In Matthew 1, verse 21, a very
familiar passage of Scripture. Every church in America and probably
throughout the world read this very passage of Scripture a few
months ago during the Christmas season. But it has a special
significance to my message this afternoon and I want to read
it. In verse 21, Matthew 1, 21, The scripture says, and she shall
bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. That particular passage of scripture
introduces the Lord Jesus Christ into this world. I want us to
bow our heads for a word of prayer before I begin this evening. Our Father in Heaven, we're thankful
today for your mercy and grace to us. We're thankful for the
Word of God that we've heard this day. And we pray now, Father,
that you might bless these few remarks that I have concerning
this passage of Scripture. Bless us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. This afternoon I would
like to speak to you on that subject of the Bible's central
message. I have chosen Matthew 121 as
a text or a starting place to introduce our subject. There
are many truths taught in the Word of God, and this particular
passage that we have read, I believe, introduces one of the subjects
that I have been concerned about for some time and been thinking
about And that is, what is the central message of the Word of
God? We all have books in our libraries,
something like, What Does the Bible Teach? And it'll go through
the many doctrines of the Word of God. And those are of great
value to all of us. But then, this afternoon, I want
us to concentrate our attention on the subject of what is the
central doctrine of the Word of God. What is the Word of God
teaching us? What is the theme that runs throughout
the entire Word of God? What would God have us to believe
and learn from the Scriptures? I believe that that truth and
that doctrine is that it is the redemption of God's chosen people
through the suffering of Jesus Christ. If you took out that
message in the Bible, you wouldn't have anything left. Because there's
no doctrine in the Word of God that is not affected by the redemption
of God's people. It was God's choice. It was God's
purpose. It was God's plan to save a people. and that is through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Of all the truths and the doctrines
of the Scripture that we could sit here for hours and hours
and the rest of our natural lives, unless it is in the midst of
this subject of the redemption of God's people, bringing us
from a sinner in this life into glory and to heaven, then we're
going to miss the whole point of the Word of God. I think this
afternoon of all the things that's being taught in a disguise of
calling itself the gospel or the message of God's Word. You'll
see more barns and you'll see more activity centers in churches,
buildings, and property today, but when we come down to the
teaching and the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ dying
for sinners, which is the will and the purpose of God, most
churches don't have that. They're not going to spend any
time teaching about what God is teaching within the Word of
God. So that is my purpose for being
here this afternoon. As again, we have chosen Matthew
1.21, that passage. in Matthew about the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. There's another passage I'd like
to make you more familiar with, and that is in Zechariah 9 and
verse 9, where the scripture says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter
of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee. He is just and having salvation,
lowly, riding upon an ass and a coat of a fold of an ass. These two passages, one in the
New Testament and one in the Old Testament, summarizes, I
think, God's sovereign intention within the Scripture. It is bringing
His people unto glory. All truth of the Scripture is
all about bringing his people unto glory. It was the look of all of those in the Old
Testament that looked for salvation of the coming Messiah. That word
Jesus in our text this afternoon means Jehovah is salvation. Jehovah is salvation. It is the same name that was
given to Joshua in the Old Testament. Good reason that is given to
our Lord because our Lord Jesus Christ, He saves us from the
guilt of sin by the washing of His own atoning blood. He saves
us from the dominion of sin. that we heard about earlier this
morning by putting in our hearts a sanctified life. And He saves
us this morning from all the consequences of sin when He shall
give us a glorified body in the days to come. They are cleansed. We are cleansed from guilt by
Christ's blood. We are made meat for heaven by
Christ's Spirit. is salvation. Paul said in Hebrews
2 and verse 10, Jesus, the captain of our salvation. The people
of Israel looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. It was
the faith of God's people of the Old Testament. Everything
that they had looked toward the coming of the Messiah. It is
little to think that today that modern Judaism has no hope because
they've stopped looking. The Christ, the Messiah has already
come. And today most modern Jews have
no desire, have no look in that direction at all. But again,
captain of our salvation, people looking back from the Old Testament
to the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and it
is that which makes us continue to believe today. A person who
has no hope of the coming of the Lord or have no hope of being
with the Lord has little confidence, any confidence in his salvation
at all. It is that when we have an anxious
looking toward being with our Lord Jesus Christ, being again
called to his side gives us great hope in this life. The teaching
of Jesus Christ, the promised one of God, saving his people
from their sins, is that central message of the Bible. From the
beginning to the end, the Bible teaches us, come Lord Jesus. I'm just thinking, is there any
difference today in our attitude toward God that was not true
of those of the Old Testament. We look to Him today. Our minds and hearts are fastened
upon Christ. Our hope is in Christ. We think
of the political scene in America today. We look at the economic
scene today, very gloomy, but when we fasten our hearts, our
lives upon Him and look to Him and what He has accomplished
for us and what we have to look forward to, it gives our hearts
a great comfort. We are saved this morning alone
by grace through faith on the merits of the work of Christ. Only this work of Christ justifies
man and makes him acceptable to God. Christ's death was the
substitutionary offering for the penalty of sin in the place
of certain specified sinners. In addition to putting away sin
