New Again
Easter • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Have you ever attempted to fix something that was broken, only for it to never be the same afterward?
I consider myself a pretty decent repair person, and over the years of being a dad, I have glued, reassembled, and repaired all sorts of things for my kids and myself. However, no matter what it was, there was always some sort of flaw.
There was a gap that shouldn’t be there.
Rough edge that should have been smooth.
On the rare occasion that I got it just right and was able to fool others, I always knew there was a flaw in the thing that I had fixed.
Genesis 3 narrates how sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, breaking humanity’s relationship with God. Every attempt to mend that relationship was merely a temporary fix.
Sacrifices
Prayers
The Ten Commandments.
And yet, despite all those efforts, the evidence of the brokenness created by sin remained.
Fortunately, for you and me, Jesus, when He set out to repair our relationship with God, His fix was perfect, complete, and permanent.
About 2030 years ago, he provided us with a solution for our brokenness.
In an incredible display of suffering, death, and victory, Jesus provided us with the solution we needed.
That is the reason we celebrate Easter.
The Bible is full of incredible truths that God wants to reveal to us. As I studied this past week the thought of prayer and the crucifixion came to my mind.
Why prayer?
Most Jews, especially the devout, pray three times a day. Tradition states that these prayers are associated with their ancestral fathers.
• Abraham represented Love, and this prayer was to be prayed at the 3rd Hour.
• Isaac represented (Awe), and this prayer was to be recited at the 6th hour.
• Jacob represented Mercy, and this prayer was to be prayed at the 9th Hour.
What we will find is that each prayer and its meaning, along with its specific time, correlate with the acts and times of the crucifixion
Let’s start with Love
The 3rd Hour = Love
The 3rd Hour = Love
The First Prayer of the day was at the 3rd hour, which represented “Love.”
Read Luke 23:33-43
Luke doesn’t provide us with the start time of the crucifixion, but The Gospel of Mark does in Mark 15:25 “25 It was the third hour when they crucified Him.”
Jesus had endured a scourging.
• This scourging involved a whip with metal and bone shards, designed to stick to and rip the flesh.
• He had a crown of thorns pressed onto his head.
• All of His disciples, except John, had abandoned Him.
• He is spat on, beaten, and then nailed to the cross.
After all that, how does Jesus respond? Love.
Look at verse 34
But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
Then we observe another expression of love in verse 43.
And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
Both criminals deserved the punishment they were receiving, and yet Jesus, in all His pain and agony, lovingly took the time to have a conversation with the one criminal who wanted to believe in Him.
Wow! What an incredible love.
Let’s look at the 6th Hour.
The 6th Hour = Awe
The 6th Hour = Awe
The second prayer of the day was on the 6th hour and it represented Awe.
Awe is not a word we use often in modern english. It means…
Awe - Fear mingled with reverence and wonder
Looking again at our text in Luke 23.
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour,
because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two.
What was happening during these three hours of darkness?
This darkness would have created total fear and chaos.
The veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom.
This veil covered the entrance to the Holy of Holies.
Matthew 27:51 tells us there was an earthquake and rocks splitting
The fear must have been palpable.
• But what is amazing and worthy of awe and worship is that Jesus, during these three hours, took on the sins of all of mankind.
During these three hours, all sin was being poured into Christ's body. Isaiah 53 gives us a description of what was happening.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
2 Corinthians provides a Theological perspective on what happened.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Jesus was perfect! He never once sinned. Yet, He took our sins and placed them on Himself- not just our sins, but all sins from Adam and Eve into the future.
Because He took on everyone’s sins, and since sin must be judged, God poured out His complete wrath toward sin on Jesus.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
God’s wrath toward sin was poured out on Jesus for you and me.
If the fact that Jesus took on our sins and placed them on Himself doesn’t put you in a state of awe and wonder and make you want to worship Him, then you don’t have a pulse!
Let’s now turn to the 9th hour.
The 9th Hour = Mercy
The 9th Hour = Mercy
The third prayer of the day was prayed at the 9th hour and represented (Mercy).
Verse 44 tells us that from the sixth hour to the ninth hour there was darkness; at the end of the darkness, we get verse 46.
And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.
The third prayer of the day was prayed at the 9th hour and represented (Mercy).
Allow me to define mercy for us.
Mercy is when God, out of His lovingkindness, withholds punishment that we rightfully deserve because of our sin.
The result of Sin is Death
For the wages of sin is death
Jesus, in His mercy for you and me, died in our place.
The story didn’t end there; if it had, we would be in trouble.
• Plenty of good men have died for others.
• Every religion has its prophet or savior, but they all died.
• Yes, Jesus died, but he rose again!
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Why is the fact that Christ rose from the dead important?
and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
It wasn’t just His death but His life that gained victory over sin and death for those who believe in Him.
What Does This Mean
What Does This Mean
Remember, I started with the illustration of trying to repair broken things?
Sin broke us. It separated us from God, but Jesus is the solution.
Are you feeling broken this morning? Let Jesus fix you. Let Him make you new.
17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Maybe you are believer this morning but you are struggling with sin in your life.
There is victory over sin.
Christ paid the penalty.
He overcame sin, but you must appropriate it.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
This morning, whether you believe in Christ as your Savior or are a believer struggling with sin, I want to invite you to a newness of life.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Don’t allow Satan to keep you in your brokenness.
Allow Jesus to give you life.
Let’s pray
