In Matthew chapter 1, I'm taking
the title for the message from what is said in verse 21. The Savior who saves His people. The Savior who saves His people
from their sins. Look at verse 21, Matthew 1,
And she shall bring forth a son, We know this Son is the Son of
God, God the Son. And thou shalt call His name
Savior, that's what Jesus means, see the marginal reference there,
that is Savior. For He shall, not attempt, not
maybe, He shall save His people from their sins, all sin. He is the Savior who really saves
His people from their sin. Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was God our Savior, Emmanuel, God with us, actually, truly,
eternally saves justifies and redeems His people from all their
sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sin. He justifies them by His
grace through the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember
that verse that I often quote from Romans 3, 23? Being justified
freely by His grace through the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, justified by his grace through the blood atonement of
our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus. Now, both Matthew and
Luke give the story of this miraculous conception of the Lord Jesus
Christ, born of a virgin, born of a virgin. Matthew and Luke
both give the story of it, while Mark and John give no record
of this marvelous, marvelous mystery, is it not? God incarnate
and human flesh explain that to me. I can't. We don't fully
understand it. We do believe it. When God the
Son was pleased to take our humanity and unite it to his deity, what
a miracle of God's sovereign love and mercy to poor, vile,
guilty, wretched sinners. All this was done that the Scripture
might be fulfilled. He came according to the Scripture.
He died for our sin according to the Scripture. risen again
and seated in glory according to the scripture. You remember
the prophecy 700 years before this took place in Isaiah 9,
verse 6, where it says, a child was born, but the son was given. And His name shall be wonderful,
Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now, if someone would
ask you this question, who is Jesus Christ? A lot of people have different
opinions. But if someone would ask you, who is Jesus Christ? I hope you could quickly answer,
as Mary did, as Joseph did, He is God, my Savior. He is God, my Savior. He is God, my righteousness. The scripture answers that question. It's a vital question with absolute,
precise clarity. Remember 1 Timothy 3.16, without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh, justified by the Spirit. A seed of angels, believed
on in the world and received up to glory. Mary said, we read
it a moment ago, in Luke 1.47, she said, my spirit hath rejoiced
in God, my Savior. Both Elizabeth, Zacharias, Joseph,
Mary, they all trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for all of their
salvation. Jesus Christ is God, our Savior,
without doubt, who came to justify, redeem, regenerate, and reconcile
sinners unto himself. And make sure you get this, he
did not fail. He was on a mission of mercy,
on a mission of love. He was on a mission to complete
the Father's works. And there shall be a performance
of these things. He performed all things for us.
We read in Luke 19 that the Lord Jesus Christ came to seek and
to save the lost. In Matthew 9 verse 13 it said
He didn't come to call the righteous, He came to call sinners to repentance. That's me. I'm a sinner. who
needs salvation, and Christ is the only Savior. And know this
for sure, that he did not fail. He did not fail to accomplish
God's purpose. He did not fail. He said, I purposed
it, I've spoken it, I'll do it. You remember some of the last
words he spoke? The Lord Jesus Christ upon Calvary's tree. He
said, it's finished. It's finished. Accomplished,
well done, to the glory of God. When he by himself purged our
sin, by himself, with himself, he sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. Now, let's go back to verse 18,
and we'll work our way down through these verses here. Matthew 1,
verse 18. of Jesus Christ was on this wise,
him being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God. The birth of the Lord Jesus Christ was just like this, just
as God purposed it. It wasn't an accident. Everything
God does, he does on purpose. He does what he has decreed from
all eternity. When as his mother Mary was espoused
or engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found
with child of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph,
her husband or engaged husband, being a just man, not willing
to make her a public example, was minded to put her away in
a private manner not to expose her or not to shame her before
he knew really what was going on. Mary and Joseph were both
direct descendants and children of King David. They were engaged
to be married at some date and some time. But before they came
together as husband and wife, Mary was impregnated and conceived
a child by the power of God the Holy Spirit. This special baby
was conceived in her womb without the aid of a man. Now, if you
have your bookmark, turn back to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter
1, you remember the angel of the Lord was sent to her in verse
30, Luke chapter 1, and said unto her, fear not, Mary, for
thou hast found favor with God, that sovereign grace, And behold,
thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son,
and shalt call his name Saviour, Jesus our God, our Saviour. He shall be great, and he shall
be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over
the house of Jacob for ever and ever. And of his kingdom there
shall be no end. For he is the king of kings and
lord of lords. He was king before we got here.
