0394. WHY GOD SENT HIS SON.

WHY GOD SENT HIS SON.

Joh_3:17, Joh_3:18.

There is something that has been more expensive than war-that is Sin. What pardoned sin has cost no one can fully reckon up. The wealth of Christ’s sufferings and death, to us-ward and to God, is to a finite mind unsearchable. What unpardoned sin will cost the sinner is a terrible and far-reaching question. No sinner can ever be able to pay the price that the holy and eternal Son of God hath paid. In this portion there is-

I. A Great Fact. "God sent His Son" (Luk_24:16). These are the words of the sent One Himself. He surely knew from whence He came. That mother in Kentucky who, in the time of the war, said to her only son, "Go, my son, I give you freely," was exhibiting a faint picture of the self-sacrificing love of God to a perishing world. She could not see all that was before her son, and doubtless hoped he might return unscathed; but God saw the awful depths of sorrow and suffering into which He willingly gave His Son. Herein is love.

II. A Great Purpose. "Not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (Luk_24:17). The world deserved condemnation, and Christ was able to condemn it, but with respect to its condemnation "He opened not His mouth." He came to save. He Himself was God’s great and unspeakable donation to this poor and needy world (Joh_3:16). All that man can contribute to the salvation of the world, apart from the gift of God, is but a few paltry coppers that can never redeem a soul from sin and death. The work of the Socialist and the Philanthropist, like a copper coin, is good so far as it goes; but without Christ it does not go far enough by a long way. Christ came to save the world. Nothing else will be a substitute for Him.

III. A Great Responsibility. "He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already" (Luk_24:18). It is one thing to believe in religion; it is another thing to believe in Him. The promises of God are all made to us in Him. Believing will avail nothing unless it is in the personal Christ, who gave His life a ransom for all. Not to believe on Him is to be "condemned already," because He is the "Only begotten Son of God," the only Name under Heaven given among men whereby we can be saved. "As many as are in the works of the law are under the curse" (Gal_3:10); but as many as receive Him, to them gives He power to become the children of God. There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" (Joh_9:35).

Autor: James Smith