Jesus suffered/ crucified/ died/ buried?
Series: WE BELIEVE
Speaker: James Barnett
Date: 29th February 2020
Passages:
00:00:00 --> 00:00:10 I feel so distant. I feel as if I've done something to hurt him. I know he's angry at me.
00:00:11 --> 00:00:15 I'm really worried about the future of our relationship and I'm sure that we
00:00:15 --> 00:00:25 are destined for ruin. Does he really love me? How could he love me? How could he forgive me
00:00:25 --> 00:00:32 so that we can continue? Maybe you felt this way about a friend, a husband or a wife,
00:00:33 --> 00:00:39 that feeling of concern about the state of your relationship. But have you ever had those
00:00:39 --> 00:00:49 thoughts about your relationship with God? God, you really love me. God, I've sinned. I've done all
00:00:49 --> 00:00:54 kinds of horrible things. Maybe I'm just too wicked to be a Christian, to be part of your family.
00:00:55 --> 00:01:04 How could you love me when I just continue to rebel and hurt you? Today, we're continuing to look
00:01:04 --> 00:01:09 through the words of the Apostles' Creed, what we've been looking through over the last number of weeks,
00:01:09 --> 00:01:15 the summary of the Christian faith. And today, we're looking at the words that Jesus suffered
00:01:15 --> 00:01:24 under Pontius Pilate, that he was crucified, that he died and was buried. And this suffering is going
00:01:24 --> 00:01:33 to show how much God loves us. Now, if you've been here before, if you've been here particularly at
00:01:33 --> 00:01:40 Easter, you have likely heard this message about Jesus' crucifixion. But listen well, because this
00:01:40 --> 00:01:49 is the heart, this is the very centre of God's good news for us. And to truly understand why Jesus would
00:01:49 --> 00:01:58 suffer, we first have to look at where we stand with God. Because God is both a God of wrath and
00:01:58 --> 00:02:06 a God of love, of justice and mercy. We need to see what we deserve before this God, before we can truly
00:02:06 --> 00:02:12 understand his love for us. So please, let's pray as we have a look at God's Word.
00:02:13 --> 00:02:20 Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for your Word to us, and that you reveal yourself, and you reveal how much
00:02:20 --> 00:02:27 you love us. Father, we are likely to have heard and thought about Jesus' death before, but Lord, we ask
00:02:27 --> 00:02:34 that you would strike us anew at how amazing it is that you sent your Son to die for us. Amen.
00:02:36 --> 00:02:44 To say that God loves us is true. He sent Jesus to die for us. But it's a little bit like
00:02:44 --> 00:02:54 saying that I love Alyssa, my wife, and I also love donuts. You need to understand the context
00:02:54 --> 00:03:00 behind both of them to understand how much love I have for them. You would hope that I have more love
00:03:00 --> 00:03:09 for Alyssa, right? Yeah, okay, good. So there's sacrifice and compromise. One love is much deeper,
00:03:09 --> 00:03:17 one has lasted for much longer, one is gone in the space of about 10 seconds. We don't fully
00:03:17 --> 00:03:23 understand God's love for us displayed on the cross unless we actually understand the context
00:03:23 --> 00:03:33 in which it is displayed. The context that shows us how deep his love for us, how much of his wrath is
00:03:33 --> 00:03:39 dealt with in the cross. You see, God's wrath in the Bible, it is never out of control.
00:03:40 --> 00:03:48 His wrath and anger towards us is not self-indulgent. It is not reflexive anger that, say, an angry
00:03:48 --> 00:03:57 parent would display. God's wrath is the right and necessary reaction to evil. God's wrath is that of a
00:03:57 --> 00:04:05 judge administering punishment fairly. From Romans chapter 2, it says, because of your stubbornness
00:04:05 --> 00:04:12 and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath,
00:04:12 --> 00:04:19 when his righteous judgment shall be revealed. The book of Romans paints this terrifying image,
00:04:19 --> 00:04:26 particularly the first couple of chapters, where we as people, a group of people made up of individuals,
00:04:26 --> 00:04:34 daily make choices and who have stubborn hearts, hearts that like to pursue things that damage us
00:04:34 --> 00:04:42 and drag us further away from God, and we are building up wrath of God against us. And he is going to
00:04:42 --> 00:04:51 unleash that wrath, not in an uncontrolled way, but as a righteous judge. God's wrath is his response to our sin,
00:04:52 --> 00:04:58 setting ourselves in opposition to him as an enemy. Paul paints how bad this picture is in Ephesians 2,
00:04:58 --> 00:05:04 all of us have also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh,
00:05:04 --> 00:05:11 following its desires and thoughts like the rest we were by nature, deserving of wrath.
