“And she shall bring forth a Son, and though shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Christ died to make men H-O-L-Y, holy, Salvation is in Christ; it’s in Him, not in what he did apart from Who He is. I believe the most damning fundamental preaching that is taking place in the southland today is the preaching that leads people to think they have an interest in the death of Christ, with being vitally joined together to Him in their daily walk. We’ve been preaching salvation through a representative that we never came into contact with. I want to lift a voice from time to time from the perfect life and glorious death and resurrection and present intercession of our Lord except as you are vitally and really and experientially and actually joined to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The limit of His salvation is found in Matthew 1:21;
“For He shall save His people from their sins.”
The only way on earth that the Lord Jesus Christ could become the Substitute and die instead of anybody else was to be vitally and spiritually and legally under the law of God, joined to that body that is His, and those people are His by the Divine decree of Almighty God. It is silly to talk about Christ dying in man’s stead, unless that person had been joined to the Lord positionally before there was even a star.
In the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, we have a running controversy between the Lord Jesus Christ and the religious leaders of the Jewish people. After the marvelous miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, our Lord begins to teach the people who followed Him in great numbers at this time, and here his teaching was very offensive and became a stumbling stone to the leaders of the people of His day. This morning I want to take out of this sixth chapter of John a few things that my Lord taught that were offensive to people then — and also very offensive to people today.
As a text, let’s read John 6:59-61:
“These things said He in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of His disciples, when they heard this, said, This is a hard saying, who can hear it? When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, Does this offend you?”
Does this offend you? Everything my Lord Jesus did when He was here in this world offended somebody — and you know He is still offensive today. He is the rock of offense (Romans 9:33). For instance, His birth in a stable in Bethlehem was offensive. My, my, the Lord of Glory has no business being born in a cow stall! And that is offensive even today! Also, His common heritage offended men. He didn’t come from the high and mighty, and one person upon learning that Jesus was from the little province of Nazareth is quoted as saying, “Can any good thing come out of Galilee?” His death on the cross of Calvary was offensive then and it is offensive now (Galatians 5:11). His second coming is offensive to so many religious people. It was offensive then — and it is offensive today.
“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”—Romans 3:24
Now, what is the meaning of justification? Divines will puzzle you, if you ask them. I must try the best I can to make justification plain and simple, even to the comprehension of a child. There is not such a thing as justification to be had on earth for mortal men, except in one way. Justification, you know, is a forensic term: it is employed always in a legal sense. A prisoner is brought to the bar of justice to be tried. There is only one way whereby that prisoner can be justified, that is, he must be found not guilty. And if he is found not guilty, then he is justified, that is, he is proved to be a just man. If you find that man guilty, you cannot justify him. The Queen may pardon him, but she cannot justify him. The deed is not a justifiable one, if he were guilty concerning it, and he cannot be justified on account of it. He may be pardoned, but not royalty itself can ever wash that man’s character. He is as much a real criminal when he is pardoned as before. There is no means among men of justifying a man of an accusation which is laid against him, except by his being proved not guilty. Now, the wonder of wonders is, that we are proved guilty, and yet we are justified: the verdict has been brought in against us—guilty—and yet notwithstanding, we are justified. Can any earthly tribunal do that? No, it remained for the ransom of Christ to effect that which is an impossibility to any tribunal upon earth. We are all guilty. Read the 23rd verse, immediately preceding the text: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” There the verdict of guilty is brought in, and yet we are immediately afterwards said to be justified freely by his grace.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Cor 1:3-5)
Over the last few days, I have faced the buffeting of flesh and the evil one in ways I never even knew were possible for a Christian. Doubt, grief, and anxieties have attacked me from all sides in ways that have sunk me to the lowest points of my Christian life. But thanks be to God, that He has restored my strength and my hope! For though the fight continues, it is not one where I am helpless, but it is one in which He hath armed with His own armor! And the dark and angry clouds which loomed above my head have broken forth by the splendor of my Savior’s light!
So, for the edification of you, my brethren, many of whom have your own struggles and fights, I have the following pieces of counsel, from my own struggle the last few days. It is my prayer that God would use my weak words to give you courage to fight and press on to the heavenly city. And remember now, and always, your sufficiency all comes from Christ. Look to Him and be strengthened weary saint! He has not made you to be defeated and desolate, but has promised grace and power to give you victory! Fear not, for the Lord is nigh!
In the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, we have a running controversy between the Lord Jesus Christ and the religious leaders of the Jewish people. After the marvelous miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, our Lord begins to teach the people who followed Him in great numbers at this time, and here his teaching was very offensive and became a stumbling stone to the leaders of the people of His day. This morning I want to take out of this sixth chapter of John a few things that my Lord taught that were offensive to people then — and also very offensive to people today.
