Luke's Gospel, chapter 18, if
you have a few Bibles, it's on page 1136. Luke's Gospel, chapter 18, and
let's begin reading in verse 35. And I want to read down through
chapter 19, verses 1 through verse 10. And it came to pass that as he,
the Lord Jesus, came near unto Jericho, a certain blind man
sat by the wayside begging. And hearing the multitude pass
by, he asked what it meant. And they told him that Jesus
of Nazareth passed by. And he cried, saying, Jesus,
thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And they that went before
rebuked him, that he should hold his peace. But he cried so much
the more, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood,
Matthew says he stood still, and he commanded him to be brought
unto him. And when he was come near, he
asked him, saying, What will you that I should do unto thee?
And he said, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said
unto him, Receive thy sight, thy faith hath made thee whole.
And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying
God, and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto
God. And Jesus entered and passed
through Jericho, and behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus,
which was the chief among the publicans, the tax collectors,
and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus, who
he was, and could not for the press, because he was little
of stature. And he ran before and climbed
up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that
way. And when Jesus came to the place,
he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make
haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And
he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. And when
they saw it, they all murmured, saying that he had gone to be
guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said
unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to
the poor. And if I have taken anything
from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus
said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch
as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man is come to
seek and to save that which was lost." Two sinners saved at Jericho. Two sinners saved at Jericho.
I've studied quite a bit about this old ancient city. I was
on the internet just the other day looking at modern Jericho
and looking at the old ancient city of Jericho which is nothing
now but ruins. But it's one of the oldest cities
in the world. In 1400 BC, 1400 years before
the Lord came to this earth, Joshua and the children of Israel
were standing on the east side of the Jordan River. And the
Jordan River parted and they went over to this old city and
marched around it for seven days. Thirteen times they marched around
this city. It was a mighty city. It was
a fortified city. It had a king and it had a mighty
army. That's what the book of Joshua
tells us. In the early 1900s, they began
to excavate this place. In the 1930s, they found the
old wall that had fallen down. It was two walls. It was a large
wall built out of mud and stone. And then inside that wall was
built on top of that wall a huge brick wall. And they found out
where, and they saw where, The huge brick wall had literally
fell over and collapsed. And they found out where the
city had been burned. They saw the blackness as they
dug down and dig through the mud and the bricks and the wall. And the Lord told the children
of Israel, and He told Joshua to take 40,000 soldiers. Now
get a picture of this. And the priest and take the Ark
of the Covenant the Levites blowing with their trumpets, to take
all of that huge crowd and march around this city. And while those
in this city watched them march around. And on the seventh day,
He said, blow with your trumpets. And when they did that, the Scripture
says, the wall collapsed. God had cursed this city. He
said this in the book of Joshua chapter 6, "...the city shall
be accursed, even it, and all that is therein." It's a curse
unto the Lord. And at the same time, Joshua
pronounced a curse upon the man and his family who would rebuild
this city. Joshua predicted then that the
man who rebuilds this city, he'll lay the foundation in the death
of his firstborn, and he'll set up the gates of it in the death
of his last child. 550 years later in the time of
King Ahaz, a man by the name of Helial did just that. He dug down in the old ruins,
leveled it up just a little bit, and when he laid the foundation,
his son Abiram died. And then he worked on it, he
struggled on it for years, and when he set up the gates of the
city, his youngest son, Girub, died, just like Joshua said it
would happen. It was a cursed city. There was
only one house in that whole city that was a safe haven when
those walls fell. When those 40,000 soldiers walked
up that ramp that was made by those bricks that fell, there
was only one house in that city that was a safe haven, Rahab
the harlot, and all that was in her house. Only Rahab the
harlot shall live, she and all that is in her house. And the Bible says when they
went up into the city, they got Rahab, her father and mother
and kindred and all that was left in her house and set them
without the camp. And then they burned the city
with fire. Where would you have liked to
have been? Where would you have been if you had been peeping
over those walls and you saw all the commotion and you heard
the sound of the trumpet? Where would you have loved to
have been? Where is the only place a man should have been
in that day? that house built on the wall.
The only people that escaped that judgment was Rahab. And
it's the same way with you and I today, brothers and sisters. This is just an example, it's
a picture of this city, this state, and this nation, and this
world. Jericho is just a type, it's
a picture of what's coming upon this world. This world is appointed
to destruction just like Jericho. Listen to Peter. The earth which
is now, by the same word, is kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Do ungodly men believe that?
