Savior in a Manger

Merry Christmas! I hope that everyone has had a good

Christmas morning. I ask you to pray for Taylor and Jace. It's kind of a rough night, but it's been a better morning this morning.

I'm excited to be here. I can't think of a better place to be this morning.

As Pastor Quatro said, we are not commanded in Scripture together, but I'm so glad that we are this morning.

I'm excited to be here. I hope you are. We come to glorify God. We come to celebrate the coming of our

King. That's why we're here this morning. I ask that you turn to Matthew. Very familiar text, especially of when speaking of the

Incarnation and the birth of Christ. We will begin reading in verse 18 of Matthew chapter 1.

I think Brother Charles might be proud this morning. I did, I had to reach way back in the, in my little library there and get out the old

King James Version this morning, and so just because there's some things

I like, I like the way it reads here. But if you would please stand this morning as we reverence the reading of God's Holy Word Christ was on this wise when his mother

Mary was espoused to Joseph. Before they came together she was found with child of the

Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her way privately.

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lamb in a dream saying,

Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the

Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name

Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all of this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the

Lord by the prophets, saying, behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a child, and they shall call his name

Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the

Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name

Jesus. Let us pray. Father, what a glorious plan that you have had,

Lord, from the beginning. This has been your plan all along, that your son would be sent forth, that would take upon the robe of flesh, be born of a virgin,

Lord, and come to save his people. Oh, what a glorious truth this morning that we celebrate.

Lord, I pray that our minds would be fixed on Christ this morning. I pray that as I preach,

Father, that you would give me holy unction, Father, that Lord, I would just tell him of Christ, Lord, help me to preach your word rightly.

Lord, give us ears to hear that we might take what we hear, we might apply it rightly. May we understand that the gospel is not just for the lost, it is for the lost, and we pray,

Father, that you might work through the proclamation of your gospel this morning to draw sinners to yourself, to save sinners,

Lord. We even think of the children here that are lost, but as well the adults.

Lord, we pray that, or I pray that the Christians here will understand that we need the gospel, that we need your grace.

What marvelous grace we have. So this morning, I pray that you would be pleased with every part of this service, that it would be for your glory alone,

Lord, and I pray that Christ be honored. In his name we pray, amen. I thought about titling this sermon,

What's in a Name?, but I thought that was trying to get too cute for me, and so I went a different way, but three times from verses 21 to 25, we see the word name.

Verse 21, call his name Jesus. We see in verse 23, call his name

Emmanuel, and then in verse 25, he called his name

Jesus. And a great deal of what we will speak on this morning revolves around these names.

Emmanuel and Jesus. These names in our text, they are linked, as you know.

There's nothing this morning that will probably be new, but I think we all need a reminder of it.

These names in our text are linked to the coming and the birth of a son, and this was an anticipated son.

These words are spoken in direct anticipation of this son, of this child, and as I was studying this,

I began to think of that thought. The anticipation of a child, especially the first child.

It's not a knock on children that come after the first one, but there's a little bit different. There's a that first child, that anticipation.

You don't really know what to expect. I think about with my first child, I remember the anticipation that I felt when we found out that Taylor was pregnant with Jack.

I remember the excitement. I remember the anxiety. I remember the wonder.

There's some of you that there may have been great heartache upon waiting for a child, but oh what joy when they come.

What joy when that child that you have anticipated for so long comes.

We see other stories about anticipation of a child in Scripture. Probably one of the most familiar comes with Abraham and Isaac.

We see in Genesis 12 when Abram, he was 75, and God promised to make a great nation out of him.

And then in Genesis 15, God tells Abram that his offspring shall be as many as the stars.

And then in Genesis 17, God promises Abraham, who was a hundred years old, and his wife was

Sarah, was 90, that the next year they would bear a son from whom the promised nation would come.

A promised son and a miraculous birth. And you can see the foreshadowing of that of our topic this morning.

I just think for a minute about the anticipation of Abraham for this promised son. He was 100 years after Abraham's birth that he had this son, 25 years after the first promise.

