Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Matthew 1. Matthew 1. I'd like to look at verses 18
to 23. And I've entitled this message, shall
save his people. Before the foundation of the
world, the Scripture bears this out. God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, according to an everlasting covenant
of grace, Purposed. And what God purposes,
God performs. Purposed to save a people chosen
and given to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was going to save them from
their sins. before they ever fell. This is the promise that Brother
Neal was just talking about in Genesis 17, when God made a covenant
to Abraham and his seed in Christ. He who would come, humanly
speaking, in the lineage of Abraham. God Almighty who knew them and
loved them, purposed to show mercy and compassion, saw them
in the fall before they were ever created. He knew they were going to fall.
That's why He told Adam, He said, In the day that thou eatest,
He had already seen him eat. In the day that thou eatest,
Thou shalt surely die. Dying you will die. According to the scriptures,
according to the revelation of those scriptures, the terms of
that everlasting covenant, God Almighty, the beloved Son, would take upon Himself flesh,
God Himself would take upon Himself the nature of man. And the reason He was going to
do this, to come into this world, and as the federal head representative
of His people, He was going to live for them and die for them.
And living for them, He was going to establish as man. Righteousness. As man, he would live for his
people and the righteousness that the man, Christ Jesus, would
be referred to as the righteousness of God. He would live holy as a man. absolute perfectness. God Himself would look upon the
man, Christ Jesus, and say, I'm well pleased with him. No guilt. No guilt. Perfectly. You're going to die for him.
You're going to die bearing their sins in His own body. He was
going to be made sin. Actually made sin. And being
made sin, He was going to suffer the absolute judgment that was
due their sin. And put it away. Put away the
guilt. That being seen by Almighty God
according to His everlasting covenant was salvation to His
people. They have according to God's
everlasting purpose to show mercy and grace to His people. They were eternally saved Let
me show you that. Titus 1 Timothy Titus. Titus chapter 1. Listen to the
words of the Spirit of God. Titus 1, 1 and 2. Paul, a servant
of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith
of God's elect, And the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness
in hope means for confidence, for expectation. In hope of eternal
life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world
began. God looked upon His people. Turn
to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 1. God looked upon His people in
His Son, saved. Look at 2 Timothy 1, verse 8
and 9. 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 a general call, but a factual call. Call 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 in Christ? They've always been secure. Always. Now, knowing that, turn back
to Matthew 1. As we reverently be content to
hear and to believe what the Spirit of God has revealed concerning
God's everlasting covenant toward His people, let's see for just
a few minutes what God in time did. Matthew 1, verse 18. of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused
to Joseph, before they came together, she was found." That word found
right there means it became evident. You could see. She was found
with child of the Holy Ghost. It became evident that she was
pregnant. Verse 22, Now all this was done
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the
prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall
bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which
being interpreted is God with us. Now here we're told two great
truths. Number one, that God, Immanuel,
took the nature of humanity, of flesh. And secondly, that
his birth was miraculous. His earthly mother was the vessel
through which the man Christ Jesus would come. And she was a virgin. Never knew a man before the Lord
Jesus Christ was born. She was not the mother of God. In the beginning, God. She was a fallen creature in
Adam. She came forth from her mother's
womb speaking lies just like everybody else. She was a sinner. And one, if saved, as all God's
elect are, was saved by the grace of God. She was a chosen vessel
by which God Himself would enter into this world as man. Found with child. A virgin. Nothing is impossible with God.
That holy thing, the Scripture says, that was conceived in her
was of the Holy Ghost, that the blood of Adam, the fallen race,
would not flow in his veins. Here he is. Holy God and holy
man. That which is born of God Then
if not, holy man, begotten of God, the beloved of the Father,
the only begotten, that is, the only one eternally as perfect
God and man. He was made flesh in time, but
He always is. God has never begun. I am the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. Now, we're just going to have
to admit right here, we're way over our heads in understanding. People try to explain the Trinity.
Don't try to explain it. Just declare it. God said, one
God. One God. And here the Lord Jesus
Christ at His baptism, there was a voice heard out of heaven,
and the Father said, This is My beloved Son. And the Spirit
of God descended upon Him in the form of a dove. One God. You can't explain that. We believe
Him. Here He is, God Almighty. And
you can see the Scripture bears out. Here was the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. Here was God Almighty. Raising
the dead and giving sight and walking on water and knowing
the hearts of men. And here was the man, Christ
Jesus, thirsting and sleeping, hungering, dying. Great is the
mystery of godliness. God manifest in the flesh. Here is the one. that was fearfully
and wonderfully made. I want you to turn to Psalm 139.
