Josh Howerton - Jesus Came to Save His People (01/12/2026)
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Summary:
In this Christmas Eve message from Matthew 1, the preacher highlights Joseph’s perspective on the birth of Jesus, emphasizing that His Hebrew name «Yeshua» means «the Lord saves,» directly revealing His mission. The central idea is not to miss the profound meaning of Christmas: Jesus came not to condemn sinners but to save them from their sins, as humanity cannot rescue itself from guilt and failure. The conclusion calls everyone to experience a «personal Christmas» by receiving Jesus as Savior, recognizing that we—all broken and in need—are the true reason for the season.
Welcome to Christmas Eve
It’s good to see you. Listen, man, this is the last service on Christmas Eve. Y’all are the real ones; this is the one. Man, I do want to do this. Let me just say this: these are my favorite services every year. Someday, hopefully many years from now, when I can’t do this anymore, this is what I will miss by far the most. I just want to say this: I know that we have thousands—we have thousands of people across all of our campuses—who may have never been to Lake Pointe before, and you’re like, «What did I get myself into?» Lake Pointe family, can you help me show our guests how honored we are that they’re here? Let’s do that! Man, that’s right.
Don’t Miss the Meaning
Well, hey, I don’t have as much time as usual, so I want to talk to you for a few minutes about not missing the meaning. Don’t miss the meaning! Let me lead into it. So, there was a story about three women who died in a car accident at the same time and all went to heaven together. They were greeted by St. Peter, who explained that there was only one rule for heaven: don’t step on the ducks. That was the rule—don’t step on the ducks. So, Lady One gets in, and sure enough, as soon as she gets in, it’s like a sea of ducks. It’s almost impossible not to step on a duck.
Sure enough, Lady One, Day One makes a misstep and steps on a duck. Immediately, Peter appears with a chain and the ugliest man she has ever seen, and he explains that her penalty for stepping on a duck is that she’ll be chained to this hideous man for all eternity. So, on Day Two, Lady Two makes the exact same mistake, stepping on a duck. Consistency is key! Peter is there with a chain and the hideous man and explains, «Your penalty is that you’re going to be chained to this man for all eternity.»
Well, Lady Three, she was no dummy. For months, she was incredibly careful, making sure to have no missteps, and she went months without ever stepping on a duck. Then, eventually, out of nowhere, Peter appears with a chain and the most gorgeous dude she had ever seen—tall, with long eyelashes, muscular; a Hallmark movie character come to life. He chains her to this man and just disappears. She’s dumbfounded. She’s blinking and looks at the man, saying, «I don’t know what I did to deserve being chained to you.» He says, «Well, I don’t know what you did, but I stepped on a duck.»
Now, listen, that’s a delayed reaction. It kind of rolls around the room, is what happens on that one. The reason I tell that story is that sometimes it’s easy to miss the meanings from heaven. Easy to miss meanings.
Journey to Bethlehem
Here’s what I want to do: I want to take us on a journey to Bethlehem. Let’s go on a journey to Bethlehem, and I just want to point this out: I’ve been there before. Bethlehem literally means «House of Bread, » and Jesus said that He was the «Bread of Life.»
So the «Bread of Life» was born in the «House of Bread.» Come on, man, that’s legit! And can I just settle this before we all go home and eat? Let me just settle this: based on «Bread of Life» and «House of Bread, » can we all decide to be done with the «bread is bad for you» foolishness? Can we? We’re just deciding that, right? Jesus did not pray, «Give us this day our daily kale!» He did not say He was the «broccoli of life.» He was the «Bread of Life» born in the «House of Bread.» We’re going to eat carbs to the glory of God for the next two days.
We’re going to go on a journey to Bethlehem, and we’re going to go in a place that you’re not used to going. There are actually four Christmas stories in the Bible, all told from four different vantage points. The first one is in Revelation. I know that’s confusing for some of you. You started reading Revelation as a new Christian, got to the part about dragons eating babies, and you were like, «I didn’t know they dropped acid in ancient Rome!» I had no idea, man, what’s going on? Most of Revelation is not revelation about the future; it’s revelation about what’s been going on behind the scenes throughout human history in the supernatural.
