Son of God - Matthew 1:18-25

Good morning

It is good to be with all of you

And I have some exciting news that I want to share before we get into the text

We are doing an event next month with the Colson Center for Christian Worldview

How many of you remember listening to Chuck Colson and Breakpoint on the radio?

The Colson Center is a legacy ministry named after Chuck Colson and they exist to equip Christians with the clarity, confidence, and courage to live like Christians in this cultural moment.

And they will be doing an event here with us on January 23rd.

We will have John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center, as well as Katy Faust and Shawn McDowell.

Katy is the founder of Them Before Us, a non-profit that advocates for the rights and protection of children

Shawn is a professor and apologist from Talbot Seminary and has written multiple books, has one of the top podcasts and youtube channels dealing with all kinds of issues related to culture and Christianity

They will all be here to talk in a forum about the need for a new sexual revolution

The sexual revolution of the 20th century effectively shattered America’s understanding of Gods design for human relationships

And we are in desperate need of a return to God’s purposes and design

So this event will be an unpacking of the issues in culture right now and what it looks like to pursue obedience to God’s design as his people

It is a free event that will be hosted here for anyone who wants to attend and it is open to the public, so be sure to register before it fills up

And just a note on registration: Because space is limited, only register if you will attend.

Don’t register and then decide not to attend… That will take a seat from someone who would otherwise attend.

I know and love all of these people and I am very excited to have them here next month and I would love for our church to be well represented.

[TRANSITION - 3:00]

Let’s open our Bibles to Matthew 1

If you have grabbed a Matthew journal, take that out so you can take notes

If you have not grabbed one yet, we still have some and love to give you one.

In this chapter, we've been talking about Jesus as the coming King, specifically seeing him as a son.

Matthew calls him a Son of Abraham, showing that Jesus not only descends from Abraham, but is the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham that he would be a blessing to all of the nations

Matthew calls him a son of David, showing that Jesus not only descends from David, but is the fulfillment of the promise God made to David that he would have a descendent on the throne forever.

Then we saw how Jesus is the son who was promised to those in exile, through whom God would restore and transform the hearts of his people as their brightest hope in the darkest of days.

And this week we will see how this all leads to us seeing Jesus as the Son of God.

I don’t know about you… but there are lots of things in my life where when either I focus in on something, or I'm talking to somebody, and they focus in on something…

And someone, at some point, says the phrase, “You are missing the point.”

This happens all the time in conversations with kids or or in a marriage, or at work.

Someone focuses on the wrong part of the conversation or the issue at hand and you have to say, “It isn’t about that!”

“It’s not about the dishes…”

Right?

It happens with Christmas too

We live in a time where Christmas has become so commercialized and pop culture versions of Christmas emphasize gifts or romance

Our schedule gets filled with all of the things that we think we are supposed to do in the spirit of Christmas

And we end up missing the point of Christmas in the first place!

In fact, I often hear people say something, “That's what Christmas is all about.”

“Giving yourself the gift you always wanted. That’s what Christmas is all about.”

No it isn’t!

How do you get to the point where you believe that is what Christmas is all about?

[Hook] It’s that you lose sight of the first Christmas and so the reality of Christmas changes.

But what Matthew is going to show us in v. 18-25 in chapter 1 of his gospel, is what happened on the first Christmas and it is enormously important for us to understand it if we are to not miss the point this year

In fact, it is so important that JI Packer wrote this about our passage this morning:

“It is here, in the thing that happened at the first Christmas, that the profoundest and most unfathomable depths of Christian truth lie”

This passage contains some of the most foundational and essential truths for the Christian faith and it is what Christmas is all about

So let’s give this text in God’s word our full attention so that we don’t miss the point of Christmas this year.

Matthew 1:18–25 ESV

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.” 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 Immanuel” (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.

These are God’s words for us

Big idea: The divine arrival of King Jesus is fitting as the Son of God [9:00]

The point of Christmas is that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, became like us to save us and reign as king.

Matthew has told us what the coming King would be like as a son of Abraham and a son of David, the son promised to those in exile.

But now what he's going to do is he's going to show us that the way that Jesus shows up on scene tells us something about who he is as the Son of God

Notice in verse 18, he says, “Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.”

So what he's going to do in this passage is tell us the details about the birth of Jesus that we need to know to have the right view of him as the divine king who is the Son of God.

[OUTLINE QUESTION] What about Jesus’ arrival is fitting for the Son of God?

How does his arrival prove that he is the divine son of God

We are going to see 5 things that accompany Jesus that support the claim that he is the Son of God

And when we see them all, we should conclude with Matthew that King Jesus is the Son of God.

The Son of God arrives with:

A fitting father to raise him: Joseph (1:18-19) [11:00]

Joseph was specifically chosen to be the adoptive, earthly father to Jesus.

