And we'll see that again in this reading. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make a public example, was minded to put her away secretly, that is to divorce her. But while he thought about these things. Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, you know, the difference between a dream and a vision. In a vision, The one who receives the vision interacts with God in a dream. He's entirely passive. He just receives information. So Joseph wasn't couldn't talk with God here. He just was receiving revelation from God. So is it a dream saying Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you, marry your wife. For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. So that's stated twice in this passage. So we must not miss it. Mary was a virgin and a virgin birth. And verse 21, which is the text that I will land on tonight, God willing. And she shall bring forth a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which is translated God with us. Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. So Joseph obeyed the word from the angel. Was this the same angel as came to Mary in Luke chapter one? Well, we're not told, but I think it was. I think it was Gabriel, but I'm not sure. And you can't be sure because the Bible doesn't tell us. So therein we rest our case. And we'll have to wait till later to find that out, I'm sure. What's in a name? You all have a name here tonight. Most of you have a first name and a middle name and a last name. At least you have a first name and a last name. But what is in a name and what is the meaning of your name? As I was preparing this message, I thought about going through all the children and I started to do that and writing down their names and then going to names.org on the Internet to find out what your name meant. But then I realized there's so many children I might miss somebody. So I didn't do that. But I did find out what a number of your names mean. And if you want to know what your name means, go to names.org. And then you'll find there's various opinions as to what your name means. But when we come to Bible names, we know that sometimes God gave people names. As near as I can tell, God gave Adam his name. What does the name Adam mean? Man. It means man. And so Adam's name was meant man. And then Adam was given the authority to give a name to the woman that God brought to him. And he named her Eve. And what does Eve mean? Well, the Bible tells us that Eve means that she's the mother of everyone who's living. Sometimes God changed names. For instance, in Genesis chapter 17, We read that Abram, and that's what he is called up until Genesis 17, that God changed his name to Abraham. Because, God said, no longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. Now, he got his name changed when he was 99 years old. I think it would be hard to get used to a name change. at 99. I'm not sure about that. Not many people even live that long. But not only that, then in that same chapter, we find out that God changed his wife's name. You know what her name was for 90 years? Sarah. And God changed her name to Sarah. And for the same reason, because she was going to be well, let me read it here that she was going to God said your wife name shall be Sarah, because Sarah would be the mother of many nations. So she had to get used to a new name when she was 90 years old. I don't think there's anyone here yet that's 90, but who knows? God may change your name when you reach 90. Probably won't, but he may. So and then, but what we find, especially in the Old Testament, is that names had meaning and people named their children particular names because they had particular meanings in mind. In fact, if you have a study Bible, as I'm sure many of you do, and if you read the introduction to the various books of the Bible, you'll find that at least in the study Bible that I use or that I have used, you'll find that there's always a little note about the meaning of the name of the man who wrote the book. For instance, if you go to the book of Isaiah, You read all about the introductory material, the time he wrote, and so forth. And then you find out that they say what his name means. The name Isaiah means Yahweh is salvation. I'm just quoting from the study Bible. Yahweh is the name for God, the Lord, all capital letters. And that is probably how it's pronounced. And then if you go to the book of, let's see here, oh, Jeremiah. Go to the book of Jeremiah, find out his name means Yahweh establishes or Yahweh appoints or Yahweh sends. And really, when you think about those names in those books, you can see how those names fit what he wrote about both of them. Now, there's another one who's not a prophet and that his name is Joshua. And actually, Joshua is the Hebrew For the Greek, Jesus. And it means basically the same thing as Isaiah. Yahweh is salvation, the Lord says. Now, in this message, I want to concentrate on the name Jesus. Because it's very clear here that God named his son. He says, you shall call him Jesus. And we're going to see why he was called Jesus in this message. But what I want you to consider with me tonight is that it is, first of all, a glorious name. And we can only touch the fringes of the glory of this name, Jesus, tonight. Because I don't want to spend so much time on that, although I'm tempted to and could do that. But we're also going to find out that it's a powerful name. And I want to make sure that we have enough time left to talk about the fact that the name Jesus is a powerful name. And we'll see why it's powerful. But first of all, I want to tell you that this is a this is a glorious name. You know, there's no indication whatsoever in the entire Old Testament that this one who would be born of the Virgin, as is prophesied in Isaiah, chapter seven, verse 14, that the name of this child would be Jesus. This is brand new revelation to Joseph and Mary, of course. It's brand new revelation. They never could have. Mary never could have said, well, OK, I see I'm going to conceive by the Holy Spirit. I'll just search the Old Testament scriptures to find out what I should name this child. No. She never would have found that the Messiah's name would be Jesus. But that's the name that God the Father reserved for his only begotten son. In the Old Testament, this Messiah is sometimes called servant. Many times