God with Us

So this morning is the first Sunday of Advent, and David told us that Advent means the coming, the coming of Christ. And there's really, when you think about Jesus coming, come in the flesh, having been born 2,000 some years ago, and then he left, he went back to heaven to be with his father. There's a sense in which you might feel like you've missed out. As I was thinking about Advent, I was thinking, you know, I wish that I could have seen Jesus, have met him, have heard his teaching. When you read the Gospels and you find that there are things, the accounts are different, and the timing is different, and some of the evangelists record some things that other ones leave out, and you just wish you could have spent time with him and heard from his mouth his own words. But now that he's ascended into heaven, What we've been given is the word of God, and it's sufficient for us. And yet I wish that I could have seen him and met him and touched him and seen the miracles that we read of and the healing. And so you could say that there are some disadvantages to living at our time, that there was some privilege to those who lived in Jesus' time here on earth. And yet when we come to the Advent, we're to look back on his incarnation.

his becoming man, with fondness. And that fondness is mixed with sadness, that we weren't there, that we weren't able to be there. And so as we look back at his incarnation, I want you to realize and remember that's one of the things that Advent is meant to do, is to call to our minds things that are true, that God has said that we don't necessarily dwell on or think about. And what I want you to realize is that we live in a time not before Jesus came, not when Jesus came, but after he came. And you all say, yeah, we know that. And I say, we actually live in an interim between his visits. He's come once, and he will come again, and we live in the interim. We live in the in-between time. And so as we live, we're to look back at his first coming, his first advent, and we're to look forward to his second coming, his second advent. This morning we're going to be studying,

We're going to be studying Matthew 1, 18 through 23, but we're going to specifically be paying attention to Isaiah's prophecy that's recorded there. That the Son of God would come and be born of a virgin, and that his name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us. And we're going to look at what that means for us, for God to be with us. Would you please stand for the reading of God's word from Matthew 1, verses 18 through 23. This is the word of the Lord, and it is eternally true. 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 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. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Now I want to give you a bit of context leading up to this. to this point in history. Leading up to this point, there's been 400 years of silence since God has last sent a prophet to his people. So his people have been sitting in expectation of everything God has done with his people, but there's been 400 years of nothing. No communication, no prophets. During this time, when Mary's to conceive and bear a child, The Israelites also, after having lived 400 years without any word from the Lord, we realize that they're living under Roman rule. They have an occupying force. And so life is difficult for them. And so to break all of this silence, the Lord first sends an angel to Zacharias. Now, Zacharias was a priest. He would have been Mary's uncle. Is that right? His uncle, because Elizabeth was her aunt.

So Zacharias is a priest. He goes into the temple. He and his wife are old, and they don't have any children. He goes into the temple to offer sacrifice, and an angel comes to him and says, You're going to have a baby. He tells him, Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. It is he who will go as a forerunner before him in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

And this was significant because Zacharias was being told, your son, this son that you're going to have in your old age, he's a fulfillment of a prophecy, of an Old Testament prophecy that there's going to be a forerunner. There's going to be one who comes before this Messiah that's been promised all through the Old Testament. Your son's going to be that man. This is God's first communication in 400 years with his people. He sends an angel to Zechariah, and Zechariah says, how do we know these things to be true? And the Lord says, you'll know these things are true because you're not going to be able to talk until the baby's born. And so Zechariah comes out, and the people all realize he's had a vision, and he's silent, and he can't explain what's going on. And then it turns that his wife becomes pregnant in her old age, in her barrenness. Six months after that, after the angel visits Zechariah and Elizabeth becomes pregnant, the angel Gabriel comes to Mary and says to Mary,

you're going to be with child by the power of the Holy Spirit. And Mary's going, how's that going to work? And the angel explains it to her. And the confirmation that the angel gives Mary is he says, and your aunt Elizabeth, she's pregnant as well. Now Mary would have known Elizabeth was barren, had no children. And so as soon as this happens with Mary, after she becomes pregnant, she goes immediately to, And Elizabeth is six months along in her pregnancy. Mary goes in. They have this interaction where John leaps in the womb of Elizabeth at the sound of Mary's voice, and Elizabeth extols Mary's blessedness. Mary praises God for God's kindness to her and to his people. Mary stays with Elizabeth for three months until it's time for the baby to be born. I think she stayed until after the baby was born.

