What Child is this?

This is our Christmas Eve service...

What Child is this? Part 4

Matthew 1:21, NIV

Monday, December 24^th, 2012-MRWC

 

            One Child, billions of opinions, Jesus, what child is this?

            What exactly is it that separates Jesus from all people, everywhere? What’s so special about Jesus?

To find that answer, I would direct your attention to Matthew chapter 1:18-25:

“This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph.

But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁹ Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

²⁰ As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.

 “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

²¹ And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

²² All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:

²³ “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”  

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife.

²⁵ But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.” (NLT2)

            What is the defining characteristic that separates Jesus from all people everywhere?

His Name!

            The angel spoke to Joseph in a dream and told him to Name the soon-to-be-born-Baby-inside Mary: “…Jesus…” (Mt. 1:21, NIV)

            The Name Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua which means The Lord saves.

            The Child who was growing inside of Mary, who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, would carry the Name Jesus; the One who saves.

            Well, this leads me to ask 2 very important questions, the first of which is: Who did Jesus come to save?

For that answer, we need to go back to our text, specifically Matthew 1:21:

“you (Joseph) are to give him (the Baby inside Mary) the name Jesus, because he will save his people…” (NIV)

            The Bible tells us that Jesus has come to this earth for one purpose: to save people.

            Friend, you are not an accident; nor are you a mistake.

God has a purpose for you, and to find that purpose one must receive Jesus, the One who has come to this earth to find you.

            Jesus tells us in Luke 19:10: “…the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (NIV)

            Jesus has come into this world to save us, because we are lost.

            This brings me to the 2^nd question of the night… “What did Jesus come to save us from?”

To find the answer to this question, we need to look at the remainder of Matthew 1:21: “…you (Joseph) are to give him (the Baby inside Mary) the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (NIV)

Believe it or not, Jesus has come to save us from our sins, because we are sinners.

We--- you and me—have broken every Law that God has set in place and we are completely unable, on our own strength, to deal with our sin issue.

There is no amount of “good deeds” that will ever change the fact that we are sinners.

Every human being on planet earth is a sinner; we’ve all broken God’s law.

That’s the bad news. But the really Good News is that God is aware of our problem, and God did something about our problem.

God knew that we were unable to address our sin problem, so He did the unthinkable and stuffed Himself into a teenaged womb to “…save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21, NIV)

The Bible, referring to Jesus, says in Acts 4:12: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (NIV)

This verse tells me that Jesus is God’s plan A. There is no plan b.

Jesus is the only One who is able to properly address our sin problem, and the Bible tells me that He has been given to us:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6, NLT2)

God sent His Son into the world to save us from our sin.

That’s who Jesus is. He has come into this world to save people—you and me—from our sins.

This is why and what we celebrate at Christmas—and every other day of the year.

We celebrate the arrival of our “…Immanuel" --which means, "God with us." (Matthew 1:25b, NIV)

Well, there is one more truth I want to share with you tonight about Jesus; we believe that He is coming again!

Jesus said in Revelation 22: “Behold I am coming soon!” (Rev. 22:12a, NIV)

We who proclaim the first coming of Jesus, also believe that He is coming again.

I need to tell you, however, that His second Coming will be much different than His first coming was.

While His first coming was only seen by a handful of people, His second coming will be seen by everyone:

“For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes.” (Matthew 24:27, NLT2)

“So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Matthew 24:44, NIV)

We beleive Jesus is coming again!

Friends, you will respond to this message of Jesus in one of two ways tonight.

You will either respond to the message of Jesus as the innkeeper did in Luke chapter 2, by telling Jesus you have no room for Him in your Inn, or you will respond as Joseph did, and surrender your life plans to the plans that God has for you.

So, what response do you have? Will you surrender your life over to this Soon Coming King, or will you leave Jesus at an arm’s length, because you have no room for Him in your life?

Do you have room for Jesus this Christmas? A better question might be—will you receive Jesus this Christmas? He has been given just for you.

Receiving Jesus is as simple as A-B-C.

Admit that you are a sinner;

Believe that He is the Savior, and

Confess your need of Him.

We do this, because Jesus has been given to, and for us!

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21, NIV)