WHY JESUS CAME
By George W. Sinquefield
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By George W. Sinquefield
John 10:10 (KJV)
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
I like these words from the pen of Dr. R. G. Lee.
He came down from the adorations of heaven to the abominations of earth. Jesus knew how He would be treated in this world. He knew He would be hated, misunderstood and finally put to death on the cruel cross. He knew the prophecy of Isaiah referred to Him.
Isa. 53:3 through Isa. 53:6 (KJV)
So why did He come? Even though He knew what awaited Him, He came because of His great love for a world lost in sin.
John 15:13 (KJV)
This scripture tells us that He died for His friends. The truth is that He actually gave His life, shed His blood on the cross for His enemies.
Rom. 5:10 (KJV)
Jesus teaches us how to act toward our enemies.
Matt. 5:43 through Matt. 5:45 (KJV)
To love our enemies is to act like God. This proves the greatness of the love of God. He gave His precious Son to die for those of us who were His enemies. Oh, how much Jesus loved us when He was willing to leave His home in glory and come and suffer and die for us. Surely there is nor ever will be a greater love.
I. He Came Not To Bring Universal Peace.
Isaiah called Him the prince of peace.
Isa. 9:6 (KJV)
At His birth a multitude of the heavenly host praised God and said, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men." That was about two thousand years ago and the world has not known peace. His coming did not bring peace and good will among men. Instead the world has seen more wars, more hatred, more division, more misunderstanding, until today the world is quivering and tottering on the precipice of self destruction and annihilation. We have tried our carnal, though well meaning efforts, to mass produce peace. Such a task is an impossibility. Peace can come to the world only as man discovers it, individually and personally, through accepting as Savior the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture says He is our peace. All else is confusion, discord and disorder. Jesus is life's integrater. He is humanity's harmonizer, the world's peace giver and the individual Savior. If the rulers of this world want peace, let them come in humility and confession of sin to the foot of the cross of Christ. Let them accept Jesus, the Prince of Peace, and then God will hear their prayers, will forgive their sins and grant peace. If the leaders of our nations really want peace, lasting peace, let them call their people to repentance at the foot of the cross, and God will meet and grant their request.
2 Chr. 7:14 (KJV)
Hear Jesus some thirty years after the angelic announcement.
Matt. 10:34 through Matt. 10:36 (KJV)
As Jesus approached the end of His earthly ministry He became more emphatic in declaring that His coming was not to be followed by peace and good will among men. His coming did make it possible for the individual to have peace. He promises a peace that the world cannot give to those who trust Him.
John 14:27 (KJV)
John 16:33 (KJV)
One has said: "As the war clouds thicken, the thunderous atoms boom and men's hearts are failing them, you can have peace, the peace that comes when you accept the Prince of Peace as you Saviour. Then you have peace because you know your sins are forgiven, and no matter what happens you are saved for eternity. You will have peace because you know that all this that is happening is according to a plan and purpose, and God is still on the throne. You will know He is only making the wrath of man to praise Him, and setting the stage for the coming of the Prince of Peace. If you know Him, then you have peace because you know that soon He will come back again to bring peace to this old, troubled world. God haste the day "when He who said He would come, will come, and will not tarry."
Rom. 5:1 (KJV)
Paul in writing his epistles to the churches expressed his desire that they might have peace from God.
Rom. 1:7 (KJV)
1 Cor. 1:3 (KJV)
2 Cor. 1:2 (KJV)
Gal. 1:3 (KJV)
Eph. 1:2 (KJV)
Phil. 1:2 (KJV)
Paul instructs the Philippian Christians how to live so that they would experience the peace of God.
Phil. 4:4 through Phil. 4:7 (KJV)
The Holy Spirit indwells the Christian and helps him bear many fruits, one of which is peace.
Gal. 5:22 (KJV)
Bob Mumford: "Peace with God brings the peace of God. It is a peace that settles our nerves, fills our mind, floods our spirit, and in the midst of the uproar around us, gives us the assurance that everything is all right."
Do you have peace in your heart? You can by accepting Jesus, the Prince of Peace, as your Savior and living for Him.
