You Shall Call His Name Jesus

Thanks for listening to the latest podcast from Him We Proclaim with Pastor John Fonville. In this special series, we'll explore how the gospel speaks to our identity, our calling, and our confidence in Christ. Drawing from passages in Luke, Matthew, Ephesians, 1 Peter, and Jude, Pastor John unpacks themes like grace and vocation. The power of God's Word and the unshakable assurance we have in Christ's favor and goodness. Whether you're struggling with your calling, seeking clarity on your role in the church, or simply needing encouragement.

These messages will remind you of the sufficiency of Christ and the hope we have in the gospel. This message is called You Shall Call His Name Jesus.

Well, it's Let's see. What is today? It's January the 7th, yes. Maybe the seven I would talk about New Year's resolutions, right?

So let's talk about that for a minute. This past week, Forbes Health published an article entitled, Years resolution statistics 2024. All right. One of the questions that the article answers is How long does the average New Year's resolution last? This is what we have.

The article discovered that it had a poll, and the survey found that the average resolution lasts just 3.74 months. 3.74. Uh 8%. stick with their goals for a month. 22%, two months.

22% three months. 13% four months. But by the eleventh and twelfth months, guess what it is? One percent. Ninety nine percent plus have failed.

It's a very interesting feeling that these resolutions has become so common that we actually have holidays now in our country for this event. January the 17th has been designated ditch new ears and resolution. resolution day.

So we have ten more days for ditch that day coming. The second Friday All right, so next this coming Friday has been designated Twitter's Day. Right, so each uh each year the first First week. I get Tons of uh tons of e. Eight mails flooded into my inbox with articles about Yeah.

uh challenging believers to make resolutions. This year didn't disappoint. All right, so I picked out three of the top ones that I got. Here's the top three that I got. Thirteen resolutions in the spirit.

Uh Jonathan Edwards. All right, so I mean each year Jonathan Edwards, he's at the top. Here's the second. 15 biblical resolutions for you. And your church.

And here's the third one, 10. R resol resolutions to make A minister in leader better.

Okay, so. No, I need those resolutions bad for lots of reasons. But here's the point. There's nothing wrong with making resolutions. Right?

I actually made some this year. and I have stuck with it so far for six days. If we follow the advice of these articles, guess what? We would have 38 resolutions to keep. 38 now.

Based Based on the percentage of those who keep their resolutions. What are the odds of keeping 38? Not too good. Not too good. How about 10?

Not too good. About 15, not too good.

Now, when it comes to our Christian life. We know this. We know what it feels like to be well-intentioned to resolve to this year. I'm gonna pray every day. Uh uh I'm gonna Read my Bible every day.

I'm going to get Serious this year. I'm going to ramp it up and I'm going to be radical for Jesus this year. Right? I'm going to get serious about my walk with the Lord. And then Monday morning hits, and reality sets in.

I'm not going to go back to that sin, my favorite sin. I'm not going to go back to it. I'm not going to do it. resolved I'm not going to go back to that bad habit only to find myself what going back to that bad habit and sinning again We know what this exasperating conflict of these two natures warring within us feels like. This is what Paul talks about in Romans chapter 7.

He says, I'm not practicing what I would like to do. Anybody ever felt like that? But I'm doing the very thing that I hate. Anybody ever felt like that? The good that I want to do, I don't do.

But I practice the very evil that I don't want to do.

Now, I joyfully concur with God's law. In my inner man, yes, I love God's law. Yes, I agree, it's good. I concur with it. But I see this different law in my members and the members of my body waging war.

Against My mind. and make it me a prisoner. I've been sitting in the law of sin. Which is the mind members. And then he cries out, wretched man that I am.

who will set me free from this body of death. Who has not felt that as a Christian? Oh yes, I've got 13 resolutions in the spirit of Jonathan Edwards. And the next day, I'm saying, wretched man that I am. But I've got my 13 resolutions.

You see, here's the problem. As well as intention as our resolutions are. They cannot serve as the basis for in which for which we live the Christian life. And here's the good news from our gospel reading today. There's a better way.

There's a better way to live the Christian life. When January the 1st comes around each year, we don't have to do 13 resolutions in the spirit of Jonathan Edwards. There's a better way. Why? Because the scriptures don't call us to Uh what how do I say it?

Uh uh present ourselves. arrange our life around Personal resolutions. The scriptures call us to focus our whole life. Around Christ, who has fulfilled the law for us. And that's what this gospel reading.

