All right, if you have your Bibles tonight, the book of Matthew chapter one. Matthew chapter one. I don't know about you, but I enjoyed every bit of that. Amen. Amen. Good job. Miss Sandy, appreciate you taking the time and effort to get everybody together to do all that. I know it's not easy. And I'm glad it's over for you. I know you was worried it might have been a train wreck. Amen. But it was good. Amen. Y'all did a good job. Matthew chapter 21. Matthew, if I could play any instrument, it'd probably be that, just, amen. All right, Matthew chapter one, I wanna pick up tonight, verse 16, Matthew, yes, Brian? What's that? Matthew chapter one, amen, chapter one. Matthew chapter one, look at verse 16. The Bible says in verse 16, and Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations. And from David until the carrying away of Babylon are 14 generations. And from the carrying away of Babylon, unto Christ, or 14 generations. Let me say real quick, just a passing, that did not happen by accident or coincidence, 14 generations. So it's a good study, art to study that. Verse 18, now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. Now, I just want to preach on that thought tonight, Joseph being a just man. I want to talk a little bit tonight about Joseph. He's probably one in the story that doesn't get spoken of very much as the stepfather of Jesus Christ. We'll talk about Mary. the mother of Jesus as well. And I know that my wife had talked to you ladies about Mary, the mother of Jesus, and all that she had gone through in one of your women's classes. And you just think about what Mary had to deal with. It's one thing, let me say this, when you say yes to Jesus, doesn't mean your life's gonna be easy. When you say yes to Jesus Christ in your life, does not mean that you might be not misunderstood or that you might, saying yes to Jesus, you're liable to suffer some things. Saying yes to Jesus means you sacrifice your life for the life he wants you to have. That's what it means, and saying yes to Jesus. Some people think, you know, boy, if you just say yes to Jesus, everything's gonna be wonderful, everything's gonna be easy, everybody's gonna love you, everything's gonna go your way, and you're really not gonna suffer. I mean, you're just gonna have the easiest of all the life there is. I'm telling you, you're very misconstrued as a believer, if that's what you think. Whenever you say yes to Jesus Christ, it means you die to yourself. You die to yourself, and you die to your will, you die to your ways, and you accept the perfect will of God for your life. The perfect will of God for Mary's life. I really want to talk about Joseph tonight, but we'll talk about her in passing. The perfect will of God for her life, as she was such a young lady. That as the Lord looked through the process of time that he found a young lady that he saw that was worthy of him that he would entrust the fact of overshadowing her, put the seed of God in her, and for him out of all the women that could have carried God himself, God incarnate, Christ in God and flesh, is he chose Mary, a young lady. She was probably in her teens whenever she accepted the will of God for her life. I want you to think about this. She was not married to Joseph yet, but she was a spouse to him. They had not come together. They had not joined in holy matrimony yet. And when Gabriel came and spoke to her, told her what was gonna happen, I want you to think about this. She did not stop and say, well, let me go check with my mom and dad, see if the will of God's okay for my life. Let me go check with my future husband. We're not married yet, but my spouse will be married to him. And Gabriel, let me get back with you after a couple days, because I need to go talk to him and see if it's okay for me to accept the will of God for my life. When God talks to you about the will of God for your life, you need to accept it on the basis of God dealing with you about what the will of God is for your life. Here's what I want to tell you. Be real careful. People will reason you out and talk you out of the will of God for your life. Some people. I remember whenever I made the statement and told everybody that I had surrendered to preach in a service, in a service. Pastor Randall's preaching on God needing young men to stand in the gap. We need young men that have surrendered to preach the gospel. And if God calls you, God will equip you. And I mean, he was preaching in a big way and I was up under, I was up under as much conviction about surrendering to the ministry, to the call to preach as I was about it being under conviction about my soul needing to be saved. I mean, I was in my pew trembling. And I came to the altar at the end of the service, knelt on the altar and told God, here I am, I answer your call. And when the service was over, I had a few people that come to me and said, well, you know, you probably should have prayed about that a little bit and made sure that that's what the Lord wanted because You know, I stood up at the end of the service. Pastor Randall stood me up and said, you know, what did God talk to you about? Because he got on the altar next to me and said, what are you down here for? And I was weeping. I said, God's called me to preach. He said, he said, son, get your tail in that Bible college. Study that Bible. Preach every chance God gives you. Give your life to God and let God use you. And that's what happened. I left a puddle of tears on the altar. But I had about three or four people tell me I should have prayed about that a little while. and should have talked about it a little while, made sure that's what God wanted. You know what, I'm glad I didn't do