A Lesson in Contrast

Matthew 26:1-16, “A Lesson in Contrast”

Lessons in contrast can be highly instructive.  So often we’re better able to see something for what it is, when it contrasted against something that is so utterly different.  This is partly the reason why jewelry boxes are often lined with dark velvet – it helps to contrast the brightness of the diamond that’s contained within, making the diamond shine all the more.

As Matthew picks up in the narrative of events that lead to the cross, he gives us a bit of contrast himself – showing something extremely dark that truly helps something else shine far brighter.  Ch. 26 begins with an act of worship surrounded by an act of hatred.  As Matthew tells how Jesus was rejected by the nation and betrayed by His friend, Matthew stops to take a brief look at an act of extravagant worship and devotion.  The priests looked for ways to murder Jesus, a disciple looked to discard Jesus – yet a woman looked to exalt Jesus in highest way available to her.  It is a beautiful act in the midst of such severe evil.

Evil is not limited to Judas and the high priests – men and women of all sorts look for ways to betray and reject Jesus every day.  What is far more rare is the example of unrestrained worship and devotion.  We want to be those like this woman, who gives her all for Jesus, because Jesus gave it all for us when He went to the cross.

Matthew 26:1–16
1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, 2 “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

1. The first thing we notice is that Matthew sets up the context.  So much had been said about the end-times during the Olivet Discourse.  Jesus had spoken about the coming days of the Great Tribulation – a worldwide deception marked by Antichrist in the Jewish temple – the outpouring of the wrath of God upon the world – and the glorious 2nd coming of the Messiah in judgment.  In teaching these things, Jesus illustrated the importance of His people being always ready for the time.  They are to watch for the Messiah, to be wise & faithful as they wait for the Messiah, and to never lose hope as they serve the Messiah.  The Messiah would come, there would be a wondrous reward, and an indescribable kingdom in which they would all live.  Surely as Jesus taught these things, it would have inspired the imaginations of the disciples as they anxiously looked forward to that day.  Jesus calls them back to the present-time, however.  Before any of those things, there would be great suffering.  Before even the more immediate future destruction of the temple and desolation of Jerusalem, there would be something else that would directly impact the lives of the disciples: the cross. Chronologically, this was the last week of Jesus’ ministry, prior to His death.  (It’s tempting to say “the last week of Jesus’ life,” but Jesus is still alive!  He DID die; it’s just that death could not hold Him. J)  Only days were left at this point.  In Matthew’s telling of the gospel, Jesus is now done with His major teachings (though John’s gospel shows much more), and now the narrative is going to progress rapidly to the cross and resurrection.
2. Jesus specifically spoke of His crucifixion.  There was no doubt as to how Jesus would die.  Throughout His ministry, He had told the disciples that He would be rejected & delivered up to death.  Increasingly, Jesus had spoken directly of crucifixion & now He reiterates it again for them.  This was a tough truth for the disciples to swallow (understandably so!), and Jesus does everything He can to take away any possible misunderstanding of what was going to happen.  It’s not that Jesus didn’t know that the disciples would be confused (He’s God – of course He knew), it’s that Jesus knew that after He rose from the dead and the disciples had calmed down & been filled with the Holy Spirit, He wanted them to remember the multiple times He had told them about His crucifixion.  Jesus’ death was not an accident.  It was not a freak-action of an unwieldy mob.  The timing & method of Jesus’ death was exactly according to God’s plan, because it had a specific purpose.
3. What was the purpose?  Passover.  It’s significant that the death of the Son of Man would be linked with Passover.  That was the feast that celebrated God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt.  God’s angel had entered the land of Egypt, killing every firstborn child in every home – all except the homes that were marked by the blood of a spotless lamb who had been slain in its place.  Jesus (the Son of Man – the Messiah King) is the Passover lamb of sacrifice.  The One sent by God to reign for all eternity is also the One sent by God to be killed for the sin of the world.  Jesus took our place when He died upon the cross.  It is only when our lives are marked by His blood that the wrath of God passes over us, and we can be set free to live with God.  Of course, the disciples did not yet understand all of this, but they would (as Jesus would show them later in Ch. 26).

3 Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, 4 and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him.

1. Notice who was there: “the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders…the high priest.”  All of the religious authorities were party to this!  Hardly a single group was left out.  All of the authorities had gathered to find a way to kill Jesus.  When the Scriptures had prophesied that the Messiah would be rejected by the people, it’s clear that this was truly a rejection by the Jewish people as a whole.  Even when the general population had the opportunity to receive their Messiah back, they rejected Him, choosing the robber Barabbas in His place.
2. How far were they willing to go?  They were willing to do whatever it took to kill Jesus – even engaging in “trickery.”  The religious authorities – the very people tasked with judging according to the law of Moses & teaching the law of Moses – sat down together and tried to figure out various ways of breaking the law for the specific purpose of killing Jesus.  The very hypocrisy for which Jesus had condemned them in Ch. 23 was on full display at this time.  They tried to look holy and righteous on the outside to other people, but behind closed doors they were little more than murderous thugs brainstorming all the different ways they could kill Jesus without endangering themselves.  They were willing to go to any length.
1. People are willing to go to great lengths to reject Jesus!  They ignore the clear testimony of creation around us.  They equate belief in the Bible with Islamic terrorism.  They ignore their own conscience, shut out family members to believe in Christ, and the list goes on.  And the reason is simple: Jesus is an offense to them.  This shouldn’t be a surprise – even the Bible says that He would be a stumbling stone & a rock of offense (1 Pet 2:8).  When we see our sin in the light of Jesus Christ, it’s natural that we would be offended…the truth is painful!  How we respond to that offense is what is crucial.  We can reject it, and find all sorts of ways of excusing our conscience – or we could see it for what it is, and submit ourselves to God in sincere humility & faith.

5 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”

1. The one thing they weren’t willing to do was to risk the wrath of a mob.  They had already seen the multitudes following Jesus in Jerusalem, proclaiming Him to be the Messiah, and the authorities didn’t want to take any chances.  They knew there would be much danger in an arrest of Jesus while the Passover crowd was present, so this is what they wanted to avoid.
2. Ironically, this is exactly what they ended up doing.  Only the mob did not turn against the religious authorizes; they turned against Jesus.  Again, all of this was according to God’s plan.  Jesus’ death on the cross was the Passover sacrifice for mankind, so there would be no possible way for the Pharisees to avoid Passover in their conspiracy – but Jesus would be rejected not only by the Pharisees, but by the people as a whole…again, all according to the plan and prophecy of God.  Isaiah 53:3, "He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him." []  Rejected & despised by all – and yet Jesus still willingly came.  How great is the love of God towards us!  He loved us and died for us while we were yet sinners.  While we were still enemies against God, Jesus made every provision for our forgiveness and reconciliation.  The grace of our Lord Jesus is utterly amazing, and showed upon those who least deserve it (us!).

6 And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table.

1. Where was Bethany?  Outside the city of Jerusalem. This is the city of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus – which ties into the parallel passage in John 12.  Jesus had come to Bethany prior to His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and had raised Lazarus from the dead.  It’s possible that Jesus had resurrected Lazarus as one of the immediate events to His entry into the city (which would easily explain the crowds who followed Him), but it’s possible that the resurrection had taken place at an earlier point in Jesus’ ministry.  Whenever Lazarus’ resurrection had taken place, now Jesus was back in Bethany…surely well known by everyone in town with everyone watching His every move.
2. Interestingly, the home Jesus was at was known as the “house of Simon the leper.”  Presumably, he had been healed by Jesus & was no longer a leper (otherwise, no one would be able to meet there).  Yet he was still widely known by his previous affliction.
1. Sometimes people still know us by our previous sin, and this can be somewhat depressing for us at times.  After all, not many of us want to be continually known for the way we used to be.  But there’s another way of looking at it.  It can serve as a glorious testimony to what God has done in our lives.  Any time someone would go to the house of Simon the leper, they would be reminded of the fact that Simon was no longer a leper – he had been healed.  Like Rahab of Ai (Joshua 2) – often in the pages of the Scripture, she was known as Rahab the harlot.  Yet obviously she did not stay a harlot all of her life.  She had been that way in Ai, but when she demonstrated her faith in God & was saved into the nation of Israel, she bore a family (even being put into the lineage of Jesus Christ – Mt 1:5).  Her life had been gloriously changed by God, and her past only served to highlight the change. When people remind you of your past, use it as an opportunity to take them to Jesus.  When you put your faith in Christ, you were gloriously changed!  You’re no longer the person you used to be.  Let them see the difference between your previous label and the truth of who you are today in Jesus – the difference will be truly astonishing.
3. What happened at the house?  A woman came (unnamed by Matthew, but John identifies her as Mary), and pours a flask of costly oil on Jesus’ head.  [John 12:1-8]  Note: John & Matthew do not contradict in chronology.  Matthew had recorded Jesus as saying “2 days before the Passover,” and John shows “6 days” – all the authors begin their respective accounts from different starting points.  John shows Jesus in Bethany prior to His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, skips the entry account & the Olivet Discourse, and picks up again when Jesus is back in Bethany.  This fits in with John’s overall narrative line of Lazarus’ resurrection.  Matthew doesn’t even record John’s resurrection, and thus picks up the narrative after the lengthy Olivet Discourse.  The date of Passover hadn’t changed, and neither had this event with the costly oil.  What likely happened is that Jesus had the dinner in Bethany prior to His triumphal entry, and both Matthew & Mark save the telling of this event until after Jesus has left Jerusalem, fitting better with the continuity of their narratives leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion.  IOW, John had a real-time event with the dinner & anointing, and skipped over some major events in Jerusalem, whereas Matthew & Mark cover the extensive events in Jerusalem & just insert a “flash-back” to the dinner when they’re ready to pick up the storyline again.  (Luke’s account of an anointing is altogether different.  It’s a different woman, different house, different circumstances, different city, and different time in Jesus’ ministry.  The only similarity is that a woman brought an alabaster flask of ointment & poured it on Jesus’ feet, wiping them with her hair.  Perhaps this earlier event stuck in Mary’s mind & served as an example to her.)
4. Matthew shows Mary pouring the oil over Jesus’ head; John shows Mary anointing Jesus’ feet.  Again, there is no contraction – the simplest explanation is that Mary likely did both.  It would be common to anoint someone’s head (as seen with Moses/Aaron, Samuel/Saul, etc.,), whereas only servants would clean someone’s feet.  Mary began the anointing as per tradition with Jesus’ head, but showed her humble faith by also anointing Jesus’ feet.
5. The oil itself is important, simply due to its cost.  DA Carson notes that spikenard was imported from India & was used sometimes in anointing the dead & sometimes as a luxury cosmetic.  Both Matthew & John point out the monetary worth of the oil/spikenard (300 denarii).  Apparently it was so expensive that it riled the disciples a bit (one disciple, in particular!).  Whatever the oil was originally meant for, it was now completely used up – totally spent on the Lord Jesus in her act of devotion.

8 But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.”

1. From John’s account, it doesn’t sound so much like all the disciples saying this, but one in particular: Judas Iscariot.  Apparently Judas had gained enough trust of the rest of the disciples to be the one to hold the money back, but it was only after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection that they learned that Judas was a thief.  (We can safely assume they learned this afterwards, as if they had known it prior, Judas would not have been given the bag!)  What may have happened is that Judas was the one who began making a stink about the oil, and others joined along with him, following his lead.
1. Selfishness & sin can be contagious.  Be careful who you listen to.
2. What was the supposed offense?  Wasted money.  Expensive oil had been poured all over Jesus & now was unable to be used for anything else.  If Mary had been willing to give up all of her costly oil as a donation to the ministry, why not sell it off & use the proceeds to put food in the mouths of hungry people?  Wouldn’t that be a better use of the finances?  Wouldn’t that have been wise stewardship?  It might sound like wisdom, if we hadn’t been told (by John) that Judas was a thief & took the benevolence fund for himself.  Judas had false motives, which presented itself in false piety.  He looked to be concerned about the poor, and about the things that mattered to God.  In reality, he was concerned about himself. 
1. False piety is always based in self.  Sometimes people hypocritically present themselves as “holier-than-thou,” and they put down someone else in an attempt exalt themselves.  Sometimes people get into a worship service, and they do everything possible to call as much attention to themselves as they can so that everyone can see how “spiritual” they are.  Sometimes people will drop names left and right of all of the famous Christians they know, or they’ll list off all of the ways they supposedly serve God, spend time in prayer, etc.  Humans can get pretty creative in our false piety!  And all of it calls attention to US, rather than to God.
2. This isn’t what mature Christians are to do.  Spirituality that is bragged about isn’t truly spiritual at all; it’s carnal.  It’s a gratification of our pride. 
3. OK – we understand that about Judas, but what about the question itself?  Suppose that Judas had been honest & sincere.  Was pouring the oil over Jesus’ head STILL a waste of money?  Could an argument be made that this truly was bad stewardship?  No.  What may have appeared to be a waste of funds from our perspective was an act of worship from Jesus’ perspective.  Jesus answered the objection starting in vs. 10…

10 But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me.

1. Jesus wasn’t going to put up with this kind of grumbling, and stopped them all with His words.  The disciples had no cause to grumble against Mary & to put her down.  In Jesus’ eyes, she had “done a good work” for Him.  “Good” could even be translated as “beautiful or lovely.”  Far from being a wasteful act, this was something that Jesus loved!
1. Devoted worship is a good thing!  For us to pour out our attention upon our Savior is wonderful, and God sees it as such.  Jesus is fully deserving of this kind of lavish worship.  We may not be able to physically anoint Him with oil, but we can pour out our praise upon our King.
2. Is this what our worship looks like?  Or is it more half-hearted?  We might have more in common with Judas that what we would care to admit sometimes. …
2. Question: if Mary spent all of her money on a single act of worship unto Jesus with Jesus calling it good, does that mean we’re to do the same thing?  Is this justification for spending millions of dollars on a gold-plated ceiling for the church sanctuary or some other over-the-top extravagant beautification building project?  No.  Opulence showered upon Jesus is one thing; opulence showered upon our own vanity is another.  Mary was able to minister directly to Jesus Christ with her gift.  There was a specific purpose in what she did (even if she did not realize what she was doing, Jesus did).  We cannot do the same with a building.  Obviously there is nothing wrong with nice buildings, nor giving our best to the Lord in whatever facility we find ourselves in.  Someone might even be led to worship the Lord though an anonymous extravagant gift of some sort.  But Mary’s worship of Jesus is in a unique category simply because she was able to physically interact with the incarnate God in a way that we cannot.  Our buildings cannot replicate this act of devotion.  No amount of stuff is ever a replacement for Jesus.  Certainly we cannot use buildings and other material things as an excuse to indulge our own vanities (which is often what this sort of thing turns out to be).  When Mary gave this to the Lord, she gave herself entirely to Jesus.  If someone was led in a similar way, he/she would also give themselves entirely over to Jesus, taking none of the glory for their own.

11 For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always.

1. Jesus shows the error in the false piety of Judas.  Even if Judas had cared about the poor (which he didn’t), Mary still wasn’t wrong to do what she did.  Yes, she could have sold the oil and given all of the proceeds to feed the poor & hungry.  Dozens, if not hundreds, of people could be fed in a single day.  But they would still be hungry tomorrow…and the next, and the next, etc.  No amount of money would ever fully satisfy the needs of the poor.
2. But there WAS one need that could be fully satisfied: the immediate need of Jesus.  Mary could use that oil to minister to Jesus at the moment, and that is exactly what she did.  If one were to look at the available window of time for Mary to be able to physically minister to Jesus in this way, then she used her finances in the wisest, most efficient manner possible!  This was her one shot to be able to do what she did to Jesus in worship, and Jesus was not about to condemn her for it.
3. BTW – because the poor will always be with us, is that an excuse NOT to help the poor?  Not at all.  To read Jesus’ words with that kind of interpretation is to completely miss His point.  Jesus made it perfectly clear at other times that we are indeed to help the poor.  (The judgment of the sheep and the goats used this very thing as an example!)  Both the OT & NT are absolutely united in this idea.  God fully expects His people who are called by His name to show forth His compassion to those who are less fortunate.
4. Question: what did Jesus mean by saying “but Me you do not have always?”  Didn’t Jesus make it clear in the Great Commission that He would be with us always, even to the end of the age? (Mt 28:20)  Yes.  We have the grand assurance of God that Jesus will never leave us, nor forsake us (Heb 13:5).  Jesus’ presence is among His people, which gives us wonderful assurance on all kinds of levels.  Here, Jesus doesn’t have the long-range view of the age of the church in mind.  He’s not speaking of His spiritual presence among His people.  Instead, Jesus is referring to His physical presence, and He was absolutely correct.  Even after Jesus’ resurrection, He would along be among His disciples for 40 days (physically ascending to heaven, just prior to Pentecost).  Beyond that, Jesus is most likely thinking of His coming crucifixion and burial – barely over two days away at this point, per Matthew’s count.  Once Jesus was risen from the dead, the relationship between Jesus & the disciples would be radically different.  The window for this kind of day-to-day physical interaction between Jesus & His disciples was rapidly shrinking, and that’s what Jesus acknowledged.
1. The good news for us today is that although Jesus’ physical presence is in heaven (at the right hand of God the Father), He did not leave us as orphans.  One of the ministries of God the Holy Spirit is that He literally indwells us the moment we trust Christ by faith & we are born-again.  There IS a physical presence of God among His people; it’s simply different than having Jesus walk among us, eat among us, etc.  But God IS with us as His people because the Holy Spirit IS God.

12 For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial.

1. Here’s the specific reason Mary anointed Jesus with the oil: burial preparation.  Normally, this would be done after someone’s death, so the timing of Mary doing it while Jesus was alive was rather unusual.  Of course, many people wish they would have attended to loved ones and other friends & family while they were living, instead of waiting until they were dead – so in that respect, we can probably understand why Mary anointed Jesus while she knew He would still be living.  She had likely heard Jesus say many times that He would be crucified (along with the rest of the disciples); it’s just that she went a step further than the other disciples.  She actually believed Jesus & did something about it.
2. As it turned out, anointing Jesus prior to His death was actually well-timed.  When Jesus died, the other crucifixions that day were taking so long that the Romans broke the legs of the other thieves in order they would die faster.  Things were so rushed prior to the beginning of the Sabbath that by the time Joseph of Arimathea received permission for Jesus’ body, he and Nicodemus had to shut the opening of the tomb before the ladies had an opportunity to pack Jesus’ body with the traditional spices.  That was something that had to wait until after the Sabbath had passed, which is the reason that the ladies went to the tomb so early the morning of Resurrection Sunday.  Mary’s anointing of Jesus in advance was likely the only opportunity for Jesus to be anointed at all, prior to His burial.  Unbeknownst to her, God used her act of devoted worship in incredible spiritual timing.

13 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

1. And it is!  Every time someone reads the gospel accounts, they always read of the devotion of Mary.  What she did was not a reason to grumble and complain against her, but an opportunity for the rest of the Christian world to learn what unfettered devotion looks like.
2. Mary had helped to prepare Jesus for His burial – an act that one of His own disciples would usher in.  See vs. 14…

14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.

