THE REST OF
THE STORY
1 Corinthians
1:22-25; Isaiah 53
Many of you have already seen, or soon
will see, the Mel Gibson movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” If you have not, if you have read the gospel
accounts of the events leading up to and through the crucifixion, you already
know what it is about.
The controversy
surrounding the introduction of this film has been extraordinary, especially in
light of the fact that it is just a depiction of the last several hours of the
life of Christ. Millions of Bibles
gather dust on shelves and in drawers around the world and receive little
notice. Is it because we have not
allowed the reality of its message to become personal and the characters become
real?
What do you do
with a story of incomparable love poured out on those who do not deserve it and
often will not accept it? Today we want
to explore further the message of the cross, the rest of the story behind “The
Passion of the Christ.”
Central to
everything you will consider is the purpose behind all that took place that
pivotal, world-changing night and day in Jerusalem when Jesus was arrested,
tried, scourged and crucified…and what has happened since as a result of His
resurrection on the third day!
THESIS: Jesus Christ
loves you and me so much that He willingly endured the agony of the cross so
that we might be forgiven and brought home to the Father.
In an effort to
summarize the entire flow of redemptive history—the story of God’s plan to
rescue His people from their sin—I will be taking you through a wide range of
passages from the Bible to help clarify what the message of the cross really
means. There is much that I will not be
able to cover in one message but I hope to outline a few basic points so that
you might leave here today understanding two things: That Jesus loves you and that Jesus died for you.
I. THE
OFFENSE of THE CROSS
--Has it occurred to you to wonder why all the controversy
over a film that explores the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross?
--With each new year, movies seem to be immersing themselves
in deeper levels of degrading human behavior and scarcely a voice of objection
or protest is heard.
--Why then all the outcry about a film about “The Passion of
the Christ?” Obviously something else
is going on here!
--The offense of the message of the cross is as old as its
earliest proclamation in the years following the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
--The preaching of the cross and of the crucifixion of
Christ is either utterly offensive to those who do not believe or utterly
magnificent to those who do believe.
1 Corinthians 1:18
For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us
who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:22-23
For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to
Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness,
--The Jews were
looking for miracles, attesting signs, but obviously not the kind Jesus
performed!
--The Gentiles were ‘foreign nations not worshipping the
true God…pagans,’ those like the Greeks who were culturally and religiously
separated in lifestyle and beliefs from the Jewish traditions.
A. SCANDALOUS TO THOSE FROM A JEWISH PERSPECTIVE
--The cross was viewed by the Jews as a major offense, and
those condemned to die in that manner clearly were guilty of grossly
disgraceful conduct.
--In their minds, those who died in that manner were cursed,
separated from God as their ultimate end confirmed.
--By insisting on crucifixion for Jesus, the religious
establishment intended to denounce Him once for all as a false prophet, a
perpetrator of an elaborate hoax on the people, and a danger to all they
considered holy in the institution of religion.
B. FOOLISHNESS TO THOSE FROM A GENTILE PERSPECTIVE
--Impressed by power and prestige, wealth and knowledge,
there was no place in their lives for someone as ‘unimpressive’ in worldly
connections and ways as Jesus.
--Therefore, for them the cross represented the ultimate
foolishness, the last damning evidence of a worthless and wasted life.
--Anyone foolish enough to live in such a way that they
ended up in that degrading and destructive manner probably deserved their fate
as far as they were concerned!
What neither
group was prepared to consider is that such an intensely painful and horribly
cruel death was actually the eternal design of an All-wise and All-loving and
All-powerful God!
C. INSULTING TO THOSE WITH A WORLDLY PERSPECTIVE
1 Cor. 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world
through its wisdom did not come to know
God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to
save those who believe.
--The idea that Christ alone through the cross is the only
way to God insults those who see themselves as less needy than God does…who see
themselves as wiser than God!
--They do not believe that their sin is great enough to
require the cross of Christ, or that their inability is significant to need a
Savior…they proudly denounce those who are so weak as to have to lean on Jesus
Christ instead of standing on their own two feet!