00:05:12 --> 00:05:22 All of us. It's frighteningly clear where we stand before God. We have set ourselves up in opposition
00:05:22 --> 00:05:32 to God. We have sinned and he stores up this wrath which we deserve and we are due it. See, God deserves
00:05:32 --> 00:05:39 far more than just obedience. He deserves more than even filial piety as our heavenly father.
00:05:40 --> 00:05:46 Yet we have all rejected him. We've not lived up to his perfect standards. We've no way to become better,
00:05:46 --> 00:05:52 to improve and to meet his expectations. It leaves us in a terrible position.
00:05:54 --> 00:06:01 It was about two years ago, I got caught doing something terrible. I got caught holding my phone
00:06:01 --> 00:06:07 while I was driving. Has anybody else had this happen to them? I don't know if your parents are here,
00:06:07 --> 00:06:12 you don't need to put your hand up, that's okay. I was on my way out to a conference, a training
00:06:12 --> 00:06:18 conference that was coming up and I was on one of the M roads where the M roads connect with another
00:06:18 --> 00:06:24 M road and there's another M road. I think it's the M5, M7, I don't know, M45, whatever that is,
00:06:24 --> 00:06:30 the big octopus out west. And I had no idea which exit I needed to take. And so I'd slowed down from
00:06:30 --> 00:06:37 110 to 80 going slower and looking at my phone, which one is it? Is it this one? And I think the
00:06:37 --> 00:06:42 police officer first noticed that I was slowing down. I wasn't matching the speed of other traffic,
00:06:42 --> 00:06:50 that was my first mistake. Pulls up next to me, looks in, siren on, ticket, demerit points. But
00:06:50 --> 00:06:58 don't worry, those demerit points, they're almost clear. And I got done that time. But how many other
00:06:58 --> 00:07:03 times have I been holding my phone and I haven't gotten done for it? How many times have I been
00:07:03 --> 00:07:10 speeding? How many times have I gotten away with it? The terrifying thing is that God knows every
00:07:10 --> 00:07:20 single act of disobedience, of rebellion, every flicker of our heart, every side glance in anger,
00:07:20 --> 00:07:25 anger, every lustful look, every inclination of our heart of rebellion.
00:07:28 --> 00:07:34 I grew up in a Christian family and when I was in year seven, it was the mid-90s,
00:07:34 --> 00:07:40 I was struck by my position before God. I'd heard the two ways to live presentation of the gospel,
00:07:40 --> 00:07:46 that God had made everything and he was the king and deserved to be obeyed and we set up ourselves
00:07:46 --> 00:07:53 up in opposition and we deserve death, eternal death, but Jesus comes and takes that death for us.
00:07:53 --> 00:07:59 And I remember hearing this gospel presentation and being struck with fear.
00:07:59 --> 00:08:07 I don't want to be on the bad side of a wrathful and angry God. I don't want to be punished for
00:08:07 --> 00:08:15 eternity. I'll get on Jesus' side. And it's important to sit there for a moment,
00:08:15 --> 00:08:23 to understand how miserable our lot is in life without Jesus. To understand that we are due
00:08:23 --> 00:08:31 the full wrath of God's anger to be poured out on us. I'm thankful that when I came to know God,
00:08:32 --> 00:08:37 I had that moment of terror, but I'm even more thankful to God that that is not where I still am.
00:08:38 --> 00:08:43 Because it is a good place to start, but if I'd stayed there, it would have been terrible.
00:08:44 --> 00:08:49 A position of fear before God is not the place that we are to stay. Proverbs says that the fear of
00:08:49 --> 00:08:56 the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and fearing God alone is not the gospel. The good news of the
00:08:56 --> 00:09:03 gospel is not that we can be saved from an angry God. The good news of the gospel is that God has
00:09:03 --> 00:09:13 made a way for salvation. It's called the great exchange, where God exchanges the life of his son
00:09:13 --> 00:09:22 for us, where he takes the punishment instead of us. Because apart from Jesus, our condition is
00:09:22 --> 00:09:30 miserable and ruinous. We are fearful sinners in the hands of an angry God who is right to punish us.