Can you imagine the anticipation? Now we know that Abraham did not always remain patient in his anticipation, and he sinned greatly because he grew impatient.

But can you imagine the day of Isaac's birth? That promised son that he had waited on, of the joy that was fulfilled at that birth.

These stories, the story of as much as I love my sons, and I anticipated their birth.

Trey's was a little bit different. I didn't know him at his birth, but anticipated him coming into our family.

And then the birth of Isaac. These pale in comparison to the anticipation and the birth of the son in our text.

They pale in every single way. For the birth that we're going to talk about this morning for just a few minutes is greater and more miraculous than the great and miraculous birth of Isaac.

A birth that we celebrate today. Over 2 ,000 years later we celebrate this birth.

A birth of greater effect and gravity than any before it and any after it.

This glorious birth of a son. That's the first thing I want to draw your attention to is the coming of a son.

We see in our text that a son is coming. We're going to focus on verses 21 through 23 this morning.

Verse 21 says, she shall bring forth a son. She shall bear a son.

Who is bearing a son? Well if we look back to verse 18, we look back to verse 20, we see that it is

Mary. Mary was engaged. She was betrothed to Joseph. And the text tells us that she was found with child before they had come together.

And then we find that the angel appears and says that this for that which is conceived in her is of the

Holy Ghost. We see and we understand that Mary was a virgin.

That Christ was being born of a virgin. And this is important and I think we view this as important here at Providence.

There are many places though that overlook this fact that she was a virgin.

This is important. I want to quickly remind us this morning and I don't want to skate by it.

This was prophesied that she would be born of the birth, the virgin birth. Whether they knew exactly what was being prophesied at that time in Isaiah.

We do know that now that in the future this was going to be a virgin birth. And whether they were ready for it or not, this was happening.

God had made his plans known of this coming of Christ. And I do want to stop and point out that God has made his future plans known to us of the second coming of Christ whether we are ready or not.

Just as there was nothing anyone in power could do to stop this birth in our text, there is nothing that anyone in power can do to stop the second coming of Christ.

And so we need to be reminded, we need to be anticipating as they should have been anticipating the first coming of Christ.

We should be anticipating his second coming because he will come again whether we are ready or not.

But in our text, going back to our text, this son, this birth that were prophesied, we're going to look at Isaiah 7 14 shortly.

But he was not born, it's important to understand, the virgin birth means that he was not born of ordinary generation.

If he had been born of ordinary generation, then he would have been born into sin.

We think of Psalm 51 5, behold, this is David when he is repenting about his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah the

Hittite. He says, behold I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalm 51 5, that thought, being brought forth in iniquity and sin did my mother conceive me, this applies to everyone who was born or will be born of ordinary generation.

This applies to all of us born in sin, born with a sin nature, born with a corrupted nature, totally depraved.

That is all of us. We need to understand that. We've studied that recently.

It's a big part of understanding the gospel that we are born of ordinary generation, we are born with a sin nature, but Christ was born of divine origin.

He was not born of ordinary generation. He was conceived and heard of the

Holy Ghost, of the Holy Spirit, and he was promised throughout Scripture. We have the first promise in Genesis 3 15 of the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent's head and many other places that we don't have time to get to this morning, but we see that this promised son born to Mary is given a name.

I want to spend some time thinking about that name. The name that he is given, verse 21, and she shall bring forth a son and thou shall call his name

Jesus. This name is not given at random. You know, I don't know how often we think about the name

Jesus. It was not given at random. We see throughout Scripture, and the ones that keep coming to my mind is the children of Hosea, but that's not the only place.

I don't know why those keep coming to my mind, but throughout Scripture we see names given that have meaning.

We see a lot of them that are prophetic in nature with the name that is given. The same is true with Jesus.

It is an important name that is also prophetic in nature. It is pointing forward to something.

His name has meaning. You shall call his name Jesus. For.

So this, we're about to understand the reason why. Why was it the name Jesus? Well, for he.

So who is he? We need to understand who is he. Well, he is Jesus. Okay? Well, tell me a little bit more.

Matthew, tell me just a little bit more about who Jesus was. Well, in verse 23, he does.

