Blessed Savior, we adore Thee. We Thy love and grace proclaim. Lord mighty, Thou art holy. Glorious is Thy majesty. Glorious! Glorious! ? Glorious is thy name, O Lord
? ? Glorious, glorious ? ? Glorious is thy name, O Lord ? ? Great
Redeemer, Lord and Master ? ? Light of all eternal days ? ? Let the saints of every nation
? ? Sing thy just and endless praise ? ? Glorious, glorious
? ? Glorious is thy name, O Lord ? ? Glorious, glorious ? Glorious is thy name, O God. From the throne of heaven's glory
to the cross of sin and shame, Thou didst come to die a ransom,
guilty sinners to reclaim. Glorious, glorious, glorious
is thy name, O Lord. Glorious, glorious, glorious
is thy name, O Lord. Come, O come, immortal Savior,
Come and take Thy royal throne. Come and reign and reign forever,
Be the kingdom all my own. Glorious! Glorious! Glorious is thy name, O Lord! Glorious! Glorious! Glorious
is thy name, O Lord! Open your Bibles this morning
to the book of John. To John chapter 1. The title of my message this
morning is who came and why. Who came and why. It's a shame and a testimony
to the ignorance of men and women to the truth. That people are surprised to
find out that we are not commanded or instructed to observe any
special day concerning the birth of Christ. Christmas as a holiday, as a
holy day, is not mentioned in the Bible. And false religion, sadly, has
simply added to the pagan holiday that already existed. There's no command to celebrate
any holy day. Paul writes to the Colossians
and he says, let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink,
or in respect to an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the
Sabbath days, none whatsoever. But although this is true, this
is absolutely true, this does not mean that true believers
are not interested in the birth, in the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Quite the contrary. God makes his people to be interested
in, and in knowing who came, Why he came, what he accomplished
when he came, what his coming and accomplishments mean to them,
and where is the one now who came? We're all interested. God's people are interested in
all those things. And what I want you to notice
this morning for a few minutes is some thoughts concerning that
very thing in this book of John, this book that has the beginnings
in it like the book of Genesis in the Old Testament. Because
it says here that he came. Look down in verse 11. And it says of him that he came
unto his own, and his own received him not. He came unto his own. And if you look and think about
this very closely, we find that this one who came pre-existed. He pre-existed before his coming. It says that he came. We read in Isaiah chapter 9,
that the child that was born is the son that is given. He's not born the son. He's the son given, but he is
also the child that was born. And that gives meaning now to
what is said by Christ in John 17 when he prays to the Father. He says, And now, O Father, glorify
thy me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. He preexisted, and he preexisted
as God the Eternal Son, as God the Son. Look here in verse 1
and 2. It says, In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. Now, there's no other way of
understanding or explaining what is said there except to acknowledge
what the Bible says of God being the triune God in the trinity
of his sacred persons. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. And so we read about Him as the,
not only God, the Eternal Son, the Son of God, but we read about
Him here also as being the Creator God. Look what it says in verse
3. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made." He's the
creator God come in human flesh. And in verse 10, it says, he
was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world
knew him not. Listen to Paul again in the book
of Colossians. He says of Christ, for by him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. All things that exist were created
by Him, and rather than being for us, they were created, it
says, for Him. And this is the One who came. In verse 11, it says, He came
unto His own, and His own received Him not. He came unto His own
people, the Jews. He came to his own people, particularly
and spiritually, his own elect. He came unto his own world. He was manifested, it says, and
in verse 14 it says, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. There is only one
man who is the only begotten of the Father. That is the man
Christ Jesus. And that's why Paul says, great
is the mystery of godliness. Great, unexplainable, immeasurable,
wonderful. Great is the mystery of godliness
that God was manifest in the flesh. He is none less than God
manifest in the flesh. He's not simply a martyr. He's
not simply a prophet. He's not simply a teacher. He's
not simply one to instruct us about some things. He is the
God-man. He is absolutely the one who
is promised. He's described in this book as
the heir, as the Messiah, the promised one. He is absolutely
Immanuel. With being interpreted, the scriptures
say, means God with us. God came into this world as a
man. He came willingly. He came sent
of the Father. And He came in flesh to do something,
something that required Him to have a body, something that had
to be done as a man if it be done for men. He had to do it. Something that
had to do with God's purpose of grace for His elect. If you look in verse 17, it says,
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, I've told you so
many times that God, being considered absolutely as God, He can, as
God, speak and do everything that's necessary for us to survive
in every way, physically, materially. He can speak and the earth is
created. He can speak from heaven and
do everything. but the one thing that we need, and that is a Savior from our
sins. He had to become flesh, He did
become flesh, but His becoming flesh in no way changed his being
God manifest in the flesh. His Godhood and his manhood,
sin excluded, are in one person, and there is in that person one
mediator, Paul says, between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus. Now the second thing that I want
you to notice today is this. What did he come to do? There's a lot of different ideas
promoted by men as to why Jesus Christ came, what he came to
do. But in showing exactly what he
came to do, I want you to look back with me at Luke's Gospel,
chapter 19. This isn't what I think he came
to do. This isn't what some theology
says. This is what he says that he
