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Jesus, Our Savior
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In the early church Christians were persecuted continually. In fact, if it became known that you were a Christ-follower it could lead to a gruesome death. Therefore, along the way some secret signs were created for the purpose of communicating from one Christian to the other that they were really Christ-followers.
One of those signs is one that even we are familiar with and it is the sign or the symbol of the fish. The word “ichthus” is the classical and Greek word for the word fish. While you would see it as a simple fish, in the first century world it had incredible meaning. It was tied to the very word ichthus, which is the word for fish. For example, I, which is the Greek alphabet of iota would be known as iesous. It would stand for Jesus. Ch, c-h, would indicate christos, which is our word Christ. Theta, t-h, is the word we could theos, which means God. And then u, upsilon, would mean huios, which would be for Son. And then s is the word soter, which means Savior. Therefore, this symbol, the symbol of the fish, meant the following: Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Savior.
Now the significance of that is that if even some would have discovered that it would have cost them their lives. However, they would not compromise whatsoever at all that Jesus Christ was God’s Son, and He was our Savior. Jesus, Our Savior is what we are talking about today.
In the book of 1 Timothy, over to the right, the far right side of the New Testament, almost to the end of the Bible, we read in chapter 2 some very important words about what Paul was telling us about Jesus Christ. He refers to Him being our Savior. Now in a moment we’re going to read from that text, but before we read from it, listen to the context of the text.
Paul was writing to his protégé by the name of Timothy. “A word is well for the church, and obviously in the sovereign will and intention of God is a word for the church today. God was saying these words and telling him, “Paul you tell Timothy to watch out for those that are false teachings. Beware of the false teachings because they are diminishing who Jesus is, and you do not need to diminish Him.
Paul reminds them in the first chapter that it was Christ alone who saves the worst of sinners including him, who was the cheifest of all sinners. And then we see a turn, a transition occur when he talks about the importance of praying in the first part of chapter 2 for those who are in authority over you.
Now it is very interesting when you think about how they were praying for those in authority over them because the ones in authority over them many times would be the ones who would bring ruin and death to their life because of their faith. Paul encouraged them you pray for all those in authority over you.
And then he gives to us what we would call theologically a Christological snapshot. In other words, a look at christos, a look at Christ and who Christ really is. And in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 3 through verse 6 we read the following words. “This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior who desires all people to be saved; and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is One God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Verse 6, “Who gave Himself as a ransom for all which is the testimony given at the proper time.”
What can we learn about Jesus Our Savior from this text this morning? First of all we need to understand:
- 1. God’s nature. This text teaches us a look at God’s nature. He refers to in
verse 3 God being our Savior. And then he talks about in verse 4 how he desires for all to be saved. Verse 5 he identifies that God being as Jesus Christ Himself. What does all that mean? It means that it is the intention of God to always save. The very nature of who God is is that He is saving from the nature of, or from the beginning of Genesis, all the way to the Revelation; God is committed to bringing salvation to everyone who is willing to believe.
We know that according to the Old Testament the word “yasha” is used because it is the word that means to save. It is used some 200 times in the Old Testament Hebrew language, and it reminds us that God is our Savior. It reminds as well that in those moments of the text when yasha was used God was seen as the Deliverer. He was seen as the Rescuer. He was seen as the Savior.
Also you will understand that in the New Testament the word “soter” is used. That is the Greek word for deliverer or Savior. That is a very important word. It is used in verse number 4 of chapter 2 of the book of 1 Timothy. It reminds us that Jesus is our Deliverer, Jesus is our Savior, Jesus is our Rescuer.
Some of you have sons today and periodically along the way if there is similarity someone might say including your spouse, a friend, or even a family member, “Oh, he’s just like his dad.” Or if they’re not like their dad, they would say, “He is nothing like his dad. His dad is this way, and he is this way.” That is not the scenario of Jesus and God. Jesus is just like His Father because Jesus and the Father are one. The Scripture here is very clear that there is one God. The very nature of who God is indicates to us that there is one God. One God. And here in the text we learn about this God being our Savior.
