I want to bring a message today
on a single subject with four parts,
maybe five. You want to count all five of
them. And the subject is this. Who is Jesus Christ and what
did he do? A pretty simple title. Who is
Jesus Christ and what did he do? The first thing I want to
ask, though, as a first point is, Why are we here? Why are we here? In Acts chapter
11, there was a man whose name was Cornelius. He was a captain
of a hundred men, a centurion in the Roman army. He was not
a Jew. He was not someone who was born into the nation that
God blessed. He was born, as we are here today,
in the non-Jewish nation. He was a Gentile. But God sent
an angel to him, and the angel told him to send for Peter. And when he sent for Peter, he
said, this is the reason, because Peter would tell him words, and
by those words, he and his whole household would be saved. That's
why we're here. Because God has given his word
that we might hear it, that we might be saved. That's the reason
that we're here. We come week by week. in order
that we might hear from God. We hear from God from the Scripture,
the Bible, and He speaks to us from the Scripture. And when
He is pleased to, He gives us faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the way we're saved. We see and understand and are
persuaded of who Jesus Christ is and what He did and where
He is now. And that is the way God saves
His people. So that's why we're here. to
hear words by which we might be saved. Now, it's the Lord
who sends his word. Men don't invent God's truth. God sends it. And so the next
question is we have to answer. This is the most important question
of all. Who is Jesus Christ? Now, the Bible is a big book.
If you've ever attempted to read it, you might get lost in all
of the details. But this book, if you were to
condense it down, is about the Lord Jesus Christ. And you'll
see that as we go through some of these verses that I'm going
to recite to you. It's Jesus Christ, according
to Romans chapter 1. I'll read these verses to you.
This is, in a nutshell, what is called the gospel. The gospel
is a word that means the good news. God sent his report. his message, his proclamation
of good news. And this is called the gospel.
And he says here in Romans chapter 1, the first few verses, Paul
writes, he says, I'm a servant of Jesus Christ. I was called
to be an apostle. I was separated to the gospel
of God. And he promised this before by
his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. And here's what the gospel is
about. He says it's concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And then he says, which was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to
be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. There's two things you
see about who Jesus Christ is there. It's concerning His Son,
Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now, what does it mean that Jesus
is the Son of God? Well, first of all, Jesus Himself
claimed to be the Son of God. In Mark, chapter 14, the high
priest asked Jesus, he said to Jesus, he said, Are you the Christ,
the Son of God? And Jesus said this, I am. He Himself admitted, I am the
Son of God. If He never claimed to be the
Son of God, we might question whether He truly was the Son
of God. But He said Himself, I am the Son of God. But not
only that, God His Father said He was the Son of God. When He
was baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist, there was
a voice that came from heaven. And this is what He said. Listen
to the words and you'll see who is speaking. This, it was concerning
the Lord Jesus, this voice came at his baptism. He said, this
is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. A voice from heaven
came at the time when Jesus was baptized, identifying him as
his son. And also that he was his beloved
son, the one God loved. and the one with whom God was
well pleased." Later on, Jesus was with his disciples at a mountain,
and he was transfigured. His face began to shine, and
his clothes were made white so that he was so bright that it
was as the sun. And his disciples were afraid,
and they didn't know what to say. Peter said, Lord, it's good
that we're here. And they were actually with Jesus
at that time. Moses appeared and Elijah appeared.
