Jesus, the Savior

What comes to your mind when I say the name Jesus? What do you think is the greatest accomplishment of Jesus? Some of His miracles, His outstanding teaching, His example of the golden rule, His unconditional love.

What do you think? When I say the name Jesus, what do you think? Well before the angel, before Jesus was born, the angel said to Joseph, she, Mary, I'm reading from Matthew 1, she will bear a son and you shall call His name Jesus.

There it is. You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. And then as we heard the account from Luke on that first Christmas day, when the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds, the message was, fear not. For behold, I bring you good news of a great joy, which shall be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior.

There it is. A Savior who is Christ the Lord. It's clear then that Jesus comes into our world as the Savior. In fact, His name, the name Jesus, means Savior. Over this Christmas season here at Calvary, we've been thinking of different titles and names given to our Lord.

We thought of Jesus as the King, as the Messiah, as Emmanuel God with us. On Sunday, Lord willing, we'll think of Jesus as the light of the world. This Christmas Eve, I want us to think of Jesus as the Savior.

In our Christmas celebration, let's not miss the reason why He came, the very purpose of His birth. He's called this wonderful name, Savior. You'll call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. So, one of the central ways, one of the main ways we think of Jesus is as Savior. He comes to save. He's described in the Bible in the Gospels and in 1 John as the Savior of the world.

That's good news, isn't it? So, we don't just celebrate at Christmas the birth of our Savior. We consider why God in His grace sent His Son into this world. Jesus is the Savior. His name points to salvation. How does He accomplish salvation? He accomplishes it through the cross. He saves us through His death. So, very quickly, I want us to think of four aspects of the cross. First of all, the cross is a place of meaning. How and where do we find God?

I trust you think of that. You think of who God is. Paul Johnson in his book, A Quest for God, writes, "'If God does exist, and if in consequence we are called to another life when this one ends, a momentous set of consequences follows which should affect every day, every moment almost of our earthly existence.

Our life then becomes a mere preparation for eternity and must be conducted throughout with our future in view. If on the other hand God does not exist, another momentous set of consequences follows.'" In our search for God, where do we find God?

Well, I believe there is a God, a God who created us, an eternal God, a God who created us in His image, and a God who in great love sends His Son, Jesus, as a Savior. He comes to save. And we make, and many do, a monumental mistake if we think we can work our own way to God. We tend to think that we can do something to get to God, that we can do something to find God. The answers to the big questions of life, the meaning of life, life and death, our human existence, why we are here on this planet, are found not by looking within us, not by even discussing it with others, but by looking from us, away from us, to a Savior, to a God, eternal God, who in love sees our predicament and sends His Son.

We need a Savior. And we meet God at the cross. If you're driving along and you see a sign with a cross, it indicates an intersection in a road.

It indicates a meeting between two roads, a point of meeting. And while today we certainly celebrate the birth of Jesus in a manger, we meet Jesus at cross. Has your path in life ever met our Lord Jesus at the cross, at the intersection of your life and God's? Remember, His name is Jesus, for He saves His people from His from our sins. And so we come to the cross. I trust your life has come to the cross in humility and repentance. I'm saying we meet Jesus, the Savior, at the cross. The cross is a point of meeting. Interestingly, the cross is a place of confession. In many cases where we see an X, a cross, it means that something is wrong.

We've messed up. I remember as about 14 or 15 doing a mathematics exam. Mathematics was not my best subject. I don't think I was the worst in the class. And I went to this, it was an all-boys school, there were about 30 boys in the class, and we had this exam in quadratic equations.

Students, you know what a quadratic equation is? And we had to solve these. And as we're doing these, we had a certain time, I'm hurrying, and I realize I'm not doing it very well, and I was making a terrible mess of the paper, and I did as best as I can, and when I handed it in, I knew that was not my best accomplishment. And, in those days, without the smiley faces at school, and the headmaster was teaching us, he was a very good teacher, I liked him, and he would start, he brought in the papers, and he would start with the best boy. Remember that boy that was always so good at mathematics? He could do the very steps in his head.

When it took us about 30 minutes, he could do it in five seconds. He got his paper, almost perfect, and he looked around with a smug smile as these individuals do. And, so the teacher worked down, and I thought, you know, I can't be at the bottom, I'm not the worst at mathematics, surely, in quadratic equation, but I thought I would be about the middle. The middle came, went down and down and down, they came to the bottom. And, the teacher, he was Irish, nothing against Irish people, but he was Irish, and I won't mimic his accent, but he held it up. And, he said, finally we come to Monroe's. And, he said, it looks as if a Loch Ness monster has gone all over it, and he threw it to me. And, I remember looking at it, and it was covered in X's.

Wrong. You failed, Monroe. You did not pass the exam. An X means wrong, you failed. The cross reminds us that we are not right with God. When we come to the cross, we are confronted with our own failure. We sang O Holy Night, a wonderful song, but the problem is we are not holy, we are unholy, we mess up, we have failed. And, the cross reminds us that the standard is not other people's, the standard is God.

And, God has a holy standard, and God is perfect. And as I come to the cross, I am reminded that I have failed, and therefore the cross is a place of confession of sin. One word for that is repentance. A biblical word of repentance. I'm to repent. I'm to turn from my sin.

I'm to acknowledge that I've done wrong. And, the cross then reminds us — the cross, which is a very symbol of Christianity, reminds us of the seriousness of sin. And, it reminds us how God looks on us. Now, when I say that, some people regard to talk about sin as negative. Some churches have eliminated sin. Who wants to hear about sin, and failure, and negativity? Let's be positive people.