D. WISDOM TO
THOSE WITH AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
--In the mystery of the mind of God, He had predetermined
before the world began that His only begotten Son would have to die for each
one of us—the ultimate act of love to pay the penalty for our sin.
--Peter, preaching in Jerusalem after the coming of the Holy
Spirit on the day of Pentecost declared that God had intended all along for His
Son to die…there was no other way for Him to save those He loved from
themselves!
Acts 2:23 this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of
God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
--The foreknowledge
of God - He knew all along what the
cost would be, as did Jesus when He came to this world.
--The purpose of
God - His eternal design for us to
have peace with God and the barrier of our sin removed included this profound
purpose in the death of His Son.
--The determination
of God - He had willed the death of
His Son and gave Him to the world to accomplish that purpose.
--As painful as the crucifixion was to watch, the suffering
of Christ to consider, God was not caught by surprise or left wondering how
such a treacherous and vicious deed could have been done.
When I first heard of the violence in the movie The Passion…, frankly I did not want to
go see it. The cruel and inhumane
punishment of the trial, scourging and crucifixion promised to be too intense,
too vulgar, to repulsive to watch.
Then it occurred to me that my sin does not seem to be so
revolting to me as the result of that sin.
If I can turn my back on Christ and live contrary to His will and not be
disgusted by what I have done, how can I not realize that what He endured in His
passion was because of my sin!!
What He suffered, He suffered for my sake…for your
sake…because His love for us compelled Him to suffer in our place and so
protect us from the consequences we are too blind to see and too foolish to
understand.
John 3:16 “For God so loved
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish, but have eternal life.
II. THE
SUFFERING OF THE MESSIAH
--Seldom do we consider the extreme suffering Christ had to
endure, choosing to think about the benefits of our faith instead of the price
He had to pay for it.
--As you consider the suffering endured by Jesus Christ, it
may have occurred to you—as it has to me—that no one should ever have to go
through what He did.
--But do you understand why? Have you grasped the reason behind it all?
·
His passion
for His Father’s glory sustained Him
on the path to the cross.
·
His satisfaction
of His Father’s justice justified
the pain in the way of the cross.
·
His love for His Father’s children compelled Him to
remain on the altar of the cross.
·
His joy in His Father’s will allowed Him to finish
the work of the cross.
Hebrews 12:2
Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the
joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at
the right hand of the throne of God.
A. SIN
REQUIRES THE ULTIMATE PENALTY
--God prepared an offering to pay the penalty we deserved
for our sins, an offering He established long before He gave His Son as the
ultimate expression of His love for you and for me.
1. Our Diminished View of Sin Limits Our
Understanding of Its Consequences
--If we think of sin as nothing more than mistakes, or
simple differences of opinion with God about how we should live, we cannot
comprehend the radical solution we witness at the cross.
2. Our Impaired Sense of Justice Limits Our
Grasp of Its Requirements
--Hear what the Bible says about the requirements for Divine
Justice to be satisfied with regard to sin:
Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free
gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Lev. 17:11 For the life of a creature is in the blood,
and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is
the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.
Heb. 9:22 In fact, the law requires that nearly
everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is
no forgiveness.
B. LOVE
PROVIDES THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE
--The prophet Isaiah offered a moving description of what
the passion would require of the Messiah approximately 700 years before He was
born.
--Isaiah 53
captures the heart of what the cross would cost our Savior and thrusts us back
into the emotional and mental images to consider what Jesus was willing to do
because of the depth of His love for each one of us…listen to a selection of
Isaiah’s verses.
Is. 53:3 He was despised and
forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; And like one from
whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Is. 53:4-6
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves
esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon
Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has
turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall
on Him.
Is. 53:7 He was oppressed and
He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to
slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not
open His mouth.
