Luke 23:33-39 - Jesus Died So He Could Save Others

 Some interesting things in thispassage of Scripture also show up in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel ofMark. Today, I want to take time to look at all three of these passages becauseit's in these passages that we read this statement repeatedly: "Hesaved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen ofGod."  (The Luke passage is above.) Matthew27:35-44 reads: “Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, castinglots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: "Theydivided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots." Sittingdown, they kept watch over Him there. And they put up over His head theaccusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then tworobbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left. Andthose who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "Youwho destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You arethe Son of God, come down from the cross." Likewise the chief priestsalso, 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 downfrom the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Himnow if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.' " Even therobbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.” Mark15:25-32 reads: “Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. And theinscription of His accusation was written above: THE KING OF THE JEWS. With Himthey also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left. Sothe Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with thetransgressors." And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging theirheads and saying, "Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in threedays, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!" Likewise thechief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, "Hesaved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel,descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Even those whowere crucified with Him reviled Him.” Atleast three times in the Gospels, the Holy Spirit seems to impress upon us thisstatement: "He saved others; Himself He cannot save." This iswhat they mocked Jesus with. My friend, my main point today is that if Hehad saved Himself, He could not have saved others. He came to seek and tosave that which was lost.  Jesusset an example for us as He humbled Himself and was obedient even to the deathof the cross. God foreordained in eternity past that He is the Lamb slain fromthe foundation of the world. The only way of salvation for mankind was forthere to be a perfect lamb substitute, and that Lamb was Jesus. Peterwould write later in 1 Peter 1:18-20: “Knowing that you were not redeemedwith corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conductreceived by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ,as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordainedbefore the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times foryou.”  Yes,my friend, if Jesus had saved Himself that day, and He could have come downfrom the cross. He could have called legions of angels, but He didn't becauseHe came to save you and me. What a Savior! We should be so thankful that He didnot save Himself so that He could save you and me with His death, His bloodatonement, His redemption on the cross of Calvary.  Thisshould also teach us that if we seek to save our lives for ourselves then wecannot save others. But when we lose our lives for Christ and the sake of the Gospelwe actually find it! (Mark 8:35).  Todayare you willing to lose your life, like Christ, and save others? Godbless!