Well, Merry Christmas to you all. I know during this time of year you're very busy and you're thankful now that you can just catch your breath and really focus on the real reason for Christmas, right? The real reason for Christmas, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth. And so I hope that you will take the advice I gave last Sunday, you know, to get that quiet time with the Lord, that time when you can maybe just sit down and reread the Christmas story again from the Bible. Maybe read it with your family. Maybe sit down and read through an entire gospel and just get the whole picture. And so this is a good time of year when you're off work maybe and you've got a little extra time to spend that extra time not only enjoying time with your family, but certainly in communion with your Lord as well. So I hope that you will do so. Well, if you would please open your Bible to Matthew chapter 1. Before I get into the message this morning, I want to comment on something I touched on last Sunday toward the end of the message. Now, when I'm putting a message together, very oftentimes I will find helpful information that has been written by somebody, somebody that we would consider worthy of quoting. Oftentimes it's something from long ago. And we have to go back maybe and look at that person and understand where they were at theologically. And I always try to vet and carefully look at the background of anyone I would quote. And last Sunday, toward the end of the message, I mentioned a man by the name of Hank Hanegraaff. Now, at the time when I first knew about Hank Hanegraaff, that was years ago, he was known as the Bible Answer Man, and I had no reason to really question where he was at theologically. But I'm very saddened, I was very saddened this week to learn that this man in recent years has shown a real lack of discernment regarding theology. And so I just want to mention that to you. I apologize for not having more carefully vetted him. I did make an effort to do so, but unfortunately I did not look at things that are going on recently with him. And so I just would mention that to you. We always have to exercise discernment, don't we? And so we would even if we quote somebody that we really do trust, we have to recognize that that's a fallen person and they're not infallible. And so I just felt an obligation to you to mention that this morning. Well, this morning, I want us to look at Matthew 1, verses 18 through 25. And it's not the first time that we have looked at this passage on a Christmas Sunday. And given the fact that this is Christmas, of course, we're going to reflect upon the birth of the Savior. And I hope we will marvel anew at the incarnation. to think about the eternal Son of God taking on human flesh and dwelling on this earth and allowing Himself to be nailed to that cross. This morning, I want us to focus on the significance of His name, the name Jesus. Follow along now as I read Matthew 1, beginning in verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. 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. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 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. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus." Let's pray together. Our Father, as we open your word this morning on this most glorious and joyous occasion of celebrating the birth of our Savior, I just pray that you would impress upon our hearts anew what Jesus did in taking on human flesh and coming to this earth in order to die on that cross to pay for our sins. Lord, we thank you. We thank you for the marvel of the virgin conception, the marvel of the incarnation, the marvel of the birth of Christ. We pray, Lord, that you would speak to our hearts today from your word. In Jesus' name, amen. What's in a name? What's in a name? That's a famous line, if you don't know, from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. You need to remember that Romeo was a Montague and Juliet was a Capulet, right? That was their last name. They had different last names. And so Juliet asks aloud, what's in a name? And she goes on, that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So you probably know those famous lines. And perhaps what she said is true about a rose. But for a person who was born a Hebrew, their name means something. It has a meaning to it, a deep meaning, probably more so than we would practice in our culture today, much more so. For example, the name Abraham means father of a multitude. The name Jacob means supplanter. The name Naomi means delightful one. The name Barnabas means son of encouragement. So to a Hebrew, to a Jewish person, that Hebrew name that they're given at birth really means something. And it probably says something about them. And so we want to consider this morning, what significance does the name Jesus have? What is the meaning of His name? It turns out that His name has great significance for us all. For the very name Jesus reminds us that He is the Savior. His name reminds us of that. Now, as we're looking at this birth narrative, and I mentioned when I began that we've been in this passage before on a Christmas, and some years ago we focused on this passage, and we focused our attention on the virginal conception of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, that's vitally important. We want to affirm that fundamental doctrine today. And so if you want to, you can go back and find that sermon. Maybe that's another thing you can do during this holiday season and go back and listen to that message. But this passage also emphasizes the name of that child that was in the womb of Mary. And that's what we want to focus our attention on today. Just to summarize what was said some years ago about the holy conception of Jesus, Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb by the Holy Spirit. So there was no human father. And this is really important because Jesus' birth involved divine initiative. God is the one who took the initiative. It was not the initiative of a man. And it means that Jesus had one father, not