I want you to open your Bibles
to the book of Matthew chapter one. Matthew chapter one. And again, let me repeat how
glad we are to be here, Debbie and I. We just always enjoy it.
And we love to see you all face to face too. I was telling the
ones earlier that we keep in contact with you constantly.
And I thank the Lord that we do have that and we can talk. help each other, pray for each
other. What a ministry it is. I've been preaching a poem. I've
been preaching through 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and going back and
reaching back to chapter 3 there and chapter 4. And of course,
Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit there, he describes the
ministry that we have, that we've been entrusted with, as the Ministry
of Glory, as the Ministry of Reconciliation, the Ministry
of the Spirit and Life and Righteousness, and it's just such an honor.
And I think sometimes we might lose sight of that because the
world doesn't respond to the preaching in the way that we
would like. You know, we want everybody to
hear it, everybody to believe it. And that's fine. And that sense, you know, we
want to see sinners come to a saving knowledge of Christ. And we speak
of our family members. We want them to come. But we
want to see others. And we want to honor God. We don't want to water down the
message in order to get results that are not only suspect, but
just out and out false. And that's what I'm going to
talk about this morning. This passage, normally, you know,
people will preach on it around Christmas, but this is a message
of the gospel for all times and for all ages. I've entitled the
message, The Person and Finished Work of Christ. The Person and
Finished Work of Christ. Now, you know as well as I do
that that we live in a world, religiously speaking, concerning
what most people see as Christianity, we live in a world of easy believism. You know, people want you to
simplify things, nothing wrong with simplification, you know,
but in simplifying things, they rob the gospel of its power and its
reality. And Robert and I were talking
about this before. You know, this thing of salvation begins with
God bringing a sinner to seek the Lord. It's not just something
you come in one time and you get a one, two, three, A, B,
C, walk along, get baptized, and then start trying to be a
better person. You know, we want everybody to be better people.
I want to be a better person. I mean, that's not the issue
of the gospel, though. The gospel is not the message
that just makes somebody a better person in this world. There are
lots of things in the Bible that inspire us in those ways, but
the gospel is the power of God unto salvation in the hands of
the Holy Spirit. And the reason is because it
exposes our sinfulness and drives us to Christ for all salvation. And this issue of believing has
to do with these things. Who is Jesus Christ? What did he do? What did he actually
accomplish? when he came to this earth lived
a perfect life and died on the cross of calvary was buried and
rose again the third day and ascended unto the father and
now resides at the right hand of the father ever living to
make intercession for us what did he actually accomplished
now that's where the rub comes in on this issue of the gospel
did he just come to make an attempt to save sinners who would allow
him to come into their hearts or let him in? Or did he actually
establish as a surety, as a redeemer? We're saying redeemed by the
blood. You know what that means? That
means we're bought and paid for with a price, and the price was
the blood of Christ. Now, did he actually redeem a
people unto himself and did he secure and guarantee the salvation
of anybody or did he just simply bring forth a general redemption
and leave it up to us? Is that what the Bible teaches?
That's what we're going to look at. What did he actually accomplish? Why did he do it? Why did he
do it? Did he do it to fill in the gaps
where we fall short? You know, the Bible says, all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God, so we do our
part and then Christ fills in the blanks. Is that what he did? No. Why did he do it? And where
is he now? Well, here is the account of
the angel sent by God to Joseph. And she's telling Joseph about
his intended wife, Mary, who is with child. She was with child
before she had known a man. And the reason that they come
to Joseph, it says in verse 19, he was a just man, not willing
to make her a public example. He was minded to put her away
privileged. And it says in verse 20, Matthew 1, while he thought
on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto
him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David. Both Joseph
and Mary, incidentally, were of the tribe of Judah, the kingly
tribe through whom the Messiah would come. That was revealed
in Genesis chapter 49, when Jacob on his deathbed was blessing
his sons. He made the statement, he said
about Judah specifically, he said the scepter would not depart
from Judah until Shiloh comes, Shiloh meaning peace. And that's
the Messiah. And so this is very important. You see, everything had to be
just exactly as God purposed it and planned it. There was
no contingencies here on man. Robert and I were talking about
this too. I was reading a book about a year ago, a fellow who,
a gospel preacher. He said most people have the
idea, even so-called Christians, they have the idea that God is
some kind of like a cosmic chess player. up there in the space
somewhere, and God makes his move, and then we make our counter
move, and then he makes his counter move, and we're playing that
chess game. Well, that's not the God of the Bible. That's
what most people think. I mean, I'll put it to you this
way. If you think that anything ever took God by surprise, you
think that. And then there's the explanation,
well, God looked down through the telescope of time, and he
foresaw what would happen. Now, is that the God of the Bible?
