Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] As the Lord may be pleased to help me friends, I will direct your attention to the first chapter of Matthew's Gospel and the part of the twenty-first verse.

[0:16] And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

[0:30] And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

[0:49] This word has been upon my mind all day. And late this afternoon as I moved about, so convinced there was no other word to speak from, it came immediately.

[1:07] The poet said, how sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds and drives away his fear.

[1:21] Then came the exercise, friends. How likely we can take these things. What does it really mean, the name of Jesus?

[1:35] It wasn't by chance, my friends. Whereas these thoughts pass through my mind, I'm sure the Lord dropped this word in.

[1:49] Jesus, thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress. Can you say it? His reality, friends.

[2:03] It's solemn, sacred reality. For it goes further. Mids flaming worlds in these arrayed. With joy shall I lift up my head.

[2:18] How much religion is in us, friends. There's not much in the world today. And when we say the world, friends, it isn't to stand, as I often say, and look over one's shoulder and say, holier than thou.

[2:36] It is to come into our own home. How much religion in our churches today. Closer still, who are our churches made up of?

[2:50] You and me. What religion have we got, friends? There is to be an end. There's a precious word before us tonight.

[3:04] It's salvation. Extremely clear, not chance work. For the Lord says, thou shall call his name Jesus.

[3:15] And the margin says, the meaning of the word is salvation. Saviour. Jesus Christ.

[3:26] The anointed Saviour. But what a depth there is in salvation. So easy today, isn't it? Just to trace quickly the way to say, Ah yes, God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son.

[3:47] And then to follow on, it was to save sinners. Do we really consider what it cost?

[3:58] The son of God, redemption. We're drawing near the period of time when countless numbers will rejoice in the birth of Christ.

[4:15] For many reasons. Some to satisfy the flesh. Others to satisfy their religious feelings. How many, my friends, the world can't hear my voice.

[4:32] Tis you. Tis me, my own voice. I hope the Lord applies these things to my own heart. Do we consider why he came?

[4:46] To suffer, bleed, and die? That's why he came. What for? To satisfy offended justice.

[5:00] The holy God. To put away the curse decreed upon men. This precious, precious Jesus came into this world not to rejoice in his life here, but to bear the curse of God for sin.

[5:22] To be buffeted by man and devil. Ultimately, to bring forth victory.

[5:32] A full salvation. Not for himself. For you. For me. This is what we want to know from time to time, friends.

[5:44] For surely there is an end. Oh, the numbers of times I stop there in this quotation. For surely there is an end of life.

[5:57] Hell remains for those found out of Christ. Men don't want to hear it. It's your mercy. It's your mercy. It's your mercy and mine if we do.

[6:08] It's your mercy and mine if we do. In that it quickens us. Causes us concern. brings us into reality. It's your mercy. It's your mercy. It's your mercy. Calling upon the name of the holy God.

[6:20] Truly to say, Speak, Lord. Speak to my poor soul. Deliver me from the ravages of sin. Deliver me from the power of Satan.

[6:33] Deliver me from the curse, Lord. That which remains. For sin is still found in man. In real things, these are, friends.

[6:47] Oh, may the Lord help us to trace the way a little. To find the Lord loves us. Here's the beauty of salvation. I remember one of the Lord's servants.

[7:02] He is the Lord's servant. I won't quote his name. But I remember him saying once, We want to hear more about the remedy and less of the malady.

[7:13] I don't agree. The malady must be known. Unless the Lord reveal to you and me the malady, that dreadful leprosy of sin that is within us, that contaminates our whole being, unless the Lord God himself does it, we shall never know the remedy.

[7:37] Let alone seek to know it. It will never be revealed to us. But it is sweet, my friends, to look back, to find the Lord's in your way and mine, that he has revealed sin.

[7:57] He's opened up our hearts to confess sin. He's brought us into a knowledge of Christ, however small, for salvation there.

[8:13] Thou shalt call his name Jesus. What do you know of him? My friends, tis the great need.

[8:27] The word of God in the Acts, you know it well enough, Peter speaking there says, there is salvation in no other.

[8:41] None other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. There's a must there, friend. Salvation in none other.

[8:53] And you and I must know him, Jesus. Who is he? The friend of sinners. Ah, that's sweet. Sweet when it's applied.

