Now turn with me please to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 1. Yesterday I was invited to speak at the Helping Hands in Lisbon. It was a really blessed time. And so I took this little message with me, but before I got up they emphasised it's an epilogue. And then when, just before I got up before that, they said it was a short epilogue. So it definitely was the abbreviated form. So I took the sermon, but they got the skeleton. So I brought the sermon back tonight. Hopefully you'll get the sermon plus the skeleton. So of course the words the saviour are found in verse 21 and 25. Something that should thrill the hearts of all of God's people. The name Jesus. 21 verse 25, the name Jesus. In my copy of the AV, it's in capital letters. It's so important, the name of Jesus. Names are important. According to the United Nations statistics, are 385,000 children born into the world every day. That's approximately 267 babies setting foot on planet Earth every minute. And immediately that child is born. The parent, the mother, is faced with that all important decision, what will we call him or her? How will we name the baby? In our own United Kingdom, parents are legally required to register the birth of a new baby within six weeks at a local register office for births, deaths and marriages. And thereafter, the all important birth certificate is a issued by the registrar. And it's amazing, that birth certificate, you'll carry it, boys and girls, and young people with you, right throughout the rest of your day. You'll not get anywhere, you'll not get anything, unless you can produce your birth certificate. It's an amazing thing. Even though I'm here, I'm alive, I'm well, I have to prove that I was actually born, and what I was called, and where I was born, all of those years ago. In Northern Ireland, upwards of 24,000 New births are registered annually. Now that's a lot of names. And unsurprisingly, there's a lot of familiarity about the names. More often than not, we want to call our children after some of our ancestors. And it's just amazing to me, when we were in Kenya, there was a lot of ancestor worship. And so they didn't like the idea of the ancestors being forgotten about. So what did they do? They called their children, their children's children after their ancestors. What do we do? We do exactly the same. We don't have to worship them, but we like to think that they're not forgotten about. And somewhere in your family names, I'll guarantee you someone's called after someone who has gone before, years before. Sometimes Christians take biblical names for their children. And I think that's testament in and of itself. In years gone by, when people were converted, say, in Kenya, for example, they left their tribal name and they were given a Christian name. And that was a Bible name. And that was a testimony in and of itself that now they were new, there was something different about them. And they carried that name throughout the journey of life very proudly. Others, it can just be a personal preference. I know some today call their children new and modern names, and of course we respect the right of parents to call their children whatever, but remember your child has to carry that name the rest of the day, wherever they go. The most popular baby names in Northern Ireland for 2023, I was interested to look it up, were Noah, Noah and Isla for the girls. The choice of names is all important. Carry your name well, young people. Carry your name well. Because a good name, the Bible says, is a great treasure. The choice of the name for the baby, Jesus, was out of the control of his earthly parents. Joseph or Mary had no choice in the matter. In biblical times, that choice would have been that of the father. the father named the baby. And in the case of the Savior, it was already predetermined by Almighty God, Father God. I believe that the supposed earthly father of our Lord Jesus Christ, he's one of the great unsung heroes in all of the Bible, Joseph. He's introduced to us in verse 16, as the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus. who is called Christ. There's not very much told about Joseph. He never talks about himself, or he never builds up on himself. And the Bible just says about him, in a few words, he was a just man. And he was of the house and lineage of David. So we know a little bit about his ancestry. We know about his character. He was an honorable, just man. And he lived and worked in Nazareth in Galilee. And he never really moved very far. Perhaps the furthest he went was to register the birth of the infant that Mary was going to give birth to in Bethlehem. He didn't go very far at all. And he lived there and died there all his days. He was legally betrothed or engaged as a spouse to marry before they came together. And verse 18 tells us, she was found with child. So here was an honorable man, a man with integrity, a man with pedigree, and now discovered that this young lady that he was engaged to and betrothed to, she was pregnant and he knew he was not the father. He was minded to put her away privily or to dissolve the engagement in a private manner, so as to not make a scandal. And I've no doubt he pondered the situation, I've no doubt he prayed about the situation, and I've no doubt that the whole dilemma of that birth and pregnancy pressed down upon his heart and upon his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about it, and he was