I'm preaching on Luke chapter
2 on Sunday. Alright, let's go back to Matthew
chapter 1. The past Wednesday nights of
this month, when I turn on the television to go on Sermon Audio
tune in to some of the other churches that have service on
Wednesday night. While I'm waiting on the churches
to get online, I've scanned around some of the other churches just
to see what they were preaching. And it's amazing what they're
doing. Children singing pageants, plays, It's amazing what they're saying
in the songs that they sing and in the things they say about
the Lord Jesus. I want to see tonight what the
message of Christ's birth really is. Now there's a lot that could
be said from this passage I just read in Matthew 1, but I want
to focus on verse 21. And here the angel of the Lord
was sent by the Lord, and He said, She shall bring forth a
Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus. That means Savior. Thou shalt call Him Jesus, Savior. Joshua means Savior. Hosea means
Savior. Jesus means Savior. And he says
why? For he shall save his people
from their sins. Now in this one statement, we
have the gospel, the good news, that salvation, the salvation
of God's people is of the Lord. The salvation of God's people
is of the Lord. Now, for our divisions, I want
to be as simple as can be, something we can all follow along with.
We're just going to take the words from this phrase, He shall
save His people from their sin. And we're going to look at each
word and try to get as much out of this statement as we possibly
can and learn what the Scriptures say about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, first word we have is He.
Now, who is He? Who is this One? Back in verse
18, 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. Now, the fact that Mary
was a virgin, And the fact that He was conceived in her womb
of the Holy Spirit, that tells us He is the sinless God-man. That is who this one is. The
sinless man who is God. One, He is the sinless man. He
is the last Adam. Had He been conceived of Joseph's
corrupt seed, He would have been like you and I and every other
sinner. He would have been conceived
in sin. But He was not conceived in sin. He was conceived or begotten
of the Holy Spirit. And therefore He is holy. He
is the spotless Lamb of God. He is the last Adam. The only
other man that came forth holy and without sin was the first
Adam. And he fell. This is the only other man, the
last Adam. And he's the spotless Lamb of
God. He's holy. And it was required
for him to be so in order for him to be seen for us. He had to be holy. Remember the
lamb in the Old Testament? The lamb had to be spotless.
It had to be without blemish. It had to be looked over and
there could be no blemish in it. If there was a blemish in
it, even ceremonially it could not be made sin. So Christ is
the holy, spotless Lamb of God as a man. And then being conceived
of the Holy Ghost declares He is the eternal God without beginning
or ending. He is the eternal God. has no
beginning, has no ending. Look down at verse 22. Now all
this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of
the Lord by the prophet, that is by Isaiah, saying, Behold,
a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son,
and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted
is God with us. The Son of God did not begin
to be the Son of God at His birth. This is something that I've tried
to help Will with on occasion. The Son of God didn't begin His
life at the birth, at this birth. The Son of God is eternal. The
second person in the Trinity, God the Son, His birth is when
the Son of God came down and took flesh and dwelt among us. So, here we have the holy, sinless
man who is God. Luke 1.35, The angel answered
and said unto her, The 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. Now as man, everything he suffered
and everything he accomplished, he did in the likeness of our
flesh, like unto his brethren. So he suffered this as a man
for men. And he suffered this as a man
so that he could comfort men. And as God, everything he suffered
and accomplished is eternal. It never has to be done again.
It's eternal. That's the message of Hebrews.
Those sacrifices that were offered under the old covenant were not
eternal. They didn't make satisfaction.
They had to be offered yearly, yearly, yearly, over and over.
