“HE SHALL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS”
Stephen Speirs
Matthew 1: 21
Luke 5: 27-32
2 Corinthians 5: 21
Romans 8: 1-6, 14
I seek help, dear friends, to speak a little as to this One that we have in Matthew as the Saviour of sinners: “forheshall save his people from their sins”. Romans tells us that we are all sinners: “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”, chap 3: 23. The man in the world would tell you that is not a popular thing to say today, to speak of someone as a sinner, but Scripture tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; that is you, me and everyone alive in this world today; we come short of the glory of God. Sin has brought about distance between God and His creature, but God desires, not that there should be distance,butthat there should be nearness. God is holy, righteous and abhors sin. Sin has no place in the presence of God but such is the heart of God, and the love of God, that He desires you in His presence. How is that so? If we have come short, how do we come near?
Well, that is why I began in Matthew 1: “forheshall save his people from their sins”. This blessed One came to save you and me, needy sinners, from our sins that we might know that blessing that God has in mind for every one that puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. That is God's glad tidings. It is good news for all mankind; those who are sinners can be saved from their sins, and in knowing that their sins are forgiven can know blessing that will not only last for time but for eternity. Such is the greatness and fulness of what Christ has done to save His people from their sins! He is able to save everyone who comes in simple repentance. It is all in this One; it is in no other. That is why we draw attention to this blessed One, “thou shalt call his name Jesus, forhe ….”- the emphasis is on “he”. He is the only One that can save us from our sins on account of who He is and what He has done. He is the blessed Son of God, God in His Person, who by His own hand, by His word, created this earth in which we live, and who gives the soul life.
God came into His creation in Jesus in order that He might draw near to man: that He might draw near to you and me. That is what this first chapter of Matthew speaks of, it is the incoming of Jesus: One so great coming here as a Babe, so lowly, so helpless, you might say, but yet think of what was there in that blessed One. That was the incarnation, a divine Person coming into manhood in order that He might carry out the will of God, and that required Him laying down His life as a sacrifice for sin and going into death. It speaks here of that blessed One coming into manhood, and how He was seen here amongst men doing good. Here was one Man who walked on this earth in whom sin had no part; sin had no claim on Him. Every step of His way was perfect and in accordance with the will of His God and Father. Here was a Man whom God had His delight in. Scripture tells us of the heavens being opened, “Thisis my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matt. 17: 5. God was delighted with this blessed Man on earth, walking according to the thoughts God had for man.
Think of the day-by-day communion, Jesus doing what was right, doing what was according to the will of His Father, and how that involved the blessing of man; He brought in healing, He brought sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and life to those that had died. Think of the power that was in that blessed One and how it was for the good of those that He came into contact with! But, think of the awfulness of the heart of man as under the effect of sin. They did not want this Man; they cried, “Away with this man”, Luke 23:18. That is the awfulness of the heart of man as under the effect of sin. That is your heart and my heart. Not only was He rejected of men but if the question of sin was to be dealt with, then it required that He lay down His life as a sacrifice.
We read in the scripture in Luke about His people. These are the people that He came to save; sinners like you and me. There were those at the time who questioned why He was eating with tax gatherers and sinners. The Lord Jesus is available toallwho approach; whatever their state, however bad or however awful their sins are, the Lord Jesus is able and willing to save all those who approach Him. The Lord was found here amongst those who would turn to that Him, those who knew that the power for salvation was in Him. Do you know this One; Jesus? Do you know who He is?
We have spoken earlier as to Him as the Son of God, One so great and yet a Man, and God’s will required that He go into death. That was no ordinary death, speaking very carefully, but He was taken by cruel men of the time, those who rejected Him, and they nailed Him to a cross. That was the portion of a criminal, a murderer, not the portion of One who was the Creator of the earth, and yet that was the portion given to Him by men. What sufferings the Lord Jesus endured at the hands of man. And then we think of those three hours of darkness as He hung on the cross, when He suffered at the hands of God, involving the next scripture we read that “he was made sin for us”. The thing that was abhorrent to God, Jesus was made in order that God could pour out His judgment on that blessed One. He had known communion all His days here, every step of the way perfect according to the will of His God and Father, but in those three hours that communion was broken and God made Him to be sin for us, and God poured out His judgment on the head of that blessed One. That is the judgment that is due to you and me as sinners; as under the effect of sin that is what is due to us. Death is the portion of those that are sinners but the Lord Jesus suffered there in our stead. Can you say that He suffered in your stead? Do you own that for yourself that that blessed One went that way for you? That is how we are saved from our sins, by simply believing and trusting that Jesus died for us and shed His precious blood. The Lord Jesus died, and then the soldier came and pierced His side! That precious blood flowed forth as a witness to what was completed there on the cross. The magnitude of it! What was completed there was to the full satisfaction of God. Do you have an appreciation of that? Do you know what it is to come under the shelter of that blood, to know that it was shed for you? Well, it is available to all who come in repentance. That is your way into it; accept that you are a sinner before a holy and righteous God, but then avail yourself of the One that has laid down His life as a sacrifice for sin, the Lord Jesus. He is the One who has suffered and has died in order that we might go free. What freedom, what liberty there is to those that believe in the Lord Jesus. There is no more question of your sins being brought up; they are no more to be remembered. What joy and peace to the soul to know that the question of your sins, which stood between you and God, has been dealt with completely, and you can be assured of an eternity with Christ on account of putting your faith and trust in that blessed One and the work He has done. There is nothing for us to do. Christ has done it all! Simply put your faith and trust in Him and own Him, own the greatness and fulness of His work for yourself and you can enter into the blessing, the forgiveness of sins and the joy and peace that brings to the soul. It will stand not only for time but for eternity.
