Classic Christianity – Jesus His Final Hours P5 (04-17-20)
Synopsis
Your Sins Are Forgiven!
As you read or listen about the details of his death and his resurrection, of Mary at the tomb, of the garden there watered by a natural spring, of a large stone over the entrance, guarded by Roman soldiers, of sixty pounds of material placed on the body of Jesus, and then the stone was rolled away all by itself, and then Jesus appearing first to Mary, then to the disciples and then to Thomas, and then to over five hundred people. We, today, have not seen him physically, but blessed are those who have not seen yet believe.
We believe based on testimony. If you were to investigate that scene, like a crime scene investigator, what would you discover? What circumstantial evidence would you find that is beyond a reasonable doubt that Jesus is who he says he is, God in the flesh? The greatest miracle is the creation of the universe, and we have evidence for that. But the one thing that should convince anyone to put their trust in Jesus, of who he claimed to be, and of what he said he did for you and me, is the resurrection from the dead, the empty tomb.
Right before Jesus died, he cried out, “Tetellestai”, meaning “paid in full”. It is done. It is over. It is finished. That is not a theology. That is not something to be debated as we have done for over 2000 years, of people jumping back and forth still seeking forgiveness. So what was finished? The animal sacrificial system the Jews were under, and that just to get sins covered, but not taken away. So what was required for sins even to be covered? The shedding of blood. So when Jesus shed his blood, his blood was shed once, was an eternal sacrifice of God himself, and will never be shed again, and was all sufficient to take away the sins of the entire world.
If you stood today, and looked in the face of the bleeding Jesus, I would dare you to look in his face and say, “Is that positional forgiveness or is that experiential forgiveness? I would dare you to say that to him. I dare you to look in the face of the bleeding Jesus, and say, “That is fine, but if I confess my sins, you will forgive them again.” I would dare you to say that to him, a man who bled and died on a cross to take away your and my sins, not over and over, but one time for all. He said, “It is finished.”.
When God says something is finished, then it is finished. You and I can walk in unbelief if we want, through our lies, and that is what most of the Christian world is doing, doing nothing but walking in unbelief, spitting in the face of God, saying “I do not believe you, Jesus, when you hung there and said, ‘It is finished’. You just do not understand what being in and out of fellowship is Lord.” We have made a religion out of an event that took place by a man named Jesus of Nazareth, who died. That is not something to debate. That is not a theology to discuss. That is a reality to enter into, not a Christian religion. It is a Jesus truth. There he died for the sins of the entire world, not twice, but once. What did he say? “It is finished”.
He died a death like you and me, so we can experience a resurrection exactly like his. Why did he die? So we could live. Had he not died, we would not be alive today. Had he not died, we could not be celebrating what we are celebrating, and that is the resurrection of the living one. Why? We would be dead too. So he died so you and I can live.
This is the good news of the resurrection. Jesus is alive so you and I may live. Anyone who is here today is alive spiritually for one reason and one reason only. That is because Jesus came to provide that life for you. Religion will not give you life. It talks about the law. If there was a law that could give you life then Christ died for nothing. The law was given so that man might recognize he is a sinner. So recognize today that the price of death for sin was already paid in full, and because Jesus has been raised from the dead, you come to Jesus to receive His life. His life is the Holy Spirit that raised him from the dead, now living in you, of being led internally by the Spirit of God, and not by rules and regulations carved in stone, is what being born again means. Unless a man is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
Transcript
John 19:19-20
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city
In other words, the religious leaders would have not come out to seen this act because it would have defiled them so they could not have celebrated the Passover as well.
John 19:20-
and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,‘ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 “Let‘s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let‘s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”[Psalm 22:18]So this is what the soldiers did.
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother
You can imagine those who are mothers and fathers in this room, seeing their little one up here singing, and seeing them raised to adulthood, and then having to stand and watch their son beaten to death at the cross.
John 19:25
his mother‘s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
In another gospel, his mother’s sister, is Salome, the wife of Zebedee (Mark 15:40-41, Mark 16:1, Matthew 27:56, Matthew 28:1). Recall that James and John were called the sons of Zebedee (Matthew 10:2, Matthew 27:56). So, his mother’s sister was John’s mother, the apostle John’s mother. So we will understand little bit more why Jesus said what he said to John.
John 19:26-27
26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple [John] whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
So they were relatives.
John 19:28-29
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 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.
Prior to this event taking place, when Jesus first went to the cross, there was also an occasion where they tried to put something in his mouth, but that was like a pain killer, to put a man out. That became a custom brought about by Jewish women in that day, who would observe crucifixion, and their hearts were so touched by that, that they convinced the officials to give them this type of thing so people would not be aware of the extent of their suffering they would have to go through. When they tried to put that in Jesus mouth, he refused it. He said, “No. No pain killer for me. I have to bear all of this. There is no relief for me.”