And then she returns home. So she comes home three months pregnant. You follow? So she comes home three months pregnant, and now all of a sudden Joseph goes, you've been gone three months, and look, you're pregnant. That's what's been going on, what's leading up to our text this morning. Mary returns home, and Joseph notes that she's pregnant. Now this is not an acceptable thing in Israel. Joseph has rights under the law that he can enact, that he can pursue. In Deuteronomy 22, 23 and 24, Moses says, If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, this is Mary. She's betrothed. She's engaged. She's contracted with Joseph to marry him. If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death.

And so the consequence of her pregnancy could well be her death. The law goes on to say, it presumes here, so the man comes and he lies with her and she doesn't cry out. If the woman cries out and says, no, stop, I'm being raped, then she's spared. But if she doesn't cry out, then she's stoned. And then the law goes on and says, well, if that same thing happens in the country, out where there's no people to hear to intervene, We're going to presume that she did cry out, the woman is spared. But either way, Joseph has the ability, the right under the law, to divorce Mary, to put her away. And we read in our text that that's what he intended to do. It says, Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, plans to send her away secretly. Now there's something for us to learn here, maybe not so much to do with Advent, but to do with the law. It's very helpful.

Joseph was within his rights to put Mary away. He would have been within his rights to potentially to have her put to death. But Joseph doesn't do that. Being a righteous man, he covers her sin as he sees it. He has no, in his mind at this point, he sees her pregnant and he has no other understanding of, you know, we know where babies come from and here you are pregnant. And he has the right to at least disgrace and shame her, but he has it in his mind being a righteous man to put her away silently. And the thing that we learn from the way Joseph dealt with Mary is just because something is lawful doesn't mean you have to do it. Just because you have the ability to stick it to somebody doesn't mean that you ought to. All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable, says the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10.23. He goes on, he says, all things are lawful, but not all things edify. And so the goal of our interaction with

with others when they sin, when they transgress the law, when they fail, is edification, is to build them up, is to cover their sin. And this is what Joseph's doing in his mind at this point. Before he has a vision, this is his intention with Mary, is to be gracious to her and to put her away silently for what she's done. Someone's guilt with reference to the law is not ground. It doesn't mean you're free to just grind them into the sand, even if you're technically allowed to. The letter of the law says, yeah, you can, and yet here we find Joseph being called a righteous man, not enacting his rights under the law. We ought to emulate him in this regard. In Galatians 6.1, it says, brethren, if any one of you is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself so that you will not be tempted.

We see how we're to deal with those who are caught in sin. We're to deal with them tenderly. We're to deal with them as we would want to be treated if we were in their shoes. And so instead of blowing this situation wide open, and we don't have it recorded in Scripture, it may be that Mary comes back and she says, Joseph, here's what happened to me. And the vision is a confirmation from the Lord that what Mary said was true. We don't know for sure if that's how it happened or if he just noticed that she was pregnant. Either way, when Joseph acknowledges, he sees that she's with child, instead of acting rashly, he considers the situation. In verse 20 it says, but when he had considered this, behold. The second thing you have to learn from this text is that it's wise to think before you take action. It's very wise to not act rashly or foolishly, even if you're allowed to. Even if you're allowed to.

Discretion is the better part of what? Of valor, right? That a wise man conceals a transgression. He hides it and covers it up and says it's okay, but he doesn't exploit it. And so Joseph goes and he considers these things. And it's only after he considers these things, instead of acting rashly, harshly, that the Lord meets with him and confirms the circumstances of Mary's pregnancy. And so the angel comes to comes to Joseph and says, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child that she has is conceived in her as of the Holy Spirit. And I want to ask, have you ever had a situation in your life where you thought by rights, by everything that makes sense to you, this is how it had to happen? There is no other way it could have happened.

