What Shall We Call The Baby?

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to Matthew chapter 1. Before we look into the Word of God this morning, let's ask God to guide our thinking and to help us today. God of heaven, we now come to you as a needy people. We need to hear from your word. If it were not for this word, Lord, we would certainly be lost, and we would not know about Jesus, our Savior.

Would you please help us to grasp again the importance of him taking on human flesh? Lord, we anticipate your blessings as we meditate on your word this morning, and we'll give you thanks for the joy that will be ours as we understand more about our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Amen. One day, Beck and I were sitting with a group of women, affectionately known as the PASMA aunts.

They were asking us what we were planning on calling the new baby. What name we were going to give it. And we said, well, if it's a boy, we're going to name him Ian. Ian, they said. You don't want to call him Ian. why not because we already have an Ian in the family and besides Ian is just the Scottish word for John okay well what would you suggest well if you want to use some form of John then why don't you use the Dutch form we're all Dutch 100% why don't you use the Dutch name for John well what is that?

Jans. It's the name Jans. And so, there it is. That's how Jans got his name. Now, we all get our names from somewhere. All your children's names have come from somewhere.

You've named them after grandpa or grandma or an aunt or some other family member. You've gotten names from a book maybe. Quite possibly you're doing what's very popular today and You made up a name. But they all come from somewhere. Well, Joseph and Mary also received the Savior's name. But they didn't get it from their aunts.

They didn't get it from a book or another family member. In fact, they got the name straight from heaven. And they not only got the name for this child, but they are also given the reason why they ought to give him that particular name. Now one of the most familiar naming passages in the Bible is found in Matthew chapter 1. And it is in that chapter that the gospel of God's grace begins.

It's a chapter that tells us much of God's saving purpose in the coming of the Lord Jesus, the incarnation of the second person of the Trinity. You follow now as I read Matthew 1, verses 18 through 25. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. it. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but he knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus.

Here in this chapter is the gracious purpose of God found in a name, and it is the name Jesus. It's the name that we think of whenever we celebrate Christmas. Everybody talks about Jesus this time of year. So this morning, let's reflect on that name. She will bear a son, verse 29, or 21 she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins now Jesus means Yahuwah saves or the Lord saves the name Asus or Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yeshua or as we would say today Joshua now it was not an unusual name I mean can you consider this?

Jesus grew up with everybody calling him Josh. All right? We tend to think of Jesus as a really unusual name. It wasn't. It was a very normal name. His name was Joshua, which means Yahweh saves.

But the circumstances surrounding this particular Yeshua were quite unusual, for this would be no ordinary child. You remember, we've just read the story of Joseph and Mary. Listen, Matthew tells us Joseph's side of the story. Luke tells us about Mary's side of the story. On this side of the story, we see Joseph. Joseph was, Mary was betrothed to Joseph.

They were going to get married. But, you know, in that day, to be engaged was almost the same as getting married, because you notice it talks about divorce in this passage. Once you were engaged I mean the only way of breaking the engagement in that culture in that day was divorce But they hadn had the official wedding ceremony yet And before that wedding ceremony took place what do we find We find that this woman, who's supposed to be a virgin, is pregnant.

Well, my goodness, that's hard for the guy to take. That's hard for Joshua to take. But it's the Messiah that's coming. And the Messiah who was to come in fulfillment of the covenant promises of God came into the world in this rather unlikely manner. Now Joseph, as he looks at the facts, has a problem. Surely he found this offensive.

Surely he found this offensive, not to mention humiliating. This was the woman who was supposed to be faithful to him and here she is. She's already pregnant before the ceremony takes place. And when he's mulling over the facts and the course of action that he should take, an angel comes and gives an entirely different interpretation of the facts. It's not what you think, Joseph.

This is what this means. This is what's happening. And here you find a promise in the name Jesus or Yahuwah saves. the God of Israel the true and the living God the God of all the nations would now work through this second Joshua he had come to deliver his people in the person of Jesus simpler language the name is God saves or the Lord saves now this certainly has to be the promised Messiah.

Here is one who, like the first Joshua, would triumph, lead his people to triumph. Some of them expected a Messiah in military visions. He would free his people from the oppression of the hated Gentiles and bring the nation back to the political and the international fame it once enjoyed under Kings David and Solomon and others. Others had religious visions dancing in their heads.