He clues us in to what he's, who he's talking about. Who this Jesus is going to be.

We see in verse 23, behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name, this is a different name,

Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. We see this name given.

J .C. Ryle notes that this Emanuel is the name given that describes his nature as God with us.

God with us. In this name, Emanuel, I want to focus on it for just a second.

In this name, Emanuel, we see the both the humanity and divinity of Christ in this name.

We see God, fully God. This child is God himself.

This is God with us. He was fully

God, fully man, a nature like our own except for sin, taking on the robe of flesh.

This is God in the flesh. We see the word with,

God dwelling with man. Perfect man, perfect God.

Fully man, fully God. This Emanuel was at times weary, was at times thirsty, was at times hungry, and what comfort his humanity brings.

We can trust him with our sorrows for he himself has felt sorrow, yet he never sinned.

He could feel as we feel. He wept, and yet the wind stopped at his command.

Demons trembled at and obeyed his voice. The lame walked, the dumb talked, the blind given sight, the dead raised by this

Jesus, this Emanuel, the God -man. He is one with the

Father. He said before Abraham was, I am. We have great comfort in his humanity, and we have great hope in his divinity.

What a glorious reality the incarnation of Christ is. He was prophesied of old,

Isaiah 9, 6 through 7, for to 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, 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.

The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this. This was fulfilled perfectly.

This name, Emanuel, prophesied in Isaiah, gives us great comfort.

Because what does it mean? What does he say it means? God with us.

In many ways he is with us. I want to look at a couple. This won't be an exhaustive list, but I want to look at two ways that we can tangibly see that God is with us from Matthew.

Turn to Matthew 18. Turn to Matthew 18.

I'm gonna read just one verse. Matthew 18, verse 20.

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.

Okay, so what's the context of this verse? The context of this verse is the context of this scripture is the dealings of the church, particularly church discipline.

The sin of a brother. And at the end of this text, he gives instructions.

He gives clear instructions. If a brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him.

If he won't listen, then take one or two. If he won't listen, tell it to the church.

If he won't listen, then he is to be as a heathen man or a publican, as the KJV says.

And then this part ends with, for where two or three are gathered in my name, there

I am in the midst of us, or midst of them. So this is dealing with church discipline.

This is dealing with the dealings of the church. And what does he say? I'm with you.

I'm with you. He is with us. He is with us in the dealings of the church. He is with us in biblical church discipline.

He is with us in biblical order of the church. He is with us in the purity of the church.

We as a body are not apart from Christ. We are not a bride without a husband.

He is for us, and he is with us. He is for reformation to his

Word and will not forsake us in it. It's really easy to get discouraged striving to be a biblical church.

You can get discouraged as your pastors. It can be discouraging at times, and the reason is not because God is not with us, because a church that strives to be obedient to his

Word must be obedient even in hard things, like church discipline. Church discipline is not always easy.

Sometimes our stance as a church leads us to be alienated at times, called old -fashioned, avoided, criticized, that weird church down there at the end of town.

But take heart, church. Take heart, because God is with us.

He is with us in this. He is for biblical churches, and he is holding us up.

He is in the midst of this, and oh what wonderful news to know that we strive to be biblical.

We strive to be biblical in our dealings of the church, such as church discipline, not based upon our strength, but upon his.

God is building his church here at Providence. He's building his church in Plummerville.

He's building his church in Azle, Texas. He's building his church in Port Arthur. He's building his church in Mexico and China and Belize and all over the world.

God is building his church. He's building biblical churches, and we can take heart because he is with us.

This is not a battle we fight alone. Praise God. It may look different to the world, but if we are striving according to Scripture, no matter how hard it is, it is not in vain.

And know this, know this, he is not just with us with the doings inside these four walls, but he is with us as we go out.

Turn to the back of Matthew. We see another area that he mentions that he's with us.

Matthew 28 19. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all

I've commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

He is with us in establishing and growing his church. He is with us in church discipline.

He is with us as we reform more and more to his word. He is with us when we look at things like biblical church membership and our roles actually reflecting who gathers with us, and he is with us to make disciples.