Luke teaches us here today. This is what an author writes about the scripture. He says, you might be in the habit of thinking. of January the 1st as a day for resolutions for the new year. A day to think about what you failed at and what you want to do better.

Says, but the feast of the circumcision points us to something grace-filled. Jesus Christ has already kept God's law for you.

Now We have to back up liturgical calendar because This past this uh past uh Uh Jan January the first. What On our church's calendar, it's called the circumcision. of Christ, the circumcision of Christ is the eighth day of Christmas. The passage in Luke talks about the circumcision of Christ. It says at the end of eight days.

when he was circumcised. Listen to this. He was called Jesus Why? Because this was the name given by the angel before he was conceived. That Verse might not sound explosive and electric like a great passage from January the verse, but it actually is.

It's very good news. Back in Genesis chapter 17, verse 10, the Lord commanded Abraham, he says, Abraham. Every son that you have must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. And Luke says that after the eighth day, Jesus's birth, after Jesus' birth, Mary and Joseph had Jesus Circumcised. He was circumcised.

Now, his circumcision raises some important questions. First of all, what is the significance of Jesus' circumcision? And how does his circumcision relate to our constant failures in the Christian life? Here's the first answer. What's the significance of circumcision?

Circumcision was a bloody ritual that anticipated Christ's. Death.

Now, to understand this bloody ritual of circumcision, you have to go back to the book of Genesis because this is where it comes from.

So turning back to Genesis chapter 12. We have to do this very quickly.

So I apologize if you don't keep up, but you can. Just listen if you can't keep up. But Genesis chapter 12, Genesis chapter 15, Genesis chapter 17 is where this comes from. And this is what we find in these passages. Circumcision served as a sign and seal of God's gracious promise to provide a substitute.

Listen again. Circumcision served as a sign and seal of God's gracious promise. to provide a substitute. Look in Genesis chapter 12. In Genesis chapter 12, in the first three verses, This is what happens.

The Lord makes unconditional promises to Abraham.

Now, this is important because in Galatians chapter 3, verse 8, Paul quotes Genesis chapter 12, verse 3. And he calls these promises made to Abraham the gospel. Beforehand, which means the gospel in promise. All right, so Genesis chapter 12, verse 3 is the gospel in the Old Testament. and promise.

You have to understand this. The Abrahamic covenant. All right? And the Old Testament was the gospel and promise before Jesus came to fulfill it. That's how Old Testament believers were justified before God, as you'll see in Genesis chapter 15.

Genesis chapter 15. We come to Genesis chapter 15. And what the Lord does is he ratifies his unconditional promise with a covenant cutting ceremony. There are two promises that he ratifies. First, The Lord promises to give Abraham an offspring, a son.

Now In Genesis chapter 15 in the story, Abraham is concerned about the Lord's promise because why? He has no children of his own. And so if he doesn't have children, how can he inherit this reward that God has promised him? He can't. In addition to that, both he and Sarah are old and they're past the age of childbearing.

And Paul says in the fourth chapter of Romans says that Sarah's womb was dead. And these promises that the Lord's making to Abraham, it just seems impossible. Abraham has to have assurance of God's promise, and so the Lord takes him outside, verse 5. And he says, Abraham, look towards the heavens and count the stars if you're able to count them. And he said to them, so shall your descendants be.

Abraham, look at those stars. Can you count them? He couldn't.

So shall your descendants be. That's assurance. Verse 6. And it's as he believed in the Lord. And reckoned to him as righteousness.

He was justified by grace through faith in God's promise of Christ to come. That's justification. That is a key verse that throughout the course of redemptive history, the writers of scripture come back to again and again and again. But In addition, God also gives to Abraham a second promise. Abraham is a nomad, he's a wanderer.

And so he says, Abraham, you're going to have land. Verse 8, look at verse 8. Abraham again wants assurance about the Lord's promise. How will this come about? I'm a nomad, I don't have a land, I'm just a wanderer.

And he says, Lord God, how may I know that I'll possess it? No, this is where you have to watch the story because it is amazing what unfolds. To assure Abraham of his promise, the Lord proceeds to make a blood oath. By a covenant. pudding ceremony.

Verse 9 of chapter 15, the Lord says to Abraham, he says, Abraham, bring me a 30-year-old heifer, and a 30-year-old female goat, and a 30-year-old ram. and a turtle dove and a young pigeon. Then verse 10, he brought all these things to him and cut them in two. He cut them in two. And he laid each half of the opposite The other.