He offered one sacrifice. It's eternal. And the fact that
the Lord Jesus was made of a woman declares that it was a necessity
that in all things, In all things, it behooved Him to be made like
unto His brethren. It was necessary that Christ
really be made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death. That was necessary. In order
to redeem His people that were under the law, it was necessary
that Christ really be made under the law. in order to be the faithful
servant entirely dependent upon God His Father. It was necessary
that Christ really made Himself of no reputation and took upon
Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. In order to be perfectly consecrated
as the author and the finisher of our faith, it was necessary
that Christ really experience obedience by the things which
He suffered and be made perfect. That is, made perfectly consecrated
and become the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey Him. It was necessary. In order to
be the substitute of His people and God be just, it was necessary
that Christ really be made sin for us who knew no sin. And once
He was made sin, it was really necessary in order for Him to
redeem us from the curse, that He be made a curse. And to fulfill God the Father's
covenant promise, it was necessary that Christ really be made an
high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, made higher
than the heavens. And being raised and given all
authority as the head over the church, it was necessary that
angels and authorities and powers really be made subject unto Him. And for His church to be established
on the rock, Christ had to really be made the head of the corner. And by the obedience of Christ,
of God, Christ is really made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. And all of these things, the
necessity for all of these things are declared in the fact right
here that He was made of a woman. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. If we had an as-if salvation,
and if His substitution was an as-if substitution, God could
have just said, we'll just say it's as if you were made of a
woman and it was as if you were made these other things. But
no, in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His
brethren. And He was. Note here that it
doesn't say He plus His people. It doesn't say He plus somebody
else. It just says He. He. You see, the Lord Jesus by Himself. Let me show you what He is. Turn
to Hebrews 1.3. See what He is and what He's
done by Himself. Hebrews 1.3. He is the brightness of God's
glory and the express image of His person. and upholds all things
by the word of His power. Now watch this. And when He had
by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high. You see, He didn't have anybody
helping Him. It doesn't say He plus you and
I. It doesn't say He plus something
we've done. It said He by Himself purged
our sins. Acts 4.12 says, neither is there
salvation in any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. He
is the one Savior. He is. Why? Because there is one God and
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There is just one. When our Lord
Jesus said, I am the way, He didn't say, I am a way. He said,
I am the way. And He is the way. There is just
one. And He had no help. He alone
is the God-man mediator, the last Adam. made like unto His
brethren, who saves by Himself. That's who He is. Now have you
heard that message yet? When you've heard the things
that are being said during this season? Have you heard that yet?
I haven't heard that yet. That He by Himself, without the
aid of man, is the God-man who saves His people. Now, the second
word we have here is, shall save. Shall save. He shall save. Now, these two words declare
the impossibility of Christ failing to save. This declares the impossibility.
For one, the Lord sent the angel here to declare this. So the
Lord is attaching His name to Christ's name and what Christ
would accomplish. That means His glory is at stake
here. The glory of God's immutability. God changes not, the Scripture
says. So we know because God sent this
name for him to be named and said, because he shall save,
we know he shall save. God doesn't change. He's not
going to go to another plan. And the glory of God's faithfulness
is at stake. God is faithful that promised,
and that's a promise. He shall save. The glory of God's truthfulness.
God cannot lie. And God said here, His name shall
be Jesus, for He shall save. The glory of His grace and His
righteousness, His mercy and His truth. The very reason the
Lord Jesus came forth is to declare God just and the justifier. And so God stakes the glory of
His grace and righteousness on this. He shall save. Now that's guaranteed, brethren.
That's a guarantee. Isaiah 42.4 says, He shall not
fail nor be discouraged. He shall not fail. He won't even
be discouraged till He has set judgment in the earth and the
eyes shall wait for His Word. He said in John 10.28, I give
unto them eternal life. He gives eternal life. That's
life that can't ever be changed or taken away. He shall save. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. No possibility. Neither shall
any man pluck them out of My hand. He said in John 6.39, This
is the Father's will which is sent Me, that of all which He
hath given Me, I should lose nothing. He shall save. He shall lose nothing but that
I should raise it up again at the last day. You see this word
saved. I want you to think about the
word saved. It declares that Christ fully
accomplishes everything necessary to completely save. You know when you are saved,
let's just take Let's just take, if you're in a house fire and
the house is burning down and a firefighter comes and he saved
you. That doesn't mean he just partially
pulled you out of the house. He got you out of the house.
And if you had inhaled smoke, he did whatever necessary to
clear your lungs and get you breathing again. He saved you
completely. That's what this word means.