that because somebody might have talked me out of the will of God for my life. They might have scared me to death where I said, well, that's the last thing I want to do is preach. I mean, you ought to see yourselves. It's a tough thing. Amen? It's not always easy. Mary surrendered. I mean, a big thing to be with a child. To be with child, I've never known a man, Lord, how's this thing gonna be? The Holy Ghost has come upon you. The power of the highest, he's gonna overshadow you. That thing inside you is gonna be holy, it's gonna be of God, it's gonna be the son of God. God's gonna put a seed inside your womb. You know what Mary had to realize? Boy, I wonder what people are gonna think, I'm not even married. What are they gonna think? Never let what people think stop you from doing the will of God for your life. Amen? You may be misunderstood. People may not understand it. It may be a hard way. And the will of God's not always easy, because I'm telling you, God has a way of inconveniencing our flesh. He has a way. If you're gonna serve God because you got to always make sure it's convenient, you'll never do the will of God. I have found out the will of God most of the time is not very convenient. And so here Mary is. She surrendered. And Joseph, and finds out she's with child. And I don't know at what point Joseph found out that she was with child. I know that Gabriel had told her that Elizabeth was with child, and Elizabeth is six months along, and Mary goes and spends those three months with, immediately, immediately after this, she goes to Elizabeth, and she stays there three months to the birth of John the Baptist, and she comes back. And I don't know when she came back, she was three, that means Mary was three months with child, conceived of the Holy Ghost, And so when Mary came back, I don't know at that moment, that time, if that's when she had to tell Joseph, look, you need to know something. You need to realize something. That, well, I tell you this, if Jesus is in you, it won't be long, it'll be showing, amen? It'll be showing. And people are gonna realize that Jesus is in you. But she begins to tell Joseph, I'm with child. Now gentlemen, I want you to think about this. This young lady you love, you got all these plans for your life. You're planning on, you're a spouse, you're planning on getting married. Maybe he's building him a house, he's getting everything ready. And then all of a sudden it seemed like in a moment his whole world was shattered as well. Imagine Mary telling you, listen, I've been gone for three months, but I want you to know I'm back, and you need to know something, I'm pregnant. I'm with child. But Joseph, this angel named Gabriel showed up, and he told me, and God overshadowed me, and God put his, see, God, the thing in me is a miraculous thing. I'm still a virgin. Joseph, I'm still a virgin, but yet I'm with child. I mean, imagine having that told to you. I mean, naturally you think, oh yeah, I'd just believe that right away. Well, you're better off than I am. You're better off than Joseph is. Joseph didn't believe it. You know what he did immediately? He thought. The Bible said he was a just man, and he began to reason about this thing. Now, I'm so thankful for the character of Joseph. We can see he's a man of great character. Because if you studied your Bible, Deuteronomy chapter 22, what was supposed to have happened in this situation is Joseph could have brought it You know, to the knowledge of her father, her being in her father's house. They would have taken her out. He wasn't willing to make her a public example. You know what the public example was? According to the law, she was to be taken out and her father had to throw the first stone. She was to be stoned to death. She was to be killed. So you know what Joseph does? Joseph throws his life away. Joseph throws his own. When the Lord speaks, the angel of the Lord speaks to Joseph, he takes Mary, all that could be said, knowing this child in her. The angel of the Lord tells Joseph in a dream, we're going to read it in a second. that don't fear to take Mary your wife unto you, your spouse, take her unto you. That thing inside her is of the Holy Ghost. You know what you'll find about Joseph? Here's what I love about the life of Joseph. There's not a whole lot in the Bible about it. We're gonna look at the little bit that is there. Joseph, without fail, every single time, immediately and quickly responds to what God tells him to do. Now that's important. You and I need to be that kind of believer. that immediately and every single time and immediately respond to what God tells me and you to do. Well, wouldn't we have a great life as a Christian and please God if we would have that kind of character to quickly, immediately do it and every single time do what God tells us to do. So he wasn't going to put her away. He could have made a public example of her and I mean it shows me how much that Joseph loved her. Now listen to me, Joseph was convinced at the beginning that Mary had already been unfaithful. Mary committed fornication. Mary has a child, and he only knows one way a child can come into this world, and yet a super miraculous birth, he had not even thought of or even knew it was possible, and now he's having to think about whether to put her away, how to put her away. He was gonna do it privately. He wasn't gonna make her an open example, but he was minded to do it privately. It shows me really how much he cared about her and how much he loved her. But while he thought on these things, Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. She shall bring forth a son, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which is spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son that shall call his name Immanuel and being interpreted is God with us. Now let me say something to you about Mary real quick. You would naturally think that Mary surrendered to the fact of the will of God to accept the fact of God putting his seed in her womb for the virgin birth of the son of God Jesus Christ. Knowing that what people would think about her know about you, but that's pretty tough. To think you played the harlot, to think you were unfaithful. That's why Jesus, listen to me now, it was supposed that Joseph was his father, but many of the rulers stood in front of Jesus and said, look, we'd be not born of fornication. You know what they were saying? We know what your mama did. We know your mother ended up with child. We know your mother was pregnant with you before her and Joseph ever come together. We're not like you. They accused Jesus of being a product of a fornicating relationship. Now, Mary didn't say, okay, Lord, I will accept that if you vindicate me all across the world and let everybody know that I've been faithful, that I haven't gone and played the harlot. But that isn't what happened. The Lord didn't go around vindicating her. The Lord didn't put it in the sky. The Lord didn't speak to everybody in a dream that thought Mary had done such a thing. I'm telling you, friend, sometime when you're serving God and you're doing the will of God, people may accuse you. People may think horrible things about you. I don't know about y'all. I mean, how many of you, since you got saved, family members have misunderstood you and said things about your character that is not so? It's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. So here Joseph is. He doesn't put her away. He's a just man. Gentlemen, you and I, we need to be just men just like Joseph was. And so the Bible says, and then Joseph Let me read verse 23. Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son that shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. And Joseph being raised from sleep, look at this, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife. Look at verse 25. And knew her not. till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. Now he named him because the angel had told Mary that his name would be Jesus. He also told Joseph his name was going to be Jesus. And you see what Joseph did, he named him exactly what God said name him. He named him Jesus. But I've read over this so many times over the years, and we just take it for granted. Here he is, think about this, a young married couple, just gotten married, they've been a spouse, they come together. You know what brought them together? Jesus brought them together. Jesus can separate you, and if you're not wanting to do the will of God, one person wants to do the will of God, the other person not wanting to do the will of God, I'm gonna tell you what'll happen, Jesus will divide you. But you know what brought them together? They come together on the basis of Jesus Christ, and they had unity. And Joseph forfeited, and they forfeited the pleasure that's in marriage, the honeymoon, the thing that you're waiting for when you get married, that time of that physical companionship coming together. But you know what he did for six months? He didn't know his wife, took her and married for six months, and he knew her not. I tell you what, Joseph was a man who was willing to sacrifice himself, sacrifice the norm for the will of God in his life. You and I need to be willing to do the same. Sacrifice. If you're going to serve the Lord and do the will of God, it's going to take some things on your part willing to sacrifice. That really is the greatest struggle in the Christian life. willing to lay aside your will, lay aside your pleasures, lay aside what you want for your life, doing the will of God is gonna cause, listen, it's gonna cause some sacrifice on your part. That's why a lot of people don't end up living in the will of God for life, because it is a life of sacrifice. It's having to die to yourself. having to die to yourself to live unto God. You'll never mount to much of anything as a Christian unless you're willing to die to yourself for God's will to be done in your life. You need to grab that. Most Christians live their lives for themselves. They fit Jesus in when it's convenient. They'll fit Jesus in if it's absolutely convenient in their life and it just seems to work out and their life they're the center of their life and Jesus kind of gets fit in the slots where it's convenient and available. I'm telling you Jesus needs to be the center and you need to center your life around him. And if just in case you could do some things that you want to do and it falls into the will of God just thank the Lord for it. But serving God is going to be a life of sacrifice. God is going to call on you to sacrifice some things so that Jesus can be made big in your life. I want you to see I want you to see in Matthew chapter two, if you'll look in verse 11, you know, the story about the wise man seeing a star and they're coming to see Jesus. They show up in verse 11. And when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. Now you need to understand many times you see the wise man, uh, you know, with these manger scenes, a wise man come to the manger. The wise man didn't come to the birth of Jesus, just in case you didn't know that. They came to the house that they were living in, and Jesus was about two years old. The Bible tells us he was about two years old, if you study this. He was about two years old when those wise men showed up, and they fell down, and they bowed down and worshipped him. That ought to let you know