So Revelation 12 is the Christmas story told from the vantage point of eternity. The other one is John Chapter 1: «In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.» That is the Christmas story told from God’s vantage point. The third one, where most people go at Christmas, is in Luke Chapter 2. It’s the longest Christmas story account and is told from the vantage point of Mary. Now, the one we’re going to be in today is in Matthew—Matthew Chapter 1. It’s the shortest account and is told from Joseph’s perspective, which is why it’s shorter than the account in Luke Chapter 2. You know how it is; ask a dude, «How was your day?» «Good.» Ask Joseph, «What happened at the first Christmas?» «Jesus born.» Done. That’s all he’s got to say.
Honoring Joseph
I just want to point this out: can we just give Joseph some love? Jesus was not Joseph’s biological father, but as a good and righteous man, he adopts Jesus as his son, stands by him, and raises him as his own boy. Let’s give Joseph some love because there are dads all throughout our church who are doing that with someone in your life. We forget the example of Joseph, and sometimes we forget how scandalous Joseph’s story was. Just think about this: you’re a teenage dude with a likely teenage bride, and one day she just shows up. She says, «Joe, I’m pregnant.» If he’s anything like me, he was probably like, «What’s his name?» And Mary just has to go, «Well, an angel said that I was pregnant by the Holy Spirit.» I think Joseph was like, «Girl, you crazy!»
But check this out: a lot of times we talk about the faith of Mary. How about the faith of Joseph? An angel appears, gives him a word from the Lord, and he believes it. He goes, «I believe.» He stands by his girl, walks with her, adopts Jesus, and raises him. How about Joseph’s faith? How about that? So what Joseph does here is what I want to read to you. This is what the angel said to Joseph when he came to him. Let me read this:
This is Matthew 1: «But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and watch this: you will give him the name Jesus, for he will save his people.’»
The Meaning of Jesus' Name
Now, y’all missed it. We just missed it. And the reason we missed it is because they were first-century Jews, and we are 21st-century Americans, so we missed it. Now here’s why we missed it: when we in English say the name «Jesus, » that was not his name! Nobody called him Jesus because the name Jesus is not a translation; it’s what’s called a transliteration. It’s where somebody just takes the English letter equivalent of how something was written in another language and uses the same sound. So our English name «Jesus» is a transliteration of the Greek «Iesous.» The problem is Jesus was not Greek and he did not speak Greek, so that’s not the name they gave him. The name they actually gave him was Hebrew. The name they gave him was «Yeshua, » which is where we get the English name «Joshua.» Good name, strong name, masculine name. If you’re new to Lake Pointe, I’m Josh, you know, let me get that out there!
So the name they gave him was Yeshua, which is interesting because it comes from a Hebrew verb—the verb is «Yasha, » which means, come on, somebody, to rescue or to save! That’s what his name meant! So when the angel comes, like, literally, what the angel said is, «You shall call his name Yeshua, for he shall Yasha his people.» So what God did is He went, «Joseph, you’re not the biological dad; I’m the biological dad, so you don’t give the name. I get to give the name, and I’m going to give him a label! Watch this: his name is what he does, and I’m going to name him the one who saves because what he’s going to be is a savior.» That’s his name, it’s what he does!
In fact, let me just take it a step further: you’re going to see this. It’s going to tell us what he’s going to save from. What it says right here: «You shall give birth to a son, and you give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.»
The Offense of the Gift
Now, let me point this out: a lot of people are like, «Yes! I love a savior! I think that’s awesome! I just love the fact that Jesus is a savior!» But how many of you guys understand that a lot of times, when somebody gives a gift, a gift can be offensive because the impartation of the gift sometimes carries an implication about the recipient? Is this making sense? Like, I don’t think it’s making sense; let me give an example.
