So Matthew chapter number one, as we begin this morning, looking at the next of the claims of Christmas. As I mentioned last week, we are gonna be looking at the different claims of Christmas this year during the month of December. We only have three weeks to do this, and there are 12 claims that I found in the context of the Christmas story of just what people had to say about Jesus when he got here, when he arrived on earth. I put those 12 in a bookmark so that you could reference them. throughout the Christmas season. And when I began the study, I kind of struggled with how I'm going to teach these because I want to look at all of them. And that would be a lot of fun to study all of them. We just aren't going to have time to really go into any detail to look at all 12 in the three weeks that we have. So then I knew I had to narrow things down a little bit. And so last week we looked at the idea of the claim that he was coming given by the angel Gabriel to Mary and Joseph the claim that he Jesus was coming that he was on his way and that was exciting topic to look at and as I also was narrowed down I knew what we're gonna finish with next week we're gonna do the claim that he's here that was again announced by the angels to the shepherds the shepherds also made that announcement to those around exciting news that he is here perfect topic for Christmas Sunday morning But then I had to come to, what's our middle one? I had 10 left to choose from. Do I combine some, do I look at several of them, or do I have to just pick one? And as I began to pray and study, I narrowed it down to the simple claim made by Joseph, and that claim is, he is Jesus. He is Jesus. Very simple topic for this morning, but I hope as we dig into it, you'll see that it's not, it is simple, but it is profound at the same time. And we'll see that throughout this study. Now this does mean that we're gonna leave out nine of the other claims from our study this year. Maybe we'll get the chance to go back to it another year. But if you have your bookmark, if you could look at it with me. I'd like to look at the other claims that are there. Hold on a minute, I had a bookmark. this morning. There it is. All right. Look at the other claims that are there. Hopefully, these claims that we have will whet your appetite to do some further study or to read the passages on your own. Perhaps you could read them on Christmas morning with your family. Maybe each member can read a claim from a different individual and go around the group and maybe even share some testimonies about what that claim would mean for you and for your family. I think that would be a great time of worship this year at Christmas, just an idea for you. But I want to go over, because we won't have time to do all of these in our series, I'd like to go over and read these together this morning just to kind of get in our mind the different things that were said about Jesus as he came here to earth. So what we'll do is I'll read who said it, I'll read the messenger, and then we can read the message or the claim together. So beginning at the first one there, We see the 12 claims of Christmas. We see that the angel said, He is coming. We see that Elizabeth said, He is Lord. We see that Mary said, He is mighty. We see that Zacharias said, He is God. We see the angel said, He is here. We see the shepherds said as well, He is here. We see Joseph said, He is Jesus. We see that Simeon said, He is salvation. We see that Anna said, He is redemption. We see the wise men saying that he is king. We see Herod said that he's dangerous. We see the chief priest said that he was prophesied. So look at these different claims regarding the person of Jesus Christ at his birth and what people had to say about them. And each of those has meaning that we can learn from today. A lot of people had a lot of things to say about Jesus at the time of His birth. This is only fitting as the coming of Christ was the focus of world history. Everything before that time was looking to when Jesus was coming. Everything since that time is looking back to when He came. This is even the way that our calendar is structured, that it hinges on the life of Christ. It led up to the time everything before Christ was B.C., before Christ. Everything after Christ was A.D. or in the year of our Lord. The history itself hinges on the time of Jesus' coming, the fact that he was here. I remember hearing about a young man who went to his pastor while he was in university. And he came to his pastor, he had just graduated actually, and he came to his pastor somewhat distraught over some of the things he had been taught while he was in university. He had one professor in particular that was very aggressive in... as an atheist. He was very aggressive as an atheist. He was against the things of God. He would argue for evolution, and he would attack Christians that were in his class, and this young man was very confused by being in this professor's class. So he went to his pastor and said, I don't know, after all that I've heard, how can I even know that Jesus is real? And the pastor said, well, next Sunday bring me your diploma that you graduated with. So the young man next Sunday brought it to the pastor and they met after church and said, I don't know what this diploma is going to do. He said, well, I want you to look at it and read what it says there. And he earned a diploma. It had the name of the university. It had the young man's name and it says, this certifies that so-and-so has completed all the necessary requirements to receive