So I may be unable to preach
this morning. I wish to direct your very prayerful
attention to Matthew's Gospel, chapter one. And our text is
found in verse 21. But I'll read from verse 19,
then. Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not willing to
make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. 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 and she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt
call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. Some of you may have been well
acquainted with Mr. Henry Mahan who a word received
to me only last week that on the 31st of May he had passed
from time unto eternity. Mr. Mahan was pastor in Ashland,
Kentucky of a Sovereign Grace Baptist Church there for many,
many years. And although I never met Mr.
Mahan, I certainly learned a lot from him. In our lives, occasionally,
we can have influences by people we've never met. You say, well, what's the relevance
of this? well, Mr. Mahan had the gift, he was a
very gifted man quite a gentle type of character but his real
gift in preaching was that he brought forth profound truths
from the simplest of scriptures and that's very difficult to
do But, as the Lord may enable me, we'll consider this 21st
verse here. But before we do so, by necessity,
we'll consider the context. Matthew here is writing. Now, Matthew was, of course,
a Jewish Christian. A Jewish Christian. this Gospel
here is the most Jewish of all the Gospels. What I mean by that
is that the language that Matthew uses would have been very familiar
to the cultural Jews of the day. He uses such phrases as the Kingdom
of Heaven. His messianic language is that
which speaks directly to the Jewish audience. But the very fact he was a Jewish
Christian raised all sorts of questions. Indeed, as a consequence of the
conversion of the Jews through the preaching of the Lord and
of the disciples. This created somewhat of a political
storm. We have to remember there's always
been wars and rumors of wars. The Roman Empire was jockeying
for position and was very dominant and rising in its dominance at
this time, but it never had full control of Jerusalem. Indeed, the Jews and their political
system, their civil system was still very powerful. But against this backdrop, we
had or have this very small number of people who were converted
from the Jewish religion. And Matthew writes very succinctly,
very directly, very clearly to these people. Another example, look at how
this chapter begins. I know some read genealogies.
I've never been in the habit of reading genealogies in public. There's nothing wrong with that.
But I felt more constrained to read Isaiah's prophecy in chapter
7 really as the precursor of this fulfillment here. But even
this was very important. And even this was very Jewish. You see, genealogies were very
important to the Jews. Indeed, the Apostle writes elsewhere
to avoid foolish questions and genealogies because it was a
very Jewish issue, a very Jewish problem. And remember, what was
the boast of the Jew? I am of the tribe of Benjamin.
I am of the tribe of Judah. I am of any one of the 12 tribes,
it was very very important to them in terms of being of Abraham's
seed. But these Jewish Christians and
they weren't ostentatious they just got on with life they just
got on with preaching and if you look at Christians throughout
the generations have never sought to be controversial in the civil sense
as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men inevitably
battles come in the civil sense but they're not things that we
look for they're things that come upon us but even here you see Matthew
is appealing to the knowledge of the Jews.
He appeals to them even in the book of Genesis which would be
familiar to them. When in chapter 2 and verse 4
Moses writes, these are the generations of the heavens and of the earth
when they were created. In the day that the Lord God
made the heavens and the earth and chapter 5 verse 1 this is
the book of the generations of Adam in the day that God created
man in the likeness of God made he him Adam the first man but
here was one coming who was greater than Adam it's what we must remember
He is greater than Adam. And in this genealogy which is
different in some ways to the genealogy of Luke, we see the
lineage and the mention even of David as king. Joseph, thou son of David, This was significant as we see
the order. You see the theme here of the
book of Matthew is that of fulfillment. All the New Testament is a fulfillment
of the Old. But we would note that there's
more quotations from the Old Testament Scriptures in Matthew
than in any of the other Gospels. and to a large extent of the
New Testament. You see, this was a fulfillment
of prophecy. But we'll see here that this
was not the fulfillment that men expected. And thus, this
morning I wish to divide my discourse into five distinct headings that
we find within this 21st verse. Firstly, we see a saving by a
son. The son is brought forth. Secondly,
we see a saving by a name. The name is Jesus. Thirdly, we
see a saving by certainty. Fourthly, we see a saving of
a people. And fifthly, we see a saving
from sin and she shall bring forth a son
a son brought forth now we would be negligent if we did
