LENTEN SERIES: SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS

   Part One: “When Love Speaks”

                                                                                            I Corinthians 13: 4, 6-7

This week we are starting a new series entitled Seven Words From The Cross. Before I start to talk about what those seven words were, I’d like to share with you the results of what Jesus said from the Cross. These verses from I Corinthians 13 gives us a very clear picture of when love speaks. It’s clearly what Jesus was saying to us as He died on the Cross.  It shows us of the incredible love that He has for each one of us. Amazon.com is a site on the internet that sells thousands of books.  One of the advantages of this site is that you can look up books by “topic”. So, someone did just that. They searched for certain topics and were intrigued by what they found. For example, they sought how many books were on Amazon that dealt with • Heaven, and they found 2,652 book titles • Money had 10,304 listings • There were 16,765 for “Sex,”  • 18,818 for “God,”  • BUT there were 30,066 for “Love.”

One preacher said he looked up the definition of love in his Compton’s encyclopedia, and he found that there was not one single article on love.  It only referred him to emotions and sex.  So, he looked up the word "emotion" in his encyclopedia and - in the entire three-page article, love was only mentioned in one sentence.  Then he looked up the word "sex." And under the subject of sex, he found 12 different articles.  AND in those 12 different articles, he found the word "love" in only one paragraph.  After having done this research, he thought to himself: “That is so true.  Americans know a whole lot more about sex than they do about love.  The so-called love songs on the radio are not love songs. They are lust songs.”

Now, I don’t know if that’s ABSOLUTELY true but I do know that a lot of people are confused about what love is really all about.  Even back in the church at Corinth there were people who were confused about it.  The Corinthian congregation was filled with people who had become Christians because they had responded to the idea that God actually loved them and sent His only begotten Son.  As the Apostle John wrote in I John 4:10, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”  So these Christians at Corinth knew what love was - because God had loved them first.  But, after they’d been Christians for awhile… they’d forgotten what love was all about.  And so, Paul dedicated an entire section of letter to them to describe what love meant to God in I Corinthians 13.

This chapter is so poetic and eloquent and precise that it’s one of the best known sections of the Bible.  And it’s become so popular that it’s often used in wedding ceremonies.  One of the reasons so many people love this chapter is because it does such a powerful job of answering the question: what is love?  Seemingly everyone who’s ever read these words agrees: Yes that is what Love is all about!  Someone said, “It is a portrait for which Christ Himself sat.”  So, when love speaks what should it be?  Paul tells us.

First, When Love Speaks It Should Be Patient And Kind

I Corinthians 13:4, “Love is patient and love is kind……”

What I found interesting was the order of these two words.  Paul could have said Love is KIND… and… PATIENT, but that’s not the way the Spirit led him to write it down.  Love is FIRST patient… then its kind.  Patience comes first.  Some translations use the word ‘long suffering’ instead of ‘patient.’  The Greek word in this passage is actually a compound word made up of two different terms that literally translated says: “long” and “wrath” (or “anger”).  Now if I didn’t know any better I might think that a person who loved the way they should would be a person who would be angry for a long period of time.  But that’s not what it means. The Greek word is intended to imply that it takes a LOT to make this person angry.  You have to drag them a LOOOOONG way down the road before they get mad.  They suffer a lot before they ever blow up.

Now, if you love someone, there’s going to be a time or two when they’re going to make you upset.  Isn’t that true?  Now don’t go looking at the person next to you, but you know it’s true.  In fact, it’s often the people you care about who can make you upset the most. They know where your hot buttons are.  But when people annoy us… when they irritate us enough… we’re tempted to get more than just a little upset.  On occasion our temptation will be to get really mad at them.  But God says the mark of true love is to not let that happen.  The mark of true love is to be patient when this person might irritate you.  The mark of true love is long suffering.

As Peter wrote in I Peter 4:8, “love covers over a multitude of sins.”  Or another way of putting it is: “Love covers a multitude of irritations” - “Love covers a multitude of annoyances.” - Love overlooks many things that would otherwise make us behave badly.”  And that’s what you expect from Christians… because that’s what you expect from God.

The story’s told of an actor who was playing the part of Jesus in a passion play.  As he was carrying his cross up the hill a heckler in the crowd made fun of him and said terrible things to him.  The actor threw down the cross, walked over… and decked the guy.  The director took him aside and told him “I know he was a pest, but I can’t condone what you did.  Besides, you’re playing the part of Jesus, and Jesus never retaliated.  So don’t do anything like that again."  Well, the man promised he wouldn’t.  But the next day the heckler was back worse than before, and finally the actor exploded and punched him out again.  This time the director said "That’s it.  I have to fire you.  We just can’t have you behaving this way while playing the part of Jesus."  The actor begged, "Please give me one more chance.  I really need this job, and I can handle it if it happens again."  So the director decided to give him another chance.  The next day he was carrying his cross up the street.  Sure enough, the heckler was there again.  You could tell that the actor was really trying to control himself, but it was about to get the best of him. He was clinching his fists and grinding his teeth.  Finally, he looked at the heckler and said, “I’ll meet you after the resurrection!"

Now that strikes us as funny because we know that actor wasn’t being Christ-like.  We know that actor wasn’t being “long suffering” like Jesus would have been.  We know that actor wasn’t showing love.  True love covers a multitude of sins.  It looks the other way a lot of times when it might get angry.  True love “suffers long”.  But love that just suffers long, when we’re irritated, isn’t really Godly love.  Too often “long suffering” is just that. It’s quietly enduring something that can drive us to distraction.  It’s simply allowing our emotions to go through a slow burn.  But Godly love is long suffering… AND it’s kind.  Godly love doesn’t just sit back and suffer… it does something about it.  Godly love reaches across to the person who’s offending you and says “I care for you.”

Paul Harvey once told the story of man named Coleman whose car was damaged by a woman who had passed him too closely on the highway and sideswiped his car.  When they’d pulled over to the side of the road to wait for the police, the woman broke into tears. It was her fault, she admitted. BUT it was a new car – less than 2 days from the showroom. ???How was she ever going to face her husband?  Mr. Coleman was sympathetic but explained they had to exchange information about their license numbers and automobile registrations.  She reached into the glove compartment to retrieve the documents in an envelope… and on the first paper to tumble out, in a heavy masculine scrawl were these words: “In case of accident, remember, Honey, it’s you I love, not the car.”

Now, that note tells me two things.  First, this husband knew his wife wasn’t a good driver.  And second, he loved her so much that when the inevitable accident occurred he wanted her to know that it was her she loved… not the car.  He wasn’t just willing to suffer long with her poor driving skills. He placed a note in her car that said she mattered to him – even if she damaged their car. 

Paul was telling the Corinthian Christians… this is how God loves you.   He is loooong suffering when you fail.  But He shows you kindness when He forgives you.  And so… you need to learn how to love each other that same way.  That kind of love can change people’s lives.  Clark Cothern tells of chaperoning 30 teenagers in an all-night "lock-in" at church.  Early in the evening he was playing a game of table tennis in the fellowship hall. The game quickly grew into a heated competition, as a small crowd gathered to watch them battle it out.  “With the score tied and only three points to go before the end of the game, Tracy, a {14-year-old} eighth-grader, grabbed the ball and tried to play keep-away. My first impulse was irritation.  But then a Scripture passage that our group had read that afternoon came streaking across my mind from I Corinthians 13:4-5, "Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked"  “I politely asked Tracy to return the ball, and then the other player and I joked with her until she finally tossed the ball back onto the table.  We thanked her and finished the game.” 

Hours later, after an evangelistic film, here came Tracy down the aisle with a group of 6 others to accept Jesus as their Savior. Later that night, when we gathered for testimonies, Tracy told her story: "I grew up in a family where nobody goes to church.  I’ve learned to get attention by making people mad at me.  But earlier this evening I saw something different."  “When I stole the ball from those guys," Tracy said, pointing to us, "they didn’t get mad at me.  They didn’t fight back.  I saw something different in those guys, and I decided right then that I wanted whatever it was they have."

Second, When Love Speaks It Rejoices With The Truth

I Corinthians 13:6, “It rejoices in the truth.”

A few years ago psychologist at University of Massachusetts named Robert did an experiment to see how often people lied.  He videotaped 121 pairs of students who’d just met.  After a ten-minute conversation, each student was shown his or her tape and asked to point out any misrepresentations.  When they were interviewed after those conversations most of the students were quite sure they had spoken truthfully.  But, when forced to review the videotape, fully 60 % realized they had lied at least once.  On average, most had lied 2 or 3 times in the 10-minute exchange with a stranger.  Apparently people lying is more common than I’d like to think it is. That’s why in Ephesians 4:25 Paul advises the Christians there that: “each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.”  In other words – Paul knew that people DO lie, even those in Ephesus.

Now, people lie for any number of reasons.  Sometimes they lie because they’re dishonest.  Sometimes they lie because they’re afraid.  In this experiment, the men lied to impress the person they talked to.  And the women lied to soften any negative opinion others would have of them.  In other words in that experiment – people lied because they wanted the other person to like them.   But people will also lie because they don’t care if that other person likes them. They lie because they don’t respect or like the person they’re lying to. And their lying shows that they don’t care about that person.  And God says: when you learn how to love the way you should… you’ll prefer truth to lying.  You’ll put off falsehood and speak truthfully to each other.  But the truth we speak must be seasoned with love because truth without any love behind it is poisonous and destructive.

Thus Ephesians 4:15 says we should be “speaking the truth in love.”  What God is telling the Corinthians is this: I love you so much that I tell you the truth.  You were a sinner and you were going to hell. BUT I loved you too much to let that happen, so when you believed/repented/confessed Jesus/baptized I forgave you. And I forgave you so that we could spend time together.  So in I Corinthians 13, Paul now says we need to love your fellow Christians in that same way.  We need to tell them the truth.  But we need to tell that truth in love, because we want to forgive them and spend time with them.

Lastly, When Love Speaks It Has Characteristics That Are Always True

I Corinthians 13:7, “Love.…always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 

In short… love never gives up.  Love ALWAYS does these things.  Love never quits, love never stops.  Love sees the disfiguring nature of sin in the lives of others and it keeps coming at you.   Love always protects: tells the one it loves, no one gets to you without coming thru me 1st.  I love my kids.  And that means - you want to hurt them – you’ll have to deal with me first.  Love always trusts and it always hopes.  If I love you, my tendency is to believe in you.  But now, didn’t we just get done saying that people lie?   Yes, but this trust thing goes deeper than whether a person lies to you or not.  You may have lied to me, or hurt me, or failed to do something you promised to do.  BUT if I love you I still believe in you. 

I’ll still believe you are capable of being something better than what you are now.  Because that’s how God views me.  Love always perseveres.  Love never gives up.  As long as there is a chance to help that person we love become what we know they can be, we’re never going to stop.  That’s what true love looks like, because that’s the kind of love God has for us.  He never gives up on us.  II Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  Love never gives in.  Love never stops.  Love sees the disfiguring nature of sin in our lives – but it doesn’t matter - because love does NOT see others as they are… it sees them as they can be.

A doctor by the name of Richard Seltzer wrote the following.  I stand by the bed where a young woman lies, her face postoperative, her mouth twisted in palsy.  A tiny twig of the facial nerve, the one to the muscles of her mouth, has been severed. The surgeon had followed with religious fervor the curve of her flesh; I promise you that.  Nevertheless, to remove the tumor in her cheek, I had cut the little nerve.  Her young husband is in the room.  He stands on the opposite side of the bed, and together they seem to dwell in the evening lamplight, isolated from me.  Who are they, I ask myself, he and this wry mouth I have made, who gaze at and touch each other so generously.  The young woman speaks.   "Will my mouth always be like this?" she asks.   "Yes," I say, "it will.  It is because the nerve was cut."  She nods, and is silent.  But the young man smiles.  "I like it," he says. "It is kind of cute."  All at once I know who he is. I understand, and I lower my gaze.  One is not bold in an encounter with a god.  Unmindful, he bends to kiss her crooked mouth, and I am so close I can see how he twists his own lips to accommodate to hers, to show her that their kiss still works.

