But have you noticed, and I have noticed in my lifetime since I've been a Christian, I've come to know the Lord Jesus in the 60s, but have you noticed, those of you regardless of where you are age-wise, that how our society is working very hard in removing really the heart of the seasons that is so vital and important to us. As I was beginning to look at this passage, I was thinking of really three major seasons that we concentrate upon as Christians. One of them is Christmas, the other one is Easter, and the other one is Thanksgiving. And then in all of that, and it is because of the fact that we're in desperate need of the Lord Jesus Christ. But society, because of where we are and sinful nation people, we're working very hard and removing the heart of all of these seasons away. And here we are, God has called us to be faithful and to preach and to proclaim and to raise the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ. Removing the triune God and removing the person and work of the Lord Jesus. Who he is, why he has come, who we are and why we're in need of the Lord Jesus. The Savior who has come and we are changing the names and we just simply want to call it holidays and happy holidays and at the same time it is amazing to me how our society is still plugged in, in part. The decorating, music, you see that deals with the connection of but really not making any direct connections to the Lord Jesus. You know, the sleigh bells in the snow, and the winter, and all of those things, the decorating, and all this kind of stuff, when you think about it. With Easter in particularly, some of the things, all they have their commercial connections to that. We concentrate on the Easter bunny, the baby chickens. The Easter egg hunt and all kinds of things. Yet, at the same time, the heart of what Easter is all about has been removed. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In Christmas we've got Santa. We've got the tree. We've got the office parties. We've got even non-Christian people putting on Christmas parties in their homes and exchanging gifts. using the colors and all kinds of things to celebrate holiday. At the same time, I want to say, you know, what is it all about? You see in their exchange and of course the names of parades are being changed. I heard in our community that one of our politicians declined to be part of the Christmas parade because the parade was called no longer a Christmas parade, but it's called simply a holiday parade. And the politician said, absolutely not. I'm not going to participate with that. And at the same time, you know what he's doing with that? He's making a statement. And it behooves us that we ask God's people and we ask the church. And I want to say, with all of the things that are at our fingertips, the thing about Travis Yates, what a wonderful gift of God to us in our congregation. He constantly comes up with these things. It was a couple of weeks ago, he said, what do you think about these boxes? You've seen these boxes where people are handing out papers and we're talking about real estate magazines and all. What do you think about those boxes? We need to get some of these boxes. Wonderful. What's the intent with that? The intent of that is that we are constantly, are boldly, unashamedly, unapologetically declaring, you see, the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the message of the triune God, the message of mercies that are found in Him, the message of salvation unashamedly, and we leave it in the hands of God as those that will pick it up. and begin to read, and those that will begin to hear like you heard in that room that night, or your friend you shared with this other one, and yet at the same time, your ears were open, and you listened to that message, and you have never forgotten to this day, and is that not what the Lord has called us to do, to make plain and clear the message of the Lord Jesus Christ, and particularly, when I think about the season that we have, and we still have the season, don't we? Call it what they may want to call it. They may want to call it a holiday this and party here and we have gifts and bonuses there for in that season. At the same time, it behooves us is that we may say, may I and could I, would you listen to me where I would, I want to declare to you what Christmas is all about. And so this morning, I know no better passage than the one that we have mentioned in Matthew chapter 1 verses 18 through 25. Let's read it and then we'll pray and we'll see how the Lord will guide us this morning. 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. And then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. 