Latest / HBCWestminster / 12.19.21 Matthew 1:18-25 Pastor Sam Porges

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12.19.21 Matthew 1:18-25 Pastor Sam Porges · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  I'm sure that some of you have heard this story, and if you have, I hope you'll enjoy it just as much the second time as those of you who are hearing it for the first time. But the story circulated a number of years ago about Sherlock Holmes and his loyal and trusty friend Watson, who went on a camping trip. And after having dinner and having a little bit too much liquid refreshment, they laid down to sleep.
• 0:28
  And some hours later, in the middle of the night, Holmes awakes, and he looks up at the sky, and he nudges his friend Watson awake, and he says, Watson, Watson, wake up. Look up. What do you see? And Watson says, I see stars and stars and more stars. And Sherlock Holmes says, what does that tell you? And he says, well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of stars and potentially billions of planets.
• 1:00
  Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Orologically, it seems like it's about a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I think we're going to have a beautiful day tomorrow. And theologically, it tells me that God is all powerful and that we are just a small speck in the grand scheme of things. Why, Holmes, what does it tell you? And after waiting a second, he said, Watson, you idiot, someone has stolen our tent.
• 1:33
  This morning, we come to a passage that is likely familiar to many of us, Matthew 1, 18 to 25. And as we study the details of the birth of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, we don't want to miss the obvious glory that is staring us in the face in the incarnation of Christ.
• 1:58
  This text should not only inform us about a seminal doctrine in our Christology, right, the virgin birth of Christ, but it should also fill us with awe as we consider that God Almighty would be pleased to dwell in the flesh. I told the choir this morning, and I will tell you as well, whenever we come to the Word, and especially with this passage this morning, we want to let our theology roll up into doxology.
• 2:28
  We want to let our belief mature into praise of Jesus. That is what we want this morning. And so, if you would and are able to stand for the honor of the reading of God's word, Matthew chapter 1 verse 18 says this. 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.
• 3:03
  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 of 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. 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,
• 3:33
  and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph 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. Let's pray. Father, you who once spoke, let there be light in the beginning. Spoke again so that
• 4:09
  there would be light in the world a second time, but this time that light had a name and a face. And as we study him this morning, I pray that our hearts would be filled with awe, that we'd be reoriented around the reason for this season, and that the word of God would dwell richly in our hearts. We pray all of this in his name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Well, the late Larry King,
• 4:47
  who passed away just January of this year, was famous for the interviews that he did over the years. It is reported that he did over 50,000 interviews during his career. That's astounding. On one occasion, King himself was interviewed, and during that interview, he was asked what persons from history he would choose to interview if he had the opportunity. And in that short list, he mentioned that if he could,
• 5:16
  He would have exercised the privilege of bringing back the historical figure Jesus Christ to interview. And the interviewer asked King, well, what do you ask Jesus in an interview? And Larry King profoundly responded, the question I would ask is whether or not it is true that he was born of a virgin. Because if Jesus is born of a virgin, that is the event that defines history.
• 5:48
  Now, obviously, Larry King never got the opportunity to interview Jesus, but I will answer the question for him. Yes, Jesus was born of a virgin, and his birth is the defining event of human history. And in Matthew chapter 1, the two names given to the baby in the manger, Jesus and Emmanuel, point to the fact that this baby was more than just a baby.
• 6:19
  And as we have, over the last couple of weeks, been in our He Shall Be Called series, we're going to continue this morning with two incredibly significant names of our Lord, Jesus and Emmanuel. So let's look at them. This story begins with a carpenter named Joseph and with his fiancée, Mary. Now, Matthew's birth narrative is written from Joseph's perspective, while Luke is written from...
• 6:47
  Mary's, and surprisingly, Matthew's account of the birth of Christ is short. He begins in verse 18 with this statement. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way, but as you may have noticed, that simple statement is immediately followed with a problematic statement. Look again at verse 18. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child.
