Okay. Morning everyone. Good to be
back, good to see all your faces again. You all know that this
place is very special to me and I love you all and I'm very thankful
for your love towards me. Before we begin this morning,
let's pray. Our gracious God and Heavenly
Father, how thankful we are that you've once again given us this
time and place to gather with your people to hear your word. Oh Lord, and we do trust that,
as you promised, where two or three are gathered together in
thy name, gathered by thy gracious and sovereign arm, where two
or three are gathered together in thy name. There you are in
the midst of them, Lord. And we pray that you would do
as you said. Oh Lord, we pray that you would
honor your word and meet with us. Oh Lord, you know our shortcomings,
you know our heartaches, you know our afflictions. Lord, you
appointed them for us and for our good. We pray that you would
now block out all distractions out of our mind, Lord, that you
would enable us to come into this place and worship you, to
concentrate on Christ and worship him. Oh Lord, give us ears to
hear your precious and irresistible voice, eyes to see you by faith. Oh Lord, how precious is that
gift of faith that only you can give. Lord, give us faith to
believe your word. Lord, give me the words to speak.
Bless these messages. Receive our songs of praise.
Lord, receive our prayers for Christ's sake. Lord, bless us
in spite of us. Forgive us for our sins and have
mercy upon us. For it's in Christ's precious
name we ask these things. Amen. For this Bible study, it'll probably
be very short, but it's a very important question that I want
to try to answer. Very simple, very basic, yet very important. Why did Christ come? Why did
Christ come? Two thousand years ago, the Son
of God came into this world, was born in a manger in Bethlehem.
And most people who call themselves Christians, they'll agree with
you on that fact. The fact that Christ came into
this world, that historic, undisputable fact that Jesus Christ came into
this world, is not the point of contention. The point of contention
is why He came. Why did Christ come? It's kind
of like Like Paul said, the Gospel is not just that Christ died.
I'm not just splitting hairs here by using these words. The
Gospel is not the fact, the historic indisputable fact that Christ
died. The Gospel is how that Christ
died according to the Scriptures. That's the gospel, how that Christ
died according to the scriptures. And the question I want to try
to answer this morning is why did Christ come? Why did He come? And you talk to most people who
have some kind of profession of faith, and I dare say as many
people as you ask, that's about how many different answers you're
going to get. Who knows what they might say in trying to answer
that question. But this morning I want to look
at a few very simple passages of scripture where Christ Himself
tells us plainly, very plainly, why He came. And I'll be very
brief. Turn with me to John chapter
6. John chapter 6. Hebrews 10 verse 7 Christ says
lo and that word lo is the same word as that word behold behold
lo this is a glorious thing I I come I come this is why Christ came
I come because in the volume of the book and the volume of
this book this blessed Word of God that we have this morning
and the volume of the book It is written of me to do thy will,
O God." And he was specifically talking about the Old Testament.
But we know that, because at that time, they didn't have the
New Testament. They were the New Testament.
But we know that this book, from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, it's
all about the Lord Jesus. And I never get tired of repeating
that. God's people never get tired of hearing that. You know,
when we read God's Word, we would profit greatly with keeping that
one single fact. in front of our eyes. This is
talking about my Savior. This is talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's not a rule book for Christian living. It's
about Him. And this is why Christ came.