overawed and overpowered by it. As he thought and meditated upon it, he was disturbed and asleep by an angel. We read here about the angel of the Lord appeared unto him. We thought last Lord's Day evening about the ministry of angels, and I thank God for the ministry of angels. And as we said last Sabbath evening, angels attend the gatherings of the people of God. They're spirit beings. They're in her gathering. They're here in her midst. The angel of the Lord said unto him, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. It took an amazing angel with a wonderful message to allay the fears of Joseph. And the message not only told Joseph about the miraculous nature of the birth, but verse 21 also informs us. That message conveyed to Joseph the memorable name whereby the child was going to be born. He had to be called Jesus. How wonderful, the first name. that his earthly parents knew him by was that of Jesus. A name never to be forgotten, a name to be held in reverence, a name to be repeated often. Now, as you and I know, scripture names were not just given ad hoc, they were given with purpose. And so the name Jesus was given to convey instruction to convey instruction about this little baby that was going to be born. And therefore, even at Christmas season every year, it's just a good opportunity for you and I to learn more about the Lord Jesus Christ, as we consider the truths about his name. Let's consider, first of all, the meaning of his name, for it had a meaning. The literal meaning of the name is explained by the Holy Ghost in verse 21. He came to be Savior. The Old Testament equivalent for Jesus is Joshua. So the Jesus of the New Testament is the Joshua of the Old Testament and vice versa. And it just simply means the Lord of salvation. That's a wonderful title, isn't it? That Jesus is the Lord of salvation. He is Jehovah's Savior. And how Joseph, as a devout Jew, must have pondered those words. We hear those words, but they don't resonate with us the same because we were brought up as Gentiles, we were not brought up as Jews. The Jews had been looking for that Jehovah's Savior. All of the Jewish families kept their pedigree because they were very careful to guard their lineage because they knew that through that lineage the Messiah was going to be born. And now Joseph was told one was to be born who would be Jehovah's Savior, who would be the Lord of salvation. And the child was going to be the Savior, the only Savior of lost mankind. And he still is the only Savior of lost mankind. He is the true reason for the season. There's no other reason for the season that you and I as Christians should keep this Christmas occasion to remember the birth of Christ. I was reading a title just in the past week, that today we have presents. And children are taught to look for presents. And adults too, look for their presents. but without the presence of the Savior. Presence, material stuff, in and of itself, it's nothing without the presence of the Savior. And it doesn't matter to me what present you get this Christmas. If you haven't got the presence of the Savior in your life and in your home, it's worthless. Because eternity dawns, it's worthless. This meaning is further expanded on in verse 23. That's why we read to you Isaiah chapter 7. The angel told Joseph that the child would be born is the fulfillment of Isaiah 7, 14. Because Jesus and Immanuel were one and the same. Jesus as incarnate deity is truly God with us. He is Immanuel. The incarnation is the great Immanuel event. God with us. God with us in every situation. God manifest in the flesh. What a mystery. Isaac Watts, he got it exactly right. If we could only just visualize God. God is that infinite spirit, holy. and unapproachable in his holiness. How could our hearts ever draw out toward him? And so God was manifest in the flesh in the second person of the Trinity. His son came to dwell amongst us and he bore our nature but not our corruption. And he would be made in the likeness of sinful flesh yet without sin. And he would be the son of God and yet the son of man, Emmanuel. God with us in every situation. At the Helping Hands event yesterday, there was a wonderful testimony of a lady from our Clucker Valley congregation. And when she was born, the doctors gave her six weeks to live. Born with a little spine above the baby. And she just has celebrated her 50th birthday. Isn't that amazing? And she was able to recount the journey of life and going to school in her wheelchair, growing up in the farm with her mum and her dad, losing her mum and dad just a few years ago, and yet knowing the presence of Emmanuel with her every step of the journey right along the way. Oh, we stand amazed that when you know Jesus, you have Emmanuel with you. Every step of the journey right to the end of the journey. And when Joseph understood this, his fears were erased. What perplexity I think must have been in this man's mind. And this was just the reassurance that he needed. And it was the name of Jesus that erased his fears and brought him peace and enabled him to take Mary to be his wife. And I don't know, maybe you're in the room this evening and your heart is full of fear and anxiety and there's trepidation even perhaps as you think about Christmas and all that it entails and there's worries and they plague your mind, well just let me reassure you, if you know that name of Jesus, you can face whatever tomorrow holds with confidence and in