Good morning. We're going to be looking at
a passage of Scripture in Matthew chapter 1 this morning. If you'd like to turn with me
there in your Bibles, Matthew chapter 1. Let me say to our
moms, Happy Mother's Day. And to those who speak Spanish,
Feliz Dia de las Madres. I think I got that right. Did
I get that right? Okay. Bryant, I was just trying to
remember, you were actually here before your mom came here, weren't
you? No? Okay. All right. Afterwards. I can't. It's good to have Bryant
with us. I used to attend here years ago
and just got back safely from one of those stands over there,
I can't pronounce it, near Afghanistan. We're glad you're home safe and
sound and good to have you here. And Judith from Pikeville, where
Tom Harding pastors, was here with us back a few months ago
and she's back again this morning with her mom. Glad you're here. I was telling the men this morning,
I don't guess there's a Sunday that goes by that somebody doesn't
ask me if we're going to Sarasota tonight. We go to Sarasota every
Sunday night. If anybody would like to go with
us, you're welcome to go. We'd love for you to go with
us anytime. So we leave here around 3 o'clock
on Sunday. I've been very encouraged with
what the Lord's doing over there and the response to the gospel.
So I'm thankful for that. I covet your prayers and the
believers over there covet your prayers for that work. Next Sunday, you all remember
Eugene and Natalie and Norris Wright. They're in Charlotte
now, and they're without a pastor. And they've asked me to come
up and preach for them next weekend. So we'll be having services on
Saturday and Sunday next weekend in Charlotte. And Michael and
Hugo have graciously agreed and prepared to bring messages for
you here next Sunday. All right, let's ask the Lord's
blessings on His word to our hearts. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we are so very thankful that we have a throne of grace that
we can approach to find grace and help in our time of need. We thank you, Father, that the
judgment of the law has been satisfied and that we have an
advocate that stands before thee, one who is righteous and one
in whom we have our acceptance. We ask, Father, that you would
be pleased now to send your Holy Spirit and that he would lighten
the eyes of our understanding. that he would open that which
no man can shut. Lord, that you would open your
word to our hearts and our hearts to Christ. Lord, we pray your blessing on
your word and on this service and on our very souls. We pray
for our brethren in Sarasota and for the work of the gospel
that's taking place there and we ask Lord your blessings on
it. pray that you'd call out your sheep. We pray, Lord, for
those that are attending that have yet to hear the truth, Lord,
that you would open their ears, cause them to believe. We might
rejoice together in seeing you bring into your fold your sheep. We ask it in Christ's name and
for his sake. Amen. you have your Bibles open
with me to Matthew chapter 1 Matthew chapter 1 last Sunday we began
a study in this hour on the names and titles of the Lord Jesus
Christ given to us in the scripture there are over a hundred of them
and Lord willing each Sunday we'll look at a different one
and see how it illuminates an aspect of his nature and his
work to his glory and reveals who he is to our
hearts. The one we're going to look at
this morning is the most common name used of the Lord Jesus Christ
in all of Scripture. In the New Testament this name
is used over 900 times. Over 900 times in the New Testament
we find the name Jesus. Last Sunday we looked at Him
as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, and
saw that He is the beginning and ending of all things in creation,
in providence, and especially in salvation. the Lord chose
a people before the foundation of the world he redeemed them
successfully he will be sure that they uh... they remain kept
until the day of his coming and uh... he will and has in himself
glorified his people he's the beginning and the ending of our
salvation this name jesus is so precious to the ears of God's
people and yet it's a name that is so loosely used by many. In Matthew chapter 1 at verse
16, and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary of whom was born
Jesus who is called Christ, who is called Christ. As I said,
over 900 times the name Jesus is used in the New Testament. Not to speak of all the times
that the name Joshua is used, which is exactly the same name.