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. And she shall bring forth a son, and 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 was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and thou shalt bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. And then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, that as we have sung earlier that Christmas hymn, What Child is This, that you have given us the understanding you've given us inside, as the song so clearly portrayed, it is the Lord Jesus Christ, the King. And even as we just now read being interpreted Emmanuel, being interpreted God with us. And Lord, here we are. We've assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus this morning to bless and to worship and to honor you. We thank you that you have given us understanding and to see and embrace the Lord Jesus as our Lord and Savior. And that we pray, Lord, that we might make it very plain and clear that as we live in a society that's working very hard to remove the Lord Jesus out of the midst of this season, may we be a bold and clear proclaimer. We ask that our efforts will be blessed by you. and that as you have told us to go into all of the world to preach the gospel, that you might bless us with this effort. Bless our time now in your word, and we ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. I mean, what do you think about this as we just read, now all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel. which being interpreted God with us. I mean, we're talking about the word that was spoken 750 years before. And I mean, in detail, when I think about this particular passage, I'm thinking about Jesus. You see that God with us. What does that mean for us? The Lord Jesus Christ. I know some of you. How many of you families are going and using the the catechism questions and answers. How many of you all do that? In recent weeks, I know that sometimes this year, that the question was asked, what are the offices of the Lord Jesus? You all recall that? And the answer to the question was, is that the offices of the Lord Jesus are threefold. One, you see God with us, meaning when God with us, Emmanuel got with us, the Lord Jesus comes. The office, you see, as prophet, priest, and king. And you see, as we think on one hand that our society is removing and wants to remove the Lord Jesus from our midst, how necessary is it for us to have the Lord Jesus in our midst that we might experience and know him as our prophet, that we might experience and know him as our priest, and that we might know him and experience the one that would reign and rule over our lives as king. The prophets, as it was said 750 years before. But when I think about, and before we come a little bit more in detail, what I just mentioned of the Lord Jesus Christ, the prophet, when I think of the word prophet, what do you think about? When I think of the prophets, I think of the 39 books in the Old Testament. When I think about those words, you see the prophets in the Old Testament, you see those men that God called, you see the seers, those that came to declare the word and the will of God to men. And when we think about the need of a word from the Lord, right from the beginning, from the outset, that when I begin reading in the Old Testament, and you find in Genesis chapters 1, 2, and 3, and there where you have the account of creation, you have the account of Adam and Eve, you have the account of Satan tempting, and you have the account of the fall into sin, and then you have the account of the curse and you see God removing Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, but right then and there, right there in that beginning, there are these words and prophecies of the Savior which is to come. In Genesis 3.15, right in the middle, where the Lord pronounces judgment and He removes them, He says, And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. We find a fulfillment of that in Galatians chapter 4, verses 4. And we find that when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law. I don't know some of you, how many of you all have studied Bibles? Aren't the study Bibles wonderful Bibles? In most study Bibles, you'll have a section, and I recall this morning that I had this section here that speaks of the prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ, you see, that were fulfilled. Those words, you see, were the Lord communicated in the Old Testament, right, you see, from the fall all the way down through when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son. The Lord gave a prophetic word of the Messiah who is to come. All these things were written that were prophesied and spoken by the prophet. Now you think about it for a moment. And then when I look and begin, you see in the Old Testament, and then we see as Peter speaks of in 2 Peter 1.21, he says, for prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And you think about it when you begin reading here. It was kind of like, if you will, if you would look into a small end of a funnel. It's hard to describe. And you see, when you come to the New Testament, With this small end, you start looking with a little bit of information. And then you have more information concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And then you see as you go through the law and the prophets and you come, you see to the end of the Old Testament that you see you have, you see so much light and information that when we begin to see how God works and he prophesies of the coming of the Lord Jesus in every detail. In Genesis chapters 12, you remember how the Lord calls a man named Abram. And he promised, you see, Abram, he gives to Abram the promise of the coming Messiah. Really not much information, but when you think about it, now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show you. And then he says, I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing. What is God doing here when you begin to look in Genesis 12 on following? God calls Abram and he blesses him with the promise of Christ. When the Lord Jesus is preaching