these things. This is a good day to consider these great and glorious and beautiful truths, but it's not the only day of the year where we should do this.

09:07

As I've been sharing with you since last Sunday, the incarnation of Jesus, the fact that Jesus became a man is really the hinge of the

09:18

Christian faith. It is central to absolutely everything. And so we should dwell continually upon the fact that Jesus is the

09:29

God man, that he is God descended from heaven, taking human flesh upon himself so that he could not only save us from our sins, but rule over the world, rule over the nations.

09:46

And so with that in mind, when I first said turn your Bibles to Revelation 12, you were probably wondering why.

09:54

What's that going to have to do with Christmas, with the birth of Jesus?

10:00

Because growing up, what many of us hear over and over again is that the book of Revelation is entirely future, that every single thing in it is a future reality.

10:12

But that's actually not the case at all. In fact, much of the book of Revelation was written to that generation of John's day.

10:22

And so much of the book of Revelation was future when John was writing it, though much of it has since come to pass.

10:31

In 70 AD when Jerusalem was attacked by Rome and the temple there fell, much of the book of Revelation came to pass, but not all of the book of Revelation.

10:42

The most important things to still take place are obviously the return of Jesus Christ to this earth, the general resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and the recreation of all things as we too are resurrected into glorified bodies.

10:59

We're waiting on those things, and those are no small things. Those are very, very big historical future events that are absolutely going to take place, but they have not yet.

11:12

Nonetheless, in the book of Revelation, chapter 12 was always passed from the time that John wrote it, or at least a good portion of it was already passed because what

11:26

Revelation 12 describes for us is the birth of Jesus Christ.

11:31

But what I like about this passage is that through apocalyptic imagery, John details the birth of Jesus for us in a way that we don't typically think of it.

11:45

I think a lot of the time we've got that precious moments nativity scene in our minds, right?

11:54

Even as you drive down the street, you can see people have these inflatables in their yards.

12:00

They have these statues, and they have these old plastic nativity scenes, and all of them are nice in a sense, and a lot of them are cute, right?

12:13

That's intended. They're supposed to look cute so that you look at and you go, oh, look at that. But that's really not what the birth of Jesus was like.

12:24

The birth of Jesus was in a sense a very bloody affair. He was born just like any other human is born.

12:33

The Bible even tells us here that Mary was in birth pains. There was screaming involved, and after that, there were great trials where people actually tried to kill

12:48

Jesus while he was a baby, and didn't just try to kill

12:53

Jesus, but they actually killed babies when he was born trying to get at him.

13:00

And yet on top of all of this, we see that the birth of Jesus was the birth of a king, that it was actually the defeat of Satan, that it was

13:10

God coming to dwell among us and to reign over us.

13:17

And finally, we also see with this idea of the woman being nourished in the wilderness, we see that the birth of Jesus also means the church's protection.

13:29

It means God's provision for those of us who are Christians. And so we're going to look at all of those things.

13:37

We're going to look at the sign of Emmanuel. We're going to look at the sign of Satan's fall.

13:43

We're going to look also at the reign of King Jesus, and we're going to see how this amounts to the provision that God makes for the church.

13:52

But we're going to begin with this, number one, in verses one and two, the sign of Emmanuel, the sign of Emmanuel.

14:01

Look at verses one and two again. And a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars.

14:15

She was pregnant, and she was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.

14:22

Now again, Revelation is famously difficult to understand. Most people don't even want to deal with the book of Revelation.

14:31

A lot of people think that if they are going to understand the book of Revelation better, that probably the most important thing to do is to buy

14:38

John Hagee's latest book on blood moons and try to put all that together, or to buy

14:43

David Jeremiah's latest and greatest book on how to be rapture ready. Here's only 50 more ways to be rapture ready, he says.

14:51

But that's wrong. Not only do I think those guys are mistaken in a lot of what they put out there and a lot of their teaching, but we make this so much more difficult than it needs to be.

15:01

You don't need to be somebody who is dreaming dreams and having visions to understand the book of Revelation.

15:08

You want to know why we have such difficulty with it? Because we live in a generation that is biblically illiterate.

15:18

Biblically illiterate. Most people don't read their Bibles. Most churchgoers, I don't have statistics for it, but I know it's high according to the

15:27

Ligonier studies that are put out, I think, every two years. Most Christians are not reading their Bibles.

15:32

Most Christians are not reading the Old Testament. In fact, there's a very popular movement today where popular quote -unquote

15:40

Christian speakers are saying you need to detach from the Old Testament altogether.

15:46

Just ignore it. Cut it out of your Bible. You don't need those 39 books of the Old Testament. And so most people don't know their

15:53

Bibles and that means they can't understand Revelation because here's the deal. The book of Revelation, yes, it's called apocalyptic literature.

16:03

What that means is that it is poetic in a sense. There are illustrations. There is a great deal of imagery being used to express real -world events.

16:14

But not only that, Revelation, more than any other book in the New Testament, quotes again and again and again from the

16:22

Old Testament. So if you want to know Revelation, you want to know the first thing you have to do? It's not buy another book.

16:29

It's read the book, read the Old Testament, read the Bible, and then you will begin to understand the imagery that's here.

16:39

So what's the deal with the woman then? Why is she have these 12 stars and a crown?

16:46

Why is she wrapped in the sun? What's the moon under her feet for? What is all this about?

16:52

Well, the answer comes to us in Genesis chapter 37. In Genesis chapter 37,

16:58

Joseph dreams a dream. And you know the outcome of that dream. Joseph's dream means that his father, his mother, his brothers, they're all going to bow down to him, right?

17:10

But listen to the actual imagery of the dream. Genesis 37 verses 9 to 11,

17:17

Joseph dreamed another dream and he told it to his brothers and said, behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and 11 stars were bowing down to me.

17:28

And when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, what is this dream that you have dreamed?

17:34

Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?

17:40

And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. So, Joseph dreams about 11 stars, the sun and the moon all bowing before him.

17:53

When Jacob, who is renamed Israel, when he hears this, he puts it together and he goes, wait a second,

18:00

I got 12 suns. What this dream is, is all of us bowing down to you.

18:06

Is that what you're getting at here, Joseph? And the answer is yes, that is exactly what the vision meant.