We're going to see in Matthew chapter 2, he was born king.
Then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be? Sing, I don't
know a man. And the angel answered and said
unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, His humanity
and His humanity was absolutely holy, had to be, to be the spotless
Lamb of God. The virgin birth, is the virgin birth of our Savior
necessary to our salvation? Absolutely so, absolutely. There's
no other way for the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ to be
conceived and formed except that way. He could not have a fallen
sinful nature. He could not be the seed of Joseph
or the seed of any other man. He had to be the seed of woman.
the seed of woman. He had to be conceived by God
the Holy Spirit so that his human nature had no sin, did no sin,
knew no sin. He could not be the spotless
Lamb of God that takes away our sin had he been born of man. He had been defiled. Remember
David said, King David, remember he said, in sin did my mother
conceive me? Well, this greater David, the
Lord Jesus Christ, his humanity, the body that God prepared him
was conceived of God, begotten of God. He was a real man, yes,
but he is totally and fully God. At the same time, He's the man,
the God-man. The Apostle Paul writes about
it this way in Romans 8, For what the law could not do, and
that was weak to the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. The
Lord Jesus Christ as the man, Christ Jesus, obeyed the law
of God perfectly. In every jot, in every tittle,
It says over here in Matthew 5, don't turn, let me read it
to you. Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets.
I am come not to destroy, but to fulfill all things. He fulfilled
all righteousness for us. Every precept and every penalty
of that law, the Lord Jesus Christ honored. The body that he had
His human body, we read in Hebrews 10, for it's not possible that
the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Wherefore,
when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. He had
a real human body, soul and spirit, but it was a human body apart
from sin. His sinless humanity, that's
why he had to be conceived by God the Holy Spirit. Now, look
at verse 19. Then Joseph, her husband, being
just, not willing to make her a public example, was minded
to put her away privately. Now, put yourself in Joseph's
place for a moment. This has never been heard of
in human history. They're engaged to be married,
His bride-to-be comes to him and says, I'm pregnant. What do you think goes through
his mind? You've been unfaithful. You've been unfaithful. Until
God sent the angel Gabriel to tell him that the baby in her
womb was begotten and conceived of God. Notice what Joseph did
and how he acted in faith while waiting. Joseph was engaged to
be married to a sweetheart. She comes to him and says, I'm
expecting a baby. He knows he's not the daddy.
He knows that. I can imagine his first thoughts
before he heard the story how she became impregnated by God
the Holy Spirit. He didn't want to make her a
public example. He didn't want to publicly shame
her because he loved her. According to the strict commandment
of the law, he could have had her stoned to death according
to the law. But rather was minded out of
love to cover up what he thought was Mary's sinful behavior. Why did he do that? Because he
loved her. That's what love does. Love covers
up. You remember that chapter in
1 Corinthians 13. Love beareth all things, believeth
all things, Hopeth all things, endureth all things, and love
never fails. This is the love of God shed
abroad in our heart. While he thought on these things,
look at verse 20. Aren't you glad that he didn't
act impulsively and quickly? While he was thinking in his
mind and praying, Lord, what would you have me to do? What
is the will of the Lord in this matter? And while he's thinking
on this and meditating on this, God sent him a messenger. while
he thought. on what to do, the Lord intervened
with a special messenger, I'm sure it's the same angel, Gabriel,
that appeared to Mary, because it was the same message, a message
from the throne of God to his heart. The angel verified what
Mary had told him, and indeed, God the Holy Spirit had conceived
a special baby, begotten in her womb, that would be the promised,
long-awaited Messiah of God. The Messiah of God. Now, and that's who the Lord Jesus
Christ is. Mary said, my soul doth rejoice
in God my Savior. God my Savior, that's who we
rejoice in, is God our Savior. Now notice he says, fear not,
fear not Mary, fear not. to take unto thee Mary thy wife,
for that which is conceived in her, begotten of her, is of the
Holy Spirit." Now, it took faith. for him to believe that. He believed
the messenger sent from God and he took God at his word and believed
him. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of the Lord. Joseph, don't fear, believe God. You take Mary to be your wife,
care for her, love her, raise the child, care for the child.