This would be the one who would deliver them from the Gentiles who had polluted and defiled the land and the people. No more obstacles to practicing their religion according to the purity of the law. The holy city would once more be the dwelling place of God, no longer defiled by these uncleaned uncircumcised dogs but God says that this promised Messiah's work will be greater than the first than the work of the first Joshua he has come on a mission of mercy a mission not to free his people politically or religiously but to free them what from their sins.

So this Messiah comes with a mission. Jesus has come to save his people from their sins. Do you see that? You should call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Now Jesus did not come to be the great helper in our support groups, or to merely see us through the tough times, or to make us feel significant in an impersonal caring world, to make us prosperous or to give us the reason to defend our political views.

He didn't come to deliver us from our enemies. Most then and most today see Jesus as God saves us from them. And frankly, there's a lot of believers who think that way about Jesus. But that's not what God says. God said Jesus is God saves us from ourselves not from them but from us Jesus came to liberate a particular people from their sin he came to liberate them from the most horrible aspect of human existence have you ever thought of that have you ever thought of that it's more devastating than oppressive and cruel governments.

It's more horrible than maybe the one in the presidential office that you don't agree with. That's hard for us to take. Right? It's more destructive than hunger. It's more destructive than cruelty. It's the very thing that destroys us.

He came to liberate his people from something that's much more insidious than the things that we think are horrible. Sin seduces. It deceives. It tyrannizes. It blinds you to God and to his righteousness. And the peace and the joy that come by living righteously or living under the commandments of God.

We talked about that this morning in Sunday school class. It was good to hear this. That God gives us these commandments. These commandments come to us through Jesus, not to make our life miserable, but to give us a good life. Just like we heard from the gospel this morning, right? Jesus says, I've come to give you life, and life abundantly.

You see? Sin seduces, deceives, and tyrannizes. It blinds you to God and to the joy that comes in living in submission to him. It blinds and enslaves you to desires and behaviors and thoughts that are unholy. Not only are we people who lie and get angry and commit adultery and dishonor our parents and steal and covet, but we rationalize our lies we love our anger we call adultery love We blame our parents We excuse our thievery And we even call covetousness ambition.

It blinds and enslaves us to those things. It produces misery. For the life it produces is a life of envy, selfishness, malice, and discord. it seduces, deceives, tyrannizes, blinds, enslaves, destroys, and ultimately damns you. That is sin. That is what we all participate in. And Jesus has come to save you.

First of all, to save you from the penalty of that sin. All of that brings down the righteous judgment of God upon a people who don't want anything to do with them, who sin and then excuse it all. He delivers us from the penalty that is rightfully ours for spitting in the face of God every day. So many people wonder, how could God ever do something like that?

Do you understand how awful sin is in the sight of God? It's like you spit in His face every single day. But He's come to save us from the penalty that is due us for that kind of sin. And Jesus has come to save us not merely from the penalty of our sin, but he's come to save you from the enslaving, blinding, destructive power of sin. You must understand, it's not that we just do bad things, right?

It's that we're enslaved to it. We can't break free of it. but Jesus came to save us from the very sins that plague us. You know, oftentimes in counseling, you know, unbelievers will come for counseling, right? They'll come for counseling. You know what I can say to them? They'll put out a problem, right?

I'm just angry all the time. And I can look at them and say, Do you know that God sent Jesus to save you from your anger? He's come to save you from your anger. He can deliver you from the tyranny of that anger. That's amazing. It's great to be able to say that to people.

When you see people that are struggling and they come to you, you can tell them, Jesus came to save you from that sin, from those sins, from the enslaving, deceitful power of sin. He's come to deliver you from that as well. But notice as well in our verse that it says Jesus came to save his people. Jesus came to save his people. Now look, Jesus did not come to make salvation possible for all, but to actually save a particular group of people called his people.

I want you to see this particularly in the Gospel of John. Turn to John chapter 6 with me for a moment. John chapter 6. all right this is jesus um who are preaching to these people whom he has just fed and they're wondering about him and they want to make him king and so forth and here's what he says to them in john chapter 6 let's begin in verse 35 jesus said to them I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever comes to me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up in the last day.

