Sermon Text: Matthew 1:18-25
Title: Jesus
– Immanuel Means: God Saves – God With
Us.
I. Jesus comes to save God’s people.
II. Immanuel comes to be with us.
GOD DOES THE IMPOSSIBLE FOR US – HE SAVES HIS PEOPLE
AND HE REMAINS WITH US.
In the name
of the Father and the Son + and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and from our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The sermon
text for this – the fourth Sunday in Advent – is taken from the Gospel lesson
just read. I would read again these
verses…
She will bear a son, and you shall
call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All
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”
Dear Brothers
and Sisters in Christ,
I.
In his
letter to the church at Rome St. Paul writes…
“The wages
of sin is death.” [Romans 6:23]
That’s the
payment owed.
You are at a
local grocery store – not a big Walmart type store – but a small independent
one. You push your cart around the store
and for a little while and then make your way to the register. The cashier scans your one item – sin – and then
says to you, “Ok – your total is death. And how will you be paying today?”
Ever get to the
register and have that panicked moment when you realized you had forgotten your
wallet at home? That’s you in the checkout line. The cashier stands there looking at you
waiting for you to come up with the payment – death – that is required to allow
you to leave the store unescorted by security
or police. And then you are left there stammering and digging through your pockets
and pulling out nothing but lint and a couple of pennies and a paperclip. And
the cashier looks at you with a disgusted look and calls for the Manager on her
microphone.
You start
giving her excuses for why you don’t have the payment and then start trying to negotiate
with her and tell her what a rotten day you’ve had and could she just let you
pass this once – after all it’s just one item.
Meanwhile – a
line has formed behind you and the people begin getting impatient and moving to
another line. Then the Manager shows up
and you are horrified at having to confront Him. The looks at you standing there alone and
without payment – pockets emptied and hanging out – tears streaming down your
face. It has been a terrible day for you – honestly – a terrible life.
The Manager
doesn’t flinch – no hint of lenience flits across His face – no last look of
forgetting the debt and just letting you go.
No – His penetrating stare locks on your eyes and He says, “You must pay
for this – you’ve opened it and have begun using it while you walked through
the store. It’s now yours. You own it.
You must pay for this or I will have to call the police and I will prosecute you to the fullest extent
of the Law – just like the sign says.”
And then
another Manager walks up – younger than the first – Who looks strikingly like
the Manager you’ve been dealing with. He
looks at your item on the conveyor belt and says, “I’ve got this one Dad. I know this person and although the item – as
you have rightly pointed out is now his – I will pay for it. I will pay the debt owed – death.
Folks – we
don’t have the ‘cash’ that we need in order to complete the transaction. We could work 24/7 for the rest of our lives
doing nothing but trying to earn the ‘cash’ but in the end it will never be
enough.
One last
thing – before you leave the grocery store you notice the younger Manager’s
name tag – it reads “GOD saves.” Truly?
It says, ‘Jesus’ which means GOD saves.
You see, Jesus
dies a death He doesn’t deserve. He
committed no sin while He walked upon this earth. He wasn’t born with sin either. St. Paul
writes to the believers at Corinth…
For our sake
He [the Father] made Him [the Son] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we
might become the righteousness of God. [2 Corinthians 5:21]
There was no
sin in Him and yet He dies a traitor’s death. Our death. Our debt owed.
When it
comes to the sacrifices of the Old Testament we see that the sin of men were
confessed over the animal to be sacrificed for the atonement, for the forgiveness
of sins. These sins were not in the
lamb, the ox, the goat, and yet they died for the sin of another.
John the
Baptist shouts to the people…
“Behold! The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the
world.” [John 1:29]
Isn’t that curious
– a bit peculiar? Why would John say
such a thing – calling Jesus the Lamb?
Guided by the Holy Spirit John sees Jesus for Who He really is – the Savior;
and for What He really is – the Sacrifice for the sin of the world – the very
Lamb of GOD Who takes all of our sin upon His head and to His Cross and pays
the debt owed by you. For in dying a
betrayer’s death Jesus – Who knew no sin – has become our sin and the Sacrifice
hasn’t He? And in doing so saves us from
their sins. And so we see that the Word
of the LORD spoken through the angel in our text today has come true. Jesus means “GOD saves,” and He does so
through His Son – the once and for all Sacrifice to pay our debt [Hebrews
10:10-12].
II.
So we are
saved by the blood of the Lamb. But we
are also still sinners aren’t we? Don’t
we – the saved by GOD – still sin? Our conscience pricks us and in creeps fear
and doubt. We – as Christians – know
that we are saved. We have been baptized
for the forgiveness of sin and yet we still doubt. We hear the Word of God proclaimed to us each
and every Sunday for the forgiveness of sin and yet we still doubt. We come to the LORD’S table to eat and drink
the very body and blood of our Savior for the forgiveness of sin and yet we
still doubt. In other words we need
constant encouragement and reinforcement from our LORD.
And it is
there in the need for a reminder and reassurance that we find that other name
for the Son of GOD in our text today – Immanuel. St. Matthew writes…
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”
The prophet
Isaiah foretold [Is. 7:14] of this name – Immanuel. And St. Matthew records for us the meaning [1:23]
– “GOD with us,” and again reminds us in our text today that this is a name
that is to be given this Baby to be born to Mary and Joseph.
Immanuel –
it gives us reassurance and comfort to know that GOD is indeed with us. Here we
have in one of the names of our LORD [and there are many] the encouragement and
reinforcement and reassurance that we sinners need. Jesus knew we would need this and so Immanuel
made a promise that fulfilled this name.
St. Matthew records Jesus’ last words to His disciples before He
ascended into heaven…
“And behold, I am with you always,
to the end of the age.” [Matthew 28:20]
Immanuel is
Jesus and Jesus is GOD and He saves us and is with us. He calms our fears and our doubts and our
troubled hearts in this sin filled world.
How? Through the comfort of His Cross
– for it is in the Cross that we see the love of the Father. In this Sacrifice of His One and only Son we
see that GOD saves and that GOD is with us. He keeps His promises and since the
LORD is a keeper of promises than we can be assured that He has saved us and will
remain with us.
What a
wonderful gift our heavenly Father bestows on us in His Son Jesus – Immanuel. In these two names He gives us salvation and
peace. What more could you ask for this
CHRISTmas? Amen.
The peace of
the LORD – which surpasses all understanding – will keep your hearts and minds
in Jesus – Immanuel. Amen.
+Soli Deo Gloria+
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