Turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter one. Matthew chapter one. If you’re able to see your Bibles. Or if you have your phone or smart devices that can pull up a Bible app as well. But if not, you can hear me read Matthew chapter one. But I’m gonna read for us Matthew chapter one verses 18 through 25 to begin with this evening.

Matthew 1, 18 through 25. This is the word of the Lord. 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 one who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And 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 in order that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying, 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 got up from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. And he took Mary as his wife, but he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

This, again, is Matthew’s account of the birth of Christ. And his account is similar but different from Luke. It doesn’t disagree, but it’s different in detail. Luke has much more information on a lot of the circumstances and the happenings around the birth of Christ. Matthew seems to be a bit more brief. But Matthew does tell us very important details of the birth of Christ. Some of it is important details of the circumstances, like Mary and Joseph were a young couple. They were betrothed and looking to be married. And Mary had not come together with Joseph yet. She was a virgin. Even the last verse we read there, said that Joseph kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son. So Mary was truly a virgin.

That itself is a stunning miracle, that she would be found with child, that she would be pregnant, and yet she is a virgin. But it’s not that it should not have been expected. It’s surprising, because that is not how the world works. but it should have been expected because as Matthew reveals to us, the prophets said this. The Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 7, 14 and said, therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will be with child and bear a son and she will call his name Emmanuel. And that is exactly what is taking place here in Matthew’s account.

And just in case we missed the significance of this miracle, Matthew, as the narrator of the story, speaks in and clarifies for us in verse 22. Now this all took place in order that what was spoken by the prophets would be fulfilled. This is the significance of Matthew’s account. Matthew’s whole purpose in this passage is to point to the significance of this miraculous birth. And the significance is not just that it was a virgin conception, although he makes that clear. But if that’s all there is here for significance, this is nothing more than a neat trick. There’s much more significance to this special birth.

The supreme significance here is found in verse 21. And in verse 21 it says, She will bear a son and you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. That for in that sentence is profound. She will bear a son and you will call his name Jesus, for. The reason this is happening is he will save his people from their sins. She will bear a son, the eternal son of God. The second person of the Trinity came to be the son of this young woman. He took on human flesh so that he could redeem human flesh. He took on human flesh so he could save his people from their sins. And Matthew makes it clear that this was no coincidence.

Again, he says, now this all took place in order that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled. This is how it was supposed to happen. This is exactly the way God planned it. Christ came in human flesh, as Matthew says, to be God with us. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us. He is God with us. But there’s a lot of meaning in that as well. Because it’s not just in the sense that God was coming to live with mankind, which he was. That is true. That is what Jesus in the incarnation did. But he also came so that we could live with God. So that we could know God. so that we could have the relationship that God intended for us to have with Him from the beginning. But in order to do that, in order to save His people from their sins, Jesus had to defeat what makes people sinners.

Because from the fall in the garden, when Adam and Eve took of the fruit, and ate and condemned all of mankind after them. Man has had a sin problem. All mankind has had a sin problem that separates us from God, from the very moment of our conception, because that sin nature, like a virus, has infected every human being that followed Adam and Eve. Sin plagues all of mankind. Paul tells us in Romans 5, verse 12, that just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. Each and every human being born after Adam and Eve took from the fruit of that tree. We’re in sin, separated from God. This is the very sin that Jesus came to save people from.

But how? How could sin be defeated? How could sin that had plagued mankind for so long, every single person ever born, how could he come and save people from that? Well, we know from the Old Testament that God had provided a way for people to atone for their sins. He gave the people a sacrificial system where they would sacrifice bulls and goats in obedience to God, and that would atone for their sin for the time being, for that year, until next year when they had to do it all over again. And while those sacrifices atoned for sin temporarily, the book of Hebrews teaches us a lot about what those sacrifices were for and what they were pointing to.

