Please turn with me in the Word of God to Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 1. We'll read verse 1 and then take up the reading again at verse 17, reading down through chapter 2, verse 2. The Gospel of Matthew beginning at chapter 1, verse 1. This is God's own Word. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ 14 generations. Now the birth of Jesus took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. And all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but he knew her not until she had given birth to a son. and he called his name Jesus. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who was born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose, and we have come to worship him. So far, the reading of God's word. Well, we have come today to worship Jesus. We have come to worship him because we have believed what the gospel writers and preachers through the ages have said about Jesus. The gospels are the story of Jesus come to save his people from their sins. And in three of those gospels, we have accounts of his birth. And we've heard all three of those accounts this morning in this service. We have the account of John, which really talks about Jesus from eternity. And we have the account of Luke, which really talks about primarily Jesus and Mary. And here we have the account of Matthew, that very much focuses on Jesus and Joseph. We might say we have three snapshots of the birth of Jesus from different angles. They're verbal snapshots, because the gospel writers were Reformed. But we're used to seeing pictures of babies, aren't we? I always remember there was a man in the congregation Mary Ellen grew up in in Cleveland, Ohio. And when people would say to him, have I showed you pictures of my grandchildren? He'd always respond, no, you haven't, and thank you. But most of us are eager to not only share, but also to see pictures of babies. And I had a Presbyterian friend who said, you know, an awful lot of these babies are not as cute as their parents and grandparents think. And so he had developed a very Calvinistic response. He would look at the picture and say, that baby's just as cute as it can be. which, of course, is true. So we have here from the inspired writings three pictures of Jesus in his birth, each of them telling us something crucial about who he is and why he came and what the truth of Jesus Christ is. And Matthew does that particularly in relation to Joseph. Joseph often a somewhat neglected character in the account. And what Matthew says to us, first of all, is how Jesus is revealed to Joseph. And as we see how Jesus is revealed to Joseph, we'll see how Jesus is revealed to us. Who is he? And what Matthew is really doing in his Gospel is really laying a claim on the whole Old Testament and saying the whole Old Testament points to Jesus and is fulfilled in Jesus. That's why he starts with this genealogy. That's why he starts with Abraham and goes to David and then comes to the first century when he's born. And he's implicitly or explicitly laying claim to everything the Old Testament was about. Being fulfilled in Jesus. That's why this birth is so important. That's why it's so crucial for us to think about it. You remember that Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians, all the promises of God find their yes in him. And that's what we're seeing here. That's the first part of the revelation to Joseph and to us. The promises of God are finding their yes in the birth of this child. And one of the promises is very explicit here, isn't it? From Isaiah chapter 7, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel, God with us. That was a promise. We heard about that promise yesterday, how it was a promised sign to the people of God in their distress and in their struggle. A promise signed not to be fulfilled for some 700 years after Isaiah made the promise. But still God always keeps his promises. Not always in the timing that we might expect or the timing that we might like, but in the timing that's just right. God fulfills his promise. And what a remarkable promise it was. A virgin shall conceive. It's a sign of a new creation. It's a sign of a new beginning for mankind. Mankind that had seen generation after generation of those conceived and born in sin. There was a promise of a Savior coming that would begin a new human race. That's what Isaiah promised. And it's fulfilled in Jesus. But the mentioning of Abraham reminds us that there were promises to Abraham. God had said to Abraham, in your offspring, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. And Paul in Galatians, doesn't he, says that that promise has a particular focus and fulfillment in the one child of Abraham who would come, namely Jesus. He's the one in whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed. and we see that fulfilled don't we in our day if we were to go around this place and ask people to talk about their ethnic origins we would discover that we are here because the gospel has gone around the world and how we rejoice in that how good that is how much the promise to Abraham has been fulfilled in the gift of Jesus Christ. He is the one who will bless all the nations. And then there's a promise to David. The promise that there would be a kingdom. A kingdom that would last forever. That David's son would forever sit on David's throne. That David's son would be greater than David. That's the mystery solved of Psalm 110. Remember how Jesus stopped the mouths of his critics by citing