Why, no, they don't believe that. They don't believe that. Did
the ungodly believe it in Noah's day that a flood was coming?
Well, no, they didn't. Did those in Lot's day believe
the fire was falling? No, they didn't believe it. Did the ungodly believe that
Jericho was appointed to destruction? No, they didn't. But I tell you
this, Ahab did. Rahab believed it. Her family
believed it. And they fled for refuge. Do
people believe today that the Lord is coming back, that He
is going to melt the elements with ferment heat, and all the
works are going to be burned up? The men believe that, no,
but you do, don't you? And I tell you how you know you
believe. You have fled for refuge. You have fled for refuge. You
know the trumpet is getting ready to be blown, and you have fled
for refuge. And where is that? Jesus Christ
the Lord and Savior. He's the only place of refuge
there will be. Old Wesley said, other refuge
have I none, didn't he? Hangs my helpless soul on thee. Verse 1 here seems to be unique
to Jericho. Jesus entered and passed through
Jericho. That seems to be unique to Jericho. We never read in any other city
that He merely passed through that city. It was only said here
of Jericho, every time you see it mentioned that the Lord was
there, He's always entering and passing through Jericho. He never
stopped to eat. He never stopped to rest. He
never stopped to bathe. He never stopped to sightsee.
We often read that he stopped at Martha's house to eat. We read that he prayed in a garden.
He rested in a desert. He slept in a ship. He even tarried
for days with the Samaritans. But you never see him stopping
in Jericho. I think there's a lesson there
for us, don't you? Jericho is this world. He entered and passed through
Jericho. He's an example for us. One writer said this, this world
is not my home. I'm just a passing through. My
treasure is laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckoned
me to heaven's open door and I can't feel at home in this
world anymore. Jericho. Do you know of anyone
who has entered this world with any real hopes of living here
forever? Nobody. Everybody that will be
honest with themselves know they're just passing through. And here's
the thing. When we come into this world,
we bring nothing with us. And when we go out, we'll take
nothing with us. We are just passing through. Even our Lord Jesus Christ came
down from heaven and He did not come here to stay. He came here
just to pass through and to do His work of redemption. All the earth and all the works
that are therein shall be burned up. Everything. There's a lesson
there, isn't there? Lay up this, lay up that. Some
people look upon this world and their job, their money, their
property as the end. But that's not the end. That's
not the end, is it? Remember Achan? He was in that
old city. that was cursed, and they were
ready to burn it with fire. And he was pilfering around in
one of the tents and got himself in trouble. He opened the tent door and went
in there, or house, and went in, and behold, he saw a goodly
Babylonish garment. He said, Man, I've never seen
a garment like that. And he pulled out a drawer and there was a
huge wedge of pure gold. And he pulled out another drawer
and it was full of silver. And he said, I saw it and I coveted
it. And I took it and I hid it. And
you know something? It cost him the land of milk
and honey. It cost him the land. And what am I saying? I'm saying
this world is just like Jericho. Everything here is to be used
for God's glory because it's all going to be burned up. We're
just passing through. How fitting then that Jesus Himself
entered and passed through Jericho. But He didn't enter here and
pass through without a purpose, did He? I love verse 10. It tells us His purpose in a
nutshell. Look back at it again. Here's
His purpose for coming into this world. For the Son of Man is
come. Yes, I'm passing through, but
I have a purpose. And here's what it is. To seek
and to save that which was lost. Here we see the purpose of the
Son of God coming down from heaven. Here was His whole reason for
coming, wasn't it? He didn't come to set up earthly
kingdoms or tear down any kingdoms. He didn't come to build houses.
Get rich. He was born, He lived, He suffered,
He died, and He ascended back to the right hand of God for
this one central main purpose. And what was it? To save sinners. That's it. The Son of Man is come for this
purpose. To seek and to save that which
was lost. Oh God the Holy Spirit teach
us. teach us this morning. That's the purpose for which
this world still exists. That's our purpose for being
here this morning. This one purpose. Jesus Christ is saving sinners. Jesus Christ is saving His people. And when that's finished, and
His purpose is finished, And He saved His last sinner. This
world is going to collapse and burn just like Jericho did. Our text tells us here in chapter
18 and verse 35 and then in chapter 19 and verse 1 that the Lord
saved a sinner as he was entering Jericho And He saved one as He
was going outside of Jericho. That's all He did in Jericho. That's all He can be noted for,
really. Saving sinners. He saved one on His way in and
saved one on His way out. Therefore, we can say He accomplished
His purpose, can't we? This is why I came to save sinners. And that's what He did. That's
what it is. Unless somebody thinks the Lord
Jesus doesn't have the determination and will and grace and power
to accomplish His purpose, let's examine it just a bit. He said,
this is my purpose. This is why I've come, to save
sinners. Okay, let's see if He can do
it. Okay? First of all, here's my first
point this morning. The Lord has purpose to save
a variety of sinners. He's saving a variety of sinners.
