The Example of Joseph: Believing God's Promises at Great Cost

Well I stand to preach this morning in light of the truth that we just sang that he will hold me fast. I trust that is your heart's cry as well. That worship bless me. Thank you Jared and Megan. Well the old adage says that you're either just leaving a trial or you're about to enter one and we are continuing our Christmas series about the faithful God of Christmas. We know the Lord is faithful in our trials and we have just read earlier of Joseph and Joseph has left a trial.

He was told by the angel that his wife to be, he was betrothed not yet engaged but betrothed that she had become pregnant and he was meeting that angel's message with faith. He believed that message but he went through a trial as that would have been a sign of cultural shame and that's the background for this text. Let's read the text one more time and we will read verses 13 through 15 and we will read the rest as we get to that during the message. Matthew chapter 2 verses 13 through 15.

Now when they had departed behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said rise take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. He rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and he remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt. I called my son. Well last week we learned God's faithfulness to fulfill his promises. They are his promises to fulfill and he fulfills them by his own might and strength in spite of our own unbelief.

If we are faithless 2nd Timothy 2 13 says he remains faithful because he cannot deny himself. Last week on Sunday morning we saw that Zechariah was chosen even before the foundations of the world in Ephesians 2 10. He was chosen for good deeds. They were appointed by God and God persevered in him through unbelief even through his wife's barrenness. We saw God's loving discipline. It serves to correct our character and God's work was not hindered by Zechariah's unbelief and his sin and our sin cannot be a detriment to God's work either.

You know this shouldn't really surprise us that Zechariah had shortcomings and unbelief and we shouldn't be surprised that God is not hindered by them. You remember Moses in Exodus chapter 4 verse 13 he said oh Lord please send someone else. It made the Lord very angry. The Lord was very mad at Moses and the Lord used Moses mightily. This is not to excuse our sin as we will understand today but we know that the Lord is very serious about preserving and holding us fast in our sin. Psalm 39 verse 1 listen to the Lord's heart to burn our unbelief out. Let me read this verse.

"When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin you consume like a moth what is dear to him and surely all mankind is a mere breath. Have you ever been disciplined by the Lord so that things that were dear to you burned away like a moth? What a blessing this passage is to us. You know the things that we hold to in this world can at times distract us. Even good things. Zechariah had longed to have a child. He had prayed and scripture told us last week as we read that those prayers came up before the Lord yet he had something dear to him that had to be burned out like a moth.

And God was faithful to consume Zechariah's unbelief and he can be faithful to consume your unbelief this morning. Today we're gonna see how God can persevere his own work not just through our sin and our unbelief but through persecution which is what we see in the text. The message title this morning is the example of Joseph believing God's promises at great cost. If you're taking notes you can write that down. The example of Joseph believing God's promises at great cost. So the first major truth that I want us to see tonight is this morning excuse me is costly Joseph's costly life-altering faith. Joseph had costly life-altering faith.

Just a bit of brief background of this text. Let me read verse 13 again. "Now when they had departed behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Rise take the child his mother and flee to Egypt." You might be familiar with the Christmas carol we three kings. This is a reminder that we need to choose our Christmas music carefully and we need to listen to our Christmas music carefully. Scripture does not tell us that there were three kings. Scripture tells us nothing about the number. This could have been three kings but it could very well have been a very large caravan.

And Scripture more specifically implies that they were not kings as much as they were priests. The Magi hailed from a group of people known as the Medes and the Medes were conquered by Persia and after their conquering they served Persia and specifically the entire nation became priests who oversaw all the animal sacrifices in Persia. They were devout men. They were actually very similar to what the Hebrew Levites would have been. They specialized in astrology and philosophy and they worked really hard and they had a very important role.

Scholars tell us that ancient scholarship had an established belief that a Judean king would be sent to rule the world. The ancient world actually had messianic prophecies but their idea of what the Messiah would be was completely off and completely foreign. It makes sense that they would be looking for a Messiah. Prophecies and predictions of the messianic figure were not altogether uncommon and it's much similar to us in our day. The idea of Christmas and even baby Jesus in a manger is not foreign to our culture.