this degree from this university on the 15th of May in the year of our Lord, 1994. And right underneath that was the signature of the professor that didn't believe in Christ. signed it right under the year of our Lord, because you can't get away from the fact that Jesus is the reason for history. It's where history hinges. No matter how much you want to deny it, they can try to change the name from before Christ to before the common era or after the common era, but just changing the title doesn't change the fact that that's when history changed, when Jesus came, when Jesus arrived. One pastor I heard years ago put it this way, the message of the Old Testament was that God will provide himself a lamb. The message of the New Testament is behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. And then when we get to the book of Revelation, we read this in a couple of days, the message is worthy is the lamb that was slain. So all of history focuses on Christ and his birth and his coming to earth was very important. And a lot of people had messages to share about that. As we consider the lamb of God this morning, we're gonna be looking at the claim made by Joseph that He is Jesus. Matthew chapter 1, if you found your place, there will be two verses. We read these last week in our study regarding the fact that the angel announced He is coming. But verse 24 of Matthew chapter 1 says, Then Joseph, being raised from his 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." So we see this is happening, the passage here is happening when the angel came to Joseph, but that end part there happened after the birth of Jesus. So about six months later, when Jesus was born, to Mary and Joseph there as well in the city of Bethlehem. Time came for them to name the child, and Joseph, in accordance to what God had told him, named the child Jesus. Joseph had to say about Christ that he is Jesus. Let's open with a word of prayer this morning. Lord, we love you. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this precious gift, Lord, that you gave to the world 2,000 years ago in the person of your Son, Jesus Christ, who came to earth to be born, to live a sinless life, to die and to be raised again from the dead. Lord, so that we can enjoy fellowship with you, we can have victory, Lord, in our lives and a home in heaven one day. Lord, I pray that you bless us as we study your word this morning and we ask all this in Christ's name, amen. We're gonna begin with the messenger. Who is the one delivering this message? Who is the one making this claim? Obviously, again I said this is a very simple lesson, we have Joseph making the claim that he is Jesus. So as we look at this idea of the messenger, first of all I look at the assignment that was given. The assignment given to the messenger, because this message wasn't something that Joseph came up with on his own. You look at other characters in our list of people who make claims regarding Jesus. Some of them were divinely inspired by the angels. Some were given messages of prophecy. Some were just told based on experience or what they came up with on their own. But not for Joseph. The message that Joseph gave was a message that was assigned to him. So when he got this message, where did it come from? Well, Joseph was the one that was going to deliver the message, he is Jesus. It did not originate with him. Joseph didn't come up with the name. He didn't talk it over with Mary. This was the name that was assigned to him by the angel. Now, this might have simplified things a little bit. We've got some people in the church who are expecting and you know if you've had children or you're getting ready to have children that coming up with the name is a little bit difficult. There's a lot of back and forth, and a lot of it has to do with the experiences of the parents, because the wife will have this name that she really likes, and it'll remind the husband of some guy he knew, and he's like, no, no way, I'm not naming my kid after him. Like, well, we're not naming it after him. Like, no, but if I call him that, I'm gonna remember this guy. I don't wanna do that. What about this name? Oh, no, no, no, I knew somebody that had that name, and this is what, so there's that discussion. Well, Joseph and Mary didn't have that. They didn't have that, because their name was assigned to them. It was assigned to them by the angel. The angel commanded Joseph to call the baby Jesus. We see this in Matthew chapter 1 verse number 21. So it was a command. The angel commanded Joseph, here's what's going to happen, here's what you're going to do, here's the name that you're going to give. to this baby that will be born to your wife. This is what the angel told Mary as well. But although the angel was the one who gave this message to Mary and to Joseph that this is what you're going to do, we also see that this message didn't originate with the angel. It wasn't the angel's idea to name the baby Jesus. The message preceded the angel as well. We see that in Matthew chapter 1 verses 22 and 23. 