In today’s sermon Pastor Babij examines the first chapter of Matthew and shows how the biblical account of Jesus’ birth differs radically from the world’s traditions regarding Christmas. Pastor Babij then gives five reasons from the passage to celebrate the beginning of the incarnation before an unbelieving world and concludes with the exhortation to call upon Jesus for the salvation He offers to all who cry out to Him.
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okay let’s take our Bibles today and turn to Matthew chapter one and if you’re using a Pew Bible it’s on page nine 57 that was a scripture that was read this morning and I’m going to highlight verses 21 through 25 of Matthew the Gospel of Matthew chapter 1 and as you turn there let’s let’s have a word of Prayer Lord thank you this morning for bringing us here together Lord we have used our ears to hear music we have used our voice to sing music and now Lord let us use our ears to hear the word of God and I pray Lord you would use the word of God to really impress upon our heart what kind of relationship we have with you that if we die today we would know where we would go and that those who are believers that they would really be living for you from their whole heart and I pray Lord you would use the word of God in this way so you could mature your church save those who need to be saved and advance the forward growth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and I pray this in your name amen I was thinking about how many false assumptions people hold surrounding this holiday called Christmas December 25th consider the date in which we celebrate really the Jesus birth it is is most unlikely that Jesus was born on the 25th I don’t want to ruin your holiday but for one thing it was probably too cold in December for the Shepherd’s to keep their flocks by night and in the open fields where they were doing watching their their sheep also he was born at a time Jesus was born at a time when everyone had to go to their native city to be enrolled for taxation and it would have been unlikely that they would have been scheduled in the middle of winter the winter was really not a time of travel and also for your information December 25th was a pagan holiday long before the birth of Christ it was established by Babylonian Sun God worshipers who looked upon this day as the birthday of the Sun God the winter solstice comes on December 22nd and it is canoe was considered to be the shortest day of the air and of course as the days got longer the sun-god worshipers would naturally rejoice o December 25th was a well-established day of rivalry bad behavior religious worship long before anyone ever thought of making it Christ’s birthday it was not until the 3rd century that some Christians began to celebrate the birth of Christ on that this date in 336 ad Emperor Constantine declared December 25th as a Roman holiday because it was Christ’s birthday so it kind of went like this in the Roman Empire December 25th was a pagan holiday that was linked to mystery religions pagans celebrated their festivals on December 25th Christians of course didn’t want to participate in wrote Roman pagan festivals so they said while everyone is celebrating this pagan thing we’re going to have our own celebration we’re going to celebrate the thing that is most important in our lives and that’s the incarnation of God the birth of Jesus Christ so this is going to be the time for Christians to be joyous have festivities and celebrate and worship our God and King now before you think that I’m putting a kibosh on this holiday I’m merely stating the truth however while the New Testament doesn’t require that we celebrate Christmas every year there is certainly nothing wrong with the church’s entering into a joyous time of celebration of the Incarnation of Jesus in this sin cursed world as one of the most really significant historical events that ever occurred one born from a virgin that’s pretty miraculous and just like the Old Testament when God commanded the people to remember certain events with annual celebration it is the church’s opportunity to proclaim the truth concerning Jesus Christ yes the truth of the meaning of Christmas the Incarnation of Immanuel God with us so it is the Christian that can share during this time of year about the indescribable gift of grace about the hope of Christ in the midst of a world of despair about the truth of salvation in the middle of a world of noise and chaos and confusion maybe God has purposely concealed the date of Christ’s birth so we might emphasize his death and resurrection of which we know the month and the day of course another misconception is Santa Claus Santa Claus has nothing to do with Christmas it is a really twentieth-century consumer driven invention even though it did rise its head in eastern Turkey where old Saint Nick came along Holland claims to be the home place of Santa Claus where Santa Claus would ride on his horse not on his sleigh on top of roofs and drop bags of gold down the chimney and filled the stockings of good children and take the bad children away all right so you didn’t know that even the term Christmas is really a pagan word abbreviated from the form Christ mass which came from the Roman Catholic Church the manger scene over and over again we have a view the manger scene showing that the shepherds and the wise men worshiping the newborn babe together did you