two. And so we don't want to confuse the matter. And it also means that Jesus is no ordinary human being, right? He is the perfect God-man. All God and all man in one person in the incarnated Son of God. Now, as we approach this passage here, we're informed of a few things. We're informed that Mary and Joseph were betrothed to one another, but they had not yet taken that step of being formally married. And just to remind you a little bit about the Jewish betrothal practice, it was a lot more binding than our practice today of getting engaged. And so in the Jewish culture, betrothal commonly lasted about a year. and the bride and the groom were officially pledged to one another. And during this time, the bride continued to live in her father's house, and yet they were called husband and wife. And so those titles, those terms were used even during the betrothal period. The betrothal was legally recognized. It turns out that the only way to break the Jewish betrothal was through a writ of divorcement. And so that's what's mentioned here about Joseph putting her way away privately. That's a euphemism for divorcing her privately. During the betrothal, the groom may have already paid the dowry. Boy, he was committed to this, right? And during this time, the bride and groom were to remain chaste. and so it was a time of proving their purity. John MacArthur writes this, the betrothal period served as a time of probation and testing of fidelity. During that period, the bride and the groom usually had little, if any, social contact with each other. So you kind of have to think a little differently than our culture, right? You think about the Jewish culture, you think about the betrothal, you think about the seriousness of the commitment that they had to one another, and yet they had very little contact with one another during this time. Under Old Testament law, unchastity during betrothal was treated as adultery. And it was punished under the Old Testament law by stoning and later on by divorce. And so it would be a serious matter. And so it is that when Joseph discovered that Mary was with child, he had a real moral dilemma on his hands. You know, what was he to do here? We're told in verse 19 that Joseph was a just man. That is, he was a keeper of the Mosaic law. That means that he was obligated, he felt, to go ahead and divorce Mary. But he was going to show compassion toward her in not making a public display of the thing, but to do it privately. You see, from Joseph's perspective, Mary had been unfaithful and therefore was an adulteress. And he couldn't go ahead and marry someone so obviously guilty of breaking the law. And yet he showed his compassion by doing it privately. That was his plan. Now Joseph would have acted out on his plan had it not been for divine intervention. God sent this angel, an angelic messenger, with a message concerning Mary's son. And we're told here that this was delivered in a dream to Joseph. The angel addressed Joseph by name. He says, Joseph, thou son of David. Now that's significant to note, son of David. That speaks to us of Joseph's lineage. He was a descendant of King David, and therefore a legal heir to the throne of David. And then the angel goes on to say, in verse 20, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. What's in a name? plenty, especially when it comes to the name Jesus. This is a most precious name to us. The name Jesus is Heusus in the Greek. It comes from the Old Testament Joshua, Yeshua, sometimes it's pronounced that we always pronounce the hard J, but it's really Yeshua in the Hebrew. And His name means Jehovah is salvation. To put it simply, Yahweh saves. That's what His name means. And what significance that has for us because we need to be saved. As lost sinners, we need a Savior. We need to be saved from the eternal consequences of our sin. And so His name has great significance for us. Yahweh saves. So naming the baby Jesus indicates that God is at work to save His people. And God is going to accomplish His salvation through this child who is still in Mary's womb. Call His name Jesus. The very name Jesus reminds us that He is the Savior. Now, I'd like to take a few moments here to reflect upon the life and ministry of the Old Testament Joshua. And you'll see why that's significant in a moment. It turns out that the Old Testament Joshua and the New Testament Jesus have more in common than just their name. It turns out that Joshua served as a biblical type who prefigures the Yeshua to come. So hold your place here and turn over to Joshua 1. Let me take a moment to explain to you, if you're not familiar with biblical typology, biblical typology involves an Old Testament person or event or institution, and that's called the type, that corresponds to another that's in the New Testament, and that is called the antitype. So you have type and antitype. Type is what is representative of the antitype, which is to come. So these type and antitype connections are divinely ordained and designed so that the Old Testament type predicts and foreshadows the antitype that is to come. It does so in a lesser degree. So it is the lesser that represents the greater that is to come. So let's keep that in mind now. as we look at the Old Testament Joshua. He was the divinely selected successor to Moses. God selected him to lead his people in the conquest of the land of promise. So follow along now as I read Joshua chapter 1 in verses 1 through 6. Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness in this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I swear unto their fathers to give them. And so here we have the Old Testament Joshua, who is a type of the Yeshua to come. He is God's choice vessel to lead God's people in the conquest of the land of promise. And so it is that Joshua was God's agent of deliverance. And in this sense, the Old Testament Joshua saves. Now, you need to understand that the Old Testament concept of salvation was that of physical deliverance or rescue, perhaps from an enemy or from harm. For example, when the Hebrew people had their backs to the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army was approaching quickly and they really felt themselves trapped, Listen to what Moses said when he raised up his voice. He said this to the people in Exodus 14, 13, which he will show you this day. Now, we all know what kind of salvation that was. It was a physical deliverance from Pharaoh's armies. And it was miraculous, right? God parted the Red Sea and the Hebrews went through on dry land. And when Pharaoh's army followed after, they were drowned. So in the Old Testament, very often when you see the word salvation, it's speaking of a physical deliverance. And so the Old Testament, Joshua saves in this sense, in the sense of a physical deliverance. And he saves his people. Joshua's people were, of course, the people of Israel, the Hebrew children, the descendants of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now based on the military census data that's recorded in the writings of Moses, Joshua was leading a very large number of people. The people of Israel at that time may have numbered in excess of two million people. And according to the inspired census data, the full number of men able to serve in the army may have exceeded 600,000. And so here's Joshua, a great leader, a leader of the people and a commander of the army, a huge army, a great army. And he was quite a general in leading that army. Time and time again, Joshua, the Old Testament Joshua, used his leadership skills and his military prowess to deliver, to save his people. And the Old Testament Joshua saved his people from their enemies. The conquest of the land involved going to battle against a whole host of different people groups. In fact, as Joshua began to lead the people forward, he addressed the people and in Joshua 3, 9, he says, come hither and hear the words of the Lord your God. And he said, hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you and that he will, without fail, drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites. So all these different people groups, these were the enemies of God's people. And Joshua was divinely ordained to lead the people in the conquest of the land and to conquer these enemies. And so time and time again, Joshua delivered his people from their enemies. One 19th century commentator summarized it this way, Joshua then represents Christ, not as coming down in person to take possession of the earth, but as leading his people through the power of the Holy Ghost, who acts and dwells in the midst of this people. So the Old Testament Joshua is the type, he prefigures the Yeshua who is to come, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament Joshua saved his people from their enemies. He saved them in a limited sense, in a physical sense, and only in that sense he is a savior figure. And so we've considered the Old Testament Joshua the type, now let's go on and focus our attention on the great Savior that he represents, Jesus. Jesus, the true Savior, the one who saves, the one who delivers in a spiritual sense, our Redeemer. Joshua foreshadowed the true Savior to come. and many of the Old Testament prophets foretold of His coming. Just as Matthew points out back in Matthew 1 and verses 22 and 23, it says, Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 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." So much in that prophecy. Now, Matthew is referring to a prophecy by the prophet Isaiah. And that prophecy was made some 700 plus years before the birth of Christ. Of course, we know that every prophecy that we have in Scripture is a prophecy of God and therefore true and reliable and will be fulfilled without fail in its entirety. And so is the case here with Isaiah's prophecy. It comes from Isaiah 7, 14. You probably know this verse. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and shall bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Isaiah's prophecy, of course, finds its ultimate fulfillment in the incarnation and virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of that prophecy. And so Matthew cites that prophecy and indicates that it is fulfilled in this child that is in utero and Mary's womb. And having informed Joseph of these things, Joseph did what the angel told him to do. He took Mary to be his wedded wife. He went through with the marriage ceremony. We're told that they did not consummate the marriage until after Jesus was born. And after Mary gave birth, Joseph named the child Jesus, just like the angel had instructed him to do. And in naming the child, Joseph is officially saying, this child is now, I take this child as my own. And we're told here that he was named Jesus because he shall save his people from their sin. That's the important distinction between the Old Testament Joshua, the type, and the New Testament Yeshua, the anti-type. Jesus saves his people from their sin. So let's parse that out a little bit. The New Testament Yeshua saves redemptively. The salvation He brings is not merely some physical deliverance, some personal rescue from some danger. It's not like that at all. It's beyond that. The salvation He brings is spiritual. He rescues the lost soul from eternal hell. He saves redemptively. Now, I want to point out an important detail that's in the Greek text here in verse 21 in that phrase for he shall save. The pronoun he here is emphatic. That is to say, he shall save, he and he alone. He only is the Savior. We're told this in Acts 4.12, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. We understand that Jesus is the only, the one and only true Savior. He himself declared in John 14.6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh into the Father but by me. He's the only way. He's the only Savior. He's the only way of salvation. He's the only way to the Father. He alone saves. Many passages speak of his saving. I could cite numerous examples. I'll just cite a few. Remember when Zacchaeus demonstrated his repentance for his sins? Jesus responded to him in Luke 19, 9, You want to know why Jesus was born in a manger long ago? He came to seek and to save that