Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 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 will 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. They shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from the dream, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but he knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. This, of course, is the time of year for traditions. Times when as families, individuals, friends, churches, we tend to do the same things every year again and again. I wonder if you can think of a favorite tradition that you had as a family growing up. One of the things that comes to my mind is how my family always would get together, every one of us, around the kitchen table and we'd decorate cookies. Take those sugar cookies and smear on the icing and that was great. And now I do it with my own kids. I wonder if you can think of a tradition like that that you had or continue to have. Now if you take that tradition, what happens if we ask the why question? Why do you do that? Why every year do you do that? What would you say? Why do we decorate sugar cookies? I don't know. It's just what we do. It's fun. It's tradition. Isn't that a lot of times the answers? And that's a perfectly acceptable and good answer for something like cookies and how you decorate a tree or something like that. But when it comes to other things, that answer is just unacceptable. When it comes to singing the familiar Christmas hymns, the familiar Christmas carols, or when it comes to reading familiar scripture passages like this one in Matthew, or when it comes to gathering together and worshipping this time of year, for us to just say, well, it's just what we do. It's just tradition. That's not enough. What works for cookies doesn't work for things as weighty as this. And the good news that we get reminded of here is that we have a much more glorious reason this morning than just, well, this is what we do because this is what we do. The angels come to announce it to us That's what we've been looking at and we'll continue to look at these weeks leading up to Christmas Why all this going on? Why all this fuss? Why all this excitement? Is there something really this good, this big? And the angels come and appear in Scripture. These heavenly beings who serve in the presence of God come and appear in Scripture before us and tell us why. They tell us why. And today is no exception. The angel here, of course, appears before Joseph in this dream to give a very important explanation. There's a big practical problem going on. Because here's Joseph, he's betrothed to Mary. And you might have heard from other messages that betrothal in the ancient world is different than what we think of today as getting engaged. It was much more of an official binding commitment. To be betrothed was to pledge your troth, your faithfulness, your commitment. So in order to break it, well, that was to break your commitment. It was a kind of divorce to break betrothal. So there was an almost marriage-like commitment there, though the bride and groom wouldn't come together until after the wedding itself. So here you have a real significant problem. Here are two people pledged to one another, committed to one another, but Mary's pregnant. And Joseph takes in the scene. Clearly, he's not the father. And in his mind, she had to have been unfaithful. And so he has two choices in front of him. He can either divorce her quietly, or in order to clear his own name, he can institute a public lawsuit against her. But only that would expose her to disgrace and shame. And so being a just and a merciful man, Joseph decides he's going to divorce her quietly. But the angel shows up to answer the question, to solve the problem for Joseph. No, the angel said, this isn't unfaithfulness at all. What is conceived in Mary is from the Holy Spirit. This is God's work, God's supernatural work. And there's a very important reason. The angel comes, he wants Joseph to be sure to take Mary as his wife. Both so that Mary is protected, and the baby is protected, but also so that this child can be officially, legally, Joseph's son. We'll see Joseph here acting like a father, naming the son as only a father would. But in order for him to have Joseph as the father, that meant the legal line, which in the Jewish world always went through the father, the legal line of Joseph would extend to Jesus. And it's through Joseph that Jesus' line goes back to King David, as we talked about last week. So the angel arrives to set the matter right, to make sure that Joseph understands what's going on and takes this child to be his very own adopted son and Mary to be his wife. But in the process, the angel explains what's going on. And he does by giving two different names to this child, two different references that are going to be attached to this child. It's going to be called Jesus, Called Emmanuel and we'll take those one one at a time first Jesus the Savior This is verse 21 The angel says Mary will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus For he will save his people from their sins Here again Joseph being treated like the father. He's gonna name the child but the what Matthew does is really focuses in on the significance of the name. Luke mentions the name as well to Mary, but it's only here that we get the explanation in fullness. It makes sense because Matthew is writing primarily to Jews who would know some of the background. Jesus, name him Jesus. Why? Because he's going to save his people from their sins. Jesus is