My text this morning is Matthew's
Gospel chapter 1 and the 21st verse. I'm sure this is a text
that will be being looked at in many many places around the
world today being so close to the season of Christmas. Now
this is the second of two messages. Last week I said that by far
the most important issue to settle in your minds is who is Jesus
Christ? What think ye of Christ? Who
is this person? Jesus Christ. Who is he? And
what has he done? And last week we focused on the
question, Who is he? And we saw that though a man,
he's the eternal God. He's God who became a man. The scriptures declare it. They
show clearly that he is God. This one who walked and talked
with his disciples and men and women, this is the eternal God
become man. the God-man. That's who He is. We barely scratch the surface.
Who can understand these things? It's what the Scriptures declare,
and therefore we believe them. And we say we believe, but help
my unbelief and show me, Lord, the truth of these things, that
this man, Jesus Christ, is our God and our Saviour. One true
God in human flesh. So why did God come in human
flesh? Why did God become a man? Was
it just to show us that he could? I mean, why didn't he come as
a donkey or something like that to show us that he could do that?
You know, there's lots of people have views of God becoming man
that are little more than God performing tricks for us to show
us that he can do things. But that's not the reason why.
Why did God become a man? The answer is here in this verse.
Matthew chapter 1 and verse 21. He was to be called Jesus. That
name means Saviour. That's exactly what it means.
It's the same name as Joshua. You know how Joshua was meant
to save the people in the face of their enemies when they went
into the Promised Land? In the face of the Canaanites
and the otherites. All of those people that were
against them. And Joshua was the Saviour. Well that name is
the same name. Jesus. You shall call his name
Joshua. Jesus. Why? Because of what it
means. He shall save his people from
their sins. And so I've got three questions
this morning. Why does anybody need to be saved? Who does Jesus save? And how
does Jesus save his people? It's all in this verse. Why does
anybody need to be saved? Who does Jesus save? And how
does he save his people? Now, firstly, why does anybody
need to be saved? Well, if you, I don't know if
any of you saw, but there were advertisements placed on London
buses a few weeks ago by some atheist society. And those signs
on the side of London buses said, God probably does not exist. and something like, therefore
don't worry. Have a good time. Enjoy yourself.
Nothing to be frightened of. Don't worry about it. That's
what it said. Big bold letters down the side of London buses.
God probably, you know the kind of a, well, better be careful
here. God probably doesn't exist. So
have a good time. Enjoy yourself. Do what you want.
Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. Just don't worry about
anything. Probably. Probably. You see, they don't
really know, because always in the heart of man, there's this
nagging. What is there beyond death? Do
you know, I know I've told some of you this many times before,
but when I was teaching science 30 years or more ago, I used
to debate with my science teacher colleagues that we shouldn't
teach the theory of evolution as proven scientific fact. They
could teach it, as far as I was concerned, because it was in
the syllabus, but they shouldn't teach it as indisputably proven
scientific fact. And we had lots and lots of debates,
lots of arguments about it, and I was saying, look, I just don't
want you to teach it as proven fact as it is. And one of the
teachers, very dear lady, long since retired, she said to me,
this is what she said to me, I hope evolution is true. Because if it isn't, that means
I am accountable to a God who made me. And the thought of that
is appalling. That's what she said. The thought
of that is appalling. Why? Because God is holy. The scriptures, you know, we
saw last Sunday evening in Psalm 19. the two books of God, the
book of creation and the book of his word, the scriptures.
In the book of creation we can see how great God is, but in
the book of his word we hear of his truth, of his holiness,
that he's of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, that his
thoughts and his ways are so much higher than our thoughts
and ways. God is not like one of us. He
is altogether higher than we are. But we are entirely dependent
on God for our lives. It's in Him that we live and
move and have our being. And as sons of Adam and Eve,
as children of our first parents, the first people God created,
we're sinful. We're all sinful. Just as they
fell, everyone who's lived except our Lord Jesus Christ since then
has been sinful in this flesh. Our flesh is sinful. We've broken
His law. In our thoughts, we break His
law every day. In words, we break His law. In
the things that we do, we break His law. We are separated from
God because as Isaiah says, your sins have separated you from
God. Why do men and women in general
not have this close sense of fellowship with the God who made
them? The reason is our sins have separated us from that God. We're separated from Him. And
you say, well, I've only done that in Adam, so therefore, you
know, it's not my fault, it was Adam's fault. And if anybody
wants to count me as sinful, well, that's hardly fair, is
it? Because it was Adam that did it. No, the scripture says,
and it's evidenced by the fact, that you all sin. Which one of
you, which one of us, can say at any time, I haven't sinned?