He's not just saving one class, one type. He's saving a variety
of sinners. And we only have to look at these
two men to see that. Look how different they are.
Look how different these men were. One lived in total darkness. Every day he lived in darkness.
Who knows how many years since he saw anybody or anything. Every
morning he woke up and when he opened his eyes, he was in total
darkness. He was a blind man. The other man, he could see perfectly
as far as we know. He could run and climb up trees.
He had good eyesight. He sought to see Jesus who he
was. One was blind. The other could
see. One lived in poverty. The other
was rich. One was a beggar. The other,
he had to beg for nothing. When he had a supper in his house,
he provided all the food. He depended upon nobody. He was
a rich man. One was a beggar, the other was
rich. One dressed in filthy rags, the
other had expensive clothes. The one dwelt in a beautiful
house, the other dwelt on the roadside that was dusty. What
a difference! One could run and climb, the
other could only sit and beg. These men lived on opposite sides
of the town for a reason. They were different people altogether.
If their paths ever crossed, it was because Zacchaeus threw
a little bit of money on poor blind Barnabas' lap. And Jesus saved both of these
men and He saved them the same way by His grace and by His love. And whatever distinguished these
men before and everything distinguished them. They were nothing alike.
But you know something? All of those distinctions were
done away because of that common thing that joined them together. And what was it? Their Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ. I wonder why Zacchaeus said here
in verse 8, the half of my goods I give to the poor. I wonder
why he said that. I mean, what would even make
him think to even say that? You know why I think he said
that? The Scripture said that blind Barnabas followed Christ,
didn't it? And Christ turned right around
and went into Zacchaeus' house. And who was with him? Barnabas. Sitting right there next to him.
And what did Zacchaeus say? Lord, I'm going to take half
my goods and give it to that man and people just like him. Why would he do that? He wasn't
anything like this man. He did that because they had
something in common, and that was Christ the Savior. I don't care what your occupation
is, I don't care how educated or uneducated, I don't care what
your job is, nothing else about you. It doesn't matter if you're
in Christ. If you know the Savior, you love
those who know Him. All distinctions are done away,
aren't they? So many of us in a congregation
this size, even in this size, we're so different. We are as
different as daylight and dark. And if it wasn't for this common
thing that binds us, we probably wouldn't have much to do with
each other. I know you'd be on the coast somewhere. You'd be
watching the waves come in. I know what you'd be doing. Why
is she here? Why are you here? Why do you
love and fellowship with the Lord's people? It's been the
Lord's purpose to take a variety of people, every class, every
tongue, every nation, every family, and save them by His grace and
unite their hearts in love and fellowship around Him. That's
it, isn't it? That's His purpose. The Son of
Man has come to seek and to save a variety of people and make
them one in the Lord Jesus Christ. We know we've passed from death
unto life because we love the brethren. Can you see it? And I just know this happened.
Can you see Nicodemus, the master of Israel, and the Lord saved
that man? Can you see him and Zacchaeus,
the chief of the publicans, sitting together talking about Christ?
Can you see that? Zacchaeus hated him and he hated
Zacchaeus. until Christ saved them. I doubt if there's a single class
of people in this world that the Lord hasn't saved. I just
can't see it. Can He do it? Well, right here
we've got an example of it. He just didn't come to save publicans.
He came to save beggars. He didn't just come to save beggars
and publicans. He came to save Pharisees, like Nicodemus, and
Paul of Tarsus. Secondly, will He fulfill His
purpose to seek and to save that which was lost? My second point
is this. The Lord will not be deterred
from His purpose by opposition. He saves in spite of opposition.