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, shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. So, yes, Joseph gave Jesus his name, but that name was given to him by the angel, but the angel gave Joseph that name because it was prophesied in the Old Testament that he would have this name. Now, we'll get to your question in a minute, saying, wait a minute, Emmanuel and Jesus are different names. We'll talk about that in a minute. You just have to hold on with me. But this is a quote the angel is making here. This is a quote made from Isaiah chapter 7 verse number 14. So Joseph called him Jesus because the angel told him to. The angel told Joseph that the name would be Jesus because it was prophesied in the Old Testament. So was this Isaiah's idea? Well, no, it wasn't. Because the prophet spoke what? He spoke the words of the Lord. Isaiah was a prophet of God, and that meant he would speak what God told him to say. We see this throughout the Old Testament. Exodus chapter 4, verse number 12, when God is talking to Moses, God told Moses, When a prophet spoke, he wasn't speaking his own words, he was sharing a message from God. Another example of this is in Numbers chapter 22, verse number 38. If you remember the story of Balaam, Balaam was hired by one of the Canaanite kings to curse the people of Israel. And he was hired to do so, and God told him he couldn't do it. And Balaam wanted to go along anyway. He was interested in the money. And God told him and confronted him and said, Well, you're not supposed to do this, but I'm going to have you go anyway. But whatever I tell you, that's the only thing that you can say. And he ends up blessing the Israelites instead of cursing them. But that verse is verse number 38 of Numbers 22. And Balaam said unto Balak, Lo, I am come unto thee. Have I now any power to say anything? The word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak. We also see this is the case with Isaiah. Isaiah was the one who gave the prophecy about his name being Emmanuel. But in one chapter earlier, in Isaiah chapter 6, We see this about Isaiah verses 8 and 9. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me. And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and ye see indeed, but perceive not. When Isaiah received his call from God to be a prophet, God said, okay, here's what you're going to do, here's where you're going to go, and here's what you're going to say. So as we see this name being given, it was given to Joseph by the angel, but the angel got it based on the prophecy of Isaiah, but Isaiah got it directly from God. God gave this name to his son all the way back in the time of Isaiah, in order for it to be prophesied that it would take place and this name would be given to the Son of God. The name of Jesus was decided by God, His Father. God chose this name for His only begotten Son. Now, did it happen right there with Isaiah? God was saying, okay, we need to make a prophecy about my coming Son. Huh, we need to come up with a name for Him. No, actually it was from the foundation of the world because Revelation 13 verse 8 says, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world." God knew from the foundation of the world that he was going to send his son to earth to be born in a manger in Bethlehem, to live a sinless life, to one day die on the cross and raise again. And from the foundation of the world, when that plan was put into motion, God had chosen his name. So God chose the name of the Son of God. He gave it to a prophet who prophesied that it would take place. The prophecy was again told by an angel to Joseph and Joseph got this assignment. He got this assignment from God that here's what you're supposed to say about the Son of God when he comes into the earth. You're supposed to say that his name is Jesus. This was the message, the assignment given to Joseph. Now we see the assignment of the message, we also see the acceptance of the messenger. Joseph had a choice to make. Yes, God had given the name, it had gone to Isaiah the prophet, it had gone to the angel, it had been received by Joseph, but Joseph had a choice. Was he going to go along with God's plan? Was he going to give up the opportunity of passing on his family name to the firstborn child born in his house? Was he going to give up the privilege of naming his son after him, a son that he would raise after himself? Was he going to go along with God's plan and identify this child as being not his own in his family? Was he going to go along with it? Was he going to accept that responsibility? Of course we know that yes he did. He was faithful to pass on this message. He would follow God's will, he would make the necessary sacrifices to do what God had called him to do. He was willing to accept the responsibility of being the final messenger in this chain leading to the birth of the Son of God. So around six months and eight days after getting this message from the angel, Joseph was able to say, his name is Jesus. We just see this spirit of humility in Joseph that whatever I want, whatever my will may be, I'm going to set it aside and I'm going to follow what God wants. Because God has a plan that's bigger than me. And I'm going to go along with what God wants to do. And that's wrapped up in the fact that Joseph, after eight days for the circumcising of the child, he said his name is Jesus. He made that decision, he made the determination following the will of God. So that was the messenger, the messenger Joseph giving this message that he is Jesus. Secondly this morning, I'd like to look at the message. The message. What did Joseph have to say? Very simple message. It's just a statement. He is Jesus. Very simple, very basic. On his face, this message given by Joseph is just very simple. It's just four words. His name is Jesus. In fact, I would guess that some of you wondered how I could turn those four words into an entire Sunday School lesson. I did the same when I started studying for it. How am I going to take this and turn it into an entire Sunday School lesson? But