That’s how God love us.  He sees our disfigured lives and loves us anyway.  And that’s how we ought to love each other.  But it’s hard to love in that way until you first know the love that God has for you.  It’s the kind of love that Jesus spoke from the Cross on the day He died.  Come back each week as we look at the seven words He spoke from the Cross.

SERIES: SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS

Part Two: “The Word Forgiveness”

Luke 23:27-37

How many of you have ever taken a guilt trip?  More than once?  Did you like it?  NO!  God did not create you to live with guilt.  Guilt does not make you more spiritual and is not required for holiness.  In fact, God did not design your body to handle guilt, but to live guilt free.  It can mess up your body good time.  It messes up your mind, relationships, and creates fears that you may be found out.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the guy who wrote all the Sherlock Holmes novels, was quite a prankster.  One time he sent an anonymous note to fifty prominent Englishmen, in Great Britain.  The note simply said, “All is found out.  Flee at once.”  Within forty-eight hours twenty-five of those people had left the country.  A lot of people carry the fear of being found out, being rejected, fear of retaliation, and fear of judgment.  The fact is God wants you to live guilt free.  You have to let go of it.  You cannot stay stuck in your past.  Today, I’d like to take a look at the first word Jesus spoke from the cross.  It is the word Forgiveness.

In Luke 23, we see Jesus arrested and was taken through six sham trials.  Three by Romans and three by religious leaders.  None of them were legal because you could not have trials at night. He was beaten, battered, scourged, had crown put on His head, spit upon and made fun of.  Now, Jesus is carrying the cross up the hill to Golgotha.  It’s the place He was crucified.  It says this in Luke 23:27-37, “Great crowds trailed along behind him, including many grief-stricken women.  But Jesus turned and said to them, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, don't weep for me, but weep for yourselves…’  Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him.  Finally, they came to a place called The Skull.  All three were crucified there — Jesus on the center cross, and the two criminals on either side.  Then Jesus said, ‘Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’  And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.  As the crowd stood watching, the leaders laughed and scoffed at Jesus.  ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘let him save himself if he really is God's Chosen One, the Messiah.’ The soldiers mocked him, too, and offered him a drink of sour wine.  They called out to him, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

The very first word from cross is forgiveness.  It’s a word that you need to fully understand.  Father, forgive them.  They don’t know what they are doing.  When you understand this, you can live the rest of your life guilt free.  I’d like to look at how we deal with our guilt and how Jesus wants us to deal with our guilt.  Then finally, what does Jesus do with our guilt that is self-destructing and self-defeating.?

HOW DO WE DEAL WITH OUR GUILT?

First We Try To Bury It.  We Try To Bury Our Past

That doesn’t really work very well.   Doesn’t work very well because it keeps resurrecting itself.  It keeps coming back to haunt you.  You probably heard the advice people say, you’ve got to bury your past.  The problem with that is it doesn’t work, because it keeps resurrecting itself.  It keeps coming back to life.  It won’t stay buried.  Your guilt is kind of like in one of those old horror movies – The Night of the Living Dead!  It just keeps coming back to remind you at the most inappropriate and inopportune times; and either you will remember it or somebody else will remember it and point it out to you.  And it just keeps coming back to haunt you.  David says it like this in Psalm 32:3-5 he said, “When I refused to confess my sins, (guilt), I was weak and miserable, and I groaned all day long…  My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.   Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them.  I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt it gone.”

 

When we finally come to God and say, God I need you to forgive me.  And he wipes out all of our guilt.  It’s such a relief.  When you confess to God it’s not for his benefit; it’s for your benefit.  We have ways that we bury guilt.  Some minimize it.  It’s no big deal.  It happened a long time ago. Then why do we still remember it?  Others rationalize it.  We say, everybody is doing it.  Doesn’t make it right.  Others compromise it.  I feel bad about it so I’ll just keep doing it. Won’t seem like sin to you.  None of these things work.  You cannot bury it.  Proverbs 28:13 says, “You’ll never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins.”  Why is that true?  Every seed you plant will sprout.  If you plant seeds of jealousy, anger, it will come back on you.  Because of the internet, iPhones, Facebook, everything can be found out about you.  And there is no way for you to remove it.  People and kids doing all kinds of things on these things that will never go away.  You cannot hide your sins, they will catch up to you.  The most fatigued people in the world are covering up the most. It takes an enormous amount of energy to bury your past.

Second Thing We Try To Do With Guilt Is We Blame

We blame others. It’s the same tactic Adam and Eve used.  Adam blamed Eve.  Genesis 3:12 God comes down and says did you do what I told you to do?  “Yes,’ Adam admitted.  ‘But it was the woman you gave me who brought me some, and I ate it.”  He’s really blaming God. It’s the woman you gave me.  It’s her fault.  Question:  Who are you blaming for your unhappiness, problems?  Is it your parents, boss, husband or wife?  If I'd get my act together things would be alright?  Who are you blaming for your sins and guilts?  We are all pro’s at doing this.  Accusing and excusing, or we hide like Adam did.  He hid from God.

America is becoming a nation of victims.  Everybody blames everybody else. We saw this happen in Wisconsin and in Washington.  No one wants to accept responsibility anymore.  Blame everybody for everything.  You know why we do this?  Because we feel guilty.  Blame is always an indication that I don’t like me. Why? Because when we feel guilty we blame others to even the score.  We even try to blame God for our mess.  Adam did this.  Proverbs 19:3 says, ““Some people ruin themselves by their own stupid actions and then blame the Lord.”   God, why did you let me go bankrupt!  And God says, “Wait a minute!  I didn’t put all that stuff on your credit card, tell you to buy a house you couldn’t afford. Why are you blaming Me?   Doesn’t work.

Third Way We Try To Deal With Guilt Is We Beat Ourselves Up

You want to be a martyr.  Administer self punishment on yourself to atone for your guilt.  Make yourself feel bad because of your guilt.  Guilt can cause illness.  50% of people in hospitals could go home if they knew how to get rid of their guilt.  Most of the pains in life come from resentment or guilt.  Being things people do to us, or things we do to other people.  Can it cause depression?  Listen to David in Psalm 38:4-6,  “My guilt has overwhelmed me; like a load it weighs me down…because I was foolish, I’m bent over and bowed down; I am sad all day long.”  It’s a form of atonement.  Here’s the problem with punishing yourself for your guilt.  Your conscience doesn’t know when to quit, so it just keeps punishing you and punishing you and punishing you.  Don’t beat yourself up about what happen months or decades ago.  None of these things work to get rid of your guilt.

WHAT DOES JESUS WANT US TO DO WITH OUR GUILT?

First Step Is To Admit It

It’s the starting point.  I don’t bury it, ignore it, but own up to it. Be a man!  Be a woman!  Admit that I have sinned.  Don’t run away from it. The primary way we try to do that is by keeping busy.  Busyness is a coping device for dealing with guilt.  When you run from guilt it catches up with you.   Some people move away.  I think I’ll move to Idaho.  Problem is you take it with you.  It’s in your mind.  The Bible says you cannot run from yourself in Proverbs 20:27, “The Lord gave us a mind and a conscience.  We cannot hide from ourselves.”  You may be able to hide your guilt from everybody else, but you can’t hide it from you.  That’s why it starts with personal honesty, admitting to myself and admitting to God I was wrong.  I want you to get this down: To stop defeating myself I have to stop deceiving myself.  I have to tell myself the truth.   Worry, envy, bitterness, jealousy, gilt, fear, anxiety, insecurity defeats us.  So stop lying to yourself, deceiving yourself and do a spiritual spring cleansing.

How?  Do a spiritual inventory.  Take a couple of hours and go off by yourself with a pad and pencil. It’s a time to take out the garbage of your life.  Sit down and ask God to bring to your mind everything you feel guilty about.  What’s wrong?  Where have I blown it? Write them down.  Lust…write it down.  Fear…write it down.  Make the list.  No one will see it. Writing it down helps you to be more specific.  You need to confess them one by one.

Second Step Is To Accept Responsibility For Junk In My Life

The garbage in my life.  For the self-centered times in my life.  I don’t rationalize it, or blame others.  Focus on you.  You’re the one who wants to get rid of your guilt.  David admitted adultery with Bathsheba when he wrote in Psalm 51:3, I recognized my faults.  I am conscious of my sins.  I accept responsibility.”  He never mentions her name. Why?  It’s not about her. It’s about him.  Own up to it.  Be a man….be a woman and be responsible.  The best way of getting over feeling guilty is to tell one other person.  Just find one person who loves you unconditionally.  That is going to remove your feeling of guilt.  Of course it isn’t required that you do that.  Because all you have to do is confess it to God and you’ll be forgiven.  But sometimes revealing your feelings is the beginning of healing.  The Bibles says in James 5:16, “Confess your faults one to another and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”

Friends, we are all broken in some way, so stop pretending like we have it all together.  Two kinds of people in the world.  Those that are broken and sinful and know it, and people who are broken and sinful and wont’ admit it.  That’s it.  No relationship, marriage, family, job, nobody is perfect.  So, don’t hang onto it.  We need each other.  So accept responsibility and admit to another person

Third Step Is To Ask For Forgiveness

We do this every week during our services. There is a time corporately we confess, and a time silently where you can confess your own sins.  Then assurance is given that you’ve been forgiven.  God promises to forgive us over and over.  1 John 1:9 he says this “If we freely admit that we have sinned, we find God utterly reliable…  He forgives your sin and makes us thoroughly clean from all that is evil.”  He says I’m going to wipe it out.  I’m not going to rub it in.  You come to God and say, God about that sin.  He’s not going to rub it in.  God’s not going to scold you.  He doesn’t rub it in.  He rubs it out.  Makes you thoroughly clean from all sin.

Confession does not change the future, it forgives the past.  Confession forgives you and cleanses you from the past.  You can’t bargain with God.  Everybody has their favorite sins and you struggle with them.  So just believe that when you confess your sins, God forgives you.  Romans 3:23-24 says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  I love the Living Bible that says “Yet God declares us ‘not guilty’ if we trust in Jesus Christ, who in his mercy freely takes away our sin.”  We just have to trust that God declares us not guilty.  Jesus paid the price for that forgiveness on cross.

WHAT DOES JESUS DO WITH MY GUILT?

First Jesus Forgives Instantly

Your forgiveness isn’t based on how little or much you’ve sinned.  What matters is what Jesus has done for you.  It’s about the cross.  The true central truth of Christianity.  He declared on cross, “It is finished.”  It’s done.  I’ve paid the price for all your punishment.  You only need to ask God for forgiveness once, unless of course you go back to the sin.  On the cross Jesus said the first word, “Father forgive them.”  So He forgives instantly.  Isaiah 55:7 says, “God is merciful and quick to forgive.”   A Christian should feel guilt for about ten seconds.  That’s how long it takes for you to ask for forgiveness.  It’s given instantly.

Second Jesus Forgives Completely

You don’t have to keep coming back to him on a single event going over it.  He forgives completely.  When Jesus died for your sins on the cross, which sins did he die for?  All of them.  That means even the ones I’m going to commit this afternoon and the ones I’m going to do next month and next year and in ten years.  They’ve already all been paid for by Jesus Christ.  Jesus was nailed to the cross so you can stop nailing yourself to it.  Colossians 2:13-14 say, “He [Jesus] has forgiven all your sins.  He has utterly wiped out the evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross.”

Jesus wiped out all of the evidence.  It’s a super stain remover.  God remembers it no more.  It’s not on the internet any more.  He wipes it out completely.  And if God has forgotten it, isn’t it about time you forget about it?  You need to let it go.

Third Jesus Forgives Repeatedly

Be honest.  There are sins that we do over and over and over, right?  God says, “Oh not that again?”  Don’t be embarrassed to come to God with it.  He forgives repeatedly.  If you come 1,000 times for the same sin and come 1,001, He’ll forgive.  It’s His nature to forgive.  He forgives repeatedly over and over and over.  Right now Jesus is in heaven seated at the side of the Father.  He isn’t playing checkers…..He’s forgiving you.  Hebrews 7:25 says, “Christ is always interceding on our behalf.”  He’s saying, “Father, forgive them.  Father, forgive them.  Father, forgive them.”  Always interceding.  He forgives you instantly, completely, repeatedly.