I come to do Thy will, O God. And that's the first answer to
the question, why did Christ come? Why did He come? To do
the will of the Father. Every thought that Jesus thought
was holy and about... He was always about His Father's
business. Isn't that what He said? When His parents, Joseph
and Mary, they thought they lost Him when He was just a boy. I
think He was about 12 years old according to the flesh. And they
said, what mean you to make us sick in our hearts, to cause
us to worry so much? We thought we lost You. And he
said, no you not, as a 12-year-old boy, don't you know that I must
be about my father's business? Why did Christ come? To do the
will of the Father. And Christ Himself said, I love
this, I do always those things that please the Father. Every
thought He had, every word He spoke, every step He took, was
to accomplish and satisfy the will of His Father. What a glorious
Savior we have. Oh, I can't honor God's will. I can't do God. I'm a failure. But not my Savior. He walked
perfectly before the Father. And I did in Him. I did in Him. And here we see, what is the
will of the Father? This is why I wanted to turn
to John chapter 6. If Christ came into the world to do the
will of the Father, What is the will of the Father? Next time
someone asks you, what's the will of God? What is the will
of God? Turn to this passage and show
them. John chapter 6, look at verse
7. Christ says, or verse 37, I'm
sorry. John 6 verse 37. All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out For I came down here's why he came
for I came down from heaven not to do mine own will Not to do
mine own will but the will of him that sent me And this is
the father's will which hath sent me that of all which he
hath given me I should lose No thing. I should lose no thing. Not a single one of them. But
should raise it up again at the last day. Every step he took was to fulfill
the will of his Father. And I'm so thankful that we have
this passage of Scripture because we can always turn to it and
reaffirm in our hearts, with the aid and guidance of the Holy
Spirit of God, what the will of our God is. All that the Father
giveth me, all those elect few sheep, those sinners that God
chose before the foundation of the world, unconditionally, without
any regard to anything in them, without any regard to what they
might or might not do in time, but with a reason altogether
within Himself. It pleased the Lord to make you
His people. With a reason altogether within Himself, He chose a specific,
elect, blessed group of people. And Christ says, All those sheep
which the Father gave Me, I will lose nothing. They shall all
come to Me. They shall all come to Me. All that the Father giveth
Me shall come to Me. That means that God's people
can never be lost. Why? Because we don't keep ourselves. We're kept by the power of God. He who hath begun... You see,
it's Christ who begins the good work in us and performs it until
the day of His second coming. He who hath begun a good work
in you, he shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He shall
see the travail of his soul and he shall be satisfied. Read John chapter 10 when you
go home. It's correspondent with this passage of Scripture and
how we see how all of God's sheep will come to Him. Because Christ
explains Himself in John chapter 10 as the Great Shepherd of the
sheep. And He says the same thing He
says here in John chapter 6, Although the Father giveth Me
shall come to Me. He says, My sheep, My sheep, not all men,
My sheep, they hear My voice. I've never heard His voice audibly.
I've heard Him a lot louder than that though. I've heard Him within
my very soul. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. A stranger's voice they will
not follow. How often have we heard someone say something that's
contrary to God's Word and you just, you know, you just, that's
not the voice of my Savior. Why? Because a stranger's voice
the sheep will not follow. but his voice. That soft, still,
quiet voice that speaks. Oh, they hear that voice and
they follow Him. They follow Him. And this is
God's will. And this is why Christ came,
to fulfill the will of the Father. And the will of the Father is
that all that Christ was given in eternity shall come to Him. In time, through the instrumentality
of the preaching of the Gospel, when they hear a God's appointed
time of love, He will call them. He will speak to them by name.
I love how salvation is a personal thing. Salvation doesn't flow through
blood relation. You know, people think that's
where most of that false doctrine of infant baptism comes from.
Well, because they're the children of Christian parents, somehow
that they're nearer to the door of salvation, so to speak, than
someone who's not of blood. Read John 1. They're not born
of blood, nor of the will of man, but of the will of My Father. Before I move on, I want to mention
this too. That glorious example. When Christ,
again, showing how He was, that He came, that Christ did come
into this world to do the will of the Father. You remember what
happened in Gethsemane. He began to be exceeding sorrowful
and very heavy. Heavy in anticipation of being
made sin for His people. Heavy in anticipation of being
forsaken of His Father, that He might reconcile us to His
Father. And he said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me nevertheless. Not as I will, but as Thy will. Thy will be done. You see, Christ
humbled Himself. I just want you to think about
that. Christ Jesus was in glory with
His Father. And He came down from glory,
and stepped into a world that hated Him, and suffered the contradiction
of sinners against Himself every day, and lived among a people
of unclean lips, just to do the will of His Father.
He humbled Himself. He was obedient unto death. Christ, the Son of God, the Second
Person of the Holy Trinity, obedient unto death? Yes, even the death
of the cross, the most shameful death a man could die. Why did Christ come? To do the
will of the Father. And this is the will of the Father
which hath sent me, that all that the Father giveth me shall
come to me. What comfort. What comfort for
God's people. Why did Christ come? Number 2.
Turn with me to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. Number two, Christ came to fulfill
all the Law and the Prophets. He came to fulfill all the Law
and the Prophets. Matthew chapter 5, look at verse
17. He says, Think not that I am come to destroy
the law you see he was speaking to these These Jews these Pharisees
who were stout followers of Moses law. We be Moses disciples They
said in John chapter 9 for followers of Moses and he said think not
that I'm because he knew what they were thinking He knew that
what they were thinking is what most men think today when they
hear the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ the teaching of
salvation by grace Oh, you're an antinomian. You're against
the law. You tell men that Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness, that God's people are saved by
the obedience and faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ alone,
and not by their obedience to the law or their attempts at
keeping it. And they say, well, you hate God's law. You're an
antinomian. You're against the law. And so Christ says in verse 17
of Matthew chapter 5, think not. I know what you're thinking.
