Sunday_Service

Good Morning To Hilo Hawaii, and to the world, I have not been able to communicate with anyone because my email is corrupted, this whole moving thing has put me in tears for months- I don’t know how much weight I have lost, because of the stress just to keep my cat that I had verbal permission for 4-1/2 years then a new person took over and everything changed. It is such a long story that it is not worth even talking about. All the trouble with the phones, the computers and just unpacking is almost unbearable- I have a broken heart over and over. We are here to celebrate what God, Christ and the Holy Spirit and what They have done for each one of us, for this Resurrection Day. Most people think about Easter Sunday comes with the Easter Bunny. colored eggs and plasic eggs with gifts inside, and egg hunting contests. We all know that chocolate eggs and bunnies are not the true Easter. Easter is a day that changed the world forever. A man that was truly God also went through a terrible time of suffering and beating, also be tormented, and so many other things like being wipped at the post, which this particular wipping explains there was hardly any skin left on his body. I call Easter- Ressurection Day the original Easter name was taken from someone else, and that is another story, So resurection day or Easter Sunday is a lot more than easter baskets with candy and cholate eggs and rabbits plus jelly beans as mini eggs. Tradition has fake grass in the baskets and all sorts of goodies but usally nothing to show the greatness Jesus Christ did for the whole world. It is a shame that these baskets don’t have pictures of Jesus or a cross made from wood, or a booklet to explain why these children are getting these baskets. People have changed, years ago a hand shake or the giving of your word was as bidding as any type of covedent. [Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.] (1Pet.2:24 KJV) The stripes He took gives us all our healings, this is a major scripture written in the past tense, so if you have faith and love and know Jesus you will be healed of any sickness or physical problem. So in other words you are already healed because of what Christ has done for us. As we explain Easter three days before Jesus had already received the death penalty by most of the head people who voted, and still there is another story which outlines that whole episode. Jesus’s friends, family and followers were shocked, they all came to believe that Jesus was not just a regular man, but He was the Son of God. He went around healing everyone of all kinds of diseases, plus He performed all kinds of miracles and brought a man back from the dead. So on the third day the day we celebrate as Easter Sunday or what I call “Resurection Day”. On the third day his friends went to investigate His grave, and all they saw was an open tomb and the rock was moved and it needed many men to even close it. I can imagine in my mind Satan and all his agents trying to stop the rock from rolling open. [And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.] (Matt. 28:5-6 KJV) These things happened just the way Jesus said would happen. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day just the way He had explained so many times, plus now He can offer you the gift of eternal life and forgiveness of sins. This is the true story of Resurrection Day and salvation is for you. This piece of the story of Easter that holds 4 things that shows that God loves us and the gifts God will give us for our lives. [For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.] (John 3:16 KJV) Plus all of us have said things or done things or even thought about things that are wrong, these things are called sin. All sin separates us from God, because God is perfect and holy. [For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;] (Rom.3:23 KJV) [For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.] (Rom.6:23 KJV) God is perfect and holy, and our sins separate us from God. The Bible says “The wages of sin is death.” People don’t understand well some do- some don’t- and some have not even heard of the Good News or even the Name of Jesus, or the story of Jesus Christ. This all happened about 2,000 years ago and this is what The Church Ministries is trying to do is to spread the Word of God to all the villages, towns and even places not even on maps all through the world. [But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.] (Rom. 5:8 KJV) [For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.] (Rom 5:19 KJV) God sent His only Son Jesus to die once and for all our sins. We know that Jesus is the Son of God, and through His whole life He was sinless, and went through all that torment and even died a horrible death to be hung on the cross and to pay the penalty or the atonement for all of our sins. [Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.] (John 14:6 KJV) [For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.] (1Thes.4:14-18 KJV) Those who believe in Jesus, our God reaches out in love to all that want to be His child. [Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.] (1John 1-11 KJV) The main thing towards Christianity is if you believe in Jesus you can ask Him to forgive you of your sins, and come into your life as Lord and Savior. Me all I want to be is a bond-servant of Jesus. This is a time of celebration the Resurrection of Jesus Christ after He went through all kinds of torment and pain, plus He was humiliated in all different ways then they whipped Him so bad there was blood everywhere, then on top of everything they made Him carry the cross towards Golgotha but He could not physically carry it all the way, and a man named Simon from Cyrene took over carrying the cross after the guards pressed the issue. Jesus was bleeding all over; he was whipped so bad no one but Jesus could have taken the pain. It was just a horrible thing they did to Jesus, and the thing is He could have been set free, but the crowd yelled crucify Him, but the crowd yelled for a murderer Barabbas to go free. The thing is there is a scripture that might extend an unknown distance in time. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. (Matt. 27:25 KJV) This whole story of leading up to the end- [Then they released Barabbas unto them: and when they had scourged Jesus, they delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. (Matt. 27-31 KJV) The thing is knowing just pieces of this introduction, most people that understood just pieces of the Easter story or Resurrection Day would want to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and turn from sins, and repent, it is such a simple prayer that you are asking Jesus, I know I would want Jesus to be my Lord and Savior so you can say a simple prayer like this:

