Try Standing in Joseph's Sandals, Part 2

Imagine the shock, the awkwardness, when Joseph discovered that his fiancé Mary was carrying a baby. How would he possibly explain their predicament to friends and family? Well, Joseph didn't cast shame on his beloved, nor did he shrug his shoulders and walk away from the relationship. As it turns out, Joseph's unwavering commitment to his bride, to be, is a model of virtue for us all. And today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll provides those details in our ongoing study of Matthew chapter 1.

Chuck titled today's message, Try Standing in Joseph's Sandals, and we begin with prayer. We would not say if our enemy had his way. We would not be safe. We would not be assembled with an open Bible in our laps. We would not know the joy of going to our homes and enjoying our privacy, and the pleasure of our families, and the joy of singing our songs of gratitude for all you have done for us. We would be like the Israelites of old.

We would have long since hung our harps on the tree, unable to sing the Lord's song in a foreign land. Thank you for these brave women and men who served, many of them sacrificially, in very difficult places, and returned without great applause. Nevertheless, they did what they were called to do, reward them for their service, remind them in the quiet moment of the day and night that they did their part, strengthen them beyond the pains of those memories, especially those who knew battle and lived through it, even though they buried the dead and grieved their loss. We pause on this day to give you thanks for the United States of America, the country we love for which we would die. Keep us free.

Guard us from the encroachment of the savages who would take our lives and rape our wives and kill our children. Protect us, we pray, as you have in the past, though we do not deserve such grace. And remind these who stand that because of their faithful service, we are able to enjoy the blessings of this day especially, and of the things we love so dearly. May this particular season bring us to our knees as we acknowledge your good hand which has been upon us. Now, our Father, we give to you today that the Word of God may be disseminated and dispersed to places that have never heard the name of Christ, even to those who don't even have a language with a vocabulary in writing. May the truth of your gospel be taken to them faithfully as a result of our gifts. And for those in the midst of the field serving you this very day, encourage them, we pray. We commit the gifts to you now as we do our prayers.

In the name of Christ, everyone said, amen. Today's message is titled, Try Standing in Joseph's Sandals. Our admiration for Joseph will only grow as we try to walk in his sandals for these next few minutes. We will appreciate him perhaps more than never before because of his willingness to believe and to obey and to follow through with his instructions from the angel even though he would never be able to explain fully for the satisfaction of the critic how his bride became pregnant. Understand, please, how binding the betrothal period was. This is where we find this couple in Matthew chapter 1, 18 through 24, until they are married. Remember this when you read your Bible and you come to a verse like verse 20 as he considered this. This took time.

That led to a number of sleepless nights and struggling days. Because Mary, the mother of the child, betrothed to her yet-to-be husband, though she's called wife and he's called husband, but before the marriage ceremony took place, we read while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant. How? Read it for yourself at the end of verse 18. Through the power of the Holy Spirit.

That's as close as I can get. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, implanted in the womb of Mary is the embryo that would ultimately nine months later become the promised Messiah. He loves this young woman. He's known her since they were children.

They've talked together about the importance of faithfulness, never allowing unfaithfulness to break the bond. So he is in the midst of all of this when she breaks the news to him and he begins to consider this, which is my point of staying at verse 20 and asking you to take your time. Because he is now exhausted in the struggle. What should I do?

What is best? All of this is occurring as Joseph falls in bed, exhausted, alone, still alone, and his night is interrupted with a nocturnal revelation. You see, in the days before the Bible was completed, God revealed his will in various ways, sometime through an audible voice, sometime in a vision during the day, or in a dream during the night. And God would reveal his will sometime by using an angel as a messenger, as in this case. As in the case of Mary, you remember from Luke 1, when the angel came and told her she would be with child, and she said, how can this be, since I'm a parthenos? I'm a woman who's never known a man intimately.

How can this be? The Holy Spirit will come upon you and will overshadow you. He will cover over you somehow the Spirit of God because the Lord God made your womb. He will visit that womb with an embryo. And for the first time in all of time, God will take on lungs and lips and lymph nodes, a head, a heart, hands and feet, arms, legs, the organs of a human body, including the brain, the nervous system, the spine, the whole humanity that will become his. Never before was there ever such a one as the God-man hyphenated until this one is conceived. Understand, the birth was not miraculous. The conception was miraculous. All of this turning over in his mind and he struggles with what to do.

Now then, look for yourself. Look at the words of the angel that appears in the dream. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. Joseph son of David, the angel said, first, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. Why would he begin like that?

