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Matthew 1:21
She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His People from their sins.
Before we end our time together this Christmas Eve, I want to open up this passage to you briefly and declare something of the glory of Christ.
•This is the joy of Christmas: A Baby was born, His name is Jesus, He came to save His People from their sins, and He truly did it.
1.)
In our text, the angel came to Joseph and told him that, “She (Mary) will bear a son.”
•The virgin will give birth.
•We’ve been singing about this all evening: “Late in time, behold Him come!
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.”
•The Child was placed in the virgin’s womb by the power of the Holy Spirit.
•This Child is literally a miracle child.
And here we see the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 coming to pass.
•In that verse, we read of God’s promise to one day send a Man, the Seed of the woman, to be born of a woman, and that He would come to crush the head of the Serpent (the Devil).
•God promised at the beginning, right after the Fall of Man into sin, that He would send a man, a new Adam, a better Adam, who would fix everything that our first father destroyed with His sin.
•God had promised that one day, a man would be born of woman, and He would conquer sin and Satan and right all wrongs.
And now it is happening.
•The Seed of the woman is coming into the world.
•Truly, He was BORN OF WOMAN.
There was no man involved.
He was born of a virgin; placed in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit.
And this means that this Child is TRULY HUMAN.
•Why is that important to us?
•Because only a man can represent fallen, sinful men.
•God original covenanted with man, with Adam, in the Garden, and man broke covenant with God, and man became a rebel and sinner against God.
•And now we need a MAN to keep covenant with God on our behalf.
•Only a man can represent sinful men.
Only a true human can represent human beings.
•Only a man can make atonement for the sins of men.
•And praise God, the Child born was truly human, just like us, but without sin, for He was not born of natural human processes.
He was born of a virgin and, therefore, uncorrupted by sin.
Oh, but don’t forget this: This Child is also truly God.
•Though our text does not say it, the rest of Scripture is abundantly clear: This Child is God.
•This Child is the Son of God.
True God of true God.
Eternally begotten of the Father.
Eternally God.
The Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
•Here is the greatest miracle of all time: God, even God the Son, took on human flesh and came to earth.
•God lowered Himself by taking a sinless human nature and uniting it to the divine nature.
•In this Child, God Himself has come to us.
•God Himself has humbled Himself, lowered Himself, and become a man in order to do good to fallen men.
And this is most necessary for us.
•For while only a man can represent man and right what man has done, only God has the power to save men.
•Only God Himself can save sinners.
•And so we need a God-Man.
And this Child is THE God-Man.
•The Son of God has come into the world, truly human, born of a virgin, in order to bring about all that God has promised to fallen sinners.
2.)
But the angel does not only announce that a Child is to be born of the virgin.
•He goes on to instruct Joseph, “…you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
•A modern hymn says, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there is something about that Name.”
•His Name is revealed by the angel.
God Himself has taken the right to name the Child, for this Child is God’s only begotten Son.
And His Name is glorious.
“Jesus” isn’t just a name.
It means something.
•It means “God saves.”
Or, more broadly, it can mean “Savior.”
•And this is fitting, isn’t it?
•For God will save His People though Jesus, as the angel says.
Jesus is the Savior.
•And, even more, “God saves” is a fitting name, for JESUS IS GOD.
•So, yes, call Him “Jesus.”
Call Him “GOD SAVES.”
•Nothing is more fitting.
•His name is music in our ears.
When we say His holy Name, we are declaring that He is the Savior.
We are declaring that He is the God who saves.
But notice that this verse tells us something about ourselves.
•It does so IMPLICITLY.
For it says, “He will save His People…”
•He will save His People.
Apparently, we need saving.
•But why?
From what do we need saved?
•The text says, “He will save His People from THEIR SINS.”
•But what is it about sin that we need saved from?
1.
First, we need saved from SIN’S PENALTY.
•This is the great problem of man.
•We are sinners.
We have sinned against God.
We have rebelled against His Law.
We have rebelled against Him.
•We have sought to do our own will instead of His.
•We have lived our lives as if He did not matter.
And this is evidenced in our disobedience and ingratitude toward Him.
It’s evidenced in our lack of love for Him.
•We have said what we ought not, done what we ought not, and thought what we ought not.
•We have not honored or loved Him as we should.
•We have sinned against Him.
As John Piper once said,
“What is sin?
It is the glory of God not honored.
The holiness of God not reverenced.
The greatness of God not admired.
The power of God not praised.
The truth of God not sought.
The wisdom of God not esteemed.
The beauty of God not treasured.
The goodness of God not savored.
The faithfulness of God not trusted.
The commandments of God not obeyed.
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