Ladies in the room, imagine you waking up tomorrow morning, it’s Christmas morning, and you wake up and you hear everybody shuffling around. «Okay, everybody’s opening presents!» So you get up and everybody starts running downstairs in the matching pajamas that you bought that nobody else wants to wear except you. You’re the only one who wants to do it for the family pictures; nobody else wants to do it. And as they come down the stairs, you notice a present with your name on it from your husband, and he doesn’t usually do that!
All of a sudden, your heart begins to swell: «I can’t believe he thought of me! I wonder what he was thinking about me. You know, his heart must have grown three sizes that day; he was at the mall!» You’re just thinking all of this, and so you run down, ripping off the wrapping paper from this big old present. But when you open it, it’s diet pills and a gym membership. How do we feel about that, ladies? Some of you are like, «I’m fine; I got a Rogan and breath mints! Fair trade! Fair trade!»
This is a true story: last year, a Lake Pointe member got me a prepaid Visa gift card with a note that said, «For jeans that are not skinny jeans!» Okay, no, don’t applaud that; stop, stop that! I see you! Security, get this man!
You see what I’m driving at? Sometimes a gift is offensive because the impartation of the gift carries an implication about the recipient. And whenever God gave Jesus the name Yeshua and He said, «I’m going to call him Yeshua because he’s going to Yasha, » the implication of that gift is that we are the type of people who need saving. There was an implication that’s you and me; we are the type of people, and we need saving!
We Are Sinners in Need of a Savior
I’m just going to show you again what we need saving from. He even said it: «You’re going to save his people from their sins.» Now this is a spot in the Christmas message where some of you, if you’re new to faith, are thinking, «Bro, slow your roll.» Like, «Dude, I make mistakes; nobody’s perfect! Everybody’s got issues!» You may say, «Sinner? Like label me a sinner? That’s antiquated and judgy.» Listen, I’m saying this: I love you. This is Bible; this is Bible, not me. I literally wept over you preparing this message. This is Bible, not me.
God’s answer to that is: «Yes, you are.» Yeah, you are! Because check this out: mistakers need life coaches, but sinners need saviors. What God did is He went: «You’re going to need—I’m going to name him Yeshua because he’s going to Yasha. You’re going to need somebody that’s going to save you from your sin. You’re going to need that!»
Now, if you’re like, «Man, right now, dude, that’s not me. I’m not a sinner, » can I just prove something to you? You already know that, and I want to prove it to you. Can I prove it? I don’t even have to talk about God’s rules. You can’t even keep your own rules! Have you noticed this? Do you know how I know that? Because in a week and a half, you’re going to be making these things called New Year’s resolutions. And you did this about 12 months ago in January. You were like, «This is the year, man!» Half of you, your New Year’s resolution was, «I’m going to lose 20 pounds this year!»
Fast forward to December: «Only 25 to go!» You can’t even keep your own rules! In fact, I just want to point this out; my friend, Joby Martin, says it like this. He points out: «Nobody has ever let you down more than you. Nobody has ever talked to you more disrespectfully than you. Nobody has ever lied to you more than you. You are a liar.» And you right now are like, «Bro, you’re calling me a liar?» Yes, I am calling you a liar! Because you are a liar!
Let me prove it to you. Tomorrow, you’re going to wake up, and you may have bought your kids an electronic device. You’re going to turn on the electronic, and there’s going to be this thing on there called «terms and conditions.» You’re going to get on there, and you’re going to scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll to the bottom. There’s going to be a little box that says, «I have read all the terms and conditions, » and you’re going to click «liar, liar.» And, bro, me too, me too! Man, this is all of us. All of us have failed to live up to a standard!
In fact, can I just—I want to point this out. Listen, have you ever broken a promise to God? Let me take it a step deeper. What about breaking a promise to yourself? A little more superficial: what about saying, «I will never yell at the kids again; I’m never going to do it again! I’ll never look at that online ever again. I’m not going to do it anymore! I’m never going to sleep with him ever again. I’m not doing that anymore! I’m putting—I’m never going to drink ever again.» What about this: «I will never use my credit card as therapy ever again?»
