So for our scripture reading this morning, please turn to Psalm 132. 132nd Psalm. This psalm is full of promises that are made to David and to the city of Jerusalem, to Zion. So as we look at this psalm, we anticipate the fulfillment of these promises then. Psalm 132. Lord, remember David and all his afflictions, how he swear unto the Lord and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob. Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house nor go up into my bed. I will not give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find out a place for the Lord and habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Lo, we heard of it in Ephrata. We found it in the fields of the wood. We will go into his tabernacles. We will worship at his footstool. Arise, O Lord, into thy rest, thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy. For thy servant David's sake, turn not away the face of thine anointed. The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David. He will not turn from it. Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne forevermore. For the Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever. Here will I dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation. And her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There will I make the horn of David to bud. I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame, but upon himself shall his crown flourish. Our Father, we thank you for this wonderful psalm that first recounts David's strong desire to build a house for you, a holy temple. And Lord, we know that the fulfillment of that came in the next generation when Solomon built that grand and glorious temple for your glory. and that your glory dwelt in that temple. And of course we know the rest of the history of Israel, how they sinned and how that glory departed. And yet there is within this psalm a tremendous promise that someone, someone great would sit upon the throne of David forever. And of course we know that to be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You, Lord, for the great fulfillment of these promises in the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to honor Him today. We want to worship Him. We want to serve Him. We pray that You'll be pleased with our worship today. In Jesus' name, Amen. This morning we're going to consider the Christmas message, so I would encourage you to open your Bible to Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1, we'll look at the account of the birth of our Savior from the perspective of Matthew. Well, no doubt Christmas is on your mind after all of the wonderful music that we've heard today and all of the wonderful singing that we participated in. And of course, it is that time of year when we do focus on the Christmas story. Christmas is only five days away. And so it seems very appropriate that we would this morning consider anew the wonderful Christmas story, the true story, the biblical story of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. So follow along as I read Matthew chapter 1 beginning in verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused 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 privately. 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." Our Father, I do pray as we consider anew this true story of the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that you would help us to understand and to meditate upon these precious truths. And may it impact our lives anew. as we consider just who it was that was born that first Christmas day. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, of course, you know that Christmas and Easter are the two most holy observances of the Christian faith. We think about those times of year. At Christmas, of course, we celebrate, we commemorate the incarnation of the Son of God, He took on human flesh and He was indeed called Jesus. He was the Christ, the Promised One, the Messiah who was to come. And then at Easter time, on Good Friday, we commemorate the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. And three days later, on Easter, we commemorate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, even as Christians, very often we look at these events and we look at them separately, distinctly. But in the mind of God, they are all linked together. For you see, Jesus was born to die. And as surely as he died, he would rise again. This was all part of God's marvelous plan planned out from ages past. It was Jesus' divine mission that he would be born to die. In Mark 10.45, Jesus declared of himself, the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. That's why he came. He was on a divine mission. a divine mission to give his life a ransom for many, a divine mission to save. Now, in our passage today, we are presented with some amazing truths, things that should cause us to marvel every time we consider them. We have the amazing means of conception of the Lord Jesus Christ here by the Holy Spirit. That should amaze you. That's amazing. We have here the amazing revelation of God by an angelic messenger. Every time an angel speaks, that should amaze you. This is direct revelation from God. And then we have this amazing declaration that this child who was to be born, who would be called Jesus, would in fact come to save His people from their sin. Now, a couple of years ago, I did preach a Christmas message on this same passage. And in that message, we focused our attention on the virgin birth. It's really the virgin conception. The amazing birth of the Lord Jesus Christ by a virgin. And that's worthy of our consideration. And I would encourage you to go back and listen again to that message, because that is an amazing truth here in this passage. But this morning, what I'd like us to do is to focus on this amazing declaration that we have here at the end of verse 21. Not just that he would be called Jesus, but the reason why he would be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. This is an amazing declaration. So I'd like us to consider the fact this morning that Jesus was born to save his people from their sins. And we should marvel at this. I'd like us to consider three implications that we have of this statement, three significant implications of the fact that Jesus was born to save His people from their sins. The first implication is this, a people would be saved. There's