You say, if I do this, you know, it's like math. It's like, if I do this and I put it together with this, then this is going to be the outcome and there's no other possible way this situation can end. And have you found yourself to be wrong? Things don't add up the way you thought they were going to add up. There was some extenuating circumstance you didn't consider or you said, well, I don't think that's going to happen. It's not living by faith. to live our lives like those sorts of engineers or robots that just push everything through a, well, this happened and this happened, and so this must be how it's going to be, and then can be completely shut off. Because we see here the angel of the Lord coming to Joseph and going, you can marry her and not be afraid of disgracing yourself. You can not be afraid of sinning by marrying her. Because she's pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Now, who'd have thunk that? I want you to realize, so you think,

Consider for a second if you were Joseph. You're a poor man. You're just going about your business. And you're going to get married. And you've got a wife-to-be that you're to take care of. And then she's pregnant. And the angel says, don't be afraid. Do you think that he was still tempted to be afraid? If you were Joseph, would you be more afraid of this woman is having someone else's baby? Or this woman's having the Holy Spirit's baby. And he's going to be this one. He's the promised Messiah. Don't you think he might be tempted to say, or wouldn't you be tempted to say, thank you, but no thank you. That's too much for me. I'm just a lowly carpenter. I don't want these sorts of responsibilities are too great for me. And yet God chose him. He chose Joseph to be the father of Jesus Christ here on earth.

What I want you to realize is Joseph, and it goes beyond in our text. Our text ends in verse 23, but if you carry on through the end of the verse, it's at the end of the chapter. It says, after these things happened, Joseph did exactly what the Lord said, and he maintained Mary as a virgin until Jesus was born. And so we find that after this vision that he has, he immediately acts and he marries Mary. He does what God has told him to do. And I want you to see that that takes faith. Because do you know what Jesus is accused of later in life? They say, isn't this the son of a harlot? Isn't this the son of a carpenter? And Joseph would have known full well what they were getting into for their life and their family. He's marrying a woman who is pregnant, and if he's having a hard enough time believing this child was born of the Spirit, how much more difficult will other people have a time believing it? It's not the sort of thing that goes down easily.

And yet he acts immediately by faith, and he takes Mary as his wife because he believes God. And so this is the situation, right? Mary, she goes away. She's with Elizabeth. She comes back three months pregnant. Joseph wants to put her away. The angel says, don't put her away, but marry her, and here's who this child's going to be. And Joseph does it. And so we're left with this extraordinary situation, sort of thing we wouldn't expect to happen now. And you're left wondering why. Why did all of this have to happen? And the angel tells Joseph why. He says, all of 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. Now you remember that there's been 400 years since the people of God have heard anything from the Lord, but this prophecy is older than that. This prophecy is about 700 years old.

From the time that Isaiah said this to the time of Christ's coming, 700 years, long, long time. And Joseph is told that his son is to be the fulfillment of this prophecy, of this promise. And they're to call his name Emmanuel, God with us. Now, his name, you know, names matter. They used to matter a lot more than they do now. Names have meanings. And that's why they're to call him Emmanuel, because the word means God with us. And so names matter, and it was a signal to the people of God. When he was told, you'll call his name Emmanuel, God's people, before this time, they anticipated, they looked forward to Christ's advent. From their station in history and with the knowledge that they had, they looked forward with hope and with expectation. And it wouldn't have been lost on Joseph and Mary in the same way that it wasn't lost on Elizabeth and Zacharias.

who their sons were to be, they would have known, oh, this is the one that we've been waiting for. Emmanuel, God with us. God dwelling with us. And you have to realize that the people of God at this point couldn't say that God dwelt with them. Not in the way that he used to, or in the way that he will in the future. God dwelt with his people, with Adam and Eve, when there was no sin. He came in the cool of the afternoon and he walked in the garden with them. He dwelt among them, intimately in communion and fellowship with them. And then when they sinned, that was broken and that was taken away. There became a veil, a barrier, distance between God and his people because of the reality of man's sinfulness and God's holiness. They couldn't dwell with him. And so this prophecy would have been very sweet to them.

And it would have been sweet because they would have said, oh, something that we don't have now, even though we have a temple and God's tabernacle, he tabernacles with us, he dwells with us in this sense. We're looking forward to something different, something better, something new. God being with us. God would come to dwell with his people and there would no longer be a barrier between them and him. And this is what makes me wish I'd lived in that time. Where there wasn't a barrier, where there wasn't a distance between Jesus Christ and me. But he came and then he went. He came, he was born, he lived, he died. He rose from the dead and then he ascended into heaven. He left earth. And so his ascension ended the chance of us being with him in his coming here. We can't be with him personally. Not here because he's not here with us. Not physically.

