Let's turn back to actually Matthew
4, Matthew chapter 4 this time. The God who made the whole world, who made everything in the world.
The God who made time, the God who made us, the God who has no beginning
and no end, the God who knows all things, knows the end from
the beginning. The God came to the earth that
He made. And after 30 years of waiting,
He began to preach. God did. That's something we're going
to get to hear one day. And the reason he preached is
because he had something to say to man. That's the reason he
preached. He had something to say to man.
And if a man is ever going to hear anything in his life, don't
you think he'd be wise to hear what God had to say to him? if
a man was ever going to hear anything. Well, Matthew 4 verse
17 says, From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now that was 2,000 years
ago. And he didn't say repent for
the kingdom of heaven will come in a few thousand years. He said it's here. It's here. And there's not a soul standing
on the face of this earth that has not sinned against his God. There is not one soul. So our Lord said, and He's commanded
every called, sent preacher of God to say, get ready, we're
going to meet God. We're going to meet God. The
kingdom of heaven is at hand. Turn with me over to Luke chapter
12. Luke chapter 12 verse 16 says, And our Lord spake a parable
unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought
forth plentifully. And he thought within himself,
saying, What shall I do? Because I have no room where
to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do.
I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there will
I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul,
soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine
ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said, Now if a man is wise, he'll hear
what God has to say. God said unto him, Thou fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose
shall those things be which thou hast provided? You know what
our Lord was telling him right there? Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. When men and women first hear
what God has to say to them, usually this is their response. I don't know if I like this. I think this is starting to scare
me just a little bit. I don't know if I want to hear
about this God. Well, here's the truth of the
matter. Whether or not I want to hear about Him, I am going
to meet Him. I am going to meet Him. I have
got to stand before Him. And if I am not a saved man,
if I am not a redeemed man, a cleansed man, I am going to stand there
in front of God, polluted in all my sin. That's how I'm going
to stand before God. I'm going to stand there covered
in all my vile sins before God. Realizing that is what causes
a sinner to fear the Lord. Fear the Lord. Fear this holy
God. Moses, Isaiah, Saul of Tarsus,
John on the Isle of Patmos, as soon as they saw God for the
first time, not religion, they all saw religion, but as soon
as they saw God, Isaiah said, woe is me. Saul of Tarsus, it
says, he trembling said, Lord, what would you have me to do?
Fear. fear. What would you have me
to do? That's the first question every
sinner asks when God reveals the truth to him. That's the
first question. I have a judge and that judge
will have nothing to do with sin. It cannot be in his presence. He must punish him. And I'm a
sinner, so he must punish me. That's
the truth. It's an awful truth. But I'm
telling us the truth. As soon as that consumes a sinful
heart, the first time that a sinful heart hears it, sees it, realizes
it, it is consuming. It's consuming. As soon as a
sinful heart hears that, that heart will not rest until it
has this question answered. What must I do to be saved? Has anybody ever asked that question?
I mean, from the depths of their soul. What must I do to be saved? I have got to be saved. I've got to be saved from my
sins. I don't need to rededicate my
life. Do you know that? I got to be
saved from my sins. The apostle Paul said, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? You
think he was gut-wrenching when he said that? Turn with me over
to Acts chapter 16. The Philippian jailer saw the
God of Paul and Silas for the first time. Acts chapter 16,
look at verse 29. Then he called for a light, and
sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and
Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do
to be saved? And they said, Recite these Hail
Marys, And do some community service.
Do good for others. Good for others. You've got to
do good for others. And live a more morally upstanding
life. And promise that you will do
this. And promise that you won't do that. You better start making
promises. Because we're going to write
them down. Verse 31, And they said, Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. That's it? That's it? That's the answer? That's it?
Don't you know what I've done and that's it? That seems too simple. No, actually that's impossible.