Dear Lord Jesus I love you, I understand what you did for me many years ago, You were up against so much evil and pain and never uttered a sin or a yelling scream. You took all that torment and humiliation, plus the nails driven into his hands and feet, and then died on the cross for me. Thank –You Jesus for what you did for me and many others, to take all that pain, and what you went through in the garden just before the guards came to get a hold of You. Thank- You for dying on the cross for my sins. Jesus, some of the people of the world just do not understand what you did for us to give us eternal life. I thank You for the gift, and all the gifts you have given to me already, my love will always be with You. I ask You into my heart and life to be my Lord and Savior. I want to serve You and love You always. I praise Your Name, Amen.

In the 18th century England young boys learned to master the sea early in life.

John was only seven when his mother died and he was turned over by his father to relatives to rear.

When he was eleven his father who was a master of a ship in the Mediterranean trade routes took him on a trip with him. From there he became an apprentice seaman and joined the British navy.

He was so undisciplined that he deserted the Navy and was soon arrested, publicly beaten and demoted. Because he couldn’t stand the navy's discipline, he deserted, fleeing to Africa so that, in his own words, “I might sin my fill." He soon “sank to the depths of vice.”

John got into the slave trade to satisfy his passions. He was demoted once again and worked on the slave owner’s plantation as one of the slaves. The woman in command of the trader's harem treated him like an animal. She hit him and forced him to beg in the dirt for his food.

He finally escaped and once again became a shipman. It wasn’t long before he was back to his own ways. He got the entire crew drunk. The captain was so incensed he hit John, knocking him overboard. He would have drowned were it not for a sailor who speared him in his thigh with a boat hook and pulled him back on board. The wound left a scar big enough for the man to put his fist in.

Some time later the ship neared the coast of Scotland and encountered a violent storm. John’s cabin was filled with seawater and the ship was sinking. The ship’s buoyant cargo kept it afloat.

The sailors manned the pumps for nine hours. John still recovering from the spearing overheard a frantic crew member saying they had no chance of survival.

John cried out to God and for the first time in his life—prayed. “If this will not do, the Lord have mercy on us!”

God answered that helpless, wretched cry. The ship did not sink that night. It was a sincere life changing prayer. John remembered it until his death. Each year throughout the rest of his life he observed the anniversary of that most significant event with prayer and fasting.

John Newton emerged from the hold of that ship to become chaplain to England's Parliament and even preach before the king of England. He was referred to as the second founder of the Church of England.

We celebrate his anniversary each time we sing his great hymn:

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

To John Newton's ears there was no sweeter sound in the entire world than God’s saving grace.

Grace. God gives us what we do not deserve. It is an act of pure love on the part of God for sinful man. It is always unearned, undeserved, opposed to works and absolutely free. It is the free, divine, unmerited and undeserved favor of God to sinful men.

How can a holy and righteous God treat us with such grace?

There is only one answer. It is found at the foot of the cross of Jesus. “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” That is the result of grace.

