Monday, October 17, 2011
sermon I preached two weeks ago
God Loves you
Rock Church
10-2-11
John 15:12-14 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater Love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are my Friends if you do what I command.”
Tonight I would like to unpack the truth that God loves us. Unfortunately, the statement on its own, has become somewhat cliché and a bumper sticker gospel, meaning, that people hear it, they say it, but really don’t know how profound, and deep this truth is. Understanding God’s love for you is extremely deep waters. It’s huge and when you seriously think about it, its mind-boggling. I mean seriously, who are we that God would be mindful of us? This is a question that even King David wrestled with? David asks that exact question in Psalm 8:4 “ what is man that you are mindful of him?”
Who are we, that God, creator of the universe, Who is all powerful, mighty, holy, perfect, and just be mindful of you and I, dirty little sinners? It’s pretty amazing that God, Who is so big, vast, and beyond our comprehension has a love for us. And that love should create a sense of awe in you when you think about it
And here’s why: God is perfect; we are flawed. God is righteous; we are wicked. God all powerful; we are not. God is holy; we are sinners. God exists out side of time; we while on earth, live and die by the clock. God is all knowing; we only think we are.
Here is the deal…God is so great and perfect and so way beyond us, yet He loves us. There is nothing we could ever do that would make Him love us more or less. We are completely unworthy of His love, but He loves us regardless. And because of God’s love, He has done something for us that we are incapable of doing on our own, in that God has given us hope, redemption and Salvation, through His son Jesus Christ.
There are things God want us to know. Truths, which He has revealed to us through scripture. God wants us to know Him, and that He is all of the things I just mentioned, that He is holy, just, perfect, omnipresent, the only true God, He is righteous, and worthy of all praise. He is the creator and that He is love.
1st John 4:8 : reads simply “God is Love…”
Oswald Chambers in his book The Love of God writes: “Its an eternal fact that God is Love. God is not loving, but rather He is love. God and Love are synonymous. Love is not an attribute of God, it is God; whatever God is, Love is. “
When you read through the holy bible, you will find another truth and that is we are sinners. We are nowhere near God’s level or standard of holiness. We have a bad habit of judging one another based on human standards of goodness and or deeds but the bible is clear that we all fall short of God’s glory. We may think we are holier, or a better human being than those who have murdered, cheated, robbed, and have physically hurt others, but the key word is ALL. Not some, not a few, but ALL.
Romans 3:23 “ for all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.”
As Christians, we have to be honest with ourselves here. We are wretched. We are full of sin, whether it be pride, lust, drunkenness, envy, strife, jealously, hatred, gossip, judgment, selfishness, self-centeredness, vanity, conceitedness, and the list goes on. Sin has been ingrained in us ever since the fall of man with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Paradise. Since then, we have been in rebellion against God. The bible even uses the word “enemy”. We have been an enemy of God…Think about that. Nothing you could ever do or say could put you on the same level of God. God is way up here, perfect, holy and blameless and we are way down here, defiled, ugly and wretched. And because of that sin, we are eternally separated from God. Because God is holy, just and perfectly blameless, he cannot be in a relationship with sin, meaning He cannot be in a relationship with us, if…left in our state of depravity.
Here is the thing….the mind blower…God loves you…God loves me. God, the almighty, loves us, who are depraved, sinful and hopeless…This is a deep affectionate Love. He loves us so much, He does something remarkable. Through His love He is willing to forgive us, and has provided a means of reconciliation and redemption. He has granted us salvation, which Pastor Patrick explained a few weeks ago, can only come from Him, through His Grace and Mercy. We clearly cannot achieve salvation on our own…Its simply a gift, which is rooted and motivated by love. His Love for us…
Here is the thing about Love. Actions need to accompany it. I would not have much of a marriage and would not be much of a father to my children if I only told them I love them, but never displayed that love in actions. Honestly, without actions, its not love at all. What kind of marriage would you and I have if we never gave our spouse a hug or a kiss,
if we never gave them compliments, if we never put them before ourselves, if we never remember birthdays or anniversaries, or if we never bought them gifts or spent quality time with them? The same goes with parenting, what kind of Love would it be if you never showed affection, or provided food and shelter for your child; if you never listened to them or spent quality time with them, if you never played with them or praised them or disciplined them. Yes even discipline, if done in a Godly way is an act of love. You can say you love them all you want, but without actions it is meaningless and not Love at all.