What a privilege was given to Joseph. He knew it. He knew who
this child was. He knew that this was the promise
long waited for Messiah. Look at verse 21, and here's
the message from the throne of God to the heart of Joseph. And she shall bring forth this
son, a son, the son, and thou shalt call his name Savior, Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sin. Those three shalls. Is there any possibility that
this is not going to happen? That He won't come? That He won't
die for our sin? That He won't put away the sin
of God's people? Thou shalt do this. Mary shall bring forth
His Son. He would be the promised seed
of woman. Going all the way back to Genesis chapter 3. All this
was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Notice verse 24,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, verse 23 rather, Behold,
a virgin shall be with child, and she shall bring forth a son,
and they shall call his name, they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted we know is God with us. And that prophecy
was given 700 years before the Lord Jesus Christ came and was
born in Bethlehem. Now, Gabriel's message was plain
and simple. The message how God is going
to deliver his people from the penalty of their sin, not by
the doing of the law, but by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's just not that he came. He
came and obeyed the law of God, and then he died under the weight
and sin of God's people laid upon him. Once in the end of
the age of the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Now I thought about this. 4,000
years before this actually happened, that promise was given to Adam
in the garden about the woman's seed that would bruise and crush
Satan's dominion, sin's dominion. 2,000 years from then, that promise
was given to Abraham. God will raise up that special
lamb. God will provide the lamb, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, the lamb of God. And then
700 years before this happened, Isaiah and all the prophets they
told us about, the one who would come who would be wounded for
our transgression, bruised for our iniquity, and with his stripes
we are healed. Mary shall bring forth the only
begotten well-beloved Son of God in the fullness of the time. This all happened according to
God's exact time, purpose, and decree of God. In the fullness
of the time, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law. Both Joseph and
Mary were instructed to name the baby. His name describes
who He is and what He accomplished. He is God our Savior. He is God
who came and identified Himself with our humanity to put away
our sin, to satisfy His own holy law, to enable God to be a just
God and a Savior, to be just and the justifier. He is what
He's called, is He not? What's His name? They called
Him Jesus, Savior. He is what He's called. He is
the Savior who saves. He is the Redeemer who redeems
all His people from all their sin. Who are these people? His
elect, His chosen, His bride, His church. These people, His
elect, He saves them from all their sin. Actual sin, original
sin, sin of commission, sin of omission, Past, present, future,
His blood cleanses us from all our sin. Now where did He get
these people? He shall save His people from
their sin. Where did He get these people?
Turn to Ephesians chapter 1. Where did He get these people?
He said, all that the Father hath given to me, they'll come
to me, and those that come to me, I will unknowingly cast out.
Ephesians chapter 1, where did he get these people? They were
elected unto salvation before the foundation of the world.
Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. who had blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in heavenly places in Christ, according as he had chosen
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 own will, his will, to the praise
of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches
of His grace. Where did He get these people?
He chose them in that eternal covenant of grace. We are bound
to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God has from the beginning chosen you unto salvation. That's
who these people are. No one for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ died and fully paid their debt can perish. He said, My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, I give them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. Neither can any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of my hand.
Now, wash your ears out with this. There is no one in hell
for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died. That's an impossibility. Because His blood, it says here
in His promise, He saved His people from their sin. Right? Did He get it done? Or did He
try to? He accomplished salvation. He
said it's finished. He said it's finished. I give
them eternal life and they shall never perish. He shall save His
people from their sins. All of their sins. That's our
hope. What He did, not what we've done
for Him. Now, there was an old preacher years ago, his name
was John Owen. He is a well-known theologian
and a preacher of the gospel way back in the 1600s. Now, you've
got to go back many centuries to find a good gospel preacher.
