Our Savior Crucified

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. How does this feel to God or how does this sound to God in heaven this morning? [00:00:41] And it made me think of the fact that across the globe, the family of God is probably worshiping Him today. What about Monday morning, every morning of the week? And quite possibly because of the event that we're speaking about this morning, there are people in prison. There are people that are suffering far beyond what I have suffered for the name of Jesus. But they have hope because of this event. [00:01:13] And so do we this morning. There may be people in our communities, in our Anabaptist churches that are suffering because of positions that they've taken. We just don't know. I cannot comprehend the fathom or fathom the scope of what God sees, but it's interesting to think about it. As I was preparing for this, my thoughts were rather scattered and so, but there's one thing that just kept coming back and maybe I hope I'm not doing an injustice to this, but it's the practical application of Calvary. [00:02:00] Today, how do I apply? How do we apply? What do we get out of this experience? How does it work itself out in my life? And what do I do with it? Brother Daniel already instructed us. What do we think of when we think of communion? And is it just a tradition? Well, I hope it's a tradition. It should be a tradition, but it's more than that. It's a command. It's a command. [00:02:33] And Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 11.26 and probably Brother Glenn will read this, I don't know For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come What does he mean, ye do show the Lord's death till he come The service at the Lord's table looks both back and it looks ahead We look back at Calvary and we see what happened For us. And we look forward to the Lord returning again to take us home. And it bridges that gap. And I think there are probably people that kind of walk away from this ordinance and kind of skirt the issue. [00:03:23] But, till he come, I think is a very, something that we need to notice. And it seems like it's just proper that we speak about the suffering of our Lord on a day like this. And I'm glad that this has been passed down to us, that we're not, I guess it doesn't matter if we're the first people to do it, But I'm glad for the tradition that we have of doing this. [00:03:56] In thinking about the death of our Lord, there's one thing that always, and maybe I'll just say this. I hope all of you have read the story of Calvary this Easter season. And I think it's good if we do it every communion service. Read it. Make sure you're familiar with it. Every time I read it, there's something that kind of catches my attention, or I just am reminded of the old truth that works. [00:04:28] And I encourage you to read. Read the story. Ponder on it. This morning, as I was thinking about the service and the message, I was led to the passage in 1 Peter. And this is probably one of the things that grips my heart about Calvary, about the death of our Savior. 1 Peter 2, chapter 2, verse 21 to 25 says this, For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps. [00:05:05] Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth Who when he was reviled, reviled not again When he suffered, he threatened not But committed himself to him that judgeth righteously Who his own self bearer sins in his body on the tree That we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness By whose stripes ye were healed For ye were as sheep, gone astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. [00:05:38] There is just a few lines in those several verses that really put in a nutshell my feelings about this many times. And it's this, Jesus suffered for my sin. He was blameless. He had no guilt. But he did it for each one of us. For me. When they threatened him, when they were violent with him, he did not fight back. And to me, that goes directly against my nature. That is impressive. [00:06:17] Now, this morning, I don't know, well, I just have chosen to read quite a bit. And it seems like something like this, there's a lot of different messages in this event, and I am not able to cover everything, but if we at least read it, we get an understanding of what happened, And then maybe I'll just pick some things out and speak about several things. [00:06:48] I would like to read first in Luke chapter 22. And I'm not going to be reading everything because it would take too much time. But I hope you have read this on your own. Chapter 22, I'm going to begin reading verse 47. And this is the account of Judas and Peter and the betrayal that took place when the soldiers came to the garden. And this is after the Last Supper and after the experience that Jesus had in the garden. [00:07:21] Let's begin reading in verse 47 and read to verse 62. And while he yet spake, behold, a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss? When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? And one of them smote the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. [00:07:52] And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said unto the chief priests and captains of the temple and the elders which were come to him, Be ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves when I was daily with you in the temple Ye stretch forth no hands against me but this is your hour and the power of darkness Then took they him and led him and brought him into the high priest's house And Peter followed afar off [00:08:23] And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were set down together Peter sat down among them But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire and earnestly looked upon him and said this man was also with him and he denied him saying woman I know him not and after a little while another saw him and said thou art also of them and Peter said man I am not and about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed saying of a truth this fellow also [00:09:00] was with him, for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him before the cock crew, Thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. I'd like to read some more. Maybe I'll just stop for right now. Now there's something about this event, this betrayal. [00:09:33] As I was reading the boys the Bible story, the heading above it said, I think the kiss of the traitor, something like that. And that struck me, that really did something to me as I read that. And I considered this, what Judas