faith. Because the name of Jesus takes the fear out of living, and it takes the dread out of dying. Not what we're singing in those lovely words of Newton, that if we can't but say his name in death, how sweet it will be to us, that name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to look at the text again, and it teaches us secondly about the multitudes who are joined to this name. It doesn't say people from the Western world. It doesn't say Jewish people. It doesn't say Gentiles, non-Gentiles. It just simply says his people. He came to save his people. That's a lovely expression. To his people, Jesus is the savior. And the text very clearly emphasizes the unique relationship that exists between the people of God and their Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who are they? Well, they were a people who were his chosen vessels. If he is the Lord of salvation, he chose them onto saving grace and onto saving faith. He chose them, he selected them out of lost mankind. He brought them onto himself and elect people, the Bible says, drawn from every tribe, drawn from every kindred, drawn from every nation amongst the nations of men, a people to whom the name of Jesus is exceedingly precious. And the question then can rightly be asked, well, who are these people? I know they're his people, but who are they? What are they like? If you meet them, how would you know that they actually belong to the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, they are those who recognize that they need the grace that only Jesus can impart. You know, what a glad message is the gospel. The gospel not only tells me who can save me, the gospel tells me I need to be saved and makes me realize my lostness without Jesus. And for those that are bowed beneath the burden of sin, It tells that there's one who bore the burden of sin. An earthly monarch would only boast of his people's good points. When the king and queen go abroad, they don't denigrate this country. They'll go and they'll seek investment and if our prime minister goes abroad, well he's very foolish if he does, to denigrate the country that he represents. He doesn't do that, nobody does that. But the Lord Jesus Christ is the contrast. He identified not with the good points that his people had, because we didn't have any. He identified with their sins. He came to save his people from their sins. That which joins the sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ is not the sinner's goodness, but their badness. Isn't it an amazing truth? From which Jesus came to save them. I love the hymns that we have in our hymn book by Gatsby. And one of his, hymn number seven, I think is my favorite of all. And he talks there about being saved from the dominion and the destruction and the damnation of sin. What does being saved mean? It means being saved from dominion of sin. The dominion of sin is broken. Sin no longer is Lord of my life. Jesus is Lord of my life. He's the Lord of salvation. He's the Lord of my soul. If being saved means anything, it means being saved from the destruction of sin. Sin destroys. We watch people, and it's just like a car crash happening, and it's out of control. You can't do anything about it. And sin is just destroying their lives. You can't do a thing about it. Sin is destructive. Sin is destroying. Sin never builds up. Sin always pulls down. But it also means that we're saved from the damnation of sin. Because the soul that sinneth it shall die. And I thank God for all in the gathering who are saved from the dominion, the destruction, the damnation of sin. Those who have confessed their need and who have found that those who are his people are those who have been saved by him. Saved from dominion, saved from destruction, saved from damnation. You know a Christian has nothing to boast about. The only thing we have to boast about is the name of Jesus, he saved us. Thirdly, look at the mercy that's in the name. The work he executed by taking on to himself the sin of his people. I want to take you further than the birth of Jesus, down the journey with him. We pass the cradle. We see him in childhood. As a child, he knew the scriptures. It's a wonderful thing when children know the scriptures. We see him as 12 years of old, and obviously there has been the run up to that. Mary and Joseph are still with him at 12 years of age. And he has been taught so much of the scriptures, and he had to be taught them, and he had to learn them, that he's able to question the masters that are in the temple, the masters of the law. We see him as a child. We see him in the carpenter's workshop. He didn't shy away from work. We should teach our own young people not to shy away from work. As Christians, we ought not to shy away from the work because Jesus didn't shy away from it. Rather, as a young man, from those childhood days, he did his apprenticeship with his father in that carpenter's workshop at Nazareth, and he made furniture. And you can think of the furniture that he made in and around that area of Nazareth. And there were people who sat on furniture that Jesus made. Perhaps slept in the beds that he made, sat at the tables that he made, sat on the chairs that he made. If he was in the workshop, he was doing all of those things. And there in obscurity, he just worked quietly away. But it was all leading up to his public ministry. And there in his home, he learned obedience. And there in that home, he lived the perfect life. He