Well, no, it's not. The scripture is very clear on
that. I mean, whether you say, well, it says that God determines
the end from the beginning, Isaiah 46. You realize what that statement
says? He determined, can you determine
the end from the beginning? You can't do that. Now you can
determine, you can understand and know the beginning from the
end. You know how today started, don't you? But you don't know
how it's going to end up. It may be disaster, it may be
happiness. I hope so. But you don't know. You don't know what the next
minute's gonna bring. But now God, he determines, the scripture
says, the end from the... He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. Counsel means his wisdom. So
in other words, God is not a crystal ball gazer. He's not a fortune
teller. He's the determiner of all things.
Now, can you understand that? Can I understand that? No, we
can't. We can't grasp that. That's just beyond our finite
minds, but it's so regardless. And everything that is said here
concerning Christ coming into the world was the product of
the foreordination The foreknowledge, which means determinate knowledge,
predestinating knowledge of God. Christ, the scripture says in
2 Timothy chapter one, that the salvation that we who are saved
possess, that we who are saved, that the salvation that we have
right now was in a way given to us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Now think about that. before the world began. So this
is no afterthought here. This is not God playing that
cosmic chess game that people think about. This is not God
saying, well, look what's happened, you know, the Jews are under
the Roman Empire and Caesar's done this and here, oh, King,
here it is and here, I've got to make another move. I got to
back up and do this. No, that's not what happened.
He says, thou son of David, A house of Judah, just exactly as God
predetermined it. Fear not, verse 20, to take unto
thee Mary thy wife, again she also was from that tribe, for
that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost, wasn't
conceived by man. Now this is speaking of the humanity
of Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? And then
it says in verse 21, and she shall bring forth a son. Remember
Isaiah prophesied of this in Isaiah chapter nine and verse
six for unto us, a son is given. He's the eternal son of God.
And thou shalt call his name, Jesus. Now, you know, the name
Jesus, what it means, it means savior. really it's a derivative
of a Hebrew word, this is the Greek form of, it's a derivative
of a Hebrew term that means God our Savior, Jehovah Savior and
so he says his name shall be called Jesus now his name is
not a label his name is an identification this is what identifies him and
distinguishes him you say this name the meaning of this night
and he says it this way here's you see the colon after that
that means he's going to tell you what this means and it means
for he shall save his people from their sins. That's a mouthful
isn't it? That's a simple gospel, but it
needs some explanation. It needs some preaching. All
right. Now verse 22, now all this was done that it might be
fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet. And
then he goes back to the prophet Isaiah. He's quoting from Isaiah
seven. And he tells us that this is
the predeterminate counsel of God who declares the end from
the beginning, who works all things after the counsel of his
own will. Verse 23. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and they
shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel. Now he's got another name. His
name is Jesus. That's Savior. That's an identification. That's a distinction that only
he can bear. There are others who were named
Jesus. You know the name Jesus in the Old Testament was Joshua
or Yeshua, however you want to pronounce it. So there were other
Joshua's, there was a Joshua that led the children of Israel
over into the promised land. But he doesn't, and that was
his name, but he doesn't have this distinction now. He's not
the Savior, he was a type of the Savior. He was symbolic of
that, of Christ. But they shall call his name
Emmanuel. Here's another name, it takes more than one name to
identify this person. and distinguish him. And that
name Immanuel which being interpreted is God with us. So what do you have here? You
have in these statements the simple gospel in a sense and
we want it simple Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not going to
oversimplify. It's not just quaint sayings
and statements and religious garbage that people quote and
things like that. It's not just an ABC123 easy-believe-isn't,
step here, step there, do this, do this, repeat after me. That's
not what it is. But there's truth here. And the
truth here is, I believe, the same as what Paul wrote in 2
Corinthians 11 when he spoke of the simplicity of Christ.
