Christ the Sovereign, Stranger, Savior

Turn with me please to the book of Philippians. If you have a Bible, you're able to turn to it. The book of Philippians chapter 2. The book of Philippians chapter 2, and let's read there at verse 9. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 9. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him.

This thrills me. And given him a name, the 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. This passage so clearly presents to you and me tonight the great truth of Christ, the sovereign Lord of all.

And oh that you might get a glimpse of him even as this gospel meeting continues a little longer. I want to turn back to the book of Luke's gospel please. Chapter 10.

Gospel of Luke chapter 10. And we'll read a couple of verses there. Luke's gospel chapter 10 and verse 30.

This is a story that the Lord Jesus told. No doubt a true incident that took place. And he says in verse 30 of Luke's gospel chapter 10, And Jesus said a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed.

They left him half dead. Verse 33, but a certain Samaritan as he journeyed came where he was when he saw him. He had compassion on him and went to him and bound up his wounds pouring in oil and wine and set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

Christ pictured in this beautiful story as a stranger. A Samaritan. Someone despised.

Someone for whom most people in the Jewish nation would have had no time at all. But thank God, He had time for them. Christ the stranger.

Christ the stranger. Is He a stranger to you still tonight? Is He a stranger still? One more passage please. If you would turn to 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 15.

One of those blessed texts of scripture that conveys so much. Precious words, wonderful results when a sinner takes it in. 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 15.

This is a faithful saying. You can trust it. Worthy of all acceptation you should receive it and make it your own.

That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And Paul says of whom I stand first in line. Christ the savior of sinners.

Trust that God will bless what we've read. What we heard already from God's precious word. Christ the sovereign Lord.

Christ the stranger sadly to so many. And Christ the savior as we've been hearing of a number. What a wonderful savior is Jesus my Lord.

And I wish tonight that you knew Him as I have come to know Him. The savior, the wondrous savior of sinners. This should be the most important subject in all the world to you tonight if you're not saved.

Because salvation does not depend upon a story. No matter how good the story might be. Salvation does not depend upon experiences.

As precious as some of those experiences that we relate might be. Salvation depends on Christ. And Christ alone.

He's the savior. He's the one you need. And you need tonight to turn your eyes upon Jesus.

And find out He is the one. And He is all you need. He is the savior for you at this hour.

I want to talk to you first of all about the sovereign. I am afraid that the most of us here tonight have small thoughts of God. I am afraid that tonight we have very little thought at all about the savior.

And His greatness. And His power. And His majesty.

And His glory. And we read tonight that God has highly exalted Him. Given Him a name.

The name. That unique name. That peerless name.

Above every name. There are many names that are told us in this world. And they are admired.

And their names light up the billboards. And they're the ones with the huge houses. And what we call fame.

But there is no name that could possibly compare with the precious name of Jesus. God has given Him a name above every name. And there are so many in our world.

And they think little about Him at all. There are so few in this world who give Him the credit or the glory. The honor that He deserves.

The respect that He is so much deserving of. And God has given Him the highest place. Thank God.

I have a glorious sovereign savior. And He could be yours even tonight. Andy was a young man a number of years ago.

When pot-bellied stoves used to sit in the middle of the country store. And people used to gather around and sit there. And the old men would come.

And they would yarn away. You know. Telling their stories.

And Andy was a young man who led a group. He was a natural leader. And they came into the store one night.

And Andy realized that he certainly had the attention of his friends. He was the one that they all admired. He was the one that they were so willing to follow.

He was the one who set the pace and set the standards. Everybody wanted to be like him. And as Andy walked in that night.

He come up with something that got everybody's attention in that store. He said, you know, he said, I'd gladly give up all hope of anything in Christ for five bucks. All of a sudden the store went quiet.

The old men stopped talking. They turned to see the young man who's spoken those brave words. And of course, because he knew he had an audience.

He had to say it again. I would give up all hope of anything in Christ for five dollars. And an old farmer rose up off his chair.

He walked over to the counter. In the sight of everybody, he called the storekeeper for a piece of paper and a pen. He pulled five dollars out of his wallet.

He laid it on the counter. He said, young man, if you'll sign this paper, the five dollars is yours. The young man swaggered over, you know, he knew everybody was watching and listening.

He was the hero. He was the guy everybody was paying attention to. He was the center of the spotlight.

The old man, the old farmer. He said, I want you to write this. I, Andy, for the sum of five dollars received.

Do now. Once and forever. And he picked up the pen.

The five dollars was going to be his and he started to write. And the old man continued, do now once and forever. Give up hope of any blessing in Christ.

