Tonight we'll be looking in the
book of Matthew, the gospel according to Matthew. We're going to start in the beginning
of Matthew at Matthew chapter one. Upon opening Matthew, we
see the one, the one Jesus Christ, the one who the prophets spoke
of. We see his lineage revealed as
the proof of the promise fulfilled that was given unto Abraham that
we just read about in Galatians 3. This is the one whom all the
priests of the Old Testament represent. Every sacrifice that
was ever made by a priest, he's the one that they were representing. They were a type and a shadow,
and the lambs slain were a type and a shadow of Jesus Christ
himself as well. This is what's being revealed
in Matthew chapter one. It's been 400 years since Malachi
spoke, and now Christ is going to come into this world as a
man being born. He's born the one who is the
king. He's no longer the someone who
was coming for so long and kept saying, well, he's coming. Well,
he's coming. We're saying the same thing,
aren't we? But we're not talking about his first coming. We're
talking about his second coming. He's coming. He's coming. Well,
here he is. He's arrived now. He's on the
scene, if we can put it that way. been going to be born, and
this is the account given of the declaration. Well, unto them,
they're being told that Christ is going to be born and who he's
going to be born to. I love the authority of the Lord.
He never came to Joseph and came to Mary and say, what's your
opinion about you bearing my son? He doesn't do that. He says,
you're going. to be found with the child that
is of the Holy Ghost. You're going to be found. And
that's exactly what happened. You manifest in the flesh. And
as we see all these prophecies and types and shadows, I would
remind us that just a few of them, that he was Noah's ark
of salvation for his people, for his elect. He was Jacob's
rock. Remember when Jacob slept on the rock? What's that a picture
of? That's our rock. That's who we sleep on. That's
what Jacob saw, the one that he wrestled with. He was Moses's
cleft of the rock where the Lord hid him in. All these pictures
throughout the Old Testament, this is him. He's here. He's
came in the likeness of sinful flesh as his brethren to redeem
them, which were under the law. He was Ruth's kinsman redeemer,
wasn't he? The only one that had the right
to redeem back. That's who he is. He was David's
Lord. He was David's shepherd. He was
Solomon's rose of Sharon, Solomon's beloved. And these, they didn't
even, he hadn't even came yet in time. And yet they saw him
the same way that we see him now, looking back. the same eyes
of faith that these men and women looked forward to. Isaiah declared
him as wonderful. He said, you shall call him wonderful,
counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince
of peace. This is what Isaiah saw. Jeremiah tells us that he's the
Lord, our righteousness, Jehovah sitkin you. This is his name,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Daniel saw him as the ancient
of days. And we heard a couple Sundays ago, it was Zachariah's
righteous branch, didn't we? And last Sunday, we heard that
it was Malachi's son of righteousness, the Messiah, the anointed one,
the anointed one. He's the prophet like Moses represented. He's the priest like Melchizedek
after the order of Melchizedek that all the priests represented.
And he is the king like unto David, the king of kings. In
the Old Testament, they said, call him Immanuel, God with us. They say that actually in this
chapter that we're in. He's the Immanuel, he's the one,
he's here, this is him. I bring you good tidings of great
joy, which shall be unto all people, for unto you is born
this day in the city of David, the Savior, Christ the Lord. Before he was ever born, he was
promised by the prophets. Once he was born here in Matthew,
we see him revealed as everything and more than the human brain
can ever fathom. He is the embodiment of God in
the flesh. It would remind us that man can't
see that. We can't see that in and of ourselves.
He must be revealed. Aren't you thankful he reveals
himself to whomsoever he chooses? It was left up to me to make
the right decision in order for him to reveal himself to me.
How could I do that if I'm dead? But he chooses to reveal everything
I just described about him to his people. We see him as all
of that, don't we? And so much more, so much more. The scripture doesn't have all
of his names in them. They're inexhaustible. You can't exhaust
the names of God. He's infinite in every way, in
every way. We don't understand that. We
believe it, don't we? He's eternal. The entire book,
is Him. The entire book is Him. Now,
I don't mean merely that it's a Christ-centered book. That's
not what I'm talking about. It's not merely just a Christ-centered
book, and I don't mean that the Bible was merely inspired to
draw attention to Christ. No, I mean that the entirety
of Scriptures, the entirety of the Scriptures, Christ is the
message, period. Christ is the message from Genesis
to Revelation. His salvation from Genesis to
Revelation, He gets all the glory. from Genesis to Revelation. Everything
written is about him and his salvation. And this brings us
to our title. Why call his name Jesus? His name was not revealed in
the Old Testament as Jesus. It was revealed as the Christ.
