Our sermon text and what counts for our fourth and final lesson this morning, the first service, is Matthew chapter one, verses 18 through 25. And my hope and my prayer this week in preparing has been that this first sermon would serve by God's help to renew and revive in each one of us a sense of wonder at the strangeness, the unimaginable character of salvation through the incarnation of God. Hear with me the word of the Lord, beginning at verse 18 of Matthew 1. 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 a child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 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. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. Let's ask the Lord for his illumination. Father in heaven, we thank you that you have granted us a place in your presence, that you've welcomed us into worship, and that you desire to stir us up through your holy word. We ask this morning that you would be honored in all that we consider together and that your spirit would speak. For we ask it in Jesus' name and for his glory. Amen. Imagine for a moment, if you can, this story of the nativity from Joseph's perspective. Until the time when the angel comes to Joseph in the dream, he has no way of knowing that this pregnancy is miraculous, let alone that Mary is carrying in her womb incarnate God. Who would have imagined that? Now, can you even try to picture Mary attempting to explain this to Joseph and what his reasonable reaction would have been? But in fact, if you look at the text, there is no definite indication that she even had the opportunity to speak with Joseph. It simply reports in verse 18, before they came together, she was found to be with child. It may have been that Joseph noticed the change in her body and said not a word to her about it, maybe went to her parents. More likely, a family member would have communicated this to Joseph. And since there was no indication or report on Mary's part that there had been any kind of assault, and since she seemed, by all other measures in the Gospels, to be actually full of joy and peace, It's not unreasonable that he would think that she had been unfaithful to the vows as they were engaged at this point. Now how did Joseph feel when he finds out in his mind that Mary has betrayed her vows? Perhaps he was shocked because we do know that she was an unusually godly young woman. Perhaps he felt anger because she had humiliated him Perhaps he felt offense for the sake of the covenant of marriage and for the way that this would affect both of their families. But there is only one emotion that is explicitly named and identified in the text that Joseph felt. The only emotion that the sacred scripture records Joseph feeling is fear. And thus the angel says, Joseph, do not be afraid. This is not any kind of fear. This is a specific kind of fear. It's a reverential fear that is known only by the godly. This is a fear of offending the Lord. This is a deep reverence for the righteousness of God. Look at verse 20. 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. Now, if I were put in that situation, I think one of my deep fears would be, what do you mean there's a supernatural growth taking place in my fiance? That's frightening. This is strange. And yet that is not what the angel was sent to minister to Joseph about, which tells us something of the character that God had formed in the man who would serve as the adoptive father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Joseph fears taking Mary as his wife. Why does he fear that? Because he's godly. And it appeared that she had been unfaithful. And so what would that mean? Look at verse 19. It says Joseph was a just man. Which means he has a commitment to honoring God's will. Well, more and more people are going to notice that she's pregnant. And probably, Most of them would assume that Joseph had been irresponsible and that he had defied the parents in terms of typically in that setting, in that time, they would set when the appropriate day and hour was for this marriage to be consummated. And they would lay out their expectations. Maybe he had to provide a certain amount of money or property before he could actually come together with her. And so it would seem like Joseph had taken advantage of her and the situation. And so he could theoretically just move forward with this marriage quietly, but that would be covering over what he thought was a sin. On the other hand, if he comes out and is honest and says, I'm not responsible for this, then what's he to do? If he proceeds with the marriage, that will seem like making a light thing of a big sin. On the other hand, he probably doesn't want to have for his future children a mother who violates her vows. And so he fears that if he proceeds with this marriage, he's doing something sinful and he doesn't want to. This says something again about the character of this godly man whom the Lord chose to be the adoptive father of Christ. I don't think that we can blame Joseph for his desire to break off the marriage. But on the other hand, you notice here that he feels a tension in verse 19. says and, and I do take this as a tension, he's a just man and he was unwilling to put her to shame. When it says to put her to shame here, it doesn't mean that he doesn't want somebody who's guilty of sin to be responsible and to own up to their sin. But it's talking about public disgrace and probably public punishment. Most of you are familiar with the fact, under the old covenant law, the law that God gave his people at Sinai, the consequence for adultery, was capital, it was death. Now, Deuteronomy 24 did make an exception. Deuteronomy 24 grants that in cases of what it calls lesser indecency, that simply a divorce can be affected. At this stage in their culture, a betrothal was counted as marriage, it was binding. But perhaps because they had not consummated the marriage, Joseph sees a way to be gracious, a way to be merciful, and he thinks that by breaking off the marriage at this point, he can distance himself, he can show disapproval, but he doesn't have to show the full severity of the law. And so he decides to go the other way. We could not have imagined to be in this position, and again, I don't think that anyone could blame him, but then imagine what he feels in verse 20 when the angel addresses him, Son of David, do not be afraid. And why Son of David? Here, immediately, God has sent this angel as a messenger to help put this situation into context. Now, you may not be so familiar with the Davidic promises of the Bible, but I think that we can imagine that a godly man and one who is a descendant of David at that time in covenant history does know the promises. 