Come on, you two. It's Riot's first time, I think, getting to go to children's church. So, alright. Alright. Back to Matthew chapter one.

Matthew chapter one. And specifically here, verse 23 is the one we're going to take some time to look at this morning. Matthew one twenty three. Well, we'll look in verse let's read twenty two and twenty three together. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which is spoken by the Lord by the of the Lord by the prophets saying, behold, a virgin shall be with child and bring forth a son.

And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Dear Lord, thank you for this wonderful day, for the life that you have given to us, both physical and spiritual in Jesus Christ. Eternal life because of the one who came, the one who came for us to be with us and so that we might be forever with you. We pray, Lord, if there's one here today that is unsure of their relationship with you, that they wouldn't leave this place unsure anymore.

We pray, Lord, that Jesus Christ might be exalted in our midst today, that your word would find root in our heart today, and that you would bless us, Lord, as we seek to honor you. In Jesus' name, we do pray. Amen. What to what was Matthew referring or the angel rather? Isaiah seven fourteen.

Isaiah seven fourteen. Isaiah wrote, therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. So there should be no confusion. The Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive.

That's out of the norm, is it not? And bear a son. And shall call his name Emmanuel, which we know from Matthew means what? God with us. What is so important about this title attributed to Jesus?

Now, before we get to the name Emmanuel, we first come across the name Jesus in verse 21 of Matthew. It says they'll call him Jesus for he shall what? Save his people from their sins. We need a savior. The world needs a savior.

Jews and Gentiles alike need a savior because we're sinners. We have failed. We have fallen short, but not Jesus. Jesus, God the son come from heaven. Jesus, whose name means the Lord is salvation, came to save sinners of whom Paul says he is chief.

And we are too. That is why Jesus came. But then you get down to verse 23 and we have another name, Emmanuel. Emmanuel. God with us.

What is so important about this title attributed to Jesus? Why is being with us so important or different? Well, because for millennia, that means more than one millennium, several thousand years, God had been separated from man by man's what? By man's sin. Same Isaiah that wrote seven fourteen also wrote fifty nine twelve that says this, behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot save, neither his ear heavy that he cannot hear.

The problem is not with who? The problem's not with God. Israel was having struggles. They weren't seeing the blessings of God. No.

They were facing judgment. They were they were facing loss. They were struggling as a nation. Isaiah wrote, the problem isn't with God. The problem is with who?

With us. With you. But your iniquities iniquity is another word for sin. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear you. What does sin do?

It separates man from his creator. It separates man from his maker, from his God. That's what sin does. It separates us. In the garden, God and man were in perfect fellowship.

God came down in the cool of the day, and he walked with Adam and Eve in the cool in the evening in the garden. And he fellowship. And he talked with them. He talked with them. They they communicated audibly.

They could look upon God physically with his eyes and with her eyes. And they fellowship in perfect harmony. With who? With God. God was with them.

In every possible sense, God was with them. But man's sin put an end to that. Romans five twelve. Paul reminds us, wherefore as by one man's sin, One man's sin entered into the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned.

What's death? Death is separation. The word death here in the Greek is thanatos. It's a word that stresses separation. When we die physically, our body is separated from our soul.

There is a separation in death. We're separated from our loved ones. There is a separation in death. But there is also a spiritual death that happened immediately in the garden when Adam and Eve took of the fruit that was forbidden and disobeyed God. They were separated from God and they were cast out of the what?

Out of the Garden of Eden, out of the presence of the Lord. And so God was no longer with them in the same manner that he had been because their sin separated them from their God. Despite the barrier sin had constructed, yet God in some measure was still with them despite themselves. God was not done with man yet. God was not willing to give up.

And so we see a glimpse of that in the birth of Abel and then of Seth and then of Seth's sons and then particularly in the descendants of Enoch and Noah. They found grace in the eyes of the Lord as they put their faith in who? In a God they could not see, in a God they could not hear, in a God from whom they were separated, but yet a god who was still there and a god who still cared and a god who was still very much real. And because of their faith, they found grace in the eyes of that God. By faith, Enoch, he was translated, that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him.

For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. But without, what? Faith. It is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Yet Enoch found some fellowship with God despite the barrier that sin erected, and that was by God's grace through what? Faith. Such was also the case with Noah. Enoch was taken straight to heaven and did not see death. God delivered Noah and his family from an apocalyptic flood in the ark.

Rest of mankind was wiped off the face of the earth, and God started over with Noah and his family. What made the difference? Noah was a man of what? Faith. No.

It wasn't the same as the fellowship that God and man had enjoyed in the garden, but the eventual coming of Jesus made it possible for God to be with Enoch and Noah even then. And it continues. God was with Abraham. He came to Abraham. He led Abraham.

He blessed Abraham. He was with Isaac. Twenty six three. Sojourn in this land, God told Isaac, and I will what? I will be with thee.

For unto thee and under thy seed, will give all these countries and I will perform the oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father. Genesis thirty one three, the Lord said unto Jacob, return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred and I will, what, be with thee. I will be with thee. Exodus three twelve concerning Moses. And he said to Moses, certainly, I will what?

