"I'll do it!"

Matthew 1:18 reports: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
[19] Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.”

Jordan says, “Joseph is the earthly father of the Lord Jesus Christ, not his physical father. Here’s this young woman that he’s betrothed to be married to, he’s in love with her, he wants to make her his wife and it turns out that she’s pregnant and the child’s not his.

"Can you imagine the heartache that must have been? Can you imagine the fear she must have had as to what he was going to think? The verse says Joseph was a just man--it says that first.

“I think about Joseph. He was the man God chose to raise the Lord Jesus Christ. What a privilege! What an opportunity; what a responsibility that was on his shoulders. The God of heaven chose this one man to be the one who would be the earthly father for Jesus Christ, His Son. That’s something. That’s why I love it. He was a just man; he was righteous.

“That’s like that verse in II Peter when he talks about Lot as ‘just Lot,’ Joseph was a justified man. He was a Believer. He believed in the God of Israel. He’d been like Abraham before him. He believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. He was a righteous man; he’s a stand-up guy. He believed God’s Word; he trusted God’s Word.

“It says he was not willing to make her a public example. Joseph had a heart for Mary; he doesn’t want to put her to open shame. He’s considerate of Mary and he’s trying to protect her from whatever the scandal that she’s got herself in.

“And then the Lord comes and says, ‘Joe, that’s my child.’ ‘Yeah, Lord, sure.’ ‘No, Joseph, look over in Isaiah 7:14. You see that verse. That’s being fulfilled right here, right now!’

“Joseph is a Bible-believer. He understood God’s Word. He knew what the promise of the Messiah was and so the Lord sends the angel and says, ‘That verse is being fulfilled and your wife is the one to fulfill it and you’re going to raise the boy—you’re going to name Him and raise Him.’

“You know what he did? He just did what God said. He did what God’s Word required. When God gave him instruction, he believed it. You come to chapter 2, when the wise men come looking for the baby Jesus, verse 13 says ‘the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.’

“Think about that! Here’s Joseph and every indication is he’s a poor man with a very humble existence. He’s told to pull up stakes, pack up the RV, put it on the back of the donkey and get out of town and go to Egypt of all places!

“Over and over, that’s the enemy! What does he do? He says, ‘God said it; I’ll do it.’ That’s Joseph. He’s a man that every time God gave him instructions . . . now, when the angel says that to him in verse 15, you see what the angel did is he took out Hosea 11:1 and said, ‘See that verse right there Joseph? That verse needs to be fulfilled; here’s how it’s going to happen.’ Joseph is a man who believed God’s Word and obeyed it.

“He’s the guy who God Himself chose to raise His Son. I think about that and I say, ‘Wow, what an example for a dad. A man of the Word who looks out for and protects his wife, the mother of his children, and then obeys God’s Word in raising his family.’ I say, ‘Wow, now there’s a dad I can look up to!’ ”