which is lost. His entire mission in his first advent was to accomplish God's plan of redemption. His entire mission was to save the lost. We're told in John 3, verse 17, for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be, what's the next word? Saved. And it goes on, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And so it all comes down to faith. Do we believe in Jesus that He is Yahweh saves? He's the Savior. Many other instances in John's gospel, John 5, 34, Jesus said, I received not testimony from man, but these things I say that ye might be saved. His entire teaching ministry on this earth was that people might be saved. John 10.9, Jesus says, I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be, what's the next word, saved. He is the way. John 12.46, Jesus declares, I am come a light into the world, that whosoever, blessed be that name, blessed be that word, whosoever believeth on me, should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." That was his entire mission in his first advent, to save the world. Now, folks, he is coming back a second time. And when he comes a second time, he will come for judgment. But in his first advent, he came to save the world. So we're told that Jesus is to be called Jesus because he saves his people. You look again at verse 21, call his name Jesus for he shall save his people. Who is this talking about? His people. Well, you know that Jesus was born a Jew. He was born into a Jewish home. He has Jewish lineage. And so it is that his ministry was first and foremost directed toward his people, the Jewish people. Not exclusively, not only, but first and foremost. In fact, Jesus makes this very clear in the exchange that he had with the Canaanite woman. Hold your place here and turn over to Matthew chapter 15. Matthew 15, we'll look at verses 22 through 28. Matthew 15, 22 to 28. Here Jesus is encountering this Canaanite woman. It says, and behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed with the devil, with the demon. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him saying, send her away for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshiped him saying, Lord, help me. And he answered and said, it is not meat proper to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. And so Jesus makes it very clear in this exchange that first and foremost, he is there to minister to his people, the Jewish people. This Canaanite woman was outside of that people group. She was a foreigner, a Gentile. And so Jesus makes it clear, you know, I'm here first and foremost to minister to my people, the Jewish people. But I want you to notice how this account ends. Because of her persistence, because of her great faith, Jesus granted her request. And so it is that it's first and foremost Jesus ministered to the Jewish people, but not exclusively, not entirely. In fact, we understand theologically later on in Paul's writings that we the Gentiles are now included in God's marvelous plan of redemption. When Jesus sent out the 12 apostles, he told them to go first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He's showing here, first and foremost, that was their ministry. But thankfully, we who are Gentiles have been grafted in, Romans 11, 17. We are made fellow heirs and partakers, Ephesians 3, 6, partakers of the saving work of Jesus Christ. And consequently, the Apostle Paul was able to write in Romans 1 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, but also to the Greek, also to the Gentile. Praise God for that. For most of us in this room, perhaps all of us are in that also. God's plan of redemption. has been offered to all the peoples of the world, that whosoever would believe on Him would not perish, but have everlasting life. So we go back to Matthew chapter 1, and again, focus on what the angel said, call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. This really is the critical part. We need to understand this. The Old Testament Joshua the type saved his people from their physical enemies. The New Testament Yeshua saves his people from the mortal enemy of their soul, their own sins. Now you need to understand in the first century when the Gospel of Matthew was written, the Jewish people were looking expectantly for Messiah to come, but their conception of Messiah was all wrong. They were looking for a Messiah that would save them nationally and politically from Roman occupation. But the Messiah that God sent them did something far better for them. For Jesus saves his people from their sins. Jesus came to save his people from their sin, from its penalty, from its power, and ultimately from its very presence someday. What a great Savior he is. What a marvelous salvation he brings. He saves from sin. And in fact, this really is the glorious message of the gospel, is it not? That Jesus saves. And when we say that, when we proclaim that, we're talking about a salvation that is spiritual, a salvation that affects the eternal destiny of the soul, a salvation that rescues that soul from the flames of eternal hell. It's a salvation that brings eternal life and all of the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ. What a marvelous salvation it is. All because Jesus saves us from our sins. And we understand how he did that. It wasn't his incarnation that saved us. It wasn't His birth that saved us. It wasn't all of the healings and the miracles that He performed that saves us. It was the fact that He was nailed to that cross, that He gave His life, He shed His blood, a life for life. He was our substitute. For we understand that the wages of sin is death. He took that punishment for us. He took death that we might live. And so it was His cross work that saved us and then His glorious resurrection that declared that victory over sin and death. Praise God. What a marvelous salvation. And so Jesus saves us on the basis of His substitutionary death on the cross. He paid the just penalty for our sin that God can declare us righteous and forgiven through Christ. But you have to believe. For by grace are you saved through faith. through