Only Christ ever could say that. Only he was the sinless one.
We're all sinful. We're all separated from God.
We haven't loved God with all our heart and all our soul and
all our mind and all our strength. We have not loved our neighbor
as ourself. We haven't thought on our neighbor,
who is everybody all around us that we ever come across, with
the same care and consideration we want others to think of us.
No, we haven't. And we look at the Sermon on
the Mount and you say, well, I haven't broken God's law like
that rich young ruler said. I haven't committed adultery.
physically. I haven't killed anybody physically
and Jesus said, if you've had an evil thought about somebody
in your heart, you've as good as killed them in the law and
the sight of God. If you've had that hateful comment,
if that hateful thought has been in your heart, you've killed
them. If you've had that lustful look,
you've committed adultery. All of these things. He shows
there that all by nature, as the scriptures say, all have
sinned. and come short of the glory of
God and God justly because he is God because he's infinite
and sovereign he demands perfection and wherever he finds imperfection
a penalty must be paid because he is God because of his justice
because of who he is if a penalty was not paid he would cease to
be God he wouldn't be the true God of scripture and he says
the soul that sins it shall die and all have sinned and come
short of that glory of God and he will by no means clear the
guilty and all of us know this by nature that there is a judgment
to come There's a universal fear of death. Those who tell you
that they don't fear death, tell you that because they're putting
it off and they're just kidding themselves. But when it comes
to the moment, they fear death. They fear death. Everybody does. Those who, as Hebrews says, chapter
2, verse 15, those who through all their lifetime, through the
fear of death, were subject to bondage, you know, could never
escape from it. However good a time I'm having
now, you know, on my luxurious yacht in the Caribbean or whatever
else, and life couldn't be better, sorry, somewhere down the line,
just a few years down the line, there awaits death, for it's
appointed to man to die once, and after this, the judgment.
And how is that going to be? The Scriptures say it is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Well, I'm
not very, very guilty. James tells us that if you've
offended in one point of the law, you're guilty of all of
it. Listen to these words concerning the judgment that are found in
Revelation chapter 20, verses 12 to 15. This is the vision
that John was given of the judgment. And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God. And the books were opened, the
account of what we are and what we've done. And another book
was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged
out of those things which were written in the books according
to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it. And death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. It's picture language, it's symbolical
language, but it's symbolical of something which is clearly
dreadful. The judgment of God, the just
judgment of God. How can I escape from that? How
can I be just with God? How can I have God look upon
me, not in judgment and condemnation, but in love and acceptance? This
is the answer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus saves his people
from their sins. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. Why does anybody need to be saved?
Because there's a judgment coming, and we all must face it, and
we'll face it either in Christ, represented by him, or outside
of Christ. So here's my second question.
Who does Jesus save? Who does he save? The answer's
there in the text for us as well. He saves His people. Christ saves
His people, all of His people. He saves them from their sins.
Who are they? Who are these people that He
calls His people? He shall save His people. It
doesn't say He shall save everyone that ever lived from their sins.
It doesn't say that. Multitudes of people, we know,
are condemned to hell. Multitudes of people die and
go to hell. Of that there is no doubt. Jesus
didn't save them. He didn't come into the world
to save them, and he didn't save them, and they went to hell based
on the fact that they're sinners guilty before God. And you say,
oh, that's awfully unfair, isn't that awfully harsh? I'm telling
you, the judgment of every one of us would be this, that if
it were not so, God would be unjust. You think about it. You
think about it. You think of some of the terrible
things that some people have done in history. Did God save
them? Did Christ die for them? The
dreadful, terrible thing. Nobody is beyond the reach of
the salvation of Christ. But the things that have been
done cannot go unpunished. They can't go unpaid for. He
must punish sin. He has to. But you say, well,
that's not the message of Christianity that I keep hearing all around
me. Well, this is the message of so-called Christianity that
we keep hearing. They say this. These false preachers
who stand up and preach, God loves you. God loves everybody. They say God loves every... This
book doesn't say that. Do you know that? It doesn't
say it. It says God is love, but nowhere does this book say
that God loves everybody. It just doesn't say it. God loves
you, they say. He has a wonderful plan for your
life. You've probably heard them, these big evangelists with massive
halls full of people. Jesus died for you. He came to
earth to die for you, to do everything He possibly could to try and
save you. He's pleading with you to let Him save you. He's
pleading with you to let Him into your heart and life. He
wants to save you. He desperately wants to save
you. Oh, don't disappoint Him. It's you that have got to make
the decision. It's all up to you. That's what they say. And
that is false. Because that is not the Gospel.