[9:05] The friend of sinners. Who is he? The son of the living God. The eternal son. He dwells in the highest heavens, but he condescends to meet with sinners still.

[9:25] Precious Jesus. Is he precious to you? It's no good dodging these questions, friends, for one day you'll have a need to say, whether you know him or not.

[9:43] This great God with whom you and I have to do, upon whom we depend for our lives today, the very breath we take is in his hands.

[9:53] He won't take excuses in that solemn day of change. It is to know him in the time state.

[10:07] You've got a desire. Ah, here's mercy, friend. And yet again and again, I come up against this point for men I know.

[10:18] Oft say you'll go to heaven with a good desire, but you can go to hell on it. Satan loves to make men presume. We need qualification, don't we?

[10:33] A good desire emanating from the work of God. You'll get to heaven. A good desire that causes one to cry inwardly, Lord, help me, Lord, help me.

[10:50] A good desire that anchors after Christ. A knowledge of him, not hearsay. A personal experience of him.

[11:02] To know something of that love that passeth all human understanding. The love of Christ. So rich, so free, says one, fixed on his own eternally.

[11:17] Real things. Thou shalt call his name Jesus. Who is he? The son of God who came into this lower world to seek and to save those that were lost.

[11:34] And the record of him long before he came is in that 53rd of Isaiah that we read together. Does it mean anything to you, friend?

[11:49] The prophet, in the opening of that chapter, still the same man. Who hath believed our report?

[11:59] It goes on and on, doesn't it? It will to the end of time. This question will be set forth. The Lord put it in the heart of the prophet Isaiah to use this language.

[12:13] Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Leading question. Only those whom the Lord loves.

[12:28] You amongst them. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness.

[12:40] And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Here's the carnal heart. No love to Jesus. Sees no beauty in him.

[12:52] Never will do. Ruin nature has no desire to be one with Christ. Who hath believed our report?

[13:03] Does this touch you? Has there been such a day with you? No desire for Christ? Is there any difference today?

[13:15] He is despised and rejected of men. What about you and me in your heart? Friends, with me it is a real desire to be searched.

[13:31] I want to be right. In a moment, time gone, eternity before us, I want to be right.

[13:43] Do you? And then these questions won't hurt you. If we can answer them faithfully, what mercy?

[13:56] He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not.

[14:09] A day when Christ didn't mean anything to us, does he now? Are you sure, friends? Ah, let's bring in the word of the poet quickly.

[14:22] I believe it brings a foundation, a right foundation. That Christ is God, I can avouch, and for his people cares.

[14:36] For I have prayed to him as such, and he has heard my prayers. Can you come in? There are some real things, friends, that Satan can't take away.

[14:51] I believe in assurance. I know there are many today, they rest more in doubts and fears than they do in assurance.

[15:01] I know the people of God will have a lot of doubts and fears, but I know too that their God assures them that he loves them in Christ.

[15:13] There will be times of that. and an evidence of it is, that if the Lord God has heard your petition, and you have in your experience somewhere answers, it is because Christ is God, one with him.

[15:37] It is because thou hast been accepted in him. It's real then. God, this dear man, came into this lower world to save sinners.

[15:54] God the Father, in his holiness, decreed sinners should be condemned, but he loved the people.

[16:08] This great and mighty God, glorious in three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, in complete unanimity of purpose, decreed a people should be saved with an everlasting salvation.

[16:23] And the way in complete unity was that that second glorious person, the Son of God, in the appointed time should leave his glory for a while.

[16:35] Come into this lower world to be born of a woman, under the law, made flesh and blood without sin, to redeem a people. That word again that men oft times go round, afraid of it.

[16:56] Glorious word, election. You know, friends, I may be different to some, no doubt I am in my ministry, but I believe the Lord has given me a ministry, and I believe he stands by me when I preach the truth.

[17:18] Remember some years ago, one of the Lord's servants, tisn't to be critical of them, friends, the Lord's servants are but men all the same in that they have weaknesses through the ruin of sin.

[17:38] And this man said to me, you can preach your election without shouting from the housetops. Dreadful thought to me, for it's the most glorious truth there is.

[17:56] A man said once, election shuts men out from heaven, but election takes them in, doesn't shut them out.