know that this is not consistent with what the teaching of the Bible is the shepherds were notified the very day of his birth and found the babe in a manger where it says in Luke 4 today in the City of David there has been born for you a savior who is Christ the Lord and he will be it will be a sign for you you will find the babe wrapped in clothes lying in a manger that was for the Shepherd’s however the wise men found the child in a house in fact in Matthew chapter 2 verse 11 it says and they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshiped him so the wise men has seen the star in the east and it would have taken a long time to travel from Babylon or any other eastern area to Jerusalem when they talked with Herod the King it is recorded in Matthew chapter 2 verse 7 then Herod secretly called the Magi and ascertained from them the time that the star appeared of course the word ascertain means to tell me exactly what when you saw the star and the reason why is because Herod asked this so that he can calculate when the child would have been born and order the children of Bethlehem slain two years old and under and that’s what he did according to Herod’s calculations Jesus was anywhere from a few months old to two years old when the wise men came so the Weizmann came when Jesus was anywhere from a few months to two years old so it’s clear that human tradition has robbed so many of the truths concerning the birth of Jesus and why he’s kicked why he came see the birth of Jesus was the only way God chose that could provide a savior for lost and fallen humanity how important that we sweep aside human traditions and Pagan errors and seek the truth that is found only in the scriptures so this Christmas Eve I would like you to consider with some delightful thoughts about the name of Jesus if you think honestly I should say that you may walk away this morning with possibly a new heart and if you already have a new heart then I pray that you would leave with your heart strangely warmed and may we all find the name of Jesus to be the joy of our ears as we in our hearts as we hear the message again it is true that Jesus is the way to God therefore we should follow him that Jesus is the truth therefore we should hear him and that Jesus is the life therefore we should in our hearts rejoice in him this time of year should be a time of rejoicing but our rejoicing rejoicing should be the right kind of rejoicing we should rejoice for the right reasons scripture gives us a correct view of the name of Jesus and I would like for you to take notice of five things in connection with the name of Jesus found right in our passage in Matthew chapter 1 verse 21 and here’s the first thing the first thing to notice in our text is that the name of Jesus is a named divinely ordered notice in verse 21 she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus now the Lord did not allow this name to be chosen by mere mortals according to our text it was the angel of the Lord that said you shall call his name Jesus the father in heaven made sure that the son’s name would not be fooled around with and the reason for that is because in this name this thing that was given was the very best name that could be chosen the most appropriate name for our Lord to receive and the reason for that is because he would have to accomplish a mission to save his people from their sins so the name the father had chosen in infinite wisdom and given to the son is so the son must be able to meet the highest standards because in the name the father has commissioned Jesus to rescue sinners that’s the first thing the second thing to observe is that the name of Jesus is a name divinely expounded where it says in our text in verse 21 and you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins see the exposition will not be left to even the most learn the scholars of the day no it is the holy spirit who it explains for us and clearly tells us the reason for the name you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins so Savior is the meaning it is given to our Lord because he does save people from their sins and don’t misunderstand this is no common or temporary salvation from enemies or troubles no Jesus saves from the greatest of spiritual enemies because he is the Saviour in the sense which no one else is or could be for he saves his people from our biggest problem sins the biggest problem we have in the world from the beginning of time until now until Jesus comes again is going to be sin my father once said to me the biggest problem you have is it’s the biggest problem you have in your lives is the person that walks under your hat and I found that to be true and I’m sure you have to that and it’s the reason why is because we are all sinners we have all disobeyed God we have all gone our own way and so we all need to hear the message of the one who could actually save us in fact Jesus brings the Bible says a great salvation in Hebrews it tells us how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation and then in Hebrews five and verse number nine he’s given us he gives us an eternal salvation where it says and having been made perfect he became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation so if our God divinely expounds for us the meaning of the name Jesus to be Savior then he will guarantee the success of Jesus mission and what is that to save his people from their personal sins the sins