He seems to relish opposition. Doesn't He? Everywhere He went,
everything He did, they opposed Him. But did that stop Him? did not want this beggar to come
to Christ and receive his sacrifice. Matthew says the multitudes rebuked
him that he should hold his peace. If the multitudes had had their
way, blind Barnabas would have shut up and sat there and died
in his misery. Because the multitudes were determined
to keep him from Christ. Aren't you glad that the world
doesn't determine your salvation? Aren't you glad your family,
your spouse, your children, your parents don't determine your
salvation? If it was left up to this world, nobody would be
saved. And let me go just a little bit
further. If it was left up to the church, there'd be very few
saved. The church has messed as much
up as anybody sometime, haven't they? The Lord told Moses, you go down
to Egypt and deliver my people. He said, Lord, send somebody
else. I can't talk. He told Jonah, you go to Nineveh
and preach to those bunch of heathens. He said, I'm going
to Tarsus. He told Peter, go down and preach
to Corinthians, those dead dog Gentiles. And he said, Lord,
nothing common or unclean has ever entered my lips. I'm not
going. When the Lord went to spend some
time with the Samaritans and saved them, James and John said,
ìWeíd rather you call down some fire out of heaven and destroy
them.î John saw a fellow casting out devils in the Lordís name
and what did he say? ìWe stopped him!î You know, and Iíve said this
to you before, I am so thankful as I get older and I see all
the trouble, even in the church. I was talking with a person the
other day and they said, ìWe were in a meeting And this preacher
preached in such a good message. And she said there was another
pastor there that was so jealous that he preached a good message,
he wouldn't even come up and shake hands with him and thank
him for it. The older I get and I see all the mess the world's
in and sometimes the mess the church is in, how I thank God
that a man's salvation is not determined by the world or hell
or even the church. but by the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. And I tell you, no matter what
opposition rises up against Him, I don't care if it's hell, I
don't care if it's this world, I don't even care if it's His
church and their ignorance that does it. He'll put down all opposition
and He'll save every one of His people. Don't we see that here? Man, you pray for people and
you ask the Lord to save them And life seems to get worse.
And you worry about them. And you say, boy, I need to do
this. I need to talk to them more. We do. We need to pray
for them more. We do. But after we've done everything,
what can you affect? Nothing. Nothing. That crowd got mad at Blind Barnabas
because he was seeking the Lord. Then he turned right around and
got mad at the Lord because he was seeking Zacchaeus. Ain't
that amazing? See the opposition? But the Lord
seems to relish in it. He just rose above it all and
saved His people in Jericho. Put your little marker right
there and let me turn to Ezekiel chapter 34 and read you a precious
passage in Ezekiel chapter 34. It's on page 939 in your pew
Bible. Ezekiel chapter 34. Look at this. Opposition to the Savior and
His work and saving His people. He's always had it. But no matter
how stiff or how great that opposition is, it never stops Him from saving
His people. And I tell you, the longer I
live, the more I relish in that. And when I'm preaching to somebody
or witnessing somebody and I see them just getting worse and worse
and worse, I say, look, it don't matter.
That don't matter. Is that going to stop the Lord
from saving His people? Not if you're His. Not if you're His. I love that, don't you? I love
that. If you're His, He's going to
get you. He's going to call you. He's going to break you. In spite
of yourself, He's going to do it. And He's going to bring you
willing in the day of His power. And that's what He's talking
about here in Ezekiel chapter 34. And look in verse 11. Ezekiel
chapter 34 verse 11. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold,
I, even I, will both search my sheep. and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his
flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered,
so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all
places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And
I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from
the countries, and I will bring them to their own land, and feed
them upon the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all inhabited
places of the country. I will feed them in a goodly
pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their foal be. There shall they lie in a good
foal, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains
of Israel. I will feed my flock, I will cause them to lie down,
saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost. I will bring again that which
was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and
will strengthen that which was sick. But I will destroy the
fat and the strong. I will feed them with judgment. I will, I will, I will. But Lord,
what if? I will. I will overrides all. What else doesn't? I will. I will. And you notice the passage
here I read to you when the Lord came and looked up at Zacchaeus
and he said, Zacchaeus, come on down, for today I must, I
must, I must abide at your house. You know there's some must in
the Scriptures, isn't there? There's some must in the Scriptures.
You must be born again. The Son of Man must be lifted
up. There's no other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. We must be saved. And listen to this, I must abide
at your house. You think he's going home with
Zacchaeus today? I must abide at your house. What am I saying?
I'm saying he came to this world with a purpose. He came to Jericho
with a purpose. Wanted to set up their government
a new one or tear down the one they had. Wouldn't rest and eat
and collect money or whatever else it was to do any of that.
His purpose was this, to seek and to save that which was lost. That's what he was doing then.
That's what he's doing now. That's his purpose. And nobody
can stop him. Nobody can stop him. And what
about man's will? He'll break it. He'll break it. What about man's stubborn heart?