These things are so great, so important. Do not treat them lightly, because they concern your eternal salvation. The portion of those that have heard the glad tidings of what Christ has done and reject it will be an eternity without Christ in the lake of fire. Do not be among those who have rejected Christ but rather be among those who own Him as Lord and are looking for that day when He will come for them.
He is no longer in death. We spoke of His death on the cross, and He was taken from there and laid in the grave for three days and three nights, but such was the completeness and greatness of what He did that God was pleased to raise Him from the grave. There is testimony in the Scriptures as to those who walked with Him and conversed with Him after his resurrection. But then they saw Him ascending on high, and He has been given a seat at the Father's right hand where He is glorified, a place He is worthy of on account of what He has done and on account of who He is. He has broken the power of death, and come out victorious; He is risen, ascended and glorified, and from there we can present Him as a living Saviour. He is coming again for those that have put their faith and trust in Him. That is the hope of the believer; it is a living hope, not a hope that may come or may not, but a living hope, one that is sure, and we are looking forward to that day when He will come to take us to be with Himself, and then we shall be forever with Him. What a blessed portion for those who believe. I commend Him to you that you might know that portion too.
The next scripture came to me as an impression of the greatness of what was undertaken : “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, thatwemight become God's righteousness in him”. He was “made sin for us”; nothing on His own account: He was perfect, sin apart. God had full delight in that blessed One. Death had no claim on Him. There was no such claim on One who was sin apart, but, He suffered and went into death for us: he has been “made sin for us, thatwemight become God's righteousness in him”. Think of what is seen in the saints as a result of the work of Christ. It is a testament to the greatness of the work of Christ that everyone who approaches, everyone who comes to Christ, can enjoy the portion prepared for those that believe. Does it not affect your heart that One so great went this way “for us”, as it says in this scripture? Nothing in me was perfect; there is nothing in me that merited this blessing, but He chose to go that way for His own. Let that affect your heart so that it draws you to Him, and so that you come in repentance and own your nothingness before God, and realise that there is nothing in yourself that can appease God and His judgment of sin and sins. It is in that blessed One, that we can know the fulness and the greatness of the blessings that God has in mind. Simply accept Christ as your Saviour, put your faith and trust in Him and His finished work, and you can be counted amongst those that are before God who have been cleared of the matter of sin.
The last passage of scripture in Romans is well known, “There is then now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus”. Such is the greatness and the fulness of the work of Christ that you can stand before God in all the worth of Him, and know your place as a son before God. That is what we have in verse 14: “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God,theseare sons of God”. Christianity and believing in the Lord Jesus brings you not only into forgiveness of your sins, but you are set up among the sons of God. Think of the dignity of that! What there is for us to enjoy; what we touch in the service of God of having access to the Father's presence and knowing the liberty of sonship! What it is to be clothed in the best robe, and given the liberty of the Father's house and experience of that love and nearness, the distance having been all removed. The question of sin is nowhere to be seen; it has been dealt with fully and there is no question of limitation; Christ has secured this place for us.
This passage goes on to say, “For they that are according to flesh mind the things of the flesh;” - that would be us if we yield to what is of and after our fallen nature - “and they that are according to Spirit, the things of the Spirit”. The blessed Holy Spirit is a Gift given from God to those that believe, to those that obey. The blessed Holy Spirit is not just - and I speak carefully - an influence for good; He is a divine Person. It is God in a Person indwelling the believer. This is available to everyone that believes, is obedient and asks the Father for the Spirit. He will be with us and in us for ever, but His service to us now in the time that remains to us is to help us in these things, and help us in our walk here. While we are still here in flesh and blood we have to go out and meet righteousness, we have to go out into the wilderness, as we speak of it, and walk amongst men, but the Spirit would help us in that, help us to walk here as those who are here for the divine pleasure, separate from what is around, waiting for the Lord's soon return. What power there is for this in the Spirit! This is what God has in mind for those that know Christ as their Saviour and who have the Holy Spirit: life and peace. Christianity is concerned with life not with death. The penalty of sin is death, but, what God offers in the glad tidings is life; life eternal that can be known and enjoyed now in the power of the Spirit. It is life secured by and centred in that blessed One, the blessed Son of God, the Lord Jesus.
My simple thought in reading these scriptures was that we may accept first that we are sinners before God; but, as owning that, come to know the One who came to save His people from their sins. God has condemned sin in the flesh, but Jesus is available to the sinner. All those who are under the effect of sin can come to Him and know Him as Saviour and join the myriads that have already done so. May we be amongst those too, who have availed themselves of the gift of the Holy Spirit and are here walking pleasing to that blessed One, looking for His soon return. How soon it will be! Let us be looking for His return when we shall be taken to be with Him forever and enjoy what is our eternal portion.
May it be so, for His Name's sake.
Edinburgh
2nd April 2017