Matthew 27:45-46
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).[Psalm 22:1]
Now, after hanging on that cross for six hours, from about nine in the morning to three in the afternoon, about noon, halfway through, as the sun became blocked out and dark, he hung there by himself, all alone, dying for you and for me. Jesus was betrayed, and all the disciples left him. He was by himself. He was taken to Caiaphas’ house by himself. He was beaten in Caiaphas house all by himself. Probably, as we saw, he was held overnight in a hole, let down by a rope, unable to move. That is how they kept people. They would remove the rope and leave him in that hole. He was sent over to Pilate’s house. Again, tortured by himself. He was sent over to Herod’s house and made fun of. Then back over to Pilate’s house. All of that occurred in a very short period of time, back and forth in that city, in a beaten condition. Then he died by himself. Then he died by himself with no pain killer or relief. He had to take it all for the sins of the entire world. That is you and me.
Sometimes there is a big controversy, especially among the Jews, because they have been subject to a lot of stupid conversations by so-called Christians, which were probably no more than religionists. They were called Jesus killers and Christ killers. There is a resentment there. God worked it out in such a way where the religious leaders were the ones who incited the crucifixion but the Gentile Romans carried it out. In the final analysis, people will ask, “Who killed Jesus?” Everyone will have to say, “I killed him. My sins killed Jesus.” If I had been the only person born in this world, he would have died for me because of my sins. Who carried it out is irrelevant. The issue that each and every one of us must come to say is, “I killed Jesus. It was my sin that caused him to die.”
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
He took the sins of the entire world forever. This is a one time deal. This was not like the sacrificial system in the old testament, under the old covenant, as to what we read in Hebrews.
Hebrews 10:11-14
11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
All they could do was cover sin, but could not take it away. It was only the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world.
John 1:29
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 19:28-37
30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”. With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Jesus died. Why did he say, “It is finished.”? It is finished. His work has been done. You go over into that part of the country, or just visualize standing there, not a religion, not a doctrine, but a man, and his name was Jesus of Nazareth. He was there hanging on a cross, being tortured by man and God said, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” That was identified as such by John the Baptist (John 1:29). Then, Jesus looked down and said, “Father forgive them. They know not what they are doing.”
Luke 23:33-34
33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals – one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
He cried out, “ Tetellestai”, meaning “paid in full”. It is done. It is over. It is finished. That is not a theology. That is not something to be debated as we have done for over 2000 years, of people jumping back and forth still seeking forgiveness.
If you stood today, and looked in the face of the bleeding Jesus, I would dare you to look in his face and say, “Is that positional forgiveness or is that experiential forgiveness? I would dare you to say that to him. I dare you to look in the face of the bleeding Jesus, and say, “That is fine, but if I confess my sins, you will forgive them again.” I would dare you to say that to him, a man who bled and died on a cross to take away your and my sins, not over and over, but one time for all. He said, “It is finished.”.
When God says something is finished then it is finished. You and I can walk in unbelief if we want, through our lies, and that is what most of the Christian world is doing, doing nothing but walking in unbelief, spitting in the face of God, saying “I do not believe you, Jesus, when you hung there and said, ‘it is finished’. You just do not understand what being in and out of fellowship is Lord.” We have made a religion out of an event that took place by a man named Jesus of Nazareth, who died. That is not something to debate. That is not a theology to discuss. That is a reality to enter into, not a Christian religion. It is a Jesus truth. There he died for the sins of the entire world, not twice, but once. What did he say? “It is finished”.
Luke 23:44-46
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”[Psalm 31:5] When he had said this, he breathed his last.
John 19:30
30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
He died a death like you and me, so we can experience a resurrection exactly like his. Why did he die? So we could live.
John 12:24
24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
Had he not died, we would not be alive today. Had he not died, we could not be celebrating what we are celebrating, and that is the resurrection of the living one. Why? We would be dead too. So he died so you and I can live.
John 19:31
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.
In a crucifixion, you are hanging there suffocating. There is just enough room to lift your legs to get some air. When your legs sag, you cannot get air. What happens at a crucifixion is that you suffocate to death. So they are trying to get air, and that can go on for a day or two. So they did not want that to happen. So they would break their bones. When that happens your lungs would collapse, and you would suffocate. If you still had your legs, you can still lift yourself up to get air. When your legs are broken, you cannot lift yourself up.