Fourth Jesus Forgives Freely

You can’t earn it, deserve it, buy it, or bargain for it.  It is a gift of grace. Because you are a human being, forgiveness is your greatest need and because Christ died for you, forgiveness is God’s greatest gift.  Let’s get real practical.  What’s that secret sin in your life that keeps on hounding you?  Or what is that habitual sin that keeps on hounding you?  You can be guilt free today.  Here’s what the Bible says, Ephesians 1:7, “For by the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross we are set free.  That is, our sins are forgiven.  How great is the grace of God.”  Friends, this is the fundamental truth of Christianity, that God took your problem and made it his problem and said I’m going to wipe out all your sins by paying for it himself.  So justice is served.  Grace is given.  The cross is the foundation of everything God does for you and in your life.  Forgive them, for they know not what they do.  And He does.  Amen.

SERIES: SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS

Part Three: “The Word Assurance”

John 23:39-43

Last words are very important to us aren’t they?  If you’d ever been with someone whom you loved and it was at the end of their lives, their words are very important.  When Jesus was hanging on the cross He made seven statements and every one of them has profound implications for your life.  Last week we looked at the first statement, “The Word Forgiveness.”  This week the statement was, “The Word of Assurance,” Sometimes in the news we hear the statement, “Saved at the last minute.”  Sometime ago a 56 year old British woman was saved at the last minute in Somalia.  In Texas a guy by the name of Hank Skinner was saved at the last minute with a stay of execution of his life.  Here in John 23 is the most famous last minute salvation ever.  It is the thief on the cross.  In Vs. 39-43 it says, “One of the criminals hanging beside Jesus hurled insults at Jesus. ‘So you’re the Messiah, are you?  Prove it by saving yourself – and us, too while you’re at it!’  But the other criminal rebuked him, ‘Don’t you fear God even when you’re dying?  We deserve to die for our evil deeds, but this man has not done anything wrong!’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.’ And Jesus replied, ‘I assure you today you’ll be with me in paradise.”

This tells us the how, when, where, and why of salvation.  How you can be certain and have assurance that you’re going to heaven when you die.  As your pastor and friend, who loves you, I want you to settle this issue this morning.  There is no reason for you to leave here this morning with any doubt about your eternal destiny.  There are two men here with different responses.  The first guy insults Jesus.  The word there in Greek is the word blasphemo.  We get the word “blaspheme” from that.  It means to demean, to put down.  The first guy blasphemes Jesus.  The second guy turns to Jesus.  He’s no theologian.  He doesn’t know a whole lot.  He’s lived an entire life of crime.  They’re killing him on the cross.  But he did know enough to be saved.  Here are five things you must know to have no doubt about going to heaven when you die.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW TO BE SAVED.

First Thing This Guy Knew Was That He’d Face God After Death 

When the first criminal starts insulting Jesus the second man rebukes him.  In verse 40 he says, “Don’t you fear God even when you’re dying?”  Don’t you realize the seriousness of the situation you’re in?  You are a few seconds from eternity.  You’re dying on a cross; in just a split second you’re going to be face to face with God.  Don’t you have any seriousness about this? You’re making insults to Jesus; don’t you realize that just in a couple seconds you’re going to be in the presence of God?  The reason why many people treat God so casually, why they go through life ignoring God, while they live their own life instead of God’s plan, why they love other things more than God, why they sin, why we don’t even bother about it because most people have in the back of their mind when you’re dead you’re dead and it’s over. That is a fatal mistake.  Death is not the end….it’s the beginning.  You’ll spend trillions of years in eternity.  You were made to last forever, either with God or separated from God, depending on your decision here on earth.  Don’t be wrong for eternity.   One day you’re going to face God and give an account of your life….just as I will.  You can ignore God if you want, but one day you won’t be able to. 

The Bible says this is Hebrews 9:27, “Everyone must die once, and after that be judged by God.” That’s one appointment I’m not going to be late for.  This appointment was set before you were born.  God already knew how many minutes you’d be on this planet.  The mortality rate in US is 100%.  You’re going to die.  I don’t like to talk about it and neither do you, but it’s true.  Why do people put off the issue when they know that it is going to happen to them?  It’s stupid, foolish, and irrational to go through life unprepared for death.  This thief knew he’d face God after death.

Second Thing He Knew Was That He Had Sinned Against God

We know that because in verse 41 he confesses it.  He says, “We deserve to die for our evil deeds.”  This is called confession.  He said we deserve to die.  He’s talking to the other guy who is hanging on the cross, the other criminal.  We deserve to die for our evil deeds.  He’s not hiding it.  He’s not making any excuses for it.  This is called confession.  Bible tells us that when we confess our sins, God forgives them.  You confess, and I’d do the forgiving.  We just need to own up to the fact that we blow it, make mistakes.  This guy says we deserve to die.  How many women did Tiger Woods have to sleep with before he was called unfaithful?  Just one.  All the others were irrelevant.  How many links have to break in a chain that is holding up a bridge….just one.  So be honest with yourself…..you have sin and so do I.  Nobody measures up and God doesn’t grade on a curve…..like Hitler sins were more evil than yours.  Or Mother Teresa had fewer sins than you. 

So the question is not how many sins have you committed.  The question is have you ever done one?  Because if you have – and you have – you’re imperfect.  So you need a perfect Savior.  He knew he had sinned against God.  Notice he says “We deserve to die.”  Romans 6:23 says this, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Wages are earned by your actions.  Gifts are undeserved.  If I was your employer and I came to you at the end of the month and I handed you your paycheck and said, “I’ve got a gift for you.  You’re going too really like me because I’ve got a gift for you.  Here’s your paycheck.”  You’d go, “Wait a minute buddy.  That’s no gift.  I earned that paycheck.  Don’t think you’re doing something generous, because you’re not.  I worked for that paycheck.  I earned it.  It’s my wages.”  Wages are different than a gift.  God is a just God.  He says you do something wrong, somebody has to pay for it.  Jesus said, “I’ll do it.  I’ll make the payment.  I’ll go to jail.  So we deserve to die…the wages of sin is death.  But he says the gift of God is this….here’s the good news…………is eternal life.  What’s a gift?  It’s unearned, you don’t deserve heaven and I don’t either, but it’s God’s gift to us.  The thief knew he had sinned against God in his final moments.

Third He Knew Jesus Was More Than A Man

You’ve got to know that too.  He knew Jesus was more than a man.  He says to the other criminal in Vs. 41,“We deserve to die for our evil deeds, but this man has not done anything wrong!”  Notice in that phrase – “this man has not done anything wrong” – he doesn’t say, this man hasn’t done as much bad stuff as we have.  He doesn’t say, “We’ve done more bad stuff than this guy.  He doesn’t say, this guy’s good works are much greater than his bad works.  No.  He says, this guy has done nothing ever wrong.  This word in Greek where it says he’s never done anything wrong, means nothing, nada, zip, zero, never, never, never, not in your lifetime, never in a million years, it isn’t going to happen, not at all.  Question: Have you ever met anybody in your life you can say that about?  No, you can’t.  He’s saying this man hanging between us is no mere man.  He’s not one of us.  He’s much more than a man.  He’s God.  God is the only perfect thing in this universe. That’s why Jesus is the only one that can save you.  You need a perfect Savior to get into a perfect place….His home.

How many of you have heard of Norman Borlaug?  I didn’t until I came across this story in my research for this message.   He died at the age of 95.  The world paid no attention to him, although in his lifetime he saved more people than anybody in history.  He was an agricultural scientist in 20th Century, who invented hi-yield draught resistant, disease resistant crops that saved over one billion people from starvation.  China, India, Bangladesh, a Pakistan had regular famines every year.  All of those countries now export food.  Why?  Because they started using Norman's  high yield, disease resistant, drought resistant crops.  It saved over a billion peoples’ lives in the twentieth century.  The executive director of the UN food program said this about Norman who won the Nobel Prize.  “Norman Borlaug saved more lives than any man in human history.  He knew he wasn’t the savior of the world because he was a Christian.  He put his faith in Jesus Christ.  When he received the Nobel Prize he quoted from the book of Isaiah as his motivation for what he had done.  His phrase, “Go with God.”

Here’s what happened on the Cross.  The Bible says in II Corinthians 5:21,“God had Christ, who was sinless, take our sin so that we might receive God’s approval through him.”  What a deal.  It’s called grace and it’s the only way you’ll ever get into heaven.  God takes all the junk in my life…and puts it on His Son Jesus, who paid the price for my sins.  The great exchange is that I will go to the place called heaven because of it.  Its grace………….and there is no other way to be saved.

Fourth The Guy Knew That Only Grace Could Save Him

In verse 42 after he says this guy hasn’t done anything wrong, we deserve to die.  But then he says in verse 42 “Jesus, remember me…”   He knows only grace can save him….he can’t.  He had no hope at all and he doesn’t compare himself with others.  He doesn’t make excuses for his sin.  He says, “Jesus, remember me.”  That’s it.  The shortest salvation prayer ever!  Friends, there aren’t certain words you have to say to be saved.  Like if you don’t say the certain prayer it won’t work.  This guy wasn’t a theologian.  Didn’t use any words like propitiation, atonement, justification, redemption, I repent…..but Jesus says to him….today you will be with me in paradise.  It’s not the words that matter; it’s the direction of your heart. Got that?  He just said, “Remember me.”  Jesus said, “You’re in.” 

Years ago, a Wycliffe Bible Translator went to a small village in Central America to translate the Bible into their language, so they could use it to tell the truth of the Gospel to the people.  He was there eight years and shared his faith with the whole village.  Nobody accepted it, became a believer.  By the time he left no one had become a Christian.  Right before he left there was a middle-aged man in the village named Juan who had a heart attack.  They took him to a little village hospital and he was there in a coma under an oxygen tent. 

The missionary went to visit him.  Juan came out of his coma.  He tells Juan, “Do you know God loves you and sent His Son Jesus for you?”  Si, Juan goes.  Do you know if you invite Jesus into your life and trust Him, He will forgive all your sins?  Si, Juan goes.  Juan, would you like to put your faith in Jesus?  Si…..and he slipped back into sleep.  The man left, not knowing if Juan ever got what he was saying.  Five years later the missionary returned there.  He was shocked to find a vibrant Christian Church there with 65 people in it.  He worked there eight years and saw nothing.  He asked them, “Who came to tell you the good news?  Oh, you remember Juan.  He got better.  When he did he told everyone that he was a Christian and started the church.  He just said, “Si.”

Just means saying yes to God.  Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.”  I know I’ve sinned and there’s no way I’m going to get to heaven on my own. Yes, God, I know I must have your grace to be saved.  It's what Juan did.  It’s all grace.  Don’t complicate the Gospel…..just say ‘yes’ to Jesus.  By the way, this guy on cross wasn’t baptized either.  Baptism doesn’t make you a believer, it shows that you believe.

Fifth This Guy Knew That Jesus Would Save Him If He Asked

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You can’t work your way to heaven.  It’s all by grace.  The thief knew Jesus would save him, give him grace.  He says in Vs. 43, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”   He believed Jesus was God….not a mere man.  He didn’t ask for Jesus to stop his pain, to save him from death.  He could have snapped his fingers and Jesus could have set him free.  Jesus was in control.  He was willing to die on that cross.  He didn’t come to save Himself.  He came to save us.  He’s hanging there by His own choice.  But this criminal doesn’t say, Jesus stop my pain.  He doesn’t say, Jesus, save me from death.  He says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Why?  Because he knew that his deepest need was salvation from sin.  Not just salvation into heaven, but salvation from sin.  He believed in Jesus.  The Bible says in Acts 16:31, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”

WHAT IS MY ASSURANCE OF SALVATION?

My assurance of salvation in not my works, feelings, but the promise of God.  Jesus replied to this man, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”  It’s the promise of God’s Word.  Jesus says four things here.

