The Child Promised to Joseph

Matthew 1:18–25 NASB95

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” 24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, 25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

Introduction

Problems correspond with practitioners.

Prosperity corresponds with pursuits.

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When the doctor has provided a treatment for the problem and we experience a full recovery, we don’t have any further reason to see the doctor. He’s fixed the problem so we move on to seek prosperity through other pursuits.

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Now suppose we were to join the two categories… Suppose the prosperity we pursue is actually found in the practitioner who treats our problems? I’m afraid at time we see Christ’s coming as a doctor visit. I’m here to have my problem of sin addressed with a certain divine provision and then get on with my life of pursuing prosperity by other means.

In reality the extent of God’s provision doesn’t stop with the problem of sin, it extends to the prosperity and blessing of His fellowship.

God is not merely the Giver, He is the Good.

Main Point

The problem of sin and the need for blessing find their provision in Christ Jesus, Immanuel.

Outline

The Child to come will be God

The Child to come will be savior of men

The Child to come will be God among men

The Child to come will be God.

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As we work through the text this morning, I’d like us to do our best to put ourselves in Joseph’s shoes. What is he thinking? What has he been taught? What is his perspective on Christ’s coming from first hand experience?

When Joseph hear’s those words

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

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What is going through his head?

I’d like to take a moment and look back at how many extraordinary births we see in God’s plan of redemption for His people.

A brief history of extraordinary births

Abraham and Sarah (barren)

Isaac and Rebekah (barren)

Jacob and Rachel (barren) to Joseph

Zorah and Manoah (barren) gave birth to Sampson

Elkanah and Hannah (barren) gave birth to Samuel

silence

Zechariah and Elizabeth (barren) gave birth to John

For all of redemptive history God has been providing the people of Israel w/ men by extraordinary births who would preserve them. We see a judge, prophets, rulers who would be raised up for the good of Israel in some extraordinary way.

As Joseph is hearing the words of the angel, he may recognize the pattern. In the moment I’m sure it was nothing but shock and confusion, but afterwards perhaps the stories he had been told since childhood would have rung in his head. How many great men came from extraordinary births who would do extraordinary things for Israel? And yet, the blatant distinction would bring him to conclude, this is nothing like anything we’ve seen before. A Son born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit! It fits the pattern, and it would reasonable for Joseph to ask himself, “Will He be like those who have gone before? … In that same breath he may have also rightly concluded, “He will be like nothing like those who came before!” No one has ever been born of a virgin! No one has ever been conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Theologians today have talked about these realities of the virgin birth and Christ’s divinity for centuries! We must firmly hold to both of them, and yet they’re miraculous events that are hard to explain. Can you imagine the confusion of this poor carpenter Joseph!

“All I wanted was to marry this upstanding, godly woman. We’ve both been upright and holy. Now she’s pregnant. Everyone is looking at me as if I did something. And now an angel has told me in a dream, that the child to be born is of the Holy Spirit!?!? … and I’m just supposed to marry her like nothing happened. Oh, and we both need to travel to Bethlehem for a census while Mary is pregnant!” .... Have you ever felt like your three year plan was falling apart? Whatever Joseph’s three year plan was: obliterated!

I hope that by seeing these events through the eyes of Joseph as Matthew intends we can perhaps gain a fresh view on what has become familiar. In short, the promise given to Joseph regarding this child to come is unlike anything that the people of God has ever seen before though it fits in a certain ‘extraordinary birth’ category.

This is not merely another priest, prophet, or king to lead Israel for a time and die. This .. is .. God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, coming as a man through birth. Extraordinary simply isn’t sufficient to describe this birth. It is nothing less than miraculous, and it’s absolutely fitting. In the history of Israel, extraordinary births led to extraordinary men doing extraordinary tasks for the people of God. In the coming of Christ, this miraculous birth corresponds with the miraculous work he came to accomplish, a work that no ordinary man no matter how extraordinary could accomplish: the forgiveness of sins through his death and resurrection. This is no less than God coming to accomplish what only God can do.

Now the angel didn’t give Joseph a theology text to explain everything to him, “The doctrine of Christ” -Gabriel

If Joseph has even a glimpse of what this incarnation means, I can imagine there would be a degree of fear at the thought.