Think not. Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the
prophets. I am not come to destroy. Here's
why Christ came. I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law till all be fulfilled. This is why Christ
came. Because We couldn't keep God's
Law. We've never kept one of God's
Law but Christ. But this man, this man, he kept
every jot and tittle of God's Law. What does that mean? The
jot and tittle. It's the same thing as in our
English language to say crossing your t's and dotting your i's.
The very most insignificant parts of the letter. He came to fulfill
every jot and tittle and he says, For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass away, one John and one Tito shall in no
wise pass from the law." This is why Christ came. To fulfill
all the law in the prophets. He was an antinomian. Do we make
void then the law of God through faith? Nay, rather we establish
the law. We establish the law. And that's
what Christ did. He fulfilled all the law's demands.
And He fulfilled all that the prophets spoke of. You remember those two disciples
in Luke 24, on their walk to Emmaus? This was after the crucifixion
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they were very sad. This one
who we thought, you can imagine how sad we are. This one who
we thought would establish a kingdom in Israel again, he's died. We
don't know where he is now. All our hope is dashed in pieces.
They were sad. And Christ met with them, but
at first they didn't know it was the Lord Jesus Christ. But
He met with them and He said, why are you so sad? And they
said, are you a stranger? Have you not heard of the things
that transpired here? And He said, what things? And
He goes on, and you can read that discourse for yourself in
Luke 24, but He goes on to say, O ye fools, that's me, O ye fools
and slow of heart to believe, all that the prophets have spoken.
And he says, ought not Christ to have suffered these things?
This is why Christ came into the world. His crucifixion was
not some last minute stand. It wasn't plan B. It wasn't because
God couldn't save men some other way and that men wouldn't have
Jesus, so Christ had to die. No, this was always the will
of God the Father. And this is what all the Old
Testament law and the prophets spoke of. You can read it so
often, I think the first thing I think of is Isaiah 53. Isaiah
53. You know, you think, why was
Christ silent during His scourging, where Caiaphas was the high priest? Why didn't He respond and defend
Himself? He might fulfill that place where
it says, He was led as a sheep is done before her shearers,
and He opened not His mouth. You see this is why Christ came
to fulfill all those he fulfilled every one of them Every one of
them and not only all the Old Testament not only the law and
the prophets but all the Old Testament types Here He is. Here He is. You see, the Old
Testament was saying, someone's coming. Someone is coming. It's the Messiah.
It's the seed of the woman. Someone's coming. The New Testament.
Christ is here. It's Him. The Jews said, we're
Moses' disciples. And Christ said, no you're not. No you're not. Because if you
were Moses' disciples, you would believe Me. For He wrote of Me. How did Moses write of Him? You
can see by faith, very simply, the burning bush. How that bush
was burning with the fire of God, but the bush was not consumed.
A picture of our Savior on the cross, how He consumed, how the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ consumed the wrath of God, and
was not consumed. Noah's Ark. That's a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. David, our King, who slayed Goliath
with his own sword. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
slaying Satan by his own means to crucify the Savior. That's
the means that God used to save his people. He is our Great High
Priest. He is Aaron. He is our Moses.
He is the Ark of the Covenant. He is that sacrificial Pascal
Lamb. And this is why Christ came.
He established perfect righteousness for us. Oh, think not that I'm
come to destroy the law. I'm not come to destroy the law.
I'm not an antinomian. I'm come to fulfill the law. Why did Christ come? Turn with me to Matthew chapter
9. Matthew chapter 9. Look at verse 9. Matthew 9 verse
9. And as Jesus passed forth from
thence, he saw a man named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom.
And he saith unto him, Follow me. Who is this man, Jesus of
Nazareth? He said, Follow me. And he arose,
and he followed him. And it came to pass, as Jesus
sat at me in the house, behold, Many publicans and sinners came
and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees
saw it, they went to His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it,
that He ate with publicans and sinners, they said to His disciples,
Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? Why is He eating
with these ungodly people? Why is He eating with these helpless,
hopeless, sick, Dead dogs. But then Jesus, He wouldn't even
let His disciples answer. He spoke for them. But when Jesus
heard that, He said unto them, They that behold need not a physician,
but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Here is why Christ
came. For I am not come to call the
righteous. I am come to call sinners to repentance. Why did Christ come? To call
sinners to repentance. So the only question that we're
left to ask is, are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? People say,
well, if Christ died only for His elect, if Christ died only
for His people, and He did, what hope do I have of salvation?