But not only do we see that as the very nature of God, it is also:
- 2. God’s desire. Notice what he says about God’s desire. God’s desire is
that all people would come and be saved. That’s God’s desire. Remember the story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is that God saves those who want to be saved. We must understand that it is not only simply the passion of God, and the desire of God to save; I believe it is also the eternal purpose of God to save all people. In fact, if you look at it there in 1 Timothy chapter number 2, verse 4, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. The knowledge of the truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s the knowledge of the truth. That God loves us so much that Christ came to this earth to die for the sins of the world, and if we will embrace what Jesus did for us on the cross, that all of a sudden forgives us of our sin, and we receive eternal life in Christ the Son.
The gospel is not bad news, the gospel is good news. And the interesting thing about it the more lost, and the more dark, and the more separated people sense they are from God, the better news it becomes because it is the news that has the power to change your life.
There is a teaching that’s been around for a long time that is called Calvinism. Calvinism would say that the atonement is limited, that Jesus died only for the elect of God. I am not a Calvinist. I do not believe that Jesus died for only the elect. But I believe that Jesus atoned for the sins of the entire world. For God so loved the world. Whoever calls on the name on the Lord can be saved. I am willing that all would repent and turn to God, and that none would perish. Peter said that God spoke to him in the inspiration of the Scripture and then this text here in 1 Timothy chapter 2, God who desires for all to be saved.
I want to tell you today God is passionate about you. And God wants you to know Him. He wants you to be saved. It doesn’t matter how distant you may sense, or how bad you might perceive yourself to be. I want you to know some wonderful news today; God desires to save you.
This Scripture here today talks to us about God’s nature. It talks to us about God’s desire, and then it talks to us about:
3. God’s Son. He talks about how there is one God. There is no variation between Jesus and between the Father. What does that mean? The Bible talks about there only being one God. In the New Testament and following the days of the New Testament, the early church would have counsels and debates over who Jesus was. And those that hung around Jesus gave eyewitness accounts as well as the writings that took place for those, from those who had seen and who had been with Jesus. And the early church counsels decided, and the history of the church would record that Jesus Christ is God!
Meaning what? Jesus is fully God and Jesus is fully Man. You do not know where Jesus ends and where God begins. You never know that because they are one person, one God. Listen my friend, we do not worship three gods, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; we worship one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Scripture says He is one God. There is one God. I just want to once say to you this morning there is only one God in this world. One God in this world! And what makes Him one God, He is fully Man, and He is fully God.
And the Scripture says this one God has become the one Mediator between God and man. The word mediator is a word that means go between. So here you have Holy God and sinful humanity, and the go between Holy God and sinful humanity is this one God, and one Mediator, and then he tells us who it is. The man, Christ Jesus. In the original language it would say Christ Jesus Himself, the man.
Meaning what? This one who was fully God and fully man, He is the One who serves as the go between a Holy God and a sinful human being. What is the purpose of the Mediator? To take two opposing parties and provide mediation. What does that mean? He will lead them to a peaceful settlement. Lead them to a peaceful experience. I’m telling you today there’s only One who can lead you to a peaceful experience in your life, and it is Christ Jesus, the man. God who is fully man and fully God, He is the only One who is the Mediator of all men.
And notice what it says, Christ Jesus Himself, who verse 6 says, gave Himself as a ransom for many. That word ransom we don’t use a lot, but it is a powerful, significant, deep theological term talking about what Jesus did for us. It says that this God who is one God, who is Christ Jesus the man, fully God, fully man, all of a sudden provided peaceful mediation between a Holy God and a sinful human race by giving Himself as a ransom for all.
Do you know what the purpose of a ransom is? In the first century world, owners had slaves, and if someone wanted to set the slave free, a price tag would be placed on the slave. Do you know what someone would have to come and do in order for freedom to come to the slave? Someone would have to come and pay the price tag for the slave. And then the slave would be free.
