her. And she wrote with some
questions. And she asked this question.
She said, how can God put up with such sinful people as we
are and not cast us into hell? That's a good question. I wish
somebody else, I love questions like that. Don't you Pastor? Somebody ask me that question.
More often, I'd sure be glad to give me answers. I told her this. I said, you
know, and she professed to be a believer.
I said, it isn't that God just puts up with it. He accepts it. He welcomes it. He says, we're his children.
We're his own. We're precious to him. He calls
us his Jews. He's going to come and fetch
us home to himself one day. And I said, the reason God can
do that is for Christ's sake. The reason he keeps on receiving
us. The reason he keeps on welcoming
us. The reason he keeps on perpetually
accepting us. Listen folks, there are no degrees
of acceptance. You're not more favored one day
when you're, you know, feel like you're living a little holier
life. And then the next day you mess up and say, well, I'm not
as accepted today. That's self-righteousness. If
you are accepted before God, it is always for Christ's sake
and only for His sake. And as He is accepted with the
Father, so I am accepted by That's right. You say, well, I hope
to stand righteous in that day. I'm righteous right now. And believing the Lord Jesus
Christ, I do believe I'll be righteous in that day, but I'm
righteous right now. I'm justified right now. If I
know anything about justification, there are no degrees to it. I'm
declared to be righteous in Christ. Even now, I'm accepted. Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians
1, in the Beloved. He is always my acceptance. Outside of Christ there is no
acceptance. But in Christ, children of God,
behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.
that we would be called the sons of God. It's all for Christ's sake. And
I'll tell you, he'll be our substitute when we stand before the bar
of God's justice. And he will then, even as now,
be the basis of our acceptance before God. Who is this Jesus? Well, he's
God's son. He's the substitute. I'll tell
you something else. I'll go into this a little bit
more in a few minutes. He's the Savior. He's the only Savior. He's the
Savior who accomplished complete salvation. And he's the successful
Savior because he said it is finished. I'll deal a little
more with that in a couple of minutes. And number four, he's
the sacrifice. That's who this Jesus is. He's
the sacrifice. He's God's sacrifice for sin. Number one, he was the ordained
sacrifice already quoted Revelation 13, the lamb slain for the foundation
of the world. He's the ordained sacrifice.
He died on purpose. It wasn't an accident. He died
according to God's eternal decree, purpose, and plan. Well, that
was all worked out. And not only was he the ordained
sacrifice, he was the prophesied sacrifice. You read the Old Testament. That's what the Old Testament's
all about. He's coming. From Abel's land all the way
through to the end of Malachi, it says he's coming. He's coming. He's prophesied. Isaiah said
he'd be led as a lamb to the slaughter. He's prophesied. And he's the lamb pictured from
Abel's lamb, Passover lamb, right all the way through all the Old
Testament sacrifices, pictured him coming. He's the sacrifice
ordained in eternity past. He's the sacrifice prophesied
in the Old Testament. He's the sacrifice pictured in
every Old Testament offering. And he's the sacrifice actually
offered. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold
God's sacrifice for sin. As our dear brother Scott Richardson
has said so many times, God had to do something for himself before
he'd do something for us. And he found the suitable sacrifice
to satisfy his honor and uphold his justice. And Christ died. He died. And God was satisfied. He turned up the bitter cup of
God's wrath and he drank it and he drank it and he drank it till
he drank the last bitter dregs of it and put the cup down. And the justice of God was satisfied,
the law of God's happy, I'm happy, God's happy. All the people of
God rejoice, God himself says, I'm satisfied! And Christ said,
well, it's finished then. It's finished. Bowed his head
and gave up the ghost. He's God's sacrifice
for sin. He's the sacrifice offering. And he's the sacrifice exalted. You know what we're going to
do throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity? We're going to sing,
worthy is the Lamb that was slain. The Lamb that was slain. You ever thought about this?
In the covenant of grace, we read
he's the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. It talks
about him being slain before time ever began. And when time
is no more, you know what the theme is still going to be? The
Lamb slain. The Lamb slain. It's the theme. It's the theme of the Bible.
We rejoice in this glorious truth. Christ took our place. He died.
Well, this Jesus, who is he? I'll give you this and I'll go
to the next point. He's the Sovereign. He's the
Sovereign. He's Lord, and He conducts Himself
as such. He doesn't sit on a pretend throne. He really reigns. He really controls
everything. He really rules. He is really
directing all things to the end which He Himself has already
ordained. That's providence. This world
is not going in a haphazard way. Everything's right on schedule.