When a person is saved, they're completely saved and there remains
nothing else to be done. That's why Christ is called the
Alpha and the Omega. He's A to Z in salvation. He's everything. He does all. He's the author and the finisher
of our faith. When our Lord Jesus cried out
on the cross and said, It is finished! He was declaring that
He fully accomplished redemption from the law for those He represented. Fully accomplished. Not accomplished
when you believe, accomplished by Him. He accomplished it. He said in Isaiah 40 verse 1,
Comfort she, comfort she, my people, saith your God. Speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem, crying to her that her warfare
is accomplished. It's done. And her iniquity is
pardon. For the Lord hath received, for
she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
That's saying it's done. Hebrews 9.12 says, By His own
blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. He shall save. He has. Fully. Completely. When Christ
sends the Holy Spirit and regenerates His people, go to Colossians
1. When He sends the Holy Spirit, now that what we just talked
about is what He did on Calvary's cross. Here's what He does in
the hearts of His people. And when He does this work in
the hearts of His people, look at what Scripture says about
us. It says we've been saved. Look at Colossians 1.13. who hath delivered us..." That's
past tense. "...who hath delivered us..."
Paul is writing to believers. "...who hath delivered us from
the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom
of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood,
even the forgiveness of sin." See, Christ doesn't leave anything
for you to do. If Christ saves you, He does
all the saving. One day He's coming again and
He's going to redeem our bodies. And when He does, Scripture says
He's going to present us to the Father without fault. Not partly
washed, not partly made righteous, complete. Christ is the Savior. So His name is Jesus, Savior,
because He, the God-man mediator, shall save fully, completely
by Himself. Now look at the next two words. His people. His people. His name is Jesus because He
came to save His particular people. Do you see that? His people. Now seeing that He came, and
before as yet He's even come forth from His mother's womb,
the Holy Spirit is saying, He shall save His people from their
sin. That declares that before He
came, His people were His people, and He was their Savior. Before
He ever even came, He had a people. Now listen to me. The world is
telling sinners that you're made His child whenever you're born
again and when you believe. Listen to the Scriptures. The
Scriptures says that's not so. Galatians 4, 6 says, Because
ye are sons. Listen to that. Because you are
sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Christ knew who He was coming
for. And when He sends the Holy Spirit, He knows who He's coming
for. Because you are sons, already
sons. We're not made His people by
the will of others. Mom and dad can't make you His
people by baptizing you as an infant or sprinkling you as an
infant. That won't make you His people. John 1.13 says, We're born not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God. It's not of a man's personal
will and it's not of any other man's will that we're made sons
of God. We're not made His people because
we're of blood. That means we're not made His
people because we're naturally the sons and daughters of somebody. Not even because if you were
the natural son of Abraham, not even all the natural sons of
Abraham are His people. Romans 9, 6 says they're not
all Israel which are of Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children. You know what that
just declared? In plain English, that declares
that everybody that calls themselves Jews and everybody that calls
themselves Israel is not the Israel of God. They are not His
people. Not all of them. Well, who are
they then? They which are the children of
the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children
of the promise are counted for the seed. The children of the
promise, what does that mean? The children of the promise are
those who are made His people by God's free and sovereign grace
in election. That's how we're made His people,
by free grace. That means nothing based upon
us. By sovereign grace, that means
God choosing whom He will choose. That's how we made His people. Look at Romans 9. Romans 9. I just want to show you one verse
for now. If you want to hold your place, we're going to come
back there, I believe, here in a moment. Romans 9. And look at verse 11. It tells you
the purpose of election right here. Romans 9.11. It says, ìFor 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 our works,
but of Him that calleth.î Thatís how weíre made His people. Ephesians
1. Turn there with me to Ephesians
1. I want you to read this with me. This is written to those
He's called by His grace, saints at Ephesus and to all the faithful
in Christ Jesus. Listen to this, verse 3. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ,
according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved. Those who are not His elect manifest
they're not His elect because they hate the fact that God chose
whom He will. And He did it by grace, not because
of anything in them. But you know what God's elect
are? We're thankful. Paul said we're bound. to give
thanks all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we became His children.
Look here in Matthew 1 and look at verse 18 and it says, Mary
was a spouse to Joseph, or engaged to Joseph. I showed you last
Thursday night, all the elect, all those He chose were betrothed
or espoused to Christ in eternity as His elect bride. That's what
His people, they were all betrothed, espoused to Christ as His elect
bride. So even in the way Christ came
forth into this earth of an espoused bride declares who He came to
save, His people. His espoused bride. And now, listen to this. Seeing
that He came to save His people, it tells us not everyone is His
people because not everyone is saved. Is that true or is that not true?
