All right, Matthew chapter number 1, Matthew chapter 1, and we want to pick up over here in verse 21, Matthew 1 and verse 21. And the scripture says here, and she shall bring forth a son, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now if you could, of course, go down to verse 23. Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel. which being interpreted is God with us. And as God came to be with us, we pick up in chapter 4 and verse 23, we see this Immanuel, this Jesus that was to save His people from their sins. Chapter 4 and verse 23, and Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. Lord, we pray that you'll help us as we continue thoughts from last week about what your life should teach us in our life, and that we might be strengthened, Lord, of course, in our knowledge of you, in our commitment to you, our faithfulness to you, and in our fruitfulness in the work that you've left us to do. Please bless our time now in the word. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. And so last week we talked about this phrase here in verse number 23, that Jesus went in and worked among the people. He loved people because they were lost. He loved people because they were confused. He loved people because of the devastating nature that sin had left them in, not just mentally, spiritually, emotionally, but also physically. And you remember our Savior was not afraid to minister among the outcasts of society, even as He healed lepers and helped them in their lives. And so you and I are reminded by His commitment and His work in the world that we should be busy about our work in the world as well. We've been left here to certainly minister to, strengthen, and help one another, but we've also been left here to impact our community, the community outside of the church for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and for God's glory. And so we need to ask the Lord to help us have eyes to see where we might be able to be used of the Lord. Lift up your eyes, the Lord said, and see the harvest that's white already, He said. And so we need to be careful to remember that that's what the Savior did. And in certain instances, he said, look, I've got to go and preach other places also. And so his desire was to reach just as far as he possibly could to impact lives with the message of truth. He worked, though, among the people, among the people. We want to be a people that works among the people. that has an impact. Christianity was never intended just to be a, you know, a us four and no more inside these four walls kind of thing. Our Christianity, your individual faith, you have. We just talked a moment ago about your family and your friends that are unsaved and you are the gospel for them. You're the light for them. You ought to be trying to do all you can with God's help to shine the brightest you can for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what our Savior did. He went in among the people. He sat and ate with sinners, the Bible says. And he was ridiculed for it, criticized for it. But of course, he was seeking to reach them with truth as well. So he went among the people. And so while he was among the people, he showed us how to work with people. But he also taught us not only how to work with people, but our Savior in his life taught us how to walk with God. Now you remember from Sunday, if you were in the service, you remember that He being in the form of God. And that word being means that He did not change His deity. He did not lose His deity when He came into the world, but it was now God in human flesh. And so he was God, and he came into the world, and as God in the flesh, taught us how to walk with God. You want to know, some people say, well, I'd certainly like to be discipled. And I think that's a great thing. But one of the greatest ways you can disciple yourself is by studying the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. You learn how to walk with God. You learn how to respect God. You learn how to follow God. That's what our Savior did. And as we look at some aspects of His life, we begin to realize that even as God in the flesh, He taught us how to follow the Holy Spirit of God and the power of the Spirit on His life. Look in your Bible back one chapter here. might be back one page for you but Matthew chapter 3 and verse 16 the Bible says in Jesus when he was baptized went up straight way out of the water and lo the heavens were open unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. Now you remember this was the sign that God had given John the Baptist when you see this one when you baptize this one and you see this event that the Holy Spirit lights upon him, you're going to realize that that is the Lamb of God. That is the Son of God. Interesting that, you know, of course, Jesus would have three years of public ministry, but before he ever started on that was the coming of the Spirit of God on his life. And he taught us how to wait, if you will, upon the Spirit, be endued with power from on high, as the Lord told the folks going into Acts chapter number 2. And so, but the work of the Spirit was evident even in our Lord's childhood. And as he was coming and growing up matter of fact the on last Sunday I had a few moments to speak to the bus Families as they were there and I I took the theme from Luke chapter 1 and Luke chapter 2 twice in the book of Luke the Bible says and the child grew and the child grew and And we took a couple minutes to look at a few points about the fact that children should not be left just to grow up on their own, and that's all. As a matter of fact, children shouldn't just be grown up, they should be brought up. And that was the point of, well, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he's old, he'll not depart from it. And so that was Jesus' life. Jesus was brought up in the things of God and Luke