Immanuel God with Us - Christ and His Humanity

Well, if you would take your Bible and turn back with me to Luke chapter 1. We were in Luke chapter 1 starting in verse 26 earlier in our scripture reading. Now I ask you to mark Matthew chapter 1. I will reference Matthew chapter 1, but I will call us to read a few verses back in Luke chapter 1 a little later on. And of course I will read and reference other scriptures throughout the message. And I don't ask you to turn to these scriptures, jot those passages down, encourage you to go back and study them on your own. I think you know my preaching style and habit. If I want you to turn to a passage, I'll call you to turn.

But usually I want you to follow with me, with your ears and your mind and your heart. And then we go back and study these passages so that we can get all that the Lord wants to give us. So Luke chapter 1, we'll be there a little later on. Now last week we started our Christmas series when we were in Matthew chapter 1, in those verses that we looked at last week, Matthew chapter 1, specifically verse 23. Now I explained that Matthew's quotation of Isaiah would be what I'm calling our home base for our messages here this Christmas. Now when I say home base, I mean that everything we examine will come back to this verse.

Of course Matthew is quoting the prophet Isaiah. It'll come back to what Matthew is saying, Emmanuel, God with us, and that's what that word means, Emmanuel, which means God with us. Now in last week's message we looked at what I called Emmanuel, God with us, Christ in the Old Testament. We took some time to see that the story of the birth of Jesus is a Bible story. It's not simply a New Testament story or even a gospel story referring to the gospels. Truthfully we had what could be considered an overview. We had a quick survey when we examined Christ in the Old Testament. Now remember how we approached the survey.

We approached this survey, our review, in two ways. First we examined how Jesus presented himself during his earthly ministry. Very very quickly we saw that Jesus never presented himself outside of the context of the Old Testament. Time after time after time Jesus presented himself as a fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures. And then second we examined how the apostles, those early church fathers, and the New Testament writers presented Jesus. We saw that those men did just as Jesus did. They always presented Jesus as a fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures. Those men presented Jesus as the promised Messiah really in two ways.

They always cited the resurrection as a historical fact. They presented the resurrection as proof of his deity. But then second they cited the Old Testament scriptures. To those men, the apostles and the New Testament writers, Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament and they constantly said so in what they taught and preached and wrote. Now I want to show you one way last week's message will help you.

If you paid attention, if you got what the Lord gave us last Sunday, now for some of you understanding that Jesus, the apostles and the New Testament writers all use the Old Testament as proof of Jesus being the Messiah, it really will change how you read the New Testament. If you got the message last week, you will begin to see loads of Old Testament passages all throughout the New Testament that point to Jesus as the Messiah of God. So as you read your New Testament, look for those Old Testament references.

Look for those passages that the apostles and the early church fathers and New Testament writers quoted that pointed to Jesus as the Messiah. Now this morning we're going to be a little more specific with a few Old Testament scriptures. This morning we will examine the Old Testament prophecies concerning Jesus and his humanity. We will look at Jesus and his humanity. We know that Jesus was both God and man. He was not just God and man, but Jesus was fully God and fully man. This morning we will examine a few Old Testament prophecies about his birth that relate to his humanity.

Specifically, we will see four observations or have four major truths in our outline. We will look first that Jesus was born of a woman and then we will look second that Jesus was born of a virgin. And then after we make some transition, we will see that Jesus was born of the seed of Abraham, even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And then fourth, we will see that Jesus was born of the house and the lineage of David. So you see where we will go this morning. We will be looking at Emmanuel, God with us, Christ and his humanity. So let's start off with our message this morning.

Let's look at number one, Jesus was born of a woman specifically of this woman Mary. Now if we read Matthew's account and if we read Luke's account of the Christmas story, we will see the birth mother of Jesus and that is none other than Mary. We saw Mary in the verses that we read earlier in the gospel of Luke, Luke chapter one, starting in verse 26. If we glance at our scripture, we see in verse 26 that the angel Gabriel comes to Mary and he announces to her that she will conceive of the Holy Spirit. There's this wonderful dialogue between Mary and Gabriel.

She's asking how can this be and the angel of the Lord says, "You will conceive by the power and the work of the Holy Spirit." And we see that at the end of the verses or the end of this dialogue, Mary says in verse 38, "I am the Lord's servant." In other words, I accept the will of the Lord. Now in keeping with what we did in last week's message, we will examine this truth, these teachings in Luke chapter one, we will examine this teaching back in the Old Testament. Now believe it or not, back in the Garden of Eden, God said that his savior would be born of the seed or the offspring of a woman.

