In Luke chapter 23, there are the words of our Savior recorded that He spoke while He was hanging on the cross.
And I don't know the full application of the words that He said. That's a subject for another time, but He said these words, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And those who were responsible for the death of Jesus Christ really did not know what they were doing. They thought they were putting an end to the life of a man who had become a threat to them, that they would be done with Him, all the while not knowing that they were furthering the purposes of God in the salvation of His people.
They knew not what they were doing. And many of the enemies of Christ, although Jesus didn't say this, by implication, I'm saying this tonight, they did not know what they were saying when they said what they said about our Savior. We're going to concentrate tonight on just two verses. Those are in verse 31 and verse 32. Primarily verse 31 that says, Likewise, the chief priests, also mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, He saved others, Himself He cannot save. The gospel according to Christ's enemies. And I read an extended passage here in Mark, chapter 15, from Pilate's words to the crowds who were calling for Jesus's crucifixion.
Why? What evil has He done? Recorded in verses 13 and 14. John chapter 19, verse 4, records Pilate saying, I find no fault in Him. But despite finding no fault in Him, despite no evil had He done, He was complicit in turning Jesus over for crucifixion. So from Pilate's words to the inscription above his head on the cross that said the King of the Jews, recorded in verse 26.
Now, you remember the incident that's recorded in John chapter 19. The chief priests were not happy with Pilate putting that inscription above the cross. They said, Do not say the King of the Jews say that He said He was the King of the Jews. And Pilate said, What I have written, I have written.
Again, he did not know what he was saying, did he? He was not only the King of the Jews, he was the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And then to the mocking words of the chief priests and scribes of Jesus in verse 31. He saved others himself.
He cannot save. Words of profound irony. Although they said what they said out of hearts of malice and hatred and evil and hatred, to discredit Jesus and to justify their wicked deeds, they at the same time spoke words of gospel truth. So tonight I want us to look at these words of the chief priests and the scribes, the religious crowd, that's recorded in verse 31, where they said in mocking, He saved others himself, He cannot save. Again, this is a statement, an unintended statement of gospel truth, of saving truth. And when I say irony, what do I mean by irony? We know we say, though that was ironic, those were words of irony.
Irony are words spoken to convey a certain meaning, contrary to the actual literal meaning of the same words. So with that in mind, let's consider this irony in verse 31. He saved others himself, He cannot save. And let's consider this statement of irony by the enemies of Christ under three headings. Number one, I want you to see the reason for His coming in these words. Number two, the saving reality of His ministry. And number three, the divine intent of the cross in Christ's ministry.
Those three points. Number one, the reason for His coming. They said again in verse 31, He saved others.
Never was a truer word spoken. It was the reason for His coming. I love the way the Bible is put together. Always look to connect the words spoken concerning Jesus with the miracles that He performs.
Luke chapter 19 verse 1 says, Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And you know that story.
You're familiar with the story. Zacchaeus was changed, transformed, converted. What is the evidence of that? Zacchaeus stood and said, Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold. And Jesus said to him, Today, salvation has come to this house because he also is a son of Abraham. What did they mockingly say?
What was the irony in what they said? He saved others. Never a truer statement had been made. Yes, he saved others. Zacchaeus, today, salvation has come to thy house. So the story of Zacchaeus is concluded with a purpose statement in verse 10 of Luke chapter 19. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Exhibit A, Zacchaeus. Not just the words of Jesus, but the very actions of Jesus themselves reinforce this incredible purpose statement. It was the reason for his coming. So many people can quote John 3 16, but disconnected from verse 17. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Verse 17, For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Another purpose statement.
Again, the irony in their mockery. He saved others. Yes, He did.
Yes, He did. And that is the very reason that He came. John chapter 12, verse 47. Jesus is speaking and He says, If anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He saved others.
Yes, indeed He did. And that was the very purpose that He came. Paul, after his conversion experience, says in 1 Timothy 1, verse 15, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Christ Jesus, he says, came into the world to save sinners. The word Christ is not so much a name as it is a title. It's corresponding to the Hebrew word Messiah. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the anointed one of God. He is Christ Jesus. Jesus means Savior.