And so Peter, overcome by the situation as I'm sure I would
have been, I would have known what to say, he tried to say
something because it seemed like he always had to have something
to say. And he said, Lord, it's good that we're here. Let's make
three tents or tabernacles, he called them. Let's make one for
Elijah and one for Moses and one for you. And this voice came
again from heaven and he said this, this is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased. And then he added this, you hear
him. He's the one we need to hear,
the Lord Jesus Christ. So who is Jesus Christ? He's
the son of God. He is the Son of God by His own
admission. He is the Son of God by the Father
speaking from heaven. And He is the Son of God because
the Spirit of God has said He is the Son of God. The Bible
was written by the Spirit of God. And here in Romans chapter
1, it says that He was declared, He was made known to be, He was
manifested to be, openly proclaimed to be the Son of God with power
according to the Spirit of holiness. by the resurrection from the
dead. When Christ was raised from the
dead, the Spirit of God was testifying to the fact, this is the Son
of God. Everything He said and everything
He did is true. All that He said about Himself
and all that He said He would do, He actually did. And His
resurrection put the stamp of God's seal on all that He did. So that's the first thing. He's
the Son of God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit have said that He is the Son of God. But He did not start
to be the Son of God at some point in time. He didn't become
the Son of God. He always was the Son of God. And He was declared to be the
Son of God when He rose from the dead. Listen to these words
in Hebrews chapter 1.8. It says, Unto the Son, God says, Thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever. This is what God the Father says
to His Son. Thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever. For Jesus Christ to be the Son
of God, He must therefore be God Himself. He is God over all. To be God over all, what does
it mean? It says in another place in the book of Acts that we preach
Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. What does
it mean to be Lord of all, to be God over all? It means that
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, rules over everything in all
of creation on earth. in space and in the heavens where
God Himself dwells. He rules over everything. He
rules over all angels, all devils, all men, all things, at all times,
in all places. He rules. He always does His
will, and His will is right, and He's the judge of all. And
so, because He is these things, He said this in John chapter
5. He says, That all men should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. Whoever does not
honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent him. So now
we're getting to the next part. That God not only has a Son,
and Jesus Christ is His Son, and that Son is God Himself,
Lord over all. But it's also the case that God
sent His Son. He sent His Son. And that's the
second part of who Jesus Christ is. He's not just the Son of
God, but it says in Romans 1, He is the Son of David. He was
made, He was God, the Son of God, always has been the Son
of God, even from eternity and will be to eternity, never changing. always having all that God has. He is the One. In fact, let me
read this to you in Hebrews 1. He says this in Hebrews 1, the
first second verse. He says, God has in these last
days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of
all things. God the Father has made Him the
inheritor of everything in heaven, in earth, in all places. And
not only that, does He inherit everything, but He made everything.
It says, "...by whom also He made the world." He made everything
in order that He might inherit everything. All that He made,
He made for Himself. And then it says in the next
part, it says that He is the brightness of God's glory, the
outshining of the very brightness of God's greatest glory. That's
who Jesus Christ is. And He is the expressed image
of His person. When you look at Jesus Christ,
you're seeing God Himself. When you see Jesus Christ, you're
seeing the revelation of God Himself. He said to His disciples,
if you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. Jesus Christ is the
only revelation God has given of Himself in a person, and that's
who He is. He is the Lord Jesus Christ.
But not only did He make everything, not only is He God Himself in
His bright glory, And all that God is, He is in Jesus Christ.
But He also upholds everything by the word of His power. And
that's what it says in the next part. So Jesus Christ is the
Son of God, and it means that He's Lord over all, created all
things, made everything, and everything He made and created,
He did for Himself, for His glory. He's God. But not just God, He's
man. And He became man. He always
was God, but He became man. It says, where I started here
in Romans chapter 1, He was made of the seed of David, according
to the flesh. When Mary, his mother, was with
child, God said to her through the angel Gabriel, He says, that
one that is going to be born of you will be called the Son
of the Highest. Jesus Christ was God, and He
became man. And when He became man, He didn't
stop being God. He became man, and He always
was God. And listen to these words here
in Matthew. He was the Son of David, but David himself says,
He's my Lord. In Matthew chapter 22, he says
this. I'll read it to you in verse
41. The Pharisees were always trying to trip Jesus up when
He was on the earth. They thought they were wise.
They thought they were righteous. They thought they could show
that Jesus was false and they could overpower Him by their
words. They were mistaken. And so, while the Pharisees were
gathered together, it says in verse 41, Jesus asked them a
question. And His question is going to
silence them once and for all. This was the end of His ministry
just before He went to the cross. He says, I have a question for
you. What do you think, he says in
verse 42, what do you think of Christ? Whose son is he? Now, there's a tricky question,
isn't it? If he's the son of God, you'd have to say he's the
son of God. If he's the son of David, you'd
have to say he's the son of David. Now, the Pharisees didn't want
to admit that Jesus was the son of God. So, they were stuck. They knew if they answered that
he was the son of David, in fact, they answered it right away.
