Last verse was what seemed to touch me so much, his
cross displaying what I really am. That's the only way I'll
know, is by the cross. And yet it's the cross that seals
my pardon. That's glorious. Matthew chapter
one, verse 21, this is one of my favorite verses of scripture. I love to preach on my favorite
verses of scripture. Verse 21, and she shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. He. This he is not like any other
he. the Son of God, the God-man,
the creator of the universe. He shall, not will if, he shall
save, not make saveable, Not offer salvation. You know, I
hate it when preachers talk about God offering you something. He
doesn't offer anybody anything. He saves. He shall save his people. Who are they? The elect, his
sheep, those for whom he died, those who believe. He shall save
his people from their sins. And that is what I need to be
saved from. I need to be saved from my sins. Now in verse 18 of Matthew 1,
now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. Now his birth was foretold in
Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 when we read, behold a virgin shall
be with child and I shall call his name Emmanuel which is God
with us is what his name means and this was foretold in Isaiah
chapter 9 verse 6 when we read unto us a child is born unto
us a son is given that son wasn't born that's the eternal son the
child was born, but the son was given, and the government shall
be upon his shoulders, and he shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. His birth was foretold. Now, the angel had already appeared
to Mary and told her what was going to take place. And she
went to Joseph to let him know about it. And apparently he did
not believe her. As a matter of fact, he was going
to put her away. He was going to divorce her in a private manner
so as not to bring her to public shame. But you put yourself in
his place. If I was espoused to a woman, I was going to marry
her. And she came up to me and said,
I'm with child. And an angel appeared to me and
said, that which is in you is conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Guess what? I wouldn't believe her. You wouldn't
believe her either. You would be very incredulous.
And Joseph was incredulous. He did not believe this. Now Luke has the account of the
angel coming to Mary and this was before he came to Joseph.
So let's read. when the angel came to Mary. Look in Luke chapter
one, verse 26. This is before Joseph knew anything
about this. Luke 1, 26. And in the sixth
month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of
Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name
was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.
And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou art highly
favored, much graced. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was
troubled at the saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation
this should be. And the angel said unto her,
fear not Mary, evidently she was trembling with fear. Fear
not Mary, for thou has found favor with God. You know, that's
the first time the word grace is used in the New Testament. Thou has found favor, grace with
God. And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb and shall bring forth a son and shall call his name
Jesus. He shall be great and shall be
called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father, David. And he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom, there should
be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, how should this be?
Saying, I know not a man. I'm not saying this can't happen,
but how can it happen? I'm listening to what you're
saying. And the angel answered and said unto her, Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow
thee. Therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth,
she also hath conceived a son in her old age, and this is the
sixth month with her who is called barren, for with God Nothing
shall be impossible now she heard this and she believed and she
comes to Joseph and tells Joseph maybe she told him and then when
the Pregnancy occurred and he could see it and understood it.
He did not believe her I wouldn't have and you wouldn't have now
go back to Matthew chapter 1 and Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise when, as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph,
they were engaged. Before they came together, she
was found with child of the Holy Ghost. And I'm sure she expressed to
Joseph what had taken place. And Joseph did not believe her. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man, not willing to make her a public example. He didn't
want her to be exposed. He didn't want her to be humiliated.
He didn't want her to be ostracized. He was a just man. You see, love
covers a transgression. He didn't want her to be exposed,
and he was trying to figure out a way that he could do this in
a way where she wouldn't be put to shame. Now, he loved this
woman, and he did not want her exposed to public ridicule, still
believing that she had committed sin in what she had done. But
I love If you want to know what a just man is, here's a just
man. Look at the way he conducts himself with this woman, even
in spite of what he thought had taken place. I admire Joseph,
what a man. But while, verse 20, but while
he thought on these things, trying to figure out how to go about
this, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream.
