Matthew 1:24 & 25
- Pastor Jacob Marchitell
- 5 days ago
- 24 min read
February 23rd 2025
Last week we looked at Matt. 1:22 & 23. However, the first thing we did was take a “step backwards” in our thinking. We set out to understand something profound about us as humans, to better understand what God was saying in the Text. When we did, we learned that God created us in a specific way. He created us as “Worshipping beings”. All of us have an Altar in our heart that we place numerous things upon. Be it our culture, our own understanding or intelligence, our families or ethnicities, governments, hobbies, etc. The list is endless. But the truth remains, we all worship something. To help find out what or who we worship, we asked: “What or who is the deciding factor for how our life should be lived? Both in the macro/overall understanding of our life, but also in the micro/day to day, choices we make?” We concluded Point #1 with the truth that the Fall did so much more damage to humanity than simply bringing in death, disease, and disaster. It separated us from God to such a degree that no amount of our free will efforts will ever be able to bring us towards God, the only One able to stand under the power of our Worship. Thus, anything else we Worship will be hurt or even destroyed by the Worship we place on them.
As we moved into Point #2, we held that truth (that we all worship something) in our hands, and moved forward. When we did, we learned that God’s intention was always to be with His people. To live among us. He gave us the Tabernacle, the Ark, and the Temple as a way for Him to be present here on Earth with us. In the Old Testament, He was “between the Cherubim” (1 Sam. 4:4, 2 Sam. 6:2, 2 Ki. 19:15, 1 Chron. 13:6, Ps. 80:1; 99:1, Is. 37:16). And though we changed because of The Fall, God never did. In fact, He ordained for The Fall to take place, and created a plan for reality so that our Free Will choices would be the “means” of His sovereign providence. It was always God’s intention to dwell with His people, and nothing could change it.
We concluded last week with Point #3, learning that we have an inexhaustible, undrainable fountain of confidence, because Jesus Christ is “Immanuel”. He is “God with us.” He created us with a need to Worship, (have something in our life beyond us, to direct our life) and then He Himself fulfilled that need (plus more, that we will talk about today). God is always with His children, which is why the last words He spoke before ascending into eternity were: “...lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20)
Point #1 → Hermeneutics
As we continue to preach Verse by Verse through this Book, as I said when we first started, we will occasionally go backwards in the Text. Last week we took a “step back” in our thinking. Today, we will be taking a step back in the text. The first point of our Sermon today is going to focus on the word “Fulfilled” from 1:22.
In 1:22 & 23, Matthew wrote this: “So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: [23] “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” As we mentioned last Week, these words were first written down by the prophet Isaiah in the 7th Chapter, 14th Verse of his prophecy.
The reason why we're going backwards in the text will become apparent as we move forward, but before we get there, I want to reiterate the danger of “losing sight of the forest for the trees.” It is perfectly acceptable while taking a hike with your family, to take a break and admire this tree or that one. God made them all on purpose for our good, and we would be snubbing the sky if we didn't do so. There's a story about JRR Tolkien, saying that he was insufferable to take a hike with because he would spend an inordinate amount of time admiring every single tree he came across. The danger comes in, however, when we lose sight of the forest that we are in. That's how we get lost, and wander into false teaching. I almost got ahead of myself there, back to “fulfillment.”
This phrase in Verse 22 “that it might be fulfilled” is the first of 12 different “Fulfillment Formulas” that Matthew employs. He phrases it differently two of the times (2:17 & 27:9 - “then was fulfilled”), but the formula still stands. Over and over again Matthew employs this “Fulfillment Formula” to show his readers that Jesus Christ fulfilled numerous prophecies that were given thousands of years before His birth. This is how, if you can remember a few weeks ago, we understood that Matthew’s primary audience was the first Century Jews living in Israel. The people he was living with and among, day by day, would have been well taught in the Old Testament, knowing all of the “key passages” that prophesied of a soon-to-come Savior.
Not to go through all 12 of them, here are a few of the times that Matthew uses this “fulfillment formula”. (For a complete list, check the back of this Manuscript.)
Matthew 2:15 ---fulfills--- Hosea 11:1
Mt. 2:14 & 15 → “When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, [15] and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
Hosea 11:1 → ““When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.”