1. Matthew began Ch. 26 with the account of the Jewish authorities having a brainstorming session of how they might be able to kill Jesus.  They seemed to be stumped as to what to do, but one of Jesus’ own disciples –  one of the 12 who had been specifically chosen by Jesus to walk with Him for 3 years – came to the chief priests and gave them the opportunity they had been looking for.
2. Please note Judas offered himself.  There is no indication that he was recruited; Judas volunteered himself.
3. Please also note the amount: “thirty pieces of silver.”  This was the price for a common slave. Exodus 21:32, "If the ox gores a male or female servant, he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned." [] There is a bit of disagreement among scholars as to exactly how much this would translate to today.  It depends on whether they would have used the coined money of the day, or actually weighed out shekels according to ancient tradition.  The price difference would range from $25 to four months’ salary.  Either way, a human life was in question here.  The King of kings was betrayed for a pitifully small amount of chump change, and treated as a piece of property rather than the Creator God.
4. None of this is a surprise in the Scriptures.  Every aspect of this was according to prophecy.
1. Jesus was to be betrayed by a friend.  Psalm 41:9, "Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me." []  In this psalm of David, David prays to God concerning his enemies who had lied about him & conspired against him.  The worst part was the betrayal of his own trusted friend.  Though David’s words were quoted by Jesus as prophecy (Jn 13), no doubt David’s experience was true.  David had been betrayed by his own son Absalom, and by one of his most trusted advisers, Ahithophel (who had defected to Absalom).  They sought David’s life, and he threw himself upon the mercies of God.  What happened to David also happened to the Greater-than-David as one of the men closest to Jesus (far closer than the multitudes who followed Him – one of His 12 disciples) betrayed Him.
2. Jesus was to be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. Zechariah 11:12–13, "(12) Then I said to them, “If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. (13) And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the potter." [] Contextually, God had told the prophet Zechariah to shepherd a flock of sheep in demonstration of what God had done for Israel/Judah.  In casting judgment upon the people & their unworthy shepherds, Zechariah broke his covenant with the flock, asking for his wages & God instructed him on what to do with them.  All these things that applied specifically to Zechariah were used by God to set a prophetic standard for what would later happen to Jesus.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep, yet He was rejected & the wage given for Him by the people was 30 shekels of silver, which was later thrown into the temple (the house of the Lord) to purchase a potter’s field.
5. There’s a point to the prophecy: it demonstrates that all of this was exactly according to the plan of God.  Although things certainly appeared chaotic, none of this was out of control.  God had known exactly what would happen, and centuries earlier He laid out the events in the Scripture so that everyone could see.

16 So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.

1. As sad as the entire account of Judas Iscariot is, this seems to be one of the worst aspects.  From this moment, all that Judas thought about was the right opportunity to betray Jesus.  Keep in mind that Jesus never stopped loving Judas as one of His own.  Judas was present at the last supper.  Judas had his feet washed by Jesus, just like everyone else.  Judas acted to be as perplexed as everyone else when Jesus specifically said that one of the 12 would betray Him.  Judas apparently didn’t even bat an eye when Jesus told him to go and do it, and do it quickly.  At any point during ALL of that, Judas had the opportunity to repent & throw himself at Jesus’ feet for forgiveness.  Yet he never took it.  All he did was look for the right time to betray the Lord, and nothing else in his eyes mattered.
2. Although the Bible doesn’t tell us what Judas thought about Jesus, there really is little doubt that he knew Jesus to be God, just like any of the other disciples.  He was witness to all of the miracles – he had seen Jesus walk on water, multiply the loaves & fishes, and raise the dead.  He had heard the teaching of Jesus with his own ears.  He lived with Jesus day-in & day-out, just like any of the disciples.  He had broken bread with Jesus innumerable times.  No doubt, Judas knew the truth.  The problem was he didn’t believe it.  He knew who Jesus was, but he didn’t have faith in what he had clearly seen.

Conclusion:
Judas and Mary are quite the contrast!  From the outside, things would have seemed to be quite different than what they were.  After all, on the one hand there is a woman who, though respected in the community, seems to debase herself by taking a servant’s role upon herself & pours a years’ worth of salary over the head of Jesus.  On the other hand is a respected disciple, trusted by all, who leads the rest in chastising this woman for not giving money to the poor.  After all, if she’s going to give up the oil, she might as well feed some people in wise stewardship. 

Of course in reality, that’s not what happened at all.  The trusted disciple had hardened his heart against His Master, and was perfectly willing to betray Him unto death to the hypocritical leaders that Jesus had condemned.  The “waste” was not a waste at all, but a beautiful act of worship that God used to prepare Jesus for His death.  Both Judas and Mary played crucial roles in preparing Jesus for His death, but only one was done out of faith.  Judas helped send Jesus to the cross, whereas Mary helped minister to Jesus after He had died there.  One was borne out of sin and rebellion; the other out of devotion and service.

People still have similar responses to Jesus today.  There are people who (like the Jewish authorities) go to whatever lengths they can to reject Jesus.  No hypocrisy is a bridge too far in denying Jesus – they just want to be rid of Him & rid of the offense to their conscience.  There are others who have hardened themselves against Jesus, perhaps showing themselves “religious” on the outside, but inwardly betray the Lord.  And then there are those who devote themselves to Christ.  Instead of debasing the Lord Jesus, they are willing to have themselves debased, just in order that Jesus would be lifted up and glorified.

May we have hearts that reflect more of Mary & less of Judas!  Even as born-again Christians, we can be those who engage in false shows of piety, judging the actions of others while having sin in our own heart.  Be careful!  False-piety is self-centered; true worship is Christ-centered.  May our eyes remain fixed upon our Lord Jesus.

The truly amazing part in all of this was that ALL of it was according to the plan of God.  The Jewish authorities sinned against Jesus in planning His death, but God had known of it.  Judas had sinned against Jesus in his vile betrayal, but God had known of it.  God had known of it all, and Jesus still died for them all.  Jesus died even for those who actively sent Him to the cross – a grand display of His love and His grace.

Jesus died for them, and Jesus died for us.  Those who acknowledge our own sin & betrayal of Jesus can be sure that Jesus’ death was for us, too.  Jesus went to that cross knowing exactly the full extent of our sin against Him, and He did it anyway.  That’s amazing love & amazing grace.

It is Finished!

Resurrection Sunday 2013, “It is Finished!”

“It is finished!”  These are some of the most famous words of Jesus that were uttered from the cross, and for good reason.  In this simple sentence (actually one word in Greek), Jesus’ utter victory over sin, death, and the devil was proclaimed.  From the perspective of all the witnesses to the crucifixion, this would have outwardly seemed to be Jesus’ darkest hour.  In reality, it was the moment of His greatest victory.

It is because “it is finished,” that we celebrate the resurrection today.  If Jesus had not finished the task that was set before Him – if what He accomplished at the cross was not sufficient for our sin – then there would have been no resurrection, and we would have no assurance of forgiveness at all.  But because it IS indeed finished, we have the glorious hope of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ!

This is what we’re going to look at today.  Obviously today is the Sunday on which we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, but we’re going to take a look back at His final moments on the cross to see how the resurrection was made possible (indeed, how it was absolutely assured) in the minutes before Jesus took His final breath.

John 19:28–30
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
  

• “ After this…” The context.

First we need to understand how this all came to pass.  There had been a whirlwind of activity that led to this point.  The past 24 hours were a blur!  Things had started normally enough, with Jesus and the disciples celebrating the Passover meal, just as they did every year.  To be sure, Jesus changed up the normal liturgy a bit, including the declarations of the broken unleavened bread representing His body, and the cup of atonement representing His blood.  Jesus didn’t even partake of the 4th cup (the cup of praise), saying that He would drink of the fruit of the vine until they all did it together in His Father’s kingdom.  There was the washing of feet, the news of a traitor among the disciples, and the sudden departure of Judas.  At this point, this had become nothing like a normal Passover!  Jesus taught them in length that He was going to be going away, and sending the Holy Spirit as a helper to them…both sad and welcome news at the same time.  Could Jesus really be going away?  Would the disciples really face as much tribulation as Jesus said they would? 

Jesus had prayed for all of the disciples as well as all who would come to believe in Jesus through their testimony, and then took just a few of the disciples and went off by Himself to pray.  Jesus seemed to be under incredible stress when Judas appeared along a detachment of Roman soldiers, and that’s when things got really crazy.  Over the next several hours, there were mock trials, beatings, the horrendous scourging, mob violence, and finally Jesus was sentenced to die by crucifixion, and He carried His own cross to the hill where He would die.

Enduring the humiliation and shame of those who mocked Him, Jesus hung upon the cross for 6 hours, experiencing a level of pain and torture that few people know.  While hanging there, Jesus prayed that God would forgive the crowds – gave assurance of salvation to a thief hanging beside Him – cried out in anguished appeal to God asking why His Father had forsaken Him…and now came to this point.  This had been no ordinary day.  Things had come to a climax, and Jesus knew His moment of death was at hand.
  

• “… all things were now accomplished…” The act.

The word used here is interesting…it’s exactly the same word and tense as Jesus’ later declaration, “It is finished.”  Greek = τετέλεσται , from the word τελέω, meaning “achievement, fulfillment, completion, to perfect.”  Grammatically, the word is used in the perfect tense. We’re typically familiar with three common tenses in English usage: past, present, and future.  (There are more, but these are the ones most people easily recognize.)  The perfect tense demonstrates an action that has been brought to full completion in the past – the action has been “perfected.”  It’s a bit more descriptive than a simple past tense, which shows something that happened in past time with no necessary connection to present time.  The perfect tense shows something brought to full completion in the past, with the result of that action continuing into the present time.  The present situation is now changed as a result of a completed past action.

With all of that in mind, John is writing of Jesus’ time upon the cross, and Jesus has come to the point where He knows that all that He has done in the past has brought things to a present state of conclusion.  Τετέλεσται .  That is an incredible fact!

What needed to be accomplished?  “All things,” speaking of the will of God.  We need to remember that the cross and resurrection were not some happenstance events that just coincidentally occurred with a man known as Jesus of Nazareth.  This was part of the eternal plan of God.  How far back?  The Bible tells us that Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8).  We see Jesus promised in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:15).  In all of the covenants of God, God repeatedly promised His Son – to Abraham (Gen 12:3), Moses (Deut 18:15), and David (2 Sam 7:14).  Jesus was given a very specific time frame in which to appear to Israel (Dan 9:25).  Finally, Jesus came in the fullness of time. (Gal 4:4). There ought to be no doubt that Jesus came according to plan, exactly in line with the will of God.  This was the eternal counsel of God in regards to how He would deal with the awfulness of sin.

Think of that again for emphasis.  The cross was God’s answer to sin.  Mankind had sinned against God from the time that there was a mankind.  We had sinned against God individually, though we had not yet been born, yet already seen by the eternal God outside of time.  The fact that any sin at all existed would have demanded a righteous response from the Holy God.  How much more the abundance of sin that spread like a cancer throughout every continent and every culture?  All sin – every sin – finds its answer in the cross.  Though it was an instrument of torture and death invented in history by the Persians and perfected by the Romans, it had already been predetermined by God from eternity past to be used upon His beloved Son.  God in His glory needed to respond to the evil of sin, and He did so through the cursed blessed cross.

This was the outpouring of His wrath, and it needed to be brought to completion.  That is the idea behind "τετέλεσται."  Just as other cultures had filled up on the measure of God’s wrath before God acted in His righteousness, so did Jesus fill up on the full measure of the wrath of God due to sin.  This is so amazing for every believer in Christ.  Take a moment to think about what Jesus accomplished at the cross on your behalf.  During the years of the Great Tribulation, God will pour out His wrath upon the world in response to thousands of years’ worth of sin and rebellion against Him.  The Bible speaks of unfathomable times of trouble as seeming comets or asteroids fall from the heavens, the waters of the earth are poisoned, demonic armies run amok, and billions of people die.  And those troubles are only a down-payment upon what awaits people who die still in their sins against God.  The Bible consistently describes Hell as a place of torment and darkness, and the effects of this Hell lasts into eternity.  That is what awaits every single human being, apart from the miraculous intervention of Jesus Christ.

And Jesus did intervene!  That was what happened at the cross!  All of the infinitude of the earned wrath of our Holy God (the terribleness of the Great Tribulation and the eons upon eons in Hell) was all wrapped up on that single day that God the Son hung dying upon the cross. …  What was accomplished?  Among other things, the wrath of God!  It was brought to completion – it was finished when Jesus gave His life for you & me!
  

• “ …that the Scripture might be fulfilled…” The result.

What Scriptures needed to be fulfilled?  There is certainly a specific Scripture in mind here, but in the greater context of vs. 28 of all things now being accomplished, there were all kinds of Scripture that were fulfilled!  Time is far too short to go through a comprehensive listing.  There are over 300 prophecies that relate directly to the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Messiah, and Jesus fulfills all of them.  This in itself is a powerful proof of Jesus’ identity, evidence of the truth of the gospel.  The possibility of any single person randomly fulfilling even 10 of the various prophecies is astronomical – to fulfill all 300+ is a statistical impossibility.  And yet that is exactly what Jesus does!

Prophecies regarding His ministry:  Jesus’ whole life had led up to this point.  Everything that the Father had desired for Jesus to do had to have been accomplished, and it was.

• He had come unto His own, but His own had rejected Him. Isa 53:3, Jn 1:11
• He taught and spoke only what His Father had commanded Him to speak. Deut 18:18, Jn 12:49
• He had taught in parables, hiding the truth from those who were hardened to God, but revealing it to those who were humble. Isa 6:9-10, Mt 13:13
• He had come preaching the gospel of the kingdom, given sight to the blind, opened the ears of the deaf, proclaimed liberty to the captives. Isa 61:1, Lk 4:18
• He proclaimed the salvation of God not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles of the world. Isa 49:6, Acts 11:18

Prophecies regarding His death:  For Jesus to be conclusively demonstrated as the Messiah, then He needed to have every single prophecy regarding the Messiah fulfilled…including those prophecies about the death of the Messiah over which Jesus would seemingly have no control.  Think about that for a moment.  There are many things a person could have done to try to show the fulfillment of a few prophecies about the life of the Messiah.  Anyone could ride into Jerusalem upon a donkey.  Anyone could teach in parables, etc.  But there are few scenarios over which a person has little to no control: the circumstances of birth & death.  And yet Jesus fulfilled them all!  Just in regards to His day of death, the Bible laid forth many requirements in prophecy: (HT: New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, McDowell)

• Messiah would be betrayed.  Ps 41:9, Jn 13:18
• Messiah would be sold for 30 pieces of silver.  Zech 11:12, Mt 26:15
• Those same pieces of silver would be thrown into the temple & used to buy a potter’s field.  Zech 11:13, Mt 27:5-7
• Messiah would be forsaken by His disciples.  Zech 13:7, Mk 14:50
• Messiah would be silent in front of His accusers.  Isa 53:7, Mt 27:12
• Messiah would be physically ravaged (scourged).  Isa 53:5, Mt 27:26
• Messiah would be beaten & spat upon.  Isa 50:6, Mt 26:67
• Messiah would be mocked. Ps 22:7-8, Mt 27:29
• Messiah would be crucified.  Ps 22:16, Lk 23:33
• Messiah would have His garments gambled for.  Ps 22:18, Jn 19:23-24
• Messiah would be thirsty & given vinegar (sour wine).  Ps 69:21, Jn 19:28  This is the specific Scripture in mind in the immediate context of vs. 28.  This in itself is pretty amazing from a prophetic point-of-view.  We might be able to understand how God would prophesy of the details surrounding the death of His Son, but this is almost minutia – this is tiny.  Who pays attention as to what someone drinks when so much other stuff is going on?  Yet God leaves out none of the details, including this one detail about Jesus being despised even in what He was given to drink (the worst of the wine – the stuff that was spoiling).  This smallest of details is still incredibly important, adding to the already tremendous weight of evidence pointing to Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God.  (One final thought here…this was the last prophecy that needed to be fulfilled prior to Jesus’ death.  All things had come to fulfillment, and Jesus did this last.  He left nothing undone!  It is finished!)

And that’s just a partial listing!  There were prophecies about His bones remaining unbroken, about dying among the criminals, about darkness being cast over the land, about being buried in the tomb of a rich man, and many more.  Jesus perfectly fulfilled them all.

Prophecies regarding the atonement:  Jesus did indeed die, but His death had a purpose.  When we speak of the death of Jesus, it’s not like other people who have died.  After all, everyone dies.  Some people even die sacrificially for others, showing a love for them that can be surpassed by none among men.  Yet even then, that person was still going to die anyway.  That person is still under the curse of sin, still having sins of his/her own against Almighty God.  Not Jesus.  Jesus did not die for Himself.  He was born completely free from the stain of sin, and He lived a life perfect unto God.  If there was ever one person in all of history that never HAD to die, it was Jesus.  Yet it was His death that He specifically came to accomplish.  This was the reason for His incarnation, which we remember at Christmas.  This was the whole point of His earthly ministry – everything led up to this point. 

• He came to give His life as a ransom for many (Hos 13:14, Mt 20:28). 
• He served as the perfect Passover sacrifice for sin (Exo 12:23, Jn 1:29). 
• He substituted Himself in our place…  Isaiah 53:4–6, "(4) Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. (5) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. (6) 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."  []  This is exactly what the NT affirms when it tells us that God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor 5:21)  Jesus was our grand substitute.

  

• “ I thirst!” The agony.

Although today is a day of celebration as we remember Jesus’ victory, we cannot forget the suffering that Jesus endured.  We’ve already seen how even the suffering of Jesus was all included in prophecy about the Messiah.  God Himself would suffer on behalf of His people in the process of physically experiencing the fullness of His own righteous wrath.

Jesus had known what was to be involved.  Back in the Garden of Gethsemane the night prior, He fully anticipated what awaited Him, and prayed that if there was any other way that God the Father would take the cup of suffering away from Him (Mk 14:36).  So much did it weigh upon the Lord Jesus that the blood vessels in His forehead broke & He sweat drops of blood (Lk 22:44).  That physical condition is known as hematidrosis, and although rare, it’s been recorded several times through history & well-documented in cases of people undergoing severe stress.  As God the Son, Jesus is just as omniscient as God the Father – there was no question or doubt as to what Jesus would physically endure.  We might look ahead to a time of certain suffering, but yet not fully realize the extent that we will face – Jesus had no such uncertainty.  He knew the full extent of what it would mean to have His beard ripped from His face, thorns shoved into His scalp, His back flayed open like hamburger, have spikes rip through His flesh, and to hang by His body weight upon the cross for hours on end.  There was no hiding any of that from the all-knowing Lord Jesus.

Beyond the physical suffering, there was the spiritual suffering that was to be endured by Jesus.  For the first (and only) time in all history, the Perfect Holy Son of God would actually become sin.  The only person (ever!) who had never committed a single sin in all His life & who had actually existed from eternal past in perfect holy purity, now had all the sin of every single human in all of history upon His shoulders.  Billions of people in humanity (past & future) – horrendous sins that range from little white lies to the worst of murderous perversions and genocide – ALL of that rested upon Jesus.  God’s only begotten Son became sin, and although impossible to try to imagine, surely Jesus for a brief moment became abhorrent in the sight of God the Father.  That was the moment that Jesus cried out the words of Psalm 22 written hundreds of years prior, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

This was the worst of agonies placed upon the best of Persons, and yet Jesus still did it.  He could have refused.  He had every right to refuse.  He didn’t have to take on a single sin of a single soul, yet He did it all for everyone.  This is the love of Christ Jesus for you & for me.  Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." []

The agony of the cross does not only proclaim the wrath of God that is due our sin, but also of the love of God for every man, woman, and child in history.  Both are clearly seen.  In His holiness, God simply had to respond to sin.  He could not allow it to continue unanswered.  But God could have allowed each of us to experience the fullness of His wrath.  God is under no obligation to save anyone.  He loves His Son with a love that is incomprehensible to any of us.  He loves His Son with a love that has existed from eternity past.  He had no reason to extend His love to any of us.  None, that is, except His own glory.  The love of God for His fallen creation serves to magnify the grace of God…it brings Him glory.  And thus His love for us is on full display at the cross.  He did not love us because we deserve it; God loves us in spite of the fact that we absolutely do not deserve it.  It is the purest of loves, it is the rarest of loves, and it is the love that is made available to every single person when he/she puts his faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
  

• “ It is finished!” The declaration.