You remember the angel instructing Joseph to give the name to this son that Mary, his betrothed wife, is carrying. You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. So Jesus didn't come to set a good example. Jesus didn't come to teach us the way.
Jesus didn't come to show us how to patiently endure injustice. He came on a saving mission. He came to give His life a ransom for many. So the irony in their mockery of Jesus, there in verse 31 of Mark 15, He saved others. Yes, yes He did. That was the whole reason that He came.
But they surely couldn't connect what was happening in the present with how that was going to take place. So again, we're considering these words of the chief priests and scribes, the irony in it. He saved others.
Himself He cannot save. So consider with me number two, not only the reason for Christ's coming, but the saving reality of His ministry. And I have seven examples and I'll mention all seven. We won't look at the passages that unpack each one of them, but here are just a sampling. Here are seven examples of lives being changed, lives being transformed, indeed lives, men and women, being saved as the religious leaders mockingly said, He saved others. You remember the woman who anointed Jesus with the expensive flask of fragrant oil in Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7.
He's in Simon the Pharisee's house. Verse 44 says, Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in.
You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore, I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Then he said to her, Your sins are forgiven. And those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, Who is this who even forgives sins? Then he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you.
Go in peace. The saving reality of his ministry, this woman. Another notable example of this is the conversion of Zacchaeus. We won't go back there.
We looked at that already. What about the paralyzed man of Mark chapter 2? Four men brought this man, this friend of theirs, in front of Jesus. And they, I think, wanted Jesus to heal him of his paralysis. But Jesus looked at the man and said, sons, your sins are forgiven you. And again, religious leaders were there and they were thinking among themselves and Jesus knew what they were thinking and he said, they said among themselves, Who can forgive sins but God alone?
Duh! That's who they were talking to! God in the flesh! Jesus Christ! Who can forgive sins but God alone? Jesus said to them, which is easier to say? Your sins are forgiven or take up your bed and walk. But so that you know the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, I say to this man, take up your bed and walk. And the man got up and walked proving that Jesus was exactly who he claimed to be. The Savior, the one who forgives sins. What about blind Bartimaeus in John chapter 9? Blind Bartimaeus, they gave him a hard time. Did everything they could to discredit him, excuse away what had transpired. Verse 24 of John 9 says, So they called again the man who was blind, this is the fourth time they've called him, and said to him, Give God the glory!
Irony! We know that this man is a sinner. He answered and said, Whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know. One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see. Then they said to him again, What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them, I told you already and you did not listen.
Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? They love that jab, don't you? Yes, they couldn't discredit this man, could they? Verse 35 of that chapter says, Jesus heard that they had cast him out, that is out of the temple, and when he had found him he said to him, Do you believe in the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? And Jesus said to him, this is blind Bartimaeus, You have both seen him, and it is he who is talking with you. Then he said, Lord, I believe.
What an encounter. And he worshiped him. And Jesus said, for judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind. Then some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these words and said to him, Are we blind also? They got the point. And Jesus said to them in verse 41, If you were blind, you would have no sin, but now you say, We see, therefore your sin remains.
Wow. We could look at the leper of Luke chapter 17. We could take a time and look at the Samaritan woman of John chapter 4, or one of their own, Nicodemus. But I pondered that statement, that statement of mockery that they make there in Mark chapter 15. When they say, He saved others.
And we don't know what is in their mind that informs that statement. He saved others. We're kind of left to speculation. But because of the effect that the raising of Lazarus brought about, I think perhaps that's who they have in mind. They were not talking about spiritual new birth. They were talking about he saved others. He saved Lazarus from physical death.
He had been dead for four days. John chapter 11. We won't take the time to look at the account of the raising of Lazarus. You're familiar with it, but I want you to see the fallout of that. And as you're reading your Bible, you cannot miss this. This is the watershed issue. This is where things turned drastically.
This was the last straw for the religious leaders. Listen to the language. Listen to their resolve.
Listen to the critical point things have come to. Verse 45. Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things Jesus did believed in him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, What shall we do?
