chapter 1. While you're turning
there, I heard something, I heard a very well-known prominent religious
person make a statement on television
this week. He said this, he said, only Jesus
Christ can change a heart. Well, the only problem with that
is that that's not scriptural. God doesn't change hearts. He
gives new ones. That which is flesh is flesh.
That's what Mr. Newton was talking about. He
said, when I look within, I see nothing but that which is dark
and vain and wild. Why? Because there's an old nature
still there. That which is flesh stays flesh. God doesn't change a goat into
a sheep. He doesn't change a dead heart
into a new heart. He gives a new heart. I will
give you a new heart. I'll give you a new mind. That's
regeneration. May the Lord teach us. We don't
need to be reformed. We need life imparted. All right. Our passage today starts with
the birth of our Lord. Matthew chapter one, verse 18.
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. Mary and Joseph were espoused. They had yet to actually be married
and the scripture declares that before They were married. That she was found to be with
child of the Spirit of God. And that situation was said to
have these results. Verse 19, when Joseph, her husband,
being a just man, not willing to make her a public
example, was minded to put her away privileged. He was a just
man, a righteous man before God, made so by the grace of God,
and he exhibited a marvelous spirit of graciousness. He really
did. He beheld that which in his opinion
was evil. His spouse wife was found to
be with child before they'd come together. But he didn't do anything
rashly. Here's what his attitude was.
He didn't want to expose her to public shame. Now that was
gracious. That was very, very gracious. I read that and I thought to
myself, Lord, help me to have that kind of an attitude. He
didn't want to shame her. He loved her. He was going to
marry her. And he was very thoughtful and
very considerate of her. And the law had given him the
right, Deuteronomy 24, if you want to read it, gave him the
right to divorce her. Put her away. But he thought
to put her away privately. To hide the reason is what it
was. Well, where's Mary, Joseph? Well,
things didn't work out. Just not give the reason. Don't
do it privately. And the scripture says that while
he thought, verse 20, 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. It's an amazing thing. While he thought. Now this is a precious word right
here. It means to rest from fierceness. While he rested from being fierce
toward her. While he thought on these things. He was a just man. while he surely
waited, with all probability, seeking the Lord's guidance as
to what he should do. How is this going to be handled?
Here's the woman that I've espoused myself, and she to me, too. And this doesn't look good. But I love her, and I want to
do the right thing. God sent an angel to him, and
while he was thinking, while he was resting from fierceness
on what to do, what do I do? In a situation like that, the
Lord sent a direct message to him concerning the very thing
that was grieving him. An angel came and said, Don't be afraid to take Mary
to be your wife. That which is conceived in hers,
conceived by the Spirit of God. And the scripture declares in
verse 21, that the angel continued saying, and she shall bring forth
a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, Savior, for He shall
save His people from their sins. Now, for just a few minutes,
I'd like for us to consider this scenario right here. This is
actually the last part that I just named. I shall call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. What we do, what these men do,
I do, when we stand before this, what we do is we take God's Word,
we take what the Lord has said, and we repeat it to God's people. So this is what I want to do
this morning for just a minute. I want to take what Almighty
God has said and marvel at this whole situation where God just
put His hand on that man and just settled him down. He said,
you just wait just a minute. He didn't leave him to himself
to get all mean, mad, hot, bothered, fly off the handle, throw her
out, kick her out, make a big scene, embarrass her, embarrass
himself. Almighty God settled him down. In all thy ways, Proverbs 3 says,
acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path. Acknowledge
Him. She shall bring forth a Son. Thy shall call His name Jesus
for He. Now, there's the first word I
want to consider. He. Who is this glorious He? For He. Let me tell you who this
He is. This He is God Almighty. John 1.1 says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. When we speak of the Lord Jesus
Christ, let me tell you who He is. He is the fullness, the completeness
of the Godhead, Father, Son, Spirit, Holy Spirit. He's the
fullness of the Godhead, all of God in a body, in a human
body. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word God, and the Scripture
says in verse 14 of John 1, and the Word was made flesh. He took upon Him humanity. Never ceased being God Almighty,
and He's a man. Totally God and totally man.