He is with us in our evangelism as we stand on the street corner at Harps and at Casey's.

He is with us as we go door to door, knocking on people's door, sometimes met with a slam in the face or a rude comment.

He is with us as we evangelize in the parade, as people think, there they go, crazy people, there they go, preaching again.

There's that quattro, preaching again. There they are with their gospel tracks. There they are.

He is with us. He is with us as we are mocked.

It's so easy to get discouraged in this as well. When they laugh at us, they mock us, some who even claim to be

Christians. Not much support from other churches, people think you're crazy. Like I said, that's the reputation, that crazy church down at the end of town.

But take heart, Providence, God is with us. He is with us.

Let them call us crazy, let them laugh and mock, press on, because Christ is worthy and he has not left us, and he will not leave us.

Continue, church. Continue to want to be biblical. Continue to share the gospel to a lost and dying world that will hate the gospel and will hate you.

Press on, because he is with us. And our labors in this church and our labors in the streets are not in vain.

I pray that's a comfort to you this morning. It has been a comfort to me as I studied this to know that he is with us.

We must also understand a hard truth here about God with us, that where this truth of God with us is comfort for the believer in the church, it's not comforting for the lost.

He is with them as well, but not to bless, rather to judge and to curse, for he is a stumbling block and a rock of offense.

And if they, or you, if you are lost this morning, do not repent and trust in him, his presence will be with you for all of eternity, and that presence will be his wrath poured out upon you continually.

Repent and trust in him. This is the he in the story, that he, he,

Emmanuel, God with us, and this God with us, this Jesus, continuing word by word through the second half of verse 21, he shall.

So I, that we see the coming of a son, now we see the promise of a Savior. He shall.

In the Greek, this is sozo, which actually in a way, somebody smarter than me would have to tell you how, but in a way it combines three words here.

He shall save. And this word sozo means to save, to rescue, to deliver, to heal, to preserve.

This shall that is happening, or will, in ESV, is future.

It's going to happen. But this is also active. The subject that we've just talked about, this

Jesus, is going to perform this action. He's not going to receive it.

He's going to perform it. The he that we discussed, Jesus, God with us, will perform this action that will be mentioned.

This situation is happening. This shall, in the Greek, it cannot really in this text be separated from the word that precedes it, nor the word that follows it.

So Jesus, he, shall save. This future verb that is going, that is going to happen, it will be performed by this subject.

Not maybe, not might, it will happen. What is about to come next?

He shall, whatever follows shall, is going to happen. We can rest assured.

And this truth informs our doctrine. It informs what we believe about salvation.

We're going to talk about salvation. Hint, hint, that's the next word, is save. But it informs what we believe that salvation was accomplished by Christ.

That he shall do it. Not he might. He might save his people. He shall.

This informs what we believe. We see that here. He is doing it. In this

Greek word, sozo, is used over 100 times in the Textus Receptus, which was used for the

KJV, as well as the critical text that the ESV and other modern translations use.

The majority of these translate to save, followed by make whole, heal, and be whole.

But as previously mentioned, you cannot separate in our text the he, the shall, and the save.

Looking back at verse 21, you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save.

I purposely didn't mention this earlier. In Emmanuel, we see his divinity.

In Jesus, we see his mission, which we will discuss shortly. But we see his saving power.

We see that this is the promised Messiah. This is the promised

Savior. We must understand that Jesus itself means Yahweh saves.

The providing of salvation will take place, and when it takes place, it's permanent.

There is no doubt about its effectiveness and completion. He was the one they had been waiting on.

He was the Messiah, the Savior of God's people, only he and no other. Emmanuel speaks of his nature.

Jesus speaks of his office. King after king had failed to rescue

Judah. King after king had failed to rescue Israel.

They had tried to save themselves. They had relied on their own morality. A little history to the prophecy in Isaiah, Ahaz had rejected

God's help and had rather trusted the might of Assyria. This was to his own demise.

Israel continually put their trust in the wrong hands. You think of the Pharisees and the trust of them keeping the law, even though they broke it horribly.

