Would you turn back to Matthew
chapter 1. Verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ. There is no way that the Lord
Jesus Christ was born on December 25th. You know that. And we're
never told to commemorate his birthday in the scriptures once
a year. Not a word about that. However, he does have a birthday. A day of his birth. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise. Jesus Christ. Jesus. It is the Greek translation
of the Hebrew name Joshua. Moses could not bring the children
of Israel. into the Promised Land. And our works cannot in any way
bring us into Heaven. Moses represents the Law. The
Law is what me and you do. Only Joshua could bring the children
of Israel into the Promised Land. Jesus. Joshua. His name means
Jehovah is salvation. Christ. God's Christ. God's prophet. God's priest. God's king. Christ is his title. Jesus is his name. Now shall
I call his name Jesus, Christ is his title or his office. Now notice it says in verse 18,
now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wife when as his
mother was as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before
they came together. Before they had a relationship
as a man and woman, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Look down in verse 22. Now all
this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of
the Lord by the prophet saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with
child and shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name
Immanuel. which being interpreted is God with us. A virgin shall
be with child. The first intimation of this
was in the first gospel promise. The seed of woman shall bruise
the serpent's head. Does a woman have a seed? How
does that work? I don't know, but that's what the Bible says.
The seed of woman shall bruise the serpent's heel. The Lord
Jesus Christ had Mary's DNA in her and yet he was sinless, conceived
of the Holy Spirit, God the Son. Now he had to be born of a virgin
because if he had Adam's seed in him, he would be sinful. The reason you and I are born
into this world is we're born with Adam's seed in us. We're
united to him. If he would have been born of
Adam's seed, he'd be just like me and you. But he's not like
me and you, is he? He's the Lord Jesus Christ, the
sinless Son of God. Now, can I explain how Christ
could be born of a virgin? No, I can't. I can't conceive
of it, but I believe this with all my heart. Jesus Christ was
born of a virgin in answer to the ancient prophecy in Isaiah
chapter 7. Let's turn there for a moment, Isaiah chapter 7. Verse 14, therefore, and this
is what Matthew quoted in Matthew 1, Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14,
therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name
Immanuel, God with us. Look at Isaiah chapter 9. Verse 6, For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given. Yes, the child is born. The birth
of Jesus Christ was upon this wise, but the son was given. He never had a time when he began
be. You know eight times in the book
of John the Lord says, I came down from heaven. Now what if
I said to you I came down from heaven? If I said that to you,
you'd say you're a nut. You did not. You're right, but
he did. He came down from heaven. As
a matter of fact, whoso confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh, is not of God. He was before He came. He's the
eternal Son of God. He came in the flesh. God was
manifest in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And He did exactly what He came
to do. He came to save His people from
their sins. And that is what He did. Unto us a child is born. He had to be born for me to be
saved. Somebody had to save me. I can't save myself. For me to
be saved, somebody's going to have to do everything for me.
And that's exactly what he did. He came in the flesh to save
his people from their sins. And look what Isaiah 9, 6 says.
It says, the government, now what that word means is the rule,
the dominion, the rule, the dominion shall be upon his shoulder. Now, Jesus Christ is Lord. That means He rules and He reigns. That means your eternal destiny
is in His hands. It's up to Him what's going to
take place with you because He is Lord. Are you saying we don't
have any control in this? Yes, that's exactly what I'm
saying. Jesus Christ is Lord. He's the Lord of creation. He's
the one who created the universe. Now, we all know somebody made
this place and nobody made Him. He's the one who did it. He's the Lord of providence.
Everything that happens, He's in absolute control of. See, the government's on His
shoulders, isn't it? He's the Lord of salvation. That means
if you're saved, it's Him that's going to save you. Your salvation
is utterly and completely in His hands. And you know what? I like it that way. You know
why I like it that way? Because if it were in my hands,
I wouldn't be saved. I know that. The only way this
sinner can be saved is if Christ saves me. I love my salvation
being in his hands, because I know the alternative is I won't be
saved. The government shall be upon
his shoulders. And I love this next thing that's
said about him, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,
and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall
be called Wonderful. How you doing? Wonderful. All inspiring? That which is
revered? Worship? Well, he is wonderful. He is wonderful. His name should
be called Wonderful. His name should be called Counselor.
Now, this is very interesting. The word Counselor there, when
we think of a counselor, we think of, you know, when we're messed
up somehow, we go to a counselor to get good advice and so on.
