James Merritt - Standing Strong
Well, first of all, Merry Christmas to everybody, and turn to your neighbor right now and just wish 'em a Merry Christmas. Would you do that? Love those two words. I love this time of the year, so thankful for you being here. Glad that you're joining us online. Now, in every war, there are always heroes. And World War II is no exception. Matter of fact, while you would expect that all the heroes of the fault on that war, usually you don't think about heroes being on the winning side. One of the greatest heroes of World War II was not on the winning side, he was on the losing side. As a matter of fact, he probably is the most unexpected hero that the war had.
Now, this will shock you. He was actually a Nazi. Now, he was a lousy Nazi in many ways, was not a very good Nazi. He also had a very, he was a very lousy person. He was a womanizer. He was unfaithful to his wife many times. He was an alcoholic. He was crooked. He was a scheming businessman. Almost nobody trusted him. But this lousy Nazi, who wasn't much of a person, did something that was so heroic, so unbelievable, so courageous, so self sacrificial, they actually made a movie about it. You may have seen it. How many of you have seen the movie "Schindler's List"? How many of you saw that movie? They made a movie about this man, and so unlikely, just never thought he'd be a hero. He saved the lives of 1200 Jews, put his life on the line, spent his entire fortune, went bankrupt, bribing Nazi authorities to allow him to protect the Jews who worked in his factory.
He really was not just a hero, he was an unsung and unlikely hero in spite of his character. He really was a hero. To this day, the Jewish people revere this man. But there was another man in the Bible we've been talking about for two weeks, probably the most unlikely hero in all of scripture. As a matter of fact, as you know, we've said, he never ever said a word in the Bible, but he was not a hero in spite of his character. He was a hero because of his character. His name was Joseph. And if you're a guest of ours for the first time or you're watching for the first time, we've been in a series we've been calling Unsung Hero, because by all accounts, you gotta say, Joseph was the most unlikely hero in the Bible, 'cause think about it.
What if God had come to you? What if God came to you 2000 years ago? You're a man. You've got your life planned out. You've picked out, you know, the bride's been picked out, you love her, she loves you. You got a job, you're a carpenter. You're gonna get married, you're gonna have children, you're gonna live happily ever after. And then this angel shows up and says, "By the way, I'm going to send my Son to become a human being. Mary's a virgin, and she's still going to be a virgin, but He's going to be fully human. Now here's the good news, Joseph. I have picked out Mary to be the mother. Here's the better news. I have picked you out to be the father. You're going to be the human father of the Heavenly Son".
Now let's go back. Let's just imagine that he didn't ask Joseph. Let's imagine that the angel came to you and me and said, "Hey, I gotta pick a guy out to be the father of the Son of God". Who would you pick? You would not choose Joseph. Not Joseph, a minimum-wage nobody who lived in a nothing town called Nazareth, raising the Son of God. He wouldn't be the one that Jesus would call Dad. He wouldn't be the one responsible for taking care of Him, making sure all of His needs are met, making sure He would make it to manhood. Surely you wouldn't choose, I wouldn't choose Joseph. And if we're honest, we wouldn't choose Joseph. So if somebody came to you, if that angel came 2000 years ago and said, "Hey, who would you choose"?
Well, you'd say, "Well, lemme get this straight. So this baby's the Son of God"? "Yes". "You mean this baby is actually one of the Trinity"? "Yes". "Well, if He is the King of kings, I would think you'd want to choose somebody of royal blood. I mean, what better man to raise a king than another king"? Or if it was the 21st century, you would say, "Well, I need to find the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. I need to find a celebrity. I need to find maybe a president or a king, or maybe even a dictator, some successful businessman". It's gotta be somebody with wealth, and somebody with means, and somebody with power, and somebody with influence. Because, after all, this is not your ordinary run-of-the-mill baby.
There's never been another baby born like Him and another baby after Him like Him. He is the Son of God. We've got to pick the cream of the crop. Somebody that could put Him in a good home, somebody that could put Him in a safe neighborhood. Somebody that could give Him the finest education that any kid could have. And if God had had that mindset, He certainly would not have chosen Joseph. Because who is Joseph? He's a nobody. If it weren't for Jesus, we'd have never heard of this man. His name wouldn't even be in the Bible. He didn't have a pedigree. He didn't have a degree. He didn't have a sterling reputation. He wasn't wealthy, he wasn't revered in the community. He was just an ordinary blue-collar, minimum-wage carpenter. You couldn't find the more run-of-the-mill, dime-a-dozen Jewish man if you looked with all of your life.