18:12

And so John, in the book of Revelation, he takes that imagery, notice there's 12 stars now because there are 12 tribes of the nation of Israel.

18:23

There are 12 stars making up this woman. Why? Because the woman isn't

18:29

Mary, though Mary is alluded to here, the woman is the nation of Israel.

18:36

Why? Because the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant, was the visible, tangible representation of God's kingdom upon the earth.

18:49

God has never left himself without a witness. God has always had people, chosen people, upon the earth.

18:56

And in the Old Testament, it was the nation of Israel. And so in Revelation 12,

19:01

John is using the woman to illustrate the nation of Israel from which the

19:08

Messiah comes forth. Why is she clothed in the sun? Well, she's clothed in the sun because we who are followers of God are to reflect the glory of God to this earth.

19:19

Why is the moon under her feet? Because we who are the followers of Christ are to go forth and we are to conquer for the glory of the living

19:28

God. And so in the Old Testament, Israel, the nation of Israel, that was the visible, physical, tangible representation of God's people on earth.

19:38

But with the birth of Jesus, with the advent of Christ, things shift, things change.

19:45

The physical, tangible representation of God's people on earth, God's kingdom, becomes the church.

19:51

The church is then the true Israel of God, made up of both believing

19:57

Jews and Gentiles so that there are not two people of God, but one people united by faith in Jesus.

20:07

Nonetheless, Old Testament reality here is that Jesus is born a

20:12

Jew. Jesus comes forth from the nation of Israel and he's born of a woman.

20:21

Why does the Bible stress this point for us here? Why in verse two are we told that not only was the woman pregnant, but she's crying out in birth pains?

20:29

The answer is because God wants us to know abundantly clear, Jesus was really a man.

20:37

He was really a man. God, yes, but God made man. This is why in Luke 2, verses four to seven, the

20:45

Bible tells us that Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called

20:53

Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

21:00

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.

21:12

That the birth of Jesus was God's doing, there can be no denying. Jesus was born of a virgin.

21:22

Virgins don't give birth. Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary by the

21:28

Holy Spirit. That tells us that he's fully God. But the fact that he's born of woman tells us that he is fully man.

21:36

And it tells us then the sign of Emmanuel, God with us.

21:41

God has come to dwell among us. And Jesus now retains that humanity eternally.

21:50

Even in his glorified, resurrected body, ethnically speaking, Jesus is still a

21:56

Jewish human man. Fully God, but fully man.

22:02

And he came to save us from our sins and to dwell among us. And this he does now through the

22:08

Holy Spirit. When we're in dwell with the Holy Spirit, God is with us. But he doesn't just come to dwell among us and to be with us and to take flesh upon himself.

22:18

He comes to defeat sin, death, and Satan. And what that means then is that the descent of Jesus from heaven means the casting down of Satan.

22:31

So we see secondly in verses 3 and 4, the sign of Satan's fall and defeat.

22:38

The sign of Satan's fall and defeat. Look at verses 3 and 4. Another sign appeared in heaven.

22:45

Behold a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. And on his heads, seven diadems.

22:52

His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she bore her child, he might devour it.

23:04

Now, it's actually easier here in this text to figure out who the dragon is than it is to figure out who the woman is.

23:11

And that's because verse number 9 just tells you who the dragon represents. The great dragon was thrown down that ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.

23:23

He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him.

23:29

So we know that this is a representation of Satan.

23:34

The question is, why is he represented as a great red dragon? Why does he have seven heads with ten horns?

23:42

Why does he have seven crowns on those heads? What's this have to do with anything? The answer is, again,

23:49

Old Testament imagery. In fact, this comes directly from the book of Daniel.

23:55

And if you know the book of Daniel, you'll know that in Daniel chapter 7, Daniel has a vision. He has a dream.

24:01

And in that vision, he dreams of four different kingdoms represented by four very, very peculiar beasts.

24:11

And ultimately, what the dream consists of is the kingdom of Babylon is defeated by the kingdom of Persia.

24:18

Persia is defeated by Greece. Greece is defeated by Rome. And finally, this final beast, the fourth beast of Rome, is going to be the worst of them all.

24:29

It's going to attack the people of God again and again and again.

24:34

And this is what we read. In Daniel chapter 7, verses 23 to 27, Daniel asks, you know, what's this fourth beast about?

24:42

Why does he look the way he looks? Thus, he said, As for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth which shall be different from all the kingdoms that came before it, and it shall devour the whole earth and trample it down and break it to pieces.

24:59

As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise and another shall arise after them.

25:06

He shall be different from the former ones and shall put down three kings. He shall speak words against the

25:12

Most High and shall wear out the saints of the Most High and shall think to change the times and the law and they shall be given into the hand for a time, times, and half a time.

25:23

But the court shall sit in judgment and his dominion shall be taken away to be consumed and destroyed to the end.

25:30

And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the

25:38

Most High. His kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom and all dominion shall serve and obey him.

25:47

Now, this ultimately is what happened and it is what is happening. The kingdom of Rome basically ruled the ancient world.

25:56

When they smashed Greece into pieces, they came to rule over everything. And there were in fact 10 awful, wicked emperors or kings or Caesars who did terrible, terrible atrocities.

26:12

So why is John taking the imagery and applying it now to Satan? The answer is

26:18

John wants us to see that the Roman Empire and in fact all other empires, all other kingdoms that are not

26:26

Christ's are Antichrist. They are opposed to God.

26:33

They are opposed to his rule. They are opposed to the people of God. So what's the solution?

26:39

We're told in Daniel 7 and we're also shown it here in Revelation 12. The answer is that God's people by the power of the zeal of the

26:49

Lord are given victory. They are given power. We are given power to conquer and rule the nations.

26:58

After all, we belong to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We who have repented of our sins.

27:04

We who have been saved. We who have trusted in Jesus. Sin no longer has a hold over us and Satan no longer has control over us.

27:13

We belong body and soul to Jesus Christ. Satan knew this and that's why we read that as the dragon, he has his mouth open wide and he wants to devour

27:25

Jesus even before he is born but after he is born as well.

27:31

And this is what we read by the way in Matthew chapter 2 verses 13 to 18. The wise men have come to King Herod.

