Our passage this evening, hopefully, if you were here this morning, is somewhat familiar. We're in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 1, we'll be reading verses 18 through 25, and you can find that on page 959 in your Bibles. Hear now the word of the Lord. 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 virgins shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from his 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. And that ends the reading of God's word. What is your greatest need? During this season, it's very easy for us to have gotten wrapped up in thinking about, I need this, I need that. People are looking to give me things at this time, so this might be a good time to cash in on those needs. I remember when I was a kid, it seemed like every four years or so, I just needed a new video game system. The funny thing is, every few years, I needed a new one. It didn't ultimately quench what I thought I needed. Really, it turned out to be more of a one. This evening, I thought it would be good after having read and considered the last last week from mary's perspective the birth of christ and this morning we went through and we considered simeon's perspective in the birth of christ i thought it would be good to go through and consider things on joseph's side and particularly on his side of things one of the things that comes out is God-fulfilling needs. One of the things that we get is that we find that God is a very providential God. Now, what does that mean? We've probably heard that often. God and His providence, or God is a providential God. Generally speaking, when we speak of God's providence, we speak of the way that He sustains His creation and the way that his hand is in essence upon that creation, ultimately by the ordering of events and how they play out. But it also speaks to the provisions that he gives specifically to his people. In this passage, we see the way that God's providence was evident in the salvation of his people. And we see it in this text when we look at Joseph's predicament, his provision, and his privilege. Those are going to be our working three points for this evening. Predicament, provision, and privilege. Now, from the outset of the narrative, there's a situation before Joseph. And there's a situation that is actually put on us as the readers or the hearers of this account. Plainly speaking, we see that there is a betrothed woman, Mary, who is found to be pregnant with a child. Now, as a reminder or an explanation for those that might not be familiar with what betrothal meant in this cultural setting, it was basically the engagement. So Joseph and Mary were engaged. Typically, it was arranged. It wasn't necessarily that they fell in love with each other, despite how romantic that might seem to us as we think about the story. Nonetheless, they were engaged. And in that engagement, culturally, that was legally binding, just like marriage was. The only difference was there had not been a wedding yet, and the marriage had not been consummated. Now with that in mind, when we step back into the text, for everyone, whether it's us reading it or those that were living at this time, upon finding out that Mary is pregnant, it would have led to one of two conclusions. one conclusion would be that Mary and Joseph had fornicated and conceived a child together out of wedlock before they were married. But we know that that's not the case, especially since we're reading from Joseph's perspective. Joseph knew that this child was not his. The other assumption or conclusion that could come here was that Mary had been unfaithful to joseph and this is likely what joseph would have been wrestling with that his fiance had cheated on him to put it in terms that we speak of today now we are not told at all how joseph found out maybe it was like that reo speed wagon song take it on the run where he heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who and so on maybe it was a gossip thing. The rumor mill was circulating and it worked its way back to Joseph. It could be Mary, but none of the Gospels make a mention or seem to indicate that Mary told him. All we're meant to know and all Joseph knew by what the text tells us is that she was pregnant and she was with a child that was supposedly from the Holy Spirit. No matter the way that it came about with Mary being pregnant, though, it put Joseph in a predicament. Now, for us, we are meant to feel the weight of that tension as well. For believers throughout the ages, as we read this, we're supposed to feel the weight of this. Put yourselves in Joseph's shoes and ask, how credible is this? A child conceived by a virgin. I ask you, do you know any cases in your lifetime where this has happened? Do you know of any cases besides this in history where this has happened? No. And for Joseph, certainly this would have been true too. Now, Joseph would have been well aware, being a Jewish man, that in the old testament scriptures that there were instances where god had worked miraculously to open the womb of several different women most notably we have the account where sarah gives birth to isaac but in that instance abraham and sarah they were married they were together and the pregnancy that happened happened the natural way that things happen usually And they were also married. So with