Now that just sounds very strange, doesn't it? Abraham says, God gives me assurance. And God says, okay, take the animals and cut them in half and lay them down on either side. But you see Abraham understood this ritual. Because in his day, this is how people made and ratified covenants.

Back in Abraham's day, you had two kings. You had the vassal king, who was a lesser king. You had the suzerain who was the greater king. And typically what would happen was this. Is that the lesser king, the vassal king, which is Abraham?

Right, in the story, he would take an oath. And he wouldn't walk between these severed halves of the animals, or do some other type of ritual in which he would promise to keep the covenants.

So you would cut these animals in two, make a path. And this came would walk through it and he would he would say hey uh I'm going to keep this oath. I'm going to keep this promise. I'm going to keep this covenant. And so this is a gravely serious covenant because the person taking the oath was saying.

Yeah. If I break this covenant, May God make me like these Yeah. animals may I be cut off may I be cut in half may I be Yeah. But here is an amazing twist in the story. in Genesis 15.

The lesser king doesn't walk through the severed halves of the animals. The suzerain, the great king does. This great king is the Lord Himself, Yahweh, right? The Lord, the suzerain, the great king, and he assumes the full obligations to fulfill his promise, symbolized in this covenant ritual. walking by himself through these severed halves of these animals.

And what does that tell Abraham? By God Himself walking through the severed halves, the Lord takes this blood oath. and he invokes death upon himself. If he should fail to fulfill his promise to Abraham. That's assurance.

What does Abraham do? Look at verse 12. He falls into a very deep sleep. He doesn't do anything. He sleeps at night deep.

Sleep. He doesn't walk through the carcasses. He doesn't make any pledges. He doesn't make any promises. He doesn't call anything down upon his own head.

He sleeps. There are no obligations imposed upon Abraham in this covenant. Instead of Abraham walking through the severed halves of the animals, the Lord substitutes himself. And he makes this unconditional covenant of promise and he ratifies it with this oath. This mullah Oath.

That's Genesis chapter 15.

Now, Genesis chapter 17. In Genesis chapter 17, the Lord comes back to Abraham and he reminds him of the promises that he made to him. And he commands that this sign of the covenant, circumcision, be given to Abraham and to his descendants. Why? Because this bloody ritual of circumcision signified God's covenant with Abraham when God walked between the bloody Yeah.

Again, instead of Abraham walking through the severed halves of the animals, the Lord substitutes himself. And what does circumcision function as? Circumcision functions as God's gracious promise. to provide a substitute. Now, as we come to the New Testament.

We ultimately see that circumcision was a was a bloody ritual. that anticipated Christ's death. Paul makes this connection very clear in Colossians chapter 2, verses 11 and 12. Listen to what Paul says. He says In him, you also In him, you are also circumcised with a circumcision without hands.

in the removal of the body of flesh by the Circumcision of Christ. Have been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. What is Paul saying? He's saying, circumcision, Circumcision that God gave to Abraham anticipated Christ's death. And he says baptism looks back to Christ's death.

And so what was circumcision? Circumcision was this typological sacrament of the Abrahamic covenant, which was the gospel in the Old Testament. And it was this typological sacrament was fulfilled by Christ's substitutionary death on the cross for our sins. It was the circumcision of Christ at Calvary. And so the blood of circumcision, just like the blood of the bulls and lambs and goats of the Mosaic covenant, pointed forward to the final once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God.

crucified on the cross for our sins. That's the context. That's the context in Luke chapter 2, verse 21. That's where it comes from. Jesus on the eighth day was circumcised.

But here's the question: What's the significance? Why? Luke tells us In verse 21. He emphasizes this truth.

Well how? in the name given to this circumcised child. He says I think end of eight days when he was circumcised. He was called Jesus. It was named given by the angel before he was conceived.

And a moon.

So, so important was this name, the both Mary. And Joseph were instructed to give this child, their child. To give that child. This name. Back in chapter 1, verse 31 of Luke, the angel Gabriel announced at Mary, he says, Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son.

And you shall cut. Paul his name. Jesus In the first chapter of Matthew, verse 21, the angel Gabriel announces to Joseph, she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. Why? for he will save his people from their sins.

That's the significance of circumcision. Why? Because the name Jesus is equivalent to the Hebrew Yeshua, which is what? Joshua. What does that mean?

It means this. Yahweh, the Lord, saves. In Acts chapter 4, verse 12, Peter and John ascribe this exclusive right of salvation to Jesus. He says there's salvation in no one else. For there is no other name.