27:38

You know this story. They've said look, there's a king who has been born. We've come to worship him. Well, when they had departed behold an angel of the

27:45

Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and he said rise take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.

27:58

So Joseph rose and he took the child and his mother by night and he departed to Egypt and he remained there until the death of Herod and this was to fulfill what the

28:06

Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt. I called my son then

28:11

Herod when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men. He became furious and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men then was fulfilled.

28:28

What was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah a voice was heard in Ramah weeping and loud lamentation

28:33

Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they are no more a dragon with his mouth gaping open tries to devour the child

28:47

Jesus. He fails but notice how how satanic

28:53

Herod behaves notice the the anti -Christological nature of his reign and his rule all

29:03

Kings who will not bow the knee to Christ are types of Antichrist Satan is the

29:10

Antichrist but here's the good news Jesus is the

29:16

Christ and he crushes this Antichrist this

29:22

Satan this deceiver this dragon this serpent he crushes him beneath his feet and then we who are servants of Jesus Christ are called in Romans 16 20 to go and do likewise soon

29:36

God will crush Satan under your feet under my feet and this is no unusual thing.

29:44

This is what servants of the king are called to do. So Satan's cast down from heaven.

29:53

We're told in this first rebellion, which evidently takes place before he deceives

29:58

Adam and even the garden. He takes a third of the angels with him, but Satan was still somehow able to enter into heaven.

30:08

We know this because of the book of Job. You remember the story how he is traveling the earth and he enters into heaven and he accuses

30:15

Job before the Lord. That was what Satan did. He deceived the

30:21

Nations. He was the accuser of the Saints, but when Jesus descends to the earth and takes flesh upon himself, he also permanently casts

30:31

Satan out from heaven so that he can a no longer deceive the Nations as he once did and be no longer accuse us before the father

30:41

Satan formerly had the power of death, but that power has been stripped away from him.

30:47

We read this in Hebrews chapter 2 verses 14 to 15. Jesus became a man.

30:53

Why? Well, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood Jesus himself likewise partook of the same things that through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death that is the devil and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

31:15

We were enslaved to Satan. We lived in fear. We we lived with the constant worry that we were going to be judged and destroyed by our

31:25

God, but Jesus comes to do two things to fulfill the law perfectly on our behalf and then to take our sin upon himself at the cross so that second

31:35

Corinthians 521 he who knew no sin became sin for us so that we would be made the righteousness of God in him and all people everywhere now are called to repent of their sins and to believe in the

31:48

King Jesus for their salvation to believe in the Lord Jesus for their salvation.

31:56

He is the true ruler. He is the truth. I can use this term Caesar and Emperor.

32:01

He is the true Lord of everything and everything else pales in comparison.

32:08

Now he doesn't just come to defeat Satan and then call a quits. He comes to rule.

32:14

And so we see thirdly the birth of the ruler of the nations the birth of the ruler of the nations.

32:20

I love verse number five. Look at it. She gave birth to a male child. Now, this is the illusion to Mary isn't it?

32:27

The woman represents the nation of Israel, but now we're actually reading about Mary giving birth to a male child

32:34

Jesus one who is to rule all the nations not just a few of the nations not just some of the nations not just here and there those who are, you know, willing to accept

32:46

Jesus into their hearts. Oh, no, this Jesus has come to rule the nations and this he does with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne.

33:00

So what John does here is he basically fast -forwards through 33 years of Jesus's life in ministry.

33:07

And he says Jesus was born. He was born to reign and rule then he died. Then he rose again.

33:12

Then he ascended into heaven. Does that make Jesus less of a ruler since he's not here?

33:18

The answer is no. No, Jesus is coming back. And when he comes back, he's going to come back to an

33:25

Earth that listen has been conquered for his Glory. This is after all what one of our favorite psalms to sing at the church says, isn't it?

33:36

Psalm 2 7 to 12. I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me you are my son today.

33:43

I have begotten you ask of me and I will make the nation's your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

33:52

You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel now, therefore

33:58

O Kings be wise be warned. O rulers of the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss the

34:05

Sun lest he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled but blessed are all who take refuge in him.

34:16

So Jesus is the rightful ruler. He is reigning and ruling over everything and though he has ascended into heaven.

34:23

He's ruling and reigning even there Hebrews 10 12 to 14 when Christ had offered for all times a single sacrifice for sins.

34:31

He sat down at the right hand of God. That's the Ascension waiting from that time until his enemy should be made a footstool for his feet for by a single offering.

34:43

He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified, you know that language that we talk about often his enemies being footstooled beneath his feet.

34:53

What is it to have something made a footstool beneath you means to have your feet on top of it right means to really put your foot on top of the head of that that person that individual that thing that has been conquered to show that you have perfect everlasting power over it.

35:12

That's Genesis 3 15 there will be enmity between your seed and the woman's offspring between her seed and you will bruise his heel, but he will crush your head.

35:26

Jesus has come this come to do exactly this to footstool everything beneath his feet.

35:31

First Corinthians 15 22 to 26 says for as an animal dies. So also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order

35:39

Christ the firstfruits then at his coming those who belong to Christ then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the father after destroying every rule and every authority and every power for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet and the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

36:01

So even though Jesus is not physically here don't fool yourself into believing that he is an absent King. He sees all he rules all and he is utilizing us as the church to go forth and to take control of the world.

36:16

He's using us to claim all of the Nations and all of the kingdoms as his because get this they're already his anyway, he's already

36:26

Lord and everyone's going to bow and confess it for unto us a child is born to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor

36:40

Mighty God everlasting father prince of peace of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore and listen carefully the zeal of the

37:02

Lord of hosts will do this who's bringing this to pass?

37:09

You me the church now. The Lord Yahweh Jehovah he is bringing this to pass now.

37:22

He's using us to do it. But we're like a battering ram in the arms of the king and he's using us to knock down the gates of hell and to bring all those who have been promised to Jesus into the kingdom.

37:36

Now, all of this is enough for us to have a Merry Christmas, right? But what does this mean for us in a practical sense?

37:43

What do we do with this information besides just go forth and share the gospel? That's the most important thing to do.

37:50

Of course, but what does this mean for us? And the answer is fourthly we see the

37:56

Lord's provision for the church the Lord's provision for the church. Look at verse number six after giving birth the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God in which she is to be nourished for 1260 days.

