Today I would like you to turn in your Bible, please, to Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1, and I'll begin reading this morning at verse 20. If you'd like, get your Bible and follow along. I'm sure it will be helpful to you. The angel of the Lord appeared unto Joseph in a dream, saying, Thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, which means Savior, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet Isaiah who said, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and thou shalt bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us.

Now, we have in Matthew 1, chapter 1, verse 21, the words of God's messenger spoken to God's servant concerning the incarnation, birth, and work of God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want to ask you four questions, raise four questions, and answer these four questions found in Matthew chapter 1. Why did the Son of God come? That's the first question. Secondly, who is this one that we read of here whose name shall be called Jesus? Thirdly, who are these people that he has come to save? And fourthly, how does he save his people from their sin. Now let's go back and review each question and answer each question from the Word of God.

First of all, why did the Son of God come into this world? It says in verse 21, and she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin." All this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet Isaiah. Why did the Lord come? Why did the Son of God come into this world as God incarnate, God manifest in the flesh? He came for a specific purpose. He came to fulfill all Scripture. He died for our sins according to the Scripture.

He came to save His people. It says in this text, He shall save His people from their sin. And He came to perform a specific task given Him by God Almighty, that is, to secure the everlasting salvation and redemption of the people that God had given to Him. You see, He's God's prophet. to reveal salvation unto our heart. He's God's priest, and this is why he came.

He came as prophet, priest, and king. He came as the Savior, Son of God, to secure salvation for his people. He came as the priest of God who had something to offer. He offered not the blood of bulls and goats, but he offered his own blood. He came as the priest of God to accomplish salvation for those people that God gave him in the covenant of grace. He came as the king. God said, Behold, I set my king upon my holy hill Zion. He came as the king to give salvation to his chosen people. That's why he came.

Secondly, here's the second question. Who is this Jesus? It says here in our text, Matthew 121, The Holy Spirit, that which was found in Mary, is conceived, begotten of the Holy Spirit. She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name, Jesus, which means Savior.

Now, perhaps you think, well, everyone knows who Jesus is. My friend, the fact is very few people really do know who He is, and few people really care who He is. Who is Jesus Christ that is revealed in Holy Scripture? Now, I didn't ask you who you think He is. Who is Jesus Christ that is revealed in Holy Scripture?

My friend, he is the true God, and he is eternal life. Now, is it important that I should know who he is? My friend, knowing him is equivalent to eternal life. It's summed up, he said, our Lord summed up eternal life in John 17 3, he said, this is life eternal. that they might know thee, the only true God, Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent."

If I trust a false Christ, or another Jesus, or another gospel, That's not the Christ that's revealed in Scripture. That's not the Jesus Christ that's revealed in Scripture, Son of God. If I trust a false Christ or believe another gospel or trust another Jesus, I'm lost if it's not the Christ of God. Now, let's look at two things specifically.

Who is this Jesus? He's the eternal Son of God. When the Bible speaks of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, it is plainly declaring to us that Jesus Christ is God, the eternal Son. We as believers, who are believers, are sons of God by adoption, but our Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God by nature.

Paul said this in Philippians 2. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. Our Lord said on several occasions, I and my Father are one. He said on another occasion, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

What I'm saying is this, the Lord Jesus Christ is, yes, the Son of God, and He's called the Son of Man, but let us not forget that the Scriptures reveal Him as God. He's the same in nature, essence, and purpose, and eternality, and holiness as God Almighty. Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh, and that's what we read in Scripture. John 1, verse 14 says, The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. All the attributes of God belong to God. and are seen and are manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ. In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is the very revelation of God, who being the brightness of his glory and the expressed image of his person, upholding all things by the word of his power. Now note this, and listen to me carefully.

If Jesus Christ is not God, If he's anything less than Almighty God, we have no Savior. We have no salvation, and we have no pardon if Jesus Christ is not God. So who is he? He's God Almighty, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the eternal God, one with the Father. Secondly, Jesus Christ, who is God, is also the sinner's substitute. He's called the daysman. the charity, the representative man, the only mediator between God and man. He's the advocate of God's people. He is the sinner's substitute, and by his substitutionary obedience, sinners are reconciled unto God.

Without him, we could never be accepted. God was in Christ reconciling his people unto himself, were accepted only in the beloved. He stood as a substitute before the world began. We read in Revelation 13, 8, he was a lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

He lived in perfect obedience to God as the sinner's substitute in this life, in this world, to fulfill all righteousness for us. We read in Romans 5, 19, for but one man's obedience Many were made righteous. He died under the wrath of God as the substitute, the sinner's substitute in the place of his people upon the cross. God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He intercedes for us today as the advocate in heaven, as our substitute before the throne of grace.