And he said, now sign your name. You know, Sandy or Andy, he proceeded with his writing. When it came down to it, he'd obviously had a moment or two to do some thinking in the midst of his foolishness.

And when it came time to sign his name, that I, Andy, for the sum of five dollars received. Do now once and forever give up all hope of blessing in Christ. The time has come to put his signature where his mouth was.

He looked around. He looked at his friends. He put the pen down.

He said, I didn't mean it. Friend, tell me what you'll do without Christ. What you do without a savior to be like those that we've been hearing about.

They came and they went. And to miss it. To miss him.

To lose your soul for all eternity. Oh, he's the sovereign Lord. It's a great reality.

Every knee will bow to him. Every knee. In heaven, they'll be glad to bow and praise his name.

On earth, they will bow. And in the infernal world, those that have held out, those that have stubbornly refused to bow in life, those that have found themselves in the depths of torment, lost forever, they'll bow. Every knee will bow.

Every tongue will confess openly. He's Lord. He's Lord.

He's the sovereign Lord. Have you been ignoring him? Have you been playing games with the Almighty? You know, when I was a boy, we used to play marbles, especially this time of year when there's a little mud around. I was good at marbles.

Really good. When I was finished my career in marbles, I had buckets of this stuff. I always wanted to know one thing before I played.

Are we playing for fun? Or are we playing for keeps? Some of you tonight may be playing the devil's games for fun. But I want you to know, he's playing for keeps. And you could lose everything.

And not only everything, but everything forever. How about it tonight? If he is the one he says he is, if he is the one who met all the dire need of the sinner, if he's the one who went and paid all that price of the cross, if he loved you ever so much that he would take your place upon that tree and suffer such deep agony, my friend, should there not be some response to him tonight? He's Christ. The sovereign Lord.

The majesty in the heavens. The glory of God brought forth before you. Presented as a Savior.

And here tonight, sadly, most of us treat him like Christ the stranger. The story we find in Luke's Gospel chapter 10. You know, this man who was traveling down from Jerusalem to Jericho, no doubt he was thinking, maybe he was planning, anticipating the success of his business or the joy of his trip, whatever it might have been.

No doubt he was thinking that time and privilege and opportunity were his. He had them. And he didn't know.

He thought all was well. And time was running out. And time's running out.

Made no mistake about it. The one who died upon that cross promised, I will come again. And he's the only one who's always kept his promises.

And he's going to come. And my heart says, even so come Lord Jesus. You say, don't you care about lost souls? Yes, my friend, I do.

Don't you love to preach this gospel to the whosoever will? Absolutely. But the Lord Jesus deserves the honor. And he's taken 2000 years of abuse.

He's been slighted. He's been slandered. He's been despised.

He's been forsaken. He's been turned from. Blow after blow has fallen upon him still from the hands of sinful men.

As they heap their abuse on the Holy One of God. And still he loves you. And still he's long suffering.

Here's this man thinking all was well. And time was running out. The clock was ticking.

Oh, I know you've heard that before, haven't you? Some of you here who have heard the gospel many times. You have heard it said. You have heard people say, why even back when I was saved, I thought the Lord could come at any moment and he could.

But if I thought he was near to coming then. You can be certain. The clock has been ticking regularly on time with God's schedule.

And he that shall come. He will come. And he will not tarry.

Your time is running out. And you're not paying much attention. And then this man.

He's taken advantage of. He never saw it coming. He would never have gone down that road.

And he thought that this would have taken place as they rose up against him. And they beat him and they left him wounding him, leaving him half dead. They didn't care.

Just like we were hearing. I didn't care whether he died or lived. And if you think my friend that this world has any care for your soul.

You can be more wrong. And when it came time to die. This man discovered he's got nothing.

Nothing to die with. Nothing. Nothing.

Nothing to die with. Imagine the moment coming. You never expected that that would happen, would you in your life? Maybe you've been putting God off.

Maybe you've been off this matter of salvation. Perhaps God has been speaking to you like he spoke to some that we've heard of tonight. And time and time again you've just pushed it to the side.

Back into the dark recesses of your mind. I'll think about it the next meeting. And you don't realize time is running out.

This may be your very last opportunity. It may be all over. And all over forever.

When this man was next door to death. He had nothing. If God brought you that close.

A hair bred from eternity. What have you got friend? Oh I know you got excuses as to why perhaps you've waited this long. And maybe you think you've got reasons why you've got it against God.

Because of whatever might have taken place in your life. I can remember thinking much the same thing. I can remember raising my fist against God and defying him.

And yet God looked down at that puny raised fist and loved me anyway. And he loves you tonight. And his whole heart is moved towards you.

Just like this Samaritan stranger. The Lord Jesus may still be a stranger to you. But I want to tell you my friend.

