“He will save his people from their sin”
The angel Gabriel instructed Joseph to name the Christ-child Jesus because, “…he will save his people from their sins”. (Matthew 1:21) The Greek word for save is “sozo,” which means to rescue from a threat of destruction or calamity – to keep from harm.
If you say to me, “I saved your hide today”, that implies you rescued me from a potential disaster I may not have been aware of. Maybe you spared me personal embarrassment, financial loss or physical harm. When the Bible says Jesus will save us from our sins, that implies that sin has disastrous consequences.
That’s an important reminder because we’re often cavalier about sin. We giggle about sin. We substitute euphemisms for sin. Restaurants advertise desserts as, “a decadent chocolate cake”. A pornographic film industry entitles itself, “Wicked films”. People boast, “I’m bad!’ I saw a tee shirt that read, “lead me not into temptation, I can find it myself.”
But sin is no trifle. It has devastating consequences. The Bible describes Satan as, “…a roaring lion who seeks to devour” us. Jesus warned the enemy comes to, “…kill, steal and destroy” us. Satan is also described as, “crafty” and a deceiver who, “…masquerades as an angel of light”. But make no mistake, in the end, sin always ruins and destroys.
Sin has the potential to destroy you physically. Lung cancer, venereal disease, aids, cirrhosis of the liver, stomach ulcers, heart problems are often the result of sinful activity.
But Jesus came to save your body as the temple of the Holy Spirit and to lead you to a healthier life style. The Lord urges you to, “offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.” (Romans 12:1)
Sin has the potential to destroy you mentally. The Bible says sin causes people to become, “…futile in their thinking and darkened in their understanding. Although they claimed to be wise, they become fools”. (Romans 1:21-22)
The thinking of otherwise brilliant people can become so distorted when it comes to spiritual truth and Godly wisdom. Common sense is abandoned and right and wrong are reversed. Well-educated people applaud the killing of the unborn, endorse sexual behavior that reduces life expectancy by 20%, and appeal for the legalization of drugs that numb the mind. At the same time they ridicule those who stand for Biblical truth and they mock the church, which has consistently ministered to the poor and needy. The Bible says, “The sinful mind is hostile to God”
But Jesus came to save you from the world’s futile thinking and give you wisdom from above. “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6)
Sin has the potential to destroy you emotionally. The guilt of past sins can eat you alive and disturb your conscience to the point where you can’t sleep. An even worse condition occurs when people’s conscience becomes so seared with evil that they feel no remorse and they become capable of fiendish behavior without feeling a twinge of guilt.
A hardened teenager with an automatic weapon enters a grade school classroom and mows down twenty children. The conscience becomes numbed and emotions deadened.
A star quarterback was interviewed after the charges against him of rape were dropped and a one-night-stand was deemed consensual. His response? “This verdict vindicates my character and shows who I really am.” The one-night stand was okay? Really? The prophet Jeremiah lamented the fact that his people had, “lost the ability to blush.”
Jesus can save us from our past sins and quicken our conscience. Simon Peter wrote that when we’re baptized into Christ we are saved, “Not the removal of dirt from the body, but a pledge of a good conscience toward God”. (1 Peter 3:21)
“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
Sin has the potential to destroy you financially. Besides being morally wrong, sin is often financially costly. One man confessed his cocaine habit was costing $200 a day. Another carried on an affair for years while spending $3000 a month to finance an apartment for his mistress. The Prophet Haggai warned, “You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” (Hag. 1:6)
Jesus came to save you from the high cost of the low life. The prodigal son rebelled against his father and ran from home. In the far country of hedonism, he wasted all his money partying. He wound up broke and working for a pig farmer. He was a physical, mental, emotional and financial wreck.
Then the prodigal came to himself and said, “I will go back to my father and ask for forgiveness. Maybe my father will hire me and feed me”. His father saw him coming down the long driveway and ran to save him. The dad embraced the repentant son and instantly reinstated him into the family. The father rescued him from all the consequences of his sinful behavior. Jesus is eager to run to save you too.
The Scripture teaches, “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.” (Galatians 4:4-6)
The most devastating consequence of sin is it has the power to destroy you eternally. The worst calamity that could befall us is to fall under the wrath of God and receive the due penalty for our sins. Jesus said, “If you do not repent you will perish”. He warned that hell is a place, “Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched”. (Mark 9:48)
That’s why we’re so thankful that Jesus came to save his people from the eternal consequences of their sins. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. (John 3:16) “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
Imagine a condemned murderer on death row. He’s to be executed tomorrow morning. But tonight his identical twin brother, a priest comes to visit him in the cell, ostensibly to administer last rites.
But in the seclusion of the cell the two exchange clothes. The murderer walks out free, dressed in the robe of a priest. The next morning the priest goes to the electric chair on behalf of his brother. That wouldn’t be justice, but that would be incredible love.
That’s what Jesus did for us. We are condemned to die in hell for our sins. But Jesus came to the prison of this world to rescue us from sin’s eternal consequences. The prophet Isaiah said he came to “…free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” (Isa. 42:7)
Jesus took our soiled garments of sin and went to the cross to die in our place. There, “God laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) And we walk out free, dressed in the robe of his righteousness. That’s not justice. It’s amazing grace. That’s what Jesus did for you.
That’s what Christmas is about. The name Jesus means, “Yaweh saves”. That’s why we sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord has come!” “His name shall be Jesus, because he came to save his people from their sins.”