lived the life that you and I were required to live and couldn't live. He fulfilled all righteousness for us. But it all came to the cross. And it was there on the cross that the Lord Jesus laid upon him the iniquity of us all. And how is it that Jesus can save sinners? because he lived the life we couldn't live. And he died the death we should have died and didn't die to satisfy the justice of God. And all the righteousness of his life and the righteousness of his death is imputed to us by faith. And we stand complete in him. I hear people, some preachers say, It's just the death of Jesus. No, brethren and sisters, it's the life, death, burial, resurrection, coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. And love and mercy, he fulfilled all that was required of us. The law that was against us, the demands of the law that were growing larger and larger every day. What a mission he was sent on by the Father. You know, if you want to, You know what the theology of mission is? The theology of mission is just very simply summed up in John 3.16, God sent his son. He's ascending, he's ascending God, he sent his son and he sent the Lord Jesus Christ so that there would be those of Adam's lost race that would be counted into his number. What a wonderful thing it is to be part of his people, his people. drawn from all the kindreds of the earth, his people who have experienced his mercy. Could we conclude tonight just by showing you that this name of Jesus really matters to us personally? Let's look at the life of Joseph. Now, Joseph might have had his own ideas about what he was going to call his son. Maybe he wanted to call him Joseph. but he submitted it to the will of God. And he formally, in verse 25, the Bible tells us, he called his name Jesus. There was no deviation. Exactly how he was told, he obeyed. So the name really did matter to Joseph. And it was an act of faith, resting upon what had been revealed to him. and committed to him as a trust by Almighty God. Joseph was not just saying, whatever the circumstances surrounding the birth, the conception of the child, I take him as my own. He was saying far, far more than that. He was saying, I put my faith in what has been revealed to me, that this child indeed is the savior of his people. And if the birth and life and death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is to mean anything to you. If it's to matter to you, I want to put it to you again this evening. You need to put your trust in him. You need to lean your all upon him. You need to rest by faith your all upon this blessed savior of sinners because there's none other than him. Look at Joseph, but look at Mary. What of the earthly mother of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, it has been revealed to her likewise. So Matthew's account tells us of Joseph's lineage and how it was revealed to Joseph. Luke's account tells us of the lineage of Mary and how it was revealed to Mary. Both had to be absolutely convinced what was happening. And in Luke 1.31, we read, the angel said to her, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. Did it matter to her? Of course it mattered to her. And in her famous song of praise, in Luke 1, 46, 47, Mary said, my soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my savior. This was her demonstration of faith. Jesus was her savior. And all true people of God down through the years have exercised the same faith. That name does matter. And if the name matters to you, you'll have your faith, your trust in it, not just for time, but for God's eternity. And of course, the names that matter most to us are the names that are closest to our hearts. If I was to ask you, what's the name of your wife, if you couldn't tell me that, there would be something terrible wrong. What's the name of your children? Oh, I've forgotten them. Oh, there's something really very badly wrong. The names that matter most to us are the names that are closest to our hearts. And there's no name so close, so dear to the hearts of God's people as the name of Jesus. I had a bit of a mixed up brain then. When it comes to evangelical truth, in that I was brought up in the Presbyterian church. I was taken to Baptist meetings. I was taken to brethren meetings. I had a brethren uncle. He was a very devout brethren man, but he was a godly man. And he took us to little children's meetings and he led the singing. And I look back on those children's meetings today and I thank God for them. There was no music. Women were not allowed to take part. Even when it came to the tea party, as it was called, the ladies weren't even allowed to give out the sandwiches or the tea. It was only the men. One of the courses that my uncle taught us was this. He did not, this is what they used to sing, he did not come to judge the world, he did not come to blame, he did not come to seek, it was to save. He did not only come to seek, it was to save he came. And when we call him saviour, and when we call him saviour, then we call him by his name. Have you called upon him as your saviour, as your Lord, as your Jesus? Now tell me, how much does that name matter to you? Because in death it'll be all that will matter. The name of Jesus. Don't celebrate this Christmas and leave Jesus out of it. We often say that, but even more than that, don't live life without Jesus. and knowing Him, trusting Him as Lord and Redeemer of your life. He is Jehovah Savior. He's Lord of salvation.