My subject this morning is for
Christ's sake. For Christ's sake, those three
words. Here are three words that are
often spoken in wrath and blasphemy. If we had five dollars for every
time we had heard someone say for Christ's sake this or for
Christ's sake that, we'd be wealthy people, would we not? It is a common, everyday blasphemous
term. For Christ's sake, this is used
by the world. But never was there three words
spoken that were more powerful, that were more precious to a
child of God. Never was there three words in
the language and vocabulary of men that mean so much. for Christ's sake. Actually,
these three words, I believe, are the very foundation of the
gospel. In 1 John 2 and verse 12, John
said, I write unto you, little children, because your sins are
forgiven you for His name's sake. I write unto you, little children,
for your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. In Isaiah 43 and 25, the prophet
said, I, even I, am He. that blotteth out thy transgressions
for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Well, that's
why God showed mercy to us. It was for Christ's sake. He
saved us for Christ's sake. Now, the text says He forgave
us for Christ's sake. Now, this is indeed the very
heart of the Gospel. Again, these words, I believe,
are the most vital words in prayer. Whatever you ask the Lord Jesus
said, the Father in my name He will do it. He will do it. These
words are vital in prayer. And these three words, I believe,
are key to understanding the Scriptures. In Acts chapter 10
and verse 43, the Scripture says, To him give all the prophets
witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins. To him give all the prophets
witness. Now you want to know what Moses
wrote? Well, Christ said, he wrote of
me. And if you want to know what
Abraham saw, he saw the day of Christ. Jesus said, he saw my
day. Do you want to know what Isaiah
wrote about in the prophecy of Isaiah? Well, he wrote about
Christ. He wrote about that suffering,
sinless substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now these words
also, I believe, in these words there's healing. These words
bring, I think, divine healing. I think the scriptures are clear
that this was the case. Like in Acts chapter 3 and verse
6, you remember when Peter I met the impotent man at the gate
of the beautiful temple, and how that he was there collecting
alms, and he was a very sickly man, an impotent man, wasn't
able to move about. And he stretched out his arm
with the cup in it, and Peter said, silver and gold, have I
none? But such as I have, give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, rise up and walk. There was healing in those words. And the man, he rose and walked. He was healed by the name of
Jesus Christ. Well, beloved, after reading
this text and thinking and meditating for a while upon our behavior
as the professed people of God, I wondered how that we could
ever again plead our own merit or our own righteousness or our
own works again before God. How could we ever do that when
the scripture says plainly, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you? How could we ever plead our merit? Now, the Pharisee on one occasion
said, I'm not as other men. I am not as other men. Now, beloved,
I will not mention a word of that before God. I'm like Job,
you remember Job said, if I were to say that I'm righteous, my
own mouth would condemn me. Because he was not righteous
before God in and of himself. And so if a man says, well I'm
not like other men, I'm not a sinner, I'm not somebody who needs the
Lord's forgiveness, then my friend, that individual, his own mouth
would condemn him. We will not plead our faithfulness.
Is there anyone here in the light of the fact that the poet said,
if sheep of Christ could fall away, my fickle, feeble soul,
alas, would fall a thousand times a day? Would we be so proud and
so vain that we would indicate that our faithfulness needs to
be pleaded or in any measure set forth before God? No, he is faithful, I am not. And the Bible says that when
we're unfaithful, still, he abides faithful because he cannot deny
himself. God is the faithful one. It is
God that we're to look upon as being that one who is faithful. I will not plead my baptism.
You remember Simon Magus in the 8th chapter of the book of Acts.
Now he made a perfection and he was baptized but yet he was
still in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity and
needed to be prayed for. And then you remember that we
cannot plead our office in the church because Judas had one
of those and you remember what happened. He went out, he sold
our Lord for 30 pieces of silver and went out and hung himself
and went to hell. And so we cannot plead our office
in the church. I think what I'll say is, for
Christ's sake, let me in. For Christ's sake, let me in.