did to Jesus, and I don't know what caused him the most pain. In just a little bit, we'll read about the beating that he received. [00:10:05] Was it that flagellum, that cruel Roman soldier with the whip that tore in his back and made the blood run and tore in his tissue? I don't know, but it seems to me that the hypocrisy that Judas portrayed or showed to him would have hurt more than the merciless whip of the Roman soldier or the nails that went in his hand, hands and feet, as they were driving it in. [00:10:38] You know, Judas was one of the disciples. And probably on the outside, he was still one of the disciples. But the money was in his pocket. And he had an ulterior motive in his heart. And I don't know, there have been some scholars say that maybe he thought he was of the group that had violent intentions. that we're thinking that Jesus was going to overthrow with power the Roman government. [00:11:15] And people have suggested that maybe he thought that if he would do this, it would force Jesus to take the initiative and do something. But I don't know. He looked all right. He just kissed him. And then he could walk away wordlessly, hide in the shadows. But you know, Jesus knows. Jesus knows. I came across this quote, or this, Vance Havner says this, Judas betrayed my Lord not with a slap, but a kiss. [00:11:48] And Jesus is being betrayed today more with a kiss than a slap. We notice the slaps and say, isn't that awful? But many people give him a kiss of respect and never follow. I thought about that. I put some thought in that. And I must admit, that's probably my tendency. And probably we struggle more with that than actually walking away. [00:12:22] We keep going to church and we just look, alright, but there's something going on in here. Are we kissing Jesus in the way that Judas did? Are there still critical thoughts in my heart? But maybe I'm just glad that that brother or sister didn't hear me say what I did to them or about them. But you know what? Jesus knows. God knows about it. We still have a form of godliness. Let's not do that. [00:12:54] But I would like to notice then just a little bit the difference between Judas and Peter. And we all know the story, but let's just be reminded again that there is a way back, and Peter chose that way. He wept bitterly. There was repentance. Read John 21, 15-19. Three times Peter publicly confessed that Jesus is Lord. Publicly confessed him. [00:13:26] Now I would like to read quite a bit more in John chapter 19. I'm going to read verse 1 through 37. And again, I'm not planning to comment on all of this, but I would just like to read it so that we get more of the picture of what happened. happen. And I'm kind of breaking in in the middle of the trial or after the trial, after they let Barabbas go and they took Jesus. Let's read verse one. Then Pilate, therefore, took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head and they put on him a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote him with their hands. [00:14:19] Pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man. When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. [00:14:51] The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, What art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speaketh thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. [00:15:27] Therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the Passover in about the sixth hour, and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your king. But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. [00:16:08] Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified, and they took Jesus and led him away. And he, bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him and two others with him on either side, one on either side, one and Jesus in the midst. [00:16:41] Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read, Many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not the King of the Jews, but that he said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts to every soldier a part, and also his coat. [00:17:21] Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture did they cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. [00:18:07] After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon his sup, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. The Jews therefore because it was the preparation that the body should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day [00:18:39] For the Sabbath day was in high day besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away Then came the soldiers and break the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified with him But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already they break not his legs But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true that ye might believe. [00:19:15] For these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, they shall look on him whom they pierced. I'm going to stop reading there. We could spend a lot of time in looking at this passage, but I would like to focus on just several things. Let me say that journey down to Calvary for Jesus was more than just the physical suffering that he took. He had the sins of the world on his back. [00:19:53] And I think that was the greater load, the greater, greater than his pain. There was a sign on a church that I passed and I don't even know where it was. Maybe some of you saw it right at Easter. I saw it. And on this sign, there was, I think, one word. I think Brother Daniel already talked about this word. It said, forgiven. [00:20:26] The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a central event or a central happening in the Christian faith. And it's because of this thing, the death of our Lord, that we have hope that we can continue on like Daniel said. It answers the need for all mankind and it allows us to get back in right standing with God. It was this sacrifice that allows us to have life and to have life more abundantly. [00:21:02] And I'm just going to briefly talk about the blood. We've already heard about the blood. But there's saving power in the blood. But do we understand what it means? Do we understand what we're saying when we talk about having our blood, our sins under the blood of Jesus Christ? In a very practical way, how does that work in our minds? What do we think of when we think about that? How do we respond to the word forgiven? [00:21:35] What do we feel in our hearts? There is this joy that comes with having our sins under