Some of the most beautiful expressions in the English language contain just three words. I love you. Please forgive me. I was wrong. It’s a girl. Hold my hand. You are correct. It’s a boy. I’d like us to look this morning in Matthew’s gospel, chapter one, at three of the most marvelous words ever spoken in the English language. Now, how marvelous these words are to you depends on who you are and where you are today in your life.
“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:21
Person 1: My Sins are So Complicated that I Need Jesus, Plus
The first person that I’d like to speak to is the one who’s thinking, “My sins are so complicated that I need Jesus, plus. I need Jesus plus Mary, plus baptism, plus the church, plus my good works. I need Jesus plus because my sins are so complicated.”
But what does the text say? It says “He shall save.” Now, if you’re a Greek scholar, you look at that word, He, and you notice that it’s emphatic. That means you’re supposed to say it with emphasis. Not “He shall save,” but “HE shall save.”
“And she shall bring forth a son. And thou shall call His name Jesus, because He shall save His people from their sins.” It’s not Jesus plus Joseph Smith. It’s not Jesus plus the Scofield Bible. It’s not Jesus plus going to church. It’s Jesus, it’s Him. The scripture says, “And this is the record, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His son. He that hath the Son, hath life, and He that hath not the son of God, hath not life” (1 John 5:11-12).
So, what does this tell you? It tells you that salvation is a person. It’s not a doctrine, it’s not a church. It’s a person. Salvation is a person. Salvation is a person. “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, because He shall save His people from their sins.”
So, if you’re here this morning, you’ll be encouraged to know that your sin is not that complicated that you need Jesus plus something else or Jesus plus someone else.
Person 2: My Sin Is So Great that God Cannot Forgive Me
Now, the second person that might be here this morning is the one thinking, “My sin is so great that God cannot forgive me. You’re thinking, “Alan, if you only knew the depth of my sin, the breadth of my sin, how long I’ve been sinning, you would agree with me that God can’t forgive me” Well, I wouldn’t agree with you. You’re thinking that your sin is too strong, that your sin is too great for God to forgive you. But what does the scripture say?
“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, because He SHALL save His people from their sins.” It doesn’t say He might save His people from their sins. It doesn’t say there’s a pretty good chance that He will save His people from their sins. It doesn’t say that she will bring forth a son, thou shall call His name Jesus, because maybe, perhaps, 50/50, He will save His people from their sins.
What does it say? It says, “He SHALL save His people from their sins.” That’s not a promise. It’s a prophecy. These words are being spoken by an angel to Joseph, who’s afraid to marry Mary because she’s pregnant. He’s minded to “put her away privately,” that is, divorce her privately. And the angel appears to Him in a dream and says, don’t be afraid because what’s conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. “She shall bring forth a son, thou shalt call His name Jesus, because He shall save His people from their sins.” It’s a prophecy.
Now, I want you to help me out here. If you’re here this morning thinking that your sin is too great, that God can’t save you, listen to Jesus. “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).
If you come to Jesus in repentance and ask Him to forgive you, He won’t cast you away. He shall save you.
Person 3: My Sin Is So Small, God Doesn’t Need to Forgive Me
Now, the third person here this morning, your sins aren’t so complicated that you need Jesus plus, and your sin isn’t so great that God can’t forgive. You’re thinking, “My sin is so small, He doesn’t need to forgive me.” You’re thinking, I’m basically a good person. My good deeds kind of outweigh my bad deeds. I don’t need a savior. I’m basically good.
But what does the scripture say? “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, because He shall save His people from their sins.” Why does Jesus have to save anybody? Because of sin, because they’re sinners. He has to save them from their sins. You’re not basically good.
Scripture says you’re basically wicked, alienated from God. You’re at odds with God. You’re an enemy of God if you don’t know Christ as your savior. The Bible says “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). There’s a penalty that has to be paid for your sin. Sin pays wages. You sin all your life, you get what you deserve. You get your payment, you get your wages, which is eternal life in the lake of fire. Eternal punishment separated from God. That’s the bad news.
This word “save,” means to be rescued. It means to be delivered out of danger and into safety. And in the New Testament, it’s used to describe God’s rescuing of believers from the eternal penalty of sin and the power of sin into His provision, which is safety. Now, it says here, “She shall bring forth the son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” Jesus didn’t come to save you in your sins. He doesn’t want you to remain in your sins, enjoying a sinful lifestyle, and thinking, “Well, my salvation’s taken care of. I prayed the sinner’s prayer. I went forward in AWANA, I raised my hand during an altar call. It’s all taken care of, and I’m on my way to glory, but I’m just going to continue sinning like an unbeliever.”
No, Jesus came to save you from your sins. He wants you to be holy. That’s God’s will for you, your sanctification. Jesus came to save us from the penalty of sin so that we don’t go to hell. He came to save us from the power of sin so that we live a righteous, holy life that pleases Him. And He came to save us one day from the presence of sin when we go to glory, because there is no sin in heaven.
