It's a delight to be with you
this morning. It's my undeserved privilege
to preach the gospel of our salvation, the word of truth. If you would,
please return to where we were looking at just a moment ago
in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 1, in verse 21. And my text is
found there in the latter part of that verse, in verse 21. God's
only holy book, the Bible, declares in that latter part, thou shall
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Some other English translations
say he will save his people from their sins. This morning, the
Lord enabling, I'd like to look at five things that I see in
this portion of scripture. I'm sure there's much more, but
here are the five things I pray the Lord will enable me to set
forth before you for our comfort. The title of my message is His
Namesake. His Namesake. The first thing
I'd like to look at this morning is the promise of His Namesake. Then we'll look at the power
of His namesake, the person of His namesake, the purpose of
His namesake, and then finally, the people of His namesake. I'll go over that again. It'll
help me, and trust me, it'll help you. These five simple headings,
the promise of His namesake, the power of His namesake, the
person of his namesake, the purpose of his namesake, and then finally
the people of his namesake. Now before we look at this text,
I'd like to say a few words by way of introduction. It's my desire behind this pulpit
to preach Christ and him crucified to preach substitution and satisfaction. I believe the word of God sets
forth for us a glorious record of what it is to be a faithful
minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the book
of Acts, we read about a minister named Philip, and he was sent
to that eunuch. Many of you will remember that
account. And I'm so thankful for the testimony of that faithful
servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says there in verse 35, he
opened his mouth, And he preached unto him Jesus. He didn't preach
unto him Calvinism. He didn't preach unto him some
finer point of doctrine he wanted to debate or argue about. No,
he opened his mouth and he preached from that text the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Lord and God, our never failing Savior. A couple other things that come
to mind when we think about those who love our Lord and God, Jesus
Christ, I think are very helpful. I'm just getting to know you
a little bit, and some of you have gotten to know us a little
bit. I hope we'll continue that in the next couple of days. One
thing that's quite remarkable is something our Lord described
about those who love Him. It's recorded in the Gospel of
John, and he said these words, he said, he who loves me keeps
my sayings. He who does not love me does
not keep my words. It's not about a different theological
position somebody may or may not have. It's about whether
or not God, in love and grace and mercy, in the light of Christ,
has shown us not only who and what we are, but at the very
same time, he's revealed to us our lovely, magnificent, never-failing
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. To sum it up in another way,
I believe there was a writer of Amazing Grace, John Newton,
It was towards the end of his life, and he did not know how
much more time he had upon the earth. But his friends gathered around
him in his concluding time upon the earth, and they asked him
how he was doing. How are you doing, John? Everything okay? And he
said, well, I don't remember many things, but there's two
things I know. I'm a great sinner and the Lord Jesus Christ, my
Lord and God, is my great savior. So I do pray and I do beg that
the Lord would bless the preaching of his word this morning to our
hearts and that he would be pleased to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ
this morning and put us back in home base in the dust, looking
at our deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ. So the first thing I'd
like to look at in our portion is the promise of his namesake. The promise of his namesake.
In two parts of Matthew's Gospel, we have the promise of his namesake.
If you turn with me to Matthew chapter 18. And someone might think that
I'm bold to say that the Lord Jesus Christ is in our midst.
I don't think I'm bold. By simple faith, God has given
me that gift to believe his word. And he has promised us, beloved,
where two or three are gathered together in his name, he is in
the midst of us. Now we need to qualify what we
mean by his name. Our text says, thou shalt call
his name Jesus. Joshua. And what does that mean?
It means Jehovah has saved. Salvation is of the Lord. Now
sometimes when people say the name Jesus, they mean that Jesus
wants to save. And they don't read what we have
in our word this morning. The Word of God tells us, call
His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. I love that, don't you? He's
not a wannabe Savior. He's the Savior that was sent
into this world to save sinners. Not to try to save everybody,
but truly and really save a sinner like you and a sinner like me. Listen to what our Lord and God
has promised. We're looking at the promise
of His namesake. He tells us in this verse, in
Matthew chapter 18, in verse 20, he tells us ever so blessedly,
where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I
am in the midst of them. Somebody this morning might say,
well, I don't feel that. I don't feel his presence. Beloved,
it's not about a feeling or anything to do with the sense. Our warrant
to believe this is His very word. As one of the old writers put
it, feelings come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving.
My warrant is the word of God. Nothing else is worth believing.
So we have His promise to be with us corporately, but what
about the rest of this week, beloved? What about when we're
alone? Are you not comforted to hear again the promise of
his namesake? He tells us in the last part
of this Gospel of Matthew, in Matthew 28, in verse 20, our
Lord and God Jesus Christ has promised there in verse 20, in
the latter part, he says, I am with you always. He's with us always, beloved.