The problem is is that we get too attached to the wrong Messiah and thankfully while so many in Bethlehem missed the Messiah these magi found the right Jesus and I trust that you're worshiping the right Jesus this Christmas. But we need to take a look not just at the magi but the murderous King Herod. Herod tells the magi that he desires to worship the child. We know he's lying. William Barclay tells us that King Herod was insanely jealous insanely jealous. He murdered his own wife and his mother-in-law. He did so because he perceived them to be a threat to his kingdom.

He also murdered three of his sons and if he felt like someone was a threat to his kingdom in self-preservation and in paranoia he would have them executed. Augustus the Roman Emperor once said it was safer to be Herod's pig than his son. King Herod crafts a scheme to lie to the magi and although perhaps he fooled them he could not fool God. Verse 12 tells us, "And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod they departed to their own country by another way." So the Lord warns the magi to depart and we see Joseph's costly belief. We're gonna see that Joseph obeys the Lord and he believes the promises of God at great cost to himself.

You know believing the Word ought to cost us. When you read the Word do you believe it and do you believe it in such a way that it alters your life, it transforms your life because if you do not believe in Scripture in a way that cost you you don't believe in Scripture. You know the demons believed in Jesus. They bowed down to him, they called him Lord, yet they did not believe in Jesus in a saving faith and saving faith is a costly faith. I want you to see what Joseph's belief cost him. Cost him his reputation. When the Word came out that his wife to be was pregnant he had in mind to simply put her away quietly.

By law he could have brought her before a tribunal and have her stoned but Scripture tells us he was a righteous man which meant he cared about Mary so he had in mind to put her aside quietly. Yet the Lord sends an angel to him and when he gets word that Mary was born of a... she was moved upon by the Holy Spirit, she was pregnant by the Spirit, then he takes her to be his wife and this would have been a symbol to the whole community that he was the one who fathered her child. So he took on, he stepped into her shame, he became her husband at great cost to him socially. Has following Jesus cost you socially?

Has following Jesus hurt your reputation? I tell our youth oftentimes that following Jesus ought to cost you something and if you're following him it will cost you. It cost Joseph his reputation but believing God's promises also cost Joseph his comfort. So he takes God at his word and then the next thing you know he is having to pick up his family and move to Egypt. God tells him that he needs to get out of dodge figuratively speaking and his whole life then is now revolving around this child. Does your entire life revolve around Jesus? Is it costing you this morning? Is it costing you your comfort? Saving faith always cost us comfort.

It also cost him his home. Barclay tells us that there were over 1 million Jews who lived in Alexandria in Egypt and while this would have provided something of normalcy for him it would not have been home. You know if you move to a totally different country that spoke an entirely different language and say this city was the largest city in the world but it was not your hometown. Your mama's home cooking was not there. Your favorite restaurants were not there. Even if you had a large American presence it still would not be home and this was not his home.

He had to give up his home to follow the Lord believing the Lord cost him his reputation, his comfort, his home. You know it also cost him his time. Matthew Henry notes that before Christ comes into the picture he didn't commune with angels. All of a sudden Joseph is talking to angels. You know this means he had a prayer life and after you come to Christ you need a prayer life and if you don't have a prayer life I'd ask you have you come to Christ because his whole life revolves around communing with God. Does your life revolve around communing with God? Indeed we won't believe and obey God if we don't pray.

If you don't I'm not talking about struggling in your prayer life. I'm talking about following the Lord. You will never obey the Lord if you don't have a prayer life and that's one thing you got to admit about Joseph. He had a prayer life. Secondly I want us to see that Joseph had a divinely protected faith. Joseph had a divinely protected faith. Let's take a look in the book of Matthew in chapter 2 verses 16 and we'll read through 17. "Then Herod when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men became furious. He sent and he killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region where there were two years old or under.

According to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Rama weeping and loud lamentation. Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they are no more." I want us to see the brutality of Herod. We saw his paranoia and his self-preservation but I want to add another layer to this. He was brutal. This is a frightening and a tragic passage but it illustrates the brutality of this evil man. I taught our youth last fall in the fall of 2020 that he is actually a type and shadow of the Antichrist.

