"FOR THE SAKE OF ONE"
Mark McCool
TEXT: ROMANS 5:6-11
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
INTRODUCTION
In our lifetime, many heroic deeds are done under the pressures of various circumstances. Some are notable deeds which bring honor and glory to those who do them.
Not that their motives and goals were to become recognized, and their names made famous. Neither were they done for the sake of heroism.
They were simply done as an act of intercession, and mediation. When the call for duty came, they answered the call. When critical situations arose, they immediately responded to the crisis in order that lives could be saved and would not have to die!
I. PRESENT DAY HEROES
A. From time to time we have picked up our newspaper and have read the stories of what we would call everyday people reaching out to help others in times of crisis when someone’s life was in jeopardy.
Illustration
Some years ago in south Louisiana, on the I-10 bridge between Baton Rouge and Lafayette, there were two men who had seen an 18 wheeler veer off the bridge, breaking through the railing, and plunging off into the bayou below. As they drove near it, they pulled over to the side of the highway and jumped out of their car to see about the driver of the 18 wheeler.
By this time, many people were getting out of their vehicles and looking over the railing into the bayou frozen in amazement. But when these two men did not see the driver surface or see any movement of life below, they both jumped several feet into the shallow water below to rescue that truck driver, and pull him to safety. They risked their lives for the sake of one man that he might live!
B. In times of war, acts of heroism were performed when men sacrificed their lives for a platoon of soldiers, or even one man, who was wounded by enemy fire!
Illustration
On October 6, 1944, Lieutenant General Alexander M. Patch, Seventh Army Commander, placed the Congressional Medal of Honor on 2nd Lieutenant Van T. Barfoot of Carthage, Mississippi, in a ceremony in Epinal, France.
The reason for this great decoration of one of the military’s highest honors for heroism, was because on May 23, 1944, in the heat of battle on the beach head at Anzio, Italy, Lt. Barfoot killed 7 Germans, wounded a number of others, captured 17 more, broke up a counter attack by knocking out an enemy tank with a bazooka, demolished a German field piece, and helped two wounded soldiers to safety! A great accomplishment of heroism in the course of his duty as a soldier, for the sake of his fellow soldiers, for the sake of the war, for the sake of his country!
II. THE GREATEST HERO OF ALL
A. But I did not come to this pulpit to exalt the greatness of man’s heroisms. I did not come to glorify the grand actions of the helping hands of man for man.
1. But I came to proclaim One who is greater than any man who has ever graced the pages of human history and done great and wondrous things for the help of humanity!
2. His name is Jesus Christ! His rank is King of kings, and Lord of lords! His ability is clearly seen in the awesomeness of His Creation! And His acts can never be overshadowed by any futile attempt of man or undermined by the surmisings of Satan!
3. For whatever deeds may be mentioned in what man has done for another, there is nothing greater that can be said than about what God has done for man!
B. Genesis 3 - Adam & Eve
1. Man’s Fall
2. God Provision
a. Blood was shed.
b. God Clothed them.
3. It was a Lamb for a Man.
C. Exodus 12 - The Passover
1. After 400 years of Bondage
2. God’s Deliverance of Israel
a. Sent the Plagues
b. The Pillar of Cloud & Fire
3. A Lamb for a Family.
C. The Tabernacle Plan
1. God’s Devine Plan
2. It Brought Us Near to Him
a. Altar - repentance
b. Laver - baptism
c. Holy of Holies - Holy Ghost
3. A Lamb for a Nation.
D. Calvary
1. God’s Greatest Sacrifice
2. It Gave Man the Greatest Chance
a. Repentance
b. Water Baptism in Jesus Name
c. The Infilling of the Holy Ghost
3. A Lamb for the World.
Matthew 12:11 - "Which one of you having a hundred sheep doth not leave the ninety and nine, and go and search for the one that is lost?"
Luke 19:10 - "For the son of man came to seek and to save that which is lost!"
III. He came searching to redeem lost humanity!
A. People Jesus Searched for:
1. Samaritan Woman at the well.
John 5:10
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
John 4:13-15
13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
a. He broke the barriers of prejudice and the traditions of men.
2. The sick, the lame, etc.
3. Even Judas Iscariot
CLOSING:
He came for the sake of even one of you who need Him in this service!