in the Gospel of John, in John chapter eight, verse 56, and where he confronts the religious establishment and he says, in your father, Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Think about it. That as they, the information that they had in the Old Testament, And I mean, we're talking about it with a little bit of information, more information, more information. And then you find that as you begin to trace, and is that not wonderful? When you begin to look and you read in the scriptures how the Lord you see so prophesied and spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he would come from the nation Israel. that he would come, you see, and we find how the Lord worked with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve tribes. And then we begin to look from the house of David. He narrows it down to, you see, to Bethlehem. And when you come and you contemplate, The very details, you see, even the prophecies of John the Baptist, which is considered the greatest of all of the prophets, because he's the closest to the Lord Jesus, and the message, you see, that John the Baptist had may clear the path. And you find how the details all of that is, and then of course in detail for that, we think about 750 years before, unto us a child is born. A son is given. The government shall be up on his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." All of it. In every detail. I don't know whether you've noticed or not, but when you begin to read in the Gospels and when you begin to read in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Book of Acts, and don't you find over and over again this very same statement over and over again that these things were written as it was prophesied, as it was spoken by the prophet of old, as it was and all of these details fallen into place. This morning as I was thinking about our society, how our society is trying to remove the Lord Jesus from our society, I was thinking of the very thing that just came to my mind. I thought, you know, that's really a wonderful thing, that every time there is any kind of business and commerce going on, what do people do? They write the date, don't they? And I mean, we do that, I believe that, and I know there are societies, they go by different, the Chinese go by different calendars and all of that, but I've got news for you, even as they are interacting with us. And that around the globe, you see it generally, you see there is the date that is mentioned of the year. The day and the month and the year, and what do we mean by that? What happens when that is, you see, used, is that not? in the year of our Lord? Is that not a reference point that you see Emmanuel, God with us? Is that not a reference point to that which took place, which the prophets of old you see so communicated? And in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, Emmanuel, God with us. And so I want to say to you as you read the Old Testament, and that's a wonderful thing to do when you begin to read in the Old Testament. And one of the things that I would like for you to do when you read in the Old Testament, you see, try to find how the Lord Jesus is woven through and how the Lord Jesus is spoken of. And when you think about it, find it and when you see it, what a marvelous thing it is. And then as we look back, How the Lord has so promised that it has been fulfilled, all of it pointing to the Savior, pointing to redemption, pointing to salvation, pointing to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, He has come. That's the Old Testament prophets. But the Lord Jesus is the prophet of prophets. When I think about ultimately, when I think about the grace and the mercy of God, and as He has revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as He revealed Himself, you see, to national Israel, and as He revealed Himself to them, you think about how God, you see, spoke in times past through the prophets, but you see, He has spoken to us, as Hebrews says, He has spoken to us in these last days, through and by His Son. Now, I don't know about you, but that simply just amazes me to no end. He does not send the messenger. He does not send an angel. He does not send a servant. He does not send an employee. He does not, you see, He comes Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ, you see, interpreted God with us, the Lord Jesus, the prophet. We find in Luke chapter 13, 31, let me read this because the Lord Jesus is speaking of that. The same day there came certain of the Pharisees saying unto him, get thee out and depart hence for Herod will kill thee. And he said unto them, go ye and tell them that fox behold I cast out devils. I do cures today and tomorrow and the third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless, I must walk today and tomorrow. and today following, for I cannot be a prophet perished out of Jerusalem." And then we find again that in Luke chapters 24, you remember it was after the resurrection that the Lord is walking on the road of Emmaus and there were a couple of people there walking, you see, and they were talking about the crucifixion and everything, you see, and we find that the Lord Jesus came alongside with them and they talked together of all of these things which had happened And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, and Jesus himself drew near and went with them. And he said