II. He Came To Reveal The Father.
When we think of the glory, the power, and the majesty of God, we ask, how can mortal tongue describe Him? Can a little infant standing at the foot of a towering mountain describe those snow capped peaks with their halos of gold, the great rocky canyons, the immense mass and weight of the towering mountain? We completely understand our limitations and feel utterly unable to describe the Lord for, my dear friends, you cannot blueprint God. He is far beyond any pattern we may have set within our own minds. We may think of His brightness and beauty, His greatness, His grace, His generosity, His goodness. We think of His purity and His power, His supernal splendors, His mighty sacrifices in behalf of a ruined race. and yet, in spite of this, how can we describe God? He has, of course, revealed Himself in the beauties of His creation in a star studded night, in the beauties of the flowers adorning a landscape, in all created things with their marvelous design and adaptability. But, more especially, God has revealed Himself in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of His Son, the Lord Jesus.
Can we know God? Yes, but not apart from the Bible nor apart from Jesus. What is God like? Men have asked this since the dawn of time. God has been thought of a superman, as a distant cloud of mystery, as a force like light or electricity, or as a jealous king ruling a restless people.
When Jesus Christ said that those who had seen him had seen God, many of them could not believe him. It is still a tremendous answer for the human mind to accept.
Calling young men and women to labor for eternity, forgiving a sinful woman, blessing children, healing the sick and crippled, raising the dead, and giving eternal life to those who loved and followed him; in all this, Jesus said, God was the power at work. What is God like? God is Christlike.
Jesus claimed that He and the Father are one. There are those who deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior, but who claim to worship and honor God, the Father. That cannot be according to the Bible.
John 14:8 through John 14:11 (ASV)
John 10:30 (ASV)
2 Cor. 5:19 (ASV)
Col. 1:15 (ASV)
Heb. 1:1 through Heb. 1:3 (ASV)
A Jewish lady went through a time of great personal grief. In her despair she began to attend a Christian church. She also studied the life of Jesus Christ. One day she asked to see the pastor and this is what she said, "I see that there is nothing that I can think of in the character of God that I do not find in Jesus Christ, and nothing that I need a God for that Jesus does not do for me."
Christ, our Savior, came down from the throne room above to walk and to talk with men that they might get acquainted with God. Our Savior came into this world that we might understand, even in a faint way, what God is like. What God was in the beginning, He shall ever be -- unchanging in His person and in His nature. What He was to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob so He is to us this day. What He was to His ancient people -- providing for their every need, protecting them every step of the way -- so He is to His people today.
Jesus Christ reveals the Father with such clarity that no one, after having heard of Him can ever claim to be ignorant of the real nature of God. Nature proves that there is a God but nature does not and cannot tell us what kind of a God He is.
Rom. 1:18 through Rom. 1:20 (ASV)
J. Sidlow Baxter says in his book "Going Deeper," "After milleniums of groping human philosophy offers nothing beyond unfinalized speculations. Science, whether it weighs the stars or splits the atom, comes to a dead end whenever it touches the line between the material and the spiritual. The non-biblical religions, even allowing for all that is best in them express merely the quest, not the realized goal. They can only say "we seek." None can say, "We have found."
Every man who refuses to let God speak to him through Jesus will always misunderstand God. Jesus declared, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
Dr. Wm. Spurgeon was once lecturing in a city in Scotland. After the lecture, an old gentleman approached him and said, "Mr. spurgeon, I already know you for I know your son so well>" If we know Jesus, we too, can say that we know the Father.
It is the custom for college graduates to hold class reunions. Some years ago a class that had been separated for twenty five years gathered at Yale University. Twenty five men were seated around a table. The door opened and a man entered, leaning heavily upon a cane, his face deeply furrowed and his hair white. He looked into the face of one and another. No one recognized him. His life had gone out at right angles to theirs, and he had not seen any of them in a quarter of a century. He had searched the world for health, but the burden of disease had bowed him down. No one knew him. Without speaking his name, he stepped to the door, beckoned, and came in again, this time leaning on the strong arm of a boy of eighteen. And when they saw the boy, with one consent the men in the room spoke the father's name. The type was repeated in the boy, and the father stood revealed in the son. And when I look upon the only begotten Son, I see in him the very heart of the eternal God. The Father stands revealed in the Son.
