Immanuel — God with Us

Good evening. Would you all stand? You're going to get to sit a bit, so we'll have you stand just a tiny bit.

We want to welcome all of you here this evening to Calvary Chapel. Those online, we welcome you. Would you bow your heads and join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity this evening to come as we celebrate the birth of your Son, Jesus Christ, Lord, as we think on that. I remember Mary, in the Scripture, it said Mary pondered these things in our hearts.

May we ponder the truth, Lord, of your Word, the truth of who you are.

Father, give us hearts. We look first directed toward you, Lord, in this busy, busy world in which we live, with all that goes on, Lord. We look to you this evening, this evening, the author and the finisher of our faith. We ask for your strength, Lord. We thank you that you're a God of mercy, a God of love, truth, sovereign. Thank you for your loving kindness, Lord Jesus, your grace, your unmerited favor.

And so we come to you tonight. Just as we are, with all that we face, with the joys, with the concerns, with whatever's on our heart, by faith, we would come to you this evening. Please bless. Father, we just thank you, Lord, that that wonderful promise that you promised in Isaiah 714, the virgin would bear a child. And he would be called Immanuel, God with us.

Immanuel is called.

Immanuel is called. Father, those who have promised that you would be called a wonderful counselor, we give you praise, Lord. That's what you are for each of us as we look to you, Lord. Praise you, Lord.

Shall be called everlasting father. Shall be called everlasting father. No, Father, we think of that. That location prophesied and fulfilled. You use Caesar Augustus as a tool to have him go be registered in their city, in that city. And so from Nazareth to Bethlehem, just where he was supposed to be born, it happened. Oh, how still we see.

Above thy deep.

Silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shine. The everlasting hopes and fears of all the years are.

The hopes and fears of all the years are.

Oh, Lord, there in Bethlehem. Instead of an inn. A stable, a manger.

A ways us lay down his sweet. The stars in the sky look down west. Asleep the cattle are. No, he makes eyes us look down from the sky. And stay by. The cradle till no more. Jesus, when we think of those words, O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, the Lord, our Savior, came to earth, born a baby, and all those things that babies go through, for you, for me.

He grew up as a boy. He also became an adolescent, didn't he? Teenager. A young adult. We thank you, Lord.

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, the Lord, our Savior, came to earth. Born the King of Israel. O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him. Let us adore Christ the Lord, sing choirs of angels, sing in exultation, O sing ye, ye citizens of heaven. Lord God, glory to us, let us adore Christ the Lord, for his word, for, for, for the Lord.

And so, Lord, you're worthy of all of our praise this evening, and any time and any day, Lord. And now we ask, Lord, that as Ryan comes up to share that which you've given him, we would ask that you would anoint him by the power of the Holy Spirit to bring forth your word. And that you would just move on this place, that you would speak to our hearts, that which you choose to this evening, that would encourage us, build us up, strengthen us in the faith. And we thank you in Jesus' name, amen.

Good evening. Glad you could be with us this evening. If you brought a Bible with you, if you would turn to Matthew chapter 1.

Matthew chapter 1, we'll be starting in verse 18.

Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1, verse 18, goes something like this. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Now, all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet.

Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us. And Joseph awoke from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord did, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. As we've gone through this particular season of Christmas this year, there's been a phrase that's gone kind of over and over again in my mind, and it's that phrase, Emmanuel, which means God with us. It seems to be what continues to come back to me.

As a matter of fact, I tried as hard as I could to get away from using this phrase in a message tonight, because Luke chapter 2 says, is what you're supposed to do on Christmas Eve, right? And so, this just kept coming back to me. I read an article recently called The Loneliness Pandemic. Speaking of the problem of loneliness in the United States of America today, it actually seems to have hit our nation to an even greater degree than it has some of the other nations.