In John 16, Jesus is talking to his disciples, and he's speaking to them of his ascension. Before he dies, he's saying, this is what's going to happen. And he says, but now I'm going to him who sent me. I'm returning to my father. And none of you asks me, where are you going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Why are they sorrowful? They're sorrowful because they've had the Son of God living in their presence, and now he's telling them, I'm leaving. And earlier in John 14, He's telling them, I'm leaving, I'm going. And Thomas says, where are you going? We don't know where you're going. You tell us we know where you're going, but we don't know where you're going. And Jesus says, I have to go. I'm going to my father's house. He says, but I tell you the truth. It's to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And so Jesus takes our lack of his presence, and he says, actually,

It's better for you that I go away. It's better that I go away because then I will send the helper, the Holy Spirit, to dwell with you. There's many things that I have to say to you that you can't bear now, but I'll send my spirit, and when he comes, he'll lead you into all truth. It's better for you that I go away. And not only is he going away from us, he's not removing himself as though God's people are now going back to a... to a pre-Christ sort of relationship with God. Distance, barrier between them. No, this is not what's happening. Jesus says in John 14, I'm going away from you. I'm my father's house. There are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

And so we need to realize that with regard to Jesus' first coming, he didn't come and then leave things when he left as they were before he came. He came and he prepared a people for himself, and now he's gone back to his Father in heaven, and he prepares a place so that he can come back and take his people there to be with him. Where I am, there you shall be also. And we live in the time between those two visits. Those two comings, those two advents. We must look back to the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy that Mary's been told of, that Joseph's being told of, that's beginning to be revealed to the world. And we ought to take strength from it as we look forward in hope to his return again. Jesus is Emmanuel. He's God with us. And he's still with us. Physically, he's not here now.

But it's to our advantage that he went away because he sent his helper to dwell with us, to guide us, to care for us, to protect us and lead us, to teach us, to prepare us for his second coming. His ascension didn't negate that reality, it facilitated it. Commenting on this text, Matthew Henry says, he compares three things. He compares nature, the law, And the incarnation. And he says, basically he's addressing, what do these three things teach us about God? And with regard to nature, to creation, he says, what nature and creation, what they teach us is that God is above us. Because we look around and we see these things and we go, where did this come from? There's a creator God in heaven who made this because man can't do this. You look at the mountains and the seas and the trees and the valleys and the rivers and the oceans and you go, man can't do this.

And we see God in it. And this is what Romans 1 tells us, that the heavens and the earth declare the glory of God. They testify to his being. And so from nature, we learn that God is above us. What do we learn about God from the law? We learn that God's against us. That's what the law tells us. The law says, if you do this, you will live. But in those words is a death sentence because you can't do it. You haven't done it. And so what the law reveals to you is your guilt. It says God is opposed to you because of your sinfulness. That's why the law in Galatians, it says the law is our tutor unto Christ. It's meant to lead us to Christ. It's meant to show us the division between God and us. And there can be no fellowship, no mixing of the two because of sin. And so nature teaches us that God is above us, not with us. The law teaches us that not only is he above us, but he's opposed to us because of our sin.

Well, what does the incarnation teach us? The incarnation teaches us that God has love for his creation and that he has made provision for us to be freed from the burden and the guilt of the law. That's what the incarnation teaches us, is that we're not left with a God who's distant, high up in the heavens, and from there looks down on us with wrath and judgment. The incarnation says that God who lives in heaven sent his son here to make a path, a way for us to be able to relate, to be able to be in his presence without being consumed because of our filth. This is what Emmanuel means. This is what it means for God to be with us. It means that we have fellowship with him through the blood of his son. We don't have any more division.

This is the God that you must know. This is specifically what the incarnation teaches you and nothing else will teach you the love of God the way the incarnation does. Because God is not obligated or bound in any way other than by his own will and his own desire to be in fellowship with us and to redeem us. He's not bound to any of this except that he said he would do it. And when he sends his son, it's him making good on his promise. And Joseph and Mary rejoiced. Zacharias and Elizabeth and John, they rejoiced. Simeon rejoiced because they saw the salvation of the Lord. Simeon says, now I can die. Now I can go in peace because I've seen the salvation of the Lord. And the prophet Isaiah, Matthew reiterates those words. He says, go back to it.