I will be with thee. You know, Moses thought, oh Lord, there's no way. I can't I can't go speak in front of pharaoh. After forty years of being humbled in the desert, Moses was now humble. And he told, Lord, I can't speak.

I I I got stage fright. I know what that's like. I've got stage fright too and somehow every Sunday I stand up here. I still have stage fright, but the Lord is good. And why did God say to Moses?

He said, don't worry. I will I will be with thee. That's that's important, is it not? Makes all the difference, does it not, when God is with us. Not just with us, but he is on our what?

He's on our our side. He is our companion in the ministry that he calls us to. Deuteronomy thirty one twenty three, we continue with Joshua and the Lord and he gave Joshua, the son of Nun, a charge and said, be strong and of a good courage, for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I swear unto them, and I will be with thee. We're not done yet. Judges six sixteen.

Judges six sixteen. This is Gideon, by the way. Gideon was a Gideon wasn't so much humble as he was timid. God had God had to help him along. Give him a sign, you know, the the fleece that was dry and the ground that was wet and then the the opposite.

The Lord said unto him, surely I will be, what, with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. God promised to be with these that he called into his service. He comforted them. He encouraged them. He strengthened them by the assurance that he would be with them, but they they could not see him.

They couldn't walk with him literally as you would walk with another another person. It it required faith. But by faith, they could still commune with God. By faith, they could be led by God. And they could feel his presence and see it in their lives.

Not just these men, but the entire nation of Israel. Isaiah forty three two, back to Isaiah again. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

Very literally, Israel walked through the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan River, and they didn't harm them, though the rivers of the Red Sea came crashing down on Egypt's army and destroyed it. Very literally, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked, were thrown into the fiery furnace and they walked around inside. And even the pagan king who looked down into the furnace said, there's a fourth person in there and he looks like the son of God or what he would think a son of God would look like. And indeed, it was the son of God because in the fire, he was with them. Before the fire, he was with them.

After the fire, he was with them. But not quite in the same way he was with Adam and Eve in the garden still. There was still a a veil betwixt the two, symbolized by the veil, the curtain in the temple that celebrate that that separated the holy place from the most holy place. But yet, God was with them. And then came and then came Jesus.

Then came Emmanuel, God with us. God with us once again in a similar manner as that God was with them in the garden. God became a man. In John one one, it says, in the beginning was the word. The word was with God.

The word was God. And in verse 14, says, and the word was, what, made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld the glory, his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. Jesus came, and he came to reveal in human flesh the very nature and person of God. Once again, God was with them in a sense where they could look at him, where they could talk with him, where they could commune with him, where they could like they could commune with no other.

He was special. He was different. He was God in human form. He wasn't just a teacher. He wasn't just a priest or a king or a prophet.

He was the God man. He was unique. One of a kind. God with us. Something that man had not experienced in thousands of years, and now God walked among men and could talk with men.

The first time since the garden, a man could walk and talk together as God took it upon himself to become one of us. We call this what? The incarnation. He took upon him human flesh. He walked among men.

He talked. He he played. He interacted. He taught. He healed.

He ministered. He was on the earth and walking around talking. He was God with us. It wasn't a name they called him by. It was a name that described who he was unlike any other.

This baby in a manger is not just a baby. He is God with us. And then he died. He died that he might remain forever with us. That sounds kind of odd.

So he came and he died that we might be that seems kind of contrary. You know, that was hard for his disciples too. Every time he tried to tell them, I'm gonna go to Jerusalem, I'm gonna be crucified, and I'm gonna and and before he could get the rise again part out, all they heard was the I'm gonna die part, and that didn't make sense to them. His name was Emmanuel, God with us. How could how could his death result in us forever being with him?

That didn't make sense to them. But they didn't listen, did they? Because he said after three days, I'll, what, arise again. Not only that, but it was his death that was necessary for us to be redeemed and to be brought back together in perfect communion with who? With God.

Because sin was still there and sin still separated man from God and would forever separate man from God if it were not for the sacrifice of the one who came that we celebrated Christmas. In first Peter three eighteen, it says that, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit. Put to death in the flesh. He died on the cross. Quicken means made alive, made alive by the spirit.

Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins according to scriptures. He was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. That is the good news. That is the gospel by which if we believe we are what? Saved, first Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul.

For Christ suffered not for his sins but for mine. The just, that's Jesus. For the unjust, that's me. That he might bring me back together in a beautiful communion with my creator that no there was no other way to mend. You can't mend that by putting money in an offering plate.

You can't mend that by being nice to your neighbor. You can't mend that by going to church or getting dunked in water. You can't mend that by doing good works. You can't mend that by whatever religious practice someone may tell you. Some of those things are good things.

Some of those things are profitable things. They cannot mend that which is broken. They cannot eradicate that which separates us and our fellowship with God. Only Jesus Christ, the God man who came to earth, became one of us so he could take our place on the cross, who was without sin, and shed his innocent blood on Calvary, his righteous blood. For he hath made him, that is Jesus, to be sent for us, who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

That is what Christmas is all about, God with us, making it so we could be forever with him by providing us something called eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. What is that? That's life with God. Eternal life with God.