J. Sidlow Baxter in his book, Going Deeper says, "During the French Revolution, a little girl was trampled beneath the feet of an angry mob in the streets of old Paris. Later when she regained consciousness she was in the arms of queen Marie Antoinette. After gazing into the face of the queen, the little girl said,"I did not know you were like that." We did not know what God was like until we could see Him in His Son, the Lord Jesus.
At the top of a tall column in a busy square of a large city is a statue of a great American statesman. Every day thousands of people throng the streets below. Many of them in the past have looked upward toward the top of the column to try to see the face of the man. But the figure was far too high in the air for any person on the street to see. In fact, for many years only a handful of the town fathers knew the name of the statesman who was represented by the statue. Then one year a tremendous celebration was held in the city, and a famous sculptor, using photographs, constructed a bronze copy of the statue. It was placed upon a pedestal four feet high so that people passing near it could study the face.
That is what God did for men when he came to earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. No longer could they say that God was completely out of reach, or that he was standoffish and aloof. The time had come at last when men could look straight at God by looking at Christ his Son.
III. He Came To Destroy The Work Of The Devil.
It is popular today to deny the existence of the devil. Jesus says that he does exist and is busy carrying on work such as:
2 Cor. 4:3 through 2 Cor. 4:4 (ASV)
The devil is the enemy of our souls. He wants us to be religious and morally good. He urges men to strive to improve themselves, to try and obey the law, to keep on working and toiling, to be earnest and sincere and religious in all their efforts at keeping the commandments and the sabbath days in an effort to make themselves worthy of God's favor instead of accepting His grace. This is a clever trick of the enemy of our souls to keep us from coming to Christ as poor, hopeless, helpless sinners and accepting His grace and mercy. It is an effort of the devil to rob man of salvation which Christ alone gives.
Matt. 13:1 through Matt. 13:4 (ASV)
Matt. 13:18 through Matt. 13:19 (ASV)
Joe Henry Hankins says, "Yonder in Little Rock one morning a man sat on the back pew in the church. He had been coming to the services for a long time. I knew he was under conviction and I knew that he wanted to be saved. So that morning when he failed to respond to the call, I went back at the close of the service, took him by the hand and I said, "Jerry, why didn't you come this morning?"
He stood there trembling. "Brother Hankins, I don't know. I can't describe to you what goes on inside of me when you make the call. It seems my heart will just pound out of my bosom. I want to come. It seems something pulls me so that I just must come. Then when I start, it seems as if a heavy hand grabs me and just holds me in my tracks." "Well, Jerry, don't you know what that is?" He said, "What is it?" "That pull at your hear's string so that that heart of your almost pounds out of your bosom, that something that grapples with you heart until you can hardly resist running down the aisle is God trying to draw you by the Holy spirit, through the gospel and the prayers of God's people, unto salvation. Do you know what the heavy hand is, Jerry?" He said, "I guess it is the devil." I said, "Jerry, you don't have to guess. When that conflict is taking place in your soul, it is the battle of one of the greatest forces in the universe for that soul of your. The devil knows that the minute you break loose and turn to Christ you are lost to him forever and he is not going to give you up until he has to. The trouble with you, Jerry, is that you have been listening to the devil instead of listening to Christ." He looked up at me, reached over, took me by the hand and said, "Brother Hankins, I have listened to the devil for the last time. I am coming to Jesus!"
IV. Jesus Came To Take Away Our Sin.
1 John 3:5 (ASV)
To take away our sin was to pay our sin debt. The wages of sin is death and Jesus died that death for us. No Jew of that day ever heard an expression like that that he didn't think at once of the day of atonement back in the Old Testament. You know the high priest would lay his hands on the head of a goat and confess over it the sins of the people and then the goat would bear them away into the wilderness and they'd be gone forever. That goat was a type of a Lamb that was to come. And don't you remember how John was baptizing in the river Jordan and Jesus came along and John pointed Him out to the people and cried, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."
The law of God demanded death for sin and Jesus was willing to die that death.
Gal. 3:10 (ASV)
The Holy Spirit, through Paul, asserts that anyone who has ever broken one of the laws of God is under the curse of the law, and the penalty of the law is death. If you have not kept the entire law in every detail all your life without failing one single time, you are under the curse of the law which is eternal death, and separation from the presence of God. The Bible further states that no man who has ever lived or is living today has ever been able to keep the law of God perfectly. One single unclean thought, one hasty work, one little sin, one moment in life when we failed to love God with all our mind and heart and strength makes us guilty of breaking God's law. Solomon says, "The thought of foolishness is sin." No one, except Jesus, has been able to keep the law perfectly. Notice again what the Scripture says, "Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. The law can bless only the perfect and that one perfect person is Jesus and Jesus alone. And the law curses those who are not perfect and that includes all of the human race.