So if you're a student of the Old Testament, the Old Testament deals in types and shadows. So when we see Moses we see that Moses is in part what Christ is perfectly. And when you see Pharaoh and when you see Herod you see a type and shadow of the Antichrist. When you see this murdering king who is ruled by self-preservation and paranoia you are seeing a type and shadow of what the Antichrist will be in in times. I learned this from our mentor Jeff Noblett. Just as Pharaoh attempted to slaughter all the Hebrew boys because the Hebrews are precious to the Lord we see that King Herod is also trying to kill Hebrew boys.

Now it's important for us to note that Satan is always out to destroy the work of God. Dear friends, Satan is out to destroy the work of God in your life. This is a very real threat. You know I think it is beautiful that God places his son into the home of Mary and Joseph. You know I see this is like the local church. In the midst of this paranoia, this treacherous, murderous king, the Lord gives Jesus right into the local church. Your friend, no matter what happens tomorrow politically or what persecution that might come to God's church, we are given the gift of having Jesus.

In the midst of persecution and trial in the world at large, when Satan is out to get God's precious people, he gives us Christ. He entrusts Jesus into the arms of Mary and Joseph and he grants him Mary. He protects Jesus but he's also protecting Mary and Joseph, the very people he created. Dear friend, you can't expect to receive God's protection if you're not in the local church. Now I love you. We love you. We're glad you're here this morning on Sunday and if someone's not here they need vacation. I'm not talking about vacation. I'm talking about pouring your life into the local church.

Now I'm not saying if you don't come to church or if you go through a period where you might have difficulty finding a church, I'm not saying you're not born again, what I'm saying is you will not grow if you're not in the local church. You can't expect God's protection if you're not in the place where he put for protection. If you think of an ancient city that had walled gates, if someone leaves that city are they still a citizen? Absolutely. Are they protected? No. The walls of the city provide protection for the citizens. That's where they belong and we come to church not because we have to. We come to church because we have to.

Does that make sense? Let me say that again. We don't go to church because we have to. We go to church because we have to. And what I mean is if you miss or if you're out, if you're outside of those city walls we can't enjoy the protection. Look at what Jesus had. God placed him in a local church. His mom is in the corner writing the Magnificant. She's the world's first multi-platinum praise and worship songwriter. His dad is in the other corner communing with angels. He's got a prayer life. Friends, if you're looking for a local church, find one where people love worshiping and find one where people love prayer.

Because when you're gonna find those two things you're also gonna find a solid pulpit ministry. We as a church are entrusted with Christ. Remember one of the telltale signs of God's people. They believe his promises. They believe that he is our God. He is their God. The people believe that he's dwelling in their midst. And just like Joseph and Mary we are entrusted with Jesus. Not only do we run to church for protection but God blesses us with Jesus. I want us to see that this is a worshiping couple and they're worshiping in chaos.

Barclay notes, "Scholars estimate possibly between 20 to 50 different Hebrew boys likely died." This is probably not as large of a number as what Pharaoh, what we see with Pharaoh is nothing short of genocide. It doesn't lessen the severity of the sin but it gives us some context. Although Bethlehem was crowded during what we celebrate to be the Christmas season, everyone was registering in their hometown and it was crowded. This could be taking place up to two years after that time and we really don't know exactly when this takes place. But scholars estimate he was not yet weaned all the infants, two years and younger.

There would not have been that many two-year-old and under boys. Let's say 20 to 50 people. This does not lessen the severity. Listen to what the text says though, "A voice was heard in Rama weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children." Friends, Rachel was weeping regardless. If there was 15 or 20 or 200, the important thing to remember here is that mothers, Hebrew mothers, lost their sons at the hands of a brutal tyrant and probably their best option would have been to leave and go to Egypt. A lot of people were leaving upwards of a million Hebrews just to escape wicked Herod.

And this is the backdrop for worshipful Mary and prayerful Joseph. They worshipped in chaos. They prayed in chaos. They met with God in the midst of a chaotic world and I promise no matter what political chaos may come our way in the new year and it will come. I'm just gonna tell you right now. Political chaos, social chaos, anarchy in the streets. We can rest assured that if we're in the walls of a protected city, the Lord will protect our faith and just like Joseph, we can have a protected faith. You know persecution is always a reality for those who believe the promises of God.

