Matt.1:21 – She will give birth to a Son; and you shall name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.
This message from the angel to Joseph, the supposed father of Jesus, describes the essence of the ministry of Jesus. This is the power of the gospel, the power to do more than cover or overlook our sin but to actually deliver us from the power of sin. Throughout history there have been those who became enemies of the gospel by describing grace as just a coverup for man’s sinfulness. You know the drill, the Lord just made me this way, he understands and loves and accepts me like I am. This is not the gospel and is actually one of the great enemies of the gospel. The gospel is the power of God to not only wash away our sins but to liberate us from the power of sin and then take it even a step further and restore us from the consequences of the sinful lives we have lived. Matthew Henry preached about this powerfully in the 1700’s, here is what he had to say.
“Note, those whom Christ saves he saves from their sins; from the guilt of sin by the merit of his death, from the dominion of sin by the Spirit of his grace. In saving them from sin, he saves them from wrath and the curse, and all misery here and hereafter. Christ came to save his people, not in their sins, but from their sins; to purchase for them, not a liberty to sin, but a liberty from sins, to redeem them from all iniquity; and so to redeem them from among men to himself, who is separate from sinners. So that those who leave their sins, and give up themselves to Christ as his people, are interested in the Savior, and the great salvation which he has wrought out.”
This was the whole point of the life and ministry of Jesus, to deliver us from the shackles that had held us captive to sin all of our lives. Our story of freedom from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and the consequences of sin is amazing. I was once not only guilty of a sinful lifestyle I was enslaved to it with no possible way of escape. It was the redemptive work of Christ that forgave me, delivered me and restored me. This is why the angel said, “call His name Jesus for He will save His people from their sin”.