He says, in verse 21, she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. We've been made by God. We have sin that divides us from God. And the incarnation reconciles us to God. This is a joyous thing. And it's something that we ought to be preparing for. Something that we ought to have our attention called to. You think of Christmas and there's a couple of... There's a couple of ways of responding to it. Some people get all curmudgeonly because they start seeing Christmas lights before Thanksgiving's over. People skip Thanksgiving and they go from Halloween to Christmas. And so it goes from black and orange to green and red, but we never got brown and gold or whatever Thanksgiving colors are. And they get frustrated. And what's the thing that's most divisive about the Christmas season? People have such a visceral response to it. What is it?

They either love it or they hate it. It's true of all of you. You're shaking your head. What is it, Luis? Okay, what do people argue about over Christmas? They just can't stand it. In the season, what is it? That's true. Yeah, but who loves that, that difficulty? Nobody loves that. That's right. What did you say, Abram? Credit card companies list. Okay. But I'm telling you, I could take a poll right now of you guys, and every one of you has an opinion. About this particular topic. Does anyone know what it is? Christmas music. That's right. Some of you just hate it. Can't stand it. Turn off the radio and won't listen to it because just Dan doesn't like Christmas music apparently. His wife's smiling and his son's tapping him on the arm and he's turning red. Because who wants to listen to sappy, junky Christmas music for a month? David does. Allie does. I do. Ian does.

I want to listen to good Christmas music. I looked at our bulletin today, and you realize in Advent, we sing four songs instead of three. And I love Christmas music, good Christmas music. And I'm telling you, and why? Why do people love music? They love Christmas music because it helps prepare them, right? It helps get you in the mood. The Christmas spirit, here it comes, jingle bells, right? And why do the people who hate Christmas music, why do they hate it? Because they're opposed to being manipulated into something they don't feel naturally. I don't want to listen to all that music and be told I'm supposed to be. I'm not happy. Scrooge. I don't really care about Christmas music that much. If you don't prefer Christmas music, that's fine. That's not really the point. But the point is, you ought to prepare for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. You ought to rejoice in his first coming. Because he came and dwelt among us.

made in our image and in our likeness so that we could be saved. That's what the angel says to Joseph. Call him Jesus because he will save his people from our sins. And you ought to dwell on that. And it's God's kindness to you that each year you have a season of remembrance given to you. A season to remember God's provision. And if you think about it, there are things that you... Every one of us has things that we anticipate. Maybe you don't anticipate Christmas. You don't like Christmas music. You don't like the materialism of it. Fine. That's okay. You don't have to like those particular things. But as a Christian, you are bound to love his appearing, to adore him, and to rejoice in it. And if you love it, and you rejoice in it, and you adore it, it only makes sense that you would prepare for it.

So how do you prepare for his advent? Well, he's come once and set salvation in motion in a way that it wasn't before. And the way that you prepare is you prepare for meeting him again. The appropriate response to Christmas, to Jesus coming, is to realize he's going to come again. We live in this interim time. And it's an encouragement. that it's not hopeless, and then when it all comes to an end, you're not going to be consumed as you deserve. But you must prepare for this time when he returns. When he comes, he'll come with his glory, and he will come with his winnowing fork, and he will come to separate the sheep from the goats. That's what he's going to do when he comes the next time. He's going to come in his power. And you think, that's not very Christmassy, Pastor.

Christmas is supposed to be a happy time. And I say, yeah, it's a happy time. And the only way that you get happy times and sweet times and true joy is when you have the contrast. What joy is there in being a sheep if everyone gets it? If there's no cost, if there's no blessing in it, it's just common. Salvation is offered to every man under earth. It's available to every man under earth, but not every man will partake of it. And when Jesus comes again, he will come to divide out into groups, all of creation into those two groups. And we're to prepare. And Advent is meant for us to prepare in hope and in joy, in an expectation. In Matthew 25, Jesus is telling a parable. And he's comparing the kingdom of heaven. And he compares it to ten virgins. And he says, these ten virgins took their lamps and they went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were prudent.

For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. But the prudent took oil and flasks along with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout, Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him! Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the prudent, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the prudent answered, No. There will not be enough for us and you too. Go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast and the door was shut. Later on, the other virgins also came saying, Lord, Lord, open up for us. But he answered, truly I say to you, I do not know you. Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day or the hour. What is Jesus talking about? He's talking about the coming.