We've seen some of his names and glorious attributes, but
you'll never find the name Jesus in the Old Testament except for
the name Joshua. And that was the man that was
the type and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ leading the children
of Israel. But the Lord said, I'm not going to call his name
Joshua, which is the Hebrew for Jesus. He didn't say that. So
why did he call his name Jesus? That's what I want to look at
tonight. Why, why did they call his name Jesus? And we know that Christ's surname
was given prior in the Old Testament. Do you remember the woman at
the well? Whenever she began to hear of what the Lord had
to say to her, she got really religious, said, we worship in
this mountain. He said, you worship you know not what? Well, she
defended herself by saying, well, we know that when Messiah come,
which is Christ, he'll tell us all things. Is that not what
she said? She said, he's Christ. And she was a Samaritan. She
was a half-breed Jew, but yet religious. She knew his name
was gonna be Christ. That was given in the Old Testament.
He's God's Christ. And what did he say to her? And
this is what I hope that he does tonight to us, is he reveals
himself the same way he did to that woman. He said, he, he said,
I am, that's what he said. I that speak unto thee am, I
am. He revealed himself as God and
she left her water pot and she said, come see a man, God in
the flesh. Come see the man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, all that the scripture has been talking about. Here
he is, here he is. He just told me, does he not
have the words of eternal life? Come see a man. Why call his name Jesus? I pray
that the Lord would reveal himself to us the same this hour as he
did to that woman. Now let's read here in Matthew
1 verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus was on
this wise, when as his mother Mary was a spouse to Joseph,
before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of 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 she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. Now all that was done All this
was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall conceive, a virgin
shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt
call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted, God is God
with us. Then 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 had
brought forth her firstborn son and he called his name Jesus. This hour, I want to focus on
the one verse 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. Before Christ's incarnation here
in Matthew, he was declared as Jesus. Jesus means Jehovah is
salvation. It was declared that this is
what his name was to be called by the angel of the Lord. This
was on God's authority. This is the name of my son is
what was being said. This is who you will, his name,
this is what you'll call him. Jehovah is salvation. So why
call his name Jesus? Well, Jesus means God's chosen
savior. Jesus means Jehovah's salvation,
mine anointed. God's lamb, God's lamb, the embodiment
of righteousness, the incarnate God-man. And I can't stress the
importance of 100% man and 100% God, because truly we can't understand
that, because we're 100% sin, aren't we? In the flesh, that's
what we are. But he was 100% holy. all the time. He was 100% perfect. He was God
in the flesh. Now we were in Galatians 3, but
I want to look at Galatians 4 just for a moment. Turn there with
me. We can see that clearly in Romans 4. Galatians 4, hold your place
there. And Matthew, we're going to turn
back to there. Galatians 4 verse 4 tells us,
Now I want you to notice that that doesn't say made by the
woman. It says made of a woman. made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And because you are sons, God
hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father." He says, in the fullness of time, in the fullness
of time, we must start right there. Whose time is it? Is it
in the fullness of my time? Is it in the fullness of your
time? No, it's in the fullness of God's time, isn't it? The
fullness of God's time, God sent forth his son. See, he takes ownership of his
person. He's my, this is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased. Why did God sent forth his son? Why must he be born under the
law, because the law cannot redeem. As we see over in Galatians 3,
verse 10, for as many as are of the works of the law are under
the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueeth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
it is evident, for the just shall live by faith, and the law is
not of faith. that man that doeth them shall
live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.
How? Being made a curse for us, for it is written, curse it everyone
that hangeth on a tree. Romans chapter eight tells us,
for what the law could not. It didn't say what the law might
be able to do, but it says could not. There's no, it's a 0% chance,
a 0% chance. If I'm looking on the radar and
it's a 0% chance of rain, that's not what I'm talking about. This
is God we're talking about, not man's opinion. I'm talking in
God's standard, it's 0%. It's not possible that the law
could do it. The law could not redeem. And
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Our first answer as to
why call him Jesus is because who he is. He's God. This was his name given by his
father. Jehovah is salvation. This is Jehovah's salvation to
redeem those that were under the law. This is who he is. This
is why call his name Jesus. Back to Matthew chapter one. In verse 21 again, the next thing
we see, call his name Jesus, for he shall save. Why call his name Jesus? Because
he is going to save. because of who he is as God and
what he is going to accomplish. He's going to accomplish salvation.