All through the bible we see God showing up big time, displaying Love and Grace in actions. But there is no greater display or action of Love then what we see with Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross for us.
Jesus said so Himself, Greater Love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. This is the clearest and most magnificent display of Love that God has for us.
Romans 5: 6-8 reads: “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Just so we are clear, lets unpack the cross for a moment.
Jesus, the son of God, perfect and blameless and without sin,
and as Hebrews 1:3 reads, He is the radiance of His Glory and the exact representation of His nature; translation; Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and Jesus is the exact representation of God’s nature.
Jesus comes to earth, born of a virgin, and at age 30, starts out on His ministry, wherein He lives a sinless life, befriends sinners, eats and drinks with them, heals the sick, raises the dead, called twelve disciplines and taught them in God’s ways, and all along fulfilling every prophecy ever written about the messiah in the old testament. Jesus also knew that He would be handed over and murdered, as it was the Father’s will and out of love, Jesus obeyed…
At age 33, Jesus is betrayed by one of His own disciples, Judas Iscariot, which again, Jesus already knew was going to happen and even prophesied about it during the last supper. Jesus says to his disciples during the Passover meal, “ Truly I say to you that one of you will betray me”, in which all the disciples said “Surely not I”. So it comes about that Judas leads a multitude of people armed with clubs and swords from the Chief Priests and Elders of the people and they arrest and seize Jesus. Jesus is placed on trial 6 times, 3 of which were illegal according to the law, because they were held at night and at each of those trials, Jesus is beaten severely.
The bible details Jesus’ death in that, it records Jesus being punched, mocked, spit on, and slapped. They pulled out chunks of whiskers out of His beard. They blind folded Him and continued to punch Him with their fists, telling Him to prophesy who hit him. They crushed a crown of thorns down on His head and gave Him a staff and again mocked Him, calling out hail king of the jews, then they took the staff and beat Him over the head with it.
Now the Jews were not permitted to put anyone to death, so they take Jesus to Pilate, a Roman governor who had the authority to put Jesus to death, but here is the thing, he found no wrong in Jesus, he even sent Jesus off to another Governor, Herod, who too found no guilt in Jesus so, he sent Him back to Pilate.
Pilate, not wanting to kill Jesus, he figures if he could beat Jesus enough, it would move the crowd to compassion, sparing Jesus’ life. So Pilate has Jesus scourged, starting the fulfillment of the prophesy of Isaiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.
So Jesus is whipped with what they call a cat of nine tails… I don’t know if any of you have seen the movie the Passion of Christ. All of what Jesus had endured is violently portrayed in the movie. I have only seen the movie once, and I don’t think I ever need to see it again because the scenes and images of brutality, wrath, and raw viciousness are forever burned into my memory. The scene in the movie where is Jesus is whipped is pretty accurate. The cat of nine tails was a whip with nine stripes of leather and at the end of the leather strip would be a small metal ball or hook. The balls were there for tenderizing the flesh, like you would with a steak. The hooks where made of metal or bone. Their purpose was to hook into the flesh, then rip and tear it apart. A person who was to be scourged would be tied to a stump or a block of wood, exposing the back, buttocks and legs. They would then proceed to whip you, each time the metal balls tenderizing your back and the hooks sinking in and taking a hold of your flesh, then violently ripped out, basically flaying your back, legs and buttocks open. After Jesus was whipped and made to be a bloody mess, Pilate presented Jesus before the crowd.
