The Apostles Creed #4

Have you ever suffered before? Or maybe you’ve seen someone suffer. Maybe you’ve suffered an injury and weren’t able to play the sport you love, maybe you’ve suffered through a relationship ending, maybe you’re suffering through my teaching every week. Or on a more serious note, maybe you’ve suffered the loss of a loved one, or suffered heartbreak by someone who did you wrong. The sad reality is that suffering is a part of life in this broken, sin-sick world. And as we look at the Apostles Creed today, we will find that even Jesus suffered. Our main focus today is on that portion that says,

“He suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, died, and was buried...”

Hebrews 4:15 NLT

15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.

Did you know that Jesus was known as the Man of Sorrows? His life was marked by suffering. He was betrayed by His friends, He was attacked by the rulers of the day, He was beaten and murdered for crimes He didn’t commit. He was marked by suffering and heartache.

I think it’s interesting that they included Pontius Pilate’s name in there. You know, there’s a lot hypothesized about the man. Some traditions say he and his wife converted to Christianity, some say that he later attacked some Samarians and was sent to Rome where he was made to kill himself. But regardless of how the rest of his life went, we know for a fact that there was a man named Pontius Pilate who really served in Jerusalem as a governor under Emperor Tiberius from 26 AD – 36 AD.

Now, why do I think it’s significant that his name is here? Because it pulls us back into time. Sometimes, if we aren’t careful, we can forget that Jesus is a real, historical figure. He really came, He really lived, He really faced the cross and died, and He really rose again and ascended. I believe the importance of this little statement is that Jesus Christ isn’t just some idea that motivates people. He is real, and He is really God.

As we’ve gone through our study, we’ve covered that we believe that Jesus is God. And what blows my mind here is that all the creed says about the whole of Jesus’s life is that “He suffered...” So, my question is why in the world would God robe Himself in flesh to come and suffer all that He did?

Well, I think if we’re going to get to the bottom of that, we need to ask ourselves why is the world full of suffering to begin with and that takes us back to Genesis 2-3. It’s there that we find that God created everything and now He has placed Adam and Eve in the garden and given them commands and told them that if they sin and eat the fruit of the tree they will surely die. Now at that time, there is no death. There is no relational strain, there is no pain or heartache. No fear. There is bliss. But what happens? They sin against God. Now this isn’t just a story of one couple, it’s bigger than that. You see, Adam was King of the World. He represented us and when King Adam fell into sin, all of us fell too. And through that comes death, comes hurt, comes bitterness, envy, strife and all of this is fruit from the root of the matter which is that deep down, we hate God and want to be in control for ourselves.

And so, here is all of this mess floating around, but there’s more than that right? What happens when we die? We stand before God! Hebrews 9:27

Hebrews 9:27 NKJV

27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,

Well, what’s the problem then? The problem is that we have to stand before a powerful and just God who absolutely hates sin. Habakkuk 1:13

Habakkuk 1:13 (NKJV)

13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness.

So, the problem here is that God has to deal with it. He has to punish the sin, the people who hate Him and that means an eternity in Hell beneath the wrath of God. That’s horrifying isn’t it? Jesus spoke a lot on Hell. As a matter of fact, there is one story where He points to a place called Gehenna. Now Gehenna was a valley that they turned into a garbage dump where sewage, scraps, and the bodies of criminals were thrown and there was a fire kept there all the time to consume it all. It was notorious for having maggots everyone and was absolutely disgusting and Jesus points at that and says that that is what Hell is like. It is horrifying.

But the story doesn’t end there, does it? In reality, it totally could! We sinned, we deserve the punishment and there’s nothing we can do to make it right. But in the darkness, there’s hope. You remember that little verse your parents taught you as a kid? John 3:16

John 3:16 NKJV

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

So, why did Jesus come? To be the deliverer of sinful men. But how does that work? How does Jesus deliver sinful men? Well, throughout the Bible we are known as enemies of God, so Jesus would need to make the relationship right. We are known as debtors in sin, so the price would need to be paid. And we are known as guilty criminals, so the guilt needs to be atoned for. And that is what Jesus came to do. It was His cousin, John the Baptist who said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

You see, in the Old Testament there were these lambs that families would lay their hands on as a sign of identification with and transferring of sins and then they’d take that little lamb to the priests and he would be killed. But that didn’t forgive them really. It just pointed to Jesus who is the Lamb of God. But how did Jesus have our sins forgiven? He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried...

Isaiah 53:4–7 NKJV

4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But 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. 6 All 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. 7 He 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.

Guys, this is the doctrine known as Penal Substitutionary Atonement. Penal is kind of like our Penal Codes today, or laws. And in the US, if you break those laws, you’ve got the face the judge. Well, we have broken the laws of God and He isn’t going to let anyone off the hook because He is absolutely Just and Righteous. And the judgment is wrath. But in love, God sends Jesus and Jesus receives all of the wrath that belonged to us so that we might be free. God treated Jesus like Jesus was me, so that He could treat me like I am Jesus. Jesus was righteous, I am a sinner. Jesus was crushed for sin, and I am loved like a perfect man all because of Him.

This doctrine shows that God is just and loving, because He doesn’t just let sin slide, He punished Jesus for us.

An old fundamentalist preacher said, “IF you reject Christ, you have chosen to pay for your own sins. And the reason Hell will last forever is because you cannot pay up.”

Now, sin brought suffering into the world. And Christ came into the world to suffer for our sins. But what will happen with all of this suffering. Well, we will look at that in several weeks. But for now, I’ll let you know that one day Jesus will return, He will make all things new, and there will be no more hardships, no more death, no more pain. Only the bliss of knowing and loving Him forever.

Lessons:

The reality of sins curse and effects should cause us to hate our sin more and more.

Christ should be our all in all. We have no reason to be prideful, all of our boasting is in Him.

We should live with the beatific vision in mind.