I want to tell us today there is only One who has ever paid the price tag for you being a slave to sin, and that was Jesus Christ Himself, the peace-maker between God and men. And I want you to understand today He paid the high price for your sinfulness. Here was Satan, the deceiver, the owner of your soul, and Jesus went to the fartherest extent a man could ever go, a God man could ever go, and He left the portals of heaven, and He came to this earth, and He emptied Himself Philippians says, and He became obedient to death, even the death on the cross. And what did that death do? It paid the ransom for my sin.
Now this morning we need to remember that the Bible many times interprets the Bible. Over in the book of 1 Peter in the second chapter, there is a verse that I want to refer to in a moment and when I read this verse, and you put it together with the Timothy passage, along with the rest of the New Testament, all of a sudden the lights come on about what a ransom payment really is.
The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 2 these words today. Verse number 24, referring to Jesus, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.”
Question: Why could Jesus Christ pay the ransom for our sins? Here’s why: He is the:
(1) Only one who could become the substitute for our sins. No one else could become the substitute for our sins. We need to understand that all of us have to make amends for our sins. We have to all pay some kind of price for the sins that we have committed. Listen, if we pay, and we make the amends for our sin, here’s what will happen: we will die, we will be buried, and we will spend an eternity in hell. That is real and literal as the New Testament says it is. And forever and ever we will make amends for our sin, or attempt to. But attempt to will be in vein.
Many of us here today believe if we are religious enough we can make amends for our sin. Or if we’re good enough we can make amends for our sin. But no one can make amends for your sin other than what Jesus did for you. And what Jesus did, He sized up the situation and He knew that every person whether they lived in Africa, China or America, from the beginning of time to the end of time, no one could make amends for their sin that would satisfy the offense that God was caused when we sin! Therefore, what Jesus did is that Jesus became the substitute for my sins! He Himself bore my sins on His body, on the cross! That’s what Peter says. He made amends for our sin.
So He is the only one who could substitute for our sins. Why is He the only one who can become the ransom? Also because He is the:
(2) Only one who could become the object of God’s wrath. Do you realize this morning Jesus became the object, the receiver of God’s wrath? None of us can become the object of God’s wrath and survive. The Revelation warns us that who can withstand the wrath of God. I realize that in our world we don’t want to talk about the wrath of God because that seems like how in the world could all that mean that God loves us, and God’s just, and all of those other questions that we could ask ourselves. But you can just be assured today that there is coming a day when the wrath of God will be at least upon this earth, and upon, at least, upon every person who does not trust Christ as Lord and Savior. And when that wrath is unleashed upon people, and upon this world, nothing will be able to withstand the wrath.
But that’s exactly why Jesus Christ became the substitute for your sin because then He became the object of God’s wrath. That’s what occurred on the cross. On the cross He became the object of God’s displeasure before sin because here was Him who knew no sin who became sin on my behalf so that I, who would be a sinful person, be able to become the righteous of God in Him. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse number 21.
And what happens in the Scripture the Bible tells us is that He becomes the object of God’s wrath at noon on Friday. The hail Him that happened on the Sunday as He rode into Jerusalem turned from hail Him to nail Him. And they nailed Him on a cross, and the moment they did that, He became the object of God’s wrath. Darkness permeated the entire earth; separation began to occur between God and His One and only Son. Why? Because of sin, because Jesus was bearing the sins of the world! Death occurred around 3 o’clock that same day. He was buried, but on the third day God raised Him up from the dead.
Listen carefully, Jesus our Savior is the only One who could become the object of God’s wrath and withstand it. So why can He be the ransom for our sins? He’s the only who could become the substitute for our sins, the only one could become the object of God’s wrath, and He’s the:
(3) Only one who gave Himself as a ransom for all. He saw the price of sin. He understands the moment from the garden, and from the very nature of man leaving the womb of the mother, that in sin He was conceived. And we began to be a part of a sinful human nature, and what happens is that when He saw that we needed to have somebody to make amends for our sin, and someone to become the object of God’s wrath, or else we would and we couldn’t withstand it, He became the ransom for all of us! He became the payment for our sins! And He stood in the midst of the enemy through the death and the resurrection, and He said, “Paid in full!” Over. Done. Forgiven. And that is what the cross is all about.
