Verse 32 of Ephesians 4, And
be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. My message this morning
is for Christ's sake. So the subject is for Christ's
sake. Now here are three words that
are often spoken in wrath and blasphemy. I've lived a little
over three score years in this world and I suppose if I had
a dollar for every time that I heard these three words used
in blaspheming and in cursing, I suppose that I'd be a millionaire.
For Christ's sake, leave me alone. For Christ's sake, move that
out of my way. For Christ's sake this, and for
Christ's sake that. Now listen to me, this is a common
everyday way of using these three words, but we know that this
is blasphemy. But there never were three words
that were spoken that were more powerful and precious as these
three words today, for Christ's sake. There's not any three words,
I don't think, in the whole human vocabulary, in human language,
that means so much as these three words, for Christ's sake. Actually, these three words are
the very foundation of the gospel. Now, when the Lord saved us,
He saved us for Christ's sake. He saved us for the Son's sake. And that's why God showed mercy
to you this morning, if He has shown mercy to you. If you are
in Christ, if your sins are put away, if you are forgiven, if
you are accepted with God in the person of His dear Son, the
Lord Jesus, You are accepted this morning for Christ's sake.
It's for His sake that God has showed mercy to you and that
you stand this morning accepted, just as if you'd never committed
a sin. You stand perfect and complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's why He gave you this
morning the hope that He's given you. That's why you've been received
into God's living family. That's for Jesus' sake, for Christ's
sake. Now you can think, I'm sure,
and you do probably, a great deal of some reason. Maybe you can come up with something
that you think is a good reason why, or a solid reason why, that
God should have forgiven you. Maybe you have searched around
and Maybe you've raked around in the old dunghill, as the saying
is, and you've attempted to come up with some solid reason why
God should have had mercy upon you, why God should have saved
you, why God should have delivered you from your sin. But beloved,
as we look around and as we try to find this, we cannot find
one reason. Now we can find 50,000 reasons
why the Lord should have damned us, but we cannot find one reason
in ourselves why God should have spared us. Why He should have
spared us everlasting burning. Why God should have spared us
the wrath to come. why God should have spared us
the justice, His inflexible justice, why God should have spared us
and allowed us to have a hope that is enduring, a hope that
is living, a real, genuine, solid hope through grace. I say, beloved,
you cannot find a half a reason in yourself. You can look and
you can search and you can think of everything that you've done
that you can remember. And you will never discover anything
as to why God should have mercy upon you except for this reason,
that is, for Christ's sake. Now, I know this morning that
as we look around and as we meditate and think, that we do somehow
or other feel that there should be some redeeming quality about
ourselves, that there should be something that should commend
us to God, that there should be some little something or other,
there should be some merit, there should be some human worth that
would cause God to favor us with His salvation. Something about
us. That's unique. Something about
us that sets us apart from other people. There surely is something
that God will take heed to in us that will cause Him to have
mercy upon us. But my friend, according to what
the Word of God says, the Bible says that all things are naked
and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. And
the Bible says that Jesus needed not that any man should tell
him about man because he knows what is in man. Now there is
nothing hid from the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible knows
all. The God of the Bible sees all.
The God of the Bible knows you. He knows everything about you.
And there isn't anything about you that's going to commend you
to God. You're a sinner before God, and
you're due the wrath of God, and you're subject to everlasting
judgment. And only as you come to know
Christ, only as you join to Him, Only as God is pleased to put
you in His Son. Only as God, for Christ's sake,
is willing to spare you, then and then only will you be spared. Now, you'll never find, then,
one jewel in your life. We know that mankind lost the
family jewels, as it were, in the garden. And we may think
we've still got a few of them that God's going to take a look
at and say, well, I like that, and so He's going to favor us.