Now we looked at these verses last week, but I reference you or I'll call you back to Genesis chapter three, verse 15. Verse 15 reads, "I will put enmity between you and the woman." Of course, we know what's going on here. God is cursing the serpent and he goes on to say, "And between your offspring and her offspring, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel." Here God is saying several things. Now the most obvious is God's curse on Satan. We see more of that curse back in verse 14. But here in verse 15, we have the Messiah of God called her offspring. Go back to the verse.

"I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring." Some translations use the word seed. Now the main point of the passage here is the conflict. God is talking about the conflict between his Messiah and Satan. But right here in this prophecy about the coming savior of God, God says that the savior would be born of a woman. But yet there is more. If this verse in Genesis three is vague, well then the apostle Paul most definitely is not vague. If we were to turn to Galatians chapter four, verse four, Paul says, "But when the fullness of time had come," what does that mean? At the right time, God's time.

God sent forth his son born of a woman. And what is Paul saying? He's saying exactly what God said back in Genesis chapter three, verse 15. Again, if God was somewhat vague in Genesis chapter three, verse 15, well Paul's definitely not vague. Of course it was God the Holy Spirit who had inspired Paul to write these words in Galatians four, four. But yet there's even more. There are more specifics. The promised Messiah was not just born of a woman, but we know he was born of a specific woman and that was Mary. We see this in both Matthew's account and Luke's account, the stories of the birth of Jesus.

So what do we see here in both Old Testament and New Testament? God promised a Messiah would be given and he would be the offspring or the seed or the descendant of a woman. That prophecy was fulfilled in the fullness of time or in God's time. Jesus was born of a woman and that woman was Mary. There are far too many passages to count within the New Testament which speak of Mary as the mother of Jesus. She is definitely a prominent figure in the Gospels, especially in the early part of those Gospels.

So Jesus, the promised Messiah of God was born of a woman and that woman was Mary and she was spoken of all throughout Matthew and all throughout Luke and many other New Testament passages. So number one, Jesus was born of a woman. And then number two, Jesus was born of a virgin. Of course this is still talking of Mary. Now the Messiah of God was not born to just any woman and Mary, Mary was not just any woman. Back in Luke, Luke chapter one, we read those verses earlier. We see a great description of this young woman, Mary, and we see quite a few details here. In Luke chapter one, verse 28, that verse says that Mary was favored by God.

That word can mean blessed. So Mary was favored by God. She was blessed of God. We see this repeated on down in verse 30 and I'll read the verse. "And the angel said to her," that's Gabriel, "do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God." After Mary questions the angel of the Lord, Gabriel says, "You have found favor. You're blessed." But a question. What does this favor mean? What is this blessing of God and what does it mean? Obviously Mary was a very godly young woman. She walked with God, but this favored by God speaks of God's work and will and plan in her life. God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus.

But there's another detail. We see in Luke chapter one, verse 27, that Mary was a virgin. And not only in Luke's gospel, but in Matthew, specifically Matthew one, verse 23, it says that Mary was a virgin as well. But in keeping with our pattern, we need to see that the Old Testament scriptures speak about this subject as well. We see the same fact in the Old Testament that the promised Messiah would be born of a virgin. In the verse we are familiar with, we see the Old Testament prophecy that a virgin would conceive and that is Isaiah 714.

Isaiah 714 says, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign," and he's speaking to the nation of Israel, "behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel." Now there is something interesting. There's some interesting information here in Isaiah's prophecy. Now this prophecy was written in the original Hebrew language, and there were two words for virgin in the language. One meant simply a virgin, and the second meant a young woman who was of the age of marriage and a virgin.

Simply God, through Isaiah, was communicating that the mother of the Messiah was to be a virgin and a young woman who was of the proper age of marriage because that's the word that Isaiah used. That was the prophecy. Now in keeping with the meaning of Isaiah 714, we see that many passages in the New Testament speak of Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a virgin and a young girl who was of the proper age to be married in her day. Matthew chapter 1 verse 18 speaks to this fact. In verse 24 and 25 and then in Luke starting in verse 26, it all speaks to this fact. So what are we seeing here in both Old and New Testaments?