I suppose it was the same angel that appeared to Mary, Gabriel,
he's not named here, but I suppose it's the same angel. The angel
of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, 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. He believes
now. Now look what he says. Verse 21. And she shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. Jesus is the Greek way of pronouncing
the Hebrew word Joshua. And his name means Savior. Don't you love his name? Savior. I love his name, Jesus. Savior. Now, this is so significant. When the children of Israel were
going to go into the promised land, Moses was not allowed to
bring them in. You can remember that he sinned
against God in punishing the rock or striking the rock twice
when God said, don't strike it at all. Just speak to it. And
he mangled that type of Christ in doing that. And the Lord said,
you failed to sanctify me before the people, you're not gonna
enter into the promised land. And I'm sure that that grieved
Moses, but who was the one who brought them into the promised
land? Joshua, Jesus. Now here's the significance.
If salvation is dependent upon something you do before God can
save you, that's what law means. Salvation, before you can be
saved, there's something you must first do before God can
do something for you. That's law. If that's the case,
none of us will be saved. The law cannot bring anybody
into the promised land. It can't bring anybody into heaven.
If salvation is in any way dependent upon me doing something before
God can act on my behalf, I won't be saved, and neither will you.
But thank God, although Moses, the representative of the law,
could not bring the children of Israel into the promised land,
Joshua, Jesus, the Savior does. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Now, what I
need, I need to be saved from my sins. What about your difficult circumstances?
They're nothing compared with this. I need to be saved from
my sins, my sins, which are against God. If God sends me to hell,
it's going to be because of my sins. Now, if I'm sent to hell,
it's not because God arbitrarily decided to send me to hell. He sends me to hell because of
my sins. He is a just God and his justice
demands the punishment of sin. If he did not punish sin, he
would not be just. And the reason a man goes to
hell is because of his sins. Now, I don't think, I was asking
Lynn, I don't think I've ever talked about this from the pulpit
before, There are some who believe in
what is called double predestination. So listen to this explanation. I think I've got some light on
this thing of double predestination. There are some that believe that
God predestinated the elect to be saved without reference to
the works. That's true. Amen. That's true. Well, logic says
that means he predestinated the non-elect to be damned without
respect to their works, just as an arbitrary act of his sovereign
will. He predestinated the elect to
be saved without reference to their works. And logically, well,
if he predestinated the elect to be saved, obviously he predestinated
the non-elect to be damned. And remember, predestination
has to do with not having to do with anything with your works.
It's because of God's act. Now, this is using human logic
upon the scriptures. It's not using what the Bible
actually teaches. Now, there's a scripture in 1
Corinthians 4, 6 that says that you might learn in us not to
think of men above that which is written, but the of men is
in italics, that you might learn in us not to think above that
which is written." Now, I can use logic, human logic, and I
can come up with this thing of double predestination. But when
I do that, the Bible doesn't support that. The word predestination
is used six times in the New Testament. And I love predestination. I mean, I love predestination.
I love the God of predestination. I love what predestination teaches.
Somebody says, do you believe in predestination? Of course
I do. The Bible teaches it so clearly.
God predestinated before time began who would be saved. Now, this won't take very long.
Turn with me to Acts chapter four. I'm going to look at the
six different places it's used. Acts chapter 4, verse 27, for of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and
Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were
gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel predestinated. determined before to be done. There's the same word, predestinated. That's the way it's translated,
but it's predestinated. Now that has to do with salvation.
That's all that has to do with. The death of Christ was determined
before by God and everything they did was what God predestinated
to be done for the salvation of his people. And that's the
first time the word is used in the scripture. And I turn to
Romans chapter eight, it's used twice here. Verse 29, for whom he did for
know. Now, that doesn't simply mean
he knew who they were, whom he did for love. Adam knew his wife
Eve. The Lord said, depart from me,
I never knew you. He knew exactly who they were
and he knew everything they had been guilty of doing. But when
he says, I never knew you, I never loved you, I never knew you to
know me. For whom he did foreknow, them
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren, moreover
whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called,
then he also justified. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified." Now, there we have the word predestination
twice, and it has to do with salvation. Turn to 1 Corinthians
2. 1 Corinthians 2. But we speak, verse 7, but we
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery Even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world, and there it's the word predestinate. That's the same word that we've
been looking at, ordained before the world. But we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained
before the world unto our glory. See, predestination's unto salvation.