That's why we read in Scriptures, Hebrews 7.25, he's able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us. He will stand before God in the last day of judgment as a sinner's substitute at the bar of justice, as our only grounds of eternal acceptance and salvation before God Almighty. We read in Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. If Jesus Christ is God, and I'm saying that the scriptures teach that he is, if Jesus Christ is God and he is, then all that he has undertaken for his people as substitute, as mediator, as advocate, as redeemer must be effectually eternally, completely accomplished and accepted of God because he cannot fail. We read of him in Isaiah 42, he shall not fail nor be discouraged because he's God's servant, son of God, he's the Savior.

He either redeemed his people at Calvary or he didn't. Scriptures teach he obtained eternal redemption for us with his own blood. He either justified them by his blood or he didn't. We read in scripture Romans 324 that we're justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. He either saved his people and accomplished their salvation at Calvary or he didn't.

The scriptures teach And he said on the cross, in John 19, verse 30, it's recorded, it is finished. Scripture's fulfilled. Righteousness has been established. The law of God has been honored. Justice is satisfied. It's finished. It's done. Rest in him.

If Jesus Christ, if Christ that you worship, If the Christ that you worship is not the Christ of God, if He's not God, our Savior, victorious over death, hell, and the grave, if He's the Jesus you worship, is not God, and if He's not a victorious Savior, then you have nothing but an impotent God false refuge of lies, and you've been conned by your own wicked and deceitful heart. If the Christ of God you worship wants to and can't, tried to and failed, you have believed and trusted another Jesus, not the Christ of God. The Christ of God is successful and victorious and accomplished all that God sent him to do. Now, thirdly, let's consider this question.

Who are these people? It says, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, Savior, that's who He is, a Son, God the Son, God the Savior, and Thou shalt call His name Jesus, He shall save His people from their sin. Now, who are these people that He came to save? Now, it's clear in our text His people were His people long before He saved them. It doesn't say he shall save those who shall be his people. It says he shall save his people from their sin.

Now, listen to me carefully. Now, I want you to think about this. All men naturally think that Christ came, Jesus Christ came to try to save men, all men, all people, everywhere in the world. He came to save. Natural man thinks that he came to save. Everyone in the world that he died for all the sins of all men now listen to me carefully This is not the teaching of holy scripture that it may be the traditions of men It may be the customs of men, but it's not the teaching of scripture Acts 20 28 says that God purchased the church with his own blood for the transgression of my people and Isaiah 53, 12, for the transgression of my people was he stricken. He said plainly in John 10 verse 15, I lay down my life for the sheep. He came to save and to justify and to redeem his people from their sin.

Now, who are these people? Well, let me give you this quickly. They're called his seed in Isaiah 53. You remember that? In Isaiah 53 it says, It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper In his hand he shall see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, not all, many, those his seed, for he shall bear their iniquity." You see, it's particular redemption, death and atonement. They're called his seed, they're called his sheep. He said, I lay down my life, I give my life for the sheep.

They're called his chosen bride. In Ephesians 5, we're instructed, Husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. They're called his elect. God had blessed us with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies according as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. that we should be holy without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. These people are called his seed, his sheep, his bride, his elect. His people are those whom God chose in eternity, gave them to the Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world. Our Lord often referred to them this way, all that the Father hath given me, John 6, 37. whom he loved with an everlasting love, whom he predestinated to be the sons of God, who are in themselves sinful in need of a Savior, who are in themselves lost in need of a shepherd, who are guilty in need of a just God and Savior. That's who these people are. And then lastly, this question here.

How does the Lord Jesus Christ save his people from their sin? Now, it is Jesus Christ who saves us. We don't save ourselves. And he saves us, salvations of the Lord, and he saves us according to the scriptures. Now quickly, let me give you three things. How does the Lord save his people? By redemption. By blood redemption. We're not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ.

He saved us from the penalty of sin, being made a curse for us. His people were saved because his blood was shed to put away our sin. Secondly, we're saved by redemption. Secondly, we're saved by regeneration. He has saved us from the power of sin. You hath he quickened who were dead. Sin no longer reigns over the believer. Christ reigns in the heart by sovereign grace. And thirdly, we're saved by resurrection. He was delivered for our offenses and raised again to justify us. Christ shall save his people from the very presence of sin and present us faultless before the presence of God's glory with exceeding joy.

I want to ask you one more question. I want you to answer this question. Do I have any grounds upon which to believe that I'm one of his people? That I've been saved from my sin? Now think about that. Let me ask you this. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you see your need of Him? Do you rest in Him alone as all your salvation? Do you trust Him as God and Savior? Well, I hope that's a blessing to you.