But the crowd begins to yell and chant “Crucify, crucify, crucify.” You can imagine the bloodthirsty frenzy building up among the people. Pilate in turns tells the crowd that he has no found no fault in Jesus and tells them “ you take him yourself and crucify”. The Jews answer back “ we have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the son of God”. Now prior to Jesus crucifixion, as accustom to the Governor’s Feast, which was being held at that time, one prisoner of the peoples choice was released.
Now Pilate presented both Jesus, the messiah, and a man named Barabbas, who was a robber and murder before the people and asked who they should have released, and the crowed called out for Barabbas. Also Pilates wife who appeared to have a little more discernment than Pilate begged him not to kill Jesus because of a dream she had; however, Pilate knew not crucifying Jesus would result riots and civil unrest, which would be viewed by Rome as poor governorship, so he opts to kill Jesus. Before so, he public washes his hands before the people and tells them that he is innocent of Jesus’ blood, and the crowd responds, “ may his blood be on us and our children”. Jesus is then is lead away to be crucified. They even have Jesus attempt to carry His own cross, but he was took weak and beaten, so they pulled a man out of the crowd by the name of Simon to carry Jesus’ cross. We know him as Simon of Cyrene.
Once they arrived to a place called Golgotha, which means place of skull, they nailed Jesus to the cross, crucifying Him. They also divided up his garments and gambled for them, again fulfilling more prophesy of the Old Testament.
Jesus, stripped of His clothes, is hung on the cross, suffering in unimaginable pain and people continue to mock Him.
The actual cause of death during crucifixion is suffocation. People are hung in a way that restricts their breathing. The only way to breathe while on the cross is to push up from your crucified feet, which no doubt would hurt, so that you could inhale. This goes on for hours in the baking sun. Your body burning, and become dehydrated, you becoming weaker and weaker, until you no longer have the will or strength to lift yourself up for breath. In some cases, Roman soldiers would break the legs of those being crucified, prohibiting them from being able to lift themselves up to breath, expediting the death process. In Jesus’ case his legs were not broken, again another fulfillment of Old Testament prophesy. Jesus is left there on the cross until he dies and then to ensure He is dead, they run a spear up His rib cage, puncturing His lungs and heart sack and blood and water flow.
Graphic I know, and here is what is so astonishing about the whole ordeal…
Hebrews 12:1 says “for who the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the thrown of God. Jesus, who the joy was set before Him endured the cross!
Are you kidding me? Joy? What Joy could there ever be in that type of torture and brutality? All of you would be hard press to find any joy in crucifixion. So what possibly could that joy be?
“For Who the joy set before Him endured the cross..”
The joy is that He (Jesus) was purchasing many sons and daughters for the Father.
He gave His life for you and I because He loves us. He gladly works as an interceder between us the Father because He loves us. Remember, Jesus said so Himself, Greater Love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
What’s extraordinary is that not only does God love us, but He knows us…He knows and see the good and bad. He knows our weakness, He knows our flesh, He knows we are going to fail, and stumble. He knows that we are going to sin and that we are going to be drawn to wicked things, which make us feel yucky, dirty, shameful and embarrassed, but that is the point of the Cross!
Listen, The cross is God’s love in action and it is a picture of God’s love for you in spite of you. The cross is necessary because of you, and me…but it is also the picture of how mighty God’s love is and how far He is willing to go and pursue us.
And this Love God has for you should motivate you to do two things. It should motivate you to repentance and gratitude.
There are many Christians who doubt this love or don’t fully believe it. They think and feel that what they have done in the past is unforgivable. As if God had not gone to the cross for their sins or that His grace some how does not apply or insufficient. That is nonsense! That is a lie from the enemy! The bible is very clear about His love for us.
Romans 8:35-39 Reads: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul doesn’t mince words here. “ We are to be considered sheep to be slaughtered..” Look, becoming a Christian does not exclude you from hardship, pain and bad things. Sometimes its self-imposed, other times, it’s just life. The world is full of sin, and sin wreaks havoc, pain, devastation, and turmoil. There is a Christian Pastor in Iran that is about to be executed because he would not renounce Jesus. Christians get sick with illness like cancer daily. People rob us, hurt us, and fail us. But we have something the world doesn’t have, and they can’t take it away. We have Jesus, and His love! The world can rob us blind, drain our pensions, take our lives for confessing Christ, hurl insults at us, mock us and betray us, but they cannot take Christ and His love from us!
