Today we frequently hear about eye transplants, kidney transplants, heart transplants, bone marrow transplants. Almost any organ can now be transplanted from one human to another.
But I want to tell you about the most amazing transplant ever!
The operating room isn't an actual operating room at all. It is two wooden beams nailed or grooved together as a cross on a hill outside Jerusalem.
The surgeon is the greatest in the world. He is often called the Great Physician.
The patient is mankind, you and me.
A biopsy has revealed that we are diseased beyond cure. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick" (Jeremiah 17:9). We are in this hopeless state because we have sinned against God.
Untreated, the prognosis is terminal 100% of the time. "For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23)—that is, eternal separation from God in a place of punishment. The only hope is a healthy organ from a matching donor. But not one suitable donor is available on earth—all are diseased! "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). "None is righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:9).
The treatment then comes into play. God had a child (us) dying of a disease (sin) for which the only cure is a transplant. So God gave birth to a child, Jesus, who would be a donor for us. "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman . . . to redeem [save] those who were under the law" (Galatians 4:4-5).
Jesus, the eternal Son of God, become a man so we could have life instead of death. "For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because he was punished for our sins, Christ's righteousness is now credited to all who believe in him. "He [Jesus] was wounded for our transgressions [sins]; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement [punishment] that brought us peace . . . All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5-6).
Have you ever asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins?
If not, the OR is ready The Great Physician is ready. The Donor is ready. Are you ready? "To all who did receive [Jesus Christ], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).
If you want to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, you can just pray to him in words like these:
Lord Jesus, thank you for helping me see the terminal condition of my sinful heart and life. I believe that when you died on the cross, you died for me, and I now ask you to forgive me for all my sins and to make me a new person from the inside out. I now turn away from my sin and receive you as my Savior and Master. Amen.