He was born in 1616, died in 1683. He wrote many gospel books
and gospel tracts. And I have one of his tracts
out there on the table. It's a little card, a three-by-four
card. And the title of that card, written
by John Owen, those many, many hundreds of years ago, the title
of that little tract is, For Whom Did the Lord Jesus Christ
Die? For Whom Did He Die? Now, if
you ask the average religious person who is of some sort what
we would say mainstream Christianity, which I call false Christianity.
But if you ask anybody in mainstream religion, for whom did the Lord
Jesus Christ die, they would come up right away and say, well,
he died for all the sins of all men. Wrong. He didn't. He didn't say that in that verse,
does he? He shall save his people from
their sin. Now, John Owen, He said this,
one of three things, one of three things. Number one, either the
Lord Jesus Christ died for all the sins of all men. Now, if
that be the case, then every man that ever lived, everywhere
without exception, must be eternally saved, because the Lord Jesus
Christ never died in vain. His blood was not shed in vain.
So if you go the universal route, there is no such thing as eternal
hell. There is no such thing as eternal condemnation. If he
died for all the sins of all men, then all men without exception
are saved. But we know that's not so. Here's
the second thing John Owen said, or if Christ died for some of
the sin of all men. If that be the case, no one is
saved. Now if he died for 90% of my
sin and I've got an answer for the 10%, I'm doomed. You are
too. If he died for some of the sin
of all men, if that be the case, no one will be saved. All men
shall be eternally condemned without hope, because the wages
of sin is death. Here's the third thing, and here's
what the gospel is, and here's what this book teaches. For whom
did the Lord Jesus Christ die? He died for all of the sin of
some men. Who are those some men? The same
ones that he writes about here in verse 21. He shall save his people from their sin. All
of the sin of some men, those given to him in that covenant
of grace, then all those for whom Christ stood as surety and
substitute must be saved. His death demands it. There is
therefore now no condemnation to those who were in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ died the just for the
unjust that he might bring us to God. God made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. We definitely believe, therefore
we preach, what we call a particular redemption, a definite atonement,
that the Lord Jesus Christ died for his people. We read in scripture
that he died for his church, we read that he died for his
elect, we read that he died for his bride, that he died for his
people, that he died for his sheep. God bought the church
with his own blood. He loved the church and gave
himself for it. John chapter 10 said, he said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, this nation, them also I must bring. And then
if we go back to the prophecy of Isaiah, it says, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. So you see, the Lord Jesus Christ
died for all of the sin of his covenant people, and he saved
them eternally with his blood, and they cannot perish. That
was the messenger that was dispatched from the throne of glory to preach
the gospel to Mary and Joseph. The atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ was not an attempt much. Did you get that? He didn't attempt
to put away sin. It's not an attemptment, it's
an atonement. It's complete covering up of
the sin of God's people. It was full payment for the sin
of God's elect. In the book of Job we read, God
said, I found a ransom. Deliver them from going down
to the pit, I'll have a ransom. And that ransom price that God
demanded was the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not with the
blood of bulls and goats. Our great High Priest came, Hebrews
9 verse 11 and 12. But with His own blood, He came
and He obtained for us eternal redemption with His own blood. We have eternal life. We have
eternal salvation. We have eternal redemption. The
Lord Jesus Christ is not a defeated, frustrated reformer who's trying
to save people. He's on the throne. The father
had given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal
life to as many as the father had given to him. Wherefore,
we read in Hebrews 2, 17, Wherefore, in all things, it behooved him
to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high preacher, in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation,
to make atonement for the sin of the people. There it is again. The people, the people. All this
was done, verse 22, that might be fulfilled which was spoken
by the prophet Isaiah, that was spoken of God. A virgin shall
be with child and shall bring forth this special Messiah and
you shall call his name Emmanuel, which is being interpreted God
with us. Can God fail in anything he does? Absolutely not. Then Joseph,
being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had
bidden him, and took unto him Mary, took unto him his wife,
knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and
he called his name Savior." Now, when I'm normally preaching or
speaking, I don't use just the plain word Jesus. That's His
name of humiliation. I always try to say the Lord
Jesus Christ or Jesus Christ the Lord. But as God the Holy
Spirit gives us here, His name is our Savior. His name is the
Savior. He is the only Savior among men. Joseph was faithful and obedient
to the command of the Lord. What a privilege was given to
him, and we call Joseph the foster father of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had a great responsibility
too, didn't he? To care for that child. I know
God provided for him. We're going to see in the next
chapter when Herod tried to kill all the babies, the angel of
the Lord was sent to Joseph and he had to take that child and
flee into Egypt, that the scripture might be fulfilled. I'm sure
Joseph had the same thoughts that Mary had about the Lord
Jesus Christ. I rejoice in God my Savior. How about you? Do you rejoice
in God, my Savior? Be sure you understand this and
believe this. There is salvation in no other.