He shall save. This is a prophecy given. It
was a prophecy all the way from Genesis to Malachi until the
Lord comes on the scene. He's going to save, and that's
the end of it. He's going to, nothing can stop
him. Nothing, he shall. God says he
shall save. He's God, he cannot fail. He
doesn't say words like attempt. He's going to attempt to save,
or he might, or he's trying, or he wants to. No, he says he
shall. Don't you love that word shall?
That takes you and I out of the equation completely. It's God
plus God equals salvation. I love that. It's not me plus
God. It's not me minus God. It's God,
period, salvation. There is really no plus, is there?
I mean, if you want to think of it as the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, in that aspect you can, but really it's just God,
period, salvation. That's it. He shall save. He's not going to try. He's going
to do it. He's going to save. Jesus Christ is God, is the outcome
not certain? If Jesus Christ is God, is the
outcome not certain? It is, isn't it? Is the end not
already declared? Is the work not already finished
from the foundation of the world? That's what Hebrews 4.3 tells
us. The work was finished from the foundation of the world.
This is what he's going to do. He's going to save. He was holy. because of who his father was.
What does the scripture tell us? His seed cannot sin. It cannot. Every hope that we
have hinges upon the fact that it was impossible for Jesus Christ
to fail in the work of salvation. Every bit of it. Our hope lies
in the fact that he is 100% God. cannot lie, cannot fail. And what is spoken of him? He
shall save. Did he? Yes. Was he successful? Yes. God cannot lie. God cannot
lie. He was holy. Being born of God
and failing would have made God a liar because his father was
God, that means he had the blood of his father, born of his father's
seed. He could not sin. He could not
fail. Understand that coursing through
his veins was the only source of redemption. Coursing through
his veins was the only source of redemption ever in the history
of mankind and ever will be. What was in his veins, the blood
of his father, the perfect holy blood, was the only hope for
the redemption of his people. The only hope. It was the only
pardoning atonement. It was the only substance that
has been on the face of the earth that could ever wash away sin,
ever. It's the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's exactly what he saved
with, wasn't it? He saved with his own blood.
He saved with his own blood. Scripture says in Hebrews 1,
who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of
his person and upholding all things by the word of his power,
when he hath by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. Well, why did he have to shed
his blood? The scripture says without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. So whenever he made one offering
forever, Whenever he remitted those sins by his own blood,
he sat down. It's finished. Salvation accomplished. Call his name Jesus. He's God
and he shall save. There's no salvation other than
whatever, than what was in him. No salvation. And what I mean
by in him is who he was, the blood that he had in him, the
righteousness he had in him, the holiness he had in him. Everything
about him is salvation. Everything about him. Now, if
God demands justice for sin, and he demands death for sin,
and the only remission is blood, then whose blood is it? I've already said this, but I
want to reiterate it. Whose blood can redeem them?
Can my blood? Can your blood? Can anyone's
blood? No. No, it has to be holy blood,
separate from sinners, undefiled, perfect blood. Who other than
the Lord Jesus Christ was born of the Father, having his seed,
had perfect blood? No one but Jesus Christ. No one
but Jesus Christ. He must be bought by his holy
blood by himself. Why call his name Jesus? Because
he shall save. What is the next thing we notice?
Matthew 1.21. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people. His people. Did Jesus Christ
save everybody? No. No, if salvation has been
accomplished and He's seated at the right hand of the Father,
then Whenever he sat down, whosoever he saved has been saved. And
the father was well pleased. He said, sit thou here at my
right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord
finished the work and he did it for his people. Call his name
Jesus for he shall save his people. Tells us plainly here who he's
going to save. Well, who are his people? Who
are his people? I gotta know that. I need to
know who his people are, if that's all that he saved. I've got to
know, am I one of his people? I need to know. Before Christ's
incarnation, God had a people given. Christ had a people given
to him by his father, elected in the covenant of grace before
the foundation of the world. Ephesians one's very clear on
this. According he hath chosen us. We didn't choose him. He
chose us and He chose us in love, didn't He? Before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. God's people are the people of
His choosing, not our choosing. God's people are those whom He's
chosen unto holiness to set them apart from others physically,
Well, there's not a whole lot of difference between us and
our neighbors, are there? There's a difference on the inside.
There's not much on the outside. We're still Old dead dogs on
the outside, aren't we? He didn't come to save our flesh.
That's what bothered the Jews so much is they thought he would
come down as King David and put all the people underneath the
Jews and said, this is the earthly kingdom and everybody else. Here's,
here's God's chosen people by bloodline. Well, they were proud
to be Jews. I would go so far to say is probably
the most racial people in history because the promise came to them.
