In
humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
James 1:21-22
They searched the Scriptures daily, to see whether these
things were so. Acts 17:11
Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you ─
They Said: He Saved Others,
But He Cannot Save Himself
In Mathews account of our Lord’s crucifixion we find these astounding words in Mt. 27:33-44; --- “And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, {34} they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink. {35} And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. {36} And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. {37} And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, "THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS." {38} At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. {39} And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads {40}and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross." {41} In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, {42} "He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. {43} "HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, `I am the Son of God.' " {44} The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.”
Sometimes while
contemplating what kind or
type of lesson I would find that might strengthen the faith of my
readers, I
begin to visualize that it is all possible that this may well be the
very last
opportunity to do so in this life. --- Not only that my life might be
snuffed
out as a simple puff of smoke, but it is entirely possible that some of
you may
not live to see the sun come up again. (Js. 4:14) --- Indeed, each day
is truly
a blessing from God.
So I began to imagine that
if God in His
mercy would grant this unworthy servant just one more opportunity to
proclaim
the wonders of His word in this life, I could not think of a more
important and
worthy topic than that which is outlined in the Scripture above. And if
you are
among those who have not yet obeyed the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
and you
find yourself standing before the Righteous Judge on that final day,
you will
not be able to point your finger at me and claim I didn’t make it plain
enough.
So that’s the reason I have
elected to put
this lesson together, basing it on the statement uttered by the enemies
of
Jesus Christ as He was hanging suspended on the cross. Mt. 27:41-12;
--- “In
the same way the chief priests also, along with the
scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, --- "He saved
others;
He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come
down
from the cross, and we will believe in Him.”
Lesson
Of course it must be understood that these harsh and cruel words were said in mockery. They said; --- “If you will come down from the cross, then we’ll believe you are God’s Son.” --- But friends I have serious doubt that had Jesus actually come down from the cross that they would have believed in Him one iota more than before.
Had Jesus come down from the cross, undoubtedly they would have labeled Him a fraud. --- They would have said; “If He had truly been the Messiah, He would have died.”--- So then really and truly, in looking at the situation (and in their mocking they said, “If you come down from the cross, we will believe.”), I just cannot believe for one second that they meant a word of what they said about believing in Jesus Christ.
Their hearts were
hardened, they had
totally rejected Him and it would not have made one ounce of difference
what
Jesus did; they would not accept Him as Lord, Priest and King. --- But
let me
suggest to you one thing about their statement that strengthens my
faith, even
though it was made from the hearts and mouths of His enemies in
ridicule of
Jesus; --- Now take a look into your Bibles and underscore this faith
lifting
statement in Mt. 27: 42; ---
“He
saved others”,
and this is an
absolute true statement.
My Bible tells me in Mt. 12:22; --- “Then there was brought to Him a demon-possessed man who was blind and dumb, and He healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw.” --- Jesus saved this man from blindness and they could not deny it and they did not deny it. He healed the blind. --- But not only did Jesus save this man from his blindness, but Jesus saved him from his being speechless.
Try to imagine if you can
the agony of
going through life without ever being to express audibly your love for
your
children, husband, wife or parents. Or not to be able to utter one
single word
to others about your love for God. We take so very much for granted,
yet we are
blessed so richly. --- The Bible says that Jesus saved this man from
the fact
that he could not utter a sound.
The Bible goes on to say in the same verse that Jesus cast out evil spirits or demons. --- Some of you might recall the movie that came out some years ago called “The Exorcist”. But beloved, today since the age of miracles have long past gone, we don’t need to be so concerned about demon-possession anymore. When Christ and His apostles were here on this earth the Bible teaches that there was such a thing as demon-possession. But let me make this clear; neither Jesus nor His apostles ever used any form of hocus-pocus ceremony, nor did it ever take a series of mysterious visits. They spoke and the demons obeyed, plain and simple.
In Jn. 11:35 (the shortest
verse in the Bible),
yet it says so much; --- “Jesus
wept.”
Jesus was
weeping because He was standing at the grave of someone He loved
intensely,
Lazarus. --- Lazarus died and his sisters Martha and Mary said in vs.
21 &
32; --- “Lord,
if you had been here, my brother
would not have died.”
--- Then Jesus went to the grave site along with all
those who were in sorrow and the Lord wept over His friend. --- Every
single
person there knew without a shadow of doubt that Lazarus was dead. But
regardless, Jesus, being deeply moved in spirit and being troubled
commanded in
vs. 39; --- “Remove
the stone.”