First Jesus Says, “Today”.  Means Salvation Is Immediate

The moment you ask Jesus Christ to save you…bam….He does…right then.  He doesn’t wait.  There’s no purgatory in the Bible where you go to a holding room for 30 days.  Instantly, you’re saved.  There is no such thing as soul sleep in the Bible.  Where you just sleep when you die until the resurrection and the second coming of Jesus.  Then we’ll all be resurrected and go to heaven.  Bible doesn’t say that.  Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  Instantly.  The Bible says “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”  It’s instant.  It’s immediate.

Second Salvation Is Certain.  Jesus says, “Today You Will.”

Not you might; not I hope.  Not let me think about it.  He says this is a certainty.  You will.  When God says you will, you will.  It’s a certainty.  It’s immediate salvation.  When I accept Christ, it’s certain.  You will.

Third It’s A Relationship.  Jesus Said, “You Will Be With Me”

Salvation is not a religion.  It’s not rules, regulations or rituals.  Salvation is a relationship.  That relationship doesn’t begin when you get to heaven.  It begins here on earth.  Jesus Christ is my best friend.  I talk to him all the time just like I’m talking to you. The more you get to know him and the more you grow, the more you’re able to hear his voice and you can go, I know that’s God talking to me.  It’s not my thoughts.  You distinguish between what you’re thinking and what God says to you.  God made you to have a relationship with you.

Fourth Jesus Says, “Today You Will Be With Me In Paradise

It is a place forever.  Paradise is a real place and it is forever. 

WHEN CAN I BE SAVED?

When is the best time to be saved?  Bible says in II Corinthians 6:2, “This is the hour to receive God’s favor! Today is the day to be saved!”  He gave the men on either side of Him a choice.  He’s not going to force you to love Him, accept Him, trust Him, or force you to accept heaven.  There are two responses.  One of the guys on the cross rejected Jesus and the other accepted Him.  Same choice is ours.  Some say I’m not ready now.  Friend, not to decide is to decide.  It’s saying I don’t care that Jesus died for me.  It’s saying, “I want to live my own life.  I don’t care if you suffered for me.  Not to decide is to decide.  

Romans 10:13 says, “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Are you ready to do this?  I want us to settle this issue. If you’re ready to call on the name of the Lord, if you acknowledge these same five facts that this guy did, you will settle your eternal destiny once and for all.   Would God lie?  No.  Especially on this.  The Bible says God can’t lie.  He cannot deny Himself or His character.  He can’t lie because He is the truth.  Call on Him and you will be saved.  Not might be saved….you will!  All your life God has prepared you for this moment.  It doesn’t matter how old you are or how young you are, or how many times you’ve done it.  If your heart is beating it means it’s not too late.  Let us pray.

SERIES: SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS

Part Four: “The Word Of Love”

John 19:25-27

As we move up to Easter we’ve been talking about the seven words from the Cross that Jesus spoke.  The first that we looked at was The Word of Forgiveness, “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.”  The second word as The Word of Assurance, “I assure you, today you will be with Me inparadise.”  You can know for certain that you will go to heaven.  I would suggest if you missed these go to our website and look at the messages posted there.  This week we will look at The Word of Love.  Jesus says this word to His mother, Mary, who’s standing at the foot of the cross and to His best friend, John the disciple.

Jesus has been beaten, spit upon, scourged, which is more than a whipping.  It was a cat of nine tails which left nine marks on your body at a time.  He received 40 stripes and had over 280 bruises and cuts on His back.  He is already dying from the beating.   Then they nail Him to cross and everybody has left.  None of the disciples are there except John, the beloved disciple.  He’s the only one who shows up.  Everyone took off with fear of being arrested.  Who does show up are the women.  Four to six of them; Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary of Magdalene, Mary of Clopas, Salome.  Jesus looks down at His mother and best friend in the quietness of the moment he gives the third word, the word of love……“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.  When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple John whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’  From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” 

Tradition tells us that Mary lived about twelve years longer, and the rest of her life – Joseph had already died years earlier; she was a widow – she lived with the disciple John, for the remaining years of her life.  Words are simple; Mother, here’s John you new son.  John; here’s Mary, your new mother.  This shows the heart of God, compassion, tenderness, love, care and concern for your pain.  What do we learn from these simple words?

TO LOVE LIKE JESUS I MUST

First Learn To Care For My Family

It’s what Jesus was doing from Cross.  He’s caring for His own family.  Love is something you do, not just say.  It’s a choice….an action……and Jesus does three things for His mother and we must do same if we want to love like Jesus.

First, we learn that loves pays attention.  Jesus did.  Love pays attention.  Jesus ignores the crowds, the mockers, scoffers, critics and focuses on His mother.  He gives her attention.  It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give your family. Why?  Because when you do, you give them your time and you’re life.  Your time is your life.  You can always get more money, things, but you can’t get more time.  When you give someone your attention you’re saying to them you’re important, I’m listening.  You’re valuable, worthy, and you matter to me.  Jesus pays attention to His mother.  In that culture no one paid attention to women, so the Roman soldiers wouldn’t either.  Jesus always raised the status of women.  He saw her pain, grief, and paid attention.  Exodus 20:12 says, ““Honor your father and mother.”  There are no limitations on this.  You honor them as long as you’re alive.  It’s the fifth commandment.  You say, ‘You don’t know my mom and dad.”  No, I don’t.  But it doesn’t matter whether they were  good or bad parents, or maybe you never knew them or not.

God chose your parents because they had just the right DNA to create you and God was more interested in their DNA than their parenting skills.  Your parents may have been terrible parents, but without their DNA  you wouldn’t be what God wants you to be.  Your parents may have been drunks, absent, abusive, or terrible, but you honor them because God used them to bring you into the world.  Not honor what they did, but what they gave to create you.  Honor and show them respect.  My question is, do you need to pay more attention to your family?  When a guy’s sitting there reading the paper and the little kid comes up and pulls it down and says “Look at me Daddy!” What is she asking for?  She’s saying I want you to pay attention to me.  Why?  Because love pays attention.

Second Love Provides For Needs

This is Jesus’ last will and testament.  This is his phrase he says on earth before he dies on the cross and then comes back in the resurrection.  But he’s giving his last will and testament.  What is Jesus’ last earthly task?  He provides for his mother.  Joseph had died many years earlier.  Jesus knows Mary is old, she’s poor, a widow and is going to need to be taken care of.  He looks down and says, “John, I want you to take care of my mom.  Mom, I want you to take care of my best friend.  This is your new son; this is your new mother.”  He knew putting them together he was creating a relationship in which both of them would benefit.  Jesus had nothing to leave His mother.  So He gives her the greatest gift, care.  And He gives it to the person He trusts the most.

The Bible tells us we are to provide for the needs of our family just like we’re to pay attention to the needs of our famil.  The Bible says this in 1 Timothy 5:3-4, “Show respect for widows who really are all alone.  But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they should learn first to carry out their religious duties.  They are to care for each other and in this way repay their parents and grandparents, because that is what pleases God.”  Love starts at home.  It doesn’t start at church, neighborhood, but Godly Christ like love starts with your own family.  That’s how you please God.  Taking care of elderly parents, grandparents.  1 Timothy 5:8 says this, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”  The Bible says if you’re not taking care of your aged parents, you’re worse than an atheist.  That’s pretty clear.  That’s how important love is.  Love starts at home with your family.  Even the ones that you’re mad at.  Even the ones that you’re bitter against and you need to let go of the bitterness.  Love starts at home.

Third Love Gives Emotional Support

Here we have one of the most tender scenes in Scripture.  Mary, the mother of Jesus is watching her son be tortured and John his best friend is standing there with her and they are in agony.  They are miserable.  They are overwhelmed with grief.  They are brokenhearted.   Have you ever thought of the emotional baggage Mary had to go through her whole life?  She saw her Son from His birth through His death go through suffering.  Simeon, at the temple, when He was eight days old predicted His sufferings and that Mary would suffer along with Him.  The decree that was put out to kill all baby boys under two was done so that Herod could kill the Messiah.  And they fled to Egypt.  She watches as Jesus returns to His home town and announces that He is the Son of God.  And the people He grew up with tells Him He’s nuts and they try to push Him off a cliff.  How could friends do such a thing?

Now this……….a gory, gruesome, bloody death and she’s at His feet and is in major grief.  And in spite of His pain, He provides for her needs.  Proverbs 17:17 says, “Friends love through all kinds of weather,  and families stick together in all kinds of trouble.”  If you’re going to learn to love like Jesus, you’ve got to show up and you’ve got to stand up and you’ve got to speak up for the people you love.  You don’t let them get crucified on their own.  Here’s the point.  What do we learn from this story?  The first thing we learn is, if I’m going to learn to love like Jesus, I have to care for my family in the same way that Jesus did, even on the cross.  I have to pay attention to their needs.  I have to provide for their needs.  And I have to provide emotional support; give them emotional support for their needs. 

This means you love during the bad and the good times, in joys and in sorrows.  Real love shows up, stands up and speaks up.  As parents, do you stand with your kids when they’re in trouble?  As a husband in Ephesians 5:25 it syas, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up, sacrificed His life for her.”  Does your wife know that you would die for her?  Bible says you’ll die for your wife.  I, as a husband, am called to lay down my life for my wife.  I am to love her more than I love myself.  I am to put her needs ahead of my own.  I am to love her more than my own life.  Do you?  Or are you so self centered you thing only of yourself?  If you do, I warn you, that God will judge you one day for thinking like that.  You see, it doesn’t say wives lay down your life for your husband.  The husband is called to lead, not be the boss, the manipulator, the abuser, but to sacrifice the most.  I really believe the more you love Jesus the more you’ll love your wife.

Finally, I Must Treat Other Believers As My Family By Meeting Their Needs

If I’m a follower of Christ, that means every other Christian; everybody else in the church is my brother and sister.  You’ve heard the phrase “blood is thicker than water.”  That’s true.  But there’s something even thicker than blood.  It is the spiritual bond that’s going to last for eternity.  Spiritual bonds actually outlast physical bonds.  And spiritual families actually outlast physical families.  Grace is greater than genetics.  No physical family lasts.  People grow up, people move away, people die, sometimes there’s divorce.  No family unit stays as a family unit forever.  Even here on earth they don’t stay together forever.  Families don’t last.  They are simply a model of the spiritual family, the church, that’s going to last forever. Your relationship to me and every other believer is going to last forever.  It is actually a stronger relationship.  The Bible says this in Matthew 12: “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother.”  In other words, if you follow Jesus we’re family. 

Here’s the responsibility.  You may not realize this.  In this church if you are a younger adult, it is your responsibility to care for the older adults in our church family.  Provide for their needs.  We’re to provide for their needs.  If you are an older adult in our church family, you may not realize this: you are commissioned and called by God to mentor the younger adults in this family.  We’re to care for each other.  When Jesus was young He leaned on His mother. John leaned on Jesus….he was being trained.  And now He says, mom, you lean on my best friend, John.  John, I want you to lean on my mother, Mary.  You’re going to take care of each other after I’m gone.

The Bible says we are to be devoted to each other as members of a family.  “Be devoted to each other like a loving family.  Excel in showing respect for each other.”  What does it mean to be devoted to each other?  It means we stick up for each other.  If you hear about somebody else in this church in trouble, it is your duty to stick up for them and to defend them and to be there with them and to help them.  Galatians 6:10 says, “Whenever we have the opportunity to help anyone we should do it.  But we should give special attention to those who belong to the family of believers.”  How do we give special attention to other people?  Helping them out with practical needs.  Can I help you out with your car?  Can I help you out with your lawn?  We just help each other out in the family of God.

Even when I’m in pain, I am to see other’s pain.  I need to be looking out for other

people who are hurting, even when I’m hurting.  Things aren’t going good for Jesus here, but is He focused on Himself?  No.  He is in great pain, He’s dying, and sees His mother’s pain…..sees John’s pain.  I don’t know about you but this is not normal for me.  Usually when we are in pain we become very self-centered.  But Jesus is looking for other people to help.  That’s what it means to love like Jesus.  What does the Bible say to you?  Philippians 2:5, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”  In other words, you’re to look around.  You’re to find somebody else who’s in distress and help them, which, by the way, is how you get out of your pain.  Not by wallowing in it but by looking around to help somebody else. 