He’s the only One who could pay the ransom for us all. I cannot pay for you. You could not pay for me. You could not pay for your son. You could not pay for your dad. None of you could pay for your mom or your sister. None of you have the capacity to pay for anyone. Only One could become the substitute. Only One could become the object of the wrath of God and withstand it. And the only One was worthy to become the ransom for us all.
I close with this story today. It is estimated that between 600,000 and 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders annually. Of that 600,000 to 800,000 men, women and children, 70% of them are women. And of the remaining number at least one-half, 50%, are children. And they are sold, all of them, into the commercial trade industry of sex slavery, and sex trading.
It is reported that at the age of nine years of age, young girls are sold into the Red Light District of India. Afghani women are sold for $4 a pound into the country of Pakistan. Some 50,000, listen, Asian, Latin American, and Eastern European women and children are trafficked and sold, and sexually exploited into the United States on an annual basis.
You say I don’t know if I believe that. Why should you not believe that? Are you aware, I didn’t know until research, that 70% of the sex shows that are produced to be viewed over the internet are produced and filmed right here in the United States? What if I had enough money and I was a trillionaire, and I was able to go to every one of those sex owners of those 600,000 to 800,000 people annually, and I would purchase, I would buy each one of those men, women and children to set them free for $1,000,000? Do you think those sex slave owners would concur, and would sell it? I guarantee you they would sell it because the whole sex industry is about one thing: MONEY!
But here’s the reality, if I could have the capacity to do that and I did it, the reality is that would still not meet their greatest need, which is the salvation of their souls. And there’s only One who has paid the ransom for all. From the worst of us to the best of us, and it’s Jesus, our Savior. He did what religion could not do. He did what no one could do for another. He did what only the God Man has the capacity to do. He sized up the situation, and He saw you, and He saw me, and He saw the entire world lost, having to pay for our sins, which would mean eternal death, and eternal hell, and He Himself became the payment for our sins.
And now I’ve got to do one thing to have my sins forgiven. I have to receive the payment He made for me. Jesus, our only Savior.
In the early church Christians were persecuted continually. In fact, if it became known that you were a Christ-follower it could lead to a gruesome death. Therefore, along the way some secret signs were created for the purpose of communicating from one Christian to the other that they were really Christ-followers.
One of those signs is one that even we are familiar with and it is the sign or the symbol of the fish. The word “ichthus” is the classical and Greek word for the word fish. While you would see it as a simple fish, in the first century world it had incredible meaning. It was tied to the very word ichthus, which is the word for fish. For example, I, which is the Greek alphabet of iota would be known as iesous. It would stand for Jesus. Ch, c-h, would indicate christos, which is our word Christ. Theta, t-h, is the word we could theos, which means God. And then u, upsilon, would mean huios, which would be for Son. And then s is the word soter, which means Savior. Therefore, this symbol, the symbol of the fish, meant the following: Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Savior.
Now the significance of that is that if even some would have discovered that it would have cost them their lives. However, they would not compromise whatsoever at all that Jesus Christ was God’s Son, and He was our Savior. Jesus, Our Savior is what we are talking about today.
In the book of 1 Timothy, over to the right, the far right side of the New Testament, almost to the end of the Bible, we read in chapter 2 some very important words about what Paul was telling us about Jesus Christ. He refers to Him being our Savior. Now in a moment we’re going to read from that text, but before we read from it, listen to the context of the text.
Paul was writing to his protégé by the name of Timothy. “A word is well for the church, and obviously in the sovereign will and intention of God is a word for the church today. God was saying these words and telling him, “Paul you tell Timothy to watch out for those that are false teachings. Beware of the false teachings because they are diminishing who Jesus is, and you do not need to diminish Him.
Paul reminds them in the first chapter that it was Christ alone who saves the worst of sinners including him, who was the cheifest of all sinners. And then we see a turn, a transition occur when he talks about the importance of praying in the first part of chapter 2 for those who are in authority over you.
Now it is very interesting when you think about how they were praying for those in authority over them because the ones in authority over them many times would be the ones who would bring ruin and death to their life because of their faith. Paul encouraged them you pray for all those in authority over you.