• 7:19
  According to Jewish custom, a marriage involves two stages. It involved the betrothal period and the marriage ceremony. And during that betrothal stage, a marriage contract was drawn up and a bride price or dowry was paid to the bride's father as a compensation for wedding expenses should the groom become dissatisfied with his bride and divorce her at any point. One writer says this, because ancient Jewish betrothal involved a legally binding contract,
• 7:49
  it differed quite substantially from our modern idea of engagement. Betrothal could be broken only by an official divorce, and sexual activity during this period was viewed as adultery and could carry the death penalty. Therefore, for Mary to be with child before the marriage ceremony would have been just as injurious to her relationship with Joseph as would cheating during marriage have been.
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  And so rather than making a hasty decision, Joseph decides to pray about it. He shows himself to be, as verse 19 says, a just or righteous man. Now, when I was first studying this passage, that phrase was really interesting to me. Why would they call him just? Because one might think that justice in this situation, from Joseph's perspective, right?
• 8:40
  would be to call off the marriage, bring charges against Mary publicly before the local rulers, and make her pay the price for her perceived immorality. However, his understanding of justice was not exclusionary of God's gentleness or of God's grace. And so, Joseph leaned toward a quiet divorce rather than publicly disgracing her. Now, as a side note, the Bible tells us very little about Jesus' parents.
• 9:11
  We don't really know a lot about him, and especially about Jesus' dad, Joseph. All we really know, from the little we know in Scripture, all we know is that he was an honorable man. And that is certainly evidenced here in this passage. And so as Joseph considered what course of action to take, an angel appears to him. Let's look at verse 20.
• 9:44
  It says, Now at this time, dreams would have been seen as a sign of God's
• 9:57
  involvement and God's blessing, and certainly this dream is no exception, right? It points to the greatest blessing of all. The angel reassures Joseph that he should not fear in taking Mary as his wife because her conception is a miraculous act of God the Holy Spirit himself. Now, that command of the angel to not fear was undoubtedly because this situation was fraught with social embarrassment.
• 10:28
  Think about it from Joseph's perspective real quick. Imagine trying to convince your friends and your family or to convince your neighborhood that your fiance, who is pregnant, is pregnant because of God, the Holy Spirit. Imagine trying to convince them of that. This would have been a scandal in the neighborhood. Gossip would have been going around. So certainly Joseph would have been afraid to take Mary as his wife, right? Because people are saying, well, you're not living according to the law.
• 10:59
  The law says that you should call this off, right? It would have been very, very embarrassing. Joseph and Mary would likely have been unfriended on social media, unfollowed by many people, by those who thought the whole miraculous conception thing, yeah, that's just a far-fetched excuse. It's a cover-up for Mary's scandal. Nevertheless, Joseph is called to submit to God's plan, and as we will read later, he does.
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  The name the angel gives to Joseph's son is Jesus. And as was the case back then, names signified attributes of their possessor. Names weren't just kind of given willy-nilly. They were given in a way that identified who the child was. And the name Jesus signified the immensely important purpose for which this baby was born. The Greek name Jesus was equivalent to the Hebrew name Jesus.
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  Joshua or Yeshua, meaning Yahweh saves. Jesus, in fact, was a common name at this time. In fact, some scholars have done weird homework and found out that Jesus was the sixth most common name at this time, which just tells me there was a widespread desire among many parents to see Yahweh, God, deliver them from Roman oppression.
• 12:24
  because they're naming these kids Jesus. It also tells me that if Mary and Joseph were hipsters, they probably would not have chosen the name Jesus for their baby because it was too mainstream. And so what separated this Jesus, however, from all the other Jesuses during his time was that he would actualize the meaning of his name. He would realize it. He wasn't just going to point to God's deliverance. He himself would accomplish it. In fact, look with me at a well-known verse here.
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  John 3, 16 to 17, right? For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved, and then what does it say? Through him. You know, at the fall of Adam, the shalom of God was broken.
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  In the beginning, when God created everything, he created it and called it good, right? And one Hebrew word to describe the environment at the time was shalom, peace. Everything functioned how it should. Every star was in its place as it should. Every animal functioned as it should. Adam and Eve functioned as they should. There was peace and all was right with the world. But when sin came in,
• 13:51
  It shattered that shalom in pieces. It shattered it. And sin infected every part of our being so that what resulted was we are alienated from God, from others, from the environment, and even from ourselves. You know, over the last five to ten years in our country, the smoke has cleared somewhat, revealing how deep human brokenness really is.