But we lost the family jewels, and our father Adam lost them,
and we were in him when he lost them. And so you may say this
morning, Preacher, I've been trying to do better in order
that I might deserve the favor of God. I've been trying to do
better. Preacher, I've been working on
it. I've been trying every way I know how to live up to the
golden rule. I've been trying to establish
some order in my life. I've been, you know, I've paid
my bills and I've attempted to somewhere or another redeem myself. But beloved, listen, you cannot
come up, I say, with what God demands. You're not able to do
that. You're not able to produce what
the God of the Bible demands of you, what heaven demands of
you, what God's law demands of you. You cannot produce it yourself,
and so therefore you cannot this morning, claim anything here
as we are before God here this morning. We're before God and
with Judgement Day honesty, we must admit the fact that there's
only one reason why we're this morning saved if we are saved,
and that is that God saved us for Christ's sake. And I hope
this morning that we could illustrate this to you and show you this
truth out of the Bible so that you may go out of here with some
measure of hope this morning in your soul. I'd like for you
to turn back to the chapter that we read out of 2 Samuel. In chapter
9 of 2 Samuel, we find Mephibosheth here. And I'd like to illustrate
what I'm saying to you by using this story here just a while
this morning. Now David said, in verse 1 here
of chapter 9, Is there any that is left of the house of Saul,
that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Now you
know that Saul was a bitter enemy of David, and you know that Saul
sought to kill David. But Jonathan, the son of Saul,
and David, they were close friends, and they loved one another. They
loved one another. And so David, you see, Saul and
Jonathan are gone. Both of them have been taken
out of this world. And David remembers Jonathan,
his bosom friend. And he loved Jonathan with all
of his heart. And so he said, is there yet
one left of the house of Saul that I may show kindness to for
Jonathan's sake? In other words, if there is one
of my enemy's household that I could show kindness to, I want
to do it. But I want to do it because of
the remembrance of Jonathan, for Jonathan's sake. And so there
was one, and his name was Mephibosheth. And we know that as King David
in verse 3, he asked Ziba, he said, you bring him. He said
that I may show the kindness of God unto him. That I may show
the kindness of God unto him. Now this Mephibosheth was lame
on both of his feet. And we know as he was brought
here to David's house, he was fearful. Now the king was not
his enemy, but this man was an enemy of the king because he
was of the household of Saul. Now God this morning is not our
enemy. He is not our enemy. Now we are
at enmity against God, but God is not our enemy. It is not God
that has offended us. It is we that have offended God. We have offended God. And beloved,
we know that God is not running from sinners. God reconciles
sinners unto himself. And it's the Lord that has come
to seek and to save that which was lost. And God reconciles
sinners unto himself. And so here comes Mephibosheth
into the palace, and David said in verse 7, he said unto him,
Fear not. Fear not. Mephibosheth felt that
he was alienated from David because of his father, and because of
his father's attempt upon the life of David, because Saul was
such a bitter enemy. And so he was fearful, don't
you see? And he didn't know what to expect.
He didn't know what to expect, but here, beloved, as we read
this, he says, For I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan
thy father's sake. Now then, as we see this unfold,
we see that Mephibosheth was sought by David in his indifference. Now, you this morning as you
come into this house, I don't know whether you're concerned
about your soul or not. I do not know whether you value
your soul or not. I do not know whether you feel
in your own heart that your soul is worth saving. But I'll tell
you this, that God seeks sinners and he seeks them in their indifference. And so this morning if you don't
feel any burden about yourself, shame on you. You ought to feel
some burden about your own soul. And you ought to desire that
your soul would be reconciled to God. But David sought Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was not seeking
David. And so the Lord here gives us
a picture of how He is seeking the sinner, that one that He's
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. And so here David
says, I'm going to show you kindness, don't be fearful, I'm going to
show you kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake. And he said,
I'm going to restore all the land of Saul, thy father, and
thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. Now this Mephibosheth,
as we said, he was lame on both of his feet. And so David received
him in his deformity. Now I know that every sinner
wants somehow or other, you know, we have this attitude that we
somehow or other want, if we can, to fix ourselves up. you know, before we come to the
Lord Jesus Christ. We want to somewhere or another
do something that will ready us for our meeting with the Lord
Jesus. We have that attitude, you know,
that we want to cleanse ourselves. We want to somewhere or another
fix up our deformities. But you take note that David
received Mephibosheth in his infirmity and with his deformity. And so the Lord Jesus received
sinners just like they are. And he said, you come just as
you are. You come in your true character.