God on earth among men is a reality that goes back to the garden of Eden before sin. Adam and Eve were deprived of his presence because of their sin, and there are numerous instances in the story of Israel where the presence of God on Mount Sinai or in the Holy of Holies is a frightful unapproachable glory that kills men who do not respect it, and Joseph though perhaps not fully understanding will indeed hold God, in the person of Christ as a baby, in his unworthy, sinful hands.

Aside from being conceived of the Holy Spirit and being born of the Holy Spirit, the fact that Holy God is going to be in the presence of sinful man demands the question, “How is this possible?” The birth itself is miraculous, but if we recognize Christ for what He is as Holy God, I find it a striking miracle that Joseph and Mary can even be in His presence and hold Him as a baby. The last time a man and a woman enjoyed the presence of Holy God together was in the garden and they were without sin!

During this time of year we see numerous nativity scenes. It’s been encouraging to see how many have been put up in people’s front yards just in my neighborhood. They’re everywhere. We put them on our tree. We have one on our piano. Next time we see that little nativity scene on the tree or in our neighbors yard, let’s not forget the miraculous reality that scene depicts: Two sinners in the presence of holy God.

It sounds so simple and yet if we overlook these two fundamental realities there is no need for the gospel and if there is no need for the gospel, what is there in Christmas to celebrate?

Without a holy God, what is sin and who can save? Without sinful man, there is no need for salvation, and we have deceived ourselves.

At the heart of this promise given to Joseph is the reality that God in Christ will come and walk among you... to save you from your sin.

In recognition of this miracle, the fact that Holy God in human flesh can walk among sinful man, we cannot conclude redemption has been accomplished. The power of sin and death still remain and must be overcome.

Christ came for a purpose, to accomplish something! The angel goes on to tell Joseph the why. What has he come to accomplish? We’ll see His very name and His purpose are united. When Jesus becomes a man He does not come simply to be God among men, but to act in light of His character, to redeem His creation, to pursue fellowship with His image bearers, to restore sinful man to the righteousness necessary to behold His glory, to save us from sin, the burden which keeps us from being in His glorious presence for eternity.

The Child to come will be Savior of men.

“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22

Jesus Christ, being fully God, did not become a man in order to fundamentally address the problems men have with men. He came to fundamentally address the problem we have with God.

There are those who try to interpret the person and purpose of Christ through their own lens of atheism or agnosticism.

1. There are no divine problems only worldly problems.

2. Jesus is recognized as a moral teacher and helpful in addressing our worldly problems.

3. Jesus was a martyr to a worthy movement of upstanding people that grew into Christianity.

There’s a pervasive pride that characterizes this interpretation of the world that says with a certain assurance, “Believe me I know what the problem is with the world and because I know what the problem is, I get to tell the doctor who he is and why he’s here.”

Suppose tomorrow I have a heart attack and I manage to fall down the stairs in the process. After going to the hospital, the cardiologist comes into the room to tell me I’ve had a heart attack, and before he can get a word out I begin to tell him why he’s here and that I just need some extra strength pain killers for my headache from falling down the stairs.

There’s a reason the cardiologist is in the room and it’s not for a headache. Of course the cardiologist would like to address heart attack so I don’t fall down the stairs again, but the cardiologist wants to make sure I don’t die.

When we read the Christmas story, we need to recognize, there’s a reason God is in the room, and it’s not primarily for all the symptoms of sin (sickness, war, or poverty) but rather sin itself. The doctor will address the headache in due time, but the heart attack needs to be addressed first.

Let’s pause for a moment and take this one step further so we can properly differentiate from spiritual symptoms and spiritual illness. If we don’t understand the source of the illness of sin we will completely misunderstand what Jesus came to do.

There’s no shortage of false teaching that promises deliverance from the symptoms and suffering of sin, but never addresses the illness of sin itself. It sounds like good news: “Jesus came to bring an end to war.” That sure sounds good. Suppose all war ceased as a result of Christ’s coming. There would be a degree of comfort and peace in the world and yet, when man stands before God on judgement day and he’s still dead in his sin, what did peace in life accomplish for him accept a more comfortable death? Christ didn’t come to make our transition from this life to eternal death a little more comfortable! He came to resurrect the dead unto eternal life! He came to address sin at its heart so that one day a truly living, redeemed, and glorified people would be able to enjoy his presence entirely free from the illness of sin and all its symptoms.

Without understanding the true nature of sin, it’s impossible to understand what it means to be saved from sin and therein why Jesus came. How then do we need to understand the depth of the illness of sin?