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  runs. Don't you see it more clearly? Maybe what was hidden before has come to light. Sin has crept its way into the recesses of our hearts, but the mercy of God has not left us without hope. Church, Jesus unflinchingly steps into our brokenness to bring real change and real transformation. Jesus does not ignore the sin
• 14:53
  the suffering, the sickness, death, and violence, and oppression that characterize fallen humanity. But he enters into it to bring peace and healing and wholeness. Whenever we sing or preach or proclaim the name Jesus, we declare that the hope of the world against sin is bound up in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
• 15:19
  That there is one hope and it is him. He is our rescuer. We are not our own rescuers. We do not trust in self-help messages that tell you to embrace the light within or just live up to your potential. We don't put our trust in paychecks or careers or possessions to give us security. We don't trust in government policies or the CDC to make all things right. There is
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  one who has come to make all things right, and his name is Jesus. He is our wonderful counselor. He is our Prince of Peace, who, as Colossians 1, verse 20 says, is reconciling all things in heaven and on earth to God the Father, making peace by the blood of his cross. You guys, Jesus has come to restore the shalom of God, peace by peace.
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  He has come to make all things right, and he begins with the forgiveness of sins in human hearts. This is the baby, right? So not only are we told of his office, right, what he would do by the name Jesus, but we are also informed of his nature by the name Emmanuel. Look at verse 22 with me.
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  Matthew records, 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. Verse 23 is the first of Matthew's many Old Testament fulfillment prophecies. In fact, where you're opening your Bibles right now, you might see a handful. Where I'm at in chapter 2, verse 6, in chapter 2, verse 18, and in chapter 3, verse 3.
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  There are these Old Testament quotes, right? Because Matthew, since he was writing to a Jewish audience, wants to constantly point his audience to the fact that this Jesus is the fulfillment of everything we've been looking for in the Old Testament. He's the fulfillment of all those promises, right? Now, this quote in verse 23 comes from Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14, about 740 years before the birth of Christ.
• 17:48
  Now, it's important to know the context of Isaiah chapter 7 so that we can understand its full impact in the gospel of Matthew. So, in the time of Isaiah, Judah was ruled by this evil king Ahaz, okay? Now, the nation of Syria wanted Judah to help them fight against Assyria, okay? Those are two different ones. Syria and Assyria. And Assyria was, I mean, the world power at the time.
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  It was only 18 years after this point where Assyria would come and wipe out the northern 10 tribes of Israel. So Syria wants help from King Ahaz against Assyria. But Ahaz says, no, I'm not going to do that. And so Syria threatens Ahaz by saying, we're going to come in, we're going to invade, we're going to depose you as the king, and we're going to set up a king in your place who's going to cooperate with us. And so Ahaz begins to freak out.
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  And rather than trusting in the Lord, what he does is he runs to Assyria and he says, you gotta help. Syria's gonna come in and attack. And he asks them for help. And then Assyria does help, but they help at a high cost. He said, yeah, we'll help you, but you must become what was called a vassal state of Assyria, which means you're gonna pay us heavy tribute and you're gonna fight in all of our wars. Those are mandatory.
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  And so in the midst of this crisis, the prophet Isaiah comes to Ahaz with this word of encouragement. He says, be firm in the faith. Because if you're not firm in the faith, you're not going to be firm at all. Be encouraged. The Lord is with us. And Ahaz doesn't want to trust in God. He says, nope, Assyria is our only help. And Isaiah responds with this promise. Isaiah 7, 14 to 16. Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.
• 19:42
  and shall call his name Emmanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. The promise Isaiah gave was that some son would be born, and just in chapter 8, we are told that Isaiah's wife gives birth to a son whose symbolic name was Emmanuel.
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  And this son, as Isaiah says, before he's in first grade, the threats of Syria and Assyria are going to be gone. Now, in a sense, God was with Judah to deliver them from their immediate situation. But this begs a question, right? How does that, Isaiah's context, impact our understanding of Matthew? And why would Matthew quote Isaiah 7, 14 here in talking about Jesus's birth?
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  I think that the following context after Isaiah chapter seven implies that God intended a greater fulfillment of it. Look at these verses. These are going to be more well known to us. But Isaiah chapter nine says this, but there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan.