faith. You must believe that Jesus not only is the Son of God incarnate who came to this earth and had a physical body, but you must believe that He died on that cross to pay for your sins, for my sins. It must be personal. He is not just the Savior. He needs to become your Savior and accept Him as your Lord. And that's exactly what we are told in Romans chapter 10. I'd like you to turn there. Romans chapter 10. Someday I hope, Lord willing, to have the opportunity to preach through the book of Romans. It is a deeply theological book. a treatise, really, a theological treatise from the pen of the Apostle Paul, but of course we understand it's inspired by the Holy Spirit, and so it is divine authority in our lives. We come here to Romans chapter 10, and I want us to look at verses 9 through 13. Now, pay careful attention. Sometimes the sentences that Paul writes are long and complex, but pay very careful attention to what is being said here. Verse 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be," what's the next word? Saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. Praise God. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So let's work our way through this passage. Starting in verse 9, what does it mean to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus? It means to confess that he is Lord. Not only the Lord, but your Lord. To confess Jesus as Lord is to confess all that is true about him as a person. that He's the Son of God incarnate, that He is the Lord of lords, the King of kings, that He is sovereign. Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. So this isn't something that is just kept secret, is it? And I think that's one of the first tests of whether someone has truly come to saving faith. Are they willing to confess it? One of the most important steps you can take right after you're saved is to be baptized. That is an opportunity for you to give a public confession of your faith. That thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. I mean, you have to truly believe this. Truly believe in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, because that's the proof of everything. It proves that He really is Lord. It proves that He really is the Savior. It proves that He really did conquer sin and death. So believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead. You will be saved. Why? For with the heart man believes unto righteousness. There's so much in that one statement. But we understand that we don't earn our way to heaven. We need a righteousness that is not our own, what Martin Luther called a foreign righteousness. We need the righteousness of Christ. And that righteousness is imputed to our account when we do these things, when we confess and when we believe. So with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And then the next verses, these are so glorious, because these next verses are informing us that, yes, Jesus came to die for his people, to pay for their sins, to save them from their sins. But this salvation is not just for the Jews. He is not only the Messiah of the Jewish people. He is the Messiah for all people. the Savior for all people. And that's what Paul is emphasizing here in these verses. You know, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. And he's quoting from the Jewish scriptures. He's saying this was God's plan all along. Isn't that marvelous? God promised Abraham, through your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. What seed is he talking about? The Lord Jesus Christ. There's no difference, Paul writes, between Jew and the Greek. He's saying that it's the same Savior, it's the same way of salvation. It's through confession and faith. And then verse 13. Now you know the context of this verse. We often will quote this verse, and you'll say, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You understand the significance of this statement? Paul is saying the Gentile people are included now. So praise God. Praise God that this is true, that whosoever will call upon the name Jesus shall be saved. The very name Jesus reminds us that He is the Savior. He is the one who saves. He is the one who saves us from our sins. Call upon this name. There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. That's the only name that will save you. Faith in him. That's the only faith that will save you. Call upon Jesus. And he will save. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for this wonderful time and your word this morning. We thank you that you, through your spirit, inspired Matthew to record these things for us, and just in the way that he did. So that we might understand these theological truths, that we might make these connections to the Jewish scriptures through the quoting and the fulfillment of prophecy. And Lord, that we might come to recognize just who Jesus is. He is Emmanuel, He is God with us, God incarnate, the Son of God incarnate, and He is Jesus. He always saves. He is your Son whom you sent to save us from our sin. And we worship Him today and we celebrate His birth knowing that He was born to die on the cross pay for our sins, that He did not remain in the grave, that He rose again the third day declaring victory over sin and death. Oh, what a marvelous Savior we worship today. Our Father, we marvel anew at the Incarnation to think of the eternal Son of God taking on human flesh coming down from the glories of heaven to this fallen earth that he might save lost sinners from their sin. We thank you for the true meaning of Christmas. We thank you for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth. We thank you that indeed he was and is Son of God. that He was and is Savior, that His very name, reminding us He always saves, speaks to us of your great plan of redemption in which you sent your Son and gave Him to die on the cross to save sinners. And Lord, as we have this time together with family and friends during this holiday season, I pray that we would keep in focus the true meaning of Christmas and the significance of the name Jesus. In his name we pray, amen.