Sermon: "Jesus, The Savior"
With everything that you know about the Bible, what two words would you use to sum up its overall message?
I asked that question to some of our staff and they gave me the following answers:
GOD’S REVELATION
JESUS CHRIST
JESUS REIGNS
SAVING GRACE
All good answers. Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, uses the following two words … JESUS SAVES.
Another good answer. This morning, in our final lesson designed to prepare our hearts for Easter, we are going to look at JESUS, THE SAVIOR.
Two weeks ago we focused on the truth that – JESUS IS LORD.
Jesus is Lord because when he was here on earth he was both GOD and MAN.
To live with Jesus as your Lord …
- You must deny self
- You must walk the narrow path (Jesus is the only way)
- You must respect Jesus
and
- You must worship Jesus
Last week we looked at JESUS, A MIGHTY CAPTAIN.
We need a Mighty Captain because we are involved in a war.
Jesus will be your Mighty Captain if you will …
- Allow Jesus to give you a proper perspective on life – your enemy is more powerful than you, but victory will be yours. The war will not last forever.
- Use the armor Jesus has provided for you – every day.
- Allow Jesus to encourage and empower you – through His Indwelling Spirit
These three lessons based on Jesus’ question – “WHO DO YOU SAY I AM” – are designed to help us focus our thoughts on Jesus this Easter.
We know that Easter egg hunts, new dresses, flowers, and even family gatherings can take the spotlight off of Jesus.
We have been encouraging you to do the following things this Easter season:
1. Attend Worship Service on Palm Sunday and participate in the Communion Service with your mind focused on Jesus. This is Palm Sunday, so you have started to take that first step.
2. Attend the Wednesday Night Love Feast/Communion and Feet Washing Service with your thoughts focused on servanthood. If you have never participated in a Feet Washing Service you are welcome to just observe.
3. Take a few moments on Good Friday and focus your thoughts on the suffering and death of Jesus.
4. Come to the Sunrise Service next Sunday with your thoughts centered on the empty tomb – Jesus overcame death.
5. Come to one of the Worship Services next Sunday with your mind focused on a risen Lord and Savior and the eternal life he purchased for us.
Today, on this Palm Sunday, the Sunday which commemorates the Sunday that Jesus entered Jerusalem to the cheers of the people, we are going to look at JESUS, THE SAVIOR.
The people waving the palm branches in Jerusalem thought Jesus was a Savior who would free them from the bondage of Rome. When they discovered that the freedom and salvation he spoke of had nothing to do with their political situation, they quickly turned against him. How sad. Many were so close to eternal life but ended up rejecting Jesus.
Some of you here this morning are in a similar situation. If you have never received Jesus as your Lord and been saved from the eternal damnation your sins have brought upon you, don’t reject him this morning.
You can truly celebrate Easter with a grateful heart when you know Jesus as Jesus, the Savior.
Most of the people in Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday were not prepared to receive a Savior who was willing to die on a cross. So let’s take a moment and look at …
I. WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO DIE
As most of you know, it all started when …
A. SIN SENT MANKIND INTO A DOWNWARD SPIRAL
Here is the sad story …
GENESIS 2:15-17, 3:6 – 15The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
6When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
This disobedience began the downward spiral for all of mankind and none of us can recover from it on our own, because sin became a part of human nature.
You be your own judge. I’m sure if you look into your own thoughts and actions you will discover sin is present. No matter how hard we try to avoid it, sin is in our lives. That creates the following dilemma …
B. GOD IS HOLY … WE ARE SINFUL
Holiness and sinfulness do not mix. Sin is a barrier that keeps us separated from God … now and in the future. That’s why the Bible says …
ROMANS 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Eternal death is eternal separation from God. But God wanted more.
C. GOD DESIRED TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH US
Listen to the story of our creation …
GENESIS 1:26-27 – 26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
God created us for a purpose. He wanted to have a relationship with the creature that he had created in his own image. He wanted us to be with him forever, but …
D. GOD IS JUST
God’s holiness prevents him from winking at our sins. If he wanted to have a relationship with us and have us be with him forever, our sins had to be punished so that justice could be served.
That is where Jesus entered the picture …
E. JESUS, THE PERFECT SACRIFICE
Jesus – God in a human body – a Holy God and a perfect, sinless man. Jesus came to earth to take upon himself the punishment for our sins.
When Jesus died on the cross it was payment in full for the sins of mankind. Our scripture text for this morning expresses that truth.
ISAIAH 53:5 – But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
The suffering of Jesus had a purpose. His suffering was for us. He was nailed to that cross as punishment for our sins.
Jesus was the perfect, sinless sacrifice. He saves us from the punishment our sins deserve.
