Would you turn with me to Luke
chapter 9? I'd like to read verses 51 through
56 of Luke chapter 9. I was surprised to know that
I've been preaching for over 30 years, and I've never preached
from this passage before, and I hope the Lord will bless this
to us. I've entitled this message, The Mission of the Son of Man. Beginning in verse 51, and it
came to pass when the time was come that he should be received
up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. Just like
that passage we read in Isaiah chapter 50 verse 7, he said,
I've set my face like a flint. He set his face to go to die. That's what he came here to do.
And he set his face, he would not be hindered in what he came
to do. Verse 52, and he sent messengers
before his face. And they went and entered into
a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. He's on his
way to Jerusalem. And they did not receive him
because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And
you remember, there was an argument between the Samaritans and Jews. Samaritans were transplants.
They weren't true Jews. During the Babylonian captivity,
They were sent down to take, to inhabit the cities where the
Jews had lived when they'd been pulled out. And there they, the
scripture says, serve the Lord and served other gods. They had
kind of a hybrid religion. When they first got there, you
can read this passage of scripture in second Kings chapter 17, the
Lord sent lions into that place because they weren't worshiping
according to the scriptures. And so they hired him a priest.
Let's go ahead and read that. Maybe you'll, maybe we'll all
know something about the Samaritans. Second Kings chapter 17. Verse
24, and the king of Assyria, second King 1724, and the King
of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthoth and from Avon
from Hamath and from Sifoth-Varim and placed them in the cities
of Samaria instead of the children of Israel. And they possessed
Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof. They weren't true Jews. They were uncircumcised. And
so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there that they
feared not the Lord. Therefore, the Lord sent lions among them,
which slew some of them. Wherefore, they spake to the
king of Assyria saying, the nations which thou has removed and placed
in the cities of Samaria know not the manner of the God of
the land. Therefore, he has sent lions among them and behold,
they slay them because they know not the manner of the God of
the land. Then the king of Assyria commanded saying, carry thither
one of the priests whom you brought from this and let them go and
dwell there and let them teach them the manner of the God of
the land. Then one of the priests, whom they geared away from Samaria,
came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear
the Lord. Howbeit, every nation made gods of their own, and put
them in the houses of the high places, which the Samaritans
had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelled.
And the men of Babylon made Succoth, Benoth, and the men of Cuth made
Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashymi, and the Avites made
Niblaz, talking about these different gods they made. Look in verse
32. So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the
lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrifice
for them in the houses of the high place. They feared the Lord
and serve their own gods after the manner of the nations whom
they carried away from this. And to this day they do after
the former manners, they fear not the Lord, neither do they
after their statutes or after their ordinance or after the
law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of
Israel, whom he whom he named Israel. So you see that these
people had a running feud with the Jews. They had a hybrid religion,
and the Jews despised them, and they despised the Jews. You remember
the story in John chapter four, when the Lord comes to the woman
of Samaria, and she's amazed that he speaks to her. He says,
the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. So this is the
place. He was going through a village
of the Samaritans, and when they saw his face was fixed to go
to Jerusalem, they didn't like it. They were at odds, so they
wouldn't receive the Lord when he came into this place. Verse
53, and they did not receive him because his face was as though
he would go to Jerusalem toward the Jews. And when his disciples,
James and John, back to Luke chapter nine, verse 54, and when
his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, wilt
thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume
them? Even as Elijah did. Now, put yourself in their place. They loved their Lord. They were
upset that these men would not receive him. They felt like they
were doing this for his glory. And they thought they had a scriptural
precedent. They said, we'll thought that we command fire to come
down from heaven and get rid of these people just the way
Elijah did. He did it. It was the right thing to do. Shouldn't
we do that? That was their attitude. And they felt like what they
were doing was right. They felt like it was the right thing to
do. Verse 55, that he turned and
rebuked them and said, You know not what manner of spirit you
are of. But the Son of Man is not come
to destroy men's lives, but to save. And they went to another village. Nearly 33 years had passed since
his coming into the world. I love that passage of scripture
where it says, a body has thou prepared me. You see, he was
before he had this body. He said, lo, I come in the volume
of the book it's written of me. Now that book he's speaking of
is not talking about the Bible. It's the same book that we read
about in Revelation chapter five, all of God's purposes and decrees,
everything that would take place written front side and backside.