So if you’re able to, and if you can see your Bibles again, if you’d like to turn to the book of Hebrews, we’re gonna be in Hebrews for a little while now. Because in Hebrews chapter 10, verse four, the author of Hebrews tells us After speaking of the sacrificial system where year after year after year, bulls and goats were sacrificed in order to atone for the sins of the people, he then says in Hebrews 10.4, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. They could atone for sins out of obedience to God’s system that he put in place for them, but they couldn’t take away sin because they were never intended to. They were supposed to point people forward, to point people to the real sacrifice, the true sacrifice that was to come.

Elsewhere in Hebrews, in several places, but Hebrews 8, 5 is one place where it tells us that the priests and the sacrifices and the whole system was just a shadow and a copy of the real thing. what was to come. It says it was a copy of the heavenly things. A better sacrifice was necessary in order for Jesus to come and save people from sin. Because despite their continual yearly sacrifices, they weren’t saved from their sin. And the writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is exactly that. The true fulfillment of all of those years upon years of fulfilling what God had given the people to do to atone for their sins. And over in Hebrews 9, we see sort of a summary section of what the book of Hebrews is all about.

In Hebrews 9, starting in verse 24, it says this. For Christ did not enter the holy places made with hands, mere copies of the true ones, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor was it that he would offer himself often as the high priest enters the holy places year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise he would have to, or he would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once, at the consummation of the ages, he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

He said, Jesus, not only is the true picture of what all of those sacrifices were supposed to be, but he’s even better. He’s even better than the things that pointed to him. They were mere copies of what was really to take place. And the high priest, as he would come to make atonement for the people, he would have to go in year after year with blood that was not his own. But Jesus suffered once. He had been manifested. He had been revealed to put away sin. The reason why he came was to put away sin. The reason he came was to save his people from their sins. Jesus is the better sacrifice that they were pointing to. He is the one Old Testament sacrifices were copying and shadowing. He is what they were waiting for.

And one of the themes, again, of the book of Hebrews is how this Old Testament system was insufficient. It was what God gave them, but they realized that it wasn’t taking away sin. It was merely paying for the sin for that year, but they had to do it over again. But now, Christ has come, and he has saved his people from their sin, because as the next part of that passage goes on. And verse 27, and in as much as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes the judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation with reference to sin, to those who eagerly wait for Him.

That is a loaded passage of Scripture. There is so much here. Christ having been offered once. Once. Finally. All of the Old Testament sacrifices are fulfilled in Him. Christ died once for sins. And it says He died to bear the sins of many. He didn’t die for all sin. He died to bear the sins of many. The atonement was definite. It had a purpose. It had a people in mind. He died to pay the sins for those who would trust in Him. Those who had trusted in Him, looking forward to the true and better sacrifice that those Old Testament sacrifices were copying, and those who would come after Him and look back and trust in Him as the true sacrifice for their sins. He died to pay for the sins of many.

He died for those who, as this verse says, who eagerly wait for Him. Not only those who were eagerly waiting for Him in the Old Testament, for His first coming, but those who are eagerly waiting for His return. And that’s an easy way to separate those who are His from those who are not. Do you eagerly wait for Him? Are you looking forward to His return? Because not everyone does, right? Some will be terrified at the revealing of Jesus Christ when he comes back. Revelation chapter one, verse seven, says this. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Yes and amen.

They will mourn over His coming. And you might think, well, who wouldn’t be happy to see Jesus? Who wouldn’t want Him to come back? Those who hate Him. Those who don’t trust in Him. Those who reject Him. They’re not looking forward, they’re not eagerly waiting for the return of Christ. Because He died for the sins of many. He came to save His people from their sin. Those who trust in Him, who eagerly wait for Him, they have had their sins paid for once and for all. But those who reject Him, Those who will mourn when He is revealed, when He’s coming again. They do this because they will face the punishment for their own sins.