It says, they say to him, the son of David. In verse 43, he
said to them, well then, how did David in spirit call him
Lord? Saying, the Lord said to my Lord,
sit on my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
If David called him Lord, how is he his son? And at that time,
no man was able to answer him a word, neither did any man from
that day forth ask him any more questions." So, you see, what
stumped the Pharisees may stump us also, but it shouldn't stump
us. Jesus Christ is the Lord of David, but He became David's
son in time. He's the Lord. Why did He become
David's son? That's the next question. He
is indeed the Son of God, and He did create the world. Why
would the One who created the world become the Son of David? So that's the second part, really,
of our sermon. Who is Jesus Christ? He is God's
Son. He's the Son of David. He's God
and man. But why did He become man? Why
did the Son of God come into the world? And it says, just
so I can confirm that with you, in John 6, verse 38, let me read
these words to you. Jesus said, I came down from
heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. You see that? I didn't come on
my own. I came to do the will of Him
that sent me. Why did Jesus Christ come? To
do His Father's will. He came from heaven. He didn't
start to be, when He came into the earth, He was already God. But when He came to the earth,
He came to do His Father's will. He says in 1 John, the epistle
of John, near the back of the Bible, He says this in 1 John
4, a very simple statement, but it just confirms this. In verse
14, He says, We have seen and do testify that the father sent
the son to be the savior of the world. You see that? Why did
Jesus Christ come? Because his father sent him.
His father sent him and he sent him to do something. And that's
what we're going to find out. Why did God send him? Look again
at First Timothy, chapter one, where we started the sermon this
morning, reading from First Timothy. And I'll just read that again
to you because it's such an important text of Scripture, we want to
have it in our mind and see what Paul and God is saying through
Paul. He says in 1 Timothy 1, verse 12, I thank God. I thank
Jesus Christ, he says. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord.
See how he identifies him? He is Christ. Christ means God's
appointed. God chose him. God blessed him
in order to do what he sent him to do. And his name is Jesus,
too, because the name Jesus means that he's going to save his people
from their sins. So he says, I thank Christ Jesus,
our Lord. He calls him Lord, who has enabled
me for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.
Paul was made a minister, a servant of Jesus Christ. And notice,
he doesn't act as if he doesn't claim that he was made a minister
of Christ because of his own worth. Verse 13. Who was before
and he's going to tell about himself now and listen to what
he says about himself. I was a blasphemer. Now, a blasphemer
is a slanderer, someone who speaks against, who lies about others
in order to discredit them. Paul was someone who spoke against
the Christians, those who believed Christ, and he did it in order
to discredit Christ Himself. He spoke against God. He spoke
against God's truth. And not only did he speak against
it, he says, I was a blasphemer, but I was also a persecutor.
He not only said things against God, but he acted out what he
said and tried to kill, in fact, indeed, did kill Christians. He was standing there when they
stoned Stephen. And when they asked for false
witnesses against Stephen, Paul was one of those. likely to have
been one who gave a false report because he's a blasphemer. Someone
who speaks lies in order to discredit and to bring down the reputation
of others. And he was trying to bring down
Christ's cause. He was trying to bring down Christ
Himself and His people. Everything he could do, he did
it against them and against these people. And he thought in himself
he was doing it for a good cause, but he was fighting against the
Lord Jesus Christ, killing his people. He would go to the houses
of men and women and actually drag them out and bind them and
take them and put them in prison because they believed on Jesus
Christ. And so he says, I was a blasphemer,
a persecutor and injurious, hurting over and over again. And this
was painful for Paul to admit. Because now he loved the Lord
Jesus Christ. The thing that he hated, that
hurt him the most, is to have to admit what he himself was
against the one he loved the most, the one who had saved him.