But it's kind of interesting to take note of the statistics that you see of the aspect of loneliness that's hit ever since the pandemic, because the measures that have been taken, both the social distancing, the masks, as well as the shutdowns that have taken place, have caused a great deal of loneliness in our culture. And it really seems to span all age spectrums, whether it's the young or the old, whatever it is, it seems like everyone who has asked, do you feel more lonely this year than you have in years past, they've all said the same thing. And the answer is, yes. This article actually came out at the beginning of December.

So, we know this is pretty recent statistics that have been taken. But do you know what I know? I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. Because while the loneliness pandemic, maybe to the extent that we see it taking place

today, started around that time, I know as well as you do that loneliness has been a problem that we've had ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden. Because you and I were created for fellowship, not just fellowship with each other, although that community is incredibly important. And I do think that there is a pandemic of loneliness among people because of a lack of community with fellow believers and each other. And I do think that there is a pandemic of loneliness among people because of a lack But there's a pandemic of loneliness because we have been separated from the fellowship that we were truly created for, and that is fellowship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And so to me, as I read through this section of the book of Matthew, what really hits me is verse 23, because I realize that that verse speaks volumes, because in verse 23 it says, Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us. Now, if you were to read a commentary on this, most of them would point out the first portion of the verse. They would point out the importance, the theological significance of the virgin birth. But I don't want to talk to you tonight about the theology. Tonight I want to talk to you about the reality. And the reality that I want to talk to

you about is the reality of God with us. And so as I was thinking about this reality of God with us, I started thinking about it in three different ways. I started thinking about it in three different ways, and these are the three things that I would like to point out to you tonight about the reality of God with us. Number one, I would like to point out the miracle. Number two, I would like to point

out the meaning. And number three, I would like to point out the eternal reality of this truth. And so the first thing that we look at is we look at the miracle. Now, the miracle that sticks out to me about this aspect of God coming down and dwelling among us actually begins in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. I actually believe, and so starting from Genesis chapter 1 verse 1,

we're going to try to think about the reality of God with us. And I'm going to try to think about all the way through till Revelation, and I'm just kidding. Some of y'all looked a little scared there for a minute. It was time to loosen things up a little bit. I think Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 is the most important verse in the Bible because I believe that that verse declares to us the glory

of God almost more than any other verse. You know what Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 says? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. You see, that is of such vast importance because it teaches us a handful of things about God. First of all, it teaches us that God is eternal. Now, the eternal nature of God is something that will always blow my mind. I remember being the age of some of these tiny little people here

and one of my Bible teachers in school saying, God is eternal. God always will be, but God always has been. Now, when I think about the fact that God always will be, that's a fathomable thought for me. I don't know why it just is, but you know what really screws me up? You know what really messes with me? The fact that God always has been. He has no beginning.

I remember talking to one of my daughters about this and she says, that's great, Dad. So when did God start? And I said, God doesn't have a beginning. And she goes, that doesn't make sense. I said, I know. That's one of the cool things about God. But we learn from Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 that God always has been. God had no creator. God had no former. God had no

fashioner. God had no one that gave him power, no one that gave him strength, no one that put thoughts in his head. He just always has been. God is eternal. Do you know why? It's so hard for us to take in because we are finite. We are not eternal. We are bound by time and space. And so when we think about the eternal nature of God, it blows our little minds. And you

know what? That's a beautiful thing to have God do to us because all of a sudden we put ourselves back in the proper perspective. All of a sudden now he's God and I'm not. But not only does it teach us that God is eternal, but it also teaches us that God is all-knowing. There's a thousand dollar word for that. It's called omniscient. It just means that God is all-knowing.

But if you really want to impress some friends at a party, pull out the word omniscient. Tonight at Christmas Eve, when you're with some other family that decided they didn't want to come to church tonight, be like, you know what we learned? God's omniscient. And they'll go, wow. And you know that's right. It means he knows everything. And so do I. No, you don't. It means he's all-knowing.

