You know, before we look at what I've tried to prepare for
tonight, I want you to just turn back to Matthew chapter 1. You know, I saw the very first signs, I guess you might say,
of the holiday today. And it won't be many, many weeks
now before everybody will be talking about Christmas. And I'll have to say, Somebody told me today, I dread
it almost worse than any other time. Now that person dreaded
it for another reason. But I dread it because men and
women in their superstition and in their tradition will link
the precious name of Christ to a holiday that has absolutely
nothing to do with Him. Now, I don't know a lot, but
I know this. You can search this book, and
you will find nowhere any command to celebrate any holiday, not
the birth of Christ, not the death of Christ, not even the
resurrection of Christ. What you'll find is Paul saying
in Colossians 2, don't let any man judge you in these so-called
holy days. And that's what it is. A holiday
is a holy day. But it has nothing to do with
Christ. Now, I like the good food as
much as the next one. And I like the opportunity of
being with family and having time and all these things, but it has nothing to do with
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so every opportunity in religion
or in the secular world to associate it with him is just an absolute
lie. As a matter of fact, there probably
isn't a time of the year when the true Christ is any more denied or blasphemed
or mocked and idolatry raised up in his place than then. The reason that this struck my
mind tonight is that I was thumbing through the pages here, and I
came to this first chapter of Matthew, and it seems like that
the words in verse 18 had a particular interest. Matthew 1 and verse 18. The Bible says here, Now the
birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. It was this way. This is what the birth of Jesus
Christ was all about. And we have that, not by some
tradition, we have that from the Word of God. Whatever follows,
whatever follows in these next verses, they're going to tell
us, God is going to tell us what the birth of Jesus Christ was
all about. And it wasn't about stables or
wise men. It wasn't about all these things
that men set out in their yards and lights. It was not about
that. It was not even about simply
a child being born. But what he says here is what
the birth of Jesus Christ is all about. and the birth of Jesus
Christ, that is the glad tidings of the Gospel. Not simply the
fact that He was born, but who was born? Isaiah a long time
before had said that unto us a child is born, unto us a son
is given, or the Son is given. So the one who came into this
world is not just simply a child, but he is the God-man. God manifests in the flesh. And so he goes on here. He says,
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wife, when as his
mother Mary was espoused, or engaged to Joseph, Before they
came together, before they consummated their wedding vows in this union
and relationship with each other, she was found with child. Mary, one day, it became obvious
to her and to everybody around her that she was pregnant, but
she had never known a man. She had never been involved in
a sexual relationship with a man. She is called in Scripture just
what she was, a virgin. And yet, even though she is identified
in Scripture, she is not in any way magnified above the child
that she gave birth to. Rather, it is just the opposite. She praised God for him as her
Savior. Her Savior. And so rather than
being sinless, she was a sinner just like every other one born
of Adam. And what made the child different
was this. He was born of the Holy Spirit. That body was created in her
womb by the Spirit of God. He says, a body hast thou prepared
for me. But He is the eternal Son. And then it says this, then Joseph,
her husband, being a just man, an honorable man, that's what
that means, a man who did not want any part in the shame of
marrying a woman who was already about to have a child. But Joseph,
her husband, being a just man, not willing to make her a public
example, was minded to put her away privately. He wasn't going
to make a big scene of it. He wasn't going to make a big
deal to shame her. None of these things. He was
just going to kind of call off their marriage and be done with
it. But while he thought on these
things, he's a lot different from folks in our day who don't
do much thinking. But when he was thinking on these
things, I'm sure they troubled him. He hated to put her away. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, and said, 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 That which is conceived,
that babe in her womb is conceived of the Spirit of God. And then he says this. Now, the birth of Jesus was on
this wife. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." Now,
to start with, the word that we have that is so widely accepted
and never questioned is the word Christmas, which simply means,
and certainly did at the first Christ mass. The mass, as it is in Catholicism,
and as it is as the source, at least in part, of this pagan
holiday, has to do with somebody making or keeping the death of
Christ from being a factual. Do you think we could trust the
word of a God-sent angel? Do you think that we can trust
what it says here in these verses concerning the Son of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ? And this angel never did, neither
did any other, or any apostle, or Christ Himself, They never
did at any time give instruction with regard to celebrating His
birth or with regard to any tradition that was to be carried on with
His birth. But I'll tell you what He did
say. He said, Thou shalt call. You
will call. He didn't say, If you don't mind,
Maybe Jesus would be a good, he said, you shall call his name
Jesus. And you know what that means?
