Jesus Alone Saves

There is no better title for this sermon, but “Difference Maker”. I sat here with “Hmm..” in my mind. The title my own pastor used for one of his sermon’s title. I’m drawn to call this one, “Difference Maker”. We will see how Jesus really is a difference maker. More than doctors and nurses making a different in people’s lives. But how Jesus makes a difference in everyone’s life, those who come to him for change. Jesus, the difference maker.

We will look at Jesus from different 2 points in his early life. He was the Preacher and Redeemer. You would image that the preacher would be preaching about someone else than himself, but Jesus came proclaiming his own glory.

Preacher

Why would Jesus need to preach? He sent his prophets to preach to people before him. He sent John to preach before he started his own ministry. He sent his people to proclaim repent to the Jews and still no one listen. Sinners wouldn’t listen to sinners. Let’s try to see if sinners would listen to Holy Jesus. Surely mankind would listen to God himself if not the prophets God sent. But even at the voice of God, people rejected him and turn their own way and had Jesus killed. The main reason why Jesus himself had to preach was so he himself could inform all mankind that they need to repent and come back to God. All the prophets came, now it’s Jesus’s turn and by his words, lives are change forever.

18“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

(Luke 4:18-19)

` The verses above are words Jesus read out of the book of Isaiah in the synagogue one Sabbath day. Jesus then went on to say that the words are fulfilled. Jesus has come forth to be the anointed one. The Christ. The King of Kings he proclaim himself to be God, on that very that day. He enters the mission field that day, to preach Good News, of freedom and recovery to the prisoners, blind and oppressed. To the outcast of society and the Jews that day didn’t like that.

The Jews didn’t understand God had another plan. The Jewish people thought that the Christ would come with this big army of angles and just wipe Rome off the face of the earth, but he didn’t. God had another plan that wasn’t going to be like man’s plans. His plan had to do with the heart. He came to start a kingdom that did more than save a lost people, but a lost world. God’s Plan had to be with making a difference in the heart of men, woman and child. Poor in spirit, Prisoners of sin and the oppress. He came for the rejection, not the acceptation of the world. To turn their world around.

The Lord Jesus preached a sermon that was not only recorded as the longest, but also strongest sermon that many ministers could note as heart touching. The sermon on the mount. The words Jesus said in the start of this sermon are the very word spoken to the very people who Jesus comes seeking. We can look and see…

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (Matthew 5:3-4)

The people who Jesus came for wasn’t the people who you would think a Holy God would come for. The Poor in Spirit are those who are in debt to sin. They are poor in spirit. Their in spiritual debt to their sin and understand that they are. They are hopeless beyond image. Jesus didn’t come for the righteous, but unrighteous. Not the preacher, but the murderer. Jesus came to turn their hopeless life around and give them hope, by saying that they still have hope. “Theirs in the kingdom of heaven”. If those who are poor in spirit just turn to Jesus, they will find rest and no longer be in debt to sin. Jesus soon would pay that price of sin, by his own death on the cross. Providing a debt free solution to all those in debt to sin, to those poor in spirit, so they to can receive everlasting life, the kingdom of heaven.

The next group of people Jesus came for are those who mourn. This word is tied into the poor in spirit one. See, those poor in spirit understand that they are sinner. They understand they are separated from God. They understand that because of their own sin, they are in a war against God and they are heading to hell. They know that their life on earth in only going to lead to eternal life in hell. They mourn because of their sin. They mourn because they are hopeless and are rejected by mankind and they feel that God as also rejected them. They mourn because they are hurt deep down inside and think there is no way out of this pit there in. They try turn to drugs, drinking, sex, anything and everything, maybe poker, board game, education, but they never fill this missing piece in their heart that just can’t be filled without Jesus. That piece started with pain, grew into anger, but leaves them sad, they mourn for hope. They mourn for peace. They mourn for comfort. Those who turn to Jesus, they will find a comforter in Jesus and will be comforted.

Matthew 5:4-12 are more for those who have come to Jesus and it shows who they now are but lets look closely at Poor in Spirit and Mourn. These are the outcast of the world.  Friend Jesus Wants You.