He says in verse 3 of 2 Corinthians 11, he says, I fear lest by any
means as the serpent, that's Satan, beguiled Eve through his
subtlety. And that's what we have to watch
out for today. It's always been that way, his subtlety. So your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. Now that word simplicity,
it's not just simple, it's not for the simple-minded, but it
means single. This single message, this singleness
of all of salvation, all the forgiveness of all my sins, All
the righteousness that I must have to be justified before God,
all the eternal life and glory that I experience is singly wrapped
up in this person who did this work. This person, this person,
no other person, who did this specific work, not another work,
but this work. And to not identify him and distinguish
him properly, as the scriptures put it, in this single message,
in the singleness of his person and word, is to preach a counterfeit. Look at it. He says in verse
4 of 2 Corinthians 11, For if he that cometh preacheth another
Jesus, that's, in the Greek, that's another of a different
kind, whom we've not preached, or if you receive another spirit,
which you've not received, or another gospel, which you've
not accepted, you might well bear with, and that should be
me instead of him, that him's in italics. It's an objective
pronoun, they put him there, the King James did, the translators,
but it's me. Paul said bear with me. In fact,
he told them not to bear with false preachers in verse one.
So he wouldn't say bear with them here and not bear with them
there. That's what he's talking about. Now, this is the doctrine
of Christ. I think it was Randy who preached
on that in 2 John. Those who transgress, they go
too far, they step over the line, and do not abide in the simplicity
of Christ, the singleness of Christ, the doctrine of Christ. Now, what is doctrine? It's teaching.
We come to the scriptures and say, Lord, teach me. Teach me
who he is so that I can know that I'm not following a counterfeit. There are counterfeits. I'll
tell you what, there's only one true Christ. There are a million
counterfeits. Lord, teach me so that I won't
be one who's following a counterfeit. I want to follow the true Christ.
I want to follow Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. And that's what
doctrine is, it's the teaching. of the person, who he really
is, who he actually is, and he doesn't share his glory now.
He doesn't like his name to be lent to another. And then the doctrine of what
he accomplished on Calvary. And back here in Matthew chapter
1, we have the first clue that is given concerning this issue
of who he is and what he actually accomplished is in verse 21. His name shall be called Jesus,
Savior. Savior. The first thing that
I have to confront in this thing of knowing who Christ is, who
he really is, and what he accomplished, is to ask this question. What
do I need to be saved from? Salvation. What do I need to
be saved from? And there are a lot of things
that people might put in that category. Well, you need to be
saved from an immoral life. Well, if that's true, now, let
me say this at the ask. If you're living an immoral life
in the sense of what man calls immorality, you need to change. There's no doubt about that.
But now, if I only need to be saved from an immoral life, I
don't need salvation, I need reformation. That's what I need. But see, what do I need to be
saved from? Well, if I need, most preachers
today that I watch on TV, very briefly, you need to be saved
from poverty. Well, if I need to be safe from
poverty, I don't need this savior. I need economics. I need an investment banker.