He'll break it. What if he won't come? He will
come. He shall come. When the shepherd finds him,
he's coming. He's coming. It's amazing to watch the shepherd
find his sheep in all the ways he brings them in. Blind Barnum
S. He brought him in a completely
different way that he brought Zacchaeus. Immediately, when
blind Barnabas heard that it was Jesus passing by, he started
crying out, didn't he? Jesus, have mercy! Have mercy
on me! And didn't stop until the Lord
finally gave him sight. It didn't happen that way with
Zacchaeus. Be careful about comparing your experience of grace with
somebody else's, because they differ so much. Can you see blind
Barnabas when the Lord had given him sight? And he's meeting Zacchaeus
and he's talking to him about his conversion experience. And
he said, Zacchaeus, did you cry out for mercy? Did he open your eyes, Zacchaeus?
No, I wasn't blind. I wasn't blind. Be careful about
comparing your experiences. They just both end at the same
place, at the feet of the Savior. However He brought you there,
that's where it ends, at His feet. Some people act plum silly
when the Lord begins to deal with them. Here was a rich man,
and what's he doing? He's just running, running through
the crowd, climbing a tree of all things. Can you see a rich
man climbing a tree? Somebody said, man, he's lost
his mind. He's lost his mind. I remember when the Lord began
to deal with me effectually, I went and bought me a Bible.
I'm sure my wife thought I was crazy. Larry went and bought
some Bible. We act clumsily sometimes, don't
we? When the Lord begins to deal with us. And we don't even know
why. He's got a strange way of dealing with some of His people
to bring them to Himself. But that's what He does. He brings
them to Himself. Thirdly, will the Lord accomplish
His purpose that we're told about here in verse 10? He came to
seek and to save that which was lost. He will. But in doing so,
He seems sometime, and maybe most of the time, to save the
worst, just to prove that nobody can hinder Him from doing it.
To save the worst among the people. Either the worst in their own
eyes, as Barnabas was, are the worst in somebody else's eyes
as Zacchaeus the Publican was. I wonder what Zacchaeus or this
blind Barnabas thought when he woke up that morning. I bet you
he started waking up just about every morning and he was thinking
to himself, nobody is in worse condition than I am. In his own
eyes, he was a miserable man. Zacchaeus, Or Barnabas, is there
somebody in Jericho worse off than you? And he said, man, I
don't know who it would be. How could you be worse off than I?
I stink. Look at my clothes. I can't see. I beg for every
bite I get. I beg for it. I'm cursed and
kicked. I've got nothing and have no
hope of getting anything. I'm in misery. He couldn't have dreamed, he
could not have imagined that when he woke up that morning
in his utter misery, that before the day was over, his complete misery would have
been dispelled and he had a brand new life. Could he? He couldn't have dreamed that.
And you know something? That's why the Lord saves people
like this. That's why He makes them miserable.
He shows them their misery. That when He saves them, they
can hardly believe it. Lord, are You going to save a blind
man today? No. Not just a blind man. I'm going to save a blind beggar.
Lord, are you going to save a blind man today? No, not just a blind
man. That's not good enough for me. I'm going to save one barn
blind. Lord, you've gone over to Gadara
to save one of those wretched people in the mountains of Gadara.
No, I'm not going over there just to save somebody of Gadara. I'm going to find the worst fellow
over there. I'm going to find a fellow full of devils and save
him. He saves the worst, don't He? Lord, you're going to save a
publican today? No, not just a publican. I'm going to save
the chief of the publicans. He's not happy to do that, is
He? What did Saul of Tarsus say when the Lord saved him? He saved
the chief. He saved the chief. What do you
think about yourself? What do you think about yourself?
Are you the chief? Yeah. Oh, you've not always felt
that way about yourself. If anybody went to heaven, surely
it had to be you. But boy, when He found you, He
made you so miserable. You couldn't help yourself. You'd
gotten yourself in a situation that you couldn't get yourself
out of. And you were headed for hell in your own estimation.
And when He saves you, boy, boy, He gives you beauty. for your
ashes, doesn't it? He gives you rejoicing for the
spirit of heaviness. He gives you a garments of praise
for your sadness. That's why He saves the broken
and hearted. That's why He gives sight to
the blind and sets the prisoners free. He saves the worse. That's what He was doing then
and what He's doing now. The whole problem we face today,
we can't find any sinners. Everybody's pretty good people. Somebody said to Spurgeon one
time, he said, Mr. Spurgeon, it's too bad that men's
badness, it's so sad that men's badness keep them from Christ.