Joshua is the Hebrew rendering of the Greek name Jesus. They both mean exactly the same
thing. And as we're going to see in
the book of Hebrews, they're even used in connection with
one another. and translated the name means
salvation is of the Lord or Jehovah saves. God does all the saving. But here in verse 16 there's
an emphasis placed on what Jesus is called. You see
that in verse 16? Who is called Christ. of the nine hundred plus times
and i went through my exhaustive concordance and i can tell you
that i read every verse but i made a a pretty lengthy uh... review of the verses that are
in the new testament referencing our lord's name as jesus and
of the nine hundred times over nine hundred times that it's
used uh... the majority of them are the
Holy Spirit speaking of the activity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
majority of the times that our Lord's name is mentioned as Jesus
in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is telling us what the
Lord Jesus Christ is doing. We'll read verses that will say,
Jesus went, or Jesus said, or Jesus came, or Jesus stood, or
Jesus commanded, or Jesus rebuked, or Jesus entered, or Jesus sat. And the majority of all those
references, if not all of them, that I could find, with the exception
of one, and I'll show you that one, is the Spirit of God telling
us what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing. The rest of the time that His
name, Jesus, is mentioned in the New Testament, it's connected
with the rest of His name. The Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus
who is the Christ. Jesus the Holy One of God. Jesus
the Son of David. So the only time it's used by
itself, it's used by, if we could say, His peer. His peer. The Holy Spirit. who is the third
person of the triune Godhead who can speak His name just by itself, Jesus. When blind Bartimaeus made reference
to our Lord's name, he said, Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy upon me." As we saw Wednesday night with the man who was possessed
with demons in Mark chapter 5, when the demons saw the Lord
Jesus Christ coming, they cried out and said, Jesus, thou Son
of the Most High God. In Mark chapter 1, when our Lord
went into Capernaum, there was a man who was possessed with
an unclean spirit and the spirit cried out of the man and said,
Jesus of Nazareth, I know who thou art, the Holy One of Israel. Hast thou come to torment me
before my appointed time? Even the demons don't refer to
the Lord Jesus Christ simply by Jesus. The Holy Spirit can. He's equal with the Lord. But
every other time the Lord's name is mentioned, it's mentioned
in reference to His title, not just His given name. When the thief on the cross cried
for mercy, he said, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy
kingdom. When those ten lepers cried out
for our Lord to heal them, they said, Jesus, Master, have mercy
on us. When Mary was confronted with
the resurrected Christ at the tomb And she finally realized, as
the Holy Spirit said, that Jesus was there, but she knew Him not.
And when He spoke her name, she didn't cling to Him and say,
Oh Jesus. No, she said, Rabboni, Master,
Lord. When Thomas was called upon to
place his hand into our Lord's side and to observe the wounds
of his hand, Thomas said, Oh my Lord and my God. In John chapter 13 verse 13,
the Lord has the disciples together and you remember he's washing
their feet and he says to them, you call me master and Lord. and you say well for so I am."
There's no references that I could find where the disciples ever
spoke to the Lord Jesus Christ simply as Jesus. He went on to say, if I then
be your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, so ought you
to wash one another's feet. Now there's one reference that
I could find, and perhaps there's another. I don't know. Like I
said, I didn't read all 900 verses. But the one that I did find,
I was always a little confused about until now. And it's found
in John chapter 12. John chapter 12. Tom, I think we sing a hymn that
comes from this verse of scripture. In John chapter 12 at verse 20,
and there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship
at the feast. So there were some Greeks who
were Jewish proselytes who had come to Jerusalem on the feast
day to worship. And the same came therefore to
Philip, verse 21, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired
him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. The only place I can find. where
a man speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ simply by his first name. We would see Jesus. And Jesus
answered, now that's the Holy Spirit speaking, and Jesus answered,
I'm sorry, Philip cometh and tell Andrew, and Andrew, and
again, Andrew and Philip tell Jesus, and Jesus answered them,
saying, The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. There's no
evidence in this passage or anywhere else in Scripture that the Lord
gave to these Greeks an audience. They came to the disciples and
said, we would see Jesus. We have an interest in Jesus.
