From Ben Fronczek... Electing A Savior

Electing A Savior

Electing A Savior

Isaiah 53:1-12

“Who has believed our message     and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. ³ He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces  he was despised,and we held him in low esteem.

⁴ Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

OPENING: 

How many of you have noticed that there’s a Presidential election coming up? ☺

I know, you’d have to be a hermit living in a cave in the mountains with no phone or mail to escape the advertising.   America has a decision to make in a few weeks and it seems to be coming down to a choice between two men, each of which I think will lead the country in a different direction. These men have raised millions of dollars to be used so that they can try to out-campaign the other candidate.

Many today think it would be a disaster to invest all that money and effort into a candidate who is perceived as someone who is: Un-attractive, un-popular Un-presidential, and generally liked but then unliked by a majority.

Personally I don’t think the American people would even elect Jesus as their president; as our commander and chief.  Why?

Because in Isaiah 53:2b-3 he tells us:
 

“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.”

Now, there are those who believe that this passage is implying that Jesus was not physically attractive or as handsome as Obama or Romney. And that may have been the case. Or Isaiah may have been alluding to the fact that most of the people of Jesus’ time simply viewed Him as undesirable.

Jesus probably would never be elected President of the USA or leader of any other country. He just wouldn’t be popular enough. He wasn’t overly popular in the days of His ministry in Judea, and He wouldn’t be popular enough now.

But it wasn’t ALWAYS true. After Jesus fed the 5000 with 5 small barley loaves and 2 fish, He turned some heads… 

John 6:15 tell us: 

“Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.”

And when Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time before His crucifixion… the crowds had the same idea: Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread palm branches they had cut in the fields.

Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,  

“Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest!” Mark 11:8-10

These people saw Jesus as a perfect earthly leader (at least for a while).      He was a man of power, authority and decisiveness. He could feed thousands with just a small amount of food. He could heal the sick with the touch of His hand, and raise the dead with the command of His voice.

From this perspective He could lead their nation and help Israel overthrow the hated Roman Empire and make Israel a nation to be reckoned with.

But just few days after that “Palm Sunday” event… probably some of these same people and just about everybody else in Jerusalem seem to turn on Jesus, and the crowds cried out  

“Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

Why the change?   Why were those who were so excited about Him just days earlier now calling for His death?

Well, part it was because Jesus didn’t give people what they wanted.  He did not tickle their ears with false promises like some of our politicians today.  Instead, Jesus insisted on telling people things that they NEEDED to hear; even things that they DIDN’T want to hear.

And what was that message?  It was the same message then as it is today: We don’t need a politician to fix our most important problem, we need a savior! Why, because just like He let them know, we are all sinners. Our sin is the problem!

Isaiah 53 lets us know that’s why He came, he wrote:

· He was pierced for OUR TRANSGRESSIONS · Crushed for OUR INIQUITIES
 

· He came to bear OUR SINS   · He was punished to bring us peace.

Isaiah 53:6 sums it up by saying  

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Like Sheep, he wrote… we’ve all gone astray.  We have chosen to go OUR own way    – not God’s way.  And because we chose to seek our own path rather than His, God says our hearts are filled with iniquity. The root word in Hebrew for iniquity here is “twisted, Warped, distorted, or perverted”. Because we’ve chosen our own way so long, God says we’ve developed a “twisted, warped, distorted, or  perverted” character (that is compared to what it should be, and compared to His). And because we are warped, we don’t think and act the way we ought. Simply put, we are all sinners.

Solomon’s wrote 

“There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.” Ecclesiastes 7:20

We all know that this is a unfortunate truth, we are all twisted, warped or perverted in some way,  and it’s not a very popular subject to talk about. You know what presidential candidate I liked who ran for office years ago? Ross Perot. I liked him because he had the guts to tell it like it is. He pointed at the problems and said, ‘Here they are and they have to be fixed, but it’s going to cost everyone of us.’  People did not like to hear that. People don’t want to hear what it’s going to cost them to fix their problems, especially from a political candidate. And so Mr. Perot was not elected. And likewise, Jesus did not gain a popular vote in His final days.