It's impossible. It's impossible for a sinner
without the Lord sending that sinner His Holy Spirit. It is
impossible. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's faith. Faith does not exist in a sinner. It's not there. I cannot dig
deep and find it. It is not there. It does not
exist in a sinner until God sends the faith of Christ to that sinner. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. That's a gift of God. Do you
know that? But it seems so small. It seems so insufficient on my
part. There is no my part. Not in believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. We just said it's impossible
without God sending His Spirit. But if God sends His Spirit,
and if God causes you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then
thou shalt be saved. God said that. Any sinner, and I'm going to
just tell you, I'm a sinner. So I like this next sentence. Any sinner who truly believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be condemned for his sin. Cannot. I don't care what I've
done. Any sinner who truly believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be condemned for his sin. Turn
with me to Romans chapter 8. Romans 8 verse 1 says, There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus
who walk not after the flesh. And what that means is they walk
not after trying to live right. Walk not after trying to earn
their way to heaven. He goes on to say, but after
the Spirit, those who walk through this life believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. If God ever sends salvation to
a sinner, he is going to put in that sinner's heart, first,
a desire to believe. I want to believe, you know that?
I want to. Sometimes there are questions
that I don't know the answers to. You know what I want to believe?
Whatever God has to say about it. What do you believe about this?
I don't know. But let's find out what God has to say about
it. He's going to put a desire to
believe and He's going to put in their heart a very particular
belief. They're going to believe something
very specific. Do you love God? Sure, yeah,
I love God. That's a little too general for
me. Very specific. What is it? Because
I want to know what it is. I want to believe it. I want
to be saved. I want God to save me. So what is it? The answer is in Matthew chapter
1. Go with me over to Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1, look at verse
21. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. That's what believers believe. That's what believers believe. Thou shalt call His name Jesus. Now we do not, we try to not
refer to Him as Jesus. Turn over with me to John chapter
13. John 13, verse 13, our Lord said,
you call me master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am. I cannot find, I searched a little
bit, and I cannot find one instance of the Lord's disciples coming
up to Him and personally addressing Him by saying, Jesus, not one. They called him master, they
called him lord out of love and respect and reverence. I don't
even call my dad Marvin. I've joked, I have said it before
in a joking way, but in all seriousness, I love him and I respect him
and I call him dad. This is my dad. I don't go say
this is Marvin. Love and respect. So we don't
just call His name Jesus, but here's how believers do reverently
call Him Jesus. They believe God became a man. God became a man. When we were
reading Matthew 1, the next couple of verses say, His name is Emmanuel
because this is God with us. This is God with us. We believe
God became a man. Anyone who sees the holiness
of God and the seriousness of God and the righteousness of
God will not just refer to him as Jesus. I like Jesus a lot
and he can get me to God. Oh, he is God. He is God. To believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ is to believe on God manifest in the flesh. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. What does that mean exactly?
Believe what? Believe what? We'll go back over to Matthew
1. Verse 21 says, She shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus for. That word for means
this is the reason why. OK, this is why. The first word
after that is he. He. One. Only one. He alone. Not he and me. Salvation is not a cooperation. Salvation is an operation. He. Go with me over to Acts chapter
4. Acts chapter 4 verse 10 says,
Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel,
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand
here before you whole. This is the stone which was set
at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
Neither is there salvation in any other. for there is none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved." No other name. None other. He. Christ alone. Is that what you believe? He. Now go with me back over to Matthew
1. Verse 21 says, Shall. He shall. That means he is able and he
is willing. He shall. He's the only one who can. He's
the only one who will. Paul said, I am persuaded that
He is able. And go to Matthew 11. Matthew 11 verse 28. Our Lord said, Come unto Me. Come unto Me. He's the only one. Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. And he shall. If a sinner comes
to Christ labored and heavy laden, Christ will give him rest. How does a person come to Christ
for rest? I want to do that. How does a
person come to Christ for rest? We come with the heart. We don't
come to the front. We don't come to the preacher.
We come to Christ with the heart. Out of the heart are the issues
of life. We believe that the one who is
able will. Because that's what He said.
Go with me over to John chapter 11. John chapter 11 verse 23, Jesus
said unto her, thy brother shall rise again. Martha said unto
him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at
the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. And then our Lord asked the question,
believest thou this? Believest thou this? Do you believe
he shall? Go with me back to Matthew 1. Verse 21 says, Call His name
Jesus, for He shall save. He shall save. He did not start any work and
leave it up to us to finish it. No work. He did not make salvation
possible. He did not make it possible.
