Advent Through Their Eyes - Joseph

Welcome & Announcements: Daniel

1. Looking Back Service - This service will include two different longer testimonies, and a sharing time at the closing of the service to celebrate all God has done in this past year. 2. Sunday School - Slated to begin January 9th after a brief training time. 3. Small Groups - Slated to start meeting on January 13th, we will be meeting at Daniel & Lynette's new house (aka Jared & Chrystal's old house).

Call to Worship in Song: Go Tell It On The Mountain, Silent Night Scripture Reading: Old Testament Text: Job 9:25-35 New Testament Text: Hebrews 4:14-16 Offering & Pastoral Prayer: Daniel

Adoration

Faithfulness

Peace

Clarity

Confession

Our hearts being troubled by many things

Thanksgiving

Norman & Kaye

Supplication

Bob Mallow

First Baptist Church in Keyser

The Offering

Continue to Worship in Song: What Child Is This?, How Many Kings

Matthew 1:18–25 ESV

18 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. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 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. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Prayer

Today we finish up our series on Advent Through Their Eyes.

We will be examining the incarnation through the eyes of Joseph.

Before we dive in and examine this story from his perspective, I think there is an important question to ask and begin to answer.

Why do our hearts so desperately long for peace?

Think about it for a minute, we see people everywhere longing and hungering for peace.

This is the reason our hearts are so obsessed with taking vacations and weekends.

We desire to have “rest”.

Not only do we see a desire for rest in our everyday lives.

We desire to see it in the world around us.

Example of a Hunger for Peace

Several years ago...

The Cincinnati Post, a large metropolitan daily, in keeping with the spirit of Christmas, presented a front page free of crime and violence, “a crime-less front page.”

By way of explanation the editors told that all news, bad as well as good needs reporting.

That day of days they decided to put all the murders and robberies and the like on the back pages.

Crime, they insisted, has a lawful place in the daily record of human affairs, but it should not be out of proportion.

On Christmas day, they felt, one should not be greeted with the wicked and the lack of good will on the first page.

Instead, they greeted readers with a large banner line: MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Now don’t get me wrong, I understand why this newspaper company decided to do this.

They wanted to show that Christmas is a time of peace.

Why would a paper do this?

It really seems illogical.

Unless, in each of us there is a hunger for rest and peace which is unquenchable.

Like flames that consume straw and stubble, so our hearts burn with a desire for peace.

Example of Adam and Eve in the Garden

But is there a way to find true peace?

Yes.

But we will never find it according to our own ways.

God with Us: The Peace You Have Been Waiting For

Matthew 1:18 ESV

18 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.

We talked about it last week but just to review, betrothal was the process of becoming married in the first century.

It was similar to engagement but significantly more serious and required divorce to be severed.

It was a period of being sexually chaste and not living together, but the commitment was made.

It was during this betrothal process that Joseph discovers that Mary is with child.

Just imagine what this would have done to Joseph to realize his bride was with child?

Gut-wrenching betrayal.

Confusion.

Broken trust.

The text goes on to describe Joseph…

Matthew 1:19 ESV

19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Now Joseph had a couple of choices.

Since he was a righteous man, he couldn’t just go through with the marriage because everyone would assume that he was the cause of the pregnancy.

He would have been looked down on by society at large.

And besides, how could he ever trust Mary again?

Joseph had every right with the law behind him to expose Mary and shame her publicly.

This DID NOT mean that he was forced to divorce her because of the law.

The law allowed for an OPTION of divorce if the spouse did not desire to continue in marriage.

But since he was a righteous man, he didn’t want to expose her publicly.

He had resolved in his mind to divorce her discreetly.

He was a just man and did not want to shame her and cause even greater pain.

Matthew 1:20 (ESV)

20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream,

We have seen it before, and we see again the supernatural origin of the foretelling of Jesus’ birth.

An angel comes to Joseph in a dream to explain why he should take Mary to be his wife.

Matthew 1:20 ESV

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.

The angel tells Joseph that this son which Mary is bearing IS NOT an illegitimate child.

The child has been conceived through a miraculous conception of the Holy Spirit.

Joseph is a recipient of amazing news.

This young girl that he was preparing to marry has conceived and it is from the Holy Spirit.

And like the sound of joy from nearby caroling, the words of the angel in this dream hit Joseph.

God with Us: The Peace You Have Been Waiting For

The peace you have been longing for.

The peace you have been hoping for.

God with Us: The Peace of His Presence

It means that Jesus Christ fully God and fully man in one person.

The virgin birth allowed for the bringing together; full deity and full humanity in one person.

Which is why He is called: God with Us.

Hypothetical Situation (Two Un-Biblical Views)

If Jesus would have just floated down out of heaven, and fluttered down to earth and died for our sins.

That would NOT be good news for us.

It WOULD NOT have been good news because He would not have been MADE LIKE US in every way.

If Jesus would merely had two earthly parents and been completely human.

That would NOT be good news for us.

It WOULD NOT have been good news because He would have been exactly like us, and there would be no divine origin.

Truly God and truly Man at the exact same time.

“That seems like an important theological statement, but what does that have to do with me?”

It has EVERYTHING to do with us.

The virgin birth makes it possible for Christ’s true humanity to be without inherited sin.

The purity of Christ means that He does not inherit sin because He is conceived by the Holy Spirit.

If Jesus was born of a “natural” conception, He would be NO different from you and I.

Wayne Grudem

“Jesus did not descend from Adam in exactly the same way in which every other human being has descended from Adam. And this helps us to understand why the legal guilt and moral corruption that belongs to all other human beings did not belong to Christ.”

Christian, what does this mean for you?

