The Greatest Sacrifice
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Many American men and women of all creeds, colors, and backgrounds have given their lives in the defense of freedom and have given their to lives to eradicate tyranny’s grip throughout the world.
American War Deaths:
American Revolution 25,000
Civil War 620,000
World War 1 116,516
World War 2 405,399
Korea 36,516
Vietnam 58,209
War on Terror 7,078
This list does not include all wars, and this does not include the American soldiers killed defending schools, embassies, and hospitals, and we ought to honor the sacrifice of these brave men and women and honor the ultimate gift given by their families.
John 15:13 “No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.”
There is One, however, that made the ultimate sacrifice for all mankind, and we should celebrate every single day the sacrifice He made. We should memorialize, celebrate, honor, and praise Jesus Christ for the ultimate sacrifice He made.
Jesus Christ died for even those tyrants that the American soldier fought so bravely to remove. It was the ultimate sacrifice, and on this Memorial Day weekend, we should celebrate Jesus Christ’s sacrifice daily in our lives.
We are going to focus on 1 Timothy 3:16.
1 Timothy 3:16 “Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith: Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit. He was seen by angels and announced to the nations. He was believed in throughout the world and taken to heaven in glory.” (NLT)
Here is the question for the day.
Why should we celebrate and honor Jesus Christ daily in our lives and with our lives?
1. God was revealed in a human body.
1. God was revealed in a human body.
God was literally revealed in a human body.
God, literally, stepped out of heaven to be born in a manger in Bethlehem. It was part of God’s master plan.
John 3:16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
God left His home and came to this earth. Throughout eternity, He lived in a place of perfection free from pain, suffering, sin, and sorrow. He left a place where He was exalted, honored, and worshipped for a world that despised, hated, murdered, and rejected Him.
John 1:11 “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”
Yet, He came anyway, and I am glad He did because while others may reject Him, I have accepted Him. God came to earth and robed Himself in human flesh.
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
He lived as a man among men. He lived as a man among men so He could die for mankind. Only God in human flesh could redeem mankind, and God knew that before He created.
Ephesians 1:4 “For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.”
God, before the world was created, chose Linda Williams through Jesus Christ. AMEN!!!! Should we honor Christ in our lives?
He was God the Creator born as a baby in Bethlehem. Because He left heaven, Jesus knew the pain, suffering, rejection, hunger, thirst, and loneliness of the human condition. He did that for you and me so that He might feel our pain and know how to comfort us.
Hebrews 2:18 “For since he himself has suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.”
1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.”
Considering the entirety of what God did by coming to earth in human flesh is overwhelming. Should we honor and celebrate Him for coming to earth in a human body?
2. Jesus was vindicated/justified by the Spirit.
2. Jesus was vindicated/justified by the Spirit.
1 Tim. 3:16 says that Jesus was vindicated by the Spirit. What in the world does that mean?
It means that Jesus was completely filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit while on earth.
The Holy Spirit enabled Jesus to do the will of the Father. Even while God was on earth, the Holy Trinity was One.
Jesus was born, He lived, and He died without sin.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
1 Peter 2:21–22 “For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth;”
Jesus fulfilled perfectly the will of God and the Law of God because He was God, and His service was accepted by the Father.
Remember my old saying that I have not used in a while.
“You can never separate the deity of Christ from the humanity of Christ.”
On earth, Jesus was God, and Jesus was man. He was not half-God and half-man. He was God, and He was man. On earth, Jesus completed the Father’s will as He was completely filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit.
Because Jesus completed the Father’s will and satisfied the demands of the Law, I do not have to try to reach God because God reaches out for me, and He reaches out to me because of the completed work of Jesus Christ.
Every religion in the world demands you do something to find “god.”
Islam has the five pillars which lead to Allah. Buddhism has the 8-fold path of enlightenment if you want to find god. Hindus believe all humans are divine, and if they live in religious harmony, they will reach Nirvana. Three of the world’s major religions require you to do if you are going to reach God.
John 14:6 “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Dear friend, that verse is crux of the whole matter. I do not have to take a pilgrimage. I do not have to embark on an 8-fold path of enlightenment. I do not have to reach Nirvana. All I have to do is nothing but believe. Believe that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.
Christianity says I am going to reach God because of what God did. Dear friend, that’s what you must understand. Christianity is not a religion. Christianity is Jesus Christ, and it is Jesus Christ who made and makes it possible for me to have eternal life.
Should we honor and celebrate Jesus Christ for Him doing for us what we could not do ourselves?
3. Jesus offered Himself as my sacrifice.
3. Jesus offered Himself as my sacrifice.
John 15:13 “No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.”
John 10:18 “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.””
Jesus came into this world to die so that I can live. There has never been a greater sacrifice. God in human flesh dying for someone like me.
The perfect, sinless Son of God was taken to a place called Calvary and nailed to a cross. He did not deserve to die as death is reserved for sinner.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus did not deserve to die, but He became sin so that my sin would never be counted against me.
Isaiah 1:18 ““Come, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are crimson red, they will be like wool.”
Isaiah 53:5–6 “But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.”
Isaiah 53:7–8 “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was taken away because of oppression and judgment, and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people’s rebellion.”
Jesus came to save sinners. To save sinners meant that He must die a terrible death. No one died in such agony as Jesus Christ did, but it had to be.
Hebrews 9:22 “According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
I mentioned all those religions earlier, not one of them talks about sin and the need for forgiveness. Everything is based upon what a person can do, but dear friend, there was absolutely nothing I could about my sin. I could do until I could not do anymore, but my sin would still be there.
When I say that no one has ever died as agonizing death as Jesus did, what do I mean?
There is something about Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane that many Christians miss.
Luke 22:42 ““Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.””
You will hear Christians say that Christ was praying and asking God to keep Jesus from the cross, but the cross is why Jesus came to earth.
Romans 8:32 “He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?”
Jesus came to die on the cross. The death on the cross was first prophesied in Genesis 3:15.
Christ was not asking to avoid the Cross. The cup that Christ dread more than anything was becoming sin because He knew that meant He would be separated from the Father for a short time because God cannot look upon sin. That’s the cup Christ feared, not dying on the cross.
John 10:18 “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.””
For the short time Christ was separated from God, the entire creation groaned.
Matthew 27:45–46 “From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over the whole land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?””
Darkness ensued why? Because God had abandoned the Son. God abandoned His Son because His Son had become me on that cross. His Son had become you on that cross, and it caused the light to literally leave the world.
Matthew 27:51–53 “Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth quaked, and the rocks were split. The tombs were also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And they came out of the tombs after his resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.”
That separation caused an upheaval of even the dead, but praise God! That unity was restored as soon as Jesus shouted, “IT IS FINISHED!”
As much as those fallen American soldiers deserve our honor, Christ deserves it even more for what He did for us, and what we should remember as much as anything is that Jesus was separated from God so you and I could be drawn by God to God.
Dear friend, I do not know what else to say. If you have not accepted Christ, you are lost and without hope. Islam will not lead you to God. Hinduism will not lead you to God. Buddhism will not lead you to God. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and if you are going to heaven to have eternal life, you are getting there by Jesus Christ.
I know it sounds intolerant. I know it sounds exclusive, but dear friend, it is the truth. If you are going to heaven, you must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came in the flesh. He was born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life. He died for you, and He was resurrected on the third day. If you believe that, you are to confess what you believe.
Will you do that today?