To help prepare us to celebrate Communion this morning, which is a time to remember Jesus and to help us get ready for the coming week where we will be focusing on the Last Supper, the events in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’ death on the cross and his glorious resurrection, let’s take just a few moments and look at …
II. JESUS ON THE CROSS
We are going to look at three passages of scripture which describe the last hours of Jesus’ time on the cross. As we look at them I want you to be thinking of the following three things Jesus experienced as he hung there … LONELINESS, PAIN, PUNISHMENT.
Here are the scripture passages:
MATTHEW 27:45-46 – 45From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. 46About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ – which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
LUKE 23:44-46 – 44It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
JOHN 19:28-30 – 28Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29A 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. 30When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Let’s use our imaginations and try to picture those last three hours of Jesus’ life.
Jesus had been up all night. He had been spit upon, flogged, slapped and dragged from place to place. His back was already a bloody mess before they made him try to carry the cross he would be nailed upon. He had been on the cross for some time when suddenly the birds stopped chirping, the breeze stopped blowing and everything became deathly still as pitch black darkness descended. The sun stopped shining at noon time.
I can imagine the cries that could be heard were no longer just coming from the victims on the crosses, but from some of the people standing around who no doubt were filled with fear. They must have wondered why the world was plunged into what no doubt felt like the very pit of hell.
The eerie darkness was not just nature’s way of feeling sorry for the Creator who was nailed to the cross. It was the judgment of God for my sins and your sins being poured out on Jesus. For three hours Jesus endured loneliness, pain and punishment. No one on this side of hell will ever know what Jesus endured on the cross in order for us to have our sins forgiven. That’s part of what the Bible means when it says …
ROMANS 8:32a – He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.
The darkness descended at 12 noon, that’s the sixth hour. Then around three o’clock, that’s the ninth hour, the silent darkness was pierced with a heart wrenching cry that no doubt sent chills down the spines of those still standing near the crosses. It came from the parched lips and crushed heart of Jesus as his tortured body and tormented soul were pushed to the outer limits of endurance.
MATTHEW 27:46b -- “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
For the first time in eternity God the Son was separated from God the Father. All because of our sins.
But then something else happens. Listen again to the passage from John.
JOHN 19:28 -- Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said “I am thirsty.”
Jesus wanted something to moisten his swollen tongue and cracked lips because he had something he wanted to say and he wanted it to be heard.
Certainly he wanted those near the cross to hear it, but I suspect he also wanted the angels in heaven, Satan and his demons, and people down through the ages to also hear what he had to say. Here is what happened …
JOHN 19:29 – 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.
That must have been so refreshing. Here is what came next.
JOHN 19:30 – When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
IT IS FINISHED! Jesus paid the price for our redemption. His sacrifice for our sins was made. Sin was forgiven. Heaven’s gate was opened. It was finished.
The price for our salvation was high, but Jesus paid it all. That brings us to something called …
III. PERSONAL SALVATION
To have what Jesus did on the cross applied to your life …
A. YOU MUST RECEIVE HIM
The Bible says …
JOHN 1:12 – Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
To receive him means that you believe Jesus was the Son of God, who died on the cross and rose from the dead and accept him as your Lord … your King … your Master.
Earlier we saw that sin created a gap between mankind and God. He is pure. We are sinners.
Jesus bridged that gap for us. We can once again enter into a relationship with the One who created us.
Here is how you receive Jesus into your life.
ROMANS 10:9-13 – 9That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Once you receive him as your Lord you can have …
B. A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM
You do that through talking to him … we call that prayer. Through reading and meditating on his word, through yielding control of your life to his Indwelling Spirit. He will guide and direct you.
CONCLUSION
We started out this morning by looking for two words that can sum up the overall message of the Bible. Two good words are … JESUS SAVES!
We looked at …
- WHY JESUS HAD TO DIE
God is holy, we are sinful. God’s justice demanded that sin had to be punished. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice.
Next we looked at …
- JESUS ON THE CROSS
… and saw the pain and loneliness he experienced as he was punished for us.
Finally, we looked at our …
- PERSONAL SALVATION
Each of us needs to receive Jesus as our Lord and King.
Here is a prayer you can pray if you have never received Jesus as your Lord. I will pray it slowly and you can silently repeat after me this prayer to God. If you sincerely want Jesus to be your Lord, your Mighty Captain, your Savior, he will honor your prayer.
Dear God:
This morning I choose by faith to confess to you that I am a sinner. I now understand that Jesus died so that I might be forgiven. Please forgive me of all my sins. I confess that Jesus is, indeed, Lord and believe he rose from the dead. Today I choose to receive Jesus as my Lord. Help me to serve him and become more and more like him.
I ask this in Jesus’ name
Amen