It is that group of people. That group of people that he will save, that the Father gave him. He won't lose any of them. He won't lose one of them. for this is the will of my father that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him shall should should have eternal life and i will raise him up on the last day you see that the father's given me people he's given me this group of people i'm going to save them and i won't lose one of them not one okay turn over to john chapter 17 for a moment this is the the night before jesus or the night of his betrayal and he's praying he's praying for his disciples and he's praying for disciples that have not yet been born which means us and here's some of what he prays look at the first two verses of the beginning of this pray prayer when Jesus had spoken these words he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said father the hour has come glorify your son that the son may glorify you since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given to him.

Right? The Father's given him a people. Verse 6, as you continue in the prayer, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. And then drop down to verse 24 where he makes one more reference and says Father I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world By the way, he's talking about his disciples, but also as you read the whole prayer about those who have not yet believed, they are also the ones given to him.

So God the Father chose for mankind a people for his name and gave them to his son before the world began. And when the fullness of time came, he said to his son, Go now, pay the price necessary to redeem those whom I have given you. They are yours to purchase. now when you go to the store and you put your money down and you walk out does anyone dispute the fact that the merchandise that you're carrying out is yours and doesn't belong to the store anymore no one disputes that except for maybe the lady who's standing at the door to make sure they don't get ripped off and she may question whether those are yours and you show her the receipt which proves this is all yours.

You've purchased this. That's what the word redeem means. It means to purchase. It means to actually purchase something. See, once you pay for it, it all belongs to you. So it is with Jesus.

He paid for his people and no one can dispute that they belong to him. No one can dispute that. All he has to do is point to the cross. they're mine because of what I did there now what was God's intention in sending his son to earth to die on that cross according to this verse it was to save his people going to the cross accomplished the salvation of his people did he accomplish that purpose on the cross or did he fail if Jesus came to die for all men indiscriminately would you call that a success it would look like failure to me because most people don't believe he did not fail because Jesus accomplished the redemption for his people all that he came to purchase will be saved again here's the most glorious truth Jesus did not come to make salvation possible rather the title to eternal life was infallibly certainly secured for his people at the cross there's a great chasm that separates sinners and god our sin in his holiness there is this huge cavernous um separation the chasm between god and sinners did god build the bridge three quarters of the way over or maybe seven eighths maybe nine tenths and say now you got to finish okay did he do that did he do did did he by christ only build a bridge that far and then gave us the tools to finish the job jesus accomplished all that's necessary for the salvation of his people when he came now he won't lose one of them not one but you know Jesus didn't just come to save individuals so that they could pursue their own private agendas but he came to save his people they are a people because Jesus because this baby enters the world a whole new community of people is formed a whole new community of people is formed.

He produces a new nation, a new nation. When you look at 1 Peter chapter 2, it talks about all of God's people as a nation, a holy nation for God. He has produced a new nation by his death. Not a nation that's characterized by borders, but a nation that transcends all those borders, I'm amazed that like when I go to Romania or Albania or even Azerbaijan, as I've been in these countries, these are all people that belong to the same nation as I do.

We're one nation. Truly, truly and without a doubt, one nation under God. A new nation is formed by his death. He produces a new people but not a people set apart by racial distinctions or anything like that for his people transcend all those kinds of boundaries all those kinds of restrictions all those kinds of differences it's a whole new kind of community and this is a community set apart by the special distinguishing love that God has for it this is a community of people set apart by its love for God and its love for the Lord Jesus.

This is a community of people that is devoted to a new king, Jesus, and willingly, willingly obey his commandments. This is a community of people set apart by lives that are absolutely transformed by the redeeming work of this king, for he has delivered them from their sins, you see. And so, when you look in that manger, whom do you see? You know what most people see?

A poor baby. A baby who is the victim of harsh circumstances. And for most people, they see someone that deserves our pity. And the determination never to let that happen to anyone again. and they miss the point. Instead, when you look in the manger, you ought to see God saves Jesus. must see Jesus, the incarnate promise. You must see Jesus, the successful redeemer.

You must see Jesus, the liberator who rescues us from our sin. You must see Jesus, the king of a new nation. And this same Jesus, alive today, invites all men to come to him. To find freedom from the penalty of sin. To find freedom from the tyranny of sin and to find a new identity as one of his people to experience the wonders of obedience to this king.

His name is Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. Father, thank you for the marvelous incarnation of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. He had to take on flesh so that He could pay for our sins. He had to take on flesh and become one of us and live in this realm of sin and death so that by His death He would liberate us from that realm of sin and death.

He would liberate us from our sins and He would then give us eternal life. We thank You for Jesus, the One who came to save His people from their sins. Amen.