1 Timothy 3.16, God was manifest in the flesh. Now this is He
who was set up. Now this is a marvelous thing. There's one God set forth in
scriptures as being three persons. One God manifest in three persons. The Father set Him up. Set Him up, exalted Him to be.
the head and the representative of his people. Be a man and this
man had a people chosen in him before the foundation of the
world and this man, this God-man who is the surety of the sheep
in covenant agreement between the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. Covenant agreement. God made
a covenant with Himself concerning His people. And the Father chose
a people and gave them to the Son and declared unto Him, You
will represent all of the elect. I will look to You and to You
alone to answer You and you alone and the Son in covenant agreement,
agreed, you will answer, you will represent, you will live
for, you will die for, you will satisfy me, you will answer to
the Law's demand for justice and for righteousness. The Law
must be satisfied and magnified and you yourself will answer. This is He. who would take upon
himself a real human body made like unto his brethren and would
come into this world and be born just like all of his people. He was nine months in the womb
of a virgin and he came forth born just like every other human
being and he grew up just like every other human being. And
he learned obedience. He experienced it is what it
means. He experienced obedience to his
parents before God. And in everything that he did,
he pleased God. All of his deeds, all of his
thoughts, everything. He, he's God's prophet. He is the one who has come from
God to teach God, teach God's people of God. He's God's prophet. To teach them, I am the way,
I am the truth, I'm the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. He's the priest. He's God's priest. God has given
His people someone to represent them and to answer. before them,
before God, one that God will accept. Every man, every woman,
they're going to have to have a priest, a priest that's going
to intercede for them, that's going to sacrifice for them. He is the altar, he's the priest,
he's the sacrifice, he's all in all. He, this is God himself,
who humbled himself in our nature, He made himself of no reputation
that he might save, should save, all those given unto him before
the foundation of the world. Call his name Jesus, for he,
here's the next thing, shall save. Now there's a blessed word
of comfort. He shall save. He doesn't know anything about
chance. He doesn't know anything about maybe. He don't know anything
about offering and waiting on his people to see if they're
going to accept. Nothing. That's made up by man. Man made that up. God didn't
say that. That thing of an offer and walking
down and Lord died for, you know, everybody's sins and all you
have to do. Find that in the Bible. That's
not in the Bible. That's made up. That was made
up right there where God helps those that help themselves. That's
made up too. That's not in the Bible. What
does the scripture say? Call His name Jesus for, because. He shall save, appointed to the
glorious work of saving God's elect. The Spirit of God moved
upon the prophet Isaiah. It says, He shall not fail nor
be discouraged till He has set judgment in the earth and the
isles shall wait for his law. What does that mean? It means
that the Lord Jesus Christ shall come into this world because
there's a people that God's given him. God the Father said, now
all that I've given you, you're responsible for. These are my
elect. These are my chosen, these are
my selected, out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, and
you're responsible for them. And then the Spirit of God said,
before he ever came into this world physically, the Spirit
of God says, he's not gonna fail. All that the Father giveth me,
John 6, 36, I love that passage in Scripture, shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I'm
not gonna cast out. Isaiah said he shall not fail,
he shall not faint, he's not going to be broken until he's
satisfied the justice of God and established righteousness
for all his elect throughout the earth. I'll tell you again
what he said and then I'm going to read the passage again and
then you'll understand. He's not going to faint. He's
not going to be broken. till He satisfied the justice
of God and established righteousness for all His elect throughout
the earth, until all the chosen scattered Gentiles in the earth
have been made to know Him in regenerating grace and made to
hunger and to hear and to wait for Him." Now knowing what it
said, I'll read it to you again. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till he have set judgment, righteousness, in the earth and the isles, the
islands of the scattered ones, shall wait for his law, shall
wait for his truth. He's not going to fail. He's
going to happen. Salvation is not possible. Salvation is sure. When he declared
it is finished, that's exactly what it means. I did the same
thing I did last week. I put some of my notes in the
bulletin today. That's where I got that article.
He said, it is finished. John 4.34, my meat that which
I feast upon, my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me
and finish the work. I have glorified Thee on the
earth, I finish the work which Thou gavest me to do. That's
the words of the Lord Jesus. in submission to His Father,
in Him being made flesh, God-man, He said, I finished the work
that you gave Me to do. Christ died for those given Him
by the Father from before the foundation of the world when
He died. Now listen, and God saw this from before the foundation
of the world and it was an established fact. He saw He would come in
time. And when he died, that which
God saw eternally, justice was satisfied. Justice was satisfied
by God the Father, or in the eyes of God the Father, eternally.
God trusted him. It's done. When he did it, that's
what God saw. Justice was satisfied. The law
was magnified, hell was defeated, and all God's elect were saved. How long have we been saved?
How long in the sight of God Almighty who never changes, how
long has God's people been saved? Paul says, Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,
but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. How long have God's people been
secure? They've always been secure in Christ. Call His name Jesus, for He shall
save... Now look at the wording. Who's
He going to save? Verse 21. He shall save His people. Now you know, if we understand
anything of being able to read, we ought to understand that He
has a people. He's going to save His people. God has a peculiar property. Property of His grace and mercy. That's what He said, told Moses.
