Grace Has Saved
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Series Context
Series Context
This past Sunday, we began our advent series which is centered on the theme of the appearing of the grace of God taken from Titus 2:11-14.
Pastor Steve started us off by focusing on God’s plan of redemption which ultimately points us to Jesus Christ who came and dwelt among us and in so doing, displayed the glory of God. This display of God’s glory was pictured throughout the OT.... the tabernacle and the temple were the places where God’s presence resided among God’s people. But Jesus came as God in the flesh, who dwelled among us and revealed the glory of God through His presence.
We continue in the series by taking another step in our consideration of the appearing of God’s grace by building upon the fact that not only has the grace of God arrived, but it came on a mission. We will consider that mission tonight.
Introduction
Introduction
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Charlie Brown was having difficulty making sense of Christmas and really making sense of his life. You and I have been there. Confusion, disappointment, fear… sometimes it’s difficult to make sense of it all while we are in the midst of it. There is a truth however that is declared to Jospeh, that did not make the world and all its problems go away, but it provides us with a clear and redeeming perspective on it all.
What do we know about Joseph?
He shows up in the genealogy of Jesus. He was the grandson, 24 times removed of king David, so he was of royal lineage
He had several encounters with angels (or maybe the same angel each time
He was a carpenter (Matt 13:55)
He had to move a few times: from Bethlehem to Egypt to Nazareth.... all according to God’s plan
He was an ordinary guy to whom extraordinary things happened
I’m sure there are other facts we could mention about Joseph, but I want to mention just one more. Despite his several angelic encounters, being the husband to the woman who gave birth to the Messiah and the Messiah’s earthly dad, Joseph is more relatable than we might assume. Joseph contended with something that you and I face regularly. Fear. We’re going to see this evening together that Jospeh was afraid, and his fear was connected to the role God was calling him to play in His plan of salvation. This night of Joseph’s life that we will consider was perhaps the most terrifying night of his life, but it was also a night of salvation.
There are many reasons why we contend with fear, and we won’t be able to think through all of them tonight, but I do think as we consider Jospeh’s fear, we will find his fear familiar.
Joseph was fearful
Joseph was fearful
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 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.”
The context of Joseph’s fear: betrothal (18)
binding - they are legally married but not living together
v. 19 makes clear that Joseph was in fact Mary’s husband
But as we see in v. 18, Mary became pregnant during their betrothal.
I’m sure the laws in Deut 22 that outline what should happen when a betrothed woman became pregnant was in Jospeh’s mind, but Joseph lived in a territory occupied by Rome, so those laws most likely would not be enforced.
Bottom line, Mary, a betrothed woman, was pregnant, not by whom she was betrothed and apparently not against her will.
And Jospeh is described in v. 19 as a just man. In other words, he was a man who was concerned to please God, and he was in a situation that was difficult to discern what pleasing God looked like. You see:
The cause of Joseph’s fear was, at least in part, the backlash he and Mary would receive as a result of her pregnancy (19-20)
Now mixed in with all of this confusion and concern to please God, it’s possible that Joseph was contending with some unbelief
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Now, I think Mary would have told Joseph about this experience. What did Joseph think about all of this. To be fair to Joseph, he may have believed her, but when it became real and the potential consequences became real, perhaps he struggled to bring what Mary had told him about her experience and what was now staring him in the face together.
And there was of course the unbelief of others as well. I’m sure Joseph was well aware of not only how people would respond to Mary’s pregnancy, but to their explanation that the child is from the Holy Spirit, and this child is the Messiah.
You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”
This is Jesus interacting with the Pharisees, and the Pharisees reveal what they believe about Jesus’ birth. We, unlike you, were not born of sexual immorality. They didn’t believe that He was Messiah, they didn’t believe in the virgin birth. They believed Jesus was an illegitimate child.
But I don’t want us to loose sight of how Joseph is described here in v. 19: a just man. A righteous man. A man concerned about pleasing God. What did it look like to please God in this situation? It wasn’t clear to him, so he was confused and became fearful. He was uncertain.
But what’s interesting here is that there was a relatively painless solution to this situation. Divorce. A certificate of divorce. All Joseph needed was 2 witnesses, and he could divorce Mary quietly. He didn’t want to humiliate Mary. He didn’t want to drag this out.
But notice what v. 20 says: as he considered these things. Why was he still thinking about all this? He could have divorced her. He was contending with uncertainty. His own bout with unbelief, the backlash of the public, the reputations of the 2 families, Mary’s future, His future, and also the way of righteousness in all of this.
But as Jospeh considered all of this, an angel appeared to him in a dream and announced
The cure for fear (21)
What is the cure for the fear that Jospeh and Mary were experiencing?
What’s the cure for unbelief? What the cure for the fear of man? What’s the cure for confusion over what is right and wrong?
You and I have difficulty understanding the truth, believing the truth and embracing the truth by faith. What’s answers this?
What’s the cure for sin?
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
I want us to see the display of God’s grace to Joseph here. You shall call His name Jesus. In this culture, who named children? Fathers. No, Jospeh was not the biological father of Jesus, but by the grace of God, this angel is telling Joseph to become the father to this Christ child.
And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called.
But it’s the last part of v. 21, where the cure for sin is announced. you shall call His name Jesus for He will save His people from their sins.
Jesus means savior. What was transpiring here is the fulfillment of prophecy
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
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 is it! Messiah is coming, and He is coming on a mission to save His people from their sin. Jesus Himself is the grace of God, and He brought salvation. The grace of God went from being anticipated to being acted.
And so friends, we are not naive to the many concerns that exist in our lives, and that somehow during this time of year their impact on us is suspended. In fact we may feel as if they are intensified. We all contend with fear. Fear from uncertainty, fear from the unknown, fear because of threat, but remember what was declared when the glory of God appeared to those shepherds we often think about this time of year:
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Our Savior has been born, He has lived a sinless life. He was never confused or controlled by fear. His mission was always clear, and He completed His mission. He saved His people form their sin. You may not make the connection between your sin and your troubles. Your financial frustrations, marital conflicts, internal battles and all the rest of it stem from sin somewhere. We contend with sin. Just know, Jesus saved His people from their sin. He is the Savior that has been born.
What we need to know however is that God’s plan of redemption is not finished. So while the means of redemption is complete: Jesus, as the perfect, sinless sacrifice, substituted Himself on the cross to the pay the penalty of His people’s sin, dying in their place but rising again displaying His victory over sin and death and ascending to heaven to reign as the king of kings and Lord of lords, the unfolding of His plan in peoples lives is not finished. Praise God, it is not finished.
And so I plead with us all tonight, have you bee forgiven of your sins through Christ? Have you encountered the grace of God? Have you been saved from your sins?
Here’s the reality:
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
No amount of introspection or time spent laboring to figure your life out or attempting to get everyone else in your life to cooperate with your expectations is going to bring about the peace that we want. Salvation in no one else. No other name under heaven given by which we must be saved.
It’s grace. It’s Jesus. He brings salvation. The grace of God has been acted upon the world, and now we must repent and believe in this Savior. Do this tonight!