00:09:31 --> 00:09:37 The wonderful joy of the gospel is the great exchange, that God exchanges his son for us so we
00:09:37 --> 00:09:43 can have life. I don't think this is a particularly good deal though. It was just over a year ago,
00:09:44 --> 00:09:53 we bought a new tent, this fancy 10-person tent to take our kids camping. We set it up at home in the
00:09:53 --> 00:09:59 backyard because, I don't know, has anybody ever sent up a tent? It can be just a little stressful
00:09:59 --> 00:10:04 putting up a tent. And we did it in the backyard and Alyssa and I worked like a team. It was really
00:10:04 --> 00:10:10 great. We set it up, no problems. The second time we set it up was at the campsite. You mind a beach
00:10:10 --> 00:10:19 caravan park? Lovely spot. And here's a photo of what happened. Thanks, Ali. This piece, this trifold
00:10:19 --> 00:10:25 piece, held three different poles together, holding all the tension so the tent can stand upright.
00:10:25 --> 00:10:32 And as soon as those poles went in, it just snapped. And you can see Alyssa's response. Oh no!
00:10:32 --> 00:10:37 What are we going to do? Don't you worry, Gaffer Tape fixed it. We just wrapped it up with tape.
00:10:38 --> 00:10:45 And it functioned. We're going camping again in just over a week's time. And I called up the camping
00:10:45 --> 00:10:50 store, still within a year of warranty, and said, oh look, I've got this broken piece. How do I
00:10:50 --> 00:10:56 replace the part? And I said, oh, we don't replace parts. Just bring the tent in. We'll just replace the
00:10:56 --> 00:11:04 whole thing. So I have this shiny new tent that I'm setting up next week. And it just seemed a little
00:11:04 --> 00:11:15 ridiculous. A whole tent likely wasted and thrown out for one small part. God says to us in John 3.16
00:11:15 --> 00:11:22 that he gave his one and only son. And John continues in verse 36 that whoever believes in the son has
00:11:22 --> 00:11:29 life. But whoever rejects the son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them. God, when he makes
00:11:29 --> 00:11:37 his exchange for us, is for a much worse deal. We aren't just a little bit broken like the one piece
00:11:37 --> 00:11:48 of my tent. We are corrupt from our actions to our inmost thoughts. And God willingly sends his son.
00:11:48 --> 00:11:55 God chooses to send Jesus to go to the cross to exchange his life for ours.
00:11:57 --> 00:12:04 We now come to the center of the Apostles' Creed, the center of the gospel itself, that Jesus takes
00:12:04 --> 00:12:10 our place, that he exchanges his life for ours. As the Creed says, we believe in a Jesus who
00:12:10 --> 00:12:15 suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.
00:12:15 --> 00:12:26 When it comes to God placing his wrath on Jesus instead of us, so much more is going on than just
00:12:26 --> 00:12:37 his death. He also suffers, far more than we realize sometimes. On Jesus' head is all our guilt and shame
00:12:37 --> 00:12:45 and our sin. All the wrath that we deserve is placed on Jesus' head. The movie The Passion of the
00:12:45 --> 00:12:53 Christ came out in 2004. And one of the things it does really well is it depicts Jesus' suffering.
00:12:53 --> 00:13:00 Ali, if you want to put this photo up. Jesus is tortured by the Romans. And they were trained
00:13:00 --> 00:13:06 in whipping people to within an inch of their life. Ali, you can take that image down now.
00:13:06 --> 00:13:18 That picture should shock us. The Romans tortured Jesus, able to get maximum pain without letting
00:13:18 --> 00:13:26 their victims die or go into shock. They had perfected whipping and crucifixion so that the
00:13:26 --> 00:13:32 victim would feel every whip and thorn and nail and every ragged breath.
00:13:32 --> 00:13:43 And this Jesus endured. The pain, the contempt, the reviling, having his flesh ripped from his back,
00:13:44 --> 00:13:52 being hung up to struggle to breathe and slowly die on the cross. All for us rebellious people.
00:13:53 --> 00:14:00 His suffering is not accidental, but it was planned. It was deliberately done for us. Isaiah speaks of the
00:14:00 --> 00:14:05 suffering servant who would come and save. From Isaiah 53,
00:14:06 --> 00:14:12 surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him punished by God,
00:14:13 --> 00:14:19 stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our
00:14:19 --> 00:14:25 iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we were healed.
00:14:25 --> 00:14:32 We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him
00:14:32 --> 00:14:41 the iniquity of us all. Jesus's death was not accidental. He was pierced because of our choices and sin.
00:14:42 --> 00:14:50 He was crushed for us. But because of his wounds we are healed. But as if it's not bad enough,
00:14:50 --> 00:14:57 Jesus didn't only suffer physically, he also suffered spiritually on the cross.
