Hello Evangelist Temple and guests. Happy Resurrection
Sunday. We are here today to celebrate the fact that our savior and master gave
his life to redeem us from sin and death and then picked up His life again
three days later. We don’t have a lot of time today and to be completely honest
any one of us could stand up here for years nonstop covering what God has done
for us. Today, I’m going to try to keep this more manageable. I have three
topics I have been given to share with you all today.
- Why
Did Jesus have to come and die and be resurrected
- What
was Jesus thinking about as he hung on that cross for you and for me?
- What
should you do about it?
Number 1.
For those of you who don’t know, I often have the
opportunity to hear and read and watch the opinions of nonbelievers. It’s a
blessing. In hearing the pathetic attempts used to deny the Gospel of Jesus
Christ you can learn a lot about God and humanity. For example: have you ever
stopped to think about why Jesus had to die? It’s an important question and in
many ways the one question that matters when all is said and done. I mean why couldn’t God just wave his hand
and somehow forgive our sin such that no one dies or suffer? For some people it
is because questions like these that they miss being saved. If you don’t know
the answer to this question, shouldn’t you know? It’s not like we have an
excuse for not knowing. God had made sure that scripture contains the answer
for this question. Let’s kick this around for a short period of time.
Well, let’s look at a person before they come to faith in
Christ. The Bible says:
22 This righteousness is given through faith
in[h] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is
no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God, 24 and
all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by
Christ Jesus. 25 God
presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through the shedding of his blood—to be
received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his
forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—
26 he did it to
demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one
who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27 Where, then, is
boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No,
because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by
faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God
of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the
circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
31 Do we, then, nullify
the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. – Romans 3:22-31
The scripture is clear. All people are sinners. Sin is the
deeds and thoughts we have that go against who God is and what God’s standards
are. This passage tells us what God did despite our sin. He saves us by
presenting Jesus as an atoning sacrifice and held off on punishing sin so that
we can experience God’s righteousness giving us this salvation through faith in
Jesus. Those of us who think that forgiveness of sin is an easy thing don’t
understand how bad sin is. Sin is sin. It doesn’t matter how trivial you think
it is or how small. All sin has the same result:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of
God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23
Let that sink in. Because of our sin we deserve death. Not just physical
death but total separation and no fellowship with God. The kicker is that we
have earned it. But eternal life is a gift to us through Jesus. But this gift
is not cheap. It was so expensive that it cost Jesus’ suffering and death.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we
were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die
for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to
die. 8 But
God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now
been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath
through him! 10 For
if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of
his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his
life! 11 Not
only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation. – Romans 5:6-11
We were his enemies, but Jesus still chose to die in our
place. In theological terms, this doctrine is called “Substitution”. Life for
Life. Instead of the full measure of the wrath of God being brought upon us for
which we so deserve, Jesus took the brunt of it for it. All your sin. All my
sin. For everything we have ever done. Not just us after his sacrifice but for
every human being that has ever lived or will ever live. Think about how good
God is. Look at how much Jesus loves us. He is innocent. But he paid for us.
Every lie you or I ever told. Every evil
thought and desire. Every mean thing. Not just big things – like rape and
murder, but even the things we think are small things. God doesn’t make such
distinctions. Neither you nor I are less a sinner than anyone else. No, Hitler
is not worse than you. It’s all abominable to God and will send you straight to
hell.
Let’s look at it from another point of view. We’ll use one
of my favorite words in King James Version of the Bible: propitiation.
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his
Son to be the propitiation for our sins. – 1 John 4:10
In a lot of newer translation the word ilasmon (“hilasmos” G2434)
as “
atoning sacrifice”
instead of “propitiation”.
Unfortunate
because in today’s world you won’t find many people using the word “propitiation”.
I’ve been trying to work it in to every day conversation but haven’t been able
to make it fit. The word carries with it the notion of appeasement or
satisfaction.
It’s more than atonement –
making up for an offense. Jesus turned the wrath of God away from us. He gave
us peace with God – we no longer have to be God’s enemies.
I don’t have time to go into detail of how just how awful
the details of Jesus’ crucifixion was. From a historical point of view, you
have to understand the point of Roman crucifixion was humiliation and torture.
Jesus did not just die for us - he was tortured and suffered in our place. That
should have been you and me on that cross not him. The idea was to show
everyone just how powerful Rome was and how much of a nothing that person who
was being executed was considered to be in the eyes of the state. It was
shameful and not discussed in polite circles. But God took that and based our
lives around it. Look at this this way: crucifixion was so horrible that they
had to invent a word back then to describe how painful it was – “excruciating”.