a people who would be saved as a result of this. This was all part of God's marvelous plan of redemption, the sending of His Son into this world. to save some people. This child miraculously conceived and who was soon to be born would be called Jesus and in His very name, that name Jesus is associated with the Hebrew name Joshua and it literally means Jehovah is salvation. Jehovah saves, God saves. In His very name He communicates salvation. His very name declares that He has come to save, to save a people. We're told that He's come to save His people. Which people might that be? Well, naturally, we would assume that this is a reference to the Jewish people because Jesus was born a Jew. Jesus came to minister to the Jewish people. The Jewish people were then and are still today God's chosen people. The Old Testament expectation that every Jew would have from the scriptures, the Jewish scriptures, was that a Messiah would come to save God's chosen people of Israel. In fact, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, summed it up really well in Luke's account. Luke chapter 1 verse 68. This is Zacharias prophesying now. As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us. And so Zechariah is expressing the expectation that every first century Jew would have, that a Messiah would come, would be born, he would be a descendant of David, and that he would deliver his people Israel from their enemies. But you see, that really is only part of the story. As we observe Jesus' earthly ministry, we can see that throughout His ministry, His priority was indeed to minister to the Jewish people. The people of Israel were His priority. In Matthew 10, verses 5 through 7, when Jesus sends out the 12 on their mission to proclaim the kingdom of God, He commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand." And so he sent his 12 first to the Jewish people. He gave them very specific direction. Go to the Jewish people. On another occasion, there was a Canaanite woman who was kind of pestering Jesus. She had a request that she kept making of Him. The disciples wanted Jesus to just send her away. In Matthew 15, 24, Jesus says to that Canaanite woman, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He said that to a Canaanite woman. And so we can clearly see that Jesus' priority in His earthly ministry was to reach His people, the Jewish people. His priority was to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And yet there's something curious that happens here. Throughout His earthly ministry, He did, in fact, proclaim the gospel to Samaritans. Remember that woman at the well? And all of those men who came from her village of Sychar? He preached the gospel to them, to the Samaritan people, and many were saved. And that Canaanite woman that Jesus said that to, do you know because of her persistence, He gave her her request? So what do these things mean? Well, we have a marvelous statement that Jesus makes in the midst of His Good Shepherd passage. And I'd like you to turn there, turn to John chapter 10. John chapter 10, just look at a few verses here in this context. Jesus is declaring himself to be the good shepherd and he says something marvelous here in verse 14. I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. As the father knoweth me, even so know I the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. Now note this. and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." Other sheep that are not of this fold. He's talking about the fold that is the nation Israel. He's talking about sheep that don't belong to the nation Israel. He's talking about us. And so it is that we are included in the sheep fold. And there's one flock and there's one shepherd. This is marvelous. But to a first century Jew hearing these things, they would have really had a hard time thinking that the Gentiles, the nations of the world that are not God's chosen people, would somehow be included in God's plan of redemption. It would have been hard for them. And yet, their own scriptures, what we call our Old Testament, gave many, many clues. that the Gentiles would indeed be included in God's plan of redemption. Consider, for example, what God said to Abraham in Genesis 22, 18. God says, "...and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice." Now that very statement of Abraham is quoted in the New Testament and explained to us in the midst of a sermon in Acts chapter 3 as Peter is preaching. And he's preaching to Jews and here's what he says in Acts 3.25, "...Ye are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, and in thy seed shall all the kindreds, all the nations of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. Now, there's a hint in that statement unto you first. You see, that lines up with Jesus ministry priority to go to the Jewish people first. But he did minister beyond them to the peoples of the world. And that's the gospel intent as well, is yes, the gospel is directed right to the Jewish people, but it's also directed to all the nations of the earth. Paul writes in Romans 1, 16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, to the Gentile. So anyone who will receive the gospel can be saved. There's yet more. In an obscure place, in one of the minor prophets, in the prophet Hosea, chapter 2, verse 23, we have this prophecy. I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy, and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people, and they shall say, Thou art my God. This very obscure Old Testament prophecy is quoted in the New Testament in the book of Romans. Would you turn there, Romans chapter 9? I'd like you to see. We'll take a look at a couple passages in Romans. Romans chapter 9, verse 23, in the midst of a marvelous doctrinal treatise, we have these statements, Romans 9.23. and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God. Is this not marvelous, folks? And then again, we have another prophecy in the book of Isaiah, chapter 42, verse 6. We have a prophecy concerning the servant of the Lord who is to come. It says there, I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles. And this is quoted then again in Luke 2, verse 29, where Simeon is holding the baby Jesus in the temple. And here's what he says, "'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.'" Isn't this marvelous? And this is why the Apostle Paul could write, if you