Let's take our Bibles this morning
and turn with me to the book of Matthew chapter 1. Matthew
chapter 1. I'd like to read verses 18 through
25, and we'll actually be looking at verse 21. Matthew chapter
1, beginning in 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
with child of the Holy Ghost, then Joseph, her husband being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privately. But 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 from their sins. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
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. Then Joseph, being raised from
sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took
unto him his wife. and knew her not till she had
brought forth her firstborn son. And he called his name Jesus. Let's pray together. Our Father, this morning we are
thankful to be able to lift our hearts before you by faith faith
given from above, to call upon you in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And I pray that you would bless these services. Bless them, Lord,
to your honor, to the glory of our precious Savior, and to the
comfort and salvation of your people. For it is in Christ's
name we pray. Amen. of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Savior, into this world was a marvelous thing. His coming was according to God's
purpose. That's right. God Almighty has
a purpose. And everything that's happening
in this world, everything that happens is according to God's
purpose. The Scripture sets forth, Ephesians
1.11, the Scripture says, "...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.
Romans 9.11, the scripture sets forth concerning the children
of Rebekah. For the children, she had two
boys in her womb. For the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of Him that calleth." Almighty God does everything that He does
according to election. His purpose. His will. Now the Scriptures, they're just
Absolutely. There's no doubt concerning this
thing of God's election. The Scripture is clear. Anybody
that doubts God's election either hasn't read the Word of God,
or they're just fooling themselves. God's Word sets forth that God
Almighty elected a people before the foundation of the world and
was going to show mercy and grace and compassion to those people. He predestinated them to be holy
and without blame before Him in love, in Christ. Nobody has a problem with election. Are you sure you heard me say
that right? Nobody has a problem with election. No, let me tell
you who they have a problem with. They have a problem with God
being the source of it. As long as you tell somebody
that Almighty God looked down through time and saw who would
choose Him, And therefore, because they decided, he saw in his all-knowingness,
that they would choose him, therefore he chose them. Nobody's got a
problem with that. As long as you let man be the
author and the finisher of his faith, as long as you let man
Be the one that made the decision. Nobody's got a problem with election. I've heard people speak on election.
But when they speak on it, it always goes back to man. No,
they have a problem with Almighty God before the foundation of
the world. Choosing to show mercy to whomsoever
He will. Now that grates on man. Almighty
God chose to show mercy to a people that He chose in Christ. Therefore, the scripture sets
forth that the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Savior, God's Messiah,
came into this world. A child was conceived in the
womb of a virgin by the Holy Ghost. That's what Matthew 1.20,
"...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."
Matthew 1.18, Mary was a spouse to Joseph before they came together. She was found with child of the
Holy Ghost. There is no doubt how Mary had
that child. God conceived in her womb. The reason that Christ came into
this world was because God Almighty has a people. Now the nation
of Israel looked for this They knew that God was going to send
the Messiah, and they knew the sign that it was going to be.
Isaiah 7.14, Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive,
and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. That is, God
with us. There is a glorious purpose in
this conception. The God of all grace loved the
order of man. And the God of all grace, knowing
before man ever fell, that man was going to fall. God Almighty, purpose chose,
had an elect Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is elect. His land. And out of all of mankind
that fell in Adam, and they all fell, all of them fell. All of
them. Born in Adam, they come forth
from their mother's womb speaking lies. They're rebels against
God. They hate God. They hate God's
Christ. They hate God's gospel. They
hate God's people. Now, the Scripture bears that
out. The Lord told His disciples, they hated Me before they hated
you. You will be hated of all men, despised. But Almighty God
had an elect, had a remnant, according to election, that God
Almighty everlastingly loved. And Christ was going to come
into this world, made of a woman, made under the law, to save sinners. Not every sinner. Almighty God
never has set forth that Christ came into this world to save
every sinner. Who did He come into this world
to save? His sheep. His sheep. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. He said, it is my Father's will
that I should lose none. he had given me. Man rebelled
against God, therefore by one man's disobedience, many were
made sinners. For by one man's obedience, one
man, God-man, by one man's obedience, many shall be made righteous. Oh, I love the positiveness of
God's Word. No maybes, no hopesos. Almighty God, the Scripture clearly
sets forth, He came to save Matthew 18, for the Son of Man
has come to save that which was lost. We know that. But who did
He come to save? The Scripture says He came to
save sinners. Matthew 9.13, for I have not
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. How is He going to save them?
John 1.29 says he's going to save sinners by putting away
sin. The next day, John seeth Jesus
coming unto him and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. How is he going to save sinners?
By putting away sin. By the shedding of his own blood.
Colossians 1.14, in whom we have redemption through His blood,
even the forgiveness of sin. He came to save His people by
absolutely putting away their iniquity. Titus 2.14, who gave
Himself for us that He might redeem us. from all iniquity,
and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."