Couldn't add anything to it. Sealed with seven seals in the
volume of the book. It's written of me. I delight
to do thy will. Oh God. He came to keep the law. And he did it. He worked out a perfect righteousness
for everybody he represented. And he came to put away sin. He came to keep the law and he
came to die. That's why He came. He came knowing
that He was going to die and suffer the very wrath of God. You know, every time I talk about
the wrath of God, it makes me feel odd because I know it's
so horrible that there's no way I could describe it, yet it's
totally righteous, totally just. It's in character with the Lord's
glorious attributes. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
made to bear the very wrath of God. That's why He died. His
precious blood was to put away sin. And he set his face, when
the time was there for him to be received up, he set his face. Just like Isaiah said, I've set
my face like a flint. Now in this, we see Christ's
willingness to save. Never doubt Christ's willingness
to save. He set his face steadfastly to
do in time what had been done in eternity. He was the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, and he would not let
anything keep him from this horrible death that he was getting ready
to do. Now, it was out of obedience
to his father, but it was also because he delights in mercy. He's willing. If you question
Christ's willingness to save, hold on, I can show you somebody
else who questioned his willingness to save. You remember that leper?
He said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He didn't
question Christ's ability, but at that time, he was questioning
Christ's willingness. You know what the scripture says?
And Jesus moved with compassion, reached forth his hand and touched
him. Nobody else would, but the Lord
did. And he said, I will. Be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. Never doubt his willingness to
save. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor a fitness fondly dream. The only fitness he requires
is to have a need of him. Do you have a need of him? Then
come and welcome. Don't doubt his willingness. Oh, the willingness of the son
of God to save. He set his face steadfastly to
go to Jerusalem. Verse 52, And they sent messengers
before his face and they went and entered into a village of
the Samaritans to make ready for him. And they, the Samaritans,
did not receive him. Now that's a high crime, isn't
it? to not receive the Lord Jesus Christ. This was a great act
of wickedness on their part. This is the Son of God. This
is the only hope any sinner ever has. This is the altogether lovely
one. And they did not receive Him. Now there isn't anything worse
anybody can do than fail to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
a crime. And so, John and James, you know,
they're called the Sons of Thunder. Barajenes, that's what the Lord
named them, the Sons of Thunder. And they were upset. They looked at these people who
wouldn't receive their Lord, and they, I understand them getting
mad about that. I can understand them being upset
about that. I mean, they didn't receive the Son of God. And they
said, and they thought of that scriptural precedent when Elijah
called down from heaven. fire and consume 50 people three
different times. And well, it's a good thing if
they did it in the scriptures. Lord, will thou that we command
fire to come down from heaven like Elijah did and consume them? They were zealous for the Lord's
glory. They were offended by the way
these people would not receive him. And look what they said,
and they even thought they had a scriptural precedent for conducting
themselves like that and having that desire. And the Lord rebuked
them. Very important. The Lord rebuked
them, verse 55, but he turned and rebuked them and said, you
know not what manner of spirit you are of. Now that statement really hit
me. I want every one of us to think
about it. The Lord saying to these disciples who were so concerned
for his glory, and they were, and he says, you know, not what
manner of spirit you are of. And this is a warning to all
of us. We can be very passionate about something. seemingly out
of a zeal for Christ's honor and his glory, and not realize
that we're in a totally wrong spirit. The Lord said that to
them. You know not what manner of spirit
you are of. We can have a spirit that is
not of the Holy Spirit and that has nothing to do with the fruit
of the Spirit. Now, I love to think of the fruit
of God, the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love.
joy, it's peace, it's gentleness, it's long-suffering, it's goodness,
it's faith, it's meekness, That's the fruit of God the Holy
Spirit. And these men who had this zeal,
and I admire their zeal. I admire Peter when he took the
sword and tried to protect the Lord and cut off the guy's ear.
The guy was ducking his head. He meant to cut off his head
is what he meant to do. And he ended up cutting off his ear.
