Now let's open our Bibles back
to Matthew chapter 1. The title of my message this
evening is taken from the two names that is given to the Messiah
as revealed by the angel to Joseph. His name shall be called Jesus
and then his name shall be called Emmanuel. Jesus and Emmanuel. Now, in this portion of Scripture,
the Holy Spirit revealed through Matthew some of the surrounding
situation around the birth of our Savior. He says in verse
18, the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, Jesus being
his name, Christ being the title Messiah, sent one, sent from
God. And it says, when as his mother
Mary was espoused to Joseph, engaged to be married, what that
means, before they came together she was found with child of the
Holy Ghost. And it shows us there that our
Lord was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy
Spirit, virgin born, not born of man. Why is that necessary?
Because all who are born of man, born of Adam, are born in sin,
the scripture says, and he could not be born in sin and be our
Savior. He could not. He had a humanity,
body and soul, created for him in the womb of the Virgin. But
it was totally without sin and remained so up through forever. And so this great miraculous
birth, you know, there's no way to properly in human language
describe the person of Christ. Do you know that? I mean, we
can get close to it. We see his names. Those are descriptions
of his person, the glory of his person. But what I'm saying by
that is for us to totally grasp the glory of this person, it's
almost impossible for us as human beings. And I believe it was
in Luke chapter 2, or chapter 1 rather, where the angel described
him as that holy thing. And that's not a term of derision
to our Savior. That's just describing the glory
of his person, how unique he is. But this is what was required
for the task that was set before him in eternity, in the covenant
of grace. Well, it says in verse 19, Joseph,
her husband, being a just man, that means a fair man, It says
that he, not willing to make her a public example, a spectacle,
he was minded, he intended to put her away privily, to hide
her away from public view so that she wouldn't be ridiculed
and embarrassed. But verse 20 brings it to light
here. But while he thought on these
things, while he was considering, 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,
begotten in her, is of the Holy Spirit." Speaking of our Lord,
the God-man, and here it is, what John described in John chapter
1 and verse 14, the Word made flesh to tabernacle and dwell
among us. And it says in verse 21, she
shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sins. Now that name Jesus, sometimes
I think we get the impression that to call him Jesus is just
to relegate him to a human form. Like that's a lesser name for
him. But you know it's not. This name
Jesus is simply as Brother Joe said when he read it. It means
what? It means Savior. He's our Savior. You see, this
is a name that identifies him and distinguishes him from all
other men. Now, I know today you'll see,
especially in Mexico and in Spain, you'll see those who are named
Jesus. But I'll tell you what, they're
not our Savior. You see, this name means more than simply a
label that says Savior. And I'm glad it's put this way
in the original language. It says His name shall be called
Jesus. Look at it. For He what? He shall save His
people from their sins. That's what that name means.
He shall. He's our Deliverer. He's our
Redeemer. Peter preached it. He said in
Acts chapter 4 and verse 12, he says, Neither is there salvation
in any other, for there is none other name given under heaven,
given among men, whereby we must be saved." It's His name. There's
salvation in this name. And that's not just salvation
in quoting it, chanting it. The salvation is in Him, whom
to know is life eternal. This name Jesus in the New Testament
is a derivative connecting the Old Testament name Joshua, a
combined derivative. And Joshua means Jehovah saves. So, actually, this is a name
that should only be given to one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is Jehovah who saves,
for He is God. He is the great I Am. That's
who Mary was giving birth to. She's giving birth to the great
I Am here. Isn't that amazing? Not giving
birth to His deity, for unto us a child is born, but the Son
is given. That's right. He was made of
the seed of David, Joseph thou son of David. Somebody said,
well, did he come through Joseph's seed? No, he come through Mary's
seed. She was a daughter of David. And according, he was made of
the seed of David, according to the flesh. So his flesh, his
humanity, body and soul had a beginning. Created for him. He didn't bring
that humanity with him. It was created. It was conceived,
the scripture says right here, begotten in her womb by the Holy
Spirit. What a miraculous thing that
is. Well, it goes on, it says in verse 22, Now all this was
done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophet, saying, and now he goes back to the book of Isaiah,
chapter 7. You may have that in your concordance,
Isaiah 7 and verse 14, and he quotes this. Now, he says, Behold,
a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son,
and they shall call his name, or his name shall be called.