a very historic name. It's the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua. Joshua. Kids, can you remember any Joshuas from the Old Testament? Remember any Joshuas? You remember, right? The great Joshua, the leader of God's people, who led God's people into the Promised Land. Remember it was under Joshua that God delivered his people from the enemies, whether it was at Jericho or other battles throughout the land. Well, you know what the name Joshua means? The name Joshua has a very important meaning. It means Yahweh or the Lord. Yahweh is salvation. Or shortened a bit, Yahweh saves. The Lord saves. That's what Joshua means. And if you think in the Old Testament, you can see how through Joshua, the Lord did save God's people. There they were fighting the battle of Jericho, for example. And God saved His people from their enemies. The Lord saves. You saw it there in the Old Testament. And all these different battles, the Lord delivers them. But now the angel says, this child is going to have this name, Joshua. Call him Joshua. Call him Jesus. Why? For He is going to save His people from their sins. Angel makes an interesting little quick change. He doesn't say, call him Jesus, because the Lord is going to save his people. He says, call him Jesus, because he is going to save his people. Jesus is put in the place of Yahweh. This is a great, great demonstration of how the scriptures speak of Jesus. This child is fully God. Good one to mention. If one of those guys come knocking on your door and trying to tell you that Jesus isn't God, you can take him to a passage like this, because here the angel takes out Yahweh and puts in Jesus. But you see, the point is this child is going to be the savior. He's going to be the one who rescues. That's what saving is. Rescuing. So then the logical question is, well, what is He going to save us from? What is this child going to save us from? It might seem pretty obvious to us what the answer might be, but it was not obvious at all in Joseph's day. The people of God, the Israelites, well, they expected a Savior to come, all right. But they had a pretty clear idea of what He was going to save them from. He was going to save them from Rome, that Savior. The Savior was going to come in and rescue them from political oppression, rescue them from national disgrace, rescue them from the pollution of the Gentiles and their land. But the angel comes in to set the record straight. It's actually going to be better than that. Of course, actually, we have the same confusion today. Even in churches throughout our land, as we talk about the coming of Jesus, Some people get a lot of people get very confused about what Jesus is here to save us from You turn on the the TV or read some best-selling Christian books and you get the idea that that for some Jesus arrived to save us from from disease and sickness and and Poverty Jesus came to rescue you so you can be healthy wealthy and wise every day of your life Now that's the the purpose that Jesus was sent for Or that Jesus was sent for a political purpose, according to some. Jesus came to save us from those Democrats. Unless, of course, you're a Democrat, in which case Jesus came to save us from the Republicans. But for some people, that's the idea. There's a political mission that Jesus is on. And again, the angel comes in and puts the focus where it must be. It's actually better than that, the angel says. His name is to be Jesus, Joshua, the Lord saves, for He will save His people from their sins. From their sins. There's the root of the problem. There's the real ugliness of the world, right? We were reminded of the ugliness of sin this week, weren't we? I was having a conversation even earlier before the service, and the reaction rightly was, Man, apart from God's grace, that would be me. I would be as bad as that. That's right. Sin is the problem. Sin that infects our hearts. It's in the world in ugliness, and it's not just out there. It's in here as well. And if we look carefully enough, we'll see it come out far more often than we like to think. It's that sin that separates us from a holy God. It's that sin that has us under his judgment, headed for eternal judgment. But it's that sin that the angel says that this child came to rescue us from. The very root of the problem. He didn't just come to put some window dressings on the world so that there's some decorations on an ugly world. No, he came to get at the very core of the disease. He's going to save his people from their sin. What a great what a great time to talk about this. What a great time to to celebrate the Lord's Supper as we're going to this morning. The message really is the same with the angel is saying what the Lord's Supper is going to be speaking to us in just a couple of minutes. This child came to save us from sin. This just fills us in the details that how this this savior did it was by sacrificing his own life. His body on the cross as a substitute. The death that we deserve to die for our wickedness, our rebellion against God. The death that we deserve to die, Jesus takes it in our place for those who trust in Him. The blood that He shed on the cross, it was shed as that sacrifice that washes away sin, that marks our lives so that the judgment of God passes over. Jesus comes and he comes to rescue this. This is a December really is the most wonderful time to celebrate the Lord's Supper. It really puts everything in perspective. This is why we celebrate. Not just a baby, but a savior. And here we see it. And here we see that it's at work