HE CAME TO SAVE
-
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 9:9-13
“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Matthew 9:13
“Will God accept me when I die? So many things have gone wrong in my life.” Someone asked me that question shortly before he died. He knew about the Savior who had come to save us from our sin. He knew about God’s good news of salvation, but he could not accept it for himself.
This Advent season many Christians will hear the message about the Savior who came to redeem us from guilt. Many will sing, “Come, thou long-expected Jesus, born to set thy people free,” and yet they will be afraid to claim God’s promise of freedom in their own lives.
Maybe you struggle with the same thing. Perhaps as you reflect on your life, you have to admit that many things have gone wrong. You look into your past, and you are reminded of some poor choices you made, or of how you failed your spouse or your child. You may think of other things that were all wrong, and you may think God can’t forgive you.
If so, you need to listen carefully to the Savior when he says, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus came for you and me. He came to save us from the guilt and tyranny of our sin.
Come to the Savior, confess your sin, and accept his forgiveness. If you do, this may be the best Christmas ever!
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for your forgiveness. Help all who struggle to accept it, and take away their guilt. For your sake, Amen.
Create an account to comment
GET TODAY
Yesterday’s devotional was about Jesus healing the sick. In so far as I can see everything it says is true. Jesus can heal but for his own reasons, does not always do so. However, I do believe that what was not said may leave confusion. Except for the period of Christ’s ministry healing in the Bible is rare and occasional. The reason is that the purpose is to authenticate the messenger and the message. The multiplicity of miracles in Jesus ministry is to demonstrate that he was the Messiah, and that is exactly what Jesus tells John the Baptist when John is confused in Luke 7:18-29. The point is simply that all healing is eschatological because it points us to Paradise regained, and to the new heavens and earth in which there is no sickness and the effects of the fall are wiped away. Our generation is too concerned with the here and now and we seem to lack the attention span to be concerned with then there and then. We will all be healed eventually through faith in Christ. What we need now is to persevere through this vale of tears till the last enemy is destroyed.