this difference, it meant that Joseph was going to have to deal with the stigmas surrounding this situation as part of his predicament. One stigma would have obviously been that they would have dealt with damage to their reputations and being slandered. In the Jewish culture at this time, just as it has been throughout the ages, dating all the way back to the beginning, and also throughout Christianity, sex outside of marriage was viewed very negatively. It was viewed, in this case, on the same level as murder and idolatry. Scripture and the law prescribed execution in these instances. That's how grievous a sin it was. Now, at this time period, scholars have noted that it was not carried out often, that is, the execution or capital punishment. Typically, what would happen in cases of adultery would be divorce would have been sought, and then the offending parties would have dealt with the ramifications of their actions by being banished from their community, potentially, or simply just having a damaged reputation. An example we can think of, notably in the life of Christ, is the woman at the well. that he comes across. In cases with betrothal, like we have here, it was viewed just the same as adultery. And, as I just mentioned, it was typical to seek divorce, as Joseph, we read, was considering and planning to do. But even in the midst of this, Joseph still had consequences for himself. He was still going to be publicly shamed, because it was an embarrassment to have your fiancé be unfaithful to you. For a man to seemingly not be good enough to his betrothed was an embarrassment that they would have to live with for the rest of their life. These things Joseph is weighing or has weighing on him but the text also reveals that he had another level to his predicament. We read And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. We are told here that Joseph was a just man. Now the Greek word that's used here is the same word that can be translated as righteous. The point here is not to tell us that Joseph was this just awesome, well-meaning dude who did not want to see bad things happen to Mary. that certainly is part of it here but the point here is actually that joseph knew the law and he wanted to obey god in all that he did he knew what the law prescribed and what it prescribed was that he exposed mary's sin upon finding out about it and he knew what would follow what would follow could have been capital punishment although it wasn't happening frequently but more notably it would have been the divorce and again dealing with the reputation being tarnished for the rest of her life. Thus the added part to his predicament now is that not only is he dealing with people talking about him but he's also dealing with the predicament of trying to honor God by doing as the law said while still trying to be gracious in what way he can and look out for Mary. We see a godly man wrestling with the weight of the situation. Now this situation would have easily caused anyone to be dealing with it to have a billion different thoughts and questions. Very practically speaking, the question of why did this happen would have been probably a natural thing? Or why did God let this happen? Where was God? So many different questions, even questions of how exactly could this possibly happen if she really is a virgin. Now we have the benefit of being on this side of the story. We have the benefit of being on this side of redemptive history. And what is clear to us, and that we begin to see as we read this text, is that God was present and that God was working. He's present in that he himself has caused Mary to be pregnant by his Holy Spirit. He's present in that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is in the womb. We see that he's present and he's working in that the course of the events are under his control. This predicament is not randomly happening. But in the moment, for Joseph, it wasn't clear. In the moment, he had no sure knowledge of what was going on. Now, this calls to mind for all of us believers the reality that we face tough situations, that we face predicaments throughout our lives. But the fact is, just as it was happening here, God allows these times often to happen in working out His will for our lives and the will of His ultimate purposes. And yet, how often after a tragedy or in hard moments do we hear the question, where was God? How often in our hard moments in our lives have we had those thoughts ourselves and ask that question ourselves or what about other predicaments that we face where we are faced with being faithful to god at the risk of follow or at the risk of being called crazy by a culture that rejects him or what about situations where we are faced with temptation and it's obedience versus sin. These moments all happen to us and they will happen to us. But yet it is in these moments that God's redemptive spirit is often at work. It is the spirit who sustains us in those times. It's the spirit who gives us wisdom as we work through these situations. It's His Spirit that empowers us. And we come to see this in the way that we look back and we see how we were carried along when it made no sense. How did we keep going? We see it's in how we acted in a particular way that affected the outcome and the way the events turned out. When we look back, We begin