Jesus Christ the Only Savior - Part 2 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley, Jr., pastor of the Cincinnati Primitive Baptist Church. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise! Thou the grace of my God and King, the triumph of his grace! This is LeSaire Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. How I love the great Redeemer, who is doing so much for me.

With the joy I tell the story of the love that makes men free. Till my earthly life is ended, I will send songs of love. Then beside the crystal sea, more and more my soul shall be, praising Jesus and his love. He is everything to me, to me. He is everything to me, and everything shall with me. I will never cease to raise a song of gladness in his praise. Here and in the world above, my soul shall sing of saving love.

Life and life, and joy is he, the precious bread who died for me. I'm glad that you have joined us for the broadcast today, and if the message proves to be a blessing to you, we'd like to hear from you. Write and let us know that you've listened to the broadcast, and if you can help us with the support, we'll be grateful for it. Our address is the Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217.

And you can go to our website at BaptistBibleHour.org and make a donation there, or go to our store at that website and review materials that we have available. We continue today with the message, Jesus Christ the Only Savior. There are those that will say Jesus was a great example and a good teacher, but he was all that but much more. He is the Savior, the only Savior, the way, the truth, and the life. Then let's think about the sufficiency of the Savior. He's sufficient in power. It required power for that lame man to get up and walk, and Jesus gave that power necessary.

It takes power for one who is dead in trespasses and in sin to be resurrected. John chapter 1 verse 3, All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. He has all power. He's the Creator. Colossians 1 16, For by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. He not only created it, he holds it all together. Aren't you glad that the Savior we look to has that kind of power? He's the Creator.

He's the one that holds all things together. Not only is he sufficient in power, he's sufficient in authority. They were questioning, these leaders wanted to know about what authority, by what name did you accomplish this? Jesus came with authority.

He didn't come with an agenda of his own. He came with authority given to him of the Father to execute the Father's will. John chapter 6 verse 38, he says, For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And he goes on to say, And this is the Father's will, that all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. He was sufficient in doing the work for which he was sent. He came willingly, humbled himself, took upon himself the form of a servant, humbled himself to the death of the cross, came here to carry out the will of the Father. And as he prayed to the Father in John 17 verse 4, he says, I have glorified thee on earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Father, I came here to do the work to which you assigned me. I finished it.

It's done. And when it was on the cross, he cried out, It is finished. So when we're talking about Jesus Christ the Savior, we're talking about one who had sufficient authority, not only power, but able to do that for which he was sent. And furthermore, he was sufficient to suffer the curse. Galatians chapter 3 verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And that was written in the Old Testament.

This was a fact. Person that was put on the tree, put on the cross, was viewed as cursed. And Jesus Christ came to redeem us from the curse.

2nd Corinthians 5 21, For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now this is something difficult for us to comprehend. People sometimes, particularly if they've seen a movie that depicts the death of Christ, they think about the physical suffering, and it was horrendous. To be nailed to a cross, nails in his hand and his feet, the crown of thorns down on his brow, difficult to breathe in that stretched out position, having to press himself up to get his breath.

That was horrendous. But the greatest suffering is that he became a curse for us. We were under the curse and condemnation of the law, but the sins of all who will ultimately believe on Jesus were put upon him. That's beyond our grasp.

We can't understand that transfer. We can't imagine what a sight that was to the Father in heaven, of whom it is said his eyes are too pure to look upon evil. And now his own son has upon him all the sins of those that were given to him.

And the Father turned his back and Jesus cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? For those moments, he was forsaken. The curse was upon him. He suffered the wrath of his father, the just punishment for sin. And if it was not for that substitutionary death, there would be no hope for any of us.

We would all still be under the curse. But he became a curse for us and redeemed us. He's a sufficient savior because he was sufficient to put away our sin. Verse chapter one, verse three, who being the brightness of his glory and express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power. There's reference again to the fact that he has all the power necessary.

He upholds all things with the word of his power. When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. In the tabernacle of the Old Testament time, when the priest had offered the sacrifice, sprinkled the blood upon the mercy seat, there was no chair.

There was no place for him to sit down. Later when he offered the sacrifice, sprinkled the blood in the holy place in the temple, there was no chair, no place for him to sit down. Because when one sacrifice was made, there was another sacrifice to be made later. On the great day of atonement, when the sacrifice was made, that great day would come about a year later. But when Jesus Christ offered himself without spot to God, he then ascended to the father and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. He sat down because he finished the work.

Nothing to be added to it. The work of redemption was complete. He paid the price. So he has put away our sins, purged our sins, and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Once you're convicted of your sin, once the Holy Spirit has shown you what you are, and you know, I am a guilty sinner before God and deserve nothing but his wrath. And you struggle under the weight and guilt of sin. And then here's the good news of the gospel. Through Jesus Christ, that sin can be put away.

Not because you deserve it. You can't go back and undo it, but sin is put away by his sacrifice. And then the exclusivity of the Savior.

