He Saved Others....

 "His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins"  (cf. Matt. 1:21).


When Jesus was crucified the crowds taunted and mocked Him, admitting He saved others and wondered why He didn't save Himself!  If Jesus had saved Himself, He couldn't have saved us!  He loved us more than Himself and His life and paid the penalty we deserved.  The crowds were convinced that He performed miracles and healed people, and even that He saved others; so why couldn't He save Himself?  He deliberately chose to be Savior first, then King and His saviorhood was on His mind not His own well-being. 

The crowds actually condemned themselves by admitting they knew He was the Savior and could save, because they never were saved themselves and applied what He taught--on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, they hailed Him as the King, and shouted "Hosanna!' or Lord, "save us now!" Perchance they had become disillusioned and thought He was not going to deliver them from the Roman rule after all.

We all can be guilty of the sin of vicarious faith.  We can hear someone's testimony and see a miracle at work in their life and actually believe they are saved and have been transformed by the blood of Jesus, but not apply it to oneself.  Believing Jesus saves isn't enough; we must believe He saved us!  We must personalize our faith and not let it be second-hand knowledge.  We must individually experience Christ and then authenticate it by sharing it and spreading the word by faith.  The only way to keep our faith is to give it away!  We may have family and friends with whom we are familiar and have personally witnessed them morph into new creatures in God's eyes, but that isn't enough to save us--we must personally receive Christ into our heart as its Lord and surrender ownership of our life to Him to even get to first base in the game of following Christ.

Jesus never encouraged the curious or the half-hearted trifler who wasn't ready for full commitment.  He was honest enough to warn us of the trials and tribulations and adversities we'd face, to test our faith.  Salvation is free but not cheap; it costs something to be saved (our ownership of our life), but it costs infinitely more not to be saved.  Some people will never apply the equation to themselves and live their whole life vicariously admiring how God worked in other people's lives, but not witness personal transformation.

The Jews weren't interested in being saved from their sins! But that is precisely why Christ was born!  The Jews wanted deliverance from Roman rule!  When the geopolitical dreams vanished, so did the enthusiasm and false disciples. Jesus had no trouble gathering crowds, for His reputation preceded Him, and He even had to keep a low profile later on and stay out of the limelight, for the leaders often tried to kill Him.  He wasn't going to die before His time and before completing His work and purpose to glorify the Father.   In the final analysis, it's not whether He can save Himself, or whether you believe He saved others, but whether He saved you and you believe this! 

In sum, Jesus wasn't the Messiah of conventional wisdom, but He was born to be a man on a mission extraordinaire to save His people from their sins ( cf. Matt. 1:21).        Soli Deo Gloria!