Human flesh could not save them. A king born of ordinary generation could not save them.

Today we steal too often. We look to the flesh for salvation from the curse of sin.

Sometimes we look for help, we look to be saved from the curse of sin.

Sometimes we run to more sin. Sometimes we run to drugs or alcohol or pornography.

Sometimes we run to worldly wealth, such as money and power. Sometimes we look to worldly rulers, such as presidential candidates or celebrities.

These can't save us. Even the best of kings throughout

Judah's history couldn't save them. It is sin and folly to put your hope and trust in any of these things to save you.

These things cannot. Only one can save, and his name is Jesus. For this is what he came to do.

But save who? And from what? Let's keep going. I shall call his name

Jesus, for he shall save his. Whatever it is that he shall save belongs to him.

He owns the subject that he's saving, or the object that he is saving. They are his and they are given to him by his

Father. John 6, 37, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me

I will never cast out. For I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my Father, and everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up the last day.

There he is. For he shall save his people. Now we see the who or the what that will be saved.

His people. Who are his people? Well, it's not ethnic

Israel, but rather true Israel. So how do you know that? Well, Romans chapter 9, verse 6, but this is not as though the

Word of God has failed. For not all who descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham, because there is offspring.

Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

All the way to verse 30. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness and have obtained it, that is a righteousness that is by faith, but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.

Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as it were based on works.

They have stumbled over the stumbling block. As it is written, behold I'm laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in him shall not be put to shame.

It's his people. That's who he's saving. He should save his people. True Israel.

Who are his people? You need more? John 15, 13. Greater love has no one than this, that someone should lay down his life for his friends.

Who are his people? They're his friends. John 10, 15. Just as the

Father knows me and I know the Father, I lay down my life for the sheep. Who are his people?

They're his sheep. Ephesians 5, 25. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.

Who are his people? The church. The church. That's his people, and he shall save his people.

He shall save his church. From what? He shall save his people from.

He is saving them from something. There is a separation that will take place here, and it is a separation of his people and their.

He is saving them from something, and what they're being saved from is their doing. What they're being saved from belongs to them.

He shall save them from their sins. It is their sin.

It is our sin. It's not his sin. It's he is not at fault.

He is the Savior. His people are the ones being saved, and they are saved from their sins.

We are saved from our sins. If you get this wrong, you get the gospel wrong.

This is his purpose. Notice what it doesn't mention that he is saving them from.

Nowhere in our text do I see, and he shall save them from Caesar. He shall save them from Roman rule.

There were many disappointed at this. If this were the case and not their sins, had he come to save them from the oppression of Rome and not their sins, he would have never been crucified.

The problem is they didn't want to be saved from their sins. Why? Because they loved their sin.

The same is true today. Many things people would rather be saved from than their sins.

I got a whole list you can save me from, Jesus, before you get to my sin. Jesus didn't come to save us from Joe Biden.

I'm thankful that his reign as president is almost over. He didn't come to save us from poverty.

He didn't come to save us from those who treat us wrongly, that although all enemies of God in his church will be vanquished, they will be destroyed in this life and eternally in the next, but that's not the primary reason of the incarnation.

He didn't come to save us from disease. This is a false gospel. I do believe that God heals.

I prayed this morning. I asked for prayer for Jase. He's sick.

I pray that God heals him. He performed miracles and I believe he still performs physical miracles, but he came primarily for a greater miracle, to save his people from their sins, from the wrath of God, and to elevate other things, to change the reason of the incarnation of Christ is to believe a false gospel, to take the words such as those in Isaiah 53, by his stripes we are healed, and turn them into a rallying cry for the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel is to lie about the purpose of Christ.

I would say there are many churches today that have embraced this false gospel. Maybe they won't directly say that, but they preach it and they act like it.

They focus their ministries and churches around these things instead of the gospel. Why?

Why is that? Why do they put a priority on these things instead of sin?

Well, one, we already discussed they love their sin. We love our sin too much.

People don't see their sin the way they should. They don't see it as really that big of a deal, especially compared to cancer.