Yet we see that it was not to bloodline. Aren't you thankful
for that? It wasn't based on you at all. It's not based on
me at all. It's God's choosing. God's choosing
before time ever began to a spiritual people, to his spiritual seed. If it's by man's choice, then
some men will be lost. If it's by man's choice, Some
men will be lost. It's not salvation at all if
those for whom it is intended for are lost, is it? It's not
salvation. If those for whom salvation is
intended for are lost, what kind of a salvation is that? That's a works salvation, isn't
it? Based upon your work and my work,
not based on his work. But he said, call his name Jesus
for he shall, not that he's gonna try if you let him. See, there's
the gospel. It was God that did it. And he
did it in love. The love that he had for his
people and the love that the son had for the father and they
both loved the bride. And what did Christ do? He saved
his people from their sin. clearly declares he shall, and
we know that he did. Peter tells us, we're still speaking
on who is God's people, he said, called Christ's people the elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Now, I've
heard men say that God foreknew, and therefore he foreknew who
would choose him, and therefore he loved them, and therefore
he elected them. That is just a lie. That's not
true. It's just silly. It's dethroning God and making
man God again, no matter how you slice it. No, God foreknew,
He elected, then He sent Christ in time to save, and He saved
His people. Then the Spirit regenerates in
time by calling them. It's very simple, isn't it? You
and I are out of the equation. He says that they are elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Here we have the threefold salvation I just mentioned.
God's elect. God elected a people before time.
Christ Jesus saved them by washing them in his own blood. That's
how he saved them. By dying for them, by his soul
being made an offering for sin. That's how he did it. And in
time they are sanctified by his spirit unto obedience because
of the sprinkling, because of the electing. It all begins with
God and it all ends with God, doesn't it? All those for whom
Christ died will become obedient, begging for him. Now, the next
thing we see in Matthew chapter 121 is what he saved his people
from. He shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sin. He shall save
his people from their sin. He gives the definition of his
people. Did you know that? They're sinners. They have sin
in them. They have sin on them. They are sin. And you know what he's going
to do? because of the covenant of grace alone, because of his
choosing alone, his work alone, he's going to save his people
from just that, their sin. He's gonna save them from what
they are. He's gonna save them from what they think. He's gonna
save them from what they do. He's gonna save everything about
them. In that new man, in that spiritual man, that's exactly
what he did. He made them perfect being born
of his seed, the same seed as the father. This is exactly what
salvation is, is being born of that incorruptible seed. Gives the definition of his people
by calling them sinners. He says he's going to save them
from their sin. Is that your confession? If it
is, if you confess I'm a sinner, that's I got good news. I have
good news. Christ Jesus came into the world
not to call the righteous, No, if we have any righteousness,
we're not welcome. If we have any righteousness,
He didn't come to save us. It must be the sinners. We must
be made the sinner, the chief of sinners, the worst. And if
we are, He said, you're my people and I shall save you from your
sin. He has, hasn't He? He has. I keep saying shall,
because that's what the context it is written in, because it
had happened in eternity past at this point, but the fullness
of time had to come to pass. And understand time is not even
a blip in eternity. So he's God's other than time,
but he made it to redeem a people. It's amazing to try to enter
into. But the point I'm making is, is we keep saying shall when
it's already finished. I don't want anybody to ever
come and say, are you saying there's something else I need
to do? No, I'm saying shall's in the context. That's why I
say shall. He has, he did, it is finished. Successfully redeemed
his people from their sin. But God committed his love toward
us when that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I love that. while we were yet
sinners. He didn't do it when we found
righteousness. He didn't do it when we chose
him. He did it when we were sinners. Still yet in our sin, as far
as the world's concerned, as far as the law demanding justice
is concerned, we were sinners. And yet he committed his love
toward us while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. Christ died
for his people. We've already heard that God
was manifest in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh. He had to become that. He had
to become that putting on the nature. We have the nature of
Adam. He never had any other nature
but his father, but he had to be robed in flesh in order to
be under the law. The law came to the flesh given
by God just to reveal what we are. He had to be made what we
are to redeem us, the sinner substitute. He had to be made
what we are. And now you see where we've seen
very clearly that man did not accept him, nor want him, nor
choose him while he was on the face of the earth. He had nothing
that they desired in and of himself. He would have looked just like
any other man, if I can put it that way. It's true. He had no
beauty in him. He didn't have, David, they say was a handsome
man. That wasn't the Lord Jesus. He didn't come to draw attention
to his flesh. Did he come to honor his father? How? Call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. That's
how. Saving his people. Jesus Christ became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. See, we were dead,
but he is life. He is eternal life. Colossians
2 tell us, and you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven
you all trespass." How did he do that? How did he forgive me
of every trespass that I did? Because I let him? No, he blotted
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. You think
about a scroll opening, an endless scroll, that would be our sin.
