Now, for a few broadcasts, I want to speak to you on the subject of reasons why Christ came to this earth. Reasons why Christ came to this earth. Now, we will not waste any time trying to argue as to the fact of his coming. Neither will we spend any time trying to prove the time that he came to this earth, or the circumstances surrounding his coming. We simply want to concentrate our thinking on why Christ came to this earth. He being the eternal Son of the eternal God, why did he come down to this earth and live like a man. Now, by way of introducing this subject, I want to read to you then some verses, first of all, from the Gospel, according to John, chapter five, verse thirty. I can of mine own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge. And my judgment is just. because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me. Then over at chapter six and verse thirty-seven, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeeth the Son and believeeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. To that I want to add another reading in the Gospel according to Matthew, and particularly now I'm turning your attention to the occasion when the Lord Jesus Christ went into the Garden of Gethsemane. You've read it often. It has to do with his last night, the night of the betrayal. And he's in the garden. And he goes to prayer. And here is what he said. And he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying, Oh, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Then further down, verse forty-two. He went away again the second time and prayed, saying, O my father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. I am sure the Lord will bless to us the reading of these verses, let us bow for prayer. Our Father, we bow our hearts in thy holy presence, approaching thee in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We think of how often words have been uttered before thee in prayer, saying, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But today bow before thee as individuals, and, O God, We would say to thee, Thy will be done. We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to this earth to do thy will. Grant now as we study the word, it shall reach our hearts. We ask it in his precious name. Amen. Now I wonder if this question was to be asked at a cross-section of the community. and they were required to give an answer to the question, Why did Christ come to this earth? I suppose we would get quite a variety of answers. In fact, you may get a different answer from each person. If you were to try this out with some of your neighbours or with some of the people you work beside and you were to ask them this question, or suppose a Sunday school teacher, was to put this question to the members of the class. Why did Christ come to this earth? I wonder how many answers would be given. Now, the first answer I'm going to give you today is this. Based on the words in John chapter six and verse thirty-eight, that was where we took our first reading. And here is what I read. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. I want to say this to all my listeners tonight. I believe that this is the basic answer. All other answers must stem from this one. We must look at this one first. He came to do the will of His Father. I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. There's a number of scriptures you might line up regarding this great truth. For instance, now, can you recall that occasion when, as a young lad, he went up to the temple? That was the day when Joseph and Mary lost him. And then when they found him again, and they spoke to him, do you remember his answer, Wist ye not, I must be about my father's business. Then when we come here to John chapter six, in effect he's saying, This is my business in life. It's to do my father's business. That is, I'm here not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. So in doing his father's business, it was carrying out the will of the father. Then when you join that with what I read to you from the Gospel according to Matthew, when he has come to the last day of his ministry on earth prior to going to the cross. He's there in the attitude of prayer, and while he's praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, being in an agony of soul, his sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground, knowing that shortly he would be betrayed. receive a mock trial and rushed out to Calvary's cross, knowing these things. He's prostrate on the ground, and he's saying, Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And then, of course, you will remember that on the cross the last thing he said was this, It is finished, and having finished the work that His Father put into His hand, He bowed His head and dismissed His spirit, so that the whole tenor of His life's ministry down here was to carry out the will of the Father. It has been said and well said that God's will is the biggest subject in the Bible. Some folk may not agree with that, but if you take time to think it out, you'll come to this conclusion. There's nothing in all the Word of God to compare with the will of God. It's God's will from beginning to end. Now the Lord Jesus Christ had a profound knowledge of his purpose on earth. And his purpose on earth was to do the will of God. Of course, there may be a tremendous number of side issues that go off from this main stem. But nevertheless, the main thing is the will of God. All the other things must be brought into focus regarding this great truth. You know, it's James in his letter that tells us that men are so foolish that they run around saying, I'll do this today, and I'll do something else tomorrow, and I'll do something else the next day, and I set now, as it were, my quota for business. And I'm hoping to do so much business in this city. Then I'll move to the other city. And I hope to do so much business there. James says, how foolish can a man be? For after all, how does he know what he'll be doing next week? You and I don't know what we'll be doing tomorrow. James says, our life is just like a vapor. It appears for a little time and then vanishes. away. So James says, no matter what you decide to do in life, you should always say this, if the Lord will, if it's God's will, this is what I expect to do, this is what I hope to do, if God wills it. So therefore, James has something to say to us in a practical way. regarding God's will. Now, we should recognize God in the affairs of the present and in the affairs of the future. First of all, there is a divine will which governs all things. Theologians like to speak about that as God's sovereign will. You see, it's God who occupies the throne. There's no one higher than God. There's no one as high as God. Even the greatest of the angels are subservient to God. God's throne is the highest. There's no one can dictate to God. God is supreme. And so when you think of God's will, you think of that will as being supreme. There was a time when one of his created beings, who was called Lucifer, son of the morning, sought to usurp the place of God. He sought to put his will in opposition to God's will, and that was the time of his tremendous fall when he was cast down as lightning from heaven. See, God's will is supreme. While many of God's purposes are hidden from us, there is a revealed will which we must not violate. For instance, now, if we say, I will do this or that, certain other things may occur. which will render it improper for me to do so. It was not the will of God. But God has revealed his will. Now when the Lord Jesus Christ was here on earth, he said, I