Here is the second part of my message that I shared. If you have not read the first part, you should read it first in order to understand the context.
II. Jesus came to Save
I want us to think about each of these examples for a minute. For we should be able to see us in each of the people that I just went through…
Children - We are like children in that we have no social status. We have no standing on our own before God. But yet Christ receives us. We have standing before God because of Jesus’ status (Paul learned this, and shared it in Philippians 3. Jesus is our list!). We are defenseless and in need of a spiritual Father and a spiritual adoption. We need God to become our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ (John 1:12).
Lepers – We are like lepers. We are unclean because of our sins. Our sins separate us from a Holy God (Romans 6:23). We too are in need of the cleansing touch of Jesus. We are in need of His work on the cross, and for His blood to wash us clean. Without Christ, we find ourselves "outside of the camp" in need of the fellowship and intimacy with God that Jesus offers.
Tax collectors – We are also like the tax collectors. We may not be hated by men, but we are enemies of God – unless we have received the reconciliation that Christ offers according to Romans 5:10. Through the Gospel we are transferred positionally from being "objects of wrath" to being seated with Him in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:1-10).
Women & Samaritans – We too are like the women and Samaritans of Bible times in that while society might not esteem us as having value, Christ paid the ultimate price for us on the Cross (Romans 5:8). Christ says we were worth dying for. He obtained us with His own blood(Acts 20:28).
Our rescue by the Great Samaritan – Finally, in the story of the good Samaritan we can find ourselves in the man who was beaten and left by the side of the road. The man in the story was completely helpless, there was nothing he could do…he was stuck…he was beaten down…he was exposed…in fact, if someone didn’t intervene, he would have been in a potentially very dangerous situation…he needed treatment and help to get back to health but he couldn’t afford the payment…he needed someone to pay for his treatment, someone else had to pay to restore him.
We are the man found beaten and left for dead on the side of the road…
-we were not deserving of help
-we were completely helpless
-there was nothing we could do
-we were stuck
-we were beaten down
-we were exposed
-we were jacked up
-we were in a dangerous life and death predicament
But Jesus…
He came to our rescue, He left His comfort, He came down and identified with us, He selflessly sacrificed His own life in place of ours. He paid a debt that He didn't owe, and that we couldn't pay. He paid for our restoration.
The Gospel is such a beautiful message! We need Jesus as our Savior. And it’s only through the transformation that His grace and His love brings, that we can love and serve others after His example.
Matthew 20:18 ...the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.
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