It's not necessary that you try in any way, shape, or form, better
yourself, fix yourself up, stop something, start something else.
You come as you are. Come in all of your deformity,
come to the Lord Jesus Christ." And then we received him, we
see that David received him for the sake of another. And that's
my message this morning, is that God for Christ's sake has forgiven
us. David received Mephibosheth into
his house and he ate meat and ate at the king's table, ate
bread at the king's table continually, and it was for Jonathan's sake
that David did this. Now that's a great blessing to
see that. It's a marvelous truth of scripture.
It's a great type here of our Lord Jesus and how that the Father
receives us for His Son's sake. Because of what Jesus did, the
Father receives me into His fellowship. And we see that Mephibosheth
had a rich inheritance. because he ate at the king's
table, and he got all of his father's land, and David sent
Ziba and his 15 sons and his servants out to till the land
so that Mephibosheth would have that, as it were, to set his
own table, and it would make him wealthy. He received a great
inheritance from the hand of King David. and everyone that
God receives for Christ's sake, beloved, they receive an inheritance
also. They are one with Jesus Christ
and we inherit along with the Lord Jesus. We're heirs together
with Christ and everything that God has, He has given to Christ
and Christ gives all that He has to sinners when they're joined
to Him. And so when we stand in Christ,
we have all that God has to give to sinners. And so beloved, we're
blessed with every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ. And if you stand in Him, then
you also this morning are rich in Jesus Christ. You have an
inheritance that will not fade away, that will never be taken
from those that are in Christ. We're joint heirs with the Lord
Jesus. Now, he also was received into
daily fellowship with the king. We're told here that that he
ate at the king's table. He did eat continually, in verse
13, ate continually at the king's table even while he was lame
on both of his feet. Now, beloved, every day those
that know the Lord Jesus, those that are in Christ, They are
received into fellowship, and we visit with the King, we talk
with the King, we commune with the King, we engage in prayer
and fellowship with our Lord every day, and we still have
our afflictions and our deformities and we still have much that's
wrong with us in this body of flesh. There's so many, many
things that are wrong with us yet. We're not perfect in the
flesh. We're all sinners after the flesh,
having a nature that's contrary to God. but yet we fellowship
with God and our deformity is hid as it were under the king's
table you see Mephibosheth's feet's under the table and so
anybody looking on Mephibosheth as he sat there at the king's
table couldn't see his deformity couldn't see it at all because
it was hid under the king's table and so beloved we as we stand
in Christ now men may look upon us and they say, well, we can't
really tell that you're a Christian. There's so much about you that
is not maybe as it ought to be. But beloved, if we're in Christ,
God sees us as we stand in His own Son. And He doesn't look
on us as men would look upon us, but God looks upon us as
we stand in Jesus. And for Christ's sake, He gives
us a standing before Him, just as if we had never sinned. Well,
why did God choose me? You know, Mephibosheth said,
why are you showing me this favor? I'm a dead dog. Why are you showing
me this? And why did God then choose me,
a dead dog sinner? Why did He do that? That's an
expression that I heard from a fellow down in Kentucky, a
dead dog sinner. Brother Maurice Montgomery used
that expression. But for Christ's sake, that's
why He chose me. That's why He loved me. That's
why He brought me and reconciled me unto Him. Well, why was the
Father moved to elect a people? Why is He moved to pardon the
guilty? Why is the Father moved to accept
sinners and rebels? Well, it's because of the Lord
Jesus. It's because of Jesus Christ. Now, note two or three things
with me, if you will. You listen carefully. We're not
going to keep you too long, but listen carefully. Why does God
show mercy to a sinner for Christ's sake? Well, number one, and I
want you to get this, it's because of the glory of His person. Now
I do not know all the reasons why that Jonathan was so endeared
to David or why David was so endeared to Jonathan. I don't
know all about it. I'm sure there was something
about the character of each that appealed to the other. There
was something about God knitting their souls together. There was
something about Jonathan that David just loved it. And beloved,
listen to me this morning. It is the glory of the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ that endears Him to the Father. And
this is the reason that God will show mercy for Christ's sake
is because of who Jesus is. Who He is. Now I'll make bold
to say that the Lord Jesus is so glorious that even the God
of heaven may well consent to do 10,000 things for His sake
that He would do for no other reason. God will do 10,000 things
for Christ's sake that He would not do for any other reason.