For this man works many signs. If we let him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation. And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, Now, we're talking, kind of the main emphasis here is the irony in the statement of the enemies of Christ and how they preached the gospel to us. Listen to the irony in this statement by Caiaphas. One of them, Caiaphas, being the high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing at all.
Nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish. They know not what they say. He didn't know what he was saying. Now this he did not say on his own authority. This is John saying. This he did not say on his own authority. But being the high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. And not for that nation only, but also that he would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. Now get this, don't miss this, verse 53, Then from that day on they plotted to put him to death. That's it. We can't tolerate this man anymore.
He's too much of a threat to us. Then from that day on they plotted to put him to death. Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness to a city called Ephraim, and there he remained with his disciples. And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. Then they sought Jesus and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple.
What do you think? That he'll come to the feast? Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it that they might seize him. You talk about having a target on you, they were determined that Jesus must die. So, but not only was Jesus a threat to them, but the man who received the miracle, Lazarus, became a threat to them.
The very next chapter. Chapter 12 verse 9 says, Now a great many of the Jews knew that he was there, that is Jesus had come for the Passover, and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead, but the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. So we're talking about the saving reality of the ministry of Jesus.
You can't miss it. And that's why this statement of irony is such a gospel truth spoken by the enemies of Christ. Verse 31 again of Mark 15. He saved others. He saved others, yes he did, and he's still saving. He saved you, he saved me.
I hope that from time to time you get moved in your spirit, you get overwhelmed by the reality. As you're sitting here, a choir is here, assembled, practiced, ready to lead us in worship, and they're singing a great gospel hymn. And as I'm sitting down there, and I'm scanning the faces of those who make up our choir, I'm going down the line saying, God, thank you for saving her. Thank you for saving him. Thank you for making him a trophy of your grace. Thank you that he, she, they are members of the body of Christ at Beacon Baptist Church. Miracles.
He saved others. Are you in that number tonight? Are you? I hope you are. I pray that you are. But if you're not, oh, may God be kind to you, gracious to you. Open your blinded eyes.
Because if he doesn't, you'll never see. You'll be as blind as these religious Pharisees and scribes. No, when Jesus' enemies said he saved others, they meant it as a ridicule, as an insult. But they spoke the truth. He had indeed been saving people, and he is still doing so. So, we've considered the reason for his coming, the saving reality of his ministry, number three, I want you to see with me, the divine intent of the cross in Christ's ministry. The divine intent of the cross in Christ's ministry. And for that, I draw from the last half of this statement of ridicule and mockery, the statement of irony made by who? The chief priests, verse 31, advised the chief priests, also mocking among themselves with the scribes, he saved others.
Himself, he cannot save. Did you notice, I hope your Bible is like my Bible, that H in himself is capital, and the H in he is also capital? John didn't miss the point. John knew who Jesus was. He was the God-man. He recognized him as deity.
He himself, we're not talking about the man Jesus, we're talking about the God-man here. So, when they say he couldn't save himself, he saved others, himself, he cannot save. They clearly meant that once Jesus had been nailed to the cross, there was nothing he could do. He was doomed. His life was over.
There was no coming back from this. That's what I believe they meant. However, they're talking about human impossibility. Jesus is talking about divine intentionality.
That's what he's about. That's his mission, divine intentionality. And what is the divine intention for Jesus? Well, the whole emphasis of the Bible, humanly speaking, is that Jesus could have avoided all of this. But Luke 9 verse 51 tells of a time when Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.
And that is prefaced by these words. When the days drew near for him to be taken up, which I think meant taken up to Calvary, Luke was indicating that Jesus not only knew what lay ahead, but that he was really in control of these events. Don't read the gruesome narrative of the crucifixion and all that took place to Jesus and have pity for Jesus. Jesus is not a victim here. Jesus is a conqueror. Jesus said, no man takes my life from me.
I lay it down freely, willingly. Jesus was never more in control of the events of his life than he was on the cross of Calvary. Nobody took his life from him. So they meant humanly impossible. He himself, he can't save himself.
No. Again, notice the irony in this. He saved others himself, he cannot save. Why not? Why can't Jesus save himself? Because that's not the purpose for which he came. He settled that matter in Gethsemane, didn't he?