Why should God let you and I, worms of the dust as we are,
why should God let us into glory? Why? Well, it's for Christ's
sake. It's for Christ's sake. And so
if you and I, my friend, are to ever be received into the
presence of God, it will be for Christ's sake. I was lost, the
song says, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. And it was God's grace that made
me live and made me meet for heaven. It was the grace of God
that made us live. It was the grace of God that
brought us out. of the death of sin into that glorious life
and light of the gospel. It is Christ who died. It is
God that justifies, and as long as you can wiggle one little
finger for God, it is not for Christ's sake, my friend. You
remember that. It is Christ who died. It is
God that justifies. A man, if he justifies himself,
he is not justified. It's not who commends himself
that's commended. It's whom the Lord commends that
is commended. Well, we have three things, I
think, to look at in our text this morning, and I trust that
we'll briefly be able to look at these three things, and that
the Lord will teach us some things as we do. The reason, number
one thing that I see here, is the reason for God's mercy is
for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Even as God,
for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Well, why did God save you
and I? Well, it was for Christ's sake.
And you can look, my friend, from now to eternity, and you
will never find a reason for your salvation except these
three words. You can look, you can rake around
in the muck, you can look all you want to. As I said, from
now to eternity, never find another reason. But for Christ's sake,
why did God choose me in old eternity? Was it not in reference
to Christ? Was it not for Christ's sake?
Why did God reveal the word to me in time? Why did He regenerate
my heart? Why did He bring me out? Well,
it was for Christ's sake. Well, why is this? You say, well,
why does the scripture make so much of this business of Jesus
Christ and it being for Christ's sake? Well, number one, I believe
because of the glory of his person. God ought to show mercy for Christ's
sake because of who he is. Spurgeon said this, Yet this
much I will be bold to say, that he is so glorious that even the
God of heaven may well consent to do ten thousand things for
his sake. Well, that's a great statement.
That's true. He is a glorious person. Because
he's the chief among 10,000, and he's the altogether lovely
one, he's somebody indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the poet
said, nor earth, nor seas, nor sun, nor stars, nor heaven, his
full resemblance bears. His beauties we can never trace. till we behold him face to face. And beloved, this is a glorious
one. Oh, his glory. Have you ever thought about the
glory of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, the
Bible indicates in the book of Hebrews that he has more glory
than Moses. that he has more glory than the
angels. And you remember Moses. He led
two or three million people out of Egypt. And you remember they
followed him out. And Moses was a man with charisma. And he was a man who people followed
willingly. But nevertheless, Moses, you
remember there came a time when he went up on the mount and God
took his life and buried him there. And lest they should become
his worshippers and worship his grave, the Lord fixed it so that
nobody knows where he's buried. or nobody will ever know so that
they might be able to make an idol out of him. But he was a
magnificent individual and he had some glory about him. But
his glory was not as great as the glory of the God-man, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then his glory was more than
David's glory. You remember there was a time
when David was kicked out of the kingdom, and when he was
made to flee. And the Bible says that there
were many that followed him, a multitude that followed him
into exile. Well, they would rather follow
David into exile than they would to follow other men into the
kingdom. And that was because this man
David was somebody. But the Lord Jesus Christ, oh,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and what glory he has. Well, one man said
about Robert E. Lee in the Civil War, he said
that he would follow him into hell. Robert E. Lee was a man
with great leadership ability and with charisma, And there
were men that would follow him into the hottest battles of the
Civil War. But what about our Lord Jesus
Christ? It is because of Him, it is because
of His glory, that God will do for Christ what He is purposed
to do. His name shall be called Wonderful. Isaiah described Him. like this,
His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. That's an apt description,
is it not, of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well then, first of all,
then for His glory, the glory of His person, the Father would
do anything for Christ's sake that would be in harmony with
His will and purpose. And secondly, because He is His
Son, Because He, Jesus Christ, is God's only begotten, only
beloved Son. In John 3 and 35 it says, The
Father loved the Son, and hath given all things into His hands. Jesus Christ is God's only begotten
Son. Jesus Christ, the Bible says
that in that that He's God's Son, we should hear Him. We should
hear Him. Now, I can very well understand
why God would do that. God would save his people for
Christ's sake. I can very well understand that.
