Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
How much do we love the Lord Jesus Christ? Does his death on the cross move us any more? Is the historical documentation of the Bible powerful enough to change our very lives?
I think people see what happened at Calvary and everything that lead up to that world changing event as being so far removed from our day that it’s personal and eternal significance is lost. Perhaps we forget that what he did was for everyone, for all time.
There is no way we can go through all the events of the day Jesus Christ died. Jim Bishop wrote a book over fifty years ago entitled, The Day Christ Died. In this book he goes from 6 P.M. on Thursday evening until 4 P.M. Friday afternoon. He tracks that day in narrative form, hour by hour, interjecting historical places and customs as well as Roman law. He attempts to bring us into the thinking of those biblical characters who were written about on that day.
Leading up to that day the followers of Jesus Christ experienced great emotion and anticipation. Their experience that week ran the gamut from His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Sunday as He entered to observe the Passover week, until his seemingly tragic crucifixion on Friday.
The expectation of following their glorious king and his kingdom soon turned into a painful observance of gruesome and sickening torture. To top this off, there were the leaders of the Jewish religion pressing the issue upon Caiphas the high priest of the Sanhedrin, and Pilate along with Herod representing the Roman Empire. These men should have been men who would have welcomed peace and healing and salvation and blessings from God, but instead they killed an innocent man to satisfy the religious bigotry of a dying religion, and the political survival of a failing government.
The Jewish people, once known for their great faith in God; once known for being the beneficiaries of unbelievable miracles, and a gentile people; the Romans, once known for their fairness of law; these both failed miserably. Both the Jews and the Romans were at fault, and yet nothing happened that day that the justice of God did not approve, for Jesus Christ was not on trial for his alleged offenses; he was on trial for our certain offenses.
Jesus Christ spoke often of this day, and for this passage of sorrow for which he had to endure on our part, Luke 9:18-22.
The virtue love of Jesus Christ was offered to all mankind. In Luke 23:34, it is said by Jesus Christ to the Father, “forgive them; for they know not what they do...” The sins committed by Judas Iscariot and the high priest and Jewish leaders, as well as Pilate and Roman guards, and the mob of ignorant misled people were all covered on the cross of Jesus Christ.
From Lk.23:35 we see the hatred of the people and the Jewish rulers toward Jesus Christ
From Lk.23:36-37 we see the hatred of the Roman soldiers toward Jesus Christ.
From Lk.23:39 we see the hatred of a criminal on the cross next to Jesus Christ.
From the religious crowd, to the ambivalent Romans who represent people who don’t seem to care one way or another about God, to the mob of humanity lost in the search for earthly pleasure, we see all of mankind represented.
Each one however, said to Christ, if you be the Son of God save yourself. Even the criminal about to die railed against Christ. However, Jesus Christ did not need to save himself from sin because he had no sin.
Each of the lost group of both Jew and Gentile which was mentioned from Lk.23:33-39, spewed their hatred for Christ. When they mockingly called on Jesus to save himself, they were only referring to his physical life, not his soul. To them death was the end of all things. Death meant life was over so they called on Jesus to save his neck if he were God. But Jesus Christ didn’t need to save himself because he wasn’t the one who was lost.
They did not understand that the saving of the soul rescued them from the wrath of God, and this was more needed than the saving of the body. They didn’t understand that after death each soul lives on forever somewhere; heaven or hell, and each soul gives an account of their life just as we will, Rom.14:11-12. They wanted heaven when they died, but they did not recognize their sin kept them from it.
If Jesus Christ were to have saved his physical life at that moment, and not lost it through his death for us, then we could not be saved from eternal spiritual death and the grave.
We could not be saved from hell and its fury.
He had to pay for our sins with his own life as his soul was the ransom payment for ours.
His life was the decreed payment God’s righteousness demanded in exchange for our fallen souls. You see, Christianity is of no significance if it does not save and secure the believing soul for all eternity.
I Tim.2:4-6 “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator, between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, Who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.”
Also Christianity is of no significance if there is no resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He prophesied he would be raised on the third day, Lk.9:22. He if did not raise from the dead Christianity would be nothing more than a superstitious religion. As you know, in order for someone to be saved, part of that confession is that they believe Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. We do not call on men and women to repent of their sins to a dead martyr of a two-thousand year old religion.
I would not expend one more breath inside a church, or one more glance at the Bible if I did not believe I was serving a resurrected living Savior. I could not tell others about the love of God if I could not tell them about the risen Son of God. But I can tell others, and I can tell them that God not only loves them, but he also can save them forever. I could not tell others that God’s Son offers them deliverance from their earthly born condition of spiritual darkness into his kingdom of eternal light if Jesus Christ had not risen from the dead. I could not tell you that you have access to Divine power over the Prince of Darkness if you did not have access to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Heb.2:14-15.
I am telling you today that Christ Jesus died for your sins, and he wants you to call on him for forgiveness of your sins, and to receive the salvation he offers you. If you have already received him as your Savior, I encourage you to stay in his word and let it motivate you to love and serve him each day of your life.