there's a lot more going on beneath the surface of this simple message. As I consider this simple message, first of all, I see it's a somber message. There's a seriousness that's going on under the surface here when you look at it and you start to compare it with things going on around this passage. While it was a time of rejoicing, a new child coming into the world, a family beginning to grow, there's excitement that is there, but there's a serious note as well. I want you to read with me the account of the birth of John from Luke chapter one. So if you could turn there with me, Luke chapter one. So this is Jesus' cousin that was born about six months earlier in Luke chapter 1, John. And we see also that his father was giving him a name that was assigned by an angel. Very similar circumstances that Zacharias was going to name his son John based on what the angel had told them. Luke chapter 1 verses 57 through 63. If you found your place you can follow along as I read. There it says in verse number 57, Now Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered, and she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her. and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass, on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. But his mother answered and said, Not so, he shall be called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how that he would have him called. and he asked for a writing table and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marveled all. So we have this story of the miraculous birth of a child, prophesied by an angel, given to a family unable to bear children, and we see everything that goes along with this. Now I want to compare that to a very similar circumstance that happens in Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2, verse number 21, same exact circumstances being described, except now it's Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in the story. Luke 2 verse number 21 says, And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. You notice anything missing there? When you compare, lay those two passages side by side, we have a miraculous birth. We have a couple that were unable to bear children. We have a name that was prophesied. What was missing? I'm missing the celebration, missing the rejoicing. Where is all the family? Where are all the neighbors? Where's the discussion about what the name's gonna be and whether it's going to be a family name or a different name? There was no discussion because there was no family. There was no rejoicing because there were no neighbors that came along to this birth. Now, perhaps we could give the family the benefit of the doubt. I mean, after all, Mary and Joseph were far from home. They were in Bethlehem, right? Well, why were they in Bethlehem? They were in Bethlehem because there was a census. Well, why Bethlehem? Why did they go there? Because they were the house and lineage of David. So who else was in Bethlehem? Everybody else that was of the house and lineage of David. God gathered the entire family together for a family reunion for the birth of Christ, and no one came. No one came to this birth. No one came to rejoice. No one came to talk to Mary and Joseph and say, we've got to give him a family name. Let's call him Joseph. Let's call him this of the family. Let's pick a name from the descents of... No one was there. There was no rejoicing. There was no discussion. What does this say about Jesus? I'm reminded of Isaiah chapter 53, another prophecy. The prophet that said his name would be Emmanuel made another prophecy. In Isaiah 53, verse number 3, it says, He shall be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He is despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrow is acquainted with grief. We his it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. The rejection of Jesus did not start when God forsook him on the cross. It did not begin when his people called out, crucify him. It didn't begin when Peter denied him three times. It happened before the disciples forsook him and fled. It was before the multitudes went away from following him and he asked his disciples, will ye also go away? It was even before the innkeeper told his parents, there's no room for you here. Jesus being despised and rejected began with grandparents that said he'll never be my grandchild. With aunt and uncles that wouldn't recognize his birth. He was despised and rejected from his conception. ostracized, put aside, rejected by men. They hid, as it were, their faces from them. So in this, His name is Jesus. He was acknowledging that this was something that His family wasn't going to accept. And He was despised, rejected, and imagine the sorrow. The sorrow of knowing that Mary and Joseph, perhaps brothers and sisters, in town in Bethlehem, didn't come by, didn't come see, didn't come rejoice. So this somber message. that Jesus was despised and rejected of men. In giving the message that his name was Jesus, whether he realized it or not, Joseph was acknowledging the fact that Jesus would live life despised, rejected of men. It was a very somber message. As I say, it was a simple message, it was a somber message, it was also a submitted message. It was a submitted message. We already touched on this briefly, but Joseph giving this message proved that he was submitted to the will of God. It didn't matter what Joseph had planned to name his firstborn. It didn't matter what Joseph had in mind for how his family would be structured and where they would live and what life would look