Why Jesus Came: To Save Sinners
Those Who Need A Physician
One would rightly find it irregular to go to the doctor when you have no signs of sickness, weakness, or pain. Even more so, it would be greatly more inappropriate to go the doctor’s office and as soon as you meet the doctor, he prescribes you medicine without revealing to you your condition.
Would you take medicine from a doctor without knowing the reason? Similarly, this is the common problem in how Christians can often communicate the gospel — and the message of Christmas.
Jesus said this Luke 5:31-32, ESV, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Christmas stands as having two great charges: you are a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.
Jesus Came Into the World
In 1 Timothy 1:15, ESV, Paul writes this “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”
First, Paul tells that Jesus came into the world. Meaning, He entered into history, He stepped into time.
At His incarnation, Jesus opened the door into time and space to become human. He became what He was not (man) while never ceasing to be what He was (divine). Christmas declares that Jesus is God!
His coming was one of righteous living for sinners. D.A. Carson said, “The most fundamental reason Jesus Christ went to the cross is not His love for us (though that is true), but rather His desire to obey His Father’s will.”
To Save Sinners
Who then is Christmas for? First, Christmas is for God — meaning, that God came to demonstrate and put forth His infinite excellence. The angels proclaim to the shepherds upon their journey to meet the newborn King, “Glory to God in the highest,” (Luke 2:14, ESV, emphasis added).
Secondly, Christmas then is for sinners. If you have sinned against God, Christmas is for you.
One look at the Law of God and you will find your sinful, guilty condition before a perfectly holy God. We have all fallen short of God’s glory, there is none of us who is righteous or good in God’s sight (cf. Romans 3:10-23).
Jesus came to save sinners by dying for sinners and rising from the dead. The life of Jesus and His full, perfect righteousness can be credited and charged to the bankrupt, sinful account of any sinner who would flee unto Christ to be saved!
James Montgomery Boice said it simply, “The cross stands as the focal point of the Christian faith.”
Christians are those who can say that Christ is a great Savior and I am the foremost sinner!