Today, one of the best ways to understand this in a visual way is Mel Gibson’s
movie “The Passion of the Christ” from 2004. Just remember the film makers
toned it down a lot – they needed an R rating.
No one else was worthy. Jesus – God incarnate – had to be
the one. Our blood is tainted by sin He was sinless. Neither you nor I could
pay for our own sin. Sin is that bad. When we sin we do violence to ourselves,
everyone around us, and worse to God. This is what makes hell necessary. Only
an eternal punishment is penalty enough against an infinite God. The Son had to
take on human flesh and live among us and pay the penalty for us.
4 It is impossible for the
blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Therefore, when
Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but
a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings
and sin offerings
you
were not pleased. – Hebrews 10:4-6
Okay this take us to the second thing I have to
bring up to you today. We know what Jesus was thinking about as He hung on that
cross. Here is one of the things he said:
And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi,
Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?”). – Mark 15-33-35
Both Mark and Matthew record this saying. Many people think this
mean that the Father turned
His back on Jesus because the Father is too holy to
look upon sin. Some Muslims and Atheists use it to reject the whole account
because they reason that God could never turn his back on one of his own. Each
of these viewpoints really upset me and in the interest of time, instead of
demolishing these ideas let’s focus on what Jesus did here. Jesus knew the time
had come for him to die and yet he wanted to communicate something important
with his last breaths. He quoted a scripture – Psalm 22. In first century
Judaism, Jews knew the scriptures so well that when they wanted to refer to a
scripture they would quote the first phrase or sentence and everyone would know
what they were referring to. After all in Jesus’ time there were no Chapter and
verse divisions like we have them now.
So what does Psalm 22 say?
1 My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?
Why
are you so far from saving me,
so
far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by
day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.[b]
3 Yet you
are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.[c]
4 In you our ancestors
put their trust;
they
trusted and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried out
and were saved;
in
you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am
a worm and not a man,
scorned
by everyone, despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let
the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since
he delights in him.”
9 Yet you
brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast
on you;
from
my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Do not
be far from me,
for trouble is near
and
there is no one to help.
12 Many
bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions that
tear their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like
water,
and
all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it
has melted within me.
15 My mouth[d] is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you
lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs
surround me,
a
pack of villains encircles me;
they
pierce[e] my hands and my feet.
17 All my bones are on
display;
people
stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my
clothes among them
and
cast lots for my garment.
19 But
you, Lord, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver me from the
sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the
mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will
declare your name to my people;
in
the assembly I will praise you.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere
him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not
despised or scorned
the
suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but
has listened to his cry for help.
25 From
you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you[f] I will fulfill my vows.
26 The poor will eat and
be satisfied;
those
who seek the Lord will praise him—
may
your hearts live forever!
27 All the
ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will
bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs
to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the
rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those
who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve
him;
future
generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim
his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He
has done it!
If you take the time to read the Psalm, you recognize that the
speaker can’t be King David, although we think he wrote it. David describes
what happened to Jesus! And David lived about 1000 years before Jesus! Jesus is
saying “I’ve won this!” In John’s account, Jesus said “It is finished.” It is
one word in Greek “Telos” and it is equivalent to “Viola”. The one thing you
can say after completing a masterpiece.
Finally, what should be our response?
9 If you declare with your
mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and
are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are
saved. 11 As
Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[e] 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the
same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord will be saved.” – Romans 10: 9 -13
We make it so difficult but it’s not. If reach
out to Jesus in faith he will not reject you. And as for those of us who have
been “appointed for eternal life” (Acts 13:48) what is your response after you
have turned away from your sins and thrown yourself on the mercy of God? Here
is a start.
19 Do you not know that your
bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received
from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God
with your bodies. – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
We study the scripture and depend on God for the
rest. I feel the need to make one last appeal to all of us. We must put our
faith in Jesus. He is everything. Without him we have nothing and we are
nothing. Please…..Please….consider Jesus’ words.
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not
of this world. 24 I
told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he,
you will indeed die in your sins.” – John 8:23-24
If you believe that Jesus is the one who came and paid the
debt of sin, you are saved. You can’t express it any more plain than Jesus did.
Let us end with a quote from Paul who understood how central Jesus is for us.
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I
no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live
by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. –
Galatians 2:20