Of his kingdom. He's talking about the consummation. His second return. When he comes to gather his people. And we read in this parable. That five of them prepared. And were ready. And five of them weren't. And they tried to scramble. But it was too late. And what we have is God's kind mercy to us. In reminding us. That he will come again. And that when he comes again. He'll come with glory. And he'll come and receive. You can focus on. On either side, I've been talking most recently about what he's going to do with the goats. And I say, that is what will happen, but do you have to be a goat? Do you have to fear being a goat? Yes, if you don't prepare, yes, you do. But Christians look forward to that day. They rejoice in hope as they look forward to Jesus coming because they say, now you'll separate the sheep from the goats and we, who are called by your name, who are your sheep,

of your pasture, we look forward to that day. At the end of the book of Revelation, this is what we find. After this whole book of prophecy dedicated to the second coming of Jesus Christ, at least in large part, the apostle John ends it saying, come Lord Jesus, come quickly. That is the desire of a Christian. They want to see Jesus Christ come again. They want to be welcomed into his joy, into his rest, into his heaven that he's prepared for them. That's what they want. That's what we want. That's what we look forward to. And so for us to live that way, we have to begin this season living as Joseph and Mary did, as Zacharias and Elizabeth did. They lived in expectation and hope of Jesus coming. They didn't go on with life as though God didn't exist. They waited. They anticipated.

They desired for Jesus to come, for the fulfillment of the promises to be accomplished. And so we ought to as well. We ought to prepare ourselves. And we can be tempted into thinking, well, I will. I will later. I will. He's not coming now. And I say those virgins, every one of them, both the righteous and the unrighteous, the prudent and the foolish, they all got drowsy and fell asleep. But some of them had prepared. Some of them had oil in flasks. They didn't just have their lamps. You think of having a lamp, and it's got a fuel reservoir where you put in the oil. Well, what happens to the oil? Well, it all burns up eventually. The prudent one says, I don't know how long it'll be. I'm going to bring a flask of oil so that when the lamp burns through the fuel, I've got more fuel. That's preparation.

That's saying, when the time comes, I can't be caught flat-footed. Because there's not time to scramble. And there's not oil to share. And so our response to God having come in the flesh the first time, becoming Emmanuel, God with us, is that we ought to rejoice. And we ought to praise God. And if you like doing that, if Christmas music helps you, good Christian music, good on you. Listen to it, love it, sing it, do it. You don't like Christmas music? Fine. But you had better prepare and you had better rejoice because it only makes sense that that would be your response to God's kindness in sending us his son. There's no other response that's acceptable for a Christian. He gave us his son to come and dwell among us and we ought to respond with overflowing joy and hope. And it ought to be evident in our lives. Our preparation ought to be evident. It ought to be evident in the way that we live. It ought to be evident in our countenances.

You should not look like a Scrooge, especially at this time of life, or this time of year, I mean. It's unbecoming of a Christian to look as though they live with no hope. And so as we begin this Advent season, we'll be preaching each week on the topic of the Advent reading. So today was the prophet's candle. And so I'm here to tell you that God fulfilled his prophecy, that he would send his son, born of a virgin, of the Holy Spirit, come to save his people from his sins. And as we lead up, Advent's meant to be this anticipation. It ought to be your joy and your expectation and your thankfulness ought to be growing during this season because of the salvation that God's provided to us. If you're not sure what that looks like in your own life or you have sin to confess, regarding your apathy or your frustration or your distraction or your whatever. Come talk to me. Let's talk about it. But this is a time of excitement that we get to participate in. And it's something I'm very much looking forward to. I like Advent. I like Christmas. I enjoy having my attention drawn and focused on.

The mercy of God in providing his son. The world doesn't know this joy. That's why they waste so much money. That's because they don't know the salvation of God. But Christian people know the salvation of God. And if they give gifts, they give gifts because God's given them a gift. And if they sing Christmas songs, it's because those songs testify to the mercy of God. And so you better figure out what it means for you to prepare and what it means for you to rejoice in this Advent season. Let's pray. Father, we love you and we praise you. We adore you for your mercy to us in sending us your Son. We thank you for your faithfulness and doing exactly what you said you would do, sending a Savior to us, born of a virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit. Father, what a blessing and what a gift. What grace and mercy that you've extended to us in your Son. Father, I pray that this Advent season will be a time of

a time of thanksgiving, a time of joy, a time of robust worship. Father, we love you and we thank you. And we pray that this season we would glorify you, that we would delight in your provision of your son. What a blessing. We love you, Father, because you've loved us. Help us to demonstrate that, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.