And yet all we know is what God says about him. Because again, Joseph never says a word. So you'd be right to say, "Well, why in the world would you spend three weeks? Why would you even spend one sermon talking about a minimum-wage carpenter that nobody would ever have known who didn't even say a word in the Bible"? There's only one reason why we spent three weeks on Joseph, because Joseph was fully surrendered to the will of God, regardless of the cost. He was fully surrendered to the will of God, regardless of the cost. Because when you look at the total totality of his life, you discovered that what God does for all the Josephs in the world that say yes, Lord, to whatever God calls them to do, what God did for Joseph, as you're gonna see in a moment, which is incredible, God will do for you.
You say, "But Pastor, I'm just a nobody". God specializes in using nobodies. By the way, with God, there aren't no nobodies, everybody is somebody. But you could be that special body. All you've gotta do is one simple thing. You don't have to have a college degree, you don't have to have a seminary degree, you don't have to have a PhD. You don't have to make a lot of money. You don't have to have a title in front of your name. If you are just simply fully surrendered to the will of God, you can be just like Joseph. And I want to tell you, this was never truer than the last time Joseph is mentioned by name in the Bible.
So I want you to take God's Word, however you wanna look at it. And I want you to turn to the first gospel. Matthew 2, turn to Matthew 2. This is the part of the Christmas story, I'm gonna be honest, hardly anybody ever talks about. I don't know that I ever really preached about this part of the story. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I didn't. And this is one of those parts of the Christmas story, 'cause this is part of the Christmas story, you don't hear this part sung about. You won't see a picture of this in a mall. You won't find this in a Christmas play. In fact, most people kind of overlook it. They gloss over it. And yet, it is such a great bookend to the story of this magnificent man and the life that he lived.
So I wanna leave you with one last great lesson we're gonna learn from this one last great man. When you surrender to God's call, you are under God's care. When you surrender to God's call, you are under God's care. Now we're gonna know, we already know what we're gonna see in just a moment. Let me just remind you of something. Joseph never had it easy. He didn't ask for any of this. God didn't promise him a rose garden. God didn't say He would pave the road. There'd be no potholes. There'd be no pain. There'd be just gain. Joseph paid a high price, we've already talked about it, to be the father of Jesus. But because he was willing to do it, because when God called, he picked up the phone and just said, "Yes, Lord," because Joseph did that, we're going to learn three things that were true of Joseph all of his life, that are true about you and true about me, and will be true to the day we die if we do one thing, fully surrender to the will of God.
What are those three things? Number one, we're guided by the providence of God. We are guided by the providence of God. You know, one of the joys of growing older and getting older, and there are joys to it, there are benefits to it, is you're able to look back at your life and you're able to see, I can't believe it. All the time I thought this was an accident, this was a coincidence, this just happened. You look back, and you say, "My soul, God was moving the pieces on the board the entire time".
So let's go back to the very beginning. Just like any ordinary man, I told you, you know, Joseph had a simple plan for his life. "I'm gonna be a faithful tradesman. I'm gonna be a good carpenter. I met my girl, I'm gonna get married, gonna have kids, gonna raise a family. I'm gonna live a quiet life, and everything's going to get fine. Everything's going to be fine". And then this baby gets in the way that wasn't even his. So you remember the story. He says, "Okay, I wanna do the right thing". He could've had Mary just basically just taking care of her, could have had Mary stoned to death. But he says, "You know what? I'm just gonna quietly divorce her. I don't wanna cause any trouble. I'm a better man than that, and I don't have to put her into any necessary shame". And then this dream gets in the way, and God tells Joseph in this dream, "Joseph, don't be afraid. I want you to take Mary as your wife".
Well, then something else gets in the way. As if that's not enough, the Roman government gets in the way. They order a census to be taken. Now Joseph has gotta take a woman who is eight and a half months pregnant on a 70-mile trip to Bethlehem. You think, "Okay, maybe this is the worst of it". No, it's not the worst of it. When they get there, there are no rooms available. No Holiday Inn Express, no Renaissance, no Hilton. I mean, there's no place they can stay. So he has to take Mary to a cave to give birth to this boy. Now they stayed there for about two years, where, you know, Joseph probably had some family, 'cause that's where his family was from. So he probably was able to find work.