chapter number one in verse 80 tells us and the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel Luke chapter 2 in verse 40 the child grew and waxed strong in spirit filled with wisdom and And the grace of God was upon him. In Luke chapter 2 and verse 52 continuing, Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and favor with God. Favor with God and man. That was the testimony of the growing up years of our Savior. It ought to be the testimony of every Christian home. Young children brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord that wax strong in spirit, full of wisdom and God's grace upon them, just as our Savior was. Matthew chapter 3 and verse 16, again, tells us when Jesus was baptized, the Spirit came upon Him. And then in Luke chapter 4 and verse number 18, the Spirit of the Lord, He said, is upon me because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel of the poor. So the Spirit of God was upon our Savior. As a matter of fact, that passage in Luke 4, verses 18 and 19 was his first public words in the place of worship, other than when he was dealing with the doctors of the law. But I mean, the first thing he quoted was Isaiah's promise about the Spirit of God upon his life. And he taught us then how to follow the Spirit as our guide, so that when we're commanded in Ephesians 5 and verse number 18, be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. So our Savior set the example for living that kind of life, spirit fullness. Of course, is the aspect of our life whereby or the characteristic of our life whereby the Spirit of God controls our life and our living. And this is the kind of power we need upon our life because it produces the boldness that we need. In Acts chapter number 4 and verse 31, the Bible records a prayer meeting there. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the Word of God with boldness. You get filled with the Spirit and the Spirit is going to give you boldness to speak the Word of God. It might be the Word of God as a witness. It might be the Word of God as counsel or help or encouragement or maybe even correction in somebody's life. But if you're going to do it the way God wants you to do it, you'll have to be filled with the Spirit of God. Amen. It produces boldness. It also is the Spirit of God that protects us in the midst of the ministry. Look, Jesus was tempted of the devil three times. Tempted of the devil. And each time he said, it is written in Matthew chapter 4. Now think about this. Before you ever get to those it is writtens here in Matthew 4, you begin to realize that the Bible says in verse 1, then was Jesus led up of the Spirit. Matter of fact, in another place it said the Spirit driveth him. That ought to be the state of our life, driven by the Spirit of God, led by the Spirit of God. Because it produces boldness, it's what gives us wisdom in the midst of the spiritual warfare of it all to have protection from God. It is that Spirit then that produces the results of our work. I think a lot of our fruitlessness comes from our fleshliness in the work. We need the power of the Spirit of God on what we do. Acts 1 and 8, you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, you shall be witnesses unto me. In Acts chapter number 2, in the early verses there, the Spirit of God came upon the church and by the end of the chapter, he's adding to the church daily such as should be saved. That's the power of the Spirit of God upon the believer's life. Let me tell you something. A zeal for God and the things of God should not be an oddity in the church, as far as people are concerned. It should be a regularity in the church, that all of God's people have the zeal of God because of the fullness of the Spirit in their life. I get worried about some Christians, and they just kind of ho-hum and take it or leave it. There's not a whole lot of giddy-up about them. And that's got to be the result of the flesh, because the Spirit gives boldness. The Spirit gives energy. The Spirit gives spiritual life if we're filled with the Spirit of God. And so it is that Spirit that produces those results. And so our Savior taught us the importance of being filled with, controlled by the Spirit of God. Came into the world to do it, and from a child. Set that example. Now, you've heard it said before, I'm sure, you know, what if you had been Jesus' siblings? And mom had said, I wish you'd be more like your brother Jesus. Of course, you know, hey, okay then. But the fact of the matter is, because of our salvation in him, because that same spirit is in us, we can be Christ-like, amen. We can honor him with our life, but only by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so he taught us how to let the Spirit of God be our guide. Then he taught us to keep our focus on pleasing God with our life. Pleasing God with our life. There were a lot of people that were excited about the Lord. I mean, Zacchaeus so much, I've heard about him, he climbed up a tree to see Him when he walked by. And there were a lot of people excited about his ministry. There were other people that didn't like him so much. Number of times they tried to stone him. Number of times, of course, because he was fighting this spiritual warfare, the devil tried to derail him. Well, if he had, you know, Jesus wasn't in the business of taking polls and saying, now look, what do you think I ought to do? No, no, his number one focus was the pleasure of God. I'm gonna do whatever it takes. Matter of fact, we quote it so often, John 8 and 29, he said, I do always those things that please him. Now there's a lot of people like to quote that verse and they're crossed with other people that are following the Lord. We like to take verses and allow ourselves to be rogues and rebels within the camp of the Lord. The fact of the matter is, if we have the mind of Christ, we all go in the same