Rom. 3:23 (KJV)
Psa. 14:2 through Psa. 14:3 (KJV)
The law is powerless to save a lost sinner. It only condemns him.
Rom. 3:20 (KJV)
Gal. 2:16 (KJV)
Gal. 3:11 (KJV)
To be "justified" means to be made right with God and this the law could not do. We are justified when we believe in Jesus -- when we trust Him for forgiveness and salvation. The glorious truth is that Jesus came to do what the law could not do.
Rom. 8:3 through Rom. 8:4 (KJV)
Notice please what this verse says, "For what the law could not do." Dr. M. R. DeHaan puts it like this: "The law demands obedience, but it cannot produce obedience. The law required righteousness, but it cannot provide righteousness. The law can reveal sin, but it cannot take away sin; it can uncover the wickedness of the human heart, but it cannot change the human heart. The law condemns, curses and accuses the transgressor, but it cannot forgive, justify, or save the sinner. If the law could have done any of these things at all, there would have been no need whatsoever for the coming of a Saviour or the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. To turn to the law for salvation is, therefore, a denial of the cross of Calvary, and is another gospel which as Paul says, is not another but a counterfeit and a deception.
The glorious revelation is that Jesus came to deliver us from the curse of the law. The law was an executioner, seeking to kill us because of our sin. How grateful we are that Jesus came and by His death paid our sin debt.
Gal. 3:13 through Gal. 3:14 (KJV)
To deliver us from the curse of the law, Jesus did two things. First, He lived a perfect, holy, and sinless life. For 33 1/2 years He lived in full and complete and perfect obedience to the law in every detail. The second, He paid the death penalty of the law when He died on Calvary. He proved by His resurrection that He had fully paid that debt and now He offers salvation to all who will turn from the law and believe in Him.
Let us pause and seriously consider again the truth found in Romans 8:4.
Rom. 8:4 (KJV)
It does not say that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled by us but rather in us and that is what our Lord, Jesus Christ does for us. We have been delivered forever from the law.
Rom. 7:6 (KJV)
The law cannot condemn twice. It cannot demand double payment. Jesus has satisfied, once and forever, the demands of the law. The believer is dead in so far as the law is concerned. He is free from the law all because of the marvelous redemption provided by our Lord Jesus.
Gal. 2:19 (KJV)
Rom. 10:4 (KJV)
He came down from the blessedness of heaven to the bruises of crucifixion tortures.
He came down from the coronations of heaven to the condemnations of earth.
He came down from the delights of heaven to the defamations of earth.
He came down from the excellencies of heaven to the executions of earth.
He came down from the glory place to the gory place.
He came down from the hallelujahs of heaven to the hisses of earth.
He came down from the intercessions of heaven to the injustices of earth.
He came down from the joys of heaven to the jeers of the mobs of earth.
He came down from the kindness of heaven to the killing of earth.
He came down from the love of heaven to the lying accusation of earth, - yea, even to the iniquities of earth.
He came down from the majesties of heaven to the miseries of earth.
He came down from the notableness of heaven to the nothingness of earth.
He came down from the praise of heaven to the persecutions of earth.
He came down from the quietness of heaven to the quarrelsomeness of earth.
He came down from the riches of heaven to the revilings and ridicules of earth.
He came down from the songs of heavento the sneers and scars of earth.
He came down from the throne of heaven to the tree of Calvary.
He came down from the unison of heaven to the unmitigated unjustness of earth.
He came down from the virtues of heaven to the vices of earth.
He came down from the worship of angelic hosts to the homeless wanderings over earth and to the wrath and wrangling of unprincipled men.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou, Show us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I say unto you I speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
30 I and the Father are one.
19 to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;
1 God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, 2 hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds; 3 who being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness; 19 because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse:
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish: 4 in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.