We have to remember: Jesus would be born just like us, as a baby, and Luke tells us that he would grow in “wisdom, stature, and favor with God and men.”

Jesus, becoming like us in every way, would GROW and would need to be stewarded in his youth by a father.

And what we will see in these verses is that God’s choice of Joseph as the earthly father to Jesus was fitting for the Son of God.

Notice first, the circumstances.

Matthew gives us a few very important details that we need to do the work of understanding in order to appreciate the gravity of the situation.

He tells us that Jesus mother, Mary, had been betrothed to Joseph.

In the first century, a betrothal was a lot like an engagement but with much stronger legal implications

Essentially, you were legally together when you were betrothed, you just had not consummated the marriage yet.

And if you wanted to break a betrothal, it required a legal divorce.

But even though you were legally married in a sense, any sexual activity counted as fornication.

So Joseph and Mary have not yet come together as husband and wife, though they are moving very intentionally in that direction.

And she is pregnant.

Now if the sentence ended there, this would just be another small town scandal.

However, those last four words of verse 18 change everything

And Matthew is letting the reader know right away, before you can jump to conclusions…

That this is not a scandalous, adulterous conception of a baby outside of wedlock.

This is a miraculous conception of a baby from someone who has never been with a man

But in v. 19, Joseph, her husband, doesn’t know that yet.

He thinks she has been unfaithful.

And in the first century, Jewish law required that he not only divorce her but publicly shame her for her unfaithfulness.

So Joseph is in a dilemma.

But in v. 19 we see why it is that he is a fitting earthly father for the son of God.

We are told, “Being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame resolved to divorce her quietly.”

He is called a just man - He cares about what is right before God. Adultery is abhorrent to God and so Joseph does not pretend like it didn’t happen.

He resolves to end the betrothal because that is the right thing to do.

Not because he is angry, but because he is motivated by a zeal for God’s commands

But he loves Mary and even though the expectation at the time was that he should publicly shame her, he won’t do it.

And in these two facts, we see that Joseph embodies love for God and love for his neighbor.

Joseph is not cold toward Mary in the name of love for God

Neither is he permissive of sin in the name of love for neighbor

He loves God and seeks righteousness, but it is that same love for God that compels him to love Mary by not shaming her.

Joseph is shown to us in verse 19 as being the embodiment of the two greatest commands that Jesus will teach about just a few chapters later

Love God

Love your neighbor as yourself

And so he will be a fitting earthly father to steward Jesus in his youth.

And this should be instructed for us today: Even Jesus was not above having an earthly father who steward his heart in his youth, reinforcing love for God and love for neighbor

And if Jesus was not above that then our children are not above that either

It is essential for us as a church family to have our loves in the right order

It is especially essential for the dads i our church to have their loves in the right order

You have heard me say and will continue to hear me say that as go the men of the local church, so goes the local church

And we are no different.

We need husbands and fathers who love God first and from that love of God love their families well.

We also need wives and mothers who love God first and from that love of God love their families well

When we get these loves out of order, we love no one

When I claim to love people and so I ignore God’s commands, I permit sin and love no one

When I claim to love God and so I am harsh and legalistic toward people, I trample on people’s hearts and love no one

To truly love in the biblical sense, we must have them in the right order

Love God with all our heart, soul, and might and from that love of God, love our neighbors.

And Joseph has his loves in order: He loves God as a just man, but also loves Mary

And God chose Joseph to be a fitting earthly father for the Son of God.

But remember, Joseph doesn’t know this is a miracle yet, he thinks this was the result of sin, which leads to the second point:

The Son of God arrives with:

A fitting messenger to announce him: An Angel (1:20) [17:00]

Verse 20 reveals this pivotal moment because Joseph finds out what is really going on:

Matthew 1:20 “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.”

Angels often provoke misunderstanding. Some overemphasize them, becoming infatuated, while others overlook their significance entirely.

Yet, Scripture shows us what they are and what their purpose is:

Angels are spiritual beings created by God to glorify Him and carry out His will. They are fundamentally different from humans, never having lived as people (Angels are people who died and got wings)

They are messengers of God’s word, defenders of God’s purposes, and ministers to God’s people.

But they are not physical, therefore they are often invisible.

Angelic activity happens constantly throughout existence without us being aware of it

However, there are times throughout Scripture in which angels become visible to validate that God is doing something significant.

For example, the angel that came to Joseph to let him know that God was with them in the battle of Jericho

The Angel in Daniel who shuts the mouth of the lion in the lion’s den and another angel who delivers a prophetic message

Throughout your Bible, angels show up specifically at times when God’s people need to know that God is doing something unexpected or unheard of.

This angel, chosen by God, serves as a divine herald, delivering a message that confirms the miraculous and holy nature of Jesus' conception.

So Joseph is thinking this is a run of the mill adultery that resulted in a pregnancy.

The angel corrects him: This is a miracle, a work of God, and that changes everything.

This message and the angelic messenger who brings it, are fitting for the Son of God because it shows that God will accomplish his purposes, even when biology would say it is impossible.

The angelic messenger shows that this is from heaven

The angelic message is that the child is from God.

This is like nothing anyone has ever heard of up to this point

And it is the only instance of it ever happening since.

So it is fitting that an angel would bring the message.

And it is also fitting that we would be amazed at it.

The familiarity of the virgin birth at Christmas time often causes us to be bored with it

To see it as common

It isn’t - This has happened one time in the history of the world and it changed the entire course of time.

It was so significant that it required an angelic messenger to announce it, otherwise no one would have ever believed it.

This Christmas, let’s not grow bored with the fact that a virgin bore a son

Let’s be reminded that he is the Son of God and that it is fitting that we worship him as such.

Next… The third fitting thing that Jesus arrives with is:

A fitting mission to define him: Salvation (1:21) [20:00]

The angel tells Joseph what to name the boy because they name would define his mission in the world.

Look at v. 21

Matthew 1:21 “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.””

Names have a lot more impact than we might realize sometimes.

When we named our kids, we intentionally chose names that carried significant meaning for them

We also chose common spellings so that they wouldn't live the life that their parents have had to live

Abigail's name is Abigail Christina, which means "joy of my father, who is like Christ” Because our prayer for her is that she would be like Christ, which would bring joy to me and to her heavenly father

Caleb's name is Caleb Matthew, Because Caleb in the book of Joshua wasn't like everyone else giving into fear, but he believed in God and obeyed when no one else did - God said, “Because he has a different spirit, he will enter my rest.”

Caleb Matthew means “Faithful gift of God” Because our prayer for him is that he would be a faithful man with a different spirit from the rest of the world

You see in the names that we gave to our kids we were saying something about the lives we wanted them to live

And the name Jesus is actually from the Hebrew word Yeshua which means "God saves”

Now that's probably sounds familiar to you because that is the Hebrew name Joshua which means "God saves”

And at this time, Yeshua was the most common name used among Hebrew sons because the people were living under the rule of other nations and were longing for God to save them

And this calls to mind in the book of Joshua when God's people conquer all the nations in Canaan so that they can take possession of the promised land

And the people of Israel at this time are longing for another savior who would conquer the nations in the promised land and the people could have their land back

But the angel specifically says that that is not how Jesus will conquer

Joshua in the Old Testament conquered nations in the promised land so that the people could enter the land that God had given them

Jesus would conquer sin and death so that we could enter the promised land and rest of the new heavens and new earth

Jesus’ mission is greater than a kingdom of this world

His mission is fitting for the Son of God - He will save his people from their sins.

Every one of us needs to be saved from our sins

And you may be here today believing that you need the problems in your life to go away

What you need most is the penalty and power of sin to be taken away

Jesus Christ, the son of God, came to this earth and lived the perfect life we couldn’t live, he died the death we deserved to die,

BUT he rose from the grave, proving that he conquered sin and death, that he did save his people from their sins

And by confessing your sin to him and trusting in him by faith, you are set free from your sin, made alive in Christ, no longer living as a slave to sin, but instead living as a servant of Christ.

And listen: For all of us who do follow Jesus by Faith, who have had our sins forgiven, we must remember that his mission was to save us from our sin, not give us license to go on sinning.

Jesus saves us from the penalty of sin, yes, but he also saves us from the power of sin.

Yet how often do we tolerate and celebrate the presence of sin in our lives and let it hold power over us?

His name is Jesus - He is defined by his mission to save

So we should take so seriously the sins of our lives and flee from them as we follow Jesus by faith.

Fourth, the Son of God arrives with:

A fitting means to reveal him: Incarnation (1:22-23) [26:00]

To reveal means to make visible or put on display

In theological terms, God has revealed himself in three primary ways:

First is what is called general revelation, where he reveals himself through creation generally.

You can know things about God simply by looking at the world, Paul says in Romans chapter 1

But to know who God is you need the second form of revelation and that is special revelation, what God reveals about himself specifically through his word.

So general revelation tells us what God is like generally by looking around the world

Special revelation tells us what God is specifically by looking in his word

But the third form of revelation is the most personal and visible form of revelation and that is incarnational revelation

We see what God is like through Jesus Christ as God incarnate - God who became man

Paul says in Colossians that Jesus is the image of the invisible God

Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the exact imprint of the father's nature

Phillip asked Jesus in the gospel of John to just show them the father and they would be satisfied and Jesus responded saying “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”

And Jesus as God incarnate is the most fitting revelation for him as the Son of God

Matthew says in verse 22 all of this that being everything from verse 18 through verse 21, the miraculous conception of Jesus by a virgin, the angel appearing to Joseph, the command to name the child Jesus… All of it was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

Matthew 1:23 “‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).”