That's literally what it is. His name shall be called Immanuel,
which being interpreted is God with us. God with us. So that's
the prophecy of Isaiah. When Isaiah was prophesying that,
what he was trying to show back then is that the hope of Israel
was not in any earthly king, but is in the coming King of
glory, the King Messiah, the God-man. And you might notice
here, this name Immanuel, that's the name of His person. It's
the name of His power. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. He must be both God and man or
He could not be our Savior. If His name is Jesus and He shall
save His people from their sins, He must be able to do so. He must be able. If He's not
able to save us from our sins, then what good is He? And if
his name be called Immanuel, if he has a given name of Immanuel
and he's not God, do you know this is blasphemy right here?
If he's not God? I know there are individuals
who take the name Immanuel. Really, that name should only
be given to one person, the Lord Jesus Christ, God with us. The
Bible says, wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost.
That means save us completely. All them that come unto God by
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for him. Is
he able? To be our Savior, he must be appointed of God. He
must be the Son of God. And you might notice here that
the angel didn't say, now Joseph, go down to the drugstore and
get you a book and pick out a name for him. Did he? Or just name
him after your granddaddy or something like that. He didn't
say that. Joseph didn't name our sage. Mary didn't name him. God named him. He's the son of
God. You know who you're going to
name? You're going to name your children. You're not going to come in here and
have a stranger come in and say, would you give my child a name?
Who are you? You're going to name them because
they're your children. And that's the way it is here. This is the
son of God and God named him. Back in the Old Testament, when
God numbered or named Israel, he was showing what? Ownership.
They're mine. And when David took it upon himself
to name them on his own, he was usurping the authority of God.
You can't do that. God named him. His name shall
be called Jesus. His name shall be called Emmanuel. He's the Son of God. He's the
Savior, Son of God. To be our Savior, he must be
appointed of God. Nobody could take that upon himself.
Christ was the only appointed one. The Bible says that God
is going to judge this world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath appointed. That's right, Jesus Christ. To be our Savior, not only must
he be appointed, but he must be able, he must have the ability
to do what he's sent to do. And I'm going to show you that
in just a moment. And then to be our Savior, he must be willing. He must be willing to do so.
And all three of those fit one person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You think about it. To save us from our sins, I read
a message on this a couple of weeks ago, had these points in
it and they're good and I'm going to use them tonight. Let me show
you what our Savior had to deal, what Jesus and Emmanuel, that
one person, what he had to deal with in order to save me and
to save his people, save you from our sins. Number one, he
had to deal with the law of God. He had to deal with the law of
God. I want you to look at Galatians chapter 3. I want to show you
this. You see, the law of God must
be satisfied. The law of God cannot be ignored.
The law of God is an extension of God Himself, His holiness. The law of God cannot be set
aside. It cannot be broken. in this
matter of salvation. Christ, the God-man, Jesus, and
Immanuel, one person, he had to deal with the law. Look at
Galatians chapter 3 and verse 10. Now it says, For as many
as are of the works of the law are under the curse. Now who
is he describing here of those who are of the works of the law? Do you see how he describes it
there? As many as are of the works of the law. He's talking
about an individual who's trying to be saved based on their law-keeping. Now, that's who's of the works
of the law. If you think that God will save you or keep you
based upon your obedience to the law, you are of the works
of the law. Now, what does the law say then? It says, for as many as are of
the works of the law are under the curse. If you're of the works
of the law, you're under a curse. You say, well, what is that?
Why? Well, look at it. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that continues not in, underscore that, all things,
all things which are written in the book of the law to do.
You're of the works of the law, but you can't keep it. You're
a sinner. The Bible says, for all sin and come short of the
glory of God, miss the mark. What is the mark? Perfection.