I want you to look at something. Psalm 139, verses 13 to 15. Psalm
139. Verses 13 to 15. And let me assure you that this
is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. And listen to these words. Psalm 139 verse 13, For thou
hast possessed my reins, thou hast covered me in my mother's
womb. I will praise thee, for I am
fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are thy works. and that my soul knoweth right
well, greatly. My substance, that is, my strength
or my body, was not hid from thee when I was made in secret,
that is, in the dark chambers of the virgin's womb." My substance,
my body, was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and
curiously wrought. in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect. And in thy book all my members
were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there
was none of them." I read that 16th verse and I thought, oh
my, I need to look up that word unperfect. Because that word
right there seems to, you know... I looked it up. It means, and
gave a description, Mr. Gill said, and rightly so, he
said that word would describe if you took yarn, a ball of yarn,
and it had been pulled out, and you picked it up, and it was
just a mass, That word, unperfect, means before it had shape. Before He was formed. Before
that body was formed. In conception, before everything
was made, He said, you saw Me. I was all there. That's what
it meant. And then my heart could settle
down a little bit. I mean, you read a word like
unperfect, you want to run and go look it up real fast. Find
out. Here he is, wonderfully, marvelously
made. He said before, he said, your
eyes saw my substance. Your eyes saw my body, my strength,
yet being not yet completely formed as manhood as we would
recognize it. God saw him. That marvelous birth. reveals that the seed of a woman
is going to bruise the serpent's head. The seed of a man. When you hear that phrase, the
seed of a woman, let me tell you, just get right to the heart
of what that means. Man has nothing to do with his own salvation. The seed
of a woman? She was but the vessel. The seed
would come from the man. The seed of the woman sets forth
that Almighty God had wrought this miracle. That's why the
angel told Joseph back in Matthew 1, he said, Thou Son of David,
Joseph, Thou Son of David, you who are in the lineage of the
throne. Married Joseph, both. I mean,
in the lineage, when they came in after the Lord had been born,
there was no room for them, no room for them, no room for Him. 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 was an honorable man. She
was bound to be with child. It became real apparent that
she was pregnant. He didn't want to make a shameful
display of her. He was going to put her away
privately. But Almighty God moved. And the
angel of the Lord told Joseph, don't be afraid. Take her to
wife. That faithful woman right there
has been conceived. by the Spirit of God. And the
Scripture says that here being the reason, according to God's
eternal purpose, covenant of grace, because He has a people
that's going to be saved, here's the reason for His birth. Here's the reason that the Lord
Jesus Christ was born. Verse 21, "...she shall bring
forth a son, And thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins." There are three shalls or shouts
in that verse of Scripture. Here is the first of the three.
She shall bring forth the Son. There will be no miscarriage
here. The counsel of the Lord standeth forever. the thoughts
of His heart to all generations. Isaiah 46.10 says, declaring
the end from the beginning and from the ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand. I will
do all My pleasure. She shall bring forth a Son. And I shout,
call His name Jesus. Not those that knew Him ever
referred to Him by that name. Everyone that knew Him in grace
and mercy, they called Him Lord and Master. And He commended
them for it. He told them, in John 13, 13,
you call Me Master and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. Whenever you hear someone speaking
and referring to Him as Jesus, I'm telling you, I'll tell you
what happens to me when I hear that. A big question mark goes
up. I'm telling you, God's people
possess a heart. They don't speak to Him like
that. They speak to Him respectfully
and of Him respectfully. But the command here, you shall
call His name Jesus. This is what He's saying. You
shall call His name Savior. No one else is going to be able
to lay claim to that name. I'll tell you what Unregenerate
does. He may refer to himself as his
own name, but if he believes that he has a free will, he's
equating His will, Himself, His name to Savior. You'll call His name. His name. Jesus. You'll call His name. No one else is going to own that
glory. For. This is a reason that you'll
call His name Savior. Jesus. For. Because. That's what the word for means.
Because, indeed, no doubt, seeing, therefore, He. The only party involved. I'm
telling you, there's no other parties involved. When it comes
to salvation, there's no other parties involved. You say, yeah,
but at least I know you didn't. No, you didn't. I believed after He saved you. I confessed Him in baptism after
He saved you. I called upon Him for mercy after
He saved you. After He gave you life. For He,
this is this one, shall save. Do you know what shall save means? No doubt. No doubt. Who is He going to save? His
people. His people. Those that the Father chose from
before the foundation of the world and gave Him in electing
grace. How do you know who they are? He saves them. And they believe
Him. And they have no confidence in
their flesh. None. None. None. They lay no claim to having added
anything Anybody that lays claim to having done something for
their salvation does not know God in saving grace. When the Lord gives them life,
I'm telling you what they'll do. They'll forsake that. They'll
do like Paul the apostle. I count it all but done. Lost. He shall save his people. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out." And in closing, you know what
he's going to save them. He's going to save them from their
sins. Last Friday night, Dan and Crow
and Brother Bruce read this. Turn with me to Psalm 32. Bless
my heart, Psalm 32, verses 1 and 2. Going to save them from their
sins. Look at verses 1 and 2 of Psalm
32. Blessed, that is happy, is he
whose transgression is forgiven. whose sin is covered. You know, when that prodigal
came back to his daddy, Scripture never says anything
about him cleaning himself up. He came and they put the best
robe on him. This phrase right here, who sinned. And it's there. But it's covered. That boy never said, wait, before
you put that robe on me, let me go wash up a little bit. Let
me go clean myself up a little bit. You put that robe on him. Happy is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. You that are blessed know him. that there's no iniquity there. Because if we say that we sinneth
not, we make Him a liar. But here's the blessing, that
God won't charge you with it. No charge. That sin has been put away, the
guilt of it, by the blood of Christ. And we go right back
to that first verse. Blessed is the man. whose transgression,
and it's there, is forgiven. Whose sin, and it's there, is
covered. That one that God won't impute
guilt to. Lord, bless these words to our
heart for Christ's sake.