You can't expect to live a life totally free of persecution even in the church, even in the walled city. You know Jesus promised persecution, John 1520. Jesus blessed during persecution. Matthew 5-10. Jesus modeled persecution, right? No one was more faithful than he was especially on the cross. And Jesus sustains during persecution. In 1 Peter, Hebrews and Revelation were all written to encourage us as a church in persecution. One scholar notes that these texts, these books, 1 Peter and Hebrews and Revelation, give us something that we would call a theology of the persecuted.

And in the midst of your persecution, you could dive into these books and see that God sustains his people during perilous times of persecution. Finally, we need to see Joseph's preserved faith. Joseph's preserved faith. Let's go to the text in verse 19. "But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, 'Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel for those who sought the child's life are dead.' And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.

But when he heard that Arcalaeus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled that he would be called a Nazarene." You know, Joseph heard the call to leave Bethlehem. God told him it was time to go. And we see the persevering faith of a child of God. And we see God preserving his faith. All true believers are sovereignly protected by God just as Joseph was protected in Egypt.

John MacArthur notes that his sovereign protection, however, is in no way eliminating our responsibility to persevere. Just because you're in the walled city of the church and just because you are a citizen of heaven doesn't mean that you don't have to clean your own house. You've got work to do. God has placed you here in the church. He's placed you in the kingdom dear friend, dear believer. But that does not absolve us of responsibility. God is calling us to follow him. He regenerates us. In fact, he generates faith in us. But this does not remove our responsibility to repent and believe.

This also requires, as MacArthur notes, sustained efforts in pursuing holiness. Dwelling in the walled city of his protection as a citizen still requires us to take care of our own house. You know, God's power is unlimited. It is the preserving force. He is the reason we are in the walled city. But his power keeps us in faith. This is preserving faith. And when God preserves our faith, we will persevere in our faith. Scripture tells us he is both author and perfecter of our faith. Listen to what Matthew 10 22 tells us. We have our work cut out for us. You will be hated by all of my, you will be hated by all of my namesake.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Jesus told his own disciples as a promise you will be hated. Now I have to be faithful to the Scriptures at this point. The entire series is on the promises of God. And I can't tell you the promises that you will endure during difficulty. Right. There's certain promises that we could hold on to that make us feel good about ourselves. Right. The Lord will keep us in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him. That's encouraging. That's uplifting. But he also gives us promises that aren't that happy. You will be hated by all. That's a promise. It is a promise.

In fact, God has promised persecution. He's promised trial. He promised difficulty. But even in that bad news we have great joy. He's promised to be with us during that. He's promised to dwell in our midst. The joy of living in the walled cities that we're living near the king. We get to see the king. We get to know the king. The king knows our names. And who are we that we would have the king come into our house, into our own our own life. We would have the king dwell within our own arms just as he dwelled in the arms of Mary and Joseph. Scripture consistently calls us to persevere in the faith.

Dear friend, failure to persevere in the faith is a failure to be saved. You and I are just like Joseph and Mary today. We're a local church. We're carrying Christ's message. Christ himself submitted himself to the Father as the author and sustainer of that church. Just what a beautiful blessing that Mary and Joseph just as a local church are sustained by their son. What a blessing. We should not hold Mary and Joseph however in a special place because we are in that same place. We do not believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary. We do not believe that she is co-redemptress as our Catholic friends believe.

And what that means is that they are a blessed local church. And we have that same blessing is that we are dwelling in the walled city in our own house, the local church, our own small families. And we have Christ dwelling within our midst. Do you know this was one of our primary motivations for sending Brother Chris to a sabbatical, to a time of spiritual rest. It was Brother Jared who who said this and I'll quote him, "We don't know what trial might be just around the corner and we want our pastor prepared." I just love that heart. Because we understand that trial, persecution, difficulty is right around the corner.

You're either in the midst of a trial or you're just about to go into one. In conclusion this morning I want to give you some promises. First, promises for the church. God told the church that he will send a helper and he has sent that helper. That helper is the Holy Spirit. I want to challenge you this morning to hold on to the promises of God for the church every time you come. When we gather in the walled city of the local church I want you to enter prayerfully. I want you to enter reverently but please know that you do not have the responsibility of worshiping God by yourself because you can't.