And then he gives to us what we would call theologically a Christological snapshot. In other words, a look at christos, a look at Christ and who Christ really is. And in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 3 through verse 6 we read the following words. “This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior who desires all people to be saved; and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is One God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Verse 6, “Who gave Himself as a ransom for all which is the testimony given at the proper time.”
What can we learn about Jesus Our Savior from this text this morning? First of all we need to understand:
- 1. God’s nature. This text teaches us a look at God’s nature. He refers to in
verse 3 God being our Savior. And then he talks about in verse 4 how he desires for all to be saved. Verse 5 he identifies that God being as Jesus Christ Himself. What does all that mean? It means that it is the intention of God to always save. The very nature of who God is is that He is saving from the nature of, or from the beginning of Genesis, all the way to the Revelation; God is committed to bringing salvation to everyone who is willing to believe.
We know that according to the Old Testament the word “yasha” is used because it is the word that means to save. It is used some 200 times in the Old Testament Hebrew language, and it reminds us that God is our Savior. It reminds as well that in those moments of the text when yasha was used God was seen as the Deliverer. He was seen as the Rescuer. He was seen as the Savior.
Also you will understand that in the New Testament the word “soter” is used. That is the Greek word for deliverer or Savior. That is a very important word. It is used in verse number 4 of chapter 2 of the book of 1 Timothy. It reminds us that Jesus is our Deliverer, Jesus is our Savior, Jesus is our Rescuer.
Some of you have sons today and periodically along the way if there is similarity someone might say including your spouse, a friend, or even a family member, “Oh, he’s just like his dad.” Or if they’re not like their dad, they would say, “He is nothing like his dad. His dad is this way, and he is this way.” That is not the scenario of Jesus and God. Jesus is just like His Father because Jesus and the Father are one. The Scripture here is very clear that there is one God. The very nature of who God is indicates to us that there is one God. One God. And here in the text we learn about this God being our Savior.
But not only do we see that as the very nature of God, it is also:
- 2. God’s desire. Notice what he says about God’s desire. God’s desire is
that all people would come and be saved. That’s God’s desire. Remember the story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is that God saves those who want to be saved. We must understand that it is not only simply the passion of God, and the desire of God to save; I believe it is also the eternal purpose of God to save all people. In fact, if you look at it there in 1 Timothy chapter number 2, verse 4, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. The knowledge of the truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s the knowledge of the truth. That God loves us so much that Christ came to this earth to die for the sins of the world, and if we will embrace what Jesus did for us on the cross, that all of a sudden forgives us of our sin, and we receive eternal life in Christ the Son.
The gospel is not bad news, the gospel is good news. And the interesting thing about it the more lost, and the more dark, and the more separated people sense they are from God, the better news it becomes because it is the news that has the power to change your life.
There is a teaching that’s been around for a long time that is called Calvinism. Calvinism would say that the atonement is limited, that Jesus died only for the elect of God. I am not a Calvinist. I do not believe that Jesus died for only the elect. But I believe that Jesus atoned for the sins of the entire world. For God so loved the world. Whoever calls on the name on the Lord can be saved. I am willing that all would repent and turn to God, and that none would perish. Peter said that God spoke to him in the inspiration of the Scripture and then this text here in 1 Timothy chapter 2, God who desires for all to be saved.
I want to tell you today God is passionate about you. And God wants you to know Him. He wants you to be saved. It doesn’t matter how distant you may sense, or how bad you might perceive yourself to be. I want you to know some wonderful news today; God desires to save you.
This Scripture here today talks to us about God’s nature. It talks to us about God’s desire, and then it talks to us about:
3. God’s Son. He talks about how there is one God. There is no variation between Jesus and between the Father. What does that mean? The Bible talks about there only being one God. In the New Testament and following the days of the New Testament, the early church would have counsels and debates over who Jesus was. And those that hung around Jesus gave eyewitness accounts as well as the writings that took place for those, from those who had seen and who had been with Jesus. And the early church counsels decided, and the history of the church would record that Jesus Christ is God!