No other. No other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. Acts 4.12. There is no
other righteousness established but that by the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. He said, I came to fulfill all
righteousness. He did not fail to do that. He
established righteousness for us. Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord imputes righteousness without works. That's why the
Apostle Paul said, I count everything else lost, dung, and ruined,
that I may win Christ and be found in Him, who is the Lord
our righteousness, that I may win Christ and be found in Him.
Not having a righteousness which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ. The righteousness which is of
God, which is of God by faith. That's a blessed man to whom
God would impute righteousness without works. Now, I want to
give you this. As I was sitting in my study
on Friday, finishing my message up, and came back over here,
Saturday morning and was looking at it again When I got to the
last verse there verse 25 the last word Jesus I Started thinking
about his name and what I did I took I took a I took a piece
of paper and I put his name Vertically on a piece of paper J e S-U-S. And then I got thinking in my
mind, what does the J stand for? And I wrote down judge, the just
one, the just and the justifier, Jehovah. He's Jehovah, God, my
savior. His name is Jealous. Joy, he's
our joy. I'm sure you can add to this
list. I called two of my preacher friends yesterday. I said, let
me give you this assignment. Give me some words on J-E-S-U-S. And they contributed to this
list as well. What would the E stand for? How about Emmanuel? God with us. How about He's the
elect? The first time that word's used
in scripture? Isaiah 42, 1, Behold my servant, my elect, in whom
my soul delighteth. He's called the Everlasting Father.
He is the Eternal God. The word S, Son of God, Son of
Man. How about Shepherd? He is the
Good Shepherd, isn't He? Who lays down His life. He's
called the Chief Shepherd, the Great Shepherd of the sheep.
How about Substitute? He's our substitute, isn't He?
And then, I had trouble with this letter, you. What would
you say would be some words that describe what goes through your
mind? How about the unspeakable gift
of God? How about the unchanging God?
Hebrews 9, or Hebrews 7, 26 says His name is undefiled. He is
the unspeakable gift of God, isn't he? And then the second
S, J-E-S-U-S, the second S, what would you say would be some words
that would describe the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of
God? How about surety? He's the surety of the everlasting
covenant. How about sacrifice? He's our
only sacrifice for sin. How about sufficiency? His blood
is sufficient to put away all our sin. How about a sweet smelling
savor unto God? Hebrews chapter 5 verse 2. Now, you work on those letters
and see, I know there's hundreds more, but just some of the things
that come to my mind and the mind of a couple of preacher
friends. And then this last thing, I'll
give you this. When we see that word Emmanuel,
Emmanuel, which is God with us. So here's three things. I'll
let you go home with this. And I don't know where I read
this or where I heard this, but in creation, we see God above
us, don't we? In creation, the heaven declared
the glory of God. In the law of God, we see God
against us. Cursed is everyone that continues
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. Then in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, what do we
see? God with us. God with us. And then we see
God for us. It's God before us who can be
against us. And then we see Him for us, with
us, and in us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. God who has begun a good work
in you, He will perform it, He will perfect it in the day of
His power. Okay.