that Jesus is more than a man. These wise men worshipped a two-year-old little boy. You know what the shepherds did? They also worshipped. They worshipped a baby. Pretty amazing, think about looking upon the, they were just singing Analisia and Rihanna and Katy just singing that song and it was, man, what a beautiful song, amen. Talk about Jesus taking his first steps. We don't think about that a lot. Imagine here's God himself. It isn't like he was a baby and just jumped up and started running all over and walking. No, he had to learn how to walk and think about God himself learning how to take those first steps. You don't talk about God putting himself in such a vulnerable situation. I'm gonna tell you, friend, that has to be love. That is the height of the love of God. Jesus had to learn to take his first steps, but here he is, he's two years old, he's in the house. These wise men show up and they worship him. They had opened their treasures and I presented unto him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. Now the Bible tells us that Mary was there. And Jesus was there. The Bible doesn't say anything about Joseph being there. You say, why in the world was not Joseph there when the angel showed up? He was probably doing what every good man has to do, work. The Bible said Joseph was a carpenter. It doesn't mention the fact that he was there when the wise men showed up. It just said Jesus was there. It says Mary was there. And the wise men worship him and they give him gifts. And then look at verse 12. And being warned of God in a dream. Again, God speaking to Joseph. That they should not return to Herod. Excuse me, these, not Joseph, but these are the wise men, being warned of God in a dream, they should not return to Herod. They departed into their own country another way, and when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt and be thou there until I bring thee word, for Herod shall seek the young child to destroy him. And he arose and took the young child and his mother, by night and departed into Egypt. See what Joseph did again? Immediately doing the will of God. He didn't wait till the next morning. He didn't wait till it was convenient. It's gonna be a whole lot easier to travel during the daytime. We could spend all night preparing, getting everything prepared for the journey. We can make sure it's just right. No, Joseph said, wait a minute, Herod wants to kill the child. You said for me to go into Egypt. Now let me say this. I doubt Joseph had ever gone to Egypt. That's not just places Jews go to. That's where they left. Go into Egypt, Joseph gets up. You know what, Jeet, now let me tell you what, you know what the presence of Jesus Christ has done in Joseph's life so far? Inconvenience to him time after time after time after time. They're in a house. He's two years old. Their life is settled. Everything probably seems to be wonderful. He's starting a business and they're just getting a starting line. And here they are, and in the middle of the night, get up, go to Jesus, go to Egypt. Herod wants to kill him. You stay there. How long won't you just stay there and I give you word? Yes, sir. Get up. Mary, Mary, Mary, God just spoke to me. Herod wants to kill the child. Here the king wants to kill him. God told me in a dream, let's go to Egypt. You know what she did? She didn't say, are you sure you didn't eat too much pizza last night? You know what she did? She got up, listened to her husband. God spoke to her through her husband. See, God spoke to Mary on the matter of what God was doing in Mary's life. Then God spoke to Joseph to bring her together. When they came together, can I tell you what happened? God spoke to Joseph about the leadership in the home. Some of you ladies need to get a hold of that one. Well, I'll get one or two amens, I figured. Amen. It may not be popular, but it's right. Check it with the Bible, it's right. You know what most men have to do? They have to run it through her to make sure it is the will of God. That's what we're gonna do. You think that's the will of God? Yeah, yeah, I think that, okay, it's the will of God. Joseph, God said, get into Egypt. Head into Egypt. He got up immediately. I'm gonna tell you this, we need to get rid of that slowness of heart. to do what God tells us to do. God, the presence of Jesus has done nothing, but can I tell you this, listen now, gold, what a precious substance, I'm sure they were poor. Man, they had to travel, if you know anything, when she was great with child, they traveled Jerusalem the city of David to be taxed paying those taxes and there's no room for him and he was born inside of a late late in a manger there's no room for them in the end and all of this traveling and hardship and he's not able to work during all this time and now he's finally got a house and everything but can I tell you where God guides God will provide I believe that The very night, the very night they're getting... He has no idea he's fixing to travel going to Egypt. If you'd have told him that ahead of time, he's like, how can we afford that? There's no way. But that very day before, some wise men showed up seeking Jesus. By the way, wise men still seeking. Showed up rolling gold, frankincense, everything they would need to make the journey. Now think about it, the unknown. Going to Egypt, where are we gonna live? Just get to Egypt, you'll figure it out. I've already provided. There's gold there, there's enough money. When you get there, just go into Egypt. And I'm gonna tell you, you know what's wonderful? It is wonderful. It takes the stress out of life. I'm not saying do the will of God is easy, but when you submit to it, there's something you just