He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. And he is with
us always, and he tells us, even unto the end of the world. Amen. So that's the promise of his
namesake. As we have our time together,
I'd like to go through each of those points, those five points.
The next point I'd like to look at is the power of his namesake,
the power of his namesake. We see in the gospel of Acts,
and really every book of the Bible is the gospel, is it not? It begins in Genesis and it goes
all the way through to Revelation. It's a H-I-M book, it's a hymn
book. Look what it says in Acts chapter
four. In Acts chapter four, it says
there in verse 12, Neither is there salvation in any other,
for there is none other name given under heaven among men
whereby we must be saved." This is not the salvation of hope
so or chance. This is the glorious purpose
of the father sending his son into the world to save real sinners. Not those who pretend at it,
but those who have been loved in the light, the glorious light
of God's well-pleasing Son. And in the light of God's Son,
he shows us what we are. But at the same time, he shows
us who he is. He is the never-failing, sovereign,
successful Savior who shall, who will save his people from
their sins. But this is what it says in verse
12, again, And it is wonderful to repeat
God's word, is it not? I mean, isn't that what the Apostle
Paul said? He said, to repeat the same things to you, for me,
it's not grievous. It doesn't bother me. It's not
grievous. But for you, it is safe. Earlier, I made an allusion to
Philip. And notice what the Word of God
preserves for us as a testimony. The testimony wasn't about how
that man preached or what he preached. It was who he preached. And I pray we've all come here
this morning to listen to this nobody behind the pulpit to hear
about somebody who can save anybody. I know he saved the worst sinner
in this building, and if he can save me, he most certainly can
save you. So this is speaking here about
the power here of that name. No other name given among men
whereby we must be saved. And our Lord and God Jesus Christ
himself, he spoke of this power. He spoke of this power himself. If you'll turn with me to the
Gospel of Matthew in the latter part, we just read it a moment
ago, just a little bit before that. He said to those 11 disciples,
it says beginning in verse 17, and when they saw him, they worshiped
him. They worshipped Him. They worshipped our Lord and
God, Jesus Christ. But some of them doubted. And
Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, is given unto me in heaven
and earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Our Lord and God Jesus Christ
further speaks of this power, again, in that great priestly
prayer in the Gospel of John. In John's Gospel, chapter 17,
he tells us, And this is the Son speaking here, this prayer
on behalf of his beloved people, praying to our Heavenly Father.
And it's recorded here in the Gospel of John, chapter 17. It
says these words. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy Son that thy Son
also may glorify thee, as thou has given him power. Why did
our Heavenly Father give our Lord and God Jesus Christ power?
The Word of God sets forth ever so simply and ever so plainly. Thou has given him power over
all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. Isn't that wonderful to hear
that our Lord and God Jesus Christ is not a car salesman? He said
this in John chapter 10. describing his people, his sheep,
the sheep he came into the world to seek and to save. He said,
my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. And I give them eternal life
and they shall never perish. Shall never perish. So we've
looked briefly at the promise of his namesake, the power of
his namesake, but let's look at now the person of his namesake,
We read in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, beginning in verse
six, our Lord and God declares these words. He said, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. There's no other name given among
men whereby we must be saved, beloved. And in that same chapter,
Now speaking about his person, and Matthew, in the portion I'm
reading or that we're looking at this morning, Matthew spoke
of his person, and our Lord spoke for himself, did he not? It says
here in verse 8, and many of you are familiar with this question,
no doubt, Philip saith unto our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, show
us the Father, And it's a fithesis. Show us the Father and we'll
be satisfied. And what did Philip hear from
our Lord and God, Jesus Christ? He said, Jesus saith unto him,
have I been so long time with you, and yet thou hast not known
me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen
the Father. What is that saying? Very simply
this, the Father is Jehovah, the Son is Jehovah, and the Holy
Spirit is Jehovah. Our brother Matthew knew this.
Going back to where we were just looking a moment ago, he tells
us in this first chapter of the gospel that bears his name, he
says there, In verse 23, he's quoting now from Isaiah 7, verse
14. And Matthew translated it for us, which being interpreted
is, God with us. God with us. Not only was Matthew familiar
with that portion of Isaiah, but he most certainly knew Isaiah
chapter 9, verse 6. And I'm sure many of you are
familiar with that precious passage of God's Word. It says there,
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulders, and we shall call his name Wonderful. Counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And who is that talking
about? None other than our Lord and
God, Jesus Christ, our sovereign, successful Savior. So I've looked
a little bit at the promise of his namesake, the power of his
namesake, and the person of his namesake. How about we just spend
a little bit of time looking at the purpose of his namesake? I'm turning now to 2 Timothy.