Here again is the wonderful word, τετέλεσται .  What Jesus realized in vs. 28 He now declares to all who were witnesses in vs. 30. Only one word was uttered, and that was all that was needed.  It is the declaration by the authoritative God that all the requirements of the law had been fulfilled – that the fullness of the wrath of God had been poured out – that the things Jesus had come to do were now complete.  All things were done, and the only Person who could possibly announce its completion did so. 

Even in this single utterance, He show us great grace.  How so?  We need to know that it is finished!  Jesus obviously did not state this for Himself; He knew what He had accomplished.  Jesus didn’t need to state this for God the Father; obviously God already knew.  Jesus stated this for us & for all the world.  When someone commits a crime, and is somehow shown mercy by the court, that final ruling still needs to be announced.  Otherwise, the specter of punishment still hangs over the person and nothing is resolved.  That is partly what happened here with Jesus.  God announced the completion, and thus announced the finality of His act of mercy and grace.  The ultimate Judge of all the universe made His ruling known.

Now no one needs to wonder if their sins are paid for.  No one needs to wonder if they have truly been saved by the grace of God.  Those who look to Christ Jesus for their salvation can truly know that they have been saved, because Jesus has fulfilled everything needed to be fulfilled.  It is finished – τετέλεσται!

At the same time, this also shows that people who do not look to Christ for their forgiveness and eternal salvation do not have that same hope.  Who else could give them the assurance that “it is finished?”  Not Moses…Moses just announced the requirements of the law, and pointed people to the mercy and grace of God that had already been seen & that which was still to come.  Not Mohammed…that was a man too deeply involved in his own sin listening to his own demons, who didn’t even attempt to offer fulfillment of the law (only adding more legalism).  Not Buddha…Buddha looked inwardly to himself for enlightenment, but that does nothing to take care of the weight of sin that still hangs over every man and woman.  No one & nothing offers the hope of salvation that Jesus offers.  Not even all of the modern materialistic philosophies of men are able to replace what Jesus alone gives us at the cross.  After all, pretending eternity does not exist does not wish it away.  Closing one’s eyes to the reality of God does not make Him disappear.  We must open our eyes – we must look to Christ as the Son of God lifted up upon the cross for us, and in Him place all of our hope for salvation.  He is the only One who can tell us that all things have been finished!

How do we know that it is finished?  The resurrection!  This is the reason we come to celebrate today, but not just today – every time the church gathers together is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The fact that we meet on Sunday for worship rather than Saturday (the Sabbath) is itself a declaration of the resurrection of Jesus.  His work at the cross is sufficient for us to find our rest in Him, proven through His Sunday resurrection.  What does the resurrection tell us?

• It is the definitive proof that Jesus is God.  Romans 1:3–4, "(3) concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, (4) and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."  How else could it have been done?  Other people have been raised from the dead in the past, but always at the hand of another prophet (or by Jesus Himself).  No one was involved in Jesus’ resurrection except God.
• It is proof that Jesus came in the power of God. Acts 2:22–24, "(22) “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— (23) Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; (24) whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it."
• It is proof that God will one day judge the world through Jesus.  Acts 17:30–31, "(30) Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, (31) because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”"
• It is the assurance that our sins have been completely paid for.  1 Peter 1:18–21, "(18) knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, (19) but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. (20) He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you (21) who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."
• It is the assurance that we have been justified (made righteous) in the sight of God.  Romans 4:23–25, "(23) Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, (24) but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, (25) who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification."
• It is the proof that our faith is not in vain.  1 Corinthians 15:17–19, "(17) And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! (18) Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. (19) If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable."
• It is the assurance of our own eternity with Christ & own future resurrection.  1 Corinthians 15:20–23, "(20) But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (21) For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. (22) For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. (23) But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming."

Blessed resurrection!  Blessed assurance!  We can know that all these things are finished because Jesus is risen.

Keep in mind, “finished” means “finished.”  When Jesus declared His work to be done, that means He accomplished all that was necessary.  This is not something that we need to add to – indeed, there’s nothing that we could add at all!  There are no works that we could do in a purgatory between heaven and earth that would somehow complete what Jesus left undone because Jesus left nothing undone.  There is nothing we could do in this life to somehow add to Jesus’ work at the cross & resurrection because that would imply that Jesus’ work was insufficient.  When Jesus died for us, He did ALL that was necessary.  The only thing we can “do” is simply respond to His work through faith and belief. 

That’s not to say that once someone says they believe in Christ they have license to go off & do whatever they want to do.  Perish the thought!  If someone desires to use the grace of Christ as permission to sin as much as they can and still get a “get out of hell free” card, then they haven’t understood Jesus at all.  Our lives change when we come to faith in Christ.  How so?  Simple: we’ve come in contact with a living Person.  Faith is not some idea, philosophy, or ethic – faith is an active trust in the Living God.  It’s not a prayer that we repeat once (or several times), never to consider again – it is throwing everything we have onto the Lord, trusting Him as someone would trust a parachute with all their life.  We cling close to Him, knowing that we have no hope without Him, and all eternal assurance in Him.  Someone cannot have that kind of relationship with the Lord Jesus and remain unchanged.  It simply isn’t possible.

But when we respond to Jesus’ work through faith – when we respond to Him, everything changes!  We go from death to life, from sinner to saint, from accursed of God to blessed of God – all in a moment, all because of the grace of Jesus Christ.  Every sin that we ever committed is forgiven.  Every sin that we will yet commit still finds its answer in Christ (and our forgiveness is assured as we confess to Him – 1 Jn 1:9).  Our hope, our life, our eternity – everything is assured in Jesus.  Why?  Because “it is finished.”

Conclusion:
There are many marvelous words in the pages of the Bible, but these three are surely some of the best.  One word in Greek, one simple statement in English: “It is finished.”  Jesus did the work at the cross, fulfilling all of the Scriptures and all of the eternal plan of God.  Jesus declared it to the world, so that we would know that the work had been completed.  Our assurance of all of it?  Jesus’ physical resurrection from the dead.  Because Jesus lives, we can know beyond a shadow of all doubt that what Jesus said was true, and what Jesus did was sufficient.  On the basis of His resurrection, everything changes.

What is your response to that today?  As a believer in Christ, how should we respond to Jesus’ declaration of completion and remembrance of His resurrection?

• Worship!  This is our first and most natural response!  That our hearts would be lifted towards our King, and our voices erupt in praise!  This is what Jesus deserves, and there is hardly a better reason to give Him praise than when we remember that our sins are forgiven and that He is risen from the dead.
• Remember that your sins have been paid for.  Like an accounts receivable invoice receiving the “paid in full” stamp, so Jesus said “It is finished,” and there is nothing left to be done.  Christians so often unduly live lives full of guilt, when there is absolutely no reason for it.  Obviously it hurts us when we sin against our Savior (who would want to do such a thing?), but we don’t need to live in guilt.  It’s finished – it’s paid for.  Continue to rest and hope in the grace of Christ Jesus…that is the very reason He died.
• Recommit.  Sometimes we need a turning point.  Anyone can get off-track every now and again.  We’ll find ourselves engaging in old habits, even while knowing Jesus saved us out of that mess.  Today can be the day it changes.  It’s easy to tell ourselves, “Eventually I’ll stop doing what I’m doing and start living for the Lord the way I know I need to.”  What can be difficult is actually deciding that today is the day to do it.
• Tell others.  This news is far too good to keep to ourselves.  People need to know that the forgiveness of God is available, and that it comes by faith in Christ.  Who in your family still needs to hear the good news?  Who among your friends?  There is hardly any better time of the year than the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection to tell them what the resurrection of Jesus makes available.

If you’re not yet a believer in Jesus, what are you waiting for?  You’ve heard how Jesus has made the provision for your sin, according to the eternal plan of God.  You’ve heard how Jesus has declared that the work is finished & shows Himself to be the hope of all the world.  Today can be the day that you stop striving against God, and experience His love, grace, and forgiveness.  Respond to Jesus Christ today in faith.  To know of the complete forgiveness that Jesus offers and yet still turn away from Him would be beyond tragic…something that would be regretted for all of eternity.  Today, you have the opportunity to be forever saved.  Come to Christ & receive of His finished work!

Sunrise on the Square – update

Join Calvary Chapel Tyler for a special sunrise celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on the square in downtown Tyler at 7:00am tomorrow morning!

As of 8:23pm Saturday, Tyler is scheduled for scattered thunderstorms beginning at 6am and lasting most of the day. Our plan is to proceed with our outdoor sunrise service as previously scheduled unless it happens to be raining at the actual site in downtown Tyler. Should the weather not permit us to continue with an outdoor service, we will move our sunrise worship service to our building at 235 S. Broadway Avenue (just two blocks south of the square).

We hope to see you tomorrow as we worship our Risen Lord!

7:00am – Sunrise on the Square, TB Butler square, downtown Tyler
10:00am – Worship celebration, Calvary Chapel Tyler, 235 S. Broadway Avenue
5:00pm – Afterglow/Believers Meeting, Calvary Chapel Tyler, 235 S. Broadway Avenue

Anguish at the Cross

Good Friday 2013, “Anguish at the Cross”

“Good Friday.”  It can seem rather weird that the day on which we remember the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ is labeled as “good.”  After all, at the time everything was going on, it would have seemed to be anything BUT good.  Surely to the disciples and all those who had followed Jesus, this would have been the darkest day of their individual lives.  Here was the Man that they believed to be God: betrayed, suffering, quivering in pain, struggling even to breathe…and dying before their very eyes.  This was certainly NOT a good day at the time. 

Of course, in hindsight, it is the most wonderful day imaginable!  This was the day that our sins were paid for, and salvation was extended to mankind.  Wondrous, glorious Good Friday!  The demonstration of the infinite love of Jesus for each one of us happened on this Friday, and it is marvelous!  But they didn’t know this at the time.  On the actual day, it was anguish for all those who loved Jesus and watched.

And it obviously wasn’t anguish only for those who were witnesses – by far the most anguish was felt by Jesus Himself.  And Jesus did suffer.  Let there be no doubt that the Lord who loved us and gave us life & breath – the God who knit us together in our mothers’ wombs and knew us before the foundations of the world – this God truly suffered for us physically.  He had undergone tremendous physical stress in the events leading up to this point, and now things had gone to an entirely new level of extreme pain as He hung upon the cross.

But as bad as it was (and it was bad), by far the worst of His suffering was spiritual and emotional.  The Son of God became the forsaken of God.  The beloved of God, in whom the Father was well-pleased, had become accursed by God as He hung upon tree.  It’s at that point that we read the most agonizing words that Jesus ever uttered in the gospels.

Mark 15:33–34, "(33) Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. (34) And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”"

He had hung upon the cross for 6 hours at this point.  This came after He had been reviled and rejected by His own people, and after a trial-by-mob presided over by the cruel and cowardly Pontius Pilate.  Jesus had been brutally beaten by hand, had thorns shoved into His scalp, and had His back flayed open by the Roman cat-of-nine-tails.  Weakened from loss of blood, loss of sleep, and betrayal by His closest friends, He had been finally had massive spikes hammered into his wrists as He was literally affixed to the cross He had carried up Golgotha.  Now He hung, suffering.  Unable to breathe unless He pulled Himelf up upon the nails, He hung there in anguish as onlookers mocked Him, soldiers gambled for His clothing, and fellow prisoners debated whether or not He was the Christ.

By now, creation seemed to mourn with Him as the sky went unusually dark for three hours, and Jesus pulled Himself upon the nails once more and erupted with a cry of anguish towards God.  This was not the normal way Jesus spoke.  Typically He spoke longingly and lovingly of His Heavenly Father, even thanking God publicly at the resurrection of Lazarus, saying, "I thank You that You have heard Me.  And I know that You always hear Me…" (Jn 11:41-42)  Not this time.  This time it seemed that God the Father had not heard His Son at all.  Worse yet, God the Father had turned away and forsaken Jesus.  How could this be?

It was prophesied.  [Psalm 22:1-21]  Every bit of Jesus’ crucifixion had been foretold centuries earlier through the prophets – much through the words of His own physical ancestor of David.  The very king to whom God promised that He would build Him an everlasting house also was given the promise that this same Son would suffer immensely on behalf of the people.  The very Son of David, of whom God had promised would be seen as the Son of God (2 Sam 7:14) was also prophesied to be forsaken by God at the moment of His death.  All sorts of things had been prophesied of the Christ.  Even the Devil understood that God would not allow Jesus’ foot to be dashed against a stone – God would have sent angels from heaven to bear up Jesus in their arms before allowing that to happen (Mt 4:6).  But at the cross, the protection of God would be taken away.  The blessings of God would be removed.  The fellowship of God would be nowhere to be found.  The Son of God would be viewed more like a worm than a man, and He would understand that it was God Himself that brought him to the dust of death.  For this moment in time, God the Father had forsaken His beloved only begotten Son, just as the Bible said that He would.

• It may have been prophesied, but do not believe for a moment that somehow Jesus’ suffering wasn’t real.  There was real suffering involved here.  God the Son, who had uninterrupted fellowship with God the Father at all times before there was time…now had a barrier of sin.  2 Corinthians 5:21, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." []  How could the perfect God be made sin?  It is a mystery, but that is exactly what happened.  And that is why it is called “grace.”

It was necessary.  There was always a need for a substitute regarding sin.  When sin occurred, there was always blood that needed to be shed, because that is what justice required.  If Jesus was to truly serve as our substitute – if He was to truly take our place in receiving the punishment due to our sin, then He had to be forsaken by the Father.  There was no other way!  Think about it: the worst part of the awfulness of hell is not the fire, nor the torment – it’s the hopelessness.  It is being utterly and eternally forsaken by God, doomed to suffer forever with absolutely no hope of escape.  That is the righteous requirement of the law when someone commits rebellious treason against the infinite holy God.  If people are forsaken by God in hell, then Jesus needed to be forsaken by God upon the cross.  Otherwise, His work as a substitute would have been lacking.  The whole point in Jesus going to the cross was to be there in our place (what theologians call the substitutionary atonement), and He had to experience the fullness of what that meant, or it wouldn’t be enough.

• This whole idea of substitution is at the core of the OT sacrificial system.  From the Garden of Eden (when God killed an animal in order to clothe Adam & Eve with skins, rather than insufficient fig leaves) onward, this is always what was seen.  A young ram served as a substitute for Isaac.  Young lambs were sacrificed in Egypt, and their blood put over the Hebrew doorways on the night of Passover.  The blood of bulls, goats, sheep, and birds were continually shed in the tabernacle and temple as the people of Israel came to worship God.  Whether they were consecrating themselves to God in worship, or asking for the forgiveness of their sin, blood had to be shed because no matter what they were doing, sin was always in the way.  Blood and death was the price of sin, and if the person did not want to experience it for him/herself, he had to bring an acceptable substitutionary sacrifice.  And that’s what Jesus did.  Jesus brought Himself.  Hebrews 9:11–12, "(11) But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. (12) Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." []

It was propitiation.  We don’t use that word too much anymore, so we might need to take a moment to understand what it means.  When someone is angry, and something happens to ease or satisfy that person’s anger, we can say that person has experienced propitiation.  Like when a child angers his/her parents, and then does something to try to make it right again – that’s an act of propitiation.  That same thing is what happened at the cross.  God was terribly (and rightly) angry because of sin.  Any sin is bad enough – after all, God is inherently deserving of perfect obedience from His creation (that’s simply part of Him being God).  All of the rest of creation obeys Him just as He intended – it is humans who caused the rest of creation to fall.  But beyond what we might think of “small” sins, there is tremendous injustice.  Murder, lust, perversion, genocide, hatred, manipulations, abuse – all of the awful things that have been occurring on the world since Adam left the Garden of Eden rightly incurred the holy anger of God.  And these were the things that Jesus was placing upon Himself when He hung on the cross.  Jesus became every genocide – every assault – every act of horror – every sin that had ever occurred in the history of the world, and would ever occur in the future.  It is no wonder that He was forsaken by God.  The wrath of God had to be satisfied, and for that moment in time, all of God’s wrath was focused upon His Son.  Jesus hung upon that cross, experiencing the holy anger of God.  How terrible!  Inconceivable anguish!  This is the Son who had always experienced the perfect joy and love of God in eternal past.  There had never been a time when God the Father had ever been angry with God the Son.  But now the infinite wrath of God was utterly poured out upon Him in righteous justice.

• And it worked.  1 John 2:1–2, "(1) My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (2) And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world." []  Is God ever angry at us because of our sin?  Not eternally so – not for a believer in Jesus Christ.  There may be times when our fellowship with God is broken.  There may be times that we experience His loving discipline.  But a believer in Christ Jesus never need fear the wrath of God because Jesus satisfied God’s wrath on our behalf.

It was enough.  No more needs to be done.  Nothing more needs to be paid.  Jesus does not need to be repeatedly sacrificed week after week, year after year.  We do not need to try to somehow earn the salvation that has been freely given to us (even as we desire to walk worthy of the calling with which we were called).  Everything Jesus did upon the cross, and everything that God poured out upon His Son was absolutely enough.  It was sufficient…and now we are free in the grace, love, and deliverance of God!  But this is seen primarily in the Resurrection.  Even as we can look forward to Sunday and rejoice in that fact, we need to take the time necessary to ponder the suffering that was involved.

Signs of a Hardened Heart

Matthew 12:33-42, “Signs of a Hardened Heart”

Everyone wants forgiveness.  That’s only natural…after all, who doesn’t want to know that they will go to heaven when they die?  Of course, not everyone wants to receive forgiveness in the only way that God offers it: by placing their faith & trust in Jesus as the Son of God.  Some people reject Christ outright, and still demand God’s forgiveness for themselves – the only problem is that it doesn’t work that way.  That seemed to be the problem with the Pharisees.  Not only did they reject Jesus as their Messiah, but they openly proclaimed Jesus to be empowered by Satan, thereby blaspheming the Holy Spirit & engaging in the one sin that will never be forgiven.

What can Jesus say to a group of people who committed the unpardonable sin?  What can be said to those who have stubbornly rejected the witness of God the Spirit concerning God the Son?  Jesus gives them a message confirming their judgment, showing their hardness of heart.

People don’t often think of Jesus as Someone who would judge or condemn people.  After all, Jesus told Nicodemus that the Son did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, might be saved. (Jn 3:17)  Yet we cannot quote Jesus at that and leave it there.  He goes on to say something surprising: John 3:18–19, "(18) “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (19) And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." []  There IS a condemnation, and that condemnation is tied (1) to a lack of faith regarding Jesus, and (2) sinful works of rebellion against God.  The Pharisees had openly engaged in both, and thus Jesus confirms the fact that they would be condemned.

