This morning we are going to look eventually at the phrase Immanuel has been interpreted as God with us. Now that verse is in chapter 1 verse 23 but the reference I read is in Isaiah. I don't want you flipping back and forth. If you are nimble of fingers, thumbs, you can turn to Isaiah chapter 7. What I'm going to try and do, very simply, is look briefly at the context of Isaiah 7, then come to Matthew, and the context of that, and look at the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then seek to apply a particular truth from that verse in Matthew. Now, reading from Matthew is easy, in the sense of you're all familiar with it, you know the context, it's about Jesus being born, and so on. If you go, and Matthew records for us that, that it might be fulfilled, which is spoken by the prophet, a virgin shall bring forth, and so on. If you go back to that prophecy in Isaiah 7, it's very strange. Now, I don't want to spend too much time on it, but it's very technical. Not that I don't think you're up to it, but I don't know if I'm up to it, to explain it to you. I read what other people have written, obviously, and so on. The context is a war being engaged by the Assyrians and Israel against little Judah. So, they're planning to attack this little country in Judah. So, that's the context of it. There's a king called Hazor, and he's fearful of what's going to happen, and he doesn't know what to do, and he's thinking of having an alliance with the Assyrians, or with the Egyptians, to sort the problem out. And so, this is what we read, verse 10, Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God. Ask it either in the depth or in the height above. And Ahaz said, I will not ask. Neither will I tempt the Lord." Now, that sounds okay, but what he's saying is, in fact, is, I don't expect help from the Lord. I don't expect deliverance from the Lord. I've got to sort this out myself. And, of course, he's totally wrong, because the only help he will get that will be effective will be from the Lord. The Egyptians won't be any good. The Assyrians won't be any good. But he's too proud to ask help from God. So, that's the context. And he said, Shee, now the house of David is a small thing. You weary men, but you weary my God also. And then we have this little verse. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Now, here's the problem. That verse is a verse to a king saying that God will intervene and God will bring about deliverance. But how will God do that, and what can we attach to this verse? Is God literally, at that time, going to have a woman who is a virgin and conceiving and have a child, and that child will be there, there and then, and deliver them? Well, that obviously didn't happen. There wasn't this miraculous birth there in Isaiah 7. And it appears as if God is saying, I will deliver you, all right? In time, there's a woman who is now a virgin, she will marry, she will have a child, the child will grow up, and from that time to when the child is grown, there will come deliverance. So it's a promise of future deliverance. That seems to be the best context of that. There are various ways of thinking about that. I was trying to think of an illustration. This is hard, but how can I say? How about this then? This is a prophecy. It's not a prophecy, but if this was a prophecy, In a hundred years, there will be a great time of blessing in Gordon Road Fellowship. Okay. Well, how is that to be a blessing to me today? Well, if that was of God, it would mean in a hundred years, there's still a place called Gordon Road. You see that? So it's, ah, I thought of something, but most of you wouldn't understand it. If I said to you, in a hundred years, there'll be a World Cup and England will be in the final, alright? And you'd laugh and say, no, you're really talking impossibilities, aren't you? I mean, but it means that there will be a World Cup in a hundred years, and England will still have a soccer team. Probably made up mainly of women, but there will be a soccer team in a hundred years' time. Now, you might come back to me and say, yeah, well, what about the Welsh Rugby Club? We don't talk about that. Now, so what I'm saying is, there's something to look forward to, and that which you look forward to will be a blessing here and now. Okay. Well, let's then go to Matthew, because this is much simpler, because we know the story very well, and we know it's about a lady called Mary. Now, we believe in Gordon Road, that this lady called Mary, she was a virgin. That is to say, she had no physical union with a man. That's what we believe, because the Bible says so. And because it's so important that this little baby is absolutely special, and he was born of a virgin, which must mean there's something supernatural going on here. something completely out of the ordinary, we believe that the Bible emphasises that fact. You'd think we'd just say, she's a virgin, she has this baby, and on to go. It's what happens afterwards when he's grown up as a man and all he does is says, but the Bible seems to underline and underscore these things. I was surprised when I read it again to find out what had actually gone on. You have to go to Luke for the beginning of the details here. You remember that Mary's mother, Mary's cousin, Elizabeth, she becomes pregnant. Now, her pregnancy you might describe as miraculous in the sense that her husband was elderly, she was elderly, they had no children, and now miraculously she is pregnant. but she is miraculously pregnant by natural means. I don't need to work this, explain this to you, do I? She is a man and wife who God blesses their union. So, although the baby might be miraculous, it's not supernatural, in the sense of there's only one person involved. Same with Abram and Sarah, you know, she's elderly, and then they have this baby, Rachel, Hannah, there are various women in the Bible who are told, it's a sad little phrase, word, isn't it, who are barren, had no children. And they cry to God, and they plead with God, and God