Matthew 2:23 ---fulfills--- Judges 13:5
Mt. 2:23 → “And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Judges 13:5 → “For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”
~“Time-Out”~
On most occasions, when a prophecy is given in the Old Testament, there is the “Immediate fulfillment” and then the “Complete fulfillment”. In the above example from Judges 13:5 the “immediate fulfillment” was the birth of Samson. He who would save the people of God. Then, the “type & shadow” that we saw in Samson, reached its completeness in the birth of Jesus Christ…He who would save the people of God.
(Samson was foreshadowing Christ)
~“Time-In”~
Matthew 13:34 & 35 ---fulfills--- Psalm 78:2
Mt. 13:34 & 35 → “All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, [35] that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”
Psalm 78:1-3 → “Give ear, O my people, to my law; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. [2] I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, [3] Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.
Matthew 21:4 & 5 ---fulfills--- Isaiah 62:11 & Zech. 9:9
Mt. 21:4 & 5 → “All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: [5] “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
Is. 62:11 → “Indeed the Lord has proclaimed To the end of the world: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Surely your salvation is coming; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.’ ”
Zech. 9:9 → “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.”
12 different times Matthew points to specific prophecies in the Old Testament that the Birth, Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ fulfilled. These fulfillments that Jesus completed, are proof that He was the long-promised Savior. The chosen One. The Messiah who would save His people. There are other prophecies that He fulfilled, but for today, we are going to focus on Matthew’s 12. More than any of the other Gospel writers, Matthew speaks of Christ fulfilling the OT Prophecies concerning Him. In fact, (again - if you can remember) Matthew quotes the OT more than any other Gospel writer, which gives us even more confidence in who his primary audience was.
Now, as we move forward, something might be sticking out in your mind. That being, the number “12”. This is something called “Typology”, which we saw in our “Time-Out”, where Samson was a “type” of Christ. All through the Old Testament, we see “types” of Christ, as a foretaste of the true incarnate Christ yet to be born. Moses led his people out of physical bondage, and Christ led His people out of spiritual bondage. Noah saved his people from the judgement of God, Christ saved His people from the judgement of God, etc. Not to get too far off track, the number 12 is seen in: The Tribes of Israel, the Disciples, the baskets of leftovers from feeding the 5,000 (Jn. 6:13), the Gates and Foundation Stones of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:9-14), and several other places. (For a larger list, see the last page of this Manuscript.)
Before we move into Point #2, we can understand from the Text in front of us, that Jesus Christ has fulfilled numerous prophecies given thousands of years before He was born. God promised Him to us at the very beginning of physical reality that day in the Garden (Gen. 3:15), reminded us about it through His numerous Prophets, and brought it to completion that day in the Manger. It was always God’s plan to send Jesus, and He told us about it over and over again.
Jesus Christ is “God with us”, and the more and more we know Him…
the more and more we hang on His every word, the more and more
clearly it will become that we are never alone.
We need to talk about this, because these things (the “Fulfillment Formulas” and the “Typology”) are part of the process that Christians can (and should) be going through, to understand what God is saying in the Bible. It’s how we can tell if the words apply to us, or the original Audience, and how we can tell the difference. The name for this process is: Hermeneutics. We look at who is talking, who they are talking to, when they are saying it, if it’s repeated in another place in Scripture, and if so, who is talking to who in those repetitions? Doing so, helps us avoid falling for False Teaching, and is how we can humbly but with unwavering confidence, say: “God says _____”. As a “low hanging fruit” example, when we read this in Luke 4:8-11 → “All this authority I will give you, and their glory; for this (all the Kingdoms of the World) has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. [7] Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be yours.”....does that apply to us? Directly or indirectly? Does it affect us or our understanding of God and what He is doing in our World? We can confidently say “God says” when we actually study what is written.
When you hear phrases like: “Really get into the Text” or “Diving deep”, this is what they are talking about. We should have a desire to know what God has to say about us and this World, and we should be asking some hard questions if we don’t have a desire to know what God is saying. The Bible itself phrases this practice this way, in 2nd Timothy 2:15 → “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (italics added). We are called to employ every textual or mental tactic possible, to rightly understand what God is saying. There is no excuse to not know what God has long said. Not indifference, laziness, or anxiety. In fact, knowing what God has to say should be the highest priority of our life, because the more we know our Bibles, the more we can know God. When we place Him at the center of our life, everything else falls into orbit around Him, exactly where He has ordained for them to be.