38:14

Now listen, when Mary gave birth to Jesus and Herod wanted to kill them God protected the

38:21

Holy Family didn't he Mary Joseph and Jesus were protected by God in the

38:27

Old Testament. God did this over and over again when Israel was held captive to the Egyptians God provided for Israel so that though she was in captivity she grew to incredible size when

38:40

Israel was cast out of the land and taken away to Babylon God had provision for the people in the

38:47

New Testament in the book of Acts God again and again and again provides for the church.

38:52

He protects the church. He defends the church so that despite terrible opposition and persecution

38:58

The church continues to grow and even though this isn't recorded in the Bible, we know that right after the

39:04

Bible's finished being written right around 70 AD when Rome comes and they trample down Jerusalem.

39:12

We know a gut that God again protected and defended his people in Matthew 24

39:18

Jesus gave the Olivet discourse and in that discourse. He said when you see the object of desolation coming to make desecration

39:26

Don't go to the city run to the hills now when Rome comes in 70

39:32

AD into the city of Jerusalem the Jews who have rejected Jesus say the safest bet for us is to go into the city will survive there.

39:42

Whereas the Christians who knew Matthew 24 who knew God's word said we're getting out of here and we're going to the hills just like Jesus said and you know what happens those who are in the city die, but those who obeyed

39:55

Christ and made their way into the hills and mountains they survive and God provides for the church and God causes the church to grow again and again and again see the fact that the church is going to be victorious doesn't mean that we're not going to have tribulation on the contrary an army can be victorious in a war but suffer immensely through the battles.

40:21

It doesn't make the victory any less glorious does it? And so we have been promised victory.

40:27

We've also been promised hardship and battles and tribulation, but notice.

40:34

I love that it is put here in verse number six. God doesn't just leave us to sort of wither away and die does he when he provides for us and here

40:44

I believe verse number six the woman represented here is the church as a whole. It's no longer just the nation of Israel.

40:50

It's the entire church. The church is nourished by God. So that the church can flourish upon this earth.

41:02

See that's one of the things I like about Christmas time our hymns are filled with hope and that hope tells us of a victorious conquering king and his victorious conquering people.

41:14

The pessimism is mostly done away with and what we experience is genuine optimism hope and trust in the promises of God's word that we're not going to be a weak withering away dying church when

41:28

Jesus returns, but we will in fact be a church that has covered the entire earth that has advanced the gospel that has advanced the kingdom.

41:38

And is ultimately victorious. God provides for us. God nourishes us.

41:44

God causes us to flourish. What does this mean then? Well, it means that God protects us from evil.

41:51

It means that God protects us from the evil one. But listen, it also means that when you're going through these trials these tribulations these battles.

42:01

You're to pray. You're to pray. Philippians 4 6 and 7 do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving.

42:11

Let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ.

42:19

Jesus. Get rid of the pessimism. Get rid of the idea that we're going to be defeated upon this earth that that does not produce faithful or fruitful prayers.

42:31

We are to pray big prayers. We are to pray expectant prayers. We are to pray prayers that trust in the sovereignty of God working all things for our good and his glory.

42:43

We are to trust in a God who again protects us defends us fights for us strengthens us makes us merry makes us joyful a

42:55

God who nourishes us and causes us to flourish. We are to trust in this God when we pray and remember that Philippians 419 is true.

43:03

My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in Glory in Christ Jesus.

43:11

This God defends us this God protects us this God secures us. That's what

43:17

Christmas is about. Isn't it? Emmanuel God with us God coming to reign over us

43:24

God coming to defeat Satan and sin and death God providing for us.

43:32

So tomorrow is Christmas Day. Today's Christmas Eve. We celebrate the birth of Jesus.

43:39

Yes, but let's do it. Merrily. Let's do it with joy and gladness in our hearts.

43:45

Let's go and have uncomfortable conversations with family telling them to repent of their sins and to trust in King Jesus and listen that uncomfortable conversation could very well be the thing that produces fruit for Eternity where that immortal person that was destined for hell is instead drawn to the kingdom of God.

44:08

If you're experiencing doubt and worry and fear pray pray God does not want you to live some sort of sad defeated life for you just twiddle your thumbs and wait for Jesus to come back.

44:22

No, he wants you to be working for the Glory of his kingdom. So as we celebrate

44:29

Christmas as a merry Christians, let us then go forth every day of the year and be merry

44:35

Christians all the time. For that is what the Christmas season is about stand with me as we pray together.

44:48

Father as we come before you this morning. We thank you for again. The truth of your word. We thank you for this

44:54

Christmas and Advent season where we are able once more to celebrate the birth of the

44:59

Lord Jesus and yet Lord how we long for the day where these nations will be made yours how we long for the day when we shall see

45:07

Jesus face -to -face how we long for the day of his return and so Lord even as we pray that we would celebrate you this

45:15

Christmas, even as we pray to be filled with merry hearts of joy. We pray also that Jesus would come soon that he would fulfill the purposes of his kingdom and every last sinner promise to him will be brought into that kingdom every last sinner who refuses to bow the knee will in fact be conquered by him and I pray father that you would utilize us as the church to go forth to mobilize to be the church militant militant to do all that you have called us to do for your glory honor and praise.

45:47

We pray in Jesus name. Amen, Matthew couldn't have picked a better way to start his gospel.

45:54

Not only so because the Holy Spirit had moved him to do so but also because it presents from the get -go the proof that Christ is a long -awaited

46:04

Messiah King and he makes it undeniably clear that the Lord Jesus has every right to David's throne specifically that through Joseph Christ would have the legal right to the throne.