Do you know how I know that? Because I want you to think about who in your mind is the smartest person you've ever met in your entire life. Go ahead. Start thinking about them. Don't include me. All of the other people that you can think of that have a lot, a lot of smarts, and you think they were created by God. I think about the things that people have done,

the thoughts that they've come up with, the philosophers that I enjoy reading, and those kinds of guys. And I think about how smart they are. And I think about the fact that God created them. Do you know what that means? God has to be smarter than them because he gave them the capacity to think. But that also means that nothing in the world takes God by surprise,

and there's nothing that he doesn't know because God is all-knowing. But not only does it teach us that God is all-knowing, but the third thing that it teaches us is it teaches us that God is all-powerful. Again, I want you to think of the mightiest thing that you can imagine. Perhaps the mightiest thing that you can imagine is the windstorm that came through last Wednesday. Because when you see what

that wind was able to do to buildings that people spent years trying to build, hurricane-proof or tornado-proof or whatever, and you see that all it took was one gust of wind to go and peel that thing off like it was the top of a pop can, and you go, that's a lot of power. When you see that, you're like, oh, my God, that's a lot of power. And you see that, you're like, that's a lot of power. And you see that, you're like, oh, my God, that's a lot of power. And you see that,

the hurricanes that have come through that have just absolutely obliterated all of man's greatest works, and you go, that's a lot of power. And then you realize that those were all formed by God. And you realize that He is the most powerful being in the world because He is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. So Genesis chapter 1 and 1 begins to speak to us about

the miracle. But you know what the other aspect, not only does God create everything, and that makes Him not only eternal, all-knowing, and all-powerful, but we're told in the book of Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3, you know what it says? It says that He upholds all things by the word of His power. Do you know what that means? That means that if God did not continue to keep the world

spinning at exactly the right rate, with the earth being at the exact right distance, with our hearts pumping at the exact right rate, and our lungs inhaling and exhaling at exactly the right ratio, do you know what would happen to us? We would all be done. And it's all done by the word of God's mouth. It's all done because He upholds everything by the word of His power. That means that there

is nothing on earth that is not sustained by the mighty power of God. You see, this is the miracle of God with us. Because that God who created the heavens and the earth, that God who is eternal in nature, who is all-powerful, who is all-powerful, who is all-powerful, who is all-powerful, who is all-powerful, who is all-knowing, and who by the very word of His power continues to keep the world spinning in motion in the way that He does, that God is the one who decided that what He would do is He would lay aside His glory and He would come down and be born as a little baby so that He could live among us. You see, this truth, this reality of God with us is truly the most miraculous thing I can imagine.

But not only is it a great miracle, it's a great miracle that we can live among us. But there's also great meaning. And in this aspect of great meaning, there's two things that I would like to point out to you. There's great meaning in the fact that God came down and dwelt among us. And I think there's two aspects of it that are really, really cool. The first is that He knows.

Now, there's two words for know in the Greek language. One is to know intellectually, the other is to know experientially. You and I can know a lot of things intellectually, we can believe that that exists. But to know it experientially means not only do we believe that it exists, but we've actually experienced it for ourself. And so when I tell you that He knows,

that's exactly what I mean, is that He has experienced for Himself all of the things that you and I have gone through. I started thinking about all the things that God has been through that He understands as far as what we experience here on earth. Because I don't know about you, but anytime you go through something difficult and you try to talk to a friend about it and they try to console you, it's the one thing that you tell them. You just don't understand because you've never been through it. But you see, we can't tell that to Jesus. Why? Well, because the very meaning of the fact

that He is God among us, that He came down and dwelt with us, means that He knows. So what does He know? Well, He knows what it is to face temptation. As a matter of fact, you know what we're told in the book of Hebrews? In the book of Hebrews, we're told that He was tempted in every way as we are. In every way that we are, in every part of His life. I think sometimes we forget that at one

point in time, Jesus was five, right? And He was tempted to steal a piece of candy or whatever Jewish kids like to steal at that particular point in time. He would have been tempted in that way to do those things. And then not only that, but Jesus was a teenager. Can you imagine teenage Jesus, right? Like, did He have zits? Did He go through all those kinds of things? I think He had