that bring condemnation the sins that separate them from God and they died in their sin they will be separated from God for all eternity and Jesus came so that wouldn’t have to happen so the very fact that you’re under the hearing of the word of God is ordained by God did you know that Joshua is the Hebrew form of the word Jesus and Jesus is the Greek form of the word so Jesus and Joshua are the same word Joshua was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament the book of Joshua and what what did Joshua actually do well when Moses could not lead the people into Canaan Joshua led him into Canaan when Joshua overcame the enemies of God people even though there were very many and very strong walled cities and chariots of iron yet the name of Jehovah the captain of the Lord’s army Joshua smoked them by his name Joshua also conquered the land and obtained an inheritance for Israel and they settled the land flowing with milk and honey and entered into a temporary rest see Joshua caused the people to serve the Lord all his days but he could not save his people from their sins for after the death of Joshua the Bible says they grievously and quickly went astray now on the other hand what did Jesus do well our Lord Jesus accomplished what the law could never do the law brings condemnation the law shows us our sin the law can’t save us so if we try to keep the law even if we could keep it perfectly it was never designed to save so Jesus accomplished accomplishes what the law could never have done also Jesus our glorious Lord Jesus smites our sin and all the powers of darkness and utterly destroys all our spiritual enemies against the soul we can be made right with God and when we die go into the sense of God Jesus did that our our Jesus gives his children and in an intern eternal inheritance protected for us in heaven and of course we protected also by God for that inheritance so he gives us an infinite eternal rest for he is our peace and all who know him enter into rest but our Lord Jesus went on to conquer where no one else could conquer so that all his peoples have victory over sin and death through his shed blood therefore the name Jesus is a name above all names thirdly that the name of Jesus has significant prophetic connection long before it became he came into the world and in a very unique way if you notice in Matthew chapter 1 verse 22 it says now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the Prophet what prophet we’re talking about here we’re talking about Isaiah now we’re talking about Isaiah speaking about the birth of Christ some 700 years before Jesus was born and what did the prophet Isaiah is saying chapter 7 verse 14 therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign so through the Prophet back then God said through him the world is going to get a sign now that the child would be born of a supernatural birth unprecedented in all human history something that would wouldn’t happen and never happened before and what was that Matthew chapter 1 verse 23 behold the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son so here’s the sign the Messiah would be born of a virgin the Christ would be born of a virgin if a woman became pregnant and had a son that would not be a special sign that would be normal but if a virgin became pregnant and brought a son into the world that would be a miracle see it’s a miraculous sign all these promises of God are like signposts on a highway you don’t sit on top of a signpost and expect the sign to take you to your destination instead by faith in the message of the signpost you follow its direction and move toward where it points and what was this pointing to this was pointing to one person that God’s promises point to a person which leads us actually leads us to other pieces of information that this male child will be called God in Matthew chapter 1 verse 23 and they shall call his name Emmanuel which translates means God with us so Jesus name is connected to the name Emmanuel which means God meaning that this man Jesus was a savior is also God so in other words Jesus bares a significant tant amount of that amount of Emmanuel which means God with us he is Jesus the Savior because he is Emmanuel God with us our Savior is God and therefore able to save to the uttermost I read a story about a man named male Trotter he lived most of his life as a drunkard and an outcast just to show you how much he loved to drink and loved his liquor when his little child was very sick and his wife gave him money to buy medicine for the child instead of buying the medicine he went off and bought some booze and the child died Trotter was so drunk that he couldn’t even attend the funeral later he he came under the hearing of the gospel of Jesus Christ and was marvelously saved and became a preacher of the gospel after painfully retelling his own story of this message and this thing that happened in his life he concluded one of his messages in Hebrews chapter seven verse number 25 where he said therefore he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them C Mel Trotter concluded his story with these words God is able to save from the gutter most to the uttermost how great a salvation is this he said God can save all immoral and moral crisis people from their sin and he can take from the lowest and highest ranks of society and save anyone who comes to him that’s who Jesus is a fourth thing the name Jesus identifies