So they probably, at this point, just decided, "You know what? Bethlehem's not a bad place. Kinda like Mayberry, you know? And you know, everybody gets along. Barney's got his bullets. So why don't we just stay here? Bethlehem's a good place. You know, nice water, good food, we'll just stay here". Well, Joseph thinks, "Okay, the worst is behind me". And then he has another dream. And, you know, these dreams are starting to become nightmares. Listen to this dream. "When they, the wise men, had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. 'Get up,' he said, 'take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod's going to search for the child to kill Him.'"
Now again, we're not told of what Joseph said, 'cause Joseph never speaks. He never gives a response. But I'll tell you what I would've said. I'm just being honest with you. I'll tell you what I would've said if I'd been Joseph when I got that dream. "You've got to be kidding me. I mean, seriously? I didn't ask for the boy, but I said, 'Okay, I'll be his dad.' I didn't ask to go to Bethlehem, but you made sure because you prophesied we'd be there. I get that. I've been here for two years. I finally found a job. I've got family. I love it here and now, now you're telling me, I could understand if you said, 'Hey, go to Hawaii, Bermuda, The Bahamas.' I'll take Atlanta. You want me to go to Egypt? You want me to go to a place I've never been to people that I don't know. You want me to put my wife and this two-year-old baby on a donkey and go another 70 miles completely through desert to a place I've never been to people I don't even know".
Now, if we lived in the 21st century, this is what Joseph would've said to God, "I want to renegotiate my contract. I didn't sign up for this. I didn't sign up for any of this. I do not want to do it". Now lemme stop right there. There are two lessons we need to learn at this point about Joseph's life and in Joseph's life. One is about following God, and the other is about the God that we follow. All right, so let me tell you lesson number one. Just get it out. I've always told you the truth. You're not gonna like it. I don't like it either. It's just true. Following God is not always easy. So if you're not a believer and you think, "Man, if I give my life to Jesus, all my problems will be solved," I'll tell you the good news and the bad news. The good news is the most important problems you need to be solved that are really good problems, God will solve them.
Here's the bad news, you'll have other problems. Following God is not always easy. The flight's not always smooth. There's simply no comfortable velvet-line highway to follow Jesus. So if you want to live an easy, safe life, you wanna be comfortable, no conflict, no consternation, no confrontation. You just wanna just live and let live. Let me give you a piece of advice. Don't surrender to Jesus, 'cause that's not what you'll sign up for. It is simply not easy, 'cause let me tell you what I found in my own life. Your plans will be disrupted. I'll give you an example. Anybody here from Mississippi? Okay, some of you. Okay, look, I love Mississippi. Before I say this, let me make it plain. I love Mississippi, all right? But when God called me to the ministry, my plan was I'm gonna live right here in Georgia. Never going anywhere else.
Now again, when Paul said, "I've learned in whatever state I'm in to be content," he had never been to Mississippi. I didn't sign up for Mississippi. There's things I liked, things I didn't like. But here's my point. Your plans will be disrupted, and your hopes will be discarded and some of your expectations will be disappointed. Jesus never baits and switches, He never overpromises and underdelivers. One of the things, many things I love about Jesus, He's always upfront, He's always honest, He never puts any fine point in the contract. And He says, "Let me tell you something, following me will be difficult". He says, "If anybody wants to come after me, great. You'll have to deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me".
So there's three things to remember if you decide you wanna follow Jesus. Number one, it costs to serve Jesus. Number two, it pays to serve Jesus. Number three, it always pays more than it costs, but don't miss the first part. It costs to serve Jesus. So here we are once again. Joseph's being asked to pull up stakes, gather his belongings, take what few that he has, cash in his frequent donkey riding miles. Did you get that? Travel to a place he's never been, live with people he does not even know. And Joseph may not have understood at the time, but looking back, I'm sure he realized what I want you to realize, he's under the providence of God. He's being guided by the providence of God. God is in charge. Herod's not in charge. Pilate's not in charge. The Pharisees are not in charge. God is in charge. God is running the show.