“For I am determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

THE CHARACTER OF JESUS

At the cross we see a great contrast between the holiness of God and the reality of human depravity and sin at its worst. At the cross we see manifest the pure love of God and the hatred of religious leaders.

The character of Jesus revealed

Jesus was led away at the conclusion of six trials during the night. Like a lamb being led away for slaughter we see Jesus as “they bound Him, and led Him away, and delivered Him up to Pilate the governor” (Mat. 27:2). Jesus fulfilled the words of the prophet Isaiah writing seven hundred years earlier (53:7).

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He did not open His mouth;

Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,

And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,

So He did not open His mouth.”

Jesus was innocent. Judas who had betrayed him earlier in the night came to his senses and in remorse threw the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” (vv. 3-4) and then he went out and hanged himself.

Jesus was totally un-intimidated by the accusations of the chief priests and elders. The governor asked him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” (v. 11) As a seasoned military man Pilate took one look at Jesus and knew He was no “King of the Jews” in a political sense. He knew a terrorist when he saw one and this Galilean was not the kind of leader who could overthrow the Romans. What kind of a king is it that has no soldiers and no financial means of sustaining a government? Here was a Jewish carpenter standing before him. If Jesus said “yes” He would give the Roman governor the idea that He was claiming to be an earthly king, but to say “no” would deny the fact that He was King in the kingdom of God. Jesus was a king, but not in the political sense that Pilate understood it. He avoided political overtones in His answer to Pilate. Jesus is the king of the Jews.

“And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He made no answer” (v. 12). Pilate was surprised at the silence of Jesus and asked, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” Still Jesus “did not answer him with regard to a single charge, so that the governor was quite amazed” (vv. 13-14). Jesus is in absolute command throughout even though He says hardly a word. Prisoners on trial for their lives would normally have been very vocal and refuted their accusers aggressively.

Even Pilate’s superstitious wife sent to him a message while he was in the judgment hall saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him” (v. 19).

The disciple Simon Peter who witnessed the events that dreadful day later wrote: “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found inHis mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Pet. 2:21-24).

The character of depraved man revealed

If at the cross we see the holy character of Jesus revealed we also see in contrast the human depravity at its worst. Only Romans had the power to put men to death in Judea. The Jewish leaders had to bring Jesus to Roman authorities and manipulate them to accomplish their deceit.

The thing that is hard to comprehend is the fact that these were religious leaders who were instigating the hatred toward Jesus. “Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away, and delivered Him up to Pilate the governor” (vv. 1-2). These religious leaders planned their strategy to make sure that Jesus would be put to death. They came to their decision during the night to put Jesus to death. By Jewish law the sentencing had to be done in daytime. So the highest Jewish assembly of the land came together to ratify the decision they made during the night. It was a mockery of justice.

These were the best-educated, eminent, politically successful, high minded, moral leaders in the community who met to make their plans on how they would put Jesus to death. But ethically and morally they were rotten at the core. Pilate “knew that because of envy they had delivered” Jesus up to him (v. 18). They were not concerned with justice but with the execution of Jesus.

With mob action they take charge and manipulate the Roman governor. Pilate thought he could match wits with these deceitful manipulators. He came up with the ingenious idea of saving face by offering to release to the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted (v. 15). He was holding in prison “a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas.” Pilate thought surely they are sensible, high-minded people who want justice to rule. He offered them a choice. Surely they would choose this innocent man Jesus instead of an insurrectionist.

“When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” (v. 19).

“But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and to put Jesus to death” (v. 20).

Perhaps it is true that Barabbas’ name was Jesus Bar Abbas. Although far from unanimous, a number of translators prefer to translate, “Jesus Barabbas.” There is manuscript evidence for the name “Jesus Barabbas.” If it was in the original the scribes may have left it out of their copies out of reverence for Jesus the Messiah. If so the contrast becomes even stronger. Who do you want me to release to you Jesus bar Abbas or Jesus the Messiah?

The crowd shouted, “Not Jesus the Messiah, but Jesus bar Abbas.”

Pilate persisted, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas” (v. 21).

Pilate still persistent, trying to get himself off the hook, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” Then they all yelled, “Let Him be crucified!” (v. 22).

