Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Matthew chapter 1. The name of the first message
here is Objects of Christ's Mission. Objects of Christ's Mission.
Matthew chapter 1, we're going to read verses 18 to 23 to see
the context of our verse, which is verse 21. Now the birth of
Jesus Christ was on the wise when as his mother Mary was espoused
to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the
Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, and saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to
take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus. for he shall save his
people from their sins. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being
interpreted as God with us. So Jesus Christ, we see from
the text, is God incarnate in the flesh. sent by the Father
to save his people, we see in verse 21, from their sins. And they are the object of Christ's
mission. The object of Christ's mission
is to save his people from their sins. So this message will look
at the objects in the essence of Christ's mission. Because
he was on a mission, beloved. He was on a mission. He was sent
by the Father to save his people from their sins, which we see
in verse 21. Let's read that again. And she
shall bring forth a son, that being Mary, and thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now, this verse is a glorious
declaration, beloved, of the very heart of the mission of
the Lord Jesus Christ in coming to this world. when he was sent by God the Father,
when he came into this world, he came into this world not to
be an example, not to reform people, but to save people from
their sins. That's why he came here. He was
sent to save his people, not from suffering, because we all
suffer in this life, don't we? He was sent to save us from our sins and
to obtain eternal redemption for us. He wasn't sent to save
us from political oppression. He wasn't sent to save us from
earthly poverty. No, he was sent to save us from
our sins. That which separates us from
God, because in Adam we all fell, and our sin separates us from
God. So marvel, beloved of God, that
the Lord Jesus Christ came to save his people from their sins. This was his mission. He was
sent to save his people from their sins. That's the mission
that God sent him on. Salvation from sin for his people. Now he's sinless, he's perfect,
he's holy, he's the son of God. He knows no sin, he commits no
sin, he's perfect. and yet he dies for sinners. Sinners by birth, sinners by
nature, and sinners by choice. And sin, again, is that which
separates man from God, that which damns the soul of men and
women, and that which defiles every part of our body, from
the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. We're sinners through
and through. We're vile sinners. Everything
we do is tainted with sin. And note that the Lord Jesus
Christ didn't come to be a moral teacher. Some claim not. That's
not why he came. He didn't come to be a political
reformer. He didn't come to be a cultural
icon, did he? No. He came to save his people
from their sins. That's why he came to this world,
to save his people from their sins. Now, sin's not a light
matter. Man makes sin a light matter.
Man don't even think they sin. Oh my. But sin is rebellion. Sin is creature rebellion against
God. God created us and our sin, by
our sin we rebel against him. We rebel against the creator,
the one true living God. That's who our transgressions
are against. Sin is also the transgression
of God's holy law. And God's holy law and God's
holy justice must be satisfied, either in the sinner or in the
great substitute sent from God to save his people from their
sins. And his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. So the greatest
need of every human being is not self-improvement, it's
not religious reformation, but it's divine salvation. We need to be saved from our
sins. We can't save ourselves. No works
of ours can save ourselves. But praise be to God, Jesus Christ
was sent to save his people from their sins. My, oh my. And he saved sinners, beloved. He didn't come merely to forgive
sin. He came to save from sin. My,
oh my. And what are the means that he
delivers his people? The offering of himself up as
a sacrifice. as the redemption price for our
sins, shed in his precious blood to redeem us out from under the
law, beloved. Oh, praise the mighty name of
Jesus, that we might be with him forever in his presence,
save from sin. Oh, my. The Lord Jesus Christ
came not only to justify, but to sanctify his people. Any gospel
that offers pardon without purification or heaven without holiness is
a false gospel. Jesus saves his people entirely
from the penalty, the power, and the pollution of sin. Let's
read our text once again in Matthew 1, verse 21, where clearly see
the objects of Christ's mission, and they're called his people.