Meaning what? Jesus is fully God and Jesus is fully Man. You do not know where Jesus ends and where God begins. You never know that because they are one person, one God. Listen my friend, we do not worship three gods, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; we worship one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Scripture says He is one God. There is one God. I just want to once say to you this morning there is only one God in this world. One God in this world! And what makes Him one God, He is fully Man, and He is fully God.
And the Scripture says this one God has become the one Mediator between God and man. The word mediator is a word that means go between. So here you have Holy God and sinful humanity, and the go between Holy God and sinful humanity is this one God, and one Mediator, and then he tells us who it is. The man, Christ Jesus. In the original language it would say Christ Jesus Himself, the man.
Meaning what? This one who was fully God and fully man, He is the One who serves as the go between a Holy God and a sinful human being. What is the purpose of the Mediator? To take two opposing parties and provide mediation. What does that mean? He will lead them to a peaceful settlement. Lead them to a peaceful experience. I’m telling you today there’s only One who can lead you to a peaceful experience in your life, and it is Christ Jesus, the man. God who is fully man and fully God, He is the only One who is the Mediator of all men.
And notice what it says, Christ Jesus Himself, who verse 6 says, gave Himself as a ransom for many. That word ransom we don’t use a lot, but it is a powerful, significant, deep theological term talking about what Jesus did for us. It says that this God who is one God, who is Christ Jesus the man, fully God, fully man, all of a sudden provided peaceful mediation between a Holy God and a sinful human race by giving Himself as a ransom for all.
Do you know what the purpose of a ransom is? In the first century world, owners had slaves, and if someone wanted to set the slave free, a price tag would be placed on the slave. Do you know what someone would have to come and do in order for freedom to come to the slave? Someone would have to come and pay the price tag for the slave. And then the slave would be free.
I want to tell us today there is only One who has ever paid the price tag for you being a slave to sin, and that was Jesus Christ Himself, the peace-maker between God and men. And I want you to understand today He paid the high price for your sinfulness. Here was Satan, the deceiver, the owner of your soul, and Jesus went to the fartherest extent a man could ever go, a God man could ever go, and He left the portals of heaven, and He came to this earth, and He emptied Himself Philippians says, and He became obedient to death, even the death on the cross. And what did that death do? It paid the ransom for my sin.
Now this morning we need to remember that the Bible many times interprets the Bible. Over in the book of 1 Peter in the second chapter, there is a verse that I want to refer to in a moment and when I read this verse, and you put it together with the Timothy passage, along with the rest of the New Testament, all of a sudden the lights come on about what a ransom payment really is.
The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 2 these words today. Verse number 24, referring to Jesus, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.”
Question: Why could Jesus Christ pay the ransom for our sins? Here’s why: He is the:
(1) Only one who could become the substitute for our sins. No one else could become the substitute for our sins. We need to understand that all of us have to make amends for our sins. We have to all pay some kind of price for the sins that we have committed. Listen, if we pay, and we make the amends for our sin, here’s what will happen: we will die, we will be buried, and we will spend an eternity in hell. That is real and literal as the New Testament says it is. And forever and ever we will make amends for our sin, or attempt to. But attempt to will be in vein.
Many of us here today believe if we are religious enough we can make amends for our sin. Or if we’re good enough we can make amends for our sin. But no one can make amends for your sin other than what Jesus did for you. And what Jesus did, He sized up the situation and He knew that every person whether they lived in Africa, China or America, from the beginning of time to the end of time, no one could make amends for their sin that would satisfy the offense that God was caused when we sin! Therefore, what Jesus did is that Jesus became the substitute for my sins! He Himself bore my sins on His body, on the cross! That’s what Peter says. He made amends for our sin.
So He is the only one who could substitute for our sins. Why is He the only one who can become the ransom? Also because He is the:
(2) Only one who could become the object of God’s wrath. Do you realize this morning Jesus became the object, the receiver of God’s wrath? None of us can become the object of God’s wrath and survive. The Revelation warns us that who can withstand the wrath of God. I realize that in our world we don’t want to talk about the wrath of God because that seems like how in the world could all that mean that God loves us, and God’s just, and all of those other questions that we could ask ourselves. But you can just be assured today that there is coming a day when the wrath of God will be at least upon this earth, and upon, at least, upon every person who does not trust Christ as Lord and Savior. And when that wrath is unleashed upon people, and upon this world, nothing will be able to withstand the wrath.