Pilate responded, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they kept on shouting all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!” (v. 23). The governor must have thought surely ordinary people would side with Jesus rather than a known criminal like Barabbas. But then the crowd was not left to make up its own mind. The Jewish leaders persuaded the crowd and if it boiled down to a choice between believing a Jewish leader and a Roman governor, Pilate had no chance.

Pilate realized that nothing more could be done. Undoubtedly he had been acting on the assumption that he would have no problem releasing Jesus. The question was decided by mob hysteria. He saw that a riot was breaking out so he took water and washed his hands in front of the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves” (v. 24; cf. Deut. 21:6-9).

“And all the people answered sand said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’” (v. 26).

In the Old Testament “blood” refers to a violent death such as murder or execution. He tries to relieve his own guilt saying, “This is something for which you will have to answer. I am not responsible for this man’s death.”

Pilate released Barabbas and turned Jesus the Messiah over to be crucified. As Pilate had done on previous occasions he caved in to the pressures of the Jewish leaders

The character of depraved man revealed

“When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” (v. 19).

“But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and to put Jesus to death” (v. 20).

The crowd shouted, “Not Jesus the Messiah, but Jesus bar Abbas.”

Pilate persisted, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas” (v. 21).

Pilate still persistent, trying to get himself off the hook, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” Then they all yelled, “Let Him be crucified!” (v. 22).

“And all the people answered sand said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’” (v. 26).

Pilate released Barabbas and turned Jesus the Messiah over to be crucified. As Pilate had done on previous occasions he caved in to the pressures of the Jewish leaders

THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS

“Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified” (v. 26). “And when they had crucified Him . . .” (v. 35).

The crucifixion took place at Golgotha, translated the place of the “skull” perhaps because it took the shape of a skull off in the distance. The word Calvary comes through the Latin calvaria, meaning skull.

Physical suffering of Jesus

The first step to the crucifixion was a thorough scourging of the victim. The scourging or whipping itself was a brutal form of torture. The scourge reduced the body to raw inflamed flesh and a bleeding mass. Men died under the scourge, lost their reason, few remained conscious to the end of it. Before delivering Jesus over to crucifixion they “scourged” Him. This was a terrible torture in itself. The victim was stripped; his hands were tied so he was bent double and tied to a short post. The lash was a long leather tong, studded at intervals with sharp pieces of bone, pellets of lead, pieces of sharp glass and fish hooks.

The crucifixion was the most terrible and cruel death which man has ever devised for taking vengeance on his fellowman. It was the cruelest invention of depraved minds for bringing prolonged, slow, excruciating suffering before death.

The Roman historian Cicero wrote, “Let it never come near the body of a Roman citizen: nay, not even near his thoughts, or eyes, or ears.”

Execution by crucifixion goes back to the Persian idolatry. The Persians believed the earth was sacred to their god Ormuzd. For them it was criminal for anyone to be killed on the earth so they lifted the body up above it so as not to defile that which was sacred.

The Phoenicians tried all forms of death to see which was most painful. They experimented with it just like Hitler’s doctors, so called, and did in World War II. The Phoenicians tried death by stoning, spearing, boiling in oil, strangulations, drowning and burning. These were all too fast.

They chose crucifixion because it was slow, humiliating, painful, and in public view so that it left an indelible warning to everyone who witnessed it. It was the most terrible and violent death ever devised. Cicero said, “It was the most cruel and horrible of tortures.”

This form of execution was so cruel that Roman soldiers often even denied burial to the victim, allowing his body to hang on the cross until it literally disintegrated. Pain, torture of insects and animals, view of brutal spectators, horror of rigid fixation, combined to make it a supreme humiliation and torture. He was already a bleeding mass who was left to die to exposure.

Archaeologists discovered the remains of a young man who had been crucified with his forearms nailed to the cross and his legs bent at the knees and broken. His legs were pulled over one another in such a way that an iron nail was driven through both heels together.

According to Jewish law anyone who was crucified was considered cursed of God (Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13).