He told his disciples whom he walked with and ministered to all those years. As he told them that one day he was leaving, they were scared, but you won't you won't you won't any longer be with us if you leave. Jesus said, even the spirit of truth in the world cannot see because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him for he dwelleth within you and shall be, what, in you. He told him, don't be concerned. It is profitable for you, expedient, that I go back to heaven.

For if I go not back to heaven, God won't send the promise, the comforter to come and be with you. So I'm not gonna be absent. My body may be absent, but the spirit is gonna be with you. Not only with you, but even better, he will be what? In you.

Now, did God make that promise before Christ came? Was the Holy Spirit work in the Old Testament? Yes, he was. And he came upon people to to direct them and and to lead them and guide them and empower them. But only at the day of Pentecost did God keep a precious promise to all of the church after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ that he would be in us every day with us because Christ had paid the price for our what?

For our sin on Calvary's Cross. There was no need to go make a sacrifice every day. There was no need to go to the tabernacle, the temple to worship every, at those forgiven times because God was now with us. He was in us. We could pray in our prayer closet.

We can pray at church. We can worship in our prayer closet, and we should also worship at publicly at church. But God is with us because of Jesus. In Hebrews thirteen five five, it says this, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have, for he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. What a promise God has made to his children.

He said, I will never, what, leave you nor forsake you. That promise can only be made in Jesus Christ and only to those who are his children, who have put their faith and trust in him. We'll come back to that in just a second. In first Thessalonians four seventeen, as Paul comforts the believers in the church at Thessalonica who had many loved ones who had passed away. They were looking for the return of Christ, and Christ hadn't returned yet, and their loved ones had died.

And they thought, what's going to happen to them? And and Paul wrote and said, no, don't worry about it because Christ is going when Christ is gonna come back to get all of those both who have died before and who are living at the present to take them back to be to the place that he had prepared for them as God promised in John 14. And he says, then we which alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet them in the air, and so shall we ever be, what, with the Lord. So shall we ever be with the Lord. All possible because of Emmanuel, who died on the cross, who rose again, who made a promise that I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also. Jesus will keep that promise. He will come to take his people home. He will come back with them to rule and reign for a thousand years on this, and so shall we be with the Lord. But it still gets better.

You get just when you think it can't get better, guess what? It gets better. It gets better. Revelation twenty one three, and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God is with men. That's the new Jerusalem that descends out of heaven to the new earth that God has made where we will live with him for all eternity.

The tabernacle of God is now with men, and he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. How does Revelation it ends? It ends with this. The eternal abode where we forever will live with who?

God. Sin has been eradicated. No more separation between God and man for mankind redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ shall be able to live in perfect communion and harmony and love with their savior forever and ever and ever. The tabernacle of God is with men. Tabernacle is the place where God and man meet together.

The Garden Of Eden was a tabernacle of sorts where Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden. The Mosaic Tabernacle and the Temple Of Solomon were places where God's Shekinah glory dwelt in the Holy of Holies where God communed with men through the sacrifices of the old covenant, yet still separated by the veil. The New Testament tabernacle is the body of the Christian wherein lives the holy spirit who communes with us. The eternal tabernacle as we see here is the new Jerusalem where we will dwell with God forever. No more sin, no more death, no more pain, no more sorrow, and the perfect place even better than the garden that God has made for us.

All made possible by the incarnation and resurrection of who? Emmanuel, God with us. And now God will be with you forever. But only if you will receive him. Only if you have received him.

God held out his hand in his son, Jesus Christ, and he invites you and me to come. But he does not force us. We must choose by faith. Remember? Without what?

Faith, it is impossible to please him. For by grace are ye saved through faith and then not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. What is it that God asks of us only one thing? Trust him. Come in faith.

Trust him. Forgive your sins, to save your soul, to tear down that that wall that separates us from God, to come and live inside of our heart, to give us eternal life. Make us citizens of his kingdom and of his city where we will dwell with him forever. But you must accept by faith his offer. Have you done that?

That is the greatest gift of all. Tells us in John one, he came unto his own and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. If you haven't believed, if you haven't accepted that gift, you can today. If you have, praise God every day for the wonderful gift we have.

And that we can be with God and look forward to the day when we will see him as he is. The day with no sin and sorrow, no veil between, where we will celebrate forever in that perfect city he has made for us. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for your word. Thank you for the living word, Jesus Christ.

Thank you for coming to make a way for us that we might be saved. And I pray Lord if there's one here today that is yet to receive Christ as savior that they'll come as we give this hymn of invitation. I pray, Lord, you'd soften their heart. I pray, Lord, if there's any doubt that they might not leave this place this morning, not having settled that in their heart with you. And, Lord, thank you for Jesus Christ our savior.

May we may we not forget to thank you every day of our life that you are with us and to be reminded whatever comes that you are with us, that we can have joy and peace because you are with us, and that there is a wonderful place awaiting us where we will be with you face to face. In Jesus' name, we do pray. Amen. You take your