Psalm 110. The Lord has said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand. And Jesus said, how can David's son be David's Lord? And the Pharisees and Sadducees had no answer. But Jesus knew the answer. The answer is that David's son can be David's Lord because he's also the son of God. And he's come to establish not just an earthly kingdom on a little patch of this earth, but he's come to establish a spiritual kingdom that is filling the earth and one day will renew the whole earth under King Jesus. what a glorious promise that is revealed to us here the promise to David the promise of an everlasting kingdom and here too Matthew alludes to promises to the exiles who were carried out of the land of promise because of their faithlessness because of their disobedience they were deported to Babylon But they were deported with a promise that they would be brought back, that the kingdom would be restored, that judgment would not be the last word on God's people. And so there was hope even in judgment. And so the promise of a kingdom renewed, a kingdom restored, how glorious it is. You see how Matthew is appealing to every part of the Old Testament. Abraham, the patriarch. David, the king. Isaiah, the prophet. The prophets of the exile and of the return. He's laying his claim on all of that Old Testament history as being fulfilled in Christ who is sent in the Jesus who is born in this babe that Mary was bearing as this revelation was made to Joseph. And there's also the promise, isn't there, of light as we see it in the star that guided the wise men from the east. There was a prophecy. You remember that prophecy of Balaam recorded for us in Numbers 24. Well, maybe we can't all immediately bring Numbers 24 to mind, but Balaam's last oracle read, I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel. and this star in Matthew 22 is a way of saying the promise of a star, the promise that the people who walk in darkness will see a great light, that the promise that the nation shall come to your light is being fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. A light not only for the people of God, but a light for the world. And I was so struck when Pastor Gordon preached his last sermon on the book of Revelation, that there in Revelation chapter 22, Jesus identifies himself. I am the root and descendant of David, the bright and morning star. Jesus is that star risen for us to bring light to us. that star that shines with such beauty and majesty, so awe-inspiring. And He is the star that shines for us. He is the new creation for us. So the revelation of a Savior to Joseph begins with this claim on the whole Old Testament being fulfilled there in that little town of Bethlehem. And again, as Pastor Gordon did so effectively yesterday, this is a story full of surprises, full of the unexpected. Nobody expected that the whole Old Testament would be fulfilled in a manger. Certainly the world has never been quick to acknowledge that that historical event 2,000 years ago is what changes history. People today don't know quite what to make of Christmas. They like Christmas. They like the time off. They like the fun. They like the lights. They like the food. They like the family. But they don't quite know what to do with Christmas itself. And so there's always this tendency to want to turn Christmas into a principle. Christmas is all about the principle of loving it's all about the principle of giving it's all about the principle of peace on earth all those things are good but they're not what Christmas is about they may be the fruit of Christmas but they're not the heart of Christmas the heart of Christmas is not about a principle it's about a person it's not about giving it's about the gift of God in Jesus and that's why we're here that's what we celebrate that's what we're testifying to that's what we're acknowledging that's what we're praising today that God fulfilled all the promises of the Old Testament in Jesus in that person And just as Jesus is revealed in these promises, so he is revealed in the names that Joseph is taught for this child. And the first of those names is Emmanuel. God with us. God with us. Isn't that remarkable? God is with us in Jesus. He is true God. He existed in all eternity. The divine word, as we read in John, had no beginning. He was always with God because he was always God. That's another of those surprises. That's another of those remarkable things. the world can easily recognize that Jesus was a historical person. They can even recognize that he was a nice guy, more or less. They can recognize that he was a wise person, that he said some useful things for us to listen to. But what's so hard for the world to recognize is that he is God. Come in the flesh. Sometimes for us as Christians, it's easier to recognize him as God than to recognize him as true man. But that's also what Emmanuel means. He's not only true God, but he's true man. Born of the Virgin Mary. That's why his human birth is of such significance. He doesn't just appear to be a human being. He is genuinely a human being, which means He understands us from the inside. And so He is true God and true man with us. With us in our need. He didn't need this. He did not need to be born. He did not need to live as a man. He did not need to die on the cross. He did this for us. Emmanuel, God with us. And his other name, the name the angel commands Joseph to give him, is Jesus, or in Hebrew, Joshua. Which means, the Lord saves. So his first name, Emmanuel, refers