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THE PRECIOUSNESS OF JESUS No. III

By George W. Sinquefield

(1 Pet 2:7 KJV)  Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

        Consider the debt that we sinful men, women, boys and girls owe to God. Sin has made us debtors -- debtors to the justice of God. The whole human race, being in the loins of Adam when he sinned, partook of his fallen nature -- came under the penalty of sin, and every individual has been contracting debts every day of his life - an accumulation so terrible as to fill his soul with terror.

(Rom 5:17 KJV)  For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

        Listen as God speaks to us from His word.

(Rom 3:10-18 KJV)  "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes."

        Sinful mankind is in debt to God. R. G. Lee said, "We know, from the testimony of others and from experience, that it is better to go to bed supper less than rise in debt. Some say that debt is the worst poverty, that loans and debts make worries and frets, that out of debt is to be out of danger, that words pay no debts, that a rabbit paid for is better than a deer owing for, that a mortgage is a home with a guilty conscience, that debt is like a millstone around a man's neck."

        He continues--

        "All our deviations from righteousness are debts recorded against us - debts intimately bound up with every person's name. These debts are doubly registered against sinners because men write their own biography in God's record book and in their own book of conscience within. God's record book reveals no mistakes."

        Once a man wrote, "Suppose you can be held responsible for only ten sins per day. That would average 3650 per year. In 20 years at this ratio in transgressions, the offenses would be 73,000. In 80 years, 282,000."

        These figures are far too low -- they need to be doubled, tripled, even quadrupled -- because our sins of commission and sins of omission are so many.

        How can we pay this enormous debt and satisfy God and meet the just requirements of His law? Can we do it by offering a few prayers, by turning over a new leaf, by a few good deeds along the way, by joining the church and attending part of the services, by giving of our money or by shedding a few tears of light, insincere repentance? The answer is no -- a thousand times no. The amount against man is so staggering and man is bankrupt. The law demands payment and the sinner stands penniless - utterly hopeless and helpless.

        It is as impossible for him to pay that debt as for a penniless beggar to buy and pay cash for a mansion. Man cannot pay a thousand -- yea million dollar debt with a thin dime. The sinner must forever die -- for "the wages of sin is death" or someone whom God would accept must die in the sinners stead -- that the debt might be paid.

        Swinging on those nails, Jesus knew that the lights would go out, go out as never before they had gone out. And under that fearful, oppressive, deadly darkness His poor ruptured soul would stagger under the black punishment of our sins. He knew He would for the first time in all of eternity be unable to find the comfort of His Father's face. He knew He would feel the lash of His Father's hatred against your sins and mine, for in no other way could those sins be atoned for in a manner that a righteous Father could accept with honor.

        During the Civil War, a young Chicago lawyer was shot to death in an accident involving the flag. President Lincoln had his body brought to the White House where it lay in state in the East Room. Standing beside the coffin of this young officer, Lincoln cried out, "My boy, my boy, was it necessary that this sacrifice be made?"

        Yes, it was necessary that it be made, not only by this officer but by many thousands of others also. It was necessary for Christ to make the sacrifice to satisfy the demands of God's Holy Law and to restore man to divine favor.

I.    Jesus is precious because He died in our place to pay that debt.

        Christ Jesus -- in whom all beauty, holiness, perfection, meet -- possessing manhood in its purity, tears of sympathy for our woes -- the personal, voluntary, self emptying Redeemer -- exhausts the precious treasures of His invaluable blood to pay our debts. The Lord Jesus Christ has handed up the crimson satisfaction to heaven's treasury for us. This precious redeeming blood has settled every debt. God is satisfied with it.

        Christ was not given merely as a Friend or Guide or Comforter, but rather as a Substitute for the sinner in order that He might meet the claims of God's holy law which stood against the sinner -- by taking the sinner's place and dying in his stead.

        Dr. Ray Summers in his book, "Ephesians -- Pattern for Christian Living" says, "Many years ago a Jewish rabbi lectured our class in New Testament three days on the basic doctrine and practice of the Jewish faith. The fourth day was given over to a forum in which the students were permitted to ask the rabbi any question relative to his religion and his view of Christianity. One of the questions was this, "What, as you see it, is the basic difference between your religion (that of the Old Testament) and our religion (that of the New Testament)?"