Benjamin Franklin famously said this, "I've lived a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proof I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men". Lemme stop right there. You may be asking a good question, and it would be a good question. "So Pastor, while we're on the topic, why did God choose Egypt"? I've been to Egypt three times, I'm going back again next year. There's some neat things in Egypt, but can I be honest? Egypt's an okay place to visit. You don't wanna live in Egypt. I don't. So why would He choose Egypt? Did God just pull a name out of a hat? Did God have a masochistic sense of humor? Was God just trying to put Joseph through the ringer? Did He just flip a coin? Did He just open a map and just put His finger, and oh, it just happened to land on Egypt? No. Do you know why God sent Joseph to Egypt?
Because before Joseph was even born, before Mary was even born, before Jesus was even born, God had made a prediction. God had made a prophecy. It's found in Hosea 11:1, "When Israel was my child, I loved him," now watch this, "and out of Egypt, I called my son". So now, how do we know this is what God was talking about? Because Matthew, who was also writing about this to Jews, he pointed this out in his gospel. He said, "And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet, 'Out of Egypt, I called my son.'" Do you know why Joseph had to go to Egypt? It was all about the providence of God. Every one of us, whether you realize it or not, we are guided by the providence of God.
Now you say, "Well, what does that really mean"? Here's what it simply means. Here's what it means to be guided by His providence. It does not matter what's going on in your world. It doesn't matter what's going on around you. Everything is going according to what He wants to do. He is trying to work in your life, if you will just let Him. And what we learned from Joseph is this, when you surrender to God's will, you are under God's care. We are guided by the providence of God. That's true of all of us if we surrender, if we say yes to the Lord. Here's the second thing that's true about Joseph, can be true about you and me. Not only are we guided by the providence of God, we're guarded by the protection of God. We're guarded by the protection of God. Do you know why you got here this morning? You know why you're safe? You know why you're alive? 'Cause God protected you.
Now there's gonna come a time that God's gonna do better than protect you. He's gonna take you to be with Him. But in the meantime, you didn't get here by luck. You didn't get here by fate. You didn't get here by chance. We are guarded by the protection of God. I mean, go back to the word providence. There are two words you need to hear in that word providence. There's the word pro and the word video. What does pro mean? Pro means before. What does video mean? It means to see. The providence of God simply means God's always looking ahead. God always knows what's coming. Well, God knew what was going to happen in Bethlehem. God knew that Herod was gonna order these kids to be killed. We're gonna see that in a moment. So what does God do? Once again, He talks to Joseph in a dream.
Now let me just stop right there. I still believe that God speaks at times in dreams. I've had people ask me this, I've talked to Muslims. In fact, some Muslims have written books on how they've come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, and they did it through a dream. And I would say to you, you know, do you believe that God still speaks through dreams? Yes, I do. I would say you can't always rely on a dream to know what's going to happen. I'll tell you how I know that. There was one morning a man and his wife, they were asleep in bed, and all of a sudden the wife sat straight up in the bed, and her husband said, "Well, what's wrong"? She said, "You're not gonna believe this. I just had a dream". And he said, "What was your dream about"? He said, "Well, I dreamed that you gave me a diamond necklace for Valentine's Day". And she said, "What do you think that dream means"? He just smiled, and he said, "Well, you'll know tonight".
So that night came, and he walked in the door and had a small package for his wife. Trembling hands, she opened the wrapping paper, tore open the box, and pulled out, and there was her Valentine's Day gift. It was a book entitled "The Meaning of Dreams". Now, you can't always rely on dreams, but dreams are real. And this dream was real. And this meaning was plain. He said, "Joseph, you're gonna take Mary, you're gonna take Jesus, you're going to go to Egypt". Why? Because Herod was doing everything he could, the King Herod, to find Jesus and kill Him. Now before I get into this part of the story, let me just tell you, take you a little history lesson about Herod. This guy was certifiably crazy. I mean, he was a nut job. You go back and study about King Herod, one of the most complex weird people in history.
Let me tell you, ethnically, he was an Arab. Religiously, he was Jewish because his grandfather, who was appointed governor of the province, was made to become Jewish, which made him a Jew. So ethnically, he's an Arab, religiously, he's a Jew, culturally, he was Greek, politically, he was Roman. Now, today, he'd run for president. But here's the point. This guy was just one messed up guy. And it may not surprise you to know he was extremely paranoid. Listen to this, you talk about a dysfunctional family. You ready for this? This guy married 10 women, fathered many children, but he was always so worried that one of his kids would usurp the throne and take over his throne. The first-century historian Josephus tells us, "He murdered several of his own family". He had two of his sons strangled in a fort in Samaria.