1 On that day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. 2 And there were gathered unto him great multitudes, so that he entered into a boat, and sat; and all the multitude stood on the beach. 3 And he spake to them many things in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went forth to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the birds came and devoured them:
18 Hear then ye the parable of the sower. 19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the evil one, and snatcheth away that which hath been sown in his heart. This is he that was sown by the way side.
5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away sins; and in him is no sin.
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
6But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Jesus did not come to this earth merely to teach. Had Jesus merely wanted to teach, He would have lived to be 90 years old instead of 33. He could have taught more in 90 years than He did in 33, but He did not come primarily to teach. He came mainly to die.
Matt. 20:28 (KJV)
1 Tim. 2:5 through 1 Tim. 2:6 (KJV)
Six months before His death, Jesus began to show His disciples that He would die.
Matt. 16:21 (KJV)
He made it clear that He came to this world for the purpose of dying. It was only through His death that man could be saved, therefore, Jesus purposed to come and die.
John 12:27 (KJV)
Phil. 2:5 through Phil. 2:8 (ASV)
Again notice that Jesus spake of His death as being "lifted up which can mean only His death on the cross. Many are the Scriptures which tell us that it is by His death, the shedding of His blood that we are saved. God accepted His death as payment for our sin and now offers salvation to all who accept Jesus as Savior.
1 Cor. 15:3 (KJV)
1 Pet. 1:18 through 1 Pet. 1:19 (KJV)
1 John 1:7 (KJV)
Rev. 5:9 (KJV)
John 3:6 tells us that God so loved the people of this world that He gave His precious Son as a sacrifice for their sin. Jesus came and died and now salvation is available to all who desire it.
Heb. 2:9 (KJV)
The invitation to come to Jesus for salvation is extended to all -- to whosoever will.
John 3:16 (KJV)
Rom. 10:13 (KJV)
Rev. 22:17 (KJV)
Whosoever means you. Never, never, never forget that Jesus died for you. And He longs for you to trust Him and be saved from sin and hell.
The city of Rotterdam, Holland was captured by the Spanish army. The Spanish soldiers went from house to house slaying the people. In one house a group of men, women and children huddled. They were in terror as the soldiers approached. Suddenly a young man had an idea. He took a young goat, killed it and swept its blood under the door. The soldiers came and were battering on the door. One of them saw the blood and said, "Look at the blood running under the door. Let us go on, the work here is already done."
Let me share with you a true and beautiful story of one who was willing to do in order that another might live. Billy Rugh moved to Gary, Indiana in 1910. He had been crippled since childhood by infantile paralysis. He operated a modest newsstand at a downtown street corner, frequented by doctors and lawyers from a nearby office building. His laughing eyes and warm smile made many detour a block or so to buy his papers.
While talking to a doctor friend in 1912, he learned of a 18 year old girl who had been badly burned in a mororcycle accident. There was little hope for her recovery except to use extensive skin grafting. Billy wanted to help and offered the skin from his withered leg. The doctors discouraged him but he was not to be denied the chance to do something for someone else. Bit by bit skilled surgeons transplanted skin from the newsboy to the burned portions of the young lady's body. She lived and became a wife and mother.
For a time Billy seemed to be making satisfactory progress, then the healing process stopped. Gangrene had set in and the leg had to be amputated. This operation seemed successful until he developed pneumonia. His doctor sat by his bed and had a heart to heart talk with him. "You want to tell me I won't get well" said the weakened newsboy. "I knew I probably wouldn't before it all started. But you know, I ain't the first fellow who ever died so someone else could live. I'm going to die happy like Him."
On October 18, 1912, Billy went to be with the Lord. The funeral was planned for the Methodist church but was moved to the street where some 12 to 15 thousand attended. The pastor used the text, "He saved others, himself he cannot save." "We are told that a man has died, but men die every day. This man had no money, no office, no high position. His story is a short one. He came to Gary about two years ago, and began selling papers on the streets. Many came to know him as he was always pleasant and agreeable. he gave his life that another might live.
Some have said he didn't know he would die. The man who goes into battle does not know he will die, but he takes a chance. Rugh had been offered before to have his limb removed at no expense to himself, but he refused. That was simply doing something for himself. But when the opportunity was offered to have the limb removed to serve another, he came forward and made the offer himself. He wouldn't do it for himself but sacrificed it for another. William Rugh will never be forgotten by the people of Gary. He made the great sacrifice. We don't need to draw the moral. The facts speak for themselves." A granite marker stands in the lawn of the Memorial Auditorium, surrounded by flower beds and shrubbery. On it are these words. "in Memory of Billy Rugh, a newsboy who gave his life that another might live."