and we get a taste of it. A taste already seen in our lives that if we're trusting in this Savior, then we are free from the guilt of sin and right before Him. And we can come into His presence. What a glorious thought. Also, a foretaste of what is to come. That we will one day sit at a greater banquet table and dwell with the Lord in a world where there is no more sin. And He died to make that possible. Doesn't that seem a lot more attractive this week? That world where there is no more bad news? There is no more ugliness? Why is that possible? How can we know that that's coming? Because the Savior was born. And He died and has been raised for us. Well, if you don't know this Savior, turn to Him. Find life in Jesus and Jesus alone. He's the only Savior. But that's not the only name the angel gives. Jesus, he will save his people from their sins, but he also calls the baby Emmanuel. Verse 22, all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, Isaiah. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel. Here we're specifically told that the virgin birth of Jesus, it fulfills this prophecy that we read this morning. Isaiah 7, written hundreds of years before the coming of Jesus. But it's fulfilled here. It's arrived here. And again, as Ross was explaining in Isaiah 7, it's a complicated passage, but the gist of it, the core of it is God gives this promise that there's going to be a sign. And the ultimate fulfillment is that a virgin conceives and bears a son, and he will be called Immanuel. He will be called God with us. And here we see, as the angel arrives to Joseph, that this promise from hundreds of years before is being fulfilled with this birth. That there's a virgin, and she's conceived. She's with child. And now there's a son. And what's this son going to be called? God with us. God with us. God no longer separated, no longer far off. Wasn't that the horror of the Old Testament? That separation from God. God no longer lovingly present with His people, present only to condemn. But there, remember Adam and Eve, they sin and they're removed from the Garden. They're kicked out from the presence of God, where they walked with Him and fellowshiped with Him. They're at a distance. And there is God. Even when He appears before His people, there's always a sense of keep a distance. God on Mount Sinai. Don't get too close. You'll be destroyed by this holy God. God is, yes, He's close there at the temple and the tabernacle, but you can't get too close. Stay separated. Only the priests, only with blood, only sometimes. This is a holy God and sin keeps us at a distance. But here is Emmanuel. God with us. He rescues, this child is here to rescue us from sin, so that God can be among us. And He is God. This Son, as we looked at last week, is the eternal God. Taking on human flesh, and now He walks among us. God no longer far off. God no longer at a distance. Now God up close, with us. And just because Jesus is no longer physically walking among us doesn't mean this Immanuel idea is gone. You might remember Jesus saying to his disciples in John, it's actually better if I go away. He says, if I go away, then I will send another. Another point he says, if I go away, I will come to you. He's talking about the Holy Spirit. That Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of Jesus, that's sent to dwell in the midst of every believer. God with us. God with us. That glorious idea that God is lovingly present, not present to condemn, not present in wrath, because the Saviors come and dealt with it. with the presence of Jesus through the Holy Spirit to encourage and bless and lead and strengthen and teach and build up. And again, what a great time to celebrate the Lord's Supper. Don't we see that here? God with us. Hear these elements through the Holy Spirit as we partake of them by faith. We speak about having fellowship with God around the table. Communion. Fellowship. Because He's present. through the Spirit. We come and we remember that He's with us because of what the Savior's done. Regardless of how we might feel, and maybe you don't feel like God is very close because of a difficult week, a struggle, a hurt, a disappointment. But if you're in Christ, and the good news of Christmas and all the work of Jesus, and that God is with you, the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you, even now, And this meal is a taste of that, literally. A taste of it. We take it in. We connect this stuff of Christmas. It gets personal here at the Lord's table. It comes close. Because the Lord has come close. Emmanuel. God with us. So you see, there's really good reason to get excited, to make a big fuss. And it's not just because these are the things we always do, because we do them, but because God has really done something glorious. And we come here at the Lord's table to celebrate it. This probably is the most important meal you'll have in the coming weeks. It might not be the fanciest, it might not be the most physically filling, but it is the most important meal you'll sit down to. Because here you really get the truth through faith. That the Savior has come and has rescued you and brought you to God. And that God is with us even now. So let's celebrate together. Father, we pray that you would bring the truths of the Gospel, the truth of Emmanuel and Jesus home to our hearts. That we would rejoice in what you have done delighting in the good news that the angel announces. Father, we pray for hearts to believe more and more. We ask it in His name. Amen. Amen. In 2.13. 2.13. Please stand.