of his people, Christ's redemption secures everything necessary
for their salvation, our salvation, including faith which unites
us to Him. This faith that we even spoke
of earlier this day is something that is placed within the heart
of every believing child of God. What is the faith that we have
within us today It is the Spirit of Almighty God is what that
faith is that causes us to continue to look toward the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. John 20 in verse 31 says, But
these things, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his
name. Romans 5 in verse 1, Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then Ephesians 2 in verse
8, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God. And finally, Titus 3 in
verse 5, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to the mercy he has saved us, by the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost. All the promises of God lead
back to the first promise concerning Christ from Genesis 3.15. The faith of the fathers of the
Old Testament era and the faith of the New Testament are the
one and the same faith. So often today we hear contrary
to that statement. Today, many feel that we are
in a dispensation where we are saved differently from those
of the Old Testament. There is but one testament of
the truth of Almighty God, and that is in the purpose and the
will of God. God hasn't changed His mind from
the Old Testament to the New Testament. The Old Testament
saints, those of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all of the believers
that followed after him, looked toward in faith of the coming
of the Messiah. And here we are today in what
we might call the New Testament era, and we have the same faith
that they had. We're looking back to what he
has accomplished and they look forward to what he was going
to accomplish in their behalf. The faith of the fathers was
directed at Christ. Time does not change the object
of true faith or the Holy Spirit. There has always been and always
will be a one mind, one impression, and one faith concerning Christ
among true believers, whether they live in pastimes or now,
or in times to come. We are one brother, one brethren
throughout all of God's people. We are brethren with Abraham. His faith is my faith, and his
faith is my faith. We're all joined together in
one person, in one salvation, and so it shall always be. There are three things that I'd
like for us to consider this afternoon concerning this subject
of the Bible's central message. And the first thing that we should
certainly consider is the work and the death of Christ. Hebrews
10 in verse 9 says that Christ came to do the will of the Father. If it was God's sovereign plan
and purpose there should be one that should take our place and
ransom us from our sin and present us perfectly, flawlessly before
God. And if that was God's purpose
from all eternity, then it's going to carry through all through
all times. This is the work that has been
accomplished by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Think with me just for a moment
in the temple. Down below the temple there must
have been a great large room preparing offerings that were
going to be offered upon the altar. There must have been many,
many people carrying one piece of meat, one hindquarter after
another and placing them upon the altar to be burned before
God. This went on for centuries and
centuries and centuries. Not one sin was ever forgiven
because of any piece of meat offered upon the altar. Not one. But it is a beautiful picture
of the coming sacrifice that is going to accomplish what bulls
and goats and lambs could never do. It is the offering of a sacred
lamb of God that is going to be accepted before God. all of
those lambs and all the bullocks and all the bulls that were burned
and the smoke went up to heaven was just a foretaste, just a
picture of the coming day when our Lord Jesus Christ would be
offered in such a way that he would be accepted before God
for all the sins of all the people. We walk as brothers. We walk together today with every
believer of the Old Testament, knowing that our faith is that
of His and our faith depends upon the work of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And that is the truth this morning. Another thing that I would have
you to consider, other than just the death of our Lord, and that
is the purpose of the death of Christ this is clearly stated
in our text this morning in Matthew 1 verse 21 she shall bear a son
and he shall be called Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sins this passage did not did not say that He would
save the whole world. Nor did it say that He should
try to save the world, but that He would save His people from
their sins. God's purpose and plan from all
eternity rests upon an act of the Lord Jesus Christ. not upon my acts, not upon my
intentions, not upon my works, not upon any act that I could
perform, but upon the work and the act of another. My offerings
are not acceptable. My preaching, my talking, my
praying, my faithfulness, my giving, my anything is not acceptable
before God when it comes to this act of being forgiven and having
our sins forgiven. It had to be an act acceptable
to all mighty God of all the people of the day when our Lord
went to the cross only one person would been acceptable and it
was the righteous Son of God not the peccable Son of God not
a son of God but the Son of God he had to be the appointed Son
of God the appointed one to deliver me from my sins what a blessing
What a joy, what a joy to know that I don't have nothing to
do with it and you don't have anything to do with it. You never did. We today as children
of God are the recipients of God's sovereign mercy and that's
all. That's all, just the recipients
of His sovereign mercy that He has shown to worthless, no-account
sinners, but yet in love He has brought us thus far. Luke 19, verse 10 says, For the
Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. seeking to save that which was
lost. We are in the hand and the purpose
of God. The only way that we can have
this standing before God is through this perfect sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The third thing that I want you
to consider is that Jesus' death was to bring us to glory. There is a plan and the purpose
and that purpose is to bring us finally to the shore of heaven
and to be in the very presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. I think
of a great journey. When we go on vacation We sit
down with our pamphlets and our books and we plan our trips.