It was illegal to inflict it on any Roman citizen. All ancient writers regarded crucifixion as “the most shameful of deaths” and appropriate only for slaves and criminals. It was an extremely painful and slow way of dying.

Emotional suffering of Jesus

There was also the intense emotional suffering of Jesus. Nothing could have prepared Him for the emotional evils heaped upon Him that day.

Roman soldiers gathered around Jesus in the Praetorian and “they stripped Him, and put a scarlet robe on Him” (vv. 27-28). This robe was a short military cloak which kings and emperors as well as soldiers wore. Then they wove a “crown of thorns” and pressed it on His head, “and a reed in His right hand; and they kneeled down before Him and mocked Him, saying ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’” (v. 29). The soldiers made mockery of the King of kings in their trappings of royalty.

The last of King David’s dynasty was wrapped in a symbol of our sins so we could be clothed in His perfect righteousness. He was crowned with a “crown of thorns” the one who alone is worthy of many crowns. They had waited a thousand years for the arrival of the King of the Jews and when He came they crucified Him. What an insult to the King of Glory. To add insult to injury they put a banner over His head, “THIS IS

JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS” (v. 37).

They showed their contempt and hatred by spitting upon His naked body and took the reed and began to continually beat Him on the head (v. 30). They insulted the king of kings by putting a stick in his hands as a royal scepter. “After they had mocked Him, they took His robe off and put His garments on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him” (v. 31).

The crucified were hung naked on the cross. When the Roman soldiers lifted Him up on the cross they took His garments and divided them up among themselves and sat down to keep watch over at His naked bleeding body as if to prevent His friends from rescuing Him from the cross (vv. 35-36).

They considered Jesus the worst of the criminals so they crucified Him with two robbers, one on the right and one on the left. Isaiah had poetically written centuries earlier the awesome truth of this day:

Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,

And He will divide the booty with the strong;

Because He poured out Himself to death,

And was numbered with the transgressors;

Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,

And interceded for the transgressors (53:12).

The humiliation of the crucifixion would be bad enough, but the passersby came up “hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying ‘You who destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down form the cross’” (v. 39-40). Spectators coming and going from the city made good of their insults and kept up their of blasphemy of Jesus. The moving by nodding the head toward the cross was a contemptuous gesture of scorn and insult. They sneeringly suggested that this was the end of the Messiah. To show their derision they tossed their heads at Him as an insult.

“If you are the Son of God,” reminds us of the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness at the beginning of His ministry (Matt. 4:3, 6). “If you really are God’s Son, then free yourself and come down from the cross!”

Phillips translates, “If this is the king of Israel, why doesn’t He come down from the cross now, and we will believe Him!” If He is the Messiah who can perform miracles then now is the time for Him to perform the supreme miracle and then we will believe He is the Messiah.

The chief priests, scribes and elders keep stirring up the crows saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him come down from the cross, and we shall believe in Him. ‘He trusts in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He takes pleasure in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God’” (v. 42). It is surprising that religious people of their prominence should be present at a crucifixion, much less on the Day of Preparation for the Passover.

He stayed on the cross because He was the Son of God.

This abusive rabble went on for three hours and then God pulled the curtain on the show. Suddenly supernatural “darkness fell upon the last until the ninth hour (3 p.m.)” (v. 45). It was divine intervention. Darkness is associated with judgment in the Old Testament prophets (Isa. 5:30; 13:10-11; Joel 3:14-15). A hush of silence fell over the land as the divine sufferer hung there in humiliation and shame as God judged sin.

Spiritual suffering of Jesus

The physical and emotional suffering doesn’t tell us all the story. There was an intense spiritual suffering on the cross. It was about three in the afternoon when Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?” (v. 46; cf. Ps. 22:1).

The word “forsaken” here means “to leave,” “down, in.” Hence it mans “to forsake someone” in a state of defeat, or helplessness, or in the midst of hostile circumstances. It has the idea of leaving someone, abandoning, deserting, leaving in straits, to leave helpless or to let one down. It is the anguish of god-forsakenness.

