Jesus Came to Save!

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:17-18)

Sent by God on a mission to save, Jesus came not to judge, nor to condemn, nor to pass sentence, but to save. We are told the following in Scripture:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” -John 14:6

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

“For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.” (John 12:47)

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. (1 John 4:14)

“No matter who or what we are, God restores us to right standing with Himself only by means of the death of Jesus Christ. God does this, not because Jesus pleads with Him to do so but because He died. It cannot be earned, just accepted. All the pleading for salvation which deliberately ignores the Cross of Christ is useless.”
-Oswald Chambers

Jesus came to save! Jesus came to deliver us from the spiritual death which is common to all men because of Adam’s sin. He seeks to make us whole and to preserve us from danger, loss, and destruction. God’s own arm worked this salvation for us:

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)

God’s purpose in sending Jesus into the world was to save the world through Him. He came peacefully in His first advent, not condemning, even though our hands were stained with sin. Jesus was sent to reconcile the world back to God! Jesus–the Savior for all who believe in Him.

He came into the world with salvation in His eye, with salvation in His hand … God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and so saving it. This is good news to a convinced conscience, healing to broken bones and bleeding wounds, that Christ, our judge, came not to condemn, but to save.”
-Matthew Henry

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! (Romans 5:6-9)

Jesus died in our place. Those who believe in Him are declared righteous–saved from the wrath of God. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, reconciliation occurs between a holy God and sinful man!

For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
(Romans 5:10-11)

“Israel was totally incapable of helping herself. Only God could help her. This is true of salvation in any era. No one can save himself. Only God can forgive sin and change a person’s heart.”
-Bible Knowledge Commentary

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)

Take It to Heart

“The salvation that comes from God is not based on human logic, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be born again solely because of the atonement of our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creations, not through their repentance or their belief, but through the wonderful work of God in Christ Jesus which preceded all of our experience. The unconquerable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself.” -Oswald Chambers

On the flip side of this verse we are warned of the terrible condition of those who choose to persist in unbelief willful ignorance–standing condemned already. How great the consequence of unbelief! Those who do not believe will one day be confronted with evidence regarding Jesus and all of His righteous acts done on their behalf.

The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what kind of wisdom do they have? (Jeremiah 8:9)

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)

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