Isaiah said of him, his name shall be called
Wonderful. And there's no better name to describe
him. Somebody says, was it necessary for Jesus
to come? In the first place, Jesus had to come
that the scripture might be fulfilled. Isaiah
prophesying of him said, Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son and call his name Emmanuel.
In the second place, he had to come that he might
be a man and yet a state. the moral taint that
comes to everyone born into the human race by
natural means. In the third place, he had to
come, for the word of God says, to this end was
the Son of Man manifested that he might destroy
the works of the devil. Let me ask you, what
are the master forces in your life? If they are
the forces of evil and you find yourself in their
grip, I'm here to tell you of one who was manifested
2 ,000 years ago to destroy the works of the
devil and who works as powerfully today as he
worked then. And if you turn to him, He will
set you free. He'll destroy the works of the
devil in you and give you the victory. And your
days of defeat will be over. And only Jesus Christ,
the very Son of the living God, can give you
victory over your defeated life. Well, you say.
That's marvelous. I need that kind of power in
my life. But watch. You say I'm already burdened
with a sense of guilt. I've done enough sin already
to lose my soul a thousand times over. What about
the past? I don't need... You, Miss Kuman, did
tell me that I'm a sinner, that I need deliverance.
That's well and good, but what about my past?
I've got wonderful news for you, my friend. And
my authority is the word of God. And a fool is
the man or the woman who will take issue with
God's word. For God's word says... Ye know that
he was manifested to take away our sins. No Jew
of that day ever heard an expression like that,
that he didn't think it once on the day of atonement
back in the Old Testament. You know the high
priest would lay his hands on the head of a goat?
and confess over it the sins of the people and
then the goat would bear them away into the wilderness
and they'd be gone forever. Now that goat, during
the Old Testament dispensation, was the type
of lamb that was to come. And don't you remember
how John was baptizing in the River Jordan and
Jesus came along and John pointed... to him to
the people and cried behold the lamb of god that
taketh away the sin of the world you know it's
hell in a man's breast when his soul is lashed
by the whips of a guilty conscience there is
no absolutely no pain that is greater to a human
being than the pain of a guilty conscience. And
to the man who knows his sin and loathes it,
who hates the memory of his sin, and to whose
soul the consciousness of the wrong that he has
done is like a hideous nightmare, I... Tell you,
to this man, the sweetest song that's ever sung,
the brightest message that was ever delivered,
is the glad news that in some mysterious way,
which he can never quite fully comprehend, Jesus
Christ puts himself underneath that man's sin,
underneath all that is foul and vile in the experience
of the past. And Jesus lifts that one up, delivers
him from the power of sin, cleanseth him from
all unrighteousness. And that man who was once
condemned stands pardoned, a new creature in
Christ Jesus, an heir of God and a joint heir
with Christ Jesus. I can't understand this wonderful
experience any more than I can understand the
deity and divinity of Jesus Christ. Nor can I
understand the person of Almighty God. But I
tell you what I know because I have experienced
it. I've taken the Word of God in face and value.
And I find it works. I came to him as a sinner.
And he did exactly what he said he would do.
He gave peace of mind and peace of soul. That's
exactly why Christ was manifested. To take away
sins and say, do you know that God has exhausted?
the possibilities of human language to let you
and me and every poor sinful man and woman know
how completely our sins through the personal
work of Jesus had been put away? You say my thoughts
are dirty thoughts. Ah, but listen. Jesus says,
I will remove thy iniquities from thee as far
as the east is from the west. You say, but I've
cursed, I've blasphemed, I've profaned. And the
word rings back, it's all taken away. I will
cast all thy sins behind my back. But you say
I've led a double life? Only God knows my past,
the vileness of my sins. But he answers back,
I will cast all thy sins into the depths of the
sea. You cry out, I've been a crook, a liar,
a thief, and God's glad answer is, it's all taken
away. I will blot out thy iniquities as a thick
cloud. Someone cries out, I took a man's life
in cold blood, yes. And you've done something
worse than that. You've crucified the Son of
God. Your sin rolled the crown of thorns and
pressed it down his brow. Your sin fastened him
on the cross. Your sin rolled the spikes through
his hands and feet. It was your sins that drove
the spear into his side. It was your sin that
broke his heart. But somehow I can hear the very...
angels as they bend low crying out tenderly to
you it's all taken away and God in his tender
mercy through the person of Jesus Christ whispers
to you and says I will remember thy iniquity
against thee no more forever. How can it be?