Is. 53:10-12
But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render
Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His
days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of
His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 …Because He poured out Himself
to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin
of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
III. THE
POWER OF THE GOSPEL
--As people try to sort out their response to this latest
means of proclaiming the message of the cross, it is impossible to overlook the
love and power in the person of Jesus Christ as He took His place willingly and
suffered gladly so that we might live.
--Therefore, there is power in the message of the cross just
as there is power in the blood of Christ.
1 Cor. 2:4-5 And my message and my preaching were not in
persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power, 5 that your faith should not
rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
Rom. 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it
is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek.
A. POWER TO
GIVE HIS LIFE
--As hard as it is to fathom, the question of who killed
Jesus has no answer…because He laid down His own life.
--He gave His life for you and me…no one took it!
John 10:18
“No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own
initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up
again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
--When Pilate was interrogating Jesus, he told him that he
had authority to either release Him or crucify Him, to which…
John 19:11 Jesus
answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you
from above; for this reason he who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin.”
--But now the issue comes down to a very personal one…that
Jesus endured all that He suffered in order for you to be forgiven for the sin
that has kept you separated from God the Father…now and unless you receive Him
as Savior, there is no other provision!
--Had there been another way, do you not think that God
would have spared His Son the agony He had to endure—all for the sake of your
sin…my sin?
B. POWER TO
FORGIVE YOUR SIN
--God has given His Son the power to forgive each of us and
save us from the certain judgment and eternal death we would face had He not
taken our place!
1. Saved
from His Wrath
Rom. 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by
His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
--Make no mistake about it…if Christ had not taken the wrath
of God upon Himself, each one of us would face the eternal torment of
everlasting suffering we fully deserve as a result of our sin.
2. Saved by
His Life
Rom. 5:10 For if while we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more,
having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
--When He died in our place, as our Substitute, He made it
possible for us to be reconciled to God and begin our new life in Him as those
who have not only died by faith in Him sacrifice, but who now live by the power
of His resurrected life!
C. POWER TO
KNOW YOUR SAVIOR
--You were created to know God and to live for His glory in
all things.
--Sin destroyed all that and only through the cross of
Christ has the consequence of your sin been reversed forever…if you will turn
away from sin (repent) and by faith believe that Jesus Christ died for you.
--You can once again know God by knowing your Savior,
trusting in His death and living out His resurrection as one who has been made
righteous by His power.
Once you have come to understand what
your sin cost Jesus Christ, is it possible to return to it with the same
disregard you once had for what He had to suffer?
Knowing that
every blow He endured, every stripe He took, every insult He received, every
moment of agony He suffered was the result of my sin radically changes the way
I understand two things:
1. The Deep Sorrow My Sin Caused My Savior
The wounds on
His back, the thorns on His brow, the nails in His hands and feet, the weight
of my sin hammered down upon the King of Glory. …And worst of all, when the Father turned away from Him as His
Son took my sin upon Himself!
I can never sin
again without knowing that the blows He endured were from my hand. What a deterrent to sin and motivation to
righteousness!
2. The Deep Love My Savior Poured Out upon Me
With each blow
delivered, Jesus endured for the joy set before Him, the privilege of knowing
that His love would sustain Him and save each one who would believe in Him.
Rom. 5:7-8 For one will hardly die for a righteous man;
though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love
toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us
Have you ever
heard someone say, “Jesus loves you,” and passed it off as a sweet but meaningless
sentiment? Next time you are reminded
of that amazing truth, remember the cross!
Remember the nail-scarred hands!
Remember that last word He spoke and know that you were the reason He
had done all that He did as He said, “It is finished! The work is accomplished!”
What work? What
is finished? The Father’s plan for your
forgiveness and for you to be reconciled to Him. All that had to be done—gruesomely painful and gut-wrenching as
it was—all was done for you and me by the God who loves each of us with an
everlasting love!
Jesus loves
you! Jesus died for you! Now that you know the rest of hat part of
the gospel story, will you live for and love Him!
February 29, 2004
© David Horner 2004
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