After that triumphal entry where people cried, “Hosanna,”  He entered the Temple area and started flipping tables over and accused the Jews of being a bunch of thieves, turning a place of worship into a den of robbers (Matthew 21:12-13)

Each day after that, the religious leaders got angrier and angrier at Jesus the more He spoke; especially when He accused them of being a bunch of show-off hypocrites. He goes on to call them snakes and a brood of vipers and condemns their evil practices. (Matthew. 23)

People who call the kettle black and speak the truth about things people don’t want to hear don’t go too far in the political realm. At this point rather than elect Jesus to be their Savior,  many wanted to kill Him. He let all of us know that we all have a problem. We are ALL unholy sinners and we will not be welcomed into the presence of God in heaven after we die.

Now, some folks just don’t want to hear that. They have a problem accepting the idea that they’ve got a problem, that they are broken, and they need help from someone else.

Some people simply think that they’re ok, that they are “pretty nice people”. That’s why, when people are asked if they think they are going to heaven, most will reply:  “Well sure, I’m not that bad. I never killed anyone.” They don’t see themselves as ungodly because of the things that they have or haven’t done. They view themselves by their own standards not God’s. They don’t want to hear that God is ready to throw them into Hell and lock the door.  Like the Pharisees and other religious leaders in Jerusalem when they hear the truth they get upset when Christians tell them that they are doomed and need a Savior. In their anger many choose not to elect Jesus as the Lord of their lives. What Jesus represents is not really attractive to them in that way.  He may interesting… but He is not their source of hope for salvation.

You see those religious leaders of old had a big problem. They were too proud to realize that they were in trouble and needed help; and only the kind of help that Jesus could provide. They were too proud to hear and act on that truth, and wanted to be patronized, not criticized. And we likewise put our self in a dangerous position when we do the same; when we are too proud to hear the truth, when we refuse to act on those truths, and when all we want is to be patronized and not criticized. That’s why Jesus’ preaching didn’t appeal to the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the self-righteous of His day. He exposed them for what they were. He revealed the sinful foundation of their thinking. And they hated Him for it. But Jesus did appeal to some…to those who realized they had a problem. The prostitutes and the tax collectors and the sinners… they KNEW THEY weren’t good enough, nor righteous enough to make it to heaven. They desperately needed the answers Jesus supplied. So, when Jesus came and offered them forgiveness of sins and a new life they chose to follow Him. They elected Him Savior. 

Jesus told these self righteous ones,  

“I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.” Matthew 21:28-31

You see, they DIDN’T CARE if He was physically attractive or well dressed.
They didn’t care if anybody else liked Him. They had a problem… and Jesus could fix it.

If my car breaks down and I need to take it in to be fixed I don’t care how good looking my mechanic is. I don’t care how attractive his body shop is. I don’t care how clean his restroom is. All I care is: ‘Can he fix my car?’

If I am diagnosed with a disease and I have to go the hospital I don’t care how attractive my doctor is. I don’t care how fancy the room is decorated. All I care is: ‘Can they help me. Can they fix me?’

Things haven’t changed much from those days of old when the people then sneered at what Jesus had to say and what He represents. Some people are still too proud. In all reality, none of us will ever be good enough to make to heaven on our own. We need a Savior. We need Jesus. And until people realize they have a problem… they’re not going to look for His help, nor will they seek Him out. People who elect Jesus as their Savior do so because they humble enough to ·KNOW that they’ve got a problem.
 

 ·They KNOW they can never be good enough to be good enough!
 

·They KNOW they can never be nice enough to work off their sins!
 

·They know that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

God knows it too. That’s why He sent his one and only son into the world to pay the price for our sin if we so choose to accept Him.

But the sad reality is, some will never accept God’s gift for whatever reason.

Jesus made a very chilling comment once and I have to admit the reality of what He said here both scares & sadden me. 

In Matthew 7:13-14  Jesus advised,   

 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

I would like to encourage you today to make sure you are on the right road, on the right path. Don’t be too proud and turn a deaf ear on wholesome criticism; it may be for your own good. If you haven’t already, don’t let your pride get in the way of seeking Jesus’ help. Elect Jesus as you Savior. He loves us and has our best interest in mind. He is a leader like no others, He leads by example.

Based on a sermon by Jeff Strite

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