Another huge mistake, of course. You say, well, John, you're being judgmental if you say that I have sinned. Well, look at it this way. When you go to your doctor, and she diagnoses an illness, do you say she's judgmental? She's not judging you.

She's not condemning you. But rather, as a professional, is pointing out that you have a problem. You have a physical problem, but there is a cure. But if you don't acknowledge your problem, you in fact are condemning yourself.

The problem is going to get worse and worse if it's not addressed. And before you can take the cure, whether you have the operation or the medication, there has to be acknowledgement that I'm ill, and I have to face the reality of my illness. And then the doctor points me to the cure. At the cross, we learn our spiritual diagnosis.

That's difficult to hear. Who wants to hear the doctor give a diagnosis that there's something wrong with us? Listen to the diagnosis of God. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have a spiritual illness, and it can only be remedied at the cross of Christ. He is the Savior.

That's the good news. But before receiving the cure, I have to humble myself and acknowledge that I, John Monroe, I'm a sinner, that I have failed, I have come short, I've messed up my life. The cross is a place of confession, a place of meeting, a place of confession. Thirdly, the cross is a place of love. You send a text, you send a letter, you send a card, and you put an X on it.

What does that mean? It means I love you. And as we come to the cross, it is true we see the seriousness of our sin, but at the cross there is this magnificent declaration from God, I love you. We all want to be loved, isn't it?

Don't we? Love gives great meaning to life. To love someone and to be loved are the most exhilarating experiences of human existence. And as I come to the cross, I see there that God looks at me, yes, a sinful person, but declares His love for me. In fact, the Bible tells us, John, the rider of love, says that when Jesus came, that when God sent His Son, as we're celebrating at Christmas, when God sent His Son from the glory of heaven into this world, He did not send His Son to condemn the world.

That's good news, isn't it? But that through Him, we might be saved. That Jesus is the Savior. The cross is a place of love. The cross tells me that Jesus loves me. Here is the Apostle Paul, once a persecutor of the church, once hated Jesus Christ, once he wanted all Christians dead, and then he's gloriously converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he writes that God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

How wonderful. He also says the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. When does He give Himself for me? At the cross that Jesus comes as the Savior, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. When Jesus comes into the world, it's a demonstration of the love of God, and I see that in all of His magnificence. Nowhere do I understand the love and the depth and the extent of the love of God as at the cross. Have you come?

A place of meeting, a place of confession, a place of love. Finally, the cross is a place for decision. An X on a voting ballot means that you have decided. You've made up your mind. You've looked at various options, various ideas, and finally, it's time to make a decision. And you go and you put a cross against a certain candidate. You've made up your mind. You've made a decision. Do you know that the cross, that cross is a place where you make a decision.

Have you made that decision? At the cross, you see Jesus Christ the Savior dying for our sins. The Bible tells us He was then buried, and on the third day He rose again.

He is a God who is alive, a God who has conquered death, a God who in Jesus Christ offers us eternal life, has done it all, but has to be received by us as a gift. In my search for God, I then come to that place of meeting at the cross. At the cross, I confess my sin. I repent of my sin. At the cross, I see the wonder of the love of God, that He loved me, the cheapest of sinners.

Not that I deserve it, but because God is a God of love and commends His love for us, but now there must be, yes, must be a personal response. So the Bible says that you must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You must receive Christ. You must personally place your faith in Jesus Christ. The cross calls us to trust Jesus Christ, not just as the Savior, but as my Savior.

The cross calls me for a decision. Do you understand that? It's all of God's grace. The Christian message is not a call for you to live better. The Christian message, the gospel, is not a call for you to turn over a new leaf, as it were. The Christian gospel is that all of it has been done.

There's nothing for you to do. We come to the cross with empty hands. We come not saying, well God, I'm going to do better. I've messed up. I'm going to do a new program.

I'm going to really be a better person. That's not the gospel at all. The gospel is that you can do nothing for your salvation. But the wonder of the grace of God is that it's all been done and must be received.

I'm asking you, have you done that? I'm giving you an opportunity this evening, this afternoon, to make that decision to say, I will trust Jesus Christ. For some of you, including myself, this year has been a difficult year, hasn't it? Some of you have experienced great isolation, perhaps job loss, financial pressure, personal problems, failure, loss of a loved one.

And you feel you've had enough. I've got wonderful news that Jesus is the Savior, that He comes and He forgives your sins, but He does much more than that. He is a Savior who never leaves us. His presence is always with us. Every step I've made this year, my Lord Jesus Christ has been with me. Not only are we assured of His presence, we're assured of His power. He says, Paul, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. This is the hope of the Gospel.

No human experience, no philosopher, no political system, nothing in this universe can give you that hope. Eternal presence and eternal power found purely in our magnificent Lord, who is the Savior of the world. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll be saved. I'm going to pray, and I'm going to ask you, if you've never done it, to simply pray, Lord, come. As you come to the cross, come and save me. Lord, I believe you're the Son of God. I confess my sin.

I turn from it. Come and save me. You, the God who died and has — have risen again.

Come and save me. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, will you recommit your life to Him, to love Him more, to tell others about Him, and to thank Him for His eternal presence and power? Lord Jesus, we come, and I pray even now, some will be placing their faith in you, the loving Christ, the Savior of the world. Perhaps some boy, some young woman, some older person, saying I will trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for your grace. Many here are followers of Christ. We tend to get off course. May we once again focus on our magnificent Lord Jesus, the Savior of the world, that we will love Him with all of our hearts. In His name we pray, amen.