Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
April 15, 2001 a.m.
Because He Lives
Reading - 2 Corinthians 5.14-21
History tells us that death by crucifixion was first practiced by the Persians. Alexander The Great and his generals brought this hideous crime to the Mediterranean world of Egypt and Carthage. The Romans apparently learned the practice from Carthagian soldiers. And Rome developed a high degree of efficiency and skill in making a criminal suffer for his crimes by death on a cross.
We have had 2000 years to legitimize... embellish... and glorify the cross. We put crosses on our church buildings, around our necks, on communion wear, and on our stationery. You see, the cross does not mean today what it did 2000 years ago. During the time of Jesus, the cross was a shame... An embarrassment because it was the lowest... cruelest form of capitol punishment.
This is why Paul said... The cross was a stumbling block to the Jew and foolishness to the Greeks.
-Jewish prophets and Rabbis didn’t die on crosses as common criminals.
-Greeks stumbled over God dying on a cross.
-Greek gods didn’t die at the hands of mere men.
You see... The cross was the electric chair... The hangman’s noose of the First Century world. But today crosses are different... They are very much respected--even worshipped. This morning... I call you to see the cross through First Century Glasses. We want to see the cross as they saw it... For the shame and pain that it really ways.
Death by crucifixion was a hideous... painfully... agonizing death. Crucifixion was a hard way to die... A mean... inhumane way to die. Death by crucifixion was virtually death by suffocation. After one hung a few hours on the cross, the muscles in the chest became paralyzed. Oxygen could no longer be taken into and expelled from the lungs. The only way you could get one more breath was to relax the chest muscles... One did this by pushing down on the nails in their feet... and quickly gasping for one more breath.
This is why the soldiers broke the legs; so they could no longer lift themselves up and so... They would suffocate. The movement was unbelievably painful.... Especially for Jesus because he had been scourged. His back was already hanging in shreds of flesh and blood. Now he was forced to move against the rough wooden cross in order to breathe one more time.
Perhaps the only merciful thing in Jesus’ death was that God allowed Him to suffer only six hours. Most men lived 2 to 5 days on the cross. The record is 9 days. Can you imagine that?... Someone living nine days nailed to a Roman cross? Jesus died in six hours... Pilate was amazed... The Bible says so. The soldiers were surprised when they found him dead...They were breaking the legs of the others... And in what appeared to be defiance and aggravation a spear was thrust into Jesus’ side. Immediately came forth blood mixed with water... Medically speaking... This was a sure sign... A certain proof of death.
There is an interesting verse found in Galatians 6.14... Here Paul says... I can boast... I can glory... I can rejoice in the cross of Jesus. Audience... If this cross was so shameful and such an embarrassment... What was it that Paul saw there that he could boast... glory... or rejoice in?
More importantly... What does the cross mean to us this morning? What do we see as we stand before the cross?... Is there anything there for us to rejoice over?
First... At the cross we can see our own sins. We in the church talk about sin, but we really have little concept of the hideous nature of sin until we face the cross.
At the cross we can see how much sin offends God... How ugly it really is to Him. Folk, if sin were something simple, God would not have sent His only begotten Son to experience such an agonizing, shameful death... To forgive us.
But, sin is not simple.
Sin is not inconsequential.
Sin is not to be taken lightly.
Sin no joke.
Sin robs us of the joy of life and living.
Sin separates us from God.
Without forgiveness... Sin damns our souls to the torments of hell.
Remember that on the day of His crucifixion, from noon until three o’clock... The sun refused to shine... The world around the cross was thrown into pitch darkness. Personally... I believe that darkness represents what happens to us because of our sin.
You see... God is light... and in Him there is no darkness... There is no sin.
Sin separates us from God.
Sin and God cannot coexist... They are mutually exclusive.
Where sin is God cannot be.
So... when God leaves... only darkness is left. Our own sin throws us into utter and outer darkness. The Bible calls this condition HELL... Absolute darkness... Where there is...
Misery,
Fear,
Pain,
Torment,
Hopelessness
Gnashing of teeth,
You see... Hell is nothing more than the absence of God. Jesus experienced this... And so we hear Him cry... My God, my God why have you forsaken Me?
Standing at the cross... We should be awe struck with our own sins and the consequences of them. Indeed... Scripture tells us that we have all sinned and that there is none righteous... No not one... And that the wages of sin is death... Eternal darkness... Eternal separation from God.
Secondly... At the cross we catch a glimpse of God’s love... mercy and grace.
Go with me to downtown Jerusalem... Jesus is on trial before Pilate. But there is another story here... About a man inside the jail, on death row. His name is Barabbas.
Suddenly, he hears his name called. The crowd is chanting... Give us Barabbas... Give us Barabbas. Perhaps out of his cell he can see Golgotha... Three crosses... And he knows that one is for him. Two thieves and a insurrectionist were to die that day outside of Jerusalem. The chant continues... We want Barabbas... We want Barabbas... And the next words he hears are crucify him!... crucify him! The words sends cold chills up his spine... As he contemplates his own death by crucifixion.
All of a sudden, the jailer appears.... It’s all over, folk. But the cell is unlocked and the jailer says... Barabbas... You’re a free man. Free!... What do you mean free?... How can it be? There is a man who is going to die for you... In your place... In your stead.
Jesus took Barabbas’ place on the cross... Where he should have died... Jesus died for him.