look over in Romans chapter 10 and verse 11, for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, that is the Gentile, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. And that's the context of this well-known verse, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And so what people would be saved? Not just the Jewish people, but anyone who would express faith in this Savior. Is this not marvelous? Jesus was born to save his people from their sins. And the first implication is that a people would be saved. The second implication is very important for us to consider, and that is that sin is the reason that they need to be saved. Sin is the reason. Jesus was born to save his people from their sins. That's why he came. We often say that Jesus is the reason for the season. And this is certainly true. And the reason we have to say this is because so much of the world has forgotten that, which is so obvious to us as Christians. Jesus is the reason for the season. But you know that it is just as theologically sound to say that sin is the reason for the season. That's why he came. Jesus did not come to simply be a moral example that we might be somehow a better people. The fact is, He is the sinless Son of God and we are not. We are all sinners. We in our own strength cannot attain to that sinless perfection. In fact, it's already too late because we've already sinned. We have no intrinsic power to live like Him. Nor did Jesus come to be a political reformer or a military leader to liberate His people Israel from the tyranny of Rome. That's what the Jewish people were hoping for in the first century, but that's not really why He came. He came to do a spiritual work. He came to deliver people from their sin. And as we consider the topic of sin, we have to first admit that it is universally everywhere. That is to say, all have sinned. And mankind's problem is deep. It goes right into the very heart of the person. Jeremiah 17, 9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. In Mark 7, verses 21 through 23, we have a catalog of all that comes out of the heart. It says, "...from within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the man." Every human being has a heart problem, a heart issue. We're not talking about the physical heart. We're talking about the real person, the soul within. His soul has been corrupted. And this list that we have here in Mark 7 that I just read, this is not an exhaustive list by any means. Because you see that mankind is an inventor of many evil things. There is no end to the list of sins. New ones are being invented all the time. And so let us just broadly define sin as any thought, word, or deed that does not measure up to God's absolute standard of righteousness. You see, there are not just a few bad people in the world. The fact is there are no good people in the world. And this is where the humanist is wrong. Mankind is not innately good. Indeed, quite the opposite. We are all prone to do evil. We all have a propensity to sin. It is part of our fallen nature. Romans 3.10 says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Is that not clear? And later in that same chapter in Romans 3.23 it says very clearly, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. None of us measure up to God's standard. So we have the universal presence of sin. We have to admit that. We also, based on what the Bible teaches, must admit that there is a devastating penalty for sin. devastating penalty. You see, because God is absolutely holy, no sinner can stand in the presence of God without having his sin dealt with. And because God is absolutely righteous, no sin will go unpunished. Romans 6.23 says, "...for the wages of sin is death." Now, what kind of death are we talking about there? Well, it's the one that we learn about in Revelation chapter 20, if you'll just turn there. Revelation 20, it's the end of the story for sinners. Revelation 20. I want to begin in verse 10 because I want to see the description of the place where the devil is sent. Verse 10, And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Now look at verse 12, And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them. And they were judged, every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire." This is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. We see here the devastating penalty for sin. It is an eternity in the flames of hell, in this lake of fire where there is torment forever and ever. It's devastating what sin does. And yet the Savior was born to deliver people from their sin. The Savior was born because of this universal presence of sin in the heart of man. And because of the devastating consequences of sin, that's why He was born, to deliver people from that. Jesus was born to save His people from their sin. We've looked now at two implications of this statement. There are people whom God intends to save, and sin is the reason that they need to be saved. The third implication I'd like us to consider is this. Jesus is the one and only Savior who can save. He's the one and only Savior who can save. Look again back there at Matthew 1.21, Thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin. Look at that word, He. He shall. He shall save His people from their sin. So you see, no one had come along before that who could save His people from their sin. and He's the only one in all of time who can save people from their sin. He is the one and only Savior. On the night that Jesus was born, the angels appeared to the shepherds. Remember that? One angel said to the shepherds, For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David." What are the next two words? A Savior. A Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Peter declared that Jesus was the one and only Savior. Look over in Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. And this occurs after the healing of the lame man and after that marvelous event, Peter is now making this declaration, Acts chapter 4, verse 10. Here's what he says, "'Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole." Now referring to Jesus, He says, "...this is the stone which was set at nought of your builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." It's only through Jesus, only through His name, He is the one and only Savior. And He's the one and only Savior because He is the one able to save. He is able to