But you know the word there, actually a verb. It's not, although
he is the one to go to, whatever you need, he's the one to go
to, but the word means the one who decrees, the one who purposes,
the one who decrees, the one whose counsel is always done. He is the wonderful counselor. His purpose, His will is always
done. And look what it says next in
Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given, and the government, the rules, shall
be upon his shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God. Jesus Christ is God Almighty. You know what thrills me? Jesus Christ is God Almighty. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. And next it says He is the everlasting
Father. Is Jesus Christ the Father? Well,
I know this. He said, he that has seen me
has seen the Father, didn't he? And all you and I are ever going
to see of the Father is his Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. And it says here, he is the everlasting
father. That's what his name is going
to be called. But once again, how do I explain this? All I
can do is read it. There it is. He's everlasting. You know what that means? That
means he never began to be. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. The same was eternally, infinitely
was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. And what's
it say next? He is the Prince of Peace. What a name for the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the Prince. He's the King of Peace. What
did the angels say when they announced His birth? Glory to
God in the highest and on earth peace. Peace. Goodwill. God's goodwill toward men. Peace. He's the Prince of Peace. Now,
how is that? Well, He came as the Prince of
Peace. and he made my peace with God. Colossians 1.20, having made
peace through the blood of his cross. You see what Christ did
on Calvary's tree? Made it to where God is at peace with me. God is satisfied with me. God's
not looking for anything else. He's not looking for anything
else. Perfect peace. Having been justified. That's
what Christ did on the cross. He justified everybody he died
for. Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2.14 says, He is our
peace. He's the Prince of Peace. You
know, what a glorious thing it is to know that I have peace
with God. God's not looking for anything else out of me. He's
perfectly satisfied with me through the Lord Jesus Christ. Would
you want it to be any other way? I wouldn't. He's the Prince of
Peace. And look what it says next in
verse 7. Of the increase. And that word
is literally the greatness. Of the greatness of his government,
of his rule, and the greatness of his peace, the peace he accomplished
by what he did on Calvary Street, there shall be no end. This is never going to cease.
It's forever. upon the throne of David that
that's the throne he sits upon even now and upon his kingdom
to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice
from henceforth even forever. Now what our Lord did by his
work on Calvary's tree he established his kingdom with judgment and
justice. Now what that means is the very
holiness and justice and righteousness of God demands the salvation
of everybody he died for. I'm not saved because I believe.
I do believe. I do. But I'm not saved because
I believe. I'm saved because Jesus Christ died for my sins.
I'm saved because he eternally put away my sins. I'm saved because
the very justice and righteousness of God demands my salvation. Delivering from going to the
pit I found a ransom. What a government. And who's going to perform this?
We read in verse 7, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform
this. God is jealous of his own glory.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform all this. Now let's
go back to Matthew chapter 21. Verse 18, now the birth of Jesus
Christ was on this wise when as his mother Mary was a spouse
to Joseph, she was engaged to him. They had not entered a full
marriage as of yet. Before they came together, she
was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Now put yourself in Joseph's
place. The angel has not yet appeared
to him. And Mary comes up to him and
says, I'm pregnant. I'm with child of the Holy Ghost. Now, I put myself in Joseph's
place. If Lynn and I were engaged, and
she came up to me, and she said, I'm pregnant, and it's of the
Holy Ghost. Yeah, you think I'd believe that?
Joseph didn't believe that. I understand him not believing
it. I wouldn't have believed it either, and you wouldn't either. I'm
pregnant. God has come upon me. The Holy
Spirit has caused me to be pregnant. Oh! Verse 19, Then Joseph, her husband,
being a just man, he was a good man, and not willing to make
her a public example, was minded to divorce her privately. in
a way that would not bring shame to her. He saw what was going
on, and he was a merciful man, he was a forgiving man, and he
was going to go ahead and divorce her in a way that wouldn't bring
any public shame to her. Well, that lets us know about
how we ought not ever bring anybody into public shame. I mean, if
anyone had a reason to do it, in Joseph's mind he did, but
he was not going to do that, was he? But, verse 20, while he thought
on these things, how did this happen to me? Good grief, I thought
my life was going in the right direction and this has happened.
How am I going to change this? How am I going to get out of
this? Got to start all over. While he was thinking on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David. Now this lets
us know how far the house of David has fallen. This is a very
poor man, poverty stricken man. He's a carpenter, yet he's in
the line of David. That lets us know how the house
of David has fallen. But this man is still in the
line of David. But while he thought on these
things, 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 in her is of the Holy Ghost. And, verse 21, she shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, Joshua. Jehovah is salvation, 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."
Now isn't everything done according to God's purpose? That the scriptures
might be fulfilled. Now I want us to spend the remainder
of our time thinking about this glorious verse, now shall I call
his name Jesus. for he shall save his people
from their sins. And the first word I would like
to consider is he, he. Not he and, he alone. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, when
he had by himself purged our sins. Now what he did, he did
alone. You and I didn't have any hand
in this except for the sin. He had no help. He, the Lord
Jesus Christ, shall. Shall. Doesn't say he'll make
a way possible, doesn't say he'll make us potentially savable,
doesn't say anything like that, does it? It says he shall. He shall save. Not simply hope to, He shall
save. He will be successful in this.