The Message bible puts it this way: So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
The bible also says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8-1)
Once you have embraced God’s magnificent Love and grace, by surrendering and turning your life over the Christ Jesus, repenting of your sins, and proclaiming and confessing that Jesus is son of God and that He has not only forgiven you of your sins, but has paid the price for them, by being sacrificed upon the cross, YOU ARE IN CHRIST JESUS. That meaning, God no longer sees you in your depraved state, rather, through Christ Jesus who is blameless and pure.
I heard a story about a woman, whom while engaged to be married she slept with another man. Afterwards she was filled with guilt, shame and remorse. She was also filled with fear.
Fear that if she told her fiancé, he would not marry her, and after they were married, she feared if he ever found out or if she ever told him, he would hate her and divorce her. The guilt, shame, and dark secrete began to erode the marriage, until one day, she confessed. The husband’s response was to go to the store and buy a white night gown for his wife. He returned home, undressed his wife and put the white night gown on her and told her he chooses to see her as Jesus does.
It is because of Jesus’ love and that action of His love that he displayed on the cross that it can be as Isaiah writes (Isaiah 1:18-19) “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.”
Because of Jesus we are white as snow. How magnificent His love for us is!
Application. Real simple. Know and embrace God’s love for you! Stand firm in that. Don’t let the enemy speak discouraging lies to. Don’t beat yourself up over failures, instead, repent and move forward by the power and grace of God’s love. Don’t doubt God’s love. Instead share His love. Love others, as He has commanded us to do so. The cross is not a free pass to continue in your sin. We as Christians respond to His love with love, in that we obey to the best of our abilities His commandment, which Jesus says in (Mark 12:30-31) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”
Lets pray….
Rock Church
10-2-11
John 15:12-14 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater Love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are my Friends if you do what I command.”
Tonight I would like to unpack the truth that God loves us. Unfortunately, the statement on its own, has become somewhat cliché and a bumper sticker gospel, meaning, that people hear it, they say it, but really don’t know how profound, and deep this truth is. Understanding God’s love for you is extremely deep waters. It’s huge and when you seriously think about it, its mind-boggling. I mean seriously, who are we that God would be mindful of us? This is a question that even King David wrestled with? David asks that exact question in Psalm 8:4 “ what is man that you are mindful of him?”
Who are we, that God, creator of the universe, Who is all powerful, mighty, holy, perfect, and just be mindful of you and I, dirty little sinners? It’s pretty amazing that God, Who is so big, vast, and beyond our comprehension has a love for us. And that love should create a sense of awe in you when you think about it
And here’s why: God is perfect; we are flawed. God is righteous; we are wicked. God all powerful; we are not. God is holy; we are sinners. God exists out side of time; we while on earth, live and die by the clock. God is all knowing; we only think we are.
Here is the deal…God is so great and perfect and so way beyond us, yet He loves us. There is nothing we could ever do that would make Him love us more or less. We are completely unworthy of His love, but He loves us regardless. And because of God’s love, He has done something for us that we are incapable of doing on our own, in that God has given us hope, redemption and Salvation, through His son Jesus Christ.
There are things God want us to know. Truths, which He has revealed to us through scripture. God wants us to know Him, and that He is all of the things I just mentioned, that He is holy, just, perfect, omnipresent, the only true God, He is righteous, and worthy of all praise. He is the creator and that He is love.