God promised that a virgin would give birth to His Messiah, His promised Messiah. That prophecy was fulfilled in Mary. Mary was a virgin of the proper age for marriage. She was pledged to be married to Joseph, as was the custom of the day. She was a virgin having never been with a man, just as Isaiah said she would be. So Jesus, the promised Savior and Messiah of God was born of a virgin, not just any virgin but a godly young lady who was of the proper age of marriage in her day. And there are many, many passages in the New Testament which speak of this fact and many others concerning Mary.

Now we have briefly looked at the fact that Jesus was born of a woman, born of a virgin fulfilling two major prophecies in the Old Testament. Now this is a survey, this is an overview, this is a review for some of you. But a question here, what should we really see here? What must we take, what must we make sure we take home with us with the information we have examined? We must see two realities about Christ Jesus. This pertains to a proper understanding of the doctrine of Christ. The theological term is Christology. This pertains to proper Christology. We learned our proper Christology back when we studied through the Gospel of John.

But two things here. First, these passages, both Old and New Testament show that Christ was born of a woman emphasizing Christ's humanity. Jesus was fully man and he had to be fully man. To take upon himself the punishment of sin as a substitute for man, the Messiah had to be fully man. Of course he was a man without sin. Second Corinthians 5, the beginning of verse 21 says, "For our sake," Paul's saying, "for our sake," that's God, "made him Christ to be sin who knew no sin." So Christ was fully man and he had to be fully man to take upon himself the punishment of our sin to be that substitutionary death on the cross.

And then second, these passages, both Old and New Testament, show that Christ was born of a virgin, emphasizing Christ's deity. Now we'll talk more about his deity later in this series. But while Jesus had an earthly mother, he did not have an earthly father. I mean to say that Jesus was not conceived of a man, but he was conceived of the Holy Spirit of God. Joseph was not his biological father. God the Holy Spirit was. Joseph took upon himself the responsibilities of raising Jesus as his son, but God was his father. Now what does this tell us? Jesus was fully man, born of a woman, Mary.

Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin. In the Old Testament said this would be the case for the promised Messiah and the Old and the New Testaments tell us this was the case. So what have we seen just so far in our message? We see that Jesus was born of a woman, Mary, and Jesus was born of a virgin, Mary. But let's continue. Number three, I want us to see that Jesus was born of the seed of Abraham. Now here we will continue to examine Jesus and his humanity. Again we will look into both Old and New Testaments. Here we will examine a few passages which speak to the earthly lineage of Jesus or the family lineage of Jesus.

And again we will keep to our pattern. We'll go back into the Old and come back into the New. Now of course we must start with the earthly lineage of Jesus with the father of the faith and that would be Abraham. Some of us might know that Abraham was the father of the Jewish people and ultimately he was the father of the nation of Israel. But Abraham was so much more. And we see this in one particular verse, just one. Genesis chapter 22 verse 18. The verse reads, "And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice." God talking to Abraham.

"And in your offspring shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed." You may know this fact but this verse here is a part of what's called the Abrahamic covenant or the covenant that God made with Abraham. In that covenant God promised Abraham that he would have descendants and that all of the nations would be blessed from his seed or his offspring. Go back to the verse. "And from your offspring or your seed or your descendants shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed." Now this is none other than Jesus. Because Jesus was the earthly offspring of Abraham and all of the nations were and are blessed through Jesus.

God so loved the world that he gave his only son and his son was a descendant of who? He was a descendant of Abraham. Now if we look into Matthew's account and we do not skip the genealogy of Jesus, now I say that tongue in cheek because many times we skip passages like that. But if we look into the genealogy of Jesus right there in Matthew 1.1 what does God give us? Verse 1, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." Not only do we see the fulfillment of this prophecy in Matthew 1.1 but we see this in Paul's writings.

In Galatians 3.16 Paul says, "Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring." He's going back to the Abrahamic covenant. He goes on to say, "It does not say unto offsprings," plural, referring to many, but referring to one, "into your offspring." Who is who? Christ. So what are we seeing here? Just with a few Old Testament and New Testament passages. Jesus was a descendant of Abraham, but not just Abraham. Genesis 21.12 says that Jesus was of the line of Isaac as well. Isaac was Abraham's son. The prophecy fulfilled and stated in Luke 3 verses 23 to 24 states that. But there is more.