[18:09] Men are shut out because of their sin. Election takes men in because of the love of God. How precious it is to have an interest then in that glorious doctrine, predestinated through the love of God to be elected, chosen vessels of mercy.

[18:38] And this people, the Lord Jesus, came to save. Not one of them's lost. See the cost.

[18:48] surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.

[19:02] Did you always have a broken heart over Christ and his sufferings? Ah, let's bring you closer, friends. Always got one of you who are in the church when you sit round his table.

[19:19] Always got a broken heart over the sufferings of Christ. Nay, it's alien to ruin nature. It is only as the Lord is pleased to touch a poor sinner's heart and break it.

[19:39] Cause him to grieve, to grieve over his sins that made his saviour mourn. Made his saviour suffer, bleed, and die.

[19:55] Oh, the sweetness, the preciousness of the truth. He was wounded for our transgressions. It wasn't for his own, he didn't have any.

[20:09] A holy man, perfect, pure in body, mind, and soul. He was wounded for our transgressions, or the sins of his church were laid upon his dear back.

[20:30] The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. thou shall call his name Jesus.

[20:43] Do you know anything of this way, friends? The measure of it? He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.

[20:55] He brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before a shearer is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Some of you know more about the latter part of the word than I do, but we know he opened not his mouth.

[21:14] Pilate accused him, the chief priests accused him. He didn't defend himself to say I'm innocent, he bore all that was laid upon him to redeem his people.

[21:34] You and me, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. Oh, the wonders of salvation, that the eternal God, that holy God the Father, should have sent his own dear son into this lower world to be given into the hands of wicked men, and that Satan, in a measure, should rejoice over his sorrows, and his dreadful afflictions, that those, you and me, it must come this way, friends, have looked at him, and made him, in our hearts, if not in actual work, out of ourselves, the song of the drunkard, despised him, rejected him, reviled him, in our hearts.

[22:45] It is our sins that brought him into that terrible place of agony of mind. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

[23:02] This, my friends, is Jesus. Thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin.

[23:19] It is our little word his again, friends. It is a special people, special people, for we find in this word, he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied, by his knowledge, shall my righteous servant justify many, not all men.

[23:49] It's a people. It is a special people, for he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

[24:08] This is Jesus, friends, in his suffering, in those deep sorrows of his life. This is Jesus, who came to that cursed tree at Calvary, and laid down his life for you.

[24:30] Can we find you? Who is the character? A sinner signally loved. Loved her, time began in that God the Father separated the people in his eternal mind from the mass of humanity as yet unborn.

[24:53] He set them apart. He gave them to this dear man, his own co-equal, co-eternal son. He gave them into his hands knowing that the outcome would be that which has been recorded in that 53rd of Isaiah.

[25:13] this people, every one of them are loved in Christ with a love that can never be altered.

[25:27] There'll never be any separation from that love, my friends. How does it come about?

[25:38] called them by his grace. There is an appointed time for everyone, some of you here know something about it.

[25:51] Quickened into life, for change has been made. Dare you say it hasn't? Still the same as you were 10, 20, 30 years ago, perhaps more.

[26:11] No difference over those years. It is honouring to the Lord, wouldn't it, if you said that was so. He has made a change.

[26:24] What way? You pray now, don't you? We're only a little company, but I believe this little company knows what it is to pray individually.

[26:37] what do you pray about? The things of time always, these things come close, don't they?

[26:50] Dare you say you never pray about your never dying soul, who taught you to do that? Dare you say you never confess your sin in secret?

[27:07] Who taught you to do that? Could you go out into this little place tonight, outside of this chapel, and pick up anyone you like to speak to, and have them say to you in answer to your question, yes, I pray, I confess my sins?

[27:32] Nay, my friends, the world don't do it, do you? If there be an answer, a positive answer, it may not be continual, it may not be, yes, I always pray, yes, I'm always confessing my sins, rather, it may well be with you, I wish I could pray more often, I wish I had more desire to make confession, but God's the author of it, friends, he brings his people into a state of need, his eyes on every one of them, they've been bought with a price, they must enter into that glory prepared for them before the world was, they must endure to the end, and enter into that place where a full satisfaction shall be given to