1st John 4:8 : reads simply “God is Love…”
Oswald Chambers in his book The Love of God writes: “Its an eternal fact that God is Love. God is not loving, but rather He is love. God and Love are synonymous. Love is not an attribute of God, it is God; whatever God is, Love is. “
When you read through the holy bible, you will find another truth and that is we are sinners. We are nowhere near God’s level or standard of holiness. We have a bad habit of judging one another based on human standards of goodness and or deeds but the bible is clear that we all fall short of God’s glory. We may think we are holier, or a better human being than those who have murdered, cheated, robbed, and have physically hurt others, but the key word is ALL. Not some, not a few, but ALL.
Romans 3:23 “ for all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.”
As Christians, we have to be honest with ourselves here. We are wretched. We are full of sin, whether it be pride, lust, drunkenness, envy, strife, jealously, hatred, gossip, judgment, selfishness, self-centeredness, vanity, conceitedness, and the list goes on. Sin has been ingrained in us ever since the fall of man with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Paradise. Since then, we have been in rebellion against God. The bible even uses the word “enemy”. We have been an enemy of God…Think about that. Nothing you could ever do or say could put you on the same level of God. God is way up here, perfect, holy and blameless and we are way down here, defiled, ugly and wretched. And because of that sin, we are eternally separated from God. Because God is holy, just and perfectly blameless, he cannot be in a relationship with sin, meaning He cannot be in a relationship with us, if…left in our state of depravity.
Here is the thing….the mind blower…God loves you…God loves me. God, the almighty, loves us, who are depraved, sinful and hopeless…This is a deep affectionate Love. He loves us so much, He does something remarkable. Through His love He is willing to forgive us, and has provided a means of reconciliation and redemption. He has granted us salvation, which Pastor Patrick explained a few weeks ago, can only come from Him, through His Grace and Mercy. We clearly cannot achieve salvation on our own…Its simply a gift, which is rooted and motivated by love. His Love for us…
Here is the thing about Love. Actions need to accompany it. I would not have much of a marriage and would not be much of a father to my children if I only told them I love them, but never displayed that love in actions. Honestly, without actions, its not love at all. What kind of marriage would you and I have if we never gave our spouse a hug or a kiss,
if we never gave them compliments, if we never put them before ourselves, if we never remember birthdays or anniversaries, or if we never bought them gifts or spent quality time with them? The same goes with parenting, what kind of Love would it be if you never showed affection, or provided food and shelter for your child; if you never listened to them or spent quality time with them, if you never played with them or praised them or disciplined them. Yes even discipline, if done in a Godly way is an act of love. You can say you love them all you want, but without actions it is meaningless and not Love at all.
All through the bible we see God showing up big time, displaying Love and Grace in actions. But there is no greater display or action of Love then what we see with Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross for us.
Jesus said so Himself, Greater Love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. This is the clearest and most magnificent display of Love that God has for us.
Romans 5: 6-8 reads: “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Just so we are clear, lets unpack the cross for a moment.
Jesus, the son of God, perfect and blameless and without sin,
and as Hebrews 1:3 reads, He is the radiance of His Glory and the exact representation of His nature; translation; Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and Jesus is the exact representation of God’s nature.
Jesus comes to earth, born of a virgin, and at age 30, starts out on His ministry, wherein He lives a sinless life, befriends sinners, eats and drinks with them, heals the sick, raises the dead, called twelve disciplines and taught them in God’s ways, and all along fulfilling every prophecy ever written about the messiah in the old testament. Jesus also knew that He would be handed over and murdered, as it was the Father’s will and out of love, Jesus obeyed…
At age 33, Jesus is betrayed by one of His own disciples, Judas Iscariot, which again, Jesus already knew was going to happen and even prophesied about it during the last supper. Jesus says to his disciples during the Passover meal, “ Truly I say to you that one of you will betray me”, in which all the disciples said “Surely not I”. So it comes about that Judas leads a multitude of people armed with clubs and swords from the Chief Priests and Elders of the people and they arrest and seize Jesus. Jesus is placed on trial 6 times, 3 of which were illegal according to the law, because they were held at night and at each of those trials, Jesus is beaten severely.