His people. How are they his people? Well,
they're his people by choosing, because God the Father chose
us before the foundation of the world. We're his people by purchase. because Christ purchased us with
his precious blood. We're his people by new creation,
by the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit, we're born
again. And we're his people, we're his people by being conformed
to the image of Christ. He's conforming us to Christ's
image. It's wonderful. We're his people
by adoption. We're his people by choice. And
look at this. And she shall bring forth a son,
verse 21 of Matthew, chapter one. And she shall bring forth
a son. And thou shalt call his name
Jesus. He's the Messiah. For he shall, it doesn't say
he may, or he sets an example, or he's reforming people. No,
it says, for he shall save his people from their sins. Praise
the mighty name of Jesus. So who are the recipients of
this glorious gospel? Well, the text is unmistakably
clear. They're called his people. Now,
who are God's people? They're called his elect in the
scripture. They're called his sheep, God's
sheep. Now, we don't know who they are,
but God knows every one of them. God knows every single one of
them. Every single one of them he knows. Oh my. You know why? Well, because they
were given to him before the foundation of the world in eternity
past. They were chosen in him before
the foundation of the world and It's for them that he laid down
his life, the great shepherd, the great bishop of our souls,
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's for his people that he laid
down his life. It's for them and them alone.
In this wonderful truth, it exalts the sovereign grace of God. Jesus
did not come to make salvation possible, did he? The text doesn't
say that, does it? It doesn't say he came to make
salvation possible, no. Because it's impossible for us
to save ourselves. And if we could save ourselves,
then there would be no need for Christ to come. But God the Father
sent the Lord Jesus Christ, because we can't save ourselves. He sent
his only son, the word of God. God became man, Emmanuel, God
with us, we saw in the context of our text. So the recipients
of this glorious salvation, that the good shepherd himself, the
Lord Jesus Christ purchases with his blood when he laid down his
life as our substitute before God's holy law and God's justice,
are these folks called his people. My, oh my. And what does this
sovereign truth does? It exalts God, it exalts his
sovereignty. It exalts the grace of God. Again,
he didn't come to make salvation possible. He came to secure salvation,
beloved. He obtained eternal salvation,
the scripture says, for us by the giving of his life and the
shedding of his blood. He secured salvation for his
people who are the elect who are a blood-bought
multitude of people. He purchased us with his blood.
A chosen people, chosen by God, because we never would have chose
God. This is remarkable. So his mission was not to offer
redemption by, I've done all that I can do now, now the rest
is up to you. No, the text does not say that. Because otherwise, why would
he have came? He doesn't offer redemption hypothetically,
but he came to accomplish it perfectly. Isn't that wonderful? Christ accomplished our salvation
perfectly. Perfectly. Look at the text, he shall save. This is the language of certainty.
not possibility, he shall save. And yet, how can one know if
he or she is among his people? How can we know that? Well, the
answer found in the fruits of saving grace, conviction of sin. I'm convicted of my sin now when
I never was before. Faith in Christ. My hope for
the salvation of my soul and my whole life is in Christ and
Him alone. Is it so for you? Repentance towards God. Being
sorry for our sin. Turning away from our old ways
to God. Love for holiness. Oh, to be
sinless. to desire that, even though we
can't be while we're on this earth, we still desire it, don't
we, beloved? And perseverance in the truth,
not being carried away by every wind doctrine, but stay keeping
our eyes on Christ, knowing that it's God preserving us. We give
him all the glory, don't we? So those who trust in Christ
walk in his ways. They show themselves to be the
people he came to save. They trust Christ. Don't rest in a shallow profession.
Don't rest in a decision you made. Don't rest in that. Rest in Christ. Look to Christ
alone. Christ can save without you moving
a muscle or without me moving a muscle. Examine our hearts. Has Christ
truly delivered you from sin, from the love of sin, from the dominion of self, and
from the darkness of unbelief? Has Christ delivered you from
those things? Call out to the Lord for mercy.
Cast yourself upon Christ. He is the only Savior of sinners. There's no hope for sinners outside
of Christ. I pray the Lord Jesus Christ
will reveal himself to you and save your eternal soul if he
hasn't. Oh, because I stand before you
and the people of God stand before you as saved sinners. Sinners saved by the grace of
God. Sinners who could not save themselves. Sinners by the grace of God who
cast ourselves wholly upon Christ for our salvation. Glory to his
name. Amen and amen.