1. In the Bible there are many names for the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The angel told Joseph to name his son Jesus, “for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).  “Jesus” means “Saviour.”
3. Our Lord is called “Christ,” which means “Messiah” or the “Anointed One.”
4. Our Lord said to His disciples, “But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:15, 16).
5. The Samaritan woman at the well said to Jesus, “I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come, he will tell us all things” (John 4:25).
6. Then Jesus said to her, “I that speak unto thee am He” (John 4:26).
7. There are many names for our Lord given in Isaiah 9:6.  “And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
8. There is another name given by the prophet Isaiah, that we see again in Matthew 1, and that is “Emmanuel” (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23).
9. The name “Emmanuel” is only found three times in the Bible (Isa. 7:14; 8:8; Matt. 1:23), and it refers specifically to our Lord’s virgin birth.
10. Matthew tells us the name means, “God with us.”  Christ is God, and 2,000 years ago He became a man - Emmanuel, God with us.
11. One preacher put it this way: “Of all Christ’s titles the one that radiates maximum warmth is Emmanuel, God with us.”   What he meant by that is God not only condescended to dwell among men, but God actually became a man.
12. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).
13. In Shakespeare’s Henry V, there is a powerful scene the night before England’s big battle with France, when King Henry borrows a soldier’s cloak and disguises himself.  He walks around the campfires talking to his soldiers but nobody realizes they are talking to the king.
14. But way before King Henry, there was another king who walked unrecognized among men.  He was a much greater king than King Henry.  He was far greater than King David, and greater than King Solomon.
15. This great king told the scribes and the Pharisees that the Queen of Sheba “came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here” (Matt. 12:42).
16. Two thousand years ago, the King of kings and Lord of lords left the glories of heaven and walked among men but most people did not realize who He was.  The Bible says He “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7).
17. The doctrinal word for this is “incarnation,” God became a man. Now, people often wonder, “Why did God become a man?”

I. GOD BECAME A MAN TO REVEAL WHAT GOD IS LIKE.

1. I heard a true story about a Hindu who was examining a hill of ants.  As he stooped down, his shadow frightened the ants and they scurried in various directions.  So he drew back.
2. And after he drew back, they resumed their busy activities and so he tried looking closely again.  But once more they scattered.  Again he drew back and once again they resumed their work.
3. This Hindu man thought to himself, “I wish I could talk to these little ants.  And I wish I was small enough to communicate with them without frightening them.”
4. As he continued thinking this over, the thought came to him: “If somehow I could become an ant, and yet still retain my own personality, I could really communicate with them.”
5. As his imagination continued in this direction, he remembered something that Christian friends had been telling him - that God became a man in order to reveal Himself to us and to save us.
6. The things of God became clearer to this Hindu man and soon he understood the Gospel and received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour.
7. God became a man to reveal by precept and pattern what God is like.  By His actions the Lord Jesus Christ displayed what God the Father is like.  Jesus said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9).
8. God is a Spirit.  We cannot see Him, but He has revealed Himself to us in the Person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15).
9. People wonder: what is God like?  Is God compassionate?  Jesus healed the sick, forgave sinners, and went around doing good, so therefore God must be compassionate because Jesus is compassionate and Jesus is “God with us.”
10. Is God tender?  Is God kind?  Is God loving? Jesus is tender, kind, and loving so God must be tender, kind, and loving because Jesus is “God with us.”
11. On the other hand, Allah is an angry god who demands that infidels be killed.  The gods of the Hindus are cruel and war-like.  Buddha is cold and indifferent. But the Bible tells us Jesus is nothing like these heathen deities.  When He hung there dying on the cross, He prayed for those that crucified Him.  He said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
12. The Bible tells God is love, and the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated this love when He went to the cross to die for our sins.
13. “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

