The Grenada sentinel., 1903-09-12


% save sinners."-1 Tim. ISIS
HAT Jesus Christ
!.
lived upon earth
~ 1900 years ago, and
~2 that he was cruci-
@ fed by the Roman
~ soldiers at the in
stigatiOn of the
\+~ n Jewish sanhedrin,
N~SA are historical facts
-6SU N&E which are incon-
2U Uf&AM &.L,\ testable But there
" l N1Bt u appears to be q
! nEEMNHM good deal of confu-
~ \&;S" sion-and endless
discussion growing out of that confusion
-as to what Jesus mission really Was.
and Is. Some will try to maintain that
1t was to show men how to live, other
some will argue that He came to 30
good; that He was q refOrmer and came
to establish new social and religious
conditions; and still others will SEEK
to show that His mission was peculiarly
Jewish, and ended when He was re-
jected and killed by the nation whose
Messiah and King He had come to be.
And this confusion arises from unduly
u
seems to sustain the views held. just as
the inspiration and purpose OF the art
list might be missed in studying his
painting. if one feature or another were
allowed to occupy the vision. But that
Jesus came to be something else than
pattern after which men could shape
their lives, or a reformer to right hu-
man wrongs, or a benefactor and phil
anthropist, whose effort was to heal the
sick, raise the dead. make the blind see
and spread happiness and sunshine
wherever He went. is Enthusiastically evil
dent from the declarations of the Word
of God and OF Jesus Himself. Jesus
plainly said: Il came not to call the
righteous. but sinners. to repentance.
God sent the Son into the world that
the world should be saved through Him" I"
and the words of our text. "Christ Je-
sus came into the world to save sinners"
is the whole Gospel story boiled down.
and expresses the supreme thought OF
God in sending Jesus into the world and
the supreme purpose and mission of
Jesus in coming.
THE drowning man does not need
l some one to teach him to swim:
his desperate condition requires some
one to save him. And the dying sin
ner does not need someone to show
him how to live In this life. but Sa-
viour to cleanse him from all sin and
make him fit for Heaven. After he is
saved he is ready to learn how to live.
This old world since its foundation
and the placing of man upon it had
been busy with reformation, and when
Jesus came it needed not a reformer,
but Saviour; not one who would i'm
prove conditions here and there, but
one who could cure the plague spots
and cleanse from all sin. Jesus went
about doing good: wherever He went
His hand was outstretched to help. He
was a benefactor and philanthropist,
fbut that was not the supreme need of
those about Him, and that was not His
supreme mission. There were ten
'lepers cleansed one day when they
met Jesus. AS they went rejoicing
and clean back to their homes and
friends they knew Jesus as a great
'benefactor, but only one of them re-
turned to find Jesus the Saviour, and
to learn that greater work was the
cleansing from the leprosy of sin.
Jesus did not come into the world to
cure the diseased and crippled of the
little land of Palestine, but He came
with a worldwide mission of saliva
ton for the sinner. The miracles of
healing. the kindly ministries. the
teaching and preaching were incl
dental to the greater work of saliva
-fi h0 NJ
origin; the good deeds which He
wrought revealed the depth Of love
and sympathy which He felt for suf-
fering mankind; His preaching and
teaching opened up Gods truth and
made plain Gods wonderful plan of
salvation; but it was only when He
went upon the cross and became a
sacrifice for sin: it was only when HE
who knew no sin became sim for us
that we might become the Righteous
ness of Cod in Him." it was only
when Ha.-died that He might deliver
the human race from death, that He
realized His supreme mission to the
world. '"This is a faithful saying and
worthy OF all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save
sinners"
T.,
7 EFT US get this great fact fairly and
Il squarely before our hearts and
minds. Let Jesus as Saviour of the world
NIL your whole vision, and then YOU
will be able to appreciate and under
stand Him in His varied relations 10
the world. 1t Was not until the disciples
came oShave a clear understanding Of
Jesus supreme mission to the world
that they could understand Him, or
realize their part in that great mis-
sion. Why was it that when Jesus
talked to them of His coming death on
the cross they rebuked Him and de-
-clared that it should not be? WHY
was 1t that Peter was so earnest and