The issue is not, are you elect? The issue is, are you a sinner?
If you're a sinner, then you have every right, every right
to believe that Jesus Christ died for you. Why? Because Christ
said, this is why I came into the world. To call sinners, not
good people, not the self-righteous Pharisees, not the law mongers,
not the Pharisees, not the scribes, not the wise men of the world. Not the somebodies. He came to
save the nobodies. He came to save the dead dog
sinners. He came to save the law breakers. He came to save
those who are poor in spirit, the broken hearted, those who
are held captive by their sin. I'm not come to call righteous,
but sinners to repentance. I love that passage in Luke chapter
4 when the Lord stands up for to read, it says, in the temple.
They were having a scripture reading. And the Lord Jesus Christ
stood up and read from the book of Isaiah. And he said, The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, for he hath anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance
to the captives, to give sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he sat down and says, All they that were in the temple,
All their eyes were fixed on Him, because they knew He spoke
of Himself. This is why Christ came. This
is why Christ came to preach the gospel to the poor. The poor
in spirit, the broken hearted, the sinners. This is a faithful saying, Paul
said, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. I have no other argument. I have
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. Self-righteous people hate free
grace, don't they? You can read it. We saw that a few months
ago in Luke 4, how after He preached that God's grace was sovereign,
they took Him up to cast Him off the cliff in their city.
That's not fair. Self-righteous people hate free
grace, but it's the very thing God's people feed upon. It's
the very thing that we've come here this morning to hear again.
Oh Lord, speak to me by your free grace. Lord, speak to me. Why did Christ come? Number four,
He came to send a sword. You say, that's strange. He came
to send a sword. How do we know that? Turn with
me to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10. Look at verse 34. Think not. There it is again. People are inclined to believe
just the opposite of what he says. People say, oh Jesus just
wants everybody to get along. He just wants world peace. He
just wants all of us to hold hands around and be all spiritual
and wave our hands. Let's hear what Christ has to
say about it. Matthew chapter 10 verse 34. Think not that I
am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace. but
a sword. 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. And
a man's foe shall be they of his own household. He that loveth
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he
that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy
of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth
his life for my sake Why did Christ come? He came to establish
peace with His people. We saw that in Colossians chapter
1. He has made peace through the blood of His cross, reconciling
all things to Himself. And in John chapter 14, He says,
let not your heart be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled.
I know it's prone to be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in Me. And He goes on to say,
My peace I give you, not as the world giveth. Not hope and peace
and comfort in the things that you might have, or the things
that you hope to be, your big dreams, the American dream, as
they say. Oh, I don't give you peace like
that. I don't give you peace with corruptible things. I give
you peace that no man can give you. The peace of knowing that
you are just in the eyes of God. That God's not angry with you. But he did come to send a sword,
didn't he? You know, I used to get along with my family members,
my relatives, pretty well, pretty well. By the grace of God, it
seems that the Lord has been pleased to save both my parents
and my older brother. And I'm very thankful for that. But my grandparents, my cousins
who I was always very close to, my aunts and uncles who were
like brothers and sisters to me, too. We got along very well. Something happened one day. I
spoke about the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of
a sudden, it didn't seem that we were so close. Why? Because
I'm not coming to send peace on the earth, but a sword. He's
going to bust up some families. You read the Word of God. Every time God had mercy on one
and passed by another, there was always not only division,
but there was strife and opposition. I think of Cain and Abel. Cain
and Abel. Why did Cain kill his brother
Abel? Well, the Bible tells us, because his own works were evil,
and his brother's righteous. And he killed them. Isaac and
Ishmael. There was strife, wasn't there?
The Lord said, Abraham, cast out Ishmael. And thy handmaid Hagar cast him
out. This is not thy son. This is
not your son. But he that comes out of your
own loins. Isaac, this is thy son. And there was strife, wasn't
there, between Isaac and Ishmael. Jacob and Esau. Strife between
them. The infants warred against each
other in Rebekah's womb, didn't they? This is another picture
of the old and the new man. We see it over and over again.
This Gospel. long when all men shall speak
well of you. That isn't to say that we go
around trying to make people angry. I'm not suggesting that
in any way. But you preach the gospel to
people who hate God. And all men hate God because
the carnal mind is enmity against God. You preach the gospel faithfully.