direction. Amen. We all have the same mind, the same goal, the same wisdom, the same zeal, as I said a moment ago. And so when we're trying to seek to please God, most of the time, we find ourselves, when we're falling short, having fallen into the trap of trying to please ourself over pleasing God. But not Jesus, I do always those things that please Him. And He taught us how to walk with God. Every time I think about this, I think about Enoch, who walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. That's the whole picture, if you will, of the Christian life that's taken up at the rapture, amen. They walked with God, and they were not, for God took them. Enoch walked with God. Jesus walked with God, and He taught us how to walk with God. We said before, we don't continue to be keeping our minds. We don't want to just be guilty of having religion. We want to have a walk with the living God, the Almighty God, the one and true and living God. I want to walk with Him. What did the Savior do to illustrate that? Well, we had a Savior that set the example for us in prayer. And he was a man of prayer, sometimes praying all night. Luke 6 and 12 says he continued all night in prayer to God. He went out into the mountain, the Bible says in that verse, for that specific purpose, to pray all night in prayer to God. What do you think about all night prayer meeting? That's what I thought. It's easy to say, yeah, boy, we need to do that. All right, come on out this Friday. Tough night for me to get here. Yeah. Jesus prayed all night, continued all night in prayer to God. He was a prayerful man. You know the Garden of Gethsemane, he cried out to God and prayed with great intensity as he yielded himself to God's will. He taught us how to pray. You know, one of the things I appreciate about the Psalms is they record just people talking to God with whatever emotions going on. Yeah, you know, sometimes our hearts are hurting. Sometimes we're a little bit confused. Sometimes we're worn out. And some of the folks in the Old Testament prayed, God, are you paying attention? Do you see what's going on down here? And somebody says, oh my goodness, we don't want to be guilty of blasphemy. Well, that's true. That's right. But when we begin to call out and cry out to God like that, it's a result of intensity. It's seriousness. It's a real burden of prayer. Brother, when we get around to getting our religious vocabulary just right before we say a word to God, we might have just gotten into flesh instead of spirit. Amen. And let me tell you something. When Peter was sinking in that water, his prayer was not one that was properly formatted. He said, Lord, save me. Yeah, because he was in a desperate moment. And why was he in a desperate moment? Well, he was in a desperate moment because he was obeying the Lord. He was in a desperate moment because he was living by faith. Because the Lord said, he bid Peter to come to him. Peter said, Lord, if it's you, I'm coming. That's what he did. And then he was sinking. And he had to cry out to God. My submission many times is that we're not doing enough for God to have to cry out to God like that. And we're pretty comfortable. But our Savior was in spiritual warfare. Over there in John 17, the Lord's Prayer, He prayed to God the Father. He prayed about His disciples. He prayed for those that were going to get saved as a result of the witness of the disciples. And He demonstrated a heart for prayer for the sake of eternity and for the sake of souls, He prayed. Our Savior walked with God by prayer. Our Savior also walked with God by study. And in Luke 2 and 52, the Bible says, we quoted a minute ago, Jesus increased in wisdom and stature. He never ceased to be God, as we said on Sunday, but He did have to grow up in the flesh. And so he was subject to the normal processes of human growth, intellectually and physically and socially. But the Bible says in Luke 2 and 42, and when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. It came to pass that after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished, listen, at his understanding and his answers. 12 years old. Now look, I'm gonna have to say that Jesus' upbringing, as far as that's concerned, is far more serious than a lot of the upbringing we have going on in our homes and in our churches and the work of our young people. We've fallen into the trap for many years now in our children's ministries of doing more entertaining than training. And the end result is we have young people that come up and they've colored a lot of pictures, but they don't know anything about the Lord or the Bible or, you know, the power of God or the importance of Christian discipline and virtues. Our Savior was brought up in the seriousness of the faith so that at 12 years old, He was there hearing and answering the doctors of the law at 12. Now, I know, I know He was God in the flesh. Amen. I understand. But the fact of the matter is, we have His Word. We have His Spirit. We have His presence. And we have the promise of His wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. You and I ought to be the kind of believer that's continuing to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord set the example for that. And I'm glad God included those snapshots of his childhood in the Bible so young people can learn they can live for God. You don't have to wait to adult church to live for God. Amen. You can be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ now. You can know God, you can know the Bible. You ought to and families ought to be training their children that way and so he was prayerful and he was studious But then our Lord was faithful when it came to the matter of worship. He walked with God by worship God this the Sun taught us how to worship I like Mark chapter 3 and verse 1 says he entered again into the synagogue, you know what that word again