came to do. Look in verse 10 of Luke 19. He says, For the Son of Man is
come to seek and to save that which was lost. Now, it doesn't just simply say
that he came to seek those that were lost. But being God in flesh,
he came on this mission, he came on this errand into this world
to seek them that were lost and to save them that were lost. This is absolutely, undeniably
so plain. But the thing that stirs us and
the thing that moves our nature, which is enmity of God against
this fact, if He came to do this and He did it, then that doesn't
leave much for us. That doesn't give us any glory. That doesn't, we don't accept
Him or deny Him. We don't make a decision for
Him and all that. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. Luke 18, for the Son of Man came
to seek and to save the lost. Matthew 18, for the Son of Man
did come to save the lost. What think ye, if any man, having
a hundred sheep, and there may go astray one of them, doth he
not, having left the ninety and nine, having gone on into the
mountains, and seek that which was gone astray? Now the Bible describes the people
of God, God's elect, as being lost sheep. Lost sheep. All we like sheep,
Isaiah said, have gone astray. We went astray in Adam when he
sinned in the garden as our representative. We went astray from that day,
and that is the reason that this earth is in the shape that is
in. It's because sin entered in by
one man, and that one man was our father, Adam. And like begets like. So when we are born in this world,
we automatically go astray. We automatically come forth from
the womb speaking lies. Nobody has to be taught to lie. Nobody has to be taught to sin. It is our nature. It is the evidence
that we are what we are. God's elect are called lost sheep,
but they've always been His sheep. They've always been His foal. He says in one place, other sheep
I have that are not of this particular foal, them also I must bring. Christ is the shepherd that must
find them and bring them. They are lost in that they have
alienated themselves from God. They know not the way to God. They're without understanding
and even without the ability to come to God. Lost in that
our minds are enmity against God and that because of that,
there's nobody seeking Him. I know what we say. I'm seeking
after the truth. I'm seeking after the true God. I'm seeking to know and to understand. But the truth is the Bible says
that no man by searching or seeking can find out God. We have to be found. If we are lost sheep, we have
to be found. And the scripture says in Romans
3, Paul giving that long description of our true state, he says, there
is none that seeketh after God. Well, what are people seeking
after? They're seeking after a God of their liking. They're seeking out a God of
their imagination. They're seeking after God that
does what they want Him to do. They're not seeking after the
true and living God. So even the sheep have to be
sought of God. Hold your place here and look
back at Luke chapter 15. because this is greatly illustrated
in what Christ says here when he teaches this parable. It says, Then drew near unto
him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees
and the scribes murmured, saying, This man receives sinners and
eats with them. It would absolutely surprise
us if the Lord Jesus Christ would come in our day as He came in
this day. Because instead of going into
all the cathedrals and all the holy places in this world, He
would be found among sinners. He would be found like He was
in this day. teaching and preaching publicans
and sinners and seeking them to hear him. And then he's spoken to them
this parable. What man of you, having a hundred
sheep, If he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and
nine in the wilderness and go after that which was lost until
he find it. This isn't a shepherd that's
an ordinary shepherd. These are not sheep like natural
sheep. This shepherd seeks his sheep
until he finds it. And when he hath laid it, and
when he hath found it, he laith it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth
together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with
me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. And he says,
I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one
sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons
which need no repentance. They are like sheep that have
gone astray, and he seeks every one. But this is a threefold
parable. And this parable, the next part
of it, is shown to give us exactly their state and condition. They
are inanimate. They are dead. They are lifeless. Because? Either what woman, having
ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, does not light
a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently till she
find it. Now if you lose a quarter, Or
if you lose a penny, or if you lose a $50 gold piece, I guarantee
you it won't find you. Why? Because it is lifeless. Because it is inanimate. Because
it is dead. Like Christ said, no man can
come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. And when she hath found it, she
calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with
me, for I have found that peace which I had lost. Likewise I say unto you, There
is joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repenteth." These people are lost. These
people are like this coin, dead in trespasses and sin, and they
must be found. And the third thing, we have
a seeking shepherd, we have a seeking woman, they're all dead. We have also a seeking father,
because they're all naturally alienated in their minds. They're all naturally lost. Verse 11, A certain man had two
sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give
me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided
unto them his living. And not many days after the younger
son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country,
and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in
that land, and he began to be in want. And he went and joined
himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into
his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled
his belly with the husk that the swine did eat, and no man
gave unto him. He didn't have a ration even
like the pigs. And when he came to himself, when he came to himself, he said,
how many hired servants of my father's have bred enough and
despair, and I perish with hunger. I will arise. and go to my father,
and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants."