intervenes, and then by natural means, they have a baby. Lovely. So, here's Elizabeth, and she wanted a baby and sacrifice and so on, and now she's pregnant. So, let me read in verse 26, this is Luke 1. In the sixth month, an angel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth. This is what verse 27 says. To a virgin espoused, or engaged, to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. From one verse, the word virgin is twice. Now, it could have said, listen carefully, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David and her name was Mary. That makes sense, it flows. But no, under the inspiration of God, the Holy Spirit, Luke says, this virgin was engaged and the virgin's name is Mary. So, you're telling us twice, yes, I am. Why? Because it's important. Again, you need to understand the word espoused or engaged. In those days, when a man and woman decided to marry and they became engaged, it was virtually as if being married. They hadn't actually got together physically, but they were technically almost married. There would be a ceremony later, but first of all, they were engaged and it was a vital thing. In fact, you will see that in Matthew in a moment, when we find out that Joseph is thinking about divorcing her. You say, well, why does he need to divorce her if they're only engaged? Well, because of this strong emphasis on engagement was more or less, as I say, a marriage. I was trying to think if somebody might help me after all. Back in the day, there was an offence called breach of promise. Some might remember that. Namely, a woman, a man promised to marry her and then he didn't, and she could sue him for breach of promise. I don't know if that's still law, but anyway. So here we are, so here this angel comes to the Virgin. And the angel comes to her and says, to her, Hail, thou art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee, blessed are thou amongst women. And she was troubled, and he says, Fear not, Mary, for you've found favour with God. Now, listen to this. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb. You're going to have a baby. And bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, the Son of the Highest. The Lord God shall give unto him the throne, and his father David shall reign for ever and ever, and the kingdom of his kingdom shall be no end. Then Mary says, obviously, what? I'd love to have seen her face, poor kid. You're probably a teenager. We don't know exactly, probably late teens. What? What? Excuse me, could you just run that past me again? There's a lot to take in there, right, let's be honest. A little bit, I'm not quite sure, I must, you know, I haven't got my urinate in, you know. Did you say I would conceive in my womb and bring forth a son? Well, I don't know if you know, but I am a virgin. Now, the phrase in our English is, do not know a man. I do not know a man. Now, it's unfortunate because this is old English for physical sexual union. Because some will read this, perhaps some of our generation today would say, well, doesn't she know this man? How come she's engaged to him if she doesn't know him? Of course she knows him. That's bedafted. So you need to know that because he's going to come up again in a minute. So she says, I don't know a man. I am a virgin. As yet, I had no contact, physical, sexual, with a man. So how can I have a baby in my womb? It is impossible. And so it is. Naturally, normally, ordinarily, it's not possible. But then the explanation comes. And the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also the holy things which are born of thee shall be called the Son of God. But behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she is also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month of the third, for she was barren. For with God, nothing shall be impossible. Have you got that? With God, nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, behold, the handmaid of the Lord be done to me according to thy word, and the angel departed from her. Okay, so it seems that Mary, totally shocked, has accepted what the angel has said, and she's going to have a child bearer's time without any human activity. Let's move on to Matthew 1. What is Joseph's reaction to all of this? Again, I try to be delicate as I can, I go carefully. But here's this man, he's engaged to this woman, he has had no union with her, physical union, and suddenly, she's putting on weight. Her little tummy is growing. And whether she tells him, and whether he notices, I'm not sure what it was, but... She is pregnant. So, Matthew says to us, when his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, see that little thing there again? I'm emphasizing her virginity. Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, We tend to go over this fairly quickly. You cannot imagine what Joseph must have felt when he learnt, either saw or she told him, or he could see for himself, that she was pregnant. Here's this woman whom he loves, he's going to marry her, he hopes they'll have a large family, under the blessing of God, and looking forward to all that, and suddenly she is pregnant. This child is not mine. This child is not mine, I know that. Years ago, I saw a film on television of Joseph and Mary, and to be fair, they handled it very carefully. There was a scene when he first found out, and you should have seen his face. What's going on? This person who I love, and I've chosen her to be my wife, and we've committed ourselves one to another, and soon we'll go through the actual formality of getting married, as it were, and she's pregnant. How could she do that? How could she go with another? She may have been raped. And Jewish belief is that she was raped by a Roman soldier. They just made that up because they didn't like to believe the truth. So, how could you do that? He is absolutely shattered, absolutely shattered. That's all we're told. He was a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. Now, I'm thinking, and I'd have to check this up, but you might know, I'm