Then Martha,
said; --- “Lord,
by this
time there will be a stench; for he has been dead for four days.” Then, my Bible tells me that after praying to
His Father in heaven, in vs. 43; --- “Jesus
cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth.”
--- And Jesus
saved Lazarus from the bonds of death. And that’s not all; Jesus
saved
others.
Jesus saved others from sin: --- Do you remember the “Sinful Woman” of Lk. 7:36f? --- Remember how this woman came to Jesus and fell at His feet and washed the Lord’s feet with the tears of repentance, kissing His feet and dried His feet with the hair of her head, and anointing His feet with her expensive perfume? And how that Jesus turned to her in vs. 48; --- “Your sins have been forgiven.”
Jesus could very well have
saved Himself
without any trouble whatsoever, and we might suggest at least two
reasons. --- The
Bible states clearly in Jn. 1:1 where John says; --- “In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the word was God.”
On down in vs. 14 John continues; --- “And
the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, --- the only begotten from the Father,
--“ --- Sadly,
there are some who believe and teach that Jesus was solely a man. But
they need
to bear in mind that before the Word (Jesus) became flesh (man) that He
was
God. Not the Father, but Deity. Jesus never stripped Himself of Deity.
He most
assuredly possessed the power to come
down from the cross had He so chosen.
Remember over in Jn. 2:18-19 where Jesus was asked for a sign of His authority to chase out the money changers from the temple? He said in Vs. 16; --- “Stop making My Father’s house a house of merchandise.” Then on down in Vs. 19 He declared; --- “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” --- Who’s got the power to raise it, Jesus? --- My Lord said that He did! --- So, when they said He could not save Himself, they lied; He most certainly could have.
Can you just imagine the
impact of what
Jesus is saying here? --- He’s saying, “If I so desired, I could have
at My
command an army of such proportion that could demolish and utterly wipe
out the
whole Roman Empire and every Jew along with it.” And Jesus said, “Don’t
you
think My Father would do it?” You’d better believe He would. --- They
said He
could not save Himself, but they lied; --- He could have saved Himself
because
He was and is Deity, the very Son of God.
Now this raises a very important question: --- Why did the Son of God refuse to save Himself? Have you ever speculated as to why Jesus could not come down from the cross?
2.
Secondly,
I call your attention to Dan. 2:44, where the Book of God says; --- “And
in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set
up a kingdom which will
never
be
destroyed, -- .”
So if Christ had not built His kingdom (or church),
Daniel would have been a liar. --- And if Jesus had chosen to come down
from
the cross, He would have made every single prophet who prophesied about
Him all
liars.
3. Thirdly, it would have made the Holy Spirit a liar. For in 2 Pet. 2:21, the apostle Peter wrote; --- “For no prophesy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” --- Who told Daniel what to say and write? The Holy Spirit did. --- Now may I submit to you, that if Daniel had lied, Isaiah and Ezekiel etc. had all lied, then the Holy Spirit lied and consequently, God lied. Who would in his right mind dare to make such a charge? --- Jesus would not and could not come down from the cross; why? --- Because He would not and could not make the prophets and the Holy Spirit liars. The Holy Spirit is the revealer of all truth.
Under the law of Moses, they
had to offer
the blood of animals for sin sacrifices, the blood of a lamb for
instance.
Question: The blood of a lamb was a shadow of what? --- The blood of
the Lamb
of God, Jesus Christ. We must understand the truth that if the Lamb of
God had
come down from the cross, the blood of animals would mean nothing what
so ever.
NOTHING!
And then again, we recall how God told Moses to build the tabernacle. Of course the tabernacle was a place where God’s people gathered for worship, wasn’t it? We remember that it was built according to God’s pattern; and when they built the tabernacle, it was a shadow of what? --- It was a shadow of the New Testament church. So accordingly, had not Christ suffered up there on that cross, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ would never have been built. Why did He choose to stay?
Furthermore, what I am
trying to get
across to you is not denominationalism, not Buddhism, not Mohamedism,
not
Catholicism or any other “ism”; --- It’s Jesus dying and paying with
His blood
for the church of our Lord Jesus; and that’s why He could not come down
from
the cross, and that’s why He did not come down.
5. One other very important reason the very Son of God stayed up there on that cruel cross; --- He stayed up there to save you and to save Earl Wilburn from sin and hell. Therefore, some people need to wake up and listen to that statement and dear soul, don’t you ever forget Jesus died the most excruciatingly unbearable death to save you and me from the hell we so richly deserve. --- Might I call your attention to a few Scriptures in this relation:
The great apostle John wrote
in Rev. 5:9;
--- “And
they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy
are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain,
and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and
tongue and
people and nation.”