The perfection of the law has to be dealt with. The Bible says
that to offend in one point is to be guilty of all. James chapter
one. You see, we're born into this
world of sinners and the law reaches not only to what we do
and don't do, but what we are by nature in heart. sins of omission,
sins of commission, all of these things. And therefore it says
in verse 11 here, so that no man is justified by the law in
the sight of God, that's evident, the just shall live by faith.
In other words, if the law says, cursed is everyone that continues
not in all things, which are written in the book of the law
to do this, then it's evident, folks, it ought to be evident
to us, it ought to be obvious that no sinner can be made righteous
before God based upon his efforts to keep the law. He's always
going to fall short. The Bible says man in his best
state is altogether vanity. It's impossible. Those who are
trying to be saved, those who are trying to be kept saved,
that's a big segment now. Those who are trying to earn
their way into God's favor in heaven, What does the law require? Perfection. A man asked me that
one time. He said, what is required for
salvation? And I said, perfection. He said, nobody can do that.
I said, that's right. That's why salvation is by grace
and not by works. The preachers all over this country
telling people they can make it. God will accept the best
you can offer. Well, my friend, the best you
can offer is not good enough. Now, it's not good enough. You
say that's unreasonable. Oh, no, it's not. He's God. Listen to me. I'll tell you what's
unreasonable. It's unreasonable for a sinner to expect God to
bless him based upon anything less than perfection. And you
know why? Because he's God. He's holy. For him to accept anything less
than perfection as to the ground of attaining and maintaining
salvation is to be less than God. That's right. He wouldn't
be God. What hope do we have? Well, my
friend, look at Galatians chapter 4 right across the page. Look
at verse 4. Here's our hope. Here's the only
hope. But when the fullness of the
time was come, now what time? The time that's described in
Matthew chapter 1. Luke chapter 2. The birth of
our Savior. The fullness of the time was
come. God sent forth His Son. How do you know He's His Son?
God said it. God named him. He's Jesus. He's
Immanuel. Made of a woman. It doesn't say
made of a man. He's not the seed of man. He's
the seed of woman. But look at the next line. Made
where? Under the law. Jesus Christ, in order to be
our Savior, our Immanuel, he had to deal with the law. So
therefore, as man, he was made under the law. As God-man, he
was made under the law. What does that mean? That means
he became fully responsible under the law to deal with the law
for his people. All of it was conditioned on
him. All my law, all the law keeping, all the righteousness
and holiness that God requires of me was placed right smack
dab upon his shoulders. That's what Isaiah 9 says, the
government shall be upon his shoulders, the government of
grace. the government of the kingdom of God, put upon his
shoulders. He bore me. He bore my sins. He not only bore me, and he bore
you, his people. And he had to deal with it. But
look, it says he was made under the law, verse 5, to redeem them
that were under the law, to pay the price. Perfect satisfaction
to the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. If he paid
the price, we received the benefit. That's right. Just like you young
children. When mom and daddy go to the
grocery store, they get the groceries, they pay the price, you get the
benefit. Is that right? You can understand that, can't
you? When they pay for your education, they pay for it, you get the
benefits of it. That's right. Well, Christ paid
the law, everything that the law required. And his children
get the benefit of it. He shall save his people from
their sin. There'll be no stillborn children
in the kingdom of heaven. There'll be none for whom Christ
died who'll end up in hell. Why? Because he was made under
the law. Look over at Galatians chapter
5. Look over here. This is a telling scripture too.
He says in verse 2, talking about the liberty that we have in Christ
as opposed to the bondage of legalism and works-oriented religion.
He says in verse 2, Behold I, Paul, say unto you that if you
be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Now what's
he talking about? He's not talking about circumcision
in and of itself. He's talking about those who
would claim that their circumcision recommends them unto God. That
their circumcision, their being a Jew, makes them more holy or
more righteous or more saved. than somebody else. The act of
circumcision is an act of obedience which gains and attains God's
favor and maintains it. That's who he's talking to. Circumcision here is symbolic
of anything a sinner can do. If you think that any work that
proceeds from you, that recommends you unto God,
that's a denial of Christ and what he accomplished at Calvary.