See, what we do is we have this little phrase we say around this time of year, and it’s a well-meaning phrase. The phrase goes like this: «Jesus is the reason for the season.» Do you know that’s actually not true? You’re the reason for the season! Jesus was doing just fine up in heaven pre-Christmas without you! But because we are sinners—the type of people who need saviors—we’re not mistakers in need of life coaches; we are sinners in need of saviors. Because that’s who we are!
You Are the Reason for the Season
God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that you and your jacked-up family and your aunt that’s going to drink too much tonight, and your uncle that lies about literally everything, and your cousin that is like a real-life Cousin Eddie that you’re literally embarrassed of right now in church—so that all of you could be reconciled to God in His heart of infinite love for you and adopted as sons and daughters of the living God! That’s what He did! You’re the reason for the season! We’re the reason that He had to come!
And listen, if you don’t get this, if you don’t understand that His name is Yeshua, His name is what He does—that He’s about salvation and not condemnation—if you think He’s about condemnation, your whole life will be lived in separation from God, I promise you! I debated about whether or not to do this at a Christmas service, but I’m going to risk it, and it’s going okay so far!
The Leper’s Distance
So check this out: I just want to take a second. There’s a story in Luke 17 about a leper who «stood far off and called out to Jesus.» Okay, now I’m going to show you something about this. I saw somebody illustrate it like this, so just this is going to take me a second. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty, forty-one, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four, forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty!
That’s it! So this is the distance right here—50 paces from me to the stage is the distance that a leper would have had to keep from someone who was clean out of fear of infecting them or being condemned by them! So fifty paces! And my point is, if you think that God is about condemnation, then you’ll spend your whole life keeping separation from Him—50 paces!
In fact, let me just take a seat here. Hey, you’ve got a bit of a Hallmark movie look to you, my guy. This has got a little lumberjack thing going on; I see you! Yeah, you look fine! This is my guy, Kingsley, right here; he looks great!
Okay, let me talk to you for a second. So this is it—50 paces! That’s how far a leper would have to stay away from anybody because they were afraid they’d receive condemnation. The reason they would do that is leprosy spots on skin, and they’d be afraid somebody would see. So they would stay as far as they could! What happens is for us, it’s not the spots on our skin; it’s the spots on our soul! And if you believe that God is about condemnation and not salvation, then you’ll spend your whole life thinking that if anybody sees my issues, they’ll condemn me! And you’ll stay away!
And so it’s stuff like spots on your soul, like, «Man, I got this addiction issue, » or «Man, my family’s really jacked up, » or «I can’t stop doing this thing, » or «there’s relational patterns.» If you do that, you’ll spend your whole life staying 50 paces—50 steps from grace. I almost thought about this part of the sermon: «50 Steps from Grace.» Not «50 Shades, » nothing like that!
This is 50 steps! And that’s what will happen if you think that God is about condemnation instead of salvation! Now, I want to point something out. One of my favorite verses in the whole Bible is in Isaiah 65, where God says, «All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.» If you think that God’s about condemnation, you’ll read the verse like this: you think God’s doing this. He’s going like, «Ah, man, gross! I’m so disgusted with you! All day long, I’ve held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people!»
But remember, God isn’t about condemnation. Jesus didn’t come to condemn; He came to save! He’s not about condemnation; He’s about salvation! So we should read the verse like this: God’s going, «Man, all day long—come home! All day long, I’ve held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people! I just want you to come home! Man, let’s come home right now!»
God’s Heart of Salvation
And so, just think about this: that’s the whole message of Christmas! The message of Christmas is that God is going, «Man, it doesn’t matter how far you go; I’mma go farther after you! It doesn’t matter how hard you run; I’m going to run harder to chase you! It doesn’t matter how deep your rebellion is; I’m going to go even more to redeem you because I’ve got a heart of love for you! His name is Yeshua; He came to save! My heart is not condemnation; it’s salvation! I just want to bring my kids home; I’ll do anything it takes to get them home! I’m going to come; I’m going to come after you!» That’s the message of Christmas!