        Without hesitating, but with remarkable discernment, the rabbi answered, "My religion is a religion of the hands, doing the works of the law as a means of being right with God. Your religion is a religion of the heart, believing that someone else (that is, Jesus Christ) has done for you what you could never do for yourself to make you right with God."

        Peter declares, "Forasmuch as ye know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold -- but by the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without spot and without blemish." (1 Peter 1:18)

(Acts 20:28 KJV)  "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."

(Rom 5:9 KJV)  "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."

(Eph 1:7 KJV)  "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;"

(Col 1:14 KJV)  "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:"

        Oh the precious blood of the Lord -- pure blood, princely blood, powerful blood, protecting blood, redeeming blood, justifying blood, sanctifying blood, cleansing blood -- How great was that sacrifice we can never tell.

II.    Jesus died in our place. He died that we might live.

        A traveling man in Norway went to see a church in a certain town. Looking up toward the tower he saw the carved figure of a Lamb. He inquired about it and was told the story. When they were constructing the church one day a workman high on a scaffold lost his hold and began to fall. His fellow workmen knew he would be killed but he was injured only slightly. Just as he fell a flock of sheep were passing by. He fell among them and his body landed right on top of a lamb. The lamb was crushed to death, but the man was saved. In commemoration of his escape, he carved this figure of a lamb on top of the church. Christ is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world -- died that we might live.

        There are many true stories about people who were willing to die that others might live.

        In the days of the sod shanty on the western plains, a woman spread a quilt on the floor of her humble home and lay down with her baby to sleep. But late in the night she suddenly awoke with a deathly fear in her heart. Something was wrong, terribly wrong! She and her baby were in great danger! What could it be?

        Then she heard the fearful noise. It was the swift shirr of a rattlesnake -- and the snake was right there in the room with them and very, very close to where they lay. Breathlessly, the woman moved ever so slightly. There it was again! The angry rattle of the snake! The least movement on her part stirred the deadly reptile. Exactly where was the snake? She dared not turn her head to look -- and the darkness would have prevented her seeing anyway.

        Then strangely the mother's heart grew calm. Something had to be done and it had to be done at once. Her child might move in his sleep. He might throw out an arm. He might move a leg. The baby mighty even turn his head and that would be enough to send those awful fangs deep into the fat little cheek. The mother must act quickly. She must attract that snake to herself. She must make it strike her before it struck the baby.

        Deliberately she raised her arm and swept the darkness with it. And hardly had she moved when she felt the lightening fangs of the serpent. Now she knew where the reptile was! Its fangs were buried deep in her arm! With the other hand she grasped the ugly head and held onto it for dear life as she struggled to her feet and out into the yard!

        The rest of the family was awake now and rushed to the mother's aid. But there was nothing they could do to help her. When morning came she lay on the floor of the little sod shanty, her eyes closed in death.

        But her baby was alive and well.

        That mother had drawn the fangs to herself to save her baby's life. She had deliberately taken the blow of that ugly head, the fire of those ugly fangs; she had chosen the agony and the death to save the life of someone dear to her heart.

        This is a little picture of what Christ Jesus did for you and me when He deliberately drew the fangs of sin into His own dear heart that the suffering might be taken away from us.

        One pastor relates this story:

        A few days ago I picked up a paper in a northern city and read of something that had happened the day before. A man by the name of Meldon J. Rhew lay on the white sand of his private beach sunning himself, his wife by his side. Rhew was fifty-four years of age, a successful man, an insurance executive. He was enjoying a vacation. He had recently undergone a complete physical examination and received a clean bill of health.

        Suddenly, as he rested on the sand, he heard a small voice crying for help. Rhew and his wife saw a little girl on a plastic raft, bobbing up and down on the waves, about a hundred fifty feet from the shore. The child was being swept into the sea by a high wave.

        Rhew ran into the surf, battled the breakers to swim to the little girl's side. He shoved her back onto the raft and began to push it toward shore when he felt a sharp pain. He gave the raft one last hard push, calling to the little girl as she glided away from him.

        "You've got to help yourself now to get yourself in I'm dying."

        Then he disappeared beneath the surface. Rescuers swam to Betty Ann O'Conner, 10, and towed her to shore, shaken, but unharmed. A few minutes later they brought in the limp form of Rhew. He had died of a heart attack.

        Mr. Meldon J. Rhew died to save one person, but Christ Jesus died to save a lost world, and my friend, He died to save you.