I need a job. Some say, well, you need to be
safe from sickness. Well, I'm all for that. But if all I need is to be safe
from sickness, I don't need this savior. I need a doctor. I need
a pill. I need a treatment. See what
I'm saying? What do I need to be saved? Well, he says he shall
save his people from their sins. Now, what is sin? Well, the Bible
teaches us that sin must be measured not by our view of things and
our comparison with each other, but sin must be viewed in God's
standard. The Bible says in Romans 3.23
that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. What
does that mean? It means we've missed the mark. And what does
it teach? Well, look at Romans chapter
3. Look over there. What is sin? Why do I need to
be saved from it? In Romans 3 and verse 9, he's
talking about Jew and Gentile. And let me set the context for
you. Here's the Jew under the old
covenant in his religion. And then here's the Gentile out
there in the hinterland somewhere doing his thing. And he says they both need to
be saved from sin, the religious Jew and the Gentile, the idolatrous
Gentile. Verse nine says, what then are
we better than they? Are we Jews better than them?
Bring it down to our day. Are we Americans better than
the Arabs? In this sense now, you might
say, well, I could point out a lot of ways that we are. You
may be able to. I don't know. We have certainly a better economy,
I think. We could talk about that. More
freedoms, we could talk about that. But bring it down to like,
here's the thing about it. Here's what he's saying. When
it comes to salvation from sin, when it comes to a right relationship
with God, are we Jews better than the Gentiles? Look at his
answer, verse nine. No, in no wise, in no way. What he's saying is this, that
in this matter of being a sinner, born in sin, we were ruined by
Adam in the fall. He's going to talk about that
in Romans 5. We were fallen in Adam, we're born dead in trespasses
and sin. We've all sinned and come short,
missed the mark. When it comes to sin, when it
comes to salvation, when it comes to righteousness, the best of the best on earth
are no closer to the mark than the worst of the worst. Now that
is a, now here's where you get to understand how the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither
can he know. You see, that just doesn't make sense to the unregenerate
natural mind. Isn't that right? Now you mean
to tell me that when it comes to a right relationship with
God, That a person who does their
best to do right and to keep the law and to be good is no
closer to God and salvation and righteousness than the worst
person on earth. And that's exactly what this
book says. You say, well, I can't go along with that. I know you
can't. Natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. You see, the Spirit of God says you receive it because
God said it. And he goes on, he says, no and
no wise, for we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that
they are all under sin. Now what does that mean? Well,
verse 10, as it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one.
And you may, I've said this down here before, I said, don't get
the accept me syndrome here. There's none righteous, no, not
one, except me. Or accept anybody. There's none
that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. What way? The way of
grace. The way to God. They're together become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good. No, not one. So what's the conclusion
about sin then? Well, look down at verse 20 and
21. He says, therefore, by deeds
of law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. What is to be
justified? It's to be not guilty. It's to
be righteous in the sight of God. Now, God looks on the heart.
He doesn't just look on the outward appearance. See, I can only look
on the outward appearance. You can only see me outward.