Under heaven, that has been given among men by which we must be. Says that. That's powerful. What Peter and John are saying is that they're saying Jesus is Yeshua, Jesus is Joshua, Jesus is Yahweh, He's the Lord. He is the God of the Old Testament.

In flesh. Come to save. What is Luke saying to us? He's saying that Jesus... He hasn't listened Lord who substituted himself for Abraham.

He is the God who walked through the severed halves of the animals by himself. and called down a blood-oath death upon himself. Luke tells us that Jesus was born to be circumcised. That's what we sang today. He was the maker made to die.

He was born to be circumcised. He was born to die on the cross to save his people from their sins. Luke tells us that Jesus came to fulfill this typological sacrament, to fulfill circumcision. He came to offer himself as our bloody circumcision on the cross. Why?

For our continual failure to not keep our resolve. Our resolutions. our failures, our constant failures. What do my constant failures tell me? Yeah.

What does it say about all of us that we need a substitute, someone who doesn't fail? That we need someone who can keep his resolve. Perfectly. That I need someone outside of myself to live a kind of life for me that I've not been able to live. And do for me what I've not been able to do.

And that's what Luke says Jesus did on the eighth day. He was circumcised.

He fulfilled the whole thing. And he was given the name Jesus. Why? To save me. from my sins.

Isaiah chapter 53, verse 8, which we hear each week as we receive Holy Communion. Listen to what the prophet Isaiah says. He says he was cut off. Do you know that word cut off is. Circumcision.

Isaiah the prophet. centuries before Jesus would die on the cross has already told us that Jesus would be circumcised. Listen, he was cut off out of the land of the living. Why? for the transgression of my people.

Jesus was circumcised on the cross. For our transgressions, our transgressions. It was our transgressions that rested on him. He was cut off for the transgression of my people. He was given the name Jesus to save his people from their sins.

It must be. It was my sin. It was our sin. It was our failures to keep our resolutions to be faithful to keep His holy law. That produced our guilt that was upon him that had to be removed.

And Jesus was circumcised. He died on the cross. It was his circumcision. He died to bear the law's curse. deliver me from it.

And so the good news is this: this morning, that we. have been freed from the power of sin and the guilt of sin. How often do we feel like we are still slaves to sin? Powerless. Right?

To obey, powerless to overcome. Listen carefully. You're not. You have been freed from the power of sin. You have been freed from the guilt of sin.

There is therefore now, say it with me, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. None. When you fell. As a Christian, you're not condemned and you're not powerless. Two things that the enemy does to keep us from obedience.

You can't do it. You don't have any power. And second, you're guilty. Until your conscience is freed from guilt, you can't obey. You're not guilty.

We have sung that this morning. That's why I was very, very tempted. to sing it again. And we just might do it. At the end, one more time.

Why? Because No More That I Oh. Um. I don't know what There's nothing. His righteousness is mine.

He has delivered me from the curse of God's law forever. Because he was given this name. Jesus, the Lord, saves his people from their sins. Plural, past, present, future. All of them.

And so now that we are dead to the guilt and power of sin, we're free to obey. You see, because circumcision didn't just point to Christ's death, it also pointed to the need of a new heart, a circumcised heart that actually obeys. And guess what? In the salvation that Christ provides, He doesn't just save us from the power and guilt of sin. He gives us new hearts in salvation.

That obeys. Listen to what? Moses tells the people of Israel. Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 6. The Lord your God will circumcise your heart.

And the heart of your descendants, why? You love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul so that you may live. The Lord's promise to circumcise our hearts indicates that circumcision of the flesh was never just about the cutting away of the outward flesh. Circumcision was always under the types and shadows about our need for a new heart. A new life of obedience.

And God's circumcision of our hearts enables that obedience because that is part of the salvation that He gives. He doesn't just give us justification, but He also gives us faith. Sanctification. which is his work of grace. which delivers us continually from the power of sin.

The collect appointed for the circumcision of Christ, which I kind of. Went backwards, don't tell the bishop he's coming here next month. I went backwards on our church calendar to preach this message because it's just so good. And we don't meet here on January the 1st. But then listen to the colic, the circumcision of Christ.

Almighty God, who caused your blessed Son to be circumcised and obedient to Who they'll awe for mankind. Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit. Why? So that our hearts and bodies. Being dead to all sinful desires, we may obey your holy will in all things.