unto them, what things? And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth. And I want you to know how they perceived the Lord Jesus. They perceived him, which was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all of the people. They recognized, and what they had heard and witnessed, you see, they recognized that the Lord Jesus was the prophet. God himself coming and speaking, you see, to us, and how vital is that for us? When you think about it, the Old Testament, that was holy men moved by the Holy Spirit, much information, truth concerning redemption and salvation. But oh, beloved people, It is not men, God comes himself, not messengers, not the servants, not mouthpieces, but the Lord comes himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, the prophet. In the Gospel of John, you think about it for a moment and how necessary, you see. When we think about it, when you think about the Old Testament and the New Testament, in John 1, verse 18, we find, no man had seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He had declared Him. And when you think in the Gospel of John, as you read there in John 1, that you see He comes, you see, full of grace and truth, and no man had seen God at any time. holy men that were moved by the Holy Spirit, but here comes God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. He had spoken to us indeed in these last days by His Son. It was at the Mount of Configuration, you remember that that the disciples wanted to build an altar, a memorial there. And there was the voice heard, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. Why do we need the Lord Jesus? You see, Emmanuel got with us the prophet. What do you think? Do you think that there are lessons that need to be learned, lessons of grace? Do you think that there are lessons that we need to learn as human beings? You see, and no doubt we need to learn some lessons because society is trying to remove the Lord Jesus from our midst. And we need to, you see, we need to have the Lord Jesus right in the middle of our lives. And I need to say, Lord Jesus, will you come and be a teacher to me? Lord Jesus, will you speak to me? Lord Jesus, show me who you are and show me what I am and then teach me some lesson of this life and the life to come. What do you think? Did not the Lord Jesus say in this as we commonly use this wonderful invitation text? Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I'm meek and lowly and hard and you shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. The Lord Jesus Christ, we need to learn lessons, you see, of eternity in time. You see, law was given by Moses, grace and truth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what John said. John, when he writes in 1 John, he says, we were with him, we touched him, we heard him, eternal life, we were right there by him and with him. And he says, we've had fellowship with him. And we've had fellowship with the Father. And then he says, these things we are right unto you that you have fellowship with us. And then he says, and this is the message that we have heard from him, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. Think about the lessons that we need to learn from the Lord Jesus. God is holy. God is righteous. God is just, in him is no darkness at all. And then when you begin to listen and you hear the truths and the messages and you begin to search the messages and evaluate the messages that the Lord Jesus preaches and proclaims. What does He say to us? He says to us that men love darkness rather than light, and they don't want to come to the light, you see, lest their deeds be reproved. And I want to say to you, I need to learn and we need to learn lessons, you see, of God is holy and God is just, and God is the one, you see, that is able and capable in saving us. I need to learn that lesson. The second thing that we find, you see, not only is he the prophet, but he is also the king, the priest. I'm sorry, I'm jumping to the third point already. The Lord Jesus Christ, God with us, Christ Jesus, the high priest, the Old Testament. And when you begin to read in the Old Testament, what do you find? Did you find, you see, the priests were from a certain tribe? And then we find that, you see, we had high priests. And then when you begin to evaluate in the scriptures and find out very plainly, not only did they have to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people, but they also had to offer sacrifices for themselves. But what happened to the priests in the Old Testament? What happened to them? They all died, didn't they? But when you begin to find and you see that the responsibilities and the duties of the priests in the Old Testament, what limitations? You remember how the high priests, once a year, as he went into the holies, they used to tie belts on the bottom of his garments? And then, of course, these belts, you see, they signify that he was still alive and moving around and about. And then they would tie a rope, you see, on the bottom of his legs and just in case something was not right because they were not permitted to enter into the Holies of Holies. And if he had died in there, they didn't go in and get him because they would die themselves, they would pull him out. The Lord Jesus Christ, you think about it, that we have a high priest, that has entered once into the holiest, and that he