(2 Cor 5:21 KJV)  "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

        At the heart of Christian belief is this all-important fact: Christ died for us. Thinking about what happened to Barabbas will help us see this truth more clearly. If he heard the crowd cry, "Barabbas! Barabbas!" as he sat in his prison cell awaiting execution for murder, a cold chill must have swept over him. Then he heard footsteps. A key grated in the lock. The door swung open. But to his astonishment, he was released. He was free! A man named Jesus had taken his place.

        Commenting on Barabbas, Donald Grey Barnhouse wrote, "He was the only man in the world who could say that Jesus Christ took his physical place. But I can say that Jesus Christ took my spiritual place. For it was I who deserved to die. It was I who deserved that the wrath of God should be poured on me. I deserved the eternal punishment of the lake of fire. He was delivered up for my offenses. He was handed over to judgment because of my sins . . . . Christ was my substitute. He was satisfying the debt of divine justice and holiness. That is why I say that Christianity can be expressed in the three phrases: I deserved hell; Jesus took my hell; there is nothing left for me but His heaven."

        Christ died physically for Barabbas. He died spiritually for everyone. When we trust Christ, we walk out of the prison house of death and step into the bright sunlight of forgiveness and freedom. What an amazing truth! Christ died for me. He took my place!

           'Twas not a martyr's death He died,
                The Christ of Calvary;
            It was a willing sacrifice
                He made for you -- for me.

        James P. Westberry in his book, "Meditations for Happy Christians," says "He died, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. Our sins crucified the Lord of glory. Our evil tongues maligned him; our unclean lips defiled him; our palms slapped him; our fists beat him; our sins were the thorns that pierced his brow; our sins were the scourges that made his flesh raw with gashes and red with blood; our sins were the nails that pierced his hands and the spikes that tore his feet; the hammers that drove the nails and the wagging heads that mocked him."

        There was one who was willing to die in my stead
        That a soul so unworthy might live
        And the path to the cross He was willing to tread
        All the sins of my life to forgive.

        He is tender and loving and patient with me,
        While He cleanses my heart of its dross,
        But there's no condemnation I know I am free
        For my sins are all nailed to the cross.

        I will cling to my Savior and never depart,
        I will joyfully journey each day,
        With a song on my lips and a song in my heart,
        That my sins have been taken away.

        They are nailed to the cross, they are nailed to the cross.
        Oh, how much He was willing to bear,
        With what anguish and loss Jesus went to the cross,
        But He carried my sins with Him there.

        Out of the life of Abraham Lincoln comes another illustration of this truth. During the dark days of the Civil War the great emancipator selected a soldier to serve as his substitute in the army. The soldier was killed and his body buried in the cemetery at Stroudsburg, Pa. The inscription on his tomb. "Abraham Lincoln's Substitute." Thank God, Jesus is our substitute. He died in our place.

        The name of George Washington will ever be precious to America. He was known as the Father of our country. We think of the great sacrifice he and his soldiers made -- at Valley Forge dressed in rags, feet naked in snow, freezing with cold but fighting to bring forth a country that was conceived in liberty and offering freedom to all.

        The name of Abraham Lincoln will always be precious to those who love human liberty and freedom. Lincoln, the leader of emancipation in America, bringing freedom to about 5 million slaves. Go where you will and you'll see statues erected by loving hands to this great American.

        The grave of the Unknown Soldier, banked with flowers and watered with tears is precious because that soldier is representative of all who paid the supreme sacrifice for our way of living.

        The name of Jesus will always be precious to this world because He was willing to make the supreme sacrifice to pay our sin debt in order that we might live.

        The marvelous thing is that Jesus freely gave Himself for us.

        A chaplain was speaking to a soldier on a cot in a hospital. "You have lost an arm in the great cause," said the chaplain. "No," said the soldier with a smile, "I didn't lose it -- I gave it." And in the same way Jesus did not lose His life, He gave it. It reminds us of His purpose. He died that we might be forgiven, and go at last to Heaven.

(Gal 1:4 KJV)  "Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:"

(Gal 2:20 KJV)  "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

(Eph 5:2 KJV)  "And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour."

(1 Tim 2:6 KJV)  "Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."

(Titus 2:5 KJV)  "To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."