But that’s exactly why Jesus Christ became the substitute for your sin because then He became the object of God’s wrath. That’s what occurred on the cross. On the cross He became the object of God’s displeasure before sin because here was Him who knew no sin who became sin on my behalf so that I, who would be a sinful person, be able to become the righteous of God in Him. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse number 21.
And what happens in the Scripture the Bible tells us is that He becomes the object of God’s wrath at noon on Friday. The hail Him that happened on the Sunday as He rode into Jerusalem turned from hail Him to nail Him. And they nailed Him on a cross, and the moment they did that, He became the object of God’s wrath. Darkness permeated the entire earth; separation began to occur between God and His One and only Son. Why? Because of sin, because Jesus was bearing the sins of the world! Death occurred around 3 o’clock that same day. He was buried, but on the third day God raised Him up from the dead.
Listen carefully, Jesus our Savior is the only One who could become the object of God’s wrath and withstand it. So why can He be the ransom for our sins? He’s the only who could become the substitute for our sins, the only one could become the object of God’s wrath, and He’s the:
(3) Only one who gave Himself as a ransom for all. He saw the price of sin. He understands the moment from the garden, and from the very nature of man leaving the womb of the mother, that in sin He was conceived. And we began to be a part of a sinful human nature, and what happens is that when He saw that we needed to have somebody to make amends for our sin, and someone to become the object of God’s wrath, or else we would and we couldn’t withstand it, He became the ransom for all of us! He became the payment for our sins! And He stood in the midst of the enemy through the death and the resurrection, and He said, “Paid in full!” Over. Done. Forgiven. And that is what the cross is all about.
He’s the only One who could pay the ransom for us all. I cannot pay for you. You could not pay for me. You could not pay for your son. You could not pay for your dad. None of you could pay for your mom or your sister. None of you have the capacity to pay for anyone. Only One could become the substitute. Only One could become the object of the wrath of God and withstand it. And the only One was worthy to become the ransom for us all.
I close with this story today. It is estimated that between 600,000 and 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders annually. Of that 600,000 to 800,000 men, women and children, 70% of them are women. And of the remaining number at least one-half, 50%, are children. And they are sold, all of them, into the commercial trade industry of sex slavery, and sex trading.
It is reported that at the age of nine years of age, young girls are sold into the Red Light District of India. Afghani women are sold for $4 a pound into the country of Pakistan. Some 50,000, listen, Asian, Latin American, and Eastern European women and children are trafficked and sold, and sexually exploited into the United States on an annual basis.
You say I don’t know if I believe that. Why should you not believe that? Are you aware, I didn’t know until research, that 70% of the sex shows that are produced to be viewed over the internet are produced and filmed right here in the United States? What if I had enough money and I was a trillionaire, and I was able to go to every one of those sex owners of those 600,000 to 800,000 people annually, and I would purchase, I would buy each one of those men, women and children to set them free for $1,000,000? Do you think those sex slave owners would concur, and would sell it? I guarantee you they would sell it because the whole sex industry is about one thing: MONEY!
But here’s the reality, if I could have the capacity to do that and I did it, the reality is that would still not meet their greatest need, which is the salvation of their souls. And there’s only One who has paid the ransom for all. From the worst of us to the best of us, and it’s Jesus, our Savior. He did what religion could not do. He did what no one could do for another. He did what only the God Man has the capacity to do. He sized up the situation, and He saw you, and He saw me, and He saw the entire world lost, having to pay for our sins, which would mean eternal death, and eternal hell, and He Himself became the payment for our sins.
And now I’ve got to do one thing to have my sins forgiven. I have to receive the payment He made for me. Jesus, our only Savior.
- SKU:
- 2AA216L
- MP3:
- http://www.ronniefloyd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/2AA216L-Jesus-Our-Savior.mp3
- Vimeo:
- 22557109