WHY JESUS CAME

[Dr. John E. Apeh]

JESUS CAME FOR SINNERS AND NOT FOR THE RIGHTEOUS

The Bible shows that the Lord Jesus came to save sinners. His ministry while on earth was to save the unrighteous from their sins. Jesus reached them with His liberating messages, and went further to identify with them publicly to the disenchantment of the Jews who regarded themselves as the righteous people. The Pharisees who regarded themselves as the only righteous people did not like that, and so plotted and killed Him.

Those who Jesus called to Himself were commanded to be fishers of men. Jesus led them out on many occasions to reach the lost in the world. The Great Commission was given to reach everyone in the world. While not all would be saved, the command is to preach the gospel throughout the world. The commission is to bring sinners to repentance and to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord.

Today’s believers are so commanded to reach the lost in the world. You and I have no choice in who we reach with the gospel. The gospel message which is of salvation by faith in Christ is what all sinners need. The Bible says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). There is no exception.

 

The message is for all, and it cuts across cultures, races, languages, nationalities and ethnicities. Romans 1:16 says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

The message is that of faith and the audiences are the unrighteous ones in the world. This also includes those who are suffering from the consequences of their sins. This includes HIV/AIDS sufferers and others going through spiritual and physical problems.

“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18-19).

 

There should be no discrimination as to who to reach or not with the gospel under any circumstances. The question of how to reach is only of methodology and should constitute no theological road block to obeying of the Great Commission. Proclaiming the gospel after all, is not because of our own personal merits. It is because God sees us as in His Son; He loves us because He loves Him, and we are in Him.

 

WHY HE CAME:

 

Jesus said in Matt 9:12, “But when Jesus heard [that], he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” This implies that Jesus’ mission was for those who are spiritually sick.

 

 

Matthew 18:11-12 “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?”

Matthew 20:28 “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Mark 2:17 “When Jesus heard [it], he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

 

Luke 9:56: “For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them.”

Luke 19:10: “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

THE FACT OF SIN AND HIS MISSION:

John 3:16-17,19: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

John 4:14: “That the Father sent the Son as the Savior of the world.”

John 6:38: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” As a servant, he, the Son came to do the will of the Father. 

John 8:12 Jesus spoke, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 12:46: “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.” 

John 10:10:  “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

 THE MESSAGE OF FAITH:

“But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe” (Galatians 3:22).

2 Cor. 4:3: “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

 1 Timothy 1:15: “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”

 Heb 10:7-10: “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.”

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9)

 I John 1:5-6: “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

CONCLUSION:

I have been sharing my faith in Christ since I was saved around 1965. I have been preaching since 1967 to small groups in our church fellowship and in our congregations. I have had the opportunity, and privilege to preach across racial, linguistic, cultural lines. While I was outside of Nigeria, God also gave me numerous opportunities to witness and to preach to small and large groups in churches and house fellowships. Thankfully too, my call to the gospel ministry has never been called into question until recently when I expressed strong opinion about the necessity to reach the HIV/AIDS community, and the possibility of using medicinal plants to relieve their pains and suffering. I have been misunderstood by many trusted friends and supporters in the process because the HIV/AIDS pandemic is called a disease of punishment and judgment.

I began to wonder why we care for the homeless, the drunkards or alcoholics, the unwed mothers, and people suffering from lung cancers due to smoking and alcoholism through our church programmes. Some churches have even established ministries to the gay community, while those suffering from HIV/AIDS are ostracized. I have wondered why we sent out medical missionaries from the West to many parts of the world to provide medicines to people suffering from many diseases that are consequences of sin.

Finally, I have asked many times if anyone has really been told by the Lord that HIV/AIDS is a punishment or judgment. The Bible speaks of sex outside of marriage as sinful and, every Christian, liberal or conservative, ought to be on the side of the Word of God. Anyone found to be opposed to the Word of God is not a Christian. However, it is important to ask whether this dreadful disease is the only disease that emanates from sexual immorality? Have people not been suffering from syphilis, gonorrhea, genital herpes, and  infertility from time immemorial, as a result of contacting sexually transmitted diseases? Are these and more diseases not as a result of sexual sin?

There are those who are promiscuous but smarter with safe sex devices. Should we say, they do not come under God’s judgment because they are not infected with the virus that causes HIV and AIDS? I am baffled by the judgmental spirit of some conservative and evangelical Christians who in their overzealousness miss the whole reason why Christ came and for whom. I am even more disappointed that many of my Christian friends in the medical community are averse to the use of alternative medicines, but kept spiritualizing orthodox medicines. Which is more Christian: synthetic drugs or plant based medicine? I had better stop here, lest I become very judgmental myself.  May God help us all to with His eyes and from His perspectives, to the effect that our ministry to those without Christ would be practical, compassionate, firm, consistent, and godly.