to have because He was a teenage boy that dwelt in a body of flesh. He was a teenager. He was a teenage boy that dwelt in a body of flesh. And so He dealt with all of the things that teenage kids deal with. He would have dealt with the temptation to deceive His parents and go do what He actually wanted to do. He would have dealt with the temptation to do things with the person of the

other sex that should not be done until marriage. He would have dealt with the temptation of popularity that everybody deals with. He dealt with temptation. And do you know what happened when He became a man? When He became a man, He dealt with all of the temptations of pride. All of the temptations of being identified with His work. All of the temptations of wanting all

of the glory for himself and really knowing that the glory should go to God. You see, he knew what it was to face temptation. That's what God among us means. But not only does he understand temptation, but do you know what else Jesus understood? He understood rejection. I don't know about you, but I've experienced rejection at certain points in time in my life. Jesus understood what that

meant. Jesus was rejected by his brothers. You may remember a particular scene with Jesus's brothers where they told him, they said, hey, listen, you need to go on up to Jerusalem. You need to go on up and your followers will love you and they'll seek after you. But do you know what they were really saying? They knew that if he went to Jerusalem, he was going to be sought out by those

who wanted to kill him. Do you know what they're saying? Jesus, go to Jerusalem and then you'll die and we won't have to deal with you any longer. He dealt with rejection from his own family. He dealt with rejection from the religious leaders. He dealt with rejection from the religious leaders. They all rejected every aspect of who he was. You know that he dealt with the rejection of people

that he grew up with because remember, Joseph wasn't his real biological father. Joseph was his adopted father. That goes into the theology of the virgin birth that we won't get into tonight. But Jesus would have dealt with the rejection of the rumors that were told. The rumors that were told about his background. The rumors that were told about his family. He understood all

those things. Not only did Jesus understand the temptation and yet he faced it without sin. Not only did he understand the temptation and yet he faced it without sin. Not only did he understand the rejection and yet he faced it without sin. Not only did he understand the power of the Holy Spirit. He understood sickness and fear. He understood the sickness that you and

I go through. I think sometimes we forget that Jesus probably caught the common head cold. Jesus probably had the stomach flu. I don't even thought about that real often, but it's kind of crazy to think that at one point in time, Jesus, there he was bowing at whatever kind of porcelain altar they had at that point in time, right? But he also experienced fear.

He experienced the fear of what other people thought of him. He experienced the fear of what happens when I face this cross that I'm not really looking forward to facing. He understood what it was to face sickness and fear. He knew what it was to face stress and exhaustion. As a matter of fact, as you read in the gospel accounts of Jesus in his humanity, you see in those gospel accounts

of Jesus in his humanity that there were times where he was really stressed and exhausted. As a matter of fact, he tried to get away from people at points in time so that he could recover, so that he could rest up a little bit, and they always came and found him. But he knew what that exhaustion looked like, and he knew what that stress felt like. Perhaps you can understand exactly what I mean when I say stress and exhaustion, and you feel like it's more than you can bear, and nobody else understands because nobody else has your job. Nobody else has your

pressure. Nobody else has your stress, and yet Jesus understands. And I think for me, the thing that really struck me while I was preparing this, just because of what my year has been like, is that Jesus understood grief. I think sometimes we forget that, that in his humanity, he understood grief. Let me give you two examples. We know that by the time that the gospel accounts

were written, by the time that Jesus was in his earthly ministry, we don't read anything about his earthly father, his earthly father Joseph that we just read about now. So what happened to Joseph? I can imagine that Joseph was a deadbeat dad that just ran out and had no sort of influence on his life. Most commentators and historians agree that Joseph was a deadbeat dad that just ran out and had no sort of influence on his life. Most commentators and historians agree that at some point in time,