1 Peter 4:1, “Since Christ suffered and underwent pain, you must have the same attitude he did; you must be ready to suffer, too.  But remember, when your body suffers, sin loses its power.”  Don’t wallow in pain; use it.  Use it to grow closer to God and use it to help others.  Some of you have been grieving.  You’ve lost a job, you’ve lost a loved one, you’ve lost a dream and your heart is broken.  As your pastor, I’m sorry.  I truly mean that.  It grieves me when other people grieve.  I’m sorry for the grief you’re going through.

Friends, what I’m teaching you is the exact opposite of the world’s value system.  These are kingdom values.  These are Jesus’ values.  The world teaches this and it’s a lie: that the more important you are or the more significant your work is, the less you have to care about the little people or the needs of individuals around you.  Nobody expects the president of the United States to stop and help you change a tire.  But Jesus says that’s what real greatness is.  If you want to be great you learn to be the servant of all.  That’s the world’s system of thinking.  Jesus said, no I don’t care how important your task is.  You are never too important to help people in need right by you, your next door neighbor and people like that. 

That’s the test of love.  What does it mean to love like Jesus?  Romans 15:2-3, “Every one of us needs to look after the good of people around us, asking ourselves, ‘how can I help?”  When was the last time you asked that question?  How can I help?  When was the last time you even paused long enough from your job to go, how can I help you in your job?  Here’s what I want you to do.  I don’t want you to go home and just say, that was a great message.   I want you to do something about this message.  I want you to go out and find somebody to help between now and Easter.  Help them in a physical way.  Help them in an emotional way.  Help them in a practical way.  Then on Easter Sunday invite them to church so that they can have their eternal destiny settled. 

That’s what it means to love.  We have someone right now in our congregation that has a need sometimes.  Their children do a wonderful job caring for them, but they live far away.  The husband can no longer drive and they might need a ride to the doctor or for someone to get them some milk.  You could help……will you?  See me if you want to.Follow me on this: Jesus wants to give you his best, just like he wanted to do for his best friend and his mother.  These are the people he loved the most on this earth.  And he gives his best to John and he gives his best to Mary.  He says John, I’m giving you my mother.  How would you like to have the honor of caring for the mother of Jesus?  He gives John his very best.  And he gives his mother his very best.  I’m giving you my best friend who I know will take care of you better than anybody else.  Jesus wanted to give each of them the best; but he couldn’t do it if they weren’t there with him.  He could only give them his best if they were close to him because he’s whispering this to them from the cross.

If you want God’s best in your life, you’ve got to get close to Jesus, because the answer to every one of your needs is always at the foot of the cross.

SERIES: SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS

Part Five: “The Word Substitution”

Matthew 27:45-46

When I say the word ‘substitute’ what do you actually thing of?  We see all kinds of things that are substitutes don’t we?  We have substitute sugar, substitute chocolate, substitute meat. I’d run from that one.  There is no such thing as a garden burger.  We also can think of a substitute teacher.  Ever in class when you were a kids and had a substitute teacher?  What kind of respect did you show them?  We never paid too much attention to them, but to the principal they are a savior.  Because they show up to help the kids.  Sometimes though substitutes are actually better.  It’s what we will look at today.  Jesus is hanging on the Cross and says this fourth word……the word of substitution.

It has gotten dark now, much darker than it usually gets.  Usually between noon and three it’s the brightest hours of the day.  But this day it gets really dark.  We find the story in Matthew 27:45-46, “At noon, darkness fell across the whole land.”  The word darkness here is skotos in Greek.  It literally means “obscurity.”  We don’t know what God did, whether he just brought in some clouds or a storm or an eclipse or whatever.  But it just got very, very dark in the middle of the day.  Obscurity.  “… darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.  At about three o’clock, Jesus cried out in a loud voice…”  You watch the scene right there and he’s kind of saying it quietly.  But actually it says he cried out in a loud voice.  The Greek word means “he screamed.”  This is the fourth word and it’s the most agonizing word of the cross.  And Jesus screams out at the top of his lungs and he says this “‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’”  Which is Aramaic for “‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”  This is the fourth word.  It is the word of substitution.

It’s a shocking word……forsaken.  It means deserted, rejected, abandoned, and let go.  Nothing hurts more than being abandoned.  Some of you know about it and have experienced it yourself.  I have.  It can rip your heart out.  And here Jesus is being abandoned by everybody in the last 24 hours of His life.  Judas abandoned Him.  The disciples abandoned Him, all but John.  Then at this point Jesus says, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  What’s going on?  Well, Jesus became my substitute.  At this moment He took the penalty for your sins.  He took the punishment for everything you’ll ever do wrong.  He died in your place, substituted Himself for your guilt.  He took the whole worlds sin on Himself.  It’s what I John 2:2 says, “He [Jesus] is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”  That’s what atonement means.  Payment for damage done.  You run into somebody’s car and you have to pay to have it fixed.  That’s atonement. It’s what Jesus did.  Atoned for our sins……paid the price.  Two things I want to look at today.

WHAT DOES THE FOURTH WORD TEACH US ABOUT THESE WORDS OF JESUS “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”

First We Learn That God Is Holy

Revelation 4:8 says “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”  It means that our God…..the God of this universe is HOLY.  He is 100% pure, perfect, untainted, and uncorrupted.  That’s what God is.  Because God is perfect He cannot stand in the presence of imperfection and He hates evil.  On the Cross, Jesus came to earth, God in the human form, to die for our sins.  He took every known sin of all mankind on Himself at this very moment. Every rape, every molestation of a child, every act of slavery, disloyalty, betrayal, guilt of the holocaust of six million Jews who were murdered, and the entire sins of mine, yours, and everybody else.  Every evil thing ever done in history, Jesus is taking them on Himself.  At this moment God………the Father, who is holy, looks away because He cannot even look at His own Son when He takes them upon Himself. 

At that moment Jesus cries, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”  Notice He didn’t say, Father, He said, My God, My God! The relationship has been broken.  Jesus, part of the Trinity, God Himself, who has been in perfect harmony with God knows what it means to be separated from God.  At this moment…….God’s holiness steps back and says, “I can’t be a part of that” and Jesus cries out.  He screams it out!  Because God is Holy.

Second We Learn That Sin Is Ugly

You see, we don’t really think sin is ugly.  Actually we think sin is cool.  Because everything in society today, the books, movies, songs, make sin look attractive and popular. Make it look appealing, pleasing.  If you’re cool then you do what God tells you not to do.  Only a fuddy-duddy would follow God’s commands.  We actually think it’s funny.  It’s satan’s plan……..you laugh at it and it lowers your defenses and think…..it isn’t that bad.  But you never see the consequences of sin in most movies.  You never see the drunk in an alcohol commercial, where he goes home and beats his wife and kids.  In the James Bond movies you’re never going to see all the broken hearts he leaves behind as he moves from one bed to another.  He might have five or six women in each movie.  Rarely do movies or TV show the kids whose lives are ruined because of that kind of thing. We never see the consequences.

If you want to see the consequences of sin, the damage of it, just look at the Cross.  Jesus took the guilt for every evil thing ever done wrong…..every lie, sin, dishonesty on Himself.  The Cross shows us that sin alienates us from God.  It’s what happens to Jesus.  He felt alienated. God, where have you gone? Why have you left Me?  Sin…our sin…..creates conflict and distance from God.  It separates us from God.  In Isaiah 59:2 it says, ““Your evil has separated you from your God and your sins have caused Him to turn away from you.” 

Sin can also cause distress.  It puts enormous stress on my life.  You were not made to live in conflict with your creator.  If I break God’s laws, it puts stress on my life…..emotional stress.  Sin causes: worry, fear, doubt, bitterness, guilt, resentment, shame, loneliness, low self esteem, all of these things. But they are the symptoms of the problems.  The real problem is your unrecognized and unresolved conflict with God.  God doesn’t want you to walk around with these things.  He wants you to walk around feeling forgiven……………..but it’s a choice you and I have to make.

Sin can also condemn.  We see this in Jesus.  Jesus was stressed out on the Cross…… alienated, condemned on the Cross.  And when we violate God’s laws we are condemned because God is a righteous judge.  Means He is always right, fair, perfect, impartial, and always tells the truth.  Yes, God is love……but He is also the God of justice.  It means people like Hitler and other like him God will judge.  He’s going to settle the issue.  God hates evil and so should we.  We’ve seen the evil these last few weeks coming out of Libya. 

The Bible tells us in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Your biggest problem in life isn’t your financial crisis, health crisis, relational problems.  They are problems, but the biggest one might be your war with God.  It creates these things I’ve talked about..  Every day you have to make this decision….. am I running my life or is God?  When it’s you, guess what, you’re in rebellion with God and at war with Him.  And it causes all kinds of problems.

Third We Learn Salvation Is Costly

In order for you to go to heaven it costs God a whole lot.  Salvation is costly, but it’s a free gift.  Free, but somebody had to pay for it….buy your ticket.  And His name was Jesus Christ.  Romans 3:25 says, “God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.”  God is holy and sin must be judged, evil must be punished.  Jesus does it.  He takes the rap.  The amazing thing about your salvation is its one hundred percent God’s idea.  He does it all and all you have to do is accept it.  He’s the judge, jury, defense attorney and pays the fine.  Christ rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law and it’s called the blessed assurance.  That’s what God has done for us.  No one will ever love you more than God does.  No one is going to love you or sacrifice more for you than Jesus Christ.  Don’t forget that……ever, ever, ever.  No amount of money in the world….I don’t care how much it is will ever be enough to pay for what Jesus did for you and I on that Cross.

WHAT SHOULD BE OUR RESPONSE? FOUR THINGS

First, I Need To Turn From My Sin And Trust Jesus To Save Me

That’s what this is all about.  There’s no other way I’m going to get into heaven.  I need to turn from my sin and trust Jesus to save me.  The Bible says it like this in Romans 3:22, “We are made right in God’s sight when we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins.  And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.”  I like that.  No matter who we are or what we’ve done.  Think of the worst thing you have ever done in your life and realize Jesus paid for it…..for that sin.  That you were and can be forgiven and feel free of self condemnation.  You can stop nailing yourself to the Cross because Jesus was nailed to Cross for you.  You have to trust Him to take away your sins.  If someone rejects what Jesus did for them on the Cross there is no alternative.  There’s no hope for me or you.  There is no other way into heaven.  That’s it.  If we don’t accept Jesus and what He did we are lost forever and separated from God forever.

Second, I Need To Live In A State Of Gratitude

When I understand what God has already done for me, I can just go walking around going, its grace, its gratitude.  How could you not love somebody who loves you this much?  And how could you walk away from that?  The Bible says in Romans 5:11, “Now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.”   The war is over.  How could you not love Jesus?  He deserves your total love, your total gratitude, and your eternal appreciation.

Three, When I’m Tempted To Sin I Need To Remember What My Sin Cost Jesus

That will cause me to pause before I step into that trap.  When I am tempted I pause and think about, that put Jesus on the cross.  The next time I start to be mean to somebody I think, that sin put Jesus on the cross.  The next time I start to be self centered and treat my wife in a selfish way I think that sin put Jesus on the cross.  The next time I start to launch out and attack somebody or put them down or be mean spirited or whatever, I’m saying, that sin put Jesus on the cross.  The next time I’m tempted to lie, I think that sin put Jesus on the cross.  Sin is not something to laugh at.  If you want to know how serious it is, look at Calvary. Look at Jesus on the cross.  The Bible says in I Peter 1:18-19, “God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors.  The ransom he [Jesus] paid was not mere gold or silver.  He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” 

Fourth, I Need To Tell Others The Good News

This is the best news in the world and I need to tell others the good news.  Can you imagine keeping this a secret?  That all of our sins are forgiven?  That Jesus has already paid for them?  That I don’t have to walk around with a guilty conscience?  If somebody died for you wouldn’t you want to know about it?  Yes!  If somebody died for you, you’d want to know about it.  If all your sins could be forgiven and this is what God has done for you, wouldn’t you want to know about it?  Yes!  It’s why we do what we do here.  We want everyone to know that Jesus wants to save everybody, forgive everybody, and wants them all in heaven.

