Jesus Christ (continued)
Luke 19:10; Job 33:24] Could we have been saved without the Lord Jesus Christ coming down from heaven? It would have been impossible, so far as our eyes can see. The wisest men of Egypt, and Greece, and Rome never found out the way to have peace with God. Without the friendship of Christ we should all have been lost forever in the torments and agonies of hell. Was the Lord Jesus Christ obliged to come down to save us? Oh, no! no! never! It was His own free love, mercy, and pity that brought Him down. He came unsought and unasked because He was gracious. Let us think on these things. Search all of history from the beginning of the world—look around the whole circle of those you know and love: you never heard of such friendship among the sons of men. There never was such a real friend who was willing to help us in our desperate time of need as was Jesus Christ. 2. Do you want a friend who is absolutely capable to meet all your needs? Such a friend is the Lord Jesus Christ. The true extent of a man's friendship must be measured by his deeds. Don't tell me what he says, and feels, and wishes; don't tell about his words and letters: rather tell me what he does. "A real Friend is measured by what a real Friend does." What the Lord Jesus Christ has done for man is the grand proof of His friendly feeling towards him. Never were there such acts of kindness and self-denial as those which He has performed on our behalf. He has not loved us in word only but in action and deed. For our sakes He took our nature upon Him, and was born of a woman. He who was very God Himself, and absolutely equal with the Father, laid aside, for a period of time, His glory and took upon Him flesh and blood like our own. The almighty Creator of all things became a little babe like any of us, and experienced all our bodily weaknesses and ailments, sin only excepted. "Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich." [2 Corinthians 8:9] For our sakes He lived thirty-three years in this evil world, despised and rejected by men and women, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Though He was King of kings, He had no place to lay His head: though He was Lord of lords, He was often weary, and hungry, and thirsty, and poor. "[He] made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself...." [Philippians 2:7-8] For our sakes He suffered the most painful of all deaths—the death of crucifixion on a cross. Though innocent, and without fault, He allowed Himself to be condemned, and found guilty. He who was the Prince of Life was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and poured out His soul unto death. He "died for us." [1 Thessalonians 5:10] Was He obliged to do this? Oh no! He could have summoned to His aid more than twelve legions of angels, and scattered His enemies with a word from His mouth. He suffered voluntarily and of His own free will, to make atonement for our sins. He knew that nothing but the sacrifice of His body and blood could ever make peace between sinful man and a holy God. He laid down His life to pay the price of our redemption: He died that we might live; He suffered that we might reign; He bore shame that we might receive glory. "Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." [1 Peter 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21] Such friendship as this passes man's understanding. Sometimes we may have heard of friends who would die for those who love them. But who can find a man who would lay down his life for those that