The reality is that all of humanity starts off in virtually the same position as the Pharisees.  We may not have openly and knowingly rejected the Spirit & slandered Him as being the devil, but we certainly refused to believe upon Christ, and have openly sinned against God.  The ALL of us were left condemned, just like the Pharisees.

That’s the bad news.  The good news is that we don’t have to remain in that place of condemnation.  And although at first glance, it may be tough to see, that’s exactly the point Jesus was making to those listening to Him that day.  They were already condemned – but for some, there was still time for repentance.  Don’t wait until it’s too late to do so!

Matthew 12:33–50 (NKJV)
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.

1. Right off the bat, there might be a single question rising up in people’s minds: how exactly can a tree be MADE good?  After all, a tree is either good or bad from the start – it can’t remake itself into another kind of tree. It’s not like a pine tree can be remade into an apple tree.  It simply starts off that way from the seed.  It must be “born” as a good tree, or nothing is going to be able to be done about it.
1. Similarly with us.  We start off one way (sinful), but if we’re going to be able to produce something good, we need to be remade/reborn!  This is what Jesus said to the Pharisee Nicodemus who came to Him by night with a burgeoning grain of faith.  “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (Jn 3:3)  We cannot enter into the kingdom of God being the sinners that we are.  We’ve been irreparably stained by our rebellion against God – actually working against Him as His enemies.  We’ve told our Creator that He has no rightful place in our lives, and we’ve lived apart from His standards.  Instead of serving the Holy Almighty King, we’ve served the master of Sin, and we’ve given ourselves over to its lusts.  What can be done?  We’ve already shown ourselves to be “bad” though our lives & nothing truly good can be produced.  The only answer is that we need to start over…we need to be made good. We need to be born a 2nd time (this time with a clean heart), and start over – this time as a servant of God.  That’s what happens when we repent & place our faith in Christ as our King.  The Holy Spirit gives us a new birth (a spiritual birth), and because we are born again NOW we have been made into a “good tree” that can bear good fruit.
2. Jesus used a similar teaching illustration during the Sermon on the Mount.  At that time, it was directly related against false prophets, showing that they could easily be identified by the things they did. (Matt 7:15-20)  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was teaching how people could identify those around them (especially people in position of religious authority, such as the Pharisees); here, Jesus is teaching personal introspection.  We cannot make someone else a good tree or a bad tree (no one can force someone else to have faith in Christ), but we can affect ourselves.
3. Either way, how is the tree identified?  By what it produces: its fruit.  Keep in mind this is a teaching illustration from Jesus; not a scientific pronouncement.  To be sure, some people are skilled enough to tell the differences between trees by their leaves or their bark, etc., Jesus simply chooses the analogy of “fruit” to demonstrate something which a tree produces.  An apple tree cannot be mistaken for a blueberry bush.  Even if you had no idea what plants you were looking at, you’d only need a single glance at the fruit to be able to identify the plant.  This is simple…not even biology 101; this is elementary stuff.  That’s Jesus’ point.  Everyone can tell a tree by its fruit – it’s obvious.  Just like it was obvious what the Pharisees were made out of.  Their fruit identified them without question.  See vs. 34…

34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.

1. Question: did Jesus really just call them a bad name?  Yes.  Bet you didn’t know Jesus had it in Him. J  Of course, Jesus wasn’t being profane, nor was He being rude, nor immaturely calling attention to Himself.  (IOW, He wasn’t doing any of the things we normally do when we engage in name-calling.)  Jesus was purposefully using harsh language to call things what they were.  Sometimes it’s good to be subtle; other times bluntness is necessary…this was one of those times.  The Pharisees weren’t shepherds of the people; they were snakes.  They had accused the Spirit of God as being the ultimate serpent, the Devil, and they had been long leading the people of God away from the true law of God and the Messiah of God.
2. How would it even be possible for people like this to speak good things?  It’s not!  Evil snakes speak differently than servants of God.  Evil hearts cannot speak good things…the good things aren’t there to begin with.  People cannot pull good things out of an evil storehouse like a magician pulls a rabbit out of his hat – what’s not already there cannot be produced.
3. Does this mean that no one who rejects God can ever speak any good things?  Obviously not.  There are pagans and atheists and false Christians who give money to the poor, and help people out of charity and sympathy.  There are all sorts of people in different religions who speak encouraging things to their families, etc.  The problem is that none of the good things that they speak or do makes the individuals themselves truly “good.”  They might do something good for a while, and then they go right back to rebellion against God.  And before too many fingers get pointed, the same thing happens in the church.  Even born-again Christians do & say some good things for a while, and then slip back into old habits & evil speech.  But our actions & speech are not the things that make us “good.”  Those things are just the fruit of what’s already there.  If our fruit is going to be consistently good, then we have to be made good, just like the tree needs to be made good.  We need to have our heart remade in order that it would hold “good treasure.”
4. So what’s in your heart?  A good indication is what comes out of your lips. “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”  Do you have good treasure in your heart or evil treasure?  What are the things you find yourself saying to your kids – your co-workers – your parents – even yourself?  This goes deeper than your actual speech, and straight to our thought life.  There are things we think about & dwell upon that we would not dare speak in the open.  Yet those thoughts originated where?  Our hearts.  Some of our hearts desperately need to be remade!
1. Obviously Christians still struggle with these things, too.  The older Paul got, the more & more he realized his own sinfulness before God.  He (like all of us) had struggles against sins & temptations.  We struggle against our evil thoughts and fleshly hearts.  There’s two things we need to remember as believers:
1. There is forgiveness in Christ!
2. The knowledge that we will struggle is not an excuse to engage in wanton sinfulness.  If your thoughts are more evil than not – if your speech is more often apologized for than received – then perhaps you need to seek the Lord to cleanse your heart & put good treasure there.

36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

1. Idle words are judged.  The Pharisees were guilty of many idle words – speaking much, and accomplishing nothing.  They misled the people away from their Messiah, they laid up burdens upon others that were difficult to bear, they taught the legalism of men rather than the true worship of God, and much more.  They thought they were accomplishing righteousness, but their words just left people in their own sin – just as they began.  Especially in their condemnation of Jesus, their words were idle & dangerous, and God the Father would hold them accountable for what they said.
1. Many times we’ll use the excuse of “it’s just words!” in an attempt to minimize what we’ve done.  Jesus demonstrates that this excuse does not exist.  Words can indeed hurt people, and the things we have said will be judged when we see Jesus face-to-face.  How important it is to think before we speak & choose our words carefully!
2. (Spurgeon) “Dear Master, help me to bridle my tongue, that I be not found guilty of idle words; and teach me when to speak, that I may keep equally clear of idle silence”
2. How will our words justify us?  Our words demonstrate the work of God within our hearts.  This is the heart of what Jesus was saying to the Pharisees.  It’s not that mere words can justify a person in the sight of God (as if faith in the cross and resurrection aren’t necessary – we can just work our way to heaven through saying enough prayers, blessings, etc.); the idea is that someone’s words will demonstrate the evidence of the work of God in their heart to where they can be declared already justified.  If someone’s heart has been “made” good (they’ve been reborn), then their words will show that the work of justification has been done – all of which would be clear on the day of judgment.
3. The problem for the Pharisees?  Their words already showed them to be condemned!  There would be no excuse of “It was just a bunch of scholarly debate!  It was no big deal!  Sure we said that Jesus was empowered by Satan, and blasphemed the Holy Spirit, but it was just a bunch of words – it’s not like we killed anybody.”  Their words showed whom it was they served…and it wasn’t God the Father.  Their words demonstrated the fact that their hearts were still in sinful rebellion against the Lord, and they would be left condemned (among other things) by the things they said.

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

1. Although it may seem like a change of subject here, note the word “answered.”  What the Pharisees challenge Jesus with is in direct response to what Jesus just said to them.  The Pharisees understand exactly what Jesus is saying, and in their contempt they continue to rebel against the One they just slandered as being Satanic.  Luke has this in a slightly different order in his account, but even so, it’s all compiled together.  The request for a sign is directly tied in with the accusation that Jesus was of the devil.
2. What’s the big deal about asking for a sign?  Basically the Pharisees were asking for a miracle from Jesus to prove that He has the authority to teach the things He had been teaching.  Talk about hubris/chutzpah!  Jesus had done multitudes of miracles!  In fact, it was the miracle of healing a blind, mute, and demon-possessed man that started all of the Pharisee’s latest nonsense.  Jesus had healed paralytics, people with chronic diseases, cleansed lepers, and raised the dead.  And yet somehow this wasn’t enough for the Pharisees?!  The Pharisees didn’t have a lack of proof regarding Jesus; they had a lack of obedience unto God.  They were still rebelling against Him.

39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

1. Why evil & adulterous?  Because this was all rebellion.  They sought answers from everyone except God, who was standing right before them in the flesh!  Jesus saw right through their rebellion & demands.  It’s not as if Jesus said, “Well, I guess they just haven’t seen enough miracles yet – let’s give them one more!”  He answered with disapproval because what the Pharisees were asking for wasn’t confirmation; it was submission.  They wanted this Man who claimed to be the Messiah to bow to their whims, when it was really them who owed their allegiance and faith to Christ the King.
2. Keep in mind that it’s not wrong to have questions about Jesus.  Even John the Baptist had questions – and Jesus answered them.  Earlier at Jesus’ baptism, John had no doubts about Jesus’ identity, yet later after sitting for some time in prison, John had a very human moment – his faith wavered & he sent some messengers to Jesus asking if He was truly the Messiah, of if there was another one to come. (Matt 11:2-3)  Jesus answered John with compassion, yet Jesus answered the Pharisees in anger.  What’s the difference?  John was asking from a position of humility & brokenness; the Pharisees had asked from a position of prideful sin.  Questions aren’t wrong.  What IS wrong is continued rebellion against God.  Just as when children are being stubbornly willful against their parents, so were the Pharisees against Jesus.
1. People do exactly the same thing every day.  They’ve seen the proof – they’ve heard the gospel – they know the truth about Jesus.  They just don’t want to surrender themselves to Him as Lord.  At the end of the day, it’s not about having too little evidence about the existence of God (or whatever), it’s about not wanting to give up their own place in their life.  They want to be their own God & King, and it doesn’t matter what the actual truth is regarding Jesus.
2. Those words might describe someone exactly today.  You’ve known the truth about Jesus, but you don’t want Him because you’re “evil and adulterous.”  Let me plead with you to stop for a moment and think about eternity.  We’re not talking so much about the next 40 years of your life, but the next 40,000.  Do you really want to go into an eternity of Hell knowing that you knew the truth about Jesus, and that you simply didn’t want to receive His love and grace?  For you, you can’t claim ignorance.  Not that ignorance is ever an excuse, but you can’t claim ignorance even if it was.  You know the truth that Jesus is God, that He died for your sins, that He rose from the dead, and that you need to surrender your life to Him as Lord & King.  More proof isn’t going to change your mind, and you don’t really want it anyway because it’s just an excuse.  I can guarantee you that in 1000 years (even 100 years) that you are going to see that excuse for what it is, and yet it will be too late to do anything about it.  Stop pursuing your rebellion!  Stop maintaining your evil stance against the Lord.  He loves you so dearly & His desire for you is that you would be saved.  Stop looking for more proof, and simply surrender yourself to the Savior – knowing that He’s already given all the evidence required.
3. Nevertheless, Jesus says that there will be no sign but one: Jonah.  Jesus had already done many miracles (and would do many more), but Jesus was not going to perform like a pet monkey for the Pharisees in yet another miraculous sign-on-demand.  The one sign He did give them was one that had already been demonstrated in the Scriptures: the sign of the prophet of Jonah.
1. Jonah is an interesting choice in that this was a prophet that was also in rebellion against God.  No lost irony here! …
2. What was the sign?  See vs. 40.

40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

1. Many of us are so familiar with the story of Jonah from Sunday School & children’s books that we actually miss out on what happens.  Suffice to say, it’s not merely a story about a whale – not to be confused with Pinnochio. J  Jonah was a prophet of God, but he is unique in that he wasn’t sent to the people of God, but rather to a totally pagan people.  More than that, the people of Nineveh were direct enemies of his own nation of Israel.  The Ninevites were in the heart of the Syrian empire (the people who would later conquer & breed out the nation of Israel).  They were a cruel people who would carry away slaves in fish hooks, and they were feared all over the Mideast.  And yet, these were the people that God told Jonah to go preach the message of judgment.  Jonah knew that God’s heart was merciful & would respond to repentance, so he ran literally in the opposite direction, boarding a ship going (to what he believed was) the end of the earth away from Nineveh.  God stopped the ship with a storm, gave Jonah the first submarine ride in history, the entire ship of sailor converted, Nineveh repented of their sin, and Jonah was still unhappy about the mercy & grace of God.  And yet this is the prophet that Jesus chooses to use as a sign unto the Pharisees (and ultimately to all Judea).  Why?
2. Simple: the resurrection.  Jonah was in the belly of the great fish (we’re never actually specified as to whether or not it was a whale – the term was somewhat generic) for the period of “three days and three nights.”  More than that, Jonah was tossed off a ship in the midst of a raging storm, and he was swallowed whole by a wild sea creature & stayed in the creatures’ gullet for three days.  If there was ever a picture of death, this was it.  In fact, Jonah even said as much: Jonah 2:2–3, "(2) And he said: “I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, And He answered me. “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice. (3) For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me." []  Jonah is basically saying that God overwhelmed him & left him as dead in the grave (Sheol).  Yet what happened after three days?  The fish vomited up Jonah & he experienced life and freedom again.  That is a direct OT picture of death & resurrection.  Jonah had been “dead,” and then “alive” – his very presence was a testimony about the judgment and power of God, even besides his very short message of repentance.  This is the sign that Jesus would give: death and resurrection.  Jesus obviously gave much more of a message than Jonah ever did, but likewise His very presence after the grave is THE sign that validates His ministry and identity.  Do you want to know for sure that Jesus really is the Christ?  Look to the resurrection.  Because Jesus rose from the grave, we can know that He is God.
3. Question: What about “three days and three nights”?  If we calculate Jesus’ time in the grave according to most traditional countings, Jesus died upon the cross on Friday afternoon, and was raised sometime Sunday morning prior to sunrise.  To be sure, Jewish culture counted even the slightest part of a day as a “day,” so we can count Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as three days – but what about nights?  Even counting partial nights, there are only two.  Was Jesus mistaken?  Did Jesus really die on a Thursday – or even on a Wednesday?  All sorts of questions have been raised, and it seems that this has caused far more problems for people than necessary.  The phrase “three days and three nights” is not so much a concrete calculation of time as it was a cultural expression of someone being dead long enough to be truly accounted as dead.  I.e., they hadn’t fallen into a coma – they weren’t going to recover.  If they had been said to be dead for “three days and nights,” they were truly dead.  To use the phrase from Miracle Max in “The Princess Bride,” someone may otherwise be only “mostly dead,” but if they were dead for three days & three nights, they were “all dead.” J  The point?  Jonah didn’t actually die, but it was if he had been truly dead & raised to life.  So would it be with the Messiah.  The only (the ultimate) sign of His identity would be His true & full death, and actual resurrection from the dead.
4. For those who doubt, there is no greater proof of Jesus’ identity as the Son of God other than the resurrection!  Romans 1:3–4, "(3) concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, (4) and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." []

41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

1. Two contrasts with the Pharisees in proof of their judgment.  Example #1: Ninevah.  The Ninevites repented with a far less worthy messenger.  Jonah was certainly not worthy, yet God used him to bring about one of the greatest revivals in all of the Bible – truly, in all of history!  For all of the great evangelistic crusades that have taken place all over the world & all of the history of the Great Awakenings when thousands across the USA came to Christ, Jonah simply preached a one-sentence message and the entire city (from king to servant) repented.  Imagine a revival in which 100% of the people come to Christ…that’s what happened in Nineveh.  Amazing!
2. Yet the Pharisees had someone greater than Jonah standing among them, and yet they still persisted in their rebellion.  The Pharisees weren’t even the kind of pagan people that the Ninevites were, and yet they still rejected the Messiah (of whom they were supposed to have been expecting).  It’s no wonder that the city of Nineveh will rise up in condemnation of the Pharisees. 

42 The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.

1. Example #2: the Queen of the South.  This is a reference to the famous queen of Sheba who had heard the tales of Solomon & had come from far away to see him with her own eyes (1 Kings 10).  She was so amazed at the things she saw that she gave Solomon immense amounts of gifts (and Solomon gave her more in return).  The queen recognized the wisdom of God & the blessing of God through Solomon, and this recognition came with someone far less wise than Jesus.  Solomon was no doubt the wisest man alive – yet even his great wisdom pales in comparison with the Author of wisdom.  Solomon was the immediate fulfillment of God’s promise that David’s son would be called the Son of God (1 Chr 22:9-10); Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the promise.
2. And again, the Pharisees rejected the testimony.  The queen of Sheba had no background to the prophecies of the Messiah – she was a gentile queen from a far-off land.  And yet even she could recognize the hand and wisdom of God whereas the supposed learned & religious Pharisees could not.  The queen had the imperfect in front of her; the Pharisees had the perfect – and they still rejected the Messiah.
3. The point?  The Pharisees had no excuse for their lack of faith.  They had demanded much from Jesus, but Jesus saw right through their smoke-screen of excuses.  A refusal to believe is far different than simple curiosity.  Their hearts had been hardened to Jesus, and that was a dangerous place to be.

Conclusion:
Has your heart been hardened to the person of Jesus Christ?  The Pharisees showed their hardened hearts by the evil words they spoke concerning Jesus, and their stubborn refusal to pay attention to the clear testimony of God right in front of their eyes.  Their condemnation and judgment were assured.  For all of their pretensions, in the end there was no excuse for their lack of faith because faith wasn’t the issue; the issue was pride.  They didn’t want Jesus.  They saw Him for who He was, and yet they still didn’t want Him – and their stubbornness took them down a road that few of them would ever turn back from as they would be left condemned.

That’s not a place any of us want to be!  That’s not the place that Jesus wants you to be!  Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost.  Jesus invites those who are heavy laden with sin and burdens to come to Him to find rest for their souls.  Jesus came that those who believe in Him might be saved.  But this doesn’t happen with hardened hearts.  People with hardened hearts demonstrate their resistance against God by their words & thoughts as they pour out what is in the sinful treasure of their heart & mind.  People with hardened hearts ignore the clear sign that Jesus has provided through the resurrection (the sign of Jonah).  It doesn’t matter what Jesus does or say because they simply don’t want Jesus.

If that’s you, beware!  Whether you want to believe it or not, there is a day coming in which you WILL see God face-to-face, and on that day you will be held to judgment.  Today is the day in which you can know how you will face that judgment: either in your own sinfulness, or covered in the grace of Christ Jesus.  When Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees that day, it was a message of judgment to those who had already firmly rejected Him – but His words are also a message of warning to the rest of us who read.  Hear this clearly: it’s not too late for you to put your faith in Christ!  Today, you can be saved – you can be born again, if you humbly respond to the call of Jesus in repentance and faith.  What is evil in you can be remade into something good.  What has been in the past can be forgiven.  What has been rejection of God can be fellowship with Him (both now and in eternity).  Don’t let your heart be hardened.