It is why our greatest need is to continue to reach out to our community.  We want to reach as many people for Christ as we can.  And we do it because Jesus loves people.

Because love leaves no choice.  Because as long as there’s one person within driving distance of this church who doesn’t know Jesus, we are commanded to reach out.  The church that doesn’t want to grow is saying to the world, you can go to hell!  We do it because Christ died.  You know how much He loves people?  He died for people.  That is the motivation.  We must care because God cares.

Who are you bringing to Easter?  Have you even thought about inviting someone?  I guarantee you this: that if you bring someone, they will hear a message that will hopefully open their life to Christ.  Just think who you want to see in heaven and invite them.  Don’t come to Easter by yourself.  That’s a selfish thing.  Share the good news with other people.  Care enough about somebody to say, I think you’re really going to want to hear this.  Bring them with you.   I hope that on Easter Sunday we can see a great number of people step across the line and come into God’s family. Why?  Because that’s what God sent his Son to die for.  So I encourage you.  Write down a couple of names and start thinking about those people and invite them to come with you on Easter.  Maybe you’ve never trusted Christ yourself.  Might be that today is your day.

SERIES: SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS

Part Six: “The Word Of Humanity”

John 19:28-29

Your body is about sixty percent water.  That means if you are 150 lbs., you carry about 12 gallons of water in your body.  You cannot live without water.  If you don’t have water you get dehydrated, muscle cramps and headaches.  It is the number one reason for fatigue in people.  If you’re tired a lot it may be because you don’t get enough water in your system.  You have to have water in your system to live.  The fifth word in our series from Jesus on Cross is “I’m thirsty.”   We say that all the time don’t we?  This is the word of humanity.  It is the shortest word of the seven things that Jesus said.  The Greek word here means more than just thirsty physically.  Other things are involved.  Jesus was on the Cross for six hours.  Crucified at 9 am and by 3 p.m., He had died.  The last three sayings are said in the final seconds of His life.  John 19:18-29 says, “After this, Jesus knew that everything had been completed. So that the Scripture would come true, he said, ‘I am thirsty.’   There was a jar full of vinegar there, so the soldiers soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a branch of a hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ mouth.”  

Some hours before they had offered Jesus a drink and He refused it.  They offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He refused it.  Why?  Remember when the Wise Men came onto Jesus and brought Him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Myrrh is a narcotic..a pain killer.  Long before Aspirin, Advil and other things people used myrrh as a pain killer.  It’s what they offered Jesus and He refused.  He did that because He wanted to be mentally alert and take the sins of the world on Himself.   Remember, crucifixion is a long drawn out process.  It is suffering for hours and hours, sometimes days.  The soldiers would give criminals this to quiet them down.

After Jesus knew everything has been completed He says, “He thirsts.”  Our creeds tell us that Jesus descended into hell, and three days later rose again.  He didn’t have to go to hell.  When he says, “I thirst”, that’s a cry of hell.  Did you know there is no water in hell?   The Bible says that people are eternally thirsty in hell.  And by the way, there is no party in hell because you are alone in hell.  You don’t’ see anybody else.  It’s total darkness.  You’re alone, separated for eternity.   The Bible tells us there is a river in heaven, but no water in hell.

It says, “Now Jesus knew everything had been completed.”  All the payment of sin had been done and He says, ‘I thirst.”   Three things we can see in this picture.

WHY DID JESUS SAY “I THIRST?”

First Is That Jesus Is Human

Jesus experienced enormous pain leading up to His crucifixion and never said a word

about it.  He was arrested, taken through six trials, without sleep, food water, and the soldiers beat Him to a pulp.  Made a crown of thorns, scourged Him with 40 stripes, and at end of whip is cat of nine tails with bone, rock, and glass.  Every whip you got nine stripes.  So there were 360 cuts and bruises on Jesus’ back before He even got to Cross.  Then nails in His hands and feet and He never said one thing about His pain.  Now He says, “I’m thirsty.”  That’s the worst of His pain.  Why did He say that?  12 hours He’s endured, so there is a physical reason, but also a practical one….a personal reason.  He’s human.

Jesus was 100% God.  Philippians 2:7-8 says, “Jesus gave up his place with God and made himself nothing.   He was born to be a man and he became a servant.  When he was living as a man, he humbled himself and was fully obedient to God, even when that caused his death on the cross.”  Back then there were Docetism.  The idea that Jesus was God, but not a human being.  They believed He seemed like He was human but was not.  He was just God looking like a human being.  It’s where word Docet comes from.  A Greek word meaning ‘it seemed.’  He seemed like a human being.  We don’t have Docetism today, but we do have Isalm.  This is exactly what they believe.  The Koran teaches that God would never become a human being, because God would never die on a Cross for us.  They don’t believe God would go through that humiliation.  Actually the Koran teaches that the disciples stole the body before crucifixion and someone else was put on Cross.  But Jesus was real.  Ghosts don’t say “I thirst, or bleed, or cry out in pain, don’t weep.”  Denying Jesus humanity is to deny He is God.

Second Is Jesus Was The Promised Savior

It says, “So that the Scriptures would come true, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”  For thousands of years God had been telling Israel that He would send them a Messiah.  That He would come and die for them.  The O/T sacrificial system really doesn’t work; it’s just a symbol that one day I am coming.  He tells this to them over 380 times.  He tells them that when through prophecies that would be fulfilled by the Messiah.  And Jesus filled all of them.  Like: born in Bethlehem, would go to Egypt so that He comes out of Egypt, grow up in Nazareth, would do miracles, be raised from the dead, and betrayed by a friend……on and on.  That He will be forsaken by God, buried in a rich man’s tomb and come back in three days.

There’s one prophecy that was not fulfilled.  Psalm 69:12 says, “When I was thirsty they offered me vinegar.”   What are the odds that vinegar would be at this site?  Who would give you vinegar to drink anyway?  It’s called Pasca.  It was the most popular drink in lower class in Greece and Rome for 300 years.  David gave prophecy 1000 years earlier.  Wasn’t even around then.  It was wine that turned to vinegar.  They would add herbs to it and it was quite tasty.  The poor people drank it.  They would mix water with it.  It would quench the thirst better than water.  That’s why soldiers had it there.  They would be there for a long time and that’s what they gave Jesus on the Cross.  They also took a hyssop stick and put a sponge on the end.  Why?  Because Jesus’ hands were nailed to the Cross.  He couldn’t pick it up and drink it.  It was common to take the sponge and give it to criminals and put it to their mouths.  What’s the significance?

Remember Moses…..Ten Commandments and ten plagues.  Every one of them made fun of a false Egyptian god.  They worshipped all of those things even their first born.  When Pharaoh tells Moses he’s going to kill every first born of Hebrews, he sealed his own death warrant of his own son.  The Israelites are told to take the blood of lamb and paint the doorposts, so that when death angel comes, it will pass over them.  It’s where they get the word Passover and they celebrate it to this day.  It was a sign of their faith.  What do they paint it with?  Exodus 12:22,“Take a branch of the hyssop plant, dip it in the bowl filled with blood, then wipe the blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes.”  People knew there was another sign of who Jesus was….the Lamb of God who died for the sins of the world.  This shows Jesus is human and that He was the promised Messiah…..He finishes the prophecies.

Third Is He Really Loves Me

Jesus was willing to suffer, thirst and die for my sins.  He died for the redemption of others.  Means paying for sins.  Have you even gone thirsty for anybody else’s benefit?  In Romans 5:8 it says,“God demonstrates his love for us [in other words he shows it, he proves it] in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”   He gave His life to save our lives, to cover our sins, to protect us.  In Aug. of 1987 a plane took off in Detroit…. Northwest Flight 225.  If any of you can remember back that far that was the plane that took off for about twenty seconds and then crashed and killed a hundred fifty five people.   One Hundred fifty five people were killed in that plane crash.  One person lived – a four year old little girl named Cecilia from Tempe, Arizona.  They couldn’t figure out why she lived when everybody else died until they asked her.   What she explained was what her mother had done.  Because when the plane took off, as it began to decline and everybody realized they were going to crash, Cecilia’s mother took off her seatbelt, turned around and got in front of her child, surrounded her with her arms and legs and body, smothering her in her love, to protect her little girl.   The mother died, the little girl lived.  She gave her life for another.

That’s exactly what redemption is.  That’s what Jesus did for you.  He is on the cross going through hell so you don’t have to go through hell.  He is covering you from the punishment, from the flames, from the pain.  It shows how much he loves you.  God demonstrated his love for us – this much is how much I love you – by dying on the cross for us. 

THE THIRST OF OTHERS

If we love like Jesus, we too are suppose to thirst for others.   It’s love in action, like I told you before.  People out there are thirsty, spiritually thirsty, and we are to help them.  Amos 8:11-13 says, “The time is coming when I will send a famine on the land.   People will be hungry, but not for bread; they will be thirsty, but not for water.  They will hunger and thirst for a message from the Lord.  People will stagger everywhere from sea to sea, searching for a word of the Lord, running here and going there, but they will not find it.  Beautiful girls and fine young men will grow weary, thirsting for the Lord’s word.”  It’s a picture of our society today.  People look good on outside, empty on the inside.  They’re asking what will quench my thirst.  Two truths we need to give to them.

First Is I Serve Jesus By Serving Others 

The only way you can serve God is by serving other people.  You can’t see God here on earth.  God’s invisible here on earth.  How can you serve him?  You can’t.  You can serve directly in heaven but not here.  The only way you can serve God now is by serving other people in his name.  And helping others in his name.  Jesus talked about this.  In fact one day people are going to come to me and say “Lord, when did we serve you?”   Here’s what he says in Matthew 25:37-40,“Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you?  Or Lord when did we ever see you thirsty and gave you something to drink?’  And he [God] will say to them ‘I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers you were doing it for me.’”  We serve God by serving others.  We quench Jesus’ thirst, by quenching the thirst of other people.  By helping others and not just pray for them.  We are to do something.  Suffering always opens the door for love.  It’s God’s opportunity before you, so show love by being loving.

Second Is That God Notices The Smallest Service

t says, “So that the Scriptures would come true, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”  For thousands of years God had been telling Israel that He would send them a Messiah.  That He would come and die for them.  The O/T sacrificial system really doesn’t work; it’s just a symbol that one day I am coming.  He tells this to them over 380 times.  He tells them that when through prophecies that would be fulfilled by the Messiah.  And Jesus filled all of them.  Like: born in Bethlehem, would go to Egypt so that He comes out of Egypt, grow up in Nazareth, would do miracles, be raised from the dead, and betrayed by a friend……on and on.  That He will be forsaken by God, buried in a rich man’s tomb and come back in three days.

There’s one prophecy that was not fulfilled.  Psalm 69:12 says, “When I was thirsty they offered me vinegar.”   What are the odds that vinegar would be at this site?  Who would give you vinegar to drink anyway?  It’s called Pasca.  It was the most popular drink in lower class in Greece and Rome for 300 years.  David gave prophecy 1000 years earlier.  Wasn’t even around then.  It was wine that turned to vinegar.  They would add herbs to it and it was quite tasty.  The poor people drank it.  They would mix water with it.  It would quench the thirst better than water.  That’s why soldiers had it there.  They would be there for a long time and that’s what they gave Jesus on the Cross.  They also took a hyssop stick and put a sponge on the end.  Why?  Because Jesus’ hands were nailed to the Cross.  He couldn’t pick it up and drink it.  It was common to take the sponge and give it to criminals and put it to their mouths.  What’s the significance?

Remember Moses…..Ten Commandments and ten plagues.  Every one of them made fun of a false Egyptian god.  They worshipped all of those things even their first born.  When Pharaoh tells Moses he’s going to kill every first born of Hebrews, he sealed his own death warrant of his own son.  The Israelites are told to take the blood of lamb and paint the doorposts, so that when death angel comes, it will pass over them.  It’s where they get the word Passover and they celebrate it to this day.  It was a sign of their faith.  What do they paint it with?  Exodus 12:22,“Take a branch of the hyssop plant, dip it in the bowl filled with blood, then wipe the blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes.”  People knew there was another sign of who Jesus was….the Lamb of God who died for the sins of the world.  This shows Jesus is human and that He was the promised Messiah…..He finishes the prophecies.