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  Galilee of the nations. Where did Jesus minister? Galilee of the nations. He continues, the people who walked in darkness, this is beautiful, have seen a great light. Those who dwell in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide.
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  the spoil, and then here we go, 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 a 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.
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  and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. We just sang this, right? Of his goodness, there will be no end. He'll establish it with his righteousness, and he shall reign from David's throne, and his name shall be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. And so these verses in Isaiah 9
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  are connected to the birth of the son in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14, but they quickly point to a deliverance that extends beyond Syria and beyond Assyria by a son who is more than human. By the time of Jesus, in fact, many Jewish readers of Matthew's gospel would have expected some type of supernatural birth of
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  The Messiah and the virgin birth provided them with just that. Church, Matthew 1.23 shows that the birth of Christ was a double fulfillment of Isaiah 7.14. There was the immediate son of Isaiah, right, which has a really fun name in the Bible, Mahershala Hashbaz. Whenever I have kids, that's going to be my firstborn's name. No, I'm just kidding.
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  But there was that immediate fulfillment, but then you see Jesus, who is the truest and most literal embodiment of the name Emmanuel, which is God with us. He was God, very God, in the flesh. Now, our belief in the virgin birth is crucial for a handful of reasons. It's important that we believe this and not go, well, what's the big deal? I mean, because some critics don't believe in it.
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  do we actually have to believe that Jesus was born of a virgin in order to have the rest of our Christology intact? And the answer is yes, we do. Here are a few reasons why the virgin birth is important to us. Number one, because the Bible says it happened. And if the Bible is wrong here, then why should we trust any of it, right? Number two, it tells us that Christ is divine.
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  His conception happened in such a way that showed he was more than human, right? Conceived of the Holy Spirit. Number three, it tells us that Christ was human. Christ really became one of us and could therefore represent us in his redemption on the cross. So he's really divine, he's really human. Number four, it tells us that Christ was sinless.
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  If Joseph was Jesus' biological father rather than his adoptive father, Jesus would have inherited sin and guilt from Joseph. And so his miraculous conception kept him from possessing a sin nature. And if he was indeed to save God's people from their sins, he could not be a sinner himself. If we had the genealogy in chapter 1, verses 1 to 17,
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  which sets Jesus up as the Davidic king, right? But we did not have the report of his miraculous conception, then Jesus would have been a Jewish king, but he couldn't be the savior of the world. Lastly, the virgin birth shows us the nature of grace. The word of God coming in the flesh was not brought about by any human effort, but only by the good pleasure of God.
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  So the, I mean, the New Testament opens just with grace. That's all this is. It's just the mercy and the grace of God. And so just as the name Jesus had significance, right? God is going to save us from our sins. So too does Emmanuel have significance. And Matthew tells us its meaning at the end of verse 23. It means God with us. Now, Highland, think about the significance of that name for a minute.
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  Almighty God has come to be with us. One man has said this, how simple all this sounds, yet here are depths which no human mind can or ever will fathom. All attempts to explain will utterly fail. Faith worships here and looks with profound adoration upon the mystery made known.
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  God manifested in the flesh. And then I love what one pastor said. He said this, when the wise men looked down at the baby in that manger, for the first time, earth looked down into heaven. Because in fact, that baby is the son of God in the flesh. This God.
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  who molded the heights of the Rocky Mountains, who rolled out the Serengeti Plains of Tanzania, who established the farthest reaches of the North Arctic, and who stretched out the barren plains of Antarctica, who separated the more than 7,100 islands of the Philippines into their individual
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  who carved the Mariana Trench to its 36,037 foot depth and who raised up Everest to its 29,032 foot height has come to be with us. The God who decreed that trees should form rings as they grow, that small acorns should produce mighty oaks.
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  That there should be over 100 types of clouds in the heavens and that every water molecule falling over Niagara Falls should fall exactly when it does has come to be with us. The God who designed squids and lions, gnats and elephants, lions, tigers, and bears. Oh my, this God has come to be with us.
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  The God who gave Saturn its rings, who keeps earth at the exact distance from the sun so that life is sustainable, who determines the number of stars and gives to each one their name. The God who spilled the Milky Way into the galaxy and who set the sun ablaze and commands every morning has come to be with us. The God who flooded the earth.