Men could not get Him to do it for any other reason, but He'll
do it for Christ's sake. He is somebody. And if you want
the key to understanding the book of Hebrews, it is the excellence,
it is the superiority of Jesus Christ over the angels, over
Moses, over the priesthood, over Aaron, over the sons of Levite. over all God's creation, the
superiority of the Lord Jesus. I'm talking about the glory of
His person. Now I say that God forgives sinners
for Christ's sake because of who He is. Now you've heard of
Moses, how he led about two million of those Jews out of Egypt into
the wilderness. Moses had great charisma. He
really did. And the Jews, they still talk
about Moses all the time. They talk about his glory. I
think probably Moses had as much glory outwardly and charisma
as any mortal man would have. In fact, God didn't even let
the people know where he buried Moses. because he felt that people
would be coming in droves to his grave and would be worshipping
him. Here was a man that was somebody,
somebody indeed. But Christ has more glory than
Moses. as the builder of the house has
over the house. The man who builds the house
has more glory than the house. And so our Lord Jesus had more
glory than Moses did. Now in the Civil War, there was
a man who said, he was talking about Robert E. Lee, he said,
I'd follow that man into hell. I'd be willing to follow Him.
I'd be willing to follow Him any place. I'd follow Him into
hell because here was a leader. Here was an outstanding individual,
an outstanding character, an outstanding man. And then you
remember there was over a thousand that followed King David when
he was going into exile, when he was leaving the palace, he
was going into exile, he was kicked out of the kingdom, he
was thrown down off of the throne, and he left in disgrace. But
he had such glory about him and such charisma about him such
excellency about him that there were thousands that would rather
follow David into exile than they would to follow somebody
else, an unknown, into the kingdom and into the throne. So, beloved,
listen. How are we going to describe
the glory of Jesus Christ, that one who has a name above every
name? How are we going to do it? Well,
let me say this morning that as Isaiah said in chapter 9 in
verse 6b, he said it like this, His name, that is the name of
God's Son, that is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is
the name of this one that is superior to angels, that is the
name of this one that is superior to Moses and David and any other
man that we could mention here this morning, Isaiah said, His
name shall be called Wonderful, it shall be called Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
That's what Isaiah said about Him. And so, beloved, I'm talking
about the glory of His person. That's why God will forgive you
for His sake because He is somebody. We're nobodies, but Jesus is
somebody as far as the Father is concerned. Now listen to me.
Our Lord has such glory Now that when God the Holy Spirit is pleased
to anoint the eyes, to anoint the eye of a natural man, to
enable him to see in a spiritual way, to look upon the Lord Jesus,
he cannot help but see His glory. You remember the story of the
thief on the cross that was hanging beside of our Lord. And even
when that thief was hanging there on that cross beside the Lord
Jesus, as Jesus was in his humiliation, his visage, we're told, was marred
so that he didn't even look like a man. There was no beauty about
him that we should desire him. We hid our faces from him. Such
ugliness and such gore as our Lord Jesus hung on that cross.