You are no stranger to him. He knows you all together. He knows your thoughts.

He knows your circumstances. He understands your danger. He realizes that eternity will strip you of everything.

And leave you exposed to the wrath of God. And this stranger saw him. And his being was moved towards him.

One of the beautiful things about the gospel of Luke is. How the Savior is so often spoken of as being moved with compassion. He really cares.

He cares like no one else cares. You personally are precious in his sight. He gave his all upon the cross of shame that you might be redeemed.

He pitied him. He provided for him. He had everything he needed.

Oh thank God for one who saw me plunged in deep distress and came to my relief. For me. He bore the shameful cross.

And carried all my grief. Oh yes. The Lord Jesus might be a stranger to you.

But you are well known and deeply loved by him. I want you to think about Christ the Savior tonight. First Timothy chapter 1 verse 15 says, This is a faithful saying.

Oh don't you love it? I love that kind of rock solid assurance that's given to us. This is true. And God is speaking to you.

And he speaks to reveal his heart. He speaks to show you the way. He speaks to reveal to you his wondrous, amazing, precious love.

This is a faithful saying. What a welcome it deserves. What have you done with it? How have you treated it tonight? That love of God that's greater far than tongues or pen could ever tell.

It reaches out to you tonight because he's the Savior. He is the one who saw us in our condition and our need. He's the Son of God.

The high and lofty one that inhabits eternity. He's the great and mighty creator. He's the awesome Lord of all.

He's the mighty God able to save tonight. And Christ Jesus came into the world. One specific mission.

To save sinners. I'm so glad there was a day in my life when I realized that he came for a sinner like me. That's the center of the gospel.

Christ. The one who did what was necessary. The one who did everything that was necessary.

The one who paid the price. The one who paid all the debt. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Sinners. I was in Welland, Ontario some time ago and I was out walking. And I heard the sounds of an ambulance coming in.

I realized that there was some kind of an emergency. And that ambulance was having trouble getting through the streets. Because people wouldn't get out of the way.

I thought, you know, it'd be a lot different if it was their loved one who was having an issue. If it was their emergency. It just was no respect.

If you've given this one who came to save you the respect he deserves. He loved you so. He gave his precious life upon the cross to deliver you.

Down in Florida, a young lad was hot. He decided to go for a swim. They happened to live on the water, a small lake.

He ran down the docks flinging clothes in every direction as he went. Dove into the water and swam out into the lake. His dad had been busy around the property.

And all of a sudden, the hackles on his dad's back just rose up because he saw something that his boy didn't see. He saw that gator making its way towards that boy so carefree. And that father started to shout.

And as he called that boy, that boy seemed to understand it was a race. As that boy headed towards the end of the pier where his dad was waiting for him to lift him out. And the boy reached the pier in his dad's arms.

Just at the time that those mighty jaws clamped down on his legs. And there was a struggle. Between a gator that didn't want to let go its prey and a dad who loved his boy so much.

He wouldn't let him go. And somehow that dad managed to save that boy. But all the deep scars and wounds on the boy's legs.

And he spent time in the hospital as they took such care of him and gave him treatment. Newspaper people heard about it. They went to interview the boy.

And they asked if they could see his scars. And boy had some amazing scars. It was fortunate it wasn't any worse.

And they talked about his dad. And the boy says, you know, I got something else to show you. And he peeled down his shirt.

And on that boy's arms and shoulders were more scars. And those were the scars of his father's love. Who would not let him go.

Do you realize tonight that there's someone who loved you so much? He was willing to go to a cross of suffering and shame. And he endured so much at the hands of sinners. And then as proof of his great love to you, this one said, father, forgive them.

They know not what they do. And on him, because there was only one way God can answer that prayer. On him, all God's judgment that we deserve fell.

And the marks of Calvary are to speak to your soul tonight. This is the Savior, says God. And this, this is a faithful saying.

Christ Jesus came. Thank God he came. And he came into this world.

And he came to deliver, to rescue, to save sinners. That boy was so proud of the scars of his father's love. And there's one on Calvary who endured all that must be endured to save us.

And someday in heaven, and I look upon that majesty, and I see that glorious Lord Jesus. Perhaps he'll show again the marks, the scars of that which he suffered for the sinner here. And I'll see the price, though I'll never fully comprehend it.

I'll see the price of his amazing love. This is a faithful saying. What a welcome it deserves tonight.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners like me. And like Paul, I can say I stand first in line. It was for me, all for me.

Love of God, so great, so free. My friend tonight, don't slight him any longer. You may not have any longer to turn away.

Trust the Savior. Rejoice in him tonight. May God bless his precious Word.

Let's pray.