Because in his own imagination, there were a number of things he would have to set aside. Knowing what the future would hold in a small town is they married, let's say immediately after she returns, after six months of marriage, there's a child born. And the wagging tongues that would accompany that, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife. It's a very, very difficult assignment because Joseph only has the words of the angel to go on.

So he explains why there's no reason to be afraid. And the angel verifies what Mary had said. The child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son. And you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. That alone would cause him fear.

Do you know why? I learned in my study that when Jewish couples married and they had their firstborn and he was a son, he would always be named for the father, unless he was illegitimate. So Joseph is being told, don't name him after yourself, you have nothing to do with his conception. You name him Jesus, for he is the promised one who will save his people from their sins, putting further distance between him and the conception. Nevertheless, he is to serve, if you will, as a surrogate father, or whatever name you may choose to call Joseph.

He certainly was not the father. And look at how Matthew adds in verse 22, since he's writing to Jews, all of this occurred to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet. And now he quotes Isaiah. Seven, eight hundred years earlier, the prophet had written, the virgin will conceive a child, she will give birth to a son, they will call him Immanuel.

El is the word for God, Immanuel with us, God with us, which means, as he states here, God with us. It's all spelled out for Joseph in the dream, and he woke up. He woke up. And all of this is ringing in his mind.

He's turning it over in his mind. And the Holy Spirit has, just as he hovered over creation in the Genesis creation account, somehow the same Holy Spirit has hovered over my beloved, betrothed, bride to be. And that has made that embryo, that fetus within her, the incarnate Son of God. And I believe it.

I will do as I'm told. She will have a son, you'll name him Jesus, he'll save his people from their sins. Charles Wesley wrote that great carol that we sing every Christmas. One of the stanzas says, Christ by highest heavens adored, Christ the everlasting Lord. Late in time behold him come, offspring of the virgins womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity. Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King. Some of the best theology in the hymnal you will find written in the carols at Christmas time.

Pay attention to them each Christmas season. You will read great theology as in the case of that hymn. So it's Joseph now awake from the dream.

And at this point I want to say on his behalf he now demonstrates what great character he has. This is what drew Mary to Joseph to begin with. As she grew older and realized more what a pleasure it would be to be betrothed to this man.

So grateful her parents had called him to be together, the Lord was in it. But now look, in staccato like fashion you will read Joseph's response. It's all in verses 24 and 25.

Look at it. When Joseph woke up, first he did as the angel commanded. Second, he took Mary as his wife so there was an actual wedding ceremony performed by the rabbi. Whether they told him or not, we're not told. Whether they revealed it to their parents or not, we're not told. But we are told that he took Mary as his wife and what a treasured thing it was, the secret they had between themselves is now shared deeply. And we read on top of taking her as his wife, but he doesn't touch her intimately until after the birth of this first child. And ultimately Joseph does as he was told. He names him Jesus. Think about this outstanding individual, Joseph. He fully accepted what he could never later fully explain.

When any of his friends asked him, when a neighbor poked her nose into their business and said some things that were inappropriate, Joseph could simply say, this child is of the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine the eyes that rolled when they heard that? That's how scandals are. You don't outgrow scandals. Think about it. Anyone who has been in a scandal is remembered for that scandal until he dies. Joseph knew that from the moment the word got out that the baby is born, and so quickly after the marriage, he knew what was in front of him, and people never forgot, and they never stopped mentioning it. Let me show you an example. Turn from Matthew 1, hold your place here, and go to John chapter 8.

Here we're going to do a little correlation, and we're going to move ahead 30 years or so. Jesus is now engaged in ministry, and he's now facing these people who are the officials among the Jewish religion. They're having a dialogue, and Jesus says to them, verse 37 in John 8, Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham, and yet some of you are trying to kill me because there's no room in your heart for my message.

Keep reading. Still the words of Jesus. I'm telling you what I saw when I was with my father, but you are following the advice of your father.

Well, what is the implication? My father is not the same as your father. You claim Abraham. You claim God the Father as your father. No, he was my father. We'll see later what he meant by your father. Look at this. I'm telling you what I saw when I was with my father, meaning when he was with the father in eternity past, when it was the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Godhead.

I'm telling you what the plan was when I was with him. All of this is blasphemy to these people who don't believe he is who he says he is. No, you are imitating your real father.

Now look at their response. Right in the middle of verse 41, they replied, We aren't illegitimate children. God himself is our true father.