We observe the Lord's Supper in memory of His death. No where in Scripture are we admonished to remember His birth but we are never to forget His death. That was the most important thing Jesus came to accomplish -- to give His life a ransom for many.
V. Jesus Came That We Might Have Life.
John 10:10 (KJV)
We were dead in trespasses and sins, and Jesus came to lift us out of a state of death into a state of life.
John 5:24 (KJV)
Eph. 2:1 through Eph. 2:5 (KJV)
John 3:36 (KJV)
1 John 5:12 (KJV)
If you have never received Christ as Savior, you are spiritually dead, but you can have life. Hear Jesus again say, "I have come that you may have life."
28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
21 From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
5 Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; 8 and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
16 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.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
36 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.
12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
The story is told of a man who often went swimming in an indoor pool. He always dipped his toe in the water before diving in. One night, unable to sleep, he decided to swim. He thought the exercise would help him sleep. He said that as he stood on the diving board without stretched arms, the moonlight made his shadow on the wall, making a perfect sign of the cross. He was not a Christian but he began to quote an old hymn he learned as a boy. "He died that we might be forgiven, that we might go at last to heaven." He decided not to dive, but came down from the diving board, walked to the edge of the pool and climbed down the steps to the bottom. To his amazement he discovered there was no water in the pool. It had been drained. If he had dived, he would have plunged to his death.
He said, "The cross on the wall saved me that night. I was so thankful to God for His mercy that I knelt on the cold brick on the bottom and asked the Christ of the cross to save my soul. That night I experienced a two fold deliverance."
A Christmas card entitled, "If Christ had not come" told of a preacher falling to sleep in his study one Christmas morning and dreaming of a world to which the Savior had never come. In his dream he found himself looking through his home -- no stockings --no wreaths of holly. He walked down the street -- no church with spire pointing toward heaven. He went in his study -- every book about Christ had disappeared from the shelves. He was requested to go to the bed side of a dying woman. He opened his Bible to read words of comfort to her but it ended at Malachi. There was no gospe, no promise of life beyond the grave. He could only bow his head and weep in hopeless desperation.
Two days later he stood beside the grave to conduct this mother's funeral -- he had no message of comfort -- nor a glorious message of the ressurrection -- only "dust to dust, ashes to ashes -- one long, last final farewell. In his dream he burst into sobbing. Suddenly, nearby music woke him. When he realized what he was hearing, a great shout of joy burst from his lips. They were singing "O come all ye faithful. Come and behold Him. O come, let us adore Him. Christ, the Lord.
If Christ had not come, we would have no gospel, no church, no Lord's day, no forgiveness for our sin, no hope of the resurrection and glorified bodies, and no hope of heaven. But, oh, how it thrills our souls to know that He has come. We can never imagine what this world would be like if He had not come.
Now, friend, He came that you might have life. Do you have it? If you do not, it is your fault. Our dear Lord has paid the price and offers you freely life eternal.
A pastor friend of mine will ask a person, "Are you saved? Have you given your heart to Jesus? Have you received Him as your Savior?" If the person states that he has not, the pastor will say, "You prefer to live very dangerously, don't you?" Oh, the danger of putting off getting right with God. The Bible tells us that today is the day of salvation. This is the tie -- now -- this very minute to turn from sin to God. You're acting very foolish if you let the devil lead you to put it off.
Abraham Lincoln would slip into the pastor's study on prayer meeting night and leave the door open a little so he could hear. He would send for the pastor in the middle of the night to pray. He had made arrangements to join New York Avenue Presbyterian church but he was assassinated the day before he was to make public profession of his faith in Christ.
Once in England a man stole some sheep and according to law was sentenced to die. A preacher, Phillip Doddridge tried to save him but the law was strict and he failed. On the way to his execution the man asked to be taken by the preacher's home. He thanked the preacher and said, "You tried to save me but you couldn't." Jesus has never and will never fail to save one who comes in humility and confession of sin. All who have ever trusted Jesus were saved and that can happen to you.
John 3:16 (KJV)
16 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.