save. Jesus Himself declared that He was the one able to save. In John 3, 17, He says, For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He's referring to Himself. He's saying, I am here to save and I'm the one who can save. And of course, we think of that verse in John 14, 6, where Jesus says to Thomas, I am the way. and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me." You see, salvation is very exclusive. There are no other religions in the world that will get somebody to God's heaven. It's only through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Savior and He alone. There is no other Savior. The writer of Hebrews declares that Jesus is able to save. Listen to what he says, Hebrews 7.25. You see, He's the eternal Savior. He's the eternal Son of God, eternally pre-existing before He was born as Jesus. And he continues to exist. He's seated at the right hand of God in heaven. He's making intercession for the saints even now. And we know that he's coming again to establish his kingdom here on Earth. But look at what the writer of Hebrews says, he's able to save them to the uttermost. I just love that statement. Don't you? To the uttermost means completely, absolutely and forever. So Jesus is the one and only Savior because He's the one able to save and because He will save those who receive Him. It's not just that He can save, He will save. In John 6, 37, Jesus declared, "...all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." What a blessed promise. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Jesus said in John 10, 9, I am the door by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. Absolutely for sure. He will save all who receive him. I'd like you to turn over to Acts chapter 16. I want to look at a little account here where Paul and Silas had gone to Philippi and they were preaching the gospel there. But there were some in the crowds who did not like them. They accused them of being troublemakers. And so the magistrates of the city of Philippi threw Paul and Silas into jail. And at midnight, Paul and Silas had a little worship service. They prayed, they sang hymns. And suddenly, there was an earthquake. And all the prison doors flew open and all the shackles fell off. And the jailer awoke and he thought for sure all the prisoners had run and escaped. And he was ready to take his own life. Paul stops him. In verse 28 of chapter 16, it says, Paul cried with a loud voice saying, Do thyself no harm for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and says, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Now, I'm not sure of the full extent of his question, but we do know the full extent of the answer. And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. That's how a person is saved. must believe. A sinner must believe, must put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, must trust in Him and Him only. He only is the Savior. He is the one who saves. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Those words are still true for any person who will hear them today. So Jesus was born to save His people from their sins. And we've looked at three implications of this. There are people whom God intends to save. Sin is the reason that they need to be saved. And Jesus is the one and only Savior who can save. Now, if you know Jesus as your Savior this morning, you ought to be rejoicing. And you ought to be marveling at what God has done in the sending of His Son to this world to be our Savior. Praise God. Rejoice. I hope when Christmas Day comes, at some point you will pause to reflect and marvel anew at what God has done in the sending of His Son, our Savior. But if you have yet to be saved from your sin, what must you do? Well, you've heard the answer. You must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you do so, you will be saved. You must believe that He is not just a man. He is the eternal Son of God who took on human flesh, who at the end of His earthly ministry stretched out His arms and was nailed to a cross and gave His life a ransom for many. That's how He pays for your sins. But you must also believe that on the third day He arose from the dead and that He's a living Savior today. And if you will believe these things about Jesus and confess yourself a sinner before God, you can be saved. You will be saved. It is a certain thing. You see, it is not enough to view Jesus as the Savior. He must become your Savior. It is not enough to view Jesus as saving people from their sins. You must come to that point where you realize He can save you from your sins. And you must believe that He can and will save you. In closing, I would like to read a quotation from a sermon by a preacher by the name of D. Martin Lloyd-Jones. He once told His congregation this, I know the most important thing about every single one of you and that is that each of you is a vile sinner. I do not care who you are because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I do not care what your sins are. They can be very respectable or they can be heinous, vile, foul and filthy. It does not matter, thank God. But what I have authority to tell you is this, though you may be the vilest man or woman ever known and though you may, until this moment, have lived your life in the gutters and in the brothels of sin in every shape and form, I say this to you, be it known unto you that through this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin." And by Him all who believe, you included, are at this very moment justified entirely and completely from everything you have ever done." So will you believe in this Jesus? Our Father, we thank You for this marvelous, true story of the birth of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We marvel in Your plan of redemption that You redeem not only the people from Israel, but from all the nations of the world. Any who will come to You in faith and put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver them from their sins, anyone who does that can be saved. And Lord, we are so thankful that that is true. And Lord, I pray for any who might be here today or who might be listening to this message who do not know Christ as their Savior, I pray, Lord, that they would consider these truths and they would come by faith and receive Christ as their Savior and their Lord. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.