We want to sit down with Him. We want to talk to Him. We've
got some questions for Him. And His response to the disciples
to give back to the Greeks is that the hour for the Son of
Man to be glorified has come, for unless I die and am raised
again, they're never going to understand. they're never gonna
understand that my name is so much more than Jesus to them. For after my glorification, if
I'm pleased to reveal myself to them then, they'll know that
yes, I am Jesus, but I am the Christ, the Son of the living
God, Master, Lord, and Savior. why am i making such a point
of this well number one it's consistent with the revelation
of the lord jesus christ in the scripture and uh... number two
it is to say to us that the scriptures are clear thou shall not take
the name of the lord thy god in vain for the lord will not
hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain when we speak
the name of our Lord we don't speak it like the religious world
or like the rest of the world speaks his name I hear people
all the time Jesus this and Jesus that and they can speak it with
such with such lightheartedness with such glibness with such
what they're doing is they're taking the name of the Lord in
vain We're going to recognize our
high school graduates this morning. I'm so proud of them. And we're
going to give them, as we do every year, a Bible with their
name on it. And in securing those Bibles,
I was forced a couple of weeks ago to enter into one of these,
quote, Christian bookstores. I could not have felt any more
dirty going into a brothel. I could not have. I mean, there's
Jesus pencils, Jesus t-shirts. They've got Jesus mints. Jesus
mints. And His name is plastered all
over the place as if it was just You know, they write his name
in the script that Coca-Cola is written in and says he'll
add, you know, whatever the Coke logo is, add something to your
life, you know, drink, you know, try Jesus. We don't speak of him like that. When we speak of him, he is Lord
and Master. He's the Christ. He's the son
of the living God. We're not going to stand before
God and be guilty of using His name in vain. But that's what
they do. That's what they do. And their
blasphemy is worse. The blasphemy of religion committed
by outwardly moral people is worse than the shameful acts
of the irreligious. It's worse. It's worse. I'll show you an
example of that. Turn with me to Daniel chapter
5. Daniel chapter 5. Nebuchadnezzar had in God's purpose besieged Jerusalem
some years before, robbed the treasury of the temple of all
of its items. All the golden censers and cups
that were used in the worship of Jehovah in Jerusalem were
now in the treasury of Babylon. They're now in the treasury of
Babylon. And Nebuchadnezzar has since died, and Belshazzar now
is the king of Babylon, and Daniel is the prophet of God in Babylon. And the scripture says in verse
1 of Daniel chapter 5, Belshazzar the king made a great feast to
a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousands."
Now you can just imagine in this pagan culture what all was taking
place in this great feast. The greatest nation in the world,
a man who had wealth beyond measure invites a thousand of his lords
to come and he has this great drunken feast. Belshazzar, while he tasted the
wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which
his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which
was in Jerusalem that the king and his princes and his wives
and his concubines might drink therein." God would have left Belshazzar
alone, but plenty of kings have put on plenty of feasts and there's
been plenty of drunken orgies that God just let happen. And that would have been the
case here. But when Belshazzar told his assistants to go into
the treasury and bring out the vessels that my father took from
the temple in Jerusalem, now we're involving God in our paganism. The true God, the God of Israel,
the God who is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Then they brought the golden
vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God,
which was at Jerusalem, and the king and his princes and his
wives and his concubines drank in them. They drank wine and
praised the gods of gold and silver and brass and iron and
wood and stone." So here they've got the vessels taken from the
tabernacle And they're praising the gods of paganism with these
vessels. You know, that's exactly what's
happening in human religion, man-made religion today. They're
taking the precious vessels of God, the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and they're worshiping the gods of gold and silver and
wood. They're worshipping not the God
of Scripture, they're worshipping the God of their imagination. God won't tolerate it. In the same hour came forth fingers
of a man's hand and rode over against the candlestick upon
the plaster of the wall of the king's palace and the king saw
the part of the hand that wrote, Then the king's countenance was
changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his
loins were loosed, and his knees were smote one against another.
And the king cried and said, Oh, bring in the soothsayers
and the Chaldeans, so they can interpret this writing. And none
of them could interpret it until Daniel was brought in. He interpreted
it. And verse 24, and this is the
writing. Well, read verse 23 first. This
is what Daniel says to Belshazzar. But hast lifted up thyself against
the Lord of heaven, and have brought the vessels of this house
before thee, and thou and thy lords and thy wives and thy concubines
have drunk wine in them, and hast praised the gods of silver
and gold and brass and iron and wood and stone, which see not,
nor hear, nor know. The God that's worshipped today
in man-made religion, who's been given the name Jesus, He's just
like this. He's powerless. He's powerless. He's powerless to save. Unless
you let Him have His way, unless you do your part, unless you
make your contribution, unless you perform your work, unless
you exercise your will, He's powerless. He's not the God who
is. And the God in whose hand thy
breath is, and whose are thy ways, hast thou not glorified."
There's only one gospel that glorifies the God who is, and
that's the gospel that gives to Jesus, the Lord, the Son of the Living God, the
Christ, the Holy One of Israel, all of His glory. And you write
His name on a t-shirt, or put it on a piece of candy, or down
the side of a pencil, and you are robbing Him of all of His
glory. And you speak it as if it had
no meaning. You're robbing Him of His glory.