Now, let me point this out. There’s that OG verse we always remember: John 3:16: «For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.» But a lot of people forget John 3:17. And this is one of those deals where it’s like the sequel might be better than the original—because John 3:17 says, «For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.»
So this is God’s heart for you! Now, some of you are here, I’m not an idiot; not all of you want to be at this service. Some of you totally got guilted into this. Grandma was like, «The only thing I want for Christmas is all my grandkids at church with me!» And that’s you—didn’t want to be here, but what’s happening right now is something may be welling up in your heart, and you’re like, «Man, maybe this is—I do need the Lord in my life! I need something there!» But you’re going, «Yeah, but I’m a drug addict; I’m a failure as a parent; I lost my job!»
Hey, remember this? His name is what He does! He didn’t come to condemn you; He came to save you! God’s got a heart of love for you; He just wants you to come home! He just wants you to come home! Or you may be doing this: you may be going, «Hey, I don’t really need all this stuff because I’m already a good person.»
Let me give a quick disclaimer: I’m getting ready to say something. You’re not supposed to say at a sentimental Christmas service, but I’m going to say it because I love you. Listen to me: Jesus came for rebellious people, but He was killed by religious people! Your morality may keep you out of jail, but it will take the blood of Jesus Christ to keep you out of hell, and that’s what He came to do! He was born into a cradle to go to a cross, and that bloody little baby grew up and became a bloody crucified man. The first gift at the first Christmas didn’t go under a tree; He climbed up on one to take away the sins of the world because His name is what He does! He is Jesus, and He came to save!
The Rescue Mission
I’m not giving a TED talk, like, «Hey man, let’s give Him praise for what He did!» That’s what He did; that’s what He did!
Now, I need you to have a picture of this in your head, and so let me close like this. I want to give you a picture. So I’ve been talking about a day that we’re never going to forget—the first Christmas—but let me take you back to another day that most of us were alive for, that you won’t forget—9/11. A lot of people don’t know this, but on 9/11, they only pulled 12 survivors out of the towers after they collapsed. Two of them were two police officers named Will Jimenez and John McClaflin. That was two of them!
What’s interesting is they weren’t pulled out by, like, a heroic firefighter or an active-duty medical officer. They were pulled out by an accountant! Let’s show some love for our accountants, man! Y’all are boring but awesome people! That’s a joke! That’s a joke! We love all of our accountants! We love y’all! You’re not all boring! Okay?
And so this guy’s name that did that—it was Dave Kess. Now here’s the story on Dave Kess: when he saw the second plane fly into the tower, somebody else at work said, «Our nation is at war!» Because Dave Kess had spent 23 years in active military duty as a marine, he felt a responsibility to act. So without telling anybody—he didn’t tell anybody—he just went to his boss and said, «Hey, I’ve got to go. I have something I need to do.»
Because he thought he was going to die, he drove straight to a barber and asked for a marine-style crew military cut. Then he drove home really fast—listen to my language—stripped himself of his dress slacks, clothed himself in military fatigues, got in his Porsche, and went on a long-distance rescue mission to seek and to save anybody that had been buried—that was lost.
Now let’s go back to Will Jimenez and John McClaflin. When they heard—their inside the towers—when they heard the top level of the tower start to crumble, they knew, «A hundred stories of rubble are about to crush us!» So Will Jimenez grabbed his partner John McClaflin and threw him into an open elevator shaft, jumped in after him, and they plummeted multiple stories down. They were buried underneath over a hundred stories of rubble at the bottom of that elevator shaft, just encased in there alive—listen! They had no hope of rescuing themselves. No hope!
But Dave Kess came in, and he had—listen—he had stripped himself of his dress slacks, clothed himself in military fatigues, gone on a long-distance rescue mission at the risk of his life, and he was walking around the rubble yelling, «If you can hear me, yell or tap! If you can hear me, yell or tap!» And Will Jimenez heard him! He stayed there as long as it took, at the risk of his life, and eventually he pulled those two men out of the rubble who could not save themselves because he had gone on that rescue mission.