I don't understand that. Not necessary for me to understand
it. I just, by God's grace, believe
it every once in a while. Sometimes I doubt. You ever worry? You ever get a little anxious
about something? And then the Spirit of God will
bring me to my senses and I'll remember everything right on
schedule there. This is happening on purpose. It's working together with all
things for your good. Because the Savior is in control. He's the sovereign. Well, that's
this Jesus. Who is this Jesus? That's who
He is. Now, quickly, let me give you
the second question. Our text says He shall save His
people from their sins. Well, the second question then,
who are His people? And I think that's a fair question.
Who are these folks whom the Bible says that he'll come to
save? Because it says, doesn't your
Bible say he shall save his people? He shall save his people. Now,
before I actually look at the identity or show you the identity
of these people, let's draw some obvious conclusions from this
statement. I want you to think with me.
You know where I went to school? You know I grew up in Bassett.
I went to Campbell Court Elementary School. And my fourth grade teacher
was Mrs. Bishop. I always remember her. A couple of things I remember
about her. I don't remember much about reading
and arithmetic, all those things that she taught me. Although
I'm sure she grounded us real well. But just for your information,
she ate cauliflower every day. And I thought that was pretty
special. But we never did have cauliflower
around our house. I always wondered what that crunchy
stuff was. But I remember that about Mrs.
Bishop. But the second thing I remember about Mrs. Bishop
was, she always say, she said in that class, two things I want
you to always remember. Keep your elbows off the table
and put your thinking caps on. And I never forgot, I don't know
why, it just kind of stuck in my head. Keep your elbows off
the table and put your thinking caps on. Well, put your thinking
caps on this morning. But you put your thinking caps
on. If this verse is true, you believe it's true, it's got to
be true. It's the word of God. If this
verse is true, here are seven statements of fact. I'm just
going to give them to you. If this verse is true, here are
seven statements of fact that you can't escape. Number one,
Jesus Christ has a people. that he came into this world
to save, and they are called his people." Now, you cannot
get away from that. They're called his people. He's
got a people, and he came to save them, and they're called
his people. The second statement is this. Those he came to save
were his people before he came to save them. They were already,
because that's what it says, he shall save. He's going to
do something for his people. There's already his people. Whoever
his people are, they've always been his people. And the third
statement is this. Since he came to save his people, since he came to save his people,
And it is clear that not everyone is saved. Then there must be
some people in this world who are not his people. And he didn't come to save them. So we draw this conclusion. There
are two groups of people in this world. Right? His people and
those who are not his people. Statement number four. Since
he came to save his people, then we conclude his people can't
save themselves. Because he came to do it. If
his people could save themselves, he wouldn't have come. And number
five, since God's Word says he shall save his people from their
sins, then we must conclude that he will not fail to do what he
came to do, for it says he shall save his people. And number six,
though these were his people before he came, his people needed
to be saved from their sins And this was a job that he alone
could accomplish. And number seven, since the angel
said he shall save his people from their sins, then his people
shall be saved, will be saved, must be saved with a perfect
salvation, and cannot possibly wind up any other way except
saved. Do you agree with that? If you
got your thinking caps on. And you following along the spirit
of God will drive the truth home to your heart. Those are seven
inescapable conclusions based on this verse. Well then who
are his people? Well, I'll just give you some
of the names that they're called in the Bible. They're called
his seed. Isaiah 53. I think about this was looking
over my notes a little earlier this morning. Christ is the seed. That which he uses to save his
seed is the word which is called the seed. Sure the prominence
in the scripture about the seed isn't. Isaiah said he shall see his
seed. Who are his people? Well, they're
called his sheep. John chapter 10. I'll never forget. Hadn't been here very long, back
in 76. And she called me, and she said she and Joe were studying
their son's school lesson in John 10. Remember that? She said,
we're reading about the sheep here, and it seemed like their
election is being taught here. Is that right? I said, I'll come
over and talk to you. His sheep! His sheep! I am the good shepherd, the good
shepherd giving his life for the sheep. The Pharisee said,
we don't believe you. He said, because you're not my
sheep. Because I send you my sheep, hear my voice. Yeah, I
know them. I don't know you. Oh, I know
all about you, but I don't know you. But I know my sheep, and
they know me. And they're called his bride.