My hope here this morning is not to present here a systematic theology of sin, though it contains some detail, but rather to present the full depth of sin so we can appreciate the wholeness of the salvation offered in Christ.

Sin can be recognized in four categories.

Symptoms

Sinning

State

Standing

(x2)

Symptoms: We’ve addressed this briefly already, but this may be the most visible evidence of sin in the world. All the brokenness and death in the world we experience every day make up the symptoms of sin. Genesis 3 describes the immediate symptoms of the curse of sin, fundamentally the death that follows Adam and Eve’s disobedience. God clearly warned Adam and Eve of the consequence of their disobedience,

Genesis 2:17 (NASB95)

17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

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Following their sin they would forever experience the curse of sin in the difficulty of work, and the pain of childbirth. These are only a few, but I hope the point is clear, addressing symptoms, consequences and curses don’t address sin itself. In the positive, true blessing comes in the form of a cure from sin and not simply greater comfort in the consequences of sin.

Sinning: I want to recognize immediately the distinction between the illness of sin and the act of sinning itself. A major facet of the illness of sin is our sinful behavior, and yet we need to recognize Jesus came to do more than address our behavior. At times I’m afraid Christianity is boiled down into a set of moral principles as a response to an immoral culture. The problem with the sinful world is so much more than sinful behavior, the problem with the sinful world is that they’re dead in their sins.

Romans 8:6 NASB95

6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

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Paul in his letter to the Galatians states clearly

Galatians 3:21 (NASB95)

For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.

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Immoral behavior is a symptom of the illness of sin that is death, and no prescription of good work can save from sin. Therein we must recognize, Christ did not come to save from sin by simply addressing the behavior of sinning with a righteous law. He did indeed do just that, but for the reason that we may recognize the third category of sin.

Our state

Sin is more than a behavioral problem because it is rooted in our nature. Apart from Christ we are in a state of death and loving sin.

Romans 5:12 NASB95

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—

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To be human, a descendant of Adam is to be in a state of sin. Because of that state of death and sin with which we are born we behave in sinful ways and experience the symptoms of sin in the world. We’re very close at this point to recognizing the saving from sin which Jesus came to accomplish, and yet we still have yet to address the problem of guilt and our standing before God. If we are fundamentally transformed in our hearts and we still have a record of guilt before God are we really saved from sin? Jesus certainly came to change us from the heart and deliver us from our sin natures, but he also came to pay our debt for sin that our standing before God would be made right.

Our standing

Romans 6:23 NASB95

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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For even the smallest of sins we bear a curse and the wage of sin against God is death. Apart from Christ all stand condemned as sinners before a holy God. The demand from the very beginning in the garden has been righteousness and nothing less. The smallest sin, the taking of the fruit in disobedience was sufficient to change the standing of Adam and Eve before God from righteous to condemned. The fundamental question to be asked when treating sin is, “How am I forgiven?”

Diminishing the symptoms of sin, altering our sinful behavior, and even being transformed from the heart don’t answer the question, “How am I forgiven?”

This is the heart of our illness. Diagnosis in many ways begins with symptoms, addresses behavior and nature, but if diagnosis doesn’t reach our standing before God then we will miss the cure. We will miss why Jesus came and how He saves us from our sin.

The good news is that the treatment provided in Jesus saves us from the deepest depth of our sin problem.

Jesus came to save His people from their sins, by satisfying the demand for righteousness in his life, dying the death we deserved, and rising from the dead. In Christ and in Christ alone can we be forgiven and justice be satisfied. We talked a few weeks ago about the nature of blessing that is promised in Abraham. That blessing is the forgiveness of sins and justification through faith in Jesus. In looking to Christ, His death, and resurrection in faith saying, “I am a sinner deserving of eternal death, would you take my sin, and graciously grant me the righteousness I do not have.” we are forever saved from sin.

Paul paints the whole picture together in the positive sense.

Romans 8:29–30 NASB95

29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

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God in His sovereignty has called us to repentance and faith in which we are justified and gain a right standing before God. Therein we are conformed to the image of Christ from the heart. Our nature is fundamentally changed in salvation such that our behavior progressively grows into the behavior of Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit. In this justification and sanctification we will one day experience glorification where even all the symptoms of sin: death, war, sickness, pain, and labor will be no more.