You tell them about what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for
you, and opposition will arise. The gates of hell will go on
offense. They will do everything to lead
you astray. Saul of Tarsus, when did his
troubles start? When he profited in the Jews'
religion above his equals? No. His troubles started when
God saved him, didn't he? When the Lord revealed himself
on the road to Damascus. After that, he said, I will show
him, what did Christ say? What a peaceable life of health,
wealth, and prosperity he shall live. I will show him what great
things he must suffer for my name's sake. The angel in the
book of Revelation revealed to John the innumerable host of
God's saints in heaven. He said, these are they which
came out of much tribulation. Ye must, ye must through much
tribulation enter into the kingdom of heaven. This is why Christ
came. Oh, in this world ye shall have
trouble, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.
I have overcome the world. Why did Christ come? He came
for judgment. He came for judgment. Turn with
me to John chapter 9. John chapter 9. Look at verse 39. And this is after the Lord had
just... given sight to a man who was born blind. You can read
at the beginning of John chapter 9, there was a man who was born
blind. He didn't just become blind after he was born. He was
born blind and the Lord met him and in mercy he spat on the ground
and put the clay over his eyes and he began to see. And this
is after all that. In John chapter 9 verse 39 he says, And Jesus
said, Here's why Christ came. For judgment I am come into this
world, that they which see not might see. and that they which
see might be made blind. You could read it like this,
that they which see not might see and they which think they
see, which think they see, which are proud in their wisdom and
their knowledge might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees
Some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words and
said unto him, Are we blind also? You're telling us that we're
blind? We interpret the scriptures.
We're Moses' disciples. It was once said that if there
were two people that would go to heaven, it would be a scribe
and the other would be a Pharisee. We're Abraham's children. We're
good people. We're disciples of the law. Are
we blind also? Are we blind also? I was born into a Christian family. I've been told the truth all
my life. I made a decision for Jesus. You're telling me all
that's a lie. Are we blind also? If you were blind, then you'd
have no sin. But because you say we see, that's
why your sin remaineth. Why did Christ come into the
world? For judgment. That those blind sinners might
be given sight. Might be given sight. And that
those who think they see might be made blind. Oh, the Lord said,
Father, I thank Thee. I thank Thee that Thou hast hidden
these things from the wise and the prudent. God's not revealed
His Gospel to the wise and the prudent. How thankful we ought
to be that He's revealed it to us. He said, I thank Thee, Father,
that Thou hast not revealed these things to the wise and the prudent.
But Thou hast revealed them unto babes, unto babes, unto nobodies,
unto insignificant, helpless infants, unto My sheep. That's who those babes are, God's
people. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? You
know, I find it amazing. You see some of these young believers
who the Lord has been gracious to save. You know, some very
young, 12, 13 years old. And they know more about this
book than Dr. So-and-so. That Pharisee, that
scribe who spent all his life in theology. The doctrine of
divinity. You name anyone, Billy Graham,
the most popular one. Our children, whom the Lord has
saved, know more about this book, know more about who God is. And
I say more, I mean, those other people, they don't know God at
all. But they know more than all these wise scribes and Pharisees. Oh, hath God not made foolish
the wisdom of this world? He's revealed the gospel unto
babes. Unto babes. And that's why Christ
came. Alright, last but not least,
Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Let's read
verse 1. Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about with so many, so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, what is that sin? The sin of unbelief. And let
us run our race with patience, the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And
here it is, why did Christ come? who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God." Why did Christ
come? Why did He suffer contradiction
of sinners against Himself every day? Why is it that He humbled
Himself from His lofty throne in heaven and came to a place
where He had nowhere to lay His head? Why was He spit on and
scourged and crucified? Why did He do all these things?
Why did Christ come? For the joy that was set before
Him. You think, what joy? What joy? Oh, you look at His suffering,
His agony in Gethsemane. You read in Lamentations chapter
1, Christ speaking prophetically through the prophet. Look unto
my sorrow and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.
Wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger.
You think, Christ Himself, He said He's a man of sorrows. Oh, what a name for our Savior.
The man of sorrows. You think, what joy is there
in that? That where I am, there you may
be also. Why did Christ come? He came
for the joy that was set before Him. That He might reconcile
all things to Himself. That He might save every one
of His sheep. That He might save that which was lost. Why did
Christ come? To do the will of the Father.
Why did Christ come? To fulfill all the Law and the
Prophets. Why did Christ come? To send a sword. Why did Christ
come? To call sinners to repentance.
Why did Christ come? For judgment. Why did Christ
come? For the joy that was set before
Him. Alright, let's take a break.