Numbers 24 verse 17 prophesies the Messiah would be this descendant of Jacob. Now Jacob was the son of Isaac. Of course this was fulfilled. In Luke 3.23 to 24 it says that Jesus was a descendant of Isaac and Jacob. Those prophecies stating that the Messiah would descend from Abraham and his lineage are all throughout the Old Testament. So Jesus was the seed of Abraham, the son of Isaac, the son of Jacob. So Jesus was born a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And then number four, notice, Jesus was born of the house of David. Again, we continue to see this humanity of Jesus emphasized.

He was a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but the Old Testament prophecies concerning his physical lineage continue. There is more in his family tree. Again our pattern going back into the Old and coming back into the New. Now if you must start the lineage of Jesus was Abraham and you must, then you must see that Jesus was also a descendant of David. That would be King David, the son of Jesse. The prophet Jeremiah prophesied that this would be the case.

Jeremiah 3, 5 reads, "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord." Well I will raise up for David a righteous branch and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. Here the prophet Jeremiah gives us a picture. He pictures the promised Messiah as a branch which comes out of David's family line or family tree. Jeremiah repeats this same promise later on in Jeremiah 33 verses 14 to 17. So we see the prophecy that states that the promised Messiah would descend from the house of the line of David. It comes out of the book of Jeremiah. But there's more.

The prophecy goes back even further in the family line. In Isaiah 1.11 it states that the promised Messiah would descend from the line of the house of Jesse. Now who was Jesse? Jesse was David's father. Jeremiah 1.11 reads, "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse." We see these prophecies fulfilled. Meaning New Testament verses speak of Jesus as a descendant of Jesse and a descendant of David. In Luke 3.23 in verse 32 it says that Jesus is the son of Jesse. In many New Testament passages Jesus is seen as the son of David. In Luke 2.23 and verse 31.

In Matthew 1.1 and 9.27 and more in Matthew, Mark, Luke and Acts and Revelation what do we see? Jesus is a descendant of Jesse and a descendant of David of the house of David. So what are we seeing here? Again Old Testament and New. Jesus was a descendant of King David. But not just David but of Jesse his father as well. This prophecy was fulfilled and stated many many times in the Gospels and other New Testament passages. The prophecy saying that the Messiah would descend from the house in the line of David or all throughout the scripture. So Jesus was of the seed of the lineage of the house of David and his father Jesse.

Now we have quickly looked at the fact that Jesus was born of the line in the house of David. Again this is overview. This is survey. Many other prophecies spoke of the lineage or the family tree of the Messiah. Now a question. What should we see here? What must we make sure we retain? Again this speaks to the doctrine of Christ or proper Christology. This speaks to Christ and his humanity. I stated earlier that Jesus was fully man and he was fully God. But in the prophecies concerning the lineage of Jesus we see much more than that. First we see that the Messiah was a savior for Israel. Yes, Israel.

The promised Messiah was given to the people of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Messiah came through the line of King David and his people Israel. The promised Messiah of God was revealed to Israel first. Jesus says this fact about his mission in many places in the Gospel, specifically Matthew 15 verse 24. Jesus says, "I was sent only to the lawship of the sheep of the house of Israel." What is he saying? That's my first mission. Of course we know that Israel ultimately rejected Jesus as their Messiah. But second, we see that the Messiah was a savior for all nations. He was first for Israel and then for the nations.

We see this fact way back in the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 22 verse 18. What is God saying to Abraham? And in your offspring shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed. We see this prophecy fulfilled in the very familiar John 3.16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son." Now what does this tell us? Jesus was the promised Messiah who descended from a man, Abraham. He was a descendant of the lineage or the family of Abraham. That lineage was repeated over and over all throughout the Old and New Testaments. He was born the Savior of Israel and then the nations.

Jesus made Himself known to Israel first and then to the world. Now as I step back from what we have examined, again this is overview. This is a quick overview of so much that we see in the Old and New Testaments. Notice what we have studied. Jesus, the promised Messiah, was born of a woman, born of a virgin, and that particular young lady was Mary. He was the descendant of Abraham, the father of the faith, and he was of the line and the house of David. Jesus was fully man. What's the title of the message? Emmanuel, God with us, God becoming a man. We have quickly examined Christ and His humanity.

Now in conclusion, our moving away from the message, I want to show you the significance of what we have studied. This is more than the Christmas story. This is more than an overview of a handful of passages from the Old and New Testament. This is more than a lesson on the doctrine of Christ. This applies to us far past the manger scene and the genealogy that we normally skip over. First, Christ being fully man meant that He could take upon Himself sin, the sin of man. Remember the verse that I read out of Corinthians earlier?