Hebrews 4:14–16 ESV

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

This means that we CAN approach Him!

We don’t have a God who is far off and removed from us, but ONE who in every way has been tempted as we are and is without sin.

Brothers and sisters, this means that we can come with confidence to the throne of grace to receive mercy when we need help!

Matthew goes on recording what the angel tells Joseph in the dream and says...

Matthew 1:20–21 (ESV)

“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.

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

The angel is telling Joseph that he is to adopt Jesus to be his legal and rightful son.

Jesus will not be a child by physical descent, rather he will be Joseph’s son in the same way an adopted child would be.

Matthew 1:22–23 ESV

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

God with Us: The Peace of Promises Kept

Matthew records that this event was prophesied and has now been fulfilled!

God with Us: The Peace of Promises Kept

Not just promises kept, but promises fulfilled.

Promises made and now being realized.

Why is “God with Us” the solution to unrest?

If you have been reading your Bible, you remember that in the garden the thing which was lost between God and man was relationship.

When man disobeyed, he severed his relationship with God.

This loss of relationship has brought hostility between God and man.

As well as between mankind with one another.

This unrest/lack of peace is NOT just a feeling, it is a stark reality.

This has left humanity groping in the darkness.

This is where the story of the garden continues on into the present day.

God has been on His mission to restore and redeem His people for His glory.

Though humanity has rejected and abandoned God, He has not abandoned His creation.

This promise that God will one day crush the head of the serpent

Genesis 3:15 (ESV)

“he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

What the reality of “God with Us” shows is that God is faithful to keep His promises that He has made to His people.

Now what we have seen in the coming of Christ is a foretaste of what God is going to accomplish.

It is the inbreaking of a new reality.

It is the inbreaking of the ultimate peace we could imagine.

The same God who comes as a baby in a manger,

The same God who dies on the tree for the sins of His people,

The same God who promises that “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

He is the same God who will one day return and restore and right every wrong.

There is a picture that John paints at the end of Revelation and I want to draw our attention to it.

Revelation 21:3–4 (ESV)

“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.

4 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.”

Do you want to talk about the ultimate Christmas present?

This is the ultimate present!

I want you to imagine every pain and every hurt or everything you have ever suffered...

What this reality of “God with Us” tells us is that God is going to undo all of the wrong that has ever been done.

God with Us: The Peace of Promises Kept

The utter surety that when all the decorations are packed up and this season has ended, that the joy and peace and hope of a better day does not cease.

How does “God with Us” bring peace?

This is an important question because if you read your Old Testament you know that when the presence of God shows up

Or people just walk willy-nilly into His presence, they die.

Take for example Uzzah, when he was transporting the Ark of God which represented God’s presence among the people,

he reached out and touched it to keep it from falling and HE DIED.

SO HOW does “God with Us” bring us peace without destroying us?

The angel says to Joseph in verse 21...

Matthew 1:21 ESV

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

It is in this verse that we find out how “God with Us” is good news and not bad news.

God with Us: The Peace of God

This Immanuel, will be good news to His people because He will save the people from their sins.

Or as the angels said to the shepherds as they welcomed the King of the Universe.

Luke 2:14 ESV

14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

John Piper

Forgiveness is precious because it brings us home to God. Why does anyone want to be forgiven? If the answer is just for psychological relief, or just for escape from hell, or just to have more physical pleasures, then God is not honored.

I find this quote helpful because it highlights what forgiveness is all about.

It IS NOT feeling better about ourselves.

It IS NOT a self-esteem boost.

It IS NOT an escape from hell.

Forgiveness is an amazing reality because it is actually GOD COMING NEAR to wicked and sinful people.

Forgiveness is amazing because it allows “God with Us”

But again, the question is, how does this come about?

The Scriptures give us the answer of how true peace comes to mankind...

Romans 4:24–5:1 (ESV)

It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,

25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

It will be the gospel.

The gospel, Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection; which will bring peace with God.

For the Christian, we don’t have peace with God because you’re a good person.

You don’t have peace with God because you have the right political view.

You don’t have peace with God because you were raised in the right “kind” of family.

YOU HAVE peace with God BY FAITH because of the blood of Jesus shed for sinners.

Maybe you’re not a Christian here today, and you’re wondering, “Do I have peace with God?”

I want to encourage you today if you are not a Christian, to consider what the Scriptures say about you.

The overwhelming testimony of the Scriptures is this: The only way to have peace with God is by the blood of Jesus.

The Story of My Coach Passing Away

The phrase “God with Us” for an unbelieving world is exceedingly BAD NEWS.

It’s bad news because it means that judgment is coming.

Matthew 10:34 ESV

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

What He is meaning is that He has come to bring peace and hope and joy for those who turn from their sins and believe.

But for those who are outside of that, for those who have not received the “good news”, he is bringing judgement.

Matthew 10:39 ESV

39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

I encourage you today to lose your life.

To die to yourself that you may truly experience the peace of God.

Matthew finishes out this story by showing how Joseph responds to the dream...

Matthew 1:24 ESV

24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,

We see Joseph being awoken from his sleep and immediately responds in faith to the message he has just heard.

As we have seen over and over again in this series, through the eyes of those who saw the incarnation “first hand”

That the response of faith is the response of action.

The reformers would say, “We are justified by faith alone, but faith that justifies is never alone.”

It is saying that true faith, real faith, genuine saving faith, always produces fruit.

We have seen it over and again with Mary, Joseph, John the Baptist, the Wise men.

We’ve even seen the opposite in Zechariah, Herod, and the people of Israel.

God with Us: The Peace You Have Been Waiting For

1. The Peace of His Presence

2. The Peace of Promises Kept

3. The Peace of God

Do you know this kind of peace?