Actually, it is the same thing in the New Testament, basically,
as the name Joshua in the Old Testament. What does it mean? It means Jehovah
saves, or Jehovah's Saviour. And for that reason, He's going
to give us more concerning that very thing. Thou shalt call His
name Jesus. He's the Saviour. Alright? Look at what it says. Thou shalt call His name Jesus
for..." There's a reason we're going to call Him Savior. You
mean to tell me He's going to be called the Savior before we
find out whether or not He's going to save anybody or not?
In today's world, and especially in today's religion, It wouldn't
really be right to call him that with the great possibility maybe
that everybody's going to reject him and he'll save nobody. That's not the way it is. Thou shalt call his name Jesus
for, because of something. And if he doesn't do this, if
he's not found really doing this, then he cannot bear, he cannot
wear that name and title. As a matter of fact, if he doesn't
do what this angel said he will do, and if he doesn't accomplish
it every bit, he's a failure. And not only that, If he doesn't
do exactly what this angel said that he would do, if our Jesus
doesn't do that, we've got what Paul called another Jesus, a
fake Jesus, an imposter Jesus. What does he say? Thou shalt
call His name Jesus, for He is." Now, I want you to think about
this. He's talking here about salvation. He's talking about
the salvation of men's souls. And what he's saying is that
salvation has to do with what He did. You understand that? That's not the message in our
day, is it? The preacher stands up. They
don't even need a Bible. They just tell you what you're
supposed to do. But the truth is, you can do
everything you will everything you can, and you'll still be
lost, because He is the Savior. A lady asked me years ago, nearly
30 years ago now, she said, don't we have something to do with
our salvation? I said, yeah, we do the sinning. And He has to do all the saving. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He's going to do something. He came into this world to do
something, to accomplish something. He came into this world to do
the will of the Father, He said. And this is the will of Him that
has sent me, that of all He has given me, I should not lose any
of them. but raise them up at the last
day. And so the gospel has something
to do with who Christ is and what He's done. Instead of all
this talk about what we're to do and how we're to live and
all these things, the root and heart of the gospel is what Christ
did. And if He didn't do, what the
angel said he would do, then you and I are in trouble, we'll
never be saved, we'll always perish and be lost, and he will
have no glory. All right? Look at that next
word. Thou shalt call his name Jesus
for or because he shall. You see that? When it comes to what God says
in this book concerning the salvation of His people, there is no maybe-so
or hope-so in anything that He does which is the whole of their
salvation. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
For he shall." No possibility of him failing. No possibility of him not doing
exactly what he came to do. The cross, the cross death of
the Lord Jesus Christ is not everything gone out of control. They didn't nail him to a cross
because all of a sudden everything was out of control, the purpose
and will of God was thwarted, and the enemies of God got the
upper hand, or even the devil got the upper hand. No, no. He said, for this hour I'm come. He set his face as a flint, the
prophet said, toward Jerusalem. And he himself said to those
disciples on the road to Emmaus, when they were all sad because
he had died and now he's risen again and they don't even know
it, he said, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that
the prophets have spoken ought not the Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into His glory? This is what the prophet
said that the Christ would do. This is what Isaiah in chapter
53 says so clearly, that He has come to suffer, He has come to
do exactly this very thing, to die the death of the cross, He
has come not to be held in some kind of a pagan worship, if you
will, of him in his birth or his manger or any of these things,
but he came to suffer. He came to die. He came to do
this, and there is no way of stopping him, for he shall. Can't anybody stop Him? And everything
that is done, even if it seems like it is so out of hand, like
when they arrest Him and take Him and crucify Him, with no
attention to whatever is just and right, they do by their wicked
hands slay Him. But Peter says in that first
sermon that it was all by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. He shall. Now you look at that
next word. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save. Did you hear that? It doesn't say, He shall make
them savable, does it? It doesn't say He'll do something
for everybody in the world that if they'll believe it, they'll
be saved. It doesn't say that He'll come
and make something of salvation available or give them a chance
or an opportunity if they supposedly decide in their free will to
receive it, it doesn't say any of those things. Now, you tell me what it says.