Every time the word is used, it's for that. Turn to Ephesians
chapter one. You're familiar with this passage.
These are the other two times the word's used. Ephesians 1, verse 5, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace. Look in verse 11, in whom also
we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. Now, every time the word predestination
is used, it has to do with salvation. The point being, I need to be
saved not from some kind of arbitrary act of God to send me to hell.
And if God did that, whatever God does, I'm fine with. If there
was such a thing as double predestination, I'd believe it. I wouldn't have
any problem with it because God's God, whatever he does is right.
But the Bible doesn't teach it. If I'm punished for my sins,
it'll be because of my sins. Not because of the predestinating
act of God, but because God is just and he punishes me for my
sins. Now the reason for hell is because
God is just and must punish sin. And those who hold to the doctrine
of double predestination think they're defending God's sovereignty.
But actually, all they're using is human logic. You can't get
that from the scriptures. And in reality, they're trying
to show how sound they are and how they defend the truth and
are promoting the truth. And the point is, if anything
I believe that is not according to the scripture, I got a bad
motive in it. I've got a wrong reason for believing that way.
There's no innocent error, as it were. And so the reason I
just thought I need to be safe from my sins, that my sins are
what will condemn me. And that is the point behind
denying this thing of double predestination. But enough of
that. Although, listen to these scriptures.
What about the scripture that says, what about the vessels
of wrath fitted to destruction? You know what I say to that?
Amen. In these scriptures, it's always
dealing with sin though. What about the scripture where
Peter says, then would stumble at the word, being disobedient
whereunto also they were appointed. You know what I say to that?
Amen. Then Jude speaks of Certain men
crept in unawares who were before of old, ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, translating
the grace of God into lasciviousness, saying, if you believe grace,
that'll lead to sin. Well, they were ordained to this condemnation
before. You know what I say to that?
Amen. Whatever God does is right. We believe that, don't we? Whatever
God does is right. Bottom line, I need to be saved
from my sin. Now, there is such a thing as
sin. There is such a thing as sins. Sin has to do with our nature. have to do with us committing
sinful acts because of our sinful nature. Now, let me give you
these scriptural definitions of sin. This is so helpful to
me. Number one, and this is something I can grasp, sin is the transgression
of the law. First John 34, 10 commandments. Any lack of perfect conformity
to the law of God is sin. And then Paul said, Whatsoever
is not of faith is sin. Whatsoever does not come from
faith in Christ is sin. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. To come short of the glory of
God is sin. To him that knoweth to do good,
and doeth it not, To him, it is sin. Sin is not only what
you do, but it's what you fail to do. The thought of foolishness
is sin. Can God condemn me for my thoughts?
Yes. The thought of foolishness is sin. And this scripture speaks
so powerfully to me. The plowing of the wicked is
sin. I think of plowing. A man goes
out and plows a field, I can't think of anything that would
be seemingly more wholesome. Maybe he's going out to plow
it, to grow crops, to feed the poor and feed the hungry. If
he's a wicked man, it's sin. The plowing of the wicked is
sin. Somebody says that seems so negative.
No, it's not. It's just the truth. And if I
see the truth, that's what's going to make me look to Christ
as my righteousness before God. You know, you read that passage
in Romans 7. I'm so thankful for that passage.