Now, I heard a story one time about years ago when this happened. There was on board a ship, a
great storm came up, and there was one fellow that was washed
over. board, and one of the other young
men on the ship knew him well, and so he took his Bible, this
young fellow's Bible, and took it, and this happened a year
or two later, and when he got back on shore and took it to
this boy's parents' home, and he knocked on the door, And they
came to the door, and he introduced himself as having been on the
same ship with their son. And that he had his Bible, which
he felt like he should bring and give to them. And so as they
were talking, well, they couldn't help but invite him in to their
home. And they told him, on account
of our son and your nearness to him, and you're knowing Him,
on account of that, we invite you in. Our home is your home
and our food is your food. Our hearth is your hearth. Come
in. Come in for our son's sake. Now, Beloved, if we would do
that, for a friend of one of our sons, if we would do that,
then how much more would God do for his own son? Would he not do all things for
Christ's sake? Would he not save his people
for Christ's sake? And then also because of the
worthiness of his work. for the worthiness of his work. Well, you say, well, what did
he do? What did this Lord Jesus Christ do? Well, the Bible teaches
that he met the law of God head on. when he was in this world. He was born under the law, and
he lived under the law, and he obeyed the law. The law was holy. The law was infinite and unchanging, this
law of God. And our brother quoted the scripture
a while ago that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
the end of the law by fulfilling the law and obeying the law,
obeying every jot and tittle of it. Everything that heaven
could demand of a man the Lord Jesus Christ obeyed and satisfied
and honored the holy law of God. This man had something to offer
and I read out of Hebrews chapter 10 and I really like this because
it sets forth the work of our Lord Jesus Christ and helps us
to see how much more valuable that work was and how much more
worthy that work was than the work of priests that went before
him. And out of the 10th chapter of
the book of Hebrews, I read here a few verses. By the witch will,
in verse 10, we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. But this man, but this man, this
God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God. He had
something, he offered himself. These other priests, they would
come in and they would often offer the same sacrifices, which
could never take away sins, but this man, But this man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, I'm talking about the worthiness of his work. Why
would not God, for his sake, forgive his people? Because he
offered himself. For by one offering, in verse
14, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, those
that are set apart to God in the covenant of grace. So the
Lord Jesus Christ did the work. to save us. It was a glorious
work. Worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive glory and honor and praise because he satisfied God
and met all the demands of the law on our behalf. And so I think
that for these three reasons, the glory of his person and because
he is his son and because of the worthiness of his work, that
for Christ's sake is a valid plea. Now then, I want to pass
on to the second thing that I think is mentioned here or implied
here in our text, and that is, for Christ's sake ought to be
my motive for all that I do in God's kingdom. For Christ's sake
ought to be my motive in all that I do in God's kingdom. Well,
when you think about what men have done for discovery's sake,
how that they went out and set sail on the oceans of the world
looking for new lands, and they dedicated themselves, many times
lost their lives, for the sake of discovery. And think of what
men have done for their country's sake. They left families and
homes and have gone off to war and have died on the battlefield.
They were willing to do that for the country's sake. Think
what men have done for science's sake. They went to school, they've
given up years of their life to make a name for themselves,
maybe to find some cure for some terrible illness and affliction.
Think what men have done for false religion. Just think a
little bit about that. how that men have lived and women
have lived in squalor, in far off places, and how that even
the Bible talks about some, I think it's in Isaiah 58, who threw
their children into the fire. And think of how false religions
have persecuted the true people of God. Think of all that's been
done by people for false religion, for the sake of false religion. Well, when I think of all of
this, I get sort of ashamed of what I've done for Christ's sake. What I've done for Christ's sake.
Don't you get ashamed of what we have done for Christ's sake.
We preached a little, but we did not preach with much fire.
