Today I would like you to turn
in your Bible, please, to Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1,
and I'll begin reading this morning at verse 20. If you'd like, get
your Bible and follow along. I'm sure it will be helpful to
you. The angel of the Lord appeared unto Joseph in a dream, saying,
Thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife,
for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And
she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus, which means Savior, for he shall save his people from
their sins. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet
Isaiah who said, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and thou
shalt bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel,
which being interpreted is God with us. Now, we have in Matthew
1, chapter 1, verse 21, the words of God's messenger spoken to
God's servant concerning the incarnation, birth, and work
of God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want to ask you
four questions, raise four questions, and answer these four questions
found in Matthew chapter 1. Why did the Son of God come? That's the first question. Secondly,
who is this one that we read of here whose name shall be called
Jesus? Thirdly, who are these people
that he has come to save? And fourthly, how does he save
his people from their sin. Now let's go back and review
each question and answer each question from the Word of God.
First of all, why did the Son of God come into this world? It says in verse 21, and she
shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for
he shall save his people from their sin." All this was done
that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the
prophet Isaiah. Why did the Lord come? Why did
the Son of God come into this world as God incarnate, God manifest
in the flesh? He came for a specific purpose.
He came to fulfill all Scripture. He died for our sins according
to the Scripture. He came to save His people. It says in this text, He shall
save His people from their sin. And He came to perform a specific
task given Him by God Almighty, that is, to secure the everlasting
salvation and redemption of the people that God had given to
Him. You see, He's God's prophet.
to reveal salvation unto our heart. He's God's priest, and
this is why He came. He came as prophet, priest, and
king. He came as the Savior, Son of God, to secure salvation
for His people. He came as the priest of God
who had something to offer. He offered not the blood of bulls
and goats, but He offered His own blood. He came as the priest
of God to accomplish salvation for those people that God gave
Him in the covenant of grace. He came as the king. God said,
Behold, I set my king upon my holy hill Zion. He came as the
king to give salvation to his chosen people. That's why he
came. Secondly, here's the second question.
Who is this Jesus? It says here in our text, Matthew
121, The Holy Spirit, that which was found in Mary, is conceived,
begotten of the Holy Spirit. She shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name, Jesus, which means Savior. Now, perhaps you think, well,
everyone knows who Jesus is. My friend, the fact is very few
people really do know who He is, and few people really care
who He is. Who is Jesus Christ that is revealed
in Holy Scripture? Now, I didn't ask you who you
think He is. Who is Jesus Christ that is revealed
in Holy Scripture? My friend, he is the true God,
and he is eternal life. Now, is it important that I should
know who he is? My friend, knowing him is equivalent
to eternal life. It's summed up, he said, our
Lord summed up eternal life in John 17, 3. He said, this is
life eternal. that they might know thee, the
only true God, Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent." If I trust
a false Christ, or another Jesus, or another gospel, That's not
the Christ that's revealed in Scripture. That's not the Jesus
Christ that's revealed in Scripture, Son of God. If I trust a false
Christ or believe another gospel or trust another Jesus, I'm lost
if it's not the Christ of God. Now, let's look at two things
specifically. Who is this Jesus? He's the eternal Son of God. When the Bible speaks of Jesus
Christ as the Son of God, it is plainly declaring to us that
Jesus Christ is God, the eternal Son. We as believers, who are
believers, are sons of God by adoption, but our Lord Jesus
Christ is the Son of God by nature. Paul said this in Philippians
2. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men. Our Lord said on several
occasions, I and my Father are one. He said on another occasion,
if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. What I'm saying is
this, the Lord Jesus Christ is, yes, the Son of God, and He's
called the Son of Man, but let us not forget that the Scriptures
reveal Him as God. He's the same in nature, essence,
and purpose, and eternality, and holiness as God Almighty. Jesus Christ is God manifest
in the flesh. And that's what we read in Scripture.
John chapter 1, verse 14 says, The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. All the attributes of God belong
and are seen and are manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ. In
Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is the
very revelation of God, who being the brightness of His glory and
the expressed image of His person, upholding all things by the word
of His power. Now note this, and listen to
me carefully. If Jesus Christ is not God, If
he's anything less than Almighty God, we have no Savior. We have no salvation, and we
have no pardon if Jesus Christ is not God. So who is he? He's God Almighty, the Son of
God, the Son of Man, the eternal God, one with the Father. Secondly,
Jesus Christ, who is God, is also the sinner's substitute.
He's called the daysman. the charity, the representative
man, the only mediator between God and man. He's the advocate
of God's people. He is the sinner's substitute,
and by his substitutionary obedience, sinners are reconciled unto God.