the blood. But there's something as I pondered this word and the implications that this church, this congregation was making when they put that word on their sign. If I'm not sure how to put into words what I want to say next. I like to think that we're all on the way to heaven, that we're all forgiven. [00:22:05] And it is available. I want to be very clear. But let me say this. Man has a responsibility. The way is open. Of that we're sure. But there's action on our part if we are to experience forgiveness. There are requirements to be saved. And as I thought about this, and I'm not in no way pronouncing judgment on any congregation that writes that word on their sign. [00:22:37] I think we need to recognize the forgiveness that we can have. But let's be sure that what we say and what happens in here match up and that we can truthfully say that we're forgiven. It's so easy for me to say, to express myself, but not really have my sins under the blood. Jesus said this, and it's a clear statement about getting our sins under the blood. In Matthew 26, 28, he said, For this is my blood, and he said this at the Last Supper there, [00:23:14] For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins. It's a clear statement. Brother Daniel already alluded to the victory that we can have in Jesus. And I think if we say that there's victory in Jesus, we would all say, Amen, there's victory. But are we living in that victory is the question I want to leave with us. Are we living in that victory? It's possible. What does the dying and rising again of Jesus do for us in a personal way? [00:23:48] Does it have resurrection power? Do we understand what resurrection power means? What it is? What do we think of when somebody talks about resurrection power? Philippians 3.10 says this, and this is Paul writing. He says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable unto his death. What is he saying that I may know him? You know, it's easy for me to speculate about this happening, this event, and on an intellectual level, kind of work this through, and it's even easy sometimes to tell other people about this event, and what happened at Calvary, but Paul was asking for a richer, fuller experience, that I may know him. [00:24:43] Everything else, when we get to the point where everything else seems worthless compared to this I think we've started to understand a little bit about what Jesus has done for us The power, the resurrection power, the power that raised Jesus is available to us That we can walk in newness of life Paul says again in Romans 6 [00:25:13] knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him Vance Havner said this I think maybe Brother Daniel alluded to this already but he said Vance Havner says this In 1912 the Titanic was crossing the ocean and I think most of us know about the Titanic and we've all heard of it at least and on that ship, the ship that was unsinkable, God himself could not sink that ship they said and this was an ocean liner like never before to that point. [00:26:02] On that ship there were millionaires. There were people of renown. I think there was even a missionary on that ship. There were people that had their ducks in a row in this world. And they were, they set their sights on New York, I believe. And you know what? Not so very long after that, there were only two classes of people on that ship. They were either saved or they were lost. [00:26:35] There's only two classes of people, really. And in order for us to be saved, we have a responsibility. And I think the answer is in Calvary, the blood that was shed for us. We need to get our life in line with Jesus, the message of Jesus. What did Jesus say? I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no man cometh, what, to the Father except by me. [00:27:06] I'm not sure if I quoted it quite right. But that made an impression on me. We look at those around us. Are we saved? Do we understand what it means to be saved? Do we understand? Do we have a burden? Do we have enough energy to reach out to these people? Are we concerned about ourselves? Because in the end, it's only going to be those that are saved and those that are lost. And when we are saved, let me just state this very briefly. [00:27:38] Everything about us should change. And we belong to a different kingdom with a different set of values. It's no longer just about me. that's another message I guess the submission that Jesus exemplified at the cross dead to sin you know death to sin wipes the slate clear and it's not a matter of doing well there has to be one experience where we break [00:28:10] and we allow we yield and when we do that it's not only to it is to God But it's also to our fellow man. It changes the way that we respond. It brings a different perspective to life. Living with Christ and for Christ precludes the possibility of carnally continuing in sin so that grace may abound. And I think that's the temptation of all mankind. It does not allow us to think that somehow I can still have a little bit of the world and still live for Jesus. [00:28:51] I would like to end this message by reading in Luke 24. I think this is the crowning event of this event of Calvary. This is the other side of things. Luke 24, verse 1 to 6. And this is the resurrection of Jesus. This is why we have a message this morning. And if you forget everything that I say, remember this, that each one of you has a message to preach tomorrow to whoever you meet with your life and what you have to say. [00:29:29] It is because of this that we have a message. All other religions have some dead bones, I guess you could say. Luke 24, verse 1 to 6 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher, and they entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments, and as they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? [00:30:11] I want to notice this. He is not here, but he is risen. He is not here, he is risen. Hallelujah. That is why we have a message this morning. That is why we can meet the day each day even though we have hurts. We have things that weigh us down and go wrong and we wonder sometimes what's going to happen next but we can move forward. We don't have to wallow in the pain that we have in life, because there's hope, there's life after death, there's something that we have to look forward to. [00:30:54] Because of the empty tomb, we have a choice though, and I will just say with Joshua, choose ye this day whom you will serve, and I want to leave that with you. It's up to us. Shall we kneel for prayer?