For others, perhaps you have faith in Christ, but you’ve started to slip back into old habits.  Your speech and thought life has been reflecting far more evil treasure than good.  The reality of Jesus’ resurrection has become rather distant to you as your eyes have been taken off of Christ.  Let your heart be softened anew today & remember Who it is that you serve & to Whom you belong.  This is the greater-than Jonah – this is the greater-than-Solomon – this is the great I AM who gave His life for you that you would be saved!  Ask Him to search your heart, to reveal the wickedness in you & to continue to renew you by His Spirit. 

Why the Resurrection?

Resurrection Sunday 2012, “Why the Resurrection?”

Why did Jesus rise from the dead?  It’s a great question – after all, that’s exactly what we’re celebrating today: the historical fact that Jesus is alive, raised from the grave after being physically dead for three days.  Although every true born-again Christian will affirm that Jesus DID rise from the dead (someone cannot truly be a Christian if they don’t believe this, no matter what they otherwise claim), not many can say WHY Jesus needed to rise from the dead.  We hopefully understand why the cross was necessary, but why the resurrection?

The cross was necessary as a substitution.  Jesus died in your place & my place instead of us dying there.  Jesus bore our sins, instead of us bearing them.  Jesus took upon the wrath of God that we incurred due to our sinful rebellion.  As Isaiah wrote: Isaiah 53:4–6, "(4) Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. (5) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. (6) 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." []  Upon the cross, Jesus was the grand substitute on our behalf.  God the Father was angry with His beloved Son instead of with us, and because of that, we can experience the forgiveness & grace of God.  Our sin has not merely been set aside, it has been totally dealt with.  That’s the cross.  But what about the resurrection?

Simply put, the resurrection is the proof that the cross worked.  The fact that Jesus rose from the dead demonstrates without a shadow of doubt that His sacrifice at the cross was sufficient for all mankind.  It’s the proof that God gives to all the world that the gospel really is true.  The resurrection is all the proof required for us to place our faith and trust in Jesus as the Son of God.  To look at the empty tomb is all the proof we need to humble ourselves before Jesus & receive Him as our Lord & King.  Why the resurrection?  It was the proof of God the Father regarding God the Son.

Today, we’re going to look at four specific things that the resurrection proves:

• It’s proof that God keeps His word.
• It’s proof that Jesus is the Son of God
• It’s proof that Jesus paid for our sins
• It’s proof that Jesus offers resurrected life to us.

It’s proof that God keeps His word.  [Luke 24:13-27 – Road to Emmaus]

• Jesus makes it clear that the disciples should have expected the suffering and resurrection of Christ.  Many of them had not, even though Jesus had told them repeatedly that the Son of Man would be handed over to the Jews & killed. (Mt 16,17,20, Mk 9,10, Lk 9,13,18)  Yet even beyond the personal teaching and prophecy of Jesus, the conversation on the road to Emmaus tells us that the prophecies of the cross & resurrection were all through the Old Testament.  Any student of the Scriptures ought to have known what to expect.  God hadn’t hidden a thing, and God always (always!) keeps His word.
• The Garden of Eden (Gen 3:15).  Promised a bruise & a victory.
• The psalms proclaimed that the Messiah would live forever as a priest in the order of Melchizedek (Ps 110:4)
• The prophets declared exactly how the Messiah was to be revealed to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Zech 9:9), how He would be betrayed & how much was paid to the betrayer (Zech 11:12-13).
• The psalms prophesied that the Messiah would be rejected, as the rejected stone being made the chief cornerstone (Ps 118:22)
• The psalms specifically detailed the suffering of the cross decades before crucifixion was invented (Ps 22)
• The psalms also specifically declared that the Messiah’s soul would not be left in the grave to corruption (Ps 16:10).
• And the list could go on and on.  Repeatedly, the OT shows the Messiah to suffer and to reign – to endure rejection and to ascend to glory.  That sort of contrast would be absolutely impossible in the course of a normal life.  Even the most glorious king among men must one day die, and the person who endure the most abject suffering cannot be considered to reign, by any stretch of the imagination.  Only by death and resurrection could God keep His word to every promise of the OT.  The resurrection proves that God’s testimony through the Scripture is true.  (And if it’s true regarding Christ, what else could we possibly doubt?  EVERY word is true!)

It’s proof that Jesus is the Son of God.

• Proof to the Jews.  Acts 2:29–36, "(29) “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. (30) Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, (31) he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. (32) This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. (33) Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. (34) “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, (35) Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’ (36) “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”" []
• Here they are, on the day of Pentecost 50 days after the Passover celebration, during which Jesus had been crucified for sin, buried, and then risen from the grave.  The Risen Jesus had been among them for 40 days after that time, and then had physically ascended to His Father.  Now the disciples are only days after that event when the Holy Spirit suddenly comes upon them in a new & glorious way, and being filled with supernatural power, the disciples begin to speak in other languages they had never known before as they praised God.  The men of Jerusalem witnessing these things were astounded & bewildered at this when Peter stands up in their midst & starts to preach to them, explaining what was happening.  In the middle of his message, Peter lays it all out at the feet of the Jews telling them about Jesus, whom they had personally asked to be crucified (despite the signs & wonders Jesus had given them proving He was the Christ).  They knew well that Jesus had died – they were there.  They also knew well that Jesus was alive.  As Peter proclaimed these things to them, not a one raised their voice in protest saying that Jesus was still dead.  They KNEW Jesus was alive & Peter makes it clear that this was all the proof they needed to know that Jesus truly is the King of the Jews – the Messiah, God in the flesh.
• The Messiah needed to be revealed first to the Jews before He could be revealed to the world, and He was.  Although many Gentiles came to Him, Jesus’ ministry was entirely within the boundaries of Israel, and He ensured that His primary ministry focus was to the Jews.  Not only was His ministry to the Jews, His resurrection was first proclaimed to them as well.  Jesus was risen from the dead, just as David has prophesied in the psalms that He would be – and it was such effective proof of Jesus’ identity as God that 3000 people placed their faith in Christ that day.
• Proof to the Gentiles. Romans 1:1–4, "(1) Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God (2) which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, (3) concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, (4) and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." []
• Not only is the resurrection proof to the Jews, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof to all of the rest of the world that Jesus is God.  Paul says plainly that Jesus’ identity is absolutely declared by God “by the resurrection from the dead.”  Paul was writing to a Gentile church.  Certainly there were Jews in Rome who converted to the faith, but by & large we’d expect Gentiles to be in Rome (and that seems to be borne out by the Gentile names listed as greetings in Romans 16).  It’s one thing for someone to have an identity as the King of the Jews, but how is any Gentile supposed to know anything about this person?  The King of the Jews is no mere son of David, He is the promised & prophesied Son of David, who would also be called the Son of God.  To be called a Son of God (and thus to be called GOD) is no small matter.  Lots of people claim to be God all the time…many of them are confined to mental institutions.  What is lacking is definitive proof that someone is God.  The resurrection from the dead is exactly that definitive proof.
• People have sometimes asked me, “What makes you so sure that Christianity is true?  After all, with all of the different religions out there, each one claiming to be the ‘right’ one, how do you know Christianity is truly it?”  My answer always comes back to the resurrection.  If the resurrection is true (of which we’ve got historical proof), then it is the absolute declaration that Jesus is the Son of God.  If Jesus is the Son of God, then everything the Bible says about Him is true, and that makes Christianity the one true religion in all the world.  Jesus made it clear when He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)  That’s a pretty tough claim which requires pretty solid evidence.  The resurrection gives us all the evidence we need.
• Proof of the Judgment.  Paul had been in Athens, supposedly on a little break from ministry when he started telling other people about Christ (he simply couldn’t help himself!).  As a result of this new thing being taught among the people, Paul is given an audience with the elders of the city (the Aeropagus) where he is asked to proclaim these new things to them, in order that they could understand what is being taught.  He looks around their temple, seeing all sorts of idols, including one dedicated to “The Unknown God,” & then starts to preach about that God to them.  As he gets to the end of his message which proclaimed the holiness of God & the futility of idolatry, he turned to Jesus Christ.  Acts 17:29–31, "(29) Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. (30) Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, (31) because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”" []
• Not only does the resurrection prove Jesus’ identity as God, it also proves His role as God in the judgment.  We know every single thing the Bible says about Jesus is true because God has raised Him from the dead.  We know that when the Bible tells us that Jesus is coming back in power & glory, that His 2nd coming is assured.  We know that when the Bible tells us that God will judge every man according to His actions & whether or not his name is listed in the Book of Life, that those things are certain to occur.  Jesus IS coming back to judge.  How do we know?  God raised Him from the dead.  Jesus’ resurrection certainly gives us a promise and hope of new life – it also gives us assurance of the final judgment yet to come. 
• God judged sin absolutely & completely at the cross.  The fullness of His wrath was poured out upon Jesus Christ – not because of anything He had done, but because of everything we did (and continue to do).  Because sin has been judged at the cross, there’s not a single person that needs to endure the wrath of God today.  We can find safety & salvation in Jesus Christ by believing upon Him as Lord.  Yet what about those who refuse God’s gift of grace?  For them, God’s judgment in righteousness is absolutely certain.  Think about it – there’s no other option.  Once God’s judgment was poured out upon His Son, that judgment cannot be done in vain.  We’re either covered by Christ, or we face God in our sin.  That much is made known because Jesus is alive today, showing that the wrath of God is satisfied in Him & Him alone.
• Be covered by Christ today!  He loves you & His desire for you is for you to be saved.  Put your faith in Him today.

It’s proof that Jesus paid for our sins.

• We have a sure hope. 1 Peter 1:3–5, "(3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (4) to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, (5) who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." []
• Because Jesus is risen from the dead, we have a sure hope of eternal life.  Peter tells us that this hope is for an incorruptible & undefiled inheritance that will never fade away, and reserved in heaven until we arrive.  If you’ve placed your hope & trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord, you never have to worry that your place in heaven is going to be given away to someone else or that it’s somehow going to be tainted & stained by the things you’ve done here (since none of us are perfect).  Our inheritance is going to be perfect, and we have a sound assured hope (a faithful confidence) that this is exactly what we will receive.  We don’t have this hope because we’re such good people (we’re not).  We don’t have this hope because we’ve gone through the right rituals (we can’t).  We don’t have this hope because we’ve done all of the right things (we haven’t).  We have this hope for one reason & one reason only: the living Lord Jesus.  Jesus’ resurrection assures us that our hope of heaven is secure.
• To be sure, there is far more to our salvation than just the promise of heaven.  The way some people understand the gospel, coming to faith in Christ is all about getting our ticket to heaven & nothing else in life matters.  Obviously, that’s not the case.  The gospel of the kingdom that Jesus shared in His earthly ministry is a gospel that takes up all of our lives – both what remains of our life here AND the promise of life that we have still to come.  Yet in our zeal to live out the abundant kingdom life here, let’s certainly not neglect to rejoice in the eternal hope that we have in Christ.  There is an inheritance we look forward to – there is still heaven to come in which we hope.  This is a good thing!  We certainly live as citizens of Christ’s kingdom right now, but we do not yet (and will not yet) see His kingdom in its fullness until He comes again.  We’re awaiting that day – we’re awaiting that inheritance – and because of Jesus’ resurrection, we’ve got that living hope.
• We have imputed righteousness.  Romans 4:23–25, "(23) Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, (24) but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, (25) who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification." []  Paul had been writing of Abraham, who showed himself to be justified by faith.  Though he and his wife Sarah were well past the age of having children, when God gave him the promise of being a father of many nations, and of a son yet to come, Abraham believed God, and God accounted it to him for righteousness.  Abraham heard the word of God & believed it simply, and God gave to him (imputed to him) the righteousness necessary for salvation.  Paul’s point here is that the same principle applies to us.  We believe the work of Jesus Christ, and God imputes to us the righteousness we require to be saved.  Because of our sin, we have no righteousness of our own.  Because of our selfishness & rebellion against God, even the good things we’ve done in life are invariably tainted – we need the work of God to make us righteous, or we can never be saved. 
• Yet notice the promise we have in Jesus’ resurrection: justification!  We who were not “right” in the sight of God can be made right (justified) because Jesus was raised from the dead.  He was given over (delivered) to the cross because of our sins, but so that we could be justified, Jesus was risen from the grave.  To put it simply, we look at the cross and know the price for sin has been paid; we look at the empty tomb and know that it has been paid for us.
• That justification is available to anyone and everyone who believes upon the Lord Jesus.  That is a sure promise – avail yourself of it today!

It’s proof that Jesus gives resurrected life to us

• Our resurrection is promised.  John 11:21–27, "(21) Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. (22) But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” (23) Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” (24) Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” (25) Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. (26) And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (27) She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”" []  The day was mournful for Mary & Martha.  Four days had passed since their brother Lazarus had died.  The only person who could have stopped death from coming had delayed His arrival, and now Jesus is there only at the funeral.  Obviously Jesus is available to comfort the mourners & grieve with those who grieve, but He also gives a wonderful promise: there is a resurrection yet to come.  We know the story – Jesus raises Lazarus from the grave, and it serves as a preview to His own resurrection.  Yet there’s something more Jesus is saying here: Jesus will not merely experience a resurrected life, Jesus IS the resurrected life, and Jesus GIVES resurrected life to those who believe in Him.
• Don’t miss this.  Today we remember and rejoice that Jesus is risen from the dead.  But there is also another resurrection to which we look forward: our own!  Yes, we will die.  The death rate remains at 100% & won’t change until the day of the rapture.  Yet those who die in Christ WILL be raised again to life by Christ.  If you believe in Jesus as the Lord God in the flesh, though you die, you shall live.  Just as Jesus was raised to physical life beyond the grave, so will everyone who believes in Him be raised to physical life beyond the grave.  That leads us to our final point…
• Our resurrection is prefaced.  [1 Corinthians 15:12-23]  So much can be said in that passage.  Of course the resurrection Jesus Christ is the very foundation for our faith – if He wasn’t raised from the dead, we have absolutely no reason to believe in Him at all, and any hope we would have in Him would be useless.  Paul’s context in saying all of that was to show that if Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead, then we have no hope in being raised from the dead either.  Yet here’s the glorious truth: Jesus IS risen from the dead.  Because He is risen from the dead, we have assurance that WE will be raised too.  This is not a fairy tale that is too-good-to-be-true.  This is not an esoteric idea that we try to spiritualize & philosophize away.  Our future physical resurrection is a fact.  We know it’s a fact because Jesus has been physically raised from the dead.  Because He was, we will be as well.  He was the firstfruits of the resurrection – He precedes and prefaces all who follow Him.  That’s you & me & everyone who has faith in Christ.
• Keep in mind there is more than one resurrection.  Jesus taught that there will be a resurrection of life & a resurrection of condemnation (John 5:29).  Only those who have been made righteous in Jesus Christ will be participates in the resurrection of life.  Others will be raised from the dead, but they’ll be raised precisely for eternal judgment.  The resurrection is assured.  Which resurrection will be the one in which you partake?

In the resurrection, we’ve been given proof upon proof of Jesus’ identity & work.  God has shown without a doubt who His Son is, what His Son has done, and what His Son offers to us.  Yet for many people, the question might be this: “That’s all well & good, but what about the actual event?  How can I know that the resurrection really happened?”  That’s actually a great question & one that must be answered with certainty, for as Paul pointed out, if we can’t actually believe in a literal resurrection, our faith is in vain.  The historical fact is simply this: Jesus DID literally rise from the dead the Sunday morning after the Passover celebration during which He was crucified.  This is something the Bible addresses in depth, simply because the claim is so incredible to believe.  The book of Acts even begins with this question, stating that Jesus had presented Himself alive to His apostles, showing “many infallible proofs” over a period of 40 days before He ascended to heaven. (Acts 1:3).  Jesus took considerable effort to demonstrate to the disciples that He is truly physically alive prior to His ascension, precisely in order that there would be no confusion about it.

How do we know that Jesus is alive today?

• The resurrection was attested by the Romans. (The seal, the guard, the bribe)
• The resurrection was attested by the Jews. (The day of Pentecost, the bribe)
• The resurrection was attested by the Apostles. (Their faithfulness & changed lives)
• The resurrection is still being attested by every born again believer today.  We are all witnesses of the Risen Christ, and every born-again Christian can give testimony as to what Jesus has done on our behalf.

Conclusion:
Knowing that the resurrection is true, and knowing what the resurrection proves, the question is this: how will you respond to it?

• Christians can celebrate
• Christians can hope
• Christians can share

 

If you’re not yet a Christian, know this: our greatest desire is that you would become what we are.  How important it is for you to deal with the question of Jesus’ resurrection, and place your faith in Him as Savior & Lord!  This is not something to put off in an attempt to deal with later.  This is not something that can simply be ignored.  This is not something that can be defied.  Sooner or later, you WILL come face-to-face with the Risen Jesus.  The only question is: how will you see Him?  Will you rejoice to finally see your Savior, or will you tremble before the Living God?  You’ve heard why Jesus went to the cross: to pay the price for your sin against God – to be your substitute.  You’ve heard that Jesus has risen from the dead, proving that He is who the Bible says He is.  That is something to which you must respond.  Turn away from your sins today, and believe upon Jesus Christ, asking for His forgiveness – asking for Him to be your personal Lord & King.  He promises to save all who come to Him in faith.  Not some, but all: John 6:37–40, "(37) All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. (38) For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (39) This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. (40) And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”" []

If you see the Son for who He is – if you believe that He is God & risen from the dead, then you too can have everlasting life & promise of your own resurrection.  You can have that wonderful assurance today.

Sunrise on the Square

Resurrection Sunday – Sunrise on the Square

Today is the pinnacle of the Christian calendar – the very foundation of our faith as we remember the moment that Jesus was discovered to have been risen from the grave.  This is a very exciting day, but exciting for many different reasons that what many people believe.  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with many family traditions, but we need to be very clear as to the reason we celebrate & rejoice today.  It’s not about bunnies, eggs, chocolate, ham dinners, pretty dresses, or anything like that…it’s about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  HE is the reason we come together to celebrate. HE is the reason we rejoice.  On Good Friday, we remember that our Savior died; on Resurrection Sunday we remember that our Savior lives, and that He continues to live to this day.

If you were with us this past Friday, we read through the account of Jesus’ crucifixion from the Gospel of Luke.  We read about the suffering and the death of our King.  This Sunday, as the sun rises upon the horizon, we again turn to the Gospel of Luke to read about the resurrection of our King.  May we put ourselves into the shoes of the disciples, as they discovered very early Sunday morning the plan that God had put in place before the foundation of the world: that not only would the Son of God die for the sin of the world, but that He would rise from the grave defeating death itself.