Without him, we could never be accepted. God was in Christ reconciling
his people unto himself, who were accepted only in the Beloved. He stood as a substitute before
the world began. We read in Revelation 13, 8,
he was a lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He lived
in perfect obedience to God as the sinner's substitute in this
life, in this world, to fulfill all righteousness for us. We
read in Romans 5, 19, for but one man's obedience Many were
made righteous. He died under the wrath of God
as the substitute, the sinner's substitute in the place of his
people upon the cross. God made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. He intercedes for us today as
the advocate in heaven, as our substitute before the throne
of grace. That's why we read in Scriptures, Hebrews 7.25,
he's able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us. He will
stand before God in the last day of judgment as a sinner's
substitute at the bar of justice, as our only grounds of eternal
acceptance and salvation before God Almighty. We read in Romans
8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. If Jesus Christ is God, and I'm
saying that the scriptures teach that he is, if Jesus Christ is
God and he is, then all that he has undertaken for his people
as substitute, as mediator, as advocate, as redeemer must be
effectually eternally, completely accomplished and accepted of
God because he cannot fail. We read of him in Isaiah 42,
he shall not fail nor be discouraged because he's God's servant, son
of God, he's the Savior. He either redeemed his people
at Calvary or he didn't. Scriptures teach he obtained
eternal redemption for us with his own blood. He either justified
them by his blood or he didn't. We read in scripture Romans 324
that we're justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. He either saved his people and
accomplished their salvation at Calvary or he didn't. The
scriptures teach And he said on the cross in John 19, verse
30, it's recorded, it is finished. Scripture's fulfilled. Righteousness
has been established. The law of God has been honored. Justice is satisfied. It's finished. It's done. Rest in him. If Jesus Christ, if Christ that
you worship, If the Christ that you worship is not the Christ
of God, if He's not God, our Savior, victorious over death,
hell, and the grave, if He's the Jesus you worship, is not
God, and if He's not a victorious Savior, then you have nothing
but an impotent God, a false refuge of lies, and you've been
conned by your own wicked and deceitful heart. If the Christ
of God you worship wants to and can't, tried to and failed, you
have believed and trusted another Jesus, not the Christ of God. The Christ of God is successful
and victorious and accomplished all that God sent him to do. Now, thirdly, let's consider
this question. Who are these people? It says,
Thou shalt call His name Jesus, Savior, that's who He is, a Son,
God the Son, God the Savior, and Thou shalt call His name
Jesus, He shall save His people from their sin. Now, who are
these people that He came to save? Now, it's clear in our
text His people were His people long before He saved them. It
doesn't say he shall save those who shall be his people. It says he shall save his people
from their sin. Now, listen to me carefully.
Now, I want you to think about this. All men naturally think
that Christ came, Jesus Christ came to try to save men, all
men, all people, everywhere in the world. He came to save. Natural
man thinks that he came to save. everyone in the world, that he
died for all the sins of all men. Now listen to me carefully.
This is not the teaching of Holy Scripture. Now it may be the
traditions of men. It may be the customs of men,
but it's not the teaching of Scripture. Acts 20, 28 says that
God purchased the church with his own blood for the transgression
of my people. Isaiah 53, 12, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. He said plainly in John 10 verse
15, I lay down my life for the sheep. He came to save and to
justify and to redeem his people from their sin. Now, who are
these people? Well, let me give you this quickly.
They're called his seed in Isaiah 53. You remember that? In Isaiah
53, it says, It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He put him to
grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper. In his
hand he shall see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, not all,
many, those his seed, for he shall bear their iniquity." You
see, it's particular redemption, death and atonement. They're
called his seed, they're called his sheep. He said, I lay down
my life, I give my life for the sheep. They're called his chosen
bride. In Ephesians 5, we're instructed, Husbands, love your
wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.
They're called his elect. God had blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenlies according as he chose us in him before
the foundation of the world. that we should be holy without
blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. These people
are called his seed, his sheep, his bride, his elect. His people
are those whom God chose in eternity, gave them to the Lord Jesus Christ
before the foundation of the world. Our Lord often referred
to them this way, all that the Father hath given me, John 6,
37. whom he loved with an everlasting love, whom he predestinated to
be the sons of God, who are in themselves sinful in need of
a Savior, who are in themselves lost in need of a shepherd, who
are guilty in need of a just God and Savior. That's who these
people are. And then lastly, this question
here. How does the Lord Jesus Christ save his people from their
sin? Now, it is Jesus Christ who saves
us. We don't save ourselves. And
he saves us, salvations of the Lord, and he saves us according
to the scriptures. Now quickly, let me give you
three things. How does the Lord save his people? By redemption. By blood redemption. We're not
redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of
Christ. He saved us from the penalty of sin, being made a
curse for us. His people were saved because
his blood was shed to put away our sin. Secondly, we're saved
by redemption. Secondly, we're saved by regeneration. He has saved us from the power
of sin. You hath he quickened who were
dead. Sin no longer reigns over the believer. Christ reigns in
the heart by sovereign grace. And thirdly, we're saved by resurrection. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again to justify us. Christ shall save his people
from the very presence of sin and present us faultless before
the presence of God's glory with exceeding joy. I want to ask
you one more question. I want you to answer this question. Do I have any grounds upon which
to believe that I'm one of His people, that I've been saved
from my sin? Now think about that. Let me
ask you this. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you see
your need of Him? Do you rest in Him alone as all
your salvation? Do you trust Him as God and Savior? Well, I hope that's a blessing
to you.