You can't listen well enough, you can't worship well enough, you've got to have the precious Holy Spirit to help you. Also I want to give you promise for the believer. 2nd Timothy 4 18 says the Lord will keep you from harm. 2nd Timothy 4 18 I want to read this. "The Lord will rescue you, the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever." In this last summer at VBS we teach our kids a song. It comes right out of the Psalms. "When I am afraid I will trust in you." When I am afraid I will trust in you.

That's a good verse to remember but this is one for you to remember the next time you're afraid. I will say this, it's good to see brother Trey this morning. I remember having a conversation about Trey with a mutual friend. He said you know Trey always tells me you don't know what it's like to be afraid until you've been to war. When brother Trey was in war he's told me he knew fear and you may not be in a position to be a soldier serving our country taking fire from the enemy but you certainly will be if you are a believer seeking to be faithful to the Lord. In fact you need to be aware of this.

The enemy can blindside you and if you're not where you need to be in the walls of the city you'll be hit. I want you to remember this promise of 2nd Timothy 4 18. This would be a great passage to memorize the next time you feel afraid and the next time you feel that you're gonna fail in your faith. "The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom." And I love this and I love that we sang "He will hold me fast." You know that's one of my favorite songs because it's the one I need to sing the most. That if you ever think that your pastors and your elders are men without fear you need to ask somebody.

That your pastors are men who struggle with fear. They may not express it. They may not express it even to their own family. "When I fear my faith will fail." And I love the line that Jared sang. "Those he saves are his delight." The king of his city loves his citizens. If you are born again dwelling in the walled city this morning the Lord loves you. You are his delight. He sent his precious son to die for you and he will hold you fast. I want to give you not just a promise for the church, a promise for the believer, but I want to give you a promise for the week. Hebrews 13 6 "The Lord is my helper. I will not fear.

What can man do to me?" You know brother Chris and I have ministered to all kinds of people in 10 years that we've been on church staff together and before that I've been doing ministry in one way form or another with brother Chris for 20 years and I'm rounding up it's 18 but let's say 20 years. And we have come into contact with a variety of people and you know there are some people in ministry that are just weak. There's some people who get saved and it seems as though all the angels in heaven are at their their whim.

You know the wind is always at their back spiritually but those are really few and far between and truth be told those are people who are probably a lot weaker if they're honest behind closed doors. I think that the vast majority of people that we administer to have some type of weakness. All of us do but there are some people who are just weak spiritually they're weak. This is a promise for the week. The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? And finally I want to give you promises for the faithless. You know I think about that father that I spoke of last week. His son was possessed by a demon.

He had gone everywhere even went to the Lord's disciples and they could not cast him out. Jesus rebuked him and said you faithless generation even the disciples struggle with faithlessness. And he said I believe but Lord help my unbelief. Can we join with him as we conclude this series? If you are faithless as a born-again believer, I'm talking to the saved at this point. If you're a born again child of God and you struggle with faithlessness, join with me and this father that says Lord I believe help my unbelief. I want to challenge you to read 2nd Timothy 2 13.

I want to ask you to meditate on that passage if you find yourself struggling as a believer. And if you have one thing in your life that you know, if there is one testimony in your life and you know hey this testimony is of God. If you have one testimony in your life, this is your confidence that you leave with this morning. That he is faithful to complete the work he began. Dear parent you could be struggling in your parenting your children. Father you may be struggling at work in a way that no one knows. I just want to ask you did God call you to parent that child? Did God give you a testimony with that child?

Father did God give you that job? If the answer is yes and if he did so with testimony, well then he has to complete his work. This is our confidence on that day when you're having a hard time getting through. The Lord gave you that testimony. It is the Lord's testimony and he by God and I say that with reverence by God he will complete the work he began in you because it is not your work. If it were your work you'd have no hope. So I want to conclude the series. I want us to pray and I want to commit this to the Lord.

I want to encourage you to go back and listen to this series or share it with someone you think might be encouraged because we all can benefit from seeing the faithfulness of God. I know this has been a blessing to me. I'll be glad to see brother Chris in this pulpit just because he is my favorite pastor, my favorite preacher but it has been my joy and I'm thankful that he entrusts this great work to me when he's gone. Let's pray together.