You know the implication of that. We're not like you are. Jesus told them, If God were your father, you would love me because I've come to you from God.

I'm not here on my own, but he sent me. That to them, again, was blasphemous. Why can't you understand what I'm saying? It's because you can't even hear me, for you're the children of your father, the devil. And you love to do the evil things he does. Every time I remember someone calling Jesus meek and mild, I remember verses like this.

Please. It's no doubt that you and I know that I have never said to someone, You are of your father, the devil. Never said that. I'll tell you, that's a courageous statement to make. Especially since it's true.

And since they would be the last ones to ever believe it. You represent the voice of the enemy. And I'm here to tell you the truth. I've been sent by God, I've come to save sinners from their sins, and I represent him because he is my father. Now back to Matthew 1. When Joseph woke up, he did as he was told.

You know what's interesting also? The Scriptures move quickly from the time that they marry until the scene at Bethlehem. So we know nothing of the six months that has passed, if they married right after she got back. And I have the feeling it was certainly shortly after she returned that there was the marriage ceremony, the wedding ceremony. We're told nothing of their conversation. We're told nothing of what the neighbors began to whisper.

None of it is revealed. All we know is that, get this, Joseph took the role not only of her husband, but her advocate, which she greatly needed. I checked the meaning of the word advocate. One who supports or defends a cause. One who pleads in another's behalf. This is what attorneys do when they represent their client. They become our advocate. They speak in our defense.

They represent our cause. Mary needed more than a husband. She needed one who would be her courageous advocate, and Joseph proved himself to be that. Interestingly, after Jesus reaches adulthood, Joseph is never mentioned again. Most likely, Joseph dies early in life. Again, we have no biblical record of the time of his death. But by the time Jesus is now beginning his ministry, Joseph is out of the picture.

Mary is seen occasionally even with the siblings of Jesus, as we have seen in a previous message, but never with her husband again. Now, before I close this message, you know me well enough to know I'm not going to leave it where it is. I'm going to help bring you and me into this picture. I have three questions to ask you in doing so. They're personal questions.

Only you can answer. The first is this, and each, by the way, ties in with something Joseph experienced. Here's the first. Are you being forced to face a tough, life-altering decision right now? One that may call for sacrifice.

In order for you to obey the Lord, you need to do it. My response to you, my counsel, is go there. Second question. Are you now experiencing the brunt of others' criticism by doing what's right?

You may have made a tough decision, and now you're living in the backwash of others' wagging tongues and ugly comments. Here's the third. Third question. Are you aware of someone who needs you to be their advocate? You're needed to be a support to her or to him.

Go there. Occasionally it will be a husband or a wife that will need to be an advocate for the partner as you go through this tough time together, as it was with Joseph and Mary. Those three penetrating questions provide a way to examine our willingness to make the right decisions, no matter the personal cost. You're listening to Insight for Living. Chuck Swindoll titled today's message, Try Standing in Joseph's Sandals.

To learn more about this ministry, visit us online at insightworld.org. The Gospel According to Matthew will capture our imagination as Chuck guides us through a verse-by-verse study of this New Testament book. We'll start with the birth of our King, tracing his footsteps through all 28 chapters, all the way through his Great Commission. Now, in conjunction with this brand new broadcast series, you'll be glad to learn that Chuck has recently completed a commentary on Matthew as well, and it's available right now. In fact, because of the scope of this study, Chuck's commentary comes in two hardbound volumes. The set is called Swindoll's Living Insights Commentary on Matthew. Whether you're new to the Bible or you're teaching the Bible as a pastor, you'll find Chuck's approach to Matthew both scholarly and accessible.

And it's written in the engaging style that's become a hallmark of Chuck's teaching. To purchase Swindoll's Living Insights Commentary on Matthew, go to insight.org slash store. If you prefer, call us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. Insight for Living Ministries is supported not by the purchase of books and resources, but through the contributions of grateful listeners.

And we invite you to join our mission to introduce King Jesus to all 195 countries of the world. To give a donation today, call us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. Many are choosing to automate their giving by becoming a monthly companion. This growing family of supporters is allowing Insight for Living to advance its mission with boldness. To become a monthly companion today, call us. If you're listening in the U.S., dial 1-800-772-8888. Or you can easily sign up online at insight.org slash monthly companion. Friday, once again, Chuck Swindoll invites us to Try Standing in Joseph's Sandals. Join us tomorrow to hear Insight for Living. The preceding message, Try Standing in Joseph's Sandals, was copyrighted in 2014 and 2021, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.