has offered not, you see, he has offered himself. The Lord Jesus Christ, priest, you see, he, all of the things that were pertaining to the law, the Lord Jesus Christ, not only, you see, is the prophet that declares to us who God is, but he's also the priest and the high priest that offered him up once and for all for the sins, you see, of his people. Is that not a marvelous truth when you contemplate what does it mean that God with us, the Lord Jesus Christ, priest? And so he offers himself. It was not, you see, in the Old Testament, mere men, mere sinners, mere folks with the same infirmities, but the Lord Jesus Christ comes, the spotless Lamb of God. It was John the Baptist that had his message in his sermon down, Travis. He proclaimed, he says, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Think about it. And so the Lord Jesus Christ, not only is he the Lamb of God, but he's also the priest. He's the high priest. And that once and for all, and you remember what happened there on Calvary's cross. What happened after that? The veil was rend, The holies of holies, you see, entrance to God. And when you think about what that means to us, that every time that when we come and we bow our heads, that not only is he our priest and our high priest, but you think about what we have, what God has given us. that wherever I am, that I can run into the presence of God. And then he encourages us, seeing then that we have a high priest that is passed into the heavens. It is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Think about that for a moment. Because of that, he invites us, let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and grace in time of need. I'm in God, Emmanuel, God with us. And the right and the privilege in the entrance that we have. And I want to say to you, I don't know, there's oftentimes we grapple with things and we wallow in things. We try to handle and take care of things ourselves. There's sometimes perhaps there are sins you see that we're not able and capable and it seemed like to mortify and to pull up. And we need to simply say, Lord, will you help me to run into your presence? Because the Lord Jesus, the priest, He has opened up the entrance, the way to God, and I come, and I boldly come, and I lay out my life before Him. But more than that, when the Lord Jesus Emmanuel comes, not only is He a prophet that declares to us, Grace and mercy. He is the priest, you see, that has opened up entrance to God. He is the mediator between God and man, and is the Lord Jesus Christ. But more than that, He is King. And I don't know about you, but when I think about it for a moment, when I look at Christianity, I think that's one facet of Christianity we just about completely have eradicated and removed from the gospel of the Lord Jesus. Folks, you and I, we need a king. We need a king that will rule over us. We need a king that will lay hold of our hearts and that will subdue us. We need a king, you see, that we bow before and worship and honor and praise. We need a king that is able and capable and getting hold and changing our hearts. And the Lord Jesus is that. And what a marvelous truth that when I think about, when I look at people's lives, When I look at people's lives, their lives are, we're talking about, they're dead in trespasses and sin. They're in the prison house of sin. They are the servants and slaves of sin. They cannot, you see, and the Lord Jesus, remember what he said there in the Gospel of John. If the Son will set you free, you'll be free indeed. And of course, you remember these people that when he said to those he said that to, he said, I don't know what you're talking about. We're not in bondage to any man. And then the Lord Jesus explained really what he meant by that. And you and I, we need the Lord Jesus, the prophet, to tell us in the condition that we are. We need the Lord Jesus, you see, that has given his life and has, on our behalf, given himself between us and God to sacrifice, you see. And we need the Lord Jesus to set us free. And remember what he said to them. He said, if you commit sin, You are the servant of sin, and you see the servant and the slave to sin is what? He's the one that belongs to someone else. He's a slave to it. And if the Son will set you free, you'll be free indeed. And so when I think about Christmas season and the opportunity that we have to make plain and clear the message, What do we need to tell people, you see, when it comes to, yeah, let's use some gospel tracts, let's use some CDs, let's communicate, let's make very plain and clear, but that we would take the opportunities with our families, at the job, with our neighbors, and that we would ask and that we would say, let me tell you about the Lord Jesus, let me tell you what the Word of God says. And you shall call His name Emmanuel, which is being interpreted, God with us. His name is Jesus. And Jesus didn't come with ifs, buts, and maybes, but He came in order to do something. What was it? To save His people from their sins. Let me tell you about the Lord Jesus and why He came. He came the prophet to tell us about God and tell us about ourselves and tell us about Him. He came as priest and He came as king That's what the Lord Jesus is. Look to Him, flee to Him, run to Him, and let's leave it in the hands of God as we declare the message of Christmas very plain and clearly. Let's pray.