There's no difference. There's nothing new under the
sun. Men are doing exactly the same today that Belshazzar did
in the days of Daniel. Exactly the same. No difference
whatsoever. Then was the part of the hand
sent from him, and this writing was written, and this is the
writing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tikal, Upharsin, And this
is the interpretation of the thing, meaning, God hath numbered
thy kingdom and finished it. Tequil thou art weighed in the
balance and art found wanting, for as thy kingdom is divided
and given to the Medes and the Persians. God's weighed you in the balance
and found you wanting and taken from you. Taken from you. all of your hope
of salvation. Why? Because you blasphemed His name. You blasphemed His name. Oh,
when the name of Jesus passes your lips, speak it in the greatest,
in the greatest respect and honor and humility and gratitude for
who he is and what he's done. Don't be like this world. Yes,
the scripture speaks his name many, many times without reference
to his title, but everyone that I could find with the exception
of those Greeks who never got to see him was the Spirit of
God speaking about what he was doing. And if anyone can say
his name, the Spirit of God can do it. Now he's of the tribe of Judah. Judah, you remember, stood before
his father and told Jacob, I'll be a surety for the Lamb. Turn back with me to Matthew
chapter 1. There's where our text is. Matthew chapter 1. Look at verse 20. But while he
thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord, Joseph
discovered that Mary was expecting a child and not wanting to put
her to public shame knowing that he wasn't the father assumed
as anyone would that she had been with another man and the
Spirit of God sent the angel to speak directly to Joseph in
a vision and here says in verse 20 And while he thought on these
things, behold, 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. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name. Jesus for He shall save His people. He shall save His people. And
when Judah agreed to be the surety for Benjamin to his father Jacob,
he said, I'll be a surety for him. I'll put my life on the
line. And he said, of my hand shalt
thou require him. Let me bear the blame forever. That's what he said. That's what
Judah said. I'll bear the blame forever if I don't bring Benjamin
back. Is it possible for the Lord Jesus Christ to bear blame
before God? No. Why? Because he succeeded
in saving his people. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
make an offer of salvation like Reuben made in the previous chapter. Reuben said to his father, he
said, I'll take Benjamin and I promise I'll bring him back
and if I don't bring him back you can kill my sons. Kill my
sons? What kind of surety is that? He didn't make an attempt to
rule his kingdom and fail as did Absalom. No, he's called
the son of David. Why? Because his throne is established
forever. He didn't try to build a tower. And I know I've used this example
before, but it just it reminds me every, I see it pretty much,
it's right near my house, I see it pretty much every day. That
building over there at Maitland and I-4, that shell of a building,
what an embarrassment. How many years has it been now?
It's a testimony of man-made religion. It's beautiful on the
outside, until you look at the foundation you see that there's
nothing there and then there's nothing in it. It's empty. There's
not even walls in it. It's just got glass around it.
It's an empty building. It's not serving anybody. Why? Because they didn't count the
cost before they started the building. It's appropriate that it's a
religious organization that's trying to build that building
because it just testifies of what religion is made by man
that didn't count the cost. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
to build his kingdom he counted the cost and he didn't have a
shell of a building. He's not begging and pleading
men to let him have his way. He accomplished what he came
to do. His shed blood on Calvary's cross put away all the sins of
all of his people. He didn't, he wasn't like that
king. The Lord said, when a king goes to battle and he, and he,
he, he questions, can I take, can I take on 10,000 with my
thousand? He, he, he calculated the cost
well, and he knew that he could defeat Satan. And he did just
that. He did just that. You shall call
his name Jesus." And we don't speak that lightly and rarely
do we ever say it except when reading scripture after what
the Holy Spirit says. Do we just say Jesus this and
Jesus that? No. No. For He shall save His people
from their sins. When the Lord Jesus Christ shed
his precious blood on Calvary's cross, not one drop of it was
wasted. Not one drop of it. It succeeded
in being a covering for the sins of all the sins of all those
whom God chose in the covenant of grace before the world began.
That's who He is. That's what His name means. Jehovah
saves. He saves. He's not trying to
save. He saves. Now I mentioned to you that Jesus
and Joshua are the same names. If you'll turn with me to the
book of Joshua. From what I understand, Perpetual motion is a theoretical
impossibility. It's a theoretical impossibility.
Plenty of people have tried to figure out ways to produce motion
without the external force of energy. Something that perpetually
moves on its own. resistance and friction always
come into play and so there's always a need for an external
source of energy in order to move something which makes perpetual
motion a theoretical impossibility. So where are you getting at?
