# 9 (He was) saving His people from their sins
Matthew 1: 21b ‘you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’
The BIG question that comes from this text is, who are ‘His people’?
Some people would say that Jesus suffered and died on the cross to save ALL people – therefore, ALL people are ‘His people’
To prove their point, they would use a ‘proof’ text like, Romans 5: 18 ‘So as one sin of Adam brought the punishment of death to all people, one good act that Christ did makes ALL people right with God. And that brings true life for ALL.’ NCV
Acts 5: 11
But let’s consider what Jesus said, Matthew 7: 13-14, 22-23 ‘You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. On judgment day many will say to Me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from Me, you who break God’s laws.’
So, from what Jesus said, the word ALL can’t mean that ALL people are ‘His people’
And some people would say that Jesus suffered and died on the cross to save the all the WORLD – therefore, all the WORLD are ‘His people’
To prove their point, they would use a ‘proof’ text like, John 1: 29 ‘The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the WORLD!
John 4: 42; John 12: 19
But let’s consider what Jesus said, Matthew 13: 49b ‘at the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked people from the righteous’.
So, from what Jesus said the word WORLD can’t mean that all the WORLD are ‘His people’
When the Word of God tells us that Jesus suffered and died on the cross for ALL the WORLD it doesn’t mean that ALL the people in the WORLD will be saved without exception – what it does mean though is that Jesus suffered and died on the cross for ALL the people in WORLD who believe in Him without distinction!
What does that mean?
It means that God makes no distinction between the Jew and the Gentile
It means that God makes no distinction between the slave and the free
It means that God makes no distinction between tribes, people and languages
It means that Jesus suffered and died on the cross for the Jew, for the Gentile, for the slave and for the free, for every tribe, people and language – ALL people in the WORLD – not without exception but without distinction!
Revelation 7: 9a ‘After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb.’
Knowing this gives us a much better understanding of verses like, Romans 8: 32b ‘He (the Father) did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us ALL’.
2 Peter 3: 9
Let’s go back to the BIG question - who are ‘His people’?
‘His people’ are only those that belonged to the Father before the world was made and given to Christ
We need to remember that God is sovereign in our salvation - and that means that God the Father is not sitting around in Heaven hoping that people will seek after Him and believe in Jesus - that’s never going to happen. As the Apostle Paul said, Romans 3: 11b ‘no one is seeking God.’
So, if no one is seeking God, then how are we saved?
God the Father has acted sovereignly in our salvation and has chosen us to belong to Him and gives us the grace to come to Jesus – to believe in Him and confess Him as Lord and Savior
Ephesians 1: 4a ‘Even before the world was made, God chose us to be His people because of His love.’ NLV, EASY
Ephesians 2: 4-8
In Jesus great prayer to the Father on the night of His betrayal and arrest He said, John 17: 9 “My prayer is not for the world, but for those You have given Me, because they belong to You.'
In God’s great love for us He has chosen us and given us to Christ so that, 1 Corinthians 15: 22 ‘everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.’
Do you have ‘new life’?
How does God call us to come to Christ?
Jesus explained God’s call to us when He taught the Parable of the Wedding Feast
Matthew 22: 1-14 Jesus also told them other parables. He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son. When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come! “So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!’ But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business. Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them. “The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply. Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
In this Parable, God the Father is represented by the king who calls everyone to come to the wedding feast he prepared for his son – the wedding feast represents our salvation
Jesus said the king sent out 3 invites for people to come to the wedding feast,
3 ‘those who were invited’, 5 ‘guests he had invited’, 9 ‘invite everyone’, 10 ‘So the servants brought in everyone they could find’
Jesus said, 14 ‘many are called’
But only those who were chosen were allowed to stay
Jesus said, 14 ‘few are chosen’
The few that are chosen are ‘His people’
What Was Jesus Doing On the Cross - (He was) saving His people from their sins!?
We say with the Apostle Peter, 1 Peter 2: 9 ‘you are a chosen people...God’s very own possession...He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.’
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