So, these are the three people that might be here this morning. You’re thinking, “My sins are so complicated, I need Jesus plus.” But you don’t, because HE shall save you. He alone is Jesus. Or you might be thinking, “My sins are so great, God can’t forgive me.” But He shall forgive you. He shall save you if you come to Him on His terms. And your sins are not so small that you don’t need saving because that’s why He came. He came to save. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That’s why He came.
The gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the scriptures. That’s the good news that we celebrate at Christmas time. Well, we celebrate it all year round, actually. But this is the time of year when we celebrate how it all started with Jesus coming into the world. And the scripture says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (Romans 10:9). There’s that word again: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you SHALL be saved.”
A Quick Devotional Thought
Now, I just want to share a little devotional thought about this passage. It’s really eight words: “He shall save His people from their sins.” Eight words. And when you come to know the Lord, you might be young, you probably need that whole verse to help you get through the day. “He shall save His people from their sins.” As a young believer, you want to hear the whole verse, all eight words.
Once you grow in the Lord and you get on a little bit in the Lord, you mature, you find that you have setbacks, you have roadblocks. You get fired from your job. You go bankrupt. Someone dies in the family. And you find that you don’t need the whole verse. You don’t need, “He shall save His people from their sins.” You find that you need, “He shall.” Have you ever had that? Have you ever come to a point in your life when you’re absolutely perplexed, dumbfounded? You don’t know where to go? You’re absolutely at your end trying to decide what the Lord has for you. You can take comfort in this passage because it says “He shall.”
And then you get to the point in your life where God takes your spouse from you. Or your child walks away from the Lord. Or you receive a terminal diagnosis from the doctor. Then you take comfort in this passage, not from “He shall save,” and not from the “He shall,” but just from that one word: “He.”
Notice the Four “Shalls”
Now, in closing, I want you to notice the, the four shalls in this verse. “And she,” that’s Mary, “shall bring forth a son.” That’s shall number one. “And thou,” that’s Joseph, “shalt call His name Jesus.” That’s shall number two. “He,” that’s Jesus, “shall save His people from their sins.”
You see them? She shall, thou shalt, He shall. And the fourth shall is what you’re going to do this morning. I want you to imagine, I’ve got a clipboard up here, not a clipboard, but a a whiteboard up here. And I’ve written that on here. She shall thou shout, He shall. And then I, I’m going to write aye shall blank. That’s my encouragement to you today. That’s my invitation to you this morning. She shall thou, shall He shall. And now that I’ve learned what I’ve just learned about Jesus dying on the cross, rising again, the third day coming as my savior, I’m salvation is available. I’m not so sinful that He can’t save me and I’m not so, uh, good that He doesn’t have to.
She shall thou, shall He shall, and I shall blank. That’s what I want you to fill in this morning. You can even do it while you’re sitting here this morning. You can fill in that blank. It might be that in your life you have to say, I shall repent. You might have to say to the Lord, I repent. She shall, thou shalt, He shall, I shall forgive. Maybe there’s someone in your life that you need to forgive. Maybe you need to confess, and you can fill in the blank: I shall confess.
The scripture says, where two or three are gathered together in His name, there is He in the midst. He’s here this morning and He wants His word to change your life. If you don’t know Him as your Savior, if you’re lost, if you know you’re not saved, if you know that you’re not forgiven, you need to trust Him. Ask Him to forgive you. You need to call out and say, “Lord, I’m a sinner. I’m wicked. I’m on my way to hell. Please forgive me based on the merit of Christ’s death, His burial and His resurrection on my behalf.”
And if you’re here this morning and you are saved, but you’re not right with the Lord, you can confess that to Him. You can say, “I shall,” and you can confess or you can get right with your brother or get right with your sister if you’re not right with them. The Lord wants us to live lives that are pleasing to Him. We can’t do that if we’re gossips, if we’re holding grudges, if we have something against a brother or a brother has something against us.
Let’s Pray
Our Father in heaven, we magnify your name this morning and we simply worship you and praise you and adore you. And thank you for sending Jesus into the world to save sinners. Those of us that know Him, we thank you that you gave us that repentance. You gave us the faith, and you saved us, forgave us, redeemed us, called us into your family. We thank you that we’re His, we’re His people. Lord, if there are any here this morning that are pretty sure that they’re not saved, pretty sure that their sins are in the way, that they have fallen short of your glory, that their whole life of unbelief is contrary to what you stand for, I pray that you would work in their hearts, work in their minds, work in their conscience this morning, that they would awaken to their need, see their sin for what it is, an offense to a holy God. And see that Jesus is the perfect lamb who came into the world to save sinners. John the Baptist said, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” And we thank you for Jesus, who took away the sin of the world, not automatically, but for those who trust Him and confess Him as Lord, and believe in their heart that you raised Him from the dead. Thank you that we have forgiveness of sins based on His shed blood and His resurrection. Amen.
Preached by Alan Sharpe at Fairhaven Bible Chapel, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, December 18, 2022.
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