And he'll profit you nothing, but go on, verse 3. For I testify
again to every man that is circumcised, that is, for that reason, in
order to be saved, that he's a debtor to do what? The whole
law. If you think that you have to
keep the law in order to be saved, then you owe the whole law obedience. You owe it perfect obedience,
and you have to deal with it. And my friend, I'm going to tell
you, you're going to come up short. Just like any of us. Well, Christ
came and he dealt with the law. He says in verse 4, Christ is
become of no effect unto you, whosoever you are justified,
declared righteous by the law. You're falling from grace. You've
denied grace. People go to that verse and they
say, well, see, that means you can lose your salvation. Oh,
no. That means you're denying what you say. You've fallen from
grace. You claim grace, but you don't
believe it. So he said in verse 5, for we
through the Spirit, Now, listen to this. This is something. He says, For we through the Spirit,
that is, as we are enlightened and motivated by the Holy Spirit,
wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Now, where is that
hope of righteousness by faith? Where are you going to find it?
Where does the Holy Spirit point you to? Look at verse 6. For
in Jesus Christ, Jesus and Emmanuel, neither circumcision availeth
anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.
Look into Christ. Well, to save us from our sins,
he had to deal with the law, and he did it. He kept it perfectly. Every jot and tittle. When he
was baptized, when John said, I'm not fit to baptize you, he
said, John, do it. He said, for thus it behooved
me to fulfill all righteousness. He fulfilled all righteousness.
He didn't break the law in one jot or one tittle. He kept it
perfectly. He's the God-man mediator. He's the Lord, our righteous.
Boy, I tell you, if you ever want to have an advocate before
God who is able to get the job done, just look at ours. Jesus Christ the who? The righteous. He kept every bit of it. They accused him, but they had
to falsely. They said he was a lawbreaker.
They said he was opposed to Moses. He told them, he said, you don't
even know what Moses wrote. He said, Moses wrote of me. He
said, if you'd believed Moses, you'd have believed me. That's
right. He said, Moses, in whom you trust,
means they trust in their works. He said, he'll be your judge.
The same law you're trusting in will condemn you. Curse it is everyone that contendeth
not in all things. Well, he dealt with it. Here's
the second thing. Look back at the book of Job. Turn back in
the Old Testament to the book of Job, chapter 25. Now, in the
same vein, you see, his dealing with the law didn't stop with
just his active obedience. It also means he had to deal,
secondly, with the justice of God. Now, we read it there in
Galatians 3. Cursed is everyone that continues
not in all things, which are written in the book of the law
to do them. That curse is the product of
the justice of God against sin. You see, anyone who doesn't have
Christ owes a debt to God's law and God's justice. And there's
a penalty to be paid. It's just like in our courts
today, ideally now, speaking ideally, if someone breaks the
law, there's a penalty. And whatever that penalty is,
that's what's got to be paid. Well, the penalty for breaking
God's law is infinite, everlasting punishment. He's an infinite
God. And when Adam fell, he brought
the whole world into condemnation, for by one man sin entered in
the world, and death by sin. For death passed upon all men
for that all sin in Adam. He was the representative of
the whole human race. And so justice must be dealt
with. It cannot be denied or ignored. Verse 4 of Job 25, this is one
of Job's friends answering a question when Job was justifying himself.
They pondered this question, verse 4, how then can man, now
what man? He's talking about a sinful man.
Well, that's all there is according to God's Word. Not just some
man, some men, but all. How can man be justified with
God? How can a man be declared righteous
with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? Now, being born of a woman there
means born of the seed of man in Adam. And he says in verse
5, now look here, Behold, even to the moon, and it shineth not,
yea, and the stars are not pure in his sight. This whole world,
this whole creation is fallen. How much less man that is a worm,
and the son of man which is a worm. the justice of God. Look at Romans
chapter 3 with me. How can man be just with God?