There is no other name given. All substitutes fail. It's very popular these days for somebody to say, well I just believe if a person is sincere, it doesn't matter what religion it is. It doesn't matter what they believe.

As long as they're sincere, they're going to be alright. But when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, he said in Matthew chapter 7 verse 13, Enter ye at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at. Jesus didn't say, it doesn't make any difference which road you're on.

As long as you feel good about it, that's fine. He says there's two different roads, there's two different gates. There's a broad way, there's a narrow way. The broad way leads to destruction.

The narrow way leads to life. The idea that sincerity will take the day, contrary to the teaching of Jesus. Contrary to the teaching of the entire Bible. None could be saved by the keeping of the law. Romans 3.20, Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. So somebody might say, well on one hand, I think as long as you're sincere, somebody says, well no, I think it'll take more than that.

I think if you keep the law, everything will be fine. Well, the problem is, the law demands perfection. It's not just a matter of saying I'm doing the best I can. The best you can is not good enough because God demands perfection. So by the deeds of the law, Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified. By the law is the knowledge of sin. You start looking at the law and you begin to see your own sin.

You see your own faults, your own failures. It's the schoolmaster, said Paul in the Galatian letter, to bring us to Christ. It informs us, it instructs us, it convicts us.

And then somebody else will say, well, I might not be able to keep the law, but I'm going to do some good works to try to make up for it. Titus 3.5 says, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he hath saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. So it explicitly tells us it's not by works of righteousness. No matter how many good deeds you might try to perform to outweigh the bad deeds, the sin, can't make it. Not by works. And not by an act of man's free will.

Man has the idea that by his own action he can rectify things. But Romans 9.16 says, it's not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. So the fact is, Jesus is the only way.

Now, you find people that are greatly offended by that and say, well, you're so narrow-minded. How can you lay claim to the idea that what you believe is the truth and therefore what I believe is wrong? Well, that's one of the reasons that Jesus was hated. Because Jesus was very explicit teaching the fact that he was the only way. Our text says in Acts 4.12, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And then Jesus himself says in John chapter 14 of the sixth verse, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.

Couldn't be any plainer than that. Somebody said, well, I think there's another way. Jesus said there is no other way. Somebody will say, well, I think Jesus was a great teacher. Well, if you think he was a great teacher, then believe what he taught him. If he taught something that wasn't so, he wasn't such a great teacher. But because he was the God-man, God in the flesh, we can have absolute confidence that everything he said was true. I am the way, not a way, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No man, no matter who he is, where he is, what his ideas may be, what he was brought up in, what his religion may be, no man can come to the Father but by me. And then let's think about the greatness of the Savior. He paid the price, paid the full price of redemption.

Didn't just get you started on the way, help you to move in the right direction. He paid the price. You were in debt as a violator of God's law, you were deep in debt and you couldn't pay it, couldn't make the first payment. Hebrews 9.22 says that almost all things are by the law purged with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Those sacrifices of the Old Testament, thousands upon thousands of sheep and goats and heifers that were put to death under those ceremonies.

For what purpose? The blood of those beasts never put away sin but it was a message, it was pointing to the fact that one day the Lamb of God would come. One day when John the Baptist is preaching and he saw Jesus in the audience, he says, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. And so it was necessary that blood be shed for remission.

1 Peter 1 verse 18 says, Such as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, you can't buy your way to heaven, not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. When they were going to observe that first Passover night, the death angel was going to pass through the land and the first woman in every family would die unless there was blood on the doorpost. They would keep a lamb up for 14 days that it might be proven to be without spot, without blemish. And then that lamb was slain and its blood sprinkled on the doorpost.

Oh, what a night that was. No doubt there were many cries heard throughout the land of Egypt but in the Israelite camp where the blood had been put on the doorpost, they said, I will pass over you. What was the significance? It was pointing to the fact that one day Jesus Christ would come and so we are redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ as that little lamb had to be proven to be without spot and blemish. Because Jesus was proven to be, He was taken into the wilderness by the Spirit and that Satan tempted Him, but He being tempted at all points like as we are, yet was without sin.

So He is the spotless Lamb of God. And then furthermore, He's a great Savior because He saves the greatest of sinners. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy 1.15, There was a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.

So if somebody says He just came into the world to teach a lesson, He just came into the world to set a good example, that's not what we read in this inspired book. He came into the world to save sinners and Paul felt to be the greatest sinner because he opposed the gospel. He despised the church.

He consented to have Christians put to death. He saw himself as a horrendous sinner. So as the Apostle before his conversion saw himself as the greatest of sinners, the good news to that one today who sees I am a sinner. I've been self-centered, self-seeking, I've pleased myself, I've gone my own way, I violated the first law when he says, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, heart, soul, and strength, failed in the first one. You see yourself a great sinner. I have to say that I've observed a change over the years as has been less respect displayed for the word of God.