Not my will, but yours be done. There were occasions where Jesus spoke plainly about it. You remember Peter give that great confession when Jesus said, who do men say the Son of Man is? Well, some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah. And Jesus said, well, who do you say that I am? And Peter speaking for the group says, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said in response to him, Simon Barjona, flesh and blood hasn't revealed this to you, but my Father, which is in heaven. And just a few verses later, Jesus begins to talk very plainly to his disciples. And he says this, it says in Mark, he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again.
As far as the religious leaders are concerned, this is human impossibility. He cannot save himself, but as far as Jesus is concerned, this is divine intentionality. He must, he says, he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected. Two chapters later in Mark chapter 10, they were on the road going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them and they were amazed. And those who followed were afraid. And taking the 12 again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him saying, see, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles and they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him and after three days, he will rise again.
Mark 10, 32 to 34. Humanly speaking, he could have saved himself from all of this. He could have stayed away from Jerusalem. He could have avoided the controversy with the religious leaders. He could have called down heavenly assistants. Remember when Peter drew the sword when they came for Jesus in the garden? Jesus said this, do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father and he will at once send more than 12 legions of angels? I don't know who they thought they were talking to here when they were mocking Jesus. He himself can't save himself.
Oh, really? He had at his disposal 12 legions of angels, but we're talking about divine intentionality and the divine intention here was for Jesus to give his life, for Jesus to die a cursed death for the sake of sinners. I love what Jesus said after he said this, do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father and he will at once send more than 12 legions of angels? Next verse, how then could the scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen thus? It must.
It must. It can't be any other way. We're talking about divine intentionality. What was unfolding? The culmination of a divine plan. Thus it was true.
He cannot and could not save himself. Christ freely embraced the purpose of the Father for the salvation of sinners. John chapter 12 verse 27 records these words. These are the words of Jesus praying to his Father. Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. Glorify your name. Divine intentionality.
This was the reason that he came. For Jesus to save himself would mean no salvation for you or me. No salvation for anyone. So yes it was mockery. Yes it was irony that they said what they said. They meant in his human weakness and predicament he could not save himself from that. But the irony is they were speaking again gospel truth. Christ was dying the accursed death. And what did Paul say about that in Galatians 3? Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. Let me conclude tonight with coming alongside the two men walking on the road to Emmaus. Discouraged, despondent, hope gone, Jesus walks up alongside them.
Engages them in conversation. Hey fellas why are you so downcast? Are you the only one in Israel that hasn't known what's been going on around here? Jesus said what things? What things?
Oh my. We had hoped past tense that Jesus was the Messiah. Their hopes were dashed. Remember?
Listen to what he said to them. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? Was it not necessary?
Absolutely necessary. Apart from the death of Jesus Christ, apart from his sacrificial death, apart from him giving himself for sinners like you and me, there's no hope for you and me. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
If there was one classroom I'd like to have been in, it had been that classroom. Wouldn't you like to have heard what Jesus said about the Old Testament scriptures as they related to him? Probably a lot of passages that we've missed and skipped over. But tonight, let's not take the place of the mockers and the critics. Isn't it amazing that God can so superintend events that even controls the words of evil men who have wicked intentions, have no interest in the gospel, have no interest in promoting truth, and yet God orders and controls even their own words that they're speaking gospel truth.
The gospel according to the enemies of Christ. He saved others. Yes, he did.
And yes, he is. And yes, he will. Himself, he cannot save. He would not save himself because to save himself would to abandon the divine plan from eternity past.
He must, and he did. And we rejoice in a Savior who obeyed the Father's will and has secured eternal redemption for his people. And that's why the Bible says God has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. But humiliation precedes exaltation. The humiliation of the Incarnation, the humiliation of the cross, the humiliation of the death of the cross all preceded his exaltation. So we rejoice, as we heard this morning, about a Savior who has finished his work and has taken his place, seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. Five times the New Testament tells us that.
It must be because we're not to miss that, we're not to forget that. So as we come to the table tonight, let's rejoice in a Savior who denied himself for our sake that we might be saved. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for how you used even the words of the enemies of Christ to promote gospel truth. Father, open our hearts to gospel truth that we might live and not die. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