Of all of his wives, his favorite was a woman named Miriamne. Loved her to death. But one day thought she may be after my throne. He had her killed too. Beyond that, he was always afraid that the Jews might rise up against him because the Jews hated him. He couldn't win their loyalty. He did everything he could. He rebuilt their temple. But then, every now and then, he'd just go crazy. And he, for no reason, he'd have Jews crucified just to intimidate 'em. He had the high priest and other priests killed for no reason. He had enforced outrageous taxes on the Jewish people. And he always felt he's just one revolution away from losing the throne.
So I want you to imagine now, this Herod is the guy that three, that some wise men from the East come, this Herod, this guy, this absolute certified whack job. They come in, and they say, "Hey, where can we find the king of the Jews"? Well, that's who he was. "I'm the king of the Jews". So his ears perk up. "You're looking for who"? "We're looking for the king of the Jews". Well, in 37 BC, the Roman Senate had named him the king of the Jews. So the first thought that comes to Herod's mind was, "I don't know who this is, but he's public enemy number one. And I gotta take this guy out. I'm not gonna have anybody. I mean, I've killed my wife, I mean, I've killed sons-in-law. I've killed mothers-in-law. I've killed kids. I'm not gonna let somebody, like, I don't even know outside my family to take everything over".
Well, this is exactly what he did. Matthew 2:16. "When Herod realized he had been outwitted by the Magi," because they didn't come back. "He was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and it's vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi". Now lemme just stop right there. Don't get the idea that there were hundreds or thousands of little baby boys killed because there wasn't even that many male children. We're told that back in that day, the entire little city of Bethlehem maybe have had, maybe have had 20,000 people total. That's the best estimate we've got.
So historians tell us that probably no more than maybe 20 children were killed. Now one would be too many. I get that. But it didn't matter to Herod. Kills his wife, three of his sons, kills his mother-in-law, kills his brother-in-law. Death didn't mean one thing to him. And Herod thinks, "I am taking care of this problem. I will be able to go to sleep at night and not worry about whoever this kid is, 'cause he didn't live to see the light of day". There was only one problem. What Herod didn't count on was God beating him to the punch. And God relocating Jesus before he committed this act. You see, here's the point I want you to understand. When you are guided by the providence of God, you are guarded by the protection of God. And so God says, "Joseph, get up. Don't delay. Get your belongings and take your family to Egypt".
Now you say again, "Why Egypt"? Well, this is kind of going to surprise you. I didn't know this. Egypt was the perfect place for him to go. Why? Well, it was a Roman province, but it was outside of Herod's jurisdiction. He had no authority there. And it had a population, you ready for this, of about a million Jews. So Joseph is about to go to a country where there's a million people, and when they find out he's Jewish, they're gonna say, "Hey man, you're one of us. Stay in our home. We'll take care of you. You won't have any trouble making friends, you won't have any trouble finding a job". Now at this point, you might be saying, "Wait a minute, if God is so powerful and God can protect us from anything, why did He have Joseph go to Egypt"?
Great question, because I wanna give you one other thing to think about that a lot of us Christians don't realize. And it's why we sometimes blame God for messes that we created. It is true that we are guarded by the protection of God. At the same time, we are to take responsibility for our own actions. We're to cooperate with God in this protection. John Calvin put it best. "He who has set the limits to our life has at the same time entrusted to us its care. He has provided means and helps to preserve it. So if the Lord has committed to us the protection of our life, our duty is to protect it; if he offers helps, to use them; if he forewarns us of dangers, not to plunge headlong; if he makes remedies available, not to neglect them".
So yes, God cares about my health, but I need to go to the doctor every year for a checkup. And yes, God can heal, but God's also given us hospitals and medications that we're to avail ourselves of as tools in His hands. So yes, when God provides a place to hide, you go hide. You know, you always know, when God provides a way of escape, you escape. You take it. So you always can know if you're guided by the providence of God, you're guarded by the protection of God. So there was God's part. He said, "Joseph, go to Egypt". What was Joseph's part? Go to Egypt. That's the way out, Joseph. Take it. So you're committed to the will of God, you surrender to the will of God. You pick up the phone, "Yes, Lord, whatever you want me to do, I'll do it".
