From the Pastor’s Pen

Final Thoughts on Matthew 1:21

And she will bring forth a Son and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”                          NKJV
No single verse of scripture better exemplifies the true meaning of Christmas than our text above.  Many Christians, if asked what salvation means, will reply, “Being saved from hell and taken to heaven.”  This is one result of salvation, but it is not one drop in a bucket of what salvation fully entails.  While it is true that our Lord Jesus Christ does redeem all of us, as His people, from the wrath to come and saves us from the eternal condemnation which our sins had brought upon us, His triumph is far more complete than this. He saves us from our sins.  What a great victory over our worst enemies.  Where Christ saves, He casts Satan down from his throne, and will not let him be our master any longer. No man is a true Christian if sin reigns in his mortal body.  Sin will be in us–it will never be utterly expelled until our spirits enter glory; but it will never have dominion.  There will be a striving for dominion—the lusts of the flesh which will struggle against the new spirit which God has imparted to us, but sin will never get the upper hand so as to be absolute ruler over our new nature in Christ.  Jesus will be Master of our hearts, and sin must be put to death.  Is sin subdued in you?

If your life is unholy your heart is unchanged, and if your heart is unchanged you are an unsaved person.  If the Saviour has not sanctified you, renewed you, given you a hatred of sin and a love of holiness, He has done nothing in you of a saving character.  The grace which does not make a man better than others is a worthless counterfeit.  Christ saves His people, not in their sins, but from them.  “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.”  “Let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” If not saved from sin, how shall we hope to be counted among His people.  Lord, save me now from all evil, and enable me to honor my Savior.                Charles H. Spurgeon