Through Jesus, your Son, Ironwood. That's exactly right. And so when we reflect on the circumcision of Jesus today, we see that we have been freed from the power and guilt of sin by the death of Christ, which circumcision. anticipated the whole time. And circumcision tells us that we've been given new hearts to obey.

Yet Here's the reality, right? Here's January the 1st. Here's my resolution. 3.74 months, it's gone. Here's a reality.

I have been given a new heart. Though I have been free from the power of sin, though I have been freed from the guilt of my sin forever. I continue to sin. Don't I? I continue to fail.

We don't always remain faithful to our resolutions. But we do those things which, apart from Christ, would call down God's curse and condemnation upon us forever. And even our best deeds as Christians are stained with sin. And our consciousness know that. And our consciences will constantly bring accusations against us.

Every single time we fail. That's why you can't orient your life around personal resolutions. Because you're not going to keep them. At some point, you're going to fail. And when you fail, your conscience is going to go, see?

You failed. Your failure. And that's what you're going to hear. You're guilty, that's what you're going to hear. And if you're guilty, you're guilty, you're guilty, what are you going to do?

You're not going to obey. You're not going to love God. You're not going to be excited about the Christian life because you're just going to be walking around. I'm a failure. I'm guilty.

And so what is our response? You can make resolutions, make them. As I said, I made a couple. I've done it for six days so far. I will fail at some point.

That's okay though. Because they're not, they don't have anything to do with God's moral law. It's just my personal laws. And I can't even keep personal laws, let alone God's. But what is it when it comes to God's law?

And I failed to keep it perfectly, even though I can, but I still fail. What's our response? Here's the safe response. Here's how you live 2024. All right, 2025.

2026. the rest of your life. This is your response. It's not to double down on your personal resolutions. Just try harder.

Grin and Barrett, pull myself up by my bootstraps, and just try doubly hard. It's not that. Here's a safe response. Plead guilty. Just plead guilty.

That's what we're about to do here in just a couple minutes. Yeah. to those accusations without trying to minimize them. I'm guilty? Yes, I did it.

I feel miserable for it. Lord, I confess it to you fully, thought, word, and deed. I am. Guilty. Don't minimize it.

Having done that, don't stay there. You have to go back to the gospel. And remind yourself that because of Christ's bloody circumcision on the cross, the curse of God's law is not against you for those things. You have to go there. You have to camp there.

So, if you're going to resolve this year, resolve to camp at Christ's bloody circumcision on the cross. Stay there. Orient your life around that. Because the curse of God's law no longer has a claim against you. Cannot touch you.

And then, in grateful response to the salvation you've been given. We set ourselves Apart to God, that's what we heard this morning from Romans 12. Offer your entire bodies, all of you, as a living sacrifice to God that is acceptable and pleasing to Him. And go serve others. Set yourself to put to death by the power of the Holy Spirit those very sins for which your conscience condemns you.

This is what I just said as we finish. Guilt. Grace. Gratitude. That's the paradigm.

That never changes. That's how we orient our life. Forever. Guilt. Grace.

Gratitude. And we can do this because our salvation includes a circumcised heart. A new heart. If any man be in Christ, he is that he. New creation.

The old has passed away. Behold, all things have become new. And we go forth in the power of the Spirit by the grace of God, obeying. Not to gain his favor. But because of the bloody circumcision of Christ, Jesus, Yahweh, has walked through those severed halves of those animals by himself.

and taken that curse, taken our sin upon himself and freed us forever.

so that we can have a new heart. and new life. New beginnings. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are faithful to your seemingly impossible promises.

Thank you that you take us in our total weakness. and constantly show yourself strong. strong and mighty to save.

So turn our hearts, we pray. to Christ. And comfort our hearts and assure our hearts as we partake of your sacrament today, and we ask in Jesus' name. Mm-hmm. John Fawnville sends his thanks for listening today.

And before we wrap up, can I tell you about an encouraging book you might want to get soon? It's called Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity. You're not alone if you've tried to conquer sexual temptations and tried all the methods available, only to find yourself feeling defeated again. This book may be just what you're looking for. With his shepherding heart, John shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God's provision for the power to live a life of sexual purity.

and it's available to every Christian. What I like is the book is available in three convenient ways. paperback, audiobook, or Kindle. The links are in our podcast descriptions, or just search for Hope and Holiness by John Fawnville on Amazon. to get a copy for you and it's a wonderful book to go through with a small group.

Him We Proclaim is a ministry of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can find us at Paramountchurch.com. We'll talk again soon.