It says, He shall save. Now, if He didn't do that, He's
not the Savior. That's just the way it is. He has to actually save. And when He came into this world,
that's what He was doing. He was saving. That means everything. That means everything in salvation. is just exactly in the one that
Jonah said it was in when he was in the belly of that fish
at the bottom of the sea. And I can tell you this, all who God saves will be brought
like him to confess the same thing. You remember what he said? He said, salvation is of the
Lord. It isn't God has done His part,
now you do yours. It's not God has made it available,
now you just accept it. It's not God has done most of
it, and you just do a little bit. It isn't God has saved you,
now you've got to walk the rest of the way and keep everything
on your own. It is salvation is of the Lord. Salvation in its initiation,
in its origin, is of the Lord. Salvation in its purchase, in
its redemptive work is of the Lord, and salvation in its perpetuation
and application and preservation is of the Lord." He came to save. He came to save. And that's just
exactly what His name says, Savior. When it says He's the Savior
of the world, it does not mean that He came to save every person
in the world. It means that He is the only
Savior of the world, and He's the only Savior of every kind
of people, whether they're Jew or Gentile or whatever, in this
world. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save. Now, hold on to your hats now.
Look at these next words. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people. Who has He come to save? Who
did He save? His people. Now, somebody reads
that and they'll say, but, but, but, but, but. There are no buts. There are no qualifying words
in this statement. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people. Somebody says, well, isn't everybody
His people? Well, I'll tell you what He said
to those Pharisees. who were not drunks, who were
not adulterers, who were not drug addicts or murderers or
any such things in the flesh. They were the preachers, the
teachers, and supposedly the holiest people that lived in
Christ's day. Because you know what they thought
holiness was? They thought being holy was obeying all these little
laws and rules they'd made up. They thought holiness was in
what they dressed in, how they dressed. They thought holiness
was in their long prayers out in the public. They thought holiness
was what they didn't eat or didn't drink, didn't smoke or whatever
it was. It'd be the same thing in this
day. But do you know what Christ said? He laid on them the most scathing
denunciations. He said, you are like open graves
full of dead men's bones. He said, you are of your father
the devil. He is the author of all these
lies you believe on. He said, My sheep hear My voice. They believe on Me. You believe
not because you're not of My sheep. Who did He come to save? His people. I've got news for you. They've
been His people for a long time. Oh, I know they fell in at Him
just like everybody else. I know that they are as full
of a nature of sin as everybody else is." The Bible says that the Lord
God chose them in Him and blessed them with every spiritual blessing
before the foundation of the world. They are His friends, He called
them. His sheep, His church. He came to save His people. Somebody said, well, I don't
believe that. I believe Christ died for everybody.
I believe Christ is trying to save everybody. You know why
you believe that? Because you're not His people. His people are brought at some
point in their days by the Spirit of God to come to such passages
as this, confront the reality of who the true Christ is, and
believe it. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people. I just want to be one of His
people. He said, My sheep hear My voice. That means they believe. Christ
preached. And He said all that He had to
say concerning Himself and these Pharisees, which were the greatest
majority of the people, they didn't believe on Him. They said, oh, we've got Abraham,
our father. We've got all this tradition.
We've been doing it like this for generations, hundreds of
years. This is what most everybody all
around you believes. Did that disappoint Christ? No. He said, all that the Father
giveth me, shall come to me, and him that comes to me I'll
in no wise cast out." Who's that going to be? His people. Whenever you look back in that
Old Testament at that high priest who is a picture of Christ, wore
special garment that God gave the instructions to Moses for,
as a part of that garment, There were shoulder plates, and on those golden shoulder
plates were engraved the names of the tribes of Israel. Not only that, there was a great
ornate breastplate that had twelve precious stones set in that gold,
one representing each tribe. of the people of Israel. And when that high priest went
into that tabernacle where no man could go except the high
priest, and that just once a year, when he went in with that blood,
when he went in to sprinkle that blood on the mercy seat, there
wasn't anybody with him, and he went representing everybody
in the world. Israel, that people of His choice,
which is a type of a spiritual people, a type of spiritual Israel,
which is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, over which He is
the head and His people are the body. And that priest went and
represented them, made atonement for their sins. And the Bible
says that was but a picture of the figures of things in heaven.
