Eleventh Avenue Church
The following is reprinted with permission of The Timely Messenger

The Sinners and The Saviour



by Ike T. Sidebottom

As I write these very lines, I know myself to be a sinner. I also know that you, who are now reading this message, are, likewise, sinners: for God has said, "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not" (Ecclesiastes 7:20). Again, He saith, "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

While it is true that some of us are sinners, who have been saved by grace, and others are sinners, who have not been saved; it is also true that we are all sinners: for it is written, "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (I John 1:8).

All men are sinners, because Adam, the federal head of the human family, sinned: "wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinner" (Romans 5:12).

The natural man cannot quit his sinning and begin doing good. He is a natural bom sinner. He is spiritually bankrupt; he can neither save himself, nor be of any help to God in saving him. The Spirit of God must have had these facts in mind when He spoke through the prophet, saying, "can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, who are accustomed to doing evil" (Jeremiah 13:23).

Even though our God, Who is infinitely just and holy, has declared us all under sin; we can thank Him again and again for commending His love toward us; "in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). He did not die for His own sins, but He died for our sins: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (I Peter 3:18).

"The Lord from heaven" became "a man of sorrows" that He might be our Saviour. He "made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:7-11).

It is this, once crucified, but now risen and exalted, One: that we preach as our Saviour, and as the Saviour of all, who will believe this gospel of God's grace. The gospel is found in His substitutionary death on the cross for our sins, and His bodily resurrection from the grave for our justification. Truly, Jesus our Lord "was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:24-25).

Paul was preaching this gospel, when he said, "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:3-4).

My dear unsaved friend, God cannot save you until you believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, as your suffering substitute, Who died for your sins and Who rose again for your justification. You must cease from your own efforts, your religious efforts, and all other efforts; and trust only in the finished work of Christ, which He accomplished on the cross in your behalf. It is not a question of what you can do, in order to be saved, it is what Jesus Christ has already done for you.

God sent not His Son into the world to condemn you, or me, or any one else; He sent His Son that we all, through Him, might be saved. "He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18).

All sinners, who believe this gospel, are saved by grace, and become God's saints.

May 2001 Edition Contents
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