From: Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:20-23

Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the young woman who is unmarried and a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [God with us].  Isaiah 7:14 AMP

But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”  Matthew 1:20-23 NKJV

I.  Emmanuel means “God with us”

• Jesus came as one of us; to live with us; to die for us; so He could dwell and abide in us; so we could live eternally in His presence!
• Hebrews 8:10-12 NKJV – For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.  12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.
• The Father sent Jesus to die for us and pay the price for our sins so that each one of us could personally, intimately know the Father.
• Emmanuel—God IN us—not just a God far out in the heavens.
• Jesus came to show us the Father’s heart and to introduce us to Him.
• We can have our own relationship and fellowship with the Father through Jesus—we don’t need to go through another human.

II.  Jesus came to save “whosoever”

• John 3:16-18 NKJV – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
• Jesus came to save the world—not to reject, to condemn, or to pass sentence on the world (John 3:17 AMP).
• Romans 10:11-13 NKJV – For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”  12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
• Whosoever calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.
• Galatians 3:8-9 NKJV – And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”  9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
• Jesus died for every person in every nation. There is no one, who comes to God in faith, whom He would ever reject.
• The Lord is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9).

III.  Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and set the captives free

• 1 John 3:7-9 NKJV – Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
• For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Jesus came to destroy sin and everything that is a fruit of sin.
• Acts 10:38 NKJV – How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
• Sin, sickness, disease and death are a product of sin. Jesus came to “do good” and to save us and to completely deliver us from the devil and all his evil works.
• Luke 4:18-19 KJV – The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
• Jesus came to preach good news and to do good works.
• Luke 19:10 AMP – For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.
• The Greek word for “save” is sozo (sode’-zo), which means to save; to deliver; to protect; to heal; to preserve, to do well, to make or be made whole.
• Luke 9:56a KJV – For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.

IV.  Jesus came to give us abundant life

• John 10:10 NKJV – The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
• The Amplified Bible says: The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Ephesians 3:14-15 KJV

1. For the Believer there are two kinds of family: the Natural family – the one you are born into in the flesh – and the Spiritual – the one you are born into in the Spirit.

The Natural – with a father and a mother. We all had our beginning with the union of a male and a female, coming together in intimacy, producing life.

This was – and still is – God’s plan.

The Spiritual – the new birth. A sinner comes to Jesus, and by confession of his/her need of a Savior, he/she acknowledges the Cross, the Blood and his/her need for redemption. By the seed of the Word of God and intimacy with God, through the Holy Spirit, he/she is born again into the family of God! They are now sons and daughters of the Father.

Christian life and family guidelines – Colossians 3:5-25

2. They say that blood is thicker than water – but natural families often have many problems.

Families – joined by blood – are often divided. Many won’t even talk to each other and it may be for very petty reasons.

Eg. Cain and Abel; Jacob and Esau

People who pledged to commit – get divorced. They cannot or will not get along and so they claim incompatibility.

This division spills over into other relationships outside of blood families – even into the family of God.

3. The number one reason for the breakdown of relationships is that people have no understanding of covenant.

What does covenant mean?

It is a commitment not based on feelings or circumstances, but on a conscious decision.

This covenant springs out of the agape love of God.

Covenant is this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us – that’s commitment!

John 3:16-17 NKJV – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

4. There are 5 kinds of love:

Agape – self-sacrificial love

Storge – affection

Phileo – friendship

Eros – romance; sexual intimacy

Epithumia – desire; attraction; lust

5. A covenant based on anything other than agape – unselfish love – cannot stand Affections fail – friendships fail – romance fails – physical love fails – attraction fails

The agape love of God never fails!

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 NKJV