I read that Scripture again this morning. I was going over these
notes, and I was looking at Titus 2.14. The Scripture says, "...who
gave Himself for us." Someone says, well, that's everybody. Titus, when God moved upon the
apostle Paul to write this to Titus, Paul started this letter
by saying, 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. God's elect. He's going to redeem
us. God's elect. You say, Marvin,
why do you make such a big deal about election? Because I'll
tell you this, without the electing grace of God, there is no salvation. Unless Almighty God purposes
Mitch to save men on purpose, according to His choice, His
will, unless Almighty God assures. Send a Savior into this world,
and let Him die, and make salvation possible, and leave it up to
man. I'm telling you, everybody is
going to perish. God Almighty is going to be humiliated. The blood of Christ, a mockery,
made it possible When no man can do good, no man,
not by works of righteousness, that all of our righteousness
is a filthy rag without election. There's no hope. God Almighty
must save His people on purpose. He came to save His people because
nobody else can. There's no hope. Acts 4.12, Neither
is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name
unto heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." No
other name. No, not even yours. Not even
mine. Not even my will. Not yours. Not your works. Not mine. Oh, may the Spirit of God cause
our hearts to muse upon this blessed truth. God has sent a
Savior, and He's not going to fail. Isn't that good news? My
heart is often drawn to think upon the surety of salvation
by God's will, God's purpose. Behold, Isaiah 42 warned my servant,
whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth, I have
put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street." He meek. He walked according to his Father's
will and purpose. A bruised reed shall he not break. Smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto the truth. He shall not fail or be discouraged
till he have set judgment in the earth and the isles shall
wait for his law." God Almighty is going to save His people.
Good news. This is the Father's will, John
6.39. which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day." Now, let's just consider just for a moment this blessed,
glorious salvation. And consider the heart of salvation. What, or better yet, who? is
our salvation. Men naturally speak of salvation
as an event. I got saved. I think it was kind of something
that they kind of entered into, offered to them. But you remember
old Simeon. The Scripture says there was
old Simeon. It had been revealed to him that
he wasn't going to die. until he had seen the Lord's
Christ. Mary and Joseph brought the young child into the temple.
Simeon looked at that baby. He said, Lord, let thy servant
depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Looked
upon that child and knew, here's life, right here. by God's revelation. Sinners who trust Christ, they
trust Him. Not their works. He is their
salvation. And salvation is more than a
state of recovery from a position of being lost. It includes everything
that is blessed in that recovery. It's not just being brought out
of bondage and death, it's to be brought into the glorious
liberty and life and peace before God. Who the Lord Jesus Christ is
in Himself. Who He is. The blessed Son of
God. The blessed Son of Man. His greatness. His greatness in His work of
redemption, His obedience before God. Who He is. What He has done. How He has
pleased God. By the mercy and grace of God. How many times have we looked
at this scripture, but it just is amazing. Every time I read
this Scripture, it amazes me. 1 John 4.17, Herein is our love
made perfect. I looked up the literal of that.
Our love made perfect. It's this, love with us. Now listen to it like this. Herein is love with us. Herein is the love of God with
us. Herein is Christ with us. This is the heart of it. This
is the accomplishment of it. This is the truth of it. Herein
is Christ's love with us. Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Because
as He is, so are we in this world. Lord, You mean to tell me that as Christ is, and we being in Him, that before
God Almighty beholding us in Christ, in our Savior, that as
He is, so are we in this world. That's right. That's exactly
right. Lord, forgive me for thinking
so lowly of You. Lord, help me. For Almighty God to save a sinner,
two things are required. And I'll tell you, this man can
accomplish neither. That man's sin must be dealt
with. God is a just God. Isaiah 45-21,
He's a just God and a Savior. Do not think that Almighty God
is going to just allow sin to go unpunished. Now let me tell
you something right now. This is the way it is. A man
or a woman that leaves this world, having never bowed to the God
of this Bible, he that comes to God must believe
that he is. Not that he exists. The demons
believe he exists. The demons believe he exists.
There is a big difference in believing that God exists and
believing God. Abraham believed God. The devils
believe He exists. He that cometh to God must believe. He must believe. He must believe. Can a man be saved without believing
on Almighty God as He is set forth in this Bible? Can he be
saved? No. No. That's why Almighty God is going
to make certain that His people are willing in the day of His
power. He's going to give them a new heart, Bob. He's going
to give them a heart that bows to Him. Leave this world having
never bowed to Christ as He's revealed in Scripture. And believe
me, when a believer bows, they bow with a spirit of humility. Lord, if You save me not, I will
not be saved. Don't be confused. Don't be deceived. Leave this world having never
bowed this Christ, Almighty God is going to put you in hell.
He will put you in hell. I'm telling you, is it absolutely,
absolutely, absolutely required, is it absolutely necessary to
believe this gospel? Yes! Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of God. It is the power of God unto salvation. If any man preach any other gospel,
you mix works and grace. Back in the Old Testament, I
tell you, those priests could not wear garments of linen and
woolen. You couldn't wear linen and woolen
garments. Linen was a picture of the righteousness
of the saints, the righteousness of Christ. Woolen, a picture
of man's works. And you try to think that you
can mix works and grace. God has graciously offered me
and I accepted it. I'm telling you, I'm telling
you, salvation is by grace. Man must have his sin dealt with. Secondly, he must be righteous. As I said, he can do neither.