And he had more grace when he did that when Judas betrayed
him and kissed him. I mean, there's things we admire, but yet our
Lord said, you know not what manner of spirit you're of. Now, over the years, there have been
many holy wars, some people thought, fighting for the honor of the
Lord Jesus Christ, thinking they were serving God when they were
not. They were trying to protect the
Lord. They were trying to vindicate
their cause. And you know, like I said this morning, it's so
easy to vindicate yourself, justify yourself. And that's what these
fellows were doing. I mean, they were, they were, and they thought
they had a scriptural precedent for what they were doing. And
yet the Lord rebuked them. They even use the scriptures.
to justify what they were doing. Elijah, we read about this where
Elijah did it. And it's a dangerous thing when
we use the scriptures to justify ourselves. That's an irreverent
and a manipulative use of the scriptures and it's self-serving
and we have all been guilty of this. I don't know how many times
I've done this. I've tried to use the scriptures to make my
point, not to bow before what they say. but to use the scriptures
to make my point. And that's what James and John
were doing at this time. Verse 55, but he turned and rebuked
them and said, you know not what manner of spirit you are of,
for the son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save. Now, through this
action, this wrong action of James and John, we are given
a mission statement of the Son of Man. The Son of Man is not
come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Now, I have
noticed quite a bunch in Luke how often the Lord calls himself
the Son of Man. For the Son of Man is not come
to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Now, you think about
this. He could have called himself the Son of God because he was.
He could have called himself wonderful because he is. He could have called himself
the counselor because he is. He could have called himself
the mighty God because he is. He could have called himself
the everlasting Father I don't understand how that is, but it
is. He's called the everlasting father. He could have called
himself the prince of peace is not come to destroy men's lives,
but to save them. But he said the son of man. You know, that seems to be the
name our Lord loved the most. The son of man. Do you know he
loves being a man? There was a time when he didn't
have flesh. He does now, and he's always going to be a man. He loves being a man, and he
loves saving men. He delights in saving men. Isn't that a glorious title for
our Redeemer? The Son of Man. Now, he didn't
come to destroy men's lives. John 3, 17 says, for God sent
not his son into the world to condemn the world. The world
already was condemned. He didn't have to come to condemn
the world. But that the world through him might be saved. Now, he didn't come to destroy
men's lives because men's lives were already destroyed. They
were already guilty. They were already condemned.
Do you know that you and I were literally condemned when Adam
fell. That's what Romans 5 teaches.
That's what 1 Corinthians 15, 22 presents. And Adam all died. When Adam fell, Todd Nybert was
brought into condemnation. Mitch Bryan was brought into
condemnation. Everybody Adam represented was
brought into condemnation. So I was already condemned. I
was condemned before I was ever born. And I know some people have problems
with that, but I don't know why you would have problems with
it, because let's forget Adam. How have you done on your own?
If you didn't have any connection with Adam, how have you done
on your own? Well, you've plumbed that stuff, haven't you? So as
far as that goes, the good news about this, and this is what
I love about this, if you can be damned and condemned because
of somebody else's sin, you can be saved because of somebody
else's righteousness. Isn't that good news? But we
were already condemned. We were condemned in Adam. We
were condemned in our practice. We've already sinned and come
short. of the glory of God were condemned
by the justice of God. He said, I'll by no means clear
the guilty. He didn't come to condemn. We
were already condemned. He came to save. I turn with me to John chapter
six. Here, the Lord clearly identifies why he came. No questions about
this. He says in verse 38, For I came down from heaven. What a condescension when he
did that. He came down from heaven. That's enough for us to just
be totally amazed and bow down and worship him. He came down
from heaven. Why did he come? For I came down
from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent. Christ is sent of God. And he tells us exactly what
the Father sent him to do. And this is the Father's will,
which is sent me that of all which he had given me, I should
lose nothing. but should raise it up again
at that last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the son and believeth on
him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the
last day." Now, our Lord, tells us in those verses why he came,
what his mission was, what his intention was, what his purpose
was. Now remember who this is. This
is the son of God. He can't fail. He's God. He's omnipotent. He's omniscient.
He's omnipresent. Oh, he can't fail. Now, whatever
he intended to do, That's what he did. There are two beliefs concerning
his intentions. One, that he came to save all
of mankind, and the other, that he came to save a particular
people, the elect, those the father gave him before time began. Now, those are the two views
of his intentions. When he came, his intention was
to save all mankind. That's one view. And the other
view is that he came with the intention of saving those the
father gave him. Now, the Bible teaches one of
those things, but it doesn't teach both. And one is a denial
of the other. One excludes the other. Now,
if Christ did, now remember who he is, he's the son of God. If
Christ did intend to save everybody, and there are some who are not
saved, then Christ failed in his intentions. Isn't that so? He was not able to do what he
intended. And not only that, but if somebody
is not saved that Christ actually died for and paid for their sins,
that means that God is punishing the same sin twice. If he punished Christ, he didn't
punish somebody who Christ died for because they didn't do something.
