How Far God Was Willing To Go For You

A patient told his doctor; “Doctor, I can’t see at far distance!” The doctor asked “Can you see the Sun.” The man answered yeah” the doctor replied “Well dang, just how far do you want to see?”

CPS: Today I want you to see how far God went so that you can be saved..... He sent His Son to earth to die for your sins and to arise from the dead so that you can have everlasting life!

I. Jesus left His Glory in heaven to became a Man for you. (Incarnation) 6-7

Over the years I have been shocked to see just how little people understand of Jesus. At the top of the list is His identity. The Bible teaches us that Jesus is God (John 1:1), the one who created the heavens and the earth (John 1: 3)

Our text tells us that Jesus existed in the form of God. “Who, being in the form of God.” Form is the Greek noun morphē which means the outward expression of the inward nature. This means that in eternity past Jesus was God. Yet He took on the Form (morphē) of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.

The apostle John put it this way, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us! The baby Jesus born in Bethlehem of a Virgin and the Holy Spirit of God, was the visible expression of the invisible God. Jesus left His glory from on High to stoop so low as to become a man so that He could identify with you and to live the righteous life you could not.

Jesus was God cloaked not just in flesh but in humble humility! Our text tells us that while on earth Jesus did not consider His equality with God something to be used to His own advantage. He shed His divine privileges as God! He was God but purposely did not cling to His rights as God instead He emptied Himself and became a servant of the Father and man.

Emptied is the Greek verb kenoō which means to render void, Jesus as man was still God only He did not cling unto His position as God but lowered himself so He could become like you and most importantly to give Himself to you!

ILL: Long ago, there ruled in Persia a wise and good king. He loved his people. He wanted to know how they lived. He wanted to know about their hardships. Often he dressed in the clothes of a working man or a beggar, and went to the homes of the poor. No one whom he visited thought that he was their ruler. One time he visited a very poor man who lived in a cellar. He ate the coarse food the poor man ate. He spoke cheerful, kind words to him. Then he left. Later he visited the poor man again and disclosed his identity by saying, “I am your king!” The king thought the man would surely ask for some gift or favor, but he didn’t. Instead he said, “You left your palace and your glory to visit me in this dark, dreary place. You ate the course food I ate. You brought gladness to my heart! To others you have given your rich gifts. To me you have given yourself!”

The King of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, stepped off of His throne in heaven and turned the stars into a staircase and came down to earth to identify with us and gave himself to us. The Bible calls Him, “the unspeakable gift!”

Trans: This unspeakable gift was nailed to Calvary's cross to demonstrate God’s love for us, that while yet we were sinners Christ died for us!

II. Jesus suffered and died for you. (Crucifixion) 8

When sinned entered this world so did death, the Bible teaches that the wages of sin is death and that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.... EXCEPT JESUS!

If you want to know how far God went so that you could be saved take a glance at Calvary!

God in the flesh died for you. there was no other way to forgive sin, the Bible teaches without the shedding of blood there can not be forgiveness of sin and only God is good enough to die for the sins of the world yet only a man could die for the sins of the world.

As Jesus was found in the fashion of a man He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. Humbled is the Greek verb tapeinoō which means to make low.

How low did He make Himself? Obedient to the point of death, EVEN to death on a cross!

Crucifixion was by far the most excruciating and humiliating death one could suffer. It started by scourging. A skilled torturer yielding a cat-o-nine tail would bring his victim just to the point of death by ripping apart his back causing tremendous blood loss and exposing numerous vital organs. The victim would then be hung on a cross, nails driven thorough the indention of the wrist and the arch of the foot. Left to die a slow an agonizing death of asphyxiation.

Jesus, the Lord of Glory though He had done no wrong, was condemned to die a criminals death! He was betrayed by one He loved and trusted, crowned with razor sharp thorns, beaten and spit upon. His back was torn to shreds and an heavy rugged cross was thrust upon Him as He marched to mount Calvary where cruel soldiers smashed His holy body down on wooden timbers.