Amazing Grace how sweet the sound... That saved a wretch like me... I once was lost... But now I’m found... Was blind... But now I see. From the cross God says... I love you.
Listen to Romans chapter five... God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. You see... At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!
-On behalf of the soldiers Jesus said... Father... Forgive them they know not what they do.
-To the penitent thief it was... Today you will be with men in paradise.
-To us He says... While you were yet sinners... I died to forgive you... To redeem you.
Church... Why is this so difficult for us to believe... It was foretold by the prophets. Listen to Isaiah... He has borne our grief, carried our sorrows. He was smitten and afflicted for us. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The punishment we should have suffered because of our sins was given to Him to suffer. By His bruises... His stripes... His scourging we are healed... We are saved.
Folk... Jesus died for Barabbas.... But more importantly... He died for you and me. Every time we see a cross... I pray we can see His love. Some think we shouldn’t have crosses on our church buildings... Bibles... stationery... etc. If any people on earth have a right to rejoice in the cross and what it symbolizes, it is us.
Then... At the cross we see the blood... His blood. When Jesus instituted the Lord’s supper He said... This is my blood of the New Testament, the new covenant... Taste... Drink... Partake you all of it.
Remove Jesus’ blood from the cross and you have no sacrifice for sin. The Hebrews’ writer tells us... Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission... No Forgiveness.
Note with me quickly what Jesus’ blood has and continues to do for us
His blood justifies us and saves us. Justification is just-as-if-it never happened. Romans 5.9 says... Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from God’s wrath through Jesus.
Where Jesus died... Barabbas should have died. Barabbas was guilty... He should have hung on the center cross that day. Just as sure as Jesus took Barabbas’ place... He also took ours. Where He died guiltless and sinless... We should die. But instead... We are justified... Just-as-if-our-sins-had-never-happened.
His blood also redeems us... Forgives us Redemption literally means... To buy back. Jesus paid our sin debt with his blood... Where we should have died... He died in our place. Peter tells us... You must know that your were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold... But with the blood of Christ... As a lamb without spot or blemish. Ephesians 1.7 says... In Him... In Christ... We have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
His blood washes... cleanses us. Husbands... Love your wives as Christ loves the church, and gave himself for it, that he might (Listen now)... That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. Then 1 John 1.7 tells us His blood continually cleanses us... If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Christ continues to cleanse us from all our sins.
We must know this morning that... no man can be saved except... by the Christ of the cross. Peter declared... Salvation is found in none other... for there is no other name under heaven, given by men, which will lead men to be saved.
Jesus said... I am the way... I am the truth... I am the life... No man comes to the Father... Except by Me.
Question... Do you see your own salvation at the cross?... I hope you do!!
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain... I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Let’s leave the area of Golgotha... and travel only a few hundred yards to the garden tomb. It is dawn on the First Day of the week. We are as surprised as the women and the Apostles... The stone has been rolled back... The tomb is open... Inside the grave wrappings are still cocooned with the face napkin laid to one side... But there is no body... JESUS HAS RISEN... HE IS ALIVE!!
What I want to do with the rest of the lesson is to note...
What the resurrection means to us...
What the resurrection affirms about our faith.
You see... Without the resurrection... the death of Jesus is a tragedy... and Christianity is a hoax. If the tomb of Jesus is occupied... Then all the things about His death are meaningless. Paul says... If there is no resurrection... then we are of all men... the most miserable. But... But... if there is an empty tomb in that garden... then the affirmation is that His death has meaning... All those things we saw at the cross have relevance in this life and in eternity.
First... As we contemplate the empty tomb... We understand that Jesus is who He claimed to be. If the grave is empty then it is true... Jesus is God come in the flesh to...
Redeem us...
Forgive us...
Sanctify us...and
Save us.
Indeed Jesus has become our way... our truth... and our life. His resurrection affirms our own.
Before the tomb of Lazarus... Jesus said... I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies... And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Jesus said... I have power over death... I can lay My body down and take it up as I wish.
Folk... If Jesus has power over His own resurrection... He has power over ours. Lazarus didn’t have to claw his way out of the tomb... Neither did Jesus... And neither will we.
Paul says... We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed... In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.... The perishable will clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.... Where, O death, is your victory?... Where, O death, is your sting?.. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.... But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Church... If the tomb is empty... We too will live forever.
The empty tomb affirms our hope of heaven. Jesus promised... In My father’s house are many mansions... many rooms... I go to prepare a place for you... And if I go... I will return to get you, so that where I am there you may be also. Jesus believed in... and promised heaven to those who would make Him their way... their truth... and their life.
Paul declares that the good news of the Gospel is wrapped up in the death... burial... and resurrection of Jesus. What we must understand this morning is that our salvation... That genuine New Testament conversion demands not one cross... one burial... and one resurrection... But two... HIS & OURS!!
Romans chapter six tells us...
That we must die to sin.
That the old man must be crucified...
That we must be buried in New Testament baptism...
And... Like Jesus... Be raised to walk in a new life.
The question this morning is simple... Has the death & resurrection of Jesus made any significant difference in your life and mine? Does the fact that Jesus lives impact our lives daily? I hope and pray it does.
Because He lives we can face tomorrow...
Because He lives all fear is gone...
Indeed... Life is worth the living...
Just because He lives.
The invitation is for us to come to Jesus... Let the risen... living Jesus rule and reign in our lives daily.
If you need to respond to His death... burial... and resurrection... Come now as we stand and sing this invitation song together.
Will you come?