II. GOD BECAME A MAN TO ENTER INTO OUR EXPERIENCES SO HE COULD SYMPATHIZE WITH US AND HELP US.

1. I heard a cute story about a little boy who woke up frightened in the middle of the night.  He had a nightmare and he starting screaming. His father went upstairs to comfort him but the little boy couldn’t go back to sleep.
2. The shadows on the wall scared him, the sound of the wind outside his window terrified him, and so on.  Finally, his father said, “Son, go to sleep.  I’ll be downstairs if you need me, and remember - God is with you.”
3. The little boy responded, “I need a God that’s got skin on!”
4. This is what the incarnation is all about.  Emmanuel, “God with us” is “God with skin on.”  “God was manifest in the flesh” is how the apostle Paul put it in I Tim. 3:16.
5. Sinners often wonder, “How can a God who is so far away properly sympathize with us?”  Roman Catholics have tried to solve this problem by worshipping Mary, and praying to her. They say Mary can sympathize with us, that she understands us, that she will go and tell Jesus all about our needs, etc.  How unscriptural! 
6. We do not need to go to Mary; we can go directly to the Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. 2:16-18).
7. I saw in the paper the other day that President Bush has invited Mr. Obama and the three living former presidents (Carter, Bush, and Clinton) to the White House for dinner.
8. Can you imagine if I received a letter from President Bush, and the letter said: “You are cordially invited to the White House.  Please come early because I’d like to talk with you about your situation up there in Elmont, etc.”? 
9. What would you think if I went up to Washington DC and tried to arrange a meeting with Barbara Bush, the President’s mother?  You would say, “That’s strange.  It was Mr. Bush that personally invited Pastor Barker, not his mother.”
10. But I would reply, “Yes, that’s true, but I hear President Bush is a very busy man. And I hear he is very distant and aloof.  He has no idea what it’s like to be a preacher in Elmont, NY.  All he understands is politics and driving around his ranch in Texas, etc.  BUT HIS MOTHER…Now, she is different.  She understands, she cares about people like us, she is nice, etc.”
11. I hope you get my point.  We come to the Father through Jesus the Son, not through Mary or through saints or through priests or popes.
12. Why should people pray to Mary when our Lord plainly said: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).
13. The Bible says, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5).  This is why God became a man - Emmanuel, “God with us.”
14. God became a man in order to be our perfect mediator. And our Lord is the only perfect mediator between God and man because He is both God and man; He is the God-man, Emmanuel, “God with us.”
15. God became a man in order to enter into our experiences.  Our Lord was hungry, thirsty, and so tired that He sat down upon the well to rest.  He was forsaken by friends; He knew loneliness.  He wept at Lazarus’ grave.  He was betrayed; He suffered greatly when they scourged and whipped Him and drove big nails into His hands and feet (cf. Heb. 4:14-16).

III. GOD BECAME A MAN IN ORDER TO SAVE US.

1. I have kept the best part of my message for last. If there are any unsaved people here this evening, this is especially for you.  God became a man in order to save sinners.
2. Many good reasons could be given for why God became a man.  Jesus certainly came to reveal God to us.  John 1:18 says, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him (“led Him forth” - Scofield margin).
3. God became a man in order to enter into our experiences and sympathize with us (the story of the preacher with one arm).
4. Many people say that God became a man in order to set an example for us.  There is some truth to that (cf. I Peter 2:21-23).
5. Many reasons could be given as to why God became a man, but all these other purposes pale in comparison to the main reason why God became a man - “Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).
6. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (I Tim. 1:15).
7. I mentioned that Christ came to set an example (I Peter 2:21).  Peter goes on to give the primary reason God became a man (I Peter 2:24).
8. Sinners need a Saviour more than they need a great Teacher.  Let them first come to the cross and get things right with God.  Then, they can learn all about the wonderful things of God.
9. In one of Aesop’s Fables, a boy is drowning in a lake and a man walks by and starts lecturing him.  “You naughty boy!  Don’t you know this lake is very deep?  Does your mother know you are here?  etc.”  The boy was splashing around and sinking fast.  He yelled back, “Please sir, save me first, then you can lecture me all you want!”  Sinners need a Saviour first, then they need a Teacher.
10. The birth of Christ is only mentioned a few times in the Bible, but the death of Christ is emphasized all throughout the Bible.  Why is that?  Because God became a man in order to die for our sins.
11. And the few references to the birth of Christ point to the cross.
12. “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).
13. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).
14. “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons”  (Gal. 4:4, 5).

CONCLUSION:

1. I read a story about two missionaries that were kidnapped by bandits in China many years ago.  They were put in a dirty hole, with no fire to keep warm.  To make matters worse, their guard ordered them not to talk to each other.  Days passed and Christmas day arrived.  One of the missionaries sat there staring at the floor when an idea popped into his head.  He gathered some straw and spelled out the word “Emmanuel.”
2. His friend looked on and immediately got the message.  Yes, they were prisoners; yes they were cold and hungry; yes the place was filthy; yes they did not know when (if ever) they would be released, etc.  But this they knew - God was with them, because Jesus said: “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.  Amen.”