Please stand for the reading of God's word during the Advent
season. We have been preaching through
the oh, Aunt Alphonse, which make up the seven prayers of the
great. Hymn O come O come Emmanuel
tonight. I will be focusing on the name
Emmanuel. Looking primarily through this
narrative Through The Eyes of Christ Earthly father.
Joseph, I'll begin in Isaiah 7:14 the prophecy.
Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign.
Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call
his name Emmanuel from Matthew 1:18.
Now, the birth of Jesus Christ, took place in this way, 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 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 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 newer, not until she had given birth to a son and he
called his name, Jesus. This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks. Be to God, please be seated.
I don't think. Joseph felt like all was well.
We have the advantage of seeing things that have taken place
already. As Matthew gives us the account.
We know more than Joseph knew when this news hits him.
It's very, very different. I want you to try to put
yourself in his position. Earlier this week, I met with a
couple who told me about their engagement and that they will be
getting married here in this church.
In one year. What their year is going to be
like is very different than what things would have been like,
back in this time period, Joseph and Mary were betrothed.
And what that meant was, they were in a legal Covenant already
for a year. Roughly, they would not spend
time together, in isolation, other people would always be
with them. In order for that Covenant to be
broken, one of the parties would have to file for divorce.
When Joseph learns. That his wife, the one, he's
betrothed to is with child. You and I move quickly Beyond to
the reality of what we know is inside her who is inside her,
but he didn't know that. Whether this is your first time
ever to a Christmas Eve service, are you cannot remember missing
one. There's always more for us to
see. There's always more for us to
understand. And tonight, my prayer is that
everybody who's here, everyone who is worshiping with us and
different parts all over the world watching online that they,
that we would know. It is truly well, with our soul
because of who we are in him. Yeah.
We can relate to Joseph and many ways.
One of the ways we can relate to him, is the idea that when we go
through certain experiences in life, there's moments where we
just simply need to know the presence of God and the promises
of God. I want to show you just for a
few minutes, what the word of God says about, who Joseph was
look with me at the text. We're told that Joseph was a
just man look with me at verse 19 and her husband Joseph.
That's Mary's Being a just man that means that he was a
righteous man. Now I'm going to give you
several words or phrases that are going to have the letter r
in it. If that helps you, I'm glad I'm
not trying to do that on purpose, but there's going to be
several. First one is he's righteous.
And what that means is that Joseph belonged to the Covenant
family of God, because of that, he received the blessings of
those who belong to the Covenant family of God.
And he also designed fire to do things that would please the
Lord. He's like the author of Psalm
119. I will run in the way of your
Commandments when you enlarge my heart, the word that you've
given me a sweeter to my taste than honey.
This is who Joseph was he was a righteous man, but when he heard
this news, we see that he was considering what he should do.
The word tells us he was Resolved to divorce her.
But how did he come to that conclusion?
Well, there's only one of two ways.
Mary could be pregnant in his mind either.
She was assaulted. Or she committed adultery.
She committed adultery, she has broken the law and that is a
capital offense. Joseph has affection for the
woman that he's betrothed to, he loves this woman.
He could not have imagined that this is what would happen to
her. Think about what he's wrestling
with. Who can I trust?
I certainly can't trust her. How can I even trust myself
that? I would be betrothed to one like
her. Think about all the things that
might be going on in Joseph's head thinking about the way in
which he desperately needs the Presence of God, he desperately
needs the promises of God. Who does he talk to?
We know he's a decisive man but in this moment, he really is.
Resolved. Look with me at verse 19.
Being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame.
He resolved to divorce her quietly, understanding the word
of God, understanding what would happen to her because of the
word of God understand. Affection.
He had for her understanding the consequences of what this would
mean for his family and her family for their future.
Spiritually financially, all these things are weighing on
him. Tonight, many of you are not
going to sleep very well. I haven't slept well on a
Christmas eve. Since I was born, I haven't as a
child, I grew up with so much anticipation.
And now as a father of five, it's late nights putting things
together. Some of you will.
Remember the last time Christmas was on a Sunday, I stood in this
pulpit and it was later than the service was a little later in
the night. And I looked at the congregation
and I said, how many of you are working tomorrow?
I am, I'll be here met at 9:30 service and 11:00 service.
And I said, here's the problem. I have a ping-pong table to put
together and I didn't know there were 2,000 screws and I need
help. And I received over 40 text.
Sadly, they came during the sermon.
From people who said we're willing to help.
And the Herby boys, dead Bart Herby.
It has four Sons came to a house about 11:30 stayed, till 4:00
and finish the table. All right, that's an awesome
story. Well, I know it's cold outside
but I have a trampoline All right, that's not true.
My kids are older. We've gotten rid of the
trampoline. We all have sleepless nights.
And not on nights like this that are just filled with his in,
with anticipation. Enjoy for what tomorrow brings
but sleepless nights when we are, considering what we should
do sleepless nights. When we're wondering, who we can
talk to, who we can trust sleepless nights, where we
desperately need to know the presence of God and the promises
of God, we have those nights when our soul is overwhelmed but
our mind is overwhelmed and we're trying to figure out what
the best thing to do is. Is.
That's Joseph. And before he goes to sleep.
He's resolved in his mind to divorce her.
But then comes restraint. This man who will see his very
decisive doesn't move before he goes to sleep, as he goes to
sleep, he's resolved in his mind to do what he thinks is right to
divorce. Marry but then, the presence and
the promise becomes real, God never has a problem revealing
what he wants. An angel comes to Joseph in a
dream. And what the angel does is the
Angel untangles, the not, that Joseph is in the angel, brings
the piece to the puzzle that is missing.
