Dedicated To The Men of God Who Preach the Word of God As It
Is To Men As They Are
"Preach The Word"
Joseph- The Man Who Raised Jesus
Text:Matt. 1:18-25
18 ¶ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
Introduction:
Many have called Joseph the "forgotten character " of the Christmas story.
There are several Josephs in the Bible. There are at least 11 Josephs to be found in the Word of God. Other than the foster-father of Jesus, the other most prominent one would have to be Joseph of Arimathea, who was a "secret" disciples of the Lord Jesus. It was he who asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Thus, he took it along with Nicodemus, wrapped it in linen, and placed it in a new tomb which belonged to he himself.
The Joseph with which we are going to concern ourselves is Joseph, the husband of Mary, the foster-father of the Lord Jesus.
It is through Joseph, that Jesus has the legal right to the throne of David. Joseph qualify Jesus for the kingly line.
The Bible does not say a great deal about him, but there is nothing insignificant or unimportant about Joseph, Mary’s husband. We can confidently say several things.
1. He was a just man (Matt. 1:19a)
That means he sought to obey God’s divine laws . He sought in every way to conform his life to the will of God. It simply means he sought to live right before the Lord.
2.He was a loyal man (Matt 1:19b)
He was not —"willing to make her a public example." He did not want to embarrass her. The O.T. penalty for adultery was stoning. Joseph was so loyal to her, because he loved Mary, he would not put her through that kind of ordeal.
3. He was a thinking man(Matt. 1:19c)
He thought about putting her away privily. That means he had thought about getting a divorce behind closed doors. Remember, to the Jew, the espousal was so strong a contract, that it took a bill of divorcement to break the bond. Engagement, according to Jewish law, could only be broken by divorce. I am so thankful that Joseph, though he though about it, did not take that course of action, in reaction to the pregnancy of his wife Mary.
4. He was a wise man.
He decided against divorcing Mary because he knew that was not the thing to do. He loved her, so he was to stay with her and give her the support she needed.
This birth was something for Mary to deal with. She knew she had not experience physical relations with man and yet she was pregnant. She must have been concerned about the whispering that would go on in the city about her and what the people would say as they snickered and jeered at her. It would appear to the world that she was carry an illegitimate child in her womb.
Note:
If the abortion crowd of our day would have been there, they would have said, "Mary, why don’t you just go get an abortion?"
It is a said society who repeatedly takes the life of the innocent, unborn child.
5. He was a common man.
Joseph by trade was a carpenter. He worked with his hands and was what we might call a blue-collar worker. I myself, also enjoy identifying with the common man, rather than the person of great riches.
Let’s not lost sight of Joseph, the husband of Mary, as we consider the Christmas account of Jesus’ birth.
6. He was a trustworthy man.
God trusted him with his only begotten Son, in the days of Jesus’ infancy and his early years. That should tell us something of the character and integrity of the man called Joseph.
There are several things I believe that the Lord would have us to consider about the "just man" Joseph.
I. His Dilemma
A "dilemma" can be defined as: a situation requiring a choice between equally undesirable alternatives, or it can be any difficult or perplexing situation or problem.
Here was a just man, engaged to a young woman who was a virgin, and yet she was about to have a child. What would you do about a situation like that personally? Would you have believe here if she said she were carrying a baby and she still claimed to be a virgin? Would you have believed her if she had told you she was with child of the Holy Ghost?
Joseph loved Mary and had chosen her to be his wife. Arrangements had been made for a wedding that would soon take place. Now he hears that she is pregnant and knows for sure he had nothing to do with her pregnancy. HIS DREAMS WERE TEMPORARILY SHATTERED!
As I have already said, according to the O.T. law, it looked like she would be a candidate for stoning, if Joseph had made her a public example. LOVE WON OUT! His love for her won out in spite of the fact his dreams were temporarily crushed.
How would Joseph cope with the situation? The Lord will never load more upon us than we through His divine grace are able to bear. That brings us to the second thing I believe the Lord would have us to see.
II. His Dream
Matt. 1:20,21
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Joseph was very concerned because he knew that people would flap their long tongues, that they would laugh and giggle, when Mary and Joseph passed by, so how would Joseph deal with that problem?
God in the dream revealed some things to Joseph that He needed to know. The Lord will show up in your life just when you need Him most. I really believe that, don’t you?
God can relieve all of our fears. We do not know all of what is coming upon us in the future, but the Lord can relieve our fears.
He does not want us to be afraid. Fear reveals a lack of faith.
You cannot trust God and fear at the same time.
Consider three things about what God presented in the dream He gave to Jacob:
A. Relieved fear-
The angel said to Joseph, "Fear not." The appearance of the angel in the dream was all that Joseph needed to take away and cure his fear about the situation.
Don’t be "tied in knots" when you can "fear not.
In Isaiah 43:1 the Lord says, " But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine."
If you carefully study the Bible, you find in it a great deal of people who are afraid. For instance:
1. At the empty tomb the angel told the women not to be afraid.(Matt. 25:5)
2. Zecharias was told in Lk. 1:13 to not be afraid.
3. Mary was told not to be afraid (Lk. 1:30).
4. The shepherds in the field were told not to be afraid (Lk.2:10).
B. Revealed the Fathering- One
I am sure Joseph wondered who the father of Mary’s baby actually was. He may have though back to the many men who had probably been extremely friend with Mary, wondering who. Through the angel he found out the answer.
The baby was "of" the Holy Ghost. The word "of" is a word of origin.
Illustration:
If you say, "Oh I know him, that is Tom Walker of Marion." That means I came from Marion, North Carolina. The Lord Jesus’ humanity was a product of the might Spirit of God.
C. Revealed The Forth-Coming Son
1. His special name - "Thou shalt call His name Jesus."
Referred to as "Immanuel" in Matt. 1:23.
2. His special work- "Save His people from their sins."
III. His Desire
The desire of Joseph was to do the will of God. That will involved several things:
He wanted the Christ child preserved and kept from harm when he found out just who the babe in his wife Mary’s womb was in his true identity.
If you recall Herod tried to find out where Jesus would be born so he might destroy the Christ child. An angel appeared to Joseph and told him to take the child by night and escape to Egypt. Joseph obey the direction from God.
Herod became angry and vowed to kill every baby boy in Bethlehem, from two years old and down (Matt. 2:16).
Instruction finally came to Joseph to leave the land of Egypt with Mary and the Christ-child. Joseph did what he was told to do that Jesus might be preserved.
Joseph wanted to do the will of God. A real man or woman stands up to trouble and conflict, he or she does not run from them.
IV. His Delight
He was raising the son of God. I do not believe Jesus ever gave him a hard time. Cooperative for he was a special child. He was God in the flesh. I believe Christ was a hard worker, a model child as he grew into manhood.
CONCLUSION:
Let’s be like Joseph and do the will of God, though at times we do not always understand how He leads, believe He leads right and go with God. Old song says, "I believe I’ll just go with God."
May God’s richest blessings be your as we celebrate Jesus’ birth!
Sermon Outline From Dr. Tom Walker