Number one, God says, "Okay, I'm gonna guide you by my providence. I'm gonna guard you by my protection". But there's one other thing God does that we take for granted. And I wanna share with you something I'd never seen in the Bible all of my life till I did this message. It blew my mind. You're not only guided by the providence of God, you're not only guarded by the protection of God. Watch this. We are graced by the provision of God. We are graced by the provision of God. Without question, no hesitation. Look what Joseph does. He just says yes. So watch this, verse 14. "So he got up, took the child and His mother during the night," doesn't even wait for daylight, "during the night, and he left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod".
Now there's a question that's got to be answered. Say, wait a minute. I know he is going to a place where there were Jews, but he didn't know any of them. He's about to take a 70-mile trip, it's gonna take days, maybe even more than a week. And when he gets there, he is gotta find a place to stay and he's gotta provide food for his family. And how did he do that? He wasn't wealthy, wasn't rich. Everybody lived day to day. How did he have the means to make this trip? And after he got there, he needed to have some money in his pocket just till he could get up and running. So not only did he, how did he have the money to make the trip? How did he survive once he got there? Because, after all, when you get there, you gotta find a place to stay. You gotta buy food, you gotta find a job. Gotta put a roof over your kid's head. You know, where did he get the resources?
Now, buckle your seatbelt. I had never thought about this. Blew my mind when I realized this. So go back to the story that had happened just before this dream. And you may not remember, but you will when I'll tell you. Before this dream, just before this dream, we don't know how long, maybe a week or two, I don't know. Just before this dream, these wise men from the east show up, and they come to worship this newborn king. And then you read the statement that I've read so many times in my life and just never thought that much about it. Just really didn't occur to me, and I didn't give it a lot of thought. But listen to what happens. Just before this happens, the wise men show up.
Now watch this. "On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh". Now we've all heard that story. We've all seen that. We've all said, "Man, yeah, I remember that". But have you ever asked this question? Why not only did they bring those gifts, why did they give them to a baby? How many of you have ever gotten a Christmas gift you couldn't use if your life depended on it, okay? You have people like that, right? You know people like that. Can I ask you a question? Why does a baby need gold? Why does a baby need myrrh? Why does a baby need frankincense? Well, those gifts were indeed gifts fit for a king. But lemme tell you what you didn't know.
In today's prices, just a pound of frankincense would've been worth about $500. A pound of myrrh would've been worth about $4,000. A pound of gold would've been worth about $600. Do you see where I'm going? These men see a star, and God says, "Follow the star". And, oh, by the way, American Express, "Don't leave home without it". By the way, don't leave home without some gold and some frankincense and some myrrh. And they go to Bethlehem, and they lay before that, they come, and it says they gave the baby the gifts. Not Joseph or Mary, the baby. And I'm sure Joseph and Mary were thinking, "Thanks a lot, but He can't use gold, He can't use frankincense, and He can't use myrrh". And then all of a sudden God says to Joseph, "Hey Joseph, get the baby, get married, go to Egypt. And oh, by the way, Joseph, don't forget the gold, and don't forget the frankincense, and don't forget the myrrh".
Does that give you chill bumps? Do you see what's happened here? God's always moving the pieces around the board. Joseph didn't know one day he'd have to go to Egypt. He didn't know he'd need that. Man, I've got chill bumps all over my body right now. And God takes these men. He says, "Joseph, don't worry about finding a hotel room. You can buy one. Don't worry about buying food, you can feed an entire family for months. I've already taken care of you". You know why? Where God guides, God provides. Where God leads, God meets the needs. And God took some wise men in a foreign country that Joseph meets one time and gave Joseph everything he needs.
Let me tell you something on this Christmas season, everything you have in your possession, everything you got title deed to, everything you got a contract on, everything you think you bought and paid for, God gave it to you. It all came from Him. Every bit of it. That's why we own nothing. You don't own anything. If you don't believe it, just die and tell me how much you take with you. You own nothing. Everything we have, every good and perfect gift comes from God. You think you accumulated it? You didn't accumulate it. "But I worked for it". Yeah, because God gave you the help, and God gave you the strength, and God gave you the ability, and God gave you the skill, and God gave you the opportunity, and God gave you the place. God always graces us with His provision.