He resolves in his mind. He's going to the father. He's
going to make all this kind of application to him. And he arose and came to his
father, but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and
had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. He was looking for him. He was
expecting him. And so is this one who saves
his people. And the son said unto him, Father,
I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more
worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants,
Bring forth the best robe and put it on him. and put a ring
on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring hither the fatted
calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and
is alive again. He was lost and is found, and
they began to make Mary." Now look back at Luke 19. In Luke 19, where it said that
the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost, Look, first of all, what it says
in verse one, and Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now, Jericho is not an ordinary
place. Jericho is a typical, a symbolical
place. Because God ordered Jericho to
be destroyed and said, curse is the man that buildeth again
Jericho. But you remember, before he destroyed
Jericho, he saved somebody. Rahab the
harlot and her family. She had a house in the walls
built into the walls of Jericho, and when God gave the command
to them to sound the trumpets which brought about the fall
of all the walls of Jericho, there was one house in that wall
that did not fall. It was the home of Rahab and
her family. And God had commanded her by
the men that were sent to observe the city. He commanded her to
tie a silver cord in the window. And that was typical of her and
her family, of that household being under the blood of Christ
and judgment already have fallen on it in the representative,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Wasn't she a sinner like everybody
else? Well, sounds like it because
the Bible calls her Rahab the harlot. But God had mercy on her. She
was one of his sheep, and she didn't die with the rest of those
inhabitants. And here's the picture, and Jesus
entered and passed through Jericho, that city under the curse. Why'd he go? Verse seven says,
that he came to a man by the name of Zacchaeus, who was a
tax collector and despised by everybody, a little man who had
climbed up into a sycamore tree just simply to get a glimpse
of this man. And he called to Zacchaeus. He
said, Make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy
house. What did they say? What did all
the people say? Verse 7, And when they saw it,
they all murmured, saying that he was a man gone to be guessed
with a man that is a sinner. Of all the rotten characters. Why don't you pick the rabbi
or the priest or one of the upstanding citizens here, one of these moral
people?" They said, he's going to be a guest with a man that's
a sinner. Verse 9. He says to Zacchaeus, this day
is salvation. Come to this house for as much
as he also is a son of Abraham. He's one of God's people. He's
one of God's sheep. He's one of God's elect, chosen
in Christ before the world began. God determined to show mercy
to him. For the Son of Man is come to
seek and to save that which was lost. Now, the third thing is
this. Why did He come to seek and save
them? Why them and not everybody else?
Why then, when they seem to be so unworthy and undeserving? He came to seek them and to save
them because they were loved by God in Christ with an everlasting
love. Some people say, well, God loves
everybody. Well, if He does, He's got a
funny way of showing it. You know that's not true. To
say that God loves everybody is to deny the fact that he destroyed
the whole antediluvian world with a flood. To say that he
loves everybody is to deny that he destroyed the people, all
the people of the cities and the plains, raining fire and
brimstone on them. But he loved Noah. Noah found
grace, and he loved Lot. He delivered that righteous man.