He blotted every one of them out. I heard it said one time
It was Martin Luther that made this statement, said that once
the devil appeared and started telling me all the, and it's
a metaphor, the devil didn't appear to him, but we know you
have your adversary just doing this all the time in your ear,
just whispering, throwing those fiery darts, accusing, he's accuser
of the brethren, that's what he does. And that's what Martin
Luther was saying. He appeared and he began saying,
I have this long list of your sins. And Martin Luther said,
is that all? He says, no, there's more. He says, go get it. And
he came back again at a later time and he started doing it
again. And he says, is that all? He says, no, there's more. And
he said, go get it. And he brought it back at the third time. And
he said, is that all? He says, yes, that's every one of them.
He said, Christ Jesus' blood hath blotted out every single
one of those. What can he say to that? He can't
accuse us anymore before the father. All he's doing is parading
the glory of God. parading the glory of God around
because the Lord says, I see no sin, here's my beloved son.
He put away those sins by his own blood. He blotted out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, that was contrary
to us. And he took it out of the way,
nailing it to his cross by his will and by his blood alone. His people are now declared perfectly
righteous before God's law. They're declared as holy. They
are made literally the righteousness of God in him. Justice now has been satisfied.
Do you know why? Because he hath saved his people. What did he save them from? Their
circumstances? Their financial difficulties?
Their health problems? Well, sometimes he gives us that
which we need in the flesh, but he saved us from our sin. He
saved us from our... That's our need, isn't it? That's
the one thing needful that we have when we're on our deathbed.
We just spoke about a man that's on his deathbed, literally going
day to day, uncertain what's gonna... He has a hope. He has
a hope that the Lord will have mercy upon him because he's clinging
to Christ as all his righteousness. But what matters in that moment?
How much money we made? The kind of health we had before
that moment? What humanitarian issue would
it be then? Nothing. Lord, you're going to
have to save me from my sin. Show me. Show me it was me you
were on the cross for. You were dying for me in my stead.
There's our hope. Because if that's not the case,
we're going to die in our sin. And where we go, where we go,
where he goes, we cannot come. We cannot come. Why call him Jesus? Why call
his name Jesus? Because he has saved. Prophecies
fulfilled. Who did he save? He saved his
people, those that he loved, the covenant of grace. What did
he save them from? Tells us, he says, they're sinners.
Well, save them from their sin. the sin that they can't do anything
about. Here in his love, not that we love God, but that he
first loved us and he sent his son to be the propitiation. What
does that mean? Literally redeeming us back to
God. That which was in our way to get to God. Our dead corpse
that we're still carrying around. He's redeemed us. He's brought
us back to God and given us a new nature. Birthing us into his
family. How did he do that? Saved us
from our sin. Saved us from our sin. In closing, I want to tell you
this. In his name, there is the only
life for dead dogs. In his name, Jesus Christ, there's
the only life for dead dogs. In His name, there is the only
light that conquers all darkness. The darkness, it's not the darkness
of the world that we are concerned with and needing Him to save. We need Him to save the darkness
that's within us. Shine His light forth within
us as we heard Sunday, the son of righteousness. In His name,
He's the only light that conquers all our darkness. In His name,
there is bread for the hungry. In his name there is the fountain
of living water for the thirsty. In his name there is medicine.
Medicine, a balm for the sin sick. Why call his name Jesus? Acts chapter four tells us clearly
that there's no salvation in any other for there is none other
name given whereby we must be saved. Now what does he mean
by that? whereby we must be saved. He's not saying that's the only
way you can be saved, that's true. Christ is the way and his
name is salvation. But he's the only one, his name
declares, he's the only one that has the name that declares we
must be saved. His name demands we must be saved
because of who He is and what He's done. Jehovah sitkin you,
the Lord our righteousness hath given us His name, the Lord Jesus
Christ. When He sees His people, He sees
the blood. He sees His Son. And they're
declared perfectly righteous. Hebrews 7.25 says, He is able
to save them that come to God by Him. by Him, and His people
are the ones that come to God by Him, every single one of them.
They're made obedient, they're made willing in the day of His
power. The call goes out at this moment that says, come to Christ
through the eyes of faith that He's given you. Cling to Him
as all your hope before God. And the scripture says, God in
no wise will cast you out. You know why? Because of His
name. Call His name Jesus, for He shall, He hath, saved His
people from their sin. Amen.