Joshua was the son of Nun And none translated means perpetuity
or that which is perpetual. That which is perpetual. There
is no friction or resistance or no need for you to contribute
any energy. in order to move the hand of
God in salvation. It's not a theoretical impossibility. It's the gospel. It's who Christ
is. It's who He is. Perpetuity. Perpetual. Without any help from
us. He's done it all. That's His
name. Joshua, the son of Nun. Look
at verse 1 of Joshua chapter 1. Now after the death of Moses,
Moses couldn't bring the children of Israel into the promised land.
Why? Because Moses was a picture of
the law. Yes, Moses smote the rock twice when God told him
to smite it only once. That rock was Christ. That's
clear from Galatians. The Lord makes it clear that
the rock that followed the children of Israel through the wilderness
was the Lord Jesus Christ from whom came the river of living
water to sustain them in that place. And Moses was commanded
of God to take the rod, which was a picture of the law. Moses
is a picture of the law. The commandments were given to
Moses. The commandment came by Moses, but grace and truth comes
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses took that rod and smoked
the rod, and because he was angry at the people, he smoked it twice,
and God told him, you're not going to go into the kingdom.
The law only has to smite the Lord Jesus Christ one time, and
then it's satisfied. The first smite is all it took.
When the rod of God's justice smote the Lord Jesus Christ on
Galvary's cross, the water of life flowed freely from Him. He's never to be smitten again. And the law has nothing else
to say. The law's been quieted. Moses
can't go into the Promised Land. He's a picture of the law. Joshua
has to be the one to lead the children of Israel across the
Jordan River. Jordan by translation means death. So here we have God bringing
his people. They've come through the wilderness
and now they're coming across the river of death into that
land which is flowing with milk and honey. Joshua was the only
one that could bring them in. Now after the death of Moses,
the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto
Joshua, or Jesus, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,
now you remember where Joshua first appears. When Moses back
at Kadesh Barnea sent the twelve tribes in to spy out the land,
Joshua and Caleb were two of the twelve spies that went in. And ten of the spies came back
and said, oh no, there's giants in the land, we can't take the
land. And Joshua who's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
Caleb, whose name translated means a faithful dog, who is
a picture of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Joshua and
Caleb said, oh no! We're not as grasshoppers in
their sight. We might be in their sight, but
we're not in God's sight. God's given us the land, let
us take it. But they wouldn't listen to Joshua and Caleb. The
only two that survived the next 40 years in the wilderness, the
only two adults that survived and went into the promised land
was Joshua and Caleb. Every other male from 20 years
old older died in the wilderness. Joshua and Caleb went in. Christ
and His church went in successfully into the promised land. Moses,
my servant, is dead. The law's been satisfied. It's
been fulfilled. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Now, therefore,
arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the
land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel."
Joshua was to lead them in faithfully and he did just that. But they
never had rest in the land. They never had rest. It was called
the land of rest. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
4. Hebrews chapter 4. I'm sorry, but we have to bring this
into the into the picture. Look at verse 7. Again, he limited a certain day,
saying in David, Today, after so long a time, as it is said,
Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if
Jesus or Joshua had given them rest, And you say, don't worry
about it. Why does it say Jesus there?
Because that's the Greek translation of Joshua. But everything we
read about Joshua is a type of Christ. And so Joshua foreshadows
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. For had Joshua or the
Lord Jesus Christ had given them rest, which he didn't, then he
would not have afterwards spoken of another day. What's another
day? The day when the Lord Jesus Christ
would come and fulfill in his person that which was typified
in Joshua. So they were waiting for another
day all along, all throughout the Old Testament. There remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God, for he that is entered
into his rest, into the rest of Christ, He also has ceased
from His own works as God did from His. Why did God, why does
the scripture say God rested on the seventh day of creation?
Was He tired? Was He exhausted? Oh, that's
blasphemy to even say that or think that, isn't it? No, He
was finished. He was finished. The work was
done. And it's a picture of what the
Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished. He is our rest. Look at verse 11. Let us labor therefore. I love this. Oh, you need to
work harder. You need to do more. You need
to get more committed. Well, probably do. You know,
but that's not what he's saying here. Labor to enter into his rest. You know it takes a spiritual
work to not work. It takes a spiritual work of
grace in the heart to stop a man from working his way to heaven. Let's take a break.