came not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And so the Savior recognized the will of his Father. and the will of God was the governing factor in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was why he came. And now, again, in addition to God's supreme will and God's revealed will, there is what we might call God's providential will. And after all, God's providential will should always be consulted. For example, you come sometimes to a perplexing situation in life. You don't know whether to turn to the right or to turn to the left. You're faced with a perplexing situation for which you don't seem to have the answer. Well, that's the time when you've got to kneel down and lift up your heart to heaven. asking God for guidance according to His will. There are some things we've got to do for which we cannot find any guidance in the Scriptures. For example, you cannot find any guidance in the Scriptures regarding the house you should live in, or the town you should live in, or the place where you shall run your business. But in these times you've got to kneel down before God and commit your way unto Him. And if we acknowledge Him in all our ways, He's sure to direct our path. There is God's providential will. And yet there's another sense I will give to you this expression. There is a royal will which we should seek to fulfill. That will is that the Lord's people should be saved. You've noticed that, haven't you? It's the will of God that people should be saved. Now that brings us back then to the passage that we read in the Gospel according to John. The passage in which the Lord says, I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. Now you will remember this, that wherever you have a text in the Bible, you must find an interpretation for that text that fits in with the context. It has often been said you can take the text out of its context and you can make it a pretext. But if you're going to interpret the verse, the text in relation to the context, you'll get the true meaning. Now notice what the context is dealing with. He has said in verse chapter seven, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Now that is related to the fact that when you come further down, he says this. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which sees the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. You see, those that come are those that have drawn. Those that have drawn are those to whom the Son has been revealed. And so the Son, first of all, is revealed, and then he's received. and all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ makes it perfectly clear that when men and women come to him, he will not turn them away, he will not cast them out. for the simple reason that those that come to him are those that have been drawn by his father, and therefore he's here to do the father's will. It's the father's will that those who are drawn shall be saved, and so therefore when they are drawn to him, they'll come and receive him, and the Lord Jesus Christ says he'll receive them. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Now, he seeks to prove this statement by telling us this, that he came down to do the will of him that sent him. Now, if it's the will of God that these people should be saved, And he tells us this in verse thirty-nine, and this is the Father's will which has said me, that of all which he has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. Now, my friend, does this give you any certainty with regards to your salvation? See, after all, if the Father has drawn you, and you've been drawn to Christ, and Christ has been revealed to you, and you receive Christ, and Christ has received you, then you're placed in the hollow of his hand. Your safety depends on him, not upon you. And then again your salvation, which is in Christ, is eternal. For he says here, that one will have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. You'll see, the Lord Jesus Christ then came to earth, first of all, to carry out the will of the Father. That is the foundation truth why Christ came to this earth. Now, there are many other things I've suggested to you that stem from this. But we must be clear in our thinking, first of all, God has a will. God has a supreme will. And whether it's the will of a fallen angel or the will of a fallen man, those wills of fallen creatures can never offset the will of the Father. God's will must be carried through. Now then, the Lord Jesus Christ came down to this earth. and he had this conviction, he was governed by this profound knowledge that his purpose on earth was to do the will of the Father. Wist ye not, he said, I must be about my Father's business. Now, it was his Father's business to see that men and women were saved. The Lord Jesus Christ, when in the garden, and the agony of soul was upon him, he said, If it's possible, let this gap pass for me, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. It was the will of the Father, that the Lord Jesus Christ should not only live in this world. But it was the will of the Father that his Son should die on Calvary's cross as a Savior, in order to provide salvation for those that would be drawn to him. Listen to what he said in John's Gospel chapter twelve. The Lord Jesus Christ speaking concerning the death, he would die. And he says, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw unto me. This, he said, signifying what death he should die. And if Christ was lifted up on Calvary's cross, it was the Father's will that his Son should become the Savior of sinners. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. That was said to Joseph, before Christ was born. They gave to him the name of Jesus, which means Jehovah is Savior. It was the will of the Father that his Son should come to this earth. It was the will of the Father that Christ should die on Calvary's cross. It's the will of the Father that men and women should be drawn to him, and he's been drawing all kinds and classes of people, drawing them without distinction. He's been drawing them from every ethnic group this world knows. He's been drawing them from every climb and from every nation, wherever the blessed gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached, wherever he has been lifted up. He's been drawing men and women, the rich and the poor, the high and the low. This is a meeting place for sinners who want the Savior, Calvary. And the central figure on Calvary was Jesus Christ, carrying out the will of the Father. And there on Calvary's cross he said, It is finished what? The work his Father gave him to do. He completed the Father's will. He said, Father, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work thou has given me to do. Glorify thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And so therefore he came to do the will of the Father. That's the foundation truth relative to the coming of the Son of God to this earth. He came in order to seek men and women, it's true. But he came first of all to do the will of the Father. For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And the Lord Jesus Christ was conversant with the Father's will. He knew why he was sent to this earth. He knew why he came to this earth. And he said, This is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he has given me I should lose none. If you're one of his, my friend, he'll never lose you. He'll hold you with that eternal grip. He has saved you with an everlasting salvation. If you're his, you're his eternally. Nothing can the ransom sever, not divide them. from their God, safe and secure for time and for eternity.