Well, here's the answer. How can a sinner stand in the
sight of a holy God who not only knows my frame, but he knows
my heart? He knows everything about me.
How in the world can such a worm, that's what Bill Dadd-the-Shoe
called him there in Job 21, such a worm be justified before God? Well, the law of God has to be
dealt with. The justice of God has to be dealt with. And I'll
tell you who it's going to take. It's going to take Jesus and
Emmanuel to do it. That's who it's going to take.
Look at verse 19 of Romans 3. Right here is the heart of the
gospel in these verses right here. He just brought in every
man sinful, every man deserving of God's wrath. And he says in
verse 19, now we know. That what thing soever the law
sayeth, it sayeth to them who are under the law, remember that,
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. I'll never forget one time a
friend of ours who was in the preacher school introduced me
to his father, who was a preacher. And the first thing that stuck
out of his hand, how you doing Mr. So-and-so? He stuck out of
his hand, he looked at me and he said, how do you stand under
the law? And I said, guilty. Guilty. He said, that's not what
I mean. I said, that's what I mean. Guilty. You see, all the world's
guilty before God. Do you know what that word guilty
means? Now, here's a legal term. It's not simply saying that we
committed the deed. If somebody says, well, I'm guilty,
it means I did it. I admit to doing it. I admit to not doing
it. But the word guilty here, you may have this in your concordance,
it may say something like this, subject to the judgment of God. And what it means is this, that
you are legally under the just sentence of God's wrath for sin. Now that's what it is to be without
Christ. But look on, he says in verse 20, he says, therefore,
now here's the conclusion, just like we read in Galatians 3,
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
God's sight. Now, we're not talking about
dealing with men, we're talking about dealing with God. You see, the
law and justice of God has to be dealt with. For by the law
is the knowledge of sin. The law is like, somebody said
it's like a mirror. We look into it and we see all
the flaws, but it's really more like an x-ray machine. It goes
right to the heart of the matter. So it shows my sin outwardly
and inwardly. So the fact that I must conclude
that there's no way that this piece of flesh up here can be
justified in the sight of God by my deeds of the law. I'm under
the just sentence of God's wrath in myself, you see. So what's
my hope? Verse 21. But now the righteousness
of God. Now that term, the righteousness
of God, where was it used first in the book of Romans? Romans
1.17. Remember Romans 1.16, Paul said
this. He said, For I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God and
the salvation to the Jew first and to the Greek also. And it's
this power of God and salvation to everyone that believe it,
to the Jew first and the Greek also, verse 17, for therein is
the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel. And beginning
at Romans 118, all the way right to this point here, Romans 321,
he begins showing why we as sinners need the righteousness of God.
Why do we need it? Huh? For God's wrath is revealed. against men, against all unrighteousness,
all those who hold the righteousness in untruth, we need. Why does God's wrath abide upon
any who are without Christ? Well, what is the righteousness
of God? Look at it, verse 21, but now the righteousness of
God without the law. Now, what's he talking about?
Without our works of the law. How do you know that's what he's
saying? That's what he's talking about, verse 20. Look at the
context. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified in God's sight. So here's a righteousness that's
of God and from God without my works. In other words, it has
nothing to do with my works, my efforts, even the best. And
he said this righteousness of God without the law is manifested.
That is, it's not only made known, but it's been brought forth.
It's here, he said. It's manifest. It's here. And he said it was witnessed
by the law and the prophets. Moses in the law spoke of it.
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah. And you can go even farther back
than that. Go to Abel, the prophet Abel. They spoke of it. They
spoke of this righteousness of God to come, but we're speaking
of one that's manifest. It's here, Paul's saying. And
he says in verse 22, even the righteousness of God, which is
by faith of Jesus Christ. That's a good translation of
that, too, folks. In other words, it's not the
righteousness of my faith, it's the righteousness that Christ
was faithful to accomplish, to work out. Jesus and Emmanuel,
this is how he saved his people from their sins, right there.
is by his faithfulness to do what he was sent to do. He was
faithful in all that God commanded him to do. He was faithful in
all that the Father sent him to do. He was faithful to all
that he promised to do. And he says this righteousness
of God is unto all. That means it's to be preached
to everybody. Go into all the world and preach the gospel.