Luke 24:1–12 (NKJV)
1 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

• The resurrection was unusual.
• The women had gone to the grave just as they would have gone to any other grave.  Normally, they would have put prepared spices on a dead body on the day of death (it helped with the decomposition), but due to the fact that Jesus had died at 3pm, and His body had to be acquired from Pilate & laid in the tomb, it was just prior to sundown by the time things were finished – which was on the edge of the Sabbath.  Thus the women couldn’t do anything on Friday evening, Saturday morning, or Saturday evening (being the Passover).  The earliest opportunity they had was Sunday morning, so that is when they came to the tomb.  The act itself was not unusual in the slightest; the timing was.
• Despite the timing, they had gone to Jesus’ tomb as planned, and found something highly unusual once they arrived: the stone had been rolled away.  Keep in mind this wasn’t merely a door that had been opened – this was a big deal!
• The typical tombstone was huge.  Think of a large millstone used to grind grain into flour.  That was the sort of stone used to seal up a tomb.  Some scholars estimate that the stone would have weighed between 1.5-2 tons, which would have required several people to move back and forth.  At the very least, the stone would have been many hundreds of pounds – as Mark’s gospel tells us, it was “very large” & the women going to the tomb were wondering who could move the stone for them to get inside.
• The tomb had been sealed.  Matthew tells us that of all of the things that the Pharisees wrongly accused Jesus, the one thing they did listen to Him correctly about were the prophesies concerning His resurrection on the third day after His death.  Thus the chief priests & Pharisees went to Pilate & specifically requested that the Romans ensure Jesus’ tomb would be secure, in order to ward off any potential attempt from the disciples to steal the body.  One of the methods that Pilate had granted them was a seal.  This isn’t a reference to mortar & cement, but rather a bond with the seal of the Empire of Rome affixed to it.  To break the seal was to incur the wrath of the Roman army & come against the premier world superpower at the time.  There would have been no way of removing the stone without breaking the seal.  No one would be foolish enough to risk coming against Rome – Rome was far too powerful for any mortal man.  (Yet Rome was no match & certainly no threat to Almighty God!)
• The tomb had been guarded.  Along with the seal came a contingent of Roman soldiers as guards.  Not one soldier or two soldiers – a minimum of 4 & upwards to 16 was the typical number.  It was doubtful that the disciples untrained in ways of war & combat would have attempted to take on any small number of Roman soldiers – it would have been ridiculous for them to attempt to overwhelm (or sneak by) a number equal to their own.  Yet where were the guards?  Matthew tells us that when they witnessed the events of the day, they became as dead men – but none of the gospels even record their presence.  They seem to have been so scared that they ran off – a punishment worthy of death.  Yet it seems they feared something more powerful than the wrath of the Caesar!
• And yet the stone was rolled away.  That would have gotten the women’s attention as soon as it came into sight!
• If the removed stone wasn’t striking enough, there was one more event that truly amazed the women: Jesus’ body was nowhere to be found.  Keep in mind Jesus HAD been dead.  There was no doubt that He had died upon the cross – His death was even certified by the Roman Centurion (a man who had much experience in watching men die).  His side had been pierced & His body poured out “blood & water” which we know medically today to be a sign of heart rupture.  A dead body had come down from that cross.  A dead body had been laid into the tomb.  The women were direct eyewitnesses to all of these events (Luke 23:55).  Yet the body of Jesus was not there.  Something was certainly unusual – outside any expectations they may have had for that day.

4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen!

• The resurrection was supernatural
• Angels gave the news.  Granted, Luke does not specifically use the word “angels” – all he describes are two men in shining clothes with the knowledge of Jesus.  Yet the other gospel accounts make it clear that these were not ordinary men, but angels (messengers) of God.  No wings or halos; just the appearance of men – yet it was obvious that they had been supernaturally sent by God (clothed in His glory).  Something special had taken place: a supernatural event in need of a supernatural messenger to tell the tale.
• The news was amazing: Jesus is risen from the dead!  (We just have to love the way the angel put the question.  As if there was no other expectation for the disciples other than knowing that Jesus was alive again!  Of course He is alive, what else would He be?! J)  There can hardly be any more supernatural act than resurrection.  After all, the one absolutely assured event to occur to every single living being is that we will die.  The Bible makes it clear: it’s appointed to every man to die once, and then face the judgment of God. (Heb 9:27)  Even though every single human being is destined to die, it’s still the one event that people fear the most.  Why?  Because there’s no coming back from the dead.  Death is the ultimate finality.  People have been known to recover from the most severe of disease & horrible disasters, but no one comes back from the dead.  No one, that is, except Jesus.
• Let’s be clear about what took place.  Jesus did not cheat death; He defeated it.  Jesus did not simply swoon at the cross on Friday, and miraculously recover on Sunday; He literally and physically came back from the dead.  By any definition, that is a supernatural miracle, unprecedented in the history of man, and unsurpassed by anyone following.  Jesus rose from the grave – and He is alive today.  Our Lord is a living Lord.  We do not worship an idea – we do not worship history – we do not bow before a myth or nice story – we worship the Living God, incarnate in the Living Lord Jesus.
• This is the foundation of our forgiveness!
• This is the foundation for our present abundant life!
• This is the foundation for our eternal hope!
• Our Lord Jesus is alive.  Rejoice & celebrate that fact today!

…Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ” 8 And they remembered His words.

• The resurrection was foretold
• Although the events of the morning were unusual and unexpected, they certainly should have been expected.  Even the chief priests and Pharisees seemingly paid more attention to the prophecies concerning Jesus’ resurrection than His own disciples did.  Jesus had repeatedly told the disciples that He would be killed & resurrected on the third day – after which one time He was even rebuked by Peter & Jesus had to respond to him, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (Matt 16:23)  The gospel of Luke alone records at least 4 different occasions in which Jesus had told them about His resurrection on the third day.  If anyone should have expected Jesus to rise again, it ought to have been the disciples.
• We can believe God at His word.  When He says something, we can know without a shadow of a doubt that it’s true!  Granted, it may not come according to our expectations, but it will certainly come exactly as God has foretold.  This ought to hit home in a few areas.
• God has told us that those who continue in sin & rebellion against Him will suffer eternal punishment.
• Jesus tells us that God loved us so much that He sent His Son so that we would NOT perish, but have everlasting life.
• God tells us that those who confess Jesus is the Lord & believe that He is risen from the dead will most certainly be saved.
• Jesus tells us clearly that He is coming again to receive us to Himself.  Has it been 2000 years?  Yes.  Is that an obstacle to God fulfilling His word?  No.  We can believe God at His word!

9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. 11 And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.

• The resurrection was doubted
• Why didn’t they believe?  They didn’t believe the prophecies regarding Jesus’ resurrection, and they didn’t believe the eyewitness account once it was told to them.  Why were they so hard-hearted to the good news?  Because it was truly GOOD news…seemingly too good to be true.  So accustomed they were to the reality of their sin and the finality of death, that the idea of true and eternal forgiveness from God & life beyond the grave seemed like a distant hope – even comforting children’s stories, but not reality.  They had lived day-in & day-out with Jesus, and they continually heard the word of God, seen the miracles of God, and experienced the compassion of God, yet the promise of God still seemed like a fairy-tale to them.  Reality was still cold, dark, and death.
• To too many people, that’s the same way it is today.  They’ve heard that Jesus is risen from the dead – they’ve gone to church celebrations & even sung songs commemorating Jesus’ resurrection, but it’s still just a story-book tale to them.  They can quote the gospel to someone without missing a beat, reciting the facts that Jesus is God incarnate who died for the sin of the world upon the cross, rose from the grave three days later, and offers life & forgiveness to everyone who believes & receives Him as Lord…yet they themselves don’t really believe it.  Deep down, it’s just a nice story.  Beloved, you need to know this: it’s not merely a nice story, it’s true history.  Jesus truly IS alive today.  Whether or not you believe this truth is your decision, but you need to know it is indeed the truth.  Jesus rose from the dead, and He lives today.  He can hear your prayer because He is alive.  He can forgive your sin because He is alive.  He can grant you grace & eternal life because He is alive.  A dead Savior is no savior at all because His sacrifice would have been in vain.  Only a living Savior can offer you this hope & grace…Jesus is alive!  BELIEVE today.

12 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.

• The resurrection was marvelous
• Other gospel accounts go into greater detail, but Peter’s story here truly sums it up.  The disciples had to see with their own eyes, and Peter did…and marveled.  He wondered at these things – was amazed at the events that he witnessed – thought long and deep about the reality of what had happened.  Peter had witnessed many miracles in his time with Jesus, but nothing compared with this.  Certainly people had been raised from the dead before (Peter witnessed Jesus raising some of them), but everyone else who had been raised from the dead had been raised by someone else.  In the case of Jesus’ death & resurrection, there was no one else.  There was only Jesus.  If He had truly been raised from the dead, then He had been raised by His own power – the power of God.  Although Peter had previously confessed on many occasions that Jesus was the Son of God, it seems at this moment for the first time he truly understood what that meant.
• The resurrection is truly marvelous – and it deserves your thought and consideration.  People use Jesus’ name as an exclamation or a curse word.  People use the holidays of the Church to engage in all sorts of ritual without thought or meaning.  Today, give the resurrection of Jesus Christ the thought that it deserves…especially if you’ve never truly believed that it is really true.  If Jesus really is risen from the dead – what does that mean?  It means that Jesus really is God.  It means that Jesus really does forgive sin.  It means that Jesus really does offer life & grace.  It means that to refuse the grace of Jesus is the most horrendous thought in the universe.  It means that every single thing the Bible says about Jesus is true.  Think upon this today, for Jesus is alive.  It’s a fact worth marveling over.

Conclusion:
The resurrection changes everything!  For the disciples, it took them from mourning to joy.  It took them from crushed hopes to assured faith.  It was the final step necessary to prove without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus truly is God in the flesh.  It was many things (unusual, supernatural, foretold), and received in many ways (doubted, marveled), but through history we know that the resurrection of Jesus Christ changed literally everything about the church – which ended up affecting the entire world – and still affects us today.  What is your reaction to the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

If previously you have already believed, let this be a day of renewed marvel, hope, and joy!  Let this be a day of celebration & worship.  Your King is alive!  Your King is victorious over the most final of all enemies (death), and He offers you exactly the same thing.  Rejoice passionately in your King today, celebrating His life.

If previously you have not believed – if these things have all been idle story tales to you, then I implore you to consider the reality of the resurrection.  See Jesus for who He truly is: God in the flesh.  He died because your sins incurred the wrath of Almighty God, so Jesus stepped into your place & took your punishment on your behalf.  He rose from the dead (proving His sacrifice was sufficient) & He offers you grace & life today.  All that you need to do is simply respond.  Turn away from your sin (repent) and believe upon the Lord Jesus today.  Trust Him for who He is & entrust everything in your life to Him.  He promises to save everyone who comes to Him in faith.  Our prayer is that you would come today.

Good Friday, 2012

Good Friday 2012, “Death of the King”

Jesus had already had a busy & tragic day.  The previous night, He had been betrayed by one of His own disciples.  Someone He had called by name to follow Him had turned aside to darkness & fulfilled the awful prophecies by betraying his King to the Jewish authorities to be killed.  Throughout the night, Jesus had endured a kangaroo court, was mocked and beaten by the Jews, and even denied by one of His closest friends.  Finally the Jewish council of elders (the Sanhedrin) led Jesus to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate in order that Pilate would find him guilty of sedition & treason, and be ordered executed.  Pilate initially refused, believing this was a matter for the Jews to handle, and had Jesus given over to Herod, who in turn denied responsibility for the true King of the Jews.  Finally, Jesus is returned to Pilate, who declares Jesus innocent & offers to return Him to the people.  The people, left in the darkness (like all of us in our sin) chose to receive a murderer rather than their Savior, and they cried out for Jesus’ crucifixion…a most horrendous death reserved for dire criminal & traitors to the state.  Eventually, Pilate gives in to the mob’s wishes & he delivered the innocent Son of God to be crucified.

Seemingly everything had gone wrong that day.  To the disciples watching, things could not have been worse.  No scenario could be imagined more dire and desperate.  Yet here it was: the Lord God, the Messiah King sent to offer life to the world was sentenced to die.

What did our King endure that day?  Much suffering & mocking & pain & trial.  He did it for you & He did it for me.  On Good Friday we remember the crucifixion of our Savior – we remember the death of our King.  Let the Bible speak to you tonight as we re-read the history of what took place that awful (yet glorious) day.

Luke 23:26–56 (NKJV)
26 Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.

1. Partaking with the King.  Someone shared his suffering.  We don’t know much about Simon, other than his home town of Cyrene, and that he was the father of Alexander & Rufus (Mk 15:21), likely two well-known members of the early church.  We’re not told of his thoughts or his reaction to the events around him, or even if he knew who Jesus had claimed to be.  All we know is that he was compelled to enter into the story and assist Jesus on His way to His execution.
2. What we do know is that Jesus calls all of His disciples to pick up their crosses and follow Him.  It isn’t a call to mere discomfort; it’s a call to follow Jesus to the point of death – vividly demonstrated through the actions of Simon.  Jesus was going to the place where He would be killed, and Simon was carrying the instrument of the Lord’s death.  It’s that same road that all of us must travel.  When we follow Christ, we don’t merely add “Christian” to the things we do; it becomes the very foundation of who we are.  In matters of life & death, nothing else matters – it’s no different when it comes to the cross of Jesus.

27 And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. 28 But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!’ 30 Then they will begin ‘to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ 31 For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?”

1. Weeping for the King.  The women of Jerusalem wept without understanding.  They saw the immediate tragedy, whereas Jesus was looking at their future destruction.  The Bible describes the days of the Great Tribulation in precisely the same terms as Jesus, as people understand that the day of God’s wrath will have come, and they look to the mountains & rocks to hide them from the wrath of the Almighty (Rev 6:16).  Jesus knew the awfulness which awaited those who remained unrepentant & outside of the grace of God, and that was the true reason to weep.
2. Understand that the reason we can sit here tonight and worship God is because His holy wrath fell upon Jesus & not upon us.  Our sin condemned us to death – our rebellion earned the righteous anger of God, and every single man, woman, and child deserves to have the unfiltered wrath of God poured out upon us.  Yet it went upon Jesus instead.  Because Jesus went to the cross, we do not have to weep for ourselves.  We who were hopeless have been given hope, because Jesus died for you & me.

32 There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. 33 And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.

1. Criminalizing the King.  The Christ was treated as a common criminal.  How humiliating!  How degrading!  That the Son of God would be tossed aside as someone who utterly deserved to die.  Jesus least deserved to die – He had done nothing wrong & committed no sin…and yet He was treated as every single one of us deserve to be treated.  Think upon that for a moment.  WE were the criminals; Jesus is the innocent one.  WE deserved the cross, just like the two thieves on either side of Jesus.  Jesus most certainly did not deserve it.  Jesus (as the Son of God) deserves to be treated with worship, fear, reverence, and praise.  Jesus deserves to have angels surrounding His throne, forever singing of His holiness.  Jesus deserves to have every knee in all creation bowing & confessing that He is Lord.  THAT’s what He deserves.  Yet on that day, that is precisely what Jesus did not receive.  The Glorious Beautiful One was treated as a street thug & common criminal – the outcast of society. 

34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.

1. Grace from the King.  In the midst of His humiliation, Jesus called out for forgiveness & grace.  Amazing!  What love!  What compassion!  Who among us, when at the moment of having massive spikes hammered into our flesh would not cry out in anguish and anger?  Who among us would not wish for God to vanquish our enemies and bring vengeance upon them for their crime?  Especially when considering Jesus.  He was no less fully God while hanging upon the cross then He was fully God moments before the cross, or after the resurrection.  Jesus had all right and authority to call legions of angels to His aid, and strike down the ones who had injured Him & caused His suffering.  Yet in His meekness, love, and submission unto God, Jesus simply asked for forgiveness for those who had wronged Him. 
2. They didn’t know what they were doing – they didn’t realize they were acting like madmen.  Only a crazy person would dare insult and injure someone who carried a loaded gun pointing at them – surely the most insane act possible would be an attempt to kill the Son of God.  At the merest thought, God could send any one of us into an eternity of torment…surely it would be foolish to attempt to hurt Him.  They had been told who Jesus was – they had been given proof who Jesus was – but at the end, they didn’t even have a clue.  They didn’t truly understand what they were doing, and Jesus asked the Father for their forgiveness.
3. Praise God for the intercession we receive in Christ Jesus!  Every time we sin – every time we crawl back into the slime of what we used to do, we engage in the same actions as the Jews that day.  We do the very things that caused Jesus to have been nailed to that cross.  And yet, Jesus remains our forgiving Mediator.  No doubt, He still prays, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

35 And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.” 36 The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, 37 and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.”

1. Mocking the King.  Instead of worshiping their King, they mocked Him & blasphemed Him.  They had no idea what they were asking.  Surely Jesus could have saved Himself at any time.  But if He had done so, we would have had no way to save ourselves.  The moment Jesus would have pulled Himself off of that cross would have been the very moment that every single human being would have been forever & unalterably consigned to Hell.  This is not Someone to mock; this is Someone to worship!

38 And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

1. Testifying to the King.  Pilate surely had no idea of what he was doing when he commanded the sign to be made.  Yet God in His providence, ensured that the testimony of Jesus was made plain even at the hour of His death.  The identity of the King of the Jews was testified to the scholarly world (the Greeks), the political world (the Romans), and the religious world (the Jews).  There was no doubt of who was hanging upon the cross for mankind: the King of the Jews – the Messiah – the prophesied Savior-King given by God to all the world.

39 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” 40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” 43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

1. Faith in the King.  As one of the criminals continued in the mockery from the mob (which was rather ironic considering he was hanging on a cross right next to Jesus!), the other one of the criminals came to faith.  We have no idea what this man did in order to deserve his execution, but we know he certainly deserved it.  The man admitted as much – it was his “due reward.”  Yet he knew that Jesus’ reward ought to have been much different.  Jesus’ innocence (and that fact alone) seem to have been enough to bring him to saving faith.  The One of whom was written was the “King of the Jews” truly was exactly that, and this criminal begs mercy of the true King to show mercy to him in the coming kingdom.
2. The glorious response from Jesus was one of grace!  No maybes/ifs/buts from Jesus – no “That’s good, but you’ll need to spend a few decades in purgatory first,” – just the simple declaration that on that very day, the (former) thief would join Jesus in Paradise.  All of the man’s sin would be completely done away with – all of the pain would be totally forgotten – everything would be wiped out, with the exception of eternal fellowship with the Son of God.  What a promise!
1. Keep in mind that every word uttered from the cross would have been painful agony as the crucified person had to push themselves up onto the nail in his feet in order to gain enough breath to speak.  Out of all of the things that Jesus could have said, or refrained from saying, one of the things He made sure to say was a message of the assurance of salvation to someone in need to hear it.  Amazing!

44 Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 45 Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. 46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” Having said this, He breathed His last. 47 So when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!”

1. Acknowledging the King.  Whether it was creation or the centurion, the entire scene changed at the moment of Jesus’ death.  For three hours there was a supernatural darkness & suddenly a covering of the sun, an earthquake (Matt 27), and the temple veil was ripped.  Creation certainly took note of the death of its Creator.  Jesus wasn’t merely present during the acts of creation, all of the universe formed by the hand of Christ Jesus – it was created through Him, and it acknowledged the King.
2. So too, the centurion.  What function this soldier had that day we don’t know.  Centurions were commanders over 100 men, so it’s likely he was in charge of the entire crucifixion event, from having Jesus nailed to the cross to certifying His death.  Jesus’ death convinced him this was no mere criminal, but truly was a righteous man – even the Son of God Himself.  The cross brought a conversion of at least two men that day: the condemned thief & the respected centurion.  Both were in dire need of salvation for exactly the same reason, and the same price was paid for each: the death of Jesus.

48 And the whole crowd who came together to that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned. 49 But all His acquaintances, and the women who followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

1. Mourning the King.  Whether the crowd was sincere or not cannot be said.  It’s doubtful that the same crowd that called out for Jesus’ death could have truly mourned Him when it took place.  Whoever these people were, they made a public spectacle of themselves when Jesus died. 
2. Yet there’s an interesting contrast with the women who had actually known Jesus, followed Jesus, and had faith in Him.  They had stayed at a distance, watching.  Certainly they mourned & wept among themselves, but they didn’t make a scene.  True & sincere faith doesn’t have to call attention to itself; the attention ought to be upon Christ alone.