46:20

But today we will see that this gospel makes a shift and from chapter 1 verse 18 all the way to the end of chapter number 2 the focus moves to the narrative surrounding

46:32

Christ's birth Christ birth the first segment of that narrative is our text today and so let us read this passage together and then we will pray so chapter 1 and verse 18 through verse 25 now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows when his mother

46:50

Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together she was found to be with child by the

46:56

Holy Spirit and Joseph her husband being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her plan to send her away secretly but when he had considered this behold an angel of the

47:08

Lord appeared to him in a dream saying Joseph son of David do not be afraid to take

47:14

Mary as your wife for the one who has been conceived in her is of the

47:19

Holy Spirit and she will bear a son and you shall call his name

47:25

Jesus for he will save his people from their sins now all this took place in order that what was spoken by the

47:33

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

47:42

Emmanuel which translated means God with us and Joseph got up from his sleep and did as the angel of the

47:51

Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son and he called his name

48:00

Jesus let us pray as we have sung speak

48:06

O Lord to our hearts it is your word and it is your spirit that can work the transforming work that we so desperately need in our hearts and in our lives open eyes and ears help us to understand what we are seeing before us may we feast on the truths of your word this morning may we behold the glory of your son do these things for your glory and for his name sake in Christ's name we do pray well throughout world history whether in empires or in kingdoms there would be several key events that would demand national attention one of which could be a coronation another might be a royal marriage or a royal funeral but especially a royal birth a royal birth would garner the attention of nations all around the world especially when it would come to the birth of an heir or a son typically a royal birth would be a momentous event

49:20

I mean take the United Kingdom for example that's a good modern illustration of that upon the birth of a child in a royal family a town crier would go about declaring the news a gold -framed birth announcement would be placed outside of the

49:36

Buckingham Palace a formal photo -op will happen as the would make its way out of the hospital and would be bombarded by hundreds of cameras if not thousands from all over the world and at the time of the announcement of the birth as a celebration royal artillery will fire a combined 103 gunshots your baby has white noise but the royal baby gets gun shots although maybe depending on what part of Buffalo you live in you get the royal treatment to throughout the ages a royal birth was an occasion of infantile exaltation the child would have been the apple of the national eye that is with the exception of one royal birth there was one royal birth that would prove to be the exception of the rule and what is so amazing is that it was the most royal of births the most momentous of births the most consequential of births it rather than being an occasion of pomp and regality was nothing but an occasion of condescension and humility that royal birth of course is none other than the birth of not a king but the

51:00

King of Kings who is Jesus Christ no royal birth has ever known such humility no birth in and of itself has no such condescension but the condescension of Christ's birth is not most seen in the earthly context of his birth the peak of his humility is not found most in the cold cave in which he was born or the the neighing animals that surrounded him it's not the cheap swaddle that would have warmed his little body and it's it's not most notable his humility as he slept in a feeding trowel for animals nor is his condescension most seen as he was born in a low -income family

51:51

Christ's infinite condescension and humiliation is most clearly seen in that he being very

52:00

God a very God became a man in his incarnation never has any king stooped so low never has a sovereign gone so far for his people that God would become man that in his human state

52:21

God would subject himself to our burdens our hunger our thirst our fatigue that the logos of the universe the word would assume flesh is unparalleled in every sense of the word but it begs the question how how we rejoice that he has done that we rejoice that he has span heaven and earth the infinite chasm from that which is holy to that which is sinful for us and we rejoice in that but how how is this possible how could he take on the flesh of man without taking on the sinful nature of man how can he be born of Adams race without the guilt and curse that comes with Adam seed well there's one way he would have to be born of a woman alone more specifically of a virgin and what

53:33

Matthew does having established Jesus earthly lineage that he can possess the legal right to the throne through Joseph now

53:42

Matthew proves that Joseph did pass the legal right to Christ and that the key to it all is the miraculous virgin birth of Christ my friends without the virgin birth not only does

54:02

Matthew's case fall apart to prove crisis King the entire gospel falls apart without the virgin birth

54:08

Christ could not have died for man if he never became man and Christ could have never became a man while being

54:17

God without the virgin birth only one who is truly God could live the sinless life that was necessary to provide our righteousness atone for our sin bear the eternal wrath of God in the span of three hours on Calvary's cross only

54:35

God could do that and yet only one who is truly man could die to provide it and this is why the virgin birth is essential to the faith this is what we'll see in our text today and to get the whole picture will see four crucial links that make the chain we could call of this doctrine in a way we move from the earthly lineage to the eternal lineage of Christ as we see the title of our messages the virgin birth of the king the first link in this chain is number one the power behind it the power behind the virgin birth this comes in the introduction introductory verse of our text in verse 18 it says now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows when his mother

55:22

Mary had been betrothed to Joseph now understand you see this right from the beginning only

55:29

Mary is attributed parentage not Joseph just Mary but we get the context of the situation with the detail that Mary and Joseph were betrothed when

55:43

Mary became pregnant betrothal you have to understand in the biblical times was not like the engagements that we have today in our

55:52

American culture betrothal was not premarriage as much as it was the first part of marriage the marriage process was essentially divided by two stages and betrothal was much more serious than a modern engagement today if you get engaged you can call it off at any time but with the betrothal in Matthew's day it was to enter into a legally binding contract with the one that you were marrying and it would take place during a ceremony before witnesses and this stage of marriage was called the condition and though the marriage had only commenced and though they were already considered husband and wife it would only be after the stage where the marriage would be finalized there would be a feast sometimes a feast lasting a whole week and then it would be consummated and only then would there be intimacy allowed in the marriage only then would they come together as this verse in Matthew says that they would cohabit it implies intimacy and typically between the engagement the betrothal and the final consummation of marriage there would be about a year's time for the husband to go and gather resources and become financially prepared for the consummation of the wedding the point here is clear the second stage hasn't come they're only betrothed they've entered into the marriage contract but there is no intimacy between Mary and Joseph you have to understand this there are only two ways out of a betrothal and that was either death or divorce

57:38

Joseph and Mary being only in the betrothal stage they had not yet the scripture says here come together and then

57:48

Joseph gets the news notice that she Mary was found to be with child which to Joseph meant that she hadn't kept her pledge to him it seemed as if Mary had trampled

58:06

Joseph's love but Matthew shows us the whole story that she was found to be with child by the

58:14

Holy Spirit by the Holy Spirit Mary's pregnancy was not the result of infidelity it was the result of supernatural intervention it's divine power the power of the

58:27

Holy Spirit that's behind this but Joseph doesn't know this yet and if Mary has broken her pledge if that is true

58:36

Joseph is legally required to take action you have to understand that in Old Testament times typically the punishment for infidelity would be stoning death but since Rome has come into power and have taken over Judah death penalties under the