They took the hands of God that heaped up the Rocky Mountains, the hands that carved the Grand Canyon, the hands that flung the stairs into outer space, and they nailed those hands to the tree! They took the feet of God that carried Jesus on His mission of mercy from the halls of heaven to this sin cursed world and nailed them to the cross! They lifted Jesus up in the sky between two thieves, suspended between heaven and hell He bore in His body the judgment and wrath of God for our sins.

Jesus took our hell as He cried “My God My God why hath you forsaken Me!” Jesus took our place, He went above and beyond, as God He could have came off that cross but for our sake He stayed. Jesus did for you what no other could do for you, He died for you! He came to pay a debt that He didn't owe because we owed a debt that we couldn't pay!

Jesus didn't keep His privileges for Himself instead He laid them aside to save others and paid the price so that we can be saved. Jesus suffered and died for you and because of that Sin is now judged either upon your immortal soul or on Calvary’s Cross and by grace through faith you get the chance to decide!

III. Jesus conquered death and arose for you. (Resurrection) 9-11

A. His Resurrection

After Jesus’ death two followers came and took His body off the cross and laid it in an empty tomb. The tomb was sealed and guarded. But on the third day Jesus arose from the grave and when His friends came to anoint His dead body they found the tomb empty and that He was alive and well.

Our text tells us that God highly exalted Him. Highly Exalted is the Greek verb hyperypsoō in this context it means to rise to supreme position.

Jesus’ exaltation began with His resurrection and because Jesus lives we have hope and a future! Because of the resurrection death has no sting, Jesus has defeated death and promised his followers “because I live, ye shall live also.” (John 14:19)

By grace through faith in Jesus I can live eternally even after I die!

ILL: Little Philip, was born with Down’s syndrome, He attended a third-grade Sunday School class with several eight-year-old boys and girls. Typical of that age, the children did not readily accept Philip with his differences. But because of a creative teacher, they began to care about Philip and accept him as part of the group, though not fully. The Sunday after Easter the teacher brought Leggs pantyhose containers, the kind that look like large eggs. Each receiving one, the children were told to go outside on that lovely spring day, find some symbol for new life, and put it in the egg-like container. Back in the classroom, they would share their new-life symbols, opening the containers one by one in surprise fashion. After running about the church property in wild confusion, the students returned to the classroom and placed the containers on the table. Surrounded by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. After each one, whether flower, butterfly, or leaf, the class would ooh and ahh. Then one was opened, revealing nothing inside. The children exclaimed, “That’s stupid. That’s not fair. Somebody didn’t do their assignment.”

Philip spoke up, “That’s mine.” “Philip, you don’t ever do things right!” the student retorted. “There’s nothing there!” “I did so do it,” Philip insisted. “I did do it. It’s empty. The tomb was empty!” Silence followed. From then on Philip became a full member of the class. He died not long afterward from an infection most normal children would have shrugged off. At the funeral this class of eight-year-olds marched up to the altar not with flowers, but with their Sunday school teacher, each to lay on it an empty pantyhose egg.

Because the tomb was empty and Jesus is alive I’m going to live forever in the presence of God! I hope you will too!

B. His Glorious Position

Jesus showed Himself alive to many eyewitness over the next 40 days then He acceded back to heaven and took His rightful position in Glory!

For a little while He emptied Himself and was a humble servant but again His name is above every name and one day every knee will bow to Him, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth! Every man women and child, and angel and saint in heaven, every person alive on earth, every sinner in hell and yes every demon and the devil himself will bow to Jesus and confess His Lordship!

Con: God went to great lengths so that you can be saved, He came to earth for you, He died for you, and He arose from the grave for you. You may be here today and you haven't bowed your knee to Jesus and confessed Him as Lord, why wait until you are made to under duress. You can do it today today! The bible teaches (Romans 10:8-9) 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;”

ILL: I recall the story of a Muslim in Africa who by grace through faith in Jesus became saved. “Some of his friends asked him, ‘Why have you become a Christian?’

He answered, ‘Well, it’s like this. Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions, and you didn’t know which way to go, and there at the fork in the road were two men, one dead and one alive—which one would you ask which way to go?’“