The bible details Jesus’ death in that, it records Jesus being punched, mocked, spit on, and slapped. They pulled out chunks of whiskers out of His beard. They blind folded Him and continued to punch Him with their fists, telling Him to prophesy who hit him. They crushed a crown of thorns down on His head and gave Him a staff and again mocked Him, calling out hail king of the jews, then they took the staff and beat Him over the head with it.
Now the Jews were not permitted to put anyone to death, so they take Jesus to Pilate, a Roman governor who had the authority to put Jesus to death, but here is the thing, he found no wrong in Jesus, he even sent Jesus off to another Governor, Herod, who too found no guilt in Jesus so, he sent Him back to Pilate.
Pilate, not wanting to kill Jesus, he figures if he could beat Jesus enough, it would move the crowd to compassion, sparing Jesus’ life. So Pilate has Jesus scourged, starting the fulfillment of the prophesy of Isaiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.
So Jesus is whipped with what they call a cat of nine tails… I don’t know if any of you have seen the movie the Passion of Christ. All of what Jesus had endured is violently portrayed in the movie. I have only seen the movie once, and I don’t think I ever need to see it again because the scenes and images of brutality, wrath, and raw viciousness are forever burned into my memory. The scene in the movie where is Jesus is whipped is pretty accurate. The cat of nine tails was a whip with nine stripes of leather and at the end of the leather strip would be a small metal ball or hook. The balls were there for tenderizing the flesh, like you would with a steak. The hooks where made of metal or bone. Their purpose was to hook into the flesh, then rip and tear it apart. A person who was to be scourged would be tied to a stump or a block of wood, exposing the back, buttocks and legs. They would then proceed to whip you, each time the metal balls tenderizing your back and the hooks sinking in and taking a hold of your flesh, then violently ripped out, basically flaying your back, legs and buttocks open. After Jesus was whipped and made to be a bloody mess, Pilate presented Jesus before the crowd.
But the crowd begins to yell and chant “Crucify, crucify, crucify.” You can imagine the bloodthirsty frenzy building up among the people. Pilate in turns tells the crowd that he has no found no fault in Jesus and tells them “ you take him yourself and crucify”. The Jews answer back “ we have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the son of God”. Now prior to Jesus crucifixion, as accustom to the Governor’s Feast, which was being held at that time, one prisoner of the peoples choice was released.
Now Pilate presented both Jesus, the messiah, and a man named Barabbas, who was a robber and murder before the people and asked who they should have released, and the crowed called out for Barabbas. Also Pilates wife who appeared to have a little more discernment than Pilate begged him not to kill Jesus because of a dream she had; however, Pilate knew not crucifying Jesus would result riots and civil unrest, which would be viewed by Rome as poor governorship, so he opts to kill Jesus. Before so, he public washes his hands before the people and tells them that he is innocent of Jesus’ blood, and the crowd responds, “ may his blood be on us and our children”. Jesus is then is lead away to be crucified. They even have Jesus attempt to carry His own cross, but he was took weak and beaten, so they pulled a man out of the crowd by the name of Simon to carry Jesus’ cross. We know him as Simon of Cyrene.
Once they arrived to a place called Golgotha, which means place of skull, they nailed Jesus to the cross, crucifying Him. They also divided up his garments and gambled for them, again fulfilling more prophesy of the Old Testament.
Jesus, stripped of His clothes, is hung on the cross, suffering in unimaginable pain and people continue to mock Him.
The actual cause of death during crucifixion is suffocation. People are hung in a way that restricts their breathing. The only way to breathe while on the cross is to push up from your crucified feet, which no doubt would hurt, so that you could inhale. This goes on for hours in the baking sun. Your body burning, and become dehydrated, you becoming weaker and weaker, until you no longer have the will or strength to lift yourself up for breath. In some cases, Roman soldiers would break the legs of those being crucified, prohibiting them from being able to lift themselves up to breath, expediting the death process. In Jesus’ case his legs were not broken, again another fulfillment of Old Testament prophesy. Jesus is left there on the cross until he dies and then to ensure He is dead, they run a spear up His rib cage, puncturing His lungs and heart sack and blood and water flow.
