283. MAT 27:42. THE SAVIOUR OF OTHERS NOT ABLE TO SAVE HIMSELF

Mat_27:42. The Saviour of Others Not Able to Save Himself

"He saved others, himself he cannot save."’97Mat_27:42.

This was the language of the priests, and scribes, and elders, respecting Jesus, when he was expiring upon the cross. Judea had been filled with the signs of his Messiahship’97the evidences of his divinity, yet they had unbelievingly rejected the whole; and now when he was nailed to the cross, they profess if he came down they would believe in him, ver. 40. But triumphing in their hardness and infatuation, they exclaim, "He saved others, himself he cannot save." What they uttered in wicked irony, was full of important truth.

They unwittingly affirmed what is the very essence of the Gospel, That Jesus who saved others, could not save himself.

Let us then illustrate, and improve the declarations of the text.

Let us,

I. Illustrate the Declarations of the Text

They declared,

1. That he had saved others.

Ten thousand evidences could have been brought to establish this. Almost every town and village could bear ample proof to this. Friends and foes, the religious and profane could testify to this.

(1) He had saved from disease and wretchedness. Bartimeus. The lepers. Syrophenician woman. Woman with bloody issue. Dumb child. Palsies, fevers, deafness. From demons, &c.

(2) He had saved from death. The nobleman’s daughter from the bed of death. The widow’s son on the way to burial. And Lazarus from the gloomy sepulchre.

(3) He had saved from sin and exposedness to eternal misery. Woman that was a sinner, &c. Man born blind. Zaccheus. Dying thief, &c., &c., &c.

They declared,

2. That he could not save himself.

(1) In one sense this was clearly false. For he possessed all power both in heaven and on earth. He had life in himself’97life which none could take away. Hence it is essential to the doctrine of the atonement, to keep in view, "That Christ gave himself." "That he laid down his life," &c. He gave up the ghost, &c. He could easily have frustrated all the plans of his enemies. Yea, legions of angels would have rushed to his aid. A word from his almighty mouth would have paralyzed every hand that was lifted up against him Yet,

(2) There was a sense in which this declaration was true. He had sufficiency of power; but as the pledged surety and mediator of mankind, "It behooved him to suffer," &c. There was a moral necessity for Christ dying.

Had he saved himself, the gracious purposes of heaven would have been frustrated. The predictions of prophets falsified. All the types and sacrifices would have been stamped with unmeaning insignificancy. The end of his coming rendered void and unavailing. And the world must have been unredeemed forever.

Had he saved himself he could not have saved others. He did not save himself, that others might be saved by his death.

Let us then,

II. Improve these Declarations. Learn,

1. The true cause of Christ’s sufferings.

He suffered, because his infinite love and mercy were set upon our salvation. Love brought him from heaven’97was the spring of all his conduct towards our world’97and which constrained him to offer himself a sacrifice for sin. The mystery of the cross, is a mystery of love which passeth all understanding.

2. Learn the expensiveness of our salvation.

He could not exalt us without being debased. He could not procure our justification without being condemned himself. He could not feed us, without giving his body to be the bread of life. He could not deliver from the curse, without being made a curse for us. He took our sins, and bore them in his own body on the tree. The tempest which sin had created, showered its terrific contents on the soul of the blessed Jesus.

3. The claims of Jesus.

Love so great, so utterly without a parallel, demands our admiration, our supreme love, our firmest confidence, our highest praises, yea, the entire sacrifice of ourselves to Christ and his cause. "Ye are not your own," &c. "I am crucified with Christ," &c.

"Were the whole realm of nature mine," &c.

4. The heinousness of unbelief.

To reject the Son of God. To despise his mission. To undervalue his work. And to trample under foot his precious blood.

Autor: JABEZ BURNS