He shall save. Who? Who? What's it say? His people. Who are they? His people. Having loved his own, which were
in the world, he loved them to the end. His people are His elect,
those the Father gave Him before time began. He said, For I came
down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him
which sent me. And this is the Father's will
which had sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. His people
are the elect. His people are the sheep. I lay
down my life for the sheep. He didn't lay down his life for
goats. He laid down his life for the sheep. Let me tell you
something that all of his people have in common, every one of
them without exception. All his people, all the people
that he shall save from their sins are people who know that
they're sinners. They know that if God sent them
to hell, they would be getting exactly what they deserved. They
know that they have no claim on God where they can say, God,
you need to save me because I fill in the blank. No, all of his
people know that they are sinners. And here's something else about
all of his people. Every single one of them, every one of them
believe the gospel. How can I know if I'm one of
His people? Are you relying on the Lord Jesus Christ as all
you have right now before God? Do you really believe that all
you can plea, all your hope and plea is in Him? Well, that's
what His people do. They believe the gospel. As many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. Acts 13, 48. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from what? from their sins. He shall save his people from
their sins. Now let's say you're drowning
and somebody gets you and pulls you out of that terrible condition.
What were you saved from? You're saved from drowning. Let's
say you're unconscious in a house on fire. And the firemen come
in and pull you out. What were you saved from? Well,
you're saved from burning up in a fire. And what does Christ
save his people from? He saves his people from their
sins. He saves his people from their
sins. Now, what is sin? Well, there's so many scriptural
definitions of it. For one thing, 1 John 3 and 4
say sin is a transgression of the law. The Ten Commandments,
any lack of perfect conformity to the Ten Commandments is sin.
To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it's
sin. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. The plowing of the wicked
is sin. The thought of foolishness is
sin. My problem is my sin. This is what I need. I need to
be saved from my sins. Now how is it that he saves his
people from their sins? I'm going to give you something
I give all the time and then I'm going to give you something I've never given
before. Here's the thing I say all the
time. I'm saved from sins in the sense that I'm saved from
the penalty of sin. I'm saved from the power of sin. I'm saved
from the presence of sin, the commission of sin, and I'm saved
from the pleasure of sin. That's what salvation from sin
is. First of all, if I'm saved, I'm
saved from the penalty of sin. God is just. You believe that?
God is just. God's going to punish sin. He
wouldn't be God if he did, and he'd lose his justice. It's not
going to happen. God's going to punish sin. God
is just. My sin needs to be punished. I can't deal with that. Christ
dealt with it for me. He was punished in my place,
and now I'll never have to be punished. I've been saved from
the penalty of sin. I need to be saved from the power
of sin. What do I mean by that? I can distinctly remember when
I could not believe. I tried to, but I couldn't. Didn't even know what it meant.
I couldn't love God. I couldn't repent. I could not
do any of those things because I was under the complete dominion
and power of sin. Somebody says, well, I can believe
if I want to. Well, you just proved by that you're still under
its complete dominion and power. It's got you fooled. It's got
you blinded. Now, I need to be delivered from
the power of sin so that I can believe. so that I can repent,
so that I can love God, so that I can hear the gospel. And he
has done precisely that in the sense that he saved me from the
power of my sin when he gave me a new nature. Now listen to this. Salvation
from sin. Yes, it's saved from the penalty of sin. It's saved
from the power of sin because I do believe now. And I do love
God now. There was a time when I couldn't.
But there's salvation from the presence of sin. I won't be a sinner anymore.
Now, I haven't experienced that yet, but I already have it in
Christ, because Scripture says we're already glorified. I'm
saved from the presence of sin, the commission
of sin, and one of these days, I haven't experienced it yet,
but I know I am saved from it, but one of these days I'm going
to be saved from the pleasure of sin, to where I won't find
any pleasure at all in sin. Oh, the appetite for sin is still
there so strongly in me and you, It really is. Somebody says,
it's not in me. I don't believe you. I really don't. I know better
than that. I want to be saved from the very
pleasure of sin, but where it's, there's no pleasure in it. And
that's what it is to be saved. My big problem is my sin. Now,
in order for me to be saved from my sin, there are six things
that the Lord had to meet for me. First of all, he had to deal
with God's holy law. He had to meet God's holy law
head on and keep it perfectly. Somebody has to keep the law. Somebody had to keep the law. He came in the flesh and in the
flesh he kept God's holy law perfectly. Now somebody had to keep the
law for me because I can't do it. I can't. He did it. He did
it. But the second thing that the
Lord had to deal with He had to deal with the absolute justice
of God in the punishment of sin. And beloved, that's precisely
what he did. the cross. He dealt with the
absolute justice of God when he was punished as the sin bearer. Now he kept the law, but if he
would have just went back to heaven, what good would that
have done me? wouldn't have done me any good at all. But he had
to deal with the justice of God and bear the punishment of sin
and put that sin away by the sacrifice of himself. So that's
what he had to do for me. He had to keep the law for me,
for me to be saved. He had to keep the law for me
and he had to pay for my sins. Thirdly, for me to be saved from
my sins, somebody's going to have to deal
with the devil. because I'm no match for him. And the Lord said, the prince
of this world is judged. Now the devil, in all his malice
toward God and his people, he can't touch me apart from
God's permissive will. He may touch me, He may touch
me, but he can't cause me to be sent to hell because the Lord's
protecting me from him. Somebody had to deal with the
devil for me to be saved. Somebody had to deal with the
devil. Now for me to be saved, somebody had to keep the law
for me. Somebody had to do something about my sins before God's justice.