Since He came to save His people, then that has to mean not everyone
is His people because not everyone is saved. Look at John 10. John chapter 10. And look at verse 15. He says, As the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. And other sheep I have, which
are not of this Jewish fold, them also I must bring, talking
about the Gentiles, and they shall hear my voice, and there
shall be one foal and one shepherd. Do you know our text even declares
that He has an elect people among the Gentiles? Did you catch it? It said, His name shall be called
Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Why does it need
to be interpreted? Because Immanuel is his Hebrew
name, written in Hebrew. And if us Greek Gentiles are
going to understand it, it's got to be interpreted. He's declaring
there, he's saving elect people that are from among the Gentiles
as well. But look down at verse 26, John 10, 26. But these people
that kept saying, why are you making us doubt? Tell us, we
want to know who you really are. He said, but you believe not. Here's why you believe not. because
you are not of my sheep as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me. Now notice what he said. He didn't say because you are
not my sheep. He said, but you believe not because
you are not of my sheep. That is the cause. You are not
my sheep. So that says not everybody is
His sheep. Romans 9 back there again in
verse 13 says, as it's written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. That's God's Word. What shall we say then? There's
unrighteousness with God. That's not fair. Is that what
we're going to say? Don't you love how God just shuts
our arguments down? Oh, that's not fair that he loved
Jacob and hated Esau. It's not fair he loves some and
hates others. Do you hate murderers and rapists
and child molesters and God-hating rebels? Do you hate them? See, if God loves anybody, it's
by grace because that's what we all are. Jacob was as bad
as Esau, and you and I are as bad as Esau. God simply passed
Esau by and chose Jacob. There is no unrighteousness in
that. If God had chosen, He could have left Jacob and Esau, and
you and me, and not chosen anybody. But because He's gracious, He
chose somebody, though we did not deserve it. You see, when
a man cries unfair, what he's really saying is, I deserve to
be saved. You don't deserve to be saved,
and I don't either. He said, What shall we say then?
Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For He said
to Moses, Now this is God's glory. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that shows mercy.
We've got to be brought to the feet of Christ begging mercy. That's when you'll prevail with
God. If we come boasting of our will, boasting of our deeds,
will be rejected. Our Lord said, many shall appear
before me on judgment day and they will say, didn't we do many
wonderful works? Didn't we cast out devils and
do all these things in your name and prophesy, preach in your
name? They come bragging. He said, depart from me. I never
knew you. You are workers of iniquity.
But you see, you come to God like that publican who smote
upon his own breast saying, have mercy on me, the sinner. Christ
said that man went home justified. Justified. The point of this
declaration, brethren, to say that he only came to save his
people, the point of that is to declare Christ is a success. He's a success. You see, if I
said He didn't really accomplish eternal redemption, He died for
everybody and had a general sort of shedding of His blood so that
now you by your faith make His blood effectual, I just put all
of salvation in your hands so you can glory. But this is His
glory. This is Christ's glory. He shall
save His people. His people. Now the next thing
in Matthew 1, our last point says, from their sins. He shall save His people from
their sins. This tells us who His people
are. Now let me define what a sinner is for you. A sinner, and this
is who His people are, they are sinners. who are absolutely,
thoroughly, helpless and incapable of saving themselves or even
contributing to their salvation. That's what a sinner is. That's
what a sinner is. If you look at the beginning
of this chapter, you'll see a whole list of the generation of Christ.
All those people listed there are His elect. They're His people. And you know what all those people
have in common? They're all sinners. All of them are sinners. Abraham
was an idolater and he wasn't seeking God. God found him and
saved him. Jacob was a deceiver. Jacob have
I loved. David was the last son Jesse
thought God would ever have chosen. And yet God said this is him.
Rahab was a harlot. Ruth was a Moabitess. Matthew
was a thieving tax collector. This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came in the world to save
sinners of whom I am chief. Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? Can you ask yourself this question?
Am I a sinner? And answer it honestly. If we
answer that question honestly, we have to say, I cannot. save myself or even contribute. I can't make myself willing of
myself. I can't conjure up faith of myself. I surely can't work out a righteousness
of myself. I can't make myself holy. I can't
redeem myself from the curse of the law. I can't preserve
myself. And I can't resurrect myself.