00:14:58 --> 00:15:05 He endured God's wrath to purchase the good news of the gospel. He took on God's full wrath.
00:15:06 --> 00:15:12 That's what his suffering on the cross achieves. For several hours, hanging on the cross,
00:15:12 --> 00:15:19 he suffered for our eternal sins, satisfying God's wrath once and for all time.
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 Paul again talks about this in Romans 5.
00:15:22 --> 00:15:28 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath
00:15:28 --> 00:15:35 through him? Jesus takes God's wrath and turns it aside from us.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:43 The full sentence of guilt and punishment is meted out and exhausted. Imagine if you've got a bonfire
00:15:43 --> 00:15:49 there and you've got some wood in there and you just dump petrol on it and it just explodes into flame
00:15:49 --> 00:15:57 until all of the fuel is burned up. That is what Jesus has taken. God's anger has built and built
00:15:57 --> 00:16:07 and stored up for centuries and it gets poured out, directed not to us, but to Jesus in his painful
00:16:07 --> 00:16:15 suffering and crucifixion. Romans 6 says that the wages of sin is death. And even though we have
00:16:15 --> 00:16:25 earned that wage, Jesus has accepted it. He has paid that cost. It's even more impossible than paying off
00:16:25 --> 00:16:33 one mortgage in Sydney. Imagine trying to pay off every single person's mortgage in Sydney. Jesus has paid
00:16:33 --> 00:16:42 off the sin of every person. Jesus's death by crucifixion is necessary for us.
00:16:44 --> 00:16:51 It is the only way that we can have forgiveness. Hebrews 9 says that nearly everything needs to be
00:16:51 --> 00:16:59 cleansed with blood because without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Jesus had to die
00:16:59 --> 00:17:07 or we couldn't be forgiven. But it couldn't just be a normal death. He couldn't just get mugged one night
00:17:07 --> 00:17:15 and accidentally murdered. Jesus couldn't have gotten sick and died. If he was drowned at sea,
00:17:16 --> 00:17:22 it wouldn't be a sufficient death. There would be no evidence that God's wrath had been satisfied.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:30 Jesus had to have a death that was in exchange. The guilty set free and the innocent killed.
00:17:32 --> 00:17:38 So when Jesus is brought before Pilate on trial, it's clear that he is taking our place.
00:17:39 --> 00:17:42 Pilate declared in John 18, that was read for us,
00:17:43 --> 00:17:49 I find no basis for a charge against him, but it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner
00:17:49 --> 00:17:57 at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release the king of the Jews? They shouted back
00:17:57 --> 00:18:05 at him, no, not him. Give us Barabbas. Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising. Pilate finds Jesus
00:18:05 --> 00:18:13 innocent and yet he condemns him. He takes the place of a man called Barabbas who was guilty of
00:18:13 --> 00:18:21 an uprising against the government, likely murdering people. The murderer is set free and the innocent
00:18:21 --> 00:18:31 dies. An exchange takes place. Jesus chooses to suffer and to die on the cross in our place.
00:18:32 --> 00:18:38 And this is a symbol we still hold to. I've got a tattoo of the cross on my wrist. You can't really
00:18:38 --> 00:18:44 see because of my watch these days. Many of us wear cross necklaces. Crosses decorate our homes.
00:18:44 --> 00:18:50 There's crosses decorating here. There's one just here. There's some up there. If you go up the stairs,
00:18:50 --> 00:18:58 there's some stained glass in there. There's a cross depicted in there. We decorate our lives with
00:18:58 --> 00:19:10 crosses. The cross was a torture device. But it's how God chose to save us all. It's a symbol of brutality
00:19:10 --> 00:19:21 and beauty. It's a symbol of terror and triumph. The cross, which was a torture device, is how God
00:19:21 --> 00:19:30 chose to save us all. Ever since Adam first sinned, death has been the consequence. But now the sting of
00:19:30 --> 00:19:37 death has been plucked. The cross has defeated death and we need this. We need this because we all stand
00:19:37 --> 00:19:46 fearful before death. Living lives just waiting for the time of our own death, whenever that is.
00:19:46 --> 00:19:52 I'm not sure if you saw in the news this week. I believe it was in North Epping. There was a lady
00:19:52 --> 00:20:00 having lunch when she was hit by a car and died. We are fragile people.
00:20:03 --> 00:20:11 While we wait for death, death ravages around us. Death has no pity for the young, no mercy for the old.
