HOW BIG IS JESUS
VBC
August 19. 01
Isaiah 45:22
This is the text verse that a Primitive Methodist layman preached from the day Charles Haddon Spurgeon was saved. Listen as Spurgeon recounts that day the layman preached,
It is a text that encourages and exhorts us to look to Christ.
I want to do just that this morning.
The Saviour many people believe in is far too small. Many of us need a gain a larger perception of Jesus Christ in relation to our personal lives. Jesus Christ is all sufficient. Nothing is above Him, and nothing is beyond Him.
Isaiah calls all the world to look to one (HIM). No need to look to anyone else. He is big enough!
How big is Jesus?
I. Jesus is big enough to be the lone SUBSTITUTE for all iniquity.
Isaiah 53:6 "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us All."
A. All are sinners - the universality of sin...in Adam positionally and in life actually.
B. All are self-willed. All sinners are alike. They are all self-willed. Every sin is an act of the will.
C. All are provided for.
All we are included in the problem of sin, and we all are included in the provision of a substitute.
An old English preacher had been in a meeting. He boarded the train and was about to leave. A young lady who was without the Saviour ran to the side of the train and yelled, "Please sir, I w ant to be saved. Tell me how to be saved." The train was beginning to leave the station, and looking out the window he said, "Young lady, go home and read Isaiah 53:6. Go in on the first ’all’ and come out on the second ’all’ and you will be all right."
I Timothy 2:5,6 "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for ALL."
Jesus is big enough to bear the sins of the whole world. He is big enough to be the one substitute for all the sin of the world. I John 2:2 "And he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for our’s only, but also for the sins of the whole world." The provision for sin is as extensive as the extent of sin.
When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 they placed his body in the rotunda of the capitol and allowed people to view the body of their slain president. In the long, somber line of people there was a rather large black woman clutching her son to her bosom. As she approached the body of her late president, she was her to say to that little boy, "Look a long time laddie, that man died for you."
Hebrews 2:9 says, "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for EVERY man."
Romans 8:32 "He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us ALL."
II. Jesus is big enough to be the only SAVIOUR of all humanity.
"Look unto ME, and be ye saved"
Jesus is the complete Saviour. He is only Saviour. He needs no one else to help Him.
"I am THE way, THE truth, THE life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by ME."
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among me, whereby we must be saved."
A Saviour is
NEEDED BY ALL
OFFERED TO ALL
SUPPLIED BY ONE
I John 4:1 "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world."
John 3:17 "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."
Simply put-IT IS JESUS CHRIST OR ETERNAL DAMNATION.
Peter testfied on one occassion, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." THERE IS ABOSOLETELY NO ONE TO GO TO FOR SALVATION BUT JESUS!
III. Jesus is big enough to be the SUFFICIENCY in all difficulty. Come what may, Jesus is big enough to sustain all his children in the storm.
II Corinthians 9:8 "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye always having all sufficiency in all things." Sustain in any and all circumstance. Can’t name one situation or circumstance where he cannot sustain His own.
He is more than up to any situation that may arise. He can handle the fire, the lions, the winds and waves. He is big enough to sustain you through all your tears and trials
With Jesus you can undergo anything, perform anything, face anything, and endure anything.
"In all these things [tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword] we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."
Big enough to sustain in any time, thing, or tense!
Jesus is the all sufficient one!
IV. Jesus is big enough claim the SUPREMACY for all your loyalty.
Luke 14:25-33 Here are some of the most demanding words in all the Bible. They are penetrating, exacting, and frankly - tough. Here is a contract for Christian commitment.
A. Terms for which Jesus demanded
1. Loyalty to His person
a. Put Jesus above all personal affiliations or associations (26)
Our love for Him must outshine all other loves, even the love we feel for our families. See Matthew 10:37
b. Put Jesus above all personal assets and amusements (33)
There is only one way of being a disciple, and that is by being devoted to Jesus
2. Identity to His purpose ("bear his cross")
Christ must be followed and imitated in his devotion to the will of God even to the extremity of suffering. There needs to be a daily identification with Christ in shame, suffering, and surrender to God’s will.
B. Task to which Jesus designated
1. Building
2. Battling
C. Truths of which Jesus declared
1. He spoke of what they would reject
There must be a rejection self and our own plans and a willingness to serve Him as He directs.
2. He spoke of what they must renounce
Everything must go on the altar!
In verse 34,35 Jesus declares that if we gloss over what He has just said, then we will become useless. Are you willing to accept his challenge?
V. Jesus is big enough to be SHARED with all locality.
He expects the Christian to be His witnesses to all the world. "Ye shall be witnesses nto me both in Jersualem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." His death is sufficient for all but only efficient for those who believe.
No place where he cannot be shared. No person whom He is not to b shared.
"Into all the world" means:
A. Every climate
B. Every color
C. Every circumstance
D. Every character
E. Every class
Jesus is the only HOPE of the world!
Whoever on the Son believeth,
Everlasting life receiveth.
Conclusion:
How big is Jesus? He is big enough to invite the world to look to HIM. Jesus is more than adequate. Jesus is more than enough. No need to look to anyone else.