50 Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. 51 He had not consented to their decision and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. 52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

1. Identification with the King.  What had been a secret faith before became a public faith when Jesus died.  Someone needed to be responsible for the body, and Joseph of Arimathea took it upon himself.  To have been identified with Jesus was to put a wedge between himself & the ruling council of Jerusalem & even risk being cast out of the synagogue.  After Jesus died, Joseph decided the risk was worth it, and publically showed himself to be a disciple.
2. Every Christian eventually makes a public identification with Christ.  That’s exactly what baptism is, as we’re identified with His death & resurrection.  Not every Christian counts the cost & decides that the identification is worth it.  How about you?

53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. 54 That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. 55 And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.

1. Serving the King.  The ladies served Jesus till the end & prepared His body as they would have prepared any other.  What they didn’t realize was what was going to happen on the 3rd day.  We do, and we rejoice!  Yet before we can rejoice in the empty tomb, we remember that the tomb wasn’t always empty.  For a while, it was occupied with the dead body of our Lord Jesus.  That was the price that was paid for sin.  May we take a few moments this night & silently remember that price for the sins you & I have personally committed.

Preaching in Persecution

Matthew 10:27-33, “Preaching in Persecution”

Preach the word!  That was the exhortation from Paul to Timothy in 2 Tim 4:2.  Paul had warned Timothy of perilous times that were coming, the same sorts of perilous times of which Jesus had warned the 12 apostles.  Although there was a plentiful harvest of souls (people ready to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and be saved), there was also a certainty of rejection by others.  Yet even in the midst of that rejection, the apostles were still to preach the gospel of the kingdom.  Jesus was honest about what they were about to face, and wanted them to be fully prepared to face it.  Now that they were prepared, what were they to do?  They were to continue to preach the gospel.

It’s the same with us.  Jesus tells us what He told the apostles: Be bold – be fearless – be faithful.  God loves you & cares for you, even when you are persecuted.

Coming out of the context of vs. 26: "(26) Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known."  [Review]

• “Therefore” – Jesus had prepared His apostles (and those who would follow in their footsteps) for the fact of persecution.  It wasn’t an “if” but a “when” persecution would happen.  Christians would be handed over to government authorities for jailings & beatings – Christians would be turned in by their own family members – Christians would be reviled as workers of the devil, and much more.  The Biblical record, later history, and modern experience all show this to be true.  As Paul wrote to Timothy, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (2 Tim 3:12)  Persecution is not a possibility for the believer; it’s an inevitability.  Not all persecution looks the same – some Christians face physical danger for their faith; other places Christians are simply reviled and treated with disgust by certain people.  Yet it’s all based in the same thing, and Jesus plainly warned the apostles (and all of us) that persecution is a fact that we will face.
• Be brave/fearless.  This is going to be a recurrent theme in Jesus’ teaching today, just as it is a recurrent theme throughout the Bible.  The OT saints were told not to fear, but to be strong and courageous as they set out doing the things that God was calling them to do & equipping them to do.  The NT saints were told not to fear as they walked in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus.  If God is for us, who can be against us?  The apostles being spoken to by Jesus had no reason to fear because God the Son was personally sending them out as His messengers.  Guess what?  It’s no different with us today!  We have no reason to fear because God the Son has personally sent us out as messengers of His gospel!
• This obviously doesn’t mean that we won’t suffer.  It DOES mean that we have no reason to fear the suffering we might face.  To read accounts of Christian history can be a sobering thing as you find stories of Christians during times of immense persecution.  People were burned at the stake, mauled by lions, and killed in all various torturous kinds of ways, and yet the consistent testimony is that most of the Christians faced these onslaughts with quiet bravery and power.  Did their tortures hurt any less?  No.  Were they oblivious to what was going on to them?  No.  What made them different?  Only faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  When we have the assurance that our physical bodies and eternal souls are ultimately in the hands of the Son of God who conquered the grave, even the worst that this world can do to us is strictly temporary.  Faith casts out fear – always.
• Reason #1 to be brave: because our God is the Judge.  One day those things which are “hidden” will be “revealed.”  Which day?  The day of judgment.  The actions that people take against Christians will one day require an account at the hand of Almighty God.  On that day, it doesn’t matter how secret the conspiracy or how easily someone “got away” with it, every sin will be revealed & accounted for at the Great White Throne of God.  God is not ignorant to the sufferings of His saints.  Just as any father would take out his vengeance upon someone who dared to hurt his children, so our Heavenly Father will do the same for those who have been made the children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  We see an example of this in the book of Revelation as it describes the martyrdom of the saints who come to faith in Christ during the days of the Great Tribulation.  In Rev 6 when the 5th seal of the scroll is opened, the Christians who have been killed for their faith cry out “How long?” as they ask Jesus to judge and avenge them.  Jesus does not ignore them, but rather consoles them to wait a little while until the timing was right.  In Rev 18-19 the timing is right when the wrath of God falls upon the system/city of Babylon & a multitude in heaven erupts in praise to God because He had avenged the blood of His servants (Rev 19:2).  The point?  God is not blind to the actions and hatred of the world against His people.  If you belong to God the Father through faith in Christ Jesus, you can be assured that whatever persecution you may face will find an answer in the righteous judgment of God.  In light of that, be brave!

Matthew 10:27–33 (NKJV)
27 “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.

• Be bold.  This is in stark contrast with the hidden actions of those who would hate the Christians.  Jesus certainly had a very public ministry, yet there were many times in which His teaching was done in private with the apostles.  Even His private teachings were to be proclaimed openly – nothing was to be kept secret.  Those who hated the Christians would want to do things in the dark, but those who are in Christ kept their witness in the light.  The apostles (and all of us) were to be bold in their faith, no matter what the reaction of the world around them might be.
• Christianity is something that cannot be contained.  Obviously not everyone is gifted to be an evangelist (though Jesus was specifically speaking to 12 men that He had called to do that very thing), but evangelism is not something that is only done by those with the gift.  ALL of the Church has been entrusted with the good news of the gospel, and we’ve all been commissioned by our King to share it with others, both through our words and in our actions.  It’s simply part of being a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount.  Matthew 5:14–16, "(14) “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. (15) Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.(16) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." []  Our lives that have been transformed by the grace of Jesus Christ are to be lived openly as a public witness to the world that Jesus is God.  When we walk in purity towards God and in compassion towards others, people cannot help but see the work of Jesus.
• That said, Jesus does expect us to use our words.  Even though we’re not all called to “preach on the housetops” (as were the apostles), we cannot leave our actions to be the only witness we have of Jesus.  Eventually we need to use our words as well, which is the entire emphasis of verse 27 (“speak…preach…”).  We have a tendency to look at evangelism in strictly black/white terms: either we preach the gospel or we do good works…either we live by example or we hand out tracts, etc.  In truth, Jesus never draws a distinction between the two.  We’re the ones that attempt to divide up the work of evangelism for whatever reason (humans tend to like categorizing!)…perhaps if we can divide up how evangelism works then we can absolve ourselves of some of our own personal responsibility.  Yet in the New Testament, evangelism is always painted in terms of words AND work, something in which every child of God participates.  So however you do it, preach Christ, and preach Him boldly!

28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

• Be fearless.  Again, anything that the world can throw at us in its hatred of Christ is strictly temporary.  Someone may live out the rest of their days in prison for his/her faith in Jesus, yet even that has an expiration date because the world cannot touch our eternal soul.  Objection: “But their persecution still hurts!  Why wouldn’t we fear it for what it is?”  Jesus never denies or minimizes the concept of suffering.  Jesus never tells someone to just “grin & bear it” and pretend a façade of toughness, as if nothing ever bothers him/her.  Yet He does tell us not to fear.  Why?  Because even the worst the world can throw at us has a limitation.  They can “kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”  Have you ever noticed how knowing the limit of something helps you endure it?  No one likes to be stabbed, but if you know the limit is one needle taking a vial of blood, we can endure it better.  No one likes pressure at work, but if you know the limit is a few weeks at the most, then you can put up with it for a time.  Many times the fear and anxiety we experience comes in when we have no idea of the limit – when the suffering will ever end or how much suffering we will experience.  The fear comes hand-in-hand with the uncertainty.  Jesus here removes the uncertainty & tells us what the limits are.  Those who persecute Christians can do much to a body even up to death, but that’s ALL they can do.  They cannot do a single thing against a Christian’s soul because our soul belongs to Christ Jesus alone.  As Martin Luther wrote in his great hymn, “The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever.”
• We’re to be fearless when it comes to man, but not when it comes to God.  If you’re going to fear, fear rightly: fear God alone.  Man has limits on what it can do to man, but God is limitless.  Man can only hurt a body temporarily up till the time of death.  Man cannot touch a person’s soul.  God has no such limits.  God is eternal and His destruction and wrath is eternal.  God’s destruction upon those He determines to destroy is limitless.
• Note this does not teach annihilation (the idea that hell is not eternal, but rather lasts only for a time in which God completely wipes someone out of existence).  The context is on the power of God, which is limitless.  The whole idea here is not one of finality, but of eternity.  Elsewhere Jesus clearly teaches hell (Gehenna) to be a place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mk 9:43-48).  If God is eternal, then His destruction can stretch out over eternity as well.  Truly this is Someone that ought to be feared!
• Question: is Jesus saying that instead of being afraid of the world & running away in terror from them, that we ought to take that same fear and apply it towards God?  As if God is some monster from which we ought to run & hide?  No – Jesus is simply helping us to keep the right perspective.  Granted, those who are in rebellion against God and have not been saved by the Lord Jesus Christ have every right to want to run in terror away from God because it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God!  Yet Jesus is not speaking to non-Christians, but to His own disciples.  These are people saved by the grace of Jesus Christ because they had trusted their lives to Him as their Savior and Lord.  We do not fear the wrath of God because God poured out His wrath upon Jesus instead of us.  Jesus served as our substitute for the wrath of God (He is our “propitiation”), so if we are truly in Christ, we need not fear that God is going to send us to hell.  That’s not the kind of fear that we’re to have.  We’re to fear God rightly by remembering who He is.  He is the God who is fully capable of destroying someone in hell.  He is the God that created the entire universe out of His sheer will.  He is the God that gave us life and knows the number of our days.  He is the God who saved us by His grace.  He is all-powerful, and absolutely deserves our reverence and respect.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10) – the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Prov 1:7).  When believers in Christ maintain a proper fear of the Lord, we maintain the proper perspective of who God is and why we ought to obey Him.
• Yet contextually, Jesus isn’t so much teaching about fearing the Lord for obedience, but fearing the Lord in comfort.  The world has a limit on its power, but God is limitless.  When we fear the limitless Almighty God, then we have zero fear of the world.  What can man do to us?  We’re children of the omnipotent God!  Remember whom it is that you serve.  Those who belong to Jesus Christ have no reason to fear because our fear is in the right place: focused upon our loving heavenly Father.

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.

• Reason for fearlessness #2: God is in control.  Even over the smallest things in life, God is absolutely sovereign.  Sparrows were abundant in the day, so much so that when we compare the statements of Jesus here in Matt 10 where 2 sparrows are sold for a single copper coin, and in Luke 12:6 where He says that 5 sparrows are sold for two copper coins, we don’t find a contradiction, but an economic deal.  Buy 4 sparrows, get the 5th one free. J  They were so common, the people who sold them could practically give them away.  Yet God sees the sparrows – God exercises His will over the birds.
• We serve a sovereign God.  There is no aspect over this universe that He cannot exercise control.  He created it all – He reigns over it all.  Some people have a problem with this idea in that they believe that it makes God the author of suffering.  They think that because God controls the weather that God kills people through drought, kills other people through tornadoes, etc., making God a capricious being capable of immense evil that is produced every day.  There’s no doubt that the Bible clearly teaches the sovereignty of God – but the Bible also clearly shows that God is supremely good.  These two things are not in contradiction with each other.  There are some questions that are left somewhat to mystery, as Job learned in his own experiences.  God had sovereignly allowed Job to be afflicted by Satan, though God did not personally afflict Job (God actually limited what Satan wanted to do!).  God did not even reveal to Job what had gone on behind the scenes that was the cause of Job’s suffering.  When God did finally answer Job, He only answered with one prevailing truth: God is the awesome sovereign God, and we’re not.  We may not like that answer, but it’s the best one we can receive.  There are certain mysteries that are beyond our understanding, and to which we get no answers.  Why tornadoes hit one house and jump over another are mysteries to us – why one person dies and another lives from the same accident is a mystery – the only answer we have is that these things do not surprise God, and that this universe is not spinning out of control.  Ultimately we know that God is good, God is working things for His glory, and God is supreme.  He allows certain suffering to come into the world, but He has not abandoned us to the world.

30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

• Reason for fearlessness #3: God loves you.  The truth of the love of God ought to always be proclaimed in hand-in-hand with the sovereignty of God.  To think that God allowed Job to suffer can be rather cold until we remember that God absolutely loved Job.  God was actually so proud of Job that He bragged on him in front of Satan as someone who was totally unique among the entire population of the earth.  God loved him, just as God loves us.  The sparrows sold 2 for a penny, 5 for two pennies, and God knew the sparrows.  But God loves us more.  Earlier, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught how God the Father cares for the birds of the air, feeding them & clothing them (Matt 6:26), but God loves us more.  More than knowing the numbers of the birds, God knows the numbers of our hair follicles.  (Including which ones are turning grey & which ones are falling out!  That’s a rapidly changing number for some people, and God keeps track of it all.)
• Just think about the immensity of that statement for a minute.  Jesus obviously said this to give an extreme example to make the point of God’s care for us, but Jesus would not have said it if it weren’t true.  Apparently the average adult human has an average of 100,000-150,000 hairs on their head.  The world’s population is over 6.8 billion people.  That’s over 680 trillion hair follicles, which changes on a minute-by-minute basis.  Some of us have trouble remembering a handful of birthdays, and yet God knows infinitely more than that!
• God’s care for us goes far beyond that of the sparrows – He values us so much more.  Some might object & claim, “Surely God loves all His creation equally!  We are not much more than animals ourselves, so surely Jesus is simply exaggerating a bit to let us know that God loves us just like He loves all of His creatures.”  That’s not at all what Jesus says, and that’s not at all the Biblical record.  Jesus says we have more “value” than sparrows.  How does someone determine the value of something?  By looking at what was spent to purchase it.  Sparrows could be bought for half a penny, but humans were only bought with one thing: the blood of Jesus Christ.  How much does the Almighty Sovereign God love you?  He loved you so much that He sent His Son to die for you.  Your salvation was valued at the price of Jesus’ life – and Jesus spent it on your behalf.
• Be careful that you do not throw this gift back into the face of God!  Some people wonder why is it that God would send people to hell simply for not believing in Jesus.  The real question is: how could God NOT send people to hell for rejecting the price that was paid for them?  God the Son loved you so much that He gave up His life for you!  Jesus shed His blood upon the cross, suffered and died for you.  That was the punishment you deserved; not Him.  And to give you proof that Jesus really is God in the flesh, Jesus rose back to life from the grave.  To reject God’s gift of grace is a slap in the face of Almighty God.  Don’t refuse His love – gratefully accept it & rejoice in the gift that He freely offers you!

32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.

• Notice the “therefore.”  In light of everything Jesus has said so far, here’s the summary instruction.  Be bold, be fearless…and be faithful.  In preaching from the rooftops, the apostles were being bold in their witness, taking the gospel of the kingdom to the world into which Jesus was sending them.  In fearing God instead of the world, they were keeping the right perspective on the limits of persecution, and the love of God.  Now Jesus tells them to be faithful in their confession – to consistently identify themselves with Christ in front of a world that would hate them for doing so.
• What does it mean to “confess” Christ?  It means to agree with Him/to speak the same thing as Him…technically, the Greek here is to agree IN Him.  Jesus is teaching about a public unity that we have with Christ, telling the world that we belong to Him & are identified with Him.  This isn’t so much a statement of faith, but rather a confession that we are in the faith.  When the ancient Christians stood strong against the command to make and offering & say “Caesar is Lord,” they made sure to proclaim “Jesus is Lord,” identifying themselves as recognizing one God and King alone & above all, and it wasn’t the guy seated on the Roman throne.  The very term “Christian” (which was given to the Church by people outside of Christ – in Antioch, Acts 11:26) is a label that defines people as identifying with the “Christ.”  Those who confess Jesus as the Christ (God’s chosen King – God in the flesh & the fulfillment of all the promises of the Bible) are Christian, by definition.  This is one of the primary purposes of baptism – it’s that public proclamation (the confession) that we have been identified in Christ, and we have gratefully received Him as Lord & King into our lives.
• Not only is there a confession by us, but there’s a confession by Jesus.  We confess in Christ before men on earth, and Jesus confesses in us before God in heaven.  We unify ourselves with Him here; Jesus shows Himself united with us before the throne of God.  IOW, those who claim Jesus as their own here find that Jesus has claimed us as His own in heaven.  Jesus is our mediator before God – Jesus is our advocate – Jesus is our friend & co-heir.  He brings us to His Father as His own, and our salvation is secure in Him.  Whatever we face here on this earth, when we’ve been faithfully identified with Jesus, we can be sure that Jesus has claimed us as belonging to Him & we can look forward to that day when we see Him face to face.  The same God that is to be feared as One who can destroy both body and soul in hell is the God who will receive us gladly because we belong to His Son.
• Please note that our assurance is not found in what we do, but in what Jesus has done.  It’s not our confession that assures us our place in heaven, but Jesus’ confession.  We are saved by His grace, not our works.  Our works and our confession merely reflect what Jesus does for us on our behalf.