And so he says, I was these things. I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor. I was injurious. But then he
says, but I obtained mercy. Mercy. Now, mercy is something
that God gives. Paul was not seeking salvation. Paul was not seeking Jesus Christ. He didn't ask Jesus Christ for
salvation. And he certainly didn't deserve
salvation. But he was given mercy. Mercy. Do you know who needs mercy? Those who are guilty. Those who
can do nothing to save themselves. Remember what we just read about
the publican in Luke 18? He smote on his breast. He couldn't
even lift up his eyes to heaven. He was lonely, by himself, far
off, standing way back in the very back of the synagogue, and
he cried out, be merciful to me." And he didn't say just a
sinner. He said, the sinner. I'm the sinner. In his mind,
all he could see was himself before God. And that's what sin
is. And Paul understood that. He
says, I was these things. I was a sinner against the Lord
Jesus Christ, against God Himself. But he says here, I obtained
mercy. I obtained mercy. Because I did
it ignorantly and unbelief. He didn't believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's why he did it. He did
it in ignorance. And our unbelief makes what we
do worse. What is unbelief? If your father
tells you something about, let's say, he says, son, I build skyscrapers
for a living. I go to work every day and I
build skyscrapers. And you say, I don't believe
that, dad. I don't believe that you really
build skyscrapers. What are you saying? You're saying,
father, I really don't believe you. And if you say you don't
believe your dad, what are you saying? You're really fibbing. You're telling me a lie. Or you
can't really do what you said you do. You couldn't be those
things that you're claiming to be. Unbelief is calling God,
God's faith, his truth into question. It's calling God himself into
question. Unbelief is calling God a liar. That's what unbelief is. It's
not something that we should take as, well, I couldn't help
it, I just didn't believe. No, unbelief is a willing sin. It's a sin of purpose. It's a sin of hardness. It was for unbelief that God
killed the Israelites in the wilderness during that 40-year
stretch of time, because they wouldn't believe God's promise
that He was going to bring them into the land of Canaan. And
Paul didn't believe Christ. In the book of John, John 16,
verse 8, Jesus says, When I go to heaven, I'm about to go to
heaven. When I go to heaven, I'm going to send my own spirit,
the Spirit of God, back. And when he comes, he's going
to do three things. He's going to convince the world
of sin. That's the first thing. And here's
why he's going to convince the world of sin, because they do
not believe me. The Jews killed Christ. They killed him because they
did not believe him. And Jesus says, if you don't
believe me, you do not believe my father. If you don't honor
me, you don't honor him. They did not believe God. And
he says the Spirit of God has got to convince us of that, that
we fundamentally, by nature, do not believe God. How do we
not believe God? Well, Paul didn't believe. He
had heard Stephen's message. Stephen preached a whole chapter,
one of the longest in the New Testament, and he heard this
message. He was right there. And the people who stoned Stephen
laid their clothes at Paul's feet, and Paul is sitting there,
or standing there, watching the whole thing. As Stephen is dying
from these stones, and Stephen lifts up his eyes in praise,
he sees all this, and it doesn't even affect him. That's what
you call ignorance and unbelief. A hardened heart. He didn't believe
the Lord Jesus Christ. Didn't believe His Word. All
that he said in the Old Testament, he did not believe about Jesus
Christ. Remember, I said this book is
about Jesus Christ. Paul didn't believe Him. What happened? Well, Paul was
going to a place so he could arrest some more Christians and
cast them into prison. And Jesus Christ appears to him
as he's riding, going to there, and he speaks to him, and he
says, Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me? And Paul said,
Who are you, Lord? is, I am Jesus whom you persecute. And Jesus Christ had mercy upon
Paul. He was not looking. He was not
asking. He did not deserve God's grace
or mercy. And Christ had mercy on him.
He was guilty, deserving of punishment for his crimes against the God
of glory, against Jesus Christ. Why did Jesus Christ come? That's
the question. Why did He come? Look at the
next verse. Paul says, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the
world. Here's the answer, to save sinners. And then he adds this, of whom
I am the chief of all the sinners Jesus came to save. Paul says,
I'm the worst. I'm the worst. That's what the
publican said, wasn't it? God, be merciful to me, the sinner,
the only one that I know of who has sinned like I've sinned.
And God, you have to be merciful to me or I will not be saved.
Save me by your mercy. Paul wasn't even asking. And
the Lord Jesus Christ saved him anyway, because that's the way
mercy works. God's mercy is greater than ours. So much infinitely greater. God
is not influenced by what we do, but God looks upon us in
grace and mercy, and He reaches down, and remember why we're
here? To hear words that we might be
saved. God has sent His Word. to tell
us that we by nature are sinners, that it's His mercy that saved
us. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God. He became man. Why
did He become man? In order that He might save His
people. Right here, it says it. Jesus
Christ came into the world for this purpose, to save sinners. And so Jesus Christ came into
the world to save sinners. But remember, I also said the
answer to that question is was to do the will of God. Why did God, why did Jesus Christ
come to save sinners? And that was the will of God.
But how would God save sinners? How would he do that? How would
God save sinners if that's the way that. God would have them
to be saved by Jesus Christ and I want to turn to Turn to the
book of John and John 8 and we're going to see what had to happen
in order for Jesus Christ to save sinners in John 8 there
was a woman we're going to look at these three people Paul the
publican in Luke 18 and this woman and It says here in John
8 that Jesus went up to the Mount of Olives and early in the morning
He came to the temple and all the people came to Him and He
sat down and He was teaching them. He taught the people. And
the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman. while he was
teaching. Can you imagine? Here he is teaching
them and while he was teaching these Pharisees and these scribes
who would translate the law or rewrite the law so they wouldn't
lose copies of it. And they brought this woman and
she was taken in adultery. And when they had set her in
the midst, they said, Master, this woman was taken in adultery
in the very act. Now, because they were always
trying to put Moses against the Lord Jesus Christ. And they said,
now, Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned.