Ephesians chapter 5. Bridegroom's got a bride. He's
not going to be a disappointed bridegroom either. No way. And his people are called his
church. Acts 20, 28. Church he purchased with his
own blood. His people are called his elect. Ephesians one the
chosen one. Second Second Thessalonians two
thirteen. And his people are called believers
and receivers. You a believer. Are you a receiver. Let me get to the last question
I quit. How does the Lord Jesus save
his people from their sins. Whoever his people are we know
that they shall be saved from their sin. Their nature of sin,
their actions of sin, their words of sin, their thoughts of sin,
their motives of sin, their delight in sin, their pleasure in sin,
the penalty of sin, and someday the very presence of sin. But
how did he do this? Well, here are three distinct
and distinguishing works of grace by which Jesus Christ saves his
people from their sin. Look with me in Luke chapter
one. Luke chapter one. Here's the first one. He has
saved his people from their sin. by his particular effectual redemption
upon the cross of Calvary. This is foretold in Luke one
sixty eight. Zachariah has been filled with
the Holy Ghost. And he prophesied saying, verse
sixty eight, Luke one, blessed be the Lord God of Israel. For he has visited and redeemed
his people. How does the Lord Jesus save
his people from their sin? By redeeming us. He visited this
earth to redeem us. To pay the price. Read at your
leisure Galatians chapter 3 verses 13 and 14. He bought us. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law. When you buy something. Bought
some Christmas presents, buy things every day, go to the grocery
store. When you purchase something,
you lay down the money on the, there in front of the cash register,
and the cashier takes your money. Do you expect to receive what
you paid for? Do you? I do. I'm not hesitant in answering
that question. I do expect to receive what I
paid for. Listen to me. Jesus Christ paid
the price we owe to the justice of God. God is satisfied. He expects to receive what He
paid for us. And He will. He will. He redeems us. You ever notice
how the Scriptures talk about He obtained redemption? He obtained
it. He purchased our salvation. You are redeemed, not with corruptible
things of silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.
You are redeemed. This is something that's taken
place. It's a transaction completed. And listen, isn't that what Calvary
was? It was a transaction between
the Holy Father and our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. A transaction. He redeemed us. That's how He
saves His people. What, do you think the redemption
price was accepted, Jim? Yes, because there's an empty
tomb over yonder somewhere. And that empty tomb is the testimony
to the fact that God accepted the payment price. And though we owed a debt, we
couldn't possibly pay nor estimate. We don't even know how great
the debt was. He paid it. Because he took our sins in his
own body on the tree. And he hung there on the cross.
And the Son of God bore the justice of God in our sins. And he took our sins off from
us. We were barren. He bore them. He's born. The ancient tomb says
he doesn't bury them anymore either. They're gone. They're
gone. Never to be resurrected again
again. Oh, but at the judgment, Jim, God's gonna turn on that
big motion picture camera and show your life and all your failures.
They're gone. They're gone. Buried in the depths
of the deepest sea. As a child used to sing the chorus,
gone, gone, gone, gone, yes, my sins are gone. Now my soul
is free and in my heart the salt. I didn't even know what that
chorus was about when I was singing the words, but I do now. Buried
in the deepest sea, yeah, that's good enough for me. And more
importantly, it's good enough for God. And I shall live eternally. Praise God. Praise God, Henry! Praise God, John! Praise God,
Gerald! Master Henry! G-O-N-E. God. There's God. Oh, I tell you, like Brother
Fortner said after somebody preached down at Cherokee, he said, that'll
float my boat. That'll float my boat. There's God. God doesn't hold
anything against me. For Christ's sake. He saved us
from the penalty of sin by his particular effectual redemption
of our souls from the curse of God's law. Secondly, look down
here in Luke 1, if you're still there, verses 77 through 79. Christ saves his people from
the power of sins by the power of his Holy Spirit in sovereign
effectual regeneration. Luke 1, 77. to give knowledge of salvation
unto his people. He's got people. They're going
to receive knowledge of salvation by the remission of their sins,
through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day shall spring,
the sun of righteousness. He's come from on high and he's
visited us. Thank God he's visited us. Why
do you do it? To give light to them that sit
in darkness, in the shadow of death. To guide our feet into
the way. He is the way, the way of peace. And lastly, and I'll quit, Christ
shall save his people from the very presence of sin in the final
resurrection. He who died for us He who came
by the power of his Spirit regenerated us, giving us the gift of repentance
and faith. Someday he's going to come again
for us. And then, even the presence of
sin will be done away with. John, realizing that, said, Even
so, come, Lord, Do you know Him? He shall save His people from
their sins, and we worship Him as our Lord. God bless you. Amen. I think number 226 is an excellent
thing after that message. Thank you. 226. Brother Joe,
will you come up and lead us in figuring this? Come on up. 226. Let's stand. thing first started in the fifties. I am not skilled to understand
what God has planned, what God has planned. I only know at His
right hand, in His bosom is my place to go. And he can leave
his place on high And come for sinful man to die You shall be
praised for once, dear life Before I knew my place I'm dying to be free. I'm free. My soul is from this
grave. Let me who live to be my King. I'm dying to be my slave. you. you.