Now, this can seem overwhelming, “He is the perfect God of the Universe” you might be saying, “how can I ever understand His words?” We can, for a few reasons. The first being, as I have said before, God made “book nerds” for a reason. He appoints Pastors and Preachers to help us. He has given us theologians to do this “heavy lifting” when we reach the end of our own understanding or intellect. However, that should never be a reason for you yourself to dive right in. All of us are called to “rightly divide the Word of truth”. And the second reason we can all understand Scripture, is because God made us able to. God gave us brains for a reason, and inspired the human Authors of the Bible to write His words in such a way, that, as Saint Jerome once said “The Scriptures are shallow enough for a babe to come and drink without fear of drowning and deep enough for a theologian to swim in without ever touching the bottom".
Anyone, educated or uneducated; Phd holders or the simple; young and old; anyone can pick up a Bible, read these long written down words, and find within the pages how to be saved from their sins and live in accordance with God’s commands. He knew our strengths and weaknesses, and in fact, gave them to us. His Word is Him using “baby talk” to help us to understand it, and thereby know Him. The last reason we can understand what the Bible is saying, is because God gave us a new heart that is able to. Or as the Bible phrases it in 1st Corinthians 2:12 → “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” The way in which God designed humanity, and the way in which He inspired the Bible, makes it and it alone, the source of everything necessary for life and Godliness (2 Pet. 1:3).
God made us with minds able to understand His words,
gave us preachers and teachers to aid us along the way,
and regenerated our dead hearts, freeing us from the bondage of our minds.
However, because humans will do as they have done since that day in the Garden, we want to be the ones with the final say about what that “life and Godliness” actually entails. When we refuse or are ignorant of our need to “rightly divide the word of truth”, is how heresy sneaks into our thinking. When we rely on ourselves, our thinking, our feelings, we will always live into the lie the Devil told us that day, and try to “be like God.” (Gen. 3:5)
When people bend and twist Scripture to make it say what they want it to say, you will hear “preachers” say things like: “We need to unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament”...even though Jesus Himself never did. Or: “Jesus didn't say that, it was Paul”...even though the Bible teaches that Paul’s words are of equal authority with the Old Testament (2 Pet. 3:14-16). Or: “That doesn't apply to us today, it only applied to those people back then.” (that one is extra dangerous, because there are things in Scripture that don’t apply to us!) But the truth remains: attacks against the sufficiency and reliability of Scripture all have one thing in common:
Those who attack the sufficiency and reliability of Scripture,
want nothing more than to undermine what God has long said,
and replace it with their own thoughts and feelings.
Warnings against False Teachers abound in Scripture. But for the sake of the main text this Morning, we're only going to look at one of them. It says this in 1st Peter 4:1-5 → “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, [2] speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, [3] forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. [4] For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; [5] for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Forbidding people to get Married is a demonic teaching.
I think you guys can see where I’m going with this.
Point #2 → Roman Catholicism
Now, onto our Main Text. Matthew 1:24 & 25 → “Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, [25] and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.”
Joseph took Mary as his wife. She was a Virgin when Christ was conceived in her, and she was a virgin while giving birth. Then, after His birth, Joseph “knew” Mary. They got Married, and enjoyed all of the numerous benefits that a Married man and woman are allowed, and even commanded to enjoy. When we talked about “Betrothal” a few weeks ago, we saw in Scripture that the activities of a husband and wife in their marital bed are glorious blessings that God has given to humanity. God created sex, and called it good. In a Marriage, we learn about Christ and the Church, and in the act of marital intimacy we learn about the Godhead. A husband and wife become one flesh, and create a life. Three distinct beings, in one distinct act. This is why the devil has attacked sex since the very beginning. Not simply because of how powerful of an experience it is, but because the creation of life in an act of physical love, glorifies the Creator of physical life, who is Himself, love (1 Jn. 4:8).
This is why, in Exodus 21:10 God instructs husbands to not withhold “Marital Rights” from their Wives. Sex within a Marriage is a right, not a privilege. We also see this in 1st Corinthians 7:3-5 → “Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. [4] The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. [5] Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
A sexless Marriage is an unbiblical Marriage. Husbands and Wives are instructed by God to render the affection to our spouses that is due to them. Marital intimacy is a command from God. He told us to. In fact, He told us to…before The Fall. In the “Dominion Mandate” that He gave humanity, instructing them to rule over Creation, God said this in Genesis 1:28 → “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it…” The command to marital intimacy is repeated in Genesis 2:24, in this way:
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” If a Husband and Wife are never intimate, then how can they be “one flesh”?