But what sayest thou? Moses was the one God gave the
law to Israel. He gave the law through Moses
to Israel. And the law said, if a woman
is taken in adultery, she is to be stoned. And they come to
Jesus and they think, we got him now. This woman, right in
the act, guilty. as guilty could be. We found
her. We found her. Undoubtedly, they
set up a trap. But that doesn't matter. The
point here is that the law said she was guilty. Paul was guilty. The publican was guilty. And
now they've got this woman right before the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what does he do? What did he say? They've got
him trapped. Because if he says, yeah, you're right, stone her.
Then what would that say? That Jesus Christ, who came into
the world to save sinners, couldn't save a sinner. He had her stoned. How is He going to save a sinner
if He has them all stoned? They're all going to be, we're
all going to be wiped out, right? But He didn't come into the world
to condemn the world. He came into the world to save
His people from their sins. And so this, they said, it says
in verse 6, tempting him that they might have to accuse him.
But Jesus, listen, stooped down and with his finger wrote on
the ground as though he heard them not. Now, what did Jesus
do who was the Son of God? Remember, I said he was the Son
of God and he became man. He was born as the Son of David. That's a stoop, isn't it? Isn't
it a stoop for God who is over all, who has all things, who
created all things? All things must answer to Him.
Angels and devils and men and all of the created things, spiritual
and physical. Isn't it a stoop? Well, listen
to what it says in Philippians chapter 2, another book in the
Bible about this. It says, and this will show you
that this was actually a stoop for Him to do this. He says,
Let this mind be in you. In other words, have this attitude,
which was also in Christ Jesus, Philippians 2.6, who being in
the form of God, did not think it to be robbery to be equal
with God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but he made himself of no reputation. That's stooping, isn't it? That's
humbling yourself. The Lord Jesus Christ humbled
himself. He who is God, he was equal with
God. He made himself of no reputation
and he took upon him the form of a servant and was made in
the likeness of men. In the likeness of men. That's
astute. Now, Jesus, in answer to these
questions, they said, what are you going to do about this woman
caught in adultery in the very act And Jesus stoops down and
he writes on the ground with his finger as though he heard
them not, because he stoops. And the writing undoubtedly was
showing that he who is the Word of God was writing, just like
he gave the law to Moses and gave the law to the prophets.
It's all about him. He's writing it. So in verse
seven, it says, So when they had continued asking this because
he wasn't listening, it didn't seem like to them he was even
listening when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself
and he said to them. And this is what his message
was all through his ministry, he that is without sin among
you, let him cast the first Let him first cast the stone at her."
Now, Jesus is the judge of all. He came into the world to do
His Father's will. But when He came to do His Father's
will, He didn't come to condemn the world. His will was to, what? To save sinners. This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptance. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. And so He says here, To these
men who wanted to execute the judgment of the law on the woman
who was guilty, Jesus says, if you're without sin, then go ahead,
throw the stone. Now, they came with a woman who
was guilty. At this point, they became the
guilty. Because if they couldn't pick
up a stone, what does it mean? They weren't without sin. And
if they weren't without sin, they're guilty. And so then it
says, and he again stooped down and wrote on the ground. This
is the second time he stooped. Because, remember, the question
is this, why did he come? To save sinners. It was the will
of God. How did he do that? He stooped
down to take on our nature. But back in Philippians 2, when
it says He was made in the likeness of men, it says in verse 8, and
being found in fashion, in the form of a man, He humbled Himself
and He became obedient. Obedience to God. Obedient unto
death. He obeyed His Father to do His
will, even to His own death. That was the command God had
given Him, to lay down Your life for the sheep. And He says to
Him, He became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. That was the will of God, that
the Lord Jesus Christ would stoop, first, to become man, and second,
as man, as a servant, Obey His Father in all things, even unto
death, the death of the cross." Paul was a blasphemer. Paul was
trying to silence Christ and His people. But it was the very
ones who hated the Lord Jesus Christ, they were the ones God
would use to put Him to death. And His death would be the fulfillment
of the will of God, because in His death, He would be taking
the sins of his people on himself and dying as their substitute
in their place, just like with this woman. He stoops down the
second time and writes on the ground, and they which heard,
they heard Jesus say, if you're without sin, cast the first stone.