Such good news is too good to believe. Well,
beloved, that's because you do not know that...
tenderness, the love, the compassion of God.
And here comes the other purpose of the incarnation.
He was manifested to reveal the Father. It says
in the first chapter of John, the 18th verse,
that no man has ever seen God. but that Jesus
Christ was manifested to reveal God to us. He
that hath seen me, Jesus said, hath seen the
Father. The only perfect revelation that God
ever made of himself, he made in Jesus Christ.
And if you look at him through Jesus, you'll
know what kind of God he really is. For he that
hath seen me hath seen the Father. Did you see
him moved with compassion for the restless multitude
who were like sheep without a shepherd? That's
God. Did you see him that night weeping in pity
over Jerusalem? That's God. Did you hear him
speak? The blind Bartimaeus told sure. The disciple
stepped forward and said, Shut up. You're a beggar.
Who do you think you are to speak to one so holy?
But Jesus said, Bartimaeus, receive thy sight.
That's God. Were you so near that you heard him
speak to the poor woman? With the scarlet stain
of sin on her soul, she'd been taken in the very
act of adultery, and her accusers brought her
into the very presence of Jesus. The crowd wanted
her stoned. But Jesus said, Go in peace. And
sin no more. That's God. Jesus revealed God as
a father. And as a father, he does not need to
be reconciled. He's waiting for you to come and
be reconciled to him. Years ago, in South Texas,
there was a little home in the country, and one
night it was burned to the ground. And before
the neighbors could rescue the family, All were
burned to death, save one little girl. She was
not more than nine years of age. But she was
badly burned on one side of her face, and her
little body was horribly burned. The rest were
all burned to death. And the neighbors, after
a few days when they had consulted among themselves,
sent Little Mary to the very famous orphan's
home in Texas. The Buckner Orphan's Home. And
they advised the noble head of that great orphan's
home that Little Mary would come and off a train.
And there that good, precious man of God ducked.
Dr. Buckner was at the train waiting for her.
And when she got off the train, her little eyes
were red from weeping. And she just instinctively
seemed to know that he was there waiting for
her. Walking up to Dr. Buckner, she said, Are
you Dr. Buckner? And he said, Yes, honey, and
are you Mary? And then she came running to him
and threw her arms around him. And it was a wonderful
meeting as she laid her little head up against
his knee and sobbed with emotion. And then she
turned her little burned face up into his and
said, You'll have to be my papa and my mama both.
And he said, I will the best that I can, Mary.
And then she went into the home and was looked
after along with those hundreds of little children.
The day came that the children were out playing
in the yard of the orphanage. And down the street
came Dr. Buckner. The children left their plane
and rushed over to them, all but little Mary.
Little burned -face Mary. The children gathered
around Dr. Buckner, kissed him. Oh, they were
just so thrilled with him. to say, but little
Mary stood off several feet away and looked across
her shoulder, watching the whole affair, sobbing
like a little heart would break. And when these
little ones had kissed the good man, he looked
across and saw Mary and said, Mary, why don't
you come and kiss me? That was entirely too much
for her, and she sobbed aloud, and then he went
over and touched her little chin and lifted it
up and said, I don't quite understand you, Mary.
Why didn't you come and kiss me? And the little
thing had difficulty in speaking. When she did
speak, she said, Oh, Papa Buckner, I couldn't
ask you to kiss me. I'm so ugly. After I got
burned, I'm so... Ugly, I couldn't ask you to
kiss me. But if you'll just love me like you
do the other children and just tell me you love
me, then you don't have to kiss me at all. And
do you want to know what that great man of God
did? He pushed all those... beautiful children
away and took little Mary in his arms and he
kissed the little burned cheek again and again
and said, Mary, you are just as beautiful to
me as are any of the rest. You're Beautiful.
I was once that ugly child. Sin had left its
mark upon my life. But Jesus paid it all. All
to him I owe. Sin had left its crimson stain,
but Jesus washed it white as snow.