We prayed a little bit at different times, but with very little passion. And we've talked to a few sinners,
but it's been kind of half-hearted. as far as our witness, and we've
given a little, but we never really give a whole lot to the
point where we can say that we made a real sacrifice. But we
have a difficult time doing for Christ's sake. Getting anybody
to do much for Christ's sake these days. Now there are some
that know something about this. They know something about what
it means to do for Christ's sake. We have known and read about
missionaries who went to the field to preach to cannibals,
and they stayed, and they stayed, and some of them buried their
wives and children on the mission field. And I've heard about some
Moravian missionaries that sold themselves into slavery so that
they might be able to witness and preach to those slaves. And then I've heard about others
who would go and join a leper colony. And when they knocked
on the door, they knew that if they went in, they would never
or could never come out. But they were willing, for Christ's
sake, to spend and be spent for His glory and His praise. For
Christ's sake. for Christ's sake. What would
you be willing to do for Christ's sake? I mean, if it could be
proven it would truly be for His sake, what would you be willing
to do? What would you be willing to
sacrifice? Would you sacrifice as much as
those did who were attempting to spread false religion? Would you be willing to give
yourself to whatever the will of God would be for you? Would
you be willing to do that? For Christ's sake, would you
be willing? The song writer said, see from
his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingle down. Dear to her such love and sorrow
meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown, Were the whole realm
of nature mine, That were a present far too small. Love so amazing,
so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all. Well, beloved,
I think that it's very important that we consider our motives. And what we do? Are we doing
it for Christ's sake? For Christ's sake? Whether we
take off across the country to go preach or... Whether we just
continue on to labor from week to week here and keep this place
open and the bills paid, are we doing it for Christ's sake?
When we stand to sing, are we singing for Christ's sake? Let
it be for His glory. Let it be for His praise. If
we go, let's go in His name and do it for Christ's sake. And
then the third thing, as we come here to a conclusion in our message
here this morning, is the third thing is for Christ's sake ought
to be my motive for a right relationship with other people. For Christ's
sake ought to be my motive for a right relationship with other
people. We take note here in our text,
and be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. I say
this ought to be my motive for a right relationship with other
people. Be kind, be tender-hearted. to one another." You notice it
doesn't say, to another. It says, to one another. And that means that if you have
to be forgiven today, it is very likely, or if you have to forgive
today, somebody else, that more than likely that you will have
to yourself need to be forgiven tomorrow. For it is forgiving
one another. A mutual operation it is, a cooperative
service. You forgive me, I forgive you,
and we forgive them, and they forgive us. That's what it is. Now then, there are four words
that I think we should keep in mind in our effort to try to
get along with one another. And the words are bend, bow,
yield, and submit. Now, if we were all willing to
bend a little bit or to bow or to yield or to submit, it wouldn't
be too difficult to get along with each other, would it? We'd
be able to do it. We'd be able to get along. Now,
somebody said for God to forgive is something great. For us to
forgive, though we think it great, it should be regarded as a very
small matter on our part. And the reason is what we owe
to God is infinite. What we owe to God is infinite,
but what our fellow creatures owe to us is a very small sum
in comparison. Let me say that again. What we
owe to God is infinite, but what our fellow creature owes to us
is a very small sum in comparison. For Christ's sake, Jesus, or
Paul said, forgive one another. Now our brother this morning
read to us out of Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18. Preacher never really knows when
he's attempting to preach the word of God, what all is going
on. There's times when there is a
great deal of confusion, and it's difficult to stay on
track, and you feel that Satan really is trying to defeat the
purpose of our gathering. But in order to continue this
thought that we have here in our text in Ephesians 4, I want
you to turn back to Matthew chapter 18, and I want to show you how
important this is, that we're to be kind one to another, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. You say, Preacher, I know you
want me to do this, or I know you want me to do that. I know
you would have me to forgive so-and-so, and I'll do it for
you. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no. You misunderstand. You don't
do it for me. You don't do it for any other
Christian. You do it for Christ's sake. You forgive for Christ's
sake. Now, if you want to deal with
something that'll take the starch out of your shirt and the air
out of your balloon, you deal with this. You deal with this.