[28:43] Christ, of the acknowledgement by a holy God of covenant intentions, a people saved, a people saved, and I shall call his name Jesus, for God the Father by his blessed spirit, quickens every chosen vessel of mercy, and brings them into union with Christ, Christ, how, union with Christ, my friends, is realized in having answers of prayer, for it is only in that blessed union with the dear Redeemer, that a holy God the Father accepts a sinner's petition, salvation, ah, sweet again is the evidence found in the poet's words, in union with the

[29:44] Lamb, from condemnation free, the saints from everlasting were, and shall forever be, blessed things these are, and here's your foundation, sinner, there'll never be a praying soul in hell, if thou hast had intercourse with a holy God, in that thou hast, whatever the measure is, is in the hands of a sovereign God, no man can dictate to thee with regard to this, if thou hast ever had a case before the Lord, thy case, and he has accepted it, has told him at times, you were a sinner, you needed mercy, you knew there was mercy with him, and you sought to feel that mercy, and he condescended to give thee even a touch, a feeling of peace within, it is because a living

[30:52] Jesus hath stood in the breach, this precious man, whose name is Jesus, let me tell you again friends, oh the object, I believe the whole object of living ministry should be to endeavour again and again, to bring the saints of God, sinners as they feel themselves to be, into that place of sweet assurance, bound up in the bundle of life with Christ, what else do you want, sinner, what else is worth having, if thou shouldst gain the whole world and lose thy soul, what would it do for thee, the greatest matter is to know my Jesus crucified, that's it isn't it, well then, the object tonight friends, is the

[32:02] Lord will to bring you into that sweet assurance, having begun the good work in you, he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, that is until you see him in glory, and that will be when you've no more sin, no more sorrow, no more death, when thy poor body is laying in the grave, how sweet to feel that assurance, it shall be well while life endures, and well when called to die, and he's the foundation, called by grace, have it away, perhaps to suit you better, quickened into life, convinced of sin, friends, the Lord doesn't convince of sin, unless he puts grace in the heart, only those who are loved in

[33:03] Christ, will ever be brought by the spirit of God, to know what they are, and the spirit of God, as he convinces one of sin, he teaches that one to pray an acceptable petition, and the petition is wash me in the redeemer's blood, you've been there sinner, now shall call his name, Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins, there's no doubt about it, if he's brought you thus far, you'll have an experience, it continues, you see, my friends, it isn't finished, because you pray, it isn't finished, because you confess your sins, from time to time, there'll be a leaning hard upon him, who alone can help you, the rugged way to heaven, why is it, because there's a great adversary, who does his utmost to hinder your way, and he puts great burdens in the way of time, and those burdens are the mountains that separate you from your God, that regard your comfort, and those great burdens, what are they then, they're the temptations, they're the appeal to your flesh, it'll be like it to the end of the journey, and you won't have the same temptation as your neighbour, because that temptation most probably wouldn't be a burden to them, but it'll be according to the disposition the Lord has given you, there's a tendency in all the people of

[35:07] God, as there is that tendency in all flesh, to do those things that please the flesh, just to give you a little example, it's quite a small one, but it's an illustration I believe to show how one thing may attract one and one another, I've got a very good friend in one of our deacons, he's a very good friend, a very close friend, and this man has said to me at times, there's one thing that does appeal to my flesh, and if I was in the world I believe I should thrive in it, and that's ballroom dancing, the man obviously doesn't do anything like that, but there's something that attracts him, probably wouldn't attract another, something else, but with a deeper sin, those heartfelt sins, when the enemy sets before one of the

[36:21] Lord's people, something that appeals, truly appeals to his flesh, and he has to cry out from time to time, keep me Lord, keep my feet from falling, Lord, hold thou me up, and I shall be saved, sometimes he doesn't do it, sometimes the enemy catches him unawares, and he falls, the pathway, friends, is the pathway of prayer, you get to heaven at last, this is the way you'll go, and there'll be strange things coming you past too, unexpected things, the Lord permitted the enemy in great measure to have power over

[37:21] Job, he took away all the things he treasured, and do it to you at time, some of the things you think a lot about, they come ever so unexpectedly, bring you into darkness, and I tell you friends, you won't be any stranger to rebellion, it's all very well saying, ah, but it says in the word, the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, Job's case, blessed be the name of the Lord, but you won't always be there, why should these things be, why should it always be me, I know what it has been in the past, to say, I've done my best, and still, I fall by the way, I try, ah, and sometimes the enemy makes it worse, for the enemy says, yes, and you tell the