Second Corinthians 5 verse 21 says, "For our sake, He God made Him Jesus to be sin who knew no sin." So Christ's humanity made it possible for Him to be our sin bearer. And then second, Christ being a true descendant of Abraham and of the line or the lineage of David meant that He would be the Savior for the nations. Again, Genesis 22, 18, "And in your offspring shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed." And God said that His Savior would be a Savior for the nations coming out of Abraham. Now this leads me to ask you two questions this morning. And I ask you as your pastor to really ponder these questions.

Two questions out of what we have studied here. First, are you bearing your own sin or is your sin forgiven? Let me repeat those two questions. Are you bearing your own sin or has your sin been forgiven? Listen, folks, that baby in a manger did not come for a cute manger scene or a Christmas play in church or for a nice Hallmark card. That baby in that manger was the one who knew no sin but who would bear sin. And anyone who is outside of a saving relationship with Christ is bearing their own sin. No peace, no forgiveness, burden. We should be good students of church history.

And in our study of church history, we should be good students of individuals. I like Christian biography. I go through spells in my own life where I read biography and one of my favorites that I probably need to go back and study some more. It's one of the first and early great American Christians and that was David Brainerd. It's a missionary to the American Indians. There's so much that we can learn about David Brainerd. His prayer life, great pattern of prayer, his devotion to missionary endeavors. What a great missionary model he was. His devotion to sound doctrine, to even standing up against unsound doctrine in his day.

But one thing about David Brainerd is his interesting conversion experience. See, he was great at journaling. He wrote down his own personal faults and feelings. He was one who kept journals. They were never meant to be published. It was only after the great Jonathan Edwards persuaded David Brainerd to let him publish his writings that we even have that information today. But when you read and study David Brainerd's journal writings of his conversion, you see a great burden of sin. God, the Holy Spirit, convicted him of his lostness and of his rebellion and of his sin. And there's this great burden. This great burden.

See, when we see that Jesus was fully man, and when we see that Jesus, because he was fully man, could be the one to bear sin, we see that we can have our sin burden forgiven. That baby Jesus in the manger came to bear our sin. And my question for you is this. Are you bearing your own sin? Are you carrying the burden for your own sin? Does your own sin haunt you? Does your own sin come before your eyes? Can you never escape it? Never escape it. The only way you'll escape it is if you're born of the Spirit, is if you experience a peace that can only come from God, the miraculous new birth. And then my second question.

Are you a part of the blessed people of God? Now I'm not talking about our middle class American blessings. God promised Abraham that all of the nations of the earth would be blessed because of Jesus. And my question for you is this. Are you a part of that blessed people? Or are you outside of the blessings of God's salvation? Are you outside of the blessing of having your sin forgiven? Or are you outside of being a part of God's people? I'll never forget years ago counseling with one of the young people in the life of our church. And counseling, and counseling, Brother Keith and I counseled before we baptized this particular individual.

She went on to describe many things that God did and used in her life to bring her to that place of conversion. But one thing that she clearly articulated was how she always felt on the outside. She saw others who were Christian and they were enjoying their faith and walking with the Lord, but she was outside. She saw others enjoy the preaching and the teaching of the Word, Bible study, and the fellowship of being together. But she always said she felt on the outside. And so my question for you is this, are you on the outside or are you a part of God's people? Therefore you are blessed.

I've shared with you many, many times in my personal conversion. I'll never forget being saved on a Saturday night and I grabbed the Bible off the top shelf in my closet and I'm telling you the next morning I was there at Sunday school and when I walked in the door I found the blessed people of God. I was blessed and they were blessed and I was proud to be a part of the blessed people of God. And so my question for you is this, are you in or are you out? Christmas is about Christ. Christmas is about the Emmanuel, God with us. Christ in His humanity.

The sin bearer to provide a blessed way for a blessed people, a blessed people of God for His glory. So what's the title of the message? This is Emmanuel, God with us, Christ came as a man, Christ and His humanity. And again the two questions, are you bearing your own sin and are you a part of the blessed people of God? Here's what I say as I close people, don't go through this Christmas season looking at the baby in a manger, hearing the Christmas story. Don't go through the motions being on the outside, carrying your burden. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Draw near to Him, Christ Jesus in His Son to do what?

To die on the cross, to make a way. So this morning what have we seen? Emmanuel, God with us, Christ and His humanity. Let's pray and then we'll sing a closing verse to close out what the Lord has given us this morning.