He said, oh sir, it's not men's badness that keep them from Christ.
It's their goodness. It's their goodness. He saves
the bad. He saves the lost. Because nobody's
lost. Nobody's bad until He comes and
shows. What kind of people does Christ
save? You want to be saved? Then come right here with this
beggar that said, I'm a miserable man. Come right here with this
chief of publican that everybody despised and said, Lord, save
me. I'm just like him. I'm just like
him. Save me. I've often said this, if the
Lord saves me and brings me up to heaven, He'll never hear the
last of it. The angels will never hear the
last of it. I'll be the happiest man between the eternities. And
you know why? Because of what I know about
myself. Never a day goes by that I don't groan over it or weep
some tears over my misery. Boy, Lord, if you save me and
take me up to heaven, ain't nobody else going to have a chance of
getting near you. I'm going to be shouting and kissing you and hugging your
neck. You feel that way? Why do you feel that way? Because
He saved you, a miserable, hell-deserving wretch, the chief of sinners. That's why you feel that way.
And you'll never get over it. You'll never get over it. My
last point is this. Just to comment just a little
bit further on verse 10. The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost. The Lord Jesus addressed Himself
this way so many times. The Son of Man. He called Himself
the Son of Man. How could he call himself that?
Because he was born of a woman. He was made of a woman, made
under the law. The Bible says that Mary brought
forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and
laid him in a manger. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, came down from heaven, and listen, He had a mother. He was the Son of Man. He had
grandparents, and great-grandparents. He could trace His lineage all
the way back to Abraham and all the way back to Adam. He was
indeed the Son of Man. He was the eternal Son of God
when He came down from heaven because He came down from heaven.
But His nativity was here in this world. He was born here. Blind Bartimaeus, the son of
Timaeus, was the son of man. Zacchaeus the Publican was the
son of man. And Jesus identified with these
two men in their humanity. And He wasn't ashamed to own
it. He said, I'm a son of man. Bartimaeus said, I'm a son of
man. Zacchaeus said, I'm a son of
man. And the Lord Jesus said, so am I. So am I. The Son of God joined Himself
to our humanity, and He'll never be separated from it again. He
was the Son of Man when He was born. He was the Son of Man when
He lived and suffered and died and ascended to heaven. He was
the Son of Man. And listen, when He comes again,
He'll be the Son of Man. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory with all His holy angels, He shall sit upon the
throne of His glory." Who is seated on the throne? A man. A man. The Son of Man. The Son of God did not come to
destroy our humanity. He did not come to save us from
our humanity, but He came to save our humanity. And the way He did it was by
taking it to Himself. And glorifying it. And making
it holy. And making it happy. We lost our real humanity, didn't
we? We lost our real humanity. We're not what we were when God
made us. We lost God's image by sin, didn't we? We're more
beasts now. We're more devils now than we
are in God's image. But Jesus Christ came in the
very expressed image of God and took our humanity to Himself. Why? To save it! To save it! Jesus in our Humanity is holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, and made higher
than heaven. He saved our humanity. Our humanity
is exalted and is on the throne. You know something? I think if
there is no other human being saved, if everybody, every human
being, the body is raised from the grave and reunited to the
soul, stands before the judgment seat and is assigned to hell
forever. You know something? You know
something that is still wonderful and glorious? Our humanity has
been saved in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
Son of Man. He did not come to destroy that
humanity or save us from it. He came to save our humanity. He came down to this earth, the
Son of God, took our humanity, identified with us for this reason,
that He may redeem us and bring us to unite with Him in His glory
in heaven. Ain't that wonderful? We're the
sons of men and the Son of God became a son of man that the
sons of men might become the sons of God. He come to save
us. And save us He will. And there's
coming a day when just as He came down and united Himself
to us in our weak humanity to be tempted to suffer hunger,
thirst, and rejection, and finally death to atone for sin. So He's
going to bring our weak humanity up to heaven and change it and
fashion it like unto His glorious humanity. He is the Son of Man. He is the Son of Man. Even in
His glory, He is not ashamed of us. The greatest shame I bear on
my conscience, and I bet you think the same thing, the greatest
shame that we ever bear is being ashamed of Him. That's the greatest shame we
can have on our conscience. Ashamed of Him that wasn't ashamed
of us? Ashamed of Him that left glory
and took our humanity? How could that possibly be? The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost. God bless His Word. Turn to verse
187. Let's sing this old song.