58:53

Jewish authorities has kind of been prohibited limited and so the rabbis had come together and they've altered the law and the current

59:02

Mishnah the law that the Jews would follow required then that adultery would be handled by divorce that if there was infidelity in the marriage then there had to be divorce it wasn't a matter of multiple choice it was a matter of the law and so Joseph has a conundrum on his hands verse 19 tells us his plan and it really gives insight to the kind of person

59:27

Joseph was notice verse 19 Joseph her husband being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her plan to send her away secretly now again

59:39

Joseph had a law to follow he had to divorce Mary if she was unfaithful to him and there are two ways that he could have followed this law he could either have privately sought a cancellation of the marriage contract between two or three witnesses and would have handed

59:57

Mary a bill of divorce or he could take Mary to the courts with a lawsuit and terminate the marriage publicly by making an open display of Mary's unfaithfulness essentially that would cause her to live the rest of her life as a known adulteress but Joseph is called a righteous man not only because he desired to do the lawful thing that is part of why he's called a righteous man because he's a lawful man and he wants to do the lawful thing but that's not the whole picture of why he's called a righteous man he also is called a righteous man because he wanted to do the right thing the right way and so it says not wanting to disgrace or shame her he planned to send her away or divorce her secretly now this just this begs a note there is a difference my friends between strict adherence and righteousness and it is the very thing that set

01:01:11

Joseph apart from the Pharisees it's love it's compassion anyone can be a rule follower but what set

01:01:24

Joseph apart from the legalistic Pharisees of the day was

01:01:29

Joseph had love I mean we see this in Scripture don't we righteousness is doing the right thing with the right heart it is a godly mixture of speaking the truth in love love

01:01:44

Joseph didn't want to run a smear campaign on Mary he wasn't looking for revenge he didn't want her life and the baby's life to be any harder than it was going to be

01:01:54

Joseph was a righteous man but though he had a plan and though he knew he needed to perform the plan he struggled with that a lot is hanging in the balance here you have to understand this if Joseph divorces

01:02:07

Mary then the legal right he would pass to Jesus is gone so heaven intervenes again and in verse 20 we see when he considered this his plan behold an angel of the

01:02:24

Lord appeared to him in a dream so here's a scene we have to set it for you so you can grasp what's happening here Joseph knows what he has to do he knows the law he knows he needs to do it the right way but he's agonizing over the actual acting of it out so he comes home it's probably nighttime he lays in bed and he's just he's as he stares at the ceiling he's running this through his head over and over and over again he's heartbroken the one that he has loved the love of his life has broken his heart has dashed his dreams the future that he had envisioned with her is now apparently gone and he sits there running through every detail of this through his head and I've got to do this and it's got to be to the one that I love so much and she has a child and I don't know who's even going to take care of this child but I can't do this

01:03:23

I can't go through with this I've got to do the right thing and and all of a sudden as he begins to dream

01:03:29

Matthew uses a word that he's going to employ another 60 plus times in his gospel narrative and the word is this behold behold is a

01:03:38

Jewish exclamation mark it would be like us saying BAM BOOM he's saying behold indicating a sudden occurrence an angel of the

01:03:53

Lord appeared in a dream in this birth narrative you have to understand from from this text all the way to chapter 2 the end this is the first of five miraculous dreams all of them are used by God to direct and guide in the context surrounding

01:04:11

Jesus birth God is punctuating the entire birth narrative with miraculous events this is constantly giving more credence and validity to the supernatural nature of Christ birth so this narrative unit essentially serves as one big divine birth certificate for Jesus but God had to make things clear to Joseph and the angels first words would have incited great encouragement in Joseph's heart notice

01:04:39

Joseph son of David those are words for both

01:04:47

Joseph and the reader it identifies Joseph as the one through which the royal line would continue on it reiterates to us the readers that Jesus through Joseph possessed the legal right to David's throne and then the best news

01:05:07

Joseph could have possibly heard comes do not be afraid to take

01:05:15

Mary as your wife why for the one who has been conceived in her is of the

01:05:27

Holy Spirit this is a miracle of God this is the product directly of the intervention of the

01:05:41

Godhead specifically the third person of the Godhead the Holy Spirit the power behind the virgin birth is unlike anything you have ever seen before known before it is a work of God and the life of Mary and you have to understand something this is not like the profane myths of Greek gods who would impregnate women physically to birth a demigod

01:06:08

Jesus was no half man half God he was truly man and truly God Mary is told by an angel we get a description really the best we get as far as detail is concerned

01:06:22

Mary's told how this happens and it goes like this Luke 135 the Holy Spirit will come upon you the power of the

01:06:29

Most High will overshadow you that's as far as we go that's it that's as far as scripture takes us that's about as far as our little pea brain minds can go into that mystery and by the way it's strictly supernatural on God's side it's not

01:06:48

Mary that did this it wasn't because Mary was sinless this was not as some would say an immaculate conception

01:06:56

Mary just like you and I were sinners saved by the grace of God Mary needed a

01:07:04

Savior and in her Magnificat in Luke chapter 1 when she hears the glorious news that she is going to bear a son and he will be the

01:07:12

Christ child here's how she responds my soul magnifies

01:07:17

God my Savior there's only one person who needs a

01:07:23

Savior and that is a sinner we also see later on in Jesus life in John chapter 2

01:07:30

Jesus public ministry is about to begin and we're at the wedding of Cana where Jesus turns water into wine and Mary comes to Jesus and says we ran out of wine and Jesus gives her a rebuke this has nothing to do with you you get from scripture this is solely

01:07:49

God the virgin birth is an act of God in a super natural occurrence the

01:07:56

Holy Spirit would have knit together the body that our Lord Jesus would assume for himself in the womb it is a miracle beyond scientific explanation it is far beyond any human hypothesis it cannot be expressed by any analogy it is as miraculous as this let there be light and there was light that in the beginning was the

01:08:19

Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word became flesh that's it and there are so many today who trip over this doctrine because they cannot make human sense out of it and we would make our intellect our gods and to many the virgin birth it loses its relevance because it's not regarded as realistic and the same people would say yes

01:08:47

God created the laws of science but they would not grant that he can bypass the laws of science in fact these days because of the mystery in the miraculous virgin birth many so -called

