THE WOUNDS OF CHRIST | sermonsfortheworld.com

The purpose of this website is to provide free sermon manuscripts and sermon videos to pastors and missionaries throughout the world, especially the Third World, where there are few if any theological seminaries or Bible schools.

These sermon manuscripts and videos now go out to about 1,500,000 computers in over 221 countries every year at www.sermonsfortheworld.com. Hundreds of others watch the videos on YouTube, but they soon leave YouTube and come to our website. YouTube feeds people to our website. The sermon manuscripts are given in 46 languages to about 120,000 computers each month. The sermon manuscripts are not copyrighted, so preachers can use them without our permission. Please click here to learn how you can make a monthly donation to help us in this great work of preaching the Gospel to the whole world.

Whenever you write to Dr. Hymers always tell him what country you live in, or he cannot answer you. Dr. Hymers’ e-mail is rlhymersjr@sbcglobal.net.

I am going to preach on the wounds of Christ. He had been nailed to a Cross. There were still holes in His Hands and feet after He rose from the dead. He showed those wounds to them after He rose. He had been nailed to the Cross to pay the full penalty for your sin. The only way you can be saved from your sin is to come to Jesus and trust Him.

But you will never trust Jesus until you feel guilty of sin. You will try to save yourself by becoming a better person. But you don’t want to admit that you are a lost sinner. You don’t want to admit that Jesus is the only one who can save you from sin by His death on the Cross. You don’t want to admit you are a sinner like Kai Perng did. Kai said, “I knew I was a sinner. I tried to be a good kid, but no matter how hard I tried I could not change myself. I realized I was a fallen sinner, that I sinned against God...I felt that I was hopeless.”

I read those very words in my sermon last Sunday morning. "I could not change myself. I realized I was a sinner. I felt that I was hopeless." Yet a few hours later I asked a Chinese girl if she was saved. She said, “Yes.” I asked her how she was saved. She said she changed herself and became a better person. She said that now she obeyed her parents. She had made herself a better person! I could hardly believe that she said that! She had changed herself. She had made herself a better person! Unbelievable!

She has been in our church for a long time. She has heard my preaching over and over and over, saying you can’t be saved by changing yourself and becoming a better person. She has heard me say over and over and over, that you can only be saved by Jesus, who died on the Cross to pay for your sin. Yet all of that preaching had done her no good at all! She went right on thinking she could change herself and save herself. She didn’t even mention Jesus. She didn’t even mention His sin-atoning Blood! Not once! Not even once did she even say that name of Jesus!

I say to you this morning – you will never be saved until you feel that you are a hopeless sinner. If you never feel that you are a hopeless sinner you will never feel your need for Jesus – dying on the Cross to pay for your sin. And my sermon this morning will mean nothing to you – unless the Holy Spirit makes you feel sinful and hopeless. Only when you feel sinful and hopeless will you ever understand why Jesus showed them the nail holes in His hands and feet.

Why did He show them those wounds in His hands and feet? What was the reason for this? Why did He show them His wounds? I will give you three reasons why,

I. First, Jesus showed them His wounds so we would know He was the same person who was crucified on the Cross.

The Gnostic heretics said that Jesus didn’t really die on the Cross. The Koran of the Muslims says that Jesus did not die on the Cross. There are many people today who do not believe that God would let His Son die such a horrible death. Jesus knew that there would be unbelief concerning His crucifixion. That is the first reason why,

Jesus wanted everyone to know that He really did suffer and die on the Cross. So, He let the Disciples look at His wounds, and even touch them. The Apostle John, who was an eyewitness, spoke of that “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled” (I John 1:1). Dr. Watts said,

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down:
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
(“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” by Isaac Watts, D.D., 1674-1748).

In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever;
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.
(“Near the Cross” by Fanny J. Crosby, 1820-1915).

II. Second, Jesus showed them His wounds so we would know He is the suffering substitute for our sins.

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

But he did not say exactly how Jesus would take away our sins. It was not until Jesus rose from the dead that they understood that Jesus,

It was only after they saw the nail prints in His hands and feet that they knew,

“Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (I Peter 3:18).

He wanted us to know for sure that He suffered and died on the Cross to pay the penalty for our sin, so we could be saved from sin and Hell. He wanted us to see the nail prints in His hands and feet so we would know that the wrath of God fell on Him on the Cross, that we might know

“…the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood” (Romans 3:24-25).

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down:
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever;
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.

III. Third, Jesus showed them His wounds so we would know that He is the Saviour throughout the ages.

Christ took His wounds and His Blood with Him to Heaven to provide eternal redemption for us.

“For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Hebrews 9:24).

Seated at the right hand of God in Heaven, the wounds of Jesus are always and forever a reminder to God and angels that,

“He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:2).

Yet most people in the world today reject Jesus. Most people want to be saved by their own good deeds and their own religious beliefs. So they reject Jesus, who is God’s only provision for salvation. Jesus is the only way to God because He is the only one who suffered and died to pay for our sins. No other religious leader did that – not Confucius, not Buddha, not Mohammed, not Joseph Smith, not anyone else! Only of Jesus Christ could it be said,

“He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

“God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down:
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever;
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.

Even when Jesus comes down from Heaven the second time, He will yet bear the marks of the crucifixion in His hands and feet. Christ said, through the prophet Zechariah,

“And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him” (Zechariah 12:10).

Those who would not turn to Christ while living, will mourn in sorrow throughout eternity in Hell. Great Spurgeon said, “Those open hands and that pierced side shall be witnesses against you, even against you, if ye die rejecting him, and enter into eternity enemies of Christ” (C. H. Spurgeon, “The Wounds of Jesus,” The New Park Street Pulpit, Pilgrim Publications, volume V, p. 237).

Poor sinner…Are you afraid to come [to Jesus]? Then look at his hands – look at his hands, will that not induce you?...Look at his side, there is an easy access to his heart. His side is open. His side is open [to you]… Oh sinner, may you be helped to believe in His wounds! They cannot fail; Christ’s wounds will heal those that put their trust in him (ibid., page 240).

The wounds of Christ are open,
Sinner, they were made for thee;
The wounds of Christ are open,
There for refuge flee.
(“The Wounds of Christ” by Evangeline Booth, 1865-1950).

Come to Jesus. Trust Jesus. Jesus died on the Cross to pay for your sin. Come to Jesus. Trust Jesus. Stop trying to be a better person. That will never save you. Only Jesus can save you from sin and Hell! Amen.

If this sermon blessed you Dr. Hymers would like to hear from you. WHEN YOU WRITE TO DR. HYMERS YOU MUST TELL HIM WHAT COUNTRY YOU ARE WRITING FROM OR HE CANNOT ANSWER YOUR E-MAIL. If these sermons bless you send an e-mail to Dr. Hymers and tell him, but always include what country you are writing from. Dr. Hymers’ e-mail is at rlhymersjr@sbcglobal.net (click here). You can write to Dr. Hymers in any language, but write in English if you can. If you want to write to Dr. Hymers by postal mail, his address is P.O. Box 15308, Los Angeles, CA 90015. You may telephone him at (818)352-0452.

(END OF SERMON)
You can read Dr. Hymers' sermons each week on the Internet
at www.sermonsfortheworld.com.
Click on “Sermon Manuscripts.”

These sermon manuscripts are not copyrighted. You may use them without Dr. Hymers’
permission. However, all of Dr. Hymers’ video messages, and all other sermons on video
from our church, are copyrighted and can only be used by permission.

Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Mr. Abel Prudhomme: John 20:24-29.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:
“The Wounds of Christ” (by Evangeline Booth, 1865-1950).