in the first 30 years of Jesus's life, his earthly father, the one who raised him, the one who he knew the best, the one who passed his trade along to Jesus, would have passed away. Do you know what that means? That means that Jesus understood what it was to lose a dad. But not only that, do you remember what significant event happened in the life of Jesus? In the life of Jesus,

he had a forerunner. His forerunner was his cousin, John the Baptist. I think sometimes we forget that John the Baptist was a deadbeat dad. He was a deadbeat dad. He was a deadbeat dad. He was a deadbeat dad. He was only six months older than Jesus. And as John the Baptist was serving alongside Jesus, if you will, John the Baptist sort of ticked off Herod because he called him out for sin.

And when he called out Herod for sin, through a series of events, John the Baptist ended up becoming beheaded by Herod. And in the middle of Jesus's ministry, when he was facing the most stress, when he was facing the most exhaustion, and when he was facing the most rejection, one of his not only closest supporters, but undoubtedly one of his closest friends, died in a horrific way. You see, Jesus understands what it's like to experience grief. And I know many of you this year have known what it's like to experience grief. He was well aware

of the difficulty of living life on topside of planet Earth. But not only is the meaning of God among us, not only does it mean that he knows, it displays that he loves. You see, he loved us enough to lay aside his glory. He loved us enough not to lay aside his deity, because while he dwelt on Earth, he was fully God and fully man. But he loved us enough to lay aside his glory,

to lay aside all of the ease and comfort that it was to be the creator of the heavens and the earth. So that he could come down and put on the clothing of a man and live a life that was very difficult. And I can't imagine any greater love than that. Yes, I can, because I know exactly why he came. Because he didn't just come to live the perfect life. He came to die the perfect death. I was

thinking about this today. I thought, you know, if I was to ever question whether or not God loves me, I know that I can always point to two reasons, two things that will always declare to me that God loves me. The incarnation of Jesus, Christ and the creation of bacon. Right, those two things, how I always know that God loves me. The second part's kind of a joke, or is it? But God's greatest love was declared to us

on the day that after he had laid aside his glory, came down and experienced all of the difficulties of life, lived the perfect life. He then died that perfect death. And the meaning of Jesus Christ, the meaning of God dwelling among us, is that we can undoubtedly believe and understand that he loves us. Not only is it a miracle, not only is there meaning, but there's also an eternal reality. The eternal reality,

reality of Jesus dwelling among us, of God among us, of Emmanuel, started when he was born 2,000 years ago. When he was born 2,000 years ago, he became God dwelling among us. And then he lived for 33 years on this earth. And right before he died, rose again, and ascended into heaven, he made a promise. Because I don't know about you, but I've never actually physically seen Jesus.

How can he be God dwelling among us if I can't see him every day? How can he be God dwelling among us if I don't see his presence with me on a consistent basis? Well, I'll tell you how, because God made us a promise. Jesus said, I will not leave you as orphans. I will send you a helper, one who's comparable to me. And this helper that I will send you is the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit will come and he will teach you the things of me. He will convict you of the things of me. He will convict you of the things of me. He will convict you of the things of me. He will convict you of the things of sin. He will empower you to live for me. He will be the comforter. He will be God among us because he will dwell in us and make his home in us. And so not

only did he come and dwell among us and that he was born and lived those 33 years, but he still got among us because he now lives among us through the power of his Holy Spirit, through the presence of his Holy Spirit. But you know, it won't even end on topside of planet earth. Because you remember the promise? That Jesus made? The promise that Jesus made is he told his disciples, he said,

in my father's house, there's many dwelling places. And I will go and I will prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, then I will come again and receive you unto myself so that where I am, there you may be also. And so he was God among us when he lived the 33 years. He's God among us now through that power of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the Holy

Spirit dwelling in and among us. And he will be God with us for all of eternity when he takes us home to be with him. And it all started on the day that he was born 2,000 years ago. It was initiated in the birth. It was illuminated through his death. It was guaranteed through his resurrection. And it will culminate by his coming. He's coming again to take us back to himself. And so as we close up here, there's a couple of

things that I'd like to do. Number one, I'd like to ask you a question. What condition is your heart in? Does your heart feel a little bit lonely? Perhaps when I was talking about this pandemic of loneliness, you said, oh my gosh, I have felt so lonely this year. I have felt so lonely in my life, and yet I'm surrounded by people constantly. Is your heart feeling lonely?