But when I see the truth regarding myself, this is not something
to bring me down and depress me and think, oh, this is so
negative. It makes me realize that Jesus Christ is the only
righteousness I have. And I'm so content, I'm so satisfied
with that. I need to be saved from my sins. Now he, the eternal God who came
in the flesh, I love that scripture in John 3, 17, for God sent not
his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through him might be saved. The eternal son of God came in
the flesh to save. He shall save, not make salvation
available. offer you salvation if you will
just accept it, not make your forgiveness available to you
and offer you forgiveness if you'll just accept it. No, He
came to save. That means completely save. Who? Everybody? No, His people. His people. He didn't come to
save everybody. Remember when He came to the
Syrophoenician woman and said I'm not sin, but the lost sheep
at the house of Israel She was crying for mercy. He said I didn't
come to save everybody now Understand what why do we make a point of
that? Because I need to understand this if he came to save somebody
and they don't end up being saved then I won't end up being saved
That's what that means. I am totally dependent upon him
doing everything in my salvation Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. First of all, from the penalty
of sin. There is a place called hell. It's a real place. And there
are people there right now. And God is just. The punishment
fits the crime. God will punish sin. And every one of his people are
saved from that punishment. I will not have to be punished
for my sins. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. You see, Christ was punished
for my sins. Therefore, I will not have to
be punished for my sins. God's not gonna punish the same
sins twice. If Christ punished my sins, I
won't have to be punished for them. And that's the only hope
I have. And that's why this is such an
important aspect of his people. If he can die for someone and
that person ends up going to hell, I know I'll end up going
to hell. The only hope I have is that Christ died for me. This
is how important this is. He shall save his people from
the punishment of sin. I don't wanna go to hell. I don't
wanna be punished for my sin, but thank God he saves from the
punishment of sin. Secondly, he saves from the guilt
of sin. You know what he does? He makes
me not guilty, someone who has never committed a sin. Now that is the glory of the
gospel. That's how I'm saved from my sin. I'm saved from the
guilt of my sin. That's what justification is.
You see, he put that sin away, he gives me his righteousness,
and now I stand before God without guilt, one who has never sinned. I don't have anything to feel
guilty for because all my sin is no more. It's gone. I stand
before God as one who has never sinned. Justified. Justified
doesn't mean treated as if you never sinned. It means you never
sinned. That's what Christ Jesus accomplished
on Calvary's tree, being saved from the guilt of sin. And not only Do I need to be
saved from condemnation? I can't do that. I can't bear
it. Not only do I need to be saved
from the guilt of sin where I'm no longer guilty, but I need
to be saved from the power of sin. Now listen to this scripture,
Romans chapter six, verse 14, sin shall not have dominion over
you. And that word dominion is lordship. Sin shall not have lordship over
you. That's true with regard to everybody
that Jesus Christ died for. Everyone that is one of his people. Sin shall not have dominion,
shall not have lordship over you. Christ is your Lord. Now when you're under the dominion
of sin, when you're under the complete dominion of sin, you
can't see it because you're blind. You know, as long as you're under
the dominion of sin, you think, I can do good. I've got a free will.
I can pull this thing off, and I can be good if I need to and
if I want to. When somebody feels that way,
if you even think you have the potential to do anything but
break the law, you're under the complete dominion and domination
of sin. You're blinded. You can't see.
But when God saves someone from the dominion of sin, here's what
he does. He gives you a new nature. He
gives you a new heart. There was a time when you couldn't
believe. You believe now because He gave you that new man. There
was a time when you didn't know what repentance was. Now you
stay in a state of repentance, a change of mind with regard
to God, yourself, how He saves sinners. It's continual because
you've got a heart that He's given that repents. You've got
a heart that loves now because He has saved you from the dominion
of sin. And listen to this. I've already been saved from
the presence of sin, but not in my experience. I don't experience
that, but I've actually been saved from the presence of sin
because I'm already in heaven in Christ. We're seated together
in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. I will be delivered from the
very presence of sin when I'm glorified in heaven. I will not
sin anymore. I'm saved from the commission
of sin. I'm saved from the love of sin. Now, what I hate about
myself more than anything else is my love for sin. I hate that. And I'm going to be saved from
the very love of sin, the very presence of sin, perfectly conformed
to his image. Now, let me close by giving you
These things that must be for him to do this, for him to save
me from my sins. And here's the first thing that's
necessary. For me to actually be saved from my sins, and that
means I'm gonna stand before God having never sinned, perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ, perfect in Christ Jesus, holy,
unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. For that to happen
first is he's gonna have to be able to do that for me. This
is the first and really the most important point, his ability. Now, do you believe that he is
able, as Jude said in Jude 24, to keep you from falling and
to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy? Do you believe he's able to do
that? Yes, I do. I think of when those
two blind men came groping to get to the Lord, he said, do
you believe that I'm able to do this? They said, yeah, Lord. I'm persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed to him against that day. So here's
where we start, his ability. Second, is he willing? I know he's able, but is he willing? You know, the leper said, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. He just wasn't all that
sure about the willingness of the Lord to do this. Is he willing?