in the book of Isaiah, you'll find that in chapters 42, 49, 50 and 52 and other places. He's also called the seed of the woman. In Genesis chapter three, verse 15, you all know that verse, the seed of the woman would come and crush the servant's head. So he's the seed, the seed of the woman. He is called the Son of Man. In Daniel chapter 7 verse 14, the Son of Man, who is the cloud man, as the Jews would say, the one who is going to come on the clouds of heaven to rule all the nations, the cloud man. He is called many times the angel of the Lord. In fact, he appears many times. I think I preached on that here, didn't I? From Micah 5 to last year, as I recall, how it is that Mike and Isaiah were sitting down, remember, to have some shawarma lunch and talking about the sightings. And when it is that this angel had last appeared, who is the pre-incarnate Christ, the one who revealed himself even before he was born, you say, how can that be? Well, why can't it be? He's God. Of course it can be. We don't question what God is able to do, do we? So he's the servant. And that is a very good name for our Lord Jesus Christ. Because, after all, he is the one who obeyed completely and fully his father. Every single command, every single desire that his father had, he completely obeyed. Just like Isaiah says in chapter 42, Behold, my servant whom I am uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights, I put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. And remember what Jesus said when he was here on earth. He says, I did not come to do my own will, but I came to do the will of him who sent me. And morning by morning, he listened to what his father would have him to do. He often spent all night in prayer as he sought the will of his father. And he obeyed his will perfectly and completely. That's the glorious name Jesus. Now he's called the seed, as I've already mentioned. Genesis 3, 15. He came to crush the serpent's head. Did he do that? Oh, yes, he did. We read in Hebrews chapter 2, verses 14 and 15. In as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself shared in the same. And then listen to this, that through death, He might destroy him who had the power of death. That is the devil and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. I say it's a glorious name. The name Jesus is glorious because he crushed the serpent's head. He is the one who destroyed him. And you say, well, if he destroyed him, how come it is he's still roaming around the earth doing terrible things? Well, you know, One can be convicted takes a while before the final sentence comes, but it's coming when he will be cast into the lake of fire. But he's been defeated and he's on a leash as he's always been. Really, he can only do what Jesus allows him to do. And by the way, I hadn't thought of this till just now. I mean, I thought of it many times, but I didn't think about saying it until just now. There are those who think that God does good things and the devil does bad things and there are war with each other. No, God does all things. He has decreed everything. He is sovereign. You say, what about the pandemic, the pandemic, the COVID? God has decreed it. You say, why has he decreed it? Ask him when you get to heaven. He has his purposes. We know it is for his glory and for the good of his church. I don't see that because I often pray every morning, Lord, as I pray for missionaries. They can't meet. They can't do this. Why can't they? Lord, please let them be able to to meet. Ah, but the Lord uses it for his glory that I know. Well, that was free. That wasn't part of the program here. OK, but it is true, isn't it? He is a sovereign God. He is a sovereign God. Well, he's the seat. He's the son of man. As I mentioned before, Daniel 714 says, then to him that is the son of man was given dominion and glory in a kingdom. that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom the one which shall never be destroyed." I hope you're part of that kingdom, dear friends. That's the only kingdom that will remain. Rome has fallen. Greece fell. The Medes and the Persians fell. The United States will fall, but God's kingdom will never fall. It will never fail. It will always be. For he has established a kingdom that is everlasting and eternal and will remain forever. So Jesus is the greatest today. Perhaps most adequately described for us in Isaiah, chapter nine, verses six and seven unto us, a child is born. Unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. I think Pastor Dale preached on all those names last year, didn't he, as I recall? It was wonderful, whenever he preached on them. Jesus is wonderful. He's the wonderful counselor. Some translations say it should be wonderful counselors. Others say wonderful comma counselor. Well. Whichever way is right, we know it's all true. He's wonderful. You remember what he said when he appeared to Manoa, the father of Samson. What is your name? Manoa said. What is your name? He says, why do you ask me since it is wonderful? And as they offered the sacrifice, he ascended up into heaven. in the flame. He's wonderful. He's a counselor. Who do you have any counselors? You can never find a better counselor than Jesus. Because he's the perfect counselor, he's the Prince of Peace. I remember listening to a newscast many years ago and they said that when the angel said peace on Earth, they said that's strange because there's no peace on Earth. But they don't know any better, do they? There is peace. There is peace in Jesus Christ, peace with God and the peace of God that floods our heart. And someday there'll be peace over the whole globe as all the nations come to worship our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So this is he has a glorious name, a glorious name. But as I said, if I spent too much time on the glory of his name, I wouldn't be able to talk about the powerful name. And I want to do that tonight. His name is a powerful name. Why do we say it's powerful? Well, look, think again of the text with me. What does the text say? You shall call his name Jesus. Why? We're told why? Well, it is because for he will save his people from their sins. He will save his people from their sins. You know, sad to say, friends, that this doesn't have a whole lot of meeting for a whole lot of people in our culture. You know why? Because they have no idea