like. What mattered was what God wanted. So in giving this message, Joseph proved that he was submitted to the will of God. It only mattered what God wanted. See, also it was a sacrificial message. We looked at this a little bit last week and kind of look at the story of what's going on with Mary and Joseph, but by going along with the will of God, they were making a sacrifice. We talked about the rejection that they faced from their family and from those around them. When Joseph claimed his name is Jesus, he was acknowledging the sacrifice that was required of him to follow the will of God. He was giving up his right to a firstborn son. He was giving up the lineage and the heir of carrying on the family name through the firstborn as well. He gave up the first six months of his physical relationship with his wife. He gave up his hope for honor in the community. He gave up his dreams and plans of having a normal family. You know, he sacrificed a lot to deliver this message. But may I submit to you this morning, he gained a whole lot more than he sacrificed. You know, God sometimes calls on us to make some sacrifices to follow His will. But we never give up more than God gives back. And that was the case for Mary and Joseph, although they lost their family, maybe for a time. Some came to believe on Christ later, if we could see from the rest of the stories of the Gospel. We see, although they gave up their family for a time, they got a new family forever. They got a new family, part of the family of God that, you know what, now we're related to Mary and Joseph. in the family of God. We'll get to be in a great family reunion one day, not in Bethlehem, but in heaven. We'll get to be with them. So although they gave up a lot, they got way more than they sacrificed. And the same is true for us. When God calls on us to sacrifice, it's not a sacrifice. I gave this illustration when I was teaching in the junior church class a few weeks ago. I took out, I had some money in my wallet, and I gave one of the kids a $1 bill. I handed it to him, and I pulled out of my wallet a $100 bill. And I said, all right, I think it was Steven. Steven, would you be willing to sacrifice that $1 bill in order to trade it to me for this $100 bill? And he gladly did so. Then I told the kids, I said, now what would you guys think if you heard Stephen later be like, oh man, I can't believe I had to give up that $1 bill just to get this 100. All right, that'd be foolish. That'd be silly. He's crazy. I'll take the 100, right? That's what happens with any sacrifice you make for God. Sometimes we're down here like, oh, I can't believe I had to give this up. God says, I gave you so much more. I gave you something so much better. And that's the case with Joseph. Even though he made a sacrifice when he made this claim that his name is Jesus, he received so much more. than he ever gave up. He gained so much more than he lost. So that's the message. It was a simple message, but it was a somber message, a sacrificial message and a submitted message. Now I wanna go on to talk about what this message meant. What's the meaning? We saw the messenger, we saw the message. What's the meaning? What does this phrase mean? What did it mean then? What does it mean now? Number one, we see that this claim points to His divinity. This claim points to His divinity. The name Jesus was foretold by the angel based on the prophecy of Isaiah that He would be called Emmanuel. So this is going to get us back to our question. Well, how did Emmanuel become Jesus? Well, we're going to look at this and we'll see what it means as far as the definitions of these names. First of all, Emmanuel. Emmanuel, I'm sure most of you know, means God with us. God with us. This prophecy that Isaiah made was a prophecy pointing the time that God would one day take on human flesh and live among His people. God would be with us. Literally, that this child would be born, He would be God, and He would be God living with us. That was the prophecy in Isaiah. Now that takes us to the name Jesus. What does the name Jesus mean? Jesus is the New Testament form of the Hebrew word Joshua. The Hebrew word Joshua when it's carried over into the New Testament and it's the Greek form of the Hebrew word Joshua. So what does Joshua mean? Joshua means Jehovah saves or Jehovah is salvation. So Jesus's name means that Jehovah saves. So Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus, Jehovah saves. So what's the connection between these two? The connection comes into what the angel said. The angel said they would call his name Jesus, why? For he shall save his people from their sins. So Jesus equals salvation. Jehovah equals salvation. So Jehovah saves, Jesus saves, so A equals B, B equals C, A equals C. You guys remember that from geometry, proofs, theories, and stuff like that? I did not enjoy those at all, as much as I liked math. Geometry was my least favorite, but that's when we learned. If A equals B and B equals C, then A equals C. If Jesus is salvation, if Jehovah is salvation, Jesus is Jehovah. So when Jesus was born and it was prophesied that he will be the one to take away our sins, that is God. They're pointing out he is God and he is with us. So that's the connection between Isaiah and what was said about Isaiah and the fact that they gave him the name Jesus is that Jesus is God and God is with us. Claiming this baby was Jesus points to the fact that he is God. I had a discussion on the phone a few months ago. Somebody called the church and wanted to prove to me that Jesus was not