You can't see what's in my... I can't see the thought that
crossed your mind just now. God does. Now, how am I going to be righteous
before Him? whose word cuts to the quick,
cuts to the very heart of things. If you say, I don't wanna be
here worshiping the Lord this morning, God knows I don't. I
might be able to look at some people and say, well, you look
at your face like you're somewhere else, I don't know. But God knows
the heart. If I don't wanna be here, God
knows it. That's right, isn't it? I mean, you know. God, he's,
you know, I mean, most of us are pretty well off. Why? Because God gave it to you. Oh,
you worked hard, I know, I agree. That's good, you were a good
steward in that sense, but God gave it to you. And he's the
one who gives you the next breath you take. So one old priest said,
go ahead and take him off if you want. You know, he gave you
the next breath that you, you mean tell me that we're here
to worship him. That's right. We're here to honor
Him and thank Him. Thank you, Lord. And this is
the way He said to do it. We meet in the public worship
service. That's what we do. But He knows
our hearts. And what He says about this matter
of sin, that when it comes to salvation, when it comes to righteousness,
when it comes to being not guilty, forgiveness, that the worst of
us and the best of us have no hope at all in ourselves. We
can't save ourselves. We can't save each other. All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And what are
the wages of sin? Romans 6, 23. The wages of sin
is what? Death. And that's eternal death,
whatever that means. It's eternal separation from
God. That's what sin means. Now he said back here in Matthew
1, he shall save his people from that, from their sins. And this is why Christ had to
be both God and man. Turn to Hebrews chapter 2. His
name shall be called, he said a child is gonna be born there. You remember that? Turn to Hebrews
chapter 2. But you remember back there in
Matthew 1, He said that Mary is with child,
all right? And that child was conceived
in her womb by the Holy Ghost, and his name shall be called
Jesus. Well, look at, why did he have to be both God and man
in one person? Now, you see, here's the simplicity
of it. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God
with us. He's God in human flesh. He's
the Word made flesh and dwelling among us. And to deny that he
is who this word says he is, is to deny him. It's to deny
the gospel. It's to deny salvation. You see,
this is the kind of person that it took to save his people from
their sins. Look at it in Hebrews chapter
2 and look at verse 14. It says, for as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood. Whose children?
That's God's children. Now who is that? That's God's
elect. He identifies them in this passage. He, that is Christ,
also himself likewise in the same way took part of the same,
that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is the devil. What did he accomplish on Calvary's
cross as God-man? This raises that second issue
about the person in the finished work of Christ. What did he,
who is God with us, God and man in one person, great is the mystery
of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh. What did he actually
accomplish in his death? Well, he said it back over there
in Matthew 1, he shall save his people from their sins. Is he
able to do it? Yes, he is who he is. What did
he accomplish? It said he destroyed him that
had the power of death, that is the devil. Now what kind of
power of death does the devil have? What does the scripture
teach us? Does the devil have the power
to kill or make alive anybody? And the answer is no, he's a
creature. Do you remember when in the book of Job, Job chapter
one, when Satan challenged the power and grace of God in Job?
Remember he said, now the only reason Job serves you is because
you give him all these blessings. Accused Job of being a mercenary.
He said, you take away the blessings and Job will curse you to your
face. And so God said, okay. He said, I'll let you take away
everything he's got, but don't you touch him. Satan doesn't
have the power to kill anybody. You know, Job said it himself
when his children were taken away. You remember what he said?
The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. Only God has the power of life
and death. Only Christ has the keys to death
and hell. So what power of death is he
talking about that the devil has? I'll tell you exactly what
it is. It's like a courtroom and you're accused of a capital
crime and the punishment is what? Death. The death penalty. And
whoever comes in and accuses you and proves that you're guilty
has the power of death in that sense. And that's the only power
of death Satan has in accusation that leads to death. Now how
did Christ in his death destroy that power of death that the
devil has? I'll tell you how. He himself was made sin, Christ
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. He took death upon himself when our sins were charged,
imputed to him. He went under the law, guilty
by imputation, and suffered unto death. Back over there in verse
11, look at verse 10 rather, Hebrews chapter 2. It says, for
it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, many sons, sons of God, by election,
by adoption, by redemption, by regeneration, to make the captain
of their salvation, Christ, perfect through sufferings. What that
is, it's not talking about moral perfection in himself, it's talking
about the completion of a work there. What did he do? He completed the work through
his sufferings unto death. And what did that include? He
destroyed him that had the power. He removed Satan's power to accuse
and condemn us by those accusations. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
is risen again and is seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us. You see, sins cannot
be charged to the people of God because our sins were charged
to Christ. And he bore up under the full
penalty, the full death that we earned and deserved. He did
it as our substitute and our surety. And let me tell you something,
in that he destroyed the power of death, that is the devil,
in Christ in his death. What did he accomplish on Calvary?