Graphic I know, and here is what is so astonishing about the whole ordeal…
Hebrews 12:1 says “for who the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the thrown of God. Jesus, who the joy was set before Him endured the cross!
Are you kidding me? Joy? What Joy could there ever be in that type of torture and brutality? All of you would be hard press to find any joy in crucifixion. So what possibly could that joy be?
“For Who the joy set before Him endured the cross..”
The joy is that He (Jesus) was purchasing many sons and daughters for the Father.
He gave His life for you and I because He loves us. He gladly works as an interceder between us the Father because He loves us. Remember, Jesus said so Himself, Greater Love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
What’s extraordinary is that not only does God love us, but He knows us…He knows and see the good and bad. He knows our weakness, He knows our flesh, He knows we are going to fail, and stumble. He knows that we are going to sin and that we are going to be drawn to wicked things, which make us feel yucky, dirty, shameful and embarrassed, but that is the point of the Cross!
Listen, The cross is God’s love in action and it is a picture of God’s love for you in spite of you. The cross is necessary because of you, and me…but it is also the picture of how mighty God’s love is and how far He is willing to go and pursue us.
And this Love God has for you should motivate you to do two things. It should motivate you to repentance and gratitude.
There are many Christians who doubt this love or don’t fully believe it. They think and feel that what they have done in the past is unforgivable. As if God had not gone to the cross for their sins or that His grace some how does not apply or insufficient. That is nonsense! That is a lie from the enemy! The bible is very clear about His love for us.
Romans 8:35-39 Reads: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul doesn’t mince words here. “ We are to be considered sheep to be slaughtered..” Look, becoming a Christian does not exclude you from hardship, pain and bad things. Sometimes its self-imposed, other times, it’s just life. The world is full of sin, and sin wreaks havoc, pain, devastation, and turmoil. There is a Christian Pastor in Iran that is about to be executed because he would not renounce Jesus. Christians get sick with illness like cancer daily. People rob us, hurt us, and fail us. But we have something the world doesn’t have, and they can’t take it away. We have Jesus, and His love! The world can rob us blind, drain our pensions, take our lives for confessing Christ, hurl insults at us, mock us and betray us, but they cannot take Christ and His love from us!
The Message bible puts it this way: So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
The bible also says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8-1)
Once you have embraced God’s magnificent Love and grace, by surrendering and turning your life over the Christ Jesus, repenting of your sins, and proclaiming and confessing that Jesus is son of God and that He has not only forgiven you of your sins, but has paid the price for them, by being sacrificed upon the cross, YOU ARE IN CHRIST JESUS. That meaning, God no longer sees you in your depraved state, rather, through Christ Jesus who is blameless and pure.
I heard a story about a woman, whom while engaged to be married she slept with another man. Afterwards she was filled with guilt, shame and remorse. She was also filled with fear.
Fear that if she told her fiancé, he would not marry her, and after they were married, she feared if he ever found out or if she ever told him, he would hate her and divorce her. The guilt, shame, and dark secrete began to erode the marriage, until one day, she confessed. The husband’s response was to go to the store and buy a white night gown for his wife. He returned home, undressed his wife and put the white night gown on her and told her he chooses to see her as Jesus does.
It is because of Jesus’ love and that action of His love that he displayed on the cross that it can be as Isaiah writes (Isaiah 1:18-19) “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.”
Because of Jesus we are white as snow. How magnificent His love for us is!
Application. Real simple. Know and embrace God’s love for you! Stand firm in that. Don’t let the enemy speak discouraging lies to. Don’t beat yourself up over failures, instead, repent and move forward by the power and grace of God’s love. Don’t doubt God’s love. Instead share His love. Love others, as He has commanded us to do so. The cross is not a free pass to continue in your sin. We as Christians respond to His love with love, in that we obey to the best of our abilities His commandment, which Jesus says in (Mark 12:30-31) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”
Lets pray….
