He Has Come.
‘Come’ is a beautiful word. The Lord says; “Come now let us reason together.” (Isaiah 1:18).
“Come unto me all you that are weary and heavy laden.” (Matthew 11:28).
“Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for thee.” (Matthew 25:34).
“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10).
And; “….this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven (Acts 1:11).
As we further consider our text we see that,
Jesus has come to Seek
In the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy 4:29, we are told “..seek the LORD your God, you shall find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
What a wonderful promise—but no one attains to it. Such a degree of passion for the Lord was and is unreachable. Seek with all your heart and soul?? …that scuppers the most diligent of us. This is why we read in Romans 3:11, ‘there is none that seeks God.’ But because of our inability to seek with all our heart and soul, God came to this earth to seek us. He became our substitute in life and death and, in Christ, we are now treated as perfect seekers.
Adam, our first Father was sought by God, but Adam ran away. That’s where we learned our God avoidance skills. Adam wasn’t looking for God; He was desperate to escape from Him and thus went into hiding. Sin had made both he and his descendants cowards.
But Jesus came to this earth to seek. He came and sought out the big uneducated fishermen on the shores of Galilee.
He sought the young, tax-collector, Zacchaeus and by His Spirit, He is still seeking today!
But not only did He come to seek …
Jesus came to Save “The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11). Notice the precision of this verse. Jesus (the Grace of God) came to bring salvation. He didn’t come to attempt to bring salvation. He had a purpose and a goal.
He didn’t come to teach academic studies.
He didn’t come to settle political differences.
He didn’t come to tickle the ears of His listeners.
He came to seek and to save.
He came to make an atonement by shedding His blood. He came to save us from the penalty, pleasure and ultimately the presence of sin.
Finally, who did He come to seek and to save? He came to seek and to save the ‘Lost’. And here’s the truth of the matter: until a person is lost, they cannot be found! Unless we know ourselves to be lost, we will not care a fig that Jesus came to seek and to save lost people.
George Whitefield, one of the greatest Gospel ministers since the days of the apostles, had a brother who was far from God.
One day when the Countess of Huntingdon was witnessing to him he said to her, “I know what you have said is very proper, and I believe in the infinite mercy and goodness of God. But I do not believe it applies to me, for I am a lost man.”
The countess put down her cup of tea and said, “I am glad to hear it, Mr. Whitefield!” “Madam,” he said, “I did not think you would rejoice and glory in a thing so terrible as that.”
“I am glad to hear you say you are lost Mr. Whitefield,” she said, “for it is written that Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
His eyes lit up, and he said, “I thank God for that text, and for the extraordinary power with which it has now come into my heart.”
The power of God had opened his eyes.
He died later that night.
And that’s the Gospel Truth