Because if you are not in Christ when He returns, if you reject Him as your Savior, His sacrifice once for sin does not cover you. If you are not in Christ, You need to come to Christ and repent of your sin. You need to trust Him today. Behold, now is the day of salvation. He is coming again. And if you do trust in Him, that will show that you are one of the many that He died for. That you are one of His people that He came to save. Because if you’re in Christ, Hebrews 9, 28, it says Christ has been offered once to bear the sins of many and He will appear a second time for salvation, for final salvation, to finally rid this world of sin. To those who eagerly wait for Him. Are you one of those who eagerly waits for Him? Be sure that you are.

And that begins with recognizing that you are a sinner, as Paul did. In 1 Timothy 1.15, a verse that very closely aligns with the verses I’ve already read this evening, speaking of the reason why Christ came. It says, it is a trustworthy saying and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am the foremost. Paul first identifies himself as a sinner.

There’s a story of an old minister who came to a man on his deathbed. And as they began to talk, the man began to recall his life and the many sins and terrible things that he had done. And he began to weep. And he cried out, I am such a terrible, hell-worthy sinner. And the minister replied, wonderful. You are a terrible, hell-worthy sinner. But he continued, it’s wonderful that you know it because that is exactly who Jesus came to save. Paul doesn’t just say that he’s a terrible sinner. He says that he is the foremost, the worst of the worst. And he wasn’t exaggerating. Paul was a bad guy. He’d done some awful things. But he’s not alone in that.

Paul says in Romans chapter three, verse 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We’re all there. Each and every one of you and me. We all fall short of the glory of God. We can all be counted the foremost of sinners. We all need a savior from our own sin. And great sinners need a great savior. And the best news of all came all those years ago, to be born of a virgin. Because going back to where we started in Matthew 1:21, she will bear a son. and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sin. If Christ can save Paul from his terrible sin, he can save you from yours. No matter how hell worthy you may be, because I guarantee as hell worthy as you think you are, it’s worse than that.

Christ came to be the sacrifice once for many. He came to save Paul because Paul was one of his. Are you one of his? Ask Jesus Christ himself for the grace of repentance and faith. so that you can put your trust in him for your salvation. Jesus is the savior of all of those who trust in him. He was stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. He bore the sins of many, and he interceded for the transgressors, and it pleased God to crush him. and satisfy His wrath meant for you and for me.

All of this was borne out in Christ on the cross, where our sinless Savior died in our place, paying the price that we could not. And before all of that took place, the night before our Savior took up His cross, He had supper with his disciples. And he instituted a reminder for them of what he was about to do. The central moment in all of history was about to happen. And he didn’t want them to forget. And this is what we will do in a moment to celebrate the greatest gift ever given.

And we see this recorded in Matthew 26, as Jesus has supper with his disciples. Matthew 26, verses 26 through 30. It says, now, while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, he broke it. And giving it to the disciples, he said, take, eat, this is my body. And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them saying, drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my father’s kingdom. And after singing to him, they went out to the Mount of Olives. The blood of Christ was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Because as the angel told Joseph about this child, he came to save his people from their sins.

So we gather here tonight to remember that very thing. Not only that he came and he was born of a virgin, and all of the wonderful things we remember at this time of year, the nativity scenes and all the stories and songs that we sing, but he came to save his people from their sins. We gather here tonight to remember the death of our Lord, the reason why he came. In partaking of the Lord’s table here tonight, we do exactly what Jesus told us to do. to remember his death until he comes, and to tell the story of who Christ is and why he came.

Let’s stand and close in a word of prayer this evening. God, we are so humbled. by the thought of Christ coming to be born of a virgin, to live a life of perfect obedience, to live the obedience that we should have lived, but we didn’t, and then to die a gruesome death on the cross in our place. Lord, we know He came to save his people from their sins. And we are so grateful for those of us that have been called to yourself, those who are your people, those who have something to celebrate this time of year. We thank you, Lord, for all that you’ve done. We pray all of this in Christ’s precious name. Amen.