our Lord with his people in verse number 21 of Matthew chapter one you shall call his name Jesus and listen what it says for you will save he will save his people from their sin see the name declares his relationship with his people because it is to them he is a savior there is no knowing our Lord if he not if he be not known as a savior for he is that or he is nothing you see God does not save everyone I think you’ve noticed that by now only his people he saves those who have been set apart as God’s own treasure who are they well those who are his own and personally belong to him who have repented of their sin and now follow him according to Scripture they are the elect whom the father gave him before the earth was ever created they are those whose names are graven on his the palms of his hands and written on his heart they are those whom he paid the price of redemption for those who know they need to be saved from the Justice of God’s wrath and they shall be saved when they run they run to the Savior whose name is Jesus see do you do you want to be saved brethren has the Holy Spirit of God taught you that you need salvation be encouraged today it is the character of his people that they come to him guilt-ridden because of their sin they come because they need to be washed in the Savior’s blood and be made clean they come to Jesus because there’s no one else to save them from the penalty in the condemnation of sin so see if you have never sinned if there was never sin in the world well we would never require a Savior we would have not known the name of Jesus if there was no sin but the reality of the situation is that we are guilty of our sins and justly condemned in them and because God is holy he cannot lead sin into his presence so how does God deal with the sin he deals with the sin in Jesus Christ his own son the Savior so if you feel yourself to need saving then today cast yourself on the one who will fulfill his own name and will exhibit his power in you as he as you confess him as your Lord and Savior he will save you from your sin only believe him and he will be your salvation that’s wrapped up in the name and then lastly the name of Jesus points to his main work which I’ve been mentioning all along in verse number 21 it says you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sin so Jesus does not save his people merely from their sin he saves them for himself he does it by taking all the sins of his people upon himself and because he took their load his people are free and no longer have the burden and weight of sin around them he saves them by burying the penalty due because of their sin see Christ was made a curse for us he suffered for us he died the just for the unjust to bring us to God he saves them by bearing the wrath of God’s clean justice Jesus has taken the sin and paid the penalty which was due to us he saves his people from the power from the tyranny from the Dominion of sins which had mastery over us and led us by our nose every day of our life by our passions and by our desires he saves us completely that is Jesus work was so thorough everything was accomplished and nothing else needed to be done when Jesus said on the cross it is finished so completely does Jesus save those who receive him as Lord and Savior that he makes them fit to dwell with angels better than that that he will fit you to dwell with God and be one with Jesus Christ through all eternity yes Jesus bears the name he well deserves and no one else the world has brought this holiday of Christmas to focus on everything but the right thing people need Jesus Christ to save them from their sins and it’s just condemnation see Jesus the savior has transformed millions of alcoholics and drug addicts he has transformed millions of vile and profane persons and had them made them pure of speech and mind and heart all manner of people have changed by the amazing wonderful grace of Jesus Christ it’s like nothing else in the world the grace of God changes all things so we should be glad today and celebrate this name of Jesus because he actually receives sinners no matter how deeply and how long you’ve sinned he will receive you if you come every everything’s taken care of and we have many examples of of people being saved right in scriptures what he did and he still does he receives sinners consider Mary Magdalene she was possessed with seven demons she believed in Jesus Christ was saved and became a faithful follower of Jesus Christ you see her first running to the tomb you see her first being talking with Jesus Christ she’s right there in every scene she loved Jesus so much because she was rescued by so much sin you see them maniac of God area also possessed by a legion of demons this man he wore no clothes he lived in tombs he was insane when he met Jesus the devil’s departed he sat there clothed and in his right mind and became witness to the power of Jesus Christ in his whole region Samaritan woman an adulterer married five times will not necessarily married five times but would five different men she’s a sinner a great sinner she meets Jesus she repents of her sin she believes in Jesus Christ as our Savior and she practically takes the message to her whole village and they all get saved Matthew – tax collector no nobody likes tax collectors not even today but tax collectors back then they were especially given a task and usually they were Jewish to go from the Roman governor to