God. And it was a lot of yelling on his side and a lot of scripture on my side, and we didn't really get anywhere with that. But he wanted to make this claim. It just so happened, though, that within the next day, I was preparing for something, and I read the book of John. Now, go look at the book of John, read it with the question in mind, was Jesus God? Was Jesus God? If you have that question in your mind when you read the book of John, you're just overwhelmed with the case that John makes for the fact that Jesus is God, Jesus is divine. It permeates the book. It's claimed by Jesus, it's claimed by those around him. You only have to read the first verse to understand that. John 1 in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Very simple, very clear. You say, well, wait a minute, well, who's that word person? Look down at verse number 14. Verse number 14 says, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. So God put on the flesh, God with us. Emmanuel is the one, God dwelling with us. God is the one who brings salvation. Jesus would save his people from their sins. Jesus is God who has made flesh to dwell among men. So when Joseph said, his name is Jesus, he was saying that Jesus is God. Fully God, fully man. So why did God become a man? So he could save his people from their sins. So that brings us to the second meaning of this claim. Not only does this claim point to his divinity, this claim also points to his deliverance. The reason Jesus was given his name was because he would save his people from their sins. The deliverance that he would offer would not only be available to the Jewish nations, but it would be offered to every man, woman, boy or girl that would ever live. You see, every one of us is born in bondage to sin. We're born that way. We're born in sin. We're born tied up to sin. We're born with sin ruling over our lives. And the only way to escape this bondage is to find someone who can deliver us from the bondage. And let me say with Joseph, his name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. And when Joseph said that after the eight days of the circumcision of the child, Joseph gave him the name prophesied by the angel, prophesied by the prophet, given by God, and said, his name is Jesus. I don't know how much he knew, but we learn later that at the name of Jesus. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess. It's only through Christ that we can turn to God for salvation. He is the one who can free us from our sins. He is the one who can give us that deliverance. Where do I go for salvation? Where do I go for deliverance? I go to Jesus. His name is Jesus. So this claim points to His deliverance. Thirdly, this claim points to his death. This claim pointed to the fact that Jesus would one day die. That's great news that he would save his people from their sins, but we cannot escape the fact that that would only be possible through the death of this man. of Jesus on the cross, a baby at this time, to grow into a man to one day give his life for his people in order to save them from their sins. Again, I didn't know how much of this was understood by Joseph and Mary as he gave Jesus his name. It was prophesied soon after as someone came up to them in the temple, Simeon, and told Mary that a sword shall pierce her heart also, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also. Jesus was born to die. That was his purpose. He came to earth, yes, save us people from their sins, but that was going to be accomplished by His death. It was a choice, not a requirement. You see, it's required that I die. It's going to happen. I'm going to die one day. You're going to die one day. Sorry to break the news to you. I heard somebody come by selling life insurance one time, and the person said, now if you were to die someday, the person said, what do you mean if? It's going to happen. We are required to die. Why? Because as one man sent an industry into the world, death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Because of my sin, it is a requirement that I will one day die. I'm going to, my body's going to wear out, something's gonna happen, and I'm going to die. This wasn't the case for Jesus. There was no requirement on Him to die. Why? There was no sin in Him. With no sin, there was no death penalty on his life. So for him to go and die was a choice. A choice that he made. He chose to die so that he could offer salvation to us. If you have the bookmark there, the image in the background is something that my dad had commissioned for somebody to paint for him. And it's a picture of the baby in the manger, a much bigger picture than what has on our card. I'll try to get the message of the picture in here. But as the baby lays in the manger, it's looking out of the stable into the sky, and the crossbeam of the manger, the stable, is there in view. And the idea was, even in the manger, Jesus was looking to the cross. Some people say, well, when did Jesus know that He was God? Well, He knew that when He was conceived. And He knew that when He was born. He knew that as He laid in the manger. He knew that as He was a young boy in the temple. He knew that as He grew up with His brothers and sisters. He knew that as He started His ministry. He knew that He was God. He knew that He was going to die. Lying in that manger, Jesus knew that He was there to die for the sins of mankind. What were the shepherds told about him? The shepherds were told by the angels, unto you is born this day, what? A Savior. Unto you is born a Savior. How would he be a Savior? By