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Jesus Christ: The Sinner’s Best Friend
Text: Isaiah 53: 10 – 12 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
I appreciate Bill Montoney, a very faithful attendant our Tuesday Prophecy Night, sending me the following email:
One day, when I was a freshman in high school,
I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school.
His name was Kyle.
It looked like he was carrying all of his
books.
I thought to myself, “Why would anyone bring home all his books on a
Friday?
He must really be a nerd.”
I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends
tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on
As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him.
They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him
so he landed in the dirt.
His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet
from him.
He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes.
My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him and as he crawled
around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.
As I handed him his glasses, I said, “Those guys are jerks.
They really should get lives
” He looked at me and said, “Hey thanks!”
There was a big smile on his face.
It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.
I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived.
As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen
him before.
He said he had gone to private school before now.
I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.
We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books.
He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.
I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends.
He said yes.
We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked
him, and my friends thought the same of him.
Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again
I stopped him and said, “Boy, you are gonna really build some serious
muscles with this pile of books everyday!
” He just laughed and handed me half the books.
Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends.
When we were seniors, we began to think
about college.
Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I
was going to Duke.
I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a
problem.
He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football
scholarship.
Kyle was valedictorian of our class.
I teased him all the time about being a nerd.
He had to prepare a speech for graduation.
I was so glad it wasn’t me having to get up there and speak.
Graduation day, I saw Kyle.
He looked great
He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school.
He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.
He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him.
Boy, sometimes I was jealous.
Today was one of those days.
I could see that he was nervous about his speech.
So, I smacked him on the back and said, “Hey, big guy, you’ll be great!”
He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and
smiled.
“Thanks,” he said.
As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began.
“Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those
tough years.
Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach…but mostly
your friends..
I am here to tell all of you that being a
friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.
I am going to tell you a story.”
I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the
first day we met.
He had planned to kill himself over the weekend.
He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn’t have to
do it later and was carrying his stuff home.
He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.
“Thankfully, I was saved.
My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.”
I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told
us all about his weakest moment.
I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.
Not until that moment did I realize it’s depth.
Never underestimate the power of your actions.
With one small gesture you can change a person’s life.
For better or for worse.
God puts us all in each other’s lives to impact one another in some way.
Message Title: Jesus Christ: The Sinners Best Friend.
There is a vague notion in the world that the benefit of Jesus Christ’s passion is only for good people. The teaching of some theologians would lead some uninstructed people to imagine that Christ came to this world to save those who were already righteous and to call the already godly to repentance, and to heal those who were never sick. This is a heinous crime against the kingdom and one of Hell’s biggest deceptions.
Most unbelievers already struggle with this idea that they won’t be good enough to measure up to God’s holy standards. Most sincere people who know anything about God recognize the fact that God is a righteous God and that His very nature demands holiness from His creation. However, in most cases, those same people have not come to realize that God has made provision for the lost and unholy. The Cross of Calvary is a bridge that starts on the cliffs of hell and bridges over to the shores of Heaven! Without this bridge, you cannot get to the other side.
The sinner becomes troubled and alarmed at their first experience with Holy Ghost conviction. However, when you as the sinner begin to realize that Jesus is your best friend, then there is incredible comfort in knowing that fact!
JESUS CHRIST IS ENROLLED AMONG SINNERS: SINNERS ARE HIS BUSINESS!
Jesus was numbered with the transgressors. That is why Jesus was put to death: the self-righteous Pharisees condemned Jesus to die because they thought he committed blasphemy by claiming to be the Great I AM, Almighty God. They would have been right if it had been anybody else, but the real Messiah was living among them and they failed to recognize who He was!
He was numbered with them, first, in the census of the Roman empire. There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed, and the espoused wife of Joseph, being great with child, must travel to Bethlehem that Christ may be born there, and that he may be numbered with the transgressing people who, for their sins, were subject to the Roman yoke.
Years rolled on, and that child who had been early numbered with transgressors, and had received the seal of transgression in the circumcision, which represents the putting away of the flesh, that child, having come to manhood, goes forth into the world and is numbered with transgressors. Public opinion at the time about Jesus of Nazareth was mixed, but there was a percentage of the public who called him all sorts of bad names. Some considered Jesus to be an outcast.
But to make the matter still more forcible, “he was numbered with transgressors in the courts of law.” The ecclesiastical court of Judaism, the Sanhedrim, said of him, “Thou blasphemest;” and they smote him on the cheek. Written down among the offenders against the dignity of God against the security of the Jewish Church, you find the name of Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified.
Pilate may have washed his hands and said, “I find no fault in this man” but public opinion was so negative against Jesus that it forced Pilate to give into their wishes and write in a mocking way: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews;” and he gives him up to die as a malefactor who has rebelled against the sovereign law of the land. Herod, too, the Jewish tetrarch, confirms the sentence, and so, with two pens at the same time, Jesus Christ is recorded by the civil leaders among transgressors.
Then, the Jewish people numbered him with transgressors. They reprobated him as a more abominable transgressor than a thief and a murderer who had excited rebellion. Barabbas is put in competition with Christ, and they say, “Not this man, but Barabbas.”
Jesus bears the transgressor’s scourging! He is tied to the whipping-post, his back is marred and scarred; the ploughers make deep furrows, and the blood flows in streams. He is numbered with transgressors, because he bears the felon’s cross; he comes into the street bowed down with the weight of his own cross, which he must carry upon his raw and bleeding shoulders; he trudges along to the place of doom; he comes to Calvary—Golgotha, the place of a skull—and there, hoisted upon the cross, hanging in mid-air, as if earth rejected him and heaven refused him shelter, he dies the humiliating death of the cross, and is numbered with transgressors.
Where are the protestors? Where are those who have compassion for Him? Will anyone declare his innocence? It turns out that they are all silent! Jesus sentence is carried unanimously. Jew and Gentile, bond and free, they are all there. They mock; they laugh; they cry, “Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.” His name is written in the calendar of crime by the whole universe; for he is despised and rejected of men. He is counted to be the off-scouring of all things, and is put to grief.
Where is Heaven while all of this is going on? Is this justified in the eyes of Heaven? It is and it is confirmed by the fact that in order to be the Best Friend of every single sinner for all of time, Jesus had to do this:
John 15: 13: 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
Jesus gave His life because He is The Sinner’s Best Friend and we were all sinners. Some here tonight may need the Savior for the first time in your life: can I tell you friend, from my heart tonight: you can search this world over by train, plane, or boat: and you will not find a greater friend then Jesus of Nazereth! That’s right: I can save you all that travel expense right now: you can keep your money in the bank and realize that Almighty God has a glorious plan for your life that is fulfilling, satisfying, enjoyable, and with great reward ahead!
