Jesus as our first responder

 

The qualities of a first responder:

Has to be able and willing. 

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

 

I.                    Volunteer-Jesus voluntarily gave up His:

1. Position in Heaven-verse 6 "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped

2. Power in Heaven - verse 7 "but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men"
3. Privilege in Heaven - verse 8 "And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

II.                  Willing to die to save others

1. His purpose was to die on the cross  “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” 1 Timothy 1:15

 

2. His death was sacrificial

Romans 3: 23-25   for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

3. His death was substitutionary

Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”

4. His death was sufficient 

1 Peter 2:24 “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by His wounds you were healed.

I Peter 3:18 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.”