means He'd been there before And he was there regularly a matter of fact Matthew chapter 26 and verse 55 mark 1449 Luke 1947 and Luke 22 53 all say he was daily in the temple He was daily there now. I know I understand, you know kind of been doing this a while but here's the thing our Savior's life is revolved around the place of worship. It did. This place of worship was central in his life. Church is not a hobby for him. It wasn't a, hey, if I get a minute, I'll go. Oh, wait, let me look and see when my calendar's open on Sunday and we'll go on that Sunday. No, that wasn't the Lord. He was there, his life revolved around it. Luke chapter 4 and verse 16, he came to Nazareth, listen, where he had been brought up. Nazareth, where he was brought up. As his custom was, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Amen. Now look, I had the blessing of, I went to church, I drug to church. but didn't get any much out of it. There wasn't a whole lot in the home life that was backing up what was going on down to church life. Hello. And so we went, but I didn't know much about it. But then we left, went in the military, got saved. You know the testimony. And then come back to visit my mama there in North Carolina and ended up going into that little church. I drove by and never been in that church as a child. Right there on Lake Glenville. And used to go down around behind there, because there used to be a bait shop back there, but I never did go to the church when I was a child. But brother, when I came back, I went to church and had the privilege of standing and preaching the word of God in that church that I'd never been to, to acquaintances and friends of mine that probably thought to themselves, good night, Irene, what happened to that guy? I was glad for it. Amen. As a matter of fact, when I stood up to preach, I said, listen, here, I know some of y'all about to turn me off right from the beginning, but here's the truth of it. Jesus saves. Amen. Amen. And so when Jesus went back to his hometown He went right into the synagogue on the Sabbath day because our Savior showed us the example of faithfulness to the house of God and the worship of God and it was in that synagogue when he said in Luke 4 and 18 the spirit of the Lord is upon me and so he set the example for us and walking with God by prayer and by study and by worship and And then he taught us he taught us how to live a holy life And I'm tell you one thing we you know, the Lord talked about Washing feet and all and bathing all over when he washed the disciples feet. He taught that lesson there You know you get bathed one time and you just need to get your feet washed and the whole point was you get saved once and then you just keep yourself clean by confession and And you and I, our greatest struggle in this world is practical and personal holiness. But the Lord set the example for us in it. Hebrews 4 and 15, we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Yet without sin. He was holy, harmless, and undefiled, we preached on a while back from Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 26. Now look, before we got saved, we didn't have any choice. I mean, Ephesians 2 and 1 says we were dead in trespasses and sin, and we walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince and power of the air, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience. And we all had our conversation there in times past. I regret every minute of mine. And I don't do you don't brag about that kind of thing It's awful terrible Thank God for his grace and his forgiveness I mean listen what Jesus told him in John 8 and 44 you're of your father the devil Well, that'd go over like lead balloons today You're of your yeah, you are of your father the devil listen and the lust of your father ye will do Like father, like son, amen. And that's the way it is before we get saved. We're lost and undone without God and his son. Before we got saved, we didn't have any choice. We walked according to the prince and power of the earth. By the way, there are a lot of people that come into salvation that will accept the forgiveness of Jesus Christ for their salvation, but then they won't forgive themselves for the life they lived before they got saved. I'll remind you, you're not the one responsible for that forgiveness. Jesus Christ is the one that's responsible for that. And where he has forgiven, who are you to condemn yourself? It ought to cause us to rejoice in the grace and the goodness of God that forgave us and gave us a life worth living. I didn't have one worth living. Really? Probably wouldn't have lived long in it anyway. The fact of the matter is, life became life after eternal life, amen, in Jesus Christ. After salvation, because of the presence of the Spirit, leadership of the Word of God, the help of the Lord, we do have a choice. First John 2 and 1, my little children, these things write unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. I don't want to sin. But then we choose to. Then what do we do? That's when the advocate comes in, pay the price, argues the case, and it's not as if it's just covered up. No, no, it's paid for. It's paid for. We have a choice. And so our Savior taught us how to walk with God by prayer and by study and by worship and by separation and holiness unto God so that he said, be ye holy for I am holy. I want to seek that kind of holiness. Got a long way to go. But the fact of the matter is it ought to be something we're working toward all the time. in our walk with God. So our Savior walked with God. He taught us how to walk with God. And then He also taught us how to depend on God. Now all this is in the flesh, remember? That's why He came. To show us how to depend on God. Matthew 11 and verse 27, all things are delivered unto me of my Father. That's it. I'm completely dependent upon him. All things are delivered unto me of my Father. And I'm going to trust him. I'm going to believe Him. I'm going to wait on Him. It's God's strength that helps us get through in life in the end. Jesus said, I'm the vine, you're the branches. He that abides with me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing. Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Now the one in John 15.5 are the Savior's words, without me you can do nothing. The other are the words of the Apostle Paul, a sinner saved by grace, by his own testimony, the chief of sinners. And he said, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Amen. And then it's that strength that allows us to rest in him. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." Our Savior taught us about that. As he depended upon God and waited upon God, all things are delivered unto me of my Father. He walked with God. He depended on God. These are examples he set forth. And then in the end, he glorified God. In Matthew 19 and verse 17, when the young man we talked about last week came and said, hey, good master, what did the Lord say? Why do you call me good? There's only one that's good, and that's God. He made sure to keep God in His proper place, to honor God, to glorify God, and to make sure that God gets the credit for all the good and righteous and holy things that are done in our life. It's to the glory of God. It's by the grace of God that it's done. Every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights, in whom is no variable. It's not a shadow turning. Now, you remember Jesus, of course, if you've read through the Gospels any number of times, you know the life the Lord lived. You know the work the Lord did. You know the things the Lord faced. You know how the Bible just said, we just said a moment ago, he was in the temple daily teaching. And then in his prayer, in John 17, he said, I thank thee, Father, that you have revealed it. It was the Spirit of God that gave the illumination for individuals to understand the truth of God. You and I are just the mouthpieces for that truth, and so therefore, we're very careful not to glory in accomplishments in the flesh, not to glory in talents in the flesh, because they come from God. By the grace of God, I am, what I am? I'm telling you, I'm thankful for the grace of God tonight. and salvation and got a long way to go, man, but so thankful for the progress that God has given. That comes from, of course, a desire to bring glory to His name. Glory to His name. That's what our Savior did. He walked with Him, He depended on Him, He glorified Him, and then finally He obeyed God. Now we talked a little bit about this on Sunday night. The importance of obedience to God. Again, we just said a moment ago with regard to the Lord's prayer in the garden. He said, Oh my father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. In Matthew 26 and verse 42, thy will be done. And it's not just a matter of God beating him over the head and saying, now, look, you ought to do this. OK, then. All right, then. Remember, we said that the Lord prepared him that uniform of the flesh, and the Lord's response was, I delight to do thy will, O God. And it wasn't a matter of forcing him into it. But he said in John 9 and 4, I must work the works of Him that sent me while it's day. There's no choice. There was no choice for him. And if we love God, there's no choice for us. I must work the works of him that sent me. That was the Savior's attitude in the world. And he was in submission to the will of God. You remember when Jesus sat with the woman on the well, and the disciples came back, and they said, what's he doing talking to her? And here, Master, take and eat. And he said, I have meat to eat you know not of. Now, on the one hand, that's a revelation of the commitment of God the Savior for the will and the work of God. On the other hand, it's somewhat of a little bit of rebuke for the disciples. I have meat to eat, ye know not of. So it wasn't just a matter of Jesus reluctantly submitting to the will of God. He had a zealousness for the will of God, a zealousness for obedience to God, even when he was a child. After they traveled three days, came back three days, hunted for him for three days in Jerusalem, and they said, we didn't know where you were. And he said, why were you searching for me? Don't you know I must be about my father's business? As a child, I've got to do God's will. I want to obey the Lord. And then he said this, and we'll close in John 4 and 34. He said, my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me. That's what makes me go. You ever heard somebody say with regard to somebody that's into something, they say, boy, he's eat up with it. I mean they eat, sleep, breathe, whatever. Whatever it is they do. That's the way anybody ought to feel about the place where God has them in the world. Amen. Whatever you do, you ought to be the best at it. Enjoyably so. Amen. That's one indication of the hand of God upon you as you do it. But that was Jesus' fulfillment. My meat is to do that. If I couldn't do that, I'd feel like I was starving. And my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me. Not just to do it, but listen to this last phrase, and to finish His work. To see it all the way through. That was the Savior's commitment. That's what He taught us. I think we're real good at starting stuff and not finishing it. But we ought to be the kind of people that are committed to the will and the work of God until the end. Until the end. I'm going to finish that work. And so the Savior taught us all these things. Came into the world. Coming into the world, he taught us how to work with people. And he taught us how to walk with God. And the question we have to be reminded of every time we come into the Christmas season is, did we get the lesson? Did we get it? Let's stand together and bow our heads for prayer.