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  who parted the waters of the Red Sea into a hallway for Israel to pass through, the God who made creation writhe in his presence on top of Mount Sinai, the God who was present with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fire, and the God who makes nations rise and fall has come to be with us, and the God who made us with all of our complexity, all of our beauty,
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  All of our potential has come to dwell among us, to bring us peace, and to rescue us from our sin. This is Emmanuel. He is the eternal Son of God who possesses power unrivaled in all of creation, and yet condescended to come in the form of a baby. Just this last week, I got to spend time
• 30:05
  with my brother-in-law, Jethro Olarte, and his wife, Samantha, who, as you may have known just a few weeks ago, had their first baby. And I got to spend some time holding little baby Judith, and it was just astounding to think, God Almighty, was this at one point, a little baby in weakness and dependence, to look in the eyes of that baby and to think, this is God with us.
• 30:38
  Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, is the glory from Haggai 2 that Danny preached about last week, right? You remember Haggai had prophesied that the treasure of the nations would bring a glory to the temple that was greater than had been seen in Solomon's day. And the first inklings of the fulfillment of that prophecy are seen here in Matthew 1, verses 18 to 25. This little baby, God in the flesh,
• 31:06
  would bring glory, but that glory started just outside a little town of Bethlehem where the hopes and fears of all the years met in sweet communion. I love that, man, if we had time, we would go into this, but Matthew 2, Matthew 2 even proves that Jesus is treasured by the nations because what happens in Matthew 2? Wise men from outside of Israel and a different nation.
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  come in. They seek out the Christ to worship him. They treasured him. He is the greater glory. I love that picture of the wise men coming in and worshiping this baby that they had not yet known. It reminds me of one of my favorite Christmas stories, and I think I tell this every year, but I tell it every year because it's really great. There were these three little boys at their school, and they were doing a little nativity Christmas play.
• 32:03
  right? And these three little boys were playing the three wise men, and they had gotten out of order. They didn't know, but they'd gotten kind of out of order, maybe mixed up some lines a little bit, and as they were bringing their gifts to the little baby at the play, one says, I bring you gold, and another says, I bring you myrrh, and the last kid says, Frank sent this.
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  Right? But Jesus himself, he's the greater glory of the temple because it's not just the glory of God and the holy of holies, but it's the glory of God made available to everybody. How marvelous that is. How marvelous. After hearing this angelic message, Joseph decides to respond in faith. He obeys by taking Mary as his wife and he names the baby Jesus. And you guys, upon doing so,
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  A new day had dawned in redemptive history. And so these names may have been given to Jesus 2,000 years ago, but they have not lost one ounce of their relevance for us today. The Jesus that was born to Mary and Joseph is the same Jesus who forgives our sins.
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  And if you have not yet believed in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, then his offer still stands. His name is still Jesus. God still forgives today. That baby in the manger did not stay a baby, but he grew up and went to the cross for us, paying the penalty that we deserved for our contribution to the breaking of God's shalom. He paid the penalty for that so we could be made right with God and so believe.
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  today. Believe. Let the Savior whose birth defines history define you. Those who believe in him are delivered from the wrath of God against sin, and they take the good news of Jesus Emmanuel into the world. And so, church, as we go and live and work and play in the name of Jesus, we go with this promise that comes at the end of Matthew's gospel, where Jesus says, I am with you always.
• 34:38
  even to the end of the age, this is our confidence that God is still with us. Him we exalt, Him we praise, and it is Him that we worship this Christmas season. Amen? Amen. Let us pray. Lord, there is none like you. Many people put their trust in other things, but we put our trust in the Lord, our God.
• 35:24
  As we consider this morning, God, the significance of the name Jesus and of the name Emmanuel, we stand in awe before you, our God and our Savior. Thank you, God, for giving us a Savior who is like us and yet greater than us. Thank you for giving us a Savior who redeems us from our sins.
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  and removes them as far as the east is from the west. Thank you, Father, that you would send your Son to condescend to this earth to show us what you are like. God, we believe this morning, we believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he has died on the cross for our sins, that he rose again, and that he ascended to your right hand and is ruling from heaven.
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  Be exalted this morning as we continue to worship you are worthy. And we pray all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen.