Communion Message
(He saved others; Himself He cannot save)
May 8-9, 1999
Pastor Don Sheley

For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me. In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 

Paul makes it very clear that at the communion service it's an act of proclamation. We tell again the story of the crucifixion with the emblems bespeaking His body and the cup bespeaks His blood. Matthew records for us a scene there at the cross. He says, then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left. And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross." Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. "He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.' " Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing. 

The words from the cross have arrested the attention of believing men and women in all ages. Great minds have found them stored with doctrine, devout heart have rekindles their ardor at their flame, and dying men have breathed them in their prayer. Such words as; "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"; or "Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit"; or "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do"; or "It is finished". Words from the cross. Words which we contemplate each Good Friday. But the words to the cross have suffered neglect. Men have shrunk from even repeating these cries of reviling and derision and blasphemy, yet they are full of light, for they illustrate the attitudes that men and women take towards the cross then and even to this day. From the ignorant reviling of the passers by who have caught up the charges against Jesus at the trial, to the reverent exclamation of the centurion, and the adoration, the adoring appeal of the malefactor, we have a full range of thoughts of men concerning the cross of Jesus. But it just must be, that this word of the chief priests and the scribes and the elders had a bad preeminence, for it surpasses all others in the keenness of its mockery and in the intensity of its virulence. He saved others; Himself He cannot save. This is the bitterest and the basis of all the taunts, but this taunt set now in the light of the cross holds a truth these blind persecutors 2000 years ago could not see, for you see, they expressed a supreme fact of life; if you're going to save others you will not save yourself. If a man will save others in any salvation whatsoever, the law he must obey the stern condition that he must fulfill and the lot he must accept is that he cannot save himself, if he's going to save others. 

A little child many, many, many years ago was brought to a London hospital suffering from the most virulent form of diphtheria, and it was seen that all hope of saving his life lay in only one operation, and that was the sucking up by means of a tube of the obstructions in the little lad's throat. Although he knew that death was a great probability, the physician in charge that day was Samuel Rabbeth, a young brilliant surgeon with a great future. Laying aside all the risks he bowed over that, stooped over that little boy's body, put the tube to his lips and sucked out the poisoned pus. The boy lived. The doctor died. He saved others, but himself he cannot save. When Jesus would consummate this great salvation, there was no other way but to lay down His life on a cross for you and for me. Thus, it behooved Christ to suffer, the Scripture says, and once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away the sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He saved others, but Himself he did not save. Sacrifice. There's a self-sacrifice which is wholly noble and perfectly beautiful. It must, though, fulfill three conditions. Number one; it must be a willing sacrifice. Number two; it must have a worthy purpose. Number three; it must be impelled by love, and such was the sacrifice of Christ at the cross. 

You see ladies and gentlemen, sacrifice is love's necessity. And life cannot be more nobly spent than in the doing of the deeds to which a pure and holy love compels. Yes. Mockingly and blindly, those revilers 2000 years ago mocked our Lord with these words, 'He saved others; Himself He cannot save'. But for our Christ to save us, to provide forgiveness and eternal life, to give us hope and peace and joy and righteousness, He could not come down from that cross 2000 years ago, even though He had all the power in heaven and earth behind Him to make it so if He so chose. As the beautiful hymn says, He could have called ten thousand angels to destroy this world and set Him free, but He didn't do that and thank God He didn't. He stayed on that tree and died as the sacrifice for your sins and for mine. That's why we call Him the Savior of the world.

Would you bow your knee with me and thank Him? Jesus, thank you for not coming down from that tree. And thank you for dying for me. To save me You died. That's heavy. How can I tell You, Jesus, how much I love You for that? Words seem so weak and so frail. To save me, to save all of us here today, to save our world, You didn't save Yourself. Thank you Jesus. Let's take the bread together, shall we? And then the cup. Thank you very much dear Jesus, and everybody said, amen. Let's stand and greet the folks that have come to worship with us.