dying. By dying on a cross to pay for our sins. Laying in that manger as his mother and adopted father looked on. As the shepherds came and the animals made noise as we sing away in a manger. No crib for a bed. What was on Jesus' mind? He was looking ahead to the cross. pointing out the fact that he would one day die. The claim points to his death. Fourthly, the claim points to sin's destruction. What a sober message to overshadow the celebration of new life and the birth of a baby. That would be a very sober and somber and sad message there with the baby. This baby's here, the reason he's here is so that he will die, but It's not so sad when we think about the rest of the story. Because not only did he know there in the manger that he was going to die, he also knew that he would rise again. Because after his death, he would have his resurrection. It was true. It may seem that this child was doomed from his birth if his purpose was to die, but the death is not the end of the story. His death had a purpose as well. He knew from the manger he would die. He also knew from the manger he would rise again. In his resurrection, he would win victory over sin, death, and the grave. Sin's power over man was broken when Jesus rose again. Anyone that would like to can be free from the clutches of sin simply by turning to the one whose name is Jesus. Jesus' deliverance, His victory over sin, His victory over death, it was prophesied there in that moment when they said His name is Jesus. The fact that He would one day die, the fact He would one day rise again, and He would have power, He would take the power away from sin and death, and He'd be able to give victory to anyone who wanted it. Sin's chains were broken when Christ came out of the tomb. There's victory. There's victory in Christ. So the claim points to sin's destruction. Now lastly, this morning, this claim calls for a decision. This claim calls for a decision. We see all that that meant in the life of Christ, in the life of those around them, but that claim made by Joseph has an effect on us today. The fact that Joseph stood there and said, His name is Jesus, that means something to me. That means something to you. That means something to all those around us. First of all, for the unsaved. The unsaved is that we know that there is a name by which they can come to salvation. There is a name that they have to turn to in order to be saved. That's the name of Jesus. We should proclaim that name far and wide as we sung this morning. Go tell it on the mountain. Go tell everyone that Jesus Christ is born. Tell them that Jesus came. That He came and He came to die. He came to rise again. He came to give victory over sin. Because people all around us, although victory is available, they're still tied up in the chains of sin. They're still bound by their sin, and they're on their way to a devil's hell to spend eternity being punished for sins, and they don't have to, because that penalty's already been paid. They need somebody to tell them. They need somebody to let them know that Jesus came and paid that penalty for them. He came, why? So He could free His people from their sins. The unsaved need to turn to Jesus. The message for them is that He is Jesus. Only by Him can you be delivered from your sins. Jesus is ready today to receive you if you will turn to Him. The claim for the unsaved is that He is Jesus. He's Jesus and He can deliver you from your sins. But what about us today? What about the saved? If you're in here today and you've already made that decision. You've come to Christ. You've received forgiveness of sins. You know you're saved. You have a home in heaven one day. What does this claim mean for you as well? That He is Jesus. His name is Jesus, we saw, because he will save his people from their sins. Now I understand if you're saved, Jesus has freed you from sin's power and sin's penalty. Yet so many Christians still live their lives in bondage to sin, not because they have to, but because they've chosen to. In Romans chapter 6, I'd encourage you to read the passage, he talks about how we that are saved are no longer in bondage to sin. But he says in that passage, you can choose to yield your members, servants, to obey. You can yield them to God, your members to God, unto righteousness, or yield them unto sin. You can choose, as a Christian, you've been freed from sin, but you can put yourself back into bondage by going back to that sin. Now, that doesn't mean you lose your salvation. What it does mean is that you've taken on that horrible master again, and Christ is still there, and He can still forgive you of your sins. He can still free you from that bondage. There's Christians that live day by day in bondage to sin, and they say, I don't know what I can do. I don't know if there's any way out. I don't know if there's victory. Yes, there is. And His name is Jesus. If you're in bondage today to do anything that is sin, now we like to redefine it. It's just a bad habit. It's just a bad sin. It's just something that I deal with. If we can say that it's sin, we can go to Christ and say, I need forgiveness. I need deliverance from this sin. I've been tied up in sin again, and I know I've gotten forgiveness, and I have a home in heaven one day, but this sin has got me bondage while I'm here on earth. I don't want to yield my members, servants, to sin anymore. I want to yield them unto God, to righteousness. And there's a way to do that, and His name is Jesus. Whatever has a grip on your life today, deliverance is found in one place. He is Jesus.