I need Christ to save me because I am a sinner. But not everybody
says they're sinners. Not everybody owns up to being
a sinner. The fact is, Christ said the
Holy Spirit has to come and convince you you are a sinner. You see,
that's how much of sinners we are. We can't even confess we're
really sinners until the Holy Spirit comes and convinces us
you are the sinner. Joseph Hart wrote this, he said,
What comfort can a Savior bring to those who never felt their
woe? A sinner is a sacred thing, the Holy Ghost hath made him
so. New life from Him we must receive before for sin we rightly
grieve. We must be born of Him and taught
of Him that we're sinners before we can ever grieve over our sin
and need a Savior. That's why people don't come
to this Christ. They don't really need a Savior. As long as you're not a sinner,
you can have that other Jesus because He don't save anybody
unless you let Him. And that's just the Savior non-sinners
want. A Savior that's a little pitiful,
helpless, weakless, as much an idol as those plastic dummies
sitting around here that are supposed to be in a manger. This right here is the Savior
of real sinners. That's who He is. And that's
all His people are, are sinners. If you're a sinner, I've got
good news for you. The Lord Jesus saves His people
from their sins. He saves His people from their
sin. As by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. That's Romans 5.19. How many
places, how many times does God have to declare this to a sinner
before we'll look at it and say, that's what it says. Do you remember
how long you went? and looked at Scriptures like
that, by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. And you looked
at that and you scratched your head and you said, it can't mean
what I think it means. And finally God gave you a heart
and taught you you're a sinner and you said, oh I see, it means
what it says and thank God it does. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself. That means His people scattered
all over the world. Not just Israel, not just Jews,
but Gentiles. And He was in Christ not imputing
their trespasses unto them. Why? Because He hath made Christ
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Isaiah said, He was wounded for
our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. And you know what the next verse
says? With His stripes we are healed. His people are healed
by the stripes our Lord Jesus Christ bore on Calvary's cross. That tells us, brethren, that
He saves us from all our sins. Some people read that verse in
Romans 3 where it says, past sins, and they think, well, He
saved me from my past sins, but now that He's called me, now
I've got to make sure I don't sin from here on out, because
He didn't save me from those. No. Past sins means all those
sins committed under that first covenant. All His people that
were under that first covenant were saved the same way all His
people are saved now. That's what that means. In fact,
the matter is, every sin you sin is a past sin. And He saved us from all of them.
Listen to this. He shall redeem Israel, that's
His people, from all His iniquities. Listen to Daniel 9.24. Seventy
weeks are determined upon Thy people and upon Thy holy city
to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make
reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness. Well, what about my defiled heart?
What about the fact that I'm a sinner? I've got to muster
up a will. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness. And
from all your idols will I cleanse you. I will also save you from
all your uncleanness. This is Christ speaking. This
is what He does. You know He was manifested to
take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. If you are in Christ,
you have no sin. Well, all I see in me is sin.
That's true. But where it counts is before
God, before the judgment seat of God. And before the judgment
seat of God, at God's right hand, there sits Christ. And in Him,
we have no sin. Do you desire to be saved entirely
by Christ Jesus alone? You know, that's the only way
you can be saved. There's no such thing as a salvation that
you contribute to. That's not salvation. That's
you saving you. That can't be salvation. But
do you want to be saved entirely by the Lord Jesus Christ alone? Then believe on Christ and you
shall be saved. That's what the Scriptures say.
Remember when the earthquake came and the Philippian jailer
and his family came to Paul, what shall we do to be saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. For by
grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Christ
said, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. And
he that believeth not shall be damned. That means believe on
Christ as opposed to us doing anything to save ourselves. Believe on Him. cast all your
care on Him. When you cast all your care on
something, watch this, I'm casting all my care on this chair right
here. I'm not trying to help this chair hold me up one bit.
I just cast all my care on this chair. I'm depending utterly
on it to hold me up. That's when you cast all your
care on Christ. You're not trying to help Him
at all. You depend on Him entirely to save you. So brethren, when
you hear the blasphemous things that people sing and the blasphemous
things they say this season, I want you to remember this.
They're speaking about another Jesus. This is the Jesus, the
true Jesus, Savior. His name is Jesus for He by Himself
is the God-Man Mediator. He shall save fully, completely,
without losing one. He shall save His people chosen
of God by grace for whom alone He laid down His life. He shall
save His people from their sins. Through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by Him all that believe are
justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses by your doing. And I pray God come to those
that don't believe on Him and give them a heart and teach them
their sinners and bring them to cast all their care on Christ. That's my prayer. This is the
true Jesus, Savior, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.