That is not the truth. That is not what this book declares.
What this book declares is that God is God and God is sovereign. And what that means is that if
he wills it, you know, you might want to do something tomorrow,
but there's no guarantee you're going to do it. Only if certain
things fall into place will it happen the way you want it to.
God is sovereign. If he wills, he accomplishes. You know that man Nebuchadnezzar,
one of the most powerful kings that ever lived, when he was
brought to his senses to see who really was sovereign, that
it wasn't him, he says, none can stay his hand, none can stop
God doing what he wants to do, for he is sovereign in the affairs
of men and women. And he saves. He saves. He shall
save His people. It doesn't say He shall try to
save His people. He shall do everything necessary
to save all those who want to save themselves by believing
Him. It doesn't say that. It says He shall save His people
from their sins. He saves each and every one of
the people that He intended to save. When Christ came to this
earth when he was born see he lies there in a manger he who
made the earth and sky you know that that him that we just son
this this God contracted to a span somebody put it like that in
that little baby when Simeon held that little baby in the
temple. There mine eyes have seen thy salvation for this is
the promised one by whom God said he would save his people
from their sins. He saves each and every one of
the people he intended to save. Who are they? They're his seed.
Look at Psalm 22. This is the psalm of the cross. This is the psalm of the Messiah
on the cross. As we keep saying the words of
David Clearly, the words of David, feeling forsaken of God, and
yet, the words uttered by Christ on the cross, My God, My God,
why hast thou forsaken me? And in verse 30 of that psalm,
a seed shall serve him. It shall be accounted to the
Lord for a generation. He's doing what he's doing on
that cross to save a seed, his seed. You know, the seed from
which his people spring. That's who it is. In Isaiah 53
in verse 10, the psalm of the cross, who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? In that passage of scripture, the account of
the lamb before his slaughterers, before his shearers being dumb
and going to the cross of Calvary, that which was written hundreds
of years before it happened. And in verse 10 it says, yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. he has 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 did it for the salvation
of his seed he calls them also his sheep look at John chapter
10 John's gospel chapter 10 and verse 11 Jesus calls himself a good shepherd
You know what a shepherd does? Looks after sheep, rounds them
up, cares for them, takes them where the grass is good for them
to eat, keeps them safe from the wolf and other predators
that would come and catch them. He's the good shepherd and Jesus
said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. Who does Jesus give his life
for? Who does he pay the penalty of sin with his life for? For
his sheep. only for his sheep for those
he calls his sheep in verse 15 of that same chapter as the father
knoweth me even so I know the father and I lay down my life
for the sheep that's who he lays his life down for and verse 26
but you believe not because you are not of my sheep he's talking
to some Pharisees and he's saying you're not my sheep you don't
believe me you're not of my sheep as I said unto you He calls them
His sheep. He calls them His chosen bride. You know, we live in a society,
thankfully, where one man and one woman are married and they
consent to be married and families and societies based upon it. And it's a picture. It's a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ and His people. They're said in marriage
to become one flesh. for this cause Ephesians chapter
5 and verse 31 for this cause shall a man leave his father
and mother and shall be joined unto his wife and they too shall
be one flesh this is a great mystery but I speak concerning
Christ and the church the church specifically for his people it's
his chosen bride it's his elect that same epistle of Ephesians
chapter 1 These are well-known verses. Blessed be the God and
Father, verse 3, of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He hath chosen us in Him, in Christ, before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. This is who He saves. He saves
His people, His elect people. Who else are they? Look at 1
Thessalonians, chapter 1. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1, and
verse 4. Well, verse 3. He's giving thanks. Giving thanks to God. Remembering
Him in prayer. Remembering without ceasing your
work of faith. Speaking to people who believe
the gospel. And labor of love. and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father,
knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God." How does he
know their election of God? I'll tell you. There's only one
way. There's no mark on them. They're not a different colour
to other people. They don't have different styled hair or anything
like that. People from all nations and tribes and kindreds. How
do we know who they are? There's only one way. They believe
the Gospel. Remembering your work of faith
and labor of love and patience in the hope of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. Because
that's the mark of it. The mark of your election of
God is that you believe Him. It's all who trust Him. These
are who He died for. All whom the Father gave to Him.