not see eternal generation in this verse this opening clause
of a son being brought forth is very deliberate language this doesn't say a son was created
this doesn't say a son first came about it says a son was
brought forth the implication being here of course that the
Lord Jesus that was already known in his
divine nature. Time after time after time in
the Old Testament, we see an angel appear before
the patriarchs, one appearing to the prophets. Now these speak of the Lord Jesus
in many of his pre incarnate manifestations many of them and
thus here we see a son brought forth now we must also consider
here how this appears in the context people today in the Western world
both in the world and in the church very often simply have
children out of social expediency and a sort of view of it's the
thing to do to be accepted within society and within the church
but here you see there was a deep spiritual thought and exercise
about this matter you say well how do you understand that? well
it's very simple the Hebrew ladies desired those who were spiritual
those who were looking forth for the seed that they might
be the one who would bear the seed that indeed they might be
the one by whom the Savior comes and thus there was a spiritual
exercise about the matter and thus we see a son being brought
forth we knew it would be a son but in the context we only know
that it's a son by divine revelation we see here that the angel appeared,
we believe John Gill points out to be Gabriel. Fear not to take unto thee Mary
thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. You see, Mary and Joseph were
betrothed to be married. but the engagement in the days
of the East is very different to the engagements of today,
indeed it was a legal position and thus one could actually bring
forth a bill of divorce in such circumstances but we see here
Joseph was an exercised man and he thought upon these things
but he was thinking to put her away albeit privately but here we see a prophecy of
a divine nature she shall bring forth a son and thus the Lord appears but
you know Again we must visit the circumstances. This was not
the circumstance that men imagined. This was not the circumstance
that the Jews imagined. Indeed the Jews imagined the
Lord to come and set them at national liberty in a blaze of
glory as it were. But what was the reality? The
Lord Jesus was born in a stable. There was no room for him at
the inn. This wasn't the majestic appearance
that the Jews were looking for. You see, this is part of his
humility. she shall bring forth a son now
much is made of this scene we know the schools in and around
winter time attempt to reenact these things but don't be fooled
this was a dirty unhygienic place for anybody to abide in any time,
let alone a woman to give birth. But it was the way that the Lord
would walk all his life. He walked the way of the humble. He was a carpenter, the God-man, here being brought
forth. But he was brought forth. at
the appointed time you know there were times when there were
hundreds of years between the prophets but none could there was an attempt
that none could prophesy exactly when the Lord would come and you know it's the same with
His return upon the earth. None of us can prophesy exactly
when the Lord would come, but actually the principle is the
same, to continue and to stand on the tiptoe of faith, looking
unto Him. It was the same in the Old Testament,
looking forward to Christ's coming, and thus here in the last days
we to look for his return not to fix a day to a time for we warned against such but
to look simply for him so secondly we would look at
a saving by a name and thou shalt call his name
Jesus thou shalt call his name Jesus Old Testament names were very
significant and even here in the early days of the New Testament
they were significant because they say a great deal about a
person they say a great deal about a person's character perhaps
about their occupation there are some names named after specific
callings of life and there are those of whom exercise
a ministry which is according to their name. Now here we see the name Jesus
in capital letters. Jesus simply means Saviour. And the name Christ is anointed. Thou shalt call his name Jesus you see the name has to be precious but the name is only precious
if we know who he is what does he say to the disciples? who
say ye that I am? what does he say unto those who
heard him? I am he very often there the
word he is in italics the literal rendering is I am he simply is but you know it's
the name that means so much it's the name that is precious to
you who believe he's precious because you know the name represents
all that he is you see actually what we're seeing here is a protestant
principle in the true sense you might say what do you mean by
that? well in the Church of Rome and we
may pass a Roman church from time to time, or a Roman Catholic
school. I often think back, there was
one that went by the name, Holy Name, and there was a huge image
outside of it. But you know, the image is a
misrepresentation of who he is. Even in that, the shame was such
that the scene that men present is nothing like the reality.
Beaten. He was naked. He was hung upon
the tree. Doesn't look like the cross that's
presented to us. Not that I would see anyway.
