Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

The Bible says in...

That is a quotation from Isaiah 7:14 and Isaiah 8:8.

In this passage, Jesus is called “Immanuel” which means “God with us”

This is not the only title for Jesus

There are over 200 names and titles given in the Bible for Jesus

Some identify His nature, others identify His position in the Trinity while others identify His works

For example He is called:

Chief Cornerstone (Eph.2:20)

Firstborn over all creation (Col.1:15)

Head of the Church (Eph.1:22)

Holy and Righteous One (Acts 3:14)

Judge (Acts 10:42)

King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim.6:15)

Light of the world (Jn.8:12)

Prince of peace (Isa.9:6)

Son of God (Lk.1:35)

Son of man (Jn.5:27)

Word (Jn.1:1)

Word of Life (1 Jn.1:1)

These title talk about His nature

There are other titles that talk about His position in the Trinity:

He is called:

Alpha and Omega (Rev.1:8)

I AM (Jn.8:58)

Lord of all (Acts 10:36)

True God (1 Jn.5:20)

Other titles talk about His work on earth:

Author and Perfecter of our Faith (Heb.12:2)

Bread of Life (Jn.6:35)

Deliverer (Rom.11:36)

Good Shepherd (Jn.10:11)

High Priest (Heb.2:17)

Lamb of God (Jn.1:29)

Mediator (1 Tim.2:5)

Rock (1 Cor.10:4)

Resurrection and Life (Jn.11:25)

Savior (Mat.1:21)

True Vine (Jn.15:1)

Way, Truth, and Life (Jn.14:6)

All of these titles tell us who Jesus is

As Matthew 1:23 clearly states, He is “Immanuel, God with us”

All of these titles point to Jesus being God in the flesh

In John 1:1 He is called...

John 1:1 (NASB95)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Herbert Lockyer says, “Language has no meaning if these four words do not clearly teach that Christ is very God of very God.”

This is John’s theme—Jesus is the God-man—God manifest!

John uses the imperfect verb “was” to express the continuous existence of the Word as God.

It could be read, “And the Word was always God.”

This phrase is “perhaps the clearest and most direct declaration for the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ to be found anywhere in Scripture” (MacArthur).

Yet many heretical groups have twisted their meaning to support their false doctrines concerning the nature of Christ.

The Greek word theos (God) is in the anarthrous construction, meaning it is not preceded by the definite article.

“Some argue that it is an indefinite noun and mistranslate the phrase, ‘the Word was divine’...or...the Word was a god.’”

“The absence of the article before theos...does not make it indefinite.

Logos (Word) has the definite article to show that it is the subject of the sentence” (MacArthur).

So it is not “God was the Word” because “the Word,” not “God” is the subject and it would be theologically incorrect since it would equate God with the Word, thus denying that they are two separate persons.

John calls Jesus the Word again in verse 14...

He uses the term a third time in...

These 3 passages with the names and titles just mentioned clearly reveal who Jesus is.

He is “Immanuel, God with us.”

The text I read to you from Matthew 1:23 begins in verse 18.

This text gives us Matthew’s version of the events for the birth of Christ

It begins in verse 18, “Now the birth of Christ was as follows:”

It doesn’t give the angelic visit to Mary

But it does mention two times her being “with child by the Holy Spirit” (vv.18, 20) and states that this occurred “before they came together” (v.18)

The entire text is about Joseph her betrothed husband (vv.18-19) and his response to Mary’s pregnancy

The word “Betrothed” (mnesteuo), is translated “engaged” (Lk.1:27; 2:5)

They were not married but their engagement was as binding as “marriage”

Notice in verse 19 Joseph is called “her husband”

In verse 20, Mary is called Joseph’s “wife”

Betrothals or engagements were common among the Jews and were arranged by the parents

There was commonly an interval of ten or twelve months, among the Jews, between the contract of marriage and the celebration of the nuptials (see Ge. 24:55; Ju. 14:8; De. 20:7).

(Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: Matthew & Mark, ed.

Robert Frew, (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885), 4–5.)

The only way the engagement could be broken was if there was infidelity

But such unfaithfulness was deadly

Verse 19 says that Matthew was a “righteous man”

As such he knew the Law and the punishment for adultery

Joseph loved Mary and did not want to “disgrace her” (v.19)

So he planned to “send her away privately” (v.19)

Lenski says, “Two courses were open to Joseph: the one harsher, to charge Mary with adultery and thus to make her a public example (παραδειγματίσαι), letting such Jewish law as was in force at that time take its course; the other course, far more gentle, was to make use of the lax divorce laws of the Jews and without charging her with any crime give Mary a letter of divorcement, stating the cause in a veiled way or stating none at all.

Joseph resolved on the milder course.”

(R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel, (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 43.As he is considering this, “an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream” (v.20)

Before Joseph took any action, “an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream” (v.20)

Dreams were one of the ways that God communicated to people (Dan.7:1)

Here an angel communicates to Joseph in this way

After Jesus was born, there are two other occasions when an angel communicated with Joseph in a dream (Mat.2:13,

19)

According to Hebrews 1:14 angels are “ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation.”

In verses 20-23 the angel explains Mary’s pregnancy to Joseph in a dream

He first tells him not to “be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (v.20)

Mary had not been with any man and the angel confirms this

She was a virgin (Luke 1:34)

The child conceived in her is “of the Holy Spirit” (v.20)

“of” (ek) is a preposition of causation

Joseph wasn’t given any other explanation

He also didn’t know what the angel Gabriel said to Mary in Luke 1:35

The angel continues in verse 21 tEllington Joseph that Mary “will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

According to verses 24-25 Joseph believed the words of the angel

Going back to verse 21, we hear the purpose of Jesus’ birth, to “save His people from their sins.”