to see that God did not forsake us, nor was he absent. And just as it is now, so it was then, in the lead up to the birth of Christ. God's providence is evident here, as we read, before the angel even appears to Joseph and talks to him. We see it in the ordering of the events and the fact that the predicament is even there. We see it in the fact that something was restraining Joseph from being ultimately vengeful and seeking to get the ultimate punishment that could be done to Mary. And at the right time, the most crucial time in these events, what happens? God comes in an overwhelming and an unquestionable way. And he reveals his might and his love for not just Joseph, but for his people. God understood that Joseph still needed help. And he had the provision for him. So in God's provision, what we see here with Joseph is also, his provision is intervention and revelation. We read, But as he considered, he, Joseph, but as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. Now Joseph is wrestling with these things. We have been told that he had set his mind that he was going to divorce her. He's trying to figure out how to do this in the best possible way that it will not cause Mary to have more troubles than she's already facing. But as he's considering these things, if Joseph indeed was a just man, it'd be safe to assume that he was likely praying and trying to seek wisdom. That was probably part of his consideration. But he didn't know what to do. And who could blame him? This is a once-in-a-lifetime situation that's going on. And it made sense, really, for him to go down the road of divorce. It can't be true that Mary, claiming to still be a virgin, had this child who was from the Holy Spirit. It's not happened. It's absurd. But as he's wrestling with these things, as he's trying to figure out what to do, God intervenes, sending his angel to carry his message. And he doesn't just give them a message, but he provides for Joseph what Joseph couldn't provide for himself. And I'm not just talking about wisdom. The intervention, as I mentioned, also had revelation with it. And that's the message that the angel had. He told Joseph plainly what was going on. He affirmed that this child was indeed conceived by the Holy Spirit. he affirms what we read earlier in the text, that she was found with a child by the Holy Spirit. But we also note what the angel and what God's message to Joseph had substance-wise. He doesn't explain to Joseph how scientifically speaking or biologically speaking this could possibly happen, although that would have likely been a question that might have been on his mind. He doesn't explain for why he, that is Joseph, and Mary were the chosen couple to be involved in this. He simply tells him what he needs to know. But also, with the message from the angel, what he also reveals to him is actually the gospel. It's the gospel in the fact that he tells them that this child, Jesus, will save his people from their sins. We find that what was going on with Joseph is very much similar to what we deal with as believers nowadays. And what I mean by that is we've all needed a divine intervention. Now, I am not talking about all of us having needed or experienced some sort of angelic visitor or some sort of word of prophecy to us or hearing the audible voice of God. That's not at all what I mean by a divine intervention. For us, the divine interventions that take place, we often overlook. And for us as believers in Christ, when we slow down and think about it, we see that it's actually been going on more often than we realize. If you're a believer whose family history is full of believers in Christ, there was a divine intervention in your relative years and years and years gone by who first came to faith. And that intervention was their spirit being regenerated by the Holy Spirit. And after that, Things were set in motion. They taught their children. Their children taught their children. And so forth all the way down to you. And that's how you came to faith. Or maybe it was a conversation that you had with someone. Who directed you to the gospel. It wasn't that they were sent directly by God. In any sort of mysterious way. It was just the naturally ordering of things. And how that happened. But because it pointed you towards the gospel. God was at work, and He was going to work. And that this is what helped lead you to come to faith. But at minimum, for us as believers, we've had at least one divine intervention. And that's the regenerating of our souls by the power of the Holy Spirit. So no matter the way that it happened, in terms of us coming to faith, In his providence, God has been intervening in our lives. And he's played a huge part in changing the course of our lives when we speak redemptively. Now, another part of this, though, is sometime during this period that we're thinking about with this intervention, we would have come to the revelation that we find in God's word. We would have come to read in the pages of Scripture that we are sinners in need of saving from a holy God's wrath and that that salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone. This is God's revelation to us much in the same way as He revealed things to Joseph. And for Joseph, though, we also see that this revelation was a revelation of a lifetime. because for him at this time in redemptive history, that is before Christ's death and resurrection, and his birth even, they were looking for a Messiah, as we heard this morning. And here Joseph is hearing that the hopes for this Messiah would be fulfilled. Reading again the words of the angel to David, 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 Emmanuel, which means God with us. God's intervention and his revelation, as I said, brought to Joseph what he needed to know. But it wasn't just the wisdom. Sure, he affirmed that the child was indeed that of the Holy Spirit. But what the angel did was he revealed the truth about who this Christ was, who Jesus was going to be. As we consider this part of the text, take note how the angel addresses Joseph. He says, Joseph, son of David. The ears of Joseph or any man who is of descent from David would have perked up hearing this. And if there's any doubt that Joseph had any sort of relation to David, we just have to go up and we have to read through the first 18 verses of Matthew and we see that he descended from David. His ears would have perked up. And given that this is an angelic messenger, and his ears perking up, it would have likely started to get the gears turning in his head. He would have started to think about what has been prophesied by David and to David and about David's descendants. What I'm thinking of here is when David writes in Psalm 110, the Lord said to my Lord, or when he's told that God was going to establish his kingdom forever, or when we read later in Isaiah, not the passage that's quoted here, but we read that from the stump of Jesse, and paraphrasing the Messiah was going to come, his ears would have perked up. But even in the words of the angel, more would have stirred him up. His mind would have been stirred further when he hears the angel say the words, She will bear a son. For him, this would have stirred him up because if Mary really was a virgin and was not unfaithful to him, that fits in with this verse, which is from Isaiah 7.14 and is quoted after this. But then also the words, Shall call his name. That's also found in that same passage that is quoted. They would have rang loud and clear to Joseph. And he would have fully understood at that point what was beginning to take place. And so we see that God was intervening with Joseph here. But yet, he's not just intervening with Joseph. God's intervening with his people. He's intervening with his people because, again, This child Jesus would save them from their sins. This is not a general or universal promise that is given to all of mankind. That often gets floated out there at this time. And I'm not denying the free offer of the gospel here. That is absolutely true. But the promise of salvation is to those who are God's. To those that would come to faith in Christ. It's a very focused promise to God's people. And because it's a promise to God's people, it's not just a promise for Joseph in terms of trusting that this child is truly of a virgin. It's that his greatest need is also being met and being addressed as well in this. See, the fulfillment of God's promises here and in the course of history is a bigger solution than any problem Joseph had or any other person in history could possibly think of. What I mean by that is, and we'll get into this a little bit later, is that apart from our problem with sin, we don't have problems that are that big. Now, specifically speaking of the Messiah, we see here that the Jews, or we need to understand that the Jews, as they were searching and looking for this Messiah and hoping for this Messiah, they were not looking for someone that was going to save their souls and save them from their sins necessarily. They were looking for a political figure. And we see that play out in the life of Christ and his opponents and why people rejected him, among other reasons. So in all of this, we see that Joseph is attempting to obey God and do the right thing. And yet he received more than wisdom. He received a provision and the promise of a provision, that is when Christ would be born, that dealt with his greatest needs and the greatest need for God's people as well. And that need is for sins to be forgiven. And with that in mind, Joseph's problems then become relatively small in compared to this. But doesn't this also speak to us today as well? How often in our day-to-day lives do we get tied down by our various worries? We think about, and you can name the situation, but we think about how in the world am I going to get this done? How in the world am I going to handle this situation? perhaps it's finances, maybe it's a health thing, maybe it's relationship. I just took finals three days in a row a couple weeks ago. Not sure how I was going to get through that, and I thought that was my biggest problem at the moment. Or maybe it's something very mundane. How am I going to keep the house clean? Anyone who's a parent understands that becomes a real worry. But are any of these really our greatest predicaments? Would God solving these things, bringing them in order, would that really be the greatest solution to our greatest problems? No. In Christ, we have found that God has solved our greatest problem. It's done in the forgiveness of our sins. And not just the forgiveness of our sins, but it's also the imputed righteousness of Christ being