They which heard, being convicted by their own conscience, they
went out one by one, beginning at the oldest, because the oldest
was undoubtedly the most guilty. even to the last, and Jesus was
left alone. And the woman, standing right
there in the midst, while He had been teaching, here she is,
all by herself, all these men who had brought her, and they're
gone. And the Lord Jesus Christ, who stooped twice to answer her
accusers, He now looks at this woman and He says, Woman, where
are your accusers? And she says, There's no man.
No man, Lord. And he says to her, I want to
make sure I read it right. I'll just read it to you. He
was left alone with the woman standing in the midst. And when
Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said,
Woman, where are those then accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? And
she said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said to her, Neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more." Now, the
Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He came
to save this woman. He came to save the publican.
He came to save Paul. These people were in need of
mercy. Every sinner needs mercy. But not all who hear... Remember,
why are we here? that to hear words, to hear words
that we might be saved. One more verse. And to bring
this to a close in Acts 13, it says this. And when the Gentiles
heard this, they heard a message like you're hearing today from
Paul himself preaching at Antioch in verse 48 of Acts 13. When
the Gentiles heard this, they were glad. They were so glad
to hear that God would save Gentiles. themselves. And it says, and
as many as were ordained to eternal life, that means God had appointed
them and determined that they should have it, just like he
did with Paul, those Gentiles believed. You see, God sent his
son into the world to save sinners by his own death on the cross,
satisfying the justice of God in their place as their substitute. And then he takes the message
of what Christ has done to those sinners. And many hear it. And those who believe evidence
the fact that God ordained them to eternal life before the world
began. Paul was one of those. Paul was
opposed to the Lord Jesus Christ, opposed to his own salvation,
but God saved him anyway. And so back in 1 Timothy 1, listen
to what Paul says one more time. He says, this is a faithful saying
worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I'm chief. How be it? For this cause I obtained
mercy, this is why God gave mercy to me, that in me Jesus Christ
might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." God saved Paul
and held him up as a prototype, a template, a pattern. This is
how I save sinners. Unasked for, unsought, unmerited,
undeserved favor given by God because of what Christ has done. The Lord Jesus Christ, the sovereign
of the universe, became man, and He sovereignly dispenses
His mercy to whom He will, to fulfill His Father's will, and
He saves His people for His namesake. And what is the evidence of that?
That those who believe on Him would believe on Him to life
everlasting. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is to hang
everything, like the publican, hang everything on Him. He did
it all. It was because He stooped twice
that the woman wasn't condemned, wasn't it? It was because Christ
came to Paul who who had been a blasphemer just like the rest
of those who killed Christ, it was his anger against Jesus Christ
that God actually used as a tool to save him, wasn't it? It was
his sin God used eventually to fit into his own outworkings
of how he would save Paul. It wasn't that God caused him
to sin, but in spite of his unbelief, in spite of his anger, in spite
of his determination to overthrow the Lord Jesus Christ on his
throne, God saved him anyway. And God saves sinners and sinners
who hear that word. are glad when God causes them
to believe. He convinces us of our sin, our
unbelief. He convinces us that Jesus Christ
is the only one God accepts, only His obedience, not our own.
And He convinces us that judgment is coming, because He's already
judged Satan, and He will judge all those who are following Him
and listening to Him. And so, this is the message of
the Gospel. Who is Jesus Christ? He's a son
of God, and He's a son of David. Why? What did He do? He came
into the world to save sinners. Why did He do that? Because God
sent Him to do that. And how did He do it? By becoming
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. This is the
mercy of God. This is the way that God makes
His glory known. And when sinners hear this, And
sinners believe this. What do they do? They give glory
to the Lord Jesus Christ. They thank Him. They're thankful
in their hearts. They're overjoyed that God would
save them for His own sake, that He would do it all through His
own work, and it wouldn't require anything from them. Let's pray. Father, thank You that salvation
in Christ is free. He accomplished everything. And
he did it all by himself. We didn't initiate it. We didn't
participate in it. He did it alone. He, by himself,
has purged our sins. And after he did that, he sat
down on the throne of glory, bringing all the results of his
death to pass in time by sending His Word even to us today that
we might hear Him. Lord, give this grace to us to
hear and believe like Cornelius in his household and so be saved. In Jesus' name we pray and for
His sake. Amen.