2 Samuel 7, for instance, the Lord sends the prophet Nathan to King David and tells David, one of your descendants is going to sit upon your throne and his throne will be everlasting. And you'll even call him your Lord. And so there's this anticipation of someone who would be descended from David who is greater than David and who would bring relief and justice and deliverance. But then for hundreds of years, it seems like the opposite is happening. One after another, almost all of David's heirs are terrible kings and idolaters, wicked men. And just before the exile, the Lord sends the prophet Isaiah to one of the worst of all of the kings and tells him, in spite of your unbelief, I am giving to the house of David one more promise of a sign. And this is found in Isaiah 714, quoted in this passage, the Lord promises Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. And so in effect, the angel is telling Joseph, this is that time. Mary is that virgin. And you, heir of the house of David, you have the honor of calling this child God with us, and it will be your responsibility to give him the name Jesus, literally Savior. Yeshua. As the Lord told Mary and in the Song of Zechariah, he shall save his people from their sins. Now, who knows how long it took for the meaning of these things to dawn upon Joseph? If I'm honest, the meaning has not fully dawned upon me. The idea of the incarnation, because the more you think about it, the more inconceivable it is. That infinite God, infinite God, who doesn't dwell in a place. You know, that's a common question children raise, where is God? Well, he's in heaven, but it's not as if heaven has always existed, or else God would be finite. Where is God? He is himself. End of sentence. He is. And yet, he's come so near to us in the incarnation that we can say, in truth, God was born. Not by any diminishing of the deity, but by the nearness, the oneness, the unity of our humanity taken up to the person of the son. Augustine, the great church father writing in the third century and fourth century, He put it this way when he tried to describe the incomprehensibility of the incarnation. Man's maker was made man. That he, ruler of the stars, might nurse at his mother's breast. That the bread might hunger. The fountain thirst. The light sleep. The way be tired on its journey. that the truth might be accused of false witness, the teacher beaten with whips by the students, the foundation suspended on wood, that strength might grow weak, that the healer might be wounded, that life itself might die. We cannot begin to comprehend the amazing wonder of the incarnation of God in time and space, wearing our nature. Stephen Charnock, writing in the 1600s, put it this way, what a wonder is it that two natures, infinitely distant, should be more intimately united than anything in the world. And yet, without any confusion, that the same person should have both a glory and a grief. an infinite joy in the deity, and an inexpressible sorrow in the humanity. That a god upon a throne should be an infant in a cradle, the thundering creator be a weeping babe and a suffering man. These are such expressions of mighty power, as well as condescending love, that they astonish men upon earth and angels in heaven. And yet nothing less could secure your or my salvation. This wasn't just show for show's sake. Anything less than this and we would be out of God's presence forever because we needed someone with infinite dignity to bear the offense for having sinned against God's infinite majesty. And yet we as human beings needed one who is human. to offer up human righteousness and human suffering. When we consider this day, that is what it's about. As we anticipate, as we anticipate tomorrow, thinking on, yes, he entered time, that should be to us, and may God help it be to us, more exciting than anything that might be under the tree. All of those things are meant simply to be reminders, commemorations of that joy. However unimaginable is this gift, I think it's wonderful that Joseph's calling was made very clear to him. He couldn't really understand what he was holding when he held Jesus, but he knew what he was supposed to do. God had given Joseph the rare, the high honor of receiving and cherishing and nurturing that child. What an irony that he was providing for the infant Jesus according to his humanity, even as the eternal son was providing for and protecting Joseph and Mary according to his deity. What a strange calling, but he knew what was his and he was doing it, and he did it by faith through the grace that was given to him. This morning, I still don't understand the incarnation, but my calling is clear to me, and yours should be clear to you as well. Every one of us has a calling in Jesus Christ to receive him, to receive him in faith, whether or not we understand all of this, to receive him with love and to cherish him, and in time to make him known. I exhort you, brothers and sisters, ask the Holy Spirit to help cut through all of the distractions of the next several days, and to savor and to rejoice in this unimaginable mercy that's been given to us. May he help us even now with that. Let's ask him in prayer. Ask his blessing. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this incomparable gift of your Son in time and space, that you, though God, our Savior Jesus, should have blood and be able to lose it, and then to be raised up again for our vindication. We thank you, our Lord, for having gone before us through all the trials and miseries of this life, and that now as you dwell in us, you give us the assurance that you will carry your people through. We thank you for the promise that even as you are Jesus, you shall save your people from their sin. We look this morning entirely away from ourselves and to you as our sufficient Savior. Help us to adore the miracle. Help us to honor you, for we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.