And Christ did not go into a holy place made by hand, but into
the very presence of God to bear his sacrifice. For who? For his people. And then look at this last part. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins." How many of their sins? All of
them from their sins. If He doesn't save me from all
my sins, then I've still got sins out there to meet God with. For their sins. Now, man takes and he categorizes
sins. He has your big sins over here.
He has your little sins over here. But one sin, that sin that we would consider
the least of all our sins, is more than enough to separate
us from a holy, just God. So if He didn't save me from
all my sins, And He didn't save me. See, that's what I need to be
saved from. But He shall save His people from their sins. And boy, do they have a list
of them. You just go back in the Old Testament and you'll
find Adam, the first man, hiding from God in the garden. You'll
find drunken Noah. You'll find adulterous, murderous
David. You'll find all these people. I was just thinking about it.
You can't read six verses, the first six verses of Matthew,
when it's giving the earthly genealogy of Christ. Look at what it says. He talks about that incestuous
relationship of Judas with Tamar. I think she was his daughter-in-law.
Then he mentions not only in that genealogy her, but Rahab,
the harlot of Jericho. Then he mentions also Ruth, The
Moabitess woman? Then look at what it says in
verse 6, And David the king begat Solomon of her that had been
the wife of Uriah. Why had she been the wife of
Uriah? Because David had Uriah, her
husband, sent to the front line to make sure he got killed so
he could have Bathsheba. That's Bathsheba he's talking
about. And they're every one sinners. That's the earthly genealogy
of Christ after the flesh. But only one who knew no sin
can save a people from their sin. The reason you can't save
me and I can't save you is because we're both sinners. God will
not accept anything we do. But He saves His people from
their sins, all their sins. Somebody said, but what about
After you're, as we say, after you're saved, what about your
future sins? Well, they were all future when
He died for them. Every one of those sins, the
iniquity of all His people, Isaiah said, were made to meet on His
head. He was bruised. for our iniquity. He was wounded for our transgressions. He shall save His people from
their sins. Oh, that's the most wonderful
news. I know there was no possibility of Him failing. He's God in the
flesh. I know that when he died, the
Scripture says that he was raised up again, which meant that God
accepted his work, his sacrifice. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised because of our justification. He saves them from the penalty of their sins. You
know what the penalty of sin is? Death. Eternal death. He saves them from all the penalty
of their sins. Now, my sins grieve my heart. My sins, I'll say they're more
than I can number. But I don't fear facing God with
my sins, because the penalty of it was all paid by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Every bit of it paid by Christ. The debt has been satisfied. Our Lord endured everything that
God required. He saved them from the guilt
of their sins. Guilt's a matter of the conscious.
Do you know that? Guilt. over our sin comes to
our conscience. That's why people do so much
to try to keep those thoughts from their conscience. But I can tell you this. The
only thing that will remove guilt from the conscience is that which
removed it from the very throne and presence of God. Only that
which satisfies God in heaven will ever satisfy your conscience. You ever get to thinking about
your sin? The only way anybody could ever
talk about little sins is because they do not realize that there
is no little God to sin against. You just look back in the Bible.