Show me your glory, I'm going to have mercy on whom I'll have
mercy. I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. They're
His. They're His sheep. They're His
treasure. They're His inheritance. And
the word elect, just look it up. In Ephesians chapter 1 verse
4, 5, 6, 7. What does that word elect mean? I know it's not a word that is
accepted or liked in religious circles, but it's in the scriptures. And so we preach it. God has an elect, a remnant according
to the election of grace. And the word elect means selected
ones. That's what it means. It means
selected. It means chosen. It means picked
out. That's what it means. They were
selected eternally. I told someone one time, they
said, I don't like that. I said, well, if I never preached
it again, would it change anything but God? I mean, if I said, I'm not going
to do it, I'm not going to say that anymore, I'm not going to
preach that anymore, is that going to change what God said?
He said, my counsel is going to stand, my word, you know,
heaven and earth are going to pass away, but my words will
never pass away. No, what we do, we bow. That's
what we do. We bow. He shall save his people,
those chosen, predestinated, unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ according to the pleasure of His good will. They fell in Adam's transgression. They came forth from their mother's
womb, speaking lies. Children of wrath, wrathful children
toward God, even as others, just like everybody else, Heathens,
just like everybody else. But though they're scattered
throughout all this world, lost in trespasses and sins, I'm going
to tell you something, Christ bore their guilt. He bore their
guilt at Calvary, laid down His life for them. And I'm telling you, if the Lord
has yet to call out one of His own, even to this point right
now, we're still here, so obviously He's not called them yet. If
they have yet to be born, I can tell you right now, Christ has
already borne their guilt. They're in Him. And there's no
condemnation to those that He's everlastingly loved. There's
no condemnation to those that be in Christ Jesus. And though
they don't know Him, though they're still dead in trespasses and
sins until the appointed hour of their conversion, they're
the Lord's. They're His people. of the sheep
I have." That's what he told some Jews. Of the sheep I have.
They're not of this fold. They're not of the Jewish nation.
And I must bring them. When it pleases God, you know
what's going to happen? He's going to put them under a message.
It's honoring Christ. It's saying what the Lord said.
The Spirit of God, according to God's good pleasure and timing,
is going to call them out of darkness. And He's going to do
just like He did to Matthew. You know what they're going to
do? They're going to follow Him. Willingly. Come to Him. Almighty
God is going to save His people. He calls them. Calls them by
grace. Call His name Jesus. For He shall save His people
from their sins. That word, from, here's what
it means. Separation. It means out from
under. Out from under the burden and
the guilt of. The presence of, we still have
it. But out from under the bondage
of, the penalty of, He saves His people from the bondage of,
from the guilt of, from the penalty of, and soon from the presence
of. We leave this world and this
body of death is put away. Who shall deliver me? Who shall
take me away from? God in Christ has placed an irrecoverable. You'll never be recovered. distance
between His people and the penalty of their transgression and iniquities. Sins that are truly theirs. I
said that last week. They're truly ours. He shall
save His people from their sins. If we say we have no sins, we
make God a liar, because He said you do. Oh, but the penalty of
it. There's the freedom of it. They know it. They know it. David
said, Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil
in thy sight. Oh, but the Spirit of God is
revealed through John. If we confess our sins, that
we are sinners. I don't know the half of what
I've done. I can't confess all of them. But if we confess what
we are, He's faithful and just. I've told you that. That is a
wonderful revelation. He's faithful, faithful to His
Word, faithful to His covenant, and He's just to forgive. Where's the justice? What are
you talking about? He's faithful and just. When Christ bore our
guilt, He bore our guilt, and God put it away, and it's gone. And now justice has been satisfied.
Justice is put away in Christ. Justice of wrath has been put
away, and there's no wrath toward us. He's faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Jeremiah 50 verse 20, In those days, and in that time, saith
the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there
shall be none. The sins of Judah, and they shall
not be found, for I will pardon them whom I Reserve. Reserve. I think about when I was in Natchitoches, Louisiana, in
college, just manifested in the foolishness of my old nature,
just running around. And I think how God was reserving,
preserving me from myself. My, my, my. In the time that
I didn't have sense enough to get out of the rain, Almighty
God would not leave me to myself. Wouldn't allow me to perish.
Had I perished then, I had no hope. But God who is rich in
mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us while we were yet
sinners. Christ died for us, died for
His people. And brethren, all who have been
everlastingly loved of God in Christ, redeemed by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, regenerated by God's Spirit, here's what
God has revealed. We're clean, every whit, perfect,
holy in Christ Jesus. No blame. Accepted in the Beloved
without blemish. And as He is, He is an amazing
thing. So are we in this world. I pray that God bless these words.
Call His name Jesus. because for he shall save his
people from their sins. I pray God bless these words
to our heart again for Christ's sake.