Now, is any of this sounding familiar to y’all? Do you guys know what happened at the first Christmas? Let me just say something to you because I love you. Right now, you are buried underneath the weight of your sin and guilt and shame and listen. There is no hope of you rescuing yourself! You cannot do it! But there was a man who stripped himself of the glory of heaven, clothed himself—the Bible says—with human flesh, went on a long-distance rescue mission—not at the risk of his life, but at the cost of his life!
And when you were—the Bible says, Romans 3—still a sinner, at just the right time, Christ came, and He died for the ungodly! And the Bible says that right now He’s going, «I stand at the door and knock. If anybody will open that door, I’ll come in and eat with him and he with me, and we’re going to be one.» In other words, Jesus is going around right now, having come to Earth at the first Christmas, and He’s going, «If you can hear me, yell or tap! If you can hear me, yell or tap!»
Anybody who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, and I’ll redeem you and rescue you out of that situation from which you cannot rescue yourself because my name is Yeshua, and my name is what I do! I came to save! I did not come to condemn! That’s what He did at Christmas!
Invitation to Faith
Now, some of you right now, there’s something stirring in you, and you’re starting to realize, «Man, I need that! God, I got myself in a situation, and I can’t fix it! I can’t! I can’t fix this thing on my own, and so God, I need you!» And you’re realizing you need to cross the line of faith. Man, if that’s you, let me just say this: my question is, have you had a personal Christmas? It wouldn’t matter if Jesus was born a thousand times in Bethlehem if He is not born into your heart! You will be lost!
And so if you’re realizing, «Man, maybe I need to cross the line of faith and know Him, » would you do this at all of our campuses? Would you bow your heads and close your eyes right now at all of our campuses? If you’re realizing that you need to cross that line of faith, would you just pray this? Would you pray this from a sincere heart? Just pray, «God, I know I’m a sinner, and I believe I’ve lived for other things beside you first.»
Man, just silently in your seat, just pray this. «But I believe the cross, somehow in some way, counted for me, and I believe that you rose from the dead.» From this day forward—sincere heart, right now—pray this: «From this day forward, as best as I know how, I will live for you first. I receive forgiveness, mercy, and adoption as a son or a daughter of the living God.»
And hey, Lake Pointe family! Right now, can we be thanking God and giving thanks, celebrating people that right now—can we all just say amen? People, you don’t know this, but people all over the room right now, they’re coming home! They’re having personal Christmases!
Now let me just say this: if that’s you and you just crossed the line of faith—here’s what I want to say, here’s what I’m asking. Give me one year of your life! That’s what I’m asking you! Just put a miracle in motion, and if you’ll give me one year of your life where you regularly attend worship and prioritize the things of God. Y’all’s heads up? We do this every week; every week we do this!
You give me one year of your life starting in January, just regularly attending worship, if you do that, I’m going to make you this promise: your life will never be the same, your family’s life will never be the same, your kids’ lives will never be the same! So that’s what I’m saying! Give me one year of your life starting in January, and let’s do this together!
Christmas Compassion Offering
Now here’s what I also want to say, is LakePointe family, we’re getting ready right now to receive our Christmas compassion offering, and anytime of the year, if you’re new with us, what we say is we don’t want your money. This is different because we don’t keep anything that’s given at a Christmas service. A hundred percent of what’s given goes outside our doors to meet the needs of the last, the lost, the least, and the lonely in DFW. So this is the offering that funds things like our food pantry that gets hundreds of thousands of meals to people who are food insecure.
It funds our women’s shelter that rescues women victims out of human trafficking. Our car and transportation ministry gets people to and from work that are trying to escape poverty and are having trouble-all this stuff! So as you’re going to start seated, but you can give in one of three ways: in the buckets as they come by, in the boxes on your way out, or text the word «give» to the number 20411. But right now, worship with us both as we give and as we sing!