INTRODUCTION
• THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS VIDEO (Sermonvideo.com)
• SLIDE #1
• How many of you have watched any of the Christmas movies or specials yet? I love watching “It’s a Wonderful Life”, “A Christmas Story”, “Frosty The Snowman”, “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer”, “How The Grinch stole Christmas”, and one I have not seen a while, “The Little Drummer Boy.”
• When you think of these great movies and shows (except possibly “The Christmas Story”) all of them have something in common, they all have something miraculous that happens to make people see the meaning of Christmas the show wants you to see.
• With the exception of the “Little Drummer Boy”, the others shows miss the real meaning of Christmas by focusing on the importance of family or that it is better to give than receive.
• There is more to Christmas than that. From our video clip it seems the meaning of Christmas is rather elusive to some.
• Today we are going to finish our “iWant Series” by looking at what I see at the ultimate iWant, that is iWant to be close to God.
• When you break down Christmas, this is the real meaning of the holiday. God did some miraculous things to make it possible for us to be close to Him. He did some miraculous things in order for us to be able to see the real meaning of Christmas.
• Today let us journey through Matthew 1:18-25 together so we can see what miraculous things were done so our desire to be close to God could be made possible!
• Let us begin by looking at our text.
• SLIDE #2
• Matthew 1:18-25 ( ESV ) 18Now 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 child from the Holy Spirit. 19And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20But 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. 21She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
We are able to be close to God because of:
I. A MIRACULOUS EVENT FROM GOD. (18-20)
• When we look at our text we see that we have a young lady who is pregnant. This young lady was what we would call engaged to a man named Joseph.
• We are told Joseph is her husband. In Mary’s day, when you agreed to get married, you entered into what was basically a contract. Your engagement lasted a year and the bride to be would live with the parents or another family member. During this engagement, if you cheated on the man, it would be treated as adultery.
• Now Joseph did not want to bring shame on Mary, but he KNEW he was not the father, and it would be hard to believe a girl telling you she was going to have a virgin birth.
• Nevertheless, Joseph was going to quietly divorce her. He needed to do that because his family would have been stained by this also if he married this girl who broke her engagement covenant.
• The interesting part of this is the fact that Mary was with child even though she was still a virgin.
• Notice also that the text tells us that she was pregnant before they came together.
• Listen to what Mary says about this when it is being told to her by an angel in Luke 1:34.
• SLIDE #4
• Luke 1:34 ( ESV ) 34And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
• Mary is surprised to say the least and if anyone would know if she were still a virgin, it would be Mary.
• Now Joseph went to sleep, he was pondering what to do about this situation when an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream and told Joseph that Mary was indeed pregnant and her child was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
• This does not happen every day does it? It sounds impossible doesn’t it? With God all things are possible.
• Do you not think that one who created everything could not make a virgin girl pregnant?
• This event was miraculous!
• Jesus had no earthly father; His earthly connection was Mary, an ordinary young girl.
• SLIDE #5
• Galatians 4:4 ( ESV ) 4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
• We can be close to God because He sent His one and only begotten Son!
• There were no others!
• SLIDE #6
• John 3:16 ( ESV ) 16“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
• The phase “only Son” means there were and will be no others!
• We will talk about another miraculous aspect of this event in a few minutes.
• Next let us look at another reason we are able to be close to God.
• SLIDE #7
We are able to be close to God because of:
II. A MIRACULOUS GIFT FROM JESUS.
• It was not just the fact that God sent His son, but it was the reason he was sent that is also of importance.
• Let us look at verse 21 again.
• SLIDE #8
• Matthew 1:21 ( ESV ) 21She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
• Jesus’ purpose was to save people from their sins! As I have said before the bible teaches us that when we sin, we separate ourselves from God. We need a way to atone for, or to pay the price or make up for our sins against God.
• We cannot do that on our own.
• When a person wants to be close to God, they CANNOT be close to God without accepting Jesus.
• John 3:16 tells us that whoever BELIEVES in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
• Jesus came with a purpose. God’s mercy and love needed to find a way to forgive sin; His justice demanded a payment for what sin does.
• Jesus was to be the perfect sacrifice God needed in order to be able to forgive us.
• This is why in the Old Testament they were required to sacrifice animals. These sacrifices were pointed to the fact that sin was serious.
• If you had to get your best animal to sacrifice to atone for sin, it made you aware of the gravity of sin.
• SLIDE #9
• Galatians 3:24 ( ESV ) 24So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
• We also see in Hebrews 10:4 that none of those animal sacrifices could take away our sins.
• SLIDE #10
• Hebrews 10:4 ( ESV ) 4For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
• Just think, the creator of heaven and earth loves you so much that He sent His son for you!
• Another reason we are able to be close to God…
• SLIDE #11
We are able to be close to God because of:
III. A MIRACULOUS FULFILLMENT OF A PROPHECY FROM GOD.
• We spoke earlier about a miraculous event. Here is something else that is miraculous about that event.
• The birth was prophesied over 740 years before it happened by the prophet Isaiah.
• This was a clear prophecy God revealed to Isaiah.
• King Ahaz of Judah was on the verge of being attacked by Israel and Syria. The king was going to turn the Assyrian King Tiglath-pileser instead of God.
• Isaiah came to Ahaz and reported that God would deliver the people from the two enemy kings.
• Ahaz did not believe Isaiah, so Isaiah told Ahaz to ask for a sign from God.
• When Ahaz refused to listen or ask for a sign, Isaiah responded with the remarkable messianic prophecy of 7:14.
• SLIDE #12
• Matthew 1:22-23 ( ESV ) 22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
• This prophecy was designed to show Ahaz that the line of David would not be cut off and that something wonderful was going to come in the future, so God was not going to let Judah be destroyed!
• It may appear that the designation Immanuel is in conflict with the angel’s instruction to give the child the personal name “Jesus.” However, Matthew intends his readers to understand that while “Jesus” is his personal name, the designation “Immanuel” emphasizes that in Jesus “God is present to bring salvation to his people.”
• It follows that Matthew’s interest in “Immanuel” is not as a personal name, but as descriptive of Jesus’ role to mediate the presence of God.
• The final reason we can be close to God from our text is…
• SLIDE #13
We are able to be close to God because of:
IV. A MIRACULOUS EXHIBITION OF FAITH FROM MARY AND JOSEPH.
• Wow, can you imagine being this young girl who could have been as young as 12 absorbing all this? Can you then imagine your fiancé coming to you with a SURPRISE!
• The faith these two exhibited was amazing. Look at verses 24-25 again.
• SLIDE #14
• Matthew 1:24-25 ( ESV ) 24When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
• Joseph wakes us and does what the angel of the Lord commanded him to do.
• I find that amazing! I would have been asking for some signs, so proof?
• Mary and Joseph would face some scorn and ridicule for their family situation. The wedding ceremony would take place about 4 months before the birth.
• The math will not add up, yet we see no protest, we simply see two people faithfully carrying out the mission God had given them.
• They had a part to play in the most miraculous event to take place, God sending His son. This would be followed up by Jesus defeating death so we could do the same!
CONCLUSION
• What are you looking for this Christmas? Are you looking for some big present? Are you looking forward to seeing family? Are you looking to receive the ULTIMATE gift from God, a relationship with Him through His son Jesus!
• Do you want to be close to God? The good news is you can be!