That's not to make light of the severity of cancer, but compared to sin, we see this view and prayer requests of the majority of our churches.

Not that we can't pray, we shouldn't pray for physical needs, but we're more concerned with physical sickness than sin sickness.

Sin, oh yeah, that's not good, but what I really need to be delivered from is far much worse, and this comes from a wrong view of sin.

This comes from a wrong view of God. This comes from a wrong view of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, of the gospel, of his word in general.

The greatest person, place, or thing you need to be saved from is the greatest being in the universe,

God Almighty, for this is who you have offended with your sin. That's how serious this sin is.

It offends. It offends the sovereign perfect ruler of the universe, the holy righteous judge

Yahweh. We have broken his law and we stand condemned by it.

The punishment? A lake of fire for all of eternity as he pours out his righteous wrath upon the lawbreakers.

You think sickness or oppression are worse than that? You think offending

God isn't that big of a deal? You're wrong. This is what we face in our natural state.

You are not neutral. Understand the severity of sin, church. Lost person, understand the severity of your sin.

Understand the severity of you being apart from Christ. Adults, teenagers, children, think about it and understand that we are utterly incapable of doing anything about it.

Israel, Judah, they were incapable of saving themselves. Kings couldn't save them.

Priests couldn't save them. Prophets couldn't save them. But then something happens.

A shoot from the stump of Jesse. A branch that shall bear fruit.

Just when it seems that the royal line has all but been demolished, here comes the

King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The true and better David. As one commentator writes, the sin of the people is so grievous that if the people are going to be saved at all, their judge must become their

Savior. God in the flesh comes, is born of a virgin, lives a perfect holy life, keeping the law of God, dies on the cross as the spotless lamb, as the propitiation of the sins of his people, and he's buried and he raises on the third day, signifying that the debt has been paid in full for his people, for his church, his people saved by his work.

This is the gospel of Christ. Let's not minimize it. He came to save us from something greater than oppression or physical slavery.

He came to save us from being slaves to sin. John Gill writes, and these he saves from their sins, from all their sins, original and actual, from secret and open sins, from sins of the heart, lip, and life, from sins of omission and commission, from all that is sin and the omission upon it, from the guilt, punishment, and damning power of it, by his sufferings and death, and from the tyrannical government of it, by his spirit and grace, and when at last save them from the being of it, though not in this life, yet hereafter in the other world, when they shall be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

In church, he comes to save his church, his people, and none can ever pluck us from his hand.

This was his mission, and he completed it. Only he can complete it.

John asked, John the Baptist asked, do we look for another? When John was in prison and he was discouraged, he sent his disciples and said, go ask him.

Are you him, or do we look for another? No, John. No, saint.

We don't look for another. Jesus paid it all. He paid it all, and he shall save his people from their sins, for he is

Emmanuel. He is God with us. He is Jesus Yahweh who saves.

Who else would we look for? For no one can compare. Who else can save from the wrath of God to come but God himself?

Trust him all the more, believer, for one day, one day, we shall be with him.

The one that we've celebrated each Christmas, the one that we celebrate each

Lord's Day, the one we have prayed to, have looked to, have sang song after song about, have proclaimed on the streets, have told our friends and our family and even strangers about.

One day we will see him face -to -face, our Jesus, our

Emmanuel, our Savior. Unbeliever, run to Christ, run to the

Savior, flee the wrath of God to come upon all who stand against this

King, and you too will go to be with him. Let us pray. Father, we're thankful for your gospel this morning.

Though you have in me a very imperfect messenger, this is a perfect message, the perfect gospel of Christ.

Lord, I pray that you might use your gospel, your complete and whole gospel.

Lord, it is not lacking. We do not look to another. We do not look to our works.

We look to Christ. I pray this morning that you might be pleased to save your people.

There may be some here that, Lord, have not been saved yet. Lord, I pray that you would draw them to yourself.

I pray that as a church we would look to you, that we would trust that your word is sufficient, the gospel is sufficient.

We don't need to look to other methods. We have a powerful and mighty gospel of Christ.

May we proclaim it all the more. May we look to Christ. Let's call this in Christ's name.