thinking if she is engaged to Joseph and she's pregnant, seemingly by somebody else, then that was against the Jewish law and she could get stoned to death. I think so. He could have made a big fuss, he could have brought it before the elders, and said, look, here's this woman, she's pregnant, it's not me, it really is not me, and that's under the law, stoned to death. She's an adulteress, stoned to death. But apart from being so totally confused and hungry, hungry in his heart, his emotions are in pieces, he says, no, I'll put her away. I'll divorce her quietly. So nobody, not many people know. I'll put her away. And while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said, Joseph, son of David, fear not to take Mary to be thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. There's been no money involved, no rape involved. She's not been unfaithful to you. This is something God has done. She shall bring forth a son. He shall call his name Jesus. He shall save his people from their sins. And this was done, remember, fulfilled by the prophet, back to Isaiah. Tell you what, if ever there was a relieved man, Joseph was a relieved man. And in the shock of it, an angel comes, doesn't send somebody, a messenger, right? I'm sure that's God's kindness. Somebody comes to the door, listen, Joseph, I've got a message for you. What's that? That baby, my wife's expecting, don't worry about it, it's from God. And who are you? But I'm a messenger. Are you the father? No, no, no, I'm just a messenger. I don't believe you, push off. But an angel comes, somebody direct from God, and says, Joseph, don't fear. This is of God, this is of the Holy Spirit. A baby will be born and so on. And then verse 24, then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord bid him and took unto him his wife. Now look at verse 25, and knew her not. Of course he knew her. He wouldn't have got engaged if he didn't know her. No, no, no. Knew her, not had no physical union with her until after the baby was born. And after the baby was born, he did have physical union because there were other babies born to Mary, boys and girls, as we're told in the Gospels. I think I'm right in saying that the Roman Catholic folk do not believe in the perpetual, they believe in the perpetual virginity of the Virgin Mary. That's not what the Bible says. You say, what about these references to children? Ah, they were children of Joseph because he was older, so they were Mary's stepchildren, but no children of her own. That's nonsense. He knew her not till, till, When she got over the pregnancy, they had a normal relationship and they were children born to that union. New or not, until she brought forth her firstborn son. There's emphasis there on the virginity and the supernatural birth of Jesus. You say that, and I've often said it in this pulpit, technically, the birth was natural, the conception was supernatural. Mary was, the Spirit came upon her and did this to her, that thing would be born of God, that holy thing would be born of her, so it was miraculous, supernatural, but the birth, he was pregnant for nine months, and when the baby was born, he was born entirely natural, a normal little baby. Now, I may spend all that in technical stuff, because it's there and it's important, and we believe it, and it has to be according to the Word of God. If Jesus had been born of a normal union man and wife, he couldn't be the God-man. You see, we need somebody to save us, to deliver us, to help us, to bless us. The angel said, she called his name Jesus, Yeshua. Jehovah is my salvation. We need someone to come because Jesus is a savior. He will save his people from their sins. We need to be saved. We need to be forgiven. You and I need to be forgiven. We need to be reconciled and redeemed and ransomed. And all these things we need. And in order to do that, we need somebody a bit special. An angel couldn't do it. A prophet couldn't do it. We need somebody special. He needs to be a man so that he can live and die and rise again. But he needs to be more than a man. He needs to be God. Only God can reconcile sinners to himself. Only God can perform this great work of salvation. He must be God. He is God and he is man. He is man and he is God. That is so important. The heart of the Christian gospel. We need a savior, and a savior is Jesus. A little phrase, and I'll end on this in a moment or three, a little phrase that blessed me as I thought about it. In verse 23, it says this, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. A technical name, if you like, of him. Actually, Jesus was his everyday name, Yeshua. But technically, Immanuel, because Immanuel means, being interpreted, God with us. I thought, isn't that a great phrase? Think about it for a minute. God with us. It seems to me that it's the supreme example of what I think is technically called, in grammatical circles, an oxymoron. If you've never heard that phrase, Unkindly, people say it's an oxymoron, which is something like saying military intelligence. I thought that was unfair in the military. If you're a military person, I'm going to need cents. I'm trying to think of a better example of an oxymoron. A Welshman who can't sing. That would be a contradiction, wouldn't it? An Englishman who can, that's probably a contradiction. They're opposites. This is the way it's opposite. Extreme. A quiet baby. You speak up, Elisa. We want to hear from you. You sing up. A quiet baby. You don't have quiet babies. Babies are not quiet. Very rarely. So, it's extremes. Oxymoron. So, here are two things that I'm suggesting to you are extreme. God. Us. You see that? God, us. You think about God in his almightiness, in his holiness, in his purity, in his graciousness, and all the wonderful things you think about God. Oh, what a God this God of the Bible is. Omnipotent, creator, sovereign, and compassionate, and all these things God is. And then you look at us. Look at you, and look at me. Boys bar. There's no comparison, is there? All that God is, we are