get the taxes from the people and any extra they wanted to charge what do you think they did they were not well-liked well Matthew a tax collector Jesus says to him follow me and he becomes a faithful follower a disciple and apostle of the gospel of Jesus Christ I’m reading his matter his gospel right now Lydia a businesswoman her heart was open and she repented and believed she no sinner is beyond his saving power no sinner God saves homosexuals and harlots and liars and murderers and religious people and moral ethical and religious self-righteous people he will save anyone see the Lord Jesus is indeed the one who receives sinners he receives them to pardon them he receives them to save them he receives them to sanctify them he receives them to forgive them he receives them to make them fit for heaven for his very presence it was to this end that Jesus came into the world and as Luke 532 tells us and makes clear I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance so if you desire salvation if you want to know what to do I advise you to go this very morning to the Lord Jesus Christ in the first private place you can find and earnestly and heartily entreat him in prayer to save your soul as JC rile said tell him that you heard that he received sinners and has said him that cometh unto me I will no wise cast out tell him that you are a poor and a vile sinner and that you come to him on faith of his own invitation tell him you put yourself wholly and entirely in his hands that you feel helpless and hopeless in yourself and that he expects that he and you expect that he will save you you have no hope of being saved apart from him ask him to deliver you from the guilt the power and the consequences of sin ask him to pardon you and wash you in his own blood and make you fed ask him to give you a new heart and to plant the Holy Spirit of God in your soul and ask him to give you grace and faith and will and power to be his disciple and servant from this day forward and forever ask him for that so my friend don’t wait don’t wait to feel worthy and don’t wait until you feel unworthy wait for nothing wait for nobody waiting comes from the devil the devil always will give you an excuse why you can’t come oh you’re too young you got time to wait oh you’re too old your life is gone I’m here will lie to you on every level at every place don’t believe his lies just go to Christ the worst you are the more you need to have him applied to your life you will never mend yourself you’ll never fix yourself you’ll never fix yourself by staying away and one thing before I close in prayer come and ask Jesus to save you and do it in your own words he understands you he can read açaí he knows the moaning and groaning of our heart come today to the one who bears the grand and glorious name of Jesus and by the way in our text if you notice in verse number 24 and 25 it says in Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of LORD commanded him and took Mary at his wife in verse 25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son and notice and he called his name nothing none other than what Jesus so we see you Mary and Joseph obeying the command of the Lord here because there is no other name that he could bear some time ago I that someone had sent me a Christmas card and had a message on it that I had read somewhere else also long ago it was an insightful observation it was boy I was written by Roy lessons containing the greatest need we have as human beings and this was his observation and this is what the card said it says if our greatest need had been information God would have sent us an educator if our greatest need had been technology then God would have sent us a scientist if our greatest need had been money but God God would have sent us an economist if our greatest need had been pleasure God would have sent us an entertainer but our greatest need was forgiveness so God sent us a savior amen so I prayed that you learned the thrill of the Angels words behold on to you is born this day a savior which is Christ the Lord and let me close with this someone gave me a business card and now the back was written these words if you meet me and forget me you’ve lost nothing but if you meet Jesus and forget get forget him you’ve lost everything and that’s true let’s pray or thank you again this morning for the gracious and kind words of this text if it were not there contained in the gospel and in the Word of God we would not know it but it is their Lord and it is the truth and it cuts through all the fog that we experience every holiday so I pray Lord use the word of God to really grip our heart and our mind and lord pierce us through concerning our sin if we don’t know you I prayed today would be the day that we come and confess you as Lord and Savior if we do know you lord I pray that again we would make commitments in our life and resolutions to follow you more seriously to know that our life is short and that every single moment and date counts so I pray Lord don’t allow us to waste it allow us to seize every moment because it tells us this Ephesian the days are evil and lord I pray that we would learn to walk in the spirit as Christians and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh so Lord blesses this way and I prayed that we would rejoice in this season knowing that we have the truth and what we celebrate and who we celebrate and I pray this in Christ’s name Amen