The temptation to continue the rest of this Sermon, doing nothing but rebuking the nose-in-the-air, self righteous Christians who refuse to teach that sex is good and ought to be enjoyed…is strong. They have spread their poison far and wide, doing dark damage to numerous generations. But…let's stay on track.
Because Joseph and Mary were Husband and Wife, and because God commanded Husbands and Wives to be intimate, you would need to do Olympic level gymnastics to claim that Mary remained a Virgin her entire life. These long written down words, flowing from the very mouth of God Himself, teach that Joseph didn't “know” Mary until after Jesus was born. Yes, she was a virgin at His conception, and yes, she was a virgin who gave Birth…but that’s it. She had other children (we’ll reference those Verses below) and was a good wife who fulfilled Joseph’s marital rights. If Mary remained a “perpetual virgin” as the Catholics teach, then she and her husband were not “one flesh”...and therefore were not Married. And if they weren’t Married, then Joseph could not claim Jesus as his son…and if He wasn't the son of Joseph, then He wasn't the Son of David. Furthermore, if Mary refused Joseph his marital rights…then she was a sinful wife, which contradicts the Catholic teaching that Mary was sinless.
Their demonic Doctrine is filled with self contradictions, not simply in their “Mariology” (the study of Mary) but for other reasons we’ll talk about below. The Roman Catholic “church” has a Gold Medal in Heresy. They are literally, as 1st Peter 4:1-5 says, teaching people demonic instructions while claiming they are from God, anyone who follows along with the Catholic understanding of who Mary is and what she did or does, is not a Christian.
Now, I know this is a bold statement. And because of the audacity of such a claim, we need to look at what the Catholic “church” actually teaches. For time’s sake, we will only be looking at a few of their false teachings, the last one, will be the focus moving forward.
(If you want more reading about their departure from the Faith, I would recommend the website CARM.org)
Demonic Teachings from the Catholic “church”
“If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema.” (“anathema” = a person or thing accursed or consigned to damnation or destruction)
Council of Trent - Dec. 1545 - Canon #9
But the Bible says: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” → Romans 5:1
“If anyone saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema.”
Council of Trent - Dec. 1545 - Canon #24
But the Bible says: “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? [2] This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” → Galatians 3:1-3
“Having entered deeply into the history of salvation, Mary, in a way, unites in her person and re-echoes the most important doctrines of the faith; and when she is the subject of preaching and worship she prompts the faithful to come to her Son, to his sacrifice and to the love of the Father”.
Vatican Collection Volume 1, Vatican Council II, The Conciliar & Post Conciliar Documents, pages 420-421
But the Bible says: “And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” → Luke 4:8
“Whether or not we would have a mediator was dependent on Mary’s “yes.” Had there been no “yes” from Mary, there would have been no mediator.”
Mary the Mediatrix of all Grace - Peggy Frye - Catholic Answers
But the Bible says: “So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” → Romans 9:16
"The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by the singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin."
Ineffabilis Deus - Pope Pius IX - December 8, 1854
But the Bible says: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth” → 1st Pe. 2:22
“... for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.” → Heb. 7:27
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” → Rom. 3:23
(for today)
“The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary's real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man. In fact, Christ's birth "did not diminish his mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it."and so the liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as Aeiparthenos, the "Ever-virgin". (this is the above referenced “Perpetual virginity of Mary”)
Catechism of The Catholic Church - Part I, Section II, Article III, paragraph 499
But…Husband & Wives are told to engage in marital intimacy: Ex. 21:10; 1st Cor. 7:3 & 7:5
But…Joseph and Mary had other children: Matt. 12:46; Matt. 13:55; John 2:12; John 7:15; Acts 1:14; 1st Cor. 9:5; Gal. 1:19;
(see the back of this Manuscript for the full text of each Verse)
If you believe that anything apart from faith justifies us before God…then you aren’t a Christian.
If you believe that anyone can or should be Worship apart from God…then you aren’t a Christian.
If you believe that God is dependent on anyone…then you aren't a Christian.