01:09:00

Christian thinkers even pastors and preachers seek to delegitimize this crucial doctrine that because many struggle with the idea that a man could be born of a virgin the answer has got to be to demean the virgin birth because you lose your seat at the intellectual table if you affirm that in 2016 during a

01:09:21

Christmas message out of all messages a world -renowned megachurch pastor named

01:09:26

Andy Stanley there you go made headlines with a baffling statement

01:09:33

Christianity doesn't hinge on the truth or even the stories around the birth of Jesus it hinges on the resurrection but the fatal flaw in that is that without the virgin birth there is no resurrection and also though Christianity does we could say swing on one hinge the hinge is not just one aspect of Christ's life but the whole of it including the virgin birth if there is no virgin birth hear me there is either no sinless

01:10:13

Savior or there's no human Savior either way you lost a

01:10:18

Savior a sinful Savior is a Savior who needs saving a

01:10:26

Savior without humanity is a Savior that cannot pay the price of redemption through death and so the saying is true try to describe the virgin birth and you'll lose your mind try to deny the virgin birth and you'll lose your soul it's impossible to explain but it is imperative to believe and the same

01:10:46

God who spoke the universe into existence is the same God who can prepare a body for his son in a virgin's womb and that's the power behind the virgin birth but now as the angel continues in Joseph's dream were shown second the purpose for it so the power behind it number two the purpose for it

01:11:05

Joseph is gonna get a divine gender reveal in verse 21 the angel continues and says she will bear a son you thought your gender reveal was cool

01:11:17

Mary and Joseph got angels but Joseph gets a very important word of instruction that the child's name has already been chosen by God and so the angel says you shall call his name

01:11:34

Jesus now this is very important and this is where some people don't pick pick up a significant detail here the fact that Joseph partook in the formal naming of Christ at his birth was a clear acknowledgement of sonship meaning that as he joined with Mary in assigning the name of Jesus to Christ he was in essence identifying

01:12:05

Christ as his now legal stepson thereby passing the legal right to him so this is important you name him

01:12:14

Jesus identify him as your own legal son your stepson here on earth and this would verify that the legal right to David's throne would be passed to Christ the name he gives to the

01:12:28

Christ child is a name that stirs love in all of our hearts

01:12:33

Jesus it's a Greek version of the Hebrew name

01:12:38

Yahashua or Joshua it means Yahweh is salvation and the reason for this choice of a name is the reason for the entirety of the child's life it's the purpose this name signifies the nature of his earthly mission it is the purpose of the virgin birth it is the purpose of his sinless life it is the purpose of his gruesome death and it is the purpose of his triumphant rising and here it is for he will save his people from their sins my friend those nine words could not be contained by nine worlds if we had them

01:13:23

Christ is named Jesus and was born of a virgin because he is a

01:13:31

Savior who came to seek and to save that which was lost and notice what the verse does not say it doesn't say for he will try to save his people well then he wouldn't be true to his name no he will save his people from their sins and understand this my friends

01:13:53

Jesus is not a maybe Messiah he is not a should -be Savior and he is not a could -be

01:13:58

Christ he does not try he does not miss and he does not underperform his coming his mission was a total success he gave his life as a ransom for many he laid down his life for the sheep not a drop of his blood would be wasted every sheep that was given to him before the foundations of the earth would come to him and he would raise them up in the last day every purpose of God would be accomplished and every bit of righteousness would be fulfilled by his sinless life so that as he gave up his life on Calvary's cross he could utter the very words that would seal redemption not it is attempted not it is started not it is up to you now but it is finished to tell us die and this is the purpose of Christ's coming and did you notice something else that the verse doesn't say it doesn't say he will save his people from their economic struggles it doesn't say that he will save his people from undesirable election outcomes nor he will save his people from difficulties he will save his people from their sins we use the word in the

01:15:16

Christian world especially in America saved a lot that it's almost lost meaning what are you saved from the worst thing that could ever happen to someone is not to lose their life savings it's not to be let go from their job it's not even to hear a bad report from a doctor the worst thing that could ever happen to someone is to be separated from the

01:15:45

God who created them and there's only one thing that does that sin

01:15:53

Christ's purpose for coming into the world was to save his people from their sin and by laying down his life for us he actually atoned for he actually paid for the penalty of our sin not only to take the penalty away not only to break us free from the slavery of sin but also for the final day when we are forever removed from the presence of indwelling sin to live with him forever more but really that's just half of the picture because he would not only save us from sin he would save us to himself to righteousness to God so understand this

01:16:34

Jesus Christ came into this world saving us from the worst thing so he would save us to the best thing himself and so the question for you today is this what do you want to be saved from do you see sin as the worst thing in your life or is it just since punishment that you want to escape if God said that he could give you anything you wanted that he would right now if you asked for one thing he would hand it to you give it to you would it be your request that you would be saved from sin is that the best thing you could ever want my dear friend the truth is that if salvation from sin to God is not the best thing you can imagine that is only because slavery to sin is not the worst thing you can imagine and such thinking will cost you your life and your soul so our

01:17:39

Lord says blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of and you must understand that you stand spiritually bankrupt before a thrice holy

01:17:53

God and you have nothing of your own to offer him but filthy rags and you must see your need for Christ's righteousness and then turn to him in faith alone for your salvation does the purpose of Christ's birth fill your heart with joy does the mission of his life give hope to your soul do you long for freedom from sin do you long to know him well then go to him call on his name he will save you to the uttermost because saving was the purpose of his coming the virgin birth is essential to the gospel we've seen the power behind it the purpose for it but Matthew is now going to interrupt his own narrative in verse 22 and he is going to do what he does so well and that has reached back into the

01:18:46

Old Testament to give us the next vital link in the chain of Christ's virgin birth and that is number three the promise in it the promise in it so the power behind it the purpose for it and third the promise in it the virgin birth was not a concept that was merely introduced in the

01:19:06

New Testament Matthew wants his readers to know that it comes seven centuries after its announcement so verse 22

01:19:15

Matthew inserts this note all this took place in order that what was spoken by the

01:19:23

Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled now that verse alone gives a drive -by theology on prophecy meaning this the