We plan the mileage, how far we're going to drive and where
we're going to spend the night and what we're going to do on
the trip and what we're going to see on the trip. And we wait
in great anticipation for that day that we shall leave on that
vacation Because we've planned on it for such a long time. But when we get on the vacation,
it passes so rapidly. And it's finally over. And we
find ourselves back at our job again, wondering what happened
to the last two weeks of our lives. The greatest anticipation,
the greatest blessing that I know of today is the anticipation
of going to be with Jesus Christ. Being caught up with Him, being
brought to His very presence to be with Him forever and ever. This going to be with Him. There's
going to be an end to this work of the Lord Jesus Christ because
The final place is to be in His abode. In John 19, verse 9, the
scripture says, the Lord speaks, I pray for them, I pray not for
the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me, for Thine
are Thine. This afternoon, our Lord Jesus
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane prays for us. He prays for His
people. He prays for those that the Father
has given Him before the foundation of the world. We have been given
to Him as an inheritance and He is bringing us closer and
closer to the shore. This portion of Scripture where
He says, I pray not for the world, our Lord prays for those that
he's going to go to the cross for. He prays for those that
is in the Father's will. He prays for those that have
been given to him and he's going to go to the cross and he's going
to die for them and he's going to, by his death, redeem them
from all of their sins. And by doing so, he is going
to accomplish everything that God has in store for his people. The scripture says that Christ
died for the sheep. He died for the sheep. And because
of this, none of his sheep shall be lost. We are secured again,
not in my preaching, not in my talking, not in my praying, not
in my hoping, not even in my own faith, but I am secure in
the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it was God's plan, it was
God's purpose, and He is going to bring it about. Christ died
for the sheep. And then in John 10, verse 10
and through 11, it says, a thief comes only to steal and to kill
and destroy. I came that they may have life
and have it more abundantly. I am a good shepherd. A good
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. We can constantly
be reminded that all that we are and all that we shall be
is because of a dying Savior. He is not going to lose one of
his sheep. All of those that Christ has
died for All of those that he's shed his life for are eternally
secure in that work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's two kinds
of faith in this world this afternoon. One faith is depending upon its
own power and its own understanding. There is another faith that has
nothing to do with me. It is the faith of the Lord Jesus
Christ that I can't mess up. I cannot be overdue on this one
because it is secure in the work of Christ and not my own. And then in John 10 and verse
28, the scripture says, I give life to them and I give them
eternal life and they shall never perish. neither shall any man
pluck them out of my Father's hand." How many men today, and
the word men will be figurative now, how many men are trying
to pluck you out of God's hand? Could I rephrase it? How many
sins are trying to pluck you out of your confidence in the
work of our Lord Jesus Christ. How many family members do you
have that would love for you to join another church and believe
something else? How many political problems in
this life would be solved by some if they would just believe
something else? There is one faith, the scripture
says, in one baptism. There is one faith in all the
world that will save men, and that's the faith of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We today have committed some,
most, all of our life in the service of our Lord and believing
upon Him, but it is more imperative today that I believe in Him than
ever before in my life. It's not what I believed yesterday,
but it's what I believe today. And our belief in Him will safely
bring us through. May God bless you this afternoon.