If you believe that anyone but Jesus Christ was sinless…then you aren’t a Christian.
Before we move into Point #3, which will explain all of this further, we can ask: “If someone believes that Mary was a perpetual Virgin, are they a Christian?” My answer is…maybe. Why do they believe it? What other of their teachings will be affected, if they say she was not a perpetual Virgin? As in, will their entire understanding of Salvation unravel if Mary and Joseph were intimate? But ultimately, if their belief that Mary was a perpetual Virgin comes from replacing what the Bible says, with what the Vatican says…then no, they aren't a Christian.
Point #3 → Grace in everything
We need to be careful here. We need to extend grace to everyone, especially someone that doesn't know they are being lied to by their “church”. We are to show patience and love with those that have been bamboozled by the Catholics…without ever comprising what the Bible teaches. We are to be bold and humble at the same time. And the only way we can do this, the only way to be unwavering in Scriptural truth and patient with those who don’t believe it…is to remind ourselves of what makes someone a Christian to begin with. Of how we ourselves first came to be a Christian.
A person can not claim the Title of “Christian” simply because they believe in God, or because they claim to believe what the Bible teaches. (this needs to be repeated!) That might be a bold claim (it is!) but it is true. We can see this in James 2:19 → “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” You see brothers and sisters, the Devil believes in God. Every demon that walks to and fro upon this Earth seeking who they may devour, believes every single word of Scripture, and in fact, knows it better than we do.
The Devil knows the Bible better than us, and he believes every single word of it.
Our current culture has watered-down what it actually means to be a Christian to such a point, that the majority of Americans smugly co-opt our name, all the while enjoying their sin and attacking the Scriptures that condemn them for it.
If we don’t want to imitate the Devil, having nothing but rote memorization of the long written down words, and having nothing but an intellectual belief that it was God who wrote them…what do we do? If we want to confront the heresy that spews from the mouth of that Antichrist on the throne of Rome, and snatch our loved ones from the flames that surround him, we need to ask, and answer, two life-changing questions. First and foremost: “Am I a Christian? Am I undeniably confident that God actually, literally, lives eternally entwined with my very soul?” Then, if we can answer with an unwavering “Yes!” that God undoubtedly lives within my very heart, is when we can ask the second life-changing question: “How did that come to be? How did I become a Christian?”
As we talked about last week, the deepest need of the human heart is to be right with God. It lies behind and beneath every single need that any human could ever experience. We can be homeless, disease ridden, abandoned vagabonds…but if we have Christ, then we are the richest, healthiest, most well cared people who have ever walked this Earth. If the totality of every Government on Earth opposes us…and God is with us…then nothing of which they form against us will ever stand. Every loved one in our entire life can curse our name and not even leave a trail of dust as they walk out of our life…but if we have Christ, we have everything. However…If you have hundreds of loved ones, but not Christ, then you are empty. If Nations and Cultures stand with you, but Christ stands against you, then you are doomed to fail. If you are still in your sin…if God does not live within your hearts…if His mighty wrath is here and now teeming upon the edges of eternity, ready to boil over upon you at your last breath, then every attempt you make at a life worth living will result in nothing but a few decades of comfort on your journey into Hell.
We need to understand that A Christian is not simply someone who believes in God, or believes what the Bible teaches. Rather, a Christian is someone whose heart of stone was replaced with one that beats and pumps God-loving blood through their entire soul (Ps. 51:10, Jer. 32:39, Ez. 11:19; 36:26, Jn 3:3). A Christian is someone who is righteous in the eyes of God. Someone whose sin has had the death that their self-willed sins have earned them (Rom. 6:23) given to Christ in their place (1st Pet. 2:24).
A Christian is someone who is righteous in the eyes of God,
having been brought from spiritual death, to spiritual life.
Period.
Which means, then, that when a Catholic claims this belief or that one, and you yourself offer up other beliefs, neither of you are condemned or saved based on them. It's like this, because…we are not declared righteous in the eyes of God because we believe what Scripture teaches. Remember, even the Devil believes. The truth is the other way around. We don’t become Christians by believing the right things, rather, we believe the right things because we are Christians. 1st Cor. 2:14 phrases it this way: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
You are Christian, because, like Lazarus in the grave, while the stench of your God-hating corpse pushed people away…God called you to life, and you burst forth from that grave.