But that thief that hung there beside him on that cross saw
glory in the Lord Jesus. Saw glory. Now listen to me.
This thief believed that Jesus had a kingdom. There Jesus was
busy, smart, hanging there ready to expire. and the blood and
water running out of his side, and this thief believed he had
a kingdom because he said, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He believed it. He saw glory.
He believed that Jesus was a king, even though he was on a cross.
He believed that he had the say over the world, and he believed
that Jesus had the say as who would be allowed in the kingdom,
as to who would be allowed in the kingdom of God. Because he
said, you remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And
the Lord Jesus said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
You'll be with me today. So Jesus had to say over and
this thief believed that he did. And by looking at Jesus, can
you put yourself there? Now could you see? Can you see
His glory? Well, listen to me. Here's another
thing that this man believed. He believed that even though
Jesus died on that cross, He would not stay dead. He believed
that Jesus was going to rise from the dead. Now, a beloved,
he believed all of this because God anointed his eyes to see
the glory of this one hanging on that cross. And I'm telling
you here today, because of who Jesus is, and because of the
glory of his person, God will forgive sinners for his sake.
If you're here this morning and you're not forgiven, if you're
here and the weight of your old guilt is upon your shoulders
and you know this morning if you died, you'd go to hell, remember
that there is one who is glorious, the Lord Jesus and the Father
for his sake will forgive you of your sin and blot out your
iniquity, blot out your sin and your past. Now, beloved, listen. There's another reason also I
want to mention to you and that is because Jesus is God's son. God will forgive you for Christ's
sake because of the relationship that is between God and the Lord
Jesus. He said this is my son. He said
this is my well-beloved son. He said you hear him. This is
my son in whom I'm well pleased. This is my son, the one who thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. And so because of his relationship,
God will do anything for his son. I heard a story about a
fellow that lost his son in Vietnam. And he loved his son, he only
had one. And he lost his son in the war there. And two or
three years later, there was a fella showed up at his door.
And this fella was a street person. He lived on the street. He was
homeless. And he had tattered clothes,
worn out clothes, long beard. And you could tell he was unkempt. He came to the door and knocked
on the door. Well, this man who had lost his
son in Vietnam came to the door and opened the door and was just
ready to close it back in his face because of the fellow's
appearance. And the man said, I was a good
friend of your son. I was with him when he was killed
in Vietnam. Well, of course, the man opened
the door wider. And as the story is told, the
man invited this man of the street in and put him in his son's room
and allowed him to wear the clothes out of the closet, his son's
clothes, and treated that man like his own son. And it was
because of his son that he would do that. And he did it for his
son's sake. because he was a friend of his
son and what a blessed reality that is when we see how that
for jesus sake as we come to the door of god god is pleased
to allow the door to be open and it's only because of his
son don't you see i mean that man would have never let this
fella in his house if he hadn't of been for his own son that
this man knew that this man somewhere or another was connected with
Beloved the same is true with you. God won't touch you with
a 10-foot pole except for Christ's sake that's the only reason.
