Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
December 2, 2001 AM
Compelling Demands Of His Love
Reading - 2 Corinthians 5.14-21
Our Sunday morning lessons for December will be based upon the love of God... And what God... through Jesus... has done for us.... For God so loved the world that He gave His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON.
The prophet Isaiah tells us that...
He took our infirmities and carried our sorrows...
He was wounded for our transgressions...
He was crushed for our iniquities...
The punishment that brought us peace with God was upon Him...
By His wounds we are healed.
The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
You see... Where we should have died for our sins... Jesus died for us.
We have had 2000 years to legitimize... embellish... and glorify the cross and what happened there... But you see... The cross was the electric chair... The hangman's noose of the First Century world. It was a mean and cruel instrument of pain... suffering... and death. But today crosses are different... They are very much respected... Even worshipped. Today we have cheapened God's grace. We put crosses on our church buildings, around our necks, on communion wear, and on our stationery.
We play games at the cross... We focus too much on the trivial, when we could be preaching the greatest story ever told...
- We pay more attention to what we wear than... To the Christ on the cross.
- We are more concerned with the length of the service... Than the depth of God's love.
- We are more concerned with the sound of the music... Than the spirit of the heart who sings.
-We are so close to the timber and shape of the cross... Yet so far from the blood that flows there.
Paul said... I am not ashamed of the Gospel... of the Cross... of Jesus... for it is the power of God unto salvation.
So... What does Jesus and the cross mean to us this morning? Why should the love of God compel us? Does Jesus' coming... Does God's love place any demands upon us?
Access a worship bulletin and let us see what we can learn.
First... Looking at Jesus on the cross helps us see our own sins. We in the church talk about sin a lot... But we really have little concept of the hideous nature of sin until we contemplate the cross and what happened there. 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 into this world to suffer a shameful death to forgive us.
But, sin is not simple.
Sin is not to be taken lightly.
Sin not a 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.
You see... We are not here this morning because we don't have anything better to do... We are here because we are sinners in need of God's pardon... His Divine forgiveness.... Right?
You 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. Scripture tells us that... God is light... God is Holy... 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.
Indeed... 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.
So, 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 & 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. The crowd is chanting... Give us Barabbas... Give us Barabbas. Perhaps out of his cell he can see Galgotha... three crosses... and he knows that one is for him.
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... Hope is gone... There is no reason to pray any longer.
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? Well... 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. Indeed... God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son... Amazing Grace.
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 the 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 me in paradise. To us He says... While you were yet sinners... I died to forgive you... to redeem you. Jesus died for Barabbas that day.... but more importantly... He died for you and me. Folk... Let us not lose the purpose of His coming during this holiday season.
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 shed on the cross and you have no sacrifice for sin. The Hebrews writer tells us... Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission... there is no forgiveness.
Note with me quickly what Jesus' blood has done... 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 He died guiltless and sinless... We should die. But instead... We are justified... Just-as-if-our-sins-had-never-happened.
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.
His blood also redeems us... forgives us
Redemption literally means... To buy back. Jesus paid our sin debt with his blood. Peter tells us... We 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... PRAISE HIS NAME!!
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 that... 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. Our sins are washed away in genuine New Testament baptism... And we are continually cleansed as we walk in the LIGHT with Him... GOOD NEWS!!... Good news we can use daily!
Question... When we think of Jesus this holiday season... Will we understand that He is our Justifier... Redeemer... and Cleansing Savior?... I pray that we will. Will we understand that there is salvation in none other than HIM?
Well... Our salvation is not only based upon Jesus' death... But also in His RESURRECTION.
You see... Without the resurrection... The birth... life... and death of Jesus is a tragedy... And Christianity is a hoax. Paul says... If there is no resurrection... Then we are miserable people. But... If the tomb is empty... Then His death has meaning... And all those things we noted about His blood have relevance, in this life and in eternity.
First... If the tomb is empty... We know 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...
- Justify us...
- Redeem us...
- Forgive us...
- Cleanse us...
- Sanctify us...
- And Save us.
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. Lazarus didn't have to claw his way out of the tomb... Neither did Jesus... And neither will we. Paul says... One day Jesus will return with a shout... and the dead will be raised.
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 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.
Well... What does the love of God expressed through Jesus' BIRTH... Life... Death... and Resurrection demand of us this morning.... ANYTHING? We must understand this morning that our salvation... That genuine New Testament conversion demands:
-Not one BIRTH...
- One cross...
- One burial...
- And one resurrection...
-But two... HIS & OURS!!
Scripture tells us that...
- We must be born again... Literally born from above...
- 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... Does the love of God, seen in the coming of Jesus, compel us to do... Anything differently from those of the world around us... ¥ Anything differently than what we've always done? Has His coming made any significant difference in your life and mine?
Will we say... Ho... Hum... another holiday season... another Christmas time... I'll be glad when it is all over... Or will we contemplate ... and rejoice in Jesus...
- His birth...
-.His life...
- His death...
- His burial...
- And His resurrection..
- And His promised second coming.
Come to Jesus... Respond to His Birth... Death... Burial... And resurrection... As we stand and sing this invitation song together... Will you come?