We are Christians because: We were dead (Eph. 2:1), and through no choice of our own (Jn 6:42), while we were still His enemies (Rom. 5:10, Col. 1:21)...while we were children of wrath (Eph. 2:3) like the rest of mankind, upon whom nothing but the wrath of God did dwell (Jn. 3:36)...God, according to His reasons (Eph. 1:9) and for His own glory (Ps. 106:8), accounted the death that we earned to Christ (1st Pet. 2:24) and gave us a new heart (Ez. 36:26). And in that new heart, He planted the gift of faith, independent of all of our works and efforts (Eph. 2:8 & 9), thereby freeing us from our previous slavery to sin (Jn. 8:34), and truly freeing us (Jn. 8:35).
If you are righteous in the eyes of God…it isn't because of you.
We didn't receive a new heart from God because we checked off all the right boxes of belief, skipping over the Catholic ones. Your sin will not be accounted to Christ because you go through the mental exercises necessary to come to a correct understanding of Scripture. Your dead heart will not be torn from your rotting chest because you and the Devil both believe in God.
You were passive in your own Salvation, a God-hating corpse, enslaved to sin,
until God saved you without asking for your permission.
Your faith was a gift and you have no room to boast (Eph. 2:8 & 9).
As we close this morning, what I want us to go home with today, is that nothing apart from the divine intervention of the God of the Universe can save us from Hell. There is nothing you can do to save yourself. We were helpless. We were unable to go to Christ of our own free will (Jn. 6:42), and there was no power, grit, intellect, understanding, or beliefs that could ever pay for our sins. It is only by the unearned and unmerited grace of God, bought that day upon Golgotha, that we can ever be made right in the eyes of the God we have sinned against. There is a fountain, filled with blood, flowing from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
However, because He is patient and just, He made a way out of the grave that He Himself descended into. If we repent of our sins and believe in Him, He is faithful to forgive us of all of our unrighteousness. Not because of us and not because of Mary…but because of Him and Him alone. HE is the one promised from the foundation of the World. HE is the One whom the prophets spoke of, and HE is the one who fulfilled their words, for HIS reasons and for HIS glory. HE was the sinless sacrifice that God was pleased to crush (Is. 53:10).
All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing;
He does according to His will in the army of heaven & among the inhabitants of the earth.
No one can restrain His hand or say to Him “What have You done?””
Daniel 4:35
Jesus Christ is the One whom every knee will bow before and whose tongue will confess is Lord. Jesus Christ is He who Died, yet rose again. Jesus Christ is the One who saw us enslaved to our sins and false beliefs, fully helpless and totally unable to do anything but store up more and more of His anger…and because of His great love with which He loved us, was born that day in the Manger, lived a sinless life, and drank dry, once for all, the neon wrath of His Father for all who will ever repent and believe in Him.
Jesus Christ is God with us, and we will never be alone.
Matthew’s 12 usages of the “Fulfillment Formula”
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The number 12 in The Bible
(Not a complete list)
Tribes of Israel (from Jacob’s 12 sons) → Genesis 49:28
Disciples of Christ → Matthew 10:2-4
Spies sent out to survey the Holy Land → Deuteronomy 1:23
Baskets of leftovers from feeding the 5,000 → John 6:13
Gates and Foundation stones of the New Jerusalem → Revelation 21:9-14
Loaves of unleavened bread to be placed in the Tabernacle → Leviticus 24:5
Governors over Israel, appointed by Solomon → 1 Kings 4:7
Stars on the garland of the Bride → Revelation 12:1
The tree of life will bear 12 different fruits, 12 times a Year → Revelation 22:2
Jesus was 12yrs old when He started His ministry → Luke 2:21
The woman with the issue of blood had been bleeding for 12 years → Matthew 9:20
The girl Jesus resurrected from the dead was 12yrs old → Mark 5:42
Joseph and Mary’s other children:
Matthew 13:35 → “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?”
John 2:12 → “After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.”
John 7:3 & 5 → “His brothers therefore said to Him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing….[5] For even His brothers did not believe in Him.”
Acts 1:14 → “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”
1st Corinthians 9:5 → “Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?”
Galatians 1:19 → “But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.”
The Catholic response is that these Verses speak of either Jesus’ cousins, or children that Joseph had from a previous marriage.
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