Job 14.4, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Listen to Job's words. Not one. How can I be clean before God? This helpless, hopeless sinner
in himself. How? How? God must be judged. And I must be holy. Or I have
no hope before God Almighty. Here it is. Here is man's only
hope. At Calvary, sin was dealt with. 2 Corinthians 5.21, For he hath
made him sin for us who knew no sin. What I am? Sin. Rebellion against God Almighty. Darrell, if you kill somebody,
No matter how much I love you, I can't become guilty. You're
guilty. There's no way in the world that I can transfer your
guilt to me. There's only been one just transference
of guilt to another in the sight of God. One time. One time. One time. He has made him sin. Not maybe. Not sorta. Not just, we're just going to
call it that. I know it's not really true, but no sir. He has made Him sin. What I am in myself and every
one of God's elect. Because Christ laid down His
life for the sheep. He said that. And it doesn't
matter what anybody else says. I just don't care. Well, that
just don't seem fair. Who are you? Who are you? Who am I? You mean to tell me
we're going to dispute what God has to say? Almighty God has
set forth that He laid down His life for the sheep. And that
ended it. And potsherds can strive with
potsherds all they want to and they can debate it. And when
it's all said and done, they're still liars. He hath made him
sin who knew no sin. And God Almighty, in absolute
justice, dealt with the guilt of every one of God's elect by
one sacrifice. He hath perfected forever. Them that are sanctified, set
apart. God Almighty said concerning
these that I have ever loved, everlastingly loved, I set them
apart. They are mine. I chose you. Why
did He choose them? According to the purpose of His
own will. Why did He choose one and leave
the other alone? Why did He love Jacob and hate
Esau? Because he chose to do so. Because
he chose, he purposed to do so. Does he have a right to do that?
Absolutely he has a right. Can I not do with my own as I
will? The problem is man is a rebel. And Almighty God is going to
have to break that rebellion, or God is going to deal with
him. In His sin, my sin has got to be dealt with. And then I
must be holy. I must be holy. There's only
one way. There's only one way. Second
part of 2 Corinthians 5.21 says that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. God Almighty, who knew no sin
personally, made sin that we might be made what we were not
in ourselves. Righteous in Him. Isaiah 61 10,
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful
in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe
of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments
as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. But I can't see it. I can't see
it. I don't. Faith. is the evidence of things not
seen. Do you believe that Almighty God has put away your guilt? That Calvary died for you? And that He has robed you with
the righteousness of His blessed Son? That righteousness that
He earned on this earth, walking in obedience before His Father?
Obeying the law and every jot, every tittle, never thought one
thing inconsistent. Never deviated. I said before,
I can't even... Trying. Trying to approach Him. Trying to speak to Him. And my
mind is just... Oh, wretched man that I am. God's people. Not only saved
from the guilt of sin, but saved from the dominion of sin in regenerating
grace. Romans 6.14, For sin shall not
have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under
grace. Why does sin not have the dominion? Why doesn't it
rule? Why doesn't it reign? I'll tell you why. Ezekiel 36. Here again, we've read this.
I'm not telling you anything that you've never heard before. We just need to hear it again.
That's all. Ezekiel 36, verse 26. It says, "...a new heart
also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you,
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh." I'll
give you a heart of flesh. Again, let me remind you of this.
I've told you this before. I will take away the stony heart
out of your flesh. I still see the evidence of sin
in me. What do you mean you took it
away? It's beheaded. I'll cut his head off. You take a snake on the ground,
take a shovel, cut his head off. That little old snake will just,
you say, well, I still see it moving. Yeah, I know, but he
ain't going to bite you. He ain't going to bite you. He doesn't have a head. I cut
his head off. He's gone. Oh, the presence of
sin. It's still there. But Almighty
God says it's not going to have dominion over you. It's not going to rule. It only
rules and reigns in those that don't know Him. That have no
respect for Him. Have no respect for His gospel.
No respect for Him. Oh, it rules there. It rules.
And they do what they want to do. They always do. But I tell
you soon, they're going to be saved from the very presence
of sin. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Who? He will. John 14, let not
your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I
am, there you may be also. Oh, he who shall save his people
from their sins. He saved us. He is saving us. We are in the process right now
of being saved. Right now. He's saving us right now. He's
keeping us right now. And He shall save us. He's going
to save us by grace. By grace are you saved. Through
faith. That not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God. Not of works. Lest any man should
boast. Grace. Sovereign grace. There's
no other kind. There is no other kind of grace
but sovereign, distinguishing grace. That's the only kind there
is. Sovereign grace. It saves the
people, as we said before, on purpose, who has saved us and
called us to the holy covenant. Not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace. which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. And he saves his people
forever. My sheep, hear my voice, and
I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand." He shall save his people from
their sins. Call his name Jesus. May the
Lord bless our hearts by these words for Christ's sake.