And it's upon all them that believe. I believe that means it's imputed.
at the cross, and the way we know that is we believe. That's
the work of the Holy Spirit within. How do you know Christ? James
sung the song, He Died for Me. How do you know that? Because
you look to Him. You believe in Him. It's upon
all them that believe. His righteousness has been imputed
to every sinner who believes in Him. If it hadn't been, you
wouldn't believe in Him. That's the work of the Holy Spirit
that comes forth as the fruit and result of what Christ accomplished
on the cross. And he says there's no difference.
What does he mean? A lot of differences out here,
aren't there? But here, there's none. We all need grace. We're all sinners. We're all
equally in need of Christ and Him crucified. There's no difference.
For all sin that comes short of the glory of God. Look at
verse 24. Remember what Bildad asked. How shall man be just
with God? Well, look here. He says, being
justified freely, unconditionally, without a cause. In other words,
if you're justified, what does it mean to be justified? It means
to be declared not guilty. That's what it means. Not guilty! You think about that now. If you commit a crime and you
go up before a judge and you're not guilty, boy, how beautiful
that sound is when the judge says, well, there's not enough
evidence against you and you're not guilty. You walk out relieved,
don't you? But what if you are guilty? And
the judge looks down and says, not guilty. You say, well, I'm
glad. But you know, justice wasn't
done. Is that right? If you're guilty and the judge
says, well, I'm just going to declare you not guilty, I know
you're going to be relieved. You get off scot-free. But justice
wasn't done. So how can God do it? Well, he
sent somebody to take your place. Justice has to be done in God's
court. He can't just ignore it and look
over it. And it's justification. It means to be not guilty. It
means to be righteous before God. It's freely. It's unconditionally.
It's without a cause within us. It's by His grace. But how does
grace come? Does God just say, well, just
forget it, fellas. We'll just act like it never happened? I
hear people talking about imputation as if it's God's play-liking.
You know, I play like this. Now, look at it again. By His
grace, through what? The redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Now, what did He have to do to
redeem us? What does that mean? He paid the price. You can't
redeem something legally unless you pay the price. You can't
redeem it unless you give all that's required. And what did
He have to do to redeem us? He had to be made of woman. He
had to be made under the law. to redeem them that were under
the law. He had to bear the curse. Scripture said he was made a
curse for us. He suffered the just for the
unjust. Jesus and Emmanuel did all that. Verse 25, whom God
hath set forth, literally foreordained, to be a propitiation, a satisfaction,
a reconciliation, through faith in what? His blood, His finished
work on the cross, to declare His righteousness. what he accomplished,
the merit of his entire work for the remission of sins that
are past, which I believe is talking about the sins of the
Old Testament believers, through the forbearance of God, to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. That's how God can
be just and justify sinners like us. Christ had to deal with the
justice of God. The Bible says also Christ had
to deal with Satan. Satan, the great accuser of the
brethren. Look at John chapter 12. When did he deal with Satan?
Well, he tells us very plainly. We've been studying that in the
book of Revelation, especially Revelation 12. But look here.
We'll see it again. Satan had a hold on man. And that hold was this, that
his accusations rang true. The accuser of the brethren.