01:19:30

Lord doesn't make a prophecy because he knows what will happen he declares a prophecy because he makes it happen because he has ordained it to come to pass he is not a

01:19:41

God who plans from what he knows will happen he is a God who knows what will happen because he planned it

01:19:46

God is not the God is not a weatherman who predicts the weather he's the one who sends it we also get a drive -by theology on inspiration notice that revelation is spoken by the

01:20:01

Lord through the prophet that's that's true of all

01:20:06

Scripture the prophet here is being referred to as Isaiah and that which was fulfilled by the virgin birth is found in Isaiah 714

01:20:15

Matthew quotes the Septuagint the Greek translation of it here in verse 23 behold the

01:20:22

Virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which translated means

01:20:28

God with us you see these words all over during Christmas time don't you especially those three words

01:20:36

God with us and for good reason but there is so much more in this verse than just nice words and to see this you have to understand the context so we have to keep our finger in Matthew and turn to Isaiah 7 so would you turn there with me to Isaiah 7 context is that the year is about 730

01:21:01

BC King Ahaz is currently the king over southern Israel the kingdom of Judah and he sits on David's throne this is before the time of the deportation at this time the armies of Syria and northern

01:21:15

Israel surround Jerusalem serious King resin and North Israel's King Pekah have made a pact to take out a has this throne they are going to remove

01:21:28

David's line and remove David's throne to place a king of their own in his stead and things don't look good for Judah so the question was the question being asked by the people of Israel in that day was has

01:21:42

God gone back on his promise will we not see the kingdom of David in door is it gone will northern

01:21:54

Israel and Syria come and remove David's throne the

01:22:00

King a has who is a pagan wicked King rather than seeking God's help he seeks to make a pact with the enemy nation of us

01:22:08

Syria and in doing so he empties out God's temple of the treasures there and offers them as a peace offering to the king of Assyria and this is where Isaiah comes in okay he has a message for the king and it's from God and here's the message it warrants against this alliance with Assyria and it assures a has that if he trusts in God instead of Assyria then the

01:22:35

Lord will keep him safe but even if he doesn't he may have to deal with a has his disobedience an invasion may come by a

01:22:47

Syria later on but even still he would be faithful to his word but God would not abandon his promise to David that God's throne through David would continue and to prove this to prove that this promise was sure

01:23:02

God offers a has a chance to express faith in this promise so he says ask me for a sign ask me for a sign to prove that my word is true ask me for a sign that I will prove that I am faithful to my word and that the kingdom will endure but a has who wanted to trust in man rather than God rejects

01:23:33

God's promise and veils it under a feigned humility and piousness and he says oh

01:23:41

I would never want to test God so I wouldn't ask for a sign notice how

01:23:46

Isaiah responds in verse 13 of chapter 7 then he said listen now Oh house of David is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men that you will try the patience of my

01:23:58

God as well verse 14 therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign you don't want a sign you don't want to ask for a sign from God to prove his faithfulness fine

01:24:11

God himself will give you one here's a sign behold the

01:24:18

Virgin will be with child and bear a son and she will call his name

01:24:24

Emmanuel here's the sign the sign that God will not forsake his promise it has both near and far fulfillment

01:24:35

Isaiah's wife would bear a son the Hebrew word there for virgin your translation might render it young woman the

01:24:41

Hebrew word is Alma and it has a double meaning to it it can be translated both as virgin and young woman and Isaiah's wife would have a child and by the time that he would be old enough to eat curds and honey and discern right from wrong the northern kingdom and Syria would be done away with and God would have proven his faithfulness to his word but in a far greater sense 700 years later

01:25:03

God would even in a greater sense fulfill this prophecy that an Alma a virgin would conceive a son and his birth would certify that God will never leave his people and his name shall be called

01:25:19

Emmanuel proving that God has not left us but God is with us so the next time you see these words on a

01:25:31

Christmas wreath or an ornament remember that the birth of Christ is the sovereign certification that God will never forsake his people but that God is with his people remember that Christ's birth not only meant

01:25:48

God would be present with us but remember that Christ's birth certified a promise 700 years in the making that God will never leave us there's two names assigned to our

01:25:59

Lord Jesus we notice that and Emmanuel and Jesus it means that God saves us

01:26:08

Emmanuel means that God saves us by coming to us by staying with us by being with us you see the glorious promise unveiled in the virgin birth that in Christ you have the unfailing unending faithfulness of God what a glorious chain

01:26:29

Matthew is setting before us and in this text with this miraculous birth we've seen the power behind it the purpose for it the promise in it and the last link we find is the performance of it the performance of it the power behind it the purpose for it the promise in it and the performance of it

01:26:47

Matthew returns to the narrative in verse 24 of Matthew chapter 1 so back to Matthew in verse 24 we see

01:26:55

Joseph's response to this dream Joseph got up from his sleep and did as the angel of the

01:27:01

Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife that's a pretty good example of how we should respond to all of God's Word is it not it's like the song trust and obey simple as that but there's one final apologetic note that is given to us in verse 25 it says but Joseph kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son note this is added to give more weight to the supernatural power behind Christ's birth they got married that the marriage had consummated the hoop boss stage was done they had the right to be able to come together in intimacy and come together in cohabitation and they lived together but he waited

01:27:47

Joseph did to have intimacy with Mary until after the birth of Christ and after the birth of Christ they did share that intimacy contrary to what many would teach the

01:28:02

Mary was a perpetual virgin you actually read in Matthew 13 verses 55 to 56

01:28:07

Mary had daughters and sons after Jesus and to close out the chapter the final detail is brought to fruition with this he called his name

01:28:20

Jesus and hence the David Davidic line is passed

01:28:26

Joseph's point of view in the virgin birth is the emphasis here because it proves that Christ was identified as Joseph's stepson that Joseph has gladly accepted the role as Jesus stepfather there on earth and with that the legal right to the throne is now

01:28:45

Christ's and all this performed as God has planned I hope you see just how crucial the virgin birth of Christ is and I pray that more than this being an intellectual issue

01:28:56

I pray that it will serve your soul comfort joy peace a love for Christ and perhaps even salvation if you do not know him as you see that you needed a

01:29:08

Savior to come for you let's bow if you really believe the church is the building of churches the house the church is what