Oh, he said, no man takes my life from me. I'm doing this
willingly. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it up. This commandment have I received
of my father, what he does, he does. Remember what he said to
the leper? I will be thou clean. I think it's most clearly described
his willingness by Judah, typifying the Lord Jesus Christ. When he
said, send the lad with me, I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
of him. If I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee,
let me bear the blame forever. Now he's able and he's willing. Is he willing to save me? Are
you willing to be saved by him? Are you willing to be saved by
what he does without any of your works? Yeah, he's willing then. For him to do this for me, he
has to keep the law perfectly in my behalf. Now, he had to
be born of a virgin to do that, to be born without a sinful nature. He was born with a holy nature,
and in that holy nature, he could keep the law for me. I think of me dying in Adam,
and Adam also die, but in Christ shall all be made alive He said,
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness because of
who He is. He could do what He did for me. And that's what I
need to be saved from my sins. I need someone to keep the law
perfectly for me. Now for me to be saved from my
sins, He has to be able to deal with the absolute justice of
God in the punishment of sin. You know the reason hell is eternal,
it's never ending, is because that sin is never paid for. God's
justice is never satisfied. And I know the only way I can
get just a glimpse of this is if somebody murdered Aubrey and
they were guilty and did it willfully and said, here, here's $10 million.
Would you be satisfied? No. Here's a hundred million. No, nothing could satisfy me. The only thing that could satisfy
me is if she was raised from the dead and justice was satisfied. Well, that's exactly what happened
with the Lord Jesus Christ. He took on the full wrath of
God. He bore the full equivalent of
an eternal hell. He's the only one to do it. And
he satisfied God. I need that or I can't be saved. That's what he did. I love when
Elijah watches that fire come down from heaven and it consumes
the bull and it consumes the rock and the altar and the dust
and licked up the water. There was nothing left. But when
the fire of God's wrath came down upon the Lord Jesus Christ,
he consumed the wrath to where there was nothing left. For me to be saved from my sins,
he's going to have to defeat my adversary, the devil. I'm no match for him, and you
aren't either. But he said, the prince of this
world has been judged. For him to save me from my sins,
he's going to have to do something more than just for me. He's going
to have to do something in me. He's going to have to give me
a new heart that was not there before, a new spirit that believes,
that repents, that continues in the faith. He's going to have
to do something in me or I will not be saved. He's got to give
me life from the dead. a holy nature, able to believe,
able to repent. And for him to do something for
me, he's got to do something about my daily walk. I get my
feet dirty every day. And he promised to wash my feet
daily. And finally, For me to be saved from my sin,
I need somebody to raise me from the dead and change my vile body that
it be made fashioned like unto His glorious body. And He is
able to do that. Now shall I call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. Now, am I one
of His people? Let me ask you two questions
that can be answered with a yes or no, and you can determine
whether or not you're one of His people. Here's the first
question. Are you a sinner? That can be
answered with a yes or no. Are you a sinner? That's the
first question. Here's the second question. Do
you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? God the Son. God's Christ. Whoso believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now if you believe you're
a sinner, and I mean what the Bible means by that term. I don't
mean that in a complimentary way. What the Bible means by
that term. If you believe you're a sinner
and if you believe in your heart just like that Ethiopian eunuch
did. He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. You can answer that with yes
or no too. If you believe you're a sinner and you believe he's
God the Son, you're one of his people and you have been saved
from your sins. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for this
precious promise from your word. Lord, give us the grace to see
that we're sinners and to see that he is the successful Savior. Create saving faith in each heart
here according to your will. In Christ's name we pray, amen.