Now, this is God's only holy book. And not only is every word
correct, and every period and comma, but also the order of
those words are just as important. And I'd like to show you this
in 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. It says there in 2 Timothy chapter 1, and remember this
is talking about the gospel of God. as the Apostle begins there
in verse 8, he says to beloved Timothy, he's writing now to
young Timothy, 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 hath saved
us and called us with unholy calling. Now notice, It doesn't
say who have called us and saved us. It says there, speaking of
the eternal covenant, the eternal agreement between the Father
and the Son, before any of us were born, before this world
was formed, I mean, the bottom just sort of just drops out,
doesn't it? It says here, God has saved us. And when did that
happen? In eternity. And in time, he
called us with an holy calling. Now I know the theologians like
the theological language and they say effectual call, but
I do much prefer holy calling. It's an invincible call. And
it says there, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and brought
immortality who brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel. Aren't you thankful, beloved,
this morning that God has shown you and taught you in the glorious
light and perfection of God's well-pleasing Son, that it's
not according to our works, but it's according to him who performeth
all things for us. All things, beloved. By his blood,
we have a full and complete pardon of all our sins. We speak of
it as the word justification, and our Lord used that word.
We'll look at that in a moment. But how wonderful it is to know,
but by his doing and dying, by his blood and righteousness,
he has saved us to the uttermost. And I was looking at the English
translation you have. It says it wonderfully. He saves
us completely. Completely. Now, the same thing
is repeated not only here, but not according to our works. If
you just turn a few pages to the right, it says in Titus chapter
three, and I think it's good that we read the first part of
that chapter. It really puts us all in the
dust where we belong, doesn't it? It says there, put them in
mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates,
to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be
no brawlers but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. For
we ourselves, now can you put yourself here, we ourselves were
sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts
and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating
one another. But after the kindness and love
of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, But according to His mercy, He saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. How
wonderful is that? To hear of the purpose in which
our Heavenly Father sent His Son into the world to save sinners,
beloved. So we've looked at the promise
of His namesake, the power of His namesake, the purpose of
His namesake, and I'd like to look at not only those four things,
the promise, the power, the purpose, and we'll get to looking at the
people of his namesake in a moment, but just a delight to hear of
his ability, his never failing ability
to save none other than sinners. So let's look at, lastly, this
last heading of the people of his namesake. We've already looked
at the promise of his namesake, the power of his namesake, the
purpose of his namesake, and the person of his namesake, but
lastly let's look at the the people of his namesake. And I
don't have any tremendous powers, mental powers. I hope this simple
poor outline will help you, as it helps me, contemplate the
glory of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. It's wonderful to know
that he is the one that the Father sent into the world to save sinners. Now, how do I know that? By God's
grace, He's given me faith to believe, not only in His Son,
but ever so blessedly on Him. And the Word of God testifies
in 1 Timothy, you have to turn there with me. In 1 Timothy, chapter one, and verse 15, the
Apostle Paul is writing to beloved young Timothy, and he writes
there, This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. There's no other qualifier there.
It doesn't say repentant sinners. It doesn't say sinners who turned
over a new leaf. It's those who have been shown
in the glorious light of Christ that all they are is sin. From
the top of their head, to the bottom of their feet and at the
same time they behold the Savior who is a Savior who saves his
people completely to the uttermost. Whatever the law of God demands,
does the law of God demand payment? He's paid for our sins with his
precious blood. Does the law of God demand the
best life you can? No. The law of God demands perfection,
absolute holiness. And how wonderful it is to know
that the Lord Jesus Christ performeth all things for me. All things
for me. Now, as I have been praying for
the message I would preach to you this morning, I think I had
a 6,000-page manuscript, or a 6,000-word manuscript, but I'd much rather
just tell you simply and plainly about the Lord and God we love
and worship. All the blessed places that tell
us that he shall save his people from their sins. In your translation,
there's two places where I found he will save. It's in our text
this morning in Matthew chapter 1 verse 21 and also As we come to a close, I want
to show you another portion where that says that very same thing.
And I pray all of us this morning will leave in the dust, looking
up to our Deliverer, our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. Being
in the dust is a wonderful place. It's home base. It's where His
people are. Because we have no right to look
down our nose at anybody else. Not when he shows us that in
this auditorium right now, I need the Lord Jesus Christ more than
any of you. I really do believe that. And
not only has God made that known to me, that one need that I have.
Christ is my one need. At the same time, the Lord has
given me faith to know, not merely believe, not merely hope so,
but truly to know that He shall save His people from their sins.
