The Promise for a King

Our text for meditation tonight is Matthew 1, verses 18 through 25. If you are visiting with us or do not have a Bible, there are Bibles at the end of each pew. Please feel free to take that for your own. Hear the Word of God from the Gospel of Matthew. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way when his mother, Mary, had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together. She was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit and her husband, Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel, the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, Son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. But she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Jonas woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. Well, as I studied this text, part of me wanted to say, all right, let's talk about Joseph. Let's talk about what a great, honorable man Joseph is. He rarely really gets mentioned. This is the most attention Joseph's going to get in scripture. You know, poor guy, he's famous, but he's like most men. We're there to accompany the pregnant woman, the pregnant wife or the new mother with a new baby. He's mentioned only in passing because he's there to assist and to lead and help Mary and the baby. He's in all of our nativity scenes, but he doesn't get a lot of attention in the Christian story. So I thought we could talk about him. We could talk about what great faith he has. to hear this word from God and to embrace the mockery that he would have that his fiance is already pregnant before the wedding. Well, I could give a sermon on how to be like Joseph. I could set him up as a model of faith, but that would be mere moralism. We're not here to be like Joseph. We're not here to have a life modeled for us. No, we're here to talk about what God has done for us. We're here to talk about the great act of God in salvation. We're here to talk about Jesus Christ and how God has brought him to earth, how the Father sent the Son to us to save us. As we meditate tonight, I want to talk about two things. I want to focus on the names of Jesus. We have the two names revealed here in Scripture. His name will be Jesus. And his name, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, is Emmanuel. Let's look at these two names and meditate upon what they mean for us. And what they mean in terms of who Jesus the Christ was. Well, the name Jesus, if we look at the etymology of it, really in Hebrew, it sounds like Yeshua. which we would know as Joshua. And if you look at the etymology of it, it literally means Yahweh, God's personal name, saves. And we don't really need to know the Hebrew etymology because Matthew already tells us what it means. For he will save his people from their sins. You see, if you're a Hebrew, you know that name Yahweh saves that name Yahshua, Jesus. It's a sweet name. It's a name declaring to all the sinners of all the world that God is going to save us from our sins. The name Jesus is a sweet name that we get to call upon, but in order to really appreciate the sweetness, in order to really savor and enjoy and delight in the sweetness of the name Jesus, We have to prepare our pallets. We have to recognize first the bitter truth. That were sinners in need of salvation before we can truly appreciate how sweet the salvation is that Jesus has brought. We have to recognize we're in need of salvation. We have to acknowledge that we are sinners. And as I've meditated, on what it means for us to be sinners, well, I've had some seasonal temptations arise in my own mind. And I believe we can all relate to one or maybe both of these. As we think about this season, as we think about our own sinfulness, we ought to see that we have an inappropriate desire for things. We have an inappropriate desire to receive gifts. As you're sitting there thinking about what's coming, I've already had some children say, this is the longest day of the year. What is it that you're longing for right now? What is it that you're hoping to unwrap either tonight or tomorrow morning that's going to satisfy your every desire? What is it that you think you're going to unwrap and receive that's going to change your life? What is that material thing that you hope someone has bought you and wrapped up in fancy paper that's going to bring you pleasure and happiness? You see, receiving gifts is a good thing. But our sinfulness, our perverse, sinful nature takes good things. and corrupts them. You see, instead of just having a good time receiving a gift, instead of receiving the gift and using it for what it's meant to be, a time to rejoice and be thankful, we take that gift and we make it a God in many ways. We make it as if it's going to really satisfy us and give us pleasure. And the truth is we know that as soon as we get it, we're going to have to have the addition or the latest The latest version, we're going to have to accessorize it. Friends, things will not satisfy us. But if you're like me, you're sitting here anticipating, what is that thing I'm going to receive? This shows our sinfulness. This shows that we have a pride in our possessions. This shows that we think what we have really defines who we are. Well, the second temptation is a tricky one. And I believe it is a desire to be appreciated because of the things we give. The other way I think that sin is revealed in us, the other way I think the bitterness of our sinful nature can be revealed to us if we think about it, is we have a desire to be appreciated for the things we give. We want people to think much of us because of the things we give to them. Now, it's a good thing to give gifts. God is a giver of every good and perfect gift. Giving gifts is participating in the nature and the character and the action of God. But the point is, in our sinfulness, in the way we take good things, we corrupt them. You see, our hearts are rebellious. Our hearts are out of control in opposition to God and using all the good things He's given us and using them appropriately to enjoy Him and to glorify Him. Now, my goal tonight is not to dampen the mood of the great gift exchange that will take place. Rather, it's to help us understand how we can properly exchange gifts in a proper perspective. What we have to see is that we have an inappropriate longing for things in this world. We have an inappropriate longing for self-righteousness, for others who think more of us than they should. In order to truly enjoy a fellowship where we're giving and exchanging gifts, the first thing we have to realize is that sin Our wrong, evil, sinful desires are tainting our opportunity to truly enjoy this time. And the way we get beyond this is by recognizing Jesus Christ. The one true gift that can give us satisfaction. The one true gift that can give us absolute pure pleasure. The one true gift that can give us true happiness. And what we must do is recognize that every sin that we have, every sinful behavior, every sinful desire, every sinful condition that we see in our lives, we can confess it to Him. And we can know that in His infinite power, in His infinite love, in His infinite grace, He can forgive us. You see, as I thought about my own life, A few years ago, I could see that I had sinned this much, and I was overwhelmed that God's grace was so wonderful that He would forgive me for this much sin. Now I can see that I'm this much of a sinner. And I'm overwhelmed that God's grace can forgive me for this much sin. But I really know that as I continue to live, I'm going to see more and more of my sin. And I think as much as I can, I've probably sinned as close to infinity as a finite creature can sin. And it gives me great fear at times. But then I look to Christ. I look to the great God who saves and I realize that He is the infinite God with infinite power, with infinite love. And He can forgive every sin. I no longer have to fear being judged for my sin. I no longer have to live a life that enjoys the sin. No, I can look to Jesus Christ and have pure confidence, absolute confidence that He, the one true gift who satisfies, can forgive me. Yahweh saves. He is the only salvation. The second name, it's also sweet, but it's more of a covenantal name. Emmanuel, God with us. Now, this is prophesied in Isaiah, and I think what's taking place here is The covenant formula that defines all of Scripture is really being summarized in one phrase, God with us. The covenant formula that you see all throughout Scripture is God declaring to us, I will be your God and you will be my people. That's the covenant formula that defines Israel throughout all ages. I will be your God and you will be my people. That covenant was a great source of strength for Israel in the midst of their exile in Egypt. They had an identity crisis. Israel continued to forget who they were time and time again. They were always fearful, always afraid of losing their relationship with God because of their sin, because of their circumstances. And so God always reminded them of who He was and of the covenant. I will be your God and you will be my people. Here in Isaiah that Matthew mentions, It's interesting that covenant is shortened God with us. And that covenant is related to one person, that covenant that is defined Israel for all its existence is now put upon the shoulders of one young man, one boy, one son. And now Matthew declares to us that is Jesus Christ. The forever love that God had been promising to Israel, the forever King that was going to come and exercise that forever love to Israel, has now come in Jesus Christ. And He's not just God with us. He's God who's become just like us. You see, God created the world. He created us. As men and women, He created humanity to be His image bearers. There's always been a special relationship between God and humanity. God has always been committed to us, even in our greatest rebellion. And God committed Himself, covenanted Himself to save us from our sins. And now, we get to look and see what angels long to look into. We get to see how he did that. It was through Jesus Christ. God Himself is with us because the second person of the Trinity, God Himself, has become like us. This is a sweet, intimate name. It shows us God's love for us. It shows us God's care for us, in that He looks down upon us and He sees there's no hope for them. They can't save themselves. They can't pray enough. They can't act good enough. They can't throw off and show enough penance. There's no way we can ever make up for all of our rebellion. So, God Himself takes upon our nature. to be with us, to be just like us, so that He, in His perfect wisdom, in His perfect love, could die for us. God is with us. God has become like us by taking on our nature so that He could die for us. You see, friends, we're all sinners. We are all rebels. against God. We are all offensive to God in our lifestyles because we do what we want to do. We do not obey the king. And God being a holy and just God will punish us. He will destroy us. He will judge us. Unless we place our faith in Christ, because Christ lived a perfect life. and sat under the judgment for all who believe in Him. You see, Jesus Christ was the perfect man. But He died. He died the death of a guilty man. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He suffered the judgment from God, but He did not suffer judgment for His own sins. No. He suffered judgment for our sins. He suffered judgment for everything we've done against God. He died the death we deserve. And He rose again to show that He had conquered the grave. He had conquered our greatest enemy, sin and death. That sweet, sweet name, Jesus. The sweet, sweet name, Emmanuel. It gives us hope. It gives us life. It's the only name in which we can call and know that we have salvation. As we meditate this weekend, through the end of the year, for the next year, let us always remember these sweet names upon which we call regularly. Let us think about these names that declare to us that we need God. We need His salvation. We need His grace. We need His love. We need His gift. Let us always be quick to confess our sins to this God who is quick to forgive. Let's pray. Almighty God, Your Word reveals such a wonderful message of salvation. Your Word provides for us such sweet promises, sure and steadfast anchors for our soul in times of trouble. You have given us such great words of hope. Lord, I pray I pray that those words would be sweet. I pray that those words would run rich and deep into our souls as we contemplate and think about how we do sin against you in our behavior, in our actions, in our thoughts, in our desires. And I pray that as we think about our own sin, we're not overwhelmed with that sin to the point that we want to cast it off or hide it down below. No, Lord, give us a desire to cast that sin upon you. Let us understand and see the full assurance we can have. That you have come. You have come the one God. To take upon our flesh. to die for us, so that when we are overwhelmed with our sin, we can cast it upon You and be overwhelmed with Your love and Your grace. In Your holy name we pray. Amen.