A man reached out to touch the Ark of the Covenant, to steady
it, and God killed him. Why? Because God said, that's
where I dwell, between those golden cherubims on the Ark of
the Covenant. That was a symbol of the holy
presence of God. And everyone was forbidden to
come anywhere near it. And only the priests could bear
that Ark of the Covenant through those wooden staves that were
appointed of God. Here's a man without the priest,
without the sacrifice, he's going to touch the Ark of the Covenant. Only Christ, the knowledge of what He did,
the knowledge of how He saved us from our sin by burying our
sins in His own body on the tree. And the person who says that
he did that for everybody, all they do is make salvation a work
performed by them because the only thing that separates them
from the other person he died for is something that they did. No, no. He saves His people from the
penalty of their sins, from the guilt of their sins, and from
the dominion of their sins. It's not to say that we don't
still sin. He said, if you say you don't
sin, you not only lie, you make God a liar. But he said, your sin will not
have any dominion over you, will not lord over you, cannot take
you, cannot destroy you, cannot do that which it did apart from
grace. Have no dominion over you. Why? Because you're under grace. And then one day he'll finally,
completely, and eternally save his people from the very presence
of sin. Isn't that something? The very presence of sin. And he will bear them into his
sinless presence. He will bear them into that glorious
eternal kingdom wherein dwelleth righteousness." That's Christ. The name of Jesus will be uttered
untold millions of times in the next few weeks. And they'll mock Him with their
idolatry. They'll say, this is Jesus in
this little pile of straw in this cobbled up wood box here
and these cardboard figures all lit up. That's all about Jesus
and all these lights and everything. That's all about Jesus, baby
Jesus and all that. But I'll tell you what, the birth
of Jesus was on this wise. It's a wonder he does not take
from his high and holy throne and absolutely destroy this blasphemous,
ungodly mess. You know why he doesn't? Because he still has some of
his people. who are yet to find out who He really is. The Bible says
He's going to call them. Christ said, these sheep I must
bring. I'll tell you this, this Jesus, is far different
from the popular Jesus of this time of year. If we don't know Him, we'll perish. If you believe
not that I'm He, Christ said you'll die in your sin. You stop and think about it.
Somebody will always say this, well, I just don't think all
this many people can be wrong. That's just exactly what the
Scriptures teach, that most people will be wrong. Straight is the
gate, narrow is the way that leads to life, few there be that
find it. Broad is the way. wide is the
way that leads to destruction, and many there be that go therein." Christ said nobody will enter into His kingdom
except those that do the will of His Father, which is what? Believe on Him that He has sent. But he said, many will be that
say to me, well, we had all these things for you.
We even had a birthday party for Jesus. How dreadful. We had plays and programs, and
we had lights and candles, and we had all these things for Jesus. No, he said, many will say to
me in that day, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast
out devils in your name? Did we not do many wonderful
works? He said, I'll say to them, depart
from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. You that work iniquity." There
must be awful things those folks did. Well, it was all religious. Preached, cast out devils, did
many wonderful works. He called it iniquity. You know
what iniquity is? Inequity. Not equal to what God requires. which is everything we do. And the only thing equal to what
God requires is what Christ did. That's right. God help us not to be caught
up in this foolish blasphemy. And you know, as I said in the
beginning, I'm not a hard nose. I certainly don't mind a good
Christmas ham dinner. I don't have any problems with
people giving each other a gift. I wish it happened more. I don't have any problems with
a lot of the things that surround it, except that which is at the
right heart of it. Don't call it what it's not. Because the birth of Jesus was
on this wife. I dare say this, if the Spirit
of God would teach you this one verse, Just this one verse, think about
it. Thou shalt bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sin. Now, he either did or he didn't. Lord, I want to be one of your
people. I want to look to the true Christ. I don't want to,
having done all these things in religion, then find out that I'm going to perish. I guess that's enough. Our Father, tonight we pray that
you would take your precious Word, the Word of the truth of
the Gospel, and apply it to our hearts. The
Gospel concerning your Son, who is God manifest in the flesh,
God our Savior, who came to save and saved his
people from their sins, all their many sins. And, Lord, truly this is why
the gospel is good news to them, glad tidings to such poor, weak
sinners as we are who have nothing good in ourselves, who, like
the Apostle Paul, after the Lord even had revealed Christ to him,
had to cry out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? Lord, we pray that we might have
our understanding and our eyes opened and being able to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Save us from the idolatry that
is around us. Cause us to be among those who
know you in truth and who worship you in spirit and in truth. Break away all that conceals
your glory to our eyes. Help us, Father, as we go tomorrow to Kentucky to preach.
Grant us your presence and your watch care and your blessing.
Bless Joe as he comes to speak on Sunday. Do everything for
your glory. Raise up, Lord, these sick ones
as it pleases you, and help us for Christ's sake. We plead only
his blood, his precious righteousness. And we thank you that he saved
us by himself and for his glory from all our sins. We pray in
Christ's name. Amen. Thank you.