As people have been encouraged over the years to work on building their self-esteem so that they feel like they are of utmost importance, they generally have a pretty good feeling about themselves. But I can remember years ago when somebody would come to me in tears and say, I don't know if God would save me. My life is so far from what it should have been. I've gone so long down the wrong path. I've sinned so terribly, you'd think he'd save me.

Here's the good news. He came to save sinners and Paul said, I am the chief and he saved me. Then we read, as Jesus speaks in Luke chapter 15 verse 4, What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it?

And when he has found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. What a wonderful savior. One sheep, somebody might say, well, let him go.

One's not that important. The good shepherd goes out, goes through the valleys and over the hills and through the rain and the cold, wherever till he finds that one lost sheep and he picks it up, lays it on his shoulder and brings it safely to the fold. That's salvation by grace. That's salvation by Jesus Christ.

And not only does he bring them safely to the fold, he keeps them. John 19, 28, he says, I give unto them eternal life. This is John 10 rather. John 10, 28, And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Can you think of a safer place to be than in the hand of Jesus Christ? And he says, no man can pluck them out of my father's hand.

I and my father are one. If you have repented of your sin and believed on Jesus as a child of God, you're in his hand. You're safe. You're secure. All the devils of hell might try to get you, and they can't do it. You're safe in his hand.

He keeps them. And then just a quick description of some of the things that he's done, is doing and will do. Matthew 1, 21, his name is called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Psalm 103, verse 12, He separated our sins as far as the east is from the west. Colossians 1, 22, He hath reconciled us.

We were alienated from God. We were in enmity against God, but he hath reconciled us with the body of his flesh. Revelation chapter 1, verse 2, He loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 14, Through his blood he has purged our conscience from dead works to serve the living and true God.

Think of that. A guilty conscience can be something that's terribly dreadful to bear. But by his sacrifice, because of the blood of Jesus Christ, he purges our conscience from dead works to serve the true and living God. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 30, He hath made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 15, He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. You say, I feel so weak and I'm so full of failure and so unworthy, but you come before him. He says to come boldly to the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy. And he is touched with the feeling of your infirmities. Not to defend your sin, not to excuse your sin, but he knows where you are. He knows what you are. He's touched with the feeling of your infirmities. And Hebrews 7, 25 says, He ever lives to make intercession.

Now think about it. If you're sick, you're really miserable, you're really concerned about your condition, you are encouraged when somebody calls you up and says, I'm praying for you. Or when you send a request to the church, will you pray for me? And you know everybody in the church is praying for you.

That's wonderful. We desire that. But think of Jesus Christ praying for you. He ever lives to make intercession, to plead our case, to pray for us. Oh, how favored we are, how rich is his mercy, how marvelous is his grace who makes intercession for us. And in Hebrews 4, 16, it promises grace to help in time of need. 2 Corinthians says this, He made us new creatures in Christ Jesus. All things are become new. 1 John 3, verse 2 says, Now the sons of God, we are now, now are we the sons of God, and we know that we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Think of that. What a wonderful Savior. We have our days of trouble and frustration and discouragement and confusion in this world where there's so much corruption and sin and we struggle with the old fallen nature within us. But think of one day, seeing Jesus Christ face to face, see him as he is and be like him, be glorified, have a resurrected body with no more weaknesses, no more corruption in it, no more temptation, no more guilt, no more sin, no more suffering, to be with him and be like him forever. Surely we can say with the Beloved Apostle, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

And listen, if you today struggle wondering where you are, saying I would like to be able to have the comfort and peace that I see some of my friends enjoy because of their faith in Jesus Christ, hear what Jesus says. Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. He says, he that is athirst, let him come.

Let him come and drink. If you're thirsty for communion and fellowship with God, he says you come and drink. If you feel burdened with the weight of sin and you say I need help, I need forgiveness, I need salvation, he says him that cometh, I will in no wise cast out. If you haven't come before, may you come today. Out of my heart, in sorrow and night, Jesus I come, Jesus I come, into thy freedom, gladness and light, Jesus I come to thee. Out of my sickness, into thy health, out of my want and into thy wealth, out of my sin and into thyself, Jesus I come to thee. I pray that this message has been a blessing to you. Oh, how we need to emphasize this marvelous truth that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of sinners.

A lot of ideas and speculations are out there, but we come back to the authority of God's word and to the very words of Jesus himself and know that there is no other way, no other Savior, but Jesus Christ our Lord. If you'd like to get this complete message on CD, request it when writing us. And until next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. Out of my storms and into thy calm, out of distress to jubilant song, Jesus I come to thee. Out of unrest and arrogant pride, Jesus I come, Jesus I come, into thy blessed will to abide, Jesus I come to thee. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley Jr., pastor of the Cincinnati Primitive Baptist Church. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Wings like a dove, Jesus I come to thee. Out of the fear and dread of the tomb, Jesus I come, Jesus I come, into the joy and light of...