No options for Christ's sake. Even as God, for Christ's sake. In other words, if Jesus Christ
paid your debt, you know what he forgave you of. You know exactly
what He forgave you of. You don't know maybe every sin
that you ever committed, but you got a pretty good idea of
who you was and what you was before God saved you. And the
Lord has forgiven you all these things, all of these sins. And now, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you, then you forgive one another. Now,
I want you to look here in Matthew 18 with me. And in verse 23,
it says, Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened to a certain
king, which would take account of his servants. And when he
had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him
ten thousand talents. These debts in Scripture, they
are symbolic of sins, this debt of sin that we owe by nature.
But forasmuch as he had not to pay, and that was our condition
when we were lost, we had not to pay. His Lord commanded him
to be sold and his wife and children and all that he had, payment
to be made. Payment to be made. Do you remember
back whenever you were faced with a payment to be made to
Almighty God? You owed God a debt. payment
was to be made. The servant therefore fell down
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I'll
pay thee all. In other words, I'll get around
to paying you sooner or later. I will pay you. Then the Lord
of that servant was moved with compassion, loosed him, and forgave
him the debt. The debt is sin. Okay, so that's
a picture of how the Lord had mercy upon us for Christ's sake,
and he wiped out our sin debt. Now then, but the same servant
went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him
a hundred pence, and he laid hands on him. I guess he'd be
like 50 cents to the great debt that he owed the king. And he
laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me
that thou owest, pay me, pay me what you owe. And his fellow
servant fell down on his feet beside him, saying, Have patience
with me, and I'll pay thee all. And he would not. And he would
not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the
debt. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were
very sorry and came and told unto their lord all that was
done. Then his Lord, after that he
had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave
thee all that debt, because thou didst charge me. Verse 33, Shouldest
not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as
I had pity on thee? The Lord, this king, had had
pity on this man. Shouldn't you have had compassion
on your fellow servant? Shouldn't you have done that?
And his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he
should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise, so likewise
shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if you from your hearts
forgive, from your hearts. You say, well, I think I have. Well, how do you know whether
you have or not? Well, Scripture teaches that the Lord never remembers
our sin against us. Now, we're not God, and we have
minds and we have memories, but if you from your hearts forgive
not everyone his brother their trespasses, then likewise shall
my Heavenly Father do also unto you. So you see, beloved, in
our hearts. We must forgive. Somebody says,
well, is it optional? No, it is not optional. If you be a believer, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you, forgive one another. Even as you've been forgiven
for the sake of another, you forgive others for the sake of
another. This is to be our motive for
getting along with people, for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake. And so it's a very serious thing
to harbor grudges. It's a very serious thing for
one not to forgive in their hearts. It's an extremely serious matter. And I'm going to tell you here
today that it will test the very fabric of what you're made out
of as a Christian. There are times when you're put
between a rock and a hard place and you must forgive and you
say, well, I don't know how I can do that. I don't know how I can
ever do that. I'm not able to do that. And
no, it's true that we're not able to do it ourself. We need
the grace of God upon us in a very great fashion in order to be
able to forgive from our hearts everyone, his, brother, their
trespassers. The grace of God. And you cannot
do it apart from the enablement of God. And so it'll drive you
to prayer. It'll drive you to seek in the
face of God, Lord, this situation. this situation that I'm dealing
with, what am I going to do? I don't seem to have the grace.
Lay it before the Lord and plead with God that He will give you
the grace to be able to do exactly as His Word teaches. I do hope
that the Lord will bless this message to your hearts. I feel
like that we have been greatly hindered this morning. There's
been a great hindrance. There doesn't seem to be the
flow of the truth and the word that I would have liked to have
witnessed in this meeting this morning, but I trust that God
will use the message. I can see that Satan would not
want some people to hear this. Not want some people to hear
it. There were people here this morning, already left the building,
that needed to hear what was going to be said here this morning.
And all the confusion that went on. If you don't think Satan
is real, you just get in this pulpit and arm yourself with
a message for the glory of God and the glory of Christ, and
you'll find out that Satan is real. And so I trust that the
Lord will use his word in the way that he would use it, and
that we know it will not return into him void, but it will accomplish
that to which he sends it. So may the Lord bless you. Let's
have a word of prayer.