John 19:32-34
32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
Some doctors have said that that is an indicator of a broken heart, when blood and water flows together. Why? He came to his own and his own received him not. He came to the people who he loved. One out of the twelve turned him in, and the rest scattered.
John 19:35-42
35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”[Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; Psalm 34:20] 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”[Zechariah 12:10]38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night (John 3). Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Now, it says there that the place where Jesus was buried was a garden. A discovery was made that this is the actual tomb of Jesus Christ is because of these statements. Where he was crucified, which is the rock we saw, the Skull, is all a part of this garden. You will not find that any place else in Jerusalem. You have a church there, built on top of where they say he was crucified, but that has nothing to do with what we read in the scriptures. You do not build churches on top of that thing. When you see the fact this was outside the city. You see the fact that this Skull was all a part of this garden. Now, you will see that this tomb was never completed, as recorded in the scriptures. Besides those things, when you are there, something comes over you. You know that you are standing at the tomb where our Lord Jesus Christ was laid and where he was raised from the dead.
John 19:39-40
Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.
Jesus was wrapped in seventy five pounds of materials, and with the wrappings that you wrap a corpse with at that time. Yet people will say, “He was just injured, and he moved that stone all by himself, and the Romans who were guarding him did not hear it”. They must have been really sound sleepers. There are people who deny Jesus was raised from the dead. How did he get out of that stuff? Wrap you or me in that stuff, and see how we would get out of it.
That garden is still there, with a huge spring that has watered this garden for over 2000 years.
John 20:1
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
There is a replica of the stone, the size of the stone, that would have been there.
John 20:2
2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
The disciples went back to their home. But Mary went to the tomb and stood there crying. Then she went to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels.
John 20:11-16
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
There is something in the way you pronounce a person’s name whom you love. It was the way he said “Mary”.
John 20:16-20
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
19 On the evening of that first day of the week (Sunday), when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Now the doors were locked and all of a sudden someone shows up. That ought to get someone”s attention. And he says, “Peace be with you”. “Sure, but how did you get here.”
John 20:21-22
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
That was an event that took place fifty days later on the day of Pentecost.
John 20:23
23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
This is the literal translation of what he is saying. If you forgive anyone their sins, it is because they have already been forgiven. If you do not, it is because they are not forgiven. How many sins are not forgiven? None. Who has the authority to tell someone that? Anyone who is in Christ Jesus. That is why you and I have the ability to go to anyone in this world, and say, “I have great news for you. God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not counting your sins against you.”
2 Corinthians 5:19
19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.
We did not make up that story. God told it to us. We are able to say to a person, “There is no sin on earth that you committed that Jesus did not die for”. We can say this because it has already been done. The only sin attributable to man is the sin of the refusal to believe the Son of God and the testimony of God concerning his Son that God has forgiven us and given us eternal life and that life is in his Son.
1 John 5:11-13
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
That is the testimony that he gave to his disciples. That is the testimony he has given to us.
John 20:24-28
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Thomas understood something at that moment. This man who I walked with for three years is not only my Messiah, he is my God. He recognized him as “My Lord and my God!”.
John 20:29-30
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
That is the good news of the resurrection. Jesus is alive so you and I may live. Anyone who is here today is alive spiritually for one reason and one reason only. That is because Jesus came to provide that life for you. Religion will not give you life. It talks about the law. If there was a law that could give you life then Christ died for nothing.
Galatians 2:21
2 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
The law cannot make you righteous. If righteous could be gained through the law then Christ died in vain. The law can do nothing except show you your sinfulness so you would come to Christ for salvation.
Romans 7:11-13
11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
Romans 8:3-4
3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Romans 3:20
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
When that occurs you are now able to be led by something far greater than laws written on stone. It is a living Spirit written on your heart. If the law, as good as that was, and Paul said nothing is wrong with the law, but it has been replaced by something better.
Hebrews 7:18-19
18 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless 19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
Folks, when you read back in the old testament accounts, God gave the law to the Jews in the desert. He never gave it to us Gentiles to begin with. We just went over and dragged it over and then walk around saying, “Don’t we look good”. Folks, it is a slap in the face to the person of Christ Jesus. I am convinced there is already plans to rebuild that temple and re-institute a sacrificial system. I am convinced there will be thousands of Christians who will donate to that project. And many will travel over there to slay some lambs because they do not believe Jesus meant what he said when he said, “I am the Lamb of God and your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit”. Not this thing over here, but you are the temple of the Holy Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 6:19
19Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
We thank you, Father for that truth that we have seen through a physical example, that all of us in Christ belong to you and to one another, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, undeserving and unable to be paid for, and yet done by you. We thank you, Father. We praise you in Jesus name and for His sake. Amen.