He's punishing the same sin twice, which would make God unjust. Now, the Bible doesn't teach
anything like this, does it? While that's what over 99% of
this religious world believes, the Bible teaches nothing like
that. Christ said, I lay down my life
for the sheep, not the goats, the sheep. Christ loved the church
and gave himself for it. Paul said to the Ephesian elders,
feed the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. Thou has given him, these are
the words of our Lord, thou has given him power over all flesh.
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given
them. He said, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but for them which you've given me. Boy, I
want to be one of those people, don't you? I want to be somebody that Christ
is praying for. And the reason he became and
kept the law and suffered and died was to save his people from
their sins. Matthew 1 21. Thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And that's what he did. When
he said it is finished, his people were saved from their sins. Now in this thing of salvation,
you don't get saved. You find out you've been saved. All the difference in the world.
You don't get saved. find out the Lord has saved you. And what a wonderful thing to
find out that the Lord has saved you. He came to save his people
from their sins. And that's what he did. He saved
us from the condemnation of sin. No condemnation to them there
in Christ Jesus. He saved us from the power of sin in this
sense. There was a time when I couldn't believe I was impossible
for me to I do now. He saved me from the power of
sin. And he saved me from the presence of sin, in that if Christ
is saved from the presence of sin, and I'm in Christ, I'm saved
from the presence of sin. What a salvation. Now, am I one
of his people? Dare I believe that I am? We know he did save his people.
Dare I believe that I am one of them? Did he shed his precious
blood for me? I turned to Luke chapter 19,
a very similar statement from. He said, I came to save, but
look at Luke 19 verse 10. I want you to know this. You
can know tonight if Jesus Christ died for you. That's an awesome
thing to think about, isn't it? Wouldn't it be a blessing, wouldn't
it be a blessing of grace to leave this place knowing that
Jesus Christ shed his precious blood for you? You see, that
is the hope of salvation. If Christ died for me, I must
be saved. That's my hope. The only hope,
listen to me, the only hope I have And let me underline that and
put an explanation for it beside it. The only hope I have is that
Christ died for me. I have no other hope. The only
hope I have of being brought into glory and standing before
God justified and accepted, sanctified, accepted in the beloved is that
Christ died for me. Oh, I want to know if he died
for me. Now, how can I know? I know he
didn't die for everybody. And it's blasphemy when a preacher
would get up and say that he shed his precious blood for all
of Adam's race. That man does not preach the
gospel. I don't want to hear him. But I also want to know,
am I one of the people he died for? Luke chapter 19, verse 10. Here again is the mission of
the Son of Man, a mission statement. For the Son of Man, is come to
seek and to save that which was lost. All men were lost in But not all of those men are
saved. All men are lost by practice.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Salvation
by works is just out of the question now because you've already sinned. You know, some men are lost to
society. We have to put them in jail.
We have to put them in prison because we wouldn't be safe out
on the streets. They've been lost to society. But just because
they're lost to society, that doesn't mean the Lord saved them.
My, this is a horrible thing to think about, but some men,
some women are lost to their own families. Their families
have to turn them out. We can't have anything to do
with you. I don't know of an instance,
but I suppose a mother has had to do that to their child. It's
such a horrible thing to think about. Lost to their families.
Now that's lost. And yet that does not mean that
the Lord has saved them. So what does the Lord mean when
he says the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which
was lost? Here's what it is to be lost. It's lost to all hope of self-salvation. It's knowing that if God doesn't
do something for you, you're going to hell. You're lost, and
you can't find your way out. A sheep can stray, but it can't
get back. Lost, lost, lost, lost all hope
of self-salvation. When you're so sinful that you
cannot do anything to recommend you to God, if anything is dependent
upon you, there's no hope. None at all. You're completely
dependent. on him to do it all for you. If not, you're lost. You will not be saved. Now, are
you like that? Be honest. Would that be you? Lost. to all hopes of doing anything
to recommend you to God. Lost, hopeless, helpless. I love to think of that scripture
in Acts 27 where Luke said, when all hope that we should be saved
was lost. That's when they heard the gospel. Turn with me to a very familiar
passage of scripture in first Timothy one. Now I can say this with complete
assurance. If you're lost, the son of man
came to seek. and to save you without any question
at all. Because he came to seek and to
save that which was lost. Have you ever been lost without any hope of self-salvation? Lost. Lost. Look here in 1 Timothy
1.15, you know the scripture. This is a faithful saying, and
it's worthy of all acceptation. That word all, you're included
in that. This is worthy of all acceptation. Everybody in this
room ought to receive this statement, this truth contained in this
passage of scripture as the best news you've ever heard and believe
it. This is a faithful saying and
it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. What's a sinner? Well, he's the
one who commits the sin. You've all heard preachers say
God loves the sinner, but he hates the sin. And that's humanizing
God because we can love somebody and hate what they do. There's
no question about that. We can love somebody truly and
hate what they do. But that's still trying to bring,
you know, God's like us. No, God doesn't love the sinner
and hates the sin. He doesn't put sins into hell,
does he? He puts the ones who committed
those sins into hell. Now, sinner. What is a sinner? Well, what I just described,
everybody's somebody who commits sin, but God doesn't save everybody. But I know there's a real sinner,
a real bona fide sinner. It's someone who really believes
that all they do is sin. If they did it, You know, I think
of that scripture, the plowing of the wicked is sin. Plowing
seems like a wholesome activity, doesn't it? I mean, go out and
plow the ground and maybe to make food to feed the poor. I mean, that's a wholesome activity.