not. All that we are, He is not. He is God. We are ungodly. He is pure. We are not pure. He is Righteous, we are not righteous. And all the things you can say about God, and we are not, we are the opposite. But do this amazing thing, in this person, and through this person, and all this person will do, God will be with us! Us! God! This great Creator! Oh Lord, one thing to say about Him, this God can be with us, with you, with me, every single day! You know, just occasionally, you know, just sometimes, every single day, God is with us. Now, we may not appreciate it, we may not feel it, we may not understand it, we may feel that we have days when God has wandered off somewhere, and we can't find Him, and we don't know where He is, we don't know what to do. But the truth is, God is with His people. Every single day, high days, low days, God is there. Wonderful days, sad days, God is there. God is never not there. He is with us. One of my favorite verses, a gospel verse if you like, is in Peter. And Peter says this, 1 Peter 3, 1 Peter 3, 18. For Christ also One suffered for sin. The just for the unjust. To what end? To what end? Well, lots of ends. To bring forgiveness of sins. Oh, praise God for forgiveness of sins. This coming week, we'll be looking back at the last year. You know, they do things on television and radio, newspapers, they look back at all the things that have happened. And I'll tell you what, it's been a dreadful year. What was the phrase the Queen used? Aribulus, annulus, annulus, aribulus. Horrible year, I think, in Latin. You Latin scholars will understand that, right? And she had a tough year, that year, all kinds of things. I think if she was alive, bless her, she would say today in her speech, what a terrible year we've had. Russia and Ukraine and the whole world has been upside down, inside out. Terrible year. Well, as we look back on our personal lives, the family, everything else, I wonder what we'll say. We'll say, well, we've had a good year. Lots of good things have happened. Well, praise God. And some of us will say, well, it's been a very difficult year. It's been the hardest year of our lives. And we'll have reasons for that. But we can never say, truthfully, there was a day when God wasn't with me. He was, but you didn't realize it. There was a week I had, and it was a most dreadful week, and God just abandoned me. No, he didn't. He was there, but you may not have realized it. And the year to which we look forward in the purposes of God come next Sunday, 1st of January, the year that will come, 2023, whatever will happen, good or bad, God will be with His people. Take it with you. Write it on your hand if you're forgetful like me. What do I want from Liddell's? I want bread and cheese. You know, I've got a list. Bread and cheese. Write it on your hand if you're a forgetful person. But whatever you do, never ever forget for 365 days in 2023 if we are privileged to see that God is with you. Have you got that? You are allowed to say amen. I don't know if you believe it. I'll try it again. Have you got that? Once more. Thank you. God is with us. Oh, that's great. That's great. That's great. There's nothing better. with his people. And Jesus came, and he was born, and he lived, and he died, and he rose again, and he went back to heaven, to this end, that God might be with such as you, and such as me. Hallelujah. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the birth of the Lord Jesus, of a virgin, miraculously conceived by the Holy Ghost. The baby was born, this little baby at Bethlehem, to Mary and to Joseph, who had no part in it as physically, and yet it took Jesus to be as it were his son. And we thank you for that little one who grew as a toddler, as a young man, and then he began to teach and preach and heal and deliver. And then finally he gave up his life, such as we might be saved and forgiven and blessed, and ultimately that God might be with us. Oh, Father, bless these dear folk here this morning. Thank you for bringing them out. There may be some to whom this is so relevant. I trust them all, but perhaps some in particular will need this. God is with me. Whatever happens, God is with me. And there may be some who've never known what it is to realize God is with them. Help them to call upon you for mercy. To say, Lord God, I want you to be with me. I want Jesus to be my savior. Have mercy upon me. Oh, Lord, bless us, I pray, for Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen, amen, amen. Let's sing a song which has got Emmanuel in it, which is 176. 176. Hold on, I opened the wrong one. One, seven, O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie above the deep and dreamless sleep. The silent stars go by. And then final verses, O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in. Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels, the great glad tidings tell. O come to us, abide with us. our Lord Emmanuel. Amen. Sing it as if you believe it. 176. ♪ Little town of Bethlehem ♪ ♪ How still is the eye ♪ ♪ Above the deep and frameless stream ♪ ♪ The silence doth provide ♪ ♪ Yet in thy darkness shine ♪ ♪ The everlasting light ♪ Lord, Sanctities of all the years are met in thee tonight. Through the morning stars together proclaim the Holy Word. ♪ And praises sing to God the King ♪ ♪ And peace to men on earth ♪ ♪ For Christ is born of Mary ♪ ♪ And I the newborn of God ♪ ♪ While mortals sleep and the angels weep ♪ ♪ Their woes shall one day be heard ♪ ♪ And feed us silently the wondrous gift is near ♪ ♪ Serve all ye hearts to hear and watch the blessings of his name ♪ ♪ No living ear is coming out in this world of sin ♪ O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in, behold in us today. We hear the Christmas angels, the red-black tidings tell. O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel. Father of our prayer this morning, O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel. Bless the demons here now, bless them through the day, bless them in the days to come. For Jesus' sake.