Look with me in Job chapter 22. I thought I was going to start
my stopwatch here, but I don't know how long I've gone. Hopefully
not too long. But look with me in the book
of Job in chapter 22, just before the book of Psalms. And we see
here Eliphaz telling some things to his friend Job. And it's quite,
it's one thing for your friend to tell you this. It's quite
another when God in love and mercy and grace reveals this
to you. I mean, I just, I just pray the
Lord will bless his word to us this morning. And you won't hear
this from just this nobody behind the pulpit, but God in mercy
and grace will teach you afresh what we read here. Eliphaz said
to Job, verse 5, is not thy wickedness great and thine iniquities infinite? And then in the latter part here
in verse 29, It says there, when men are cast down, then thou
shalt say, there is lifting up, and he shall save the humble
person. Now, your translation says, he
will save the downcast. That's a beautiful picture of
God's people. What does that remind us of?
I trust it reminds you of our brother, the publican. He didn't
saw it much as lift his eyes up to heaven. But he beat upon
his breast, and he said, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. And we can say it all the more
emphatically this morning, I trust. Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner. What a contrast between that
man in darkness, that Pharisee. You talk about darkness. He boasted,
I thank you, God, that I'm not like other men. And you, beloved,
you know that you're not any better than anybody else. You
know you can't look down your nose at anybody because God has
shown you love and mercy and grace that you're the chief sinner
in this auditorium this morning. And you're looking to your deliverer. And who is he? He's the Lord
Jesus Christ. You know, I'm so glad the Apostle
Paul wasn't a Puritan. I mean, when you read what he
wrote in the latter part of Romans chapter 7, do you remember? He
said, O miserable, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? He didn't stay depressed too
long, now did he? For he writes, and the answer
to his question, the Holy Spirit carried him to write the answer. I thank God that I shall be delivered
by my deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Wouldn't it be wonderful
this morning if the Lord put you in the light and the countenance
of his well-pleasing Son, and in the light of Christ, it must
be only by the light of Christ, he shows you his beauties, his
glories, his magnificence, how that he came into the world Can
you say it? Perhaps you could to save me. The only person I know who could
ever say such a thing would be someone who truly knows that
they're a sinner and the Lord Jesus Christ is their Savior. To say with our brother of old,
I know two things. I'm a great sinner. And my Lord
and God, Jesus Christ, is my great Savior. To conclude, I'd
just like to read this portion. I did mention that I would say
something on the word justification. Our Lord used that word, and
we'll conclude with this portion in Luke's Gospel, chapter 18. I love this portion. It's my
new favorite portion right now. It'll be something else later
on, I'm sure. But look what it says in Luke chapter 18. And this is helpful too for,
I know like you, many of you have family and friends who are
not near a gospel-preaching church, maybe it's somebody in another
state, another country, and we don't presume to know where God
has all of his gospel-preaching churches. But we tell them, be
wary of places that trust in themselves as being righteous,
because what always goes along with that, they despise others. That's what our Lord taught us.
This is the portion I'd like to read, and then I'll ask Eric
to come and lead us. I was going through your chorus
book, and I found a chorus I like very much. Number seven. I'll begin reading in verse 9, and I'll conclude with that good
news, the glorious good news of the word of truth, the gospel
of our salvation in the 14th verse. Luke chapter 18, beginning
in verse 9, and I'll read through to verse 14. And our Lord and
God spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that
they were righteous And notice what goes along with that self-righteousness.
They despised others. They despised others. Two men
went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other
a Republican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,
God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are. What darkness. What deadness. Aren't you thankful for the light
of Christ? I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in
the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, our brother, standing afar off, would not
lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven. This is what we read
about in Job. God, he will, he shall save the
humble person. He will save the downcast. He smote upon his breast saying,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And our Lord went on to say here,
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather
than the other. Wouldn't it be glorious, wouldn't
it be wonderful if we all went back to our homes? Every single
one of us, justified. Do you know what justified means,
beloved? It means when the law of God
can look at you inwardly and outwardly, and because of your
vital union to the Lord Jesus Christ, all can say about you,
As vile and guilty as you know yourself to be, all it can say
is, not guilty. All it can say is, saved. All
it can say is, no condemnation. All it can say is, or what our
brother wrote there in Romans 8 verse 1, there is therefore
now no condemnation, no wrath, no lake of fire, no hell to them
who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh,
but according to the Spirit. May the Lord give us afresh spiritual
eyes to behold Him this morning, Him who truly and really saves
sinners to the uttermost, or as your translation says, completely. To look to Him afresh this morning
and know that everything you need to be saved has been ever
so blessedly provided for. There's a psalm many of you are
familiar with. It says in the very first verse
in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I shall not
want for pardon. I shall not want for perfection.
I shall not want for provision. My Lord and God, Jesus Christ,
he performeth not some things for me, all things for me. And
in the latter part of that verse, isn't it wonderful? It says there,
surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.