Let me tell you what he did. He secured and guaranteed the
eternal salvation of every sinner for whom he died. As sin demanded
death, righteousness demands life. We stand before God covered
in the righteousness of Jesus, God with us. His righteousness
imputed. And it says in verse 15 of Hebrews
2, look here, "...and deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage." You know what that
bondage is? That's legalism. That's works religion. That's
man trying to save himself from sin and death by his works. Christ
delivers us from that. How? When He sends His Spirit
to liberate us. Set us free. and we repent of
our dead works and run to him as our refuge, as our security,
as our surety. Look at verse 16, for verily
he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him
the seed of Abraham. That's who he died for, the seed
of Abraham. Who are those? All who come to
faith in Christ. And he says, wherefore in all
things it behooved him. That word behooved there is the
Greek word for debt. He came under the debt, the debt
that I owe, the debt of the penalty of my sin, to be made like unto
his brethren, that's his children, that's the seed of Abraham, that's
God's elect, that's those for whom he died, that he might be
a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. That's
a propitiation, that means satisfaction. In other words, God cannot charge
them with their sins. God cannot condemn them. Why? Because He charged their sins
to Christ, and Christ was condemned in their stead. They must go
free. It's not based upon their decision. It's not based upon... And let
me tell you something. When God the Holy Spirit brought
you to a saving knowledge of Christ, you did make a decision. That's right. But it's a decision
by grace. God cannot condemn them unto
death because Christ was condemned in their place. If God were to
condemn any for whom he died unto death, God would be unjust
in doing so. Why? Because their sins are paid
for. Their condemnation has been perfected. The captain of their
salvation died in their place. That's the end. He shall save
his people from their sins. What did he do? Daniel chapter
9 verse 24. He made an end of sin. He finished
the transgression. He brought in everlasting righteousness. He bore our iniquities. All of
those things. When Christ died on the cross,
he actually secured and guaranteed the justification, the redemption,
the regeneration, the preservation and the glorification of all
his people, all whom the Father had given him before the foundation
of the world. Having died for our sins, imputed
to him, he secured our forgiveness now and forever. Having worked
out a perfect righteousness for us, imputed to us, he secured
our justification forever in the sight of God. Having arisen
from the dead, he secured spiritual life in the new birth for us,
including faith and repentance, whereby we're brought to him.
Having been seated at the right hand of God and ever living to
make intercession for us, he secured our preservation throughout
our lives in this world, even unto final glory. It's a guarantee. He's our surety. And all of this
because of who he is and what he accomplished on Calvary's
cross. Now someone might ask, well, if Christ did all that,
then what is there left for me to do? Well, let me tell you
something. Here's what the Bible teaches.
If Christ did all this for you, then you're justified before
a holy God based on his righteousness imputed to you. You're redeemed
by his blood and forgiven of all your sins. They cannot be
charged to you. You're adopted into his family
and will be born again by the Holy Spirit, brought to faith
in Christ under the preaching of the gospel and repentance
of dead works and idolatry, and you will, by the grace of God,
persevere in the faith unto final glory with him. You'll do all
that. What are you to do? Do what God commanded. Seek redemption
by his blood alone. Seek to be justified before God
based on His righteousness imputed alone. Seek eternal life in Him
alone. Seek the forgiveness of sins
by His blood alone. Seek faith. Lord, bring me, give
me faith to believe. Seek repentance that only God
can give. Seek to keep your eyes upon Christ
as your only hope of salvation. your only hope of righteousness.
Seek to be found in him. Paul the Apostle, even in his
old age, after having preached the gospel all over the Gentile
world at that time, he still said, when he was talking about
his death, he said, oh, that I might know him and be found
in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ. to be found in him, seek
to be in him. Seek Christ, that's what you're
to do. And if you do, you'll know that God has brought you
by his grace to do so. You'll know it's by the grace
of God that you are who you are. All right.