33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

• Scary verse!  First things first: Does this verse apply to Christians or non-Christians?  Those who do not belong to Jesus Christ as one of His own obviously deny Jesus’ rightful place as God.  Thus they would be denied before God the Father at the Judgment.  Yet why would Jesus give this teaching to 12 men He was specifically sending out as His apostles?  Obviously they all (with the possible exception of Judas) had saving faith that Jesus is the Son of God.  Thus this seems to be a warning to those who might claim in secret to believe in Christ, but openly would deny Jesus.  Verse 27 talked about being bold in our witness for Jesus; contextually verse 33 seems to refer to those who would walk away from that boldness & hide what Jesus had given them through the good news of the gospel.
• If this does apply to believers, is Jesus saying that someone can lose his/her salvation if they publicly denied Jesus?  Be careful about jumping to conclusions here.  Scripture gives us a very famous example of someone denying Jesus: Peter on the night of Jesus’ arrest.  Three times Peter was given the opportunity to affirm that he was one of Jesus’ disciples – three times Peter denied it, going so far as to swear an oath that he didn’t even know the Man. (Matt 26:72)  Yet obviously Peter was still saved.  He was used by God in marvelous ways in establishing the Church, and Jesus made a public example of restoring him to ministry.  Of course Peter’s actions in denying Christ are not held up in the Scripture as a good example for us to follow – but they certainly show that a temporary lapse in courage does not send someone straight to Hell.
• So what would it mean for Jesus to “deny” someone who had denied Him?  Some scholars take this to be a reference to the Bema Seat judgment.  True born-again Christians do not fear the eternal decision of the Great White Throne judgment because our sins were paid for when Jesus died upon the cross for us.  Yet there is still a judgment day that every believer will face: the Bema – the judgment seat of Christ.  This is a judgment not for punishment, but for reward, in which all those who are in Christ will receive a reward for things done here in the body whether good or bad (2 Cor 5:10).  It’s this judgment that some scholars believe Jesus refers, with the thought that those who deny Christ will be denied reward that would have lasted throughout eternity.  The tough part for that argument is the parallelism Jesus is using.  The same word for “deny” is used on the part of both the man & of Christ, and the same action is implied.  Jesus would not have been denied any reward when a person denied Him; the person was denying that he/she ever knew Jesus at all (i.e., did not “confess” Jesus before men.)  Likewise, verse 32 is plainly speaking about a public witness that someone agrees with Christ, and Christ would agree before God the Father that the person is His.  That makes a reference to the Bema Seat somewhat unlikely.
• There’s one other possibility: Jesus is referring to a false convert.  The grammar for “whoever denies Me” is not referring to a particular action in time, but a general “snapshot” summary (aorist tense).  IOW, this seems to describe a continual action.  Someone who (1) claims to be saved, yet consistently denies publicly that he/she belongs to Christ or (2) acts in such a way that consistently denies the saving work of Christ in his/her life shows that person to be a false convert.  In the first case, it would be the person who is consistently two-faced in their supposed Christianity.  Around Christians they claim to be a Christian; around the world they want to push away any possibility of them being connected with the faith.  They are supposedly believers in secret – not out of fear of persecution, but out of shame.  In the second case, it would be the person who walks into a church building with a holy face on Sunday, but acts completely like the world as soon as they walk out the doors.  There would be absolutely no indication outside of the Sunday morning meeting that they are a believer at all because their entire life denies that they know the Lord Jesus.  In either case, why would Jesus say this to the 12?  Perhaps because there is at least one potential false convert among them: Judas.  The warning then becomes clear.  It’s not being grouped in with a bunch of other Christians that guarantees your salvation – it’s not doing certain acts associated with Christianity that means you’re saved – you have to be known by Christ as one of His own, or you will be denied by Him.
• Denial is damning.  When Jesus denies someone to God the Father, they are eternally denied.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught about the false convert who would come before Him claiming, “Lord, Lord, look at all the good things I did in your name!” & Jesus would respond, “I never knew you, depart from Me.” (Matt 7:21-23)  If you are not known by Christ, you will not be confessed by Christ, but rather denied by Him & at that point you have every right to fear in absolute terror regarding the God who can destroy both body and soul in hell.  This is not a position in which anyone wants to be & it’s not a position in which anyone HAS to be.  Jesus’ offer to save & be known & confessed by Him is available to every single person on the planet – will you respond to it?

Conclusion:
Will we face persecution?  Most certainly.  Yet this does not change the mission on which Jesus was sending the 12 apostles, nor does it change our mission today.  We have been sent out by the Lord Jesus to preach the good news of the kingdom of heaven in the midst of a world that is going to reject us.  How are we to face that rejection and persecution?  Jesus tells us.

• Be bold.  Whether by good words or good works, we are to proclaim what Jesus has done for us in His saving work.  We are to tell the world the things He has told us, and we are to boldly point people back to Him.  Boldly take a stand for the Lord Jesus, knowing that Jesus boldly took a stand for you when He went to the cross.
• Be fearless.  Jesus does not minimize the reality of the suffering that many people experience for His name, but He does show us the limits to which we can suffer.  Those who hate Christians can only kill the body, but they cannot go further.  We belong to an infinitely more powerful Heavenly Father who is sovereignly in control of the universe and who loves us with an everlasting love.
• Be faithful.  Let your life be a consistent confession of Christ as you are publicly identified with Him.  Be baptized, but let your confession go far beyond your baptism into your every day.  As people look at us, we want them to see Jesus in us.  And as we confess Christ, we have the glorious assurance that Christ also confesses us to God the Father.

Perhaps you’ve been hesitant in your witness of Christ Jesus.  You’ve experienced shunning from your family & friends, or you’ve been mocked by others, or maybe you’ve even gotten a taste of physical persecution.  Or maybe even you’re scared about something that hasn’t happened yet – just the possibility.  Jesus doesn’t call us to fear – He calls us to faith.  Don’t be hesitant any longer!  Take heart in the work of Jesus – take heart in the sovereignty of God – take heart in the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.  When you belong to Christ, you can be sure that God loves you & cares for you.  He will give you what you need to face what you will face.

Maybe you’ve never confessed Jesus as your Lord & King.  Perhaps you’ve been one to mock Christians in the past, and now have come to the realization that you’re going to face Almighty God on Judgment Day.  Perhaps you know that your so-called Christianity has just been a farce & superficial while you’re around Christians, but that’s the extent of it.  Today is the day that you can be saved.  You can be forgiven – you too can receive that assurance that Jesus confesses you to God the Father as being one of His own.  Turn away from your sin, and turn to Jesus fully believing that He is God Himself who died for your sins & rose to life from the grave.  Trust Him as your God & King, surrendering everything you are to Him.

Confronting Idolatry

Acts 14:8-20, “Confronting Idolatry”

It was during my first days in Bangalore that I was reminded of Paul’s missionary journeys through Asia (modern-day Turkey).  Hearing the Muslim calls to prayer – the Hindu songs to wake up their false gods – seeing the Hindu temples scattered throughout the city – all of it demonstrated how much spiritual darkness is in the land of India.  Paul encountered much of the same thing when he and Barnabas traveled to Lystra, as recorded in Acts 14.

It was Paul’s 2nd missionary journey.  He had already seen much fruit in ministry and much persecution along the way.  He and Barnabas even experienced persecution in their home city of Antioch as the Jews saw multitudes of Gentiles come to Christ and receiving the promises of God.  Yet despite the resistance, the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:52), and they went on their way.  The 1st city Paul and Barnabas came to was Derbe, and the Jews had followed them there to stir up persecution again.  They then came to Lystra where something interesting happens: instead of Gentiles coming to faith in the One True God, these Gentiles attempted to worship Paul and Barnabas AS God…idolatrous worship.

Acts 14:8–20 (NKJV)
8 And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. 9 This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, 10 said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked. 11 Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 12 And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes.

1. Idolatry is rampant in the world.  It was certainly rampant among the people of Lystra.  These were utter pagans, without any worship of the true God.  When they heard Paul teaching with authority (divine authority because of the gospel), and when they saw that authority demonstrated by miraculous power, they disregarded everything Paul said and attempted to claim that he and Barnabas were the false gods of Greek mythology.
2. Granted, the miracle that Paul performed was amazing!  A man who had been lame from birth was completely healed.  The whole city had seen this man all of his life.  They knew his physical problem.  They understood that the miracle wasn’t some sort of sleight-of-hand or some sort of trick.  When Paul commanded him to stand on his feet (due to his faith in Christ), the man didn’t merely stand up slowly – he jumped up in the air and walked around!  This wasn’t a “maybe” healing; this was complete healing and restoration due to the power of God.  In response, the people were amazed and attempted to bring sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas in order that they could worship them as gods.  The people of Lystra were lost in utter darkness and given over to the idolatry that was in their hearts.
3. Idolatry is rampant in all the world.  It’s everywhere in every culture during every period of history.  Mankind has never been able to escape the temptation to force God into our own pre-conceived images and notions.  Although mankind generally recognizes that God does exist, mankind wants a god that can be controlled.  In our sin, we try to reverse the order of things.  Instead of recognizing that man was made in the image of God, we try to make God into the image of man.  We come up with all sorts of false ideas of God in an attempt to convince ourselves that the god we have made is worthy of worship.  We worship the gods made in our image because ultimately we want to worship ourselves.
4. Obviously, this is no surprise to God.  Paul wrote of it in detail as he began his letter to the Romans. [BIBLE: Romans 1:18-25]  God makes it plain that no matter where we might live, His person, power, and character is revealed to every man.  Creation testifies of its Creator.  There must be someone perfect to have come up with the incredible design found throughout the universe.  Even atheistic evolutionary biologists cannot help but refer to the wonderful “design” of the animals they study.  The psalms tell us that the heavens declare the glory of God (Ps 19:1).  Yet man chooses not to worship God as God, and our thoughts become darkened.
5. This has been the case throughout history.
1. It happened with the early men and God judged the world through the flood.
2. It happened with the Hebrews when they worshipped a golden calf the very moment Moses was receiving instruction from God.
3. It happened with the later Jews as king after king raised Asherah poles and high places and worshipped the Baals.
4. It happened with the early church.  The canon had not closed before Jesus was chastising the local churches about false doctrines and false gospels.
5. It happens among the pagans today.  We see obvious examples in Hinduism, but every false religion among man is idolatry towards God.
6. We even see it among born-again Christians.  Sometimes we have a celebrity culture in which man is held up almost to the point of being infallible.  We hold up certain popular pastors to an impossible position.  To call someone the “evangelical pope” is a contradiction in terms!  Other times we worship our stuff or our comforts.  It’s idolatry, plain and simple.
6. Idolatry may be natural among men, but there is no doubt that it is sin.  It’s addressed in the 1st 2 of the 10 Commandments.  (1) You shall have no other gods before Me.  (2)  You shall not make any graven images.  Both address idolatry!  The 1st addresses the priority of God among all else.  The 2nd addresses the act of making God something that He is not.  We can do that with a hammer & chisel – we can do that with paint/wood – we can even do that in our minds.  We think: “If God is real, surely my God would do ____.  My God would never do _____.”  To be clear:  if YOUR god does not line up with the description of the God of the Bible, than YOUR god is a false god and an idol.
1. It’s also addressed in the Greatest Commandment.  Jesus said we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  We are to love God with everything that we are and with everything that we have.  If we do not do this, and we’re dedicating that love to something/someone else, it’s idolatry.

14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out 15 and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, 16 who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”

1. Idolatry is confronted by the witness of God.  Paul and Barnabas stood up among the people of Lystra and did everything possible to stop them from committing this blasphemous idolatrous act.  They tore their clothes in demonstration of extreme grief, and declared to them the witness of God.  God is not a myth – He’s the Living God.  God is the Creator of the heaven and earth; not a part of creation.  God is a merciful God who allowed men the opportunity to repent from sin, even though we do not deserve it because of our rebellion against Him.  God has given a testimony of this fact by the creation around us.  The handiwork of God ought to draw our attention to the One who is higher than the heavens.  The fact that the already unfathomably large universe is continually expanding ought to cause us to wonder about the One who is infinitely bigger than infinite space.  His mercy in giving us life and food ought to cause us to seek out the God who is rich in love and mercy.
2. But it’s not just creation; it’s also our conscience.  Our conscience testifies of a Law-Giver.  The fact that we inherently recognize the concepts of right/wrong and good/evil shows that there is a moral standard to the universe.  Granted, different cultures allow different things to be seen as good & evil, legal and illegal.  (The treatment of women, and the existence of slavery, for example.)  But every culture recognizes some form of good/evil. Thus there must be a standard from which all cultures have departed.  The Bible tells us that this is the result of our conscience bearing silent witness to the law of God. Romans 2:14–15, "(14) for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, (15) who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)" []
3. Question: “Why don’t we worship false images/ideas about God?  What does it matter?  Maybe we’re just calling God by different names.”  It may sound like a reasonable argument, but it’s totally illogical.  Granted, God can have different names in different cultures – some of that is simply the difference in language.  Jesus is “Jesus” to the English-speaking world, “Isa” to the Arabic, “Iesous” to the Greek, “Yeshua” to the Hebrew, etc.  But the real question is: how do we know that all of those names refer to the same Person?  By comparing their descriptions & definitions. If we’re talking about the 2nd Person of the Trinity, the Word of God through whom God the Father created the world, then we’re talking about the same Jesus who died upon the cross for sin & rose from the grave and offers to save any and all who come to Him in faith.  Yet if that’s my idea of Christ & your idea of Christ is a lesser god-like being who is the brother of Lucifer & something that you can hope to achieve to become, then I can say without question that we’re not talking about the same “Jesus,” even though we might both use the same word in English.  We can call something a “table” all day long, but if we cannot agree on a definition of 4 legs & a top, then we’re not talking about the same piece of furniture, no matter what term we decide to use.  There is ONE true image of God: Jesus Christ (Col 1:15).  If we cannot agree upon HIM, then we do not worship the same God.  Idolatry is wrong because it’s making an image of God other than the one that God already provided for us in His Son.
4. Like Paul, we still are to confront idolatry among men with the witness of God as revealed in the Bible.  That’s the essence of the Great Commission.  There are multitudes of people who are utterly lost and doomed for hell because they are deceived and blinded by their idolatry.  As we share the Scriptures with them, their eyes become open.  (Just as the Bible tells us – “Your word is a lamp unto my feet & a light unto my path” Ps 119.)  When Peter preached the word of God at Pentecost, the people were cut to the heart and 3000 were saved.  The Scriptures clearly reveal the Risen Jesus and the testimony of the Resurrection cannot be ignored.  Like Paul, we have a responsibility to confront idolatry, even in our own culture.  False images and ideas of God are made to be evident in the light of the word of God and the gospel.
1. Is there any idolatry in your own life that needs to be exposed?  Have you submitted yourself to the razor-sharp two-edged sword of the Spirit to allow God to cut out any areas of false worship?

18 And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them. 19 Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.

1. The witness of God will often face resistance.  Paul and Barnabas pleaded with them to stop, and the people ignored their witness.  When the apostle would not receive their worship, the masses were easily turned against him by the Jews who were following from Antioch.  The enemy does not give up easily, and around the world we can expect resistance to the gospel and much persecution.
2. This was not the first time Paul was persecuted, and it surely would not be the last.  Of course Paul was simply following in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus.  If Jesus faced persecution, surely we can expect it as well.  In fact, Jesus explicitly told us as much. John 15:19–20, "(19) If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (20) Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also." []  Notice the certainty in Jesus’ words.  He doesn’t say “maybe they will persecute you,” but it’s a foregone conclusion that “they will also persecute you.”  As Paul later wrote, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." (2 Tim 3:12).
3. Believers in India definitely experience persecution as they confront idolatry in their own culture.  SIM told us that they estimate 5% of their over 1000 pastors face some form of persecution every single day.  That’s 50 pastors per day.  If you knew that someone from our own church had been jailed because of his/her faith, how fervently would you pray?  We need to remember that the “church” is far larger than our local fellowship.  Born-again Christians are suffering at this very moment.  Someone else will be persecuted as we eat our lunch today.  And on & on.  Persecution is real and we do not have the luxury of forgetting to pray for believers who face it.
1. Yet someone says, “At least we don’t face persecution here in the USA.”  Granted, there’s no comparison between what we go through and what other believers endure every day.  (Which could be one reason why the Church is growing by leaps & bounds overseas & has fallen into lukewarmness here in the States.)  Yet we cannot be blind to the fact that persecution will come.  In our culture, freedoms are more easily eroded away and forgotten instead of being taken by force.  Our enemy is subtle, and one of his tactics is to lure the Church to sleep.  Beware.

20 However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

1. Believers deal with persecution by perseverance.  What an amazing thing it was that Paul got back up again!  Obviously he had experienced a miraculous healing from a physical standpoint, but he also surely experienced the supernatural touch of God on his emotions as well in order to jump right back into ministry.  He didn’t take a week off to relax, or even a couple of days to recover.  He went the very “next day” to Derbe in order to preach the gospel there.  Those people also needed to hear about Jesus, and Paul wasn’t going to let something like persecution stop him from doing what the Lord Jesus had called him to do.
1. Believers never stop witnessing for Christ – it’s simply what we do.  Will there be resistance?  Yes.  But that doesn’t change the fact that we’ve been given the Great Commission. 
2. Objection: “Maybe we can just go to safe places.  Why go somewhere that we’re not wanted?”  Because Jesus wants THOSE people saved, too.  Jesus didn’t tell us we could pick & choose which nations to go into & make disciples; He told us to make disciples of all nations.
2. Notice that the disciples had gathered around Paul.  Unfortunately the Bible doesn’t tell us what they were doing – but I’d love to know!  Perhaps they were praying for him – perhaps they were tending to his wounds, but all we could guess would be pure speculation.  What we DO know is that the disciples did not abandon Paul in his time of need.  To have gathered around his (supposedly) dead body would have been a public statement that they supported him…easily endangering themselves in the process.
1. Some people wonder how they can help the persecuted church.  After all, it’s not like we can take the power away from the secret police, calm the Hindu mobs, change oppressive governments, etc.  What we CAN do is stand with them and pray for them.  We can join in the ministry of presence.
2. What we cannot do is fall into complacency.  We dare not be complacent!  How can we even think about being lazy in our own faith when our own spiritual family is suffering?  They need more than our complacency & half-hearted concern.  They need our fervent prayers and resources.
3. So how can we persevere?  It seems so difficult.  On the surface, it would seem to be so.  After all, if we were promoting a political party that no one wanted and we were placed in danger because of it, there’s no doubt that we might get burned out and change parties.  Obviously Christianity is not politics, but do believers who face persecution get permanently burned out & give up on their faith?  If they do, I haven’t met anyone as an example.  On the contrary, persecution tends to strengthen someone’s faith; not weaken it.  The pastors in India were filled with all sorts of experiences.  One man was the only believer in his entire village, and on occasion had to hide in a chicken coop for safety away from the mobs.  Another man was beaten and left for dead in his village (and carries physical scars to this day).  Other pastors are routinely harassed by the police.  These were not men who were discouraged in the slightest…they were full of joy!  No doubt they experienced some low emotional times along the way, but their testimony was one of perseverance and joy in Christ.  Exactly like Paul and Barnabas.
4. So what made the difference?  I suggest that the answer is found before Paul’s 2nd missionary journey had ever begun.  Acts 13:52, "And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit." []  They were filled with the Holy Spirit!  Paul never attempted to do the work of God in his own power; he relied upon the leading and empowerment and filling of the Spirit.  There is no way Paul had the strength to face what he faced, at least in his own power.  But when he wasn’t relying on his own power, he had all the strength that he needed!  As he later wrote to the Philippians, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13)
1. Are you relying upon the strength of Christ?  Have you asked in faith to be filled anew with the Holy Spirit?  Persecution makes it clear how utterly reliant we are upon the power of God.  But persecution is simply a crucible that makes things so much more intense.  We are no more independent of our need to be filled with the Spirit in times of persecution than we are in times of crisis in our marriages.  HIS strength is sufficient for all the trials we face.

Conclusion:
So we know that idolatry is rampant and to be confronted by the witness of God.  We understand that our witness will be resisted and that we are to persevere by the Spirit.  Now what?

1. Be faithful in your own witness
2. Pray for the persecuted
3. Support the persecuted however you can.  We don’t talk much about financial giving on a normal basis, but this is one area that we can do so without hesitation.
4. Go meet them & help them.

The bottom line?  There is a lost and dying world out there.  People are blind and totally given over to their depraved idols.  They face doom and eternal hell without the saving grace of Christ – and yet Jesus still died for them.  Someone has to tell them about Jesus…may it be us!  God looks around today and speaks the same thing to us as He did to Isaiah – “Who will go for Me?”  May we be the ones to answer the call!  May we be those who take up the charge of the Great Commission!  Keep in mind that persecution isn’t a sign of things going wrong; it’s a sign of things going right. When believers are persecuted, it means that the gospel is being preached and the enemy is threatened.  Praise God that the threat is not empty!  Our Lord Jesus has won the war – may He give us the strength to fight the battles that remain.