But the scripture says the plowing of the wicked is sin. If I did
it, it's sin. That's what a sinner is. He's
somebody who all they do is sin. They cannot not sin. They can't do what the Bible
tells them to do. When the Bible says be obedient,
they can't. Somebody says, well, I can do
whatever the Bible tells me to do. Do it. Do it. I don't believe
it for a second. A sinner is someone who cannot
not sin. And a sinner is someone who cannot
look in moral superiority on judgment on anybody. No matter who they are or how
bad they are, you know that apart from the grace of God, you'll
be worse. And you can't look in moral superiority and judgment
on anybody. And a sinner knows he has no,
absolutely no claims on God. He's lost to all hope of self
salvation. Now, are you a sinner? No, I can't say that about myself
and I have no gospel for you. Are you a sinner? Someone who
all they do is sin and you're not excusing it. You're facing
the facts. All you do is sin. You cannot
not sin. You can't look down on anybody.
You have no claims on God. Are you a sinner? Then Christ
died for you. I promise Christ died for you. Now here's a description I can
get my teeth into. Aren't you glad it doesn't say
a believing sinner or a repentant sinner or a what the Puritans
called a sensible sinner. That one always amuses me because
I thought sinners were stupid, not sensible. But I know what
they meant. Are you a sinner that knows you're a sinner? Well,
I'm not even good at that. I don't even know I'm a sinner
enough. But I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. And I'm not proud
of it. But I'm thankful that the Lord
has taught me that because the scripture says that Christ died. for sinners. He came into the
world to save sinners. And I love what Paul adds, of
whom I am the chief. Now remember who Paul
was. You reckon Paul was a better
man than you are? You reckon he was? You reckon he probably
loved Christ more than you from what you could tell reading about
this man in the scriptures? You reckon he honored Christ
more in his life than you do? Sure, you know that. You don't
have any problem with that. You know it. I know that. I know
that. You know that. Do you know Paul said, not, I
used to be the chief, but right now, present tense, he died for
sinners of whom I am the chief. And if my view of myself Is anything
other than that? It's just self-righteousness
and pride. Oh, may the Lord deliver me from
ever being anything but the chief of sinners. Christ died for sinners. He came to save you. And that's
precisely what he did. The scripture said when he had
by himself, I love that verse, don't you? When he by himself,
that means he didn't have any help. He didn't have me putting
my sacrilegious hand in it and doing something when he had by
himself purged. Oh, I love that word, don't you?
Purged, put away, washed away our sins. He sat down on the
right hand of God. from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. And what the Lord does is he
commands you to believe that verse. Are you a sinner? That's all
you got to know. Are you a sinner? I'm not asking
anything else. Well, what if I'm not? How much do I need to
know? How much do I need to believe? How much do I need to just forget
all that? Are you a sinner? If you are, Christ died for you. And you can lay your head down
on your pillow tonight knowing that you are perfect in God's
sight. However God views his son is
how he views you. You're so saved it's eternal.
You cannot not be saved. And one of these days, because
he died for you to save you from your sins, and this is what I
love to think about, one of these days when you stand in glory,
you won't even remember what it's like to be a sinner. You
won't remember what it's like to have a wicked thought. You
won't remember you ever did that. That's how completely we're saved from
sin. The Son of Man didn't come to
condemn. He didn't, we already work him
in, that's clear, isn't it? That's clear. He came to save. Thank the Lord for that. Let's
pray.