That gives him the ability to see, Mary is he always thought
she was, but never imagining that, she would be the one
carrying the savior in her womb. Joseph was very, very troubled.
He resolved to divorce her. What else could he do?
He went to sleep. and there's restraint and the spirit of God
moves, the angel appears this Advent season.
I feel like I've spent one-on-one time every day with
what many consider to be the greatest living Theologian
Sinclair Ferguson. He's been in this Pulpit several
times. His devotional that came out,
maybe you're go. The dawn of Redeeming, Grace has
been of deep deep. Well, for me, I finished it this
morning day. 24. On day 6.
This is what he writes about Joseph.
Joseph needed that something to happen, and it did.
The Dream Angel gave him the missing piece of the jigsaw
puzzle without which he would have been unable to discern the
Lord's will. God was untangling the not that
Joseph had tried to loosen in his waking hours.
God did so in a way that prevented Joseph from thinking
he had worked it out for himself.
And in this kindness God dissolved any fears.
Joseph might have in wondering whether he was following his own
plans and desires with disregard to God's word the child in
Mary's womb was not the fruit of her sin, but of the holy spirit,
this was the clue. Joseph had needed now.
Things began to fall into place. He was given light Right on his
situation. As the angel said, he had no
need to fear. He was disobeying the Lord by
marrying Mary. So no matter what the
consequences might be, he would do what the angel said.
He did not need any further consideration, Matthews words,
wonderfully, convey his immediate obedience He was
desperate. To hear from the Lord to know
his presence to hear his promises.
He was a righteous man. He resolved to do what was
right. He was restrained.
Sometimes we have those moments when we feel like we must pause,
we must wait. When you have those thoughts,
process them with the Lord. In a dramatic way because this
was a dramatic scene. The woman, he's betrothed to his
carrying the savior of The World.
God knew what he needed. And God knows what you need to.
There is nothing, you are experiencing no question.
You have no thoughts that keep you up in the middle of the
night that God can learn anything about.
But there's something about God that is often missed and that is
that God often bruises those that he will use for his glory.
Bitter providence's are often permitted.
By God because in those moments, they take us to the end of
ourselves were then we really are desperate.
We really are willing to say, whatever Lord you want, whatever
is your will We like Joseph are desperate for his presence and
desperate for his promises. Joseph would be told that the
sun inside Mary's wombs to be named Jesus.
And then he's told of the Fulfillment of the prophecy that
they shall call his name Emmanuel.
And what does that mean gods? Revealed word tells us, it means
god with us. In the church.
Of Jesus Christ. The true church in which he's
the head. everything that we need, he has given and will give
the greatest need. We all have is for our sin to be
forgiven. to be covered to be paid for and that is why Christ
came He came and he lived the life that we could never live,
he died, the death, we all deserve to die.
God With Us was placed on a cross, and we crucified him.
He was raised from the dead. That's why he came conquering
death. And now, after ascending to
Heaven, he lives to intercede. That means to pray for us.
Whatever keeps you up at night, whatever right now is causing
you to say. I'm desperate for his presence.
I'm desperate for his promises he gives but he gives only to
those who have received him. Do you see that's what happens
here? After Joseph hears from the
angel, the missing piece is the not as untangled.
He receives that word and responds.
No matter what, it will cost them.
What matters most to him, is pleasing his Heavenly Father All
is well. For some I fear even tonight
here it's just a Sentimental moment that was really beautiful
to see a young girl. And a woman with beautiful
instrumentation. Use the gifts they've been given
But it's not meant to be just sentimental.
It's meant to be another layer in a worship service to
beautifully Proclaim. What's true that for all who
have received Jesus? All is well now and forever.
This Side of Heaven, that doesn't mean that bitter
Providence is don't exist or that bruising doesn't take
place. But what it does mean is the
very thing we should fear most Eternal separation from God.
For all who receive Christ. That is not your future your
future. Is God With Us visible.
Tangible real site forever. But it starts now.
In God's Providence, you've heard a message tonight.
The declares what the word of God says about?
Who the angel said? This baby is, this baby was?
Have you received Jesus as Savior?
If so, friend, praise God for opening your eyes.
If not, praise God, that you're here to hear this news.
And as you hear my closing prayers and this beautiful
music, maybe this is the night that the Lord and his Providence
decided to visit you Don't open your eyes to call you to
himself. To chill.
You irresistible Grace, where you say, I must receive this
God. This Jesus Jesus said, I am the
way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father,
except through me. I write these things to you.
Who believe in the name of the son of God.
Jesus Emmanuel God With Us. That you may know you have
eternal life. Let me pray.
Father in heaven. There is so much more to see so
much more to hear so much more it understand.
But the simple truth is we either receive you or we don't
and father, I pray tonight that all who are here even if they
feel distant from you that the bruising in the bitter
providence's of this this Earth, this world is overwhelming them
that they would know that you have a plan.
You have full love and I prayed that they would hear the
compelling Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Friend if that is you tonight simply pray and ask Jesus Christ
to save. You receive him in your heart,
ask him to forgive your sins and walk away this night for the
first time ever being able to say for all eternity.
All is well. Lord Jesus, for those who have
already received, you press deeply in our hearts.
The good news of Christ and let us never take it for granted.
Even as we hear familiar pieces, let us not be swept into
sentimental things and miss the reality that what is being
spoken and sung about you is true We pray this in Jesus, holy
name. I'm at.