to who he is, the God-man. And his second name, Jesus, refers to what he does. He will save his people from their sins. Sins. Sins. By and large, the world completely misunderstands the problem of sin. By and large, when the world hears Christians talk about sin, they think of naughtiness. Things you shouldn't do, things to cluck about, things not to mention, sins. If they think a little more profoundly, they might think about the various ways sins hurt other people and how sins hurt ourselves. All that is true. But they miss the real sin problem. The real sin problem is that sin separates us from God. God is holy. And sinners cannot approach him. Sinners can never be welcome in his presence. Sinners can never live before him. That's the real sin problem. And that's what Jesus came to solve above all else. He came to save us from our sins. To rescue us, to deliver us, to do what we could never do for ourselves. That's the glory of the Savior revealed. He came to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. He came to save his people from their sins. He didn't come just to save us individually. He did come to do that. And every one of us individually has to relate to the Savior. But he doesn't come just to have a group of individuals. He comes, Joseph is told, to save a people. To save a people. He's creating a new humanity. He's creating a new family. he wants us to be a community of love and faith and grace shining in a dark world he came to save his people from their sins and that's the meaning of Christmas that's why we're here because of the promises and the names of Jesus revealing to us as they were revealed to Joseph who Jesus really is. And then the question, of course, is will we receive the Savior? The Savior's been revealed. The Savior's been revealed clearly for 2,000 years. Will we receive the Savior? Joseph received him. Did you see that? Joseph is really held up here in Matthew 1 as an example of faith, as an example of reception of the Savior. Just as Mary is held up in Luke's Gospel, here Joseph is held up very powerfully as one who receives the Savior. What's the first thing we're told about Joseph? He was just. that's not actually the best way of translating that. It would be better to say Joseph being a righteous man. It's exactly the same word that's used in Luke's gospel to describe Zechariah and Elizabeth as righteous people. You see, there were people in Israel waiting for the revelation of the Savior. Now, John tells us he came unto his own and his own received him not. but John there is speaking about the people as a whole generally speaking the people didn't receive him but there were people who were waiting and who did receive him and Joseph was one of them he was righteous not meaning he was perfect he was righteous in that he was a faithful Israelite he was a faithful son of the covenant of grace he had believed all that God had said about how God would save His people from their sins and He was waiting, waiting for the revelation of the Messiah. And so He was prepared. He was prepared. He was a kind man. You notice that there? What did He think when He heard Mary was pregnant? His fiancée. well, what would most people think? She was impure. But he was kind to her. He didn't want to embarrass her. He was willing to put her away quietly, end the engagement quietly. He knew he had a right to do that because he was a man who knew the law of God. He knew Deuteronomy 24. He knew he had that right to set her apart because of her sin. And so he was a man who, in the righteousness he had in the covenant of grace, was kind. And he knew the word of God. That's what prepared him. So that when the angel came, he could hear the angel. He could listen to the angel as the angel bore the word of God. And you notice, Joseph does exactly what the angel tells him to do. The angel says, take Mary as your wife. And Joseph took Mary as his wife. And the angel said, when the baby is born, name him Jesus. And Joseph named him Jesus. And he did all of that because he believed the word of God. He was righteous because he believed the word of God. He was kind because he believed the word of God. He knew the Word of God because he had studied it, because he believed it was the Word of God. When he heard the angel, he believed the voice of the angel speaking for God. And so we see in the life of Joseph, someone whose whole life flows out of faith and trust in God and in his promises and ultimately in the Savior whom he would send. And so Matthew tells us this wonderful story. about the revelation of the Savior and about the reception of the Savior. And he gives us then the picture of Jesus that we see the one who is God with us come to save his people from their sin. And so Matthew presses on all of us the question, have you received him? He's the light shining in a dark place. May it be true for every one of us here that he's the light shining in our own hearts. God grant it. Amen. Let us pray. O Lord, our God, how good you are to us sinners that you have sent your own Son in the world to save sinners, to save a people for his name, to save a people who will glorify him and worship him now and forever. Thank you for the gift you have given to us of your own dear Son. Thank you that he died on the cross to save us from our sins. Thank you that he ever lives now in glory and by the power of his Holy Spirit is always with us. And thank you that he is coming again to make all things new. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.