Somebody had to do something about the devil. And for me to
be saved, something had to be done about me. What do I mean by that? I've got to be given a new nature. I've got to be given a new heart. I can't come up with faith. I
can't come up with repentance. I can't come up with love to
God. Yet I have to have these things. Something's going to
have to be done for me and in me. I have to be given a new
heart. I have to be born, birthed from
above for me to be saved. Yes, sir. God's going to have
to put something in me that was not there before. And fifthly, for me to be saved,
there's got to be something done about my daily walk. And what do I mean by that? Have you sinned today? Did you sin yesterday? Are you going to sin this afternoon?
Now we ought not ever sin. I'm not giving any excuse for
sin. But the fact of the matter is, is every day, every day,
I sin. And I sin. And I sin. And I commit the same sin. And I commit the same sin every
day. I've got a daily walk. Now, I'm
talking about, well, aren't you forgiven of all your sins? Yeah.
Yeah, I am. But I think of when the Lord took that towel and girded himself
and he washed the disciples' feet and he came up to Peter
and Peter said, you'll never wash my feet. And I can understand Peter feeling
that way. Can't you? What if the Lord came up to you
and said, I'm going to wash your feet. And you think, hey, he
doesn't need to be washing my feet. I need to be washing his. But
the Lord said, if I don't wash you, you have no part with me. And Peter said, well, wash my
hands and feet and arms and wash me all. And he said, he that
is clean say not to be washed except for his feet. Now I am
clean every wit, I'm perfect in Christ Jesus, and I get my
feet dirty every single day. And he washes my feet every single
day. Now I need something done about
my daily walk. And I can't do anything about
it, but he does. He does. He washes my feet every day in
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what else I need
done for me? One of these days I'm going to die. Not be today. I'm going to die. I'm going to
decay. Hard time in the world is gonna
happen with the different parts of my body. It might be that a part of my
body ends up in some dirt somewhere, it grows into some grass, and
some animal eats it, and I end up getting spread out all over
the universe. I mean, who knows what's gonna happen when you
die? I mean, all these different things. I mean, I need somebody
in my helpless, how helpless am I then when I'm dead? How
dependent am I when I'm, same way when I'm dead in sins, but
the point is, I need someone who can take my, decomposed,
dead body spread out who knows how or where, and raise it from the dead and
make me just like Christ. That's what I need. I need Him
to raise me from the dead and to make me to be perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ. And you'll see me and say, who
is that good-looking guy? Why he's, that's me with a glorified
body. You know, we'll recognize each
other, but in a way, we'll think, that's you? That's you? Really? Yeah, that's everybody that he
has raised from the dead incorruptible. So for me to be saved from my
sins, I need him to keep the law for
me. I need him to deal with God's
justice and pay for my sins. I need Him to deal with the devil,
protect me from him, deliver us from the evil one. I need
for Him to give me a new heart, do something in my heart, put
something in there that wasn't there before, a new man. I need
Him to deal with my daily walk, cleanse me every single day.
And I need him to raise me up incorruptible, just like the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's what I need to be
saved from my sins. And beloved, that's what he did.
This is the promise. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Back to our
text, verse 22. Now all this was done, that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being
interpreted is God with us, not God against us, but God with
us. Ben-Joseph, being raised from
sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took
unto him his wife, and knew her not, till she brought forth her
firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. Is there any name like that? I love that passage of scripture
in Philippians chapter 2. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. Of things in heaven,
and things in earth, and things under the earth. and that every
tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You confess that? To the glory of God the Father. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. How we praise you that he came
and did for us what we could not do for ourselves. How he
kept the law for us and paid for our sins and defeated Satan.
How he gave us a new heart. How he cleanses us every day
and how he's going to make us to be perfectly conformed to
his image. Lord, how we thank you for the
gospel. Our only plea is that we might
be found in Him and that you would be pleased to make yourself
known to each person here according to your will. In Christ's name
we pray, Amen.