Luke 19:1-10 And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.… I. I lay it down as a self-evident truth, that WHATEVER WAS THE INTENTION OF CHRIST IN HIS COMING INTO THE WORLD, THAT INTENTION MOST CERTAINLY SHALL NEVER BE FRUSTRATED. In the first place, it seems to be inconsistent with the very idea of God that He should ever intend anything which should not be accomplished. But again, we have before us the fact, that hitherto all the works of God have accomplished their purpose. I might use a hundred other arguments. I might show that every attribute of Christ declares that His purpose must be accomplished. He certainly has love enough to accomplish His design of saving the lost; for He has a love that is bottomless and fathomless, even as the abyss itself. And certainly the Lord cannot fail for want of power, for where we have omnipotence there can be no deficiency of strength. Nor, again, can the design be unaccomplished because it was unwise, for God's designs cannot be unwise. II. I have thus started the first thought that the intention of Christ's death cannot be frustrated. And now methinks every one will anxiously listen, and every ear will be attentive, and the question will arise from every heart, "WHAT THEN WAS THE INTENTION OF THE SAVIOUR'S DEATH? AND IS IT POSSIBLE THAT I CAN HAVE A PORTION IN IT?" For whom, then, did the Saviour die — and is there the slightest probability that I have some lot or portion in that great atonement which He has offered? I must now endeavour to pick out the objects of the Saviour's atonement. He came "to seek and to save that which was lost." We know that all men are lost in Adam. Again, we are all lost by practice. No sooner does the child become capable of knowing right and wrong, than you discover that he chooses the evil and abhors the good. Early passions soon break out, like weeds immediately after the shower of rain; speedily the hidden depravity of the heart makes itself manifest, and we grow up to sin, and so we become lost by practice. Then there be some who go further still. The deadly tree of sin grows taller and taller; some become lost to the Church. Now I will tell you the people whom Christ will save — they are those who are lost to themselves. III. NOTICE THE OBJECTS OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST — He came "to seek and to save that which was lost." (C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. |
    |