say, look, God said do it. He'll take care of the details. Don't have to worry about how we're gonna afford it. God said do it. I don't know where we're gonna find a house. I've never even been in Egypt. I don't even know what neighborhood to look in. I don't even know it's a good side of town. Just go to Egypt. If God said go, He'll take care of it. He'll take care of it. Joseph was that kind of... that man just quickly and willingly did what God spoke to him about and he's willing to do it. So he rose and took the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt and Be there until I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. And when he arose, took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which is spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. It had a dual prophecy, one bringing Israel, the nation of Israel, his son, out of Egypt. But the other prophecy of that Jesus would be in Egypt, not only because his life was being sought after Herod, but that prophecy was fulfilled whenever they left Egypt, that my son come out of Egypt. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wrath and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and all the coasts thereof from two years old and under according to the time which a diligent required of the wise men. What a horrible, horrible event took place. Look, every young child, two years old and under, was slaughtered by King Herod. And the Bible talks about, and it was prophesied, it was prophesied in the book of Jeremiah about this weeping and this event. Look at verse 19. When Herod was dead, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. You know what the Bible, you know why it says he appeared to him in a dream in Egypt? It's given small little details. Joseph did exactly what he was told to do. Your King James Bible doesn't put just filler words in. When he said he spoke to him in a dream in Egypt, God's wanting you to know something about the man. He did exactly what God told him to do. He's in Egypt. It wasn't like going to the promised land, friend. You're a Jew. You're going into Egypt. The last time they left Egypt, everybody was trying to kill him when Israel came out. They were in bondage all those years. And so the angel said, arise, take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel for they are dead. You say, why'd the Lord have to tell him that? Men have to be told specifically what to do. He might've left Mary behind. Take the child and his mother, go into the land of Egypt, for they are dead, which sought the young child's life. Look at this, and he arose, I believe he did it immediately, and took the young child and his mother, came into the land of Israel. But when he had heard that Achilles did reign in Judea, in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither. Man, you see the human side of Joseph. I'm not telling you he wasn't even afraid to go into Egypt, but he was a man, did what God told him. He's coming back, and on his way back, somehow he hears word. Maybe he asks, so who's the king now? You know, Herod's dead. The Lord didn't tell him who the king was. He said, oh, you don't know? His son took his throne. His son? And then fear struck him. Lord, you're sending me back there? Surely his son would want to kill this child Jesus as much as Herod his father wanted to. So he was afraid to go thither. But look what happened. God knew that. Notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee. And he came and dwelt in the city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, he shall be called a Nazarene. Boy, everything that happened in the life of Jesus Christ and the life of Joseph and Mary, you know what it was all doing? It was fulfilling prophecy of the scripture. fulfilling the prophecy of the scripture, fulfilling the will of God. Now, I don't want to keep you much longer. I'll be done in about three or four minutes. I may not give you the entirety of the message. Just so you know, if you're studying, Matthew chapter 1 gives you the lineage of Christ, and it's Joseph's lineage. Okay, Matthew chapter 1 is Joseph's lineage. Mary is of the tribe of Judah. Joseph is the tribe of Judah. They're both in the lineage of David. And here's what happens. When you come down to David, funneling down, headed toward Christ, you've got Mary and Joseph. When you get to David is where the lineage splits. Solomon. So the right to the throne through Solomon comes through Joseph. That's Matthew chapter one. You follow the lineage. Joseph comes through Solomon to David. David also had another son named Nathan. And whenever you get over in the book of Luke and you get the lineage of Christ and you get to the end of it, it talks about Heli being the father of Joseph being the son of Heli. Heli was Mary's father. Okay. And what happens in that lineage, you come down to Solomon, you had Nathan, and Mary is through the lineage of Nathan. You know what you find in Christ? Christ had the right to the throne through his mother and through Joseph. Both ways, he's of the tribe of Judah, he has a right to the throne to fulfill The fact of being able to be the son of David sitting on the throne. Now, it was interesting, I studied the name Joseph. You know what Joseph means? Joseph means let Jehovah add to it. It's pretty good. Taking Mary's wife, and it's kind of like he lived up to his name. He said, look, let Jehovah add to it. Not himself, but surrendered to the will of God. Allowing Jehovah to have the will of God in his life. You and I need to have that kind of definition in our name. Let Jehovah add to it. In other words, he's saying whatever God wants to do, let him do it. Let God wants to do, let