At the end of the day God is necessary to address the full depth of sin because only God can make right our standing before Himself through a perfect Son and sacrifice, Jesus Christ. No part of our illness of sin is left untreated should we put our faith in Christ. The glory will come later and symptoms remain for a time, but as Christians we can say, today I am free from sin because I stand before God not with my own righteousness but with the righteousness of Christ.

Invitation?

If you have any question today about your standing before God in asking that question, “How am I forgiven?” I hope you would not hesitate reach out to one of our elders, myself, or one of our members. We would love to talk with you about that further!

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As Christians, having experienced the fullness of Christ’s salvation from sin, where do we now go for prosperity? Are we leaving the doctor’s office to go seek out a prosperity elsewhere, or is there a further prosperity and blessing to be found in Jesus beyond the cure?

The Child to come will be God among men.

22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” 24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, 25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

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Today we don’t often think of names as having much impact on what we do with our lives. In naming our children there is perhaps a kind of prayerful hope that we would grow into men and women which reflect the meaning of their name, but there is no destiny determined in a name. Perhaps the closest thing we know is a family name that at one time in the past determined one’s vocation. There was no question given to kids wondering what they wanted to be when they grow up. They may have answered, “I’m an Erikson, we’re farmers. That’s all we’ve ever done.”

Upon Jesus birth, what he is called is directly connected with His divine purpose and work. There is no question that his desire is to fulfill the meaning of His name and nothing will keep him from it.

The angel gives Joseph another name belonging to this child to come. He will be named Jesus, but he will also be called Immanuel or “God with us.” Now we can look at this name and recognize the very literal sense in which Jesus, God is with us in walking among humanity, but there’s much more to recognize here.

We saw initially that God with us/ God among men presents a cosmic challenge. How is it that a holy God can come and walk among sinful man? Jesus himself states:

John 12:47 (NASB95)

47 “If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

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For a time the sins of men would not know the justice of God that will characterize the presence of Christ at His second coming. Why? Because Christ purposed to save with His coming as a baby, and yet Christ did not intend to come save us from sin and then leave us alone! Saving us from sin was accomplished for the explicit purpose that we would be able to enjoy His presence among us. Sin is the illness which is keeping us from enjoying the abundant life Christ intended for us in abiding in Him. There is no abiding in Christ if we do not have a right standing before God! Having been made right before God by the merits of Christ, we can now enjoy His presence in the Spirit.

Immanuel, God with us, is not merely describing the 33 years of Christ’s life and work on earth. Immanuel, ‘God with us’, describes the very purpose of Christ to redeem us from the beginning. It is the perfect fellowship which Adam and Eve enjoyed before the fall that Christ will restore in coming to save us from our sins.

If I may continue our analogy, we’ve made a grave mistake if we reduce Christ’s coming to a doctor’s visit. He’s done His work, I am free from sin, so I will go about my life, “Thanks Doc!”

Should we go back again to our main gospel question, “Who can be blessed?” We must ultimately say: Those who find their rest and joy in the presence of God. If anyone is to rest and enjoy the presence of God, they must be saved from sin. We can certainly admit with the Psalmist in Psalm 32:1-2

Psalm 32:1–2 (NASB95)

1 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

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As Christians I hope we would not hesitate to thank God, worship Him time and again for the forgiveness we have in Christ, yet I hope we might say with the Psalmist in Psalm 34:8

Psalm 34:8 NASB95

8 O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

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When Christ comes to walk among us, he does not come merely as a peddler providing the goods. He IS the GOOD! The story of God’s redemptive work is simply incomplete if we stop at being saved from sin. Guiltless, righteous and alone is no redemption. We are saved from sin and saved to God.

We’ve looked at this verse recently, but Revelation just paints the picture so clearly.

Revelation 21:3 NASB95

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,

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Three times,

the tabernacle of God is among men

He will dwell among them

God Himself will be among them.

This is the perfect fulfillment of Christ’s salvific work which He came as a child to accomplish. He will be called Immanuel for a reason! In the perfection of glory, free from sin, we will perfectly enjoy God with us.

This Christmas we celebrate His coming as a promised child to walk among us. As often as we look back in celebration, might we look ahead knowing He will bring us to Himself that He may walk among us again. In that day we will know the fullness of blessing, freedom from sin in all its forms and joy of the presence of Christ, our Savior.

Let’s Pray.