what sin is, nor do they have any idea how serious sin is, nor do they have an idea of the consequences of sin. And so it is important tonight as we think about the powerful name of Jesus that we understand what he came to save us from. He came to save us from our sins, it says. So we first of all have to ask the question, What is sin? And I would be surprised if not most of you, at least the children, to be able to answer the catechism question. What is sin? Well, you can say it with me if you want. Sin is any lack of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. Now, there's a whole lot in that little statement. It's based on 1 John 3, verse 4, which says, whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness. So it's a lack of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. So it all has to do with God's law. And when it talks about God's law in the catechism answer here, we're talking about the moral law of God, which is summarized for us perfectly in the Ten Commandments. Do you know the Ten Commandments? I remember years ago, one of my dear pastor friends, they would set up a booth in downtown Grand Rapids and they would offer people something if they could quote the Ten Commandments. Very few people could. Very few people could. But you can quote them. I don't have time to quote them all tonight. Although you could, I know, and I could. But I want us to think about If it's a lack of conformity to God's law, or a transgression that is violating God's law, then we understand what sin is. Let's just take a few of the commandments, if I may. Let's take the fifth commandment. And I know all of your children are saying, oh no, let's not talk about that one. Do you know the fifth commandment? It comes right after the fourth. Honor. your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the earth. That's how Paul puts it in the New Testament. Honor your father and your mother. Now, what is the lack of conformity under this commandment? Well, a lack of conformity means that not just that you don't obey them, but sometimes you don't have the desire to obey them. Sometimes you think they need to grow up and understand what it is to be a teenager or a young child again. Mom and dad, don't you understand? And when those thoughts come to your minds, and unless you're a perfect angel that's from a different planet, you've all had that thought. I don't care whether you're my age in the 70s or whether you're a young child, not yet five years old. You've had those thoughts and that's a lack of conformity under the law of God. And then not only that, but you have not honored them because sometimes you've disobeyed them, haven't you? And so you have broken God's law. That fifth commandment. It's a very serious matter, as we shall talk about here in just a moment, but I want us to understand that when When the angel says you call his name Jesus, because for he shall save his people from their sins. This is just one of many sins that Jesus came to save us from. Let's think about another commandment. Let's think of the commandment, you shall not murder. And I know you're saying what you're saying to me, I wish you just started with that one, because I know I'm not guilty of that one. Oh, yes, you are. And so am I. were guilty of the Sixth Commandment. Because you remember what Jesus, how Jesus explained that Sixth Commandment? He says, even if you harbor anger and hatred in your heart, you've broken this commandment. You don't have to go out and stab someone or shoot someone to break this commandment. It's what's in the heart. In fact, Jesus even goes further. He says, if you insult someone, if you call them racist, whatever that means, you say, well, let me tell you what it means. That means if you call someone a moron, I know you don't do that anymore. That was in my day. Today, you might say you empty head, you stupid idiot, you dingbat, you dork, you bonehead. Yeah, you see, when you use those words, you're breaking that commandment. You murdered them. You say, well, how can that be? They are a dingbat after all, aren't they? Oh, but you we must remember that every single child, man and woman and boy and girl has been created in the image of God. And when we speak of them and to them at those terms, we have broken God's law. You say, OK, I just won't call him that anymore. Oh, but it's more than that in your what's in your heart. What's in your heart? What do you think of that person? Well, you see, Jesus came to save his people from their sins. And then the seventh commandment, you should not commit adultery. This is one that is so common in our day, you can't turn on the television, even watch ads without people committing adultery and being unclean, Kenya. Just the way it is, it includes all unclean thoughts that proceed out of the heart. It includes all that. And I could go on to each one of the commands and show you that you have sinned. And I haven't even talking about the first table of the law, which is the first four commandments. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make any graven image. You shall not take God's name in vain. Which means to swear to curse or use his name lightly. We can take his name in vain when we worship, when we sing without thinking. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. I say we're guilty, we're guilty, we're guilty, but we've got to think about something else, and that is what does every single sin deserve? What does every single sin deserve? Well, every single sin, and this again comes from the shorter catechism, every single sin deserves God's wrath and curse. And then the answer to the catechism question goes on to say both in this life and in the life to come. For the wages of sin is death. And, you know, none of us are going to get out of this world alive unless Jesus comes. I'm just going to die sooner than many of you here, probably most of you here. At least I hope I do, because I'm older than most of you. That's what I used to tell my high school students when I taught Bible, I said, I'm going to die before you do. At least I hope I do. And I really do. I want them to live longer than I. But there were a couple of students that died young. Listen, every single sin deserves God's wrath and curse, both in this life and in the life to come. That is how serious sin is. That's what sin deserves. Eternal