Adam sinned when he took sides with Satan against God. That's
why the problem with every man by nature is that he's of his
father the devil, just like the Pharisees. Satan has a legal
moral hold upon man because man fell in Satan. So Christ has
to deal with Satan. That's how he's our Savior. That's
how he shall save his people. He had to deal with him. Well,
when did he deal with him? Well, look at John chapter 12
and verse 31. He says, Now is the judgment
of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. I'm going to deal with that old
devil. Verse 32. How? And I, if I be lifted up
from the earth, that's his crucifixion, will draw all men unto me. That's
the work of the Holy Spirit within us. One's the ground, the other's
the fruit. And together they take care of
the work of Satan. You think about it. Christ destroyed
that hold that Satan had upon his people. Legally, when he
took our sins and drank damnation dry. Morally and spiritually,
when we're born again by the Spirit and that darkness which
Satan keeps us under is removed and we see the light of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ, Jesus and Emmanuel. I'll tell
you another thing that Christ has to deal with. Look at John
chapter 6. He has to deal with me. He has to deal with you. You say, well, that ought to
be easy. It is for Him. It is for Him. But He has to
deal with us because we're by nature unbelievers. We're by
nature Christ-haters. It's what He says here in John
chapter 6 and verse 37. He says, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. There's no doubt about that.
He shall save His people from their sins. He's Jesus. He's the Savior of His people.
He's Emmanuel. He's God with us. And all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, he said. All whom God
gave him in divine electing grace shall come to him. And he says,
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Any sinner
who comes to Christ will not be turned away. Now that's so. Well, what's the problem then?
Well, look at verse 44. No man can come to me except the Father
which has sent me draw him. Man's not going to come of his
own, of his own will, of his own way. He's not going to do
it. We've left ourselves, we'll turn our way every way. We'll
turn Satan's way. That's Satan's hold upon us,
you see. And he said, no man can come to me, no man is able,
no man desires to come to me except the Father which has sent
me to draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. But look
at verse 45. It's written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. But God's going to teach
some people. Some of the old preachers say he's going to learn
them a lesson. He's going to teach them who he is. He's going
to teach them who they are. He's going to teach them who
Christ is. And so he says, every man therefore that hath heard.
Now who gives us ears to hear? God does. By His Spirit in the
new birth. Without that you're not going
to hear. You might hear the words, but you're not going to mean
anything to you. Hear and they hear not. And every man that
hath heard, heard with the ear of faith, seen with the eye of
faith, looked to Christ, and hath learned of the Father."
Now, you know what it is to learn of the Father? It's to learn
how God can be just and justify the ungodly. That's what it is.
Because, you see, without Christ and His blood and righteousness,
when you come to God, you're coming to a righteous judge. You see what I'm saying? If you
come to God without Christ, All you're going to meet is a righteous
judge who judges according to truth, and he'll say, Cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things. But it's only
in Christ can we see and know and rest in the fact that God
is both a righteous judge as well as a loving Father who delights
to show mercy. He delights to show mercy, but
at the mercy seat in Christ. He's a gracious God, but His
grace reigns through righteousness, not by what God enables me to
do, but by our Lord Jesus Christ. He's a compassionate, loving
God, but His love abides in His Son and nowhere else. Oh, He
says, everyone that hath heard and hath learned of the Father,
they do what? They cometh unto me. They'll
come to Him. You won't be able to stop them.
Somebody said, well, you didn't give an altar call. They won't
even worry about that. They've already come to the altar.
Our altar is Christ. You say, well, what about walking
the aisle? Well, come on down. Just make sure you know Christ
before you take the first step. How about that? Come on down. That's all right. Nothing wrong
with a person publicly confessing before the brethren that God
saved them by His grace. But realize this, there's no
salvation down here. There's some poinsettias and
they're beautiful, but they're not going to save you. There's a
table. Coming down here is not going
to save you. You see, if you come down here for the right
reason and unite with this church and decide that you want to follow
the Lord in baptism, if you do it for the right reason, you've
been saved long before you even had the thought of doing all
that. Ain't that right? Nobody will be able to stop you
from coming. No preacher, no group, nobody. You'll come. Because you know why? Because
Christ has dealt with you. He dealt with you. He got you
alone, just Him and you. And He dealt with you. And that's
our Jesus. That's our Emmanuel. That's our
Savior. That's God with us. We're going to close by singing
Like a River, Glorious. That's a beautiful hymn. Hymn
number 287.