        It reminded me of a story a number of years ago that was carried in the newspaper and in "Time" magazine. A plane crashed on the runway in Philadelphia and caught on fire. At the door the attractive twenty-four old stewardess, Mary Housley, took her place to help the passengers to the ground. Just as she was ready to jump, a passenger on the ground screamed, "My baby, my baby!" The stewardess turned back in the plane to find the baby, and that was the last time anyone saw her alive. When the debris cooled they found Mary Housley's body over the 4 month baby she tried to rescue. "Time" magazine captioned her picture with the words, "She could have jumped."

        Jesus wasn't forced to die on the cross, His life was not taken -- He gave it.

(John 10:15 KJV)  "As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep."

(John 10:17 KJV)  "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again."

(John 10:18 KJV)  "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father."

(Mat 27:39 KJV)  "And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,"

(Mat 27:40 KJV)  "And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross."

(Mat 27:41 KJV)  "Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,"

(Mat 27:42 KJV)  "He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him."

(Mat 27:43 KJV)  "He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God."

        The chief priests and elders said, "He saved others; himself He cannot save." How wrong they were. Jesus said He could ask His Father for angels that would come and deliver Him.

(Mat 26:53 KJV)  "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?"

(Mat 26:54 KJV)  "But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?"

III.    Jesus is precious because through his death, He became the world's Savior.

(2 Cor 5:15 KJV)  "And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."

        A famous Chinese, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, known as the George Washington of China, visited the United States. He was in Denver, Colorado and unable to sleep. He got up just before dawn and was looking out the window when the great round golden sun bulged its way above the eastern horizon. He said, "An overwhelming sense of homesickness swept over me, for that sunrise reminded me of innumerable sunrises I had seen in my own China and I cried out in my loneliness, "That is China's sun." Then just as suddenly another thought came to me. No, that is not China's sun. That is the world's sun -- Japan's sun, Europe's sun, Turkey's sun -- it is the whole world's sun.

        Jesus, the Son of God, is the whole world's Savior.

(John 3:16 KJV)  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

        Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage says Jesus is the password. There will be a password at the gate of heaven! I see a great multitude coming up, and they say, "Make way, open the gate, let us in, we were honored on earth; we had a great position in the world, and we want a great position in Heaven." But the gatekeeper says, "I never knew you."

        Here comes another throng. They say, "We did a great many magnanimous things, we endowed colleges, we established schools, and we were celebrated for our philanthropies. Open the gate now. Let us come in and get our reward." A voice from within says, "I never knew you."

        But here comes up a great throng, thousands and tens of thousands, and they knock at the gate. They say; "We were wanderers from God, and we deserved to die, but we heard the voice of Jesus." "Aye," says the gatekeeper, "that is the password -- Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates, and let them come in."

           Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
            Sweetest Name I know,
            Fills my every longing,
            Keeps me singing as I go.

(Mat 1:21 KJV) "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."

(Acts 4:12 KJV) "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

        Following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his body was carried through the streets of major cities from Washington to Springfield, Illinois where he was buried.

        A negro woman in Albany, New York stood upon a curb waiting in quiet reverence. As the body passed, she lifted her young son above the heads of the crowd and said with emotion. "Take a long look, honey. He died for you." Never forget that Jesus died for you.

        A young child was lost in London. He appealed to an officer for help. He sought for some cue that would enable him to ascertain the child's home address. Finally he began to suggest some place or monument familiar tot he child. He mentioned Charing Cross -- the youngster eagerly said, "Take me to the cross and I can find my way home."

           I must needs go home by the way of the cross.
            There's no other way but this.
            I shall ne'er get sight of the gates of light,
            If the way of the cross I miss.

            I must needs go on in the blood sprinkled way,
            The path that the Savior trod.
            If I ever climb to the heights sublime
            Where the soul is at home with God.

            Then I bid farewell to the way of the world,
            To walk in it nevermore.
            For my Lord says come and I seek my home
            Where He waits at the open door.

            It is so sweet to know as I onward go
            The way of the cross leads home.

        Talmage said, "The maniac who puts around his brow a bunch of straw and thinks it is a crown, and holds in his hand a stick and thinks it is a scepter, and gathers up some pebbles and thinks they are diamonds is no more beside himself than he who has not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior."

        The wise person is he who accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior. Are you in that category?

(John 3:16 KJV)  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

(John 3:36 KJV)  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.