--- How is a man redeemed, whether he be Jew or
Gentile, black, white, bond or free? By the precious sinless blood of
Jesus
Christ; that’s how. --- Also in Rev. 1:4-5 John wrote; --- “John
to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you
and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the
seven
Spirits who are before His throne, --- and from Jesus
Christ, the faithful witness,
the firstborn
of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To
Him who
loves us and released us from our sins by His blood,”
--- By what
avenue were we released from our sins? By that avenue which was paved
by the
blood of the Lamb of God.
We look back in the Ephesian letter where Paul wrote in Eph. 1:7-8; --- “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, --- which He lavished upon us.” --- Without Jesus staying on that cross and pouring out His precious blood; there would be absolutely no, I repeat, NO forgiveness of sin. Our Lord stayed up there on that Roman cross because He loved me and you enough to pay the price of for our sins so we might escape the guilt of and punishment for sin, and that’s the most amazing part about it.
Jesus died for the very
people who were
crucifying Him. He asked the Father; --- “Father forgive them; for they do not know
what they are doing.”
(Lk. 23:34) --- Jesus, why are you dying? --- “I’m
dying to save those who are driving
these spikes into my hands and feet, and thrusting the spear into my
side. And
I’m willing to save them and to save you!” --- And that’s why Jesus
could not
and would not come down from the cross. So when they said He could not
come
down from the cross they lied. Why? --- Because He refused to come
down,
because He loves your soul and was willing to suffer excruciating agony
for you
and for me.
I affirm one thing with all certainty; anyone who dies and goes to hell deserves to go to hell for the reason that God’s only begotten Son stayed on that cross. --- Oh, how I wish I could get across to you how they treated my Lord. How they trumped up false charges against Him. How they slapped Him and hit Him in the face with their wicked fists. How they spat on Him and cursed Him. How (according to medical historians in describing a typical Roman scourging) they cut His flesh to the bone. How they wove a crown of thorns and buried it into His scalp; and on and on we could go.
And if there is anything
under the sun
that needs to be instilled into the hearts of every man, woman, boy or
girl; is
the fact that Jesus chose willingly and freely to stay on that cross
drinking
every last drop of that cup of suffering in order to save you and me
from the
eternal hell we deserve.
If you are not a Christian and I might be able to convince you of the reality of God’s fervent love and compassion for you, perhaps you might just be able to open your heart and mind to realize your need to obey His blessed gospel and be saved. --- We sometimes sing a hymn that goes something like so:
I suffered much for thee, More than tongue can
tell, Of bitterest agony, To rescue thee from hell; --- I’ve borne,
I’ve borne
it all for thee, What hast thou borne for Me?”
Hear it once more; --- They
said, “He
saved others.” That’s absolutely right. --- They said, “He could not
save
Himself.” That’s an absolute lie. --- He did not save Himself, why? ---
So that
He could save you and me.
I wish I could paint the
picture, and get
across to you how much it hurts my heart and brings tears to my eyes
when I see
intelligent human beings turn their backs on God and discard the blood
sacrifice of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. --- I pity you my friend, if
you be in
that number; but don’t you ever forget how much Christ loves you. Jesus
said;
--- “Why
do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord’,
and
do not do what I say?”
(Lk. 6:46) --- Our
Lord said further in Mt. 7:21-23; --- “Not
everyone
who says to Me,
`Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the
will of
My Father who is in heaven will enter. --- "Many will say to Me
on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and
in Your
name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'
--- "And then I will
declare to them,
`I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE
LAWLESSNESS.”
--- And just
what else did you say, Jesus? ---
Our Lord said in Mk. 16:15-16;
--- “Go
ye into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has
believed
and
has been baptized shall be saved;
but he who
has disbelieved shall be condemned.”
--- The apostle
Peter (or one of the spokesmen for Christ) said in Acts 2:38; --- “Repent,
and be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall
receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
In closing,
ask yourself; --- Is there any changes in your life that you would like
to
make? Or as you prayerfully examine your heart and your relationship
with God,
are you absolutely content with just the way things are? --- They said
He saved
others and in this they told the truth. And dear soul, Jesus can and
will save
you if only you will come to Him in humble obedience to His gospel. Why
not
now?
Humbly submitted,