Now the most intense form of suffering takes place on the cross. The sinless, righteous Son of God is dying as a spiritual sacrifice for our sins. It was so intense that Martin Luther declared, “God forsaken of God, who can understand that!” It was the cry of God!

Why had God the Father forsaken God the Son? This is part of the terrible price of putting away sin!

During His whole life up to this point Jesus enjoyed a unique one of a kind fellowship with His heavenly Father and now in His death there is a total abandonment by His Father.

Jesus Christ was made sin. God is a holy and righteous God who cannot bear to look upon sin. “The wages of sin is death.” On Jesus representatively fell the collective consequence of your sin and mine. God made Him our representative for sin and He died in our place.

For the first time in eternity the intimate sweet holy fellowship between the Father and the Son was broken. Never before, even for a moment, was the perfect relationship between the Father and the Son ever broken. And now at a point in time this oneness that existed down through eternity was broken, not because of something He had done, but because of sin, your sins and mine. The unbroken communion between the Father and the Son was mysteriously broken. Jesus gave expression to that terrible sense of abandonment.

In that moment the weight of the sins of all humanity from eternity to eternity fell on Jesus. The combined sins of the entire world, of all the accumulated sins of everyone who had ever lived, and everyone who would ever live, were laid on the One individual who never experienced sin.

“Why?” Why? Why?

“He [God] made Him [Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Isaiah in his powerful poem of the Suffering Servant eloquently writes:

“Surely our griefs He Himself bore,

And our sorrows He carried;

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten of God, and afflicted.

But He was pierced through for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,

And by His scourging we are healed.

All of us like sheep have gone astray,

Each of us has turned to his own way;

But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all

To fall on Him” (Isaiah 53:4-6).

In verse ten the prophet goes on to tell us that Christ was the offering for our sin.

“But the Lord was pleased

To crush Him, putting Him to grief;

If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,

He will see His offspring,

He will prolong His days,

And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.”

This divine “guilt offering” or “trespass” offering was the sacrifice paid by the soul of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh by submitting to the violent death on the cross. His death to all who will come to Him and put their trust in Him discharges the guilt or debt and sets them free. This Suffering Servant of Yahweh is the end of all the Jewish sacrifices. He is the satisfaction of the justice of God. He is the climax of all the sacrifices in the Old Testament. This is why He had to die.

Matthew tells us that after Jesus had cried those awesome words from the cross He “cried out with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit” (v. 50). He died. It was customary for the Romans to leave a crucified body on the cross until it rotted. Pilate conceded to the religious customs of the Jews and allowed the bodies to be taken down. Post mortem set in and they took Him down from the cross and buried Him in a tomb not far away.

Augustine correctly said, “He gave up His life because He willed it, when He willed it, and as He willed it.” Even in His death he was sovereign and He had control over it.

A group of Roman soldiers were assigned by Pilate to stand guard at the tomb. They closely guarded the grave to prevent anyone from stealing the body. The Jewish leaders wanted impartial guards, Romans, not temple guards posted at the tomb. A group of Roman soldiers were stationed there and made the tomb secure by putting a rope over the stone and then a seal of wax with an insignia of the Jewish authorities was attached to it. They put their mark on it so as to know if the stone was moved. They left the soldiers there to guard the tomb.

Matthew is not telling us that the divine Spirit departed from Jesus before He died. He is no Gnostic. To “give up the spirit” is a Hebrew idiom that simply means Jesus died. We use the expression in English, “to breathe one’s last.”

THE CONCLUSION

There were all kinds of reactions that day to what transpired on the cross. People reacted in various ways such as they do today.

The response of the people

For some it was a time of amusement. They passed by to entertain themselves. “And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, ‘This man is calling for Elijah.’ And immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. But the rest of them said, ‘Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him’” (vv. 47-49).

Come to the show. Let’s see the gladiators tonight. Let’s see if this is really Son of God.

An experienced executioner was terribly frightened at the evens that day. “Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (v. 54).

The Roman soldiers, seeing and experiencing all the events of the trials and execution of this righteous man declared what the unbelieving Jews refused to admit, Jesus really is the Son of God.