given to us. That way before God, we could stand before Him as righteous. Now, does this make our day-to-day lives any easier? Not necessarily. We're still going to face predicaments. We're still going to face trials. This is the problem with health, wealth, and prosperity gospel teachings. They promise the pie in the sky, but when things go bad, it goes one of two ways. Either a person will give up because it must not be true, or it becomes law, and they feel like they're not doing enough. Either way, our lives don't necessarily get easier. Joseph's life didn't get easier. He still was going to now have to deal with the stigmas of being betrothed and then married to a woman who had a child that wasn't his. And we know that this is true and that it followed their family around because we read in one of the gospels that of a comment made to Jesus seemingly mocking him and his birth. It was there. It was known. So no, it doesn't necessarily make our lives easier. But does it give us rest? And that's a resounding yes. Because of all the things in our lives that we have to do, that thing at the top of the list, in dealing with our sins and being saved from them, has been dealt with. And because of that, that's how we find ourselves to be privileged, and as Joseph was found to be privileged. See, when Joseph fell asleep, he was a man who was wearied by his circumstances but when he awoke he found himself as one who was privileged to be among God's people as one who was privileged to be a part of God's story in redemptive history when he awakes he obeys the command from the angel bearing God's message he takes Mary regardless of the cost of what people are going to say or think to him and he names the child Jesus as he was commanded. We see here that Joseph responds in faith in spite of everything, in spite of the predicaments that he was facing. Think about going through a lifetime of being slandered no matter where you went. Think of dealing with the skepticism that everyone would have about the story that you were telling about your oldest child. Think about the skepticism that he might have had from time to time in his own life. thinking about, is this real? Did this really happen? But he responded in faith. He trusted God, and he trusted his promise. How do you respond? How will you respond? Or how have you responded to this? We face the same predicaments at its core that Joseph faced. we claim to believe as we confessed in the apostles creed we claim to believe a savior who was born of a virgin we claim to believe a savior in a savior who died and rose from the dead we claim to believe in a savior whose righteousness has been credited to us not on any works that we've been done fully on his while he has taken on all of our sins we claim to believe in a savior who goes then before God the Father on top of this and mediates for us. And He presents our request to Him. We believe in a Savior who reigns in glory and will come again. All these things to an unbelieving world are ludicrous. And yet we hold these to be true. But as believers in Christ, we do respond in faith. And we do trust that God has given us a Savior who was born of a virgin, a Savior who died and rose from the dead, a Savior whose righteousness was credited to us while He took on our sins, a Savior who does go before God the Father on our behalf, and a Savior who does reign in glory and will come again. And because of this, we live a life of gratitude. Just as we read in our catechism, guilt, grace, and gratitude. That response is that gratitude. As believers, we are privileged to be counted among God's people. God has called us to himself. Or God has called us to himself. Not because of anything you or I have done. He's provided for us the answer to our problem of sin. And he continues to provide for us today. Just think of the hymn, Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I seek. Our forgiveness in Christ is not a one-time thing. Because we're going to struggle with sin throughout our lives. And yet, because of his life and death and resurrection, we receive that forgiveness throughout our lives. So in closing, beloved, as we consider the birth of our Savior, let us recall that God is a providential God. He is a God who is with us. And He's a God who is provided for us by handling our deepest need. Now today, around the world, gifts were being celebrated. But let's not forget the greatest gift of all is His presence. It's His presence in and throughout our lives. Which was most fully realized, is most fully realized, in the salvation that is found in Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father God, we come before you and we just ask that you would graciously grant that your word, which we've heard, would be sealed in our hearts. As we receive your word meekly, with pure affection, may our hearts be filled with love and reverence for you. May we respond in thankfulness and gratitude. And in this response, would you cause us to bear the fruit of the Spirit and to live in holiness, diligently following your commandments. And may it please you, Lord, to use us also in response to lead those who are lost, wandering, and confused into the way of truth. All this we pray for the honor and the praise of your name through Jesus Christ our Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.