John chapter 6 and verse 39. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me. that of all which He has given
me, that means all the people He's given me, I should lose
none of them, but save, the implication being, but save every single
one of them and raise them up again at the last day. Again
in John, well throughout that chapter 6 you can see these things.
In John chapter 17 when he's praying that prayer before he
goes to the cross and in verse 2 he says that the Father had
given him Jesus Christ, the Son, power over all flesh. What power? That He should give eternal life. To whom? To whom? To as many
as thou, the Father, has given Him, the Son. God, the Father,
gave a people to God, the Son, and gave Him the power to give
them eternal life. To give them eternal life. To
give them specifically, particularly, eternal life. It's to them that
he gave that gift. And we know that as the Gospel
was preached in the Acts of the Apostles, we read verses like
Acts 13-48. They preached the Gospel to everybody
without distinction, to everybody that they could, to everybody
whose path God caused them to cross. And those who were ordained
to eternal life believed. Those who were the people that
Christ died for believed the Gospel. How many of them? We
don't know. Who are they? We don't know.
They're a multitude which is as innumerable, you can't count
it. Just like, you know, Lily lives at the seaside down at
Ramsgate and there's a very sandy beach there. And you might go
down there and pick up a handful of sand and even attempt to count
the grains of sand in that handful of sand. And it'd be very, very
hard because there'd be thousands of grains of sand just in a handful.
But you look at it, there's a huge, great big beach. Can you imagine? And then all around the world
are all the beaches. And to count the grains of sand is impossible.
And you look up at the stars on a starry night and you try
and count them. And you think, well, some are
faint, so I'll get some binoculars. And then you need a telescope.
And the more you look and the deeper you look, the less you
are able to count them. Because they're just innumerable.
Well, God says, just as they are innumerable, we can't count
the people that are God's people. Don't get it wrong. It doesn't
mean that the number of grains of sand on the seashore equals
the number of people that God will say. That's silly. That
doesn't mean that at all. It means, in the same way that
you can't count them, The stars are the grains of sand. You can't
count the people. We don't know. They're known
to the Father, but we do know this. It's a fixed number. It's
a definite number. It's pictured in Ezekiel in the
Valley of the Dry Bones, where the dry bones come to life and
stand on their feet, a great and mighty army. And I've often
told you this, if you look at the Trooping of the Color in
June, in Horse Guards Parade and you see all the troops marching
in front of the Queen and members of the Royal Family and doing
all that pomp and ceremony and you notice they're all there
in their ranks and if one of them's dropped out and fainted
it's so obvious that one of them's not there anymore. It's like
a missing tooth in a beaming smile. It's obvious that they're
not there but they are all there. They're pictured by the stones
in the temple in Jerusalem. Every stone specifically cut
from the quarry and fitted together. This is who he saves from his
sins. Jesus Christ saves his people
from their sins. And because he saves his people,
he saves them utterly, to the uttermost, absolutely completely. There's no doubt about it. It's
not dependent on whether you've believed or not. If he saved
you, you will be brought to believe. You will believe. Believe the
gospel of God's grace. You will come to know him and
trust him. So how, then, does he save his
people? How does he save his people from
their sins? He saves them specifically, each
and every one. He comes as their substitute.
He stands in their place. He does everything to leave nothing
to chance. You know, when you get into the
world of work and you've got some important projects to do
and Things have got to go right. There are just some things you
just cannot delegate to others. There are some things you've
just got to do yourself. And Christ came and did it for
his people. He did everything that was needed
to save his people from their sins. Nothing was left to chance.
The gospel that is preached up and down this land, throughout
the world, is a gospel that is no gospel at all. It isn't good
news because it depends on the will of man. Do you know something? You can't even trust the will
of man to turn up at a particular time more often than not. I said
to Marguerite this morning, we'll pick you up at five past ten
outside your house. It was nine minutes past ten
when we picked her up because things just don't fit together
the way we always think. We are unreliable. Christ came specifically to save
his people from their sins. He is the promised seed. We read
about it in Genesis 3. In that moment when Adam and
Eve sinned and fell from that state of innocence and knew good
and evil and knew that they were naked and God came looking for
them. Picture language I know but it's
what it pictures that matters. And in that very moment where
their condemnation was pronounced. Dust you are, you were taken
from the dust and to the dust you shall return. You'll die
and go back to dust. In that moment, a seed was promised.