Third Is He Really Loves Me

Jesus was willing to suffer, thirst and die for my sins.  He died for the redemption of others.  Means paying for sins.  Have you even gone thirsty for anybody else’s benefit?  In Romans 5:8 it says,“God demonstrates his love for us [in other words he shows it, he proves it] in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”   He gave His life to save our lives, to cover our sins, to protect us.  In Aug. of 1987 a plane took off in Detroit…. Northwest Flight 225.  If any of you can remember back that far that was the plane that took off for about twenty seconds and then crashed and killed a hundred fifty five people.   One Hundred fifty five people were killed in that plane crash.  One person lived – a four year old little girl named Cecilia from Tempe, Arizona.  They couldn’t figure out why she lived when everybody else died until they asked her.   What she explained was what her mother had done.  Because when the plane took off, as it began to decline and everybody realized they were going to crash, Cecilia’s mother took off her seatbelt, turned around and got in front of her child, surrounded her with her arms and legs and body, smothering her in her love, to protect her little girl.   The mother died, the little girl lived.  She gave her life for another.

That’s exactly what redemption is.  That’s what Jesus did for you.  He is on the cross going through hell so you don’t have to go through hell.  He is covering you from the punishment, from the flames, from the pain.  It shows how much he loves you.  God demonstrated his love for us – this much is how much I love you – by dying on the cross for us. 

THE THIRST OF OTHERS

If we love like Jesus, we too are suppose to thirst for others.   It’s love in action, like I told you before.  People out there are thirsty, spiritually thirsty, and we are to help them.  Amos 8:11-13 says, “The time is coming when I will send a famine on the land.   People will be hungry, but not for bread; they will be thirsty, but not for water.  They will hunger and thirst for a message from the Lord.  People will stagger everywhere from sea to sea, searching for a word of the Lord, running here and going there, but they will not find it.  Beautiful girls and fine young men will grow weary, thirsting for the Lord’s word.”  It’s a picture of our society today.  People look good on outside, empty on the inside.  They’re asking what will quench my thirst.  Two truths we need to give to them.

First Is I Serve Jesus By Serving Others 

The only way you can serve God is by serving other people.  You can’t see God here on earth.  God’s invisible here on earth.  How can you serve him?  You can’t.  You can serve directly in heaven but not here.  The only way you can serve God now is by serving other people in his name.  And helping others in his name.  Jesus talked about this.  In fact one day people are going to come to me and say “Lord, when did we serve you?”   Here’s what he says in Matthew 25:37-40,“Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you?  Or Lord when did we ever see you thirsty and gave you something to drink?’  And he [God] will say to them ‘I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers you were doing it for me.’”  We serve God by serving others.  We quench Jesus’ thirst, by quenching the thirst of other people.  By helping others and not just pray for them.  We are to do something.  Suffering always opens the door for love.  It’s God’s opportunity before you, so show love by being loving.

Second Is That God Notices The Smallest Service

Jesus, God, notices the smallest service.  A lot of times we think, “I want to do something great for God.”   God says, no; don’t do something great for me.  Just do something small.  Because the small things are all around you every day.  You’re not going to get to do the great things unless first you do the small things.  And if you’re faithful in a little, you’ll be faithful in much.  Matthew 10:42 says,“If you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.“  He says even just giving a cup of cold water to someone who’s thirsty, that’s ministry.   Did you know that?  You don’t have to be a preacher.  You don’t have to be a teacher.  You just give a cup of cold water to somebody who is thirsty and you do it in the name of the Lord and you do it in love. God says that counts.  You’re going to be rewarded.  As I said, it’s not the size of your service; it’s the amount of love you put into it.  Anybody going to be in heaven because of you?   You don’t have to be a preacher, you don’t have to be a teacher, you don’t have to be a theologian, you don’t have to have the Bible memorized, but you do have to be willing to take people to the bathroom if they need it.  What are you willing to do to get people into heaven?  Will you bring them next Sunday to our Easter Service?  Being a Christian is showing love in practical ways.  There are thirsty people all around you.

HOW DO YOU SATISFY YOUR THIRST?

First I Have To Realize What I’m Really Thirsty For

We think of what is going to make us happy and what will meet my needs, but it’s not going to meet them.  I will be sorely disappointed.  Because what I really need is God.  You see there is a God shaped hole in every human life.  God wired us that way and nothing can fill that emptiness.  Sex can’t, salary can’t, status can’t, and success can’t.  We try all kinds of things that we think will make us happy. Nobody can meet the needs in your life that God can meet.  Your spouse can’t, your boss can’t, your job can’t, and nothing can.  As long as you look to those other things called ‘idols’, you’re putting those things in place of God.  What you are really thirsty for is a relationship with God.  You don’t know it but that’s what it is.  The Bible says in Psalm 63:1,“Oh God, you are my God, and I long for you.  My whole being desires you; like a dry, worn out, waterless land, my soul is thirsty for you.”   We’re looking for love in all the wrong places and we’re looking for life in all the wrong places and we’re looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places. Only God can satisfy you.

Second I Need To Realize That Jesus Understands My Pain

The Bible says in Isaiah 53:4-5, “He took our suffering on himself and felt our pain for us… He was wounded for the wrong we did and crushed for the evil we did.  The punishment which made us well, was given to him, and we are healed because of his wounds.”   Jesus had 372 wounds, plus two in His hands and feet, pierced in the side, and a crown of thorns on His head.  He understands about physical pain and understands your pain.  He knows what it feels like.  He knows emotional pain, rejection, mocked, spit on, being mistreated, and devalued.  We have a Savior who understands what we go through because He was one of us. The Bible says it like this in Hebrews 4:15, “Our high priest  understands our weaknesses, for he faced all the same temptations that we do, yet he did not sin.”

Third, You Need To Stop Looking For Satisfaction Elsewhere

Stop looking for satisfaction somewhere besides Jesus.  Here’s what Jesus said, John 7:37-38, “On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted this to the crowds, ‘If you’re thirsty, come to me!  If you believe in me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare rivers of living water will flow out from within you.”  John 4:13-14,  Jesus said, “People soon become thirsty again after drinking this water.  But the water I give them takes away their thirst altogether.   It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life.”  Anytime you put something in place of God, you’re going to get thirsty again.  Sin is addicting….it makes you more thirsty.  You keep going back for more.  But Jesus says when you look to Me you’ll be permanently satisfied.  I’ll put a spring within you.  Question: If you feel unsatisfied with your life, that’s called Spiritual Thirst.  And the only way to quench that is the one that said, “I thirst.”  Jesus thirsted on the Cross so you don’t have to thirst.  You never have to be thirsty again.  The amazing thing is He’s thirsty for you to know Him because that’s what He came to do.

SERIES: SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS

MAUNDY THURSDAY 2011

Part Seven: “The Word Of Victory”

John 19:28-30

How many of you remember watching the first man who landed on the moon?  I remember when Neil Armstrong set that lunar module down and it was a great victory.  His victory statement was, “The Eagle has landed.”  Remember that?  Kind of a cool statement.  All throughout history there have been great victory statements when battlehave been won, sport games won, or people accomplished great things.  The words Jesus said from the Cross………..just three……..”It is finished”, is the greatest statement ever made.  Listen…John 19:28-30,“Knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.  When he had received the drink, Jesus

said, ‘IT IS FINISHED!’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

 

Jesus shouted, “It is finished.”  It was a cry of victory.  And then he bowed His head and  He gave up His spirit.  The religious thought…..good….He’s dead and gone.  We don’t  have to be envious of the Crowds He’s pulling anymore.  The disciples thought the kingdom is finished and even satan thought Jesus is done.  But you see Jesus didn’t say I am finished…..He said…..It is finished.  Big difference.  Three days later He came back to life.  Jesus had one goal on earth John 4:34, “Jesus said, ‘My food is to do what  God wants!  He is the one who sent me, and I must finish the work that he gave me

to do.”

WHAT DID JESUS ACCOMPLISH ON THE CROSS?

The Greek Word used for ‘it is finished’ was the word ‘telelestai.’  It means the picture is perfect.  Jesus dying finished the work…………….the picture was perfect. What were the things He finished?

First Jesus Fulfilled The Scriptures

Like I told you Sunday, there are over 380 prophecies in the Old Testament where God let His people know that Jesus was the real Messiah.  It’s not phony, fake, I claim it, but He says the way you’ll know Him is that these things will happen in my life.  Jesus fulfilled everyone of them.  And when He said ‘it is finished’ the job was completed.  He fulfilled them all.  He finished the work the Father sent Him to do.  Jesus said in  Luke 24:44-47, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be  fulfilled  that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’ Then he

opened their  minds so they could understand the Scriptures.  He told them, ‘This is what is  written: The Christ  will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and  forgiveness of sins will be  preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”  The Books of the Law, Prophets, Psalms in O/T never mentions Jesus’ name, but He was there.  Jesus opens their minds to understand Scripture.  We know more about the Old Testament than the people who lived back then because they just had a partial picture.  Jesus finished it…………

Second Jesus Satisfied The Law

When Jesus said, ‘it is finished’ He’s saying ‘justice has been served.’  What the law required, I have done and I’ve done it for you.  The Bible says the penalty for sin is death.  Romans 8:3-4 says, “The Law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature.  But God put into effect a different plan to save us.  He sent His own Son in  ahuman body like ours, except  that ours is sinful.  God destroyed sin’s control over us  by giving His son as a sacrifice for our sins.  And he did this so that the requirement of  the law would be fully accomplished for us who no longer follow our sinful nature but  instead follow the Spirit.  Nobody has ever been saved by being good, or  by keeping the Ten Commandments, or by keeping all the rules in the Bible.  The only person who has ever kept every law in Bible is Jesus.  We have all sinned and Jesus wipes the slate clean when we accept Him.  It’s finished…….you’re mind. 

Third Jesus Paid My Penalty

The Bible tells us that the penalty for sin is death.  And Jesus is saying I’m the spotless  sacrifice; I’ve paid it all.  Colossians 1:14 says, “God’s Son paid the price to free us, which means that our sins are forgiven.”  Jesus is the spotless sacrifice and has paid it all for us.  Every one of our sins have been forgiven in full.  Today, we rarely pay

for everything in full.  We put it on a revolving charge card, which means we are going  to pay and pay and pay, and the interest is going to rack up when you don’t pay.  You  end up paying a lot more for the stuff because you’re not paying for it in full.  When Jesus paid for your sins, He did it once for all.  You don’t have to pay for them and keep  on paying for them..  He forgets about it.  Just like if you pay your electric bill, you forget about it…….it’s paid. 

Hebrews 7:27 “He sacrificed for their sins once for all  when he offered himself.”  Hebrews 10:18. “Now that sins have been forgiven,  there is no need to  offer any more sacrifices.”  Means the sacrificial system is  over  and Jesus paid it.  You don’t have to  work harder, go to church more often, serve more,  just stop trying to do more.  It’s been paid in full.  You can’t earn your way to heaven.   So stop trying to make it more complicated than it is.  Keep your eyes on Jesus and know He’s paid it all and rejoice.  IT’S DONE!. DON’T FORGET THAT!

Fourth He Conquered Sin And Death

He broke their grip in our lives.  The fear of death and the grip of sin and the power over us and when Jesus said “It is finished” He is giving a shout of victory.  Romans 5:17 says, “The sin of one man, Adam caused death to rule over us, but all who receive God’s wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”  When we invite Jesus into our lives we get a new power to stop doing things we couldn’t stop doing on our own.  He gives us the ability to overcome the sin in our lives.  The habits, hurts, hang ups that we

experience.  It’s a supernatural ability.  Not that you are never going to sin again, but you now have a new power to not sin.  To be able to make the right choice.  We have  the power to resist it if we want to.