And the context of this prophecy is Isaiah 7 where Isaiah is speaking to King Ahaz.

King Ahaz is fearful of invasion and is considering forming an alliance with the Assyrian empire so that the Assyrians would come bail out Judah if they got invaded

And Isaiah confronts the king and says “You don't need to do that. You have God on your side.”

And Isaiah tells the king “Ask for any sign as proof that God is with you and it'll happen.”

Name the sign and God will do it to prove to you that he is with you.

And king Ahaz says that he doesn't want to sign because he doesn't want to put God to the test and so Isaiah says “Fine I'll give you a sign:

A young girl will have a child and they will name him Emmanuel.

And when that child is born that will be a sign to you that God is with you.

Listen: Isaiah was talking about something that was happening in his day with the people in his day

But the way biblical prophecy works is that while it had meaning to the people in Isaiah’s day, it also held a greater, future, Christ-oriented meaning that would be fulfilled much later.

And the prophecy of Isaiah was that a young girl would become pregnant and that the child born would be proof that God was with his people

And Matthew is saying that this child, born of a virgin, would be a greater sign that God is with his people.

The incarnation of Jesus Christ in the virgin birth is the greatest sign in the history of the world that God is with us.

In fact, throughout your Bible, even though people constantly rebel and push God away, he actively, consistently pursues them and shows them that he is with them

And John, in his Gospel, calls Jesus “the word became flesh and dwell among us”

God is a God who will be with his people

He will not let them be alone

And this arrival of the Son of God is a fitting means to reveal him to us - God taking on flesh to be with his people.

It is the ultimate sign that God is with us

He became one of us, lived for us, died for us, rose for us, intercedes for us

And listen: There is coming a day when Jesus will return and we will hear the words…

Revelation 21:3–4 “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””

If you are hear today and you are wondering where God is…

If you are here today and you are wondering if God cares…

Let the fact that he left heaven’s throne, became like us in every way, be the evidence to you that he has not forgotten you

He is with us and when you trust in him by faith, you can know that he is with you.

He became like you - He understands what it is like to be you - And he won’t leave you. He is sustaining you and is returning for you.

And the final thing that the son of God arrives with

A fitting response to honor him: Obedience (1:24-25) [35:00]

It is worth noting that each time Joseph is mentioned in Matthew’s gospel, in ch. 1-2, Matthew emphasizes Joseph’s immediate and total obedience to the command of God.

Joseph was chosen by God as a fitting earthly father for the son of God

And we see further validation of his love of God in his immediate obedience to the command from the angel

The angel told Joseph three things:

Take Mary as your wife

She is pregnant by the Holy Spirit

Name the baby “Jesus”

And I want you to see how Joseph responds to each of them:

v. 24 - He takes Mary as his wife

v. 25 - By not consummating the marriage through the act of sex until Mary had given birth, Joseph guarded against any possibility of the child being his biological son.

Obedience doesn’t just mean doing the right thing - It also means not doing anything that would get in the way of the right thing.

Joseph had every marital right to engage in intimacy with his wife when he took her as his wife

But because the child had been conceived by the Holy Spirit, Joseph waited to consummate the marriage until after the child was born so that no one could ever say that maybe Jesus wasn’t who he claimed to be.

v. 25 - He names the boy “Jesus” as he was commanded.

By naming Jesus, Joseph was doing the culturally appropriate action of taking Jesus as his own son through adoption.

It was the giving of a name to an adopted son that made that son yours even when he was not your biological son.

And Joseph naming the boy Jesus shows his obedience at the word of the angel and his obedience to the call of God on his life

And let's just consider what Joseph was signing up for.

Everyone knew that Mary was pregnant before they got married.

Everyone knew that Joseph didn't publicly shame her.

Joseph was signing up for a life of people thinking the wrong thing about him, his wife, and his adopted son Jesus.

And he obeyed.

A fitting response to honor the Son of God.

Obedience is the response of the person who sees Jesus as king.

So let me just ask you: Where in your life is obedience lacking? And what would obedience look like as a fitting response to honor Jesus?

This narrative is not first and foremost about Joseph, it is about Jesus

But it is Joseph’s obedience that shows what it looks like to honor Jesus.

And it is our obedience that honors him in our lives as well .

[Conclusion]

Jesus arrival was divine and its was fitting for him as the son of God

A fitting father

A fitting messenger

A fitting mission

A fitting means

And a fitting response.

May we rejoice at his coming, look forward to his second coming, and live obediently as we wait.