He won't have anything to do with you. You say, God will let
me in. Why will he let you in? Well,
I got some reason. There ain't but one reason why
God will let a sinner into heaven and that's for Jesus' sake, for
Christ's sake. Same way old Mephibosheth got
into the palace. Same way. For Jonathan's sake,
gotta go in on somebody else's coattails. You can't go in on
your own. You've got to have somebody to
live for you and die for you. Now then, There's one other thing
I'd like to mention, and that is, God will show mercy for Christ's
sake because of the worthiness of His work. The worthiness of
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, Jesus came into this
world and the Bible says, the Father said, I've given Him a
work to do. And He came into this world and
You know, when Jesus got ready to leave the world, hanging on
the cross, he said, it's finished. I finished the work which thou
gavest me to do. I finished it. Well, what was
this work that the Father gave him to do? Well, he was to make
an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity. He was to bring
in everlasting righteousness. The Lord Jesus was to do a work. He was to meet head-on the holy,
the immaculate, the immutable, the infinite, the unchangeable
law of God and obey every jot and tittle of it. He didn't in
any way whittle it down to make its demands less demanding. No, he did not. He did not lessen
its demands, but he met it head-on. He met it just like it is, the
holy law of God. and he obeyed that law and fulfilled
it perfectly that's what he did and now beloved there's not one
of the ten commandments that's got a hold on any of God's people
Jesus and in him we kept it perfectly, we've kept it holy. Somebody
said, I'm trying to keep it. You just go ahead and try to
keep it, but I'm telling you this, there's only one who met
it head on and who fulfilled every jot and tittle of it. There's
only one that obeyed that law. There's only one that satisfied
and pleased God by the keeping of that law. And you better be
found in Him. He makes a mighty good substitute. And so if you stand in Him, that's
His work, the worthiness of His work. Now beloved, isn't it terrible
that we that are not able to render unto God what He demands,
that we still somehow or other feel that we may be able to raise
something that God's going to take a second look at. Well,
beloved, Jesus has got a perfect righteousness. A perfect righteousness. He had a perfect sacrifice. He had perfect obedience and
perfect satisfaction he rendered to God's holy justice. He fulfilled everything that
heaven could demand. Worthy is the Lamb. So for the
glory of His person and because of the relationship between the
Father and the Son and because of the worthiness of His work
The Father, for Christ's sake, will forgive sinners. Now, beloved,
let me say that this is, with God, His motive. This is His standing motive,
for Christ's sake. Never gonna change that. Suppose
that God forgave you for your own sake. You change, my friend. That's one of the most certain
things about you is that you change all the time. But God
never changed. Christ is always worthy. The clouds, the poet said, may
go and come, and storms may sweep the sky. The blood-sealed friendship
changes not. The cross is ever nigh. I change. He changes not. The Christ can
never die. His word, not mine, the resting
place. His truth, not mine. the time. It's the Lord Jesus,
my friend. He never changes. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. Now every day of the year, the
gates of heaven are open to sinners free. They're open to the sinner,
but for Jesus Christ's sake. And the only motive which can
ever move the heart of God to do anything for you in your helpless,
hopeless state is for Christ's sake. You may cry as long as
you will, reform as much as you please, pray as earnestly as
you like, but the gate of heaven will never open to your knocking
till you plead for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Forgive me. For Christ's sake, receive me. For Christ's sake, blot out my
past. For Christ's sake, remember not
my sins against me anymore. Remember that other foundations
can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts
4 in verse 12 tells us that. Upon a life, the poet said, I
did not live. Upon a life, I did not live. Upon a death, I did not die. I stake my whole eternity. My faith shall Abba Father cry,
and thou the kindred own. For Christ for Christ's sake. Have you ever pleaded that before
God? Are you in trouble today? Do you feel the guilt of sin
upon your soul? Do you feel weighted down? Do
you feel that there's no hope for you? Do you feel desperate? Whatever is your case, whatever
is your situation, I would begin to plead for Christ's sake. Because the Lord will never take
notice of who your mother and who your father was. He'll never
take note of who your grandparents were. He'll never take note of
what you did or did not do. It's for Christ's sake that He
will deliver, that He'll save, that He'll give you hope, and
that He'll accept you at last into His eternal kingdom. May God be pleased to give you
a clear view of what we've been talking about here this morning.
Father, in the name of your lovely Son, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus
Christ, we pray that you might be pleased to use this message
to your glory and honor, save some poor sinner here, and may
before the day is out, may there be a cry go up to heaven from
someone here, Oh God, for Christ's sake, remember me, forgive me,
Deliver me, save me, O Lord, for Jesus' sake. We pray it in
His name. Amen.