Are you afraid to die?  That my friends is from the devil. Satan wants you to be afraid of  death because he wants you to die and he wants to ruin your life.  He wants you to be  with him.  I’m not saying we won’t have feelings like this, but we need to recognize who is bringing it upon us.  We need to remember not to be afraid because Jesus is our  best friend and we can trust what He said.  We know where we will go.  Paul says in  “For me to die is gain, to live is Christ.”  Don’t go around with the fear of death because He’s broke that through the resurrection.

Fifth Thing He Did, He Defeated The Devil

When Jesus said “It is finished,” a cosmic war was being played out between Satan and the Son of God.  From the human standpoint it looked like Satan had won.  Here’s Jesus on the cross, battered, bruised, beaten up, bleeding, dying.  It looks like Satan has won.  And Satan thought he had destroyed the Son of God.  When Jesus said, “It is finished,” Satan goes uh-oh.  I really hadn’t thought this one through.  I’m finished.  Satan knew at that point you could stick a fork in him.  Uh-oh!  What was I thinking?  I thought I could destroy God! The arrogance of that.  Three days later, Jesus arises from the grave and says “I’m back!” and Satan was finished.

This was a fatal blow on Satan’s plan for your life.  You say “Wait a minute!  It seems like Satan is pretty alive today.”  Oh yeah.  But look at this verse, Colossians 2:15 “God took away Satan’s power to accuse you of sin, and he openly displayed to the whole world Christ’s triumph at the cross where your sins were all taken away.”  He’s freed us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of light.  But satan still goes around trying to mess up people doesn’t he……even us?  How is he dead?

I’ve tried to think of a good illustration of this and the only one I could think of is chickens.  When I was in high school, my dad decided to get some chickens and kill them and defeather them to put in freezer.  When we chopped off the head of the chicken and placed it on the ground it still ran around for a minute or two with the head cut off.  That’s where the phrase “Like a chicken with its head cut off,” happened.  He’s dead and doesn’t know it!  He’s been disconnected, the head from the body.  It was kind of funny to me seeing a chicken run around with its head cut off.

That is a perfect description of Satan in these final days.  He’s dead and doesn’t know it.  His death warrant has been signed.  He’s cooked.  He lost.  It’s finished!  He can’t accuse me.  No matter what I do in my life between now and death, I’m still going to heaven.  Because I can’t lose my salvation.  It’s been paid in full.  Is that good new?  That is good news!  That is good news!  I may mess up, I may screw up, I may cause all kinds of difficulties to my family or whatever, but I’m not losing that salvation, because once I put my hand in his hand it is closed and he’s not letting go.  I may want to let go but he’s not letting go.  And it’s paid in full.

In Conclusion 

Let me summarize this.  What did Jesus do when he died on the cross?  What did he do when he accomplished what he accomplished?  What was finished on the cross?  He fulfilled the Scripture.  He satisfied the law.  He paid my penalty.  He conquered sin and death.  He defeated the devil.  What a God!  What a Savior! That’s why “It is finished,” are the most important words you will ever hear in your life.  He knows my name.  And I’m sure that when Jesus went back to heaven the Father said “Well done Son.  Well done!”  When you get discouraged and you start to think that things aren’t going right in your life you remember what’s already been done. 

The Bible says this.  Back in the Old Testament there were a bunch of people who were getting beat up.  They said this: “Lord, we have no power to face this vast enemy that is attacking us.  We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”  I was on the interent the other day looking at a video on Mount Rushmore which I visited back in the early 90’s.  It was a pretty impressive sight when you see it up close and not just on a picture.  But one things stuck with me.  It’s unfinished.  The guy ran out of money and then he died.  The government cut off the funding.  His son took over and worked on it for four months, gave up and quit and it was never completed.  More of their bodies were suppose to be shown.  We all die with unfinished business.

Only one man has ever died being able to say it’s done, I did it, I finished, no unfinished business:  Jesus Christ.  That’s good news for you.  Paul sums it up this way.  “Saving is all his idea and all his work.  All we do is trust him enough to let him do it.  It’s God’s gift from start to finish.”  Friends, there is zero, nothing you can do to earn your salvation.  There is nothing you can add to your salvation.  What if I took a brush and decided, “I think I’m going to improve the Mona Lisa?”  Ludicrous.  What if I took a chisel and decided I was going to try to improve Michelangelo’s David?   Ludicrous.

Don’t try to improve on what God’s already done for you.  You can’t.  The difference between what Jesus came to do and all religions can be summed up in two letters.  Every other religion has two letters in it – d-o.  They just have a different list.  Do these things and God will like you; do those things and God will like you.  Every religion has got their list of dos.  Our faith adds two more letters – d-o… n-e.  Done!  Finished.  I don’t have to do anything.  “It is finished!”  Done.  All we do, the Bible says, is trust him.

There’s an old story that every pastor has told for a hundred years.  There’s a well known pastor back in the twentieth century who had finished speaking one night and a man came up to him.  He said, “I need to know what do I do to get to heaven.  What do I do to be saved?”  The pastor looked at him and said “You’re too late.”  What do you mean?  The service is over?  “You’re too late.”  Why?  “Everything that needed to be done was done two thousand years ago.  You’re too late.  All you can do is accept it.”

Paul says in Acts 20:24, “I only want to complete my mission and finish the work.  I only want to complete my mission and finish the work the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the Good News about the grace of God.”  That’s the work He’s given each one of us to do.  My work and your work is not finished.  What is our work?  To tell others about the finished work.  To tell other people what’s already done by Jesus and help them to come to Him.

SERIES: SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS

GOOD FRIDAY 2011

Part Eight: “The Word Of Trust

Luke 23:44-47

This is the last phrase Jesus spoke.  Last words have been said by many people.  There was a guy named James Rogers who was a criminal about to be executed by a firing squad and they asked him, “Do you have any final requests?”  He said, “Yes, a bullet proof vest.”  That actually happened.  George Sedgwick who was a Civil War commander for the Union Army, was killed on the battle field while looking at the enemy saying, “They couldn’t hit an elephant at that distance!” That really happened and he was shot and killed.  Tonight we look at the last words of Jesus on the cross.

Luke 23:44-47 says, “By this time it was noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.  The light from the sun was gone.  And suddenly, the thick veil hanging in the Temple was torn apart.  Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands.”  And with those words he breathed his last. When the captain of the Roman soldiers handling the executions saw what had happened, he praise God and he said, “Surely this man was innocent and the Son of God.”

This man saw hundreds of crucifixions because it was the common procedure for executing criminals in the Roman Empire.  They hung them on crosses and let them die, but this one was different.  There was nothing to compare it with and he says, “This man was innocent.”  “This man had to be the Son of God.”  He was there for all of the words that Jesus spoke and it was different.  Many blame the Romans, the Religious Leaders for Jesus death, but actually Jesus gave his life himself……………for us.  He laid it down, He volunteered to die.  His love for us is what caused him to die that day and nothing else.  And on Sunday, he took it back up for us.  He shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands.”  People don’t usually die shouting.  It is usually a moan that you can hardly hear.  All of us face dark days.  And when we do we need to hold onto four truths we need to trust from these words.

First We Need To Remember We Have A Father In Heaven That Loves Us

When Jesus says this wonderful word, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands” he has returned to calling God ‘Father.’  He could do this because the time of judgment was over.  Reconciliation has been completed and now he’s back to using this loving word ‘Father.’  God as our Father is not like human fathers.  He’s not distant.  He won’t abandon you.  He is a consistent Father who is always near you, available to you and loving you.  He will love you more than any human man will ever love you.  He sees and cares about every single thing that happens to you in your life.  He helps us to trust Him.  To trust Him with his plan for our lives.  Psalm 103 says, “As a Father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who honor him.”  Means that he loves you very much.  Don’t ever forget that.

Second We Need To Remember Is My Father Can Be Trusted

That’s why Jesus said, “I entrust my spirit into your hands.”  Trust is one of the greatest questions we ask sometimes isn’t it?    Who are you going to trust in life will determine whether you’re happy or miserable, whether you will succeed or fail, whether to make something of your life or waste your life.  It all depends on who you’re going to trust. 

Who are you going to trust?  Congress?  Media?  Popular culture?  Yourself?  Emotions?  TV?  If you want to trust someone it better be someone who has your best interests at heart, knows everything, is perfect, and will never lie to you.  That kind of limits your options……to God.  Because nobody is ever going to tell you the truth.  Truth is what you and I need to hear.  Bible tells us that the truth will set us free.  Psalm 33:4 says, “For the word of the Lord holds true, and everything he does is worthy of our trust.”  Your Father in heaven is someone that you can trust.

Whatever you entrust to God, he's going to take care of.  You can count on it.  What do you need to entrust to God tonight?  Worry, pain, suffering, your commitment to God?  Many people don’t think they can keep a commitment to God.  Honestly, you can’t and won’t because we mess up all the time.  But, you see, your salvation isn’t based on your keeping the commitment.  It’s based on Christ keeping his commitment of what you’ve put into his hands, your life.  He does it all.  And once God gives it to you, he doesn’t take it back.  God gives each person the choice.  Easter proves there is life after death.

Third We Need To Remember My Father Is Doing Things I Can’t See

There’s an unseen spiritual realm that he’s working behind the scenes in your life.  You see, you are far more than a body; you’re a spirit.  There is a spirit in your body and when you die, your body is buried in the ground but your spirit lives on for eternity because you were made in the image of God.  Death is not the end, it is the beginning.  You’ll either be with God or separated from God based on the decision you make here on this earth about Jesus.  Did you know that there is a war going on for your soul because this life is not all there is?  You can’t see all that God is doing on your behalf behind the scenes. 

So, whenever we go through problems remember God is working.  Job said in 23 says, 'When he is at work in the north, I don’t see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. But he knows the way that I take; and when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”  Life is a test……………..  God is not a Genie.  He doesn’t work that way.  He uses faith…..our faith to help us with the tests of life.  With that comes decisions, delays, difficulties, sometimes it looks like a dead end, but then comes deliverance.  That’s when God supernaturally acts. He’s always is acting behind the scenes doing things we can’t see.

Fourth We Need To Remember He Can Handle Anything I Give Him

Jesus can handle all of pain, doubt, complaints.  When He said, “Into your hands…..it’s an expression of care and security and trust and ability.  Even today you hear it.  You’re in good hands with Allstate.  Means you can trust us.  In your crisis we will come through for you.  Our Father has very big hands and He’s got the whole world in His hands.  God’s hands are big enough to bless me.  They are scarred enough to never forget me.  In heaven the only scars and wounds will be on Jesus.  You’re going to have a perfect body with no scars or blemishes.  The Bible says in Isaiah 49:15-16, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion for the child she has born?  But though she may forget, I will not forget you!  I have engraved you on the palms of my hands!”  If you want to know how much you matter to me, look at my hands.  See these nail prints?  That’s how much I love you and I’m not ever going to forget you.

God’s strong enough to keep me eternally secure.  In John 10:28-29 it says, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish… My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; and no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hands.”  Once you put your life in God’s hands, nobody can snatch you out.  You say, can’t you just jump out?  How big do you think God’s hands are?  You’re never going to get to the edge of his hands.  Every aspect of your life is in his hands.  God is telling each of us that we can trust Him.  Just put all of your life into God’s hands.  That’s what Easter is all about.

In closing I would like to quote Psalm 31:5 for you, which Jesus quotes, and is the greatest Psalm in the Bible on how to trust God in pain.  Let me read you a little of the rest of the Psalm.  From the Message paraphrase, verse 5, “I put my life in your hands.  You won’t drop me; you’ll never let me down.  You saw my pain, you disarmed my tormentors, and you didn’t leave me in their clutches but gave me room to breathe.  Be kind to me, God - I’m in deep, deep trouble again.  I’ve cried my eyes out; I feel hollow inside.  My life leaks away, groan by groan; my years fade out in sighs.  My troubles have worn me out, turned my bones to powder. [verse 14] Desperate, I throw myself on you: you are my God!  Hour by hour I place my days in your hands, safe from the hands out to get me.  Warm me, your servant, with a smile; save me because you love me.”