[38:25] Lord about it too, you ask him to help you, and yet, look at the trouble that comes, it's a strange way, the word of God declares emphatically, I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not, lead them in paths they have not known, make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight, these things will I do for them, and not forsake them, blessed character, the hard, rugged way, but thou hast a God who is able to do all things, he'll hold you up, curse thy burden upon the Lord, he shall sustain thee, he will never suffer the righteous to be moved away from their hope in Christ, sure that's it friends, thou shall call his name

[39:30] Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin, I'm going to turn to the twelfth of our time, it'll come, this character, and it's you, if you can take hold of what we tried to set forth tonight friends, if the Lord has shown you what a sinner you are, and if at times he's truly made you mourn over it, if there have been one or two times, even one, in your experience, when you've grieved in heart over the sufferings of the dear Redeemer, because he's given you to know that your sins put him there, there's a bright day coming friends, in that day thou shall say, oh Lord, I will praise thee, he will come and bless you, he will turn again, he will have compassion, ah,

[40:40] Micah says, he will put thy sins into the depths of the sea, never to be seen again, it is because his name is Jesus, a blessed intercessor, who stands in the bridge, that lovely Jesus, who's able to plead with authority and power, is mine, bought with a price, belongs to me by purchase, I groaned over him, remember Gethsemane's garden, he sweat great drops of blood, wrestling with his God, the Father, the manhood of Christ, that he might conquer, that he might ultimately cry out in victory, it is finished, in that day thou shall say, oh Lord,

[41:43] I will praise thee, though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me, this is when he says, fear not, I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine, he will say it, if he hasn't said it already, if he has said it, he'll say it again, this precious Jesus loves his people with an everlasting love, they are united to him in the eternal ties of covenant, covenant, with God the Father and God the Spirit, the ties of everlasting love, and precious, precious blood, behold, God is my salvation, here's the sweet assurance, it will come, sinner, there never was one redeemed with precious blood, that wasn't able to say before he died,

[42:55] Jesus is my savior, how all hell and Satan would rejoice if one died in darkness, never will be, God is faithful to his own dear son, this people shall be my people, and I will be their God, and he hath declared again with authority and power, this people I have formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise, so my friends, it will be, the time will come, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my son, he also is become my salvation, salvation, therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation, what is it?

[43:58] Oh, it's sweet, blessed intercourse with Jesus, I love that name, Jesus, oft times I hear men speak of Christ, but Jesus is sweet, precious, intimate, lovely name, Jesus, the friend of sinners, you'll whisper peace into your heart, you'll make the crooked places straight, the rough places plain, you'll tell thee thou art bound to him by the tides of love, you'll never let the go, sinner, he'll whisper to me, wait for it, long for it, don't be it, word can never be broken, I will see you again, I will come see you, sing unto the Lord for he hath done excellent things, do you deny it,

[45:11] I know how many decry providence, many do, and you know why many do, because many don't know what it means, John Warburton knew what it meant to be blessed of his God in Providence, and you know, many today still know a God of Providence, the wondrous mercy, things, things, but over and above it all, I know how it exceeds it of the God of all grace, has he not done excellent things, is there anything in this world that can compare with that wondrous work of salvation, salvation, and how close it comes, to choose you, to condescend to hear your cry when at the ends of the earth, to lift you out of your darkness, to uphold you in your trouble, to make a way where there was no way, to give you peace when your heart was a flame, hath he not done excellent things, cry out and shout thou inhabitants of Zion, for great is the

[46:44] Holy One of Israel in the midst of the year, in spite of all the changing scenes of time, in spite of all these things we read day by day in our newspapers about the terrible things that are going to come about in the land, what is this to thy God who holds all nature in his hands, who has the heart of every man in his hands, loves thee in Christ and will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

[47:21] Thou shalt call his name Jesus, poor sinner, for thou shalt from time to time have much reason to draw near to a holy God.

[47:35] While thou art in the land of Meshach, this wilderness journey, the weary place it is at times, thou hast need of God.

[47:50] But oh, to know this precious name that is above all names and will give thee the ear of the almighty God and cause him to condescend to make a way where there is no way.

[48:10] For Jesus' sake, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from mercy.

[48:23] Amen.