And I'm telling you this Christmas season, we are what we are by the grace of God, we have what we have by the grace of God. That's the God of Christmas. That's the God that we celebrate. And this is why Joseph was such an unsung, but such a tremendous hero. And I'm sure Joseph, at the end of life, I'm telling you, we don't know how he died and when he died. But I promise you, at the end of his life, I guarantee you Joseph looked back and said, "I just can't believe it. I was a nobody. I was a carpenter, a minimum-wage guy. Not famous, not a celebrity, and look what God did in my life".
Now watch this, we'll wrap up. The last time Joseph is mentioned as being alive in the Gospel of Luke, Joseph at this point, Jesus is 12 years old, Mary and Joseph has taken Jesus to the Passover festival. But when they left to go home, they just assumed that Jesus was with somebody else, and then they discovered a few days later that He wasn't. So they gotta turn around, go all the way back. They find Jesus in the temple with some rabbis, and He's asking questions. So we pick up in Luke 2:48, "When His parents saw Him". By the way, this is the last time we ever hear about Joseph. "When his parents saw Him, they were astonished. His mother said to Him, 'Son, why have you treat us like this? Your father and I been anxiously searching for you.' 'Why were you searching for me?' He asked".
Now listen to what Jesus said. "Didn't you know that I had to be in my Father's house"? How do you think Joseph felt or could have felt when he heard those words? He could have said, "Excuse me, I put food on your table. I took you under my wing when I didn't even have you. I didn't conceive you. I put clothes on your back. I put a roof over your head. I thought my house was your father's house". But you know what I'm convinced of? That thought never entered his mind. He wasn't jealous, he wasn't upset. You know what I think happened when He said, "I must be in my Father's house"? I think there was a big smile on Joseph's face because Joseph knew from the time that baby was born, you can call me dad, but He is your Father. He knew who the real Father was. Isn't that just like an unsung hero to be willing just to stand off in the shadows, behind the scenes, out of the limelight, and give all of the glory to God?
So I don't know about you, I'll wrap up this series by telling you me. As God gave me the sweet, sweet joy of getting in my study and digging into the life of a man I have not paid a lot of attention to all of my life. As I've come out on the other side, having studied about this totally silent behind the scenes, never heard from, lesser known Joseph in the Bible. I don't know about you, I cannot wait to meet this guy. I can't wait to run up and say, "You know what? I just want to hear you say something. I wanna know what your voice sounds like".
Yeah, I wanna walk up him and say, "Joseph, tell me what it was like when you got that dream from that angel. That you's gonna be the dad of a son you didn't even have. Tell me what it was like to go through all the junk you had to go through and all the ridicule and all the laughing behind your back. All the people that said Jesus was a son, an illegitimate son, and you fathered a child out of wedlock. Joseph, what was that like? And then, Joseph, what was it like when you got to Bethlehem and there wasn't even a place to stay? And Joseph, what was it like when you thought you had it all finally figured out and then God tells you to go to Egypt? Joseph, what was it like"?
Can't wait to meet that guy. And I think he's just gonna kinda do a, "Oh shucks, I just did what God told me to do". And this is just my sanctified imagination. I have the right to have one as a preacher. I got a feeling Jesus will probably walk up and put His arm around Him and say, "Dad, I love you. Thanks for what you did. Thanks for how you did it". So he really is one of the greatest men in the history of this world. He really is an unsung hero. He's in God's hall of heroes. Why? Because he just did three things we've been talking about. He stayed faithful, he stepped up, and he stood strong. And if we'll do the same thing, we can be one of God's heroes too.
Would you pray with me? With heads bowed and with eyes closed. I don't know who's listening to me right now online. I don't know who's listening by television. I don't know where you are in your life, but let me tell you this. You may think, "Oh, I could never be a part of God's family. I'm not worthy. I've done this. I've done that. Why would God choose me? Why would God love me"?
Let me tell you something. God calls all of us to be Joseph's. All of us just to be Joseph's. He calls all of us to do that. And all you've gotta do is just say, "I wanna do what God wants me to do. I'm willing to step up and be a part of the will of God for my life, whatever He wants me to do". You know what God's will is? It is God's will for all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. And so today, if you've never given your life to Jesus, if you've never let that little baby be born in your heart, why don't you do it today? Why don't you just say something like:
Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. I need a savior. Can't save myself. But I believe you died on the cross to save me. I believe God raised you from the dead. I believe you're alive right now. Come into my heart, save me. I repent of my sins, I turn away from my sins, and I trust you as my Lord, receive you as my Savior, and thank you for forgiving me from my sins