That of the woman would be born a seed with a capital S in our
Bibles, in our English language. Because it's that seed is the
Lord Jesus Christ. We know that because of what
Paul tells us in Galatians. And that whereas Satan would
hurt him in the heel. You know, it's a painful wound,
but it's not a fatal wound. He, Christ, would bruise Satan's
head. That's a fatal wound. He bruises
him in the head. He overcomes everything that
Satan had done in dragging man down to hell. He overcomes it
for his people. And Christ comes as the surety,
the redeemer, as one flesh with them. He in them, and they in
him. If you're in the Lord Jesus Christ,
you've perfectly satisfied God's law in him. and he looks down
on you and he says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased. If we're in the Lord Jesus Christ as he said it to
Christ. And when we go before the judgment seat of Christ,
there's no condemnation now for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For he's dealt with their sins. His lifeblood has been poured
out. The price has been paid. Justice has been satisfied. Everything
has been done. He's the Lord, our righteousness,
as Jeremiah says. We have kept the law in Him. Even though we sin daily, in
the reckoning of God we have kept the law in Him. We're one
flesh with Him and God is well pleased. He looks at us and as
that false prophet Balaam even said, he has not beheld iniquity
in Jacob. The people of God are Jacob.
The people of God are those who are sinners made princes with
God and he has not beheld iniquity there. And how did he do it?
He who knew no sin, our Lord Jesus Christ. was made sin for
us. He was loaded with it, all of
our sin. He took responsibility for it.
He was guilty of it. He was found guilty of it and
he was justly punished under the wrath of God for the sin
of his people. Why? That we, sinners, might
be made not sinners but the righteousness of God in him. Cursed is everyone
that hangs on a tree and Christ bore that curse of the law. That curse of the law. Cursed
is everyone who does not continue in all things written in the
book of the law to do them. And we didn't and we don't. But
he hung in our place to pay that curse on our behalf. Christ has
been cursed. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree, says Peter. He was made sin, he bore the
curse, he bore our sins. Not in part, but the whole. We
love that hymn, don't we? My sin, not in part, but the
whole. So many people tell you it's
only in part. So many people tell you you've only been given
the start and now it's up to you. No, not in part, but the
whole. He bore all my sins in his body
and he came in human flesh. Why did he come in human flesh?
He had to become a human being. to live as a human being perfectly,
to die, to shed human blood for the sins of His people. Just
as the children, says Hebrews 2.14, just as the children, His
people, the people for whom He came to pay the penalty, just
as they have flesh and blood, He too, our eternal God, partook
of flesh and blood that He might stand in our place. At the right
time, when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth
His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those
who are under the law. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me." These were the prophetical
words of Christ. A body was prepared for the Son
of God, that He might walk this earth, that He might be born
as a baby, that He might grow into a full-grown man, and His
people might do all things right in Him, and His people might
establish righteousness in him and his people might have their
sins paid for in him and in the time of his choosing in the time
of our lives of his choosing if we're his people by his spirit
he calls us and brings us and quickens us which means makes
us alive spiritually, whereas naturally we're dead spiritually
to the things of God, He makes us alive to the things of God,
and He shines light into our darkened hearts that we know
and see and love the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They hear,
they believe, they call, you know, whosoever, how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they believe unless
they hear? And how shall they call unless they've believed? He causes people to hear, to
believe, and call upon the name of the Lord. And in so doing,
they're saved. And He's the only one. This,
our Lord Jesus Christ, is the only one. There's no other name
under heaven, given amongst men, whereby we must be saved. He
alone is the way, the truth, and the life. Only He can justify
His people. This is why he's so important.
This is why he's absolutely unique. This is why it's the most important
question you can ever get right in your own experience and in
your own mind. Who is Jesus Christ, our eternal
God, come to save his people from their sins? Not for any
other sentimental reason, but purely this, to establish righteousness,
to establish justice, to pay the penalty of the sins of His
people, that He might save them from their sins, that there might
be a people in glory, praising, praising our Eternal God and
our Lord Jesus Christ for all of His goodness and grace and
mercy to us in Him. Amen.