Forgotten Hero Of Christmas

We all have heard many sermons on Christmas that dealt with:

• THE VIRGIN

• THE ANGELS

• THE SHEPHERDS

• THE INNKEEPERS

• THE WISE MEN

But there is one individual that is overlooked many times. WHO IS THAT? I am talking about Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus Christ.

• It was indeed a SPECIAL HONOR for Mary, of all the women who lived on the earth, to be chosen by God to give birth to His Son.

• But also, it was a SPECIAL HONOR for Joseph, of all the men living on the earth, to be selected by God to be His Son’s earthly father.

Mary and Joseph are probably the two most privileged people that have ever lived on earth.

Illus: The one who comes nearest to being the most fortunate to these two to live on earth, is probably former President of the United States, Gerald Ford.

WHY DO I SAY THAT?

Because he held two of the highest offices in America, President and Vice-president of the United States, and had never had one vote cast at the polls by the American People for him.

• When Vice-president Spiro Agnew had to step down due to corruption in the state of Maryland, Ford was appointed Vice-President of the United States.

• When President Richard Nixon had to step down due to corruption in Watergate, Ford became President of this great nation.

He indeed was one of the most fortunate men in this great country in which we live.

But Mary and Joseph have to go down in history as the two most fortunate people who ever lived on this earth. They were selected by God to be the earthly parents of Christ while He was here on earth. But while we recognize that honor for Mary we often overlook this honor for Joseph.

Both were probably chosen for this special honor because of the wonderful qualities God saw in them. In this sermon, we want to focus on Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, and look at some of those qualities that God saw in his life. First we see that -

I. HE WAS A SPIRTUAL MAN

Look at Matt. 1:19, we read, “Then Joseph her husband, BEING A JUST MAN, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.”

Notice, the Bible says Joseph was a “just man”. When God’s Word says a man is “just”, you can mark it down, He is a JUST MAN!

Illus: We have all attended funeral services where some preacher got up and said wonderful things about the deceased, and we could not help but wonder if he was talking about the person we knew. Why? Because all the nice things he said about this individual did not match up with the life he lived.

But when God said Joseph was a “Just” man, He meant exactly that. The word “Just” is the Greek word, dikaios, (Pronounced as dik'-ah-yos) which means his character reflected he was fair in all his deeds.

In other words, the earthly father of Jesus, who God had selected to raise His son, was always fair in his dealings with others.

The Bible describes the Lord as “just”. The Bible describes Him as the Savior who went about doing good. Look at Acts 10: 38 we read, “Who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”

That means that in His entire life He never did ANY EVIL to anyone.

• He never told a lie about anyone

• He never tried to hurt anyone

• He never thought evil of anyone

• He never cheated anyone

• He never lusted for the opposite sex

His entire life, He went about doing good.

The reason He was this way was because He is the holy Son of God. That is, HE IS INTRINSICALLY GOOD.

• He did not have to work at being good, HE WAS GOOD!

• He did not have to become holy, HE WAS HOLY!

• He was not 95% good and 5% bad, He was a 100% good.

He could have had an earthly father that lived an unjust life, and still he would have lived this kind of LIFE BECAUSE IN HIM DWELT THE FULLNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODILY! He was the LAMB OF GOD WITHOUT BLEMISH.

But how wonderful it was, that when He was growing up He had a father the Bible says was a “Just man”.

II. HE WAS A SENSITIVE MAN

When we say he was a SENSITIVE MAN, we are saying he thought of others before he thought of himself. In the life of Joseph, we see that he is SENSITVE IN TWO WAYS. He is -