00:20:11 --> 00:20:19 It pays no regard for the good or the beautiful, for the rich or the poor. Death is our enemy and it
00:20:19 --> 00:20:28 spreads fear with it. As the coronavirus spreads, so does fear and anxiety, that fear and racism that
00:20:28 --> 00:20:36 says anyone could have it, death is coming for me, you stay away. But death is an enemy to be destroyed.
00:20:36 --> 00:20:43 And Jesus has done that in his death at the cross. 1 Corinthians 15 says that death has been
00:20:43 --> 00:20:52 swallowed up in victory. He's abolished death and he has brought life. Even though our bodies might
00:20:52 --> 00:20:58 still perish, Jesus has destroyed spiritual death and punishment by taking it on the cross.
00:20:58 --> 00:21:07 Now death has no sting. We will all be dead a little while before we are raised like Jesus.
00:21:08 --> 00:21:13 And Paul says in Romans that it's as if we've already died. We were therefore buried with him
00:21:13 --> 00:21:20 through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, through the glory
00:21:20 --> 00:21:26 of the Father, we too may live a new life. You only have to think of when we do baptisms here. We get a big
00:21:26 --> 00:21:33 tank over here. We fill it with water. And what we do is people go down into the water as if they are
00:21:33 --> 00:21:41 going down into the grave and come up in a new life. The old life is dead. The new life has begun.
00:21:43 --> 00:21:50 Because our sin has been crucified at the crucifixion. Our old life has died with him
00:21:50 --> 00:21:55 and was buried with him. And when we follow Jesus, our new life starts.
00:21:57 --> 00:22:07 So how much does God love me? When I ask Micah, my nearly three-year-old, how much I love him,
00:22:07 --> 00:22:17 he says this much. And it is so true of God that God loves us this much that his son would die on the
00:22:17 --> 00:22:25 cross for us. But if we were to just say that Jesus died on the cross, it would give us some idea.
00:22:26 --> 00:22:32 But it's as if we've placed a telescope right up against a painting. Or we've taken someone to a
00:22:32 --> 00:22:37 brand new home. And we get to the door and we want to show them around. And we pull out our phone and
00:22:37 --> 00:22:44 we say, have a look at my house. And we show them the photos on the phone. God's love is on display
00:22:44 --> 00:22:52 in all that Jesus did for us. He not only died, but we who were distant from God, we who
00:22:52 --> 00:22:59 were deserving of his wrath and anger and punishment under his eternal curse of death.
00:22:59 --> 00:23:08 We were beyond God's blessing. We were slaves of Satan. We were prisoners of sin outside and in
00:23:08 --> 00:23:21 our hearts. We were destined for destruction. But God, but God interceded. Jesus took on all the
00:23:21 --> 00:23:28 punishment that threatened us. The blood of Jesus has cleansed us of the evil that made us hateful to
00:23:28 --> 00:23:37 God. And by his death, took on all of God's wrath and punishment so that now we can have peace with God.
00:23:37 --> 00:23:43 We can have friendship as the church together as a family, able to cry out to God as our father.
00:23:44 --> 00:23:53 That is how much God loves me and you. That he makes the great exchange possible. That the son of God,
00:23:54 --> 00:24:02 our savior Jesus, would willingly be tortured and suffer and die, having God's wrath poured out on him
00:24:02 --> 00:24:11 for us. For me and for you who don't deserve it. Who continue to rebel even today and tomorrow.
00:24:12 --> 00:24:22 That he would give us enough value to swap the life of his son for us. Our punishment for freedom.
00:24:22 --> 00:24:25 This is the heart of the gospel. Let me pray.
00:24:29 --> 00:24:33 Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much that you love us enough.
00:24:34 --> 00:24:38 That you have made a way for us. That you sent Jesus to
00:24:38 --> 00:24:41 not only die, but to suffer.
00:24:42 --> 00:24:43 To brutally
00:24:43 --> 00:24:48 take on the wrath and punishment that we deserve from you.
00:24:48 --> 00:24:51 And that he died in our place.
00:24:52 --> 00:24:54 Lord, we thank you so much for the great exchange.
00:24:55 --> 00:24:57 That we can call you
00:24:57 --> 00:24:58 father. We can be your children.
00:24:59 --> 00:25:00 And that we can be a family here.
00:25:00 --> 00:25:03 Because of all that you have done for us
00:25:03 --> 00:25:03 in your son.
00:25:05 --> 00:25:07 We thank you so much, Lord.
00:25:07 --> 00:25:07 Amen.
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