Still there were others that day who reached out and ministered to Jesus. “Many women were there looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ministering to Him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus” (vv. 55-57). Joseph took the body down from the cross, after Pilate had Jesus certified dead, “and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away” (v. 60). M. R. Vincent says, “The idea is that they sealed the stone in the presence of the guard, and then left them to keep watch. It would be important that the guard would witness the sealing. The sealing was performed by stretching a cord across the stone and fastening it to the rock at either end by means of sealing clay.

When God raised Jesus from the dead He demonstrated His sovereignty over the powers of the Jews and the Romans. The Lord God reigns!

After Jesus had risen from the dead three days later many worshipped Him. Those who came to continue with His burial were told, “I know you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as he said, Come, see the place where He was lying. . . And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshipped Him” (28:5-6, 9).

The resurrection is the undeniable demonstration and evidence of the fact that the suffering servant has accomplished His work. He had provided salvation by going to the cross and dying for us. God now reaches down to us depraved sinners and offers us salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.

The curtain separating the holy place from the most holy of holies was torn from top to bottom (Ex. 26:31-35; 40:21). God tore it in two! He opened a way into His presence for all who will believe on Jesus as their only means of salvation.

The resurrection of Jesus brought about the resurrection of His people (vv. 52-53). The rending of the temple veil makes it clear that the only way to God is open to all who come. Moreover, the raising of the dead saints declares that death has been conquered. Here is a promise of the great final resurrection of those who die “in Christ.”

Our response today

What is your response to the death of the Son of God?

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). No one can ever say God does not love him or her. He has demonstrated that love once and for all in sending His sinless son to die on the cross for your sins. God loves you and has demonstrated that love.

Jesus did not come and die for good people. He came and died for sinners. He died for those of us who have come short of God’s expectations of us. He died for those of us who have offended Him. The truth is we are so condemned that there is nothing that you or I can ever do to merit or gain salvation. All of our goodness is as dirty, soiled, filthy rags. They soil anything they touch. Anything we touch brings condemnation. Our sins are so deep, so bad they need surgical treatment for a permanent cure. Isaiah wrote in 1:6,

“From the sole of the foot even to the head

There is nothing sound in it,

Only bruises, welts and raw wounds,

Not pressed out or bandaged,

Nor softened with oil.”

This is why Jesus went to the cross. You and I needed radical spiritual surgery to solve our problems. That is how sinful we are in God’s eyes. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22).

“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. . . But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6, 8).

Because Jesus went to the cross and died for you God now offers you salvation. It is His free gift to you. It is already paid in full. There are no strings attached, no manipulations, no gimmicks, etc. All you have to do is humble yourself and receive it. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” The apostle Paul wrote, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation” (10:9-10).

What will you do with Jesus today?

As Christians we are celebrating the most triumphant and victorious day in the history of mankind. This is the day Jesus defeated death and hell and gave us as His people a sense of immortality.

As we celebrate this great and significant event that took place almost 2000 years ago, I would like to focus our hearts on, in this message, the victory that Jesus accomplished through His death, burial and resurrection.

II. The Death and Suffering of Jesus.

Before we can really appreciate the victory that we have in Jesus Christ, because of His resurrection, we need to fully comprehend and understand the amount of suffering He went through on our behalf and the great price that He paid for our victory.

Matthew's gospel, in Chapters 26 & 27, gives us a detailed description of the suffering that Jesus went through for us. In these two chapters of scripture we find many of the sufferings that Jesus endured on our behalf so that we could have the victory we now have in Him.

1. He was betrayed by one of His disciples.

2. He suffered an agonizing night in the garden of Gethsemane.

3. He watched as one of his most beloved and loyal disciples denied Him three times.

4. He faced the Sanhedrin where the chief priests and elders rejected His testimony.

5. He endured the crucifixion and the nailing to the cross.

6. The greatest price He probably paid was that of being rejected for very short time by His own Heavenly Father when He cried out "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me".

The Book of Isaiah gives us a vivid account of the suffering that Jesus would go through because of the sins of mankind.

Isaiah 53:1-7 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.