Tonight, perhaps you're overwhelmed. You're overwhelmed in the same way that I talked about the fact that Jesus understood sickness and stress and exhaustion and grief and all those kinds of things. Your heart has been overwhelmed by all of the things of life. Or perhaps you find yourself saying that familiar phrase, no one understands because no one's been through what I've been through. Well, I just want to remind you that Christ has come.

He came to dwell among us and be our Savior. He came to dwell with us through the power of the Holy Spirit, and he wants to take us home to be with him for eternity. And so, brothers and sisters, as we prepare for this next Christmas, I want to give you one more word. Hope in God. Hope in God. Because he is still God among us. He is still dwelling with us. Well, to me, the fun of tonight is the candlelight portion of the

evening because I'm reminded of what this candle represents for us. Because this candle represents for us a light, and this light represents a hope. You see, right now, the world is full of darkness, and part of the darkness that the world is full of is the darkness of a lack of hope. And the only hope, the only true hope that we have is through Jesus coming and dwelling among us so that he can be our Savior.

The only hope we have is truly in him. And so, in just a minute, the ushers are going to come down. We'll turn off all the other lights except for this one little candle. And this one little candle is going to represent the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. The hope that we have in the gospel of Jesus Christ, that he is God among us, and that he came to save us. And that is the one place of

hope that we have in our lives. And this one little light of hope is going to be in a very dark room. And it's going to be in a very dark room. And it's going to be in a very dark room. In the same way that the light of hope of Jesus Christ comes to a very dark world. But what you're going to see happen is as the ushers come down, they'll represent that next soul that's taken a

little bit of hope into their life. And that little bit of hope will be passed on to the next person. And as each candle is lit in this entire place, what you'll take note of is that all of a sudden the darkness is dispelled. The darkness is no longer here. That hopelessness is gone. Why? Is it because we just... Because you see, the darkness of the loneliness, the overwhelmed feelings, and all the things that

I described tonight, the only way that that can ever be dispelled is not with another little good thought. It's not with another bit of positive vibes. Please, if you want to send me positive vibes, just stop now because I don't want them and they won't do anything for me. The one thing that will dispel that darkness is the light of Jesus Christ that truly gives us hope. And so I'm going to invite dad to come up and share one last song with us. And the song

that he shares will eventually come to a verse where it says, son of God loves pure light. And when we get to that verse, as that candle with that symbol of the hope of Jesus Christ has been lit, I want you to hold that candle up high in the same way that that truth of the message of the gospel can be held up high. And I want you to hold that candle up high in the same way that that truth of the message of the gospel can be held up high. And I want you to hold that candle up high in our lives. And we'll sing that song out

as we see the true light dispel the darkness. Amen. Go ahead. Let's all sing.

Look around you and see just how bright the light is. Isn't it amazing what hope does in our lives? Isn't it amazing what the knowledge of the truth of the gospel does in the world that we live in? Brothers and sisters, that's what we're celebrating tonight. We're celebrating the fact that hope has been born and that hope is in one place and in one place only. And that's

Jesus Christ. Father, we come before you and I just thank you for the time that we've had to be here tonight. And Lord, I thank you for what this season represents. Lord, I thank you for sending your son. Lord, the miracle of the fact that Jesus was born and dwelt among us, lived the perfect life, died the perfect death, and is ready to take us home to be with him. Father, we thank you and

we praise you. And I ask that your name would be on our lips as we go from this place. In Jesus' name. Amen. Merry Christmas. And hopefully we'll see you Sunday. Have a great night.