death. Let me put it bluntly. Every single sin that we commit deserves eternal hell in the lake a fire. That's what I deserve. And friend, that's what you deserve, because you have sinned, whether you know it or not, and whether you feel the guilt or not. That is what you deserve. But you see, the good news of this verse is that we have to talk about sin, and I'm not sure I've talked about sin enough. But the good news of this verse is, you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Aren't you glad it's not just singular? From their sins. How many sins have you committed? More than you know. More than you can count. But He came to save His people from their sins. All their sins. That is why God in love and mercy sent our Lord Jesus Christ. Mm, that's a wonderful thing. You say, I hope you're asking this question, how can I be saved from my sins? How can I be saved from my sins? That's an excellent question. Well, first of all, you must give up thinking that you simply need to try to be a better person. Give that thought up. It's good that you want to be a better person. But it's bad if you think that being a better person is somehow going to get rid of some of your sins. That is really bad. Or also give up the give up the idea that you need to feel more of your sin before you can actually come to Jesus Christ for forgiveness from your sins. No, you don't need to feel more than what you feel if you know that you're guilty. If you know that you deserve eternal damnation, then you may and should and must come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And you need to know ahead of time. If you think you need to know ahead of time, well, I would come to Jesus, but I'm just not sure I can live the Christian life like I see some of these people in this church living it. Give that thought up. Of course you can't. No one can. No one can. But I tell you this, and I'm going to tell you this right now, that Jesus not only saves us from our sins, He saves us from the power of sin. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who will give the power and the strength and the help to live the Christian life. And then you will live it perfectly. But you'll want to. And you'll make progress. Guaranteed. Think about this. There was a rich man that I read about someplace who earned all his money by cheating and all of a sudden he had a change in his life and he gave back half of everything he'd ever gained by cheating. He gave back and gave half to the poor. His name was Zacchaeus. You may have heard of him. I want to think about Zacchaeus when he was a very young man. What do you suppose he was like? self-centered, willing to hurt people. Perhaps he was bullied because he was a short little guy, you know, and probably took a lot of abuse from his friends. They probably called him names. And he thought, I'll get even with them. I'll become a Roman tax collector and I'll take money from them. I don't know if that's all that happened, but something like that. He had a life before he climbed up the sycamore tree. He was a mess. And yet the power of Jesus Christ changed that little man's heart. Changed him completely and entirely. Wonderful. This is the power of the gospel. This is the power that Jesus Christ has. Now, who did Jesus come to save? Well, the Bible says He came to save His people from their sins. His people. Who are His people? Oh, I know. You're well taught. And your first answer will be what? He came to save his people. He came to save those whom the Father has chosen and given to Jesus. And you're right. But you can know that and not think correctly about that. I know a man who for years knew that truth. and knew that no one could be saved unless the Father chose him. And so he was waiting for God to somehow let him know that he was chosen. Well, that's ridiculous. None of us know the secret counsels of God. He came to save his people. How do you discover whether you're one of God's elect? It's very simple. Do you want Jesus? Do you want to be saved? Do you want your sins forgiven? Do you want Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, my dear friend? If you will come to Him and believe on Him, you are one of His elect. Those are His people. His people are the ones who humble themselves and come to Jesus Christ. And in coming to Jesus Christ, listen to the words of Jesus. Our Lord Jesus Christ put it this way. All that the Father gave to me, gives me, They'll come to me and he who comes to me, I will never cast out. Isn't that wonderful? Jesus says, if you come, he'll never cast you out. Never, never, never, never, never cast you out. That's the glory of the gospel. If you come to him and that's how you discover whether or not one of God's elect, you come to Jesus. And if you say, I want to come to Jesus, I want to believe on him. That's because God is doing a work in your heart. It's not normal to think that way. You know how abnormal that is. That is a supernatural work of the spirit of God. Jesus said, come. Unto me, all you that labored or heavy laden, I will give you rest. And then the Bible ends with the spirit of the bride saying, come, come and drink the water of life freely. Come, come, come. It'll be your own fault if you don't come. For you may. There's actually not only an invitation, but there is a command from the Lord Jesus to you that says, come, you just do it, you just come. And I'll never, never turn you away. Well, it's Christmas time. You know, the greatest gift that you could have at Christmas is to have Jesus Christ. There's no greater gift. Believe on him and have eternal life. Blessed be his name. Do you believe on him? Will you come? Have you come? Will you come? Will you trust him? Will you have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Come, come, come. Whosoever, that's everybody, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Let's pray. Oh, Father, thank you that you sent Jesus to save his people from their sins. Thank you that many here tonight are trusting Jesus and have been saved from their sins. May everyone here, young and old, Trust our Savior. Blessed be your name, for the name that you gave Jesus is a name that is above all names. And we know that the day is coming when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father. Hasten that day, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.