But Only Jesus

But Only Jesus Isaiah 53:1-6 A soap manufacturer and a pastor were walking together down a street in a large city. The soap manufacturer calmly said, "The Gospel you preach hasn't done much good, has it? Just look around. There is still a lot of wickedness in the world, and a lot of wicked people, too!" The pastor made no reply until they passed a dirty little child making mud pies in the gutter. Seizing the opportunity, the pastor said, "I see that soap hasn't done much good in the world either, for there is much dirt and many dirty people around." The soap man said, "Oh, well, soap is only useful when it is applied." And the pastor said, "Exactly, so it is with the Gospel." The Gospel is the message of Jesus Christ. It's what God in Jesus Christ did on the cross for your sin by shedding His blood so you can be forgiven. The Gospel of grace is telling you the good news that you're filthy with sin, that you need to be cleaned, and only Christ can make you clean. Soap will clean your dirt; Christ's blood will clean your sin. And where soap falls short in that you must keep reapplying it, Christ shed His blood one time, for all time, and for everyone who repents and places saving faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sin. But, "Who has believed our message?" "Who has believed our message" when the Bible says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." "Who has believed our message" when the Bible says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." "Who has believed our message" when we call sin for what it is and proclaim Jesus Christ as the only Lord and Savior? Just turn on the TV, look out into the world and ask yourself, "Who has believed our message?" Now, for the prophet Isaiah who wrote this, little did he know that he wasn't just addressing Israel, but all of humanity. Isaiah didn't have a TV, but when he looked out over Israel, he was asking, "Who has believed our message?" Isaiah's name means "The LORD is Salvation." He knew that God was the only hope. He saw God's actions, he heard God's voice, he vowed to be God's voice, yet people still didn't believe. Why? The Scripture we're reading today was written a good 700 years before Christ came, yet it describes Jesus perfectly. For Israel, they knew today's Scripture very well, but their greatest sin was not recognizing Jesus when He came. Perhaps that's today's problem as well. People don't recognize their need for Jesus. Have you ever shared your faith? Have you ever had to answer someone when they asked why you're a Christian? Did they believe your message? Your words proclaim the Gospel, but your actions and very life proclaim the Gospel even louder. Your actions make a lasting impression. Your actions reveal your words. Your actions reveal what you truly believe. It's the difference between merely holding the soap or applying the soap. Look at Jesus, today's Scripture says Jesus "had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him." It was Christ's actions that spoke louder than looks. We don't recognize Jesus for what He looks like, but for what He did. So why doesn't the world recognize Jesus? Oh, the world does; it's just the world doesn't like what they see. They don't recognize sin for what it is. So they ignore sin or redefine sin. It's like how a college formed a football team and needed a mascot. So they decided to get a goat for the mascot, but the question was where to keep the goat? Two students spoke up and, of all places, offered to keep the goat in their dorm room. When the coach of the football team heard this, he approached the two students and said, "Well, I hear you're gonna keep the goat in your room. What about the smell?" One of the students replied, "The goat will get used to it." It's hard for people to recognize their need for God when they're used to the smell of sin. When they're used to living with sin, it's hard to recognize the problem and why life can be different. Although the goat might get used to it, God doesn't because sin is a transgression of God's law. That's why Jesus came! That's why we have the Gospel! To wake us up to the reality of sin and to choose whether or not we apply the blood of Christ to clean our sin. But don't ever think that Jesus came just to save us from our sins but cannot sympathize with your suffering. Many people falsely think that God is off somewhere in the distance and doesn't care or even know how you feel. Folks, that's couldn't be further from the truth. "He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hid their faces He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem." Jesus Christ is fully God, but He is also fully human. Like a hand putting on a glove, Jesus put on human flesh, walked with us, and knows your suffering. It's the people who don't believe Christ knows how you feel that "hold Him in low esteem." Jesus Christ not only knows your deepest feelings, But Only Jesus "took up our pain and bore our suffering," all because of His love for you. When I was younger, I used to race stock cars at the local Wisconsin tracks. I loved racing and that feeling of living on the edge. I had my share fair of wrecks where I walked away unhurt, but in one wreck I broke my neck. Another car turned me from behind and sent me almost head-on into the wall! Needless to say, it hurt! And it still hurts today. I share that story with you because there are times in life when other people will hurt you. When their actions or words will cause you pain. But more so, it's our actions and words that cause the most damage. Another driver put me into the wall, but I choose to race. I knew the consequences. Brothers and sisters, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is love because it shows us the consequences. An unloving God would hide the consequences of sin from us, but a loving God, well, Jesus both spoke and acted so we could choose the consequences for ourselves. Our decisions, our actions, our sins, led to our pain. Jesus knows this, but took your pain anyway. But Only Jesus "took up our pain and bore our suffering. He was pierced for our transgression, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him." Jesus suffered, was whipped, beaten, mocked, spit at, hit, pierced, crucified, and died. And Isaiah tells us why, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Everybody is born a sinner, and sin leads to death. But Only Jesus loves you so much that He suffered and died for you! He took your place! God became a man in Jesus so man could come to God. Life is in the blood, and the shedding of blood was the only way of forgiveness, so Jesus shed His blood for you. "By His wounds you are healed." It's only His wounds, His blood, that heals you, that cleans you, that forgives you. And as we go through this Lenten season and look towards Easter, that glorious resurrection Sunday, we praise God that Jesus not only took our punishment and died for us, but was raised to life and walked outta that tomb 3 days later! The Gospel message reveals the consequences, yet the message is so simple even young children can understand. Think back to when you were young. Do you remember the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty?" In that old nursery rhyme is a profound truth. The rhyme reads: "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall; Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again." The picture we all get is an egg sitting on a wall. But why? There is nothing in that rhyme that mentions an egg. We've just come to recognize Humpty Dumpty as an egg. Now, here's the profound truth: In Adam's fall we all sinned. We're born sinners, and the person who wrote "Humpty Dumpty" was not talking about an egg but about people. "And all the king's horses and all the king's men" is written to call together all those kings and people who are frustrated and broken at the bottom of the wall, unable to put their lives together again. But Only Jesus Christ entered history, died for our sins, and rose again. With Jesus as Savior, we can now rewrite "Humpty Dumpty:" "Jesus Christ came to our wall. Jesus Christ died for our fall. So that regardless of death and despite all our sin; Through grace and love, He puts us together again." God's grace comes from God's love for you because "God is love." It's God's love that makes all these keys possible. But Only Jesus is your master key. Jesus suffered and died and rose again so you could be where He is. Will you accept God's love and grace and be cleansed from all your sin and guilt? Will you allow God to rewrite your story? All you must do is answer Jesus when He says, "Follow Me." AMEN 2