And everywhere you look at the judgments of God in the Old Testament,
you will find him delivering somebody, delivering his people,
because he's not willing that any of them should perish. because it was the will of the
Father. John 6, 38, For I came down from
heaven, 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 nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this
is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth
the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and
I will raise him up at the last day." Everyone that truly sees the
Son. Truly see what the Son came to
do. Truly see the Son for who He
is. He came to seek them and to save
them because they were chosen of God in Him before the foundation
of the world. Because they were predestinated
to be conformed to His image. Because they were given to Him
in the everlasting covenant and espoused to Him to be His bride. He came after His bride. because he had stood as their
surety and as the guarantor of their eternal salvation before
the world was. Because He is said to be bone
of their bone and flesh of their flesh. Because He is their great
high priest whose sacrifice alone can put away their sin. Because
divine justice has looked to Him since before the world began
as the payment, as the ransom price for their redemption. He came to be Christ crucified. ought not the Christ to have
suffered and to enter into His glory. His glory as the Redeemer,
as the ransom, as the Savior of all His people, it hinged
on His suffering in their place. Suffering and paying the debt
of their sins. And now that same justice I love justice. Because before divine justice,
all the sins of his people are paid for, put away, and they
are no more. But not only that, that same
justice requires that all he died for, be rescued and regenerated
and called to him in faith. If he paid my debt, I do not
have to pay it. If he died in my place and suffered
the wrath of God for my sins, As Paul says, we shall be saved
from wrath through Him. If He died and His death was
to redeem me, I am redeemed. If God's mercy was to give me
all spiritual blessings in Him, they're mine. They're mine. and they're everybody's, who
is brought to know the truth, to believe on Him, and to rest
in that truth, and to love Him for doing what He did. Because He loves each of them,
and their names are written on His heart, and they're written
in His hands, and He cannot lose one of them. There's a wonderful picture in
the Old Testament in the great high priest. He was, as we would say, really
decked out. He had specific garments and
specific ornaments that he was required of God to wear every
time he went into that Holy of Holies and offered the sacrifice
of blood. Two of them are this. One, he was to wear a golden
breastplate that had 12 stones, precious
stones, 12 representing the 12 tribes of
Israel, And he was also to wear ornaments
on the shoulders where were inscribed all the very names of those tribes. And every time he went in, he
represented those people. He didn't represent any of the
people of Canaan. any of the Hittites or Habites
or whatever kind of ites there was, He did not represent them.
He went in to represent Israel, showing that Christ went in to
represent His true Israel. You remember Paul said, they
are not all of Israel that are of Israel. All those Israelites
after the flesh, he said, they're not of God's true Israel. But every time he'd go in, he'd
have that golden breastplate on. He'd have those ornaments
on his shoulders, inscribing the names of all those people.
In other words, he had all of his sheep, all of his elect on
his heart. And he had all the responsibility
of them on his shoulders. And he went in. offered the sacrifice
God had appointed, and God accepted it. Because he was picturing
Christ crucified. He was picturing the Lord Jesus
Christ, our great high priest. And because he was the friend
of sinners. Mark 2 says, When Jesus heard it, He saith
unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician,
but they that are sick I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance. You don't need all this. Christ
didn't come for you. He came for the needy. You know
anything about need? I'm talking about need before
God. Need of righteousness, need of
forgiveness, need of mercy, need of grace. If you don't need any
of that, sorry I bothered you. Romans 5, much more now. being
justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
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. Ephesians 2, even when we were
dead in sins, he's quickened us up together with Christ, for
by grace you're saved. And then Titus chapter three,
not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us. And I'd add one more thing in
closing. Where is he who came after doing
what he did? Where is he now? He's on a throne. He's on the
throne. When he had by himself purged
our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. God raised him from the death
because a payment was made, and He seated him and glorified him
with the glory of the Redeemer. And He rules. You think you control
things in your life. You think you control things
in this world. You just don't know anything.
He rules. And He rules to save His people
and to glorify His name. He rules on the throne because
He's the accomplisher of our salvation, because He is the
Redeemer, because He is the Savior. And He sends His gospel preachers. He brings in His providence His
lost sheep to hear. and believe the gospel of their
salvation. That's why I don't waste my time
telling people to do something for God. He doesn't need your
money. He doesn't need your time or
your talents or anything like that. He already owns it all. And why reduce him to a beggar
if he's on a throne? If you're his, he'll have you.
You'll be like you are, a stray. You'll be running from him. You'll
be hiding from him like Adam and Eve in the garden. But that's
the shepherd. The shepherd seeks and saves
them that are lost. When God showed me I was lost,
I sure was glad that there's a seeking Savior, seeking shepherd. So I have nothing to boast about.
He came. He came to save. He saved. God accepted his sacrifice, he
went back to heaven, he sits on the throne, and he rules this
world to make sure that sinners like me know what he's done for
them all by himself. That's the real gift. Thanks
be to God for his unspeakable gift. His Son and the only Savior. Our Father, we pray in Thy name,
in all Thy glory, for Thy grace's sake, in Thy Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, we pray that You'd save Your sheep. We know You will. And in doing so, honor Yourself
and display Your grace. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. You're at liberty.