him do it. Luke chapter two, let me show you a couple things here. Luke chapter two, be done here in just a couple minutes. Luke chapter two. What you'll find about Joseph and Mary. You'll find in Luke chapter 2, I'm not going to have time to read it because I'm going to let you out. Luke chapter 2 if you found verse 21 through verse 27, they come to the temple and they show up to do according to the law. You'll find Joseph and Mary were faithful. They were faithful to the law. They were faithful to the commandments of God. You know, God put Jesus into the care of two people that he knew would be faithful to the commandments of God. Mom and Dad, listen to me. Be faithful to the things of God. Be faithful. Let me just say that again. Be faithful to the things of God. Don't raise your children in a divided home where mom wants the will of God and serve the Lord, but dad doesn't. Or dad wants to serve the Lord, but mom don't have a heart for the things of God. I'll tell you what you find about Joseph and Mary. It seemed like they had an equal heart, just want to be faithful to the Lord. They were here, they did according to the law. They offered sacrifice according to the law. They had Jesus circumcised on the eighth day according to the law. They did all these things. And you know where you'll find Joseph after this? He's in the temple, he leaves, you know, he's there in the temple. And when you find Joseph mentioned one more time, Jesus is 12 years old. They've come to Jerusalem. You know what the Bible said? Every single year of Jesus's life, for 12 years, they came to Jerusalem to keep the Passover. Man, they were faithful. Every year, you know where you'll find Joseph and Mary during Passover? Headed to Jerusalem, being faithful. Faithful to the things of God. They never said, well, and here's what's amazing to me, Jesus, they're coming to, you know what they didn't realize? For 12 years, they'd been bringing the Passover lamb to the Passover. Bringing the Passover lamb to the Passover. Everything going on in the Passover is a shadow, a picture, and a type of what's gonna happen to Jesus Christ. He is that Passover lamb. And you know the story, they leave, they get a couple of days journey away and they realize Jesus isn't in the midst. Now sometimes we look at the story and we say, well Jesus is the fault. Last time I checked, you leave your 12 year old kid, that's on you. Oh, go blaming the 12-year-old kid. You take off in a car, hey, and you just head off and you get a day away? You don't even know he's around. You don't even know he's not there. That one's on you, friend. And they showed back up and they came back looking for him. Three days later, they're looking and they're looking and they're sorrowing and they're trying to find him. And you know, here, let me tell you this. The first place they should have went to the temple Should have went and seen him sitting among the lawyers and asking questions to the scribes and all them. You know, and let me say that's something that's about the character of Jesus out of all the places that you could have found him. When they showed up, they found him in the right kind of place, didn't they? Doing the right thing. You know what Mary said? Why have you dealt with your father and I this way? She told Jesus, and he was the father supposed, he wasn't Jesus' father, but he took the place of the father, and Mary said, your father and I have been going around, why have you dealt with us? And Jesus made this statement. Don't y'all know that I must be about my father's business? Said they didn't understand the saying, and she took it and put it and hid it in her heart and pondered in her heart, be about my father's business. From the age 12, it's the last time we find Joseph mentioned. There's only one other time you find him being talked about. In Matthew chapter 13, they looked at all Jesus' brothers and his sister and looked at Jesus and looked at Mary. They said, Mary is here and Jesus is here and all of his brothers and sisters. And they said, is not this the carpenter's son? So from the time Jesus was 12 to the time he was 30, somewhere in there, Joseph passed off the scene. You know what you'll see in Joseph's life? Everything that happened to him was all centered around what was best for Jesus. And that's the way your life and my life should be. What's the best for the Lord to get the glory? For Jesus to be glorified. For Jesus' name to be protected. Isn't that what Joseph was doing? Joseph protecting the name of Jesus. He's protecting Jesus. And you and I be real careful because you and I can bring shame to his name or you and I can bring glory to his name. So in the book of Matthew, they referenced Jesus as the carpenter's son. But Mark chapter 6 verse 3, here's what they said, is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary? He said, well, what happened from the age 12 on? What was Joseph doing until he died? He was teaching Jesus how to build. He's the carpenter's son. Now he gets to let Jesus as the carpenter. You know what Jesus is doing? Exactly what Joseph's profession was and exactly what Joseph taught him to do. And by the way, Jesus was the greatest carpenter there ever was before he was born. He would build all things as God. And Jesus created all things. All things were made by him. Everything that was made was made by him. Joseph was a faithful man. He sacrificed his life for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. There's one message I can leave us with tonight in the simplicity of this simple thought, is let our lives be sacrificed on the altar for the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Every head bowed, every eye closed.