But it's a misrepresentation. Just think of this friends. he's
died and he's risen again he now sits at the right hand
of the Father glorified in heaven but isn't it the name that's
precious because the name represents all that he is all that he is
in his ministry all that he is in his person all that he is
in his glory this is who he is, we look unto
the name and this is a precious name this is the name Jesus this
is the God-man a human nature and a divine nature and this
is in whom the Gentiles shall trust This is the fulfillment of that
which Isaiah spoke of, and Matthew here is quoting this. Remember,
Isaiah, who spoke these things. My Bible here in the margins
says 735 BC. All those years ago, he prophesied
that this will happen. and here it did happen so we see the saving by a name
let's hasten on thirdly we see saving by certainty for he shall save his people
by his sins from their sins We used to, at Leeds, have an
old earthen vessel preacher by the name of Fred Stone. Mr. Stone died a few years ago. He was
about 93. He'd lived a long life and he had much experience. But one of the things that always
struck you about him was how he used to emphasize the shalls
and wills of Holy Scripture he emphasized these things because
he had to plead them himself and thus the shalls and wills
of Holy Scripture become precious to us you see there are many uncertainties
aren't there? you know naturally speaking there's
more uncertainties probably in my life now with one exception
than at any other time but we plead this don't we? the shalls and wills of holy
scripture he shall definitive certain And, you see,
this is part of who the Lord is. You see, the Lord doesn't try
to do anything, does he? He simply does it. And there's a huge difference
in these things. But we must plead them. We must
plead them. Because there is a glorious comfort
in divine sovereignty there's a glorious comfort in the Lord
who rules and overrules all things unto Himself shall save and thus here if the scripture
says something it always proves to be true History has borne this out. All we have to do is pick up. It's not for the faint-hearted.
If you have a weak constitution, I would warn you, don't read
it. But if you can read some meat, which is emotionally exhausting
from time to time, I commend you read Fox's book of martyrs. and there you will see an unbroken
line throughout history of the Lord dealing with one race and
another with one nationality and another in one place and
another you see the Lord never leaves himself without a witness
there's the shalls and wills of the scripture and thus he
shall save his people from their sins we have to plead but then we
see the reality of it now, fourthly we see here a saving
of a people he shall save his people from their sins now this might not be immediately
apparent to you but you know that was a very unambiguous and
deliberate statement when my wife and I were courting
and at time to time I went to the gospel hall I would engage in discussion
with the elders who usually disagreed with me but that's another matter one elder, you could have knocked
me over with a feather he quoted this scripture and he said he
shall save his people from their sins as an evidence that the
Lord would save all the Jews. Now, I hope that we don't see
this text in that light. And it would be ridiculous to
do so. Because here we're seeing, look at the context, even the
fulfilment of what Isaiah was saying he
spoke of the Lord calling a people who were not a people he spoke
of the Lord bringing a people to himself who had not known
him his people is a spiritual people It has to be. It has to be. And thus, even
his people in the Old Testament, they were largely Jews, yes,
but there were some exceptions. Rahab the harla and others, Naaman
the leper, who were brought in. It was a foretelling of those
who would be called by Sovereign Grace in the Lord's time. He didn't just mean the Jewish
race. We can see that. And here we see even the fulfillment
by the prophets as it comes to mind the Acts of the Apostles
chapter 11 I believe it is. Yeah, that's right. Here Luke
is speaking and he's preaching on this matter and he's speaking
about this. He says in verse 43 of chapter
10, I beg your pardon. It says, "...to him gave all
the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth
in him shall receive the remission of sins." Whosoever believeth
in him. Now, we're not afraid of that
word, whosoever. Some say that we are, but we're
not. because it simply means it could be any of these doesn't
mean that it's all men indiscriminately but it could be any one of them
and thus we see here the fulfillment of the whosoever he shall save his people from
their sins now The Lord, this is the final point
here, saving from sin. The Lord only deals with sinners. Mark that. The Lord only deals
with sinners. You see the Lord, He came not
for the whole, for they need not physician. they don't need anything in their
own mind but you see here he came for those who were sick what does the scripture say Luke
15 I think this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them
this man receives sinners and thus We see the very personal
nature in which Matthew addresses this church, this congregation,
these people, these Jews. You see, the Sanhedrin didn't
really believe they were sinners. The scribes and the Pharisees
didn't really believe they were sinners. The Apostle confirms this when
he says, touching the Lord blameless, a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
But thus here, he deals with sinners. And this is an experimental matter
where the Lord deals with the conscience but of course it also
bears itself out in real and literal terms you see this work of the Lord this saving
this substitutionary atonement that he achieved it deals with body and it deals
with soul It deals with soul in the salvation of sinners. But even this, our bodies will all decay. But what do we read? We shall
be raised like unto His glorious body. You see, when the Lord saves
from sin, He saves from sin completely. Body and soul. And thus here we have a mighty
salvation. Yes, He shall save His people
from their sins. When the Lord deals with anybody,
he firstly deals with them as a sinner because the Lord's purpose
is always to reveal Christ we'll see something if the Lord will
of that this evening but he always reveals Christ the convincing of our natural
state is always to an end it's always to a purpose you see the
Lord will be glorified He will be glorified and we read as we
quoted in prayer the Spirit has said that He will glorify Him
in all things He will He must have the preeminence And thus
here Matthew is declaring something majestic, something glorious,
and something triumphant. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins.