Amazing Savior

Welcome to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. We've been listening through Pastor Robert's series Amazing Grace, and today he concludes this series with a message about our amazing Savior.

I'm your host, Janae, and I'm here with co-host Patrick. Hey, guys. Well, earlier in this series, Pastor Robert talked about how amazing salvation is, but this message is a little bit different. It's about our need for a Savior. And this is such a great message. Pastor Robert uses examples from the Old Testament to explain his points and has a couple of eye-opening illustrations for us.

Absolutely. You know, I love when Pastor Robert uses Old Testament examples in Scripture to explain New Testament things. It really gives you an idea of the unity and completeness of God's Word. Through Pastor Robert's teaching, I definitely see the Bible as a more complete unit. Everything in it, from Genesis to Revelation, points to our need for a Savior and God's love and grace in giving us Jesus.

Absolutely. You know, I'm looking forward to getting into the final message of this Amazing Grace series, so let's dive in. The title of this message is Amazing Savior. Amazing Savior. And I was praying and asking the Lord how He wanted me to end this series, and I'm not sure whether people understand how great our Savior is and how much we needed saving and how much we still need saving and how wonderful the Savior is. When you talk about amazing grace, it's because we have an amazing Savior.

So let me give you an illustration before we get in the Word. What if you were drowning and someone, you didn't know how to swim, and someone saved you? And you're now standing on the shore. You're out of the water. You're safe. You've got a blanket around you. You've been saved. You were drowning.

You thought your life was ending. Would you be happy? Sure you would. But let me give you a little more to help us understand how happy we should be. What if this Savior said, I want you to understand, too, you never have to fear drowning again because I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.

I will be with you every moment of every day for the rest of your life. Would that make you happy as well? See, the problem is that some of us learn to swim. And we begin to think, well, we probably wouldn't need the Savior now. The only problem with that is that you don't understand how great your sin really is. It's like the ocean.

And we can drop you off in the middle of the ocean, and I don't care how well you can swim. You know what you need? You need a Savior. See, we have a Savior.

Let me say it again, because at some point in this message, you're going to catch this. We have a Savior. The reason we're happy is because we have a Savior. And if you don't know it, you need saving.

Now, if you're married, you could simply ask your spouse how much you need saving. But you still need saving to this day. And we have this wonderful Savior. So before we get to Joshua 5, let me show you just a few other scriptures that actually tie into this season as well about Jesus being our Savior. Luke 2, verse 11. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. 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. The reason he's called that is because he's a Savior. Now, Jesus is the Greek word for Yeshua, but it means Savior.

As a matter of fact, I'll show it to you straight out of the Lunata Greek lexicon. Jesus is a Greek transliteration for the Hebrew name Joshua. And even Joshua is the English way we would say Yeshua, the Hebrew name. Now, I don't want to burst your bubble, but just so you know, Jesus was never called Jesus when he was on this earth. That's a Greek name. He wasn't called Jesus until about the 17th century, by the way. Man, it seems like I just let the air out of the room.

I'm sorry. He was called Yeshua. Right? That's his Hebrew name. It's called Yeshua. But it's okay that his adopted family calls him Jesus because they tried to say, No, his name is Yeshua. I can't say Yeshua. Okay, say Jesus then.

All right, Jesus. But Jesus means, in the Greek, it means Savior. Yeshua in Hebrew means God is salvation. And we say it, Joshua.

That's the way we would say it in English. My oldest son's name is Joshua. There were two prominent Joshuas in the Old Testament. One was the captain of Israel who led them into the promised land. The other, and that's Joshua 5, the other in Zechariah was the high priest, now get this, who led them back into the promised land after they'd been in Babylonian captivity 70 years. And God decides to name his son Yeshua.

And there are two prominent ones. One leads them in the promised land and one leads them back in the promised land after they've blown it. I hope you're seeing grace here because you've blown it. Again, if you're married, ask your spouse if you can't remember when you blew it.

And especially if you're the man, you can ask her and she can actually give you dates and times. So let me show you from these two Old Testament Joshuas what the New Testament Joshua does. All right, here are two things. Number one, he saves us from the dominion of sin. He saves us from the dominion, the power, the authority, the rulership of sin. Now when I said Joshua and there are two prominent in the Old Testament, you probably thought of the first one, Moses' successor. What you might not know is that his mother never called him Joshua. His mother didn't name him Joshua. Let me show it to you and we'll get to Joshua 5 in a minute, by the way.

Let me show it to you. Numbers 13 verse 16 says, These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshia, the son of Nun, Joshua. Now it's a little easier in the old King James.

I like it how it reads even better. It says, And Moses called Hoshia, or Oshua, the son of Nun, Jehoshua. Jehoshua. In other words, he was named Hoshua, which means salvation. Moses adds the J-e to it, which is short for Jehovah. Many Hebrew words did that and here's what it means now, God is salvation. This is wonderful to me because God gave the law through Moses and that Moses said, but that's not enough.

The only way we're going to get there is that God is our salvation. So his name was Jehoshua. And then you think, well, how did he be called Joshua? Well, if you say it fast a few times, you'll figure it out. Jehoshua, Jehoshua, Jehoshua, Joshua, Joshua, Joshua. And maybe his mother did actually call him that and that's how it got because she just started saying, Joshua, get in here.

I don't know. But he's Moses' successor. And what did Moses give us?

The law. John 1 17 says, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. And just Jesus Christ here would be Yeshua, Hamashiach.

Yeshua, the Messiah. By the way, this word, but, is not in the original language here. Just so you know, because it's such a contrast, almost like the law is bad, but it's not there.

Basically, it's two statements in Greek. The law came through Moses, period. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. So the law is not bad.

Why? Because the law leads us to God is salvation. That's what the law does. Paul tells us that over and over.

No, the law is not bad. It leads us to God is salvation. It leads us to Yeshua, you see. Now, so let me show you in Joshua chapter 5.

Here's something really amazing to me. The earthly Joshua met the heavenly Joshua. Joshua met Yeshua.

Watch this. Joshua 5 verse 13. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked and behold a man, capital M by the way, because it's referring to Jesus.

A man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him. Now, if this had been me, it would have said, and Robert went the other way. But Joshua went to him. And he said to him, now this is a great question, are you for us or for our adversaries? So he said, no, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I am now come. And Joshua fell on his face through the earth and worshiped and said to him, what does my Lord say to his servant? Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.

And Joshua did so. By the way, what makes it holy is God's there. It's what made the ground where the burning bush was holy because God's there. That's what makes our services holy because the presence of God is here. Okay, but I love Jesus's answer.

And somehow we just read over it because we missed the first word. Joshua said, are you for us or for them? And Jesus said, no. No. I remember a while back, I got a telephone call at home and we're on that no call list, but every now and then, you know, a telemarketer gets through. And this person was very excited and shared with me that I'd won a free cruise.

But in order to upgrade my room, it was going to be $300 per person for the free cruise. And then the person said this, would you like to put that on MasterCard or Visa? You know what my answer was? No.

That's what happens here. Are you for us or for them? Here's what he said, no. Let me say it another way. He said, Joshua, I didn't come to take sides. I came to take over. And I'm not here to get on your side.

I'm here to get you on the winning side, which is my side. And Joshua takes his shoes off. Now, a lot of people don't realize what this means. In other words, he gave up his right. I know I have the right.

I know I'm next in line, but I'm going to give up my right. Okay, listen. This is so important for us to understand. The way sin does not have dominion over you is you take your shoes off to the commander of the Lord's army.

That's the way. You submit to him as the king of your life and his grace. The problem is that many of us put our shoes back on and start believing we can do it on our own. We know we need a Savior when someone shares the gospel with us for that first or second or third time and we finally comprehend it. We say, I need a Savior.

But 10, 20 years later, 30, after we've grown and we've taken classes and now we actually teach the classes, we might not think we need a Savior as much. I'm just wondering, think about the Father sitting here and Jesus here and you're here. And the Father says to Jesus, now, tell me again how you saved Robert?

And I'd say, well, I'll tell you. Let me tell you about all that I've done. Are you all following me? No, I'm here because the Savior saved me.

Are you with me? For those of you just tuning in, you're listening to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. Today, Pastor Robert is concluding his amazing grace series.

If you've missed the earlier messages in the series, you can find them and many other messages online at pastorrobert.com. You know, Janae, I did not know about Joshua and Jesus' names, that Jesus is the Greek name for Yeshua, which is Hebrew for our English name, Joshua. It definitely offers some cool insight into some Old Testament Joshua's and how their lives and purpose were similar to that of Jesus.

Yeah, that was great to learn more about them. You know, I also loved the insight from Joshua's conversation with Jesus about how Jesus didn't come to take sides. He came to take over. And to win, Joshua needed to remove his shoes, basically giving up his rights. And Pastor Robert hit it home when he said that we too are called to take our shoes off, to give up our rights, and to submit to Christ.

Only that submission and giving up of rights offers us freedom from the dominion of sin. You know, his warning to us was so clear too, to not be tempted to put your shoes back on again. No matter how long you've been a Christian or how fully you've been forgiven and delivered, you still need a Savior. Like he said in the very beginning of the message, we are all drowning in a sea of sin. Even if we think we're good to go, we have to remember that no one is perfect. And that can maybe sound a little defeating at first, but the more I think about it, the more it's a relief.

Absolutely. Salvation doesn't come from being perfect. It comes from believing in the perfect one. Yeah, and the rest is God's grace.

That's what this whole series has been about. Well, there's more Pastor Robert has to say about why we need a Savior. So let's jump in one more time. So he saves us from the dominion of sin.

Here's number two. He saves us from the guilt of sin. Okay, now Zachariah 3, if you're there, Zachariah 3, verse 1. It says, Then he showed me Joshua the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord. Now, most of you have been here for a while and you're familiar with biblical language. When it refers to the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, it's referring to Jesus. The angel of the Lord visited Abraham and Sarah and said, at this time next year, I will return to you and you will have a child. It's Jesus. And we know that through.

You can study that yourself and see it. The angel of the Lord. Joshua the high priest is standing before it.

Joshua the high priest. And Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. Notice Satan is always there to accuse the brethren. And the Lord said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you Satan.

That's good news right there. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is this not, referring now to Joshua, a brand plucked from the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments. Please see the wonderful picture of salvation here.

It's so clear. And was standing before the angel. Then he answered and spoke to those who stood before him saying, take away the filthy garments from him. Take away.

Take notice, not just take off, but take them away. And to him, he said, see, he's explaining what he's just done. I have removed your iniquity from you. And I will clothe you with rich robes. And Isaiah 61, 10 tells us those robes are robes of righteousness.

Right standing with God. I'll remove your iniquity and I'll clothe you with my righteousness. If you look on down at verse nine, I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. And Psalm 103, 12, as far as the East is from the West, so far as he removed our transgressions from us.

Okay. This is grace. This is what our high priest does. He removes our filthy rags. Even our righteousness is as filthy rags. He removes our sin, our iniquity. I have removed your iniquity.

He says it right there. I have removed your iniquity. Now I was reading through, you're probably 10 or 12 years ago. I was battling through still, the church is growing, I was battling through a lot of guilt and shame because of my past. And I was reading through Romans in another version and it says in that version, he has declared us not guilty.

He has declared us not guilty. And without realizing it, I kind of went like this and just kind of went on. And the Lord said to me, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait a minute.

What is that? Like that. And so I said to the Lord, I said, Lord, I know that you've declared me not righteous. I mean, I'm not guilty. I know you've declared me not guilty. And I appreciate that. I thank you for that. And I know you've declared me not guilty, but you and I know the truth.

That's what I said. But I mean, you and I know I really am guilty. But you've declared me not guilty.

And I appreciate that, but I know I really am guilty. And it was as if I had angered him, that I had insulted him. And he very forcefully in my spirit, not out loud, very in my spirit, he said to me, I am not unjust.

I was strong. And he said, and I am not a liar. And I said, well, Lord, I didn't call you a liar. He said, yes, you did. You just said that I said something that's not true. You said I have declared you not guilty, but you really are guilty.

And he said, you need to understand something. I couldn't do that. I couldn't say you are not guilty unless you are not guilty. I mean, it was so strong in my spirit. So I said, well, Lord, I don't understand this then because I know I am guilty. How would you declare me not guilty?

He said, you still don't get it, do you? He said, I removed your sin. I removed your sin. I took your sin off of you. And he said, here's the reason that I declared you not guilty is because I took your sin, all of it, off of you, and I put it on my son. And I declared him guilty. And he died in your place. And when I look at you, I don't see sin because I have removed it. And so I can legally and justly declare you not guilty.

You're not guilty. So we have to understand that's what grace is. Our amazing Savior took our iniquity. One of my favorite Scriptures may not be a favorite for you, but it's Hebrews 7.25. It says, therefore, he is also able, now watch this, to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

He is able to save to the uttermost. Now, I want you to think for a moment about these two Joshua's. One leads the people into the Promised Land. The other leads the people back into the Promised Land after they've fallen. I just want you to know that your Savior is able to lead you back even when you mess up.

That's how good he is. I have another friend that went to college with Bill and with me, and he became a pastor, went into the ministry like Bill and I did, and then he'd come out of a pretty bad life, and then in the ministry, he succumbed to pressure, and he began drinking again, and eventually went back to drugs, lost his marriage, lost his family, lost his ministry, and for about 20 years lived a very immoral life. A few years back, he said to someone, I'd like to talk to Robert again. I'd like to just catch up with him, see how he's doing, but he had no intention of coming back to God. By the way, what he does is he makes movies in Hollywood.

That's what he does now. So he'd lost everything, not walking with God. So a few years ago, I get in touch with him, and he says, hey, I'm gonna be in Dallas, and I said, well, let's get together, and I said, hey, would you come to church with me? And he tells me like he said, yeah, I'll come. And later he told me, he said, I really thought it'd be a show. He said, I thought, how could a church that large be for real? It'd just be a show.

I'll go. But you know what happened when he got here. It wasn't a show. And the presence of God touched him. He repented, came back to the Lord. This Thursday, just a few days ago, I talked to him. He said, I've been sober nine and a half years now. And this fall, he preached for the first time again in a church since he fell awake.

You know why? Because the same Yeshua that saves us is the same Yeshua that can bring us back even when we fall. He's a Savior. He's an amazing Savior. What a story, and what a message. It truly is amazing how God can lead us back into the Promised Land, even after we've fallen and no matter how many times we've fallen.

Absolutely. You know, and I'd like to mention something Pastor Robert said earlier, that God is able to save to the uttermost. I recently looked at that word, and I found out that in the Greek, it means unlimited duration of time, forever and always. You know, I think knowing this definition brings even more weight to God's grace in saving us. For everyone listening, we encourage you to take a moment to think about what Pastor Robert shared and really listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. Today's message concluded this amazing grace series. If you would like to get a copy of this series or any of the messages in this series, visit pastorrobert.com or call 833-933-WORD.

You can get the complete eight-part series to share with a friend, coworker, or family member. So be sure to visit pastorrobert.com or call 833-933-WORD. You can also follow Pastor Robert on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Be sure to join us next time as Pastor Robert starts a new series.

Well, thank you so much for listening and your support. We pray that you have a blessed week. We pray that you have a blessed day. We pray that you have a blessed day.