Why Should He Love Me So

I want to tell you friends about a story about a king and a sword. The philosopher Cicero told the antidote of Damocles, who was a courtier in the court of King Dionysus II of Sicily. Apparently, Damocles began to ingratiate himself to the king for complimenting him.

He complimented his position of greatness by saying he was truly fortunate to have such wealth and power. In response, Dionysus offered to switch places with him for one day so that Damocles could taste that very fortune firsthand. Damocles jumped at the chance and eagerly accepted the king's proposal.

Damocles felt like a god himself sitting on that throne surrounded by countless luxuries of exquisite embroidered rugs, fragrant perfumes, gourmet delicacies, silver and gold in the service of attendants unparalleled in their beauty and charm. It was a dream come true. But Damocles got more than he bargained for because King Dionysus had many enemies who wanted to kill him.

So he had arranged that a sword should hang above the throne held at the pommel only by a single hair of a horse's tail to evoke the sense of the dread of what it was like to be king. That having so much fortune came with much fear against the dangers that might at any moment drop down and overtake him. Why this became too much for Damocles who found himself looking up at the dangling sword ready to drop at any moment and he begged the king to switch places with him again.

That unsheathed sword dangling by a thread just filled him with too much dread. Well friend there's a message in there and you know man is exceedingly sinful and God is infinitely holy. Man is born with a poison in his blood with a ruined nature and a bent towards sin.

George Whitfield the great British evangelist described unregenerate man as half devil and half beast. And while Whitfield was preaching in London at Cammington Commons in the open air to 20,000 hearers a man in the crowd climbed a tree pulled down his britches and exposed himself and Whitfield pointed up to the naked man and cried out there there is my sermon illustrated for man is indeed half devil and half beast. Oh friend if you only knew the badness of your only heart and if you only knew the holiness of a thrice holy God it would completely undo you.

I know we hear a lot about how God is all just love today and all mercy today but my Bible declares God is angry with the wicked every day. Your life is full of sin and if your heart stopped beating right this instant if you're beyond the saving blood of Christ you'd be chased out of this world into outer darkness. Your problem may be self-love you may love yourself more than God and that's a danger.

You must submit to God and venture upon Christ to have any hope at all and if God doesn't invade your black heart and conquer your rebellion you just have to live your life and die and go on to hell even if you are the chairman of the deacons. Well that's my little introduction friends and I want to tell you tonight about Jesus. I'm going to talk up Jesus.

Jesus the pearl of great price who's worth selling off for so he may be gained. Give me a moment friends I'm feeling some opposition here I need to pray. Please give me a few moments here while I address my master or I'm just wasting your time here tonight.

Oh great God in heaven you who dwell in a high and lofty place you who dwell among the cherubim and your name is holy. Great God I need your assistance now I beg you to anoint me with thy spirit father help me lord I ask you for your power this message is beyond me these hearts of these dear people here is beyond me lord. I can't open their hearts I can't open their hearts with a crowbar only you can great God.

You're a big God who does big things. I pray you come do big things tonight you still have power to raise the dead raise someone here who's dead in sin and open their eyes. Oh great God come down among us I pray Jesus walk among us with your disturbing presence and have mercy.

Oh great king exercise your grace and save someone here tonight. I pray these things in the strong name of Jesus amen. Oh well thank you friends now let me get to my message.

I have to unburden my soul before you like we say in the south I'm gonna give you the oil straight from the can. I preach an undiluted unvarnished gospel of the cross of the son of God. Some of you here have never even heard it before but I'm gonna be honest with your souls tonight I don't want you to go to hell.

Hell is a terrible place full of unending misery. Listen friends when Jesus was here in his earthly ministry he went about doing good. Jesus healed the sick.

Jesus gave sight to the blind. Jesus fed the hungry. Jesus brought rest to the weary and Jesus even raised the dead to life.

What happened? Men cried away with him and nailed him to a cross. Listen to the word of God. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers and they stripped him and they put on him a scarlet robe and when they had plated a crown of thorns they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand and they bowed the knee before him saying hail king of the Jews and they spit upon him and they took the reed and smote him on the head and after they had mocked him they took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on him and led him away to crucify him and as those beastly men drove those rusty nails into the hands and feet of the son of God every stroke of the hammer was an explanation point crying out God must punish sin.

God must punish sin. God must punish sin. Listen to me friends.

I heard a story one time that just about broke my heart. It was about how an itinerant evangelist came to a certain town in a small village to hold a revival tent meeting and there was a big man in that town whom the townspeople feared. They feared his fist because he could lick any man in a fight while he could fight two men at once and knock them both down.

He was a violent man and a drinking man and when he drank he grew more violent and he beat his wife and he beat his sons and the people feared this man and when this man heard about that new preacher in town he swore up and down as he walked through the streets he'd go to that meeting that night and disrupt it and his goal was to knock that preacher to the ground and run him out of town but when he got there he heard the story about how God gave his dear son to hang naked on a bloody cross for sinners and that his shed blood could cover a multitude of sins and that big man who came there to knock that preacher down that night why he got knocked down himself by God's spirit and he got saved that night and he reformed himself and he became a gentle man he became a loving husband and a loving father and an ideal model citizen and from that night forward he was a changed man and when it came time for him to die his oldest son gave the eulogy at his funeral and this is what he said a father was touched by Jesus and he was changed into a new man through the new birth and when he would lead us his family through daily devotions at our little kitchen table every day he'd read the passage from Isaiah with fervency and he'd read the same tender passage every time from Isaiah chapter 53 and every time he read it we he could never ever get past verse five without breaking down and sobbing like a little child he is despised and rejected a man a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we esteemed him not surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all see that scene at calvary friends there yonder is the son of God on calvary's hill he hangs there between two condemned criminals on that bloody cross the crowd mills about gawking at that scandalous sight of the son of God on the cross with the sign above them king of the jews on his head is that plated crown of thorns and on his forehead are streaks of blood which drip down and people walk by the bystanders mock him they yell you saved others save yourself then there's laughter suddenly the wind picks up and the skies turn black and a cry pierces the very heavens it is finished and his body goes limp the curtain in the temple is torn asunder and rocks are rent as the very earth rumbles as all hell begins to break loose then there's silence a solemn silence pervades that hill oh look at that man on the cross friend look at that blessed man on the uh see him there with his arms outstretched beckoning you to come to him and believe on him look at that blood-stained savior for sin look at that son of God as he rise and wiggles under the terrible weight of sin my my filthy sins your wretched sins see him there on that cross look unto me and be you saved all the ends of the earth for I am God there is none else oh friends maybe God will use this time to make a transaction with you tonight Jesus made one on Calvary for sure in the atonement of sin I don't know if you realize friend just what Jesus did on Calvary it was something personal something personal between him and you between him and me the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me I want this truth to pierce your hearts tonight friends maybe you'll see for the very first time how Christ died for you how he organized how he agonized for you how he bled for you how those nails were put into his hands for you how he died there for you and how he was raised for you do you see it oh listen to this friend with a somber heart I pray for God's grace right now love sent my savior to die in my stead why should he love me so meekly to Calvary's cross he was led why should he love me so oh why should he love me so why should he love me so why should my savior to Calvary go why should he love me so nails pierced his hands and his feet for my sin why should he love me so he suffered sore my salvation to win why should he love me so oh why should he love me so why should he love me so why should my savior to Calvary go why should he love me so