He made it secure. Totally secure. He did not show
us the way. He is the way. Philippians 1 says, He which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day
of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 12 says, He is the author
and the finisher of our faith. It's finished. Christ finished
it. If you from sin are longing to
be free, look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to
save you. Look to the Lamb of God. That's
what we believe. Verse 21 here in Matthew 1 says, He shall save
His people. Not one soul is in hell that
Christ died for. Not one soul. There is a heaven and there's
a hell. And if one soul that Christ died for is in hell, then
he is a failure. And he cannot do what he says
he can do. If one soul is in hell who Christ died for, then
we would have to say this. Call his name Jesus, for he might
save his people. He might. But it's not yay and
nay, is it? There's no hope. in might. No comfort in it, no security
in it. Go over to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42 verse 1 says, Behold
my servant whom I uphold. mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. That is Jesus Christ. He shall
not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the
street. A bruised reed shall he not break,
and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth
judgment unto truth. He shall not fail. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged
till he hath set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall
wait for his law. Verse 10 says, Sing unto the
Lord a new song. Why? Because he shall not fail. He shall not fail. He said to
his father, those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them
is lost. None of them. What that means is Christ didn't
come to die for everybody. They're not all Israel which
are of Israel, right? He didn't come to save everybody. He came to save His people. Who are His people? This is the best part. This is the best part. You know who His people are? This is the most amazing part
of it all. I love this part. Go with me
over to Mark chapter 2. Mark chapter 2 verse 15, And it came to pass that as Jesus
sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also
together with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they
followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees
saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples,
How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith
unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician,
but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance." You know who His people are? Sinners. You know, we just read that it
says, few there be that find it. Did you know that there's
only a few sinners in the world? Did you know that? There's just
a handful. Just a handful. You ask them.
Go around and ask them. The churches are all about to
let out, and as they come out, ask them as they're going to
the cars, are you a sinner? No. Did you see where I just came
out of? Ask them. One man wrote, a sinner
is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so. The first thing God's Holy Ghost
does to a sinner is he convinces him of his sin. I'm going to ask everybody as
I go out. Are you a sinner? Yeah. I'm a sinner. Well, then you're
one of his people. Because he came not to call the
goody two shoes, he came to call sinners. Sinners, sinners, sinners. Go with me to 1 Timothy chapter
1. 1 Timothy 1, look at verse 15.
This is a faithful saying. What that means is you're about
to read the truth. And worthy of all acceptation. It means you can believe this.
That Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. Paul said, and get in line, way
down the line. I'm in the first spot. I'm the
chief. I'm sinner number one. Is that not the greatest news
you've ever heard in your life? It is if you're a sinner. Go
with me to Romans 5. Romans 5 verse 7 says, For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die. Yea, peradventure for a
good man some would even dare to die. But God commended his
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died
for us. You know what that means? It
means God loved sinners. And it means Christ is the friend
of sinners. And it means He saved us. He
died and it's finished. He saved us. Call His name Jesus
for He shall save His people. Now go with me back to Matthew
1. Verse 21 says, He shall save His people from..." From. Okay, now that word means
removal or separation. From. That means when Christ went to
that cross He took our sins with Him, the real, actual sins that
we right now carry out, Christ put them away and they're gone
from. I still have plenty of sins ahead
of me, sins that I still have yet to carry out, but Christ
has already put them away. He's already put them away. He
took them from us and He laid them on Himself. And they're
gone. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ
for that. He shall save His people from their... Christ didn't just
put away sin, He put away my sin. My sin, oh the bliss of
this glorious thought. My sin. I want Him to put away
your sin so badly. But I can't help it, I want him
to put away my sin. Not in part, but the whole, was
nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord,
O my soul. Verse 21 says, Thou shalt bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. The Lord Jesus Christ paid it
all. all the debt we owed. Sin had
left a crimson stain, but he washed it white as snow." Now
let me ask you this. Believest thou this? Believest
thou this? Do you believe God is the one
who came? He alone is the only one who's able and willing. Do
you believe that all He requires is to see your need of Him? Do you believe you are a sinner? Do you believe it was your sins
that nailed him to that cross? Do you believe through the fact
that God raised him up that the Lord Jesus Christ paid it all
in full? If you do believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, then it sounds like salvation has come to you.
And if salvation himself has come to you, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Set
free. Free indeed. Free at last. Free at last. All right, let's
stand together.