III. The Death, Burial and Resurrection: The Purpose for Which Jesus Came.

Although Jesus accomplished many wonderful things in the few short years that He had among the people as God in the flesh, it was this moment in His life and ministry for which he was sent for.

John 1:29When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward Him, he said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

I John 3:5And you know that He was manifest to take away or sins, and in Him there is no sin.

Hebrews 9:26,28 He has appeared to put away sin by sacrifice of Himself, so therefore Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.

It was at this moment on the cross that Jesus was actually taking on the sins of the world. he was, in fact, becoming sin for us.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus, at this moment in time, was now taking the sins of mankind upon Himself by becoming sin, and God could no longer look upon Him and it was in this moment of darkness that He cried out with a loud cry, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?"

IV. The Victory that Was Accomplished Through the Cross and The Resurrection.

When Jesus went to the cross and then rose from the dead, He accomplished a great victory for mankind. In this portion of the message I want to look at some of the things that He as accomplished for us so that we can walk in the fullness of the victory He has made available to us.

1. We Have Been Delivered From Death And Hell And Given A Sense Of Immortality.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the greatest victory that has ever taken place, because in His resurrection, we have now been delivered from death and hell.

Revelation 1:18 Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

I Corinthians 15:53-57 The mortal puts on immortality so that death is swallowed up in victory and death no longer has a sting.

Death is one of the things people fear the most, but because of Jesus' resurrection and victory that was accomplished through it, we can have peace with God and hope for the future. There is no sting in death.

2 Timothy 1:10 God's purpose has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel

2. We Have Been Given A Living Hope And An Incorruptible Inheritance.

I Peter 1:3-4 We have been begotten to a living hope and given an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for each one of us as we set our hope on Jesus Christ and His resurrection.

This hope is a very powerful element in our lives as it holds us steady during the many storms of life and causes to grow and mature in Him as He desires.

Hebrews 6:19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil.

3. We Have Power And Victory Over The Devil.

I John 4:4You are of God, little children, and have overcome the, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Romans 8:31,37 If God is for us, who can be against us?...in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

The following illustration illustrates this truth very well for us:

In his book "Forever Triumphant", F.J. Huegel told a story that came out of World War II. After General Jonathan Wainwright was captured by the Japanese, he was held prisoner in a Manchurian concentration camp. Cruelly treated, he became "a broken, crushed, hopeless, starving man." Finally the Japanese surrendered and the war ended. A United States army colonel was sent to the camp to announce personally to the general that Japan had been defeated and that he was free and in command. After Wainwright heard the news, he returned to his quarters and was confronted by some guards who began to mistreat him as they had done in the past. Wainwright, however, with the news of the allied victory still fresh in his mind, declared with authority, "No, I am in command here! These are my orders." Huegel observed that from that moment on, General Wainwright was in control.

Huegel made this application: "Have you been informed of the victory of your Savior in the greatest conflict of the ages?... Then rise up to assert your rights... Never again go under when the enemy comes to oppress. Claim the victory in Jesus' Name." Huegel observed, "We must learn to stand on resurrection ground, reckoning dead the old-creation life over which Satan has power, and living in the new creation over which Satan has no power whatever."

Luke 10:10Jesus said, "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

4. We Have Been Given Victory Over Sin.

Romans 6:4-7...knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

Romans 8:10-11 And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

5. We Have Been Given Great Power As A Result Of The Resurrection.

Ephesians 1:18-20 ...and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when he raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.

V. Concluding Remarks.

1. We must confess this great victory that Jesus has accomplished for us and walk in it understanding that this is the manner in which the Holy Spirit is working in our lives.

2. We should live no longer to ourselves but unto Him who died and rose again.

3. We should seek those things which are above where Christ is as well as setting our mind and affections on the things above, rather than the things of the world.

The great Easter truth is not that we are to live newly after death – that is not the great thing – but that we are to live here and now by the power of the resurrection; not so much that we are to live forever as that we are to, and may, live nobly now because we are to live forever." (Phillip Brooks)

I encourage you today to allow Jesus to complete His victory in your lives by receiving Him as Lord and Savior and giving yourselves 100% to Him for His service.